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Brett Favre signs with Vikings Deal worth $25 million for 2 seasons.
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August 24 - August 30, 2009 • MN Metro Vol. 35 No. 34 • The Journal For Community News, Business & The Arts • www.insightnews.com
MUL Family Day reflects vitality, resilience The rain didn't stop over 2,000 North Minneapolis residents from coming out to enjoy Family Day 2009: Celebrating the Dream, the 20th Annual Event sponsored by the Minneapolis Urban League, on Saturday, August 15. Family Day was held at North Commons Park and provided a full day of entertainment, activities, and empowerment for the whole family. The festivities were kicked off by a lively 23unit parade down Golden Valley Road that featured drum lines, dancers, clowns, marching bands, and more. "I was extremely pleased with the work provided by the MUL staff and our vendor partners and sponsors to make this Family Day an exciting and informational day for all of our families," said Scott Gray, President &CEO of the Minneapolis Urban League. "We look forward to an even bigger and better event next year without the rain." After 20 years, this event has gotten better and better. This was the perfect venue for displaying talent, information sharing, fun, and great food, Gray said. Twin Cities residents showcased their talent on
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HIRE Minnesota searches for missing persons at MnDOT work site
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Cathy Hughes: The TV One Interview
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Family Day 2009: Celebrating the Dream
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Courtesy of MUL
Cricket: more than just a sticky wicket By Pauline Chandra To some, news about "Cricket on a field in Minneapolis," conjures up images of an invasion of chirping insects. But to others, such news brings to mind a much loved sport with dedicated fans from Australia to Zimbabwe. Over the upcoming Labor Day weekend a long-standing cricket tradition will once again play out in Minneapolis. From September 4 through 6, the Minnesota International Cricket Club (MICC) and the Cavaliers Cricket Club will host the 2009 USA Cricket Invitational. Ten teams from Winnipeg, New York, Milwaukee and Minnesota will vie for the trophy at Bryn Mawr Park. It continues a decades-old tradition of Minnesota cricketers in
School’s in Session Soon, get ready
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Action on the cricket field at Bryn Mawr Park
tournaments during summer holiday weekends. While the existence of cricket clubs in Minnesota may be a surprise to some, the sport has
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Gary Hines’ masterwork, Sounds of Blackness, celebrates legacy in 3rd Gift By Al McFarlane Insight Editor-In-Chief The Grammy award-winning group Sounds of Blackness is back and stronger than ever with "The 3rd Gift: Story, Song & Spirit," set for release August 25, 2009. "This life-changing CD has deeply profound music for the entire world," said musical director Gary Hines. "These messages of peace, love and hope for all become even more poignant during these troubled times." "The 3rd Gift" features the amazing inspirational musical spectrum Sounds of Blackness has
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Gary Hines and his mother, legendary and celebrated jazz singer, Doris Hines.
The Black Press of America -
Keeping a positive outlook while working through economic slump By Pharoh Martin
NNPA National Correspondent MINNEAPOLIS (NNPA) When the economic downturn grew steadily cold two years ago, newspapers across the country began shutting their doors – permanently. It could have been a travesty for Blackowned newspapers, but sentiments from AfricanAmerican publishers and executives are that it’s hard to miss what one never had. Therefore, in interviews at the National Newspaper Publishers Association’s annual summer conference in Minneapolis June 24-28, publishers told their creativity in making ends meet. “The downsizing of the economy didn’t affect us as much as some of the larger papers because we didn’t have enough staff in the first place,” said John Smith, general manager of the Chicago Crusader. “We were affected
because our advertising revenue was down a bit but we did not feel it as much as daily papers. So other than a little less revenue it was business as usual.” Black newspaper publishers are competing for the same scarce advertising dollars as their white counterparts. Yet, they have remained resilient despite a deep recession. Still, the Black press has lost serious revenue, too. Some NNPA publishers said their newspapers have lost as much as 40 percent of advertising dollars. The National Newspapers of America reports that the total drop in all ad revenue in the third quarter of 2008 was half of that number at just below 20 percent. James Belt, advertising manager of the Dallas Examiner, said that everybody is hurting but the first advertising that gets cut back is typically the African American press. Like many newspapers across the country he had to cut back and downsize on things they have historically done.
‘’We just hang on as long as we can,’’ he said. ‘’If you don’t have the ads, you don’t print the pages. You just don’t print what you don’t have.’’ Chris B. Bennett, copublisher of the Seattle Medium Newspaper Group, which owns four newspapers and four radio stations, keeps a positive outlook about working through the economic slump. ‘’It’s been some difficult times but it’s not a place that we as Black publishers haven’t been before,” he said. “Typically, when the economy is bad, business is good for publishers because advertisers spend money trying to get customers back into their stores,” Bennett said. “But this time, that hasn’t been the case because everybody has been trying to hang on to their purse strings. “Therefore, Black publishers have resorted to creative advertising packages for some of their local community-based
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Magic Johnson to keynote MBDA’S National Minority Enterprise Development (MED) Week Conference
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AARP offers free health screenings and health education
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