October 8, 2009 -
        
  
        "Give light and people will find the way." -- Ella Baker, civil rights activist	
  
      
     
   
  
  
    
        
          
              
            
            
            
        October 8, 2009 -
        
  
        By Erik Fowle, New America Media 
  
      
     
   
  
  
    
          
        
        
          
              
            
            
            
        October 7, 2009 -
        
  
        The Senate passed an amendment Tuesday prohibiting the Defense Department from contracting with companies like Halliburton if they require employees to resolve sexual assault, battery and discrimination allegations and other claims through arbitration and not court.  
  
      
     
   
  
  
    
        
          
              
            
            
            
        October 7, 2009 -
        
  
        An in-depth review of monitoring data from coal ash ponds located next to 13 coal-burning power plants in North Carolina has revealed that all of them are contaminating groundwater with toxic metals and other pollutants -- in some cases at levels exceeding 380 times state groundwater standards.			
  
      
     
   
  
  
    
        
    
          
              
            
            
            
        October 7, 2009 -
        
  
        For at least 170 years, Isle de Jean Charles -- a narrow ridge of land lying between Bayou Terrebonne and Bayou Pointe-aux-Chene in southeastern Louisiana's Terrebonne Parish -- has been home to members of the Biloxi-Chitimacha tribe, native people related to the Choctaw and part of a larger 
  
      
     
   
  
  
    
        
          
              
            
            
            
        October 6, 2009 -
        
  
        The morning after the CBS News program "60 Minutes" aired its investigation into the hazards of coal ash waste from coal-burning power plants, the people of South Carolina awoke to some worrisome news about coal ash close to home.