Greene County Democrat

Category: Celebrity

  • State Rep. Curtis Travis seeking re-election

    It is election year in Alabama and State Rep. Curtis Travis (D – District 72) has announced he is seeking re-election. The first term Democrat’s district covers portions of Tuscaloosa, Bibb, Hale and Greene counties.
    As a political novice, Travis knocked off incumbent State Representative Ralph Anthony Howard in the May 2022 Democratic Party Primary with 52% of the vote. He was then unopposed in the fall General Election which led him to being sworn into office for the next term.
    The Tuscaloosa County Legislative Committee member was born and raised in Sawyerville in Hale County. He graduated from Akron High School then earned a Bachelor of Science Degree in Petroleum Engineering from the University of Alabama. Travis then obtained a master’s degree in environmental engineering.
    Travis’ career experience includes working as a builder, a manager, and an assistant pastor.
    Rep. Travis is a member of the Agriculture and Forestry Committee, Ethics and Campaign Finance Committee, Ports, Waterways and Intermodal Transit Committee, and Transportation, Utilities and Infrastructure Committee.
    Among the more prominent legislation he has sponsored or co-sponsored is a 2024 bill that allows simulcast racing for parimutuel wagering in Greene County, a 2024 bill that provided fair and reasonable terms for sale of agricultural equipment, Ad valorem taxes, a bill setting reappraisal of Class II and Class III property every three years, and legislation preserving Alabama’s state tax exemption on overtime pay.
    Rural expansion of broadband internet, rural healthcare and support for volunteer fire departments have been among his top priority issues.
    Party primaries are scheduled for Tuesday, May 19 with the General Election set for Tuesday, November 3

  • Garria Spencer seeks District One seat

    I am Garria Spencer, and this is to announce my candidacy for reelection for Greene County Commissioner of District One. My wife of fifty years Althenia Spencer, and I have three adult children, eleven grandchildren and four great grandchildren, I am a member of the First Baptist Church Union and serve on the Deacon Board. I am retired from Phifer Wire Product and presently work for the Greene County Board of Education serving as a proud Bus Driver.
    During my tenure over the past three years here are some of my accomplishments, I have helped in building storm shelters accessible to the communities. I have been able to pave four dirt roads in District One, I have worked tirelessly to keep our hospital open and maintain our ambulance service. 
    Greene County is my home and a county I truly love, and I pledge to use my experience, my good will and dedication to not only serve the people of District One but all of Greene County. I am asking for your vote, Your Support and Most Important Your Prayers. Experience Counts!

  • Newswire : Five years later, Capitol Officer Harry Dunn says January 6 was the ‘worst day of his life’

    • Harry Dunn, Capitol Police Officer and  people attacking the U. S. Capitol on January 6, 2021

    By Stacy M. Brown
NNPA Newswire Senior National Correspondent


    On the fifth anniversary of January 6, a date now fixed in the American conscience, Capitol Police Officer Harry Dunn returned to the moment that altered his life and the nation’s course. Appearing on “Let It Be Known,” Dunn spoke about the unforgettable day that’s shaped by time, pain, and resolve, revisiting what he has called the worst day of his life.

