TRIANGLE NEWS BRIEFS
RALEIGH CITY COUNCIL APPROVES CHAVIS CAROUSEL PROJECT
More good news for the Chavis Park community. The Raleigh City Counsel Tuesday voted to more forward to build a new building for the Chavis Park carousel, is open to the public. The historic African-American community, which was once home to dilapidated public housing, now features new single-family housing and renovations to historic Chavis Park across the street. In the 1930s and 40s, blacks came from across the state to ride the carousel. The counsel approved a $1.8 million building contract, 26 percent of which will go to minority contractors. The project should be completed by the fall.
FIRE EVACUATION AT DURHAM COUNTY JAIL
Inmates at the Durham County jail were up and out Tuesday morning, literally, when a small fire in the dryer room vent at 3 a.m., forced jail officials to briefly evacuate the facility of prisoners and staff. Reportedly, the fire started in back of a dryer connected to a vent. The facility’s sprinkler system put the fire out before anyone was allowed back in.
THOUSANDS OF FAMILIES INUNDATE WAKE SCHOOL CHOICE APPLICATIONS
Over 2200 families, just in the first hour, went online Tuesday and began choosing what Wake County schools they want their children attending next fall, as the new registration system for Wake’s school, choice assignment plan began this week. Parents are now about to make various elementary, middle and high school choices, in hopes that they get their top pick. Democratic school board members were concerned that the plan may create more high poverty schools in the district. This selection round ends Feb. 24.
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STATE NEWS BRIEFS
PERDUE WANTS SALES TAX INCREASE TO REPLENISH EDUCATION BUDGET
[RALEIGH] Concerned that the $1 billion in cuts to education by the Republican-led NC General Assembly last year will hurt public education statewide, Gov. Beverly Perdue said Tuesday she will include a three-quarter cent sales tax to the budget she’s submitting to the Legislature to further stop “deep and unnecessary cuts” public instruction. Perdue the revenue generated would go specifically to the state’s school systems. “North Carolina has fallen to 49th in the nation in per-pupil funding. The legislature’s budget has hurt education at all levels – from pre-k all the way through higher education – and has led to higher class sizes and the loss of thousands of teacher and teaching assistant positions. And their budget forces even more teacher layoffs next year -- we must act to prevent these additional cuts." Republican leaders have already criticized the governor’s proposal, disputing that their budget cuts hurt education.
DEMOCRATIC CONVENTION SHORTENED; OBAMA TO ACCEPT AT BANK OF AMERICA STADIUM
[CHARLOTTE] The Democratic National Convention is just eight months away, and already it’s making big news. Not only will event where the major political party will re-nominate President Barack Obama be shortened to just three days - Sept 4-6 - instead of the traditional four, but Obama will accept the nomination for a second term at the 74,000-seat Bank of America Stadium on Sept 6, not the Time-Warner Arena where the rest of the convention will take place. On Monday, Labor Day, Sept 3rd, there will be a special celebration of the Carolinas, Virginia and the South at the Charlotte Motor Speedway.
NBC NEWS REPORTS THAT JOHN EDWARDS HAS “IRREGULAR HEART RHYTHMS” THAT ARE DELAYING HIS TRIAL
[GREENSBORO] Former NC Sen. John Edwards has “suffered three [heart] episodes” since December, which is why his federal trial for alleged campaign finance corruption has been delayed until March 26th, says NBC News, cited undisclosed sources. He alleged cause of the episodes are “irregular heart rhythms,” and the former presidential candidate is scheduled to have surgery for it next month,” NBC News continued. Reportedly, Edwards is prone to losing consciousness as a result. Edwards is charged with funneling campaign funds as hush money to his mistress after she had his baby.
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NCNAACP “TRUTH AND HOPE” POVERTY TOUR UNDERWAY
By Cash Michaels
Editor
The first two-day leg of the “Truth and Hope Tour of Poverty in North Carolina” is underway, with the first stops being Beaufort, Washington, Pasquotank counties today, and Hertford, Halifax and Edgecombe counties on Friday.
Sponsored by the NCNAACP, the NC Justice Center and the UNC Center on Poverty, Work and Opportunity, the bus tour’s mission is to highlight economic and social inequalities in the state’s rural and inner city communities, and challenging public officials, business leaders and those seeking public office during this election year to address the issues of joblessness, decent housing, transportation and food for struggling families.
“We want to shine the light of truth on the conditions of poverty and despair in North Carolina," said Rev. Dr. William J. Barber II, President of the NC NAACP.
“The truth is,” Rev. Barber said, “government and the private sector have not adequately addressed the historical and structural causes of the deep poverty in Eastern North Carolina. Long before the Great Depression or the recent Great Recession, thousands of Black, White, Latino and Native American families lived on the edge of survival. The recent economic and ecological tornadoes that swept through Eastern N.C. just made the structural poverty worse.”
Some of the cities the tour is scheduled to visit include Washington, Roper and Elizabeth City State University in Elizabeth City.
On Friday the tour is scheduled to stop in Winton, Scotland Neck and conclude in Rocky Mount, before returning to Raleigh.
The Truth and Hope Poverty Tour is part of the Sixth Annual Historic Thousands on Jones Street March and Rally coming Saturday, Feb. 11th in Raleigh. This year’s theme is “Forward Together, Not One Step Back,” and will focus on creating more jobs; establishing quality, diverse education in the state’s public schools; and stopping regressive attempts to rollback voting rights.
Editor's Note - The Carolinian will be aboard the tour for special coverage. Look for our reports in next week's Thursday edition.
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CASH IN THE APPLE
By Cash Michaels
editor
MISS YOU - Miss my Mom, who died today in 2009, while my family was halfway to Washington, D.C. for the inauguration of Pres. Barack Obama.
