Photo by Howard Lake, published under Creative Commons license
American’s biggest disaster relief organization is a disaster. And American’s richest university doesn’t need your money. Two June 3 stories of incompetence and extreme wealth signal time to re-evaluate and re-direct charitable giving.
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Photo by Michael Coghlan, licensed under Creative Commons
An advance for voting rights for felons who have served their time and good news about the effectiveness of Minnesota drug courts were in the news recently. Continue reading
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Photo by SEIU Local 925, published under Creative Commons license.
National Adjunct Walkout Day drew attention to the situation of the majority of U.S. college professors, two-thirds of whom work as adjuncts, at lower pay and mostly without benefits. The Washington Post reported that the day raised awareness, “more often by word of mouth than by people actually refusing to teach a class.”
Scroll down for reports from around the country, and further for links to information about adjunct faculty and organizing. Continue reading
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Photo by D. Sharon Pruitt, published under Creative Commons license
What if success at school was like a snowball fight? The kids with thin, raggedy mittens or no mittens at all are at a distinct disadvantage. They’ll be much better able to compete on an equal basis if they have good mittens, so let’s give all kids the same warm, water-repellent mittens. Continue reading
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President Barack Obama’s proposal to make community college free for all students sounded like a great way to extend free public education beyond high school, giving low-income students a path to college. Critics say the plan could further ghettoize lower income and black high school graduates and spends public money on students who can afford their tuition. …
Published in Al Jazeera – click here to read full article.
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Children’s Defense Fund Twitter photo
For generations, the Children’s Defense Fund has been a national voice for children. Growing out of the civil rights movement, CDF has been led by Marian Wright Edelman, a civil rights activist and the first Black woman licensed to practice law in Mississippi. CDF’s just-released report, Ending Child Poverty Now, denounces the “national moral disgrace that there are 14.7 million poor children and 6.5 million extremely poor children in the United States of America – the world’s largest economy,” and describes a blueprint for reducing child poverty by 60 percent. Continue reading
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Growing up on the Leech Lake Indian Reservation, Michelle Goose listened to aunts and uncles and her father, who spoke Ojibwe “enough to spark my interest in it.” Today, she has a degree in American Indian Studies with an emphasis on Ojibwe language from the University of Minnesota, and she is a passionate advocate for the revitalization of language. Continue reading
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UPDATED 1/30 – St. Paul will elect four out of seven school board members this fall, and the election season promises to be lively. Three of the incumbents are running, and at least nine other people have talked about challenging them. The first step comes at February 3 precinct caucuses. Issues include: Continue reading
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What lessons does Dr. King’s Letter from a Birmingham Jail have for the city attorney in Bloomington? Take a look at my recent article in Al Jazeera:
Today’s civil disobedience continues MLK’s legacy
When protest targets injustice, public officials, police and prosecutors make choices about where they stand. Prosecutors can exercise their discretion to charge or not to charge, to seek a token sentence of community service or to try to hammer protesters with the full weight of available penalties.
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During the first week of January, two more ships were abandoned by their crews, leaving hundreds of migrants stranded at sea, reports NPR. The ships carry anywhere from 400 to 800 people. Continue reading
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Mary Turck