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Dear Friends and Neighbors, INDIAN ROAD EVENTS… MONDAY, JANUARY 26th TUESDAY, JANUARY 27th WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 28th SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 1st We are looking for artists to exhibit their work. If you or anyone you know might be interested please email us at info@indianroadcafe.com As Always visit our Event Calendar on our website for Updated Events (htt p://indianroadcafe.com/Calendar.html) Thanks and see you soon! Indian Road Café & Market |
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INDIAN ROAD EVENTS
January 27, 2009 · Leave a Comment
Long term soil devastation in Gaza due to use of white phosphorus and depleted uranium
January 27, 2009 · Leave a Comment
Long term soil devastation in Gaza due to use of white
phosphorus and depleted uranium24.01.09 – 18:46
ImageGaza / PNN – Losses are huge in the Gaza Strip with many of the devastated population still in tears, some little kids afraid to return to school today.
The environmental effects will continue to be uncovered for years on lands that become less fertile with each invasion and home demolition.
The Agriculture Minister in the Gaza Strip noted today that the Israeli military continues to target farmers on their lands near the boundary lines. Many people are unable to reach the fields. He added on Saturday that in the Mediterranean just off the Gaza coast Israeli naval ships continue to open fire on fishermen, preventing them from working.
Financially speaking it is clear that reconstruction costs in the Strip are around two billion. The Ministry of Agriculture says that another 170 million USD is needed for that sector alone.
Agriculture Minister Mohammad Al Agha told a press conference in Gaza City today that nearly a thousand water wells were destroyed along with 60 percent of the Strip’s total agricultural land. Included in the 170 million figure needed is the cost for reconstruction to the fishing industry in the Mediterranean Sea.
“Massive destruction [was] caused in the agricultural and fishing sector of the Gaza Strip through bulldozing thousands of acres and destroying wells, agriculture and poultry and livestock farms, fishing ports and fishing boats, and canning and packaging plants.”
Al Agha said that the Israeli military use of “white phosphorus and depleted uranium have a direct impact on agriculture and public health as the length of stay of these toxic substances in the soil will continue to create disastrous results.”
He called in this context for assistance in testing collected soil samples. The equipment in the Gaza Strip is old and in disrepair due to the ban on imports. Al Agha asked that international and Arab organizations and governments help move the samples for outside testing or break the siege to allow the import of sophisticated lab equipment.
Categories: GENERAL
City accused of bias against blacks, Hispanics in ex-con jobs ban
January 27, 2009 · Leave a Comment
City accused of bias against blacks, Hispanics in ex-con jobs ban
Tuesday, January 27th 2009, 3:24 AM
Shanae Leath, who was convicted for her role in a mugging nine years ago, lost her shot at a clerical job at Bellevue Hospital when her record came to light. Leath, 28, said the city Health and Hospitals Corp. ban discriminates.
“Years ago, I made a mistake, but my life is in order now,” Leath said. “It really hurts because Bellevue seemed to recognize that I would be a good worker.”
Leath’s attorney Justin Swartz says the Health and Hospitals Corp.’s “blanket ban” on hiring applicants with criminal convictions disproportionately affects Hispanics and African-Americans.
Categories: GENERAL
Street-Level Groups Enlisted to Report Labor Violations
January 27, 2009 · Leave a Comment
Street-Level Groups Enlisted to Report Labor ViolationsBy SEWELL CHAN and COLIN MOYNIHAN
To crack down on businesses that pay less than the minimum wage, fail to pay overtime or to pay wages altogether, steal tips or commit other labor violations, the New York State Department of Labor is starting an experimental program that will rely on community organizations to monitor compliance with labor laws.
In an announcement, the state labor commissioner, M. Patricia Smith, called the program, the New York Wage Watch, a “one-of-a-kind grassroots tool in the fight against illegal labor practices.”
The six-month pilot will begin with six participants: the Chinese Staff and Workers’ Association, which will focus on Chinatown, Flushing and parts of Long Island; Make the Road New York, which will focus on Bushwick; the Workplace Project, based on Long Island; the United Food and Commercial Workers union, which will look at high-end supermarkets; the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union, which will focus on retail stores in Lower Manhattan, Bushwick, the Kingsbridge section of the Bronx and parts of Queens; and the Centro del Inmigrante, based on Staten Island.CLICK FOR MORE…[NYT]
Categories: ALL BRONX NEWS · GENERAL · HARLEM HAPPENINGS · SANKOFA · SANKOFA21 · UPTOWN FLAVOR
Tagged: ALL BRONX NEWS, BRONX, BROOKLYN, HARLEM, UPTOWNFLAVOR
Traffic Enforcement Agent Jobs Available
January 27, 2009 · Leave a Comment
Traffic Enforcement Agent Jobs Available
Starting Salary $27G; Expect Hundreds Of Hirings Based on Test
H.S. Diploma Required For Post Regulating Parking And Traffic Rules
Filing is open for an exam leading to Traffic Enforcement Agent jobs in the Police Department, the Department of Citywide Administrative Services announced, with hundreds of jobs expected to be filled.