    Dunn joined the United States Capitol Police in 2008 and has served as a Private First Class since 2011. His career placed him on duty for presidential inaugurations, joint sessions of Congress, State of the Union addresses, and hundreds of peaceful protests. As a Crisis Intervention Officer on the USCP Crisis Negotiation Team, he was trained for hostage situations, barricades, and mental health emergencies. None of that training, he said, prepared him for January 6, 2021.
    “I lived the worst day of my life on national TV,” Dunn said.
    Five years later, Dunn said something he had not always been able to say. “I’ve healed from that trauma,” he said, referring to his personal wounds from that day.
    The healing, which he made clear, did not mean forgetting. Dunn said it is possible to recover personally while remaining troubled by what continues to unfold in the country.
    “As we look around at the things that are going on,” he said, “it’s hard to be okay with everything. If you’re okay right now, I feel like you’re kind of like a callous soul.”
    Dunn said he remains focused on what he can change and where his voice still matters. January 6, he noted, made him known to much of the world, but it did not define the limits of his responsibility.
    Accountability, or apparent lack of it, ran through the conversation. Dunn spoke as civil lawsuits continue against President Donald Trump and as Trump has pardoned those convicted for their roles in the attack. Dunn said he was not surprised, adding that Trump had promised those pardons openly.
    “I knew it was coming,” Dunn said. “So, I had time to prepare.”
    Preparation meant action. Dunn said he worked as a surrogate for former Vice President Kamala Harris during the Harris–Walz campaign, trying to stop Trump’s return to office. When that effort failed, he said the pain was not sudden. It was familiar.
    “The wounds were already there,” Dunn said. “I just had time to brace for it.”Dunn rejected calls to move on from January 6, saying the record remains unsettled.
    “History bends toward distortion when accountability is denied,” he said. “A hundred years from now, somebody is going to read about January 6 and read that he was elected again and ask, ‘How could that happen?’”
    He said Americans do not need explanation to understand what occurred inside and around the Capitol. “You don’t need a talking head,” Dunn said. “Just press play. Put it on mute. Watch.”
    Dunn recalled how rioters filmed themselves, how juries later watched those same videos in court, and how the attackers felt emboldened. He said they told officers repeatedly that the president had sent them. “They were telling us, ‘The president said we could,’” Dunn said.
    He addressed comparisons often drawn between January 6 and Black Lives Matter protests. Dunn said Black Lives Matter demonstrators came to the Capitol, protested, shouted, and left.
    “They didn’t storm the Capitol,” he said. “Every single person went home that night. I can’t say the same thing about January 6.”Dunn spoke of officers who died and of others who later took their own lives. He said attempts to equate the events ignore those losses.
    The conversation turned to the present, with Dunn saying January 6 laid groundwork for what he sees now, from threats against other nations to the erosion of democratic norms. He said Americans were warned in advance.
    “He told us what he was going to do,” Dunn said. “And when he did it, people acted surprised.”
    The cost, he said, remains deeply personal. Dunn described election night as feeling like a knife through his heart, saying it was difficult to accept that many voters returned to power a man he holds responsible for one of the darkest days in U.S. history.
    Dunn said he continues to receive hateful messages and death threats, including in recent weeks. He said he takes precautions, leans on his community, and keeps showing up.
    “That means I’m doing something right,” he said.
    Dunn also discussed his New York Times bestselling memoir, “Standing My Ground: A Capitol Police Officer’s Fight for Accountability and Good Trouble After January 6th,” which he said was part of his healing. “Where does it end?” Dunn said. “The story is still being written. You can add to it, but you can’t take away from it.”

    He said he now speaks across the country about resilience, rejecting easy assurances. “I don’t know if it’s going to be okay,” Dunn said. “But I do know if we don’t fight, if we don’t show up, they’re going to steamroll us.”
    He paused, then offered what he could promise. “If we show up,” Dunn said, “we give ourselves a fighting chance.”

     

  • Newswire : Betty Reid Soskin, the oldest National Park Service ranger, dies at 104

    Betty Reid Soskin, the oldest full-time National Park Service ranger, at a news conference announcing her retirement at the Rosie the Riveter/World War II Home Front National Historical Park in April 2

    By Victoria Meza, NBC Bay Area

    Betty Reid Soskin, an iconic former National Park Service ranger, died Sunday, according to her family. She was 104. Soskin’s family said she died peacefully at her home in Richmond on Sunday morning.
    “This morning on the Winter Solstice, our mother, grandmother, and great grandmother, Betty Reid Soskin, passed away peacefully at her home in Richmond, CA at 104 years old. She was attended by family. She led a fully packed life and was ready to leave,” the family wrote.
    Soskin was the nation’s oldest park ranger. She became a permanent NPS employee in 2011. She worked on a park service grant to tell yet untold stories of Black Americans who worked in the U.S. during the war, leading to a temporary job with the park service when she was 84 years old.
    She retired in 2022 and was a long-time docent at the Rosie the Riveter/World War II Home Front National Historical Park Museum.

