Montel Williams to try radio
NEW Y ORk - Air America Media (w v.w airamenca.com )
has signed a multi-year deal with Montel Williams to host
"Montel Across America." w hich will debut on April 6. The
program will air weekdays from 9 a.m. - 12 p.m on radio sta
Williams
tion> across the country , and streamed live
online at www.airamerica.com
"After being on television for mure
than 17 years. I'm looking forward to
engaging in lively conversations and
interacting with the American public."
said Williams "Air America is providing
me with the perfect env ironment to do this
every day from New York City, as well as
reporting from cities around the world as
a travelling correspondent
Williams was the Emmy-award win
ning host and executive producer of "The
Montel Williams Show." one of the longest running daytime
talk shows in the history of television. In addition to his talk
show tod several acting appearances on hit television pro
grams, Williams is an accomplished author, having published
eight books with four "New York Times" best-sellers,
As an entrepreneur. Williams is currently launching a mul
timedia business based on the "Living Well with Montel"
brand, as well as creating the International Team Poker League
( ITPL). acting as commissioner and chief executive officer. He
also owns the exclusive franchise rights to Fatburger in
Colorado.
After being diagnosed in 1994 with multiple sclerosis,
Williams established the Montel Williams MS Foundation,
which has granted over S 1 .5 million to research- .
Civil Rights Museum being redesigned
MEMPHIS, Tenn, (AP) - Administrators at the National
[ Civil Rights Museum are planning to remodel the museum and
seeking visitors" help. * . S ' /' . ?
Design firms from Boston and Washington went to
Memphis this week with competing renovation plans that
would remove any doubt that the museum might he a seedy
motel sitting in stark contrast to the trendy art galleries, restau
rants and upscale condos. The Commercial Appeal reports
The museum opened in 1991 at the Lorraine Motel where
Martin Luther King Jr. was murdered in 1968, and holds
exhibits tracing the history of America's struggle for equal
rights.
Visitors can watch videos summarizing the design con
cepts and vote . for features of each proposal on the museum's
Website;
Museum president Beverly Robertson said the museum
renovations will be completed in 201 1 .
Black lawmakers walk out of
Georgia House after Obama vote
ATLANTA ( AP) - Frustrated black lawmakers staged a
walkout Friday after the Georgia House decided to delay
another vote on a resolution that would have honored
President Barack Obama as a politician with an "unimpeach
able reputation for integrity , vision and
;U3.>1UU .
House Speaker Glenn Richardson
vowed the decision to send the resolu
tion to a committee did not "bury" the
bill, but the move outraged black law
makers. 'who stalked out of the chamber
seconds later. They saw it as an effort to
snub the nation's first black president by
a group of white Republican legislators.
"It drips with racism.-' said state
Rep. A1 Williams, a Midway Democrat
who joined about two dozen black legis
lators outside the chamber. "I call it just
like it is."
Heard
The furor began last Thursday when the Republican-con
trolled House voted 70-68 to reject the resolution, which
would have made Obama an honorary member o'f the
Georgia Legislative Black Caucus. The members said it
would have been the first such proposal in the country.
State Rep. Austin Scott, a Tifton Republican, said he took
issue with language that said "no one could be more worthy
of special honor and recognition by the members of this body
and the Georgia Legislative Black Caucus than this extraor
dinary leader."
But state Rep. Keith Heard, the resolution's sponsor, said
the wording was stock language that has appeared in count*
less other resolutions and was approved by the Legislature's
attorneys.
Ayers says he's sorry
MILLERSVILLE. Pa. (AP) - Bill Ayers says he's
sorry for helping found a group that carried out bombings
during the Vietnam War.
Ayrrs
tie says it was an ettort to stop tne
deaths of thousands of U.S. servicemen
and Vietnamese in the Vietnam War. He
told the Intelligencer Journal newspa
per in central Pennsylvania: "There has
to be some accounting for those lives,
too."
Ayers has served in the past on
boards with now-President Barack
Obama and the relationship between
the two was an issue in the presidential
campaign .
rvvvia 19 iivw uii wuuvaiuni pit/tvaaui
at the University of Illinois-Chicago. He spoke Thursday at
Millersville University about urban education, a profession
he says "is powered, at its best, by love." A small number of
protesters outside were outnumbered by curious onlookers
The Chronicle (USPS 067-910) was established by Ernest H.
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Photo by Carole Gear.
WXPA Foundation Chair Dorothy Leavell. publisher of the Ohamas' hometown newspaper The Chicago Defender, poses
with the President and First Lady.
Black publishers give and receive
honors during White House visit
BY HAZEL TRICE EDNEY
NNPA EDITOR-IN CHItE
WASHINGTON - A historic dele
gation of 50 Black, publishers and their
guests, who convened at the White
House last week for a Black Press Week
award to President Baraek ()huma and
his family, received equal praise, from
the .First Family for the work of the
Black Press of America
It was a delegation of the more than
200-member National Newspaper
Publishers Association. honoring
America's first Black President for his
NNPA Newsmaker of the Year selection
by awarding him with a book of front
pages of Black newspapers from his
historic Nov. 4, 2008 election "
' The reason that I've been able and
Michelle has been able 'to do what
we're doing is because of the extraordi
nary support and thoughtfulness with
which you've covered our campaigns
and our activities and so I am very
thankful to you." President Obama told
the publishers during the ceremony in
the State Dining Room March 20. "You
are welcome in this house, the people's
house, and we are looking forward to
continuing to spread, not just our sto
ries. but the stories of struggle and hope
and hardships that so many people are
going through right now. making those
stories real and putting a face to the
numbers and statistics because that's
how we end up being able to inspire the
country as a whole to make the kind of
forward progress that we need."
It was a light-hearted atmosphere
for the president and First Lady
Michelle Obama. dealing with dire
issues, as well as for the publishers
whose daily lives are focused on the
long-held mission of equal justice for
African- American people. In remarks
See W hite House on A9
Tuskegee president to retire after 28 years
Benjamin F.
Payton will leave
the school in 2010
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
TUSKEGEE. Ala. -
Tuskegee University
President Benjamin F
Payton has informed the
board of trustees , he will
IC11IC III g
June
2 0 10.
ending a
2 8 - y e a r
tenure at
the helm
of the
hi s tor i -
c a 1 1 y
b la c k
s c h o o I
Pay ton
founded by Booker T.
Washington,
Pay ton. who became the
fifth president of Tuskegee
in August 1981 . was praised
by trustees for successfully
guiding the university
through three institution
wide accreditation cycles by
the Southern Association of
Colleges and Schools and
completing several major
capital fund campaigns
Andrew F Brimmer,
chairman of the board, said
Payton' led the university
"through some very tough
times to its current status of
financial stability, academic
excellence and even distinc
tion in athletics."
Brimmer said Payton had
to take on "tough actions at
the outset of his presidency,"
including changing the name
of the school from Tuskegee
Institute, as it was known
when it gained wide recog
nition under Washington, to
Tuskegee University.
Other decisions include
closing the school's costly
hospital, restructuring aca
demic programs into five
colleges, developing the
Tuskegee University
Kellogg Hotel and
Conference Center and
launching the University's
first Ph.D. programs.
During Payton 's tenure,
the university's endowment
grew from under $ 1 5 million
to over $102 million, by July
2007. according to a state
ment Saturday from the uni
versity.
The Orangeburg. S C. ,
native holds undergraduate
degrees from South Carolina
State University and
Harvard University, with a
master's from Columbia
University and a doctorate
from Yale University.
Founded by Washington
in 1881. the university now
has about 3.000 students
from more than 30 countries.
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