Naming the Top Gangs

Launching a counteroffensive against organized street thugs, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and police officials took the unusual step Wednesday of identifying the city’s 11 worst gangs, then promising to go after them with teams of police, federal agents, probation officers and prosecutors.
Facing 720 identifiable gangs with 39,000 members, the city’s plan would target the [...]

Sex Scandal Traps SF Mayor: How Much Do We Care About Politicians’ Sex Lives?

“San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom’s re-election campaign manager resigned Wednesday after confronting the mayor about an affair Newsom had with his wife while she worked in the mayor’s office, City Hall sources said.”
“Alex Tourk, 39, who served as Newsom’s deputy chief of staff before becoming his campaign manager in September, confronted the mayor after his [...]

Be A Griot

The Corporation for Public Broadcasting announced a new project Wednesday that hopes to record at least 1,500 oral histories from black families over the next year to be placed in the archives of the Smithsonian’s future National Museum of African American History and Culture.
”One of the greatest treasures of African America is the stories, the [...]

Basquiat

Many of you appreciate fine, African American art. For those of you that do, check out an artist named Jean Michel Basquiat.
“From the streets of New York to the walls of its most prominent galleries, young graffiti artist Jean-Michel Basquiat (1960-1988) was catapulted to international fame in his early 20s and was gone by [...]