     

  • Newswire : Haiti’s transitional government adopts key law to hold a general election for first time since 2016

    Haiti’s transitional presidential council has backed an electoral law in the latest step toward holding a general election for the first time in nearly a decade.
    The approval late Monday means that the government can finally publish an official and long-awaited electoral calendar, after fears that the council would try to push back the tentative dates to stay in power longer.
    Council President Laurent Saint-Cyr called the move a “major decision” for Haiti.
    “We must finally offer the Haitian people the opportunity to freely and responsibly choose those who will lead them,” he wrote on X. “By taking this decisive step, while remaining fully committed to restoring security, we reaffirm our dedication to putting Haiti back on the path to democratic legitimacy and stability.”
    The adoption of the electoral law came as some council members have pushed for the ouster of Prime Minister Alix Didier Fils-Aimé, including Fritz Alphonse Jean, who was recently sanctioned by the U.S. government.
    Some believe that U.S. visa restrictions, like the one imposed on Jean, are being used as a threat to try and influence Haiti’s politics.
    Three of seven council members with voting powers weren’t present for Monday’s meeting, where the electoral law was approved, including Jean, according to Le Nouvelliste newspaper.
    Council member Frinel Joseph, who voted in favor of the law, said that it marked “a decisive turning point” in the transition of power and that it provided Haiti “with the necessary legal and political framework for holding elections.”
    Haiti’s Provisional Electoral Council has said it plans to hold the first round of voting in August and the final round in December next year, although ongoing gang violence could push back those dates.
    Meanwhile, the transitional presidential council is supposed to step down by Feb. 7 to give way to democratic rule.
    Haiti last held a general election in 2016 and hasn’t had a president since Jovenel Moïse was killed at his private residence in July 2021.
    The transitional presidential council was appointed after the killing, and the prime ministers that have served since the killing have been nominated by the council.

     

  • Newswire :Rep. Shomari Figures files bill to name post office in honor of Tuskegee Airmen

    By Wesley Walter, Alabama Political Reporters

     

    U.S. Representative Shomari Figures, D-Ala., introduced bipartisan legislation today to recognize the Tuskegee Airmen in honor of Veterans Day.
    The bill introduced by Figures would designate the U.S. Postal Service facility at 401 North Elm Street in Tuskegee as the “Tuskegee Airmen Memorial Post Office.”
    “Today, on my first Veterans Day in Congress, I want to wish a happy Veterans Day to all the men and women who have ever put on the uniform in defense and protection of the United States of America,” Figures said in a written statement.
    “You are the reason we enjoy the rights, privileges, and freedoms that we do in this country. On today and every day, I want to thank you for the commitment and courage you have shown throughout your careers to make this a better nation,” the representative continued. “I also want to thank your families, because I know when servicemembers serve, their families do too.”
    The legislation has received endorsements from each of Alabama’s seven representatives in the U.S. House of Representatives, as well as the Tuskegee Airmen Incorporated.
    Figures expressed hope that the bill would bring attention to the legacy and impact of the first group of African American pilots and support crews to serve in the U.S. Army Air Corps during World War II, who trained at Tuskegee Army Airfield.
    “Every person who enters the Tuskegee Airmen Memorial Post Office will be reminded of their courage, sacrifice, and service to our country,” Figures’ office wrote.2

     

  • Newswire : Over 750,000 Alabamians will lose critical food assistance

    The Department of Human Resources said Monday it would suspend Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits on November 1.
    By: Anna Barnett, Alabama Reflector

