Kings County has slashed the time it takes for a patient to walk through the door of the emergency room until he or she sees a doctor. From TRIAGE to the presence of a physician, the waiting time has gone from about two hours to less than 30 minutes. more>

The ongoing attacks on Mexicans in Port Richmond and Staten Island are deplorable but somewhat unfathomable when the attackers are identified as black youths. more>

VIDEO :: Freedom of Speech more>

The new legislation gives a much better chance of successfully competing for many of the billions of dollars in state contracts awarded annually to the private sector. more>

"With our economy being as it is, people not receiving raises on their jobs, people actually being laid off, we are nowhere being our of the woods yet," stated U.S. Congresswoman Yvette Clarke of Brooklyn. more>

Mayor Bloomberg, now in his third and final four-year term as chief executive at City Hall, has garnered the vigorous support of some of the nation's largest corporations in a national initiative on immigration reform. It's a bold, albeit not too unexpected, partnership led by a billionaire business executive who knows what the country's corporations need to get them back to the boom days of yesteryear.

AUDIO :: President Obama renewed his call for comprehensive immigration reform on July 1, 2010 in at speech at American University. NPR's All Things Considered reports. more>

After two weeks of intense negotiations by a joint Capitol Hill conference committee, Washington lawmakers finally reached agreement on the single largest financial reform package since the 1930s New Deal. And it could mean a lot for communities of color.

VIDEO :: Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-California) spoke from the House floor in support of HR 4173 - the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. Key provisions written by the Congresswoman to assist homeowners, protect consumers, empower shareholders and increase opportunities for minorities and women were included in the final bill that passed the House today. more>

The U.S. State Department charged that at least 225,000 Haitian children were victims of forced domestic servitude or slavery before the onslaught of the deadly earthquake. That estimated figure has skyrocketed since then. more>

Members of Congress from both sides of the aisle have sent a clear message to the five commissioners of the Federal Communication Commission regarding new Internet regulations: Bring power back to the people.

AUDIO :: The Federal Communications Commission issued a proposal on May 6th that would create internet regulations. FSRN's Leigh Ann Caldwell reports. more>

With nearly 600,000 New York residents unemployed, and the financial future still looking bleak, many are calling for the extension of federal unemployment benefits and more help from the private sector. more>

While Haitians see this as a golden opportunity to set Haiti on the right path, there is still concern of the effort being dominated by non-Haitians, those that do not have a stake in the effort, and the use of funds.  more>

VIDEO :: Democracy Now's Amy Goodman discussed Ron Paul's statements on the Civil Rights Act of 1964. more>

The author alleges that the bill introduced by NJ Senator Menendez, which seeks to overturn the Virgin Islands' public-private partnerships with two rum makers, Diageo and Fortune Brands, represents a cash grab by Puerto Rico. more>

"We want to encourage African Americans to become regular bankers," Rouse, a member of the President's Council of Economic Advisers, said. "We also want to keep people in their homes and to save their neighborhoods." more>

The time for voluntarily returning Census 2010 forms has ended. And the numbers for New York States are not good. According to recent published reports five states are very close to losing congressional seats because of poor participation in the Census. more>

Another damaging round of home foreclosure may be on Brooklyn's horizon. Two prominent federal lawmakers, U.S. Representatives Edolphus "Ed" Towns (D-NY-10) and Yvette Clarke (D-NY-11) are blaming the problem on a combination of high unemployment and the negative fallout from skyrocketing mortgage interest rates being charged by banks for adjustable loans.

VIDEO :: GRITtv's Laura Flanders headed to Cooper Union the day that President Obama spoke there, and spoke to Kai Wright of ColorLines and The Nation about the ongoing problem with foreclosures and whether Obama's solutions will help anyone keep their home. more>

It is estimated that the City and  the MTA spend millions of dollars annually to place public notices in newspapers but far too many of the decision-makers ignore community newspapers, which are relatively small businesses, often owned by families but which reach a large segment of the market. more>

AUDIO :: All Things Considered Host, Melissa Block, spoke with Linda Blumberg of the Urban Institute about who will be left out in the new health care reform legislation. more>

Beating up on Democrats and in particular President Obama has been their new brand of in-your- face politics. It is the antics of a party out of touch with today's political reality and the absent-minded nostalgia of its fossilized white male-dominated club. more>

It's becoming a nightmare for Caribbean youth, a headache that begins with youth gang criminal activity on neighborhood streets but usually ends with a stint in state prison.

