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Category: Features

Bakersfield
Stefi Mar

The New Normal: Racism Without Consequence

They laughed about gas chambers. They mocked Black people as “monkeys” and “the watermelon people.” They joked about rape, slavery, and “fixing the showers” to suit the “Hitler aesthetic.” These weren’t anonymous extremists on the internet. They were rising Republican leaders — state chairs, vice chairs, campaign strategists, and even staffers with ties to Donald Trump’s administration — plotting their path to power while spewing messages of hate.

Stefi Mar October 20, 2025
Bakersfield
Stefi Mar

Newsom and Elected Officials Make Case to Black Press for Prop 50

On Oct. 7, members of the California Congressional Black Caucus (CBC), the California Legislative Black Caucus (CLBC), and Gov. Gavin Newsom briefed Black media across the state, urging support for Proposition 50 – The Election Rigging Response Act – ahead of the upcoming special election.

Stefi Mar October 14, 2025
African Americans
Stefi Mar

Pew Finds Just 6% of Journalists Are Black as Crisis Grows with Recent Firings

The dismissal of Karen Attiah from the Washington Post has become more than a personnel decision. It is a scarlet warning, a reminder of what has long haunted the American press: the Black voice is too often invited in only to be pushed out when it dares to speak of the nation’s truths.

Stefi Mar October 13, 2025
Bakersfield
Stefi Mar

Denied Care, Divided Nation: How America Fails Its Sickest Patients—and the People Fighting Back

Across America, families are being broken not by illness alone, but by the quiet cruelty of denial letters from insurance companies. Patients in crisis are told their care is not medically necessary. Others learn too late that their coverage has been canceled. The denials come swiftly, the appeals take months, and the system often feels rigged against the very people it was built to protect.

Stefi Mar October 13, 2025
Bakersfield
Stefi Mar

California’s Nursing Shortage Is Getting Worse. Front-Line Workers Blame Management.

California, like much of the nation, is not producing enough nurses working at bedsides to meet the needs of an aging and diverse population, fueling a workforce crunch that risks endangering quality patient care. Nearly 60% of California counties, stretching between the borders with Mexico and Oregon, face a nursing shortage, according to state data.

Stefi Mar October 13, 2025
Bakersfield
Stefi Mar

When the Lifelines Were Cut: Nonprofits Fight to Survive a Government Pullback

In the first months of 2025, America’s safety net began to fray. From food banks to community health programs, thousands of nonprofits found their government funding delayed, frozen, or stripped away. The Urban Institute’s October 2025 report, How Government Funding Disruptions Affected Nonprofits in Early 2025, captures what those on the ground already knew. The country’s moral infrastructure is buckling under the weight of political choices and bureaucratic neglect.

Stefi Mar October 13, 2025
Bakersfield
Stefi Mar

SCOTUS Faces Trump Loyalty Test in New Term

When the Supreme Court began its 2025–26 term on Monday, legal observers, scholars, and advocates warned that the justices are again positioned to shape the country’s direction on equality, freedom, and democracy itself.

Stefi Mar October 13, 2025
African Americans
Stefi Mar

Gov. Newsom Signs Two Bills Authored by Black Caucus Members


On Oct. 1, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed two bills written by members of the California Legislative Black Caucus (CLBC): Sen. Akilah Weber Pierson (D-San Diego) and Sen. Lola Smallwood-Cuevas (D-Los Angeles).

Stefi Mar October 7, 2025
Bakersfield
Stefi Mar

Obama Fills the Void in a Fading Democratic Party

Former President Barack Obama has stepped back into the political arena, delivering some of his sharpest critiques yet of President Donald Trump as the Democratic Party struggles through one of its weakest moments in modern history. With the party’s leadership approval at historic lows and its ties to Black-owned media nearly nonexistent, Obama’s renewed visibility has exposed both the vacuum and the disillusionment threatening to fracture the Democratic coalition.

Stefi Mar October 7, 2025
Bakersfield
Stefi Mar

New Altadena Fire Report Raises “More Questions Than Answers”


In the remains of a burned-out home in Altadena, Eaton Fire victims, activists, and news organizations gathered as residents reacted to the McChrystal Group’s report, a recently released review of emergency response during the Eaton and Palisades fires.

Stefi Mar October 7, 2025