At a public hearing on the legalization of medical marijuana, the conversation quickly turned to the legalization of all marijuana. Besides extolling the medical virtues of the drug, the speakers explained what sets marijuana apart from other drugs and the negative impact its criminalization is having on the country.

PUBLIC HEARING—From left: Jake Wheatley, John Myers and Karen Shaffer, executive director of the House Health and Human Services Committee.

“This was just the continuation of our committee going out to hear testimony. I anticipate there will be more hearings across the commonwealth and figuring out if we will move forward with the bill or not,” said state Rep. Jake Wheatley, 19th Legislative District. “I think there’s enough interest in the subject matter that if we don’t get it passed this session we’ll continue to work on it next session.”

WASHINGTON (NNPA)—A red, black and green flag flapping in the sweltering Saturday afternoon breeze said it all in the one word embroidered on its front—“Justice.”

That one word encompassed the sentiments of the throng of thousands who weaved for miles through the streets of Washington, D.C., behind civil rights leaders, chanting, singing and shouting demands from the powers that be.

“What do we want?… Justice!…When do we want it?…Now!”

RECLAIMING THE DREAM—D.C. marchers braved the sweltering heat in the “Reclaim the Dream” march Aug. 28.

A little more than a year ago, Pittsburgh’s Equal Employment Opportunity Officer Tamiko Stanley and Dina Clark, now director of the Center for Race and Equity at the YWCA, were brainstorming about problems they routinely ran into when trying to recruit and retain Blacks for municipal and corporate sector positions in the city.

“One young lady, who’d only been here a few months, when I met her at an African-American leadership forum, told me right off she was ready to leave,” said Clark. “She said there was a glass ceiling at the job, there was no place to go without getting shot. So I took her all over the city myself. Now she’s on our board.”

REALIZING A DREAM—Urban Connect launch party organizers Tamiko Stanley, Dawnita Wilson and Dina Clark look on during the celebrity Urban Male Conversation that preceded the Aug. 20 party.

Overcoming obstacles as not only an African-American, but as an African-American woman, is no stranger to Valerie McDonald Roberts. She has managed to turn what would be trials for others into triumphs.

Roberts was not only the first African-American woman to be elected to the Pittsburgh City Council, but more recently, she was the first African-American woman to be elected president of the Pennsylvania Recorder of Deeds Association.

VALERIE McDONALD ROBERTS

The Wilkinsburg native is a graduate of the University of Pittsburgh, where she received a B.S. in medical technology and an M.S. in forensic chemistry. But it is her political career that she is known for. She is the current Allegheny County manager of Real Estate and former county Recorder of Deeds. She began her political career in 1989 when she ran and won a seat on the Pittsburgh Public School Board.