CHICAGO, IL – Inspector General Joseph M. Ferguson announced that the City of Chicago Office of Inspector General will begin an investigation into the City of Chicago’s Gang Database. The investigation comes after a year-long campaign exposing the impact of the Gang Database on U.S.-born and immigrant communities of color.
“The decision of the Office of Inspector General to investigate the City of Chicago for the use of the Gang Database confirms what our communities have been saying for months: That the Chicago Police Department has a dangerous tool they use to criminalize communities of color,” said Janae Bonsu, Policy Director for Black Youth Project 100 (BYP100) and principal author of the Report. “These practices have devastating effects on our communities, from decreasing job opportunities, to increasing risk of deportation. The database needs to be eliminated and we will continue to work to make sure that the City has policies that prioritize the safety of our communities instead of policing and incarceration,” she concluded.
“We welcome the investigation from the OIG. At the same time, our communities are in crisis and the City of Chicago has a responsibility to do what it can to keep us safe. Every day the Trump administration is sending immigration agents to target our families and neighbors. The Gang Database is literally a list that ICE uses to justify these attacks, and the City of Chicago has a responsibility to take action now,” stated Rosi Carrasco, member of Organized Communities Against Deportation, and undocumented organizer against the gang database.
Posted by Admin On March - 23 - 2018 Comments Off on NAACP to Join With Leaders From Across the Nation for Saturday’s ‘March For Our Lives’ in Washington, D.C.
BALTIMORE – On Saturday, March 24, the Youth and College Division of the NAACP will join hands with the children, youth and families of the newly formed #NeverAgain movement and Everytown for Gun Safety. They’ll be taking to the streets to demonstrate in cities and communities across the United States and around the world, demanding that their safety and lives become a national priority.
These young people will be looking to be heard, and with a unified voice will call for those in power join with them to work together to find solutions to the plagues of gun violence, irresponsible gun ownership and, of course, the mass-shootings in America’s schools. Themed the first-ever “March for Our Lives,” this Saturday’s demonstration has spawned an estimated 820 “sibling” events, scheduled to be held internationally. #NeverAgain was established by about 20 student survivors of the recent Stoneman Douglas school shooting in Parkland, Florida.
The NAACP Youth and College Division, led by director Tiffany Dena Loftin, has also partnered with MTV, the longtime, respected broadcast channel for urban youth culture, which has co-sponsored 17 busloads of youth from various cities to travel to the nation’s capital to participate in the March. The buses, which will include young NAACP members, youth from other organizations, noted music artists The Roots and Pusha T and others are originating from Atlanta, GA, Baltimore, MD, Chicago, IL, Greensboro, NC, Laurinburg, NC, New York, NY, Philadelphia, PA, and Richmond, VA.
The cities of origin are urban centers painfully afflicted by gun violence and the 17 buses are symbolic of the 17 lives taken at Stoneman Douglas, as well as the more than 17 lives lost to gun violence daily in the United States.
“Communities of color have borne the brunt of America’s broken gun laws, and their voices must be heard by our lawmakers,” stated John Feinblatt, president of Everytown for Gun Safety. “We are proud to partner with the NAACP to advance gun safety in every community.”For its part, the MTV network and all Viacom networks additionally took the bold step of going dark for 17 minutes in solidarity with last week’s National School Walkout March 14th, honoring the Parkland victims, and all young victims of the scourge of gun violence.
CHICAGO, IL – In an effort to bring free resources to community members, Illinois state Rep. Theresa Mah, D-Chicago, is hosting a Community Health Fair this Saturday, March 24th, at Arturo Velasquez Institute, located at 2800 S Western Ave. in Chicago.
Rep. Mah is hosting her 2nd annual Community Health Fair on Saturday, March 24th from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. where healthcare professionals will be on site performing free health screenings to community members. Some of the services that will available are free screenings of glucose, blood pressure, cholesterol, vision, dental, and more. Free haircuts and manicures will also be offered at the health fair.
Mah represents the 2nd District, which includes the Chicago neighborhoods of McKinley Park, Pilsen, Chinatown, Bridgeport, Brighton Park and Back of the Yards. For more information, please contact Rep. Mah’s district office at 872-281-5775.
