Nolan Wells was eighteen. A Mississippi grand jury says nobody is responsible for his death. The state medical examiner says she can’t tell you how he died. The district attorney’s message to the family was, we’ll never know. The family’s answer was, we’ll never stop.

This week on News Observer Weekly, Marcus and Nia break down the five stories that mattered most to our readers — from Observer Group Newspapers, publishers of the Bakersfield News Observer, the Los Angeles News Observer and Valley’s News Observer, serving Kern County, Los Angeles, and the San Fernando and Antelope valleys.

ONE THING THIS WEEK
Kern County ballots started going out Oct. 5. When yours arrives: fill it out,
SIGN AND DATE THE ENVELOPE (unsigned ballots cannot be processed), and return it
by mail (no stamp, postmarked by Nov. 3) or to a 24-hour drop box by 8 p.m. on
Nov. 3. Not registered? The regular deadline is Oct. 19; same-day registration
is available in person after that through Election Day. Track your ballot with
“Where’s My Ballot” at kernvote.com. Kern County Elections: 661-868-3590.

NOW LAW
AB 2599, the Truth in Disclosure Act, signed Sept. 30. California is the first
state to require companies with $100 million or more in worldwide receipts to
disclose, under penalty of perjury, whether they or their predecessors profited
from chattel slavery.

CHAPTERS
0:00 Cold open
0:37 Justice: Rulings Leave Questions Lingering in Nolan Wells Case
3:25 Sacramento: Gov. Newsom Signs Bill Requiring Large Corporations to Disclose Profits From Chattel Slavery
5:55 Inglewood: Inglewood Shifts $2.8 Million in HOME-ARP Funds to Sankofa Place Affordable Housing Project
8:34 Kern County: Your Ballot Is in the Mail: Here Is What Kern County Voters Need to Know
10:21 Los Angeles: Mayor Bass Hosts 3rd Annual Los Angeles Sports and Entertainment Procurement Summit to Prepare Small Businesses for LA28 Contracts
12:22 What to do this week

THE FULL STORIES
Rulings Leave Questions Lingering in Nolan Wells Case

Rulings Leave Questions Lingering in Nolan Wells Case

2. Gov. Newsom Signs Bill Requiring Large Corporations to Disclose Profits From Chattel Slavery

Gov. Newsom Signs Bill Requiring Large Corporations to Disclose Profits From Chattel Slavery

3. Inglewood Shifts $2.8 Million in HOME-ARP Funds to Sankofa Place Affordable Housing Project

Inglewood Shifts $2.8 Million in HOME-ARP Funds to Sankofa Place Affordable Housing Project

4. Your Ballot Is in the Mail: Here Is What Kern County Voters Need to Know

Your ballot is in the mail. Here is what Kern County voters need to know

5. Mayor Bass Hosts 3rd Annual Los Angeles Sports and Entertainment Procurement Summit to Prepare Small Businesses for LA28 Contracts

Mayor Bass Hosts 3rd Annual Los Angeles Sports and Entertainment Procurement Summit to Prepare Small Businesses for LA28 Contracts

If you are in crisis, the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline is free and available 24 hours a day, by call or text.

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Subscribe for the top five, every week.

“Mr. Neal is one of a kind. He is one in a million.”
After 35 years with the Bakersfield City School District, youth services coordinator Lewis Neal has retired. He grew up at Fremont Elementary, Chipman, Lincoln and Bakersfield High. He came back to build programs like PROUD Academy, which gave generations of Black students the confidence to speak up, travel beyond Bakersfield and see their own potential.
Bakersfield News Observer reporter Cecil Egbele hears from Neal, his third-grade teacher Leasa Royal Sutliff, his lifelong classmate Teresa Guerra Espinoza, youth services specialist Victor Hinojos, and PROUD Academy student Dey’Anna Lloyd.
“I don’t say I’m better than somebody, but I’m just as good as you.”
Chapters:

0:00 “One in a million”

0:20 Growing up in Bakersfield

1:00 “Lewis was always my protector”

1:40 “I’m just as good as you”

