A nationwide outcry is growing as the Pacifica Foundation continues its lockout of staff and volunteers at radio station KPFA in the San Francisco area. A week ago, the foundation’s management halted the station’s evening newscast in mid-sentence while the news anchor was reporting on the latest developments in the KPFA-Pacifica conflict. Since then, archival tapes have been airing. Among those who can be called for interviews are: MATTHEW LASAR Author of Pacifica Radio: The Rise of an Alternative Network (Temple University Press, 1999), Lasar said: “The Pacifica Foundation is clearly abandoning the most basic precept of community broadcasting —…

There have been a number of developments on trade issues this week: The World Trade Organization ruled on the European Union’s ban on U.S. hormone-injected beef, the Secretary of Agriculture made a speech on genetically modified foods and the House is set to vote on major Africa trade legislation. Among the analysts available to discuss these issues are: LORI WALLACH Director of Public Citizen’s Global Trade Watch, Wallach said: “The House is about to vote on legislation that a coalition of oil companies dubbed the ‘African Growth and Opportunity Act.’ It certainly does nothing to help Africa grow or expand…

LOUIS DUBOSE Editor of the Texas Observer, Dubose said: “‘Compassionate conservatism’ is in fact the same old wine, badly soured, in a shiny New Texas bottle. We are dead last in per capita government spending, 49th in spending on the environment — while first in pollution.” More Information EVA DeLUNA Budget and policy analyst at the Center for Public Policy Priorities, DeLuna said: “Texas has the fifth highest poverty rate — 3.3 million people, 1.4 million are children. On a per capita basis, Texas spends a negligible amount on natural resources, welfare, libraries, the arts or adult education. Things have…

As President Clinton tours poor areas of the United States, analysts are available to comment on past and future policy choices: MIMI ABRAMOVITZ Professor at the School of Social Work at Hunter College and author of Regulating the Lives of Women, Abramovitz said: “It’s positive, and long overdue, that Clinton is addressing these issues, but to be saying that you want to deal with poverty while you’re calling welfare ‘reform’ a success is rather disingenuous. While the welfare rolls have dropped sharply, studies indicate that many have simply joined the ranks of the working poor. They now have jobs that…

The following health-care policy specialists are available for interviews on the new Clinton plan for Medicare: DON McCANNE, M.D. A member of the National Coalition to Protect, Improve and Expand Medicare, Dr. McCanne said today: “Including prescription coverage in Medicare is definitely a step in the right direction, but it is still inadequate because it leaves too much of the cost as out-of-pocket expenses which will remain unaffordable even for moderate income Medicare recipients. The direction we should be moving towards is fixing Medicare and expanding it to cover all of us. The American health-care system is a disaster now,…

Vice President Gore’s role in setting policies for AIDS drugs in countries such as South Africa has become a simmering issue. These analysts are available to explain why: ROBERT WEISSMAN Co-director of the Essential Action organization founded by Ralph Nader and co-author of Corporate Predators, Weissman said: “Africa is suffering from an AIDS epidemic that U.S. Surgeon General David Satcher equates with the plague that decimated Europe in the 14th century. But while treatments are available to enable many people with HIV/AIDS to live relatively normal lives, the pharmaceutical industry has priced them out of reach. When countries like South…

Yesterday, for the first time, the American Medical Association voted to endorse unionization for doctors. Also, there is renewed discussion of a patients’ bill of rights. The following analysts are available to discuss these and other health care policy issues: DIANE LARDIE National coordinator for the Universal Health Care Action Network, Lardie said: “Ten years ago, patient protection wasn’t even a part of our language. It’s only in a for-profit market system that we have to legislate protections that used to be taken for granted… What unnerves me about some of these proposals for a patients’ bill of rights is…

NJOKI NJOROGE NJEHU Director of 50 Years Is Enough Network, Njehu will be in Cologne with other members of the Jubilee 2000 movement. “So far the proposals the G-7 have put forward are woefully inadequate,” she said. “They are still maintaining adherence to IMF structural adjustment programs as qualifying criteria for countries to receive minimal levels of debt relief. We want food, medicine, shelter, schools that work and clean water… The international Jubilee 2000 movement and people in impoverished countries have called for debt cancellation by the year 2000… Thousands will be in Cologne on Saturday [June 19] to deliver…

In his speech today at the International Labor Organization Conference in Geneva, President Clinton said: “We must wipe from the Earth the most vicious forms of abusive child labor. Every single day, tens of millions of children work in conditions that shock the conscience… There are children handling dangerous chemicals; children forced to work when they should be in school…” The following analysts are available to discuss issues of child labor and human rights: DIANE MULL Executive director of the Association of Farmworker Opportunity Programs, a group of employment training and service organizations located in 49 states and Puerto Rico,…

DAVID KOTZ Co-author of Revolution From Above: The Demise of the Soviet System and professor of economics at the University of Massachusetts, Kotz said Monday: “The Russians’ preemptive move into Kosovo is a consequence of the two-track strategy that NATO followed regarding ending the war. The first track was their insistence on a NATO force in Kosovo. The second track was to bring the Russians on board and to get a UN resolution. This gave the Russians the opportunity to move into Kosovo when NATO refused to give the Russians a contingent not under NATO command. The very mild reaction…