Magic Johnson says that AIDS
medications should be cheaper
DKS MOINES, Iowa (AP) - Affordable medications to treat
AIDS should be available to more people, especially minorities liv
ing in the inner cities, former basketball great Earvin "Magic"
Johnson said.
"What we want to do now is prolong life." Johnson. 43, said last
week. "There might never be a cure."
Johnson, a former Los Angeles Lakers star who was inducted
into the Basketball Hall of Fame last month, remains free of AIDS
11 years after he first tested positive for HIV, the virus that causes
the disease.
Johnson was in Des Moines to give the
Martin Bucksbaum Distinguished Lecture at
Drake University, "An Evening With Magic
Johnson: A Perspective on HIV and AIDS."
The event, held at the Knapp Center,
drew an estimated crowd of 4,000.
Johnson said he exercises regularly and
takes medications. He also said his positive
attitude and religious faith have helped keep
him healthy
"I'm the face now of HIV and AIDS."
Johnson said. "I wear it as a badge. I'm
happy to be that face, but there's a tot of
pressure that goes along with it."
Johnson gave a brief speech on living with HIV, saying that new
cases have been reported among blacks and women. He stressed the
importance of AIDS education, especially in inner-city neighbor
hoods.
Johnson said a person is diagnosed with HIV or AIDS every
five minutes.
"This has been a fight that sometimes we thought we were close
to winning, but we have a long, long way to go," he said.
"People think it can't happen to them. I'm living proof that it
can happen." ^ 1
As of Sept. 30, 1,025 Iowans were infected with HIV or had
AIDS. It's the first time the state topped the 1.000 mark since offi
cials began tracking the disease in the 1980s.
Iowa had 39 AIDS deaths in 1990 and 105 in 1995. That num
ber dropped to 27 last year, mostly because of new medications,
officials said. An estimated 42 million people live with HIV or
AIDS worldwide.
Johnson
NFL's first black GM ready
to do his best in Baltimore
(Special to the NNPA) - Ozzie Newsome has become the first
black general manager in the National Football League after signing a
five-year contract with the Baltimore Ravens.
Newsome's promotion from senior vice president of football oper
ations comes at a time when the league is under scrutiny from civil
rights oiganizations for lack of diversity in coaching and management.
There are currently two black head coaches among the league's 32
teams.
"From a historical standpoint, this is very significant," said New
some, 46. during a news conference at the Ravens' Owings Mills com
plex. "I think a lot of things have been about timing and where you
are and when you are some place. In my life, growing up in the South
and in the state of Alabama, there have been a lot of times where I was
one of the first."
Ravens owner Art Modell met and formed a relationship with
Newsome. as a player and as an administrator, before the franchise
moved from Cleveland.
"I am proud to do this for him. not because he asked me. but I
think that he deserves it," Modell said. "He is, without a question in
my opinion, the best, most proficient personnel man in the NFL."
As a player, Newsome redefined the tight end position, setting a
record with 662 career receptions from 1978 to 1990. which earned
him a spot in the NFL Hall of Fame. As an administrator, he was the
architect of the Ravens' Super Bowl championship team in the 2000
season and has surprisingly transformed a salary-cap-strapped team
into a competitive one this season by digging up unknown talent.
"I guess you could say that it will open some doors because 1 am
a minority, I've had some success and been a part of a Super Bowl
winning team," Newsome said. "(But) I don't think 1 will be under
the microscope more than usual. I've always looked at this job through
the eyes of a player. You're always under the microscope. You just go
out there and do the best that you can."
Duke negotiating with federal authorities
NEW ORLEANS - An attorney for David Duke says he is try
ing to negotiate a deal with federal prosecutors to settle allegations
of fraud and income tax violations against the former Ku Klux Klan
leader.
Duke, a former Louisiana state lawmaker
who ran for the U.S. Senate in 1990 and gov
ernor in 1991. has been overseas for the past
two years.
Attorney James McPherson said recently
that he has been negotiating with the U.S.
attorney's office in New Orleans for about
four years since a grand jury investigated the
$100,000 sale of a list of Duke supporters to
Gov. Mike Foster. No one was charged.
"It's nothing unusual for a defense attor
ney to talk with a prosecutor about whether a
client will be indicted and what he will be
charged with," McPherson said.
U.S. Attorney Jim Letten said only that his investigation of Duke
is continuing.
McPherson said prosecutors are looking at two areas: Duke's
failure to report the payments from the Foster camp on his income
taxes, and possible mail fraud violations stemming from a Duke
fund-raising drive.
The lawyer said Duke's accountant failed to report the payments,
and as soon as Duke learned of that, he refiled and paid the tax.
