Governor Jerry Brown announced Monday his plan to file a ballot initiative to temporarily raise taxes on sales and high income earners. Brown says the proposal would generate $7 billion for the state, which would go directly to schools and county inmate housing.
Five years ago, Congress cut off federal funding for horse meat inspection, which effectively killed off the factory slaughter of horses in the United States. The unintended consequence of that action has resulted in the inhumane transport of old, abandoned and neglected horses to slaughterhouses outside of the U.S., to Canada or Mexico, where they may be subject to cruel treatment and unregulated slaughter.
Outer space is ever-expanding as are astronomers’ record-setting observations of the universe. Recently, astronomers found 18 new, Jupiter-size planets that encircle stars larger than the sun. They also found a planet – named Kepler 22b – in the middle of its sun-like star; the planet’s surface of which still remains unknown to scientists. And yesterday, astronomers reported that they have discovered two of the biggest black holes yet found in the universe.
For decades the image of the U.S. abroad has been negative and unchanging but experts in foreign affairs are re-examining these views. In his new book “American Avatar,” author Barry Sanders explores a contrary notion, that views about the US are complex, contradictory and often changing.
