Walking after paralysis - Encouraging union growth - Budget airlines merger

8 FEB 2022

Facts, not fear.

TRENDING TOPICS
Redistricting racial makeup • Encouraging union growth • Israel spies on citizens • Budget airlines merger • Walking after paralysis

FEATURED UNDER-REPORTED STORIES
Synthetic nicotine's popularity • Superficial immigration changes • Figure skating quads

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TRENDING TOPICS, MOST CREDIBLE STORIES

#1 in U.S. News • 34 articles

Why did the Supreme Court overrule a reworking of Alabama's Congressional map?

Highly-rated - last 48 hrs
Supreme Court halts redraw of Alabama's Congressional map.
CBS News (Moderate Left) • Factual Grade 77% • 3 min read
The U.S. Supreme Court voted 5-4 Monday to halt the ordered redraw, a blow for anti-gerrymandering advocates and Democrats who were hoping to add a second Black-majority congressional district in the state. The court will decide in its next term, after the 2022 elections, whether [it] violates federal voting rights law.
...
In January, a panel of three federal judges found that Alabama's newly-enacted congressional map violated the Voting Rights Act by only having just one seat where Black voters make up a majority or plurality of the district. This decision was upheld by a federal appeals court. Five conservative judges overturned their decision, citing the proximity of Alabama's primary elections and early voting period.
...
Chief Justice John Roberts joined liberals in his dissent. Democratic Justice Elena Kagan wrote that halting the redraw "would rewrite decades of this Court's precedent about Section 2 of the [Voting Rights Act.]

Selected local viewpoint
U.S. Supreme Court grants Alabama’s request to block order for new congressional districts.
Alabama News (Moderate Right) • Factual Grade 76% • 6 min read

Selected long-read
How a court ruling in Alabama could have wider implications for racial gerrymandering.
FiveThirtyEight (Moderate Left) • Factual Grade 77% • 6 min read

Recent poll
Should redistricting be done by independent commissions?
591 votes • 65 comments

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#2 in U.S. News • 14 articles

How is the Biden administration encouraging union growth?

Highly-rated - last 48 hrs
White House offers blueprint for union growth as labor movement struggles to gain ground. [Free read link]
Washington Post (Moderate Left) • Factual Grade 87% • 4 min read
The 43-page report, produced by the White House’s Task Force on Worker Organizing and Empowerment, is a strikingly pro-union document, seeking to connect the history of union organizing in the United States to its importance for the country’s economic well-being.
...
The report comes at a time when union organizing in the United States is near a historic low, with just 10.3 percent of wage and salary workers belonging to a union in 2021, down threefold from a high in the 1950s. But the public favorability of labor unions is its highest in more than 50 years, and at least 48 percent of nonunion workers have said on surveys that they would join a union if given the option.
...
The White House report lays out dozens of recommendations for the federal government to undertake to encourage worker organizing, rights protected by 1935′s National Labor Relations Act, without going through Congress. The report also says the federal government should try to encourage unions among about 300,000 federal workers.

Different political viewpoint
White House proposes ways to bolster unions in the federal workforce, private sector.
Washington Times (Moderate Right) • Factual Grade 66% • 3 min read

Selected long-read
Labor's love lost: Membership in government unions falls to a 20-year low. (2020)
City Journal (Right) • Factual Grade 78% • 5 min read

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TODAY'S POLL

Would you join a union if given the option?

Yes No Unsure

All votes are anonymous. This poll closes at: 9:00 PDT

YESTERDAY'S POLL

Should there be a federal no-fly list of passengers convicted of unruly behavior?

818 votes, 112 comments

Context: Delta CEO requests federal support for a no-fly list of unruly passengers.

HIGHLIGHTED COMMENTS

“ Yes - The airline I work for has stages of unruliness, and you are warned (more than once) if your behavior is unacceptable. However, people seem to revel in pushing the limits of airline rules and it’s getting out of hand. Passengers should not knowingly be able to break the rules and then change airlines, just to break the rules again. These disruptions cause diversions, gate returns, and even arguments on board between compliant passengers.”

“ No - There was a massive spike in 2021, but looking at the graph in the context it looks like levels are back to normal now so what is the purpose served by adding this? [Also] what is the rate of recidivism on things like this? I can't imagine during normal times it is very high, on average I bet most unruly passenger events are one offs. If people only ever tend to have trouble like this once in their life the no fly list is totally pointless.”

“ Unsure - Since in the articles I'm reading the rate of "unruly behavior" increased significantly as a result of the mask mandate then I suspect here it means people who don't wear their mask for the whole flight, are challenged by the staff and become upset. This to me is not something significant enough to disallow someone to be able to fly on a plane unless someone becomes violent.”

Your comments and earned Respects.

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#1 in World News • 8 articles

Did the Israeli government spy on its own citizens?

