April 27, 2009

Thousands of civilians have abandoned their homes to avoid clashes between Pakistani security forces and the Taleban in the Lower Dir district of Pakistan's North West Frontier Province (NWFP), Amnesty International said today. Full release.

On Wednesday, the United States Supreme Court will hear a constitutional challenge to a core provision of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 in Northwest Austin Municipal Utility District Number One v. Holder. The Legal Defense Fund will present argument to the Court in defense of the law in a case that is widely regarded as one of the most important voting rights cases in recent time. At issue is the Section 5 preclearance provision which requires a select number of jurisdictions with a history of racial discrimination in voting to submit new voting laws to the Department of Justice or a federal court for preapproval -- a process known as preclearance. The Appellant, a small Texas-based utility district, filed the case seeking to end its responsibility for having its voting changes reviewed but more significantly to have the preclearance provision of the Act declared unconstitutional. U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia rejected the suit last spring finding Congress well within its authority to renew this key provision of the Voting Rights Act in light of significant evidence of ongoing voting discrimination in the jurisdictions where the law applies. Full release.

The Democratic National Committee today released a new 60 second television advertisement recognizing the Obama Administration's accomplishments as laying a foundation for the President's bold agenda going forward. The ad highlights the President's efforts to rebuild the economy and create jobs, ensure equal pay for equal work, and provide health care for children. Full release.

A prominent national Muslim civil rights and advocacy group today said that Rep. Adam Hasner, the head of Florida's House Republicans, left the floor of the legislature just prior to an Islamic prayer opening the session and returned to his seat just after the prayer ended. Full release.

Three leaders in the field of national broadband deployment and adoption -- the Alliance for Digital Equality, Connected Nation, and Communications Workers of America -- today announced a groundbreaking partnership designed with a near-term goal of educating the American consumer about the benefits of new broadband technologies, and retraining the workforce for new job opportunities in a variety of tech-related fields. Additionally, the partnership is poised to lead the long-term charge to improve the nation's broadband infrastructure, as detailed in The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA). Full release.

The Minnesota Voters Alliance case against the City of Minneapolis to prevent implementation of Instant Runoff Voting (IRV) is headed for the Minnesota Supreme Court on Wednesday, May 13th. The Alliance filed an appeal of a lower court decision in January. The City filed for expedited appeal to the Supreme Court. Full release.

Today, the White House announced the appointment of Christine K. Cassel, MD, President and CEO of the American Board of Internal Medicine to President Barack Obama's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST). Dr. Cassel joins 19 other scientists and engineers on the council to advise the President's efforts to have science inform the Administration's decisions related to policy and research. Full release.

Volunteers of America, one of the nation's oldest and largest social service organizations, today applauded President Obama for signing the Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act, which greatly expands funding and programs aimed at fostering community service. Congress still must approve funding included in the bill. Full release.

A new report from the Center for Immigration Studies finds immigrant unemployment (legal and illegal) was higher in the first quarter of 2009 than at any time since 1994, when immigrants were first separated out in the monthly data. This represents a change from the recent past when native-born Americans tended to have higher unemployment rates. The findings show that immigrants have been harder hit by the recession than natives. Although data on immigrants is collected, it is generally not published by the government. This report is one of the few to examine this data. Full release.

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