Pittsburgh police, community absorb news of Dallas shootings
Pittsburgh police, community absorb news of Dallas shootings
Though far from Dallas, Minnesota or Louisiana, leaders here recognized on Friday the historic nature of a chain...
Though far from Dallas, Minnesota or Louisiana, leaders here recognized on Friday the historic nature of a chain reaction of police-community tragedies and sought to minimize the risk of more violence.
A shooting such as the one in Dallas “knocks us out of our complacency,” said Howard Burton, chief of the Penn Hills police department. Although most people support officers and appreciate their protection, he said, “We know there’s a group of people out there that move in that direction, that move [aggressively] toward law enforcement.”
Such concerns led Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald and Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto to call for a peace gathering next week of law enforcement, church, activist, foundation, labor, corporate and government leaders.
Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 1 president Robert Swartzwelder, who is a city officer, said he has authorized the lodge’s three-member funeral detail to go to Dallas. Normally, the lodge would be represented at funerals in Pennsylvania and adjoining states, but the extent of the tragedy in Dallas warrants a presence, he said, adding that it’s “extremely important to the law enforcement community and the family of the police officers” that they see support.
He added that the ambush will be “in the mind of very police officer that’s working” for some time.
Five law enforcement officers were fatally shot Thursday night in Dallas, with seven others injured. That was broadly interpreted as a deranged reaction to the deaths of Louisiana’s Alton Sterling and Minnesotan Philando Castile in encounters with police.
Leaders of both political parties decried all three tragedies.
“We have to ask ourselves, is this the type of country we want? I believe the answer is no,” said Gov. Tom Wolf, a Democrat. “When incidents like those in Louisiana, Minnesota and Dallas happen, it raises concerns and questions, and we must demand change and action.”
Pennsylvania Sen. Pat Toomey, a Republican, wrote in a statement that the “disgusting attack has no possible justification.”
He also cited a Dallas police spokesman’s account that the violence there “was motivated by recent police shootings. Such incidents — including the shocking and disturbing videos from Minnesota and Louisiana — must be investigated thoroughly, and if any official is found to have violated the law, he should be severely punished.”
At a police accountability protest Downtown, officers escorting the marchers seemed “nervous, and that’s understandable, but they were very helpful and cooperative,” said Ana Maria Archila, co-executive director of the Center for Popular Democracy, which organized the demonstration. “They’ve allowed us to do the march we envisioned, and we appreciate that.”
Pittsburgh police Chief Cameron McLay noted that concerns for lives of police officers and black citizens “are not mutually exclusive at all.”
Some suburban Allegheny County chiefs said they were running their departments as usual, and others declined to say whether they had made changes. None of those contacted by the Post-Gazette reported any threats to their officers.
Voices of the civil rights community said they want intensified attention to police-community problems — but not through violence.
“This is not going to happen in Allegheny County, because we’re going to be meeting with the young folks,” said Constance Parker, president of the Pittsburgh chapter of the NAACP. The message: “Before you get angry, think, because there’s costs you pay when you get very angry. If you don’t pay it with the law, you pay it with your body.”
By Rich Lord
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There's a suspicious burst of taxi rides to and from Wall Street banks and the NY Fed around the time of key Fed meetings
There's a suspicious burst of taxi rides to and from Wall Street banks and the NY Fed around the time of key Fed meetings
“For the Fed Up coalition, a group of community organizations led by the Center for Popular Democracy in Washington,...
“For the Fed Up coalition, a group of community organizations led by the Center for Popular Democracy in Washington, the first step in addressing such egregious conflicts is a change in leadership. The New York Fed's outgoing president is William Dudley, a former Goldman Sachs partner. "The New York Federal Reserve must select a new President who will put the interests of the public before Wall Street," Fed Up said in a recent report. "This would be one of the most immediate and direct steps to mitigate conflict of interest risks and promote a culture of transparency and accountability at the New York Fed."
Read the full article here.
230,000+ Progressives Urge DSCC Not to Fund Any Senate Dems Who Help Confirm Gorsuch
230,000+ Progressives Urge DSCC Not to Fund Any Senate Dems Who Help Confirm Gorsuch
WASHINGTON - Progressive leaders delivered more than 230,000 petition signatures Monday urging the Democratic...
WASHINGTON - Progressive leaders delivered more than 230,000 petition signatures Monday urging the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee to publicly announce that it will not allocate campaign funds to Sens. Joe Manchin, Heidi Heitkamp, Joe Donnelly or any other Democratic senator who votes for or strikes a deal to advance the confirmation of right-wing extremist Neil Gorsuch...
