The Rev. Jesse Jackson, hoping to curtail Chicago’s rising murder rate among Black youths, is demanding stiffer gun-control laws. “We cannot just continue to mourn the deaths of our youth – our future; we must begin to march and fight for better gun laws,” Jackson said. “Chicago does not manufacture these weapons, we know where they are coming from and yet not a single gun shop has been closed.” Jackson joined Michele DeLashment, whose son, Kermit, became the city’s 500th homicide victim Monday, WBBM reports. “On Monday, someone took my son’s life. I am asking – pleading – for that someone to come forth. Turn yourself in to Rev. Jackson here at Rainbow PUSH or the police,” she said. DeLashment, 21, was the grandson of Mickey Warren, a longtime friend and associate of Rev. Jackson. The young man’s mother is a long time PUSH supporter and choir member. “We have put forth a plan that is absolutely a sure way to stop easy access to guns,” she said.  “We have the power to stop putting dangerous weapons in the hands of dangerous persons, if we create and implement concrete gun laws. Illinois has not tried good gun laws, and the laws currently in place have huge loopholes.”

Auto industry is down to “months in cash.” As top executive of Chrysler LLC cautioned Wednesday that a carmaker collapse could trigger an economic downturn that would lead to a depression, the United Auto Workers Union says it will make the contract concessions necessary to secure loans to keep the nation’s auto companies afloat, The Associated Press reports. On the eve of their return to Capitol Hill to again state their case for why taxpayers should bail them out, Jim Press, Chrysler’s vice chairman, said the U.S. automakers were “down to months left” in cash. Industry officials ratcheted up a fierce lobbying on Wednesday in an effort to persuade Congress to approve as much as $34 billion in emergency aid. “We’re on the brink with the U.S. auto manufacturing industry,” Press told The Associated Press in an interview. “If we have a catastrophic failure of one of these car companies, in this tender environment for the economy, it’s a huge blow. It could trigger a depression.” Fritz Henderson, General Motors’ president and CEO, took to the TV airwaves to stress that bankruptcy isn’t a viable option on the eve of a new set of congressional hearings on the auto bailout. At the same time, UAW leaders were immersed in intense discussions on possible givebacks for the companies at an emergency meeting in Detroit. Henderson told NBC’s “Today” that choosing the bankruptcy route would further erode consumer confidence in the automaker, and “we want them to be confident in their ability to buy our cars and trucks.” The automakers reported that last month’s sales at Chrysler are down 47 percent from last year – 41 percent for GM and 31 percent for Ford.

In Pittsburgh, homicides are at an all-time high. At the end of 2007, the number of homicides for Pittsburgh for the year was 98; as of Dec. 1, the number of murders has not only surpassed last year’s total, but has earned 2008 the dubious distinction of being the first year that the homicide rate has reached the triple-digit mark-and it’s not even the end of the year, reports The Pittsburgh Courier. As part of an ongoing effort to heighten awareness about the effects of murder in the Black community, the Courier has compiled a list of homicides in the county each month. The list points to how these lost lives affect the mental health, economic well-being and self-images of the region’s Black neighborhoods. Out of the 115 murders, thus far, in 2008-98 were Black and 87 were Black men, the Courier reported.