Florida Courier - June 23, 2017 by Central Florida Communicators Group, LLC

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Ramadan brings Muslims closer to God and family See Page B1

ROUND ONE TO B-CU Former Internal Revenue Service Special Agent Robert Delancy’s lawsuit against BethuneCookman University was dismissed, but it’s just the beginning of the continuing legal battle between the school’s leadership and alumni.

BY THE FLORIDA COURIER STAFF

DAYTONA BEACH – A Volusia County (Daytona Beach) state circuit court judge dismissed a lawsuit accusing Bethune-Cookman University (B-CU) and its board of trustees of violating its own rules by refusing to seat Robert Delancy, the elected representative of B-CU National Alumni Association (NAA), as a trustee, allegedly in retaliation for Delancy’s aggressive questions about the school’s finances. In a somewhat contradictory

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JUNE 23 – JUNE 29, 2017

VOLUME 25 NO. 25

order dated June 14, Circuit Judge Christopher France said that Delancy did not have standing to bring a lawsuit, and therefore it wasn’t necessary to further review the facts of the case at that time. Delancy’s lawsuit says he attempted to take his seat on the B-CU board in October 2016 after being properly elected as the alumni trustee representative. The lawsuit alleges that the board refused to seat him – the first time that has happened in the institution’s history – without notice or explanation.

‘Standing’ necessary “As a threshold matter, the Court cannot reach the issue of whether Plaintiff’s Complaint properly states a cause of action unless it is first established that Plaintiff has standing to bring the instant suit…” France wrote in his nine-page order. “In the present case, Plaintiff lacks standing to bring an action alleging that Defendant has, and will engage in acts, which are ultra vires, (beyond one’s legal power or authority) because Plaintiff is not a member of the Defendant corporation,” the judge ruled, citing Florida law.

Just a recommendation France also ruled that the NAA’s and B-CU’s bylaws both indicate that the university’s current trustees are not required to seat the NAA’s recommended trustees, and that a B-CU committee of trustees “has sole authority to nominate new potential Trustees for membership on the B-CU Board of Trustees.” Essentially, the judge decided that Delancy cannot properly bring a lawsuit against B-CU beSee B-CU, Page A2

CHARLES W. CHERRY II / FLORIDA COURIER

Bethune-Cookman University alumnus Robert Delancy and his attorney, Nathaniel E. Green, Jr., leave the Volusia County Courthouse Annex in Daytona Beach after a hearing on May 26.

FLORIDA COURIER / OUT AND ABOUT

30,000 girls invade Orlando

Settled in secret Michael Brown lawsuit funds approved BY ROBERT PATRICK ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH / TNS

FERGUSON, Mo. – A federal judge on Tuesday approved a secret civil settlement of the wrongful death lawsuit filed by the parents of Michael Brown over his 2014 fatal shooting. The settlement amount is not mentioned in U.S. District Judge E. Richard Webber’s order approving it. WebMichael ber writes only that Brown the gross amount is “fair and reasonable compensation for this wrongful death claim and is in the best interests of each Plaintiff.”

‘Reasonable amount’

CHARLES W. CHERRY II / FLORIDA COURIER

With an estimated 2,400 teams registered, approximately 80,000 spectators, 9,000 coaches, and 500 college coaches, the annual AAU Girls’ Junior National Volleyball Championships has been the Guinness Book of World Records “world’s largest volleyball event” for the past four years. Thirty-three national champions will be crowned over the 12-day event played on 172 volleyball courts.

He said the split of the amount between Michael Brown Sr. and Lezley McSpadden “is fair and reasonable,” and the agreement “provides for a reasonable amount” for attorney fees and expenses. Settlements involving public entities are generally open records under Missouri law, but Webber ordered the agreement sealed and said that it should be considered a closed record under the state’s “Sunshine” law “due to the adverse impact to Plaintiffs should it be disclosed. “Disclosure of the terms of the settlement agreement could jeoparSee BROWN, Page A2

US anxiety levels climb fastest in the world BY TIM JOHNSON MCCLATCHY WASHINGTON BUREAU /TNS

WASHINGTON – Anxiety levels of Americans over matters such as war, terrorism, hacking and identity theft have spiked in recent years, a survey released Tuesday said. Concerns about war and terrorism topped the list of matters gnawing at Americans, according to the Unisys Security Index, but viruses and hacking, bank card fraud and identity theft also stoke insecurity. The Unisys index surveyed more than 13,000 people in 13 countries in April, and is considered one of the only recurring global snapshots of citizen perceptions.

ALSO INSIDE

Mindsets changing “It appears that our cloak of security, the impression that we had that we are more secure than the rest of the world, is starting to fade,” said Bill Searcy, vice president for global justice, law enforcement and border security at Unisys, a global information technology company. Levels of U.S. anxiety jumped sharply since the last such survey was conducted in 2014, and came in at the highest levels since the surveys began a decade ago. The United States held eighth place among the 13 countries, chalking up the same score on perceptions of security as Colombia but trailing Australia, New Zealand, Belgium, Britain,

SNAPSHOTS NATION | A6

Germany and the Netherlands, the survey found. Those feeling even more insecure than Americans reside in Argentina, Brazil, Malaysia, Mexico and the Philippines.

Larger divide after acquittal in Castile case

Serious concerns Topping the list were national security issues, which include war and terrorism as well as natural disaster. Of Americans surveyed, 68 percent said they were extremely or very concerned about those areas. Next came identity theft, which unnerves 61 percent. Bank card fraud seriously unsettled 58 percent, and viruses or hacking deeply concern 56 percent.

FLORIDA | A3

Another SpaceX launch set Scott signs controversial education bill

BUSINESS | B3

Google, YouTube detail new antiterrorism efforts McDonald’s drops sponsorship of Olympics

COMMENTARY: HARRY C. ALFORD, JR.: A ‘LOVE SUPREME’ FOR FATHER AND SON | A4 COMMENTARY: AJAMU BARAKA: BODY COUNT IN WAR AGAINST BLACK AMERICA INCREASES | A5

FOCUS

JUNE 23 – JUNE 29, 2017

I’ll tell you again why Democrats don’t win Democrats still don’t get it. Perhaps they never will! Recently, Democratic candidates for Congress had an excellent opportunity to win House seats in South Carolina and Georgia. They came close, but lost both contests. Close counts in horseshoes. But in political elections, candidates have to prevail!

It’s simple Pick up any newspaper or turn to any TV news or radio talk show. You’ll hear a myriad of reasons explaining why so-called experts feel the Democrats that sought to turn Republican House seats got beat like a snare in a Black college band drum line! I’ll make it simple for you. The Democratic Party controls the

LUCIUS GANTT THE GANTT REPORT

races in which they put money, and the Democratic Party leadership doesn’t have a clue about how to win. If you tell them how, they won’t listen! I don’t want to use a lot of good column time talking about Democratic Party incompetence. Longtime readers of The Gantt Report know the current “Democratic Party road to election success” is lined with potholes filled with election failures! However, it might be worthwhile to make a long story short

for new Gantt Report readers by repeating a few political observations.

Can’t match GOP First, the Democratic Party, no matter how much they beg, will never be able to match Republicans in campaign contributions or what most campaign money is spent on: television ads. The Democrats refuse to upgrade, innovate, improve or enhance! Democrats cannot win 21st century elections using 20th century tactics! Today’s elections are superscientific and technological. You have geo-demographic targeting, sophisticated polling, specified direct mailing, robo-calling and more. Democratic opponents are much more expert at using newage campaign tools and resources. Democrats have terrible timing. Even when they take the correct campaign actions, they do it at the wrong times and subsequently get the wrong results.

Slimy ads Politics is a dirty sport, so to speak. That is why the highest-

paid media producers and opposition research consultants create the slimiest, dirtiest TV ads. Media buyers that place attack ads know just when to place them – in the last days before elections, when Democrats have little or no time to respond. “Kill the messenger” is what Democrats should do, because their planned broadcast and print messages are terrible; their response messages are non-existent or worse! The Democratic Party must have a communications team and media consultants that can produce and place paid and free media quickly and professionally. The Democratic Party, it seems, does not have that kind of talented team. The Democratic Party must hold their noses, bite their tongues and/or stand up to the Democratic elite and hire consultants that can deliver votes.

Same people Historically, the Democratic Party, and Democratic candidates, have sought to hire Jews (and that includes Cuban Americans that are Jews); people rec-

ommended by organized labor; consultants that overcharge the party and “kick back” in the form of contributions. Finally, they hire each other! More Black elected officials get more money to help Democrats get Black votes than Black political professionals, media professionals, media owners and community activists combined. That is ridiculous! The Republican Party caters to its base, nurtures its base, files legislation for its base, communicates with its base, supports its base. The Democratic Party ignores its base and wouldn’t dream about spending money with its most loyal and dedicated supporters. So, the golden rule goes two ways. If you don’t spend the gold, you cannot rule. And you will keep losing elections you should win!

Buy Gantt’s latest book, “Beast Too: Dead Man Writing,” on Amazon.com and from bookstores everywhere. “Like” The Gantt Report page on Facebook. Contact Lucius at www. allworldconsultants.net.

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dize the safety of individuals involved in this matter, whether as witnesses, parties, or investigators. The public policy to consider records open is outweighed by the adverse impact to Plaintiffs,” he wrote. State law does require that the settlement amount be released, however. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported on Monday that the settlement was near, and that it would be less than $3 million.

Sued city, cops Brown Sr. and McSpadden sued the city of Ferguson, former Ferguson Police Chief Tom Jackson and former police Officer Darren Wilson, who shot Brown, in 2015. Their lawsuit says that a police culture of pervasive hostility toward Blacks led to the death of Brown, 18, on Aug. 9, 2014. Wilson used excessive and unreasonable force, the suit says. Ferguson, Jackson and Wilson denied the claims in court documents. A St. Louis County grand jury declined to indict Wilson and the Justice Department declined to prosecute him, saying evidence and “credible” witnesses supported Wilson’s claims that Brown attacked him.

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cause he is not a trustee. However, France’s order indicated there was still a possibility for the lawsuit to continue, and gave Delancy 30 days to correct and refile it. “To the extent there was an agreement between NAA and BCU as Plaintiff alleges, then NAA, not Plaintiff, would be the appropriate party to bring an action for breach of that alleged agreement or breach of each respective party’s bylaws. Furthermore, since the NAA is not before the court in this action, its interests are not protected by this process and cannot be adjudicated.”

Ruled anyway A few pages later, France seems to contradict himself by actually ruling on the lawsuit. “In conclusion, after taking all of Plaintiff’s allegations as true, limiting itself to the four corners of the Complaint and attached exhibits thereto, the Court has determined that Plaintiff lacks standing, has failed to state a cause of action upon which relief can be granted and that the adjudication of the claim is not warranted based on the above findings.” Even as the judge was considering his ruling, the Florida Courier learned that the NAA’s board of directors decided to join Delancy’s lawsuit over the objection of current NAA president Jennifer Adams. The NAA will also be represented by Delancy’s current Fort Lauderdale-based attorney, Nathaniel E. Green, Jr., and is expected to file a request to join the lawsuit shortly. The topic of Delancy’s lawsuit is expected to be the subject of animated discussion at the NAA’s annual national conference, which takes place in Miami this weekend – after the Florida Cou-

ROBERT COHEN/ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH/TNS

Michael Brown, Sr. wipes the top of the vault containing the casket of his son Michael Brown at the end of the burial service on Aug. 25, 2014. rier’s press time late Wednesday night.

Brinson up next France is also presiding over a second lawsuit filed by a B-CU alumnus, former trustee A. Ray Brinson. Brinson claims he was terminated from the board in October 2016 without notice or warning, and in violation of B-CU’s bylaws that provide a formal process for removal of trustees. His lawsuit was filed by Jacksonville-based attorney Willie J. Walker. Brinson, a Jacksonville resident, is a former Prudential and Aetna Insurance executive who retired in 2002 after 33 years in the industry. He is a B-CU alumnus who has combined service of more than 15 years as a trustee. He also served as president of the NAA for four years. Both he and Delancy, a retired Internal Revenue Service special agent, accuse the university of retaliating against them for asking questions.

