The latest news on Health Care, Native Americans Suffer Winter, Mountaintop Mining, University Endowments, Passing-Howard Zinn, Yemen, Afghanistan, Guinea, Honduras, and Select Op-Eds.

Sign up to receive our daily news summary via e-mail »

Quote of the Day. "This issue transcends race and faith. From the gold diggers in the 19th century ... to the governor in the 20th century, we are a state of immigrants. We are the state of California." Shakeel Syed, executive director of the Islamic Shura Council of Southern California, at a prayer vigil/rally in Santa Ana, CA as part of a national day calling for comprehensive immigration reform. (Orange County Register)

FAITH IN THE NEWS

Faith Leaders Highlight Need to Remember Holocaust "Christian leaders across denominations commemorated International Holocaust Remembrance Day on Wednesday to keep alive the memory of the atrocities that took place in the Nazi concentration camps more than 65 years ago and to also highlight the need to be alert in protecting human life today."

International Holocaust Remembrance Day / Across Europe, Jewish leaders vow: Never again "Israel's leaders, with Iran on their minds, vowed never again to allow the 'hand of evil' to kill Jews as the world marked International Holocaust Remembrance Day yesterday."

HAITI

Amid Earthquake's Ruins, Signs of Revival in Haiti "This devastated capital showed increasing signs of stirring back to life on Wednesday as Haitians restarted factory assembly lines, visited their barbers, sought replacement cellphones and even picked up their dry cleaning." Girl's rescue 15 days after quake offers a rare moment of joy in devastated Haiti "Fifteen days after an earthquake devastated this nation, a teenage girl was rescued from the rubble of her house -- weak and thirsty -- on a hillside in the capital." A day in the life of a Haiti tent city "A rooster crows, and two street preachers stand near the gates of a new tent city. They are both women, both wearing black kerchiefs over their hair. One shouts hoarsely into a bullhorn while the other sings sweetly from a 'singing bible,' a book of hymns." Envisioning a new Haiti "The Monitor spoke to two dozen scholars, aid workers, environmentalists, and diplomats with deep roots in Haiti about their blue-sky visions in this dark time. They looked beyond the immediate disaster and outside the frustrating box of financial and political restraints that have foiled years of efforts to help Haiti, to prescribe their own solutions for the country's problems."

NEWS AT HOME

State of the Union. First State of the Union speech by President Obama: 'We face a deficit of trust' "President Obama delivered an urgent plea for unity on Wednesday night during his first State of the Union address, seeking to recapture the energy that propelled him into office and to reverse his party's trajectory after a series of recent setbacks." Obama speech emphasizes jobs, and the job he's done "Warning that the nation had developed a 'deficit of trust' in government, President Obama on Wednesday promised to put the public's top concerns -- jobs and the economy -- at the center of his second year in office while continuing to press for the rest of his stalled agenda." Obama to Party: Don't 'Run for the Hills' "President Obama vowed Wednesday night not to give up on his ambitious legislative agenda, using his first State of the Union address to chastise Republicans for working in lock-step against him and to warn Democrats to stiffen their political spines." Obama strives to revive the spirit of 2009 "President Obama's State of the Union address was an unusually candid attempt to recapture the magic of his first months in office -- an effort to remind Americans why they admired him in January 2009, and to persuade them to feel that way again." In State of the Union, Obama takes on partisan dysfunction of Washington "President Obama used his first State of the Union address to reset his relationship with the American middle class. But it was the politics of Washington, rather than any specific policy, that the president spoke about with the most passion after a year when the change he pledged proved elusive."

Health Care. Health Care Gives Way to Economy and Jobs "But after spending 2009 emphasizing that a health care overhaul was his top domestic priority, Mr. Obama gave it much less prominence in his address. He did not mention it until more than half an hour in -- a sign of how imperiled the bill has become." State of health reform: still grim "With Democrats in Congress looking for a way out of the health care impasse, President Barack Obama offered them words of encouragement but little else -- no concrete plan to jump-start progress on a bill, no timeline for getting it done and no guidance on what he wants to see in what was once his top legislative initiative."

Native Americans Suffer Winter. Storm Takes Steep Toll on Destitute Tribe "A tiny tribe of Lakota Sioux has been battling wind, rain and subzero temperatures this week as ice storms lash one of the U.S.'s poorest communities and leave thousands without electricity, heat or drinking water."