Highly-rated - last 48 hrs
Israel to investigate domestic use of Pegasus spyware as scandal hits home. [Free read link]
New York Times (Moderate Left) • Factual Grade 78% • 5 min read
On Monday, the [NSO Pegasus spyware] controversy came home as the Israeli government said it would investigate reports that the Israeli police had illegally used spyware against its citizens without a court order, including a key state witness in the corruption trial of former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
...
The allegations caused a brief delay in Mr. Netanyahu’s trial, after judges postponed hearings on Monday to allow prosecutors time to address the claims. The moves reflected rising concerns within Israel about the use of spyware made by NSO and other companies, which had been spared significant domestic scrutiny because it was not widely seen as a threat to Israeli citizens.
...
Created to help governments track criminal and terrorist activity, Pegasus allows its users to monitor every aspect of a target’s phone — including their calls, messages, photos and video. The Israeli police have used a version of Pegasus domestically since 2015, and in the last two years have hacked the phones of more than 100 targets a year.

Selected local viewpoint
Israel Police used Pegasus spyware against top gov't officials, journalists.
Haaretz (Moderate Left) • Factual Grade 65% • 2 min read

Selected long-read
Israeli citizens targeted by police using Pegasus spyware, report claims.
The Guardian (Moderate Left) • Factual Grade 79% • 5 min read

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#1 in Business News • 19 articles

What is the expected impact of a proposed merger of Frontier and Spirit Airlines?

Highly-rated - last 48 hrs
Frontier to buy Spirit Airlines in $2.9 bln budget carrier deal.
Reuters (Center) • Factual Grade 86% • 3 min read
The proposal to form a new no-frills carrier controlled by Frontier Airlines pushed up shares of Spirit as much as 18.7%, though several analysts pressed the airlines over possible difficulties in obtaining regulatory approval. The move comes at a time when the U.S. airline industry is grappling with volatility in travel demand due to new Covid-19 variants.
...
The merger, which is expected to close in the second half of 2022, is projected to result in synergies of $500 million a year, mainly through operational savings. The companies pledged to avoid any job losses and add 10,000 direct jobs by 2026. They also promised the merger would deliver $1 billion in annual consumer savings and offer more than 1,000 daily flights to over 145 destinations.
...
But some analysts warned the deal could face opposition from the White House as U.S. President Joe Biden's administration takes a tough stance on big corporate mergers. Data from Cirium, an aviation data company, shows the two carriers overlap in only 18% of their routes.

Different political viewpoint
Budget airlines Frontier and Spirit to merge in $6.6 billion deal that could create the US' 5th largest airline.
Business Insider (Moderate Left) • Factual Grade 77% • 2 min read

Selected long-read
The North American airline industry: Is it an oligopoly?
Investopedia (Center) • Factual Grade 75% • 5 min read

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#1 in Health News • 15 articles

How does a new treatment enable paralyzed people to walk again?

Highly-rated - last 48 hrs
Walking again after paralysis: Early study suggests stimulation could jolt spinal cord back to life.
STAT News (Center) • Factual Grade 86% • 6 min read
The first-in-man study [of electrical stimulation of key spinal cord nerves that control lower-body movements] included three participants [with] traumatic thoracic spinal cord injury due to motorcycle collisions. All of them were several years out from their injuries and had stabilized to a point of no movement or sensation in their legs.
...
The findings [of a recent paper published in Nature] suggest people with complete paralysis could regain a broader range of motion within days if dormant spinal nerves that mediate leg and upper-body movement are reengaged with a personalized [epidural electrical stimulation (EES)] device. All three study participants could take as many as 300 steps (independently, with body support) within days of starting stimulation.
...
While participants could stand and step within a day of receiving stimulation, their gait was still clumsy and nonfluid. The next step will be validating the results in a large-scale trial in the United States and Europe in hopes of making this form of spinal stimulation an accessible treatment.

Selected long-read
How a revolutionary technique got people with spinal-cord injuries back on their feet. (2019)
Scientific American (Center) • Factual Grade 79% • 16 min read

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UPDATES & BREAKING NEWS

IRS abandons plans to require facial recognition.
Washington Examiner (Moderate Right) • Grade 65% • 2 min read
Protests against murder of Congolese immigrant focus on racism in Brazil.
Reuters (Center) • Grade 78% • 2 min read
U.S. and Japan reach deal to end Trump-era steel tariffs.
Axios (Moderate Left) • Grade 71% • 2 min read
Chimpanzees use insects to soothe their wounds and we don't really know why.
Science Alert (Center) • Grade 91% • 3 min read

View more credible stories

HIGHLY CREDIBLE, UNDER-REPORTED STORIES




	Synthetic nicotine: Unregulated and increasingly popular. Politico (Moderate Left) • Grade 71% • 6 min read


	Why Biden’s immigration policy looks a lot like Trump’s. Christian Science Monitor (Center) • Grade 88% • 9 min read


	The quad jump revolution has transformed women's figure skating. How far will it go? FiveThirtyEight (Moderate Left) • Grade 87% • 24 min read