The Economic Policy Institute (EPI) has released important research about the economy in the past few weeks. Here's a look at some of the key pieces it uncovered about the U.S. economy.

To commemorate the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his “I Have a Dream” speech, the AFL-CIO and Union Plus awarded $300,000 in scholarships to help graduating high school seniors realize their dreams of a college education. More than 600 students applied and 60 $5,000 scholarships were awarded.

Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel has targeted Chicago teachers again. This time with an announcement last week that Chicago Public Schools (CPS) will layoff more than 3,000 teachers and school staff. This comes on the heels of the city’s closing of nearly 50 schools and layoffs of some 850 educators. Along with the layoffs, steep budget cuts are in the works.

The North Carolina legislature has moved to the extreme right in the 2013 session, passing a series of laws that assault the rights of the state's residents. The session comes to an end this week, but the damage from the laws that the Republican-led body has passed, and the governor is likely to sign, will be around for many years to come.

With the debate in Washington set to return to the budget and the economy after the August congressional recess, President Obama today said, “The stakes for our middle class could not be higher.” In the first of several speeches set for coming weeks on the economy, Obama told the audience at Knox College in Galesburg, Ill., that because of a Republican-led "endless parade of distractions, political posturing and phony scandals, Washington has taken its eye off the ball."

AFT’s just-launched “Reclaiming the Promise of Public Education” initiative aims to ensure that all children have access to services that meet their emotional, social and health needs.

AFT President Randi Weingarten told the nearly 3,000 educators in Washington, D.C., for AFT’s TEACH Conference that teachers are not here to protect the status quo in public education, but to build up and support public education for generations to come.

Although African American workers are significantly better educated than they were three decades ago, they're actually less likely to be in good jobs, according to a new report from the Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR).

If you have student loan debt or follow the politics of it, you're probably familiar with this deadline: On July 1, if Congress does nothing, the interest rates on subsidized federal Stafford loans will double from 3.4 to 6.8 percent. We absolutely don't want this to happen, since it would mean thousands of extra dollars of debt for many already low-income borrowers. Numerous proposals to address the looming rate doubling are being debated in Congress, and both sides of the aisle have already seen one bill each get voted down. 

Thousands of teachers, parents and allies rallied in Albany, N.Y., on Saturday in opposition to the use of high-stakes standardized tests that are being put in place before the state and teachers have time to fully implement the new curriculum to support those tests. More than 225 buses filled with people showed up to the rally, which was sponsored by New York State United Teachers, the New York State AFL-CIO, AFT, Citizen Action, the New York Immigration Coalition and New Yorkers for Fiscal Fairness.

Thousands of supporters of providing a quality public education to New York's students are participating in the One Voice United rally in Albany tomorrow, June 8. They will be joined by AFT President Randi Weingarten, New York State AFL-CIO President Mario Cilento and New York State United Teachers President Richard Iannuzzi. Averill Park Teachers Association President Michelle Smead wrote her Top 10 list of reasons why education professionals should join them....