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Judge Suspends Proceedings for Suspect in Slaying of Nia Wilson

Published

7 years ago

January 3, 2019

Nia Wilson’s mother, Alicia Grayson, leaving Rene C. Davidson Courthouse on Dec. 27. Photo courtesy Lau¬ren J. Richardson.

Public defender alleges John Lee Cowell may be incompetent to stand trial

The family of Nia Wilson, who was slain at the MacArthur BART last July, was disappointed with their day in court as her alleged killer, John Lee Cowell, may be determined unfit for trial.
At the hearing on December 27, Judge James Cramer suspended criminal proceedings until Cowell could be examined by mental health professionals and scheduled the next hearing for Feb. 13, 2019.
The day began with supporters pouring into the courtroom for Cowell’s arraignment at the Rene C. Davidson Courthouse. A wooden door manned by a sheriff’s deputy that allowed court workers in and out, revealed Cowell, 27, in chains and an orange jumpsuit looking at the crowd through a glass panel behind it.
Arriving family and friends reassured each other with supportive embraces while wearing lanyards with large photos of Nia. The front row was left vacant until the arrival of Wilson’s parents, Alicia Grayson and Ansar Muhammad.
There were whispers among the 30 or more African American women and men that filled the room but it fell silent as Cramer entered and court began session shortly after 9:00 a.m.
Assistant District Attorney L.D. Louis, who was listed as a deputy district attorney for the SVP Unit (which worked on involuntary civil commitments) until July of 2018 and is currently listed on LinkedIn as co-president of the Bay Area Black Prosecutors Association, called into question the defense attorney’s ability to declare that Cowell was “paranoid” or “delusional” without also revealing what instances led her to that conclusion.
Cowell’s public defender, Christina Marie Moore, argued that she was not able to get information from the defendant because of the “delusions” and stated that there was “not even a doubt in (her) mind that they don’t comport with reality” and also mentioned that they were “increasing in frequency.”
After Louis asserted that Moore was not certified to diagnosis Cowell, Moore gave a brief recitation of her previous statements regarding working with Cowell and cited previous 5150 holds that included him telling a doctor to “remove his breast implants.”
Moore further recounted Cowell’s multiple instances of being institutionalized through both involuntary holds and prison medical holds including a stay at the Atascadero State Hospital from January 2018 until his release in May.
Two months later, Cowell was captured on video following the three Wilson girls, Nia, Letifah and Tashiya, attacking them, wiping off the knife, and tossing the murder weapon near a construction zone before fleeing until his ultimate capture over 24 hours later.
There are also multiple instances of Cowell coming into contact with BART police prior to killing Nia Wilson.
Louis pushed back by stating that a 5150 hold is usually initiated by law enforcement who are not trained to diagnose mental illness and mentioned that Cowell’s actions could be the result of chronic drug use.
Cramer, who became a judge in 2015 after working for the public defender’s office for 11 years, cited a 2015 case as precedent for his findings that the lawyers’ statements, as well as Cowell’s record, is substantial evidence of his possible mental incompetence.
At the end of the hearing, the family poured out of the room with looks of anxiety on their faces.
Beverly Thompson, Grayson’s stepmother, stated that she “already knew they would do this” and that she felt the sympathy for Cowell was because of his race. “If he had been a Black man, he would have been gone already,” she said.
The sentiment was shared by many members of the group. Dionne Wilson said that the family has experienced four deaths in the three months surrounding the attack on the girls and that she is left feeling “traumatized.”

Lauren J. Richardson

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#NNPA BlackPress

Poll Shows Support for Policies That Help Families Afford Child Care

BLACKPRESSUSA NEWSWIRE — New national polling shows persistent voter concern about the affordability and availability of child care for working parents, alongside broad support across key demographic groups for federal child care policies that help families afford care.

Published

4 days ago

March 2, 2026

Oakland Post

By First Five Years Fund

New national polling shows persistent voter concern about the affordability and availability of child care for working parents, alongside broad support across key demographic groups for federal child care policies that help families afford care.

The national survey was conducted by UpOne Insight on behalf of the First Five Years Fund from January 13–18, 2026.

Key findings include:

• Parents need help: 80% of voters say the ability of working parents to find and afford child care is either in a state of crisis or a major problem.

• This is an affordability issue: 82% believe federal child care funding will help lower costs for working families — including 69% of Republicans, 84% of Independents, and 94% of Democrats.

• And there continues to be strong support (62%) for the Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG), a federal program that makes it possible for hundreds of thousands of families to afford safe, quality care for their children while parents work or go to school, including a majority of Republicans, 63% of Independents and 72% of Democrats.

