Greene County Democrat

Category: General News

  • Newswire : Black Americans still face deep retirement gaps despite higher incomes

    By Stacy M. Brown
Black Press USA Senior National Correspondent

    A report from the Employee Benefit Research Institute shows that Black Americans continue to face serious challenges in saving for retirement, even as their incomes grow.
    The 2025 Retirement Confidence Survey, which included a special oversample of Black workers and retirees, found that the wealth gap remains wide at every income level. Among households earning $75,000 or more, only 33% of Black Americans reported having $250,000 or more in savings and investments, compared with 63% of non-Black Americans. Debt remains a significant barrier. 63% of higher-income Black households said debt is a problem, while just 45% of non-Black households at the same income level said the same. Nearly half of upper-income Black respondents said debt affects their ability to save or live comfortably in retirement.
    While many Black Americans expressed confidence managing day-to-day budgets, fewer felt prepared to invest or plan for the long term. The study showed that Black Americans with higher incomes were less likely to have personally saved for retirement, 77%, compared with 87% of non-Black Americans. Retirement experiences also differed sharply. Forty-four percent of Black retirees said they retired earlier than planned because of a health problem or disability, compared with 32% of non-Black retirees.
    After leaving their main jobs, Black retirees were more likely to work for pay to make ends meet, and more often said their retirement lifestyle was worse than expected. Access to financial advice and planning remains uneven. Just 31% of Black respondents reported currently working with a financial advisor, although nearly half expect to do so in the future. Black Americans were more likely to seek help with reducing debt, creating wills or estate plans, and arranging life insurance than simply determining if they had saved enough to retire.
    Researchers Craig Copeland and Lisa Greenwald wrote, “Black Americans reported disproportionately lower financial resources, and how they feel about retirement and financial security is clearly impacted by having less resources.” They continued, “In particular, Black retirees are struggling with higher likelihoods of their retirement lifestyle being worse than expected and having to retire earlier than planned because of a health problem or disability.” “Still,” the researchers concluded, “there are some modifications in the financial system that could help improve their prospects, such as increased assistance in balancing competing financial priorities like debt reduction, supporting family, and building long-term savings.”

  • Newswire : 1700 ‘Good Trouble Lives On’ events held across the nation on July 17

    Barbara Arnwine, president/CEO of the Transformative Justice Coalition, at a ‘Good Trouble Still Lives On’ Rally in Chicago.

