Greene County Democrat

Category: Health

  • Mayor Latasha Johnson announces bid for re-election

    Today, I am officially announcing my campaign for re-election to the Office of Mayor of the City of Eutaw, Alabama. It has been a privilege and honor to hold this position since November of 2020. Following my election, I did my best to put together a team (TEAM EUTAW) of people and citizens, who would work together to continue moving this city forward. While there have been some problems and difficult times there have also been some accomplishments and successes that far exceed difficulties.
    These are some of the challenges that we faced and how Team Eutaw addressed these: Eutaw Water Department’s revenue was down due to the billing system. Over 100 customers were not billed due to meter issues. We were able to correct these issues and tripled our water revenues. The city was in debt with IRS (over) $300.000 lien on the city, and with the help of staff, our financial advisors (Ralph Liverman), CPA (Rob Person), and Sheriff Joe Benison, we were able to resolve these issues.
    Our city suffered through severe weather conditions, including three tornadoes and other strong wind storms. Thankfully, there were no fatalities, but tremendous amounts of property damage to several homes, buildings, and excessive amount of trees and limbs damage throughout the city. FEMA was some help, but a large amount of the expenses fell on the city.
    The City paid off the debt on the former Carver School facility. Partnering with the County and the Industrial Development Authority, we completed Streetscape Project which resulted in new sidewalks with railings, curbs, gutters, and an area for beautification downtown. This project started under former Mayor Raymond Steele. 
 The City installed streetlights on Exit I- 20/59 (Love truck stop exit). We secured a $500,000 loan from Merchant and Farmers Bank to purchase street sweeper, boom debris pickup truck, water/street department work trucks, police cars, a new Fire Truck ($250,000) The last payment of that loan will be in September 2025. The City purchased the former Lon Grubbs building for future police department and storage of records. We partnered with the Town of Boligee and secured over $ 9 million dollars in grant monies from ADEM to fix water lines, lift stations, water tanks and pumping station.
    I am asking citizens of Eutaw to please RE- ELECT me (Latasha Johnson) as Mayor. I will continue my team work to improve roads, bridges, draining ditches, restoring old sidewalks/curbs, demolishing old overgrown houses/buildings. I will also work very hard for recreational activities for our children. As a community, we will continue to work together to grow our City; therefore, I am asking the citizens of Eutaw to please re-elect me (Latasha Johnson) for Mayor of Eutaw for 4 more years and I will continue to build up our city.

  • Newswire : Trump-era cuts, truth bans, fuel growing racial divide in U.S. Education

    By Stacy M. Brown
    Black Press USA Senior National Correspondent

    Despite the promise of equal opportunity heralded by the Supreme Court’s 1954 decision in Brown v. Board of Education, a new WalletHub report reveals that America’s educational system remains critically unequal—especially for Black students. The disparities, experts say, have only widened in recent years, worsened by former President Donald Trump’s dismantling of federal education funding and his administration’s attacks on teaching real American history.

    WalletHub’s analysis ranked states by racial equality in education, using key metrics such as gaps in graduation rates, college degree attainment, and standardized test scores between Black and white students. Wyoming, New Mexico, and West Virginia top the list for equity, while Connecticut, Minnesota, and Wisconsin rank lowest. According to the report, school districts with predominantly white students receive $23 billion more in funding per year than districts with majority nonwhite students.
    “Promoting racial equality in education can have a significant impact on promoting equality in the overall economy,” said WalletHub analyst Chip Lupo. “It is essential to ensure that all school districts receive sufficient funding, the latest technology, and equal opportunities for tutoring and extracurricular activities.”

