Pale Male's babies can't come home until rat poison is removed

UPPER WEST SIDE — Pale Male's two baby hawks have almost fully recovered from a bout of rat poisoning last month, but animal rescuers refuse to send them back to their home in Central Park because the area is still filled with rat poison.

Cathy Horvath, whose volunteer animal rescue organization WINORR-Wildlife In Need of Rescue and Rehabilitation is treating the famous offspring of the red-tailed hawk, said the park is too dangerous for the young birds because of the ongoing use of rodenticides at nearby institutions including the Central Park Boathouse and the American Museum of Natural History, as first reported by DNAinfo.com New York.

"I'm getting a little panicky because I don't know what to do with [the two baby hawks]. The museums and restaurants are using the same poison," said Horvath. "I can't put them back or they'll be dead."

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To learn more about the Annual International Social Uprising Resistance and Grassroots Encouragement (S.U.R.G.E.!) Film Festival please visit: www.WeSurge.org

India cracks down on Tiger Tourism

In July the Supreme Court – motivated by a petition from self-described tiger-rights champion Mr. Dubey and dismayed at the mess of regulations governing tiger conservation – shocked the industry (and indeed Mr. Dubey) by slapping a blanket ban on tiger tourism.

That’s the business of taking vehicles full of tourists into the country’s nature reserves to see the critically endangered national animal, a centrepiece of most foreigners’ visits to India and an increasingly popular pastime for India’s growing middle class.

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To learn more about the Annual International Social Uprising Resistance and Grassroots Encouragement (S.U.R.G.E.!) Film Festival please visit: www.WeSurge.org

Union-owned bank helps restore pay to Firefighters and Policemen

Earlier this summer, the city of Scranton, Pennsylvania, cut the pay of its 400 firefighters and police officers to $7.25 an hour, as Working In These Times reported. Scranton Mayor Chris Doherty claimed that he was forced to cut the pay because the city simply did not have enough cash on hand to pay full salaries. Because of its poor finances Scranton had also been unable to get a loan to help cover the costs of back wages owed to firefighters and police. But a last-second $6.25 million loan from the union-owned Amalgamated Bank will help Scranton to meet its payroll this Friday and to pay the workers their backpay.

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To learn more about the Annual International Social Uprising Resistance and Grassroots Encouragement (S.U.R.G.E.!) Film Festival please visit: www.WeSurge.org

Victory for online activists: European Parliament strikes down bill that would greatly hamper online freedoms

This July saw Europe declaring its own independence–from a multinational agreement that critics say would have increased censorship and restricted Internet freedom. The Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA), which aims to establish common standards for intellectual property rights enforcement, was defeated in the European Parliament by a 478 to 39 vote. Nine countries outside the EU have signed on to the treaty, including the United States, and if six now officially ratify it the pact will go into effect. But without European support, the agreement has lost its heft–an outcome that organizers attribute to a months-long campaign, in streets and on computer screens across Europe, to raise public awareness about the impact of this secretive trade agreement.

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To learn more about the Annual International Social Uprising Resistance and Grassroots Encouragement (S.U.R.G.E.!) Film Festival please visit: www.WeSurge.org

Chicago gears up for heirloom fruit orchard

Chicagoans will crave the Spitzenberg apple, Dave Snyder is certain. Whether in hand or in a morning danish, the name will simply roll off their tongues.

Snyder is an urban farmer and founder of the Chicago Rarities Orchard Project, or CROP. Inspired by author Michael Pollan’s Botany of Desire and North Carolina rare-apples grower Creighton Lee Calhoun, Jr., Snyder thought his diverse and congested Logan Square neighborhood a befitting home for the city’s first orchard, where rare varieties of apples, such as the Spitzenberg, dangle from branches.

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To learn more about the Annual International Social Uprising Resistance and Grassroots Encouragement (S.U.R.G.E.!) Film Festival please visit: www.WeSurge.org

Universities, Civil Society Join Major Bid to End Poverty in South Africa

Cape Town — Poverty and inequality are named routinely among the key challenges facing South Africa today. This week a conference begins in Cape Town to consider not only the experiences and causes of inequality, but to explore practical strategies - policies and actions - that can reduce inequality and poverty in both the short- and long-term.

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To learn more about the Annual International Social Uprising Resistance and Grassroots Encouragement (S.U.R.G.E.!) Film Festival please visit: www.WeSurge.org

Soil Association holds month-long celebration of organic food

One of the UK’s leading organic food and farming charities has launched Organic September – a month-long celebration of “healthy, humane and sustainable food, farming and land use”.

