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MAY 29 – JUNE 4, 2015
VOLUME 23 NO. 22
RUNNING OUT THE CLOCK
With time winding down on the Obama administration, the president and ‘Dreamers’ were handed another legal immigration setback from conservative federal court judges.
BY MOLLY HENNESSY-FISKE AND CINDY CARCAMO LOS ANGELES TIMES / TNS
HOUSTON – A split federal appeals court on Tuesday let stand a lower court’s ruling that has stymied plans to shield up to 5 million people – including young immigrants known as “Dreamers” – from deportation. At issue was President Obama’s proposed extension of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, or DACA, created in 2012, and the Deferred Action for Parents of Americans and LeOLIVIER DOULIERY/ABACA PRESS/ TNS gal Permanent Residents, or DAPA, which was scheduled to start In 2012, people held signs outside the White House during a in May. rally celebrating President Obama’s executive order slowing The case will probably end up down deportations and granting work permits. before the U.S. Supreme Court, immigrant rights advocates told
Pass the joint Patients cleared to get medicinal weed
the media during a news conference Tuesday. The legal wrangling means that immigration officials would probably have just a few months to launch and implement the programs before the 2016 elections if the courts approve it.
Criticism, cheers Lee Gelernt, an American Civil Liberties Union attorney, said in an interview that the ruling would “cause needless hardship to thousands of law-abiding families. The federal program is consistent with congressional intent and the Constitution and the states have no business trying to enjoin this program.” Nora Preciado, staff attorney with the National Immigration Law Center in Los Angeles,
which filed a brief in support of the federal government’s case, had hoped the panel would rule in their favor. “We’re disappointed, but we will continue to make sure this matter moves forward,” she said. “We are calling for the administration to continue to fight for the implementation of the initiatives.” Although the programs do not create a path to citizenship, critics have labeled them “amnesty,” and on Tuesday they praised the 2-1 ruling from the New Orleansbased appellate court. “Texas just won the executive amnesty case at the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals. The Constitution wins,” Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, a vocal critic of Obama’s immigration policies, wrote in a tweet. See OBAMA, Page A2
SUMMER STORMS / TORRENTIAL RAINS
Dozens die in Texas floods
BY DARA KAM THE NEWS SERVICE OF FLORIDA
TALLAHASSEE – Patients could have access to long-awaited, noneuphoric pot products by the end of the year, after a judge on Wednesday rejected a challenge to a proposed rule setting up the medical marijuana industry in Florida. Department of Health officials could begin processing applications for the low-THC cannabis within 41 days of Wednesday’s decision by Administrative Law Judge W. David Watkins, according to an agency spokeswoman. Watkins pointedly began his 68-page ruling with an excerpt from “Charlotte’s Web,” by E.B. White. “Life is always a rich and steady time when you are waiting for something to happen or hatch,” Watkins quoted from the children’s book. The name “Charlotte’s Web,” a type of cannabis cultivated in Colorado, has become nearly synonymous with marijuana that is low in euphoria-inducing tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, and high in cannabadiol, or CBD.
Broad support Parents of children with a severe form of epilepsy pushed the Legislature last year to approve the low-THC cannabis, believing it can end or dramatically reduce See WEED, Page A2
SNAPSHOTS FLORIDA | A3
Plan unveiled to restore oyster industry NATION | A6
Supreme Court to rule on 13 major cases
ALSO INSIDE
Lynch working to develop rapport with police
JAY JANNER/AUSTIN AMERICAN-STATESMAN/TNS
A destroyed car is submerged in the Blanco River in Wimberley, Texas, after a flash flood on Tuesday. Coincidentally, Florida’s hurricane season starts next week.
NOAA predicts another slow hurricane season BY KEN KAYE SUN SENTINEL/TNS
FORT LAUDERDALE – Joining other weather teams, government forecasters on Wednesday called for a slower-than-normal hurricane season, adding fuel to the debate over whether the 20-year era of tropical intensity is finally drawing to an end. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration predicts six to 12 named storms, including three to six hurricanes. Florida has gone a record nine
seasons without a hurricane strike, with the last one being Wilma in 2005. On average, the region is hit about once every six to seven years.
Don’t know where “That doesn’t mean Mother Nature isn’t going to throw some pitches at us,” said NOAA Administrator Kathryn Sullivan, who noted the forecast makes no attempt to say where storms might hit. In April, Phil Klotzbach
and William Gray of Colorado State University called for seven named storms; AccuWeather predicts eight named storms while Tropical Storm Risk forecasts 11. The average six-month season produces 12 named storms, including six hurricanes. All cite the emergence of El Nino, the large-scale weather pattern that suppresses storm formation by creating strong wind shear in the upper atmosphere for their predictions. Additionally, the tropical Atlantic waters are about normal. None of the teams say the era of tropical intensity, which tends to produce more hurricanes and more powerful ones each year, is at play.
Natural cycle The current intensity era started in 1995 and of the 20 seasons since, 14 have been busy or extremely active, including tumultuous 2004 and 2005. In 2012, the most recent busy season, there were 10 hurricanes, including calamitous Sandy. Most scientists believe the era is the result of a natural cycle of warming and cooling in the Atlantic and that it can switch from a warm to a cool phase within a matter of one or two years. Yet, even in a cool phase, powerful hurricanes can develop, as was the case with Category 5 Hurricane Andrew, which hit South Florida in 1992, an otherwise calm period.
COMMENTARY: RICHARD COHEN: SAME 50-YEAR-OLD DYNAMICS WILL PRODUCE CIVIL UNREST | A4 COMMENTARY: HARRY C. ALFORD: WHEN THE ARMY ADDRESSED RACIAL TENSIONS | A5
FOCUS
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MAY 29 – JUNE 4, 2015
Gentrification and the death of Black communities There is no city in this country where Black people are safe from the current method of displacement known as “gentrification.” Washington, D.C. once had a majority Black population and was known as “Chocolate City.” Perhaps it is now the “Café au Lait City,” as the Black population has fallen below 50 percent. That dynamic gathers steam in New York and other cities and continues to push people out of their homes, deprive them of needed services and erode their quality of life.
One example The situation in New York City is illustrative of this phenomenon. According to U.S. Census data, the city’s Black population dropped by five percent between 2000 and 2010. Brooklyn alone lost 50,000 Black residents during that time, while the White population grew by 37,000 people. The impact of money is the explanation for this reversal of fortune. The same sources of capital that took money out of the cities in decades past are now changing course. These market manipulations determine where Black people can and cannot live and create a cascade of negative impacts. East New York was always one of New York’s poorest neighborhoods with a median income of only $32,000. Its majority Black population and location in far
MARGARET KIMBERLEY BLACK AGENDA REPORT
eastern Brooklyn near the border of Queens had deemed it undesirable. That designation is now forgotten as big money sets its sights on new places to conquer. Now an area once thought to be too far from Manhattan is touted as being a 30-minute commute via public transportation. This formerly sneered-upon and forgotten part of town is now “hot” and its residents have been identified as displaceable.
‘Hip’ locations The phrase “prime real estate” can mean anything the market manipulators want it to mean. As the many-headed hydra keeps sprouting heads, any place can suddenly be declared “hot” or “hip.” The inhabitants are pushed aside to make way for transplants who may come from the suburbs, another state or even from another country. Gentrification is inherently racist, and Brooklyn shows the rest of the country how the dirty deeds are done. A recent article in New York Magazine included an interview with Ephraim, a
pseudonym for a Brooklyn landlord and developer. He candidly described how Black people facing foreclosure give him deeds to their homes or how renters are enticed to move out of rent-regulated apartments in exchange for small sums of money. “If there’s a Black tenant in the house – in every building we have, I put in White tenants. They want to know if Black people are going to be living there. So sometimes we have ten apartments and everything is White, and then all of the sudden one tenant comes in with one Black roommate, and they don’t like it.”
It’s the system Much has been made about this story but the outrage misses some important points. The emphasis for advocates should not just be that illegal practices should be stopped. The most important thing to remember is that Black people have little stake in a system that will always find a way to disadvantage them. There can be no use for tired nostrums about Black people making bad choices or not using their paltry “buying power” to better effect. The system is stacked in favor of moneyed interests and White people, no matter how well Black people strive to behave in ways they are told will protect them. The lack of assets means that
even when Black people own real estate they often do so precariously. Job loss or any other setback can mean financial crisis and foreclosure. That is where Ephraim comes in and gets these distressed homeowners to give him their deeds.
Money rules Individual effort is no match for the rule of money. Black people who had money to buy and develop properties were prevented from doing so by redlining, which prevented mortgages, bank loans and even insurance from being utilized in Black neighborhoods across the country. Urban areas had large Black populations because White people fled. White people left to get away from Black people and capital paved the road to the suburbs. The nexus of corruption is vast. Real estate developers call the shots and politicians follow. The demographic change generated by manipulations from the rich mean losses other than housing. Neighborhoods already considered “food deserts” are losing the few supermarkets they have if a developer buys those properties. Even defendants and plaintiffs in court cases pay a price. Juries in Brooklyn now have more White people with higher incomes, which means they are
WEED
PHOTO COURTESY FOTOLIA/TNS
“Charlotte’s Web,” a low-THC strain of marijuana, can now be legally grown in Florida.
Under Florida’s first-in-the-nation low-THC law, health officials will select five nurseries in different regions of the state to cultivate, process and distribute the non-euphoric cannabis to patients with epilepsy, severe muscle spasms or cancer, if doctors order it. Watkins’ decision allows the department to begin implementing the law, agency officials said in a statement. “The department remains committed to ensuring safe and efficient access to this product for children with refractory epilepsy and patients with advanced cancer. We are moving swiftly to facilitate access to the product before the end of the year,” the agency said.
Watkins last year tossed health officials’ first stab at a rule, finding fault with the use of a lottery system to select five “dispensing organizations” to grow, extract and distribute the non-euphoric cannabis. But on Wednesday, the administrative law judge rejected all of the objections in a challenge filed by Baywood Nurseries, which contended, among other things, that the rule was tilted in favor of large nurseries. “While the department’s first attempt to do so was unsuccessful, the fruit of its second effort, which was well-reasoned, deliberative, and thorough, represents a rational and coherent regulatory framework,” Watkins wrote. Baywood Nurseries could
OBAMA
as’ solicitor general, who argued that Obama bypassed Congress to create a policy of deferred action that the states were forced to follow without proper administrative notice. Smith was appointed by President Ronald Reagan and Elrod by President George W. Bush. Judge Stephen A. Higginson, who dissented, was appointed by Obama. The White House noted his dissent Tuesday.
States vs. states The case has divided the country into warring blocs of states. Twenty-six mostly Republicanled states, led by Texas, sued to block the program; another 14 states, plus the District of Columbia, have intervened on the side of the administration. In February, U.S. District Judge Andrew S. Hanen, sitting in Brownsville, Texas, issued an injunction putting the programs on hold. Tuesday’s ruling comes after the appeals court panel held an unusual 2½-hour hearing April 17 on the administration’s request to stay the injunction. Court of Appeals Judges Jerry E. Smith and Jennifer Walker Elrod agreed with Hanen’s ruling. They also found that Texas officials could suffer a “cognizable injury” from the cost of having to issue driver’s licenses to at least 500,000 people that might be covered under the executive action. The panel appeared to have been swayed by Scott Keller, Tex-
Gentrification is a destroyer and just one of the ways Black people in this country are kept at the bottom. The fight against it must be fought on many fronts. The racism that gives White people a perceived right to be free of Black people must be called out. The laws that give the wealthy advantages over everyone else must end. Politicians have to be called to account. If they aren’t, cities will become theme parks for the upper classes and everyone else will be pushed to the outskirts and to jail – the ultimate form of displacement. Gentrification is just one of the ways in which capitalism manifests itself and it must be thought of in that way. If it isn’t, Black people will be fooled into shortsighted thinking and ineffective tactics. We can start with a new adage. “As long as money wins, Black people will lose.”
Margaret Kimberley’s column appears weekly in BlackAgendaReport.com. Contact her at Margaret.Kimberley@ Black AgendaReport.com . Click on this story at www.flcourier.com to write your own response.
