WSSN Stories

Tresunda De La Cruz (Photo Credit: Letha Coughlin)

By Lue Dowdy

(EMPIRE NEWS NETWORK (ENN)— Plus Size Model, Tresunda De La Cruz, is What it Do! No surprise that this plus size beauty was born in the state of California due to her shinning personality.

Newness is in the air as new comer Tresunda De La Cruz is making her way into the world of plus size modeling. She captured the attention of many as she took first place and the crown for LUE Productions 2nd Annual BBW/Plus Size Model Competition.

Being given inspiration from her family and iconic models such as Naomi Campbell, has allowed her to take a leap of faith into doing something different. The love for picture taking and fashion came naturally to this newly crowned Queen who claims to be shy. Getting involved in modeling has helped her to overcome shyness and step out of her comfort zone.

Currently, Tresunda is working with photographers building her portfolio. You’ll be seeing a lot more of this talented beauty. For booking please contact management at Lue.info@yahoo.com.

Until next week my IE peeps!

More about Plus Size Model, Tresunda De La Cruz:

Favorite Food: Japanese and Tacos

Favorite Song: “Quit Playing Games With My Heart” –Backstreet Boys

Favorite color: Green

Hobbies: Zumba and she is also a Barbie Collector

Describe yourself with 5 words: Confident, Encouraging, Loving, Honest, Sweet

(EMPIRE NEWS NETWORK (ENN)— SAN BERNARDINO, CA— On Sunday, September 9, Empire Talks Back (ETB) discussed emergency preparedness with guest Debra Williams of “Building Resilient Communities”. She discussed the “Arc of Safety”, the county wide organization of churches that is prepared to provide resources in emergency situations.  ETB is broadcast each Sunday AM at 10 a.m. on KCAA 1050-AM, 102.3 FM and 106.5 FM radio. The podcast of Sunday’s show is available by clicking the “Empire Talks Back” icon on the KCAA Weekly Schedule at http://www.kcaaradio.com.

Lou Coleman-Yeboah

By Lou Coleman-Yeboah

(EMPIRE NEWS NETWORK (ENN)— “A time to be born and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to uproot what is planted. A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to tear down, and a time to build up. A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance. A time to throw stones, and a time to gather stones; a time to embrace, and a time to shun embracing. A time to get, and a time to lose. A time to keep, and a time to throw away. A time to tear apart, and a time to sew together; a time to be silent, and a time to speak. A time to love, and a time to hate; a time for war, and a time for peace…” [Ecclesiastes 3:1-22].

With that being the case, Paul asks us to consider if there is anything in our lives we would regret not repenting of [1 Thessalonians 5:15] if so, then the time to repent will be now! According to the Bible, “the appointed time has grown very short” [1 Corinthians 7:29]. “The end of all things is at hand….” [1Peter 4:7]. Christ’s return is imminent and his timeline makes it urgent!

 I want you to know that the great themes of [Revelation] have already unfolded and the doors have been opened. The Kingdom has already been ushered in. The Bible says that the Tribulation will be ushered in by a great time of world peace, and the world is screaming for peace. Lawlessness, false religions, devil worship and apostasy are in the heyday and these are signs of the end.

I tell you today is a day of mercy and grace. God is gently calling out to those who are backslidden, those who have grown cold and those who need to make things right with Him. The first call of Jesus is of love and forgiveness. The second call is, “You make a move!” The Bible says, “Today if you hear His voice harden not your heart.” “Behold now is the accepted time, behold now is the day of salvation.” This is the time for you to get right with God and deal with this mercy. Tomorrow may be too late. “Seek ye the Lord while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near.” [Isaiah 55:6].

If you are caught unprepared when Christ returns, you will have no one but yourself to blame, because God’s Word has already given you such ample warning that you have really no excuse! Jesus has already informed us that His coming will take place unexpectedly, like a thief in the night. Please do not let that warning go unheeded. Act upon it now.