Atlanta, GA (BlackNews.com) — A huge social media backlash has erupted over comments by P Diddy that he and Jay-Z are looking into developing a ‘Buy Black’ app.
In a GQ article titled, Diddy Opens up About Biggies Death and the Secret Project, the hip-hop icon reveals hes working with Jay-Z on an app that will allow users to look at a given city or neighborhood and see where the black-owned and black-friendly businesses are.
Although Diddy also spoke about Biggie’s death in the article, it was his comments about the app that stirred up a lot of emotions and generated a flood of responses. Many social media users highlighted that there were already several Buy Black app solutions. And the latter is true.
iPhone and Android users are not short on options in the Google and iTunes stores when it comes to “Buy Black” apps, which means that Diddy and Jay-Z’s idea is nothing new. In fact, one app thats already bridging the spending gap for not only black owned businesses but other minority groups is Spendwith (available for free in the iTunes and Google Play app stores).
Touted as culture-based social shopping app, Spendwith empowers users to crowdsource the commerce-related social media posts of businesses and brands, and identify these post by cultural identity. The app provides a place where users can save these posts to shopping lists, create new posts, share shopping lists and connect with other users.
Spendwith is an early stage, pre-revenue startup thats focused on the success of the thousands of e-commerce shops & physical businesses started by Asian-American, Black, Latino, LGBT, Muslim, Jewish, Veteran & Women business owners. Posts relating to the products and services offered by these businesses and brands occur daily on every social media platform. They curate, organize and categorize these posts into a shoppable format with the help of the crowd.
SPRINGFIELD, IL – This August, Ag Director Raymond Poe and State Fair Manager Luke Sailer are proud to welcome rock legends Foreigner and Joan Jett & the Blackhearts to the Illinois Lottery Grandstand stage on Sunday, August 12 at 2018 Illinois State Fair.
Stay up-to-date on all of the 2018 Illinois State Fair announcements by connecting with us on social media. The Illinois State Fair is on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. We look forward to seeing you at the 2018 Illinois State Fair, August 9-19th in Springfield.
Indivisible Chicago warns our country is set on a dangerous path, with President Trump’s appointment of radical warmonger John Bolton as his new National Security Advisor. We call upon our elected representatives, regardless of party affiliation, to immediately and forcefully condemn the appointment of a conspiracy theorist and militant extremist to this critical position. Bolton’s appointment represents an alarming leap down the path to war.
Our elected leaders must urge the President to reconsider this appointment and to immediately move to pass legislation that curtails the President’s ability to launch a first strike.
This is not idle rhetoric, but a real threat. Bolton has recently urged a first strike by the United States against North Korea. He is known as one of the primary cheerleaders for the Iraq War, he called for war with Cuba, using the same false pretense of hidden WMDs, and he’s encouraged Israel to use nuclear weapons against Iran.
Indivisible Chicago echoes that warning, representing thousands of voters throughout the Chicago area. “We are appalled and angry to see congressional leaders on the sidelines while Trump brazenly builds a war cabinet. War may be good for his ratings, but it would be a disaster for the nation and the world,” warned Jason Rieger, Executive Director of Indivisible Chicago.
It’s up to the members of Congress to stand for national security, and we call on them to take quick action to curtail the authority of this President and his hawks from the outer fringes of the right-wing.
Like with many illegal telemarketing operations, each call typically started with a prerecorded message asking people to press 1 or follow prompts. Anyone who did was then connected to a live telemarketer.
Even after receiving many complaints, the FTC says, the companies continued to call people whose numbers were on the Do Not Call Registry. Some people went as far as scheduling installation appointments just to tell Alliance in person to stop calling, the FTC alleges. Alliance Security and Gotra previously settled charges with the FTC in 2014 while doing business as Versatile Marketing Solutions.
You can learn more about the Do Not Call Registry in our FAQs. If a company doesn’t respect the Registry, report it. To add your number to the Do Not Call Registry, go to donotcall.gov or call 1-888-382-1222 from the phone you want to register.
