Page 24 - 4-3-15 Friday's Edition

National
Breast Cancer Afflicts Black
Arizona Bill Would Delay Identifying Police Officers Who Shoot People
Women Differently Than Whites
A new analysis of breast cancer is giving doctors and patients a wealth of informa- tion geared at helping to diag- nose and treat the disease. The data was presented in a report released Monday by four major cancer groups in the U. S., including the American Cancer Society. It provides the most detailed analysis to date of breast cancer risk by age, race and geography.
According to the report Black women have nearly twice the rate of triple negative breast cancer -- the deadliest form -- as white women and have the highest mortality rate from any form of breast can- cer.
Researchers used to think the poor outcome in Blacks was due to higher poverty rates leading to delays in diag- nosis and treatment. But new information surfaced in the re-
port that suggests there are other factors at play.
Oncologists divide breast cancer into four different mo- lecular types that help deter- mine treatment. The most common form, with the best prognosis, is treatable with hormonal therapy.
The report confirms breast cancer afflicts African-Ameri- can women in different ways.
It is stressed that breast cancer has the best prognosis when caught early. Screening is especially important in Black women who are at the highest risk for the deadliest form.
A controversial bill that could prohibit law enforce- ment from releasing the names of officers involved in shootings until 60 days after the incident is expected to be signed or vetoed Monday by Gov. Doug Ducey.
Both Arizona’s largest newspaper, The Arizona Re- public, and the Arizona Asso- ciation of Chiefs of Police wrote letters to Gov. Doug Ducey last week, urging him to veto Senate Bill 1445, which would apply to officers in- volved in shootings that result in death or injury.
The bill, sponsored by state Sen. Steve Smith, passed in his chamber last week with a 20-8 vote. The bill initially asked for a 90-day waiting pe- riod, but the House of Repre- sentatives decreased it to two months. During the 60 day pe- riod, an officer’s record and disciplinary hearing can be re- leased, but all personal infor- mation must be withheld.
Proponents of the bill argue that it will help protect officers from harassment and
If You Like 2 Buck Chuck: It Has Poison In It According To Lawsuit
Allegations that some of the country’s top selling wines con- tain dangerous levels of arsenic
– including Trader Joe’s “two buck Chuck” – were brought forth via a class-action lawsuit filed in California on last Thursday, reports CBS News.
Arsenic, an extremely toxic substance previously found at dangerous levels in children’s apple juice and rice, has been found in some wines reportedly at “four and five times the max- imum amount the Environmen- tal Protection Agency (EPA) allows for drinking water.
Kevin Hicks started Bev- erageGrades, a laboratory that analyzes wine, and tested more than 1,300 bottles. Almost a quarter of them had the danger- ously high levels of arsenic.
CBS also reports that Hicks also noticed a pattern: “The lower the price of wine on a per- liter basis, the higher the amount of arsenic,” he said to the news outlet.
After reporting his findings to the companies to no avail, Hicks says he filed a class ac- tion lawsuit on Thursday accus- ing more than 24 California winemakers and sellers of mis- representing their wine as safe.
threats after fatal police shoot- ings.
Opponents of the bill said if it becomes law, it will signifi- cantly increase tensions and potential mistrust between the police and the communities they are sworn to protect, es- pecially minorities.
Adriana Garcia-Maxi- miliano, of the Center for
Neighborhood Leadership, works with low-income peo- ple, minorities, and immigrant communities in Phoenix on community oriented policing and problem solving. The bill, she fears, will strain the rela- tionship between police and local communities that she and her colleagues work to maintain.
Michigan Woman Facing 7 Years For Shooting Up A McDonalds In 2014
Video Released Of Michigan Police Officer Attacking Unarmed Man; Planting Drugs
A Grand Rapids, Mich. woman was convicted Wednesday and now faces up to seven years in prison after she fired a bullet at a McDon- ald’s drive-thru because she didn’t get any bacon on her burger.
Shaneka Monique Tor- res’ troubles began on Feb. 10, 2014, when she drove to the McDonald’s on 28th Street near Madison Avenue SE to order bacon cheeseburgers with a friend. Torres was served burgers without bacon, asked to speak to a manager, and was promised a compli- mentary bacon burger the next time she ordered at the restau- rant.
