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Six U.S. senators released a letter Tuesday urging NBA Commissioner Adam Silver to move the league’s All-Star Game out of Charlotte, North Carolina, due to the state's anti-LGBT law. Colin Campbell reports: 

“We hold no ill-will towards the people of Charlotte, who passed an antidiscrimination measure that HB2 overturned, or towards the people of North Carolina,” the senators wrote in the letter. “However, we cannot condone nor stand idly by as North Carolina moves to legalize and institutionalize discrimination against the LGBT community. Nor should the NBA allow its premier annual event to be hosted in such a state. Doing so, we believe, would be inconsistent with the NBA’s history and values.”

The letter, which was spearheaded by Oregon Sen. Jeff Merkley, also included signatures from Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey, Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont, Sen. Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin, Sen. Patty Murray of Washington, and Sen. Mark Kirk of Illinois.

Communication Workers of America, which represents workers at Verizon’s landline and business units, was unable to reach an agreement with the company, leading 36,000 workers to walk off the job today. What’s at stake here is more than a change in salary or benefits—it’s whether or not Verizon will continue to have decent jobs with union representation. 

Verizon has outsourced 5,000 jobs to workers in Mexico, the Philippines and the Dominican Republic. Verizon is hiring more low-wage, non-union contractors, the union says.

"The main thing is that's it's taking good-paying jobs and taking them away from the American public," said Ken Beckett, a technical telecommunications associate for Verizon and union board member with 1101 CWA, as he picketed with colleagues outside a Verizon office in Manhattan.

Though profits at Verizon are soaring, the company is imposing ever-tougher conditions on workers. Call centers are being closed and consolidated. Workers are being asked to work for extended periods—weeks or months—away from their homes. The company bragged of saving $300 million on employees in its wireline division last year, at the same time that division posted an $8.9 billion profit.

Infighting. It's not just for House Republicans (and Republican presidential candidates, the rank-and-file GOP and, well, everybody but Senate Republicans) anymore. Yes, now Senate Republicans are in the midst of a big leadership battle. Because of course they are.

Republican lawmakers are split over the question of whether Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah), a close friend of presidential candidate Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), should have a chance to join the leadership. […]

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) told reporters after the meeting that the internal conference rules support keeping his entire leadership team in place for another two years.

But Lee told colleagues behind closed doors that he disagrees. He believes there’s now an open seat at the leadership table for him or another up-and-coming lawmaker.

Lee has told colleagues in phone conversations that Republican Policy Committee Chairman John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) must step down from his post at the end of the year because of term limits, and Lee wants to take his place.

FreedomWorks, a Koch spinoff, and Heritage Action are thrilled at the idea of Lee in leadership. "We could not be more excited that Sen. Lee is seeking this post," says the Kochs' guy. "If he is elected, it would be a tremendous boost to grassroots conservative activists across the country and a sign that Senate Republicans are ready to pursue a bold policy agenda." Translation: shutting down the government and defaulting on the debt won't just be a House thing anymore.

Out with former GOP Gov. Bobby Jindal, in with Democratic Gov. John Bel Edwards, who extended protections to both transgender and gay citizens of Louisiana who work for the state or seek state services. Julia O'Donoghue reports:

Democratic Gov. John Bel Edwards issued an executive order Tuesday (April 13) that protects state workers and state contractors from being fired, discriminated against or harassed based on their gender identity as well as their sexual orientation. State agencies, departments and offices also wouldn't be able to discriminate against people based on their sexual orientation or gender identity.

This means the nondiscrimination policy will not only cover gay, lesbian, and bisexual people but also transgender people for the first time. Most of the order were enacted immediately, though the parts that apply to state workers won't take effect until July 1. 

The order isn't perfect—it does exempt religious organizations, such as the Catholic church, that contract with the state to provide services in areas like education, health care, and adoption. But it's a step forward from Jindal's action to extend further protections to people that oppose same-sex marriage. Gov. Edwards also rescinded Jindal's order.

The Jindal order was the subject of an American Civil Liberties Union lawsuit and Edwards considered it an overreach. The governor thinks his own order's exception -- as well existing laws -- will provide enough safeguards for people who have religious opposition to same-sex couples.  

And there's a lesson in  "elections matter."

A coalition of more than 60 businesses in Missouri including some of the state's biggest employers have joined forces to express their opposition to a "religious liberty" measure that would ultimately grant businesses a license to discriminate against LGBTQ people. The State Senate-approved initiative currently being debated in the House, if passed, would bypass the governor and let voters choose whether to amend the state constitution to allow businesses to decline services based on religious opposition to same-sex marriage. Summer Ballentine reports:

Agricultural giant Monsanto, prescription drug benefits manager Express Scripts, and pet food maker Nestle Purina are among employers to join the recently formed Missouri Competes, according to gay rights advocacy group PROMO, which released the list just hours before a House committee heard testimony from business, sports and religious groups. Dozens crammed in the Capitol basement for the late-night hearing. [...]

