UPDATED - SCHOOL BOARD LEANING AWAY
FROM WILLISTON ARTS SCHOOL
By Cash Michaels
Staff writer
It remains to be seen, but a of now, thanks to the considerable earful that the community gave NHC School Board members last week during a community forum, Williston Middle School is not likely to become a performing arts high school in two years, board members are saying now.
In fact, based on community consensus at that forum, a vocational high school – similar to the historic Williston Senior High School before it was abruptly closed in 1968 – seems more likely to be in Williston Middle School’s future, based on indications from the school board Tuesday.
“We are shifting away from this misnomer of a fine arts school,” announced NHC School Board Vice Chair David Wortman, who originally thought up the proposed “misnomer” for a performing arts school. He went on to confirm that the community’s negative reaction to his idea weighed heavily in changing direction.
In an online video after the board meeting, board member Nelson Beaulieu confirmed that thanks to the community “pushback” to the arts school idea, the school board was indeed “listening.”
“We hear you,” Beaulieu said on the video, presumably to the community.
Hopefully that direction will be made even clearer during today’s Williston Exploratory Committee meeting at 3 p.m..
What was made clear Tuesday night was that the community, and particularly proud Williston Senior High alums, were committed to keeping the pressure on the School Board not to close Williston Middle, and to make sure that any future changes benefit students in the community.
Residents like Kenneth Chestnut, Linda Pearce and Sonya Patrick all reminded the board of the proud history of Williston Senior High before it was closed, implored the school board to indeed listen to the community’s wishes, and concerns for its children and their future.
“Let the board of today [not be the NHC School Board of the past]…, Ms. Patrick, the Southeast Regional director of the National Black Leadership Caucus, said, “….but the board of the future [in bringing Williston Senior High back].”
“We need to keep up the intensity,” remarked Kenneth Chestnut on Facebook.
“Imagine students being so proud of their school that they still love it 51 years after it closes. I don’t have to imagine it. I went to that school- Williston Senior High School. I challenge you to follow your imagination and make it happen…AGAIN – Make it, once again, “the Greatest School Under The Sun,” Ms. Pearce told School Board members.
According to board member Wortman, if ever there was an opportunity for the community to tip the decision scale on Williston’s future, it is now.
“We want to keep that as a community school, whether it’s an application school or not, because ultimately the reason behind it is to serve that community," Wortman said. “Our intention is to continue to make Williston the greatest school under the sun."
-30-
13THANNUAL MORAL MARCH THIS SATURDAY IN RALEIGH
[RALEIGH] Thousands of demonstrators representing over 100 groups from across the state are going to Raleigh this Saturday to participate in the 13thAnnual Moral March/HK on J People’s Assembly. Sponsored by the NC NAACP, organizers say the event, held in front of the state Capitol, will address health care, immigrant rights, voting rights, minimum wages, environmental issues and more. A 9a.m. to 10 a.m. pre-rally will be held at Meymandi Concert hall, corner of Wilmington and South streets. From 10 a.m. to 1 noon, the march and rally at the State Capitol, 1 East Edenton Street. Learn more at
naacpnc.org.
BENNETT COLLEGE RAISES $8.2 MILLION FOR ACCREDITATION CAUSE
[GREENSBORO] Faced with the prospect of closing its doors because it was financially strapped, Bennett College for Women mounted a two-month campaign to raise $5 million by Feb. 1st. On Monday it announced that it had raised $8.2 million, far outdoing its initial goal. Nearby High Point University contributed $1 million, Papa John’s Pizza $500,000, and the rest came from celebrities like Jussie Smollett of TV’s “Empire,” and small donations from students at other institutions.
NINTH DISTRICT EVIDENTIARY HEARING SET FOR FEB. 18
[RALEIGH] Now that Gov. Cooper has appointed the new State Board o Elections, an evidentiary hearing on the Ninth District election fraud case has been called for Feb. 18th. Testimony will be given, based on allegations that absentee ballots were illegally collected, and may have been tampered with by workers for McCrae Dowless, who was consequently working for Republican canididate Mark Harris. The SBOE of three Democrats and two Republicans will either vote to establish a new election, or vote to certify Harris’ 2018 victory.
-30-
ADAMS JOINS WATERS ON HOUSE
FINANCIAL SERVICES COMMITTEE
By Cash Michaels
Contributing writer
North Carolina Congresswoman Alma Adams (D-NC-12) is now a member of the Congressional U.S. House Committee on Financial Services, chaired by fiery California Rep. Maxine Waters, for the 116thCongress.
