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PISCATAWAY The decision to pull an article from the Northern Highlands Regional High School newspaper was used to highlight a growing trend of censorship Monday at a gathering of student journalists from across the state.

The keynote event, "Press Rights, No Fear," at the Garden State Scholastic Press Association's 35th annual Fall Press Day on Rutgers University's Busch Campus included two student panelists for the first time.

"We're putting them out in center for you because of the work that they did in terms of fighting for their rights when their articles were censored at their schools," said John Tagliareni, the moderator and a retired adviser for Bergenfield High School's student paper.

Student press censorship is a growing problem, experts say.

"Where we had gone for years with getting very few calls, in the past year and a half we've had several significant incidences some in which the advisers were either ousted or forced to resign in order to not compromise their principles," said Susan Everett, treasurer for the scholastic press group.

Among them was the censorship of an article by Adelina Colaku, the former editor of the Highland Fling at Northern Highlands.

Colaku, one of the two student panelists, spoke about her three-month legal battle with the administration to get published a story detailing a rift within the administration. A revised version of her story was eventually published.

"When you think of authority figures who are meant to be responsible and reinforce the rights that you have students don't expect that they would violate them," said Colaku, who now attends Bard College. "So I think many students are shocked to hear this and I'm glad I can bring it to light and hopefully they can do something as well if this is occurring in their school system."

The other student panelist, Kylie Sposato, now a freshman at Rowan University, wrote a column at Pemberton Township High School lamenting smoking in the girls' bathroom.

After several meetings with the principal and superintendent, a revised version of her story was published.

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Censorship and rights at summit

Asbury Park Press 11:25 a.m. EDT October 28, 2014

Protestors attend the Metropolitan Operas season opening on Sept. 22 to protest the Mets decision to premiere the controversial opera Death of Klinghoffer. (Photo: AP )

NEW YORK It is a tale of two cities. Well, one ultraliberal metropolis of 8.4 million, and one teeny, conservative town of 3,340. But both face the same threat: dangerous art.

Here in New York, the threat is a world-renowned opera companys production about terrorism. In Maiden, N.C., the threat is a high school play about love.

Almost, Maine has enjoyed nearly 2,000 school productions since its premiere in 2004. It is, in fact, currently the most frequently produced full-length play in U.S. high schools, edging out even A Midsummer Nights Dream. Set in a fictional town in remotest Maine, the whimsical rom-com features nine interlocking vignettes of romance and heartache, playing on familiar idioms about love. The figurative act of falling in love, for example, is illustrated by actors literally falling down. Its a bit like a better-written, slightly surrealist version of Love Actually.

High school students around the country, including those in Maiden High Schools theater club, are drawn to an appealing combination of slapstick, wit and wholesome schmaltz. School administrators likewise appreciate that the most explicit dialogue in John Carianis PG-rated script is the minced oath Jeezum Crow. Who could object to that? The community leaders of Maiden, it turns out to one vignette in particular.

Remember that scene with the falling-down gag? Theres no sex, or kissing, or even allusions to lust. But the gravity-prone characters are both men, which was incendiary enough to lead the principal to cancel the production, citing sexually explicit overtones and multiple sexual innuendoes.

Suspecting that the gay storyline might be an issue, the students had asked the principal to OK their play choice several weeks earlier. After consulting with the superintendent, he did, on the condition that parents sign permission slips allowing their kids to audition for a play with homosexual characters. Then, after the 16-year-old student-director started rehearsals, word got out to local churches that the show contained gay people. Just a few days after same-sex marriage became legal in the state, the students were told the community isnt ready for this play after all.

They were distraught. Theyd already broken their budget securing the rights, and they worried about the message the principals decision sent to their openly gay classmates. The American Civil Liberties Union offered to help the group fight the decision as happened in 2011, during a similar battle at a Maryland school but the students declined legal help, not wanting to cause more conflict. They still hoped to produce the play, though, so when a former teacher offered to help mount an off-campus production, they agreed. Their Kickstarter page set a goal of $1,000. Less than a week later, they had already raised six times that amount.

