The Greene County Democrat

Category: School

  • Lawmakers to fight U. S. foreign aid cuts to Somalia

    Somali child
       Impoverished Somali child
    Apr. 24, 2017 (GIN) – Plans to slash foreign aid to Somalia now at the brink of famine would hurt humanitarian relief efforts and programs to curb terrorism, say local lawmakers from Minnesota.

    Speaking in Minneapolis at a forum on the drought situation in the Horn of Africa, U.S. Representative Tom Emmer (R-Minnesota) decried the administration’s proposed 31-percent cut in foreign aid. “Terrorist groups like al-Shabab have demonstrated a history of capitalizing on this type of crisis and we can’t allow that to be the case today,” he said.

    Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-Minnesota) said the U.S. needs to help drought and famine victims in their own country, before they are forced to flee. “We have so many people here from Somalia that have relatives and friends, and when you don’t help people in their own country it kind ends up on your shores anyway,” she said.

    A recent review by General Thomas Waldhauser, head of US Africa Command, acknowledged a rise in piracy off the Somali coast partially fueled by drought and famine. At least half a dozen attacks have occurred in the last month, he said.

    US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis also expressed concerns about the resurgence of Somali piracy during his recent visit to the American military base in Djibouti. Last month, an oil tanker was hijacked by suspected pirates off the coast of Somalia, the first such hijacking in the region in five years.

    At the same time, some 40 U.S. troops are being readied for travel to Somalia to play a support role training the Somali National Army to create efficient logistics networks to supply their troops. “This is part of a routine deployment that has been really in the works for quite some time,” Gen. Waldhauser said.

    Somalia and its international partners are working to train a 28,000-person national army after more than two decades of civil war and turmoil. The insurgent group al-Shabab still controls an estimated 10 percent of the country and conducts regular attacks against military and civilian targets. Somalia relies largely on the 22,000-person African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) for its security.

    About three million Somalis face food insecurity and a national disaster was declared last month.

  • Fox News hit with class action lawsuit charging racial discrimination

    By: CBS News and Associated Press

    Attorney Douglas Wigdor addresses the media with Fox News host Kelly Wright regarding a race discrimination class-action lawsuit filed on behalf of former and current Fox News employees, in New York
    Attorney Douglas Wigdor addresses the media with Fox News host Kelly Wright (L) regarding a race discrimination class-action lawsuit filed on behalf of former and current Fox News employees, in New York, on April 26, 2017.
    An expanded lawsuit filed Tuesday accuses Fox News Channel of racial discrimination “that appears more akin to Plantation-style management than a modern-day work environment.”
    The lawsuit, filed in New York State Supreme Court, adds eight former and current Fox employees to a case involving three former Fox workers and their accusations against a since-fired Fox financial executive. It also expands the case to include Dianne Brandi, Fox’s chief counsel.
    Speaking at a news conference Wednesday morning, Kelly Wright, an on-air Fox News personality and a plaintiff in the case, said he was joining the lawsuit because of “indefensible and inexcusable” alleged discrimination across departments at the network. “We have a culture of systemic and institutional racial bias,” Wright said. “I can no longer sit in silence.”
    Wright is the only on-air black anchor at the network, according to his attorney Douglas Wigdor. Wigdor said he expects additional plaintiffs to join the lawsuit.
    Fox News said it vehemently denies the allegations, calling them “copycat complaints.” It said Brandi denies the claims against her. “The allegations — and we must remember they’re allegations — show a systemic, pervasive problem in Fox News culture, ”CBS News legal analyst Rikki Klieman said on “CBS This Morning” Wednesday, adding the class-action lawsuit “has incredible potential to really hurt Fox News’ bottom line.”
    The original lawsuit was filed in late March by two black women, who worked in the network’s payroll department, and a third colleague later joined it. The expanded lawsuit, incorporating the other employees, seeks unspecified compensatory damages and an elimination of unlawful employment practices at Fox.
    The workers allege that their complaints about the actions of Judith Slater, the fired former comptroller, went unanswered for years. They say Brandi told them it was because Slater “knew too much” about former Fox Chairman Roger Ailes and top-rated host Bill O’Reilly, who have been ousted over the past year because of sexual-harassment accusations.
    A lawyer for Slater, Catherine Foti, said the actions against Slater are meritless and frivolous. She said “all claims of racial discrimination against Ms. Slater are completely false.”
    Wright said he’d been effectively sidelined and asked to perform the role of a Jim Crow, an insulting slang term to refer to a black man, according to the lawsuit. Wright said O’Reilly, who’s white, refused to show a piece Wright had prepared after racial protests in Ferguson, Missouri, because they showed blacks in too positive a light.
    A former employee, Musfiq Rahman, a dark-skinned Bangladeshi, said he was punished after mistakenly walking into Ailes’ office by no longer being allowed on Ailes’ floor without an escort.
    Mark LeGrier, a former financial employee who’s black, said he was subjected to retaliation when he complained to Brandi about Slater’s behavior.
    “When it comes to racial discrimination, 21st Century Fox has been operating as if it should be called 18th Century Fox,” said Wigdor, the attorney for Wright.
    Meanwhile, Nielsen company ratings showed that Tucker Carlson moved into O’Reilly’s old time slot at Fox News on Monday night and took over his status as the most-watched host in cable news — at least for a night.
    O’Reilly, who hosted “The O’Reilly Factor,” was fired by Fox last week following news about Fox settling sexual-harassment cases involving him for millions of dollars. He has denied the allegations.
    Nielsen said Carlson’s first night at 8 p.m. attracted 3.17 million viewers, beating the combined audience of MSNBC’s Chris Hayes, who reached 1.52 million viewers, and CNN’s Anderson Cooper, who reached 1 million.