Decades of collaboration Like Delancy, Brinson alleges that the longstanding agreement between the school and the NAA is “independently reflected within the by-laws of both organizations.” “For as long as this agreement has been in existence, it has been the understanding, custom, pattern, and practice, that the NAA’s Alumni Trustee Representative, elected in accordance with the NAA’s bylaws, would be accepted, and not subject to veto by the BOT,” Brinson’s complaint alleges. “During or around 2015, Plaintiff…expressed worries about the B-CU’s level of debt and lack of transparency regarding the B-CU’s plans to enter into a $72,000,000.00 capital lease over forty (40) years to finance a 1,200bed student housing project. As such, Plaintiff raised these questions in written correspondences directly to the BOT, its Chairperson, and B-CU’s administrators

Judge Christopher France

A. Ray Brinson

concerning the housing project,” the lawsuit alleges. “B-CU’s refusal to accept Plaintiff as a duly elected Alumni Trustee Representative is a direct result from Plaintiff’s questioning BCU’s lack of transparency, quality of financial leadership and the institution’s long term financial health. Such rejection is both retaliatory and punitive as a direct result of Plaintiff having raised the aforementioned concerns.” The lawsuit states that for months, Brinson tried to “resolve the matter informally” with B-CU before finally hiring Walker.

‘Last thing’ Walker said that filing a lawsuit is “the last thing” Brinson wanted to do. “It’s not about money. It’s about the orderly conduct of corporate business,” Walker explained. “Any removal has to be done in according with relevant documents. Articles of incorporation and bylaws mean something.” Citing what he called “a whimsical application of the bylaws,” Walker said he’s looking forward to presenting his case in court. “We need a judicial resolution. It’s vital to Bethune-Cookman’s corporate operations. They must understand that rules must be followed.”

Neither asking for money Both lawsuits request that France stop the B-CU board from

moving forward until they are seated as trustees. Neither man is requesting that B-CU pay them any money damages. Brinson sued the university and all its current board members individually. Delancy sued only the university. Both complaints also ask for a determination of Brinson’s and Delancy’s rights as trustees. Delancy dropped his request that B-CU pays court costs and attorney’s fees, something Brinson is still requesting.

Moving aggressively Brinson’s lawsuit was filed after Delancy’s, and was originally assigned to Judge Michael S. Orfinger, who recused himself from the case without giving a reason. It was subsequently transferred by Chief Judge Terence R. Perkins to France, who will now decide both cases. A review of the activity in Brinson’s case indicates that some of the trustees have yet to be served with an official copy of the lawsuit. However, Walker, Brinson’s attorney, is moving aggressively using a process called “discovery” which can force the university to produce documents, answer lists of written questions, and ask questions of all the trustees under penalty of perjury.

Dismissal requested Brian Rubenstein, B-CU’s Tampa-based attorney, is attempting to slow the discovery process down. He had asked the judge not to allow any discovery activity until the court has ruled on a motion to dismiss Brinson’s case. Rubenstein alleges that Brinson’s term as a trustee expired and was not renewed, so he was not thrown off the board. He claims that B-CU’s trustees were well within their rights not to extend Brinson’s term. Rubenstein’s motion to dismiss also claims that Brinson can’t legally sue individual trustees nor

the board of trustees itself.

List of defendants Among the trustees sued include Dr. Lucille O’Neal, a B-CU alumna who is the mother of NBA superstar and Basketball Hall of Famer Shaquille O’Neal; retired Circuit Judge Belvin Perry, Jr. of Orlando; and Dr. Kent Sharples, the former president of Daytona State College. Bishop Sue Haupert-Johnson, the episcopal leader of the North Georgia Conference of the United Methodist Church; and Dr. Nelson Adams III, a prominent Miami physician who once served as the national president of the National Medical Association – the organization representing almost 30,000 Black physicians – were also served. A date for the hearing on the motion to dismiss has been set for July 26.

Asking hard questions As previously reported in the Florida Courier, Delancy has been sounding the alarm about B-CU’s finances to other alumni for more than two years. “If you have a business entity that is dominated by one person, when the accounting department is compromised, when internal controls are weak, when important transactions occur between the company and its officers, and when the management board is not active and involved, the danger of management fraud is greatly increased. These are the situations that are conducive to fraud and should make an independent auditor particularly alert,” he wrote in an email to alumni on May 13, 2015. “Again I make it very clear, I am not suggesting that management fraud exists at Bethune-Cookman University. However, enough information has been uncovered and enough questions surfaced that an independent forensic accounting of the schools (sic) finances is warranted.”

JUNE 23 – JUNE 29, 2017

FLORIDA

A3 nothing is more important than ensuring their kids have access to a quality education, so they’re prepared to succeed in life and to build their own American Dream.”

Barely passed Senate

COURTESY OF THE GOVERNOR'S PRESS OFFICE

Florida Gov. Rick Scott signed HB 7069 into law on June 15 at Morning Star Catholic School in Orlando, a school that serves children with special needs.

A ceremony for controversial education bill Virtually the entire education establishment, as well as some parents’ groups, had urged Scott to veto the bill. They argued that it would move Florida closer to a privatized education system. Opponents argued that it would move Florida closer to a privatized education system.

BY BRANDON LARRABEE THE NEWS SERVICE OF FLORIDA

Christian school appeals football prayer ruling

“Cambridge Christian argues that it never requested the public address announcer to give the prayer, but that it instead sought access to the loudspeaker so that a representative of either school could pray over the loudspeaker,” Honeywell wrote. “This, however, amounts to a request that the FHSAA open its loudspeaker, which otherwise is not accessible to private parties, to allow for prayer to be broadcast during a government controlled and hosted event. This would … be perceived as state endorsement of Cambridge Christian’s religious message.”

BY JIM SAUNDERS THE NEWS SERVICE OF FLORIDA

TALLAHASSEE – A Tampa Christian school is continuing a legal battle about whether it should have been allowed to offer a prayer over a stadium loudspeaker before a state high-school football championship game. Cambridge Christian School filed a notice Tuesday that it will appeal a federal judge’s ruling that upheld a decision by the Florida High School Athletic Association to block such a prayer before a championship game in 2015 at Camping World Stadium in Orlando. The two-page notice of appealing the case to the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals does not detail the legal arguments that Cambridge Christian will make. But the school argued in U.S. district court that the Florida High School Athletic Association – which governs high-school sports in the state – had violated the state and federal constitutions and a state religious-freedom law by barring the prayer.

‘Sought access’ U.S. District Judge Charlene Edwards Honeywell issued a ruling June 7 that upheld a magistrate’s recommendation in favor of the association. In part, Honeywell wrote that the association had procedures that included allowing a designated public-address announcer to use the loudspeaker for approved announcements.

TALLAHASSEE – Gov. Rick Scott signed a controversial and wide-ranging education bill last week, brushing aside nearly unanimous opposition from the state’s major education organizations. The 278-page measure (HB 7069), which didn’t emerge in final form until the final days of the regular legislative session, deals with everything from school testing to recess. It sets aside $419 million that will be used to encourage charter schools to locate near struggling traditional public schools, provide extra services for students at struggling schools, provide teacher bonuses and help parents pay for education services for children with disabilities. The legislation also scales back standardized testing, requires daily recess for elementary stu-

dents and helps charter schools get access to school construction funding generated by local property taxes.

Orlando ceremony Scott and House Speaker Richard Corcoran, the main force behind the legislation, touted the benefits of the bill and a $100 increase in per-student school funding – approved separately in a special session this month – at a signing ceremony in Orlando. “The historic funding we’ve secured, along with more choices for students, will give every family in Florida the ability to receive a quality education, no matter what zip code they live in,” Scott said during the event at the Morning Star Catholic School.

‘This is malpractice’ The Florida Democratic Party said Scott and the GOP had “declared war on our public schools.” Virtually the entire education establishment, as well as some parents’ groups, had urged Scott to veto the bill. They argued that it would move Florida closer to a privatized education system. While charter schools are public schools, they are often operated by private organizations. Opponents also criticized the closed-door negotiations that decided which of a slate of education bills would be combined to create the final product, and

what the details of those policies would be. Joanne McCall, president of the Florida Education Association teachers’ union, said the legislation “will do harm to our schools and to our most vulnerable students.” “Blindly jumping into this socalled ‘fundamental transformation’ of how we educate our children is based almost entirely on ideology,” she said. “At best this is malpractice. This is no way to build a high quality public education system.”

LIBRE Initiative approves The Florida School Boards Association, the Florida Association of District School Superintendents and a coalition of conservative and liberal groups focused on education, known as Common Ground, also called for Scott to veto the bill. Supporters included the Florida Coalition of School Board Members, a conservative counterweight to the Florida School Boards Association, and schoolchoice groups. “This is great news for families – Hispanics and others – seeking better educational opportunities for their kids,” said Cesar Grajales, Florida coalitions director for The LIBRE Initiative, a conservative Hispanic group with ties to the Koch brothers. “To many Florida parents,

The battle over HB 7069 spurred a deluge of tens of thousands of phone calls, emails, letters and petition signatures delivered to Scott. While many of those messages opposed the bill early on, supporters eventually closed the gap in the final weeks of the governor’s deliberations. After being unyielding in his push for the legislation during the session, Corcoran told reporters in Orlando on June 15, that he would be willing to listen to the concerns of opponents. “We’re going to continue to work with them, and to the extent that these things can get better or be improved, we’re absolutely going to go down that path,” said Corcoran, R-Land O’ Lakes. The signing came just one day after Scott vetoed a higher-education bill (SB 374) that was a key priority of Senate President Joe Negron, R-Stuart. HB 7069 barely passed the Senate, clearing the upper chamber in a 20-18 vote last month. Senate Republicans didn’t issue statements of support for the bill on June 15 while Democrats ripped into the measure.

Dems disappointed “HB 7069 aims an arrow straight at the heart of public education in Florida, a system that is struggling to stay alive despite repeated overhauls, starvation, and mandates under the latest standardized tests-du-jour,” said Senate Minority Leader Oscar Braynon, D-Miami Gardens. “And it sets up a guarantee for the profitability of the charter school industry in this state by delivering public schools we’ve purposely ignored to corporate managers we’ve deliberately positioned for success.” The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, anticipating a Scott challenge to incumbent Democratic U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson next year, also criticized the bill, as did Democratic candidates for governor in 2018. “This bill is another massive step toward turning Florida’s public school system into a public school industry designed to benefit corporations and powerful interests at the expense of our kids and schools,” said former Democratic Congresswoman and gubernatorial candidate Gwen Graham. Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum, another Democratic gubernatorial candidate, called the signing “another deeply painful decision by our state’s leaders giving tax dollars away to forprofit charter school executives – instead of to our students.”

Filed last year Raising free-speech arguments, Cambridge Christian filed the lawsuit in September. Along with alleging violations of the state and federal constitutions, the school said the association had violated a state law known as the Florida Religious Freedom Restoration Act. “By rejecting Cambridge Christian’s request for pre-game prayer over the loudspeaker on the basis of its religious character and viewpoint, the FHSAA unlawfully prohibited Cambridge Christian’s private religious speech and unreasonably burdened its right to freedom of speech and free exercise of religion,” the lawsuit said. “In so doing, the FHSAA violated Cambridge Christian’s civil and religious rights under the United States and Florida Constitutions and the Florida Religious Freedom Restoration Act.” The case focused on a 2015 championship game between Cambridge Christian and Jacksonville’s University Christian School. The teams gathered a mid-field for a pregame prayer, though it was not broadcast over the loudspeaker.

RED HUBER/ORLANDO SENTINEL/TNS

SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying supplies and experiments remains grounded due to weather violations on June 1 at launch pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center.

SpaceX launch now expected Monday BY MARCO SANTANA ORLANDO SENTINEL/TNS

ORLANDO – For the second time this month, a first-ever launch of a Bulgarian satellite has been pushed back. Previously slotted for Thursday, the launch was pushed back to Saturday. But it has now been scheduled for no earlier than Monday. If all goes as planned, the Falcon 9 rocket will head into space carrying BulgariaSat-1, the country’s first geostationary telecommunications satellite, at 2:10 p.m. Monday.

