The mayor of Trenton, N.J. and his brother face corruption charges in connection with a 2010 parking garage development scheme in which they were allegedly offered an $119,000 bribe by an FBI agent operating undercover. Opening arguments began Jan. 6 for Trenton Mayor Tony Mack, 48, and hisbrother Ralphiel Mack, both accused of bribery and extortion. […]
Author Archives: Blair Adams
AFRO Staff Writer
Posted inBaltimore News
Bishop Miles Wants Mayor to Help Bring ‘Smart Guns’ to Baltimore
Bishop Douglas Miles, after a whirlwind European trip last month, is part of a fresh attack on street violence. In addition to battling for gun control laws, he wants to use 21st century technology to control guns. Through electronic devices, internet commands and even integrated chips that can be embedded into humans, Miles found in […]
Posted inBaltimore News
Baltimore’s Fire Chief Talks to the AFRO
Niles Ford, the new man at the helm of the Baltimore City Fire Department (BFD), is not new at public safety. The 48-year-old African American native of Dover, Del. has spent nearly half his life as a fire fighter, paramedic and a student of urban government management. Ford, who was unveiled Dec. 30 as Mayor […]
Posted inAfro Briefs
Federal Judge Dismisses Hurricane Katrina-Related Suits
Eight years after Hurricane Katrina swept through New Orleans in one of the deadliest and most destructive hurricanes to slam into a U.S. city, a federal judge Dec. 20 dismissed the claims filed by residents and business owners who said the U.S. government had failed to adequately protect the below-sea-level city and should compensate them […]
Posted inAfro Briefs
Ohio High School Teacher Suspended for Racially Charged Statement
The Fairfield City School District board near Cincinnati, Ohio suspended a White teacher without pay after he allegedly made a racial remark to one of his African American students who told him he wanted to become president of the United States. On Dec. 3 Gil Voigt, a science teacher at the Fairfield Freshman School, was […]
Posted inBaltimore News
Veteran Fire Fighter, City Administrator Picked to be Baltimore Fire Chief
Niles Ford, 48, a veteran urban administrator, career paramedic and former Lincoln, Neb. fire chief, has been selected to run the Baltimore Fire Department, Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake announced Dec. 30. “I believe we have found a dedicated public servant with a proven track record of results,” Rawlings-Blake said of Ford. “He has spent the last […]
Posted inBaltimore News
Unemployment Benefits Ended Dec. 28 for Thousands of Marylanders
For more than 25,000 Maryland residents, this holiday season was filled with the uncertainty of what’s to come after their extended Emergency Unemployment Compensation (EUC) benefits ended. They are among more than a million Americans who lost their federal unemployment benefits Dec. 28 because Congress did not renew the extended benefits created to buffer the […]
Posted inAfro Briefs
Pittsburgh Woman Becomes “Homegirl CEO” with Business Magazine for African-American Women
Faced with the challenges of raising an autistic son, Ola Jackson made her mark in the world of business as a “Homegirl CEO.” Realizing their son would require them to spend more time at home than at the office, the Pittsburgh woman and her husband Daryl started a home-based public relations business they dubbed Onyx […]
Posted inAfro Briefs
Eyeglasses Saved Seattle Teen’s Life in Drive-By Shooting
A 16-year-old Seattle teen escaped serious injury when her eyeglasses deflected a bullet that struck her in the face during a drive-by shooting. Alonza Bryant was asleep on her living room sofa on Dec. 21 when several bullets flew through the window and walls of her home at 54th Avenue South and South Roxbury Street […]
Posted inAfro Briefs
26-Yr.-Old California Woman Makes Craigslist Offer to Rent Foster Family for Holidays
A 26-year-old college student who claims to have been abandoned most of her life turned to Craigslist to “rent a mom and dad” for the holiday season. Jackie Turner, a junior at William Jessup University in Rocklin, Calif., told CBS News that she was neglected, abused and nearly starved throughout her childhood. She never met […]
Posted inBaltimore News
Tyrone West’s Family Resists ‘Objectively Reasonable Force’
None of the officers involved in the death of Tyrone West will face criminal charges because they were using “objectively reasonable force” to subdue a subject who was resisting arrest, the state’s attorney’s office and the Baltimore City Police Department announced Dec. 19. “We have concluded that there is no evidence to support the filing […]
Posted inARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
Baltimore School for the Arts Stages The Nutcracker at the Lyric
The Nutcracker, a classic ballet that has become as much a part of the holiday season as the sounds of Handel’s “Hallelujah Chorus,” is being staged again at The Lyric Opera House this year and includes five African American dancers in lead roles. In the production, on stage from Dec. 20 through Dec. 22, the […]