Florida Courier - August 09, 2013

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Potential graves on ‘colored’ cemetery at Dozier School

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AUGUST 9 - AUGUST 15, 2013

VOLUME 21 NO. 32

IT’S IN THE BLOOD From prison to the pulpit to civil rights activism, Al Sharpton’s ‘baby brother,’ the Rev. Kenneth Sharpton Glasgow, blazes his own trail.

BY JAMES HARPER FLORIDA COURIER

The Rev. Al Sharpton is a highprofile, well-known public figure – maybe now more than ever.

But many would be surprised to learn he has four siblings. One in particular made national headlines last month when his group, The Ordinary People’s Society (TOPS), joined representatives from more than a dozen groups from several states in what they called “A Walk for Dignity” from Jacksonville to Sanford July 22-27.

“Marching got us the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act,” said the Rev. Kenneth Sharpton Glasgow, whose TOPS organization is

State may consider clemency for Alexander

based out of Dothan, Ala. “Marching and protesting causes policies to change…The movement never stopped; people just stopped moving.”

Glasgow didn’t shy away from talking with the Florida Courier recently about his relationship to his famous brother – which he says could be better. Nor did he hesitate to talk about his checkered past in and out of Florida’s criminal justice system.

“I get support from my brother, but not the support I need. I’m not trying to be him, but to do what God called me to do,” Glasgow said, DUANE FERNANDEZ, SR. /HARDNOTTS PHOTOGRAPHY referring to Sharpton. He wishes The Rev. Kenneth Sharpton Glasgow is making strides See BLOOD, Page A2

When does ‘shoot first’ apply?

with his group, The Ordinary People’s Society (TOPS).

BARACK OBAMA / OUT AND ABOUT

On the road again

BY MARGIE MENZEL THE NEWS SERVICE OF FLORIDA

Members of the Florida Cabinet said Tuesday it’s too soon to consider a pardon for Marissa Alexander, a Jacksonville woman who was sentenced to 20 years in prison after firing a shot into a wall during a domestic dispute.

Alexander, a 32-year-old mother of three, was sentenced last year under Florida’s “10-20-Life” mandatory-minimum law.

But an appeals court will decide whether Alexander should have been able to use a “Stand Your Ground” defense to fight the charge.

The appeal is also based on what Alexander’s attorneys argue are two additional errors by the trial court: denying her the right to consult her attorney during the single overnight recess of her two-day trial, and giving the standard jury instruction on the use of force.

Clemency request filed On Monday, state Sen. Dwight Bullard, D-Miami, wrote to Gov. Rick Scott and the Cabinet, asking them to pardon Alexander when they next sit as the clemency board. Bullard noted that Alexander had reason to fear because her husband had battered her in the past.

Bullard noted to Attorney General Pam Bondi, Chief Financial Officer Jeff Atwater and Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam that Gov. Rick Scott would require the support of two Cabinet members for Alexander to receive a pardon.

“She was denied a defense under Florida’s ‘Stand Your Ground’ protections, and was found guilty of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon,” Bullard wrote. “Surely Ms. Alexander had a clear right to defend herself and not retreat from the middle of an altercation in which her life and safety were at stake.”

Scott and Cabinet members could take up Bullard’s call for a pardon for Alexander on Sept. 25, when the Clemency Board meets. However, on Tuesday, they were noncommittal.

A spokeswoman for Bondi said that because Bondi’s office is representing the prosecution in Alexander’s criminal appeal, “it would not be appropriate to discuss clemency-related matters until the court has made a determination regarding the disposition of the criminal appeal.”

Quick verdict

GLENN KOENIG/LOS ANGELES TIMES/MCT

President Obama arrived at Los Angeles International Airport on Tuesday for a two-day trip to California.

While there, he spoke to Marines at Camp Pendleton, hosted an online chat focused on housing, and appeared on “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno.”

At her trial, Alexander argued that the “Stand Your Ground” self-defense law should apply, but a judge ruled against her because she ran to the garage for her gun and returned with it instead of escaping. A jury later found her guilty – in 12 minutes – of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.

According to filings at the First DisSee ALEXANDER, Page A2

Obama to speak at March on Washington ceremony See related story on B1.

TRIBUNE WASHINTON BUREAU/MCT

ZBIGNIEW BZDAK/CHICAGO TRIBUNE/MCT

Still about jobs and freedom: President Barack Obama delivers an address on economics at Knox College in Galesburg, Ill., on July 24. Obama called for new spending on infrastructure and education to help grow the middle class.

ALSO INSIDE

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama will speak at the 50th anniversary of the civil rights March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom on Aug. 28, weeks after his comments on the George Zimmerman verdict stirred a national discussion of race in America.

Obama will deliver his speech from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, the same place where the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his “I Have a Dream” speech.

The King Center in Atlanta is organizing the “Let Free-

dom Ring” ceremony, which will commemorate Dr. King’s speech and include an interfaith religious service and a bell-ringing ceremony at 3 p.m. The Rev. Al Sharpton is also organizing a separate anniversary march entitled “No Justice, No Peace” on Aug. 24, which will focus on voter rights, racial profiling, poverty and other social issues.

Good time for reflection Approximately 250,000 participants marched on Washington in 1963 — 100 years after the Emancipation Proclamation — calling for civil and economic rights for African-Americans.

The march, one of the largest rallies for human rights in U.S. history, helped pressure Congress to pass the Civil Rights Act in 1964 and the Voting Rights Act in 1965.

In a July 27 interview with The New York Times, Obama said he had an original program from the march framed in his office.

“It’s part of my generation’s formative memory and it’s a good time for us to do some reflection,” he said, adding that the impetus for the march was economic justice.

“That was a march for jobs and justice,” Obama said.

“There was a massive economic component to that.”

SNAPSHOTS FLORIDA | A3

Governor suspends two mayors after bribery charges

HEALTH | B3

Paternity testing hits the streets FOOD | B4

FINEST | B5

Meet Patricia

Cookies, brownies and other sweet treats

COMMENTARY: LUCIUS GANTT: THE RETURN OF AMOS, ANDY AND BUCKWHEAT | A4 COMMENTARY: WILLIAM SPRIGGS: OBAMA NEEDS TO UNITE FAMILIES, UNEMPLOYED YOUNG AND OLD | A5

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FOCUS

AUGUST 9 – AUGUST 15, 2013

Al-Qaeda attack warnings are a little too convenient This week, the United States ordered the evacuation of embassy personnel in Yemen and urged all Americans living there to leave. The Obama administration is referring to this evacuation as “a reduction in staff contingency maneuver,” just as it insists on referring to the coup in Egypt as something Orwellian like “an army-assisted move to re-try democracy.”

The last time American embassy personnel had to hightail it out of a foreign country like this, they were dodging Viet Cong bullets (with all due respect to the fog of Benghazi).

Hollow threats But all they’re dodging this time are patently hollow al-Qaeda threats to launch 9/11-style attacks against U.S. interests, somewhere – perhaps even in the United States itself, sometime – perhaps either to mark the end of Ramadan or to commemorate its coordinated embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania on August 7, 1998.

ALEXANDER from A1 trict of Appeal in Tallahassee, Alexander’s attorneys contend that the trial court erred in denying Alexander’s pretrial motion for immunity based on “Stand Your Ground.” They wrote that due to the history of domestic violence in the relationship with her husband, Rico Gray, Alexander had reason to fear bodily harm and had no duty to retreat.

They also argued that the trial court’s instruction to the jury “erroneously shifted the burden of proof, requiring that Alexander prove beyond a reasonable doubt that she was in danger of imminent harm in order to invoke self-defense,” according to the motion filed last November.

“The instruction given effectively negated Alexander’s sole defense – that is, self-defense – by erroneously stating that an injury to the victim was a prerequisite to successfully invoking selfdefense,” the motion said.

In the news Alexander’s case drew enormous attention when she was sentenced in May 2012. It returned to the spotlight last

ANTHONY L. HALL, ESQ. FLORIDA COURIER COLUMNIST

Frankly, the only thing that is certain is that government reaction to and media hype about these terrorist threats are inflicting almost as much terror as any eventual attack might.

Remember ‘threat levels’?

U.S. politicians and security analysts have been all over TV in recent days warning about “specific, credible and imminent attacks” al-Qaeda operatives are planning to launch against U.S. interests worldwide. Which compels one to wonder how this warning would have been designated according to the government’s ill-fated, soon-discarded color-coded threat level advisory system.

But am I the only one who

month, when a Sanford jury acquitted George Zimmerman of second-degree murder in the death of Trayvon Martin.

Zimmerman did not use a “Stand Your Ground” defense, but the case has sparked widespread debate about the law – which was part of the Zimmerman jury instructions.

Approved in 2005, the law says a person who is not doing anything illegal and gets attacked “has no duty to retreat and has the right to stand his or her ground and meet force with force, including deadly force if he or she reasonably believes it is necessary to do so to prevent death or great bodily harm to himself or herself.”

Alexander’s case also has become part of a sit-in at the state Capitol, where “Dream Defenders” activists have occupied Scott’s waiting area, demanding a special legislative session on the “Stand Your Ground” law.

Tuesday marked the third week of the sit-in.

Members of the Dream Defenders have followed Alexander’s case, and their political director, Ciara Taylor of Jacksonville, was in court when Alexander was sentenced.

One good thing to come out of the verdict, Taylor said Tuesday, is the need to explore cases like Alexander’s – “cases involv-

finds these warnings as “specific, credible, and reliable” as a carnival soothsayer predicting my future?

Moreover, notwithstanding Tanzania and Benghazi, isn’t reacting to these threats by closing U.S. embassies across the Muslim world rather like putting a BandAid on one’s elbow to fight terminal cancer?

I mean, given the veritable fortresses most U.S. embassies have become, isn’t it far more likely that terrorists will target softer U.S. interests like hotels, restaurants, or, God forbid, business complexes like the World Trade Center)? So why isn’t the U.S. government advising that they should all be closed too?

Government terrorism Frankly, Western governments are terrorizing us far more with their anti-terror warnings, intelligence gathering, and security measures than Muslim terrorists are with their acts of terrorism.

This is not to say, of course, that terrorists aren’t planning every

day to mount another 9/11-type attack, or that at some point they’re going to succeed. I just think it’s far better to “keep calm and carry on” than to cry wolf and take plainly feckless measures every time al-Qaeda issues an amorphous threat. It must be understood that no matter their collective resolve, there’s absolutely nothing our governments can do to prevent such attacks.

Meanwhile, that Americans reacted as if those explosions went off in Washington or New York should compel Westerners to focus on calming our collective nerves instead of fretting about (or worse, trying to figure out) the motivation for and timing of terrorist attacks by Islamic fanatics.

In the meantime, if you’re buying government propaganda about winning the “war on terror,” I have a bridge I’d like to sell you. Not to mention how all of this seems a little too much like a manufactured antidote to Edward Snowden’s National Security Agency disclosures. After all, the very spying methods he outed maligned, and undermined

from A1 Sharpton visited more and give him financial and moral support.

“Here in Alabama, I don’t get a lot of support from conservative people because I am Al’s brother,” he continued. “I need him here to back me up.”

