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> Fri., Feb. 13, 2004
FSRN
FREE SPEECH RADIO NEWS
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Today's lead stories:
Senate Budget Committee
Radio Active Waste Disposal
Virgina Jihad Case
American Voters in Paris
Cops in Schools
FSRN Headlines
Rumsfeld Says Gitmo Prisoners to Be Held for Years
Today, U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld confirmed
that the more than 600 people being held at the military base
at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba will remain prisoners for a long time
to come. Rumsfeld reiterated the administration’s contention
that the detainees are not deserving of lawyers, have no rights
under U.S. or international law, are required for constant
interrogations, and called them terrorists.
Pentagon Investigates Sexual Assualts
A team of Pentagon investigators is on its way to a North
Texas Air Force base following a string of reported sexual
assaults against women serving in the military. From KPFT
in Houston, Erika McDonald reports.
22-Thousand Refugees Obtain Permanent Status
A federal judge in Minnesota grants permanent status to 22-thousand
people seeking asylum in the United States saying the government
is dragging its feet. Ann Alquist reports from KFAI in Minneapolis.
New England Grocery Strike Pending
Labor negotiations in Connecticut continue as the region’s
biggest grocery story chain talks with union leaders for more
than 43-thousand New England Workers. Melinda Tuhus reports
from New Haven.
Same-Sex Unions in CA and MA
Same gendered couples in San Francisco continued to get married
today. Despite the state’s prohibition on the unions,
Mayor Gavin Newsom insured that 100 couples could obtain the
certificate that means little outside the city. The Campaign
for California Families asked a judge to stop the process
and nullify those handed out as more couples line-up at City
Hall today. The gavel dropped in Massachusetts late last night
in the state legislature without an amendment to curb same
sex marriage in that state. Unless one is passed at the reconvening
in March, Massachusetts will become the first state to marry
same gendered couples mid-May.
Due to technical problems this headline did not make the
newscast: A blow to the peace process in Sri Lanka this week
as the Tamil Tigers of Elam are denied World Bank support
and the stakes are raised in the dispute between the President
and Prime Minister. Ponniah Manikavasagam has the story.
Sri Lankan government and the Tamil Tigers agreed during
their peace talks last year to appoint World Bank as the custodian
of millions of dollars in foreign aid that could be given
by donors to rebuild the war torn north east regions. However,
a fund to manage the money is yet to be activated. The World
Bank's country director Peter Harrold said the international
community was unable to give money directly to the Liberation
Tigers of Tamil Eelam or LTTE, as they are not officially
recognized. Meanwhile, a power struggle between the Sri Lankan
President Chandrika Kumaratunge and the Prime Minister Ranil
Wickremasinghe deepened further after she sacked 39 non-cabinet
ministers this week. Prime Minister Ranil Wickremasinghe accused
the president, his political rival of seriously jeopardizing
peace efforts through her action by dismissing ministers who
are in charge of rehabilitation activities in the affected
areas.
[top]
Senate Budget Committee
Today Secretary of the Treasury John Snow told a Senate
Budget Committee that Bush’s economic proposals would
grow the economy with tax cuts for stock market investors
and make cuts in government spending so as to lower an estimated
1.27 trillion dollar budget deficit that the tax cuts are
estimated to cause. This comes just a day after the Chair
of the Federal Reserve Alan Greenspan expressed his support
to Congress for Bush’s tax cuts, some of which are set
to expire. Greenspan urged Congress to implement spending
controls and consider making cuts to the Social Security System
to lower the massive deficit. With approximately a quarter
of all proposed government funding going to the Bush administration’s
war of terror, child advocates worry that it will be programs
for poor families that will put on the chopping block. Mitch
Jeserich reports from Capitol Hill
[top]
Radio Active Waste Disposal
Pursuant to an Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, The
United States Environmental Protection Agency, the EPA is
currently taking public comment on a proposal that could allow
so-called low-activity radioactive waste to be disposed of
in municipal landfills. The EPA says It's looking for safe
ways to dispose of low-activity radioactive waste. But first
the EPA has to decide what low-activity waste really is. Kellia
Ramares files this report.
[top]
Virgina Jihad Case
The federal court in Alexandria was crowded with spectators
this week for the opening of the trial of four Muslim men
accused of using a paintball game as a training excercise
to join seperatist guerrillas fighting against the Indian
government in the disputed province of Kashmir. Their trial
is the first since Sept. 1l in which the defendants are charged
with an alleged "terror conspiracy". The DC radio
co-ops Tom Gomez has more.
[top]
American Voters in Paris
Democratic party primaries are currently taking place around
the United States. But less noticed are the groups of American
voters living abroad who are mobilizing around the 2004 elections.
Avishay Artsy has this report from Paris.
[top]
Cops in Schools
President Bush visited Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, yesterday
seeking to bolster campaign support and to promote the no
child left behind or NCLB Law amid mounting criticism from
many states. According to a four part study released Monday
by the civil rights project at Harvard, the federal accountability
rules have derailed state reforms and assessment strategies.
Educators at all levels are struggling to implement the guidelines
of the NCLB law but somehow funding is being allocated to
beef up security at local schools. Last month New York City
Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced his plan to flood 12 problem
schools with more cops, safety officers and the opening of
off-site suspension centers. Safety officers say they need
more equipment while students believe that with the historic
use of discriminatory and aggressive force against minorities
has resulted not in protection but in criminalization. Simba
Russeau files this report from New York.
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