Tuesday, June 27, 2017

THE CASH JOURNAL FOR 06-29-17

CASH IN THE APPLE FOR 06-29-17
By Cash Michaels


            BUDGET OF DESTRUCTION – By the time you read this, the compromise budget for fiscal year 2017-18 will most likely have been vetoed by Gov. Roy Cooper, and that veto will have been overridden by both the Republican-led state House and Senate.
            In his remarks before wielding the veto pen, the Democratic governor called the $23 billion budget “small-minded.”
            The online dictionary defines “small-minded” as  “having or showing rigid opinions or a narrow outlook; narrow-mindedpettymean-spiriteduncharitableclose-minded…”  You get the picture.
            Yes, the Republicans tout the budget as giving teachers and state employees raises, providing disaster relief for folks victimized by Hurricane Matthew, and of course, tax cuts for the rich.
            But then there are the areas of this new monstrosity that defy decency. So much so, that even national news publications like Slate.com can’t believe what they’re seeing.

            “This week, the General Assembly’s Republican leaders released their final budget, which includes a brazen plan to thwart the governor in several ways,” reported Slate.com last week in a story titled, “North Carolina Republicans Are Trying to Strip the Governor of His Power to Challenge Laws.”

            “First,” the story continued, “… the budget prevents Cooper from using the governor’s office attorneys without the General Assembly’s permission. Second, the budget prevents Cooper from using “lapsed salary savings”—money saved when the state pays an employee less than it had budgeted—to hire outside counsel. These provisions effectively prevent Cooper from suing the legislature to halt unconstitutional laws. In order for him to do so, the General Assembly would have to give its permission to be sued, or Cooper would have to pay private lawyers out of pocket.”
            “Republicans also added a provision to the budget mandating that the legislature participate in any suit challenging a North Carolina law. That means the General Assembly can always step into a lawsuit against the state and defend the challenged statute, even though the governor cannot—unless the General Assembly allows him to, and permits him to use his attorneys,” the Slate.com story added.
            What kind of power hungry, demonic, mean-spirited four-legged animals in sear-sucker suits do we have making laws in our state? They will do anything to grab complete power, regardless of how North Carolinians voted last November.
            And of course, if you read our front-page story about the state budget, then you read how the Republicans eliminated a $200,000 African-American heritage monument that was originally planned for under Gov. McCrory, a Republican, and replaced it with a $5,000,000 appropriation for a $65 million “Civil War History Center” to be built in Fayetteville, replacing the Cape Fear Museum there.
            And get this – according to the fundraiser for the “center,” at least $27 million has already been raised, all but $7 million is public funding, from the city of Fayetteville, the county of Cumberland, and now, the state of North Carolina.
            So while other Southern states are getting rid of their symbols of the old Confederacy, North Carolina is steadily spending taxpayer dollars to help open a $65 million museum to celebrate the legacy of the Civil War, completely eliminating the African-American history monument that has been in planning for months.
            North Carolina NAACP President Rev. William Barber says one of the best ways to determine what’s in a lawmaker’s heart is to take a look at his budget. That tells you what his priorities are, and are not.
            Rev, I think we got the message on this one, alright!
                                                                        -30-
           

NC NAACP LEADER DECIDES
TO STAY UNTIL OCTOBER
By Cash Michaels
Contributing writer