Not the end
Growers limited
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Time to fight
this year – selected by the health department’s Office of Compassionate Use Executive Director Patricia Nelson. “No stakeholder group represented by any committee member, the department included, got everything it wanted in the proposed rules – which underscores that the committee was balanced, that the negotiated rulemaking process worked properly, and that the developed rules reflect the interests of all represented groups,” Watkins wrote.
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life-threatening seizures. But their joy over the passage the law, and Gov. Rick Scott’s support of it, ceded to frustration as delays – including Watkins’ November invalidation of health officials’ initial attempt at a rule – kept pot operators from getting started. Regulations for the industry were supposed to go into effect on Jan. 1. “We don’t know whether to laugh, cry, dance, or do back flips,” said Ryan Wiggins, spokeswoman for Payton and Holley Moseley, who advocated for the law on behalf of their daughter RayAnn. “There were times over the past year we truly didn’t believe this day would ever come. We are grateful to DOH and their attorneys for all of the work they have put in to getting this right. Today is an outstanding day for Florida’s families who battle epilepsy.”
more likely to decide in favor of the police or against plaintiffs in civil cases.
Facts ‘misinterpreted’ “Today, two judges of the 5th Circuit chose to misinterpret the facts and the law in denying the government’s request for a stay,” said Brandi Hoffine, a White House spokeswoman. “As the powerful dissent from Judge Higginson recognizes, President Obama’s immigration executive actions are fully consistent with the law.” She insisted that Obama’s actions were within his authority and cited the 14 states, the District of Columbia and other constituencies that have joined the administration in asking the courts that Obama’s immigration programs be allowed to move ahead.
not be reached for comment Wednesday evening.
‘Reasonable estimate’ The Apopka-based nursery challenged the omission of some definitions in the rule; a $63,063 non-refundable application fee and certified financial statements that have to accompany it; an application scoring and evaluation process; license revocation and testing procedures; and the way the rule dealt with a $5 million bond required in the law. Watkins found no basis for any of Baywood’s complaints, including that the application fee was too high. A committee settled on the fee by dividing the anticipated total regulatory costs – about
Extension of authority Obama announced last fall that he was using his executive power to grant three-year work permits and temporary protection from deportation to about 4 million adults who are parents of U.S. citizens and have lived in the country for at least five years. He said the DAPA program was an extension of his authority to prioritize immigration enforcement. DACA allows young people brought into the United States illegally as children to apply for deportation deferrals and work permits.
Strategic change Lawyers for the Obama administration said Wednesday that they were refocusing their legal strategy in an effort to restart the president’s efforts. The Justice Department said it would work on overturning the order blocking the plan, but the administration will not go to the Supreme Court to seek the stay, a Justice Department spokesman said. “The Department of Justice is committed to taking steps that will resolve the immigration lit-
$990,000 – by 15 nurseries that growers said could be expected to apply for the licenses. The fee “is a reasonable, rational estimate based on sound input and should allow the department to recover its costs of administering the statute” as required by law, Watkins wrote. “Baywood presented no evidence to support its theory that grower members of the committee had nefarious intent in estimating the number of potential applicants in order to inflate the application fee,” he wrote. Watkins also rejected complaints about the selection of the members of the rare “negotiated rulemaking” committee – which spent 26 hours over two days hashing out the rule earlier igation as quickly as possible,” spokesman Patrick Rodenbush said in a statement.
High hurdle Administration lawyers would have faced a high hurdle if they had appealed to the Supreme Court. The justices are usually unwilling to intervene in a pending legal battle and to change the status quo unless they are presented with an emergency. To get a stay, Obama’s lawyers would have to convince a majority of the court that the president’s far-reaching order is legal – and that the government would suffer “irreparable harm” if the programs were kept on hold for a few more months. Stephen Legomsky, a professor at Washington University’s law school and former chief lawyer at the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, said he thinks the Justice Department’s decision makes sense. Even if the stay is granted, he said in an email, immigrants would be left in a state of uncertainty while the legal arguments grind on, and that could discourage people from applying.
Watkins rejected health officials’ request to dismiss the complaint because Baywood did not have 400,000 plants, required for nurseries to be eligible to apply for a license, at the time the grower filed the complaint in March. Because the nursery soon after was certified as growing more than 400,000 plants, Watkins found that Baywood would be “substantially impacted” by the rule and thus could maintain the complaint. Health officials expect to adopt the rule on Thursday – after the Florida Courier’s press time – which starts a 20-day period before applications can be accepted. Nurseries will have 21 days after the rule goes into effect to submit applications. Even if Baywood appeals Wednesday’s order, the department can continue moving forward with the selection process. Proponents of the low-THC cannabis are now worried about possible challenges by nurseries that aren’t chosen. “I am thrilled. I am one happy legislator,” said Rep. Matt Gaetz, a Fort Walton Beach Republican who was instrumental in the law’s passage last year. “My only hope moving forward is that we don’t see more special-interest litigation when licenses are awarded.”
Hard questions Presidential candidates may be placed in the dicey position of having to answer whether they would keep and extend the programs if elected, said Marielena Hincapie, executive director of the Los Angeles-based National Immigration Law Center. “We know that U.S. citizen family members, neighbors and friends will vote with that in mind,” she said. “Will (the candidate) be supportive of extending this executive action?” If the programs survive the courts and are implemented, a question still looms: Will immigrants who qualify be willing to apply and identify themselves to federal officials if there is the potential that the next person in the White House might scrap Obama’s efforts and take an enforcement-only approach to illegal immigration?
Hennessy-Fiske reported from Houston and Carcamo from Los Angeles. Staff writers James Queally in Los Angeles, Christi Parsons in Washington and Nigel Duara in Tucson, Ariz., contributed to this report.
MAY 29 – JUNE 4, 2015
FLORIDA
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WALTER MICHOT/MIAMI HERALD/TNS
Oyster fishermen are shown in Apalachicola Bay in Apalachicola on June 23, 2010.
Congress members unveil plan to restore Apalachicola Bay The area and oyster industry has taken big hit due to lack of freshwater, drought BY MARGIE MENZEL THE NEWS SERVICE OF FLORIDA
TALLAHASSEE – With the backing of 20 other members of Congress, U.S. Rep. Gwen Graham, DFla., on Tuesday unveiled a proposal aimed at restoring the health of Northwest
Florida’s Apalachicola Bay – and the state’s oyster industry. The proposal is the latest development in Florida’s 25-year dispute with Georgia and Alabama over the Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint river system, which the three states share. It also comes as Florida is suing Georgia in the U.S. Supreme Court, arguing that too much water is being siphoned off upstream, damaging the economically vital oyster industry in Apalachicola Bay. Graham has filed a bill that would require the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to consider freshwa-
ter flows to the Apalachicola River basin as part of the corps’ water management plans. The Corps of Engineers controls the flows in the tri-state river system and has relied on a 2011 ruling from a federal appeals court that said Georgia has a legal right to water from Lake Lanier, at the top of the system near metro Atlanta. “This is what the corps says it needs,” Graham said of her bill. “What we need to provide is for the corps to have the legal authority to take into consideration the downstream ecosystem and release fresh water as necessary.”
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Economic driver Twenty other members of Florida’s 29-member congressional delegation have signed on as co-sponsors of Graham’s proposal, the Apalachicola Bay Restoration Act. “Apalachicola Bay is a critical part of Florida’s environment and economy,” U.S. Rep. Vern Buchanan, the bill’s lead Republican co-sponsor, said in a statement. “With the right management and conservation efforts, we can save it from total collapse. This bipartisan bill represents an important part of that solution.” Apalachicola Bay has historically been an economic driver for Northwest Florida, providing 90 percent of the state’s oysters and 10 percent of the nation’s oyster supply. Until recently, its commercial and recreational fishing industries generated $200 million a year and supported the vast majority of the local population.
Small oysters But the bay collapsed in 2012, following a series of calamities. The lack of freshwater combined with a historic drought and a tropical storm to produce the lowest flows in 89 years – since the flows have been recorded. In 2013, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration declared the bay a federal fishery disaster. Now, the oysters are mostly too small to harvest and not nearly plentiful enough to support the seafood workers and their families, many of whom have left the state to find work. Thanks to the fishery-disaster declaration, a number of the oystermen are being paid with federal dollars to re-shell the oyster beds. “They’re doing better than they were last year,” said Shannon Hartsfield, president of the Franklin County Seafood Workers Association. “But once we don’t have the shelling money, they’re going to have to go back to oystering.”
‘We have clout’ U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson, DFla., and U.S. Sen. Mar-
co Rubio, R-Fla., tried to address the Apalachicola Bay issue in 2013, when they backed a provision to a water-resources bill that would have required Georgia to use less water from federal reservoirs for metro Atlanta’s drinking-water supply and to release more to the other two states. But the proposal was easily defeated in the Senate. Graham said she had not yet approached members of Congress from Georgia and Alabama about supporting her bill, as she has focused on getting the Florida delegation on board. But that will be her next move. “As the third largest state, we have clout,” said Graham, whose district includes Franklin County. “So the next step will be to talk to the members of the other delegations and hopefully have them speaking with their state leadership about this opportunity to end two-plus decades of litigation.”
Huge undertaking Also on hand for Graham’s announcement in Franklin County were state Sen. Bill Montford, D-Tallahassee, and state Rep. Halsey Beshears, RMonticello, who represent the area in the Legislature. “She had to start in her own backyard first,” Beshears said. “And getting everybody in Florida, just about, on board is huge. If she could get anybody across the state line from Georgia or Alabama to sign on, the odds of it passing then would be exponentially increased.” Along with Graham and Buchanan, the bill is cosponsored by U.S. Reps. Jeff Miller, Ted Yoho, Corrine Brown, Ron DeSantis, Alan Grayson, Richard Nugent, David Jolly, Kathy Castor, Dennis Ross, Thomas Rooney, Patrick Murphy, Alcee Hastings, Ted Deutch, Lois Frankel, Debbie Wasserman Schultz, Frederica Wilson, Mario Diaz-Balart, Carlos Curbelo and Ileana RosLehtinen.
Fired Hillsborough schools superintendent named New York education commissioner Elia’s first day will be July 6.
THE NEWS SERVICE OF FLORIDA
Former Hillsborough County schools Superintendent MaryEllen Elia was named New York’s next education commissioner on Tuesday. The New York State Board of Regents voted to appoint Elia, ending a five-month search to replace John King, who took a job with the U.S. Department of Education, the state board announced. The position pays $250,000 a year. “During her time in Hillsborough, she led a successful introduction of the Common Core standards, increased graduation options for students who had MaryEllen fallen behind, and helped Elia to develop one of the country’s most innovative teacher evaluation systems,” Board of Regents Chancellor Merryl H. Tisch said in a prepared statement.
State’s top superintendent Her dismissal from the Hillsborough County job without cause in January, after a decade running the nation’s eighth largest school district, drew national attention. A month earlier, Elia had been named Florida’s Superintendent of the Year by the Florida Association of District School Superintendents, and she was one of four finalists for the 2015 National Superintendent of the Year award. Elia, 66, is a Buffalo, N.Y., native who attended Daemen College in Amherst, N.Y., the University at Buffalo and the State University of New York, known as SUNY. She began her education career in Buffalo as a social-studies teacher in 1970. She came to Hillsborough County in 1986 as a high school reading-resource teacher. She will be the first woman to serve as New York’s education commissioner.
• Setting goals – When to tell everybody, and when to keep your mouth shut; • Black English, and why Black students must be ‘bilingual.’ …AND MUCH MORE!
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New law allows secret recordings THE NEWS SERVICE OF FLORIDA
Children in Florida will be able to secretly record conversations related to sexual abuse or other violent acts under a bill signed into law last week by Gov. Rick Scott. The signing of the measure (HB 7001) on May 22 about secret recordings came a day after Richard McDade, a Fort Myers man who spent four years in pris-
on on charges of sexually assaulting his stepdaughter, was acquitted of the charges by a jury in Lee County. The Florida Supreme Court in December ordered a new trial for McDade, declaring that recordings made by McDade's stepdaughter should not have been allowed into his initial Lee County trial.