More launches Initially, the lag had been blamed on a June 3 launch delay of a resupply mission to the International Space Station pushed back the timeline. No word has been given on whether this delay will disrupt future launches. SpaceX has three planned from Florida in July. SpaceX has not acknowledged the delay.

Weather delay Officials with Bulgaria Sat, the largest provider of pay-TV services in Bulgaria, blamed weather

forecasts for June 15 delay. SpaceX has repeatedly recovered launched rockets on the Space Coast. The Bulgaria Sat launch will mark the second time SpaceX relaunches a rocket booster, following the March 30 relaunch of a booster from Florida. John Celli, CEO of Space Systems Loral, which built the satellite, said SpaceX’s reusability effort will become an “important enabler” for the satellite industry. The satellite is expected to last 15 years.

EDITORIAL

JUNE 23 – JUNE 29, 2017

A ‘Love Supreme,’ father to son This is a rough world to raise a child. For a Black man to raise a Black son, the odds may be stacked against you. For a Black woman to raise a Black son, the odds may be impossible. For those of us who choose a marriage and then children, the odds are on your side if the marriage remains intact. We proudly take this challenge.

A great card This year for Father’s Day my 32-year-old son Harry III gave me the greatest card I have ever received. Here it is: “Two years ago, my dad was fighting for his life. Harry Jr., a veteran and successful entrepreneur idealized for courage, was laid up in bed at Suburban Hospital in Bethesda, MD., with a subdural hematoma. Turned out that a small spill he had at home a month prior turned into a serious situation. “He hit his head after tripping and it slowly turned into a subtle leak of blood between his brain and his skull. Luckily, my mom noticed him off-balanced the morning before a 12-hour flight to the Seychelles for business. She immediately drove him to the doctor. “The doctor suggested a routine CT scan and it wasn’t even an hour later that he recommended emergency surgery. Had my dad flown, the pressure in his head would have killed him.

Four long days “After weeks of cognitive and physical therapy, my dad even-

HARRY C. ALFORD GUEST COLUMNIST

The most important decision one can make is to be certain your love partner will be with you together throughout the growing period for your children. From the maternity room to the wedding aisle, a child should have the presence of both mother and father. tually recovered and is back to his usual self. I’ll never forget the strength my mother exhibited during those four long days we spent in the hospital post-surgery. “A few years later, it’s still so fresh. I think about how close our family was from losing our hero. It was this scary experience that’s

Trump turns his back on a future with Cuba In his perverse fixation on overturning all things Barack Obama, President Donald Trump now turns his attention to Cuba, the island located 90 miles off our shore. The president traveled to Florida to announce that he will reverse Obama’s opening to Cuba, reinstate restrictions on the right of U.S. citizens to travel to Cuba, and curtail business opportunities that Obama opened by executive order.

Makes no sense This is, in a word, ridiculous. The United States maintained an economic embargo on Cuba for more than 50 years. It plotted repeatedly to assassinate Fidel Castro and to overthrow his regime. It painted Cuba as a terrorist nation for its support of Nelson Mandela in the fight against apartheid. For more than five decades, a succession of U.S. presidents

REV. JESSE L. JACKSON, SR. TRICE EDNEY NEWSWIRE

– cowed by the right-wing Cuban community in Florida – enforced an economic embargo even though the policy increasingly isolated the US from its neighbors in the hemisphere and its allies across the world. When Obama finally went forward with a limited opening, he was doing more to end the isolation of the US than of Cuba. Now Castro, the leader of Cuba’s revolution, is dead. His brother Raul has announced he will leave office next year. The Soviet Union is no more; the Cold War is over. A new generation is coming to power in Cuba and a new generation of Cuban-Americans is rising in Flori-

‘Berniecrats’ purposefully ignore war, US empire Last week, the National Nurses Union staged the second Peoples Summit in Chicago. It’s the yearly meeting of the Bernie Sanders “Berniecrat” faction of the Democratic Party. They brought in about 4,000 of their own picked activists and supporters from around the country. There were workshops on various aspects of organizing and running local campaigns. Participants got to meet and hear stories about and sometimes from people running for state legislature, city councils and other office in various states and cities.

Lots of speeches They got to hear Van Jones accuse Hillary’s 2016 team of set-

BRUCE A. DIXON BLACK AGENDA REPORT

ting a billion dollars on fire and calling it a campaign. They got to hear at least one long speech by Nina Turner paying drive-by attention to an array of topics: single payer health care, poverty, the crises of declining wages, bad water in Flint, mass incarceration (though she didn’t use that term). She curiously omitted any mention of the 95 percent of humanity who live outside the United States. Turner did a fawning inter-

VISUAL VIEWPOINT: HATE ON THE JOB

led me to appreciate every moment I have with him and take advantage of every opportunity to make him proud. “There is an old Yiddish proverb that says: ‘When a father gives to his son, both laugh. When a son gives to his father, both cry.’ There are various interpretations of the proverb’s meaning, but to me it holds significant importance and is now ingrained into my daily life. “Gifts from my parents were met with joy and gratitude as a child. Now older, appreciation of the sacrifices made by my parents brings us both to tears.

My list “I measure success every time I bring my dad to tears. Looking back over the past year, I can recount a few times he’s wept in joy in relation to something I’ve completed successfully: • Proposing to my girlfriend (now wife); • Graduating from business school (M.B.A., Babson College); • Getting married; • Launching a new business • My brother Thomas graduating from business school (M.B.A., John Hopkins University). “Each of these moments represented another step in my development as a man, entrepreneur, and husband. My dad’s been with me every step of the way. I can only imagine the satisfaction derived from his own sons’ achievements. And that is why I’m eagerly waiting for the next chance to make my dad cry. “Happy Father’s Day to Harry Jr. and all the other dads out there!!!” da. Most Americans and CubanAmericans support free travel to Cubans. So why would Trump want to revive the failed policies of the past? The reasons range from the petty to the perverse.

Clear hatred Trump’s hatred of Obama is apparent. From Obamacare to climate policy to Cuba, he seems intent on overturning whatever Obama did – no matter how great the cost to the American people. In the campaign, Trump pledged in Florida to overturn Obama’s opening. Right-wing Cuban-American legislators – Republican Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida, Democratic Sen. Bob Menendez of New Jersey and Republican Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart of Florida – have lobbied Trump hard to revive the travel ban and embargo. According to the New York Times, Diaz-Balart exacted a promise from Trump as a price for his vote in favor of Trumpcare. He signed off on depriving 23 million Americans of healthcare coverage to tighten the screws on Cuba. view with Bernie Sanders, and the senator spoke himself, but most of the coverage of the event featured Turner – who seems to have established herself as number two in the Berniecrat hierarchy directly after the senator himself. Turner didn’t mention the war in Afghanistan, now in its 16th year with no hope of ending any time soon. She didn’t mention the ring of US drone bases in Africa and the Middle East, or US support for the nuclear armed state of Israel. She talked about people “rising up” and what they might accomplish “...with these hands...” She didn’t mention the trillion dollar-plus F-35 fighter or the trillions more the US is committed to spending to “upgrade” its nuclear arsenal. It’s as though the warfare state the hundred-plus countries in which the US has military bases, and the handful of nations which those bases are surrounding in a threatening manner, did not exist.

RICK MCKEE, THE AUGUSTA CHRONICLE

Strong and wise As I read this again, I’m crying with pride and joy. God blessed us with twin sons who have developed into strong and wise men. It wasn’t easy, but the love that Kay and I give to each other and together the love we give to our sons has made the journey successful. The most important decision one can make is to be certain your love partner will be with you together throughout the growing period for your children. From the maternity room to the wedding aisle, a child should have the presence of both mother and father. People must be very careful in choosing a spouse. The marriage should be unconditional, for better or worse. You are going for a lifetime of bliss, which is a very

Showing results Obama’s policy of engagement, however halting, has already shown results. Engage Cuba, a U.S. business lobby group, published an economic impact analysis on the costs of reversing Obama’s policy. It put the cost at as much as $3.5 billion in lost revenues and 10,000 jobs lost in the travel industry over the next four years. Commercial contracts that will create $1.1 billion worth of US exports to Cuba in the next five years would be broken, costing more than 1,000 jobs a year. Once more, the right of Americans to travel would be sacrificed – in the name of what? Petulance? Perversity? Undying hatred? The Trump administration has made it clear that in its “America First” foreign policy, America’s economic and security concerns will not be sacrificed in the name of human rights. But it rationalizes its reversion in Cuba on the grounds of defending human rights and spreading democracy. This is at best what former Obama adviser Ben Rhodes called a “tragic irony,” given the

This is no coincidence These are grown, thoughtful people who consider what they’re saying before they open their mouths, much less as they planned a meeting for 4,000 people. What you’re seeing is Nina Turner seamlessly adopt the position and ape the performance of Senator Bernie Sanders, for whom socialism pretty much stops at the water’s edge. Paul Jay of The Real news noted there were no workshops about opposing nuclear weapons or foreign wars or drone bases in Africa or shutting down the war in Afghanistan, now winding up its sixteenth year. It’s not because the convention hall wasn’t big enough. It’s because the world Sanders and Turner imagine their voters live in is that small, even though arms traffic and the military needed to police a global empire eat up almost half the US economy. Sanders and Turner and the Berniecrats in charge of the Peoples Summit are committed to pretending the US empire doesn’t matter or doesn’t exist

Charles W. Cherry II, Esq., Publisher

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hard thing to attain. Be certain when you choose that partner. Make sure he or she is going to add to your “being,” not take anything away. Likewise, you make sure to add to his or her being. A lifetime with the same person is success. Otherwise it becomes a failure you must live with your entire life. Here’s to all those “lovebirds.” The future is yours. Never forget who took you to the “dance.” Love and stay with him or her forever. Never say goodbye.

Harry C. Alford is the cofounder and president/CEO of the National Black Chamber of Commerce. Contact him via www.nationalbcc.org. Trump administration’s “complete lack of concern for human rights around the world.”

More impact Surely after more than five decades, we have learned that Cubans – proud of their revolution and their independence – will resist economic or military coercion. One would think that Trump, who trumpets his business background, would understand that open relations with Cuba – trade, travel, human and cultural exchange – will have far more impact in generating pressure for change than a reversion to the failed embargo. Under Castro, Cuban education and health care became the envy of Latin America. An educated generation now rises to power yearning for more. The US should engage them, not seek to isolate them.

The Rev. Jesse L. Jackson, Sr. is president and CEO of the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition. as long as they can, so they can lead millions of Democratic voters back into the parties of permanent war.

Another ‘summit’ This week in Richmond, Va., another set of activists will convene at the United National Antiwar Coalition. Some of them, including Green 2016 vice presidential candidate Ajamu Baraka, hope to rekindle the traditional antiwar movement among African-Americans – the movement of which Kwame Ture and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. were once a part. They expect to confront the Black political class and its embrace of the warfare state headon, because war is real and the US empire is a real and present threat to the future of humanity – whether Berniecrats at the Peoples Summit can be bothered with it or not.

Bruce Dixon is managing editor of BlackAgendaReport.com. Contact him at bruce.dixon@ blackagendareport.com.

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JUNE 23 – JUNE 29, 2017

The body count in the war against Black America increases Before we can even process the acquittal of the murders of Philando Castile, we hear about another murder of a Black person by the police occupation forces. This time the victim, Charleena Lyles, is a Black woman who was also five months pregnant. Again, there is anger, confusion and calls for justice from the Black community of Seattle, where the latest killing took place. Many might remember that it was in Seattle where two members of the local Black community attempted to call out the racist and hypocritical liberal White community during a visit by Bernie Sanders. The Black activists were subsequently shouted down by a majority of Bernie’s supporters. One of the issues that the activists wanted to raise was the repressive, heavy-handed tactics of the Seattle Police Department.

