Dallas Morning News:
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/texassouthwest/stories/042607dntexfwtycarrest.a2671e7.html
http://www.dallasnews.com/investigativereports/tyc/
Texas Youth Commission:
http://www.tyc.state.tx.us/news/tyc_major_incidents.html
http://www.tyc.state.tx.us/news/index.html
For some time now the Texas Youth Commission has been under a microscope due to allegations of sexual abuse of inmates by staff. The state has become involved and is working on revamping the TYC's management. Problems continue to persist within TYC as one of the agency's officer was accused of having sex with a female resident while on a trip to the park on April 25. The incident is still under investigation.
I thought it was very interesting that the TYC's website has a link titled "In the News" with agency and facility press releases and a major incident tracker. The recent incident that occurred at the park was listed under "major incident tracker." The same language was used in the Dallas Morning News story as in the information listed on TYC's website, and the amount of information was about the same except for DMN giving a little more. The two stories are in agreement, but the information on TYC's site does not add to the story by the press because it just gives the bare facts. The tone for both stories are the same, but no gaps are filled on TYC's part. I also took the liberty of browsing the list of press releases available on TYC's website and noticed that there was not a lot of information on the cleanup of the system. There are press releases that discuss the management that has been put in place, but not the allegations and problems the agency has had to deal with.
It just appears that TYC acknowledges the problems within the agency, but does not discuss them in detail. In one press release the new acting executive director says, “We have a lot of work to do and problems to fix, but I’m confident this agency can meet that challenge." I think TYC has done a mediocre job in dealing with all the sexual abuse allegations and it would have been okay for TYC to talk a little more about the problems along with the solutions (i.e. new management). The news makes the scandals appear to be really big, but when you go to TYC's site it is very much downplayed. An individual could not fully grasp the magnitude of the scandals by going only to TYC's site.
Monday, April 30, 2007
Wednesday, March 7, 2007
Waterways Conference Speakers Brief Biographies
Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr., son of former US president Robert F Kennedy, is an environmental lawyer and the co-host of Ring of Fire on the Air America Radio network. After doing community service with the Riverkeeper organization in 1984, he became the group's chief prosecuting attorney. He currently serves as the president of the Water Keeper Alliance which, according to wikipedia.org, " [is] the fastest growing grassroots environmental movement in the world." In 1998 Kennedy and two other men, Chris Bartle and John Hoving, created Tear of Clouds LLC., a water bottling company that donates all profits to the Waterkeeper Alliance. He is currently married to Mary Richardson and has six children.
Sources for this biography are:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waterkeeper_Alliance
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_F._Kennedy,_Jr.
http://www.activistcash.com/biography.cfm/bid/2765
Kelley Alley
Kelley Alley is an associate professor and director of the anthropology program at Auburn University. Alley has done research in northern India for over ten years and has been the overseer of a project that was concerned with alleviating the problem of river pollution in India. She is also the author of the book Banks of the Ganga: When Wastewater Meets a Sacred River, which is an ethnographic study that discusses issues concerning water and the Ganga, which is considered by the people of India to be sacred. She has also been the author of many other works that discuss water and the environment.
Sources for this biography are:
http://www.press.umich.edu/titleDetailDesc.do?id=12072
http://www.auburn.edu/academic/liberal_arts/sociology/bios/alley.htm
Robert F. Kennedy Jr., son of former US president Robert F Kennedy, is an environmental lawyer and the co-host of Ring of Fire on the Air America Radio network. After doing community service with the Riverkeeper organization in 1984, he became the group's chief prosecuting attorney. He currently serves as the president of the Water Keeper Alliance which, according to wikipedia.org, " [is] the fastest growing grassroots environmental movement in the world." In 1998 Kennedy and two other men, Chris Bartle and John Hoving, created Tear of Clouds LLC., a water bottling company that donates all profits to the Waterkeeper Alliance. He is currently married to Mary Richardson and has six children.
Sources for this biography are:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waterkeeper_Alliance
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_F._Kennedy,_Jr.
http://www.activistcash.com/biography.cfm/bid/2765
Kelley Alley
Kelley Alley is an associate professor and director of the anthropology program at Auburn University. Alley has done research in northern India for over ten years and has been the overseer of a project that was concerned with alleviating the problem of river pollution in India. She is also the author of the book Banks of the Ganga: When Wastewater Meets a Sacred River, which is an ethnographic study that discusses issues concerning water and the Ganga, which is considered by the people of India to be sacred. She has also been the author of many other works that discuss water and the environment.
