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VOLUME 95 - NUMBER 9
DURHAM, NORTH CAROLINA - SATURDAY, MARCH 5, 2016
TELEPHONE (919) 682-2913 PRICE: 50 CENTS
A Voteless People Is A Hopeless People - L.E. Austin
Raleigh Community members recall
man fatally shot by police officer
By Emery P. Dalesio and
Jonathan Drew
RALEIGH (AP) - Commu
nity members gathered Monday
night (Feb. 29) to remember a
Raleigh man fatally shot by a
police officer during a foot chase
as he was trying to arrest him on
drug charges.
In the first several hours af
ter the shooting, local television
coverage showed police forming
a line in the street near the down-
town neighborhood where the
shooting took place as a num
ber of people gathered behind
yellow crime-scene tape that
blocked off the area and began
chanting “No justice, no peace!”
The chant has been used re
peatedly across the nation in re
cent years to protest the deaths of
black men following encounters
with law enforcement officers.
By late afternoon, the police
tape had been taken down and
by evening several dozen people
had gathered with candles at a
makeshift memorial near where
the shooting happened.
Several hundred people
gathered in the evening to hear
speakers address the crowd. The
Rev. Chris Jones of Ship of Zion,
a church in the neighborhood,
said he knew the dead man and
asked aloud why the officer had
to kill him. ■
After addressing the crowd,
Jones said in a brief interview
that he wanted people to remem
ber the slain man as a good per
son.
Police Chief Cassandra Deck-
Brown did not reveal the man’s
race during a news conference
at City Hall. She said a firearm
was found near the man’s body
but did not say whether it was
his. She also said the man was
wanted on a felony drug charge.
Deck-Brown declined to pro
vide any other details about the
circumstances of the shooting
pending a customary investiga
tion by the State Bureau of In
vestigation.
The officer who shot the man
was identified as Senior Officer
Rosa Parks archive
fully digitized by
Library of Congress
WASHINGTON (AP) - Rosa
Parks’ archive of letters, writ
ings, personal notes and photo
graphs has been fully digitized
by the Library of Congress and
is now available online.
The library announced
Wednesday that the collection of
10,000 items belonging to Parks
is available to the public.
Her collection was kept from
the public for years because of
a legal battle between her heirs
and friends. But in 2014, philan
thropist Howard Buffett bought
the collection and placed it on
long-term loan at the national
library.
The collection presents a
more complex portrait of Parks,
who is remembered for a single,
iconic act of civil disobedience.
Parks refused to give up her seat
on a bus in Montgomery, Ala
bama, in 1955, sparking a year
long bus boycott that helped dis
mantle formal segregation.
Parks, who died in 2005 at 92,
wrote of feeling lonely and lost
as she lived through the struggle
with segregation After her arrest,
Parks lost her job as a tailor at
(Continued On Page 2)
Bystanders gather for a vigil near the scene of a fatal shooting in Raleigh, N.C., Monday, Feb. 29. Authori
ties say that a police officer shot and killed a man while trying to make an arrest for a felony drug charge. (AP
Photo/Gerry Broome)
Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina breaks
even for ‘15, Obamacare Makes BCBS Whole
By Gary D. Robertson
RALEIGH (AP) - Blue Cross and Blue Shield ofNorth Carolina said Feb. 26 that it essentially broke even in 2015 even as losses related
to coverage of customers enrolled through the federal health care law mounted.
The state’s largest health insurer reported net income of $500,000 last year, improving from a $51 million loss in 2014.
The company said strong investment income and improved results in core businesses such as Medicare Advantage offerings helped over
come a $282 million loss on plans that comply with the Affordable Care Act. A year ago, losses related to ACA plans were $123 million,
according to the Durham-based not-for-profit company.
“ACA customers were older and sicker and continue to utilize more services and drive medical costs higher, Gerald Petkau, the com
pany’s chief financial officer, said of the results, which were filed with the state Department of Insurance.
The extent of these losses is being cushioned somewhat by payments the federal government has made to the company to deal with uncer
tainty in enrollment levels and medical expenses of the newly insured. Two of the three risk provisions end after this year, however.
BCBS has about 3.9 million customers, of which 1.4 million are fully insured through the company. Of that number, 340,000 are enrolled
through the Affordable Care Act. Those BCBS policies can be bought through the federal online health care website or through the company.
The losses, however, are making the company scrutinize whether it will continue in 2017 to offer ACA plans in all 100 counties, scale
back its coverage area and plans, or withdraw from offering the subsidized plans all together. A decision must be made by late summer, ac
cording to Petkau. . . 1
“We’re doing everything we can to participate,.but we have to evaluate the sustainability and affordability for our customers, Petkau said
adding “all options are on the table.”
