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August 9, 2012

  • Job Growth Spurts in July but Not for Black Men

    Job Growth Spurts in July but Not for Black Men by Frederick H. Lowe The nation’s nonfarm businesses added 163,000 jobs in July, but black men didn’t catch a break. Except for white women, the jobless rate for African-American men shot up in July, compared with June’s numbers.

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  • Employment-Population Ratio Drops in July

    Employment-Population Ratio Drops in July by Frederick H. Lowe The employment population ratio for black men and black women 20 years old and older dropped in July compared with June, the University of California, Berkeley, Center for Labor Research and Education, reported on Friday.

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  • Juneteenth Foundation Names Board Members

    Juneteenth Foundation Names Board Members by Frederick H. Lowe The National Juneteenth Observance Foundation named two new board members at its recent annual board meeting and convention in Indianapolis.

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  • Coalition Sues Pennsylvania Over Voter Materials

    Coalition Sues Pennsylvania Over Voter Materials A coalition of organizations has sued top officials of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania in federal court, charging that they have not provided voter-registration materials to welfare recipients in violation of the National Voter Registration Act.

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  • U.S. Rep. Fined $10,000 by Ethics Committee

    U.S. Rep. Fined $10,000 by Ethics Committee by Frederick H. Lowe The U.S. House Ethics Committee has fined U.S. Representative Laura Richardson $10,000 for forcing her congressional staff to work on her re-election campaign and then covering up or altering evidence to thwart an investigation. The committee levied the fine on Aug.

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  • Man Killed in a Cop Car

    Man Killed in a Cop Car Family outraged that police claim the man killed himself (TriceEdneyWire.com) - The FBI is investigating how a 21-year-old black man ended up shot and killed while handcuffed in a Jonesboro, Ark.

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  • Kofi Annan Resigns as Special Envoy to Syria

    Kofi Annan Resigns as Special Envoy to Syria by Frederick H. Lowe Kofi Annan, who announced last Thursday that he is stepping down at the end of August as United Nations Special Envoy to Syria, told reporters in Geneva, Switzerland, that the international community was unable to reach a unified plan to resolve the country’s ongoing civil war. “I have made it clear that one of the key ingredients, one of the key, essential attributes for a mediator to succeed in this sort of situation is the unity of the international community,” Annan said.

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  • Haitian Museum Awarded $148,000

    Haitian Museum Awarded $148,000 Congressman Frederica Wilson announced recently that a $148,769 grant had been awarded to the Haitian Heritage Museum, which is located on the outskirts of Miami where the largest number of Haitians live outside of Haiti. The Institute of Museum and Library Services, an independent Washington, D.C.-based federal agency that supports museum and libraries, awarded the grant to the Haitian Heritage Museum.

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  • Black Museums Receive $1.4 Million

    Black Museums Receive $1.4 Million The Institute of Museum and Library Services, a Washington, D.C.-based independent agency that provides financial support to the nation’s museums, last month awarded $1.

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  • Activists Challenged to Motivate Voters

    Voters By Hazel Trice Edney (TriceEdneyWire.com) - With black unemployment rates still stuck in double digits while whites’ jobless rates remain consistently below the national average, economic frustration and suffering in the black community is making it difficult for grassroots organizers to motivate people to go to the polls Nov.

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  • DOJ Orders New Orleans Police Reforms

    DOJ Orders New Orleans Police Reforms (TriceEdneyWire.com) - Seven years after a series of high-profile murder cases involving the New Orleans Police Department rocked the nation, the U.S.

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  • Sikh Temple Shooter Was A White Supremacist

    Sikh Temple Shooter Was A White Supremacist Wade Michael Page, who Wisconsin police said murdered six people at a Sikh temple on Sunday before he was killed, was an active member of the white power music scene, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center, which monitors hate groups. Page, a U.S.

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  • Mau Mau Fight Their Way to UK Court

    Mau Mau Fight Their Way to UK Court By Njeri Mbure (TriceEdneyWire.com) - Three elderly Kenyans are in court, seeking compensation and an apology for extreme torture by the British during its colonial rule of Kenya.

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  • Black Justice Coalition Hires Policy Director

    The National Black Justice Coalition, a Washington, D.C.-based civil rights organization dedicated to empowering the black gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered community, has named Michael J.

