Good morning — and a happy 74th birthday to Smokey Robinson! Here are some of the stories we’re reading this morning…
Kiev on fire –> The Ukraine Ministry of Health reports 25 dead, including police officers and a journalist, in continuing street violence. At Mother Jones, Eric Wuestewald offers an explainer that has all the background you need.
CBO lobs another grenade –> The Congressional Budget Office projected that hiking the minimum wage to $10.10 would raise incomes for 25 million people, but cost 500,000 jobs. The Nation’s George Zornick reports that CBO’s projected job-losses fall outside the mainstream of economic research. And Matt Yglesias writes at Slate that if zero jobs were lost it would only show that the raise was too small.
Here, have one free pizza –> Last week, there was a massive explosion at a fracking well in Bobtown, Penn., which burned for five days and left one resident missing and presumed dead. But it’s OK, because Chevron apologized and offered town residents coupons for a free pizza. Via Lindsay Abrams at Salon.
Details, details –> Rosalind S. Helderman reports for The Washington Post that two criminal investigations may “complicate” Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker’s presidential ambitions.
More profits from prisoners –> Truthout’s Maya Schenwar on the for-profit prison phone call racket.
Problems intersect –> First-time homebuyers are hard to find, and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau says one reason there are so few is that young people are burdened with so much student debt. Ashlee Kieler has the story at Consumerist.
Rand Paul’s wrong –> So writes John Nichols in The Nation, arguing that the US doesn’t need a new GOP, it needs the old, pre-radicalized version.
Seriously, what’s the matter with Kansas? –> Under current law, Kansas schoolchildren can be spanked as long as it’s not hard enough to leave a mark, but now Sunflower State lawmakers want to change the law to “allow up to 10 strikes of the hand and smacks hard enough to leave redness and bruising,” according to local KCTV News.
Take that, Vlad –> Openly gay and bisexual women are doing great at Sochi, according to Patricia Nell Warren at OutSports.
We’ll believe when we see it –> At National Memo, Jason Sattler argues that seniors are turning on the GOP, and says it may prove to be a game changer in the midterms.
Who do you represent? –> The Ohio Department of Public Resources developed a plan to promote fracking and marginalize environmental activists. Katie Valentine reports for ThinkProgress.
No progress for you! –> Lisa Rein reports for The Washington Post that the paper industry has created a “consumer group” that’s lobbying the federal government to slow down its transition to electronic records.
Creepiest impact of global warming? –> In Italy, a thawing glacier is gradually revealing the mummified remains of soldiers killed during the highest battle of World War I. Via: Motherboard.
