NEWSBYANTONIO RAMIREZ

Progressive voices scored a major victory for child labor laws. And I'm not talking about the 1920s--I'm talking about last week in Maine.

In a state whose unemployment level is closing in on 8%, the Maine GOP recently decided they'll help get the economy back on track by putting the state's child labor laws on the chopping block.

Two bills, LD 1346 and LD 516, would have rolled back Maine's child labor laws by allowing the state's kids to work longer for less--a lot less. Maine Republicans hoped to permit employers to pay workers under age 20 as little as $5.25 an hour, a full $2.25 below the minimum wage.

Fortunately, organizations like the Maine Women's Lobby are standing up to Republican attacks on child labor laws. And they're winning.

Last week, the Labor Committee voted down the bill that would have allowed employers to pay children below the minimum wage unanimously and without discussion. Committee members had no doubt gotten an earful from Maine Women's Lobby supporters, angry residents and parents.

However, LD 516, the bill that would allow kids to work longer hours during the school year and on school nights, is still alive. The original bill, amended after major push-back, would have allowed kids to work up to 32 hours during the school week.

In its current form, however, LD 516 would still amend Maine child labor laws passed in 1991 by allowing kids to work up to 24 hours a week and until 11pm on school nights. Those laws were passed partially after teachers complained that students who worked long hours outside of school were falling asleep in class, reports the Sun Journal.

LD 516 passed the Senate this week, and soon goes to the House for final approval. Click here to tell Maine Republicans to Stop the Attack on Child Labor Laws!

Photo Credit: InfoPlease

Republican attacks on working people began immediately after they gained the majority in several state governments late last year under the banner of "fiscal responsibility". In Wisconsin, Gov. Scott Walker announced he'd fix a budget shortfall by smashing public sector unions. The governors of Ohio and Michigan took similar aim at unions and working people.

But Maine Republicans have set their sights on an even more vulnerable population of workers: kids.

In a state whose unemployment level is closing in on 8%, the Maine GOP has decided they'll help get the economy back on track by putting the state's child labor laws on the chopping block. Their proposals would allow kids to work longer hours during the school week for pay that is below the minimum wage.

Since the early 1990s, Radio Victoria has provided a voice for the residents of the northern hills of El Salvador. Founded in the aftermath of the nation's bloody civil war, today Radio Victoria transmits daily local and international news and other programs to communities so poor they often lack telephone and mail services.

The journalists who run the station are mostly 16 to 24 year-olds who grew up in Honduran refugee camps and returned to the area with their families as the civil war raged around them.

And now, someone wants them dead.

Last month, Radio Victoria's workers began receiving a wave of death threats from a shadowy group reminiscent of the macabre rightwing "death squads" active during the civil war.

It's been a harrowing ride for gay and lesbian couples that include a partner without U.S. citizenship -- and that's just considering the past two weeks.

Couples like John Beddingfield and Erwin de Leon, a citizen and a Filipino doctoral student, quickly made their 12-year relationship official when Washington, D.C., allowed same-sex couples to marry. But although the Obama Administration has refused to defend laws against same-sex marriage in court, the federal government still doesn't recognize marriages like Beddingfield and de Leon's.

So even though de Leon is married to a US citizen, he isn't eligible to start the process to become a citizen himself. Researchers estimate that around 24,000 couples are in the same situation.

Wisconsin residents were stunned last week when a "clerical error" dropped more than 14,000 new votes into a heated Supreme Court election, changing the results in favor of the Republican incumbent.

Now, Wisconsin Rep. Tammy Baldwin and others want a federal investigation into the matter.

The race between incumbent Republican David Prosser and challenger JoAnne Kloppenburg and was seen by many as a referendum on Republican Governor Scott Walker's first months in office. Walker sparked the largest protests in state history when he announced he would  "fix" an $137 million budget shortfall by eliminating collective bargaining rights for public workers - a controversial measure that will probably be heard by the Wisconsin Supreme Court. Kloppenburg, if elected, would likely shift the court's 4-3 conservative majority.

But many are questioning the sudden appearance of over 14,000 votes in such a highly partisan and critical election.

This week, Wisconsin Supreme Court candidate JoAnne Kloppenburg pulled off the unthinkable when she defeated incumbent Republican judge David Prosser by 204 votes of almost 1.5 million cast.

