As an all-too-real threat approached New Orleans and a convention was covered by the media as if it were a soap opera or football game in St. Paul, Sen. Bernie Sanders toured Vermont to raise awareness of the role juvenile delinquency prevention programs play in our communities; he shone a light on real life slavery taking place on farms in Florida; and he continued the push for desperately-needed home energy assistance. Congress returns from August recess next week. All this while the economy continues to go in the wrong direction.

Slavery in Florida Five residents of Immokalee, Florida pled guilty this week to what Chief Assistant U.S. Attorney Doug Molloy called "slavery, plain and simple." Sanders visited farm workers there earlier this year and chaired a Senate labor committee hearing on the dire situation facing workers in Immokalee. He knows this conviction is just a step in the process of ending this cycle of degradation. Sanders said, "What we intend to do is introduce legislation in the very near future, which will end a loophole in current law which enables growers to avoid taking responsibility for what happens on their fields. And not just be able to blame a crew leader or some middle guy. The bottom line is that slavery should not exist in the United States." You can listen to his interview with Florida Public Radio here. To read Sanders' complete statement, click here.

Home Energy Crisis The New York Times editorial page again turned its attention to a mounting crisis when it wrote, "The price of home heating oil has dropped from a peak of over $4.60 a gallon, but it is still about 40 percent higher than it was a year ago. That could mean painful choices for some Americans this winter — between heat and balanced meals or between heat and medicines." Sen. Bernie Sanders introduced the Warm in Winter and Cool in Summer Act. While the bill was blocked in the Senate this July, it remains a top priority to Sanders. To read The New York Times' editorial, click here.

Youth Programs Sen. Bernie Sanders toured Vermont to announce federal funding secured to support juvenile delinquency prevention programs throughout the state. "These different programs will impact young people from Bennington to Highgate," Sanders said. These monies will bolster after-school, tutoring and recreation programs in Barre City, Brattleboro and Bennington, as well as on-going statewide efforts by the Vermont Coalition of Teen Centers. To read more, click here. To watch video of his Brattleboro press conference, click here.

Doing More, For Less Jobless claims rose far more than expected last week. Meanwhile, companies saw a rise in productivity with fewer workers. The Associated Press reported, "Productivity, or the amount of output for every hour of work, rose at a 4.3 percent annual rate in the April-June quarter, a full percentage point higher than economists expected. Meanwhile, labor costs fell 0.5 percent." To read the entire article, click here.