Stories

State Sen. Jack Hatch, D-Des Moines, formally apologized to his fellow lawmakers for using a racial slur during a conversation with an African American legislator last week.

More than 400 Des Moines-area children who have a parent in an Iowa prison could benefit from a national mentoring program that is looking for social service agencies across the state to host the program.

Some states have used the standardized test scores of fourth-graders to predict future prison population. Worries abound in Des Moines with just 42 percent of African-American fourth-graders this year reading at grade level — and the results are getting worse as students advance through the Des Moines School District.

Three African-American leaders in Des Moines plan to launch a community calendar next month to improve communication among the city’s black residents.

“The connectedness thing we can do right away,” said Jerald Brantley, publisher of the Iowa Bystander.

Brantley, Ako Abdul-Samad and Wayne Ford have joined forces to tackle the serious problems facing blacks, such as [...]

African-Americans in Des Moines will get a chance Thursday to voice their concerns and ideas to leaders of three of the city’s well-known black non-profit agencies.

The meeting will be held from 6 to 8 p.m. Oct. 18 at the Polk County Senior Center at 2008 Forest Ave.

Driving the meeting are three men who didn’t always [...]