EVENTS: FOOD TRUCK RODEO, BARBECUE AT THE WINERIES 22 CHOW HOUND: CURE, OLD TOAD CASK FESTIVAL 11 CLASSICAL PREVIEW: SARAH MCLACHLAN W/RPO 21 FILM: “ROCK OF AGES,” “THAT’S MY BOY” 30 URBAN JOURNAL: War, counterterrorism, and the presidency
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CROSSWORD, NEWS OF THE WEIRD 43
Silent Auction
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Dino Dinicolo
JUNE 20-26, 2012 Free
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Balkan Beat Box
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Motion City Soundtrack • Peter Novelli • and MORE MUSIC, PAGE 12
Greater Rochester’s Alternative Newsweekly
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Vol 41 No 41
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News. Music. Life.
The man makes crazy a viable option.” MUSIC REVIEW, PAGE 13
Ready the groundhog catapult. NEWS, PAGE 4
Critics: Cuomo’s fracking crazy. NEWS, PAGE 5
Slaughter has fund-raising edge. NEWS, PAGE 5
“Chicago”: Isn’t it grand, isn’t it great? THEATER REVIEW, PAGE 26
City’s Jazz Blog: daily dispatches from the Fest. DETAILS, PAGE 13
POLITICS | BY JEREMY MOULE | PAGE 8 | ILLUSTRATION BY MAX SEIFERT
Bye bye unions? For decades, labor unions have had significant influence on American politics and elections, whether it’s the presidency or a local town board seat. But a recent election in Wisconsin may signal a shift in that relationship. Unions worked to get a recall election against Governor Scott Walker after Walker stripped public employees of most collective bargaining rights. But Walker survived the election, and many commentators cast his victory as a serious defeat for labor. Unions have seen membership declines in recent years and as a result, they face a diminished voice in
politics. They also run the risk of being drowned out by well-funded opposition that can now spend freely to influence elections, thanks to the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision. But labor’s political prospects are not all doom and gloom, says Jim Bertolone, president of the Rochester and Genesee Valley Area Labor Federation. He says labor is working with like-minded groups on common issues, like a raise in the minimum wage. And unions have also had recent successes, including Congress member Kathy Hochul’s special election win last year.