  • Obama’s latest gift to his detractors: a $400,000 Wall Street speaking gig

    By Shawn Langlois, Marketwatch

    Former President Barack ObamaFormer President Barack Obama

    Barack Obama once told CBS’s “60 Minutes” that he didn’t “run for office to be helping out a bunch of fat cat bankers on Wall Street.” Of course, he didn’t say anything about them helping him out.
    So yes, after a political career often spent unloading on banking industry “fat cats” for their profit lust and splashy lifestyle, Obama has agreed to a $400,000 speaking engagement on healthcare policies at bond broker Cantor Fitzgerald, according to Fox Business.
    In other words, one day of inspirational words and fist bumps with some of Wall Street’s finest will net the former president what it took him an entire year to earn while calling shots at the White House.
    The big payout would also put his price at double the average amount commanded by Bill and Hillary Clinton on the circuit, where the duo cashed in on more than $150 million over the years, according to CNN numbers crunched last year.
    The fact that Obama, like so many presidents and politicians before him, is chasing Wall Street cake shouldn’t come as a surprise. The amount, however, is rather eye-popping. Add this to their $60-million book deal — a whopping four times Bill Clinton’s post-presidency offer — and the Obamas should get by just fine in their retirement years.
    A pair of popular Democratic Party senators took shots at former president Barack Obama‘s $400,000 speaking fee for a future Wall Street event, a rate that equaled his yearly presidential salary. Sen. Elizabeth Warren and Sen. Bernie Sanders shared their opinions about the fee with the media, although other Democrats and liberals have taken similar speaking engagements in times past.
    In speaking with SiriusXM’s Alter Family Politics show, Sen. Warren of Massachusetts didn’t mince words in answering Andy Cohen‘s inquiry about the fee. “I was troubled by that,” said Warren, writes Yahoo News. “One of the things I talk about in the book [the recently-published This Fight Is Our Fight: The Battle to Save America’s Middle Class] is the influence of money. I describe it as a snake that slithers through Washington. And that it shows up in so many different ways here in Washington.”
    While Warren’s point that Wall Street’s influence on politics is troublesome, Obama is not in a position to run for office nor has made it known he has any aims to lobby to sitting politicians on behalf of the finance world.
    Bloomberg’s Steven Dennis spoke with Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, also levied his criticism. “I think it’s unfortunate. President Obama is now a private citizen and he can do anything he wants to but I think it’s unfortunate,” said Sanders, while adding the word “unfortunate” a third time in his reply to Dennis..
    The Democratic Party and liberals, in general, have turned a critical eye towards Wall Street. Yet the practice of former government leaders and officials using their expertise to earn money in the speaking arena is not new. Former president Bill Clinton, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and former Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke have all taken high-paying speaker fees in varying intervals.
    Also in place are lobbying bans that Obama himself instituted while in office that would hinder former employees to address government officials on behalf of Wall Street and other special interests.
    To be sure, senators Warren and Sanders have long-standing issues with Wall Street’s political influence and have said in previous times they felt Obama took it easy on financial institutions while shunning middle-class concerns. Obama has yet to respond to the criticism.

