The Bulletin

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AND THE INGLEWOOD TRIBUNE, CARSON BULLETIN, WILMINGTON  BEACON, THE CALIFORNIAN, THE WEEKENDER & EL MONTE BULLETIN WEDNESDAY, MAY 9, 2018

AN AMERICAN PRINT MEDIA PUBLICATION

Residents Vent Over Murky, Foul Water

Black Unemployment Rate Hit Record Low in April

Compton resident holding discolored water in container. By Jim Forbes for The Bulletin

Photo by Melina Cervantes for the Bulletin water systems. The mineral oxidizes causing a buildup of sediment in the pipes. Combined with the aged pipes of Sativa, the problem continues to worsen and has been particularly bad since mid-April. “And the only thing we can

outside funding. Despite the foul look, and ac“It’s so wrong that our children are afraid of water cording to some residents, odor and rash inducing elements, the coming out of their faucets,” Rep. Nanette Barragán State Water Resources Control declared to loud applause. “Let me tell you, in affluent Board as well as the LA Counneighborhoods like Beverly Hills and Malibu they ty Department of Health both claim testing has determined the wouldn’t allow this to happen,” the Congresswoman water remains safe. said to residents chants of “No, No, No.” While acknowledging Barragán hosted a Town Hall General Managthat, Rep. Barmeeting at George Washington er Maria Garza ragán says it Elementary School that packed explained. still doesn’t pass in hundreds of local residents “We serve a either the eye or seeking answers to the cause of disadvantaged smell test. discolored water that on any giv- community. We “We’re hearen day ranges from foggy white have one of the ing from ex—Sativa General Manager Maria Garza to brown. lowest water perts there’s no Most complaints were from rates in this enbacteria in the customers of the small Sativa Los tire state, Garza water and it’s Angeles County Water District said. “Our resido is we either replace our safe to drink. However, they are serving Willowbrook and 30-60 dents cannot afford a multi-mil- pipes, or we continue with our acknowledging there are higher households in Compton. lion dollar project.” maintenance flushing,” Garza levels of manganese in the wa“The biggest problem that we Water officials say the source says, adding that pipe replace- ter and they’re acknowledging have is our infrastructure. It’s of the problem is the mineral ment isn’t a financial option that that can cause odor that can more than 70 years old,” Sativa manganese, a common issue in for the tiny non-profit absent n Water, see page 2

“The biggest problem that we have is our infrastructure. It’s more than 70 years old.”

WA S H I N G T O N — T h e unemployment rate for Black Americans fell to a record low in April, though not necessarily for positive reasons. The jobless rate for AfricanAmericans reached 6.6 percent, the lowest level on Labor Department records dating to 1972. Though some of them found work, many others stopped looking for a job and so weren't categorized as unemployed. The government counts people as unemployed only if they're actively looking for work. When fewer people seek a job, the unemployment rate often declines. Though it has improved in recent years, the unemployment rate for African-Americans remains stubbornly higher than the rates for other racial and ethnic groups. Among age groups, the jobless rate for teenagers fell from to 12.9 percent, the lowest level since 2000. All told, employers added 164,000 jobs in April. The unemployment rate fell to 3.9 percent, the lowest level since December 2000. The data for demographic groups came from a survey of households that is part of the Labor Department's monthly jobs report.

Judge Considers Ban on Separating Families at Border By Elliott Spagat SAN DIEGO—A federal judge asked pointed questions of the Trump administration and the American Civil Liberties Union on Friday over a proposed ban on U.S. immigration authorities separating parents from their children at the border. The ACLU sued on behalf of a Congolese woman who was separated from her 7-year-old daughter for five months after seeking asylum at a San Diego border crossing and a Brazilian asylum-seeker who has been separated from her 14-year-old son since an arrest for illegal

entry in August near the TexasNew Mexico border. The ACLU has asked for a preliminary injunction to

prohibit family separation unless the parent is determined to be unfit or poses a danger to the child. U.S. District Judge

Dana Sabraw ended a nearly two-hour hearing by saying he would rule at a later date. Noting the administration's broad discretion to enforce immigration laws, Sabraw questioned why he should issue an order that would require families be detained together or freed on parole. “How can the court issue such a blanket and overarching order?” he asked Lee Gelernt, an attorney for the ACLU. The judge, appointed by President George W. Bush in 2003, also pressed a government attorney to explain how the practice respects constitutional

rights to due process and a 2008 law that says the government should act in the best interest of unaccompanied children. Increasingly, people taken into custody at the border are asylum-seekers arriving as families or as children traveling alone. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen testified in Congress last week that the administration had no policy to separate parents from their children as a punitive or deterrent measure but that it happens when there is doubt about whether an adult may be a parent or when the child might n Judge, see page 2


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