The Dryden Theater hosted a public forum on health care justice November 15, 2009. It was organized by Progressive Democrats of America and moderated by Jeff Cohen, a journalism professor and founder of the media-monitoring group Fairness and Accuracy In Reporting(FAIR).

The House of Representatives recently passed bill HR3269 which was intended to make health care more accessible and affordable. Republicans and 39 Democrats voted against the bill, mostly over concerns of cost or ideology. But two of those Democrats, Dennis Kucinich of Ohio and Eric Massa of the 29th district in New York which includes parts of Rochester, voted against it for a different reason. The bill does not go far enough in addressing health care inequity in America. Massa was present at the conference and Kucinich called in by phone. Both Democratic representatives favor a different approach toward health care reform, HR676 which would expand the current Medicare system to all Americans beginning at birth. HR676, sponsored by Rep John Conyers (D-Michigan) was never put to a vote. Conyers attended a similar conference here in May and was invited to this one, but could not attend. Also present were Donna Smith of the California Nurses Association, who appeared in Michael Moore's documentary Sicko, Steve Cobble, the founder of Progressive Democrats of America and Dr Emily Queenan, MD, a member of Physicians for a National Health Plan (PNHP). The video of the health justice forum: http://blip.tv/file/2871451

On Tuesday, November 17, 2009, members of Activists Against Racism Movement (AARM) traveled to the 750 East Avenue office of Workers United demanding to meet with union manager, Gary Bonadonna as a followup to a meeting initiated by AARM in August. Mr. Bonadonna, refused to meet with the group and instead called the police to have members of the organization removed from the property. Please read ahead for a full account.

The waiting room at Judicial Process Commission is small, with a worn, older-looking blue carpet. Two fans whirl in the background. And a quarter-pot of coffee smolders below a plaque, the type you see in hospitals and nursing homes, that says - the Virginia and John Mackey Reception Area.

If you were just released from prison - with no job and no money - this modest little room off Ormond Street is a welcome sight. For many, it's a place to start over.

Additional Information: Justicia: Newsletter of the JPC

Related: Rochester Calls for New Independent Civilian Review Board After October 7th Police Riot | Mainstream Media Absent as Activists Against Racism Movement Delivers 700 Signatures | No Ballistics, No DNA, No Fingerprints, No Eyewitness: Somehow Jury Finds 15 Year-old Guilty | Demonstration Against Abuse in Erie County Jails | Rallying Against RICO | Critical Resistance | INCITE! WOMEN OF COLOR AGAINST VIOLENCE AND CRITICAL RESISTANCE: STATEMENT ON GENDER VIOLENCE AND THE PRISON INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX (.pdf)

Albany, NY—The Haudenosaunee Environmental Task Force (HETF), the environmental branch of the traditional Haudenosaunee (Iroquois Confederacy) government, issued a statement on November 5th calling on New York State to ban the permitting of natural gas drilling.

The statement by the Haudenosaunee leaders vowed to exert their treaty rights to ban any hydrofracking on or near their aboriginal territory, and cited threats posed by the proposed drilling not only within the New York City watershed but to clean water around the region, including the Great Lakes which contain a fourth of all potable fresh water in the world.

Additional Information: ShaleShock.org—Shaleshock Citizens Action Alliance | Haudenosaunee Environmental Task Force | Onondaga Nation: People of the Hills | Hydraulic-Fracturing | Hydrofracking: Bradford, PA | Make your voice heard on Nov. 19th—Public Hearing | LISTEN: Voices of Dimock | Ruckus Society Training: Learn Important Skills for Gas Activism! | Drilling 101 | The problems with gas drilling | What about the water? | DEC extends shale comment period | Shale drilling concerns evolve | Learning the natural-gas drill | Draft Supplemental Generic Environmental Impact Statement on the Oil, Gas and Solution Mining Regulatory Program

On Monday, October 26th, Shaiasia Williams, a student at Edison Tech, was defiantly walking the halls of her school when she was subsequently sent to the In School Suspension room. That particular day in the ISS room, Williams was there with five other students, when, allegedly, the teacher in the room, Mrs. Mezzola, found her cell phone missing. Instead of Mezzola taking the proper protocol of reporting her lost cell phone to the principal, security and/or the school resource officer, she phoned her husband who happens to be an officer of the Rochester Police Department.

Read the full letter from Shonda Hannah—the mother of Shaiasia Williams—by clicking here. The letter describing this egregious abuse of power was sent to RCSD Superintendent Brizard, Mayor Duffy, Darryl Porter, Chief Moore, Adam McFadden, RCSD Officials, and many others.

Related: Rochester Calls for New Independent Civilian Review Board After October 7th Police Riot | Counter-Recruitment Activists Organize to Protect Student Privacy