STEM Women & Gender Minorities Breaking 2023 09 28

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Biden Administration Gives Smaller Food Producers a Boost

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  Soaring food prices and supply chain crunches for meat and other staples during the Covid-19 pandemic drew attention to the highly consolidated agriculture sector, in which key sectors like meatpacking are dominated by a handful of “Big Ag” behemoths. Biden entered office promising to crack down on food monopolies and support small and midsize U.S. farmers, whose numbers have cratered in recent decades. The agricultural landscape in the United States is a diverse and dynamic sector, characterized by a mix of large agribusinesses and small-scale family farms. In recent years, the challenges faced by smaller food producers have grown, from market access issues to competition with large corporations. Recognizing the critical role that small food producers play in ensuring food security, rural development, and sustainability, the Biden administration has implemented a series of policies and initiatives aimed at providing these producers with much-needed support. In 2021, Biden si...
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Biden Expanded Overtime Guarantees For Millions of Salaried Workers

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  Late in his second term, Barack Obama oversaw a regulation that called for workers to become automatically entitled to time-and-a-half overtime pay, making up to $47,476. The move infuriated both businesses and Republicans, who sought to block the rule in both Congress and the courts. The 2016 election of Orange Julius Caesar and a Texas judge’s ruling in the same year led the Labor Department to revisit the matter, setting a significantly lower threshold of $35,568. Under President Biden’s Department of Labor, the issue was reopened, and a rule was proposed at the end of August pushing that cutoff up by nearly $20,000 — to $55,000. The draft regulation, which still needs to be finalized, would also include a mechanism to adjust that level every three years by yoking it to the 35th percentile of annual income. According to the Labor Department, the proposed rule would pave the way for roughly 3.6 million additional workers to be eligible for time-and-a-half overtime pay than ...
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Biden Makes Airlines Pay up When Flights are Delayed or Canceled

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  The Department of Transportation has introduced a series of proposals to help strengthen consumer protections for airline passengers, including a requirement that airlines give a cash refund after a flight is canceled instead of providing vouchers for a future flight. This would also apply to flights canceled because of events outside the airline’s control such as the weather. Other rules proposed during the Biden administration include giving passengers more clarity about fees added on to the price of a flight before purchasing a ticket and urging airlines to seat families together without extra fees. Some airlines have responded to the increasing pressure by proactively canceling overscheduled flights, building in more buffer room to better handle hiccups, making it easier for passengers to change their plans, and committing to meal or hotel voucher plans. The Transportation Department also created a dashboard, acting as a consumer “cheat sheet” to force airlines to answer di...
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