Records reveal US Senator John Sununu had ties to convicted lobbyist

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On October 24, 2001, convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff and four Alexander Strategies Group associates donated $1,000 each to the Rely on Your Beliefs Fund. This political action committee in turn donated $3,000 to Representative John Sununu's primary campaign in New Hampshire on the same day, through the political action committee Team Sununu. The Greenberg Traurig lobbying company, which also employed Abramoff, gave $1000 to Team Sununu on December 16, 2002 for purposes of 'debt retirement.'

According to a report by the U.S. Senate Indian Affairs Committee, Jack Abramoff commonly told Native American tribal clients to divert their funds through the Alexander Strategies Group. Earlier that October, Jack Abramoff had met with the legislative director of the Saginaw Chippewa tribe in Michigan. Representative John Sununu, now a sitting senator from New Hampshire, had served on the Appropriations Committee that helped draft the Department of Interior funding bill. In the section on Native American water claims, land claims, and miscellaneous payments, over $6,000,000 in funding was given to Michigan fishing in the Great Lakes.

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Staffs for US presidential candidates John McCain and Barack Obama caught making questionable edits to Wikipedia

>Click here for the EXCLUSIVE story.

Wikinews has learned through an investigation that the staffs for 2008 United States presidential candidates Barack Obama and John McCain have been spending some of their time making questionable edits to Wikipedia, the open content, online encyclopedia. The investigation also found that Obama's campaign staff seems to be removing more questionable edits more often than they are making them. McCain's campaign staff favored less, in most cases removing unflattering information regarding certain articles.

While using the online internet tool Wikiscanner, Wikinews was able to determine the Internet Protocol Address range for the campaign headquarters for Obama, Obama For America and McCain, mccain08hq.com. After determining the ranges, we were able determine the individual IP addresses used to edit Wikipedia and cross reference them to current edits as early as August of this year for both campaigns.

>Click here for the EXCLUSIVE story.

Controversial development training cited in religious discrimination lawsuits

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A controversial development training course called "Landmark Forum" is cited in religious discrimination lawsuits in United States federal courts in New York and Washington, D.C. The seminars are run by a San Francisco, California-based for-profit training company called Landmark Education. The company evolved from Erhard Seminars Training "est" which was developed by Werner Erhard, and has faced criticism regarding its techniques and its use of unpaid labor. The sperm bank and surrogacy company Los Angeles-based Growing Generations is named as a defendant in the New York lawsuit, and the Democratic political action committee Twenty-First Century Democrats is a defendant in the Washington, D.C. case.

In separate lawsuits filed in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York in Manhattan, New York, and in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia in Washington, D.C., former employees are suing their employers for monetary damages and claiming religious discrimination after their employers allegedly mandated that they attend courses at Landmark Education.

This is not the first time employees have sued claiming mandatory attendance at "Forum" workshops violated their civil rights. In a lawsuit filed in December 1988 in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia, eight employees of DeKalb Farmers Market in Decatur, Georgia sued their employer claiming their religious freedom and civil rights were violated when they were allegedly coerced into attending "Forum" training sessions.

Landmark Education itself has come under scrutiny for its controversial labor practices. The company has been investigated by the United States Department of Labor in separate investigations originating out of California, Colorado, and Texas. Investigations focused on the heavy reliance of unpaid labor in the company's workforce, which Landmark Education calls "assistants" and deems volunteers. Government labor inspectors in France have also investigated Landmark Education for its employment practices and use of unpaid labor.

>>Click here for the full story

Asbestos controversy aboard Scientology ship Freewinds

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>>Click here to Digg this article.


Controversy has arisen over the reported presence of blue asbestos on the MV Freewinds, a cruise ship owned by the Church of Scientology. According to the Saint Martin newspaper The Daily Herald and the shipping news journal Lloyd's List, the Freewinds was sealed in April and local public health officials on the Caribbean island of Curaçao where the ship is docked began an investigation into the presence of asbestos dust on the ship.

Former Scientologist Lawrence Woodcraft supervised work on the ship in 1987, and attested to the presence of blue asbestos on the Freewinds in an affidavit posted to the Internet in 2001. Woodcraft, a licensed architect by profession, gave a statement to Wikinews and commented on the recent events.

>>Click here for the full story.

Semi truck crashes into viaduct in Buffalo, New York

Wikinews.org - According to police in Buffalo, New York, no one was injured after a semi truck carrying paper from Ontario, Canada hit a railroad viaduct, tearing the truck in half.

