Columbus, OH -- At 11:30am Monday morning, about 100 Earth First! activists occupied the headquarters of American Municipal Power, an electric utility that provides statewide service to member communities. As part of an ongoing series of direct actions, activists confronted CEO Marc Gerken and demanded that AMP-Ohio cancel its plans for construction of a new and widely opposed coal-fired power plant in southeast Ohio.

Politics of Scenes and Introducing a Chicago Student Neighborhood Social Map

Removing radical politics from the exclusive grip of social scenes and subcultures to expand its appeal is a popular topic of discussion. What is often missing however is a clear understanding of how critical scenes are to the communication and expression of political ideas. Everyone’s life is composed of the interaction between the different scenes they participate in, from their own family scene, to their school friend scene to their work friend scene to possibly an explicitly cultural (punk rock, hip hop or jazz scene etc.) or political scene (anarchist, socialist, obamaist scene etc.). At the lowest common denominator, scenes are just social networks of people who share similar interests, situations and relations. There’s nothing particularly insidious about scenes, its more important how individuals balance their engagement in scenes and how they deal with personal and social identity.

Milwaukee: Locks glued at four Starbucks Locations

On July 5th, the global day of action against Starbucks, four Milwaukee locations found the locks on their doors glued shut. The locks of the Starbucks stores at East Pointe, Brady Street, Shorewood, and Downer Avenue were hit. The stores were closed during the ever critical morning rush.

From Milwaukee Inydmedia:

Locks glued at four Milwaukee Starbucks

Barista Liberation Front, 05.07.2008 15:18

On July 5th, the global day of action against Starbucks, four Milwaukee locations found the locks on their doors glued shut. The locks of the Starbucks stores at East Pointe, Brady Street, Shorewood, and Downer Avenue were hit. The stores were closed during the ever critical morning rush.

600 down. 6,000 to go.

This morning, the owners of Bernardin, Lochmueller, & Associates in Maryville, Illinois were popping aspirins to deal with their headaches. Maybe the underlings enjoyed the day off. The company car had all four tires slashed, headlights, windows, and mirrors busted out, and paint job ruined. The office building had its locks glued, windows smashed, and exterior painted with "187 ON I-69" and "THE FRONTLINE IS EVERYWHERE."

Police say they're not worried about a document posted on a web site by a self-described anarchist protest group that shows how delegates will get to and from the Republican National Convention.

Pete Panos, St. Paul Police spokesman, said officials aren't sure the March 5 document is authentic. But even if it is, Panos said, it would be "a working document we used at one time." Moreover, Panos said the posted document contains mostly "common sense stuff."