Nancy Updike and Nikole Hannah-Jones have won the December Sidney Award for House Rules a radio documentary by This American Life based on the Hannah-Jones’ reporting on the Fair Housing Act for ProPublica. The program explains how, starting in the 1930s, the federal government created profound racial segregation in the Northeast with discriminatory housing policies that made residents of black and integrated neighborhoods ineligible for federally-subsidized mortgages. While the federal government was nuturing the white middle class with subsidized homeownership, non-white families were left out in the cold, a legacy that is still reflected in inequality today. Read my interview with the winners for The Backstory. 

• Nadine Gordimer remembers Nelson Mandela in the New Yorker.

• Thousands of fast food workers walked off the job yesterday to demand a living wage. $45 billion earmarked for charity is sitting in so-called “donor advised funds” run by big banks, and legally, it could sit there forever.

• A Florida city paid millions to house homeless people in filthy, crime-ridden slums.

• Could you use $30,000 to finish a major work of non-fiction? Enter to win the J. Anthony Lukas Work-in-Progress Award, deadline Dec. 10.

[Photo credit: Wander Mule, Creative Commons.]

Join us tonight, Dec 2, for a panel discusion on the future of the union movement with guests Bruce Raynor, Andy Stern, Rich Yeselson, and Sarita Gupta, and moderator Raj Goyle.

A wave of protests swept Walmart on Black Friday and fast food strikes are being planned in 100 cities nationwide. The panel will discuss how campaigns by low-wage workers in the fast food and big box retail are reshaping the labor movement.

This free event is co-sponsored by the Sidney Hillman Foundation and the Rubin Foundation. Refreshments will be served. 

What: The Changing Face of Unionism: New ideas for labor in the 21st Century

When: Dec 2, 6-8pm.

Where: 17 W. 17th St, Manhattan, NY. (8th Floor)

What Part Do I Play in All of This: RSVP to alex@hillmanfoundation.org

You don’t remember this, but if you were born in the United States in the last half-century, you probably had blood drawn to screen for dozens of rare genetic disorders. When these tests pick up treatable illnesses, prompt action can prevent early death or lifelong disability. The newborn screening program saves about 12,000 babies every year. Unfortunately, as the Milwaukee Journal Sential discovered, over 100,000 tests a year are processed late, and the consequences can be deadly. 

[Photo credit: Keaggy, Creative Commons.]