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Stories tagged with “Arkansas”

NEWS FLASH

Arkansas University Opens Gender-Specific Bathrooms To Trans Students | The University of Arkansas at Fort Smith recently told student Jennifer Braly that she was prohibited from giving lectures about being transgender to classes on campus, despite the fact that faculty were eager to feature her presentations. Braly suspected it was because she had sued the school for other forms of discrimination she faced. This week, the university reversed its policy restricting Braly to gender-neutral bathrooms after the Department of Justice sent a letter on her behalf. Trans students will now be able to use the bathroom corresponding to the gender with which they identify. Braly’s complaints about housing and other discrimination remain unaddressed.

(Note: The original sources for this story, Fox News and Campus Reform, inappropriately and disrespectfully refer to Braly as “anatomically male,” using male pronouns — or no pronouns at all, in the case of Fox News — to reject the authenticity of her identity. Inside Higher Ed has published a story that better articulates her background and experiences.)

NEWS FLASH

Arkansas GOP Nominates House Candidate Who Called For Jailing NY Times Journalists | On Tuesday, the Arkansas Republican Party nominated Tom Cotton as their candidate to replace retiring Blue Dog Mike Ross. Cotton became a minor celebrity in the right-wing blogosphere after he penned a letter in 2006 calling for two Pulitzer Prize winning reporters and the New York Times‘ executive editor to be thrown “behind bars” for publishing a story about a Treasury Department program to disrupt terrorist organization’s finances. Since President Obama took office, Republicans have taken to campaigning on outlandish claims that they are the sole protectors of our Constitution. Before Cotton takes up this strategy, however, he might want to familiarize himself with the following words: “Congress shall make no law . . . abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press.” [HT: Adam Serwer]

NEWS FLASH

University Of Arkansas At Fort Smith Bans Trans Student From Giving Class Lectures | Jennifer Braly, 36, is regularly invited to classes at the University of Arkansas at Fort Smith to discuss gender identity issues. A psychology student herself, Braly identifies as trans and delivers meticulously researched presentations informed by her own personal experiences. But toward the end of the semester, administrators inexplicably banned Braly from speaking in front of classes, canceling her class lectures without even consulting the faculty who had invited her to speak. It seems that one offensively anti-trans student — who had interrupted Braly with slurs and jeers — had complained about the lectures, but the administration might also be retaliating because Braly sued earlier this year regarding the lack of trans protections at the university. For example, until last Monday, she was only permitted to use the few gender-neutral restrooms, not women’s rooms in accordance with her gender. As it stands, Braly’s understanding is that she can no longer present in UAFS classrooms.

NEWS FLASH

Local Grassroots Efforts Restore Lost Title X Funds In Miami County, Kansas | After the all-male county commission voted to cut off $9,000 in Title X funding for contraceptives, residents of Miami County, Kansas decided to restore the funds to provide access to contraception for low-income women in the area. Through individual contributions, the group raised enough to restore what had been cut. “The money was given with contingencies, and after meeting in closed session with their attorney, the commissioners decided to accept the money,” one woman in Miami County said in a statement to RH Reality Check, “how could they not?” Watch what the women had to say when they presented their check to the commission:

NEWS FLASH

Kobach-Supported Immigration Bills Stall In Kansas Legislature | Legislative leaders in Kansas say several strict immigration proposals are stalled after four days of hearings about the bills, including testimony from Secretary of State Kris Kobach. The anti-immigrant official wrote Arizona’s and Alabama’s harmful immigration policies, and he has urged his own state to pass similar measures. But Republican Senate President Steve Morris said he does not think there is support for the harsh measures in the Senate. And House Speaker Mike O’Neal (R) said he did not want to pass a law that would guarantee a lawsuit. “I don’t have a burning desire to address immigration this year,” O’Neal said.

Justice

Arkansas Democratic Campaign Manager Comes Home To Find Child’s Cat Murdered, ‘LIBERAL’ Written On Dead Body

By Scott Keyes on Jan 23, 2012 at 2:20 pm

The campaign manager of Arkansas Democratic congressional candidate Ken Aden arrived home last night to find his child’s pet cat murdered on the front porch with the word “LIBERAL” scrawled across its lifeless body.

Aden’s campaign manager, Jake Burris, lives in central Arkansas with his four kids. Blue Arkansas has more on the scene at Burris’s home (emphases are ours):

Last night, Jake and his four kids had come back to their Russellville home. As they were getting out of the car, one of his children discovered their family cat dead on the front porch. One side of the animal’s head had been bashed in and an eyeball was hanging out of its socket. But there was something even more horrifying to be found on the corpse. Written across the animal’s fur in black marker was the word “LIBERAL“.

