Florida Courier - June 05, 2015pdf

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VOLUME 23 NO. 23

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JUNE 5 – JUNE 11, 2015

RAISE CASH, GO HOME

President Obama visited Ermita de la Caridad in Miami, where he was escorted by Catholic priest Juan Rumin Dominguez.

President Obama returns to Washington from a quick fence-mending and fundraising trip to Florida to refocus on national security, trade agreements, and the Middle East COMPILED FROM WIRE REPORTS

Here’s a quick roundup of President Obama’s recent activity.

MIAMI – On May 28, President Obama extended a symbolic olive branch to Miami’s Cuban-Americans by paying his respects to the shrine of Our Lady of Charity of El Cobre in Coconut Grove.

The surprise afternoon stop at the shrine by the sea, better known by its Spanish name, La Ermita de la Caridad, comes at a time when many Cuban exiles remain angry by the presi-

dent’s decision last December to restore diplomatic relations with the communist island, especially since Obama made no effort to reach out to Miami leaders prior to his announcement.

Even before the president set foot in the shrine, Florida Republican Gov. Rick Scott had welcomed Obama to Florida by slamming the president’s decision to remove Cuba from a list of terrorism sponsors, which will pave the way for easier business transactions with the island.

“President Obama’s decision to

It’s rough out here

AL DIAZ/MIAMI HERALD/TNS

remove Cuba from the list of state sponsors of terrorism is shameful,” Scott said in a statement.

“Cuba has done nothing to warrant being taken off this list. …

The president should take time to reconsider this dangerous decision while in South Florida today.”

end of Obama’s two-day Miami trip, in which he raised political cash for the Democratic National Committee and got briefed on the upcoming hurricane season.

He toured the National Hurricane Center’s windowless hollows and asked questions about storm chasing and forecasting.

Obama stressed that people must make their own preparaPolitics, hurricanes tions and not solely rely on local The shrine stop marked the and state governments for help.

“The best preparedness is that being taken on an individual level,” he said.

NSA bill passes After Obama’s return, Congress gave final approval Tuesday to the most sweeping rollback of government surveillance powers in the post-Sept. 11 era, clearSee OBAMA, Page A2

SERENA WILLIAMS / FRENCH OPEN 2015

Still doing it

Black grads face tough job market

BY FREDDIE ALLEN NNPA SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT

WASHINGTON – College graduates will enter a job market this year that is better than it has been in recent years, but they will still face a tough climb.

That climb will be especially difficult for Black college graduates who will grapple with a jobless rate that is still in the double digits, according to a new report by the Economic Policy Institute (EPI), a Washington, D.C.-based research and education group focused on low- and middle-income workers.

Alyssa Davis, a research fellow focused on the labor market, poverty and education; Will Kimball, a research assistant with EPI; and Elise Gould, director of health policy research co-authored the report for the Institute’s “Raising America’s Pay” research and public education initiative.

“Things are starting to look up for young grads, but we’re not quite where we want to be yet,” said Davis.

Gould said that the idea that millennials are choosing to sit on the sidelines, complaining about not getting the job that they want, is misguided, because recent graduates are entering the labor market with an economy that is still recovering from a historic recession. “[Millenials] are likely to fare See GRADS, Page A2

SNAPSHOTS NATION | A6

Baltimore has deadliest month in 40 years FLORIDA | A3

FAMU-FSU engineering dean resigns

ALSO INSIDE

Edward Waters alumni meeting this month

JASON CAIRNDUFF/ZUMA PRESS/TNS

Palm Beach County resident Serena Williams celebrated during a second round win in the French Open in Paris.

Williams also defeated Broward County native Sloane Stephens in a three-set match as she worked her way through the tournament.

Obamacare enrollment down since February

BY NOAM N. LEVEY TRIBUNE WASHINGTON BUREAU / TNS

year, according to updated 2014 figures also released Tuesday.

WASHINGTON – Nationwide enrollment in health plans provided through the Affordable Care Act slipped to 10.2 million in March as consumers dropped coverage or failed to pay premiums on policies they selected, the Obama administration announced Tuesday.

That is down from 11.7 million sign-ups recorded in February when the 2015 enrollment period closed.

The tally still represents growth over 2014, when 6.3 million people were enrolled in health plans at the end of the

Millions assisted The new data also underscored how many consumers rely on federal insurance subsidies made available by the law. About 85 percent of 2015 enrollees are getting assistance to buy coverage on the marketplaces.

How long that assistance will remain available is unclear, however. The Supreme Court is expected to rule this month in a challenge that claims the law prohibits these subsidies in states that are not operating their own insurance marketplaces through the health law.

The law allows Americans who don’t get health benefits at work to shop among plans on state-based marketplaces operated by the federal government or by the states themselves, including California, Connecticut and Maryland.

Consumers making less than four times the federal poverty level – or about $97,000 for a family of four – qualify for subsidies. Insurers must provide a basic set of benefits and cannot turn away consumers, even if they are sick.

Numbers must increase Sustained growth in enrollment is considered key to reducing the number of uninsured and keeping premiums in check by getting healthier Americans into the market, key goals of the law.

“The health insurance marketplaces are working,” Health

and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Mathews Burwell said Tuesday.

Multiple surveys over the last year have recorded historic declines in the number of uninsured since the law’s major coverage expansion began in 2014.

RAND Corp., a nonprofit research firm, last month reported that the number of Americans without coverage declined by nearly 17 million.

Millions impacted The legal challenge before the Supreme Court may affect as many as 7.5 million consumers in 37 states.

There is also growing evidence that uncertainty over the case may be pushing up insurance premiums, as insurers prepare for major disruptions that would be caused by the elimination of subsidies.

COMMENTARY: CHARLES CHERRY II: RANDOM THOUGHTS OF A FREE BLACK MIND | A4 COMMENTARY: VICE PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN: ‘THINGS CAN CHANGE IN A HEARTBEAT’ | A5

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FOCUS

JUNE 5 – JUNE 11, 2015

Beware of social media devils Social media sites have turned into the devil’s playground!

When you think you are sharing and liking posts to and by friends and family, you are really working for people that hate you and want to control you!

Gone are the days when people talked to each other face-to-face.

Family get-togethers are pretty much a thing of the past, except on Thanksgiving and Christmas.

Don’t think about communicating by phone call or letter because people are too busy reading Facebook messages.

Wake them up If you want to make money, create a Black social media site.

Oh, I forgot; there are already hundreds of them!

You can “meet” Black people, you can “tweet” Black people, you can “snap” Black people. But someone needs to slap Black people and wake them up

LUCIUS GANTT THE GANTT REPORT

so they can see what social media is about these days!

Yes, I’m on social media sites.

But sometime this summer, I’ll be on there – but not on there!

I’ll be gone I plan to delete every personal profile I have on social media Internet sites. The Gantt Report pages will remain up, but only people who care about Black and African news and views visit and read posts on the TGR page anyway.

Lucius Gantt, the person, will delete his profile pages (Facebook and LinkedIn), because Lucius knows who the people are

More reasons

that collect everything you post on social media.

Let me tell you some people that are viewing you on social media. The sheriff is watching you. The police are watching you. So are the FBI, CIA, DEA, ATF, NSA, TSA KGB, Secret Service, Scotland Yard, Interpol and every other law enforcement agency in the world.

Don’t believe me?

Just post something about Islam. Say something provocative about President Obama or some other world leader. If you’re not political, just post a photo of you holding illegal weapons, doing drugs, or committing domestic violence. See what happens to you.

If you apply for a job, don’t think the person doing the hiring hasn’t seen your social media posts and profiles.

Not wanting to help the law is not the only reason that I need to get away from social media. How about these reasons?

I already know more about Jesus than the fake Christians on social media. I’m tired of seeing Black women post booty shots while standing in front of a mirror in a dirty, messy bathroom or bedroom.

I’m tired of people hacking the accounts of people I know who send me messages with viruses attached so they can hack into the account of people I know.

I’m tired of seeing beach pictures that look like every other beach.

I’m tired of seeing pictures of fast food and other unhealthy meal choices. I’m tired of seeing college sports teams instead of college scholars.

I’m tired of seeing your new “boo” who is nothing more than the flavor of the day. I’m tired of seeing “glamour shots” that make you look different than you really look.

And I’m tired of seeing people

GRADS poorly in the labor market and that is going to have long-term effects for them,” said Gould.

“Things have improved from the depths of the Great Recession, but for young workers, it’s still going to be slow going.”

Higher jobless rate

Higher costs Increasing college costs coupled with mountains of student loan debt may also make it harder for students to stay in school to earn advanced degrees.

“The cost of higher education has risen faster than typical family incomes, making it harder for families to pay for college,” stated the EPI report. “From the 1983–1984 enrollment year to the 2013–2014 enrollment year, the inflation adjusted cost of a fouryear education, including tuition, fees, and room and board, increased 125.7 percent for pri-

OBAMA from A1

ing the way for a new program that bans the National Security Agency from collecting and storing Americans’ telephone dialing records.

The Senate’s 67-32 vote reflected growing concerns about privacy, but also increasing unease among lawmakers that the abrupt expiration of the surveillance program, caused by congressional deadlock, posed a national security risk.

The new system allows intelligence agencies to access the same kind of call records, but only by requesting the information from telephone companies with a court order.

The USA Freedom Act, which was previously passed by the House, was sent to Obama, who quickly signed it.

“After a needless delay and inexcusable lapse in important national security authorities, my administration will work expeditiously to ensure our national security professionals again have the full set of vital tools they need to continue protecting the country,” Obama said Tuesday.

Snowden leaks First disclosed by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden in 2013, the NSA surveillance program sparked a national debate over where to draw the line be-

Nobody’s business I don’t want everybody to know where I’m going or where I have been. I don’t want people on social media to know if I got a new job or a new contract. I don’t want people on social media to know if I’m a self-made millionaire, or if I’m as poor as a church mouse!

Well, you went out and paid hundreds of dollars for an expensive “smartphone” and signed a multi-year service contract. So I guess you need social media to access your GNN (Ghetto News Network).

I ain’t mad at you. Good luck with it. Use social media if you wish, but don’t let it use you.

If I need to know what you’re doing, I’ll just ask “5-0” or the PoPo!

Buy Gantt’s books and contact Lucius at www.allworldconsultants.net.

go to college, because of increasing college costs and flat wages.

“Making college more affordable changes that equation,” said Gould.

Ultimately, the EPI report found that the down economy affects young workers in many of the same ways that it affects older workers and because the causes of their job struggles are the same, but so are many of the solutions. Researchers said that targeted jobs programs and investments in infrastructure would drive the economy toward full employment.

“The bottom line is that policies that will generate demand for U.S. goods and services and therefore demand for workers who provide them, policies that will bring down unemployment, policies that will give workers more power,” the report stated. “…Policies that will raise workers’ wages are the keys to giving young people a fighting chance as they enter the labor market during the aftermath of the Great Recession.”

from A1

Even though the unemployment rate for Black college graduates improved to 11.4 percent, it is still nearly three points higher than it was in 2007 (8.1 percent) before the Great Recession. The jobless rate for White college graduates had peaked at 9 percent in 2011, and the current unemployment rate at 5.8 percent is less than a percentage point from the 2007 rate of 5.1 percent.

