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SAN BERNARDINO, CA- The Black Chamber of Commerce Inland Empire (BCCIE) had their 2nd annual Black History Super Expo this past Saturday, February 4 in Downtown San Bernardino at Court Street. Tammy Martin-Ryles and the BCCIE members did an outstanding job on bringing together the community. 

Dr. Judy D. White

MORENO VALLEY-CA- After nearly six successful years leading Moreno Valley Unified School District to new levels of student and staff achievement, Superintendent Dr. Judy D. White has accepted an appointment as Riverside County Superintendent of Schools.

The position is an elected position, but White was appointed by the Riverside County Board of Education to finish the two remaining years of the term vacated by her predecessor, Kenneth Young.

White will begin her new assignment in February and the MVUSD School Board discussed the process for finding a new superintendent at its recent regular meeting on Tuesday January 17.

In a message to all MVUSD staff, School Board President C.J. Johnson praised both Dr. White’s accomplishments and commitment.

“It is also important to note that because of her success leading Moreno Valley Unified to new levels of achievement, Dr. White has become known statewide, and has regularly been approached with attractive offers to lead other school districts across our state, all of which she declined in favor of her commitment to the students of our community,” Johnson said.

“It is telling that the only position she finally was willing to consider is one through which she can continue to serve Moreno Valley students and staff.”

 Prior to her appointment in Moreno Valley, she served as Deputy Superintendent for San Bernardino City Unified School District. Dr. White has served as teacher, assistant principal, principal, Special Education director, assistant superintendent for Educational Services, and deputy superintendent for Program Improvement, Curriculum/Instruction and Accountability & Research. She has also served as an adjunct professor at Azusa Pacific University and Aenon Bible College.

 The Riverside County Office of Education provides a variety of support services for all 23 school districts in the county.

ONTARIO, CA- The world famous Harlem Globetrotters, featuring some of the most electrifying athletes on the planet, will bring their spectacular show to the Los Angeles area during their 2017 World Tour.  The Globetrotters’ Los Angeles area game schedule follows below.

• Ontario at the Citizens Business Bank Arena on Saturday, February 11, at 2 p.m., and 7 p.m.
• Anaheim at the Honda Center on Sunday, February 12 at 2 p.m., and Saturday, February 18 at 1 p.m. and 7 p.m.
• Mission Viejo at the Saddleback College Gym on Monday, February 13, at 7 p.m.
• Los Angeles at the STAPLES Center on Sunday, February 19, at 12:30 p.m., and 5:45 p.m.

New this season, for the first time ever, the Globetrotters will debut basketball’s first 4-point line. The 4-point line will be located 30 feet from the basket – 6 feet, 3 inches beyond the top of the NBA’s current 3-point line.

During their 2017 World Tour, the famed team will feature a star-studded roster that includes Big Easy Lofton, Ant Atkinson, Hi-Lite Bruton, Thunder Law, Bull Bullard and Cheese Chisholm – plus female stars TNT Lister and Ace Jackson*– the Globetrotters’ one-of-a-kind show is unrivaled in the world of family entertainment. Every game will showcase incredible ball handling wizardry, rim-rattling dunks, trick shots, hilarious comedy and unequaled fan interaction. After the game, Globetrotter stars will sign autographs and take photos with fans. Here’s a few unbelievable things they have been up to lately:

Buckets Blake unbelievable basket http://700wlw.iheart.com/onair/eddie-tracy-46880/buckets-blakes-of-the-harlem-globetrotters-15387223/ and Farthest shot while sitting- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0iP27BeHek8

Tickets for Los Angeles area shows start as low as $18.00 and are now available for presale at harlemglobetrotters.com and arena box offices.  Information on group and scout tickets can also be found at harlemglobetrotters.com. The Harlem Globetrotters will tip off their 2017 World Tour on Dec. 26, 2016 and bring their unrivalled family entertainment to over 250 cities in 48 states across North America.