Nothing new Some have argued that this rash of killings of Black people caught on video or reported by dozens of witnesses is nothing new, that the images of police choking, shooting and beating poor Black and working-class people is now more visible because of technological innovations that make it easier to capture these images. They are partially right. As an internal colony in what some refer to as a prison house of nations that characterizes the US nation-state, Black communities are separated into enclaves of economic exploitation and social degradation by visible and often invisible social and economic processes. The police have played the role not of protectors of the unrealized human rights of

AJAMU BARAKA BLACK AGENDA REPORT

Black people, but as occupation forces.

Not like TV In those occupied zones of repression, everyone knows that the police operate from a different script than the ones presented in the cop shows that permeate popular entertainment culture in the US. In those shows, the police are presented as heroic forces battling the forces of evil, which sometimes causes them to see the law and the rights of individuals as impediments. For many viewers, brutality and other practices is forgiven and even supported because the police are supposedly dealing with the evil, irrational forces that lurk in the bowels of the barrios and ghettos in the imagination of the public. It was perfectly plausible for far too many White people in the US that a wounded Mike Brown, already shot and running away from Darin Wilson, the cop who would eventually murdered Michael, would then turn around and run back at Wilson, who claimed he had no other choice but to engulf Michael in a hail of bullets, killing this “demon,” as Wilson described him. And unfortunately, many Whites will find a way to understand how Charleena, who called the police herself to report a bur-

The left’s violent rhetoric was called out “Someone is going to get hurt – or worse.” I wrote those words in a February column entitled “Democrats’ Rhetoric Risks Violence.” Five people got hurt last week when one of the left’s shock troops, James T. Hodgkinson – no doubt acting on the hateful political anti-Trump rhetoric and actions of the left – opened fire on several Republican congressmen and senators practicing for a charity baseball game in Alexandria, Va. Before being killed by US Capitol police, he critically wounded House Majority Whip Steve Scalise, R-La., and injured four others. Hodgkinson was a supporter of former Vermont Socialist Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders, a Trump hater and a loyal member of the Trump so-called “Resistance.”

Celebrating violence You can bet that he will be celebrated in the secret dungeons of the far left by many Trump haters as a true martyr in their war of Resistance against the Trump

CLARENCE V. MCKEE, ESQ. GUEST COMMENTARY

agenda. To give them cover, Resistance supporters in the elite media and Democratic establishment condemn his actions. The chickens of vile political rhetoric, hateful images and obscenities directed at Trump and his agenda by Democratic politicians and their progressive allies – including the New York Times, Washington Post and certain cable news network hosts – have finally come home to roost! I believe that the failure of so many liberals and Democratic leaders to condemn hateful actions and comments of their own supporters sent a message that they tacitly supported them. That obviously was not lost on the shooter and led to bloodshed! To date, no lives have been lost!

Trump’s a STUPID hypocrite regarding human rights Complaining about President Trump’s hypocrisy is rather like complaining about a prostitute’s promiscuity. Except that consequences from Trump’s hypocrisy could destroy a country, or even the whole world. That said, Trump’s “America-First” policy towards Cuba amounts to little more than pandering to Miami Cubans, while cutting off America’s nose to spite its face. However, as is invariably the case with Trump, this “overhaul” is not quite as advertised.

Both ways He’s trying to have it both ways: for political (re-election) purposes, by feeding a dying breed of Miami Cubans the Cold-War rhetoric they crave; and for practical purposes, by restricting instead of completely shutting Obama’s open door policy. But significantly, he’s not cutting off diplomatic relations, closing the US embassy in Havana, or even reinstating the “wet foot, dry

EDITORIAL

VISUAL VIEWPOINT: THE GOP’S SECRET HEALTH CARE BILL

glary, would then find herself dead at the hands of the police she called.

Some don’t understand But the psychopathology of White supremacy is not the focus here. We have commented on that issue on numerous occasions. The concern is with some Black people who have not grasped the new conditions that we find ourselves in that Black people don’t understand that there will never be justice as defined by the cessation of these kinds of killings. Why? Because incarceration, police killings, beatings, charging our children as adults and locking them away for decades, all of these are inherent in the logic of repression that has always characterized the relationship between the US racist settler-state and Black people. In other words, if Black people really want this to stop, we have to come to the difficult conclusion (for some) that the settlercolonial, capitalist, White supremacist state and society is the enemy of Black people and most oppressed people in the world.

No more denial That’s difficult for many because it means that Black people can no longer deny the fact that we are not equal members of this society, that we are seen as the enemy and that our lives, concerns, perspectives, history and desires for the future are of no concern to the rulers of this state and for vast numbers of ordinary Whites. That is why Charleena Lyles joins Mike Brown, Sandra Bland,

‘Covert praise’

BOB ENGLEHART, CAGLECARTOONS.COM

Tamir Rice, John Crawford and Philando Castile, just a few of the names of our people victimized in the prime of their lives by the protectors of White power wearing police uniforms. She will not be the last.

fate, we will resist, we will fight, and we will create the conditions to make sure that the war being waged against us will not continue to be a one-sided conflict.

No longer needed

The essence of the People(s)Centered Human Rights framework is that the oppressed have a right to right to resist, the right to self-determination, and the right to use whatever means necessary to protect and realize their fundamental rights. Charleena, we will say your name and the names of all who have fallen as we deliver the final death-blow against this organized barbarism known as the U.S.

The logic of neoliberal capitalism has transformed our communities and peoples into a sector of the US population that is no longer needed. This new reality, buttressed by White supremacist ideology that is unable to see the equal value of non-European (White) life, has created a precarious situation for Black people, more precarious than any other period in US history. African (Black) people are a peaceful people and believe in justice. But there can be no peace without justice. For as long as our people are under attack, as long as our fundamental collective human rights are not recognized, as long as we don’t have the ability to determine our own collective tee (DNC) Tom Perez, the F*** Donald Trump chant at the California Democratic Party convention to the “F” bomb-peppered anti-Trump remarks of New York Democrat Senator Kirsten Gillibrand at New York University. None of these actions merited any criticism from Democrat leaders. Of course, after the shooting, the hypocrites were quick to express shock and dismay. Senator Sanders rushed to the Senate floor to condemn violence and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Ca., said the shooting was an “injury in the family…we will use this occasion as one that brings us together, not separates us further.”

Democrats and their cohorts in the entertainment and media industry who have aided and abetted the atmosphere of hate and vitriol no doubt gave the shooter comfort. Assassinating a few Republicans would bring him covert praise from the left just as ISIS praises those who commit terroristic acts. The left uses every kind of invective to degrade and demean Trump and his supporters as infidels just like ISIS labels their perceived enemies. If it is okay to call for the frying of cops like bacon; pretend you are shooting, beheading, or stabbing the president; or destroy property and prevent conservatives from speaking without any condemnation from Dem- Give me a break! ocrat leaders – then why not go Both are hypocrites on this isthe next step and kill a few of the sue and their comments were a infidels? day late and a dollar short! Where was Sanders months Trump supporters silent ago on the violence against Keep in mind that it was not Trump supporters? Where was Trump supporters spewing ha- he when the Black Lives Movetred and despicable words ment urged the killing of police? against those with whom they Where was his condemnation of Kathy Griffin, the New York had political disagreements. It was the Democrats’ key al- Shakespeare play depicting the lies: from violent street and col- assassination of Trump, or the lege campus protesters, pot- Snoop Dogg video of him shootty-mouthed politicians ranging the president? As to Pelosi, not more than 24 ing from the Chairman of the Democratic National Commit- hours after her statements on the

treat creates. Trump clearly couldn’t care less about making it inconvenient for ordinary Americans to travel to Cuba. But it speaks volumes about his hypocrisy that he’s planning to deny American businessmen the very opportunities he himself was seeking to exploit in Cuba just years ago. Then there’s the self-defeating prospect of Trump provoking Cuba to cease all cooperation on regional anti-terror and anti-drug efforts. ANTHONY L. In other words, these changHALL, ESQ. es only provide further vindication for those of us who think this FLORIDA COURIER president is just plain STUPID, COLUMNIST which stands for Self-absorbed, Tendentious, Unhinged, Pusilfoot policy.” lanimous, Insecure, and DeluStill, there’s no denying that sional. these changes will hurt many Cubans in their pocketbooks, Little GOP support notwithstanding that many are You’d be hard-pressed to find the newly liberated entrepre- many Republicans – outside Florneurs who compose America’s ida’s congressional delegation best hope for a Cuba that is more – who support Trump’s plans. friend than foe. That’s how politically alienating and positively insane they are. No change In fact, polls show that over 70 As it was for the 55 years before percent of the American people Obama normalized relations, support the steps Obama took to these changes will not chasten normalize relations with Cuba. Cuba’s ruling elite politically or Alas, the other 30 percent is comhurt them financially. And Cana- posed of idiots for whom Trump da and Europe will now be com- can (literally) do no wrong, as peting with Russia and China to well as perverse Miami Cubans pick up the slack America’s re- dreamers

Meanwhile, Trump’s America-First policy towards Qatar, including selling the country billions of dollars in US weapons, amounts to little more than selling Qatar presidential indulgences – its abysmal record on human rights (and even its support for terrorism) be damned. Trump is blithely doing business with a country that he publicly condemned as a sponsor of the very terrorism he claims he’s fighting “like no president has before.” That’s hypocritical enough.

Height of hypocrisy But it reeks – like no hypocrisy Washington has experienced before – that Trump’s first trip abroad was not to a bona-fide democracy like Canada, Mexico, or any number of countries in Europe. Rather, it was to Saudi Arabia, which Amnesty International rates among the 10 worst abusers of human rights across the world. And there’s his stupefying bromance with Russian President Vladimir Putin – that wannabe czar who punctuates his humanrights abuses by having political dissidents and independent journalists murdered. To be fair, every president has been guilty of hypocrisy. Obama had no compunction about preaching the gospel of universal human rights on Sunday, only to

Continual resistance

Ajamu Baraka is the national organizer of the Black Alliance for Peace and was the 2016 candidate for vice president on the Green Party ticket. Contact him at www.AjamuBaraka. com. Click on this commentary at www.flcourier.com to write your own response. need for unity, she showed her real colors saying Trump’s rhetoric contributed to the shooting. Pelosi wanting unity is like an arsonist wanting to put out a fire!

Most Dems silent If you want to know who is serious about ending the division, just look at who has been calling for less harsh rhetoric – mostly Republicans. Most Democrats are as silent about ending the harsh rhetoric as they were in condemning it! Let’s hope that the violence ended in Alexandria and that radicals on the right do not decide to retaliate believing that retaliation is the only way to gain attention and respect in media, entertainment and political environment where they have been defamed. It is a sad day in our country when such thoughts even have to be stated!

Clarence V. McKee is a government, political and media relations consultant and president of McKee Communications, Inc., as well as a Newsmax.com contributor. This article originally appeared on Newsmax.com. Click on this commentary at www.flcourier.com to write your own response. bow before the repressive Saudi king on Monday. But at least he showed (amoral) consistency by having America deal with Cuba and Iran just as it deals with Saudi Arabia and China.

Better record In any event, I’ve denounced Trump’s hypocrisy in previous columns. And for the record, even though Cuba has a lot to answer for, its record on human rights is better than Qatar and Saudi Arabia’s in many ways. And this is Trump’s latest stab at either whitewashing or undermining Obama’s accomplishments. It seems that Trump has predicated his presidency on vindicating his birther conspiracy he peddled about Obama being an illegitimate interloper – an uppity African – who does not belong among the ranks of American presidents.

Anthony L. Hall is a native of The Bahamas with an international law practice in Washington, D.C. Read his columns and daily weblog at www.theipinionsjournal.com. Click on this commentary at www.flcourier.com to write your own response.