The event, which is being coordinated by the Soil Association, encourages people to become immersed in an organic way of life, and is supported by a number of high-profile figures, including Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, Xanthe Clay and Sophie Grigson.

“Organic September is Europe’s biggest celebration of all things organic and is a great chance for people to discover what makes organic food naturally different and to enjoy all the special offers and events happening across the country”, said Helen Browning, chief executive of the Soil Association.

“Why not give your body a boost before winter by cooking up some of the mouth-watering recipes we have collected based on fresh, seasonal organic fruit and vegetables.

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To learn more about the Annual International Social Uprising Resistance and Grassroots Encouragement (S.U.R.G.E.!) Film Festival please visit: www.WeSurge.org

Stolen Dog returned to Animal Welfare Society

Workers at a New Milford animal shelter are breathing a sigh of relief after their beloved pit bull Rocky, who they feared stolen, was returned on Monday.

Llewellyn, a Kennel Attendant at the Animal Welfare Society of New Milford, said immediate panic set in after Rocky, 6, disappeared on Sunday.

“I saw his harness was still in the basket; we realized he was gone,” Llewellyn said.

Llewellyn said someone broke in on Sunday evening while she was running errands. Rocky was the only missing thing.

“Clearly, someone broke in -- took him -- and got scared and dropped him (off somewhere),” Llewellyn said.

Luckily, the red-nosed pit bull wasn’t gone for long.

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To learn more about the Annual International Social Uprising Resistance and Grassroots Encouragement (S.U.R.G.E.!) Film Festival please visit: www.WeSurge.org

University of Texas joins Workers Rights Consortium

THE UNIVERSITY of Texas (UT) at Austin, the largest collegiate apparel provider in the world, has agreed to sign with the Workers Rights Consortium (WRC), a labor-rights monitoring group that works to end sweatshop conditions in the making of university apparel.

The decision was the result of a nine-year campaign by student activists. Throughout negotiations with the university, administrators repeatedly insisted the matter "was closed." Most recently, the logjam was broken by a sit-in at the office of UT President William Powers, during which 18 students were arrested.

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To learn more about the Annual International Social Uprising Resistance and Grassroots Encouragement (S.U.R.G.E.!) Film Festival please visit: www.WeSurge.org

Hundreds rally for Marshalltown's anti-bullying campaign

They flocked to the downtown square today clad in similar orange T-shirts with “Not In Our Town” and “Stop hate. Together.” emblazoned on the front.

But the messages on back were customized to fit their roles in this county seat that more than 27,000 Iowans call home.

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To learn more about the Annual International Social Uprising Resistance and Grassroots Encouragement (S.U.R.G.E.!) Film Festival please visit: www.WeSurge.org

Hair Salon assists homeless vets

Gwen Reese is lending her help to collect items for Valley homeless veterans.

For the next few weeks, people can drop off non-perishable food and other items at Reese’s beauty salon, A-Affordable Hair, 13930 Camino del Sol in Sun City West. The items will be delivered to a Victory Place, where homeless veterans live.

“If I can help one person, then that’s very important to me,” Reese said.

Pat Horton, who started the project, said after finding out about Victory Place she wanted to help and asked Reese to assist her.

In addition to the donation drive, Horton also has organized two “Sock-it-to-Me” projects, giving thousands of socks to veterans.

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To learn more about the Annual International Social Uprising Resistance and Grassroots Encouragement (S.U.R.G.E.!) Film Festival please visit: www.WeSurge.org

Homeless woman clears latest hurdle in illegal eviction

Though the voyage is not yet over, Sharon Green and her legal team are declaring a big victory.

The California Supreme Court on Wednesday declined to review the Glendora woman's case against Anchor Pacifica Management Company and denied the city of Glendora's request to depublish the case. That should put the parties back on track to get Green into permanent housing, said Jolene Larimore, one of Green's attorneys.

Green has been homeless since being evicted from her affordable housing unit in Heritage Oaks Senior Apartments in 2010. A battle with Anchor Pacifica traveled all the way up to a California appeals court, which ruled that the 70-year-old had been illegally evicted from her unit.

The ruling from the Second District Court of Appeals declared that tenants in affordable housing units subsidized by redevelopment agencies are entitled to due process protections similar to the federal housing program rights.

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To learn more about the Annual International Social Uprising Resistance and Grassroots Encouragement (S.U.R.G.E.!) Film Festival please visit: www.WeSurge.org