WI Web Staff
Bill Provides Funding to Support City's Quest for Statehood, Budget Autonomy and Voting Rights
During the D.C. Council's March 5 legislative session, Vincent Orange (D–At-Large) will introduce a bill to establish a District of Columbia Statehood Delegation fund to assist promotion of the District's statehood and voting rights.
The "District of Columbia Statehood Advocacy Act of 2013" would provide elected officials $75,000 for staffing and $75,000 for programming. The 13-member D.C. Council would be provided $550,000 for a lobbying and media campaign.
"Full statehood is important to this city," Council member Orange said. "The 618,000 citizens of D.C. deserve to enjoy the same full voting rights as every American citizen."
Orange added that his bill is about supporting the efforts for statehood, budget autonomy, and voting rights. "Words are fine, but actions are better," he said. "The citizens of D.C. have been disenfranchised much too long [and] our voice deserves to be heard."
The D.C. Council would also appropriate funds to retain the services of a Congressional Affairs firm to lobby Congress on the issue of D.C. statehood and for the execution of a media campaign to further increase the awareness of D.C. statehood issues.
New App will Help the Public, Housing Industry Learn about Their Housing Rights and Responsibilities
WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has unveiled the first housing discrimination mobile application (app) for iPhone and iPad.
Developed by HUD's Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity (FHEO) and HP, the app uses the latest technology to provide the public with a quick and easy way to learn about their housing rights and to file housing discrimination complaints, and inform the housing industry about its responsibilities under the Fair Housing Act.
"Having this first fair housing mobile application equips people everywhere with the information they need to combat housing discrimination," said John Trasviña, HUD assistant secretary for Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity. "We are maximizing the latest technology to make the process for filing fair housing complaints faster and easier and arming our fair housing partners with the information they need to understand their fair housing rights and responsibilities."
The app will also be an important tool to assist fair housing groups and other civil rights advocacy organizations in their efforts to help individuals pursue their housing rights and industry to educate their members on their responsibilities.
In addition to facilitating real-time delivery of housing discrimination complaints to HUD, the app can be used by individuals researching their housing rights after a natural disaster, when power outages make the iPhone/iPad one of the few ways to access the Internet.
"HUD needed an efficient and reliable solution to quickly extend existing capabilities to mobile computing devices," said Marilyn Crouther, senior vice president and general manager, U.S. Public Sector, HP Enterprise Services. "The new HP application achieves operational goals of HUD - from concept to deployment – while more effectively addressing discrimination complaints. The mobile app simplifies and increases access to government services for people."
CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Bryon Westmorland had a huge night in leading Bowie State to the CIAA championship.
The senior forward scored a career-high 38 points including 26 points in the second half to outduel Livingstone's Mark Thomas and help Bowie State break open a tight game for an 85-74 victory over Livingstone in the CIAA finals at Time Warner Cable Arena on Saturday. The Bulldogs (16-13 overall) won their second championship, including the first under Head Coach Darrell Brooks, after entering the tournament as the No. 4 Northern Division seed. The latest title comes 10 years and one day after the Bulldogs claimed their first CIAA crown in 2003.
With the victory, the Bulldogs received the conference's automatic bid in the NCAA Division II Tournament. The Blue Bears (22-6 overall) are anticipating an at-large bid after reaching the title game as the No. 6 ranked team in the Atlantic Region. The top eight teams in the region will advance to the tournament.
"I'm so proud of my team, especially my five seniors," Brooks said. "They've worked hard. We've had a lot of adversity this year and all through it, they stuck together and we got a great reward for it."
However, the Blue Bears missed out on that elusive first league championship after winning their first Southern Division title and coming into the tournament as the division's top seed. The Blue Bears can blame Westmoreland, the tournament MVP, for that.
The Bulldogs' star sparked a late run which clinched the title for the Bulldogs. Down 53-51 with 14:42 left, the Bulldogs outscored the Blue Bears 34-21 with Westmoreland scoring 18 points during the spurt. The Bulldogs' finish was similar to Friday's semifinal against Winston-Salem State when they went on a late surge to reach the championship game.
The Bulldogs withstood an outstanding effort by Thomas of the Blue Bears, a talented guard who scored a career-high 34 points before fouling out late. Thomas kept the Blue Bears in the game by scoring 18 points in the second half. His layup on a drive cut the Blue Bears' deficit to 75-67. But Westmoreland completed a three-point play of his own for a 78-67 lead with 2:05 left that wrapped up the game for the Bulldogs, who outscored the Blue Bears 42-33 in the second half.
Westmorland finished the night making 13 of 19 shots which ranged from jumpers to layups in transition which resulted in three-point plays at times. He also made 10 of 15 free throws in addition to getting six rebounds and four steals.
