Florida Courier - July 14, 2017

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JULY 14 – JULY 20, 2017

VOLUME 25 NO. 28

NO DOLLAR LEFT BEHIND Outgoing B-CU President Dr. Edison Jackson will cut his own deal for ‘early retirement,’ despite saddling the university with more than $300 million in debt under questionable circumstances.

BY THE FLORIDA COURIER STAFF

DAYTONA BEACH – On Tuesday, Bethune-Cookman University (B-CU) announced that its current president Dr. Edison O. Jackson will retire and not serve out his employment at the university, which was scheduled to end in 2018.

On-campus sources told the Florida Courier that Hubert L. Grimes was appointed interim

president by B-CU’s trustees, and is scheduled to assume leadership on Thursday, July 13 – after the Florida Courier’s Wednesday night press time.

A graduate of Kentucky State University, the University of Georgia Law School, and International Seminary, Grimes was Volusia County’s first AfricanAmerican county judge (1988) and circuit judge (1999) in the fourHubert L. county Seventh Grimes Judicial Circuit.

He teaches law at Florida A&M University Law School and is a practicing attorney who is currently defending B-CU against multiple lawsuits.

Interim appointment Grimes follows Jackson, who became B-CU’s interim president on May 14, 2012. He replaced Trudie Reed, who retired See B-CU, Page A2

FLORIDA COURIER FILES

Bethune-Cookman University President Edison O. Jackson poses in front of the new dormitory building that ironically helped to doom his presidency.

MLB ALL-STAR GAME / MIAMI

Recognizing Latin America’s contributions

AL DIAZ/MIAMI HERALD/TNS

On Tuesday, Baseball Hall of Famers of Latin American ancestry threw out the ceremonial first pitch prior to the start of the Major League Baseball AllStar Game at Marlins Park in Miami. The American League beat the National League 2-1 in 10 innings.

State needs more folks to hunt, fish TALLAHASSEE – Florida may proclaim itself the “fishing capital of the world,” but wildlife officials say they need more hunters and anglers to help cover costs of running state programs.

The number of people buying hunting and fishing licenses hasn’t kept pace with population growth in the state, and wildlife officials are concerned that could impact the future management of public lands.

cy for wildlife conservation.”

To get more Floridians, particularly Generation Xers and millennials, to embrace outdoor activities, the Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission is making that a fixed part of its marketing and outreach efforts.

“Conservation has been done on the shoulders of anglers and hunters for about 100 years,” Yablonski said. “Love kayaks. I’m a kayaker. Love photographers.

Love boaters. … They pay general tax revenue. We have 10 percent of our funding is general revenue. So really, boaters, hunters, anglers, these have been shouldering conservation. If other groups want to shoulder some of that too, I think we’re willing to hear that out.”

Conservation support

Not enough growth

Brian Yablonski, chairman of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, said the state needs more “folk outdoors and experiencing angling, as well as hunting, for resource purposes as well as to build that constituen-

Over the past four years, fishing and hunting licenses have experienced modest growth, but commission members said Monday the numbers are not sustainable

BY JIM TURNER THE NEWS SERVICE OF FLORIDA

ALSO INSIDE

See STATE, Page A2

SNAPSHOTS

FLORIDA | A3

Amazon bringing more jobs NATION | B1

Youth homelessness on the rise NATION | A6

Cop who shot Castile takes buyout ENTERTAINMENT | B5

Jenkins adapting Baldwin book to movie

Trump ‘fraud’ query paused Voter information request on hold

nated federal officer for the Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity.

BY DARA KAM THE NEWS SERVICE OF FLORIDA

Not yet

TALLAHASSEE – Local elections officials are trying to talk voters out of unregistering, as privacy concerns continue to mount in response to a special commission created by President Donald Trump.

Fears about data breaches and identity theft – or flat-out aversion to what many perceive as a Big Brother-ish information gathering activity – continued even as a representative of the commission on Monday told state officials not to provide the voter data previously requested.

Florida Secretary of State Ken Detzner was among the state officials who received the missive from Andrew Kossack, the desig-

Kossack advised Detzner and others to ignore the committee’s request for voter data – including dates of birth, party affiliation, and the last four digits of Social Security numbers – because of a lawsuit filed by the Electronic Privacy Information Center, or EPIC. The lawsuit, among other things, asked a judge for a temporary restraining order.

The EPIC lawsuit is one of several, including cases filed by the American Civil Liberties Union and the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, asking courts to block states from providing the requested information or accusing the White House commission of operating in vioSee VOTERS, Page A2

COMMENTARY: CLARENCE V. MCKEE: BLACK OFFICERS’ LIVES DON’T MATTER TO THE LEFT | A4 GUEST COMMENTARY: DR. WALTER M. KIMBROUGH: HBCU PRESIDENCY TRENDS DEMAND ATTENTION | A5

FOCUS

A2

JULY 14 – JULY 20, 2017

Trump is Putin’s puppet A presidential puppet is a president whose actions, ideas, ways and means are controlled by someone else.

United States President Donald Trump, in my opinion, has his policy strings pulled by puppeteer Vladimir Putin, the Russian president.

Putin knows If you want to know anything about Russian cyber-attacks on America’s system of democracy and election tampering in the United States’ elections, don’t ask America’s intelligence agencies.

Ask Putin!

At a recent meeting of the world’s governmental leaders, the 45th president claims he “pres-

LUCIUS GANTT THE GANTT REPORT

sured Putin” about Russian interference in the election process to ensure that the candidate that Russia could control would be victorious.

But Mr. Putin denied everything about Russian interference and said Trump “noted my replies and agreed with them,” and added that “you’d have to ask him what he really thought.”

Senior White House officials did not deny that account when

they were pressed in a briefing on Air Force One as Mr. Trump flew back to the US.

Trump blasted Criticism of Trump’s disbelief in United States intelligence and his full belief in and acceptance of Putin’s side of the story has been widespread around the world.

Even members of Trump’s political party blasted the president’s desire to “move forward with Russia” as ridiculous and unacceptable, clearly showing not all Republican elected officials are falling for the Russian okey-doke!

You can’t love the people and the enemy of the people at the same time. You can’t believe in God and do everything you can to

worship the devil!

Is Trump afraid?

If you read some crime novels or watch a few mobster movies, it is not unusual to see a mob boss get some people to do dirty work for him and then kill the people that have evidence of the dirt.

I can’t say that is what happened to people that committed cyber-hacks on the United States and other countries. But I can say that more than a few Russians have been shot, poisoned, pushed off balconies, or have disappeared.

Perhaps the United States president feels he must go along with everything the Russian president says for fear his own life will be in jeopardy. I don’t know.

But I do know that Howdy Doody, Lamb Chops, Elmer and the Cookie Monster can take some

control tips from the Puppet in Chief!

Russia’s list Russia wants economic sanctions lifted. They want properties taken from them returned.

They want fewer weapons sold to Russian enemies. And they want a United States president who doesn’t have a clue as to how to be a diplomat and a world leader.

The puppet stage has been set.

Get ready for a bad show!

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.

STATE from A1

for wildlife conservation efforts.

As part of a program called “3R” – recruitment, retention and reactivation – intended to bolster the ranks of hunters, anglers and boaters, the commission is committing 30 percent of its hunting funds toward recruitment and 12 percent of its federal Sport Fish Restoration funds to finding new anglers, commission Executive Director Nick Wiley said.

Youth not involved

FLORIDA COURIER FILES

President Trump’s Advisory Commission on Election Integrity has requested personal information about every voter registered in all 50 states, allegedly to investigate voter fraud.

VOTERS from A1

lation of federal government-inthe-sunshine laws.

‘Fraud’ investigation Trump created the commission to investigate possible election fraud in last year’s election.

The president has maintained that up to 5 million fraudulent votes were cast, but elections officials say fraud is rare and there was no evidence of widespread fraud in the 2016 contest.

Detzner had already pledged to release to the commission only voter information that was publicly available. But concerns about privacy have dogged the commission since its inception, and voters may not be assuaged by a court-induced hiatus in the

B-CU from A1

after seven years with the institution.

Jackson’s ascendance followed Reed’s early retirement after a tumultuous 2011, as indicated in a nine-part investigative series published in the Florida Courier detailing how B-CU was slapped with 13 state and federal lawsuits and administrative complaints from staff, instructors and students.

Praised, appointed After less than a year on the job, Jackson was appointed permanent president for a three-year term in March 2013 to near-universal praise from alumni, family members of university founder Dr. Mary McLeod Bethune, and local civil rights activists.

Things soon turned sour.

Years of questions It is unclear whether Jackson’s departure is truly voluntary. It comes in the wake of years of news reports in the Florida Courier and recent investigative journalism by the Daytona Beach News-Journal, Day-

request for data.

publican, said.

‘Cheerleader’ for democracy

Privacy vs. ballot

“I often feel it’s part of my job to be a cheerleader for participating in our democracy, by registering to vote and voting. Lately, my job has been to sell voters on not leaving the voting rolls,” Pasco County Supervisor of Elections Brian Corley told The News Service of Florida in a telephone interview Tuesday.

In the aftermath of news about the commission, Corley said his office has fielded about 50 phone calls.

“Voters are, number one, upset and angry that their information was going to be sent to this commission. And secondly, their eyes are being opened to exactly how much of their personal information is already publicly available,” Corley, a Re-

tona Beach’s daily newspaper, as well as long-term alumni dissatisfaction with lack of operational and financial transparency.

Jackson was also criticized for what many alumni considered to be a heavy-handed, clumsy political outreach to powerful Republican politicians – Gov. Rick Scott and U.S. Department of Education Secretary Betsy DeVos – who had no history of supporting HBCUs, but were bestowed the university’s highest honors.

Grassroots efforts have been ongoing for a least a year to persuade B-CU’s trustees to fire Jackson because of his refusal to address questions and concerns plaguing a dormitory-building project that was originally set to cost $72 million, was built for $85 million and is now estimated to cost the university more than $300 million over 40 years – the time it will take for B-CU to own the buildings.

Concerns in 2015 The dorm project began in earnest in 2013, but public questions were first raised in 2015. Press reports questioned the hiring and sudden resignation of then-Chief Financial Offi-

Polk County Supervisor of Elections Lori Edwards agreed that the commission has highlighted what, for some voters, has been a growing concern.

“On a regular basis, I deal with constituent voters who are very upset when their information is public,” said Edwards, who has spent 17 years as the county’s chief elections official.

She said the recent focus on Trump’s efforts to gather voter data has made people even more upset.

Officials upset Voters aren’t the only ones who are riled, however.

Seminole County Supervisor of Elections Mike Ertel delivered what he called a “mini rant” on Twitter last week. Ertel, a Re-

cer Emmanuel Gonsalves, who left his last two jobs under professional clouds.

Florida Courier reporting continued, highlighted by an October 2015 frontpage story detailing one trustee’s ultimatum demanding that the board bring in forensic auditors to probe the school’s finances for fraud and fiscal mismanagement – or he would file lawsuits against individual board members and request a state and federal criminal investigation.

