tagged w/ The Underreported Story
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By Stephanie Whiteside / current.com
Footage of the Houla massacre in Syria has horrified viewers with its graphic depiction of the violence faced by Syrians. Increasingly, mobile technology and services like YouTube and Ustream have allowed human rights activists and citizen journalists to share their stories with a global audience. But these videos also raise questions about the graphic nature of the content -- what crosses the line?
YouTube's new human rights channel puts a spotlight on video from activists, providing a central, curated location for videos that cover everything from the Occupy movement to violence in Syria. For YouTube, activist videos have been a growing force, particularly those from the Middle East and Africa.
By Stephanie Whiteside / current.com
Footage of the Houla massacre in Syria has... more
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By Stephanie Whiteside / current.com
Tuesday morning marked a step forward for the private space industry as SpaceX successfully launched the first commercial cargo capsule to attempt to deliver goods to the International Space Station. The Dragon capsule has successfully detached from Falcon 9 rocket that powered its launch and entered orbit, where it is on track to test systems and attempt to dock with the ISS.
The mission is a new step in partnership between NASA and the private space industry, but is private industry the right solution for space exploration?
SpaceX is part of a program to advance the private space industry by having NASA work with private companies to deliver cargo to the ISS. The Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) program that is helping fund the mission is designed to help NASA move away from the shuttle era and free the agency to focus on broader goals. It's also designed to help advance the private space industry.
By Stephanie Whiteside / current.com
Tuesday morning marked a step forward for the... more
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By Stephanie Whiteside / current.com
Yemen is the latest front in the War on Terror, but expanding military operations and increased drone strikes haven't grabbed the attention of the media or the public.
Operations in Yemen are targeted at suspected militants supporting al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) according to intelligence sources. The precise number of drone strikes is hard to pin down; some estimates put the total of strikes this year at 15, which the Washington Post reports is "about as many as in the previous 10 years combined." The Bureau for Investigative Journalism has also been tracking drone strikes, and puts the number from 2002 to 2012 somewhere between 27 and 88.
By Stephanie Whiteside / current.com
Yemen is the latest front in the War on... more
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By Stephanie Whiteside / current.com
Producers of flame-retardant chemicals have been relying on heart-wrenching testimony about burned children to promote laws requiring the use of flame retardant chemicals. There's only one problem — the testimony offered by one star witness wasn't true.
The Chicago Tribune reported on testimony from Dr. David Heimbach who, as a witness for manufacturers, told tragic tales of babies being burnt to death while calling on legislators to vote for laws that require flame retardants and brush aside health and safety concerns raised by environmentalists and doctors. But when the Tribune investigated, it found the stories told were not accurate.
By Stephanie Whiteside / current.com
Producers of flame-retardant chemicals have... more
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By Stephanie Whiteside / current.com
When it comes to policies on sex education, it's the GOP that's pushing for abstinence-only policies, right? Not necessarily; the Obama administration quietly added an abstinence-only curriculum to the list of officially sanctioned guidelines from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
The program is the South Carolina-based Heritage Keepers program, which is included as one of the 31 evidence-based programs for preventing teen pregnancy and it was included in the list this spring.
By Stephanie Whiteside / current.com
When it comes to policies on sex education,... more
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By Stephanie Whiteside / current.com
The Senate has scrambled to prevent the closing of hundreds of local post offices and give communities a right to appeal closures after the U.S. Postal Service proposed the closings in response to a budget gap.
Officials claim the gap is due to a move towards other services — people paying bills and conducting business online rather than relying on the postal service. But is email the main reason for the gap?
By Stephanie Whiteside / current.com
The Senate has scrambled to prevent the... more
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By Stephanie Whiteside / current.com
The latest concern over government intrusion into electronic privacy comes in the form of the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act of 2011, or CISPA, which is nearing a vote in the House of Representatives.
