LOS ANGELES (Billboard) –
At the end of “Pirate Radio” — the 2009 feature film about a ’60s illegal rock ‘n’ roll radio station in Europe’s North Sea — an array of albums is displayed: iconic symbols of musical independence that bucked the status quo. Among the albums on display is Public Enemy’s 1990 treatise, “Fear of a Black Planet.”

In a country still wrestling with the election of its first black president and ongoing racial tension, economic strife and war, “Fear” remains just as relevant 20 years after its release, alongside its three seminal singles: “Fight the Power” (immortalized in the Spike Lee film “Do the Right Thing”), “Welcome to the Terrordome” and “911 Is a Joke.” And still sounding that clarion call is Public Enemy and its dedicated frontman, Chuck D.

Embarking on what will be its 69th, 70th and 71st tours this year, the pioneering rap group is as busy as ever. Through its SLAMjamz digital label (SLAMjamz.com), Public Enemy recently released the benefit album “Kombit pou Haiti,” with proceeds donated to the Lambi Fund in Haiti. Coming in the spring: a “Welcome to the Terrordome” three-CD/three-DVD boxed set encompassing live tracks, videos and documentaries from the past 12 years of PE’s work; a Chuck D solo album, “Mistachuck: Don’t Rhyme for the Sake of Riddlin’”; and “It’s Back to a Million of Us to Hold a Nation,” by PE backing band the baNNed. The forthcoming instrumental set reinterprets PE’s 1988 classic, “It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back.”

That’s not counting a radio show launched in November on WBAI.org — “AndYouDontStop!” — with plans to expand across the Pacifica Radio network and as a podcast on iTunes. Also in the works are three key ventures: SellaBand, a Web site where the general public can invest in artists (PE has raised more than $57,000 for its next album from investments in $25 increments); the Chuck D and Gary “G-Wiz” Rinaldo-created Web site HipHopGods.com, an archive site focusing on the history of classic rap; and FightThePower.org, a nonprofit company established by Chuck D to continue to fight for artists’ rights in terms of publishing, copyright and masters ownership.

In an interview with Billboard, Chuck D reflected on the creative climate that spawned “Fear,” PE’s early involvement in the Internet revolution and the evolution of rap and hip-hop.

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LOS ANGELES – The feared release of a convicted child molester from a California prison was thwarted Friday by 11th-hour federal charges involving child porn and a woman’s allegations that he bought her as a child in Asia and subjected her to years of sexual abuse while molesting her young friends.

George Joseph England, 65, remained imprisoned instead of being released on parole after serving three years for molesting three girls in Southern California in the 1970s — a term he delayed for nearly three decades by fleeing before he could be sentenced for the crimes.

England is now charged with transporting a juvenile from California to Florida with the intent to engage in sexual activity, and possessing child porn in computer files transported across state lines.

A U.S. magistrate judge in West Palm Beach, Fla., signed the criminal complaint late Thursday and it was processed Friday morning, said Assistant U.S. Attorney Jeffrey Neiman.

England remained in the California Substance Abuse Treatment Facility and State Prison at Corcoran in the Central Valley, but he was not in a treatment unit, said prison Lt. Stephen Smith.

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AUSTIN, Texas – A far-right faction of the Texas State Board of Education succeeded Friday in injecting conservative ideals into social studies, history and economics lessons that will be taught to millions of students for the next decade.

Teachers in Texas will be required to cover the Judeo-Christian influences of the nation’s Founding Fathers, but not highlight the philosophical rationale for the separation of church and state. Curriculum standards also will describe the U.S. government as a “constitutional republic,” rather than “democratic,” and students will be required to study the decline in value of the U.S. dollar, including the abandonment of the gold standard.

“We have been about conservatism versus liberalism,” said Democrat Mavis Knight of Dallas, explaining her vote against the standards. “We have manipulated strands to insert what we want it to be in the document, regardless as to whether or not it’s appropriate.”

Following three days of impassioned and acrimonious debate, the board gave preliminary approval to the new standards with a 10-5 party line vote. A final vote is expected in May, after a public comment period that could produce additional amendments and arguments.

Decisions by the board — made up of lawyers, a dentist and a weekly newspaper publisher among others — can affect textbook content nationwide because Texas is one of publishers’ biggest clients.

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AUSTIN, Texas – The Texas State Board of Education agreed to new social studies standards on Friday after the far-right faction wielded its power to shape the lessons that will be taught to millions of students on American history, the U.S. free enterprise system, religion and other topics.

In a vote of 10-5, the board preliminarily adopted the new curriculum after days of charged debate marked by race and politics. In dozens of smaller votes passed over the three days, the ultra-conservatives who dominate the board nixed all but a few efforts to recognize the diversity of race and religion in Texas.

Decisions by the board — long led by the social conservatives who have advocated ideas such as teaching more about the weaknesses of evolutionary theory — affects textbook content nationwide because Texas is one of publishers’ biggest clients.

As part of the new curriculum, the elected board — made up of lawyers, a dentist and a weekly newspaper publisher among others — rejected an attempt to ensure that children learn why the U.S. was founded on the principle of religious freedom.

But, it agreed to strengthen nods to Christianity by adding references to “laws of nature and nature’s God” to a section in U.S. history that requires students to explain major political ideas.

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