Lawsuits filed This year, the Florida Courier provided frontpage coverage of court actions filed against the university.

One lawsuit was filed in February by Robert Delancy, chosen by the BethuneCookman University National Alumni Association (NAA) as its appointee to the board.

B-CU’s trustees refused to accept Delancy, a retired Internal Revenue Service special agent, allegedly in retaliation for his aggressive questions about the school’s finances. Last month during its national convention in Miami, the NAA voted overwhelmingly to join Delancy’s lawsuit.

publican who’s held the post since his appointment by Gov. Jeb Bush in 2005, tweeted Friday that he had spent “the past several days” trying to convince voters to remain registered.

“In my 12 years in office, I’ve never had to have this many of these conversations,” Ertel tweeted. “Please don’t let an action you disagree with have the effect of silencing your most powerful tool to change or affirm it: your vote.”

Vote, don’t quit When asked how he responds to voters who want to quit, Corley echoed Ertel’s sentiments.

“I tell them, you may seem angry now, but more of a protest would be to stay registered, stay engaged and come out to the polls in 2018 and have your voice heard. That would be more productive,” Corley said.

In a second lawsuit filed in March, former BCU trustee A. Ray Brinson claimed 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.

Brinson is a retired insurance executive and a B-CU alumnus who has served as a trustee and NAA president. Like Delancy, Brinson accuses the university of retaliating against him for asking questions about the dorm deal.

Tipping point?

Over the last two weeks, the News-Journal published a deep dive into BCU’s financial condition and the dorm deal: •“…B-CU’s monthly payments on (the dorms) will increase by 1.5 percent annually over the life of the lease from a low of $470,000 a month to a high of about $840,000 – or about $10 million a year.”

The newspaper reports that B-CU couldn’t make its first monthly payment on time.

•The company that built the dorms was only six months old at the time it was awarded a no-bid contract, “and that the compa-

Wiley said fewer young people are picking up the outdoor activities.

“We know that declines are coming, and we’re kind of holding our own in Florida right now,” Wiley said. “If you ran a business that depended upon your customer base, and experts tell you, ‘In five to 10 years your customer base is going to age out and they’re all going to be too old to be customers anymore and you’re not recruiting and bringing in new customers anywhere near as fast to replace them,’ I think that would get your attention.”

The Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission has a $367.2 million budget for the fiscal year that began July 1. Revenue from recreational license sales, along with excise taxes on equipment and boat fuel, accounted for more than $49 million for the commission in the 2015-2016 fiscal year.

Those sources of money are projected to bring in just over $50 million for the fiscal year that began July 1.

Slow hunting growth Hunting licenses have had the weakest growth in recent years, going from 159,176 in 2013 to 162,604 last year.

The state, with more than 20.6 million residents according to the U.S. Census, sold 1.45 million saltwater licenses during the past fiscal year. The number of licenses is up from 1.3 million four years earlier. Freshwater licenses have grown in the same time from 513,483 to 589,637.

The agency has targeted Feb. 1 to set new rules for finding and retaining new hunters and anglers.

ny’s managing partner was sued twice for fraud.” Qualified Black contractors in Florida were never considered.

•A forensic document examiner concluded that Jackson probably did not sign the construction contract, but B-CU’s trustees approved it anyway.

•B-CU lost $18 million last year, with salaries jumping by $8 million in one year. The school has negative cash flow of $7.8 million.

•Jackson’s salary is currently $410,000.

•“B-CU borrowed $7 million from its endowment, dropping it from $54.8 million to $47.8 million.”

•In June, “Jackson thanked the board for its approval of a $10 million withdrawal from the earnings on its endowment fund.”

‘A whitewash’ Immediately after the board of trustees’ meeting, Board Chairman Joe Petrock held a 90-minute open meeting with interested alumni in the school’s Performing Arts Center. One B-CU graduate, upon condition of anonymity, told the Florida Courier what happened.

“There were people

who came from West Palm Beach, Orlando, Tampa, Jacksonville, and other places around the state,” the graduate said. “It was a waste of time, a whitewash.

“Petrock talked about refinancing the (dorm deal) debt, the need for more oversight, and checks and balances. He refused to commit to conducting a forensic audit.

‘Payoff’ coming “He also said, ‘The board was negotiating early retirement’ with President Jackson. To me, that means a golden parachute, a payoff, is coming. Jackson… should have been escorted off the campus by security.

“We came to hear that Jackson’s situation was resolved, current board members had submitted their resignations, the board would be revamped, and a new search committee would be formed.

“Petrock had the opportunity to come clean.

The words ‘financial mismanagement’ were never mentioned. The NAA and alumni are still going forward in ‘resistance mode.’”

JULY 14 – JULY 20, 2017

FLORIDA

A3 and investment to the state in the coming months.”

Could get bigger Amazon said the new warehouse and shipping center will be more than 850,000 square feet and “will pick, pack and ship small items to customers like books, electronics or consumer goods.”

The facility’s actual square footage could grow to be three times as big with the addition of mezzanines to accommodate robots, as has been done at other warehouses in the state.

State and county officials haven’t announced yet whether Amazon will receive any financial incentives for the warehouse, which is being built by a thirdparty company, Seefried Industrial Properties. Seefried has been working with the county to clear development hurdles at the property.

Attracting global brands

PATRICK FALLON/ZUMA PRESS/TNS

Ryan White, an Amazon associate, fills shopping bags with products for customers' orders at a fulfillment center warehouse on March 27 in Los Angeles. Amazon’s new fulfillment center near the Orlando airport will open in 2018.

Amazon bringing more than 1,500 full-time jobs to Orlando

BY KYLE ARNOLD ORLANDO SENTINEL/TNS

ORLANDO – Amazon announced Monday it will expand its internet retailing empire by

building a massive fulfillment center south of Orlando International Airport.

The Seattle-based company spent months working to purchase the land for the project, which will employ 1,500 full-time

workers and will open in 2018, Amazon said in a statement.

“We are excited to join the Orlando community, creating more than 1,500 full-time jobs at our new fulfillment center,” Akash Chauhan, Amazon vice presi-

dent of North America operations, said in a statement.

“We very much appreciate the state and local elected leaders who have supported Amazon’s arrival in Orlando, and we look forward to bringing more jobs

Tavistock Development Co., the firm that created the Lake Nona district where the facility will be built, has made the area a landing spot for big employers such as accounting firm KPMG and the United States Tennis Association.

“We are bullish on attracting well-respected, global brands like KPMG and Amazon to Lake Nona,” said Jim Zboril, president of Tavistock Development Co. Amazon would have a 15-year lease on the new facility built by Seefried, according to emails between developers and county officials.

The land was owned by an affiliate of the Tavistock Group named Crockett Development Property LLC. Amazon has used a growing network of fulfillment centers to solidify its dominance in internet retailing in the region.

Scott signs legislation to combat opioid abuse Florida Gov. Rick Scott hosted a ceremonial bill signing on Tuesday at the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office for HB 477, which creates new penalties and enhances existing penalties relating to synthetic opioid drugs, including fentanyl.

It’s supposed to help communities fight the national opioid epidemic.

“Our law enforcement officers are working every day to stop dangerous individuals and drug trafficking, and are often the first to respond to what may be heartbreaking situations, Scott said.

“I was proud to ceremonially sign this important legislation today alongside these heroes as we fight together on behalf of the families impacted by substance abuse. We will keep working with our local, state and federal partners to help our law enforcement and communities combat the national opioid epidemic.”

Governor hopefuls give boost to Florida Democratic Party THE NEWS SERVICE OF FLORIDA

With an infusion of hundreds of thousands of dollars from gubernatorial candidates’ political committees, the Florida Democratic Party raised nearly $1.68 million from April 1 through June 30 – far outpacing the amount raised by the state Republican Party, according to newly filed finance reports.

The Democratic Party brought in $1,678,112 during the period. That included $210,000 from the political committee “Florida Forward,” linked to gubernatorial candidate Andrew Gillum, and $210,000 from the committee “Our Florida,” linked to gubernatorial candidate Gwen Graham.

The party also received $145,000 from the committee “Rise and Lead Florida,” linked to gubernatorial candidate Chris King.

The Republican Party, meanwhile, collected $338,942 during the three-month period, according to the reports posted late Monday on the state Division of Elections website. Contributions included $50,000 from Disney Worldwide Services, Inc. and $50,000 from the health insurer Florida Blue.

Millions in funding Scott also highlighted the more than $27 million in federal grant funding that was made immediately available through the Public Health Emergency declaration.

As part of this federal funding, the Florida Department of Children and Families (DCF) allocated $375,000 to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) for Naloxone so first responders can have immediate access to this lifesaving drug to respond to opioid overdoses.

DCF and FDLE are working together to ensure local law enforcement agencies have access to this opportunity to obtain Naloxone for Florida’s law enforcement officers. DCF is also working to ensure recently purchased Naloxone is distributed to drug treatment providers, health centers, and other community agencies.

COURTESY OF OFFICE OF THE GOVERNOR

Gov. Rick Scott was joined by Palm Beach County Sherriff’s Office Chief Deputy Michael Gauger, Senate President Joe Negron, and local law enforcement officers.

Settlement reached on services for disabled residents

BY DARA KAM THE NEWS SERVICE OF FLORIDA

TALLAHASSEE – In a move that could affect thousands of Florida inmates, attorneys representing disabled prisoners and the Department of Corrections have settled a lawsuit accusing the state of discriminating against prisoners who are deaf, blind or confined to wheelchairs.

The lawsuit, filed by Disability Rights Florida and alleging violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act, also accused corrections officials of discriminating against disabled inmates by refusing to allow them to participate in services and programs available to other prisoners.

Years to comply Under the 328-page settlement finalized on July 7, the state has agreed, among other things, to provide sign-language interpreters for deaf prisoners and to remove architectural barriers for inmates who use wheelchairs.

The state will have four years to comply with federal laws protecting disabled individuals, under the agreement.

Lawyer Randall Berg, executive director of the Florida Justice Institute, called the settlement “a huge decision” for incarcerated people with disabilities. Berg’s organization, along with the Morgan & Morgan law firm, rep-

resented more than 30 inmates in the lawsuit filed last year.

“It will be a game changer for them,” Berg said during a telephone interview Monday when asked about the impact on disabled prisoners.

123-page complaint Americans with Disabilities Act violations caused prisoners “to suffer from the humiliation, indignity, and difficulties that accompany such exclusion” and violated prisoners’ constitutional guarantees of equal protection and due process, Berg and the other lawyers wrote in a 123-page complaint filed last year.

Florida Department of Corrections officials on Monday also hailed the settlement.

“We are glad that we have reached an agreement. FDC (the Department of Corrections) will continue to ensure that all in our custody receive proper care and treatment,” spokeswoman Michelle Glady said in an email.

Glady also noted that the agency is “continually working on ensuring our facilities are within federal ADA compliance.”

Denied services The agency has a “designated ADA coordinator” and “has already begun to work on many of the identified issues within existing funding,” Glady said.