Here is a picture of the family’s murdered cat:

Pope County, where Burris lives, is a highly-conservative area of Arkansas. Aden has been running for the 3rd congressional district seat, currently held by Rep. Steve Womack (R-AR), since August 2011. He released a statement on the matter this morning: “To kill a child’s pet is just unconscionable. As a former combat soldier, I’ve seen the best of humanity and the worst of humanity. Whoever did this is definitely part of the worst of humanity.”

It is unclear at this time precisely who committed this heinous act.

Education

GOP Rep. Berates Student Concerned About Pell Grant Cuts, Tells Her To Join The Military

By Tanya Somanader on Jan 13, 2012 at 5:45 pm

Rep. Steve Womack (R-AR)

To avoid a government shutdown at the end of 2011, Republicans succeeded in their campaign to cut the federal Pell Grant program by effectively kicking up to 100,000 low-income students off the rolls.

Last week, Arkansas constituent Kelly Eubanks, a college student who has two jobs and two children, confronted her Congressman, Rep. Steve Womack (R), at a town hall meeting over his attack on the program she now relies on. But instead of any explanation, Womack lashed out at Eubanks, telling her to pay her own way by “joining the military” like he did. After refusing to answer her question, he finally just asked her to “be quiet and listen.” Blue Arkansas reports:

According to Kelly and a handful of other witnesses, Womack happily retorted that it wasn’t the federal government’s job to pay for education (he’s doing this in a college town mind you) and then quickly added that he paid for his education by joining the military, apparently suggesting that the mom of two do the same and totally oblivious I guess to the fact that it was, in fact, the federal government that paid for his education then. Well Womack tried to skirt the rest of Ms. Eubanks question and she proceeded to try and get him to address the discrepancy she pointed out. Well at this point, according to Kelly and several other people that were in the room, Womack blew a gasket.

He skirted the rest of my question and I called him out on it.. he ended up getting pissed off.. and screaming at me.. “are you going to be quiet and listen”, [Eubanks said.]

According to Kelly, some of his aides came up and tried to get the mike from her, but she held her ground and kept her cool, insisting her congressman answer her question.

Watch KHBS news coverage of the town hall:

The irony here, as Campus Progress’ Emily Wood notes, is that Womack actually attended college on taxpayer money by joining the National Guard. But instead of acknowledging that fact, he dodged the issue and had the mike taken away from Eubanks. Eubanks attended the town hall with the hopes of understanding Womack’s view. “I thought maybe meeting him and asking him why he’d vote to hurt students but protect Big Oil interests, face to face, would get me a real answer,” she told the Arkansas Times. “I really thought maybe he could explain it somehow. I did not think he was a heartless or arrogant person going in to this, but I definitely do now.”

Climate Progress

Astroturf Mastermind Picked To Lead Western Drilling Group

By Public Lands Team on Jan 4, 2012 at 5:40 pm

By Jessica Goad, manager of research and outreach, Center for American Progress Action Fund.

The Western Energy Alliance, one of the biggest and best-financed oil and drilling promoters in the Rocky Mountain West, has chosen former lobbyist Tim Wigley to be its new president, according to Greenwire today.

Wigley comes to WEA after a 10-year stint at Pac/West, a public relations and lobbying firm that counts the oil and gas industry as one of its clients. Pac/West previously employed disgraced former Rep. Richard Pombo (R-CA), who once attempted to sell off national parks to tackle national deficit woes. The group is also notable for having secured a $3 million contract from Alaska’s legislature to “educate” Americans on the benefits of drilling in the state’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

Wigley has spent much of his career lobbying on behalf of corporate interests. But perhaps most interesting is his previous role as campaign manager for two “astroturf” groups — those that purport to be grassroots when really they are just front groups for industry. According to a 2007 investigation by Public Citizen, Wigley headed up two major astroturf campaigns while working for Pac/West:

- Project Protect (logging): “This group spent $2.9 million on media purchases and other efforts to lobby for President Bush’s ‘Healthy Forests’ initiative. The group, which billed itself as ‘a grassroots coalition of western communities, natural resource groups, labor organizations, and conservationists,’ refused to disclose its donors. It listed an address at Mailboxes, Etc., in 2003. In 2004, it listed an address identical to that of the American Forest Resource Council, a group that lobbies for public land management policies that favor industry.”

- Save Our Species Alliance (endangered species issues): “This group sought to gut the Endangered Species Act…The campaign manager for Save Our Species Alliance was Tim Wigley…[who] told a reporter that the Save Our Species Alliance was a grassroots group of farmers, labor groups and others. Wigley did not divulge the identities of the group’s funders. ‘I think this line of questioning is misleading,’ he said to the reporter who asked.”

The Western Energy Alliance is a trade group with lobbying and PAC arms whose “Blueprint for Western Prosperity” is a hit list against public health and environmental safeguards and calls for policies like a “moratorium on new federal regulations.” WEA is notorious for accusing the Obama administration for blocking drilling on public lands, despite evidence that oil and gas drilling in America is higher than ever before.

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