    By Hamil Harris
     

    (TriceEdneyWire.com) – When U. S. Rep. John Lewis died on July 17, 2020, instead of somber memorial services, his family and civil rights leaders and activists held rallies and marches and got into what he had described as “good trouble,” meaning pushing for truth and justice even when it means taking a risk.
    Five years later, in his memory and honor, “Good Trouble Lives On,” a string of protest events took place in more than 1,700 communities across the country July 17. A growing coalition of leaders says their ranks are growing to challenge President Trump’s agenda and hopefully restore crucial public policies that he and his administration have destroyed.
    “We had more than 1700 events across the country Thursday night, and it was beautiful,” said Barbara Arnwine, president/CEO of the Transformative Justice Coalition, and a co-leader of Good Trouble Lives On.
    The flagship event for Good Trouble Lives On was held in Chicago with other rallies in major cities like Atlanta, St. Louis and Washington, DC, but also in many smaller venues like Annapolis, Md.; Portland, Ore.; and San Diego, Calif.
    “People said that it couldn’t be done because they are too angry and were skeptical,” Arnwine said. “But we started to organize and people, Black and White, took to the streets.”
    “This is what Democracy looks like,” said Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson, during the Chicago rally. “Congressman John Lewis, a man who put his body on the line for Justice. There are times when we must defy the status quo and push back against unjust laws and that time is now.”
    One of the common themes about the Good Trouble Lives On events is that they are positive, diverse, and upbeat. In Washington, DC Rep. Al Green said in a TV interview that the march that Rep. Lewis led across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in 1965 was the “crown jewel of the City Rights Movement.”
    In New York City, protesters marched and chanted, “We want justice, we want peace, we want ICE off our streets!”
    In Deland, Fla., protesters yelled “This is what Democracy looks like!” and in St. Louis, Denise Lieberman, director of the Missouri Voter Protection Coalition, said, “We are standing up for the freedom of all people.”
    While many events are held in Washington DC, Arnwine said she planned for a “flagship,” event to be held in Chicago because she had strong support from city officials as well as labor and Civil Rights leaders.
    The Mayor of Chicago spoke and even the Rev. Jackson came in his wheelchair alongside labor and civil rights leaders,” said Arnwine, noting that there were major turnouts in other cities.
    “Chicago as chosen as the national flagship because of its bold and defiant Mayor Brandon Johnson, because it is the headquarters of Rev. Jesse Jackson’s Rainbow/PUSH Coalition and it’s a union town,” Arnwine said. “It also has great voting rights organizations and a wonderful chapter of Indivisible,” a progressive movement and organization that has vowed to fight against infringements upon civil rights gains.
    In Alabama, there were rallies in the cities of Dothan, Mobile, Tuscaloosa, Montgomery, Birmingham and Huntsville. In Selma, there was a rally at the National Voting Rights Museum on Highway 80, near the spot where John Lewis was beaten on Bloody Sunday in 1965. This was a prelude to a larger statewide demonstration on August 6, 2025 to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the signing of the 1965 Voting Rights Acts and to continue the struggle to update and extend the provisions of the VRA which have been invalidated in recent years by Supreme Court decisions and state legislative acts.
    Arnwine says she is expecting the events to continue and grow, including additional rallies later this summer. In August a rally for voting rights, a labor rally in September as well as a rally in support of the Constitution.
    “Transformative Justice Coalition is pleased that more than 1,700 activations took place on July 17th through rallies, teach-ins and marches now planned across America’s communities and neighborhoods in the spirit of getting in ‘good trouble’. This has been created in honor of the late Congressman John Lewis, who coined the phrase ‘Good Trouble.’” Arnwine said. “John Lewis once famously quipped, ‘If not now, when. If not us, then who?’”
    We are determined to reach and activate every American impacted by the poorly thought-out, poorly calculated, and callous budget bill passed on our country’s 249th birthday.
    While the majority of people impacted by these cuts are White, it will also have a significant impact on Black, Brown, and other communities of color.
    “The nature of the struggle has changed. It’s a different era that requires a different response ,”  Arnwine said. “The beautiful thing is that we are under attack, but we have each other’s backs and there is more good trouble to come.”
     

  • 
This rural county hoped to reopen its hospital. Voting for Trump killed it

    By Staff of Daily Kos
    Martin County, nestled in northeast North Carolina, had 24,500 residents in 2010. By 2020, that number had dropped to 22,000. Like much of rural America, its population is steadily declining.
    Politically, it’s followed a familiar trajectory. President Barack Obama carried the county twice by 5 points. In 2016, President Donald Trump edged out Hillary Clinton, 49.2% to 48.8%. And by 2020, Trump’s margin grew to 52% to President Joe Biden’s 47%. Last year, he won it by 55% to Vice President Kamala Harris’ 45%.
    Now the county faces a very different kind of loss: its only hospital shut down in August 2023 due to financial strain, making the nearest emergency room 22 miles away—a 30-minute drive that, for some, is fatal. It’s even farther for more advanced medical services.
    There were plans to reopen the hospital, but then Trump’s proposed cuts to Medicaid—framed as a crackdown on “fraud and waste”—shattered that possibility.
    According to The New York Times, the impacts are felt acutely by Martin County residents, more than a quarter of whom are older than 65. The nearest hospital is in Greenville 40 minutes away.
    Verna Marie Perry, 66, a former worker in the county’s adult and aging services department, told the Times that she now fields calls from friends in medical crises.
    “Neighbors have called me crying moments after someone close to them died while being transported to the nearest hospital,” she said.
    It’s a tragic reality made worse by the fact that some residents still can’t—or won’t—see the connection between their vote and the disaster now unfolding.
    Cathy Price, 72, a lifelong Williamston resident and former nurse at the shuttered Martin General, told the Times that while she still backs Trump’s efforts to trim Medicaid, “we’re in a life-and-death crisis. People’s lives are on the line because of the hospital not being here.”
    There it is: She voted to hurt other people, not herself. And even now, she clings to the fantasy that all of that “fraud and waste” must be happening somewhere else.
    But the harsh reality is that there’s nothing remotely efficient about a hospital serving just 22,000 people. Rural hospitals aren’t profitable. They can only exist because of subsidies from urban areas—in effect, from liberals.
    And for years, that was the deal: Blue America paid the bills so red America could have hospitals, schools, broadband, and clean water. In return, rural voters have voted to burn the country down.
    Okay, then.
    We feel for the 45% of Martin County voters who backed Harris. They tried to do what was best for their country and their county. As for Price and her fellow Trump voters? We hope that they get exactly what they voted for.

