Collective bargaining has brought benefits to workers – now it’s being used to improve living conditions and fight rent increases On a recent Friday night in San Jose, California, a small group of Spanish-speaking renters sat in the clubhouse of their apartment complex wondering whether the room was bugged. “Let them listen,” said a young man, with a dismissive gesture. They were meeting to strategize about forming a tenants’ association to bargain collectively with their large corporate landlord. Along one wall of the room hung large white posters with the names and unit numbers of residents ..read more

Missouri state representative Ben Baker’s daughter and her husband were reportedly ambushed when leaving a church The daughter and son-in-law of a US Republican politician are among three Christian missionaries who have been killed by gang members in Haiti as it emerged that the long-awaited deployment of an multinational security force tasked with rescuing the Caribbean country from months of bloodshed had been delayed. Ben Baker, a Republican state representative from Missouri, announced the news of the couple’s murder on Facebook late on Thursday, writing: “My heart is broken in a thousand ..read more

With second human case of H5N1 reported, CDC launches dashboard to monitor wastewater, and recruits students to help Amid widespread gaps in US testing for H5N1, a type of bird flu, and as a second case among humans has been detected, scientists are turning to more creative ways of monitoring the outbreak – especially in human and animal feces. Scientists and officials are expanding wastewater monitoring across the US and engaging community members to collect waste samples from birds. They hope to keep tabs on this outbreak while preparing for the next pandemic ..read more

Exclusive: employees at a Missouri warehouse file charges against firm alleging use of ‘intrusive algorithms’ to deter union efforts Amazon has been accused of using “intrusive algorithms” as part of a sweeping surveillance program to monitor and deter union organizing activities. Workers at a warehouse run by the technology giant on the outskirts of St Louis, Missouri, are today filing an unfair labor practice charge with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB ..read more

Investigation ongoing as authorities say explosion at home, where propane leak was found, was unusual because it did not cause a fire Four people in rural Missouri died when an explosion that could be heard 10 miles (6.2km) away occurred at a house. The explosion occurred Saturday night near the unincorporated town of Goodhope. The Douglas county sheriff, Chris Degase, said the home was undergoing renovations, and a propane leak was found. The Federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the state fire marshal’s office and local officials continued investigating on Monday ..read more

Judge declines to remove Darrell McClanahan, who claims one-year honorary membership in terror group, from GOP primary race A long-shot Missouri gubernatorial candidate with ties to the Ku Klux Klan will stay on the Republican ticket, a judge ruled on Friday. Cole county circuit court judge Cotton Walker denied a request by the Missouri GOP to kick Darrell McClanahan out of the August Republican primary ..read more

A 91-year-old man made the donation to a struggling rural station in Missouri: ‘It’s important to have a good fire department’ A 91-year-old man has donated $500,000 to a tiny rural volunteer fire department in Missouri in an act of generosity that will transform the fortunes of the struggling organization, whose members have been using equipment from the 1980s. Sam Sloan, a resident of Calhoun, Missouri, donated the lump sum to the struggling department, KMBC first reported ..read more

Valentina Gomez, running for Missouri secretary of state, makes remark in video filmed in historically LGBTQ+ neighbourhood Valentina Gomez, a Republican candidate for Missouri secretary of state, stoked outrage with a video in which she ran down a street while wearing a protective vest and said: “In America, you can do anything you want, so don’t be weak and gay. Stay fucking hard.” Jason Kander, a former Democratic Missouri secretary of state and candidate for US Senate, said with sarcasm: “So refreshing to see a female GOP candidate who never served in the military doing the whole veteran c ..read more

Sai Varshith Kandula from Missouri, who was carrying a Nazi flag at time of arrest, said he hoped to overthrow the US government A Missouri man pleaded guilty on Monday to crashing a rented truck into metal barriers surrounding the White House in May 2023, admitting that he had been “fueled by the ideology of Nazi Germany” and hoped to overthrow the US government. Sai Varshith Kandula, 20, from Chesterfield, Missouri, and also a citizen of India, pleaded guilty to a single count of damaging federal property. He faces up to 10 years in prison when he is sentenced in August ..read more

Ronnie Wiggs strangled his wife as she was in a hospital for a procedure related to her ongoing kidney dialysis treatment A 75-year-old Missouri man strangled his wife to death in a hospital bed while claiming that he could no longer afford to pay for her ongoing kidney dialysis treatment, according to authorities. Ronnie Wiggs has been jailed on a count of second-degree murder in connection with a femicide that starkly demonstrates how US women in general face disproportionately high levels of violence at the hands of intimate partners and family caregivers ..read more