Search results for

NPR's Martin Kaste reports on the conflict between Brazil's government and The Movement of Landless Agricultural Workers. The group wants to seize property owned by large land owners, and is encouraging hundreds of families to take over these properties by moving in, or "squatting." The group has prodded the government into an official policy of land reform, but recent protest tactics have reduced its influence greatly, and have pushed big landowners back into political favor.

Wyoming Public Radio's Bob Beck reports that commercial coal methane drilling is causing some environmental problems, including flooding, high salt content in the soil, and other disturbances to land. Neighboring Montana has issued a moratorium on drilling for the gas, but Wyoming isn't likely to follow. Wyoming officials say coal methane development is too important to the state's economy.

NPR's Gerry Hadden reports from Mexico City on Vicente Fox, the winner of yesterday's presidential election. The man who ended the ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party's 71-year monopoly on power is a rancher and the former head of Coca-Cola for Latin America. He also served as a Mexican state governor. He is expected to continue current government policies on the economy and trade, while maintaining Mexico's close ties to the United States.

Many towns in California are turning to goats... nature's own walking trash disposals...to help clean up dry brush and other vegetation in fire-prone areas. NPR's Ina Jaffe reports from Laguna Beach, where the animals have been used for about a decade. The goats are about five times cheaper than a human crew...and are able to go where people and heavy machinery can't.

NPR's Cheryl Corley reports on how many U.S. math teachers are turning to Singaporean textbooks. Unlike most American math texts, the books from Singapore use the metric system, plenty of sample problems, and step-by-step instructions. Teachers say the books help students grasp mathematical concepts better and faster.

NPR's Ted Clark reports that President Clinton has announced a new Middle East summit with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barka and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat. The leaders will come to Washington to try to advance the stalled Middle East peace process. The announcement prompted another of Barak's coalition partners, Natan Shransky, to declare that he will resign from the government and take his small party out of the government.

NPR's Tovia Smith reports that more family courts are ruling that children in custody cases should spend equal with both divorcing parents. For example, a Massachusetts judge decided recently that a five-year-old boy should spend alternating years with his divorcing mother and father. Fathers' rights groups approve of the trend; critics say it favors parents' rights over the best interests of children.

NPR's Snigdha Prakash reports that at least 50,000 of the striking Verizon Communications workers are back on the job today as the two-week strike against the largest local phone company winds down. The unions said they were happy with terms of the deal, which gives them better pay and better benefits; more important, from their perspective, the unions have increased their ability to organize the company's wireless and Internet divisions. Analysts say the settlement is being closely watched by telecommunications industry.

Leda Hartman reports on the lawsuit that Hoke County and four other rural counties in North Carolina have brought, against the state's method of disbursing money to school districts. The plaintiffs argue that poor school districts can't raise as much money for public education as wealthier districts, and that the inequality feeds a cycle of underachievement and poverty. The case is currently in North Carolina State Superior Court and is expected to go to the state supreme court.

Susanna Capelouto of Peach State Public Radio reports on a plan by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to reduce the flow of the Chattahoochee River to protect Atlanta's drinking water supply. The plan has upset those who live downstream. Because of a long regional drought, the Corps wants to hold the water in Lake Lanier, which is the main reservoir for Atlanta. Environmentalists fear that plan will prevent aquatic life below the dam from getting enough water in the river to survive the dry conditions.