San Francisco Bay Area transit talks to resume
OAKLAND, Calif. – Two of San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit’s largest unions and management returned to the bargaining table Sunday in an final-hour attempt to avoid a possible strike as commuters braced for potentially nightmarish journeys into work today.
Representatives from Service Employees International Union Local 1021, Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1555 and BART were scheduled to begin negotiations Sunday afternoon as the unions’ contracts are set to expire at midnight.
The meeting comes nearly 24 hours after union negotiators said they would likely strike, which would cripple the region’s morning commute. A strike could put another 60,000 vehicles on the road, affecting every mode of transportation, clogging highways and bridges throughout the Bay Area, area transportation officials said.
Alabama county seeks to exit bankruptcy
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – Attorneys for Alabama’s Jefferson County have filed a 101-page plan that would allow it to exit the largest municipal bankruptcy in American history.
The plan filed Sunday calls for cutting the county’s $4.2 billion debt by more than $1.2 billion and raising sewer rates annually by 7.41 percent for four years. Rates would rise by 3.49 percent annually for an undetermined amount of years after that.
Most of the $4.2 billion debt stems from bonds that funded sewer system repairs.
The plan must be approved by creditors and ultimately Thomas Bennett, U.S. Bankruptcy Judge for the Northern District of Alabama. A hearing is scheduled for Aug. 6.
Judge refuses to block Kansas abortion rules
TOPEKA, Kan. – The chief federal judge in Kansas refused Sunday to temporarily block parts of a new state abortion law, including a requirement that providers’ websites link to a state site with information they dispute.
But U.S. District Judge Kathryn Vratil’s ruling Sunday in a lawsuit filed by Planned Parenthood came after a state judge ruled Friday in a separate challenge that Kansas couldn’t enforce the website requirement for now. Vratil noted the previous ruling, in a case filed by two doctors, in concluding that Planned Parenthood would not suffer irreparable harm if she didn’t do the same. The rule was to take effect today.
Under the law, a provider’s home page will have to provide a link to a Kansas Department of Health and Environment site on abortion and fetal development and contain a statement that the state’s information is “objective” and “scientifically accurate.” Abortion providers object because the state’s information says that a fetus can feel pain by the 20th week of pregnancy, while the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists has said there’s no evidence for such an assertion.
Supporters of the new requirement contend it ensures that women who are considering abortions have access to multiple sources of information about fetal development, the risks of abortion and alternatives to it.
Associated Press