That happened to be later that night. Torres and a friend placed the same order and the same thing happened — no bacon. That’s when the shots rang out.
Torres lashed out at a worker before yanking out the handgun and firing one round.
SHANEKA MONIQUE TORRES
The bullet shattered the driver’s side window of the Chevy Tahoe before sailing through the restaurant.
Torres’ defense attorney, John Beason, said the shooting was an accident, according to the news outlet. He added that the firing of the gun had nothing to do with the bacon-less burger.
The 30-year-old was charged with “carrying a con- cealed weapon, discharging a firearm into a building and felony use of a firearm,” after a jury deliberated for just an hour. Her sentencing is set to take place April 21.
INKSTER, MI --- A Michi- gan police officer who appears in a recent video punching an unarmed black man more than a dozen times has a record riddled with allega- tions of planting evidence, fal- sifying police reports and using excessive force.
Dashcam video from Jan- uary released by Click on De- troit last week shows officers in the Detroit suburb of Inkster pulling over 57-year- old Floyd Dent. Mere sec- onds after police approach the vehicle, an officer identified by the local news station as William Melendez begins punching Dent, as other offi- cers use a Taser on him and kick him. Dent was hospital- ized for several days.
The officers said Dent threatened to kill them, while Dent said he was being coop- erative and it was the officers who made a threat.
Officers also said they found cocaine in Dent's car, but he and his lawyer say the drugs weren't his. They say they believe officers lied, pointing to a moment on the dashcam video that appears to show Melendez removing a baggie from his pocket as offi- cers look through the vehicle.
The incident -- which is currently under investigation
-- prompts questions about the officers’ conduct and pos- sible department oversight, even more so when compared to allegations from others who’ve accused Melendez of wrongdoing.
Melendez is currently named in a lawsuit brought by Inkster resident Dashawn Acklin, who says seven offi- cers entered his friend’s house in July 2011 while he was in the bathroom. When he ex- ited, the officers allegedly told him to get on the ground where they handcuffed him. The lawsuit states that though Acklin was compliant, one officer choked him and beat him until he lost conscious- ness and another maced him. The suit says Acklin was sub- sequently hospitalized and never charged with a crime.
Melendez previously served as a Detroit police offi- cer until he resigned in 2007. In 2003, more than a dozen officers were indicted on crim- inal charges for allegedly stealing drugs, guns and money from suspected drug dealers, as well as planting ev- idence and falsifying reports. Melendez, then known by the nickname “RoboCop,” was accused of being the ring- leader. He was acquitted at trial in 2004.
HBCU Morris Brown Emerges From Bankruptcy
In a bit of good news in a landscape in which many His- torically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) are fac- ing tough times, a trustee from Morris Brown College an- nounced on last Thursday that the school has “victoriously emerged from bankruptcy.”
Morris Brown Chairman of the Board of Trustees, Rev. Dr. Preston W. Williams, II, released a statement on the 6th District AME church’s website expressing “great joy and thankfulness” that the school is on its way to solvency. Williams also noted that this is a “bittersweet” moment in the school’s 134-year history.
Williams statement reads in part:
Morris Brown College’s Chapter 11 Plan of Reorgani- zation has been approved by the Bankruptcy Court. This action, approved at a confir- mation hearing yesterday, and confirmed by a signed order of Judge Barbara Ellis-Monro will allow the college to exit bankruptcy and move forward to regain its ac- creditation.
The Atlanta Journal Con- stitution reports that Morris Brown filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization in August 2012 to prevent fore- closure and sale of the school at auction.
As part of the bankruptcy proceedings, the college sold 26 acres of property and build- ings to InVest Atlanta and Friendship Baptist Church for $14.7 million, but retains ownership of the school’s administration build- ing, Griffin Hightower Class- room building and Fountain Hall.
Friendship Baptist is one of two churches that sold to make way for the future $1.3 bil- lion Atlanta Falcons stadium just steps from the Morris Brown property.
PAGE 12-B FLORIDA SENTINEL BULLETIN PUBLISHED EVERY TUESDAY AND FRIDAY FRIDAY, APRIL 3, 2015