  • Black Belt Community Foundation to award $80,000 on Saturday, April 29th for Black Belt Arts Initiative

    BBCF

    Twenty-seven nonprofit organizations from across the Black Belt region of Alabama will come together on Saturday, April 29, 2017 in Selma, Alabama for the Black Belt Community Foundation’s (BBCF) 12th Black Belt Arts Initiative (BBAI) Grants Ceremony. The awards ceremony will begin at 11:00 AM at the Selma-Dallas County Library, Selma, Alabama. In total, $80,000 will be awarded to area museums, community theatres, festivals, and youth organizations offering concentrated arts programs.
    Through these individual projects, it is anticipated that nearly 22,000 Black Belt residents will be inspired, affected, or touched in some way – whether by taking a local art class, by viewing a musical or theatrical performance, or by visiting a local folk arts festival.
    BBCF was established in 2004 to support community efforts in the Black Belt that contribute to the strength, innovation, and success of all the region’s people and communities. A partnership formed in 2006 with BBCF, the Youth & Cultural Committee of the Black Belt Action Commission, and the Alabama State Council on the Arts (ASCA), which established the Black Belt Arts Initiative. The goals of this project are to work in partnership with local community based organizations to forge collaborations with local schools to advance arts education, to document and promote the region’s artistic assets, to assist arts organizations in becoming more efficient and effective and to provide opportunities for citizens of the Black Belt region to be exposed to and participate in the arts.
    Since 2006, $1,320,671 has been awarded through BBAI Arts Grants to support various arts activities across BBCF’s twelve-county service area. In total, BBCF has invested over $3.7 million from BBAI Arts, Community and other grants into regional nonprofits, based in and serving Alabama’s Black Belt.
    For more information on the Black Belt Arts Initiative, please visit http://www.blackbeltfound.org, or contact Jo Taylor, BBCF Program Manager for the Arts, at jtaylor@blackbeltfound.org, or (334) 874-1126.
    The Black Belt Arts Initiative has been made possible by grants from the Alabama State Council on the Arts and the National Endowment on the Arts.
    The Black Belt Community Foundation’s mission is to forge a collective stream of giving that transforms a 12-county region and connecting those interested in having an impact in our area with the nonprofits that are making a difference today. Founded in 2005 with the idea that those living and working in the Black Belt best knew the area’s challenges and opportunities, the Black Belt Community Foundation actively puts needed resources into the region to make a lasting impact.

