Portside

Chicago Teachers Union President Karen Lewis successfully tapped into the wrath of frustrated members and took on Mayor Rahm Emanuel last September when she led the city's first teachers strike in 25 years. On Tuesday, a group of union members said Lewis didn't leverage the strike to get enough from the district — including a guarantee not to close schools — and announced a slate of candidates that will try to unseat Lewis and her team in a regular election set for May

On Wednesday, February 27, 2013, the Court will hear argument in one of the most significant cases of the current term, Shelby County v. Holder, a constitutional challenge to key provisions of Congress’s 2006 reauthorization of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. The preclearance provisions being challenged are viewed as the heart of the Voting Rights Act and are credited with the enormous gains in the enfranchisement of black and other minority citizens.

Contrary to some political rhetoric of late, wage stagnation for American workers and rising inequality is not due to lack of effort; the broad middle class has increased its productivity, upgraded its educational attainment, and worked more hours. Rather it is due to certain policies that have weakened the bargaining position of low- and middle-wage workers. Among these policies is the refusal to set a the minimum wage at an enforceable 50 percent of the average wage.

Thousands of Palestinian prisoners are refusing food for one day in protest at the death of a fellow detainee, Arafat Jaradat. Palestinians said an autopsy performed on Sunday revealed signs of torture. Mr Jaradat's death comes after a week of violent clashes between the Israeli army and Palestinian youths over the continued detention of four hunger strikers. The number of inmates on open-ended hunger strike had climbed to 11 from four.

Of the five documentaries nominated for the Academy Awards on Thursday, no film hits Washington more directly than “The Invisible War,” which looks at sexual assault in the U.S. military. It didn't win the Oscar Sunday night.

A pertussis vaccine became available in the 1940s, and incidence of the infection dropped from around 200,000 per year to barely over 1,000 by 1976. But today the United States is in the middle of a pertussis epidemic. The states with the most cases per capita are Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Vermont.