By Quinci LeGardye California Black Media     Inmate firefighting crews, made up of more than 2,000 inmate firefighters per year, have helped extinguish many of the biggest wildfires in California.     However, once they’re released, they cannot serve in that profession under current law because of their criminal records.     Now, AB 2147, a law that would lift that ...

by Antonio Ray Harvey California Black Media Last week, reacting to the violent death of George Floyd, an unarmed African American man in Minnesota, California Assemblymember Mike A. Gipson (D-Carson) introduced a new bill. The legislation, AB 1196, bans law enforcement officers in the state from using carotid artery restraints to subdue and detain suspects. ...

Also Includes Clyburn Effort to Expand Community Health Centers Washington, D.C. – U.S. House Majority Whip James E. Clyburn hailed House passage of H.R. 3, the Elijah E. Cummings Lower Drug Costs Now Act. This landmark legislation gives Medicare the power to negotiate directly with drug companies and extends those lower prices to Americans with private ...

Community colleges statewide are moving on new legislation that aims to get students through their coursework more efficiently, graduated, and onto career paths faster than ever before. Under the newly implemented legislation, procedures are changing this fall to serve more students entering community college with access credit for “transfer-level” courses in math and English, reducing ...

By Tanu Henry California Black Media “My cellulitis has become so chronic, if I get scratched, cut, pinched or burned, I’ll have to be admitted to the hospital,” says Angela Agbasi, 64, a Cancer survivor and Los Angeles single mom who drives Lyft and Uber about 30 hours a week to supplement her Social Security ...

Assemblymember Eloise Gómez Reyes (D-San Bernardino) held a press conference to highlight Assembly Bill 1510 which will give victims of sexual assault occurring at a student health center an additional year to file their civil claims. Last year, a series of articles revealed the 30-year history of gynecologist, Dr. George Tyndall’s acts of sexual assaults ...

By Antonio Ray Harvey California Black Media The California Act to Save Lives, AB 392, cleared its first hurdle at the State Capitol. The Assembly Public Safety Committee voted 5-2 in favor of the legislation which is now headed to the Rules Committee for review. Authored by Assemblymember Shirley Weber (D-San Diego), the legislation aims to restrict ...

By Stacy M. Brown NNPA Newswire Correspondent Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton is a living legend with more than 50 honorary degrees and a list of accomplishments the size of her beloved District of Columbia. One of the ways that Norton remains updated through her book club. “I think the book that I enjoy is ‘On ...

By Dianne Anderson If SB 1156 passes, local kidney transplant recipient Philip Silva fears that patients like himself, suffering kidney disease and over a decade on dialysis, risk getting pushed off their insurance or losing their homes in the process. On the surface, he said SB 1156 (Connie Leyva, D-Chino) almost sounds good. “But it ...