  • Greene County Commission authorizes purchase of 3 new dump trucks and other road repair equipment

    The Greene County Commission held a work session and regular monthly meeting on last Wednesday, July 9, 2025. All five commissioners were present for the meeting.
    In the work session, most of the discussion was centered on Assistant County Engineer Calvin Culliver’s requests for purchase of new equipment for road repair work in the county. Culliver suggested selling three dump trucks owned by the County and buying three new dump trucks. Since the equipment is relatively new, it will have a good resale value, but also the County will acquire new trucks, which will require lower maintenance and repair costs.
    The Commission approved a similar financial arrangement to purchase the current dump trucks, two years ago. This purchase will require the Commission to advance $750,000 from its $1.9 million Bingo General Fund for the purchase of new trucks and then reimburse the bingo funds from the sale of the current trucks. This arrangement to purchase and sell three dump trucks was approved in the regular Commission meeting following the work session.
    Assistant Engineer Culliver requested purchase of a new lowboy tractor for $194,000 to transport equipment to work sites. The County will sell its current lowboy tractor as part of this transaction. Culliver requested purchase of three new pickup trucks for the Highway Department at a cost of $44,700 each. The existing pickup trucks some as old as a 1998 model will also be sold. The Commission approved these purchases in its regular meeting following the work session.
    In the work session, the County Highway Department requested rental of a Track-hoe with a mulcher attachment for dealing with fallen trees along the roadways. This equipment can be rented for $7,500 per month. The engineer felt he could recover some of the cost by charging other municipalities for use of the equipment after storms. He also anticipates lower cost for dumping of the mulched materials, which can be spread along the side of the road, rather than finding a landfill for disposal of tree limbs. The Track-hoe rental was also approved in the regular meeting.
    CFO Mac Underwood estimated that the total impact of the equipment purchases and sales would reduce the Bingo General Fund resources from $1.9 to $1,6 million. Commissioner Allen Turner pointed out that this arrangement could not continue forever without replenishing the reserve fund.
    The Commission recognized Charlie Gomez, who was in the audience, to consider his request for changes in his contract to lease the old Greenetrack facilities. Gomez requested a name change on the agreement for his corporation to Iron Wolf Media LLC. He also requested some changes in the contract language to allow for sub-leasing. In the regular meeting, the Commission agreed to the name change and authorized its attorney, Mark Parnell, to negotiate the language on subleases.
    The Commission reviewed and approved a contract with Digital Information Systems for computers and program applications, for 2025-26 fiscal year. The Commission also agreed to add to the agreement and install a new telephone system upgrade for a Voice Over IP System at a cost of $1,755 per month, which is slightly higher than the current cost of $1,650 a month for the current outdated system.
    The Commission heard a request from George Poindexter of IM Farms, a licensed medical cannabis raising and processing operation, located in the county, that needed help in establishing a “public improvement district” to support and expand its operations. Due to the proprietary nature of the company’s operation and plans, the Commission met with Pointdexter in an Executive Session. Commission Chair Garria Spencer said no formal action was taken on the request in the Executive Session.
    In other actions, the County Commission:
    • Approved request from the Town of Union for use of voting machines for the August 26,2025 municipal election.
    • Approved report from the Revenue Commission on 2024 operations to be submitted to the State of Alabama.
    • Approved FY2026 County Rebuild Alabama Contractors Report.
    • Approved travel for Assistant County Engineers to attend the ACCA Convention in Perdido Beach, August 19-21, 2025.
    • Re-appointed Joe Powell to the Greene County Housing Authority Board from District 3 and tabled the appointment to the DHR Board from this district.
    • Heard a request, in the public comments section of the meeting from Eula Morton, for the creation of a mechanism to raise funds for senior citizens activities in relation to the senior feeding program at Eutaw and Forkland.
    CFO Mac Underwood presented a financial report which showed as of June 30, 2026, the Greene County Commission had $3,539,139 in Unrestricted funds and $7,777,708 in Restricted funds on hand in local banks. The County also has $1,900,285 in reserve funds invested in certificates of deposit. For the month of June 2025, the County spent $1,544,644 for expenses including payroll. Another $92,057 was expensed in electronic transfers for employee taxes and retirement.

