The Greene County Democrat

Category: Newswire

  • Newswire “Life on Mars” lands its poet earthly honors

    By Frederick H. Lowe

     

    Mars Author

    Poet Laureate Tracy K. Smith

    Special to the Trice Edney News Wire from NorthStarNews.com

    (TriceEdneyWire.com) – The Library of Congress has named Tracy K. Smith, a Pulitzer Prize winner, the nation’s 22nd Poet Laureate and her recognition is being trumpeted in more than the usual places.
    After being named poet laureate, Smith told National Public Radio’s “All Things Considered,” “Poetry gives us a vocabulary for feeling that doesn’t easily fit into language. And it’s not a static vocabulary because we are beings constantly changing and contradicting ourselves and growing and coming up against problems that feel completely new or happiness that feel completely new […] We also find a deeper connection to others by acknowledging the feelings that they house as well. And so, to me, a poem is a real vehicle for empathy.” Smith’s collection of poems, titled “Life on Mars,” won the 2012 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry.
    The work is an elegy for her father, an engineer who worked on NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope. When “Life on Mars” won the Pulitzer, a Q&A with Smith was featured on the on the front page of Space.com, an online magazine that publishes articles on space flight, science, astronomy and the search for life on other planets. In the Q&A, she is asked if she believes there is life on Mars.
    “I do. I don’t know how anyone can see the Hubble “Deep Field Image” and not feel like something else is going about its business out there,” she said. Smith, who was born April 16, 1972, in Falmouth, Massachusetts, and raised Fairfield, California, is the youngest of five children. She studied at Harvard University and earned an MFA from Columbia University. Smith is director of Princeton University’s creative writing program. She lives in New Jersey.

  • Newswire : NAACP focuses on millennials for future growth

    By: Lauren Poteat (NNPA Newswire Contributor)

    youngnaacp_hharis_web120
     NAACP D.C. Branch President Akosua Ali gives remarks during a press conference during the group’s 108th national convention in Baltimore, Md. (Hamil Harris/NNPA)
    As Derrick Johnson assumes the role of interim president of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), leaders of the nation’s oldest Black civil rights organization say that young people must come first.
    Youth-led civil rights groups like Color of Change, Black Youth Project 100 and Dream Defenders have effectively used technology and social media to advance their causes online and around the world, while critics of the NAACP question the group’s relevancy, as it struggles to connect to a younger generation that doesn’t always relate to the battles of Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s.
    During a press conference held on July 21, kicking off the group’s national convention in Baltimore, Md., many NAACP officials and affiliates gathered to address a critical need to keep millennials active and engaged within the organization.
    “We have a responsibility to lift up the least of us, but most importantly to put our hands on the young people,” said Baltimore’s Mayor Catherine Pugh. “We can change the trajectory of our lives. Let’s have some real conversations around guns in the community killing our children, because we need [our children] to grow up and be a part of the future of our nation.”
    In order to ensure that such goals come into fruition, NAACP D.C. branch President Akosua Ali, formally announced the launch of a national Next Generation Young Professional Leadership Program to train eligible millennials for leadership roles in the NAACP.
    The initiative is in line with the NAACP’s National Youth and College Division that cultivates young, civil rights leaders. Messages promoting the division were prominently displayed during the convention.
    “This national convention will be critical in transforming the association,” Ali said. “The Youth and College Division continues to train and cultivate young leaders that are activists within their own community and, because of that, the NAACP will launch a Next Generation Young Professional Leadership Program geared toward training young adults between the ages of 21 and 35,” for positions in the NAACP.
    Ali continued: “These positions include, but are not limited to: political action chairs, health chairs, environmental justice chairs and branch leaders. We have been very fortunate to have the support of national and youth board members, who have all given input into what is needed for young people to remain active to remain engaged and to be strong leaders within this organization and we are immensely excited about the future of the NAACP through this program.”
    Eager to see the organization grow and move forward, Hiruy Hadgu, an NAACP member from Howard County, Md., shared his views on the organization’s plan to ramp up efforts to actively engage and recruit younger members.
    “I joined the NAACP after the 2016 election and was responsible for helping my chapter revamp membership efforts, which proved difficult, as we had a hard time keeping up with who was a member or not…a lot of the processes seemed old and outdated and overall didn’t really seem to engage people,” said Hadgu. “I’m only 31, but with these challenging times, I think it’s very important to really re-engage with the community…especially our youth.”

