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/OLUME 93 - NUMBER 20
DURHAM, NORTH CAROLINA - SATURDAY, MAY 17, 2014
TELEPHONE (919) 682-2913 PRICE: 30
Activists Say Blacks Can't
Afford to Become Complacent
Some of the 400 professional graduates at ceremonies at North Carolina Cen-
ral University.
NC General Assembly returns to work
Wednesday, Moral Monday Protest Return
By Gary D. Robertson
RALEIGH (AP) - When the
forth Carolina General Assem-
ly returns to work May 14 for
s annual session, Republicans
icharge say they’re committed
o raising salaries for teachers
ind state employees.
They also plan to tackle the
leanup of coal ash ponds af-
er the DanRiver spill, whether
Common Core education stan-
ards should be replaced and
ow tax credits for film produc-
ion companies should work
[they’re allowed to continue,
there’s also state government
fidget adjustments - the primary
esponsibility of the legislative
ession in even-numbered years.
Election-year politics will
inge the Legislature’s work,
nice lawmakers are up for re-
lection in November and House
Ipeaker Thom Tillis is running
irU.S. Senate.
GOP leaders say they’ll con-
nue policies they argue have re-
ulted in more money in people’s
ockets and dramatic reductions
1 unemployment. The minor-
y Democrats say Republicans
ren’t willing to fix tax cuts for
he wealthy or to restore educa-
ion spending.
Here are some key questions
ntering the session:
WILL ALL TEACHERS
IND STATE EMPLOYEES
JET RAISES NEXT YEAR?
egislative leaders and GOP
iov. Pat McCrory say they will,
'hile Tillis, R-Mecklenburg,
nd Senate leader Phil Berger,
^•Rockingham, didn’t give
ieir full endorsement to Mc-
'rory’s ambitious proposal last
^ek to retool teacher pay, they
pressed confidence about get-
ing across-the-board raises ap-
toved. “I think that much of
vhat the governor has outlined
swell within reach,” Tillis said.
McCrory proposed $1,000
nore for state employees and
nises for veteran teachers from
oughly 2 to 4 percent. That’s in
Edition to raising the minimum
alary for early-career teach
es from $30,800 to $33,000.
Democrats say the short-term
toposals don’t reach their goal
moving teacher salaries to
to national average. “Anything
tot gets us beyond where we are
l0 w is going to be an improve-
^nt,” said Sen. Floyd McKis-
!c k D-Durham, a deputy mi-
°rity leader, “but it doesn’t go
* r enough.”
WILL THERE BE A SO-
UTION TO CLEANING UP
OAL ASH? Probably, although
15 unclear what the final prod-
11 will look like. And it’s un-
^ly the Legislature will wade
to who ultimately pays for
toposing or moving ash in more
ton 30 pits near Duke Energy’s
North Carolina Central University announced that
Robert Lawson, 74, retired university photographer,
died Sunday, May 11. See story on page 7. (NCCU
Photo)
coal-fired power plants. Many Democrats want the company and its
shareholders pay for any statewide cleanup, not their customers with
higher power rates.
But Tillis and Berger believe the issue should be left to the Utili
ties Commission. Expect the Senate to take the lead on the cleanup.
Berger lives in Eden, where the spill occurred and Rules Chairman
Sen. Tom Apodaca, R-Henderson, isn’t satisfied with McCrory’s pro
posal released last month and wants to go further.
HOW SIGNIFICANT IS THE $445 MILLION REVENUE
SHORTFALL? The amount is just 2 percent below original revenue
expectations, with $600 million-plus in unspent funds that can fill
any holes before the fiscal year ends June 30. But it still means $445
million less available for other needs. The revenue downgrade also
means economists expect $151 million less for the next fiscal year.
McCrory insists he’s got the $256 million for employee raises but
won’t explain how until later this week. Expect spending reductions.
