Week in Headlines

Sphere: Related Content Local
Murano Put on Special Agenda for Monday

Texas A&M University System regents is set to meet Monday, and the fate of Texas A&M University president Elsa Murano will be decided. The controversy that has developed of the course of the last several weeks has included speculation of her resigning or firing.

Texas Politics
The Best and Worst Legislators 2009

Texas Monthly’s ranking of the best and the worst of the Texas Legislature, which it characterized this year like an episode of Seinfeld: a show about nothing. Bryan-College Station Representative Fred Brown did not make the best list, nor did he make the worst list. Representative Brown made the list of furniture: lawmakers indistinguishable from their desks, chairs, and inkwells.

Education
A Look at the Texas Social Studies ‘Experts’

Texas Freedom Network reports on the Texas State Board of Education appointments to the “expert” review panel for social studies curriculum revisions. The nominees include equal numbers of mainstream academics, including Texas A&M professor Jim Kracht, and fundamentalist Christian ideologues such as Reverend Peter Marshall who believe the U.S. Constitution does not protect separation of church and state.

Health Care
Why Not Single-Payer?

50 million Americans are uninsured and 25 million more are underinsured, but single-payer health care is still considered to be political unrealistic. A look at some of the reasons why single-payer is political problematic, and what minds are going to have to be changed.

Women’s Issues
Racial Disparities in Illness Highlighted

A report by the Kaiser Family Foundation reveals that black women in the District of Columbia suffer from obesity, diabetes, heart disease more than white women. Also, the study also found wide gaps exist between black and white women in the incidence of other illnesses such as cancer and HIV and AIDS.

Reproductive Rights
The Hardest Choice

A woman’s story about having a second trimester abortion, and why her choice was the only act of love that she could give her unborn child. She also asks the question of where will women turn to who need late term abortions during heart wrenching situations now that Dr. Tiller is gone and fewer women have access to the reproductive health care they need.

GLBT Issues
Vermont Program Helps Students Explore Gender

High school students in Vermont take part in “Gendertopia,” an after school program designed to teach students about gender and to assist them in identify the subtle signals used to express gender. The program has gained wide acceptance in the community, and there has been significant participation by students interesting in explore gender.

Race and Racism
Bank Accused of Pushing Mortgage Deals on Blacks

Investigative report on how Wells Fargo systematically targeted the black community for subprime mortgages, and pushed customers who could have qualified for prime loans into subprime mortgages. A loan officer in the report reveals how Wells Fargo employees referred to blacks as mud people” and to subprime lending as “ghetto loans.”

From the Blogs

FiveThirtyEight:
Leader Limbaugh: Chalk One Up to Obama, DNC

FiveThirtyEight reports that the effort by the Democratic National Committee and the Obama Administration to portray Rush Limbaugh as the leader of the Republican Party has worked. Recent polls show that Limbaugh is viewed as speaking for the GOP among both Democrats and Republicans. However, perhaps worse is that nearly half self identified Republicans could not think of “a single political or other figure when asked to name the main person who speaks for their party.”

Mean Rachel:
Political Snowbirds: The Case for Sen. Leticia Van de Putte for Texas Governor

Rachel lays out the case for why Democrats should support State Senator Leticia Van de Putte for Governor, and why she is a better choice than the political snowbirds or the artist formerly known as an independent.

Latina Lista:
FCC Needs to do More to Monitor "Outrage" Media That Fuels Hate

Marisa writes about the increase in hate crimes and extremist, such as Holocaust Museum murder suspect James W. von Brunn, and how outrage is fueled and empowered by internet sites and media personalities.