  • Newswire : Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law condemns latest Justice Department action to investigate discrimination against whites by college affirmative action admission programs

    Clark
    Kristen Clarke

    Washington, D.C. — Today, Kristen Clarke, president and executive director of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, released the following statement in response to the release of new information signaling efforts to redirect resources of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division toward investigating and suing universities that maintain race-conscious admissions policies.
    “We wholly condemn this latest attempt by the Justice Department to attack the use of race-conscious admissions policies in the higher education context. By assembling a team of attorneys in the front office of the Civil Rights Division to focus on so-called ‘intentional race-based discrimination’, this Justice Department is laying the groundwork to attack policies that help promote racial diversity at colleges and universities.
    Throughout his career, Attorney General Jeff Sessions has pushed efforts to end affirmative action programs and he has a clear record of hostility to racial diversity. We will not stand by idly as this administration continues to hijack and obstruct this Division’s core civil rights mission. Americans deserve a Justice Department that will focus on preserving racial diversity and addressing racial discrimination faced by African Americans, Latinos and other minority communities.”
    The Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law has been focused on this administration’s efforts to obstruct civil rights enforcement, and has condemned repeated actions taken to reverse or delay action in active matters handled by the Civil Rights Division.

  • Newswire : Black women’s ‘equal pay day’ reminds us how persistent the wage gap is

    Black women receive 67 cents to a white man’s dollar.
    By: Casey Quinlan, Policy reporter at ThinkProgress.
    00120065-0000-0000-0000-000000000000_00000065-0763-0000-0000-000000000000_20121116203539_black-woman-working-computer-300-87416737-1

    Monday, July 31 was Black Women’s Equal Pay Day, the day that marks when black women are paid the same wages as their white male peers were paid last year. Black women are paid only 67 cents on the dollar relative to non-Hispanic white men, according to analysis from the Economic Policy Institute.
    Black women could lose $840,040 over a 40-year career compared to non-Hispanic white men, according to the National Women’s Law Center, and in some states, that wage gap could lead to a loss over $1 million.
    According to EPI, the wage gap for black women has only grown worse and black women are working more hours. Looking at the lowest wage workers, the annual hours black women work grew 30.5 percent between 1979 and 2015 compared to a 3.2 percent increase for white men.
    Several black female celebrities and politicians brought attention to the pay gap on Monday, including Serena Williams, Tracee Ellis Ross, and Rep. Yvette Clarke (D-NY). “Black women are the cornerstone of our communities,” Williams tweeted.
    The wage gap persists at all levels of education and in all occupations. Black women with advanced degrees still make $7 an hour less than white men who only have a bachelor’s degree and white male physicians and surgeons earn $18 per hour more than black female physicians and surgeons.
    There are also significant state differences in the wage gap. Maine, Mississippi, Alabama, Nebraska, South Carolina, District of Columbia, Virginia, Rhode Island, Connecticut, and Missouri all had earnings ratios between white men and black women ranging from 59.7 percent to 55.2 percent. But Louisiana paid black women the worst in comparison to white men, at 46 percent. Black women’s median annual earnings tended to be lowest in southern states.
    A 2016 Institute for Women’s Policy Research report shows why racial and ethnic differences in the pay gap tell us much more than simply looking at the pay gap by gender. The report found that the median weekly earnings for black women were $641 across occupations compared to $815 for white women and $1,025 for white men. Black men and Hispanic men made less than white women, at $718 and $633 respectively. Asian men and women had the highest median weekly earnings.
    It would take a very long time for black women to reach pay equity with white men, the Institute for Women’s Policy Research. Black women would have to wait until 2124 for equal pay if wages continue to change at this slow pace. But policy experts do have suggestions for how to mitigate the wage gap.
    Black women are subject to racial and gender biases in higher education, in the labor force, and in housing. Studies have found racial bias in how police use force on black men and women, and too often, police fail to help black women who are victims of crime. In a 96-page report released this year, “The Status of Black Women in the U.S.,” the National Domestic Workers Alliance (NDWA) and Institute for Women’s Policy Research (IWPR) recommended several approaches to improving the financial health and well being of black women.
    The recommendations included: pursuing criminal justice reform, expanding Medicaid, providing more support to and recruitment of black female political candidates, and raising the minimum wage. The EPI analysis of the wage gap recommends raising the federal minimum wage to $15 by 2024.