    
More than 750,000 Alabamians, almost half of them children, will lose critical food assistance on Saturday, November 1, 2025
    The Alabama Department of Human Resources (DHR) said Monday that Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits will be suspended on Saturday. The suspension of the 100% federally-funded program comes on the 26th day of the government shutdown. Alabama DHR was notified of the suspension on Friday evening. 
    “We know SNAP benefits are vitally important to the more than 750,000 Alabamians who depend on the more than $140 million in support each month. Alabama DHR, along with many others, hopes Congress will come to a quick resolution on the federal government shutdown,” Commissioner Nancy Buckner said.
    The 750,000 Alabamians affected represent nearly 15% of the state population. Of that number, 330,000 (44%) are children, according to DHR.
    DHR said in its Monday statement that Alabamians can still apply for SNAP, even though DHR will not be able to administer any benefits. Buckner also said the U.S. Department of Agriculture Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) told her on Friday that it plans to reimburse state administrative costs for November. 
    U.S. Rep. Terri Sewell, D-Alabama, joined other House Democrats on Friday in urging Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins to release SNAP contingency funds that Congress made available for situations like this, according to a release. Sewell said nearly a quarter of households in her district, which covers the western side of the Black Belt and parts of Birmingham, rely on SNAP.
    “For so many, SNAP means the difference between a hot meal and going to bed hungry. The fact that President Trump and congressional Republicans would rather take food away from hungry families than work with Democrats to end this shutdown is shameful but not surprising,” Sewell said in a statement. “These are the same people responsible for making the largest cut to SNAP in American history less than four months ago.”
    Under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA), Alabama officials were aware that federal funding for SNAP would reduce in fiscal year 2027, increasing the state’s share. According to estimates in August, the federal cuts to the program would increase DHR’s budget request by $35 million in FY27 and $208 million in FY28 when the state is responsible for 10% of SNAP benefits. 
    The federal government shutdown is a dispute over health care. Republicans in Congress lack the votes to overcome a budget filibuster. Democrats say they want a bipartisan agreement to extend looming cuts in subsidies for Affordable Care Act plans. Republicans said they won’t negotiate that until a stopgap spending bill is passed. 
    Gina Maiola, Gov. Kay Ivey’s communications director said in a statement Monday that Ivey hopes Senate Democrats will “get on board” to reopen the federal government.
    Laura Lester, CEO of Feeding Alabama, a food bank network, said in an interview Monday afternoon that she is very concerned about how families will access food. For every meal that Feeding Alabama provides, SNAP provides nine.
    “So as a result, anytime there’s even a small reduction in SNAP, we see a significant increase in the demand on our food banks,” Lester said. “We’re deeply concerned about what this is going to look like.”
    Typically, Lester said Feeding Alabama serves both SNAP recipients and non-SNAP recipients. A SNAP recipient gets $6 per day per month to buy groceries. Lester said that money usually lasts about three weeks, then SNAP recipients go to food banks.
    “Folks work as hard as they can to help that money stretch, but it’s become, obviously, harder and harder with the increased grocery prices,” Lester said.
    Last year, she said, Feeding Alabama and its partners distributed over 90 million pounds of food. Lester said that Feeding Alabama needs a lot of support from the community in donations and manpower to sort and pack meals.

     

  • Newswire : Trump bulldozes through the White House to build Grand Ballroom

     Demolition of East Wing of White House to construct ballroom

    By April Ryan, NNPA White House Correspondent

     


    President Trump is unnerved that people in the Treasury Building across from the East Wing of the White House have been taking pictures of the demolition project for his 90,000 ft.² ballroom.

    The optics (https://www.instagram.com/reel/DQDTf2ElX-w/?igsh=cGp4NzFyMjY4azcw) of the White House are forever changed as demolition and construction workers begin construction worth $250 million and allegedly funded through private donations. President Trump never received permission to participate in this project. The last time he officially received authorization for an escalation was during his first term working on the Tennis courts on the White House complex.

    The last major construction on the White House was in the 1940s; however, according to the president, this venue will hold 999 people. He currently says only 88 people can fit in the East Room of the White House.
    The bulldozing demolition effort has not considered the history of the building’s walls, windows, or other parts. It is uncertain what will remain of the East Wing, which also houses the presidential movie theater.
    Speaking with a White House Historical Association source, Rosalynn Carter was the First Lady to have an office in the White House in the East Wing. She established the First Lady’s office on the East Wing’s second Floor. President Thomas Jefferson was the first to propose wings for the White House and introduce the colonnade.

  • Newswire : The violence Trump claims to fear occurs mostly in red states

    By Stacy M. Brown
Black Press USA Senior National Correspondent

    Donald Trump continues to attack cities and jurisdictions heavily populated by minorities, often painting them as crime-ridden and unsafe despite evidence showing overall declines in many categories of crime. Nowhere is this tension clearer than in Washington, D.C., where residents face relentless scrutiny from Trump while Red States — many with far less diversity — quietly struggle with some of the highest murder rates in the nation.
    The District of Columbia recorded the nation’s highest murder rate in 2023 at 39 per 100,000 residents, with 265 murders. Despite local efforts to address violence, Trump routinely depicts the city as unlivable. To many residents, the greater tragedy is not just the crime itself but the reality that the capital of the United States now looks like an occupied third-world country, with National Guard and federal troops visibly stationed throughout the city.