St. Louis-based Monsanto has criticized the measure as an economic hindrance. Lobbyist Duane Simpson noted the company includes gender identity and sexual orientation in its non-discrimination policy and backs adopting similar policies statewide.

"We have employees who are members of the LGBT community, and, frankly, we're going to stand up for them," Simpson said during the hearing.

The Missouri Chamber of Commerce has also opposed the measure, noting Indiana's loss of business following last year’s passage of its "religious freedom" bill ensuring the right to discriminate against LGBTQ Americans.

Former Gov. Ted Strickland, and Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate in Ohio, has jumped on the bandwagon for protecting and strengthening Social Security and Medicare through the most obvious and simple solution—lifting the payroll tax cap.

Strickland, speaking before the Ohio Alliance for Retired Americans in Columbus, said he favors additional taxes on "the millionaire and billionaire class" to help preserve the retirement system, according to the Columbus Dispatch. […]

Strickland also released a policy proposal online in which he vowed to oppose efforts to privatize Social Security and Medicare, push for a senior issues advocacy program and support tax credits for caregivers.

"Ohio's seniors and their families will know that they are a priority in my U.S. Senate Office, and that I will stand up for them and with them at every turn," the 74-year-old former Ohio governor from Columbus wrote in the proposal.

He's not on the increase-Social-Security bandwagon, yet, but this is a solid statement of principle on a critical issue for Democrats. In addition to raising the payroll tax cap, Strickland's says in his proposal he is opposed to making changes to eligibility for seniors—no raising the retirement age, for example—and to privatizing it. He wants to allow Medicare to negotiate for prescription prices with pharmaceuticals in the same way the Department of Veterans Affairs does, and is opposed to any effort to turn Medicare into a voucher system. And he says he is "proud to support the bipartisan Credit For Caring Act, which provides a new, nonrefundable federal tax credit of up to $3,000 for eligible family caregivers who work and use their own money to help care for a loved one."

Please give $3 to send Ted Strickland bolster the Social Security protectors in the Senate.

Spring in Greenland is usually more aspirational than actual … but not this year.

Emerging from a winter that has had staggeringly warm Arctic temperatures, scientists monitoring the vast Greenland ice sheet announced Tuesday that it is experiencing a record-breaking level of melt for so early in the season. ...

The news raised memories of the record melt season in 2012, when the ice sheet as a whole lost 562 gigatons, or billion tons, of freshwater mass to the ocean, enough to raise sea levels the world over by more than a millimeter in that year alone.

Warming effects aren’t just reaching the top of the world—they’re reaching up to affect altitudes more than a mile above sea level. All across Greenland, the ice sheets are covered in a sheen of meltwater as melting season gets a record early start. Researchers point to a mass of warm air trapped over the ice sheet as the cause for the unseasonable melt this year. Rather than the usual spring snows, Greenland is seeing widespread rain. 

This early melt may turn out to have a relatively minor effect on the overall ice loss this year. If a cold weather pattern moves in, there could be a refreeze that keeps things chilled until the usual time when melting begins around the end of May. Still, this unusual early start to the season signals a potential for a year that may match or exceed 2012’s record melt.

North Carolina Republican Gov. Pat McCrory was already facing a competitive re-election fight with Democratic Attorney General Roy Cooper before he signed state House Bill 2 last month. The state law nullified a Charlotte city ordinance that aimed to protect LGBT citizens and allow transgender citizens to use the bathroom that aligns with their gender identity. The new law also specifically targeted LGBT citizens for discrimination and specified that they must use bathrooms associated with the gender on their birth certificate. A number of businesses subsequently canceled planned expansions into North Carolina. On behalf of WRAL-TV, SurveyUSA gives us our first look at the general election since HB2 was signed, and they have Cooper leading McCrory 47-43.

SurveyUSA gives McCrory an underwater 43-47 approval rating, which exactly matches his deficit against Cooper. By contrast, the attorney general posts a strong 53-25 approval rating; PPP, which frequently polls North Carolina, has usually found Cooper largely unknown. SurveyUSA’s last poll, conducted for High Point University a month ago, gave McCrory a 47-45 edge. A 6-point swing is noticeable, but at least for now, it doesn’t appear that HB2 has dramatically changed the direction of this contest: The race was close before, and it’s close now. Of course, you should never rely on just one poll to analyze a race. PPP surveys the state about once a month and other pollsters will also likely take a look at this contest before too long, so we should soon have a better idea of how much damage HB2 has or has not done to McCrory’s campaign.

