California raises minimum wage to $15 an hour

On Monday, California governor Jerry Brown announced a deal to raise the state minimum wage to $15 per hour by 2022. The deal marks the largest victory to date of the national fight for $15 an hour. USA TODAY

Fast-food worker protests the past three years have helped drive a movement to raise wages to $15 an hour in several states and cities.(Photo: Ross D. Franklin, AP)

A deal to raise California's minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2022 was reached Monday by Gov. Jerry Brown and state legislators, making the nation's largest state the first to lift base earnings to that level and propelling a campaign to lift the pay floor nationally.

The increase will boost the wages of about 6.5 million California residents, or 43% of the state's workforce, who earn less than $15, according to worker group Fight for $15. The proposal had been headed to a statewide referendum. It's now expected to be approved by the state assembly.

"This plan raises the minimum wage in a careful and responsible way and provides some flexibility if economic and budgetary conditions change," Brown said. The governor can temporarily suspend the hikes in the event of poor economic conditions or a large budget deficit.

About a dozen cities have approved bumps in their minimum wages to $15, including Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle and several other municipalities in California.

In New York, Gov. Andrew Cuomo has proposed a $15 pay floor for New York City starting in 2019 and across the state by 2021. A plan is already in place to hike wages for fast-food and state government workers in both New York City and the state.

Increases to $15 in New York and California "clearly would create national momentum for other states to follow their lead," particularly Democratic- leaning coastal states, said Paul Sonn, NELP's general counsel.

Under California's plan, its minimum wage, currently one of the highest in the nation at $10 an hour, would rise to $10.50 in 2017, $11 in 2018 and a dollar each year through 2022.

The pact was also hailed by labor advocates. "This is a very, very significant increase and for the first time would begin to reverse years of falling pay at the bottom" of the income ladder, Sonn said

The California legislation follows a series of one-day strikes by low-wage and other fast food workers demanding a $15 wage over the past 3½ years, protests funded by the Service Employees International Union. The crusade was written off as quixotic when it began but NELP officials credited it with prodding lawmakers as well as companies such as Facebook, Google and Nationwide Insurance to set $15 as base pay.

A $15 wage has even become a centerpiece of the presidential campaign. The Democratic Party adopted a $15 minimum in its platform and Sen. Bernie Sanders supports it. Hillary Clinton has said she backs a $12 pay floor.

Proposals to increase the federal minimum wage from $7.25 an hour to about $10 have been blocked by Republicans in Congress. Republicans and other critics say the state-level increases will force some businesses to replace workers with technology and even shut down in the face of rising costs.

Contributing: Matt Krantz

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McDonald's workers told to treat burns with condiments, survey shows

Among issues cited in 28 health and safety complaints filed against fast-food giant are understaffing and pressure to work fast without proper safety gear

McDonald's to workers: rub some mustard on it. Photograph: Vincent Yu/AP

McDonald's workers who have suffered severe burns in their workplace filed 28 health and safety complaints against the company in 19 cities over the past two weeks, a labor group announced on Monday.

The complaints, which were filed with the US Occupational Safety and Health Administration as well as state safety and health authorities, allege that many of the injuries occurred because of understaffing and the pressure to work fast. After such accidents occurred, management often lacked first-aid supplies to treat the injuries and instead often told the workers to treat their burns with condiments.

McDonald's said in a statement that it is "committed to providing safe working conditions for employees in the 14,000 McDonald's Brand US restaurants" and will review the allegations. A McDonald's spokeswoman, Heidi Barker Sa Shekhem, said: "It is important to note that these complaints are part of a larger strategy orchestrated by activists targeting our brand and designed to generate media coverage."

The complaints were filed with the assistance of labor organizing group Fight for $15, which is pushing for a higher minimum wage and union representation for fast-food workers. On Monday, Fight for $15 also launched a petition asking the US Department of Labor to investigate health and safety hazards in the fast-food industry.

"My managers kept pushing me to work faster, and while trying to meet their demands I slipped on a wet floor, catching my arm on a hot grill," Brittney Berry said on a conference call on Monday. Berry has worked at McDonald's in Chicago since 2011; when she slipped, she suffered a severe burn on her forearm and nerve damage from the accident. "The managers told me to put mustard on it, but I ended up having to get rushed to the hospital in an ambulance."

Afterward, Berry missed three weeks of work without pay.

Using condiments to soothe workplace burns is more than just a one-time occurrence at McDonald's. According to a survey by Hart Research Associates, 33% of fast-food workers who were burned at work were told by their manager to use condiments such mustard, butter or ketchup instead of burn cream.

Martisse Campbell works at McDonald's in Philadelphia and is often tasked with emptying the grease traps at his store.

