http://www.nnpa.org/news/lead/black-unemployment-rate-rose-slightly-in-june-by-freddie-allen/
http://www.nnpa.org/news/lead/mary-alice-thatch-from-janitor-to-nnpa-publisher-of-the-year-by-george-e-curry/
MEDIA
CASH IN THE APPLE
7-11-13
By Cash Michaels
CONGRATULATIONS
– Congratulations to publisher Mary
Alice Jervay Thatch of The Wilmington
Journal in Wilmington, NC for being chosen 2013 Publisher of the
Year by the National Newspaper Publisher’s Association recently during their
annual convention in Nashville, Tennessee. Mrs. Thatch spearheaded the drive to
get pardons for the Wilmington Ten last year, helping to make significant civil
rights history in the process.
Mrs.
Thatch has worked hard, and sacrificed a lot to make the Journal a black newspaper
that the community can be proud of. She more than deserves this honor.
Congratulations.
BOX OFFICE DISASTERS – The summer
is not even halfway over yet, and already movie studios are licking their
wounds because of some big time failures at the box office.
The
most recent is Disney Studio’s $250 million “The Lone Ranger,” starring
superstar Johnny Depp and Armie Hammer. A high-priced tag flick
like this is supposed to gross at least $90 million in its opening weekend,
given all of the press and publicity.
Instead,
over the five-day July 4th holiday weekend, the masked man and his
faithful Indian companion Tonto (Depp) barely scared up $49 million, while the
animated feature “Despicable Me 2” rang the cash registers strong with $140
million for the same period.
Just
the weekend before, the highly-touted “White House Down” starring Jamie Foxx as the president of the
United States, and Channing Tatum as
a Secret Service agent wannabe who protects Foxx from terrorists, opened at
around $28 million at the box office, even though it cost around $150 million
to make.
And,
of course, folks are still talking about how actor Will Smith and his son, Jaden,
fell on their family faces with the space drama, “After Earth,” which failed to
get audiences in the seats, and also lost money as a result.
When
big movies like these go down, that usually means we’ll get less of them. For sure, given these losses to the
studios, the suits will take a harder look at scripts and budget requests, as
well as start knocking stars’ multi-million salary demands down.
Indeed,
Disney had balked about the ballooning budget for “The Lone Ranger,” and had
actually shut the picture down during production because of spiraling costs.
Should
have listened to the accountants, mouse-ear boys.
The
bottomline is with movie tickets going up and up, audiences are real picky
about what they’ll pay top dollar to see. “Iron Man 3,” “The Avengers,” “Man of
Steel,” “World War Z,” these flicks did well when released because audiences
knew what they were getting. The marketing on these films was brilliant.
The
marketing was good on the failures too, and yet the audience decided, “No
thanks.”
Thank
goodness for Redbox. Renting DVDs for a buck at the supermarket is a welcomed
treat. If I’m going to pay to watch a bad movie, at least let me have all the
comforts of home at my disposal.
CNN TACKLES THE ‘N-WORD – The televised George Zimmerman trial is spurring a lot of discussion on social
media, and I’m sure in the barbershops and beauty salons as well. And the
recent controversy concerning cookmaster Paula
Deen’s alleged use of the n-word has also caused a lot a talk.
One of those public discussions has
been the prevalent use of the n-word in popular culture, and why does it seem
that it’s alright for black rappers to liberally use the ugly, racially-charged
term, but when white Southern belle Paula Deen allegedly brandishes the slur,
the whole world turns its back on her?
That was part of the discussion
last week during a surprisingly frank CNN special titled, “The N-Word” hosted
by CNN weekend anchor Don Lemon. To
their credit, CNN had a decent panel on to discuss the topic. But the one who
stood out to me was actor LeVar Burton,
known best from “Roots” and “Star Trek: The Next Generation.”
Burton talked about how anytime he’s
stopped by law enforcement, he takes off his hat and sunglasses, lays them down
on the seat next to him, rolls down his driver’s side window, and places both
hands outside where the police officer can see them.
Burton said that as a black man in
America, he has to do this in order to make sure he doesn’t accidentally
provoke the officer to react negatively.
And we all know how that could end
up.
The discussion was deep and
interesting, and I hope that CNN, as well as MSNBC and other cable outlets, also
produce programs where the issues of race can be more deeply explored (to be
fair, Prof. Melissa Harris-Perry does and excellent job every weekend on MSNBC).