Same father Glasgow and Sharpton have the same father but different mothers. Glasgow’s 86-year-old father, Al Sharpton Sr., lives in Orlando.

Sharpton Sr. left Sharpton Jr.’s mother, Ada, in the early 1960s to begin a relationship with Glasgow’s mother, whom he affectionately calls “Momma Tina.”

Glasgow works with her in Do-

That compels me to suggest that only after al-Qaeda begins targeting Western news organizations instead of embassies will the news agencies stop rushing to disclose all of these methods to intercept and foil terror plots.

More to the point, am I the only one who thinks it’s almost complicit for reporters to continually tip off terrorists about all of the covert ways Western governments are trying to combat them…?

All the same, “If you see something, say something!”

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

FILE PHOTO

ing the Black-and-White…disparity within using ‘Stand Your Ground.’ “ She also said it’s important “to talk about domestic violence against women in this country.”

‘Every right’ “She had every right to be afraid and every right to defend herself,” said Rita Smith, executive director of the National Co-

DUANE FERNANDEZ, SR./HARDNOTTS PHOTOGRAPHY

BLOOD

Tipping them off

A Jacksonville just ruled that Marissa Alexander couldn’t use the “Stand Your Ground” self-defense law when she shot her husband who allegedly beat her.

Protesters from Jacksonville are shown during a stop in Daytona Beach. than to feed the homeless and hungry at Momma Tina’s Mission House as a way to make a difference where they live. The Mission House has fed more 180,000 people over the past five years.

Glasgow has a doctorate in Divinity from Bethany College and also a doctorate from AP Clay Theological College. In 2009, Rev. Sharpton performed the marriage ceremony between Glasgow and his wife, Daris.

In addition to his father, Glasgow’s other connection to the state of Florida is that he did 11 years in prison at the Polk County Correctional Facility. There, he eventually found God and his calling – to make a difference in the lives of others who have been incarcerated.

He was arrested and charged with attempted robbery and dealing drugs. Glasgow said the “War on Drugs” started in the 1970s by President Richard Nixon “created

are the ones that have supposedly tipped government officials off about the terrorist attacks that are now afoot … allegedly.

racial profiling, created mass incarceration.

“In order for the slavery (of Blacks) to continue, the drug war was created – a war against people – taking away people’s rights. The drug war was the enslavement of Black people,” Glasgow said.

“White people use drugs five to 10 times more than Blacks but go to jail 13 to 17 times less than Blacks,” he continued.

He started preaching in prison in 1994. He had an epiphany in 2001, when he was released from prison, to start TOPS. Glasgow said the last time he saw his brother in person was at the funeral for Sharpton’s mother, Ada, which took place the same week Sharpton organized a March 2012 rally in Sanford that attracted 30,000 people demanding the arrest of George Zimmerman. Glasgow said Momma Tina encouraged them both to go to the rally.

Glasgow said his calling is to work with grassroots people, which he refers to as his “ordinary people.”

Glasgow was one of the main organizers of the march from Jacksonville to Sanford. He and the others are part of what is known as Project South and the Southern Movement Assembly.

The groups are concerned about what been happening in the South – the eroding of voting rights, stand your ground laws, and the mistreatment of Blacks after Hurricane Katrina. Glasgow calls it “The new Jim Crow.”

The “Walk for Dignity” marchers began their journey July 22 from Jacksonville as an urgent response from Southern community organizations after George Zimmerman’s acquittal in the killing of Trayvon Martin. Forty people from Southern states – Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Texas, Louisiana,

alition Against Domestic Violence. “It is often the case that when a battered woman fights back and protects herself, the full force of the law comes down on her.”

Texas, Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina, Tennessee and South Carolina – walked along Highway 1 from Jacksonville to Sanford over 6 days.

The goals of the marchers were to bring their social movement forces together; sharpen their collective and long-term demands through a Southern Movement Assembly in motion; and to “show their power, claim our dignity, and exercise our freedom to move in public space.”

Along the march they could be heard demanding the resignation of Florida State Attorney Angela Corey (the prosecutor of George Zimmerman and Marissa Alexander); the release of Marissa Alexander, sentenced to 22 years for protecting herself; and justice for the family of Trayvon’s Martin’s family whose killer was acquitted of murder.

The Walk for Dignity marchers walked 10 to 12 miles a day, caravanning between points. The walk ended Saturday, July 27 in Sanford.

“People have lost faith and trust in this judicial system. A trusted institution in our communities has been our religious institutions. We call on all of the religious institutions to step forward and not be silent. For when you are silent, you become a coconspirator in your own oppression. We must end this war on our people and the Trayvon Martin case exposes that war,’’ said Glasgow.

Voting critically important “When I got my voting rights back in 2004, my voter registration card became a badge of honor. It said I was a citizen. I wore it around my neck for two months,” he remarked.

Glasgow says he and his TOPS organization has been instrumental in registering more than18,000 ex-felons to vote in the state of Alabama, including registering currently incarcerated people to vote who are in 10 Alabama jails.

AUGUST 9 – AUGUST 15, 2013

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FLORIDA

Search for bodies at Dozier School approved Scott and Cabinet will allow USF researchers a yearlong dig

BY JIM TURNER THE NEWS SERVICE OF FLORIDA

TALLAHASSEE – Gov. Rick Scott and the Florida Cabinet on Tuesday authorized a yearlong dig for human remains at a closed Panhandle reform school, saying the state cannot ignore abuse that went on for decades.

Scott and Cabinet members – Attorney General Pam Bondi, Chief Financial Officer Jeff Atwater and Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam – approved a land-use agreement with the Department of Environmental Protection that allows University of South Florida researchers to search for reportedly unaccounted-for bodies of boys who died between 1900 and 1952 at the Arthur G. Dozier School for Boys in Marianna.

“We’re not exactly sure what happened there, but we know it wasn’t good,” Bondi said.

“We have to look at our history,” she added. “We have to go back, we know there are unmarked graves currently on that property that deserve a proper burial. It’s the right thing to do.”

Answers for families Putnam said that the search for bodies is not an indictment of the Marianna or Jackson County communities, but against a facility “that was ignored for too long by state.”

“There is no shame in searching for the truth,” Putnam added. “Families who want closure, who want answers, deserve those things.”

A temporary restraining order, issued in October 2012 by Leon County

EMILY MICHOT/MIAMI HERALD/MCT

Crosses made of metal pipes marked the graves of 32 unidentified bodies in a small, hidden graveyard near the former Florida School for Boys in Marianna.

Circuit Judge John Cooper, has delayed the state’s intention to sell the Dozier property.

The efforts of USF researchers have faced opposition from some longtime Jackson County residents who expressed concerns about what effect exhuming bodies from lands around the one-time “high risk” reform school will have on the local economy and the image of the community.

Publisher sought denial Sid Riley, publisher of the Jackson County Times, implored Scott on Aug. 1 to deny USF’s request “to dig up those Christian buried grave sites at Dozier.”

Riley expressed concern about how removing of bodies will impact the local economy and that sur-

Bennett’s chief of staff also leaving DOE NEWS SERVICE OF FLORIDA

The chief of staff for former Education Commissioner Tony Bennett is resigning after Bennett’s decision to step down. Dale Chu submitted his resignation on Aug. 2 in a terse, two-sentence letter to interim Commissioner Pam Stewart.

He did not give a reason for leaving.

Defense to end civilian furloughs, but they could return NEWS SERVICE OF FLORIDA

Civilian Defense Department workers in Florida and across the nation are getting some relief from furloughs that have forced them to take weekly unpaid days off since July 8. Monday will be the last furlough day of the current fiscal year.

However, the need for employee furloughs could return after the next federal fiscal year begins Oct. 1.

Gov. Rick Scott, who has criticized the potential impact of reducing civilian staff at the Florida National Guard, called the end of furloughs this year “great news.” And he expressed hope that the furloughs won’t be used again.

Guards affected “It is crazy to cut the pay of our American heroes when fiscal savings (have) been offered from other areas that do not hurt Florida families or jeopardize our preparedness efforts during hurricane season,” Scott said in a release.

vivors will try to use what may be found to seek “reparations” from the state.

“The bad publicity which will ensue during the year or more of time which will be involved will seriously hamper our local tourism development programs, as well as economic development efforts for our county,” Riley wrote. “Please do not allow them to engage in this greed motivated waste of money.”

Floggings remembered Cooper’s order allows the research work to proceed until the body of Thomas Varnadoe is exhumed.

Varnadoe died a month after arriving at the school in the 1930s. He was 13. A family member from Central Florida has sought to move the remains to a family graveyard.

Chu’s decision is not a surprise; he followed Bennett from Indiana after the commissioner was hired in Florida late last year. He will officially step down next month.

“Based upon our Tony agreement, I will reBennett main on Annual Leave effective immediately through September 3, 2013,” Chu wrote.

Bennett resigned shortly after stories emerged that changes to the grading system in Indiana while Bennett was the elected superintendent of public instruction boosted the marks of a school founded by a political contributor.

The Obama administration announced Tuesday that Defense Department furloughs have been cut from a planned 11 days to six. The oncea-week furloughs have impacted roughly 1,000 Florida National Guard employees.

Nationally, more than 650,000 Defense Department employees Chuck have already taken five Hagel furlough days. The use of furloughs was implemented as part of a federal budget-cutting process known as “sequestration.”

More cuts?

Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel announced Tuesday that without congressional changes to the Budget Control Act, the Defense Department will begin the next fiscal year needing to make $52 billion in cuts.

“This represents 40 percent more than this year’s sequester-mandated cuts of $37 billion,” Hagel said in a release. “Facing this uncertainty, I cannot be sure what will happen next year, but I want to assure our civilian employees that we will do everything possible to avoid more furloughs.”

Sharing Black Life, Statewide Check us out online at www.floridacourier.com

The researchers have been investigating the Panhandle school, which at one time encompassed 1,400 acres, to determine whether boys at the reform school were possibly killed and buried on school grounds.

Robert Strayley, 66, who was sent to the school in 1963 after running away from his home in Tampa several times, recalled that floggings were still being administered to boys at the school throughout his 10-month stay.

“This is a historic moment for Florida because they reached into a past for Florida that was so dark that nobody wants to talk about it,” said Strayley, who attended the Cabinet meeting with others who had been sent to the school and are known as the “the White House Boys” and

“Dozier Boys.”

“Even after they banned flogging in 1922, by Gov. (Cary) Hardee, as being too cruel punishment for even the most hardened criminal, it went on at this boy’s school,” Strayley said.

‘Colored’ cemetery there Researchers using ground-penetrating radar have identified potential graves on what is considered the “colored” cemetery within the site and believe there should also be a “White” cemetery on the grounds.

The Legislature put $190,000 into the state budget to fund the research, determine the causes of death, identify remains, locate potential family members and cover the costs for any re-internment.

However, the excavation

work has been on hold as researchers have been unable to get needed approval to dig.

Permit denied On July 15, Secretary of State Ken Detzner denied a permit sought by the USF researchers to dig at the Panhandle site.

Detzner said his department’s Bureau of Archaeological Research didn’t have the authority to approve the excavation, noting that the department is “restricted to the recovery of objects of historical or archaeological value,” but “not human remains.”

