THE NACIREMA SOCIETY
Directed by Valerie Curtis Newton at Guthrie Theater
THE NACIREMA SOCIETY REQUESTS THE HONOR OF YOUR PRESENCE AT A CELEBRATION OF THEIR FIRST ONE HUNDRED YEARS - A PEARL CLEAGE PLAY
This clever Southern comedy takes audiences on a fun, elegant and poignant ride — filled with young love, family secrets and blackmail
Haj
The Guthrie Theater this week opens The Nacirema Society Requests the Honor of Your Presence at a Celebration of Their First One Hundred Years by Pearl Cleage, directed by Valerie Curtis-Newton.
Set in 1964 Alabama and featuring clever storytelling and scandalous plots, this lighthearted comedy winds its way to an ending as charming as its characters. The show will play through Sunday, May 25. Guthrie Theater Artistic Director Joseph Haj says, “Pearl Cleage’s play uses farce, joy and artful storytelling to celebrate Black experience and bridge the gap between the conflicting values of the older and younger generations.”
“I’m thrilled to have Valerie Curtis-Newton back to the Guthrie and see this exceptional group of artists bring The Nacirema Society to life on stage. I look forward to sharing this joyful and relevant play with our audiences,” he adds.
Grande dames Grace Dunbar
and Catherine Green prepare for the Nacirema Society’s 1964 centennial cotillion — the event of the season in Montgomery, Alabama. The elegant African American debutantes include Grace’s granddaughter Gracie, escorted by Catherine’s grandson Bobby, and the two grandmothers hope the young couple will soon be engaged. But Gracie and Bobby have other ideas. As the young ladies prepare for their debuts, a blackmail scheme brews behind the scenes and subterfuges unfold, all under the nose of a skeptical reporter covering the ball. The Guthrie previously produced Cleage’s Blues for an Alabama Sky during its 2022–2023 Season, marking the debut of the playwright’s work at the theater.
The cast of The Nacirema Society Requests the Honor of Your Presence at a Celebration of Their First One Hundred Years includes Charla Marie Bailey (Guthrie: debut) as Jessie, Aimee K. Bryant
(Guthrie: A Midsummer Night’s Dream, A Christmas Carol, My Fair Lady) as Alpha Campbell Jackson, Joy Dolo (Guthrie: Twelfth Night) as Janet Logan, Nubia Monks (Guthrie: A Raisin in the Sun) as Gracie Dunbar, Darrick Mosley (Guthrie: A Raisin in the Sun, Choir Boy) as Bobby Green, Greta Oglesby (Guthrie: A Christmas Carol, Into the Woods, Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner) as Grace Dubose Dunbar, Essence Renae (Guthrie: debut) as Lillie Campbell Jackson, Regina Marie Williams (Guthrie: A Midsummer Night’s Dream, A Christmas Carol, Into the Woods) as Catherine Adams Green and Dedra D. Woods (Guthrie: debut) as Marie Dunbar. The creative team includes Pearl Cleage (Playwright), Valerie Curtis-Newton (Director), Takeshi Kata (Scenic Designer), Trevor Bowen (Costume Designer), Mary Louise Geiger (Lighting Designer), Larry Fowler (Sound Designer/ Composer), Carla Steen (Resi-
dent Dramaturg), Keely Wolter (Vocal Coach), Annie Enneking (Intimacy), Jennifer Liestman (Resident Casting Director), Lori Lundquist (Stage Manager), Kathryn Sam Houkom (Assistant Stage Manager), Vanessa Brooke Agnes (Assistant Director) and McCorkle Casting, Ltd. (NYC Casting Consultant).
Pearl Cleage is an Atlanta-based writer whose plays include Angry, Raucous and Shamelessly Gorgeous, Flyin’ West, Blues for an Alabama Sky and Bourbon at the Border, which were commissioned by Alliance Theatre, where Cleage is Distinguished Artist in Residence. She is also the author of A Song for Coretta, written in 2007 while she was the Cosby Professor in Women’s Studies at Spelman College, and The Nacirema Society…, which was commissioned by Alabama Shakespeare Festival and premiered in 2010. Her plays have been performed at Arena Stage, Hartford Stage, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, The Huntington, Long Wharf Theatre, Just Us Theater Company, True Colors Theatre, Bushfire Theatre, Intiman Theatre, The Black Rep and 7 Stages. She is also an accomplished performance artist, often working with her husband, writer Zaron W. Burnett, Jr., in their Live at Club Zebra! performance installation. They have performed at the National Black Arts Festival, National Black Theatre Festival and colleges across the country. They also collaborated with performance artists Idris Ackamoor and Rhodessa Jones on the script for The Love Project, which premiered at the National Black Theatre Festival in 2008. Cleage is an accomplished novelist, with her New York Times bestseller What Looks Like Crazy on an Ordinary Day being chosen for Oprah’s Book Club. Cleage has been awarded grants
from the National Endowment for the Arts, Fulton County Arts Council, Georgia Council for the Arts, Atlanta Bureau of Cultural Affairs and The Coca-Cola Foundation. Among her many awards is a 2008 NAACP Image Award for Fiction and a 2022 Lifetime Achievement Award from the Dramatists Guild. Valerie Curtis-Newton is Head of Directing and Playwriting at the University of Washington School of Drama. She has directed projects at theaters across the country, including Steppenwolf, Denver Center for the Performing Arts, Seattle Rep, PlayMakers Repertory Company, Actors Theatre of Louisville, Alabama Shakespeare Festival, Intiman Theatre, Seattle Children’s Theatre, Mark Taper Forum and more. Curtis-Newton has participated in new play development for New York Theatre Workshop, Children’s Theatre Company, Mark Taper Forum and Seattle Rep, working with playwrights such as Kia Corthron, Caridad Svich, Gina Gionfriddo, Laurie Carlos and Valetta Anderson. In addition, she has served as Artistic Director of the Ethnic Cultural Center Theatre at the University of Washington and was a participant in the 1997–1998 NEA/ TCG Career Development Program for Directors, assisting Tina Landau, Douglas Hughes, Lisa Peterson, Gordon Edelstein and Sharon Ott. Curtis-Newton is a Donald E. Petersen Fellow and the recipient of the Stage Directors and Choreographers Foundation’s Sir John Gielgud Directing Fellowship and Presidential Faculty Development Fellowship at the University of Washington.
A BIPOC Community Night, Friday, May 16 at 5:30 p.m. invites professionals and community members for a night of networking and theater. The evening includes a pre-show reception with complimentary
sips and bites, plus a ticket to the 7:30 p.m. performance of The Nacirema Society. Tickets start at $23 (including handling fees). BIPOC Community Nights are sponsored by Fredrikson. Patrons are invited to stay in the theater following select performances for a 20-minute conversation about the production facilitated by Guthrie staff. Cast members may join the discussion as they are able. Sunday, April 27 at 1 p.m., Wednesday, April 30 at 1 p.m., Sunday, May 4 at 1 p.m., Tuesday, May 13 at 7:30 p.m., and Saturday, May 17 at 1 p.m. Single tickets range from $32 to $92 (including handling fees). Single and group tickets (minimum requirement of 15 per group) may be purchased through the Box Office at 612.377.2224 (single), 1.877.447.8243 (toll-free), 612.225.6244 (group) or online at gutrhietheater.org. The GUTHRIE THEATER is dedicated to producing a mix of classic and contemporary plays and cultivating the next generation of theater artists. Under Haj’s leadership, the Guthrie is guided by four core values: Artistic Excellence; Community; Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Accessibility; and Fiscal Responsibility. Since its founding in 1963, the theater has continued to set a national standard for excellence in the field and serve the people of Minnesota as a vital cultural resource. The Guthrie houses three stateof-the-art stages, production facilities, classrooms and dramatic public spaces. guthrietheater. org The Guthrie Theater acknowledges that it exists on the traditional land of the Dakota people and honors with gratitude the land itself and the people who have stewarded it throughout the generations, including the Ojibwe and other Indigenous nations.
Front: Nubia Monks, Greta Oglesby, Essence Renae, Middle: Dedra D. Woods, Joy Dolo, Regina Marie Williams, Aimee K. Bryant, Back: Darrick Mosley, Charla Marie Bailey
Photo courtesy Guthrie Theater
Joseph
Pearl Cleage
Valerie Curtis Newton
Governor
Walz,
U.S. Rep. Kelly Morrison Roundtable examines impact of proposed federal health care cuts
Proposed cuts could cost Minnesota $1.6 billion annually, jeopardizing health coverage for 1.3 million Minnesotans
Governor Tim Walz and U.S.
Rep. Kelly Morrison last week joined state officials, doctors, and advocates to discuss the impact of proposed federal cuts to vital health care programs. It was the sixth in a series of statewide roundtables examining the spectre of potential federal cuts. Changes proposed in the U.S. Congress to Medicaid and health care funding could result in $880 billion in cuts to health care programing benefiting 1.3 million Minnesotans. State estimates show that Minnesota could lose as much as $1.6 billion annually in federal support for health care programs serving a wide swath of Minnesotans, including children, those who are pregnant, seniors, and people with disabilities.