  • Newswire : African elections to watch –Kenya, Rwanda and Angola

     

    African Presidents.jpg

     

    Kenyan Pres. U. Kenyatta, Angola Pres. Dos Santos, and Rwanda Pres. P. Kagame

    July 24, 2017 (GIN) – Major elections are taking place in three African nations next month: in oil giant Angola, East African powerhouse Kenya and tiny, rapidly developing Rwanda.
    Rwandans go to the polls August 3-4. The undisputed favorite is the longtime president who has ruled since the end of the tiny nation’s horrific 1994 genocide.
    Even the head of the European Union electoral commission said to the Voice of America (VOA) last month: “I think you would not lose any money if you bet on Mr. Paul Kagame.”
    Still, the democratic exercise is an important one for Rwanda and its wealthy aid partners, says senior Horn of Africa analyst Murithi Mutiga of the International Crisis Group.
    Elsewhere in East Africa, on August 8, voters in Kenya will choose between the incumbent, President Uhuru Kenyatta, son of Kenya’s first president, and Raila Odinga, whose father was a major liberation figure and the country’s first vice president.
    The exercise is expected to be Africa’s most expensive on a cost-per-voter basis. Both public and private spending are at an all-time high, with both government and candidates spending hundreds of millions of dollars to secure the electoral process or campaigning to get elected.
    In a comparison of cost per voter, Kenya’s 19.6 million voters will each cost the government $25.40. Rwanda will spend 5.5 billion Rwandan francs ($6.5 million). With 6.8 million registered voters, that’s less than a dollar per voter.
    This will be 72-year-old Odinga’s last attempt at the presidency. If, as expected, Kenyatta’s Jubilee Alliance Party wins a narrow victory over Odinga’s National Super Alliance coalition, he could cry foul.
    Finally, in Angola, the southern African nation will hold its first vote in decades on Aug 23 without President Jose Eduardo dos Santos at the helm. The 74-year-old, who has recently taken several trips to Spain for medical reasons, is stepping down after 38 years in power.
    The poll itself is a two-way race, between the longtime ruling party and the established opposition. The winner will lead a nation whose fortunes are heavily dependent on oil, which accounts for about 45 percent of the nation’s gross domestic product and 95 percent of exports. A slump in oil prices has hit the economy hard.
    The new president will face a foundering economy and gaping inequalities with state resources largely controlled President dos Santos and his family.

  • Newswire : Black publishers push for report on Federal ad spending

    By Stacy M. Brown (NNPA Newswire Contributor)