In May, Jackson County Circuit Judge William L. Wright denied a request

by Bondi’s office that also could have cleared the way for exhuming remains.

Scott suspends two mayors facing extortion charges Miami Lakes and Sweetwater leaders charged with bribery FROM WIRE REPORS

Gov. Rick Scott on Tuesday issued executive orders suspending Sweetwater Mayor Manuel Marono and Miami Lakes Mayor Michael Pizzi after federal authorities charged them with conspiracy to commit extortion.

Marono, who has been Sweetwater mayor since 2003 and has recently served as president of the Florida League of Cities, was accused of taking part in scheme that involved fraudulent federal grants.

Pizzi, who has served as Miami Lakes mayor since 2008, faces similar allegations. Also facing charges are lobbyists Richard F. Candia and Jorge Luis Forte.

High-profile attorney Pizzi is an attorney who once worked for a high-profile criminal defense law firm in Miami and served as a Miami Lakes councilman before running successfully for town mayor in 2008. He was re-elected last year.

In 2012, Pizzi easily defeated challenger Wayne Slaton, who had served as Miami Lakes’ first mayor after its incorporation in 2000. The Pizzi-Slaton mayoral showdown was particularly nasty for Miami Lakes, a normally below-the-radar community.

Previously, Pizzi drew attention to himself by helping lead the effort to recall a political nemesis, Miami-Dade Commissioner Natacha Seijas, in 2011. She was voted out of office that year along with County Mayor Carlos Alvarez in a special recall election.

Helped Scott Marono, a member of the Sweetwater City Commission since 1995, was elected as mayor in 2003.

Like Pizzi, Marono also has a prominent profile for a small-town official.

He is serving as president of the Florida League of Cities, with a membership of more than 400 cities, towns and villages in the state. In 2011, Marono also played

Michael Pizzi

Manuel Marono

a role on Gov. Rick Scott’s transition team. That year, Marono and former North Bay Village Manager Jorge Forte launched a public affairs and business development firm, 7 Strategies.

Forte and Marono, who had known each other since high school, named the company in a reference to Scott’s seven-step plan to create 700,000 jobs in seven years. 7 Strategies is focused on strategies that forge “better ties” between clients and the public sector, the partners told The South Florida Business Journal in 2011.

It also lobbies on behalf of some clients.

Supported Scott’s plan 7 Strategies has supported Scott’s job creation plan, which is tied to measures that eliminate Florida’s business income tax, lower residential property taxes and cut government spending.

The company’s focus is related, in part, to public sector-related opportunities for business, because local, state and federal officials have been working through billions in stimulus dollars that companies can tap, the partners said.

Marono touted his early support of the governor as a value for potential clients.

He said his company would vet clients to make sure their agenda is “in line with the governor’s strategy and is not going to detract from that message.”

“We know how local government works, how the state works, how the county works and how the governor works — which is the most important part,” Marono told the Business Journal. “We know how the governor works.”

In a statement after the arrests, Scott said: “This is disappointing. … While we wait to see the evidence, the fact remains that elected officials must be held to the highest standard.”

Articles by the News Service of Florida and Jay Weaver of the Miami Herald were used in compiling this report.

EDITORIAL

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AUGUST 9 – AUGUST 15, 2013

Obama administration keeps thousands imprisoned unfairly for crack arrests The reminisces of President Barack Obama about being racially profiled in department stores, and Attorney General Eric Holder’s recollections of being stopped for driving and/or running while Black don’t matter. These two are not philosophers, contributing to some imaginary national conversation on race. One is the most powerful man in the world, and the other his chief legal deputy.

The essence of who and what Obama, Holder and our entire Black political class are has nothing to do with what we expect of them.

Their essence is not their symbolic value or their selfserving and politically expe-

BRUCE A. DIXON BLACK AGENDA REPORT

dient words. Their essence is contained in their actions – in what they do with the very real power in their hands.

Great expectations One of the great expectations many had for the Obama administration was the repeal of the blatantly racist 100 to 1 disparity between the penalties for crack vs. powdered cocaine. The 40 year-war on drugs, prosecuted almost exclusively in

cocaine possession penalties from 100 to 1 down to 18 to 1, even though the president’s party had a whopping majority in the House and a much thinner margin in the Senate. It wasn’t actually a great victory, but the White House was quick to take credit for it, and signed the poor and non-White com- measure into law in August munities, has provided one of 2010. of the main tactical excuses for deploying and maintain- Fair sentencing? ing the intake mechanisms The Fair Sentencing Act of of our current prison state.

2010 did not specify whethThe Obama administra- er its reduction should apply tion failed to take an innova- retroactively to all those curtive, aggressive, justice-seek- rently serving time for crack ing lead, either in putting cocaine convictions, whethforth the initial provisions of er or not it applied to state what eventually became the or only federal prisoners, or so-called Fair Sentencing just those sentenced since Act, or negotiating its provi- its passage, or even the exact sions in Congress before its date its provisions should eventual passage. begin to be enforced at all.

With the administration Finally in July 2011, the doing all it could to avoid Justice Department issued public identification with a memo to prosecutors dethe measure, Congressional claring that only offenses advocates were only able or committed after the Aug. 3, willing to narrow the gap be- 2010, signing date of the Fair tween crack and powdered Sentencing Act, were eligible

VISUAL VIEWPOINT: BASEBALL DOPING

RICK MCKEE, THE AUGUSTA CHRONICLE

The real deal on race and crime Apparently columnists Victor Davis Hanson, writing in the conservative National Review magazine, and Richard Cohen, writing in the supposedly progressive Washington Post newspaper, share similar reactions to the racial issues inflamed by the brutal killing of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin.

Cohen said he “doesn’t know whether (George) Zimmerman is a racist.” Hanson warns his progeny to avoid any contact with young Black males at any time.

Three responses

A. Peter Bailey TRICEEDNEYWIRE.COM

borhoods. Yes, there is such a thing as a Black White supremacist. Check out anything written by Shelby Steele of Stanford University’s Hoover Institute, and anything said by former Florida congressman Allen West.

As for me, there isn’t a mostly White neighborhood in the nation in which I would walk down a public street alone.

I would immediately go on the alert if a group of young White male were walking towards us. There are public bars in which White male patrons react with much hostility if a Black man enters, even if that Black man is dressed like a Wall Street banker.

Finally, since Hanson and Cohen and many of their White brethren insist on judging all young Black males in particular and all Black males in general by the actions of young Black male criminals, I am compelled to judge them by the reality that nearly all of the most violent sexual psychopathic killers and mass murderers are White males.

First: Young Black male criminals are quintessential Americans with their “Me, myself and I” attitude. They are products of American culture, not Black culture.

And like most White Americans, they are well aware that messing with a Black person in this country will result in much less legal concern and punishment than messing with a White person.

That’s why I am much more likely to be a victim of a young Black male criminal than Hanson or Cohen. It’s also the main reason that the overwhelming majority of killings by low-income young Black males are of other low-income Black males. They are allowed to kill each other with impunity.

Second: Hanson, Cohen, and their Black White supremacist allies aren’t the only ones who are fearful when walking Contact A. Peter Bailey at apeterb@ down the public streets in certain neigh- verizon.net.

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for sentencing reduction under its provisions.

But that case did not decide the fate of any of the thousands of people already sitting in prison because of what all agree is an unfair law.

On May 17, the U.S. court of appeals for the sixth circuit held that the new, “fair” sentences must be applied to all those previously sentenced under laws that everyone acknowledges were discriminatory.

The judges ordered that those sentenced under those laws were entitled to ask federal judges to reduce their sentences.”

True to form, the Obama administration has already gone back to court to argue that the 6th Circuit was misguided in its directive to apply the Fair Sentencing Act.

Black political class In other words, President Obama and Attorney General Holder, the most powerful pair of Black officials

in the country, are prepared to keep tens of thousands of the prison state’s victims under hatches indefinitely.

The Black political class, from our preachers to our elected officials to our name brand organizations, are too busy protecting the president’s image and their own careers and funding prospects to bother with the actual opportunity of rolling back a little of the prison state.

Barack Obama and Eric Holder are the president and attorney general of the world’s foremost prison state, and they are determined to resist its shrinkage in every possible way.

Bruce A. Dixon is managing editor at Black Agenda Report, and a member of the state committee of the Georgia Green Party. He can be reached at bruce.dixon@blackagendareport.com. Click on this story at www.flcourier.com to write your own response.

What is a living wage?

Workers at fast food restaurants recently demonstrated outside their places of work, highlighting the low wages they receive and demanding more. They say twice as much, or $15 an hour, will provide them with a living wage.

In Washington, D.C., the City Council has sent legislation to Mayor Vincent Gray, requiring “big box” stores like Wal-Mart and Best Buy to pay $12.50, more than the DC minimum wage of $8.25 an hour.

Someone who earns $8.25 an hour (which is a dollar more an hour than the federal minimum wage) earns $17,160 per year if they work full time (40 hours) all year (52 weeks). Although taxes for the low income are low, they are still deducted, especially the Social Security tax (about 7 percent). Too many minimum workers don’t work full-time, fullyear. Many have their hours cut so that companies can avoid paying benefits. This means full time, full year work is the best-case scenario. For many, it can be much worse.

Below poverty line The poverty line for one adult and two children is $19,530, which puts the $8.25 worker below the pov-

year. The $15 an hour that some fast food workers sugDR. gest would push their wages JULIANNE to $31,200 a year.

Some feel these low wagMALVEAUX es are acceptable, especialTRICEEDNEYWIRE.COM ly some Tea Party members of Congress, yet they earn at erty line. The parent who least $174,000 per year. earns this scant wage struggles to make ends meet, and Adequate living costs often cannot.

The Economic Policy InCongress is in the pro- stitute (epi.org) has develcess of cutting SNAP so low oped budgets for “adequate” that 5 million of the rough- living in certain cities. (Full ly 47 million people on the disclosure – I sit on the orgaprogram will be cut. Some nization’s board). receive medical assistance This tool shows the wide through Medicaid. Some variety of realistic and adcities subsidize summer equate living costs, which programs or other efforts, range from more than offering day care possibili- $90,000 in New York City, to ties for those who struggle around $40,000 in parts of to afford it. According to the Mississippi. These are adeEconomic Policy Institute, quate living standards, not the average cost of childcare extravagant ones, taking inin the District of Columbia to account rent, transportais $1300 a month, or $13,600 tion, and other costs. a year. Poverty line $23,550, Many quibble about the childcare costs $13,600 per level of the minimum wage, year. Go figure. but the more relevant issue In other parts of the coun- is the living wage. Millions try, full-time, full-year work- are pushed below the poverers earn less than D.C. work- ty line because too many emers. Those who earn the ployers do not take the cost federal minimum wage of of living into consideration $7.25 an hour earn $15,160 when they set wage levels. per year, less than the poverty line for one parent and Julianne Malveaux is a one child. Those who earn D.C.-based economist and $12.50 per hour, the pro- author. Click on this story posed wage for D.C. big box at www.flcourier.com to stores, will earn $26,000 a write your own response.

