414wire

On Sept. 27, the PA House of Representatives - in a 136-62 vote - passed a bill that allows hydraulic fracturing, or "fracking" to take place on the campuses of public universities. Its Senate copycat version passed in June in a 46-3 vote and Republican Gov. Tom Corbett signed it into law as Act 147 on Oct. 8.

The bill is colloquially referred to as the Indigenous Mineral Resources Development Act. It was sponsored by Republican Sen. Don White, one of the state's top recipients of oil and gas industry funding between 2000-April 2012, pulling in $94,150 during that time frame, according to a recent report published by Common Cause PA and Conservation Voters of Pennsylvania. Corbett has taken over $1.8 million from the oil and gas industry since his time serving as the state's Attorney General in 2004.

The Corbett Administration has made higher education budget cuts totaling over $460 million in the past two consecutive PA state budgets. The oil and gas industry has offered fracking as a new fundraising stream at universities starved for cash and looking to fill that massive cash void.

Yet even these details are merely the tip of the iceberg, as fracking has occured close to K-12 schoolyards for years, with accompanying devastating health consequences.

Fracking Your Future: Shale Gas Industry Targets College Campuses, K-12 Schools In Pennsylvania - a state that sits in the heart of the Marcellus Shale basin - the concept of "frackademia" and "frackademics" has taken on an entirely new meaning.

John Hagedorn - Milwaukee academic and author of the only real comprehensive study of gangs in Milwaukee - People and Folks: Gangs, Crime and the Underclass in a Rustbelt City - weighs in regarding the release of gang territory maps in Chicago. If you are interested at all in Milwaukee history or politics as it relates to the urban experience, would highly suggest you read People and Folk.

Is It Harmful to Release Gang Maps? Probably not, but as a recent case in Chicago shows, it might not be too helpful either.