Free Republic

The 1,100-page report identifies ways to calculate monetary reparations to redress “how enslavement and its enduring legacy of systemic racism cemented structural inequality.” SACRAMENTO, Calif. — California’s highly anticipated reparations report, released Thursday, outlines how Black Californians can receive monetary compensation for the harms of slavery and systemic racism. The task force proposed more than 100 statewide policies to address generations of discrimination and racial disparities. Still, the report does not issue a concrete dollar amount owed to people "who are able to demonstrate that they are the descendant of either an enslaved African American in the United States, or...

CHICAGO (WLS) -- The Memorial Day weekend marks the first major test for Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson. Memorial Day weekend last year was filled with violence with nearly 50 people shot. This year with a new leader in place, Mayor Brandon Johnson has a new plan in place, vowing it will be different this year. Johnson said a $2.5 million investment from the Partnership for Safe and Peaceful Communities' eighth annual Chicago Fund is part of the plan. The public-private partnership will support violence prevention and youth outreach efforts across the city by funding the work of 253 grassroots organizations...

The NBA has instructed teams to be vigilant about the impact of a potential verdict this week in the Derek Chauvin trial for the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis, including the possibility of game postponements, sources told ESPN. The looming specter of possible protests, civil unrest and team reactions in the aftermath of a verdict has the league office preparing for the prospect that a night or two of league games could be postponed this week, sources said. Closing arguments are expected Monday in the case against Chauvin, the former Minneapolis police officer who faces charges of second-degree murder,...

In their effort to break the mold, the planners of the Obama Presidential Center in Chicago are taking heat for some less-than-lofty features in the sprawling complex. Namely, a “test kitchen.” Reports first surfaced last fall that the monument to the first black president’s legacy was taking on an activity-center vibe. There would be a museum – but also a basketball court, possibly a room for yoga classes, and a test kitchen to teach visitors “about the full production cycle of nutritious food.”

Sade Alvarez-Gibson, 15, raps into a studio microphone in a makeshift booth made of blankets, while Oladele Kiambu, 17, records: “Keeping my mind focused / I’m controlling my reality / My grind’s an everyday thing / It’s something that I do casually,” she raps. Just feet away, Kamal Muhammad — wearing headphones and a face full of determination — sits in front of a computer monitor, rhythmically tapping on a keyboard, eliciting sounds of a synth and a drum kick. “This is my first time making a beat,” the 12-year-old said proudly. All three are hoping to break into the...

Report: Chicago To Fight Gun Violence With Letters Chicago police are going to hand deliver letters to people suspected of committing or being victims of gun crimes in an effort to stem violence in the city, according to a new report. Starting Friday, a district commander will be delivering letters warning certain targets in that district not to commit violent crimes, the Chicago Sun-Times reports. The pilot program is targeting individuals off a “heat list” developed by a Yale professor, who studied murders on Chicago’s West Side between 2005 and 2010 and found a small network of people was responsible...

WEST ALLIS - Witnesses tell Newsradio 620 WTMJ and TODAY'S TMJ4 of a mob of young people attacking innocent fair-goers at the end of the opening night of State Fair, with some callers claiming a racially-charged scene. Milwaukee Police confirmed there were assaults outside the fair. Witnesses' accounts claim everything from dozens to hundreds of young black people beating white people as they left State Fair Thursday night. "It looked like they were just going after white guys, white people," said Norb Roffers of Wind Lake in an interview with Newsradio 620 WTMJ. He left the State Fair Entrance near...

The Middle East is afire with rebellion, Japan is imploding from an earthquake, and the battle of the budget is on in the United States, but none of this seems to be deterring President Obama from a heavy schedule of childish distractions. The newly installed tandem of White House Chief of Staff William Daley and Senior Adviser David Plouffe were supposed to impart a new sense of discipline and purpose to the White House. Instead, they are permitting him to showcase himself as a poorly focused leader who has his priorities backward. This morning, as Japan’s nuclear crisis enters a...

Luis Gutierrez is sounding like a human kazoo, demonstrating what he calls the "evilbuster breath." As the speaker's hands tent his nose and he exhales in a loud hum, few of the two dozen freshmen at Overfelt High in San Jose are smirking or rolling their eyes. After the students try this newest yoga technique and report vibrations in their noses, throats and brains, Gutierrez explains the breathing will help calm their nerves

U.S. attorney says business could help cut murder rate, hire teens as interns U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald stood before a room packed with business officials Thursday and asked them to do something they probably have never considered: Hire felons Not exactly the kind of request you'd expect from the area's top federal law enforcement official, who's better known for locking up criminals. But Fitzgerald told the audience that while law enforcement targets the worst of the worst, the community needs to get more involved -- especially the business community -- to help drive down murder numbers and keep kids out...

<p>FORMER PRESIDENT BILL CLINTON ON NOT CAPTURING BIN LADEN: 'At least I tried. That's the difference between me and some, including all the right wingers. They ridicule me for trying. They had eight months to try, they did not try. I tried. So I tried and failed'...</p>

Family photos line the walls of Raynard Brown's tidy Orange home. A good home, his mother calls it, with two working parents who believed in the value of education and the power of after-school activities to keep kids from hunting down trouble. But Cynthia Brown found she couldn't compete with another, more seductive influence in her son's life, not when it grabbed him up so young, molding his behavior since the age of 11. That's when Raynard Brown first came home wearing the signature colors of the Bloods street gang. Over the next eight years, Brown rose to the rank...

Two men and two teens were charged in connection with a weeklong vandalism spree during which cinder blocks were thrown into at least 114 vehicles in Palm Bay and Melbourne. Madison Warren and David Raulerson, both 18, and two teenage boys were charged with felony criminal mischief in connection with the damage, said Yvonne Martinez, Palm Bay police spokeswoman. Local6.com is not identifying the boys because they're 17 and 16 years old. Martinez said some of the suspects told officers that they did it because they were bored. "Believe it or not they were picked up yesterday and some confessed,"...

Note: I had never heard this song before, but when I searched for something with "midnight," this MIDI popped up. Hey, it had midnight in it, I liked the tune, so I took a shot. Does anyone have the original lyrics? MIDI - MIDNIGHTLa...la la la la la la la...la...la la la la la la la la As we watch our nation burning down, we are shouting out sacre bleu We are feeling very helpless now...we don't know what we should do America has faced this...yes, they have been down this road before We have gotten a suggestion, here is...

  Charlotte HillTribuneTribune reporter Jeremy Fowler's three-part series will explore how Albuquerque high schools are working to provide tougher checks for male coaches, how female players are being protected, and what exactly is appropriate between coaches and players. Dan Simmons will win you a basketball game. Hire him and he produces - just as he did with the Rio Grande High School girls program, which he molded from a 1-23 squad in 1991-92 to a state champion by 1998. "He was the type of coach who built rapport with his players," said Pete Pino, now Rio Grande's athletics director...