"One of my coworkers and I have to empty the grease trap without protective gear, and since we were never given the proper equipment or training, we just dump the hot grease into a plastic bag in a box of ice," said Campbell. "Once, my coworker got badly burned, and our manager told him: 'Put mayonnaise on it, you'll be good.'"

Campbell too has burned his hand with boiling grease from a fryer. Both he and Berry say that accidents such as these are "exactly why workers at McDonald's need union rights".

McDonald's closely monitors all aspects of its franchisees' operations, but when it comes to health and safety, it looks the other way with a "wink and a nod", alleges Kendall Fells, organizing director of Fight for $15. "McDonald's has the power to protect its employees, but it's just not doing it," said Fells.

Copies of the complaints revealed that in each of the complaints, workers had requested inspections of their worksite. Findings of the investigations triggered by such complaints are usually released within six months.

The workers say that they want the fast-food giant to take responsibility for the dangers in its restaurants, from the pressure to clean the fryer while the oil is hot and the lack of protective gear, to basics like greasy and wet floors and missing or empty first-aid kits.

"Our first-aid kit is just an empty box," Campbell said on Monday.

Four in five fast-food workers have been burned on the job in the past year, according to a Heart Research survey of 1,426 adults working at a variety of fast-food restaurants. The survey was conducted online, on platforms such as Facebook, and those who participated were then eligible to win a gift card.

About 58% of the surveyed workers have been burned multiple times; reasons why such accidents occur include understaffing and the pressure to work faster than is safe, according to the workers surveyed.

On Tuesday, fast-food workers plan to hold protests at McDonald's stores to demand that the company take responsibility for these dangers. The 19 cities where complaints have been filed include Kansas City, Missouri; New York City; New Orleans and Philadelphia.

About 90% of US McDonald's restaurants are "independently owned and operated by franchisees", according to McDonald's. Workers filed complaints at both corporate and franchised locations reporting the same health and safety hazards.

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Gun Store Owner Refuses to Sell Weapon to Man Suspected of Planning Mass Shooting at Ohio University

A gun store owner is being credited with possibly stopping a mass shooting at Ohio University after he refused to sell a gun to a man who passed a background check, CNN reported on Sunday.

Ohio gun store owner John Downs is pictured in March 2016. (Credit: WSYX)

James Howard passed a background check when attempting to buy a long gun last Monday, but sounded as if he might be planning to hurt himself or others, John Downs, owner of Downs Bait and Guns, told local TV station WSYX.

"I just said, you know what, bud, I have a really bad feeling about this. I just can't sell you the gun," Downs said.

The former Ohio University student and hockey player left the store angry, and later returned, according to Downs.

The store owner then turned off the shop's "open" sign, told his customers to hide, loaded three guns, and called 911, he said.

Sheriff's officials in Ohio believe James Howard was planning a mass shooting at a local university in March 2016. (Credit: WSYX)

Howard was later arrested at a nearby Wal-Mart while buying survival gear, CNN reports.

"From what I know of the circumstances, I believe he did prevent a mass shooting that was probably going to occur at (Ohio University) in Athens," said Hocking County Sheriff's Office Sheriff Lanny North. "He had an enormous amount of ammunition he was going to purchase, shotgun shells and 22-caliber rifle ammunition."

Ohio University police were preparing to send out a campus alert when Howard was apprehended, CNN reports.

Howard was being held on burglary and weapons charges, and in lieu of $100,000 bail.

CNN contributed to this report. 

39.329240 -82.101255

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Parents who fail to vaccinate their children in Uganda will face six months in jail.

Parents who fail to vaccinate their children in Uganda will face six months in jail, according to a new law signed by President Yoweri Museveni.

It also requires children to have an immunisation card to allow them to go to school.

The law will help the government reach its vaccination target, Health Minister Sarah Achieng Opendi told the BBC.

Some parents and members of a religious cult have refused to allow their children vaccinated, she says.

The government's vaccination campaign targets several life-threatening diseases including polio and meningitis.

In 2015, the World Health Organization estimated that 70 children out of every 1,000 will die before they reached the age of five in Uganda.

'Ch ildren hidden'

Ms Opendi told the BBC Focus on Africa radio programme that 3% of Uganda's children had not been immunised.

During sensitisation campaigns, some children had been found hidden in slums by their parents to avoid the exercise, she said.

Some religious leaders have previously been arrested but could not be charged because there was no specific law, Ms Opendi added.

The cult that refused to immunise their children is known as 666 and was growing, she said.

"It started in a few districts in eastern Uganda, but now it has spread and now we are seeing it all over the country," the minister said.

President Museveni signed the act into law on 10 March, but this has only just been made public.

