WI Web Staff
Kenyan McDuffie has officially taken the oath of office as the D.C Council member for Wad 5.
McDuffie replaces Harry Thomas, Jr., who abruptly resigned in January amid embezzlment charges.
McDuffie won the special election in early May and his will expire in 2014.
Thousands of fans poured into the historic Howard Theatre in Northwest D.C. Tuesday, where they paid their respects to legendary Godfather of Go-Go Chuck Brown.
The 75-year-old music icon, who grew up in the District and whose music was known world-wide, died May 16 at a Baltimore hospital after suffering pneumonia.
A funeral service will be held beginning at 12 noon on Thursday, May 31 at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Northwest.
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- On May 16, D.C. lost a music icon: Chuck Brown. As the city prepares to say goodbye to the Godfather of Go-Go, Mayor Vincent C. Gray and the D.C. Public Library are asking for the public's help in creating an archive honoring the artist.
"Chuck Brown captured the hearts and rhythm of District residents for over 30 years," Mayor Gray said. "As you look over old pictures, performances and old newspapers, consider donating them to the Library so that the District can preserve Chuck's musical legacy for generations to come."
"Like John Philip Sousa and Duke Ellington, Chuck Brown's genius and contribution to the District deserves to be honored," said D.C. Chief Librarian Ginnie Cooper. "This archive will tell his story, the story of Go-Go and the impact both had on American music."
To create the Chuck Brown/Go-Go music archive, the Library is looking for flyers, posters, photographs, concert-ticket stubs, videos or DVDs, CDs and audio recordings of Chuck Brown and other Go-Go musicians. The Library is also interested in letters that describe attending a Chuck Brown/Go-Go concert. Items can be brought to the Washingtoniana Division located at the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library.
The Library will review the materials donated for the archive. Items selected will be organized and preserved. Students, researches and historians interested in the District's history, art and people will be able to access the archive free of charge.
The Library has more than 230 archives from individuals and organizations that have played a significant role in the political, social and artistic history of the city dating back to the late 18th century. The items included in the D.C. Public Library's Special Collections cannot be checked out of the Library. All donations require completing a form giving the D.C. Public Library ownership of the item without the expectation of payment or any other form of compensation.
NFLPA Says Owners Colluded with a Secret Salary Cap
If the Redskins want to continue their fight with the NFL over lost salary cap, they shouldn't expect much help from the NFL Players Association lawsuit that was filed against the league last Wednesday.
A day after an arbitrator ruled against the Redskins and the Cowboys in their salary cap grievance hearing, the NFLPA filed a lawsuit claiming collusion by the NFL in the uncapped 2010 season. But the NFLPA made it clear that this suit was not filed as a reaction to that hearing.
"What we are seeking remedies for is the collusion that took place in 2010," NFLPA lawyer Jeff Kessler said. "This case is not about the penalties imposed on the Redskins and Cowboys in 2012." Kessler said it's a "coincidence" that the suit was filed a day after the Redskins and Cowboys lost their hearing.
The players union claimed that the NFL imposed a secret salary cap, during the uncapped year of 2010 that cost the players at least $1 billion. The complaint was filed in U.S. District Court in Minneapolis, Minnesota, which oversees NFL labor matters.
The complaint claims a "conspiracy" to establish a $123 million salary cap for the 2010 season, even though the owners did not have the authority to do so. The Redskins and Cowboys have had their future salary caps lowered for overspending in 2010. The Redskins lost $36 million in cap space over two years, while the Cowboys lost $10 million over the same period of time. Last Tuesday, both teams lost a grievance against those reductions.
"When the rules are broken in a way that hurts the game, we have an obligation to act. We cannot stand by when we now know that the owners conspired to collude," union chief DeMaurice Smith said.
A league statement said the collective bargaining agreement signed last August to end the 18-week lockout prohibited the filing of these claims, and that players' lawyers signed a separate agreement agreeing to the terms. "It is clear there was no collusion," NFL spokesman Greg Aiello said in a statement. "These claims are totally unfounded."
The Redskins and Cowboys released a statement last Tuesday that indicated they would abide by arbitrator Stephen Burbank's decision. If they for some reason decided to sue, they would be filing suit against their partners, something most owners would rather not do.
"We're representing the players," Kessler said. "The Cowboys and Redskins will have to speak for themselves with their own lawyers."
D.C. Prepares to Pay Respects to Chuck Brown
Monday, 28 May 2012 21:02 Published in Arts & Entertainment
A public viewing and memorial service honoring the life and legacy of Chuck Brown, the Godfather of Go-Go, will be held this week.
Family and friends will pay their respects on Tuesday, May 29 to Brown at the historic Howard Theatre in Northwest. The daylong visitation will take place from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.
A public memorial service will follow on Thursday, May 31, at the D.C. Convention Center from 12 noon until 3 p.m.
Brown, 75, died just over a week ago at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, after suffering from pneumonia.