“This suggests other factors may be in play, such as discrimination or unequal access to the informal professional networks that often lead to job opportunities,” stated the report.

Nearly half of college graduates younger than 27 years old are still working jobs that don’t require a college degree and those jobs “are of lower quality now than they used to be,” the report said.

that hate you pretending to be your “friend.”

COURTESY OF BETHUNE-COOKMAN UNIVERSITY

Members of Bethune-Cookman University’s Class of 2015 use a ‘selfie stick’ to memorialize graduation day. vate school and 129.0 percent for public school.”

Meanwhile, the median family income rose less than 17 percent over the same period.

Over the past decade (20042014), the number of borrowers has increased more than 90 percent and the average debt per borrower increased by 74 percent, according to the EPI report.

“When you have a period of sustained economic weakness like this and you have these lower wages, and you have all of these people idle, it can affect their jobs opportunities and earnings for up to a decade into the future,” said Davis.

High school worse

tween Americans’ privacy rights and the fight against terrorism.

The government had been secretly collecting millions of phone records in its pursuit of terrorists since 2001. The information did not reveal the contents of conversations, but included phone numbers dialed, calls received and the time and duration of calls.

Obama had sought to reform the program, which was enacted during the George W. Bush administration after the Sept.

11 attacks. But he kept it running while Congress struggled to agree on reforms. Last month a federal appeals court ruled that the NSA’s bulk collection program lacked legal authority.

terview released Tuesday, raising the possibility that the U.S. will allow a United Nations vote on issues related to the Palestinians if the two sides make no meaningful movement toward peace.

In an interview with an Israeli television station, Obama noted that his administration has “up until this point” quashed such efforts at the U.N. while insisting that the Israelis and Palestinians must negotiate a resolution. But he said it is a challenge for the U.S. to keep demanding that the Palestinians negotiate in good faith if no one believes the Israelis are doing the same.

“How do we move off what appears right now to be a hopeless situation and move it back towards a hopeful situation?”

Obama asked in the interview.

“That will require more than just words. That will require some actions. And that’s going to be hard work, though, because right now I think there’s not a lot of confidence in the process.”

In an interview with Israeli journalist Ilana Dayan, Obama drew parallels between the African-American experience and the Jewish one to justify continued support for Israel.

“In my mind, there is a direct line between the Jewish experience, the African-American experience, and as a consequence, we have, I hope, a special empathy and a special regard for those who are being mistreated because of the color of their skin or the nature of their faith,” Obama said.

Phased in The bill will allow the NSA to temporarily restart its collection program, giving the government six months to switch to the new system. The NSA has said such a timeline is sufficient.

The bill also would reauthorize other parts of the PATRIOT Act that have been less contested, including the “lone wolf” provision, which allows the government to apply for court permission to wiretap an individual suspected of terrorist activities who is not part of a larger group, and another that allows the government to conduct “roving wiretaps” as suspects switch phones.

Tough talk to Israel Obama took a step toward a tougher line with Israel in an in-

High school graduates also struggle to find work. The unemployment rate for Black high school graduates rose to 42 percent in 2011 and is now roughly 30 percent; the jobless rate for White high school graduates is about 17 percent.

Those who can’t afford college are forced to compete in a weak labor market with older, more experienced workers. More than 23 percent of Black high school graduates fall into the gap between having a job and going to college, compared to 14.2 percent of their White peers.

Researchers suggested that because the majority of workers

aged 17-24 years-old have less than a college degree, including more than 90 percent of Black workers, policymakers need to focus on providing them with access to good jobs and stable employment that “allows them to build a career or pay for further schooling.”

Program may help President Obama’s “America’s College Promise” proposal to provide students with free tuition to attend community colleges for two years may also give high school graduates a boost.

Gould said that, on the individual level, it may or may not be a good investment for people to

Lobbying Democrats On the international trade front, Obama is putting new pressure on reluctant lawmakers in the U.S. House to win final passage of fast-track trade authority. He is sticking to the same playbook he used to push the bill through the Senate last month, granting interviews promoting trade with local television stations, making speeches and offering cover to Democrats who are on the fence.

House Democrats largely oppose Obama’s trade agenda.

Democrats face growing pressure from labor unions, which historically provide the party with campaign support. Unions have told voters that Obama’s Asia-Pacific trade deal, the Trans-Pacific Partnership, will lead to more jobs shipped overseas.

Bill Samuel, director of government affairs for the AFL-CIO, said in a telephone interview that the trade bill is about 20 to 30 votes short of a majority in the House, with as many as 90 percent of House Democrats opposed.

Veterans honored Obama awarded two World War I veterans posthumous Medals of Honor at the White House on Tuesday, citing discrimination against Jewish-Americans and Black Americans for the decadeslong delay in honoring the two.

Army Pvt. Henry Johnson, a member of the all-Black 369th Infantry Regiment, was honored for his response to a nighttime

Suggested changes Kimball said that there are plenty of labor standards that policymakers can work on that can boost the bargaining power that workers have, including raising the minimum wage, updating the overtime salary threshold and ensuring greater access to paid sick and parental leave for workers.

Davis said that the problems that young graduates face in the job market are not unique compared to the overall economy and that the fates of young graduates are tied to the overall economy. That’s why any solutions aimed at supporting graduates and helping them find jobs in today’s market will also help other workers in the labor force.

“When we raise the minimum wage, it usually translates to wage growth for everybody,” said Davis.

attack from German soldiers while he was on sentry duty in France in 1918, Obama said. His only companion wounded and his own gun jammed, Johnson fought instead with a knife and was himself wounded repeatedly but kept the Germans from capturing him and his fellow soldier.

Though he was lauded for his bravery at the time – depicted on military recruiting posters and honored by the French government – Johnson did not receive an award from the United States.

He died in poverty at age 32, and was awarded a Purple Heart in 1996 – 78 years after the fight.

A 1993 study commissioned by the Army found racial disparities in the awarding of Medals of Honor. The first African-American World War I veteran to get the award was honored just two years before that, nearly threequarters of a century after the end of the war.

Army Sgt. William Shemin also received the Medal of Honor for service in World War I. In 1918, Obama said, Shemin, who was Jewish, repeatedly exposed himself to enemy fire in order to rescue injured soldiers, and later took control of his platoon after commanding officers had been killed.

Colin Diersing, Lisa Mascaro, Michael A. Memoli and Christi Parsons of the Tribune Washington Bureau / TNS; and Toluse Olorunnipa and Justin Sink of Bloomberg News / TNS all contributed to this report.

JUNE 5 – JUNE 11, 2015

FLORIDA

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Governor Scott vetoes bills on convenience stores, insurance

BY JIM TURNER THE NEWS SERVICE OF FLORIDA

TALLAHASSEE – Gov. Rick Scott vetoed bills Tuesday that were intended to increase convenience-store security and to give policyholders more options as the state seeks to move them out of Citizens Property Insurance Corp.

Scott said one measure (HB 755) would force convenience stores to add “potentially costly security.” The second bill (HB 1087), he said, “undermines progress” in shifting policies into the private insurance market from the state-backed Citizens.

Lawmakers approved both bills without opposition during this spring’s regular legislative session.

Scott expressed concern in a letter to Secretary of State Ken Detzner about the state adding “overbroad, state-mandated” regulations by requiring a variety of security measures at convenience stores.

“Mandating compliance with the security standards in the bill would place a significant new financial burden on these small businesses, which is unnecessary,” Scott wrote. “I believe family owned small businesses, working with their landlords, can better decide the appropriate security infrastructure for their businesses.”

More security, policies The legislation, sponsored by Rep. Charlie

Stone, R-Ocala, would have required convenience stores to have security camera systems, drop safes for restricted access to cash receipts, policies to limit cash after 11 p.m. and height markers at the doors.

Any convenience store where a murder, robbery, sexual battery, or aggravated assault occurred would have been required to have two employees on the clock when open between 11 p.m. and 5 a.m.

The bill would also have required all employees at such locations to receive robbery-deterrence and safety training within 60 days of being hired.

Policyholder provision In a separate letter to Detzner, Scott expressed concerns about a provision in the Citizensbacked bill (HB 1087) that would have allowed policyholders to choose to get no more than one “takeout” offer every six months.

“This provision is inherently unfair to Citizens policyholders in that it limits policyholders’ private market options, which means they may miss an opportunity to move to a better property insurance alternative,” Scott said in the letter.

Scott’s second issue with the legislation, sponsored by Rep. Michael Bileca, R-Miami, was a provision that would have allowed policyholders to return to Citizens after being insured by private carriers.

“This perpetuates reliance on Citizens, which increases the potential for

burdensome assessments on Florida families,” Scott wrote.

The legislation also would have allowed consumers to retain eligibility for Citizens insurance through its clearinghouse if private insurers increase initial premiums by more than 10 percent within 36 months after policyholders are moved out of Citizens.

Fewer policies Work to reduce the size of Citizens has shrunk the number of policies from 1.5 million in 2012 to 591,883 policies as of April 30.

“We supported the bill in its final form and will continue to work with its sponsors and other stakeholders,” Citizens spokesman Michael Peltier said in an email after veto.

The bill also sought to require that Citizens customers be told when one or more private insurers expressed interest in assuming their policies. Also, a policy couldn’t have been removed from Citizens unless the policyholder received information that could be used to compare takeout offers.

The vetoes came as Scott signed 17 other bills into law, including a measure (HB 779) that will require tenants to receive 30 days notice before they can be evicted from foreclosed homes and a bill (HB 239) that will impose a maximum fine of $10,000 or the amount of the purse, whichever is greater, if prohibited medications are found in a racing horse or greyhound.

STEPHEN M. DOWELL/ORLANDO SENTINEL/TNS

Several Orlando City players try to get the ball into the goal against the Columbus Crew on May 30 at the Citrus Bowl in Orlando. The teams tied, 2-2.

Orlando City Soccer to privately build stadium THE NEWS SERVICE OF FLORIDA

Soccer franchise Orlando City is going forward with plans for a downtown soccer-only stadium, privately paying for a project that has been waiting months for state lawmakers to act on a funding package for stadium-construction projects.

Orlando City majority owner Flavio Augusto da Silva announced on May 29 that the first year Major League Soccer franchise, which is drawing more than 37,000 people per match, will build a 25,000- to 28,000-seat stadium.

“We’ll fund this project 100 percent privately,” Augusto da Silva announced during a live-streamed media event. “This is a big signal of how we believe in this city, how we believe in this community, how we believe in these people and this marketplace and these fans.”

The goal is to start building as soon as possible so the stadium can open next summer, he added.

Other projects Orlando and Orlando City have been

ACADEMIC EXCELLENCE FOR BLACK STUDENTS. NO EXCUSES. The classic guide from Florida Courier publisher, lawyer and broadcaster CHARLES W. CHERRY II PRAISE FOR ‘EXCELLENCE WITHOUT EXCUSE’: “This guide for African-American college-bound students is packed with practical and insightful information for achieving academic success...The primary focus here is to equip students with the savvy and networking skills to maneuver themselves through the academic maze of higher education.”

– Book review, School Library Journal • How low expectations of Black students’ achievements can get them higher grades; • Want a great grade? Prepare to cheat!