“Billionaires in Washington are going after our health care, putting lives in dan-
ger by threatening major cuts to the programs that over a million Minnesotans rely on,” said Governor Walz. “Medicaid pays for life-saving medication, cancer treatment, child well-checks, and supportive care. Cuts to this funding would put hundreds of thousands of Minnesotans’ lives at risk, disproportionately impacting kids, seniors, people with disabilities, and those living in rural areas. Minnesotans deserve better and I will continue to fight every day to prevent these cuts.”
Many Minnesotans could lose their coverage and access to lifesaving health care and preventive medicine if Medicaid is cut. Without comprehensive health care coverage, people are likely to skip early and preventive care, leading to worse outcomes and more expensive treatments later
“The proposed $880 billion target is not just an abstract figure. It represents a direct threat to the health and well-being of countless Minnesotans and the stability of our health care system,” said John Connolly, state Medicaid director. “This significant number underscores the potential harm facing our state, and the truly challenging choices that will have to be made if these cuts are enacted.”
Significant service cuts could be required for the people who remain on Medicaid. These reductions would severely limit coverage, forcing vulnerable populations – particularly older adults and people with disabilities – to make difficult choices about their care, including long-term care options. Older adults and peo-
ple with disabilities make up approximately 15% of Medicaid enrollees and account for roughly 60% of total spending, highlighting the disproportionate impact of these cuts on those who rely on long-term care.
Medicaid is a foundational component of Minnesota’s health care system, injecting billions of dollars into communities across the state and helping hospitals remain operational.
“Medicaid isn’t just a health insurance program — it’s the foundation for healthy families and thriving communities,” said Dr. Kim DeRoche, a primary care physician with M Health Fairview. “At our clinics, one in five visits is covered by Medic-
We study mass surveillance for social control, and we see Trump laying the groundwork to ‘contain’ people of color and immigrants
concern to manipulate real fears people may have.
Take Trump on crime, for example. Despite FBI data showing that crime has been dropping across the U.S. for decades, Trump has repeatedly claimed that “crime is out of control.” Stoking fear makes people more likely to back harsh measures purportedly targeting crime.
President Donald Trump has vowed to target his political enemies, and experts have warned that he could weaponize U.S. intelligence agencies to conduct mass surveillance on his targets.
Mass surveillance is the widespread monitoring of civilians. Governments typically target specific groups – such as religious minorities, certain races or ethnicities, or migrants – for surveillance and use the information gathered to “contain” these populations, for example by arresting and imprisoning people.
We are experts in social control, or how governments coerce compliance, and we specialize in surveillance. Based on our expertise and years of research, we expect Trump’s second White House term may usher in a wave of spying against people of color and immigrants.
Spreading moral panic
Trump is already actively deploying a key tactic in expanding mass surveillance: causing moral panics. Moral panics are created when politicians exaggerate a public
Trump has also worked to create a moral panic about immigration.
He has said, for example, that “illegal” migrants are taking American jobs. In truth, only 5% of the 30 million immigrants in the workforce as of 2022 were unauthorized to work. And in his Jan. 25, 2025, presidential proclamation on immigration, Trump likened immigration at the southern border to an “invasion,” evoking the language of war to describe a population that includes many asylum-seeking women and children.
The second step in causing moral panics is to label racial, ethnic and religious minorities as villains to justify expanding mass surveillance. Building on his rhetoric about crime and immigration, Trump frequently connects the two issues. He has said that migrants murder because they have “bad genes,” echoing beliefs expressed by white supremacists. During the 2016 campaign, Trump’s coinage “bad hombre” invoked stereotypes of dangerous
MDH delays effective date of layoffs following issuance of temporary restraining order
By Stacy M. Brown
The African American Mayors Association (AAMA) hosted its 2025 Annual Conference in Washington, D.C., from Wednesday, April 16 through Friday, April 18. This year’s gathering at the Omni Shoreham Hotel marked the largest annual convening of African American mayors in the United States. It will spotlighted forward-thinking leadership, community empowerment, and development across America’s cities. Hundreds of city leaders attended, representing more than 500 African American mayors who serve over 25
The Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) last Mondy announced that layoffs made public at the beginning of April would be delayed as a result of a temporary restraining order issued by a federal district court in Rhode Island in State of Colorado, et al. v. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, et al. on April 5.
“We are grateful for this action by the court, which we feel aligns with the federal government’s responsibility to us as a grantee,” said Minnesota Commissioner of Health Dr. Brooke Cunningham. “This action has given us additional short-term certainty around this funding, which allows us to delay this layoff process slightly. We continue to remain
hopeful for a positive long-term outcome in this case that would allow us to mitigate the need to layoff so many smart, dedicated staff who are vital to protecting the health of Minnesotans.” Starting April 1, MDH sent layoff and separation notices to approximately 170 employees as a result of the recently terminated federal grants. With the time the temporary restraining order provided, MDH leadership were able to move the effective layoff date to May 13. These layoffs are a direct consequence of the unprecedented and unexpected action by the federal government to revoke more than $220 million in previously approved federal funding.
By Brittany Friedman Assistant Professor of Sociology at the USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences, University of Southern California
Washington D.C. Capitol Building (Photo by Jordan Younce)
From Whispers to a Chorus: Honoring the Lives of Black Women and Girls
By Haley Taylor Schlitz, Esq.
There is something both sobering and surreal about standing beneath the dome of a state capitol as a Black woman, especially as a Gen Z Black woman, raised in a country where power has so rarely looked like us, listened to us, or protected us. From the outside, these grand buildings seem built for others. They tell stories of justice, liberty, and democracy, but when Black women and girls are harmed, go missing, or are taken from us, those same halls too often fall silent. Our pain is met with indifference. Our disappearances go uninvestigated. Our names are not even spoken. And yet, if you listen closely, you can almost hear them, the names of Black women and girls who have been stolen from us, whispered in the corners of these marble chambers, barely acknowledged, almost erased. But on April 9, those whispers became a chorus. Those names, once spoken only in grief and quiet prayer, were said loudly, clearly, and unapologetically. We did not gather simply to remember. We gathered to demand action. We gathered to in-
sist that justice include us, fully and finally. For me, this was not just a day of advocacy. It was a day of personal reckoning. I come from a family that understands the aching silence left behind by injustice. My grandfather, Dwight Taylor, was murdered during the 1992 civil unrest in Los Angeles following the Rodney King verdict. He was the second person shot and killed during that historic moment. His case is still unsolved. No one has been held accountable. Decades later, our family still carries the weight of not knowing. Still waiting. Still mourning. His life mattered, but like so many others, his death faded from headlines, and justice never came.
That’s what it has meant to be Black in America: to mourn in public while justice hides behind closed doors.
To grieve our mothers, our sisters, our daughters, our family members, and then be expected to carry on as if our pain is just part of the background noise of American life.
But what Minnesota is doing through the Office of Missing and Murdered Black Women and Girls changes that narrative. It says: not anymore. Not here.
Minnesota is the first, and only, state in the country with an office dedicated to addressing the crisis of missing and murdered Black women and girls. That matters. Because
when the government creates an institution to see us, it is not just symbolic, it is structural. It is a signal that our experiences belong not only in vigils and protests but in policy and protection. It is a promise that we will be heard, believed, and remembered.
The day on the Hill was filled with raw emotion and clear purpose. Director Dr. Keleena Burkes, who leads the office with vision and deep care, reminded us that this is not about a single day or a single event, it’s about building something we’ve never had before: an infrastructure of care and accountability for Black women and girls.
Survivors like Lakeisha Lee, whose sister Brittany was murdered in 2013, gave voice to the enduring heartbreak that so many families live with every day. Her courage in speaking her truth, in fighting for her sister’s memory and for others like her, left me in awe. She reminded us that this work is about legacy and love, it’s about refusing to let another generation grow up thinking their lives only matter after they’re gone.
As a former teacher, I thought about the Black girls I taught - smart, spirited, full of dreams. Girls who look to their mothers and grandmothers and see women carrying too much on shoulders that were never meant to bear the weight of neglect, exploitation, and fear.
And I thought about my peers, young Black women entering adulthood asking a haunting question: Will we spend our lives carrying the same weight - still unseen, still unprotected, still unloved by the country we call home?
That’s the reality for Gen Z Black women today. We are coming of age in a time of deep contradiction. We are more visible than ever, yet still rendered invisible when it matters most. We are celebrated in culture, but neglected in policy. We are breaking barriers, while still begging to be believed. We’re told to be proud of our progress, but we live every day with the fear that our names might one
day be added to a list no family wants to see. But April 9 told a different story. It told us that we are no longer whispering. We are speaking boldly, in halls that were not built for us, but now echo with our truth. It told us that justice is not something we hope for, it is something we fight for. And it showed us what it means when a state chooses to confront its historical failings, not just with words, but with structure, leadership, and resources. Minnesota has given this nation a blueprint. And it has given Black women and girls a message we rarely hear from government: We see you.