  • Newswire : Rep. Figures leads bipartisan effort to introduce NIL bill to establish national framework

    Rep. Shomari Figures 
     

    By Staff, Alabama Political Reporter

    On Thursday, Representative Shomari C. Figures, D-Alabama, led a bipartisan effort with the Republican chairmen of the Committees on Energy and Commerce; Education and the Workforce; and the Judiciary to introduce the Student Compensation and Opportunity through Rights and Endorsements (SCORE) Act to establish a national framework that stabilizes the use of student-athletes’ name, image, and likeness.

    “The current college sports environment has drastically changed in the NIL era, and this bill provides a framework to where students can not only be compensated but also have access to resources like health care and financial literacy courses, to ensure they have a solid foundation for their lives after college and we can get back to just playing ball,” Figures said. “I look forward to continuing the bipartisan work to make this the strongest bill possible and protect student-athletes, schools, and our athletic conferences.”

    The SCORE Act includes the following provisions:

    Sets a national framework for student-athletes’ rights and responsibilities related to name, image, and likeness (NIL) compensation, support services, and institutional accountability.
    Guarantees a range of student-athlete benefits, including academic and career support, health and medical services, injury-related protections, and grant-in-aid guarantees both during and after enrollment for Division I schools.
    Allows student-athletes to receive NIL payments except when the payment is from a booster without a valid business purpose, from a school in excess of a set pool limit, or in violation of the school’s code of conduct or contractual obligations. 
    Authorizes athletic associations to set rules on NIL transparency, booster payments, recruitment, transfers, and eligibility, among other matters.
    Establishes federal preemption over related state laws to ensure uniformity across the country.

    “NIL offers an endless array of opportunities for student-athletes to make the most of their college experience, but the lack of clear guardrails has left athletes and universities on unstable ground.

    The SCORE Act creates a national framework that supports student-athletes and recenters the educational mission of college athletics,” said Chairmen Brett Guthrie, R- Kentucky; Tim Walberg, R-Michigan; and Jim Jordan, R-Ohio. “We are proud of this landmark legislation, and we look forward to working with our colleagues to strengthen this American institution.”

     

  • Newswire : Florida lawmaker blasts Alligator Alcatraz as ‘Concentration Camp’  

    Inhumae cages inside the prison for immigration deportees

    By Stacy M. Brown
Black Press USA Senior National Correspondent

     

