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CHAPEL HILL
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LUME 94 - NUMBER 15
DURHAM, NORTH CAROLINA - SATURDAY, APRIL 18, 2015
resident Barack Obama talks with 4-H Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) students
ing their visit, with Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, to the Oval Office, April 13. (Official White House
to by Pete Souza)
Man charged with
killing 3 Muslims can
face death penalty
By Michael Biesecker
AP) - A man charged with first-degree murder in the
ling of three Muslim college students can face a death
ally trial, a judge ruled April 6.
uperior Court Judge Orlando Hudson Jr. said pros-
Jors had two aggravating factors and that Craig Ste
in Hicks is “death penalty qualified.”
flicks, handcuffed throughout the hearing, is charged
three counts of first-degree murder in the Feb. 10
ings of 23-year-old Deah Shaddy Barakat; his wife,
/ear-old Yusor Mohammad Abu-Salha; and her sister,
'ear-old Razan Mohammad Abu-Salha.
Durham County Assistant District. Attorney Jim Dorn-
I said Hicks was arrested with the murder weapon,
ballistics matched the handgun to shell casings re-
ired at the apartment. There was gunshot residue on
lands and blood from one of the victim’s was on his
s, prosecutors said.
olice say Hicks, 46, appears to have been motivat-
>y a long-running dispute over parking spaces at the
pel Hill condominium complex where he lived in the
e building as Barakat and his wife.
.Her prosecutors asked for the death penalty, defense
yer Terry Alford declined to speak.
he victims’ families are adamant that they were tar-
id because they were Muslims and have pushed for
e-crime charges. They sat in the second row of the
rtroom and declined the comment after the hearing.
he FBI is conducting what it has called a “parallel
iminary inquiry” to the homicide investigation to de-
liine whether any federal laws were violated, includ-
I hate crime statutes.
I earch warrants filed by Chapel Hill police said Bara-
Iwas shot in the head near the entrance to his condo.
I two women were found in or near the kitchen. Eight
jit shell casings were found at the crime scene, inves-
Itors said.
■rosecutors said the man was shot multiple times and
■women once in the head.
Earlier search warrants listed a dozen firearms recov-
I from the condo unit Hicks shared with his wife, in
ition to the handgun he had with him when he turned
self in after the shootings.
licks, who was unemployed and studying to become
iralegal, posted online that he was an atheist and a
inch advocate of the Second Amendment right to bear
Ms.
Neighbors described him as an angry man who had fre-
Int confrontations over parking or loud music, some-
with a gun bolstered at his hip. His social media
often discussed firearms, including a photo posted
3 38-caliber revolver.
Kicks is being held at a prison in Raleigh.
Dr. Everett B. Ward
Dr. Everett B. Ward Selected as the 11 th
President of Saint Augustine’s University
RALEIGH - On April 10, the Saint Augustine’s University
Board of Trustees voted unanimously to remove the interim status
from Dr. Everett B. Ward’s title and name him the 11 th president of
Saint Augustine’s University effective immediately.
Ward is the third alumnus to hold the post in the 147-year history
of Saint Augustine’s University.
“We are pleased with the direction in which the university is
headed under the leadership of Dr. Ward and feel confident that he is
the best person for this job,” said Rodney E. Gaddy, chairman of the
Board of Trustees. “We are impressed with the amount of change that
Dr. Ward has been able to affect in such a short period of time. The
stability and restoration of faith in the institution that he has achieved
is evident and we are looking forward to what’s next.”
Dr. Everett B. Ward was appointed interim president on April 23,
2014. Under his leadership, the university has identified and focused
on four academic areas: Mass Communication and Journalism,
Criminal Justice, Public Health and Science, Technology, Engineering
and Mathematics (STEM).
“I would like to thank the members of the Board of Trustees for
their vote of confidence in naming me president,” Dr. Ward said. “As
a proud son of Saint Augustine’s University, I know firsthand the rich
history of our beloved institution as well as the University’s mighty
contributions to this community and state. The legacy of my family
and Saint Augustine’s University are forever linked.”
In addition to his undergraduate degree from Saint Augustine’s
University, Ward holds a master’s degree from North Carolina State
University and a Ph.D. from North Carolina A&T State University.
Prior to Saint Augustine’s University, Dr. Ward served as
the director of the Historically Black Colleges and University/
Minority Institutions of Higher Education Program for the North
Carolina Department of Transportation. In that role, he worked with
university chancellors and presidents, faculty and staff in the areas
of transportation curriculum development, research initiatives and
student development.
TELEPHONE (919) 682-2913 PRICE: 30 CENTS
Blacks Missing
Out on
Obamacare’
Savings
By Freddie Allen
NNPA Senior Washington Correspondent
WASHINGTON (NNPA) - Even as health care costs continue to
cause concerns for the poor, nearly 40 percent African Americans and
about half of Whites didn’t know that the Affordable Care Act (ACA)
can help those that need it the most to cover some of those costs.
According to the new report by the Alliance for a Just Society
(AJS), a national research network that analyzes healthA issues in
cluding Medicaid, prescription drugs, and insurance industry prac
tices play a major role in coverage savings.
In the report titled, “Breaking Barriers: Improving health insur
ance enrollment and access to health care,” researchers detailed the
stories of 1,200 low- to moderate-income earners, living in 10 states
(California, Florida, Idaho, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, Mon
tana, New Mexico, Oregon, and Texas). Six of those states refused to
expand Medicaid programs using federal funds, effectively pushing
many poor people into the coverage gap and limiting their access to
health care.
According to the AJS report, more than 40 percent of Black
enrollees and more than half of White enrollees didn’t know
which services were covered under their health plans and which
services they would pay for out-of-pocket. (Stock Image)
The AJS report said that the rejection of Medicaid expansion in
those states remained the most significant barrier to health care for
the poor and African Americans.
(Continued On Page 12)
Civil rights activists: Vote
now to confirm Lynch as
Attorney General
By Julie Walker
NEW YORK (AP) - Senate leaders should immedi
ately call for a vote to confirm Loretta Lynch as attorney
general, national civil rights activists urged April 11.
The National Action Network, the NAACP, the Na
tional Urban League and other groups announced their
campaign in New York, with the Rev. Al Sharpton saying
they’ll go to the Washington offices of Senate Majority
Leader Mitch McConnell every day until he calls a vote.
“We’re not asking for favors; we’re not asking for
backroom deals. Call the vote,” Sharpton said, prompting
a chant of “Call the vote” from a crowd gathered for the
National Action Network convention.
Lynch appears to have a narrow majority in her quest
to succeed Attorney General Eric Holder and become the
first black woman to hold the job. McConnell, a Kentucky
Republican, has said sex trafficking legislation must be
cleared before the confirmation vote can be held.
“Loretta Lynch now has 51 publicly committed votes,
which means she has all the votes to be confirmed,” said
National Urban League President Marc Morial. “So when
we say call the vote, we know that the vote is going to be
yes in favor of Loretta Lynch.”
The Greensboro, North Carolina, native has overseen
bank fraud and public corruption cases in her current
post as the U.S. attorney for New York’s Eastern Dis
trict, which includes Brooklyn, Queens, Staten Island and
Long Island.
During her first tenure in the Eastern District, during
the Clinton administration, Lynch helped prosecute po
lice officers who severely beat and sexually assaulted
Haitian immigrant Abner Louima.