Monthly Archives: September 2001

An NHTSA study found that at any given moment in time, there are 500,000 U.S. drivers talking on cell phones. This works out to roughly 2 out of 10 doctors. A related study found that at any given time, there … Continue reading →

Q: What is the World Bank? A: Created at the Bretton Woods conference in 1944, The World Bank Group is comprised of five agencies that make loans or guarantee credit to its 177 member countries. In addition to financing projects … Continue reading →

Protesters of all stripes – environmentalists, human rights activists, anti-capitalists, labor groups, and other concerned citizens – representing over 200 organizations will begoing to Washington DC for the meetings of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund the last week of September, to draw attention to the issues surroundingcorporate-led globalization. Continue reading →

The new millennium has been good for the National Endowment of the Arts (NEA). In June, the US House of Representatives voted to increase the budget of the NEA for the first time since 1992. Continue reading →

It’s been a tough two weeks for Amy Goodman, the host of the most popular nationwide progressive news program, Pacifica’s Democracy Now!. The program has been in re-runs since Tuesday, Aug. 13 when Goodman and her staff attempted to originate … Continue reading →

Here’s a scary thought: What if the train that burned up in a recent Baltimore rail tunnel fire had been carrying nuclear waste? It’s not that far-fetched. According to Energy Department maps that trace national railroad routes for the transport … Continue reading →

The equation of protest with terrorism is particularly disturbing and chilling when practiced by a public servant. In an article which allowed an official of the Illinois Department of Nuclear Safety to do just that, the Champaign News-Gazette on August … Continue reading →

The combined efforts of communities, citizens, organized watch groups, politicians and others have resulted in a community-friendly law that better protects trees and citizens’ rights from unnecessary utility tree clearance. On August 2, 2001, Governor George Ryan signed into law … Continue reading →

In addition to the Study Circles/Community Roundtables program, there are a number of other people and organizations in Champaign-Urbana that can offer discussion, training, and service experience in racial reconciliation and diversity exposure. Diversity Works, Inc. Experienced diversity educators Pauline … Continue reading →

In traveling around the Twin Cities, many of you may have noticed at least one of the three billboards advertising something called community-wide “Roundtables” on the topics of race relations, education, or police/community relations. These signs herald the latest and … Continue reading →

Across the country there is growing pressure to require even more standardized testing in our classrooms. As an elementary teacher in the Mattoon Unit #2 school district my students (6-7 year old; first graders) are facing another year of even … Continue reading →

It is unfortunate that the inaugural Community Forum article (The Death Penalty; Not Eye for Eye, August ’01) so thoughtlessly portrays opposition to capital punishment. While the author pours her soul out over the failures and limitations of capital punishment, … Continue reading →

Hi, I just read the new paper and wanted to say thank you for doing what you’re doing! I thought the Wal-Mart article was really well done. I’m also writing to let you know how a little article in the … Continue reading →

What is the Living Wage? A: The Living Wage is the amount of income required to bring a family of four up to the poverty line as defined by the federal government online here. For 2001, the Living Wage is … Continue reading →

The expression ‘living wage’, and the concept that underlies it, goes back at least as far as Rerum Novarum, the encyclical issued by Pope Leo XIII on May 5, 1891. The moral imperative that it expresses, so important to progressive … Continue reading →