Browsing: National News

     Knowledge, accountability, and trust will be the cornerstones of Judge Katherine “Kat” Thomas’s tenure at the 184th Criminal District Court. Thomas is committed to public service and restoring trust in our system. After earning a degree from Spelman College and an internship with President Barack Obama, she graduated from Howard Law and came back home to Houston. Thomas has made her career fighting to help others, and she’s working to make our communities safe.

Florida’s new congressional map creates 18 seats with a FiveThirtyEight partisan lean of R+5 or redder, and only eight seats with a partisan lean of D+5 or bluer. The remaining two seats fall into the “highly competitive” category between R+5 and D+5.

     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.

     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.

     “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 centennial anniversary will honor the legacy of bravery, determination and perseverance of the eight families impacted by the Rosewood Massacre of 1923, according to information provided about the weeklong commemoration.

     With the Emancipation Proclamation, President Lincoln ended slavery in rebellious states that had seceded from the Union, thereby granting freedom to the enslaved in those states. The executive order also admitted newly “freed” Black men into the Army and Navy to fight for their freedom, or as the National Archives notes, “[enabled] the liberated to become liberators.”