Category: Afro Briefs

KINGSTON, Jamaica (AP) — Hundreds of medical technicians, nurse’s aides and other support staff at Jamaica’s major public hospitals went on strike Monday to demand pay raises and allowances they say haven’t been paid by the government. The walkout left public hospitals and clinics across the Caribbean island short-handed for such duties as taking X-rays […]

After pledging to give Newark, N.J., public schools $100 million on a recent “Oprah” appearance, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, 26, has come under scrutiny by business analysts who say the move, which will create the Partnership for Education in Newark, is a public relations stunt. A new film covering the young entrepreneur’s rise to fame, […]

On Sept. 27, East Orange, N.J., police arrested 25-year-old Nicholas Welch in connection with the shooting death of Jessica Moore, 19, a student at Seton Hall University in nearby South Orange. Moore, a Disputanta, Va. native, was attending an off-campus fraternity party when Welch unleashed a hail of bullets on the crowd. According to East […]

Venerated music industry titan Dick Griffey died Sept. 24 in Los Angeles from complications of quadruple bypass surgery, according to a press release issued by his family. Griffey founded SOLAR Records in the late 1970s and evolved into one of the leading Black music pioneers of the 20th century. His work was key in ushering […]

Thousands of young people across America who had hoped to become U.S. citizens through an amendment to a pending defense spending bill were let down after it was recently blocked by the Senate. According to the Associated Press, the Senate Sept.21 voted down the defense bill that had the Development, Relief and Education for Alien […]

Self-proclaimed White supremacist Calvin Lockner pleaded guilty on Sept. 22 in the brutal 2009 attack on a Black fisherman. According to NBC Baltimore affiliate WBAL-TV, 76-year-old James Privott was attacked by three White men while attending a fishing trip with his wife at Fort Armistead Park near Baltimore in 2009. Lockner, the alleged leader of […]

A Ohio mom faces several charges after she made a homemade video of her child smoking pot. Hamilton County, Ohio prosecutor Joe Deters said Jessica Gamble allegedly taught her two-year-old daughter to smoke marijuana and recorded the incident on her mobile phone in June. She then sent the recording to an unidentified person, who forwarded […]

The NAACP recently announced the launch of its “Let’s Do It Again 2010” voter empowerment campaign. The campaign will mark the return of the group’s highly-successful “Upload 2 Uplift” tool. With the technology, users can register to vote online and upload the e-mail addresses of friends who have not yet registered. “The technology is huge […]

Five years after one of the nation’s most devastating natural disasters, the youngest victims still face the mental aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, according to a new study published by the American Medical Association in the journal Disaster Medicine and Public Health Preparedness. According to the study, released Aug. 23, more than 160,000 children faced displacement […]

Military service men and women who have returned home from Iraq and Afghanistan with untreated mental health issues pose a public health threat, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said Sept. 21. “This is a huge public health problem,” Dr. Marc Safran, chairman of the CDC Mental Health Work Group, said during a CDC Clinical […]

The Democratic National Committee (DNC) unveiled a new logo and tagline during the week of Sept. 20 as part of an effort to protect the party’s congressional majority in this year’s midterm election. Party leaders said they’re trying to let voters know that the Democratic Party is truly the party of the people. DNC Chairman […]

Varnette P. Honeywood, a celebrated artist famed for her colorful painting depicting African-American life, died Sept. 12 in Los Angeles after a battle with cancer. She was 59. Honeywood’s work was prominently featured on popular 1980s and ‘90s sitcom, “The Cosby Show” and the California native went on to produce the popular “Little Bill” children’s […]