January 28, 2016 

By Elizabeth Marcellino 

City News Service   

A judge on Monday began questioning roughly six dozen prospective jurors for the trial of the man charged in the “Grim Sleeper” killings of nine women and a teenage girl between 1985 and 2007.

 

More than 200 prospective jurors filled out questionnaires last month as attorneys began the process of selecting a panel to hear the case against Lonnie Franklin Jr. Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Kathleen Kennedy told the prospective panelists the trial will be a “complicated” case that has “garnered a fair amount of publicity.”

 

Would-be jurors were asked to answer 176 questions covering an exhaustive range of issues, including their religious and political beliefs, attitudes toward law enforcement and mental health professionals, and understanding of DNA evidence.

 

The prosecution is seeking the death penalty, and Kennedy's follow-up questions focused solely on the potential jurors' views on capital punishment.

 

Kennedy spoke to each prospective juror individually, seeking to clarify contradictions and determine whether they could be fair and impartial in deciding the capital case.

 

“The death penalty is a very sensitive subject and there are many different opinions,” Kennedy told those assembled in the courtroom.

 

The judge said she wasn’t looking for a “right” answer from jurors, but to understand what was in any prospective panelist’s “heart and mind.”

 

She asked one man to explain his written comment that he believed the death penalty was meant “to rid society of human garbage.”

 

The would-be juror told Kennedy he meant that the penalty should be reserved for the worst, most irredeemable criminals. He assured her that if the trial reached the penalty phase, he would be able to fairly weigh the aggravating and mitigating circumstances and choose either life in prison without the possibility of parole or death as the most appropriate punishment.

 

Others said they couldn’t condemn a man to death regardless of his crime. Still others said they favored death as a deterrent.

 

Franklin, a 63-year-old one-time city employee, sat quietly throughout the jury selection process, dressed in a well-pressed gray shirt and a silver gray tie that his defense attorney had fashioned in a Windsor knot before the panel of would-be jurors entered the room.

 

He is charged with the murders of nine women — who were mostly in their 20s — and a 15-year-old girl. The bodies were dumped in alleys and trash bins in and around South Los Angeles, Inglewood and unincorporated county areas. He is also charged with the attempted murder of another woman.

 

The killings occurred between 1985 and 1988, and 2002 and 2007, with the assailant dubbed the “Grim Sleeper” because of the apparent 13-year break between killing sprees.

 

Detectives have said since Franklin’s arrest that they were also investigating whether he might be connected to the disappearances or deaths of eight other women whose photos were found in his home near 81st Street and Harvard Boulevard.

 

The trial is expected to last about three months. The lists of potential witnesses submitted by the prosecution and defense and included with the jury questionnaire run to more than 400 names.

Category: News

January 28, 2016 

Associated Press 

 

Some members of the NAACP protested outside a suburban Phoenix school Monday after a photo of students spelling out a racial slur with T-shirts showed up on social media last week.

 

The photo showed six smiling Desert Vista High School senior girls with their arms around each other, wearing black shirts with letters or asterisks written on them in gold tape.

 

Since the photo went viral Friday, an online petition has started calling for students involved to be expelled and the principal be fired.

 

One of the girls spoke to reporters outside the school Monday afternoon, saying she is not a racist and is “incredibly sorry” and asked for people to forgive her.

 

The Rev. Jarrett Maupin and other Phoenix-area civil rights activists met with Tempe Union High School District officials over the photo.

 

The district officials declined to discuss possible punishment for the students.

 

“We have an opportunity as a community to face this together and address it and to say there’s no place whatsoever for any type of racial slur or racial prejudice in our community and in our state and in our nation,” Dr. Kenneth Baca, superintendent of Tempe Union, said at a news conference.

 

“We are outraged, we are saddened, but most importantly, we want to ensure that this never happens again,” Baca added. “It’s a learning process about what a word can do to a community.”

 

Dr. Anna Battle, assistant superintendent of district operations for the school district, said the offensive photo resulted from a game of “human Scrabble” after seniors gathered for a panoramic photo with the message “Best You’ve Seen Class of 2016” with an asterisk between each word.

 

One of the students then decided to create the offensive word as a joke with one of their boyfriends, according to Battle.

 

A student posted the photo on Snapchat, and then: “Uh, oh too late,” Battle said. “Social media takes it and goes.”

 

Battle said the students were “exceptionally remorseful.”

 

Alyssa Stiggers, president of school’s Black Student Union, said her group was starting a campaign called “spread the word to end the n-word.”

