Alcoa settles suit amidst changing regulatory climate

...Texas Aluminum manufacturer Alcoa agreed this week to settle a lawsuit that began with allegations by residents living close to the plant. The residents' group called Neighbors for Neighbors, joined organizations Environmental Defense and Public Citizen to sue Alcoa in 2001 for its violation of federal standards on legal emissions. The terms of the proposed settlement commit Alcoa to pay a $1.5 million fine and to reduce pollution from its plant by 90 percent.
... The Justice Department and EPA released a joint statement claiming credit for Alcoa's plans to spend $330 million on a new plant, but critics point out that the agreement does not commit Alcoa to that expenditure. Under the terms of the agreement, Alcoa retains the far-less expensive options of retrofitting the existing plant or shutting its own power units and outsourcing power. More.

Even Republicans suspicious of FCC motives

... Fifteen U.S. Senators, including Texas' own Kay Bailey Hutchinson and four other Republicans, recently sent an open letter to the Federal Communications Commission asking them to maintain the American standard of open government, as do most other agencies. In the past year the FCC has made headlines for its proposal to change existing media ownership laws, but the specifics of the FCC's plans have been shrouded in secrecy. In the letter to FCC Chairman Michael Powell, the 15 senators wrote "openness in this process is the best path to ensure that Congress and the public support the agency's direction." More.

HISD's dropout rate examined by agencies

...A second audit of Houston schools went a step closer to confirming what the district already knew - or in this case didn't know - how many dropouts it has and where they all disappeared to.
...The results, commissioned by the Houston Independent School Board and released at Thursday night's meeting, didn't even consider the Texas Education Agency's finding that as many as four out of 10 HISD students didn't stick around to graduate in 2000-2001. Rather, it concentrated on why the district did such a poor job of counting them in the first place. More.

Local DAs upset about power-stripping eco bill

... The Texas Senate Committee on Natural Resources yesterday passed a bill some environmental law enforcers say makes their jobs harder.
...Senate Bill 1265, takes discretion away from local district attorneys to prosecute polluters and places it in the hands of the state. The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality would determine whether to enforce civil penalties or refer cases to the district attorney for criminal prosecution. More.

Border-crosser beaten by militia

... A hearing was held in San Antonio yesterday for a 35 year-old California man charged with beating a Salvadoran man as he passed through a ranch in South Texas. The Salvadoran was picked up by DPS as he walked down a road after the incident and later made a statement to the county's District Attorney. Rudy Gutierrez, Jim Hogg County's Assistant District Attorney explains:
..."Well he stated that him and his girlfriend were apprehended at the ranch by what they thought were soldiers. They were hiding in the brush, they were I guess 'flushed out' by a dog, which turned out to be an attack dog. One of the man tried to tell him in Spanish to get up and then to kneel down. He said he didn't understand what the man wanted him to do. So, you know, the man picked him up and hit him on the back of the head with a pistol, the butt of the gun basically. There were several men there, all armed with rifles and handguns." More.

Student journalists investigate death row

...LEAD-IN BY HOST: For over a year now, a group of journalism students at the University of St. Thomas here in Houston have been taking a closer look at the case of Texas death row prisoner Anthony Graves. This Tuesday, four of the students attended an appeals hearing before the US 5th circuit court of appeals in New Orleans. KPFT News reporter Renee Feltz caught up with them afterwards to the case and why they chose to work on it:
...STORY: Senior journalism student at University of St. Thomas, Megan Foley knows death penalty cases and executions don't always get the attention they might deserve in Texas:
..."I would think it's safe to say that the majority of people don't even care anymore. They don't even realize that it's happening so frequently, it doesn't slow them down it doesn't make them think. And that just shocks me. I know that they'll have it in the newspaper, and they'll give the crime, and how long they've been on death row. And sometimes they'll give their last meal. But it just amazes me that we live in a society where it's not a big deal, it just goes by, and in Texas, it's like clockwork."
...Megan works with the Innocence Project, a nationwide network that assists prisoners with claims of innocence. She now focuses on the case of Texas death row prisoner Anthony Graves as part of a for-credit investigative journalism course. She and several other students work on media exposure and do footwork for the case. More.

Disabled activists protest health care cuts

... Six wheelchair-bound Texans voicing dissent were arrested yesterday after refusing to leave the public reception room of Texas Governor Rick Perry.
...The six were among 40 protestors that camped out in front of Governor Perry's office in protest of a projected $500 million cut in Texas state health and human services that would deprive as many as 60,000 disabled Texans from in-home health care. More.

Bombay court to review Enron overseas project

... Indian investors who lent money to the now bankrupt Enron Indian power plant, have petitioned an Indian court with a plan to restart the 2.9 billion dollar project . An unnamed source at the Industrial Bank of India, the project's largest investor, told Reuters, " We moved the Bombay High Court late last week to appoint National Thermal Power Corporation, to start generating power from the first phase. We see the start of the first phase as the only solution to the problem and it will help lenders to get back their dues." More.

Terrorism cure may be worse than disease

... LEAD-IN BY HOST: Anyone who has ever read a campaign manual will recognize a typical tactic: dictate the agenda and change the subject when it is most advantageous to your candidate. The same tactic can now be found in the Bush Administration. Having gone to war by claiming Iraq had Weapons of Mass Destruction, the administration is now shifting the focus. The slogan du jour is now the "liberation of Iraq". Reporter Len Hart finds the origins of this tactic in Ronald Reagan's failed war on terrorism...
... CRITICISM: The global ambitions of the Bush regime are made easier by the widespread media dissemination of several myths which predate what Republicans themselves boasted was a coup d'etat in Florida in the year 2000.
...One of those myths --which plays into the hands of administration hawks --is little more than a pernicious lie: that Ronald Reagan waged an effective war against terrorism during his administration.
... Nothing could be further from the truth. More.