Roland S. Martin's Blog, page 679

5 Officers Convicted In Post-Katrina Shootings

Source: AP / CBS News NEW ORLEANS – A federal jury on Friday convicted five current or former police officers in the deadly shootings on a New Orleans bridge after Hurricane Katrina. All five officers were convicted of charges stemming from the cover-up of the shootings. The four who had been charged with civil rights violations in the shootings were convicted on all counts. However, the jury didn't find that Brisette or Faulcon's shootings amounted to murder. Prosecutors contended during [...]

ABC News: Govt Official – US Expecting S&P Downgrade

Source: Jake Tapper / ABC News A government official tells ABC News that the federal government is expecting and preparing for bond rating agency Standard & Poor's to downgrade the rating of US debt from its current AAA value. Officials reasons given will be the political confusion surrounding the process of raising the debt ceiling, and lack of confidence that the political system will be able to agree to more deficit reduction. A source says Republicans saying that they refuse [...]

Fox Nation Reporting On President Obama's Birthday: 'Obama's Hip-Hop BBQ Didn't Create Jobs'

Source: Elizabeth Flock / The Washington Post Fox News's news-aggregation Web site, Fox Nation, made an odd and many say "race-baiting" editorial decision Friday when it splashed a story about Obama's birthday over its homepage with the headline "Obama's Hip-Hop BBQ Didn't Create Jobs" and a photo of Obama next to three black celebrities who attended. The report, which aggregated a Politico story, goes on to detail the menu, guests and R&B, jazz, hip-hop and Motown performances at the event. [...]

GOP's Birthday Message To President Obama (VIDEO)

A panel weighs in on a birthday card sent to Obama from the GOP citing 50 things for him to ponder on his 50th birthday. WATCH:

Postal Service Reports $3.1 Billion In Losses

Source: The Washington Post Despite continued cost-cutting efforts that include a reduction of 7,500 administrative positions, the U.S. Postal Service lost $3.1 billion in the third quarter of the fiscal year as mail volume continued to plunge. Postal officials said Friday that they will be forced to default on payments to the federal government by fall if Congress does not act. The loss for the quarter that ended June 30 narrowed from $3.5 billion during the same period in fiscal [...]

July Jobs Report: Employers Added 117,000 Jobs

Source: Chris Isidore / CNN Money New York – The job market strengthened in July, a welcome piece of good news that sharply contrasted other recent readings pointing toward an economic slowdown. Employers added 117,000 jobs last month, well above the 46,000 jobs added in June, and easily topping the 75,000 gain predicted by economists surveyed by CNNMoney. Weak job reports for both May and June were revised higher, adding a combined 56,000 jobs for the year. Businesses were busy [...]

USDA Suspected Maker Of Tainted Turkey Two Weeks Ago

Source: JoNel Aleccia / MSNBC U.S. Department of Agriculture officials suspected as early as July 18 that samples of ground turkey tied to nationwide salmonella infections came from meat giant Cargill Inc., but it took two weeks to gather enough information to urge a recall, an expert said Thursday. "We need to be sure everything has lined up in a way that we're convinced," said Dr. David Goldman, assistant administrator for the Office of Public Health Science for the Agriculture [...]

Tiger Woods Returns With 2 Under

Source: Bob Harig / ESPN Akron, Ohio – You would be nit-picking to find fault with Tiger Woods' competitive return to golf, a 2-under-par 68 on Thursday at Firestone Country Club that saw him walk without a limp and hit shots with authority that surprised even himself. Woods made his first appearance on the PGA Tour since he withdrew from the Players Championship on May 12 with knee and Achilles injuries that he first suffered at the Masters. "The amount of [...]

U.S.: 29,000 Somali Kids Have Died In Last 90 Days

Source: AP / CBS News Nairobi, Kenya – A U.S. official says the famine in Somalia has killed more than 29,000 children under the age of 5. The United Nations has said that tens of thousands of people have died in the Horn of Africa's drought and famine, but the U.S. estimate is the first precise death toll offered in the crisis. Nancy Lindborg, an official with the U.S. government aid arm, told a congressional committee in Washington on Wednesday [...]

Wall St Slide Continues; Dow Down More Than 300

Source: CBS News New York – Stocks are plunging in another broad sell-off as investors grow concerned about an economic slowdown in the U.S. and Europe. The Dow Jones industrial average was down more than nearly 350 points, erasing all of its gains this year. The index is now down more than 1,000 points from July 21. The Standard & Poor's 500 index sank more than 3 percent, bringing it more than 10 percent below its recent high of 1,363 [...]