 

“Something that used to stop my grandparents in their tracks is now being used in regular conversation,” Stiggers said. “Someone needs to put their foot down and say it’s not OK to say that.”

Category: News

January 21, 2016 

By DAVID CRARY 

Associated Press 

 

Abortion and race, two of America’s most volatile topics, have intersected in recent flare-ups related to the disproportionately high rate of abortion among black women.

 

In Congress, Rep. Sean Duffy, a white Republican from rural Wisconsin, lambasted black members of Congress for failing to decry these high abortion numbers. The next day, Rep. Gwen Moore, a black Democrat from Milwaukee, fired back — accusing Duffy and his GOP colleagues of caring about black children only before they are born.

 

In Missouri, a white GOP state legislator, Rep. Mike Moon, introduced a “personhood” bill that would effectively outlaw all abortions, and titled it the All Lives Matter Act. Abortion-rights activists were indignant, saying Moon was provocatively co-opting the Black Lives Matter slogan that has been used to convey concern about the deaths of unarmed blacks in encounters with police.

 

The disputes have drawn attention to abortion’s racial demographics just ahead of Friday’s annual March for Life in Washington, D.C., a gathering of anti-abortion activists to mark the anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court’s 1973 Roe v. Wade decision establishing a nationwide right to abortion.

 

The statistics themselves are not in dispute. While blacks comprise 13 percent of the population, black women account for more than 30 percent of the estimated 1 million abortions performed annually in the U.S.

 

Over the years, some anti-abortion activists have attributed this phenomenon to black communities being “targeted” by abortion providers with the aim of curtailing the black population. Abortion-rights supporters reject this assertion, and say the high black abortion rate reflects the impact of poverty and lack of access to effective contraception.

 

Duffy tapped into this debate in his remarks on the House floor earlier this month.

 

“My friends, liberals, Con­gressional Black Caucus members, they talk about fighting for the defenseless and the hopeless and the downtrodden, but there is no one more hopeless and voiceless than an unborn baby,” Duffy said. “But their silence is deafening. I can’t hear them.”

 

“Black lives matter ... and Indian and Asian, Hispanic and white,” Duffy continued. “All those lives matter. We should fight for all life, including the life of the unborn.”

 

The Congressional Black Caucus said Duffy’s remarks were offensive, and Moore took to the House floor to accuse Duffy of hypocrisy given his lack of support for some social programs that could aid children and mothers in low-income families.

 

“A number of African-Ameri­can women face multiple barriers to accessing quality, affordable health care, which can lead to higher rates of both unintended pregnancy and abortion,” Moore said. “It’s painfully obvious that Rep. Duffy’s concern for life ends as soon as the umbilical cord is cut.”

 

Duffy refused to back down from his remarks, and was defended by some black anti-abortion activists.

 

“We are not offended — we agree with him,” said Alveda King, the niece of civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr., and director of African-American outreach for Priests for Life.

 

King said there were ways to support black families without endorsing more spending for major government social programs — she mentioned crisis pregnancy centers and support for home-school parents. As for unintended pregnancies, she said they could be reduced through abstinence.

 

Duffy’s comments and the All Lives Matter Act are among numerous recent examples of abortion opponents modifying the Black Lives Matter slogan for their own purposes.

 

At Chicago’s March for Life on January 10, black pastor Corey Brooks called for greater anti-abortion activism in black neighborhoods.

 

“I have heard it said many times over and over, ‘Black lives matter.’ And they do,” Brooks told the crowd. “I’m here to say, ‘Babies’ lives matter!’”

 

In Missouri, the All Lives Matter Act was assailed by Alison Dreith, executive director of NARAL Pro-Choice Missouri.

 

“This bill continues the trend in Missouri that women should not make their own decisions,” Dreith wrote in the St. Louis American. “Again, the lives of women — and especially black women — do not matter to this legislator.”

 

Another point of friction is the use of billboards by anti-abortion groups to spread their messages in black communities.

 

“The Most Dangerous Place for an African-American is in the Womb,” was among the featured slogans a few years ago. More recently, a group called Prolife Across America placed billboards in black neighborhoods in Atlanta and Memphis, showing a smiling black baby, with the message “Dad’s Princess. Heartbeat at 18 days.”

 

In Memphis, black activist Cherisse Scott led a counter-campaign. Her group SisterReach placed billboards with the message “Trust Black Women,” accompanied by appeals for better schools, health care and economic opportunities.

 

Scott said she underwent three abortions before gaining the confidence to give birth.

 

“It was a very traumatic experience — to be told I’m committing acts of genocide,” she said. “When I went ahead and had my son, those people were nowhere around to make sure I’m all right.”

