The dark channels through which corporations influence legislation are notoriously hard to trace, but a new detailed report estimates that the world’s largest fossil fuel companies are spending upwards of $500 million per year to obstruct climate laws. “There’s a shamelessness here that hopefully will be harder to maintain in the full light of day.”—Bill…

Progressive watchdogs are hailing the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) decision Thursday to modernize the Lifeline program as a step towards closing the digital divide. The Lifeline program was created in 1985 during the Reagan administration to help low-income Americans afford phone services, and it was expanded in 2005 under the George W. Bush administration to…

A group focused on recruiting and training scientists to run for office is issuing its first round of endorsements. 314 Action, named after the first three digits of pi, is endorsing Democratic Reps. Louise Slaughter (N.Y.), Paul Tonko (N.Y.) and Jerry McNerney (Calif.), according to a release provided exclusively to The Hill. All three incumbents,…

Musician Kid Rock on Wednesday hinted at a Senate run in 2018, confirming that a campaign website with his name is real and teasing that he will have a “major announcement in the near future.” Kid Rock, whose real name is Robert Ritchie, has previously been floated as a possible Republican challenger to unseat Sen….

An anti-abortion Congressional committee created to investigate medical research dependent on fetal tissue is planning to issue 17 subpoenas seeking names of “researchers, graduate students, laboratory technicians and administrative personnel” involved in such research, reported the New York Times on Thursday. Women’s health activists fear that publicly listing the names of these medical researchers could…

This story was updated at 2:40 PM Eastern. WWE is hoping the second time is the charm in their attempt to hold WrestleMania in Tampa, Florida, as they are planning to host their biggest show of the calendar year there in 2021. WWE had Raymond James Stadium scheduled for this year’s mega-show, but it was…

Hundreds of climate activists shut down the UK’s largest open-cast coal mine on Tuesday morning—the first of a wave of peaceful direct actions spanning six continents and 12 days, targeting the world’s most dangerous fossil fuel projects. Mining work has now been halted at the Ffos-y-fran mine in south Wales, where the mass civil trespass…

European Union officials “abandoned or weakened” new environmental protections after a top BP oil executive expressed concerns about their effect on the fossil fuels industry, the Guardian revealed on Wednesday. According to a 10-page letter obtained by the Guardian, the unnamed executive warned that proposed pollution cuts and a push for clean technologies “has the…

Major Alberta tar sands facilities have been shut down and 19 work camps are under a mandatory evacuation order, after weather conditions caused Canada’s uncontrolled Fort McMurray wildfire to surge northward on Monday. The order, which covers about 8,000 people and was issued late Monday evening, came due to the “unpredictable nature” of the fire…

Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair has hinted that he would refuse to accept the verdict of the highly anticipated Chilcot Inquiry into the 2003 invasion of Iraq if it concludes that he privately signed the country up for war while publicly claiming a final decision had not yet been made. In an interview on…