The lawsuit detailed the

plights of more than two dozen inmates who are deaf, blind or need wheelchairs or prosthetic devices but who were repeatedly denied services or assistance and who were threatened with retaliation for complaining.

Some inmates were also excluded from jobs because of their disabilities, according to the complaint.

Deaf mistreated The complaint laid out a plethora of woes encountered by deaf inmates.

In some instances, deaf prisoners waited years for their hearing aids to be repaired or replaced and were not provided American Sign Language interpreters for critical events such as medical appointments.

Some deaf inmates were forced to serve as interpreters for other prisoners during doctors’ visits, possibly violating federal privacy laws.

Special telephones for the hearing-impaired were often broken or unavailable, the lawyers wrote, and deaf prisoners couldn’t hear announcements, causing them to miss “critical events” such as meals.

Lack of wheelchairs For example, inmate David Stanley, who is deaf, had his hearing aid sent out for repair in 2009 and “has been without one

for much of the time since then,” the lawyers wrote in last year’s complaint.

Corrections officials also failed to provide or maintain wheelchairs to other inmates, who are thus “denied the minimal necessities of civilized life,” the lawsuit alleged.

Prison officials also failed to assign other inmates – known as “pushers” – to wheelchairbound prisoners, who were often unable to navigate the prison grounds on their own because the facilities were not ADA compliant.

Months of mediation The settlement agreement came after five months of mediation between representatives of the inmates and the state, according to lawyers involved in the case.

Under the settlement, corrections officials agreed to house disabled inmates in about 20 prisons that are ADA compliant.

Inmates who need services will have to be evaluated when they enter the corrections system and be reevaluated annually.

The agreement also should provide disabled inmates “with some modicum of ability to take courses, do programs, and get religious services on the same level as persons who do not have any disabilities,” Berg said.

EDITORIAL

A4

JULY 14 – JULY 20, 2017

Black America is ‘pro-peace,’ but its politicians are not On the world stage, the United States has declared itself above the law, as if it had already completed the conquest of the globe.

Thousands of US troops are implanted on Syrian soil, the better to arm, train and protect the Islamist jihadists that act as foot soldiers for US imperialism in the region. Washington has no plans to leave – even after ISIS, the purported rationale for the US presence, has been reduced to small guerilla bands.

That the US has been enabled to invade and occupy a sovereign state is a testament to the collapse of progressive politics in general, and the moral debasement of a Black political class that is utterly at odds with its own people’s history.

Tethered mouth-and-foot to the Democratic wing of the rich man’s duopoly, the Black political class has disavowed and defiled the legacies of W.E.B. Du Bois, Malcolm X, and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. They have trashed the sacred essence of the Black Liberation Movement: Solidarity with other peoples oppressed by White supremacist capital.

In abandoning solidarity with those oppressed by the United States – comprising an evergrowing proportion of the world’s people – Black America sacrifices the moral authority to expect support for our own struggles. We are left alone to fend off the beast, here in its belly.

Foreign allies It is widely understood that U.S. rulers felt compelled to appear amenable to Black demands in the Fifties and Sixties because of concerns about how the rapidly decolonizing world viewed race relations in the United States.

Dr. Gerald Horne, the Black historian who has studied African-American political alliances dating before the War of Independence, maintains that it serves Black people’s interests to “ally – as our ancestors did – with the prime antagonists of US imperialism,” including, in various epochs, the British, French, Spanish, and later, the Soviets and Third Word revolutionary movements.

In “Darkwater: Voices from Within the Veil,” his 1920 global sequel to “The Souls of Black Folk,” the public intellectual and political activist W.E.B. DuBois laid out his case for solidarity among the oppressed peoples of the planet: “I believe that armies and navies are at bottom the tinsel and

GLEN FORD BLACK AGENDA REPORT

Tethered mouth-andfoot to the Democratic wing of the rich man’s duopoly, the Black political class has disavowed and defiled the legacies of W.E.B. Du Bois, Malcolm X, and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. They have trashed the sacred essence of the Black Liberation Movement: Solidarity with other peoples oppressed

by White supremacist capital. braggadocio of oppression and wrong, and I believe that the wicked conquest of weaker and darker nations by nations Whiter and stronger but foreshadows the death of that strength.”

Human rights Malcolm X urged Blacks to think in terms of “human,” not “civil” rights, and to take their case against the U.S. to the United Nations – as did Paul Robeson, earlier. The credo of Malcolm’s Organization of AfroAmerican Unity, released on February 21, 1965, the day he was assassinated, stressed the need for internationalist solidarity: “The Organization of AfroAmerican Unity will develop in the Afro-American people a keen awareness of our relationship with the world at large and clarify our roles, rights, and responsibilities as human beings. We can accomplish this goal by becoming well-informed concerning

Black cops’ lives don’t matter to the left As the New York City Police Department (NYPD) and the nation’s law enforcement community prepare to pay final respects to assassinated NYPD officer Miosotis Familia, it is important to put her death and reaction thereto in perspective.

It’s an all-too-familiar story. A cop kills a Black man. Before all the facts are known, there are anti-police protests and in some cases violence, as we saw in Baltimore, Milwaukee, and other cities.

Cop-hating groups such as the Obama-favored Black Lives Matter Movement and their leftist G-20 Summit-like anarchist allies take to the streets urging retribution, including the killing of police, setting fires, burning and looting stores, and throwing bottles and other objects at police with rare – if any – condemnation by liberal leftist elites!

Nothing to say Contrast this to the reaction of the same groups and their liberal

CLARENCE V. MCKEE, ESQ. GUEST COMMENTARY

allies on the left when two Black policewomen were executed – one in Orlando in January and most recently Officer Familia in the Bronx, NY. Silence!

Those so willing to be judge, jury, and executioners of cops when Blacks are killed by cops were nowhere to be found when these two Black policewomen were slain by Black thugs.

The message from the left, including many Black and White Democrat leaders, and their mainstream media allies: the lives of these two Black cops did not matter!

In January, Black Orlando Police Master Sergeant Debra Thomas Clayton was executed in a Walmart parking lot by a Black

world affairs and understanding that our struggle is part of a larger world struggle of oppressed peoples against all forms of oppression.

“We must change the thinking of the Afro-American by liberating our minds through the study of philosophies and psychologies, cultures and languages that did not come from our racist oppressors. Provisions are being made for the study of languages such as Swahili, Hausa, and Arabic. These studies will give our people access to ideas and history of mankind at large and thus increase our mental scope.”

Two years later, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. told a crowd at New York City’s Riverside Church why he was “Breaking the Silence” on the US war against Vietnam.

‘Suction tube’ “…(T)he Nobel Prize for Peace was also a commission…to work harder than I had ever worked before for ‘the brotherhood of man.’

This is a calling that takes me beyond national allegiances, but even if it were not present I would yet have to live with the meaning of my commitment to the ministry of Jesus Christ.... the relationship of this ministry to the making of peace is so obvious that I sometimes marvel at those who ask me why I am speaking against the war.”

Dr. King saw clearly that foreign wars are incompatible with domestic progress.

“I knew that America would never invest the necessary funds or energies in rehabilitation of its poor so long as adventures like Vietnam continued to draw men and skills and money like some demonic destructive suction tube. So I was increasingly compelled to see the war as an enemy of the poor and to attack it as such.”

Black Panther Party leader Huey P. Newton took solidarity to a “higher level,” making common cause with those against whom the United States makes war. US imperialism is the enemy of all mankind, therefore: “We join the struggle of any and all oppressed people all over the world, as well as in this country, regardless of color, who are attempting to gain freedom and dignity.”

These are voices of the Black Radical Tradition, the tradition that has made African-Americans the most anti-war constituency in the United States, but which the Black Misleadership Class consistently betrays. For these infinitely self-centered creatures,

shooter, Markeith Loyd, wanted for killing his pregnant fiancée.

Clayton, 42, was a 17-year veteran of the Orlando Police Department, a wife, mother, and very much involved in community outreach with youth, the elderly, and the local Urban League.

And just recently, shortly after midnight on the conclusion of the July 4 holiday, Officer Familia, 48, also Black, was executed in her police vehicle by a Black convicted felon, Alexander Bonds, who had served in prison for robbery and had allegedly assaulted a police officer with brass knuckles.

Grieving family She leaves behind an 86-yearold mother for whom she was caretaker, 12-year-old twins and a 20-year-old daughter. Her three children said their final goodbyes to their mother at the hospital.

Before joining the NYPD, Familia had worked as a nurse and medical assistant at NYU Hospital and was a medical assistant for the American Red Cross.

The silence from Black and Hispanic politicians, civil rights leaders, and the clergy in New York and nationally over her brutal death has been deafening, just as it was in many ways in Orlan-

VISUAL VIEWPOINT: THE GOP AND HEALTH CARE

RJ MATSON, ROLL CALL

even the Mother Continent is unworthy of basic human empathy, much less solidarity.

Rice’s ‘misleadership’ No one has been more intimately involved, over a longer period, than Susan Rice in the US-sanctioned genocide of at least six million Congolese. From 1996, as a national security staffer and undersecretary of state for African affairs under Bill Clinton, to the Obama administration, Rice has dutifully facilitated the bloodbath in the Democratic Republic of Congo at the hands of US allies Rwanda and Uganda.

Her service on behalf of this genocide, and other slaughters, earned Rice a shot at becoming Obama’s secretary of state when Hillary Clinton left the job in 2012.

Republicans mounted a campaign against Rice, claiming she was culpable for the jihadist attacks in Benghazi that killed the U.S. ambassador to Libya.

Despite her well-known role in the worst genocide since World War II, most of the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) supported Rice’s bid to become the top US diplomat.

The year before, in 2011, more than half of the CBC voted to continue the bombing of Libya, which had once been Africa’s most prosperous and generous countries. Only three members of the CBC are co-sponsors of Rep. Tulsi Gabbard’s Stop Arming Terrorists bill, designed to halt US proxy jihadist wars in Syria and elsewhere in the Muslim world.

Still alive However, the Black Radical Tradition is not dead. The Black Is Back Coalition, in its 19-point National Black Political Agenda

do after the execution of Debra Thomas Clayton; and after the execution of NYPD Officers Rafael Ramos and Wenjian Liu in 2014 by another cowardly Black thug who took his own life.

We haven’t seen marches to “support our police,” “stop the violence against police,” or marchers carrying posters saying, “Remember Debra” or “Remember Miosotis,” as was the case with Trayvon Martin or in the “Hands Up Don’t Shoot” protests!

And to the best of my knowledge, the Rev. Al Sharpton was nowhere to be seen or heard on this atrocity in his own city.

Will they remember?

Will Black athletes of New York’s professional sports teams honor Miosotis’ memory with moments of silence or raise funds for her children’s future?

If the shoe were on the other foot and these two officers had killed

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Not a priority Among the establishment Black civic organizations – which behave like annexes of the Democratic Party – peace has no priority whatsoever. Even the Movement for Black Lives is weak on peace.