• Support for funding child care programs remains strong: 75% believe child care funding should be increased or kept at current levels — including 75% of Republicans, 85% of Independents, and 97% of Democrats.

• 74% say funding for child care is an important and good use of tax dollars, including a majority of Republicans, three-quarters of Independents, and nine in ten Democrats.

FFYF Executive Director Sarah Rittling said, “Voters across the country are sending a clear message: federal child care and early learning programs work. These investments help parents stay in the workforce, strengthen families, and support healthy child development. They have also long had strong bipartisan support in Congress. At a time when affordability is top of mind for families, continued federal funding is essential to ensure child care remains accessible and within reach.”

First Five Years Fund works to protect, prioritize, and build bipartisan support for quality child care and early learning programs at the federal level. Reliable, affordable, and high-quality early learning and child care can be transformative, not only enhancing a child’s prospects for a brighter future but also bolstering working parents and fostering economic stability nationwide.

We work with Congress and the Administration to identify federal solutions that work for families with young children, as well as states and communities. We work with policymakers to identify ways to increase access to affordable, high-quality child care and early learning programs for children. And we collaborate with advocacy groups to help align best practices with the best possible policies. http://www.ffyf.org

Oakland Post

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Activism

Oakland Post: Week of February 25 – March 3, 2026

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of – February 25 – March 3, 2026

Published

6 days ago

March 1, 2026

Oakland Post

To enlarge your view of this issue, use the slider, magnifying glass icon or full page icon in the lower right corner of the browser window.

Oakland Post

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Trump’s MAGA Allies are Creating Executive Order Plan to Steal the 2026 Midterms

NNPA NEWSWIRE — The document that could lead to an executive order proposes using the claim that China interfered with the 2020 elections as grounds to “declare a national emergency.” The move would be an unprecedented step that would grant Trump new authority over the voting systems in the U.S.

Published

1 week ago

February 27, 2026

Oakland Post

By Lauren Victoria Burke, NNPA Newswire Correspondent

A group of MAGA pro-Trump activists, who say they are working in coordination with the White House, are circulating a 17-page draft executive order that would claim without evidence that China interfered with the 2020 presidential election. Donald Trump lost the 2020 presidential to President Joe Biden by over 7 million votes. Since Trump lost to Biden in 2020, he has repeatedly claimed that the election was “stolen” without evidence. The report of a group of “Trump allies” preparing an executive order to give Trump power over elections was first reported by The Washington Post.

The lies around the right-wing campaign that pushed falsehoods that the 2020 election was stolen was trafficked through right-wing media, particularly Fox News. Fox News was then sued for defamation for the claims by Dominion Voting Systems. Fox lost the case and had to settle for the largest defamation amount on record of $787.5 million in April 2023.

The document that could lead to an executive order proposes using the claim that China interfered with the 2020 elections as grounds to “declare a national emergency.” The move would be an unprecedented step that would grant Trump new authority over the voting systems in the U.S.

The story in The Washington Post arrives as Trump increasingly signals that he may take actions that would alter the result of the 2026 midterms. The Republicans are widely expected to lose as their approval ratings plummet as a result of a failing economy under Trump. Over 50 members of Congress have announced they will retire this year and not return in 2027.

The Trump Department of Justice, which now has a large image of Trump on the side of it, “sued five new states Thursday [Feb. 26, 2026] demanding access to their unredacted voter rolls — escalating a campaign that has been rejected by multiple federal courts and faces resistance from Republican-led states as well,” according to Democracy Docket, a group that works to protect voting rights.

Trump claimed back in late 2020, the last year of his first term, that he had the authority to issue an executive order related to mail-in voting for the 2020 elections — which he would then lose. But the Constitution states that control of elections lies with the states. As the GOP works to place hurdles in front of voting, Democrats worked to make voting easier.

In March 2021, President Biden signed an executive order calling on federal agencies to expand voting access as part of the Biden Administration’s effort “to promote and defend the right to vote for all Americans who are legally entitled to participate in elections.”

Trump’s focus is clearly on altering the November 2026 midterm elections. Trump’s polling numbers and the elections and special elections that have taken place around the U.S. over the last year clearly indicate that Republicans are about to be hit by a blue wave of Democratic victories.

Lauren Victoria Burke is an independent investigative journalist and the founder of Black Virginia News. She is a political analyst who appears on #RolandMartinUnfiltered and hosts the show LAUREN LIVE on YouTube @LaurenVictoriaBurke. She can be contacted at LBurke007@gmail.com and on twitter at @LVBurke