    NNPA Ben Chavis speaks at publishers mtg.
     NNPA President Benjamin Chavis speaks outside of the U.S. Capitol during a joint press conference between NNPA and NAHP.
    The Government Accountability Office (GAO) is set to begin work on a report detailing advertising spending by federal agencies—particularly as it pertains to Black and Latino media companies.
    “After several senators joined our request, including Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Shumer, GAO sent us an update in February saying that the request would take about six months of work,” said Benjamin Fritsch, a spokesman for Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.), who first called for the report during a press conference with National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA) members and representatives of the National Association of Hispanic Publications (NAHP).
    The GAO is a government agency that provides auditing, evaluation, and investigative services for Congress.
    Charles Young, the managing director of public affairs for the GAO acknowledged that the request for a new report was formally received in February. “Staffing was not expected to be freed up from existing work for several months and we now expect to begin the work in August or September,” Young said.
    In March 2016, Norton called on the office to issue a report on federal advertising contracts and subcontracts with minority-owned newspapers and media companies.
    Norton said that the federal government serves as the largest advertiser in the country, and it’s important that news outlets and media companies owned or published by individuals of color with a primary mission to serve communities of color have the same opportunities as other media outlets, especially as African-Americans and Hispanic Americans continue to grow in number in the United States.
    “We believe that this request is particularly timely, because GAO will be conducting an audit of spending by federal agencies on public relations and advertising,” Norton said. One month after publicly making the request, Norton circulated a letter to members of Congress to support her call to GAO to issue a new report.
    In 2007, the GAO, which acts as the authoritative audit unit for the federal government, probed the spending on advertising contracts with minority-owned businesses by five agencies—the Department of Defense, Department of the Treasury, the Department of Health and Human Services, the Department of the Interior, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
    The agency found that just five percent of the $4.3 billion available for advertising campaigns went to minority-owned businesses. Thirty-one of Norton’s colleagues in Congress signed the letter, including CBC Chair Cedric Richmond (D-La.) and legendary congressmen John Lewis (D-Ga.), Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.), and former CBC Chair G.K. Butterfield (D-N.C.).
    Seven months later in November, a group of Senators, including Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii), and Cory Booker (D-N.J.) also signed a letter and joined the call for accountability in the federal government’s advertising practices – or lack thereof when it comes to minority-owned news outlets.
    Several aides to the lawmakers did note that journalists, who work for Black- and Hispanic-owned media outlets must do a better job of keeping the issue on the pages of their newspapers.
    Dorothy Leavell, the new chairwoman of the National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA) has vowed to do just that and she said she’s grateful to Norton. “We are extremely appreciative of Congresswoman Norton for taking the initiative on this,” said Leavell, who is also the publisher of the Crusader Newspaper Group. Leavell added that the wait for the GAO report has been long enough. “Anymore delay will not be tolerated.”
    Leavell also said that it was unacceptable that federal agencies have largely excluded Black-owned media companies from delivering messages from the U.S. government to the Black community. “I urge the officials at GAO to start today in their investigation and conclude it immediately,” said Leavell. However, Young said it typically takes months before a request to the GAO is acted upon.
    Also, the change in administration had nothing to do with the length of time this process has taken since Norton’s call about 15 months ago, he said. “The change in administration does not have an impact, just the various other GAO reviews already underway,” Young said, noting that the GAO did not receive a formal request until February.
    Headquartered in D.C. and with offices in several cities including Atlanta and Los Angeles, the GAO was founded in 1921. In a Fiscal Year 2016 report, the agency noted that it had provided nearly 2,100 recommendations to improve government operations.
    Approximately 73 percent of the recommendations GAO made four years earlier in Fiscal Year 2012, have already been implemented, thus making any suggestion on advertising with minority-owned media an important step in the quest for Black and Hispanic-owned papers to receive advertising dollars.
    “The NNPA anticipates that the new GAO report will once again substantiate what we already know and that is Black American-owned newspapers and media companies are not afforded equality and equity for annual federal advertising spending,” said NNPA President and CEO Dr. Benjamin F. Chavis, Jr. “This is a serious problem that urgently needs to be rectified by the government of the United States.”
    Karen Carter Richards, the publisher of the Houston Forward Times and NNPA First Vice Chair said that the federal government is the largest advertiser in the country. “The lack of advertising by federal agencies as it relates to African-American and other minority media companies must be addressed,” said Carter Richards. “We remain optimistic that the findings in this GAO report will lead to the necessary changes we need to ensure communities of color have the same opportunities as other media outlets.”
    Bernal Smith, the publisher of the New Tri-State Defender in Memphis and second vice chair of the NNPA, said the U.S. government stands as one of the biggest marketing and advertising entities in the world in terms of dollars spent. He cited a 2012 report that revealed government ad spending had reached $16 billion.
    “That was five years ago and that number is not likely to have gone down,” said Smith. “Being a publisher, and knowing what others are getting, clearly the Black Press has not been a part of those ad buys and, by and large, we’ve been on the outside looking in.”