• How Black students can program their minds for success; • 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!

www.excellencewithoutexcuse.com Download immediately as an eBook or a pdf Order softcover online, from Amazon, or your local bookstore ISBN#978-1-56385-500-9 Published by International Scholastic Press, LLC Contact Charles at ccherry2@gmail.com

Facebook ccherry2 excellencewithoutexcuse

for info on speeches, workshops, seminars, book signings, panel discussions.

Twitter @ccherry2

FAMU-FSU College of Engineering Dean resigns Dr. Yaw Yeboah announced Monday that he will step down as dean of the FAMU-FSU College of Engineering (COE) on July 31.

Yeboah became the fifth dean of the COE on July 1, 2012.

Marcella David, provost and vice president for Academic Affairs at FAMU, and Sally McRorie, interim provost and executive vice Dr. Yaw president for Academic AfYeboah fairs at FSU announced that Dr. Bruce Locke, former chair of the COE Department of Chemical & Biomedical Engineering and currently FSU associate provost, will assume the role of interim dean on Aug. 1.

“Dr. Yeboah has my heartiest thanks

Universities seek to fill trustee vacancies THE NEWS SERVICE OF FLORIDA

With vacancies across the state, the Florida Board of Governors is seeking applicants to serve on university boards of trustees. Each state university has a 13-member board of trustees that oversees operations and programs.

The Board of Governors said in a news release Monday that the Florida A&M University board has four vacant positions while the University of Central Florida has three vacancies.

Universities with two vacancies are Florida Atlantic University, Florida Gulf Coast University, Florida International University, Florida Polytechnic University, Florida State University, New College of Florida, the University of Florida, the University of North Florida, the University of South Florida and the University of West Florida, according to the release.

Apply at http://www.flbog.edu/aboutsus/vacancies.php.

Cruise line can sue business bureau After being stung by a negative rating, Caribbean Cruise Line, Inc., can pursue a lawsuit against the Better Business Bureau of Palm Beach County, according to a ruling Wednesday by a state appeals court.

The cruise line filed the lawsuit after receiving an “F” grade from the Better Business Bureau, but a Palm Beach County circuit judge dismissed the case.

A three-judge panel of the 4th District

among four projects seeking legislative approval to receive sales-tax dollars for construction or renovation. However, the odds continue to dwindle that the money will get approved.

Lawmakers had set aside a $7 million pot of money for stadium projects in 2014.

Applications were submitted from Orlando, Daytona International Speedway, Sun Life Stadium, which houses the Miami Dolphins, and EverBank Field in Jacksonville. But lawmakers ended this spring’s legislative session without approving money for any of the projects.

Orlando City had been planning an $85 million stadium that would seat 19,500, with the hope of receiving an additional $30 million from the state to expand the seating. Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer said under the plan announced last Friday the city will sell the land to Orlando City at a fair market rate instead of the land being donated.

Orlando City will also pay the city to relocate storm-water retention facilities, which could cost about $3 million, Dyer said. “I cannot think of a more win-win scenario,” Dyer concluded. “I was going to say home run, but it doesn’t fit with the right sport.” and appreciation for his dedication and commitment to the FAMU-FSU College of Engineering,” McRorie said. “He has been a steadfast leader dedicated to student success and to raising the profile of the College.”

McRorie added, “As he prepares to assume the role and responsibilities of full professor with tenure later this summer, it is clear that his support of students, faculty, programming, and alumni in his department and in the entire College will remain unwavering.”

A national search for the next dean of the College will begin in the fall.

David noted that, pursuant to ongoing planning to strengthen the joint College, the tenure home for the next dean will rotate to Florida A&M University.

“We are looking forward to selecting a dean who will continue to build on past efforts to grow and strengthen the joint College and serve the needs of both FAMU and FSU,” she said.

Court of Appeal agreed Wednesday that the cruise line could not pursue a defamation claim, but said it could pursue a claim under a law known as the Florida Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act. That claim involves representations made by the Better Business Bureau about its process for rating and investigating businesses – not the actual opinions expressed by the Better Business Bureau.

The lawsuit alleges that the Better Business Bureau is deceptive on issues such as representing that it has an unbiased rating system, according to the ruling.

Edward Waters alumni to meet this month in Orlando The Edward Waters College National Alumni Association is holding its 2015 National Convention June 25-28 in Orlando. The convention is held every two years attracting alumni from around the country.

This year’s convention will be held in the Embassy Suites Hotel/Orlando Airport, 5835 T.G. Lee Blvd.

New officers for the alumni association will be elected during the convention. The convention offiNat Glover cially kicks off with a welcome reception honoring Edward Waters College President Nat Glover on June 25 at 7 p.m.

Register online at www.eventbrite. com/e/ewc-alumni-national-conventionorlando-florida-tickets-16697554836.

EDITORIAL

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JUNE 5 – JUNE 11, 2015

Obama invokes civil rights movement to defend Israel What should one expect when the First Black President of the world’s first apartheid state attempts to defend Israel, the planet’s last surviving apartheid state?

Pure nonsense.

Like most American politicians, President Obama takes on the ethic and political coloration of whomever he’s trying to impress.

In the current issue of The Atlantic Monthly, Obama cozied up to Zionist writer (and former Israeli solider) Jeffrey Goldberg by swearing everlasting love for the state of Israel.

Leave us out Again, standard behavior for Democrats and Republicans – but this time, Obama couldn’t resist dragging Black folks into his political fantasy. If Obama wants to kiss Zionist butt, he should do it with his own lips, and leave Black America out of it.

deformity left in the world, since the demise of the White South African regime – Israel’s close partner in crime – two decades ago.

GLEN FORD BLACK AGENDA REPORT

Obama told Goldberg he sees “a direct line between supporting the right of the Jewish people to have a homeland and to feel safe and free of discrimination and persecution, and the right of African-Americans to vote and have equal protection under the law.”

In Obama’s mind, “These things are indivisible.”

By equating the Zionist state’s racial and religious policies with the U.S. civil rights movement, Obama is committing the gravest slander against African-Americans –a “blood libel.”

Israel is a full-fledged apartheid state, the only such governmental

South Africans know Black and White South Africans are well aware that Israel is the last bastion of the racially-based state. Bishop Desmond Tutu, who supports boycotts and economic sanctions against Israel, says segregation on Israeli highways and in housing reminds him “so much of conditions” Blacks experienced under White rule in his own country.

White South African John Dugard, a former United Nations Special Rapporteur, says “Israel’s crimes are infinitely worse than those committed by the apartheid regime in South Africa.”

Indeed, an article in the popular Israeli newspaper Haaretz points out that the Zionist state

VISUAL VIEWPOINT: OBAMA’S SECOND TERM LEGACY

NATE BEELER, THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

Random thoughts of a free Black mind, v. 258 “Dads cry in the dark” (paraphrasing Michael Baisden) – I’ve liked and respected Joe Biden a long time. Why? Because he’s been through some shit – that’s the only way to say it. (Read his speech on Page A5.) So when his son Beau died from brain cancer at age 46, I cried.

I have an idea of the pain – though mine doesn’t approximates the vice president’s. I remember when my daughter Chip was stillborn, and the thoughts racing through my mind as I examined her body in the hospital room. For what seemed hours, my eyes scanned her from head to toe with a pause to look at a wisp of hair here, a tiny fingernail there.

There’s an overwhelming experience of helplessness that a parent feels in the face of the death of a child that I can’t describe. Joe Biden has had the unnaturally horrendous experience of burying two children in his lifetime.

And I understand completely when he says, “by focusing on my sons, I found my redemption” – much like Lisa and I focused on raising Chayla, then 3, and found comfort in the effort.

So as our family celebrated the accomplishments of Charles III (“Wig”) this week – fifth-grade graduation with many honors, being named the most outstanding chorister and student conductor of his 90-voice elementary school cho-

QUICK TAKES FROM #2: STRAIGHT, NO CHASER

CHARLES W. CHERRY II, ESQ. PUBLISHER

rus, an All-State vocalist – I’m reminded of how we dads “cry in the dark” during school plays, recitals, and concerts as we watch our kids live their dreams.

All we want is for them to be more successful, in their own individual ways, than we are or will be. I’m grateful to be able to see my two grow up thus far.

This week, I grieve with Joe Biden; with the family of James “Uncle Coot” Spencer, a hardworking, responsible father; and with Tangela Sears of Miami, who lost her son (also a father) to senseless violence…

Contact me at ccherry2@gmail.com; holler at me at www.facebook.com/ ccherry2 and ‘like’ the Florida Courier and Daytona Times pages. Follow the Florida Courier (@flcourier), the Daytona Times (@daytonatimes) and me (@ccherry2) on Twitter. Click on this story at www.flcourier.com to write your own response.

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.

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has elements of both “petty” and “grand” apartheid – petty apartheid in effective segregation in public accommodations and transportation, and grand apartheid in terms of where people are allowed to live and work, especially on the occupied West Bank.

The Israeli government hastily cancelled a plan to segregate Jewish settlers and Palestinians on a bus line into the West Bank last month, fearing the publicity would evoke memories of Rosa Parks and the Montgomery bus boycott. As it should.

Still segregated The United States was the world’s first apartheid state, and remains a deeply segregated country whose politics are dominated by White racism. So much so, that a Black U.S. president cannot figure out a way to defend Israel without reference

to Black America.

In the sickest of political contortions, Obama invoked the U.S. civil rights movement as a way of holding out hope that Israel can break away from a deeper descent into apartheid by following the U.S. example. Which is not good news for the Palestinians.

In 1975, the United Nations General Assembly declared, “Zionism is a form of racism and racial discrimination.” The resolution was revoked after the Soviet Union dissolved, but it remains true, nonetheless.

Civilization demands that the Zionist state be dismantled, root and branch.

Glen Ford is executive editor of BlackAgendaReport.com. Email him at Glen.Ford@BlackAgendaReport.com.

How many more will we mourn?

Freddie Gray wasn't the only person to die at the hands of the police in April.

Before Mr. Gray suffered three broken vertebrae during the course of his arrest by Baltimore police, 17-year-old Justus Howell was fatally shot by an unidentified officer in Zion, Ill. Both deaths were ruled homicides.

On the day that Mr. Gray was laid to rest, local and federal law enforcement officers arrived at the home of 20-year-old Terrance Kellom, a suspect in a robbery case. Ten minutes later he was dead, shot several times for reasons that remain unclear.

Then there was 37-yearold Natasha McKenna. This 130-pound woman died after she was Tasered four times by the Fairfax, Va. police Feb. 3, with her hands cuffed behind her back and her legs shackled. Police say they are still investigating.

Hundreds dead More than 400 people have died while in police custody this year. The list keeps growing, according to an online database that compiles news reports of instances of use of deadly force.

The number of people both severely and fatally injured while in police custody underscores a distressing symptom of the untested and overaggressive policing culture that has become commonplace in communities of color all across the country.

How many more lives of unarmed Black men and women, tragically and senselessly killed by police, will our nation have to mourn before our country

CORNELL WILLIAM BROOKS GUEST COMMENTARY

moves to fix its unjust and ineffective criminal justice system?