At approximately 11:00 p.m. (eastern time) on April 21, an unidentified man driving the truck westbound on Walden Avenue between Wasmuth and Roetzer streets hit the viaduct which tore his truck in half sending debris and cargo over most of the road.

Police describe the truck's cabin as a "can of sardines."

"He made it all the way through, but his truck looks like a can of sardines," said officers on police radio communications who were on scene.

The driver was given a traffic citation and admits he did not notice signs posted along Walden which state the bridge's clearance.

The street and the viaduct remained closed into the early morning hours of Tuesday April 22. According to Don Poleto of the city's Public Works office, the bridge was not damaged.

Popular soap opera 'The Young and the Restless' celebrates 35 years on the air

The popular American soap opera The Young and the Restless, currently the reigning Emmy Award-winner for best daytime drama, celebrated 35 years on the air Wednesday.

The 35th anniversary also comes after the series, known colloquially as Y&R, marked its 1,000th straight week as the highest-rated soap opera in a daytime slot. In addition to keeping the #1 spot every week since December 1988, Y&R has also been the top-rated soap in the African-American demographic since 1991.

A trend-setter since the beginning, Y&R relied on character-driven storytelling, accentuated with understated sexuality from its cast, which at that time was mostly young, to bring in teenage and twentysomething viewers, which were ignored by soap producers and networks up to that time. These traits immediately set Y&R apart from other soap operas, and other soaps have since mimicked Y&R's formulaic approach to offering something for everyone, especially younger viewers.

Since premiering on March 26, 1973, Y&R has become a worldwide cultural institution in its own right; racking up an impressive 100 Emmy Awards between the writers, producers, cast and crew since 1974. The show has aired in over 100 countries, including Australia, New Zealand, France, Germany, Italy, and Turkey, and reaches a worldwide audience of ten million daily. So far-reaching was Y&R's appeal that Romanian gymnast Nadia Comaneci chose the serial's theme song as accompanying music to her floor exercises at the 1976 Summer Olympics. In Australia, where Y&R has aired since 1974, the show was canceled by the original network that aired it in 2007, prompting a widespread fan backlash in that country. It was eventually moved to a pay channel.

Over the past 35 years, countless characters, marriages, divorces, births, deaths, and every joy and trauma in between have visited the residents of Genoa City, where Y&R is based. To commemorate the milestone, Mike Halterman from Wikinews interviewed three actresses who have played long-running characters on Y&R, and asked them to share their memories. All three responded to questions about what being on Y&R means to them, what their favorite storylines were, what they perhaps would have wanted to do all over again, and what they'd love to tell their fans directly.

» Full story

'Big Brother' contestant Parker Somerville sounds off about the show and his aspirations

In the past two months, Parker Somerville, a videographer for the website TMZ.com, transitioned from an average guy leading an ordinary life, to living in an extraordinary voyeuristic existence, and back again to the beginning. Simply put, it was a transition from reality to reality, with a two-week detour in reality television. Somerville was a former contestant on the CBS reality TV staple Big Brother, currently in its ninth installment.

Evicted on Day 14, Somerville hoped to have another chance to play the game, but came in second in the special "America's Choice" poll to bring back a former HouseGuest (the poll results were eventually not used at all and nobody was brought back). Now freed from a three-week sequester, Somerville was interviewed by Wikinews reporter Mike Halterman and he discussed his thoughts on Big Brother, how he and his fellow HouseGuests were portrayed and received, and what he plans to do now that his experience is, for the most part, over.

Somerville will return to Big Brother on finale night in five weeks. Please check your local listings for time and channel. Big Brother airs on CBS in the United States, Global in Canada, and E4 in the United Kingdom.

» Full story

Climate change impacts Wyoming

>>Click here for the full EXCLUSIVE Special Report.

Cheek numbing, eye watering winds whip across the plains of the Laramie Basin, Wyoming. The ground is yellow brown with patches of recalcitrant snow. Sheep Mountain is losing its winter coat. All normal affairs for March. The March edition of the Wyoming Basin Outlook Report, also reports, based on February accumulations, that Snow Water Equivalent is at 99% of average.

The SWE is a measure of the snow pack that feeds the streams, rivers and reservoirs that Wyoming, Nebraska and other states depend upon for water. Current averages are compared to the average SWE for 1971-2000. In recent years, snow pack in this region has been anything but normal.

The Outlook Reports are issued January to June. Since March 2000, only five of 46 months have been above normal. While many of the winter months have been near normal, June's snow pack is far below average. Even in 2006, the wettest year of the millenia, June snow pack was only 37% of the average.

In a Wikinews Exclusive and Special Report, several experts answered questions and gave their insight on whats happening in Wyoming.

