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Friday, October 29, 2010

Hip-hop Berkeley prof. battles chemical company | California Watch

Hip-hop Berkeley prof. battles chemical company | California Watch

Hip-hop Berkeley prof. battles chemical company

Allies of Syngenta, a company that produces a ubiquitous but controversial herbicide, have continued attacks on UC Berkeley Professor Tyrone Hayes, a leading critic of the chemical who has fought the company through outrageous e-mails laced with rap lyrics, original rhymes and raunchy put-downs.

Critiques of Hayes' research on the herbicide atrazine have shown up in recent months in the Center for Global Food Issues [PDF], a project of the conservative Hudson Institute, Hoosier Ag Today, and debunkosaurus.

Meanwhile, UC Berkeley has defended the professor's free speech rights. Hayes is preparing to submit a new


Voter Guide: Whitman, Brown differ on education reform

Meg Whitman and Jerry Brown both say reforming the state’s beleaguered education system is a top priority, but they have very different proposals for getting there.

California Watch has been tracking every statement, promise, prediction and deflection by Whitman and Brown over at Politics Verbatim. This post is the last in a series that is using those records to lay out each candidate's stance on a specific issue in detail.

On K-12 education:

The candidates agree that the state’s bureaucratic funding system, currently broken into 60 categories, needs to