Senator Sanders

Health Care for All Speaking at St. Anselm College, the two-term senator from Vermont called it "profoundly wrong" that the United States is the only major country that does not guarantee health care coverage as a right of citizenship, The Associated Press reported. LINK

Wealth and Income Inequality Sen. Sanders touched on the widening wealth and income gap in the United States, national security and climate change. But he warned that a growing number of Americans are losing faith in the political system, Reuters reported. LINK

Sanders: Undo Citizens United While a Koch brothers-funded Americans for Prosperity event in Manchester, N.H., on Saturday featured Tea Party favorites such as Sens. Rand Paul and Ted Cruz, a Washington Post blog noted that Sen. Sanders spoke on the same day at a separate event across town and lambasted the 2010 Supreme Court ruling that voided limits on campaign spending by the Kochs and other billionaires. Sanders is the sponsor of a constitutional amendment that would overturn the Citizens United ruling, the Post added. LINK

Vermont Wetlands Designated The Missisquoi Delta and Bay Wetlands were recently designated a Wetland of International Importance under the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands. Sens. Patrick Leahy and Sanders and Rep. Peter Welch supported the designation, the St. Albans Messenger reported.

World

Time Running Out on Global Warming The countries of the world have dragged their feet so long on global warming that the situation is now critical, experts appointed by the United Nations reported Sunday, and only an intensive worldwide push over the next 15 years can stave off potentially disastrous climatic changes later in the century. It remains technically possible to keep planetary warming to a tolerable level, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change found, but even in parts of the world like Europe that have tried hardest, governments are still a long way from taking the steps that are sufficient to do the job, The New York Times reported. LINK

Ukraine Officer Killed in Gun Battle Ukrainian special forces exchanged gunfire with a pro-Russia militia in an eastern city Sunday, killing one security officer and wounding five others, the interior minister said. It was the first reported gun battle in east Ukraine, where armed pro-Russia men have seized a number of law enforcement buildings in recent days, AP reported. LINK

National

Senate Sets Vote on Minimum Wage Sen. Tom Harkin is setting the groundwork for a partisan showdown on the minimum wage when lawmakers return from recess the week of April 28. Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada said Friday he was slotting the minimum wage for action on April 30, two days after lawmakers return from the two-week recess, Congressional Quarterly reported. LINK

White House ’16 Republicans eyeing the 2016 White House race battered President Obama’s health care law and nicked each other Saturday, auditioning before a high-profile gathering of conservatives that some political veterans said marked the campaign’s unofficial start at a conference room in Manchester, N.H., filled with hundreds of conservative activists, AP reported. LINK

Vermont

New Therapies at VA A Women Veterans Wellness Retreat on Saturday at the VA Burlington Lakeside Clinic featured yoga, massages, advice on spine health, exercise classes and more. “There has been a growing demand for complementary and alternative medicine,” Laura Gibson, director of Behavior Health at the clinic, told the Burlington Free Press. LINK

Deaf School to Close The board of directors for the Vermont Center for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing has voted to close a Vermont school for the deaf in Brattleboro that has been facing declining enrollment and staff pay cuts. The board voted 8-1 on Friday to close the Austine School for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing and the Williams Center in June, AP reported. LINK