Eric Francis in autumn 2007. Photo by Danielle Voirin

Eric Francis (born Eric Francis Coppolino, March, 1964 in Brooklyn, NY) is an American investigative reporter, essayist, and photojournalist. Events in March American Red Cross Month Fire Prevention month ( The Philippines) Women's History Month ( United Year 1964 ( MCMLXIV) was a Leap year starting on Wednesday (link will display full calendar of the 1964 Gregorian calendar. Brooklyn (named after the Dutch town Breukelen) is one of the five boroughs of New York City. New York ( is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States and is the nation's third most populous The United States of America —commonly referred to as the Investigative journalism is a type of reporting in which reporters deeply investigate a topic of interest often involving crime Political corruption, or some other Scandal This article is an abbreviated list of Essayists - individuals notable for writing essays on various topics Photojournalism is a particular form of Journalism (the collecting editing and presenting of news material for publication or broadcast that creates images in order to tell As an investigative reporter, he has specialized in corporate fraud and toxic torts litigation involving some of the world's most powerful corporations - General Electric, Monsanto and Westinghouse. A toxic tort is a special type of Personal injury lawsuit in which the Plaintiff claims that exposure to a chemical caused the plaintiff's injury or disease The Monsanto Company ( is a multinational Agricultural biotechnology Corporation. He is the founder, editor and publisher of Planet Waves based on Vashon Island, Washington. Editing Language, Images or Sound through correction condensation organization and other modifications in various media Publishing is the process of production and dissemination of Literature or Information &ndash the activity of making information available for public view Vashon is a Census-designated place (CDP in King County, Washington, United States. ^[1] Since 1994, he has worked as a research astrologer specializing in minor planets and other newly-discovered objects, particularly the Centaur minor planet group, as well as a horoscope writer and astrology teacher widely published in North America, the United Kingdom and Australia. Year 1994 ( MCMXCIV) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link will display full 1994 Gregorian calendar) Astrology (from Greek grc ἄστρον astron, "constellation star" and grc -λογία -logia) is a group of Systems In Greek mythology, the centaurs (from Ancient Greek: Κένταυροι - Kéntauroi are a race of creatures composed of part Human In Astrology, a horoscope is a chart or diagram representing the positions of the Sun Moon planets the Astrological aspects, and sensitive angles The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom, the UK or Britain,is a Sovereign state located For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Australia topics. He continues to be active as a journalist in non-astrological fields, particularly on organochlorine issues and civil rights. He recently published the Dioxin Dorms website, which gives a comprehensive history of the dioxin incident at SUNY New Paltz, for which he is best known as a journalist. ^[2]

Journalist

Eric Francis' first journalism job was as a staff reporter for the Echoes-Sentinel in Warren Township, New Jersey. This was a straightforward municipal reporting job, but interestingly it was his editor at this newspaper, Florence Higgins, who was the person who introduced him to astrology. Higgins moonlighted as a professional astrologer and owner of a New Age bookstore called Aquarius Rising. New Age ( New Age Movement and New Age Spirituality) is a Social Collective Phenomenon and a Spiritual Nature She taught him the rudiments of newspaper reporting, and astrology.

In March 1988 American Towman published his article titled, "Who is the American Towman?" profiling and telling stories of drivers of salvage vehicles, wheel lift tow trucks and flat bed wreckers. Year 1988 ( MCMLXXXVIII) was a Leap year starting on Friday (link displays 1988 Gregorian calendar) ^[3]

At the time, he was also a senior editor at Whitaker Newsletters, Inc. , assigned to Kane's Beverage Week and Health Professions Report. However, he went from trade journalism to investigative journalism after about a year.

In 1989, he founded the Student Leader News Service (SLNS) in New Paltz, New York (originally called New York State Student Leader). SLNS covered higher education for the State and City University systems in New York. SLNS functioned as a statewide news service in New York that covered the state capital in Albany, and the SUNY-Central administration, for student newspapers and student governments across the state and to some extent nationally. SLNS had major scoops picked up by New York City daily newspapers and state wire services, including one on the lavish spending habits of student government leaders during the budget crisis of the early 1990s. That article resulted in a New York Times editorial called Mopping up the CUNY Slush. ^[4]

As editor of SLNS, he covered the now-infamous SUNY New Paltz PCB (polychlorinated biphenyl) disaster of December 29, 1991, one of the only reporters to do so after the first month of what became a decade-plus cleanup that had cost state taxpayers $50 million as of 1997. The State University of New York at New Paltz, known as SUNY New Paltz for short is a public University in New Paltz New York. Polychlorinated biphenyls ( PCB s are a class of Organic compounds with 1 to 10 Chlorine atoms attached to Biphenyl which is a molecule composed ^[5]

That incident, considered among the worst indoor PCB releases in the long history of the chemical, involved a series of transformer fires and explosions on the state college campus, which occurred while most students were on winter holiday. Testing conducted by the state's contractors revealed that contamination had spread widely in Bliss, Capen, Gage and Scudder residence halls, as well as the Coykendall Sciences Building and Parker Theater. ^[6]

Subsequent negligence led to pipes freezing in Coykendall and Parker, spilling millions of gallons of contaminated water onto the campus and into the local estuary system during the winter of 1992. His reporting, which appeared in more than 175 articles published locally and internationally, established that the dormitory buildings were re-occupied prior to being adequately tested or cleaned, yet with students, parents and staff being given reassurances of safety by campus and local government health officials.