If there is anyone reading this who is still outside the Lord Jesus Christ, let me urge you not to delay. Jesus wants you to come to Him today. The Lord says ‘now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.’ [2 Corinthians 6:2]. Please do not keep putting off this important matter. “To everything there is a season and a time to every purpose in Heaven.”

(EMPIRE NEWS NETWORK (ENN)— SAN BERNARDINO, CA —- Every public school is charged with teaching the adopted standards, but as a free public charter school, Newman Leadership Academy has the flexibility in how they go about changing lives of their young scholars.  

Newman Leadership Academy, located in North San Bernardino, is breaking new ground with the use of technology in the classroom.  Intermediate students used technology as a tool for learning Reading, Writing and Math standards and they almost doubled their test scores.

Mr. Wierzbinski is the fourth, fifth and sixth grade teacher.  Yes, you read that right, and Newman parents are happy about it.  So, why would parents want their children in a multi-grade class, especially in the intermediate grades?   Well, there are several reasons, but the most important reason is that his students are succeeding.

Mr. Wierzbinski joined the Newman staff last year and served as the 5/6 grade teacher.  Ms. Dorner stated that she knew she wanted to hire him, even before the interview.  “He had glowing recommendations and his first Master’s Degree is in Educational Technology.”  

Ms Dorner stated, “All intermediate students’ academic abilities vary widely.  Any intermediate teacher will attest to that fact.  Intermediate students could be advanced, or above grade level, in some standards and below grade level in others.  We have found a way for students to be able to grow academically in both their strengths as well as their weaknesses.”  

Because of the natural varying academic abilities in the intermediate grades, Newman invested heavily in technology.  Every student has a Chrome book and instruction is differentiated through the use of Freckle (formally known as Front Row) technology. In a differentiated classroom, every student has the opportunity to work at their own instructional level in a way that is best for them to learn.   For example, students will all read the same article at their individual reading levels.  That is impossible to do with a typical grade level textbook. 

Using this technology allows even more differentiation for students.  They get to pick topics that are of interest to them.   Ms. Dorner stated, “Everyone gives more time, energy, and effort to topics they like.  This is true for adults as well as children.  I know this is stating the obvious, but reading levels go up the fastest for the children who read the most.”   

Students also get to choose how to explore a concept, either by watching a video series, reading articles, participating in a group discussion, or working on a research project.  If a student is stuck in math, they can receive instant support from instructional videos and a built-in peer tutoring component.  And finally, students get to differentiate how they show what they know and how well they understand the materials.    

Ms. Dorner shared that another huge reason why Newman students are successful is our small class sizes in every grade level.  

“Small class sizes allow teachers to give each child the individual attention they need and deserve.  Many of our students have made more than a year’s growth in a school year.

That is huge and is what is needed for our students who are below grade level on one or more standards.”  Mrs. Dominica Jackson, the parent of a Kindergartner and 5th grade student stated, “Newman is like a private school without the cost.  It is meeting both of my girls’ needs.” 

Another key factor in our success is in how we celebrate and accept errors by acknowledging the part of the answer students got right and stating the missing or incorrect part of the answer.  The Newman staff has worked hard to instill a positive culture that nurtures and rewards learners for making attempts. 

“So many of our students were afraid to give a wrong answer.  Some would rather stay quiet and not even attempt to answer a question.”   We ‘celebrate’ errors because it gives the teacher information as to exactly what a student does and doesn’t understand.   Mr. Wierzbinski tells his students, “An error means that you are one step closer to success.”

Newman Leadership Academy is located on 1314 E. Date Street on the Ecclesia Christian Fellowship property.  Newman is enrolling students TK through 6th grade.  Newman offers a full-day kindergarten and a free after-school program.  Come and visit and see what Newman Leadership Academy has to offer. 

