Newscast for Thursday, March 11, 2010

Efforts grow to stem corporate money in elections
January’s Supreme Court decision on Citizens United versus the Federal Election Commission permits the spending of corporate money in politics in a way many say could weaken democracy. Both on and off Capitol Hill, people are brainstorming “fixes” that would limit corporate influence in elections, if not completely eliminate it. Tanya Snyder reports from Washington.

Latino lawmakers threaten vote against health care, citing immigration
As debate continues on health care, a group of Latino lawmakers are threatening to vote against the bill. The issue is over immigration and an aspect of the bill that prohibits offering coverage to undocumented people. FSRN's Karen Miller has more.

Kansas City board of education votes to close nearly half of district's schools
In Missouri, the Kansas City School Board has voted to close nearly half of the public schools in the district. At a meeting last night packed with parents and teachers, the board voted 5-4 to close 26 schools and cut 700 staff positions, including nearly 300 teachers. Today, School Superintendent John Covington called it a “right sizing plan” citing a $50 million dollar budget gap and a lack of funds from decreasing enrollment. Still he acknowledged that the decision would be tough on families and the community.

We’re joined now by Carolyn Szczepanski, she's a reporter with the weekly, The Pitch, in Kansas City and she's been following the issue.

Corruption and bribery in federal agencies focus of government probe into drug trade
Lawmakers on Capitol Hill today examined the issue of drug cartels infiltrating federal law enforcement and bribing government employees. Officials from the FBI, Homeland Security's Inspector General's Office, and Custom and Border Protection, or CBP, testified before a Senate Subcommittee on State, Local, and Private Sector Preparedness and Integration. Although Mexican cartels are looking to federal, state and local officials to help facilitate the multi-billion dollar drug industry, Committee Chair Mark Pryor said one agency in particular is affected.

"The border patrol seems to be the biggest target and have the most corruption. A news report recently said there's been a forty percent increase in CBP corruption arrests and dozen of open investigations. Other possible targets would be ICE, FBI, TSA, DEA and probably a few more, but they seem to be less vulnerable and I'm assuming that's because the CPB is on the front line."

Pryor also said CBP is a target because of all the new staff. The agency has doubled in size over the last ten years. But some officials say they're making progress with investigations and arrests. Thomas Frost is with the Office of Inspector General in the Department of Homeland Security.

"Border related corruption is not limited to one DHS component. It can touch employees and contractors across DHS as well as employees of state and local governments. In Fiscal Year 2009 we opened over 839 criminal cases involving DHS employees and programs. Our investigations resulted in 313 arrests, 293 indictments, 281 convictions and 59 administrative actions."

Officials also discussed CBP's hiring program as a possible entry point for drug smugglers. Both Senator Pryor and DHS officials said more screening of job applicants and employees is needed, including broader use of polygraph tests and monitoring employees for "erratic behavior or questionable performance." Today's hearing did not investigate drug cartel infiltration at the state and local level, which Pryor said is also a big concern.

Tent camp in Port Au Prince removed as people struggle for shelter
On Wednesday the House passed a bill in support of debt relief for Haiti. Lawmakers want the Treasury secretary to instruct directors at the IMF, the World Bank and the Inter-American Development bank to cancel Haiti's debt - which stands at around 830 million dollars. Meanwhile, recovery efforts in Haiti continue.

This week, the International Office of Migration announced a plan to register thousands of Haitians living in makeshift camps in order to get survivors to adequate shelter before the heavy rains begin. An assessment by the agency in 21 congested sites found that 3,000 people living in camps in one area of Port Au Prince are at high risk of flooding. The United Nations claims it has distributed shelter materials to half of the people displaced by the earthquake. But in one area of the capitol, families who had shelter and a place to sleep are now back in the streets. FSRN’s Ansel Herz reports from Port-Au-Prince.