Exemption for kids State law generally bars recording of conversations unless all parties agree, and it also prevents such recordings from being used as evidence in court. The Supreme Court decision spurred the bill,
which creates an exemption for children under 18 who have reason to believe that secretly recording a conversation will capture a statement regarding an unlawful sexual act or an unlawful act of physical force against a child. "Because many young victims feel isolated and alone, and are afraid of not being believed, this step forward is critical for Florida's children to be both heard and helped," Lauren Book, chief executive officer and founder of the victims' advocacy group Lauren's Kids, said in a statement after the bill was signed by Scott.
EDITORIAL
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MAY 29 – JUNE 4, 2015
Same 50-year-old dynamics will produce civil unrest The indictment of six Baltimore police officers in connection with the death of Freddie Gray was greeted with cheers from many in Baltimore and a collective sigh of relief from much of the country. Although the indictments may quell the anger in Baltimore, the underlying dynamics that fuel the cycle of police violence and community outrage in so many American cities will not change in the absence of deep reforms. Neither indictments nor body cameras will be enough.
Little has changed What are those underlying dynamics? They’re the same as those identified nearly 50 years ago by the Kerner Commission following the deadly urban riots that rocked Detroit, Newark and other cities in the summer of 1967. As in Baltimore and Ferguson, many of the riots examined in 1967 were triggered by aggressive policing in African-American neighborhoods shaped by racism, extreme poverty and deprivation. Faced with demands for increased protection in areas struggling with crime, police had adopted tactics that created tension and hostility. The same dynamic exists today. As FBI Director James B. Comey acknowledged in February, many police officers, whether White or Black, develop biases about African-Americans when
RICHARD COHEN TRICE EDNEY WIRE
American cities will not change in the absence of deep reforms. Neither indictments nor body cameras will be enough. working in Black communities with high crime rates. Spurred by the outcry over the events in Ferguson, Baltimore, and elsewhere, we’re seeing momentum for change. The New York Times recently reported that a “small but vocal set of law enforcement officials,” as well as several big city police departments, are beginning to rethink long-held ideas about when to use force and when to avoid it. Baltimore’s mayor has asked the Justice Department to help the city reform its police practices.
Won’t break cycle By themselves, the reforms
that are on the table probably will do little to break the cycle of hopelessness, despair and anger that lead to social disorder and, in turn, more racial polarization and repression. Economic opportunity in areas isolated by racism is at the heart of the issue. “Pervasive unemployment and underemployment are the most persistent and serious grievances in minority areas,” the Kerner Commission wrote. “They are inextricably linked to the problem of civil disorder.” Again, little has changed in the decades since. In his 1997 book “When Work Disappears,” the highly respected sociologist William Julius Wilson pointed out the corrosive impact of increased globalization and the disappearance of manufacturing jobs that previously anchored many minority communities. “For the first time in the 20th century, most adults in many inner-city ghetto neighborhoods are not working in a typical week,” Wilson wrote. The consequences are devastating, according to Wilson: higher levels not simply of poverty but also of social disorganization, family dissolution, and crime. Wilson could have been talking about the West Baltimore neighborhood where Freddie Gray grew up – a place where 97 percent of residents are Black and the unemployment rate is 52 percent. Only one in four adults
When coattails become halter-top There are more than a few elected officials that slid into public office on the coattails of President Barack Obama. The extraordinary high turnout of Black voters that voted for the president in his first and second elections benefited almost every Black or Democratic candidate that ran in a predominately Black city or political district. Now, if recent elections are any indication, the president’s coattails have become more like a halter-top! White candidates started this transformation a couple of years ago when some members of the president’s own Democratic Party treated the president like he had political Ebola! They didn’t want Obama to appear with them or to speak for them. They distanced themselves as far from Obama as they possibly could.
Secret help However, what they could take from Obama in “secret,” they took! They asked for financial help from the Democratic National Committee, which Obama controls –at least figuratively. They asked for social media assistance to try to mimic the president’s mastery of social media campaign tactics – and they got it. And they asked for and got the names and contact information of every Black voter that contributed money or clicked on an Internet link to support the president. With everything candidates got from Obama, so-called liberals and moderates seeking elected office were advised by high-paid political consultants to be as conservative as possible be-
cline to hire Blacks campaign staffers.
LUCIUS GANTT THE GANTT REPORT
cause Black voters, Hispanic voters and women voters would vote for non-Republicans regardless of what their platform or proposed political programs were. In other words, the candidates that the president helped were told to be more Republican than their Republican opponents! Well, with no Black presidential candidate on any ballots, voter turnouts returned to dismal percentages.
They all know Republican consultants know very well that if Black voter turnout is subdued, discouraged or politically prevented, no Democrat could win a rat race or a political contest! The candidates that represent urban and other areas with significant numbers of registered Black voters are losing elections these days like bad sports teams lose playoff games! Black candidates, mayors, legislators and other public officials imitate their White political party brethren. They raise money from Black contributors, but they don’t hire Black consultants. They beg for Black media endorsements and news stories, but they refuse to buy meaningful ads in Black newspapers, on Black radio or on Black Internet sites. Candidates visit Black churches and flood the windshields of Black automobiles with campaign propaganda, but they de-
No accountability When the Obama coattail candidates lose, they don’t blame the political party or their high-paid consultants, and they never blame themselves. They say they lost because “Blacks didn’t turn out to vote”! Don’t take my word for it. Check your election supervisor’s records. Every campaign will employ White campaign staffers, White consultants, White printers, White caterers, and White pollsters. They will hire White firms to do robocalling and direct mail. They will tell you that you have no choice but to vote for them because they love Obama, the local Black college, and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Yes, the coattails have become halter-tops. The reason many Blacks are not enthusiastic about upcoming elections is Black voters are tired of being punked, misled, bamboozled, and taken for granted! Democratic candidates can be as conservative as they want to be. But if they don’t utilize state and national Democratic Black organizations, if they don’t hire Black political professionals and if they don’t respect Black registered voters, many Democratic candidates for national, state and local offices will lose. Don’t believe me? Just ask the former mayor of the predominately Black city of Jacksonville what happened in his reelection bid!
Buy Gantt’s books and contact Lucius at www.allworldconsultants.net.
Opinions expressed on this editorial page are those of the writers, and do not necessarily reflect the editorial stance of the newspaper or the publisher.
THE CREDO OF THE BLACK PRESS The Black Press believes that Americans can best lead the world away from racism and national antagonism when it accords to every person, regardless of race, color or creed, full human and legal rights. Hating no person, fearing no person. The Black Press strives to help every person in the firm belief...that all are hurt as long as anyone is held back.
VISUAL VIEWPOINT: AFTER MEMORIAL DAY
NATE BEELER, THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
there has a high school diploma, according to The Los Angeles Times, and young African-Americans are “nearly as likely to be arrested as they are to finish high school.”
No surprise The neighborhood’s homicide rate is nearly double the rate of Baltimore, which has one of the country’s highest. Given this combustible cocktail of structural racism and social ills, it should surprise no one that abrasive police tactics, related in no small measure to the drug war, once again have ignited an explosion of rage.
We all know According to a recent Wall Street Journal/NBC poll, for example, an overwhelming majority of Americans said job creation should be a top political priority
this year. Most of us know that we need to build schools, not prisons – bridges, not walls. But the question is whether our political system can overcome deep ideological divisions to deliver solutions. It’s whether we have the collective will to do what is needed. In its most famous passage, the Kerner Commission report said, “Our nation is moving toward two societies, one Black, one White – separate and unequal.” To continue on the present course – to ignore the voices of despair – will, as the Commission also warned, “involve the continuing polarization of the American community and, ultimately, the destruction of basic democratic values.”
Richard Cohen is president of the Southern Poverty Law Center.
Malcolm X would struggle against ‘House Negro’ leaders Malcolm X would have been 90 years old last week if he had not been assassinated at the age of 39 in 1965. His impact on Black America, the African Diaspora, and on human history, is inestimable, but I believe Brother Malcolm’s greatest contribution to the struggle for human dignity lay in his unrelenting critique of the political structures and behavior of Black America. Malcolm X made it legitimate and virtuous to engage in full-throated, soul searching, icon-searing debate about the past, present and future of those who were then called Negroes. Most importantly, he did not give a damn if White people heard all the Black-on-Black commotion, or not – because they were not his audience, even when his arguments were broadcast on White corporate media.
Advocated public debate Malcolm broke with the taboos against criticizing Black leadership within ear or eye range of White people, which in the late Fifties and early Sixties was viewed as airing dirty linen in public. Malcolm’s position was that many of these Black leaders were actually creatures of the White power structure and its media. He questioned their loyalties and very legitimacy, and
GLEN FORD BLACK AGENDA REPORT
challenged Black folks to choose their own leaders, who would fight uncompromisingly for Black interests. Malcolm took on the so-called “Big Six” – the NAACP, the National Urban League, CORE, SNCC, Dr. Martin Luther King’s SCLC, and the legendary A. Philip Randolph – who had gained the cooperation of the Kennedy administration to hold the 1963 March on Washington. Malcolm was not impressed. He called it the “Farce on Washington,” and derided the Big Six for diluting Black people’s power by putting “cream in the coffee.” This was not a cat-call for racial exclusion, but a demand for independent Black politics. Millions of Black people, especially the young, understood Malcolm’s meaning, and acted upon it.
Race and class There is no doubt that Malcolm was a Race Man. But when it came to his analysis of Black America, he was a “class” man, too. His elevation of the “Field
Negro” over the fawning, obsequious “House Negro” was an admonition to resist cooptation into what even Dr. King later recognized was a “burning house.” Malcolm wielded his “House Negro” analogy like a sword, shaming and delegitimizing those Blacks who identify with and serve oppressive institutions, rather than the interests of the masses of the people. Malcolm’s harsh, but lucid, juxtapositions gave clarity of vision to a movement that would shake America to its foundations. What would Malcolm say if he were returned to us? His critique would begin with the present sorry state of the Black America, where the House Negro has held sway for the past two generations, with disastrous results. But he would also hear the voices of his great-grandchildren stirring among the Field Negroes of Ferguson and Baltimore, and he would say, “Show me a capitalist, and I’ll show you a bloodsucker.” Then he would immediately set about denouncing and organizing against those Black people that have sided with the bloodsuckers.
Glen Ford is executive editor of BlackAgendaReport.com. E-mail him at Glen.Ford@BlackAgendaReport.com.
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MAY 29 – JUNE 4, 2015
When the US Army addressed racial tensions I remember sitting at a boring lecture in a sociology class my senior year at the University of Wisconsin. I was reading a newspaper, looked at the front page, and noticed a list of dates. They were birthdates for the new Army draft lottery. My birthdate, February 14, was listed as the 4th number to be drafted. My first thoughts: “My future is toast. I am going to go to Vietnam and catch a bullet or a grenade. I am not going to live on a college salary, but as a drafted private in poverty.” Procter & Gamble had already made me an employment offer. My fear was that my draft status was going to kill the employment opportunity. However, my recruiter told me not to worry. He said that what I presented to them was an opportunity. I could go into the Army come out an officer, and get a “triple.” I would be college-degreed plus a competitive athlete via football and now a military officer. He showed me how to apply for Officer Candidate School (OCS). I was accepted, worked a few months before induction, then was sent to OCS in Ft. Benning, Ga.
HARRY C. ALFORD NNPA COLUMNIST
nation of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. were starting to carry over into the Army, which drafting many young Black men. What was going on in the streets of the United States was on “steroids” amongst the junior-ranking soldiers. Blacks and Hispanics had no slick attorneys to keep them from being drafted as many White young men did. Fights, threats and even murders were happening, especially in Vietnam. You can’t have an efficient fighting military when the soldiers are fighting amongst themselves.
Additional task
After I finished OCS and finance school, I was assigned to Dugway Proving Grounds, 70 miles from Salt Lake City, Utah. Three months later, I was appointed the race relations officer. The Pentagon decided to agArmy reflected streets gressively address the racial probRacial tensions after the assassi- lems it was having in the field.