    Florida state Rep. Angie Nixon has condemned the state’s $450 million immigration detention facility in the Everglades—dubbed “Alligator Alcatraz”—as an inhumane, politically motivated stunt that is detaining people accused of minor infractions like driving without a license or running a stop sign.
    Speaking on the Black Press of America’s “Let It Be Known” program, Nixon described what she called a “hyper-curated, super-sanitized tour” of the sprawling compound. “What I saw was a waste of taxpayer dollars,” she said. “Countless SUVs, law enforcement officers, military personnel—many of whom claimed to be volunteers—are all being paid to carry out a political stunt.” During her tour, Nixon said she observed more than 30 people crammed into cages with just three restrooms. “There was no privacy,” she said. “Folks were getting water from the toilet.” Detainees she saw in shackles included asylum seekers awaiting court dates. “These are construction workers, people who care for our elderly and our children. They are not hardened criminals.”
    Nixon, who filed legislation to improve prison conditions in Florida, said the facility is consistent with a state correctional system that historically fails to provide adequate care and basic needs. She recounted that state officials rushed her group off-site, citing a supposed security lockdown as rain began, preventing lawmakers from seeing whether flooding, previously documented on video, was recurring. “They kept saying a storm was coming,” Nixon said. “When we insisted on staying, suddenly there was a lockdown, and we were escorted out.
    We don’t believe it was a real security issue.” Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has defended the project as necessary to detain what he has called the “worst of the worst.” But Nixon said the facility’s population tells a different story. “My daughter is 18 and she just got a ticket for running a red light. Under this logic, she could end up there too,” she said.
    The facility comes as public support for harsh enforcement has waned. According to Gallup polling, only 38% of Americans now favor mass deportations, down from 47% last year. Approval of Donald Trump’s handling of immigration stands at just 35% nationally, and among Hispanic Americans, only 21% approve. While the Trump administration has promoted expanded detention and deportation policies, Gallup found that 78% of Americans support a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants. Nixon said Florida’s approach is out of step with public sentiment and legal norms. “They couldn’t even tell us who was mixed together—people who committed no crime at all and people waiting for due process,” she said. “And since when does the state of Florida have the jurisdiction to deport people?”
    The lawmaker and four colleagues have sued DeSantis and Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier, claiming the state violated their statutory rights to conduct unannounced inspections. DeSantis has called the lawsuit “frivolous” and suggested countersuing the lawmakers. Nixon argued that resources wasted on detention should be directed to Floridians’ needs. “They are closing schools in Duval County, our property insurance rates are the highest in the country, we have people with disabilities waiting years for help, and instead, they are spending hundreds of millions on this,” she said.
    As reports circulate that Florida could soon expand detention camps, Nixon urged Americans to pressure state and federal leaders. “If we don’t stop this here, it’s coming to your backyard next,” she said. “They just revoked TPS for Haitians. What happens when they say, ‘I thought you were undocumented’ and pick up Black Americans without due process?”
    Nixon warned that the growing disregard for civil rights should alarm all Americans. “Everything Trump has said he would do, he has done. We can’t take this lightly.” She encouraged citizens to call lawmakers, sign petitions, and demand accountability. “We should all be outraged,” she said. “If they can do this to them, they can do it to us.”

  • Newswire : Black Lives Matter marks 12 years with global expansion and renewed calls for accountability

    Black Lives Matter has reached its 12th anniversary, and the organization’s co-founder and prominent scholar-activist, Dr. Melina Abdullah, says the movement is not only growing internationally but also confronting what she described as an unprecedented wave of “fascism and unmasked racism.”