  • Black doctors earn less than White doctors

    By Stacy M. Brown (NNPA Newswire Contributor)
    Black doctors

    African-American physicians earn 15 percent less than White physicians—an average of $262,000 compared to $303,000—according to Medscape’s 2017 Physicians Compensation Report.
    Approximately 19,200 physicians across 26 areas of medicine were asked questions about annual compensation, race, gender, geography and job satisfaction.
    The report, detailed by CBS News, revealed that African-American doctors are less likely to say they feel fairly compensated, with only half agreeing that they’re earning what they should.
    “Fifty-percent of African-American physicians don’t feel fairly compensated,” the report’s editor Leslie Kane, a senior director of Medscape Business of Medicine, told CBS.
    Racial and gender discrimination may certainly be a factor, Kane said, but there are other factors as well. For example, if a doctor treats more Medicaid patients, their reimbursement is usually lower, since employer-insured patients tend to pay better.
    How many hours a doctor works and whether they’re in private practice or a clinic can also explain some inequities in pay. “Tons of factors play into how much a physician makes,” she said.
    The survey found that the gender pay gap is narrower among younger doctors. Male doctors ages 55 to 69 make 27 percent more than women, but the divide shrinks to 18 percent in physicians under the age of 34.
    Being a doctor pays well, but there are still major discrepancies when it comes to paychecks within the medical profession. For the first time, the annual report looked at race as well as gender and other factors, revealing some significant disparities in pay.
    Physicians’ annual salaries averaged $294,000, with specialists earning about $100,000 more than primary care doctors. Overall, average pay has risen by $88,000 over the seven years Medscape has been conducting this survey—an increase attributed to intense competition for doctors among hospitals and health care systems.
    The three highest-paying specialties were orthopedics (average annual compensation: $489,000), plastic surgery ($440,000) and cardiology ($410,000). They earned well over twice as much as the average pediatrician ($202,000) and family physician ($209,000), the two lowest-paying categories.
    A deeper dive into the data shows male doctors take home bigger paychecks in both primary care and specialty areas such as orthopedics and surgery. Male primary care physicians made 15 percent more than women in 2016, while male specialists earned 31 percent more than their female colleagues.
    Part of the reason may be that women are more likely to choose lower-paying specialties, Kane said. “One of the things we look at is why there is this overall disparity. We look at what specialties women are going into and they go into less well-paying areas,” she said.
    “Fifty-three percent of pediatricians are women, one of lowest paid specialties. Thirty-nine percent of family physicians are women, also a lower-paying area,” Kane said. When it comes to the more highly paid medical specialties, only 9 percent of women are orthopedists and only 20 percent of general surgeons are female, Kane added.
    African-American doctors typically work in primary care rather than specialties, the survey noted. The annual compensation survey delved into race for the first time, said Kane, who has edited the report for seven years.
    The report revealed higher salaries in rural states. Doctors in North Dakota are the highest paid in the U.S. followed by Alaska, South Dakota and Nebraska.
    Washington D.C. counts as the lowest, while New York hovers toward the bottom of the list, which Kane and others chalk up to supply and demand; plenty of doctors cluster in big cities, while rural areas need to offer more money to attract staff.
    Patients may be glad to know that regardless of pay, most doctors like what they do: eight out of 10 physicians said they’d still choose medicine if they had the chance to pick a career all over again.

  • Superintendent Carter gives update on school initiatives

    At the regular school board meeting held Monday, April 17, 2017, Superintendent Dr. James Carter, Sr. presented an update on some of the initiatives introduced this current school year. His report included the following summaries:
    Eutaw Primary: The Eutaw Primary School Chess Club provides students an introduction to the game of chess. Students are able to view videos on playing chess. Dr. Carter pointed out that this is a significant approach to teaching critical thinking skills in young students.
    School wide action plans in the areas of reading and mathematics have been developed and are in the implementation phase. All faculty/staff members are placing greater emphasis on phonemic awareness, fluency, writing, and open ended/constructive responses in the area of reading. All faculty/staff members are placing greater emphasis on problem solving and constructive response in the area of Mathematics.
    Progress monitoring of goals is consistently taking place. The pre-K department is currently focusing on phonemic awareness and preparing students for kindergarten skills that are covered on Dibels Next Assessment and the ACT Aspire Periodic Assessment.
    Cursive writing has been incorporated into the curriculum for grades K-3. The infusion of Black History into all subject areas has been initiated.
    Discipline Referrals are currently low.
    The Eutaw Primary School Webpage is currently updated. Eutaw Primary School has made great improvement in area of parental involvement and culture. Club/organization days are being incorporated into the master schedule.
    Robert Brown Middle School Grade 4-6: Mr. Henry Miles, Jr, has been designated chess master in training. Robert Brown Middle School students have been using a computer based website to learn the basics of chess by playing computer generated matches. Mr. Miles has already begun to build relationships with established Chess Programs in other parts of the state. These relationships are significant in developing a solid and competitive program.
    Robert Brown Middle School webpage is an ongoing process and we are working to get all teachers’ pages up to date, with updating pictures and calendars. Several changes have been incorporated to update the page from Paramount to Robert Brown Middle – a work in progress.