(EMPIRE NEWS NETWORK (ENN)—- SACRAMENTO, CA—- On Thursday, September 6, Governor Brown signed AB 2568 by Assemblymember Eloise Gómez Reyes (D-San Bernardino), a bill that requires county jails to determine a veteran’s status or previous military service when they are processed after an arrest.

The change in processing at jails will connect veterans to Veteran Treatment Courts and other services at the soonest available time. Veteran Treatment Courts are a means of diversion for veterans entering into the criminal justice system and to avoid unnecessary incarceration of Veterans who have developed PTSD and other mental health issues as a result of their service. Veteran Treatment Courts lead to the treatment and counseling for many mentally ill offenders who are veterans of the U.S. military, including those with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, Traumatic Brain Injuries, Military Sexual Trauma, substance abuse, or other mental health problems.

“California has the greatest concentration of veterans in the country and as such, we have a greater duty to serve those who have served our country,” said Assemblymember Reyes. “By inquiring about veteran-designation and military service, we can connect veterans much sooner with required medical treatments and services and potentially find alternative sentencing options that will not require incarceration. We have an extensive network of Veteran Treatment Courts and we will now ensure that our Veterans avail themselves of this option.”

Upon being elected, Assemblymember Reyes formed a Veterans Advisory Committee to discuss the needs of Veterans in the District and throughout California. The committee typically meets quarterly to share their concerns with Assemblymember Reyes.

“During our Veterans Advisory meeting we shared the stories of our veterans who were not given the opportunity to go through Veterans Court. It was wrong. Assemblymember Reyes listened to us and introduced a bill to fix the problem,” said Danny Morales.

Danny Marquez, also a member of the Veteran Advisory Committee was elated to hear of the Governor’s signature on AB 2568.

“From day one Assemblymember Reyes encouraged our Veterans committee to bring forward the most relevant issues and solutions for veterans and their families. She understood the answers were within those who serve the needs of veterans on a daily basis! As a veteran who has worked with our local veterans, I am so glad to know they will be protected. I’m grateful to Assemblymember Reyes for listening to us, believing there was a solution, and acting on it!”

There are currently 33 Veteran Treatment Courts located in 29 different counties throughout the state of California with Los Angeles and Santa Barbara Counties each having two. Five counties have alternative veteran treatment courts: Amador, Kern, Nevada, Santa Cruz, and Trinity. For more information on AB 2568 or to follow it through the legislative process, click here.

(EMPIRE NEWS NETWORK (ENN)— SAN BERNARDINO, CA— As the trustee representing Area D of the San Bernardino County Board of Education, Hardy Brown II is running for a second term on the board with goals to continue to build an Inland Empire regional conversation on education, inspire all students in San Bernardino County to master the top skills needed to compete in the 21st Century and graduate well prepared students as they contribute to local, state, national and global communities.

“My goal as your trustee is to continue supporting over 400,000 students in San Bernardino County, as the Vice President of the County Board of Education, Area D covers the cities of Highland, San Bernardino (San Bernardino Unified School District), Rialto (Rialto Unified School District), Wrightwood, Phelan, Pinon Hills and Oak Hills (Snowline Joint Unified School District),” Brown stated.

Brown continues, “It has been an honor to be a part of the “Operation Recognition Veterans Diploma Project”, to support the heroes of San Bernardino County. During times of war, thousands of young men and women across this country left high school and the comforts of home to serve gallantly in the armed forces.”

Hardy Brown II with his wife (far left) and his daughters (middle)

“Their sacrifices ensured our freedom and shaped the course of history throughout the world. After the wars ended, many of these veterans were not able to finish high school for various reasons but led productive lives and helped build our communities. Offered in partnership with the San Bernardino County Superintendent of Schools and the county’s Department of Veterans Affairs, we recognize veterans from World War II, the Korean War and Vietnam War. This event is for veterans or family members of those who are deceased, awarding high school diplomas to those who met the qualifications.”

