Society

The Economic Policy Institute, a think-tank that focuses on the needs of low and middle class workers, released "The State of Working America, 12th Edition" which shows that the U.S. wealth gap has continued to grow over the past decade.

The report also calls the first 10 years of the 21st century a "lost decade" for middle class Americans.

The median U.S. net work has taken a nosedive to $57,000 in 2010 from $73,000 in 1983. According to the study, "had wealth grown equally across households", the median net worth would be $119,000.

The report suggests that economic policies, including U.S. policymakers failure to take action, have lowed the chances of workers to benefit from the U.S.'s economic growth and has contributed to the widening wealth gap in the country.

The State of Working America, 12th Edition also provides some historical analysis. 50 years ago, the top one percent had 125 times the network of the median household. In 2010, the top one percent had 288 times the middle class net worth.

The report also said:

On Wednesday, September 12, it is expected that the U.S. Census Bureau will announce that the U.S. poverty rate is now the worst in 50 years. In light of the findings, and to highlight the issue, broadcaster Tavis Smiley and Cornel West, professor of Philosophy and Christian Practice at Union Theological Seminary, kick off "The Poverty Tour 2.0: A Call to Conscience" in Cleveland, OH.

Smiley and West, co-hosts of the nationally syndicated public radio program Smiley & West, from Public Radio International (PRI), will host six town hall events that are free and open to the public from Sept. 12 to 15.

Sponsored in party by AARP Foundation and HuffPost Live, The Poverty Tour 2.0 will visit key battleground states, including Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Florida. Another town hall event will also be held in Delaware. The town hall events will be broadcast live to radio stations across the country via the Pacifica Network and Native Voice One. They will also be streamed on HuffPost Live and USTREAM. Each will feature national and local leaders, as well as activists organizing on the ground and Americans who are struggling with poverty.

Americans will get their chance to say goodbye to the first man to walk on the moon, Neil Armstrong, in a public memorial service to be held at the Washington National Cathedral on September 13.

The service will begin at 10am, and will be broadcast live on NASA Television, as well as streamed on the websites of the space agency and the cathedral. The event will be open to the public on a first come, first served basis.

Transportation Security Administration agents are adding to travelers' angst by adding yet another security check at airports. The federal agency is now instructing staff to test beverages that have been purchased by travelers after they were already screened at the security checkpoint.

One traveler at the airport in Columbus, Ohio, uploaded a video to YouTube on Monday that shows security staff canvassing a departure gate, and then asking people at random to check their drinks for explosives. According to the person who shot the video, "this is inside the terminal, well beyond the security check and purchased inside the terminal.... just people waiting to get on the plane."

TSA has not said if the additional security measure is in response to any new threat.

TSA began limiting the amount of liquids that passengers could bring on board in 2006, when security officials said that a UK bomb plot involving liquid explosives was foiled. All liquids, gels, and aerosols must now be 3.4-ounces or smaller to take on board a plane.

Ryan Mauro, a national security analyst, told Fox News in July, when the new security measure was first noticed, that:

Following the culmination of the Republican National Convention in Tampa, Mitt Romney accepted an invite from Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal to visit some of the most devastated areas that were in Hurricane Isaac's path, towns that exist outside of the state's extensive levee system that protects the shores. Most of them were found completely submerged after the storm hit. Romney met with Jindal, and while touring the area he also met with a woman by the name of Jodie Chiarello, a 42-year-old woman who lost her home thanks to Isaac. Romney's advice for the woman is shocking.

Since federal funds did not come to her area a few years ago, Jodie's house was submerged under water. Now, she has nowhere to go. Jodie asked Mitt about what he could do about the situation. Jodie told reporters:

Tampa, where the Republican National Convention kicks off this week, looks as though it be spared from the wrath of Tropical Storm Isaac. Instead, thousands in Alabama, Louisiana, and Mississippi were being told early on Monday to leave their homes on the Gulf Coast ahead of Isaac's arrival as forecasters warned that it was gaining strength as it followed along the same path that Hurricane Katrina took seven years ago.