TOJ A6

NATION

JUNE 23 – JUNE 29, 2017

Cop’s acquittal widens police-community divide Anger, sense of betrayal after verdict in Castile shooting death BY CHAO XIONG AND RANDY FURST STAR TRIBUNE/TNS

For Black Minnesotans, the acquittal of Jeronimo Yanez in the fatal shooting of Philando Castile was the latest sign of a criminal justice system that often delivers heartbreak. “The first thing I thought is the system is a joke,” said Lewis McCaleb of Minneapolis, who just graduated from the High School for Recording Arts in St. Paul. “It puts fear in my heart and of all young Black males. We feel we can’t be protected by these people who are supposed to patrol the cities.” For police officers, the notguilty verdict also brought a sense of foreboding, with their relationships with the Black community already rocky at best and officers feeling that the scrutiny they operate under is higher than ever. “They feel like defendants,” said Minneapolis attorney Fred Bruno, who frequently represents officers in criminal cases.

COURTNEY PEDROZA/MINNEAPOLIS STAR TRIBUNE/TNS

Protesters hold an image of Philando Castile and march down the street during a protest on June 18 in St. Anthony, Minn. evoking their Fifth Amendment rights in these cases, and what that does to undermine trust in the system,” said recently retired Police Chief Paul Schnell, who spent four years at Maplewood and 22 years with St. Paul and Hastings police and the Carver County Sheriff’s Office. “The implication is it erodes community trust.”

String of cases The Ramsey County jury’s decision to clear Yanez of felony manslaughter for Castile’s shooting last July reverberated nationally, becoming the latest in a string of cases — including Terence Crutcher in Tulsa, Okla., and Freddie Gray in Baltimore — to illustrate how difficult it is to hold officers criminally responsible for killing civilians. In 15 recent high-profile cases of Black men who were killed by police or who died in police custody, just two resulted in convictions. The Yanez case, like the others, seems to have only hardened divisions and distrust on all sides. The only agreement seems to rest in the idea that it could be a long time before relations improve. “The feeling is deep anger, a sense of betrayal,” said Ron Edwards, a civil rights activist and former president of the Minneapolis Urban League. “Today I’m afraid we’re at an abyss. It will take an extreme effort to get this generation to understand that change is possible.”

Strain of case Former Ramsey County Attorney Susan Gaertner sees the strain. “Every aspect of the case has been difficult for all sides,” Gaertner said. “It would be naive to think that the acquittal won’t impact police-community relations to some extent.” After a weeklong trial, jurors needed 29 hours of deliberation to acquit Yanez of felony manslaughter and reckless discharge of a firearm for killing Castile last July 6 in Falcon Heights. Yanez

‘More antagonistic’

ELIZABETH FLORES/MINNEAPOLIS STAR TRIBUNE/TNS

Valerie Castile, Philando Castile’s mother, addresses the media after Geronimo Yanez was found not guilty on all counts on June 16 in St. Paul, Minn. had also been accused of endangering Castile’s passengers, Diamond Reynolds and her young daughter. Reynolds’ Facebook Live video of the moments after Castile’s death captured worldwide attention, and Yanez became the first Minnesota police officer in modern history to be charged with the shooting death of a civilian.

Another case Castile’s killing came eight months after the death of Jamar Clark, a Black man shot to death during a scuffle with two Minneapolis police officers. Those officers were not charged and Clark’s death provoked weeks of protest in north Minneapolis. Prosecutors in the Yanez case

thought they had solid evidence of an officer acting rashly and with excessive force, but what some outsiders saw as an open-andshut case became a grueling deliberation of the jury of five women and seven men, including two Black jurors.

‘Unreasonable risk’ Their discussions ultimately focused on the legal definition of culpable negligence, which is required for a manslaughter conviction. Under Minnesota law, it occurs when a person “creates an unreasonable risk, and consciously takes chances of causing death or great bodily harm to another.” Faced with the choice of deciding that Yanez consciously chose

to create unreasonable risk or that he had acted out of fear, instinct and confusion, the jury found that Yanez had acted within the law.

Complicates policing On its face, the verdict could be seen as reassuring for police, but several former officers said they believe the trial could instead have a chilling effect. The Yanez case further complicates policing in several ways, like whether police cooperate when they become the target of an investigation and how they deal with the public. It’s becoming more common for officers to refuse to cooperate when they are targets of an investigation, Bruno said. “I’m concerned about (officers)

Clear advantage

OLIVIER DOULIERY/ABACA PRESS/TNS

The Wisconsin partisan gerrymandering case will be heard in the Supreme Court building in the fall.

Supreme Court to decide on partisan gerrymandering Wisconsin’s Republican leaders drew a statewide map that allowed the GOP to retain a supermajority in the state Assembly even in years when most of the voters cast ballots for Democrats.

BY DAVID G. SAVAGE TRIBUNE NEWS SERVICE

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court said Monday it will hear a closely watched challenge to partisan gerrymandering in Wisconsin and decide whether it is unconstitutional for party leaders to entrench themselves in power with carefully drawn

electoral maps. The case of Gill vs. Whitford is to be heard in the fall, and it could yield one of the most important rulings on political power in decades. Democrats maintain that the GOP has used its control of state legislatures to give Republicans an unfair grip on power in the House of Representatives. For example, Pennsylvania, Ohio and Michigan are closely contested, but 34 of their 48 representatives in the House are Republicans. Democrats do the same, but control fewer states.

Republican lawyers say their party’s advantage reflects the “reality of political geography.” They say Democratic voters are concentrated in the cities, giving the GOP a big edge elsewhere. But it is also true that statewide maps can be drawn in a way to give one party a clear advantage in most of the districts. After Republicans won big in the 2010 midterm elections, Wisconsin’s Republican leaders drew a statewide map that allowed the GOP to retain a super-majority in the state Assembly even in years when most of the voters cast ballots for Democrats. In 2012, Republicans won 48.6 percent of the two-party vote for Legislature, but still won 60 of the 99 seats in the Assembly.

Although officers have a right to exercise their Fifth Amendment rights, they customarily have submitted to questioning, Bruno said. That’s changing as they worry that their words will be used against them. At Yanez’s manslaughter trial, prosecutors highlighted statements in a one-hour interview he gave Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension investigators as proof of his guilt. “It’s just getting more and more antagonistic,” Bruno said. “Prosecutors, they’re all looking for their trophy cop to bag so they can tell the public that they’re evenhanded.”

Mom speaks out After the verdict, Castile’s mother, Valerie Castile, called the decision proof of a dysfunctional criminal justice system. “There has always been a systemic problem in the state of Minnesota, and me thinking with my common sense, that we would get justice in this case,” she said. “But nevertheless, it never seems to fail us, the system continues to fail Black people and it will continue to fail you all. This happened to Philando and when they get done with us, they’re coming for you, and you, and you and all your interracial children.” the grounds it was overly partisan. This is so in part because the justices have been unable to agree on a legal rule for deciding the issue.

Once a decade In most states, elected officials usually redraw the district maps once a decade for electing candidates to the state legislature and the U.S. House of Representatives. And typically, they draw districts to protect their incumbents and give their party an edge. The challengers in the Wisconsin case argued that the state’s electoral map was carefully drawn so that the GOP was virtually guaranteed to control the Legislature for the entire decade.

Dems join suit

Wisconsin’s response

Several Democratic voters joined a lawsuit contending this partisan electoral map violated their rights to an equal vote. Last year, a three-judge federal court broke new ground when it ruled the map was unconstitutional because its “motivating factor” was an “intent to entrench a political party in power.” By a 2-1 vote, the judges said the plan was an “unconstitutional partisan gerrymander.” In the past, the Supreme Court has struck down racial gerrymandering as unconstitutional, but it has never agreed to strike down a state’s electoral map on

Wisconsin’s attorney general appealed to the Supreme Court. The state’s lawyers said the districts were compact and neatly drawn. They are not oddly shaped and do not look like a classic gerrymander. They argued that the Democrats are at a disadvantage because their voters are concentrated in Milwaukee and Madison. They urged the court to overturn the lower-court ruling and throw out the claim on the grounds that redistricting is a political process, not a legal one.

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JUNE 23 – JUNE 29, 2017

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SECTION

UNDERSTANDING

RAMADAN The month of fasting brings Muslims closer to God and family

BY ERIN HEGARTY CHICAGO TRIBUNE/ TRIBUNE NEWS SERVICE

APERVILLE, Ill. – Not one bite of food or sip of water from sunup to sundown. No alcohol. No sex. No tobacco. The Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which began this year on May 26 and will end June 24, is hard. It’s supposed to be. It’s a time of sacrifice but also a time to focus on God and faith and family. “We keep reminding people that we do not view Ramadan as a burden,” said Aadil Farid, former president of the Naperville Islamic Center. “We view Ramadan as an opportunity, as a platform, as a tool that enriches our mind, body and soul. It provides us an opportunity to stop and think and reflect. By refraining from food, it allows us to think that we are connected with the entirety of humanity through very basic needs.”

ERIN HEGARTY/CHICAGO TRIBUNE/TNS

Safa Farid and Sana Khadri stand in the Islamic Center of Naperville in Illinois after breaking their fast with dates and an iftar meal. Some people leave after the first set of prayers, which this week ended at about 11:15 p.m. Others continue praying until after midnight. Attendance for the nightly prayers in the first week of Ramadan drew nearly 1,500 people each night, Aadil Farid said. In the last few nights, close to 2,000 people are expected to attend.

‘Ramadan slump’

Everyone participates For healthy adults, fasting begins at sunrise, which was 5:24 a.m. on the first day of Ramadan and 5:19 a.m. on the last. Any meal must be consumed before that time. Then it’s no dinner until sunset at about 8:30 p.m. The only people excluded are the elderly, pregnant women, children and those who are ill, although all must still participate in daily prayers and reading from the Quran and can abstain from other things, such as watching television. Ramadan is divided into three parts that each last 10 days. The final 10 days are considered the most blessed and the most important. “Within those last 10 days is when the first verses of the Quran were actually revealed,” Aadil Farid said.

Time for reflection The month of fasting and prayer is meant to be a time in which people reassess their lives and improve their relationship with God and others, said Safa Farid, Aadil Farid’s 22-year-old daughter. “When you’re not focusing on things meant to survive like eating, sleeping and drinking, then you’re more focused on the spiritual side of you,” Safa Farid said. “Then you can focus more on looking into the word of God and seeing what he said and working on your soul essentially.” During Ramadan, many mosques and Islamic centers offer fast-breaking

JOSHUA LIM/ORLANDO SENTINEL/TNS

Iqbal Gagan, right, prays with members of his mosque before breaking Ramadan fast at the Islamic Center of Orlando on June 30, 2016. The center saw a dramatic drop in attendance at these meals following the Pulse nightclub shootings, but have seen people come back, especially after more security was hired. meals, called iftar, and prayer after sunset. Around 8 p.m. on a recent Thursday, people began trickling into the Islamic Center of Naperville in preparation of the end of that day’s fast.

Eager to serve Charity and generosity are particularly emphasized during Ramadan so many volunteer to set up tables and serve food. “People compete to the extent that everybody wants to serve,” Aadil Farid said. “It is said this month that the reward of any good deed gets multiplied by 70 times normal.” And for those who cannot fast, “anyone who assists in helping someone break their fast gets the reward that’s like the reward if they were fasting as well,” Safa Farid said.

Breaking the fast The fast is traditionally broken with

the consumption of dates, which the Prophet Mohammed consumed to break his own fast after God revealed the first verses of the Quran to him. Women eat and pray separate from the men, and the Islamic Center serves dinner to about 450 or 500 people each night. Because the dates of Ramadan are set by the lunar calendar, the times of meals and prayers will change with the time of year. This year, dinner is served at about 8:45 p.m., and people eat and socialize until about 10 p.m. The food is catered and the menu changes every day.

Evening prayers The last prayer of the day begins about 10:20 p.m. Women pack various rooms in the mosque—those with children under the age of 10 and those who need to sit in chairs while they pray—have their own rooms.

Although the message is reinforced that the holy month is a time for selfevaluation, self-improvement and rededication to the faith, many will experience the “Ramadan slump” in the middle of the month, Safa Farid said. The beginning of Ramadan draws excitement and a sense of community as people get to see their friends and family every day for the nightly prayers that are specific to Ramadan, Farid said. “After the first week or week-and-ahalf, the fatigue kind of starts to kick in from your lack of energy and your lack of sleep,” Farid said. But things kick into high gear at the end, Farid and her father agreed.