Responding to a powerful “Urgent Personal and Public Appeal” not to leave office until the election next October of a new NC NAACP president, the current president, Rev. William Barber, says he’s decided to indeed stay until then because of emerging issues.
            I cannot and will not seek another term as state president, but for the stability of the movement in these transitional moments, I will stay with God’s help until a new president is elected to lead the NC NAACP in October, civil rights leader said in a statement Sunday.
            Rev. Barber was responding to a June 20th open letter sent exclusively to the Black Press across the state from sixteen members of the NC NAACP’s executive committee.
 When Barber announced in May that he would be stepping down by June to join the national Poor People’s Campaign, he indicated that the NAACP Constitution already spelled out the mechanism for who would be next in line to succeed him, namely the NCNAACP’s First Vice President Carolyn Coleman of Greensboro, unless she turned it down.
Publicly, Ms. Coleman, a highly respected civil rights veteran, had not indicated whether she would accept the interim position, or actually run for the NCNAACP presidency in October.
Thus far the only announced candidate is Rev. Dr. T. Anthony Spearman, NCNAACP Third Vice President, and a Greensboro pastor.
Citing the recent U.S. Supreme Court decision striking down North Carolina’s 2011 legislative redistricting as unconstitutional because of racial gerrymandering in 28 voting districts, and the Republican leadership’s refusal to immediately begin redrawing the districts and planning for special elections, the appeal to Rev. Barber made it clear that this was a time when his leadership is needed the most.
“It is the urgent duty of the social justice movement, including our NAACP State Conference and its many partners, to work full time on exposing the extremists’ contempt of the Court’s orders,” the June 20th open statement said.  “This is the reason for this Personal and Public Appeal to Rev. Dr. Barber.”
Among the signees were Rev. Dr. John Mendez of Winston-Salem; Rev. Nelson and Joyce Johnson of Greensboro; atty. Al McSurely of Chapel Hill; Rev. Dr. Rodney Sadler of Charlotte; and Daphne Holmes-Johnson and Kim Porter of Winston-Salem.
“I was humbled by the personal and prayerful request that my friends and mentors within the NC NAACP made public this week,” Rev. Barber replied. “I did not make the decision to consider stepping aside from my elected position this summer lightly. I've been in deep prayer and fasting about my calling to help lead the new Poor Peoples Campaign. I know this is work I must help with and attempt to guide. Of this, I have no doubt. “
“But I also know that our work here in North Carolina is critical to the work of the new Poor People’s Campaign and a national Moral Revival.”
Rev. Barber went on to say that he had the support of his family, church, the chair and vice chair of the national NAACP,  and team at his own social justice group, Repairers of the Breach, as well as the national leadership of the Poor People’s campaign.
“I can do none of this work alone. With everything in me, I believe in "WE."  We are living in serious times, and because I have heard a call from people who are committed to these serious times, I'm willing to do my part.”
                                                -30-

DEMOCRATS HAIL COOPER BUDGET VETO,
QUESTION GOP CIVIL WAR CENTER FUNDING
By Cash Michaels
Contributing writer

