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Showing posts from December, 2011

What's Your Number One New Year's Resolution...Here's My Top 12

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The new year always brings about new ideas and an opportunity to start anew.  The top 12 new years resolutions for 2012 for me are probably some of the same one's that you have.  This new year though...let's add an action plan with our New Year's Resolutions.  Take a peak at mine and see what you think! Resolution One :  Hire three people and contract four people  to help carry the work load and expand the business.   Action Plan:  Review all the work and look at what work you would like to keep for yourself and what you can delegate to employees and then look at work that you can contract to those that have the expertise to execute the contract. Resolution Two:   Lose weight.  This is probably the top of many people's list!   Action Plan:   Schedule a time to exercise everyday and a daily exercise routine.  Make it a necessary and permanent part of your day.  Change your diet and decrease the amount of food you take in each day.  There are many meal plans on

Dr. King's Legacy Lives...

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“Like anybody, I would like to live a long life. Longevity has its place. But I’m not concerned about that now. I just want to do God’s will. And He’s allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I’ve looked over. And I’ve seen the Promised Land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the promised land!” I have a dream  “…But there is something that I must say to my people, who stand on the warm threshold which leads into the palace of justice: In the process of gaining our rightful place, we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred. We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence. Again and again, we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force. The marvelous new militancy which has engulfed t

Stamford House Torn Down After Christmas Morning Fire That Killed Three Girls, Grandparents

Stamford House Torn Down After Christmas Morning Fire That Killed Three Girls, Grandparents

First Day of Kwanzaa - Unity

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Kwanzaa started today (Dec 26) and runs through January 1.  Historically, Kwanzaa was created in 1966, in order to give African Americans an alternative to the existing holiday and to give African Americans an opportunity to celebrate ourselves and our history. What an awesome opportunity for African Americans to reflect on our history and to learn more about how this seven day process can help to teach, renew and revitalize our lives and share the principles and values that create hope, love and respect for our people and communities. Kwanzaa is a celebration that has its roots in the  black nationalist  movement of the 1960s, and was established as a means to help African Americans reconnect with their African cultural and historical heritage by uniting in meditation and study of African traditions and  Nguzu Saba , the "seven principles of African Heritage" which Karenga said "is a  communitarian  African philosophy". During the early years of Kwanzaa,

San Antonio U.S. Air Force Veteran Victim of Fatal Shooting

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Beatrice McKinnon had to see for herself where her baby brother  Douglas Ray English , 47, had been fatally shot Tuesday evening. English had just arrived at his friend's house in the 900 block of East Crockett and was sitting on the porch around 8:40 p.m. when someone in a dark sedan fired multiple shots with an AK-47, police said. “There were gunshots on both sides of two houses,” McKinnon, 56, said after she visited the scene. English, a  U.S. Air Force  veteran and the brother of an East Side activist, was struck numerous times. He died an hour later at  San Antonio Military Medical Center . His blood stained the porch where he had fallen, his sister said. Sitting alongside their mother,  Olga English , McKinnon and her brother  Charles English , 52, struggled to comprehend their brother's death. “He was a victim of a very violent crime,” said Charles English, who's the founder and president of the  Jefferson Heights Neighborhood Association  and is acti

Merry Christmas from the African American Network

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Merry Christmas to all on this great day!  Christmas, to me, means reuniting with family, relearning family, seeing how family has grown; sharing old memories; re-sparking old flames that need to be ignited; exchanging gifts and showing love and care to those less fortunate.  Christmas to me is love. I can't remember my very first Christmas, but I do remember the tradition of all my sisters and brother having to go to bed early; trying to stay awake; trying to wait up for Santa; trying watch him place all the gifts and toys under the tree...it's funny how as kids, we never saw Santa Claus and we never caught our parents placing all the gifts under the tree, yet we always had a wonderful Christmas.  We always had a great Christmas dinner and lot's of left overs.  We always laughed and had the good fortune of having lot's of family and friends gather in our home and still do. Giving is a natural reaction to love...giving is not necessarily material.  Giving is somet

Etta James Hospitalized For Breathing Trouble

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RIVERSIDE, Calif. — Etta James' longtime manager says the terminally ill blues singer has been hospitalized after experiencing difficulty breathing. Lupe De Leon says James' family is with her at a Southern California hospital where she was taken earlier this week. De Leon, who has been James' manager for 30 years, says the singer is "in pretty bad shape" but it remains unknown whether she will be able to be released. He says James was taken to the hospital on Wednesday evening and is on a breathing apparatus. James' doctor recently announced that the "At Last" singer has been diagnosed with terminal leukemia. The Grammy-winner and Rock-and-Roll Hall of Fame member is also suffering from dementia. She has been receiving mostly at-home care. A judge on Monday set aside $350,000 for James' treatment Source:  Huff Post Black Voices 

