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Author Archives: Sean Yoes
AFRO Baltimore Editor
Posted inNews from Around the Web
AFRO Update – State of the Union 2014 – SC teen executed in 1944 – Marijuana Legalization Part 2
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Posted inAfro Briefs
Maryland General Assembly Tackles Marijuana Legalization
This week President Obama added fuel to the volatile national debate over the legalization of marijuana use. “Middle-class kids don’t get locked up for smoking pot, and poor kids do,” the president said during a wide-ranging interview on various subjects with New Yorker editor David Remnick. President Obama’s comments will likely be invoked during the 2014 […]
Posted inBaltimore News
`Casino’ Fund Offers Hope for Small Biz Owners
It took perhaps an extraordinary entrepreneurial leap of faith in 2010 to open the doors of Jody Davis Designs, a woman’s boutique at 110 W. Saratoga Street in the midst of the country’s worst economic downturn since the Great Depression. “Business, it’s still challenging – up and down – but, I’m still thankful to continue […]
Posted inAfro Briefs
Critics Say Diversity Lacking in Maryland State Police
Black residents of Maryland are about 30 percent of the population, according to 2012 U.S. Census Bureau numbers—by far the largest population of color in the state. Yet, the ranks of Maryland State Troopers are just slightly more than 10 percent Black, a number that has been dwindling for more than a decade. According to […]
Posted inBaltimore News
Md. Black Caucus Unveils New Legislative Agenda
Prince George’s County Del. Aisha Braveboy (D-25) is running for Maryland Attorney General and if she wins she would be the first Black and first woman in the state’s history to hold that office. But, she had breakfast in West Baltimore Monday at New Shiloh Baptist Church with members of the Baptist Ministers Conference of […]
Posted inBaltimore News
Despite Ford’s Antics, Toronto’s Murder Rate Well Below Charm City’s
Toronto Mayor Rob Ford has become an enduring punch line over the last month thanks to a pattern of erratic behavior, including the acknowledgment that he smoked crack cocaine about a year ago and a series of press conferences laden with outrageous outbursts. But amid Ford’s month-long personal train wreck, Baltimore has seen a spike […]
Posted inAfro Briefs
Guns: Who’s Buying Them?
A record number of Maryland residents purchased firearms before the state’s gun reform law, one of the most prohibitive in the nation, took effect Oct. 1. So far in 2013, according to Sgt. Marc Black of the Maryland State Police Pikesville Barracks, 117,943 applications for firearms have been received, 63,567 applications have been processed and […]
Posted inCommentary
Despite glitches, politics, benefits of Obamacare are real
It’s been more than two weeks since the official rollout of the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare. And despite the toxic politics swirling around its implementation and well-publicized cyber issues bogging down registration on the government’s website, traditionally underserved communities stand to benefit significantly from national healthcare reform. “A child born in Upton […]
Posted inAfro Briefs
Open Enrollment Begins for Affordable Care Act
Despite the ongoing political machinations of the Republican Party, open enrollment for individuals officially began for the Affordable Care Act – also known as “Obamacare” – as scheduled. In Maryland, as in other states, the launch did not happen without glitches, yet day one was far from the catastrophe predicted – and perhaps hoped for […]
Posted inBaltimore News
Desegregating the Clay Courts at Druid Hill Park
James Crockett helped make history in Baltimore. A veteran real estate entrepreneur in the city since 1956, he has owned a home on Liberty Heights in Northwest Baltimore since the 1950’s. Baltimore was a different place then. Or perhaps it changed because of the work of people like him, his colleagues and scores of others […]
Posted inNational News
The Racist History of Sanford, Florida
(Originally published March 28, 2012) When I first heard the murder of Trayvon Martin took place in Sanford, Florida the first person I thought about was the late, legendary sports editor of the AFRO, Sam Lacy, a member of the journalists’ wing of the Baseball Hall of Fame. When I became a reporter for the AFRO […]