kpft local news (august 29, 2003)

this newscast originally aired at 6pm CST on august 20, 2003 on kpft. listen in houston at 90.1fm, or stream it live at www.kpftx.org. read transcripts of previous newscasts at www.kpft.org/news. (27:51 minutes)

stories include...

- Officials in the City of Tulia say they are hoping to move on after a four-year saga involving allegations of racism and unfair treatment of African-Americans.

- Early voting began yesterday on 22 proposed amendments to the complex and closely written Texas constitution. In addition to changing property taxes on some mobile homes, several propositions deal with taxes, education, and the military.

- Last night, presidental candidate Al Shaprton was the keynote speaker at the Southwest Voter Registration Project's 10-4 voter mobilization project. Founded in 1974, SVRP is the largest and oldest non-partisan Latino voter participation organization in the United States. They track and study voting trends of the nation's hispanics... and now they've set out to mobilize 2 million new latino voters for the 2004 general election.

- A controversial plan to build a pipeline through the Peruvian rainforest met resistance yesterday at a meeting of the U.S. Export-Import Bank. The plan is backed by Houston-based KBR and Texas-based Hunt Oil.

- Texas prisoners who've lived alone in their cells for years will now have access to an in-cell training program that prepares them to re-enter public life.

- While states are cutting back on school funding, a new report indicates incarceration rates are closely linked to levels of education. In 1999, just over half of African American male high school dropouts and 1-in-10 White male dropouts had prison records, according to a new study released this week by The Justice Policy Institute.

- Wednesday, the Environmental Protection Agency announced an exemption to the Clean Air Act that allows power plants and oil refineries to increase pollution, without applying for federal permits. Erika MacDonald takes a look at local companies that benefit from the rule change and local communities who say they’ll suffer the consequences.

- This week the small East African country of Rwanda celebrates its first ever elections since the 1994 genocide there which left more than 500,000 victims dead. A local Rwandan Refugee shares his analysis of the elections.

- Women seeking abortions will have to face more mandated hurdles starting September 1, thanks to the Texas Legislature’s recent targeting of Planned Parenthood.