Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa

Cynthia E. Griffin-  |   OW Managing Editor
Apr 26 2012

20 years later, change has been slow to come to Normandie/Florence, South L.A.

Twenty years ago, Los Angeles exploded into flames and violence after one Hispanic and three White police officers were acquitted in the videotaped beating of Black motorist Rodney King.

Mar 23 2012

Mayor Villaraigosa takes media on a ride-along

 The light rail line that runs from downtown Los Angeles to Culver City alongExposition and Jefferson boulevards will opento the public on April 28, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa announced Friday, March23.

Stanley O. Williford  |   OW Editor
Mar 8 2012

The redistricting battle over South Los Angeles

The relationship between the Los Angeles City Council’s three African American members—Bernard C. Parks and Jan Perry on the one side and Herb J. Wesson on the other—shows signs of combusting into an inferno that could deplete much of what political capital the city’s African American community has left.


The latest debacle is over the way Parks and Perry’s districts have been redrawn, but other sectors of the city also have a beef with the Los Angeles Redistricting Commission.

Jan 12 2012

Ninth consecutive year

Police Chief Charlie Beck said Thursday that the city had the fewest number of crimes last year since 1957 and overall crime was down for the ninth consecutive year, but there was one more homicide than the previous year.

A total of 104,215 violent and property crimes were logged in 2011, the lowest per capita since 1952, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said.

Beck and Villaraigosa attributed the decline to the size of the police force—9,963 officers—which had been threatened by budget cuts early last year.

Nov 30 2011
292 arrested

LOS ANGELES, Calif.—Police officers in riot helmets arrested 292 people today and, in a mostly peaceful operation, dismantled the tent city that sprang up Oct. 1 outside Los Angeles City Hall as a western outpost of the Occupy Wall Street movement.

The park where the encampment was set up was fully cleared by 5:10 a.m., about five hours after the operation began, Los Angeles police Officer Cleon Joseph said.

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.