The NAACP says no more. One of our most recent achievements: the NAACP alongside its valiant coalition partners helping to dismantle the practice of stop and frisk in New York and leveraging a successful collaborative campaign to pass anti-racial profiling and police accountability measures.

Now the NAACP is doubling down on advocating for body-worn cameras, car cameras and gun and Taser cameras. Additionally, we must deploy the use of independent investigation bodies and the use of civilian review boards.

Here are three simple ways that you can help.

• Join the NAACP. When you become a member of the NAACP, you are doing more than joining an organization; you are becoming a part of a community. Our membership community is the reason we've been able to protect, defend, and fight for our civil rights and human rights for over a century.

• Help us pass the End Racial Profiling Act. The End Racial Profiling Act has been re-introduced in both the U.S. Senate the U.S. House of Representatives.

The End Racial Profiling Act comprehensively addresses the insidious practice of biased treatment by law enforcement because of who you are, or who you are perceived to be, by law

enforcement.

Call your U.S. senators and representative in Washington and tell them to pass the End Racial Profiling Act. The switchboard phone number is (202) 2243121.

• Support America's Journey for Justice. Last year, our "Journey for Justice" campaign began with a 134-mile, 7-day march from Ferguson to Jefferson City, Mo., to join members of the Ferguson community in protesting the death of Michael Brown at the hands of the police, and to provide leadership to the predominantly young activists, participants in democracy.

This year, we are continuing our work with America's Journey for Justice – a trek along the 850-mile route from Selma, Ala., to Washington, D.C., through Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina and Virginia – to highlight the need for criminal justice and voting reforms because our lives matter and our children deserve to live.

Every American deserves the opportunity to grow and thrive and reach their full potential. And every American child has the potential to become our nation's leading scientists, entrepreneurs, scholars, lawmakers and law enforcement officials. It is us who must protect them.

The NAACP will fight to ensure that communities of color are judged by the content of their character and not by the color of their skin in the eyes of the law. For 106 years, this is what we have stood for and we will not waver.

Cornell William Brooks is president/CEO of the Baltimore-based NAACP.

Women are the stronger sex The May 30 edition of The Economist leads with a provocative, informative and instructive article, heralding “social change” the like of which the world has not seen since decolonization and desegregation during the 1960s.

The change in this case refers to the way women are poised to dominate the ranks of traditional professions, including law, dentistry, accounting, and pharmacy; so much so that one can fairly analogize the representation of women and men on organizational charts in these professions (in the United States) to that of Blacks and Whites on similar charts in the NBA and NFL. And it’s only a matter of time before women and Blacks dominate the top positions, respectively, as well.

With all due respect to The Economist, however, the media have been replete in recent years with stories about young women replacing middle-aged (mostly White) men in professional workplaces across the globe. Less covered but no less transformative, though, is the way technology is making mid-

ignorance or foolish pride prevents them from doing so.

ANTHONY L. HALL, Correct way ESQ. FLORIDA COURIER COLUMNIST

dle-aged men in blue-collar jobs not only redundant but also unemployable.

I already knew This unfolding reversal of gender roles was clear for any college student during the 1980s to see.

Not least because, even though boys always had the most to say in all of my classes, girls always ended up with the best grades.

But, unlike many of my male contemporaries, I wholly embraced female empowerment. In fact, I was quite unabashed in championing it as soon as I had a public platform to do so.

Now, lest you begin feeling sorry for these endangered species, bear in mind that middle-aged men can avail themselves of many continuing education and/ or retraining opportunities that could lead to gainful employment. Only willful

Moreover, here is the dispassionate but correct way The Economist distilled the transformative challenge this reversal of gender roles presents: “Women have learned that they can be surgeons and physicists without losing their femininity. Men need to understand that traditional manual jobs are not coming back, and that they can be nurses or hairdressers [or stay-at-home dads/househusbands] without losing their masculinity.”

I hope they man up and rise to the occasion. But here’s to the stronger sex.

To say, “You’ve come a long way, baby,” now has real meaning.

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.

JUNE 5 – JUNE 11, 2015

EDITORIAL

A5

‘I needed my children more than they needed me’ Editor’s note: Here are excerpts from Vice President Joe Biden’s speech to Yale University graduates on May 17. Biden’s oldest son, Beau, died of brain cancer a few weeks later at the age of 46.. …(T)here’s nothing particularly unique about me. With regard to resilience and compassion, there are countless thousands of people, maybe some in the audience, who’ve suffered through personal losses similar to mine or much worse with much less support to help them get through it and much less reason to want to get through it.

It’s not that all that difficult, folks, to be compassionate when you’ve been the beneficiary of compassion in your lowest moments not only from your family, but from your friends and total strangers. Because when you know how much it meant to you, you know how much it mattered.

Tough mom I was raised by a tough, compassionate Irish lady named Catherine Eugenia Finnegan Biden. And she taught all of her children that, but for the grace of God, there go you. And a father who lived his motto that family was the beginning, the middle, and the end.

I learned early on what I wanted to do, what fulfilled me the most, what made me happy – my family, my faith, and being engaged in the public affairs that gripped my generation and being inspired by a young president named Kennedy – civil rights, the environment, trying to end an incredibly useless and divisive war, Vietnam.

The truth is, though, that neither I, nor anyone else, can tell you what will make you happy, help you find success.

You each have different comfort levels. Everyone has different goals and aspirations. But one thing I’ve observed, an expression my dad would use often, is real.

He used to say, “It’s a lucky man or woman gets up in the morning.” It’s a lucky man or woman gets up in the morning, puts both feet on the floor, knows what they’re about to do, and thinks it still matters.

I’ve been lucky And my wish for all of you is that not only tomorrow, but 20 and 40 and 50 years from now, you’ve found that sweet spot, that thing that allows you to get up in the morning, put both feet on the floor, go out and pursue what you love, and think it still matters.

Some of you will go to Silicon Valley and make great contributions to empower individuals and societies and maybe even design a life-changing app – like how to unsubscribe to the “Obama for America” email list.

Some of you will go to Wall Street and big Wall Street law firms, government and activism, Peace Corps, Teach for America.

You’ll become doctors, researchers, journalists, artists, actors, musicians.

But all of you have one thing in common you will all seek to find that sweet spot that satisfies your ambition and success and happiness.

Find balance I’ve met an awful lot of people in my career. I’ve made certain basic observation about the ones who from my observation wherever they were in the world were able to find that sweet spot between success and happiness.

Those who balance life and career, who find purpose and fulfillment, and where ambition leads them.

There’s no silver bullet, no single formula, no reductive list. But they all seem to understand that happiness and success result from an accumulation of thousands of little things built on character, all of which have certain common features, in my observation.

Be engaged First, the most successful and happiest people I’ve known understand that a good life at its core is about being personal. It’s about being engaged. It’s about being there for a friend or a colleague when they’re injured or in an accident, remembering the birthdays, congratulating them on their marriage, celebrating the birth of their child.

It’s about being available to

JOE BIDEN VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES

them when they’re going through personal loss. It’s about loving someone more than yourself.

It all seems to get down to being personal. That’s the stuff that fosters relationships. It’s the only way to breed trust in everything you do in your life.

An example After only four months in the United States Senate, as a 30-year-old kid, I was walking through the Senate floor to go to a meeting with Majority Leader Mike Mansfield. And I witnessed another newly elected senator, the extremely conservative Jesse Helms, excoriating Ted Kennedy and Bob Dole for promoting the precursor of the Americans with Disabilities Act. When I walked into Mansfield’s office, I must have looked as angry as I was. He was in his late 70s, lived to be 100. And he looked at me, he said, “What’s bothering you, Joe?” I said, “That guy Helms, he has no social redeeming value.

He doesn’t care about people in need. He has a disregard for the disabled.”

Majority Leader Mansfield then proceeded to tell me that three years earlier, Jesse and Dot Helms, sitting in their living room in early December before Christmas, reading an ad in the Raleigh Observer, (saw) the picture of a young man, 14 years old with braces on his legs up to both hips, saying, “All I want is someone to love me and adopt me.” He looked at me and he said, “And they adopted him, Joe.” I felt like a fool. He then went on to say, “Joe, it’s always appropriate to question another man’s judgment, but never appropriate to question his motives because you simply don’t know his motives.”

From that moment on, I tried to look past the caricatures of my colleagues and try to see the whole person. Never once have I questioned another man’s or woman’s motive.

Something changed If you notice, every time there’s a crisis in the Congress the last eight years, I get sent to the Hill to deal with it. It’s because every one of those men and women up there – whether they like me or not – know that I don’t judge them for what I think they’re thinking.

Because when you question a man’s motive, when you say they’re acting out of greed, they’re in the pocket of an interest group, etc., it’s awful hard to reach consensus. It’s awful hard having to reach across the table and shake hands. No matter how bitterly you disagree, though, it is always possible if you question judgment and not motive.

Worked together Senator Helms and I continued to have profound political differences, but early on we both became the most powerful members of the Senate running the Foreign Relations Committee.

But something happened. The mutual defensiveness began to dissipate. As a result, we began to be able to work together in the

interests of the country. And we passed some of the most significant legislation passed in the last 40 years.

We were able to do these things not because he changed his mind, but because in this new relationship it is required to play fair, to be straight. The cheap shots ended.

After that, we went on as he began to look at the other side of things and do some great things together that he supported, like the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), which George W. Bush deserves an overwhelming amount of credit for.

(It) provided treatment and prevention HIV/AIDS in Africa and around the world, literally saving millions of lives.

Resist the temptation of your generation to let “network” become a verb that saps the personal away, that blinds you to the person right in front of you, blinds you to their hopes, their fears, and their burdens. Build real relationships – even with people with whom you vehemently disagree.

Everyone is equal The second thing I’ve noticed is that although you know no one is better than you, every other persons is equal to you and deserves to be treated with dignity and respect.

I’ve worked with eight presidents, hundreds of senators. I’ve met every major world leader literally in the last 40 years. And I’ve had scores of talented people work for me. Here’s what I’ve observed.

Regardless of their academic or social backgrounds, those who had the most success and who were most respected and therefore able to get the most done were the ones who never confused academic credentials and societal sophistication with gravitas and judgment.

Don’t forget about what doesn’t come from this prestigious diploma – the heart to know what’s meaningful and what’s ephemeral; and the head to know the difference between knowledge and judgment.

Reality intrudes

imparted to each of us, I not only got help. But by focusing on my sons, I found my redemption.

I can remember my mother – a sweet lady – looking at me, after we left the hospital, and saying, “Joey, out of everything terrible that happens to you, something good will come if you look hard enough for it.”

The incredible bond I have with my children is the gift I’m not sure I would have had, had I not been through what I went through.

Who knows whether I would have been able to appreciate at that moment in my life…what my first obligation was?

Daily commute So I began to commute – never intending to stay in Washington. I was supposed to be sworn in with everyone else that year in ’73, but I wouldn’t go down. So Mansfield…sent up the secretary of the Senate to swear me in, in the hospital room with my children.

And I began to commute thinking I was only going to stay a little while – four hours a day, every day – from Washington to Wilmington, which I’ve done for over 37 years. I did it because I wanted to be able to kiss them goodnight and kiss them in the morning the next day. No “Ozzie and Harriet” breakfast or great familial thing, just climb in bed with them.