    But instead of addressing these inequities, Trump and his allies have stripped resources from schools, gutted the Department of Education, and fiercely opposed instruction that addresses America’s history of racism, slavery, and systemic inequality. Their rejection of Critical Race Theory—often a stand-in for broader discussions about race—has sparked book bans, curriculum censorship, and efforts to whitewash the past. Rodney Coates, a WalletHub expert and professor at Miami University, said the system is structurally rigged. “Race and class are both associated with differential school spending. Poor areas—mostly Black, Native American, and Hispanic—have lower per-pupil spending across our country,” Coates said. “Educational opportunity and a commitment to excellence are the only lasting solutions.”
    The report details how states like Connecticut and Wisconsin—among the worst for racial equity—suffer from wide gaps in high school graduation rates and access to advanced coursework. In contrast, states like Hawaii and New Mexico show narrower gaps in test scores and degree attainment. “It’s not just about race, but the effects are highly racialized,” said Shauna Lani Shames, a WalletHub expert and political science professor at Rutgers University. “Schools remain segregated today by geography and class, which are deeply tied to race due to generations of redlining and discriminatory policies.” The pandemic and recent economic downturns have exacerbated the problem. As WalletHub expert Tyrone Howard of UCLA explained, the regression in math and reading scores for Black and Brown students is alarming, and without targeted resources—school counselors, academic support, and mental health services—the gaps will only grow.
    William McCorkle, also a WalletHub expert and an education professor at the College of Charleston, noted structural barriers in South Carolina that perpetuate inequality. “Even at the kindergarten level, some children are divided based on gifted and talented programs, which are almost completely based on parental income.”
    According to experts, solving these inequities requires more than just increased funding. It demands a commitment to truth, accurate teaching of history, and valuing every student regardless of their background. “Every person deserves the finest education we can provide,” said WalletHub Expert Dr. Kim Scipes, a professor emeritus of sociology at Purdue University Northwest. “Despite its wide usage, there is no white race, no black race, no brown race—there is only one race, the human race,” Scipes stated.

  • Newswire : Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil free from ICE custody in Louisiana

    Source: Anadolu / Getty

    By: Tiffany Hamilton, NewsOne

    After spending over three months in federal immigration detention, Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil is finally a free man after being released on Friday  following a federal judge’s ruling that his continued detention was unconstitutional and unsupported by the facts. 
    The decision marks a significant development in a case that has drawn national scrutiny over the Trump administration’s targeting of student protesters and its use of immigration enforcement to silence dissent, especially in relation to the humanitarian crisis and genocide happening in Gaza.
    Judge Michael Farbiarz of the U.S. District Court in New Jersey ordered Khalil’s release on bail from the Jena-LaSalle Immigration Detention Center in rural Louisiana, stating that he is not a flight risk or a threat to public safety.
    “Khalil is not a flight risk, and the evidence that has been presented to me at least, is that he is not a danger to the community, period, full stop,” Farbiarz said from the bench.
    Mahmoud Khalil, a Columbia University graduate student and lawful U.S. permanent resident, was arrested on March 8 in front of his Manhattan apartment. Though he had not been arrested or charged for a crime, he was one of the first arrestees in Trump’s immigration crackdown targeting student activists. Following the pro-Palestinian demonstrations at Columbia, he had emerged as a prominent spokesperson and negotiator for the student-led movement, a position that his attorneys argue made him a political target.
