Death penalty reform bill struck down
BY MIKE REED
... Despite the efforts of a somewhat unusual alliance, the Texas Senate on Tuesday struck down a bill that would have allowed some killers in capital murder cases to be sentenced to life without parole instead of death.
...Sen. Eddie Lucio Jr., a Brownsville Democrat and supporter of the death penalty, offered the motion - in part - to give more credibility to the death penalty process by allowing an alternative sentence for both prosecutors and juries. More.
$1.4 billion taken from state's education wallet
BY CHARLES SNIDER
...Education spending in Texas has been cut by $1.4 billion this session. In response, the GOP is proposing new legislation that teachers predict will erode many of their rights at work.
...Representative Kent Grusendorf, chairman of the House Public Education Committee, has authored a proposal to create Texas' first publicly funded school vouchers, which would divert taxpayer money to private schools.
...This bill has united educators in opposition; most of whom argue it is irresponsible to fund private schools at the expense of public ones during such budget cuts.
...A similar bill, defeated in the House today, would have provided state funding to Universities and colleges to operate "virtual charter schools." In practice, this would have subsidized student purchases of computer equipment so students could be educated at home by using the Internet. More.
Got nuclear waste? Dump it in Texas
BY GABRIELA THEARD
...While the world celebrated Earth Day yesterday, the Texas House of Representatives passed a bill that would turn West Texas into a national nuclear dumping ground.
...HB 1567 would allow a Dallas company, Waste Control Specialists, to truck radioactive waste from nuclear power plants and nuclear weapons facilities from all over the nation through Texas cities and dump it in dirt trenches in Andrews County. The company's owner, Harold Simmons, reportedly spent more than $1 million in lobby fees and campaign contributions.
...For now, it would seem to be money well spent. The bill was sponsored by Representatives Buddy West, Warren Chisum and Wayne Christian, all republicans. After being fast-tracked out of the House Committee on Environmental Regulations, the bill passed the floor in a 107-to-34 vote after 6 hours of debate. More.
Earth Day grows thanks to organizers
BY RAMONA WILLIAMS
... This past Saturday, the Rice University Environmental Club along with the Citizens' Environmental Coalition organized this year's Earth Day festival. Held in the university's stadium parking lot, the festival drew crowds that coalition chairperson Alesha Herrera estimated at about 3,000; up from 2,500 last year. More.
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Bhopal activists bring case to City Hall
BY ERIKA MCDONALD
...On Tuesday, activists from the International Campaign for Justice in Bhopal, including two disaster survivors, appealed to Houston City Council Members to protect local communities from potential accidents like the 1984 disaster.
...Widely regarded as the worst chemical disaster in history, 27 tons of lethal gasses leaked from a Union Carbide pesticide facility in Bhopal, India. Union Carbide is now a Subsidiary of Dow Chemical with four facilities operating in and near Harris County.
...The activists said that, because of Dow Chemical's strong presence in Houston, the City Council should pass a resolution demanding the company release treatment information about the toxins it emits.
...The activists showed council members graphic pictures of Bhopal disaster victims. To date, 20,000 Bhopalis are dead and 80,000 more bear illnesses resulting from chemical exposure including cancers, neurological disorders, birth deformities and respiratory illness. One survivor, Rashide Bee, described her suffering:
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"She feels like it's only their hearts that are alive, and their bodies have sort of died. And it's like "the night of the living dead." They're like dying bit by bit every day, but it's the struggle that keeps them alive." More.
Virginia, Harris County top executors
BY ROBERT CARDENAS
...Virginia 88, Harris County 70. No, this isn't the score of a basketball game, but the number of prisoners executed from each area since 1976.
...Since 1976 only one State in the Union has executed more people than Harris County.
...Before these executions take place, each capital case works through a maze of legal steps. Ideally, a competent attorney represents each defendant along the way. However, agencies like the Texas Defender Service have issued reports indicating that this isn't so. Executive Director of the Service explains:
..."We did a study of cases that have gone through the system since the 1995 post-conviction legislation, and we have found that the problem of under-performance is really wide-spread. And I don't know whether if there was some fear that if you provided, really, an adequate remedy to everybody, that the problem is so large that the numbers would be so overwhelming. And I think you can control for that, and in fact this legislation does control for that by setting the burden of pleading to get back into state court sufficiently high that it's just really going to really help in the cases of gross incompetence." More.
Activists target Borders, Boise-Cascade
BY SHANNON YOUNG
...As part of a nationwide campaign to raise awareness about the environmental abuses of timber company Boise-Cascade, eight Houston activists let loose a colorful floating banner inside of Borders bookstore at Alabama and Kirby last Thursday. The 5-by-10-foot banner read: "Borders and Boise, Partners in Forest Destruction " and was suspended high in the air by dozens of helium-filled balloons. The activists say this is part of a larger campaign to pressure large clients of Boise to disassociate themselves from the timber company.
...Houston Indymedia reports that the eight activists entered Borders in three separate groups: the first passing out flyers to customers, the second distracting the manager and voicing concern over Borders' association with Boise and the third hauling in the banner. As the banner was released and floated up to the high ceiling of the atrium, all eight burst into a song about Boise clear-cutting, sung to the tune of "Happy Birthday." More.
Pacifica: Bylaws' diversity language sparks protest
BY KAREM SAID & BRANDON MOELLER
...Protesters are currently gathering outside KPFT to protest the continued delay of a final vote on Pacifica Foundation by-laws. The by-laws will determine how the 5 sister stations in New York, DC, Houston, Berkeley and Los Angeles will be represented on the National Board, the iPNB. Members have been reworking bylaw language for nearly a year and half.
...Disagreements revolve around the issue of diversity. Some members would like to see explicit affirmative action language in the bylaws. Others are concerned that such language will bring legal ramifications and costly fees - fees that would be better spent on actual programming. Local Advisory Board member, Diallo Kantambu proposed the formation of Committees of Inclusion as a way of sidestepping legal issues. These Committees would perform outreach duties and would oversee Pacifica elections.
...Muntoo Masimayla of Pacifica Station WBAI in New York, believes that affirmative action language must be written into the bylaws, because such mandatory inclusion is imperative to Pacifica values. He attributed legal consequences to mere speculation. More.
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