Breakthrough for Gay Christian Professors

By | July 21st, 2015|Education, LGBTQ+|

Two Christian colleges — Eastern Mennonite University and Goshen College — announced Monday that they will change their hiring procedures to permit the hiring of faculty members who are in same-sex marriages.

While such a policy would not be surprising at most colleges and universities, it represents a dramatic shift in Christian higher education. Eastern Mennonite and Goshen

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Immigrants sue Texas over state’s denial of birth certificates for U.S.-born children

By | July 20th, 2015|Immigration, Uncategorized|

Hiram Ramirez didn’t expect problems this week when she went to get a birth certificate for her newborn daughter, Dulce.

Ramirez, 28, a native of neighboring Reynosa, Mexico, crossed the border illegally and has lived in the Rio Grande Valley for years. Her two older daughters, ages 3 and 14, were U.S.-born, and she easily obtained

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How much is a life worth? Calculations behind Gardena’s $4.7-million police shooting settlement

By | July 16th, 2015|Police & Community|

An attorney representing the family of Ricardo Diaz Zeferino, whose shooting death by Gardena police was captured in a video made public this week, bristled Wednesday morning talking about the millions the city paid out to settle the family’s lawsuit.

“This is not about money,” attorney Sonia Mercado said. “Money doesn’t bring their son back.”

But as

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San Diego judge refuses to throw out civil rights lawsuit filed by strippers

By | July 14th, 2015|Police & Community|

A federal judge in San Diego has refused to throw out a civil rights lawsuit filed by nude dancers against the Police Department and its vice officers.

Judge M. James Lorenz rejected a request by the city attorney to dismiss a lawsuit filed by attorney Daniel Gilleon on behalf of nude dancers at Cheetahs.

His decision could

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LAPD officers undergoing training in de-escalating violent encounters

By | July 14th, 2015|Police & Community|

Responding to the fatal police shooting of Ezell Ford in South Los Angeles, Police Chief Charlie Beck said Monday that all of the department’s officers will be trained in the next month on ways to de-escalate potentially violent encounters as part of a “national conversation” on police use of force.

The five-hour-long training session, which will

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Black Children in U.S. Are Much More Likely to Live in Poverty, Study Finds

By | July 14th, 2015|Intergroup Relations|

WASHINGTON — Black children were almost four times as likely as white children to be living in poverty in 2013, a new report has found, the latest evidence that the economic recovery is leaving behind some of the United States’ most vulnerable citizens.

The share of American

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LGBT activists say the fight doesn’t end at marriage

By | July 13th, 2015|LGBTQ+|

When Donald Jones Anspauch Jr. first started fighting for gay rights in the 1980s, there was an urgent, unifying cause for activists: AIDS.

His friends were dying. Devastated, Anspauch penned a coming-out letter to his parents saying, “Gay is OK,” and began marching, picketing and protesting for his and others’ survival. The fight eventually shifted to

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As Latino population surges, gaps in income and education may shrink

By | July 10th, 2015|Intergroup Relations|

Yolanda Garcia’s grandparents migrated from Mexico and worked multiple jobs — in farm fields and school cafeterias — to save money to send all six children to college.

Garcia’s father attended Brown University and had five children. In turn, she graduated from UC Santa Cruz, worked as a teacher and now runs a gallery and boutique

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