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At least three major internet service providers have said they will raise prices beginning in January 2018 — a move that comes after the FCC’s recent vote to roll back net neutrality, Digital Music News reports. Comcast, Cox and Frontier Communications are increasing charges on either internet packages or across all services including cable. DirecTV and Dish are expected to follow suit. No changes have been seen thus far from Charter, Verizon, and AT&T’s U-verse. “The increase in prices comes as more and more subscribers are cutting the cord and opting to plunge into the increasingly diverse streaming marketplace. Options like Sling, Hulu Live TV and YouTube TV are expected to continue to siphon off customers from traditional TV subscribers and those that stay will have to bare the financial burden for the defectors,” The International Business Times notes.

While many agree that worker retraining is necessary to prepare for the future, it's not clear that such programs are always effective. In her book "Janesville: An American Story," The Washington Post’s Amy Goldstein chronicled the closure after a GM plant shut down in Janesville, Wis., in 2008, following the lives of workers who had to start over. She found that retraining programs for those factory workers were inadequate solutions. “People who had retrained overall were less likely to have work,” Goldstein told LinkedIn. “The difference between their [wages] before the recession and a few years afterwards was a bigger slide downwards than compared to people who had not gone back to school.” • Do you think worker retraining is the answer to automation?

The House voted again to pass the GOP's $1.5 trillion-tax bill along party lines after it cleared the Senate overnight — and the House, on Tuesday. The re-vote was needed to address minor changes approved in the Senate. The bill is now expected to head to President Trump’s desk by the GOP's target deadline of Christmas. "The biggest tax overhaul in a generation," could be signed into law before the end of the week

The GOP’s $1.5 trillion tax plan cleared the Senate early this morning. The bill passed the House earlier Tuesday, but due to a procedural snafu the chamber will vote again today before noon. The re-vote isn’t expected to change the outcome. The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, “the most significant overhaul of the tax code since 1986,” should reach President Trump’s desk by Republicans’ Christmas deadline.

A lobbyist working for Amazon registered for Georgia’s ethics commission, sparking rumors that the e-commerce giant is eyeing Atlanta for its much-hyped “HQ2.” The company responded Tuesday saying Jacob Oster’s presence isn’t related to the search for Amazon’s second headquarters — although Atlanta is an odds-on favorite in the race. 238 cities and regions submitted bids to win the $5 billion HQ2, which promises to bring thousands of high-paying jobs to the chosen location.

The Wall Street Journal reports. While still a relatively small percentage of work fatalities, on-the-job deaths from unintentional drug and alcohol overdoses rose more than 30% in 2016. They’ve nearly tripled since the Bureau of Labor Statistics began tracking in 2011. Opioid abuse in particular continues to significantly impact the US economy, costing an estimated $78.5 billion per year, according to a 2013 CDC study. President Trump declared opioid addiction a national public health emergency in October

It means the company must comply with tough European transportation rules in up to 28 member states — which could make expansion in the region more complicated and costly. The landmark case could set a precedent for other Uber-esque companies operating in Europe; lawmakers across the globe have struggled to respond to changes in the nature of work represented by the “hazily regulated world of the gig economy.” Uber has called itself an “information society service" linking drivers and passengers rather than a transportation business.

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Tesla’s new electric truck division just received a pre-order of 125 semi trucks from delivery giant UPS. The company confirmed the order today. Juan Perez, chief information and engineering officer, commented: UPS’ order tops Tesla’s previous record order of 100 electric trucks from Pepsico just over a week ago. They expect to be among the first fleet operators to take delivery of the new electric truck in 2019. The effort is part of UPS’ goal that one in four new vehicles purchased annually will be an alternative fuel or advanced technology vehicle by 2020. The logistics giant has several other electric vehicle efforts, like converting ‘up to 1,500 delivery trucks’ to battery-electric in New York and it already bought some of Daimler’s new electric trucks. While this is Tesla Semi’s biggest order yet, it’s a small fleet update for UPS, which is one of the biggest fleet operators with 108,000 delivery vehicles around the world. At the unveiling event last month, Tesla unveiled two electric truck options with 300 and 500 miles of range. After Tesla revealed the pricing of its electric semi trucks last month, we learned that the regular production versions for the 300-mile and 500-mile range versions will be $150,000 and $180,000 respectively, while the company is also listing a ‘Founders Series’ version for $200,000. This means that UPS’ order alone is worth between $18 million and $25 million. Tesla first started taking reservations with a $5,000 deposit per truck, but has changed the listed deposit price last month to $20,000 for a “base reservation” of the production version and the full $200,000 for the “Founders Series” truck. If UPS just now placed the order, they likely had to place a $2.5 million deposit.

