Senator Sanders

Privacy Rights Sen. Bernie Sanders proposed a "commission on privacy rights in the digital age" in an amendment to the defense bill now before the Senate. The panel would study how the government, as well as private companies, collect data on Americans and make recommend ways to better protect privacy, The Hill reported on Friday. LINK  

Youth Jobs BIll Sen. Sanders and Rep. John Conyers appeared at the H.O.P.E. Project in southeast Washington, D.C., on Thursday to introduce legislation that would employ 1 million Americans between the ages of 16 to 24. The bill would provide $5.5 billion for summer jobs and year-round work and offer job training and skills to young adults, AlterNet reported. LINK  

Fossil Fuels Oil, coal and gas companies like Shell and Exxon Mobil are in line for more than $135 billion in taxpayer subsidies in the next decade. Sen. Sanders and Rep. Keith Ellison have introduced legislation that would end these giveaways. “At a time when scientists tell us we need to reduce carbon pollution to prevent catastrophic climate change, it is absurd to provide massive taxpayer subsidies that pad fossil-fuel companies’ already enormous profits,” Sanders is quoted by Yahoo! News. LINK  

World

Pope Francis Visits Sarajevo in 'Sign of Peace' Pope Francis landed in Muslim-majority Sarajevo early Saturday on a trip that he called "a sign of peace" - some 20 years after the end of a deadly civil war in which the city was kept under siege. In a one-day trip, he hopes to lend weight to European Union efforts to bring change to a country still scarred by the war that claimed 100,000 lives after the break-up of Communist Yugoslavia, NBC News reported. LINK

National

Biden Funeral Vice President Joe Biden will mourn his eldest son at the funeral for former Delaware Attorney General Beau Biden, whose death to brain cancer one week ago triggered an outpouring of grief in Delaware and beyond. President Barack Obama, accompanied by his family, was to deliver remarks during the full Catholic Mass, The Associated Press reported. LINK

Vermont

Housing A Vermont housing authority is moving forward with the construction of a nearly $14 million senior housing project that will replace most of a housing complex damaged during Tropical Storm Irene. Workers started tearing down the R.S. Roberts building Tuesday as the Brattleboro Housing Authority moves ahead with plans to build the Red Clover Commons, the Brattleboro Reformer reported.

Homeless in Vermont The number of people who identified as homeless in Vermont fell since last year, with the biggest decline coming in the state's most populous county, according to an annual count. The census, organized by the Vermont Coalition to End Homelessness and the Chittenden County Homeless Alliance, showed that homelessness declined by 11.5 percent in Chittenden County and by 2.3 percent in the state, AP reported.