Revenge of the Lunch Ladies

The city of Chicago, steered for years by privatization-happy Democrats Richard Daley and now Rahm Emanuel, has been heading down a similar path. Of the 11 new schools the city has built under a $1 billion program since 2006, 9 have no kitchen facilities and serve food based on what the Unite Here union, which organizes Chicago's cafeteria workers, calls the "frozen food model."


But the workers fought back—and the famously contentious Mayor Emanuel and his education team blinked. In their contract negotiations with the city, the workers won a five-year moratorium on building any new kitchenless schools or converting old ones over to the heat-and-serve model.

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FDA Gives Patients Less-Expensive Option, Approves First Generic Versions Of Plavix

The Associated Press: FDA OKs Multiple Companies To Sell Generic Plavix

Patients taking the popular blood thinner Plavix now have the option of getting a less-expensive pill, following the approval Thursday of the first generic versions in the U.S. That's because the patent for Plavix, the world's second-best-selling medicine, just expired. Plavix is taken by millions of people every day to prevent heart attacks and strokes, by preventing platelets in the blood from clumping together (Johnson, 5/17).

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Legislation would help veterans discharged under 'Don't Ask Don't Tell' collect state benefits

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Californians discharged from the military for being gay would have a better chance of recouping veterans' benefits under a law approved by the Assembly.

AB1505 is a response to the recent repeal of a 1993 federal law that allowed gays to serve as long as they kept their sexual orientation private.

Democratic Assemblyman Richard Pan of Sacramento said he wrote the bill because all people who dedicated their lives to the country deserve benefits, including medical care.

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Katherine Archuleta - "Why I'm Here"

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