 

To some black opponents of abortion, the No. 1 nemesis is Planned Parenthood. It is the nation’s leading abortion provider, as well as offering birth control, cancer screenings and testing for sexually transmitted diseases.

 

The Rev. Clenard H. Childress Jr., a black pastor from New Jersey who heads a group called Black Genocide, contends that most of Planned Parenthood’s abortion clinics focus their services on minority communities. In a column last week, he accused the organization of overseeing “the systematic and deliberate targeting of African-American babies.”

 

Planned Parenthood says only 4 four percent of its health centers that provide abortions are in communities that are more than one-third black.

 

Angela Ferrell-Zabala, Planned Parenthood’s director of African American leadership and engagement, depicted the attacks on her organization as an attempt to “create diversion from the real issues” — economic inequality and access to health care.

 

Dr. Willie Parker, a black abortion provider based in Birmingham, Alabama, said anti-abortion activists tended to disregard the fact that many black women who get abortions are devoted mothers who already have children.

 

“Abortion is health care, and I make no apologies that it’s how I make my living,” he said. “It is moral and right to provide women with the services they need to live the lives they want to live.”

 

Advocacy groups on both sides of the abortion debate have scheduled several events ahead of the March for Life.

 

On Tuesday, scores of people shared their personal abortion stories during a live-streamed “speakout” aimed at reducing the stigma of abortion. On Wednesday, abortion-rights groups Public Leadership Institute and National Institute for Repro­ductive Health announced an initiative to counter the wave of anti-abortion laws being passed by Republican-controlled state legislatures. And on Thursday, several anti-abortion groups plan a protest at the site of a proposed Planned Parenthood clinic in Washington.

Category: News

January 21, 2016 

By Amen Oyiboke 

Staff Writer

 

Wal-Mart in Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Plaza had its last service day on Sunday, Jan. 17. The super chain made the announcement to its workers January 15. Store officials stated they would help employees find further employment, if possible.

 

Councilman Curren Price said he is concerned about the loss of local jobs and what the results will have on employees' families.

 

But, he said, “[Wal-Mart’s] departure will create an opportunity for a more progressive organization to take advantage of the significant public and private sector investments being made in the area to enhance the quality of life for residents.”

 

The Crenshaw closure comes after Wal-Mart announced the closures of 154 U.S. locations, 269 globally, due to a downsizing of the chain because of their competition such as Amazon.com. Three of the Wal-Mart stores facing closure on the west coast are ironically in urban neighborhoods.

 

“I was surprised to hear of the company’s plans to close so many of its stores,” said Herb Wesson, Jr., L.A. City Council President. “First and foremost, I want to ensure employees are given the opportunity to keep their jobs by transferring to neighboring stores and regardless of the situation I will continue to work to ensure local residents have access to fresh foods in our communities.”

 

More than 95 percent of the closed stores in the U.S. are within 10 miles on average of another Wal-Mart, and the hope is that these associates will be placed in nearby locations.

 

Wal-Mart operates 4,500 in the U.S. Its global workforce is 2.2 million and 1.4 million in the U.S.

 

“Wal-Mart fought so hard to get a foothold in our community, yet has so easily decided to pack up and leave without much notice to neither its shoppers nor its employees.  Hopefully this will create an opportunity for new businesses to come in that will share our commitment to the success of our community while creating not just jobs, but good jobs that deliver the livable wage and benefits workers deserve,” said Laphonza Butler, President of SEIU Local 2015.

 

Another big chunk of its closure is in the challenging Brazilian market. The stores being terminated account for a small fraction of the company’s 11,000 worldwide stores and are less than 1 percent of its global revenue.

 

According to Associated Press, Wal-Mart stated they would stick to the plan announced last year to open 50 to 60 supercenters, 85 to 95 Neighborhood Markets and 7 to 10 Sam's Clubs in the U.S. during the fiscal year that begins Feb. 1. Outside the U.S., Wal-Mart plans to open 200 to 240 stores.

 

“Actively managing our portfolio of assets is essential to maintaining a healthy business,” said Doug McMillon, president and CEO, Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., in their press release. “Closing stores is never an easy decision, but it is necessary to keep the company strong and positioned for the future. It’s important to remember that we’ll open well more than 300 stores around the world next year. So we are committed to growing, but we are being disciplined about it.”

 

 

 

PHOTO:  NU-WalmartClosing-SCROLL.jpg

 

 

 

Wal-Mart in Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Plaza had its last service day on Sunday, Jan. 17. The super chain made the announcement to its workers January 15.

 

 

 

Category: News

Page 383 of 1617