Breaking News
Governor appoints Cheryl Thomas to Hillsborough circuit bench
Governor Charlie Crist today announced the appointment of Judge Cheryl K. Thomas of Riverview to the Thirteenth Judicial Circuit Court.
“Cheryl has the heart and spirit of a true public servant, with an unwavering commitment to the principles of our judicial system,” said Governor Crist. “Her diverse set of experiences in both the public and private sectors, as well as her service to our country as an office in the United States Army, will serve the people of the Thirteenth circuit well.” Read more at flgov.com.
Category: General Share on Twitter!
45th Anniversary of Voting Rights Act Signing
On August 6, the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. (LDF) commemorated the 45th anniversary of the signing of the Voting Rights Act, a bill that remains a cornerstone feature of American democracy. The Act is widely considered one of the most successful and effective civil rights statutes ever passed by Congress and continues to play an important role in combating ongoing voting discrimination throughout our nation. This anniversary follows the recent filing of three lawsuits that take aim at a core provision of the Voting Rights Act — the Section 5 pre-clearance provision. That provision requires that certain states with long histories of voting discrimination obtain federal approval before implementing new voting laws or practices. Throughout the life of the Act, hundreds of discriminatory voting changes have been blocked by this important Section 5 provision and ultimately thousands of Americans have had the obstacles to their voting rights removed. Awareness of the Voting Rights Act stops many who would otherwise seek to continue discriminatory actions. "The strength of our democracy turns on continued enforcement of the Voting Rights Act," said John Payton, LDF Director-Counsel and President. Payton noted that "the 45th anniversary of the Voting Rights Act is a moment to observe the great progress that has been made while recommitting ourselves to confront the ongoing challenges that remain and the vital protections that help us combat them." LDF played a central role in Congress's recent 2006 reauthorization of Section 5 and other provisions of the Act. During that process, Congress developed an extensive record demonstrating that discrimination persists in many places around the country. Courtesy of www.unityfirst.com.
Category: General Share on Twitter!
Former Congressman J.C. Watts joins Joint Center's Board of Governors
The Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, one of the nation's leading research and public policy institutions, announced the election of former Oklahoma Congressman J.C. Watts, Jr. to its Board of Governors. Watts, who is the chairman of the J.C. Watts Companies in Washington, DC, served in Congress from 1995 to 2002, and in 1998 was selected by his peers to serve as chairman of the Republican Conference, the fourth-ranking leadership position in the majority party. "Over the past four decades the Joint Center has done enormously important work to make America a better place for all its citizens, and today it continues to play a critical role in the policy making process," said Mr. Watts. "I value this opportunity to build on the Joint Center's influence and increase its impact in empowering all Americans to achieve their dreams." As head of J.C. Watts Companies, Mr. Watts has built a diverse business organization that includes the nation's first African-American owned John Deere dealerships; CLS Group, a project management firm with construction and engineering operations; and Watts Partners, a public affairs consulting company. He currently advises several major companies, including John Deere, and serves on the Board of Directors of Dillard's. He also created the J.C. and Frankie Watts Foundation to focus on urban renewal and other charitable initiatives. Courtesy of www.unityfirst.com.
Category: General Share on Twitter!
Early Voting Starts Today
Early Voting starts today, and any citizen needing to find their early voting site may log on to the award-winning League of Women Voter's website www.VoteAnywhere.org , or for Spanish-speaking voters to www.VamosaVotar.org.
This will be a critical election year for Floridians, with decisions which will impact our competitiveness in education, healthcare, coastal drilling, protection of our water resources, growth management, and the list goes on. Voters will face an historic number of state offices up for election, with no incumbents running. In addition, voters have to navigate as many as 10 complex ballot amendments, with their choices having a major impact on everything from class size to property taxes.
"In this pivotal election year for Florida's future, we call on every voter to exercise their citizenship and VOTE in the August primary," states Deirdre Macnab, President of the League of Women Voters of Florida. "Vote on your schedule. It's democracy made easy!"
Category: General Share on Twitter!
Haiti faces a question: Who is Wyclef Jean?
