A New Way of Life Reentry Project, a grassroots nonprofit community organization, hosts a special one-night event to raise awareness and funds to provide safety, support and a second chance for formerly incarcerated women.

The 2012 national tour of the Ultimate Louisiana Party brings a moveable feast of the best of Louisiana’s unique music, food and culture to raise awareness and funds for the Los Angeles-based nonprofit.

Lydia Friend, the founder of Women of Watts, says the mission of her organization is threefold—demonstration, education and appreciation. “We will demonstrate what it takes to acquire our lives back through more participation in our community. This demonstration will be through the heads of households taking control and showing children of the community what it is to be responsible for yourself and your community. We shall demonstrate by cleansing the environment of violence and anything that pollutes the community and children’s minds.

Ai-Jen Poo leads the National Domestic Workers Alliance (NDWA), and she is a powerful and passionate advocate for the rights of domestic workers. Who are these folks? They are the private household workers (maids) who propped up inept women in the movie “The Help.”

They are the home health aides who take care of our elders when they are ill or disabled—bringing meals, bathing them, and accompanying them to medical appointments.

Carrol Parris, wife of Lancaster’s mayor Rex Parris, was stopped by TSA agents when X-ray machine at Bob Hope Airport in Burbank showed a handgun in her carry-on bag. The gun was loaded.

Burbank police Sgt. Darin Ryburn says police were notified and Parris was cited at the airport and released. Though Parris had a permit that allows her to carry a concealed weapon, it was expired.

Mayor Rex Parris, told the Los Angeles Times that his wife was in a rush to see family in Sacramento and forgot the loaded gun was in the bag.