AltWeeklies Wire
Tribes, Tracks and Casinos Push to Widen Texas Gamblingnew
The economic crunch could mean 2011 will be the year that gambling promoters finally open up Texas (the biggest untapped market in the U.S.) to casinos and racetrack slots. If that happens, the economic effects will be felt in Oklahoma, Louisiana... and maybe even Nevada.
Fort Worth Weekly |
Dan McGraw |
02-17-2010 |
Policy Issues
Taser Deaths Lead to Founding of National Memorial, Regional Coalitionnew
The parents of a young man killed in April by a Taser-wielding Fort Worth police officer are hoping that, finally, something good may have come from his death. North Texas opponents of the controversial weapons have also begun a national memorial, with crosses in a church yard for every one of the 471 people who have died after being tasered.
Fort Worth Weekly |
Peter Gorman |
02-17-2010 |
Crime & Justice
San Francisco's Employment Rate is Relatively Good, but Leaders Can Create More Jobsnew
Last month, Mayor Gavin Newsom held a press conference at the upscale hot-dog restaurant Show Dogs, packed it with press and midlevel bureaucrats, showed up late, and then led an endless platitude-fest about his plans to promote jobs in San Francisco.
Don Cameron Trains Cops in How to Use Force, Then Defends Themnew
Long ago, Don Cameron set upon a path that would make him a Rosetta Stone for understanding what happens when someone gets his ass kicked by a cop. For most of us, that's a brutish prospect. But to hear Cameron tell it, done correctly, it's justified.
SF Weekly |
Matt Smith |
02-17-2010 |
Crime & Justice
Is American Family Legal Plan Duping Minnesota's Elderly?new
An agent told Florence Carlson that her money would be much better off at American Family Legal Plan. In fact, if Carlson didn't buy a living trust with American Family before she died, the costs of estate taxes and probate fees could suck thousands of dollars from her savings.
City Pages (Twin Cities) |
Erin Carlyle |
02-17-2010 |
Children & Families
Sheriff's Detention Officers Unnecessarily Terrorized a Psychotic Inmatenew
Eric Vogel was a seriously mentally ill Phoenix man who died (of a heart attack, officially) in December 2001, a week after a violent incident with the jailers at the now-closed Madison Street Jail. The civil case was filed by Vogel's survivors.
Phoenix New Times |
Paul Rubin |
02-16-2010 |
Civil Liberties
As Haitians Rebuild, a Photographer Captures the Catastrophenew
I never expected to see what I saw in Haiti. The amount of destruction was unimaginable. The whole scene was a sensory overload. There were thousands of people in the streets, some with open head wounds and broken limbs.
New Times Broward-Palm Beach |
Michael McElroy |
02-16-2010 |
Disasters
UNC Stutter-Steps on its Way to Becoming Coal-Freenew
UNC will go carbon neutral, which means it will balance any carbon dioxide emissions with an equal amount of reductions or offsets, officials say. But according to the university's current climate plan, that won't happen until 2050.
INDY Week |
Joe Schwartz |
02-12-2010 |
Environment
On the Late Molly Ivins and Her Crusade Against Corporatized Americanew
My old Columbia classmate Molly Ivins has been gone for three years now. Things have slipped fast since her funeral. Even Molly, with her keen nose for mendacity, might be amazed by the ethical dry rot that's eating away at the business of news.
One Man's 'Life After Hate': A Former White Supremacist Works for Peacenew
Back in 1988, Arno Michaels even helped to organize Skinfest in Doctors Park, which attracted skinheads from all over the country, featured swastika flags and led to a drunken rampage throughout Milwaukee, during which the racist skinheads beat up anyone in their way.
Shepherd Express |
Lisa Kaiser |
02-12-2010 |
Race & Class
Canwest Global Communications is Accused of Unethical Adsnew
An environmental group is accusing Canwest Global Communications of blurring the lines between journalism and propaganda with its six-week ad feature on climate change.
Fast Forward Weekly |
Trevor Scott Howell |
02-11-2010 |
Media
Human Rights Activist Nontombi Naomi Tutu On How We Can Healnew
Amid all the activities to which Nontombi Naomi Tutu is committed — taking groups to South Africa, facilitating women's retreats through her Sister Sojourner organization, co-writing a book — being mother of three actually speaks loudest to her professional mission.
Colorado Springs Independent |
Kirsten Akens |
02-11-2010 |
Race & Class
Will New Mexico Offer Drug Users Treatment Instead of Jail Time?new
There might be some good news on the horizon for those caught in the revolving door of drug addiction. Proposed state legislation would give judges the discretion to offer people with drug-possession charges a treatment program instead of jail time.
Weekly Alibi |
Carolyn Carlson |
02-09-2010 |
Drugs
Lawmakers Look to Shake Up the Recycling World, With Tons of Tires Nearbynew
"Our goal is to break even," Chris Houtchens says, describing the financial tightrope he walks each day so that the company he runs with his father, American Tire Exchange, can turn a profit selling usable tires in the states or in Mexico.
Colorado Springs Independent |
Anthony Lane |
02-09-2010 |
Environment
Health-Care Practitioners Explain Why They're Willing to Go to Jail for Health-Care Reformnew
As the discussion about health care has shifted from coverage for all citizens to a system that will force people to purchase private health insurance (without the "public option") pockets of unlikely activists are mobilizing.
Baltimore City Paper |
Erin Sullivan |
02-09-2010 |
Science