His investigative articles on the issue, which went from a local to international, have been published in Sierra [11], the magazine of the Sierra Club, the Village Voice, Woodstock Times, the Las Vegas Sun,The St. Mission statement To explore enjoy and protect the wild places of the earth To practice and promote the responsible use of the earth's ecosystems and resources To educate and This article is about a New York newspaper For the Ottawa Hills Ohio magazine see The Village Voice of Ottawa Hills. The Las Vegas Sun is one of Las Vegas Nevada 's two daily Newspapers It is owned by the Greenspun family and is affiliated with Greenspun Media Group Louis Journalism Review, Lies of Our Times, and other national and international publications.

His persistent coverage of the transformer accident that led to PCB and dioxin contamination in several dormitories at SUNY New Paltz resulted in his being banned from campus as an alleged public nuisance on May 5, 1993. Not to be confused with Dioxane or Digoxin. Dioxin is a heterocyclic, organic, antiaromatic compound Challenging the ban, he brought a federal lawsuit against the State of New York (in the persons of college president Dr. Alice Chandler, and assoc. vice president for student affairs Dr. L. David Eaton), on freedom of speech and equal protection grounds (1st and 14th amendments) represented by civil rights attorney Alan Sussman. In the summer of 1994, the case was settled out of court, he was paid $20,000. 00 damages, and the ban was rescinded with an acknowledgement from the state that his civil rights "may have been violated. " . ^[7]

More recently, his independent testing confirmed that the dormitories - particularly, Capen and Gage residence halls - remained contaminated with PCBs in 2004, 13 years after the transformer incidents there. In 2007, he worked with students and members of his creative team to build the DioxinDorms[12] internet site, which gives the history of the New Paltz issue as well as considerable historical background about the global PCB and dioxin situation. ^[8]

His wider reporting on PCBs and dioxins, based largely on the record of a federal lawsuit titled Nevada Power vs. Nevada Power Company is a Las Vegas -based company that produces distributes and sells electricity in southern portion of the U General Electric et al, established that the manufacturers of both PCB chemicals and equipment knew for 50 years that their products were dangerous and even deadly, and that they were contaminating their employees and the environment, but concealed this information from the government, the media and the public. Titled "Pandora's Poison," the article also uncovered a series of memos between Monsanto Co. and its safety testing lab which indicated both companies conspired to hide the clear cancer-causing effects of PCBs in rat studies. The lab, Industrial Bio-Test Laboratories, was later the at the center of a scandal that consumed the reputation of nearly every major safety testing lab in the country, as the FDA found most to be operating fraudulently. ^[9]

Francis is the founder of Generation (published Sept. 1984-present), an award-winning weekly student magazine at the University of Buffalo. State University of New York at Buffalo, commonly known as University at Buffalo (UB is a Coeducational public research University, which ^[10]

Astrologer

After years covering industry and government, Francis had what he jokingly describes as a "conversion experience" and began investigating astrology after reading the daily horoscope of Patric Walker (1931-1995) [13]. The synchronicities between 'real life' and what appeared in Walker's daily column in The New York Post were particularly stunning given the type of journalism work he was doing at the time, requiring copious research and documentation: seemingly the opposite of a horoscope column. The New York Post is the 13th-oldest Newspaper published in the United States and generally acknowledged as the oldest to have been published continually

There were more personal reasons, as well. "I felt that as an investigative reporter, I was not reaching people," he said in 2006. "They were not getting the message. I needed to write in a more personal way. "

His astrological teachers included David Arner, who among other things taught him classical astrology; Laurie A. Burnett, who introduced him to Barbara Hand Clow's work on Chiron as well as the work of Alice Bailey; minor planet pioneer Melanie Reinhart; German minor planet specialist Robert von Heeren, who gave him the ephemerides for Pholus and 1992 QB1; and David R. In Greek mythology, Chiron or Cheiron ("hand" was held as the superlative Centaur among his brethren Alice Ann Bailey ( June 16, 1880 &ndash December 15, 1949) known as Alice A Melanie Reinhart is an Astrologer and author based in the United Kingdom. An ephemeris (plural ephemerides; from the Greek word ἐφήμερος ephemeros "daily" is a table of values that gives the positions of TemplateInfobox Planet. --> 5145 Pholus (ˈfoʊləs foe'-ləs from Φόλος) is a Roell, who taught him the basics of interpreting an astrological chart.

