| Some other things I’ve read this week: Mona Chalabi on a botched Washington Post article, Peter Lauria on a potential deal between VICE and Time Warner, Julianne Ross on lies men’s rights activists spread, and Felix Salmon‘s long interview withBuzzFeed founder JonahPeretti.
John Whitehouse Will’s “Extraordinary Harm”
There’s No Off Switch
How Fox Covers Right-Wing Cop Killers
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IMAGE OF THE WEEK |
| Attracting the best and brightest talent from around the world — especially in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) — is crucial to our nation’s success. After all, one recent study looking at all U.S.-based Nobel laureates over the past 50 years found that more than a quarter were foreign-born.So when we sat down with America’s nine most recently minted Nobel laureates, we asked them to share their perspective on immigration reform, andthe importance of maintaining America’s competitive advantage as a magnet for global talent.Watch America’s top scientists discuss the need for comprehensive immigration reform:
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Kids Need Your Help
The House of Representatives could vote as soon as next week to either gut or protect new standards that have improved school lunches. We’re gaining momentum and keeping the pressure on: act now to urge your member of Congress to stop the attack on healthy school lunch standards.
There’s still time! We’ve got another chance to tell Congress that in the midst of a public health crisis, we can’t take fruits and vegetables off kids’ school lunch trays.
Last week—after intense debate—Congress postponed a crucial vote to either gut or protect new standards that have improved school lunches. We’re gaining more and more momentum, and until the House of Representatives votes, we’re keeping the pressure on—act now to defend healthy school lunches for kids!
Union of Concerned Scientists analysis has shown that increasing our consumption of fruits and vegetables could prevent thousands of deaths and billions of dollars in health care costs each year from diet-related chronic disease. Today, Americans of all ages are not eating nearly enough of these healthy foods.
Congress recently improved federally funded school lunches by requiring at least half a cup of fruits and vegetables with every meal. These standards were a positive first step in ensuring that kids will get the foods they need to grow up healthy. We can’t go back on the gains we have made to improve kids’ diets.
Urge your member of Congress to stop the attack on healthy school lunch standards!
Sincerely,
Ashley Elles
National Field Organizer
Food & Environment Program
Union of Concerned Scientists
The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday endorsed the appointment of a child protection czar to make sweeping changes in the way the county protects abused and neglected children.
The action comes a year after the death of Gabriel Fernandez, an 8-year-old boy who was severely beaten despite repeated calls to the child welfare authorities. The case was first reported by The Times.
The new Office of Child Protection would represent the most significant reorganization of county government in nearly a decade since the supervisors selected William T Fujioka as chief executive and endowed his office with significantly enhanced authority. The child welfare czar would report directly to the supervisors and be responsible for developing a funding and policy strategy for the Department of Children and Family Services and all other county departments responsible for protecting vulnerable children.
The vote on the proposal was 4-1, with Supervisor Don Knabe opposed; he called it an unnecessary new layer of bureaucracy.
For the latest information go to www.latimes.com
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Dear Activist, I’m sure you’ve heard that the Obama administration has released its long-awaited proposal to reduce carbon emissions from existing power plants. But did you know the proposal would encourage fracking? Under the proposal, power plants, mainly coal-fired plants, would have to reduce their carbon emissions. One way the electricity companies would be allowed to do this is by switching from coal-fired plants to gas-fired plants. The EPA still considers gas a cleaner fuel than coal, because they don’t count the full life of fracked gas. But we know that fracked gas can be as dirty as coal. Can you submit a comment to the EPA and ask them not to allow fracked gas to replace coal? As you know, more and more of the gas we burn comes from fracking. The move to more gas-fired electricity will mean more fracking. While there is hope that this proposal would spur development of wind and solar, the fact is that the cheap alternative to coal is fracked gas. With Chevron and BP recently announcing that they are abandoning their wind and solar efforts, the writing is on the wall: the energy industry has decided that fracked gas is the alternative. Thankfully, we have a chance to influence the proposal before it is finalized. Submit a comment asking the EPA to not allow the rule to be finalized in a way that allows fracked gas to replace coal. Thanks for taking action, Mitch Jones P.S. Check out our factsheet for more information on fracking and climate change. |
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