By Freddie Allen, NNPA Washington Correspondent WASHINGTON (NNPA) —Civil rights groups, labor organizer and their allies are stepping up  pressure on Congress to pass legislation raising the minimum wage to $10.10 per hour by 2016.During a press conference on Capitol Hill last week, Marc H. Morial, president and CEO of the National Urban League, said […]

By Jim Lobe WASHINGTON (IPS) — In a decision with major implications for the U.S. political system, a bare majority of the Supreme Wednesday ruled that the government cannot limit total spending by individuals on federal elections.The highly anticipated judgment, rendered by the Court’s five right-wing justices, declared unconstitutional the legal cap on aggregate contributions […]

By Jesse L. Jackson, Sr. The Bible’s injunction that we shall be judged by how we have treated the “least of these”  (Mathew 25:40) appears in different forms in virtually every religion or faith.   And surely the measure of a country is how it treats the most vulnerable of its people – children in the […]

By Carey L. Biron WASHINGTON (IPS) — Pharmaceutical companies have overwhelmingly agreed to new U.S. government guidelines aimed at decreasing the use of antibiotics in the raising of livestock, new data shows.In December, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the federal government’s main regulator for these sectors, unveiled a new, voluntary program to reduce […]

WASHINGTON (NNPA) – Even before they typically learn to read, Black preschoolers – some as young as 4 years old – are taught a disgusting lesson: They are three times more likely to be suspended from school than their White classmates,  according to a recent study by the civil rights division of the U.S. Department […]

By Jazelle Hunt, Washington Correspondent WASHINGTON (NNPA) — After a long day of traveling, then networking on Capitol Hill, Nathaniel and Cleopatra Pendleton returned to their downtown Washington, D.C. hotel and dressed for a dinner in their honor. Later that evening, they shook hands and smiled for photographs as they accepted the 2014 NNPA Newsmaker […]

By Freddie Allen, NNPA Washington Correspondent WASHINGTON (NNPA) — As the housing market recovers, a new report by the Urban Institute shows that black borrowers “have been disproportionately shut out of the market.”According to the report titled, “Where Have All the Loans Gone? The Impact of Credit Availability on Mortgage Volume,” the share of Black […]

By Jim Lobe WASHINGTON (IPS) — In an unusual intervention in policy debates, the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) warned Tuesday that the world was “at risk of pushing our climate system toward abrupt, unpredictable, and potentially irreversible changes with highly damaging impacts.”In a 29-report entitled “What We Know,” the prestigious group […]

By Lee A. Daniels Question: What do you call someone who believes White shopkeepers and owners of other large and small businesses have the “right” to discriminate against Black people? Answer: Rand Paul. That answer, of course, came from the Kentucky Republican senator’s own lips during his 2010 campaign for the office when in an […]

By Freddie Allen, NNPA Washington Correspondent  WASHINGTON (NNPA) —With less than two weeks left to sign up for insurance coverage under the Affordable Care Act, grassroots supporters of the mandatory law and federal health officials are rushing to enroll Blacks, other people of color and young people in order to meet the Obama administration’s goal […]