‘Beautiful gifts’ With the last days of Ramadan nearing, the end of the holy month and the heightened spirituality felt during that time can leave some feeling depressed, Aadil Farid said. “In fact, we do cry when the month of Ramadan is departing because this blessed month brings so many beautiful gifts,” Farid said. “It allows the community to come together. This month brings the gift of mercy, the gift of forgiveness, the gift of salvation. As this month is departing, you feel that something is going to be missing in your life.”

‘Devils’ chained While many men and women will abstain from bad habits and give more to See RAMADAN, Page B2

TOP PHOTO: Thousands of Charlotte-area Muslims gathered to mark the end of Ramadan on July 17, 2015 with prayer and greetings of “Eid Mubarak,” which is Arabic for “Happy Eid,” at the Cabarrus Arena in Concord, North Carolina. Eid al-Fitr is a holiday that ushers in three days of communal meals and gift-giving. It directly follows Ramadan. JEFF SINER/CHARLOTTE OBSERVER/TNS

CALENDAR

JUNE 23 – JUNE 29, 2017

STOJ

FLORIDA COMMUNITY CALENDAR Orlando: Reggae star Beres Hammond performs Aug 5 at Hard Rock Live Orlando and Aug. 6 at the AuRene Theater at the Broward Center. Coral Gables: DJ Khaled will be at Coral Gables’ Watsco Center on June 29 for Impact ’17.

BRYSON TILLER

Tickets are on sale for a Bryson Tiller concert on Aug. 29 at Coral Gables’ Watsco Center and Aug. 30 at CFE Arena in Orlando.

Sunrise: Lionel Richie, Mariah Carey and Tauren Wells will be in concert on Aug. 10 at the BB&T Center and Aug. 11 at Tampa’s Amalie Arena. Tampa: The Triple H Men’s Conference is 9 a.m. to noon June 24 at the College Hill Conference Center. Sponsor: College Hill Church of God in Christ. Speaker: Former State Rep. Ed Narain. More info: 813-238-1236. Fort Lauderdale: Comedian and actor Sinbad takes the stage Aug. 11 at the Parker Playhouse.

BRUNO MARS

The singer’s 24K Magic World Tour stops at the Orlando Amway Center on Oct. 14, Sunrise’s BB&T Center on Oct. 15, Miami’s AmericanAirlinesArena on Oct. 18 and Tampa’s Amalie Arena on Oct. 19.

ISLEY BROTHERS

The iconic group performs Aug. 6 at the Mahaffey Theater in St. Petersburg.

Jacksonville: Rick Ross and K. Michelle will perform on July 8 at the Times Union Center for the Performing Arts. Orlando: An All White Affair starring

Ginuwine and DJ Envy is July 21 at Hard Rock Live Orlando. Tampa: Tickets are on sale for the Total Package Tour with Paula Abdul, New Kids on the Block and Boyz II Men at the Amalie Arena on July 15. Jacksonville: Catch Betty Wright on July 22 at the Times-Union Center for the Performing Arts. Orlando: Full Gospel Baptist presents Rickey Smiley and Friends on June 30 at Hard Rock Live Orlando. Jacksonville: Diana Ross is scheduled June 28 at Daily’s Place. Miami: J. Cole’s Your Eyez Only Tour stops at the AmericanAirlines Arena on Aug. 14 and Orlando’s Amway Center on Aug. 16. Orlando: Plans are underway the 18th Annual Darrell Armstrong Classic Weekend Aug. 11-13 for his foundation that helps premature babies. Sponsorship info: Call 407-252-333 or email jbm395@gmail.com. Miami: Tickets are on sale for Kendrick Lamar’s Damn Tour on Sept. 2 at the AmericanAirlines Arena and Sept. 10 at Tampa’s Amalie Arena.

Abdul-Jabbar’s new memoir focuses on friendship with Wooden as Coach was retiring (in 1975). It made it possible to re-establish a relationship on a totally different basis. Soon after, Coach’s wife (Nell, died in 1985), and that accelerated the friendship. We were there to support him. Everything just grew organically.

BY ED SHERMAN CHICAGO TRIBUNE/TNS

You will be hard-pressed to find photos on the front and back covers of a book that more vividly describe what is written inside than those on Kareem AbdulJabbar’s “Coach Wooden and Me: Our 50-Year Friendship On and Off the Court.” The front cover is a shot of a somewhat rigid AbdulJabbar, then known as Lew Alcindor, as a young player at UCLA listening to instructions from John Wooden in 1966. The back photo shows the passage of time with Abdul-Jabbar tenderly grasping the hand of his frail cane-carrying coach, assisting him off the court after a UCLA game in 2007. If a picture is worth a 1,000 words, “then those two pictures are worth 1,000 chapters,” Abdul-Jabbar said during a recent interview with the Chicago Tribune.

Unlikely bond Indeed, those photos show the evolution of the tight relationship between arguably the greatest coach and greatest player in college basketball history. Abdul-Jabbar writes how it was an unlikely bond given the differences in their backgrounds: He is an African-American Muslim from New York City, and Wooden was a White Christian from rural Indiana. Yet through those 50 years, Abdul-Jabbar recounts intimate details of how these two icons of their sport came together at a most basic human level, elevating their lives in the process. “Our relationship evolved from being a mentor and father figure to being a friend, a co-traveler in life,” AbdulJabbar said. “The evolution was part of the thrill of being with him. It’s what made it really special.” Abdul-Jabbar spoke by phone from his home

‘Dillinger’ connection

“Coach Wooden and Me” by Kareem AbdulJabbar; Grand Central 304 pages, $29 in Orange County, Calif., about his new book. Here’s an edited transcript of the conversation.

Role reversal Q: What do those front and back cover photos mean to you? A: The pictures say so much. When I see them, I question the reality. Who is leading who? It hits home to you, the whole issue of role reversal. When we started out, he was very much the mentor. Towards the end of his life, I had to assume that role for him. I also saw a similar photo of us from that moment (walking off the court in 2007) from behind. It really pulled at my heart. I got teary-eyed.

Long-term friendship Q: Do you think the young player in that 1966 photo imagined he would have a 50-year plus relationship with that coach? A: When I left UCLA, I had no idea how the future would play out. It was quite conceivable that I wouldn’t return to Southern California to maintain that relationship. I was fortunate to return to play with the Lakers just

RAMADAN from Page 1

charity during Ramadan, it can be difficult to carry those practices through the rest of the year. “We believe that within the month of Ramadan, all of the devils are kind of chained away so that we can focus on bettering ourselves,” Safa Farid said. “So then after Ramadan ends, those devils can kind of be brought back into our lives and they’re kind of unchained.”

Family time Naperville resident Aamir Chalisa said Ramadan is a month of rejoicing and a chance for families to experience “good, quality time” together. During much of the year, Chalisa said his family is running around in separate pursuits because of work, school or other activities.

Q: You write about watching the movie “Dillinger” at his home shortly before he died in 2010 at the age of 99. Even though it was late in his life, why was it important to you to always deepen the connection? A: We had a lot to share with each other. There were things that genuinely interested him. (John) Dillinger grew up less than 10 miles from where Coach lived in Indiana, and the movie visually captured the essence of that time in the Depression. I knew that Coach would enjoy that. It’s what I did with him. It was all about stuff we loved.

tense pressure from the burden of expectations in coaching you and subsequent UCLA teams? A: When you think about what he was seeking to achieve, I thought it was all roses. I didn’t pay attention to the part where in order to get to the roses, you have to deal with some thorns. You skip over that in your mind. Q: You write in the book that the subject of race was “awkward” between you and Wooden, especially at the beginning of your relationship in the mid-’60s. How did his views evolve?

A: Coach was able to understand how corrosive race could be in Black America. It constantly disables in various ways that a White person can’t really understand until they see it happening. He would be on the periphery and he began to notice and hear people say things. A lot of what he heard was really appalling. He came to understand better what we were going through.

Much more Q: What was writing the book like for you? A: First, it forced me to

remember stuff that happened more than 50 years. That wasn’t easy. Then you go over all the emotional stuff in your life. You let some of those things fade into the edges of your mind. Writing the book brings them all back. Q: What do you want people to learn about Coach Wooden? A: I want people to understand who he really was. Most people think, “Oh, he won all those championships,” and that he is such a wonderful sports story. There’s much more to the story. There is so much more about the real man.

Love of baseball Q: Speaking of stuff you loved, people would be surprised to know that you two basketball icons used to watch a lot of baseball games together. A: We’re both big baseball fans. I am a National League fan, and he’s an American League fan. We used to have our all-time teams, and argue back and forth. He would talk a lot about managers. I knew nothing about managers. He always had a broader base of knowledge than anybody in any conversation. He had all these facts at his fingertips.

On coaching, race Q: You write about constantly gaining new insights about Wooden. How surprised were you when Wooden revealed years later that he felt in-

During the month of Ramadan, however, his family gathers for breakfast together before dawn and again for dinner after sunset, either at home, a restaurant or the Al-Masjid-al-Badri in Willowbrook, the mosque his family attends. “In this electronic age, this is the one time when you are getting together,” he said. “For me personally, I see more of my children during this month than I see them the rest of the year.”

Important reminder With advances in technology, many people can read the Quran on a tablet or smart phone, but the basis of Ramadan, the fasting from sunrise to sunset, remains unchanged. “It allows us to detach from the worldly life, it allows us to recognize the greed within and curtail that. Our needs are very narrow,” Aadil Farid said. “It is our desire to have more and more and more. The month of Ramadan is a very profound reminder that we ought to take care of those who are in need.’’

CHECK LOCAL LISTINGS FOR STARTS FRIDAY, JUNE 30 THEATERS AND SHOWTIMES

STOJ

JUNE 23 – JUNE 29, 2017

HEALTH

Researchers cite progress in cancer treatment Johns Hopkins team has discovered that two drugs can slow metastasis significantly. BY CARRIE WELLS BALTIMORE SUN/TNS

BALTIMORE — Hasini Jayatilaka was a sophomore at the Johns Hopkins University working in a lab studying cancer cells when she noticed that when the cells become too densely packed, some would break off and start spreading. She wasn’t sure what to make of it, until she attended an academic conference and heard a speaker talking about bacterial cells behaving the same way. Yet when she went through the academic literature to see if anyone had written about similar behavior in cancer cells, she found nothing. Seven years later, the theory Jayatilaka developed early in college is now a bona fide discovery that offers significant promise for cancer treatment.

The discovery Jayatilaka and a team at Johns Hopkins discovered the biochemical mechanism that tells cancer cells to break off from the primary tumor and spread throughout the body, a process called metastasis. Some 90 percent of cancer deaths are caused when cancer metastasizes. The team also found that two existing, FDA-approved drugs can slow metastasis significantly. “A female patient with breast cancer doesn’t succumb to the disease just because she has a mass on her breast; she succumbs to the disease because (when) it spreads either to the lungs, the liver, the brain, it becomes untreatable,” said Jayatilaka, who earned her doctorate in chemical and biomolecular engineering this spring in addition to her earlier undergraduate degree at Hopkins. “There are really no therapeutics out there right now that directly target the spread of cancer. So what we came up with through our studies was this drug cocktail that could potentially inhibit the spread of cancer.”

The next step The study was published on-

AMY DAVIS/BALTIMORE SUN/TNS

Hasini Jayatilaka, left, a post-doctoral fellow and Denis Wirtz, professor of chemical and biomedical engineering, who work together at the Institute of NanoBioTechnology at Johns Hopkins University, discuss their discovery that a biochemical signaling process that causes the spread of cancer cells can be slowed down with the use of two existing drugs. line May 26 in the journal Nature Communications. The next step for the team is to test the effectiveness of the drugs in human subjects. Typically, cancer research and treatment has focused on shrinking the primary tumor through chemotherapy or other methods. But, the team said, by attacking the deadly process of metastasis, more patients could survive. “It’s not this primary tumor that’s going to kill you typically,” said Denis Wirtz, Johns Hopkins’ vice provost for research and director of its Physical SciencesOncology Center, who was a senior author on the paper.

