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  • Ocala’s Black History Mural invites exploration of local heritage

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    Ocala’s Black History Mural invites exploration of local heritage

    LEADS YET FOR A POTENTIAL SUSPECT. BACK TO CENTRAL FLORIDA. THE FALLOUT CONTINUES AFTER 30 TO 40,000 RAILROAD TIES CAUGHT ON FIRE IN DUNNELLON. NOW, MARION COUNTY HAS DECLARED AN EMERGENCY AND SAYS IT WILL SUE BECAUSE THE COUNTY ORDERED THE RAIL TIES TO BE REMOVED, BUT SAYS THE PARTIES INVOLVED DRAGGED THEIR FEET. WESH TWO DAVID JONES IS IN DUNNELLON TALKING WITH PEOPLE WHO LIVE NEARBY WHO ARE QUITE UPSET. YOU CAN SEE ALL OF THE HEAVY EQUIPMENT THAT’S ON SITE TO HELP IN THIS RESPONSE. THOSE TIES THAT CAUGHT FIRE RIGHT THERE OVER MY SHOULDER, ALONG WITH THE NOW APPROVED LOCAL STATE OF EMERGENCY. MARION COUNTY SAYS IT HAS ALSO APPROVED FILING AN INJUNCTION AGAINST ALL OF THE PARTIES INVOLVED IN THIS. AND YOU CAN SMELL IT. IT’S ALMOST LIKE YOU CAN TASTE IT. LATONYA BRIGGS AND HER HUSBAND LIVE IN THE COMMUNITY OF DUNNELLON. THIS AFFECTS ALL OF US RIGHT NEXT TO WHERE A GIANT FIRE BROKE OUT IN THE SMELL. WE UNDERSTAND NOW WHAT THE SMELL IS THAT’S BEEN GOING ON. PEOPLE CAN’T SIT ON THEIR PORCHES OUT HERE IN THE COMMUNITY. ALL THOSE IN FAVOR SIGNIFY BY SAYING AYE. AYE. ANY OPPOSED THAT PASSES UNANIMOUSLY. MARION COUNTY COMMISSIONERS VOTING FIRMLY TUESDAY TO LAUNCH AN INJUNCTION AGAINST CSX, THE OWNER OF THE RAIL LINE. FLORIDA NORTHERN, WHICH LEASED THE LINE AND THE PROPERTY AND TRACK LINE RAIL LLC, THE OWNER OF THE CREOSOTE SOAKED RAIL TIES THAT STARTED BURNING JUST BEFORE 3 A.M. SUNDAY. THE COUNTY SAYS TRACK LINE BROUGHT THE TIES INTO TOWN WITHOUT NOTIFYING THE CITY OR COUNTY. THE MANAGING ENTITY, CSX AND TRACK LINE LLC. THEY SHOULD BEAR THE FULL RESPONSIBILITY OF THIS CLEANUP. COMMISSIONERS LAID OUT THE STEPS THE COUNTY HAS TAKEN TO GET THE RAIL TIES OUT SINCE OCTOBER. TRACK LINE HAD ORIGINALLY PLANNED TO GRIND AND REPURPOSE THEM ON SITE. THE COUNTY SENT OUT CODE VIOLATION NOTICES, MET WITH CSX ATTORNEYS, SENT A NOVEMBER CEASE AND DESIST LETTER, AND PREPARED TO FILE AN INJUNCTION IN DECEMBER BEFORE TRACK LINE STARTED MOVING THE TIES. THE CITY SAYS JUST UNDER 18,000 HAD BEEN MOVED WHEN ANYWHERE FROM 30 TO 40,000 CAUGHT FIRE OVER THE WEEKEND. WHEN THE COMMUNITY CAME TOGETHER, THAT’S WHEN THEY DECIDED THEY’RE GOING TO TRY TO START MOVING THIS STUFF. BUT BEFORE ALL OF THAT HAPPENED, THEY