Minnesota governor signs pay raise for Uber and Lyft drivers, keeping companies in the state In March, the Minneapolis City Council voted in favor of increasing wages for drivers, prompting Uber and Lyft to confirm their intent to leave the Twin Cities. The Minnesota legislature produced a ... 05/28/2024 - 12:15 pm | View Link
Lawmakers allocate $18 million to pay for county sheriff operations, create minimum salaries Legislators are moving forward with legislation that uses state funds to help pay for county law enforcement operations and sets required pay for the sheriffs. House Bill 2914 appropriates $18 million ... 05/28/2024 - 8:42 am | View Link
State lawmakers pursue 'polluters pay' bill against insurance companies: 'People are very directly seeing their premiums rise' Grist reports that a new bill would penalize any insurance company that insures Connecticut-based fossil fuel projects with a fee. The funds would then be used for a "public resilience fund" that ... 05/25/2024 - 11:30 pm | View Link
Uber and Lyft agree to deal with state lawmakers on minimum pay rates for drivers Uber and Lyft reached a deal with lawmakers on Saturday night that will raise pay for drivers across the state while preempting Minneapolis and other cities from enacting their own wage floors. The ... 05/21/2024 - 3:09 pm | View Link
Here’s what’s in the bill regulating Uber and Lyft driver pay and labor standards Uber and Lyft drivers in New York state are entitled to $26 per hour on average for the time between accepting a fare and dropping a passenger off. The minimum rates were agreed to by Uber and Lyft as ... 05/21/2024 - 9:51 am | View Link
“Now that former President Donald Trump is a convicted criminal, the Democratic Party finds itself wrestling with a choice that will help define this year’s presidential race: Should it try to push his felonies to the center of the election?,” the New York Times reports.
“The route Democrats take may determine not only Mr.
A. O. Scott: “The way to evaluate a political speech — I mean as a literary critic, not as a pundit or a partisan — is to examine how the rhetoric rises to the occasion. Does the moment demand gravity or transcendence? Humility or defiance? Do the speaker’s words answer the call of history?”
“In the case of Donald Trump’s 33-minute address in the lobby of Trump Tower on Friday, the occasion was both bizarre and momentous.
Federal prosecutors went to court last month with what seemed like a slam-dunk case that New Jersey Sen. Robert Menendez had accepted bribes to help the governments of Egypt and Qatar while he was the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
Prosecutors have the gold bars Menendez supposedly received as a corrupt payment, a cooperating witness, and text messages that, they say, showed the senator promising to take votes and other official actions in exchange for bribes.
But the prosecution is being complicated by the Constitution’s Speech or Debate Clause—or at least by the trial judge’s expansive reading of it.
Todd Blanche told the Associated Press there was a chance Donald Trump might be sentenced to jail time.
Said Blanche: “On the one hand, it would be extraordinary to send a 77-year-old to prison for a case like this. A first-time offender who was also president of United States, I mean, I think almost unheard of.”
However, he added “this is a very highly publicized case” in which some might argue Trump deserves a harsher punishment because he faces charges elsewhere.
Playbook: “Watch the prosecution’s filings in the run-up to the July 11 sentencing to see if they raise the 54 other charges pending against Trump as a reason Trump should face jail time — in addition to his lack of remorse, attacks on the justice system and ten contempt citations.”
“I was shocked at how he took the verdict. He just stood there and just kind of took it. And I think had a lot of appropriate solemnness for the moment that made me very proud to be sitting next to him when it, when it was happening.”
— Todd Blanche, Donald Trump’s attorney, quoted by the Associated Press.
Associated Press: “It’s more than drugs and border crossings. As criminals take control of territory south of the border, the U. S. could lose its top trading partner and potentially strongest ally.”