WILL MEDICAID REFORM PASS? Despite months of work on
the issue and support for the plan from doctors and hospitals, enthusi
asm for the McCrory administration proposal to create “acccountable
care organizations” remains tepid, particularly in the Senate. The fact
that predicted Medicaid shortfall levels are lower compared to past
years may provide an excuse to delay extensive debate until 2015.
. WHAT ABOUT THE MORAL MONDAY PROTESTS? The
Rev. William Barber, president of the state NAACP conference, said
weekly demonstrations would resume May 19. He said they would
include participants entering the Legislative Building, where police
arrested more than 900 people for trespassing and failing to disperse
over a three-month period in 2013.
While the protests brought national attention to the conservative
agenda in North Carolina, the speeches and civil disobedience didn’t
derail pending legislation. Barber said voter registration drivers this
summer will help make the voices of protest be heard at the ballot
box.
WILL THE LEGISLATURE AND MCCRORY GET ALONG?
Many issues in 2013, including tax reform and the fate of Dorothea
Dix Hospital land, pitted McCrory and the House against the Senate.
The legislature also united to override two McCrory vetoes.
Sean Combs delivers commencement
speech at Howard
WASHINGTON (AP) - Rapper and music mogul Sean Combs has
received an honorary degree at one of the nation’s most prestigious
historically black universities.
Combs delivered the commencement address Saturday at Howard
University in Washington.
He was among five people receiving honorary degrees as trail-
blazers in their fields. The university also honored CNN anchor Wolf
Blitzer, transplant surgeon Clive Callender, jazz legend Benny Gol
son and PepsiCo CEO Indra Nooyi.
Combs attended Howard in the late 1980s, although he did not
graduate. University President Wayne Frederick says Combs’ entre
preneurial spirit was sparked at Howard, where he studied business.
By Freddie Allen
NNPA Washington
Correspondent
WASHINGTON (NNPA)
“Despite the success of the Civil
Rights Movement that ultimately
led to the election of the nation’s
first black president, civil rights
groups must continue to capture
the hearts and minds of peo
ple that think that blacks have
enough rights, according to Ju
dith Browne Dianis, co-director
of the Advancement Project said
that “The average person of col
or is not feeling the success of a
President Obama,” said Browne
Dianis.
She was part of a panel dis
cussion on racial justice last
week sponsored by the Advance
ment Project, a multi-racial civil
rights organization focused on
bringing about high impact pol
icy change.
Philip Agnew, executive di
rector of the Dream Defenders,
a human rights group focused
on ending the criminalization of
young minorities, agreed with
Browne Dianis.
“The new racism is that rac
ism doesn’t exist, said Agnew.
“People believe that we fixed ev
erything, that everything is fine.”
The idea that racism is a thing
of the past, because we have a
black president is what led to the
United States Supreme Court’s
decision in Shelby v. Holder,
said Agnew.
Last summer, the Shelby v.
Holder ruling eviscerated the
Voting Rights Act of 1965 by
nullifying section 5 of the VRA,
a provision that forced states and
jurisdictions with histories of
discriminating against voters to
“pre-clear” any changes in vot
ing laws with the Justice Depart
ment.
Rev. William Barber urges formation of broad coali
tions not easily explained on bumper stickers (NNPA
Photo by Freddie Allen).
The ruling made it much
tougher for groups to challenge
new, restrictive voting laws that
often hurt the poor and minori
ties, advocates say.
Earlier this year, Washington
lawmakers proposed the Voting
Rights Amendment Act of 2014,
which garnered a lukewarm re
sponse from voters’ rights ad
vocates across the nation. Most
said that it was an important first
step, but didn’t go far enough to
ensure equal access to the ballot
box.
Rev. William Barber, presi
dent of the NAACP North Caro
lina State Conference and the
“Moral Mondays” movement
said that civil rights leaders to
day have to do three things si
multaneously.
“We’re trying to protect civil
rights, we’re trying to defend the
victories we’ve already won,
(Continued On Page 2)
President Barack Obama and Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany tour the
Kitchen Garden with Executive Chef Cris Comerford on the South Grounds of
the White House, May 2. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)