Many of the donations, and accompanying petition signatures, have come from sympathizers far from Maiden. On social media and in national news reports, far-flung supporters of the students accuse the town of bigotry, backwardness and intellectual suppression.

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RAMPELL: Censorship alive and well in Maine and NYC

Putin #39;s key quotes from Valdai speech: "Global media control allows US to sell black for white"
24/10/2014 ~ Global media control allows US to sell black for white: Putin #39;s key quotes from Valdai speech President Vladimir Putin criticized the West for...

By: Syria News Press

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Putin's key quotes from Valdai speech: "Global media control allows US to sell black for white" - Video

Amazon.com has added a second Fire TV streaming device to its lineup, announcing a $39 streaming media stick on Monday that will compete with Google Chromecast and Roku Streaming Stick.

Users plug the newFire TV Stickinto the HDMI port on an HDTV tostream content from Netflix, Hulu Plus, Prime Instant Video, WatchESPN, Twitch, YouTube, Pandora, Spotify and other services.

Google Chromecast costs $35 and Roku Streaming Stick costs $50.

Amazon's stick comes seven months after the Seattle company introduced Amazon Fire TV, a streaming media box. Amazon hopes the smaller, cheaper device -- it's about the size of a pack of gum -- will entice customers who don't want to spend $99 on the full-fledged Fire TV box.

The stick features a dual-core processor, 1 GB of RAM, 8 GB of storage, and dual-band and dual-antenna Wi-Fi. Itcomes with a remote control, and users can also use their phones as a remote with a free mobile app that includes voice search.

The company was quick to tout the stick's specs compared with rival devices.

"Fire TV Stick has 50% more processing power and two times the memory of Chromecast; it has six times the processing power, two times the memory and 32 times the storage of Roku Streaming Stick," the company said. "This results in faster and more fluid navigation, plus more storage for apps and games."

Users will also be able to "fling" movies and TV shows from their Fire tablet or Fire phone to the Fire TV Stick.

Fire TV Stick is available for pre-order and will ship Nov. 19.Amazon is offering a special limited-time promotion: New and existing Amazon Prime members can buy the stick for $19 during the next two days.

Twitter: @byandreachang

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Amazon unveils $39 streaming media stick to take on Chromecast, Roku

By Justin Peligri, CNN

updated 12:15 PM EDT, Tue October 28, 2014

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

(CNN) -- Gun control supporting candidates facing tight races for governor in Connecticut and Maryland are the beneficiaries of a last-minute ad buy from former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

Bloomberg's group, Independence USA PAC, is supporting pro-gun control candidates like Democratic Gov. Dan Malloy in Connecticut and Democratic Lieutenant Governor Anthony Brown in Maryland, both of whom are locked in tight races to lead their states.

Gun control is a "simmering issue" in these states, said Bloomberg spokesman Stu Loeser. Historically, the PAC has donated to both Democrats and Republicans supporting "common sense" gun control in an attempt to stave off the gun lobby and tie pro-gun candidates to the National Rifle Association.

In Connecticut, the group hopes that support for gun control will emerge as a salient theme for voters in the wake of the state's Sandy Hook massacre in December 2012, where 20 young children and 6 adults were shot and killed at an elementary school. The newest ads there target Malloy's opponent, Republican challenger Tom Foley.

"The NRA praises Tom Foley, calling him pro-gun," a voice in a new Connecticut ad says. "No wonder. The NRA opposes comprehensive background checks. And Foley promised he'd sign a bill to weaken them, undermining our gun safety laws."

The Foley campaign did not immediately return CNN's request to respond to Bloomberg's efforts.

This is the second ad buy in Connecticut in the past week: Television watchers also might have noticed another gun control ad which launched Friday from the group. Loeser said these ad buys represent an attempt to make sure gun control stays on the agenda in these states.

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Bloomberg PAC highlights gun control in Connecticut, Maryland