Head Start and Department of Education Budgets SLASHED

<>Bush Cuts Domestic Programs: Head Start and Department of Education Budgets SLASHED
Shedding its "compassionate conservative" veneer, the White  House today acknowledged for the first time  that it plans massive cuts to domestic  programs in 2006, even as it pushes $1 trillion in new taxcuts. Two weeks after President Bush touted his commitment to  education  funding , the White House leaked plans to slash $1.5 billion out of the Department of Education --virtually  eliminating previous small increases. It would also slash $177 million out of  Head Start, the early-childhood education program for the poor. [more]

Bush's AIDS relief plan will delay drugs, reward Big Pharma

<>Africa  and  AIDS activists say the Bush Administration's pledge to expedite its approval process for low-cost,generic anti-retro viral drugs bythe  U.S.Food and Drug Administration will really slow delivery of drugs to those suffering while undermining the authority ofthe United  Nations  and World Health Organization. [more]

HATERS STOPPED! Michigan anti-affirmative action drive fails

A leader of a campaign for a statewide vote to ban  affirmative action in Michigan says his group has given up the effort to make the November ballot and now is aiming for 2006. The extra time is needed because of ``internal disorganization,internal discord, legal decisions'' and the health problems of campaign founder Ward Connerly,said state Rep. Leon Drolet, campaign co-chairman. [more]

Since Major Affirmative Action Case Michigan minority applications Down

<>Minority  applications are  down 21 percent and overall applications are down 18 percent for  the first fresh man class to enter University of Michigan since the  U.S. Supreme Court struck down its undergraduate formulafor awarding admission points based on race. [more]

Outreach efforts work, Texas A&M says

Reversing a  seven-year decline, Texas A&M University reported Thursday a dramatic increase in the number of black and Hispanic students who say  they'll become Aggies this fall. [more]

Federal judge dismisses desegregation order

<>Less than two  weeks after the country honored the 50th anniversary of the landmark Brown v. Board of  Education case, the Berkeley County School District had its 34-year-old desegregation order dismissed by a federal judge.  [more]

Schwarzenegger Meets With Latino Caucus Over Immigrant Driver's Licenses

One of  the most controversial ideas at the state Capitolis still alive. Legislators who want to give illegal immigrants the  right  to have  driver's licenses met withGov. Arnold Schwarzenegger Thursday  afternoon.[more]

Wrecking Section 8

Wrecking Section 8

<>While  Many have been fixated with Bill Cosby's remarks- HUD Secretary, BUSH  FLUNKEY, Alphonso Jackson's remarks and actions have been Ignored: "I do not believe being poor is a condition; it is a state of mind ." [right]
The Bush administration hasput America's most widely-used public housing  program, Section 8, in jeopardy. As the president  lobbies tirelessly  to make his costly tax cuts for the wealthy permanent, the supposedly "compassionate conservative"  White House"is changing the nation's largest program of housing assistanceso that, for the  first time,the government no longer is promising to pay the full  cost of rent vouchers that help nearly 2million poor families." 

[more]

Affordable Housing in Crisis

Cuts in federal housing subsidies for the poor place tenants insome cities at risk of losing subsidized housing,and financial institutions  are  beginning toexpress doubts about continuing to  participate in the  kindsof development projects that have built much of  the nation's affordable housing. [more]

<>Now or later
OUTCRY FROM public housing agencies and governors across the country persuaded  the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development last weekto  ease the pain of a rulechangethat  threatened toforce hundreds of poor families off federal rent  assistance. But thehelp offeredso  far applies only halfa Band-Aid to theproblem of how agencies will maintain their rental vouchers this  year  while the Bush administration tries to curb Section 8 costs. The  pain, apparently, is merely postponed.  [more]

SEE the Center for American Progress for a compete report  [more]

NAACP sues 4 Myrtle Beach restaurants before Bikefest

The NAACP sued four Myrtle Beach restaurants alleging discrimination during the  AtlanticBeach Bikefest, the organization announced Thursday. It's the second set of discrimination lawsuits inas many years related tot heBikefest. The latest class action lawsuits were filed Wednesday  against J.Edwards GreatRibs & More and Fleming's, both owned by J.Edward  Fleming, and  Damon's Grill and Greg Norman's Australian Grille. [more]

ACLU Sues Manhattan Hotel On Behalf of Latino Housekeepers

The  American  Civil  Liberties  Union filed a lawsuit yesterday on behalf of  five Latinas who worked as housekeepers at the Broadway Plaza Hotel in Manhattan, charging several violations of federal and state labor  laws,including a novel charge offorced labor underthe little-known federal  Victims of Trafficking and ViolenceProtection Act of 2000. [more]

Coast Guard detains 100 Dominicans trying to reach Puerto Rico

The U.S. Coast Guard detained 100 Dominican migrants trying to reach  Puerto Rico on a packed boat, officials said Wednesday. [more]

List Linking Smoking to Diseases Expands

The  list of diseases linked to smoking grew longer Thursday. Add  acutemyeloid leukemia, cancers of the cervix, kidney,pancreas and  stomach,abdominalaortic aneurysms, cataracts,periodontitis  and pneumonia."We've knownfor decades that smoking is bad for your health,but  this report shows  that it's even worse," said Surgeon General Richard Carmona, announcing  his first official assessment of the effects  of  tobacco. [more]

Reparations 'slavery ordinance' in Effect in Wayne County

<>It  is  no longer business as usual for corporations contracting services  with Wayne County.  The new ordinance is asign that more   and more  governments will begin looking closer at the financial  impact of  slavery by requiring corporations to open their books to  scrutiny for  possible ties to that "peculiar institution." [more]

Crowley Praises Defeat Of Bill To Limit Health Care To Immigrants

Congressman Joseph Crowley celebrated the defeat of a Republican-led bill in the House this week which would have forced  doctors and nurses to verify the immigration status of patients before providing medical treatment. [more]

TRIBAL GAMING COMPACTS: Legislative oversight bill vetoed

Gov. Jim Doyle rejected a third attempt by lawmakers Thursday to give themselves oversight of the gaming compacts he signs with American Indian tribes. [more]