We hear you. You matter. That message cannot stop here. It must spread to other states, other capitals, other communities. We must build on this momentum, invest in this work, and ensure that this office becomes not an exception, but a model. To the girls growing up right now who wonder if they are worth protecting, I want them to know: You are. Your life is not a whisper. Your name is not meant to fade. You are worthy of a world that fights for you while you are still here. We are not missing. We are not forgotten. We are here, and we will not be silent.
By Isabella Volmert, Associated Press
As a bipartisan measure to allow new parents in Congress to vote by proxy has failed, some lawmakers hope their states can find solutions to bring and keep younger women in state capitols.
Republican Florida
Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, who had been leading the congressional push, said she reached an compromise with U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson
last week that does not include proxy voting.
Without a precedent in Congress, lawmakers remain hopeful that statehouses can change instead. Parents say proxy voting would allow women valuable and sometimes medically necessary time to recover and care for their infants at a moment when childcare, families and affordability are front and center for American politics.
“This should be about supporting families and supporting lawmakers who pri-
oritize the issues of families,” said Mallory McMorrow, who was the second sitting Michigan state senator to give birth. “It should not be a partisan issue.”
Parenthood and policy making
Voting by proxy means a lawmaker casts a vote on behalf of another who is absent. Another option that has been used at the state level is remote voting, in which a member calls in to cast their vote.
Like in Congress, state legislative sessions can run late into the night, commutes home can be long and members stay away from home for several days a week.
There was no proxy or maternity leave policy for lawmakers when McMorrow had her daughter in 2021, but she took 12 weeks anyway. McMorrow, who is running for U.S. Senate, said technology exists to allow voting from afar. It would be useful as well for active duty military members and in medical emergencies.
Nebraska State Sen. Machaela Cavanaugh said the way legislatures operate shows state government was not built with women in mind. It was novel when she brought her baby to the floor in 2019 and had to push for a designated nursing room, both of which are now normalized.
Advocates for women’s representation say lawmaking is so hard on mothers with young families many choose not to pursue public office. While the numbers vary by state, only a third of all state lawmakers are
women.
“We want people in office who understand what most American families are dealing with,” said Liuba Grechen Shirley, CEO and founder of Vote Mama, a group that supports mothers running for office. Pandemic changes
Many states allowed remote participation during the COVID-19 pandemic and have since rolled back those practices. Others have kept the provisions.
The Minnesota and Colorado House chambers allow remote participation in limited circumstances, including health issues and the birth of child, while Minnesota’s Senate allows remote voting for any reason with permission from leadership. Earlier this year, Virginia leadership allowed a lawmaker to cast votes from afar after she gave birth in February.
Virginia Del. Destiny LeVere Bolling, who is currently on maternity leave, called the flexibility “invaluable” and was disheartened by the outcome in Congress.
“I am glad that Democrats in the Commonwealth of Virginia choose to stand with families, as we always have, to set a better example for our friends in D.C.,” she said in a statement. Opponents of the practice such as Johnson, the Republican House speaker, say lawmaking requires participation in person. Some fear the option would result in too many
lawmakers missing session.
Johnson agreed to formalize a “pairing system” long used in Congress in which one member who is physically present in the House cancels out the vote of someone who is absent. Arkansas’ Legislature has a similar system.
Rules made at the federal level have some precedent on practice in statehouses. Since the Federal Election Commission allowed congressional candidates to spend their campaign dollars on child care in 2018, 39 states have followed suit, according to Vote Mama.
“At the root of this, there just aren’t enough moms in office to push for these changes,” Grechen Shirley said.
‘You do miss a lot by not being there’
Hawaii House minority Leader Lauren Matsumoto said she was denied the chance to vote remotely when she gave birth to her daughter in late 2019. Shortly thereafter, the pandemic caused the Legislature to temporarily move to a remote system anyway.
Reinstating that practice would be useful for the many young parents joining the Legislature, but Matsumoto would want a system that safeguards against abuse.
Many proponents also want male lawmakers to be with their families during the birth of a child.
Former Missouri state Rep. Peter Merideth had to speed home occasionally during his tenure after his young daughter developed epilepsy. While video calling into committees or voting remotely would not have solved all his family needs, it would have helped. “I would not want my representative to start doing that on a regular basis. I do think you miss a lot by not being there,” Merideth said. “But I wouldn’t want them to have to choose between a crisis situation at home and being able to be there for those of us that voted for them.” Associated Press writers Olivia Diaz, Andrew DeMillo and Steve Karnowski contributed to this report. The Associated Press’ women in the workforce and
“In Hawaii, we’re separated by water,” said Matsumoto, a Republican. “There’s different reps that have to fly in. So what works for Hawaii might not be the same for Oklahoma.”
Missing and Murdered Black Women and Girls Day on the Hill
Source: Minnesota Department of Public Safety
Mother Carrying Her Baby while Working Credits Sarah Chai/Pexels
At The Legislature
Education finance passes placeholder bill
By Brian Basham
The House Education Finance Committee approved a placeholder bill that is expected to eventually carry the omnibus education finance bill.
Committee approval on a placeholder bill can keep the committee “on track while we’re still negotiating,” said Rep. Cheryl Youakim (DFL-Hopkins), who co-chairs
the committee with Rep. Ron Kresha (R-Little Falls). “We’re really close to wrapping it up.”
The next stop for HF2433, as amended, is the House Ways and Means Committee, where it is expected to have the final package added via amendment following the Easter/Passover break.
Sponsored by Youakim, the bill as currently construed, would make adjustments to fiscal year 2025 edu-
cation appropriations enacted in the 2023 and 2024 legislative sessions to match forecast data.
The bulk of the adjustment would come in the form of a $53.31 million savings in general education aid funding, while the free school breakfast and lunch programs would receive an additional $18 million.
Forecast aid levels are the best estimates of the state aid required for each K-12 program
and appropriation. The most likely causes of forecast adjustments are changes in estimated pupil counts, a change in program participation or a change in the underlying inflation assumption for a program.
Kresha said the budget bill, when complete, will get an informational hearing with public testimony.
“We have a base of things that we’re building off of,” he said. “There’s some
agreement on that and we keep moving forward. So, we understand the process but also understand the need for the public input.”
Ethics committee takes no action, Tabke keeps District 54A seat
By Mike Cook
Any doubt about House membership staying at 67 DFLers and 67 Republicans may have finally been allayed.
The House Ethics Committee heard oral arguments Thursday and had member deliberations regarding the District 54A election contest narrowly won by Rep. Brad Tabke (DFL-Shakopee).
Ultimately, after a party-line vote defeated a motion to reject the election returns and declare a vacancy, a vote was approved by all four members for no recommendations.
“The burden of proof is on the petitioner to prove that the finding of fact is clearly erroneous,” said Rep. Kelly Moller (DFL-Shoreview), who co-chairs the committee with
Rep. Greg Davids (R-Preston).
“… What happened is troubling, no one can dispute that. But given what our role is here and the rules we’ve set out here, I don’t believe the petitioner has met his burden of proof.”
Acting as the petitioner, House Republican Floor Leader Harry Niska (R-Ramsey) emphasized the case is not about any improprieties by Tabke. “This matter is clearly about the House’s constitutional role to be the final judge of the returns and eligibility of its members. … This is purely about a very narrow legal issue about what to do with, frankly, undisputed facts.”
“Unprecedented,” is how attorney David Zoll, who represented Tabke at the hearing, described the request. “The Legislature has this authority, but it has never used it to reverse the
court’s conclusion and remove a seated member.
In a race with nearly 22,000 votes cast, Tabke beat Republican challenger Aaron Paul by 14 votes on Election
Day. However, an audit discovered there were 20 missing ballots from one precinct and one from another. “Scott County has come to the conclusion that the ballots were likely disposed of
$2.3 billion environment finance bill approved as co-chairs signal work will continue
By Tim Walker
The House Environment and Natural Resources Finance and Policy Committee unveiled its 2026-27 omnibus finance bill Thursday, but committee cochairs emphasized it is just a starting point. That much was clear by the approved delete-all amendment to HF2439, which is a $2.28 billion omnibus finance bill that contains no policy provisions. And it includes none of Gov. Tim Walz’s recommended operating adjustments to the Pollution Control Agency, the Department of Natural Resources, Board of Water and Soil Resources, and other agencies and boards the committee funds.
Approved by the committee, its next stop is the House Ways and Means Committee.
Both committee co-
chairs, Rep. Josh Heintzeman (R-Nisswa) and Rep. Peter Fischer (DFL-Maplewood), called it a “bare bones” bill that would meet the House deadline for committees to approve finance bills, but each also pledged they would continue to work to finalize the budget numbers and to agree on which policy bills heard earlier by the committee would eventually go into the bill.
“We will find the common ground that we need to find to get an agreement,” said Heintzeman, the bill sponsor. House leadership gave the committee a negative $10 million budget target compared to the February base.
