Laura_M's blog

Don't raise my rates: HUD Secretary holds a townhall with PLAN

 

Blog by Howard Watts III, PLAN field director

 

Last Thursday, I had the pleasure and honor of introducing and sitting with Shaun Donovan, the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, for a town hall on student debt and housing at PLAN. I admit, I knew very little about Secretary Donovan before I started planning the town hall, but I quickly learned, as did the attendees at the town hall, that we were a good match. Secretary Donovan had worked as a community organizer early in his career, and we may have in fact been trained in organizing by some of the same folks.

Sandoval has a change of heart, decides to stop draining funds from education

 

 

Governor Brian Sandoval released a statement today claiming he will make no new cuts to Nevada's already bare education coffers and he will also re-extend the nearly $600 million sunset taxes.

 

His statement reads in part:

 

“On Thursday, the Budget Office will be releasing budget instructions for the next biennium as we prepare for the 2013 Legislature. In order to avoid cuts to education and other essential services, revenues from the sunset taxes will need to be continued.

A gift of freedom

 

Our fabulous intern Stacey Shinn has been in Alabama for almost a week, and she'll be joined by staffer Elvira Diaz today on the anniversay of Bloody Sunday. Check out blogs HERE and HERE explaining the significance of their travels and follow us on Twitter too. 

 

I wanted to share this story she told me about her flight to Alabama Saturday:

 

"I met a woman on my third flight today. I was explaining to her why I was headed to Alabama and all about the march. She took the bracelet she was wearing off her wrist and handed it over to me.

From Selma to Montgomery, PLAN intern Stacey Shinn marches on

Right at this moment PLAN intern Stacey Shinn is somewhere between Selma and Montgomery Alabama, marching with thousands of other voting rights activists, recreating the historic march that was a turning point in the Civil Rights Movement, moving Congress to pass the Voting Rights Act.

 

The annual "Bridge Crossing Jubilee" in Selma, commemorating its 47th year, is the recognition of an era when attempts by African Americans to register to vote were met with bloody consequences. The original marchers never made it across the bridge. They were brutally beaten by state and local police.

 

PLAN staff heading to Alabama in honor of a historic march

 

March 7, 1965. Bloody Sunday. White resistance to African Americans registering to vote reached a bloody apex in Selma during a student organized and led voting rights march. More than 600 students, including current US Congressman John Lewis, were brutally beaten by police.

 

Hosea Williams and John Lewis confront troopers on Bloody Sunday during the Selma to Montgomery march. Part of a collection documenting the march by Spider Martin, photojournalist. 

 

These series of marches were pivotal in the Civil Rights Movement.

Toxic waste from hard rock mining creating two-headed trout in Idaho

 

 
The Nevada Mining Association likes to boast about all the influence the minerals they mine have on our lives. Just today they crowed on their Facebook page that "the mining industry's impact is felt beyong[sic] the borders of Nevada mine sites!". No one is more familiar with that exclamation than the fine folks of Idaho:
 
 
From the New York Times:
 
 
"Photographs of variously mutated brown trout were relegated to an appendix of a scientific study commissioned by the J. R. Simplot Company, whose mining operations have polluted nearby creeks in southern Idaho.

PLAN's statement on the passing of Senator William Raggio

 

The following is a statement from PLAN's chief lobbyist, Jan Gilbert. A social justice advocate in Carson City for more than 28 years, Jan is retiring this year after 18 years representing PLAN in Northern Nevada. While Senator Raggio and PLAN were often at odds on various issues, there was a mutual respect and admiration between Jan and the Senator.
 
 
As an organization PLAN honors Senator Raggio's remarkable service to our great state and we appreciate his willingness to always come to the table to listen to our side.

Meet community activist Ruby Duncan

 

Black history is undeniably American history. The story of this great county is interwoven with the names, stories and accomplishments of Black Americans who gave everything they could to make this place a more tolerable place for ALL people to live.