The return of Amos, Andy and Buckwheat via today’s Black leaders When I was a child, I remember vividly how I would run home from school or run home from the playground so that I would be at the house when “The Amos and Andy Show” would come on television.

As a youth, I thought that show was so funny! But as I grew older, I began to look at the show differently.

I discovered that the characters plotted against each other, schemed on each other, tricked each other and, above all, they constantly talked about each other.

Today, just like on the “Amos and Andy Show,’’ some Black people love to talk about each other. The difference is that when Amos had something to say about Andy, he said it to his face.

Smiley and West Tavis Smiley and Cornell West have become notorious for attacking President Barack Obama and The Gantt Report has said some things, not as much, about the President too.

But there is a difference.

News reports indicate that

are invited to everything symbolic that goes on at the White House, all of the reLucius ceptions, all of the parties, Gantt all of the concerts and any other meeting where nothTHE GANTT REPORT ing serious about Black or African progress will be disSmiley and West may be crit- cussed. ical of Obama because they were not invited to a White False promises In 2013, Amos and AnHouse reception. The Gantt Report doesn’t give a damn dy have come in contact about being invited to the with Buckwheat. One of White House, to your house the modern-day versions talks too much and the or to the crack house. other doesn’t stand up or speak out enough. The main Buckwheat returns things the old and new have Now, let’s look at anoth- in common is that they all er TV character, Buckwheat! are actors.

We have some modern-day The earlier versions were Buckwheats running around television actors and today’s too. Let me explain. versions are acting like they Buckwheat was a Black care about us when in reality character on “Our Gang,” a they only care about themTV show about a group of selves. kids that hung around together.

Buy Gantt’s latest book Even though Buckwheat “Beast Too: Dead Man was Black, all of the White Writing” at any major kids in the “gang” loved book store and contact Buckwheat. because they him at www.allworldconcould depend on Buckwheat sultants.net. Click on this to do what Spanky and Al- story at www.flcourier. phafa told him to do. com to write your own reModern-day Buckwheats sponse.

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

THE CREDO OF THE BLACK PRESS The Black Press believes that Americans can best lead the world away from racism and national antagonism when it accords to every person, regardless of race, color or creed, full human and legal rights. Hating no person, fearing no person. The Black Press strives to help every person in the firm belief...that all are hurt as long as anyone is held back.

AUGUST 9 – AUGUST 15, 2013

EDITORIAL

Obama needs to unite working families, unemployed young and old President Obama continues his visits to different parts of America to discuss the economy. This is his attempt to use the bully pulpit of the Presidency to direct a national dialogue.

The president said, “There are no simple tricks to grow the economy. What we need is a serious, steady, long-term American strategy that reverses the long erosion of middle-class security and gives everyone a fair shot to get ahead.”

Road map lost On this score, the president is exactly right. Clearly, we have a huge jobs deficit, but the problems facing America run deeper. We are stuck because we lost the road map. Simply getting the engine of job growth running is not going to put us on the correct path. In fact, it will simply run us into another, deeper rut.

The current Washington consensus that everything is fine, we just need to address long run fiscal deficits misses the precarious position we are in and that we are lost. In Chattanooga, President Obama raised two points directly that underscore the direction the national discussion needs to go.

One is the issue of the minimum wage. The other was the awful track record of public-sector employment that has weak-

not even able to reach the floor of poverty. The change in the 1980s was a change in policy priority.

Instead of the government setting WILLIAM boundaries so the market would SPRIGGS generate middle-class outcomes, TRICEEDNEYWIRE.COM the government became the servant of the great “Job Creator”; a ened the recovery from the Great mythical beast that claimed powRecession. Both relate to restor- ers impossible in economics. ing the role of government and democracy in shaping our econ- Let competition reign omy.

It is time to assert a positive role Once again, the president spoke of the government in the econoto raising the minimum wage; a my. Letting market power reign topic he mentioned in his State of is not the same as letting compethe Union address. As he pointed tition reign. Boundaries do not out this week, “No one who works prevent competition; they merefull-time in America should have ly proscribe the competitive outto live in poverty, I will keep mak- come. The wielding of market ing the case that we need to raise a power leads to the end of compeminimum wage that in real terms tition and the start of oligopolies is lower than it was when Ronald and monopolies; and oligopolies Reagan took office.” and monopolies do not lead to efThe growth of the middle class ficient outcomes. was achieved in the post World In asserting a positive role for War II era, in large part, because the government in the economy, until 1981, the minimum wage the president raised the point, generally tracked closely the wage “Over the past four years, more that yielded an income slightly than 700,000 workers at the federhigher than the poverty level. So, al, state, and local levels of governanyone who landed a job, and ment have lost their jobs. These worked hard could at least start are cops, and firefighters, and from being on the poverty floor. about half of them are the people Today, that is not the case. who work in our kids’ schools.

Nearly 3 million people in AmerThese are real jobs, too. It ica work hard full-time, year- doesn’t help a company like Amaround, but remain in the cellar, zon when hundreds of thousands

Unite with a common strength to achieve common progressive objectives I have always had a passing interest in Greek mythology. I have found Greek mythology useful for illustrating easily understood analogies of contemporary events. This isn’t much of a stretch because the ancients used myths to explain events that, otherwise, seemed to have no practical explanations. These stories have become so infused in our culture that we have many commonly used idiomatic expressions that are derived from Greek mythology.

The idiom “Herculean Tasks” seems descriptive of current challenges facing communities of the so-called disadvantaged. For those needing a refresher, the

Dr. E. Faye Williams, Esq. TRICE EDNEY WIRE

Battling the Hydra It’s not difficult to compare achieving social justice and equality to the task of battling the Hydra.

Despite the “Herculean” efforts of the heroes and sheroes of civil and human rights, each victory has been met with a doubling of resistance to social progress and the resurgence of mean-spirited, reactionary words and deeds.

Those in the progressive community who have allowed success and achievement to engender complacency have been met with the ugly reality that those who resist their efforts have just begun to fight.

I suggest that there were only a cynical few among us who believed that we would, again in 2013, be fighting the battle for voting rights we won in 1965. The cynics have prevailed.

hero, Hercules, had to perform twelve tasks that were thought to be impossible.

Among them was the task to slay the Hydra, a vicious serpent-like creature that had many heads and poisonous breath and blood. This guardian of the Underworld had the ability to grow Right of choice two heads for each one that was In January 1973, when the Roe v.

Wade decision was delivered, milcut off.

‘Moral Monday’ in North Carolina shows the way for others to follow North Carolina — once poster child for the New South — now displays the nightmares spawned by the Tea Party right no longer restrained by the Voting Rights Act after the Supreme Court’s conservative gang of five disemboweled it in the Shelby case.

In North Carolina, Republicans took the General Assembly in 2010 and the governorship in 2012.

The takeover received rather unprecedented support from one right-wing multimillionaire, Art Pope — who, according to progressive publication The American Prospect, singlehandedly provided about 80 percent of the funding for the state’s conservative groups.

Upon taking control, the Republicans began systematically dismantling the social infrastructure of the state. They slashed taxes on the top 5 percent and raised them on the bottom 95 percent. They eliminated the earned-income tax credit for 900,000 low-wage workers. They cut Medicaid coverage for 500,000. They ended unemployment benefits for 170,000. They threw about 30,000 kids out of preK, while transferring $90 million from public schools to vouchers. They voted to allow guns purchased without a background check to be carried in parks, restaurant and bars.

As the Rev. William Barber II, president of the North Carolina NAACP, put it: “They’ve drank all the Tea Party they could drink

Rev. Jesse L. Jackson, Sr. TRICEEDNEYWIRE.COM

and sniffed all the Koch that they could sniff.”

Voters resegregated These radically reactionary measures didn’t exactly meet with popular approval. The approval rating of the state legislature is down to about 23 percent. So Republicans set out to consolidate their unpopular rule by gerrymandering districts to resegregate voters and weaken their opponents’ base. And they just pushed through the most radical assault on voting rights in modern memory.

In one “omnibus bill,” the legislature would create restrictive voter ID procedures that will disqualify estimated 318,000-registered voters. They cut a week out of early voting time, ended same day registration, eliminates state-supported voter registration drives and ended pre-registration of 16- and 17-year-olds.

They require more frequent purges of voter rolls, and prohibit extending poll hours on Election Day, even if there are long lines still waiting to vote. They even eliminated Citizen Awareness Month that encouraged citizens to register and vote. North Carolina had featured some of the most enlightened election laws

and ranked in the top 15 states of voter turnout nationally. With passage of this law, they are intent on driving that down.

Government hijacked Now the question is whether the citizens of North Carolina will allow their government to be hijacked by deep pocket donors and their rights trampled by antidemocratic zealots.

The Rev. Barber says this will not stand. “If you think you can take away our voting rights, you’ll have a headache,” he vowed.

He started organizing what became Moral Mondays, weekly demonstrations that drew thousands in protest to the state’s capital. By the end of July, some 900 people had been arrested in nonviolent civil disobedience. Now, when the legislature closes down in August, the Rev. Barber plans a bus tour through 25 counties to register citizens to vote and to protest the cruel measures.

Moral Monday in North Carolina shows the way. In North Carolina, the reaction to the reaction may just have begun.

Keep up with Rev. Jackson and the work of the Rainbow PUSH Coalition at www.rainbowpush. org. Click on this story at www.flcourier.com to write your own response.

A5

VISUAL VIEWPOINT: PART-TIME JOBS

NATE BEELER, COLUMBUS DISPATCH

of customers have less money to spend. If those layoffs hadn’t happened – if public-sector employment grew like it did after the past two recessions – the unemployment rate would be more than a full percent lower today, at 6.5 percent. And our economy would be much better off.”

The key acknowledgement he made is that “cops, and firefighters” are “real jobs, too.”

Public demand

ety is that the 99 percent will exercise their democratic voice to demand public goods-public safety, public roads and public education.

The president needs to unite America’s working families, employed and people without jobs, young and needing work and old and seeking retirement security – not uniting phony party labels.

That is his job; to heal the wounds of this downturn and get us back on a path to prosperity for all. Let the Republicans alone to fight for the lost cause.

Public-sector jobs are the result of democratic forces – people demand a public good and government has to go out to hire people to deliver those goods. The marWilliam Spriggs is Chief Econket place runs on one dollar one vote. But, public demand is based omist to the AFL-CIO. Click on on one person, one vote. The great this story at www.flcourier.com fear of the rich in an unequal soci- to write your own response. lions across the nation celebrated the Supreme Court’s affirmation that, within the limits of fetal viability, a woman’s reproductive rights were a matter of her choice.

In 2013, avalanches of new laws throughout the U.S. have limited the right of choice or they have limited the operational capability of clinics to provide chosen necessary abortion services.

Many of these new laws have substituted legislative interference for medical efficacy by requiring unnecessary invasive procedures or psychological warfare against those choosing abortions.

These same legislative impostors claim that the manner of impregnation or health of the mother has no bearing upon her decision to abort, yet support laws that reduce or eliminate nutritional assistance to single-mothers and their children.

American Legislative Exchange Council, many states have instituted “Stand Your Ground” laws, or as they’re called in one state a “Make My Day” law. Self-protection is a God-given right, but, when persons of ill-will and intent assume the right to perform legal lynching under the color of law, we have taken a step backward too far.

