WSSN Stories

By Debbie Forté 

What is probate? Probate is the legal process whereby a will is “proved” in a court and accepted as a valid public document that is the true last testament of the deceased.  A probate also officially appoints the executor (or personal representative), generally named in the will, as having legal power to dispose of the testator’s assets in the manner specified in the testator’s will. However, through the probate process, a will may be contested.The probate process includes: proving in court that a deceased person’s will is valid (usually a routine matter); identifying and inventorying the deceased person’s property; having the property appraised; and/or paying debts and taxes

What is a transfer on death deed (TOD) and who can use it? The new Transfer on Death Deed (or Beneficiary Deed) is an easy and inexpensive way to bypass probate court when you leave real estate without a Trust or a Will.  It’s like a regular deed used to transfer real estate to your beneficiaries, with a crucial difference: It doesn’t take effect until your death. When you die, your real property is automatically transferred to your beneficiaries.  All states do not allow this but California is one that does.

What is an estate; and what happens to it if i don’t have a will or trust? An “Estate” is simply the legal term used to describe all of your assets and tangible items you own.  This includes: Your home and any real property you own; Furniture and furnishings; Clothing, jewelry and personal items; Car, Boat, Motorcycle; Bank and savings accounts; Retirement and pension funds; Stock, Bonds and IRA’s; and/or Interest in a business.

By Lue Dowdy

KCAA RADIO – “LISTENING WITH LUE (Launching Unique Entertainment),” a platform for Indie Artist’s and the ART’S is WHAT IT DO! Every Sunday tune in for a chance to win free tickets to upcoming events.

Enter by: 1. Just Listen and 2. Call In And Let Us Know The 5th Song In Rotation. Every Week We Will Have a Winner. You MUST LIKE OUR PAGE In Order To Get Tickets To Upcoming Events such as “The Lunell Comedy Show” on Saturday, October 1st Here In The I.E.

Until Next Week My Peeps L’z! Call In At 909.888.5222. #Listeningwithlue #KCAA #Lueproductions

Lou Coleman

By Lou Coleman

Huh…. How do that work? It doesn’t! Listen, you must adopt the mentality that concludes: CHANGE BEGINS WITH ME. That’s right! If you want to see change you must first start within. It’s that simple and it’s that profound. You know Mahatma Gandhi said, “You must be the change you wish to see.” Maya Angelou said, “If you don’t like something, change it. If you can’t change it, change your attitude.” In other words, nothing happens unless you make it happen. You must become a game changer. And what is a game changer? A game changer is someone who will step up and make a big play that affect the outcome of the game. Change can only happen if you want to see it happen, and then the only way a change could happen is if you put your effort into it. The problem is you don’t want to do nothing, you just what things to change on its own. Well boo, boo, I hate to burst your bubble, but it doesn’t work that way!

You know most of us are praying that God will change our circumstances.  Well I want you to know that God is not the least interested in changing your circumstances.  He is interested in changing your character.  When those circumstances have changed your character then God may change your circumstances. Yea, we want God to change our circumstances. We want him to take away all of the problems, all of the pain, all the sorrow, all the suffering, all the sickness, and all the sadness.  But God says, yeah, I know that’s important but what’s most important is what’s happening in you. I’m far more interested in changing your mind than I am in changing your circumstance. Because the only way change is going to happen is if you change your mind. You change your life by changing your mind. Now why must you manage your mind; because your thoughts control your life as [Proverbs 4:23] so eloquent put it…. Nothing happens in your life until you renew your mind.

So if you are serious about wanting change, you’re going to have to live according to the Bible. You will need to read it, study it, memorize it, meditate on it, and apply it because the Holy Spirit provides the power, the conviction, and the direction for life change. I tell you, you have the remedy and you have the power to rectify the situation and change things. So where does this leave you? With a decision! Change will not happen until you make it happen.

Let’s tie it all together.  God has a plan and a purpose.  That purpose is to make you like Jesus.  God has guaranteed that purpose is going to be fulfilled someday.  But he doesn’t want to wait until someday.  He wants to do it right now so that you can be a display case to the glory of God to a lost and dying world.  And so that you can be a source of life to others as Joseph became a source of life to others.  God is right now in this life trying to accomplish that purpose.  Do you know what tools God uses for that purpose?   The tool of circumstances.  God will arrange for you a set of circumstances, tailor-made, that will fit you perfectly.  The purpose of those circumstances is to accomplish God’s purpose in your life. And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are called according to his purpose. We are not afflicted, either by chance or to our harm, but by God’s providence for our great profit: who as he chose us from the beginning, so has he predestined us to be made similar to the image of his Son: and therefore will bring us in his time, being called and justified, to glory, by the cross. Not only afflictions; but whatever else [Romans 8:28-29].

