Happily Divorced And After

REDLANDS, CA—- Jalani Bakari and Janice Rooths were in the studio discussing Will and Chris at the Oscars with Empire Talks Back (ETB) host Wallace Allen on the April 3 edition of the radio broadcast.

Jalani and Janice are both Community Activists, Equity Advocates, and National Influencers who reside and work in the Riverside area.

ETB is broadcast each Sunday morning at 10 a.m. on KCAA 1050 AM radio. The program streams live video via http://www.kcaaradio.com.  The Empire Talks Back archive is available on all podcast sites as well as YouTube. Just ask for Empire Talks Back. If you would like to be a guest on ETB, call WssNews at (909) 384-8131.

MORENO VALLEY, CA— Learn how to create a soil amendment that’s waste free and great for gardens! On Saturday, April 2, the Riverside County Department of Waste Resources will host a free backyard composting and vermicomposting class at our headquarters in Moreno Valley (14310 Frederick Street).

Learn how to recycle organic resources, such as yard trimmings, as well as fruit and vegetable waste into a dark, crumbly, sweet-smelling soil conditioner called compost. If you don’t have yard trimmings, or lack suitable space to compost, vermicomposting is a fantastic alternative that can be done in an empty plastic bin, bucket, or kitty litter container.

Composting is nature’s way of recycling. It’s a great way to turn waste into a garden. In composting, organic material is mixed together in a pile or bin, where literally millions of tiny microbes digest the material and turn it into a nutrient-rich soil amendment. Vermicomposting puts worms to work, as red wigglers will break down organic waste, such as apple cores and melon rinds, and turn them into a nutrient-rich byproduct called worm castings. The free class covers both composting and vermicomposting, with composting starting at 9:00 am and vermicomposting starting at 10:00 am.

If attendees would like to put the principles taught in the class into practice, compost and vermicomposting bins are available for purchase at the end of the class. These bins are only available for purchase by Riverside County residents and have a limit of three per household.  Credit card or cash payment only, no personal checks are accepted.

The class is free and will end by 11 a.m. The class will be held outdoors in our resource garden, so dress to accommodate current weather conditions.  Attendees will need to observe social distancing during the class.  These programs are offered to educate residents about the ease and advantages of organic material recycling and how composting preserves valuable space in county landfills.

For more information, call (951) 486-3200  or visit  www.rcwaste.org/classes

SACRAMENTO, CA— According to a 2019 PPIC report, only 13% of community college freshmen earn their associate degree within two years. While these rates partly reflect the diversity of student goals, only about 48 percent of students aiming to receive an associate degree or certificate do so within six years.

In response to these findings, Assembly Majority Leader Eloise Gómez Reyes (D-Colton) introduced AB 2738: The Community Colleges Completion Act. This bill requires California Community Colleges (CCC) to reduce time to degree completion by increasing data transparency, publishing course schedules, and providing the classes necessary for students to complete their associate degrees or certificates within two years.

“Our community colleges play a key role in connecting California students, especially first-generation college students and those from low-income backgrounds to well-paying careers and four-year universities,” shared Majority Leader Reyes. “But two-year completion rates remain low, especially for our Latino and Black students. AB 2738 supports students’ goals of earning their degrees and certificates within two years by requiring colleges to take concrete steps to make this timeline possible.”

Completion rates vary by racial and ethnic groups and are particularly low for students of color. For example, while 78% of Latino students enroll with the goal of attaining a two-year degree or transferring to a four-year institution, two-thirds take six or more years to transfer.

Many students struggle to complete within two years, sometimes because of how difficult it is to plan their course schedules. While degree requirements are specified in course catalogs, students must often choose between hundreds of courses offered at inconsistent times and intervals. This makes it especially difficult for students with obligations outside of school, such as work or family, to plan for and complete their degrees.

“Because there is very little momentum through the community college pipeline, most California Community College students, especially those who are Latino, are being denied an opportunity for upward social mobility,” said Jose Fierro, President/Superintendent at Cerritos College and CALCCTA  President. “AB 2738 is a data-driven, innovative effort to close equity gaps by increasing degree and transfer rates for students of color across the State of California, and is an essential step towards equitable economic vitality.”

