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See Opinion/Forum pages on A8&9 • See Sports on page B1 Volume 43, Number 41 WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. THURSDAY, June 15, 2017 City budget plan gains drag , _ __^JBL 1 : 'v--,:-- .■ ■ -• • • BYTODPLUCK THE CHRONICLE Funding for a drug court, an extension for an underutilized bus route and a rate increase for Trans AID have been added to the City of Winston Salem’s proposed $482.2 million budget. The finance committee voted to send a budget to the full council for approval on Monday that contains a Trans-AID rate increase from 50 cent to $ 1 and ends its Medicaid exemption for non-medical trips. The entirety of the money that’s expected to come from the change, $90,000, will be used for 3,000 monthly bus passes to be distributed through local agencies to low income Trans-AID passen gers that would be adverse ly affected by the increase. Trans-AID provides on demand rides to qualifying handicap riders. The increase will mean riding Trans-AID will cost as much as “fixed route” city buses. “We’re the only system in the state that charges less for Trans-AID than it charges for its fixed route and that is creating a struc tural problem with growth and expenses for the sys tem that is threatening our ability to finance the fixed route improvements that serves a lot more low income folks than Trans AID,” said City Council Member Dan Besse. Besse said Winston Salem has the lowest Trans-AID rate in the state, which he credited for a 26 percent increase in rider ship in the last four years Besse and 46 percent increase in the cost of the service in the last five years. It costs four times per rider for Trans-AID than it does for bus riders. In the last five years, one out of three additional dollars that went See Budget on A6 GRADUATION 2017 i Walkertown High School graduate Curtis Charles poses for a photo after receiving his diploma on Saturday, June 10. Photo by Tevin 5 SEE SCENES FROM GRADUATIONS ON PAGE A7. Joines encourages class of 2017 to accept change and take chances BY TEVIN STINSON THE CHRONICLE The class of 2017 made history last weekend as more seniors than ever before received their high school diplomas. Winston Salem/Forsyth County Schools (WS/FCS) report ed that 101 more graduates got a diploma over the weekend than did last year. “At 3,726, that makes this class have the largest num ber of graduates we have had as a district,” said Brent Campbell, chief pro gram officer for Marketing & Communications. The district reported other highlights: To date, the scholarship award total stands at nearly $86,953,400 million; stu dents are attending over 115 different colleges and universities across the country; and various stu dents have prestigious scholarships. The district has two Goodnight Scholars, five National Merit Award Winners, two Duke Scholars, four differ-, ent Chancellor’s Scholarship winners and many more prestigious scholarship recipients. The weekend of cele bration for the class of 2017 started on Friday, June 9 and ended on Sunday, June 11. While many of the students saw graduation day as the end of long journey, during his commencement address to the graduating seniors at Kennedy High School, Mayor Allen Joines reminded the graduates that it is only the begin ning. As he stood before the graduates inside Wait Chapel on the campus of Wake Forest University, Joines encouraged students to be acceptable to change and dare to take chances. Joines said when he decid ed to throw his hat in the mayoral race in 2001, he had never run for anything in his life. But he accepted the challenge and the rest is history, as they say. “It has been a great experience but it wasn’t something that I had planned for,” said Joines. “As you make your goals and decisions for life, be prepared to make some changes and don’t be afraid to make those changes as you go forward.” The following high schools are in the WS/FCS district: Glenn, Carter, East Forsyth, Mt. Tabor, Carver, Kennedy, North Forsyth, West Forsyth, Reynolds, Reagan, Parkland, Atkins, Walkertown and Winston Salem Preparatory Academy. U.S. cuts could hurt N.C. for next decade, study says B Y’CASH MICHAELS FOR THE CHRONICLE As conferees for the N.C. House and Senate continue their talks to hash out a compromise $22.9 billion budget for the coming fiscal year, the picture has become even clearer that projected cuts to federal anti-poverty funding and programs by the Trump administration are going to profoundly affect North Carolina. This is where federal funds currently make up 32.7 cents of each state revenue dollar, according to a just released report from the N.C. Justice Center, and specifi cally Winston-Salem, where recent statistics show a pop ulation poverty indicator of 24.1 percent; the highest per centage of unemployed residents over 16 in poverty at over 50 percent; and where over 50 percent of renters were spending 30 percent or more of their income on housing in the city between 2010-2014, according to the U.S. Census Bureau and the Winston-Salem Poverty Thought Force. Indeed, the poverty rate in Winston-Salem was com paratively higher than the United States, North Carolina, Forsyth County, and Greensboro between 2006 and 2014, hitting as high as 26.7 percent (blacks at 30.6, Hispanics at 46.5, and whites at 12.3). And despite a comprehensive report from the Poverty Thought Force issued earlier this year addressing strategies on how to effectively tackle economic destitution in Winston-Salem, that job has just become much harder thanks to federal budget cuts that most likely force North Carolina to restrict its anti-pover ty spending. According to a recent report from the nonpartisan, nonprofit North Carolina Justice Center, “Given the mas sive cuts to federal funding proposed by the President, North Carolina would have to come up with at least $13 billion in additional revenue oyer the next 10 years to maintain existing vital programs.” More importantly, the new report from the N.C. Budget and Tax Center, an am? of the N.C. Justice Center, warns “... that the N .C. Senate and House budget propos als do not currently plan for what happens if North Carolina has to assume these costs.” According to that report, ‘Trump’s budget would require states to pay for 25 percent ($562 million) of SNAP (formerly known as food stamp) benefits by 2023. See Cuts on A10 Local mother facing deportation gets aid Photo by Todd Luck Minerva Garcia BY TODD LUCK THE CHRONICLE_ “I am the mother of four children and I will do anything for them.” That’s how a tearful Minerva Garcia introduced herself to a crowd gathered at Parkway United Church of Christ last week. “Anything” included coming to the United States 17 years ago, so her blind son, Eduardo could have opportunities he could n’t get in the Mexican state of Guerrero. She said she was allowed to come for six months but never went back, hoping that she could find a way to citizenship while working with a lawyer. Since 2013, she said that Immigration See Mother on A6 'V Professional self-storage. (336) 924-7000 www.ass'iredstoragews.com Office Hours: Mon Fri 9am-5pm: Sat 9am-3| Gate Hours: 5am-10pm 4191 Bethania Station Road • Winston-Sale
Winston-Salem Chronicle (Winston-Salem, N.C.)
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June 15, 2017, edition 1
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