KNOXVILLE, TN – A custody case here highlights a big problem with child welfare in Tennessee: collusion between Juvenile Court judges and the Department of Children’s Services (DCS) and its foster system that takes kids from their families and abuses its power to keep them there. The case also shows how outside contractors, who provide foster care for about half of the 8500 children DCS takes into custody every year, conspire to keep them from re-unifying with their parents. Catrina and Chris Prokop are trying to get DCS to return Catrina’s 5-year-old boy, Zaylen. He has been in foster care…
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As the omicron variant spreads, new daily cases of COVID-19 have hit new highs in the United States. To date, 68,964,506 Americans have been infected with the virus — and 854,925 have died as a result. On a per capita basis, the U.S. has one of the highest known infections rates in the world. In the Nashville-Davidson–Murfreesboro–Franklin metropolitan area, located in Tennessee, a total of 462,221 COVID-19 cases have been reported to date. Adjusted for population, there have been 24,795 reported infections for every 100,000 people in the area — above the national rate of 21,079 cases per 100,000 people.…
Memphis, TN — Today, JB Smiley, Jr. released the following statement regarding the recently passed gerrymander of Tennessee congressional and legislative districts recently forced through by the Republican members of the General Assembly. “When elections are free and fair, voters have an opportunity to shape the direction of their cities, state, and nation. Our elders sacrificed so much to secure the right to vote because they recognized the immediate impact of elections, yet Tennessee Republicans continue to manipulate the system. At a time when countless voters are disillusioned by politics, the redistricting maps recently passed by Tennessee Republicans is an…
New York, NY – According to sources familiar with the decision, Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer will retire at the end of the current term. Justice Breyer, 83, has served on the court for more than 27 years. This decision has sparked an outpouring of calls for President Biden to follow through on his campaign pledge and nominate a Black woman Supreme Court justice. “As a presidential candidate, Joe Biden said that if elected, he would name a Black woman to the Supreme Court. We are looking for promises made to be promises kept,” said Reverend Al Sharpton, Civil Rights…
By Rosetta Miller Perry President Joe Biden pledged while campaigning in South Carolina during February of 2020 that he would appoint a Black woman to the Supreme Court IF he had the opportunity. That chance came to him this week, as Justice Stephen Breyer announced his plans to retire after 27 years. With the midterm elections approaching and chances not being good of Democrats retaining control of the Senate, they must move quickly, as soon as President Biden announces a selection. The process can be swift. How quickly mostly rests in the hands of three men. One of course is…
NASHVILLE, TN — Former Nashvilian Dr. Jamye Coleman Williams, a renowned and influential educator, church leader and social reform activist, whose former students included talk show host Oprah Winfrey, opera singer Leontyne Price and Olympic track star Wilma Rudolph, died January 19, 2022 in Atlanta, GA, just over a month after celebrating her 103rd birthday on December 15. Jamye and her husband of 75 years, noted educator McDonald “Mack” Williams, who died Aug. 11, 2019, were teachers at Tennessee A&I — now known as Tennessee State University — when they were involved as behind-the-scenes organizers in Nashville’s downtown lunch counter…
NASHVILLE, TN — With the release of 2021’s total passenger data, the Metropolitan Nashville Airport Authority (MNAA) has taken stock of the previous 12 months. Although the pandemic continued to impact air travel throughout the country, the calendar year closed with over 15.5 million passengers moving in and out of Nashville International Airport®—87.3 percent higher than in 2020 and just 15.1 percent lower than in 2019. In fact, July and November 2021 passenger volume exceeded the record-setting 2019 numbers for those months. Additionally, the number of scheduled nonstop routes during the summer reached a record high of service to 88…
Conversations around the wage gap tend to over-focus on the numbers while ignoring the causes. But these numbers are more than facts and figures; they represent the tangible consequences of sexism and white supremacy in the United States and how our country systematically devalues women of color and their labor. While racism and sexism are often thought of as individual bias, history shows us that systemic discrimination in pay and exploitation of workers based on race, class, gender, and immigration status can be traced all the way back to this country’s horrific past of enslaving Africans and their descendants; colonial…
By Los Angeles Sentinel As part of its commitment to strengthening communities by addressing critical needs that help advance racial equality and economic opportunity, Bank of America has awarded $11 million to 174 local nonprofits across greater Los Angeles last year. The majority of the grants supported communities of color and other disadvantaged populations disproportionately impacted by the prolonged pandemic. With a particular focus on closing the equity and wealth gaps in communities of color, Bank of America’s 2021 local giving in was directed to alleviate the impacts of racial and economic inequality by funding programs and resources that create…
Alberta Bee Embry, 85, of Mackinaw passed away peacefully on Friday, January 21, 2022, surrounded by family members and with her favorite hymns playing, at Carle BroMenn Medical Center in Normal, IL, after a brief illness. Alberta was born June 12, 1936 in Peoria, IL, to Emma (White) and Aaron Raymer and grew up in tiny Allentown, a few miles outside of Mackinaw. She graduated as valedictorian of her Deer Creek-Mackinaw High School class of 1954 and attended Illinois State University on scholarship for a year before joining the workforce. Career stops included State Farm Insurance, Caterpillar Tractor Co., First…