Noted.

CLOSED DOOR, OPEN WINDOW: Things are turning out remarkably well for more than 200 former employees of Republic Windows & Doors, whose factory occupation in December drew national media attention and public support from Barack Obama. The laid-off workers ended their six-day sit-in victoriously, after negotiations with Bank of America, Republic's largest creditor, secured each a $6,000 severance package. Then on February 26, the California-based firm Serious Materials, which had reached out to the workers and their union, the United Electrical Workers (UE), announced plans to buy the plant and put everyone back to work making energy-efficient windows. Serious will reopen with a smaller workforce until business is up and running, but the company has agreed to rehire all the former employees, at the same pay and seniority levels they had before the plant closed.

"Serious has been a real beacon in the night to us," says Ricky Maclin, who started at Republic seven years ago and is vice president of UE Local 1110. Meanwhile, the happy ending for Maclin and his fellow workers has made them beacons in the night to workers across the country. Credit is due the careful planning and creative thinking of the Republic workers' union, which spent years developing collaborative relationships with labor groups around the world and drew particular inspiration from factory occupations in Latin America and Canada. "The UE has been trying to figure out innovative ways to stop plant closings for decades," says Mark Meinster, the union's international representative. "When people are really concerned about an economic crisis, you can win broad support for some pretty militant tactics, and that gave us the confidence to go forward with this."   MAX FRASER

ALL'S FAIR? When the FCC's fairness doctrine was in place from 1949 to 1987, it was often criticized by journalists who felt that it constrained debate. Overly cautious broadcasters steered discussion away from topics that might stir public outcry and bring an FCC rebuke. Still, most Americans liked the idea of fairness, and since the doctrine was ditched, honest players on the left and right have proposed its restoration. Unfortunately, the debate about bringing the fairness doctrine back was not driven by those honest players. It became a distraction, designed to create the fantasy that a Democratic Congress--faced with daily radio attacks from Rush Limbaugh and the conservative amen corner--would use its newfound authority to censor critics. Ben Scott, the policy director of the media reform network Free Press, put it best when he said, "An uncharitable interpretation is that they [Republicans]need an issue that unites their base and is an easy talking point for conservative radio."

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