The M4BL’s closest approximation to an anti-war plank pledges to: “Use upcoming international opportunities and human rights mechanisms to expose the systemic human rights violations inflicted on Black communities, the linkages between people of African descent in the US with other Black people around the world, make connections with oppressed people globally, and chip away at American exceptionalism.”

In Syria, Washington is playing with nuclear war. Everywhere in the world, the US rejects the very notion of international law. The Movement for Black Lives better get busy with its “chipping away” project.

Glen Ford is executive editor of BlackAgendaReport.com.

They apparently deem the deaths of such predators at the hands of police more deserving of outrage than the execution of two Black policewomen by Black assassins!

Charles W. Cherry II, Esq., Publisher

Opinions expressed on this editorial page are those of the writers, and do not necessarily reflect the editorial stance of the newspaper or the publisher.

for Self-Determination, calls for “U.S. Out of Africa, Asia and Latin America....

“In addition to U.S. military withdrawal to within its own currently recognized borders, we demand an end to U.S. proxy wars, drone attacks and political subversion of governments and people’s movements around the globe. Given that the U.S. was the first nuclear power, is the only country to have used nuclear weapons, and has never renounced First Strike, we demand U.S. nuclear disarmament without preconditions – unilaterally, if necessary.”

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their assassins, they would have been marching to demand justice for the slain thugs.

Based on their silence, one is led to think that the sympathies of far too many on the left, media elites, and so-called civil rights groups seem to be with those Blacks who victimize and terrorize their own communities with guns, drugs, and gang violence – not with those Blacks such as Lt. Clayton and Officer Familia who choose to protect their communities from such urban terrorists.

They apparently deem the deaths of such predators at the hands of police more deserving of outrage than the execution of two Black policewomen by Black assassins!

Clarence V. McKee is a government, political and media relations consultant and president of McKee Communications, Inc. This article originally appeared on Newsmax.com.

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JULY 14 – JULY 20, 2017

HBCU presidency trends demand attention Since this spring, ten HBCUs (Historically Black Colleges and DR. Universities) have announced new presidents, and of this writWALTER M. ing, another 14 are looking for KIMBROUGH presidents.

Many people have pontificatGUEST COMMENTARY ed on the whys of this instability, but I will identify some trends and important markers that might What I found help to illuminate a pathway for I decided to look closely at the stability at the top for the nation’s data to understand the changing HBCUs. nature of the HBCU presidency.

Here are some of the findings.

Just like all presidencies, HBKeeping track CU presidencies are shortening.

For the past decade, I have kept The 2017 American College Presa running log of HBCU presiden- ident report states that the avertial transitions. I note the new age tenure of college presidents person, their age, and previous in 2016 was 6.5 years, down from position, as well as their start 7 in 2011 and 8.5 in 2016 I looked specifically at presitime. That practice has quantified a widely-known fact: There is a lot dents hired in my three time periods (2010-14, 2004-09, and 2000of turnover at the top of HBCUs. Between 2010 and 2016, there 04). For the 49 HBCU presidents have been an average of 11 new hired between 2010 and 2014, the presidents each year for the 78 average tenure was only 3.3 years (the maximum for anyone in this four-year HBCUs, with the high group would have been seven point being 15 in 2015. years).

But I thought to take a differWhen I cap the maximum ent look this year based on two length at seven years, the averthings. First, the American Coun- age tenure of the 53 HBCU prescil on Education released its peri- idents hired between 2005 and odic American College President 2009 was 4.1 years, and for the 32 Study. HBCUs are included, but hired between 2000 and 2004, 4.3 are not presented separately. So years. Not only has the tenure deI thought it might be interesting creased, predictably the number to compare some of the findings of new presidents increased. with HBCUs. The instability is highlighted Second is the number of high- by the percentage of presidents profile changes this year. Since in each group still in that role at 2015, six sitting presidents (of any the end of a seven-year period. type of institution) have moved For the 2000-04 and 2005-2009 to lead an HBCU. In the past few periods, 72 percent of presidents months we’ve seen rising stars hired were still in office. For the leave Lincoln of Missouri, Missis- 2010-14 period, ending in June sippi Valley State and Florida Me- 2017, only 43 percent of those semorial to lead other institutions, lected during this time were in ofand most recently another ris- fice. ing star announces that they will However, there is a lack of take their talents to form a “super women who enjoy tenures greatteam” at Howard University as the er than 15 years. Presently, Dr. chief operating officer.

Beverly Hogan at Tugaloo ColThese six “free agent” presi- lege is the longest-serving womdents (otherwise known as sitting an HBCU president, completpresidents) over the past three ing 15 years. By comparison, Dr. years is a high number. Between Luns Richardson just retired as 2004 and 2009 there were eight, president of Morris College after and between 2010 and 2014 there more than 40 years, and Dr. Wilwere only three. liam Harvey at Hampton is about to enter his 40th.

Experience is valued for hiring. Similar to the ACE study where 24 percent of presidents held the same position prior to the present one, during these three time periods between 22 and 28 percent of presidents came into the position from a presidency.

The ACE report suggests colleges and universities prefer previous experience, and in this study over all three time periods at least 39 percent of hires had presidential experience.

As indicated, recent hires of sitting presidents over the past three years is at a higher rate than any of the three time periods examined. And for the most part, rising stars with young families have been lured away to more urban areas and stronger institutions.

This is a signal for boards at small schools and/or in small cities or rural areas that they should develop strategies to keep strong leaders in what might not be the most attractive places for a new generation of leader.

Ill-fitting presidents and boards. George Washington University President Emeritus Dr. Stephen Trachtenberg has an excellent book entitled “Presidencies Derailed: Why University Leaders Fail and How to Prevent It.” He generally defines a failed presidency as one that does not enter a second contract.

Since the average first contract is three years, looking at the three time periods there is a startling trend that must be reversed.

Sixteen percent of HBCU presidents hired between 2000 and 2004 left after three years (for all cases I included those who may have been lured away as well).

That number jumps to 23 percent for those hired between 2005 and 2009, and then it skyrockets to 50 percent for those hired between 2010 and 2014.

Since 2000, of the 134 people hired to permanently lead an HBCU, 46 schools hired more than one. Alabama State, Fort Valley State and Bennett each hired four between 2000 and 2014. Fort Valley hired its fifth in 2016, Bennett hired its fifth last week, and Alabama State is currently searching

Donald Trump isn’t America’s only embarrassment

gly” and “modern presidential” and excoriates the press when they criticize him. Condemning this kind of behavior is the lowesthanging fruit.

Before Trump became president, bad behavior at the top was usually sanitized with public relations. The corporate media and others among the ruling elites hid atrocities in plain sight with appealing narratives and good photo opportunities. They excused politicians who routinely benefited the 1 percent and disadvantaged everyone else. The result is an ugly system made to look pretty with the right marketing.

As a candidate and as president, Donald Trump has certainly deviated from norms of acceptable public behavior, but how much does that really matter?

Trump’s latest social media tirades do stand out in comparison to other politicians and heads of state. But when one considers what this country is like, the outrage over comportment doesn’t amount to very much.

Consider that America has the world’s largest prison population, more than two million people.

Consider again that this mass incarceration system has been targeted specifically against Black people, and that one-eighth of all imprisoned people on the planet are Black Americans.

‘Collateral damage’ The atrocities of the law enforcement system don’t stop there. Death at the hands of police is the fate of an average of three people every day in the United States. Those deaths are rarely punished and are accepted as collateral damage for the maintenance of White supremacy.

Many Americans love to brag

MARGARET KIMBERLEY BLACK AGENDA REPORT

that theirs is “the richest country in the world.”

There are certainly big banks, rich individuals and trillions of dollars in the treasury but the masses of people rarely benefit from this wealth.

But America routinely ranks near the bottom when compared to other “developed” nations in any measure of how it treats its people. It is now considered a “second tier” nation in terms of the wellbeing of its citizens.

Easy to criticize It is certainly unusual to have such a decidedly boorish president. Trump literally pushes other presidents aside, engages in public feuds with celebrities and makes anyone an enemy who dares to oppose him or his policies. He makes up terms like “bi-

Black athletes are losing millions every year I saw disturbing news recently regarding Clinton Portis, who played nine years in the National Football League and earned approximately $43.1 million during that time.

However, Portis has none of those millions left. He discovered too late that the money he thought was being managed and set aside for his future was pilfered by his financial management team on risky investments and schemes. He sought revenge, but fortunately didn’t go through with his plan.

It’s not a new story. Other ath-

SHARON MALLORY GUEST COMMENTARY

letes have found themselves broke after successful careers – left with nothing but a number on a jersey.

How does this happen?

Many times, African-American

‘Royal family’ This phenomenon was especially true during the Obama administration. He had the all-important buy-in from corporate media. They turned the Obamas into an American version of a royal family, then used his personal popularity to make the case for war crimes and bank bailouts.

They worked together to make dirty deeds look clean.

Obama and his predecessors undermined climate change agreements and made them toothless. Trump did one better by opting out, but tremendous damage was done by a president who was called “an environmentalist.”

Obama was called the peace candidate when he expanded wars. He fought hard to ratify the undemocratic, job-killing Transathletes have little or no knowledge, experience or exposure to financial planning or management before entering the pros.

At the start of their careers, they are swarmed by “financial experts.” Sometimes they are introduced to them through their signing organization or management team. So perhaps out of fear or pressure, they go along with the package provided, never knowing how to vet these “experts” or realizing they have the ultimate control of their finances.

In Portis’ case and some others, he was allowed just enough money to keep him distracted, buying all his “wants” – cars, houses, clothes, jewelry, etc. – while the unscrupulous financial managers were draining money into frivolous and failing ventures without

EDITORIAL

A5

VISUAL VIEWPOINT: IRAQ VS. ISIS

DAVE GRANLUND, POLITICALCARTOONS.COM

for its fifth. All three have different governing structures, which indicates the dysfunction isn’t limited to one model. (These numbers do not include interim and acting presidents.)

Alcorn State, Edward Waters, Florida A&M, Fisk, Florida Memorial, Paul Quinn, South Carolina State, and Wilberforce all hired three during this time. Since then, Fisk, South Carolina State and Wilberforce have hired a fourth, and FAMU is searching for its fourth.

HBCU board selection of presidents continues to be one of the greatest weaknesses of this sector, and until it is corrected the instability will threaten more institutions.

A gender gap remains, but tenures are similar. The ACE report indicates that the percentage of women presidents increased from 26 percent in 2011 to 30 percent in 2016. Of HBCU presidents hired between 2000 and 2004, 34 percent were women. That number falls to 17 percent from 200509, and then rises to 34 percent from 2010-14. Since 2015, 32 percent of the presidents hired have been women as of June 2017.

In terms of tenure, women presidents hired between 2010-14 had tenures averaging 3.2 years (men were 3.3), those hired between 2005-09 had tenures averaging 4.7 years (4.0 for men), and those hired between 2000-04 averaged 3.5 years (versus a comparatively long 4.7 for men). Since 2005, women have enjoyed com-

parable if not longer tenures than their male counterparts.