Because I came to realize that a child can hold an important thought, something they want to say to their mom and dad, maybe for 12 or 24 hours, and then it’s gone. And when it’s gone, it’s gone. And it all adds up.

But looking back on it… the real reason I went home every night was that I needed my children more than they needed me.

Missed nothing Some at the time wrote and suggested that Biden can’t be a serious national figure. “If he was, he’d stay in Washington more, attend to more important events.

It’s obvious he’s not serious. He goes home after the last vote.”

But I realized I didn’t miss a thing.

Ambition is really important.

You need it. And I certainly have never lacked in having ambition.

But ambition without perspective can be a killer. I know a lot of you already understand this.

Some of you really had to struggle to get here. And some of you have had to struggle to stay here. And some of your families made enormous sacrifices for this great privilege. And many of you faced your own crises, some unimaginable.

But the truth is all of you will go through something like this.

You’ll wrestle with these kinds of choices every day. But…you can find the balance between ambition and happiness, what will make you really feel fulfilled.

And along the way, it helps a great deal if you can resist the temptation to rationalize – her birthday really doesn’t matter that much to her, and this business trip is just a great opportunity; this won’t be his last game, and besides, I’d have to take the redeye to get back. We can always take this family vacation another time. There’s plenty of time.

But even if you get these things right, I’ve observed that most people who are successful and happy remembered a third thing: Reality has a way of intruding.

I got elected in a very improbable year. Richard Nixon won my state overwhelmingly. George McGovern was at the top of the ticket. I got elected as the secondyoungest man in the history of the United States to be elected, the stuff that provides and fuels raw ambition. And if you’re not careful, it fuels a sense of inevitability that seeps in.

But be careful. Things can change in a heartbeat. I know.

And so do many of your parents.

Six weeks after my election, my whole world was altered forever.

While I was in Washington hiring staff, I got a phone call. My wife and three children were Christmas shopping, a tractor-trailer broadsided them and killed my wife and killed my daughter. And they weren’t sure that my sons would live.

Many people have gone through things like that. But be- Incredible pressure cause I had the incredible good For your generation, there’s an fortune of an extended family, incredible amount of pressure on grounded in love and loyalty, im- all of you to succeed, particularly bued with a sense of obligation now that you have accomplished

so much. Your whole generation faces this pressure.

You race to do what others think is right in high school. You raced through the bloodsport of college admissions. You raced through Yale for the next big thing. And all along, some of you compare yourself to the success of your peers on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter.

Today, some of you may have found that you slipped into the self-referential bubble that validates certain choices. And the bubble expands once you leave this campus, the pressures and anxiousness, as well – take this job, make that much money, live in this place, hang out with people like you, take no real risks and have no real impact, while getting paid for the false sense of both.

But resist that temptation to rationalize what others view is the right choice for you – instead of what you feel in your gut is the right choice – that’s your North Star. Trust it. Follow it.

Let me conclude I’m not going to moralize about to whom much is given, much is expected, because most of you have made of yourself much more than what you’ve been given.

But now you are in a privileged position. You’re part of an exceptional generation and doors will open to you that will not open to others. And as your parents will understand, my dad’s definition of success is when you look at your son and daughter and realize they turned out better than you.

But you’ll have opportunities.

Make the most of them and follow your heart. You have the intellectual horsepower to make things better in the world around you.

You’re also part of the most tolerant generation in history.

Here’s something else I observed – intellectual horsepower and tolerance alone does not make a generation great, unless you can break out of the bubble of your own making – technologically, geographically, racially, and socioeconomically – to truly connect with the world around you.

It matters If your sister is the victim of domestic violence, you are violated. If your brother can’t marry the man he loves, you are lessened. And if your best friend has to worry about being racially profiled, you live in a circumstance not worthy of us. It matters.

So be successful. I sincerely hope some of you become millionaires and billionaires. But engage the world around you because you will be more successful and happier. And you can absolutely succeed in life without sacrificing your ideals or your commitments to others and family.

You’re on the cusp of some of the most astonishing breakthroughs in the history of mankind that’s going to change the way you live and the whole world works. But it will be up to you in this changing world to translate those unprecedented capabilities into a greater measure of happiness and meaning – not just for yourself, but for the world around you.

And I feel more confident for my children and grandchildren knowing that the men and women who graduate here today, here and across the country, will be in their midst. Congratulations, Class of 2015.

TOJ A6

NATION

JUNE 5 – JUNE 11, 2015

More killings, fewer residents Baltimore has recorded more homicides in a single month: There were 44 in December 1971 and 45 in August 1972.

But in that era, the city had approximately 908,000 residents — nearly 300,000 more than today.

Peter Moskos, a former Baltimore police officer who is an assistant professor at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York, called May the city’s deadliest month ever based on the per-capita homicide rate.

Baltimore’s homicide rate per 100,000 population in May was 6.1 — topping the rates in the early 1970s, Moskos wrote May 30 on his “Cop in the Hood” blog.

“Put another way, even if no other people had been murdered in Baltimore before May, and even if no more people were killed from today until 2016, Baltimore would still have an above average annual homicide rate just based on the May killings,” Moskos wrote.

LLOYD FOX/BALTIMORE SUN/TNS

Police investigate a shooting at North and Pennsylvania Avenues on May 18 in Baltimore.

May was deadliest month in Baltimore in 40 years 43 homicides recorded in city that claimed life of Freddie Gray

BY MARK PUENTE BALTIMORE SUN/TNS

With three men killed in shootings on May 31, Baltimore recorded its deadliest month in more than 40 years.

The 43 killings in May surpassed the 42 homicides the city saw in Au-

gust 1990, and left Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake defending police and her administration.

Speaking at a ceremony to honor McKenzie Elliott, a 3-year-old killed by a stray bullet in August, Rawlings-Blake said it’s time to stop finger-pointing and assigning blame for the recent violence.

The killing of AfricanAmericans in Baltimore has to stop, she said, noting that 189 of the 208 killed last year were Black men.

For the city to improve, all homicides need to drop,

Bill ends time in ‘the box’ for youthful offenders

BY GARRETT THEROLF LOS ANGELES TIMES/TNS

Daivion Davis, 21, was convicted of second-degree attempted murder and voluntary manslaughter in 2009 after he opened fire in a gang shooting that killed a 16-year-old honors student attending the homecoming football game at Wilson High School in Long Beach, Calif.

During his time at Barry J. Nidorf Juvenile Hall in Sylmar, he made more than three-dozen trips to the solitary confinement unit, Davis says.

Those stays, he says, ranged from four hours to 17 days. A few times, guards sent him there for fighting. At other times, they put him in “the box” for walking too slowly, not going to his room when ordered, for disrespecting staff or for drug possession.

Over time, he says, his anger grew, trips to solitary became more frequent, and his stays became longer.

In 2011, he says, he was transferred to a facility in Ventura where, for whatever reason, guards never put him into solitary confinement. “That’s when I finally started thinking better,” says Davis, who is now living in an apartment provided by a charity and attending Los Angeles Mission College.

National trend Juvenile and mental health advocates and offi-

cials nationwide have long debated whether placing young inmates like Davis in “the box,” or any form of solitary confinement, does more harm than good.

In May, Contra Costa County settled a lawsuit brought by two public interest law firms. The county agreed to stop putting juveniles in solitary confinement as a form of punishment or when doing so simply seemed expedient.

State legislators are pushing to pass a bill by summer’s end that would eliminate solitary confinement for juveniles except for detainees who become a physical threat to themselves or others — and prohibiting it even in those cases if the threat is caused by a mental illness. If the bill becomes law, California will join a national trend moving away from solitary confinement for juveniles.

116 so far in 2015 There isn’t one solution or one person who shoulders the blame, he said, adding that homicides af-

Juvenile solitary confinement The number of jurisdictions prohibiting punitive isolation has risen to 20 in recent years.

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concrete of California’s juvenile detention facilities has heard young detainees and guards talk about “the box” to describe the constantly looming threat.

A recent report showed that 43 percent of the youths at Camp Scudder in Santa Clarita spent more than 24 hours in solitary confinement. The department did not release the reasons behind the placements nor the mental health conditions of those affected.

‘Used abusively’

HI

Hard to track Detention facility officials’ use of terms such as “special handling unit” and “administrative segregation” make it difficult to track the number of juveniles in solitary confinement. As of 2011, the Department of Justice reported that 61,423 minors were being held in 2,047 juvenile facilities nationally, of which roughly one in five appear to have used some form of isolation.

In recent years, 19 states and the District of Columbia have ended the practice of punishing detain-

fect all residents in the city, not just those in the poorest neighborhoods.

“Too many people have died in our town,” he said the afternoon of May 31.

“Don’t point fingers or go to social media. Everybody has to look in the mirror and ask, ‘What are they doing?’”

The city’s 43rd homicide in May occurred late the morning of May 31, when two men were shot in the back in East Baltimore. One victim was pronounced dead at the scene at 11:37 a.m., according to

she added.

“We have to do better,” the mayor said. “We have to want more.”

City Councilman Brandon Scott, vice chair of the public safety committee, echoed that theme, saying it’s time for all Baltimoreans to have honest conversations about ways to stop the violence.

police, while the second victim walked into an area hospital.

The 41st and 42nd homicides took place hours earlier, when two men were fatally shot in the head, police said. The double homicide occurred around 1:15 a.m. in East Baltimore, police said.

Police did not identify the victims, a suspect or a motive in either shooting.

Sunday’s homicides — which brought the total for 2015 to 116 — came amid a continuing spike in shootings.

Police leaders and the mayor have not pinpointed a reason for the increase, and a spokeswoman for the Baltimore Police Department declined to comment on Sunday.

GA

SC

NJ

DC

LA FL

HI *Alabama, Georgia, Kansas, Louisiana, Michigan and Texas require administrative approval to extend time in punitive solitary confinement.

Source: Lowenstein Center for the Public Interest Graphic: Priya Krishnakumar, Los Angeles Times/TNS

ees younger than 18 by isolating them. New York City went one step further and banned solitary confinement for Rikers Island in-

mates up to age 21.

Anyone who has sat on the stainless steel stools of the spare day rooms or walked the grass-tufted

According to Los Angeles County’s Probation Department handbook, guards can send inmates to solitary confinement for “readjustment or administrative purposes” or to monitor them for mental health issues. The purpose, it says, is “to maintain order, safety and security.”

Los Angeles County Probation Chief Jerry Powers says that his department uses solitary confinement as little as possible and only to keep facilities safe, adding that when guards use it to punish detainees who do not pose a safety threat, the youths are sent there only for a matter of hours. “There is no box.

You think of ‘Cool Hand Luke’ when you think of the box.”

The bill, sponsored by Sen. Mark Leno, defines solitary confinement as any time a youth is restricted to a room or cell alone during waking hours.

“We know it’s going on,” says Leno, D-San Francisco. “We know it’s being used abusively. We need to define it, document it and limit it.”

Leno’s bill stipulates that inmates can be held in solitary only for the minimum time necessary to address the safety risk and establishes strict reporting requirements. It would al-

70 homicides in St. Louis Baltimore isn’t alone when it comes to a homicide increase.

