Category: National News

Despite President Obama’s assurances that the economy is rebounding, residual effects of the ongoing recession have resulted in more job losses. Among the major firms cutting jobs is retail powerhouse Wal-Mart, which said Jan. 24 that it would lay off 11,200 workers at its Sam’s Club division. The Arkansas-based company, which has boasted assets of […]

The Pittsburgh branch of the NAACP is calling for the firing of city police officers who allegedly beat Black teenager Jordan Miles during an arrest. The Pittsburgh branch is also calling for charges against Miles to be dropped. “He had robbed no one—no bank, no establishment, hijacked no car or caused anyone any harm. He […]

President Barack Obama, it seems, is the eternal optimist. Despite a year in which Republicans undercut his policies at every turn, the president renewed his call to bipartisanship very early on in his first State of the Union address Wednesday night, calling on lawmakers “to overcome the numbing weight of our politics.” He later said, […]

Legal experts and campaign reform advocates are decrying the U.S. Supreme Court’s Jan. 21 decision that reversed a years-long ban on corporate campaign spending, a move that opens the door for a deluge of negative campaign ads that could transform November’s mid-term elections. “It’s not a happy day; it’s a very, disturbing, disturbing decision,” said […]

After admitting mistakes involving questionable financial practices, Wyclef Jean’s Yele Haiti charity foundation announced Jan. 22 that it has hired a new accounting firm to help manage its finances. The announcement was made just hours before a globally-broadcast charity concert called “Hope for Haiti Now: A Global Benefit for Earthquake Relief.” The foundation’s finances were […]

On January 15, Washington Wizards star Gilbert Arenas pleaded guilty  to a felony charge of carrying a firearm without a license in Washington, D.C. Arenas pleaded guilty in D.C. Superior Court as part of a deal which will guarantee him receiving a penalty on the low end of the capital’s sentencing guidelines. Without the plea bargain, the 28-year-old Los […]

A Black single mother serving in the Army faces charges for failing to report to duty after she said she needed to watch her young son instead. The Army filed charges on January 13 against Spc. Alexis Hutchinson, a 21-year-old Army cook from California, for missing a flight to Afghanistan, including being absent without leave, […]

Two prominent conservatives came under fire over comments made about the massive earthquake that hit Haiti on January 12. The Rev. Pat Robertson, a televangelist known for controversy as much as being a devout Christian, was the first to weigh in. During a Christian Bible Network telecast, Robertson said the Haitians made a deal with […]

Even as the U.S. economy recovers, African-Americans and Latinos continue to disproportionately experience hardships in their frantic efforts to find work and maintain homeownership, according to a new report from the Boston-based United for a Fair Economy. Release of the 25-page report, “State of the Dream 2010: Drained – Jobless and Foreclosed in Communities of […]

As many Haitians live in peril amid indescribable destruction and death, their American relatives are vexed by the media’s depiction of their native country as an uninhabitable, poverty-stricken no man’s land. While Haiti’s history of widespread human suffering is irrefutable—something most Haitians recognize—some believe the Caribbean nation has been particularly demonized by international media following […]

The Corporation for National and Community Service, the federal organization which oversees the government’s public service efforts, has put out its annual call to citizens nationwide to honor the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday by volunteering and taking part in community events planned for January 18. In 1994, Congress designated the holiday a “day of […]

A President Obama look-a-like will star in a new German musical which was scheduled to open January 15, according to the Associated Press. The production, titled “Hope: The Obama Musical Story,” is a bilingual musical performed in English and German that highlights Obama’s journey to the White House through various dance and song numbers. The […]