Newscast for Tuesday, December 23, 2008

• Massive Coal Sludge Spill Spreading in Tennessee
• Feds Convict Five of Fort Dix Conspiracy
• Philadelphia Residents Fighting Library Closures
• Homeless in the Cold: Canada's Winter Means Death on the Streets for Some
• Egyptian Women in Parliament Pushing Quota System
• Christmas in Bethlehem: Tension Over Tourism

Massive Coal Sludge Spill Spreading in Tennessee
About 40 miles west of Knoxville, Tennessee, millions of gallons of ashy sludge have broken through a dike at a coal-fired power plant, flooding homes, burying roads, and threatening rivers and drinking water. Tom Kilgore is the president of the Tennessee Valley Authority, which owns the power plant: "I fully suspect that the amount of rain we've had in the last eight to 10 days, plus the freezing weather might have had something to do with this."
The holding pond contained about 70 acres of fly ash – that's the residue left over from burning coal. It often has elevated levels of toxic metals. And according to the EPA, the spill has released about 525 million gallons of the sludge – that's nearly 50 times the size of the Exxon Valdez oil spill. Anne Paine is covering the spill for the Tennessean:

[2Way Audio]

Again, that's Anne Paine, environmental reporter for the Tennessean. The spill comes as the Bush administration is considering last-minute regulations that would make it easier to dispose of coal ash in old mines—something that environmental groups are asking incoming President Barack Obama to reverse. Lisa Graves-Marcucci is a community advocate with the Jefferson Action Group in Pennsylvania—her community was buried by a similar spill in 2005. Lisa Graves-Marcucci, thanks for joining me.  Lisa Graves-Marcucci is a community advocate with the Jefferson Action Group in Pennsylvania.

Feds Convict Five of Fort Dix Conspiracy
Federal Prosecutors have convicted five men on charges of conspiracy to attack the Fort Dix military base in New Jersey. But critics are accusing the government of entrapment and persecuting the Muslim American community. Karen Miller reports from Washington.

Philadelphia Residents Fighting Library Closures
Over the past month hundreds of Philadephia residents have taken to the streets to protest plans to close 11 of the 54 branches of the Free Library. Holding read-ins, rallies and marches they have told mayor Michael Nutter that closing their neighborhoods' educational resource centers is not the proper way to deal with the city's $1 billion budget deficit. FSRN's Andalusia Knoll has more.

Homeless in the Cold: Canada's Winter Means Death on the Streets for Some
Next, part two in our series on homelessness in north America. We turn to Canada, where cold claimed the lives of two people sleeping on the streets this week.  Aaron Lakoff has the story.

Egyptian Women in Parliament Pushing Quota System
Now, to Egypt. 50 years ago, Egypt elected the Arab world's first woman parliament member. But despite the fact that they've enjoy full political rights for decades, women haven't participated much in Egyptian politics. Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak is calling for women to participate more. From Cairo, Aya Batrawy reports.

Christmas in Bethlehem: Tension Over Tourism
Residents of Bethlehem are seeing the peak of their tourist season right now—the number visiting the holy city to mark Christmas this year is expected to top one million. Thanks to the West Bank's economic isolation, tourism is one of the few sources of income that Palestinians living there can count on. But they're complaining that Israeli tour guides are stopping visitors from shopping in local markets. FSRN's Ghassan Bannoura has more from Bethlehem.