X Factor Rewards Melanie Amaro with $5 million Recording Contract

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By  Jill Serjeant LOS ANGELES  |  Thu Dec 22, 2011 10:29pm EST (Reuters) - An emotional Melanie Amaro won the TV singing contest "The X Factor" on Thursday, earning a $5 million recording contract and closing the first U.S. season of the heavily hyped Fox show. Final contestant Melanie Amaro poses for photographs before a news conference for the television show ''The X Factor'' held in Los Angeles December 19, 2011. Credit: Reuters/Phil McCarten Josh Krajcik finished second after a public vote and Chris Rene came in third after a Christmas-themed, two-hour finale that also saw performances by Justin Bieber, Stevie Wonder, Leona Lewis and 50 Cent. Amaro, 19, a ballad singer whose voice has drawn comparisons to Whitney Houston and Mariah Carey, had been tipped by the four judges to win after delivering a powerful rendition of Beyonce's hit "Listen" in Wednesday's live show. On Thursday, she dropped to her knees in prayer and

Texas Nonprofits Awarded $660,000 from Allstate Foundation in 2011

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San Antonio Area Organizations See $92,300 Melinda Jackson's giving back pays off! Nearly 150 organizations throughout Texas , including 14 in the San Antonio area, received grants from the Allstate Foundation in 2011. The Foundation presented $530,000 to organizations statewide supporting three key focus areas: ·          The fight to end domestic violence ·          Promoting teen safe driving ·          Helping to build vital communities In addition, $130,000 was awarded on behalf of Allstate exclusive agents across the state to the organizations they volunteer with as a part of the Agency Hands in the Community program. “The very fabric of Allstate consists of people who care about their local community,” said Phil Lawson, Allstate Field Vice President for the Texas Region. “The Allstate Foundation is a powerful way for agents and employees to get involved with their local nonprofits and partner with them in making their communities stronger and safer

Free Trade Alliance and City of San Antonio Partner on Expanded Export Leaders Program

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The Free Trade Alliance (Alliance) and the City of San Antonio today announced a partnership to expand the popular Export Leaders program. Originally launched by the City in 2000 to help San Antonio companies develop their export markets, the Export Leaders program has developed 111 graduates over the past eleven years who have generated a combined excess of $85 million in export sales. Under the new partnership, the Free Trade Alliance will implement the program, which helps participants develop an export strategy and realize increased sales through training and trade missions. “An estimated 95 percent of the world’s consumers live outside of our borders and the International Monetary Fund recently forecasted that nearly 87 percent of world economic growth over the next five years will take place outside of the United States,“ said Kyle Burns, President and CEO of the Free Trade Alliance. “U.S. businesses seeking to find their next customer should consider exporting their goods and

LOCAL UNITED WAY WINS $25 MILLION GRANT FOR EDUCATION ON THE EAST SIDE SAN ANTONIO

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Source:  Metro Daily News T he local  United Way  won a $24.6 million federal grant to bolster children's educational achievement and community development on the East Side, scoring the highest in the nation among applicants, the  U.S. Education Department  and Mayor  Julián Castro  announced Monday. Local officials view the San Antonio Eastside Promise Neighborhoods grant, to be spent over five years, as an investment in early-childhood education, affordable housing and access to social services. Castro's office cited the grant as another sign of cooperation by the city in winning money and attention from the federal government, building on  VIA Metropolitan Transit 's four recent grants for transit improvements totaling $24 million. “Santa came a couple of days early,” City Councilwoman  Ivy Taylor  said to cheers from a jubilant crowd of elected officials, educators, schoolchildren and United Way representatives gathered at the  Ella Austin Community Cente

HOUSE POSTPONES PAYROLL TAX VOTE TIL TUESDAY

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Source:  Michael O'Brien, msnbc.com The stalemate over how and whether to extend an expiring payroll tax cut will drag into Tuesday after House Republicans delayed a planned vote to reject a Senate bill to extend the tax holiday for two months. House Republican leaders emerged following a meeting with rank-and-file members to say that the House would take up their votes on Tuesday. Lawmakers had planned to vote around 6:30 p.m. ET on Monday evening, but the 6 p.m. meeting of GOP lawmakers lasted longer than expected, over two hours. Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) said that the House Rules Committee, which sets the parameters for votes in the House, would meet tonight to set the stage for tomorrow's series of votes. Those Tuesday votes would include a measure to reject the Senate's two month extension, and instead instruct lawmakers to meet in a conference -- the formal process of resolving differences with legislation in the Senate. "Our members do not w