The process Jayatilaka began by studying how cancer cells behave and communicate with each other, using a three-dimensional model that mimics human tissue rather than looking at them in a petri dish.

Many researchers believe metastasis happens after the primary tumor reaches a certain size, but Jayatilaka found it was the tumor’s density that determined when it would metastasize. “If you look at the human population, once we become too dense in an area, we move out to the suburbs or wherever, and we decide to set up shop there,” Jayatilaka said. “I think the cancer cells are doing the same thing.”

Two proteins When the tumor reaches a certain density, the study found, it releases two proteins called Interleukin 6 and Interleukin 8, signaling to cancer cells that things had grown too crowded and it was time to break off and head into other parts of the body. Previously, Wirtz said, the act of a tumor growing and the act of cancer cells spreading were thought to be very separate ac-

tivities, because that’s how it appeared by studying cancer cells in a petri dish, rather than the 3-D model the Hopkins team used. Many researchers study only cancer cell growth or its spread, and don’t communicate with each other often, he said.

Drugs tested Once the cancer cells start to sense the presence of too many other cancer cells around them, they start secreting the Interleukin proteins, Wirtz said. If those proteins are added to a tumor that hasn’t yet metastasized, that process would begin, he said. The team then tested two drugs known to work on the Interleukin receptors to see if they would block or slow metastasis in mice. They found that using the two drugs together would block the signals from the Interleukin proteins that told the cancer cells

Lead detected in 20 percent of baby food samples BY LYDIA ZURAW KAISER HEALTH NEWS/TNS

Pediatricians and public health researchers know they have to be on the lookout for lead exposure from paint chips and contaminated drinking water. A new report suggests food — particularly baby food — could be a problem too. The Environmental Defense Fund, in an analysis of 11 years of federal data, found detectable levels of lead in 20 percent of 2,164 baby food samples. The toxic metal was most commonly found in fruit juices such as grape and apple, root vegetables such as sweet potatoes and carrots, and cookies such as teething biscuits.

Development issues The organization’s primary focus was on the baby foods because of how detrimental lead can be to child development. “Lead can have a number of effects on children and it’s especially harmful during critical windows of development,” said Dr. Aparna Bole, pediatrician at University Hospitals Rainbow Babies and Children’s Hospital in

No safe level

In fruit juice This surprised Tom Neltner, Environmental Defense Fund’s chemicals policy director, who

If you are planning a trip abroad, you may need to make an appointment to see a medical provider along with making your travel plans. “Anybody who’s going abroad, particularly to a developing part of the world, should be evaluated or contact a local travel clinic because there are many things that need to be considered in general but specifically for infectious dis-

ease prevention,” says Mayo Clinic infectious diseases specialist, Dr. Stacey Rizza. Depending on where you travel, you may be advised or required to be vaccinated against typhoid fever, yellow fever, hepatitis, among other infectious diseases. “There also are what we call prophylaxis,” says Rizza. “If somebody is going to an area that’s endemic for malaria, they should take medications to prophylax, or prevent them, from getting ma-

The drugs the team used were Tocilizumab, a rheumatoid arthritis treatment, and Reparixin, which is being evaluated for cancer treatment. The drugs bind to the Interleukin receptors and block their signals, slowing metastasis. Though metastasis was not completely stopped, Jayatilaka said, the mice given the drug cocktail fared well and survived through the experiment. She said adding another, yet-to-be-determined drug or tweaking the dose might stop metastasis entirely. Contrary to the hair loss, nausea and other negative side effects patients undergoing chemotherapy suffer, Wirtz said the side effects from the drugs used in the study would be minimal.

Gerber responds DREAMSTIME/TNS

The Environmental Defense Fund, in an analysis of 11 years of federal data, found detectable levels of lead in 20 percent of 2,164 baby food samples. has spent 20 years researching and working to reduce lead exposures. His further analysis of the EPA report was that food is the major source of lead exposure in twothirds of toddlers. This spurred the organization to examine data from the FDA’s Total Diet Study for specific sources of exposure for kids. In the resulting report, released last week, Neltner found that the

Vaccination could be necessary before traveling abroad MAYO CLINIC NEWS NETWORK/TNS

Minimal side effects

play a role. “I can’t explain it other than I assume baby food is processed more,” Neltner said. The Environmental Defense Fund report notes that more research on the sources of contamination is needed. FDA has set guidance levels of 100 parts per billion (ppb) for candy and dried fruit and 50 ppb for fruit juices. The allowable level for lead in bottled water is 5 ppb. Neltner said he’s glad the FDA is working on the issue but wants them to “get it done. Move quicker.”

Cleveland, who was not involved with the report. “The largest burden that we often think about is neurocognitive that can occur even at low levels of lead exposure.” Lead can cause problems with attention and behavior, cognitive development, the cardiovascular system and immune system, Bole said. The samples studied were not identified by brand, and the levels of lead are thought to be relatively low. Still, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, no safe blood lead level in children has been identified. In a draft report released earlier this year, the Environmental Protection Agency estimated that over 5 percent of children consume more than 6 micrograms per day of lead — the maximum daily intake level set by the Food and Drug Administration in 1993 — in their diet.

to break off and spread, slowing — though not completely stopping — metastasis.

baby food versions of apple juice, grape juice and carrots had detectable lead more often than the regular versions. Researchers could determine how frequently contamination occurred, but not at what levels.

More research According to the FDA, lead makes its way into food through contaminated soil, but Neltner suspects that processing may also

laria while they’re traveling. “There are other antibiotics that frequently their physician will recommend they bring along with them. In case they get sick while they’re there, they can start therapy immediately.”

many parts of the Caribbean, and some parts of the South Pacific, it’s probably worth considering. Most of Western Europe, North America, Scandinavia, Australia are safe to travel to without having visited a travel clinic, but there are certain exceptions to that.

Talk to doctor

Visit travel clinic

For most areas of Central and South America, you should at least discuss your travel plans with a physician or a provider in the travel clinic,’’ Rizza said. “For Africa, Southeast Asia,

He continued, “If you’re going to an area in one of those places that has a particularly high incidence of certain infections, and you’re going to be in a very rural part for a long period of time, it’s

The Environmental Defense Fund isn’t recommending that parents avoid certain foods or brands for their children but does advise that they consult their pediatrician about all means of lead exposure. In response to a request for comment, Gerber said that samples of its baby foods and juices “consistently fall well within the available guidance levels and meet our own strict standards.” And samples of Gerber juices were all below the EPA standard for drinking water. “We know parents may be concerned about a recent report on lead in foods and want to reassure them that Gerber foods and juices are safe,” the statement read. worth visiting a travel clinic. “Most infectious disease physicians, including myself, would advocate that, if somebody is going to travel, particularly to developing parts of the world, they should visit a travel clinic first; review their itinerary; review what they will be doing in those areas; and get the appropriate education, treatments, and appropriate vaccines before they leave,” he added. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention provides health travel notices, along with information on vaccines required for various destinations.

BUSINESS

JUNE 23 – JUNE 29, 2017

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Google, YouTube detail new anti-terrorism efforts BY LEVI SUMAGAYSAY MERCURY NEWS/TNS

SAN JOSE, Calif. — YouTube is stepping up its fight against online terror and abuse, laying out four new steps it’s taking amid recent terrorism-related incidents around the world. The moves also come a couple of months after advertisers began pulling their ads from YouTube and other Google properties after learning they were appearing beside extremist content. Kent Walker, general counsel for Google, wrote in a blog post and an op-ed that appeared in the Financial Times over the weekend that thousands of the company’s employees “review and counter abuse of our platforms,” but that the company is trying to do even more.

‘The right balance’ That includes making videos that don’t violate company policies but that “contain inflammatory religious or supremacist content” harder to find. Creators of such videos won’t be able to monetize them, and the videos won’t have comments and endorsements enabled. “We think this strikes the right balance between free expression and access to information without promoting extremely offensive viewpoints,” Walker wrote.

More human experts In addition, Google says it’s devoting more engineering resources and advanced machinelearning research to try to help quicker identification and removal of extremist and terrorism-related content. Also, the company says it will rely on even more humans. “Because technology alone is not a silver bullet, we will greatly increase the number of independent experts in YouTube’s Trusted Flagger program,” Walker said

LUIS SINCO/LOS ANGELES TIMES/TNS

YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki delivers the keynote speech at VidCon 2015 at the Anaheim Convention Center on Thursday, July 23, 2015 in Anaheim, Calif. in the blog post. “Human experts still play a role in nuanced decisions about the line between violent propaganda and religious or newsworthy speech.” The boost will include adding 50 new NGOs to the program, which already had 63 organizations involved.

Pressure for change The fourth step involves an ex-

panded role in anti-radicalization efforts that include advertising aimed at “potential ISIS recruits” that redirects them to anti-terrorist videos. Google also said it’s working with Facebook, Microsoft and Twitter to tackle terrorism-related concerns. The big internet companies are facing increased pressure from governments, politicians and others who lay some of the blame on online platforms for

spreading extremist messages. YouTube has long dealt with such concerns — its platform has hosted user-generated video since before Facebook and Twitter began to focus on video. But this year, the company faced a massive backlash in the form of lost advertising.

No confirmation Although at least one report

pegged the loss of YouTube and other Google advertising over this issue in the hundreds of millions of dollars, Google would not confirm that. Rather, the company told The Mercury News in March that it had begun an “extensive review” and was looking to make changes after brands in the U.K., then elsewhere, halted advertising from Google platforms.

Can your iPhone tell if you’re depressed? BY ALISON BOWEN CHICAGO TRIBUNE/TNS

A new iPhone app developed by University of Illinois at Chicago researchers aims to track and predict mood episodes through keystrokes. Created by psychiatrist Alex Leow and Peter Nelson, the idea for BiAffect came about when Nelson’s 24-year-old son was diagnosed with bipolar disorder, a brain disorder that causes unusual shifts in mood, energy and activity levels. “Like every family or father, I wanted to try to help him,” Nelson said. He thought that if his son was able to use an app that could track early warning signs, he might be better equipped to seek help.

Keyboard tests To find out whether a user might be experiencing a manic or depressive episode, the app tracks typing speed, how hard keys are pressed and the frequency of the use of backspace and spellcheck. A recent study by Leow and Nelson, who is the dean of the University of Illinois College of Engineering, showed cell phone metadata such as typing speed, spelling errors and using backspace while texting correlate with manic and depressive episodes. People in a manic episode have reduced impulse control, which makes them less likely to take time to accept spell-check recommendations, says Leow. They also tend to talk faster.

“So one hypothesis that we have is if they are talking faster, they should be typing faster,” said Leow, an associate professor of psychiatry at UIC.

Won challenge This might not be the case for everyone. Some might want to speak in person. “Every person is different, and that’s what’s really fascinating about human behavior,” Leow said. In a depressive episode, people were more likely to type slower. BiAffect recently won the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s Mood Challenge, a $200,000 prize for proposals that further an understanding of how mood relates to daily lives and well-being. Leow and Nelson will use the funding to make BiAffect available in the App Store later this year. Users interested in downloading it in the future can sign up for updates at www.biaffect. com.

More data BiAffect does not track the content of texting or other keyboard use because of privacy safeguards. But by downloading the app, which allows tracking of keyboard strokes, it monitors texting mechanisms. Leow and Nelson hope that with more downloads, the data can serve as a crowd-sourced study collecting stats on mood and cognition among many different users.

COURTESY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS-CHICAGO/TNS

Peter Nelson and Alex Loew are studying whether an app they created can flag when someone is experiencing mental illness.

McDonald’s drops sponsorship of Olympics BY ROBERT CHANNICK CHICAGO TRIBUNE/TNS

McDonald’s and the International Olympic Committee are ending a long-standing commercial partnership three years early. The fast-food company is leaving the Olympics’ top sponsorship program immediately, giving up category-exclusive global marketing rights that were set to run through the 2020 Olympic Games. McDonald’s became a top-tier partner in 1996 and has been

an integral part of staging every Olympics since 1998. The company also is dropping its 40-year sponsorship of the U.S. Olympic Committee.

