The occupation of La Casita at Whittier was brought to a close tonight. The Whittier parents are declaring victory in the battle of La Casita as Ron Huberman’s office put in writing today the guarantee not to demolish the field house and to lease it to the parents group at $1 a year. However the war is far from over… The issue of the library is yet to be resolved. CPS still insists that they can find space inside the school building for the library. The parents insist there is no space in the school and that the library should be located in the field house. The parents insist that Huberman and Alderman Solis already agreed that TIF funds would be used to complete the repairs necessary at La Casita. Huberman’s letter today did not make this clear. A half block away from Whittier is the abandon police station on Damen which has sat vacant for several years. The parents say that Solis promised them that the build...

PERRO (The Pilsen Environmental Rights and Reform Organization) invites all to join their November 1st Day of the Dead (Día de los Muertos) P rocession through University Village and Pilsen... 4:30 PM - rally at UIC’s Quad 750 S. Halstead 5:30 PM - procession begins into the Pilsen neighborhood, past the Fisk Plant and to Alivio Medical Center. 6:30 PM - rally at Alivio Medical Center - 966 West 21st Street. Will have music, food, art making and a lot of fun. Feel free to come in costume and bring your own sign expressing your concern about the pollution coming from the Fisk coal fired power plant. You can find out more at... pilsenperro.org Here are some pictures from PERRO's Sept. 27th 24 hour vigil outside Alderman Danny Solis office... http://www.flickr.com/photos/54940497@N02/se ts/72157625069804845/show/ And from the 10-10-10 rally at Alivio Medical Center... http://picasaweb.google.com/jerrymeadlucero/101010?feat=directlink

Please, Call Ron Huberman at (773) 553-1550 and fax him at (773) 553-1502 to tell him to accept the parents' demands that were delivered to him on Thursday, October 14th. He has ignored us for too long. Let him know that the Whittier Parent Committee has support throughout the city! It is exactly a month now. Encourage others to do the same.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/william-k-black/capitalism-would-have-kil_b_764948.html

It was thrilling for me as I am sure it was for all of you to witness the successful rescue of the 33 Chilean miners trapped deep underground for 69 days following a collapse at the San Jose copper and gold mine on August 5 th . Much of the Spanish language press here in Chicago turned over their entire broadcast yesterday to coverage of the rescue. But amidst all the media attention on the “miracle” in Chile , what has not been given as extensive coverage was the host of issues that this near tragedy raises. For one, there are the dangerous working conditions faced by miners world wide and by Latin American miners in particular. Chile is much safer than a place like China were hundreds of miners die ever year, or closer neighbors like Mexico or Colombia, were dozens have died in the last couple years. But the life of a Chilean miner still carries great risk. And by most reports the situation is getting worse. The San Jose mine, owned by Compañia Minera San Esteban Primera,...

Here is a link to my article for Labor Notes on the lock-out in Metropolis Illinois... http://www.labornotes.org/2010/09/locked-out-illinois-uranium-processing-plant-steelworkers-and-community-wait-nervously Negotiations between the company and the union resumed Monday, but despite some positive signs Monday, negotiations broke down today. You can read the full report here... http://www.usw7-669.com/mission.html Check back in a couple days for a longer version of my report on my visit to Metropolis on Labor Day.

Here is a link to the pics... http://picasaweb.google.com/jerrymeadlucero/OneNationRallyDCPics #

Last Monday PERRO (Pilsen Environmental Rights and Reform Organization), held a 24 hr vigil outside the office of Alderman Danny Solis of the 25th ward, to encourage him to become a co-sponsor of the Clean Power Ordinance. Dozens of people participated and the news coverage was extensive especially the Spanish language press. Univision covered the vigil on it 5 pm and 10 pm news broadcasts. Telemundo aired pieces on the vigil at 5 pm, 10 pm and on Tuesday mornings news cast. WBBM News radio 780 mentioned the vigil throughout the day Monday. I will post more later, include pictures, put here are two good print stories on the vigil... http://www.progressillinois.com/quick-hits/content/2010/09/27/turning-heat-chicagos-clean-power-bill http://www.publicnewsservice.org/index.php?/content/article/16182-2