The Drug War Devastated Black and Other Minority Communities. Is Marijuana Legalization Helping?
A major argument for legalizing the adult use of cannabis after 75 years of prohibition was to stop the harm caused by disproportionate enforcement of drug laws in Black, Latino and other minority communities. But efforts to help those most affected participate in the newly legal sector have been halting.
Lessons for Cities from Seattle’s Racial and Social Justice Law
Seattle is marking the first anniversary of its landmark Race and Social Justice Initiative ordinance. Signed into law in April 2023, the ordinance highlights race and racism because of the pervasive inequities experienced by people of color
Don’t Shoot Portland, University of Oregon Team Up for Black Narratives, Memory
The yearly Memory Work for Black Lives Plenary shows the power of preservation.
Grants Pass Anti-Camping Laws Head to Supreme Court
Grants Pass in southern Oregon has become the unlikely face of the nation’s homelessness crisis as its case over anti-camping laws goes to the U.S. Supreme Court scheduled for April 22. The case has broad implications for cities, including whether they can fine or jail people for camping in public. Since 2020, court orders have barred Grants Pass from enforcing its anti-camping laws. Now, the city is asking the justices to review lower court rulings it says has prevented it from addressing the city's homelessness crisis. Rights groups say people shouldn’t be punished for lacking housing.
Hundreds Gather at White House to Demand President Biden Let Youth Climate Case be Heard
‘We will not be silenced’ by the DOJ,' youth say ...
Mt. Tabor Park Selected for National Initiative
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OHCS, BuildUp Oregon Launch Program to Expand Early Childhood Education Access Statewide
Funds include million for developing early care and education facilities co-located with affordable housing. ...
Governor Kotek Announces Chief of Staff, New Office Leadership
Governor expands executive team and names new Housing and Homelessness Initiative Director ...
Governor Kotek Announces Investment in New CHIPS Child Care Fund
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Officials identify Idaho man who was killed by police after fatal shooting of deputy
BOISE, Idaho (AP) — Officials have released the name of the Idaho man who was killed last weekend after being identified as the suspect in the fatal shooting of a sheriff's deputy, and Boise police officers are asking the public for more information about him. Dennis Mulqueen, 65,...
Minnesota and other Democratic-led states lead pushback on censorship. They're banning the book ban
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — A movement to ban book bans is gaining steam in Minnesota and several other states, in contrast to the trend playing out in more conservative states where book challenges have soared to their highest levels in decades. The move to quash book bans is welcome to...
Missouri hires Memphis athletic director Laird Veatch for the same role with the Tigers
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Missouri hired longtime college administrator Laird Veatch to be its athletic director on Tuesday, bringing him back to campus 14 years after he departed for a series of other positions that culminated with five years spent as the AD at Memphis. Veatch...
KC Current owners announce plans for stadium district along the Kansas City riverfront
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — The ownership group of the Kansas City Current announced plans Monday for the development of the Missouri River waterfront, where the club recently opened a purpose-built stadium for the National Women's Soccer League team. CPKC Stadium will serve as the hub...
Op-Ed: Why MAGA Policies Are Detrimental to Black Communities
NNPA NEWSWIRE – MAGA proponents peddle baseless claims of widespread voter fraud to justify voter suppression tactics that disproportionately target Black voters. From restrictive voter ID laws to purging voter rolls to limiting early voting hours, these...
Loving and Embracing the Differences in Our Youngest Learners
Yet our responsibility to all parents and society at large means we must do more to share insights, especially with underserved and under-resourced communities. ...
Gallup Finds Black Generational Divide on Affirmative Action
Each spring, many aspiring students and their families begin receiving college acceptance letters and offers of financial aid packages. This year’s college decisions will add yet another consideration: the effects of a 2023 Supreme Court, 6-3 ruling that...
OP-ED: Embracing Black Men’s Voices: Rebuilding Trust and Unity in the Democratic Party
The decision of many Black men to disengage from the Democratic Party is rooted in a complex interplay of historical disenchantment, unmet promises, and a sense of disillusionment with the political establishment. ...
New Fort Wayne, Indiana, mayor is sworn in a month after her predecessor's death
FORT WAYNE, Ind. (AP) — Democrat Sharon Tucker was sworn in Tuesday as the new mayor of Indiana’s second-most populous city, nearly a month after her predecessor's death. Tucker, who had been a Fort Wayne City Council member, took the oath of office Tuesday morning at the Clyde...
Biden will speak at Morehouse commencement, an election-year spotlight in front of Black voters
ATLANTA (AP) — President Joe Biden will be the commencement speaker at Morehouse College in Georgia, giving the Democrat a key election-year spotlight on one of the nation’s preeminent historically Black campuses as he works to shore up the racially diverse coalition that propelled him to the...
Minnesota and other Democratic-led states lead pushback on censorship. They're banning the book ban
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — A movement to ban book bans is gaining steam in Minnesota and several other states, in contrast to the trend playing out in more conservative states where book challenges have soared to their highest levels in decades. The move to quash book bans is welcome to...
What to stream this weekend: Conan O’Brien travels, 'Migration' soars and Taylor Swift reigns
Zack Snyder’s “Rebel Moon – Part Two: The Scargiver” landing on Netflix and Taylor Swift’s “The Tortured Poets Department” album are some of the new television, movies, music and games headed to a device near you. Also among the streaming offerings worth your time as...