Those who willingly oppress others do not surrender power willingly. Like Hercules facing the Hydra, for each victory, we must prepare to face even greater challenge. Fortunately, unlike Hercules, we are not alone and we must unite with a common strength to achieve common progressive objectives.

Dr. E. Faye Williams is National Chair of the National Congress of Black Women. www.nationalcongressbw.org.

Click on this story at www.flGreater challenges courier.com to write your own Under the influence of the response.

New Civil Rights Movement for economic empowerment, justice Last week, during four days in Philadelphia, more than 6,000 people came together for our 2013 National Urban League Conference - “Redeem the Dream: Jobs Rebuild America.”

In the city that is the cradle of American democracy, in the town where Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes and, later, John Legend and The Roots both sang, “Wake Up Everybody,” we called for a new Civil Rights Movement.

Fifty years after the March on Washington, we came to Philadelphia to redeem Dr. King’s dream and to stand our ground against those who would turn back the clock on voting rights, equal justice, opportunity parity, jobs, and a host of other old and new civil rights challenges.

Welcomed news A highlight of the conference was the surprise announcement by Attorney General Eric Holder on Thursday that in light of the Supreme Court’s recent decision to invalidate Section 4 of the Voting Rights Act, the Justice Department will ask a federal court in Texas to use Section 3 of the Act to require the state to obtain pre-approval before instituting future voting changes.

Section 3 is the “bailin” provision of the Voting Rights Act that allows federal courts to require any state that has been identified as engaging in “inten-

MARC H. MORIAL TRICE EDNEY WIRE

tional” voting rights discrimination to undergo preclearance before those changes go into effect.

Prior to the Supreme Court’s decision, the Justice Department had blocked clearly discriminatory redistricting and Voter ID changes proposed by Texas. Immediately after the ruling, the State vowed to reinstitute those changes. Federal Court action could now prevent that from happening. The Attorney General added, “This is the Department’s first action to protect voting rights following the Shelby County decision, but it will not be our last.’

This was welcome news to the National Urban League, our conference attendees and every American who understands the importance of protecting our democracy and the precious right to vote.

son to be held accountable, and to pay for this awful crime.”

The National Urban League has previously called upon and commended the Department of Justice for efforts towards a thorough federal criminal civil rights investigation to determine whether any federal laws were violated by George Zimmerman in connection with the death of Trayvon Martin.

We also joined with President Obama, the Attorney General, and others in supporting a review - and rejection - of the unconscionable Stand Your Ground laws that are contributing to needless violence and homicides in our communities.

Economic opportunity

The challenge before us now is to create a new Civil Rights Movement for Economic Empowerment and Justice - a continuation movement that stands on the shoulders of progress and that brings people from all walks of life, dispositions and orientations together to work to ensure Trayvon’s mom that the promise of life, speaks liberty and economic opOn Friday, Sybrina Ful- portunity becomes real for ton, the mother of Trayvon this generation.

Martin, bravely took the Marc Morial is presiconference stage to share her grief over the death of dent/CEO of the Nationher son and to appeal for al Urban League. Click the repeal of “a law that on this story at www.flhas prevented the person courier.com to write your who shot and killed my own response.

TOj A6

NATION

AUGUST 9 – AUGUST 15, 2013

Prison population drops for the third year Blacks are 13.1 percent of nation but make up 38 percent of rolls in state prisons

for violent crimes, compared to 162,489 Hispanics.

Some 53 percent of state inmates were sentenced to prison for robbery, murder, non-negligent manslaughter, rape, sexual assault, and aggravated or simple assault.

BY FREDERICK H. LOWE TRICE EDNEY NEWS WIRE

High rates in South

The nation’s overall prison population in state and in federal institutions dropped for the third-consecutive year in 2012, but it was not necessarily good news for African-Americans.

The Bureau of Justice Statistics has reported that the inmate population in 47 state-prison systems and in the Federal Bureau of Prisons from 2011 to 2012 was an estimated 1,571,013 inmates, a drop of 1.7 percent or 27,770 prisoners.

Illinois, Washington and Nevada did not report their inmate counts in time to meet the Bureau of Justice Statistics’ deadline, said Marc Mauer, executive director of The Sentencing Project, a Washington, D.C.-based organization that seeks alternatives to incarceration. The bureau is scheduled to issue its final report before the end of the year.

Drop in Florida The decline in incarceration rates at state prisons is being caused by a number of factors, Mauer said.

Various states are using alternatives to sending individuals to prison, and states also are dropping unnecessary prosecutions.

In addition, states are sentencing fewer individuals to prison in order to balance their budgets, he said.

California, Texas, North Carolina, Colorado, Arkansas, New York, Florida, Virginia and Maryland each decreased their prison populations by over 1,000 in 2012, according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics report, “Prisoners in 2012-Advance Counts.”

California accounted for 51 percent of the drop in state prisoners with 15,035 fewer inmates in 2012, compared to 2011. As part of its Public Safety Realignment policy, California housed nonviolent offenders in jails instead of prisons.

PHIL MASTURZO/AKRON BEACON JOURNAL/MCT

Jodi Shorr, Administrative Director for the Ohio Innocence Project, left, hugs Doug Prade who was released after 15 years in prison on Jan. 29 in London, Ohio, after being exonerated of his wife’s murder on DNA evidence.

By the numbers “This is the third-consecutive year of a decline in the number of state prisoners, which represents a shift in the direction of incarceration practice in the states over the past 30 years,” the bureau reported. “The prison population grew every year between 1978 and 2009, from 307,276 prisoners in 1978 to a high of 1,615,487 prisoners in 2009.”

The U.S. prison-population rate dropped to 480 sentenced prisoners per 100,000 residents in 2012. The national imprison-

ment rate for men was 910 per 100,000 male residents and the female imprisonment rate was 63 sentenced female prisoners per 100,000 female residents.

The decline in state-prison populations, however, was offset by a 0.7 percent increase of 1,453 inmates housed last year in federal prisons.

Bad news for Blacks In state institutions, AfricanAmericans prisoners did not fare well.

Black inmates were 38 percent

of the state-prison population in 2011, compared to Whites who were 35 percent and Hispanics who were 21 percent. AfricanAmericans still are being sentenced to prison at a higher rate than White men but the gap is closing, Mauer said.

In 2011, 284,631 African-Americans were in prison for violent crimes, exceeding the number of Whites and Hispanics, although the number of Hispanic inmates sentenced for violent crimes in 2011 exceeded that of Blacks and Whites, the study reported. There were 228,782 Whites sentenced

The Bureau of Justice Statistics reported that more Blacks are sentenced for drug offenses, compared to Whites or Hispanics, although fewer Blacks than Whites were sentenced to prison for property crimes.

The states with the highest imprisonment rates were states with large Black populations in the Deep South and in the Southwest.

They are: • Louisiana with 893 inmates per 100,000 state residents • Mississippi with 717 inmates per 100,000 state residents • Alabama with 650 inmates per 100,000 state residents • Oklahoma with 648 inmates per 100,000 state residents • Texas with 601 inmates per 100,000 state residents In the Deep South, states punish people more, Mauer explained. After the end of the Civil War, southern states also passed numerous laws designed specifically to arrest and imprison Black men, sometimes for behavior that wasn’t a crime, but politicians made a crime.

A Black man, for example, could be arrested and imprisoned for talking too loud around a White woman. That legacy of arresting and imprisoning large numbers of Black men continues to exist.

Maine, Minnesota and Rhode Island reported the lowest prison incarceration rate per 100,000.

Maine reported 145 inmates per 100,000 state residents Minnesota reported 184 inmates per 100,000 state residents Rhode Island reported 190 inmates per 100,000 state residents Minnesota, however, has a high incarceration rate for Black men.

This story is special to the Trice Edney News Wire from The North Star News.com.

Obama trumpets housing gains, calls for affordable mortgages MCCLATCHY WASHINGTON BUREAU

HECTOR AMEZCUA/SACRAMENTO BEE/MCT

Dorcil Jones is shown in search of a job at a University of Pacific job fair in September 2012 in California.

Jobless rate for Blacks shows some improvement 12.6 percent rate for AfricanAmericans still much higher than other groups

BY FREDERICK H. LOWE TRICE EDNEY NEWS WIRE

The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate in July improved for AfricanAmericans, but joblessness among Blacks is still double or higher compared to other ethnic and racial groups.

The nation’s businesses added 162,000 jobs in July compared to 188,000 jobs in June, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported last week.

Erica L. Groshen, BLS commissioner, said employment rose in retail

trade, food services, financial activities and wholesale trade. The unemployment rate dropped to 7.4 percent, which was down from 8.2 percent a year ago.

The overall Black unemployment rate in July was 12.6 percent, down from 13.7 percent in June.

12.5 for young men The jobless rate for Black men 20 years old and older in July was 12.5 percent compared to 13.0 percent in June. Black women 20 years old and older fared better. In July, their unemployment rate was 10.5 percent compared to 12.0 percent in June, BLS reported.

Despite the improvement, the joblessness in the African-American community is double that of Whites.

The overall White jobless rate in July was 6.6 percent, the same as in June.

White men 20 years old and older reported a July unemployment rate of 6.3 percent, up from 6.2 percent in June. White women 20 years old and older reported a July unemployment rate of 5.8 percent, down from 6.0 percent in June.

July’s jobless rate for Hispanics was 9.4 percent, up from 9.1 percent in June, BLS reported.

The unemployment rate in July for Asians, which was not seasonally adjusted, was 5.7 percent compared to 5.0 percent in June.

This story is special to the Trice Edney News Wire from The North Star News.com.

PHOENIX — Proclaiming a rebounding housing market, President Barack Obama on Tuesday pressed Congress to help more Americans secure cheaper mortgages — or affordable rentals — and stressed a need to limit government involvement in the mortgage giants Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae. “It’s been a long, slow process — it’s taken longer than any of us would like,” Obama said at a high school gymnasium in a city that he noted was “part of ground zero” during the housing collapse. But he said home sales are up, foreclosures are down and “millions of families have been able to come up for air.”

After touring a company that builds prefabricated frames for homes, Obama said, “We’ve got to build on this progress.”

The campaign style stop — the president spoke in front of a banner reading “A Better Bargain for the Middle Class, A Home to Call Your Own” — represented the latest in a series of speeches he is making outside the Beltway to pressure Congress to act on his proposals to boost a slowly recovering economy.

Pushing for overhaul He focused on an effort that has attracted bipartisan support — for the concept, if not the details — arguing that the two big government-backed mortgage lenders need to be overhauled to prevent the risk of another collapse.

“As home prices rise, we can’t just reinflate a housing bubble,” Obama said, contending private lending would create “a rock-solid foundation to make sure the kind of crisis we just went through never happens again. “ He also renewed a call for Congress to make it easier for homeowners to obtain or refinance loans, and included a pitch for revamping the nation’s immigration laws, arguing that immigration helps boost the housing market. He noted that the state’s two Republican senators, John McCain and Jeff Flake, voted for a Senate immigration overhaul and urged attendees to encourage Republicans in the House “to stop dragging their feet and get this done.”