What if you’re on the Registry and still getting bombarded by unwanted calls? Odds are, many of them are from scammers — and they don’t care about the Registry. Find out more about your options when it comes to blocking unwanted calls— and report the ones you get at ftc.gov/complaint. We take the phone numbers you report and release them each business day to help telecommunications carriers and other industry partners that are working on call blocking solutions. Your complaints also help law enforcement identify the people behind illegal calls. For tips on blocking unwanted calls, go to ftc.gov/calls, where you’ll find graphics you can share with your friends and followers.
Dallas, TX — The American Heart Association, the world’s leading voluntary health organization dedicated to building healthier lives, free of cardiovascular diseases and stroke, is awarding financial scholarships to six students who are working to improve the health and well-being of their community or college campus.
According to research conducted by the Mayo Clinic, 40 percent of an individuals health can be attributed to socioeconomic factors, 30 percent to healthy behaviors, 20 percent to medical care and 10 percent to the environment. That’s why the Association collaborates with organizations, businesses, entrepreneurs, and now youth, to create and identify solutions to our communities’ most complex social issues, ultimately impacting and improving health outcomes.
Through the EmPOWERED To Serve Scholars competition, which launched in January in recognition of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day and the National Day of Service, the Association sought high school seniors and undergraduate college and university students who are actively striving to identify solutions to address the social determinants of health — the economic and social conditions in which people are born, grow, work and live — and how they impact risks for heart disease, stroke and high blood pressure.
* Ahmed Arasah aspires to become a physician and promote healthy living through community yoga instruction and will offer sessions to his classmates at Xavier University in New Orleans this spring.
* Michelle Ballasiotes is a student at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill studying pre-health policy and management and advocates for corner grocery store owners to sell fresh, healthy foods.
* Jose Trinidad Muratella studies biochemistry at the University of Illinois at Chicago and spends his volunteer time at the Community Health Clinic teaching diabetes education courses.
* Avery Nelson, a freshman studying public policy at Pomona College in Claremont, Calif., helped launch an urban garden where families living in food deserts can harvest fresh fruit.
* Esmeralda Ochoa has her sights set on a family nurse practitioner career, and in between her studies at Chamberlain University in Addison, Ill., partners with the National Association of Hispanic Nurses to coordinate and conduct community wellness checks.
* Dorysel Sandoval, a senior at Sweetwater High School in National City, Calif., who interns and volunteers at a local nonprofit teaching youth in the community about urban agriculture and nutrition education.
* How they have made a sustainable, positive impact in their community or on their campus to address health and wellbeing disparities.
In addition to receiving the scholarship, students will have an opportunity to serve as EmPOWERED To Serve ambassadors and participate in 2018 social media campaigns.
To view the students’ winning video submissions and learn more about these future change-agents, as well as EmPOWERED To Serve, visit www.empoweredtoserve.org.
The American Heart Association is devoted to saving people from heart disease and stroke – the two leading causes of death in the world. They team with millions of volunteers to fund innovative research, fight for stronger public health policies and provide lifesaving tools and information to prevent and treat these diseases. The Dallas-based association is the nation’s oldest and largest voluntary organization dedicated to fighting heart disease and stroke. To learn more or to get involved, call 1-800-AHA-USA1, visit www.heart.org or call any of our offices around the country. Follow them on Facebook and Twitter.
SPRINGFIELD, IL. – In an effort to prevent employers from under-paying employees and shutting down business before a wage claim can be brought against them, Illinois state Rep. Emanuel “Chris” Welch, D-Hillside, is fighting to pass a measure out of the House that allows a lien to be placed on the properties of these employers for the amount of wages owed.
Welch is the sponsor of House Bill 4324, a measure that lays out the Wage Lien Act. This Act is a new tool that employees can use to ensure that stolen wages are paid in their entirety. The Act provides that an employee may, with five-day notice, establish a lien on all of the employer’s property located in Illinois for wages owed under any claim made with the Illinois Department of Labor. The Act also provides that an employee’s wage lien up to $30,000 could take lien priority on property owned by the employer, allowing them to be paid before bankruptcy adjudicates them from financial obligations.