The race was hotly partisan and seen by many as a referendum on Republican Governor Scott Walker's first months in office. Walker sparked the largest protests in state history when he announced he would  "fix" an $137 million budget shortfall by eliminating collective bargaining rights for public workers -- a controversial measure that will probably be heard by the Wisconsin Supreme Court. Kloppenburg, if elected, would likely shift the court's 4-3 conservative majority.

But suddenly, less than two days after Kloppenburg declared victory, an elections clerk in Waukesha County, a solidly Republican district, shocked the state when she claimed that she "failed to save" 14,315 votes on her computer. The new ballots put Prosser ahead by 7,500 votes.

President Obama visited El Salvador this week to discuss the drug trade, immigration, and security issues in the region with Salvadoran president Mauricio Funes. The murders of Salvadoran anti-mining activists, however, were not on the agenda.

We recently covered the story of Salvadoran anti-mining activists being threatened, robbed, kidnapped and murdered while attempting to halt Pacific Rim, a Canadian mining company, from excavating gold in the northern department of Cabañas.

The struggle began in 2004, when Pacific Rim conducted its first gold explorations in Cabañas. Residents that had previously noticed the effects of other mines - dry wells, skin irritations, and dead animals - were skeptical of a new, massive gold project. Local Salvadoran organizations responded by researching the environmental, social and economic impacts of mining.

In 2005, Wisconsin Republican Jim Sensenbrenner sponsored the most draconian anti-immigration bill in nearly a century. HR 4437 would have instituted jail time and increased fines for undocumented immigrants as well as punishments for people who "aided or assisted" them, potentially including teachers, healthcare workers and employees of other public agencies.

In response, Voces de la Frontera, a Milwaukee-based low-wage workers' center, organized hundreds of thousands of people in Wisconsin to flood the streets in protest. The mega-marches in Wisconsin and across the country galvanized a national immigrant rights movement and stopped the "Sensenbrenner Bill." Now, Wisconsin Republican Don Pridemore hopes to pick a similar fight and, as in 2005, Voces de la Frontera and hundreds of thousands of state residents will be ready.

The Farm Labor Organizing Committee (FLOC) has a simple request for CEO Daniel Delen: sit down and talk with farmworkers about human rights abuses in North Carolina tobacco fields. So far, he's ignored them.

This month, Delen became CEO of Reynolds American, the nation's second-largest tobacco company, for a cool $1 million a year. Reynolds rakes in around $2 billion in profits each year buying tobacco from local growers in North Carolina and other states. The growers, in turn, employ mostly Latino farmworkers to harvest and dry tobacco.

While Reynolds executives like Delen and local tobacco growers enjoy yearly lucrative profits, life is drastically different for the people that actually harvest the crop.

Tobacco is notoriously difficult work among migrant workers; working and living conditions border on the inhuman. The average North Carolina farmworker works long hours stooped over harvesting tobacco leaves and earns around $7,000 a year. About half the state's farmworkers don't earn enough to feed their families, according to the North Carolina Farmworker Institute. Growers aren't required to pay farmworkers the federal minimum wage for other workers or overtime pay, while farmworkers are frequently cheated out of even their sub-par wages.

Dozens of Wisconsin teachers, students and community members will walk three days and almost 100 miles from Milwaukee to Madison this weekend to protest Governor Scott Walker's attacks on public employee unions and public education.

"We are marching to Madison to defend the rights of all workers to collectively bargain and to make sure that all students are guaranteed a free public education," said Chris Fons, a Milwaukee social studies teacher and member of POWER, the organization sponsoring the rally.

Last month, Wisconsin became ground zero for Republican attacks on public unions when Gov. Walker announced he would "fix" an $137 million budget shortfall by eliminating collective bargaining rights for public workers. Outrage against the bill quickly spread across Wisconsin. Tens of thousands of workers, students, and supporters overwhelmed the capital building in Madison chanting "Kill The Bill!". Last Saturday, crowds topped 100,000 in Madison and were supported by solidarity rallies in all 50 states.

This week, Gov. Walker also announced he would cut state aid to public schools by over $800 million and limit the amount districts can increase revenues. Walker's plan could amount to a $74 million drop in funding next year for Milwaukee Public Schools, while simultaneously expanding the system's private school voucher program. Wisconsin's voucher program, a darling of the right-wing, has also been central to struggles over the privatization of public education for decades.