Senator Sanders

Pensions Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Marcy Kaptur on Thursday will introduce legislation to prevent significant cuts in pensions for hundreds of thousands of retirees — primarily retired union members — covered by troubled multi-employer retirement plans, the Akron (Ohio) Business Journal reported. LINK

Wages So many cities and states have boosted their minimum legal wage above federal government’s $7.25 an hour that at least 60 percent of the country’s workforce now lives in a place in which the minimum wage sits well above that national requirement. Sen. Sanders and former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley support boosting the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour, The Washington Post reported. Hillary Clinton has not specified a dollar figure. LINK

Higher Education “The big question for Massachusetts and so many other states is: Who should pay for higher education?” Evan Horowitz wrote in The Boston Globe. Sen. Sanders has offered a proposal that would rein in tuition. His plan would turn a tax on stock trades into money for colleges. LINK

World

CIA Didn’t Know Strike Would Hit al-Qaeda Leader The CIA did not know in advance that al-Qaeda’s leader in Yemen was among the suspected militants targeted in a lethal drone strike last week, according to U.S. officials who said that the operation went forward under counter­terrorism guidelines that were eased by the Obama administration after the collapse of the U.S.-backed government in Yemen this year. The officials said that Nasir ­al-Wuhayshi, who also served as ­al-Qaeda’s overall second-in-command, was killed in a “signature strike,” in which the CIA is permitted to fire based on patterns of suspected militant activity even if the agency does not know the identities of those who could be killed, The Washington Post reported. LINK

National

Nine Killed in Charleston Church Shooting A white gunman opened fire Wednesday night at a historic black church in this city’s downtown, killing nine people before fleeing and setting off an overnight manhunt, the police said. At a news conference with Charleston’s mayor early Thursday, the police chief, Greg Mullen, called the shooting a hate crime, The New York Times reported. LINK

New Vote on Fast-Track Bill Vote Set for Thursday House Republican leaders set a Thursday vote on fast-track legislation in a bid to revive a bill that liberal Democrats derailed last week to the peril of President Barack Obama’s trade agenda. The Republicans’ plan represents a gamble that enough Democrats will support a new fast-track bill, allowing the president to submit trade pacts to Congress for an up-or-down vote without amendments, The Wall Street Journal reported. LINK

Vermont

Welch Rep. Peter Welch said it is time for Congress to fully debate legislation that authorizes the use of military force in Iraq. Welch told Vermont Public Radio he could support a bill as long as it takes a narrow approach and doesn't call for the United States to deploy additional troops. LINK