What many have seen occurring in the HBCU community is not an illusion. Just like all presidencies, HBCU presidencies are shortening, exacerbated by problematic board governance practices. Stability is generally provided by seasoned leaders, but those leaders have options to select optimal institutional fit and are not hesitant to leave for a better situation.

Pacific Partnership trade deal that was stopped only by Trump’s White nationalist ideology.

Trump can be blamed for much during his first six months in office. His travel ban against citizens of seven nations is an unconstitutional exercise in Islamophobia and has been struck down by federal judges. He bans Libyans from traveling to the United States after Obama destroyed that country and created an ongoing humanitarian disaster.

people from voter rolls.

But the Democratic Party, which quite literally depends on Black people to win elections, has demonstrated little ability to forcefully push back. Bland pronouncements are all they can muster when they should be in court filing lawsuits to protect the people they depend upon.

Substantive criticism

Time for a summit We need the major HBCU advocacy groups to come together soon for an HBCU governance summit. Every HBCU would send a board member, especially a chair or someone in line to be chair, to review the data on the state of HBCUs, the HBCU presidency, and strategies to stabilize the sector.

The data presented here should serve as an impetus about the real need for this kind of session for many more HBCUs to thrive.

Avoiding this type of convening is not an option.

Walter M. Kimbrough is the seventh president of Dillard University in New Orleans, La. His commentary was originally posted on HBCU Digest (www. hbcudigest.com).

Long list The list of reasons to be embarrassed about America is very long.

It existed before Trump was inaugurated. He has added to that ledger, but legitimate cause for concern shouldn’t be pushed aside in favor of phony outrage about optics.

President Trump is an ill-mannered, impulsive, happily uninformed bigot. Most of his predecessors were better behaved and followed rules of public relations.

But they filled the jails, ended the right to public assistance, killed millions of people abroad, kept wages low and used a variety of schemes to make the rich even richer.

Trump is not the worst among them. And that is the most embarrassing fact of all.

Let us condemn Trump for the right reasons.

Just a few months ago, his administration stated that regime change in Syria was no longer American policy. Now he uses his incompetent press secretary to announce that there will almost certainly be future “false flag” attacks against the Syrian government.

The secretary of state and the National Security Council were unaware of this pronouncement, and that is more dangerous than the president making personal attacks against media figures who fall out of his favor.

Trump is putting into practice Republican Party voter suppression schemes. He has established what he calls an ‘Election Integrity Commission’ and asked every state to provide names, Social SeMargaret Kimberley’s colcurity numbers and party affiliation of their voters. The inevitable umn appears weekly in BlackAresult will be the removal of Black gendaReport.com. his knowledge.

Often, athletes are also discouraged from investing in their own communities – the ones that supported and nurtured their early talent – by these firms.

What can be done?

First, our student-athletes and parents must know and understand what to look for in an investment or wealth manager well before they sign a pro contract.

They must interview several professionals and understand their investment philosophies.

Second, the management organizations should take some responsibility and expand the diversity of the firms in their presentations. Some pro organizations offer no opportunities for African-American investment

firms to provide presentations or information to young athletes.

As a registered investment advisor, protecting my client’s interests is first and foremost. I can’t imagine how someone who fashions themselves as a wealth or financial manager would allow their client to travel the road to financial ruin.

The reckless disregard for these athletes’ futures is deplorable. It’s economic oppression on a very specific and targeted segment of people. And it continues to happen.

Sharon Mallory is CEO of SDM Investments LLC, a registered investment advisory firm in Chicago, and the author of “Drama, Dollars, and Dreams: A Diva’s Guide to Financial Management.”

NATION

TOJ A6

JULY 14 – JULY 20, 2017

Cop acquitted in Castile shooting leaves police department

BY CHAO XIONG STAR TRIBUNE/TNS

MINNEAPOLIS – The city of St. Anthony has entered a separation agreement with Police Officer Jeronimo Yanez, who was acquitted last month in the fatal shooting of Philando Castile.

“In order to serve the public interest and quickly assure the public that Officer Yanez will not continue as a St. Anthony police officer, the city has entered into a separation agreement that Jeronimo ends all employYanez ment rights of Officer Yanez at the city,” said a statement posted on the city’s website Monday afternoon.

“Since Officer Yanez was not convicted of a crime, as a public employee, he would have appeal and grievance rights if terminated.

“A reasonable voluntary separation agreement brings to a close one part of this horrible tragedy.

The city concluded this was the most thoughtful way to move forward and help the communitywide healing process proceed.”

Traffic stop fatality Yanez fatally shot Castile during a traffic stop in 2016. During the traffic stop, Castile, a licensed gun owner, volunteered that he had a gun and moments later officer Yanez fatally shot Castile, who was seat belted in his car.

Yanez was charged with manslaughter in Castile’s death but was found not guilty by a jury.

(The 29-year-old officer will receive $48,500 as a buyout, according to the agreement. He will receive the money in a lump sum, minus applicable deductions and withholdings for state and federal taxes.)

Acquitted June 16 The city had issued a statement following Yanez’s acquittal on June 16 stating its intention to offer him a “voluntary separation agreement to help him transition to another career …”

The city’s attorney said in late June that terms of the separation agreement could not be made public at that time because it had not been finalized.

Phone and email messages left with the city’s attorney in the matter, City Manager Mark Casey and Mayor Jerry Faust were not immediately returned.

DAVID CARSON/ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH/TNS

Philando Castile is remembered on July 6 at his grave at Calvary Cemetery in St. Louis on the one-year anniversary of his death.

Congress working more than average: Three days a week

BY SEAN MCMINN CQ-ROLL CALL/TNS

WASHINGTON – Republicans may be uneasy about the lack of productivity so far this Congress, but it’s not for a lack of time spent working.

Through the first half of 2017, the 115th Congress had more voting days than any previous Congress in the same time period, since at least 2009, a Roll Call review of CQ vote data found.

The House held floor votes on 75 days and the Senate on 77 days. That means the chambers voted, on average, about three out of every seven days.

ARMANDO L. SANCHEZ/CHICAGO TRIBUNE/TNS

Laquan McDonald protesters stage a die-in at City Hall in Chicago on Tuesday, Dec. 22, 2015. The teen was shot to death on Oct. 20, 2014.

Controversial judge gets cover-up case in teen’s death Laquan McDonald was shot 16 times by officer in 2014

BY MEGAN CREPEAU CHICAGO TRIBUNE/TNS

CHICAGO – A Cook County judge with controversial rulings in her past has been appointed to preside over the indictment of three Chicago police officers on charges they helped cover up the circumstances of another cop’s fatal shooting of Laquan McDonald in spite of video evidence to the contrary.

After one judge stepped down from handling the case for unexplained reasons, Judge Diane Cannon was appointed by random computer assignment to oversee the high-profile case, officials said.

Attorneys for the three — former Detective David March, exOfficer Joseph Walsh Laquan and Officer ThomMcDonald as Gaffney — entered pleas of not guilty on their behalf Monday in a courtroom packed with spectators, including local activists and several officers displaying police badges. Each of the three accused officers was released on his own recognizance.

Myriad of charges The three face charges of obstruc-

tion of justice, official misconduct and conspiracy for allegedly covering up Officer Jason Van Dyke’s actions in fatally shooting McDonald in October 2014. Van Dyke is fighting separate first-degree murder charges.

The case against the three cops was initially assigned Monday to Judge Mary Margaret Brosnahan, but she recused herself without offering an explanation.

The officers returned to the courtroom of LeRoy Martin Jr., presiding judge of the criminal division, for another try. This time the random pick went to Cannon, a Cook County assistant state’s attorney for 15 years before being elected to the bench in 1996.

Harsh demeanor Cannon, who has battled back from cancer, is known for a somewhat harsh demeanor in court and is generally viewed as being pro-prosecution and pro-police, according to courthouse veterans.

She is perhaps best known for her 2015 acquittal of then-Chicago police Cmdr. Glenn Evans on charges he shoved his gun down Rickey Williams’ throat and threatened to kill him. In throwing out all charges, Cannon belittled evidence of Williams’ DNA on Evans’ service weapon as “of fleeting relevance or significance.”

In May, Cannon abruptly stepped down from handling a murder case after long refusing to do so amid allegations by lawyers with the Bluhm Legal Clinic at Northwestern Univer-

sity’s Pritzker School of Law that she was openly biased toward the defense.

That came less than a week after the judge made bizarre comments while castigating defense lawyers for what she called “a personality defect regarding me” and denying she had called one of the lawyers “Mr. Underpants” behind his back.

Captured on video The case against Van Dyke and the related prosecution of the three officers has attracted widespread public attention. The shooting was captured on police dashboard camera video that contradicted what Van Dyke and other officers had described.

The charges allege that the three officers, together with Van Dyke himself, lied to exaggerate the threat posed by the 17-year-old McDonald. The video showed Van Dyke shot McDonald 16 times as the Black teen walked away from police while holding a knife.

The court-ordered release of the video — on the same day in November 2015 that Van Dyke was charged with first-degree murder — ignited weeks of protest and provoked a political crisis for Mayor Rahm Emanuel and the Police Department.

Gaffney suspended Gaffney, the only one of the three still with the department when the indictment came down late last month, was suspended without pay.

It is unclear if any other officers could yet be indicted in the alleged cover-up, but special prosecutor Patricia Brown Holmes said in announcing the indictment two weeks ago that the investigation continues.

After Monday’s court hearing, Holmes declined to comment, as did attorneys for March and Gaffney.

‘Ample time’ After winning control of the White House last fall while maintaining control of both chambers of Congress, Republicans began the year with optimism about what they could achieve.

On the website of House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, text accompanying the 2017 calendar states that the California Republican added more than three legislative weeks to the House’s average time in session, mostly during the beginning of the year, in order to ensure “ample time to enact a conservative agenda.”

Some external factors Congress has still skipped some planned working days. There have been eight days in the House and 28 days in the Senate when the chambers were scheduled to meet but did not hold any votes.

The changes were due to external factors, such as the Republican baseball team shooting in June, as well decisions made by party leaders, such as holding their congressional retreat during a legislative workweek in late January.

Despite the added time in session, party infighting has stalled much marquee legislation from heading to the president’s desk.

Some GOP members have been pushing their party leaders — including the president — to cancel the traditional August recess to allow more time to pass a bill that would repeal the 2010 health care law, as well as address other items on the congressional to-do list.

Comparing the years At this point in 2009, the last non-election year when Washington was under one-party control, the House had one more voting day than it has had during the first half of this year.

The Senate, meanwhile, voted only 64 days then — significantly fewer than the chamber has this Congress.

Since then, the House has, on average, voted eight more days than the Senate during the first half of the year.

The year with the fewest voting days during the time period reviewed was 2012, when the House voted 64 days and the Senate voted 51.

Counting only days when chambers held a floor vote excludes those when the chambers met in short pro forma sessions.