    “The court concluded there’s no reason he should continue to be detained given the serious harms that are happening, the chill that is happening to his speech and other people’s speech as a result of his detention,” one of his attorneys, Baher Azmy, told CNN.
    The Trump administration had asserted that Khalil should be expelled because of his activism, with Secretary of State Marco Rubio entering a two-page memo as evidence stating that he found that Khalil’s presence in the U.S. “would compromise a compelling U.S. foreign policy interest.”
    Judge Farbiarz, however, found that the facts proved otherwise, ruling that the Secretary of State’s assertion was not a valid basis for ongoing detention. 
    “It’s overwhelmingly unlikely, I found, that a lawful permanent resident would be detained on the remaining available charge” of failing to accurately fill out an immigration application,” the judge said during Friday’s hearing. 
    Mahmoud Khalil had been accused of providing incomplete information on his green card application, an allegation his lawyers strongly disputed. Despite an earlier ruling allowing the government to pursue that charge, the court found Friday that continued detention was not warranted.
    “There is at least something to the underlying claim that there is an effort to use the immigration charge here to punish the petitioner,” Farbiarz noted. “And of course, that would be unconstitutional.”
    Emerging from the Louisiana detention center Friday evening, Khalil—wearing a keffiyeh, a traditional Palestinian scarf—raised his fists and smiled broadly as he greeted supporters and legal counsel.
    “Although justice prevailed, it’s long, very long overdue, and this shouldn’t have taken three months,” Khalil told reporters. “The Trump administration are doing their best to dehumanize everyone here. Whether you are a U.S. citizen, an immigrant, or just a person on this land, doesn’t mean that you are less of a human.”
    Khalil’s detention had taken place more than 1,000 miles from his wife, Noor Abdalla, and their newborn son, whom, until Friday, he had not yet met. Speaking on the decision via statement, she shared that the ruling has allowed her to finally breathe a sigh of relief knowing Khalil will be reunited with his family.
    “After more than three months, we can finally breathe a sigh of relief and know that Mahmoud is on his way home to me and Deen, who never should have been separated from his father,” Noor Abdalla said in a statement. “We know this ruling does not begin to address the injustices the Trump administration has brought upon our family, and so many others the government is trying to silence for speaking out against Israel’s ongoing genocide against Palestinians,” she added. “But today we are celebrating Mahmoud coming back to New York to be reunited with our little family, and the community that has supported us since the day he was unjustly taken for speaking out for Palestinian freedom.”
    During Friday’s hearing, Khalil’s legal team argued that the case represented “extraordinary circumstances” and was part of a broader pattern of using immigration enforcement to suppress free speech.
    “I’m aware, of my 20 years of representing immigrants, of no other case where the government announced the day that it detained someone that they were detaining them in order to send a message that their arrest would be the first of many, that they were going after student protesters,” Khalil’s attorney Alina Das argued before the court. Despite the administration’s request to temporarily block the release, Judge Farbiarz denied the motion.
    Now free, Khalil expressed gratitude while also emphasizing that others remain unjustly held. “There are still many immigrants inside who are in a place where they shouldn’t have been,” he said.
    While Mahmoud Khalil’s release is a significant victory for due process and the First Amendment, his case remains ongoing in immigration court, and his legal team is preparing to continue challenging the government’s underlying deportation efforts in the weeks ahead.

