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Lower Student Loan Interest Rate Bill Clears the House

By goodblacknews on August 1, 2013
Just in time for the upcoming academic year, the House of Representatives on Wednesday passed a bill to lower student loan interest rates by a vote of 392-31. The measure, now headed to President Obama for his signature, retroactively lowers the interest rate on loans that doubled from 3.4 percent to 6.8 percent on July 1.
Moving forward, Congress will no longer fix interest rates each year. Instead, they will be tied to the interest rate on money borrowed by the federal government. The bill does include caps so the interest rate won’t exceed 8.25 percent for undergraduates, 9.5 percent for graduate students and 10.5 percent for parents who secure loans for their children.
“This bipartisan compromise offers hardworking students and families critical protections, reduces rates on all new loans this year, and saves undergraduates $1,500 on average over the life of their loans.  The plan caps market-based interest rates, ensuring students won’t bear the brunt of skyrocketing rates in the future,” said Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Texas).  The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimates the bill will reduce the federal deficit by $715 million over the next 10 years.
article by Joyce Jones via bet.com

Oscar Grant's Father Can Sue Officer Who Killed His Son, Court Rules

By goodblacknews on July 31, 2013
oscar grant father
SAN FRANCISCO — A federal appeals court says Oscar Grant’s father can sue the Northern California transit officer who shot and killed his son on a train platform.  The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Tuesday rejected former officer Johannes Mehserle’s claim that he was acting in his official capacity when he killed the younger Grant during a 2009 New Year’s Day melee captured on video by several bystanders.
Violent demonstrations ensued after the videos showing the white officer shooting the unarmed black man were viewed by millions online.  The appeals court said it’s up to a jury to determine whether Mehserle was justified in shooting Grant in the back as he lay face down on the train platform.  Mehserle served 11 months in prison after he was convicted of involuntary manslaughter.  The appeals court’s decision affirmed a lower court ruling.
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article by via huffingtonpost.com

18 Year-Old Gabrielle Turnquest Becomes Youngest Ever to Pass Britain's Bar Exams

By goodblacknews on July 31, 2013
Teenager becomes youngest person to be called to the Bar
Gabrielle Turnquest

According to The Telegraph, American student Gabrielle Turnquest was called to the Bar of England and Wales after passing her exams at just 18, qualifying her as a barrister in those countries.  Turnquest is a native of Windermere, Florida who made news when she graduated from Liberty University of Virginia at 16, which made her that college’s youngest-ever graduate with a degree in psychology.   She most recently took courses at Britain’s University of Law along with her sister Kandi, who also passed her bar exams (she is 22).  The average lawyer in Britain undertakes the Bar Professional Training Course when they are 27.

The teenager hopes eventually to be a fashion law specialist and will also take the American Bar exam so she can practice law in the U.S.  But as her parents are originally from the Bahamas and the British exams cover that country as well, she may practice there for a time.  She said: “I am honored to be the youngest person to pass the Bar exams but, really, I was not aware at the time what the average age was.  I didn’t fully realize the impact of it.”
article by Lori Lakin Hutcherson

Cheryl Boone Isaacs Elected President of Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences

By goodblacknews on July 30, 2013

New AMPAS President Cheryl Boone Isaacs
New AMPAS President Cheryl Boone Isaacs

According to Variety.com, Cheryl Boone Isaacs has become the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences first African-American president.  After a lengthy career behind the scenes, the Academy Board of Governors chose Isaacs, who served as first vice president of the Academy board.  Isaacs, who has held every other Academy board officer position and also produced last year’s Governor’s Awards, also becomes the first female Academy president since Fay Kanin in 1979-83 and third overall, counting the two-month tenure of Bette Davis in 1941.
Rob Friedman, the co-chairman of Lionsgate Motion Picture Group and most recently treasurer of the board, was perceived as the other top candidate for the post.  Voting totals are not released by the Academy.  Academy board members serve three-year terms, while officers serve one-year terms, with a maximum of four consecutive terms in any one office, including president.
The president role was once a ceremonial title.  But in recent years the role has taken on greater responsibility, as each worked with the Academy’s salaried staff, including CEO Dawn Hudson and Ric Robertson to further diversity initiatives, while also trying to move the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures, scheduled to open in 2017, closer to reality. They also dealt with questions of electronic voting, changes in Oscar rules (such as more than five best-picture contenders) and a restructuring of the staff.
article by Jon Weisman with additional reporting by Lori Lakin Hutcherson

NYC Mayoral Candidate William "Bill" Thompson Compares Stop & Frisk To George Zimmerman’s Profiling

By goodblacknews on July 30, 2013

n-y-c-mayoral-candidate-bill-thompson-stop-and-frisk-george-zimmerman-comparison
On Sunday at Brooklyn’s Abundant Life Church, N.Y.C mayoral candidate William “Bill” Thompson (pictured) compared New York’s Stop & Frisk policy to the Trayvon Martin case, according to the Daily News.