As specified in both the amended bill and the two spreadsheets accompanying it, the committee has made some financial decisions, namely that the $10 million reduction would come in the form of: $5 million from a 2024 ap-
propriation to the DNR for enhancing prairies and grasslands and restoring wetlands on state-owned wildlife management areas; • $3 million from a 2025 appropriation to the PCA for a local government climate resiliency and water infrastructure grant program; and $2 million from a 2025 appropriation to the Board of Water and Soil Resources for conservation easements and restoration and enhancement for purposes of climate resiliency, adaptation, and carbon sequestration.
Public input came in the form of 17 letters to the committee and nearly a dozen in-person testifiers Thursday. The first three testifiers are leaders of the three agencies that would take the $10 million in cuts.
The frustrations DNR Commissioner Sarah Strommen has are similar to those
expressed by the heads of the Pollution Control Agency and Board of Water and Soil Resources.
Each said the cuts would have significant impacts that would be visible to the general public and be exacerbated by their agencies not receiving the governor’s recommended operating increases.
The governor recommends $16.9 million in the 2026-27 biennium to help the DNR adress operating cost increases.
“Without the governor’s proposed operating adjustment, Minnesotans will experience service erosion in the coming years,” Strommen said, citing reduced upkeep and cleaning of campgrounds and visitors’ centers in state parks, plus reduced camping seasons and park customer service hours.
Katrina Kessler, commissioner of the Pollution Con-
while they were in their secrecy envelopes, after being removed from their signature envelopes but before being tabulated,” County Attorney Ron Hocevar wrote in a Nov. 27 preliminary investigation summary.
Paul filed a lawsuit challenging the election results, in part, saying, “Scott County election officials unlawfully lost and failed to count significantly more ballots than would be needed to change the announced result of the election, meaning at the very least the actual victor is in absolute doubt and at worst the candidate who received fewer votes has been announced as the winner.”
After a two-day trial, including where six of the 12 voters chose to testify and say they voted for Tabke — six others said they voted for Paul — District Court Judge Tracy
Perzel ruled Jan. 14 the results stand. “There is no basis in fact or law for holding a special election,” she wrote. On Thursday, Niska argued, in part, that 20 voters were told they must come into court and publicly say whom they voted for else their vote may not count. Or is the result inconclusive because the number of missing ballots is larger than the winning margin?
“We think the answer under law is that that voter testimony cannot be used reliably and those voters cannot be put to the task of revealing who they voted for or losing the power of their vote,” he said. “ … The issue is what is the legal precedent we’re setting. … We shouldn’t be relying on their testimony to decide the election. This leaves us with an inconclusive election.”
trol Agency, said that without the governor’s recommended $12.16 million operational increase for 2026-27, the agency’s core work of issuing environmental permits, monitoring pollution and cleaning up contamination would be significantly slowed.
John Jaschke, director of the Minnesota Board of Water and Soil Resources, said the core work the board does to implement state soil and water conservation programs and wetland policies would be significantly reduced by the $2 million cut in 2025 funding, plus the
absence of the governor’s recommended $463,000 biennial increase for operational increases.
All three also expressed their willingness to work with the committee in the days ahead.
“I think there’s room for creativity here,” Kessler said. “I look forward to continued conversations with the committee about a mix of funding and policy proposals that can accomplish what I think we are all trying to do together.”
$776 million Legacy finance bill heads to Ways and Means Committee
By Todd Abeln
In a time of tight budgets, the House Legacy Finance Committee found itself in an enviable position. On Wednesday, the committee approved a budget proposal that would appropriate $776.12 million during the 2026-27 biennium from funds established through the Clean Water, Land and Legacy Amendment.
“We’re so lucky as a state to have these funds,” said Rep. Leon Lillie (DFL-North St. Paul). “You know as the budget tightens, let’s be clear. I mean, this stuff that was passed in this constitutional amendment would very easily be left on the sidelines. … So as a state, you know, to have the vision to pass this, you know, 15, 16 years ago or whatever to do it, put it on the ballot. It really showed a lot of vision.”
Sponsored by Rep. Samantha Vang (DFL-Brooklyn Center), a delete-all amendment to HF2563 was subsequently
amended and amended again, before approval. Its next stop is the House Ways and Means Committee.
[MORE: Written testimony, fiscal spreadsheet]
House Legacy Finance Committee 4/9/25
“I was never a big Legacy guy to begin with,” said Rep. Joe McDonald (R-Delano), a committee co-chair with Vang. “I voted against it in 2008 and only voted for one Legacy bill of my 14 years here. I am now a believer of the great things that this Legacy money has done over the years and particularly this session.”
Since July 1, 2009, a constitutional amendment has raised the state sales tax by 0.375% and dedicated that additional revenue to four funds: 33% for the Clean Water Fund; 33% for the Outdoor Heritage Fund: 19.75% for the Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund; and 14.25% for the Parks and Trails Fund.
Outdoor Heritage Fund
The Lessard-Sams
Outdoor Heritage Council recommends $162.11 million to
fund 51 projects throughout the state in fiscal year 2026. Outdoor Heritage Fund dollars include: $77.65 million for habitats, $33.43 million for prairies, $29.03 million for wetlands, $19.96 million for forests and $2.04 million for administration.
Clean Water Fund The Clean Water Fund would receive $144.63 million in fiscal year 2026 and $159.3 million in fiscal year 2027. Allocations include $139.34 million to the Board of Water and Soil Resources, $49.2 million to the Pollution Control Agency; $33.35 million to the Depart
House Ethics Committee Co-chair Rep. Greg Davids listens as Co-chair Rep. Kelly Moller asks a question at an April 10 meeting. The committee voted to take no action regarding the District 54A election. (Photo by Michele Jokinen)
Rep. Joe McDonald and Rep. Samantha Vang, co-chairs of the House Legacy Finance Committee, confer April 9 before presenting the omnibus legacy finance bill. (Photo by Andrew VonBank)
migrants crossing the U.S.Mexico border to steal jobs and sell drugs.
The president has similarly connected Black communities with crime. At an August 2024 rally in Atlanta, Georgia, Trump called the majority-Black city “a killing field.” The month prior, he said the same thing about Washington, D.C.
Primary targets History shows that in the U.S. moral panics are most likely to target Latino, Indigenous and Black communities as a precursor to surveillance and subjugation.
In the 18th century, Colonial politicians passed legislation likening the Indigenous people of the American colonies to “savages” and passed laws identifying Indigenous tribes as political enemies to be assimilated.
If “killing the Indian” out of people didn’t work, they were to be tracked down and removed from the population through imprisonment or death.
Another early form
aid — and behind every visit is a story: a working adult managing a chronic condition; a newborn in need of a healthy start; a
Deion “Coach Prime” Sanders and closed with a luncheon featuring Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson. AAMA remains the only national organization
of moral panics escalating to spying and mass surveillance were southern slave patrols, which emerged in the early 1700s after pro-slavery politicians proclaimed that Black escapees would terrorize white communities.
Slave patrols tracked down and captured not only Black escapees but also free Black people, whom they sold into bondage. They also imprisoned any person, enslaved or not, suspected of sheltering escapees.
Once a group of people becomes the subject of moral panics and targeted for government surveillance, our research shows, the effects are felt for generations.
Black and Indigenous communities are still arrested and incarcerated at disproportionately high rates compared with their percentage in the U.S. population. This even affects children, with Indigenous girls imprisoned at four times the rate of white girls, and Black girls at more than twice the rate of white girls.
Low-tech methods
These 21st-century numbers reflect decades of targeted surveillance. In the 1950s, the FBI
senior navigating complex care. Medicaid helps Minnesotans of all ages stay healthy, stay employed, and stay connected.
exclusively representing African American mayors. It continues to play a critical role in advancing public policy that benefits diverse communities, providing leadership and
under Director J. Edgar Hoover created the counter-intelligence programs COINTELPRO, allegedly for investigating communists and radical political groups, and the Ghetto Informant Program. In practice, both programs broadly targeted people of color. From Martin Luther King Jr. to U.S. Rep. John Lewis, Black activists were identified as a threat, spied on, investigated and sometimes jailed.
President Lyndon Johnson’s “war on crime,” a sweeping set of federal changes that militarized local police in urban communities, continued this mass surveillance in the 1960s. Later came the “war on drugs,” which an aide to President Richard Nixon later said was designed explicitly to target Black people.
In subsequent decades, politicians would stir up new moral panics about Black communities – remember the “crack babies” who never really existed? – and use fear to justify police surveillance, arrests and mass incarceration.
These early examples of mass surveillance lacked the technology that enables spying today, such as CCTV and hacked laptop cameras. Nonetheless, past U.S. administrations have
When it’s threatened, the consequences are immediate — and the human cost is far too high.” Find more informa-
management tools to local executives, and creating platforms for the exchange of ideas and strategies. “We are proud to bring together mayors who are on the frontlines of
been remarkably effective at achieving social control by creating moral panics then deploying mass surveillance to contain the “threat.” They enlisted droves of police officers, recruited informants to infiltrate groups and locked people away. These textbook surveillance methods are still routinely used now.
