Saturday, February 28, 2015

BAUAW NEWSLETTER, SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 28, 2015


Thursday, March 5, 5pm
Rally in Solidarity with Venezuela's Bolivarian Revolution
Join us us to say "U.S Hands off Venezuela!"
24th & Mission, San Francisco

 Sponsored by Bay Area Latin America Solidarity Coalition. Endorsed by ANSWER Coalition, SOA Watch-San Francisco; FMLN-Nor. California; FSLN-Nor. California; Haiti Action Committee; Hondurenos en Resistencia del Norte de California; Task Force on the Americas; Nicaragua Center for Community Action; Party for Socialism and Liberation; Workers World Party; Marcha Patriotica of Nor. Cal.

This demonstration is part of nationally-coordinated actions against U.S. aggression in Venezuela

More info: 415-821-6545 or www.ANSWERsf.org
ANSWER SF


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SF Antiwar Protest on 12th Anniversary of U.S. Invasion of Iraq

Saturday, March 21, 12 noon, Powell and Market Sts.

In solidarity with the “Spring Rising” protest at the White House on Mar. 21

Stop Pres. Obama’s proposed new 3-year AUMF – Authorization for Use of Military Force!

End U.S. War and Occupation in the Middle East and Central Asia – U.S. Out!

No to U.S. sanctions and intervention vs. Iran, Venezuela, Korea, Cuba, Mexico, Russia, Haiti and everywhere

Free Palestine – End U.S. Aid to Israel!

Fund People’s Needs, Not Endless War!

To Endorse or Volunteer reply to: answer@answersf.org
More info: 415-821-6545 or visit www.ANSWERsf.org.
ANSWER SF

To join the Facebook event for Spring Rising: https://www.facebook.com/events/430232700485435
For more information, click here:
http://nepajac.org/springrising.html

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Cancel the #DetroitWater Debt and Start Afresh

Sign the petition:

http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/cancel-the-detroitwater-debt-and-start-afresh


We call on the City of Detroit and the newly-formed Great Lakes Water Authority to cancel the existing debts of Detroit Water and Sewerage customers and start afresh with simple, affordable rates: all customer past-due balances are wiped clean.

Last year, Detroit made international headlines when tens of thousands of residents lost their access to water through an aggressive shut-off program by the water department.

The city of Detroit has endured decades of economic turmoil, drastic depopulation and repeated mismanagement. The Detroit Water and Sewerage Department (DWSD) is over $5 billion in debt (over $4,500 per family in the metro Detroit area).To compensate, they have increased rates over 119% in the last decade.¹Residents who fall behind on their bills risk water shutoff, and in 2014 that’s exactly what happened to tens of thousands of Detroiters.

The shutoff program didn't work, and the DWSD collected less than 3% of the over $100 million currently owed.² A large number of the families who entered into payment plans last year are now defaulting on them yet again because they lack sufficient income.

In contrast, a voluntary bond tender offer initiated during the shutoffs allowed the city to renegotiate high interest rates on municipal water bonds and save over $250 million in interest fees for the city.³

The bond markets know that Detroit's water debt is junk and the city will unlikely ever be able to pay the current interest rates, which is why Default Trends proclaimed Detroit Water and Sewerage Department (DWSD) its "Biggest Default of 2014".⁴

Corruption in the DWSD has been rampant, with former Department head Victor Mercado currently serving an 8-month federal corruption sentence for "conspiracy to commit extortion" by padding department contracts and rigging bids that netted his business associates millions. Although many of those contracts are now being scrutinized by the city's legal team, Detroiters are still paying dearly for the fraud of past leaders.

The overbearing Detroit water debt has a human side, too: it has pushed Detroit into an outright humanitarian crisis. Rates of infectious disease and sickness are up dramatically, leading the National Nurses union recently to declare a 'Public Health Emergency' in Detroit.⁵The water department is significantly under-staffed and water infrastructure is crumbling, leading to leaks that cost taxpayers tens of millions annually. The department is unable to address these time-sensitive issues due to lack of funding, as it currently spends 46% of its operating revenue on debt service to banks - the largest line-item by far in its budget.

We call on the City of Detroit and the newly-formed Great Lakes Water Authority to cancel the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department's existing debts and start afresh with simple, affordable rates: all customer past-due balances are wiped clean.

Detroit's existing water/sewerage rate structure is highly-regressive and unaffordable for too many families. We call on the city to implement the 2005 Water Affordability Plan to ensure that no family pays more than the EPA-recommended threshold for water, including "lifeline rates" for essential quantities of drinking/bathing water.⁶

The water department acknowledges that 90% of its operating costs are fixed⁷, meaning they don't depend upon how much water is consumed by users. Still, they charge usage-based rates that fluctuate dramatically with weather (up to 18% decrease in usage) and with broader demographic shifts in the region (2/3 of Detroit's population has left the city since 1950). Creating a progressive rate structure based at least partially upon a family's income - as is done with many public services like streetlights, schools, libraries, etc - would more equitably distribute the burden of operating a system relied upon by over 4 million people for essential drinking water.

The Detroit Water Brigade has provided emergency relief and advocacy to hundreds of families since June of 2014, including providing immediate financial assistance to families currently without water.⁸We've seen first-hand the disastrous effects of these harsh, debt-driven austerity policies.

We pledge to escalate this campaign in the coming months until we bring relief to the tens of thousands of metro Detroit families living without water today and the millions living precariously with unaffordable water rates.


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Free Albert Woodfox!
End the Injustice. Don’t Oppose Bail for Albert Woodfox

In 1972 a young white prison guard named Brent Miller was fatally stabbed inside Louisiana State Penitentiary, also known as “Angola.” Although no physical evidence tied Albert Woodfox to the crime, he was immediately assumed to be guilty and placed in solitary confinement; 23 hours a day isolated in a small cell, four steps long, three steps across. He was eventually convicted of the crime after trials tainted with constitutional violations and other legal issues, and has been held in solitary confinement, fighting to prove his innocence ever since.

Albert believes that he and fellow prisoners, Herman Wallace and Robert King, were placed in solitary confinement in retaliation for their activism and outspoken critique of injustice. All three men were members of the Black Panther Party and campaigned for better treatment, racial solidarity, and an end to the brutal sexual slavery in prison. Woodfox, Wallace and King came to be known as the Angola 3.

Albert Woodfox’s conviction has been overturned three times - most recently in 2013 on the basis of racial discrimination in the selection of a grand jury foreperson. In late 2014, an appeals court upheld the decision in Alberts favor, and on February 6, his lawyers filed for bail. After years of the State of Louisiana appealing decisions in Albert’s favor, It is critical that Governor Bobby Jindal show leadership, and ensure that Albert’s cruel and unjust isolation is not his legacy. April 2015 will mark 43 years since Woodfox was first placed solitary - for a crime he maintains that he didn't' commit, a claim that much of the available evidence supports. It is time for the State to let the wisdom of the courts stand and ensure his release.


Amnesty International
http://act.amnestyusa.org/ea-action/action?ea.client.id=1839&ea.campaign.id=35593&ea.tracking.id=Country_USA~MessagingCategory_PrisonersandPeopleatRisk&ac=W1502EAIAR2&ea.url.id=359128&forwarded=true

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Bay Area United Against War Newsletter

Table of Contents:

A. EVENTS AND ACTIONS

B. ARTICLES IN FULL



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A. EVENTS AND ACTIONS



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Protest War Criminal Netanyahu’s Speech to Joint Session of Congress

Tuesday, March 3, 5:00 pm, Israeli Consulate, 456 Montgomery St., San Francisco

Join us on March 3 to say: No to War Criminal Netanyahu - No New War on Iran - End the Colonial Occupation of Palestine - End U.S. Aid to Israel!

More info: 415-821-6545 or www.ANSWERsf.org


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SHUT DOWN CREECH!

Mass Mobilization to Stop Drone Wars!

A Convergence For Peace in the Nevada Desert

Join us March 4-6, 2015 at Creech Air Force Base, Indian Springs, Nevada, for a national mobilization of nonviolent resistance to shut down killer drone operations in Afghanistan, Pakistan,Yemen, Somalia, and everywhere. Sponsored by CODEPINK: Women for Peace, Nevada Desert Experience , Veterans For Peace, Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom, and Voices for Creative Nonviolence. CODEPINK will also hold vigils daily on March 2nd and 3rd, prior to the official beginning of this Creech Convergence For Peace, and welcomes everyone to join them.


In 2005, Creech Air Force Base secretly became the first U.S. base in the country to carry out illegal, remotely controlled assassinations using the MQ-1 Predator drones, and in 2006, the more advanced Reaper drones were added to its arsenal.  Creech drone personnel sit behind computers in the desert north of Las Vegas and kill "suspects" thousands of miles away.  Recent independent research indicates that the identity of only one out of 28 victims of U.S. drone strikes is known beforehand. Though officials deny it, the majority of those killed by drones are civilians. In 2014, it was leaked that the CIA's criminal drone assassination program, officially a separate operation from the Air Force's, has been piloted all along by Creech's super-secret Squadron 17. 


Since 2009 dozens of activists have been arrested for allegedly trespassing at Creech, in attempts to stop the indiscriminate killing and burning of innocent people by drones.  At the trial of the "Creech 14," the first Americans prosecuted for trespass at a drone base, former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark testified that "to have a baby burn to death because of a 'no trespass'  sign would be poor public policy, to put it mildly."  In a time of burning children, the "no trespass" signs attached to the fences that protect the crimes perpetrated with drones are not legitimate, and they do not command our obedience.  After all, it is the U.S. military that is guilty of lethal trespassing.


The US drone program is rapidly proliferating as air bases are being converted to drone bases across the U.S. and abroad, but Creech remains the primary air base in U.S. state-sponsored global terrorism. Creech is where the killer drone program started--it is where we shall end it.


We must put an end to this desecration of our Mother Earth and all creatures who inhabit it.

We must put an end to the dehumanization of lives from Ferguson to Palestine to Pakistan.

We must close all foreign U.S. military bases.  Money for human needs. 

We must put an end to drone warfare, drone surveillance, and global militarization.

We must...
SHUT CREECH DOWN! 
More details to come soon!

Sign up on facebook https://www.facebook.com/events/1525740921010540/?context=create&previousaction=create&source=49&sid_create=3742154553#

Or contact:

Toby Blomé of Code Pink, 510-215-5974 (h)

Brian Terrell of VCNV and NDE,   773-853-1886

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Justice for Rasmea: All out for March 12!

On March 12, Rasmea is set to appear once again in the Detroit courtroom of Judge Gershwin Drain, this time for a sentencing hearing. We are seeking letters to the judge requesting leniency.

For this round of letters, we are NOT looking for a mountain of individual statements, but rather letters from prominent individuals who represent broader constituencies. We need you to work with leaders of faith-based, labor, and community organizations, as well as student governments, student organizations (national), prominent professors, and legislators in your area to draft and submit letters.

Below you will find an outline you can use to draft these letters, but it is important for the authors to write them in their own voices. Letters should be submitted by February 4 to justice4rasmea@uspcn.org.