  • Newswire : Honoring U. S. greatness: Statue of Banking Pioneer Maggie L. Walker unveiled in Richmond, Va.

    By Saraya Wintersmith
    Special to the Trice Edney News Wire from the Richmond Free Press

    maggie_walker_unveiling_2_r670x370 Cheers arise from the crowd of hundreds after the statue of Maggie L. Walker is unveiled at a ceremony last Saturday at the plaza at Broad and Adams streets. Photo: Richmond Free Press

    (TriceEdneyWire.com) – Richmond residents and officials rejoiced Saturday morning as the long-awaited statue of hometown hero Maggie Lena Walker was unveiled.with a strong tug by Richmond Mayor Levar M. Stoney, sculptor Antonio “Toby” Mendez of Maryland and Mrs. Walker’s great-great-granddaughter Liza Mickens, off flew a black drape covering the 10-foot bronze statue.
    The figure of Mrs. Walker and the accomplishments and contributions of the woman it represents were met by applause from the hundreds of people gathered around the plaza at Broad and Adams streets in Downtown Richmond where the statue stands.
    “Many Richmonders have ancestors who began their careers not as servants, but as bank tellers, accountants, sales people, auditors and insurance writers because of Grandma Walker,” Mickens said in brief remarks to the crowd. “Many Richmonders are here today, swelling with pride along with her family, as we unveil this statute of a woman, marking her own accomplishments on the streets of our city which she dearly loved.”
    Dozens in the audience nodded and voiced their assent as the 19-year-old Ms. Mickens, one of about 30 Walker descendants at the ceremony, fought back tears to continue.
    “Today, Maggie Walker stands here in her rightful place, in the heart of Richmond standing over her city. She stands as a marker to the gateway of Jackson Ward, a place where, through her hard work, she inspired her race as well as her gender to pursue a better life.”
    Mrs. Walker, the daughter of a former slave, was the first African-American woman to charter and operate a bank in the United States. Despite the many obstacles of the time, the leader of the Independent Order of St. Luke benevolent society published the St. Luke Herald newspaper beginning in 1902, founded the St. Luke Penny Savings Bank in 1903, opened a department store Downtown in 1904, and was a civil rights activist who encouraged community uplift and empowerment through education, voting and supporting black-owned businesses.
    The plaza, dedicated to Mrs. Walker, has pedestals and paving that detail her many roles and accomplishments in the city before her death in 1934. Unveiled on what would have been her 153rd birthday, the statue is the first in Richmond singularly devoted to a woman. The statue of Maggie L. Walker, sculpted by Antonio “Toby” Mendez of Maryland, shows Mrs. Walker in her mid-40s to early 50s. The statue and plaza project, paid for by the City of Richmond, cost nearly $1 million.
    The statue was dedicated as debate begins in earnest over public monuments in Richmond and what they represent, particularly those on Monument Avenue honoring Confederates who fought and lost a war to keep African-Americans in bondage. Mayor Stoney, who recently announced the creation of the Monument Avenue Commission to “tell the real story,” briefly alluded to the controversy in his remarks at the ceremony before the unveiling.
    “As you know, Richmond has many monuments. And you know how I feel about those,” he said to chuckles and murmurs among the crowd. “I can assure you this will be my favorite monument in the city of Richmond.” The crowd roared with applause. Mayor Stoney then vowed that Mrs. Walker’s monument will not be the last of its kind. “I feel like victory is won today,” said Melvin S. Jones Jr., a member of the Maggie L. Walker High School Class of 1965, after reciting lines from the anthem, “Lift Every Voice and Sing.”
    Jones is credited with reviving the effort to install a public monument honoring Mrs. Walker about two decades ago. He laughed as he recalled patiently waiting outside the office of former Mayor Dwight C. Jones to advocate for the project years ago. He and several other speakers thanked the former mayor, who also was in the audience, for ensuring city funding and momentum for the project’s completion.
    Many Maggie Walker High School alumni attended the event wearing the school’s green and white colors. Many also wore T-shirts bearing Mrs. Walker’s likeness. Choir members of the First African Baptist Church, which Mrs. Walker attended, sang during the ceremony’s opening and closing.
    Afterward, people lingered joyfully in the plaza to admire the statue and pose for photos around it with friends and family.
    “I love the statue” said Dalila Brooks of Washington, another of Mrs. Walker’s great-great-grandchildren. “I love the idea that she’s honored in this way, so that she’s not forgotten.” She said she hopes young people passing the plaza will take a moment to read the bits and pieces of her story that surround her.
    “The words became her identifiers, to help to guide her on a path that would be beneficial not only to her, but to people around her,” she said. The statue and plaza are located less than a mile from Mrs. Walker’s home at 110½ E. Leigh St. It is now a national historic site open to the public through the National Park Service.
    David Ruth, superintendent of Richmond Battlefield Park and the Maggie Walker National Historic Site, called the statue a much welcomed addition to the city’s commemorative landscape. “This city is dotted with public shrines to Virginia’s exalted sons, and today, we can proudly say one of her esteemed daughters, too,” he said to cheers and applause.
    “Mrs. Walker was in the business of building monuments herself. Her monuments were not statuary, nor to the past, but monuments to possibility,” he told the crowd. “These monuments to black businesses, as Walker herself called them,” Ruth continued, “were all headquartered mere blocks from where we’re standing today, yet with impacts that echoed across this continent.”

