OW Staff Writer
Jun 28 2011

Seeks community benefits package

Los Angeles County Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas introduced a Metropolitan Transportation Authority Board motion Thursday calling for Metro to create a fund for business losses caused by construction of the Crenshaw/LAX light rail line, and for the agency to devise plans for safety, local worker hiring and streetscape improvements along the route.

“The Crenshaw/LAX line project is moving fast ahead. As it is being built, we must also make sure the community doesn’t pay too high a price for its long-overdue rail service,” Ridley-Thomas said.

Jun 23 2011

Teacher that increased test scores losing her job

Audubon students celebrate the awards they recently received for doing well on state tests. Brenda Bright, a 13-year veteran of the schools was one of the teachers who played a part in helping the middle school youth increase test scores 74 points, and she is also one of the instructors slated to lose her job at the Crenshaw-area campus.

Jun 23 2011

Excelled academically, artistically and athletically

Gabriel Darren Cobb, the grandson of attorney Dorothy Taylor Cobb of Los Angeles, has accepted an appointment to the United State Military Academy at West Point. The Landmark Christian High School graduate was nominated to both West Point and the Naval Academy by Georgia Cong. Lynn A. Westmoreland (R.-Ga.).

Jun 23 2011

New council to offer advice

Hilda Kennedy, former chief of staff to the Inglewood mayor and City Council, as well as a economic development director, is one of 15 people across the country who have been appointed to the United States Small Business Administration’s (SBA) Council on Underserved Communities (CUC).

Jun 23 2011

Boxer put his career on the line

On June 25, 1967, heavyweight boxing legend Muhammad Ali was stripped of his title as heavyweight champion.

The action was a result of his defiant stand against what he thought was an unjust war. He refused induction into the Army after being drafted, stating that he was a practicing Muslim minister and that his religious beliefs prevented him fighting in the Vietnam War. During the controversy, Ali argued that he had no quarrel with the Viet Cong.

Jun 23 2011

Affects Black farmers and their kin

The court-ordered process of officially notifying African American farmers and their heirs about the $1.25 billion “Pigford II” class action settlement is under way.

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.