“I came to Congress to raise the wage, push for equal opportunity and to ensure that North Carolina’s families have the resources they need to thrive. That is why I made it my mission to serve on key committees ” said Rep. Adams in a statement last weekafter the assignment was announced. “I worked hard to be appointed to the exclusive Committee on Financial Services, a major achievement for our District. We are home to 71 financial institutions that employ over 70,000 people. Financial Services will lead the push for affordable housing, an issue that plagues our region. On committee I will fight for our priorities and ensure that we remain the banking capitol of the South.”
The two-term North Carolina Democrat joins controversial New York City Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez as a new member. Rep. Adams is also a member of the committee’s Subcommittee on Diversity and Inclusion.
“I am pleased to welcome Congresswoman Alma Adams to the Financial Services Committee and the Diversity and Inclusion Subcommittee,” said Chairwoman Maxine Waters of California. “This Congress, the Financial Services Committee will take on many important issues on behalf of consumers, investors and vulnerable populations, and I look forward to working with Congresswoman Adams to create opportunities, ensure fairness, and protect the economic well-being of hardworking Americans throughout this country.”
Chairwoman Waters, the first woman and the first African-American to lead the panel, has served as a member of Congress and the HFSC since 1991. She served as the HFSC ranking member in the 115thCongress, so once the Democrats reclaimed the majority after the 2018 midterm elections, Waters naturally assumed the leadership role.
Making clear that issues such as more affordable housing, fairer consumer banking practices and other consumer protections would be the committee’s priorities, Waters made clear that “bringing accountability to the Trump Administration” was also a primary goal.
That “accountability” Waters plans to hold Pres. Trump to includes requiring that the Republican president turnover his tax returns from prior years for review, something that every preceding commander-in-chief has done for the purpose of transparency.
But holding Trump’s feet to the fire doesn’t stop there.
Waters has vowed that the HFSC will join with the House Committee on Investigations to probe Deutsche Bank, and its relationship with Donald Trump.
“We know that Deutsche Bank is one of the biggest money laundering banks in the country, or in the world perhaps,” Waters told CNBC last week. “And we know that this is the only bank that will lend money to the president of the United States because of his past practices. He won't show his tax returns and we have a certain information that leads us to believe that there may have been some money laundering activity ….”
Whatever HFSC Chair Maxine Waters ultimately finds, Rep. Alma Adams will be right there with her.
-30-
BUTTERFIELD SAYS HOUSE DEMOCRATS
READY TO PASS VRA FIXES, BUT GOP OPPOSES
By Cash Michaels
Contributing writer
It is a top priority of the Democratic majority in the U.S. House, and indeed, it could be introduced for a vote as soon as next week, and ratified without a problem.
Renewal of the 1965 Voting Rights Act (VRA), a measure the prior Republican-led U.S. House refused to even take up, let alone pass.
U.S. Rep. G. K. Butterfield (D-NC-1) says renewal of the VRA is, indeed, a top agenda item of the newly strengthened Congressional Black Caucus and House Democrats.
“It’s going to happen,” Butterfield said during a recent interview. “ Rep. John Lewis (D-GA) and Rep. Terri Sewell (D-AL) are leading an effort right now to introduce and pass [VRA legislation] very, very soon, which will correct the 2013 U.S. Supreme Court Shelby County case decision, and create a new formula for Section Four of the VRA, and that will happen very soon.”
In that 2013 US High Court Shelby ruling, Section Four of the five-section VRA – which required federal preclearance of all new state laws governing elections, was struck down, thus allowing North Carolina and several other Republican-led states at the time to adopt a variety of voter suppression laws designed to minimize black voter turnout through photo voter ID laws and other mechanisms.
The only remedy to the U.S. Supreme Court decision was for Congress to rework Section Four and vote to reinstall it. But because republicans were in charge, they saw it in their best interests not to do so, allowing voter suppression laws to flourish across the country.
Now that Democrats have regained control of the House, as Congressman Butterfield said, they’re ready to pass legislation to restore the VRA, as well a to combat gerrymandering, and institute automatic voter registration.
Knowing that Republicans are going to fight the VRA restoration bills, Democrats are planning to travel and hold hearings in several states, including North Carolina, to gather evidence on how the voting rights of African-Americans, Hispanics and others have been encroached on by voter restrictions since the 2013 Supreme court Shelby decision. The hope, according to published reports, is to actually have the VRA legislation ratified by 2020 – the next presidential election.
Why? Because eve though the democrat-controlled House is certain to pass it now, the Republican-led Senate is certain not to.
Indeed, Senate Majority Leader Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) has even vowed to stop a Democrat-sponsor bill that would make Election Day a national federal holiday for voters, saying that all it would be is a “power grab” by Democrats to get more of their voters to the polls. In effect, the harder it is for voters to cast their ballot, the better chance Republicans have to hold onto power.
“Let’s hope that there will be some bipartisanship,’ Rep. Butterfield said. But right now, there aren’t that many signs that there will be.”
-30-
No comments:
Post a Comment