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60 Years After Brown v. Board of Education
Legal Talk Network - June 3, 2014 - May 17th, 2014 marked the 60th Anniversary of Brown v. Board of Education, the...
Legal Talk Network - June 3, 2014 - May 17th, 2014 marked the 60th Anniversary of Brown v. Board of Education, the landmark Supreme Court Decision that held state laws establishing separate public schools for black and white students as unconstitutional because they violate the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment. Today, some six decades later, many parents and teachers are still worried that America’s children are not receiving equal access to education envisioned in that case. On this episode of Lawyer 2 Lawyer, hosts Bob Ambrogi and J. Craig Williams shed light on this issue with guests Christian D’Andrea from the MacIver Institute and Kyle Serrette from The Center for Popular Democracy. Together they discuss private schools, charter schools, and homeschooling vs. the community school model. Tune in to learn more about funding concerns, oversight issues, and the proper role of teachers unions in the school choice debate.
Christian D’Andrea is an Education Policy Analyst with the John K. MacIver Institute for Public Policy in Madison, WI. He earned his Master’s of Public Policy degree at Vanderbilt University and has previously worked for the Friedman Foundation for Educational Choice as a State Policy Director and Policy Analyst. He is the author of several studies that examine the fiscal and personal impacts of educational reform, and his work has been featured everywhere from the Huffington Post to EducationNext.
Kyle Serrette is the Director of Education Justice Campaigns at The Center for Popular Democracy and works with their partner organizations to strengthen their public education coalitions, develop strategy to help close the opportunity gaps, and coordinates national and regional campaigns that work to bolster our public education system. Prior to joining The Center for Popular Democracy, Kyle spent over 10 years working on corporate campaigns with groups such as Service Employees International Union, Change to Win, and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees. He was awarded the 2010 Joe Hill Organizing Achievement Award by the LA Fed and the Los Angeles Orange County Organize Committee.
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NEW YORK CITY MUST SUPPORT ITS IMMIGRANT POPULATION TO ENSURE A SUCCESSFUL WORKFORCE
NEW YORK CITY MUST SUPPORT ITS IMMIGRANT POPULATION TO ENSURE A SUCCESSFUL WORKFORCE
These days, Marta has trouble finding work. Often, when she goes to apply for a job in food service or domestic work,...
These days, Marta has trouble finding work. Often, when she goes to apply for a job in food service or domestic work, the first thing she’s asked is, “Do you know English?” Answering with honesty, Marta always replies that she knows only a little.
More often than not, she’s turned away because the employer wants someone with English fluency. “These days, the truth is, it’s very hard to get a job,” Marta says.
New York City is home to the most diverse immigrant population of any major city in the world. Immigrants make up almost 40 percent of the population and nearly half of the city’s workforce.
But the city is faced with a paradox: While immigrants are employed at higher rates than native-born New Yorkers, they are disproportionately clustered in lower-wage jobs, have lower incomes on average than their native-born counterparts, and often experience higher rates of poverty. Many, like Marta, have low levels of English proficiency which can make it difficult to find good-paying work.
Since New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio took office a little over two years ago, the city has begun to restructure its workforce development system, creating an important opportunity to address some of the inequities faced by immigrant New Yorkers.
The city’s new framework for its workforce development system, called Career Pathways, promises to dedicate an unprecedented level of investment in job training and education for the city’s most vulnerable workers, to ensure that the city’s investments in workforce development are aligned across city agencies, and to work with employers and other stakeholders to improve the quality of the city’s lowest-paid jobs.
However, the plan did not sufficiently take into account the particular workforce challenges faced by New York’s immigrant population. Immigrants comprise the vast majority of workers in the fastest growing occupations in the city, ranging from home health aides and construction workers to registered nurses and software programmers. As such, immigrant workers are at the core of the city’s economic vitality, and their success must be central to the city’s overhaul of its workforce system.
Immigrant workers and jobseekers experience a number of unique barriers that limit advancement in the workforce. For example, a significant number of immigrants do not speak English well and have lower levels of formal education, on average.
At the same time there are thousands of immigrants that hold college or other education credentials that aren’t recognized in the United States, and are therefore stuck working at jobs that do not take full advantage of their skills and talents. And in the low-wage workforce, which is comprised heavily of immigrant workers, exploitation of workers is rampant. This is especially true for undocumented workers and those working in the informal economy.
