Newscast for Friday, November 20, 2009

Senators say health care reform could address gender disparities
The health care bill’s long journey through the Senate will hit a milestone on Saturday. Senators will vote on a procedural motion that allows debate to begin. It’s being called a “test” vote, since it will give Senate leaders a sense of the support they have for the bill. Three key centrist Democrats, and Independent Joe Lieberman, have agreed to vote ‘yea’ on Saturday, leaving just one more “maybe” in Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas.

The healthcare discussion so far has raised many issues of concern. For some Senators, health care is a feminist issue. They hope Saturday’s vote will address gender disparities in the current system. FSRN'S Tanya Snyder reports from Washington.

Groups push for more job creation in black and Latino communities
The official unemployment rate has passed 10 percent nationwide, and if you add in other jobless people, like time workers or those who have given up actively looking for work, the rate is more than 17 percent. The numbers have sent policy experts into panic mode. But for many communities and neighborhoods, unemployment has been above 10 percent for years. The unemployment rate for African Americans nationwide is close to 16 percent. For Latinos it is 13 percent. A deeper look at numbers is even more troubling. Five urban areas nationwide have an unemployment rate around 50 percent for black males - that's Buffalo, San Diego, Detroit, Pittsburg and Milwaukee, according to a report released in September from the University of Wisconsin's Center for Economic Development.

Federal economic stimulus dollars are trying to reverse that trend – but groups are questioning whether enough attention is going to communities of color. On Thursday, members of the Congressional Black Caucus forced a postponement of the federal regulation reform because they said not enough is being done to stimulate jobs in communities they represent.

For a closer look, we go to Richmond, Virginia where the jobless rate for black males is around 40 percent.

We’re joined by Claude Stevens, Chief Operating Officer with Boaz and Ruth, a community group that has had success in turning around a neighborhood there.

House Committee approves plan to oversee Federal Reserve
Texas Congressmember Ron Paul is celebrating after a House Committee approved his "Audit the Fed" bill - a provision to more closely scrutinize the Federal Reserve. Paul, an advocate of abolishing the Federal Reserve, has been working on this issue for decades. He teamed up with Florida Democrat Alan Grayson on the provision. With a vote of 43 to 26, the House Financial Services Committee approved adding it to the financial reform package. Paul  - also author of the book End the Fed, spoke Thursday before the vote:

“This is what transparency is all about - who's benefitting and where are the trillions of dollars going. We're not talking about a couple hundred billion dollars.  We're talking about a portfolio of trillions of dollars and there's very little that's known about it.”

The Paul-Grayson amendment would allow for the first independent audit of the Federal Reserve since it was created almost a century ago. It would give the General Accountability Office wide latitude in reviewing and auditing the Federal Reserve, including the recent bank bailouts, how it sets interest rates and relationships with foreign central banks. Critics of the reserve say it's always operated in secret, and this provision will bring about much needed transparency. Fed Chair Ben Bernanke and other critics say it could be destructive to the financial system and insist the Fed must maintain its independence.

Student protests spread across Europe
As students in California protest against fee increases, tens of thousands of students also took to the streets in Europe this week. Thousands of others have been occupying the main lecture theatres at their universities.

In Germany students are protesting against what’s called the "Bologna Process" which aims to standardize the higher education system across Europe, so that students can move between institutions in different countries. But students say the changes are making it difficult to earn a degree. FSRN'S Cinnamon Nippard has more from Berlin.

Survivors of torture in Argentina await historic human rights trial
In Argentina, the President and a council of judges postponed a human rights trial for crimes committed during the nation’s military dictatorship of the 1970s and 80s. The trial was supposed to examine crimes committed at a Navy Mechanics School, which served as a clandestine detention center, and was used to torture and disappear thousands of people. FSRN'S Marie Trigona visited the detention center and files this report.