Winners to be Announced During Annual Black Tie Gala Dinner on June 1
The Prince George's County Chamber of Commerce announced the finalists for the 2012 Excellence in Business Awards which will be held at the Marriott Inn & Conference Center UMUC in Hyattsville, Md., on June 1.
The event is sponsored by Kaiser Permanente, Prince George's Financial Services Corporation, Prince George's County Economic Development Corporation, Think Energy, Comcast, Soft Con1, and Balance Logic.
The Excellence in Business Awards honor exemplary individuals, groups, and businesses that have demonstrated significant growth, community involvement, and leadership in Prince George's County, Maryland in the past calendar year.
The 2012 Excellence in Business Award finalists are:
Small Business of the Year
Helix Enterprises
Ideal Childcare
Oneness Mobility
Business of the Year
Greenhorne & O'Mara
K. Neal International Trucks, Inc.
Southwest Airlines
Business Leader of the Year
Stephen Neal - K. Neal International Trucks
Diane Brown - Prince George's Community Federal Credit Union
Shameeka Price - Capital Structures Real Estate, LLC
Emerging Business of the Year
JD Clark Professional Services
Beyond the Bottom Line
Sweet & Cool Ice Cream Socials
Entrepreneur of the Year
Steve Nearman, Woodrow Wilson Bridge Half Marathon
Barbara Holt Streeter, The PR & Protocol Group, LLC
Farzan Mohamed, School Court TV
Community Service Award
Men Aiming Higher
SHABACH! Ministries, Inc.
Southern Management Corporation
Green Business of the Year
Safeway, Inc.
The Washington Redskins
Young Entrepreneur of the Year
DeAnna "Ms. Cookie" Mayo, My Sweet Tooth, LLC
Gabrielle Jordan Williams, Jewelz of Jordan
Adam & Jonathan Holland, AJ's Hawaiian Iceez
Business Woman of the Year
Clare Hines, The net.America Corporation
Lorraine C. Holmes Settles, The AFRAM Group
Theresa Roulhac Proctor, Traci Lynn Fashion Jewelry
The Excellence in Business Awards Gala is a sophisticated and high-profile black-tie affair designed to publicly celebrate and recognize the success and achievements of Prince George's County businesses, legislators and individuals that support the economic development of the community.
The "Hollywood award show" atmosphere is guaranteed to attract Prince George's County's local business elite and movers & shakers to walk the red carpet with prestigious business leaders of the region.
Hosted by television and radio personality Angela Stribling, this year's gala boasts over 400 confirmed distinguished guests, who will have the privilege of networking with the who's who of the DC Metro business world, in addition to enjoying a delightful dinner and LIVE music entertainment. Guests will also be treated to a special appearance by Prince George's County Executive, Rushern Baker, who will deliver his highly-anticipated Annual State of the Economy Address.
Tickets to the county's premiere black tie event are $100 and can be purchased online at http://2012excellenceinbusinessawards.eventbrite.com/. The event has sold out in the past and guests are encouraged to register early.
In an apology Friday to the Asian community, Ward 8 Councilman Marion Barry inadvertently ended up offending Polish people by using the word "Polack." The reference, which describes people of Polish descent, bears derogatory sentiments.
"America has had racial tensions from the time it was founded," Barry said. "Italians coming here, the Irish came here, the Jews came here, the Polacks came here, the Chinese came here."
Barry made the statement during an afternoon press conference at Matthews Memorial Baptist Church. The 76-year-old veteran council member, who was recently released from a hospital in Las Vegas, NV, following treatment for a blood clot, had intended to make amends for remarks he made after winning the April 8 primary that offended Asian shop keepers in his ward.
"We gotta do something about these Asians coming in, opening up these dirty shops," Barry said at the time. "They got to go. I'll say that right now."
Among those in attendance at the May 24 press conference was David Chung, a member of the city Asian and Pacific Islander Affairs commission, who took Barry to task over his comments at an April D.C. Council meeting.
Chung said however, that Barry's apology paves the way for dialogue on race relations and healing.
"The councilman joining us today is a positive first step toward healing racial tension," said Chung.
A daylong public viewing of Chuck Brown, the Godfather of Go-Go, will he held Tues., May 29 at the historic Howard Theatre in D.C., with a funeral service to follow on Thurs., May 31 at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Northwest.
Brown, 75, who was known for hits that included "Bustin'Loose," died May 16 after being hospitalized for pneumonia.
Brown's public viewing at the theatre, located at 620 T St., NW, will take place from 11 a.m. until 10 p.m.
The memorial service will be held at the Convention Center, 801 Mt. Vernon Place, NW, Thursday from 12 p.m. until 3 p.m.
"The Brown Family, Mayor Vincent C. Gray, Events DC and The Howard Theatre have invited fans of the late Go-Go artist Chuck Brown to a series of events memorializing his life and contributions to the District's and the nation's musical and cultural heritage,"an email (from the District) to local news outlets stated. Other details and logistics released by the city are as follows:
Public Viewing
The general public is welcome to attend the viewing, which will take place on the first floor of the theatre. Please note: no photography of any kind will be allowed inside of the theatre.
