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California Unions Grow, Bucking U.S. Trend

Alana Semuels Los Angeles Times
Latino workers, demanding respect in a precarious job environment, helped boost the state's unionized workforce by 100,000 in 2012.

As Union Membership Declines, So Do Wages - Despite Job Growth

The Bureau of Labor Statistics said the total number of union members fell by 400,000 last year, to 14.3 million, even though the nation's overall employment rose by 2.4 million - the unionization rate to its lowest level in close to a century. among full-time workers, union members had median weekly earnings of $943 last year (about $49,000 annually), compared with $742 (about $38,600 annually), for comparable nonunion workers.

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Visit the Tiny Town Where Big Coal Will Meet Its Fate

Tim McDonnell Mother Jones
A new Greenpeace study ranked the coal export terminals being built in Oregon and Washington as the fifth dirtiest proposed energy project in the world, under Arctic oil drilling but above US fracking and drilling in the Gulf of Mexico

Why Red October malware is the Swiss Army knife of espionage

Dan Goodin Ars Technica
The Red October malware that infected hundreds of computer networks in diplomatic, governmental, and scientific research organizations around the world was one of the most advanced espionage platforms ever discovered, researchers with antivirus provider Kaspersky Lab have concluded.

Coke Blinks

Mark Bittman New York Times
Soda is a fructose delivery system as tobacco is a nicotine delivery system. (And if it’s not “truly” addictive but only habit forming, so much the better; it’ll be that much easier to get people to cut back.)