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WI Online Editor
Officials at Eddie Long’s church in Lithonia, Ga., had been paying each of the four men who accused the disgraced bishop of having sexual relations with them, $40,000 annually before charges were filed, according to information a source close to the situation provided to the Redding News Review (RNR).
In an article recently posted on Black America Web (BAW) -- and which credited a report by RNR editor Robert "Rob" Redding Jr. - while Long gave a private apology to the men, New Birth Missionary Baptist Church settled the lawsuit they brought against him, for nearly $25 million. The unnamed source said that Long refused to give a public apology, which ended up costing him more, according to RNR.
Meanwhile, other reports state that in the midst of the lawsuit and allegations New Birth has suffered a financial strain.
As a result, some of the church’s staff have had their work hours reduced, programs have been cut and membership has slackened.
The Rev. Bernice King -- youngest daughter of slain civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. -- also recently resigned her post as an elder at the megachurch.
WI Online Editor
After two months of testimony and 10 days of deliberations, a jury in Oakland, Calif., has convicted Yusuf Bey IV, 25, the former leader of "Your Black Muslim Bakery," of three counts of first-degree murder in the slayings of newspaper editor Chauncey Bailey and two other men.
The conviction also sent the message that the murder of a journalist in this country will not be tolerated, prosecutor Melissa Krum said.
"The First Amendment is not going to be murdered by murdering journalists," Krum told the San Francisco Chronicle. "You cannot kill the man and expect the message to be killed."
Bailey, who edited the Oakland Post, was shot to death on Aug. 2, 2007 as he walked to work.
Bey’s co-defendant, Antoine Mackey, 25, – who drove the getaway car – was convicted of two counts of first-degree murder for the killings of Bailey and Michael Wills, 36, according to the Chronicle.
Bey had ordered former bakery handyman Devaughndre Broussard – the prosecution’s star witness – to pull the trigger. Broussard admitted shooting Bailey, saying that Bey wanted the editor dead to keep him from going forward with an article he planned to publish regarding the bakery’s financial troubles, according to an ABC News affiliate in San Francisco. In a plea deal, Broussard will serve 25 years in exchange for his testimony.
Neither Bey nor Mackey – both of whom face life terms in prison without the possibility of parole – showed any emotion as the verdicts were read. They face sentencing on July 8 and their attorneys said they plan to appeal.
The jury was split on a third count involving the murder of Odell Roberson Jr., 31, and as a result, the judge declared a mistrial on that charge.
Bailey’s relatives commented after court that justice had been served.
"Journalists have a job to do and they should not be squashed in what they do, and unfortunately that’s what they tried to do with Chauncey," his cousin, Wendy Ashley-Johnson, told ABC7 News.
Bey’s mother, Daulet Bey, who reportedly missed the reading of the verdict after showing up late, said she believes in her son’s innocence. "Ultimately, God has the final decision and that’s what I rest upon," she said.
WI Online Editor
Mayor Vincent Gray is stretching his "One City" mantra into summer with the promise of a fun season.
Gray kicked launched the project this week, titled, "One City Summer Fun ... Something for Everyone." In addition to providing a safe and wholesome gamut of activities for both residents and visitors, the initiative – which also focuses on senior citizens – places special emphasis on D.C.’s youth who will be looking for ways to occupy their free time.
"This summer, our residents will have a full spectrum of stimulating activities, events and programs," Gray said in June 9 statement. "They can engage in fun, athletics, creativity, reading, learning, exploration, healthy living, volunteerism, and employment opportunities."
The initiative is a comprehensive and expanded citywide partnership that involves more than 30 District government agencies, community and faith-based organizations and private sector groups.
Among them are the University of the District of Columbia, which will offer a reading project for youth, and the District Department of Parks and Recreation which will participate in a globally-linked, record-setting swimming lesson on June 14 involving thousands of children and adults. Also, the city’s Summer Youth Employment Program will provide 12,000 city youth, ages 14 to 21, with an enriching and constructive summer work experience.
