By Jim Lobe WASHINGTON (IPS) — A federal jury here Wednesday convicted one former Blackwater contractor of murder and three of his colleagues of voluntary manslaughter in the deadly shootings of 14 unarmed civilians killed in Baghdad’s Nisour Square seven years ago. The judge in the case ordered the men detained pending sentencing. "To this […]

By Bill Fletcher The November 4 election is only a moment away.  Believe it or not, as of about two weeks ago, two thirds of the people in the U.S.A    did not know that there is to be an election on November 4, 2014.  As far as some segments of our society are concerned, […]

By Marc H. Morial “The extent of and continuing increase in inequality in the United States greatly concern me… I think it is appropriate to ask whether this trend is compatible with values rooted in our nation’s history, among them the high value Americans have traditionally placed on equality of opportunity.”   — Janet Yellen, […]

By Freddie Allen, NNPA Washington Correspondent WASHINGTON (NNPA) — The shooting death of Michael Brown, an unarmed black teenager, in Ferguson, Mo., by Darren Wilson, a white police officer, was as much the product of a century of housing segregation spurred by federal, state, and local policies as longstanding tension between Blacks and police, according […]

By Freddie Allen, NNPA Washington Correspondent WASHINGTON (NNPA) — Raising the minimum wage to $10.10 would likely save taxpayers $39 billion in spending on safety net programs per year, according to a new issue brief by the Economic Policy Institute (EPI). Researchers at EPI, a Washington, D.C.-based think tank focused on the needs of low- […]

By Carey L. Biron WASHINGTON (IPS) — President Barack Obama is under significant pressure to impose a range of restrictions on travelers coming to the United States from West African countries affected by the current Ebola outbreak. Yet public health experts and development advocates warn that such restrictions would harm the already reeling economies of […]

By Jazelle Hunt, NNPA Washington Correspondent   WASHINGTON (NNPA) — Though the nation increasingly recognizes the importance of early childhood education, young African Americans and other children of color continue to trail their White counterparts on key measurements, according  to a report by  the Center for American Progress (CAP), an independent nonpartisan educational institute dedicated […]

By Freddie Allen, NNPA Washington Correspondent  WASHINGTON — Civil rights advocates praised the updated guidelines for addressing racial disparities in American public schools recently issued by the Office of Civil Rights (OCR) at the Department of Education and recommended additional measures to close the Black-White achievement gap. “The Department’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) enforces […]

By Jazelle Hunt, NNPA Washington Correspondent WASHINGTON (NNPA) — As the National Football League continues to grapple with its policies on domestic violence and sexual assault, Black women have stepped forward to ensure the NFL gets it right this time. Since footage surfaced of former Baltimore Ravens running back Ray Rice knocking his wife unconscious, […]

By Jim Lobe WASHINGTON (IPS) — Hopes that the strategy announced by President Barack Obama a month ago against the Islamic State of Syria and the Levant (ISIL) might yield a relatively quick victory have disappeared amidst growing fears that the U.S.-led air campaign has at most only slowed the radical group’s advance. While air […]