Stay tuned! Keep sharing Rasmea’s story and organizing fundraisers. Watch for calls for your support as we prepare for sentencing and appeal. Our organizing is key to winning #Justice4Rasmea.

follow on Twitter | friend on Facebook | forward to a friend
Copyright © 2015 Committee to Stop FBI Repression, All rights reserved.
Thanks for your ongoing interest in the fight against FBI repression of anti-war and international solidarity activists!
Our mailing address is:
Committee to Stop FBI Repression
PO Box 14183
Minneapolis, MN 55414

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Save the Date - UNAC National Conference, May 8 - 10, 2015


UNAC is the major national antiwar coalition in the U.S. today.  The existence of a United National Antiwar Coalition is vital and we need your financial support to continue our work and to expand.

With U.S. wars today accelerating and expanding globally in various forms – from drone attacks on Yemen and Pakistan, never-ending wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, support to neo-fascists in Ukraine, and proliferating Africom forces to threats of war for regime change in Syria – we have an obligation to do whatever is possible to educate the public and to take action to stop the carnage.

The wars abroad are connected to global warming with most wars fought over energy resources with the U.S. war machine as the largest polluter.

At home, we see hugely growing income inequality, a militarized and racist police force, mass incarceration of Blacks and Latinos, and a massive police state apparatus that includes global surveillance and laws to quell dissent.

In spite of the trillions spent by the U.S. corporate war government and its controlled media propaganda machine to keep us in check, the people are fighting back.  We’ve been inspired and strengthened by the hundreds of thousands of new activists taking to the streets of this country to stop police brutality, to build Occupy encampments, to fight for decent wages, to demand full rights for immigrants, to win marriage equality, to end global warming, to demonstrate solidarity with the besieged people of Gaza, and to protest unending U.S. wars.

UNAC has played an active, often leadership role, in all of the antiwar and social justice movements of our time.  While most activists are focused on their particular issues, the most vital role we can play is to connect the issues to their source.  All of the injustices and crimes we protest, stem from the imperialist insatiable drive for expanding profit and control – and the U.S. is the largest imperialist power militarily and economically.  When there should be plenty for all, only the obscenely wealthy benefit while the rest of the 99% struggle just to survive.

Some of our recent major accomplishments:
·       Initiated protest against NATO and 15,000 marched in Chicago in 2012.
·        Called for immediate actions against threats of war and coups directed at Libya, Iran, No. Korea, Africa, Latin America,    Ukraine, and maintaining the U.S. presence in Iraq and Afghanistan.
·        Organized a national tour for Afghan leader Malalai Joya.
·        Sent representatives to international NATO protests and conferences.
·        Serve on the Board of the National Coalition to Protect Civil Freedoms to act against Islamophobia , racist attacks on Muslims, and attacks on our civil liberties.
·        Participated in national efforts to organize anti-drone actions.
·        Campaigned to defend victims of government repression who speak out and expose Washington’s crimes, including Rasmea Odeh, Mumia abu Jamal, Lynne Stewart, Chelsea Manning, and the Midwest activists targeted by the FBI.
·        Produced national educational conference calls featuring experts on topics such as U.S. intervention in Africa, the destruction of Libya, the developing wars in Syria, and others.
·        Built an antiwar contingent in the massive New York City Climate Change march and built Climate Change action in other cities around the country.
·        Helped organize protests against Israel’s attack on Gaza
·        Helped organize protests against the murder of Blacks by white police and the militarization of the police forces in the U.S.

UNAC has a history of bringing hundreds of activists together at large national conferences to learn about the issues of the day, to discuss the way forward and to vote on an Action Program for the coming period.

The UNAC conference next May will bring activists from all the movements in motion to cross-fertilize these struggles.  We are particularly dedicated to bringing young activists together to support and learn from each other.  For this, we need your help to offer subsidies to leaders from Ferguson, from the border wars in the southwest, from the Native Americans who are fighting against the pipelines ruining their lands, from the Students for Justice in Palestine, and many others.

Please give generously so that we can continue our work to bring harmony and justice to the peoples of this earth.

You can send a check to UNAC at PO Box 123, Delmar, NY 12054 or click the button below to contribute on-line with your credit or debit card.

 https://www.unacpeace.org/

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On Behalf of Wadiya Jamal and
Mumia Abu-Jamal,
A Contribution Request

The message following is a forward from:
Rachel Wolkenstein
Sister, Advocate and Friend of the Extended Family

Samiya “Goldii” Abdullah, a daughter of Wadiya Jamal and Mumia Abu-Jamal died on December 17, 2014 after years of battle with breast cancer. Samiya would have been 37 this January 9 and is survived by two young daughters, Aiyanah and Aaiyah, affectionately known as Dolly and Puddy, ages eleven and four.

Samiya was a remarkable woman. She was accomplished as a musician, an activist and rapper on social justice, particularly in the struggle for Mumia’s freedom. She devoured books and education. During her long, often debilitating illness, Samiya finished her Masters Degree in School and Mental Health Counseling from the University of Pennsylvania with honors. She was dedicated to her young daughters and wanted them to grow up loving each other as much as she did her brothers and sisters. And she wanted her daughters to see Mumia (called “Pop Pop” by them) walk out of prison and home with their grandmother, Wadiya.

Samiya's active fight for Mumia's freedom, began at the young age of four. Mumia wrote about this in “The Visit” printed in Live from Death Row in 1994. This was recreated in the movie "Mumia: Long Distance Revolutionary."

"My father is still considered to be a dangerous individual … his mind is what they fear, there is over- whelming evidence that would exonerate him of his conviction.
"He is an innocent man and the commonwealth has always known this, but being too Black, too smart, and too strong … The government will silence anyone that possesses the power to open the minds of the people."   
                     —Goldii

Samiya’s strength, character and spirit were nurtured by Wadiya and Mumia and are being passed on to her daughters.

On behalf of Wadiya Jamal and Mumia Abu-Jamal, this is a request for funds to assist Wadiya for care of her granddaughters, Dolly and Puddy.

A financial contribution of any amount will be greatly appreciated.

Please send checks or money orders, made payable to Wadiya Jamal:

Wadiya Jamal
P.O. Box 19404
Kingsessing Postal Station
Philadelphia, PA 19143-9998

In loving memory of Samiya and in tribute to her fierce fight for life,

Rachel Wolkenstein
Sister, Advocate and Friend of the Extended Family


Hear Mumia’s Words (and Song) played before the Janazah for Samiya on December 20, 2014: “Samiya Abdullah Makes Transition”:

http://prisonradio.org/sites/default/files/audio/uploads/SamiyaAbdullahMakesTransition12-19-2.mp3?download=1

This message has been sent to you by:
The Labor Action Committee To Free Mumia Abu-Jamal
PO Box 16222  •  Oakland CA  •  510.763.2347
www.laboractionmumia.org

Donate Now
to fight the “gag” law!
go to:
https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/protect-freedom-of-speech-keep-mumia-on-the-air

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Support Prison Radio

$35 is the yearly membership.

$50 will get you a beautiful tote bag (you can special order a yoga mat bag, just call us).

$100 will get the DVD "Mumia: Long Distance Revolutionary"

$300 will bring one essay to the airwaves.

$1000 (or $88.83 per month) will make you a member of our Prison Radio Freedom Circle. Take a moment and Support Prison Radio

Luchando por la justicia y la libertad,

Noelle Hanrahan, Director, Prison Radio

PRISON RADIO

P.O. Box 411074 San Francisco, CA 94141

www.prisonradio.org
info@prisonradio.org 415-706-5222


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Campaign to Free Lorenzo Johnson

Lorenzo Speaks Concerning Prosecution's Brief:
JANUARY 1, 2015—The prosecutor has run away from (almost) every issue raised in my PCRA by begging the Court to dismiss everything as “untimely”. When they don’t do this, they suggest that me and my lawyers were “defamatory” towards either my former prosecutor Christopher Abruzzo or Detective Kevin Duffin, in our claims they withheld, misused or hid evidence of my Innocence, in order to secure an unjust conviction in this case. If I charged, a year ago, that about a dozen AGs (attorneys general) were involved in circulating porno via their office computers, people would’ve laughed at me, and seen me as crazy.

But, guess what? During 2014, we learned that this was the truth. How can it be defamatory to speak the truth? Notice the OAG (Office of Attorney General), never said the obvious: That AG Abruzzo didn’t inform the Defense about the relationship between his Motive Witness and his head detective (Victoria Doubs and Det. Duffin); that Det. Duffin doesn’t deny Doubs was his god-sister, and that she lived in his family home, or that he assisted her whenever she got into trouble.

Why not? Because it is true. How can you defame someone who defames himself? Mr. Christopher Abruzzo, Esq., when a member of the higher ranks of the OAG, sent and/or received copious amounts of porno to other attorneys general and beyond. What does this say about his sense of judgment? He thought enough about his behavior to resign from his post in the Governor’s Cabinet. If he thought that his behavior was okay, he’d still be sitting in the Governor’s cabinet, right? The OAG cannot honestly oppose anything we’ve argued, but they try by seeking to get the Court to do their dirty work, how? By denying an Evidentiary Hearing to prove every point we’ve claimed.

The prosecution is trying desperately to avoid dealing with the substance of my claims in Com. v. Lorenzo Johnson. So, they slander my Legal Team and blame them for defaming the good AG’s and Cops involved with this case. They try to do what is undeniable, to deny that they hid evidence from the Defense for years. They blamed me for daring to protest the hidden evidence of their malfeasance and other acts to sabotage the defense. They claim that they had an “Open File” policy with my trial counsel. But “Open File” is more than letting an attorney read something in their office. If it’s a search for the truth it must include what is turned over to the attorney, for how do we really know what was shown to her?

They say it is inconceivable that an attorney would read a file, beginning on page nine (9), and not ask for the preceding eight (8) pages. Yet, it is conceivable if trial counsel was ineffective for not demanding the record of the first eight pages. Pages that identify the State’s only witness as a “SUSPECT” in the murder for which her client was charged! How could such an attorney fail to recognize the relevance of such an issue, barring their sheer Ineffectiveness and frankly, Incompetence.

By seeking to avoid an evidentiary hearing, the prosecution seeks to avoid evidence of their wrongdoing being made plain, for all to see. If they believe I’m wrong, why not prove it? They can’t. So they shout I filed my appeal untimely, as if there can ever justly be a rule that precludes an innocent from proving his innocence! Not to mention the fact that the prosecution has failed to even mention the positive finger prints that ay my trial they said none existed. Don’t try to hide it with a lame argument about time. When isn’t there a time for truth? The prosecution should be ashamed of itself for taking this road. It is unworthy of an office that claims to seek justice.

After the trial verdict The Patriot-News (March 18, 1997) reported, “Deputy Attorney General Christopher Abruzzo admitted there were some serious concerns about the strength of the evidence against Johnson and praised the jury for doing a thorough job.” I guess he forgot to mention all of the evidence he left out to show Innocence.