Police fusion centers
For many Americans, the term “mass surveillance” evokes the Department of Homeland Security, which was founded after the 9/11 terrorist attacks. This national agency, which forms part of a federal intelligence apparatus of more than 20 agencies focused on surveillance, has played a key role in mass surveillance since 2001, especially of Muslim Americans.
But it has local help in the form of police units known as fusion centers. These units feed identification information and physical evidence such as video footage to federal agencies such as the FBI and CIA, according to a 2023 whistleblower report from Rutgers Law School. The New Jersey Regional Operations Intelligence Center, for
tion about the impact of Minnesota’s Medicaid program at mn.gov/dhs/medicaid-matters.
transformative change in their cities,” AAMA leadership stated. “This conference is not just a celebration of Black leadership, but a launchpad for the policies and partnerships
example, is a police fusion center overseeing New York, New Jersey and Connecticut. It employs advanced military technology to gather massive amounts of personal data on people perceived as potential security threats. According to the Rutgers report, these “threats” are highly concentrated in Black, Latino and Arab communities, as well as areas with a high concentration of political organizing, such as Black Lives Matter groups and immigrant aid organizations.
The New Jersey police fusion approach leads to increased arrest rates, according to the report, but there’s no real evidence that it prevents crime or terrorism.
Guantanamo and black sites
Given Trump’s pledges to further militarize border enforcement and expand U.S. jails and prisons, we anticipate a rise in spending on fusion centers and other tools of mass surveillance under Trump.
The moral panics he’s been stirring up since 2015 suggest that the targets of government surveillance will include immigrants and Black people. Sometimes, victims of mass surveillance go missing. The Guardian
that will shape the future of our cities.”
reported in 2015 that Chicago police had been temporarily “disappearing” people at local and federal police “black sites” since at least 2009. At these clandestine jails, under the guise of national security, officers questioned detainees without attorneys and held them for up to 24 hours without any outside contact. Many of the victims were Black.
Another infamous black site was housed at the Guantanamo Bay military base in Cuba, where the CIA detained and secretly interrogated suspected terrorists following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Trump seems to be reviving the Guantanamo black site, flying about 150 Venezuelan migrants to the base since January 2025. It’s unclear whether the U.S. government can lawfully detain migrants there abroad, yet deportation flights continue. The administration has not shared the identities of many of the people imprisoned there.
Insight 2 Health
Family childcare homes face enormous hurdles
By Liz Bell, EdNC
Shalicia Jackson, also known as Shay, has done almost everything there is to do in early childhood education. Jackson has been an assistant childcare teacher, a lead teacher, a Head Start coordinator, a family advocate, and a social worker in public schools. She has worked in nonprofits and at the Durham Partnership for Children in North Carolina, training teachers to better support young children. She holds a bachelor’s degree in early childhood education and a master’s degree in social work. But when Jackson opened Modern Early Learning Academy in 2022, a fivestar family childcare home in Winston-Salem, she entered a new world. “One of the things I didn’t really have experience in was family childcare,” Jackson said on a sunny day in her backyard. “I knew they were out there, but they were — like we are now — invisible. We’re an invisible workforce.” Inside an industry on the brink of collapse, family childcare providers often feel even more devalued than their center-based counterparts. Family childcare homes, and licensed programs in providers’ residences, receive lower subsidy reimbursements than centers and lack opportunities to get North Carolina Pre-K funding. The statewide number of family childcare homes has dropped by 34% since 2018. Yet parents and children often prefer family childcare for its intimate environments, flexible scheduling, and cultural and linguistic relevance. Its business model is also more sustainable than models for center-based care in rural areas, experts say, since often there are not enough children of a certain age in a community to make up entire classrooms. In the years since the pandemic, regional and state efforts have formed to protect the state’s family childcare network, recruit new home-based providers, and provide training and advocacy opportunities.
Jackson’s program is the product of one of those efforts — a 2021 family childcare expansion project from Smart Start of Forsyth County of North Carolina focused on women of color interested in opening a program. Yet hers is the only surviving program of the five that received the project’s start-up grants. “This has been the most challenging yet rewarding career choice to date,” Jackson said. “That’s why I advocate — for the people that
came before me and those that will come after me. I have to do my due diligence, because, coming from wearing many different hats in this field, this right here, it’s very hard work.” With even more uncertainty facing childcare in the coming years, Jackson has made it her mission to bring more understanding, respect, and investment to family childcare, starting with her fellow local providers.
Balancing many roles It was Jackson’s experience as a parent that led her down this unexpected path. After moving from Durham to Winston-Salem for more affordable housing, Jackson planned to commute back to her job in Durham. But, like so many new parents returning to work, she couldn’t find childcare for her toddler son. “I was devastated.
Everywhere I called,” she said, the waitlist “was like six months to a year to beyond.” Her sister brought up the idea of opening a family childcare home. It could solve her childcare issue while letting her spend more time with her son. Plus, she had space and early childhood experience. Over the past three years, Jackson has discovered the job’s intensity and multidimensional demands. Family childcare providers are balancing several roles. They are the sole provider not only of care and education, but of food, transportation, and family support services. They are also administrators, making their own curriculum and assessment choices, and keeping up with licensing and reporting responsibilities. And they are business owners, managing the finances of their programs and collecting payments from families. “That is the challenge — wearing all those different hats and having to manage all of that,” Jackson said. “Instead of comparing family childcare providers to teachers, we need to be compared to directors.”
The very thing that got Jackson into family childcare — motherhood — has turned into one of the trickiest balancing acts, she said. Because of the state’s licensing rules, her son KJ occupies one of her facility’s licensed seats. But for three hours during the day, he instead attends another childcare program that recently opened. It was too challenging to create clear boundaries, for herself and her son, she said. “I found it really hard to balance being his mommy and being his teacher, and also he was having a really difficult time trying to manage being home and at
school, telling the difference,” she said. That means Jackson is losing out doubly, she said because she is paying for out-ofhome childcare but can’t enroll another child in her son’s place. Plus, as KJ enters kindergarten next year, Jackson is struggling with how to move forward. “My reason for opening is now going away,” Jackson said. “My wheels are turning.”
‘A seat at the table’ Though Jackson stumbled into family childcare for personal reasons, she has found a larger purpose in connecting with family childcare providers who have been in the field for decades. Understanding just how taxing the job is, Jackson wanted a space for others in her role to find support and understanding. She formed the Triad Self Care Support Group as that space, an in-person and online support group that provides fellowship, professional development, and a space to share stories, resources, and challenges.
More on childcare Jackson also shares advocacy tools and opportunities. She had just assembled members of the group to show up to a local conversation with elected officials and representatives from local institutions. By the end of the day, Jackson had a voicemail from a local Smart Start employee she had met at the event, asking how their efforts could include family childcare providers. “It is time for family childcare home providers to have a seat at the table with the people that are making decisions,” Jackson said. “We can no longer afford to sit back and just vent about it. We need to be solution-focused and start joining committees and organizations, start being a part of the communities that are making decisions — going out and showing face. Because if not, then we’re just going to keep being at the bottom of the bottom. They’re going to prioritize other things, and we’re just going to be left suffering again.” Jackson is serving as a member of the steering committee for the Pre-K Priority, a universal pre-K effort in Forsyth County that is expanding access but does not currently include family childcare homes as potential sites. She is also connected with the state chapter of the National Domestic Workers Alliance to advocate for early childhood investment at the state level. In November, she was awarded an NC Early Education Coalition’s
Child Care Heroes award for her advocacy as a family child care provider.
“In my journey of advocacy, I have learned that although I have won various roles within the early childhood field, and have a master’s degree, anyone can be a change agent without needing big titles or degrees, but rather a willingness to raise their voice and advocate for what they believe in,” Jackson said while accepting that award. “Parents and childcare providers play a crucial role in determining what is best for their children. Their guidance and decision-making skills are nothing short of heroic, making them the real heroes. We must recognize their invaluable contributions and amplify their voices.” The children inside her home, and the families she treats as extensions of her own, are the core of the community Jackson has created. “Childcare is my ministry,” Jackson said. “It’s where I was led to. The universe led me here. They keep me going, just to see their improvement, to see the parents happy. That keeps me hopeful.”
‘Not on a good path’ The story of one of the families Jackson has served has stuck with her through her journey of caregiving, educating, and advocating. It’s the story of Cayden and Samantha Black. Cayden attended Jackson’s program after his previous childcare facility closed because of staffing shortages. The program gave the family 30 days to find another arrangement. “They came to me in desperate need,” Jackson said. Fortunately, she had an open spot. Cayden thrived in the program. “I thought it was just heaven there,” said Black, Cayden’s mom. “He was at big daycares, where there’s a lot of children and only one teacher. With Ms.
Shay, it was her and only five other kids. So, they all got oneon-one time, and it was more of a home setting. And he liked that.” Both Black and Jackson could tell how much Cayden was growing. “He learned so much there for like the year he was there than he did over the three years he was at the other place,” Black said. After working full-time in retail and at an auto shop, Black went on maternity leave to have her second child. Colt was born with complicated health issues, which made it even harder for Black to find childcare.
