AltWeeklies Wire
How Bassam Sebti Sees the Iraq Warnew
Sebti lived through the first three years of the war as an Iraqi in Baghdad. He's watched the last two from Philadelphia.
Philadelphia City Paper |
Doron Taussig |
06-02-2008 |
War
Monocropping Leads the Way to a Global Food Crisisnew
The global agriculture market is busy cooking up a recipe for disaster. World grain production is on the rise, but this cheap oversupply has put millions of farmers in developing nations out of work. Equally problematic, policy makers are increasingly directing edible calories toward biofuels and animal feed. Meanwhile, impoverished humans starve. Is home gardening an actual answer?
North Bay Bohemian |
Alastair Bland |
05-30-2008 |
Environment
Eminent Domain Targeted by California's Propositions 98 and 99new
Californians face two radically different choices for protecting private property on the June 3 ballot. But the campaigns for propositions 98 and 99 have managed to create enough confusion, suspicion and hyperbole that fresh surveys indicate neither measure is currently luring the 50-percent-plus-one voters needed for passage.
L.A. Weekly |
Jill Stewart |
05-30-2008 |
Housing & Development
Houses in Cleveland are Selling on eBay for as Little at $810new
Turns out that real estate fiends from as far away as Florida and Texas have been buying up the slums of our fair burg, then flipping the houses on eBay
Cleveland Scene |
Staff |
05-30-2008 |
Housing & Development
The Anatomy of a Fatal Turf War in One D.C. Neighborhoodnew
The Shaw of yesteryear has disappeared, and yet its crew history is still evolving. The 7th Street crew perpetuates the neighborhood's intractable crime problem. Over the years, it has carried on feuds with groups in three directions, feuds whose origins no one can really pin down.
Washington City Paper |
Ruth Samuelson |
05-30-2008 |
Crime & Justice
Syracuse's Vet Center Helps Soldiers Adjust to Life Away from the Battlefieldnew
In Central New York a small Army is mobilizing with a serious mission -- to take in the wave of veterans coming home from war zones in Iraq and Afghanistan. Whenever it is that Johnny comes marching home, an array of kind hearts and beefed-up programs are mobilizing to greet them.
Syracuse New Times |
Ed Griffin-Nolan |
05-30-2008 |
War
Court Says the U.S. Treasury Discriminates Against the Blindnew
A federal appeals court upheld a 2006 decision that the U.S. Department of the Treasury discriminates against the blind because paper money is not distinguishable by touch. The decision could mean a big change for blind citizens like Stephanie Jones and for America's paper currency.
The Memphis Flyer |
Shara Clark |
05-30-2008 |
Policy Issues
The Orlando Police Beatnew
Warning: This is a pretty boring week in crime. So do what I did: Slam three shots of Jack Daniel's and a fistful of Vicodin and let's get on with it. And don't bitch. I have to write the damn column; all you have to do is read it. Anyway.
Orlando Weekly |
Jeffrey C. Billman |
05-29-2008 |
Crime & Justice
Tags: crime & justice
Happytown Goes to an Obama Town Hall Meetingnew
Because we are good journalists committed to bringing you the news in an evenhanded manner, the Happytown™ Mobile Election Center yes-we-can–ed our way down South Orange Blossom Trail all the way to the Kissimmee Civic Center to cover Sen. Barack Obama's May 21 town hall meeting.
Orlando Weekly |
Jeffrey C. Billman, Billy Manes and Deanna Morey |
05-29-2008 |
Media
One Orlando Resident Wants to Use the Historic Preservation Board to Fight a Developernew
Sue MacNamara is fighting Eola Capital's plans to erect a 200-foot-tall office complex at the end of Washington Street, right off Lake Eola.
Orlando Weekly |
Bill Manes |
05-29-2008 |
Housing & Development
Spokane Police Think They've Found a Serial Killernew
Piecing together cold cases, police now believe five Spokane women may have been killed by the same man.
The Inlander |
Jacob H. Fries |
05-29-2008 |
Crime & Justice
Will Psychedelic Drug Research Return to Harvard?new
Harvard has shied away from psychedelic drug research since they expunged Tim Leary and Baba Ram Dass for LSD abuse back in 1963. Now Dr. John Halpern is making his bid to bring hallucinogens back to campus.
Boston Phoenix |
Peter Berbergal |
05-29-2008 |
Drugs
Meet a Professional Rat Catchernew
Tim TenBrink has run Critter Control in Portland for 10 years. He moved here from Michigan, after deciding he didn't want to teach high school science there any more because the job wasn't as fulfilling as he'd expected. So he got a part-time job in Portland doing pest control, and stayed.
The Portland Mercury |
Matt Davis |
05-29-2008 |
Business & Labor
Proposed Federal Laws Could Sweep Away Low-Wage Workersnew
The Shuler-Tancredo SAVE Act would require all employers to use E-Verify to check the legal status of their employees. Presently E-Verify is a free system that employers voluntarily use to check new hires. Critics point out that it has been shown to have serious shortcomings, the most problematic being the tendency to deliver "false positive" matches, declaring citizens in good standing to be illegal.
Metro Silicon Valley |
Diane Solomon |
05-29-2008 |
Business & Labor
Midwives Fight for Home Births and Autonomynew
North Carolina's high rate of combined fetal and neonatal mortality rank it in the bottom sixth of the nation. The state is also one of only 11 in the country where the practice of midwifery outside the supervision of physicians is illegal. Some don't think that's a coincidence.
INDY Week |
Suzanne Nelson |
05-29-2008 |
Children & Families