As of Sunday, St. Louis recorded 70 homicides for the year, 18 ahead of the same period in 2014, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

Some Baltimore officials have speculated that the spike in violence can be partly attributed to the looting of drugs from pharmacies during riots that followed the death of Freddie Gray.

During April’s riots, thousands of dollars in narcotics and other drugs were stolen from more than 20 Baltimore pharmacies. Twentyseven pharmacies reported damage during the unrest.

The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and police are investigating the thefts, but neither knows how many opiates were taken. Investigators have yet to interview all the business owners.

low guards to use solitary confinement in juvenile correctional centers only when an inmate poses an immediate and substantial risk of harming others or threatening the security of the facility — and after less harmful options have been exhausted.

Mental health issue One recent study found that 92 percent of the incarcerated youths in Los Angeles County have at least a minor mental health diagnosis. The bill prohibits using solitary confinement on those whose mental illness is severe. But some experts expressed skepticism about the proposed solutions.

The bill requires staff to use their training, rather than solitary confinement, to restore calm, but training procedures don’t always work — especially when an inmate becomes detached from reality.

The bill also requires staff to send detainees to a mental health treatment facility rather than to solitary confinement, but regulations limit emergency hospitalizations to 72 hours, and hospitals often discharge youths sooner.

The American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, as well as the United Nations, have announced opposition to solitary confinement for juvenile offenders. A 2009 U.S. Department of Justice study showed that juvenile wards in solitary committed half of the 110 suicides over a four-year period in the late 1990s. More than two-thirds had been put into facilities for nonviolent offenses.

A 2002 Justice Department investigation of young inmates showed that many become anxious, paranoid and depressed even after very short periods of isolation.

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A Russian ballet with a

TWIST

PHOTO BY AARON MERVIN

The contemporary ballet story included more than 70 dancers from all levels of training.

Jacksonville Centre of the Arts presents a modern-day version of ‘The Firebird’

BY PENNY DICKERSON FLORIDA COURIER

R

eaching historic heights has been a penchant for Kezia Hendrix Rolle, executive director of the Jacksonville Centre of the Arts (JCA), since she founded the nonprofit as North Florida’s premiere training ground for pre-professional training dedicated to African-American students.

JCA is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization and an extension of Rolle’s first community recreation endeavor – Northside Centre of the Arts established in 1997.

Combined, the two programs are celebrating 18 years of achievement with its most aggressive production to date – “The Firebird.”

On May 31, JCA presented an original and contemporary adaptation of the 1910 Russian ballet at the ThrasherHorn Center for the Arts, located in the neighboring town of Orange Park.

“The JCA creative team has wanted to present our own production of “The Firebird” for many years to get out of the traditional recital and take dance to a new level” said Rolle. “We are giving the city of Jacksonville an opportunity to be exposed to more professional-level work with custom-made costumes, high definition sound, intelligent lighting and live video projection.”

Rolle selected the ThrasherHorn for its state-of-the-art amenities and more than 800 patrons filled the lower level and balcony to enjoy the yearend culmination of work endured by their children, relatives and friends.

PHOTO BY AARON MERVIN

A group of young dancers adorned in flowers and leaves charm the audience at the May 31 show in Jacksonville.

PHOTO BY PENNY DICKERSON/ FLORIDA COURIER

Kezia Hendrix Rolle is the executive director of the Jacksonville Centre of the Arts.

Embracing a new fire Curtis Williams mastered the daunting task of penning a contemporary ballet story that successfully cast more than 70 JCA dancers from six levels of training technique ranging from beginners to the most prestigious – dance theater.

Williams’ adaptation captured the essence of the classic ballet’s folk tale’s themes – good vs. evil – and further aligned with a traditional ballet production – movementbased art form that tells a story without words.

The city of New Orleans complete with Mardi Gras flare was the setting for Prince Julien, danced by Joshua Abott, who pursues a magical journey bereft by an evil and mysterious Monsieur Marcel embodied by Trenton Shakespeare]. The original ballet’s familiar motif of a red feather is “gifted” to the prince, then cursed by a spell. To overcome evil, he seeks the assist of an enchanting Firebird that represented goodwill and fortune.

PHOTO BY AARON MERVIN

Octavia Glymph and Joshua Abott were the lead dancers in “The Firebird.’’

African dance included “Our entire beginning is non-“Firebird’’ and it was challenging to include all of the dancers, so I created new roles and added parts like the garden scene,” stated Williams, who led a team of artistic directors consisting of Julie Williams, Emily Chapo, Dewitt Cooper and Val Salkinov.

“The essence of the story boils down to rather than trying to take ‘Firebird’ and re-writing. It was about rerouting it so that it’s taken out of Russia, placed in New Orleans, and then we determined how the story works,” explained Williams, whose dance expertise includes posts at Florida Ballet, Virginia Ballet Theatre and Balanchine in New York.

Transfer all of the aforementioned to the dance styles

of ballet, modern, jazz, tap and the results produced a one hour and 19-minute production complete with West African dance and live congas that tied-in Haitian rituals and a Zydeco club scene opener complete with a “King of Swing.”

Creative set The street sounds of blue jean clad tap dancers transitioned the scene from a manor house to a garden blooming with baby bird dancers adorned to resemble flowers.

With their varied textures of hair upswept in buns, budding ballerinas were costumed to mimic trees with 32 leaves individually handstitched on their sleeves by seamstresses charged with creative design fulfillment set forth by both Rolle and Williams.

In the end, unicorns

pranced and voodoo dolls outfitted in embellished, blue burlap all lyrically danced to Stravinsky’s original ballet score.

B-CU-bound dancer Octavia Glymph began dancing with JCA at the age of 8 and was cast as “The Firebird.” The Douglas Anderson High School senior danced “en pointe” for her first lead role ever and what may be her final stage performance.

This fall, she will shed her orthodontic braces, enroll at Bethune-Cookman University and leave ballet behind to major in criminal justice. Her career aspiration is to become an attorney.

“I love to dance; it’s just not something I want to pursue in life,” stated Glymph, who was handpicked by the JCA staff for the coveted role.

“Octavia was cast as the lead because she’s always had very clean technique and we wanted to do something special for her because she’s always been the underdog,” stated Rolle. “We wanted her to feel special and have

‘her time’ before she graduated by being “The Firebird.”

Glymph glided “pas de duex” with Abbot, whose seamless style and technique is also a manifestation of training with JCA since the age of 8.

Abbot is currently a senior dance major at Jacksonville University whose dream is to perform with The Dutch National Ballet. Addie Higgins was cast as the third lead and princess in a multicultural cast symbolic of Rolle’s commitment to artistic diversity.

Proud parents Throughout the 2014-15 season, JCA parents spent a large part of their children’s lives as artistic servants. They double-dutied as suburban taxi drivers, fetched quick meals between rehearsals or after classes, and watched funds dissipate from their bank accounts from tuition payments.

Tracy Bouldin extended the aforementioned with an additional role - president of “Parents for Fine Arts” at JCA, which is also a board of directors position.

For the past two years, Bouldin has led a legion of parents in organizing the production, acquiring sponsors, launching off-season fundraisers, and supporting Rolle in relocating the organization to the historic Stanton building in Jacksonville’s LaVilla District.

Bouldin, whose daughter Destiny has been training with JCA for seven years, is a staunch JCA advocate and community spokeswoman.

“I have kept Destiny at JCA because I believe in the product. I have seen Kezia’s work in the community and around the world, “ said Bouldin who is excited about presenting “The Firebird.”

See BALLET, Page B2

CALENDAR

B2

JUNE 5 – JUNE 11, 2015

STOJ

BALLET

FLORIDA COMMUNITY CALENDAR

from Page 1

Hollywood: Smokey Robinson takes the stage July 25 at Hard Rock Live Hollywood for an 8 p.m. show.

“It speaks well of the technique taught during class itself as opposed to the bells and whistles of a recital’s shimmer, glitz, and glamour,� offered Bouldin. “It allows the versatility of each dancer to be presented through many dance forms taught throughout the year.�

St. Petersburg: Bishop N.J. Taylor hosts a healing service at 7:30 p.m. every Friday at Faith Deliverance Church, 1700 Prescott St. Miracle cloths are given at each service.

Jacksonville: Saxophonist Kim Waters performs June 6 at the Ritz Theatre.

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. St. Petersburg: Talk-show host Wendy Williams takes her humor to the Mahaffey Theatre on July 18 for an 8 p.m. show.

Tampa: Comedian and actor Chris Tucker will perform June 12 at the Straz 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.

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.

Daytona Beach: Maze featuring Frankie Beverly will perform June 14 at The Peabody Auditorium.

Trailblazing leader

KENNY ‘BABYFACE EDMUNDS

Tickets are on sale for a July 25 show with Kenny “Babyface’’ Edmonds at the Mahaffey Theatre in St. Petersburg.

MAVIS STAPLES JOAN OSBORNE

Tickets are on sale for a Nov. 22 show at Clearwater’s Ruth Eckerd Hall featuring Mavis Staples and Joan Osborne.

‘SOUL CROONERS’

Miami: Sam Smith performs July 20 at the AmericanAirlines Arena and July 21 at the Amalie Arena in Tampa.

Catch “ Soul Crooners,’’ a June 18-21 show at the Straz Center for the Performing Arts in Tampa. Nate Jacobs, founding artistic director of Sarasota’s Westcoast Black Theatre Troupe, has written and adapted the show that includes over 40 soul songs.

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.

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.

The parent exhibiting the most pride was executive director Rolle whose 16-year-old daughter Kaila Justice has been training under her mother’s tutelage for 10 years. Justice had to forgo “The Firebird� experience to prepare for her role in Theatre Jacksonville’s production of “Hairspray.�

If family legacy is any indication, she will be a trailblazing star like her mother, who was cast as the first African-American “Barbie� at Walt Disney World Resorts where she started her performance career after earning a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in dance at Jacksonville University.

She is a former member of the Orlando Magic dance team and has been employed by Busch Gardens as a dance captain as well. An accomplished model, Rolle was named one of Jacksonville’s “Ten Most Beautiful Women� in 2014 and has devoted the last 20 years of her life building a program that boasts alumni on tours with “Cirque Du Soleil� and Ailey II/Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre. “Ending this season with ‘The Firebird’ marks the beginning of JCA moving forward and continuing to rise as an artistic leader that sets the standard,� said Rolle. “We are grateful for the opportunity and look forward to an even wider audience in 2016.�

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JUNE 5 – JUNE 11, 2015

PERSONAL FINANCE

B3

Young spenders often want food fast, healthy Many millennials are hungry for higher quality foods at affordable price points

BY ALEJANDRA CANCINO CHICAGO TRIBUNE/TNS

Darren Tristano’s daughter had a definite preference when it came to where she wanted to celebrate her 16th birthday: She wanted to go to Panera Bread, a favorite among her peers.

“That’s when you know fast casual has arrived,” said Tristano, executive vice president of Chicago-based food-research firm Technomic, at a recent conference in Chicago on the growing popularity of restaurants that offer a casual environment mixed with fast service, such as Panera and Chipotle Mexican Grill.