Good job, CNN (at least on this
one).
CNN’S “NEW DAY’ OLD STUFF – I believe that I have given CNN’s new
daily morning show, “New Day” a fair chance to win me over. It’s been on the
air for three weeks now, meaning that they’ve had long enough to get their act
together.
My
verdict? Not worth the hype.
“New
Day” anchors Chris Cuomo (late from
ABC News and “Good Morning America”), Kate
Bolduan (formerly a WTVD-TV general assignment reporter, a CNN general
assignment reporter and co-anchor of CNN’s “The Situation Room”), and news
anchor Michaela Pereira (formerly
the awardwinning cohost of “KTLA Morning News” in Los Angeles for nine years)
try to keep it alert and lively, but the problem is we’ve seen all of this
before by people who, quite frankly, are doing it better now.
I
mean, after all, there’s a reason why Robin
Roberts and George Stephanopoulos are a solid Number One over at ABC’s
“Good Morning America.” They’ve got the chemistry thing down right. No such
chemistry exists on CNN’s “New Day.”
Cuomo
has always come off as a stiff truck driver from the Bronx. Yeah he’s good
looking, but his personality is not that of a leader, like Matt Lauer over at NBC’s beleaguered “Today Show,” or even Charlie Rose at the up-and-coming “CBS
This Morning.”
Bolduan
lacks fire and appeal of any sort, the kind that Soledad O’Brien brought to the table when she anchored the
pre-cursor program to “New Day” called “Starting Point.” The show under O’Brien
failed because CNN did little to promote it or beef it up, and yet some of the
best political interviews during the 2012 presidential elections weren’t on
MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” but by O’Brien on “Starting Point.”
It
was O’Brien who got Republican Mitt
Romney to admit that he wasn’t concerned about poor people, and she would
routinely nail Republicans to the wall when they would come on her show and
start some jive.
Since leaving CNN earlier this year, O’Brien has started her
own production company, and been hired by HBO’s “Real Sports” and the new Al
Jazeera news channel. Talk about landing on your feet.
Kate
Bolduan – who has no distinguishing qualities, she’s just there - couldn’t
shine Soledad O’Brien’s shoes, let alone look at them in the window.
And
as for beefy Michaela Pereira
(rarely do they assign full-figured women to anchor TV news programs), she is
definitely a good-looking woman, is competent as the official news reader, and
certainly adds some “color” to the daily program, if you know what I mean (Pereira
is a member of the National Association of Black Journalists)? But when I watch
her on the program, she seems like she’s sitting at the table watching Cuomo
and Bolduan asking herself, “How did I get mixed up with these two?”
Pereira
has personality, but she’s not given the opportunity to truly display it on a
program that so desperately needs it.
What
a waste!
So
I don’t see CNN’s “New Day” getting that much better down the road. All the
razzle-dazzle with graphics and jazzy set means little if the chemistry between
the hosts is off.
Sorry,
CNN, but “New Day” seems to be more of the same old stuff.
Make sure you tune in every
Thursday afternoon at 4 p.m. for my talk radio show, ''Make It Happen'' on
Power 750 WAUG-AM, or online at www.myWAUG.com.
And read more about my thoughts and opinions exclusively at my blog, ‘The Cash
Roc” (http://thecashroc.blogspot.com/2011/01/cash-roc-begins.html).
I promise it will be interesting.
Cash in the Apple - honored as the Best Column Writing
of 2006 by the National Newspaper Publishers Association. Columnist Cash
Michaels was also honored by the NNPA for Best Feature Story Journalist of
2009, and was the recipient of the Raleigh-Apex NAACP’s President’s Award for
Media Excellence in Sept. 2011.
Until next week, keep a smile on your face, GOD in your
heart, and The Carolinian in your life. Bye, bye.