Now, more than ever, Lorenzo Johnson needs your support.
Publicize his case; bring it to your friends, clubs, religious
and social organizations. 


SIGN LORENZO JOHNSON'S FREEDOM PETITION

http://www.freelorenzojohnson.org/sign-the-petition.html

CONTRIBUTE TO LORENZO'S CAMPAIGN FOR FREEDOM!
http://www.freelorenzojohnson.org/how-can-i-help.html


Write: Lorenzo Johnson
            DF 1036
            SCI Mahanoy
            301 Morea Rd.
            Frackville, PA 17932

 Email: Lorenzo Johnson through JPAY.com code:
              Lorenzo Johnson DF 1036 PA DOC



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Click HERE to view in browser
http://www.iacenter.org/prisoners/freepinkney-1-28-15/
       
Join the Fight to Free Rev. Pinkney!

On December 15, 2014 the Rev. Edward Pinkney of Benton Harbor, Michigan was thrown into prison for 2.5 to 10 years. This 66-year-old leading African American activist was tried and convicted in front of an all-white jury and racist white judge and prosecutor for supposedly altering 5 dates on a recall petition against the mayor of Benton Harbor.

The prosecutor, with the judge’s approval, repeatedly told the jury “you don’t need evidence to convict Mr. Pinkney.” And ABSOLUTELY NO EVIDENCE WAS EVER PRESENTED THAT TIED REV. PINKNEY TO THE ‘ALTERED’ PETITIONS. Rev. Pinkney was immediately led away in handcuffs and thrown into Jackson Prison.

This is an outrageous charge. It is an outrageous conviction. It is an even more outrageous sentence! It must be appealed.

With your help supporters need to raise $20,000 for Rev. Pinkney’s appeal.

Checks can be made out to BANCO (Black Autonomy Network Community Organization). This is the organization founded by Rev. Pinkney.  Mail them to: Mrs. Dorothy Pinkney, 1940 Union Street, Benton Harbor, MI 49022.

Donations can be accepted on-line at bhbanco.org – press the donate button.

For information on the decade long campaign to destroy Rev. Pinkney go to bhbanco.org and workers.org(search “Pinkney”).

We urge your support to the efforts to Free Rev. Pinkney!Ramsey Clark – Former U.S. attorney general,
Cynthia McKinney – Former member of U.S. Congress,
Lynne Stewart – Former political prisoner and human rights attorney
Ralph Poynter – New Abolitionist Movement,
Abayomi Azikiwe – Editor, Pan-African News Wire<
Larry Holmes – Peoples Power Assembly,
David Sole – Michigan Emergency Committee Against War & Injustice
Sara Flounders – International Action Center

MESSAGE FROM REV. PINKNEY

I am now in Marquette prison over 15 hours from wife and family, sitting in prison for a crime that was never committed. Judge Schrock and Mike Sepic both admitted there was no evidence against me but now I sit in prison facing 30 months. Schrock actually stated that he wanted to make an example out of me. (to scare Benton Harbor residents even more...) ONLY IN AMERICA. I now have an army to help fight Berrien County. When I arrived at Jackson state prison on Dec. 15, I met several hundred people from Detroit, Flint, Kalamazoo, and Grand Rapids. Some people recognized me. There was an outstanding amount of support given by the prison inmates. When I was transported to Marquette Prison it took 2 days. The prisoners knew who I was. One of the guards looked me up on the internet and said, "who would believe Berrien County is this racist."  

New Court Date on 4 Motions for Rev. Pinkney 

TUES, FEB. 24 1pm Berrien County Court 

Background to Campaign to free Rev. Pinkney

Michigan political prisoner the Rev. Edward Pinkney is a victim of racist injustice. He was sentenced to 30 months to 10 years for supposedly changing the dates on 5 signatures on a petition to recall Benton Harbor Mayor James Hightower.

No material or circumstantial evidence was presented at the trial that would implicate Pinkney in the purported5 felonies. Many believe that Pinkney, a Berrien County activist and leader of the Black Autonomy Network Community Organization (BANCO), is being punished by local authorities for opposing the corporate plans of Whirlpool Corp, headquartered in Benton Harbor, Michigan.

In 2012, Pinkney and BANCO led an “Occupy the PGA [Professional Golfers’ Association of America]” demonstration against a world-renowned golf tournament held at the newly created Jack Nicklaus Signature Golf Course on the shoreline of Lake Michigan. The course was carved out of Jean Klock Park, which had been donated to the city of Benton Harbor decades ago.

Berrien County officials were determined to defeat the recall campaign against Mayor Hightower, who opposed a program that would have taxed local corporations in order to create jobs and improve conditions in Benton Harbor, a majority African-American municipality. Like other Michigan cities, it has been devastated by widespread poverty and unemployment. 

The Benton Harbor corporate power structure has used similar fraudulent charges to stop past efforts to recall or vote out of office the racist white officials, from mayor, judges, prosecutors in a majority Black city. Rev Pinkney who always quotes scripture, as many Christian ministers do, was even convicted for quoting scripture in a newspaper column. This outrageous conviction was overturned on appeal. We must do this again!

To sign the petition in support of the Rev. Edward Pinkney, log on to: tinyurl.com/ps4lwyn.

Contributions for Rev. Pinkney’s defense can be sent to BANCO at Mrs Dorothy Pinkney, 1940 Union St., Benton Harbor, MI 49022

Or you can donate on-line at bhbanco.org.

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COURAGE TO RESIST
http://couragetoresist.org/

New Action- write letters to DoD officials requesting clemency for Chelsea!

November 24, 2014 by the Chelsea Manning Support Network

Secretary of the Army John McHugh
President Obama has delegated review of Chelsea Manning’s clemency appeal to individuals within the Department of Defense.
Please write them to express your support for heroic WikiLeaks’ whistle-blower former US Army intelligence analyst PFC Chelsea Manning’s release from military prison.
It is important that each of these authorities realize the wide support that Chelsea (formerly Bradley) Manning enjoys worldwide. They need to be reminded that millions understand that Manning is a political prisoner, imprisoned for following her conscience. While it is highly unlikely that any of these individuals would independently move to release Manning, a reduction in Manning’s outrageous 35-year prison sentence is a possibility at this stage.
Take action TODAY – Write letters supporting Chelsea’s clemency petition to the following DoD authorities:
Secretary of the Army John McHugh
101 Army Pentagon
Washington, DC 20310-0101
The Judge Advocate General
2200 Army Pentagon
Washington, DC 20310-2200
Army Clemency and Parole Board
251 18th St, Suite 385
Arlington, VA 22202-3532
Directorate of Inmate Administration
Attn: Boards Branch
U.S. Disciplinary Barracks
1301 N. Warehouse Road
Fort Leavenworth, KS 66027-2304
Suggestions for letters send to DoD officials:
  • The letter should focus on your support for Chelsea Manning, and especially why you believe justice will be served if Chelsea Manning’s sentence is reduced.  The letter should NOT be anti-military as this will be unlikely to help
  • A suggested message: “Chelsea Manning has been punished enough for violating military regulations in the course of being true to her conscience.  I urge you to use your authorityto reduce Pvt. Manning’s sentence to time served.”  Beyond that general message, feel free to personalize the details as to why you believe Chelsea deserves clemency.
  • Consider composing your letter on personalized letterhead -you can create this yourself (here are templates and some tips for doing that).
  • A comment on this post will NOT be seen by DoD authorities–please send your letters to the addresses above
This clemency petition is separate from Chelsea Manning’s upcoming appeal before the US Army Court of Criminal Appeals next year, where Manning’s new attorney Nancy Hollander will have an opportunity to highlight the prosecution’s—and the trial judge’s—misconduct during last year’s trial at Ft. Meade, Maryland.
Help us continue to cover 100% of Chelsea’s legal fees at this critical stage!



Courage to Resist
484 Lake Park Ave. #41
 Oakland, CA 94610
510-488-3559
couragetoresist.org

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 B. ARTICLES IN FULL




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1) New York Rents Outpaced Inflation Over 3 Years, Census Data Say
By




2) Google Plans New Headquarters, and a City Fears Being Overrun
By





3) The Ultimate Corruption
A Black Agenda Radio commentary by executive editor Glen Ford
February 25, 2015
http://blackagendareport.com/node/14689




4) Black Men In U.S. Prisons Could Fill The Prisons of 8 Countries Combined
By Lyonel Laverde-Hansen
February 25, 2015
http://yourblackworld.net/2015/02/25/black-men-in-u-s-prisons-could-fill-the-prisons-of-8-countries-combined/




5) Scott Walker Is Set to Deliver New Blow to Labor in Wisconsin
By and
6) Food Waste Is Becoming Serious Economic and Environmental Issue, Report Says
By




7) Next Goal for Walmart Workers: More Hours
By




8) Lower Gasoline Prices Dampen U.S. Consumer Inflation
By REUTERS





9) Out of Prison, and Staying Out, After 3rd Strike in California
By




10) Washington: Autopsy Contradicts Officials’ Account of Pasco Shooting
"An independent autopsy of an unarmed Mexican man killed by the police in Pasco showed he was shot up to seven times, including twice from behind, contradicting earlier statements from the authorities, a lawyer for the man’s family said Thursday."
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS





11) Out of Trouble, but Criminal Records Keep Men Out of Work
"Men with criminal records account for about 34 percent of all nonworking men ages 25 to 54, according to a recent New York Times/CBS News/Kaiser Family Foundation poll."
By




12) Exxon Settles $9 Billion Pollution Case in New Jersey for Far Less
By










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1) New York Rents Outpaced Inflation Over 3 Years, Census Data Say
By

New York City rents rose faster than inflation over the past three years, continuing a housing squeeze that has been particularly felt by lower-income tenants and shows no signs of abating, new figures from the Census Bureau show.

The results of the bureau’s Housing and Vacancy Survey, a snapshot of the city’s housing market taken every three years, comes as city and state officials are deciding housing budgets for the city’s new fiscal year that begins July 1 and are about to negotiate rent laws. The findings also lend urgency to Mayor Bill de Blasio’s plan to build and preserve more affordable housing.

In a city where two of every three homes is a rental, the median rent rose 3.4 percent, after adjusting for inflation, to $1,200 a month from 2011 to 2014. When factoring in utility costs, the median rose 4.3 percent, to $1,325.

Although the annual increases for rent-stabilized units are controlled by a city board, the rise was steeper for rent-stabilized apartments than for market-rate units, which are growing in number.

While housing became more expensive, the survey found that the median household income for all renters changed minimally, rising by 1.1 percent, to $41,500, from 2010 to 2013. And while rent-stabilized tenants experienced stagnant earnings, tenants in units that were not regulated had their income go up by 7.7 percent.

About 30 percent of renters were considered what housing analysts call “severely rent burdened,” meaning they spent at least half of their household income on housing. That did not change from 2011 to 2014.

