News blog

Jun 272013
 

Hydrologist finds prediction efforts crippled by poor monitoring systems.

from The Tyee

"Canada's greatest flood, which has severely crippled Alberta's infrastructure and forced the evacuation of more than 100,000 homes, caught flood prediction authorities unprepared, says one of the country's top hydrologists.

"'We were caught flatfooted on this,' says John Pomeroy, the Canada Research Chair in Water Resources and Climate at the University of Saskatchewan and a resident of Canmore.

In the Rocky Mountain town, creeks overflowed their banks, destroying scores of homes and parts of the TransCanada highway before a flood warning was even issued.

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Jun 262013
 

Budget will lead to more charter schools, decreased emphais on liberal arts subjects.

from the World Socialist Web Site

"The California state legislature last week passed a budget for the 2013-2014 fiscal year. The proposed budget which is expected to be signed by Democratic Governor Brown this week, continues a statewide assault against social programs. This, in spite of a projected budgetary surplus rather than a deficit for the first time since the onset of the financial crisis of 2008.  Of the $96 billion in proposed spending, $56.5 billion is owed to K-12 education under the state’s constitutionally-mandated education funding guarantee (known as the Classroom Instructional Improvement and Accountability Act, or Proposition 98). More than $1 billion of that sum will be deferred, however, and used instead to implement provisions championed by private education reform organizations.

"The California state legislature last week passed a budget for the 2013-2014 fiscal year. The proposed budget which is expected to be signed by Democratic Governor Brown this week, continues a statewide assault against social programs. This, in spite of a projected budgetary surplus rather than a deficit for the first time since the onset of the financial crisis of 2008.  Of the $96 billion in proposed spending, $56.5 billion is owed to K-12 education under the state’s constitutionally-mandated education funding guarantee (known as the Classroom Instructional Improvement and Accountability Act, or Proposition 98). More than $1 billion of that sum will be deferred, however, and used instead to implement provisions championed by private education reform organizations.

"These include the implementation of the so-called Common Core Standards Initiative and the Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF). The stated aim of the Common Core Standards Program is the replacement of literature and “fictional” texts with purely technical and informational learning materials, along with the outright removal of liberal arts subjects in general in favor of so-called STEM, Science, Technology, Engineering and Math classes. (See: 'What is the Common Core US education initiative?') …"

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Jun 262013
 

Researchers found dissolved methane in water pumped from 82 percent of drinking water wells sampled in northeastern Pennsylvania.

from grist

"While the EPA has been dumping and delaying studies of fracking’s effects on drinking water, new academic research reveals that people who live near natural gas wells in Pennsylvania are drinking the same gases that the frackers are pumping out from the shale beneath their feet.

"Researchers from Duke University, the University of Rochester, and California State Polytechnic University found dissolved methane, which is the main ingredient in natural gas, in water pumped from 82 percent of drinking water wells sampled in northeastern Pennsylvania.

"Methane can occur naturally in the area (that’s what draws frackers there). But the researchers’ study, published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, concludes that levels of the gas were far higher in drinking water wells located close to fracking operations than in other areas. …"

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Jun 262013
 

Report finds harm-reduction strategies have been more effective than tougher policing.

from the Georgia Straight

"A new report on Vancouver’s drug problem highlights the success of harm-reduction strategies and related approaches while suggesting tougher policing has not been effective.

"The report, released today (June 24) by the Urban Health Initiative at the B.C. Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS, is based on illicit drug-use data collected over a 15-year period.

“'The objective of this report is to make data accessible to a wide variety of stakeholders and to directly inform the City of Vancouver’s Four Pillars Drug Strategy, the Province of British Columbia’s response to illicit drug use, and the Canadian federal government’s National Anti-Drug Strategy,' the report says.

"Among its findings, the study shows that while overall drug use remained steady from 1996 to 2011, injection drug use decreased over that period. …"

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Jun 252013
 

CAW agrees to expansion of cheap labor at GM’s Oshawa plants.

from the World Socialist Web Site

"The Canadian Auto Workers (CAW) union has entered into an agreement with General Motors to organize special early retirement buyouts at its two assembly plants in Oshawa, Ontario. The move is designed to accelerate the automaker’s drive to replace higher-paid veteran workers with workers earning cheap-labor wages.

"About 350 of the 1,300 employees eligible for retirement at the Oshawa facilities will be offered a one-time inducement of up to $50,000 plus a $20,000 GM auto-purchase voucher to leave the company. They will be replaced by a mixture of temporary workers and new hires, both groups earning wages and benefits far below the compensation received by other GM workers, even after years of concessions contracts.

"The temporary workers will earn about $10 per hour less than their counterparts, receive an inferior benefits program, and be barred from enrolling in the pension plan. New hires will begin work at $14 per hour below the regular-tier rate, will receive reduced benefits and also will be ineligible to participate in the pension plan. …"

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Jun 252013
 

 Republican Congressman's bill would phase out the exploitative practice.

from AlterNet

"Goodwill Industries, a non-profit whose mission is to “ enhance the dignity and quality of life of individuals and families” pays disabled workers as little as 22 cents an hour, NBC reports.

