March 31, 2007

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — As hundreds of students, parents and concerned citizens chanted “No takeover,” the Missouri Board of Education voted 5-1 to strip accreditation from the 32,000-student St. Louis City Public Schools March 23.

NEW YORK — This wasn’t your usual trip to the library. At New York University’s Tamiment Library, March 23, people jammed in to sit on folding chairs or stand shoulder-to-shoulder and listen to speakers tell of the Communist Party USA’s contributions to American labor and democratic rights.

On March 23, Reps. Luis Gutierrez (D-Ill.) and Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) introduced a new comprehensive immigration bill, the “Security Through Regularized Immigration and a Vibrant Economy” (STRIVE) Act, HR 1645. The bill has 29 initial co-sponsors, including both liberal Democrats and conservative Republicans.

WASHINGTON — In a sharp rebuff to President George W. Bush, both the House and Senate have approved versions of a supplemental spending bill calling for withdrawal of U.S. combat troops from Iraq next year.

UNITED NATIONS — The UN Security Council unanimously added further sanctions on Iran, March 24. But diplomats said sanctions were not the solution and emphasized the need for stepped up diplomacy. Meanwhile, rumors of U.S. war plans have dramatically increased tensions and fears of a U.S. attack on Iran.

The 2.4-million-member IG Metall union, representing German blue- and white-collar metalworkers, including autoworkers at Daimler-Chrysler’s German plants, is opposing the company’s move to jettison its U.S. Chrysler division, and calling for a solution that benefits both the company and U.S. workers.

CHICAGO — Imagine waking up every morning, still dark outside, and then have to pick tomatoes for a typical 10-hour workday, seven days a week, with armed guards watching over you.

PITTSBURGH: ‘Health care, not warfare’
LOUISVILLE, Ky.: Seminary calls cops on gay rights activists
TALLSMANVILLE, W.Va.: Owners close Sago Mine
NEW YORK: Citigroup axing 15,000 jobs

NEW YORK — Heading the agenda as members of the Communist Party’s national committee gathered here March 24-25 were new developments in the people’s movements to end the Iraq war, win labor and immigrant rights, gain health care for all and uphold democracy.

WASHINGTON — Dr. Sami Al-Arian, a Palestinian activist, ended his 60-day hunger strike at a federal prison hospital in North Carolina March 24, bowing to his children’s pleas that he not risk death protesting his unjust imprisonment.