The company was permitted to raise 2016 overall premium rates on average by 32.5 percent, which Petkau said he hopes will help finan
cially stabilize its ACA offerings. But he acknowledged the higher rates could reduce the number of ACA enrollees.
Total BCBS revenue increased slightly from $8 billion in 2014 to $8.2 billion in 2015. Of the 2015 amount, $1.8 billion came from pre
mium and government subsidies through ACA plans, Petkau said. The sickest or most expensive 5 percent of ACA enrollees at the company
generated $1.3 billion in claims alone, he said.
Another company document filed with the Insurance Department showed increases for overall compensation for top executives during
2015 after it fell during 2014. BCBS reported President and CEO Brad Wilson received nearly $3.8 million in total compensation, including
a $1 million salary and a bonus that grew by more than $460,000 compared to 2014.
Petkau said executive compensation is based in part on several factors over multiple years and that “salaries are in line with other compa
nies of our nature and size.”
Report: Racial history fuels some backlash against district
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) - Some of the backlash against the state’s Achievement School District is rooted in the historical experience of
Memphis and the River City’s history ofhighly charged racial dynamics that date back to the 19th century, a new report says.
The goal of the ASD is to move the bottom 5 percent of schools in Tennessee to the top 25 percent in five years. The state-run district is
composed of 29 schools - 27 in Memphis and two in Nashville - and has about 10,000 students. All but five of the schools are charter schools,
and the others are run by the ASD.
The report released this week by the Tennessee Consortium on Research, Evaluation & Development said the racial history of Memphis
complicates typical debates surrounding charters schools and the takeover of public schools.
The ongoing community backlash, the report says, has led to instability and draining of ASD resources.
“The experience of Memphis’ African American community with issues like discrimination, segregation and desegregation, white flight,
and the recent departure of six counties from the district shape the lens with which many local residents interpret and understand the ASD’s
mission,” the report said. ' . . ., T ,
School takeovers and charter schools are often somewhat divisive because people don’t like to have their schools taken over, said Joshua
L. Glazer, an associate professor of education policy at George Washington University and co-author of the report.
“But when that work transpires in a context that has a very divisive history and where the society is deeply divided, it really amplifies the
degree of rancor and resentment,” Glazer said.
The report recommends that the ASD build a broad-based coalition of support, including in the political arena.
Schools officials agree that more work needs to be done to engage the community with the difficult work of school turnaround.
“Clearly, we have not gotten the porridge just right yet,” ASD superintendent Malika Anderson said. “That is evident. But I don’t think
anyone can say we haven’t been trying. And we will continue to try and get it right.”
Glazer recognizes that the district has been working to build bridges.
“I think the ASD is trying very hard to bring people together, to build a coalition, but it’s doing it in a very tough environment,” he said.
'Souls to
the Polls’
Event
Please join the Durham
Branch NAACP and the
Nehemiah Christian Center
in a special “Souls to the
Polls” march on Sunday,
March 6, 2016. The march
will begin at the Nehemiah
Christian Center which is
located at 514 Mangum
Street, Durham, NC 27701
and end at the Board of
Elections Office which is
located at 201 N. Roxboro
Street, Durham, NC. The
march will begin at 12:30
p.m. so please arrive in
ample time for parking and
lining up.
You are reminded
that early voting affords
voters the following: out of
precinct voting, same day
registration and shorter
lines. If you have an ID,
please be certain that you
bring it with you to the poll.
However, if you don’t have
an ID you may still vote.
Voting is not a privilege
for the few, but the right
of every registered citizen.
Don’t lose .early voting.
Help save your children’s
and grandchildren’s future
by exercising your right
to choose who you want
to represent you locally,
statewide, and nationally
during early voting March
Srd-March 12th or during
the primary which is March
15th.
Forward Together! Not
One Step Back!
The Smithsonian
unites with Tuskegee
University
TUSKEGEE, Ala. (AP) -
The Smithsonian Institution
National Museum of African
American History and Cul
ture will collaborate with
the Tuskegee University Ar
chives to preserve and share
significant parts of the na
tion’s Civil Rights Era with
the world.
A news release from
Tuskegee University says
the museum is scheduled to
open Sept. 24. The Tuske
gee University Archives has a
Memorandum of Understand
ing with the museum that
will support several projects,
including digitization of ma
terials, lectures and education
workshops.
For the first phase of the
MOU, the museum has given
$25,000 to the university to
preserve the legacy of Ame
lia Boynton Robinson, best
known as the beaten woman
in the iconic photo of the
1965 “Bloody Sunday” civil
rights march.
Other future projects
planned include a civil rights
symposium in 2018 at the
university with prominent
Civil Rights historians.