Governors from each of the three states declared an emergency. Alabama Governor Robert Bentley ordered mandatory evacuations to begin at 8am for residents living along the coast and in low-lying areas inland.

The National Hurricane Center said that a hurricane warning was issued for the northern coast of the Gulf of Mexico, stretching from Morgan City, Louisiana, to Destin, Florida.

Isaac is expected to make landfall either late Tuesday or Wednesday. This coincides with the seventh anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, a Category 3 storm that devastated New Orleans and the Gulf Coast in 2005. Isaac won't be quite that strong, however, and is expected to be a category 1 storm when it hits land.

In a report released on Monday, Ohio ranked 13th in the nation for obese adults, with 29.6 percent of adults in Ohio being classified as obese.

The new report from Trust for America's Health ranked Mississippi first, where 34.9 percent of adults are classified as obese. The leanest state was found to be Colorado, where 20.7 percent of adults are obese. Interestingly, 26 of the 30 fattest states are located in the Midwest and South.

Ohio did not move up or down on the list this year, and maintained its 13th place ranking.

Here are the 10 fattest states in the U.S., according to the report:

1. Mississippi (34.9%)
2. Louisiana (33.4%
3. West Virginia (32.4%
4. Alabama (32.0%)
5. Michigan (31.3%)
6. Oklahoma (31.1%)
7. Arkansas (30.9%)
8. (tie) Indiana (30.8%) and South Carolina (30.8%)
10.(tie) Kentucky (30.4%) and Texas (30.4%)

As if the case of Jerry Sandusky, the former Penn State University football coach recently convicted of molesting young boys, wasn't already sickening enough, federal officials have now launched an investigation into a possible pedophile ring involving Sandusky.

RadarOnline.com reports that both the FBI and a criminal investigative division of the U.S. Postal Service are looking into allegations that Sandusky, 68, shared boys with other men connected to Penn State as part of a child sex ring. A source familiar with the situation told RadarOnline:

"Investigators have interviewed at least one man who claims to have knowledge of Sandusky and a very prominent man, with strong ties to Penn State, both sexually abusing a boy."

News of the latest investigation comes just one month after Sandusky was convicted on 45 counts of child sexual abuse for molesting 10 boys over the course of 15 years. Many of the victims were from the Second Mile charity, an organization that Sandusky founded in 1977 to help troubled youth. He is expected to be sentenced to life in prison.

Just last week, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed 12 new cases of human infections with influenza A (H3N2) variant virus in three states (10 in Ohio, 1 in Indiana, and 1 in Hawaii), bring the total since 2011 to 29 cases. Health officials on Thursday reported a five-fold increase in the number of cases thanks to a wave of new cases confirmed in Ohio and Indiana.

To date, there are now 158 confirmed cases of H3N2. Most of the cases confirmed this week have been linked to state and county agricultural fairs, where visitors can have close contact with infected pigs.

Dr. Joseph Bresee of the CDC says that the recent cases include 113 in Indiana, 30 in Ohio, one in Hawaii, and one in Illinois. The majority of those infected are children, possibly because many worked closely with raising, displaying and visiting pigs at the fairs.

The CDC is concerned about this new strain of swine flu because it has a gene from the 2009 pandemic strain (H1N1) that may allow it to spread more easily than pig viruses typically do. Fortunately, this latest strain seems to be mild and no one has died, and it appears that all of the recent cases were spread from pigs to humans, meaning that it is not very contagious between people.

Bryan Fischer of the American Family Association is said to have sunk to a new low with his latest anti-gay remarks, when on Tuesday evening in two separate tweets, Fischer called for an "Underground Railroad to deliver innocent children from same-sex households."

In one tweet Fischer referenced the story of Lisa Miller, who after declaring herself an ex-gay kidnapped her daughter and took her to Central America to stop her former partner from having any custody. In the second tweet, Fischer referred to the testimony of a man by the name of Robert Oscar Lopez, who blames his social problems on being raised by his mother and her lesbian partner.

That children of same-sex parents are the equivalent of slaves who need to be rescued is a dangerous proposition that is not only illegal because it involves kidnapping, but also because it has the potential to do great harm and is a direct attack on the lives of the LGBT community and their families.