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 […]

By Bryant Harris       WASHINGTON (IPS) — U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder and several key Republican and Democrat senators agree on the need for criminal justice reform, and some are now even seeking to restore voting rights to former felons.“There is no rational reason to take away someone’s voting rights for life just because they […]

By Freddie Allen, NNPA Washington Correspondent  WASHINGTON (NNPA) — The Black unemployment rate increased from 11.9 percent in December to 12.1 percent in January, according the Department of Labor’s latest monthly report.At 12.1 percent the Black unemployment rate is nearly double the national unemployment rate of 6.6 percent. The unemployment rate for Black men over […]

By Bryant Harris  WASHINGTON (IPS) – The U.S. government is violating federal leasing policies when it sells land to certain coal-mining companies, according to a new audit from an official watchdog agency.The practice could be costing taxpayers millions of dollars even as mining operations degrade the environmental integrity of the Powder River Basin in the […]