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  • Lightning Bolt Strikes Again

    Lightning Bolt Strikes Again Usain Bolt successfully defended his 100-meter title on Sunday in the 2012 London Olympic Games, setting an Olympic record of 9.63 seconds, the second-fastest time ever recorded.

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  • Stevie Wonder No Longer Blinded by Love

    Stevie Wonder No Longer Blinded by Love He files for divorce Singer Stevie Wonder is no longer singing to “You Are the Sunshine of My Life”  to his wife, Kai Millard Morris, because they are getting a divorce, according to the TMZ, the entertainment news website. According to divorce papers, Wonder, whose given name is Stevland Morris, cited irreconcilable differences.The couple has lived apart since October 2009.

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  • 2nd Woman Sentenced to Death by Stoning

    (TriceEdneyWire.com) – Rights groups are demanding a review of the sentence of stoning issued against a 23-year-old Sudanese woman, convicted of adultery. It is the second such case in recent months.

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  • Victories and Stereotypes

    Victories and Stereotypes By Julianne Malveaux (TriceEdneyWire.com) - If you don’t follow Olympic gymnastics, you may not have heard about Gabrielle Douglas before this year.

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  • The NorthStar’s Week in Black History

    The NorthStar’s Week in Black History August 9 through August 15 August 9 1994 ----- The general assembly of the United Nations proclaimed in December 1994 that August 9 was to be the International Day of the World’s Indigenous People.

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  • Congressional Black Caucus Loses a Member

    Congressional Black Caucus Loses a Member Conyers wins but Clarke loses in Michigan by Frederick H. Lowe U.S. Rep. John Conyers, Jr., on Tuesday won the Democratic primary in Michigan’s 13th Congressional District The Congressional Black Caucus, however, lost a member when U.S.

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  • Steve Harvey's TV Talk Show to Debut

    Steve Harvey's TV Talk Show to Debut Steve Harvey, host of the game show Family Feud, will host an hour-long nationally syndicated talk show originating from Chicago, beginning on Sept. 4, NBCUniversal Domestic Television Distribution announced on Monday.

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corn fields

Drought is Expected to Grow Higher Food Prices

Although Americans spend less each week on food than they did in the late 1980s, this summer’s Midwest drought is expected to dramatically increase food prices.

Most Americans spend an average of $151 per week on food, with some shelling out $300 or more while others spend less than $50, according to recent Gallup daily tracking survey.  

The poll, which is titled, “Americans Spend $151 a Week on Food; the High Income,$180,” reported:

• 8 percent of the surveyed spent less than $50 each week on food;
• 17 percent spent $50 to $99;
• 22 percent spent $100 to $124;
• 4 percent spent $125 to $149;
• 15 percent spent $150 to $199;
• 21 percent spent $200 to $299;
• 10 percent spent $300 or more.

Gallup reported that the weekly average of $151 is down from $157 to $214 in the mid-to-late 1980s when Gallup last posed the question.

The Princeton, N. J.-based survey organization organization added, however, that Americans will most certainly see food prices rise because of the drought, which is adversely affecting corn and soybean production.

Corn and soybeans are the nation’s two major crops based on harvested acres and cash receipts from sales. Corn is grown on over 400,000 U.S. farms and more than 350,000 U.S. farms grow soybeans, the U.S. Department of Agriculture reports.

The National Corn Growers Association, which is based in Chesterfield, Mo., reports that about eighty percent of all corn grown in the U.S. is consumed by domestic and overseas livestock, poultry, and fish production. About 12 percent  of the U.S. corn crop ends up in foods that are either consumed directly such as corn chips or high-fructose corn syrup, an ingredient used to sweeten soft drinks.

According to the United Soybean Board, soybean oil, used in both food manufacturing and frying and sautéing, represents approximately 79 percent of all edible oil consumed in the United States. The United Soybean Board also is located in Chesterfield, Mo.

Food prices may rise by up to 3.5 percent  this year and another 3 percent to 4 percent in 2013, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

On Wednesday, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack designated an additional 218 counties in 12 states natural disaster areas due to damage and losses caused by drought and excessive heat. The additional counties are in Arkansas, Georgia, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Mississippi, Nebraska, Oklahoma, South Dakota,Tennessee, and Wyoming.

Now more than 50.3 percent of all  U.S. counties have been designated disaster areas by the United States Department of Agriculture in 2012, mainly due to the drought.

During the week of July 9-12,Gallup surveyed by mobile and land-line telephones 1,014 adults 18 years old and older in all 50 states and the District of Columbia.

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