  • Newswire : NAACP names Derrick Johnson as Interim President

    By Lauren Victoria Burke (NNPA Newswire Contributor)

    Derrick JohnsonDerrick Johnson

    The NAACP has named Derrick Johnson, the vice chairman of their board of directors, the organization’s interim president.
    The unanimous decision was made by the executive committee of the board of directors during the Association’s 108th annual convention in Baltimore. The NAACP is the largest and oldest civil rights organization in the U.S. The executive committee of the board is comprised of 14 people.
    On May 19, the NAACP board announced that the contract of Cornell William Brooks, the outgoing president, would not be renewed. Brooks’ contract ended on June 30. Brooks began his tenure as NAACP President in May of 2014.
    “I am thrilled to announce that my friend and colleague Derrick Johnson has been appointed to interim president and CEO. I could not think of a better, more battle-tested or more qualified individual to guide the NAACP through this transition period,” said Leon Russell, the chairman of the board of the NAACP.
    “Derrick’s longtime service with the Association will allow him to take decisive action to deal with daily challenges. He will also serve as the primary spokesman for the NAACP. I have every confidence in Derrick and will support him in this new endeavor every step of the way.”
    In a statement released on July 22, Johnson said that it is truly an honor and a privilege to be named the interim president and CEO of an organization that he’s served for decades. “There’s a lot of work that needs to be done and we won’t waste any time getting to it. We are facing unprecedented threats to our democracy and we will not be sidelined while our rights are being eroded every day,” said Johnson. “We remain steadfast and immovable, and stand ready on the front lines of the fight forjustice.”
    Johnson is a Mississippi native who has a law degree from South Texas College of Law.
    As president of the Mississippi NAACP he has led campaigns for voting rights and equitable education. Johnson also managed two bond referendum campaigns in Jackson, Mississippi, that raised $150 million to be used for school building improvement and $65 million toward construction of a new convention center.
    He also has had fellowships with the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation, the George Washington University School of Political Management and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He is an adjunct professor at Tougaloo College, his alma mater, and guest lecturer at Harvard University.
    NAACP to start national listening tour

    The NAACP is about to embark on a nationwide listening tour to hear advice on what their focus should be moving forward. NAACP leadership has acknowledged that younger civil rights organizations are getting more traction and attention in a world of social media and faster communications.
    The first stop on the NAACP listening tour is Detroit on August 24. The second stop will be San Antonio, Texas in September. The organization’s leadership will “visit a total of seven major cities across the country over the next few months,” according to a press release about the tour.
    Johnson will serve as interim president and CEO until a new president is named. Johnson formerly served as vice chairman of the NAACP National Board of Directors as well as state president for the Mississippi State Conference NAACP.

