African American News

Nov 20 2012

Aviation Safeguards workers want SEIU’s to take back its threat of disrupting Thanksgiving travelers

LOS ANGELES, Calif.—A representative of a group workers at Los Angeles International Airport said today they have no intention of joining a union march on Century Boulevard tomorrow.

Airport employees represented by Service Employees International Union’s United Workers West are planning to march in protest of what union officials call unfair labor practices by Aviation Safeguards.

Nov 20 2012

Senior citizen high-rise complex

TORRANCE, Calif.—Three people were fatally shot today in a high-rise senior citizen complex in Torrance in what police said was a double murder and suicide.

The shooting occurred shortly after noon in Golden West Tower at 3510 Maricopa St., Torrance police Sgt. Robert Watt said.

Police said “elderly man” fatally shot a man and a woman, then killed himself, Watt said. Their names were not immediately available.

What motivated the killings was not immediately known.

Nov 20 2012

Approves $176 million SFV Center

LOS ANGELES, Calif.—The Board of Supervisors today approved plans for a $176 million facility in the San Fernando Valley that will offer health and social services from seven county departments in one place, but postponed decisions on other major capital expenditures.

The planned 212,000-square-foot San Fernando Valley Family Support Center Project will be built on 6.8 acres already owned by the county on Van Nuys Boulevard in Van Nuys.

Nov 20 2012

Assaulted handyman with gun

INGLEWOOD, Calif.—An Inglewood man who allegedly brandished a gun at a handyman at his apartment building, then pointed the pistol at a responding police officer, was shot in an arm today.

The officer-involved shooting in a building at Arbor Vitae Street and Osage Avenue about occurred shortly after 11 a.m., and the man, whose name was being withheld, was taken to a hospital, Inglewood police Lt. Neal Cochran said.

The bullet passed through the man's left bicep, he said.

Nov 19 2012

Infringed on free speech rights

LOS ANGELES, Calif.—A federal judge in Los Angeles today denied a bid by a group of Christian churches to force Santa Monica to allow Christmas Nativity scenes in a city park.

The Nativity Scenes Committee sued the city of Santa Monica in federal court last month, seeking to restore the nearly 60-year-old religious display to Palisades Park.

Across Black America

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

California
San Diego college students and volunteers will carry out their sixth home restoration project on Wednesday, July 10 through Sunday, July 14. as part of the “Healing our Heroes’ Homes” (H3) program created by the nonprofit Embrace. The five-day effort will take place at the home of medically retired Marine Corps Capt. Sarah Bettencourt. Bettencourt served with many different units across the country during the Global War on Terrorism and developed a rare neurological disorder in 2008. With a focus to restore the homes of disabled veteran homeowners, H3 falls in line with Embrace’s mission to mobilize college-student volunteers and community members to serve less fortunate members of civilian and veteran communities. The project for the Bettencourts’ home includes kitchen and bathroom remodeling, building ADA-compliant disability ramps, widening their driveway to ADA standards, widening doorways and landscaping.
 
District of Columbia
The 2013 Smithsonian Folklife Festival will showcase its five-year community research project on African American identity with the program “The Will to Adorn: African American Diversity, Style, and Identity.” This multicity collaboration examines the history and culture of the aesthetics of African Americans. The festival will be held June 26-30 and July 3-7, outdoors on the National Mall between Seventh and 14th streets. “Whether we realize it or not, we are all dress artists. The way we compose our look is a creative expression of our ideas about who we are and who we aspire to be,” said Diana N’Diaye, program curator. “This program explores the diversity of African American traditions of style, but also teaches young people the importance of documenting their own culture and saving that information for themselves and future generations.”