The Harlem Globetrotters® are legendary worldwide, synonymous with one-of-a-kind family entertainment and great basketball skills for the past 90 years. Throughout their history, the Original Harlem Globetrotters have showcased their iconic talents in 122 countries and territories on six continents, often breaking down cultural and societal barriers while providing fans with their first-ever basketball experience. Proud inductees of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, the Globetrotters have entertained hundreds of millions of fans – among them popes, kings, queens, and presidents – over nine thrilling decades. Sponsored by Baden Sports, Harlem Globetrotters International, Inc. is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Herschend Enterprises, the largest family-owned themed entertainment company in the U.S. For the latest news and information about the Harlem Globetrotters southland games, visit www.harlemglobetrotters.com/socal and follow them on Twitter @Globies

Attorney General Eric Holder

By Manny Otiko/California Black Media

Although Gov. Jerry Brown say’s that California is projected to face a $1.6 billion shortfall next summer, Democrats, who control the state legislature, have decided to hire former Attorney General Eric Holder on a $25,000 per month, three-month contract.

Holder was the first African-American attorney general. He was appointed by President Barack Obama and served from 2009 to 2015.

Democratic legislators said they hired Eric Holder in preparation for policies that they expect President-elect Donald Trump to enact. Trump made deporting all undocumented immigrants a central part of his platform, although he later backed off some areas of this. Some California cities have said they will not follow any deportation orders by becoming sanctuary cities. According to a statement released by the Trump campaign, he promised to “cancel all federal funding to sanctuary cities.”

“With the upcoming change in administrations, we expect that there will be extraordinary challenges for California in the uncertain times ahead,” said Senate President pro Tempore Kevin de León (D-Los Angeles) and Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon (D-Paramount) in a joint statement.  “This is a critical moment in the history of our nation.  We have an obligation to defend the people who elected us and the policies and diversity that make California an example of what truly makes our nation great.”

De Leon and Rendon also said they hired Holder’s Covington & Burling law firm to “resist any attempts to roll back the progress California has made.”

However, some Republicans feel this is a waste of both resources and manpower. They argued that California Attorney General Xavier Becerra, who was confirmed on Friday, should handle the state’s legal issues.  The state Attorney General’s office has 4,500 lawyers on staff.

State Sen. Ted Gaines (R-El Dorado,) said it was part of Becerra’s job duties to handle legal issues that concern the state.

“My real issue is we have a state attorney general,” said Gaines. “It is his job to protect the interests of California. That is his function.”

Gaines added that it wasn’t clear where the funds for Holder are going to come from. Gaines said that he has also heard from constituents who were upset at what they see as wasteful spending.

“They’re very frustrated,” Gaines said. “They thought it (hiring Holder) was not necessary.”

Sen. Jim Nielsen (R-Tehama) called the decision to hire Holder a “waste of money.”

“How can the state afford to pay for an out-of-state overpriced lawyer when we could be using those funds to help the poor and those in need?” said Nielsen in a press release. “This unnecessary action is provocative and premature given that this administration has not yet taken office nor its agenda been established.”

However, Assemblymember Reggie Jones-Sawyer (D-Los Angeles,) said California could be facing unique legal challenges that require the skills of Holder’s law firm.

“I have no doubt that the congressman (Becerra) understands the extraordinary gravity and importance of this position of attorney general, particularly in light of the times and given circumstances in Washington. That said, we are where we are. Donald Trump is president and he has threatened to eviscerate much of what we cherish in California,” said Jones-Sawyer.

Robert K. Ross

By Anna Gorman

As Republicans seek to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, advocacy organizations around the nation are strategizing on how best to respond. Do they defend the law at all costs? Do they take part in the repeal conversation so they can help design an alternative?

Already, numerous groups are mobilizing patients and health care advocates to raise awareness of the impact of a repeal. Families USA, for example, launched an initiative called “Protect Our Care” and is encouraging consumers to share their stories through social media. Opponents of repeal staged protests around the country last Sunday.

