National News Arkansas cleanup in aftermath of deadly tornados
DAMASCUS, Ark. - Smoke rose from burning heaps of wreckage as residents of rural Arkansas cleaned up what was left of their homes after deadly tornadoes scoured a state that has been plagued by severe weather this year.
Updated May 8, 2008, 04:26 pm
National News A Tragic Injustice: Judge acquits officers in shooting death of Sean Bell
NEW YORK - The streets of New York City remain quiet after the acquital of NYPD detectives who fired 50 shots, killing unarmed Sean Bell and wounding two of his unarmed friends. But the Rev. Al Sharpton and other activists vow to shut the city down through acts of civil disobedience. “We strategically know how to stop the city so it will stand and realize that you do not have the right to shoot down unarmed innocent civilians with no probable cause,” the Rev. Sharpton told a standing room only gathering.
Updated May 6, 2008, 02:34 pm
National News In wake of acquitals, anger simmers New York
NEW YORK (FinalCall.com) - When the word of Justice Arthur Cooperman’s “not guilty” verdict reached the crowd outside the Queens Supreme Court, shouts of “No! No! No!” erupted immediately. The family of Sean Bell, along with the two wounded friends of the slain father of two little girls, and the Rev. Al Sharpton quietly walked own Queens Boulevard.
Updated May 6, 2008, 01:52 pm
National News Rev. Wright: Media coverage was attack on the Black church
WASHINGTON (FinalCall.com) - An “unashamedly Black” and “unapologetically Christian,” Rev. Dr. Jeremiah A. Wright kicked off the opening of the two-day Samuel DeWitt Proctor Conference April 28 at the National Press Club. Before a standing room only audience, Dr. Wright responded to recent news about him and sound clips from his sermons.
Updated May 6, 2008, 01:50 pm
National News No end to demonization of Obama?
WASHINGTON (FinalCall.com) - The demonization of Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.)—who has gone from once being labeled “not Black enough” to earn the support of Black voters—to being depicted for White voters as being “too Black,” seems destined to continue all the way to the November general election.
Updated May 6, 2008, 01:25 pm
National News Rev. Jackson shines a light on Haiti crisis
CHICAGO (FinalCall.com) - The Rev. Jesse Jackson left for Haiti April 26 to tour the debt-ridden nation gripped in a food crisis. With ministers and Haitian nationals as part of his delegation, he also hoped the media would follow. “Haiti is out of sight and out of mind,” Rev. Jackson told The Final Call.
Updated May 6, 2008, 01:13 pm
National News U.S. military accepts more ex-felons
WASHINGTON - The few, the strong, the brave and some convicted felons could well describe today’s Marine Corps. In the Army, more convicted felons can be all they can be too, as all branches of the military relaxed their standards allowing 861 felons to join the ranks in 2007.
Updated May 6, 2008, 01:08 pm
National News Prisoners drugged during U.S. interrogations?
(FinalCall.com) - “The forced medication of detainees without their consent, either for interrogation or as a chemical restraint, is an affront to the very foundations of medical ethics,” said Leonard Rubenstein, president of Physicians for Human Rights.
Updated May 6, 2008, 01:01 pm
National News Baltimore sludge ‘Tuskegee’ experiment?
WASHINGTON - Maryland environmental and civil rights leaders condemned federally funded studies to find a cheap way to clean up lead-contaminated soil that put fertilizer made from treated human and industrial waste on the lawns of East Baltimore row houses and a vacant lot near a school in East St. Louis, Ill. All of the exposed homes and the school were in poor, Black neighborhoods.
Updated May 6, 2008, 12:49 pm
National News Report: Racial profiling rampant in Arizona
PHOENIX - Arizona Department of Public Safety officers are more likely to search Blacks and Lations than White people, even though on average Blacks and Latinos were less likely to have illegal items, according to a recent report.
Updated May 6, 2008, 12:29 pm
National News Angry over raids, Black barbers demand investigation
MORENO VALLEY, Calif. - Making a point of the historical importance of barbershops and beauty parlors in Black communities, a group of barbers, church leaders and community activists across the Inland region and the nation want a federal probe of April raids targeting six mostly Black-owned Moreno Valley business establishments early.
Updated May 6, 2008, 12:28 pm
National News SWAT teams and helicopter patrols in Chicago
CHICAGO (FinalCall.com) - In a three-week span over 50 people were shot and 15 have died in several episodes of gun violence. Some fear preventive measures and programming are being trumped by heavy-handed law enforcement.
Updated May 6, 2008, 12:20 am