-30-
MORAL MONDAY #10 - According to the NC NAACP, over 5,000 people attended last Monday's tenth "Moral Monday" demonstration on the Halifax Mall behind the NC Legislative Building, and 64 people were arrested when they refused to leave building on Capital Police direction. Many of the protesters against Republican policies this week were women outraged by the state Senate passing new limitations of abortion rights last week without notice. There will be a Moral Monday #11 next week. [photo courtesy of Michael Carmichael]
TRIANGLE NEWS BRIEFS 7-11-13
URGENT NEED FOR RED
CROSS BLOOD DONORS
Blood
and platelet donations were drastically down across the nation in June, so
officials with the American Red Cross have put out an urgent call for new
donors of all blood types. There were at least 50,000 fewer donations because
of the transition to the summer vacation period. To find out how you can
donate, call the American Red Cross at 1-800-733-2767, or go to www.redcrossblood.org
RALEIGH MAYOR
MCFARLANE FILES FOR RE-ELECTION
First-term
Raleigh Mayor Nancy McFarlane filed for reelection Wednesday, saying that the
Capital city has progressed over the past two years, and she intends to see
that progress continue. McFarlane, a business owner, succeeded former Mayor
Charles Meeker in the post. Raleigh city elections are in October.
WAKE SCHOOL BOARD
RACES HEAT UP
With
the filing period opening July 5th, candidates for the Wake School
Board are lining up. Republican incumbent Deborah Prickett of the Morrisville
area has filed for a second term in District 7, but she will be challenged by
newcomer Zora Felton. Former principal Tom Benton, who was appointed to the
board earlier this year, has filed for election from the District 1 Wake Forest
area. Out in Western Wake, Nancy Caggia, a 14-year veteran school volunteer and
registered Republican, has filed for the District 9 school board seat. Filing
period ends next week.
-30-
STATE NEWS BRIEFS 7-11-13
FOUR TEENS ARRESTED
FOR CROSS-BURNING
[WADESBORO]
Anson County authorities are saying the burning of a cross in the front yard of
a Lilesville home last Saturday was racially motivated. Four teenagers, ages
16, 18 and 19, were arrested and charged with felony accessory after the fact,
injury to real property and second-degree trespassing. Three of the four teens
are in jail, while the fourth, a 16 year-old girl, is in the custody of her
parents.
MCCRORY VOWS TO VETO ABORTION BILL UNLESS
CHANGED
[RALEIGH]
Gov. Pat McCrory, finally finding an issue that he can standup to the GOP-led
Legislature on, vowed Wednesday to veto the Senate-passed abortion bill, HB
695, that is now in the House, unless it is changed to his liking. During the
2012 gubernatorial campaign, McCrory made it clear that he would not sign any
measure that restricted access to abortion services. The state Senate last week
outraged freedom of choice activists when it, without warning, passed a bill
that placed new restrictive requirements on abortion clinics. Hundreds of women
protested, and on Tuesday, Secretary Aldona Woss of the NC Dept. of Health and
Human Services asked a state House committee to slow down in ratifying the bill
until her staff could review it and recommend changes.
KROGER TO ACQUIRE
HARRIS TEETER SUPERMARKETS
[CHARLOTTE]
The Kroger grocery chain of Cincinnati, Ohio announced this week that it will
purchase the upscale Harris Teeter supermarkets, but promises to keep all 212 HT
stores open, and all of its employees in place. Kroger, the nation’s largest
grocer in 31 states, will pay $2.5 billion for the HT chain, based out of
Matthews, NC. Kroger closed two supermarkets in Southeast Raleigh last year.
-30-
MORAL MONDAY #10 - According to the NC NAACP, over 5,000 people attended last Monday's tenth "Moral Monday" demonstration on the Halifax Mall behind the NC Legislative Building, and 64 people were arrested when they refused to leave building on Capital Police direction. Many of the protesters against Republican policies this week were women outraged by the state Senate passing new limitations of abortion rights last week without notice. There will be a Moral Monday #11 next week. [photo courtesy of Michael Carmichael]
NCNAACP VOWS TO
APPEAL
REDISTRICTING
DECISION
By Cash Michaels
Editor
Vowing
that they “plan to challenge” it, the NCNAACP this week blasted the decision by
a three-judge Superior Court panel to uphold the 2011 Republican congressional
redistricting map, which “stacked and packed” black voters into limited voting
districts, as constitutional.
In
its decision, rendered Monday, the judges unanimously ruled that while race may
have been a factor in the Republican redistricting maps, political partisanship
was the primary factor, and that is not illegal.
“Redistricting
in North Carolina is an inherently political and intensely partisan process
that results in political winners and, of course, political losers, the ruling
read in part. “The political party controlling the General Assembly hopes,
through redistricting legislation, to apportion the citizens of North Carolina
in a manner that will secure the prevailing party’s political gain for at least
another decade.”
