KPFT News, May 28, 2003

this broadcast originally aired on may 28, 6:30-7pm, on 90.1 FM, KPFT in houston.

· The Texas Legislature has struck down two of three surveillance bills this session, in what some would call a reflection of a national surveillance trend...

· KPFT News reporter Pokey Anderson caught up with Director of the Project on Media Ownership, Mark Crispin Miller to discuss what expected changes of FCC media ownership regulations mean and how the changes would benefit media conglomerates instead of the people who own the airwaves… namely the public….

· First, missing Texas Democrats, now, missing evidence. DPS ordered all its records of the manhunt destroyed on May 14. Homeland Security Director Tom Ridge declined to release the transcripts of conversations between his department and the Texas DPS…

· Eleven hundred striking union workers at DOW Chemical’s Plant in Freeport, Texas voted yesterday to approve a contract with the chemical giant, ending a weeklong standoff between Operators Union Local 564 and Dow’s Texas Operation. While union leadership admits DOW made concessions to contract sticking points like seniority hiring practices, Union members must now decide if the 8 year contract offers enough incentive to break the strike…

· The Governor¹s signature is all that is needed to turn West Texas into a national nuclear dumping ground. The state Senate Monday passed a bill to allow a Dallas company, Waste Control Specialists, to truck radioactive waste from nuclear power plants and nuclear weapons facilities from all over the nation…

· Tucked away in Irving, Texas lies the international headquarters of the world’s largest corporation, ExxonMobil. Yesterday, the major hub of oil and gas industry was shut down when over 35 Greenpeace activists used a multiprong approach to block entrances to the building. Their message focused on ExxonMobil’s lack of support for confronting and coping with global warming… in part a byproduct of the company’s main product. Following yesterday’s direct action, pressure on the oil giant continued as their Annual Shareholder meeting took place in Dallas…

· As the recent deaths of 19 people in an abandoned trailer in Victoria sent shockwaves internationally, organizations from Houston’s Latin American immigrant community and individuals from more than ten countries marched through the streets of southwest Houston in support of more civil rights from immigrants…