    By Stacy M. Brown
Black Press USA Senior National Correspondent

    During an appearance on Black Press USA’s Let It Be Known News, Dr. Abdullah detailed the recent summit in Los Angeles, where organizers from 51 chapters—including the newly established Black Lives Matter Stockholm—gathered for workshops, tours, an action, and a celebration at the Center for Black Power on Crenshaw Boulevard. “This is the largest that Black Lives Matter has ever been,” Abdullah said. “We are now 51 chapters in 2025 and thousands of boots-on-the-ground organizers.”
    The summit, which lasted several days, included discussions on the group’s principles and strategy. Abdullah noted that the movement’s work has taken on new urgency as attacks on Black communities intensify. “I think the world hasn’t seen this level of fascism and unmasked racism,” she said. “I haven’t witnessed a world where African American men from Texas, born and raised, the child descendants of enslaved people, can be deported.” Abdullah also described personal moments of fear, including seeing an unknown truck parked in front of her home after delivering groceries to elders in the community. “I was going, should I get out my car? Because I don’t know who these two men sitting in this truck are,” she recalled. “And will somebody see me if they snatch me up?”
    The BLM Grassroots leader announced the release of the organization’s annual action report, detailing initiatives ranging from mutual aid to political advocacy. Among the work highlighted was the successful campaign to free Brittany Martin, who was sentenced to prison for remarks made to police during a 2020 protest in South Carolina. “This pregnant mother of six, now of seven, was arrested for simply speaking words,” Abdullah said. “She wound up being ripped away from her family, forced to have her seventh child inside the prison. But we kept fighting, and at the end of 2024, we were able to free Brittany Martin.” In addition to campaigns for policy reforms like Wakiesha’s Law—requiring 24-hour family notification when a loved one dies in custody—the report describes BLM Grassroots’ youth scholarship programs, food distributions, and international solidarity work.
    Dr. Abdullah also addressed internal conflict over financial stewardship within the broader BLM network. She said that while BLM Los Angeles purchased a community building used for mutual aid and youth programs, the Global Network Foundation bought what she called a “$6 million mansion” in Studio City. “Families of those who have been killed by police and white supremacy have been blocked from being able to ever use or set foot inside that house,” she said, adding that BLM Grassroots leaders recently visited the property to demand accountability and the return of resources. “We stood outside with at least six or seven family members and said, return the money, return the resources to the movement so that we can use it for the good of Black liberation.”
    Abdullah said that repeated attempts to speak directly with foundation leaders—including letters, calls, and legal filings—have been met with silence or legal counteractions. “They’ve never spoken with us,” she said. “We would love to speak with them and ask them why they feel entitled to travel in private jets with makeup teams and stand on red carpets wearing couture.” She described BLM Grassroots’ philosophy of abolition and the need to dismantle systems that profit from Black suffering. “We have to transform a state that allows for and enables and really sometimes benefits and profits from the murders of Black people,” Abdullah said.
    The full action report is available at blmgrassroots.org.

  • Newswire : Obama’s blunt message for Democrats: ‘Toughen up’

    Former President Barack Obama addresses the Obama Foundation’s Democracy Forum on December 5, 2024, in Chicago. – Scott Olson/Getty Images

