How Lori Lightfoot plans to ride the Ocasio-Cortez wave without endorsing her policies

It was a Tuesday in late June when Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez turned the world upside down. The New York machine shuttered to an unexpected halt. A 28-year-old socialist had taken on the King of Queens in the state’s 14th congressional district and won.

Some 800 miles west, in Chicago, mayoral candidate Lori Lightfoot was hoping to replicate that victory. A little more than seven months out from the city’s election, Lightfoot and her campaign have tried to paint her as the...

D.C. Council takes step toward overturning ballot measure that eliminates two-tier wage system

This week, the majority of the D.C. Council supported a repeal of Initiative 77. Initiative 77 is the ballot measure voters approved in June that eliminates the tipped minimum wage and would gradually phase out the tipped workers’ minimum wage, so that by 2026, all workers are paid the same minimum wage.

Fifty-six percent of District voters approved of it. States such as California, Alaska, Washington, and Oregon, have gotten rid of the subminimum wage, and Economic...

Nebraska lawmakers are suing to block voters’ chance to give more people health care by ballot

In November, Nebraska voters will get the opportunity to vote on whether or not the government should provide more low-income residents health insurance. But a new lawsuit from Republican lawmakers is trying to deny voters their say.

Should Nebraska residents vote to expand Medicaid eligibility to 138 percent of poverty level, an estimated 90,000 people statewide will gain health care.

Nebraska is one of four states aiming to expand Medicaid insurance this fall. The others ar...