Other events include a hip-hop theatre festival that runs from July 11-16 and the "Dance D.C. Festival slated for July 22-24.
More information can be obtained by visiting www.onecitysummer.dc.gov.
WI Online Editor
The saga surrounding unethical behavior among District of Columbia City Council members continues.
In the latest of a series of alleged wrongdoings aligned with the Council, Ted Loza, former chief-of-staff to Ward 1 Councilman Jim Graham, is seen on a recently-released FBI surveillance tape pocketing a bribe from a cab company owner.
Loza, who reportedly accepted payoffs in 2008 to help steer taxi cab legislation through the Council, faces 14 months in prison on federal corruption charges.
On the tape that was shown during local broadcast news reports, Loza is seen stuffing a wad of cash into his pants pocket nand saying, "I need it, that’s why I take it." He then accepted an envelope containing a reported $2,600 in cash that was intended for Graham.
Reports state that although the veteran councilman returned the money, he has come under fire for not reporting the incident. "My parents taught me the difference between right and wrong,"Graham told the Washington Informer, adding that within 60 seconds of receiving it, he had given it back. "I did nothing wrong."
Meanwhile, Graham’s drama comes in the wake of a several incidences of unethical conduct that have plagued members of the 13-member Council over the past six months.
They include allegations that Mayor Vincent Gray rewarded campaign supporter Sulaimon Brown with money and a high-paying city job in exchange for vilifying then-Mayor Adrian Fenty during last fall’s mayoral race.
In addition, Chairman Kwame Brown is being taken to task for specifically stating his choice surrrounding at least two high-priced city-issued SUVs; and Ward 5 Councilman Harry Thomas Jr. is being accused by the city attorney of diverting more than $300,000 of taxpayer money to his personal use.
Thomas, who has stepped down from his influential post as chairman of the Council’s Economic Development Committee, is also being sued by the city for some $1 million in damages.
WI Online Editor
Six years after Hurricane Katrina ravaged New Orleans, causing thousands of residents to flee the mostly black Ward 9 and relocate outside the city, a sense of racial division still prevails among its neighborhoods.
The Times Picayune reported recently that after the August 2005 hurricane that shrank New Orleans’ population by a quarter, data from the U. S. Census Bureau showed parts of the city to be more segregated last year than a decade ago.
"Paradoxically, while much of greater Gentilly and eastern New Orleans lost large numbers of African-Americans in absolute numbers, they simultaneously became more African-American in a relative sense, because the few whites who lived in those areas departed in even greater numbers than their black neighbors," the Times quoted Tulane University geographer Richard Campanella, as saying.
In addition, according to Campanella’s own findings – when compared to tracts where fewer than 15 percent of residents who were African American grew in 2000, an area where at least half the residents were black, almost all fell below the threshold.
Overall, "the battle cry that you hear from folks in New Orleans East is that this is a majority African-American community and we don't have a hospital," Campanella was quoted as saying. "If you venture Uptown, you find majority-white communities that have hospitals."
Online Editor
The National Law Group (NLG) announced recently that several African-American attorneys from across the country have been admitted to practice before the Supreme Court of the United States of America.
According to a statement from the Atlanta, Ga.-based organization, the list includes Carlos E. Moor; John A. Moore; Trent A. McCain; Rodney F. Barganier; Carl L. Collins III; and Bethew Jennings III; and newest
NLG members Andre T. Young and Earnest A. DeLoach.
NLG, which is headed by Carlos E. Moore, is the first-ever nationwide legal services company made up entirely of talented Black lawyers.The organization's mission is to assist individuals who have been harmed and hold those who are at fault accountable.
Collectively, the group’s attorneys have more than 100 years of combined experience, and more than 70 percent of their clients are African Americans for whom the attorneys have won more than $50 million in verdicts or settlements.
Online Editor
During the first leg of her three-nation African tour, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said over the weekend in a visit to Zambia, that while America wants to expand trade with Africa by investing in the continent's people, Africa should be warned against a "new colonialism" as China increases its presence.