2:20 PROUD Academy: building confidence

3:20 Mentoring the next generation of mentors

4:00 A legacy that lives on

5:00 What’s next for Mr. Neal
Read the full story: https://ognsc.com/he-learned-to-believe-in-himself-then-he-built-a-legacy/

Get the Bakersfield News Observer free every Wednesday: https://ognsc.com
Reporting and video: Cecil Egbele, California Local News Fellow

#Bakersfield #KernCounty #BlackPress #BCSD #PROUDAcademy #Education #Mentorship #BakersfieldNewsObserver

Fifty-six. For every hundred thousand births in California, fifty-six Black mothers don’t come home. For white mothers, it’s about fifteen. That’s the state’s own count. And the woman who wrote our first story this week has stood in the delivery room while that number gets decided.

This week on News Observer Weekly, Marcus and Nia break down the five stories that mattered most to our readers — from Observer Group Newspapers, publishers of the Bakersfield News Observer, the Los Angeles News Observer and Valley’s News Observer, serving Kern County, Los Angeles, and the San Fernando and Antelope valleys.

ONE THING THIS WEEK
If you or someone you love is pregnant and on Medi-Cal, a doula is a covered
benefit. Ask your plan for one by name. In L.A. County, the Medi-Cal Doula Hub
can connect you. California’s own numbers (2020-22): 56.5 pregnancy-related
deaths per 100,000 births for Black mothers, 3.8 times the rate for white mothers.

OWN A SMALL BUSINESS?
LA28 has committed 75% of the spending it controls to local businesses and 25%
to small businesses. The City of L.A. Contract Financing Program fronts small
firms the cash to take a city contract. Register as a vendor now, before the
big firms take the table.

CHAPTERS
0:00 Cold open
0:37 Black Maternal Health: Listening as a Lifeline: A Doula’s Witness to Black Maternal Health
3:43 Africa: California and Lagos Sign Historic Sister-State Agreement, Betting on Trade, Tech and Culture
5:50 Bakersfield: Surrounded by Crowns: A Bakersfield Woman Traces a Family Ancestry from Lagos to the American South
8:42 Los Angeles: Banc of California Opens Downtown L.A. Office as Mayor Bass Pushes for More Business Investment
11:04 Sports: Dodgers Get 100th Win, Headed to Playoffs
12:38 What to do this week

THE FULL STORIES
Listening as a Lifeline: A Doula’s Witness to Black Maternal Health

Listening as a Lifeline: A Doula’s Witness to Black Maternal Health

2. California and Lagos Sign Historic Sister-State Agreement, Betting on Trade, Tech and Culture

California and Lagos Sign Historic Sister-State Agreement, Betting on Trade, Tech and Culture

3. Surrounded by Crowns: A Bakersfield Woman Traces a Family Ancestry from Lagos to the American South

Surrounded by crowns: A Bakersfield woman traces a family ancestry from Lagos to the American South

4. Banc of California Opens Downtown L.A. Office as Mayor Bass Pushes for More Business Investment

Banc of California Opens Downtown L.A. Office as Mayor Bass Pushes for More Business Investment

5. Dodgers Get 100th Win, Headed to Playoffs

Dodgers Get 100th Win, Headed to Playoffs

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#BlackPress #Bakersfield #LosAngeles #SanFernandoValley #AntelopeValley #BlackNews

Six thousand pairs of electric shock gloves. Sixteen point seven million dollars. That’s a federal contract, for ICE. And the Sacramento County Sheriff already bought ten of his own, for thirty-five thousand dollars. California has two weeks to decide whether its police can wear them.

This week on News Observer Weekly, Marcus and Nia break down the five stories that mattered most to our readers — from Observer Group Newspapers, publishers of the Bakersfield News Observer, the Los Angeles News Observer and Valley’s News Observer, serving Kern County, Los Angeles, and the San Fernando and Antelope valleys.

