Breaking News

This page features brief excerpts of stories published by the mainstream media and, less frequently, blogs, alternative media, and even obviously biased sources. The excerpts are taken directly from the websites cited in each source note. Quotation marks are not used.

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• SOURCE: Kansas Reflector
  9/25/2022
  

  Black Family and Kansas History Converge at Nicodemus Reunion

  by Patricia E. Weems Gaston

  Descendants of its residents visit Nicodemus, Kansas yearly to take part in a homecoming festival for the first Black-founded town west of the Mississippi. This July's reunion was the 144th. 

• 
• SOURCE: Chronicle of Higher Education
  9/26/2022
  

  Law is Unclear Whether Public College Faculty Have Free Speech Rights in Classroom

  The state of Florida contends that, when operating within approved curricula, in-class instruction becomes the state's speech, obviating the First Amendment. It's unclear how much traction this argument will get in court. 

• 
• SOURCE: NPR
  9/27/2022
  

  Recovering the Story of the Black Men who were the Nation's First Paramedics

  In Pittsburgh's Hill District in the 1960s, a group of Black men from a neighborhood where many were considered unemployable revolutionized emergency medical response. But the story of Freedom House has been suppressed. 

• 
• SOURCE: Chronicle of Higher Education
  9/26/2022
  

  U of Idaho Advises Faculty of Legal Jeopardy for Discussing Abortion in Classrooms

  The university's general counsel warned that the vagueness of the state's abortion restrictions means faculty are at risk of prosecution for how they discuss the issue in their classrooms. 

• 
• SOURCE: The Baffler
  9/22/2022
  

  The Long Shadow of Pinochet Over Chile's Constitutional Referendum

  A protest movement against inequality and oligarchy convinced almost 80 percent of Chileans to vote for a constitutional convention, and led to the election of a young leftist president. Why did more than 60 percent of voters then reject the new charter? 

• 
• SOURCE: Washington Post
  9/26/2022
  

  If Putin Says Nuclear Weapons Threat is No Bluff, Believe Him (and Prepare)

  by Joseph Cirincione

  The first use of nuclear weapons is a part of both Russian and American military strategy; the task for the world is to assess the most likely scenario and plan to respond effectively. 

• 
• SOURCE: Noema
  9/22/2022
  

  The Lost Art of Maintenance

  The struggles of the New York transit system to preserve the useful life of its train cars, and to prevent problems before they occur, reflects deep and troubling changes in society's relationship to infrastructure and labor power. 

• 
• SOURCE: The Guardian
  

  How Should the Australian War Memorial Address the Nation's War on the Indigenous?

  The pressure to depict the heroic exploits of Australian forces in service of the Crown has chilled discussion of the nation's internal military history and how it should be publicly acknowledged. Changing leadership of the body responsible for commemoration is an opportunity to take a new course. 

• 
• SOURCE: Nature
  9/28/2022
  

  "Nature" Editors Acknowledge Journal's Contributions to Scientific Racism

  The leading cross-disciplinary science publication acknowledges that it has given a platform to the scientifically discredited writings of eugenicists and has an ongoing obligation to ensure that it does not offer further support for oppression justified by the authority of science. 

• 
• SOURCE: The Atlantic
  9/24/2022
  

  An Email From a Stranger Sent Me on a Quest for Family and Self

  For a Canadian-raised child of Hungarian Jewish refugees, an email sparked a research project that unlocked mysteries about his family. 

• 
• SOURCE: The Atlantic
  9/26/2022
  

  Do the Italian Elections Reflect a Turn to Fascism or Cynicism?

  Giorgio Meloni's electoral success may simply reflect Italians' frustrations with national leadership more than a permanent shift, argues political analyst Yascha Mounk. 

• 
• SOURCE: Texas Tribune
  9/19/2022
  

  Texas Leading the Nation in Book Banning

  Not suprisingly, books dealing with racism and LGBTQ themes are being targeted for removal from library and school shelves, even preventing them from being read voluntarily. 

• 
• SOURCE: Vox
  9/23/2022
  

  The 100-Year Old Miscalculation that Drained the Colorado River

  The Colorado River Compact is based in an egregious exaggeration of how much water flows through the river—and how much downstream farms and cities have been entitled to use. 

• 
• SOURCE: NPR
  9/25/2022
  

  How Richard Nixon Alienated Allies after Watergate (and Lessons for Trump)

  "Along the way, when it mattered most, Nixon and his crew found that people who might have been political allies in the past were not especially sympathetic to his case."

• 
• SOURCE: Al Jazeera
  9/24/2022
  

  What Explains Fascism's Durable Roots in Italy?

  The success of a party with historical connections to fascists who survived the Second World War raises important questions about why Italians justify voting for the hard right. 

• 
• SOURCE: LAist
  9/23/2022
  

  Los Angeles Project Aims to Name Every Interned Japanese American

  The government's rosters of interned Japanese Americans are incomplete and error-ridden. A new project seeks a complete documentation of the missing names. 

• 
• SOURCE: The New Yorker
  9/21/2022
  

  Documentary on the Last Slave Ship to Arrive in the United States Takes on Questions of Memorializing Racist Violence

  Margaret Brown's "Descendant" looks at the effort to preserve and promote Africatown, the Alabama coast community founded by people brought on the last slave ship to dock in the United States. 

• 
• SOURCE: The New Republic
  9/20/2022
  

  The Underground Network of Ministers and Rabbis Aiding Abortion Access Before Roe

  Part of journalist Becca Andrews's new book looks at the Clergy Consultation Service on Abortion, which, before the religious right, offered a faith-based endorsement of abortion rights.

• 
• SOURCE: Texas Tribune
  9/19/2022
  

  At its 50th Reunion, La Raza Unida Asks How to Pass the Torch

  La Raza Unida grew out of civil rights mobilization in the 1960s and worked to mobilize the large, complex, and internally divided communities of ethnic Mexican Texans, focusing on education and voting rights, and struggling to bridge radical and moderate political outlooks. 

• 
• SOURCE: The Atlantic
  9/20/2022
  

  US Neglect of Puerto Rico is in the News, but the Main Historical Relationship has been Abuse

  by Jaquira Diaz

  From forced disruption of native industry through mass sterilization and forced austerity, one writer argues that the only escape from mainland abuse is full Puerto Rican independence.