PUBLIC AFFAIRS

Obama Administration Releases Third National Climate Assessment

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By Glynn Wilson – The Obama Administration released the Third U.S. National Climate Assessment report on Tuesday, May 6, calling it “the most authoritative and comprehensive source of scientific information to date about climate-change impacts across all U.S. regions and on critical sectors of the economy.” The report, a key part of President Obama’s so-called…

Walter Energy Capitulates on Building New Coal Export Terminal in Mobile

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Birmingham Company Agrees to Sell Property to Alabama State Docks – By Glynn Wilson – In an unusual turnaround from its ambition to build a new coal handling export terminal along the riverfront in Mobile, Alabama, Walter Energy has reached an agreement “in principle” with the State Port Authority to sell both the Blue Creek…

Supreme Court Upholds EPA’s Power to Regulate Greenhouse Gases Under the Clean Air Act

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By Glynn Wilson – The United States Supreme Court upheld the authority of the Environmental Protection Agency to regulate the air pollution from coal-fired power plants on Tuesday in a ruling that is being hailed as a major victory for the environment but a political setback for the Obama administration. The 6-to-2 ruling upholds the…

Mobile Bucks National Trend, Sides With Polluting Industry Over Tourism and the Environment

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By Glynn Wilson – MOBILE, Ala. — While many local and state governments across the country are joining the federal government in turning away from the development of fossil fuel production in favor of clean, renewable energy to fight climate change due to global warming and create the good, high paying jobs of the future,…

Mobile City Council Hears Debate on Blue Creek Coal Terminal

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Delays Vote for Two More Weeks – By Glynn Wilson – MOBILE, Ala. — The Mobile City Council heard debate for three hours at Government Plaza on Earth Day about whether to overturn the Planning Commission’s approval of Walter Energy’s Blue Creek Coal handling terminal along the city’s riverfront, but the only vote was to…

Governor Bentley Finally Releases Alabama Water Management Plan Report

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By Glynn Wilson – Now that the Alabama Legislative Session of 2014 is safely over and Governor Robert Bentley is virtually assured of winning the Republican Party’s primary in June without any tea party opposition from the far right, Bentley’s office finally released the water management plan report being sought by environmental groups for the…

Antitrust in the New Gilded Age

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By Robert Reich – We’re in a new gilded age of wealth and power similar to the first gilded age when the nation’s antitrust laws were enacted. Those laws should prevent or bust up concentrations of economic power that not only harm consumers but also undermine our democracy — such as the pending Comcast acquisition…

Uninsured Rate Drops More in States Embracing Health Law

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The uninsured rate among adults aged 18 and older in the states across the country that have chosen to expand Medicaid and set up their own exchanges in the health insurance marketplace has declined significantly this year, meaning more U.S. citizens are being covered by private health care insurance than ever before, improving the economy…

Conservative Supreme Court Sides With Rich People, Big Corporations, Again

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Editorial Analysis – The United States Supreme Court continued the pro-Big Business conservative Republican majority’s drive to remove Legislative Branch limits on political money, effectively granting unlimited rights to rich people and corporations to continue polluting American politics with their vast riches built up mainly during the Bush years. The high court struck down the…

Will Union Workers See the Light In Time to Save the American Economy?

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National Labor Relations Board to Begin Hearings on Workers Complaint Against Mercedes April 7 – By Glynn Wilson – BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — Union workers and members of the public who understand the important role organized labor plays in public affairs across America will be watching to see what happens when the National Labor Relations Board…

Watching a Brain and a Country Unravel is a Terrible Thing

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The Big Picture – By Glynn Wilson – Watching a brain unravel is a terrible thing. So is watching a state and a country go down the drain, along with the ideals that created it. It is torture not only for the person who experiences the onset of dementia or Alzheimer’s Disease but also the…

American Youth Reject GOP Radical Conservatism, Shift to Support Democratic Party

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By Glynn Wilson – America’s youth are running from the radical conservatism of the Republican Party and choosing to call themselves Democrats in greater numbers than ever before, according to the latest Gallup poll on the subject. Young adults — those between the ages of 18 and 29 — have typically aligned themselves with the…

Hey Alabama: You Can’t Thank God for Mississippi Anymore

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Alabama Citizens Rank Last in Ability to Afford Healthcare and Medicine – By Glynn Wilson – The poor people of Alabama can no longer afford to sit back and thank god for Mississippi. They might thank a doctor governor for not taking a pay check, but that’s about it. He has abandoned the people in…

Mobile Planning Commission Defies Citizen Protests, Approves Blue Creek Coal Terminal

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By David Underhill – MOBILE, Ala. – The video to show how foggers work to suppress coal dust didn’t work. An engineer pitching a coal terminal to the Mobile planning commission on March 20 had the opening scene of the video on a screen looming over the big crowd at the meeting to decide if…

A Majority of Americans Choose Protecting the Environment Over Economic Growth

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Gallup Finds the Largest Partisan Gap Ever on This Question – By Glynn Wilson – If given a choice, a majority of Americans by a 50 percent to 41 percent margin are more likely to say protecting the environment should be given priority even at the risk of curbing economic growth, even though the risk…

A Steady Majority, 57 Percent of Americans, Blame Human Pollution for Global Warming

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By Glynn Wilson – A majority of Americans, 57 percent, believe increases in the Earth’s temperature during the past century are due to pollution from human activities, while 40 percent still say it is due to naturally occurring changes in the environment, in spite of overwhelming scientific evidence and incredibly rare scientific consensus showing that…

The State of The State: The Opinion of One Employed Alabamian-American

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Guest Column – By Brad Nolen – If you listened to Governor Bentley’s State of the State address, you probably noticed that he mainly thinks of us, Alabamians, as workers, not citizens. Also that mean old U.S. Government can’t help anyone and just wants in on the dysfunctional ménage a trois between Americans, health Insurers…

President Obama to Sign Memo Strengthening Overtime Protections for American Workers

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By Glynn Wilson – After weathering the Bush “Great Recession” and five years of hard work and determination by the Obama administration, the United States of America is creating jobs and rebuilding its economy. But as a result of shifts that have taken hold over more than three decades, too many Americans are working harder…

It’s Time to Grow Up and Stop Playing Politics With People’s Lives

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“When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me.” – Paul the Apostle, First Corinthians – The Big Picture – By Glynn Wilson – FAIRHOPE, Ala. – It is time to…

Canadian Tar Sands Crude Oil Threatens to Flood the Gulf Coast by Rail

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Watch and Share the Video – By Glynn Wilson – MOBILE, Ala. — Larry Godfrey owns the Escatawpa Hollow Campground and Canoe Rental along the Escatawpa River on the Alabama-Mississippi line just about 40 miles down the Canadian National Railroad line from New Augusta, Mississippi, where a train carrying tar sands crude oil and other…