First Lady Michelle Obama

Shae Collins  |   OW College Intern
May 17 2012

First ladies coordinate free health screenings at local churches

Pastors’ wives throughout Los Angeles and Chicago have joined together to create The First Ladies Health Initiative, and on Sunday, May 20, these women, with the support of Walgreens, will host the inaugural Los Angeles First Ladies Health Day.

The event will feature free health screenings for diabetes, high cholesterol and blood pressure, vision and glaucoma, dental, mammograms, mental health, HIV/AIDS, Hepatitis C, and bone density.

Juliana D. Norwood  |   OW Staff Writer
Nov 24 2011

The nation gets serious about trimming the fat

The prevalence of childhood obesity among African Americans, Mexican Americans, and Native Americans exceeds that of other ethnic groups. In fact, the Centers for Disease Control reported that in the year 2000, 19 percent of non-Hispanic Black children and 20 percent of Mexican American children were obese compared with 11 percent of non-Hispanic White children.

Aug 18 2011

The entertainer devotes his life and times to youth causes

The students had been milling around, stretching and talking, but when Lil Tommy uttered the command, "Let’s get started,” they immediately quieted down and took their places on the hardwood floor. There is a full-length, wall-to-wall mirror in front of the room that Lil Tommy uses to keep an eye on his students as he puts them through their paces.

Jun 13 2011

2012 reelection campaign

LOS ANGELES, Calif.—First Lady Michelle Obama is scheduled to hold fundraising events for President Barack Obama’s 2012 reelection campaign in Pasadena and Bel Air today and speak in Beverly Hills on a panel about military service.

A $1,000 per-person lunchtime fundraiser will take place at a home in Pasadena. Organizers expected about 500 people. For $10,000, a couple can have their picture taken with Obama and have “private time” with her, according to organizer Lena Kennedy.

Jun 2 2011

Floods, tornadoes, earthquakes

President Barack Obama returned from a whirlwind trip to Europe and headed straight to Joplin, Mo., where neighborhoods were reduced to rubble during a May 22 tornado. Some 134 deaths have been confirmed to date. The number of missing was dramatically reduced from 1,500 as late as May 24 to 10 this week.

Across Black America

Here’s a look at African American people and issues making headlines throughout the country.
 

Alabama
Freeman A. Hrabowski, president of the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, will address the annual African American Business Council luncheon on June 28. Hrabowski, who is chairman of President Barack Obama’s Advisory Commission on Education Excellence for African Americans, has a national reputation for his work studying the performance of minority students in math and science. Hrabowski, named one of the 10 best college presidents in the country by Time magazine, was a child leader in the Civil Rights Movement in Birmingham in the 1960s.
 

Arkansas
The Liberty Counsel filed a motion and a brief in United States District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas seeking to intervene on behalf of a Concepts of Life crisis pregnancy center to defend against a suit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union and the Center for Reproductive Rights. The groups seek to impose a permanent injunction before the Human Heartbeat Protection Act goes into effect July 18. Liberty Counsel also filed a brief opposing the ACLU’s request for an injunction. The “Heartbeat” bill states that when a woman seeks an abortion at or after the 12th week, doctors must test for a fetal heartbeat before an abortion is performed and inform the pregnant mother that the child in her womb has a heartbeat. If a heartbeat is detected, a woman cannot have an abortion, except in cases of rape, incest, and if a mother’s life is in danger. “As we promised when the legislation was introduced, Liberty Counsel will defend this law without reservation for the people of Arkansas, born and pre-born,” said Matt Staver, founder and chairman of Liberty Counsel. “No right is more foundational than the right to life. Without life, all other rights are irrelevant,” concluded Staver.