Category: Government & Politics
Voting Rights Advocates Sound Alarm as Trump Admin Seeks Control Over Elections
By Li Lovett “Mass confusion.” That’s how a Texas county judge described the state’s March 3 primaries after hundreds of Democratic voters found themselves turned away from their polling stations and sent to other locations as a result of Republican-driven changes to voting procedures. After a district judge ordered Dallas county polling stations to stay…
Taxpayer-Funded Science Pays Dividends
Dr. Dennis Liotta In my nearly 50 years as a chemist at Emory University, I’ve seen the life-changing impact that federally funded university research can have firsthand. I spent the 1980s and 1990s helping develop the first treatments for HIV, which turned the disease from a death sentence into a manageable illness. Today, drugs like…
Controller Malia M. Cohen Calls for Emergency Session of the State Lands Commission
Urges State Lands Commission to Join Litigation Challenging the Presidents’ Executive Order and Protect California Coastline SACRAMENTO — Today, State Controller Malia M. Cohen, Chair of the State Lands Commission, called for an emergency session of the State Lands Commission in response to the Trump Administration’s orders directing Sable Offshore Corp. to restart offshore oil…
Crossing the Line — In Texas, an Improper Lane Change Could Spell Deportation
By Edward Kissam Last summer, Omar Salazar, a young entrepreneur living in Dallas, TX, went to visit his girlfriend, Ella, in Lubbock, up in the Texas Panhandle. Driving Ella to class, maybe distracted by conversation, maybe in a hurry to get her there on time, while exiting the freeway, he crossed a solid white line…
Political Playback: California Capitol News You Might Have Missed
Bo Tefu | California Black Media 17 Small Businesses Receive $2 Million in State Funding; Applications Open for More Grants On March 5, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced more than $2 million in state funding for small businesses developing new technologies, while encouraging entrepreneurs to apply for additional grants through a statewide innovation program. The funding,…
State Superintendent Tony Thurmond, Others Call on Trump Administration to Release and Return Six-Year-Old Deaf Child Detained and Deported by ICE
SACRAMENTO—Earlier this week, a six-year-old Deaf student with disabilities who attends the California School for the Deaf, Fremont (CSDF), was detained and deported without critical assistive devices and without due process. The student, Joseph Andrey Londono Rodriguez, was home sick from school and had to accompany his mother, Lesly Rodriguez Gutierrez, to her immigration check-in…
Civil Rights TV Launches 24/7 Network Focused on Black History, Education and Equity
By Lauren Victoria Burke, NNPA Newswire Correspondent A new global media platform dedicated entirely to civil rights programming has officially launched, marking a significant expansion in how the history and future of social justice are told and preserved. Civil Rights TV, billed as the world’s first 24-hour television network devoted exclusively to civil rights history,…
Mexican Immigrant Dies in Adelanto ICE Detention Center
By Araceli Martinez Leer en español When Patricia Martinez was asked by an employee of the Mexican Consulate in San Bernardino to sit down, she thought her husband had been deported. She never imagined that she was about to receive the biggest blow of her life. The staff person told Martinez that her husband, Alberto…
Advocates Raise Alarm Over ICE Operation, MOU and Detention Risks in Baltimore County
By Megan Sayles | AFRO Staff Writer As U.S. Immigration Customs and Enforcement (ICE) operations intensify nationwide, community organizations have become the eyes and ears of their neighborhoods—monitoring the agency’s presence and alerting residents to protect themselves and their neighbors. In Baltimore County, nonprofits like We Are CASA have observed a spectrum of enforcement actions….
President, Allies said to be Creating Executive Plan to Steal the 2026 Midterms
by Lauren Victoria Burke NNPA Newswire Contributor A group of MAGA pro-Trump activists, who say they are working in coordination with the White House, are circulating a 17-page draft executive order that would claim – without evidence – that China interfered with the 2020 presidential election. Donald Trump lost the 2020 presidential to President Joe…
Don’t End TPS for Our Immigrant Neighbors
The Trump administration is trying to expel lawful immigrants to countries facing political turmoil — while also cutting aid and destabilizing many countries further. Jordan Liz This February, a panel of conservative federal judges ruled that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) can move forward with terminating Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for immigrants from Nicaragua,…
Poll Shows Support for Policies That Help Families Afford Child Care
By First Five Years Fund New national polling shows persistent voter concern about the affordability and availability of child care for working parents, alongside broad support across key demographic groups for federal child care policies that help families afford care. The national survey was conducted by UpOne Insight on behalf of the First Five Years…
Epstein Files Shadow $245 Billion Sex Trafficking Industry
By Sunita Sohrabji “There are so many Jeffrey Epsteins and Ghislaine Maxwells who have yet to be discovered and are also still operating with what seems like impunity.” — Survivor Courtney Litvak. When Courtney Litvak was 17, she was a junior in high school in Houston, Texas, focused on swim practice, PSATs and the promise…
Mexico Moves to Curb Cartels With Killing of El Mencho. Will the US Follow Suit?
