Think Progress

Federal Prisons Throwing Inmates In ‘Little Guantanamo’ - And Don’t Have To Say Why

They’re known to many as “Gitmo North” or “Little Guantanamo”: restrictive units in federal prisons in Illinois and Indiana that cut off inmates from almost all contact with their families and loved ones. Prisoners get two 15-minute phone calls a week. When their family and friends travel for their two 4-hour visits a month, they are not allowed to touch each other. No hugs. No arms around shoulders. Just a phone call on two sides of a thick plastic window. The conversation is monitored by guards, who could stop it at any moment if inmates speak in a language other than English, use hand signals, or break another one of the many visiting rules.

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10 Reasons to Raise the Minimum Wage (with Charts)

There have been rumors lately that Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) is trying to broker a smaller minimum wage increase. The offer is a non-starter for Democratic leaders, and would in fact lock low-income workers into poverty wages for the indefinite future. Here at CAP Action, we agree. The Senate’s plan to vote on a minimum wage increase has been pushed back several times, but what matters most is that it stays at $10.10. Here are ten reasons why raising the minimum wage to $10.10 is the right thing for America’s workers and for our economy:

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Homeowner Who Shot Elderly Man With Alzheimer’s Won’t Be Charged

The Walker County, Ga., District Attorney said Friday he will not press charges against the homeowner who shot and killed an elderly man wandering on his property. 72-year-old Ronald Westbrook, who has Alzheimer’s disease, had been walking around the Chickamauga area, a rural neighborhood in north Georgia, when he walked onto Joe Hendrix’s property at around 2:30 a.m. Hendrix’s fiancÃ©e called 911 and a deputy was dispatched. But before he arrived, Hendrix took matters into his own hands, walking out the front door and firing three or four shots at Westbrook, one of which hit him in the chest.

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Florida Man Hops Fence to Shoot and Kill 21-year-old in a Hoodie - Then Claims Self Defense

On Thursday, an Orlando man shot and killed a 21-year-old who was fleeing his yard. He didn’t appear to be stealing anything, according to witness accounts. He didn’t appear to be threatening anybody. But Claudius Smith said he feared he was a burglar, followed him over the fence to a neighboring apartment complex, where he shot him after he said he felt threatened, according to a confession documented in an Orlando Police Department report. Smith even said he feared victim Ricardo Sanes was armed “because his pants were falling down” and his hands were in his hoodie pockets, according to a report obtained by the Orlando Sentinel.

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The 6 Most Terrifying Facts About the Chemical Spill Contaminating West Virginia’s Drinking Water

On Thursday, an estimated 300,000 residents of nine counties in West Virginia were told they could not use or drink their tap water after a chemical used to wash coal of impurities spilled from a holding tank into the Elk River. The spill prompted Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin to declare a state of emergency, and 9-1-1 received more than 1,000 calls in the hours after a spill, with four or five people transported to the hospital by ambulance. According to the National Library of Medicine, repeated or prolonged exposure to the chemical, 4-Methylcyclohexane Methanol, can “cause headaches, irritation of the eyes, nose, and throat, and can also cause a skin rash.”

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Because Progress Never Stops!

UPDATE

UPDATE

In-state residents can only buy an ounce at a time. Out-of-staters are limited to 1/4 ounce.

You may have to travel a long way to find a legal dispensary.

Medical marijuana patients will have increased access.

1. An Alabama blogger is still sitting in a jail cell for exercising his First Amendment rights

2. A teen spent three years in jail without a conviction or trial

3. A man who killed an escort for refusing sex was acquitted by a jury

4. A wealthy teen used the ‘Affluenza’ defense to skirt jail time for four deaths

5. A man whose testimony was beaten out of him spent 30 years in prison before he was released last month

6. Top Enron fraudster will spend less time in prison than a father who sold his own pain pills

7. College quarterback escapes any charges in rape case

8. A black man remains on death row after testimony that blacks are more dangerous

9. George Zimmerman acquitted

10. Shooters around the country granted immunity for causing death