“Here in New York City, we’ve institutionalized Mr. [George] Zimmerman’s suspicion with a policy that all but requires our police officers to treat young Black and Latino men with suspicion, to stop them and frisk them because of the color of their skin.”  Though Thompson has largely avoided speaking about race on the campaign trail, he said he felt urged to do so after Zimmerman’s “not guilty” verdict.
“Trayvon Martin did die because he was Black. Of that there is no doubt,” he added. Thompson also says we must begin looking at how the government enables systemic racism.  “I do not believe our government can fully stop racism, but I do believe we must constantly look to see how it may enable it, even unintentionally,” he said.
“So we must ask ourselves, when fear of young Black men ends in deadly violence against the innocent, has our government perpetuated that fear by targeting people of color with suspicion?”
Thompson is the only African-American candidate in the mayoral race.
article by Hannington Dia via newsone.com

Obamacare More Affordable Than Anticipated: State Health Exchange Rates Lower Than Expected

By goodblacknews on July 29, 2013

1375016596000-AP-GOP-Health-Care-1307280904_4_3
President Obama spoke about lower insurance rates at the White House on July 18.
(Photo: Charles Dharapak, AP)

WASHINGTON — As state health exchanges continue to announce lower-than-expected rates for health insurance, experts say both state and regional issues play a part in how much a consumer will pay for insurance beginning in January.  Several factors come into play: a state’s regulations, how many insurers will participate in the state and federal exchanges, and what kind of a risk those insurers are willing to take.
“There is tremendous existing variation within the rates in the states now,” said Sherry Glied, professor of health policy and economics at Columbia University and former assistant secretary for planning and evaluation at the Department of Health and Human Services. “It’s hard to compare the old rates to the new.”  Maryland’s insurance commissioner said Friday that the expected new rates for residents who will need to buy insurance starting Oct. 1 are up to 33% lower than expected, and that coverage for a 21-year-old non-smoker could cost as low as $93 a month.
In Connecticut, insurer HealthCT announced plans that would drop an average of 36% from its original proposal in the individual market; and Nevada will sell plans to young adults to cover catastrophic health situations for less than $100 a month.  An HHS report released this month showed that silver health exchange plans — the lower cost plans that uninsured people are more likely to buy — are an average 18% lower than anticipated in the 11 states the department studied.  “We know the rates are coming in lower than we expected,” Glied said. “They’re coming in well below the Congressional Budget Office’s estimated rates, which people thought were optimistic.”
These new rates apply only to those who are currently uninsured and who will be buying insurance through the state or federal exchanges. A health exchange or marketplace is a website that allows consumers to choose from several different private insurers.  Under the 2010 health care law, Americans who buy health insurance on the state exchanges can choose from four types of plans — bronze, silver, gold and platinum. Bronze has the lowest levels of coverage and cost; platinum is the elite and most expensive. Industry surveys and records from Massachusetts, which enacted a health care law in 2006, show the overwhelming majority of people buy either bronze or silver plans.

Darren Walker to be Named President of the Ford Foundation

By goodblacknews on July 27, 2013

Darren Walker (pictured above)  was born in a charity hospital in Lafayette, La., and grew up in the 1960s in a single-parent household in rural Texas, where his mother worked as a nurse’s aide and he was enrolled in one of the first Head Start programs. He went on to the University of Texas at Austin with help from a Pell grant scholarship, awarded to low-income students based on financial need. He put in a few years at a prestigious Manhattan law firm and a Wall Street investment bank. Then he moved into the nonprofit world, first in Harlem, where, among other things, he worked on the project to build the first full-service supermarket there in a generation.
On Thursday, Mr. Walker, 53, will take the next step in a career that has taken him from Harlem to world-famous foundations five and a half miles away in Midtown Manhattan. He is to be named president of the Ford Foundation, the nation’s second-largest philanthropic organization. He will succeed Luis Ubiñas, who announced in March that he would step down. For Mr. Walker, the new job is a promotion. He has been a vice president at Ford since 2010, when Mr. Ubiñas hired him away from the Rockefeller Foundation, where Mr. Walker had worked for several years, also as a vice president.

