Guest Contributor

Guest Contributor

Corporations in Illinois: What Have You Got to Hide?

by PRW Staff — January 3, 2013 - 5:57pm
  • Topics: Activism, Corporations, Secrecy

    • -by George Goehl, National People's Action

    Tax fairness has become a centerpiece of national debate, from the president's reelection to the recent deal surrounding the so-called fiscal cliff. In Illinois, taxpayers want to make sure corporations in the State are paying their fair share as well. According to the Internal Revenue Service, the federal corporate tax rate from 1952-63 -- a period of prosperity and a significant rise in the middle class -- was 52 percent. Today it's 35 percent. By working loopholes and exceptions many corporations are able to reduce their effective tax rate to as low as zero. As it stands corporations doing business in Illinois do not have to disclose to the public what taxes, if any, they contribute to the state.

    Guest Contributor

    At ALEC Meeting, Indiana Regulator Advises Coal Companies on Delaying EPA Climate Rules

    by PRW Staff — December 13, 2012 - 3:54pm
  • Topics: ALEC Exposed, Corporations, Energy, Environment, Politics

    • -- by Connor Gibson, Greenpeace

    You're probably familiar with the old "fox in the hen house" story, but what about when a hen joins the fox den?

    This is the case with the recent American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) meeting in Washington, DC. Leaked documents obtained by Greenpeace reveal that ALEC's anti-environmental jamboree was inundated with coal money and featured an Indiana regulator advising coal utilities on delaying US Environmental Protection Agency rules to control greenhouse gas emissions and hazardous air pollution.

    Guest Contributor

    Time Gives Up on Factchecking: Corporate Media Can't Find a Way to Tell the Truth

    by PRW Staff — December 10, 2012 - 9:39am
  • Topics: Media, Politics

    • --by Peter Hart, originally published in FAIR (Fairness & Accuracy In Reporting)

    In October, the inevitable was announced: Struggling Newsweek magazine would be finished as a print publication as of the end of the year. But the last mass newsweekly left, Time, also made an announcement of sorts: It was out of the factchecking business.

    Guest Contributor

    Corrections Corporation of America Used in Drug Sweeps of Public School Students

    by Beau Hodai — November 27, 2012 - 7:00am
  • Topics: ALEC Exposed, Children, Corporations, Education

    • An unsettling trend appears to be underway in Arizona: the use of private prison employees in law enforcement operations.

    The state has graced national headlines in recent years as the result of its cozy relationship with the for-profit prison industry. Such controversies have included the role of private prison corporations in SB 1070 and similar anti-immigrant legislation disseminated in other states; a 2010 private prison escape that resulted in two murders and a nationwide manhunt; and a failed bid to privatize nearly the entire Arizona prison system.

    Guest Contributor

    Greenpeace Activist Confronts Coal Lobbyist at Energy Event

    by PRW Staff — November 19, 2012 - 2:05pm
  • Topics: Activism, Energy, Lobbying

    • - by Connor Gibson of Greenpeace

    At a well-attended energy forum hosted by Politico, I shed some light on the role of coal lobbyist Jeffrey Holmstead in blocking pollution reductions for his coal utility and mining clients after he said we can’t “regulate our way to clean energy.” Here’s the video:

    Guest Contributor

    Meet the Network Hiding the Koch Money: "Donors Trust" and "Donors Capital Fund"

    by PRW Staff — October 29, 2012 - 7:00am
  • Topics: State Policy Network, Right Wing, Corporations

    • - Connor Gibson, Greenpeace

    Earlier this year internal documents from the Heartland Institute, a major hub of climate change denial and right-wing extremism, were publicly leaked. The documents exposed the Heartland Institute's funders and strategies for attacking climate science, and led to a mass exodus of Heartland's corporate funders.

    Guest Contributor

    Approval of New Chemical-Resistant GMOs Likely to Prompt Pesticide Escalation

    by Jill Richardson — August 28, 2012 - 6:45am
  • Topics: Agriculture, Genetic Engineering, Corporations, Food Rights Network

    • A decade and a half after farmers began planting the first genetically engineered (GE) crops, the future is clear. The scientists who pioneered genetic engineering thought of themselves as environmentalists, creating products that could reduce pesticide use. Instead, they have simply perpetuated the same "pesticide treadmill" as their pesticide-peddling counterparts resulting in the application of a greater volume of ever more toxic pesticides.

    Guest Contributor

    Fighting GMO Labeling in California is Food Lobby’s “Highest Priority”

    by PRW Staff — August 1, 2012 - 10:06am
  • Topics: Genetic Engineering, Corporations, Food Rights Network, Lobbying

    • - by PRWatch guest contributor Michele Simon

    In case you had any doubt that California's Prop 37 -- which would require labeling of food containing genetically-modified organisms (GMOs) -- is a significant threat to industry, a top food lobby has now made it perfectly clear.

    Guest Contributor

    Monsanto’s Quiet Coup: Will Congress Limit Scope and Time for GMO Reviews?

    by Jill Richardson — August 1, 2012 - 6:32am
  • Topics: Genetic Engineering, Corporations, Food Rights Network, Politics

    • After a series of court defeats over the past few years, Monsanto and friends are trying to use Congress to make an end-run around the courts and current law. Lawsuits brought by opponents of genetically engineered (GE) crops resulted in the temporary removal of two products -- Roundup Ready Alfalfa and Roundup Ready Sugarbeets -- from the market. If the biotechnology industry and the legislators they support have their way, future GE crops will not suffer the same fate.

    Guest Contributor

    How the US Sold Africa to Multinationals like Monsanto, Cargill, DuPont, PepsiCo and Others

    by Jill Richardson — May 25, 2012 - 6:30am
  • Topics: Agriculture, Genetic Engineering, Corporations, Food Rights Network

    • This story was first published by Alternet and is being cross-posted by the Center for Media and Democracy's Food Rights Network.

    Driving through Ngong Hills, not far from Nairobi, Kenya, the corn on one side of the road is stunted and diseased. The farmer will not harvest a crop this year. On the other side of the road, the farmer gave up growing corn and erected a greenhouse, probably for growing a high-value crop like tomatoes. Though it's an expensive investment, agriculture consultants now recommend them. Just up the road, at a home run by Kenya Children of Hope, an organization that helps rehabilitate street children and reunite them with their families, one finds another failed corn crop and another greenhouse. The director, Charity, is frustrated because the two acres must feed the rescued children and earn money for the organization. After two tomato crops failed in the new greenhouse, her consultant recommended using a banned, toxic pesticide called carbofuran.

    Syndicate content