  • No Kings Rally held in Selma

    Part of the No Kings Rally in Selma

    Special to the Democrat by John Zippert, Co-Publisher

    On Saturday, June 14, a multi-racial group of over one hundred people gathered on the west side of the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma for a ‘No Kings’ Rally to protest the actions of the Trump Administration that harm low- and moderate-income people and help the richest people in our nation. The rally was sponsored by the Save Ourselves Movement for Justice and Democracy (SOS), Alabama New South Coalition (ANSC), and Indivisible.
    The Selma Rally was one of 13 events held in Alabama and among 2,100 held nationwide which involved 5 million people protesting Trump. This was the largest protest of an American President in history. It was held on the same day as Trump’s birthday parade in Washington D. C.
    The focus of the rallies was opposition to Trump’s immigration and deportation policies; the budget cuts in his reconciliation bill on Medicaid, Medicare, SNAP (Food Stamp and Nutrition Programs), Education, Social Security, and other programs; as well as his attacks on Democracy, Voting Rights and the Rule of Law. Another criticism is Trump’s effort to cut the social safety for vulnerable people to give massive tax cuts to the top one percent of people, multi-millionaires and billionaires in our country.
    Former State Senator Hank Sanders of Selma was the moderator of the No Kings Rally and said that the Selma site was chosen by the sponsors of the rally because of its historical significance to the enactment of the 1965 Voting Rights Act and the continuance of Democracy in the United States. ”We have no room for a dictator or a self-proclaimed king in America,” he said.
    Isabella Compas of the Alabama Council for Immigrant Justice (ACIJ), who said she was a child of immigrants, spoke against the actions of the Trump Administration and ICE for rounding up undocumented people from farms, working places, churches, and schools who have committed no crimes. She said that families were separated, and people were sent to detention centers in deplorable conditions. Many have been deported without due process or the chance to get legal assistance. Trump is hurting the economy by taking workers out of the fields, processing plants, hotels and construction sites where they are working to support their families without providing replacement workers.
    Martha Morgan, a retired University of Alabama law professor reported on the many legal challenges to the Trump Administration’s illegal and un-constitional actions. She reported that there are trackers on the Internet monitoring all of the legal actions against Trump. There have been 220 lawsuits so far, 73 have been successful at the initial level. Many are under appeal to appellate courts, and most may eventually reach the Supreme Court, which although aligned 6-3 with conservative members has decided some cases against Trump.
    Another speaker was Annie Pearl Avery, a veteran SNCC civil rights worker, who march across the bridge on Bloody Sunday in 1965. She said, “We cannot give up fighting or Trump will set us back to before the Civil Rights Movement.”
    Faya Rose Toure spoke at the rally holding some Confederate flags that the Daughters of the Confederacy had placed at public places. Faya Rose said she goes around pulling up the flags. “The Confederate flag is a symbol of defiance against the government. Trump would li8ke to take us back to slavery and Jim Crow. We are here today because we cannot allow him to take us back.”
    John Zippert with SOS and the Greene County Health System Board of Directors spoke on the implications of the Trump Medicaid and Medicare budget cuts which will eliminate health care coverage for 15 million people and lead to the closure of many more rural hospitals.
    Azali Fortier, a sophomore at Spellman College and native of Selma, spoke of the concerns of young people facing budget cuts in education for Pell Grants, scholarship, research grants and the banning of books about Black studies. “ We are also worried about the budget cuts on the safety net programs and the attacks on democracy,” she said.
    Charles Flaherty of Marion, Alabama, said this was his first protest rally in fifty years, about the same basic democratic rights, but it will not be my last.
    Near the end of the rally, Hank Sanders asked people at the rally to say where they were from and why they came. For half of the people, including some young people, said this was the first public political rally they had ever participated in. There were several Federal workers who were dismissed and others who were fearful of losing their jobs, under Trump’s directives. Several veterans in the group expressed that they were having problems with securing health care and other benefits from the Veterans Administration
    At the end of the rally, the sponsors urged the attendees to call and write their Senators and Congresspersons about their concerns about budget cuts and attacks on democracy. People were urged to write letters to the editor of their local newspapers. The people were also urged to talk to their neighbors and friends about attending the next rally against Trump to make it even larger and more impactful.
    The next rally in this series is scheduled for July 17, 2025, the “Good Trouble Lives On” to commemorate the work of the late congressman and Civil Rights leader, John Lewis, on the date of his death. The Transformational Justice Coalition will be the national sponsor. More information will be available on their website and the NoKIngs.org website as well.

  • Newswire : Juneteenth 2025: Chavis urges America to confront the enduring legacy of the Transatlantic Slave Trade

    Cover of book on the Transatlantic Slave Trade

    New York, NY – As the nation marks Juneteenth—commemorating June 19, 1865, when federal troops enforced the Emancipation Proclamation in Texas—Dr. Benjamin F. Chavis Jr. calls for a deeper reckoning with the global and generational impact of the Transatlantic Slave Trade.

    Chavis, a renowned civil rights leader, former executive director of the Dr. Benjamin F. Chavis Jr. an accomplished journalist and author and senior national correspondent for Black Press USA.

    The book features a powerful foreword by hip-hop legend Chuck D and is endorsed by NBA Hall of Famer Isiah Thomas.


    A Legacy That Still Shapes Lives:

    Environmental Racism: Dr. Chavis coined the term “environmental racism” in the early 1980s. His 1986 study, Toxic Waste and Race, revealed how hazardous waste sites disproportionately impact communities of color—leading to widespread health disparities and environmental injustice.
    Mass Incarceration, Inequality, and Systemic Racism: “The chains of slavery may have been broken,” Chuck D writes, “but the shackles of systemic racism are still very much intact.” The book links modern injustices—from police brutality to education gaps—directly to slavery’s legacy.
    Global Repercussions: The transatlantic slave trade left marks not only on American soil but around the globe, influencing foreign policy, economic disparity, and racial inequality from the U.S. to the Caribbean and beyond.
    Modern-Day Consequences: From gentrification and poverty to voter suppression and underfunded schools, Black communities continue to face barriers rooted in this centuries-old system of oppression.