Spelling out parameters Much of what Obama outlined was not new, but a restating of principles he’s been unable to get through the Republican-controlled House. That includes calls for more government support for refinancing of mortgages that are greater than the current value of a home.

“The mere fact that he’s addressing it is refreshing,” Gary Thomas, president of the influential National Association of Realtors, said in an interview. “I think finally he’s letting people know that we need to get the housing industry on the right footing so the economy can move forward.”

The Obama administration is now spelling out the parameters of what it wants in a revamp of mortgage-finance titans Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Both have been in government receivership since the summer of 2008, when their seizure, along with the failure of investment bank Lehman Brothers, caused a near meltdown of the U.S. financial system.

How they work Fannie and Freddie purchase mortgages from banks, bundling them together into financial instruments called mortgage-backed securities, allowing banks to shed potential liabilities and keep lending to homebuyers.

The mortgage bonds have historically attracted investors because they carried an implicit government guarantee against failure, which is why in the crisis the government seized them to make that guarantee explicit.

Now almost five year later, competing bills are moving through the Senate and House to limit the government role in backstopping mortgages.

“For too long, these companies were allowed to make big profits buying mortgages, knowing that if their bets went bad, taxpayers would be left holding the bag,” Obama said.

He used his support for a larger private role in the two lenders to tweak his critics, saying his support for private capital taking a bigger role “must sound confusing to the folks who call me a raging socialist every day.”

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IFE/FAITH

August 9 - August 15, 2013

Remembering George Duke See page B2

SHARING BLACK LIFE, STATEWIDE

Sweet tips for sweet treats See page B4

SHARING BLACK LIFE, STATEWIDE www.flcourier.com

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Reliving

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THE March on Washington

Major D.C. event planned; PBS to host local screenings of documentary FROM STAFF REPORTS

Hundreds of thousands of people gathered in Washington on Aug. 28, 1963, for the nowhistoric demonstration for jobs and freedom in this country.

During that momentous event, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered his iconic “I Have A Dream’’ speech.

Civil rights leaders near and far are preparing to observe the 50th anniversary of the 1963 March on Washington later this month. Organizations like the National Action Network and the NAACP will converge on D.C. for at least five days of events.

And PBS also has scheduled a detailed look at the historic march with a new documentary, “The March,’’ produced by Robert Redford. It airs Aug. 26 on PBS. In its press release about the documentary, PBS calls the 1963 March on Washington “a pivotal moment in the Civil Rights Movement. More than 250,000 people joined in peaceful demonstration for racial and economic equality. Their clarion call helped usher in sweeping civil rights legislation and a sea of change in public opinion, and the event endures today as a symbol of unity and monumental impact.’’

Actor involved Denzel Washington will narrate the PBS documentary. The network told the Television Critics Association on Monday that the actor had just completed taping his narration for the film “The March.’’

The film includes march participants Clarence Jones, a King

FOR MORE INFO To RSVP for the Tampa PBS event, visit www.wedu. org/themarch. Seating is limited and reservations are requested. For information about other events around the state, check your local PBS station. For more on the D.C. March events later this month, go to http://nationalactionnetwork.net.

aide; Joyce Ladner, field secretary for the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee; and Clayborne Carson, a Stanford history professor. Roger Mudd, who anchored CBS’ dawn-todusk coverage of the march, will share his recollections.

Not a one-day event During a recent press conference about the D.C. anniversary later this month, the Rev. Al Sharpton, stressed that the 50th anniversary commemoration would not be a one-day event.

“This will be the realigning of a coalition that will go and impact and affect where we are going in this country for the next several years and decades to come,” he stated.

Unlike 1963, he said women and gays will play prominent roles on the forefront of the March and activities, indicating how today’s civil rights leaders have ended misogynistic ways.

Moreover, the desire is to impact the nation for the better, he added.

Aug. 24 gathering On Sharpton’s National Action Network website, it states that on Saturday, Aug. 24, there

will be a gathering at 8 a.m. at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington “to stand together against the recent attack on voter rights, against Stand Your Ground and racial profiling, and to continue to raise awareness on unemployment, poverty, gun violence, immigration, gay rights and other critical issues affecting our nation.

“Fifty years ago when we marched on Washington, it was an historic event that led to the passage of the very civil rights legislation that ended Jim Crow and began the modern era of civil rights. It brought us our dignity, our humanity and our march to realize the dream that so many had given their lives for.’’

King’s daughter an organizer The Rev. Bernice King, president of the Martin Luther King Center for Social Change, who has taken the lead in organizing the five-day event, ticked off numerous festivities, including the commemorative march on Washington on Aug. 24, during the recent press conference.

On Saturday, Aug. 24, there will be the march on the Washington Mall, but also a “global freedom festival” will open on the mall. King described the global festival as four days of education, entertainment and activities for families and youth.

On Sunday, Monday and Tuesday, Aug. 25, 26, and 27, there will be youth initiatives focused mainly on educating the next generation.

On Wednesday, Aug. 28, the actual anniversary of the 1963 March on Washington, a 9 a.m.

Interfaith Service will be held at the foot of the King Memorial, the Stone of Hope. King said it would feature tributes from children and adults.

Also on Wednesday, Aug. 28, at 1 p.m., there will be a “Let Freedom Ring Global Commemora-

3

4 tion Celebration Call to Action” on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. That event will include tributes and entertainment from leaders; culminating with a “Let Freedom Ring” bell ringing at 3 p.m. She said states are asked to participate in the bell-ringing, “recommitting ourselves” to continue the work of freedom.

“Struggle is a never-ending process,” she quoted her mother, Coretta Scott King. “We are still fighting for freedom. This is a continuation of the freedom struggle.”

Key event hosted by PBS WEDU, West Central Florida’s primary PBS station, is marking the occasion with a special preview event on Aug. 22 at 7:30 p.m. at Tampa Theatre, 711 N. Franklin St., Tampa. The doors open at 7 p.m.

Guests in attendance will be able to view a gallery of photos from the 1963 march, meet local residents that participated in the march, and see a preview screening of the documentary, “The March.’’ This special screening event is free and open to the public.

It is sponsored by Florida Blue, City of Tampa, Grow Financial, HART, Tampa Bay Times, Tampa Theatre and The Power Broker magazine.

PBS stations around the country will contribute to Memories of the March, a video series of vignettes, also running on the website.

1: Shown above is a scene from the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. This is a view from the Lincoln Memorial toward the Washington Monument on Aug. 28, 1963.

2: People of all ages participated in the 1963 march.

3: Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his famous “I Have A Dream’’ speech at the march.

4: Whites and Blacks united with Dr. King to promote jobs and freedom.

PHOTOS COURTESY OF PBS

OBITUARY & CALENDAR

B2

AUGUST 9 – AUGUST 15, 2013

TOJ

Grammy-winning jazz icon George Duke dies at 67 “I don’t remember it too well ... but my mother told me I went crazy,” Duke said on his website. “I ran around saying, `Get me a piano, get me a piano!’”

Duke said he learned a lot about music from going to church, which helped him add a funk style to his sound. He played in highschool jazz groups and was heavily influenced by Miles Davis. He earned degrees from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and San Francisco State University.

FROM WIRE REPORTS

NEW YORK — George Duke, the Grammy-winning jazz keyboardist and producer whose sound infused acoustic jazz, electronic jazz, funk, R&B and soul in a 40-year-plus career, died Monday night in Los Angeles. He was 67.

His son, Rashid, thanked his father’s fans in a statement Tuesday.

“The outpouring of love and support that we have received from my father’s friends, fans and the entire music community has been overwhelming,” he said. “Thank you all for your concern, prayers and support.”

Duke was born in San Rafael, Calif. He appeared on a number of Frank Zappa albums and played in the Don Ellis Orchestra, Cannonball Adderley’s band and with jazz musician Stanley Clarke. He also played keyboard on Michael Jackson’s multiplatinum 1979 album, “Off the Wall.”

FLORIDA COMMUNITY CALENDAR St. Petersburg: Tickets are on sale for a concert at the Mahaffey Theater with Maze featuring Frankie Beverly. The show has been changed to Sunday, Sept. 27.

Daytona Beach: A Southern Soul Blues Concert featuring Mel Waiters, Sir Charles Jones and Bigg Robb is scheduled Oct. 5 at the Mary McLeod Bethune Performing Arts Center.

Orlando: Ladies Night Out starring Dru Hill, K-Ci & JoJoe, Silk and Melanie Comarcho takes place on Aug. 10 at the Bob Carr Performing Arts Centre.

Jacksonville: Soulbird presents a SongVersation with India.

Arie on Oct. 17 at the Florida Theatre.

St. Petersburg: Shut Up and Laugh presented by WiLD 94.1 will feature comedians

‘True soldier of music’ George Duke became a solo artist in 1976 and released more than 30 solo albums. He also produced for Miles Davis, Smokey Robinson, Gladys Knight, Dionne Warwick and Natalie Cole.

Battle with leukemia Duke was being treated for chronic lymphocytic leukemia. His wife, Corine, died from cancer last year.

He was unable to make music for months, but he overcame his grief to create the album “DreamWeaver,” released last month. It features a fusion of sounds and a touching tribute to

Bruce Bruce, DeRay Davis and Hannibal Buress on Aug. 16 at The Mahaffey Theater in St. Petersburg.

his late wife on the romantic piano-driven ballad “Missing You.” He began taking piano lessons when he was 4 years old, after seeing Duke Ellington perform.

On tour as part of the George Duke Trio, he performed in Los Angeles at a show where Adderley, Zappa and Quincy Jones were in attendance. Duke soon joined Zappa on a tour for a year in 1969. He joined Adderley’s band in 1971. He met Stanley Clarke through Adderley, and they formed the Clarke/Duke Project.

Their song “Sweet Baby” was a Top 20 hit on the Bill-

Isley Brothers

Kem

board pop charts.

“George Duke’s life is to be celebrated because his life is about achievement, discipline, structure, love, focus, and extreme ability,” Clarke said in a statement emailed to The Associated Press. “He lived the life of 30 musicians. He attacked life as much as life attacked him. He was a true soldier of music. He could very possibly be the nicest man I’ve ever met.”

Duke became a solo artist in 1976 and released more than 30 solo albums.

He also produced for Miles Davis, Smokey Robinson, Gladys Knight, Dionne Warwick and Natalie Cole.

He worked as musical director for the Soul Train Music Awards and other special events. He also scored songs on soundtracks for “The Five Heartbeats” and “Karate Kid III.”

This story is from a report by the Associated Press and Blackvoices. com.

Nephew Tommy

Tampa: Bruno Mars’ Moonshine Jungle world tour makes a stop at the Tampa Bay Times forum on Aug. 28.

Miami Gardens: The Legends of the Summer tour featuring Justin Timberlake and Jay-Z takes place Aug. 18 at Sun Life Stadium.

St. Petersburg: Youths ages 7 to 11 can enjoy a night of football, kickball, ping-pong, foosball, video games and dance parties during “Freestyle Fridays” at the Fossil Park and Willis S. Johns Center, 6635 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. St. N. First visit free; $6 each following visit. More information: 727893-7756.

