Journalist Nomi Prins, a Wall Street vet, talks about the importance of taking a stand against the way the government is allocating economic relief money. Taking from public funds to support private risk is a pillage.

A day in my life in the Castro

Hundreds of people gathered for a candlelight march and vigil in Humboldt Park to honor Puerto Rican hate crime victim Jorge Steven Lopez Mercado. The 19-year-old was found decapitated, dismembered and partially burned on Friday off a road in central Puerto Rico. His killer said he thought Jorge was a woman when he picked him up, and attacked the youth when he found out he was a man. At least one police officer was quoted after Jorge's body was found as saying that the youth 'deserved' it. Jorge was a beloved gay rights activist in Puerto Rico. People have been gathering across the Caribbean and North America to honor his memory -- and condemn homophobia.

Lopez was well-known for his volunteer activism on behalf of HIV prevention and gay rights. Vigils in his remembrance have been held all over the nation, including Puerto Rico, Washington D.C. and San Francisco.

Stay the course

The wave of bad publicity for the Chicago Police Department and its anti-gay cop Richard Fiorito continued Thursday night with an action at a meeting of the Police Board.

Date: Monday, November 30
Time: 6:30 p.m.
Place: News & Letters Library
228 S. Wabash Ave., Room 230

If the President had offered us a job summit a year ago, he might have been taken seriously. Now, however, after more than six million jobs have been lost — and with the bottom still falling — Obama’s brain storming get-together can only be treated with contempt, if not outrage.

What is needed is immediate action, not idle chatter. We already know what works: federal stimulus money channeled directly towards job creation, a public works campaign to help rebuild the U.S. crumbling infrastructure, full funding for education and social services, and more.

Take Action for Climate Justice on the 10th Anniversary of the WTO shutdown in Seattle

The US criminal justice system failed this heroic woman.