“The urgency to help students get ahead educationally and economically has never been greater,” said Dr. Scott W. Thayer, Interim President of San Bernardino Valley College. “With direct student support, guided academic and career pathways, state investment in community colleges, and AB 2738, we will ensure more community college students get to the finish line of their college and career goals.”

AB 2738 requires California Community Colleges to take action to reduce time to completion for students. This bill will increase transparency of data surrounding completion rates and ensure colleges develop plans to make two-year completion an achievable goal for all students.

SAN BERNARDINO, CA—- Time for Change Foundation’s (TFCF) 20^th Anniversary Awards Gala, “Once Upon a Time” will honor outstanding individuals and organizations that go above and beyond for our community and continue to make a difference in the lives of others.

Susan Burton, Founder of A New Way of Life Reentry Project, will be honored with the Harriet Tubman Legacy Award for her outstanding dedication as an innovative model, creating both a welcoming and healing space for women to rejoin their communities after incarceration while developing leaders to work toward liberation. As a formerly incarcerated Black woman, Ms. Burton is a front-runner in the movement to reform the criminal legal system, founding committee member of the Formerly Incarcerated Convicted People and Families Movement (FICPFM), and outspoken voice to end mass incarceration.

After the 2017-18 tour in sixty-four prisons and jails, twenty-six states and three countries for her memoir, Becoming Ms. Burton, she launched the SAFE (Sisterhood Alliance for Freedom and Equality) Housing Network to replicate A New Way of Life’s effective and humane reentry model. Since 2018, Ms. Burton has mentored and supported eighteen organizations in thirteen states (Arizona, California, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Nebraska, Nevada, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Washington) and two countries (Uganda and Kenya) that opened their own safe homes.

Other Award Honorees include:

Patty Favela with the Ramos Family Spirit of Compassion Award, Vickie Lobo of Knock Knock Angels with the Nancy Varner Angel Award, and Carmen Perez-Jordan of The Gathering for Justice, and Jay Jordan of Time Done with the Dynamic Duo Award.

Time for Change Foundation’s 20^th Anniversary Awards Gala will be held virtually on April 28^th, 2022, from 6:00 pm to 7:00 pm. To support the work of Time for Change Foundation, you can become a sponsor, purchase an ad in the event program book, or purchase a Gala ticket.

To purchase tickets for the event or to become a sponsor and increase your business’ visibility in the community, please visit their website at www.TimeForChangeFoundation.org, or contact Vanessa Perez at (909) 886-2994 or by email at vperez@timeforchangefoundation.org.

ARMC will host an interactive event to support women’s heart health

COLTON, CA— Arrowhead Regional Medical Center (ARMC) will be holding an upcoming “Go Red” interactive event to promote women’s heart health. Each year, ARMC hosts this event at its hospital in support of American Heart Month and the American Heart Association (AHA), who created the “Go Red” initiative.

The “Go Red” event invites participants to wear red and participate in a fashion show. The event will also provide educational and interactive sessions on heart disease and strokes and their signs and symptoms. Participants will learn AHA’s “Life’s Simple Seven” steps to live a long and healthy life—getting active, eating better, losing weight, quitting smoking, controlling cholesterol, managing blood pressure, and reducing blood sugar.

The event will take place on March 31, 2022, from 12–1:30 p.m., in the Oak Conference Room, and will be open to the public as well as ARMC employees. ARMC staff from a range of departments will participate in this event, including physicians and nurses who will provide information and demonstrations.

Heart disease is the number one killer of women in the United States, causing 1 in 3 deaths each year. The American Heart Association launched its “Go Red” campaign in 2004 to increase awareness of the dangers of heart disease and advocate for women’s heart health.

SAN BERNARDINO, CA— The San Bernardino City Council approved the third phase of a four phase, 53-street plan to repave and resurface streets and repair sidewalks throughout San Bernardino. The most recent contract, approved on March 16, was awarded to the Matich Corporation in the amount of $6.4 million. It will encompass segments of fourteen streets in the city. Work on this phase, which will also include ADA accessible ramps, drainage, sidewalk installation, signage, and curb/gutter improvements, will begin in early May and should be completed by October 2022.