    Robert Brown Middle School Grade 7-8: Robert Brown Middle School is consistently reviewing data in order to drive instruction. Our students made gains/progress on the last ACT Periodical Assessment. 130 students showed increase out of 160. We celebrated by providing students with hotdogs, juice, and chips. We are continuing to focus on reading, informational text, reading across the content area, math blitz (basic math word problems, vocabulary and reading comprehension).
    Teachers are using strategic teaching and best practices in the classroom. They are assessing students by using the format outlined for the ACT Aspire test. AMSTI has been working with our math and science teachers. Teachers are reviewing mastery and non-mastery of standards and providing me with documentation and deficiency reports. The teachers have the outlined expectations for curriculum and instruction.
    In reporting other areas of progress, Superintendent Carter noted that referrals are down for this year. The 7th & 8th grade division webpage is up to date. The teachers are updating all information on their pages.
    “It has been an awesome journey this year. I am excited to see all the new relationships with the students and teachers. My team does a great job with ensuring that all students are treated equitably. Teachers were able to provide me with feedback as it pertains to this year. All the feedback was of a positive nature. We continue to work together to solve problems and be proactive in all situations. The teachers have embraced all the expectations that were outlined in reference to curriculum/instruction, discipline, culture/climate and attendance. As we continue on this journey, I expect to see even more students and adults impacted in a positive way both academically and socially,” according to Carter.
    Freshman Academy: There are currently 25 members of the freshman academy chess club. All member of the chess club are using mobile apps, which allows tutoring for students to learn the game of chess. Plans are being made to hold the first annual chess tournament in May, of this year in an effort to build interest in the game. Cash prizes will be awarded to the top finalists for participating, and to motivate them to do the same for the 2017-18 school year.
    Greene County High School: The number of students earning honor roll status has continued to increase this year. There were more students recognized for honor roll during the second nine weeks. As a whole, students this year are more concerned with their academic progress. There is also an increase in the number of seniors that have benchmarked in various subtests of the ACT. The number of students receiving office referrals has shown a decline this year. Greene County High School has fewer students committing class II and class III infractions. Student morale and student participation in other extra-curricular activities may be the source of this improved school culture.
    To date, this has been a very positive year for student behavior and achievement. We have made a lot of improvement in both areas. There are always areas that we want to continue to grow and improve.
    Track and Field: The track team has competed in two track meets thus far. The meets were held at Greensboro High School. The girls relay team placed first in the 4×200. The girls relay team consists of three freshmen and one junior. There are three additional track meets scheduled for this month. They will be held in Demopolis, Greensboro, and Selma.
    Softball: The softball team has only competed in 4 games thus far this year. They were doubleheaders at Greensboro and American Christian Academy. The team is young and determined. The team is now practicing in Branch Heights.
    Baseball: The Greene County High School Baseball team has competed in 10 games this season. The team is 0-10 thus far but has continued to be competitive. There are 15 players on the team with most being underclassmen. There are only two seniors on the team. Greene County High School looks forward to continuous growth and success in this program.
    Band: Greene County High School Band is scheduled to practice after school on Tuesday and Thursday of each week beginning Aril 11, 2017. Band camp is scheduled to run from July 24 – August 4, 2017.
    The board approved the following personnel items:
    Employment of Willie Wright as tutor and mentor at Greene County Learning Academy on as as need basis.
    FMLA request for Raven Bryant, teacher at Robert Brown Middle School.
    The board approved the following administrative service items recommended by the superintendent.
    Greene County Board of Education Information Guide for Students and Parents.
    Contract between the Greene County Board of Education and Marcheta B. Bedgood to provide assistance to CSFO on an as needed basis to prepare financial documents throughout the fiscal year
    Contract between the Greene County Board of Education and Farrell Duncombe for mentoring services at Greene County High School.
    National Writing Project’s College-Ready Writers Program Grant for the Greene County School System in collaboration with UAB Red Mountain Writing Project.
    BackPack Meals/Secret Meals Program Sponsored by Tuscaloosa Food Bank and Greene County Board of Education (No Cost to GCBOE).
    Field Trip Requests: Greene County Career Center – Bodies Exhibit and CNN Studio Tour in Atlanta, GA on April 24, 2017
    Bank reconciliations as submitted by Ms. Katrina Sewell, CSFO.
    Payment of all bills, claims, and payroll.
    Instructional items approved by the board:
    Summer School (Promotion) at Greene County High School, June 5 – 30, 2017.
    Summer School (Enrichment) at Robert Brown Middle School and Eutaw Primary School, June 5 – 16, 2017.

