Neighborhood Residents to Protest Wednesday, November 19 outside of Office of Illinois Restaurant Association, 33 W. Monroe St., in Chicago, beginning at 10 a.m.

Community leaders are holding a press conference and protest outside of the offices of the Illinois Restaurant Association (IRA), in response to the news that IRA and other business lobbyists are pressuring state legislators in Springfield to deny the will of Chicago voters for a higher minimum wage by forcing Chicago to abide by state minimum wage legislation.

Illinois voters expressed strong support for increasing the state minimum wage to $10, voting in favor of the minimum wage advisory referendum by a 2 to 1 margin. In Chicago, where the cost of living is higher, a March 2014 city referendum for a $15 minimum wage garnered 86.3% support from voters. Urged on by IRA and other lobbyists, House Speaker Michael Madigan, Senate President John Cullerton and others are considering including preemption of Chicago home rule in state minimum wage legislation, making it impossible for city legislators to enact a higher city minimum wage.

“The Illinois General Assembly must take action on the issues that working families care about, instead of just paying them lip service to get re-elected. Holding the state minimum wage increase hostage until officials approve the elimination of home rule is not just wrong, it is undemocratic,” said Katelyn Johnson, Executive Director of Action Now, member of the Raise Chicago Coalition.

VISUALS: Community residents chanting and holding signs, large 8 foot puppets, and banners.

WHO: Low wage workers, community leaders, and neighborhood residents.

Organizations taking part in the action include: Action Now, Brighton Park Neighborhood Council, Chicago Teachers Union,  Enlace Chicago, Grassroots Collaborative, ONE Northside,  Pilsen Alliance,  Fight for 15, Restaurant Opportunities Center Chicago, and others.

Making good on our commitment to support efforts to curb greenhouse gas emissions and build climate resilience worldwide, the United States and Japan announced a total of up to $4.5 billion in pledges to the Green Climate Fund (GCF).  This includes up to $3 billion from the United States and up to $1.5 billion from Japan, subject to respective domestic procedures and based on strong contributions from other donors.  Our pledges build on those already announced by Germany, France, and other donors, which include developed and developing countries.

Our pledges will be reiterated at the GCF’s pledging session on November 20 in Berlin, Germany, where additional countries are expected to announce pledges.  By announcing significant pledges promptly and at the leader level, we aim to provide great momentum to the ongoing climate change negotiations toward a post-2020 agreement that is applicable to all, in which countries make ambitious and transparent commitments to reduce their emissions.

Today’s announcement builds on a history of collective leadership by the United States, Japan, and other countries to support resilient and low-carbon development around the world.  In 2008, our countries jointly spearheaded the establishment of the Climate Investment Funds (CIFs).  Our pledges to the GCF are a continuation of that spirit of leadership.  The GCF will mobilize investment from the private sector, whose resources and expertise will be essential to meet the climate challenge.

We encourage all countries that are able to join us in pledging to the GCF.  We will continue working with our partners on the GCF Board and other stakeholders to make the GCF fully operational and ensure that it is an efficient and effective channel for climate finance.

Source: whitehouse.gov

Offering an easier and faster way to Obamacare, uninsured famlies can go to www.HealthCareEnrollment.org to get instant quotes from providers that offer Obamacare-compliant health insurance plans.

Nationwide (BlackNews.com) — A new simple web site has been launched to help uninsured individuals and families get the best healthcare plan they need. The web site is essentially a one page web site where users can submit their information, and immediately get health plan quotes that are a part of President Obama’s Affordable Healthcare Act.

The HealthcareEnrollment.org site was created because of feedback that several people had trouble understanding how to use the Healthcare.gov web site; Having a simple, one-page web site would be of great benefit to them.

The company behind the web site, Health Plans of America, works with providers such as Aetna, Assurant, BlueCross BlueShied, Cigna, Coventry, Humana, and Kaiser Permanente to provide the most affordable health plans available.

According to the web site, there are just three steps involved:

#1 – Complete a short form, and get matched with insurers that give you free quotes.

#2 – Compare options and prices, and find the best plan.

#3 – Shop on your own schedule, and pay only if you agree to all terms.

The web site does not require a credit card, and users are not obligated to commit to any plan they don’t want.

For more details, visit www.HealthCareEnrollment.org

By Chinta Strausberg

Just when you think 66-year-old Dr. Willie Wilson has done everything being a deacon, a philanthropist, a successful businessman, a recording artist and the producer of WGN-TV’s “Singsation,” he comes out with yet another stinger—this time Wilson is announcing he’s running for mayor of Chicago.

Yes, you heard it right. Dr. Wilson moved from his Country Club Hills home to downtown Chicago more than a year ago, and he has his eyes set on claiming the Fifth Floor of City Hall. “I am with the community, of the community, and I never left the community,” he said referring to his work that kept him in Chicago.