"Harry Smith’s report, which aired on Rock Center with Brian Williams, probes a loophole in the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 that allows employers to pay disabled workers far below the federal minimum wage. Section 14 (c) of FLSA grants certificates to certain employers, permitting them to pay adjusted wages to workers 'whose earning or productive capacity is impaired by a physical or mental disability.' Qualified employers create 'sheltered workshops,' 'where employees typically perform manual tasks like hanging clothes.

"According to Labor Department documents obtained by NBC, Goodwill used this loophole to pay disabled workers in sheltered workshops 'as low as 22, 38 and 41 cents per hour in 2011,' presenting a stark contrast to charity executives. …"

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Jun 252013
 

Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction finds $69 million in unpaid bills.

from MotherJones

"A new report released last week suggests that shoddy contracting practices are fomenting discontent and distrust among Afghan contractors, damaging efforts to foster Afghan businesses, and undermining the reconstruction effort in Afghanistan. The Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) reported that $69 million in unpaid bills owed to Afghan subcontractors have led to death and kidnapping threats, work stoppages, fraud, at least one car chase, and the use of local police forces to extract payment.

"Here are some of the highlights from the report:

  • In one instance, an irate Afghan subcontractor threatened to bomb the compound housing the US prime contractor and a slew of US government agencies.

  • Another unpaid subcontractor, claiming his workers couldn't buy the necessities their families needed until his bill was settled, said he would set himself on fire in front of the US Embassy in protest.

  • One subcontractor threatened to use a suicide bomb to destroy a contractor's office over a payment dispute.

"The pervasiveness of these sorts of disputes, the report claims, is 'eroding support for US and coalition forces' because Afghans believe 'that coalition forces failed to pay for projects that Afghans have worked on. …"

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Jun 242013
 

Company cries foul over appearance of genetically modified wheat but scientist who found it doubts claim of sabotage.

from The Guardian

"It is a mystery that could cost the American farmer billions: how rogue genetically modified wheat plants turned up on a farmer's field in Oregon.

"The scientist who first discovered the renegade grain — by dipping a plastic strip into a tube of pulped plant, in order to check its genetics — believes the GM wheat could have entered America's food supply undetected years ago, and could still be in circulation.

"'There's a lot of potential for how it could have got into the supply,' said Carol Mallory-Smith, a professor of weed sciences at Oregon State University. 'It could have already been processed. It could have gone for animal feed somewhere or it could have gone for something else. It could have gone for storage.'

"The Department of Agriculture, which is conducting a secretive investigation into the renegade GM wheat outbreak, maintains the GM wheat remained confined to a single 125-acre field on a single farm in eastern Oregon. Officials said there was no evidence the contaminated wheat was in the marketplace. …"

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Jun 242013
 

Company spokesperson denies reports, says worjers were disciplined for food safety and attendance violations.

from The Nation

"Of the roughly 100 Walmart workers who this month went on strike and traveled to Arkansas, OUR Walmart alleges that five have been fired, ten have received disciplinary 'coachings,' and one has been suspended. Along with Lisa Lopez from Orlando, the other fired workers are from Miami; Chicago; and Lakewood, California. Organizers allege that one of workers was told directly that the termination was for striking, and that several of the 'coachings' were identified as punishment for “unexcused absence” during the strike.

Asked about the firings of Walmart workers who went on strike, Congressman Keith Ellison told The Nation, 'One, they are to be expected. Two, they are completely unjust and illegal. Ellison (DFL-MN), who co-chairs the Congressional Progressive Caucus, added, 'Power concedes nothing without a demand, and if these CEOs at these big companies are reaping ultra-profits out of the hard labor of these workers, they’re not about to give it up easily. So you’re going to have these retaliatory measures.' Ellison urged elected officials 'to intervene and to really stick up for the workers,' and said that at the CPC, 'we need to be much more engaged' on the issue of workplace retaliation. 'Because people shouldn’t have to suffer in silence,' said Eliison, 'and if people are willing to step out there, and to risk so much, they shouldn’t be alone.' …"

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Jun 222013
 

Beaver Lake Nation lawsuit charges breach of treaty rights.

by Brandi Morin

 
A First Nation from Alberta is hailing a court victory in its fight against expanded oil sands development near traditional territories and hunting grounds with the dismissal of a government appeal attempting to block their case.

Beaver Lake Cree Nation first went to court against the provincial and Canadian governments in 2008 alleging breach of treaty rights. The Canadian and Alberta governments joined forces to get the lawsuit dismissed, but lost a year ago when the Court of the Queen’s Bench upheld the lawsuit despite the provincial and federal governments’ attempts to throw it out, on grounds that it was frivolous. In her decision last year, Justice Beverley Browne said the case raises issues and questions about aboriginal consultation overall that need to be addressed. (Related: Beaver Lake Cree Nation Allowed to Continue Lawsuit Against Province and Feds)

The two governments appealed. The April 30, 2013, Court of Appeal of Alberta decision puts the case one step closer to proceeding to trial…

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