Civil Rights News: Inmates Protest Poor Conditions, MD Immigration Debate, Employment Is Stagnating

Inmates stage hunger strike for better conditions
By Kevin Fagan, San Francisco Chronicle

At the Pelican Bay State Prison, inmates are protesting to brutal and sadistic conditions they face in prison by way of hunger strike. Inmates said at times they are refused food by prison guards or threatened with lengthened stays in solitary confinement if they withhold information about other prisoners and their involvement in prison culture.

Md. voters to decide immigrant tuition law
By Aaron C. Davis, Washington Post

In Maryland, petitioners have gained enough support to suspend an immigration tuition law, forcing a direct ballot vote. “Under the law, undocumented immigrants who can prove that they have attended Maryland high schools for at least three years and that their parents or guardians have begun paying taxes were to have been allowed to begin courses this fall at community colleges at in-state.”

Economy adds a weak 18,000 jobs; unemployment rate is 9.2%
By Christopher S. Rugaber, USA Today

Recent statistics have been released which show that the job market is improving at a slower rate than economists expected. Economists claim that this may have been caused by lasting effects from the high gas prices and natural disasters taking place in Japan and many parts of the United States.

Compiled by Josh Chomet, a summer intern