150 Years of Emancipation/150 Años de Abolición

> Why Americans still are talking about racism or division based on the color of the skin? 

< ¿Por qué en los Estados Unidos todavía se sigue hablando de racismo entre blancos y negros?

^ Also, the immigration reform as part of the debate / Además, la reforma migratoria: 

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Cooperatives Put People to Work

A workshop and training is in town on how to start a cooperative business to foster community asset growth focusing on the needs of community members. A segment will be given on community wealth building using the Ford-Yellow Wood model with a visioning exercise about the potential for cooperatives in Augusta. Various cooperative models and current cooperative development legislation will be discussed. This workshop is highly recommended for community leaders, local residents, youth and motivated individuals or groups in the quest for more collective and balanced economic empowerment. Lisa Stolarski will be conducting the workshop. 

"Leave the Guns to the Professionals"

AUGUSTA, GA - Alfonzo Williams, the new Richmond County Board of Education (RCBOE)  Police Chief said: "leave the guns to the professionals". He left Waynesboro chief law enforcement post with people crying loud against his move. Williams mentioned that he knows Sheriff Richard Roundtree and that he expects all the help he can get from the Richmond County Sheriff Office.

Augusta: A Retiree Destination

AUGUSTA, GA - Augusta, Ga. has been named by U.S. News and World Report as one of the Best Places to Retire with a retirement income of less than $40,000 per year. Citing our low cost of living, affordable housing, proximity to major medical facilities, services for seniors, colleges, and cultural and outdoor activities, U.S. News and World Report ranked Augusta in the top ten nationwide.

Slow Down on Bobby Jones Expressway I-520

AUGUSTA, GA - Widening of Interstate 520 underway between late 2011 and early 2013 expands Bobby Jones Expressway from four to six lanes between Exits 3 and 5 as part of a $30-million project. Associated work reconfigures full-cloverleaf interchanges at both U.S. 1 (Deans Bridge Road) and U.S. 78 & 278 (Gordon Highway) into six-ramp interchanges with the elimination of loop ramps from I-520 to the respective arterials. But drivers must slow down or the consequences could be fatal. Today an accident paralyzed traffic for quite some time. 

Asteroids and Climate Change

In the eve of DA14 asteroid waiving Earth, Senators Bernard Sanders and Barbara Boxer today  presented a comprehensive proposal to combat climate change, the San Francisco Chronicle, McClatchy, Congressional Quarterly, The Raw Story and Think Progress reported. Key provisions of the bill will include a fee on carbon and methane production, a tariff on oil and gas imports, and an energy rebate for affected families. There is no indication if climate change could facilitate easy impact of an asteroid. There is a sense of perfecting the destruction of Earth rather protecting it. 

Pope Resignation Surprise Sorprendente

SAN SALVADOR -- Local bishops, not the pope, traditionally run church life and sometimes political life from Mexico to Argentina, but the reach of Pope Benedict XVI, who announced his retirement effective Feb. 28, has been unique. For decades, when Ratzinger’s shoe dropped, the tremor reverberated over Latin America, where half of the world’s one billion Catholics live.

Gun Control: Don't Shoot the Dog

The Georgia Regents University Pamplin College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences and the Department of Sociology, Criminal Justice and Social Work hold Gun Violence and Gun Legislation:  A Public Panel Forum Monday, Feb. 11 at Maxwell Theatre. "Don't shoot the dog," recommended the Superior Court Judge Danny Craig. He agrees with Vice President Joe Biden who last month said that there was “no silver bullet” to deal with gun violence, explaining that the Obama administration was considering a wide-ranging set of policies in the wake of December’s school massacre in Connecticut.

The Rise and Fall of Sheriff Salaries

Columbia County’s sheriff will become the county’s highest-paid elected official if commissioners approve a proposal up for review next week, reports The Augusta Chronicle.

Repeal Corporate Personhood in Congress

Today Move to Amend's We The People Amendment will be introduced in Congress. The We the People Amendment is the only amendment that deals with both Supreme Court doctrines that grant constitutional rights to artificial entities and that define spending money as free speech.

