Sneak attack in Texas
DALLAS – George Bush’s home state has gotten a lot of attention over the right-wing’s extralegal power grabs here, but the Republican government has sharpened another special razor and handed it to the populace. Gov. Rick Perry is currently on tour to convince Texans to cut our own throats.
Teachers, parents fight school cuts in St. Louis
ST. LOUIS – This city’s public school system, like so many others around the nation, finds itself in the grip of a severe crisis. Its problems have been brought to a head by the recent privatization of the system’s management. Many parents are threatening to have their children boycott classes when schools open, especially in the district’s Black community, where 16 schools are being closed.
National Clips
ST. LOUIS, Mo.: Bush dogged on campaign trail; RICHFIELD, Ohio: Bush gets Midwest heat on Labor Day; WASHINGTON, D.C.: Braun for President, says NOW; CHARLESTON, S.C.: Union labor alive in Deep South; PITTSBURGH, Pa.: Labor Day – 40,000 say ‘Save city jobs’
Picnics kick off PWW/Mundo Fund Drive
St. Paul, Minn. – The hot dogs and hamburgers – both meat and veggie – were grilled to perfection, the beer and soda were icy cold, and the weather was beautiful. This year’s annual picnic to raise money for the People’s Weekly World/Nuestro Mundo Fund Drive was held here, Aug. 23.
Illegals dropped from papers lexicon
TUCSON, Ariz. – The Tucson Citizen newspaper is changing the terminology it uses to refer to undocumented migrants, according to editor Michael Chihak. The Citizen will stop using the words “illegal” and “illegals” as nouns.
The Thrill and the Agony, This week in sports: The founding sisters
Soccer is probably the sport most played by our country’s youth: it teaches strategy, teamwork, and endurance (as well as encouraging the eating of juicy orange slices). And yet our national attention span remains far too short. By adulthood, we desire quicker gratification, and so we tune into sports with heavier hits and higher scores. We turn to football instead of futbol.
Labor College: 10 years and going strong
TUCSON, Ariz. – Salt of the Earth Labor College will kick off its eleventh year with a fall semester that tackles some of the most important questions facing working people today. The school will open the semester on Sept. 6 with a special workshop titled “Learning to Live Without War.” The workshop will feature a panel of local peace activists including Veterans for Peace leader Jon Miles, Pat Birnie from Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom, and Rev. Kenneth Kennon, a leader in the movement to close down the notorious School of the Americas. It is hoped this discussion will help clarify the need to reorganize last winter’s peace movement for another peace offensive.
Bilingual teacher cuts denounced
LAWRENCE, Mass. – School Superintendent Wilfredo Laboy, who came to Lawrence, a majority Latino city, in 2001, is under attack for having fired 24 bilingual teachers for not passing an oral English examination while he, himself, has repeatedly failed a similar exam. Laboy’s critics say he was hired to help destroy the bilingual program here. He changed it into an English-immersion program for students of limited English proficiency. Until then, the bilingual program taught students their subjects in their native language while they learned English.
Baltimore elections focus on inequality
BALTIMORE, Md. – A recent “Tour of Shame” of some of Baltimore’s poorest, working-class, and racially oppressed neighborhoods spotlighted the extent of the economic devastation that has been visited on large sections of this city.
The path to Californias future
The Bush administration needs California to win the 2004 presidential elections. The grand prize will be its large number of Electoral College votes in the winner-take-all elections – California has the most electoral votes in the nation. In the last presidential elections California voters overwhelmingly voted for Al Gore. Bush political advisor Karl Rove has said that he believes California can be won for Bush this time.