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A HIDDEN POPULATION Youth homelessness is on the rise

BY TERESA WILTZ STATELINE.ORG

WASHINGTON — They are the nation’s invisible homeless population, undercounted for years, hiding out in cars and abandoned buildings, in motels and on couches, often trading sex for a place to sleep. And now, for a complex variety of reasons, the number of youth — teens and young adults — living on the street appears to be growing.

San Diego saw a 39 percent jump in homeless youth over the past year.

In Atlanta, the number of homeless youth in 2016 was estimated to be nearly triple that of previous years.

After a concerted effort to count homeless young people, Seattle’s King County saw its numbers jump more than 700 percent between 2016 and 2017. And the number of homeless, unaccompanied public school students increased one-fifth between 2012 and 2015.

25 and under Young homeless people are at risk for a host of troubles with long-lasting impact, including substance abuse, mental health problems and physical abuse, as well as sexual exploitation. Many get caught up in the criminal justice system. Up to 40 percent of homeless youth are lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender.

The federal government defines homeless youth as people under age 25 who are living without a parent or guardian. Activists, advocates, researchers and policymakers say it makes sense to think about homeless youth aged 12 to 24 as a group, even though some are just entering their teens and others are well on the path to adulthood.

That’s because research has shown that young brains aren’t fully developed until around age 25, and youth don’t fully understand the consequences of their actions.

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Hard to track Homeless youth are notoriously difficult to track. They’re not usually found sleeping on park benches, said Shahera Hyatt, director of the California Homeless Youth Project, a research and policy initiative of the California Research Bureau.

Homeless young people “might have a place to sleep for the night, but they don’t have a key, and they don’t know how long they can stay. Or they have to trade sex for a place,” Hyatt said.

Further complicating matters: federal agencies define youth homelessness differently.

The count

Host of problems There’s no one reason for the rise in youth homelessness, said Naomi Smoot, executive director of the Coalition for Juvenile Justice.

Communities are just starting to get better data on homeless youth, which may be one reason for the increase. Then again, Smoot said, “it’s the drug crisis, it’s the economy, it’s the cost of housing, jobs being scarce.”

“As a result, growing numbers of young people are having to take care of themselves on the street at a very young age.”

2

HUD grants Many communities are stepping up their efforts to deal with the problem. The idea is to intervene early, with services targeted toward the particular needs of young people — before homelessness becomes chronic, and it’s much harder to move them off the street.

In January, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) announced $33 million in grants to 10 communities, including four rural ones, to combat youth homelessness.

The money will go toward housing, from temporary to permanent, and to more creative approaches, such as “host homes” that place homeless teens with families that have been trained in dealing with young people who have suffered trauma.

Programs around nation San Francisco is receiving $2.9 million under the program, and this month, Mayor Ed Lee, a Democrat, earmarked an additional $1.5 million for homeless youth, mostly for housing subsidies.

In May, Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser, a Democrat, announced a fiveyear plan that identifies newly homeless youth in the city and intervenes with services and housing assistance.

Last month, the Illinois Legislature passed legislation allowing homeless minors ages 16 to 18 to live in temporary housing without getting parental consent.

In Hawaii, Gov. David Ige, a Democrat, recently signed an appropriations bill that allocates roughly $300,000 for outreach services for the state’s rapidly growing homeless youth population.

In April, Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan, a Republican, signed a law granting tuition waivers for foster youth and unaccompanied homeless youth.

More resources In Chicago, a team of lawyers from the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless roams the city in a mobile legal clinic, offering free advice and assistance to homeless young people.

And homeless youth advocates in Se-

The U.S. Department of Education tallies the number of students without a fixed address.

HUD counts the number of youth living on the street, in shelters or in cars at a specific point in time. In 2016, it tallied 35,686 unaccompanied youth, roughly 7 percent of the homeless population. That’s a slight decrease from 2015’s count of 36,907.

But advocates for the homeless argue HUD’s definition excludes more than a million unsheltered youth.

Individual communities often conduct their own counts. And as they have focused new attention on youth homelessness, many have improved the ways they count young people, often recruiting formerly homeless youth to help. This may be one reason for the recent increase in numbers, experts say.

Kicked out

3 2. Sarah Lyon, in her 20s, was homeless for five years and is shown preparing to sleep on the back of the George Washington statue in Chicago.

She was with her boyfriend, Joseph Nutoni.

1. Nell, 23, left, and Selena Cruz, 23, pose for a selfie outside Casa De Ruby, a Washington, D.C., shelter for homeless lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender youth.

SARAH NANCY STONE/ CHICAGO TRIBUNE/ TNS

PHOTO COURTESY OF NEIL AND SELENA CRUZ

4

3. Kris Pullock was a homeless student at Miami Bridge Youth & Family Services in 2016 when he posed for a photo. He was heled

by Project UP-START, a Miami-Dade school district program that supports homeless students. He went onto Florida International University, where he stayed in a dorm.

PEDRO PORTAL/ MIAMI HERALD/TNS

attle recently shifted their focus from preparing youth to live independently to helping them reunite with their families.

“If you really focus your resources on getting kids off the street, it works,” said California state Sen. Scott Wiener, a Democrat, who recently hosted a hearing on youth homelessness. “This is a demographic where you can really move the dial. It gets more challenging as they get older.”

Different needs Public awareness of youth homelessness began to increase in 2010, when the Obama administration announced a

4. Malachi Hoye, then a college student, waits in May 2015 for a bus with his girlfriend Jasmine Holt-Shirley in Chicago. Hoye stayed with friends while without a permanent home.

ANTHONY SOUFFLE/ CHICAGO TRIBUNE/ TNS

plan to end youth homelessness by 2020.

One of the goals was to get better data on homeless youth to tailor policy and programs to them.

Homeless youth over 18 have different needs than, say, minors who could be funneled through child protective services or foster care, said Amy Louttit, who left home at 17 and experienced homelessness off and on into her early 20s.

She is now a law school graduate, working as a public policy associate for the National Network for Youth, a research and advocacy group. (Some communities extend foster care to age 21.)

Some youth are on their own because they’ve been abused at home or because a parent is addicted. Some struggle with substance abuse or mental health issues themselves. Others are foster care dropouts.

While the majority of homeless youth have been sexually exploited, young Blacks, Hispanics and transgender youth are even more likely to face exploitation or violence, said Jody Waits of YouthCare, a Seattlebased youth shelter and services organization. They’re also less likely to have a family they can run back to, she said.

That’s a situation that Nell, 23, knows all too well. When he turned 18, his family kicked him out of their Washington, D.C., home, not because he was gay or transgender, he said, but because they figured it was high time he was on his own. He spent the next couple of years living out of a car.

“My family knows I’m homeless. In some families, when you’re 18, you age out of your home,” said Nell, who now lives in a transitional housing shelter for LGBT youth.

The best option For the past few years, agencies around the country like YouthCare have shifted their focus to reuniting youth with family members, particularly if they haven’t been homeless for long. Ultimately, Waits said, young people usually gravitate to their parents. And along as it’s safe, that makes sense, she said.

Sometimes a family needs to be connected with counseling. Or maybe it’s as simple as the center helping out with the rent or a utility bill as a condition to moving back in.

Home is usually a better option, even if there’s drama, Waits said. “As long as it’s physically safe for them to be there, it’s still a safer place for them than on the street.”

Youth homelessness resources can be found online on the HUD exchange website at www.hudexchange.info.

B2

SPORTS

JULY 14 – JULY 20, 2017

STOJ

Police: Williams ‘lawfully’ entered intersection at crash scene The tennis star is being sued by the family of Jerome Barson, 78, who died in the accident.

BY TONYA ALANEZ SUN SENTINEL/TNS

Police announced on Friday, July 7, that there was a third car involved in Venus Williams’ deadly crash last month near her Palm Beach Gardens home.

A Nissan Altima made a left turn in front of Williams, causing her to stop in the middle of a busy intersection.

Seconds later Williams’ SUV was T-boned in the intersection of Northlake Boulevard and BallenIsles Drive by a Hyundai. The passenger in the Hyundai died two weeks later.

New video After initially releasing a police report that said the tennis star was at fault in the June 9 crash that killed Jerome Barson, 78, Palm Beach Gardens police on July 7 released new video footage of the crash, and said Williams “lawfully entered” the intersection.

“It has been determined the vehicle driven by Venus Williams lawfully entered the intersection on a circular green traffic signal,” Major Paul Rogers said in a statement.

Williams, 37, has been in London competing in the Wimbledon tennis tournament.

No drugs or alcohol Barson’s family has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Williams, who was not injured in the collision.

A crash report said neither drugs nor alcohol were involved and both drivers claimed to have a green light.

The crash happened at 1:13 p.m. near the gated entrance to the BallenIsles Community where Williams lives.

Palm Beach Gardens police explained that the new footage showed Williams get cut off by a left-turning Nissan Altima as Williams passed through the intersection.

Probe continues Williams had to stop in the intersection to prevent crashing into the Nissan, police said.

Williams then continued on her northbound path.

At the same time, the Barsons in their Hyundai approached the intersection from the west. Linda Barson initially had a red light but it cycled to green and she proceeded into the intersection where she hit Williams.

“This updated information, based upon new evidence, is still under investigation,” Rogers said.

Police declined to answer any questions about the case.

Attorney responds “The video released by the Palm Beach Gardens Police Department continues to support the fact that Ms. Williams remained in the intersection at a

DAVID SANTIAGO/EL NUEVO HERALD/TNS

Venus Williams, shown in March at the Miami Open in Key Biscayne, has been competing in Wimbledon this week in London. red light, violating the Barson’s right of way,” the family’s attorney, Michael Steinger, said in a statement the evening of July 8.

“There is nothing that disputes Ms. Williams was in the intersection on a red light, and the witnesses clearly confirm the Barsons had a green light and lawfully entered the intersection.”

Williams ‘devastated’

client would face criminal charg-

After a court hearing for the wrongful death case on July 7 in Palm Beach Circuit Court, Williams’ attorney said the tennis star is “devastated” about the crash.

The attorney, Malcolm Cunningham, said Barson’s death was an “unfortunate accident” and he does not anticipate his

es. He said he had not yet seen the new surveillance video.

“Venus Williams entered that intersection on a green light,” Cunningham said. “And she had the right by state law to get through the intersection.”

Moms learn about football safety during clinic Miami Dolphins’ annual event attracted more than 300 participants.

The Miami Dolphins, in conjunction with Heads Up Football, held its fourth annual Mom’s Clinic on July 8 at the Baptist Health Training Facility at Nova Southeastern University. This year, the clinic welcomed both mothers and fathers for education on football safety. There were more than 300 participants.

“We are here educating families. Having both decision makers is a work in progress to a better and safer game. One thing we are trying to do is inform these parents, who then can make sure that their kids are playing safe and tackling properly and training them more on what signs to see,” Dolphins Manager of Youth Programs & USA Football Master Trainer Troy Drayton said.

“This event has grown a lot, when you think about when we first started we had about 75-80 people and now we are 300 people strong. We are getting into the roots of change, and for us that is what we want to do. One of our pillars of Youth Programs is health and safety and aligning with USA Football and its initiatives is an important element for us.”