The maps, which favor Republican
majority reelection to the NC General Assembly and Congress, configure the
North Carolina voting districts that will be in place until 2020
The
NC NAACP and other progressive groups that filed suit to have the maps
overturned, were not pleased.
“The
NC NAACP is disappointed in the courts inability to accurately interpret
applicable law, Rev. William Barber, president of the NC NAACP, said in a
statement, calling the GOP redistricting plan “harsh, oppressive and racially
divisive.”
“The
court explained that the maps "do not impair the constitutional rights of
the citizens of North Carolina as those rights are defined by law,” Rev. barber
continued. “While the court does not disagree with the facts of this case they
disagree with the application of the law. The North Carolina NAACP and our
allies respectfully disagree. We contend that these maps were drawn unfairly
and unnecessarily, and that the law is on our side.”
“This
ruling is a sanction on political re-segregation which we plan to challenge,”
Rev. Barber concluded.
The
ruling is yet another blow to civil and voting rights handed down from the
judiciary, progressive activists say, who are still reeling from the US Supreme
Court’s recent decision to strike down Section Four of the 1965 Voting Rights
Act, effectively rendering preclearance of redistricting maps meaningless until
Congress reinstitutes a governing formula.
The
three-member panel, consisting of Superior Court judges from different regions
of the state – one of whom was an African-American female - issued a 171-page
ruling which said, in part, ““It is the ultimate
holding of this trial court that the redistricting plans enacted by the General
Assembly in 2011 must be upheld and that the Enacted Plans do not impair the
constitutional rights of the citizens of North Carolina as those rights are
defined by law. This decision was reached unanimously by the trial court.
In other words, each of the three judges on the trial court -- appointed
by the North Carolina Chief Justice from different geographic regions and each
with differing ideological and political outlooks -- independently and
collectively arrived at the conclusions that are set out below.”
Calling
the redistricting maps “fair [and] legal,” Republican redistricting leaders Sen.
Bob Rucho (R-Mecklenburg) and Rep. David Lewis (R- Harnett) boasted that the
court’s decision confirms what they’ve contended from the beginning.
“This unanimous decision should
put to rest the baseless arguments that the General Assembly engaged in racial
discrimination during the redistricting process,” Rucho and Lewis said in a
joint statement. “The court’s unanimous decision is a clear repudiation of
the unfounded assertions of the plaintiffs, and is proof that the General
Assembly followed the letter and spirit of the law in establishing new voting
boundaries that are fair and legal. We are pleased that the unanimous
decision makes clear that the General Assembly protected the rights of minority
voters, as required by the U.S. and North Carolina Constitutions.”
Many
observers have been calling for the NC Legislature to create a nonpartisan
redistricting board to draw the voting maps in an effort to take the politics
out of it.
“Redistricting
in North Carolina is and has been for over a hundred years a partisan political
process,” said Jane Pinsky of the NC Coalition for Lobbying and Government
Reform, in a statement. “It has always benefitted the party in power,
punished the party out of power. It makes for a dysfunctional and polarized
legislature and disincentives from working across the isle and in a broad,
bi-partisan fashion.”
Pinsky
continued, “It is time to change the process so that partisan politics no
longer play a role in North Carolina’s redistricting. The North Carolina
House of Representatives recognized this in May of 2011 with the passage of
House Bill 824 which would have taken partisan politics out of redistricting
beginning in 2021. With leadership from both sides of the aisle, including
Speaker Thom Tillis, the bill passed the NC House by a vote of 88 to 27. House
Bill 606, which is currently in the NC House, would do the same thing.”
“We
applaud our political leaders who are putting of the good of the people of
North Carolina ahead of partisan gain and urge them to move forward and pass
House Bill 606 now,” Pinsky said, adding, “We urge the people of North Carolina to let their elected
leaders know that this matters to them.”
-30-
CRIMINAL PROBE OF
RALEIGH
BUSINESS & TECH
CENTER
By Cash Michaels
editor
Raleigh
police investigators are now scouring the financial records of the beleaguered Raleigh
Business and Technology Center, Inc. (RBTC), looking for evidence of criminal
wrongdoing, city officials confirm.
