US unions This article is more than 2 months oldThis article is more than 2 months oldFrom Florida to Alaska, workers are facing legal efforts to weaken their power by targeting union certification and dues Public sector unions in the US have been facing significant challenges from anti-union groups and Republicans at the federal and state levels in recent years, but have also mounted significant organizing campaigns to stave off membership and funding losses.

Until last month, Bishop Richard Williamson was barely known outside the ultraconservative world of the Society of St. Pius X. That was before Pope Benedict lifted his excommunication. It then emerged that Williamson is an unrepentant Holocaust denier. His rehabilitation has seriously damaged Jewish-Catholic relations and caused anguish within the Roman Catholic Church. The smoking gun was Williamson's interview on Swedish TV just days before his excommunication was lifted. It's now been viewed on YouTube more than 200,000 times.

Redeem now Sylvia Duran Chen was shocked to be laid off from her YouTube job after almost nine years at Google. The job perks and mission mattered to her, and she'd felt proud to have been chosen by Google. She allowed herself a week to grieve, then realized that her job couldn't be what defined her. This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Sylvia Duren Chen, a 39-year-old former Google and YouTube employee from San Diego.

Jason Banjoman. After Mumford & Sons recruited Jason Bateman, Ed Helms, Jason Sudeikis, and Will Forte to play them in one of the year’s greatest, goofiest music videos, some background info was bound to turn up. It’s here, and it’s commensurately delightful. “Even though he was lip-synching, Jason Sudeikis sang at the top of his lungs — all day,” the L.A. Times writes after a conversation with director Sam Jones.

Late-night TV roundupLate-night hosts discuss Donald Trump’s testimony at his civil fraud trial, the next Republican debate and Ted Cruz’s book Jimmy KimmelLate-night hosts continued to follow Trump’s many legal woes on Tuesday, as shows taped before election results were posted. In Los Angeles, Jimmy Kimmel noted that the US government is, again, on the brink of a potential shutdown. “Didn’t we just go through this last month? When did this whole country turn into a deadbeat dad?