    By Arlette Sanz, CNN


    Former President Barack Obama issued a call to action for Democrats at a private fundraiser in New Jersey on Friday evening, urging those frustrated by the state of the country under President Donald Trump to “stand up for the things that you think are right.”
    “I think it’s going to require a little bit less navel-gazing and a little less whining and being in fetal positions. And it’s going to require Democrats to just toughen up,” Obama said at the fundraiser, according to excerpts of his remarks exclusively obtained by CNN.
    “You know, don’t tell me you’re a Democrat, but you’re kind of disappointed right now, so you’re not doing anything. No, now is exactly the time that you get in there and do something,” he said. “Don’t say that you care deeply about free speech and then you’re quiet. No, you stand up for free speech when it’s hard. When somebody says something that you don’t like, but you still say, ‘You know what, that person has the right to speak.’ … What’s needed now is courage.”
    Obama’s comments come as the Democratic Party searches for its path forward in the second Trump term and beyond. Many in the party’s base have called for a more forceful response from Democratic leaders at a time when the party is locked out of power.
    As Democrats debate who should lead the party, Obama encouraged them to channel their energy into the governor’s races in New Jersey and Virginia, saying the off-year elections could be “a big jumpstart for where we need to go.”
    “Stop looking for the quick fix. Stop looking for the messiah. You have great candidates running races right now. Support those candidates,” Obama said, calling out the New Jersey and Virginia elections, according to the excerpts of his remarks.
    “Make sure that the DNC has what it needs to compete in what will be a more data-driven, more social media-driven cycle, which will cost some money and expertise and time,” he continued.
    Obama spoke at a private fundraiser hosted by New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy and his wife, Tammy Murphy, at their home in Red Bank, New Jersey. The intimate dinner drew in $2.5 million through in-person and online donations for the Democratic National Committee, a source familiar with the event said.
    A portion of the haul will be allocated to Democratic efforts in the governor’s race in New Jersey. The Democratic nominee, Rep. Mikie Sherrill, and and DNC Chair Ken Martin were on hand for the event.
    Obama described Sherrill and former Rep. Abigail Spanberger, the Democratic nominee for governor in Virginia, as “powerful spokespersons for a pragmatic, commonsense desire to help people and who both have remarkable track records of service.”
    “The most important thing you can do right now is to help the team, our candidate to win,” he said. “And we’ve got to start building up our coffers in the DNC.”
    Obama also argued that Democrats need to focus on how to “deliver for people,” acknowledging the different views within the party about how best to do that.
    “There’s been, I gather, some argument between the left of the party and people who are promoting the quote-unquote abundance agenda. Listen, those things are not contradictory. You want to deliver for people and make their lives better? You got to figure out how to do it,” he said.
    “I don’t care how much you love working people. They can’t afford a house because all the rules in your state make it prohibitive to build. And zoning prevents multifamily structures because of NIMBY,” he said, referring to “not in my backyard” views. “I don’t want to know your ideology, because you can’t build anything. It does not matter.”
    Obama has spoken selectively since Trump’s return to power in January. He has criticized the president’s tariff policy and warned the White House was infringing on Americans’ rights. Last month, Obama warned the country was “dangerously close” to a more autocratic government.
    At the closed-press fundraiser on Friday, the former president said he has not been “surprised by what Trump’s done” or that “there are no more guardrails within the Republican Party.” He repeated his calls for institutions, including law firms and universities, to push back on intimidation efforts by the Trump administration.
    “What’s being asked of us is make some effort to stand up for the things that you think are right. And be willing to be a little bit uncomfortable in defense of your values. And in defense of the country. And in defense of the world that you want to leave to your children and your grandchildren,” he said. “And if we all do that, if we do our jobs over the next year and a half, then I think we will rebuild momentum and we will position ourselves to get this country moving in the direction it should.”

  • Newswire : Reverend William Barber says Medicaid Cuts are “Retrogression”

    Rev. William Barber

    By April Ryan, NNPA White House Correspondent


    “Put a face on the deadliness of this big, bad, deadly, ugly bill.” That is what Reverend William Barber says as he conducts Moral Mondays in 11 Southern states today. He is laser-focused on 11 local U.S. Senate offices in Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Texas, West Virginia, and Tennessee. In these states, Barbers says 1.5 million people are expected to lose their healthcare due to federal funding cuts to Medicaid.
    Barber lamented that only one U.S. Senator, Thom Tillis of North Carolina, voted against the “One Big Beautiful Bill.” On July 1st, Tillis broke ranks with most Senate Republicans on the healthcare cuts. Tillis understands that federal cuts to Medicaid funding would hurt his constituents. Three days later, on July 4th, President Donald Trump signed the bill into law, which cuts 17 million people from Medicaid health insurance in this country, over the coming decade.
    Barber, leading the protest in Memphis, Tennessee, says, “The highest number of people who will lose Medicaid are in the South.” He emphasizes these massive cuts to Medicaid do not discriminate; however, “the highest percentage of Black people being kicked off of Medicaid is in the South.”
    Barber, who is also looking at the economics of these cuts, says, “40% of the South are poor now and low wage,” and that will further exacerbate the poverty numbers in this nation. These 11 marches will consist of a contingent of clergy and impacted people expected to march with caskets housing the number of people in that state who were negatively affected by the newly passed “One Big Beautiful” law.
    The list of Medicaid losses according to Rev. Barber, are North Carolina 307,000, Texas 300,000, Louisiana 291,000 , Arkansas 123,000, and Alabama 42,000.

    Moral Mondays will resume in the nation’s capital in August, according to Reverend Barber, who also says there will be a continued focus on these healthcare cuts and cuts to SNAP in the South.