Noting China's massive investments and business interests in Africa, Clinton -- who reportedly commented in a television interview -- also gave her opinion on China's top-down command economy, stating that it was not a model for other developing nations.
Clinton -- the first secretary of state to visit Zambia since Henry Kissinger was there 35 years go to give a speech on the country's policy for southern Africa -- added that African leaders must ensure foreign projects are sustainable and benefit all their citizens, not only elites, according the Huffington Post (HP).
"It is easy, and we saw that during colonial times, it is easy to come in, take out natural resources, pay off leaders and leave," HP quoted Clinton as saying. "And when you leave, you don't leave much behind for the people who are there. We don't want to see a new colonialism in Africa." Clinton also said that the United States didn't want foreign governments and investors to fail in Africa, but they should also give back to the local communities, HP further reported.
"We want them to do well, but also we want them to do good," she said.
"We don't want them to undermine good governance, we don't want them to basically deal with just the top elites, and frankly too often pay for their concessions or their opportunities to invest."
According to the Agence France-Presse (AFP), Zambia estimated that China invested $1 billion dollars there in 2010, which resulted in the creation of 15,000 jobs. AFP also reported that a deal with China's Zhougui Mining -- announced earlier this year -- promises another $5 billion dollars in investment over the next few years.
Online Editor
The nation’s high unemployment rate could cost President Barack Obama his job in 2012.
Such has been the sentiment of economists across the country who have been keeping watch over the rate of joblessness, which continues to disproportionately impact African Americans.
"No president has ever been re-elected with an unemployment this high," Christian Dorsey, director for external and government affairs at the D.C.-based Economic Policy Institute, told the Washington Informer. "So it would be unprecedented for a president to have unemployment rates this high [since President Franklin Roosevelt] and to enjoy re-election [as], it’s never happened before."
According to the U. S. Bureau of Labor and Statistics’ May 2011 report, while the nationwide unemployment rate of 9.1 percent remained essentially unchanged over the past year, the current rate for African Americans stands at 16.2 percent. Last year at this time, the rate for unemployed African Americans hovered around 15 percent.
William Galston, a domestic policy expert who worked in the Clinton administration, said in GPB News interview that he believes Obama has dropped the ball on jobs.
"I have long thought that President Obama hasn't placed economic growth and jobs dead center in his agenda consistently enough," Galston said. "That was a principle reason the health care adventure dismayed me."
Economists also contend that the economic recovery initiative set in motion in 2009 by the Obama administration, has come to a grinding to a halt.
As a result, the president – who is angling for a second term at the helm – could face some complications, they have said.
To that end, Dorsey added that in moving forward, people are going to expect Obama to be managing a plan that will not only grow jobs, but which will eventually bring the economy back to where it needs to be.
The District of Columbia’s highly-acclaimed PowerCentsDC pilot program is featured in a new report that was released this week by the White House.
The report, entitled "A Policy Framework For The 21st Century Grid," cites the District’s initiatives on smart metering and smart pricing of electricity, according to a statement announcing its launch.
The report was prepared by the National Science and Technology Council (NSTC). Its release coincides with a June 13 meeting at the White House where several high-level administrators that included SGCC Director Patty Durand, private-sector leaders and other innovators who gathered from across the nation to learn of the new initiatives surrounding the collaborative. The initiatives include $250 million in loans for smart-grid technology deployment.
"A 21st-century grid is essential to America’s ability to lead the world in clean energy and win the future," John P.Holdren, director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, was quoted as saying at the meeting. "By unlocking the potential of innovation in the electric grid, we are allowing consumers and businesses to use energy more efficiently even as we help utilities provide cleaner energy and more reliable service."
According to the statement, the District has taken a major step toward a smarter grid through its award-winning smart metering pilot, which enabled approximately 900 Pepco customers at all income levels to save money and better manage their energy use.
It goes on to state that, currently, Pepco is replacing 280,000 old-fashioned analog meters in the Nation’s Capital with two-way digital "smart meters," pursuant to 2009 legislation enacted by the D.C. Council, with full-scale deployment beginning in 2012.
