Aging oil tankers with little oversight are environmental time bombs In the second week of December, an aging Russian oil tanker called the Hero of Sebastopol left the Latvian port of Ventspils to traverse a well-traveled route toward Singapore. Chartered by Pasadena-based Westport Petroleum, the Hero passed through the Baltic Sea into the narrow straits […]
Posted inMoney and Politics
Also Turned Away
Forty-four states in the United States today bar people with mental illnesses from voting. Apart from laws affecting felons, these are the last overt voting restrictions on the books for citizens over 18. The exclusionary laws typically used in most states apply to those found to be “mentally incompetent” by the court and then placed […]
Posted inMoney and Politics
Whose Vote Counts?
Millions of Americans are routinely stymied when attempting the most basic right of our democracy – casting a vote. In the radio documentary “Whose Vote Counts?,” CIR associate reporter Rebecca Perl investigates how citizens are legally denied or left out of the voting process. In an important election year, an estimated 10 million votes (or […]
Posted inMoney and Politics
Clark Worked for Ark. Data Firm: Acxiom Role Part of Surveillance Debate
Retired Gen. Wesley K. Clark helped an Arkansas information company win a contract to assist development of an airline passenger screening system, one of the largest surveillance programs ever devised by the government. Starting just after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks, Clark sought out dozens of government and industry officials on behalf of Acxiom […]
Posted inNational Security
U.S. Backs Florida’s New Counterterrorism Database: ‘Matrix’ Offers Law Agencies Faster Access to Americans’ Personal Records
Police in Florida are creating a counterterrorism database designed to give law enforcement agencies around the country a powerful new tool to analyze billions of records about both criminals and ordinary Americans. Organizers said the system, dubbed Matrix, enables investigators to find patterns and links among people and events faster than ever before, combining police […]
Posted inNational Security
Surveillance Proposal Expanded
A passenger-screening system designed to help capture terrorists could also be used to target people suspected of violent crimes, under a proposal approved by Department of Homeland Security officials. Previously, government officials said the surveillance system known as CAPPS II would be used only to target potential terrorists and their allies — limits intended to […]
Posted inEnvironment
Timber, Taylor . . . Guns and Money
WASHINGTON – As Liberia descends into pitched battle over the capital of Monrovia, the world watches to see if the US will send thousands of troops to help bring peace to the war-torn West African nation. But as we wait, it’s important to understand how consumers in the US and other nations have contributed to […]
Posted inAccountability
Six Weeks in Autumn
Assistant Attorney General Viet Dinh took his seat in La Colline restaurant on Capitol Hill and signaled for a cup of coffee. It was one of those standard Washington breakfasts, where politicos mix schmoozing and big ideas to start their days. An intense foot soldier for Attorney General John Ashcroft, Dinh had been in his […]