
A drought has forced Californians to ask themselves how much water their lawns and gardens truly need.
A money shortage has Baltimore and Detroit pondering a different water question: whether the poor are entitled to any at all.
A couple of dozen protesters rallied outside City Hall on Monday to call on officials to reverse a decision to begin turning off service for water customers who are behind on their bills. Sharon Black, a Waverly woman who helped organize the protest, called on the city to delay any water shut-offs. The protesters want the City Council to investigate the reasons why the delinquent water customers are late in paying.
At the end of March, Baltimore city officials announced that they would be turning off the water supply to a huge number of properties in the city and surrounding county in the coming weeks. In total, the city department of public works plans to turn off water to 25,000 properties for $40 million in unpaid bills.
Starting this week, 25,000 households in Baltimore will suddenly lose their access to water for owing bills of $250 or more, with very little notice given and no public hearings.
A simmering water war is about to come to a boil over the fate of historic, well-loved public reservoirs in Portland, Oregon. At the heart of the controversy is a breakdown in public trust that reflects the dangers of corporate-led water privatization schemes in the United States and around the world.
"Here, Whirlpool controls not only Benton Harbor and the residents, but also the court system itself. They will do anything to crush you if you stand up to them. That's why it's so important to fight this. I'm going to fight them until the end. This is not just an attack on Rev. Pinkney. It's an attack on every single person that lives in Benton Harbor, in the state and around the country." - Rev. Edward Pinkney
The fight in Benton Harbor is a war, it’s not a conflict. It’s a war over whether America will have prosperity and democracy, or live in poverty under the heel of open corporate rule. - Rev. Edward Pinkney
Rev. Edward Pinkney, the 66-year-old community activist who has battled for decades on behalf of the mostly Black population of Benton Harbor, Michigan, was this week convicted on five counts of forging the dates of some signatures on a petition to recall the town’s mayor. The Berrien County jury was all-white. So was the judge and the prosecutor.
In the new Detroit, a small number of wealthy residents are protected by private security and constant surveillance while the city’s black majority struggles to maintain access to water.
Despite mass protests, the emergency management water shutoffs in Detroit have resumed, even as UN experts publish a press release calling the water disconnects "contrary to human rights" and activists decry them as "genocide."
The people of Detroit are vowing resistance after a federal bankruptcy judge on Monday ruled that the city can continue shutting off water to its poorest residents if their bills cannot be paid.
Saying there is no such thing as a legal right to clean running water, U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Steven Rhodes dismissed a request from Detroit residents to impose a six-month moratorium on water shutoffs by the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department (DWSD) on Monday.
This is the first real chance to stop the U.S. killing in at least one of the too many countries…
Read More
Skeptical senators have forced a Thursday vote on a small part of the president’s $110 billion agreement. They’re cautiously optimistic.
Read More
In an interview with Reuters conducted a month after he took office, Donald Trump asserted that the U.S. had “fallen…
Read More
The CODEPINK Tribunal taking place December 1 and 2, and live streamed by The Real News, is a historic collection of testimonies about the lies…
Read More
Hillary Clinton’s loss was a shock to the purveyors of U.S. military hegemony, who saw in her an easier path…
Read More
By next week, Saudi Arabia’s intervention in Yemen will have continued for a year and a half. In that time…
Read More
Strikes in northern Yemen on Saturday reportedly killed two children and first responders as US-backed coalition continues 'disturbing' strikes
Read More
President Obama is facing a dilemma over legislation allowing the families of 9/11 victims to sue Saudi Arabia in U.S.…
Read More
Saudi Arabia’s bombing campaign against Yemen’s Houthi rebels has created a humanitarian crisis, with opposition finally emerging in Congress to…
Read More
Congressman Ted W. Lieu (D | Los Angeles County) led a bipartisan group of 64 Members of Congress in sending a…
Read MoreRep. Ted Lieu [D-CA], Rep. Ted Yoho [R-FL], Rep. John Conyers [D-MI], and Rep. Mick Mulvaney [R-SC] are circulating the…
Read More
Since 2001, terrorism and instability have increased wherever the U.S. has intervened militarily. We call on the President and Congress…
Read More
The Obama administration's final Pentagon budget calls for quadrupling spending on efforts to counter Russia.
Read More
In November 2015 I traveled to Syria with an International Peace delegation. This was my third visit to Syria in…
Read More
As the new year begins, we are more than 15 months into military operations against ISIL, and Congress has yet…
Read More
Imagine going to the polls on Election Day and discovering that your ballot could be collected and reviewed by the… Read More
ACLU Blueprints Offer Vision to Cut US Incarceration Rate in Half by Prioritizing 'People Over Prisons' Read More
"These disasters drag into the light exactly who is already being thrown away," notes Naomi Klein Read More
How about some good news? Kansas Democratic Representative advances bill for Native Peoples. Read More
What mattered was that he showed up — that he put himself in front of the people whose opinions on… Read More
On a night of Democratic victories, one of the most significant wins came in Virginia, where the party held onto… Read More
A seismic political battle that could send shockwaves all the way to the White House was launched last week in… Read More
In an interview with Reuters conducted a month after he took office, Donald Trump asserted that the U.S. had “fallen… Read More
Attorney General Jeff Sessions overturned the sweeping criminal charging policy of former attorney general Eric H. Holder Jr. and directed… Read More