"The District will be among the first jurisdictions in the country to make the benefits of smart grid technologies available to every consumer," Rick Morgan, D.C. public service commission said in the statement. He added that among the benefits of advanced metering, are operational savings such as reduced metering costs and the ability of consumers to control their utility bills and minimize environmental impacts.
Online Editor
A 250-page report by an ethics reform panel in Prince George’s County recommends strengthening the county’s Board of Ethics and beefing up oversight among officials. In doing so, the county aims to avoid a repeat of the scandal that has plagued it since the arrest last year of former executive Jack Johnson in a pay-to-play scheme.
The Accountability, Compliance and Integrity (ACI) report was presented on June 13 to Baker and County Council Chair Ingrid M. Turner. Baker said he never doubted the panel would get the job done.
"I look forward to reading the report findings and continuing to move the County forward as a result of this body of work,"Baker said in a statement.
The panel – known as Accountability, Compliance and Integrity Advisory Board – was formed last December at the beginning of Baker’s administration to help provide transparent, open and accountable services for county residents.
By April, under leadership of former Baltimore Mayor Kurt Schmoke, the panel had been tasked with establishing an anonymous tip line and looking into the creation of a public watchdog office that would require employees to participate in yearly training.
In a list of recommendations, the panel has also urged officials to revisit its policy for awarding contracts in order to avoid incidences of cronyism
Online Editor
Black women are taking the lead over whites and other ethnic groups in childbirth and pregnancy-relted deaths, according to an article entitled, "Maternal Mortality Rates Are Increasing for African-American Women," on Black News.com
Among conditions attributed to their deaths are high rates of obesity, high blood pressure and inadequate prenatal care. Also, increasing deaths from caesarean sections among African-Americans who were dangerously overweight or suffered from hypertension or other ailments, have been case for concern, the article noted.
While a 2008 Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and Prevention report states that nationally, blacks were four times more likely than whites to have a have a pregnancy-related death, new reports have revealed that the pregnancy-related mortality rate in some states rivals that in some developing nations. Particularly in New York City, where blacks are nearly eight times more likely to die from pregnancy-related complications than whites, and in California where pregnant blacks are four times as likely to die from childbirth, according to the article.
"When we look at some of the factors associated with maternal mortality, most of the underlying factors tend to be dominant in the African-American community, and it is manifested in the health disparities that affect our population," Dr. Kerry M. Lewis, chairman of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Howard University's College of Medicine and chief of the Division of Maternal-Fetal Medicine, was quoted as saying.
Lewis, who specializes in high-risk pregnancies, also said that patients are too often treated by family practitioners, nurse midwives, general obstetricians and gynecologists instead of specialists trained in high-risk pregnancies and medical problems that can cause complications during birth.
"We have to look at the reality of where we practice," Lewis added. "Obesity is much greater among African-Americans. I deal with a gamut of high-risk problems, but complications from obesity are an underlying problem in all of them."
But according to a report published in April on womensenews.org, the pattern of blacks dying at higher rates in childbirth and pregnancy doesn’t surprise Dr. David R. Williams, professor of African and African studies at Harvard University.
"This pattern is not unique to childbirth," Williams said. "It affects the health of African Americans from cradle to grave and has continued for over 100 years. Today, African Americans are more likely to die of 13 of the top 15 causes of death than are whites."
WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development announced today that it is launching a national media campaign to kick off Fair Housing Month, celebrated across the country each April to commemorate the passage of the Fair Housing Act. The "Live Free" campaign will use newspaper and magazine ads, as well as the latest digital media, including social networking sites, to increase the Department's efforts to educate the public and housing providers about their fair housing rights and responsibilities.
"Much has changed since the Fair Housing Act became law in 1968. Our country is more diverse than it's ever been. These changes have brought new challenges as we continue our fight to address inequality in housing," said John Trasvina, HUD Assistant Secretary for Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity. "Our society is more technologically advanced today. Therefore, this new campaign uses the latest media tools to better reach all people about housing discrimination and what to do if they experience it."
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