            On Tuesday, Gov. Roy Cooper, calling it “small-minded,” vetoed the compromise $23 billion budget the Republican-led NC General Assembly passed last week. The NC Senate immediately voted to override Cooper’s veto, followed by the NC House Wednesday morning. The budget is now law, but Cooper threatens to file suit to stop it.
            In touting their budget plan, Republicans have pointed towards pay raises and more tax cuts as to why they feel it’s what’s best for North Carolina.
            “I was one of the House budget writers, and [I believe] the compromised budget [between Republican conferees of the House and Senate] meets many of the needs of the people across our state,” says Rep. Donny Lambeth [R-Forsyth]. “It provides teachers with an average approximate 10 percent increase over the budget period. It provides a cost of living increase for retired state workers, it gives state workers a $1,000 increase, it invests in our pre-K programs and reduces the wait list, it provides disaster funding, adds to our savings reserve, adds more funds for school construction and helps allow families to keep more of their hard earned money.”
            “So I believe this is a solid plan for allocating state funds to important programs in North Carolina that provides so many services,” Rep. Lambeth concluded.
            Naturally, Democrats got behind Gov. Cooper’s reasoning as to why the Republican budget is a big mistake.
            Governor Cooper is right to veto the Republican Conference budget,” said Sen. Paul Lowe (D-Forsyth). “I voted against this budget because it shortchanges our state, by prioritizing tax cuts for the wealthy over education and our economy.”
            Rep. Ed Hanes {D-Forsyth] joined his colleague, Sen. Lowe, in his dismissal.
            “I could not bring myself to vote for this budget,” Hanes said. “There is a profound problem with the thought that for our state to prosper, we need to further lower taxes for corporations and the wealthy. We’ve substantially done that over the last years and stand at number 3 in the country for business. Further action shifts the tax burden onto the shoulders of the poor and the middle class.
            “Trickle down economics simply does not work,” Rep. Hanes concluded.
            Rep. Cecil Brockman, Democrat of neighboring Guilford County, also blasted the GOP budget, saying that it “…shows that their top priority is slashing taxes on millionaires who should be paying their fair share while leaving our hard-working families behind.
            In terms of the financial nuts-and-bolts, there was plenty about the new budget Democrats could quibble with, especially when it came to cutting taxes, money for education, and funding for economic development in poorer counties.
            But a closer look at the GOP budget yielded yet other bones of contention.
            By now it’s well-known about $10 million being slashed from the NC Justice Dept., headed up by Democratic State atty Gen. Josh Stein. The Republicans deny  it, but Stein charges that the cut is political retribution for him winning the office last November, and siding with Gov. Cooper against the Republican legislative majority on several voting rights cases.
            Stein says he may have to lay off at least a hundred state litigators as a result, which will ultimately hurt law enforcement.
            The GOP compromise budget also cuts $1 million from Gov. Cooper’s office, and limits his ability to hire independent legal counsel to sue the General Assembly when it challenges his authority. Cooper has hinted that he will indeed file a lawsuit as a result.
            I just became aware of this latest ill-advised political power grab by the North Carolina General Assembly,” said Irving Joyner, law professor at NCCU School of Law. “This action represents just another example of the destruction of democracy in North Carolina. These right-wing extremists, who presently control the General Assembly, are intent upon dominating every aspect of life in North Carolina and have gone to great lengths to destroy the "checks and balances" which the state constitution requires. These acts should be exposed and aggressively resisted.”
But among others, there is one situation in the voluminous pages of the GOP budget that is of particular interest to African-Americans across the state.
            According to the North Carolina Democratic Party, when Gov. Cooper originally issued his budget proposal several weeks ago, included was $200,000 one-time funding for an African-American heritage monument on state Capitol grounds.
            The proposed monument, originally planned for under Gov. Pat McCrory by the NC Historical Commission and the NC African-American Heritage Commission, was the subject of numerous public hearings across the state last year.
            "I can't think of a more appropriate way to recognize the contributions of African Americans to North Carolina's history than a monument at the State Capitol," McCrory said at the time.
Republican budgetwriters, however, discarded Cooper’s monument item, and instead replaced it by appropriating $5 million for a new Civil War museum in Fayetteville.
            “Civil War Museum” is the title of item#6 under Department of Natural and Cultural Resources on Page M5 of the “Joint Conference Committee Report on the Base, Capital and Expansion Budget (Senate Bill 257)”
            Provides $2,500,000 to the Department of Natural and Cultural Resources to begin the process of converting the Museum of the Cape Fear (in Fayetteville) into a Civil War Museum. There is an additional $2,500,000 appropriated to the Department upon verification of $2,500,000 in private donations towards the project. The revised net appropriation for this project is $5,000,000.
            According to David Winslow, president of The Winslow Group, Inc. of Winston-Salem, the primary fundraiser for the $65 million “NC Civil War History Center” since 2014, approximately $27 million (with the state money added) has already been raised, and most of that has come from public dollars contributed by the city of Fayetteville, the county of Cumberland, and now the state of North Carolina.
            Only $7 million from private donations.
            According to the company’s website, the museum is scheduled to open in 2020. Winslow says the “center” will be different.
            “We are about telling the whole story,” Winslow said by phone on Tuesday.  “We have partnered with Fayetteville State University in what we’re doing.”
            Still, it is not clear why Republican lawmakers cut $200,000 for a state monument to African-American heritage originally started by a GOP governor, only to give twenty-five times that much for a “center” focusing on the civil war, which most historians agree was fought over slavery.
            “Budgets show what you value,” said NC Democratic Party Chairman Wayne Goodwin. “Governor Cooper, through his budget, outlined how important it is that our state remember and honor our shared history. Republicans clearly feel otherwise – they’d rather give their offices an upgrade. I’m not sure the difference could be any clearer: Republicans value themselves and their power, while Governor Cooper wants to see our state remember on capital grounds our full heritage.”