The success of the Career Pathways plan depends on its ability to address the major barriers that immigrant New Yorkers face. A report co-authored by the Center for Popular Democracy and Center for an Urban Future identifies these barriers and outlines a coordinated approach for tackling the obstacles that prevent immigrant workers from reaching their full potential.
Specifically, the city and private workforce funders should invest in English classes, adult education, and training and certification programs for workers with varied levels of educational background and English proficiency. This would allow them to earn the skills they need to be competitive in the labor force and keep them from getting trapped in low-wage jobs.
Second, the city must ensure that immigrant workers are aware of these services by making sure that they are available in the neighborhoods where immigrants live or work. One great way to do this is to partner with nonprofit organizations that are based in immigrant communities, and to ensure that available funding is reaching workforce programs in immigrant communities.
Finally, a workforce development strategy that works for immigrants should improve the quality of the low-wage jobs that so many immigrants fill. This includes enforcing and improving job protection laws, which often go unenforced, and securing a higher minimum wage and access to paid sick leave. Employers themselves are a big part of this conversation, and the city should use its influence to help them improve the quality of their lowest-paid positions.
Without a coordinated approach to ensure that workforce development services are reaching immigrants, the city’s plan risks overlooking an enormous population of workers and job-seekers. We now have an opportunity to ensure that immigrants are included as a key part of this plan.
By Kate Hamaji and Christian González-Rivera
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Ulster County Legislator Calls for Equity and Accountability in School Funding
Mid-Hudson News - December 29, 2014 - It took a 2007 Federal lawsuit to ensure equity in New York State school aid...
Mid-Hudson News - December 29, 2014 - It took a 2007 Federal lawsuit to ensure equity in New York State school aid funding to local districts. Over the course of the past six years, Ulster County school districts received close to $26 million or at least they would have, had the State actually implemented the promised foundation aid. Instead, the foundation aid was frozen as part of the State's budget process.
"Ulster County tax payers have been paying more and more to ensure education for all," said County Legislator David Donaldson (D, Kingston). "Yet, the State has balanced its budget without paying its promised share. The State leadership has to stop talking about supporting the future of our State and actually pay for what they promised."
Over a billion dollars are being given to serve the 3% of student population that attend Charter Schools in New York State for 2014. $54 million is estimated by a Center for Popular Democracy's report to be lost because of charter school fraud and abuse in 2014 alone. Only eighteen of the sixtytwo counties in New York State have a charter school. Ulster County has no charter schools.
"I am all for helping parents to ensure their children receive the quality education they deserve," said Donaldson. 'That quality education starts with the public education system that serves 85% of New York State's children. Until the State leaders provide the funding that will address the educational gaps in public education and ensure the oversight and accountability of private charter school education, no taxpayer dollars - whether State or local taxes - should be spent on privately run schools that are not held to the same standards or expectations as the public school system."
Donaldson wants the County Legislature to consider the measure at their January 9 session.
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Watch My Morning Jacket’s Jim James and Andrew Bird Play New Version of “Sic of Elephants”
Watch My Morning Jacket’s Jim James and Andrew Bird Play New Version of “Sic of Elephants”
In July, Andrew Bird began a new series called “Live From the Great Room,” where he performed an acoustic set in his...
In July, Andrew Bird began a new series called “Live From the Great Room,” where he performed an acoustic set in his living room with a guest. Today, he’s released an updated version of Soldier On’s “Sic of Elephants,” he originally played with My Morning Jacket’s Jim James for the series. The updated song is being released as part of the anti-Trump 30 Days, 30 Songs series, and it is Jim James’ second release for the program. Below, watch them perform “Sic of Elephants.” Read Bird’s statement on why he updated the song here, and revisit Bird and James’ full living room performance here.
30 Days, 30 Songs will continue to release at least one new song or video daily until Election Day (Tuesday, November 8). The entirety of 30 Days’ proceeds will go to the Center for Popular Democracy and their efforts toward Universal Voter Registration for all Americans. Previous 30 Days releases include songs from Sun Kil Moon and Jesu, EL VY, Filthy Friends, Death Cab for Cutie, Franz Ferdinand, and others.
By Kevin Lozano
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Three profs arrested at D.C. protest
Three Yale professors were arrested in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday for engaging in civil disobedience in support of...
Three Yale professors were arrested in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday for engaging in civil disobedience in support of immigrant rights.
