Marilyn Clement, health care advocate and civil rights activist, dies at age 74

October 9th, 2009 Navy to honor civil rights martyr Medgar EversWASHINGTON — Slain civil rights leader Medgar Evers will be honored Friday with a Navy supply ship named for him. Navy Secretary Ray Mabus, a former governor of Mississippi, planned to announce the honor during a speech at Jackson State University in Jackson, Miss.

October 5th, 2009 Black, Latino groups press Dems on health careWASHINGTON — African-American, Latino and civil rights groups have launched an ad campaign aimed at pressuring moderate Democratic senators to support health care legislation that allows the government to sell insurance in competition with private industry. The ads feature a recognizable civil rights symbol — a public bus — to send the group's message that "there needs to be room for all of us on the bus." The ads began Monday on television, in print and online in English and Spanish in four states: Arkansas, Louisiana, North Carolina and Florida.

September 21st, 2009 South African anti-apartheid activist dies at 51JOHANNESBURG — South Africa's governing party says Frans "Ting-Ting" Masango, an anti-apartheid activist once sentenced to death for treason, has died. The 51-year-old African National Congress lawmaker died Friday in Pretoria after battling diabetes.

September 12th, 2009 Obama to attend health care rallyWASHINGTON — President Barack Obama is traveling to Minneapolis for a rally on health care reform. Minnesota is an example of where Obama wants the rest of the country to go on health care.

August 26th, 2009 Mass. Sen. Ted Kennedy diesHYANNIS PORT, Mass. — Massachusetts Sen.

August 26th, 2009 Dodd says Kennedy among most respected senatorsWASHINGTON — Sen. Christopher Dodd, perhaps Edward Kennedy's closest friend in the Senate, says Kennedy was a hero to the downtrodden.

August 24th, 2009 Republicans offer seniors health 'bill of rights'WASHINGTON — Republicans are targeting older Americans worried about President Barack Obama's health overhaul plans with a "seniors' health care bill of rights." The six principles outlined Monday by the Republican National Committee include protecting Medicare, prohibiting rationing of health care based on age and making sure government doesn't get between seniors and their doctors. The Obama administration has insisted repeatedly that it doesn't want to shrink Medicare benefits, ration care or reduce the role of doctors.

August 23rd, 2009 Group plans TV ads criticizing health care reformWASHINGTON — A group opposed to President Barack Obama's health-care proposals is planning an ad campaign to run locally while the first family vacations for the week in Martha's Vineyard. Conservatives for Patients' Rights said more than $150,000 was spent on the television ads, which urge the president to abandon his proposal to include a government-run health insurance option.

August 23rd, 2009 McCain: Health debate hurt by Kennedy's absenceWASHINGTON — Republican Sen. John McCain says the absence of ailing Ted Kennedy in pushing health-care reform has made a "huge, huge difference" in whether legislation gets passed.

August 23rd, 2009 Canadian pacifist Muriel Duckworth dies at 100HALIFAX, Nova Scotia — Canadian activist Muriel Duckworth, a passionate pacifist who for decades was an advocate for women's rights and social justice, has died. She was 100.

August 15th, 2009 Suspect in 1964 civil rights worker killings diesJACKSON, Miss. — Federal authorities will continue to investigate the 1964 Mississippi killings of three civil rights workers — a case that helped pass landmark legislation — despite the death of a key suspect, the Justice Department says.

July 16th, 2009 Obama address NAACP conferenceWASHINGTON — It's a double celebration and a civil rights milestone: President Barack Obama tonight helps the NAACP celebrate its 100th anniversary, and the civil rights group celebrates the first African-American president of the United States. The White House says Obama's address will only touch on the debate over the NAACP's future.

July 15th, 2009 Russian group says activist abducted in ChechnyaMOSCOW — A prominent Russian human rights group says its leading activist in Chechnya has been kidnapped. Memorial chairman Oleg Orlov says that four men forced Natalya Estemirova into a car in the Chechen capital, Grozny, early Wednesday.

June 22nd, 2009 47th child dies from Mexico day care fire woundsMEXICO CITY — A 3-year-old girl has died of wounds from a fire at a northern Mexican day care, bringing the death toll from the disaster to 47 children, authorities said Monday. Jimena Alvarez died at a hospital Sunday, more than two weeks after the fire at the day care center in the northern city of Hermosillo, the Sonora state Health Department said in a statement.

June 18th, 2009 Miss. civil rights slayings to get historic markerPHILADELPHIA, Miss. — Mississippi officials say a historical marker can be placed on a state highway near where three civil rights workers were murdered in 1964.