The California Endowment, a private health foundation in Los Angeles, was among the state’s biggest backers of the Affordable Care Act, spending tens of millions of dollars on outreach and awareness. Robert K. Ross, the foundation’s president and CEO, was one of the founding board members of the state’s health insurance exchange, Covered California.

The endowment last month announced it would invest $25 million in “Fight4All,” an initiative to help preserve health and safety programs throughout the state. We spoke to Ross about the potential impact of a repeal as well as about the organization’s plans for the future. The conversation has been edited for clarity and length.

Q: What are your biggest concerns about the new administration’s health care plans? 

When I was in the 6th grade, I got in a schoolyard fight. I thought we were having an argument and then I was in a fight. I have that same feeling right now. We have now shifted from a debate to a real fight. The stakes are exceedingly high.

The last three to four years of progress represent the closest we have ever come to a vision of universal health coverage. We have gone from 7 million uninsured pre-Obamacare in California to 3.5 million. The very thought of losing that progress is somewhere between nauseating and mind-blowing.

There are three things that we are worried about specifically. The first is the subsidies and the federal dollar support for that. The second is the support for Medicaid expansion. And the third is the very thoughtful, well-intended reform provisions — beyond coverage — that Obamacare represented: quality improvements, prevention investments and the shift from emphasis on volume of services to value of services.

The state of California has leveraged nearly $20 billion in federal support to expand health coverage, and so the thought of losing that is really quite painful. That’s a lot of money, which will be exceedingly difficult to backfill.

Q: What is the strategy moving forward?

We are fighting on two fronts. One is to fight to preserve as many provisions of Obamacare as we can. At the very same time, we want to slow down the process enough for a thoughtful “replace” part of “repeal and replace.”

We know that President-elect [Donald] Trump will have a much harder time than he ever considered or envisioned in the “replace” part of Obamacare. It is simply not that easy. Some of the most skilled politicians in the world have failed on health reform. If it is going to be attempted, it needs to be done carefully and thoughtfully.

The strategy is to support the many, many advocacy organizations we have supported over the years in extolling the real virtues and benefits of Obamacare and the success of the exchanges, particularly of the California exchange. California’s experience is a real model for the nation. We have been able to control premium increases better than other places.

We can lift up the successes of the California exchange and other exchanges through advocacy, through voices and through coming to the defense of Obamacare. We are supporting organizations, like Health Access, Families USA, Insure the Uninsured Project and other advocacy organizations and strengthening their capacity to bring the fight forward.

That is number one. Number two is how do we manage on a parallel track to help get the right kind of people and the right kind of voices and the right kind of ideas in the repeal and replace conversation and debate?

Q: What could California do to maintain the provisions of health reform even if the Republicans repeal the Affordable Care Act?

As you can imagine, a whirlwind of conversations [about options] is already unfolding. I will put them in three categories. The first category is let’s just preserve the progress we have made through Medicaid expansion and look to replace the anticipated loss of any federal dollars with state dollars or other revenue sources. Sources of those dollars could be the state general fund, a new tax, anything from soda taxes to marijuana taxes.

The second is that we are free to do something different. You still have the financing issues to deal with, but you are not really building on what Obamacare has done. You are basically tearing that down and starting with something completely different.

The third category is something in between those two. You preserve an aspect or two of Obamacare and build off of it. So that might be keeping the exchange and putting everything under it — Medicaid, Medicare and more of the individual market. In a sense, you are building from what Obamacare gave you and saying you can go even further.

Our mission is to expand coverage and improve health for all. We are ready to invest in those ideas and make sure there is a healthy marketplace of ideas of what to do next in California.

Q: In the short-term, if the federal government takes away the money, does the exchange shut down? Do people who gained coverage through the Medicaid expansion lose it?

If they just take away the money without a replacement scenario, then we are back to seven million uninsured in California and in relatively short order. That is absent the state of California coming to the rescue with some general fund dollars.

