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Recovering: Relief efforts begin to help thousands affected by Hurricane Florence; officials report 37 storm-related deaths, including 2 in Virginia
Remnants of Hurricane Florence swept Richmond into the national spotlight Monday when the storm’s wide-reaching bands of high winds and heavy rains spawned tornadoes and flash flooding.
Dr. Paul Farmer, global humanitarian leader, dies at 62
Dr. Paul Farmer, a U.S. physician, humanitarian and author renowned for providing health care to millions of impoverished people worldwide and who co-founded the global nonprofit Partners in Health, died Monday, Feb. 21, 2022. He was 62.
Boston’s new mayor marks historic ‘firsts’ leading city
Boston has a new mayor. Kim Janey, who took office on Monday, became the first African-American and first woman to lead the city.
Malcolm X bio wins National Book Award
Tamara Payne and her late father Les Payne’s Malcolm X biography, “The Dead Are Arising,” has won the National Book Award for nonfiction.
Grand jury clears officer who shot and killed Pharrell Williams’ cousin
A special grand jury found that a Virginia Beach police officer was justified in fatally shooting a man armed with a gun during a chaotic night of violence on the city’s oceanfront this spring, authorities said late last month.
Turmoil at EBONY and Essence magazines prompts changes at top
EBONY and Essence magazines are in trouble.
Golf club apologizes for calling cops on black women members
A golf club in Pennsylvania has apologized for calling police on a group of black women after the co-owner and his father said they were playing too slowly and refused requests to leave the course.
Lerone Bennett Jr., noted historian of black America, dies at 89
Perhaps no other voice — or pen — captured the real life of Africans and African-Americans like Lerone Bennett Jr., the former editor of Ebony and JET magazines.
Chicago makes history in mayoral race
Lori Lightfoot’s victory in the Chicago mayor’s race signaled hope among voters that the nation’s third-largest city may someday move beyond long-entrenched divides, racial and otherwise, that have left large parts of the metropolis feeling ignored by people in power.
Alabama outlaws abortion
Alabama’s Republican governor signed the most stringent abortion legislation in the nation Wednesday,
More than 50% of African-Americans have high blood pressure under new guidelines
Well over half of all African-American adults will be classified as having high blood pressure under new streamlined diagnostic guidelines released this week, illuminating the heavy burden of cardiovascular disease in the population. Anyone with blood pressure higher than 130/80 will be considered to have hypertension, or high blood pressure, the American Heart Association and American College of Cardiology stated Monday in releasing their new joint guidelines.
One down
Trump’s first year in office marked by controversy and protests
Less than 24 hours after Donald Trump took office, his presidency started generating controversy. Photographs showing that the crowd at President Trump’s swearing-in was smaller than at Barack Obama’s first presidential inauguration in 2009 caused the first ruckus in his administration — but not the last.
Dr. Wyatt Tee Walker, civil rights icon, chief of staff to Dr. King, dies in Chester
Dr. Wyatt Tee Walker Jr. did all he could to advance civil rights during his long life. He is credited with being the key strategist behind many of the civil rights protests that Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. led in seeking to end the racial injustice of Jim Crow in the 1960s.
Judge dismisses effort to remove state Sen. Louise Lucas
A Chesapeake judge swiftly rebuked a conservative group’s effort July 2 to remove a Black state senator from office over her role in a protest that ended with heavy damage to a Confederate monument in Portsmouth.
Pat Robertson retiring at 91 from ‘The 700 Club’
Pat Robertson, who turned Christian TV into political power — and blew it up with wacky prophecy — announced last week his intention to retire as daily host of “The 700 Club.”
Obama picks D.C. jurist
President nominates Judge Merrick Garland for U.S. Supreme Court amid GOP pushback
President Obama nominated veteran appellate court Judge Merrick Garland to the U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday, setting up a potentially ferocious political showdown with Senate Republicans who have vowed to block any Obama nominee.
Scalia’s death sets up showdown over high court
Conservative U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia has died, setting up a major political showdown between President Obama and the Republican-controlled Senate over who will replace him just months before a presidential election.
Federal appeals court rules Trump travel ban unconstitutional
President Trump’s latest travel ban on travelers from six largely Muslim countries is “unconstitutionally tainted with animus toward Islam,” a federal appeals court ruled last week, delivering another blow to the policy. In a 9-4 vote, the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond said on Feb. 15 that it examined statements made by President Trump and other administration officials, as well as the presidential proclamation imposing the ban, and concluded that it “second-guesses our nations dedication to religious freedom and tolerance.”
House Democrats set to boycott Trump inauguration on Friday
Donald Trump made his name with opulent hotels and a dramatic reality TV show. But his inauguration on Friday, Jan. 20, as the nation’s 45th president is shaping up as a more understated affair, with big names in entertainment staying away. Also staying away are more than 50 Congressional Democrats who plan to boycott in protest of the New York
Anguish of a nation
From memorial services to protests, numerous questions arise after senseless killings
“Can we all get along? Can we get along? Can we stop making it, making it horrible …?” The late Rodney King spoke those memorable words as he called for calm in 1992 after the acquittal of four white police officers who were videotaped savagely beating him triggered riots in Los Angeles.