Neither did the proportion of New Yorkers’ income that goes to pay rent, 31.2 percent, although rent-stabilized tenants saw the percentage of their income grow to 33.1 percent. The federal government standard for what is considered affordable is 30 percent. City housing officials said the survey found that 56 percent of renters pay about one-third of their income on rent and utilities and may have difficulty paying for other necessities.

“The results show housing availability and affordability continue to be a serious problem for New Yorkers,” said Rachel Fee, executive director of the New York Housing Conference, an organization that advocates more affordable housing.

“We need to move the dial on this through public investment in affordable housing,” Ms. Fee said.

The citywide vacancy rate was estimated at 3.45 percent, compared with the 3.12 rate in 2011 and still well below the threshold for rent regulation. Under state law, vacancy rates must remain below 5 percent to justify regulation.

There were about 9,200 more rent-stabilized units in 2014 than three years before, for a total of 1.03 million apartments, or 47 percent of the rental housing stock. This housing stock has shrunk for most of the previous decade.

The small net increase reflected a more accurate methodology to account for additions that could come several ways, such as when units under rent control, a far stricter form of rent regulation that now covers fewer than 30,000 units, become vacant and join rent stabilization. New stabilized units can also come from affordable housing and private construction projects that received government financing, but those tend to include apartments affordable only to households in higher income brackets.

“Regulated could still be very expensive for low-income families,” said Elizabeth Brown, a supervising analyst with the New York City Independent Budget Office.

Alluding to the need for targeted housing efforts, officials with the city’s Department of Housing Preservation and Development noted that vacancy rates are the tightest for units at the lowest rents. This, they said in a statement, reflects “the mismatch between the units being produced and the income levels of New Yorkers who are most rent burdened” and the need for units “of every kind to accommodate continued population growth.”

The median rent in 2014 was $1,500 for market-rate apartments, $1,200 for rent-stabilized units, $900 for rent-controlled homes and $583 for other apartments, a category that includes public housing.

The overall housing stock grew by 48,000 units, to 3.4 million, though such increases are not keeping up with population growth, city officials said. That is especially true in Queens and Brooklyn, where vacancy rates were the lowest.

But the stock continues to be healthy, the survey said, with a low percentage of apartments in dilapidated buildings, although the number of such rentals rose to almost 10,000, from under 6,000 three years earlier, the report said.

Frank P. Ricci, director of government affairs for the Rent Stabilization Association, a landlord group, said there is a direct correlation between the health of the buildings and higher rents, which he said are justified to cover increasing taxes and other government-imposed costs while investing in the maintenance of buildings.

“The more money you put into the housing stock, the better the housing would be,” he said.

But both landlords and tenants are preparing for a battle in Albany this spring as the Legislature considers whether to strengthen rent-regulation laws to keep housing costs at bay.


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2) Google Plans New Headquarters, and a City Fears Being Overrun
By

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. — Apple is moving into a Silicon Valley headquarters building that looks like a spaceship. Facebook is expanding its campus with a new building designed by Frank Gehry. Now it’s Google’s turn.

This week, Google, the search giant, is expected to propose new headquarters — a series of canopylike buildings from Heatherwick Studio, a London design firm known for works like the fiery caldron at the 2012 Olympics, and Bjarke Ingels, a Danish architect known for his innovative designs.

The project in Mountain View, which Google has not made public but has discussed with members of the City Council, is likely to aggravate an increasingly testy relationship between the company and community leaders who fear the company is overrunning their small city.

When Google moved here in 1999, it had a dozen employees and a search engine known only to computer aficionados. Now, its 20,000 local employees make it the biggest employer in a city that is bursting at the seams.

“Our problem is that we have too many good jobs,” said Leonard M. Siegel, a 66-year-old environmental activist who was recently elected to the City Council. “Everyone else wishes they were in our situation, but it’s a crisis for the people here.”

The same story is playing out across Silicon Valley. In Menlo Park, home of Facebook, the November election featured a measure — ultimately rejected by voters — that would have cut downtown office growth in half. Citizen groups in nearby Palo Alto have rebranded their City Council’s most anti-development members as “residentialists.”

“Nobody wants change,” said Gilbert Wong, a councilman in Cupertino, Apple’s hometown. “It’s my role as an elected official to explain to our residents that either you get on board and help us figure out the balance between jobs and housing, or other people are going to make that decision for us.”

Google owns or leases about 7.3 million square feet of office space in Mountain View — roughly equivalent to three Empire State Buildings. That includes most of the property around its headquarters on the north side of the city near Highway 101, which cuts the length of the valley, according to Transwestern, a commercial real estate brokerage.

That success has brought Mountain View loads of tax dollars and a 3.3 percent unemployment rate, as well as skyrocketing home prices and intolerable gridlock. Good and bad, tech is responsible for most of it: Technology companies account for 27 percent of the jobs in the Silicon Valley region, compared with 7 percent in California and about 5 percent nationally, according to Moody’s Analytics.

The result is an existential argument that pits residents who want to halt the city’s growth against people who think Mountain View needs to grow up and become a real city.

Mountain View, about 40 miles south of San Francisco, has close to 80,000 people; with its strip-mall thoroughfares and streets of single-family homes, it looks like a sleepy suburb. But since hiring has boomed, the city’s roads swell with commuters during the morning and evening rush.

Katherine Suri, a retired NASA scientist, moved to the city in 1974 and lives on a quarter-acre lot whose original views included a nursery and apricot orchards. She spent a good deal of the ’80s chauffeuring her children around town in an Oldsmobile station wagon.

Now her view is of other houses, and the traffic is so bad that Ms. Suri makes sure to schedule her doctors’ appointments around 11 a.m. When she walks to the Y.M.C.A. each morning, she sometimes has to weave between cars stuck in gridlock.

Despite the inconveniences, Ms. Suri has accepted that the city will change whether she likes it or not. “Mountain View is getting more populous with Google and the other companies, and that’s just the way it is,” she said. “We need to learn how to deal with it.”

Google has tried to reduce traffic, for both the city and itself. It transports its employees to work in private buses and was at one point experimenting with bringing some of its San Francisco workers in on boats. In January, the company started a free daytime shuttle that is open to the public, and during the daytime its workers can be seen pedaling around the city on multicolored company bikes.

Since so much of the traffic is associated with Google, Mountain View has spent the last two years debating a plan to redevelop the city’s North Bayshore area, which surrounds Google’s main offices and is close to major highways.

Google’s vision for a new Googleplex, the nickname for the company’s headquarters, will include bike and pedestrian paths and is one of several development proposals from various companies expected to be submitted to the city on Friday.

“These companies are world-class corporations bringing worldwide attention to Mountain View, and Mountain View needs to evolve to a world-class city,” said Ken S. Rosenberg, one of seven members of the City Council. “One of the criteria of a world-class city is that it is architecturally interesting.”

Even if Google’s proposal is accepted, the city’s most divisive issue — how much new housing to build and where — has yet to be settled. Google executives have said on several occasions that they want to add housing to North Bayshore, but Mountain View’s outgoing City Council found many reasons to say no.

One argument was that it would be dangerous to burrowing owls that live underground in adjacent Shoreline Park. Another was that if people moved there, they would soon want more schools and other expensive services. Others feared that new housing could create a Google voting bloc.

Last November, in an election that was widely viewed as a referendum on the city’s housing policies, Mountain View elected three candidates, including Mr. Rosenberg, who campaigned on the idea of adding housing near Google’s campus, an idea that runs contrary to the previous council’s redevelopment plan.

Google’s headquarters proposal does not include any plans for housing. But the company has told the City Council that it wants housing, and lots of it. Councilman Siegel, for one, agrees. He wants to amend the city’s plan to allow at least 5,000 new housing units.

That this could bring in even more Google employees is just what some people fear.

“This last election we had maybe 12,000 voters,” said Jac Siegel, a city councilman who left office this year and is not related to Leonard Siegel. “If you brought 5,000 people in and they all work for Google and they said, ‘We want you to vote for this candidate,’ they can own the town.”




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3) The Ultimate Corruption
A Black Agenda Radio commentary by executive editor Glen Ford
February 25, 2015
http://blackagendareport.com/node/14689

The giant British bank HSBC is once again in the spotlight, accused of helping its wealthy customers avoid taxes. The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists coordinated the investigation of HSBC. It’s estimated that rich people around the world have succeeded in hiding more than $17 trillion from tax collectors, and that such tax avoidance schemes cost governments $200 billion in revenue a year. Another organization, Transparency International, has started a “No Impunity” campaign targeting ostentatious displays of wealth by corrupt individuals. Transparency International chairman Jose Carlos Ugaz claims that corruption has reached such huge proportions that it is affecting global economic development. He calls the phenomenon “grand corruption.”

If Mr. Ugaz is really looking for the grandest, most destructive kind of corruption, then he will have to set his sights much higher than a few individuals who make themselves obnoxious by flashing their wealth around. The real grand corruption is in the system, itself.

Most so-called anti-corruption campaigns aren’t really about corruption, in the larger, grand sense, at all; they’re about cheating, and condemning people who break the rules that govern behavior between businessmen. The assumption is that, if it were not for the minority of businessmen that cheat, the system would work just fine, to everyone’s benefit.

Thus, we are told, the problem is banks like HSBC that help wealthy people cheat the system. But, the real problem is that the banks as institutions and wealthy people as a class are the ones that control the system, who write the rules for their own benefit, and to the detriment of everybody else. That is the grand corruption: not that individual rich people break the rules, but that rich people as a class get to make the rules.
Exploitation of Humankind
A number of international agencies compile annual report cards on the levels of so-called “corruption” existing in countries around the world. What these report cards actually measure is not the effects of corruption on various societies, but how the corrupt demands of government officials affect foreign corporations’ ability to do business in those countries. If corporations have few difficulties doing business in a given country, then that country gets high marks for having low levels of corruption. It doesn’t matter if the local government fails to protect the nation’s natural resources, or allows its people’s labor to be cheaply exploited by foreign companies. Selling out one’s own people to foreigners is not considered grand, or even petty, corruption.

Europeans see no element of corruption in the fact that they are relatively rich, compared to the rest of the world’s people, because Europe spent 500 years pillaging and plundering the planet and enslaving the peoples of other countries. The United States sees nothing corrupt in using its vast military superiority to dominate much of the planet – to exploit the weak countries for the benefit of rich Americans. Yet that is the Mother of All Corruptions in the world, today.

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4) Black Men In U.S. Prisons Could Fill The Prisons of 8 Countries Combined
By Lyonel Laverde-Hansen
February 25, 2015
http://yourblackworld.net/2015/02/25/black-men-in-u-s-prisons-could-fill-the-prisons-of-8-countries-combined/


When President Barack Obama said that “more young Black men languish in prison than attend colleges and universities in America,” at the NAACP Democratic Candidate Forum several years ago, that information moved many listeners emotionally. Studies have since debunked that statistic, but this in no way means that the number of Black men who are incarcerated is not staggering.

According to U. S. Census estimates, there are around 18,508,926 Black males in the United States. According to The Bureau of Justice Statistics’ National Prisoner Statistics Program in 2013, out of that population—which includes both children and elderly males—an astonishing 745,000 are incarcerated, either in federal or local jails.