    “Too many still refuse to connect the dots between slavery and today’s racial injustices,” said Dr. Chavis. “This book is a wake-up call—a demand for awareness and a call to action.”
    A Must-Read for a Nation in Reflection:

    The Transatlantic Slave Trade: Overcoming the 500-Year Legacy is a timely, urgent, and unapologetic look at how the horrors of the past continue to shape present-day realities. It honors the resilience of Black people while demanding America finally reckon with truth and justice.

    The book is available from Amazon.com, Barnes and Nobel and your local book store.

  • Newswire : For the first time in its 116-year history, the NAACP won’t invite the sitting President to their Annual Convention

    By Lauren Burke, NNPA Correspondent


    Citing Trump’s “attacking our democracy,” the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) will not invite President Donald Trump to its national convention this year. The decision marks the first time that America’s oldest civil rights organization will exclude a sitting president at its convention. In a statement on the evening of June 16, the reasons were made clear.
    “Donald Trump is attacking our democracy and our civil rights. He believes more in the fascist playbook than in the U.S. Constitution. This playbook is radical and un-American. The president has signed unconstitutional executive orders to oppress voters and undo federal civil rights protections; he has illegally turned the military on our communities, and he continually undermines every pillar of our democracy to make himself more powerful and to personally benefit from the U.S. government,” the statement from the NAACP read in part.
    The NAACP’s statement referred to President Trump’s recent decision to send the National Guard to Los Angeles after protests against ICE detentions and abductions sent fear through parts of the Los Angeles community. The White House responded to the NAACP’s June 16 statement. “The NAACP isn’t advancing anything but hate and division, while the President is focused on uniting our country, improving our economy, securing our borders, and establishing peace across the globe. This is the same vision for America that a record number of Black Americans supported in the resounding reelection of President Trump,” stated White House spokesperson Harrison Fields said in a written statement. Since he took office in January 2025 for his second term in The White House there has been a clear anti-Black policy focus pushed by the Trump Administration. Trump and members of his cabinet have constantly attacked diversity and inclusion since taking office.
    The Trump Administration has also fired without cause several Black officials in top roles such as General CQ Brown, who was Chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Dr. Carla Hayden, who served as the Librarian of Congress.  It was reported in early April that books on racism, civil rights and the Black experience have been removed from the library at the U.S. Military Academy in Annapolis. The reason was the stated policy by the Trump Administration against “diversity” and “inclusion.”
    “For 116 years, the NAACP has invited the sitting president of the United States to address the NAACP National Convention — regardless of their political party. There is a rich history of both Republicans and Democrats attending our convention — from Harry Truman to Dwight D. Eisenhower, Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, Barack Obama, and beyond. We’re nonpartisan and always welcome those who believe in democracy and the Constitution,” the organization led by Derrick Johnson, also stated. Republican Presidents Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush addressed racism during their speeches to the NAACP. The organization’s annual convention is one of the largest gatherings of Black leadership in the U.S. each year.

  • Newswire : As housing costs go up, HUD proposes a 51% budget cut

    Center for Responsible Lending

    By Charlene Crowell


     

    (TriceEdneyWire.com) – According to the National Association of Home Builders, nearly 75 percent of families – 100.6 million households – cannot afford a median priced new home in 2025. With a price tag of $459,826 and an accompanying 30-year mortgage rate of about 6.5 percent, it’s no surprise that both families and government are challenged like never before when it comes to securing affordable housing.
     
    For much of Black America, affording a home is even harder due to pernicious and persistent income and wealth inequality. A February analysis of Census Bureau data by Lending Tree found that:
     
    Black households earned a median income of $56,490 in 2023– 33 percent less than the $84,630 earned by white households;
    Black Americans hold 3.4 percent of the nation’s wealth, although they make up 13.7 percent of the population, while white Americans hold 84.2 percent of national wealth, while making up 58.4 percent of the population; and
    Black workers earned a median of $962 weekly in the third quarter of 2024, versus $1,184 among white workers.
    Despite these disturbing figures, the proposed fiscal year (FY) 2026 budget for the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) would walk away from affordable housing concerns. The proposed budget reductions will eliminate long-standing programs and further reduce HUD staffing, while giving states block grants to craft their own versions of programs and funding priorities.
     
