Archive - Sep 19, 2008

• Government Announces Massive Financial Crisis Intervention
• What Took the Fed So Long to Step in?
• Activists Take on Wells Fargo's Connection to Controversial Sheriff
• DC Homeless Population Wary of DC Mayor's Office Proposal
• Community Radios Facing Shut Down in Mexico
• Rewind: Remembering Attica

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• St. Paul to Drop Misdemenor Charges Against Press Arrested During RNC
• EFF Files New Suit Against NSA Domestic Surveillance Program
• Oregon LNG Terminal Gets the Federal Regulatory Green Light
• US Air Strike in Northern Iraq
• North Korea Threatens to Reassemble Nuclear Reactor
• Honduras Belatedly Accepts US Ambassador's Creditials

Click here for newscast for Friday, September 19th, 2008

Click here for newscast for Friday, September 19th, 2008

The Mexican government announced this week that commercial radio stations that transmit in AM can have a free frequency in the FM band... and vice versa. This concept of a "mirror spectrum" represents one of the largest giveaways of the public airwaves in Mexican history. Meanwhile, Mexico's Secretary of Communications and Transportation – the federal agency that deals with broadcast licensing - has been on a campaign to shut down unlicensed low power FM stations across the country, leading to demands for more democratic criteria for citizens to access the airwaves. Vladimir Flores reports from Oaxaca.

This week, FSRN Reporter Mariana Martinez brought you to Tijuana Mexico where the brutal beating of a prisoner led to 2 riots and at least 21 dead. The people imprisoned at La Mesa State Penitentiary, many of whom are jailed for non-violent crimes, have complained of mistreatment, inhumane conditions, overcrowding and abuse. The events bear a striking resemblance to what leads to many prison uprisings, including the September 1971 Attica Uprising in New York. To shed light on this history today we bring you a rare recording preserved by the Pacifica Radio Archives: L.D. Barkley, one of the prisoners leading the revolt, reading from a manifesto written by the prisoners to communicate to the outside world the reasons behind the uprising.

The government gives a bleak warning that it must step in and intervene on a massive scale in an attempt to keep the economy afloat. Now it's up to the Administration to convince Congress their plan will work. Washington Editor Leigh Ann Caldwell has more.

A battle is brewing in the nation's capitol between the homeless population and the DC mayor's office. The city says it wants to shut down Washington's main homeless shelter and provide apartments for those who need it. Critics charge that it's economics causing the closure, because the city wants to develop the land. They accuse the city of making promises to the homeless population that it won't be able to keep. FSRN's Karen Miller has more.