But even more astonishing is how the United States ranks against other nations. India, for example, boasts a population of 1.2 billion people—around four times that of the United States—and has only about 380,000 inmates in all its jails. To take it further, there are more Black men incarcerated in the United States today than the total prison populations of India, Argentina, Canada, Israel Lebanon, Finland, Germany, France and England combined.


Political motivations may have a hand in this, according to Nicole Porter’s article, “Politics of Black Lives Matter.”

Between 1965 and 1990, a period during which overall and violent crime rates tripled in Germany, Finland, and the United States, German politicians chose to hold the imprisonment rate flat, Finnish politicians chose to substantially reduce theirs, and American politicians generally enacted policies that sent more people to prison, along with lengthened prison terms.

These incarnation rates are also grossly out of proportion to the ratio of incarcerated women in America. While there is a total of almost 161,000,000 women in America of all races, the entire women’s prison population is only around 200,000, according to the Sentencing Project. To put that in starker perspective, while Black men are only about a tenth the size of the entire American female population, they are nearly 4 times more likely to be incarcerated.

Although President Obama’s original assertion about Black men in prison may be outdated, it does not change the overarching epidemic of black male incarceration in America. While 1.4 million Black men attend colleges, 745,000 are locked up (and many more on probation or parole). That ratio needs to change, or in the words of President Obama, “We have more work to do…”



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5) Scott Walker Is Set to Deliver New Blow to Labor in Wisconsin
By and


MADISON, Wis. — It was a flashback to 2011: Hundreds of union members in hard hats and work boots waved signs under falling snow, denouncing Gov. Scott Walker and his fellow Republican lawmakers outside this Capitol building on Wednesday. Yet this time, their numbers were smaller, their chants softer.

As Mr. Walker builds a presidential run on his effort to take on unions four years ago, he is poised to deliver a second walloping blow to labor. After saying for months that an effort to advance so-called right-to-work legislation would be “a distraction” from dealing with larger issues like the state’s economy and job growth, Mr. Walker is now preparing to sign a measure — being fast-tracked through the Republican-held State Legislature — that would bar unions from requiring workers to pay the equivalent of dues.The State Senate passed the bill, 17 to 15, mostly along party lines, Wednesday night after about eight hours of debate. As the results were announced and senators left the chamber, protesters chanted “Shame” from the balcony. The State Assembly is expected to take up the measure next week. Where Mr. Walker’s earlier high-profile strike against labor cut collective bargaining rights for most public-sector unions, this one is aimed at workers in the private sector. And where Mr. Walker led the drive in 2011, he has taken a far less publicly forceful role this time, saying only that he will sign a bill. Yet the political effect will be the same, burnishing Mr. Walker’s record as an unafraid foe of Big Labor, who has been able to prevail in a state where Democrats have won presidential elections.

The move has significant upsides for Mr. Walker, who has been cheered by conservatives for significantly diminishing the political power of public sector union numbers here. Leaders of some unions say membership has dropped by more than half since 2011. It would seal Wisconsin’s place on the issue, even as other states — like Missouri, where lawmakers are considering a similar provision — have moved more slowly. As roughly 2,000 union supporters protested outside the Capitol for a second day and a few people interrupted proceedings in the state Senate with angry objections, some seemed resigned to what was ahead.

“I’m not optimistic that we can stop it,” said John Finkler, a retired university employee and union member. “But I think people won’t forget.”

Four years ago, the images here were jarring. Mr. Walker was only weeks into a first term as Wisconsin’s governor, when he proposed cuts to collective bargaining rights and increased contributions from public workers for health care and pensions. In a state that had prided itself on polite political debate across partisan lines, furious opponents moved into the Capitol, chanting and beating drums, and would not leave. The crowds grew to tens of thousands at points, by some estimates. Democratic lawmakers fled to Illinois for weeks to try, unsuccessfully, to prevent a vote.

Mr. Walker’s boldness drew national attention, and a recall effort against him sealed his support from conservative donors around the nation. As he sought a second term as governor last fall against a liberal Democrat, he was often asked whether he might next advocate new limits on private sector unions. Along the campaign trail, he said the issue — known by advocates as a “right to work” law — would be a distraction to more pressing matters on his agenda.

Yet after Republican legislators said they had the votes to pass a measure banning requirements that workers pay fees to unions, Mr. Walker’s office said late last week that he would back it. “Governor Walker continues to focus on budget priorities to grow our economy and to streamline state government,” his spokeswoman, Laurel Patrick, said. “With that said, Governor Walker co-sponsored right-to-work legislation as a lawmaker and supports the policy. If this bill makes it to his desk, Governor Walker will sign it into law.”

The measure would allow private-sector workers who choose not to join unions to avoid paying the equivalent of dues, known as “fair share” payments, which union leaders say are reasonable for anyone who benefits from union contracts. The widely protested 2011 law gave most public employees that same right. Neither provision would apply to police officers and firefighters.Supporters of the measure say it would give workers choices, while opponents say its intent is to shrink union membership and political power. In the Senate, Republicans pushed back against Democratic efforts on Wednesday first to return the bill to committee, then to add a series of amendments. At points, the police removed several people in the gallery who yelled in opposition, and a group of protesters could be heard chanting just outside the chambers.

“This bill has been rushed so fast that we haven’t had a chance to look and study and analyze the budget hole that this bill will create,” Senator Jennifer Shilling, the Democratic leader, said, adding that it would lessen wages and make workplaces less safe.

Senator Scott Fitzgerald, the Republican leader who has pushed for the bill, said Wisconsin was at a disadvantage in attracting jobs because of its union payment requirements. He said passing the bill would benefit the state. Twenty-four states have similar measures — and most recently Michigan and Indiana, not far from here. “There’s a bill before us today that certainly sends a signal that Wisconsin can be viewed in a different light than it was before,” Mr. Fitzgerald said.

Before a crowd of demonstrators that spilled out around the Capitol on Wednesday, Phil Neuenfeldt, the president of the Wisconsin A.F.L.-C.I.O., called out, “We’re back.” He promised, to cheers, “We’re not going to forget about it.” Cold weather, short notice and work schedules may have diminished the crowds, some protesters said, but there was also a sense of inevitability — and of weary déjà vu.

“From day one,” Mr. Finkler, the retired university worker, said, “Walker was all about running for president.” About two hours into the debate on Wednesday afternoon, protesters inside the Capitol had dwindled to several dozen.


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6) Food Waste Is Becoming Serious Economic and Environmental Issue, Report Says
By

WASHINGTON — With millions of households across the country struggling to have enough to eat, and millions of tons of food being tossed in the garbage, food waste is increasingly being seen as a serious environmental and economic issue.

A report released Wednesday shows that about 60 million metric tons of food is wasted a year in the United States, with an estimated value of $162 billion. About 32 million metric tons of it end up in municipal landfills, at a cost of about $1.5 billion a year to local governments.

The problem is not limited to the United States.

The report estimates that a third of all the food produced in the world is never consumed, and the total cost of that food waste could be as high as $400 billion a year. Reducing food waste from 20 to 50 percent globally could save $120 billion to $300 billion a year by 2030, the report found.

“Food waste is a global issue, and tackling it is a priority,” said Richard Swannell, director of sustainable food systems at the Waste and Resources Action Program, or Wrap, an antiwaste organization in Britain that compiled the new report. “The difficulty is often in knowing where to start and how to make the biggest economic and environmental savings.”

The food discarded by retailers and consumers in the most developed countries would be more than enough to feed all of the world’s 870 million hungry people, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.

But it is not just those countries that have problems with food waste. The report showed that it is also an issue in African countries like South Africa.

The problem is expected to grow worse as the world’s population increases, the report found. By 2030, when the global middle class expands, consumer food waste will cost $600 billion a year, unless actions are taken to reduce the waste, according to the report.

Food waste is not only a social cost, but it contributes to growing environmental problems like climate change, experts say, with the production of food consuming vast quantities of water, fertilizer and land. The fuel that is burned to process, refrigerate and transport it also adds to the environmental cost.

Most food waste is thrown away in landfills, where it decomposes and emits methane, a potent greenhouse gas. Globally, it creates 3.3 billion metric tons of greenhouse gases annually, about 7 percent of the total emissions, according to the report.

The United Nations agency points out that methane gas from the world’s landfills are surpassed in emissions by only China and the United States.

“Seven percent is not the largest contributor of greenhouse gasses, but it’s not an insignificant amount,” said Helen Mountford, the director of economics at the World Resources Institute. “But this is one area — reducing food waste — where we can make a difference.”

Over the last several years, some cities and counties in the United States, including New York City, have started programs to tackle the issue. Hennepin County, Minn., the state’s most populous county, provides grants from $10,000 to $50,000 to local business and nonprofits to help recycle food products or turn them into compost.

“There is still a lot in the waste stream,” said Paul Kroening, supervising environmentalist at Hennepin County Environmental Services. “We are just scratching the surface.”

A coalition of food industry trade groups, the Food Waste Reduction Alliance, has also increased effort to combat food waste. Meghan Stasz, the director of sustainability for the Grocery Manufacturers Association, a member of the alliance, said the group was working with supermarket chains to reduce waste by clarifying expiration dates and selling smaller portions of food.

Ms. Stasz said the group was also getting its members to donate more food and make changes in manufacturing processes to reduce the amount of wasted food. One member, the giant food company ConAgra, changed the way it placed dough in shell for its pot pies and saved 235 tons of dough in a year.

Mr. Swannell, of the antiwaste group Wrap, applauded those efforts, but said more still needed to be done.

“Awareness of food waste has risen, but we need to do more to tie that awareness to actions on the ground,” he said. “We need to find better ways to deal with food waste, but we need to prevent it in the first place.”

 


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7) Next Goal for Walmart Workers: More Hours
By

For Anthony Rodriguez, every diaper for his 2-year-old son means less money to put food on the table, or to fill up his car at the gas station. His fiancée, Melinda Prothero, tries to make each diaper last longer, but there’s a limit to that, he says.

Mr. Rodriguez, 26, makes those trade-offs even though he already receives above-minimum wages at Walmart, and will make at least $10 an hour next year, part of a move by Walmart to raise wages for hundreds of thousands of workers.

“It’s not going to help us. We need the hours,” said Mr. Rodriguez, a member of the union-supported workers’ group, Our Walmart.

He says he constantly begs his managers for full-time work at the bustling Walmart superstore in Rosemead, Calif. He generally works around 28 hours a week, but can be assigned as few as 18.

The move to increase hourly wages by Walmart, which employs 1.3 million workers as the country’s largest private sector employer, is sending ripples through the retail industry. On Wednesday, the TJX Companies, which runs the discount chain T. J. Maxx, said it would follow suit, raising the pay of its hourly wage workers to at least $9 later this year, and to $10 next year.

With some progress on the hourly wage front, labor activists are highlighting another longstanding demand: more hours — and more consistent hours — for hourly-wage workers like Mr. Rodriguez, something they say will make as much a difference to workers’ pocketbooks as an increase in wages.