Drills for parents The interactive clinic presented parents with information about young athletes’ nutrition, heat and hydration, equipment fitting and interactive drills that demonstrated proper Heads Up Football tackling techniques.

The parents took part in multiple football drills. Parents were taught the correct and safe way to tackle and protect their bodies.

Susan Harrington, a mom of three boys, said, “What I experienced in this is definitely amazing and it is really informative. I took notes on the whole session.”

Players participated Guest speakers at the clinic included Miami Dolphins Athletic Trainer Shannon Osborne who shared information on nutrition and heat and hydration.

Additionally, Miami Dolphins Equipment Manager Joe Cimino showed the proper way helmets

PHOTOS COURTESY OF MIAMI DOLPHINS

This year, the educational clinic was open to moms and dads. and shoulder pads should fit to help reduce injuries.

Miami Dolphins’ K Andrew Franks came out to support this event and modeled the appropriate fit for football equipment during Cimino’s presentation.

“I think it is really important understanding the aspects of how to make the sport itself safer,” Franks explained. “Setting these standards early is really important for youth football in general.”

“From a player’s standpoint, having your parents around supporting you – the parents have the most contact with their kids and how they play and how to influence those safety protocols.”

Following the presentations, participants took part in performing drills taught by USA Football Master Trainer Chris Merritt, Drayton, Youth Programs Ambassador & USA Football Master Trainer Twan Russell and Miami Dolphins alumni Donald Brown, Chris Conlin, Lorenzo Hampton and Ed Perry.

Parents learned about proper tackling techniques during the clinic.

STOJ

JULY 14 – JULY 20, 2017

CULTURE & CALENDAR

B3

Concept invites commuters to date while they wait Creator uses subway as a platform to teach people how to communicate.

BY GENEVIEVE GLATSKY PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER/TNS

PHILADELPHIA – On a recent late Tuesday afternoon, Thomas C. Knox sat at the University City SEPTA Regional Rail station at a small table, playing Connect Four. A few feet from where he sat wearing a black fedora and a bowtie made of Scrabble tiles spelling “great” was a sign displaying his initiative: “Date While You Wait.”

Despite the name, Knox’s efforts are not so much a romantic pursuit as a way to invite people to talk to one another — in person, not by phone.

He came up with the idea in New York City in 2015 after noticing a lack of people connecting.

He initially created a pop-up on the New York City subway with a table and chairs, but then he added board games.

‘A dope idea’ The idea was to take away the pressure of making conversation for anyone who just wanted to take a break. He has since held events in cities all over the world.

“The idea was to connect with people while they commute,” he said. “To give people the opportunity to do something other than be on a mobile device and have great interactions.”

He came to Philadelphia later that year after Hector Nuñez, founder of online lifestyle magazine Wooder Ice, came across an article about Knox.

“I was like, ‘That is such a dope idea, I want to bring that to Philadelphia,’ ” Nuñez said. “There’s no other intentions behind it, it’s just a grassroots movement. He’s not selling anything.”

Platform for conversation From there, Nuñez partnered

MARGO REED/PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER/TNS

Thomas Knox, creator of Date While You Wait, plays Connect Four with ChiChi Nwadiogbu at the University City SEPTA Regional Rail station. Knox sets up a table with board games and brings it to communities where he would like to connect with people. with SEPTA and held the first Date While You Wait event in Suburban Station in 2015.

“We support what they’re doing … and we’re happy to continue that relationship,” said Gabriella Schrier, a senior marketing specialist for SEPTA. “We’re happy to provide a platform to facilitate conversation.”

At the University City station, there was more space allotted than before and a pleasant atmosphere on a Tuesday among the gentle breezes and chirping birds.

Yet this time, only a few commuters engaged with Knox during the three scheduled hours playing Guess Who and Connect

structs students how to “develop an idea from the ground up.”

“I think it’s amazing. It’s awesome,” said Richard Keller, one of the commuters who actually sat to talk with Knox. “Especially in a world today full of such hate, to just sit and talk with somebody.

Normally you’re just sitting there playing on your phone. And now all of us are having a great conversation.”

Four. Mostly people stared, occasionally making conversation from the sidelines or taking pictures.

Workshop for students Despite their reluctance on this day, Knox’s effort is making waves, having been mentioned by the New York Times, Huffington Post, and CNN. He recently made Date While You Wait an official limited liability company, and also teaches a workshop at high schools and universities on the importance of human connection.

His class at Victory Collegiate High School in Brooklyn in-

Slowly caught on After Knox posted a picture of Keller on social media, his wife commented on the photo with the hashtags #thatsmyhusband and #toofunny.

It turns out she follows Knox on Instagram.

Commuter Kelly Drozd remembered playing Perfection with Knox at last year’s pop-up and has followed him on Instagram since. “People were kind of hesitant, and I was like, ‘I’ll do it,’ ” she said. “It was great.”

Knox took it all in stride.

“I don’t care how many people sit down. I could care less,” he said. “I want people to want to connect that are interested in it. … I think that’s where a lot of the successes come from. I don’t go around saying, ‘Hey, come sit with me.’ It’s like ‘Hey, you’re walking by. Tell me a little bit more.’ ”

TAMELA AND DAVID MANN

The Mann’s World Concert and Comedy Show stops at the James L. Knight Center in Miami on Sept. 1.

PAULA ABDUL

The Total Package Tour tour with Paula Abdul, New Kids on the Block and Boyz II Men stops at Tampa’s Amalie Arena on July 15 and Hollywood’s Hard Rock Live on July 16.

FLORIDA COMMUNITY CALENDAR

MR

#43

Tampa: Tickets are on sale for a Sept. 2 concert with Frankie Beverly and Maze, Nephew Tommy, Tank and Kelly Price.

SOUNDTRACK ON BACK LOT MUSIC

© 2017 UNIVERSAL STUDIOS

CHECK LOCAL LISTINGS FOR STARTS FRIDAY, JULY 21 THEATERS AND SHOWTIMES

ALL.GTP.0714.FLORIDACOURIER

1/4 PG. (4.93" X 10")

Jacksonville: The Morocco Shrine Grounds will be site of the Aug. 12 Throwback Concert featuring Morris Day and The Time, Adina Howard, Lakeside, Ready for the World, Troop, and Rude Boys.

FRI 7/14

UNIVERSAL PICTURES PRESENTS IN ASSOCIATION WITH PERFECT WORLD PICTURES A WILL PACKER PRODUCTIONS PRODUCTION A MALCOLM D. LEE FILM “GIRLS TRIP”REGINA HALL TIFFANY HADDISH LARENZ TATEEXECUTIVEMIKE COLTER KATE WALSH WITH JADA PIPRODUCED NKETT SMITH AND QUEEN LATIFAH MUSICBY DAVID NEWMAN PRODUCERS PRESTON HOLMES JAMES LOPEZ

BY WILL PACKER p.g.a. MALCOLM D. LEE p.g.a.

STORY SCREENPLAY

BY ERICA RIVINOJA AND KENYA BARRIS & TRACY OLIVER

BY KENYA BARRIS & TRACY OLIVER DIRECTED A UNIVERSAL PICTURE

BY MALCOLM D. LEE

FLORIDA COURIER

Orlando: Reggae star Beres Hammond performs Aug. 5 at Hard Rock Live Orlando and Aug. 6 at the Au-Rene Theater at the Broward Center.

Orlando: Tickets are on sale for Jay-Z’s 4:44 Tour. He’ll be at the Amway Center on Nov. 11 and Miami’s AmericanAir-

MARY J. BLIGE

The singer’s Strength of a Woman Tour will include concerts at Miami Beach’s Jackie Gleason Theater on Aug. 22.

lines Arena on Nov. 12.

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.

Jacksonville: Lauryn Hill and Nas will perform Sept.

23 at Daily’s Place.

Fort Lauderdale: Comedian and actor Sinbad takes the stage Aug. 11 at the Parker Playhouse.

Orlando: An All White Affair starring Ginuwine and DJ Envy is July 21 at Hard Rock Live Orlando.

Jacksonville: Catch Betty Wright on July 22 at the Times-Union Center for the Performing Arts.

Miami: J. Cole’s Your Eyez

Only Tour stops at the AmericanAirlines Arena on Aug. 14 and Orlando’s Amway Center on Aug. 16.

St. Petersburg: Tickets are on sale for a show with the Isley Brothers on Aug. 6 at the Mahaffey Theater.

Orlando: The 18th Annual Darrell Armstrong Classic Weekend is Aug. 11-13. The foundation helps premature babies. More info: 407-252333 or 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.

Hollywood: Actor and comedian Chris Tucker takes the Hard Rock Live stage on Sept. 2.

B4

FOOD

JULY 14 – JULY 20, 2017

S

POP-ular summer snacks

FROM FAMILY FEATURES

From casual gatherings with friends to outdoor athletic activities and leisurely time at home, all of the best summer pastimes have one thing in common: tasty snacks make them more enjoyable.

Light, airy and fresh popcorn is a perfect summer snack. It’s naturally low in fat and calories, non-GMO and gluten free – all the makings of an ideal guilt-free treat. Whether you enjoy it one delicious handful at a time, sprinkled with seasonings or as an ingredient in fun summertime recipes, popcorn offers plenty of versatility for every occasion.

You can kick up the heat with a zesty popcorn mix or take a sweeter route with a blend of toasted coconut and bananas. No summer sporting event is complete without some good old toffee-style popcorn and nuts, and even a favorite like ice cream sandwiches can only get better with the addition of sweet, crunchy popcorn and candy.

Find more popcorn recipes perfect for summer at popcorn.org.

POPCORN CHIPWICHES Yield: 12 2 1/2 quarts popped popcorn 1 1/2 cups light brown sugar 3/4 cup dark corn syrup 1/2 cup butter 1 tablespoon vinegar 1/2 teaspoon salt 1 package (6 ounces) chocolate pieces 1/2 cup chopped walnuts 2 pints brick-style vanilla ice cream Keep popcorn warm.

In 3-quart saucepan, combine brown sugar, corn syrup, butter, vinegar and salt. Cook and stir until sugar dissolves. Continue to cook until hard ball stage (250 F on candy thermometer).

Pour syrup over popcorn; stir to coat. Add chocolate pieces and nuts; stir just until mixed.

Pour into two 13-by-9-by2-inch pans, spreading and packing firmly. Cool.

In each pan, cut 12 rectangles. Cut each pint of ice cream into six slices. Sandwich each ice cream slice between two popcorn rectangles.

BALLPARK POPCORN CRUNCH Yield: 3 quarts 1/2 cup butter 1/2 cup brown sugar 3 quarts unsalted popped popcorn 1 cup chopped walnuts Heat oven to 350 F. Cream together butter and brown sugar until light and fluffy.

In separate bowl, toss popcorn and walnuts. Add creamed mixture to popcorn and nuts. Combine until coated.

Spread on large baking sheet in single layer.