Highest level The highest level of Olympic sponsorship, the Olympic Partners program, brought in more than $1 billion in revenue during the last four-year cycle in 201316, according to IOC financial reports. Other partners in the pro-

gram include Coca-Cola, Alibaba, Bridgestone, Dow Chemical, Samsung, Toyota and Visa. “In today’s rapidly evolving business landscape, we understand that McDonald’s is looking to focus on different business priorities,” said Timo Lumme, managing director of IOC television and marketing services. “For these reasons, we have mutually agreed with McDonald’s to part ways.” The financial terms of the early termination were not disclosed.

Effective immediately

Long-term partnership

In addition to revenue, program partners provide goods, services and industry expertise for staging the summer and winter Olympics. While the agreement to end its partnership is effective immediately, McDonald’s will operate Olympic Park and Olympic Village restaurants at the 2018 Winter Games in Pyeongchang, South Korea. The IOC has no immediate plans to appoint a replacement in the retail food operations sponsorship category.

McDonald’s partnership began with the 1997 to 2000 Olympic cycle, which included the 1998 Winter Games in Nagano, Japan, and the 2000 Summer Games in Sydney. In 2012, McDonald’s signed an eight-year renewal, which was to run through the 2020 Games. Beyond McDonald’s, all current top-tier partnership agreements go to 2020 or beyond, with Bridgestone, Panasonic and Toyota signed through 2024, Alibaba through 2028, and watchmaker Omega until 2032, according to the IOC.

STOJ

JUNE 23 – JUNE 29, 2017

Meet some of

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finest

FINEST & ENTERTAINMENT

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Thousands of Caribbean culture lovers converge on South Florida every year on the Columbus Day weekend to attend the annual Miami Broward Carnival, a series of concerts, pageants, parades, and competitions. On Carnival Day, “mas” (masquerade) bands of thousands of revelers dance and march behind 18-wheel tractortrailer trucks with booming sound systems from morning until nightfall while competing for honors. Here are some of the “Finest” we’ve seen over the years. Go to www.miamibrowardcarnival.com for information on this year’s Carnival. CHARLES W. CHERRY II / FLORIDA COURIER

Winfrey talks about her new films, her insecurities LOS ANGELES — Oprah Winfrey guides you into her office and, after a welcoming hug (Winfrey’s a hugger, but you probably already knew that), she immediately anticipates where your eye is going to land first. Over in the corner, overlooking her Oprah Winfrey Network studio lot, there’s artist Whitfield Lovell’s “Having,” a charcoal on wood panel image of two African American women that has three wood boxes of pennies placed in front of it. “These women were early entrepreneurs,” Winfrey says. “I looked at this every day from my desk in Chicago to remind me and inspire me that, yes, it can be done.”

Tenn.” And if somebody who said they were my father came to my front door, it would not matter to me. I don’t have any of that longing to know. Partly because I just do have this deeper sense of belonging to something bigger than my parents. Because my parents were together only one time. So it wasn’t like, “Oh, gee, we wanted this daughter.” (Laughs) I’m glad my father did lay claim to me when he didn’t have to. And I’m glad my mother didn’t abort me because it would have been easier to do as a poor colored woman with no education in Mississippi. So I’m grateful for that but I don’t feel this deep sense of belonging to them. I think I belong to something bigger. The coming of me has been in the making for a long time.

Plenty of stories

Her ‘Roots’

BY GLENN WHIPP LOS ANGELES TIMES/TNS

The spacious West Hollywood office contains scores of Emmys (not all of them), shelves and shelves of books, many dotted with framed photos of Winfrey with the likes of Barack Obama and Nelson Mandela. Everything here has a story, and Winfrey, a consummate teller of tales, her own and others’, will happily share them with gusto. “You see that photograph of me and Madiba over there?” Winfrey says, pointing to a picture of her and Mandela, telling of the time she went to South Africa to help AIDS-stricken children for a project called Christmas Kindness.

‘I’m Oprah’ Once there, Winfrey, her hair braided, waited with a town mayor for Mandela to arrive via helicopter. “I am so excited,” the mayor told her. “Nelson Mandela is coming and he’s bringing Oprah Winfrey from America.” Winfrey looked at him, confused. “I’m already here,” she told him. “I’m Oprah.” The mayor looked at her. “You? You look like a girl from the village. Where is the Oprah we know?” Winfrey laughs, but it’s not enough to stir her beloved cocker spaniel, Sadie, sprawled out on the sofa next to her.

Another lesson It’s a good story. And, of course,

CHARBONNEAU/REX SHUTTERSTOCK/ZUMA PRESS/TNS

Ava DuVernay and Oprah Winfrey are shown at the Netflix’s original documentary ‘’13th’’ reception on Jan. 15 in Los Angeles. for Winfrey it’s not just a story but a lesson because Winfrey finds lessons everywhere, and she absorbs them and then passes them on because she loves, to use a word she adores, “pontificating.” The town mayor’s lesson: Rise for the moment. Give people the Oprah they know. Over a long, discursive conversation, Winfrey, 63, did just that, touching on the movie she just made for HBO, “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks,” in which she plays Deborah, the daughter of the title character, an African American woman whose cancer cells became crucial to medical research. We also talked about her next movie, “A Wrinkle in Time,” made with her friend, Ava DuVernay, who created the beautiful, character-driven drama “Queen Sugar” for OWN. And other movies too, ones that Winfrey has made, might one day make, as well as films dear to heart.

On film and family Q: Deborah is searching for her identity through finding out about her mother. Did playing her make you think about your half sister, Patricia, and what it was like for her to find you and your mother after so many years? A: You’re the only person who’s ever brought that up! But you are right. I thought of her a lot. There’s a line where Deborah says, “The only thing I care about is my mother and my sister.” I know that my sister has said those words.

‘Something bigger’ Q: Her longing for family informed your work? A: Definitely. That was part of my process. Because I don’t have that longing. I’m the exact opposite. Like, probably when I was 20-something, I was told by a cousin that my father wasn’t my father. And I said, “The only father I have is Vernon Winfrey and he’s in a barbershop in Nashville,

Q: You’re talking generations. A: I never read it thoroughly when it was done, but I just recently looked at Henry Louis Gates’ book, “Finding Oprah’s Roots.” Looking at it, I am a descendant of not just slaves, but slaves who loved land, which I now have a thing about land. I like it better than shoes. I’d rather have a nice piece of land than a great pair of shoes! The fact that my great-greatgrandfather could come out of slavery and end up a land owner, my great-great-grandmother would come out of slavery and end up a teacher and built a little school on a property … and I had this yearning to build a school for girls. That’s what I mean: It all comes from something bigger. Deeper. Q: Going back to Deborah and the movie … if you made that connection with your half sister, why did you have so many reservations about taking the part? A: I always have reservations about acting. I don’t want to embarrass myself.

Fear of being fired Q: But you’ve acted in movies directed by Steven Spielberg and Jonathan Demme and Ava DuVernay… A: I started with Spielberg. So I started pretty high in the food chain. Q: And you’ve said that you

were terrified every day he was going to fire you on “The Color Purple.” A: I was terrified. There was another movie — was it “Mask”? — where somebody had recently been fired, and it had never occurred to me that you could be fired from a movie. But I did know that if there was anybody who could be fired, it would be me, because I didn’t know what I was doing. Period. My first day on set and I am in the first scene and I walk in and look directly into the camera and say my line. “Cut! Cut!” Steven asked, “Why are looking into the camera?” I had been on TV since I was 19 and that’s what you do. You look at the camera. Anyway, I learned. But I’ve never stopped being intimidated.

DuVernay friendship Q: What about acting for Ava in “A Wrinkle in Time”? A: Well, that was different. That was just a fun thing to do. I’m so proud of her. You know why? Because it mirrors my relationship with Maya Angelou. She used to tell me she was proud of me, but I couldn’t hear it. I couldn’t receive it. I didn’t really know what that meant until my friendship with Ava. Every time she does something, I think, “Oh. This is what Maya felt about me. That’s what it means when you feel enlarged by someone else’s successes.” Her growth makes me feel broader.

Playing Mrs. Witch Q: Tell me about Mrs. Witch, your character in “A Wrinkle in Time.” A: She’s a cross between Glinda the Good Witch and Maya Angelou. (Laughs) You know, it all started because I love New Zealand so much. So when Ava went there to scout and she’s telling me about the ice caves and glaciers and mountains and turquoise lakes, I told her, “I am coming to visit.” And she said, “If you’re going to visit, why don’t you work? Would you mind reading the script?” So I did. And I believe I am Mrs. Witch! You know, she’s born of the stars and she’s a wise woman coming from another cosmos. So, c’mon! And she loves pontificating.

FOOD

JUNE 23 – JUNE 29, 2017

5 tips to avoid binge-watching guilt FAMILY FEATURES

Dozens of streaming video providers are making it easier than ever to watch the TV programming you want when you want it, and exclusive programming released an entire season at a time is transforming the way Americans watch TV. The flip side of this convenience is a surge in binge-watching, which can have some negative side effects, including binge eating. When your favorite show is available back-to-back, it’s easy to let substantial blocks of time get away as you watch “just one more” episode to follow the twists and turns of the plot. In fact, according to a recent survey by Dole, the average binge-watching session clocks in around 5 hours. The same survey found that more than two-thirds of people prefer healthy snacks to fuel their marathon viewing. Treating yourself to an occasional binge session may give your brain a well-earned break, and it’s easy to do many forms of exercise in front of the screen. The trick to keeping your binge-watching session in check and getting rid of the guilt is to exercise good habits when you head to the kitchen. 1. Opt for snacks that include valuable vitamins and minerals. 2. Keep your kitchen stocked with ingredients such as high quality, ready-to-eat Dole Jarred Fruit so you can create quick and easy snacks with a serving of fruit in between episodes or during a commercial break. 3. Look for quick solutions that help trim prep time and skip the cutting, peeling and mess. 4. Avoid waste or spoilage with convenient, re-sealable lids that let you use what you need for a single serving and save the rest for later. 5. Get creative to satisfy cravings. Instead of reaching for cookies or cake, dip fruit in melted chocolate and pop it in the freezer. Let it sit while you watch a few episodes of your favorite show and then enjoy. Find more quick and easy snacks that can be made during a commercial break at dolesunshine.com.

FRUITY FLATBREAD Pre-made flatbread crust Broccoli rabe Cooked and chopped turkey bacon Dole Jarred Mandarin Oranges Cover flatbread with chopped broccoli rabe, turkey bacon and oranges. Peach Parfaits Low-fat yogurt Granola Dole Jarred Sliced Peaches Mint In cup or jar, alternate layering yogurt, granola and chopped peaches. Top with mint and serve immediately.

BRIGHTENED UP CAPRESE SALAD Fresh mozzarella cheese Dole Jarred Sliced Peaches Fresh basil Salt, to taste Pepper, to taste Balsamic glaze Arrange alternate slices of mozzarella and peaches. Sprinkle fresh basil, season with salt and pepper, to taste, and drizzle with balsamic glaze. AVOCADO TOAST Avocado Whole-wheat bread Dole Jarred Sliced Peaches Salt

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Pepper Crushed red pepper flakes Slice avocado in half, remove pit and scoop out avocado into bowl. Smash until desired consistency. Toast bread, layer with avocado and top with peaches. Season with salt, pepper and crushed red pepper flakes. 1-2-3 CHICKEN WRAP Whole-wheat tortilla Spinach Dole Jarred Mandarin Oranges Cooked chicken, chopped Yogurt-based dressing of choice

Lay tortilla flat and add spinach, oranges and chicken. Top with dressing. Fold, cut and serve. Substitution: Preferred greens can be added in place of or in addition to spinach. TROPICAL FRUIT SALSA Dole Jarred Tropical Fruit 1 white onion 1 bunch cilantro 1 jalapeno 1 lime, juiced Tortilla chips Chop 2 cups fruit, dice onion, chop cilantro and seed and mince jalapeno. Combine ingredients and stir in lime juice. Serve alongside tortilla chips.