Walmart says about half of its hourly-wage workers work part time, and that percentage can be even higher at other retailers. Stores change many of their workers’ schedules week to week. And while many people prefer to work part time — for instance, college students eager for extra spending money — the number of part-timers who would prefer to work full time is growing, especially in the retailing and hospitality industries.

In 2007, about 685,000 of a total of 19.2 million workers in the retail sector were involuntarily employed part time, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. By 2014, the number of involuntary part-time retail workers had more than doubled, to 1.4 million, even as the total number of retail workers declined to 18.9 million.

Wages are just the first step in getting Walmart on the road toward being the type of employer that treats its employees with respect, and part of that is to set some standards around hours and work schedules,” said Rashad Robinson, executive director of ColorOfChange, an online civil rights organization that has campaigned for Walmart to raise wages and give workers better hours.

“It’s about creating an environment where employees are not just at the whim of Walmart,” he said.

At the heart of demands for higher wages and better hours, experts say, is the dwindling number of middle-class jobs. More primary wage earners who in the past may have held stable blue-collar jobs in manufacturing are now relying on low-wage jobs at Walmart or other discount retailers to support their families.

Mr. Rodriguez, who works at Walmart assembling bikes and other products, supports his fiancée on an income that can be as little as $900 a month. After spending about $550 on rent, $65 on gas for his car, as well as paying for food, diapers, cellphone costs and insurance, he can rarely afford new clothes or recreation, and when hours are especially scarce, he borrows money from his sister. He is looking for a second job to supplement his income, most likely a graveyard shift as a security guard. He is already $4,000 in debt.

“Walmart always provided jobs at the margins of the labor force — to people who were just re-entering the labor force after many years, for example, or supplementing a spouse’s income,” said Gary N. Chaison, professor of industrial relations at Clark University. “But what you’re increasingly finding is that it’s the primary wage earners who work at Walmart, because a lot of workers have more or less given up on getting middle-class jobs.”

“Now these workers are being pushed into Walmart-type jobs, they’re demanding higher wages, full-time jobs and better benefits,” he added. “So I wouldn’t necessarily interpret Walmart’s higher wage as a sign of an economic turnaround. I would interpret it as permanently bad news.”

At the same time, Walmart and other retailers, facing stiff competition and shrinking margins, have taken a more severe approach to controlling labor costs, doing more to align staffing to customer traffic. Sometimes that involves sophisticated software that tracks the flow of customers and allows managers to assign just enough employees to handle the anticipated demand.By hiring a large pool of hourly workers whose hours can expand or contract depending on business need, retailers can better sync hours to demand, experts say; posting schedules with limited advance notice allows managers to further minimize the risk of assigning too many hours. Restricting work hours also limits outlays on overtime and employee benefits.

“A number of companies have become more focused on keeping a very tight link between variations in consumer demand and the number of staffing hours,” said Susan J. Lambert, an employment expert at the University of Chicago. “It’s easier to do that if you have a lot of people who can be scheduled for very short shifts, and who are hungry for hours.” She added, “But that makes it harder, harder and harder for these workers to move up the ladder in terms of wage growth.”

Walmart has said that on top of raising wages, it will work to give some employees more control over their schedules. It is also pursuing broad changes to its hiring, training, compensation and scheduling programs, said Kory Lundberg, a company spokesman.

“The company is creating clearer career paths for associates so they know what is expected of them in order to move from entry-level positions to jobs with more responsibility, including full-time positions,” he said. “Associates across the country have access to more than one million extra hours a week. The good news is, associates are able to select these open shifts whenever they want to pick up more hours beyond what they are scheduled.”

At both state and federal levels, there have been some efforts to address the problem of hours and scheduling. The San Francisco Board of Supervisors in November passed a law requiring retailers to post schedules two weeks in advance and to give any extra hours that become available to existing workers, rather than hire new workers.

For Kelly Sallee, 22, a cashier at a Walmart in Dayton, Ohio, more hours would mean more savings toward a wedding and starting a family — something she has put off for over a year because she feels unable to afford even a small wedding. She makes $8.15 as a cashier, and will make at least $9 when Walmart’s wage increases kick in.

But assigned as few as 21 hours a week, she will still struggle to pay bills or the rent, which she splits with her fiancé, Calvin, who makes even less than Ms. Sallee at his job at a local Subway. They have no car, and have unpaid medical bills of $500. They are both looking for other full-time jobs.

At Ms. Sallee’s number of hours, a higher hourly wage could translate to less than $20 a week. With a price tag of almost $5,000, even a modest wedding at the All in One Banquet Center in Ohio — her dream wedding venue with a gazebo and pretty white fencing — seems very much out of reach.

“I just don’t feel like I have enough money for any of that,” she said. “Not without more hours.”




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8) Lower Gasoline Prices Dampen U.S. Consumer Inflation
By REUTERS

WASHINGTON — U.S. consumer prices in January posted their biggest drop since 2008 as gasoline prices continued to tumble and underlying inflation rose modestly, which could allow a cautious Federal Reserve more room to hold off on raising interest rates.

Other data on Thursday showed a rebound in business investment spending plans, but probably not enough to change expectations of moderate economic growth in the first quarter.

"It will be some time before the Fed gets the necessary confirmation that inflation will move back to target in the medium-term, and we continue to see September as the most natural starting point for the lift-off in rates," said Millan Mulraine, deputy chief economist at TD Securities in New York.

The Labor Department said its Consumer Price Index fell 0.7 percent last month, the largest decline since December 2008, after slipping 0.3 percent in December. It was the third straight month of decline in the index.

In the 12 months through January, the CPI fell 0.1 percent, the first decline since October 2009 and a sharp deceleration from December's 0.8 percent rise.

Fed officials have long viewed the energy-driven drop in inflation as transitory. The U.S. central bank has a 2 percent inflation target.

Fed Chair Janet Yellen told lawmakers this week that the central bank's policy-setting committee "needs to be reasonably confident that over the medium-term inflation will move up toward its 2-percent objective" before it starts to raise interest rates.

Policymakers could take comfort from a marginal rise in underlying price pressures. The so-called core CPI, which strips out food and energy costs, rose 0.2 percent in January after edging up 0.1 percent in December.

Economists, however, believe the effects of lower energy prices and a strong dollar still have to work their way through to the core CPI, which could mean tame readings in the months ahead.

The core CPI was lifted by increases in the cost of shelter, recreation and apparel prices. In the 12 months through January, the core CPI rose 1.6 percent after a similar gain in December.

OIL GLUT

Softer global demand and increased shale oil production in the United States have caused an oil glut, causing crude prices to plummet.

Domestic gasoline prices plunged 18.7 percent in January, the biggest drop since December 2008, after falling 9.2 percent in December. Gasoline prices have now declined for seven straight months.

Separately, the Commerce Department said non-defense capital goods orders excluding aircraft, a closely watched proxy for business spending intentions, increased 0.6 percent last month after a revised 0.7 percent fall in December.

Business investment has been hurt by a softening global economy, as well as a strong dollar, which has dented the overseas profits of some companies. Lower crude oil prices also are undercutting demand for equipment in the oil field.

Shipments of core capital goods, which are used to calculate equipment spending in the government's gross domestic product measurement, fell 0.3 percent last month after rising 0.3 percent in December.

Business spending was a drag on growth in the fourth quarter, holding the economy to a 2.6 percent annualized pace. First-quarter growth is currently forecast at around a 2.3 percent rate.

A second report from the Labor Department on Thursday showed initial claims for state unemployment benefits increased 31,000 to a seasonally adjusted 313,000 in the week ended Feb. 21.

The four-week moving average of claims, considered a better measure of labor market trends as it irons out week-to-week volatility, rose 11,500 to 294,500 last week.

(Reporting by Lucia Mutikani; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama and Paul Simao)


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9) Out of Prison, and Staying Out, After 3rd Strike in California
By

LOS ANGELES — William Taylor III, once a lifer in state prison for two robbery convictions and the intent to sell a small packet of heroin, was savoring a moment he had scarcely dared to imagine: his first day alone, in a place of his own.

“I love the apartment,” he said of the subsidized downtown studio, which could barely contain the double bed he insisted on having. “And I love that I’m free after 18 years of being controlled.”

“My window has blinds, and I can open and close them!” he exclaimed to visitors the other day, reveling in an unaccustomed, and sometimes scary, sense of autonomy.

Mr. Taylor, 58, is one of more than 2,000 former inmates who were serving life terms under California’s three-strikes law, but who were freed early after voters scaled it back in 2012. Under the original law, repeat offenders received life sentences, with no possibility of parole for at least 25 years, even if the third felony was as minor as shoplifting.

“I hope the enduring lesson is that all of these people are not hopeless recidivists,” said Michael Romano, director of the Three Strikes Project at Stanford Law School, which provides legal aid to prisoners and training to public defenders.

“Those who remain dangerous should be kept behind bars,” added Mr. Romano, who was an author of the 2012 revisions. “But there are many people in prison who are no threat to public safety.”

More than 20 states joined California in adopting some form of a three-strikes law. But California’s was perhaps the country’s harshest and contributed to a soaring prison population. The state, under court order to reduce prison crowding, has diverted low-level felons to county jails and, after another voter initiative last year, has redefined minor thefts and drug possession as misdemeanors.

Success for those emerging from long prison terms does not come easily. These inmates are entering a 21st-century world they have never learned to navigate. Many, including Mr. Taylor, have histories of psychiatric and drug problems, and nearly all would seem to be at risk for homelessness and new arrests.

To help with the re-entry, Mr. Taylor first spent seven months in therapy and coaching in a transitional residence, a structured setting with bunk mates. Now he has a spot in an apartment building with a counselor on the first floor.California’s three-strikes initiative was adopted by voters in 1994, when fear of crime was at a peak, fueled by a former prisoner’s murder of 12-year-old Polly Klaas. Proponents said the law would keep habitual predators behind bars for good.

But jarring stories of a different sort appeared almost immediately, as breathtaking sentences were given not only to killers and rapists but also to small-time burglars and purse snatchers.

In 2012, with crime down and prisons overflowing, California voters had second thoughts. Proposition 36 held that many prisoners whose third offenses were not violent or serious would be eligible for resentencing, so long as a judge did not find an “unreasonable risk of danger to public safety.”

Of about 9,000 prisoners who had been sentenced under the three-strikes law, about 3,000 qualified for a rehearing; the other 6,000, with more violent records, did not. As of late February, 2,008 inmates had been released for time served, and 92 were serving out reduced sentences. More than 700 cases remain to be adjudicated.

Judges ruled against just 132 of the eligible inmates.

After being free for an average of more than 18 months, just 4.7 percent of the former life prisoners have returned to prison for new crimes, usually burglaries or drug crimes. By comparison, Mr. Romano calculates based on state data, of all inmates released from California prisons, about 45 percent return for new crimes over a similar period.

A large share of the resentencing cases were filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court, where one judge, William C. Ryan, has decided the fates of about 600 prisoners so far. He has turned down eight who were otherwise eligible for resentencing, he said.