>>Click here for the full EXCLUSIVE special report.

Wikinews interviews U.S. Green Party presidential candidate Cynthia McKinney

>>Click here for the full EXCLUSIVE interview

Wikinews held an exclusive interview with Cynthia McKinney, one of the candidates for the Green Party nomination for the 2008 U.S. presidential election.

McKinney is a former Democrat Congresswoman from Georgia. She was first elected to the House of Representatives in 1992 and held her seat for ten years until being defeated by Denise Majette in 2002. She was the first ever African American woman from her state to be elected to Congress.

We asked her why she made the recent switch to the Green Party. She replied, "Due to the importance of environmental issues, Green issues are the issues of today. The Ten Key Values of the Green Party stress us getting along with each other in harmony with the planet that gives us life."

When asked about how she would handle Iraq she replied, "I would instruct the Joint Chiefs to draw up a plan for the orderly withdrawal of all U.S. troops from the country. I would dismantle our military bases in the area, and I would also demand that U.S. and other international corporations relinquish any claims to Iraqi oil or other resources and withdraw as well."

McKinney is running for president because, basically, she thinks that "it's time that the people win".

>>Click here for the full EXCLUSIVE interview

'Top Model' winner Jaslene Gonzalez on her career and being a Latina role model

In her inaugural interview, Wikinews' Sandra Ordonez talks with America's Next Top Model's first Puerto Rican winner, Jaslene Gonzalez, about her childhood, what makes her a strong individual, and what television show her abuela would want her to go on. This is also the first time one of our interviews can also be read in Spanish at Wikinoticias.
» Full story

'Top Model' winner CariDee English on her modeling career and her battle with psoriasis

Since winning the reality television series America's Next Top Model in December 2006, CariDee English, a small-town girl from Fargo, North Dakota, was plucked from relative obscurity to be the new look for CoverGirl Cosmetics, the newest fresh face on the cover of Seventeen, and affiliation with the largest modeling agency in the world, Elite Model Management.

However, she feels her greatest accomplishment is being the spokeswoman for the National Psoriasis Foundation, in which she is a motivational speaker and gives encouragement to psoriasis sufferers. CariDee has even lobbied in Congress for the passage of a bill which would ask the National Institutes of Health, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the Institute of Medicine to increase spending on finding a cure for psoriasis. You can read more about her role with the National Psoriasis Foundation here.

Wikinews reporter Mike Halterman sat down and talked with CariDee earlier in the week to discuss her own issues with psoriasis, how she has helped other sufferers in her role as spokeswoman for the Foundation, as well as what it's like to be a new model in New York City and her thoughts on how the fashion industry runs today.

» Full story

Wikinews interviews two "America's Next Top Model" winners!

Wikinews is taking a break from our current Top Model schedule to interview two past winners in a double exclusive.

Expect interviews next Wednesday with CariDee and Jaslene.


















Photo Credits: Mike Kortoci (CariDee), Kevin Sinclair (Jaslene)

Wikinews Picture of the Year 2007

The winner has been announced in the 2007 Wikinews Picture of the Year election. The photo was taken by Wikinews reporter and photographer David Shankbone, and captures the protest in front of Columbia University, that marked the controversial debate with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in September.

Invited to participate in a debate during his visit to New York City this week to address the United Nations General Assembly, Ahmadinejad engaged University president Lee Bollinger on a number of topics, including his country's human rights record, opinions on Israel and the Holocaust and the role of nuclear weapons and terrorism on the global stage.

The images of the event are gathered in a designated category on Commons.

Winner announced in the "Pick Your Own Top Model!" contest

Over 700 votes were cast in the Pick Your Own Top Model! contest. Wikinews is pleased to announce that Kahlen Rondot, the runner-up in Cycle 4 of America's Next Top Model, won with 180 votes. Elyse Sewell from Cycle 1 received 173 votes for a second-place finish. Natasha Galkina from Cycle 8 came in third with 148 votes.

All three top vote-getters may be interviewed in the future, but the next Top Model interview, after scheduled interviews with Furonda (C6) and Keenyah (C4), will be with Kahlen, if she does choose to talk to us.

Thank you all for your participation! Keep it fierce!

Final tally:

724 votes cast

Kahlen - 180 votes
Elyse - 173 votes
Natasha - 148 votes
Jade - 66 votes
Joanie - 59 votes
Mollie Sue - 47 votes
Brittany (C4) - 27 votes
Yoanna - 24 votes

Tribal elder for Lakota People in US says 'no treaty withdrawal'

>>Full Story.