U.S. sales in the fast-casual segment are expected to swell to $62 billion in 2019, up from $39 billion in 2014. Pushing that growth, Tristano said, are millennials hungry for higher quality foods at affordable price points, now at $9 to $13 per check. Behind them are teenagers, like his daughter, who prefer cheaper meals but are evolving into the next wave of fast-casual customers.

Fresh ideas As the industry grows, Tristano said, restaurants are experimenting and expanding on their success.

Chipotle, for example, partnered with two restaurateurs in Colorado to open Pizzeria Locale, a fast casual restaurant with the assembly line concept customers seem to love. Denny’s launched a fast casual restaurant called The Den that targets college students. And Panera is experimenting with having customers place their orders on computers.

The new ideas seem to be working. Fast casual is gobbling up sales of quick-service restaurants, such as McDonald’s and Subway. In 2014, the segment

ABEL URIBE/CHICAGO TRIBUNE/TNS

A customer reads the menu before moving forward to order at the Protein Bar on May 15 in Chicago. The restaurant, which started selling natural juices six years ago, now has a food menu and about 20 locations. grew to own 16 percent of the limited-service restaurant market, up from 12 percent in 2009.

By 2019, it’s expected to reach 21 percent. Because of that growth, Tristano said he expects that sales at quick service restaurants will not rebound, but rather will continue to decline as fast casual takes over.

Fast-food chains still command a hefty presence, however. McDonald’s has about 14,000 U.S. locations, compared with Chipotle, which has about 1,800 locations.

Protein Bar expanding A young player in the segment, Protein Bar, has grown to 20 locations, mostly in Chicago, but also in Washington, D.C., and Colorado.

Protein Bar founder Matt Matros cobbled together $600,000 in loans, savings and credit card debt to open his first store in 2009 in downtown Chicago.

Matros, 36, said he was an overweight child who heard all the fat jokes in the book. His father died of a heart attack when Matros was 11, which motivated him to lose weight in his early 20s. He went on a high-protein diet, losing 60 pounds in seven months.

A few years later, after earning a master’s degree in business administration, he landed a job in Chicago selling cheese for Kraft, he said.

He quit his job in 2009 to sell juices, but within seven months he realized he needed food in his

menu to keep the doors open.

So he started selling high-protein meals, made with ingredients such as quinoa, organic tofu and black beans. Two months later, he started making a profit.

In the summer of 2010, he partnered with a customer to open a second location. And in 2013, he got money from a private equity firm to further grow his business.

He now has 65 investors, 550 employees and more than 10,000 daily customers.

Whole Foods competitor Matros said his customers, who are between 25 and 40 years old, care about healthy foods, which makes Whole Foods one of his biggest competitors.

To compete, he said, he focus-

es on the customer experience, which makes engaged employees key to his success. To keep them happy, he said, he offers small raises every few months.

In Chicago, he said his employees start at $8.25 per hour, the state’s minimum wage, but could move to $9 per hour within 60 days. About 65 percent of his workforce work more than 25 hours per week, he added.

Matros’ restaurants are considered part of the “healthy” segment of fast casual, which is expected to grow by 30 percent annually. Other segments expected to have double-digit growth include Mediterranean concepts, pizza and salads.

SAFETY

B4

JUNE 5 – JUNE 11, 2015

STOJ

Alfredo Jaramillo, Nailea Chavez, Jayla Fenderson, Ashley Willis, and Jordan Fenderson, from left, work on their backstroke with Olympic gold medalist Cullen Jones, center, during a swim lesson some summers ago as part of USA Swimming Foundation’s Make a Splash water safety initiative at Douglas Park Cultural & Community Center in Chicago.

MICHAEL TERCHA/CHICAGO TRIBUNE/TNS

PRACTICE SWIM SAFETY THIS SUMMER Swimming is a lot of fun, but drowning is a real danger. In fact, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reveals that drowning is the second most common cause of accidental deaths among kids. As an advocate for swim safety, Olympic gold medal winner and mom, Janet Evans, offers these tips to keep kids safe this summer: Enroll in swimming lessons. Many people lack basic swimming skills, and enrolling children in swimming lessons at a young age will help reduce the risk of accidents and drowning.

Don’t allow children to swim alone.

Drowning is silent, and it happens quickly. Always have a responsible adult watching while children are either in or out of the pool.

Keep pool areas tidy. Cleaning up pool toys after play can help lessen the temptation of children to enter the pool area unsupervised.

For more information on Janet Evans, visit www.janetevans.com.

FROM FAMILY FEATURES

For many families, some of the most anticipated summertime activities happen around the pool. But before you dive into the fun, be sure you and your family know the many ways to practice pool safety.

Sun safety Sunburns can cause a lot more than just an embarrassing red appear­ance on the skin; they can be the source of severe pain, fever and even dehydration. In fact, just one sunburn during childhood can increase the risk of developing skin cancer.

According to the American Academy of Dermatology, multiple events of extreme sunburn for individuals age 18 and younger can contribute to the development of melanoma.

The sun’s harsh rays can also affect your appearance later in life, causing premature aging and wrinkling of the skin. For babies 6 months of age or younger, keep their sensitive skin out of sunlight completely. For all other ages, here are the do’s and don’ts for playing in the sun: Do dress your baby in protective clothing • Always cover baby’s arms and legs in airy, light-colored garments. Dark colors absorb heat, while lighter hues reflect it, keeping baby cooler.

• Look for shirts and swimwear made from sun-protective fabrics. These garments are especially great if your kids spend a lot of time outdoors in the summer.

• Choose a wide-brimmed hat or ball cap and sunglasses to protect your baby’s eyes.

Don’t forget the sunscreen!

• The Food & Drug Administration (FDA) recommends that you avoid

applying sunscreen on infants younger than 6 months.

Don’t assume “salt water” pools are better or easier

• Individuals with sensitive skin should seek a hypoallergenic, chemical-free formula with zinc oxide or titanium oxide with an SPF of 15 or higher.

If you use a chemical-based sunscreen, always test on a patch of skin first.

• What people call “salt water” pools are still chlorine pools; the salt chlorine generator just makes chlorine on-site.

• Apply sunscreen at least every 2 hours and pay attention to the product’s expiration date as the active ingredients can lose their effectiveness over time.

• Some people believe pools with salt chlorine generators are main­tenance free — but this is untrue, and neglecting things can lead to pool problems.

Water safety

• No matter what kind of pool you have, it needs to be tested every day.

Once your skin is properly protected, it’s almost time to jump in. But before you do, make sure the water is clean and ready.

Do test the water daily • Whether your pool uses traditional chlorine or is equipped with a salt chlorine generator, make testing it a top priority, especially when your pool is used frequently.

• Make sure to read and follow the product label instructions closely when dealing with pool chemicals. Proper dosing of pool chemi­cals is important for swimmer comfort.

• Always test the water and make sure the free chlorine level never falls below 1 parts per million (ppm). Chlorine is the main sani­tizer of your pool (and drinking water), and the more people in your pool, the more chlorine you may need.

• Both traditional chlorine and “salt water” pools contain chlorine.

Tips for keeping water balanced • If your eyes are irritated and the pool water is cloudy or looks green — the balance is probably off.

• Here’s how to test: • Use strips that show chlorine, alkalinity, pH and cyanuric acid levels.

• Follow instructions on the package for how to submerge the strip.

• Compare color readings on the strip to the range on the product bottle.

• Ideal water balance ranges: Chlorine: 1–4 ppm Alkalinity: 80–120 ppm pH: 7.2–7.6 Cyanuric Acid: 20–50 ppm

3 FACTS ABOUT ‘SALT WATER’ POOLS While there are plenty of options available for pool owners, there are many opinions about pools equipped with salt chlorine gen­erators and traditional chlorine pools. Check out these facts to learn more, and to decide which best fits your family’s needs: • In a “salt water” pool, chlorine is produced by a salt chlorine gener­ator rather than adding chlorine to the pool directly. A “salt water” pool is still being sanitized by chlorine. So, a “salt water” pool is a chlorine pool.

• The same amount of chlorine is required to maintain a “salt water” pool as a traditional chlorine pool.

• “Salt water” pools require the same maintenance functions and still must be checked and balanced regularly, just like a traditional chlorine pool.

To learn more, visit www.SaltorChlorine.org.

STOJ

JUNE 5 – JUNE 11, 2015

FINEST & ENTERTAINMENT

Meet some of

FLORIDA’S

finest

Chantay of Tuscawilla, Ala., goes by the name of Tootie Sweets.

She is pursuing a career in modeling.

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.

jeff

tootie

Miami native Jeff Cosmo, an actor and model of Haitian descent, is a graduate of the University of Florida. He is pursing a long-term goal of acting and modeling, He can be reached at http://facebook.com/jeff.cosmo.

What’s on TV this summer Here are 40 new and returning comedies and dramas

BY DIANE WERTS NEWSDAY/TNS

What do you need to see this summer? What don’t you need to see this summer? Our top 40 picks could easily have topped 100.

Among scripted series alone, summer TV delivers nearly 40 new dramas/comedies, not to mention another 50-plus returning shows. If we added unscripted entries (both fresh and familiar), our hot-weather tube tally would edge toward 200.

And that doesn’t even count awards shows (June 7’s CBS Tonys, June 10’s CMTs, June 28’s BETs). Or must-see season finales (HBO’s June 14 “Game of Thrones”). Or the debut of TV Land’s NYC-filmed “Jim Gaffigan Show” on July 15.

“Halt and Catch Fire” (Sundays at 10, AMC) Lee Pace and Scoot McNairy return in the 1980s “silicon prairie” tale of Texas techheads pushing PC innovation.

“So You Think You Can Dance” (Mondays at 8, Fox) Paula Abdul joins returning Nigel Lythgoe and second newcomer Jason Derulo to judge Season 12.

“UnREAL” (Mondays at 10, Lifetime) “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” insider Marti Noxon delivers this scripted peek backstage at a TV dating show. With Shiri Appleby, Constance Zimmer.

“Stitchers” (Tuesdays at 9, ABC Family) Procedural drama on the youth-aimed cabler has Emma Ishta’s secret agent “stitched” into deceased minds to decipher death mysteries.

“Royal Pains” (Tuesdays at 10, USA) Back in the Hamptons for Season 7 with Mark Feuerstein, Paulo Costanzo, Reshma Shetty.

“Sense8” (streaming Fridays from Netflix) Cult combo: “Cloud Atlas” big-screeners Andy and Lana Wachowski join “Babylon 5” chief J. Michael Straczynski behind this 12-episode leap into “Heroes” territory. Eight strangers from around the world find themselves mentally connected and being hunted. With Naveen Andrews, Freema Agyeman, Daryl Hannah, Joe Pantoliano.

“Life Story” (Saturdays at 9, Discovery) Because there’s never

Hannibal Buress’s new show starts July 8 on Comedy Central. enough David Attenborough, the eminent naturalist narrates the BBC’s latest epic, tracing the survival treks of diverse creatures.

Shot (but not broadcast) in 4K. “Power” (Saturdays at 9, Starz) In Season 2, this strong drama of NYC underworld ambition boosts the role of producer Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson, as his character departs prison to confront Omari Hardwick’s going-straight nightclub entrepreneur.

