Source: Los Angeles Times

http://www.latimes.com/la-me-street13jan13,0,6378380.story

On January 13, 2003 the Los Angeles Times reported that "Garden Grove [CA] officials are considering whether to change the name of a small stretch of 13th Street to Al-Rahman Street at the request of a local Islamic group... Most of the block on 13th west of Brookhurst Street is owned by the Islamic Society of Orange County, where thousands of Muslims congregate daily for prayers...

Source: Los Angeles Times

http://www.latimes.com/la-me-nomeals13jan13001446,0,558409.story

On January 13, 2003 the Los Angeles Times reported that "across the nation, advocates for the homeless have squared off with city officials over everything from sleeping on city sidewalks to outdoor toilets, but in Southern California the debate now centers on... the distribution of food in public... Advocates for the poor see the food handouts as humanitarianism at...

Source: Daily News

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/col/story/50499p-47376c.html

On January 10, 2003 the Daily News reported that "it took Sarah Brockus and 21 colleagues about three months to interview 120 New Yorkers about their religious beliefs and practices and another three months to turn the conversations into a play called 'Same Difference'... 'And that's what we learned,' says Brockus, the work's director and inspiration. 'That in all the important ways...

Source: Contra Costa Times

http://www.bayarea.com/mld/bayarea/4915663.htm

On January 10, 2003 the Contra Costa Times reported that "a lawsuit filed by a Christian law firm against the Byron Union School District won't go before a jury until late 2004, and the district's new superintendent is calling it a political fund-raiser... The lawsuit was filed on June 24, 2002, in federal court in San Francisco by the Thomas More Center for Law and Justice, a nonprofit firm that...

Source: Go Erie

Source: Tolerance.org

http://www.tolerance.org/news/article_print.jsp?id=669

On January 7, 2003 Tolerance.org reported that "less than one month after hundreds of Iranian-born men and boys were detained in the Los Angeles area, immigrant communities and their advocates continue to protest the INS’s so-called 'Special Registration'... The American Immigration Lawyers Association calls Special Registration 'a false solution to a real problem...' An Arab-American...

Source: Omaha World-Herald

On January 7, 2003 the Omaha World-Herald printed an editorial that stated, "the proposed opening of a Muslim youth camp on Iowa's Coralville Lake between Cedar Rapids and Iowa City is being resisted by some neighbors. We hope most are arguing from conviction rather than misplaced fear or prejudice... Some neighbors have spoken up not about the camp but about the presence of Muslims 'in their back yards,' as one corps official said. One man worried about providing terrorists a hiding place.  That kind of talk is troubling,...

Source: The Washington Post

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A19777-2003Jan6.html

On January 7, 2003 The Washington Post reported that "Bashar Qasem and three colleagues were there to discuss... [a] growing area for investment: mutual funds created to attract Muslims concerned about keeping with Islamic law. That means steering clear of companies whose products are off-limits -- no pork producers, for example, or liquor manufacturers or...

Source: The Washington Post

On January 6, 2003 The Washington Post reported that "Christmas is everywhere in this country, especially for kids. Santa's helpers are at the shopping mall. Nativity scenes are on people's front lawns. There's even a Christmas tree in the Great Hall at Hogwarts. Turn on the television, and there's Linus telling the story of Jesus's birth on 'A Charlie Brown Christmas.' Non-Christian kids, meanwhile, have some pretty important traditions of their own to observe in December, but their classmates often know little about them...

Source: Los Angeles Times

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-muslim6jan06001441,0,3811539.story

On January 6, 2003 the Los Angeles Times reported that "it was the summer of 2001, and the organizers of an exhibit about Islam were weighing whether to turn it into a permanent museum. The temporary display had drawn well enough to encourage museum boosters to think bigger... Then came Sept. 11 -- and eruptions of bias...

Source: Orlando Sentinel

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/features/lifestyle/orl-liv-view010603,0,1182104.story

On January 6, 2003 the Orlando Sentinel reported on "the American Muslim Hour, on 660 AM (WORL) [in Central Florida]... The show is the only one of its kind airing in Central Florida, and one of the few radio voices of Islam outside major cities... Program coordinator Lauri Lott is a Windermere homemaker and convert to the faith...

Source: Contra Costa Times

http://www.bayarea.com/mld/cctimes/news/local/4883450.htm

On January 6, 2003 the Contra Costa Times reported that "the Greater Richmond Interfaith Program, a coalition of churches, synagogues and mosques [in CA]... has led the way to feed, shelter and otherwise care for the region's homeless population... 'We get together and don't worry about the differences,' said [Elisabeth] Miller, a member of Temple Beth Hillel in Richmond. 'We're...

Source: SF Chronicle

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2003/01/05/BA64029.DTL

On January 5, 2003 the San Francisco Chronicle reported that "mosques around the Bay Area will begin holding forums to help men who must comply with federal mandates to register at Immigration and Naturalization Service offices better understand their rights and the process. Immigration lawyers and activists are organizing...

Source: The Philadelphia Inquirer

http://www.philly.com/mld/philly/news/columnists/jane_eisner/4874415.htm

On January 5, 2003 The Philadelphia Inquirer printed an editorial by Jane Eisner that stated, "the U.S. State Department has posted a series called 'Muslim Life in America,' but it is clearly for foreign consumption. The upbeat collection of stories and photographs on the department's official Web site deftly...

Source: Contra Costa Times

http://www.bayarea.com/mld/cctimes/4873449.htm

On January 4, 2003 the Contra Costa Times reported that "two of Central Contra Costa County's biggest mosques have launched ambitious expansion plans and are considering joining a third mosque to form a unified, major worship center serving the region's booming Muslim population... The Islamic Center of Contra Costa on Clayton Road plans to buy a 2,500 square-foot former carpet store adjacent to its...