On Wednesday, over 10,000 people rallied at Upper Senate Park in Washington in support of the Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors Act, or DREAM Act. Three University professors — Alicia Camacho, Zareena Grewal and Daniel HoShang — were among more than 180 protesters who were arrested after the two-hour protest for “crowding, obstructing or incommoding” by sitting on the steps leading to the U.S. Capitol.
Read the full article here.
S&P 500, Nasdaq end at records after Fed speech
Several protesters from the progressive group Fed Up stood outside the conference room where Powell delivered the...
Several protesters from the progressive group Fed Up stood outside the conference room where Powell delivered the speech.
Read the full article here.
Wells Fargo: California Leader in Predatory Lending and Heartless Foreclosures
San Diego Free Press - March 13, 2012, by Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment - When it comes to...
San Diego Free Press - March 13, 2012, by Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment - When it comes to foreclosing on Californians, it looks like Wells Fargo may take the prize. According to a report released today, Wells Fargo is responsible for more homes in the foreclosure pipeline in California than any other single lender.
Wells Fargo is servicing the most loans, but they are providing less principal reduction to struggling borrowers than either Bank of America and Chase – who themselves should be doing more! The recent report from the Monitor of the multi-state Attorneys General settlement with the five big mortgage servicers showed that Wells Fargo trails behind Bank of America and Chase when it comes to the amount of principal reduction given as part of first lien loan modifications.
This is the very same Wells Fargo that just had its most profitable year ever in 2012, with earnings of $19 billion.
The report, California in Crisis: How Wells Fargo’s Foreclosure Pipeline Is Damaging Local Communities, by ACCE (Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment), the Center for Popular Democracy and the Home Defenders League, shows the harm coming to homeowners, communities and the economy unless Wells Fargo reverses its course and averts some or all of the impending foreclosures.
Click here to download the report.
The report uses data from Foreclosure Radar to look at loans currently in the foreclosure pipeline in California – meaning loans that have a Notice of Default or Notice of Trustee Sale. Of the 65,466 loans in the foreclosure pipeline, close to 20% of them are serviced by Wells Fargo.
If Wells Fargo’s 11,616 distressed loans go through foreclosure, California will take a next $3.3 billion hit: Each home will lose approximately 22 percent of its value, for a total loss of approximately $1.07 billion; homes in the surrounding neighborhood will lose value as well, for an additional loss of about $2.2 billion; and government tax revenues will be cut by $20 million, as a result of the depreciation.
And not surprisingly, African American and Latino communities will be particularly hard-hit. The report includes maps for seven major cities showing minority density and dots for each of Wells Fargo’s distressed loans. In city after city, they are heavily clustered in neighborhoods with high African American and Latino populations.
“My community has been absolutely devastated by the foreclosure crisis, and I put a lot of the blame at the doorstep of Wells Fargo,” says ACCE Home Defenders League member Vivian Richardson. “Wells Fargo’s heartless and unfair foreclosure practices are sending far more homes into foreclosure than is necessary.”
San Francisco Supervisor David Campos released a statement of support: “Our communities and our entire State are still reeling from the housing crisis, and will be for years to come. As this report shows, the numbers of homes still facing foreclosure is enormous. Principal reduction is clearly a critical strategy for saving homes and stabilizing the economy. Wells Fargo and the other major banks should be doing more of it.”
The report recommends:
Wells Fargo should commit to a broad principal reduction program.This means that every homeowner facing hardship should be offered a loan modification, when Wells has the legal authority to do so. The modification should be based on an affordable debt-to-income ratio, achieved through a waterfall that prioritizes principal reduction and interest rate reductions. Junior liens must also be modified.
Wells Fargo should report data on its principal reduction, short sales, and foreclosures by race, income, and zip code.Wells Fargo must be more transparent about its mortgage practices. The bank has an egregious history of harming California’s African American and Latino communities through predatory and discriminatory lending. To show the public that it has reformed, Wells Fargo must make this data available. The people of California need to know that Well Fargo is no longer discriminating against people of color and is fairly and equitably providing relief to homeowners and to the hardest hit communities.
Wells Fargo should immediately stop all foreclosures until the first two demands are met.In the event that it takes a few months to set up a fully functioning principal reduction program, Wells Fargo needs to immediately stop all foreclosures. Wells Fargo has done enough harm. It’s time to stop. California deserves a break.
ACCE is waging a campaign to push Wells Fargo to be a leader in California, their home state, in saving homes – beginning with their performance to comply with the Attorneys General Settlement and with the Homeowner Bill of Rights, but not ending there.
Click here to sign on to a letter to Wells Fargo CEO John Stumpf to support to campaign demands.
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