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California’s jail population will rise due to Prop. 36. So will inmate deaths, advocates say
by Nigel Duara December 17, 2024 In summary California recorded historically high numbers of deaths in county jails for the past six years. Now, counties expect to house more prisoners as Prop. 36 takes effect. According to Orange County Sheriff Don Barnes, California doesn’t have a crisis in its jails, where record numbers of people have…
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Hospitals gave patients meds during childbirth, then reported them for positive drug tests
By Shoshana Walter Published December 11, 2024 at 2:33 PM CST Amairani Salinas was 32 weeks pregnant with her fourth child in 2023 when doctors at a Texas hospital discovered that her baby no longer had a heartbeat. As they prepped her for an emergency cesarean section, they gave her midazolam, a benzodiazepine commonly prescribed to keep…
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Texas professors self-censor for fear of retaliation, survey found
By Kate McGee Published December 12, 2024 at 1:02 PM CST University professors across the political spectrum in Texas are preemptively self-censoring themselves for fear of damaging their reputations or losing their jobs, according to a new survey from the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, a First Amendment advocacy group. More than 6,200 professors from across…
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Texas conservatives plan to further restrict trans lives this legislative session
Emboldened by the recent election, some Texas lawmakers are already filing bills that would dictate bathroom use, limit gender identity markers on documents and restrict funding for surgeries. By Eleanor Klibanoff Dec. 4, 2024 5AM Central Eight years ago, when conservative state lawmakers tried to restrict what bathrooms trans people could use, moderate Republicans quietly killed the…
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Advancing Disability Inclusion in Post-Crisis Recovery
December 3, 2024 By Ioana Creitaru, Programme Specialist, Vanessa Schultz, Programme Analyst and Gloria Ferrara, Intern, UNDP Crisis Bureau As we commemorate the 2024 International Day of Persons with Disabilities, it becomes evident that advancing disability inclusion in post-crisis recovery is not just a moral imperative but a strategic priority for building resilient and equitable…
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Amazon makes it harder for disabled employees to work from home
By Spencer Soper Nov. 15, 2024 at 3:13 pm Amazon is making it harder for disabled employees to get permission to work from home, underscoring the tech giant’s determination to get its corporate workforce back to the office five days a week. The company recently told employees with disabilities that it was implementing a more rigorous vetting…
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Biden moves to end subminimum wages for people with disabilities
By Jacqueline Alemany Updated December 3, 2024 The Biden administration is moving to phase out a Depression-era program that allows some employers to pay disabled workers far less than minimum wage, fulfilling one of President Joe Biden’s campaign promises and triggering what will probably become a fierce legal and political battle. The decision is the culmination of…
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Illinois could phase out subminimum wage for disabled workers. Could it cost some their jobs?
By Sara Machi November 19, 2024 / 4:28 PM CST / CBS Chicago To watch video report, Click Here. CHICAGO (CBS) — A proposed change in Illinois law would eliminate the subminimum wage for workers with disabilities, but some fear it could leave the state’s most vulnerable out of work altogether. In the Avenues to Independence warehouse in…
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He was stuck in a hospital for 8 months. How states can fail people with disabilities
By Sam Whitehead November 21, 2024 11:39 AM ET ATLANTA — Lloyd Mills was tired of being stuck in a small, drab hospital room. On a rainy mid-September morning, a small TV attached to a mostly blank white wall played silently. There was nothing in the space to cheer it up — no cards, no flowers.…
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