VIDEO :: Students traded a day off from school on President's Day for a day of brainstorming about how to take back their neighborhoods from gangs, which have turned them into battlefields. NY1's Natasha Ghoneim reported. more>

In 1827, West Indian John Russwurm and Rev. Samuel Cornish, an African American, launched the first Black newspaper in the United States. It was called Freedom Journal and it made its appearance in Manhattan. The purpose was clear: "We wish to plead our case," the founders stated.

VIDEO :: This is an excerpt of "Soldiers Without Swords", the first documentary to chronicle the history of the Black press, including its central role in the construction of modern African American identity more>

A mobile trauma unit was dispatched to help Flatbush Avenue's Caribbean store owners – Haitian, Jamaican, Guyanese, Trinidadian, Grenadian and other West Indian vendors – who were left traumatized by the tragic events in the Caribbean country. more>

Empowerment Experiment, a Black empowerment campaign started by John and Maggie Anderson, attempts to keep Black spending within the Black community, promoting growth and support for members of the community and the community as a whole.

VIDEO :: The Andersons' Experiment is grounded in John and Maggie Anderson's public pledge to try to exclusively support Black businesses and professionals and buy Black-made products. more>

As the recent Fiscal Policy Institute report indicates, immigration spurs economic activity, making obvious the need for the current immigration reform bill to focus on improving the lives of the people already in the country rather than on enforcement and deportation. more>

As the policy fight over the budget continues, Paterson has decided to use his executive authority to prevent the state from running out of cash. more>

AUDIO :: NPR reported on Sunday that the unemployment rate for all African-Americans is about 50 percent higher than the nation as a whole — and even higher for African-American males. more>

When Dr. Milton Haynes, one of the few Blacks to head the Medical Society of New York County, came out early in the game for comprehensive health care reform, it was clear he was calling for radical surgery to a system that was badly broken.

VIDEO :: In its new podcast, Association of Asian Pacific Community Health Organizations (AAPCHO) presented a discussion on health care reform with Michele Lew. more>

While we would have liked to see the set of reform proposals before the House of Representatives and the Senate in 2009, the decision to set its introduction to next year is understandable but not without perils.

VIDEO :: Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano answers questions after a talk at the Center for American Progress on November 13, 2009. more>

In 2007, two million people worldwide died of AIDS – that is 5,500 per day. In the United States, 1.1 million people were living with AIDS, with a startling 45 percent of all new cases found among African Americans. more>

"The University's strong enrollment gains make a powerful statement," said Chancellor Matthew Goldstein. "Students and families connect with CUNY's consistent focus on academic quality, on providing value, and on the changing needs of our students, present and future." more>

The need for change was apparent as many believe that access to health care is a right and not a privilege. more>

"The leaders are being targeted. They have always been targeted," declared Hazel Dukes, head of the NY chapter of the nation's oldest and largest civil rights organization.

VIDEO :: Journalist Gwen Ifill speaks about the future of American democracy and the Black political structure in the age of Obama. more>

The author suggests that the heated reaction to Professor Gates' encounter with the police at his Cambridge home's doorstep is partially due to anxiety by conservative whites to the Census prediction that whites will shift into a minority status within the next 50 years. more>

VIDEO :: Earlier this year, Brooklyn D.A. Charles Joe Hynes and New York Senator Chuck Schumer held a press conference to announce the formation of a task force to tackle mortgage fraud.

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A thorough inquiry is needed in the case of Shem Walker, a Caribbean immigrant, who was shot and killed, allegedly by an under-cover cop in the Fort Greene section of Brooklyn. more>

Thompson supporter Councilmember Charles Barron listed some key factors behind what is repeatedly described as Bloomberg's vulnerability. At the top of the list is the term limit issue.

VIDEO :: Campaign video--Bill Thompson for Mayor more>

Ask any Black Democrats who sits in the New York State Senate about the cham­ber's portrayal in the media and the answer is simple enough: biased and without merit. more>

The hand of State Senator John Sampson (D-Brooklyn) is seen in the promotions Black and Hispanic judges and women moving up the courts' ladder. more>

I know the difference Mayoral Control has made. The issue isn't Black or White. It is Green. It's about our children's ability to get an economic foothold in this country, and being able to compete in an increasingly competitive global society.

AUDIO :: WNYC's Beth Fertig presents opinions from parents and others about mayoral control of public schools. more>

AUDIO :: WNYC's Beth Fertig reports on the establishment of the Black Male Initiative at Medgar Evers College. more>

The National Coalition of Latino Clergy and Christian Leaders, in its passionate push for immigration reform, is attacking the one issue that could actually help their cause – the U.S. Census.