Street star. Scandal-plagued aid director. Ex-Fugees hip hop frontman. The moment he filed his candidacy, Wyclef Jean became the most famous — and thus potentially most powerful — candidate in Haiti’s critical post-earthquake presidential election.
But for all his renown as a musician, charity provider and above all Haitian-born success story, a stark fact remains the morning after: Few in this impoverished and often rudderless country know who he really is, what he stands for, or what is driving him to seek the presidency. Read more at blackpoliticsontheweb.com.
Category: General Share on Twitter!
Is Obama distancing himself from prominent African Americans?
Black Americans have rallied around the president as perhaps no constituency has ever supported an American politician. As of this week, fully 88 percent of black voters approved of Barack Obama. Many predicted Obama's election would herald a new era of African-American leadership. And yet, curiously, something different has happened. Read more at dailycaller.com.
Category: General Share on Twitter!
How To Permanently Cut High Black Unemployment
Most of us are aware that African Americans face the most dire job prospects of any ethnic group in America. As of last month, black unemployment stood at 15.4 percent, compared to 8.6 percent among white Americans. Read more at atlantapost.com.
Category: General Share on Twitter!
Judge's high standards rankle some lawyers
For the first time in 13 years on the bench, Pinellas-Pasco Circuit Judge Michael Andrews faces an opponent. Why does the only black circuit judge have a white opponent who was recruited to run against him? Read more at tampabay.com.
Category: General Share on Twitter!
Longtime Florida champion of parental choice help plan BAEO’s annual education seminar
Michael Benjamin, the executive director of the Florida Alliance for Choices in Education who helped launch the Florida Tax Credit Scholarship for low-income students, will co-chair the program planning committee for the Sixth Annual Seminar on Education Policy and Parental Choice sponsored by the Bailey and Sullivan Leadership Institute (BSLI) of the Black Alliance for Educational Options (BAEO) and the Program on Education Policy & Governance (PEPG) at Harvard University. BAEO’s vice chair, Dr. Deborah McGriff, will also co-chair the program planning committee.
The invitation-only seminar is held every year so that policymakers can be grounded in the latest reform efforts aimed at empowering parents to find the right learning options for their children. Benjamin will co-chair the program planning committee and will help bring Florida’s elected officials to the table. The seminar will take place from Nov. 11 through 13 at the Hyatt Regency in Jersey City, New Jersey.
Benjamin brings his leadership and skills at mobilizing statewide grassroots causes to a national effort. In March, he was responsible for recruiting 5,521 parents, students and educators to rally for a proposed expansion to the Florida Tax Credit Scholarship outside the state Capitol in Tallahassee. It was the largest parental choice rally in the nation’s history. The Florida Legislature later passed the expansion with overwhelming bipartisan support. Courtesy of www.stepupforstudents.org.
Category: General Share on Twitter!
Lewis"Lew" Williams has been Endorsed by the SEIU
On Wednesday, July 28, 2010 the SEIU announced their Endorsement and their support for Lewis "Lew" Williams to replace Mary Brown on the Pinellas County School Board- representing District 7.
"An organization that represents workers from municipal government, schools,school bus drivers as well as maintenance staff, have choosen to support someone who is familiar with the things that are important to them. When employed as a teacher, I too was a member of the union and understood the vital issues that are dealt with on a daily basis. I have assured the SEIU that I will always be available to listen to their concerns and to keep an open mind. I am extremely proud of this endorsement", says Lew Williams.
Category: General Share on Twitter!
Is Wyclef Jean About to Run for President of Haiti?
On the streets of Port-au-Prince, there's no missing Wyclef Jean. The hip-hop superstar's face is plastered on billboards advertising the cell-phone company Voila, and local radio stations constantly play the recent remake of "We are the World," which features Jean singing in Haitian Creole as the literal voice of his island nation. He may, however, want to do more than just symbolize Haiti. Read more at time.com.
Category: General Share on Twitter!
Valerie Goddard MakesTimes recommendations for Hillsborough County
Residents in central and east Tampa have suffered for years because their commissioner, Kevin White, has lost clout and authority with a torrent of shameful behavior. Democrats have the chance to sweep the stain away with fresh, new leadership that can put the interests of the county's poorest district back on the radar. Newcomer Valerie Goddard is the best hope for a clean break. Read more at tampabay.com.
