skip to main content
skip to newscasts

Friday, March 29, 2024

Public News Service Logo
facebook instagram linkedin reddit youtube twitter
view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

The latest on the Key Bridge collapse, New York puts forth legislation to get clean energy projects on the grid and Wisconsin and other states join a federal summer food program to help feed kids across the country.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Republicans float conspiracy theories on the collapse of Baltimore's Key Bridge, South Carolina's congressional elections will use a map ruled unconstitutional, and the Senate schedules an impeachment trial for Homeland Secretary Mayorkas.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Historic wildfires could create housing and health issues for rural Texans, a Kentucky program helps prison parolees start a new life, and descendants of Nicodemus, Kansas celebrate the Black settlers who journeyed across the 1870s plains seeking self-governance.

Constitution Day: Civil Liberty Advocates Say Rights are Being “Wronged”

play audio
Play

Monday, September 17, 2007   

Charleston, WV – Today is Constitution Day, but it's not a happy one for the nation's founding document, according to some civil liberties advocates. Terri Baur, the legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union of West Virginia, admits the public is right to be concerned about terrorism and crime, but those trepidations have led the federal government to take unreasonable steps that endanger legal rights.

"Illegal government eavesdropping, secret government detention, denial of free speech, holding people for years without charge and without trial. The worst of it, is that every American has sat back and watched as Congress let it happen."

Bair believes federal wiretapping without warrants is among the biggest constitutional concerns in recent years. She explains that, while law enforcement needs the ability to wiretap in some situations, judicial oversight is imperative to make sure surveillance powers are not abused.

Baur worries that West Virginians' personal rights and privacy are at risk, citing recent proposals for unwarranted drug testing for teachers and anticrime efforts in the state capital.

"The proposal to put surveillance cameras all around Charleston is another reason we need to step back and consider just what it is that we may be giving up."



get more stories like this via email

more stories
The U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments this week about the popular abortion pill Mifepristone and will weigh in on whether the U.S. Food and Drug Administration was correct in how it can be dosed and prescribed. (Ascannio/Adobe Stock)

Health and Wellness

play sound

Missouri residents are worried about future access to birth control. The latest survey from The Right Time, an initiative based in Missouri…


Social Issues

play sound

Wisconsin children from low-income families are now on track to get nutritious foods over the summer. Federal officials have approved the Badger …

Social Issues

play sound

Almost 2,900 people are unsheltered on any given night in the Beehive State. Gov. Spencer Cox is celebrating signing nine bills he says are geared …


The U.S. teaching workforce remains primarily white while the percentage of Black teachers has declined. However, the percentage of Asian and Latinx teachers is rising.(WavebreakMediaMicro/Adobestock)

Social Issues

play sound

Education advocates are calling on lawmakers to increase funding for programs to combat the teacher shortage. Around 37% of schools nationwide …

Environment

play sound

New York's Legislature is considering a bill to get clean-energy projects connected to the grid faster. It's called the RAPID Act, for "Renewable …

Social Issues

play sound

Earlier this month, a new Arizona Public Service rate hike went into effect and one senior advocacy group said those on a fixed income may struggle …

Social Issues

play sound

Michigan recently implemented a significant juvenile justice reform package following recommendations from a task force made up of prosecutors…

 

Phone: 303.448.9105 Toll Free: 888.891.9416 Fax: 208.247.1830 Your trusted member- and audience-supported news source since 1996 Copyright © 2021