Headlines
Trans-Pacific Partnership: Under Cover of Darkness, a Corporate Coup Is Underway
Legislation would end mail delivery on Saturdays
SC: South Carolina clamps down on municipal Wi-Fi menace
TX: Charter School Chain Uses Taxpayer Money to Proselytize Students?
FL: Privatizing prison healthcare remains stalled amid court fight
FL: Work-release centers quietly going private
NY: At Fireworks, Not All Seats Are Created Equal
NH:  N.H. towns privatize some services to save cash
CA: OC toll roads to stop taking cash, cut toll-booth jobs
CA: Oakdale weighs privatizing Public Works

Trans-Pacific Partnership: Under Cover of Darkness, a Corporate Coup Is Underway
The highly secretive pact, dubbed “NAFTA on steroids,” is so invasive it would even limit how governments can spend tax dollars…With the direct participation of 600 corporations and shocking levels of secrecy, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) is rushing to complete the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). Branded as a trade agreement (yawn) by its corporate proponents, TPP largely has evaded public and congressional scrutiny since negotiations were launched in 2008 by the George W. Bush administration. But trade is the least of it. Only two of TPP’s 26 chapters actually have to do with trade. The rest is about new enforceable corporate rights and privileges and constraints on government regulation. This includes new extensions of price-raising drug patent monopolies, corporate rights to attack government drug formulary pricing plans, safeguards to facilitate job offshoring and new corporate controls over natural resources. Also included are severe limits on government regulation of financial services, zoning and land use, product and food safety, energy and other essential services, tobacco, and more. The copyright chapter poses many of the threats to Internet freedom of the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA), which was stalled in Congress under intense public pressure. The proposed pact is so invasive of domestic policy space that it would even limit how governments can spend tax dollars. Buy America and other Buy Local procurement preferences used to reinvest our tax dollars in the American economy would be banned and sweat-free, human rights or environmental conditions on government contracts would be subject to challenge in closed-door foreign tribunals. AlterNet

Legislation would end mail delivery on Saturdays
Unionized postal workers are not happy about federal legislation that would reduce mail delivery from six to five days a week. Paul Nyman, secretary-treasurer of Branch 50, National Association of Letter Carriers, said the bill, if passed by Congress, could hurt senior citizens and disabled veterans who depend on home mail service. He and other postal workers are getting the word out to local businesses and groups, urging them to speak out against the legislation, which would, in effect, end Saturday mail delivery. Sun Gazette

SC: South Carolina clamps down on municipal Wi-Fi menace
Ars Technica has a steller report on the South Carolina state legislature’s recent passage of a bill that “effectively makes it difficult, if not impossible” for town and city governments to create their own municipal Wi-Fi networks — networks that are aimed at giving citizens taxpayer-funded, free-to-use Internet service. The two big powers behind the legislation, Ars reports, were AT&T and the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), a group that creates corporate-friendly model legislation for state legislators to pass. ALEC’s primary objection to municipal Wi-Fi, it seems, is that it might compete with private Wi-Fi services and put the squeeze on incumbent carriers’ profitability. YahooNews

TX: Charter School Chain Uses Taxpayer Money to Proselytize Students?
An investigation by Americans United for Separation of Church and State suggests that Shekinah Radiance Academy schools, using public money, operate as religious institutions….Evidence gathered as of press time indicated that the school promoted weekly chapel services, offered weekly Bible study classes and used a religious name and logo, all of which could be violations of the Constitution’s First Amendment. Alternet

FL: Privatizing prison healthcare remains stalled amid court fight
It has been more than a year since the Legislature ordered the agency to privatize inmate healthcare to save money, the largest project of its kind ever attempted in the U.S. It still hasn’t happened, leaving unfulfilled Gov. Rick Scott’s campaign promise to “competitively bid healthcare contracts” to cut costs. In the past year, Scott ousted the corrections secretary who initiated the project, and two unions filed suit to derail the outsourcing. Miami Herald

FL: Work-release centers quietly going private
When Gov. Rick Scott and legislators tried to privatize South Florida prisons, the state Senate rejected it. When the state sought to privatize health care for inmates, two unions filed suit, stalling it. Undeterred, the Department of Corrections is pursuing privatization on a new front. The agency will seek bids to privatize all 20 of its work-release centers, including three each in Pinellas County and South Florida, even though the Legislature didn’t mandate it. The state has not made the privatization plan public. The prison system says it has the authority under state law, but the Teamsters union that represents state correctional officers is threatening a lawsuit. Ken Wood, acting president of Teamsters Local 2011 in Tampa, calls the latest venture “highly suspect” and says: “We’re reviewing our legal options.” Miami Herald

NY: At Fireworks, Not All Seats Are Created Equal
They are an expression of democracy, liberty and equality, a pyrotechnic celebration of the ideals on which the United States was founded. But this year’s Fourth of July fireworks on the Hudson River will offer a new tier of premier viewing — a V.I.P. section in Hudson River Park where spaces will go for $200 a pop. But the elite viewing platform has struck some parks observers as, well, elitist. “Any time you section off or privatize or limit access to the general public, it’s against the grain of what a public park is supposed to be,” said Melissa Mark-Viverito, a member of the City Council who is chairwoman of the parks and recreation committee. “It’s symbolic of what we’re seeing at the city and state level, where we’re not allocating enough resources to keep our parks in a state of good repair.”  New York Times

NH:  N.H. towns privatize some services to save cash
With municipal budgets squeezed to a maximum, Southern New Hampshire towns are trying to get the most out of taxpayers’ dollars. That’s why some are turning to more privatization of town services…Salem recently eliminated its four-member information technology department and hired a private contractor to do the work…Derry hires a company to process tax bills. Londonderry contracts out welfare services, saving thousands of dollars each year…Privatization of community services isn’t a new concept, but it’s becoming more popular, local officials said…Towns are cutting costs in any way they can, even if it means laying off longtime employees…Like privatization, sharing community resources also isn’t a new concept. It’s just becoming more popular during tight times, according to Christopher Porter of the New Hampshire Local Government Center in Concord. The municipal organization’s 2011 survey showed at least 60 percent of New Hampshire communities rely on surrounding towns for services, he said. O’Neil said towns should also consider sharing police and fire services, like in other parts of the country. The Eagle-Tribune

CA: OC toll roads to stop taking cash, cut toll-booth jobs
The county is looking to save money by eliminating toll booth operators and phasing out cash payments, in addition to raising toll rates. Los Angeles Times

CA: Oakdale weighs privatizing Public Works
The Oakdale City Council could decide Monday night on a proposal that would lead to eliminating its Public Works Department and outsourcing its functions to the private sector. Modesto Bee