CISPA is designed to facilitate communication between private entities and the government around cybersecurity and national security, allowing the sharing of information to combat threats to national security. But opponents are concerned that the bill is so broadly worded it could have unintended consequences for privacy.
By Stephanie Whiteside / current.com
The latest concern over government intrusion... more
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By Stephanie Whiteside / current.com
Ohio has one of the most unfriendly consumer laws on the books, now that Gov. John Kasich has signed HB 275 into law. And while there was quite a fair amount of reporting about the bill's passage, little was said about who is actually behind it.
The bill is meant to speed the resolution of court cases, but it puts consumers and honest businesses at a disadvantage by limiting the consequences for businesses that engage in deceptive practices.
HB 275 gives businesses who have been sued for cheating a customer the ability to offer the victim his or her money back and a maximum of $2,500 for attorneys' fees in exchange for dropping the suit. But rejecting the offer is a risk for the consumer because, under the new law, if a jury awards less than the original offer, the consumer loses the right to ask for triple damages and forfeits the right to have the offender cover court costs and fees.
By Stephanie Whiteside / current.com
Ohio has one of the most unfriendly consumer... more
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By Stephanie Whiteside / current.com
Nine medical groups are launching a campaign to discourage doctors from ordering what they call unnecessary tests. The effort is headed by the American Board of Internal Medicine and includes medical specialty societies representing family physicians, cardiologists, radiologist, gastroenterologists, oncologists, kidney specialists and others.
The Choosing Wisely campaign targets 45 diagnostic tests that the groups say are overused, including imaging tests, including CT scans and MRIs, and preventative tests like colonoscopies. The group is also targeting use of drugs, urging shorter courses and lower drugs to manage symptoms and avoiding prescriptions for mild-to-moderate conditions like sinus infections.
Cutting superfluous testing could save billions; the American College of Physicians CEO Dr. Steven Weinberger estimates that unnecessary diagnostic tests account for around $250 billion in health care spending.
But while much of the media is reporting on the group's effort, which was announced today in a press release, few are asking the question of why are so many tests being ordered in the first place?
By Stephanie Whiteside / current.com
Nine medical groups are launching a... more
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By Stephanie Whiteside / current.com
Beef Products, Inc., the meat supplier that produces a significant portion of the "pink slime" that was the center of a recent controversy, has shut down three of its four plants. While that's a victory for those who wanted pink slime out of food, there are still issues that demand attention.
The term pink slime was coined by USDA scientist Gerald Zirnstein to describe a filler being used by the beef industry. The substance is a mixture of beef by-products -- trimmings and connective tissue that would have previously been turned into pet food or cooking oil -- that is ground up and treated with ammonium hydroxide to kill germs. Known in the meat industry as "lean finely textured beef," it has been found in about 70 percent of the ground beef at supermarkets. It doesn't appear on the labels, because despite objections from its own scientists, the USDA considers it meat.
By Stephanie Whiteside / current.com
Beef Products, Inc., the meat supplier that... more
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By Stephanie Whiteside / current.com
Starting this summer, the largest Internet bandwidth providers will be doing double duty as copyright cops.
Comcast, Cablevision, Verizon and Time Warner Cable, as well as other broadband providers, have agreed to police copyrighted content and are on track to begin implementing the program by July.
By Stephanie Whiteside / current.com
Starting this summer, the largest Internet... more
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By Stephanie Whiteside / current.com
Agricultural giant Monsanto is preparing the first large-scale test of drought-resistant corn. The product is ready to be introduced in areas in the South that are facing severe drought, and it marks the first time that the USDA has approved a drought-resistant plant.
The company says the corn is safe. But will it be effective? The USDA quietly deregulated the corn in December, but Monsanto's own field tests indicate that the corn isn't any more effective than non-genetically-altered varieties already developed by traditional breeders.
By Stephanie Whiteside / current.com
Agricultural giant Monsanto is preparing the... more
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By Stephanie Whiteside / current.com
If someone was lawfully snooping into your email, would you even know about it?