By Debbie Forté 

What is a health care directive? A Health Care Directive (also called a living will) is a document that express your wishes to medical personnel and your loved ones what treatments you will allow in the event of total incapacity, coma or life threatening illnesses.  In example, if you become brain dead with no chance of recovery you can elect to not be put on life support or have life support removed.  You can elect which surgeries, medications and treatment plans you support or wish to decline in the event these decisions have to be made.

It allows you to name an agent(s) to also be able to make medical decisions for you as well in the event you are unable to.

What is a durable power of attorney? A power of attorney is a legal document that gives someone you choose the power to act in your place to handle your finances in case you ever become mentally or physically incapacitated. A durable power of attorney simply means that the document stays in effect if you become incapacitated and unable to handle matters on your own.

With a valid power of attorney, the trusted person you name will be legally permitted to take care of important matters for you — for example, paying your bills, your banking needs, managing your investments, or directing your medical care — if you are unable to do so yourself. Your agent can handle mundane tasks such as sorting and opening your mail, depositing your Social Security checks, as well as more complex jobs like watching over your retirement accounts and other investments, or filing your tax returns. Your agent doesn’t have to be a financial expert; just someone you trust completely who has a good dose of common sense.

What is a HIPPA authorization and who needs one? The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), is a Federal law that required the establishment of national standards to protect the privacy of patients’ health care information. The Privacy Rule, which took effect on April 14, 2003, regulates the use and disclosure of “Protected Health Information.”

This authorization allows your doctor or hospital to disclose protected health information to a third party specified by you (your agent–spouse or family member) to obtain necessary information in order to make medical decisions for you in the event of you being incapacitated and unable to make decisions for yourself. 

By Lue Dowdy

Getting Plugged In is WHAT IT DO Inland Empire! So just like socks go on your feet or a bat goes well with a glove, so does music and fashion. Congratulating THE PLUG on their nomination for LUE Productions 2nd Annual MY MUSIC, MY MIC Indie Artist’s Awards Show, scheduled for Saturday, October 15 in San Bernardino at the National Orange Show from 6 p.m. to 11 p.m. Tickets now available for $15 at The Plug.

Over the years rap, hip hop, and R&B artist have walked the red carpet in stylish clothing designed by top notch fashion designers in the game. We ‘have seen styles come and we seen have some go. Some ‘cray-cray’ and some well let’s just say okay. I am happy to highlight The Plug, a local indie clothing store located right here in the Dino.

The Plug was founded by brothers James Moreno and Jamal Moreno in 2013. Starting off making custom hats, the two brothers decided to make custom shirts to match. With both of them having a good sense of fashion it came natural. Some would ask why here in San Bernardino.

“With San Bernardino being saturated with talent it works,” James Moreno said. “San Bernardino is home; we love this place, the good and the bad, it’s still home. We wanted to shine some positive light on our city and show others we can do our own thing. Don’t nobody love us like us.”

The type of clothing that can be bought include Hometown Nativez brand, one of their best-selling and in-house brands. You can find local clothing, headwear at its finest, The IE as a whole San Bernardino and surrounding cities, up and coming street brands, hip-hop brands, and some major brands across the U.S. They also carry up and coming independent artists across The IE apparel and music.

The Plus is located inside The Waterman Discount Mall at 999. N waterman Avenue in San Bernardino (92410). Store hours are: closed Tuesday, Wednesday – Monday open at 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. except on Sunday’s where they close at 6 p.m. There’s no telling what you might come across at THE PLUG. So please stop in and SUPPORT! Until Next Week L’ZZZZZZ!

By Naomi K. Bonman

 The best Hollywood success stories are those that have testimonies of triumph, courage, and strength. They are the ones that capture the audience’s hearts and inspires them that they too can overcome whatever they are going through or where they are from in order to accomplish their dreams. Kimberley Zulkowski is a former foster child that has broken the mold and has become a successful Hollywood filmmaker.

I recently was able to catch up with Zulkowski for a second interview where she went deeper into her life’s journey. She shared her story of strength, survival, and sparkle through her upbringings in Milwaukee. She is now using her experiences to inspire others and to also give back to her community. 

