Author: Carma Henry

     Minnesota’s newly reelected Democratic secretary of state, Steve Simon, said he had spoken to several secretaries of state who are eager to push for changes in voting. Losses by election-denier candidates in top races have emboldened some Democrats to champion expansions of voting rights.

The data revealed that officers stopped 2.9 million individuals in 2020. Most were African Americans and members of the LGBTQ community.

     Teens experimenting with marijuana is nothing new, but the legal landscape and market for the drug have shifted rapidly, making it easier for young people to get more potent cannabis products they can use discreetly before or during school. At the same time, the ongoing youth mental health crisis, exacerbated by the pandemic, may be pushing more kids to self-medicate with marijuana.

       On January 16, the nation will mark its 37th national holiday honoring the life of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929-1968). Across the country observances will chronicle how one man’s efforts pricked the moral conscience of the nation in a lifespan of only 39 years.

       Defeated in his bid for a fourth term in Congress, former U.S. Rep. Al Lawson, D-Fla., looked back on his time on Capitol Hill.

The South Florida Basketball Association will hold its 2023 Annual Legendary Charity Luncheon on Wednesday, Jan. 18th, between 10 am – 2 pm. This celebration will be held at The Club at Boca Pointe, in Boca Raton, FL attracting hundreds of guests from South Florida and around the country. “We are thrilled to be honoring this amazing group of leaders and advance our philanthropic mission,” said Jerry Donner, President of the South Florida Basketball Association.

     Florida A&M football’s special teams coordinator Chili Davis has been selected to deliver a presentation at the 2023 American Football Coaches’ Association convention following his first season with the Rattlers.

     More often than not, sports transcends the normal rhetoric that people engage in when things are in a normal mode.  Hamlin was not a top name NFL player, but his appearance on the international stage caused folks of all colors, races and creeds to unite in being humane toward him and his cause.   We see it over and over, especially in sports.  While sports are just games, the effect and reach of it is far from that.

     “There are common elements of vulnerability in each of these women prisoner’s victimization. First, these women, as you know, often bring multiple well-known vulnerabilities into the correctional setting – past histories of childhood and adult physical and sexual abuse; poverty; involvement with powerful systemic actors like courts, child protection, housing, and immigration authorities that control their existence and their families’ existence; fear and deprivation that is part of the custodial experience,” Smith asserted.

The children and families at Children’s Harbor celebrated the holiday season during the annual Cookies and Cocoa with Santa, which was brought to a new level this year through the generosity of sponsor Rutkin Marketing.