By Matthew Charles Cardinale SPOKANE, Washington (IPS) — Beth Collins recently picked up and moved from Virginia to Colorado, but it wasn’t for the typical reasons: new job, better schools, nicer weather. Collins’ 14-year-old daughter, Jennifer, has intractable epilepsy. Medical cannabis eases her frequent seizures. But it’s illegal in their home state.“We got here the […]

By Lee A. Daniels The 2014 mid-term elections are just eight months away — and the Republicans are worried about Black voters again.They have good reason to be — that is, to worry about a repeat of 2012. Then, despite the best efforts of GOP-dominated state legislatures to block Blacks’ access to the polls, black […]

By Jazelle Hunt, Washington Correspondent WASHINGTON (NNPA) — Blacks, who are already more likely than other racial groups to be involved in situations that involve bullying, both as a victim and as a perpetrator, are subjected to additional bullying because of other complicating factors, including poverty, according to scholars and experts on the subject.“African Americans […]

By Carey L. Biron WASHINGTON (IPS) —  The U.S. government is in the final stages of weighing approval for an overhaul of regulations governing the country’s poultry industry that would see processing speeds increase substantially even while responsibility for oversight would be largely given over to plant employees.U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), Food Safety Inspection […]

By Marc H. Morial  There are some Americans who, in the aggregate, are consistently doing worse in our society — groups that have had the odds stacked against them in unique ways that require unique solutions…And by almost every measure, the group that is facing some of the most severe challenges in the 21st century […]

By Freddie Allen, NNPA Washington Correspondent  WASHINGTON (NNPA) — No one had seen President Obama more emotional than last week when announced “My Brother’s Keeper,” a new initiative aimed at helping young Black men. He spoke from the heart, recounting the pain of not having his father in the home and not always putting his […]

By Jim Lobe   WASHINGTON (IPS) — A familiar clutch of hawks have taken wing over the rapidly developing crisis in Ukraine, as neo-conservatives and other interventionists claim that President Barack Obama’s preference for diplomacy over military action  invited Russian aggression.At stake in the current crisis, according to these right-wing critics, are not only Ukraine’s […]

By Freddie Allen, NNPA Washington Correspondent   WASHINGTON (NNPA) – Increasing the minimum wage to $10.10 by 2016 would lift nearly 1 million low-wage workers out of poverty, according to a recent report by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO). Although a majority of low-wage workers are White, people of color would be disproportionately affected […]

By By Kanya D’Almeida     NEW YORK (IPS) – A nurse helps an old man up from his chair. Holding onto her arms, he steps blindly forward, trusting her to lead him to his spot at the lunch table. One man breathes through a respirator. Another gropes on the nightstand for his dentures. Yet […]

By Freddie Allen, NNPA Washington Correspondent  WASHINGTON (NNPA) — Two years ago, 14-year-old Trayvon Martin was returning from a trip from a nearby 7-Eleven store in Sanford, Fla. to purchase a bag of Skittles and a can of Arizona tea when he was confronted by George Zimmerman, a neighborhood watchman.Instead of making it back to […]