  • Nigerians put the brakes on superhighway cutting through rainforest

    ekuriwomanprotestingsuperhighway

    Ekuri woman protesting superhighway

    (TriceEdneyWire.com/GIN) – Bulldozers approaching the communities of the southern state of Cross River, with orders to raze up to a million homes and cut down an ancient tropical rainforest, were stopped in their tracks as an environmental impact statement for a proposed superhighway was rejected by officials.
    As conceived, the roadway would link northern Nigeria to a proposed deep seaport in the south, covering 162 miles and displacing along the way some 180 indigenous communities, a national park and adjoining forest reserves that are home to some of the country’s most endangered species.
    But this week, at a public hearing with government ministers and stakeholders, the Minister of the Environment admitted the project could not go forward. “The EIA (Environmental Impact Assessment) is not of standard, it is too primary and does not qualify as a working document for such an international project,” Minister Ibrahim Jibrin was reported to say.
    The so-called Cross River Superhighway, the brainchild of the state’s governor, Ben Ayade, has been on the drawing board for years. Two years ago it was announced that the “much anticipated construction” was “on course” and that President Muhammadu Buhari would be performing groundbreaking ceremonies Sept. 21, 2015.
    The roadway would have cut through several protected areas such as the Cross River National Park, Ukpon River Forest Reserve, Cross River South Forest Reserve, Afi River Forest Reserve and Afi Mountain Wildlife Sanctuary – home to various threatened species, including Nigeria-Cameroon chimpanzees, drills, Preuss’s red colobus monkeys, slender-snouted crocodiles and African gray parrots, among others.
    Among the impacted communities is the Ekuri, whose conservation skills were recognized by the U.N. Development Program with a Equator Initiative Award for protecting biodiversity and reducing poverty.
    Ekuri leaders say they supported the highway project at first, believing it would bring better transportation and greater economic opportunities to their people. But in a letter to the governor of Cross River State sent Feb. 7, the leaders withdrew their support, calling the project “a land grab in the guise of a Super Highway.”
    Ekuri communities manage some 83,000 acres of community-owned forest – one of the largest in West Africa. “We require schools, water, electricity but not the kind of road that will take our forest away,” village leaders Stephen Oji and Abel Egbe told Premium Times news.

  • Superintendent Carter advances new classroom designs School board salutes GCH Girls Basketball Team as Class 3A Area 7 Champions

    Greene County High Lady Tigers displaying their Class 3A banner, Shown Above: Graduating seniors of the GCHS Lady Tigers Basketball Team: Te’Aira Wilson, Kelsey Spencer, Raven Vanable and Sabrina French.

    At the Greene County School Board meeting held Monday, March 27, 2017, Superintendent James Carter and board members gave a special salute to the Greene County High Lady Tigers basketball team as Class 3A Area 7 Champions, 2016-2017. Dr. Carter presented the Lady Tigers, along with their coach, Kendra Payne and Principal Garry Rice, with a banner designating their championship.

    Superintendent James Carter, in his continued efforts to improve school curricula and culture, presented the board with additional innovative considerations. Dr. Carter explained that the design of the classroom is important to the learning process. “Students’ desks, textbooks, and other barriers between teacher and students should be removed.
    Teachers need and should have the flexibility to be more innovative and creative in the classroom. There is a need to reinvent the classroom to fit the 21st century learners,” he stated.
    According to Superintendent Carter, the first thing that should be done is to get parents more involved in their children’s education; next Second identify teachers and principals who care about children and make students feel like they belong in the school. Third thing is that every child should feel a sense of accomplishment. He further noted that the three major institutions that once supported our children and now are failing our children. These institutions, home, church and school, must take the lead in helping educators turn around schools.
    Dr. Carter also raised the question: “How can corporal punishment have a place in schools?” He noted that research shows that Black students and students with disabilities receive physical punishment more than other students. He suggests that the system reviews its policies regarding corporal punishment in schools.
    Carter also noted that the school system is in the process of establishing collaboration with Greene County Hospital to implement a candy striper program as well as a Nursing Assistant Program with students enrolled at Greene County Career Center.
    The superintendent ended his report with the announcement of a sale of surplus equipment at the former Paramount school on April 11 and; at former Carver school on April 12 from 9 a.m. – 12 p.m.
    In other business, the board approved the following personnel items as presented by the superintendent.
    * Employment: Micheal Bolton as Bus Driver for the system.
    * Leave of Absence without pay for LaJoycelyn Davis, Secretary at Robert Brown Middle School.
    Additional Service contract(s) for the following employees at Greene County High School for the 2016 – 2017 academic year. (Separate Contract): Jacob Sullivan – Asst. Baseball Coach. The Board approved the following administrative services items:
    Bid submitted by Dallas Air Conditioning and Heating, Inc. in the amount of $82,950 to rework controls at Robert Brown Middle School (Only Bidder).
    Field Trip Requests: Robert Brown Middle – Math and Science Day at Six Flags Over Ga on May 12, 2017; Robert Brown Middle – Georgia Aquarium in Atlanta, GA on May 4, 2017.
    Payment of all bills, claims, and payroll.
    The board approved the following Instructional Items:
    * Revamping of Kindergarten Program to include project learning type of concept with a focus on communication, critical thinking skills, foreign language, and math problem solving activities
    * Organize Summer School for promotion of students who are struggling or identified as at-risk
    * Teachers and Principals to develop a reading list for students to enhance their reading skills over the summer months