                                                            -30-

STATE NEWS BRIEFS

BILL TO REDRAWN NC JUDICIAL MAP POSTPONED
            [RALEIGH] A Republican-sponsored bill to redraw North Carolina’s judicial districts has been withdrawn from consideration this session, but is expected to be brought back up in the next legislative session. Rep. Justin Burr (R-Albemarle) is the sponsor of HB 717, and says that  while he introduced the measure Monday, with the short session ending possibly this week, he feels there isn’t enough time for the bill to be properly vetted. Democrats and court officials opposed the bill, with Democrat charging it was just a GOP ploy to take control of the state’s judiciary.

DR. JOHNSON AKINLEYE IS NAMED NEW CHANCELLOR OF NCCU
            [DURHAM] The man who has served as interim chancellor ever since the untimely death of Debra Saunders-White last year, is now officially the 12th chancellor of North Carolina Central University. The UNC Board of Governors officially announced that Dr. Johnson Akinleye has the job. "Dr. Akinleye is a strategic thinker and no-nonsense leader," said UNC System President Margaret Spellings. "His distinguished career includes extensive experience in senior administrative leadership roles at public, private and church-affiliated institutions. He sees building a relationship with the campus and community leaders as a priority and he understands the need to maximize the full value of being in the Research Triangle.”
            "I accept the awesome responsibility as the 12th Chancellor for North Carolina Central University with humility," said Chancellor Akinleye. "I look forward to leading NCCU in a manner that honors our mission and to working closely with UNC General Administration to fulfill the university's system-wide mission and goals that accrue to the benefit of the citizens of the great state of North Carolina.”

$2.5 MILLION BOND SET FOR ACCUSED SEX OFFENDING SCHOOL RESOURCE OFFICER
            [DURHAM] A Durham County deputy, who also served as a school resource officer, has been charged with several sexual offenses involving a minor. Bond for former Deputy Chris Kelly has been set for $2.5 million. He was arrested on April 28th. Investigators found explicit video chat messages Kelly had with female students, along with letters. The father of one of the victims became suspicious when he saw images of the deputy on his daughter’s phone. He turned it over to law enforcement.

                                                            -30-

Monday, June 19, 2017

THE CASH JOURNAL FOR 06-22-17

CASH IN THE APPLE for 6-22-17
By Cash Michaels

            HEROES – What a strange world we live in. On Wednesday of last week, a crazed gunman (don’t know what else to call him) went to a public park in Alexandria, Va. with a loaded automatic weapon with the intent of killing every Republican he could find.
            Apparently he knew that several Republican US congressmen and their aides were practicing for a charity baseball games scheduled for later on in the week.
            This madman was plotting a massacre, and it is only by the grace of GOD he wasn’t able to succeed.
            That “grace” came in the form to two members of Congressman Steve Scalise’s security detail – US Capitol special agents Crystal Griner and David Bailey.
            Both Griner and Bailey are 32 years of age, and African-Americans. And both are credited with, according to the Speaker of the House Paul Ryan, Donald Trump, president of the United States, and not to mention various witnesses on the scene, with risking their own lives to save the lives of several congressmen and their aides when they drew their weapons and began firing at the gunman in an effort to draw his attention away from the helpless politicians dressed in baseball gear, with only baseball bats as their protection against a crazed gunman with an automatic weapon.
            How ironic, indeed, that two people Republican congresspeople normally pay little attention to, and in fact, do little by way of helping their communities, are the ones who risked themselves as professionals, and human beings, to save their lives.
            Agent Griner was shot in the ankle as she engaged the gunman. David Bailey, an alum of NCCU, twisted his ankle in the melee, yet still kept his weapon trained on the clear threat that hunted the congressman.
            Both Griner and Bailey are young people in their early thirties. She wears her hair in cornrows and is said to be married to another woman. Bailey got a degree in physical education during his time at NCCU and is said to be a man of good character who loves ketchup.
            Both come from a community that Republicans, as a party, led by President Trump, has tried to hurt by disenfranchising the African-American vote, ending Obamacare, and cutting public education funding.
            So it is truly a blessing that Special Agents Bailey and Griner survived all of that in their younger years, and applied themselves enough to rise to the level of competent law enforcement professionals whose skills and devotion to service ultimately saved the lives of some of the people who regularly pass laws to cripple their community.
            It is also ironic that Republicans rarely have anything good to say about African-Americans unless it involves sports, the military, or coming to the defense of a brainwashed black Republican.
            In this instance, the GOP were unabashed in their praise of Bailey and Griner as “heroes.” That’s because the Republicans could not deny the ugly truth – without those two black US Capitol police officers, thei bacon would have been fried for sure.
            No, I’m NOT making light of what was clearly a very, very dangerous situation where upwards of 25 or more lives could have been lost. Those two officers are indeed heroes, not only top those Republicans, but the American people, and certainly to the black community, because they positively represented all of us when it counted the most.  Both Bailey and Griner are college educated, and obviously committed to ideals greater than themselves. They are excellent examples for other young people to follow.
            But most importantly, Bailey and Griner are heroes because others saw the value of investing in their education and upbringing.
            That’s what pains me about this story. We could have many. Many more young people of the high caliber of David Bailey and Crystal Griner if only the powers that be realize that investing in our communities, through education and economic development is the way to do it.
            This the Republicans understand that now, or will it take another near death experience for them to finally realize it?