Should Pregnancy Be Criminalized?

If aborting after a rape could be criminalized, according to bills being pushed in some states, pregnancy in general could be considered imminent act of abortion. Therefore, women in fear of ending up in jail might just terminate their lives all together, since even miscarriage could be part of the criminal justice code.

Augusta's Mayor Shines Optimism

10th Congressional District Seat First Runner

Columbia County conservative Republican official and 'TEA (Taxed Enough Already) Party' leader Brian Slowinski announced he is running for the 10th Congressional District Seat in 2014. Current Congressman Paul Broun is not seeking reelection but is running for the United States Senate seat, which is open with Senator Saxby Chambliss retirement.

Broun Defying GOP Pit of Hell

"Rep. (Paul) Broun represents the worst and most extreme element of the Republican Party," Mike Berlon, Georgia Democratic Party chairman, said in an e-mail. "If there is a living God, we'll be facing him as the Republican nominee in November of 2014. Unfortunately, we're probably not that lucky."

The 'Tax Migration' Phenomenon

An increasing number of America’s high-net-worth individuals are not just considering ‘interstate’ tax migration, they are thinking about ‘international’ tax migration, according to the chief executive of the world’s largest independent financial advisory firm.

IRS Warns Taxpayers on Tax Refund Fraud

The Internal Revenue Service is taking additional steps during the 2013 tax season to protect taxpayers and help victims of identity theft and refund fraud. Stopping refund fraud related to identity theft is a top priority for the tax agency. The IRS is focused on preventing, detecting and resolving identity theft cases as soon as possible. The IRS has more than 3,000 employees working on identity theft cases – more than twice the level of a year ago. We have trained more than 35,000 employees who work with taxpayers to recognize and provide assistance when identity theft occurs.

Mexico Threatening to the U.S.

The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in Mexico expanded 0.45 percent in the third quarter of 2012 over the previous quarter. GDP Growth Rate in Mexico is reported by the Instituto Nacional de Estadística y Geografía. Historically, from 1993 until 2012, Mexico GDP Growth Rate averaged 0.7 Percent reaching an all time high of 2.9 Percent in March of 1996 and a record low of -6.6 Percent in March of 2009. Mexico has a free market economy which contains a mixture of modern and outmoded industry and agriculture, increasingly dominated by the private sector. The success of Mexico could be a threat to the U.S. economy needed of cheap labor. A bipartisan group is framing immigration reform. 

Black Misleadership Class

Melissa Harris-Perry devoted an eight minute segment of her January 26 MSNBC show to the question of whether the current wave of public school closings, indisputably concentrated in poor black and brown communities across the nation, was racist. She had four panelists on the segment, only one of whom seemed connected to and knowledgeable about the issue, a New York City parent.

Not Your Typical Protestor

How far will go your passion for making your point?

2013 the Year for Compromise and Cooperation

This New Year, with everything going on—the Newtown tragedy and ensuing gun violence debate, the “fiscal cliff”, the historic Presidential inauguration coinciding with the anniversaries of Dr King’s March and the Emancipation Proclamation, looming immigration reform, to name a few-- it took me some time to come up with a New Year’s Resolution which could last more than a month or two, a dilemma echoed in the pop song by the group Fun, “Some Nights”  I wonder : “What do I stand for? What do I stand for?”

Public Hearing on Immigration in Gwinnett Center

ATLANTA, GA - The Georgia Advisory Committee to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights will hold a public meeting to examine the issue of immigration. The issue of immigration has moved to the forefront of public policy debate. The Associated Press recently reported that "leading Democratic and Republican senators pledged to propel far-reaching immigration legislation through the Senate by summer providing a possible path to citizenship for an estimated 11 million people now in the U.S. illegally." (Erica Werner, Associated Press, Atlanta Journal Constitution, Tues. Jan. 29, 2013).

Act of God and Vote of Hypocrites

Members of the House GOP, and Rep. Paul Ryan in particular, took a public relations beating when they voted against the pork-filled aid package, and on Monday, 36 senators voted no on a $51 billion aid package. Memories of that vote were fresh on quite a few people’s minds.