US Headlines

UPS to Freeze Pensions for 70,000 Workers to Reduce Costs. Bloomberg. (What do the CEO and management have to give up?)

United Parcel Service Inc. will freeze a pension plan for about 70,000 nonunion U.S. employees because of escalating costs and volatility in determining future payments, replacing it with a different retirement benefit. Read more

Trump’s lawyers fail to follow through on threats to Comey. Yahoo news (Trouble for someone?)

President Trump’s lawyers, after rethinking their legal strategy, have shelved plans for now to file complaints accusing former FBI director James Comey of leaking confidential information about his conversations with the president, according to two sources familiar with the lawyers’ plans. Read more..

Alaska eyes Obamacare replacements with skepticism. Yahoo news

WASILLA, Alaska — In the small town that birthed the political career of Sarah Palin, the debate over the future of health care has taken on an urgency unlike that playing out in much of the lower 48 states. Read more..

Jason Chaffetz Officially Joins Fox News Huffington Post (Another one goes home)

Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah), who is retiring from Congress at the end June, has signed on as a contributor for Fox News.

A Fox press release confirms that Chaffetz will make his network debut on July 1, and he’ll contribute to both Fox News and Fox Business. (Politico first reported in May that Chaffetz was considering joining the network.) Read more

New Connecticut Law Will Keep People From Being Jailed Just Because They’re Poor. Huffington Post (Someone is doing something that favors the poor. Wonders shall never end.)

Connecticut Gov. Dannel Malloy (D) on Wednesday signed a bill into law that will overhaul the state’s bail system and keep poor defendants from serving unnecessary jail time before trial simply because they can’t afford to pay their way out. Read more

 Almost 850 Untested Rape Kits Found Growing Mold In Austin Police Storage. Huffington Post

An audit of an Austin, Texas police storage facility recently found that hundreds of untested sexual assault kits have developed mold on the outside of them. Read more

McConnell is trying to revise the Senate health-care bill by Friday. Washington Post (The fix seems to be in, and they think they have it figured out.)

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is aiming to send a revised version of his health-care bill to the Congressional Budget Office as soon as Friday as he continues to push for a vote before Congress’s August recess. Read more…

One man keeps ramming his car into Ten Commandments statues on government property Washington Post (Separation of church and state must be enforced.)

Michael Tate Reed is charged with criminal trespass, first-degree criminal mischief and defacing objects of public interest. It’s the second time he destroyed the monument with his car. Read more…

As Affordable Care Act Repeal Teeters, Prospects for Bipartisanship Build. New York Times. (Might Single Payer be a possibility?)

WASHINGTON — With his bill to repeal the Affordable Care Act in deep trouble, Mitch McConnell, the Senate majority leader, raised an alternate possibility on Tuesday evening: Either Republicans come together in the days ahead, or he may have to work with Democrats to shore up the deteriorating health law. Read more…

Air pollution exposure may hasten death, even at levels deemed ‘safe,’ study says. Los Angeles Times (The truth might finally be coming out)

At a time when the Trump administration is moving to delay and dismantle air quality regulations, a new study suggests that air pollution continues to cut Americans’ lives short, even at levels well below the legal limits set by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Read more…

Trump promises ‘big surprise’ on health care. CNN (Is he talking about Single Payer?)

President Donald Trump struck a cautiously optimistic tone Wednesday, the day after Senate Republican leaders scuttled plans for a vote on health care reform this week in the face of stiff resistance from within the party’s own ranks. Read more…