  • U. S. Senate voting on health care; voters must keep calling to let their Senators know not to repeal the Affordable Care Act

    The U. S. Senate voted Tuesday, July 25, 2017, on a procedural motion to begin debate on the plan to repeal Obamacare outright and replace it within two years – after Vice President Mike Pence voted to break a 50-50 tie and ailing Arizona Sen. John McCain slammed the chamber’s secretive process.
    Moderate Republican Sens. Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska joined all Democrats to vote against the motion, which Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky proposed after two previous versions of a healthcare bill failed to attract enough votes.
    Several GOP senators switched their positions after saying as recently as last week that they would not support a complete Obamacare repeal without replacement. They were Sens. Shelly Moore Caputo of West Virginia, Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, Rob Portman of Ohio and Dean Heller of Nevada. While these Republican Senators voted to begin debate, they may not vote for any of the pending proposals to ”repeal and replace” the Affordable Care Act.
    McCain, 80, who was diagnosed with brain cancer after undergoing surgery 11 days ago, returned to the Senate to vote for the procedural motion. “I voted for the motion to proceed to allow debate to continue and amendments be offered,” McCain said. “I will not vote for this bill as it is today. It’s a shell of a bill right now. We all know that.”
    He called for both parties to work together to bring forth legislation that would improve healthcare for all Americans.
    “We keep trying to win without help from the other side of the aisle,” McCain said. “We are getting nothing done, my friends, we’re getting nothing done.”
    Democratic Senate leaders urged voters to continue to call their Senators, especially Republicans not to vote to destroy coverage for millions of people who need healthcare.
    In Alabama, call Senator Richard Shelby at 202/224-5744; and Senator Luther Strange at 202/224-4124. In other states call the central Capitol switchboard at 800-826-3688 and follow the verbal prompts.

     

  • Newswire : Vendors in tears as Zambia’s biggest outdoor market burns

    fire-zambia market
    Market in Zambia is burning

    (TriceEdneyWire.com/GIN) – A fire of unknown origins raced through the largest outdoor market in Zambia, destroying the livelihood of its many vendors. Goods worth millions of kwacha – the Zambian currency – have gone up in flames. Images on social media show how the fire which began July 4 and was barely extinguished by July 7 destroyed the Lusaka market.
    The market was built a decade ago with a designated police post as well as day and night guards. It is also said to be a facility that prohibits cooking and fire inside the market. Reacting to the catastrophe, Zambian President Edgar Lungu blamed arsonists and economic saboteurs who will be found out, he warned, wherever they are hiding.
    But the President’s words were cold comfort for many Zambians who fear the country is sliding into dictatorship. They cite a series of incidents including the jailing of opposition leader Hakainde Hichilema, the suspension of 48 members of parliament for boycotting a speech by Mr. Lungu, and the imposition of a state of emergency over the apparent arson attack.
    A Zambian professor, writing in the online UKZambian, wondered if 53 years of peace since independence in 1964 could be coming to an end. “Creating a nation of peace and tranquility is not easy,” noted Mwizenge S. Tempo in the news website. “When I saw the images of the massive fire in which 1,901 shops were destroyed, I was alarmed,” he wrote, adding that since August 2016 there have been over 10 such incidents with fires gutting public building and vandalism.
    “I am both stunned and fearful about my home and country of Zambia. Could this be the end of peace in Zambia after 53 years?” In BusinessLive of Zambia, writer Greg Mills condemned the arrest and jailing of Mr. Hichilema on treason charges.
    Critics of President Lungu are “systematically being silenced”, he charged. This “stop-at-nothing government” has closed the major opposition paper, The Post, shut down opposition rallies and constricted access to the state broadcaster, he declared. Mills heads the Brenthurst Foundation, and is the co-author of ‘Making Africa Work: A Handbook for Economic Success’.