June 17, 2006

NEW BEDFORD, Mass. — This small seaside town of about 100,000 inhabitants was recently rocked by the murder of Bernadette “Bunny” De Pina, mother of one of the main suspects in an alleged gang slaying. The tragic events have drawn national attention and have been the main headlines in the local press.

WASHINGTON — Ask Steve Robinson, a local Democratic committeeman from Lawrence, Kan., if his state is posed to help reverse right-wing rule in Congress, and he looks you straight in the eye and answers a firm “yes.”

Campus climate challenge
Students refuse to censor newspaper
‘Friendship 2006’ camp to open
N.Y. City Council stops plan to ban cell phones

LAS VEGAS — The fight for jobs and national health care were uppermost on the minds of 2,000 autoworkers and retirees who gathered here for the United Auto Workers convention June 12.

Wasting no time after the June 6 primaries, the labor movement and the California Democratic Party are already gearing up to unseat Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in November.

Congressional Republicans last week killed a provision in the latest “emergency” Iraq war appropriations bill that would have blocked permanent U.S. bases in Iraq.

HOUSTON — When Hurricane Katrina slammed into the Louisiana coast last Aug. 29, the NAACP here stepped up to the plate and is still providing services nine months later.

Levees ‘in name only,’ says report
AFL-CIO invests $1 billion for affordable housing
Extend jobless benefits for 80,000 workers
Public housing residents reclaim apartments
Undocumented face abuse, hazardous conditions

KATY, Texas — Convicted corporate criminal Ken Lay, former CEO of Enron and close friend of President Bush, requested that his name be removed from a YMCA facility in a posh suburb of west Houston. The executive board of the YMCA of Greater Houston granted his request and renamed the facility the Katy Family YMCA.

SAN FRANCISCO — A broad coalition of organizations gathered on the steps of City Hall last week to launch a campaign to increase by $25 million the share of funds in the next city budget for programs serving human needs. They presented their vision of a city whose residents are nurtured and supported, not driven out by soaring costs, dwindling services and growing violence.