By Beverly Richards, Special to the AFRO Political pundit and former mayoral candidate Catalina Byrd is a self-described “hopeless romantic” when it comes to Baltimore City. “It’s one of my first loves,” she said. Catalina has been loyal to Baltimore and has dedicated her entire adult life to its residents trying to “make what’s wrong
By Tashi McQueen, AFRO Political Writer, tmcqueen@afro.com On the evening of Feb. 3, Baltimore City will be under a Code Blue due to extreme cold weather. Frigid air is expected to come in, presenting estimated wind chills into the single digits. Letitia Dzirasa, the city’s health commissioner, declared a Code Blue Extreme Cold Alert from
By Tashi McQueen, AFRO Political Writer, tmcqueen@afro.com A Montgomery County, Md. community and its students are pushing for a state appeals court to help preserve a Black cemetery that bears historic significance. As Black History Month gets underway, the Bethesda African Cemetery Coalition (BACC) said it wants to protect the final remains of an estimated
By Tashi McQueen,AFRO Political Writertmcqueen@afro.com Rep. Kweisi Mfume (D-Md.-07) recently introduced the “Witness Security and Protection Grant Program Act of 2023.” The witness protection bill, if passed, will provide $150 million, $30 million a year for five years, to reinforcing witness protection services for witnesses’ of homicides, felonies, serious drug charges, gang crimes or organized
By Kendra Lee, Black Health Matters Why is loss of pregnancy still such a taboo subject? Midway through my appointment, my gynecologist went silent. Her face screwed up a little, and she announced, “I don’t hear a heartbeat.” My own heartbeat stopped, too, for a second, maybe two. “What?” I managed to croak. She was
By John Celestand andRobert Walker-Smith Black History Month — which evolved from “Negro History Week,” the brainchild of noted historian Carter G. Woodson and other prominent African Americans — is known as the annual celebration of achievements by African Americans and a time for recognizing their central role in U.S. history. Although we mostly concentrate
By Aria Brent, AFRO Staff Deanta Dorsey didn’t know that his life would end during his lunch period on Jan. 4. Hanging out with four of his friends outside of a fast food restaurant just across from his school, Edmondson–Westside High, the bullets came for him. “He was not in the wrong place and it
By Tashi McQueen, AFRO Political Writer, tmcqueen@afro.com Marylanders received their annual update on the status of the state’s affairs from a Black man for the first time in history on the first day of February this year. Governor Wes Moore opened Black History Month with his first State of the State address, delivering a call
By Bianca Crawley, Special to the AFRO As the first African-American female director at NASA’s Johnson Space Center, Mrs. Vanessa E. Wynce, has made tremendous strides in the development and future of science, technology, engineering, and math. Growing up down south in Conway, S.C., Wynce developed a strong interest in engineering as a young child.
By Jim Salter. The Associated Press As five Memphis police officers attacked Tyre Nichols with their feet, fists and a baton, others milled around at the scene, even as the 29-year-old cried out in pain and then slumped limply against the side of a car. Just like the attack on George Floyd in Minneapolis nearly