  • Civil War blamed for starvation and famine looming in South Sudan


    (TriceEdneyWire.com/GIN) – The government of South Sudan and the United Nations are reporting that some 100,000 people are facing starvation, with a million more on the brink of famine.
    The announcement comes as international aid agencies are overwhelmed by catastrophes unfolding in four countries. There have been warnings of famine in Yemen, Somalia and north-eastern Nigeria, but South Sudan is the first to declare one.
    The famine is currently affecting parts of the Unity state in South Sudan, but humanitarian groups have warned that the crisis could spread if urgent help is not received.
    Currently, some 20 U.S.-based charities are working in South Sudan, bringing medical equipment and supplies, the most needed type of food, clothing, shelter materials and other supplies. The groups are listed in CharityWatch, a charity watchdog which issues letter grade ratings (A+ to F) to nonprofit groups aiding victims. Groups that receive an “A” or “B” grade spend at least 75% of their budget on program services and spend no more than $25 to raise $100.
    Under the heading “Donors Beware,” CharityWatch writes: “As with any charitable contribution, Americans wanting to help South Sudan relief efforts should send contributions to only those charities with an established track record of helping people in this region.”
    ReliefWeb.int, a digital service of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, which tracks countries in crisis and provides the latest reports, maps, infographics and videos, wrote in a report in December: “Alarmingly, 4.8 million people in South Sudan – more than one-third of the population – are food insecure.”
    Serge Tissot, the Food and Agriculture Organization’s representative for South Sudan described those affected as “predominantly farmers as war has disrupted agriculture. They’ve lost their livestock, even their farming tools. For months there has been a total reliance on whatever plants they can find and fish they can catch.”
    Food prices have soared by 800 percent, putting food out of the reach of impoverished families. Thousands of refugees have sought shelter in camps in Uganda.
    “This famine is man-made,” said Joyce Luma, country director for the World Food Program in South Sudan, which has seen its facilities looted on several occasions by armed groups. “WFP and the entire humanitarian community have been trying with all our might to avoid this catastrophe, mounting a humanitarian response of a scale that quite frankly would have seemed impossible three years ago.”
    But she warned that without peace and security, “there is only so much that humanitarian assistance can achieve.”
    Meanwhile, workers at Save the Children-supported health clinics and hospitals in Puntland have reported a significant increase in severe malnutrition among children coming through their doors.
    An estimated 363,000 children are already suffering from malnutrition in Somalia.

  • ‘voter fraud is a lie, voter suppression is alive’ Rev. Barber: “We want full restoration of the Voting Rights Act now!”

    By: John Zippert,  Co-Publisher

    Amid the celebration and commemoration at this weekend’s Bridge Crossing Jubilee in Selma, Alabama, celebrating the 52nd anniversary of the “Bloody Sunday March” in 1965, there was a demand for “Full Restoration of the Voting Rights Act” by Rev. William Barber of the North Carolina Repairers of the Breach and Forward Together Movement. Rev. Barber’s demand was echoed by other speakers and was the central issue in many of the workshops and programs of the Jubilee.
    In addition to the workshops, there was a parade, golf tournament, dinners, a unity breakfast, street festival, and the march reenactment on Sunday afternoon. Ten thousand or more marchers crossed the Edmund Pettus Bridge behind a host of local and national leaders, including: Rev. Jesse Jackson of PUSH, Charles Steele of SCLC, Rev. Barber, Faya Rose Toure, Senator Hank Sanders, Rev. Mark Thompson of Sirius 127 Radio and many others. The Masons of Alabama turned out in force and in uniform, to participate in the march.
    The weekend culminated in Monday’s “Slow-Ride from Selma to Montgomery” with a caravan of 35 vehicles including a Greene County School bus, carrying the members of the Eutaw High Ninth Grade Academy. The caravan was met by local Montgomery leaders for a rally on the steps of the State Capitol.
    Prior to the re-enactment march, Attorney Faya Rose Toure pointed out that the Edmund Pettus Bridge was named for an Alabama Klu Klux Klan leader and that the name should be changed to honor Ms. Amelia Boyton Robinson and the Voting Rights Foot-soldiers who won the 1965 VRA.
    Rev. William Barber spoke many times, as ketnote for the Sunday morning breakfast, at Brown’s Chapel Church before the march reenactment, on a national radio broadcast from the Dallas County Courthouse on Sunday evening and at the rally at the Alabama State Capitol in Montgomery at the end of the slow-ride.

