text: In Washington, D.C., Democratic Sens. Elizabeth Warren, Ron Wyden and Chris Murphy introduced legislation to ban noncompete clauses in April. “Noncompetes rig the system against hard working people,” Warren said in a press release.
  The International Franchise Association has reported lobbying on the legislation since its introduction. “Many franchise systems invest in methods of training and operation — and they spend considerable time and expense conveying training and operational processes to various groups of employees,” the IFA said in a June letter to Congress. If that training were to be shared and utilized outside of the franchise by a former employer, “the competitiveness of the franchise could be seriously undermined.” The letter acknowledges that noncompete and no-poaching agreements “can be used inappropriately” and offers to work with legislators to craft a compromise solution for employees and franchise owners alike, though federal legislation is seen as unlikely if Congress remains in Republican hands.
  For now, noncompete clauses will likely continue to bind workers in fields like in-home health care — and worker advocates will continue to fight them. “In my experience,” said National Domestic Workers Alliance attorney and State Policy Director Rocío Avila, “those clauses … serve as a tool to intimidate and scare people off.”
  Correction, Oct. 24, 2018, 10:25 a.m.: TheMassachusetts attorney general’s name has been corrected from Martha Healey to Maura Healey. Also, the Florida law firm representing Kenny has been corrected from Pollard LLC to Pollard PLLC.
  
  Green fluorescent protein (GFP) and its derivatives have transformed the use and analysis of proteins for diverse applications. Like proteins, RNA has complex roles in cellular function and is increasingly used for various applications, but a comparable approach for fluorescently tagging RNA is lacking. Here, we describe the generation of RNA aptamers that bind fluorophores resembling the fluorophore in GFP. These RNA-fluorophore complexes create a palette that spans the visible spectrum. An RNA-fluorophore complex, termed Spinach, resembles enhanced GFP and emits a green fluorescence comparable in brightness with fluorescent proteins. Spinach is markedly resistant to photobleaching, and Spinach fusion RNAs can be imaged in living cells. These RNA mimics of GFP provide an approach for genetic encoding of fluorescent RNAs.