Newscast for Thursday, February 23, 2012

Privacy bill seeks transparency, but advocates say more is needed to protect online consumers

Online companies, including Twitter and Google, have drawn criticism from privacy advocates for tracking and gathering private data from users. Today, the Obama Administration announced a “Privacy Bill of Rights” that could increase transparency and give Internet users easier ways to opt-out of being tracked online. Since passing legislation in Congress is unlikely in an election year, officials are hoping companies will adopt the new rules voluntarily. But consumer advocates worry this will lead to watered down protections. FSRN’s Alice Ollstein reports.

Federal judge finds Defense of Marriage Act unconstitutional

A federal judge has ruled the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act, known as DOMA, is unconstitutional and has ordered the government to provide benefits to the wife of a lesbian who is a federal employee. DOMA defines marriage as unions between opposite sex couples and restricts the term “spouse” to mean only an opposite sex partner.

On Wednesday, Judge Jeffrey White of the US District Court for Northern California ruled that the use of DOMA to ban benefits to a same sex partner violates the right to equal protection under the law.

The decision is the first since the Obama Administration announced last year that it would no longer defend DOMA in court and could have implications for other ongoing cases across the country.

For more, we’re joined by John Davidson, Legal Director, with LAMBDA Legal. That’s the organization that argued the case.

Despite public outcry, Chicago approves closure of 17 schools

In Chicago, students, parents and teachers have been rallying to prevent the city from closing nearly 20 schools that serve many of the city’s poorer students of color. Despite the public outcry, the Board of Education voted yesterday to approve the school closings. FSRN’s Jaisal Noor reports on what’s at stake by closing these so-called failing schools.

Vermont faces legal challenge in effort to close aging nuclear plant

The state of Vermont will continue to fight to shut down an aging nuclear plant that shares the same design with the ones in Fukushima that exploded and melted down in Japan. The Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant was scheduled to close in March, when its 40-year-old state license expires. But a federal court ruled in January that the state had overstepped its authority when it blocked the plant’s owner, Entergy Nuclear, from extending the license. The Vermont attorney general announced he would appeal the ruling. But legal experts say the case sets precedents beyond Vermont, and even beyond nuclear power issues. In Montpelier, FSRN's Carl Etnier has the story.