Delta, US Airways Revise Offer for 'Slot' Swaps at D.C., N.Y. Airports

By Dan Reed, USA TODAY

Delta Air Lines and US Airways made the Federal Aviation Administration a counteroffer Monday in hopes of getting approval for their blockbuster swap of assets at New York's LaGuardia and Washington, D.C.'s Reagan National airports.
But the two carriers' offer falls short of the demands made last month by FAA officials. The FAA has jurisdiction over the assets swap because it involves transferring ownership of "slots," which are time-specific landing and take off rights, at two of the USA's most congested airports. Only a handful of U.S. airports are slot-limited.

United Airlines Spent $600K Lobbying Gov't in 4Q

Mon Mar 22, 6:57 pm ET

WASHINGTON – United Airlines spent $600,000 in the fourth quarter lobbying on proposed rules for dealing with stranded passengers and prohibiting using computers and other electronics in the cockpit.

Several hot-button issues showed up in proposed legislation last year, including long tarmac delays and pilots' use of laptops in the cockpit after two Northwest Airlines pilots became distracted and overflew their destination.

Remarks by the President on the House Vote on Health Insurance Reform

THE PRESIDENT: Good evening, everybody. Tonight, after nearly 100 years of talk and frustration, after decades of trying, and a year of sustained effort and debate, the United States Congress finally declared that America’s workers and America's families and America's small businesses deserve the security of knowing that here, in this country, neither illness nor accident should endanger the dreams they’ve worked a lifetime to achieve.

Immigrant Students Deserve a DREAM

Ilana Strauss

Marchers walk to the National Mall on Sunday, waving signs to demand immigration reform. Dozens from Martin County attended the march

by James Parks, Mar 22, 2010

Our nation cannot afford to lose the productivity of thousands of undocumented immigrant students, a coalition of union, student and civil rights leaders said today. A day after a massive march in Washington, D.C., for comprehensive immigration reform, the leaders called on Congress to fix the nation’s broken immigration system by passing real reform legislation, including the Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors (DREAM) Act.

Top-Hatted 'Bankers' Peddle for Taxpayer Cash in D.C., and More Good Jobs Action

by Mike Hall, Mar 22, 2010

In Cleveland this afternoon, AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Liz Shuler told a crowd of union activists outside a Morgan Stanley office:

“We’re here at Morgan Stanley to make one thing clear. We need good jobs now. And we are going to make Wall Street pay.”

Meanwhile, in another of the AFL-CIO’s 200 “Good Jobs Now, Make Wall Street Pay” actions taking place through the end of this week, top-hatted “bankers” panhandled for even more bonus bonanzas on a sidewalk in front of a Washington, D.C., Bank of America branch.

AGC: Jacksonville Lost 7,000 Construction Jobs

The Jacksonville area lost 19 percent of its construction workers last year, Associated General Contractors of America reported.

Construction employment declined by 7,000 to 36,000 workers from January 2009 to January 2010, ranking Jacksonville No. 266 out of 337 metro areas for job growth in the industry.

Only nine out of 337 metro areas nationwide added construction jobs between January 2009 and 2010, the construction industry association’s report said.

The Recovery Act

The evidence is clear – and growing by the day – that the Recovery Act is working to cushion the greatest economic crisis since the Great Depression and lay a new foundation for economic growth. Public and private forecasters ranging from the Council of Economic Advisors to Moody’s Economy and IHS Global have said the Recovery Act was responsible for 2 million jobs or even more nationwide in the first year alone. These jobs have also laid the groundwork for a new clean energy economy, revitalized infrastructure and transportation, helped transform health information technology, and helped make America more competitive for generations to come.

This is What Change Looks Like

President Barack Obama, Vice President Joe Biden, and senior staff, react in the Roosevelt Room of the White House, as the House passes the health care reform bill, March 21, 2010. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

Posted by Jesse Lee on March 22, 2010 at 12:04 AM EDT

After a historical vote in the House to send health reform to the President, he speaks to all Americans on the change they will finally see as they are given back control over their own health care:

Good evening, everybody. Tonight, after nearly 100 years of talk and frustration, after decades of trying, and a year of sustained effort and debate, the United States Congress finally declared that America’s workers and America's families and America's small businesses deserve the security of knowing that here, in this country, neither illness nor accident should endanger the dreams they’ve worked a lifetime to achieve.

It's a 'Hard Land' for Locked-Out Miners

by Mike Hall, Mar 21, 2010

Several hundred Los Angeles-area union members recently came together to lend support and solidarity to the nearly 600 members of International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) Local 30 locked out at Rio Tinto’s Borax mine in Boron, Calif. Now, you can get a firsthand look at this union solidarity in action with this slide show set to the word and music of Bruce Springsteen’s “This Hard Land.”

U.S. Government Faults Regulator on Southwest Airlines

Reuters – Southwest Airlines planes prepare for departure from Oakland International Airport in Oakland, California

Fri Mar 19, 5:11 am ET

(Reuters) – A U.S. government watchdog faulted the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) for allowing Southwest Airlines Co to fly jets that had not undergone mandatory maintenance work, violating stipulated safety rules, the Wall Street Journal said.

The U.S. Office of Special Counsel said on Thursday that the company failed to complete certain required maintenance involving rivets around the window frames of 55 of its Boeing 737 aircraft, the paper said, citing the counsel's documents.