“I was also humbled that the regionally recognized District Student Advisory Committee (comprised of 24 middle and highs school students) in the Rialto Unified School District selected me as one of their mentors/leaders who advocates for them.”

“I have consistently worked with thousands of students, introducing them to college and career opportunities including college acceptance and scholarships at the annual college fair. I have worked with education leaders in both San Bernardino and Riverside counties on increasing graduation rates and lowering suspensions among our most affected communities and led the San Bernardino County Board of Education efforts to study best practices of effective teachers that have been successful in teaching African American students. This effort produced the African American Task Force, the first of its kind in San Bernardino County,” he said.

Brown has over 22 years’ experience in Social Impact, Community Relations, Fundraising, College Career Development and solicitation of major gifts for multiple national and regional organizations. He serves as the Board Chair of the Black Voice Foundation where he manages all programming, including an annual Footsteps to Freedom Underground Railroad Tour for educators. And has led conversations on empathy and history with hundreds of teachers and thousands of students where learners gain knowledge and expertise of freedom movements. Hardy himself is a lifelong learner. He continues to research and acquire thousands of historical artifacts in order to promote the importance of empathy through history.

An alumnus of the nation’s first HBCU, Wilberforce University, Brown recently returned to school after 24 years to complete his Master of Arts degree from Claremont Lincoln University. One of Brown’s goals was to teach young scholars, including his daughters, that it is okay to find your passion.

Brown has volunteered his time as a board member for the Girl Scouts, United Way, the Legislative Committee for the California School Board Association, and serves on the Board of Advisors for Executive Education at Howard University in Washington D.C.  Brown has been a diversity columnist for the National Association of Colleges and Employers and the Black Voice Newspaper and is also a member of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity.  

Hardy has been married to his wife Sonietta for 22 years, and together they have two daughters, Peyton, 10-year-old dancer and scholar and Jordan, a Senior History Major at Spelman College in Atlanta, Ga.

Hardy Brown for San Bernardino County Board of Education #1368845

Lue Dowdy

By Lue Dowdy

(EMPIRE NEWS NETWORK (ENN)— Entertainment Services in the I.E. is what it do! Do you need entertainment or assistance at your next event? Well, look no further because LUE Productions got you!

We pride ourselves in offering quality entertainment at affordable rates. We also provide platforms for aspiring artists and models. Contact us today for your free consultation. Allow one of our REPS to get you going in the right direction.

We offer the following services: Promotion (Get more Exposure), let us help get the word out about your project through social media and other platforms; Management (Models, Artists, Comedians, Actors), let us help take the pressure off. Team Work Makes the Dream Work; Event Coordination & Production (We can assist or take the reins), let us plan your next community, private or corporate event; Variety Shows (Bringing the entertainment directly to you), our shows are provided with professionals that are unique and talented. Each individual is handpicked by our company. You’re able to select your own line up, or our team of experts will put together a show that caters to your needs. Each show comes with a show host.

For more information please text us (909) 567-1000 or email us at Lue.info@yahoo.com.

By Erica Chayes Wida

Spanish moss draped over St Helena Island, South Carolina, as Elting Buster Smalls and his children hummed down the earthen path in their 1960s station wagon. It was the summer of 1974, and the harvest from the Smalls’ 20-acre farm – passed down since the late-1800s through their family of newly freed enslaved and runaway West Africans – was bountiful. Smalls and his children packed baskets of fresh honeydew, peanuts and sugar cane, and fish they’d caught in the river, to drop on the porches of local elders who were no longer able to work the land.

But today, nearly 50 years after Elting first taught his young daughter Victoria Smalls about the traditions integral to their identity, many Gullah Geechee can no longer work the land, as the land – and thereby the Gullah Geechee way of life – is being rattled by climate change.

