Source: The Associated Press

On April 4, 2003 The Associated Press reported that "Tempe [AZ] has declared its city buildings a haven for local Muslims who may face war-related harassment or threats, making it the first Phoenix-area community to officially do so... 'City buildings have always been safe havens,' Tempe's diversity coordinator, Rosa Inchausti, said in a note to department heads last week. 'People need to know that anyone can go into any city building if they are feeling harassed or threatened.'"

Source: New California Media

http://news.ncmonline.com/news/view_article.html?article_id=fbaa55f50a76329013d829cd77fe710d

On April 4, 2003 New California Media reported that "February was an unusual month at Vive La Casa shelter in Buffalo, NY, and not only because its aid workers helped process three times the normal number of applications for people from the U.S. seeking asylum in Canada. It was unusual because of...

Source: Religion...

Source: The Boston Globe

On April 4, 2003 The Boston Globe reported that "officials from the Muslim American Society are in discussions with FleetBoston Financial Corp., asking the bank to re-examine its recent decisions to close at least 15 accounts of individuals or institutions with Arabic names... Mahdi Bray, executive director of the Muslim American Society Freedom Foundation, said Fleet 'is a test case' and the effort might spread to other large national banks that he said might be engaging in discriminatory practices... Fleet spokesman James E....

Source: Los Angeles Times

On April 3, 2003 the Los Angeles Times reported that "the 91-year-old cross overlooking Ventura is being targeted by a group that contends the city has run afoul of 1st Amendment guarantees against establishment of a state religion... The cross is on public land in Grant Park, a rambling, sage-studded expanse atop 800-foot-high Mission Hill. The cross will be at the heart of a meeting next week between city officials and an attorney for three Ventura County residents upset by its religious symbolism... A member of Americans United...

Source: The San Francisco Chronicle

On April 3, 2003 The San Francisco Chronicle printed an editorial by Annie Nakao stating that "I attended an unusual awards ceremony in San Francisco last week, to honor some folks who did the right thing in another dark time not so long ago... They were quite a bunch: a beloved philanthropist, a Buddhist priest, a couple of newspaper publishers, two lawyers, the ACLU of Northern California and the American Friends Service Committee. Their deed? Aiding Japanese Americans in the days following Pearl Harbor, when this...

Source: The Sun

http://www.sunspot.net/bal-ca.pagans01apr01.story

On April 1, 2003 The Sun reported that "gathered in the cramped but comfortable basement of a Finksburg church on a recent Friday night, the pagans joked about the difficulties of raising children and staying married. They riffed on contradictions they've found in the Christian Bible. They shared frustrations about growing up overweight, gay and apostate... Outside, not a single protester walked the dark,...

Source: St. Petersburg Times

http://www.sptimes.com/2003/03/31/TampaBay/Mood_cautious_at_Musl.shtml

On March 31, 2003 the St. Petersburg Times reported that "after war broke out in Iraq, organizers of... the annual Islamic Charity Festival [in Tampa, FL]... discussed postponing the festival, which local Muslims hold to offer food and clothing to mostly non-Muslim needy residents... Corporations could be counted on in past years to provide soft drinks...

Source: Daily News

On March 30, 2003 Daily News reported that "a four-day Greek festival that has been held by a Whitestone church each June for the past 25 years is getting a thumbs-down this year from the local community board... Community Board 7, which covers Whitestone along with Flushing and neighboring communities, will recommend that the city deny Holy Cross Greek Orthodox Church the permits it needs to hold the fair, said district manager Marilyn Bitterman... Then, complaints from neighbors and the Greater Whitestone Taxpayers Civic Association...

Source: Los Angeles Times

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-cranes30mar30,1,3411647.story?coll=la%2Dhome%2Dleftrail

On March 30, 2003 the Los Angeles Times reported that "in the mind of peace advocate Michiko Pumpian, the crane is mightier than the sword -- and, for that matter, more persuasive than protest marches... The tall, graceful bird is a symbol of peace in her native Japan, and the 48-...

Source: Statesman Journal

http://news.statesmanjournal.com/article.cfm?i=59203

On March 30, 2003 Statesman Journal reported that "forty people sought solace Saturday at Loucks Lecture Hall where they gathered to listen to Buddhist nun Gen Kelsang Dechen. That’s twice as many who turned out two weeks ago � before the Iraq war started � to hear Dechen speak... Dechen, who lives at the Mahasiddha Buddhist Center in Portland, didn’t speak specifically about...

Source: The Daily Oklahoman

On March 29, 2003 The Daily Oklahoman reported that "When Muslim John Graff watches television news coverage of the war in Iraq, he admits to having mixed emotions... There is a sense of distaste resulting from the harmful things Saddam Hussein and his regime have done to the Iraqi people. Yet, Graff said there is the hesitancy to support the American military going in 'full force' to stop the Iraqi leader, because the Iraqis in the middle are 'our brothers and sisters...' Unitarian clergyman Mark Christian said he understands...

Source: Chicago Tribune

http://www.chicagotribune.com/archives

On March 28, 2003 the Chicago Tribune printed an editorial stating that "it's not widely known that of the 1.4 million people on active duty in the U.S. military, more than 60,000 are immigrants. About half of those immigrant soldiers are not U.S. citizens. They are grateful to be here, grateful for what America has done for them, and they have volunteered to serve on behalf of their adopted country... The months since...

Source: Muslim Public Affairs Council News

On March 28, 2003 Muslim Public Affairs Council News reported that "on Saturday, March 15, 2003, MPAC Advisor Dr. Metwalli B. Amer gave an invocation at the State of California Democratic Convention at the Sacramento Convention Center... Dr. Amer is the Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Sacramento Area League of Associated Muslims (SALAM), the President of the Council of Sacramento Valley Islamic Organizations, and a Professor Emeritus at the California State University, Sacramento... [He stated,] one...

Source: Arizona Republic

On March 28, 2003 the Arizona Republic reported that "explosives were hurled into the back yard of an Iraqi-American family in Phoenix on Wednesday, the same day a Muslim advocacy group called on the governor to take action to prevent hate crimes... Four 'dry ice explosives' were thrown at Basil Sayad's home shortly before 5 p.m., Phoenix police Sgt. Randy Force said. The devices, concoctions of dry ice mixed with water in a bottle, did not injure the Sayads and their two teenage children. Force said that there was minor property...