St. Petersburg: First Fridays are held in downtown St. Petersburg at 250 Central Ave. between Second and Third Avenues from 5:30 p.m.-10:30 p.m. More information: 727-393-3597.

T:4.625"

ISLEY BROTHERS, KEM & Nephew tommy

The Isley Brothers with Kem and Nephew Tommy are scheduled at the University of South Florida Sun Dome on Oct. 5.

FAMU to face Mississippi Valley State in MEAC/SWAC Challenge The 2013 MEAC/SWAC Challenge Presented by Disney will feature the Florida A&M University Rattlers of the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) against the Mississippi Valley State University Delta Devils of the Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) in a gridiron battle at Florida Citrus Bowl Stadium on Sunday, Sept. 1.

The yearly event, which features teams from two prominent Historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs), brings

approximately 20,000 fans to Central Florida over Labor Day Weekend for the start of college football season. ESPN will televise the game.

For tickets and more information, visit http://espnevents.com/meac-swac.

HUNGER KEEPS UP ON CURRENT EVENTS, TOO. 1 IN 6 AMERICANS STRUGGLES WITH HUNGER.

TOGETHER WE’RE

IT’S NEVER TOO EARLY

TO INVEST IN A GOOD THING. Introducing Better Futures —a whole new kind of investment with a greater return than money. When you invest, it helps kids go to college. Because a mind is a terrible thing to waste but a wonderful thing to invest in.

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Hunger is closer than you think. Reach out to your local food bank for ways to do your part. Visit FeedingAmerica.org today.

©2013 UNCF

Invest in Better Futures at UNCF.ORG/INVEST

STOJ

AUGUST 9 – AUGUST 15, 2013

B3

HEALTH

Paternity testing hits the street

Some experts worry that the growing use of such tests could have unintended consequences, such as destabilizing families and hurting children

BY ALISON KNEZEVICK THE BALTIMORE SUN/MCT

BALTIMORE — As the sky-blue Winnebago makes its way through midday traffic in downtown Baltimore, pedestrians can’t help but stare.

Onlookers giggle and pull out their camera phones.

The RV, painted with the phrase “Who’s Your Daddy?” offers a service most wouldn’t think of using during their lunch break: DNA testing.

Demand for such tests has grown in recent decades, as a legal tool in cases of child custody and paternity cases but also as an increasingly accepted way to confirm biological ties at a time when single motherhood has skyrocketed.

Some family law experts, however, worry the growing use of such tests could have unintended consequences, such as destabilizing families and hurting children.

‘In-the-closet-issue’ The “mobile clinic” is operated by a New Yorkbased DNA testing company called Health Street, whose employees travel to Baltimore about once a month to promote the service. Few choose to get tested on the spot, but the truck gets people talking, said Health Street owner Jared Rosenthal.

“It’s somewhat of an inthe-closet issue,” Rosenthal said of paternity tests.

“We’re kind of taking the covers off it — putting it on the street.”

According to the latest data from AABB, formerly the American Association of Blood Banks, accredited labs performed more than 380,000 relationship DNA tests in 2010, a number that officials say is low because many more are performed at non-accredited labs.

That’s up from the 120,400 tests reported in 1990.

In the mid 1990s, welfare reform helped spur growth in the DNA testing industry, experts say. The federal government placed greater emphasis on encouraging women who apply for public assistance to identify the fathers of their children. More than six out of 10 women who give birth in their early 20s are unmarried, a rate that has accelerated in recent years, according to the Census Bureau.

Eliminating doubts Identifying fathers helped states track down men who had never supported their biological children, and the industry grew as labs vied to secure large state contracts, said David Bishai, a professor at the Johns Hopkins University’s Bloomberg School of Public Health. But Bishai also

BARBARA HADDOCK TAYLOR/BALTIMORE SUN/MCT

Jared Rosenthal, left, owner of the “Who’s Your Daddy?” DNA testing truck, answers questions from Calore West, who works as a program coordinator for the city’s child support service on June 2 in Baltimore, MD. said policymakers put too much emphasis on financial support and not necessarily better parenting.

“The dark side of this is that we have state legislation that is much more driven by money than by the well-being of children,” said Bishai, who focuses on economic demography.

“There’s this simplistic idea that the role of the father is to supply the money in parenting and not to supply the time.”

Joseph DiPrimio, executive director of Maryland’s Child Support Enforcement Administration, said state and federal laws require parents seeking public assistance to seek childsupport services. The availability of DNA testing can help get the child-support collection process moving more quickly and eliminate doubts, he said.

“Generally as a broad concept, the right of a child to know his or her biologi-

cal parent, I think that’s the important thing,” DiPrimio said.

Cost of testing The state contracts with the Ohio-based company DNA Diagnostics Center for paternity testing. A test through the state costs about $120 for a father, mother and one child, plus a $25 application fee, said Brian Schleter, spokesman for the state Department of Human Resources.

Health Street’s paternity tests cost $350, and the firm contracts with collection clinics in various states, including Maryland. The company also offers mobile drug tests, traveling to construction sites and accident scenes.

Rosenthal said people seek DNA testing for a variety of reasons that don’t involve child-support conflicts — including simple peace of mind.

“There are plenty of plac-

Physical therapist Bobby Natividad measures the flexion of Charlesetta Stalling’s (left) leg two days after her total (right) knee replacement procedure at Methodist Hospital in South Sacramento, Calif. in 2007. Dr. Stephen Howell helped design a knee replacement device designed at the time to be unique to individuals and required much less recovery time. At right is physical therapist Stephanie Rogers.

CARL COSTAS/ SACRAMENTO BEE/MCT

Adding mileage to worn-out knees New generation of implants available to widening patient base

BY LANDON HALL ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER/ MCT

SANTA ANA, Calif. — Denise Olson danced at her daughter’s wedding.

That might not sound like a profound accomplishment, but it was a moment she could only dream of a few months earlier. Arthritis had worn away so much of the cartilage in Olson’s right knee that it was just bone grinding on bone.

The pain had steadily worsened for two years, making it difficult for her to walk up the stairs of her home. She teaches first grade in Irvine, and it’s tough to meet the all-day needs of 30 kids when you can barely rise from your chair.

On April 23, she had to-

tal knee replacement surgery. Four weeks later, she was back in class. On July 13, her daughter Lauren got married, and Denise was able to walk down the aisle.

Later, during the reception, Denise and her husband, Chad, danced.

“Just the two of us got up and danced on the floor. It was wonderful,” said Olson, who is 54. “I got to dance with my daughter and my son-in-law. And the party went on until the closing hours.”

Surging demand Better implants, improved surgical techniques and a more in-depth understanding of how to treat a patient’s pain during and after surgery have helped make total knee replacements available to a wider patient base, from younger people like Olson to longsuffering seniors.

The evolution of the procedure comes at a time of surging demand: About 600,000 total knee replacements were performed in

the United States last year, and that number is expected to increase to 3.5 million a year by 2030.

“The need for surgery is exploding,” says Dr. James T. Caillouette, surgeon in chief at Hoag Orthopedic Institute in Irvine, Calif.

Shorter hospital stays and faster, less painful recovery periods have made the operation popular among patients who are both older and younger than used to be the norm for such candidates. Baby boomers are hitting the age at which their knees are wearing out, and they’re not willing to give up their active lifestyles without a fight.

“I would say at least half of my patient population is under 65,” Caillouette said.

“Twenty years ago, that was not the case. But it’s not unusual for me to see a patient in their late 30s or 40s with end-stage arthritis who needs surgery.

We used to be very fearful of doing that, because we didn’t think the implants would last very long. Now,

with the new generation of designs and materials, they look like they’re going to last a very long time, 20 to 30 years or longer.”

But even the boomers’ Greatest Generation parents are getting the implants in higher numbers.

Life expectancy keeps increasing, of course, but there’s also a greater awareness of how quickly health can decline if immobility leaves an elderly person homebound and isolated.

How replacement works Total knee replacement, also called arthroplasty, might be a misnomer: The entire knee isn’t cut out. In fact, many of the parts are kept in, including the ligaments at the edges of the joint, the lateral and medial collateral ligaments, as well as the patella bone and its own ligament.

The procedure is commonly recommended in people whose articular cartilage, which covers the thigh bone (femur), has

es where people are together, and the father wants reassurance,” he said.

In other cases, a person might need to prove a biological relationship to sponsor a family member emigrating to the United States or for inheritance purposes, he said. Or they have found possible longlost siblings and want to confirm the ties.

More harm than good?

While many on the sidewalk snicker at the sight of a mobile DNA testing clinic, some family law experts say the growing availability of such tests raises serious concerns about destabilizing families.

Jane Murphy, a family law professor at the University of Baltimore School of Law, said she’s seen heartwrenching cases where children are devastated over the results of a paternity test. been ravaged by degenerative osteoarthritis. The meniscuses, the disc-shaped pads between the cartilage on the femur and the shinbone (tibia), can also wear over the years.

The femur and tibia are shaved down to make way for the implant, which resurfaces the bones. “Imagine you’re essentially doing a retread on a tire,” Caillouette said. Most implants have a metal “tray” that holds a plastic platform that stands in for the meniscus. The covering on the femur is super-strong metal, and when the knee bends, the pieces glide on top of one another.

Earlier generations of the implant used titanium, but that metal was found to wear out too quickly, Caillouette said. Newer models use cobalt-chrome, a longer-lasting alloy. The plastics in them also are harder and more wear-resistant, says Caillouette’s colleague Dr. Robert S. Gorab, the chief medical officer at Hoag Orthopedic Institute.

The science of pain Hoag Orthopedic Institute, which opened in November 2010, has become one of the highest-volume orthopedic centers in the country. Nearly 1,500 knee replacements were performed there in 2012, a 28 percent increase over 2011.

DePuy launched the Attune in March (Caillouette implanted the first one on the West Coast), and between that model and the others, the 70-bed hospital should become an even busier place.

Patients are usually kept for at least one night after undergoing the procedure, but the protocol for their treatment has changed vastly over the years.

Knee surgery hurts, a lot, and this used to be a deal-breaker for many patients. But Caillouette says patients receive different kinds of pain treatment: Gone are the days when

“It’s not a joke to them who their father is,” she said. In many cases, children had a long-term relationship with a man they believed was their father, only to find out he is not.

“There’s no other father waiting in the wings,” she said. “In many cases, there never will be.”

Murphy believes the tests can do more harm than good in certain cases.

“Making it more available has the potential for destabilizing a lot of families where there’s no biological connection between the father and the children,” she said. “Biology doesn’t have to define a relationship.”

But Rosenthal said the service can help people find closure to long-held questions.

“What I’ve found is that relationships win out far greater than biology, but you can’t deny that there is this instinctual need to know,” he said. only general anesthesia would be used, leaving the patient groggy and out of sorts upon awakening. Also, more care is taken to avoid cutting some soft tissue inside the knee.

“Now a patient will wake up from surgery without pain,” said Caillouette, who along with Gorab is a founding partner of the Hoag institute. “They don’t need IV narcotic pain medicine around the clock, because we’re giving them little doses of different things, as opposed to hitting them with a sledgehammer.”

