By Dianne Anderson Before Omicron, the big news this time last year was that COVID-19 looked under control, the numbers were dipping and freedom from masks and social gatherings seemed within reach. It didn’t play out like expected. For that reason, Second Baptist Church in Santa Ana and CalOptima continued outreach last Saturday for those ...

By Tanu Henry California Black Media Black faith and public health leaders are hailing Gov. Newsom’s new COVID response plan. Last week, Gov. Gavin Newsom unveiled the proposal designed to be more strategic, nimble and sustainable than it is reactive. California is the first in the nation to transition the Coronavirus crisis from a pandemic ...

By Aldon Thomas Stiles California Black Media On Tuesday, Feb. 15, the statewide indoor mask mandate for vaccinated Californians expired. As COVID-19 cases decline, public health officials say the state is easing restrictions in an effort to return the state to pre-pandemic normalcy. “Omicron has loosened its hold on California, vaccines for children under 5 ...

By Dianne Anderson Lifelong student debt and systemic barriers are just two reasons why a lot of Black students have been turning to education options outside of California, particularly the HBCUs This weekend, Ingrid Johnson is hosting a booth where many parents and scholars in her program will attend the 23rd Annual Los Angeles Black ...

By Dianne Anderson Black inventors, doctors, engineers and mathematicians have inspired and shaped the entire planet since the dawn of humankind, which was enough realization to spark a lifelong inspiration for history speaker Jamaal Brown. This month, Brown is hitting 13 events at schools and campuses across SoCal for Black History Month, including Santa Ana ...

By Dianne Anderson Half of America is dealing with the Omicron surge, which in its first wave was supposed to be the less-lethal variant of COVID-19 Delta. But that’s not the case under the highly transmissible stealth BA.2. For the unvaccinated, the numbers this month are just as harrowing as last year, even as COVID ...

By Dianne Anderson Even if he wanted to, it would have been impossible for Dwayne Shipp not to participate in Orange County’s Black History Parade when he was growing up. After all, his mother, Helen M. Shipp, started it. He was still too young to grasp what it meant to ride the giant float back ...

By Antonio Ray Harvey California Black Media Gov. Gavin Newsom says his administration is emphasizing combating drug addiction and mental illness as part of the state’s multi-year plan to solve California’s homelessness crisis – the worst in the country. Newsom says focusing on those health needs of unhoused people is a component of his ongoing ...

By Stacy M. Brown NNPA Newswire Sr Natl Correspondent With President Joe Biden’s tanking approval rating and the failure by Democrats to push through vital legislation, political preferences in the United States have taken a shift. A new Gallup poll released on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day revealed that Americans’ political party preferences dramatically ...

By Dianne Anderson Martin Luther King, Jr National Day of Service on-site events have canceled out as Omicron picks up speed, but local nonprofits are determined to mask and glove up for the community to honor the slain civil rights leader in all he represents. In the Inland Empire, local activist Trudy Coleman said that ...