In today's On the News segment: Scranton, Pennsylvania's mayor cuts police and firefighter pay to minimum wage, record-breaking heat wave can no longer be dismissed as "just summer," corporations continue to gobble the commons from Michigan's public schools to Greece's airports and other state properties, and more.

In screwed news...Republicans want police and firefighters to only make minimum wage and no more. Last week – the Mayor of Scranton slashed the pay of hundreds of city workers, including cops and firefighters, to $7.25 an hour – the lowest hourly wage currently allowed for by law. The Mayor says that his city is broke and, because he's unwilling to raise taxes on business or millionaires, can't afford to pay its workers anymore money. That's the problem in several cities across America, which have seen their revenues dry up during the Bush Great Recession. President Obama offered a clear solution to this problem with his American Jobs Act, which gave emergency federal relief to states to help struggling cities avoid massive layoffs or pay cuts to public worker salaries. Unfortunately, Republicans have blocked the American Jobs Act – so police and firefighters across America are joining Wal-Mart workers in the ranks of the working poor. To add insult to injury, Republicans are also fighting a Democratic effort to raise the minimum wage – which currently has less buying power today than it had in 1968.

Transcript of the full video report at Truthout.

Thousands turned out to march at Wednesday's Chicago Teacher's Union rally downtown that aimed to send a strong message to Mayor Rahm Emanuel concerning teachers' ongoing contract negotiations.

"He stole your 4 percent raise. Then he cussed me out!" Chicago Teachers Union President Karen Lewis exclaimed to a full house of some 4,000 Chicago Public Schools teachers at the Auditorium Theatre, Fox Chicago reports.

After the rally, the teachers took to the streets for a rush-hour march.

At issue for the CTU members are their salaries, the longer school day, resources for their schools, as well as the city's expansion of charter schools while public schools struggle. According to a recent report, CPS is aiming to open 60 new charter schools in the next five years, though the city says that number is as yet only a "projection."

In a press conference preceding the teachers' rally, Emanuel admitted that CPS teachers should receive a raise.

"Chicago teachers deserve a pay raise," the mayor said, the Chicago Sun-Times reports. "They work very hard. Chicago schoolchildren do not deserve a strike."

Yet many teachers remain skeptical of the mayor. Harper High School teacher John Thuet told the Chicago Tribune that he believes the mayor has "lost touch with reality."

"I feel like we're getting walked on. They're extending our hours, not giving us raises. And if we don't stop it now, I don't know when it will stop," Thuet told the Tribune.

The teachers union appears primed to take action -- and rumors of a strike are no secret. While no strike vote was taken Wednesday, CTU Vice President Jesse Sharkey said this week that such a vote will be taking place "when it’s appropriate" -- likely before the school year's end.