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> Fri., Jan. 30, 2004
FSRN
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Today's lead stories:
South Carolina Debate - WMD's and Government Oversight
Plea for Death Row Clemency in CA
Mandatory Minimums Under the Spotlight in CT
Natural Gas Drilling
FCC Localization Hearings
FSRN Headlines
Billy Tauzin and Medicare
It has been reported yesterday on the website CNN.com that
Republican Representative Billy Tauzin of Louisiana, one of
the 20 co-sponsors of the new 540 million dollar Medicare
Prescription Bill, received an offer worth more than one million
dollars, to represent the main pharmaceutical lobbying group,
The Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America.
Ivy Fitgerald has more.
Extortion leads to violence in Jamaica
The Jamaican Town of Spanish Town is under siege from what
many describe as criminal gangs drawn from the opposite sides
of that country’s political spectrum. In the past two
weeks some twelve people have been killed and 20 others have
been injured as THE GROUPS battle for control of the town’s
extortion racket. FSRN’s Ian Forrest, reports.
Young 'Enemy Combatants' Released
The United States releases three “enemy combatants”
from Guantanamo Bay,young teenagers captured in Afghanistan
and held in Cuba since early 2003. Jackson Allers reports
from WBAI in New York.
CBS and Freedom of Expression
Tens of Millions of Superbowl Sunday viewers would have seen
a 30 second ad this weekend depicting [DEPICTING] children
laboring IN adult jobs and ending with the question, “Guess
who’s going to pay off President Bush’s $1 trillion
deficit?” But CBS has refused to air the ad, funded
by MoveOn.org, saying it was too controversial. Sandra Ahten
has more on this story.
[top]
South Carolina Debate - WMD's and Government Oversight
(4:45)
The Washington Post is reporting that both the House and
Senate Intelligence Committees in their investigations of
prewar Iraqi intelligence said that the failure was due, in
part, to the fact that the CIA's analysis did not seriously
consider that Saddam Hussein no longer had weapons of mass
destruction. According to an unnamed Congressional official
the Committees have determined that the CIA relied heavily
on circumstantial and outdated evidence and became overdependent
on satellite and spy-plane imagery and communications intercepts.
Meanwhile, Democratic Presidential Candidates debated last
night in South Carolina where they blasted President Bush
on misleading the public on the reasons for going to war.
Two of those same candidates voted in 2002 in the Senate to
authorize the invasion. Mitch Jeserich reports.
[top]
Plea for Death Row Clemency in CA (3:39)
California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger faces the first
clemency appeal of his administration. Schwarzenegger will
be deciding the fate of a man scheduled for execution for
4 murders committed in 1983. Supporters of clemency say there
are serious problems with the evidence presented at the condemned
man’s trial. 6 jurors from the trial have joined in
asking for clemency. FSRN's Christopher Martinez reports from
KPFA.
[top]
Mandatory Minimums Under the Spotlight in CT
(3:19)
With hundreds of thousands of defendants moving through
U.S. criminal courts each year and more than two million incarcerated
at any one time, the government has had to find a way to keep
the system from totally clogging up and shutting down. One
solution is plea bargaining. 95 percent of all criminal defendants
in state courts in the United States cop a plea rather than
go to trial. If a defendant is guilty and admits it, then
plea bargaining is an efficient way to move cases through
the system. Yet many defendants who are innocent accept plea
bargains because the alternative is to go to trial and, if
convicted, receive a hefty mandatory minimum sentence. Mandatory
minimum sentences have come under attack not only from people
caught in the system and their families, but from judges,
who complain such sentences undermine their own authority
to impose an individually crafted penalty on an individual
defendant saying one size does not fit all. Increasingly,
legislators are also beginning to oppose mandatory minimums
as unjust. In Connecticut, these forces are coming together
to push a criminal justice reform bill in the legislative
session about to get under way. Melinda Tuhus reports from
New Haven.
[top]
Natural Gas Drilling (3:29)
Fourth-quarter profits at Exxon Mobil rose 63 percent with
the oil giant saying it benefited from higher prices for crude
oil and natural gas. This dramatic increase comes as the US
is facing three storm systems which are affecting the country
this week and the National Weather Service has issued warnings
and advisories from Washington State to Maine. The snow removal
budgets of municipalities are being strained by rock salt
prices that have climbed from $34 a ton to $52 a ton in the
last few weeks. Although natural gas storage appears to be
sufficient for this winter's heating needs, our ability to
keep away the cold by burning fossil fuels is in permanent
decline and the government has only short-term solutions.
Kellia Ramares filed this report
[top]
FCC Localization Hearings (4:14)
As major news networks ramp up their election coverage,
questions are being raised as to the diversity of programming
available in media markets across the country. When the Federal
Communications Commission approved new and looser media ownership
rules in June of 2003, it received an overwhelmingly negative
response from the public. Thousands of letters were sent opposing
the rule changes – many noting big media's poor track
record on providing programming relevant to the needs of local
communities. And this week, in a belated public relations
maneuver, FCC Chairman Micheal Powell responded to complaints
by forming a task force to hear public concerns. On Wednesday,
the task force held its second of six public hearings in San
Antonio, Texas. Renee Feltz reports from Pacifica station
KPFT in Houston.
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