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Though the House of Representatives passed the Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act three months ago, the Senate has yet to take action on the bill.

Last week, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder told the Senate Judiciary Committee that the Obama administration strongly supported the bill, stating, "The President and I seek swift passage of this legislation because hate crimes victimize not only individuals, but entire communities."

Millions of U.S. citizens continue to face discrimination at the hands of police and other law enforcement agencies just because they are not white, although the country's new leader in the White House is himself of African descent on his father's side.

Israeli commandos have seized the crew of a ship carrying aid to Gaza and forced the vessel to sail to an Israeli port.

The Israeli military said that it had boarded The Spirit of Humanity as it tried to break Tel Aviv's siege of the territory last night. The 21 solidarity activists aboard had ignored a radio message warning that they would not be allowed to enter Gazan waters.

Speaking to a town-hall meeting broadcast live on Twitter, Facebook and other social networks, President Obama called on the people to reject “scare tactics” and push for healthcare reform this year that includes a strong public option.

Iran's defeated presidential candidate Mir-Hossein Mousavi said in a statement posted on his website on Wednesday that Iran's new government is "illegitimate."

"From now on ...the majority of society, of which I am a member, will not accept its (the new government's) legitimacy," the statement said.

NEW YORK — At 12:01 this morning, the law that enshrined mayoral control of New York City’s public schools formally expired, as the state Senate remained paralyzed by crisis. The city’s old Board of Education was automatically resurrected, as were 32 community school boards, whose members are to be elected.

CHICAGO – On July 1 over one million people across Illinois will lose access to social services as state lawmakers here scramble to approve a “doomsday” budget, which contains major cuts up to 50 percent that critics are calling unacceptable.

Nearly 1,000 people rallied here at the James R. Thompson Center June 30 to demand state lawmakers pass a fair and sensible budget that will keep intact social services for children, seniors and working families.

Finance capital went to confession, told the judge its sins, and he administered the penance — 150 years in the clinker for 79-year-old Bernard Madoff.

An epic legal showdown between Wells Fargo bank and the city of Baltimore will occur on Monday July 6 in the courtroom of U.S. District Judge Benson E. Legg. The city of Baltimore is suing the bank for engaging in deliberate predatory lending practices that targeted Black and Latino consumers. Judge Legg will decide on whether the case can go forward.

Coalitions of labor and environmental groups cheered the passage of the historic climate change legislation in the House last month. But the hard work for a similar bill in the Senate has just begun, they added.