    Rev. Barber made similar points in each speech. At the breakfast, we invoked the martyrs of the civil and voting rights movement – Dr. King, Jimmie Lee Jackson, Jonathan Daniels, James Reid, Viola Luizzo, and un-named others, whose blood he said was crying out to people today to continue the work of restoring the Voting Rights Act, fighting voter suppression in all its forms, and building a more beloved community involving Blacks, Whites, Latinos and all religious faiths.
    He said he had come to Selma, ”not for the nostalgia of history but to listen for the ‘blood’ that was shed and soaked into the concrete of the bridge and the wooden pews of the churches.” Barber said that America was headed by an egotistical narsisistic man, “but this is not the first time that a racist was in the White House. Steve Bannon is not the first white Supremacist to be in high places. Trump is not the first President to hold these views. Many of his predacessors felt the same way.”
    “On June 25, 2013”, Barber said, “the U. S. Supreme Court in the Holder vs. Shelby County case, overturned Section 4 and nullified Section 5 of the 1965 Voting Rights Act. Within an hour of the destruction of pre-clearence of voting changes in the Shelby decision, Texas approved a voter ID law and other changes; two months later, North Carolina passed voter suppression laws.
    Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia and other Southern states also passed voter ID and other voter suppression measures. Voter fraud is a lie, voter suppression is alive.”
    “Twenty-one states adopted 47 regressive voting changes within a year of the Shelby decision, The 2016 Presidential election was the first in half a century without the protection of the Voting Rights Act.
    868 fewer polling places were allowed in Black and Brown communities around the nation. In the 25 Presidential debates, both Republican and Democratic, no mention was made of the issue of voter suppression in our communities,” said Rev. Barber.
    “Long before Russia interfered in our elections, voter suppression had hacked and distorted the system,” said Barber. He pointed out that in Wisconsin 300,000 voters were disenfranchised due to the voter ID requirements and Trump defeated Hillary by 20,000 votes in that state.
    Senator Hank Sanders spoke to the problems of voter suppression, voter ID, Legislative gerrymandering in Alabama, Packing and stacking Black voters in majority Black districts. He also recounted the history of now Attorney General Jeff Sessions role in initiating voter suppression in Alabama with voter fraud trials of civil rights activists.
    Rev. Barber said, “ the 11 former Confederate states have 171 electoral votes, you only need 99 more to have the 270 needed to win the electoral college. These states have 26 U. S. senators, the extremists need only 25 more Senators to control the Senate which they are doing now. They have the House of Representatives, statehouses, county courthouses, we have work to do to fully restore the Voting Rights Act.”
    As part of the evening radio broadcast and rally at the Dallas County Courthouse, Rev. Barber displayed maps, which showed the concentration of poverty, child poverty, low wages-right-to-work states, states that did not expand Medicaid, overlapped with the states that adopted new voter suppression measures. Most of these maps showed concentration of these problems in the rural South. Rev. Barber also displayed a map of states and areas with a concentration of protestant Evangelical Christians and once again the overlap was clear. He called this a “mis-teaching of faith and a false interpretation of the Bible”.
    At the rally in Montgomery, speaker after speaker blasted the voter suppression, racial gerrymandering and limits to voting by the people. Rev. Barber said, ”We must get ready for a 100 days of disruption and civil disobedience in our state houses and in Congress to work for full restoration of the Voting Rights Act. Different state organizations should be preparing to go to Washington, D. C. and non-violently disrupt the process qnd win back our full voting rights.