                                                            -30-

           US CAPITOL POLICE SPECIAL AGENT DAVID BAILEY (L) POSING
WITH NC CONGRESSMAN G. K. BUTTERFIELD AT THE CONGRESSIONAL CHARITY BASEBALL GAME LAST WEEK. BAILEY THREW OUT THE FIRST PITCH. HE WAS CREDITED WITH CONFRONTED A GUNMAN DURING THE GOP BASEBALL PRACTICE JUNE 14TH. (PHOTO COURTESY OF CONGRESSMAN BUTTERFIELD'S OFFICE)

COMMUNITY HAILS TWO HERO
CAPITOL POLICE OFFICERS
By Cash Michaels
Contributing writer

            As of June 14th, beyond the US military, the nation has celebrated two new American heroes who not only reminded us of what true bravery is in the face of certain danger, but also of the constant threats our elected officials face in what many agree is a very divisive, corrosive atmosphere.
            On the morning of June 14th, US Capitol Police special agents David Bailey and Crystal Griner, rushed into the line of fire when an angry gunman, armed with an automatic weapon and reportedly searching for Republicans to kill, began firing his weapon at a public park in Alexandria, Va. Where several GOP members of Congress were having baseball practice for a charity game later in the week.
            When it was all over, the gunman was killed, but not before he had shot and wounded at least three others, included US House Majority Whip Steve Scalise (R-La).
            Rep. Scalise is still in a Washington, DC hospital recovering from a bullet wound to the hip that once had him in critical condition.
            In a speech on the US House floor later that morning, Speaker Paul Ryan, calling Bailey and Griner “heroes” said, “We are, as ever, awed by the tremendous bravery of the Capitol Police. “I expressed our profound gratitude to them. It is clear to me, based on various eyewitness accounts that without these two heroes — Agent Bailey and Agent Griner — many lives would have been lost,” Ryan added.
            Special Agent Crystal Griner, 32, who was shot in the ankle, is known as a “high achiever” scholastically and former basketball standout for Hood College in Frederick, Md.. Her former chief at the US Capitol Police said she exuded “confidence and dedication.”
US Capitol Special Agent David Bailey, 32, is a 2007 alumnus of North Carolina Central University in Durham, from where he earned a BS degree in physical education, and was also a member of NCCU Student Government. He reportedly attended high school in Maryland.
            Bailey has reportedly been a US Capitol police officer since 2008, and an administrator at US Fish and Wildlife before that.
             Bailey reportedly twisted his ankle during the shooting, and he was released from the hospital that Wednesday afternoon.
            In a statement issued June 14th by Interim NCCU Chancellor Dr. Johnson  Akinleye, David Bailey is said to have “…bravely put his life on the line to protect and serve the community. This example of “Truth and Service” comes as no surprise to his professors who knew him to be an engaged and empathetic student who was committed to excellence.
            Those who knew Bailey as a student at NCCU recall a young man who cared about people, always kept himself physically fit, and always had a close eye for detail, an important attribute that serves him well as a law enforcement officer.
            NCCU Professor David Nass remembers teaching Bailey in “Motor Skills in Games” in 2004, and that he had the “highest grade in the class.”
            “What stood out about David Bailey was his attention to detail and his preparation,” Prof. Nass recalls. “He was the kind of personality you or I would want to teach our child.”