What we have in our favor against that is that you have midterm elections in two years and the GOP Congress would have to explain to their constituents how they gleefully eviscerated Obamacare and didn’t replace it with anything and now those constituents don’t have health coverage. I think the politics would mitigate against that worst case scenario.

Q: What is the goal of the Fight4All initiative?

Our board approved a reallocation of $25 million over three years for a fight fund. All of that is not just for health coverage. Some of it is for immigration response and support. We know that deportation and treating immigrants badly is bad for their health. Some of it is for other safety net programs that may be at risk.

While the results of the election were jolting and jarring for many of us, we have to rediscover tenacity and audacity. If that means putting forward ideas for an entirely new health care framework for the state of California, then fine. If it means building off of what we have, fine.

We just can’t afford to be in a position of shying away and being polite. A fight is always a wake up call. I don’t know that I can think of a better wake up call for advocates for health for all than what just happened in this election.

This story was produced by Kaiser Health News, an editorially independent program of the Kaiser Family Foundation.

agorman@kff.org | @AnnaGorman

RIVERSIDE, CA- On Saturday night, January 28, 2017, twenty-eight year old professional boxer Mikey Garcia (Moreno Valley, CA by way of Oxnard, CA/pro record: 35-0-0, with 29 KOs) returns to the ring at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada, against WBC Lightweight Champion, Dejan Zlaticanin (Podgorica, Montenegro/pro record: 22-0-0, with 15 KOs). Garcia-Zlaticanin is scheduled for twelve rounds in the lightweight division as the co-main event on the SHOWTIME televised fight card. In the main event, Carl Frampton will defend his WBA Super World Featherweight Title in a rematch with Leo Santa Cruz.

Garcia, a former two-time WBO world champion in the featherweight and super featherweight divisions, trains in Riverside at the Robert Garcia Boxing Academy. He last fought on July 30, 2016 at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York, against former WBC World Featherweight Champion, Elio Rojas. In that Showtime televised fight, Garcia knocked Rojas down four times, before referee Eddie Claudio called an end to the fight at 2:02 of Round 5. Following that win, Garcia’s record improved to 35-0, with 29 KOs, while Rojas’ record dropped to 24-3, with 14 KOs.

Garcia shared his thoughts about his upcoming fight against Zlaticanin. He said, “I’m very happy and excited for my next fight. I know that Dejan Zlaticanin is a strong, undefeated southpaw, which will make for a great fight. I’m thankful of being afforded another opportunity to show my skills. I’m ready to take on the very best in boxing, and Zlaticanin is one of the best lightweights in the sport. I want to prove that I’m better than I was before, and that I’m willing to fight anyone. The time off from boxing made me stronger and more competitive than ever.  

Fighting at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas will be a great way to start the new year. I’m looking forward to performing under the bright lights on a very big stage. The last time I fought in Las Vegas was four years ago, and all my family, friends and fans traveled there for the fight. I expect the same to happen this time around. Thank you Stephen Espinoza, Lou DiBella, Al Haymon and Team Zlaticanin for making the fight a reality. January 28 will be the beginning of a great year for Team Mikey Garcia. Please know that I’m very appreciative of all my supporters and the best is yet to come.”

Publisher and Co-Publisher of the Westside Story Newspaper, Wallace IV and Josephine Allen

SAN BERNARDINO, CA- On Friday, February 3, the San Bernardino Culture Foundation will be crowning the 2017 Senior King and Queen whom is the Publisher of the Westside Story Newspaper, Wallace Allen IV, and Co-Publisher Josephine Allen. The month of February also marks the paper’s 30^th anniversary.

The crowning will take place from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. at the San Bernardino City Unified School District Community Room located at 777 North F Street in San Bernardino. There will also be special outgoing remarks from the 2016 Senior King and Queen, George and Helen Rawls, followed by an invitation from the Black Chamber of Commerce.

To RSVP, please contact Margaret Hill at margarethill3361@gmail.com. This event is co-sponsored by Dr. Dale Marsden, Superintendent of the San Bernardino City Unified School District.

