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Realtors to confront mortgage meltdown

(FinalCall.com) - At a time when one in five Black homeowners is projected to lose a residence due to foreclosure, Black realtors will try to help straighten out the U.S. mortgage mess when their trade association convenes for its 61st Annual Convention in Memphis. “The passage of the new housing bill was supposed to help. A lot of...

Policy change gives LAPD chief more power

CHARLENEM LOS ANGELES (FinalCall.com) - The Los Angeles Police Department Board of Commissioners unanimously approved a new policy July 22 that mandates more training for officers involved in deadly use of force incidents and grants the police chief more oversight of when, why and how to discipline officers involved in shootings. LAPD Commander Richard Webb explained during a Commissioner’s Special Meeting...

Respect My Vote goes after out-of-college youth

WASHINGTON (FinalCall.com) - The Hip Hop Caucus brought its message of voter empowerment to the youth of the nation’s capital July 28, with the Respect My Vote campaign targeting 18-to-29-year-olds. “Ninety three percent of young voters outside of college didn’t vote on Super Tuesday. That’s a huge amount of people who didn’t vote,” explained Hip Hop Caucus president Rev....

Will stiff sentences stop body parts sales?

NEW YORK (FinalCall.com) - The mastermind behind a multi-million dollar illegal body parts scheme, Michael Mastromarino, was finally sentenced in late July. He received 54 years behind bars on June 27. His two partners in crime will go to jail for 27 and 20 years, but there is a question on whether these stiff sentences will deter others. Shawn Stradford,...

Police checkpoints return to D.C. neighborhood

WASHINGTON (FinalCall.com) - While police checkpoints went back up in the Trinidad area of the city, community groups are eagerly seeking alternatives to help stem violence used to justify the law enforcement crackdown. Police Chief Cathy Lanier reinstituted the Neighborhood Safety Zones. “Extending the checkpoints sends a clear message my officers will saturate the Trinidad neighborhood to keep the residents...

Muslims condemn Post’s ‘Jihad Train’ smear

NEW YORK (FinalCall.com) - The New York Post on July 21 ran a front page headline claiming that a popular Brooklyn imam was a supporter of terrorism. The story was related to an ad campaign which is slated to begin in September to coincide with the Islamic holy month of Ramadan. However, the newspaper ran a photo of Imam Siraj Wahhaj...

Police shooting raises questions on review process

CHARLENEM INGLEWOOD, Calif. (FinalCall.com) - Officer Brian Ragan of the Inglewood Police Department was already under investigation for the shooting death of an unarmed man in May when he fatally shot a 38-year-old postal employee at his home on July 21. Family members and friends told The Final Call that at about 12:30 a.m., Kevin Wicks was in his home, minding...

Non-profit ‘blacklist’ unfair, arbitrary, groups say

NEW YORK (IPS/GIN) - In the name of “global war on terror,” the U.S. government is waging war on non-governmental organizations by applying “shortsighted, undemocratic policies” that are “constraining the critical activities of the charitable and philanthropic sectors, stifling free speech, and ultimately impeding the fight against terrorism.” This is the conclusion of a new white paper prepared...

ACLU leads legal challenge against new spying law

NEW YORK - Civil liberties advocates have already asked a federal court to stop the government from conducting surveillance under the new wiretapping law passed by Congress and signed by President George W. Bush. The American Civil Liberties Union and a coalition of other groups declared that the new law “gives the Bush administration virtually unchecked power to intercept...

Prank or police intimidation?

Doll head on police car angers Harlem residents who see sign of hatred, racism NEW YORK (FinalCall.com) - The head of a Black doll displayed on the antenna of an unmarked police car driven by two White officers while on patrol sparked accusations of racial insensitivity by police in Harlem. Residents, politicians and the NAACP held a July 24 rally...