Local Solutions Help Fix Real Problems

News reporting always seems to concentrate on the things going wrong, doesn’t it? Especially since the 2016 election, there’s been a widespread feeling among Progressives that all we can do is buckle down and resist the worst of the Trump agenda. It’s easy to be discouraged into hopelessness by seeing the scale of the battles ahead of us. However, in communities across the country, individuals and organizations are actively making the world a better place to live. We don’t have to wait until government changes hands again to come up with local solutions that might just work.








St. Charles Settles Lawsuit Over Unpaid Work

Back in 2013, a lawsuit was filed against the St. Charles Health System on allegations that it was not paying employees for mandatory training. The lawsuit, which was filed back in early 2013 by Carol Lynn Giles, “a registered nurse at what was then Pioneer Memorial Hospital in Prineville,” claimed that St. Charles “violated the Fair Labor Standards Act by failing to reimburse Giles and other hourly nurses and respiratory therapists for mandatory training.”


Civil Rights Group Files Lawsuit Against Right-Wing MA Sheriff Thomas Hodgson

A civil rights watchdog filed a lawsuit against controversial Massachusetts Sheriff Thomas Hodgson last Thursday. The Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights and Economic Justice filed the lawsuit after submitting several requests for information pertaining to the sheriff’s department’s participation in a program with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The program would teach law enforcement officers


School District Pays $272,500 To Settle Bullying Lawsuit

A settlement has been paid to Amber Greene, the mother of an elementary school student who claimed her son was injured “because staff members failed to protect him from another student’s bullying behavior.” The settlement, paid by the Sioux City Community School District, totals $262,500 and was approved by the school board back in December. Other legal matters “prolonged the case” that was later dismissed by Greene’s attorney back on April 28.