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In the Media: NAACP Investigation into Juvenile Justice Education; Mikulski Undermines Latina Pay

MD senator Barbara Mikulski.
@SenatorBarb
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MD senator Barbara Mikulski.

A digest of Baltimore news from local sources.

From The Baltimore Sun: NAACP Requests Federal Investigation into Juvenile Justice Education

"The Maryland chapter of the NAACP is requesting a federal investigation into the state education department's education system amid concerns that young, black males are being denied an equal and adequate education.

"According to a release from the organization, the complaint was filed Oct. 30 with the Federal Office for Civil Rights and the Department of Justice on behalf of juveniles who have been committed to the state's 14 juvenile detention centers and residential facilities.

"The majority of those youths are young black males, the organization said, and are special education students.

"The NAACP said it completed its own year-long investigation, which found several violations of the students' educational rights.

"'Our complaint focuses on the failure to provide the appropriate educational services to which these students were entitled, but of which they were deprived in violation of State and Federal laws and regulations, and finally that the situation has persisted for years and up to the present,' Gerald Stansbury, head Maryland's NAACP chapter in a release."

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From WBAL TV: Victims of Dr. Nikita Levy Still Waiting For Settlement Money

"The women in a class-action lawsuit against a Johns Hopkins doctor said they are growing frustrated because they have not received their money.

"The women say Dr. Nikita Levy caused them irreparable harm by secretly recording patients during pelvic exams in his office at the Johns Hopkins East Baltimore Medical Center. A judge agreed to a $190 million settlement in September 2014, and the process has begun. An allocation team has to interview all of the 9,600 patients involved.

"'I'm traumatized. I'm scared to go to a doctor. If I get one little pain, I will not go. I will suffer with the pain,' said Darlene Trader, a victim."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W7wzbMXEvBM

More at WBAL TV

From City Paper: On Latina Equal Pay Day, Sen. Mikulski Undermines Latina Pay

"Friday, Oct. 30, was 'Latina Equal Pay Day,' and Sen. Barbara Mikulski took the opportunity to renew her call for Congress to pass the Paycheck Fairness Act, a bit of legislation that has languished on Capitol Hill for half a decade.

"'It's outrageous that more than 50 years after the Equal Pay Act was signed into law, Latina women in America earn on average just 55 cents for every dollar a man earns,' Mikulski, a senior member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pension (HELP) Committee, said in a press release. 'I've introduced the Paycheck Fairness Act to finish the job and stop wage discrimination from happening in the first place. This isn't just a women's issue, it's a family issue.'

"On the same day, the senator, who announced her retirement this year, introduced a bill that would undermine the pay prospects of thousands of Latina women. 

"The Save our Small and Seasonal Businesses Act of 2015, co-sponsored by Senators Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), Mark Warner (D-Va.), and Dr. Bill Cassidy (R-La.),'focuses on substantive reforms aimed to help seasonal employers better navigate the H-2B temporary non-agricultural visa program,' her office says. 'The legislation would increase certainty for business, allowing seasonal employers to better prepare for fluctuations in demand.'

"H-2B workers—many of them from Latin America—are brought to the U.S. by employers to work as nannies, housekeepers, landscapers, and to pick crabmeat on Maryland's Eastern Shore, among other jobs. Mikulski's bill would erase regulations enacted last spring because of pressure from these workers themselves—Latina women, in many cases. The senator was explicit about her desire for lower wages in an Oct. 27 letter she and 15 other senators sent to Labor Secretary Thomas Perez."

Full Article