    “President Trump’s bold budget proposes a reimagining of how the federal government addresses affordable housing and community development,” said HUD Secretary Scott Turner in a written statement. “Importantly, it furthers our mission-minded approach at HUD of taking inventory of our programs and processes to address the size and scope of the federal government, which has become too bloated and bureaucratic to efficiently function.”
     
    Where the administration envisions “requiring states and localities to have skin in the game,” this proposal sidesteps large concerns that would affect every state: the capacity, expertise, and additional funding to design, deliver, and sustain affordable housing services.  HUD programs funded this year at $89.1 billion, would drop to $43.5 billion in FY 2026.
     
     Popular programs slated for elimination include:
    Community Development Block Grants (CDBG) – $3.3 billion in formula grants to over 1,200 state and local governments for a wide range of community and economic development activities.
    HOME Investment Partnerships Program – another $1.25 billion formula grant that provides state and local governments with funding to expand local housing; and 

    Fair Housing Initiatives Program (FHIP) – $56 million in competitive grants to public and private fair housing organizations to advocate against single family neighborhoods and promote equity policies. 
    As recently reported by Bloomberg News, an internal report estimates that HUD will have lost the majority of legal managers at its field offices, including half of the managing attorneys in its Chicago, San Francisco and Seattle offices, by September 30. Other planned HUD staff reductions will eliminate 75 percent of its managers in Boston, and all of its managers in Denver. Many remaining staff would be asked to relocate – at their own expense – to avoid future staff reductions.
     
    Housing stakeholders strongly oppose these cuts.
     
    For example, the National Council of State Housing Agencies (NCSHA) has been an affordable housing advocacy organization for 50 years. This nonprofit, nonpartisan group draws upon the knowledge and expertise of the nation’s state Housing Finance Agencies and their more than 350 affiliate members who together partner to provide affordable housing.
     
    “Overall, the changes proposed in the FY26 budget envision a dramatic reduction in federal support for affordable housing and a major restructuring of how the remaining federal assistance is delivered,” wrote Robert Henson, NCSHA’s Senior Housing Policy Specialist. “In total, the budget requests $43.5 billion in discretionary budget authority for HUD in FY26, as compared to $89.1 billion in FY25, representing a 51 percent decrease year over year.” 
     
    The DC-based Urban Institute expressed similar concerns about the so-called “skinny budget” proposal. 
     
    “Because states, unlike the federal government, must balance their budgets each year, major shifts in federal housing development funding would hinder states’ abilities to continue funding programs and projects, including efforts to increase affordable housing,” wrote the Urban Institute’s Kathryn Reynolds, its Principal Policy Associate and Gabriella Garriga, Research Analyst.
     
    With Congress yet to decide the fate of FY 2026 agency budgets, there is still time for communities, advocates, and others to stand up in support of affordable housing. A strong showing of broad and diverse support for housing and urban development is needed now like never before.
     
    As California Congresswoman Maxine Waters recently said, “At a time when homelessness is surging, with over 771,000 people experiencing homelessness on any given night, President Trump is proposing the wholesale destruction of our federal housing safety net… Housing costs are going up, not down and this budget will ensure that homelessness goes up as well.” 
     
    Charlene Crowell is a senior fellow with the Center for Responsible Lending. She can be reached at Charlene.crowell@responsiblelending.org”

  • Newswire : Israel and Iran! will there be U.S. involvement?

    Israeli and Iranian flags

    By April Ryan, NNPA White House Correspondent

    President Trump has not conferred with Congress on his plans regarding possible next moves in the Israel-Iran conflict. Meanwhile, Virginia Democratic Senator Tim Kaine has introduced a bill narrowing President Trump’s war powers as the Middle East strikes escalate.
    Yesterday, the 47th president cut short his trip to Canada for the G-7 Summit, blaming the Middle East warring for his abbreviated appearance. The president also convened his national security team to meet in the Situation Room at the White House and told those who lived in Tehran to evacuate immediately. There are videos on social media showing the long car lines leaving the city as strikes between Israel and Iran continue.
    Black Press USA reached a White House senior staffer who said they could not discuss this national security issue. However, this morning, the White House issued this release stating:
    President Trump Has Always Been Clear: Iran Cannot Have a Nuclear Weapon

    President Donald J. Trump has never wavered in his stance that Iran cannot be allowed to have a nuclear weapon — a pledge he has made repeatedly, both in office and on the campaign trail. Within the email statement to the press, the White House cites a long list of stories to support his statement.

