MONDAY, JANUARY 14.

PROGRAM # 6872 12:00 PM PT 

REPORTING ON MEXICO’S WAR. More than 40 journalists have been killed or disappeared in Mexico over the past six years, since the war against drug cartels began. The film Reportero: Reporting from Mexico's Drug War, that was recently aired on PBS, focuses on journalists struggling to produce investigative journalism in a country plagued by violence, self-censorship, and an ever-diminishing freedom of expression. This edition includes interviews with the director of the documentary, and with a top journalist who recently won an award from Harvard University for her coverage of the war against drug trafficking and her role in protecting and training journalists in Mexico.

Guests: Bernardo Ruiz, Director, Reportero: Reporting from Mexico’s Drug War , Atlanta, GA, http://www.pbs.org/pov/reportero/; Marcela Turati, Winner of the Louis M. Lyons Award, given by the Harvard University Nieman Fellows, Co-founder of the network Periodistas de a Pie (Pedestrian Journalists), Mexico City, Mexico, periodistasdeapie.wordpress.com.

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TUESDAY, JANUARY 15.

PROGRAM # 6873  12:00 PM PT

ARMED GUARDS IN SCHOOLS. After the massacre in a Connecticut school, Los Angeles children returned from the holidays to 600 armed patrols at their schools. Sheriff Joe Arpaio put armed volunteers at schools in Maricopa County, Arizona. And Senator Barbara Boxer introduced legislation to send the National Guard to schools around the country. How will more armed guards and police in schools impact what some describe as the criminalization of Black and Latino students and the “school-to-prison pipeline”?

Guests: Manuel Criollo, Director of Community Organizing, Strategy Center, Community Rights Campaign, Los Angeles, CA, www.thestrategycenter.org, www.communityrightscampaign.org; Joao Da Silva, Spokesperson, Dignity in Schools Campaign, New York,  NY, www.dignityinschools.org .

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WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 16.

PROGRAM # 6874  12:00 PM PT 

NEW MEMBERS OF CONGRESS. A record number of Latinos were sworn into the 113th Congress of the United States, including three U.S. senators and 28 members of the House of Representatives. This edition includes interviews with two freshman members of Congress, Pete Gallego of Texas, and Dr. Raúl Ruiz of California, about their plans for this term in Congress.

Guests: Pete Gallego, U.S. Congressman, 23rd District in Texas, U.S. House of Representatives, Washington, D.C., http://gallego.house.gov/; Dr. Raúl Ruiz, U.S.  Congressman, 36th District in California, U.S. House of Representatives, Washington, D.C., http://ruiz.house.gov/.

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THURSDAY, JANUARY 17.

PROGRAM # 6875  12:00 PM PT 

DETOXING DENIM. The environmental organization Greenpeace found a large number of hazardous chemicals polluting rivers near two of Mexico’s biggest denim factories, Lavamex in Aguascalientes, and Kaltex in Querétaro. Both companies have relationships with jeans giants such as Levi’s, Gap, Calvin Klein, and Guess. Some companies have signed agreements with the environmentalists to clean up their act.

Guests: Pierre Terras, Coordinator, Toxics Campaign, Greenpeace Mexico, Mexico City, Mexico, www.greenpeace.org/mexico/es/Footer/Descargas/reports/Toxicos/Hilos-Toxicos-Al-desnudo; Anonymous memember of Un Salto de Vida, MX, http://limpiemoselsalto.blogspot.com/ , unsaltodevida@yahoo.com.mx

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FRIDAY, JANUARY 18.

PROGRAM # 6876  12:00 PM PT

MEXICO EDITION. More than one million workers in Mexico presented appeals in federal court against the new Federal Labor Law, which now allows contracts by the hour, trial contracts, and training contracts, as well as legalizing the practice of outsourcing, allowing large companies to subcontract services from other companies, to avoid paying benefits, worker's compensation insurance and pensions. The appeals were submited in different states of the country, by unions of health, education, electrical, and service workers. The protesters are also preparing a People's Court on February 5th to try the lawmakers who made more than 50 modifications to the labor law last November. This edition also includes reports that the former president of Mexico Felipe Calderón and the former governor of Michoacán, Leonel Godoy Rangel, are shareholders of the builders that affected the ecosystem and archealogical zone of La Loma de Santamaría in the state of Michoacán. Martha Elena Ramírez hosts Voz Pública from Mexico City.

Guests: José Antonio Vital Galicia, leader, Alliance of Health Workers and Public Employees, Mexico City, Mexico; Gustavo Alcocer, Spokesperson, Citizen Movement in Defense of La Loma, Morelia, Michoacán, Mexico (pre-recorded interview).

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Funds for Línea Abierta are provided in part by The National Endowment for the Arts, The California Endowment, the Evelyn and Walter Haas Jr. Fund, The Ford Foundation, The California Wellness Foundation, the James Irvine Foundation, and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.