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Obama says media must ask tougher questions of presidential candidates

'America is the place where you can't afford completely crazy politics,' president tells journalism award dinner

Barack Obama delivers the keynote address at the awards dinner for Syracuse University's Toner prize for excellence in political reporting in Washington. Photograph: Yuri Gripas/Reuters

President Barack Obama on Monday laid some of the blame for the tone of the presidential campaign on political journalism that has been pinched by shrinking newsroom budgets and cheapened by a focus on retweets and likes on social media.

In a speech to a journalism awards dinner, Syracuse University's Toner prize for excellence in political reporting, Obama urged journalists to ask tougher questions of the candidates vying to be president.

He voiced dismay over the vulgar rhetoric, violence at rallies and unrealistic campaign pledges that have continually grabbed headlines, in a thinly veiled reference to Republican front-runner Donald Trump.

"The number one question I'm getting as I travel around the world or talk to world leaders right now is, what is happening in America about our politics?" Obama said, describing international alarm over whether the United States will continue to function effectively.

"It's not because around the world people have not seen crazy politics. It is that they understand America is the place where you can't afford completely crazy politics," he said.

"When our elected officials and our political campaigns become entirely untethered to reason and facts and analysis, when it doesn't matter what's true and what's not, that makes it all but impossible for us to make good decisions on behalf of future generations."

He said the media landscape has changed since his first presidential campaign in 2008, when "there was a price if you said one thing and then did something completely different".

He went on: "The question is, in the current media environment, is that still true? Does that still hold?"

He said news organisations have a responsibility to dig deeper despite the faster pace of "this smartphone age" and steep financial pressures in the news business.

Voters "would be better served if billions of dollars in free media came with serious accountability, especially when politicians issue unworkable plans or make promises they can't keep", Obama said.

The New York Times earlier this month reported that Trump has so far earned almost $1.9bn-worth (£1.3bn) of media coverage, compared with $313m for the next closest Republican challenger, Senator Ted Cruz of Texas, and $746m for Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton.

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Harrisonburg, VA police refuse to release existing bodycam footage of fatal shooting, refuse third party investigation, citing "department preference."

HARRISONBURG, Va. (WHSV) -- A grieving father demanding Harrisonburg Police release body camera footage of his son's deadly shooting.

The standoff between Harrisonburg Police and Michael Pierce Jr was all captured on camera last fall. Pierce's father accuses HPD of withholding some of the video. HPD insists it's been as transparent as possible.

"I heard them say, 'get back away from the weapon. If you don't back away I'll kill you, I'll kill you!'" Michael Pierce Sr describes what he heard in police footage.

"And then I heard pow, pow, pow, pow, pow," he explained.

Pierce Sr stares at a TV with Harrisonburg Police. They were playing for him the body camera footage of an officer present the day his son was killed.

"I saw his body on the ground, and I told them I don't want to see anymore," Pierce breaks down recounting the footage.

As Pierce was starting to learn more about what happened so too was the media.

Harrisonburg Police Chief, Stephen Monticelli, held a new conference five days after the shooting.

"I want to remind the community that our officers and their families are also deeply affected by these circumstances. They too need our support," he said.

This is how Harrisonburg Police described what unfolded on September 20, 2015:

Pierce Jr. placed a gun to the chest of a neighbor. When officers arrived, they found him sitting on that neighbor's porch next to his gun. Then, he picked up the weapon. After police ordered him more than 40 times to drop the gun, he ran away and fired at officers. That's when they fired back. One of those shots killed him. The autopsy shows one bullet struck him through the chest also hitting his lungs and heart. His father says the video he was shown doesn't connect all the dots.

"I didn't hear a shotgun. A shotgun has a distinctive sound. Especially a .410," Pierce said.

Six months after the shooting, Pierce Sr. has doubts, because, he says, the footage he was shown was from the point of view of an officer standing away from the actual shooting. Pierce says he never saw his son on tape, until he was dead on the ground.

"The way it was portrayed was that he was just a crazy lunatic out there with a gun," Pierce added.

That's why Pierce asked officers to show him all of the body camera footage. He also wanted to see the officers' footage who actually shot at his son. Pierce says, the department denied that request claiming the shooting was still an active investigation and the footage, furthermore, is considered a personnel matter.

"Something just told me that something wasn't right, it just wasn't right," said Pierce.

HPD also denied WHSV's Freedom of Information Act request for the body camera footage. The department cited the same exclusions Virginia law allows-- an active investigation and a personnel matter.

Back in the September news conference, WHSV asked Chief Monticelli when he expected to release the names of the officers involved. He told us, "Once I'm very confident that the risk is over, then we'll go ahead and release those names."

