In a Nutshell

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By Jonathan Specht

China cracks down on Tibet protests

Since March 10, residents of Tibet have been protesting against the rule of the People’s Republic of China, and China’s communist regime has brutally cracked down. The government of the PRC has admitted to the deaths of at least 13 protestors but has kicked all foreign journalists out of Tibet and has censored the Internet, including banning YouTube. China will be hosting the Olympic Games in Beijing in August, and a number of groups of diverse ideological views have called for a boycott of the Olympics in response to China’s human rights record.

Candidates release fundraising results

The three remaining major candidates for president, Senators Clinton, Obama and McCain released fundraising numbers for February. As he has for most months, Illinois Senator Barack Obama led in money raised, with $55.4 million. New York Senator Hillary Clinton raised $34.5 million, which was significantly less than Obama’s total but significantly more than that of presumptive Republican nominee John McCain, who raised just $11 million. Since McCain locked up the Republican nomination on March 4, he has focused efforts on fundraising, which he is able to do while the Democratic primary race settles his November general election opponent.

Obama gives speech on race, gets Richardson endorsement

Illinois Senator Barack Obama, who would be the nation’s first African-American president, confronted the difficult issue of race in a speech in Philadelphia on March 18. In the days before the speech, Obama had faced criticism for his pastor’s controversial remarks. Shortly after the speech, New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson, a former Democratic presidential candidate and the only Hispanic governor in the US, endorsed Barack Obama. Richardson, who was in Bill Clinton’s cabinet and who has spent months deciding whether to support Senator Clinton or Senator Obama, said that Obama’s speech helped him to make up his mind.

Storms batter the Midwest

Rain and snow fell heavily across vast swaths of the Midwest and parts of the South on March 21. Blizzards hit Minnesota, Wisconsin and Ohio, and closed Milwaukee’s airport. Massive rains flooded rivers in Missouri and Arkansas, and Cape Girardeau County, Mo., was evacuated. Missouri had faced heavy rains and flooding for the previous week. At least 16 people have been killed as a result of the storms.

Area prison to host boxing matches

The Dixon Correctional Institute in Jackson, La., will be hosting a series of 15 boxing matches among skilled inmates from that prison and five others in Louisiana on March 27. The matches will be sanctioned by the Louisiana Institutional Boxing Association. The prison will also be holding a sale in which crafts and artwork made by inmates will be offered for sale. Proceeds will go towards the “Make a Smile” project of the Correctional Peace Officers Association, which will be building playgrounds and shelters in areas hit by Hurricane Katrina.

Originally Published: Issue 601 - March 26, 2008

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