Los Angeles

C. Alexander Haywood   |   OW Staff Writer
May 20 2010

Taxpayers could foot the bill

There’s a huge price to pay, when candidates engage in the arduous task of keenly wooing monetary commitments from the one percent of wealthy Americans who do the vast majority of the contributing; a price that has long been argued as being at the expense of what’s in the best interest of “Joe and Jane” Public.

Brittney M. Walker  |   OW Staff Writer
May 20 2010

Two-thirds vote for electricity providers

Voters will hit the polls in June to find a few hot button initiatives on the ballot, including Proposition 16.

This measure is an attempt to make a Constitutional change to current local government policies regarding expanding electricity services. The proposition would place new voter requirements on local governments seeking to spend public funds to start up or expand electricity service. Public funds include tax revenues, various forms of debt, and ratepayer funds.

Juliana D. Norwood  |   OW Staff Writer
May 20 2010

William Elkins and Max Palevsky long-time supporters

William Elkins, a special assistant to Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley and one of his closest friends and trusted political advisors for decades, died recently of congestive heart failure. He was 90.
When Bradley became the first African American mayor of Los Angeles in 1973, Elkins was one of the first people he requested to join his administration, and Elkins stayed the entire 20 years Bradley was in office.

May 20 2010

Tournament runs 10 days

The nation’s second largest bowling organization is coming to Southern California, beginning May 21, for 10 days and there are a number of events that are open to the general public.

The National Bowling Association, (TNBA), which was born in 1939 in Detroit out of the inability of African Americans to join the American Bowling Congress, expects an estimated 8,000 bowlers and convention delegates to arrive in Southern California to participate at tournaments and a variety of other events.

Juliana D. Norwood  |   OW Staff Writer
May 20 2010

The Foundation for Arts, Mentoring, Leadership and Innovation

Torrence Brannon-Reese worked for L.A. Bridges, a campus-based prevention program focusing on middle-school youth who were particularly vulnerable to school violence, for 10 years before its funding was pulled.

Realizing that the need still existed prompted Brannon-Reese to start his own organization which strives to accomplish those same goals with a staff of volunteer mentors.

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.