Roland S. Martin's Blog, page 680

LaHood Exhorts Lawmakers To Pass FAA Extension

Source: CNN Washington (CNN) — Mark DePlasco, one of the many furloughed Federal Aviation Administration employees, is financially devastated by the lack of a paycheck and is desperately trying to juggle his bills. His predicament has prompted Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood to prod vacationing American lawmakers to interrupt their breaks, get back to work and pass a temporary funding measure that would put thousands of FAA and airport construction workers back on the job. The Democratic-led Senate went on summer [...]

Bloomberg To Spend Millions Of His Money To Help Black, Latino Males

Source: Jason Kessler / CNN New York – New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg on Thursday announced the launch of a major policy initiative to aid the city's minority youth. The Young Men's Initiative is the "nation's most comprehensive effort to tackle disparities between young black and Latino males and their peers," a news release said. "We believe it is one of the most ambitious and comprehensive attacks on racial disparity … that any city has ever undertaken," Bloomberg said [...]

Haitian Homes Hammered By Tropical Storm Emily

Source: MSNBC Port-Au-Prince, Haiti — As hundreds of thousands in Haiti's capital waited to see if Tropical Storm Emily would worsen their already shattered lives, several hundred homes were damaged in the interior of the country on Thursday. The rain has been relatively light so far in Port-au-Prince, but the rural Artibonite region has seen damage, Marie Alta Jean-Baptiste, the head of Haiti's civil protection agency, told reporters. A cholera treatment center was among the structures hit. No deaths have been [...]

Mystery Firm Gives $1 Million To Pro-Romney PAC, Then Dissolves

Source: Michael Isikoff / MSNBC A mystery company that pumped $1 million into a political committee backing Mitt Romney has been dissolved just months after it was formed, leaving few clues as to who was behind one of the biggest contributions yet of the 2012 presidential campaign. The existence of the million-dollar donation — as gleaned from campaign and corporate records obtained by NBC News — provides a vivid example of how secret campaign cash is being funneled in ever [...]

Tennessee Schools Dispute Pits 'Haves' Against 'Have-Nots'

Source: Miranda Leitsinger / MSNBC Memphis, Tenn. – School districts around the nation are being buffeted by turmoil and uncertainty, but nowhere are those forces more powerful than in this Mississippi River city. At the heart of it, the turbulence is about dollars and cents and the quality of education. Fearing possible threats to its funding, the failing inner-city Memphis City Schools, with 209 schools and 108,000 students, decided to force a merger with its smaller, more affluent neighbor — [...]

Stock markets have terrible day; Dow drops 500 points

Source: MSNBC Worries about the state of the economy in the U.S. and around the world slammed stocks on Thursday, driving the Dow Jones industrial average to close down more than 500 points. It was the Dow's worst drop since October 2008. The Dow and the S&P 500 shed more than 4 percent; the Nasdaq more than 5 percent. All three major indexes are down more than 10 percent from their previous highs, putting them into correction territory. More than [...]

TJMS: Debt Ceiling Compromise Will Impact Grad Students; Saves Pell Grants For Undergraduates

Roland Martin talks with Amy Wilkins, Vice President of Government Affairs of The Education Trust about how the debt ceiling compromise will impact students.

Congress Reaches Deal To End FAA Shutdown

Source: Stephanie Condon / CBS News Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid announced Thursday that Congress has reached a deal to end the partial shutdown of the Federal Aviation Administration. "I am pleased to announce that we have been able to broker a bipartisan compromise between the House and the Senate to put 74,000 transportation and construction workers back to work," the Nevada Democrat said in a statement. "This agreement does not resolve the important differences that still remain. But I [...]

Gunman reported At Virginia Tech

Source: CNN Virginia Tech is in lockdown as authorities look for a man three youths said may have had a weapon, possibly a handgun. The white male was described as having light brown hair and being 6 feet tall and was walking in the direction of a volleyball court. The man was wearing a blue and white striped shirt, gray shorts and brown sandals. He had no glasses or facial hair, according to the report. To follow this topic visit [...]

HIV Infection Rates Mostly Stable, Increasing Among Young, Gay Black Men

Source: CNN The number of new HIV infections in the United States has remained steady, at around 50,000 cases a year over the past four years, according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention. The new data, published online Wednesday in the scientific journal PLoS ONE, show the largest increases were among bisexual men and men who have sex with men (MSM). Of that group, young, black men had what the agency called "alarming increases." "More than 30 years [...]