Category: General Share on Twitter!
Arizona immigration law: State to appeal injunction
Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer's office said late Wednesday that the state will file an expedited appeal with the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals on Thursday, asking the panel to lift the preliminary injunction preventing several sections of Arizona's new immigration law from going into effect.
The appeal will ask the court to lift the injunctions put in place by U.S. District Court Judge Susan Bolton earlier Wednesday and allow those provisions to go into effect until a decision is made on the merits of the law, Brewer spokesman Paul Senseman said. Read more at Arizona Republic.
Category: General Share on Twitter!
Bill Reducing Sentencing Disparities Is On It's Way To The President
On Wednesday, July 28, 2010, the U.S. House of Representatives passed, by a unanimous voice vote, S. 1789, the Fair Sentencing Act of 2009 which would reduce the mandatory minimum sentence for a federal conviction of crack cocaine possession from 100 times that of people convicted of carrying the drug in powdered form to 18 times the sentence. This compromise legislation passed the United States Senate late in the evening of Wednesday, March 17, 2010, by unanimous consent (without a recorded vote); it will now go to President Obama for his signature. Read more at NAACP.
Category: General Share on Twitter!
Lawyers Ask Kwame Kilpatrick’s Girlfriend About Death Of Stripper
A deposition got under way this morning for Christine Beatty, the former chief of staff for ex-Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, in a lawsuit brought by the family of an exotic dancer said to have performed at a wild party at the Manoogian Mansion.
“She has been the arms and legs, the eyes and the ears, of Mayor Kilpatrick through his horrifying reign,” Birmingham lawyer Norman Yatooma said on his way into the seven-hour deposition. “I hope to learn about that today.” Read more at freep.com.
Category: General Share on Twitter!
Eric Holder’s New Job: Racial Piñata
For a few hours last week, Eric Holder could breathe a sigh of relief. Finally, it wasn’t the attorney general but another African American government official whom right-wingers were smearing with allegations of reverse racism.
But Andrew Breitbart and other conservative troublemakers’ efforts to turn Shirley Sherrod into Angela Davis proved so ludicrously unfair that they only wound up enhancing Sherrod’s reputation; even long-time conservative commentator Peggy Noonan is now holding up the once-obscure Department of Agriculture official as an icon of racial reconciliation. Read more at cbsnews.com.
Category: General Share on Twitter!
Congress moves on gap in cocaine sentences
Congress is significantly reducing sentencing differences between crack and powder cocaine convictions that over the past several decades have subjected a disproportionate number of blacks to long prison terms.
House passage of what is called the “fair sentencing act” would send it to President Barack Obama for his signature. Read more at blackpoliticsontheweb.com.
Category: General Share on Twitter!
Whitman Snubs African Americans and Black Media
Hope you were able to TiVo that campaign ad Meg Whitman ran during the primary with her endorsement from former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. Because if Whitman continues her strategy of avoiding African Americans, that may be probably the only time you'll see the former EBay CEO around many other African Americans between now and November election. Read more at beyondchron.org.
Category: General Share on Twitter!
Republicans Push For New Black Panther Hearing
The seven Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee have sent a letter to Sen. Patrick Leahy, the committee chairman, calling for a hearing on potential "widespread politicization and possible corruption" in the Justice Department, The Hill reports.
The call for a hearing is tied to allegations that the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division has been politicized, as evidenced by a decision to drop most of a federal lawsuit against members of the New Black Panther Party,....Read more at cbsnews.com.
Category: General Share on Twitter!
Obama Feels the Heat for Meek
After the Shirley Sherrod debacle, President Barack Obama doesn't need to pick another fight with his African-American base. But Florida's Democratic Senate primary poses a new no-win situation.
Black lawmakers are urging -- even threatening -- the White House to elevate its support of Kendrick Meek, an African-American congressman locked in a tight fight with multimillionaire Jeff Greene. Read more at sunshinestatenews.com.
Category: General Share on Twitter!