EDITORIAL
A5
VISUAL VIEWPOINT: WALL STREET ESCAPES – AGAIN
Each brigade would have an active race relations officer who would regularly report any serious and negative activity to the commanding officer and to the Pentagon. More than 90 percent of the race relations officer were Black. We got together three times a year and exchanged our experiences. The Pentagon would craft a formal summary for review. I counseled personnel who had complaints or suspicions. I wrote columns on Black history and selfesteem in the local newspaper. Many White soldiers would come to me and say things like, “I didn’t know coloreds did that.” It was well-known that we had a race relations officer accessible 24/7; that made things a lot better. Whites, especially Southern Whites, started to enjoy a new comfort level. We had a majority of Mormons who were trying to change their image. (Blacks were barred Blacks from joining their church until federal pressure in the mid1970s). The change was sincere and our military was better because of this program. There was one personal “hiccup.” A Pentagon-based colonel asked me to explain why a cross burning was considered a minor act on my watch. I replied it
STEVE SACK, THE MINNEAPOLIS STAR TRIBUNE
wasn’t. He said, “I am sending this report to you and I want an explanation.” The commanding officer had executed his own report and sent it as if it was mine. I asked him for an explanation. He broke clean. Someone had put a four-foot cross in a Black sergeant’s yard. The military police caught the culprit. He was the child of the post’s executive officer, the second-highest ranking officer in command. The commanding officer was embarrassed, so they kept
the identity of the perpetrator secret and asked the Black sergeant to be quiet about it for the sake of peace. (He did!) The Pentagon accepted the final version. This Army-wide program succeeded because we owned up to the problem and sat down with each other to just “get along,” as Rodney King would later admonish.
Harry C. Alford is the cofounder and president/CEO of the National Black Chamber of Commerce.
‘Black Lives Matter’ slogan ignores self-destructive behavior “Black Lives Matter” is a great slogan. As a Black man, I agree Black lives matter just as much as the lives of any of our racial counterparts. But chanting, marching and hashtag activism isn’t going to work unless we also are willing to see the big-picture problems affecting Black America. Here’s a hint: making Black lives matter has little to do with institutional racism, White privilege and White cops. One website organizing people pushing “Black lives matter” calls it “a slogan under which Black people can unite to end state sanctioned violence both in Ferguson, but also across the United States of America… to end the insidious and widespread assault on Black life.” It states “Black people make up a mere 13 percent of the U.S. population [but] make up more than a third of those killed in officer-involved shootings across the country.”
DERRYCK GREEN PROJECT 21
of Black lives in the manner now demanded by radical community activists is tragically misguided. Activism advocating that Black lives matter could have much more moral authority, and could be taken much more seriously, if it focused on actions devaluing Black lives. These have very little to do with White cops and everything to do with self-destructive Black behavior. There is a disparity regarding violent death in the Black community. We are killing our own at an alarming rate. According to a U.S. Department of Justice analysis, most murders are intraracial and “93 percent of Black victims were killed by Blacks” between 1980 and Misguided effort 2008. Yet, Attorney General HoldPerhaps. But the virtuous goal er, President Obama and Reverof promoting the perceived value end Sharpton haven’t wanted a
national conversation about this shocking figure. In a Black-White comparison, Black homicide victimization rates were around six times higher than for Whites. Furthermore, Blacks were 47.4 percent of all homicide victims and 52.5 percent of offenders. Blacks accounted for 62.1 percent of all drug-related homicide victims compared to 36.9 percent for Whites. Over 65.6 percent – almost twothirds – of all drug-related homicide offenders were Black as compared to 33.2 percent being White. Blacks were 44.1 percent of felony murder victims and almost 59.9 percent of the offenders.
Little improvement It’s not like things improved under Obama’s leadership. According to FBI statistics for 2012, 2,412 of 2,648 cases of Black homicide had a Black perpetrator. This, to me, qualifies as an “insidious and widespread assault on Black life.” Yet those claiming Black lives matter fixate on Michael Brown
Catholic Ireland is trailblazer for gay rights It might seem a surreal joke, but Ireland became the first nation in the world to legalize gay marriage in national referendum last week. Pope Francis himself appeared to bless this seminal event almost two years ago when he said, “Who am I to judge them (homosexuals) if they’re seeking the Lord in good faith?” Despite the pope’s apparent blessing, leaders of the Irish Catholic Church mounted a crusade against this referendum. These are the very leaders who the pope has publicly criticized for showing more devotion to religious traditions and practices than to the word and spirit of Almighty God. This liturgical dissonance is thrown into sharp relief when one considers that their traditions and practices include condemning homosexuality while engaging in homosexual acts themselves; providing indulgences for priests who sexually abuse little boys; and/or knowing full well that a “gay cabal” has always wielded dogmatic power in their Holy Curia. This infernal legacy of sodomitic hypocrisy accounts not only for the “hidden exodus of Catholics becoming Protestants,” but also for the growing disconnect between Church leaders and diehard members, which the outcome of this referendum reflects.
Laws vs. referenda I fear the Irish have set an untenable and misguided precedent. The right to marry is as fundamental as any human right.
ANTHONY L. HALL, ESQ. FLORIDA COURIER COLUMNIST
And as the late U.S. Supreme Court Justice William Brennan might have opined, it offends all notions of fundamental fairness, which is essential to the very concept of justice, for members of any group to have the exercise of their fundamental rights subject to a referendum. For example, it does not offend to have a referendum on whether Scotland should leave the United Kingdom, or whether the UK should leave the European Union. There is no fundamental right at stake. The result would affect everyone in the country equally. By contrast, if the right to marry across racial lines had been put to a referendum in the United States during the 1960s, the vote against interracial marriage would have been as decisive as the vote for gay marriage in Ireland was on Friday. It’s far more preferable to have fundamental rights codified by legislatures and/or affirmed by courts – as nineteen other countries, including South Africa, Uruguay, and The Netherlands, have done with respect to gay marriage. In the United States, gay marriage is legal in 37 states: 26 by courts, 8 by legislatures, and only 3 by referendum. But as the fight for abortion rights demon-
strated, denying citizens in any state any fundamental right, which citizens in other states enjoy, presents all kinds of constitutional challenges.
Soon legal nationwide The U.S. Supreme Court will hand down a consolidated ruling on several gay marriage cases this summer. I predict it will be a unanimous ruling in favor of the fundamental right to marry nationwide, relying heavily on the precedent the court set in Loving v. Virginia in 1967: “Marriage is one of the ‘basic civil rights of man [and woman],’ fundamental to our very existence and survival… To deny this fundamental freedom on so unsupportable a basis as the racial [or gender or sexual orientation] classifications embodied in these statutes, classifications so directly subversive of the principle of equality at the heart of the Fourteenth Amendment, is surely to deprive all the State’s citizens of liberty without due process of law.” Members of any minority group demanding legal recognition and protection of their fundamental rights should seek recourse in the courts, not at the ballot box. Accordingly, with this procedural reservation, Ireland’s referendum on gay marriage is AFFIRMED.
Anthony L. Hall is a Bahamian native with an international law practice in Washington, D.C. Read his columns and daily weblog at www. theipinionsjournal.com.
and Eric Garner while virtually tions performed there. ignoring the thousands of Blackon-Black murder victims who re- Do Black lives matter? main largely nameless and faceNot only is it questionable if less except to their loved ones. Black lives really do matter to Blacks themselves, but one could Begins early also sincerely question if deep The internecine war doesn’t self-hate is responsible for motibegin there. It actually begins in vating Blacks to kill themselves off the womb. As deadly as Black-on- with the recklessness that seems Black crime can be, the most dan- to permeate our actions. gerous place for a Black child is Combining the Black victims of still in the womb. abortion and Black-on-Black hoWhile Blacks make up only micides, we are facing an assault around 13 percent of the Amerion Black lives that has nothing to can population, the Centers for Disease Control and Preven- do with racist, White cops. If we tion reported Black abortions ac- don’t take our own lives seriously, counted for nearly 35.7 percent of why should we expect or demand all abortions performed in 2010. that anyone else do so? I believe Black lives matter. It’s In Mississippi, Blacks accounted for 71.7 percent of all abortions, more than an Internet hashtag to despite Blacks comprising only me. But Black lives should matter around 37 percent of the popula- to Black folk at least as much as they matter to others. Black lives tion. Similarly, a report from the New have to matter just as much when York City Department of Health Blacks take them. and Mental Hygiene found more Derryck Green is a member of Black babies were killed by abortion (31,328) in New York City the national advisory council than were born (24,758) in 2012 of the Project 21 Black leader– totaling 42.4 percent of all abor- ship network.
Searching for the ‘Compassionate Conservative’ One of the principles of civics that I hold inviolate is that which tells me to vote for the candidate who’s most likely to pursue policies and practices I believe are in my best interest and the interest of my community and country. Since the Republican presidential candidates are greater in number this cycle, I’ll begin with them to decide whether a worthy Republican exists! I learned that Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal would be a guest on the “Morning Joe” program. I’m a native of Louisiana and have family members who remain there. I was not surprised to hear Jindal state the unrealistic case for considering him for the presidency. Facts (according to StateMaster. com) about Louisiana – Crime is a significant problem. The state leads the nation in homicides and in the number of state and federal prisoners in jail per capita. It maintains relatively high levels of aggravated assaults and violent crimes.
Poor rankings
DR. E. FAYE WILLIAMS TRICEEDNEYWIRE.COM
Jindal thinks that he can improve upon American education. According to the right-leaning American Legislative Exchange Council, Louisiana ranks 48th in national academic achievement levels. Jindal thinks he has the answer to “religious freedom.” As is typical with hypocrites, after the Louisiana legislature gave the governor thumbs-down on his personal brand of religious freedom, what did the governor do? He initiated an executive order reversing the will of the legislature.
Poor record If we analyze the records of many of the other candidates as closely as we have Jindal’s, we’d have to ask, “When the problems of your state seemingly overwhelm you, how do you expect us to hand the reigns of national authority and leadership for you to dismantle the good we’ve been able to wrench from those vested against us?” When their record of failure and incompetence dictates, I will not allow someone to convince me to join them in the madness of their failures. One good thing I can say is that Louisiana remains the largest producer of crayfish in the world!
Of the 50 states, Louisiana was dead last in Morgan Quitno Press’s Health Index. Key indicators were a high child mortality rate, the nation’s highest rate of STDs and low health coverage for residents. Hurricane Katrina made these issues worse. Jindal has stated that he wants to get rid of the Affordable Care Act. I can only guess that he desires for all lower- and middle-income Americans to suffer for health care the way similarly situated Louisianans do now. I have personal knowledge of many who seek health care they Dr. E. Faye Williams is nationcan afford, while Gov. Jindal refuses to exercise his power to help them al chair of the National Congress of Black Women, Inc. get it.
TOJ A6
NATION
MAY 29 – JUNE 4, 2015
Lynch working to develop rapport with police Decision in Garner case could soon end ‘honeymoon’ phase with law enforcement BY TIMOTHY M. PHELPS TRIBUNE WASHINGTON BUREAU/TNS
WASHINGTON — When Attorney General Loretta Lynch visited Baltimore in the aftermath of last month’s anti-police riots, she made a point of meeting quietly with a dozen officers as they were going out to patrol the still-tense city. “You have picked a noble profession,” she told the officers, including one who had been injured in the rioting. “Despite how people may want to portray it, you (should) hold on to that every day.” Nine months earlier, when her predecessor, Eric H. Holder Jr., traveled to Ferguson, Mo., under similar circumstances, he did not meet with rank-andfile police. Instead he talked about how he had been profiled by police as a young man in Washington. “I understand that mistrust,” he told community college students. A month after being sworn in as the first African-American female attorney general, Lynch, a former U.S. attorney from Brooklyn, N.Y., appears to be working hard to distinguish herself from her former boss in the eyes of law enforcement. Her ability to straddle the chasm between police and minority communities may be crucial in the months ahead as she decides whether to prosecute police officers in New York, South Carolina and Bal-
LLOYD FOX/BALTIMORE SUN/TNS
On May 5, U.S. Attorney Loretta Lynch, middle, meets Officer Carlos Feliciano Jr., who was injured during the unrest in Baltimore. timore, and reacts to the string of police shootings of young Black men.