    Since taking office, President Trump has clearly stated no fewer than 15 times that Iran cannot be allowed to have a nuclear weapon:

    “Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon. It’s very simple — you don’t have to go to too deep into it. They just can’t have a nuclear weapon.” (6/17/25)
    “I want to see no nuclear weapon in Iran, and we’re well on our way to making sure that happens.” (6/16/25)
    “You can’t have peace if Iran has a nuclear weapon.” (6/14/25)
    “They can’t have a nuclear weapon. Very simple. They can’t have a nuclear weapon. We’re not going to allow that.” (6/11/25)

    Black Press USA will continue to update you on the situation.

  • Felecia Lucky to depart 
Black Belt Community Foundation

    Felecia Lucky  and Christopher Spencer

    Board unanimously appoints Chief Community Engagement Officer 
Christopher Spencer as new CEO and President

    (June 10, 2025) SELMA, AL— Black Belt Community Foundation today announced founding Chief Executive Officer and President Felecia Lucky plans to step down from her role, effective September 30, 2025.

    The board has unanimously appointed Black Belt native Christopher Spencer, the foundation’s Chief Community Engagement Officer, to succeed Lucky.

    Lucky, who has led the foundation throughout its entire 21-year history, is leaving to become President and CEO at the F.B. Heron Foundation.

    “Felecia has been a visionary leader and a tireless champion for the Black Belt,” said Kennard Randolph, chairman of the foundation’s board. “Over the past two-plus decades, she has put our community at the front and center — making sure every decision is made with the input and guidance of the people of the Black Belt. She has built an extraordinary organization and we wish her nothing but the best as she moves into this next chapter.”

    Under Lucky’s leadership, BBCF has become a powerful force for change in one of the nation’s most economically challenged regions through strategic investments and innovative community-led initiatives.

    During her tenure, BBCF has deployed nearly $100 million into the Black Belt through partnerships with more than 200 regional nonprofit organizations throughout the Black Belt and with the guidance of 150 Community Associates.

    The foundation has also formed partnerships with some of the nation’s leading philanthropic and academic institutions — including the Ford Foundation; Mary Reynolds Babcock Foundation; F.B. Heron Foundation; Alabama Power Foundation; the W.K. Kellogg Foundation’s Truth, Racial Healing, and Transformation initiative; Robert Wood Johnson Foundation; the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation; NOVO Foundation; The Mortimer and Mimi Levitt Foundation; Black Voters Matter Fund; The Educational Foundation of America; Wellspring Philanthropic Fund; Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors; The Daniel Foundation of Alabama; The Regions Foundation; Protective Life Foundation; Mike and Gillian Goodrich Foundation; U.S. Endowment for Forestry and Communities; Trust for Civic Life; Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Alabama; HOPE Enterprise Corporation/HOPE Credit Union; Office of Head Start; the Alabama State Council on the Arts; the University of Alabama; the University of Alabama at Birmingham; Auburn University; and Tuskegee University.

    “It has been the honor of a lifetime to serve BBCF and the Black Belt. Together, we’ve built something special,” Lucky said. “The decision to leave is a difficult and emotional one, yet I feel this new opportunity is my next calling. Heron shares our commitment to supporting communities in shaping their own future. That’s exactly what we’ve done in the Black Belt and it will be an honor to continue this work at a national level.”

    Spencer, a native of Bellamy, began working with BBCF more than 20 years ago as a Community Associate and has spent his adult life serving his country and his community. He was awarded the prestigious Gen. Douglas McArthur Leadership Award as an Army officer during Operation Desert Storm and is Pastor of the St. Matthew-Weston Missionary Baptist Church of Boligee.

    Before joining BBCF, he worked in education at the Sumter County Board of Education and as Director for Resource Development for Community Engagement at the University of Alabama. He previously served as Vice Chairman of the Sumter County Commission and was recently appointed by Gov. Kay Ivey as a Trustee for Alabama State University.

    He’ll assume his new role with BBCF on October 1, 2025.

