Mikala Reasbeck

Mikala Reasbeck is a MintPress editor and contributor. After packing off to do media work during the 2008 Beijing Olympics, she stayed in China for five years to pursue a variety of opportunities to write and copy edit. In addition to serving as an Editor for Xinhua Press Agency’s domestic news desk, her writing has appeared in China Daily and The Global Times, among others, and she has worked on special projects for China Development Bank.

With Government Agencies Stretched Thin, Canadians Help Resettle Syrian Refugees

One mother said helping a Syrian family of 10 start a new life in Canada is an important way to teach her own sons about “how lucky we are to live here in Toronto, and to share what we can, when we can.”

Mikala Reasbeck
By Mikala Reasbeck
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, centre, poses for a selfies with workers before he greets refugees from Syria at Pearson International airport, in Toronto, on Thursday, Dec. 10, 2015. (Nathan Denette/The Canadian Press via AP) The Associated Press

TORONTO --- Since the revolt began in 2011, an estimated 4.5 million Syrians have fled their homes. In response to the nearly unparalleled refugee crisis, the Canadian government has pledged to resettle 25,000 Syrian and Iraqi refugees. But that plan is proving perhaps too ambitious for the government’s immigration and settlement agencies to handle

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Pharmaceutical Company Operates With The Heart Of A Nonprofit, Soul Of Social Enterprise

“We’re showing the pharmaceutical industry that there’s another model,” the company’s COO says, explaining how Medicines360 is able to sustain its operations via sales, not donations.

Mikala Reasbeck
By Mikala Reasbeck

SAN FRANCISCO --- A San Francisco-based pharmaceutical company is bringing a new contraceptive to the U.S. market. The product is Liletta, an intrauterine device (IUD), which, like any other IUD, is long-lasting and highly effective at preventing pregnancy when inserted properly. However, the story here is not the product -- it’s the company’s

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Craft Beer Industry Boldly Brews With Sustainability In Mind

Once a niche market reserved for aficionados and curious consumers, the U.S. craft beer industry is experiencing notable growth — not just in sales, but also in sustainable brewing and distribution practices.

Mikala Reasbeck
By Mikala Reasbeck
Co-Owner of Ardent Craft Ales, Kevin O'Leary, takes a sample of Persimmon beer at the facility in Richmond, VA., Tuesday, Dec. 2, 2014.

Co-Owner of Ardent Craft Ales, Kevin O'Leary, takes a sample of Persimmon beer at the facility in Richmond, VA., Tuesday, Dec. 2, 2014. BOSTON --- With a history dating back thousands of years, beer is one of the few products that has withstood the test of time. Yet, like so many human inventions, the beer industry isn’t easy on the

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Lawmakers Asked Boehner To Postpone Netanyahu Speech — But Who Is Still Going?

Almost two dozen House Democrats signed a letter asking Speaker Boehner to postpone Prime Minister Netanyahu’s upcoming address to a joint session of Congress. With such a postponement unlikely, MintPress investigates who’s sticking to their guns.

Mikala Reasbeck
By Mikala Reasbeck
Benjamin Netanyahu, John McCain

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, right, shakes hands with U.S. Senator John McCain during a meeting with the Israeli and U.S. delegations at the Prime Minister's office in Jerusalem, Monday, Jan. 19, 2015. WASHINGTON --- On Feb. 18, Speaker of the House John Boehner was asked by 23 Democratic members of Congress to postpone

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Holy Lights: Jordan’s 6,000 Mosques Will Go Solar By Year’s End

By installing solar panels on the country’s mosques, Jordan may be answering more than a few prayers uttered in response to rising electricity costs and a need to diversify the kingdom’s energy portfolio.

Mikala Reasbeck
By Mikala Reasbeck
Jordan Mosque

The sun sets behind Al-hussein Mosque in Amman, Jordan. AMMAN, Jordan --- Like most countries throughout the Middle East and around the world, Jordan relies heavily on crude oil and products. Yet a new initiative announced by Jordan’s Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources will see all 6,000 of the kingdom’s mosques go solar by the end of

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West Virginians Look Toward The Sun, Say No To Coal, Fracking

West Virginia may be best known as the source of the coal that built America and keeps its lights on, yet communities throughout the state are taking back their energy independence and going solar.

Mikala Reasbeck
By Mikala Reasbeck
Evell Meade, Greg Dotson, Mark Hunt

Evell Meade of Kermit, W.Va., Greg Dotson of Parkersburg, W.Va. and Mark Hunt of Charleston, W.Va., from left to right, carry a solar panel into a doctor's office in Williamson, W.Va. A group devoted to creating alternative energy jobs in Central Appalachia is building a first for West Virginia's southern coalfields region this week:  a rooftop

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Hats, Shirts, Milk — The Hempest Has It All, And It’s All Made Of Hemp

Although states have only recently been given the go-ahead on industrial hemp cultivation, a small shop in Boston has built up a successful business selling hemp products and touting the plant’s benefits for the better part of two decades.

Mikala Reasbeck
By Mikala Reasbeck
The Hempest's proprierter, wearing a baseball cap, leans against the logo van, with the slogan Energy From The Midwest Not The Mideast.

The Hempest van, which runs on vegetable oil, diesel, biodiesel or hemp oil. (Kim Napoli, Hempest Inc.) BOSTON --- Jon Napoli jokes that when he opened a small shop specializing in hemp products in 1995, it was because, at 23, he just didn’t have anything better to do. But that’s not quite the whole story. “Ending the prohibition on

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