As the government rolls out new pollution standards this week, critics are charging federal regulators with ignoring science and arbitrarily allowing toxins into the air.
Published: Tuesday, December 19, 2006
Reported By: Michelle Chen
Section: Environment and Health
Topics: Environment / Ecology, Politics / Legislation, Health / Safety
Low-income defendants are being denied their right to counsel, and while everyone from the judges to the Justice Department knows it, little is being done to fix it.
Published: Monday, December 18, 2006
Reported By: Shreema Mehta
Section: Civil Liberties and Security
Topics: Civil / Human Rights, Poverty / Class Issues, Catastrophe / Crisis
The Environmental Protection Agency has announced that it will allow the import and production of a banned pesticide that depletes the ozone layer.
Published: Monday, December 18, 2006
Reported By: Shreema Mehta
Section: Environment and Health
Topics: Environment / Ecology, Agriculture
The government rewrote the rules for managing forests last week, largely erasing obligations to consider potential environmental harm when planning the future of public wild lands.
Published: Monday, December 18, 2006
Reported By: Michelle Chen
Section: Environment and Health
Topics: Environment / Ecology, Law / Courts, Business, Social Movements / Activism
Critics say the illegal use of Social Security numbers by undocumented immigrants – like those rounded up in a massive raid this week – is a predictable result of a broken system.
Published: Friday, December 15, 2006
Reported By: Shreema Mehta
Section: Work and Money
Topics: Immigration / Refugees, Labor Issues, Law Enforcement / Prison System
A coalition of environmentalist and animal-rights groups went to court this week, accusing a New Jersey agency of illegally authorizing inhumane treatment of farm animals.
Published: Friday, December 15, 2006
Reported By: Megan Tady
Section: U.S. News
Topics: Animal Rights, Agriculture
A movement is mounting to foil a controversial federal program to "modernize" the nation’s nuclear weapons arsenal. The Bush administration says its plan will lead to a "smaller, safer and more-secure" stockpile, but opponents call it a blueprint for a new atomic arms buildup.
Published: Friday, December 15, 2006
Reported By: Catherine Komp
Section: U.S. News
Topics: Military / War, Foreign Policy / International Relations
Over the next few months, families across the country will be deciding which comes first: staying warm or staying fed. Heating-fuel costs have soared in recent years, now rivaling food, health care and other essential expenses squeezing low-income households.
Published: Friday, December 15, 2006
Reported By: Michelle Chen
Section: Work and Money
Topics: Economy, Energy, Food / Nutrition, Poverty / Class Issues
A Canadian survivor of "extraordinary rendition" is appealing a federal court’s decision to dismiss his lawsuit against the US government.
Published: Thursday, December 14, 2006
Reported By: Catherine Komp
Section: Civil Liberties and Security
Topics: Terrorism / Terror War, Civil / Human Rights, Law / Courts
Over 10,000 scientists are calling on the US government to stop manipulating science for political reasons, a government watchdog has announced.
Published: Thursday, December 14, 2006
Reported By: Megan Tady
Section: U.S. News
Topics: Science / Technology, Politics / Legislation
After a federal court ordered the EPA to set limits on mercury pollution from cement kilns, the EPA signed a rule last week that fails to impose them.
Published: Wednesday, December 13, 2006
Reported By: Shreema Mehta
Section: Environment and Health
Topics: Environment / Ecology, Health / Safety
Nearly two months after DuPont claimed to have evidence that a chemical it uses in the Teflon-manufacturing process is safe for workers, the chemical giant still refuses to release its full findings to the public.
Published: Wednesday, December 13, 2006
Reported By: Catherine Komp
Section: Environment and Health
Topics: Health / Safety, Labor Issues
As Los Angeles airport hotels fight a law ordering them to pay enough to barely raise a family on, some workers are staging a hunger strike to gain public sympathy and realize the promise of a better wage.
Published: Tuesday, December 12, 2006
Reported By: Jessica Hoffmann
Section: Work and Money
Topics: Labor Issues, Poverty / Class Issues, Social Movements / Activism
Tensions between homeless people and city officials in Orlando, Florida are flaring after the city destroyed an encampment and a judge dismissed part of a lawsuit challenging restrictions on public meal programs in downtown parks.
Published: Monday, December 11, 2006
Reported By: Catherine Komp
Section: U.S. News
Topics: Poverty / Class Issues, Law / Courts, Law Enforcement / Prison System
A US Department of Homeland Security program that compiles data on millions of travelers and determines how likely they are to be terrorists may be operating illegally, according to privacy advocates and some members of Congress.