Westmorland got support from his inside players. Junior forward Carlos Smith had 11 points and seven rebounds and senior forward Najee White contributed 10 points. Senior forward Dameatric Scott had seven rebounds and five assists. Senior guard Bryan Wilson also helped out on the boards, grabbing six to go along with eight points. The inside play complemented Westmoreland as the Bulldogs scored 46 points in the paint and 16 second-chance points.
"[The] game was kind of what we expected," Brooks said. "It was a war. We thought it was going to be a very physical game. We thought that the team that did the best job defending and on the backboards would be the team that would probably win the game and fortunately, it was us."
As a team, the Bulldogs shot 56 percent. Meanwhile, the Blue Bears shot 38 percent.
Other than Thomas, the Blue Bears struggled from the floor. Thomas was 11 of 21 from the floor and 9 of 13 from the free-throw line in addition to three steals. Darnell Turner added 11 points but he was the only other double figure scorer. Anthony Welch scored nine points on 3 of 4 three-point shooting.
The Bowie State big men impacted the contest from the start by limiting the Blue Bears to one shot and getting inside for easy baskets. A dunk by Smith off a missed layup lifted the Bulldogs to an early 15-7 lead.
Led by Thomas, the Blue Bears came back to pull within 22-19. The Blue Bears led 26-24 on his three-point play.
The Bulldogs reclaimed momentum when Wilson swished a three pointer for a 40-36 Bulldogs lead with under a minute remaining in the half. A three-pointer by Westmorland made the score 43-38 Bowie State, but Thomas answered with a three before halftime to cut the Bulldogs lead to 43-41 at the break.
Thomas scored 16 points in the first half for the Blue Bears. Westmorland scored 12 and Smith with 10 for the Bulldogs. White added eight points for the Bulldogs.
Thomas gave the Blue Bears a 46-44 lead in the second half on a three-pointer, but Bowie State reclaimed the lead at 51-46 on a free throw and layup by Westmorland.
Once again, it was Thomas who brought back the Blue Bears. His free throw and three from the deep corner put the Blue Bears back ahead 53-51. Westmoreland scored five straight points as the Bulldogs regained the lead at 56-53. A dunk by White and a layup by Westmoreland extended their lead to 65-56, giving the Bulldogs the cushion they needed to hold off the Blue Bears. When Scott scored on a tip-in, the lead reached 13 points at 75-62.
The All-CIAA Tournament team featured Westmorland and Scott of Bowie State, and Thomas, Jody Hill and Ethan Anderson of Livingstone. The other All-CIAA Tourney members are Quinton McDuffie of Chowan, Christopher Grier of Virginia State, Justin Glover of Winston-Salem State, Derrick Washington of Lincoln (Pa.), and Angelo Sharpless of Elizabeth City State. Johnson C. Smith won the Team Sportsmanship Award.
The District's Department of Motor Vehicles (DC DMV) new Rhode Island Service Center will open on March 19.
Located in Rhode Island Row at 2350 Washington Place, in Northeast, the service center will operate from 8:15 a.m. to 4 p.m., Tuesday – Saturday.
"We are excited to open this new, state-of-the-art service center," said DMV Director Lucinda Babers. "This is a full service facility and customers will be provided with the same services that they currently receive at our Penn Branch and Southwest Service Centers."
The new center, which is accessible to both cyclists and pedestrians, is nearby for metro riders from the Rhode Island Avenue Metro Station. There is also metro, garage and street parking in the surrounding area.
Mayor Vincent C. Gray and Babers will cut the ribbon for the center at a later date.
Meanwhile, with the opening of the Rhode Island center, the temporary C Street Service Center, located at 301 C St. in Northwest, will close on Friday, March 8. Adjudication Services, which is in the same building as the Temporary C Street Service Center, will remain open.
(Source: DC Department of Motor Vehicles)
Delta Sigma Theta Sorority President Cynthia M.A. Butler-McIntyre offers a speech during the Centennial Suffrage March Celebration on Sunday, March 3 on the ground of the Washington Monument./Photo by Khalid Naji-Allah
Obama Talks About Moving Forward Despite Sequester
Friday, 01 March 2013 23:36 Published in National
President Obama held a press conference Friday after meeting with Congressional leaders to talk about his plans to move the country forward in light of the severe budget cuts that will start to take effect on March 1.
These cuts, which are known as the sequester, will hurt our economy and cost us jobs, the President said. And as Americans all across the country work hard to keep our economic recovery going, arbitrary cuts to services and investments that businesses and workers depend on makes that far more difficult.
But none of this is necessary, President Obama said. These cuts are "happening because of a choice that Republicans in Congress have made."
They've allowed these cuts to happen because they refuse to budge on closing a single wasteful loophole to help reduce the deficit. As recently as yesterday, they decided to protect special interest tax breaks for the well-off and well-connected, and they think that that's apparently more important than protecting our military or middle-class families from the pain of these cuts.
