Updates: Video: Infamia en Oaxaca [ 1 | 2 ] - Brad's final footage | Minute by Minute Coverage from Oaxaca by Centro de Medios Libre [ en | es ]

Oct. 27: New York Indymedia journalist and documentary filmmaker Brad Will was shot to death today by pro-government paramilitaries who opened fire on a barricade in the neighborhood of Santa Lucia del Camino, on the outskirts of Oaxaca City, Mexico. Photos: [ 1 | 2 ]

Will was hit in the chest as he held his videocamera, and died before reaching the hospital, according to La Jornada. A photographer from the newspaper Milenio Diario, who was at Will's side, was shot in the leg. At least two other people were killed, including Oaxacan teacher Emilio Alonso Fabián who was fatally wounded outside the state government palace near San Bartolo Coyotepec, 15 kilometers from Oaxaca City, according to Florentino Lopez, spokesperson of the Popular Assembly of the Peoples of Oaxaca (APPO)

Centro de Medias Libres in Mexico City reports that from Will's recovered videotapes, they have identified his killer as a PRI paramilitary named Pedro Carmona, ex-president of Felipe Carrillo Puerto de Santa Lucia del Camino, a colonia in Oaxaca.

Radio APPO is reporting that truckloads of armed paramilitaries and federal police have entered the city. APPO has called for people to reinforce the thousands of barricades constructed in the past 5 months as part of the statewide teachers' strike and popular uprising that has demanded the removal of PRI governor Ulisis Ortiz Ruiz.

Breaking News: Solidarity and Press Statements on Oaxaca and Brad Will's Death | Testimonials and Tributes | NYC-IMC | IMC-Mexico | La Jornada | Live Coverage from CML | Radio APPO | radiozapote | Radio Planton (Oaxaca) | Radio Sabotaje | Millenio.com | reforma.com | Indybay (San Francisco) | Global IMC | Narco News Bulletin

Members of the Illinois Ballot Integrity Project have discovered a serious security vulnerability in the City of Chicago's online voter registration database that could allow an identity pirate to obtain the names, addresses, birth dates and Social Security numbers of more than 1.5 million Chicago voters. The discovery comes on the heels of a series of problems — and growing concerns — about the integrity of Chicago's electronic voting protocals and procedures.

IBIP notified staff at the Chicago Board of Election Commissioners several weeks ago about the vulnerability — estimated to require a five-minute fix — but no action was taken. Late last week, IBIP determined that the security breach was more severe than first thought and again notified the Board, which began taking action to alleviate the threat last Friday. Read more

Additional info: The Illinois Ballot Integrity Project

The Coalition of Immokalee Workers — a worker-rights organization for migrant laborers in Immokalee, Florida — is escalating its campaign to pressure McDonald's to raise the wages and organizing rights of laborers who pick tomatoes for the fast-food chain.

The Coalition came to Chicago in March 2006 as part of a 17-city tour, and the Coalition returns with an autumn Midwest Tour, which includes roving pickets across Chicago-area McDonald's and a protest at the McDonald's world headquarters in Oak Brook. Read more

UPDATE: Photos from CIW | Austin IMC coverage | YouTube: Protest at McDonald's HQ

Additional Resources: The Progressive: McDonald's is evil | Alliance for Fair Food | Student Farmworker Alliance

A post on the Guerrilla News Network reports: "Halloween came two weeks early for George W. Bush in Chicago. While the president wined and dined with representative Dennis Hastert and many of the Illinois Republican Party’s finest at $500 a plate to raise funds for this year’s election campaigns, a group of very cold, determined and creative protesters filled the designated “free speech zone” across the street from the Hilton on Michigan Avenue. Expounding on Hugo Chavez’ proclamation that Bush is the ‘devil’, the demonstration centered around the theme of exorcising him from the city and the overall country." Read more | Another account

Additional Media: Photos from Oct. 12 Bush Exorcism [ 1 | 2 ] YouTube: Exorcise BUSH!

From the newswire: "Prosecutors on Friday, September 22, dropped one of three charges against a Chicago-area man whose false confession under torture in Israel may be largely admitted against him in a Federal trial next month.

Muhammad Salah, a U.S. citizen of Palestinian birth, and husband and father, will stand trial with a codefendant beginning October 12, in a prosecution that until now has been portrayed as “the Hamas money-laundering case.”

But the U.S. attorney’s office dropped the charge of providing material support to a foreign terrorist organization, apparently in direct response to successful questioning of an FBI informer’s credibility by the defense." Read more.

Related resources: People's Law Office | National Lawyers Guild - Chicago Chapter

A press release by the Starbucks Workers Union announced: "Baristas at Chicago’s Logan Square Starbucks store announced last night [August 29, 2006] their membership in the IWW Starbucks Workers Union, becoming the first U.S. workers outside of New York City to declare union membership at the world's largest coffee chain.

"Workers served Starbucks management at the café, located on 2759 W Logan Blvd., with a declaration of union membership and a set of demands including a living wage, guaranteed work hours, reinstatement of IWW baristas fired for organizing activity, and respect for an independent voice on the job through union membership." Read more

Additional Coverage: Gapers Block | Crain's Chicago Business | Associated Press (IWW repost) | NLG Chicago: Would You Like Union Solidarity With That? | Starbucks workers add shot of unionizing | Editorial: Pundit Gets It All Wrong

Elvira Arellano, a Chicago-area activist for immigrants' rights, noted for her organizing as president of La Familia Latina Unida and for her actions in a 2006 hunger strike, has sought sanctuary in the face of an imminent threat of deportation to Mexico.

Arellano's activism specifically addresses the rights of families to remain together in the face of differing immigration and citizenship privileges. Ironically, Arellano currently faces the threat of seeing her own family separated, as she may be forced to leave behind her seven-year-old son.

Arellano is seeking sanctuary at Chicago's Adalberto United Methodist Church noted for its ongoing activism for immigrants rights and its specific support in Arellano's case.

Read more | Update | Photos from Elvira Defense | The Case of Elvira Arellano | Democracy Now! coverage | VivirLatino coverage | Bitch PhD: Heroine of the Week

On Wednesday, the Chicago City Council approved an ordinance that will require Big Box retailers to pay workers a living wage — an initiative that economic justice activists say hails a new day in the battle to get large corporations like Wal-Mart to scale back their exploitation of workers.

After a fierce months-long battle between supporters and opponents of the effort, the Chicago City Council voted 35 to 14 to approve the ordinance. The veto-proof majority represents a rare departure by aldermen from the wishes of Mayor Daley, who has vigorously opposed the initiative. The new ordinance mandates a $10 minimum hourly wage and $3 an hour in fringe benefits, with annual indexing for inflation for big box retail stores of 90,000 feet and up that have gross annual sales of $1 billion. Full story.