Black Girls Rock!

Black Girls Rock recently aired on BET. Black Girls Rock was an awards ceremony which sought to inspire African American girls to be all they can be, because quite frankly - Black Girls are awesome.

The event featured entertainers such as Fantasia Barrino, the winner of American Idol. Fantasia has overcome a lot in her life, and winning American Idol and having her own VH1 reality show is no small feat.

In addition, the heritage of African American women is honored. Ruby Dee and Jill Scott were both honored at this year's ceremony. Dee was a political activist, journalist, and poet.

There's also a new movie out titled "For Colored Girls" that will also serve as an inspiration to young women of color.

If you viewed "Black Girls Rock" on BET, let us know your thoughts.

Texas Dodges Hurricane Alex 2010 Bullet

Hurricane Alex 2010 could have been much worse for the state of Texas than it was. The first hurricane of the season, many breathed a sigh of relief when Alex didn't pass through the area affected by the BP oil spill. Instead, the storm clipped the southernmost tip of Texas and the Mexican border.

Of course, New Yorkers don't have anything to worry about when it comes to Hurricanes. Although theoretically we are up on the ocean so we COULD have a storm, it just doesn't happen in our climate. However, we are affected greatly by the hurricanes.

How so? Wall Street. Yes, when there are natural disasters investors get skittish and tend to sell off their investments (presumably to buy water and canned goods? I haven't figured it out yet.) This year, we think it will hit us harder than in years past.

For now, the Gulf area is safe. However, the 2010 Hurricane season has, in the words of Barbara Streisand, "only just begun."

Why? The oil spill. I don't think I need to explain it.

This New Yorker is looking to Texas, knowing that there are many a family breathing a sigh of relief tonight as the hurricane wasn't near as bad as it could have been. The storm made landfall as a category 2, and was quickly downgraded to a category 1.

Some parts of Texas received 6 inches of rain. Although it was a wet-n-wild storm system, there were no injuries or widespread damage immediately reported.

NYC Education Improvement Initiative Begins this Fall

Some of the lowest performing city schools could be turned around after legislation passed in May. Testing ground for a new teacher performance evaluation will take place in some of the city's worst performing schools and hope to make them better.

Out of 34 low performing schools, 11 of them will become testing grounds for the new program and 23 of them will be shut down or turned into smaller, charter school districts.

Under the new program, "masters teachers" and "turnaround teachers" will earn 30% more than regular teachers, and will have the task of teaching teachers in addition to their full time classroom responsibilities.

The hope is that the quality of educators will increase, and that the children of New York City will get some of the best education that the country has to offer.

In addition, teachers will have a new incentive to improve their classroom experience. At the end of the year teachers will be dubbed ineffective, effective, or highly effective based on their students' performance.

Ineffective teachers that are ranked as such for two consecutive years face firing via an expedited hearing process.

Something like this should have been done a long time ago. Teachers, just as any other professionals, should be held accountable for doing their jobs. An investment fund manager that loses money for two consecutive years would likely be fired - and why should a teacher be any different?

Bedbug Disclosure Law Passed in NYC

Good night, sleep tight, and don't let the bedbugs bite! Such is the mantra that many a mommies and grandmas tell their young children as they tuck them in and kiss them good night. For the most part, bedbugs don't exist. However, where they do they are a big problem.

One thing that many New Yorkers complained about was that landlords didn't have to tell tenants about the bedbug history of buildings. This made many people susceptible to bedbugs and they didn't even know they were at risk.

Bedbugs munch on the blood of humans, which makes it a public health problem. Bedbugs can get bloodborne diseases, and there's no indication that bedbugs can transmit the diseases or not. It's hard to get rid of them once they appear in your living area. This means that people that move from place to place could take bedbugs with them, further spreading the problem.

After WWII, bedbugs were pretty much eradicated by the use of the now-prohibitied insecticide DDT. They are once again gaining ground in an age where people have traveled to affected areas, and then brought them back to the states. The biggest problem is in large international metropolitan areas such as New York City.

The law signed Thursday in the New York State Senate would require landlords to hand over disclosure forms to vacancy leases.

Those against the bill cited fears that property values of buildings would be driven down. This would further exacerbate the budgetary problems experienced in the city.

Still, prospective tenants express relief that they will be fairly warned of the presence of bedbugs should they have to move to a new building.

New York City Budget Deal Passed

Unemployment woes could grow in New York City, as a budget deal passed fails to increase taxes yet cuts some 2,000 jobs. The budget cuts elderly and child's day care facilities and also cuts the funding to some literacy and and adult education programs.

NYC's budget is a whopping $63 billion. Despite the job cuts and the program elimination, pension funding and other related expenses account for a $3.6 billion or 6% increase over last year.

The job cuts are just another example of how state and local governments are struggling during these tough economic times. In a city with as much real estate and wealth as New York City, there is no reason why there should be these types of massive job cuts.

However, states and municipalities can't hardly thrive during times of massive unemployment and overall recession.

If you notice earlier I stated that pension related expenses account for an increase in budgetary spending. Did you know that pension funds are bankrupting the state of California as well? The governor and certain politicians in that state are pushing for a move to make state employee's pension plans into more affordable 401(k) type plans instead of defined benefit plans.

Perhaps that move should be across the board. After all, most companies don't offer their non-union employees defined benefit plans, which stipulate a certain amount of money that an employee will get each month once they retire. Instead, 401(k) and other defined contribution programs which stipulate how much the employer will contribute are selected.

If New York City made this type of move, perhaps important social programs wouldn't lose funding or have to cease to exist. This is a problem that should be rectified in the next few years.

New York City's Gay Pride Parade and Celebration Marred by Shooting in CA

This weekend, the annual New York City Gay Pride parade and weekend celebrating gay pride was marred by a shooting death in San Francisco, California.  This year's parade brought the same gusto as during years prior, including plenty of rainbow colored floats and inspirational people.

Mayor Bloomberg and Governor David Paterson took part in the parade, as did Constance McMillen, a lesbian student that sued her school district in Mississippi after same-sex prom dates were banned.

Late Saturday, a 19 year old man was killed and two others injured during a shooting at a gay pride celebration in California. It's not certain whether or not the gay rights festivities were to blame for the violence.

During the parade in New York City, there was plenty of celebration, but still yet a certain sadness over the death which occurred several thousand miles away. If there's something about the gay pride community, it's that they stick together and are like one big family.

Stephen Powell is the name of the young man whose life was cut incredibly short for reasons that aren't known yet.  Was it a robbery gone bad? Was it an anti-gay individual?

During the festivities in New York, St. Francis Xavier's church still marched during the parade as they have for the past 12 years.  The church welcomes homosexual Catholics back into the fold, and hands out brochures.  This year, the banner that they marched under was blank a church leader didn't want the name of the church associated with the march, worried that the public could consider the Church's presence an indicator of support of a promiscuous lifestyle.

Thousands joined in on the festivities and it truly was a day of fun celebrations.