Support NorthStar News - Make a Donation

video icon  Video of the Week

21st African Union Summit

Search Past Issues

September 20, 2012

  • Judge Issues Certificates of Innocence to Four Men

    Judge Issues Certificates of Innocence to Four Men The men are entitled to nearly $200,000 each under Illinois law by Frederick H. Lowe A Cook County, Ill., judge has issued certificates of innocence to four black men who served long prison terms for a crime that DNA evidence proved they did not commit. On Friday, Judge Paul P.

    More
  • Obama Camp Fires Back After Romney’s “47%” Diatribe

    Obama Camp Fires Back After Romney’s “47%” Diatribe by Barry Cooper The Obama campaign wasted little time striking back at Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney on Tuesday. Within hours after a secret videotape emerged of Romney making seemingly disparaging remarks about nearly half the U.S.

    More
  • Jackson Gets Two Men Freed from a Gambia Prison

    Jackson Gets Two Men Freed from a Gambia Prison by Frederick H. Lowe Two men who were serving long prison sentences in Gambia have left the West African Country after the Rev. Jesse Jackson, Sr. negotiated their release with the country’s President, Dr.

    More
  • The Real Count of Monte Cristo Was a Black Man

    The Real Count of Monte Cristo Was a Black Man Alexandre Dumas wrote the story based in part on his father’s life The Count of Monte Cristo, one of literature’s most-enduring novels, is based on the real life of a black man, who rose from private to general in the French Army, became a valued aide to Napoleon Bonaparte and later, an object of Napoleon's envy, according to the book, The Black Count: Glory, Revolution, Betrayal, and the Real Count of Monte Cristo, which hit bookstores on Tuesday.

    More
  • Feds Hammer Tool Company Because of Its Racist Hiring Practices

    Meyer Tool Inc., a federal contractor that displays on its website photographs of a smiling President George W.

    More
  • Homes Headed by Single Black Men See Drop in Poverty

    Homes Headed by Single Black Men See Drop in Poverty by Frederick H. Lowe The poverty rate for families headed by single-black men has declined since 2010, while poverty rates for households headed by single white and Asian men have increased.

    More
  • Transportation Can Help Black Men Find Better-Paying Jobs

    Transportation Can Help Black Men Find Better-Paying Jobs by Frederick H. Lowe The Economic Policy Institute, a nonpartisan think tank, will host a special forum on Wednesday, September 26, in Washington, D.C., focused on black men.

    More
  • Supreme Court Will Hear Arguments on Affirmative Action

    Supreme Court Will Hear Arguments on Affirmative Action New America Media Q & A  by Khalil Abdullah Editor’s Note: On October 10 the U.S. Supreme Court will hear Fisher v. University of Texas, a case that could upend affirmative action policies nationwide.

    More
  • FAMU: Drum Major Actively Participated in Hazing

    FAMU: Drum Major Actively Participated in  Hazing Special to the Trice Edney News Wire from the Capital Outlook by Kanya Stewart (TriceEdneyWire.com) - Robert Champion, Jr.

    More
  • Statue of Frederick Douglass to Be Placed in Capitol

    Statue of Frederick Douglass to Be Placed in Capitol President Obama must sign the legislation Special to the Trice Edney News Wire from the Afro American Newspaper (TriceEdneyWire.

    More
  • Worldwide Employment Outlook Still Bleak for Youth

    Worldwide Employment Outlook Still Bleak for Youth (TriceEdneyWire.com) - The employment outlook for young people worldwide is grim, according to an analysis released September 4 by the International Labor Organization.

    More
  • Michigan Business Associations Merge

    The Michigan Black Chamber of Commerce and the National Association of Black Suppliers on Thursday announced they have merged to increase member access to capital and to help them compete worldwide.

    More
  • 100 Black Men to Get a New Man

    100 Black Men to Get a New Man Curley M. Dossman, Jr., vice president of community affairs at Georgia Pacific Co., later this month will be installed as chairman of 100 Black Men of America Inc.

    More
  • IRS Asked to Investigate Texas Church That Called for Obama’s Defeat

    Americans United for Separation of Church and State has asked the IRS to investigate an El Paso, Texas, Roman Catholic church after an item in the church bulletin called for the defeat of President Barack Obama in November’s presidential election. St.

    More
  • Michelle Obama Will Address the CBC

    Michelle Obama Will Address the CBC WASHINGTON (TriceEdneyWire.com) – For the first time during his administration, President Barack Obama will not be the keynote speaker at the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation’s Annual Phoenix Awards Dinner this Saturday, an event that brings to a close the Congressional Black Caucus Annual Legislative Conference (CBC-ALC).

    More
  • President Obama Fails to Score a Touchdown With Convention Speech

    President Obama Fails to Score a Touchdown With Convention Speech by A. Peter Bailey (TriceEdneyWire.com) - To use a football analogy, during the Democratic National Convention, San Antonio Mayor Julian Castro, First Lady Michelle Obama, former President Bill Clinton and Vice President Joe Biden advanced the ball for President Obama to the ten yard-line.