‘Community Policing Tour’ During National Police Week in Washington this month, Lynch delivered the keynote speech at a candlelight vigil for fallen officers and attended a memorial service for peace officers sponsored by the Fraternal Order of Police. Last week, Lynch launched a national “Community Policing Tour” in Cincinnati designed to highlight programs that “strengthen police-community relations and foster
mutual trust and respect.” As she did in Baltimore, she met both with the family of the victim of a police shooting and with rankand-file officers, commending them for their efforts to reach out to the community. “It’s very easy for the cameras to show up when something’s on fire, but we also want them to see the work that you’re doing day in and day out,” she said. Chuck Canterbury, national president of the Fraternal Order of Police, welcomed Lynch’s efforts. “I think at this point the change was needed,” he said. “There was a dis-
connect between Attorney General Holder and the law enforcement community.”
Holder criticized Holder, as a longtime federal prosecutor, was well respected by police when he took the top job at the Justice Department in 2008. He frequently talked about his admiration for his brother, a retired policeman. But the good relations with police didn’t survive into President Barack Obama’s second term, particularly after several highly publicized shootings of unarmed African-Ameri-
can men by police officers. “I think there was a sense that there was politicization of the position in recent years, and that’s what sort of riled some people in the law enforcement community,” said former New York City Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly.
An apolitical approach Lynch came into office with substantial support from law enforcement, notwithstanding her successful prosecution of New York City Police Officer Justin Volpe in the broomstick assault on Abner Louima in 1997, her signature case
Supreme Court soon will rule on 13 important cases BY DAVID G. SAVAGE TRIBUNE WASHINGTON BUREAU/TNS
Ohio and Tennessee say the decision should be left to them and their voters. (Obergefell vs. Hodges)
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court is heading into the final month of its annual term. In a potentially historic ruling, the court will decide whether same-sex couples have a right to marry nationwide, culminating a two-decade legal and political fight for marriage equality. Another much-anticipated decision will be whether the Obama administration may continue to subsidize health insurance for low- and middle-income people who buy coverage in the 36 states that failed to establish an official insurance exchange of their own and instead use a federally run version. If the court rules against the Obama administration, about 8.6 million people could lose their subsidies under the Affordable Care Act. Between now and late June, the court will hand down more than two dozen decisions on matters such as politics, civil rights, free speech and air pollution. Several of these cases have been pending for months, suggesting the justices have been sharply split. Here are the major cases due for decision in the coming weeks:
Health insurance and tax subsidies
Marriage and gay rights The court has said the right to marry is a basic liberty protected by the Constitution. Same-sex couples, some of whom are raising children, say that as a matter of equal rights, states may not deny them a marriage license. In their defense of laws banning gay marriage, the states of Kentucky, Michigan,
The Affordable Care Act said Americans must have health insurance, and the law promised to help pay part of the cost for lowand middle-income people. One clause said these subsidies go for insurance bought through an “exchange established by the state.” But only 14 states established an exchange of their own, and the rest rely on exchanges set up by federal authorities. A small conservative group sued, alleging that subsidies in the 36 states are illegal. Supporters of the law say Congress clearly envisioned that subsidies would be offered in all states. (King vs. Burwell)
Passports and foreign policy A seemingly minor case involving the passport of a 12-year-old American boy born in Jerusalem raises a major question: Does Congress or the president have the final word on foreign policy? Congress in 2002 passed a law giving U.S. parents a right to have “Israel” listed as the birthplace for a child born in Jerusalem, but Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama refused to abide by it, noting that both Israelis and Palestinians claim the city as their capital. They say the law interferes with a president’s “exclusive authority to recognize foreign states” and handle a sensitive matter of foreign policy. The case of Zivotofsky vs. Kerry was argued in November, so the decision is overdue.
as an assistant U.S. attorney. Kelly said Lynch earned the respect of police officers because of her “lowkey, apolitical approach to the job.” But Lynch’s honeymoon with police may soon be tested. Within the next couple of months she is expected to decide whether to pursue charges against the New York City police officers who arrested Eric Garner on Staten Island last July, killing him with what appeared to be a chokehold that violated the department’s regulations. Lynch had been leading the investigation in her former role as U.S. attorney. Law enforcement officials and a local prosecutor who investigated the death say the officers had no intent to injure Garner, who was arrested for selling loose cigarettes. “I don’t see the DOJ charging officers in that case,” said Ron Hosko, president of the Law Enforcement Legal Defense Fund, speaking of the Department of Justice.
Cops optimistic But Justice Department officials have said there is a better chance of charges in the Staten Island case than Ferguson and some other recent police shootings, in part because of video that shows a prolonged struggle leading to Garner’s death. For the moment the mood in the law enforcement community about Lynch is optimistic. “It’s time for a new start. Let’s see where this goes,” said Hosko, a frequent critic of Holder. “She is an optimistic, smart, experienced lady. Let’s hope she can process the sins or slights of her predecessor and hopefully not repeat them.”
License plates and Confederate flags The court will decide whether specialty license plates speak for the state or its motorists. At issue is whether the First Amendment forbids states from refusing to produce plates because of their message, such as a Confederate battle flag. (Walker vs. Texas Division, Sons of Confederate Veterans)
Motel registers and police searches BRIAN CAHN/ZUMA PRESS/TNS
Pro and anti-gay marriage demonstrators rally outside the U.S. Supreme Court as it hears arguments on the question of same-sex marriage on April 28 in Washington, D.C.
Facebook threats and free speech
Politicians and redistricting
It is illegal to transmit “any threat” on the phone or the Internet, but it is unclear what the government must prove to win a conviction. Anthony Elonis was sent to prison after he boasted on Facebook of how he could kill his exwife, hide her body and “slit the throat” of an FBI agent who was on his case. He now says he was just ranting, and prosecutors did not prove he intended to threaten anyone. Elonis vs. U.S. has been pending since early December.
The court will decide whether the voters or politicians can set the election districts for members of Congress. At least once a decade, new census data prompt states to redraw their districts. Party leaders can use this power to draw safe seats for their members. Upset by gerrymandering, voters in Arizona and California opted to create an independent commission to draw congressional districts. Arizona’s Republican legislators want the Supreme Court to strike down these commissions and rule the Constitution reserves this power for “the legislature.” The case of Arizona State Legislature vs. Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission was heard in March.
Race and housing bias One of this term’s most important civil rights cases will decide the reach of the Fair Housing Act of 1968. It forbids refusing to sell or rent to people because of their race, religion, sex or national origin. Judges have said it forbids more than blatant acts of bias, but also zoning, lending rules and housing policies that have a discriminatory effect based on race. However, the court’s conservatives are skeptical of bias claims based on statistics. The case of Texas vs. Inclusive Communities Project was heard in January.
Toxic air and power plants The Environmental Protection Agency is set to force power plants to sharply reduce emissions of mercury, arsenic and other hazardous air pollutants. The coal and power industries, backed by Republicanled states, say the nearly $10 billion a year required to abide by the rule is too high. The case of Michi-
gan vs. EPA offers a test of whether the high court will uphold the Obama administration’s most ambitious clean air rules, including proposed climate change standards.
Head scarves and religious liberty The case of a 17-yearold Muslim girl who wore a black head scarf and was turned down for a sales job at an Abercrombie & Fitch store calls on the court to clarify the rules for religion in the workplace. Must a job applicant ask for a religious accommodation, or does an employer have a duty to ask her whether workplace rules conflict with her religion? (Equal Employment Opportunity Commission vs. Abercrombie & Fitch)
Raisin growers and private property The court will decide whether it is an unconstitutional taking of private property for a governmentbacked raisin board to seize as much as one-third of a farmer’s annual crop. The case could unravel one of the last New Deal-era programs that allows farmers to band together with government backing to prop up prices. (Horne vs. U.S. Department of Agriculture)
The court will decide whether Los Angeles may require motel owners to keep a guest registry that is always available for immediate inspection by the police. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said the city’s ordinance violated the Fourth Amendment and its ban on unreasonable searches. (City of Los Angeles vs. Patel)
Death penalty and lethal injection The justices are sharply split on how states such as Oklahoma carry out executions. They will decide whether prison authorities, lacking access to sodium thiopental, may use a less effective sedative, midazolam, which has been blamed for several botched executions. (Glossip vs. Gross)
Child victims and trial testimony The court will decide whether a child abuse suspect can block the trial testimony of a preschool teacher who reported what a 3-year-old told her. Usually, young children are shielded from testifying. But the Sixth Amendment gives the accused the right to be “confronted with the witnesses against him.” The court has struggled to decide when others, like a teacher, can testify in place of the witness to a crime. The case of Ohio vs. Clark, heard in March, could have a far-reaching effect.
HEALTH FOOD || HEALTH TRAVEL | |MONEY SCIENCE | BOOKS | MOVIES | TV | AUTOS LIFE | FAITH | EVENTS | CLASSIFIEDS | ENTERTAINMENT | SPORTS | FOOD COURIER
IFE/FAITH
How to prepare for a disaster See page B4
SOUTH FLORIDA / TREASURE COAST AREA
MAY 29 – JUNE 4, 2015
SHARING BLACK LIFE, STATEWIDE
N.W.A. biopic coming in August See page B5
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“Ain’t nobody else out here doing anything for me and my brother. If I don’t do it, I will be pushing a cart at the expressway, trying to look for change.” – Malachi Hoye
College student Malachi Hoye, 20, rides a bus with his girlfriend Jasmine Holt-Shirley, 18, on May 13 in the Logan Square neighborhood of Chicago. Hoye stayed with friends while without a permanent home.
56,224
“I don’t have anything from any outside sources. It literally is just me. So, if I don’t get my crap together, I am just going to be out there.”
That’s the estimated number of the nation’s college students who are homeless
BY TED GREGORY CHICAGO TRIBUNE/TNS
T
his month, with a mix of anxiety and exhilaration, college students across the country took their final exams, and then packed their bags for home. It’s a little different for undergraduates Malachi Hoye and Caprice Manny. They don’t have homes to return to — at least not in the traditional sense. Hoye and Manny are among the estimated 56,000 college students nationwide who are considered homeless. Such young people are a somewhat broadly defined population that experts say is underreported and expected to grow. But efforts to accommodate homeless college students are relatively new and fragmented. Schools, the federal government, a fledgling national organization and a pilot project by a Chicago nonprofit — are among those trying to solve a complicated challenge. “I don’t have any trust fund anywhere. I don’t have any backup money,” Manny, 21, said in an apartment where the nonprofit, La Casa Norte, placed her in March. “I don’t have anything from any outside sources. It literally is just me. So, if I don’t get my crap together, I am just going to be out there.”
From house to house Manny, who finished her second year at Truman College this month, for years had bounced from the homes of sisters, grandparents and friends, as well as a couple of long-term housing centers, after leaving her mother’s home in 2011. She called the rentfree living program “a blessing” that let her focus on 12 credit hours of classes, which met Monday through Thursday at Truman, and juggle jobs at Starbucks, Walgreens and Bath & Body Works. For students like Manny, homelessness is a circumstance, not an identity or “DNA makeup,” said Sol Flores, executive director of La Casa Norte. “Their coping and resiliency skills — their bounce-back — are amazing,” she said. “There is still so much more to do, but it is such an opportunity. Not that we owe it to them; we owe it to ourselves.” Before a federal student aid law enacted in 2009 gave financial aid ad-
ministrators a specific definition of homelessness, it was difficult for colleges and universities to identify and track homeless students, said Cyekeia Lee, director of higher education initiatives at the National Association for the Education of Homeless Children and Youth. In recent years, however, that onceinvisible population has come into focus.
