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News from the Wires

admin — Mon, 03 Apr 2006 14:26:57 -0500

For links to stories on environmental justice and environmental healh from around the internet, visit our news aggregator serving newsfeeds from 100's of news sources around the world. NEWS FROM THE WIRES

A Call to Care

Editor2 — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 13:22:24 -0600

By Chris Middleton

Someone must have forgotten to tell the Americans. The front page must have been filled to capacity. A document must have been stamped “confidential.”

Whatever the reason, the lion’s share of U.S. citizens remains blissfully unaware of the political unrest and bloodshed in the Philippines. Since current president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo was elected in 2001, it has been estimated that more than nine hundred people critical of the Philippine government have been executed under painfully tyrannical and extrajudicial conditions.

The League of Filipino Students (LFS), a student-run activism group based out of San Francisco State University, has made it their goal to educate Filipino Americans and Americans in general about the current situation in hopes of bringing an end to the political killings.

“The situation going on in the Philippines, and really nearly all Third World countries, is in direct consequence to the lavish and ignorant lives we live here in our First Worlds,” says JR Arimboanga, a member of LFS.

Terminally ill woman's fight against eviction raises societal question

Editor2 — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 12:59:00 -0600

By Tom Lochner

Ann Cyrus, by her own admission, wasn't always a model tenant.

But a compassionate society ought to find a way for people like her, who face a litany of health problems, to stay in their homes, she says — especially if home is a taxpayer-subsidized affordable housing complex such as the El Paseo Family Apartments in San Pablo.

Cyrus, 53, has hypertension, depression and a case of lymphedema that is terminal, according to a letter from her doctor at Brookside Community Health Center. Cyrus's daughter, 23, suffers depression and can't hold down a job or complete her studies for lack of child care, Cyrus said. Cyrus' 12-year-old son and two grandchildren — one 6 years, the other 9 months old — round out the household.

Is the Nation Ready for Obama's Energy Plan?

Editor2 — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 12:32:58 -0600

By Mark Clayton

If President-elect Barack Obama enacts the energy plan he laid out during his campaign, American taxpayers will each get a $500 rebate check -- funded by a windfall profits taxes on big oil companies.

But that's just for starters. Besides taxing oil giants more, Senator Obama's detailed 30-point energy agenda calls for big changes to address carbon emissions, fuel efficiency for vehicles, and domestic and renewable power and efficiency.

While many candidates' platform promises are cast aside when political opposition looms, the Obama energy plan seems integral to his promise to get the economy restarted, some experts say.

Financial tsunami sweeps LENNAR and destroys any HOPE for recovery - housing crisis.

Editor2 — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 12:24:11 -0600

By Francisco Da Costa

The present financial crisis has hit Lennar between the eyes and swept them out to sea. LENNAR Corporation - is drowning with no - HOPE in sight. Lennar has declared so may bankruptcies - that there is no telling - how DEEP in trouble - this Rogue Company is. Lennar will fail - in the Bayview Hunters Point. We want them OUT of our community - NOW.
Some years ago when I said that Lennar would drown in the CESSPOOL of its own making - people where laughing and said that LENNAR was powerful - backed by some powerful people.

Yes on V-V Letter to the Editor

admin — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 14:42:42 -0500

Yes on VV

MAYBE YOU'VE HEARD the expression "Half the battle is showing up." We all know it's true, especially for school success, and public transportation plays a key role in San Leandro students' academic achievement.

A Long Ride Home

Editor2 — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 14:16:52 -0500

By Jasmenda Brown

It used to take me an hour to get home from school on AC Transit. Now it takes me two hours.

I go to Street Academy in downtown Oakland, which isn't that far from my house in East Oakland. But thanks to the new AC Transit routes, I have to take three buses to get home. The third bus takes forever and is always crowded, so sometimes I can't even get on. That adds another hour to my commute. I refuse to wait, so a lot of times, I'm forced to walk home.

Will Oceans Be Our Best Source of Clean Power?

Editor2 — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 14:11:21 -0500

By Kari Lydersen

If certain challenges can be overcome, wave power could be a major clean energy source for the half of the world's population.

The resource is clean, renewable and vast. In fact, it covers 70 percent of the planet. That would be the ocean, with endless waves and ceaseless tides that can be harnessed to create electricity with zero carbon or particulate emissions. If logistical, environmental and efficiency challenges can be overcome -- a big "if" -- this could be a major clean energy source for the half of the world's population who live within 50 miles of coasts.

Cancer at 23: How Health Insurance Failed Me

Editor2 — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 14:04:56 -0500

By Carey Purcell

I had a job and health insurance when I got sick, but my claim was denied. And that was just the beginning.

"I'm too young for this," I thought. It wasn't the first time that those words had crossed my mind in the past few months. I thought it when I was diagnosed with advanced thyroid cancer. I thought it when the company I was working for began facing financial problems and my paychecks were bouncing. I thought it when I learned I would be dependent on a prescription drug every day for the rest of my life. And I thought it again when I got the bill. In spite of having insurance, I had been billed in full for my surgery and two nights in the hospital. The total was $20,759.89. I was 23 years old.

City Claims Hands Tied On Housing

Editor2 — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 13:58:24 -0500

By Amy Sylvestri

The controversy over the San Leandro Crossing housing project and the city’s Transit- Oriented Development (TOD) has led City Hall to point out that it must comply with state standards to increase the number of housing units available in San Leandro.

The state said that the nine counties in the Bay Area must add 214,500 new housing units by 2014, and the Association of Bay Area Governments (ABAG) has set San Leandro’s housing goal (“Housing Element”) at 1,630 units.