House Bill 4324 passed the House Labor and Commerce Committee in late February and is expected to be heard for consideration by the full House of Representatives in the near future.
Welch represents the 7th House District, which includes portions of River Forest, Forest Park, Maywood, Broadview, Bellwood, Berkeley, Hillside and Westchester. For more information, please contact Rep. Welch’s office at 708-450-1000.
Vladimir Nevidomy, 31, of Hallandale Beach, Florida, pleaded guilty on March 19, to conspiring to illegally export military-grade night vision and thermal vision devices and ammunition primers to Russia.
Assistant Attorney General for National Security John C. Demers, U.S. Attorney Benjamin G. Greenberg for the Southern District of Florida, Special Agent in Charge Robert Lasky of the FBI’s Miami Field Office, and Special Agent in Charge Mark Selby of Homeland Security Investigation’s (HSI) Miami Field Office made the announcement.
According to information contained in court documents, from as early as April 2013 through November 2013, customers in Russia contacted Nevidomy by email requesting night vision rifle scopes, thermal monoculars and ammunition primers, all of which were on the U.S. Munitions List and subject to export control by the U.S. Department of State. Nevidomy proceeded to obtain at least three ATN MARS 4×4 night-vision rifle scopes and an ODIN 61BW thermal multi-purpose monocular from U.S. vendors by falsely representing to the vendors that the items were not for export.
On or about April 16, 2013, a co-defendant caused a wire transfer from a Shanghai, China bank account in the amount of $11,755 for the purchase and shipment of two ATN MARS 4×4 night-vision rifle scopes. That same day, Nevidomy paid $9,599 to a U.S. vendor for the purchase of those two night-vision rifle scopes. On or about May 2, 2013, Nevidomy also caused a wire transfer in the amount of $10,000 to be sent to a U.S. vendor for the purchase of the ODIN 61BW thermal multi-purpose monocular.
Later, Nevidomy’s co-defendant caused a wire transfer from a bank account in Riga, Latvia in the amount of $18,036, part of which was for the purchase of a third ATN Mars 4X4 night-vision rifle scope. On the same day, Nevidomy caused a wire transfer in the amount of $9,599 to a U.S. vendor, part of which was for the purchase of the third ATN Mars 4X4 night-vision rifle scope.
After the U.S. vendors sent the night vision devices to Nevidomy in South Florida, he exported them to the co-defendant in Russia by either concealing the defense articles in household goods shipments sent through a freight forwarding company or using a private Russian postal service that operated in South Florida. In June 2013, Nevidomy aided and abetted the export of the ATN MARS 4×4 night-vision rifle scopes from the U.S. to the co-defendant in Russia, and in August 2013, he exported the ODIN 61BW thermal multi-purpose monocular from the U.S. to the co-defendant in Russia.
On or about July 19, 2013, the same co-defendant sent an email to Nevidomy requesting 1,000 large-rifle ammunition primers to be shipped to Vladivostok, Russia. On or about Oct. 2, 2013, Nevidomy attempted to export 1,000 Sellier & Bellot ammunition primers from the U.S. to the co-defendant in Vladivostok, Russia. These ammunition primers were seized by U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
These night vision rifle scopes, thermal monocular, and ammunition primers required a license or other authorization from the U.S. Department of State before being exported from the U.S. since they were on the U.S. Munitions List. A certified license history check revealed that neither Nevidomy nor his associates ever applied or attempted to apply for an export license from the State Department for the night-vision equipment or ammunition primers.
Sentencing is scheduled before U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams, on May 25. Nevidomy, a Ukraine-born naturalized U.S. citizen, faces a maximum sentence of 5 years imprisonment.
In addition, on Feb. 5, in a separate federal case, Nevidomy pleaded guilty to passport fraud and conspiracy to commit passport fraud in the Southern District of Florida.
Mr. Demers and Mr. Greenberg commended the investigative efforts of the FBI and HSI. This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Michael Thakur and Rick Del Toro of the Southern District of Florida, and Trial Attorney Christian Ford of the National Security Division’s Counterintelligence and Export Control Section.