– Caprice Manny
60,000 to 56,224 For the 2013-14 school year, the most recent data available, 56,224 students were classified as homeless, according to federal financial aid records. A year earlier, the number was 60,000. Homelessness on campuses carries nearly the same definition as it does anywhere else. It generally covers students living in temporary, unstable situations, including friends’ or relatives’ homes, cars, shelters, parks, abandoned buildings, motels or bus and train stations. One factor contributing to homelessness on campuses is low-income high school students’ “laser focus” on going to college, said Shenay Bridges, assistant dean of students and community resources at DePaul University. They obtain enough financial aid to cover tuition, books and a few related costs, but fail to consider remaining expenses, including housing, she said. “I think people get their heads focused on one plan, and when that plan doesn’t work out, they find themselves scrambling,” said Bridges, adding that the students lack fallback financial support. “Then they’re accumulating some debt, and it snowballs.”
Young and in debt Hoye, 20, left his mother’s home in Chicago’s Austin neighborhood at 16 after another in a series of arguments with her, he said. Since then, he has stayed at friends’ homes, shelters, a hospital, apartments, a Columbia College Chicago dormitory and on the streets. In March, he and his older brother began living rent-free at El Rescate, an independent living center in Humboldt Park run by the Puerto Rican Cultural Center. Hoye said he wants to inspire his brother and disprove “my mother’s voice in my head telling me you’re not going to be (anything).”
PHOTOS BY ANTHONY SOUFFLE/CHICAGO TRIBUNE/TNS
Caprice Manny, 21, a college student who stayed with friends while she lived without a permanent home, looks out the front door on May 8 at her apartment in Chicago she was able to get though La Casa Norte, a non-profit organization that helps youth and families experiencing homelessness. Still, there are challenges. Hoye, who is finishing his second year at Columbia, has about $9,000 in debt, he said. That debt was a major factor in his decision to leave school for now, said Hoye, who plans on paying down debt, finding an apartment and re-enrolling in college after he stabilizes his finances. Until now he has managed to stay in school through federal grants, scholarships, state food aid and a job at a Dunkin’ Donuts, Hoye said. “Ain’t nobody else out here doing anything for me and my brother,” he said. “If I don’t do it, I will be pushing a cart at the expressway, trying to look for change.”
Single points of contact Advocates for the homeless are pressing for changes to help students like Hoye and Manny. Federal proposals include charging in-state tuition to homeless and foster youths, giving them priority for federal work-study programs, finding housing for them during school breaks and requiring the Government Accountability Office to make recommendations on improving the educational performance of homeless students. It also would help if every university and college created a single point of contact, a clearinghouse of services for homeless students that would make college easier to navigate, Lee said. The National Association for the
Education of Homeless Children and Youth is expanding a network of colleges that have specific programs to help homeless students, Lee said. About 350 schools in four states have single points of contact, Lee said; 150 other schools in at least nine states are receiving training in best practices to support homeless students, she added.
Road to better life For Manny and Hoye, college has been a way to move to a more stable life with a better shot at success, even when they were unsure how they would get to college. They downplay the precariousness of their lives. To handle their hectic schedules, they say time management and an extensive knowledge of public transportation are key. If Hoye can get back to school by paying down his debt and finding stable housing, he said he would continue studying music business and hopes to break into that field as an R&B singer and producer. Manny said she always has enjoyed writing and is planning to major in English after she completes her studies at Truman and enrolls at a four-year institution. But she is unsure where her major will lead. Other than that, she said, she feels pretty settled. “I’m not looking to make a lot of money,” Manny said. “I’m really just looking to be comfortable and have a life that I’m proud of and happy with.”
CALENDAR & BOOKS
B2
FLORIDA COMMUNITY CALENDAR Miami: Nicki Minaj: The Pinkprint Tour stops at Bayfront Park Amphitheatre on July 20. The 7 p.m. show will feature Tinashe, Dej Loaf and Meek Mill.
MAY 29 – JUNE 4, 2015
STOJ
NELLY
The Main Event concert will feature New Kids on the Block with TLC and Nelly on June 4 at the BB&T Center.
Jacksonville: Saxophonist Aaron Bing will be in concert May 31 with Jon B at the Jacksonville Times Union Center for the Performing Arts. St. Petersburg: Catch Jill Scott on Aug. 8 at Hard Rock Live Hollywood or Aug. 9 at the Mahaffey Theatre in St. Petersburg. Pompano Beach: Morris Day & The Time along with Cameo are scheduled at the Pompano Beach Amphitheater on May 29. Jacksonville: Saxophonist Kim Waters performs June 6 at the Ritz Theatre. Miami Beach: Earth, Wind & Fire is scheduled for an 8 p.m. show on June 2 at the Fillmore Miami Beach in the Jackson Gleason Theater. Fort Lauderdale: The American Foundation for University West Indies: Caribbean Jazz Matazz is June 14 starting at 7 p.m. at the Amaturo Theater at Broward Center for the Performing Arts. Miami: The Forever Charlie Tour takes place on June 19 at the AmericanAirlines Arena and June 20 at Amalie Arena in Tampa. The show features Charlie Wilson, Joe and Kem. Daytona Beach: Maze featuring Frankie Beverly will perform June 14 at The Peabody Auditorium. Boca Raton: The Legends of the Old School tour is May 29 at Mizner Park Amphitheater featuring Salt N Pepa, Vanilla Ice, Stevie B, Color Me Badd and 2 Live Crew. Orlando: The Democratic Black Caucus of Florida annual conference will meet May 29-31 at the Doubletree by Hilton, 10100 International Drive. Details: www.dbcflorida. org.
CHRIS TUCKER
The comedian and actor will perform June 12 at the Straz Center for the Performing Arts in Tampa.
Fort Lauderdale: Alexandra Barbot’s exhibit, “Black Empires and Kingdom of Haiti, W.I.” is on display at the African-American Research Library and Cultural Center. Miami: Sam Smith performs July 20 at the AmericanAirlines Arena and July 21 at the Amalie Arena in Tampa. Tampa: Candy Lowe hosts Tea & Conversation every Saturday from 2 to 4 p.m. at 3911 N. 34th St., Suite B. More information: 813-394-6363.
WENDY WILLIAMS
The talk-show host takes her humor to the Mahaffey Theatre on July 18 in St. Petersburg for an 8 p.m. show.
St. Petersburg: Tickets are on sale for a July 25 show with Kenny “Babyface’’ Edmonds at the Mahaffey Theatre.
‘Ordinary Light’ a poignant memoir that focuses on daughter’s faith and relationship with mom
“We’ve made it this far because we love and respect ourselves and our fans. But, most importantly, we believe in what we do,” Frankie Beverly, seated on the left, said about Maze.
BY DR. GLENN ALTSCHULER SPECIAL TO THE FLORIDA COURIERR
Legendary band Maze featuring Beverly to perform in Daytona SPECIAL TO THE FLORIDA COURIER
Maze featuring Frankie Beverly, amazingly one of the most talented and influential R&B/soul groups to date, will bring The Peabody audience to their feet with an exciting show full of high energy, electricity and amazing music. Beverly and band will come to The Peabody for one show only, Sunday, June 14 at 8 p.m. The sound is distinctive – passionate, creative, original, soulful, honest and powerful. For nearly 30 years, Frankie Beverly and Maze have created a unique sound and have become one of the most influential groups in modern history. At the time when disco reigned supreme, Maze and Frankie Beverly took the R&B charts by storm with a smooth yet gritty soul/funk approach that rejected the disco beat entirely.
Took a stand Growing up in the soul hotbed of Philadelphia had a definite impact on Maze’s distinctive sound,
which owed as much to Marvin Gaye as it did to Philly soul. Classics like “While I’m Alone,” “Lady of Magic,” “You,” and the hit “Happy Feelin’s” earned Maze an intensely devoted bunch of followers, who will tell you in a minute that the charismatic Beverly is the very essence of a soul singer. Though it wasn’t a single, one of the best offerings on the album is “Colorblind,” a jewel expressing Beverly’s frustration over the racial polarization that plagued the U.S. in 1977 and remained alive and well years later. This outstanding debut album didn’t do much in the pop market, but thanks to enthusiastic support from the R&B market, it went gold.
More hits The 1980s brought the release of the best-selling albums: “Golden Time of Day,’’ “Inspiration,’’ and “Joy and Pain,’’ containing a list of chart-topping singles including “Travelin’ Man,” “Feel That You’re Feeling,” “Joy and Pain,” “Look in Your Eyes,” and “Southern Girl,” to name a few.
The group gained worldwide appeal with its legendary sold-out live appearances, and released the deluxe album “Live in New Orleans,’’ which captured the energy, excitement and electricity of a Maze stage show and offered a fourth side of new studio material, which included the hit single “Running Away.” In 1983, with the release of “We Are One,’’ Frankie Beverly and Maze solidified their international standing with such hits as the title track “Never Let You Down,” “I Love You Too Much” and “Love is the Key.” In 2010, Maze featuring Frankie Beverly won the prestigious Trumpet Lifetime Achievement Award and in 2012, was awarded the BET Cadillac Lifetime Achievement Award. Tickets are available for purchase at the Peabody Box Office, Ticketmaster outlets, Wal-Mart Supercenters, call 800-7453000 or online at www. PeabodyDaytona.com. Reserved tickets are $39, $49, $59, $69 plus surcharges.
In her poem, “The Ordinary Life,” Tracy K. Smith reflects on the meaning of slogging through the weight of the everyday, even when you’re tired. “Just once,” she muses, it would be nice “to start out early, free from memory and lighter for it. Like Adam on that first day: alone but cheerful, no fear of the maker, anything his for the naming, nothing to shirk from, nothing to shirk, no lot to carry that wasn’t by choice.” Maybe “just once.” In Ordinary Light, a memoir of her comingof-age, however, Smith, whose book of poetry, Life on Mars, won the Pulitzer Prize in 2012, takes a stand in favor of naming the events, “even the most awful events, making up a life,” sifting through them from Tracy nuance and meaning, and Smith facing them. “Telling my story,” she maintains, and establishing a sense of continuity between the life she is now leading and the one she has lived “is both a prayer for power and the answer to that prayer.”
Uneasy relationship Smith was born in Massachusetts and raised in Fairmont, Calif. by a family with deep roots in Alabama. After he retired from the Air Force, her father worked as an engineer in Silicon Valley. Her mother stopped teaching to raise her five children. Written with her own daughter in mind, “Ordinary Light’ is about the loving but at times uneasy relationship between Tracy and Kathryn Smith. Possessed “of a quiet refinement and pointing herself to a future not even she could have named,” her mom, Tracy speculates, may have changed her name from Kathleen to avoid the extra syllable (Katha-leen) southerners from red-dirt country roads often added. Although as an adult Kathryn often “spoke the language of racial deference,” she was proud that she had carpooled and walked to school for a year during the Montgomery Bus Boycott.
A mother’s faith Most of all, Mrs. Smith was a devout Baptist, who asked Tracy to say over and over again “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me” – and was so sure of an afterlife that she told her children to
BOOK REVIEW Review of Ordinary Light: A Memoir. By Tracy K. Smith. Alfred A. Knopf. 352 pp. $25.95. bury her in a simple pine box and not to visit her grave because she wouldn’t be there. In “Ordinary Light,’’ Tracy explores her attempts to claim the faith into which she was born without becoming like the Christians “whose world were, by my estimation, too tiny, circumscribed by a few arcane commandments and deliberately impenetrable mysteries. The ones who voted against progress, who feared sciences, the ones who got married and lived tucked inside their houses.” And who lumped her “in the same unholy soup with people who denied God’s existence outright.”
Exploring race, culture And she examines the impact of race on her understanding of herself, her family, and her communities. The television programs “Gettin’ To Know Me’’ and “The Cosby Show,’’ she writes, taught her that things her friends would have found odd (like having your scalp greased and hair braided) were not unusual and gave her something to decipher or on which to project the things she understood about happy Black families. Smith also describes what it felt like to be asked “Don’t you wish you were White?,” to encounter an “Afro-Am” curriculum at Harvard, read Ellison, Hughes, Hurston, Baldwin, Toomer, Wright, DuBois, and Malcolm X, “consider a thing called Black Consciousness,” attend Black Student Association meetings, and cultivate dreadlocks.
Still searching Tracy Smith acknowledges that she is still searching – and beginning to ask questions she never asked her mother (or anyone else). But she has discovered through her favorite poets and her own writing that a life “is made up of what happens and what is lost.” Looking back, we “recover” those moments, at first with untrained eyes, “but if we hang there for a while longer, we can step into a different kind of gaze, one capable of seeing what is absent, longed for, what has been willed away or simply forgotten.”