The starting salary is $27,013 based on the previous Notice of Exam. The multiple-choice test has been scheduled for April 11 for those who apply by Jan. 27. There are also walkin tests held daily at DCAS’s Computerized Testing Center at 2 Lafayette St. in Manhattan.
Need License, H.S. Diploma
To qualify, candidates must have a high-school diploma or GED by the last day of filing. Candidates also must have a driver’s license by the time of appointment.
The test will include questions on remembering new information, understanding the order in which to do things, and communicating information to another person. It will also measure candidates’ aptitude for recognizing a problem, applying general rules to a special situation, identifying a common element in different situations, recognizing locations and their proximity to other spots in an area, and using a map or diagram to get from one position to another. The passing score is 70 percent.
In addition to the multiple-choice test, candidates must undergo a physical and a psychological screening. They also must pass a background check and drug-and-alcohol test.
Job Duties
Traffic Enforcement Agents patrol an assigned area in order to enforce laws, rules and regulations, which relate to movement, parking, stopping and standing of vehicles. They issue paper and electronic summonses for violations, testify at administrative hearing offices and in court, and report inoperative or missing meters and traffic conditions requiring attention. Agents may be assigned to work nights, weekends, and holidays.
Those appointed will be required to purchase uniforms. Appointees are eligible for a uniform allowance after six months.
New hires must complete a prescribed training course prior to the end of their probationary period.
Recruits can apply on-line at the DCAS Web site at www.nyc.gov/examsforjobs, or by mail to DCAS Application Unit, 1 Centre St., 14th floor, New York, N.Y. 10007.
Categories: GENERAL
Families of Incarcerated Youth Facing Debt
January 27, 2009 · Leave a Comment
Families of Incarcerated Youth Facing Debt
La Opinión, News Report, Yurina Rico, Translated by Suzanne
Manneh, Posted: Jan 24, 2009 Review it on NewsTrust
Having a child in juvenile hall is painful enough, but it is even more difficult when poor families have to pay Los Angeles County $25 for each day their child is locked up.
Isaac Gonzalez, who is 41 and works at a supermarket, received a bill of $5,000 for the six months his teenage son was at the juvenile detention center in Sylmar.
Categories: GENERAL
A basketball legend passes.
January 27, 2009 · Leave a Comment
Harlem When
A basketball legend passes.
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A pro basketball pioneer from the early days of the game, John Isaacs died this morning in the Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx. The “Boy Wonder,” as he was affectionately called as a teenager playing for the New York Rens, suffered a stroke a few days ago. He was 94 years old. In his memory, we present a feature on the N.Y.C.-bred hoops legend, which was originally published in SLAM 116.
When SLAM asked me to write something about 93-year-old former professional basketball player John Isaacs, I wanted to give John the chance to mix it up with me about the meaning of his life—so far. Over 50 years ago, Isaacs won basketball championships with the Harlem Rens and Washington Bears, two teams that are only now beginning to get mainstream commercial attention, thanks to a vintage-inspired sneaker collection by Converse that commemorates their legacy.
“Most people think basketball is a way out, but for me it’s always been a way in,” explains Isaacs, who says it was never only about the game. Basketball has allowed him to help make a difference in people’s lives. “The Rens didn’t just represent Harlem,” he says. “We made black America proud as much as Jesse Owens, Joe Louis or Jackie Robinson.”
Ever humble, Isaacs seems more fulfilled with what he’s been able to accomplish through the game. “The most important thing back then is still as important now,” he says, leaning closer. “It’s giving. What can you give?”
Isaacs has given too much in both time and money to list here, but mostly he’s given of his heart. Still, a taste wouldn’t hurt. Isaacs was a fiery, powerfully built 6-1, 190 pound All-City guard who led his Textile HS (now Hughes HS) basketball team to the New York City HS Basketball championship title in 1935.
The owner of the Harlem-based New York Renaissance (“Rens”), Hall of Fame member Robert Douglas immediately offered him a pro basketball contract. “Yes,” Isaacs replied, “but I have to go home and clear it with my mother.”