Published: Monday, December 11, 2006
Reported By: Catherine Komp
Section: Civil Liberties and Security
Topics: Privacy / Surveillance
Healthcare advocates say a state commission's plan to consolidate hospitals is wrong-headed, glossing over the real problem and real reforms.
Published: Friday, December 8, 2006
Reported By: Michelle Chen
Section: Environment and Health
Topics: Health / Safety, Poverty / Class Issues, Politics / Legislation, Economy
Environmental Protection Agency staff will have to jump through hoops when protesting permits that allow for wetland destruction, thanks to a new Agency policy.
Published: Friday, December 8, 2006
Reported By: Megan Tady
Section: Environment and Health
Topics: Environment / Ecology
Native Americans in South Dakota won a four-year-old legal battle this week when a federal court ruled that the city of Martin violated the Voting Rights Act and discriminated against American Indian voters.
Published: Friday, December 8, 2006
Reported By: Catherine Komp
Section: Civil Liberties and Security
Topics: Elections / Democracy, Indigenous Issues
The typical American diet adds significantly to pollution, water scarcity, land degradation and climate change, according to a United Nations report released last week.
Published: Thursday, December 7, 2006
Reported By: Megan Tady
Section: Environment and Health
Topics: Environment / Ecology, Agriculture, Food / Nutrition
Lawmakers and the Bush administration are renewing controversial efforts to blast open new channels for offshore oil and gas drilling in Florida and Alaska.
Published: Tuesday, December 5, 2006
Reported By: Michelle Chen
Section: Environment and Health
Topics: Environment / Ecology, Energy, Politics / Legislation
In what government watchdogs call a conflict of interest, three lawmakers under investigation by the Justice Department are in a position to determine how much money the Department will get next year.
Published: Tuesday, December 5, 2006
Reported By: Shreema Mehta
Section: U.S. News
Topics: Politics / Legislation
In the ultimate game of buck-passing, coal firms and the government have spent decades withholding benefits from black-lung-inflicted miners and their spouses.
Published: Monday, December 4, 2006
Reported By: Kari Lydersen
Section: Environment and Health
Topics: Health / Safety, Energy
A newly released report has found that US and Canadian cities are polluting the Great Lakes system with billions of gallons of a toxic "cocktail" of sewage and storm water each year.
Published: Monday, December 4, 2006
Reported By: Catherine Komp
Section: Environment and Health
Topics: Environment / Ecology
With millions of dollars in alleged contract abuse, former Halliburton subsidiary KBR has become a symbol of the rampant corporate fraud driven by the Iraq war. But a settlement announced last week by the US Justice Department reveals that KBR’s malfeasance began long before "shock and awe" hit Baghdad.
Published: Monday, December 4, 2006
Reported By: Shreema Mehta
Section: U.S. News
Topics: Business, Military / War
A new government report that questions the merits of active school desegregation has met with harsh criticism from civil-rights groups.
Published: Friday, December 1, 2006
Reported By: Megan Tady
Section: U.S. News
Topics: Race / Racism, Law / Courts
Though there are no wild penguins in North America, an environmental group is asking the US government to consider several species endangered – a move that could help activists compel the government to act against global warming.
Published: Thursday, November 30, 2006
Reported By: Catherine Komp
Section: Environment and Health
Topics: Animal Rights, Environment / Ecology, Politics / Legislation
A federal court in Los Angeles has handed a partial victory to humanitarian groups seeking to help organizations the government has labeled "terrorists."
Published: Thursday, November 30, 2006
Reported By: Michelle Chen
Section: Civil Liberties and Security
Topics: Terrorism / Terror War, Foreign Policy / International Relations, Civil / Human Rights, Law / Courts
A group of environmental filmmakers is urging governments and corporations to do more to protect sacred indigenous sites.
Published: Thursday, November 30, 2006
Reported By: Catherine Komp
Section: U.S. News
Topics: Indigenous Issues, Religion
County officials in Arizona are appealing a 2005 court decision that struck down a policy making it difficult for inmates to obtain abortions.
Published: Thursday, November 30, 2006
Reported By: Shreema Mehta
Section: Civil Liberties and Security
Topics: Health / Safety, Law Enforcement / Prison System, Gender / Sexism
In the ongoing battle to eradicate lead poisoning, state and local governments have begun targeting the companies that sold toxic paint before it was banned for residential use in 1978. This week, grassroots activists are taking that fight to the streets.
Published: Wednesday, November 29, 2006
Reported By: Shreema Mehta
Section: Environment and Health
Topics: Health / Safety, Business, Social Movements / Activism