Music Review: Jazz pianist Fred Hersch creates subdued, lovely colors on 'Silent, Listening'
Jazz pianist Fred Hersch fully embraces the freedom that comes with improvisation on his solo album “Silent, Listening,” spontaneously composing and performing tunes that are often without melody, meter or form. Listening to them can be challenging and rewarding. The many-time...
Book Review: 'Nothing But the Bones' is a compelling noir novel at a breakneck pace
Nelson “Nails” McKenna isn’t very bright, stumbles over his words and often says what he’s thinking without realizing it. We first meet him as a boy reading a superhero comic on the banks of a river in his backcountry hometown in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Georgia....
After 4 decades in music and major vocal surgery, Jon Bon Jovi is optimistic and still rocking
PASADENA, Calif. (AP) — When Jon Bon Jovi agreed to let director Gotham Chopra follow him with a documentary...
Modi is accused of using hate speech for calling Muslims 'infiltrators' at an Indian election rally
NEW DELHI (AP) — India's main opposition party accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of using hate speech after...
Get better sleep with these 5 tips from experts
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A well-known figure in a German far-right party tells his trial he is completely innocent
BERLIN (AP) — One of the best-known figures in the far-right Alternative for Germany party said Tuesday at his...
Global plastic pollution treaty talks hit critical stage in Canada
Thousands of negotiators and observers representing most of the world’s nations are gathering in the Canadian...
Review of UN agency helping Palestinian refugees found Israel did not express concern about staff
UNITED NATIONS (AP) — An independent review of the neutrality of the U.N. agency helping Palestinian refugees...
She’s a lawyer by trade and an accomplished politician who in November became just the second African-American woman to become a U.S. Senator.
He’s considered a favorite to become the next head of the Democratic National Committee.
Senator Kamala Harris of California and Rep. Keith Ellison of Minnesota are among the new movers and shakers of the Democratic Party.
But, are they the next Barack Obama?
That’s what many Democrats are wondering.
Obama’s meteoric rise was first detected in 2004 — four years before stunning the world to become the first Black president. He’d given a powerful keynote at the Democratic National Convention and then went on to win election to the senate later that year.
America’s 44th president is now completing his second and final term in the Oval Office and his party is in a state of disarray after Hillary Clinton’s disappointing loss to Donald Trump in November.
The unexpected and epic loss means that Democrats have four years to come up with the right candidate, someone who might just be African-American or a woman.
Harris and Ellison are among the names political watchers have bandied about along with New Jersey’s Corey Booker and even CNN contributor and former White House aide Van Jones.
“Barack Obama will be a hard act to follow,” said Riley H. Rogers, the mayor of Dolton, Illinois, which is just south of the president’s hometown of Chicago. “Everything came into alignment and facilitated Obama’s victory.”
Rogers, who was selected as a floor delegate at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia, Pa., said that Obama is a brilliant and unique individual who came at the right time, but he believes there are others who can ascend to the national stage and become leaders.
“There are some bright stars in the Democratic Party such as Senator Napoleon Harris and Congresswoman Robin Kelly,” Rogers said.
The 6-foot-3 and 250 pound Harris, a former pro football player and current Illinois state senator, made news recently when he was ambushed by four men as we was delivering a pizza for a franchise that he owns. Harris survived the attack and helped police track down his assailants, who were later linked to a murder.
Kelly succeeded Jesse Jackson Jr. as the Illinois lawmaker in the House of Representatives and she’s been mentioned throughout the Chicago area for more than a decade as a potential star.
Rogers, a member of the African American Mayors Association, said there’s a need for someone with new ideas and leaders with a vision.
“Not just the same ideas of the past,” he said. “The next elected official who captures that energy can be successful, but it won’t be easy.”
Several others noted that Corey Booker, who was on the short list for vice president under Clinton before she chose Tim Kaine, has to be considered as a rising star.
“There’s Kamala Harris and Senator Corey Booker who has risen to fame because of his youth, fresh ideas and political intellect,” said Jasmine Burney, a Florida-based political consultant and founder of the online community, “Chicks ‘n Politics.”
Burney continued: “Booker possesses the same hope that Obama had when he was first introduced to us during his first DNC speech, which mirrored a speech Booker gave this past summer at the DNC.”
Booker has proven to have the political stamina needed to take on a seat in the United States Congress when there have only been a total of nine [African-Americans] in that seat in U.S. history, she said.
“Now, there are 10 with the addition of Senator Kamala Harris who is only the second African-American woman in United States history to hold that seat,” Burney said. “Harris is paving the way for many minorities to follow as she currently employs the only African-American Legislative Director in the Senate. She’s reaching back as she climbs and training a team around her for a successful term and possibly a move to the next level of leadership.”
Much is to be said about rising stars who aren’t already holding an office, Burney noted, adding that Van Jones and Angela Rye both fit that mold.
“Both are political commentators and they each lead political firms that focus on an array of issues from technology to environmental justice,” she said. “Their depth on the issues make them a real asset as advisors, cabinet members or even high-profile seats in the future.”