His announcement comes on the heels of a very controversial election of his friend, now Gov.-Elect Bruce Rauner, a Republican, who defeated Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn. Dr. Wilson was one of several African American ministers who endorsed Rauner. Wilson is on Rauner’s transition team. Wilson describes his political stripes as being a “life-long independent.”

Born on June 16, 1948 in Gilbert, Louisiana, Dr. Wilson grew up very poor and eventually made his way to Chicago where he worked for $2 an hour mopping floors and cleaning tables at McDonalds. One day he boldly asked McDonald founder Ray Kroc to give him a restaurant. Surprisingly, Kroc did just that and ultimately, Wilson owned four successful McDonald restaurants.

But, he wanted more. Wilson sold his restaurants and started the Omar Medical Supplies Company. Besides his “Singsation” gospel show, Dr. Wilson is also a gospel artists and has sold a number of records, but his strong point is his business acumen, and that is why he wants to be mayor of Chicago to run the city like a business but in a manner where he has input from the citizens and compassion for the poor.

“Many people have been asking me to run for mayor because they feel I am the most credible candidate,” Dr. Wilson told this reporter. Wilson joins other mayoral candidates including Dr. Amara Enyia, Robert “Bob” Shaw, Ald. Bob Fioretti (2^nd), William ‘Dock’ Walls, Frederick Collins and Jesus “Chuy” Garcia. All hope to defeat Mayor Rahm Emanuel who has a huge political war chest and who is making his rounds in the black faith community to solidify his support.

“People trust me,” Wilson said. “They know I give a lot, and they know I will act in their best interests.” Explaining, Wilson said he would get rid of the controversial red light program. “They got to go,” he said. “When our soldiers come home from the military, they have no place to go.” Wilson has a solution for that dilemma.

He criticized Mayor Emanuel for just now fixing the streets of Chicago chalking the late action to the upcoming Feb. 24, 2015 municipal elections. Dr. Wilson is still doing a slow burn over Mayor Emanuel closing 50 Chicago Public Schools, and he’s not happy with the contract letting system, high parking rates, crime, which he vowed to reduce through job creation, and economic development.

Dr. Wilson is gathering his required 12,500 signatures but hopes to file 40,000 before the filing deadline.

Chinta Strausberg is a Journalist of more than 33-years, a former political reporter and a current PCC Network talk show host. You can e-mail Strausberg at: Chintabernie@aol.com.

From The Sentencing Project

The midterm election results show there may be an opening at the state level for criminal justice reform. California voters authorized Proposition 47; the measure retroactively reclassifies six low-level felony offenses to misdemeanors. New Jersey voters approved a constitutional amendment that reformed its bail system. Voters in Alaska, Oregon, and the District of Columbia approved recreational use of marijuana. State advocates might look to the recent election cycle for strategies that can help with legislative and public education efforts.

More on the Elections:

While criminal justice reform does not have sure champions on either side of the partisan aisle, an analysis of changes in state legislatures may be helpful. Republicans gained ground in every region of the country and now control 68 of the 98 partisan legislative chambers and hold more than 4,100 of the nation’s 7,383 legislative seats. Those closely tracking state legislative races observed that following the 2012 election cycle, the GOP targeted key states and ran sophisticated campaigns to achieve electoral success. Democrats lost significant ground: before the midterms the party controlled both legislative chambers and the governorship in 13 states. Today, Democrats maintain that status in only seven states: Delaware, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Vermont, California, Oregon and Hawaii. Republicans control the Legislature and the governorship in 23 states.

It might be important to note an increase in legislatures split between the parties or with a legislature of one party and the governor of another. The National Conference of State Legislatures believes this may result in a bipartisan compromise around the politics of state budgets. Broad political support has been an important strategy in Arkansas and Missouri among other states.

Helpful Campaign Strategies

It is too early to know the impact of Proposition 47, but advocates in other states may be looking at a similar law change to reduce reliance on incarceration. In addition to the substance of the policy, taking note of campaign strategies may be helpful too. While significant resources were targeted to the ballot measure, the initiative was anchored by Californians for Safety & Justice (CSJ) through a coordinated field and communications strategy that included earned media attention and editorials on the need to go deeper on criminal justice reform. CSJ worked closely with law enforcement champions like George Gascón, San Francisco District Attorney, and William Lansdowne, former San Diego Police Chief. Conservative thought leader Newt Gingrich also weighed in with public support. The measure was supported by a coalition of interest groups including the AFL-CIO, Latino Coalition for a Healthy California, and PICO California. Coalition partners with membership bases assisted with “get out the vote” strategies. The campaign also worked to amplify the voices of crime survivors who supported public safety strategies beyond incarceration.

