Los Angeles

May 16 2013

Activities, music and games encourage parent-child bonding

Best Start Watts-Willowbrook will host its Our Families are Powered by Watts Resource Fair and Community Walk Saturday, May 18, from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Ted Watkins Park, 1335 E. 103rd St., Los Angeles.
 
The event will promote physical activity and link families to resources within the community that help improve the lives of children ages 0-5.

May 16 2013

Jim Hill speaks to youth

Sports anchor Jim Hill speaks to youth at Carson’s annual Youth Conference. Hill, a well-known CBS 2 broadcaster for more than 30 years, gave his talk on Saturday at the Juanita Millender-McDonald Community Center. Hill appears on the CBS 2 newscast weekdays at 6 and 11 p.m. and also hosts the weekend editions of “Sports Central.”

May 16 2013

Both Greuel and Garcetti get a friendly reception

Packed in the pews at Macedonia Baptist Church in Watts, a mixed and vigorous crowd of about 400 Blacks and Hispanics had come to hear how mayoral candidates Wendy Greuel and Eric Garcetti would respond to both their questions and their needs. The forum was sponsored by L.A. Voice.

To begin, various religious and community leaders came forward to highlight issues in the community.

May 16 2013

Investigative review is underway

Members of the City Council’s Budget and Finance Committee were expected to take a closer look at $42.6 million that accumulated in a Transportation Department special fund for more than 15 years and went overlooked during lean budget times at City Hall.

The committee is nearing the end of a series of meetings to review the mayor’s $7.7 billion budget proposal for the coming fiscal year. As part of that review, the panel will examine how the transportation fund went untapped for years and whether other such funds may exist.

C. Alexander Haywood   |   OW Staff Writer
May 16 2013

Students say diversity is being devalued

The ongoing budget crisis in California has necessitated major academic reform on every level of education to save money and eliminate debt. As a result, some schools have been forced to lay off faculty, eliminate various courses, scale back on financial aid, and retool curriculum guidelines.

Recently, two separate protest rallies led by the students and faculty of Long Beach State (CSULB), and Long Beach City College (LBCC), were held in response to proposed cuts of various class offerings and academic programs.

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.