- UncategorizedJindal signs Intelligent Design law
Saturday, June 28, 2008 Louisiana Republican Governor Bobby Jindal signed a controversial bill hailed by intelligent design supporters, such as the Discovery Institute, and Louisiana Family Forum, a creationist group. Critics of the bill, including several major science organizations, say it allows for the teaching of “creationism” in public schools. The law, Louisiana Science Education Act, allows teachers to use “supplemental materials” when discussing evolution, but it does not state what the materials would be. Citing the 1987 Supreme Court ruling in Edwards v. Aguillard, “Louisiana has a long and unfortunate history of trying to substitute dogma for science in classrooms,” said Reverend Barry W. Lynn, an executive director for…
- UncategorizedBarack Obama presents rescue plan after GM declaration of bankruptcy
Monday, June 1, 2009 In a televised speech from the White House at 16:00 UTC today, President of the United States Barack Obama presented a reorganization plan following the 12:00 UTC announcement by General Motors that it had filed for bankruptcy and Chapter 11 protection from its creditors, the largest bankruptcy of a U.S. manufacturing company. Describing the problem with the company as one that had been “decades in the making,” Obama explained the rationale behind his proposed reorganization plan for General Motors. He stated that his intent was not to “perpetuat[e] the bad business decisions of the past,” and that loaning General Motors money, when debt was its problem,…
- UncategorizedUS Senator Ted Stevens convicted on 7 counts
Monday, October 27, 2008 United States Senator Ted Stevens of Alaska was convicted Monday on seven counts of failing to report gifts. Stevens, a senior United States Senator from Alaska and the longest serving Republican in the Senate, had been accused of not reporting tens of thousands of dollars worth of gifts from the VECO Corporation including free house remodeling. The jury in the District of Columbia found Stevens guilty on all seven counts. Bill Allen, VECO’s CEO, is a longtime friend of Stevens and much of the case involved the specific interaction between Stevens and Allen. Allen had been previously convicted and had agreed to testify against Stevens and…
- UncategorizedMortgage advisers attempt to collect rent from neighbors after FBI raid in Union City, California
Friday, May 6, 2005 Three months after the FBI raided the offices of the Dorean Group in Union City, California, neighboring companies in the same office park have received letters claiming that rent for the office park should now be paid to the Dorean Group. The owner of the office park, Hanover Properties, insists that they have not sold the park and called the Dorean Group’s claim fraudulent. The first letter from the Dorean Group, dated May 2nd, 2005, purported to “inform [the tenants] of the change in ownership of the property [the tenants] now occupy,” and asked that “payment of rents be sent” to the principals of the Dorean…
- UncategorizedSt. Anthony Foundation provides hope
Friday, September 23, 2005 On the corner of Golden Gate Ave. and Jones St. in the Tenderloin, San Francisco, right next to the Civic Center you can see a throng of low-income and homeless people lining up outside of St. Anthony’s Dining Room hall which opens up it’s doors everyday at 11:30 a.m. Volunteers dressed in St. Anthony Foundation shirts help keep the lines moving as hundreds of homeless and low income people shuffle their way towards the dining hall underneath the watchful eyes of a small statue of St. Francis of Assisi. “There’s a lot of people who go hungry out here and it ain’t right.” says Jimmy Scott,…
- Uncategorized2010 Chile earthquakes: Government confirms 452 dead
Saturday, March 20, 2010 Chilean Government confirmed 452 deaths caused by the earthquake and tsunami that struck the central and south zones of Chile on February 27 and the Pichilemu earthquake on March 11. The official death toll was released yesterday by the Interior Undersecretary Rodrigo Ubilla. Ubilla explained that “after a rigorous work in which participated Carabineros, the Investigation Police, the Medical Legal Service, and the Civil Registry, and was later checked by the Interior Undersecretary, we made a unique list of dead people and of denunciations of presumed dead.” In spite of this, Ubilla said that there are just 359 identified dead people, with death certificates and cause…
- UncategorizedKKE: Interview with the Greek Communist Party
Thursday, May 13, 2010 Wikinews reporter Iain Macdonald has performed an interview with Dr Isabella Margara, a London-based member of the Communist Party of Greece (KKE). In the interview Margara sets out the communist response to current events in Greece as well as discussing the viability of a communist economy for the nation. She also hit back at Petros Tzomakas, a member of another Greek far-left party which criticised KKE in a previous interview. The interview comes amid tensions in cash-strapped Greece, where the government is introducing controversial austerity measures to try to ease the nation’s debt-problem. An international rescue package has been prepared by European Union member states and…
- UncategorizedAndrea Muizelaar on fashion, anorexia, and life after ‘Top Model’
Monday, November 26, 2007 In the 18 months since Andrea Muizelaar was crowned winner of the reality TV series Canada’s Next Top Model, her life has been a complete whirlwind. From working in a dollar store in her hometown of Whitby, Ontario, to modeling haute couture in Toronto, she had reached her dream of becoming a true Top Model. But at what cost? Unknown to casual television viewers, Muizelaar had been enveloped in the eating disorder anorexia nervosa, which inevitably became too much for her to bear. She gave up modeling and moved back to Whitby, where she sought treatment for her disorder, re-entered college, and now works at a…
- UncategorizedItaly confirms swapping Taliban for Mastrogiacomo
Thursday, March 22, 2007 Italian journalist Daniele Mastrogiacomo who was held hostage for 15 days, was traded for five Taliban prisoners, as confirmed by Italian and Afgani authorities. This likely represents the first time during the Iraq War or War in Afghanistan that prisoners were openly exchanged for a hostage. An Afghani government source said the swap “was an exceptional measure taken because we value our relations and friendship with Italy.” Maybe the enemy will realize the great benefit they gained from this deal, and tomorrow even the reporters in Kabul won’t be safe. This is not good. The government can’t let the enemy use this strategy. The move received…
- UncategorizedScientology protest group celebrates founder’s birthday worldwide
Correction — March 19, 2008 The next protest is scheduled for April 12, 2008. The article below states April 18 which is incorrect. Saturday, March 15, 2008 The Internet group Anonymous today held further protests critical of the Church of Scientology. The global protests started in Australia where several hundred protesters gathered at different locations for peaceful protests. In a global speech, the Internet protest movement said Scientology “betrayed the trust of its members, [had] taken their money, their rights, and at times their very lives.” The protesters welcomed the public interest their protests have led to, and claimed they witnessed “an unprecedented flood of Scientologists [joining] us across the world…