after his release without charge in december 2011, alaa appeared on "democracy now!" and describe the conditions in the prison. >> i was in complete darkness for five days. it was very filthy. cell,in may 2 by 3 meters having no access to water and toilets except for 10 minutes a day. basically, they knew they could not torture me because of the solidarity and the media attention, so they just nature to try to use every other measure to put me at discomfort. >> to see our full interview with alaa abdel-fattah, go to democracynow.org. today protest is expected in chicago against the city's decision to close 54 public schools, mostly in african- american neighborhoods. some 30,000 students will be impacted. chicago mayor rahm emanuel, president obama's former chief of staff, has defended the closings saying he does not want students trapped in failing schools. chicago teachers union president karen lewis has announced that today "some of us are going to put our bodies on the line." north dakota has enacted a series of historic antitrust measures that could effectively e