Dr. Glenn C. Altschuler is the Thomas and Dorothy Litwin Professor of American Studies at Cornell University.
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MAY 29 – JUNE 4, 2015
DISASTER PREPAREDNESS
B3
More states turning to digital billboards to post alerts about disasters, emergencies BY JENNI BERGAL STATELINE.ORG
When a tornado was barreling toward Oklahoma City this month, some motorists may not have known of the possible danger. But if they were driving on the highways, they could have been alerted two dozen large, multicolored digital billboards flashing warnings. Just as they’ve done with Amber Alerts to notify the public about abducted children, states and local governments are increasingly turning to private billboard companies to warn citizens about natural disasters and emergencies. The electronic signs have shown targeted messages about hurricanes, flash floods and natural gas shortages. They’ve also shown updates about evacuations and road detours. “One of the big things we do in emergency management is try to get life-saving information to people as quickly as possible, so they can take the appropriate action. We use every channel we’ve got, and this is a good one,” said Bryan W. Koon, director of the Florida Division of Emergency Management. Koon also is president of the National Emergency Management Association, which represents emergency managers from every state.
Where billboards used State and local officials have used digital billboards to display messages in a number of emergencies in recent years. Among them: During this winter’s snowstorms in the Boston area, billboards issued warnings about dangerous conditions and travel bans.
When Georgia was pummeled by a major ice storm in 2014, state officials tapped into the signs using their Twitter accounts to alert drivers statewide about icy roads. When New Mexico had a natural gas shortage emergency in 2011 because of subzero temperatures, officials posted messages in Albuquerque asking people to conserve energy. “These billboards can be very helpful during emergencies,” Koon said. Digital billboards are hard to miss. They’re bright and big. They often stand along highways, where a standard billboard measures 14 feet by 48 feet. Thousands of tiny LED lights create static images, which typically rotate every six or eight seconds. Nationwide, about 5,500 out of 400,000 billboards are digital, according to Ken Klein, spokesman for the Outdoor Advertising Association of America, the billboard industry’s trade association. Forty-six states now have electronic billboards on their roads, he said.
Eyesore complaints The signs also are controversial. Some conservation groups, cities and counties have battled against digital billboards, complaining that they are eyesores that distract drivers, devalue property and diminish the quality of life. A number of communities including Franklin Township, N.J., St. Louis, Denver and Knoxville, have banned them. “The billboard industry is in a rush to put them up because they are big profit makers,” said Max Ashburn, communications director for the conservation group Scenic America. “Part of their PR effort is to go to state and lo-
Lamar, which has at least 2,000 digital billboards in more than 40 states, said once a message has been chosen and the artwork downloaded, the company can get it up on the boards very quickly. cal governments and offer this (emergency messaging) as an incentive to get into these communities.” The billboard industry denies that the signs distract motorists and notes that they generate income for landowners and revenue from property taxes and permit fees. And it argues that it offers free space to state and local governments as a public service. At least six states — Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Massachusetts, Oklahoma and Texas — have agreements with private billboard companies to display the emergency messages, Klein said. So have some counties and cities, such as Milwaukee, which posted information about FEMA assistance on major thoroughfares after severe storms caused widespread flooding in 2010. “There’s an immediacy and flexibility to it that makes it different,” Klein said. “Digital billboards have emerged as an increasingly common tool for emergency communication.” Last year, Oklahoma emergency management officials and the National Weather Service partnered with Lamar Ad-
vertising Company, a national billboard company. So far, Lamar has broadcast warnings on 24 electronic billboards on highways in the Oklahoma City area — first when tornadoes struck in March, again when they hit earlier this month and last weekend, when severe storms were expected, according to Keli Cain, spokeswoman for the Oklahoma Department of Emergency Management.
First in Florida Florida was the first state to turn to digital billboard companies to issue emergency alerts. In 2008, after a series of hurricanes, state emergency management officials teamed with the Florida Outdoor Advertising Association, the state’s billboard trade group, which volunteered to post messages free on more than 100 digital signs. The service was first used that year when Tropical Storm Fay caused widespread flooding. Over 10 days, 37 different emergency alerts were displayed on more than 75 billboards in nearly a dozen counties, according to the emergency management agency and the
trade association. Florida has used digital billboards four times since, when struck by tropical storms or flash floods.
Big help for drivers During an emergency, state officials contact the Florida trade association and give it information about where and when the alerts are needed. The group then inserts the messages into a preapproved template. After state officials sign off, the association notifies member companies in the affected areas and they post the messages. Koon, Florida’s emergency management chief, said that when a storm or flood is approaching it’s particularly challenging for drivers on the highway, who may not have their radios on or may be visitors unfamiliar with the area. “If people on the interstate are driving along at 70 miles an hour, they may not even know what county or city they are in. There’s an information vacuum,” Koon said. “Electronic billboards fill in this information gap.”
DISASTER PREPAREDNESS
B4
3
MAY 29 – JUNE 4, 2015
STOJ
Check this clip-and-save page to see whether your family is ready in case disaster strikes. BEFORE IT HAPPENS
GATHER DOCUMENTS AND CASH
EVALUATE YOUR HOME
Store important documents such as insurance policies, deeds, property records and birth certificates in a bank safe-deposit box. Store copies in your disaster-supplies kit.
Structural safety
q Keep a stash of cash or traveler’s checks at home where you can quickly get them in
case of evacuation.
q
Make sure your home is bolted to the foundation and the structure is properly reinforced.
q
MAKE A FAMILY EMERGENCY PLAN
q
Identify a safe place in each room of your home and practice rapidly getting there. Best locations include under a sturdy desk or table, or beside a sturdy, large piece of furniture such as a sofa or bed. Avoid doorways; doors could bang open and shut during a storm.
Check the roof, foundation, chimney and walls for cracks and overall condition. Contact trained contractors in your area for information on retrofitting.
q
If you live in an apartment, know where your building’s utility controls are and how to use them.
q Practice home-evacuation drills. Choose someplace nearby for your family to meet.
OFF
Expect a lack of transportation.
q
Educate your children. Get a copy of your school district’s disaster policy regarding transportation and the release of students. Keep photos of family members in your wallet in case someone is missing.
q Take a first-aid course. Learn CPR. q Know where the nearest police and fire stations are. Know the route to the nearest
hospital emergency room. Keep critical phone numbers and your insurance-policy numbers by your phone and in your wallet.
q
Enter your “ICE” — In Case of Emergency — numbers on your cell phone so emergency workers will know whom to contact if you’re hurt. For example, enter “ICE husband John” and the phone number.
q
Find out whether any neighbors have medical or other expertise. Plan to unite if your neighborhood becomes isolated. Help elderly, disabled or single-parent neighbors create an emergency plan. Get contact information for their relatives. Fill in the spaces below and keep this page in a handy place.
Family Emergency meeting place: _____________________________________________________ Out-of-state contact, phone number: ____________________________________________ Insurance company and phone numbers: ________________________________________ Insurance policy numbers:______________________________________________________ Driver’s license numbers: ______________________________________________________
Plumbing
q
Family members should know how to shut off waterlines in case of a leak in the house. Label the shutoff valve clearly; it’s the first valve in the line after it enters the house.
q
Strap your water heater (gas and electric ones) to studs in the wall with heavy-duty metal strips or to the floor to prevent gas leaks and possible fires from broken pipes. You can find strapping kits at home-improvement stores.
Gas
q
All occupants should also know how and when to turn off the gas. If you smell gas after a storm or other emergency, shut off the meter valve found at the first fitting on the supply pipe coming out of the ground. Use a wrench to turn the valve either way until it is perpendicular to the pipe. Keep a wrench attached to the gas meter with a wire. Call the gas company to get service restored.
ON
OFF
Electricity
q
Neighborhood Neighbors’ names, phone numbers: _____________________________________________
Utility companies Electricity: ___________________________________________________________________ Water: _______________________________________________________________________ Natural gas: __________________________________________________________________ Phone: _______________________________________________________________________
Emergency Call 911 in life-or-death situation: _______________________________________________ Doctor’s phone: _______________________________________________________________ Pharmacy phone: _____________________________________________________________ Police non-emergency phone: __________________________________________________ Fire non-emergency phone: ____________________________________________________ Closest emergency room, address: ______________________________________________
Other ___________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________
Buy a portable, gas-powered generator for emergency electricity. Only appliances that can use extension cords should be attached to a generator. A 2200-watt unit can power a refrigerator and several lamps. Keep fuel in a safe, protected container.
q
Learn how to shut off the electricOlder ity: Turn off single panel breakers first, then switch off the main breaker. To turn back on, switch the main breaker first, then the single breakers. On older panels, pull the main fuse blocks.
a n rea er e er panel n le rea er
Household items
q
Place flashlights in hallways, bathrooms and bedrooms. Keep a flashlight, spare batteries and sturdy shoes under the bed. (Shoes will protect you from broken glass and other debris on the floor.)
q
Evaluate each room. Secure appliances, bookshelves and hutches to wall studs. Mirrors should be hung on double hooks; do not lean them against the wall.
q
Place heavy objects and electronic equipment on lower shelves. Use large Velcro patches or nonskid rubber shelf liner to help keep items in place.
q
Place a beanbag of sand or shot in the bottom of vases and other breakable items to help hold them down.
q Store household chemicals safely, preferably on or near the floor.
AFTER AN EVENT Hurricane Sandy’s devastation is shown on the southern end of Long Beach Island, New Jersey, as beach houses are washed off their foundations on Oct. 30, 2012. The Atlantic hurricane season runs June 1 through November 30. CLEM MURRAY/ PHILDELPHIA INQUIRER/ MCT
Check on everyone
• Provide first aid and a safe place for anyone who is injured or very upset. Check on and help neighbors. • Call 911 or other emergency phone numbers only if injuries are serious or the situation is life-threatening. Unnecessary calls can hamper rescue efforts.
Assess surroundings
•Check for hazards such as fire, leaks, chemical spills and precarious structures. Natural-gas companies ask customers not to turn off their gas service at the meter unless they smell or hear a leak. If you smell gas coming from inside your home, call your gas company from a phone outside. It’s important not to touch electric switches or use the telephone until the situation is corrected. Only the gas company can restore service. •Plug appliances into a generator directly or with extension cords. Never plug a generator into a household outlet because power can flow back to the utility’s main system and injure utility workers trying to restore power. Always run generators outdoors to prevent buildup of toxic fumes. •Turn on the radio. In the case of an emergency that displaces many people, shelter locations will be announced. •Give pets food, water and dry shelter. Keep them away from antifreeze. •Turn off all appliances except the refrigerator and one light. This prevents a power surge when power is restored.
Call for help
• If phone service is available, give your out-of-state contact an update on your situation. If service is spotty, ask your
contact to call your insurance company if necessary, and your family and friends who may be worried about you.
Gather water
•Be prepared to treat, filter or boil contaminated water. •Use hot water sparingly. Most water heaters can retain heat for three days. •If the water supply is cut off, drinking water is still available in your home in water heaters, in-house plumbing and melted ice cubes. •Use a hose to get drinking water from your water heater’s drain valve in an emergency. It will be cloudy at first but will clear up after a few gallons. •If pipes break or leak, turn off water at the shut-off valve inside your home.
Prepare food
•If the electricity is out, open the refrigerator and freezer doors only when necessary. Eat refrigerated food first, frozen food next and dried or canned food last. •Refrigerated foods should be OK for about eight hours, holding a temperature of 40 degrees, unless the door is opened often. •Food in a freezer of 12 cubic feet or more should stay frozen for 48 hours if the freezer is full and the door kept closed; that food will keep safely cold for up to 72 hours. Frozen food that has completely thawed — especially vegetables and dishes containing meat, fish, eggs, cheese and cream sauce — should be tossed out because of possible bacteria growth. If the freezer temperature is higher than 40 degrees, throw out all food.