In the interview, Kim chatted about her current crusade to help #OperationSaveMilwaukee, which is on a mission to stop the killing and clean up this 52306 zip code. The area has been seeing a spike in homicides within the last two years which has become a nightmare for such a small town. In lieu to #OperationSaveMilwaukee, Zulkowski is also working on a new production titled, “53206” where she has used local city actors who are now up to par with big names, such as Loretta Devine, Denzel Washington, and many other greats.

In addition to the film, Zulkowski also serves as a private donor of ‘Angels of Darkness’ to families who are unable to pay for funeral services for those that were victims of the violence in the community. She helps victims of homicide with their transition to heaven from outfitting them in the most beautiful of clothes, often releasing doves with a horse and carriage with proper prosthetic make-up and complimenting casket.

“From 9-year-old children gunned down in the comfort of their own home watching television on their couch to grown men, Kimberley dedicates herself entirely to the repair of her former community. Though successful and with a beautiful family of her own in the safety of the suburbs,  Kimberley still returns to serve as a mentor to those in dire straights needing guidance, food, “blessing bags” stuffed with personal hygiene products and more. If anyone knows how to #GiveBack, it is Kimberley Zulkowski.” stated by Kelly K. of Jaded Umbrella. 

To listen to the interview, click below:

Lou Coleman

By Lou Coleman

Now that’s what being stuck on stupid sounds like …..Ah, Ah, Ah…. Listen, if you find yourself doing something stupid, Just Stop!  My mother use to tell me, “The first thing you need to do when you find you’re digging yourself into a hole is to quit digging.” You’re already in a hole. Don’t make matters worse by digging deeper.  I tell you lying is perilous than it seems. It’s more Satan-like than Christ-like. And Jesus referred to Satan as “a liar and the father of lies” [John 8:44]. So as the actress said on the movie “Friday” “You ain’t got to lie Craig; you ain’t got to lie!”

I tell you lying have become so prevalent, that many Christians do not look on lying as the grievous sin that it is. We have come to the point where we don’t expect to hear the truth. Spouses lie to one another in the name of keeping the peace, parents lie to their own children and vice versa, employers and employees lie to each other. Politicians lie in order to spin things their way and gain votes. Advertisers lie to sell products. Careful!  [Rev 21:8] says, “But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars—they will be consigned to the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death.” Do you see how serious lying is? Breaking the 9th commandment has the consequence of eternal death! When you lie you align yourself with everything that brings death, destruction, doom, and damnation to this world. Sin is what leads to death, but that sin was brought about by a lie! Therefore, don’t take lying lightly. There’s no such thing as a little white lie. God is Truth, and anything less than truth is wrong, it is a lie, and it is sin!

So how does one overcome lying? Love the truth. When Jesus stood before Pilot, Pilot asked, “What is truth?” Truth was standing in front of Him. Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. We need to love Truth and Jesus more than ourselves. The truth needs to be more important than our own life. [Philippians 4:8] say, “Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable – if anything is excellent or praiseworthy – think about such things.” Saturate your mind with good things, like the Word of God. It’s how Jesus defeated Satan in the wilderness, with the Scriptures! Live the truth. Be accountable to others. Immediate confess, immediately correct, and immediately commit yourself again to truth. And never forget what God thinks about lying and what He will do with all liars [Psalms 26:45; 1 Corinthians 15:33].

Now if you are guilty of lying, the Holy Spirit is lovingly urging you to confess your sin, and repent by telling the truth, so God can forgive your sin and purify your heart. Do whatever the Spirit is telling you to do. And if you have never given your life to Jesus by confessing Him as Lord and Savior and dying to self through baptism, I invite you now to receive a new life born of the Holy Spirit. “Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you.” [John 8:32]

“This day I call the heavens and the earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live” [Deuteronomy 30:19].

By Mildred Henry

Each time I travel to and from my home and see the devastation caused by the Cajon Blue Cut Fire, I utter a prayer of thanks for the firemen who did a magnificent job of protecting property and lives. I marvel at how the fire burned right up to and around the houses, yet the firemen were able to save people’s homes and possessions. 

Firemen came from near and far to fight the blaze and it is amazing how valiantly they fought and contained the inferno. These true unsung heroes do a Herculean job every day protecting their fellow citizens. For this we say thank you!

By Sylvester McGil a.k.a. Sylvester Muhammad  

Real men stand tall even when sitting. We live by certain principles and we are prepared to perform certain task. We each must perform as assigned by The Taskmaster. We are not the designer nor did we draw the blueprint. We do not know that we are planks being brought together to build an Ark.

