The Wisconsin Idea

Viewpoint

Mining Roves Katrina Legacy

Rove was the man President Bush quietly put in charge of overseeing the administration's response plan, though he had no expertise in homeland security or disaster relief

Amanda Terkel

Feature

Farming the Concrete Jungle

In cities across the country urban farmers are growing communities, greening the landscape and revolutionizing food politics.

Phoebe Connelly and Chelsea Ross

Viewpoint

The Counterproductive War on Gangs

The conclusion of the report, "Gang Wars: The Failure of Enforcement Tactics and the Need for Effective Public Safety Strategies," persuasively argues that punitive policies of policing that specifically target gangs increase rather than decrease gang violence

Salim Muwakkil

Dispatch

The Promise of Low Power FM

The voices aired on low-power stations include evangelists, social critics, tomato pickers and indie rockers--all linked by the credo that radio should reflect the heterogeneity of the communities it serves

Michelle Chen

Feature

Perverse Justice

Jose Padilla’s conviction raises questions about whether detainees who undergo extreme isolation can be given fair trials

Lindsay Beyerstein

Viewpoint

The Crafting of Obama

When Barack Obama launched his presidential bid, he decided to build a staircase, not merely a platform, thereby differing with most African-American presidential aspirants

Laura S. Washington

Dispatch

Universal Health Care for Wisconsin?

In late June, the Wisconsin state senate ratified "Healthy Wisconsin," a plan that is "the boldest and most comprehensive health care reform from any state," according to the Progressive States Network

David Moberg

Feature

In Condemnation of Opting In

Our voices are being drowned out by our peers in the supposedly independent media, like Sonic Youth guitarist Thurston Moore, who calls Starbucks "the new record store," and music journalists like the Chicago Reader's Miles Raymer, who argued in a piece called "In Praise of Selling Out" that the music industry's decline can be "rescued by corporations that make everything but music"

Anne Elizabeth Moore

Viewpoint

Gitmo’s Last Honest Man

Abraham found that "evidence" was generally gathered by inexperienced staff with little legal or intelligence training, and he got no assurance that he was given access to all available evidence on a detainee

H. Candace Gorman