AltWeeklies Wire
Chavez Testing Audit Uncovers Cheatingnew
For nearly a decade now, people have talked about alleged cheating at Cesar Chavez Academy in Pueblo. The rumors persisted even as the charter school grew into a network... now, a state-commissioned audit of CCA's practices for the Colorado Student Assessment Program test has sorted fact from fiction.
Colorado Springs Independent |
J. Adrian Stanley |
12-15-2009 |
Education
Not so Pretty in Pinknew
Has feminism been replaced by the pink-ribbon breast cancer cult? When the House of Representatives passed the Stupak amendment, which would take abortion rights away even from women who have private insurance, the female response ranged from muted to inaudible.
Metro Times |
Barbara Ehrenreich |
12-15-2009 |
The War on Women
EPA Looks Into American Cement Permitnew
In early October, neighbors of American Cement got word that the city had approved the permit to extend operation to 24 hours a day. The station at 4702 Carlton NW is a few blocks from Mountain Mahogany Community School and La Luz Elementary.
Weekly Alibi |
Marisa Demarco |
12-15-2009 |
Environment
At Florida Memorial University, Surviving Assaults is Part of the Curriculumnew
A student named Robert tools his Toyota Camry in semicircles around campus and points out past crime scenes. "That's where the kid was thrown into the lagoon," he says nonchalantly as he drives. "The student center's where the riot went down... There was a shooting at that bookstore."
Miami New Times |
Gus Garcia-Roberts |
12-14-2009 |
Crime & Justice
Why Slavic Immigrants are the Most Visible Face of Opposition to Gay Marriage in Washingtonnew
To them, the issue isn't just about homosexuality. The bigger fear is that the government will start dictating how they practice their religion, in an echo of the oppression they experienced at the hands of communists.
Seattle Weekly |
Laura Onstot |
12-14-2009 |
LGBT
Biodiesel Blows Up, but Not in a Good Waynew
Interest in biofuels has sank, a drag for one Seattle start-up called Imperium Renewables, which built a gigantic biofuel-production plant in Grays Harbor County. Earlier this year, the company laid off most of its staff at the plant... and on Wed., Dec. 2, there was a massive explosion there.
Seattle Weekly |
Mark D. Fefer |
12-14-2009 |
Environment
Brentwood's Toxic Grave: Historic Dumping Grounds Finally Get Testednew
After years of promises to complete tests and determine what is really buried there, indications show that the historic Veteran's Administration property has not been well monitored. A disturbing collection of abandoned soldiers’ tombstones have sat for months.
L.A. Weekly |
Michael Collins |
12-11-2009 |
Environment
Even after a Scandal, Nursing Home Employees Don't Know how to Handle Abuse Allegationsnew
An October survey of a Bristol, Va. nursing home's staff obtained by the Scene (prompted in part by a sexual-abuse complaint lodged in September) found that most of its employees don't even know they are required by law to report abuse allegations to the state.
Nashville Scene |
Brantley Hargrove |
12-11-2009 |
Crime & Justice
How We Americans Spent Ourselves Into Ruin but Saved the Worldnew
Something is very wrong with the unselective manner in which folks on the other side have allowed the neocons to define the argument. It is an unfortunate habit of the left to assume that any vocal and assertive appreciation of the American contribution to human civilization must be fascist.
Metro Silicon Valley |
David Brin |
12-11-2009 |
Economy
Sex Workers Say Recent Violence Against Them Shows They are More at Risk Than Evernew
The problem, according to Anna Louise Crago, is obvious. Having been kicked out of their stomping grounds around the traditional red light district, streetwalkers have moved to all four corners of Montreal; the scattering of prostitutes has placed them in considerable danger.
Montreal Mirror |
Patrick Lejtenyi |
12-11-2009 |
Sex
The World Rightly Sees Canada as the Villain at the Copenhagen Climate Change Talksnew
as the Canadian government tries to block climate change agreements to protect tar sands development, we're seen as the bad guy. Or, as British journalist George Monbiot writes, an "immediate threat to the global effort to sustain a peaceful and stable world."
The Coast, Halifax's Weekly |
Bruce Wark |
12-11-2009 |
Environment
The Army's Much-hyped Repair Job for Wounded Soldiers Doesn't Pass Inspectionnew
Two years later, the Warrior Transition Unit appears less a shining success than a public-relations smokescreen, behind which the Army continues breaking its promise to care for wounded soldiers.
Colorado Springs Independent |
Anthony Lane |
12-10-2009 |
War
A Congressman Uncovers Two Studies Showing the Impacts of Illegal Immigration, Smugglingnew
The federal government's border fence has been called the Tortilla Curtain. But in the swamp of border politics, there's a more effective barrier at play, one that filters ideas rather than people. It explains why most Americans still don't fully understand the disaster on our southern border.
Tucson Weekly |
Leo W. Banks |
12-10-2009 |
Immigration
Water Rights: An Activist Faces Prison after Refusing his Sentence for 'Littering'new
On Dec. 4, a year after he was cited for littering on the Buenos Aires National Wildlife Refuge, activist Walt Staton was back in federal court, because he refused to pick up garbage.
Tucson Weekly |
Tim Vanderpool |
12-10-2009 |
Immigration
Genetic Detectives: Find Out Where You Fit on the Family Treenew
I'm one of more than 300,000 people who have sent cheek cells to the Genographic Project, an effort of the National Geographic Society and IBM that hopes to assemble a database of DNA samples to better understand the migrations of humans tens of thousands of years ago.
Tucson Weekly |
Jim Nintzel |
12-10-2009 |
Science