Funding for this project will come from Measure S funds as well as budgetary savings from other projects within the City’s 2021/2022 Capital Improvement Plan.

“This is another example of San Bernardino continuing to upgrade our city’s infrastructure,” said City Manager Robert D. Field. “There is a lot more work to do, but our residents are already noticing a difference.”

Streets that will be improved in this phase are:

• Temple Street – from J Street to Perris Street (Ward 1)
• Acacia Street – from 10th Street to Baseline Street (Ward 2)
• Prospect Avenue – from Congress Street to Flood Control (Ward 3)
• Ralston Avenue – from Mt. View to Waterman Avenue (Ward 4)
• Dover Drive – from Mountain Drive to I Street (Ward 5)
• Meridian Avenue – from Foothill Blvd. to 7th Street (Ward 6)
• Parkside Avenue – from 30th Street to Parkdale Avenue (Ward 7)
• Congress Street – from Mt. Vernon to K Street (Ward 3)
• Virginia Street – from E Street to F Street and G Street to H Street (Ward 2)
• Niles Street – from San Gabriel Street to Crestview Street (Ward 2)
• Trenton Street – from Crestview Avenue to Valencia Avenue (Ward 2)
• Cedar Street – from Highland Avenue to 29th Street (Ward 2)
• Arden Street – from Highland Avenue to Pacific Street (Wards 2,7)
• Country Club Lane – from Waterman Avenue to Fremontia Drive (Ward 7)

In December 2021, a contract was awarded to Onyx Paving Company for work on seven streets across town. In February 2022, the City Council awarded a contract for nine streets to All-American Asphalt. Work on those phases is currently underway. Bidding for the final phase, which will encompass twenty-three additional street segments, will be held in May.

The streets identified for rehabilitation work were prioritized through a March 2020 pavement management analysis completed by the Public Works Department, which used scientific methods to rate the condition of all public streets in San Bernardino and to prioritize their rehabilitation.

In 2021, the City of San Bernardino Public Works Department improved and rehabilitated over 3.8 million square feet of roadway, 37,000 square feet of curb, gutter, and sidewalk, and 119 ADA accessible ramps throughout the city.

By Lou Yeboah

Today, all the antagonists are in place. The Antichrist is about to arise, and the infighting among the prophesied 10 Super Nations is about to begin. Pay attention and listen carefully! God issued one of His most startling prophecies in all of Scripture. He foretold, in [Ezekiel chapters 38 and 39], that in the end times, RIGHT BEFORE the return of Jesus, the greatest political leader in history of Mankind will emerge from Europe. After taking over that area by diplomatic cunning and deceit, he will launch a military campaign that will result in his acquiring “authority over every tribe and people and tongue and nation” [Revelation 13:7]. His empire will be the most extensive in all of history, encompassing the entire world, and his rule will be the most demonic the world has ever experienced.

The agencies of evil are combining their forces and consolidating. They are strengthening for the last great crisis. Great changes are soon to take place in our world, and the final movements will be rapid ones. Pay attention and listen carefully!

Russia is diplomatically moving into the Middle East, coalescing Israel’s implacable enemies. Once the regional war erupts in which Israel will annihilate the “House of Esau”, the Syrians, the Jordanians, and the Egyptians, the Antichrist will arise just as the Bible foretells. He will begin his rise to power as a dynamic, charismatic, insightful, visionary leader who will astound the world with the cleverness of his solutions to world problems. He will appear to be the savior of the world. But as he consolidates his power, his true nature will be revealed. He will emerge as a Satan possessed and empowered person who hates God and is determined to annihilate both Christianity and Judaism.

To anyone who is aware and watching and knows the Bible, it is evident that the world is moving toward the mark of the beast at an incredible rate. Here is wisdom. Let him who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man: His number is 666.” [Revelation 13:16-18].