I do believe that we can and must replace these cuts with a more balanced approach that asks something from everybody: Smart spending cuts; entitlement reform; tax reform that makes the tax code more fair for families and businesses without raising tax rates -- all so that we can responsibly lower the deficit without laying off workers, or forcing parents to scramble for childcare, or slashing financial aid for college students.
Speaking in the James S. Brady Press Briefing Room, President Obama vowed that he would continue working with Congress in the coming weeks to find compromise on a balanced approach to replacing these harmful budget cuts:
I'm going to keep on reaching out to them, both individually and as groups of senators or members of the House, and say to them, let's fix this -- not just for a month or two, but for years to come. Because the greatest nation on Earth does not conduct its business in month-to-month increments, or by careening from crisis to crisis. And America has got a lot more work to do.
The President also promised that the sequester would not affect his plans to move the country forward on other important goals:
There are other areas where we can make progress even with the sequester unresolved. I will continue to push for those initiatives. I'm going to keep pushing for high-quality preschool for every family that wants it. I'm going to keep pushing to make sure that we raise the minimum wage so that it's one that families can live on. I'm going to keep on pushing for immigration reform, and reform our voting system, and improvements on our transportation sector. And I'm going to keep pushing for sensible gun reforms because I still think they deserve a vote.
(Source: Whitehouse.gov)
The Rev. Lennox Yearwood, president of the Hip Hop Caucus, was one of many speakers and voting rights activist demonstrating in front of the U. S. Supreme Court in D.C., as arguments were heard in the in the Shelby County, Ala., v. Holder voting rights case on Wednesday, Feb. 27./ Photo by Khalid Naji-Allah
Telling Our Story!
What a wonderful surprise to read about James Meredith in one of the Washington Informer's most recent editions. A lot of what people know about civil rights leaders and just average citizens who stood up against racism and injustice is very limited.
The writer, Shantella Sherman did a fabulous job of introducing this icon to many readers and reacquainting him with others who may have forgotten his plight during the civil right era. It's great that Mr. Meredith is still fighting the good fight and looking wonderful at 79. I cannot wait to read Mr. Meredith's new book. I wish him all the best in taking up the cause of our young people. He's a true hero.
Mike Higginbotham
Alexandria, Va.
A Pleasant Surprise!
My family and I recently relocated to the District of Columbia from the Midwest. On several occasions I've had the opportunity to pick up a copy of the Washington Informer at various subway stations and read it on my way to work. I would like to commend the paper and the writers for providing what I find to be insightful news coverage of the community in which we live.
I've read other community newspapers in other regions, but none cover the types of stories and community events quite the same way the Informer does. It's refreshing to read your paper each and every week after being bombarded with all of the horrific news reported by mainstream media. Your paper redirects our attention away from the negative aspects of our community to the positive.
Tony Brown
Washington, D.C.
It's time for some Blacks leaders to end their narrow thinking about the issue of sustainability and the green economy.
Mayor Vincent Gray is not among them. He recently released a forward-thinking plan, which he calls the Sustainable DC Plan (www.sustainable.dc.gov) which includes 32 goals, 31 targets, and 143 specific action items in the areas of the environment, energy, food, nature, transportation, waste and water. In the end, Gray hopes to make the District of Columbia the healthiest, greenest and most livable city in the nation over the next 20 years.
It's a plan that allows the District to catch up with many cities on the west coast that lead the nation on environmental issues, and it puts the District on par with the environmental movement that's sweeping the country.
President Barack Obama talked about a national plan for sustainability in his State of the Union Address. In the next 20 years, he wants to end the wasteful use of energy and create new sources of energy that are cheaper and more environmentally friendly, as well.
But Gray has his critics. Chief among them is Ward 8 Council member Marion Barry who was quoted in a Washington Post article written by Tim Craig as saying, "Black folks are concerned about the environment, but they are also concerned about jobs. Gardens on roofs are fine, but if you are hungry, it's not enough. You might have clean air to breathe, but it doesn't matter if you are also broke."
Mr. Barry's point is well taken, but it's not well thought through. Gray's plan, as does the president's, calls for jobs and job training which is essential to the success of this drastic environmental overhaul. And, while we respect and acknowledge the role Mr. Barry played in filling hundreds of jobs during his tenure as mayor, the jobs he filled no longer exist. The future for job seekers, including "Black folks" will hinge on the creation of a new green economy.
The focus of any sustainable plan should be in neighborhoods like the ones Mr. Barry represents. Poorer neighborhoods are the ones in which environmental and civil rights advocates have identified as sites where environmental racism is predominant. They tend to be the closest to hazardous waste facilities and other "toxic spots" and where children have the greatest exposure to lead – the areas where asthma among children and adults is rampant.
We encourage Mr. Barry to get on board with this new movement and begin to plant seeds in the schools and communities he serves. His constituents deserve a healthy, green and livable community. They also deserve the jobs it will take to build it.
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