By Dianne Anderson Now is not the time to get too comfortable with democracy or throw that ballot into the recycling bin. With Election Day a couple of weeks away, the clock is ticking for voters to fill in the bubbles, get to their nearest ballot drop box or Vote Center, or just hand their ...

By Stacy M. Brown NNPA Newswire Sr Natl Correspondent The latest FBI data on Monday, September 23, 2024, revealed a significant drop in national crime rates from 2022 to 2023, contradicting widespread public perception of a crime wave. According to the FBI’s annual “Summary of Crime in the Nation,” violent crime fell by 3%, while property ...

By Stacy M. Brown NNPA Newswire Sr Natl Correspondent The collateral consequences of a criminal conviction often amount to a lifelong disadvantage, particularly for African Americans. According to the Sentencing Project, in 2010, one in three (33%) African American adult men had a felony conviction on their record, compared to 13% of all adult men. ...

By Dianne Anderson Before Chief John Gutierrez got into law enforcement 32 years ago, police chiefs had only a few things to worry about, usually involving budgets, reducing or addressing crime that looked a lot different then than it does today. The list grows longer for himself and many other police chiefs in general. Since ...

By Ben Jealous Communities all across the country are facing public safety crises. Crime is rising in ways that leave many people feeling unsafe. At the same time, police violence and killings of unarmed civilians demonstrate that pouring more money into more-of-the-same policing is not the answer. Here’s some good news. There is a new ...

By Dianne Anderson A decades-long battle among civil rights groups across the nation to ban no knock warrants finally cleared an important hurdle locally in the city of Pomona, now opening the door wider for police accountability and public safety. Jeanette Ellis Royston, president of the Pomona Valley branch NAACP, said she got involved with ...

By Antonio‌ ‌Ray‌ ‌Harvey ‌California‌ ‌Black‌ ‌Media‌ Two Black lawmakers, Sen. Steve Bradford (D-Gardena) and Assemblymember Reggie Jones-Sawyer (D-Los Angeles), made history last month when they were both appointed Public Safety Committee chairpersons in their respective chambers of the California legislature. This is the first time in California history that two Black elected officials have ...

By Gail Berkley The Sun Reporter For Black Lives Matter co-founder Alicia Garza the global outpouring of protests and activism following the alleged murder of George Floyd while in Minneapolis police custody has been heartening and makes her hopeful for the future. At the same time, she said, “It’s bittersweet that it takes someone being ...

By Dianne Anderson As San Bernardino struggles to stave off the $11.2 million deficit, some hold out hope for what marijuana revenue could bring to the table. At his next meeting, Carlos Teran wants to get the marijuana commissioner to come out to address his neighborhood association member concerns. He wants to know more about ...

The City of Long Beach has received two grants from the Laura and John Arnold Foundation totaling up to $1 million to fund the Long Beach Justice Lab. The City launched a first-of-its-kind lab to provide new tools to first responders to divert residents in need out of the criminal justice system and toward resources ...