SurveyUSA digs a little deeper and finds that North Carolinians disapprove of HB2 by a 50-38 margin. However, respondents overall say they're angry about the economic damage the backlash from HB2 has done to the state instead of with the actual text of the law. By a 56-34 score, respondents say that they agree with the “new law requiring people to follow their birth certificate in using a restroom.” By a similar margin, they also agree that “allowing transgender individuals to use the restroom of their choice pose[s] a security risk for women and children,” which is exactly what McCrory and the GOP legislature have been arguing. However, respondents also agree by a 61-11 margin that the bill has hurt “North Carolina's ability to attract and keep businesses.”

McCrory is aware that the firestorm from HB2 is doing his state, and by extension, his political career, real damage. The governor recently issued an executive order that sought to assuage the law’s critics, but it really didn’t do much to actually reverse HB2. If McCrory can persuade businesses to return to the state, or at least stop the exodus, he may be able to escape without much electoral damage. However, if North Carolinians are convinced that McCrory has done long-term harm to their state’s economy, voters probably will not be so willing to forgive him in November. Daily Kos Elections rates the general election as a Tossup.

It's Wednesday, April 13 and Day 60 since Justice Antonin Scalia died and Mitch McConnell laid down his Supreme Court blockade: No meetings, no hearings, no votes on his replacement, and Day 28 since President Obama named Merrick Garland to be Scalia's replacement. What's the Senate doing today instead of considering the Supreme Court nominee? Twiddling their thumbs on the floor while the 30-hour cloture countdown clock on the Federal Aviation Administration authorization bill ticks away. There might be behind-the-scenes negotiating to try to shorten that 30 hours, but that would be actual work, so don’t count on it.

And what about that FAA bill? What's in it for us? Certainly not less cramped airline seats, since they voted that amendment down. Here's what else isn't in it, though it was promised to be: Alternative energy tax credits. 

Legislators agreed to an extension of tax credits for geothermal, small wind, fuel cells, and combined heat and power in the large omnibus spending deal passed last year, but the provisions were left out due to a "drafting error." The understanding between both parties was that the credits would need to be included in another must-pass bill in the new year. The aviation bill provided an opening to settle the score, but on Tuesday, party leaders said negotiations to include the tax credits crumbled.

Why did it fail?

Democrats pointed to a letter sent to the Finance Committee by 30 conservative organizations, including Koch-affiliated groups Americans for Prosperity and Heritage Action. In it, the groups voiced opposition to including an extension of the renewable tax credits in the FAA bill.

"The reason it went down, the reason it went down is the Koch brothers pay for 34 different groups that look like their environmental groups — of course they're not — they're the ones that killed this bill, they're the ones that killed the bill," [Minority Leader Harry] Reid said. […]

1. End the Iowa and New Hampshire monopoly. There are several competing plans, all better than the status quo. I would rotate by region, using the geographic splits in Sandy Levin’s Interregional Primary Plan. So:

Region 1: Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont; Massachusetts; Connecticut, Rhode Island; Delaware, New Jersey; New York; Pennsylvania.

Region 2: Maryland; West Virginia; Missouri; Indiana; Kentucky; Tennessee.

Region 3: Ohio; Illinois; Michigan; Wisconsin; Iowa; Minnesota.

Region 4: Texas; Louisiana; Arkansas, Oklahoma; Colorado; Kansas, Nebraska; Arizona, New Mexico.

Region 5: Virginia; North Carolina; South Carolina; Florida; Georgia; Mississippi, Alabama.

Region 6: California; Washington; Oregon; Idaho, Nevada, Utah; Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Wyoming; Hawaii, Alaska.

First time through, the leading region would be chosen by lottery. Next cycle, that region would go last, and everyone else would move up a date. I’d hold one regional primary on late January, February, March, April, and May. Or move them up a month to end in June. 

Each one of those groupings gives us a great deal of demographic diversity, given all of our party’s stakeholders a say in choosing our nominee. 

No surprise here, but three fervent supporters of North Carolina's anti-LGBT HB2 law are also part of Ted Cruz's faith advisory council: Charlotte pastor turned congressional candidate Mark Harris and the Benham brothers, who used to have a real estate flipping show until they were exposed for being virulently anti-gay. Hannah Levintova reports on how they railed against Charlotte’s pro-LGBT measure:

in February 2015, Charlotte introduced its anti-discrimination ordinance and Harris and the Benhams snapped into action. Faith Matters NC, a grassroots religious liberty group vice chaired by Harris, took out a radio ad on a conservative talk radio station in Charlotte. "I'd be really scared if a man shared a bathroom with my daughter," says a woman in the ad, of the bill's provision allowing public-restroom use based on gender identity. "This nightmare could become a reality right here in Charlotte if we don't speak up quickly," she continues, encouraging listeners to contact their city council members and demand that they vote down the "bathroom bill."

The Benham brothers, meanwhile, headlined a rally to promote biblical values at Charlotte City Hall. And on a conservative radio show David Benham called the bill part of "the radical gay agenda's plan to change America." 

The pro-LGBT measure failed last year but succeeded this year, which is what prompted state lawmakers to pass HB2.