The Lakota Freedom Delegation, which in December declared that the Lakota people were withdrawing from their treaties with the United States and reasserting their sovereignty as an independent state, is acting without the support of the Treaty Council, the traditional government of the Lakota, Wikinews has learned.

Wikinews spoke with Floyd Looks-For-Buffalo Hand, an Oglala Lakota Treaty Delegate and Elder, also an author and a spiritual leader in the indigenous Lakota religion, and who is also blood uncle to Lakota Freedom Delegation member Canupa Gluha Mani.

The Lakota Freedom Delegation has claimed that, while the BIA-recognized tribal governments of the Lakota have not supported them, the Lakota Freedom Delegation's authority extends from support by the Treaty Council of the Elders of Lakota as well as from the 1974 International Indian Treaty Council.

"There was no treaty withdrawal. It was three people."

Click here to read the rest of the story.

Canupa Gluha Mani speaks about Lakota Oyate, Lakota freedom

>>Full Story

It's now been three weeks since the four-person Lakota Freedom Delegation declared that the Lakota people were withdrawing from their treaties with the United States and, though small, the movement still proves controversial: two U.S.-recognized Lakota tribal governments have rejected the Delegation's authority outright with at least one tribe stating it will consider the Delegation's, now Lakota Oyate's, proposal. The rest of the tribes have remained silent.

The central figure the movement has been Canupa Gluha Mani, a longtime activist whose tactics have led repeatedly to his arrest and imprisonment — most recently in June 2007, when Canupa Gluha Mani was one of six arrested who participated in blockading a road in Nebraska to keep outside alcohol from entering his dry reservation where it is banned. Wikinews talked to Mani about the movement and Lakota Oyate in an exclusive interview.

With regard to Russell Means, who has declared himself Chief Facilitator of the Republic of Lakotah, he said, "I've worked with my uncle Russell Means in positive venues. And I'm still behind him, I have love for him;" He emphasized the familial bond between himelf and Means, noting that Means had adopted him as a nephew. However, "the Lakota have to be recognized." It was "genocide", he said, that of all the races of humanity, American Indians are not represented at the United Nations.

Read the full interview.

Final voting in the "Pick Your Own Top Model" contest!

DISCLAIMER: IF I CANNOT REACH THE WINNER OF THE CONTEST, I WILL IMMEDIATELY GO TO THE SECOND-PLACE WINNER. IF I CANNOT REACH HER, I WILL GO TO THE THIRD-PLACE WINNER, AND SO ON.

We got widespread participation in the Pick Your Own Top Model contest I ushered in last week. I want to thank you all for sharing your opinions.

A poll will start right now, which will end at 12 a.m. Eastern on Saturday, January 12. You can find it by looking at the right sidebar on the blog page. We have narrowed the pool down to eight top vote-getters. You all suggested 56 girls, and out of those, the top eight with the most suggestions got slots. Here they are:

Elyse Sewell (Cycle 1) - Elyse was a med student from Albuquerque, New Mexico before competing on Top Model. She endeared herself to viewers by accident, asserting herself as a straight-shooter and knowing she was intellectually above all the other girls in the house. She now works as a model in Hong Kong.

Yoanna House (Cycle 2) - A former babysitter from Jacksonville, Florida, Yoanna lost 60 pounds to compete on Top Model, and eventually won the top prize. She now hosts The Look for Less on the Style Network.

Brittany Brower (Cycle 4) - The loud party girl from Tallahassee, Florida progressed week after week to make it to the final four in Cycle 4. She now lives in Los Angeles, and what exactly is she doing now? A lot of fans want to know.

Kahlen Rondot (Cycle 4) - The Oklahoma girl won over many viewers with her innocent and joyful personality. Making it to the final two, she lost to Naima Mora, which is still hotly disputed by many ANTM fans. Speculation abounds that Kahlen has left the modeling business entirely, instead focusing on bartending. Is it true? Is she signed to a modeling agency or not? An interview would be the best avenue to quell the rumors.

Mollie Sue Steenis-Gondi (Cycle 6) - The Tampa native struggled with her photoshoots as well as her perceived lack of personality. Despite making a premature exit from Cycle 6, Mollie now works in Paris, and has been seen in French Cosmopolitan. Does she think her exit from the show is a lot of bull, knowing what she knows now?

Jade Cole (Cycle 6) - Do we need to say more about Jade? "Exotic biracial butterfly"? "Soldier sister"? "The undiscovered supermodel"? She could take wonderful pictures but at times her personality was totally rank, but let's face it, she made for great television. Who could forget that poetic line "Furonda, my dear/I know your skin is bumpy/But my skin is flawless/And you look really lumpy"?