Reducing the Prison Population

Consensus is emerging to call for significant prison population reductions in a comprehensive strategy. Recently, efforts targeted at reducing the nation’s prison population by fifty percent may help build support towards meaningful changes in policy and practice for persons convicted of serious offenses. JustLeadership USA launched a campaign to cut the nation’s prison population in half by 2030. National thought leaders Van Jones and Newt Gingrich have made similar suggestions. Recently, the American Civil Liberties Union announced that it will work to meet the challenge of cutting the nation’s prison population in half by 2020. There may be lessons to learn from WISDOM’s 11×15 faith-based campaign in Wisconsin that has a similar population reduction goal. State advocates interested in the practicality of such a strategy might find this “Science of Prison Downsizing Prisons – What Works?” factsheet helpful.

Other News

• Arkansas Governor Mike Beebe announced he will pardon his son for a felony drug conviction. The Democrat has pardoned 700 people since his election in 2007 and recently announced his intent to pardon an additional 25 individuals convicted of various crimes.

• Also in Arkansas, lawmakers recently met in the Joint Committee of State Agencies and Governmental Affairs to discuss solutions to the state’s crowded prisons.

• In Illinois, Chicago officials like Mayor Rahm Emmanuel and police Superintendent Garry McCarthy advocated for sentencing reform for low-level drug offenses in the General Assembly’s Joint Criminal Justice Reform Committee.

• Maryland’s incoming Republican governor – Larry Hogan – stated he would seek help from former Governor Robert Ehrlich on ways to use pardon and clemency power more.

• In Texas, activists organized the Texas Families for Justice rally, to demonstrate the politics of recognition among impacted individuals and call for reforms.

• The Sentencing Project hosted webinars on successful state campaigns to opt out of the federal felony drug ban on food stamps and organizing to address mass incarceration.

Tips? Feedback? Email Nicole D. Porter, Director of Advocacy, at nporter@sentencingproject.org.

BALTIMORE, MD — Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon declared a state of emergency Monday ahead of an expected grand jury decision in the case of Michael Brown.

From NAACP President and CEO Cornell William Brooks:

“We at the NAACP find Gov. Jay Nixon’s decision to declare a state of emergency just days ahead of a grand jury decision in the shooting  death of Michael Brown, an unarmed teen, both premature in its application and presumptuous in intention to the hundreds of peaceful demonstrators who have embraced their Constitutional right to protest. The more than 200,000 people who descended on Washington, D.C., on Aug. 28, 1963, proved that protests don’t need to be violent to be powerful. From the Boston Tea Party to the Montgomery bus boycotts, the ability to protest is woven into the very fabric of our nation and should not be stifled by presumptuous leadership. Governor Nixon’s decision to declare a state of emergency without evidence of violence or danger only threatens to stir up tensions and denigrate the peaceful efforts of countless non-violent activists.  We at the NAACP will work tirelessly to ensure that the civil rights of the demonstrators are upheld.  And finally, we commend as well as stand with those practitioners of democracy who have stood strong for over 100 days.”

Gina Gionfriddo’s “Feminist Freaky Friday” runs January 17 – February 22, 2015 at the Goodman; Tickets go on sale Friday, December 5

Chicago, IL -  The creative team is set for the Chicago premiere of Rapture, Blister, Burn, Gina Gionfriddo’s “intensely smart, immensely funny new play” (The New York Times) about two women who make vastly different choices in regards to work and family—and wonder if the grass is truly greener on the other side. The “expertly crafted” (The Huffington Post) Pulitzer Prize finalist that “surfs several waves of feminism” (Time Out New York) is directed by acclaimed Chicago director Kimberly Senior, who makes her Goodman debut straight from directing her first Broadway show (Disgraced at Lyceum Theatre starring Gretchen Mol and Josh Radnor). The creative team includes Jack Magaw (sets), Emily Rebholz (costumes), Jennifer Schriever (lights) and Richard Woodbury (sound). Briana J. Fahey is the production stage manager. Jonathan L. Green is the dramaturg. Casting is by Adam Belcuore. A calendar of performances appears below; artist bios and images can be found in the Press Room. Rapture, Blister, Burn runs January 17 – February 22, 2015 in the Albert Theatre (opening night is Monday, January 26). Tickets ($25 - $81; subject to change) go on sale to the general public on Friday, December 5 at GoodmanTheatre.org/Rapture, by phone at 312.443.3800 or at the box office (170 North Dearborn). Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP is the Major Corporate Sponsor and PwC LLP is the Corporate Sponsor Partner for Rapture, Blister, Burn.

“I’m so excited to be directing this play at the Goodman where I have been a faithful audience member for the past 18 years. I have long admired the Goodman’s commitment to new work that provokes dynamic dialogue for audience and artist alike and Rapture, Blister, Burn is no exception,” said Senior. “The play is at once hilarious and painful, navigating the elusive waters of what it takes to be happy—it’s intensely personal for me as a working mother! The fact that I get to bring this play to life with both long term collaborators (Mary Ann Thebus and Mark Montgomery) and new ones is the perfect landscape for a charged exploration of this timely play.”