At the time, Jackson did not have an opening or the capacity to care for a child with a medical condition. Black said she did everything she could to keep Cayden in Jackson’s program. Her in-laws pitched in to help pay for him to stay. But as she kept facing rejections for a spot for Colt, she could no longer afford to keep Cayden in care without returning to work. “My husband is the only one working,” Black said. “He’s a mechanic. He loves his job, but they do not get paid well.” Black is now struggling to meet her children’s needs as a stayat-home mother. She not only wants childcare access to work but wants to ensure her children can learn. “I feel bad because he needs friends,” she said of Cayden. “He needs the structure of school.” Black said Cayden was heartbroken to leave Jackson’s program. Jackson felt the same way. “I had developed a relationship, and I’d seen so much progress with Cayden,” she said. “That is when it hit me, I was devastated. I was like, this infrastructure of this childcare system is definitely not on a good path. And there needs to be something done. Her story has always stuck with me. I wish there was something that I could have done more to sup-
port the family.”
‘I wish I had an answer’ Jackson is committed to doing her part to fix that broader infrastructure, which she knows is at risk of collapsing further. Jackson opened her program while the state was sending stabilization grants with federal funds from the American Rescue Plan Act. Though the job has been challenging, those funds have made it possible. “There is no way that I would have been able to sustain my business to be open this long without the help and support of the stabilization grant and some of the local grants,” she said. Those funds officially ended, and providers are looking toward state legislators to extend them this session. If not, about one in five childcare programs are expected to close within a year, according to a survey from the NC Child Care Resource & Referral Council. Prices for parents are also likely to increase. Jackson is afraid to face either of those possibilities. She considers herself lucky to have a spouse who helps her financially and emotionally. She is looking for other ways to make ends meet without the burden falling on her parents.
“I definitely don’t want to increase those prices, because it’s not fair to my family,” she said. “I do feel like if I just add, like one or two kids for my second shifts, maybe do Uber Eats or something like that, maybe that will help kind of supplement … I don’t know. I wish I had an answer. I’m gonna try to stay in as long as I possibly can. I’m gonna try to maintain.”
Editor’s note: Since this story was first reported, Jackson has had to close Modern Early Learning Academy.
Tainted, toxic, and troubling: Recalls spike nationwide
By Stacy M. Brown BlackPressUSA.com
Senior National Correspondent
It may feel like every day brings news of another product recall—from baby carrots and cold cuts to LED bear lights and adjustable dumbbells—and you’re not imagining it. The avalanche of food and consumer safety alerts is real, and it’s happening against a backdrop of deep federal cuts and deregulation under the Trump administration. For Black Americans and other vulnerable communities, the consequences of these safety lapses hit harder, from the dinner table to the workplace and beyond. The latest food recall involves Panaderia Salvadorian Inc., which pulled its Quesadilla de Queso bread off shelves in Rhode Island and Massachusetts due to undeclared milk allergens. The product, sold in 14-ounce clear plastic packages, failed to properly list milk among its ingredients, posing a potentially life-threatening risk to individuals with allergies. No illnesses have been reported, but the Rhode Island Department of Health flagged
the mislabeling during a routine inspection. The company cited a packaging breakdown as the cause and claims the issue has been resolved.
Just days earlier, Fresh Creative Foods recalled Trader Joe’s Hot Honey Mustard Dressing sold in 17 states due to undeclared peanuts, soy, sesame, and wheat—another oversight that could prove fatal for allergy sufferers. Meanwhile, Frito-Lay yanked select bags of Tostitos Cantina Traditional Yellow Corn Tortilla Chips after discovering some bags contained nacho cheese chips, again with undeclared milk. Additionally, The FDA said more than 1,700 pounds of Cabot Creamery butter is being recalled because it is “contaminated with elevated levels of coliform,” a bacterium prevalent in animals’ digestive systems and excrement. The recalled butter is distributed in New York, Pennsylvania, Vermont, Maine, Connecticut, New Hampshire, and Arkansas. According to the recall notice, the Cabot butter product is packaged in cardboard shells holding two fourounce sticks. The possibly tainted batch expires on September 9, 2025. Just as alarming is the recall from Walker’s Wine Juice
LLC, which pulled its pumpkin juice due to potential botulism contamination. The New York State Department of Agriculture discovered improper pH levels posed a serious foodborne illness risk during processing. While no illnesses have been reported, the threat of botulism— an often fatal toxin—shows a breakdown in quality control. And it’s not just food. Recent consumer product recalls underscore mounting dangers:
Five Below’s Room2Room LED Iridescent Bear Lights were pulled after 28 overheating incidents, including six burns and two cases of property damage. Vivitar Blender Bottles, sold at Target, could allow the blades to run without the bottle attached, posing a laceration hazard.
• AliExpress’ LVOE Hair Dryers are under recall for lacking shock protection, which could potentially cause electrocution if dropped in water.
• HONEYJOY Highchairs, sold on Amazon, violated federal regulations with their dangerous incline—posing suffocation risks. Gerolsteiner Sparkling Wa-
ter bottles from Trader Joe’s were recalled due to risks of cracking and lacerations. Supercan Bulk’s Pig Ear Slivers pet treats tested positive for salmonella, endangering both pets and humans. The Trump administration’s sweeping layoffs at the Department of Health and Human Services—announced as part of efforts to “shrink the federal government”—have only fueled these safety failures. Among those fired were leadership staff at the FDA’s Center for Veterinary Medicine, essential for overseeing food safety, especially during crises like the ongoing bird flu outbreak affecting nearly 1,000 U.S. dairy cat-
tle herds. Federal health officials have warned against the dangers of consuming raw milk, which could carry the H5N1 bird flu virus. Still, Trump’s health secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a vocal proponent of raw milk, has slashed oversight capacity at a time when coordination is crucial. “You chop off the head of the leadership, and now we have to reinvent that wheel,” said one health official. “That’s not in our best interest.” The ripple effects of weakened federal protections are already being felt by millions, especially in Black communities, which are more likely to suffer from environmental and health disparities. From the closing of community grocers to
job losses in federal food safety and healthcare programs, many called the pain personal and pervasive. For consumers, the advice remains constant: Read labels, monitor recall alerts, and return or destroy recalled items. However, as oversight continues to erode, so does public trust in the institutions meant to protect consumers. “If your product is unsafe, it shouldn’t be on the market. Period,” said Dr. Janet Woodcock, former acting FDA commissioner, during a recent panel on public health accountability. “And when government agencies are gutted, the people paying the price are the ones least able to afford it.”
Shalicia Jackson reads a book to children at Modern Early Learning Academy, her family childcare home in Winston-Salem. Photo by: Liz Bell, EdNC
Arts & Culture
Davido’s ‘5ive’ welcomes the Afrobeats megastar into an era of change and growth
By Gary Gerard Hamilton, Associated Press
NEW YORK (AP) — Afrobeats may be the hot sound of the moment, but Davido remembers a very recent past when music from Africa wasn’t embraced globally, amid a perception the continent was one of only destitute poverty and primitive lands.
“I remember when Africans used to lie that they were Jamaicans,” laughed the Atlanta-born “Fall” singer, who grew up between the U.S. and Nigeria. “The narrative has immensely changed. And thanks to the people who are behind this, because it’s not governments … it’s the innovators. The musicians. The entertainers. The lawyers. The doctors in America, pushing the narrative of being African.”
The Grammy-nominated artist, who has multiple 100 million-streamed songs on Spotify and is often credited as playing a vital role in the global expansion of Afrobeats, drops his new album, “5ive,” on Friday. Following 2023’s
“Timeless,” the 17-track project boasts an international flare with features from Grammy winners Chris Brown and Victoria Monét, as well as Becky G and Afrobeats heavyweights Omah Lay and Victony. Davido began with 80 potential songs, then crowdsourced opinions from family and friends, using a ranking system to help curate the album.
Suffering heartbreak in 2022 after his three-year-old son died from a drowning accident, the 32-year-old now looks at life with new perspective.
“My life was going so fast ... now, things are clearer,” said Davido, who now has five living children. “After the crazy loss we had, God gave us twins: a boy and a girl. So, life is just different now — the importance of family and good people around you. I feel like the energy is very, very important, and I feel like that energy is what I used to record this album.”
The Associated Press spoke with the megastar about the popularity of Afrobeats, unity and inspiring through grief. The conversation has been edit-
ed for clarity and brevity.
AP: What’s the album title’s significance?
DAVIDO: It’s my fifth album. But after I called it “5ive,” I went to go and do more research on the number five and what it entails, which is a symbol of hope, grace, change, growth.
AP: How can Afrobe-
ats not be looked at as a fad once the excitement dwindles?
DAVIDO: Not over-loving the conception of Western validation … one song blows up, two songs blows up — only two songs — and they are running to America to do a tour. What happened to Ibado? What happened to the other places in Nigeria?
The most important thing that will make us last longer is if we don’t forget where we came from.
AP: The women of Afrobeats seem united, but it hasn’t been that way for the men. Can that change? (Competition, social media jabs and friction between camps have strained the relationship between the genre’s biggest stars, Davido, Burna Boy and Wizkid.)
