The 27th Black Engineer of the Year Award (BEYA) and Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) Global Competitiveness Conference will convene in Washington, D.C. Feb. 7, 2013 at the Marriott Wardman Park Hotel. The gathering will be returning to D.C., where they met in 2011. The coming conference is expected to host an estimated 10,000 […]
Author Archives: AFRO Staff
Posted inAfro Briefs
Fla. Task Force to Examine the State’s ‘Stand Your Ground’ Law
Florida Gov. Rick Scott (R) announced April 19 that an examination of the state’s “Stand Your Ground” law led by Florida’s first Black female lieutenant governor and a prominent Tallahassee Black minister is to get underway May 1. Lt. Gov. Jennifer Carroll, chairman of the Task Force on Citizens Safety and Protection, and Rev. R.B. […]
Posted inAfro Briefs
Black Kindergartener Handcuffed in Georgia
Police officials in Milledgeville, Ga., a small city northeast of Macon Ga., are defending their decision April 17 to handcuff and detain a Black kindergarten student at the police station when she threw a tantrum during class. “Our policy is that any detainee transported to our station in a patrol vehicle is to be handcuffed […]
Posted inAfro Briefs
During Mich. Campaign Stop, Obama Pays Homage to Rosa Parks
On a campaign stop in Michigan April 19, President Obama paused at the Henry Ford Museum to sit on the bus Rosa Parks made famous. Obama, who said he used the opportunity to reflect, commented that the courage that Rosa Parks showed that day is the same courage that many Americans are showing today. “So […]
Posted inNational News
$150,000 Bail Set for Zimmerman in Trayvon Martin Murder Case
Bail of $150,000 was set April 20 for George Zimmerman, a Neighborhood Watch volunteer who is facing charges of second murder for killing an unarmed Black teenager in Sanford, Fla. If he can post ten percent of the bail or $15,000, he can be free—but must wear an electronic tracking device–while awaiting trial for the […]
Posted inObituaries - Baltimore
Joseph Russ Dies at 98
For more than six decades Joseph Russ provided dignity and a loving touch for families dealing with the death of a loved one. Sometimes with a little humor. More often than not, a little irreverent humor. But always with great care. This week Russ died quietly in his sleep in his apartment above his funeral […]
Posted inARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
Mentally-Ill Man Arrested after Making Himself at Home in Diddy’s Mansion
A Queens, N.Y. man labeled as being mentally-ill was charged with breaking into Sean “Diddy” Combs’ East Hampton mansion where he apparently sipped the rap mogul’s liquor, ate his food and tried on his clothes. According to the New York Post, Quamine Taylor, 30, was charged with trespassing and petty larceny after he broke into […]
Posted inARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
Morgan Freeman Slams Step-Granddaughter Relationship Rumors
For years, actor Morgan Freeman has remained tightlipped about a rumored relationship with his step-granddaughter, but now the “Invictus” star is finally speaking out. In a statement on April 12 to TMZ, Freeman, 74, denied that he and his 27-year-old step-granddaughter E’Dena Hines, who is not a blood relative, are romantically involved. He also squelched […]
Posted inWashington D.C. News
Hackers Target D.C., N.Y.C. Government Web Sites
Hackers disabled municipal government web sites in D.C. and New York City this week in a cyber assault that shut down nyc.gov for two hours on April 17 and targeted Washington, D.C.’s departments of Transportation and Consumer and Regulatory Affairs on April 19. The attacks, called distributed denial of service, flood a targeted site with […]
Posted inWashington D.C. News
Strategic Plan Aims to Accelerate Progress in D.C. Schools
Washington, D.C.’s public school system (DCPS)will be streamlined in the next five years into a system that will focus on improving academic achievement, increasing graduation rates and lengthening the school day—or possibly the academic year—while generating more student satisfaction, if D.C. Mayor Vincent C. Gray and District of Columbia Public Schools (DCPS) Chancellor Kaya Henderson […]
Posted inARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
Acura Wanted ‘Not Too Dark’ African American for Super Bowl Ad
A luxury car maker apologized April 18 for a casting document calling for a “not too dark” African American to appear in its 2012 Super Bowl commercial alongside celebrities Jay Leno and Jerry Seinfeld. “We apologize to anyone offended by the language on the casting sheet used in the selection of actors for one of […]
Posted inHealth
Program Provides A Taste of Vegan Lifestyles for the “Vegan-Curious”
Local animal advocacy organization Open the Cages Alliance (OTCA) presents the 2012 Vegan Living Program, a series of educational events for the “vegan-curious” – those interested in vegan lifestyles. Most of the twelve Vegan Living Program sessions will take place on Sundays in April and May at Cyclops Books, 30 W. North Avenue in Baltimore. […]