AltWeeklies Wire
Does 'Mother Jones' Know Best?new
Foundation funding and collaboration, touted as the way forward for news, have their own pitfalls.
Chicago Reader |
Michael Miner |
11-30-2009 |
Media
The Giant Palouse Earthworm Can't be Found -- Yet it's Dividing the Palousenew
Jodi Johnson-Maynard will firmly tell you is that the giant Palouse earthworm -- a pale white worm that can grow three feet long -- exists. She'll also tell you that its numbers are plummeting and that it has only been found four times in the last 100 years. She just can't tell you how to find it.
The Inlander |
Leah Sottile |
11-24-2009 |
Environment
As Honeywell Closes a Kansas City Plant, Workers are Dealing with the Fatal Aftereffectsnew
The U.S. Department of Labor maintains a list of 785 toxic substances verified as having been used at the site, which will soon be abandoned. But people have been abandoned, too: former workers who live with chronic pain, who struggle to breathe or who have died.
The Pitch |
Nadia Pflaum |
11-24-2009 |
Business & Labor
Gassed Up: Study Shows Montana's Emissions Have Jumped 36 Percentnew
Environment America, a national conservation group, announced last week that Montana has had a 36 percent jump in carbon dioxide emissions between 1990 and 2007. The state's increase dwarfs the average 19-percent rise across the nation and, since 2004, only Oklahoma's emissions grew faster than Montana's.
Missoula Independent |
Jessica Mayrer |
11-24-2009 |
Environment
One Man's Jail Misery in Harris County, Texasnew
Monte Killian has many of the health problems that people have who wind up in jail -- cavities in his teeth, blood clots in his leg, Hepatitis C and a full-blown case of AIDS. And without proper treatment, he continues to get sicker in the Harris County Jail.
Houston Press |
Randall Patterson |
11-24-2009 |
Crime & Justice
Scholar Leads Effort to Catalog Civil-Rights Abuses at Guantanamo Baynew
As director of UC Davis' Center for the Study of Human Rights in the Americas, Almerindo Ojeda is heading up a project to collect testimonies on civil rights abuses at the detention center.
Sacramento News & Review |
Kel Munger |
11-24-2009 |
War
Fixers, Feeders, and the Strange, Hidden World of Feral Catsnew
Thirty thousand cats are euthanized every year in Colorado, double the rate of dogs. Some volunteers are trying to reduce the kill rate by trapping ferals, spaying or neutering them, then returning them. But trap-neuter-return is a controversial solution, often unpopular with communities afflicted by the colonies.
Westword |
Alan Prendergast |
11-23-2009 |
Animal Issues
Boulder Scientists' Work Will Take Center Stage at the Copenhagen Climate Conferencenew
From key data in a presentation by former Vice President Al Gore to time-lapse photography of deteriorating glaciers to a giant high-tech globe that will be used throughout the event, Boulder's fingerprints will be all over the United Nations Climate Change Conference, to be held Dec. 7–18.
Boulder Weekly |
Jefferson Dodge |
11-23-2009 |
Environment
Global Warming: Out of Sight, Out of Mind?new
A recent national survey suggests that over the past few years a growing number of Americans have changed their minds about the importance of climate change, and fewer now believe it even exists -- but many still think government should do something about it.
Pasadena Weekly |
Joe Piasecki |
11-23-2009 |
Environment
Carl Sagan Protege Cliff Mass is Changing the Way Weather is Forecasted in Americanew
Mass is pushing the National Weather Service and the American meteorological community at large to move from a largely deterministic model of communicating weather forecasts to more complex, computer-driven "probabilistic" models.
Seattle Weekly |
Mike Seely |
11-23-2009 |
Science
Is Your Best Furry Friend a Major Culprit in Global Warming?new
Pet lovers shouldn't look down on SUV owners. Feeding your four-legged companion requires as much land and energy as running a car.
NOW Magazine |
Wayne Roberts |
11-23-2009 |
Environment
Illinois Judge Says Autistic Child Can Bring Service Dog to Schoolnew
An Illinois judge decided last week that Kaleb Drew, a 6-year-old with autism, can bring his service dog Chewey to school. The Drew family and their local school district have battled over the issue in court since July. It's the first time the issue has been tested in court in the state.
Illinois Times |
Amanda Robert |
11-20-2009 |
Civil Liberties
Devout Catholics are Coming Out of the Closet, and San Jose's Diocese is Welcoming Themnew
Secretly, San Jose is the most gay-friendly diocese in the nation. And now, one parish wants the world to know.
Metro Silicon Valley |
Jessica Fromm |
11-20-2009 |
Religion
Democracy is Messy: Amy Goodman Works to Clean Up Dirty Politicsnew
Amy Goodman both writes the headlines and has been in the headlines as one of best-known independent media journalists on the frontlines of the news, and as an outspoken critic of U.S. policy and politicians.
Eugene Weekly |
Camilla Mortensen |
11-19-2009 |
Media
America on Trial, via Khalid Sheikh Mohammed
Never mind the Constitution, the Geneva Conventions or common decency -- on the question of what to do about POWs rotting away at Guantanamo Bay concentration camp, right-wingers' concerns are purely practical.
Maui Time |
Ted Rall |
11-19-2009 |
Crime & Justice