“Becoming Us” (June 8 at 9, ABC Family) Beating Bruce Jenner’s July series to air is this unscripted study of a dad who’s becoming a woman, as seen by his teen son. It’s the first of ABC Family’s five summer reality shows.

“Odd Mom Out” (June 8 at 10, Bravo) After scoring with its scripted hour “Girlfriends’ Guide to Divorce,” the reality- reliant cabler tries comedy: Author Jill Kargman navigates the uppity Upper East Side. With Andy Buckley, Joanna Cassidy.

“The Seventies” (June 11 at 9, CNN) First of eight docuse-

ries films: “Television Gets Real,” with “All in the Family,” “Saturday Night Live,” “Roots.” (“The Sixties” encored May 31 starting at 8. “The Eighties” has been ordered.)

“Orange Is the New Black” (streaming June 12 from Netflix) Back in fashion comes a third season of 14 episodes powered by a women’s prison. (Season 4 has already been ordered.)

“Tyrant” (June 16 at 10, FX) Considering current crises in the Middle East, this drama’s Season 2 steps into a minefield: Adam Rayner’s long-Americanized member of a ruling family finds himself dragged deeper into moral and political crosscurrents.

“Proof” (June 16 at 10, TNT) Jennifer Beals’ medical eminence investigates the afterlife for Matthew Modine’s terminally ill billionaire.

“Clipped” (June 16 at 10, TBS) Barbershop humor from the “Will & Grace” team, with Ashley Tisdale, Mike Castle, Matt Cook.

“The Astronaut Wives Club” (June 18 at 8, ABC) The distaff side of “The Right Stuff” tracks NASA’s 1960s women-who-wait.

With JoAnna Garcia Swisher, Yvonne Strahovski, Odette Annable, Azure Parsons.

“Complications” (June 18 at 9, USA) In Jason O’Mara’s latest go, he’s a suburban doctor whose life turns upside down when he intervenes in a drive-by shooting.

“The Last Ship” (June 21 at 9, TNT) Still on the seas post-pandemic: Eric Dane, Rhona Mitra, Adam Baldwin, now trying to circulate the cure. Alfre Woodard will hop aboard.

“True Detective” (June 21 at 9, HBO) Last year’s closedend spellbinder starts over with new stars — Colin Farrell, Vince Vaughn, Rachel McAdams, Taylor Kitsch — now sleuthing on “the scorched landscapes of California.”

“Ballers” (June 21 at 10, HBO) Could this be that long-sought great take on the great American sport of pro football? Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson’s retired superstar mentors the current crowd in this fresh half-hour.

“The Brink” (June 21 at 10:30, HBO) The premium cabler rounds out its powerhouse summer Sunday lineup with a geopolitical crisis. Together in this dark comedy: Jack Black, Tim Robbins, Pablo Schreiber, Aasif Mandvi.

“Big Brother” (June 24-25 at 8, CBS) Summer’s annual housemates peepfest returns. (Latenight viewing on emerging cabler Pop starts June 25 at midnight.)

“Under the Dome” (June 25 at 9, CBS) Marg Helgenberger joins the cast for Season 3.

“Humans” (June 28 at 9, AMC) This “parallel-present” drama gives William Hurt more than he expected from a robotic family servant.

“Falling Skies” (June 28 at 10, TNT) Alien invasion’s fifth and final season.

“Teen Wolf” (June 29 at 10, MTV) Two-part return for Season 5 (concludes June 30 at 9).

“Zoo” (June 30 at 9, CBS) The star name here is source novelist James Patterson. Merely enacting Patterson’s bestselling yarn: James Wolk, Kristen Connolly, Billy Burke.

“Scream” (June 30 at 10, MTV) Seen the movies? Here’s the show. In this particular past-fueled killing spree: Willa Fitzgerald, Bex Taylor-Klaus, Jason Wiles.

“Shark Week” (July 5-12, Discovery) The annual event goes to Cuba and the Arctic. (And lat-

er takes over an added August weekend.) Back, too, is NatGeo Wild’s feisty same-week competitor SharkFest.

“Why? With Hannibal Buress” (July 8, Comedy Central) Getting his own show is the comic who called out Bill Cosby. (And is also part of “Broad City” and “The Eric Andre Show.”)

“Masters of Sex” (July 12, Showtime) The big 1960s sex study is unveiled in Season 3, as Josh Charles joins stars Lizzy Caplan and Michael Sheen.

“Sex&Drugs&Rock&Roll” (July 16, FX) Series creator Denis Leary is on-screen, too, as a hardpartying ‘90s rocker whose selfdestructed group now tries to reunite. With John Corbett, Elizabeth Gillies (“Victorious”).

“Cedar Cove” (July 18, Hallmark) Andie MacDowell’s smalltown saga adds Colin Ferguson for Season 3.

“Tut” (July 19-21, Spike) Historic miniseries: Ben Kingsley’s military mind exploits young ruler Tutankhamun (Avan Jogia).

“Sharknado 3: Oh Hell No!” (July 22, Syfy) It isn’t just a sequel (of a sequel). It’s now a whole week, July 18-25, flooded with more cheese flicks and other thrills. Among the participants: David Hasselhoff, Michelle Bachmann, L.I.’s Chris Jericho and, playing the POTUS, Mark Cuban.

Bruce Jenner series (July 26, E!) Its title yet to be finalized, this weekly hour chronicles the male Olympic decathlete’s recently announced journey toward longwished womanhood.

“The Carbonaro Effect” (July 29 at 10, truTV) Second season for “Magic Clerk” trickster Michael Carbonaro.

“The Daily Show With Jon Stewart” (Aug. 6, Comedy Central) We suspect the departing host’s true moment of Zen comes after this final-night broadcast.

“Blunt Talk” (Aug. 22, Starz) Patrick Stewart’s British cable newshound takes on American TV, aided by his alcoholic manservant and Richard Lewis’ mandated therapist. From Seth MacFarlane.

“Public Morals” (Aug. 25, TNT) L.I.’s Edward Burns writes, directs and stars in a hard-nosed look at 1960s New York police vs. the Irish mob. With Michael Rapaport, Elizabeth Masucci, Ruben Santiago-Hudson.

FOOD

B6

JUNE 5 – JUNE 11, 2015

STOJ

Seafood on the

GRILL FROM FAMILY FEATURES

The fresh, enticing flavors of the sea are calling. This summer, amp up your outdoor dining experience with recipes that offer a nutritious and delicious alternative to garden-variety grilled fare like burgers and steaks. Low in fat and sodium, and high in heart-healthy omega-3s, Alaska seafood takes on a whole new appeal when pre­pared over an open flame. Grilling Alaska seafood is easy with simple preparations, such as these, that let the flavor of quality seafood stand front and center. For more guest-worthy recipes, visit www.wildalaskaseafood.com.

SERVE A SMARTER ENTREE OPTION Families who want to feel good about what they eat can feel confident when they serve Alaska sockeye salmon, a versatile protein that is sustain­ably harvested. From one of the most bounti­ful fishing regions in the world, Alaska salmon have never been listed as endangered or threatened. In fact, sustainable seafood practices are so essential to Alaska, it’s written into the state’s constitution.

As a flavor-packed source of omega-3 fatty acids, high-quality protein and other nutrients, such as selenium, phosphorus and potassium, wild Alaska sockeye salmon makes a great mealtime addition. At only 220 calories per 3.5-ounce serving, it’s a delicious, low-calorie entree.

NUTRITION AT A GLANCE The nutritional information for wild Alaska sockeye salmon, based on the USDA National Nutrient Database for Standard Reference, Release 22:

Serving size Calories Protein Fat Saturated fat Sodium Cholesterol Omega-3

ALASKA SOCKEYE SALMON WITH HERBS AND GARLIC Prep time: 15 minutes Cook time: 13 minutes Servings: 4–6 1 1/2 pounds Alaska sockeye salmon, fresh or thawed Cooking spray 1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper 1/2 cup white wine 2 tablespoons melted butter or extra-virgin olive oil 2 tablespoons finely minced fresh garlic 2 tablespoons chopped fresh herbs Remove salmon from refrig­ erator 15 minutes before cooking. Heat grill to 375°F. Cut 2 pieces of wide, heavyduty aluminum foil about 6 inches longer than salmon side.

3.5 ounces/100 grams 220 27 grams 11 grams 2 grams 65 milligrams 85 milligrams 1200 milligrams

Stack foil pieces (shiny side down) on baking sheet and spray generously with cooking spray.

Place salmon, skin side down, in middle of foil. Fold foil sides and ends up (1–2 inches) to make shallow pan around salmon, leaving at least a 1-inch margin around fish. Season salmon with salt and pepper.

In small bowl, mix together wine, butter, garlic and herbs.

Spoon mixture over top of salmon, drizzling with any remain­ing liquid.

Carefully transfer foil pan to center of preheated grill. Do not cover salmon with foil or close foil over salmon. Close grill cover and cook 10–13 minutes, cooking just until fish is lightly translucent in center — it will finish cooking from retained heat.

Remove from grill and let rest a few minutes before serving.

Cook’s tip: Check salmon for doneness at 10 minutes.

BORDER GRILL GRILLED ALASKA COD TACOS Prep time: 35 minutes Cook time: 10 minutes Servings: 4 Marinade: 2 1/2 tablespoons cumin seeds 3 jalapeño chiles, stemmed and cut in half 2 cloves garlic 1 teaspoon salt 1 tablespoon freshly ground black pepper 1/4 cup freshly squeezed lime juice 1 large bunch cilantro 1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil 1 1/2 pounds wild Alaska cod fillets 12 small (4 to 6-inch) corn tortillas, warmed 6 lettuce leaves, torn in half 1 cup high-quality, storebought salsa fresca 1 cup guacamole (see recipe below), or high-quality, storebought guacamole

Lime wedges, for serving Guacamole: 5 ripe avocados, preferably California Hass 6 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro 1 medium red onion, diced 4 jalapeño chiles, stemmed, seeded and finely diced 3 tablespoons freshly squeezed lime juice 1 1/2 teaspoons salt 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper For marinade, lightly toast cumin seeds in dry skillet over low heat just until aroma is released, about 5 minutes.

Transfer seeds to blender. Add jalapeños, garlic, salt, pepper and lime juice and puree until cumin seeds are finely ground.

Add cilantro and olive oil and puree until smooth. Using hands, generously cover cod entirely with marinade and let sit at room temperature for 20 minutes.

Preheat medium-hot grill, broiler oven or pan on stove­top over medium-high heat. Cook fish until nearly opaque throughout, about 2–5 minutes per side, depending on thickness. Remove fish from heat, cool slightly and pull apart into large flakes.

To make guacamole, cut avo­ cados in half. Remove seeds, peel, quarter and place in mixing bowl. Mash with potato masher or fork until chunky. Add remaining ingredients and combine with fork. Serve immediately.

To assemble tacos, place warm tortillas on work surface and line each with piece of lettuce. Top with chunks of fish, a gen­erous spoonful of salsa fresca and guaca­mole. Serve immediately accompanied by lime wedges.

Notes: Guacamole recipe will yield 3 cups total. To warm tortillas, dip corn tortillas in water, shaking off excess. Toast, in batches, in non­stick pan over moderate heat, about 1 minute per side. Wrap in towel to keep warm.