As previously announced, the cast includes Chicago favorites Mark L. Montgomery, Mary Ann Thebus and Karen Janes Woditsch along with Robin Weigert and Cassidy Slaughter-Mason in their Goodman debuts. In Gionfriddo’s play, graduate school pals Catherine (Weigert) and Gwen (Woditsch) pursued completely different lives after graduation. Catherine became a controversial author, while Gwen married Catherine’s ex-boyfriend Don (Montgomery) and raised two sons. After a decade-long estrangement, the women decide to spend a summer reconnecting, joined by Catherine’s mother Alice (Thebus) and Don and Gwen’s babysitter Avery (Slaughter-Mason). But their impulsive attempt to trade places soon erupts in a heated battle for Don’s affection and a fiery examination of their feminist ideals.

The author of Bad Feminist talks feminism, inequality, and workplace discrimination

Women Employed will host a conversation with Roxane Gay, New York Times best-selling author of Bad Feminist, An Untamed State, and Ayiti. Hear what the witty, unflinchingly honest essayist has to say about feminism, inequality, workplace discrimination, the struggles that 21^st century women still face, and why “having it all” doesn’t make sense for millions of women who can barely make ends meet.

The event will be held Wednesday, December 10^th at First United Methodist Church at the Chicago Temple, 77 West Washington Street, Chicago.

Doors open at 5:15 p.m.

Program: 6:00 – 8:00 p.m.

Tickets: $20 for event only; $36 for event and a signed copy of Bad Feminist. Reserve tickets online here.

For more information: http://womenemployed.org/roxane

President Barack Obama: I strongly condemn today’s terrorist attack on worshipers at a synagogue in Jerusalem, which killed four innocent people, including U.S. citizens Aryeh Kupinsky, Cary William Levine, and Mosheh Twersky, and injured several more.  There is and can be no justification for such attacks against innocent civilians.  The thoughts and prayers of the American people are with the victims and families of all those who were killed and injured in this horrific attack and in other recent violence.  At this sensitive moment in Jerusalem, it is all the more important for Israeli and Palestinian leaders and ordinary citizens to work cooperatively together to lower tensions, reject violence, and seek a path forward towards peace.

UPDATE: Ilaacp quarterly meeting postponed

Thank you to those that registered for our November, 20, 2014 Quarterly Meeting, When Exercise is Not Enough: #RethinkYourDrink.

Unfortunately, we have postponed the meeting until December 11, 2014. We will be contacting you shortly with the location and time. We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused you, and we look forward to discussing alternatives to maintaining a healthy lifestyle besides exercising.

In the meantime, please read about our Rethink Your Drink/ HEAL Act Campaign initiative to learn more about the #RethinkYourDrink campaign.

“Inequalities in a range of factors – income, stable and affordable housing, access to quality education and others – all influence a person’s chance to live a longer, healthier life. These inequities and disparate access to affordable, healthy food or safe places to be physically active, contribute to higher rates of obesity and related illnesses in Black communities.” – The State of Obesity: Obesity Policy Series , Section 10: Obesity Prevention in Black Communities

ILAACP Quarterly meeting will be held November 20, 2014 at the Chicago Urban League, 4510 S. Michigan Ave., from 10 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.

African American adults are nearly 1.5 times more likely to be obese compared with White adults. According to The State of Obesity, a report from the Trust for America’s Health (TFAH) and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF), more than 75 percent of African Americans are overweight or obese (including 69 percent of men and 82 percent of women) compared with 67.2 percent of Whites (including 71.4 percent of men and 63.2 percent of women). Obesity is linked to chronic diseases like coronary heart disease, hypertension, stroke, type 2 diabetes and certain types of cancer.

The Impact of Sugar Sweetened Beverage Consumption on Black Americans’ Health, a report by the African American Collaborative Obesity Research Network, states that the potential harm from frequent Sugar Sweetened Beverage (SSB) consumption is of special concern for black Americans, who are more likely to be regular SSB drinkers and are at a higher risk (compared with whites) for obesity and related chronic diseases. The Rethink Your Drink Campaign aims to tackle the growing obesity epidemic by lowering the intake of Sugar Sweetened Beverages in America.

The ILAACP is committed to educating the African American community on preventative steps to battle the obesity epidemic. We invite you to participate. This panel discussion will provide information about other steps you can take to live a healthier life besides exercising.

This event is free and open to the public. Lunch is provided. Please RSVP your attendance to Talithia Redmond at tredmond@ilaacp.org or 312.850.4444, ext. 221.