Mom said okay, and Isaacs promptly led the all-black Rens to astonishing season records of 122-19, 121-19, and 127-15, followed by the championship title in the first World’s Professional Basketball Tournament, held in 1939 at the old Chicago Stadium, the building MJ made famous. (“Pardon me,” Isaacs likes to say, “but the Rens brought home New York City’s first official pro basketball title, not the Knicks!”) Isaacs won the title again in 1943 as a star with the all-black Washington (DC) Bears.
“We earned about $125 per month back then,” Isaacs says, “so the tournament prize money was a big deal.”
After leaving the Rens and Bears, Isaacs played with numerous other all-black pro teams, including the Manhattan Nationals, Hazleton Mountaineers (Eastern PA Basketball League), and Utica Olympics (New York State Professional League), as well as with Brooklyn and Saratoga (American Basketball League) into the early 1950s.
“It was normal,” recalls Isaacs, “for guys to play in Pennsylvania for one team in the morning and in upstate New York for a different squad in the afternoon.”
How was Isaacs as a teammate? “I liked helping the new guys,” he says. “That’s what the fellas did for me when I was a rookie.”
Isaacs, Panamanian-born, New York City-bred, may have felt compassion for feeling like an outsider. “I learned my trade mostly from John Isaacs,” says former Harlem Yankees and collegiate star Donald Hinds, also in his 10th decade. “I was a jumper, a rebounder, but my jumping didn’t make any sense against Isaacs because he could take a finger and get me off balance and the ball would fall right into his hands.”
The Yankees, a farm team for the Rens, produced such top players over the years as Hank DeZonie, Puggy Bell and Sonny Woods. Isaacs played for the team as he neared the end of his pro career and also helped coach. “He taught me 
all the tricks of the trade,” Hinds says of Isaacs.
In the late 1940s, Isaacs helped form a pro basketball team in Harlem called the Manhattan Nationals, whose sole purpose was to fight juvenile delinquency. They did it by featuring social service agency youth teams in their preliminary games. The Nationals included Larry Doby, who would soon become the first black player in baseball’s American League, as well as former Rens stars Bell, Charlie Isles and Isaacs. Isaacs and Isles played without pay, instead donating their earnings and time to the worthy cause. “Few people know about that,” admits Isaacs.
Isaacs has also been a tireless fundraiser for the John Hunter Memorial Scholarship Fund, which helps send New York City kids to summer camps and college.
The company he keeps measures the man. At the recent grand opening of the House of Hoops store in Harlem, Isaacs shared the stage with Julius Erving, Chris Mullin, Charles Barkley and Kenny Smith. He certainly deserves to be in that lineup. Isaacs coached many future stars when they were kids, including Mullin. “I reprimanded him one night at a sleepover basketball camp for staying up past curfew,” Isaacs remembers. “I made him run laps but I also noticed that he was up early the next morning practicing his jumper from every spot on the court.”
Isaacs also coached teams in the early Rucker Park basketball tournaments and has been a fixture at New York City playgrounds and gyms ever since. “I cover playground basketball in Harlem for a living, and I’ll see Mr. Isaacs at Pelham Fritz, Uptown Express, Rucker Park, Kingdome,” says publisher, sneaker aficionado, DJ, author and basketball talent Bobbito Garcia. “He is the immortal teacher yet humble enough to be the perpetual student.”
Later this year, Isaacs will celebrate 50 years (!) of working for the Madison Avenue Boys and Girls Club in the Bronx. Isaacs has been concerned about youth as long as he can remember and admits he too was once a lad running the streets of Harlem, sometimes one step ahead of trouble. “My parents were strict,” he says, “and what I noticed at the Boys and Girls Club is that for some of these kids, we have to be their surrogate parents.”
Isaacs says he has no problem calling someone’s guardian to discuss a kid’s behavior or reinforce a suggestion. According to Isaacs, nothing is more refreshing than listening to the success stories of his club’s alumnae at their annual reunion. At 93 years old, Isaacs still asks his supervisor for permission to cut out for an interview. The man has made himself indispensable. Repeat after me: If he can do it, I can do it! Who wouldn’t be inspired? No wonder some 3,000 friends attended his 90th birthday party.
“For only what you give away enriches you from day to day,” John Isaacs likes to say, quoting Helen Steiner Rice.
In that case, he’s a very wealthy man.
Claude Johnson publishes The Black Fives, whose slogan is “Make History Now!”
Categories: AFRICAN AMERICAN · GENERAL · HARLEM HAPPENINGS · HARLEM NEWS · HARLEM SPORTS · NARMER'S NEWSTAND · SANKOFA · SANKOFA21 · THE REV. AL · UPTOWN FLAVOR
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