Amid recent published reports, and
a stinging June city internal audit revealing years of alleged mismanagement to
the tune of tens of thousands of dollars, the city of Raleigh, which has contracted
services with the nonprofit RBTC for training of business startups since 2000, and
owns the facility at 900 S. Wilmington Street, has decided to close the
thirteen-year-old Southeast Raleigh business incubator down by July 31st.
In a July 3rd memo to Interim City Manager Perry
James, Martin Petherbridge, the city’s Internal Audit Manager, wrote, “Our
audit found evidence of contract non-compliance, program management issues and
inadequate administration of the RBTC relationship and contract.”
“I was very shocked and dismayed,”
District C Raleigh City Councilman Eugene Weeks, in whose district the RBTC
resides, told The Carolinian this
week. Weeks lamented that despite the great “positive work” that was being done
at the RBTC, like the heralded Pacesetter training program for up-and-coming
entrepreneurs, all of that is being overshadowed now by allegations of malfeasance
and mismanagement.
Councilman Weeks added that within
the past year, with the closing of the Kroger grocery store, and then the
shuttering of the Hargett Street YWCA, to have this happen to yet another major
Southeast Raleigh institution, is certainly not needed.
“To see this type of report come
out is a shocker to me,” Weeks maintained.
It was after many years of
discussion and lobbying that the Raleigh City Council, in partnership with Shaw
University and St. Augustine’s College, established the RBTC in 2000 to help
build small businesses in Southeast Raleigh, and throughout the city.
The RBTC incubator program trained
entrepreneurs on-site, allowing them below market office rental rates, as well
as sharing conference room facilities and a copy center. The program did so
well that after two-years, the city contracted with RBTC to train budding
businessowners who were not headquartered there in what became known as the
Pacesetters program.
It is believed that at least fifty
percent of the graduates actually spun off to open their own successful
businesses.
All seemed well on the surface, but
according to the city’s contract audit, the RBTC lost its tax exempt status with
the Internal Revenue Service when it failed to file the required 990 form for
the past three years.
Poor recordkeeping over recent years
lost track of over $100,000 in disbursements, the audit also found, with $940.00
allegedly being given inexplicably to RBTC Director Robert Robinson, and over
$18,000 to a trust fund. Another $40,000 in cashier’s checks also could not be
explained.
Robinson is no longer with the
center.
The audit also found tens of
thousands of dollars going to at least two RBTC board members without any
record of it in the board minutes. And almost $300,000 in RBTC funds paying for
services from an organization with alleged close ties to another board member.
The RBTC’s current chairman of the
board, retired Asst. City Manager Lawrence Wray, is quoted as saying that he
was unaware of many of these allegations uncovered in the audit. Wray did
indicate that he loaned the center $66,000 at one time.
In response to the audit, RBTC
officials say they have reapplied for their tax exempt status; have put new
safeguards and requirements in to ensure that all financial disbursements are
accounted for and officially approved; all payment transactions will go through
a tighter system of approval, and taxes will be paid on time, among other
items.
The RBTC response, however, may be
too little, too late.
According to a public statement by
Raleigh Mayor Nancy McFarlane, as a result of the internal audit, the city of
Raleigh “is not pursuing a contract for fiscal year 2013-14 with the
RBTC, Inc.; is requesting RBTC, Inc. to vacate the city-owned facility as of July 31, 2013; and is notifying tenants of the city-owned
facility that they may negotiate short-term lease agreements with the city for
continuation of their current arrangements.”
In her statement, Mayor McFarlane added that the city, “… will begin a review of future uses of the facility that
are consistent with the original City objective for a business incubator that
is of value to the overall economic development of the city as well as the
stakeholder community interest.”
Raleigh Police spokesman Jim
Sughrue told The Carolinian that the
criminal investigation, based on the internal audit, is proceeding.
“The RPD’s investigation remains
ongoing and is being handled by the Detective Division’s Financial Crimes
Unit,” Sughrue said. “Many financial investigations required a relatively long
time to conduct due to their complexity, and at this point I wouldn’t project a
completion date. In terms of what detectives are looking for, at this stage,
they’re simply gathering information and reviewing it. They will then follow
the facts, wherever that may lead them.”
And if prosecutable evidence is
found, city officials say, it will be handed over to the Wake District
Attorney’s Office for charges.
-30-
No comments:
Post a Comment