Politics
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Unemployed Still Have a Shot to Get Benefits Back
It seems that congressional Republicans—or some, at least—are finally coming to the realization that their constituents are poor and unemployed. On Tuesday the U.S. Senate voted to move forward with the bill that would extend unemployment benefits, which expired three days after Christmas. It provides benefits to roughly 1.3 million eligible workers for three months,…
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Obama Targeted by Medal of Freedom Recipients Over Georgia Judicial Nominees
President Barack Obama has once again found himself at the center of a nominations battle—but this time he’s being targeted by civil rights icons, the Huffington Post reports. The tension is over two of the president’s picks for the federal courts in Georgia. Former state legislator Michael Boggs, one of the nominees, was against removing…
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Immigration Debate Ignores Highly Skilled Black Workers
As a two-year budget conjures up illusions of congressional comity and President Obama is desperate for a legislative recharge, there is much hype about a big immigration deal on the horizon. But, despite the huge political, economic and cultural implications for the country, black folks have little skin in the game. How did that happen?…
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President Obama Urges Congress to Restore Unemployment Benefits
In his weekly radio and Internet address Saturday, President Barack Obama urged Congress to restore jobless benefits for more than a million Americans, saying a failure to do so would slow the economy for everyone, the Associated Press reports. The AP says that a bipartisan proposal in the Senate would restore benefits for three months…
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Jesse Jackson to Reunite With Navy Lt. 30 Years After Syria Crisis
The Rev. Jesse Jackson was scheduled Saturday to reunite with the Navy lieutenant and former hostage whom he helped liberate from Syrian captivity 30 years ago, according to USA Today. Jackson negotiated the release of Navy Lt. (now retired Commander) Robert Goodman on Jan. 4, 1984, after a month of captivity. It was the first…
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Bipartisan Congressional Support for Mandatory-Sentencing Reform
Rising concerns about the fairness of sentences and the expense of running federal prisons have prompted an unusual alliance of Tea Partiers and liberal lawmakers to push for changes in the country’s mandatory-sentencing laws, the Associated Press reports. The bipartisan congressional push comes as President Barack Obama and his Cabinet focus attention on mandatory sentences,…
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Detroit’s 1st White Mayor in 40 Years Takes Office
Detroit’s new mayor took office Wednesday and got down to brass tacks, despite holding limited powers in a cash-strapped city whose finances are controlled by a state-appointed emergency manager, the Associated Press reports. Mike Duggan, who became the city’s first white mayor in 40 years, held his first staff meetings at City Hall after a…
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Black Folks Are Key to Obamacare’s Success
Over the holidays, first lady Michelle Obama took to the airways to promote the Affordable Care Act, aka Obamacare, on the Rev. Al Sharpton’s radio show, Joe Madison’s radio broadcast and in other outlets with a large black audience, as well as with a group of mothers who were invited to the White House. Before…
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Obama’s Last Year Wasn’t as Bad as They Say
Unless you opted for your own news blackout during the holiday season, by now you’ve probably read one of the many year-end recaps that described 2013 as President Barack Obama’s worst year. If not, just read here, here, here, here and here. Reviews were bad, with even Chris Matthews—of “thrill going up my leg when…
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Chicago Homicides Plunge to Lowest Level Since 1965
Chicago’s Police Department said Wednesday that after leading the nation in homicides in 2012, recording more than 500, the city last year listed the lowest number of killings since 1965, and saw its overall crime rate fall to a level not seen since 1972, the Associated Press reports. By the end of 2013, the city…