Airbnb makes changes to halt racist, discriminatory practices

Airbnb announced potentially far-reaching anti-discrimination policies Thursday in response to complaints about hosts' racism against black and other Airbnb guests that came to the fore in the spring, crystalizing around the hashtag #AirbnbWhileBlack.

One change automatically blocks out a host’s reservation calendar for dates they have told a would-be guest are not available. This is to deal with a problem African-Americans and others have described: after requesting a booking, they're told the listing is no longer available, only to find the booking is still available when someone with a profile photo that shows them to be white, or obscures their race, inquires about it.

The new features will be implemented in the first half of 2017, Airbnb said.

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Colin Powell did advise Hillary Clinton on how to skirt email rules

House Democrats late Wednesday released a full email exchange in which Colin Powell advised Hillary Clinton just after she was sworn in as secretary of state on the use of personal email and devices. Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Maryland, the top Democrat on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee said that. “This email exchange shows that Secretary Powell advised Secretary Clinton with a detailed blueprint on how to skirt security rules and bypass requirements to preserve federal records, although Secretary Clinton has made clear that she did not rely on this advice,”. Watch more below:

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North Carolina early-voting cuts could dampen black vote

Election officials in nearly two dozen North Carolina counties have approved reductions in early-voting hours ahead of November’s elections, cuts that Democrats warn could disenfranchise many low-income voters.

County boards of elections have approved reducing early-voting hours in 23 of North Carolina’s 100 counties. Another eight counties plan to end early voting on the Sunday before Election Day, when a huge number of African-American voters tend to go to the polls.

North Carolina is a critical swing state in the presidential race, one where Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton is counting on a heavy African-American voter turnout. President Obama won North Carolina in 2008 and narrowly lost the state in 2012.

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Black voters sue over Alabama's method of electing judges

A civil rights group is challenging Alabama's practice of electing appellate judges by statewide vote, saying it has resulted in all-white courts in a state where one of every four people is African-American.

The NAACP's Alabama chapter and four black voters sued the state on Wednesday in Montgomery federal court, arguing that electing judges through at-large elections in Alabama violates the Voting Rights Act.

Alabama's appellate judges run statewide for election, just like the governor, attorney general and other top officials. The system has resulted in Republican-dominated courts — not a single Democrat is running for the appellate court seats open in November.

Alabama is one of about seven states that elect appellate judges in partisan elections, and racially polarized voting patterns in the deeply red state means elections are largely decided in the Republican primaries, resulting in a court that is not reflective of the state's population, said attorney James Blacksher, who is working the case.

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Judge Grants Partial Stop on North Dakota Pipeline Work

The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe may not be African American but this blog stands with anyone fighting for their rights. The tribe has been fighting to stop a pipeline from being built on it's sacred burial grounds. To those who say this is much ado about nothing, think about how you would feel if you were told to dig up and rebury your loved ones. This blog also condemns the use of dogs on protesters, a move that reignites memories of the dark past of the United States. George L. Cook III AfricanAmericanReports.Com

An American Indian tribe succeeded Tuesday in getting a federal judge to temporarily stop construction on some, but not all, of a $3.8 billion four-state oil pipeline, but its broader request still hangs in the balance.

U.S. District Judge James Boasberg said Tuesday that work will temporarily stop between North Dakota's State Highway 1806 and 20 miles east of Lake Oahe, but will continue west of the highway because he believes the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers lacks jurisdiction on private land.

He also said he will rule by the end of Friday on the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe's challenge of federal regulators' decision to grant permits to the Dallas, Texas-based operators of the Dakota Access Pipeline, which will cross North Dakota, South Dakota, Iowa and Illinois.

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