Joanie Dodds (Cycle 6) - The first contestant never to reach the bottom two during her entire stint on the show, she lost to Danielle at the end of Cycle 6. Rumors have since surfaced that Joanie is no longer modeling and has returned to her hometown. Are these true? Will she model again? Does she still embrace the show that got her so many fans?

Natasha Galkina (Cycle 8) - The energetic, vibrant, positive Russian charmed many viewers with her wise words of wisdom, such as "Some people have war in their countries." Originally overcoming a language barrier with many early photo shoots, she made it to the final two in Cycle 8, losing to Jaslene. Some viewers feel Natasha should have won instead of Jaslene. My worry is, how is this interview even going to sound if we do it by e-mail? She didn't have the best grasp for English when she spoke; who knows what it's going to be like when she types it. :/

Now go to the sidebar on the right and vote for your favorite. DO NOT COMMENT HERE WITH YOUR VOTE.

Lakota Freedom Delegation says spokesman Russell Means 'hijacked' organization

>>Full Story.

Wikinews has learned that the Lakota Freedom Delegation, also known as Lakotah Oyate, an organization of activists fighting for the Sioux Indian Nation to withdraw all treaties with the United States, was "hijacked" by its spokesman, Russell Means, an activist for Native American Indians.

On December 19, 2007, Means and the "delegation" went to Washington, D.C. and hand-delivered a letter, signed by the Delegation, to the U.S. State Department claiming that the Lakota Indian Tribe was declaring that all treaties between the tribe and the U.S. have been withdrawn or canceled. They also held a press conference declaring their freedom.

See the full story and interview with Naomi Archer, liaison of Lakotah Oyate/Republic of Lakotah.

Wikinews asks readers: Which "Top Model" do you want us to interview?

PLEASE READ ADDENDUM PLACED AT TOP OF THE BLOG POST (January 4, 2008):

For emphasis: SIMPLE LISTS OF CONTESTANTS ARE MORE LIKELY TO BE OVERLOOKED THAN REASONED RESPONSES. Names that may mean something to you may mean nothing to me; for example, I did not like Ann from Cycle 3 but loved Eva. Other people may like Ann and hate Eva, so a simple name doesn't give a why from you, the reader. I want to know why you want your favorite girl to be interviewed, because as viewers do not have one mind, what you may like may not be something I like. I want to hear the who and the why, so you can have the most enjoyable reading experience possible. That's what I'm going for here. Thank you.

-----

Hello, Wikinews readers! This is Mike Halterman. I've started my interviews and plans for the first batch of America's Next Top Model contestants outlined in a post from last month. The interview with Whitney Cunningham (Cycle 8) was published last month, and I plan to have interviews with Keenyah Hill (Cycle 4) and Furonda Brasfield (Cycle 6) published in the next two weeks.

As the news of the interviews traveled across fan sites, I noticed the reactions ranged from "Oh, wow, I really like those girls!" to "Oh, who cares about them? Can't he interview someone people cared about?" I acknowledge I can't win them all, so I am extending a challenge to all of you. Tell me which Top Model girl you want to see interviewed and why, and I will try to get that interview for you.

I really want to hear your picks! I picked the girls I interviewed because I found them interesting, but I want to know what you find interesting, and more importantly, why you find them interesting. Leave a comment here and tell me! When my interviews with Keenyah and Furonda are published, I will announce which girl has won the vote, and if I can get an interview with them.

Lakota activists declare secession from US

>>Full Story.

A delegation from the Lakota Indian Tribe, an Indian nation on United States soil, have signed a document stating that their tribe withdraws and or cancels all treaties with the U.S. and formally establish independence from the country. The letter was hand delivered by activists for the tribe to Deputy to the Public Liaison at the State Department, Daniel Turner.

"We are no longer citizens of the United States of America and all those who live in the five-state area that encompasses our country are free to join us. This is according to the laws of the United States, specifically article six of the constitution. It is also within the laws on treaties passed at the Vienna Convention and put into effect by the US and the rest of the international community in 1980. We are legally within our rights to be free and independent," said Russell Means, an activist for Native American rights to reporters at a press conference on Wednesday in Washington, D.C..

The delegation wrote a formal letter to the Department of State which was hand-delivered by activists of the tribe announcing their secession. So far, the U.S. has not issued a public response regarding their decision. Wikinews attempted to contact the State Department, but in an e-mail Director of the Office of Media Affairs Kirsten Petree stated that "this is not an issue for the State Department" and referred us to the Department of the Interior.