We Black people do not know that we are being raised from the dead. (This is the third day). We did not see who rolled the stone away from the ‘tomb of ignorance, which has been our home for more than four hundred and fifty years. Some of us do not know any of the original organizers of The Nation Association for the Advancement of Colored People, The Congress on Racial Equality, The Urban League and others. These people along with Mr. Colin Kaepernick and those I am unable to name are all representatives of the mind of people like Mr. John Brown. These people gave their lives in the service of others, and may their rewards be greater than their needs.

We Black people in The Americus are not responsible for what was done to us that resulted in our mental and spiritual death. However, we are responsible for our actions after being raised from the dead. What have we done, what are we doing and what will we do to improve our condition so that we will all be accepted in the ‘civilized societies’ of planet earth. We must read and study the thirteenth amendment to the Constitution in its entirety. Read between the lines and the obscured ‘fine print’. And please do not forget we were taught “ignorance of the law is no excuse. Study the status of Blacks in the Americus during the year 1850 that was to be our Manifested Destiny. We must help those who are trying to help us. We will understand it better by and by.

By Anna Challet, California Black Media Correspondent

A coalition of attorneys, civil rights advocates, and advocates for sexually exploited children are calling for California Attorney General Kamala Harris to manage the investigation into the alleged exploitation of a teenage girl by officers at several Bay Area police departments. 

The alleged misconduct came to light nearly a year ago, and no officers at any of the law enforcement agencies – the police departments of Oakland, Richmond, San Francisco, and Livermore, and the sheriff’s departments of Alameda and Contra Costa Counties – have been prosecuted.

Advocates think the case is being swept under the rug, and have little faith that district attorneys’ offices can be trusted with the investigation given their close relationship with law enforcement. The advocates, led by Oakland-based attorney Pamela Price and including Kimberly Thomas Rapp, the executive director of the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area, want Governor Jerry Brown to issue an executive order putting Harris in charge.

“We need to have an independent, impartial investigation,” said Price, speaking at a demonstration in front of the Richmond Police Station on Thursday.

President of the Richmond/Contra Costa chapter of Black Women Organized for Political Action Kathleen Sullivan added, “This is a time in our country when we need to restore the trust in our law enforcement like never before.”

The investigation into the officers’ alleged crimes began with the September 2015 suicide of Brendan O’Brien, an officer with the Oakland Police Department. He left a suicide note that referenced his relationship with the young woman whose exploitation is being investigated, who goes by the name Celeste Guap.

Guap, now 19, was questioned in the aftermath of O’Brien’s death. Allegedly, O’Brien’s exploitation of her began before she turned 18, when he’d come to her aid on the street; Guap was at the time being commercially sexually exploited in Oakland.

Since then, the investigation has come to involve approximately 30 officers in different Bay Area departments. Some of the officers’ alleged sexual misconduct took place when Guap was a minor; Guap also says that some officers compensated her. 

Speaking at the demonstration, President of the California National Organization for Women Jerilyn Stapleton said, “We want other law enforcement agencies throughout the state to know that there are going to be repercussions, that it’s not going to be this code of silence, that they are going to be prosecuted” for misconduct of this nature.

Cat Brooks, the co-founder of the Oakland Anti-Police Terror Project, says that because of the relationship that district attorneys have with law enforcement,

“It’s the fox in the hen house” to leave the investigation up to local D.A. offices. “In the same way we can’t expect when there’s an officer-involved shooting for district attorneys to hold law enforcement accountable, it’s not going to happen,” she says.

In calling for an executive order, the coalition is referencing the part of the state constitution (Article V, Section 13) that holds that the attorney general can prosecute violations of law in any county where she feels that the law isn’t being enforced, and that the governor can direct her to do this. In June, Harris said she would intervene if the local investigations were insufficient.

At the same time, Brooks says, “I would be remiss if I didn’t say that we don’t have a lot of faith in Kamala Harris either. The community has asked her repeatedly to intervene in [other] instances of officer misconduct.” In this case, the fact remains that no officers have been arrested.

The East Bay Express reported on Thursday that Celeste Guap has been arrested in Florida for aggravated battery. She traveled to the Port St. Lucie area in late August to start a drug treatment program; the circumstances regarding the choice to go to Florida are at this point unclear. Guap and her mother have told the East Bay Express that the Richmond Police Department is paying for Guap to go to rehab.

The coalition calling for Harris to take on the investigation believes that Guap is not the only young woman who has been allegedly exploited in this manner. They add in their public statement,

“We understand and appreciate that minors and women engaged in sex work in our communities are extremely vulnerable to the abuse of power by our law enforcement agencies and that ‘blaming the victim’ is not an appropriate response to our crisis.”