The 11.7 million Americans searching for work got discouraging news Friday morning when the Labor Department said employers created only 88,000 jobs in March. The weak job growth comes at the same time benefits for the long-term unemployed are shrinking.
The smaller-than-expected increase in payrolls was a big disappointment, coming after a long stretch of much better results. Over the past year, employment growth has averaged 169,000 jobs a month.
April 5, 2013
The House has begun debate on its budget resolution, with a vote expected later this week. And as supporters talk about this budget, there's one comparison you hear a lot.
House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio: "Every family in America has to balance their budget. Washington should, too."
Rep. Scott Garrett, R-N.J.: "You know, every family in America understands the necessity of a balanced budget."
Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan, R-Wis.: "This is how every family tries to live in good times and in bad. Your government should do the same."
But just how accurate is that analogy?
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Lawmakers in Kansas passed an extensive anti-abortion measure Friday night, which Gov. Sam Brownback is expected to sign into law. The bill declares that life begins "at fertilization," prohibits abortions related to the baby's sex and blocks tax breaks for health care providers that perform abortions.
The House passed the bill 90-30, hours after the Senate approved it 28-10.
The Associated Press quoted Republican Kansas Sen. Steve Fitzgerald, a supporter of the bill, as saying, "The human is a magnificent piece of work in all stages of development, wondrous in every regard, from the microscopic until full development."
The bill, called The Women's Right to Know Act, also requires doctors to provide controversial information to patients either seeking or inquiring about an abortion of a link between the procedure and breast cancer. The National Cancer Institute concluded in 2003 that abortion does not raise the risk for breast cancer, but physicians would have to address the issue as a "potential risk" for women seeking an abortion.
The Wichita Eagle reported that Rep. Annie Kuether, D-Topeka, responded to the bill's passage by saying the measure should be called "the Women's Right to Be Lied to Act."
The Women's Right to Know Act, or HB 2253, would make Kansas one of several states to add language that limits abortion practices while keeping Roe v. Wade in mind. The 1973 Supreme Court decision upholds the rights of women to obtain abortions in some circumstances, but allows states to put certain restrictions in place.
Gov. Brownback says he still has to review the law, but he is expected to sign it, allowing the new restrictions to take effect on July 1.
Every Midwestern city has garages full of four local teenagers playing rock 'n' roll and dreaming of the big time ... but Rockford, Ill., boasts the few that made it. Rick Nielsen formed Cheap Trick with three of his friends back in 1973 in Rockford and since then they've traveled the world and put out more than 16 albums.
Since Nielsen was in a band called Cheap Trick, we've invited him play a game called "BAAAAAAAA." Three questions about sheep tricks.