By Mandalit del Barco for NPR

When they heard I was going to report in Haiti after the massive earthquake, fifth-graders from Amylynn Robinson's class asked if I could deliver some messages to any children I'd meet. Their letters included drawings of flowers, hearts and rainbows. And they began simply:

"Hello Haiti, nice to meet you."

"Dear Buddy ... "

"Hi there, I'm a child as well."

"Dear friend, I am your friend. I wrote this letter to tell you I care about you."

The children wrote about their school, Balboa Magnet Elementary, a public school in Northridge, Calif., in Northern Los Angeles County, which was the epicenter of a magnitude 6.7 earthquake in 1994. Although these 10-year-olds were not alive then, many say they've heard stories about the damage in California. So they were sympathetic to kids coping with the magnitude 7.0 earthquake in Haiti.

"Because they were one of the poorest countries in the Western atmosphere, it shocked me greatly," Issac Choi said.

"I was like, oh, my gosh," said Joon Lee. "Their buildings were made out of rocks. Many people died, and I feel so sad for them."

Continue reading HERE

CNN Justice

A second former New Orleans police officer pleaded guilty Thursday in connection with police shootings of civilians on a Louisiana bridge in the days following Hurricane Katrina, authorities said.

Jeffrey Lehrmann, a former police detective who now works as a special agent for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, pleaded guilty in federal court to a charge that he failed to report a cover-up in the investigation of the Danziger Bridge shootings in New Orleans, the Department of Justice said in a statement Thursday.

Lehrmann also admitted he helped compile a false report on the incidents, and was with others when they planted a gun as part of the cover-up, according to court documents.

Last month, former police Lt. Michael Lohman pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice in connection with the cover-up.

Two civilians were killed and four others wounded in the shootings on September 4, 2005, six days after Katrina slammed into the Gulf Coast.

Continue reading HERE

By Stacy Morford for Solve Climate

In the launch yesterday of their Earth Day Revolution for climate action, the Sierra Club and more than 40 other groups talked about the need for “Congress to finally push aside the obstruction of the polluter lobby.”

The Sunlight Foundation shed some light this week on that anti-climate action lobby and just how tightly it is woven into the fabric of Capitol Hill.

The foundation used Arkansas Democratic Sen. Blanche Lincoln as an example. She was one of three Senate Democrats to join Sen. Lisa Murkowski’s (R-Alaska) effort to block the EPA's authority to regulate greenhouse gas emissions under the Clean Air Act. Lincoln, chairwoman of the Senate Agriculture Committee, also opposes cap-and-trade legislation and even touts that opposition in her campaignads.

The Sunlight Foundation took a look at lobbyists with personal ties to the congresswoman and found that at least six of Lincoln’s former staff members now lobby for interest groups with a stake in climate regulations, including oil and gas trade groups.

Continue reading HERE