Mountaintop Mining. EPA crackdown on mountaintop coal mining criticized as contradictory "But to many people in Appalachia, the orders coming out of Washington, especially one this month, have appeared contradictory and mysterious, signing off on some mines and blocking others. Environmentalists are unhappy because they fear federal officials are losing their nerve to take on the powerful coal industry."

University Endowments. Investment Losses Cause Steep Dip in University Endowments, Study Finds "Reflecting the difficult financial environment for higher education, university endowments lost an average of 18.7 percent in the last fiscal year, the worst returns since the Great Depression, according to a study of hundreds of public and private institutions."

Passing-Howard Zinn. Howard Zinn, author of 'People's History' and left-wing historian, dies at 87 in California "Howard Zinn, an author, teacher and political activist whose leftist 'A People's History of the United States' became a million-selling alternative to mainstream texts and a favorite of such celebrities as Bruce Springsteen and Ben Affleck, died Wednesday."

NEWS AROUND THE WORLD

Yemen. Hillary Clinton among those praising Yemen's efforts against al-Qaeda "Yemen pledged Wednesday to implement broad political and economic reforms in exchange for a package of long-term development and security assistance from countries concerned that it could become a permanent base for international terrorist operations." As Nations Meet, Clinton Urges Yemen to Prove Itself Worthy of Aid "Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton administered a dose of tough love, saying Yemen, an impoverished Arab nation, must earn increased foreign aid by rooting out corruption, settling internal strife and protecting the rights of girls and young women."

Afghanistan. Karzai seeks Afghan reconciliation "Hamid Karzai, the Afghan president, has said his country must reach out to its 'disenchanted brothers' in an effort to stabilise the war ravaged nation." Afghan Tribe Vows to Fight Taliban in Return for U.S. Aid "The leaders of one of the largest Pashtun tribes in a Taliban stronghold said Wednesday that they had agreed to support the American-backed government, battle insurgents and burn down the home of any Afghan who harbored Taliban guerrillas." Pakistan seeks role as mediator in possible Taliban-Afghanistan peace talks "Pakistan, which once sponsored Taliban forces but turned against them under American pressure in 2001, now hopes to play a role as a broker in proposed negotiations among Taliban leaders and the Afghan government, with support from the United States." 'Military-led strategy in Afghanistan will fail' "The military strategy in Afghanistan is seriously flawed and is doomed to failure without major adjustments, the outgoing head of the UN there has warned." The new Afghan plan: buy off Taliban "The plan, to be approved at a 60-nation conference in London today, comes amid unexpected signs of growing political support for the equally high-risk idea of talks leading to a political settlement with the Taliban leadership."

Iran. Iran executes two over poll unrest "Iran has hanged two men over widespread protests that followed the country's disputed presidential election in June last year, an Iranian news agency has said." Iranian activists hanged at dawn "Two Iranians convicted of being 'enemies of God' and trying to topple the Islamic regime were hanged at dawn today. It was the first known execution of opposition activists since June's disputed presidential election prompted massive street protests."

Guinea. Guinea appoints civilian PM "Guinea has sworn in a civilian prime minister as a transitional government has taken power in the latest step towards democratic elections in the West African country."

Honduras. Zelaya goes into exile in Dominican Republic "As a new Honduran president took office Wednesday, former leader Manuel Zelaya flew into exile in the Dominican Republic under a deal that ends months of turmoil since his ouster by the military last summer."

OPINION

Obama shows he's a conciliator--and also willing to fight (E.J. Dionne Jr., Washington Post) "There was an unexpected poignancy to the moment . Barack Obama, who once strode across the political landscape as a master of the persuasive arts, found himself needing to prove that mastery all over again."

Military partnerships may be the nation's best path to peace (David Ignatius, Washington Post) "Gen. Stanley McChrystal this week expressed a truth that military commanders know better than anyone: "A political solution to all conflicts is the inevitable outcome," he told the Financial Times. The problem is getting to that political settlement in a way that the combatants find acceptable. This can take years, even decades."

How companies became 'persons' (Clarence Page, Chicago Tribune)
"Riddle me this: When is a corporation like a freed slave?
Answer: When it is trying to win human rights in a case before the U.S. Supreme Court."

Sojourners' Daily Digest is a compilation of the top news related to our commitments of life and peace, economic and racial justice, and care of creation, with a special focus on news of the engagement of faith in public life.