By Manuel Ortiz MEXICO CITY—One of the world’s most wanted drug traffickers, Rubén Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, alias “El Mencho” was killed Sunday morning. His death came as part of an operation carried out by the Mexican government. According to Mexican officials, the operation took place in Tapalpa, Jalisco, in western Mexico. It was carried out…
California Signs Climate Deal With U.K.; Pres. Trump Reacts
Bo Tefu and Antonio Ray Harvey | California Black Media Last week, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced a strengthened climate partnership with the United Kingdom, signing a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with UK Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero Ed Miliband to deepen cooperation on clean energy and sustainable development. The announcement was…
IN MEMORIAM: Eternal Salute to The Reverend Dr. Jesse L. Jackson, Sr.
NNPA NEWSWIRE — On behalf of the National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA) representing the Black Press of America, we extend our sincerest condolences to the Jackson family. Leadership matters. Jesse Jackson’s leadership in the Civil Rights Movement in America and the human rights movement throughout the world was outstanding. Jackson uttered a strong penetrating voice…
EPA Selects 11 California Organizations to Receive $5.5 Million for Environmental Career Training
SAN FRANCISCO (February 9, 2026) – U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is announcing the selection of 11 California organizations to receive approximately $500,000 each in Brownfields Job Training grant funding. Grants awarded to California are nearly half of the $12 million awarded nationally. This funding will help the organizations recruit, train, and place workers for…
California Doubles Down on Commitment to Transit, Improving Mobility for All
Sacramento — Caltrans today announced major steps in strengthening its commitment to public transportation by establishing a new Deputy Director for Transit and Rail Programs and restoring the Division of Mass Transportation to create a dedicated team focused on providing faster, more reliable, and connected transit services statewide. The department is also releasing its first…
Veterans receive COLA and Home Loan Guaranty limit increase
Veterans who receive disability compensation from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs are seeing higher monthly payments and expanded home loan limits as part of recent benefit updates. A 2.8 percent increase in monthly disability compensation took effect Dec. 1 as part of the annual cost-of-living adjustment, known as COLA. The increase applies to all…
Man Released from ICE Custody a Second Time After Warrantless Arrest
By Alaysia Lane | Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder Garrison Gibson, a 38-year-old Liberian immigrant and father, was released from Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody for a second time after being re-arrested hours after a federal judge ruled his initial arrest unconstitutional. Gibson’s attorney confirmed Friday afternoon that he is home with his family and required to wear…
California Lawmakers Propose Bills Responding to Fatal Shootings by ICE Agents
Solomon O. Smith | California Black Media Responding to recent fatal shootings and an uptick in misconduct and excessive use-of-force incidents by federal policing agencies like Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), California lawmakers are proposing some legal guardrails to prevent them and hold officers accountable. Assemblymember Isaac Bryan (D-Ladera Heights) recently authored legislation to…
Attorney Gen. Bonta Secures $425 Settlement Against Capital One
Bo Tefu and Antonio Ray Harvey | California Black Media California Attorney General Rob Bonta helped secure a $425 million settlement with Capital One that would provide restitution and improved interest rates for customers who were allegedly misled about their savings accounts, state officials announced Jan. 13. The settlement, which received preliminary court approval last…
New Ballot Push: Initiative Would End Prop 50 Temporary Congressional Maps After 2026
A proposed constitutional amendment that would end the use of temporary congressional district maps after the 2026 election has officially entered circulation, according to the California Secretary of State’s office. California Secretary of State Shirley N. Weber announced that “the proponent of a new initiative was cleared to begin collecting petition signatures on Jan. 12,…
Department of Education calls back civil rights staff amid massive discrimination case backlog
by Megan Sayles AFRO Staff Writer The Department of Education (ED) has been forced to double back on its March 2025 decision to lay off hundreds of civil rights employees. In December 2025, the agency called back employees who worked in its Office of Civil Rights (OCR) because a massive backlog of discrimination complaints had…
Political Playback: California Capitol News You Might Have Missed
By Bo Tefu | California Black Media Proposed California Initiative Would Force State Action if President Exceeds Two-Term Limit California Secretary of State Shirley N. Weber, Ph.D., announced that a new initiative was cleared for circulation on Jan. 5, 2026, allowing the proponent to begin collecting petition signatures. The measure, formally titled “Requires State Response…
