Antelope Valley

Apr 5 2013

Author has a bone to pick with some beliefs

Daniel Vaughn may be the most envied man in America right now. Not only is his book, “The Prophets of Smoked Meat: A Journey Through Texas Barbecue,” coming out next month as the debut title in the Anthony Bourdain Books line, he’s also taking up a post as the barbecue editor of Texas Monthly magazine. It’s the first position of its kind in the country, and the 35-year-old Ohio-born Vaughn left his job as an architect to pursue his fiery passion for smoked meat full-time.

Apr 5 2013

He was planning to slow down

The last hand in the “two thumbs up” film critic team, Roger Ebert, died Thursday, two days after revealing cancer returned to his body.

Ebert and Gene Siskel co-hosted the iconic review show “Siskel and Ebert at the Movies” until Siskel’s death in 1999 after a battle with a brain tumor.

The Chicago Sun-Times, the base of operations for Ebert’s syndicated reviews, announced his death at age 70.

Apr 5 2013

AV slowly pulls out of the long recession

As the nation slowly emerges from the Great Recession, the economic numbers for the Antelope Valley show a much higher rate of sustained unemployment and devalued housing prices in both Lancaster and Palmdale.

The five-year economic downturn saw much of the area’s the job losses come from the construction industry and retail sales. At the beginning of the year, Lancaster had an unemployment rate of 14.4 percent while Palmdale fared better at 11.1 percent. In 2008 the two cities lost a little fewer than 1,000 jobs combined, according to a 2009 report.

Apr 5 2013

Designed to promote a love of books

The Palmdale City Library will launch its new reading program, ¡Leámos Palmdale! Let’s Read Palmdale! this Saturday, April 6, at 1 p.m. at the Library, 700 E. Palmdale Blvd.

“Join us on Saturday as we’ll read ‘My Abuelita,’ said Palmdale City Library Director Thomas Vose.

“We’ll share memories and histories about our grandparents, and each family will receive a copy of the book while supplies last.”

Apr 5 2013

Environmental education blends with creativity

The Lancaster Museum of Art and History (MOAH) and the Eastside High School Art Department have teamed up to launch a monthlong project called “Wasteland: Turning Illegally Dumped Waste into Art,” the first project of the Green MOAH Initiative. The Green MOAH Initiative is MOAH’s newest public engagement program that utilizes art and environmental education as a creative catalyst for living greener, more sustainable lives.

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.