I tell you, “End times prophecy is rapidly being fulfilled.” [Revelation 3:10] and all who are not firmly established upon God’s Word and the righteousness of Jesus Christ will be deceived and overcome. For Satan “works with all power and signs and lying wonders with all deceivableness of unrighteousness” [2 Thessalonians 2:9-10] to gain control of mankind, and his deceptions will increase right up to the very end. Please surrender your life to Christ because we are in the last hour, the day of the Lord is at hand, and it is time to get ready. “The warning is going out to the world!” Time is so short. The headlines which you read each day, regarding the Middle East, are simply God’s prophetic Word being fulfilled. No one knows the hour!

By Aldon Thomas Stiles | California Black Media

Last month, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced California awarded $38 million in grants to 12 community-based organizations working to combat homelessness among youths and young adults in the state. The governor’s office says the grants are part of a $14 billion ongoing commitment to end homelessness in the state.

The funds, distributed through the Homeless Youth Emergency Services and Housing Program, will be used to assist young people who are facing housing insecurity or are currently unhoused in 12 different counties.

“These grants will provide relief and emergency support to young people across California experiencing homelessness, who are too often left in dire situations to fend for themselves,” said Newsom.

“We’re providing immediate aid for those living on our streets – bringing resources and services directly to young people in need and helping them onto a path towards a stable future,” the governor continued.

The funds will also go toward providing “mental health support with crisis intervention and stabilization services,” according to Newsom’s office.

About a quarter of California’s Homeless population suffers from severe mental illness, according to the California Department of Public Health.

Newsom is also proposing special courts to adjudicate cases involving mental health involving unhoused people across the state.

“There’s no compassion stepping over people in the streets and sidewalks,” Newsom said at a press briefing earlier this month. “We could hold hands, have a candlelight vigil, talk about the way the world should be, or we could take some responsibility to implement our ideas. That’s what we’re doing differently here.”

“This funding represents an important lifeline in protecting some of the most vulnerable members of our communities,” said California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services (CalOES) Director Mark Ghilarducci. “Through the partnership with these community-based organizations we are able to provide meaningful support and change lives.”

According to the California Homeless Youth Project, 200,000 Californians under the age of 18 are homeless for one or more days during the year.

“Addressing youth homelessness takes a village,” said Business, Consumer Services and Housing Agency Secretary Lourdes Castro Ramírez. “This is why this investment in community-based organizations that make up the village and provide bridges of support to young people is an important part of our efforts to prevent and end homelessness.”

Advocates for homeless youth say there are many factors that can lead to youth homelessness, including addiction and hostile reactions from community members about a young person’s social identity.

“Youth overwhelmingly cite family conflict and breakdown — commonly abuse or neglect, alcohol or drug addiction of a family member, pregnancy, and rejection over sexual orientation — as the major reasons for their homelessness or episodes of running away,” reads the California Coalition for Youth website.

The organizations receiving the funds are: Bill Wilson Center (Santa Clara County); Center for Human Services ( Stanislaus County); Community Human Services (Monterey County); Interface Children & Family Services (Ventura County); Larkin Street Youth Services (San Francisco County); Orangewood Foundation (Orange County); Redwood Community Action Agency (Humboldt County); Ruby’s Place (Alameda County); San Diego Youth Services (San Diego County); Volunteers of America Los Angeles (Los Angeles County).Waking the Village (Sacramento County); and Women’s Center – Youth & Family Services (San Joaquin County)

Newsom also announced his administration is allocating more than $116 million in funding to seven different “Homekey” projects as a part of the governor’s effort to provide housing for homeless people.

Newsom’s pandemic-oriented homelessness program, called Project Roomkey, will continue to receive support from the federal government as well. The state-run initiative converts hotels and other facilities into temporary housing for homeless people.

A companion program, Project Homekey, provides funding to create permanent housing for formerly unhoused people to counties, cities, local councils and other government authorities.

“Continued support from FEMA will allow us to extend Project Roomkey to get more people off the streets and into shelter,” the governor said. “Since the start of the pandemic, California has moved with unprecedented speed, helping more than 50,000 homeless individuals.”

Last month, California’s junior U.S. Sen. Alex Padilla introduced a bill proposing a nearly $532 billion federal investment over 10 years into tackling California’s and the nation’s twin homelessness and housing affordability crises.

