Study: African Americans Face Widespread Jury Exclusion in the US South
A new study says African Americans and other people of color continue to face discriminatory exclusion from jury service across the US South. The Equal Justice Initiative says a review of jury selections in eight Southern states found "hundreds people of color called for jury service have been illegally excluded." The discrimination was found to be particularly widespread "in serious criminal cases and capital cases." The study says it found evidence that some prosecutors have been trained to exclude people of color from juries and to evade anti-discrimination laws. Among the areas cited in the study are Houston County, Alabama, where eight out of ten African Americans jurors were removed from death penalty cases. In Jefferson Parish, Louisiana, there were virtually no African Americans jurors in 80 percent of criminal trials.


Supreme Court Limits Miranda Rights
The Supreme Court has issued a five-to-four ruling that criminal suspects must now affirm their intent to remain silent and request a lawyer in order to avoid having their statements used against them in court. In a dissent, Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote, "Suspects will be legally presumed to have waived their rights even if they have given no clear expression of their intent to do so."


New York Lawmakers Advance Labor Standards for Domestic Workers
New York is poised to become the first state establishing a landmark set of working standards for housekeepers, nannies and other domestic workers. State lawmakers have passed a measure that would require overtime pay after eight-hour workdays, at least one day off per week, and at least eighteen holidays, sick days and vacation days per year. Lawmakers will now attempt to reconcile the Senate and Assembly versions before sending a final bill to Governor David Paterson.


Admin, Dems Prep Education Aid as 100,000 Teachers Face Layoffs
The Obama administration and Democratic leaders are rallying support for a $23 billion aid measure for the nation�s public schools. Over 100,000 teachers face the loss of their jobs if the bill fails in Congress.


The Search and Death Toll in Jamaica
The search for alleged drug lord Christopher "Dudus" Coke, wanted by the United States, remains unresolved. Jamaican police confirmed last week that 73 people, the vast majority civilians, have been killed in clashes between security forces and Coke�s armed supporters. Rights groups are raising questions about possible unlawful killings by security forces in the Tivoli Gardens area of the Jamaican capital of Kingston. Amnesty International has called for a thorough investigation.

Meanwhile, Coke himself is still eluding arrest. American prosecutors describe him as the leader of the Shower Posse gang that murdered hundreds of people during the cocaine wars of the 1980s. Jamaica�s former national security minister recently described Coke as the most powerful man in the country. After months of resisting US pressure to extradite Coke, Jamaican Prime Minister Bruce Golding reversed his position and declared a state of emergency Sunday, vowing to capture him.

Coke had previously mobilized votes for Golding�s party, and the Prime Minister even hired a lobby firm in Washington�Manatt, Phelps & Phillips�to try to get the US authorities to drop the extradition request.


BP Oil Spill Surpasses Exxon Valdez as Worst in US History
US officials have confirmed what many have widely feared: the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico is the worst oil spill in US history. Last week, the US Geological Survey said the well has been spewing between 504,000 and more than a million gallons of oil a day. That means a minimum 19 million gallons have spilled into the Gulf over the past five weeks, easily surpassing the size of the 1989 Exxon Valdez disaster in Alaska. The highest estimate would mean a spill of nearly 39 million gallons.


Coast Guard Commander: "This Spill Is Holding Everybody Hostage"
In news on the BP oil spill, Coast Guard Commander Thad Allen said it will take until at least the fall to deal with the growing oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Allen appeared on CBS�s Face the Nation on Sunday.

Thad Allen: "This will only end when we intercept the well bore, pump mud down it to overcome the pressure of the oil coming up from the reservoir, and put a cement plug in. That�s what I would call bottom kill rather than top kill. The spill will not be contained until that happens. But even after that, there will be oil out there for months to come. This will be well into the fall. This is a siege across the entire Gulf. This spill is holding everybody hostage, not only economically, but physically. And it has to be attacked on all fronts."

Bob Schieffer: "So, well into the fall."

Thad Allen: "As far as oil remediation and long-term environmental impacts, yes."

Since the spill began nearly seven weeks ago, roughly 23 million to 49 million gallons of oil have leaked into the Gulf.


Oil Tar Bars Spotted on Pensacola Beach in Florida
In Florida, oil tar balls have washed ashore on Pensacola Beach. The beach is part of the Gulf Islands National Seashore, which advertises "the world�s whitest beaches." Buck Lee, the executive director of Santa Rosa Island Authority, criticized BP�s efforts to prevent oil from reaching the shores of Florida.

Buck Lee: "What upsets me right now is BP says, 'well, we have skimmers. We have thirty or forty skimmers to protect the beach.' You can take your cameraman, look out there in the Gulf, try to find one. You�re not going to find it. BP lied again."


Report: Many Gulf Coast Judges Tied to Oil and Gas Industry
The Associated Press is reporting more than half of the federal judges in Gulf Coast districts with pending spill-related lawsuits have financial ties to the oil and gas industry. A survey of judicial financial disclosure reports shows thirty-seven of sixty-four active or senior judges in Louisiana, Texas, Alabama, Mississippi and Florida are linked to energy companies, including some with holdings in BP, Halliburton and Transocean.