DAVIDO: Recently, the conversation has been had … when I see Bad Bunny working with Peso (Pluma), and Peso working with Farruko, I’m like, yo, there’s so much unity. Imagine if all of us came together and busted out a tour? … We’re older now, we are more mature, so I feel like maybe in the greatest future, you might see that happen.
AP: How do you feel about non-Africans adopting the sound?
DAVIDO: They can’t do it better than us! I say this to Chris (Brown) every time we play around, I’m like, “Chris, I can’t sing R&B like you, but
never in your life can you sing Afrobeats like me!” (laughs) I don’t see any problem with it as long as it’s done right and everybody’s credit is due … at least come use an African producer.
AP: Has your approach to making music changed since suffering an unimaginable loss?
DAVIDO: Music-wise, I don’t think it changed a bit because when I get to my artist mode, nothing distracts me. … When I dropped the “Timeless” album and everything went crazy — like, the most streamed album in the (first) week in Africa ever — we celebrated the album with the people that were with us when we were in trying times. I feel like that was the beauty of it. And apart from that, I just want people to just look at my story and know that you can overcome anything. Follow Associated Press entertainment journalist Gary Gerard Hamilton at @ GaryGHamilton on all his social media platforms.
Federal judge finds ‘probable cause’ to hold Trump administration in contempt
A legal scholar explains what this means
By Cassandra Burke Robertson Professor of Law and Director of the Center for Professional Ethics, Case Western Reserve University
A battle between the Trump administration and federal courts over the deportation of more than 100 immigrants to a prison in El Salvador intensified on April 16, 2025. U.S. District Court Judge James Boasberg released an opinion saying that he had “probable cause” to hold members of the administration in criminal contempt. That potentially dramatic action was in response to the White House disobeying Boasberg’s March 15 order to halt flights taking those immigrants to El Salvador.
“The Government’s actions on that day demonstrate a willful disregard for its Order,” the 46-page, April 16 opinion says.
Amy Lieberman, a politics editor at The Conversation U.S., spoke with Cassandra Burke Robertson, a legal scholar at Case Western Reserve University, to better understand Boasberg’s decision.
What exactly did Judge Boasberg do in this memorandum opinion?
Boasberg is saying there is evidence that the Trump administration has not complied with the court’s order to return the deportees, and that it may have intentionally flouted that order. He is making a finding of probable cause, meaning that the court needs to dig a little deeper to find out what happened and why the government, in this case, apparently did not comply with the court order.
It’s not too late for the government to comply. One option for the government is called “purging the contempt,” meaning the administration complies with the court order and brings the individuals who were sent to El Salvador back into U.S. custody. If the administration does that, there will not be any further contempt proceedings. Normally, that would be attractive to the government in this position.
If the government chooses not to bring the detainees back into U.S. custody, then the probable cause finding means there is going to be an investigation overseen by the court.
But nobody has been found in contempt, yet.
The next step is taking evidence about what happened, including declarations from government officials. If needed, the court may also order, Boasberg wrote, “hearings with live witness testimony under oath or to depositions conducted by Plaintiffs.” The goal is to find out who ordered what, when
and why. Then the court can decide whether someone within the government is responsible for flouting the court order.
Boasberg is giving the administration until April 23 to respond. By that date, the government must either, first, explain the steps it has taken to seek to return the individuals to U.S. custody. Or, second, it can identify the individuals who decided not to halt the transfer of the detainees out of U.S. custody, after the court ruled that they should not be transferred.
If Boasberg holds government
officials in contempt, what happens next? It is definitely not clear who Boasberg would hold in contempt. Part of what Boasberg is doing is figuring out who the relevant decision-makers are and what they might have ordered. The next step is to take discovery on those issues and to make a finding about who is responsible. With rare exceptions, a contempt case is prosecuted in the same court whose order was violated. Under the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure, a prosecutor is responsible for charging the defendants,
once identified, with contempt. Those charges, like any criminal case, would need to be proved beyond a reasonable doubt. Issuing sanctions isn’t something Boasberg can just decide – there is a process. Normally, a prosecutor in a case like this would be from the Department of Justice. In Boasberg’s opinion, he acknowledged that the Department of Justice might decline to prosecute. Federal rules allow the judge to appoint a different prosecutor if the government declines to prosecute or if “the interest of justice requires the appointment of another attorney.”
One big question is, can the president pardon contempt? Notably, Trump has done so before, when he pardoned Sheriff Joe Arpaio for defying a court order requiring him to stop his immigration patrols. However, some scholars have argued that such pardons may violate the Constitution’s separation of powers.
What is the punishment for contempt?
The two most common punishments would typically be a term of incarceration, or monetary sanctions. I suspect monetary sanctions are easier to enforce here than jail time. It is so uncommon to hold any government official in contempt. Usually, the government would very quickly change direction to come into compliance to avoid the risk of any government official being sent to jail or any financial penalties being levied.
In the past, courts rarely needed to sentence government officials, because once there was a probable cause finding, the government would comply with what the judge was asking. Researcher Nicholas Perillo found “many examples of agencies shifting toward compliance on being faced with a mere contempt motion,” so that sanctions were not needed.
There aren’t a lot of cases where a judge has tried to enforce sanctions against a member of the government. In fact, only two federal officials –in 1951 – have ever been incarcerated for contempt, and they only spent a few hours in jail.
The Supreme Court found
that the deportees’ case was not supposed to be heard in Boasberg’s court. Does Boasberg still have the authority to hold the government in contempt? Boasberg had to address this, because the government also raised the issue. Boasberg points out the Supreme Court has historically said that when a party is faced with a court order, it has to comply with that court order until it gets relief on appeal. It cannot just ignore an order it believes a court should not have issued. Here, the government had an obligation to comply with the order to return the Venezuelan immigrants sent to prison in El Salvador, even as it appealed the case to a higher court. And that is what is the issue here – that it failed to comply.
Have government officials ever been held in contempt of court before, and does this case differ from other cases? It’s not a rare remedy in general–every year, many litigants are held in contempt and even jailed for refusing to comply with court orders. It’s especially common in child support and custody proceedings. But it’s very rare for government officials to be held in contempt of court. One was the Arpaio case. Another case involved a Kentucky clerk who refused to issue marriage licenses for same-sex couples and was held in contempt. She spent six days in jail before she was released on the condition that she wouldn’t interfere with her deputies granting the licenses.
There has been talk of the U.S. edging into a constitutional crisis with this development. Does this order show that a crisis is already happening? Any time the government fails to comply with a court order, I think we risk a constitutional crisis. But I believe that contempt proceedings are a way to show the strength of the Constitution. The contempt power has been around for as long as federal courts in the U.S. have been around, since 1789. This is fundamental to our constitutional system. If a litigant does not obey a court order, courts have power to enforce those orders.
PepsiCo
By Stacy M. Brown
Rev. Al Sharpton met Tuesday morning with PepsiCo leadership at the company’s global headquarters in Purchase, New York, following sharp criticism of the food and beverage giant’s decision to scale back nearly $500 million in diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives. The more than hourlong meeting included PepsiCo Chairman Ramon Laguarta and Steven Williams, CEO of PepsiCo North America, and was held within the 21-day window Sharpton had given the company to respond. Sharpton was joined by members of the National Action Network (NAN), the civil rights organization he founded and leads. “It was a constructive conversation,”
Sharpton said after the meeting.
“We agreed to follow up meetings within the next few days. After that continued dialogue,
NAN Chairman Dr. W. Franklyn Richardson and I, both former members of the company’s
African American Advisory Board, will make a final determination and recommendation to the organization on what we will do around PepsiCo moving forward, as we continue to deal with a broader swath of corporations with whom we will either boycott or buy-cott.”