Sources for this biography are:
http://www.press.umich.edu/titleDetailDesc.do?id=12072
http://www.auburn.edu/academic/liberal_arts/sociology/bios/alley.htm
Wednesday, February 28, 2007
RAN- Grassroots or Astroturf?
The following is some information that I found on the Rainforest Action Network's website (ran.org) about who they are, what they are and why they do the things they do:
Rainforest Action Network (RAN) works to protect the Earth's rainforests and support the rights of their inhabitants through education, grassroots organizing, and non-violent direct action. RAN accomplishes its mission through dynamic, hard-hitting campaigns that work to bring corporate and governmental policies into alignment with popular support for rainforest conservation. RAN works in alliance with environmental and human rights groups around the world, including indigenous forest communities and non-governmental organizations in rainforest countries.
We're not just about rainforests! Over the last twenty years, RAN's mission to protect forests and their inhabitants has evolved into a multi-faceted master plan. Ending resource extraction that evicts indigenous communities is connected to cleaning up America's addiction to oil, which is connected to climate change and more... In short, we're out to transform the global economy. And we're doing it.
Their efforts concentrate mostly on forests, climate, human rights, energy, corporate power and peaceful protest.
Some consider the tactics that RAN uses in order to get businesses to change their practices radical, but I do not believe that would effect they are considered astroturf or grassroots.
After browsing through some of their most recent annual reports most of their donors are individuals, foundations, and many businesses that are not nationwide.Some of the donations are labeled anonymous. Also the staff of RAN, in my opinion, is not paid an obscene amount of money. (Figures for staff salary can be found here.) Because of this RAN appears to be a grassroots organization.
Sources:
http://www.ran.org/
http://ran.org/fileadmin/materials/executive/annual_reports/RAN_AnnualReport2006.pdf
http://ran.org/fileadmin/materials/executive/annual_reports/RAN_AnnualReport2005.pdf
http://www.discoverthenetwork.org/groupProfile.asp?grpid=6904
http://www.capitalresearch.org/search/orgdisplay.asp?Org=RAN100
Rainforest Action Network (RAN) is made up of 36 staff members in San Francisco, CA and in Tokyo, Japan, plus thousands of volunteer scientists, teachers, parents, students and other concerned citizens around the world. We believe that a sustainable world can be created in our lifetime, and that aggressive action must be taken immediately to leave a safe and secure world for our children.
Rainforest Action Network (RAN) works to protect the Earth's rainforests and support the rights of their inhabitants through education, grassroots organizing, and non-violent direct action. RAN accomplishes its mission through dynamic, hard-hitting campaigns that work to bring corporate and governmental policies into alignment with popular support for rainforest conservation. RAN works in alliance with environmental and human rights groups around the world, including indigenous forest communities and non-governmental organizations in rainforest countries.
We're not just about rainforests! Over the last twenty years, RAN's mission to protect forests and their inhabitants has evolved into a multi-faceted master plan. Ending resource extraction that evicts indigenous communities is connected to cleaning up America's addiction to oil, which is connected to climate change and more... In short, we're out to transform the global economy. And we're doing it.
Their efforts concentrate mostly on forests, climate, human rights, energy, corporate power and peaceful protest.
Some consider the tactics that RAN uses in order to get businesses to change their practices radical, but I do not believe that would effect they are considered astroturf or grassroots.
After browsing through some of their most recent annual reports most of their donors are individuals, foundations, and many businesses that are not nationwide.Some of the donations are labeled anonymous. Also the staff of RAN, in my opinion, is not paid an obscene amount of money. (Figures for staff salary can be found here.) Because of this RAN appears to be a grassroots organization.
Sources:
http://www.ran.org/
http://ran.org/fileadmin/materials/executive/annual_reports/RAN_AnnualReport2006.pdf
http://ran.org/fileadmin/materials/executive/annual_reports/RAN_AnnualReport2005.pdf
http://www.discoverthenetwork.org/groupProfile.asp?grpid=6904
http://www.capitalresearch.org/search/orgdisplay.asp?Org=RAN100
Saturday, February 24, 2007
Waterways Lead
Raising awareness of issues concerning water basins will be the focus of the second biennial Water Conference which will feature Robert F. Kennedy Jr. from March 13-15 at the University of North Texas.
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