Speaking at a Project Homekey site in Sacramento called La Mancha Way Apartments, Padilla, a Democrat, said, the legislation titled “The Housing Act for All” would provide funding for both existing programs and experimental initiatives.

“Every person has a right to the dignity and security of housing,” said Padilla. “It’s going to take all levels of government working together to rebuild a more inclusive and equitable society for all. The legislation is an opportunity to invest and align resources in expanding affordable housing and strengthening proven solutions.”

By Tanu Henry | California Black Media

California’s junior United States Sen. Alex Padilla says he is as excited as he is honored to be serving on the Senate Committee on the Judiciary as he and his colleagues conduct hearings to confirm Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, the first Black woman nominated to the United States Supreme Court in the judicial branch’s 233-year history.

On February 25, President Joe Biden nominated Jackson, a Judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, to become the 116th Justice on the highest court in the nation.

If Jackson is confirmed, she will replace Justice Stephen Breyer, one of her mentors, who announced his retirement in January.

“I’m honored to be sharing in this historic and significant moment in our nation’s history,” Padilla told California Black Media (CBM) in a telephone interview.

The first Latino to represent California in the upper house of the United States Congress, Padilla spoke with CBM while taking a short break from a daylong hearing March 23. During that session, lawmakers, Democrats and Republicans, cross examined Jackson.

“I am optimistic about Judge Jackson’s confirmation process. She is an outstanding nominee. She has the qualifications, and she has the experience,” Padilla continued. “If she is confirmed, she will bring a much-needed perspective to the Supreme Court.”

In January 2021, Gov. Gavin Newsom nominated Padilla to replace current Vice President Kamala Harris in the United States Senate. Before that, he served as Secretary of State of California for six years.

Jackson met with Padilla at his office at the U.S. Capitol prior to her confirmation hearings last week.

“I’m impressed by Judge Jackson’s commitment to the rule of law, her long record of public service, and her clear understanding of how the law affects people’s everyday lives,” Padilla said after that meeting.

Because of the even 50-50 split of Democrats and Republicans currently elected to the United States Senate, no one party has a majority of members on any committee. So, there are six members from both parties serving on the Committee on the Judiciary.

Padilla says the upcoming vote on Jackson presents an opportunity for members of the Committee on the Judiciary – and the Senate, more broadly — to put the extreme partisanship and rancor that has characterized the U.S. Congress in recent years behind them.

California’s senior Sen. Dianne Feinstein, also a Democrat, serves on the committee as well.

Last week, some Republican members of the Senate Committee on the Judiciary were questioned in the media about the truthfulness of some of their claims about Jackson and the overall nature and tenor of their questioning during the hearings.

For example, Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) portrayed Jackson as soft on sex offenders, calling up sentences she handed down in seven cases.

“Judge Jackson’s views on this matter are not only mainstream; they are correct in my view. Undoubtedly, Jackson — a progressive who worked as a criminal-defense lawyer — is more sympathetic to criminals than I am,” wrote Andrew McCarthy, a senior fellow at the conservative National Review Institute, disagreeing with Hawley’s assertion.

“If I were a judge, I’m sure I’d impose at least marginally more severe sentences than she has. (Contrary to Hawley’s suggestion, however, she appears to have followed the guidelines, at the low end of the sentencing range, as most judges do.),” McCarthy continued.

Charlie Savage, the New York Times Legal Policy and National Security correspondent wrote, “Senator Marsha Blackburn, Republican of Tennessee, ripped into Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson on Monday during her Supreme Court confirmation hearing, tying the nominee to a wide range of conservative grievances. But the lawmaker’s accusations appeared to often be based on quotes taken out of context.”

Savage examined statements and accusations Blackburn made about Jackson on a range of issues, including parental rights, critical race theory, transgender athletes and criminal sentencing.

Before serving on the U.S. Court of Appeals, Jackson was a federal judge on the U.S. District Court of the District of Columbia and Vice Chair of the U.S. Sentencing Commission. She has also worked in private practice and as a clerk at the U.S. Supreme Court.

