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A group is calling on back-to-school shoppers to boycott Macy's and Kroger stores in Texas this weekend, in retaliation for the national retailers' efforts to quash a bill that would have strengthened the state's wage discrimination law.

The bill was vetoed in June after winning bipartisan approval in the legislature. Its sponsors included state Sen. Wendy Davis, who told KERA, "if a woman didn't discover [a pay imbalance with her male colleagues] within her first 180 days of employment she has no cause of action in the State of Texas."

Gov. Rick Perry offered no explanation for the veto — but this week, the Houston Chronicle reported that Perry had received "letters against the measure from the Texas Retailers Association and five of its members," including the two companies.

From NPR member station KSTX, Ryan Poppe filed this Newscast report from Austin:

"Macy's department store and Kroger's groceries urged Texas Gov. Rick Perry to veto the Texas Fair Pay Act, which would have allowed women to sue employers for wage discrimination in state court. Ed Espinoza of Progress Texas is leading a boycott against the retailers.

"'Basically if they want to veto the legislation, we are saying you can veto the stores right back by not going to the stores this weekend,' he says.

"This particular weekend is the state's annual back-to-school tax-free holiday. Shoppers save the 6.25 percent sales tax on things like blue jeans and backpacks. Typically, Texas retailers bring in an extra 6-7 percent in sales revenue. Boycott backers want Macy's and Kroger's to miss out on some of that revenue bump this year."

A few weeks back, Sharon Roberts, who had been diagnosed with endometrial cancer last year, tweeted:

@teachdance11: the BRCA gene test is 2 parts. Aetna paid $300 part. Not the $7000 part. Gotta be rich to be in the know

Maurice Ashley may be a professional chess player, but he approaches the game like a spy. By carefully studying his competitiors' habits — from their previously played games to their favorite moves – he has taken down enough chess champions to earn the title of International Grandmaster, the first African-American player in history to do so. He's also a three-time national championship chess coach, the author of two books, and the designer of the app "Learn Chess! with Maurice Ashley."

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Looks like Arabian camels might be hiding more than just fat in those furry humps.

Scientists have found evidence that dromedary camels — the ones with just one hump — may be carriers of the lethal coronavirus in the Middle East, which has infected at least 94 people and killed 46 since first appearing in Saudi Arabia last year.

The findings, published Thursday in the journal Lancet Infectious Disease, offer a new clue about where people might be catching the virus — one of the big mysterious surrounding the Middle East respiratory syndrome., or MERS.

Virologist Marion Koopmans and her team at the National Institute for Public Health and the Environment in the Netherlands looked for signs of previous MERS infections in 50 retired racing camels in Oman, which borders Saudi Arabia to the south. The team also tested 105 camels in the Canary Islands, Spain, off the coast of Western Africa.

Shots - Health News

Middle East Coronavirus Called 'Threat To The Entire World'