Google is fighting back against federal law enforcement's requests for emails. Court filings from Virginia suggest the Web giant doesn't like the idea of the government demanding data be turned over without having to notify affected users of the investigation. Reports speculate the case involves either MegaUpload founder King Dotcom or Wikileaks. In the new filings, a judge has refused to extend a gag order that would prevent Google from notifying a subscriber that his or her private info has become ensnared in the investigation.
Companies like Google collect a lot of data, from stored emails to search history. Google has recently come under scrutiny for new privacy rules. The company claims it needs to collect this data to personalize and improve user experience across Google's products, but now the data collection opens up further concerns over who has access to sensitive information.
By Stephanie Whiteside / current.com
If someone was lawfully snooping into your... more
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By Stephanie Whiteside / current.com
We all know Rick Santorum has been vocal in his opposition to abortion and contraception. On "Face the Nation" recently, the Republican presidential candidate also spoke out against another facet of reproductive care -- prenatal testing.
Santorum, who has a daughter who has been diagnosed with the genetic disorder Trisomy 18, singled out anmniocentesis as one form of prenatal testing that he believes insurance companies should not be required to cover.
"The bottom line is that a lot of prenatal tests are done to identify deformities in utero and the customary procedure is to encourage abortions," Santorum argued.
But just what is an amniocentesis and what role does it play for pregnant women? Does it merely result in abortions, or is there something more important at stake? The politics of the procedure now command the headlines, but according to women who have gone through it, as well as medical professionals, the coverage of Santorum's controversial comments miss an important aspect to this story.
By Stephanie Whiteside / current.com
We all know Rick Santorum has been vocal in... more
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As Black History Month comes to a close, a new Facebook page is bringing up complicated issues of identity and culture in an increasingly diverse country.
Created by Gibré George, the page called "Don't Call Me African-American" has fueled ongoing conversations about the nature of identity and racial politics in the United States. George created the page as a response to feeling that the term African-American didn't resonate with him:
"It just doesn't sit well with a younger generation of black people," continued George, who is 38. "Africa was a long time ago. Are we always going to be tethered to Africa? Spiritually I'm American. When the war starts, I'm fighting for America."
As Black History Month comes to a close, a new Facebook page is bringing up... more
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There's been no shortage of media coverage on the rule that would require all employers to cover contraceptives as part of their health coverage. President Obama's subsequent compromise -- which allowed religious institutions to opt out of paying for contraception, while still requiring health plans to provide coverage, so that religious institutions do not have to foot the bill directly -- seemed to quiet the masses.
But while the battle over birth control appears to be behind us, Republicans are attempting to quietly introduce a "conscience amendment" to undermine the Affordable Care Act.
There's been no shortage of media coverage on the rule that would require... more
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The Republican party has never had much of a reputation for being environmentally friendly. But the news from The New York Times of a resolution against a sustainable development measure from the U.N. goes even further.
The Republican party has never had much of a reputation for being environmentally... more
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Factory farmed livestock are routinely administered antibiotics to keep them from becoming sick. But the daily dosing has some side effects, including the rise of drug-resistant superbugs in people. Salon reports on this story that has been slipping under the radar.
Factory farmed livestock are routinely administered antibiotics to keep them from... more
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In a piece of news that has gone largely unnoticed, American Banker reported that JPMorgan Chase quietly halted suits to collect consumer debt. The move comes after a few defeats in state courts and whistle-blower allegations that the company falsely overstated balances on delinquent accounts that it sold to third-party agencies.
In a piece of news that has gone largely unnoticed, American Banker reported that... more
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Last week, the Internet launched into activism to defeat SOPA and PIPA, bills which threatened the way the Web works. But even with SOPA and PIPA shelved, for now, it isn't time to rest easy as a treaty that could seriously impair the Internet is in the works.
Last week, the Internet launched into activism to defeat SOPA and PIPA, bills which... more
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