An alum of Harvard College, where she studied government, and Harvard Law School, where she was an editor of the Harvard Law Review, Jackson graduated from Palmetto Senior High School before that in Florida’s Miami-Dade County, where she grew up.

Jackson is close to her parents, Johnny and Ellery Brown and her brother, Ketajh Brown, a former Baltimore City police officer and soldier in the United States Army. All three of them attended Jackson’s confirmation hearings last week.

Both of her parents, HBCU graduates, are educators (her dad is an attorney, too).

Jackson is married to surgeon Patrick Graves Jackson, who she met in college. The couple has two daughters. One of them, attending her mom’s hearings last week, was captured in photos watching the proceedings in rapt attention, beaming with pride.

“We know that progress doesn’t come easily.

Breaking barriers and being the first means not just significant opportunity, but also tremendous responsibility,” said Padilla in his opening statement last week when the hearings began.

“But Judge Jackson, I also know that you are equipped with a tremendous record of experience and accomplishment, and you are ready to blaze this trail,” Padilla continued. “Judge Jackson, even before your next opinion or dissent, your appearance before us today already begins a new chapter in our nation’s history.”

By Tanu Henry | California Black Media

Last week, Gov. Gavin Newsom proposed an $11 billion relief package to assist Californians struggling with the skyrocketing costs of gas, food and other commodities.

The plan includes a mix of direct payments to individuals; suspension of public transportation fares tax rebates; and support for state, county and municipal programs that align with the governor’s goal to make California a zero-emissions state by 2035.

The state will provide about $9 billion in funding to cover $400 direct payments to car owners whose vehicles are registered in the state — with a limit of two rebates per person. The payments will be sent to car owners on debit cards.

“We’re taking immediate action to get money directly into the pockets of Californians who are facing higher gas prices as a direct result of Putin’s invasion of Ukraine,” said Newsom.

“But this package is also focused on protecting people from volatile gas prices and advancing clean transportation – providing three months of free public transportation, fast-tracking electric vehicle incentives and charging stations, and new funding for local biking and walking projects,” he added.

The plan includes nearly $500 million in funding for clean transportation alternatives and supporting pedestrian and bicycle-rider safety programs.

Shortly after Newsom announced his plan, Republicans slammed it, calling it “out of touch,” pointing out oversights and explaining why they think their proposal is better.

Last week, California Assembly Republicans introduced legislation that would temporarily suspend the state’s 51-cent-per-gallon gas tax. Democrats unanimously voted against the bill 40-18, arguing that, if the legislation passed, funding would be taken away from important transportation projects without a guarantee from gas stations that they would lower prices.

“You can’t make this stuff up,” tweeted Assembly Republican leader James Gallagher, whose district includes Yuba County and other Sacramento Valley counties, including all of Glenn and Tehama and parts of Butte and Colusa.

“I’m losing count … is this now the 5^th plan from Capitol Democrats in the past couple of weeks? Why not take #50centsoffnow?” Gallagher’s tweet continued.

Gallagher also found fault with the governor’s plan for providing relief to people who own electric vehicles and leaving out military personnel who live and serve in California but whose cars may not be registered in the state.

California has the highest number of active-duty military personnel in the country.

Assemblymember Kevin Kiley (R-Rocklin) said, “Corrupt politicians will always prefer ‘rebates’ to actual tax relief because that keeps them in charge of who gets the money and when it’s delivered.”

Kiley who refers to Assembly Democrats as “the Supermajority” said the Republican proposal to cut the gas tax “entirely” wouldn’t cost the state “any loss of funding for roads.”

“That money would be backfilled from the state’s general fund, and we are said to have a $45 billion – maybe as high as $60 billion surplus right now,” Kiley told “The Issue Is,” a Fox 11 Los Angles news show that covers “the most controversial and interesting issues impacting California.”

Newsom says his plan, which could go into effect by July after the state Assembly and Senate approve it, would bring relief to tens of millions of Californians.

“This direct relief is on top of the $10-plus billion we have distributed over the last year with the Golden State Stimulus,” said Newsom. “All told, close to $20 billion in direct tax relief here in the state of California.