Will always love, will always be grateful to, and will never forget you, Mom.
CONGRATULATIONS, OCTAVIA - As in Octavia Spencer, who won a Golden Globe Sunday night for Best Supporting Actress in “The Help.” Spencer played defiant black maid Minnie Jackson, who stood up against white racism in Mississippi during the early 1960’s civil rights movement. He costar, Viola Davis, lost to the formidable Meryl Streep, who took home a Best Actress Golden Globe for her portrayal of British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in, “The Iron Lady.”
But Davis, who is expected to garner an Academy Award nomination for “The Help,” did win the 2012 Critics’ Choice award for Best Actress last week.
So the awards season is underway, and we will find out who the Oscar nominees are next week.
Spencer, Davis, and Bryce Dallas Howard (actor-director Ron Howard’s daughter), who also appeared in “The Help,” better be among the nominated.
“RED TAILS” - I plan to see this important piece of black history about the legendary Tuskegee Airmen this opening weekend. Yeah, George “Star Wars” Lucas put up the funding (bless him), but not only does it have an all-black cast, headed up by Cuba Gooding, Jr. and Terrence Howard, but the director, Anthony Hemmingway, is black, as is Executive Producer Chas. Floyd Johnson, who is also an EP on TV’s number one action-drama, “NCIS” on CBS.
But more importantly, many of our surviving Tuskegee Airmen are excited that their story is finally being told in a high quality production on the big screen. It is so important that America not forget the heroics of these brave fighting men.
And important that we don’t either.
SORRY TARHEELS - Boy did Florida State put a slap-happy spankin’ on the UNC Tar Heels last weekend, 90-57. The beating was so bad, Coach Roy Williams left the arena early, and five of his players on the court. Now Coach Roy he didn’t mean to do it (and I believe him), but it sure added insult to injury. This was the worst defeat in Williams nine-years at UNC.
One thing you can say about Roy Williams UNC teams…when they’re good, they are the best.
But when they are bad, nothing stinks up a place more.
Coach, get your troops in shape, my man. A few more performances like that, and you’ll be in the rocking chair next to Regis Philbin before you know it.
BUCHANAN AND MSNBC - Right-wing pundit Pat Buchanan hasn’t been on MSNBC since last October, when his racist new book, “Suicide of a Superpower” was published, and he went on media tours promoting stuff like “the end of white America”
Buchanan, once a lackey in the corrupt Nixon White House and failed presidential candidate, is an MSNBC contributor. But after he started becoming more and more racialized in his rhetoric, particularly when he called Pres. Obama “Your boy” on Al Sharpton’s show some time back, that’s when the clock began to tick.
At presstime, MSNBC President Phil Griffin was leaning towards dumping Buchanan for good, leaving him free to go frolic with fellow right-wing flamethrowers at Fox News at long last.
MSNBC has taken way too long to fumigating the place of Buchanan. With the highest black viewership of any of the cable news channels, MSNBC need to show Pat the door now, if they haven’t already done so by the time you read this.
NEWSWEEK’S IMPORTANT OBAMA QUESTION - This week, Newsweek Magazine asked a very constructive question on its cover - “WHY ARE OBAMA’S CRITICS SO DUMB?”
Remember, I didn’t ask the rhetorical question, Newsweek Magazine did. But I agree with the premise, and the answer, in my mind, is more than simple. As much as they’d like too, they can’t pin their stupid racial stereotypes on Barack Obama, and it bothers them to know end. And to make matters worse, these Tea Party-type have gone after First Lady Michelle Obama with names like “Mrs. Yo-Mama” and making fun of her backside and nutrition advocacy.
The president’s enemies are “SO DUMB:” because they are SO DESPERATE! They want nothing more than to get him out of office this fall, and they’ll do anything, or say anything to do it.
2012, as you know, is an election year, and you’re about to hear and see some of the most vicious, crass, untruthful load of BS flung towards this president EVER!
But it won’t work.
Make no mistake, the “Mr. Softy” we all criticized the president for being last year has given away to “Mr. Cunning” now that an election is near. Mitt Romney is going to get the GOP presidential nomination because Republicans see the former Massachusetts governor as their best chance to unseat Obama, and “…take our country back.”
We’ll see, Einsteins, we’ll see.
OUTRAGE - If anything proves that as a nation, we have lost our sense of honor and dignity, it is the images we saw last week of US Marines urinating over dead Taliban fighters in Afghanistan.
Suppose a police officer shoots and kills a suspect in the street, and then urinates over the dead body out in the open. Would that infuriate you? It darn sure should. We pay our law enforcement, to do their jobs, not exact revenge. And the reason why that is so important not only has to do with professionalism and honor - that behavior reflects badly on the rest of the corp - but because it sends a message to other nations that we look to not just defeat our enemies, but shame, disgrace and defile them as well.
The next time some terrorist takes pride in blowing up innocent American citizens, think about that. We foment the hatred that other nations have for us with such selfish, uncivilized acts. To do such an extraordinarily dishonorable thing is to open the door to an even greater reaction.
I, personally, am ashamed of the Marines that were pictured doing that, and now that there is an investigation, I hope the full weight of the military law comes down on them.
Some may disagree. Some may applaud those men for displaying the “appropriate” contempt for our combat enemies.
Fine. But don’t you dare say a bloody word come the next “Blackhawk Down,” when the dead bodies of American servicemen were dragged through the streets of Somalia in 1993 and mercilessly tortured by our enemies.
Don’t you dare!
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.Power750.com. And read more about my thoughts and opinions exclusively at my new 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.
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