    More
  • Double Whammy for African Americans

    Double Whammy for African Americans by Julianne Malveaux (TriceEdneyWire.com) - We have learned that African-American unemployment rates stayed level last month with an absurdly high official unemployment rate of 14.1 percent.

    More
  • The Poor Could Be Strong Swing Vote

    The Poor Could Be Strong Swing Vote by Rev. Jesse L. Jackson (TriceEdneyWire.com) - Nearly 50 million Americans now are in poverty. One in four children will grow up in an impoverished household. Redressing poverty is a national emergency and a moral imperative.

    More
  • Netanyahu’s “Red Line” Is Just a Red Herring

    Netanyahu’s “Red Line” Is Just a Red Herring by Wilmer J. Leon, III (TriceEdneyWire.com) - News sources have reported that Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu requested a meeting with President Obama to discuss tightening restrictions on Iran and that President Obama has rejected his request.

    More
  • The NorthStar’s Week in Black History

    The NorthStar’s Week in Black History September 20 through September 26 September 20 1943 ----- A German submarine, U-238, torpedoed the Frederick Douglass, a U. S. cargo ship, on this day.

    More
Voter Registration sign
Voter Registration

Pennsylvania Voter-ID Law Remanded to a Lower Court

by Frederick H. Lowe
The Pennsylvania Supreme Court on Tuesday vacated a lower-court decision, upholding the commonwealth’s restrictive voter Photo-ID law, in a case that easily could be called "The Pennsylvania bureaucracy strikes back."

Because the law does not meet PennDOT (Pennsylvania Department of Transportation) issuing guidelines, the law faces significant challenges from the bureaucracy, which could block its implementation. According to the law, PennDOT, through its driver's license stations, is required to issue Photo IDs that enable residents to vote.

In a 4-2 decision, the justices ordered the lower court to enjoin the law if it determines that PennDOT cannot issue enough photo-ID cards to residents who do not have one, but need an ID card to vote in November’s presidential election. Commonwealth Court Judge Robert Simpson was ordered to amend his decision by October 2 in the case titled Vivette Applewhite v. The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

The law requires PennDOT to issue Photo IDs for free to any registered voter after the individual completes and signs an application stating that he or she does not have a proof of identification, but needs one to vote under the new law.

PennDot, however, does not issue photo ID because someone signs an application. The process of getting an ID through PennDot is much more rigorous. In order to receive a state ID, PennDOT requires every applicant to present a birth certificate with a raised seal, a Social Security card and two forms of ID showing his or her current address.

“The reason why PennDOt will not implement the law as written is because the driver’s license equivalent is a secure form of identification, which may be used, for example, to board commercial aircraft,” the justices wrote.

Faced with a challenge from PennDOT and a legal challenge from organizations like the NAACP that want to enjoin the law, state agencies said they are working with the U.S. Department of State to approve a non-secure identification card that would be available through PennDOT offices.

That also could pose problems.

“Applicants for the Department of State card may be initially vetted through the rigorous application process for a secure PennDOT identification card before being considered for a Department of State card,” the justices wrote.

The justices said there is a disconnect between what the law prescribes and how it is being implemented. The court said it would return the matter to the Commonwealth Court so it can determine the availability of the photo ID cards.

“If the Commonwealth Court is still not convinced in its predictive judgment that there will be no voter disenfranchisement arising out the commonwealth’s implementation of the voter identification requirement for purposes of the upcoming election that court is obliged to enter a preliminary injunction,” the justices wrote.

But the decision angered two justices who charged that their colleagues were kicking the decisions down the road. A seventh justice did not participate in the hearing or court decision.

In her dissent Justice Debra McCloskey Todd said by remanding the decision back to the lower court, the Supreme Court is abdicating its duty to decide a legal controversy that is important to Pennsylvania citizens.

Penda Hair, co-director of the Advancement Project, one of the groups seeking to overturn the law, said the Pennsylvania Supreme Court took a big step in the right direction.

The law’s opponents said if implemented it would prevent more than 750,000 mostly black and elderly residents and college students from voting in the November presidential election.

The Republican-dominated legislature said it passed the law and Republican Gov. Tom Corbett signed the legislation to prevent voter fraud, although there has not been a single case of voter fraud in the state.

A Republican leader said the real purpose of the law is to deliver Pennsylvania’s 20 electoral votes to Mitt Romney, the Republican candidate for president. Pennsylvania is a key swing state in the upcoming election.

In recent Pennsylvania polls, President Barack Obama is leading Romney.

The Northstar News & Analysis, Inc.
Chicago, IL | 312.504.0223
Copyright © The Northstar News & Analysis, Inc.
Contact Us: info@TheNorthstarNews.com
Privacy Policy

My statusContact Us on Skype