KABC's Doug McIntyre conducts a hostile interview with the Rev. Miguel Rivera of the National Coalition of Latino Clergy and Christian Leaders on 2010 census. more>

Obama's high approval rating, which hovers around 60-plus percentage points since inauguration, is an indication that the American people believe the country is on the right track.

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The barrier to TPS for Haitians has remained in force despite the fact that civil strife, which forced tens of thousands to flee the country, can be traced directly to U.S. policy in Port-au-Prince. more>

The Preval administration has repeatedly warned that U.S. deportations could destabilize the impoverished, French-speaking Caribbean country, where food, water and housing have been in extremely short supply since major storms last summer. more>

Younger West Indian immigrants are fairing better than their parents, with the women outperforming the males especially in the classroom, often showing the kind of discipline and focus that are hallmarks of their lives in the Caribbean. more>

All three presidential candidates talk about the housing crisis created by the subprime meltdown. However, none of them adequately addresses the impending crisis surrounding an inadequate supply of affordable housing. more>

Of the 83,000 people on the national transplant waiting list, approximately 50 percent are minorities, according to United Network for Organ Sharing. However, because of a disproportionate demand, African-American patients are less likely to undergo transplantation and more likely to die or be removed from the list compared with Caucasian patients. more>

In an effort to stem the tide of home foreclosures in their communities, elected officials and local community leaders in Brooklyn are looking to establish a local bank. more>

Immigration advocates say that the backlog is so severe that as many as a million people who have not been able to vote for at least five years, some as long as 10 to12 years because of their status as green-card holders, are unlikely to be sworn in as U.S. citizens in time to vote in next November’s presidential elections. more>

“Fat for so.” And the longer they live in the Big Apple, the fatter they become. That was the picture that the New York City Department of Health painted of some Caribbean and Central American immigrants. more>

As thousands of Brooklynites face the very bleak prospect of losing their homes this year, a recent report pointed out that “Black and Hispanic borrowers were far more likely to be steered into high-cost subprime loans than other borrowers.” more>

It is as insulting and morally indefensible as knowingly spreading dangerous lies on a colleague or partner. That’s what Republicans in the state government and elected Democrats in Albany and elsewhere in the state are doing to Gov. Eliot Spitzer as they wage an unsavory fight over his decision to order the DMV to issue licenses to undocumented immigrants. more>

Governor Eliot Spitzer recently revealed his position on the issue of emergency medical care for illegal immigrants by calling a new federal directive to limit coverage “morally, clinically and legally wrong.” more>

Health care advocates and experts have reacted negatively to a Bush Administration decision that Washington wouldn’t provide matching funds needed to finance health care to as many as 500,000 undocumented immigrants in New York State who are cancer victims and need chemotherapy and other forms of treatment to prolong their lives. more>

Domestic violence is at epidemic proportions in the Caribbean communities in the City. It isn’t difficult to see why. Immigrants from almost every nation in the region have grown up in an atmosphere in which men feel it is OK to beat women. more>

"...it is exciting to know that at one time in this country, 22 states allowed legal permanent residents voting rights. Now, they have none. Let’s just remember that America used to be a land of opportunity. We can bring it back,” Lt. Gov. Paterson said at the West Indian Day parade. more>

“When the authorities informed me that my sister had died in the immigration detention center, I told them they hadn’t heard the last of it,” said June Everett. “I wasn’t going to rest until I found out what really happened. I want to make sure that something like this doesn’t happen to anyone else.” more>

Having rejected the idea of ending or limiting the steady flow of criminal deportees to the Caribbean, the Bush administration has come up with an alternative: Give Caribbean nations a high-tech capability to track convicted felons even before they are released from U.S. jails and sent back to their respective birthplaces. more>

Almost 60 years since the UN approved its Universal Declaration of Human Rights, a sweeping international code of rights and protections to be afforded to every living person, a new survey confirms that the poorest rural southern black women still subsist on the margins of life. more>

The West Indians are responding to the campaigns and suggestions of their countries’ consular officials in the United States who believe that U.S. citizenship opens up opportunities and protection to immigrants. more>

Federal authorities are accused of not providing immigrant detainees with adequate healthcare and access to legal assistance, of failing to deal with suicidal individuals, and of trying to conceal the accurate numbers of deaths of immigrant detainees. more>

“I am a skeptic when it comes to a bunch of people, who are now so far removed from the grind that the vast majority of people from the Caribbean face each and every day, getting together and discussing some very high-falutin topics that supposedly impact the region and the Diaspora,” says the author about the upcoming “Conference on the Caribbean.” more>