The general public is strongly encouraged to use public transportation for the viewing, as parking will be extremely limited and surrounding streets will be closed.
The Shaw/Howard University Metrorail stop on the Green Line is located a block from the theatre (please exit towards Howard University).
In addition, Metrobus operates buses on several lines along Florida Avenue NW and 7th Street NW near the theatre. To plan your trip by Metrorail or Metrobus, please visit Metro's website at http://www.wmata.com/.
One in 30 baby boomers – the generation born from 1945 through 1965 – has been infected with hepatitis C, and most don't know it. Hepatitis C causes serious liver diseases including liver cancer, which is the fastest-rising cause of cancer-related deaths, and the leading cause of liver transplants in the United States.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is issuing draft guidelines proposing that all U.S. baby boomers get a one-time test for the hepatitis C virus.
CDC believes this approach will address the largely preventable consequences of this disease, especially in light of newly available therapies that can cure up to 75 percent of infections.
"With increasingly effective treatments now available, we can prevent tens of thousands of deaths from hepatitis C," said CDC Director Thomas R. Frieden, M.D., M.P.H.
The CDC reports that more than 2 million U.S. baby boomers are infected with hepatitis C, accounting for more than 75 percent of all American adults living with the virus. Baby boomers are five times more likely to be infected than other adults. Yet most infected baby boomers do not know they have the virus because hepatitis C can damage the liver for many years with few noticeable symptoms.
More than 15,000 Americans, most of them baby boomers, die each year from hepatitis C-related illness, such as cirrhosis and liver cancer, and deaths have been increasing steadily for over a decade and are projected to grow significantly in coming years.
"Identifying these hidden infections early will allow more baby boomers to receive care and treatment, before they develop life-threatening liver disease," said Kevin Fenton, M.D., director of CDC's National Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STD and Tuberculosis Prevention.
Current CDC guidelines call for testing only individuals with certain known risk factors for hepatitis C infection. But studies find that many baby boomers do not perceive themselves to be at risk and are not being tested.
CDC estimates one-time hepatitis C testing of baby boomers could identify more than 800,000 additional people with hepatitis C, prevent the costly consequences of liver cancer and other chronic liver diseases and save more than 120,000 lives.
CDC's draft recommendations will be available for a public comment period from May 22 – June 8, 2012.
For additional information about hepatitis, visit www.cdc.gov/hepatitis.
"Women of Promise" to Get More Women Screened for Cancer
Wednesday, 23 May 2012 19:38 Published in Local
WASHINGTON – As Carla Williams thinks back, she believes that it was an experience in her own family that unconsciously became the impetus for "Women of Promise," a community ambassador program to get more women screened for breast cancer starting this month.
Not long ago, an aunt had detected a lump in her breast, but didn't do anything about it or even tell family members.
"We still to this day don't know why she didn't go to a doctor when she saw the lump," said Williams, Ph.D., a clinical psychologist and assistant professor of Medicine in the Department of Medicine at Howard University College of Medicine and Howard University Hospital.
"Maybe it was not being able to face the possibility of cancer. We think she just hoped it was something else and hoped it would go away."
But it wasn't, and it didn't. Finally, one of the aunt's children detected something was wrong and took her to the doctor.
"She had a mastectomy and survived for two years, but eventually she succumbed to the cancer," Williams said. "If she had done something about it sooner, she might still be here."
Williams hopes Women of Promise, a program funded by the Susan G. Komen for the Cure and based in the Howard University Cancer Center, will change such behavior, a behavior that she said is still prevalent among too many African-American in the Washington area.
The program kicked off this week at Howard University. Andrea Roane, WUSA 9 weekday anchor and a Rebecca Lipkin Honoree for Media Distinction by the Susan G. Komen For the Cure for her coverage of issues related to breast cancer, has been named the Honorary Women of Promise Ambassador.
Women of Promise seeks 200 women to act as ambassadors to talk with women across the District, but particularly in Wards 7 and 8, about the importance of early screening and mammograms. The ambassadors will stress the American Cancer Society guidelines for women over 40 to have mammograms annually.
The ambassadors will be looking particularly for women who haven't been screened in the past two years, Williams said. And after identifying those women, they will follow up to make sure the women have mammograms done, Williams said.
The ambassadors also will tell women about the District's safety net for breast cancer treatment. For example, women who earn up to 250 percent of the poverty level can have a mammogram done free at participating hospitals, she said.
Additionally, the ambassadors will inform women about other free and low cost mammography programs such as the Rosemary Williams Mammoday program at the Howard University Cancer Center. The goal of the two-year program is to reach over 2,800 women, Williams said.
Early detection is the key when it comes to breast cancer, Williams said.
"Unfortunately, in D.C., black women are more likely to present at a more advanced stage of breast cancer compared to white women," she said. "Catching it sooner will help women have a better outcome, a better chance of survival."
To apply to be an ambassador with Women of Promise or to find out more about the program, call 202-806-5721 or email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .
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