NEW ORLEANS AND LOS ANGELES HEALTH CRISIS

Los Angeles, CA January 2010- Pressline Entertainment hosts the 1st Annual Laron Larrimore Health Awareness Fair & Community Walk in Los Angeles at Saint Andrews Park -8701 Saint Andrews Place. Los Angeles Ca, 90047 on Saturday January 9th 2010 from 8A.m. - 1pm.
Armed with a mission to promote Building a Healthy Lifestyle where you live, work and play. Derek Haskell and his team at Pressline Entertainment seek to educate, energize and encourage participants and onlookers alike to engage in healthier choices for their physical, emotional, mental and spiritual awareness. A day like this one will help to inform from a variety of choices for health and wellness in the community.
This Day includes : The Hip Hop Generation's Audacity of Hope Benefit Concert, a 5K Walk through the park, sample sessions with fitness trainers, free Health Screenings focused on high blood pressure, Dementia, Alzheimer and much much more. Over 300 participants are expected to attend and walk for better health.
Pressline Entertainmnet has made itself a key partner in the efforts to rebuild New Orleans; to address the deficit of L.A. Unified School District in reading, writing, and math by integrating these concerns through community involvement and resources that inform people of know-how and what-to do. Representatives from S.S.I. Social Security will determine are you receiving your full that effects all of our inner city which will enable you to live through this recession and forever.
This Community Walk and Free Health screening are an episode in the effort to serve people locally and remind the world that New Orleans/Katrina devastation is parallel to all of the devastation that effects all of our inner city community that still need intervention in the areas I expressed above, still needs everyone's helping hands nearly 5 years after the tragedy caused by Hurricane Katrina.
Currently traveling between New Orleans and Los Angeles to produce Pressline’s 2010 reality T.V. show “OPERATION N.O.” Pressline's Founder Derek Haskell stretches himself pretty thin. "It has to be done. New Orleans can only be rebuilt through the involvement of the City's people and the health of the people in this community improves when people know how and what to do", Derek explains.
Pressline Entertainment is a film and music production company that develops, consults and manages artists, who finically donate to organizations like Pressline to bring about world wide exposure to projects that uplift underserved communities.
Current Sponsors include: L.A. Sentinel Starbucks, AAA, and Mass Appeal Barber Shop.

Publicity Contact Derek Haskell
323-596-5177 or presslineent@gmail.com

Pam Dashiell, a civic activist who deftly galvanized her Lower 9th Ward

Pam Dashiell, Lower 9th Ward activist, dies at age 61
By Katy Reckdahl, The Times-Picayune
December 02, 2009, 7:47PM

Pam Dashiell, a civic activist who deftly galvanized her Lower 9th Ward neighbors while pushing for structurally sound levees and environmentally friendly construction, died in her home on Tuesday. She is believed to have died of natural causes, but findings by the coroner's office are incomplete. She was 61.

pam_dashiell.JPGMichael DeMocker/The Times-Picayune archivePam Dashiell was photographed in December 2006 at a community congress on the Unified New Orleans Plan.

Movie star Brad Pitt, who began working closely with Ms. Dashiell not long after Katrina floodwaters receded, called her "a guiding force in the rebuilding efforts." He added, "She was there from the very beginning and through our years of working together she became a dear friend."

Ms. Dashiell didn't change, no matter if she was talking with Pitt, meeting with wealthy donors or walking down her street, said fellow activist Karen Gadbois. "Pam was always Pam. She just sailed through whatever she did as her own natural self," Gadbois said.

Longtime friend and Global Green director Beth Galante said one key to Ms. Dashiell's success was that she didn't make others feel inferior.

"Even after Katrina, Pam never pushed other people," Galante said. "She'd say, 'Everybody needs to do what they need to do. But this is what I'm going to do. I'm going to fight for my community. I'm going to fight for my home. Because it's worth it and it means the world to me.'"

Ms. Dashiell was born in Roxbury, Mass., but had lived in the Holy Cross section of the Lower 9th Ward for the past 20 years. After a severed Industrial Canal levee deluged her rental house with six feet of water, she stayed away for a few months but returned to live in the city full time just after Christmas 2005, moving back to Holy Cross about a year later.

Most recently, Dashiell worked as co-director of the Lower 9th Ward Center for Sustainable Engagement and Development. She had served as president and board chair of the Holy Cross Neighborhood Association, was a founding member of Citizens Against Widening the Industrial Canal, had worked as a program coordinator for the Louisiana Bucket Brigade Holy Cross/Lower 9th Ward Initiative and served as an adviser for the Gulf Coast Fund. She also was a board member for other local organizations, including Smartgrowth Louisiana, the Alliance for Affordable Energy and the National Center for Community Health Research.

Lt. Gov. Mitch Landrieu, who after Katrina helped to funnel preservation grants to Holy Cross and other historic New Orleans neighborhoods, issued a statement on Wednesday calling Ms. Dashiell "the embodiment of service and selflessness," someone whose work had "helped rebuild Holy Cross and the Lower Ninth Ward (and) ... strengthened our entire city."

While Ms. Dashiell faced the same struggles and heartbreak as other residents did after Katrina, she remained "eternally optimistic," Galante said. Indeed, in a 2008 interview, Ms. Dashiell said that "with the support of good people and the resilience of brave people, it seems like anything can be accomplished."

Ms. Dashiell is survived by a daughter, Alisa Leslie Dashiell-Sanchez of St. Louis, and a granddaughter.

