January 30, 2018 – Bridge Agents

In 2018, the State of the Union is mobile and monetized

January 30, 2018 Bridge Agents

(Sunlight) – For the first time in history, the names of campaign donors will be shown over the livestream of a President of the United States as he delivers the State of the Union to Congress. In an unexpected twist, instead of a watchdog highlighting corporate money or media organization overlaying campaign finance data on a livestream when a specific policy proposal or success is named, the campaign of President Donald J. Trump and Vice President Mike Pence will be showing a list of donors. This past year, the future…

DACA isn’t just about social justice – legalizing Dreamers makes economic sense too

January 30, 2018 Bridge Agents

United States (Conversation) – Earlier this month, hopes were high that a bipartisan deal could be reached to resolve the fate of the “Dreamers,” the millions of undocumented youth who were brought to the U.S. as children. Those hopes all but vanished on Jan. 11 as President Donald Trump aligned himself with hard-line anti-immigration advocates within the GOP and struck down bipartisan attempts to reach a resolution. Now that optimism is re-emerging once more after Republican Senate leadership agreed, in exchange for ending the shutdown, to hold a vote on…

Judge: Kushner Company Must Reveal Identities of Real Estate Partners

January 30, 2018 Bridge Agents

Maryland (ProPublica) – A federal judge in Maryland ruled Friday that Jared Kushner’s family real estate company could not keep secret the identities of its partners in Baltimore-area apartment complexes that are the subject of a class-action lawsuit by tenants. The class-action lawsuit was filed in September, following a May article co-published by ProPublica and The New York Times Magazine that described how Kushner Companies have used highly aggressive tactics in pursuing payments from tenants and former tenants of 15 large apartment complexes it owns and manages in the Baltimore area. The lawsuit, filed in the Circuit Court for Baltimore…

The First Mobile Phone Network for Indigenous Communities in Mexico Is Under Threat

January 30, 2018 Bridge Agents

(GV) – Indigenous Community Telecommunications, the first and only association of community and indigenous service provider that facilitates affordable mobile phone and internet services to rural areas of Mexico, might be forced to stop operating after the national telecommunications regulator demanded the network pay one million pesos (more than 50,000 US dollars) for the radio frequencies it uses. In July 2016, as Global Voices previously reported, Mexico’s Federal Institute of Telecommunications (IFT) granted the first license to operate a telecommunications network for indigenous community use to the non-profit organization Indigenous Community…