“A few of them look like out-and-out sociopaths to me,” Judge Ryan said in an interview. But in most cases, after considering the inmates’ ages, their behavior in prison and the support awaiting them, he is willing to take the chance.

“I’m not sure the taxpayers need to spend $45,000 a year on these guys if they are not dangerous,” he said.

A majority of the pending cases are in Los Angeles. Judge Ryan said that two more judges would join him in March, but that it would still take a year to hear the remaining petitions. Virtually all of those cases face opposition from prosecutors and require public hearings to decide.

One of Judge Ryan’s denials involved David Smith, who repeatedly bilked elderly people out of money by impersonating a relative in need. At Mr. Smith’s third-strike proceeding in 2002, for defrauding another 12 people ages 73 to 91, the fed-up trial judge sentenced him to 12 consecutive terms of 25 years to life.

Judge Ryan said Mr. Smith had shown no evidence of rehabilitation or remorse. “At some point, society must say enough is enough,” he ruled last March.

“Just navigating the basics — getting an ID, health insurance — can be tough,” said Mark Faucette, director of community relations for the Amity Foundation, which runs drug treatment centers and the transitional housing center in South Los Angeles, Amistad de Los Angeles, where Mr. Taylor stayed.

“But re-entry means so much more,” Mr. Faucette said. “There’s a lot of emotional work. They’re moving from a number to a name.”

Christopher Benton, who was finishing his third week at the residence, said he had spent 36 of his 49 years behind bars — the last 18 of them after a three-strikes sentence for drug possession.

“I know I need a lot of work,” Mr. Benton said. “I need to change the way I think and not look at every situation as, ‘How can I make money out of this?’ ”

Mr. Taylor, whose convictions did not involve guns or serious violence, was freed last June by Judge Ryan, who stipulated that he must stay under official supervision and receive mental health services.

When the moment came, Mr. Taylor was overwhelmed by doubt. “I was afraid that someone would do something to make me react and get arrested again,” he said.

Mr. Taylor admits to a paranoid streak that has led him to angry disputes. Overly self-conscious about a drifting, blind eye, he wore sunglasses day and night when he first arrived at the Amity center.

But he says he has learned to trust others for the first time and hopes to cultivate his passion: writing lyrics for what he envisions as “pop gospel” songs, with lines like “Complaining ain’t no way to be / Just think things naturally.”

Mr. Taylor has moved into what is known as permanent supportive housing, in a building run by the nonprofit SRO Housing Corporation. For rent, he pays one-third of his monthly disability check, leaving him with $514 a month to live on. He has a sister who drives him to Walmart for groceries.

The apartment building is in a barren warehouse district, and homeless people camp on nearby sidewalks. But to Mr. Taylor, it may as well be a palace.

For his first night in his new home, he said, he would cook oatmeal and have a fruit cup. And then, he said, he was going to soak in a hot bath for the first time in nearly two decades.



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10) Washington: Autopsy Contradicts Officials’ Account of Pasco Shooting
"An independent autopsy of an unarmed Mexican man killed by the police in Pasco showed he was shot up to seven times, including twice from behind, contradicting earlier statements from the authorities, a lawyer for the man’s family said Thursday."
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS



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11) Out of Trouble, but Criminal Records Keep Men Out of Work
"Men with criminal records account for about 34 percent of all nonworking men ages 25 to 54, according to a recent New York Times/CBS News/Kaiser Family Foundation poll."
By

Michael Hugh Mirsky landed a temporary job in December rolling stacks of crated milk and orange juice to the loading docks at a commercial dairy in central New Jersey. He’s not making much, and he doesn’t know how long it will last, but after 30 months of unemployment, he counts himself lucky. Mr. Mirsky is a convicted criminal, and work is hard to find.

A series of unfortunate events that began in 2012 when Mr. Mirsky lost a job as a Verizon technician culminated last year in a guilty plea for resisting arrest. He is facing the foreclosure of his home; his church has told him that he cannot serve as an usher; he is thousands of dollars in arrears on child support payments for his 8-year-old daughter. Even as the economy improves, Mr. Mirsky has been unable to find a permanent position so he can start rebuilding his life.

“Even your lower-paying fast-food jobs are now doing background checks,” he said. “How can I pay child support if I can’t get a job?”

The share of American men with criminal records — particularly black men — grew rapidly in recent decades as the government pursued aggressive law enforcement strategies, especially against drug crimes. In the aftermath of the Great Recession, those men are having particular trouble finding work. Men with criminal records account for about 34 percent of all nonworking men ages 25 to 54, according to a recent New York Times/CBS News/Kaiser Family Foundation poll.

The reluctance of employers to hire people with criminal records, combined with laws that place broad categories of jobs off-limits, is not just a frustration for men like Mr. Mirsky; it is also taking a toll on the broader economy. It is preventing millions of American men from becoming, in that old phrase, productive members of society.

“Prior to the prison boom, when convictions were restricted to a smaller fraction of the population, it wasn’t great for their rehab potential but it wasn’t having a huge impact,” said Devah Pager, a Harvard professor of sociology. “Now such a large fraction of the population is affected that it has really significant implications, not just for those people, but for the labor market as a whole.”

Employers, of course, have always taken an interest in the histories of prospective employees. Banks do not want to hire embezzlers; trucking companies do not want drunken drivers. Schools and security companies don’t want to hire criminals of any kind. But the easy availability of online databases lets employers investigate everyone — indeed, it makes hard to justify not looking. Surveys show roughly nine in 10 United States employers check databases of criminal records when hiring for at least some positions. Some focus solely on felony convictions; others also consider misdemeanors or arrests.

Rising concern that background checks are being used to systematically exclude applicants with criminal records is fueling a national “ban the box” movement to improve their chances. The name refers to the box that job applicants are sometimes required to check if they have been convicted of a felony or a misdemeanor. Fourteen states and several dozen cities have passed laws, mostly in recent years, that generally require employers to postpone background checks until the later stages of the hiring process.

Georgia became the latest state to join that list when Gov. Nathan Deal signed an executive order Monday. It described the new policy as a matter of fairness and a way to strengthen the state’s economy by expanding the pool of workers. New Jersey passed its own “ban the box” law last year. It is scheduled take effect March 1. So help is on the way for Mr. Mirsky, too.

Living on Savings

Mr. Mirsky, 43, made a six-figure annual salary as a phone line technician in the decade before he lost his job in July 2012. He was fired after clashing repeatedly with a supervisor. The company declined to comment.

He spent a few months searching for a new job in his old industry, but there are not a lot of other companies in central New Jersey hiring people to repair copper phone lines. So in January 2013 he trained at a local community college as a heating and air-conditioning specialist. After graduating in December 2013, he was offered a chance to join the Pipefitters Union.

In the meantime, however, he was living on savings and gifts from friends. A woman from his church delivered occasional meals; a friend tucked $50 into a Thanksgiving card; another man hired him to unload a truck at his restaurant. He lived in a basement apartment in an old house in Port Murray, N.J., he bought in better days, beneath the ruins of his ambitious renovation plans. When I visited in January, the winter wind whistled through the broken windows and unfinished walls upstairs. Animal droppings speckled the floors. A stainless steel range and refrigerator sat in their original shrink-wrap. He had not paid his mortgage in three years and he was battling to prevent, or at least delay, foreclosure.

He also fell behind on child support payments, and under New Jersey law a warrant was automatically issued for his arrest. He says he knew nothing about it until police came to his home in June 2014. According to the police report, Mr. Mirksy struggled, and the officers knocked him down, handcuffed him and charged him with resisting arrest.

It was the first time that Mr. Mirsky had ever been arrested. A few months later, he pleaded guilty to a single felony. The immediate penalty was just $411 in court costs. The enduring problem is that he has a criminal record.

The Pipefitters Union had arranged a series of job interviews for him in May, June and August 2014. He also submitted about 30 applications to other employers last year, and received a couple of interviews, but no offers.

He is convinced nothing has panned out because of his legal troubles — the warrant, the arrest and the conviction.

“I’m 43 years old, not recently employed, and that doesn’t look great,” he said. “But mostly they don’t want the heartache.”

Of course, people rarely find out why they didn’t land a particular job. For the last several years, job applicants have vastly outnumbered job openings. Being fired from a previous job doesn’t help. And the issues that land people in legal trouble may also make them less attractive as applicants. But Ms. Pager, the Harvard sociologist, has found in her research that having a criminal record by itself is often a significant impediment.

In 2001, Ms. Pager sent pairs of black men and white men to apply for low-wage jobs at 350 businesses in the Milwaukee area. She picked sets of men who looked alike and were comparably well spoken and she gave them similar résumés — education, employment history — except that one member of each pair was told to claim that he had served 18 months in prison for a felony drug conviction.

She repeated the experiment in New York in 2004, sending pairs of “well-spoken, clean-shaven young men” to apply for 250 different jobs.

In both cases, she found men who reported criminal convictions were about 50 percent less likely to receive a callback or a job offer. The difference was significantly larger in the black pairs than in the white pairs. White employers seemed to show more sympathy for the white applicants, Ms. Pager said, and most of the employers were white.

Employers seemed to use the reported convictions as “a proxy for reliability and trustworthiness and a broader range of concerns beyond simply whether they would be aggressive,” she said. “Faced with a large number of applicants, this was one easy way of weeding out applicants.”

Unreliable Screenings

Lucia Bone worries that background checks are getting a bad rap. Ms. Bone is the founder of a nonprofit called Sue Weaver Cause that urges employers — particularly those that send workers into homes — to check the backgrounds of new hires and to conduct regular checks on existing employees. She says that many companies are not being careful enough.

The nonprofit is named for her sister, Sue Weaver, who was raped and murdered in 2001 after she hired a local department store in Orlando, Fla., to clean the air ducts in her home. The two men sent to perform the work both had criminal records, but the store had not ensured that its subcontractor conducted a background check. A few months later, one of those workers returned, killed Ms. Weaver, then set her house on fire.

“I very strongly believe that everyone has the right to work, but not every job is right for everyone,” Ms. Bone said. “It is the employer’s responsibility to protect both their business, their employees and their customers.”

The ready availability of criminal records databases has fueled the perception that it is irresponsible for employers to ignore available information. Local governments increasingly put criminal records online, and private companies like HireRight, Sterling BackCheck and LexisNexis Risk Solutions aggregate those records, offering almost instant results. In the early 1990s, less than half of companies routinely checked criminal histories. Now relatively few refrain.

“Criminal background screening is an important tool — nearly the only tool — that employers have to protect their customers, their employees and themselves from criminal behavior,” Todd McCracken, president of the National Small Business Association, testified before a congressional committee last year. Local, state and federal governments have embraced the same logic, writing background checks into professional licensing requirements and post-9/11 security regulations.

These policies affect a growing number of people. About 10 percent of nonincarcerated men had felony records in 2010, up from 4 percent in 1980, according to research led by the sociologists Sarah Shannon of the University of Georgia and Christopher Uggen of the University of Minnesota. The numbers are much higher among African-American men: About 25 percent of nonincarcerated black men had been convicted of a felony, up from 9 percent in 1980.

