Voter Registration Campaign targets young, Hispanic

Osceola County is joining a statewide effort to register some of the most elusive groups of voters this year and encourage them to visit the polls in November. [more]

Coke wins one racial bias case

One  of the four original plaintiffs who filed aclass-action racial  discrimination suit against Coca-Cola in 1999 haslost his long legal battle against the company -- ending his hopes of collecting damages. [more]

Amtrak ordered to pay $500,000 in racial slur lawsuit

A  federal court jury has awarded $500,000 to a former Amtrak electrician who said he was subjected to racial slurs,harassment and discrimination throughout five years of work at the Oakland  rail yard. "A parade of witnesses at the trial  clearly demonstrated that racial hostility permeated  the Oakland  yard,'' said Anthony Prince, one of Morgan's  lawyers.[more]

Judge rejects slave trauma as defense for killing

A Washington County judge threw out a PSU professor's novel theory at pretrial but said she may consider it at trial .APortlandlawyer says suffering by African Americans at the hands  of slave owners is to blame in the death of a 2-year-old Beaverton boy. [more]

Dallas District Attorney Office - No Diversity

Dallas District Attorney Diversity: Why so few Latino lawyers on county staff?
We've  recently urged several  public institutions in this city -- most  recently, the Parkland Hospital board and the Dallas Police Department-- to take more seriously their responsibility to hire and maintain  staff and manager corps that  reflect the community they serve. Now, it's time that we urge the same  of another public agency: the Dallas County  district attorney's office.[more]

Black Man killed by police in Richmond, VA

A  male motorist fleeing a traffic stop in East Richmond  was fatally shot  by Richmond police last night, and an officer dragged  a short distance  by the motorist's car received minor injuries,according to police and  eyewitnesses. [more]

Black enrollment down at Berkeley

Only 98 African-American students registered for fall -- a 30 percent drop
Sometimes, Adia Harrison looks around her classes at theUniversity of California at Berkeley and is slightly surprised at the reminder: Just about no one else in the room looks like her. [more]

Poor Are Slighted on LA City Recreational Resources

The  news that six city pools are  too run-down to open, and more than 20  others are in bad shape, highlights the inequitable allocation of resources in Los Angeles. That many of the pools are in poorer neighborhoods shows how disenfranchised lower- income residents are. [more]

Suit over Janet's 'wardrobe malfunction' tossed out

Judge  Jerald Jensen has rejected a Utah lawyer's  claim that CBS owner Viacom  should pay him $5,000 for having to see  Jackson's bare breast during the  Super Bowl halftime show. [more]

Terror Alert Overblown

BE ON THE LOOKOUT FOR BLACK AND BROWN PEOPLE!

Terror Alert Overblown  
The FBI and  Justice Department insist that warning the public about a possibly  devastating terror attack in this country was justified  by intelligence and may avert a repeat of the Sept. 11 attacks. But  some Bush administration officials and lawmakers aren't so sure. [more] and [As Ashcroft Warns of  Attack, Some Question  Threat and Its Timing] and [Ashcroft Assailed on Terror Warning] and [F.B.I. Issues and Retracts Urgent Terrorism Bulletin] 

Struggle as Haitians and Dominicans Tally Flood Losses

<>Officials said the death toll might go as high as 2,000, making it one of the worst natural disasters in Caribbean history. [more]

Jeb Bush: Every Vote Should Count

Jeb  Bush  signed  into  law a measure doing away with witness signatures for absentee ballots in Florida. If we counted every vote in Florida, Jeb'sbrother would be spending all of his time -- and not just some of his time -- falling off his bicycle on his Texas  ranch. [more]

Civil Rights Coalition Fears Major Voting Problems Will Recur in Fall
Problems that  voters encountered in Florida and elsewhere in 2000 are likely to recur this fall unless Congress, states and voters fix them quickly, a coalition of voters'rights groups warned Wednesday. The main problems  are:

•  Confusing voter registration and identification requirements.
  

• Errors in purging lists of eligible voters.
  

• Misused and malfunctioning voting machines, including the infamous punch-card machines.
  

• Inaccurate counting of ballots cast by voters who may be voting in the wrong precincts.

<>These problems   disenfranchised between 4 to 6 million voters inthe 2000 presidential  election, according to a Cal tech-MIT study released in 2001. [more]

Report: 1 of Every 75 U.S. Men in Prison

America's inmate  population grew by 2.9 percent  last year, to almost  2.1 million  people, with one of every 75 men living in prison or jail. The inmate population continued its rise despite a fall in the crime rate and many  states'efforts to reduce some sentences, especially for low-level drug offenders. [more]

• Nearly  one in  three  (32.2%) African American males in the age  group of 20-29 (829,440) is under criminal justice supervision on any given  day in prison or jail, on probation or parole.

• Hispanic men are almost four times as likley to go to prison at some point in their lives as non-Hispanic white males. [more]

Abuse of prisoners is not an exception; it's an American tradition
When President Bush announced in his speech Monday night that the U.S.intends to demolish Iraq's notorious Abu Ghraib prison and pay to  build a new maximum security facility in Baghdad, I thought,now,there's  something that the United States really knows how to do.We know how to  build  prisons. And no wonder. The U.S. has more of its citizens behind bars than any other country. Of  the estimated 9 million people  incarcerated worldwide, more than 2 million are  locked up right here at home, and a  majority of them are people of color and poor people. [more]

IRS agents raid mosque and two homes, seize documents

Heavily  armed  IRS and immigration agents raided a Philadelphia mosque and  two  homes Thursday,seizing documents and detaining the imam on  immigration charges. [more]

Declassified transcript hints at US role in 1973 coup in Chile

<>Newly declassified documents indicate that the US may have played a supporting role in the 1973  military coup that ousted Chilean  president  Salvador Allende,Reuters today  reports.  [more]