Employers have begun taking matters of higher education into their own hands “at a time when Americans’ faith in higher education is declining,” Wired writes. Some companies like Microsoft (LinkedIn’s parent), “impatient with the speed of change,” have created their own courses and brought them to universities and online programs like edX to help churn out workers with the skills needed to thrive in an ever-changing workplace. In particular, those with data and computer science skills are in demand — colleges are only producing roughly 28,000 computer science graduates per year (per 2015 data from Deloitte), but it’s predicted that 1.8 million jobs requiring data and computer science skills will be created between 2014 and 2024, according to CompTIA.

China's largest cities have been transformed by dock-less bike share schemes, while most big US cities still feature systems with docking ports. That may be about to change as dock-less bikes become more prominent in America, Slate reports. New York City is looking into the idea (per Curbed), while Seattle has already allowed thousands of dock-less bikes in its streets. The expansion of the service could change how we get around our biggest cities, but, like in China, could also clutter pedestrian areas — not to mention go bankrupt.

Estonia is planning to launch the Estcoin in a bid to become a global ICO hub, VentureBeat reports. If it achieves this goal, Estonia would be the first nation to launch a cryptocurrency. Kaspar Korjus, managing director of Estonia’s e-residency program, which allows individuals to obtain Estonian citizenship without living in the country, detailed the proposal for the e-tokens in a blog post on Monday. “By not embracing crypto, governments are failing to unlock a powerful driver of economic growth and risk losing relevance entirely,” Korjus wrote in the post.

The House is expected to take up the $1.5 trillion tax bill today, and the Senate could follow this evening or Wednesday morning; lawmakers hope to get it to President Trump’s desk by Christmas. Republicans announced they are one step closer to passing the major tax cut after Senator Susan Collins of Maine said she'd vote for the bill, reports CNBC. On Sunday, CNN reported that John McCain will likely miss this weekÂ’s tax bill vote — a scenario that made Collins' vote even more important. McCain, suffering from brain cancer, is recovering in Arizona after being hospitalized for a viral infection. Senator Jeff Flake now remains the only Republican hold out on the bill.

US blames North Korea for WannaCry North Korea is “directly responsible” for the WannaCry cyber attack, the Trump administration said. “We do not make this allegation lightly,” homeland security adviser Tom Bossert wrote in The Wall Street Journal; he is expected to release a formal statement Tuesday morning (CNBC). In October, the British government also said “we can be as sure as possible” the attack came from North Korea. WannaCry — which infected more than 300,000 computers in 150 countries earlier this year (CNBC) — has been linked to Lazarus Group, a hacking entity that works on behalf of the North Korean government, a White House official told CNBC.

Derailed train was going too fast An investigation is still ongoing (it will take 7-10 days), although the National Transportation Safety Board was able to determine that the train was traveling 80 mph in a 30 mph zone. All of the train’s 12 coaches derailed during the crash, with some dangling perilously from the overpass, reports The New York Times. Cranes were being brought to the site about 40 miles north of Seattle. Amtrak train 501, which departed Tacoma around 8 am, was carrying 78 passengers and five crew.

