Steelworkers, PACE to vote on merger
PITTSBURGH – Corporate mergers, bankruptcies and layoffs dominate the headlines. Below the radar, mining, energy and manufacturing workers are uniting to support their families, sustain their communities and protect retirees.
WORLD NOTES
Haiti: African Union seeks peaceful resolution / Canada: Madagascar’s debt cancelled / Iraq: Workers strike over attacks / France: Rolling strikes protest cutbacks / Pakistan: Workers protest firings, prices
Cuba trains doctors for U.S.
U.S. young people are off to Cuba in mid February to study medicine at that nation’s Latin American School of Medicine (LASM). They join 8,000 other students already there. The students, from 26 countries, including eight African nations, have promised to attend to the poor and underserved when they return home.
Mexico Citys govt launches programs to help poor
MEXICO CITY — Venezuela President Hugo Chavez is not the only leader undertaking needed social reforms in Latin America. Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, the left-leaning governor of this city’s metro-area federal district and a prominent member of the Democratic Revolution Party (PRD), has been pursuing a progressive agenda since he was elected in 2000.
Rally defends close election
AUSTIN, Texas — Supporters of Rep. Hubert Vo rallied Jan. 11 at the state Capitol here to demand that the legislature respect Vo’s 31-vote election victory over incumbent Republican Talmadge Heflin.
Doctor exposes racism in hospital fight
LOS ANGELES – In 1965, the 265,000 people in the Watts area of South Los Angeles were served by eight small, private hospitals with 440 beds. Today the 1 million people in the area have only two hospitals with less than 300 beds.
California legislators prepare for war
LOS ANGELES — “I spent a week listening to the governor’s proposals,” said Judy Chu. “This governor has declared war.”
Vigil marks Roe v. Wade anniversary
WASHINGTON — The city was under snow emergency, but a crowd of men and women came out to a vigil to defend women’s reproductive rights on Jan. 22, the 32nd anniversary of the landmark Roe v. Wade decision by the Supreme Court, which legalized abortion.
Vermonters ignite effort to bring troops home
MONTPELIER, Vt. — About half of Vermont’s Army National Guard is over in Iraq. Now, there’s a grassroots campaign to bring them home. Organizers of the Iraq Resolution Campaign say at least 47 Vermont communities will vote on a resolution regarding the war in Iraq on Town Meeting Day in March.
Progressive Democrats map strategy
WASHINGTON — Despite a raging blizzard and the shadow of the Bush inauguration, more than 500 activists turned out for a summit to help craft a strategy of taking back the country from the ultraright. Organized by the Progressive Democrats of America (PDA), the meeting also had a goal of reinvigorating the progressive movement both inside and outside the Democratic Party.