STOJ
MAY 29 – JUNE 4, 2015
FINEST & ENTERTAINMENT
Meet some of
FLORIDA’S
finest
Staci Lyon has been doing professional modeling since the age of 7. She started out as a print and catalog model, which she continues to do, as well as runway, fashion and TV commercials. She has graced hundreds of runways both for agency bookings as well as charity events and has also walked in Mercedes Benz Swim Week as well as Miami Beach International Fashion Week. She plans to continue her modeling career in addition to studying fashion design and marketing. Contact Staci on Facebook at www.facebook. com/staci.lyon.7 or through Wilhelmina Models Miami at 305- 672-9344.
submitted for your approval
B5
Think you’re one of Florida’s Finest? E-mail your high-resolution (200 dpi) digital photo in casual wear or bathing suit taken in front of a plain background with few distractions, to news@flcourier. com with a short biography of yourself and your contact information. (No nude/ glamour/ fashion photography, please!) In order to be considered, you must be at least 18 years of age. Acceptance of the photographs submitted is in the sole and absolute discretion of Florida Courier editors. We reserve the right to retain your photograph even if it is not published. If you are selected, you will be contacted by e-mail and further instructions will be given.
ray
Larry Ray aka Ray is a model, actor and dancer. The Kansas City, Missouri native moved to Miami to elevate his modeling and acting career which he has aspired for since a child. He says “this has not only been my dream but a mission that I must accomplish.” Ray considers himself to be a man of integrity and one who is not afraid to do the unthinkable. “From photo shoots to movies, I’m your man.” Contact Larry at larryvray@ gmail.com or on Facebook at www.facebook. com/raytheactor.
staci
Ice Cube going back to beginning with N.W.A. biopic BY CHRIS RIEMENSCHNEIDER STAR TRIBUNE/TNS
Ice Cube knows where he stands among younger fans: Many know him more from saccharine Hollywood movies like “Are We There Yet?” than from bitter and incendiary landmark rap albums such as “Straight Outta Compton” and “AmeriKKKa’s Most Wanted.” Turns out he actually kind of likes it that way. “School is in session,” he said in his unmistakably stern voice. “I have 60 minutes to show them why I still do hip-hop and what I’ve meant to hip-hop. I want them to get the full picture of who Ice Cube really is.” The whole world is about to learn or relearn the gritty origins of the rapper-turned-actor come August, when the much-ballyhooed movie on Ice Cube’s old group N.W.A. lands in theaters, already riding a wave of hype and controversy.
Still loves performing Titled “Straight Outta Compton” after the quintet’s groundbreaking 1988 debut, the N.W.A. biopic is the pet project of Cube and fellow alum Dr. Dre. “I’ve been very hands-on as a producer ever since my first one, ‘Friday,’ but with this one I’m hands and feet on,” he said proudly. “This is the most im-
portant movie of my career, even though I’m not starring in it. It’s very personal.” Cube (O’Shea Jackson, 45) proved personable and quite funny at times when he called from the set of “Barbershop 3” in Atlanta. He was squeezing in a hip-hop festival in Minnesota and a Detroit club gig while filming is on break over the holiday weekend. As if he doesn’t have enough to do. Q: When and why do you decide to do rap gigs like this? A: I love performing. I’ll never get that out of me. It actually makes a lot of sense for me to do shows like this right in the middle of filming a movie, because it keeps my energy level up. Shooting movies can feel a little stagnant. I get freedom out of hip-hop, too. I get to be a true artist without any shackles or harnesses. The movie industry is one big collaboration. Music gives me that freedom to create things straight from my heart and my mind.
About N.W.A. film Q: We’ve been expecting a new record from you since you dropped the single “Everythang’s Corrupt” two years ago. What’s the holdup? A: What happened was “Straight Outta Compton,” the movie. I commanded all my at-
Q: How much correlation do you see between N.W.A.’s music and the issues faced today in Ferguson, Mo., and Baltimore? A: This movie is so timely with what’s going on today, and with the protests around the country. It feels like it’s full circle. Twenty-five years later, the same topics are still troubling us. So this movie needs to come out. It’s a perfect time for this movie to come out, and for people to understand that not enough has changed. A lot has changed, but not enough.
Portrayed by son
UNIVERSAL PICTURES
Ice Cube, (top left) will be portrayed by his son, O’Shea Jackson Jr. (bottom left). Standing in the center is “Straight Outta Compton’’ director F. Gary Gary. Dr. Dre is at top right. Jason Mitchell, below center, stars as the late Eazy-E. tention toward making it perfect. I wanted to be fair to the movie and to the record, and I couldn’t do that by trying to do both projects at the same time. Q: For people who aren’t fans of N.W.A., why is theirs a story that deserves to be made into a movie? A: It’s a story about standing up for yourself, about courage, about David vs. Goliath, about
freedom of speech, about being yourself, about taking a negative and turning it into a positive. Even though we talked a lot of gangsta (expletive), hip-hop made it so that talking was all it was. We didn’t have to go out there and kill nobody, rob nobody. We rapped about it. We turned our negative energy into something positive, which was to make a record.
Jakes appeals for churches with united races EURWEB.COM
Church may be the most segregated place on Sunday, but Bishop T.D. Jakes focused on eliminating that issue with The Reconciled Church, a place of worship designed to bring all races together within the faith community. Jakes discussed the initiative during an appearance earlier this month on “NewsOne Now,’’ while promoting this year’s MegaFest event. According to Jakes, “our
separation is killing us and we really need to come together and it doesn’t just need to be a Black problem or a Brown problem — it needs to be an American problem.” “Until we see criminal justice, education … economic empowerment as an American issue and not just a minority issue, we won’t get the results on a national level that we really need to get,” he told “NewsOne Now” host Roland Martin. As for his motivation, Jakes
revealed that The Reconciled Church was an “amazing opportunity to bring White pastors together with Black and Brown.” He went on to cite such as things as not listening to the same news, interacting with the same people and reading the same publications as issues White pastors don’t encounter in their community. “Where you receive your information from has a lot to do with the truth that you live by,” Jakes said.
Bishop T. D. Jakes
Entrepreneurship seminars Regarding MegaFest, Jakes described the semi-annual event as being about families, friends, connections and worship.
Q: Your son (O’Shea Jackson Jr., 22) plays you in the movie. How well did he nail the part? A: He’s a chip off the old Cube, that’s for sure. He’s (expletive) great. I mean it. He really was the best guy for the job. We auditioned people. We had to. A studio as big as Universal is not going to just let you put your own people into a movie. He had to do the screen test and everything. They had to believe he was the best guy for the role. I knew he was. Q: Does your son still go around imitating you, like for laughs at family barbecues? A: No, but I’ve caught him wearing more Raiders (football) gear than he used to. Q: You came out of the N.W.A. gate running with your solo debut “AmeriKKKa’s Most Wanted,” which just marked its 25th anniversary. What do you think its legacy is? A: To me, it was the Panama Canal of records. It showed that East Coast and West Coast could be one hip-hop nation. It showed that no matter what part of the country you come from, you can always come together to make groundbreaking hip-hop. “Beyond worship and entertainment and fun, we have something for all ages,” he stated while noting the addition of seminars that address entrepreneurship. MegaFest attendees will be able to capitalize on the seminars as various Fortune 500 companies will be on hand to train them and share job opportunities that “we don’t hear about.” The 2015 MegaFest is slated to take place in August in Dallas. In addition to the entrepreneurship seminars, the event will include health fairs and book-bag giveaways that will help children get ready for the new school year.
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MAY 29 – JUNE 4, 2015
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3 ways to personalize your
PARTY TREATS FROM FAMILY FEATURES
From “just-because” gatherings to birthday blowouts and major holidays, you’ll have everything you need to personalize your party with these quick party tricks.
Decorate with color Color adds a pop of personality to any party. Kick it up a notch with a customized color palette that matches your unique party theme. Use the new Wilton Color Right Color System to take the guesswork out of coloring icing, fondant, cake batter and other treats. You can easily mix the colors you need to coordinate sweet treats to match your party decor. Unlike traditional food coloring, the Wilton Color Right performance color system includes eight bottles of ultra-concentrated base color and precise QuickCount color formulas to make mixing and matching color a piece of cake. QuickCount color formulas show you drop by drop how to whip up precise shades of color to match unique party decor, logos and themed character cakes. Plus, new color formulas are added to www. Wilton.com and you can create custom colors. Another impressive, yet easy, decorating trick is a three color icing swirl, which is easy to achieve using the new Color Swirl Tri-Color Coupler. It’s quick, easy and looks professional.
Bake with flavor Just like color, you can mix and match flavor to bake delicious flavorinfused treats. The Wilton Treatology Flavor System makes it easy to infuse treats with unexpected yet perfectlypaired flavors, like these Fruity
Cereal Pinwheel Cookies. Follow easy drop-by-drop QuickCount flavor recipes to make unique flavorinfused desserts, like Horchata Cupcakes and Coconut Creme Brulee Cookies and 30 more unique recipes. Use individual flavor concentrates such as Champagne, Sweet Meyer Lemon, Fresh Basil, Warm Cinnamon Graham, Juicy Peach, Salted Caramel, Creamy Vanilla Custard and Toasted Coconut to infuse icing, filling and cake batter with unique tastes, or combine them to create your own unique flavor combinations.
Display your way Now that your treats are personalized for the party, it’s time to show them off. The Display Your Way Cupcake Stand is fit for any occasion. The fillable core is perfect for incorpo rating fun party details like ribbon, candy and even matching napkins. The adjustable treat tower serves five to 25 cupcakes, so you can display the perfect number of treats for your guests. Similarly, the Display Your Way cake stand has a customizable center compartment that makes it fun and easy to match your party from top to bottom. Fill the center compartment with unique details like graduation tassels, photographs or other unique party elements. Use the clear side sleeve to fit a ribbon or craft paper around the side. From graduations, birthdays and anniversaries to major holidays and other celebrations, each occasion calls for something special. With these handy party tips and tools, you’ll always be prepared, making it easier than ever to personalize your party. Find more party-worthy recipes and decorating tricks at www.Wilton.com.
SIMPLE SWIRLS For an easy way to make impressive cupcakes topped with a two- or three-color swirl, there’s a new tool to help make less mess and create more consistent results. Wilton’s Color Swirl Tri-Color Coupler joins two or three decorating bags using flat-sided coupler pieces that connect, creating a flush seam with a snug fit, allowing you to use up to three colors to create cleaner, more defined multi-color icing swirls. To learn how to add this sweet and colorful concept to your next party, visit the Wilton Blog at www.wilton.com/blog.
FRUITY CEREAL PINWHEEL COOKIES Makes about 3 1/2 dozen cookies. 3 cups all-purpose flour 1 teaspoon salt 1/2 teaspoon baking powder 1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened 1 cup granulated sugar 1 egg 3/4 teaspoon Wilton Treatology Sweet Meyer Lemon Flavor Concentrate 1 drop Wilton Pink Color Right Performance Color 1/4 teaspoon Wilton Treatology Fresh Basil Flavor Concentrate 1 drop Wilton Blue Color Right Performance Color
4 drops Wilton Yellow Color Right Performance Color In large bowl, stir together flour, salt and baking powder. In separate large bowl, beat butter and sugar with electric mixer until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add egg; beat well. Add flour mixture and beat on low until just combined. Divide dough in half. Return half of dough to mixing bowl. Beat in Sweet Meyer Lemon Flavor and Pink Color Right Color. Return remaining half of dough to clean mixing bowl; beat in Fresh Basil Flavor and Blue and Yellow Color Right Colors. On parchment paper, roll dough into two 14-by-12-inch rectangles, about 1/8-inch thick. Lightly brush
basil dough with water. Place lemon dough onto basil dough; peel away parchment. Gently roll dough with rolling pin and trim uneven edges with sharp knife. Using parchment, roll dough into very tight log. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate 3 hours or overnight. Heat oven to 350°F. Slice logs into 1/4-inch slices. Space two inches apart on parchment-lined cookie sheet. Bake 14–16 minutes, or until edges of cookies are dry. Cool on pan 5 minutes on cooling grid. Remove from pan; cool completely on grid. Note: You can vary food colors in dough for different cookie color combinations.