Senator Sanders

Overtime President Obama announced a rule change that would make millions more Americans eligible for overtime pay. The rule would raise the salary threshold below which workers automatically qualify for time-and-a-half overtime wages to $50,440 a year from $23,660. Sen. Bernie Sanders had urged action on the overtime regulations, The New York Times reported. The White House's proposed changes, which will be open for public comment and could take months to finalize, can be enacted through regulation without approval by the Republican-led Congress. Sanders said the proposal means businesses would no longer be able to shirk their responsibility to pay fair wages. "This long overdue change in overtime rules is a step in the right direction and good news for workers," Sanders said in an Associated Press report. LINK, LINK

Health Care While progressives celebrate the Supreme Court decision upholding Obamacare, Sen. Sanders wants a Medicare-for-all program to provide health care for more Americans at less cost, The Hill reported. LINK  

Bad Trade Deal An Australian parliamentary committee has issued a new report lambasting President Barack Obama's Trans-Pacific Partnership trade accord for being too secretive and lacking adequate "oversight and scrutiny." Sen. Sanders expressed similar concerns, calling the agreement a multi-national corporate coup "at the expense of workers, consumers, the environment and the foundations of American democracy," HNGN reported. LINK

World

U.S. Chamber Pushes Tobacco From Ukraine to Uruguay, Moldova to the Philippines, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and its foreign affiliates have become the hammer for the tobacco industry, engaging in a worldwide effort to fight antismoking laws of all kinds, according to interviews with government ministers, lobbyists, lawmakers and public health groups in Asia, Europe, Latin America and the United States, according to The New York Times. LINK

National 

Supreme Court Allows Use of Execution Drug  The Supreme Court ruled on Monday against three death row inmates who had sought to bar the use of an execution drug they said risked causing excruciating pain. In the process, two dissenting members of the court — Justices Stephen G. Breyer and Ruth Bader Ginsburg — came very close to announcing that they were ready to rule the death penalty unconstitutional, The New York Times reported. LINK

High Court Strikes Down EPA Limits on Mercury Emissions The Supreme Court on Monday dealt a setback to the Obama administration’s environmental agenda by rejecting the first-ever rules requiring power plants to cut mercury emissions and other toxic air pollutants. The court, in a 5-4 majority opinion by Justice Antonin Scalia, said the Environmental Protection Agency must reconsider the mercury rules because it didn’t take into account industry costs before deciding to adopt them, The Wall Street Journal reported. LINK

Vermont

Community Health Center Opens Addison County residents celebrated the opening of a new federally-qualified health clinic in Shoreham over the weekend. The Shorewell Clinic has long had a reputation for serving anyone who needs care. Now organizers hope to grow and serve a larger population with a new building and more medical professionals, Vermont Public Radio reported. LINK

Guns The shooting deaths of nine worshippers in a South Carolina church have spurred calls for tighter restrictions on gun ownership nationwide. But in Vermont, supporters of universal background checks say they won’t mount a concerted legislative push for the measure when lawmakers return to the Statehouse in 2016, Vermont Public Radio reported. LINK