Five Year-Old Demonte Reilley Saves Mom’s Life By Calling 911

By goodblacknews on July 26, 2013

demonte-reilley-detroitEarly Tuesday morning, Akua McClaine was having a seizure but her five year-old son knew what to do: call 911.  Fox 2 News reports that Demonte Reilley knew exactly what to say when the operator answered the call. Demonte told the operator what had happened to his mother, her age and her medical history, as well as their location. His mother had drilled him on what to say if he ever had to call 911. The operator was so impressed with the boy’s actions that she contacted Fox 2. “I’m so proud of him,” McClaine told the news station about her son’s actions. “He saved me.”
The only thing Demonte doesn’t remember about the ordeal was how long it took for the EMS to arrive; he just graduated from kindergarten, so he doesn’t know how to tell time. As for McClaine, she was treated at a local hospital and released. “I just said, ‘baby I love you so much’ and he said, ‘no mommy, I love you.’”
To see video of Demonte Reilley talking about saving his mother by calling 911, click here.
article via newsone.com

Attorney General Eric Holder Opens New Front in Voting Rights Battle

By goodblacknews on July 25, 2013

eric holderWASHINGTON — Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. announced on Thursday that the Justice Department would ask a court to require Texas to get permission from the federal government before making voting changes in that state. The move opens a new chapter in the political struggle over election rules after the Supreme Court struck down a portion of the Voting Rights Act last month.  His statements come as states across the South, from Texas to North Carolina, have been rushing to enforce or enact new restrictions on voting eligibility after the Supreme Court’s ruling in Shelby County v. Holder.

“This is the department’s first action to protect voting rights following the Shelby County decision, but it will not be our last,” Mr. Holder said. “Even as Congress considers updates to the Voting Rights Act in light of the court’s ruling, we plan, in the meantime, to fully utilize the law’s remaining sections to subject states to preclearance as necessary. My colleagues and I are determined to use every tool at our disposal to stand against such discrimination wherever it is found.”

The move relies on a part of the Voting Rights Act that the Supreme Court left untouched in the Shelby County case. The court struck down the coverage formula in Section 4 of the law, which had subjected Texas and eight other mostly Southern states to federal oversight based on 40-year-old data. The court suggested that Congress remained free to enact a new coverage formula based on contemporary data, but most analysts say that is unlikely.

Striking down the law’s coverage formula effectively guts Section 5 of the law, which requires permission from federal authorities before covered jurisdictions may change voting procedures.  The move by the Justice Department on Thursday relies on a different part of the law, Section 3, which allows the federal government to get to largely the same place by a different route, called “bail-in.” If the department can show that given jurisdictions have committed constitutional violations, federal courts may impose federal oversight on those places in piecemeal fashion.

State officials have celebrated the Shelby County ruling as lifting an obsolete relic of the civil rights era that unfairly treated their states differently from other parts of the country, while civil rights advocates have lamented it as removing a safeguard that is still necessary.  Lawyers for minority groups have already asked a court in Texas to return the state to federal oversight. The Justice Department’s action — filing a “statement of interest” in that case — will bring the weight of the federal government behind those efforts.

Juror B29 Says Zimmerman Got Away With Murder, Owes Martin’s Parents Apology

By goodblacknews on July 25, 2013

ROBIN ROBERTS, JUROR B29, ATTORNEY DAVID CHICO

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — The second juror to speak publicly about George Zimmerman‘s trial tells ABC News that she feels the neighborhood watch volunteer got away with murder for fatally shooting Trayvon Martin. But she says there wasn’t enough evidence to convict him under Florida law.  

Juror B29 told Robin Roberts in an interview made public Thursday that she favored convicting Zimmerman of second-degree murder when deliberations began. But by the second day of deliberating, she realized there wasn’t enough proof to convict Zimmerman of a crime.  Juror B29 is the second juror to go public with what went on during deliberations earlier this month. She allowed her face to be seen and used her first name, Maddy, unlike JurorB37 who was interviewed on CNN last week with her face obscured.

article by via blackamericaweb.com