6 people on the train were killed, according to The Tacoma News Tribune At least 70 people were sent to St Joseph Hospital 20 people were sent to the Madigan Army Medical Center emergency center The train hit cars; people were injured on the roadway, but no motorists were killed. All lanes are blocked in the heavily-traveled area near Joint Base Lewis-McChord The train that overturned is a new Amtrak train. It provides service from Seattle to Portland It's unclear what caused the derailment Amtrak train 501 derailed near Lacey

@Marra McDonald Johnson The End Result The end result is more frequent, more reliable, and faster Amtrak Cascades service. The improvements will allow passenger trains to use the bypass route without being delayed by freight or Sounder trains. After the completion of other capital rail projects, two additional daily round trip passenger trains could be added. Freight train traffic will not increase on this line beyond the minimal amount that utilizes it today. When completed, the Point Defiance Rail Bypass project will bring a total of six daily round trip Amtrak Cascades trains and one Coast Starlight train through Tacoma, Lakewood, and DuPont intersections, with an average crossing time of 45 seconds per intersection and a maximum speed of 79 mph. Project Benefits Improved Amtrak Cascades reliability. Faster, more frequent Amtrak Cascades service. What is the project timeline? The environmental and design process began in July 2006, and was completed in 2008. The new line opens to service on Dec. 18, 2017. https://www.wsdot.wa.gov/Projects/Rail/PNWRC_PtDefiance/default.htm

Get this.... This was the 1st day of a new high speed route opened.... (it obviously didn't go well) New Amtrak Cascades Tacoma Dome Station to be dedicated Dec. 15; station opens to travelers Dec. 18 WSDOT will dedicate the new Tacoma Dome Station in Freighthouse Square at 2 p.m., Friday, Dec. 15, with a ribbon cutting, speeches and celebration. The station opens to travelers on Monday, Dec. 18 when Amtrak Cascades trains begin using the Point Defiance Bypass route in and out of South Tacoma. Visitors during the ribbon cutting will get a sneak peek inside the station and will also see one of the new locomotives outside the station and a large historical interpretive display inside the station walkway. They'll also learn about Sound Transit's Tacoma Trestle project at the far end of the newly completed second platform. Start date announced for service expansion; use of Point Defiance Bypass route Amtrak Cascades' new service schedule will start Dec. 18, which is also the start of the trains running on the Point Defiance Bypass route and the opening of the new Tacoma Dome Station in Freighthouse Square. The new schedule adds two more daily roundtrips between Seattle and Portland, cuts travel time and improves on-time reliability. It also marks the end of the nearly $800 million Cascades High-Speed Rail Capital Program. Watch time-lapse photos or a time-lapse-video of the new station construction at Freighthouse Square.

PIERCE COUNTY, Wash. - A southbound Amtrak train plunged off a bridge onto Interstate 5 south of Tacoma Monday morning, killing an unknown number of people and injuring others. "We have fatalities and casualties," said Detective Ed Troyer of the Pierce County Sheriff's Department. "This is a regional mass casualty response." All southbound lanes of Interstate 5 are closed south of Joint Base Lewis-McChord.

PIERCE COUNTY, Wash. - A southbound Amtrak train plunged off a bridge onto Interstate 5 south of Tacoma Monday morning, killing an unknown number of people and injuring others.

If your head is not spinning already, consider the amount of narrow money that is held in banks and wallets, under mattresses and in piggy-banks around the world: $31 trillion. 'Narrow' money is defined as physical money: the coins and notes that used to be the standard form of currency before the rise of more derivative forms of payment, such as checks and electronic forms of money. 'Broad' money also includes the deposits in easily accessible bank accounts that can be converted into cash relatively quickly. The sum of money under this definition is $83.6 trillion. .... The total market value of publicly traded shares at stock exchanges around the world is $66.8 trillion. Not only is that a fabulously large amount of money, it is also subject to the laws of supply and demand, and highly fiduciary. A run towards or away from stocks would thoroughly deregulate the global economy, and nothing more dramatic than a minus sign in front of that amount would lead to the collapse of global civilization. Does that sound overly dramatic? If the see-sawing rise of Bitcoin tells us anything, it is that people are losing their trust in money, and other traditional measures of wealth. Let's talk again when the total value of all cryptocurrencies surpasses that of the world's supply of gold... http://www.businessinsider.com/bitcoin-compared-to-all-of-the-worlds-money-2017-6

"For Strong Evangelicals This Is Part Of The Biblical Prescription That JERUSALEM SHALL RETURN!"

Senator Al Franken "I Will Be Resigning As A Member Of The U.S. Senate"