Sharpton initially raised concerns in an April 4 letter to Laguarta, accusing the company of abandoning its equity commitments and threatening a boycott if PepsiCo did not meet within three weeks. PepsiCo announced in February that it would no longer maintain specific goals for minority representation in its management or among its suppliers — a move that drew criticism from civil rights advocates. “You have walked away from equity,” Sharpton wrote at the time, pointing to the dismantling of hiring goals and community partnerships as clear signs that “political pressure has outweighed principle.” PepsiCo did not issue a statement following Tuesday’s meeting. The company joins a growing list of major corporations — including Walmart and Target — that have scaled back internal DEI
Donald Trump returned to office. Trump has eliminated DEI programs from the federal government and warned
By Stacy M. Brown BlackPressUSA.com
“Good on them for trying to organize—it needs to happen.” Target’s problems aren’t just anecdotal. The numbers reflect a company in crisis. The retail giant has logged 10 straight
launched similar weeklong actions against Walmart and announced upcoming boycotts of Amazon (May 6–12), Walmart again (May 20–26), and Mc
Target is spiraling as consumer boycotts intensify, workers push to unionize, and the company faces mounting financial losses following its rollback of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives. With foot traffic plummeting, stock prices at a five-year low, and employee discontent boiling over, national civil rights leaders and grassroots organizers are vowing to escalate pressure in the weeks ahead. Led by Georgia pastor Rev. Jamal Bryant, a 40-day “Targetfast” aligned with the Lenten season continues to gain traction. “This is about holding companies accountable for abandoning progress,” Bryant said, as the campaign encourages consumers to shop elsewhere. Groups like the NAACP, the National Newspaper Publishers Association, and The People’s Union USA are amplifying the effort, organizing mass boycotts and strategic buying initiatives to target what they call corporate surrender to bigotry. Meanwhile, Target’s workforce is in an open revolt. On Reddit, self-identified employees described mass resignations, frustration with meager pay raises, and growing calls to unionize. “We’ve had six people give their two-week notices,” one worker wrote. “A rogue team member gathered us in the back room and started talking about forming a union.” Others echoed the sentiment, with users posting messages like, “We’ve been talking about forming a union at my store too,” and
weeks of falling in-store traffic. In February, foot traffic dropped 9% year-over-year, including a 9.5% plunge on February 28 during the 24-hour “economic blackout” boycott organized by The People’s Union USA. March saw a 6.5% decline compared to the previous year. Operating income fell 21% in the most recent quarter, and the company’s stock (TGT) opened at just $94 on April 14, down from $142 in January before the DEI cuts and subsequent back lash. The economic backlash is growing louder online, too.
“We are still boycot ting Target due to them bending to bigotry by eroding their DEI programs,” posted the activist group We Are Somebody on April 14. “Target stock has gone down, and their projections re main flat. DEI was good for business. Do the right thing.” Former congresswoman Nina Turner, a senior fellow at The New School’s Institute on Race, Power and Political Economy, wrote, “Boycotts are effective. Boycotts must have a demand. We will continue to boycott un til our demands are met.” More action is on the horizon. Anoth er Target boycott is scheduled for June 3–9, part of a broader campaign targeting corpora tions that have abandoned DEI initiatives under pressure from right-wing politics and recent executive orders by President Donald Trump. The People’s Union USA, which led the Feb ruary 28 boycott, has already
after an insulting raise. “Quit last year when they gave me a 28-cent raise. Best decision I’ve ever made.” From store floors
to boardrooms, the pressure is growing on Target. And as calls for justice, equity, and worker rights get louder, one worker put
Gilroy, CA, USA - July, 16 2008: Target Store at dusk. Target, an American big box retailer, is the anchor tenant for this new shopping center.
Popesti-Leordeni, Romania. 10th July, 2024: The PepsiCo
Radical conversation, connection, and inspiration
Blk Powerhouse Summit
By Troy Johnson
If you believe in the power of Black storytelling, you need to attend the Blk Powerhouse Summit, a one-of-a-kind virtual event that centers Black professionals and creatives across the book industry for a full day of radical conversation,
connection, and inspiration. The Summit is Online (via Zoom) April 25, 2025. Use Code “aalbc” for 10% ticket discount.
AALBC Book
Reviews
My Bully, My Aunt, and Her Final Gift by Harold Phifer
“Phifer’s memoir is a bold, funny, and cringe worthy look at his childhood under the thumb of his domineering aunt. From church shenanigans to family drama, Phifer’s wit and resilience shine through, capturing the chaotic, painful,
and ultimately empowering lessons of his life with Aunt Kathy.”
Happy Land by Dolen Perkins-Valdez
In Happy Land, Nikki’s journey to uncover the truth about her family’s mysterious past leads her to a long-lost American kingdom.
As she learns about her ancestors’ ties to royalty and freedom, Nikki must confront buried secrets and fight to protect her family’s legacy before it vanishes forever.
Fish Tales: A Novel by Nettie Jones
Leo’s Path to Success
By W.D. Foster-Graham Book Review Editor
By A.J. Briscoe
As the event planner for the Minnesota Black Author’s Expo, it’s an honor to share the creative space with other Black authors and poets, as I did last Saturday at the George Latimer Library in downtown St. Paul. The energy was positive, from the staff to
In Fish Tales, Nettie Jones delivers a dazzling and scandalous tale of sex, power, and desire set against the vibrant backdrop of 1970s New York and Detroit. Through the wild escapades of Lewis Jones, a party girl navigating love, freedom, and self-destruction, this provocative novel explores the blurred lines of identity, race, and intimacy.
Prose to the People: A Celebration of Black Bookstores by Katie Mitchell
A visually stunning tribute to Black bookstores across America, celebrating
the Friends of the Library to Literacy Minnesota to St. Paul’s mayor, Melvin Carter III. We each had the opportunity to share our stories, on our terms, and our lived experiences.
In the theme of Saturday’s event “Bringing Black Books to Life,” we brought our collective creativity to promote literacy and diversity in our work, as represented by several participating children’s authors. That being said, it is my good pleasure to bring back to you the founder of To Succeed You Must Read, A.J. Briscoe and his children’s book, Leo’s Path to Success.
Our story opens with Leo, who loves soccer and hanging out with friends, but doesn’t like school, and it shows
their rich history, activism, and cultural significance. Curated by Katie Mitchell, this book features essays, poems, and interviews by renowned writers like Kiese Laymon and Pearl Cleage, offering powerful insights into these vital community spaces.
Spilling the Tea by Brenda Jackson Ninety-something
Mama Laverne is determined to find perfect matches for her great-grandchildren. When Chance Madaris meets Zoey Pritchard, their instant attraction leads them down a path filled
up in his grades. Though he tries to rationalize his mediocre academics, he still wishes he could get good grades like his classmates. His parents offer him encouragement to help him do better in school, and together with his teacher, they create a plan for improvement.
It is said, “it takes a village to raise a child,” and Leo’s village becomes his family, friends, and teacher though a planner, study tips, and discipline. At the end of the day, his improved grades prove that “hard work pays off.”
This is Briscoe’s first children’s book, and it embodies the work he does with his organization. During the Expo, he made the point of encouraging academic
Community
Como Zoo mourns the death of Nyati, a western lowland gorilla
Como Park Zoo & Conservatory announced the passing of Nyati, a western lowland gorilla born at Como Zoo in October 2017. Nyati was humanely euthanized on Tuesday, April 15, following a final medical assessment that confirmed a significant decline in her quality of life due to long-term neurological complications.
Nyati’s medical challenges began in 2020 when she was diagnosed with Baylisascaris procyonis (Baylis), a parasitic infection likely contracted through environmental exposure at a young age. Although successfully treated, the parasite caused permanent brain lesions that led to progressive degeneration, primarily affecting her coordination, mobility, and motor skills.
Over the past five years, Como Zoo’s veterinary and animal care teams provided Nyati with extensive support, including targeted medications, physical therapy, environmental modifications, and consultations with outside specialists.
“Nyati was deeply loved, not just by her care team, but by everyone who
came to know her,” said Wes Sims, Director of Animal Care and Health at Como Zoo. “Her life was shaped by medical challenges, but also by resilience, thoughtful care, and compassion. The decision to let her go was extremely difficult, but it was the most humane option for her.”
Nyati was a member of Como Zoo’s family troop of western lowland gorillas. She was the daughter of Schroeder and Alice, and lived alongside her parents and fellow troop members: females Nne and Dara, and Dara and Schroeder’s offspring, Arlene.
“Nyati had a gentle presence and a quiet strength,” said Jill Erzar, Senior Zookeeper. “Even with her limitations, she continued to interact with her family and move through her space in her own way. She taught us a great deal about patience, adaptation, and care.”
Nyati remained under anesthesia during her final procedure to ensure she experienced no additional stress. The euthanasia was conducted following updated imaging and veterinary evaluations, which confirmed that her condition had significantly worsened.
Nyati spent her final days with access to the outdoors, surrounded by her gorilla family and closely monitored for comfort and wellbeing.
Western lowland gorillas like Nyati and her family are native to central
and western Africa and are listed as critically endangered. They face numerous threats in the wild, including habitat loss, poaching, and disease
outbreaks such as Ebola. Como Zoo is proud to participate in conservation efforts and Species Survival Plan (SSP) programs to help protect and preserve this
incredible species.
The entire Como Park Zoo & Conservatory team extends its gratitude to the community for the ongoing
with family secrets, love, and Mama Laverne’s clever matchmaking.
102 New Books by Black authors are coming out soon. We maintain curated lists of recently published and soon-to-be-released books— check these pages regularly to discover your next great read Your paid subscriptions, book purchases, and spreading the word help us celebrate Black culture through books. Contact: 15310 Amberly Dr. Ste 250, Tampa, FL 336473501
competition in the community and the success that good grades bring, to give the children who are stars academically the same props we give star athletes. Sports may have an expiration date, but what we learn academically will always be with us; we can always learn more. In his words, “Children’s books that teach messages to build character!”
Leo’s Path to Success is available through his website, www.stompentertainment.com.
Thank you, A.J., for the encouragement and empowerment you give in your work and in your stories. This is what legacy is all about.
support and to the dedicated staff who worked tirelessly to provide Nyati with the best life possible.
Lucas Giambelluca President, Bank of America Twin Cities