Bake 10 minutes, or until crisp.

BEACH PARTY POPCORN Yield: 2 1/2 quarts 1 teaspoon soy sauce 1-2drops hot pepper sauce 1/3 cup melted butter 2 quarts popped popcorn

2 cups assorted seasoned snacks (crackers, pretzels, etc.)

1/2 package (0.56 ounces) bacon-onion dip mix Heat oven to 350 F. Add soy sauce and hot pepper sauce to melted butter.

Put popcorn and seasoned snacks in large bowl. Pour butter mixture over popcorn and snacks; toss. Sprinkle with bacon-onion dip mix; toss again.

Spread mixture in 15 1/2-by10 1/2-by-1-inch jelly roll pan and bake 8-10 minutes, stirring once.

Helping you is what we love to do.

That’s why there’s always an experienced bread baker on hand in your Publix Bakery. And an expert cake decorator, too, ready to customize beautiful cakes to your every whim, for any occasion.

See how we serve you at publix.com/service.

COCONUT MONKEY MIX Yield: 7 cups 1 cup flaked coconut (unsweetened or sweetened) 6 cups popped popcorn 1 tablespoon butter or margarine, melted 1 teaspoon sugar 1/8 teaspoon salt dash of nutmeg 1 cup dried banana chips Heat oven to 325 F. Spread coconut in 13-by-9-inch baking pan, breaking up any clumps as needed.

Bake 10 minutes, or until edges of coconut begin to brown.

Spread popcorn over coconut and sprinkle with butter; toss. Sprinkle popcorn mixture with sugar, salt and nutmeg; toss.

Bake 5 minutes longer, remove from heat and toss with banana chips. Serve immediately or cool and store in airtight container.

STOJ

JULY 14 – JULY 20, 2017

Meet some of

FLORIDA’S

finest

FINEST & ENTERTAINMENT

B5

Think you’re one of Florida’s Finest?

E-mail your high-resolution (200 dpi) digital photo in casual wear or bathing suit taken in front of a plain background with few distractions, to news@flcourier. com with a short biography of yourself and your contact information. (No nude/ glamour/ fashion photography, please!) In order to be considered, you must be at least 18 years of age. Acceptance of the photographs submitted is in the sole and absolute discretion of Florida Courier editors. We reserve the right to retain your photograph even if it is not published. If you are selected, you will be contacted by e-mail and further instructions will be given.

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 tractor-trailer 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

Jenkins to adapt Baldwin book for big screen EURWEB.COM

AMPAS/ZUMA PRESS/TNS

Gary Alan Coe, or ‘Gary from Chicago,’ with Host Jimmy Kimmel during The 89th Oscars at the Dolby Theatre on Feb. 26 in Hollywood.

‘Gary from Chicago’ has experienced ups and downs since Oscars cameo

BY TRACY SWARTZ CHICAGO TRIBUNE/TNS

In the four months since his star turn at the Academy Awards, former Chicago resident Gary Alan Coe has undergone ups and downs fit for a Hollywood drama.

Coe, who was released from prison just days before his unwitting cameo at the Oscars, said he continues to search for a job.

He also split from Vickie Vines, whom he was supposed marry this month after Denzel Washington briefly performed a ceremony for them during the A-list awards show.

Nevertheless, the 59-year-old remains upbeat.

“Everything else is going good.

It’s wonderful being free again and I’m excited about the future,” he recently told the Tribune.

Kimmel stunt At the time, Coe and Vines said they happened to be riding a Hollywood tour bus that

stopped at the Dolby Theatre on Oscars night Feb. 26. The doors opened and they filed in with the other bus passengers as part of a stunt to feature star-struck tourists hobnobbing with celebrities.

Coe introduced himself to Oscars host Jimmy Kimmel and the world as “Gary Alan Coe from Chicago.”

He got to kiss Nicole Kidman’s hand and hold Mahershala Ali’s Oscar.

Washington pronounced Coe and Vines married in front of the star-studded audience. While he was praised for his everyman charm, Coe’s criminal past also made international headlines.

Criminal record Coe, who spent his childhood in Memphis and Chicago’s South Shore area before moving to California in the early 1990s, was imprisoned for 20 years under California’s “three-strikes” law after being convicted of petty theft in 1997.

His criminal record also in-

cludes convictions for grand theft, shoplifting, attempted rape, robbery and burglary. He was released from prison three days before the Oscars.

His newfound fame translated into offers to appear on talk shows, but not many job opportunities. He said he’s gotten some leads from an employment agency in central California, where he now lives. He plans to take some courses at Fresno City College and target driver jobs.

Praying for Chicago A recovering drug addict and alcoholic, Coe said he’s also looked into working with groups for addicts and gang members.

Coe emphasized he’s praying “for the lives of all those that were taken or are being taken with the unnecessary violence in Chicago now. Please, please say that he’s really concerned, he’s praying for all of the individuals involved, it doesn’t matter what color.”

In between prayers for Chicago, Coe experienced some per-

sonal drama.

Coe and Vines had met through her nephew, a young inmate Coe mentored at the California State Prison in Corcoran.

Vines had told Kimmel she and Coe planned to marry July 18.

Coe said they split just days after the Oscars. Attempts to reach Vines through her family members were unsuccessful.

Another fiancée The good news for Coe is that he has gotten engaged again.

He said he popped the question about a month ago and plans to marry next year.

He said he doesn’t plan to publicly reveal his fiancée’s name just yet because he doesn’t “want to jinx that with all the media attention,” but he is willing to have Washington officiate the wedding for real.

“I’ll be contacting him to see if he’s available for sure,” Coe said.

“That guy is a very busy man, so if he’s not available, it’s OK.”

Barry Jenkins has chosen his follow up to “Moonlight.’’

The director is set to direct an adaptation of the James Baldwin novel “If Beale Street Could Talk” for Annapurna Pictures, reports Variety.

Based on the Baldwin novel, the story follows Tish, a newly engaged Harlem woman who races against the clock to prove her lover’s innocence while caring for their Barry first born child.

Jenkins The project marks his first feature film since “Moonlight” won the 2017 Academy Award for best picture.

He also is set to write and direct an hourlong drama series about the Underground Railroad for Amazon, based on Colson Whitehead’s best-selling book “The Underground Railroad.”

Working with estate Production on “If Beale Street Could Talk” is expected to start in October.

According to Variety, Jenkins, who has wanted to make the film for many years, wrote the screenplay in 2013 when he penned “Moonlight.”

“James Baldwin is a man of and ahead of his time; his interrogations of the American consciousness have remained relevant to this day,” Jenkins said in the Variety article.

“To translate the power of Tish and Fonny’s love to the screen in Baldwin’s image is a dream I’ve long held dear.

Working alongside the Baldwin estate, I’m excited to finally make that dream come true.”

B6

SAFETY

JULY 14 – JULY 20, 2017

STOJ

MARSHA HALPER/MIAMI HERALD/TNS

Diana Ozuna is shown with her daughter, Lianah, on July 30, 2016, in Miami’s Wynwood district, an area in which the Zika virus was being transmitted by mosquitoes. Ozuna said she was applying protective spray on her and her daughter.

Banish biting season FROM FAMILY FEATURES

As the weather gets warmer, mosquitoes can prevent home­owners from reaping the benefits of living life outside.

According to a Harris Poll conducted on behalf of TruGreen, 85 percent of Americans say that mosquitoes limit their family’s outdoor activities during the months they’re most active. The same survey also found that nearly two-thirds of Americans are concerned about protecting themselves and their family from Zika or other mosquito-borne illnesses.

A majority of respondents reported using bug spray on themselves and their family members to combat mosquitoes outdoors at home. Although it’s the leading preventative measure, still only half say it is most effective at preventing mosquitoes from biting.

Depending on where you live, the mosquito biting season lasts 5-7 months. If

MOSQUITOES’ FAVORITE HABITATS Because mosquitoes typically lay their eggs near water, places in the yard where water can pool up are often desired breeding grounds. These areas of stagnating water allow the mosquitoes a favorite spot, but there are some other areas around the house to be wary of as potential habitats: •Ornamental foliage. Keeping foliage like bushes and brush trimmed properly can help them maintain shape while also exposing them to more sunlight, helping to keep them dry.

•Low-hanging limbs. Trim limbs to a prop­er height so that they aren’t so close to the ground, which is more welcoming for mosquitoes.

•Ground covers. Certain plants, especially those with wide leaves, can sometimes hold water either on the leaf itself or in the axil, which is where the leaf meets the stem.

•Wood piles. Consider covering your wood pile tightly with a tarp to help block mosqui­toes and other pests from invading.

•Mulched areas. Frequently disturbing mulch with a rake or other garden tool, especially when it’s wet after a rain, can deter mosqui­toes from moving in by helping to dry out the underlying mulch.

•Hanging and potted plants.

Just like other objects that can hold standing water, be sure to empty saucers underneath plants that could provide a water source.

spray isn’t adequate to combat the mosquitoes at your home, it may be necessary to take additional measures.

These tips from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the pest control experts at TruGreen can help combat mosquitoes outside of the home: Remove standing water. Mosquitoes generally lay eggs near water, so once a week take time to dump anything that may hold water in the yard. This includes buckets, kiddie pools and birdbaths.

Don’t overlook items like toys, planters and flowerpot saucers. For containers intended to hold water, like cisterns or rain barrels, regularly check that the lid is secure so mosquitoes can’t gain access. A finely woven mesh is a good alternative if there is no lid. If you can’t cover the container and won’t be drinking from it, use a larvicide to treat the water.

Be wary of unexpected reservoirs.

Natural features such as shrubbery and

tree stumps can also collect water, and they may be more difficult to remedy.

Keep dense shrubs thinned and pruned.

Increasing the air flow can make these areas less attractive. If removing a tree stump is impractical, a professional can guide you in proper treatment.

Apply a broad-application pest eliminator. Use an outdoor insect spray or professional service to kill mosquitoes in areas where they rest all over the yard.

A professionally applied treatment such as TruGreen Mosquito Defense targets pests where they live, and the company’s professionally trained specialists use an innovative mosquito control formula to treat all areas of the yard where mosquitoes hide, including trees, shrubs, mulched areas and all types of ground cover.

“Mosquitoes are a nuisance for many of our customers, inhibiting the time they can spend enjoying outdoor activities,”

Tips for eliminating backyard pests said John Bell, board certified entomologist and TruGreen regional technical manager. “Most people protect against mosquitoes by using a repellant or citronella candles, but these methods do not target the places mosquitoes hide including low-hanging limbs, ornamental foliage, potted plants and ground cover. The TruGreen Mosquito Defense treatment program targets these places, eradicating the mosquito population in homeowners’ yards and allowing people to spend more time living life outside.”

Make regular rounds to spot trouble.

Humans are creatures of habit, and that can mean certain areas of the yard receive much less traffic than other spots. Take time each week to tour the entire yard and keep an eye out for potential pest problems, including standing water in containers or low spots in the ground.

For more year-round lawn care tips, visit TruGreen.com/mosquito.