Thirty days after the shooting, Commonwealth's Attorney Marsha Garst found the killing justifiable. She said officers acted to protect the community at great risk to themselves. She also said they used great restraint.

But Pierce Sr. doesn't buy it.

"If it was so clear cut and if it was so easy for them to go ahead and justify this as a justifiable homicide... They had the opportunity to show me that," Pierce said.

HPD's decision to not release the footage is raising questions about whether body cameras are being used as a tool of transparency or surveillance.

The investigation into this shooting has two sides. The criminal side is closed and ruled justifiable. The internal side, however, is still open. More than 43 days after the shooting. HPD reached out to the FBI to only review the tapes. To this day, the shooting itself has not been investigated by a third party. Virginia State Police was never called in to investigate.That's something HPD Lt. Kurt Boshart calls a "department preference."

And VSP agrees.

Some agencies don't ask for their help, and it's not required under law. However, it is a common practice. Just this weekend, there were four deadly shootings involving officers in Virginia. In three of them, state police was called in. This is fact is leaving Pierce's father to question the Harrisonburg Police Department's transparency.

"I want to just see my son do this. If that's what happened, then just show me, and I'll go away. I'll accept whatever happened that night. Like I said, I know Michael shouldn't have been out there with a gun to begin with," he said.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Virginia is standing behind Pierce's request.

Bill Farrar, Director of Public Policy and Communications for the ACLU of Virginia, said, "I can't really think of a community event that's more significant than an individual member of the community being shot fatally by law enforcement, and I think the community has a right to expect to understand what happened." He added, "We call on the Harrisonburg Police Department to release the names of the officers involved as well as any video footage that is in their possession."

HPD refused an on-camera interview for this report, but during a phone call, Lt. Boshart told WHSV, they're discussing what information could be released to the community. However, Boshart said, "I can confidently tell you we will not be releasing the names of the officers."

His answer only adds to Pierce's doubt.

"Why? They released the name of my son. Why? Transparency. That's what we're wanting," said Pierce.

Meanwhile Boshart says, they are trying to be transparent and provide for the needs of family and community. HPD's own mission statement claims they value an open and accessible government. Pierce plans to challenge that statement in court if more footage is not released.

Right now, Pierce has kick-started a campaign called "Justice for Big Country." "Big Country" was his son's nickname. Pierce says the goal is to raise awareness on the questions the family still has for police.

---

WHSV's past coverage on this topic includes (year-month-day):

2015-10-20: Officers Who Shot, Killed Pierce Will Not Face Criminal Charges [ here ]

2015-09-25: Police Release Some Details in Park View Shooting [ here ]

2015-09-23: HPD Denies Request to Release Body Camera Footage [ here ]

2015-09-21: Investigation Continues After Harrisonburg Officers Kill Man [ here ]

2015-09-20: Police Shoot, Kill Armed Man in Harrisonburg [ here ]

---

Additional Resources

2016-03-24: Commonwealth's Attorney email reply to WHSV: [ image ]

2016-03-18: Harrisonburg City Attorney denies Washington Post FOIA request: [ image ]

2016-03-24: ACLU of Virginia email support of WHSV: [ image ]

Document: Policy, police body cams, Harrisonburg [ .pdf file ]

Document: Policy, police body cams, Staunton [ .pdf file ]

Document: Policy, police body cams, Waynesboro [ .pdf file ]

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"Batman v Superman" is the first movie ever to gross at least $150 million its opening weekend and be ranked "rotten" on Rotten Tomatoes

"Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice" now holds a dubious record: it's the first movie to ever gross at least $150 million its opening weekend, and be ranked "rotten" at movie-critic aggregate Rotten Tomatoes.

The blockbuster superhero film, shot primarily in the greater Detroit area, raked in an estimated $170.1 million over the weekend. That ranks it sixth all-time for opening weekends, a best-ever for March and for a Warner Bros. film and the best-ever for Easter weekend.

It also earned a decidedly poor 29 percent positive reviews at Rotten Tomatoes - " no film with a rating lower than 63% on the site had ever opened over $150 million," reports Box Office Mojo.

The film brought in an additional $254 million in other countries, totaling an estimated $424.1 million worldwide.

"Batman v Superman" stars Ben Affleck and Henry Cavill, respectively, as the DC Comics superheroes. It's a direct sequel to 2013's solo Superman film "Man of Steel," and both are part of the new DC "extended universe" of films. "BvS" will be followed by "Suicide Squad" this summer, as well as "Wonder Woman" and "Justice League Part One," both slotted for 2017.

John Serba is film critic and entertainment reporter for MLive and The Grand Rapids Press. Email him at jserba@mlive.com or follow him on Twitter or Facebook.

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