In a Memphis Tennessee high school, Principal Daphne Beasley made an announcement over the PA system demanding that teachers provide her with the names of all “hetero and homo” student couples. Principal Beasley then publicly posted the list in her office and then proceeded to inform one of the student's mother that her son was part of a gay couple. Ms. Beasley also told the mother that she did not like homosexuals and that homosexuality would not be tolerated in her school.

On May 15th, the Senate cast a near-unanimous vote to reverse the Federal Communication Commission's December 2007 decision to let media companies own both a major TV or radio station and a major daily newspaper in the same city. Senator Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.), who introduced the rarely used "resolution of disapproval," said that "the FCC is supposed to be a referee for the media industry, but instead they've been cheerleaders in favor of more consolidation. ... We already have too much concentration in the media" which is "hurting America" with propaganda pundits, embedded journalists, horse-race election coverage, and celebrity gossip posing as news. It reflects growing awareness -- in Congress and with average Americans -- of the perils of concentrated media ownership.

GroundSpark is wrapping up production on their latest documentary, Straightlaced. Featuring intimate interviews with high school-aged youth talking about the pressures to conform to traditional gender roles and the underlying homophobia that fuels those pressures. Straightlaced is intended to open up a dialogue among youth about these important topics. They recently completed filming with three diverse students, including a young Christian woman from Kentucky, whose gender non-conforming, gay friend committed suicide last year.

Aiming to get a jump on what they see as inevitable mandatory reporting of greenhouse gas emissions in the United States, 58 companies, cities and organizations have volunteered to report emissions to the Climate Registry, the nonprofit organization said on Thursday. "The Climate Registry is building the infrastructure and the (reporting guidelines) to get the companies, states and provincial programs started," said Diane Wittenberg, executive director of the Climate Registry.

Island Press has launched an outreach campaign on population and the environment, which includes the release of MORE: Population, Nature, and What Women Want, a new book by Robert Engelman. Robert Engelman, with the Worldwatch Institute, is widely recognized for his work on population issues, especially population’s connections to environmental change, economic growth, and civil conflict. In MORE, he builds a powerful case for why population still matters to individual lives. His vision recognizes women’s widespread desire for smaller families – mothers are not seeking more children, he argues, but more for their children.

Invitations to participate in this benchmarking study were sent to over 1,000 stakeholders including book publishers, retailers, distribution companies, and paper mills. The response rate included 13 printers representing 24.6% of market share as measured by revenue; six paper mills representing 17% of market share as measured by the quantity of paper produced; and 76 publishers representing more than 45% of market share by revenue. The study tracks a wide variety of environmental indicators, including energy use by all participants of the book industry in all segments, environmental policy development, transportation of books, resource consumption, the certification and conservation of forests, and the production, disposal, and recycling of paper.