A memorial tribute will be held Friday at 6 p.m. at All Souls Episcopal Church, 5500 St. Claude Avenue. A funeral will be held at All Souls on Saturday at 11 a.m., with visitation starting at 9 a.m. Rhodes Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.

LOVE OF THE 9TH WARD PAM DASHIELL WILL MISS U

, Lower 9th Ward activist, dies at age 61
By Katy Reckdahl, The Times-Picayune
December 02, 2009, 7:47PM

Pam Dashiell, a civic activist who deftly galvanized her Lower 9th Ward neighbors while pushing for structurally sound levees and environmentally friendly construction, died in her home on Tuesday. She is believed to have died of natural causes, but findings by the coroner's office are incomplete. She was 61.

pam_dashiell.JPGMichael DeMocker/The Times-Picayune archivePam Dashiell was photographed in December 2006 at a community congress on the Unified New Orleans Plan.

Movie star Brad Pitt, who began working closely with Ms. Dashiell not long after Katrina floodwaters receded, called her "a guiding force in the rebuilding efforts." He added, "She was there from the very beginning and through our years of working together she became a dear friend."

Ms. Dashiell didn't change, no matter if she was talking with Pitt, meeting with wealthy donors or walking down her street, said fellow activist Karen Gadbois. "Pam was always Pam. She just sailed through whatever she did as her own natural self," Gadbois said.

Longtime friend and Global Green director Beth Galante said one key to Ms. Dashiell's success was that she didn't make others feel inferior.

"Even after Katrina, Pam never pushed other people," Galante said. "She'd say, 'Everybody needs to do what they need to do. But this is what I'm going to do. I'm going to fight for my community. I'm going to fight for my home. Because it's worth it and it means the world to me.'"

Ms. Dashiell was born in Roxbury, Mass., but had lived in the Holy Cross section of the Lower 9th Ward for the past 20 years. After a severed Industrial Canal levee deluged her rental house with six feet of water, she stayed away for a few months but returned to live in the city full time just after Christmas 2005, moving back to Holy Cross about a year later.

Most recently, Dashiell worked as co-director of the Lower 9th Ward Center for Sustainable Engagement and Development. She had served as president and board chair of the Holy Cross Neighborhood Association, was a founding member of Citizens Against Widening the Industrial Canal, had worked as a program coordinator for the Louisiana Bucket Brigade Holy Cross/Lower 9th Ward Initiative and served as an adviser for the Gulf Coast Fund. She also was a board member for other local organizations, including Smartgrowth Louisiana, the Alliance for Affordable Energy and the National Center for Community Health Research.

Lt. Gov. Mitch Landrieu, who after Katrina helped to funnel preservation grants to Holy Cross and other historic New Orleans neighborhoods, issued a statement on Wednesday calling Ms. Dashiell "the embodiment of service and selflessness," someone whose work had "helped rebuild Holy Cross and the Lower Ninth Ward (and) ... strengthened our entire city."

While Ms. Dashiell faced the same struggles and heartbreak as other residents did after Katrina, she remained "eternally optimistic," Galante said. Indeed, in a 2008 interview, Ms. Dashiell said that "with the support of good people and the resilience of brave people, it seems like anything can be accomplished."

Ms. Dashiell is survived by a daughter, Alisa Leslie Dashiell-Sanchez of St. Louis, and a granddaughter.

A memorial tribute will be held Friday at 6 p.m. at All Souls Episcopal Church, 5500 St. Claude Avenue. A funeral will be held at All Souls on Saturday at 11 a.m., with visitation starting at 9 a.m. Rhodes Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.

New Orleans City Council rejects Mayor Nagin's revenue estimates, slashes city budget

New Orleans City Council rejects Mayor Nagin's revenue estimates, slashes city budget
By Bruce Eggler, The Times-Picayune
December 01, 2009, 3:30PM

new orleans city council.JPGChris Granger/The Times-PicayuneNew Orleans City Council, Dec. 2008Over the staunch objections of Mayor Ray Nagin's administration, a unanimous New Orleans City Council has approved deep cuts to the already trimmed-down 2010 operating budget proposed by Nagin, including slashing nearly $400,000 from the police department, nearly the same amount in sanitation spending and a whopping $10.5 million from the chief administrative officer's budget.

The reductions, which total $15.3 million, also include $1 million from the law department and $1 million from the mayor's budget.

Council members also have added $4.7 million of new spending in priority areas, including $2 million for public works, $500,000 for criminal courts and $400,000 for the district attorney. And they restored $4.6 million in cuts that Nagin had pegged to unpaid furloughs for most city employees; furloughs are no longer part of the 2010 budget.

The changes resulted from a decision by the council to cut the total general fund budget from $462 million proposed by Nagin to $455 million. Council members said they thought the administration's 2010 revenue projections were too optimistic.

The general fund is the portion of the city's $1 billion-plus annual budget that is raised through taxes and other self-generated revenue sources and that the city can spend as it pleases. The rest of the budget consists of federal and state grants over which the city has limited control.

Assistant Chief Administrative Officer Cary Grant protested the changes, which council members approved through amendments that will be tacked on to the final operating budget ordinance. A vote on the city's entire 2010 spending plan is expected today, the deadline set in the City Charter for the council to approve the coming-year's budget.

"I took a scalpel to this budget, and now you're taking a meat cleaver," Grant said. In preparing the general-fund budget, the city faced a $68 million shortfall, meaning it would have run up a deficit of that size if spending continued at the 2009 level.

In reducing the general fund bottom line, the council reduced by $350,000 the budget for the city's inspector general, which by law receives a set percentage of the general fund total.

Nagin has not appeared in the chamber to make a personal appeal.