Supervisor Gloria Molina

Jul 31 2012

Created to use tobacco tax revenues to fund health programs

LOS ANGELES, Calif.—The Board of Supervisors today approved $87.3 million in programs to fight childhood obesity, provide insurance coverage for children and offer substance abuse treatment to their parents, but the source of funding remains uncertain because one supervisor—calling the plan a rip-off—voted against it.

Jul 31 2012

Los Angeles City Council members can serve a dozen years

LOS ANGELES, Calif.—The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors today rejected a proposed November ballot measure that would have asked voters to allow termed-out supervisors to serve eight more years in office.

Supervisor Michael Antonovich had recommended the measure—which would extend legal limits from three four-year terms to five—saying experience was critical to managing the county through difficult times.

Cynthia E. Griffin-  |   OW Managing Editor
Dec 29 2011

Some supervisors want majority Latino and African American districts

As the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors wrestled with three proposals to redraw district lines, Supervisors Gloria Molina and Mark Ridley-Thomas contended that the current lines were disproportionate, disenfranchising minority groups like Latinos and African Americans.

Molina and Ridley-Thomas said two majority Latino district are needed because Hispanics now comprise 48 percent of the county’s population— about one-third of voting-age residents. They also agreed that one district with an African American plurality is needed.

Dec 29 2011

Baca’s bid for prisoners rebuffed

Due to budget cuts and overcrowding in county and state prisons, prisoners have begun to be released on parole or to continue their sentences at home under house arrest.

But Sheriff Lee Baca proposed earlier in the year that prisoners paroled by the state should be jailed temporarily in Los Angeles County jails.

Oct 6 2011

Issue may end up in court

 The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors voted 4-1 last week to approve a redistricting plan that leaves boundaries largely unchanged and does not create a second Latino-majority district.

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.