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HEALTHCARE AND LABOR: Union Calls on Legislature to Support Hospital Stabilization Bill |
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SEIU Local 2020 called on the state legislature to pass a "Hospital Stabilization" law that would set up an early warning system to identify financially distressed hospitals and provide emergency short-term revenue to keep failing hospitals open and continuing to provide high-quality care. The union was moved to do this after CareGroup closed Waltham Hospital last year in spite of the fact that the Department of Public Health concluded that all of Waltham Hospital’s services were “essential” to the health care needs of Waltham and its surrounding communities.
[ full story ] |
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06 Nov 2003
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Filed under: News / |
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FTAA: DEMO: Beehive Design Collective: FTAA Roadshow is in Boston |
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On Thursday, October 16, 2003, the Beehive Design Collective gave the first of two Boston area demonstrations from their latest tour: the FTAA (Free Trade Area of the Americas) and Plan Colombia Roadshows. The demo, an in-depth portable mural of a collaborative illustrated poster project shown at the Massachusetts College of Art, was engaging, educational, and an inspiration to students and community members, young and old. The Beehive Collective uses an innovative illustration-based communication strategy that encourages open dialog on the topics of globalization, genetic engineering, colonialism and many other important social and environmental issues.
[ full story ] |
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17 Oct 2003
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Filed under: News / |
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IMMIGRANT RIGHTS: A Bostonian's Report Back on the Immigrant Workers Rights Rally in New York |
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 As the culmination of Immigrant Workers Freedom Ride, on Saturday, October 4th, tens of thousands of immigrant workers joined friends and allies for a fabulous rally in Flushing Meadows Park in Queens, New York. You could literally feel the joy in the air and the sense of solidarity as people from many different nations joined together for a common cause: to focus attention on immigrant rights and to help force the United States government to make pivotal changed in its current immigration policies. Speakers elaborated on their message to the leaders in Washington and elsewhere that any new immigrant policy passed by Congress must include these key requirements: Legalization and a clear and well-defined road to citizenship for all immigrant workers; the right of immigrant workers to re-unite with their families; protection of the rights of immigrant in the workplace; and protection of the civil rights and civil liberties of all.
[ full story ] |
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09 Oct 2003
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Filed under: News / |
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ENVIRONMENT: Despite Clear-Cutting, Protests Continue at Mt. Wachusett |
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40 friends of Wachusett’s forests gathered on September 20 at the mountain for a peaceful demonstration to lament the cutting of a stand of older trees for ski area expansion. They carried signs mourning the clearcut, objecting to the privatization of public lands, questioning the role of the State Police, and saying, “No more cutting on Wachusett.”
[ full story ] |
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01 Oct 2003
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Filed under: News / |
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ENVIRONMENT: Mt. Wachusett Tree Sit Day 44: Activists and Forest in Danger |
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 In the past two days, workers from the Wachusett Mountain Ski Area used chain saws and bulldozers to fell trees dangerously close to the trees two Earth First! activists are sitting in. Dandi and Badger, the two tree sitters, have also been cut off from their supporters on the ground. The tree-sitters are attempting to protect some of the last-remaining old growth forest in Massachusetts. Its loss would have environmentally devastating results, including increasing sediment and polluting the water supply of the city of Fitchburg, which is a reservoir lake at the bottom of the mountain.
[ full story | update: facing increasing danger, tree-sitters escape into the night ] |
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15 Sep 2003
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Filed under: News / |
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WTO: BOSTON DEMO, TEACH-IN, MARCH: World Trade Organization: It’s No Walk on the Beach |
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 As thousands of protesters rally and march in Cancun, Mexico to protest the 5th annual Ministerial Meeting of the World Trade Organization (WTO), local area activists participated in similar demonstrations of solidarity in Downtown Crossing, Boston. The “WTO: It’s No Walk on the Beach” Party kicked off at 2pm, in the crowded downtown pedestrian shopping district.
The event was planned as a street theatre event that followed an informational Teach-In at the UNITE Building at 33 Harrison Ave. in Chinatown. The Teach-In ran from 9:30am-1:30pm and focused on the issues of Globalization, specifically the links between war, race, immigration and issues of local concern. There were workshops on topics such as “War & Globalization” and the “Free Trade Area of the Americas”.
[ full story | photos ] |
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13 Sep 2003
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Filed under: News / |
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SEPTEMBER 11TH ANNIVERSARY: Peace Vigil in Remembrance of the Victims of 9-11 and the US War on Terror |
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 On the eve of the second anniversary of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, about 250 of us gathered on the Boston Common around the bandstand for a vigil in remembrance of all those who lost their lives in the terrorist attacks of that day and the ensuing US wars on Afghanistan and Iraq. Organized mainly by a coalition of local churches, synagogues and mosques, the speakers shared their grief for the dead, their rejection of the hatred driving the attacks on Arab and Muslim immigrants at home and the US’s war-making abroad, and their hope for a better future, free of bigotry and war.
[ full story | photos ] |
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11 Sep 2003
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Filed under: News / |
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PROTECTING CIVIL LIBERTIES: Ashcroft Advertises Patriot Act in Boston, Protestors Don't Buy It |
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 A reportback from the protest of John Ashcroft's visit to Faneuil Hall to promote the USA Patriot Act including a time line and photos. The Boston Police Department estimates over 1,000 protestors were in attendance. Links to other coverage of the event can be found here
[ full story | photos | more photos ] |
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10 Sep 2003
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Filed under: News / |
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