BP Oil Spill Threatens Future of Indigenous Communities in Louisiana
Residents of Grand Bayou, a village accessible only by boat, that feels they are on the brink of extinction. The indigenous Atakapa-Ishak people in this coastal Louisiana village have relied on the land and water around them to survive for generations. They live mostly off the oysters, shrimp and fish they draw from the marshes. Now the traditions and very survival of this small community are at risk. Recently, a visiting delegation from Alaska, who survived the Exxon-Valdez spill, spoke to indigenous leaders from disaster-affected communities.


Justice Dept. Opens Civil, Criminal Probes of BP Oil Spill
The Justice Department has confirmed it�s opened a criminal and civil investigation into the BP oil spill in the Gulf Coast, now believed to be the worst environmental disaster in US history. Eric Holder made the announcement following a meeting with federal and state prosecutors in New Orleans.

Attorney General Eric Holder: "Yes, we have begun both a criminal as well as a civil investigation, as is our obligation under the law. Our environmental laws are very clear, and we have a responsibility to enforce them, and we will do so. I don�t want to describe exactly who is under investigation. At this point the investigation is and has been ongoing for some time, but I wouldn�t want to specify at this point who the targets or the subjects are of that investigation."

News of the investigation helped plunge BP�s stock value 15 percent on Tuesday. BP also announced it�s effectively abandoned any hope of plugging the breached well and instead will try to siphon off the leak until relief wells are completed in August. Earlier in the day, President Obama promised a thorough probe after meeting with the chairs of the bipartisan commission investigating the oil spill.

President Obama: "Untold damage is being done to the environment, damage that could last for decades. We owe all those who have been harmed, as well as future generations, a full and vigorous accounting of the events that led what has now become the worst oil spill in US history. Only then can we be assured that deepwater drilling can take place safely."


CIA Personnel Engaged in Human Experimentation
A new report from Physicians for Human Rights has accused the Bush administration of conducting illegal and unethical human experimentation and research on prisoners in CIA custody. The report details how doctors, psychologists and other professionals monitored sleep deprivation on more than a dozen prisoners, as well as the effects of large- volume waterboarding. Frank Donaghue of Physicians for Human Rights said, �The CIA appears to have broken all accepted legal and ethical standards put in place since the Second World War to protect prisoners from being the subjects of experimentation. Not only are these alleged acts gross violations of human rights law, they are a grave affront to America�s core values.�


Obama Expands Militarization of US-Mexico Border
President Obama has unveiled plans to further militarize the US border with Mexico. On Tuesday, Obama said he would deploy an additional 1,200 National Guard troops to the southern border and ask Congress for an extra $500 million for border security.

President Obama: "I�ve been very clear. I think the Arizona law was a mistake. And my Justice Department is looking very carefully at the nature of this law. But I understand the frustrations of folks in Arizona. The fact of the matter is, is that for decades we keep on talking about solving the problems at the border, and we don�t. The truth of the matter is, is that you�ve got hundreds of thousands of undocumented workers coming over the border, and that gets people stressed."

The move marks a victory for Republicans who have been pushing for increased border militarization. Republican Senator John McCain said he welcomes the new troop commitment but thinks even more should be deployed.

Sen. John McCain: "I appreciate the additional 1,200 being sent of the Guard, as well as additional $500 million, but it�s simply not enough. We need 6,000. We need 3,000 across the border, an additional 3,000�sorry, 3,000 National Guard troops to the Arizona-Mexico border."

Immigrant rights group, meanwhile, are criticizing Obama�s plan. In a statement, the National Day Laborers Organizing Network said, "Instead of addressing a domestic human rights crisis, the president appears to be caving into extremists who are further shattering and already broken immigration system. Any legitimate concerns about border security cannot be resolved until undocumented people are given full equality in our society."


Navajo Activists Protest Uranium Mining Plans
A group of indigenous activists have traveled to Denver this week to protest a uranium mining conference discussing new mining projects on Navajo land. Three Navajo activists were removed from the conference despite being formally invited to attend one of the sessions. On Thursday, one of the three, Nadine Padilla of the Multicultural Alliance for Safe Environments, protested her expulsion.

Nadine Padilla: "The problem is this is a meeting we should have been involved in from the start. The four proposed mines on Navajo land is something the community members need to be a part of. We need to be at the table and need to have our voices and our concerns heard by people who are making the decisions, such as the federal agencies like the Nuclear Regulatory Commission."


Guard at Private Immigration Prison Fired for Sexual Assault
And a prison guard at a privately run Texas immigration jail has been fired for allegedly sexually assaulting several women prisoners. Immigration and Customs Enforcement says the guard groped several women and solicited sex from at least one woman while transporting them to their deportation flights. ICE says the company hired to run the prison, Corrections Corporation of American, is on probation pending the outcome of a probe into the allegations.


UN Calls for Halt to CIA Drone Attacks
A senior United Nations official has formally asked the Obama administration to halt or scale back CIA drone strikes on alleged militant suspects in Pakistan. In a report to the UN Human Rights Council, Philip Alston, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial, Summary or Arbitrary Executions, said US secrecy around the drone program is undermining international law. Alston will detail his findings before the UN Human Rights Council later today.


US Altered Military Rules to Protect Drone Operators
The New York Times revealed last week the Obama administration modified rules on military commissions to protect drone operators from facing allegations of war crimes. The old rules defined "murder in violation of the laws of war" as killings by those who don�t meet "the requirements for lawful combatancy." That definition could have implicated CIA drone operators, who aren�t members of the military.

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