 

In February America celebrates our Black History, recognizing the contributions, gifts and sacrifices that have helped move our country forward. In Nevada we are lucky to have a living legend, a mother who wanted a chance to work and earn a living wage to feed her family and ensure that the state was doing its due diligence.

Farewell to PLAN organizer Ikaika Regidor

 

One of my favorite quotes begins with "Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure." This, I believe sums up my experience working for PLAN. Coming on board in August of 2009, I feared being inadequate. I remember my first week in the office, I quickly became aware of the wealth of knowledge those around me possessed. 

 

In a sink or swim effort, I enthusiastically learned as quickly as I could, everything there was to know about Nevada politics.

Statement on foreclosure settlement

 

STATEMENT FROM THE CAMPAIGN FOR A FAIR SETTLEMENT

 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

February 9, 2012

 

CONTACT: 

Mike Uehlein, Michael@berlinrosen.com, 317-506-3428

Bob Fulkerson, bfulkerson@planevada.org, 775-348-7557

Michael Ginsburg, mginsburg@planevada, 702-791-1965

 

FORECLOSURE DEAL PAVES WAY FOR FULL INVESTIGATION INTO BANKS OVER ECONOMIC CRASH

 

Imperfect Settlement Greatly Improved After Efforts by Key Attorneys General, Progressive Groups to Limit Legal Immunity for Banks, Strengthen Enforcement, Improve Benefits for Homeowners

 

New investigations by feds, states should

The largest toxic release generator in the US is still metals mining

On Friday Mineweb.com reported that according to the EPA’s Toxic Releases Inventory (TRI), metals mining is once again the “largest contributor of toxic chemicals released into the environment”:

The EPA's 2010 TRI data showed that 3.93 billion pounds of toxic chemicals were released into the environment, a 16% increase from 2009. "The increase is mainly due to changes in the metal mining sector, which typically involves large facilities handling large volumes of material," the agency said.

Bob's Mining Oversight and Accountability Commission testimony

 

Below is public testimony our executive director Bob Fulkerson delivered before the Mining Oversight and Accountability Commission this morning:
 
 
December 20, 2011
TO: Mining Oversight Advisory Committee Members
FR: Bob Fulkerson, PLAN
RE: First Meeting
 

First of all, thank you for your service to Nevada.


The Mining Oversight and Accountability Committee: The words “Accountability” and “Oversight” say it all. MOAC was established to stop the piecemeal approach to oversight of the mining industry in Nevada.

Building Collaborations with the Occupy Movement

A blog by our State Director, Bob Fulkerson

I’ve been part of building coalitions and campaigns around various social justice and environmental issues for almost 30 years. But this is the first time I’ve seen the synergy between various factions and issues and the organic way that a new movement is rising up with spontaneous energy at the grassroots level.



The Occupy movement has broken through the American consciousness around vast inequality thanks to the new lens of the 99%. It’s important that the professional left, like PLAN and national organizations, don’t attempt to co-opt or take

A tribute to Bob Fulkerson from Kalamazoo

Our state director Bob Fulkerson returned to Nevada last week after a 10-week sabbatical in Kalamazoo, Michigan where he was an Arcus Social Justice Leadership Fellow at Kalamazoo

 

Check out Megan Davis' "Love is What You Do" video and learn about Bob's time in Kalamazoo and his strong Nevada roots:

 

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And to keep up with our "Thankful" theme this month, Bob says:

"I'm thankful because I'm blessed to work with such talented and dedicated young leaders who want to make Nevada a more humane state."

Joe Edson, PLAN systems director on what he's thankful for

For the past nine years of the eleven that I have worked with PLAN, I have supervised the practicum student interns from the UNR school of social work, and I am most thankful for the dedication and vitality that these young adults are bringing back to progressive ideas for our society.


As a member of the boomer generation—a demographic that has always been subject to a 50-50 split in ideology since the Vietnam War—I have seen too much entrenchment in the status quo which, in large part, we have created.

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