New Jersey will pay $5 million to settle a race discrimination lawsuit filed by 13 African-American state troopers who claimed they were harassed and denied promotions. The settlements, which were negotiated separately for each officer, cover back pay and emotional distress, as well as $1 million in attorney fees. The lawsuit alleged that while the […]
After four years of debate between women’s groups and the Catholic Church, New York became the 20th state in the US to require that insurers and employers provide contraceptive coverage for women. A bill passed last month in the New York legislature mandates health-insurance coverage for birth control, mammograms and screenings for cervical cancer and […]
The Washington Post reported late last week that President George Bush will likely eliminate the $34 million appropriated by Congress for the United Nation Population Fund (UNFPA). Withheld since last January because of allegations by an anti-abortion group that the UNFPA promotes forced abortions and sterilization in China, the loss of funds could lead to […]
In defiance of the new Afghan government, Abdul Hafiz Mansoor, president of Kabul TV and radio, refused to leave his post after he was ordered to do so by Information Minister Sayed Makhdoom Raheen. Mansoor is said to have ripped up the order and refused to leave his office, according to the United Kingdom’s Independent. […]
A federal judge has ordered a new trial in a civil rights suit brought by relatives of Marcus Wayman, who committed suicide after a police officer allegedly threatened to tell his family that he was gay. The judge indicated that the jury’s decision went against the “credible weight of the evidence.” According to the suit, […]
Despite assurances that he will continue to protect a woman’s right to choose if elected governor of California, Republican candidate Bill Simon has been a longtime supporter and adviser to a New Jersey-based organization with close ties to anti-abortion extremists, the San-Jose Mercury News reported Sunday. Good Counsel, which runs five homes for unwed mothers […]
As the International Criminal Court (ICC) opened its doors in The Hague today, the United States government showed its opposition by casting a vote in the UN Security Council to withdraw American peacekeepers in Bosnia. This vote by US Ambassador John Negroponte, which was diluted with a three-day reprieve, was a show of the Bush […]
In a two-part series last week, The New York Times reported that despite increased federal standards for mammography, an X-ray system used to detect breast cancer, doctors are failing to give accurate examinations to most women. “Far from ensuring high-quality mammography for all, many experts acknowledge, the system has promoted mediocre care for all but […]
In a report entitled, “HIV/AIDS: China’s Titantic Peril”, the United Nations (UN) last week criticized the Chinese government for its inaction regarding the country’s HIV/AIDS epidemic. China estimates 850,000 infections Ñ an increase of 250,000 over last year; however, the UN study suggests numbers as high as 1.5 million, with projections reaching 10 million by […]
The Supreme Court issued a 5-4 ruling yesterday that legitimizes school voucher programs and allows the state to fund religious education. The majority opinion asserts that a Cleveland, Ohio voucher program gives parents “a true private choice” in educating their children, an argument that differs fundamentally from preceding decisions on the issue. A 2000 federal […]
The Bush administration announced yesterday the creation of a 15-member panel to reevaluate Title IX. The administration claims that the Commission on Opportunity in Athletics was formed to ensure that Title IX allows fairness for both sexes, while the Feminist Majority and other leading women’s groups are calling the commission the newest attempt to weaken […]
With a surprising endorsement from a group of Democrats, the Senate Finance Committee approved a welfare bill Wednesday that includes a Bush administration proposal to spend $200 million a year promoting marriage to welfare recipients. The Feminist Majority and other leading women’s rights groups have opposed this provision from the beginning because the promotion of […]
Major Carlos Jackson of the Denver Sheriff’s Office has been charged with misdemeanor domestic violence and assault for four attacks on his wife. Jackson was arrested June 17th and was later released on $2500 bail. Jackson has been placed on paid administrative leave. Jackson’s wife is from the Philippines and had communicated with Jackson for […]
Prosecutors filed additional charges last week against Officer Ronald VanRossum, a San Bernadino, California police officer accused of raping more than a dozen women while on patrol. The number of women he is accused of sexually assaulting has reached 16. VanRossum has been charged with 43 felony counts, including rape, kidnapping and assault for alleged […]
A second King County, Washington sheriff’s deputy has been fired because of a permanent protection order against him that prohibits the carrying of a firearm. David Hick, a 10-year veteran of the King County Sheriff’s Office, attempted to appeal the judge’s verdict, arguing that his livelihood was at stake if he could not carry a […]
Past or present use of birth control pills does not increase the risk of breast cancer for women, according to a major new study released yesterday in the New England Journal of Medicine. This is true for women of all ethnicities, women who took the pill as teenagers or adults, women who took pills that […]
With both Democratic and Republican Senate leaders calling upon the Bush administration to support expansion of peacekeeping troops in Afghanistan, the Feminist Majority has stepped up an emergency call-in and e-mail campaign to provide the security necessary to promote women’s rights, democracy and reconstruction. At a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing yesterday, both Democratic and […]
Afghan President Hamid Karzai officially appointed Habiba Sorabi as minister for women’s affairs today, replacing Dr. Sima Samar who will head the country’s human rights commission. Sorabi is a pharmacist and women’s rights activist, who returned to Afghanistan after she fled to Pakistan following the Taliban takeover. Sorabi is the third woman to be appointed […]
Cambodia’s Ministry of Interior’s Anti-Trafficking Unit arrested 14 Vietnamese girls they had earlier rescued during a sex trafficking raid in the nation’s capital of Phnom Penh. Following their rescue, the girls, who are between the ages of 12 and 18, stayed at a nongovernmental organization (NGO)shelter. However, last week, they were incarcerated under charges of […]
The Sonoma County Sheriff’s Department in California has agreed to pay a record million dollar settlement to the family of Maria Teresa Macias in the landmark federal civil rights lawsuit Maria Teresa Macias vs. Sonoma County Sheriff Mark Ihde. This is the first ever monetary settlement awarded due to a police department’s negligence in protecting […]