Victoria, the 13th of Elting and his wife Laura’s 14 children, grew up Gullah – a word she didn’t actually learn until after college in the early 1990s. (Colloquially, Gullah distinguishes whether a Gullah Geechee individual lives north of the Savannah River, while those south of it are referred to as Geechee.) For Victoria, Gullah Geechee wasn’t the mystic, isolated culture of inherited Africanisms and Southern landscapes that had become of interest to 21st-Century academics, tourists and hungry land developers.

“It was just our way of life,” said Victoria, who later moved from St Helena to Charleston, South Carolina, to work on the International African American Museum, which, when it opens in 2020, will illuminate South Carolina’s global historical significance and show the role enslaved Africans and free blacks had in shaping the US.

The Gullah Geechee are descendants of Central and West Africans who are believed to have been trafficked into what is known as the Low Country for their expertise in coastal rice farming and irrigation systems. After the American Civil War ended in 1865, Union General William T Sherman established Special Field Order 15, which designated 400,000 acres of land along the coastline of the Southern US, from South Carolina to Florida, to newly freed black families in parcels of roughly 40 acres each. The isolated geography, which is spread out over 12,000 sq miles known as the Gullah Geechee Corridor, created insulated coastal and island communities, most of which were at least 90% black, with well-preserved cultural traditions.

Gullah Geechee religion incorporates Christianity with African belief systems, much of which was reflected in the lessons Victoria was taught as a child. Respect for nature, as well as elders and community, was sacred. African crafts were passed down for necessity, like cast nets and flat-bottomed boats known as ‘bateau boats’, which Victoria said are based off the West African dugout and redesigned to easily navigate shallow shores and waterways. The craft of sewing pieces of cloth into large, colorful patterns was combined with European quilting to become a creole art form that also allowed Gullah Geechee women to sit and socialize.

The Gullah Geechee are descendants of freed African slaves who inhabited coastal lands in the Southern US (Credit: Gado Images/Alamy)

“We didn’t have a bridge on [St Helena] until 1939. The island was like an incubator for the culture, the language. You don’t hear it now, but when I was growing up I had a very thick accent,” Victoria said.

The Gullah Geechee Cultural Heritage Corridor, which strives to preserve the Gullah Geechee sites and stories, describes the Gullah Geechee language as a creole dialect that sprung from the linguistic influences of “European slave traders, slave owners and diverse African ethnic groups”.

“Beaufort was only 7 miles away, and when I was four, five, up to 10 years old, people would laugh at me in Beaufort, even the blacks who were still Gullah Geechee people,” Victoria said. “The nurturing you received on St Helena Island was so wonderful that the language and the way of life and working the land, farming, living off the water and living in tight-knit communities – it was so different than that just 7 miles inland on the mainland.”

The Gullah Geechee Corridor’s isolated geography created insulated coastal and island communities (Credit: David Lyons/Alamy)

Today, the pejorative perception of the Gullah Geechee being uneducated or backcountry has shifted to one in which the identity is celebrated, both by academics and those who grew up in the culture. Yet the Gullah Geechee ways are slipping away.

According to Dr Albert George II, director of conservation at the South Carolina Aquarium who was raised Gullah Geechee, individuals residing in the more isolated communities such as St Helena still subsist on their own agriculture, sourcing food from their farms and gardens and fish from the waterways rather than going to the grocery store. But due to environmental changes, such as rising sea levels and salt water erosion, connecting to the earth through food is becoming a complicated feat.

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By Lou Coleman-Yeboah

(EMPIRE NEWS NETWORK (ENN)— “Blow the trumpet and warn the people. Say unto them, as I live, saith the Lord, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked: but rather that the wicked should turn from their ways and live. Turn! Turn from your evil ways! For why should you die?” [Ezekiel 33:11]. Judgment is about to come to the earth like never before. The storm is about to break in all of its fury. Repent, and turn from all your transgressions, so that iniquity will not be your ruin. [Luke 13:3].