ONE THING THIS WEEK
If you’re a Black man 45 or older — or 40 with a father, brother or uncle who
had prostate cancer — call your doctor and ask one question: should I be
screened? Before you call, ask your family what the men in it died of. The
American Cancer Society says most men diagnosed early will not die of this
disease. No doctor? ACS helpline, free, 24 hours: 1-800-227-2345

ON THE GOVERNOR’S DESK
AB 2760 pauses California law enforcement’s use of shock gloves for three years
pending a DOJ safety study. It passed 29-9 and 55-16. Newsom has until
September 30 to sign it.

ON YOUR NOVEMBER BALLOT
Prop 38 would authorize $8.4 billion in bonds for immunology and immunotherapy
research — $500–600 million a year in debt payments for about 20 years. Read
both arguments before you vote.

CHAPTERS
0:00 Cold open
0:42 Sacramento: Assemblymember LaShae Sharp-Collins’s Bill Would Pause Law Enforcement’s Use of Shock Gloves Pending Study
3:09 Los Angeles: Blacks and Latinos Clash Over LA’s Barrio Run; Mayor Karen Bass Calls for Dialogue Across Racial, Neighborhood Lines
5:26 Inglewood: How Inglewood’s Homeless Seniors Are Finding Relief Through Housing and Trauma-Informed Care
7:52 Your November Ballot: Prop 38 Would Allocate $8.4 Billion to Immunology and Immunotherapy Funding
10:15 Your Health: Prostate Cancer is Twice as Likely to Kill Black Men. Talking to Your Doctor Could Help Save Your Life
12:46 What to do this week

THE FULL STORIES
Assemblymember LaShae Sharp-Collins’s Bill Would Pause Law Enforcement’s Use of Shock Gloves Pending Study

Assemblymember LaShae Sharp-Collins’s Bill Would Pause Law Enforcement’s Use of Shock Gloves Pending Study

2. Blacks and Latinos Clash Over LA’s Barrio Run; Mayor Karen Bass Calls for Dialogue Across Racial, Neighborhood Lines

Blacks and Latinos Clash Over LA’s Barrio Run; Mayor Karen Bass Calls for Dialogue Across Racial, Neighborhood Lines

3. How Inglewood’s Homeless Seniors Are Finding Relief Through Housing and Trauma-Informed Care

How Inglewood’s Homeless Seniors Are Finding Relief Through Housing and Trauma-Informed Care

4. Prop 38 Would Allocate $8.4 Billion to Immunology and Immunotherapy Funding

On Your November Ballot: Prop 38 Would Allocate $8.4 Billion to Immunology and Immunotherapy Funding

5. Prostate Cancer is Twice as Likely to Kill Black Men. Talking to Your Doctor Could Help Save Your Life

Prostate Cancer is Twice as Likely to Kill Black Men. Talking to Your Doctor Could Help Save Your Life

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#BlackPress #Bakersfield #LosAngeles #SanFernandoValley #AntelopeValley #BlackNews

If a man who wasn’t related to you lived in your house, California could make him prove what he spent on groceries. Under penalty of perjury. Or your family’s check stopped. That rule is still on the books right now.

This week on News Observer Weekly, Marcus and Nia break down the five stories that mattered most to our readers — from Observer Group Newspapers, publishers of the Bakersfield News Observer, the Los Angeles News Observer and Valley’s News Observer, serving Kern County, Los Angeles, and the San Fernando and Antelope valleys.

ONE THING THIS WEEK
Pull your child’s immunization record before the school year gets away from you
and book the well-child visit. California’s school and child-care vaccine
requirements have not changed. The routine childhood schedule is free whether or
not you’re insured, through Vaccines for Children — find a location and your
child’s digital record at myturn.ca.gov

CARING FOR SOMEONE AT HOME?
In-Home Supportive Services can pay family caregivers for work they’re already
doing unpaid. Kern County Aging and Adult Services will talk through your
situation and connect you.

ON THE GOVERNOR’S DESK
SB 1030 repeals the CalWORKs “man-in-the-house” rule. It passed 77-0 and 40-0.
Newsom has until September 30 to sign it.

