The Berrien County reporter.
The Michigan Supreme Court yesterday refused to hear an appeal of Rev. Edward Pinkney’s house arrest. Pinkney is a long time activist in the African-American community in Benton Harbor, Michigan. He was placed under house arrest for writing a newspaper article which criticized a local judge.
Peruvian lawmakers conceded and revoked the laws which seized land historically belonging to indigenous people in the Andes of northern Peru. Protests by Andean tribal groups were at first met with force by Peruvian president Alan Garcia. 34 people have been killed. The land that was seized by the government is rich with oil and other resources. Most observers agree the seizure of land was aimed at satisfying the US in negotiations overs a free trade agreement. There are great videos in this BBC report.
Democrats in the House and Senate vote for more war funding. An emergency funding bill with billions for the Iraq and Afghanistan wars won overwhelming approval in both houses.
170 teachers at three CPS charter schools run by a private management firm, Civitas voted under Illinois Education Labor Relations Board rules to be represented by the Illinois Federation of Teachers. Management refused to recognized the vote and amazingly claimed that they were a private company, not subject to IELRB jurisdiction. Even more amazingly, the National Labor Relations Board agreed with management that these publicly funded CPS charter schools were private. So the teachers voted again under NLRB rules. And again they voted to be represented by the IFT. What next? Maybe Civitas will claim they are interplanetary and the teachers must vote under NASA rules.
Further charter union news: In Pennsylvania, the PA NEA affiliate just won a certification vote by the teachers at a cyber charter school. The faculty at Homestead-based PA Learners Online voted 42-14 Monday to have the Pennsylvania State Education Association represent 76 teachers, counselors and other workers at the school.
The Chicago Tribune columnist Mary Schmich attended the rally at the Thompson Center yesterday and notes the sense of desperation about the legislature’s refusal to fund state social services.