“For if you go on sinning willfully after receiving the knowledge of the truth there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins.” There will be no salvation. If you reject Christ, there’s no way to be saved. [Hebrews 10:26]. That’s what the writer is saying. There is no other sacrifice, there is no other provision. All you have then is a “certain terrifying expectation of judgment.” This is described as the fury of a fire which will consume the adversaries, the fiery furious judgment of hell where the worm dies not, the fire is not quenched, blackness and darkness forever, weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth in eternal torment. Repent while it is still day!

The Lord clearly points out that the time is short and what is about to come to pass in the fulfillment of His prophecy. He says, as He slew the first-born of Egypt from the Pharaoh to the cattle, so it will be to those that refuse to turn from their evil and wicked ways and seek his gift of salvation.

The warning to repent has been given! 

“I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live…” [Deuteronomy 30:19]

“Now the seven angels who had the seven trumpets prepared to blow them. The first angel blew his trumpet, and there followed hail and fire, mixed with blood, and these were thrown upon the earth. And a third of the earth was burned up, and a third of the trees were burned up, and all green grass was burned up. The second angel blew his trumpet, and something like a great mountain, burning with fire, was thrown into the sea, and a third of the sea became blood. A third of the living creatures in the sea died, and a third of the ships were destroyed. The third angel blew his trumpet, and a great star fell from heaven, blazing like a torch, and it fell on a third of the rivers and on the springs of water… the fourth angel blew his trumpet, and a third of the sun was struck, and a third of the moon, and a third of the stars, so that a third of their light might be darkened, and a third of the day might be kept from shining, and likewise a third of the night. Then I looked, and I heard an eagle crying with a loud voice as it flew directly overhead, “Woe, woe, woe to those who dwell on the earth, at the blasts of the other trumpets that the three angels are about to blow!” Then the fifth angel sounded: And I saw a star fallen from heaven to the earth. To him was given the key to the bottomless pit. And he opened the bottomless pit, and smoke arose out of the pit like the smoke of a great furnace. So the sun and the air were darkened because of the smoke of the pit. Then out of the smoke locusts came upon the earth. The sixth angel sounded: demonic army of horsemen released to kill a third of mankind…But in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he shall begin to sound, the mystery of God should be finished, as he hath declared to his servants the prophets.”

 “The one who hears you hears me, and the one who rejects you rejects me, and the one who rejects me rejects him who sent me.” [Luke 10: 1-16]

By James Ramos, San Bernardino County Supervisor, Third District

(EMPIRE NEWS NETWORK (ENN)—- “Let us think of education as the means of developing our greatest abilities, because in each of us there is a private hope and dream which, fulfilled, can be translated into benefit for everyone and greater strength for our Nation,” John F. Kennedy, 1961.

The Cradle to Career approach that the County of San Bernardino developed with other community leaders is a collective impact methodology that begins with a strong developmental foundation for our young children and follows them through their educational years to give them the best opportunity for a college education while giving them the skills for a career beyond their degree.

I have been a strong supporter of the Cradle to Career initiative since its inception and am proud to announce that because of the strong partnerships we have and the community’s involvement, the Countywide Vision Cradle to Career program has even greater opportunities for our students.  

Generation Go! is San Bernardino County’s Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) youth program.  The Workforce Development Board is partnering with the K-12 and the community college system to provide work-based learning for students in career pathways.  Students will co-enroll in a community college work experience class while completing an internship after they take a non-credit work readiness class that teaches the soft skills they need. 

This allows students to graduate high school with some work experience and college credit, and in some cases, with industry recognized credentials.  It is my pleasure to announce that 14 students from Cajon High School and 12 students from San Andreas and Sierra High School completed internships at Arrowhead Regional Medical Center and were placed with positions with private employers.

Another 280 students from the San Bernardino and Colton school districts completed the work readiness class over the past few months.  These students will be placed in internships that will be completed during the spring semester. 

As John F. Kennedy believed, education is the key to a stronger future for our communities, our businesses and our nation.