    “The strength of this organization is its people. I don’t know of another community foundation that works the way we work — guided by the voice of the people in our community,” Spencer said. “Felecia and our board have built and nurtured this culture. As I move into this role, we’re going to continue to nurture the seed that’s been planted so we can continue to support and empower the Black Belt.”

    About Black Belt Community Foundation
    Black Belt Community Foundation (BBCF) serves 12 counties of the Alabama Black Belt — dedicated to improving the quality of life in the region through education, the arts, economic development, housing, health and wellness and community engagement. Since its founding, BBCF has awarded millions in grants and scholarships to support local initiatives and empower future leaders.

  • Newswire : NIH dismantling draws fierce rebuke from within

    By Stacy M. Brown
Black Press USA Senior National Correspondent

    The Trump administration’s sweeping cuts to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) are drawing sharp criticism from scientists, civil rights advocates, and health equity researchers who warn that the reductions are disproportionately harming African Americans and other historically marginalized communities.

    The newly released Bethesda Declaration—signed by more than 2,300 NIH staff, Nobel laureates, and public health leaders—calls out politically motivated funding terminations and staff layoffs that have jeopardized decades of life-saving research. Signatories accuse NIH leadership of abandoning its core mission to enhance health and reduce illness in favor of partisan interference. “NIH has stigmatized and abruptly cut off funding for research mislabeled ‘Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI),’” the declaration states. “Achieving your stated goal to ‘solve the American chronic disease crisis’ requires research addressing the social and structural drivers of health disparities.”

    A particularly striking example came in May when NIH canceled a $9 million UCSF clinical trial studying the effects of guaranteed income on 300 low-income Black young adults in the Bay Area. The study had been offering $500 per month to participants to assess how economic stability could improve health and life outcomes. Its abrupt termination undermined both the research and the trust built with community participants, according to a report by the San Francisco Chronicle.

    Researchers and NIH employees decried the move. “Ending a $5 million research study when it is 80% complete does not save $1 million—it wastes $4 million,” the declaration warns. More importantly, they note, it leaves vulnerable populations without the benefit of critical scientific findings directly relevant to their lives. The effects extend far beyond California. An analysis by Stat News revealed that the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities suffered funding cuts of approximately 30%—a far deeper reduction than experienced by most NIH branches. The institute is responsible for investigating conditions disproportionately affecting African Americans and other communities of color, such as hypertension, diabetes, maternal mortality, and mental health disparities.

    “Broad participation in biomedical research is critical,” NIH staff wrote in the declaration. “Due to misunderstanding of its workforce diversity programs, NIH terminated top-scoring grants to scientists from underrepresented backgrounds, while maintaining poorer-scoring grants from standard pathways.” These actions have not only halted progress in understanding and addressing racial health disparities but also disrupted the careers of many researchers committed to equity-based science.
    The declaration outlines that since January 20, 2025, the NIH has canceled 2,100 grants totaling $9.5 billion and contracts worth an additional $2.6 billion. Many of these terminated programs focused on COVID-19 and long COVID—conditions that have disproportionately impacted Black, Latino, and Indigenous communities. Others addressed the health effects of climate change, gender identity, and sexual health—fields closely tied to the experiences of marginalized groups.
    The signers also warn that NIH staffing and infrastructure cuts have slowed research, jeopardized clinical trials, and undermined public trust. Layoffs targeting essential personnel, they say, have made the agency less efficient, less transparent, and more politically vulnerable. Freeman Hrabowski, President Emeritus of the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, and at least 21 Nobel laureates—including Dr. Drew Weissman and Dr. Carolyn Bertozzi—are among the high-profile backers of the Bethesda Declaration.
    “Each day that NIH continues to disrupt research, your ability to deliver on this duty narrows,” the signers warn NIH Director Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, who has come under scrutiny for allowing political considerations to override peer review, academic freedom and ethical obligations to study participants.
    The harms of these policies are not theoretical; they are real. They are already unfolding—cutting short vital research on chronic illness, mental health, and economic justice, and widening disparities in communities that have long faced the worst outcomes and the least investment. “We, the undersigned, stand united with these courageous and selfless public servants,” the declaration concludes. “Together, we stand up for science.”