            Another professor at NCCU, Virginian Politano, said that David Bailey was a “good student” with  a 3.5 GPA in her course. She remembers Bailey as being “outgoing and personable”, and liked by everyone. Bailey was involved in campus organizations.
            “He was a good guy; always wanting to help other people,” Prof. Politano said.
            Congressman G. K. Butterfield (D-NC-1), is an alumnus of NCCU, and says he’s knows David Bailey. 
            “He’s an heroic brother. I’m very proud of David” Rep. Butterfield said Tuesday by phone from Washington, DC. “I’ve known David for the past eight or nine years since he came on the [US Capitol Police] force. I know him in a very special way because both he and I are graduates of North Carolina Central University."
            Rep. Butterfield added there aren’t that many black officers on special leadership detail on the US Capitol Police force, so African-American members of Congress instinctively bond with the few who are, checking with them routinely to make sure they’re alright.
            “We’re proud of ‘em,” the former chair of the Congressional Black Caucus insisted. “We have fought to get them these opportunities in the leadership detail.”
Butterfield said he’s always been impressed with how professional and dedicated Bailey is, and while he didn’t know Crystal Griner as well, has always been very impressed with how professionally she carried herself while on the job.
            Referring to the June 14th shootings, Congresswoman Alma Adams (D-NC-12) said all members of Congress are “really shaken” by the assassination attempt. She believes the time has come for more “good guys” like David Bailey and Crystal Griner to provide better security for her and her congressional colleagues.
            “It could have been any one of us,” she said Monday by phone from Charlotte.
 Long before the events of June 14th, Rep. Adams told her staff to consider any nasty phone calls or letters received in their offices as “threats” and report them accordingly. That afternoon, Adams released a statement:
“Today’s shooting is a tragic reminder of the rising animosity and tensions in our country.”
“One of the things I think Congress has the responsibility for is setting the right tone, because if we don’t, then the community outrage is going to get out of control,” Adams says, acknowledging that other black congresspeople have also gotten threatening calls and letters as well.
Rep. Al Green (D-Tx) is most prominent on the list, ever since he announced that he was sponsoring a bill to present articles of impeachment against Pres. Trump.
“We just have to be a little more diligent about safety and security,” she continued, noting that the days of not making mandatory security arrangements at public events is over. “I am very concerned, not just for myself, but my staff.”
Rep. Adams also cautioned that Congress has to do a better job protecting itself, but all Americans, especially when it comes to limiting the sale of guns.
One of the last shooting incidents involving a US Capitol police officer from North Carolina took place in July, 1998 when Officer Jacob Chestnut was killed at the US Capitol building when a gunman entered the security screening area and opened fire, killing Chestnut instantly, and also a detective. Officer Chestnut was the first African-American to be laid in honor in the US Capitol Building. Then Pres. Bill Clinton delivered his eulogy.
                                                -30-
           
  THE REAL REASON WHY THE GOP
 DEFENDS RACIAL GERRYMANDERING
By Cash Michaels
Contributing writer

