Archive - Apr 8, 2009

• Education Secretary hopes federal money will help pre-K funding gap
• US congress may stop DC city council decision on same sex marriage recognition
• Federal authorities accused of using inadequate immigration detention facility
• Non-citizens face different set of rules even after they are acquitted of a crime
• Getting By series: recession gardens

• Video evidence calls police response to protesters at the G20 into question
• Journalist Roxana Saberi charged with espionage
• Uganda anti-terrorism force accused of torture
• Private prison in Texas found responsible in inmate death
• Reno school district at fault in Muslim bullying case

A report released Wednesday says states are spending more on early education. But as the economy worsens, some of that progress might be reversed. Education Secretary Arne Duncan hopes federal money can help fill those gaps. Tanya Snyder reports.

As FSRN reported yesterday, Washington DC’s city council passed the first step to recognize same sex marriages from other states in the district. It was a unanimous vote, void of controversy over same sex rights. But as FSRN’s Leigh Ann Caldwell reports, the controversy has yet to begin – that’s because the US Congress is preparing to weigh

Lawyers in Los Angeles have filed a lawsuit on behalf of immigrant detainees, charging federal authorities have violated their constitutional right to adequate detainment at a holding cell in downtown LA.  Dan Fritz reports from KPFK.

In addition to facing questionable conditions in US detention centers, immigrants also contend with an entirely different set of rules when accused of crimes, even if they’re found not guilty of committing them. As we reported yesterday, a young student named Youssef Megahed was acquitted of carrying low-grade explosives by a jury of his peers in a federal trial. But just three days later, he was taken into custody by immigration authorities and is being held on the same charges he was already cleared of.

decides someone who was charged but clearly exonerated of any crime, is simply not allowed to return to the U.S. if they’ve traveled abroad.  Aura Bogado speaks with Christopher Nugent, Senior Pro-Bono counsel for Holland and Knight in Washington, D.C about the differences non-citizens face when it comes to criminal proceedings.