Interestingly, with one exception - Barbara Clow - all of his astrological mentors, and his most important non-astrological mentor, have been musical composers.

Through reading his work it's apparent that he was influenced greatly by Joseph Trusso, a mentor and his Gestalt-based Holistic Therapist, with whom he worked as a client for many years in Woodstock, NY (also a musical composer). He was also influenced by the Hakomi Therapy movement, a body-centered method of therapy practiced mostly in the United States and Canada. Brad Blanton's work on Radical Honesty has been another significant influence. Dr Brad Blanton (born September 4, 1940) is an author seminar leader and 2006 candidate for United States House of Representatives. Radical Honesty is the name of a self improvement program developed by Brad Blanton PhD that challenges people to give up their addiction to lying

Through his astrological career, he has been a prolific writer, as well as working individually with clients until early 2006. Much of his work has focused on the developments of the minor planets, such as Chiron, Pholus and Quaoar. TemplateInfobox Planet. --> 2060 Chiron (, or as in Χείρων) is a Planetoid in the TemplateInfobox Planet. --> 5145 Pholus (ˈfoʊləs foe'-ləs from Φόλος) is a He was quoted recently in The Wall Street Journal [14] on the subject of minor planets and the change of classification of Pluto and Ceres. Ceres (ˈsɪəriːz

His essays and horoscopes have been published continuously in Chronogram magazine in the New Paltz, NY area for more than a decade. Chronogram is also a magazine published in the Hudson Valley of New York featuring politics and art

Francis is the founder, editor and publisher of Planet Waves [15], a general interest web magazine formed in 1998, which features writings and photographs by Francis and many other writers on a diverse array of subjects including astrology, cultural astronomy, politics, sexuality, and spirituality. Astrology (from Greek grc ἄστρον astron, "constellation star" and grc -λογία -logia) is a group of Systems Astronomy (from the Greek words astron (ἄστρον "star" and nomos (νόμος "law" is the scientific study Politics Politics is the process by which groups of people make decisions Generally speaking human sexuality is how people experience and express themselves as sexual beings Spirituality, in a narrow sense concerns itself with matters of the Spirit, a concept closely tied to religious belief and Faith, a transcendent reality The publication offers a wide diversity of both free and subscriber content dating back to around 1998, but has the unusual practice of giving complimentary subscriptions to premium services to anyone who asks. Planet Waves originally appeared as an article series reported from Germany on the website of Rob Brezsny, though Francis had been on the Net for about two years prior. Rob Brezsny (aka Ray Foreplay, aka Pope Artaud) is an American Astrologer, writer poet and musician

Planet Waves, Inc. has expanded its portfolio to include a subscriber-sponsored annual edition called Small World Stories, as well as a new series, "It's not about sex. It's about Self. "

Between 1996 and 1998, Francis hosted Radio Navigator on Radio Woodstock, a Sunday night talk radio program covering astrology, personal growth, politics, ecological issues and sexuality, frequently but not always viewed through the frame of astrology. The compliment of subjects covered on this program is reflected in the content of Planet Waves today.

For a year, he was the astrologer for Woman magazine, one of the most respected magazine titles in the UK.

Francis's writing has been published on numerous astrology Websites, including StarIQ. com, astrology. com, and the website of leading UK astrologer Jonathan Cainer, which for two years carried Francis's regular feature, Astrology Secrets Revealed. Jonathan Cainer is a British Sun-sign Astrologer who writes a daily column on his website which is reproduced in the Telegraph newspaper

Between 2002 and 2006, Francis stood-in for Cainer's daily horoscope about 75 times, which columns appeared in the Daily Mirror, Daily Mail, the Melbourne Herald Sun and the Sydney Daily Telegraph and on People. The Daily Mirror, often referred to simply as The Mirror, is a British Tabloid daily Newspaper founded in 1903 The Daily Mail is a British newspaper currently published in a tabloid format The Herald Sun is a morning Tabloid Newspaper based in Melbourne, Australia The Daily Telegraph is a Tabloid Newspaper published in Sydney, New South Wales, by Nationwide News, part of News com, Hola. com, Cainer. com and other daily web pages. He recently stood in for prominent Australian astrologer Yasmin Boland on Australian Yahoo, was on maternity leave.

His writing has also appeared in The Mountain Astrologer [16], The Journal of Bisexuality [17], Loving More [18] and the Seattle-based Society for Human Sexuality's website, sexuality. org [19].

He has presented at astrology conferences in the United States, Canada and the UK, and has conducted workshops on a diversity of other human potential and humanistic subjects. In addition, he has been a speaker on governmental issues including higher education, land use rights, and corporate responsibility on the topic of chlorinated compounds.

References