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President Obama Names Linda Gooden to Top White House Advisory Panel
President Barack Obama has announced his intention to appoint Linda Gooden, the most senior black executive at Lockheed Martin — the nation’s top defense contractor and one of the Fortune 500’s 50 largest companies — to the National Security Telecommunications Advisory Committee. Made up of 30 business chieftains in telecommunications, network services, information technology, finance…
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Spelman College Students Win National Mobile App Competition
In his first news conference after his midterm losses, President Obama reminded his audience that the important battle for the U.S. is remaining on top of global competition. If he’s looking for a model, he need look no further than Spelman College in Atlanta — the private, independent, historically black school for women — and…
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A $1.25 Billion Tractor Ride to Capitol Hill
John W. Boyd rode his tractor to Capitol Hill today. The founder and president of the National Black Farmers Association journeyed from northern Virginia across Theodore Roosevelt Memorial Bridge and up Constitution Avenue. He took the trip on behalf of thousands of black farmers who were promised $1.25 billion to redress past discrimination by the…
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$1.5 Billion for Wealthy Arkansas Farmers; Nothing for Black Farmers
The ire that black farmers and their advocates are currently feeling has two targets: the Senate’s failure to vote the money to complete the farmers’ settlement with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and President Obama’s recent generous offer to white Arkansas farmers. Both examples of political expediency are bitter reminders of black farmers’ second-class status.…
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Tiger Woods and Elin Nordegren Officially Divorced
Tiger Woods and his Swedish-born ex-wife, with her now officially-restored maiden name Elin Maria Pernilla Nordegren, were divorced in a hearing in a Florida judge’s chambers, on Monday. Few settlement details were provided. Woods’ once-renowned golf game has been in a shambles since his multiple affair cheating scandal was revealed last November. In a statement,…
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Will Obama Get a Real Vacation This Year? Maybe.
The White House press corps superstition is that if the president’s press secretary says nothing is going to happen, news will occur. During Obama’s 2009 holiday, he reappointed Ben Bernanke Fed chairman, and Sen. Edward Kennedy died. So far. It’s too quiet. Read more at The Washington Post
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How Widespread Are Gangs and Drugs in Public Schools?
The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University released a survey that will disturb, but perhaps not surprise, many parents. It says that more than 25 percent of public middle and high school students — or 5.7 million — report that gangs and drugs are on their campuses. Not every researcher agrees with…
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Black-Cops Group: Make California Pot Legal
“Don’t bogart that joint, my friend. Pass it over to me.” Citing the disproportionate arrest and incarceration of blacks caught with marijuana, the 15,000-member National Black Police Association has echoed an earlier call by the California NAACP to legalize the drug. The police group’s executive director, Ron Hampton, a retired 25-year Washington, D.C., police officer…
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President Obama Keeps His Religious Observances Low-Key
The president talks frequently to a circle of spiritual advisers. He did so, by phone, on his 49th birthday while flying on Air Force One. One pastor he speaks to often is evangelical Joel Hunter, who also advised President George W. Bush. Hunter says the downside of the president’s private religious observance is that people…
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Labor Aims to Mobilize Unemployed Voters
The AFL-CIO affiliate Working America has launched a campaign to mobilize the nearly one in 10 Americans who can’t find a job. The goal is to boost the number of pro-labor Democratic voters at the polls. But Colorlines asks, “Will the campaign actually reach out to the chronically unemployed, those who face entrenched employment barriers…
Black News and Black Views with a Whole Lotta Attitude