    Washingtonians, who have already been denied full congressional representation, have become political pawns in Trump’s rhetoric. What Trump avoids mentioning is that several Republican-led states top the list of the deadliest places. Louisiana had a murder rate of 14.5 per 100,000, recording 663 killings in 2023. New Mexico, Alabama, Tennessee, and Arkansas — all governed by Republicans in recent years — also posted murder rates higher than 9 per 100,000 residents.

    In Missouri, another GOP stronghold, the murder rate stood at 9.1 per 100,000 with 564 murders, disproportionately concentrated in cities like St. Louis and Kansas City. South Carolina, Alaska, and Georgia each ranked high, while Mississippi, often touted by conservatives as a bastion of “traditional values,” has at times led the nation in murder rates. Meanwhile, states with larger minority populations that Trump targets — including Illinois, Pennsylvania, and Maryland — often have lower murder rates than many of these Red States. Illinois, home to Chicago, recorded a rate of 6.56 per 100,000, below Alabama, Tennessee, and Arkansas.
    Critics argue this is no accident. Trump’s fixation on minority-heavy jurisdictions is part of a long-standing strategy of scapegoating urban areas with large Black and Latino populations, while sidestepping the systemic problems facing states where his support is strongest. “Murders were far more common in [Mississippi] than they were nationwide,” the World Population Review reported, with Louisiana, Alabama, Missouri, and Arkansas following close behind. The report’s numbers show that while Trump fixates on minority-heavy cities, the deadliest conditions are playing out in Red States that rarely draw his attention. “Murders are disproportionately concentrated in urban areas, especially in New Orleans and Baton Rouge,” the researchers concluded.

  • Newswire : Black Church and Black Press unite to empower Black America

    Rev. Boise Kimber, President of the National Baptist Convention and Benjamin F. Chavis, Jr, NNPA CEO

    Nashville, TN — July 25, 2025: In a historic announcement, a coalition of leading Black faith organizations and the National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA) unveiled a strategic partnership and plan to confront systemic disparities impacting African American communities nationwide.

    Dr. Boise Kimber, President of the National Baptist Convention, USA, Inc.; Bishop J. Drew Sheard, Pre- siding Bishop of the Church of God in Christ (COGIC); Dr. Samuel Tolbert, President of the National Baptist Convention of America; and Dr. Benjamin F. Chavis Jr., veteran civil rights leader and President of the NNPA, are leading this collaboration between the Black church and Black Media.
    “There is strength in unity. There is power in our collective voice. There is hope in our actions,” said Dr. Boise Kimber.

    For generations, African American communities have endured deep-rooted inequities in healthcare, education, criminal justice, economic opportunity, and access to capital. These challenges are not new. The coalition intends to put an end to fragmented responses and speak with one clear, concise and consolidated voice.
    The Black Church and Black Media, two institutions that have long anchored and uplifted Black America, are now coming together with renewed focus and purpose.
    This partnership is grounded in shared values, spiritual conviction, cultural empowerment, and an unwavering commitment to truth, justice, and progress.
    The coalition will focus on five core initiatives:

    Shaping a unified national narrative that challenges harmful stereotypes and amplifies stories of Black resilience, excellence, and innovation
    Mobilizing faith-based and media networks to address community disparities through solutions-focused advocacy and outreach
    Holding corporate America accountable by demanding responsible reinvestment in Black communities through sustainable partnerships, economic equity, and community-led development
    Empowering the next generation by reclaiming our narratives and creating new pathways for education, leadership, and entrepreneurship
    Holding elected officials accountable by spotlighting those whose policies do not align with the interests of the Black community. To earn our votes, they must heed our voices.

    “This is more than a symbolic gesture; it is a strategic and spiritual alignment.” When the Black Church and Black Media speak as one, we can ignite a movement. When we organize as one, we can shift the narrative. When we act as one, we cannot be ignored or denied,” the coalition stated.
    The coalition invites all stakeholders, faith leaders, media professionals, community organizers, educators, business leaders, and concerned citizens to join this movement for unity, justice, and progress.


    Trump claimed that the country’s jobs reports “are being produced by a Biden appointee” and ordered his administration to terminate her.

    “We need accurate Jobs Numbers,” Trump wrote. “She will be replaced with someone much more competent and qualified. Important numbers like this must be fair and accurate; they can’t be manipulated for political purposes.”

    He intensified his attack in a later post, writing: “In my opinion, today’s Jobs Nu