The problem with criminal background checks, in Mr. Uggen’s view, is a lack of deliberation about what employers should be looking for. Some employers ask about convictions for felonies; some ask only about narrow categories of felony like violent crimes or sex crimes. Others ask about any arrest whatsoever. “We haven’t really figured out what a disqualifying offense should be for particular activities,” he said.

Mr. Uggen was himself arrested few times as a Minnesota teenager for fighting and other minor sins but, when he submitted his college application to the University of Wisconsin, he was not asked and he did not tell. Now a professor, he said that some of his own students were not able to escape the past so easily.

Colleges routinely ask applicants about criminal history. So do landlords.

“For somebody of my generation who had a brush with the law, they were able to quickly put it in the rearview mirror and move on,” said Mr. Uggen, who is 50. “Now I have graduate students who maybe 10 years ago they were convicted of a crime and for them to try to get an apartment, it’s a huge barrier.”

The quality of the information used in background checks is another cause for concern. One of the most common problems is that databases may include arrest records without any indication of whether a person was convicted.

In 2008, for example, the government began to check the backgrounds of 1.2 million workers at the nation’s ports. A law passed after the 9/11 terrorist attacks mandated the exclusion of anyone with a conviction in the last seven years, and 59,000 workers were excluded as a result. But 30,000 of those workers filed appeals arguing their records were inaccurate, and in 25,000 of those cases, a more careful examination found no evidence of a conviction, according to a subsequent review by the Government Accountability Office. That’s worth repeating: When the background check system identified a felon, it was wrong at least 42 percent of the time.

And the United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission warned in 2012 that the systematic exclusion of people with criminal records was effectively a form of discrimination against black men, who were disproportionately affected. It has filed lawsuits charging such discrimination by companies including BMW, Dollar General and Pepsi.

Jeffrey Menteer, who is 26 and lives in northwestern Pennsylvania, has applied for 15 jobs since June, when he completed a six-month prison term for a gun possession charge. A company that makes screen doors told him it might hire him after he gets off parole in October. Other than that he has found nothing. He said his criminal record was making it hard to find work.

“Between that and my race, black living in a white town, it’s tough,” he said.

He worked steadily as a logger for about five years before he was arrested. He made about $800 a week except in the spring, the off-season for the tree-cutting business. Now he lives with his parents, and the only money he makes is from occasional work shoveling snow.

“I don’t really blame them, but I wish they’d be a little more open-minded,” he said of local employers. “People do change.”

These concerns, and a wave of stories like Mr. Menteer’s, have catalyzed efforts to legislate protections.

The first “fair chance” law was passed by Hawaii in 1998. The law prohibits most private employers from inquiring about criminal history until after making a conditional job offer. Then the offer can be revoked only if the offense is relevant.

In just the last few years, the list of jurisdictions with similar laws has expanded rapidly, although the details vary: Some apply only to public sector jobs, others allow background checks at earlier stages in the hiring process, and they all include long lists of exemptions.

Still, the trend is clear enough that several of the nation’s largest employers, including Walmart, Home Depot and Target, have also stopped asking about criminal records at the beginning of the job application process.

Breaking the Cycle

The current debate, however, is largely about mulligans: giving people a second chance after a fairly isolated mistake. It does not address the underlying cycles of crime and incarceration that plague many men in lower-income communities.

Gregory Payne, 52, worked for a company that made insurance manuals in Santa Monica, Calif., after graduating from high school. He said he lost the job when he needed to care for a daughter who was ill. “I had two kids and an apartment, and the only fast money I could see was” dealing drugs, he said. He was caught, went to prison, got out, said he couldn’t find work and returned to dealing. He served 16 months, then three years, then another three years and a final four years on top of that. “You keep doing the things that get you the money because you can’t get other jobs,” he said.

About seven years ago, he left his life in Venice, on the Pacific Coast, and moved with a newborn son to California City, about 100 miles inland. He said he hadn’t used or sold drugs since moving, but employers don’t seem any more interested. “Your record hurts you, man,” he said. “In certain cases, I understand. They got a right to say no if you’re stealing and robbing people. I wouldn’t hire you myself. But people who went up for drugs?”

Last year, California passed a “ban the box” law but, at least for Mr. Payne, it came too late. He qualified for federal disability benefits two years ago and said he had no immediate plans to seek work.

Mr. Mirsky is more hopeful that New Jersey’s new law will help him find work.

He says he hopes that he has hit bottom. In November a friend put him in touch with an agency that places workers in short-term jobs. He said that most of the other men also have criminal records. He worked five days at a brewery, a half-day at a coffee plant and a few weeks at the dairy. When that job ended, the company liked him enough to offer him a second temporary job. But on the January morning he was scheduled to start, just minutes before he planned to leave the house, the police arrested him again on a new charge of not paying child support.

This time he went quietly, and the judge let him go. And the dairy, after a few phone calls, said he could start the next day.

It felt, Mr. Mirsky said, like the first lucky break he’d had in more than four years.





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12) Exxon Settles $9 Billion Pollution Case in New Jersey for Far Less
By

A long-fought legal battle to recover $8.9 billion in damages from Exxon Mobil Corporation for the contamination and loss of use of more than 1,500 acres of wetlands, marshes, meadows and waters in northern New Jersey has been quietly settled by the state for around $250 million.

The lawsuits, filed by the State Department of Environmental Protection in 2004, had been litigated by the administrations of four New Jersey governors, finally advancing last year to trial. By then, Exxon’s liability was no longer in dispute; the only issue was how much it would pay in damages.

The stakes were high, given the enormous cost the state’s experts had placed on restoring and replacing the resources damaged by decades of oil refining and other petrochemical operations, as well as of the public’s loss of use of the land.

“The scope of the environmental damage resulting from the discharges is as obvious as it is staggering and unprecedented in New Jersey,” the administration of Gov. Chris Christie said in a court brief filed in November.

But a month ago, with a State Superior Court judge believed to be close to a decision on damages, the Christie administration twice petitioned the court to hold off on a ruling because settlement talks were underway. Then, last Friday, the state told the judge that the case had been resolved.

The parties have not announced the deal publicly, and it still must be approved by the judge. But some legal and environmental experts who were told about the agreement asked why New Jersey would suddenly settle a case that it had fought strenuously for more than a decade.

Richard B. Stewart, a New York University law professor and a former head of the Justice Department’s environmental division under President George Bush, noted the “striking disparity between the damages claimed, which have been exhaustively litigated, and the settlement amount,” particularly with a judicial ruling expected soon. Mr. Stewart said that it was hard to assess the agreement without knowing the evidence, but that “it raises questions.”

The documents that made reference to the settlement, which had not been filed publicly, were obtained after a request by The New York Times. They do not reveal the settlement amount; the figure was provided by two people who were told about it, and who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the deal was not yet public.

A review of state campaign finance databases shows no record of Exxon’s making any campaign contribution to Mr. Christie, either through its political action committee or directly, in those years available online.

Exxon did contribute $500,000 to the Republican Governors Association in May 2014, when Mr. Christie was serving a one-year term as its chairman; the company has contributed annually to the group since at least 2008, records show.

An Exxon spokesman said on Friday that the company’s annual contributions depended on the number of contests for governor that year, and that Mr. Christie’s position had no bearing on the 2014 amount.

If the settlement is completed, it is possible that some or even none of the money would go toward environmental costs in the Exxon case: An appropriations law in New Jersey allows money beyond the first $50 million collected in such cases in the current fiscal year to go toward balancing the state budget, a state fiscal analyst said.

A spokesman for Mr. Christie referred questions about the settlement to the attorney general’s office. A spokesman for the acting attorney general, John J. Hoffman, said on Thursday that the office had no comment, as was its practice with pending litigation. Exxon also declined to comment on the settlement.

Debbie Mans, the executive director of the New York/New Jersey Baykeeper, characterized the proposed deal as “a travesty” and called on the judge to “reject the settlement outright.”

The deal comes at a time when Mr. Christie, a potential contender for the Republican presidential nomination in 2016, is experiencing the lowest approval ratings of his tenure, and has been forced to defend his decision to reduce state pension payments.

The state chapter of the Sierra Club this week criticized his budget proposal, saying it would hurt environmental protections. Kevin Roberts, a spokesman for Mr. Christie, said on Thursday that the governor stood by his environmental record, and that the Sierra Club had been “reflexively partisan in its criticism of the governor.”

The damage to the Bayonne and Linden (known as Bayway) sites dated back many years. “Contamination of the land and water at the Bayway and Bayonne refineries began as early as the 1870s in Bayonne and the early 1900s in Bayway and continues to this day,” the state’s expert report says.

“Today, many of these dredge fill areas still look and smell like petroleum waste dumps,” the report continues. “Spilled materials from pipeline ruptures, tank failures or overflows, and explosions have resulted in widespread groundwater, soil and sediment contamination.”

The attorney general’s office said in its brief in November that the sites had been “adversely affected by or buried under the discharge of hazardous substances,” including over 600 identified chemicals.

On the Bayway site, a 2007 court opinion noted, marshland adjacent to a creek was “now mostly covered with a tar of petroleum products or filled with other hazardous constituents and debris.” Another 45 acres comprised “sludge lagoons,” onetime tidal marshes used as hazardous waste disposal facilities.The state had set the cost of primary restoration of the sites at $2.6 billion; the state also sought $6.3 billion for what it described as compensatory or “loss of use” damages, intended “to make the public whole.”

The damages trial, held before Judge Michael J. Hogan in Mount Holly, N.J., lasted from January through September 2014. The judge was to rule once the closing briefs were filed in November.

Exxon had vigorously contested the lawsuit, and in its brief after the trial said that it had long ago taken responsibility for cleaning up the contamination; that there were “fully functioning” marshes, forests and wildlife on the sites; and that, because they had been closed to the public for years, the state was seeking a windfall “for something the public never lost.”

Exxon argued that the state’s arguments “ignore the evidence, science and the law” and that no damages should be awarded.

It was unclear when the settlement talks began. A deputy state attorney general, Richard F. Engel, emailed Judge Hogan on Jan. 29, saying the parties were engaged in “serious settlement negotiations” and asking him to “defer the issuance of a decision in this matter.”

Two weeks later, Mr. Engel again wrote to the judge, saying “a few critical points” still needed to be resolved and asking that he delay his decision until Feb. 20.

By then, Mr. Engel added, “we are confident that we will have an agreement or our efforts to settle will have ended.”

Then last Friday, Mr. Engel wrote to Judge Hogan, saying the parties had reached a settlement “which is memorialized in a final, agreed upon, consent judgment.”

Mr. Engel said the agreement would be submitted for public comment in April and would then be submitted for court approval in May, “unless comments received during the public notice and comment period necessitate a change.”

If the settlement is approved, Judge Hogan will presumably not release his opinion, and _whatever damages he would have set will not be made public.


Alain Delaquérière contributed research.


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