Category: National News

Days before the 168-member Republican National Committee voted for its new chairman, Michael Steele seemed confident that he would be re-elected for a second term. “I feel good. What’s not to feel good about?” Steele told the AFRO in an exclusive interview Jan. 10. “We took a moribund, demoralized party that was touted around the […]

To the families of those we’ve lost; to all who called them friends; to the students of this university, the public servants gathered tonight, and the people of Tucson and Arizona: I have come here tonight as an American who, like all Americans, kneels to pray with you today, and will stand by you tomorrow. […]

At 9 a.m. on Jan. 7, the Scott sisters drove away from the state detention center in Mississippi for the first time in 16 years, a day that many of their family members and supporters never thought would come. “We’re just totally blessed, totally blessed,” Gladys Scott said at a press conference. “It’s been a […]

PART I of a periodic series: The Terrorism of Racism WASHINGTON (TEWire) — Reginald Bailey seemed to have done everything right. The 1995 business administration graduate of HBCU North Carolina A&T has never been in trouble with the law; he is a member of the prestigious Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity; he is a married father […]

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. manufacturers produced more goods and booked more orders last month, leading to the fastest growth in factory activity since May. The Institute for Supply Management said Jan. 3 that its index of manufacturing activity rose to 57 in December from 56.6 in the previous month. Any reading over 50 indicates growth. […]

HONOLULU (AP) — President Barack Obama got what he wanted from his Hawaiian vacation: nearly two weeks away from the spotlight before returning to Washington to face an emboldened Republican party and a major shakeup of his staff. The first weeks of the new year will be an early test of whether the president can […]

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Blacks made up nearly two-thirds of the Democrats removed from Louisiana’s voter rolls because they hadn’t voted in at least two years. State election officials tell The Advocate it’s a result of Hurricane Katrina’s displacement of people from heavily Democratic and Black New Orleans. After the hurricane in 2005, the […]

Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour on Dec. 29 suspended the life sentences of two sisters jailed for an armed robbery that netted just $11—but the release of one sister will require her to donate a kidney to the other. “To date, the sisters have served 16 years of their sentences and are eligible for parole in […]

Facing a mountain of lawyer bills and the possibility of a fresh round of ethics charges, Rep. Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.) is asking supporters to contribute to his new legal trust fund. The Harlem Democrat was censured by the House Dec. 3 for ethics violations including failure to pay taxes on a Dominican Republic home and […]

The New Year had barely started when Haiti was hit with a 7.0-magnitude earthquake, with an epicenter just 16 miles from the nation’s capital of Port-au-Prince. The quake, reportedly the worst in two centuries in the country, impacted up to 3 million people, according to the Red Cross. The Haitian government reported that approximately 230,000 […]

BOSTON (AP) — Gov. Deval Patrick and Roderick Ireland both cited the civil rights struggle Monday as the state’s first Black chief executive swore in the state’s first Black chief justice of the Supreme Judicial Court. Ireland, beaming before family, colleagues, members of his church and friends from his youth in Springfield, recalled being pushed […]