By Naomi K. Bonman

LOS ANGELES, CA- On Saturday, January 21 in Downtown Los Angeles, women from all over the Southern California region came together to march for one prime reason—unity and equality.

Women fought for their rights of equality in the past and felt the need to do it again after the inauguration of the 45^th President Donald Trump took place on Friday, January 21. Prior to Trump taking oath as the nation’s president, he had made countless racist and sexist remarks against minorities and women.

Prior to the march, President Trump altered the White House website with the removal of the LGBT rights. The Civil Rights page has also been replaced with a protecting our law enforcement page. The site is now only available in English and can no longer be accessed in Spanish. These are just a few events that prompted the Womens’ March across the Nation.

The mission of the Women’s March is for women to stand together in solidarity for the protection of women’s rights, safety, health, and their families by recognizing that their vibrant and diverse communities are the strength of the country.

As seen in marches from city to city, the Women’s March brought diversity within all ethnic backgrounds, as well as from the male gender. Everyone came together in the spirit of democracy and to honor the champions if human rights, dignity, and justice of past times.

The march was the first step towards unifying the community, forming new relationships, and creating change from the grassroots level up. Women’s March works peacefully while recognizing there is no true peace without justice and equity for all.

To keep up with Women’s March LA, follow them on Instagram @womensmarchla.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – This week, the Presidential Inaugural Committee announced details surrounding the swearing-in of President-elect Donald J. Trump on January 20, 2017.

President-elect Donald J. Trump will be sworn-in on January 20, 2017 using his Bible, as well as the same Bible that President Lincoln used at his first inauguration. The oath of office will be administered by the Chief Justice of the United States John Roberts.

“In his first inaugural address, President Lincoln appealed to the ‘better angels of our nature,’” said PIC Chairman Tom Barrack. “As he takes the same oath of office 156 years later, President-elect Trump is humbled to place his hand on Bibles that hold special meaning both to his family and to our country.”

President-elect Trump’s Bible was presented to him by his mother upon his graduation of Sunday Church Primary School at First Presbyterian Church, Jamaica, New York, on Children’s Day, June 12, 1955. The Bible is a revised standard version published by Thomas Nelson and Sons in New York in 1953 and is embossed with his name on the lower portion of the front cover. The inside cover is signed by church officials and is inscribed with his name and the details of when it was presented.
 
The Lincoln Bible was purchased for the first inauguration of President Abraham Lincoln by William Thomas Carroll, Clerk of the Supreme Court. The Bible is bound in burgundy velvet with a gold-washed white metal rim along the edges of the covers. It is part of the collections of the Library of Congress and has been used at three inaugurals: 1861, 2009, and 2013.

Earlier this week, Rep. Norma J. Torres (D-CA) released the following statement announcing that she plans to attend the 58^th Inaugural Ceremony for Donald J. Trump.

“After serious consideration, I have decided to attend the inauguration of Donald Trump.  As an immigrant and a woman who represents a largely Mexican-American constituency, I am the embodiment of everything Trump has demonized and demeaned.  And on January 20^th, I will stand over his shoulder, just as I will during the next four years, to remind him that I and people like me deserve a seat at the table, and we will watch his every move.  We will hold him accountable.  We will not silently step aside and be ignored.  We will show up, and we will make our voices heard. 

“That day will be uncomfortable, even painful, but I believe that as a Member of Congress, it is my duty to witness the peaceful transition of power that is the hallmark of our democracy. Let us not forget that Republicans attended President Obama’s inaugurations and still managed to oppose him at every turn.  This is why the very next day, I will march with thousands of men, women, and children to show Donald Trump that women are what make America great.  We will send a clear message to him, and the world, that we won’t back down from the fight for justice, inclusiveness, and dignity for all. 

“I will never stop voicing my opposition to policies that divide and destroy this country, but I have always believed that to make a difference, you have to show up.  And that is exactly what I intend to do.”