            There is a reason why Republicans in the NC General Assembly vigorously defend “stacking-and-packing” black voters into a handful of so-called “majority-minority” voting districts when drawing congressional and legislative maps for North Carolina, even though the US Supreme Court has repeatedly ruled the practice as unconstitutional racial gerrymandering.
            A reason that Law Professor and Constitutional scholar Michael Curtis of Wake Forest University School of Law doesn’t buy.
            Republicans maintain that they are complying  with the mandate of the 1965 Voting Rights Act to create districts where black voters have the ability to elect congressional and legislative representation of their choosing.
            So several wildly constructed districts were created by the Republican majority where black registered voters comprised at least fifty percent or more of the voting population.
            “ It all sounds like [Republicans] are wonderful and concerned with the rights of blacks, doesn’t it,” Prof. Curtis asked rhetorically? “But the NCNAACP, black legislators, and a bunch of other sued about it, and say that’s not the real story.”
            In virtually every one of the districts the NCNAACP and others have challenged, the candidate of choice of black voters was winning without a majority black district,” Curtis continued. In those districts, blacks were less than 50 percent, but joined in coalition with white voters to elect candidates of their choice.
            State Republicans, however, illegally and unconstitutionally twisted this reality.
            Instead of creating minority opportunity where it did not exist (as the 1965 VRA required), the (Republican) mapmakers drew districts where opportunity had been flourishing — where black voters, though the minority, had been consistently electing their candidates of choice…” reported Sharon McCloskey in May 2013 for NC Policy Watch. “[Republicans]… simply added more, pulling black voters across precinct, district and county lines to reach that 50 percent mark and beyond, up as high as 57 percent, and leaving whiter districts in their wake.”
            As a result, the 1965 Voting Rights Act was actually used as a “gerrymandering device,” Prof. Curtis said, an excuse to move African-American voters out of key voting districts where they could normally would influence legislative and congressional races.
            Curtis says state Republicans violated the NC Constitution when composing the 2011 legislative maps, ultimately making the legislative districts just about the worst in the nation. He maintains that the adoption of an independent, nonpartisan redistricting commission is the best answer for the future.
            What will happen now isn’t clear. A three-judge federal panel has ordered all sides in the legal dispute over the legislative maps to submit arguments as quickly as possible so that a hearing can be held and a determination as to when new maps are redrawn, and possible special elections are held.
            A federal trial scheduled for next week in Greensboro challenging the 2016  congressional maps has now been postponed to an undetermined date.
            And on Monday, the US Supreme Court agreed to hear a case challenging Republican partisan gerrymandering in Wisconsin next fall as going too far, a case that many legal experts believe could have major ramifications for the nation, and especially North Carolina.

                                                            -30-

STATE NEWS BRIEFS FOR 06-22-17

REPUBLICAN LEGISLATIVE LEADERS AGREE  TO A $23 BILLION BUDGET PLAN
            [RALEIGH] Teachers would get a 3.3 percent raise, while state employees would see a flat $1,000 more in their paychecks. Tax cuts for individuals and corporations will wait until 2019, and another $100 million will go to Hurricane Matthew relief. This are just some of the headlines from the proposed 2017-2018 budget spending plan state House and Senate conferees unveiled late Monday. Both houses are now expected to pass the proposal, an send it to Gov. Cooper, who wasn’t pleased with the final product. No word yet on whether he will veto it. Cooper wanted more money for education.

UNC-CHAPEL GET $1 MILLION TO HELP LOW-INCOME STUDENTS ATTEND SCHOOL
            [CHAPEL HILL]  UNC-Chapel Hill says the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation has donated $1 million to help low-income students to attend the public university, and the institution is planning to raise another million dollars from private donors in order to combine the funds, and expand the number of students helped. The foundation is named after the former owner of the NFL’s Washington Redskins.

PITT COUNTY D.A. TO MEET WITH GOVERNOR’S OFFICE ABOUT DONTAE SHARPE CASE
            [GREENVILLE] Pitt County District Attorney Kimberly Robb sys she has scheduled a meeting with representatives of the Governor’s Office to discuss the findings of her recent review of the Dontae Sharpe case. Supporters of Sharpe say he was falsely convicted of murder and imprisoned for 20 years. “At the request of Dontae Sharpe’s lawyers, my office has conducted an in-depth review of the murder case against him. After examining the relevant police reports and witness statements, reading over court records from all prior hearings, and interviewing relevant parties to the case, we have scheduled a meeting with representatives from the Governor’s office on Thursday to discuss our findings. Out of respect for his office, we will not make a public statement on the results of our investigation prior to that meeting,” a statement from Robb’s office said.  On Monday evening, the Rev. Al Sharpton joined NCNAACP Pres. Rev. William Barber and the Sharpe family in Greenville demanding that Dontae Sharpe be released.

                                                            -30-