Changed his life Jerry Brooks of Newport Beach, Calif., got his arthritic right knee replaced in 2002, and his left knee in 2003. He says his X-rays show almost no wear at all in his models, called the Smith & Nephew Journey.

He’d had problems with the right knee for years, and it finally gave out while he was competing in the 2001 Ironman Triathlon in Hawaii.

“I feel like I’m 25,” says Brooks, who is 72 and in remarkable physical shape, for any age. He doesn’t race so much anymore, but he still runs 25 miles a week, bikes 150 miles, and swims 5,000 to 8,000 yards. “I’m grateful for the fact that I got two gifts, so I can continue doing what I want to do.”

Lieberman says those kinds of stories inspire him. He received a letter from a woman who told him, “I think about you every day” and “You changed my life.”

“How many people tell you that in your life, ever?”

Lieberman said. “You get these cards from people, and they’re traveling all over the world. They’re on their bicycles and they’re on cruise ships.

“It’s not life and death, but quality of life has become so important that people really appreciate it.

Particularly if they’ve been debilitated for a long period of time.”

TOj B4

FOOD

TOJ

AUGUST 9 – AUGUST 15, 2013

Ultimate Peanut Butter Brownies

Buddy Valastro

FROM Family Features

Y

ou might have a favorite cookie or brownie recipe — but did you know you could make it even better by adding a simple, familiar ingredient? With a few expert tips from Buddy Valastro, author and star of TLC’s “Cake Boss,” you can take your sweet treats from good to great in no time.

• Start with Quality Ingredients — When you start with better ingre­dients, you end up with a better cookie or brownie. Use real butter, high-quality vanilla and great tasting chocolate. Here, Buddy shares some of his favorite recipes that use M&M’S candies to add an extra special touch to family favorites — making them even better.

• Chill the dough — Leaving cookie dough in the refrigerator gives it more body and results in a fuller and better tasting cookie. Plan ahead so you can refrigerate your dough at least one hour — or, even better, overnight.

• Keep it uniform — Use a small ice cream scoop to keep your cookies the same size. This not only helps them look professional, but bake up evenly and consistently.

• Pans matter — Bake cookies on light-colored, non-insulated cookie sheets without sides. Metal pans will cook brownies faster than glass pans, which means cooking times will vary. Start checking your brownies early to test if they’re ready and prevent over baking.

You can find more sweet baking tips and recipes at www.facebook.com/mms.

Milk Chocolate Minis Cookies Prep time: 10 to 15 minutes Chill time: 1 hour to overnight Bake time: 7 to 12 minutes Yield: 24 to 30 cookies 1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened 3/4 cup firmly packed light brown sugar 1 cup granulated sugar 2 large eggs 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour 1/3 cup cocoa powder 1 teaspoon baking soda 1/2 teaspoon salt 1 3/4 cups M&M’S Milk Chocolate Minis Candies 1 cup chopped walnuts (optional) Preheat oven to 350°F. In large bowl, cream butter and both sugars until well blended. Add eggs and vanilla extract, and mix to combine.

In separate bowl, sift flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt.

Slowly add dry ingredients to butter mixture, and stir until combined.

Fold in candies and walnuts, if desired. Chill dough 1 hour, or overnight.

Drop dough by rounded tablespoons onto lightly greased tray, about 2 inches apart.

Bake for 7 to 9 minutes for chewy cookies, or 10 to 12 minutes for crispy cookies.

Sweet tips for SWEET treats

Amazing M&M’S Cookies

Simply Sweet Cannoli

Milk Chocolate Minis Cookie

Ultimate Peanut Butter Brownies Prep time: 10 to 15 minutes Bake time: 30 to 40 minutes Yield: 32 brownies 4 ounces semisweet chocolate 1 cup canola or vegetable oil 2 cups sugar 4 eggs 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour 1 teaspoon baking powder 1 teaspoon salt 2 cups M&M’S Peanut Butter Candies, divided Preheat oven to 350°F. Lightly grease a rectangular 13 x 9 x 2-inch pan In 3-quart saucepan, gently combine the semisweet chocolate and oil over very low heat until melted. Remove from heat and allow to cool.

In separate bowl, combine sugar, eggs and vanilla extract until blended. Add in chocolate mixture. Slowly sift in remain­ ing dry ingredients and mix until combined.

Fold in 1 1/2 cups candies.

Spread batter into pan. Sprinkle with remaining 1/2 cup candies and press lightly.

Bake until brownies begin to pull away from sides of pan, about 30 to 40 minutes.

Amazing M&M’S Cookies Prep time: 10 to 15 minutes Chill time: 1 hour to overnight Bake time: 8 to 14 minutes Yield: 24 to 30 cookies 1 cup (2 sticks) butter 2/3 cup brown sugar 2/3 cup granulated sugar 1 egg 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract 2 cups flour 1 1/4 teaspoon baking soda 1 teaspoon salt 1 3/4 cups M&M’S Milk Chocolate Candies Preheat oven to 350°F. In large bowl, cream butter and both sugars until well blended. Add egg and vanilla extract, and mix to combine.

In separate bowl, sift flour, baking soda and salt together.

Slowly add dry ingre­dients into butter mixture and stir until combined.

Fold in candies and chill dough for 1 hour or overnight.

Drop dough by rounded tablespoons onto lightly greased tray, about 2 inches apart.

Bake for 8 to 10 minutes for chewy cookies, or 12 to 14 minutes for crispy cookies.

Simply Sweet Cannoli Prep time: 20 minutes Yield: 24 1 cup Snickers Bars, finely chopped 1 1/2 cups part skim milk ricotta 1/3 cup sugar 1/2 teaspoon grated orange zest 1 resealable plastic bag 24 mini cannoli shells, unfilled 1/2 cup M&M’S Chocolate Candies Combine chopped candy bars with ricotta, sugar and orange zest.

Spoon mixture into resealable bag and snip off a 1/2-inch corner.

Fill cannoli shells by squeezing in filling from each end.

Decorate both ends with chocolate candies.

STOJ

AUGUST 9 – AUGUST 15, 2013

FINEST & ENTERTAINMENT

Meet some of

FLORIDA'S

finest

submitted for your approval

B5

Think you’re one of Florida’s Finest?

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

More than 4,000 cruisers joined nationally syndicated radio talk show host Tom Joyner on the 13th annual Tom Joyner Foundation Fantastic Voyage 2012 aboard Royal Caribbean’s “Navigator of the Seas,” one of the world’s largest cruise ships. The Florida Courier spotlights some of the best-looking people on board.

Patricia, a native of Houston, Texas, was on her fifth Tom Joyner cruise.

Brandon of Chicago was on his first Tom Joyner cruise.

DELROY COLE / FLORIDA COURIER

patricia brandon easily the summer ’s

“

best film

.

‘2 Guns’ is an absolute must see!”

Meg Porter Berns, WSVN-TV

Denzel Washington anD mark Wahlberg are at their best.” “

Trump: Rangel gets pass for saying ‘cracker,’ Deen crucified for ‘n-word’

Donald Trump

Joe Neumaier, NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

”

FLORIDA COURIER

Larry King, LARRY KING NOW

Donald Trump is at it again. This time he is comparing Rep. Charlie Rangel (DNY) to Paula Deen.

On Monday morning’s episode of “Fox & Friends,” Trump said that Rangel has mostly gotten away with his statements while Deen was “crucified” for hers. Rangel’s recent rant against Tea Party “crackers” bought him the comparison.

Trump said he was “surprised” that a “nice guy” like Rangel would make comments like the ones he did in the first place, and noted, “If Charlie or whoever it was was a Republican and they made that statement, they’d be resigning from office right now.”

Although host Steve Doocy was the first to push the “double standard” narrative about Rangel and Deen, Trump jumped right on the bandwag-

FRI: 08/09 1/4 PG. (4.93") X 10 ALL.2GN.0809.FLORCOURemail

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EURWEB.COM

UNIVERSAL PICTURES AND EMMETT/FURLA FILMS PRESENT A MARC PLATT PRODUCTION IN ASSOCIATION WITH OASIS VENTURES ENTERTAINMENT LTD/ENVISION ENTERTAINMENT/HERRICK ENTERTAI NMENT/ BOOM! STUDIOS A BALTASAR KORMAKUR´ FILM DENZEL WASHINMUSICGTONMARK WAHLBERG“2 GUNS”CO- PAULA PATTONBILL PAXTON AND EDWARD JAMES OLMOS BY CLINTON SHORTER PRODUCERS BRANDON GRIMES JEFF RICE JAMES MARSDEN F R ED WARD EXECUTIVE Ifill to share PBS PRODUCERS BRANDT ANDERSEN JEFFREY STOTT MOTAZ M. NABULSI JOSHUA SKURLA MARK DAMON PRODUCED anchor desk

BY MARC PLATT RANDALL EMMETT NORTON HERRICK ADAM SIEGEL GEORGE FURLA ROSS RICHIE ANDREW COSBY ´ BASED GRAPHIC SCREENPLAY DIRECTED ON THE BOOM! STUDIOS NOVELS BY STEVEN GRANT

BY BLAKE MASTERS BY BALTASAR KORMAKUR with Woodruff A UNIVERSAL RELEASE © 2013 GEORGIA FILM FUND FIFTEEN, LLC AND UNIVERSAL STUDIOS

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NBC

Go to NBC.com to watch the trailer.

FROM WIRE REPORTS

PBS announced this week that Gwen Ifill and Judy Woodruff — the stars of its most recent presidential election coverage – will serve as co-anchors and managing editors of “Newshour,” marking the first time two women are co-anchoring an evening newscast on a major U.S. television network.

on saying, “Nothing will happen to Charlie. I see it all the time. If you’re a Republican and you make a statement like that, it’s over. I mean, you are finished… It’s a very rough double standard.”

“Paula Deen was absolutely crucified, what they did with her,” Trump added. “I don’t know what even happened to her. I see everybody dropped her. She has really got some problems. It’s amazing.”

Hot topic Rep. Charlie Rangel

When Tucker Carlson jumped in, demanding Presidenet Obama “take a stand” against Rangel, Trump said that was unlikely. “Obama is going to take a pass,” he said. “They’re all going to take a pass. And that’s the way the country is right now.”

The question of whether the “n-word” and “cracker” carry the same offensive weight has been a hot topic of conversation following the George Zimmerman trial in which it was revealed that Trayvon Martin used both words to describe the defendant. A CNN panel led by Don Lemon ultimately concluded that the word the network could not spell out on screen was probably worse.

Gwen Ifill was named co-anchor and managing editor of “Newshour” this week.

She will anchor the news with Judy Woodruff.

“We picked the two people that were strongest,” PBS chief Paula Kerger said.

Ifill and Woodruff will anchor the broadcast together Monday through Thursday; Woodruff will solo Fridays while Ifill hosts her show “Washington Week that night.

“Newshour” has had rotating teams of anchors over the past few years; Ifill and Woodruff were in the rotation. PBS will launch a weekend edition of “Newshour” next month.

Hari Sreenivasan will anchor “Newshour Weekend,” Saturdays and Sundays beginning Sept. 7; he also will serve as senior correspondent for the weekday newscast, reporting several times a week from WNET in New York.

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AUGUST 9 – AUGUST 15, 2013

STOJ