This program is 29 minutes long
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(Scranton, Pennsylvania: Elaine Quijano) The budget gap in Scranton, Pennsylvania that led to cutting city workers’ pay to minimum wage featured; details given about the unions’ lawsuit against Mayor Chris Doherty††. [Public works employee Robert PUGLIESE††- worries about paying his bills.] [DOHERTY – says we’re trying to balance how we get through this.]
(Studio: Scott Pelley) Statistics on public sector job losses cited.
(Los Angeles: Ben Tracy) The impact of the budget problems in Los Angeles on public schools examined; scenes shown of a protest; details given about the teachers’ union agreement to unpaid furlough days and a shorter school year and the upcoming decision for voters on a tax increase. [Los Angeles Unified School District superintendent John DEASY††- says we’ve had 2.1 billion in reductions.] [Teacher Lori ADAMS††- notes the challenge of having more kids in the classroom.]
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(Austin, Texas: Anna Werner) The refusal by the state of Texas to participate in Affordable Care Act featured; map shown of other states refusing Medicaid expansion; Governor Rick Perry’s letter to the administration quoted. [Los Barrios Unidos health clinic Dr. Susan BRINER††- notes the people without health insurance are those who work in low-paying jobs.] [Lt. Governor David DEWHURST††- claims adding more people will not solve the problems with Medicaid.]
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(Washington: Wyatt Andrews) A NOAA report concluding that recent extreme weather events are likely connected to man-made climate change examined; details given about the link between man-made warming to the drought in Texas and the role of La Niña in the extreme events in 2011, including the Joplin, Missouri tornado, hurricanes in the North Atlantic, flooding in Australia and the drought in East Africa. [NOAA's Tom KARL††- says we can’t explain these events by natural variability alone; comments on the impact of increased greenhouse gases.] NOAA’s emphasis on the climate change being man-made discussed.
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(Manassas, Virginia: David Martin) The backlog at the Department of Veterans Affairs that is causing a delay in processing disability claims for wounded veterans featured; details given about new claims from Vietnam veterans involving exposure to Agent Orange and the problems stemming from paper files. [Marine Aaron HELSTROM†- recounts what he was told.] [V.A. benefits director Allison HICKEY††- comments on the unprecedented number of claims from Iraq and Afghanistan veterans.] [V.A. workers Keaton STAMPER††, David WALSER††, Melissa COLIN††- comment.]
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