This Week’s Under-reported News Summary Jan. 17, 2018

Compiled by Bob Nixon

White House to loosen nuclear weapons use constraints
GOP tax reform reopens debate over Alaskan oil exploration
Supreme Court could roll back decades of workers fair pay and job security protections

January 17, 2018

At a time when President Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un regularly trade insults and threats, the Trump administration is planning to loosen constraints on the use of nuclear weapons and develop a new generation of low-yield nuclear warhead for U.S. Trident missiles. (“U.S. to Loosen Nuclear Weapons Constraints and Develop More ‘Usable’ Warheads,” The Guardian, Jan. 9, 2018)
Donald Trump’s signing of the new Republican tax reform bill reopened the debate over oil exploration in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge or ANWR, in northern Alaska. Oil company executives have often called ANWR America’s last petroleum frontier, even as there seems to be little interest in drilling in the harsh artic environment. Controversy over drilling on Alaska’s north slope goes back over 50 years to the Eisenhower administration. (“The ANWR Drilling Conflict: Why ‘No Stable Compromise Exists,'” In These Times, Jan. 3, 2018; “Drilling in Arctic Refuge Gets a Green Light. What’s Next?” New York Times, Dec. 20, 2017)
As the US Supreme Court got back to work in the new year, there was little attention being paid to a case that could roll back 80 years of protections for workers for fair pay and job security. (“The Supreme Court Case That Could ‘Overturn the Heart of the New Deal,'” The American Prospect, Jan. 4, 2018)