• FDA Establishes New Advising Policy
• Wal-Mart Telling Workers to Vote Against Obama
• Portland Rethinking Transportation Infrastructure
• Policymakers Call for New National AIDS Strategy for the United States
• Colombia's Small-Scale Miners Weary of New Laws

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FDA Establishes New Advising Policy
The Food and Drug Administration is taking new steps to fight charges
that the agency has become too cozy with the drug industry. It's now
issued new guidelines barring experts from sitting on FDA advisory
boards if they have a financial conflict of interest exceeding $50,000.
But will the new standards actually keep people safer? Tanya Snyder has
more.

Wal-Mart Telling Workers to Vote Against Obama
Reports have surfaced that Wal-Mart is intimidating employees into
voting against Barack Obama. Store and Department Mangers are forced to
attend mandatory meetings where they are told that a vote for Democrat
Barack Obama would be a vote for unions – which would mean a vote for
job loss.  Retail giant Wal-Mart has long associated the formation of
unions as bad for its bottom line.  Democrat Barack Obama supports a
bill in Congress that proponents say would make it easier for workers
to organize. FSRN's Leigh Ann Caldwell spoke with Lance Compa, labor
law Professor at Cornell University.

Portland Rethinking Transportation Infrastructure
In the year since the Interstate-35 bridge collapse in Minneapolis,
cities around the nation have been scrambling to restore and replace
aging transportation infrastructure. In 1955, the national highway
system carried some 65 million cars and trucks. Today, that number has
nearly quadrupled to 246 million. At a time when the highway system is
badly in need of repair, some places, like Portland, Oregon, have
started to debate whether highway infrastructure should be expanded at
all, in light of the looming climate crisis.  FSRN's Jenka Soderberg
has more.

Policymakers Call for New National AIDS Strategy for the United States
The Centers for Disease Control released a report indicating that the
number of new people infected by HIV in the United States is much
higher than previously estimated – 40% HIGHER. Previous figures
estimated new infections at 40,000 per year, now the CDC says the
number of new cases of HIV infection is closer to 56,000 per year. The
CDC says the new data suggests a stable epidemic – but that the numbers
are still unacceptably high, with a steady increase in infection rates
among gay and bisexual men. On today's newscast, we hear from
California Representative Barbara Lee and Paul Zeitz, who works with
the Global AIDS Alliance Fund, about a new national AIDS strategy for
the United States

Colombia's Small-Scale Miners Weary of New Laws

Disputes between multinational mining companies and small-scale miners
are worsening in Colombia – and may be leading to the displacement of
hundreds of residents from their homes. Small-scale miners fear that
new mining laws that encourage foreign investment could make a bad
situation even worse. Manuel Rueda has more from Bogota.