In response to the revelations that four Caribbean immigrants conspired to blow up the fuel farm and pipelines at JFK International Airport, the Caribbean-American community expresses doubt that the men had the intelligence, skills, or materials required to follow through on the attack. more>

If the United States does not take immediate steps to address the black male crisis, the nation risks losing its "greatest untapped resource," said National Urban League President Marc H. Morial in presenting the league's annual State of Black America (SOBA) report, which assesses conditions within the Black community. more>

When young Black men don’t succeed in school, they are much more likely to succeed in the nation’s criminal justice system. There are more Black men in prisons and jails in the United States (about 1.1 million) than there are Black men incarcerated in the rest of the world combined. more>

However the legal fight ends, the biggest losers are the over 150,000 residents of 40th Council District, which is heavily populated by Caribbean and immigrant communities. With nobody to negotiate for them during this crucial budget season, the community will get no funding. more>

When the U.S. State Department released its annual human rights report on conditions in more than 180 nations, it was clear that Washington was paying close attention to how other countries were interfering in their people's private lives, ignoring the same kinds of abuse right on its own soil. more>

Real estate agents and some mortgage finance companies are taking advantage of the desire among West Indians to acquire a piece of property. more>

The unconscionable jumps are just another obstacle that Washington is placing in the path of hardworking foreign-born residents, in a deliberate effort to prevent them from regularizing their status, according to the author. more>

While immigration is a federal matter, driver’s licenses are a state responsibility. Most of the other 49 states are said to be watching how New York handles the thorny problem before moving on their own. more>

At the core of community concerns is the ever-growing list of the prospective candidates in the special election that will be held next month to fill the vacant 40th City Council District in Brooklyn. more>

Caribbean nations rely heavily on their tourism industry and U.S. visitors to earn valuable foreign exchange and generate considerable employment. But they failed to lobby United States congress members before passage of a bill that will force Americans visiting the Caribbean by air to have their passports in order by January 8, 2007. more>

The author contends that Yvette Clarke’s stunning primary victory is a triumph for Caribbean immigrants and African Americans who believe the district should remain in the hands of people of color. more>

As the highly controversial election for the Eleventh Congressional district races closer with each passing day, the election funds rise higher, and people have begun to wonder if the seat can be bought. more>

Criminal deportees from New York, Miami, Boston, Los Angeles, and other U.S. cities are perpetrating a growing crime rate in the Caribbean, says Guyana President Bharat Jagdeo. more>

The author discusses how the fear of being caught or deported prevent undocumented immigrants from seeking the health care they might need. In response, the Health and Hospitals Corporation looks to assuage this fear. more>

Business leaders want the Senate’s immigration reform proposal to lower the level of earnings for immigrants with guest worker status. more>

The author alleges that government officials and advocacy groups are not turning to the most important source to shape immigration reform – immigrants themselves. more>

Now that the Senate is returning to Washington after the two-week Easter recess, Bush must act wisely by being counted among the right-thinking people who want to craft a path for citizenship for most of the undocumented. more>

David Yassky, a Jewish elected official, and Yvette Clark, a Black representative, are vying for the same seat designed specifically for African-American politicians in the 1960s. more>

Community leaders claim charter schools are succeeding at higher levels than their rivaling traditional public schools. more>

“We need tighter gun control legislation to restrict the manufacture and sale of weapons. In a sense, they are weapons of mass destruction in our communities and should be treated as such,” says New York Assemblyman Nick Perry. more>

Giving President Bush’s comprehensive immigration reform a thumbs-down, Caribbean elected officials and immigration advocates say that his proposals have nothing new, no help and no hope to offer for millions of undocumented immigrants in the United States. more>

While in the United States, conservatives are gearing up for a fierce battle with many elected officials who are working to ease immigration restrictions, the Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin government said it would loosen the immigration rules because of shortages in the labor market. more>

Although Trinidad and Tobago and Jamaica don’t have a vast array of media outlets, they enjoyed a higher level of press freedom than the United States and many European nations in the past year, according to Reporters Without Borders. more>

The lawsuit says that black and Caribbean workers were subjected to taunts, like: “All the Haitians are the same, they kill one another and do voodoo,” “You're not in a Jamaican fish market,” “Go back on the banana boat where you came from,” and “Are you all smoking weed?” more>

The relationship of black males to the college campus and the prison compound has shaped the peculiar configuration of black communities over the last two and a half decades. Since American politics have shifted to the right, public policy emanating from the state sector has been instrumental in constricting avenues of upward mobility. more>

It’s coming down to the wire and hundreds of thousands West Indian illegal immigrants across the United States may find themselves caught in the political crosshairs of the U.S. Congress and the White House. more>