<b>News summaries<br />
<a name="Photographer_detained_by_police_at"></a>Photographer detained by police at behest of BP</b>
For their July 2nd report on the refinery, ProPublica dispatched a
photographer, Lance Rosenfield, to shoot pictures. He ended up being
"confronted by a BP security officer, local police and a man who
identified himself as an agent of the Department of Homeland Security,"
and briefly detained. The entire episode very closely resembles one
that Mother Jones' Mac McClelland reported on a week ago, in which Drew
Whelan of the American Birding Association was pulled over and tailed
by officials whose identities -- were they acting in an official law
enforcement capacity or on behalf of BP? -- were blurred. <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/07/06/propublica-photographer-d_n_636552.html">Huffington Post</a><br />
<b><a name="CA:_San_Jose_considering_privatizing_its"></a>CA: San Jose considering privatizing its municipal water system</b>
Like a cash-strapped home- owner planning a garage sale to help pay the
bills, San Jose city leaders are studying a plan to sell off or lease
the city's municipal water system to a private company. The plan,
although still in the early stages, could mean a windfall of $50
million or more for the city, although it almost certainly would result
in higher water bills for some San Jose residents....In March, Reed
suggested that to help close San Jose's persistent budget deficits, San
Jose consider selling off some of its assets, including the Hayes
Mansion, Rancho del Pueblo Golf Course in East San Jose and the city's
municipal water system. A month later, a potential buyer came forward.
The San Jose Water Co. is a privately held company that provides water
to 1 million people in Los Gatos, Saratoga, Campbell...The company
noted in its letter to Reed that under either plan, monthly water bills
for the people served by the San Jose municipal system would be
increased to the same rates paid by the customers served by San Jose
Water. And that could be a substantial jump. The typical bill for San
Jose Water customers is $52.67 a month. That's 29 percent higher than
the typical $40.93 bill for San Jose municipal water customers, based
on 1,500 cubic feet of water use a month for each. <a href="http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_15445143?source=most_emailed&nclick_check=1">Mercury News</a><br />
<b><a name="IL:_Daley_revisits_idea_of_privatizing"></a>IL: Daley revisits idea of privatizing Midway airport</b>
Privatizing Midway could mean a major cash infusion for the city. But a
$2.5 billion deal to privatize the airport fell through in April 2009
for lack of financing. The city terminated its lease with Midway
Investment and Development Company because the firm could not secure
the financial backing to pay the upfront rent of $2.52 billion to the
city. At the time, city Chief Financial Officer Gene Saffold said the
failure of the deal did not mean Midway Airport would never be
privatized. But on Monsters & Money in the Morning Tuesday, Terry
Savage said now may not be the time to attempt privatization again. <a href="http://cbs2chicago.com/politics/midway.airport.privatization.2.1789527.html">CBS2Chicago</a><br />
<b><a name="KY:_Experts_question_benefits_of_private"></a>KY: Experts question benefits of private prisons</b>
...[E]xperts and academic research during the past 20 years have raised
serious doubts about the benefits of private prisons. It is a "myth"
that private prisons can provide services better and more cheaply that
those run by the government, said Michele Deitch, a University of Texas
professor who was part of an American Bar Association task force that
drafted proposed national standards on the treatment of prisoners.
"The facts are that private vendors compromise safety and security to
keep down costs," Deitch said in an address to a criminal-justice
conference in Honolulu last October. "They save money by hiring
inexperienced staff at the low end of the wage scale. When you've got
inexperienced, poorly trained staff, you've got a recipe for security
and safety problems in a prison." <a href="http://www.courier-journal.com/article/20100705/NEWS01/7050312/Behind-the-Bars-Experts-question-benefits-of-private-prisons">Louisville Courier-Journal</a><br />
<b><a name="MA:_New_chapter_for_local_libraries"></a>MA: New chapter for local libraries?</b>
...The cuts have led some to wonder: Is it time for cities and towns to
get out of the library business and outsource the management of these
institutions to a private company in the same way that some school
districts, including Lowell, have done for food service?...Tewksbury
did consider contracting with Maryland-based Library Systems and
Services LLC, the only private company in the nation offering
management services for public libraries, in 2008, a move that was
taken off the table after a study by the library's board of trustees.
"In the end, it didn't appear to be a cost savings," Jennifer Hinderer,
then director of the Tewksbury Public Library, said at the time. "It
may be a good fit for some communities, but for others it is not,
especially in Massachusetts, mostly due to state-aid requirements." <a href="http://www.lowellsun.com/ci_15443239?IADID=Search-www.lowellsun.com-www.lowellsun.com">Lowell Sun</a><br />
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