CHAPTERS
0:00 Cold open
0:34 Sacramento: Asm. Smallwood-Cuevas’s Bill Repealing ‘Racist’ CalWORKs ‘Man-in-the-House’ Rule Clears Legislature
2:33 Los Angeles: Street Medicine Brings Care to Unhoused Angelenos — But Housing Remains the Missing Prescription
5:12 Bakersfield: “This is Not a Job. This is Life”: One Grandmother’s Fight Against Caregiver Burnout
8:11 At The Table: Black Americans Have Doubts About the U.S. Food System
10:11 Your Health: Giving Our Black Children the Healthiest Start We Can
12:15 What to do this week

THE FULL STORIES
1. Asm. Smallwood-Cuevas’s Bill Repealing ‘Racist’ CalWORKs ‘Man-in-the-House’ Rule Clears Legislature

Asm. Smallwood-Cuevas’s Bill Repealing ‘Racist’ CalWORKs ‘Man-in-the-House’ Rule Clears Legislature

2. Street Medicine Brings Care to Unhoused Angelenos — But Housing Remains the Missing Prescription

Street Medicine Brings Care to Unhoused Angelenos — But Housing Remains the Missing Prescription

3. “This is Not a Job. This is Life”: One Grandmother’s Fight Against Caregiver Burnout

“This is Not a Job. This is Life”: One Grandmother’s Fight Against Caregiver Burnout

4. Black Americans Have Doubts About the U.S. Food System

Black Americans Have Doubts About the U.S. Food System

5. Giving Our Black Children the Healthiest Start We Can

Giving Our Black Children the Healthiest Start We Can

If you are in crisis, the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline is free and available 24 hours a day, by call or text.

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Subscribe for the top five, every week.

#BlackPress #Bakersfield #LosAngeles #SanFernandoValley #AntelopeValley #BlackNews

James Luckey Jr
shared 9 links
12:33 PM
News Observer Weekly — September 2, 2026 | Top 5 Stories of the Week

## Description
Eleven and a quarter percent. Lancaster and Palmdale. The highest sales tax in the United States. On October first it goes higher.

This week on News Observer Weekly, Marcus and Nia break down the five stories that mattered most to our readers — from Observer Group Newspapers, publishers of the Bakersfield News Observer, the Los Angeles News Observer and Valley’s News Observer, serving Kern County, Los Angeles, and the San Fernando and Antelope valleys.

ONE THING THIS WEEK
Kern County parents: children under five can get a free book in the mail every
month through Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library, administered locally by the
Kern Literacy Council. No income requirement. Enroll at kernliteracy.org/dolly-partons-imagination-library.html

And before October 1, look up the sales tax rate for your own address at
cdtfa.ca.gov. Groceries and prescription medicine are exempt from the increase.

CHAPTERS
0:00 Cold open
0:33 Your Money: America’s Highest Sales Tax Is About to Go Higher
2:51 The Vote: California Black Civil Rights Leaders Mobilize to Defend Voting Rights
5:27 Sports: Aaron Donald Comes Out of Retirement to Rejoin Rams
7:08 Culture: Why Kern County and Black Americans Love Dolly
9:46 Bakersfield: He Learned to Believe in Himself. Then He Built a Legacy
12:36 What to do this week

THE FULL STORIES
America’s Highest Sales Tax Is About to Go Higher

America’s Highest Sales Tax Is About to Go Higher

2. California Black Civil Rights Leaders Mobilize to Defend Voting Rights

California Black Civil Rights Leaders Mobilize to Defend Voting Rights

3. Aaron Donald Comes Out of Retirement to Rejoin Rams

Aaron Donald Comes Out of Retirement to Rejoin Rams

4. Why Kern County and Black Americans Love Dolly

Why Kern County and Black Americans love Dolly

5. He Learned to Believe in Himself. Then He Built a Legacy

He Learned to Believe in Himself. Then He Built a Legacy

Read everything at ognsc.com
Subscribe for the top five, every week.

#BlackPress #Bakersfield #LosAngeles #SanFernandoValley #AntelopeValley #BlackNews