Duke was in Russia on a speaking tour in 2000 when federal
agents raided his home in Louisiana. Duke has not been hiding out
from the law overseas. McPherson said, and is "tending to his busi
ness." making speeches and promoting a new book.
- Compiled from staff and wire reports
Duke
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INDEX
OPINION. JK6
SPORTS. B1
RELIGION. B4
CLASSIFIEDS. B8
HEALTH. C3
ENTERTAINMENT. C7
CALENDAR. C9
2000 census missed more than i
a million black and Hispanic kids
BY GENARO C. ARMAS .
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS . I
WASHINGTON - Black
and Hispanic children made
up about half of the I.I mil
lion children missed in the
2000 census even though they
make up one-third of all U.S.
kids, according to newly
released estimates by the gov
ernment.
Census data adjusted using
statistical sampling also show
urban areas such as Los Ange
les County and Cook County,
III., which includes Chicago,
were among the places with
the highest minority under
counts of children and adults.
Sparsely populated rural coun
ties across the West and Mid
west also had some of the
highest rates of people missed.
The data released by the
Census Bureau recently under
court order offered a more
detailed look at previously
announced national under
count estimates. In March
2(H)I. the bureau said about
3.3 million people, or 1.2 per
cent of the U.S. population,
were missed.
Nearly 29 percent of the
children missed were black, a
disproportionately high figure
since blacks make up only 15
percent of the youth popula
tion. Hispanics were about 20
percent of the child under
count, compared with 17 per
cent in that population.
Nationally, about 45 per
cent of those children missed
were white, less than their 60
percent share of the total pop
ulation of children. There was
also a slight overcount of
Asian children.
California, the most popu
lous state, had the largest
undercount, 509,012 people,
while Alaska had the highest
percentage of people missed,
2.4 percent, or 15>136 resi
dents.
"It was unfortunate that we
had to fight so hard to get this
information, but now that we
have. I hope we can usdiat to
its fullest advantage," said
Rep. William Clay, D-Mo.,
who supported the data
release.
The data released recently
was based on bureau research
done through March 2001.
Preston Jay Waite, an associ
ate census director, said more
study done since then shows
the national net undercount
may have been reduced to less
than one-tenth of 1 percent.
"We envision no official
use of this file" because of the
flaws with adjusted data, said
Waite, who added that still
unfinished additional research
may be released in the future.
The government takes a
census every 10 years. The
See Census on A4
File Photo
Black and Hispanic youngsters were missed by census workers throughout the country but
especially in large metropolitan areas such as Chicago and Los Angeles.
! Affirmative action on court's short list
BY HAZEL TRICE EDNEY
NNPA CORRESPONDENT
WASHINGTON - At
stake in the deeision by the
U.S. Supreme Court to hear
two affirmative action cases
challenging undergraduate and
law school admissions policies
at the University of Michigan
is not only the amount of
access
people of
color will
have to
higher
education
but the
kind of
job
opportu
n i t i e s
they will
have
upon graduation, according to
civil rights experts.
"This is particularly dan
gerous because affirmative
action in education is the key
to every other opportunity in
this society," said Congress
woman Eleanor Holmes Nor
ton (D-D.C.), who was chair
of the Equal Employment
Opportunity Commission dur
ing the Carter administration.
"If you want to cut the legs out
from under the minority com
munity, you take back their
right to become qualified for
jobs by making it difficult to
attend colleges and universi
ties."
And what factors are per
missible for admission officers
to use is central to the cases
now before the Supreme
Court.
"The stakes in this case are
very high because the stakes
are whether or not any college
or university, public or private,
can take race into account in
selecting its students from
among the qualified group of
applicants," said John Payton
of Wilmer Cutler and Picker
ing. a Washington. D.C.-based
law firm. "There's no surprise
to anyone. The Michigan cases
were put together with the
clear understanding that this
issue could make its way back
to the Supreme Court....We're
quite optimistic."
The cases, to be heard by
the court during the first half
of 2003, are the first time the
Supreme Court has considered
the use of race in college
admissions policies since
1978. That year, the court
ruled in "University of Cali
fornia v. Bakke" that race can
be a "plus" factor a college
uses to admit students. That
ruling also outlawed the use of
fixed quotas.
Generally, the court will
rule on whether "Bakke" is
still good
law by
deciding
two spe
c i f i c
issues.
First, the
court
will
decide
whether
diversity
is a com
pelling state interest. Second,
it will decide whether the pro
grams are narrowly tailored to
accomplish diversity without
violating other interests, such
as equal protection under the
law, Norton explained.
Payton will defend the uni
versity's undergraduate admis
sions policy, which was pend
ing in the 6th U.S. Circuit
Court of Appeals in Cincin
nati. Maureen Mahoney of
Latham & Watkins, another
See Court cm A9
Holmes Norton
Payton
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