Pa. State Police program to improve minority relations results in better policing of police protests
Updated Feb 23, 2021;
When police protests erupted in the wake of the fatal shooting of 27-year-old Ricardo Munoz by police in Lancaster last September, a newly expanded Pennsylvania State Police minority outreach program may have helped head off a much more destructive situation, officials say.
The program is called HALO, short for PSP’s Heritage Affairs Liaison Officers. The goal is improving relationships and communication between state police and minority communities, groups and leaders. The initiative was piloted before last spring’s wave of police protests touched off by George Floyd’s death under the knee of a cop in Minneapolis, but it was expanded shortly thereafter.
Hate and extremist groups emboldened across Pa. last year
Updated Feb 22, 2021;
Posted Feb 22, 2021
The National Socialist Movement, one of the largest and most prominent neo-Nazi groups in the United States, was one of 36 hate groups active in Pennsylvania last year. Members of the group last summer gathered at a downtown Williamsport park.
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Last summer, a band of the National Socialist Movement, one of the largest and most prominent neo-Nazi groups in the United States, gathered at a downtown Williamsport park - swastika flags in hand- to spew profanity and white nationalist ideology over a battery-powered bullhorn.
Weeks later, the Loyal White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan targeted several Erie County communities with two-page typed letters containing racist, homophobic, Islamophobic and anti-Semitic language. The same group distributed more notes a few days later, urging residents to “Pray for white Americans in 2020,” directing them to the KKK’s website
Jan 12, 2021
MIDLAND, Pa. The Midland Women’s Civic Club, along with its fund-raising arm, the Greater Midland Scholarship Foundation, is holding its annual Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day celebration and commemoration at 1 p.m. Monday, Jan. 18.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the event will be held virtually via Lincoln Park Performing Arts Center’s YouTube channel and Facebook page.
Constitutional law professor and CNN contributor Michael Higginbotham will deliver the keynote address following this year’s theme; “Come Together: Only In Darkness Can You See The Stars.”
Higginbotham is a distinguished legal scholar and attorney who has taught at the University of Baltimore School of Law since 1988. He earned his undergrad degree at Brown University and law degrees from both Yale University and the University of Cambridge. He made his first foray into politics as a candidate in Maryland’s special congressional election for the seat vacated by the passing of
Staff Reports
MIDLAND The Midland Women’s Civic Club will host its annual Martin Luther King Jr. Day celebration on Jan. 18.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the free 1 p.m. event will be held virtually via Lincoln Park Performing Arts Center’s YouTube channel and Facebook page.
Constitutional law professor and CNN contributor Michael Higginbotham will deliver the keynote address following this year’s theme, “Come Together: Only in Darkness Can You See the Stars.”
Higginbotham is a distinguished legal scholar and attorney who has taught at the University of Baltimore School of Law since 1988, earning his undergrad degree at Brown University and law degrees from both Yale University and the University of Cambridge. He made his first foray into politics as a candidate in Maryland’s special congressional election for the seat vacated by the death of Elijah Cummings.