Brittney M. Walker
OW Staff Writer
Mar 17 2011

Aspiring Hollywood producer

LANCASTER, Calif.—In the age of social media networking and YouTube video streaming, artists and information hogs are able to blast their talents and knowledge out to the world with just one click.

Mar 17 2011

Could be a year before it begins

LANCASTER, Calif.—The family of Lonnie Liner, the 17-year-old accused murderer, filed into the Michael Antonovich Antelope Valley Courthouse on Monday but, again, the trial has been pushed to another date, April 25.

Last summer, Liner was arrested and charged with the murder of his 11-year-old cousin Dahlia Lenaris and the attempted murder of her 14-year-old sister Sharoya in the Littlerock home of their guardian.

Mar 10 2011

Some scholars say racism has fashioned what most Blacks believe

Ralph Basui Watkins, Ph.D., associate professor and dean of African American Church Studies at Fuller Theological Seminary, is a minister at the First A.M.E. Church in Los Angeles. An unconventional preacher, he has taken excursions to Africa to seek out the truth about the religion he has followed so closely all of his life. When he began to investigate African spirituality and the roots of biblical texts, his discovery changed his perspective.

Mar 10 2011

Classes at Antelope Valley College

LANCASTER, Calif.—Because California is known for lawsuits and other types of court cases, mediation and peer mediation is becoming a growing option for individuals, families, feuding friends and companies. In fact, most cases that choose mediation settle at a reasonably happy medium.

Allan Stitt, author of “Mediation: A Practical Guide,” writes that 70-80 percent of cases that voluntarily go to mediation settle.

Mar 10 2011

Tickets fines and court time

LANCASTER, Calif.—For years parents and community activists have been concerned about a growing school trend—truancy tickets, also known as curfew tickets. The tickets are issued to minors who are found off school premises during school hours without a guardian.

Not only are off-campus teen loiterers being ticketed, but also late students, some arriving a few minutes after the bell rings.

Mar 10 2011

Antelope Valley chapter leader

LANCASTER, Calif.—The Antelope Valley is swarming with talented women, from those in education to those in power positions like the president of Greek letter organization, Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority Inc., Antelope Valley chapter.

LaTonya T. Nelson, born and raised in Los Angeles, has been with the organization since 1988, when she joined while attending California State University, Long Beach. Attracted to the organization’s commitment to community, social awareness and sisterhood, Nelson had to be part of the movement.

Across Black America

Here’s a look at African American people and issues making headlines throughout the country.
 

Alabama
Freeman A. Hrabowski, president of the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, will address the annual African American Business Council luncheon on June 28. Hrabowski, who is chairman of President Barack Obama’s Advisory Commission on Education Excellence for African Americans, has a national reputation for his work studying the performance of minority students in math and science. Hrabowski, named one of the 10 best college presidents in the country by Time magazine, was a child leader in the Civil Rights Movement in Birmingham in the 1960s.
 

Arkansas
The Liberty Counsel filed a motion and a brief in United States District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas seeking to intervene on behalf of a Concepts of Life crisis pregnancy center to defend against a suit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union and the Center for Reproductive Rights. The groups seek to impose a permanent injunction before the Human Heartbeat Protection Act goes into effect July 18. Liberty Counsel also filed a brief opposing the ACLU’s request for an injunction. The “Heartbeat” bill states that when a woman seeks an abortion at or after the 12th week, doctors must test for a fetal heartbeat before an abortion is performed and inform the pregnant mother that the child in her womb has a heartbeat. If a heartbeat is detected, a woman cannot have an abortion, except in cases of rape, incest, and if a mother’s life is in danger. “As we promised when the legislation was introduced, Liberty Counsel will defend this law without reservation for the people of Arkansas, born and pre-born,” said Matt Staver, founder and chairman of Liberty Counsel. “No right is more foundational than the right to life. Without life, all other rights are irrelevant,” concluded Staver.