Jasper, Texas Chief of Police Rodney Pearson has filed a complaint with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), claiming he has experienced discrimination from the mayor and city council of Jasper ever since taking the position last April. Pearson filed his claim May 9 and his lawyers say the racism begins with Mayor Mike […]
Author Archives: Alexis Taylor
AFRO Staff Writer
Posted inAfro Briefs
Retired Lt. Cmdr. Wesley Brown, First African American Graduate of Naval Academy, Dies at 85
Retired Lt. Cmdr. Wesley Brown, a Baltimore native and the first African American to graduate from the U.S. Naval Academy, died May 22 of cancer in Silver Spring. He was 85. Appointed to the Naval Academy in 1945, Brown was the sixth Black admitted to Annapolis but the first to graduate. He spent his four […]
Posted inBaltimore News
Black Owned Business Wins Major Bid for Second Grand Prix Race
The Grand Prix Race that thrilled residents and tourist last Labor Day weekend will return for a second run through the streets of Downtown Baltimore City. Wary of falling into the same potholes of last year’s event, the City has revamped its’ contract terms and brought in a new team of organizers to navigate the […]
Posted inBaltimore Community, Baltimore News
Students Seek Funding to Further Transform Mt. Auburn Cemetery
The rejuvenation of Cherry Hill’s Mt. Auburn Cemetery is nothing short of a pure miracle. Combined efforts of area college students, civic organizations, inmates, and local and state leaders helped push to clean and restore the cemetery, which was honored with a re-dedication ceremony last week. Though the renovations revealed have completely changed the space, […]
Posted inBaltimore News
Maryland Officials Call for Uniformity in Combating Human Sex Trafficking
Gov. Martin O’Malley launched a two-day conference on Combating Human Sex Trafficking in Maryland, May 21, speaking to a group of four hundred federal, local, and state leaders and officials. The conference focused on adopting a statewide approach to preventing and eliminating the trade, and offered workshops and forums on how to lobby on behalf […]
Posted inAfro Briefs
Maryland Officials Call for Uniformity in Combating Human Sex Trafficking
Gov. Martin O’Malley launched a two-day conference on Combating Human Sex Trafficking in Maryland, May 21, speaking to a group of four hundred federal, local, and state leaders and officials. The conference focused on adopting a statewide approach to preventing and eliminating the trade, and offered workshops and forums on how to lobby on behalf […]
Posted inHealth
FDA Committee Recommends Approval of Home HIV Test Kits
The Blood Products Advisory Committee (BPAC) of the Food and Drug Administration voted 17- 0 May 15 in favor of a HIV home test. If approved by the FDA at large, the test, which gives preliminary positive and negative results for strains of both HIV 1 and 2, could go on the market as early […]
Posted inHealth
Study Finds Similarities Between Brain Injuries in Athletes and War Veterans
A new study has found similarities between the brain injuries of athletes and those of military veterans. The report, published May 16 by Boston University’s School of Medicine, shows that chronic traumatic encephalopathy or CTE, the brain disease found to progress in athletes with multiple head traumas, develops similarly in soldiers who have been exposed […]
Posted inBaltimore News
Provost of Baltimore’s Coppin State University Named First Female President of Central State University
Coppin State University Provost Dr. Cynthia Jackson-Hammond will become the first female president of Central State University, the Ohio school has announced. Only the eighth president in the historically Black university’s history, Jackson-Hammond follows in the footsteps of current president John W. Garland, who announced his retirement last year. “I am extremely thrilled and honored […]
Posted inWashington D.C. News
Md. Delegate Recants Statement, Won’t ‘Stay Home’ On Election Day
The black church is still reeling from President Barack Obama’s announcement that he is in agreement with the legalization of same-sex marriage in America. Bishops, ministers, and pastors weighed in from pulpits around the country over Mother’s Day weekend, a majority not in favor of the decision, but still in support of another Obama administration […]
Posted inBaltimore News
Mother’s Day Weekend Plagued with Violence
Baltimore City Police are still investigating several violent incidents that claimed four lives and left others in the hospital with injuries over Mother’s Day weekend. Police say they are close to making arrests in two of the cases, but detectives, as of Wednesday, had no leads or motives in a majority of the crimes. “Four […]
Posted inAfro Briefs
Hours, Manpower Cutbacks to Save 13,000 Rural Post Offices
Instead of being shut down, operations at 13,000 rural post offices will be trimmed, Postmaster General Patrick R. Donahoe said May 8. The move will spare operations and workers at 139 Maryland post offices from the axe in the latest U.S.Postal Service (USPS) initiative to address a $14 billion deficit, Donahoe said in a news […]