HIRED LAWYERS TO FIGHT. THE BRIGGS SAY THEY’VE BEEN HAVING RESPIRATORY PROBLEMS SINCE BEFORE THE FIRE. THIS IS HURTING PEOPLE. THE COUNTY SAYS IT’S GOING TO RESERVE FURTHER COMMENT NOW THAT LITIGATION HAS BEGUN. THE CITY, MEANWHILE, SAYS CSX WILL BE BRINGING 28 RAIL CARS INTO TOWN TO REMOVE THE REMAINING RAIL TIES COVERING MARION COUNTY IN DUNELLEN. DAVID JONES WESH TWO NEWS. AND RIGHT NOW ON WESH.COM, WE HAVE DETAILS ON AIR QUALITY MONITORING AND WATER QUALITY FROM THE CITY. MEANWHILE, TRACK LINE HAS NOT RESPONDED TO OUR REQUESTS FOR COMMENT. NEW TONIGHT OUT OF HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY. A LYFT DRIVER IS FACING CHARGES ACCUSED OF BEATING HIS PASSENGER. DEPUTIES SAY 27 YEAR-OLD JOAQUIN VAZQUEZ WAS DRIVING TO THE VICTIM’S DESTINATION WHEN HE PULLED OVER ON THE SIDE OF THE ROAD. THAT’S WHEN THEY SAY HE WENT INTO THE BACK SEAT, CHOKED THE VICTIM AND THREATENED HER LIFE. HE’S NOW FACING SEVERAL CHARGES, INCLUDING BATTERY AND FALSE IMPRISONMENT. THE NEXT MISSION TO THE MOON IS GROUNDED FOR AT LEAST ANOTHER MONTH. NASA REVEALED NEW INFORMATION TODAY ON THE FUEL LEAK THEY FOUND DURING THE ARTEMIS TWO WET DRESS REHEARSAL. AND WHAT THEY NEED TO FIX BEFORE LAUNCH. MISSION MANAGER JOHN HONEYCUTT SAYS THE LEAKS CAUGHT THEM OFF GUARD, EVEN THOUGH SIMILAR PROBLEMS HAPPENED DURING ARTEMIS ONE TESTING IN 2022. SPECIALISTS SAY ROLLING THE ROCKET FROM THE VEHICLE ASSEMBLY BUILDING TO THE LAUNCH PAD MAY HAVE PLAYED A ROLE, BUT THE TEAM THINKS THEY CAN FIX THESE ISSUES AT THE PAD. THE EARLIEST LAUNCH DATE IS NOW MARCH 6TH. OF COURSE, WESH TWO WILL BE COVERING ARTEMIS TWO EVERY STEP OF THE WAY. WE’LL HAVE THE LATEST MISSION UPDATES ON WESH.COM AND THE WESH TWO MOBILE APP. ALL RIGHT, TONY, YOU’RE OFF THE HOOK FOR ARTEMIS FORECAST FOR THE NEXT MONTH. WE’LL CHECK BACK IN WITH YOU THEN. BUT OUTSIDE RIGHT NOW. NOT TERRIBLE. NO. YOU KNOW, IT’S YOU NEED A JACKET, BUT IT’S NOWHERE NEAR AS COLD. LET ME TAKE YOU BACK OUTSIDE RIGHT NOW. WE’LL KIND OF BREAK THIS ONE DOWN THERE FOR YOU. VENUE 520 LAKE MONROE. RIGHT NOW. LOOKING PRETTY GOOD. AS YOU CAN SEE OUT THERE. LOVE THE SKY. IT IS ABOUT 47 DEGREES UP THAT WAY. 45 IN DELAND, 43 PALM COAST, AND THEN HERE UP TOWARDS OCALA. WE ARE RUNNING IN THE LOW 40S. WE TAKE A LOOK AT THE SATELLITE AND RADAR. THERE’S A LITTLE COLD FRONT HERE THAT’S GOING TO DROP TO THE SOUTH WEDNESDAY NIGHT AND DURING THE DAY ON THURSDAY AT LEAST THE FIRST HALF, WE’LL GET A LITTLE BIT OF RAIN. AND THAT’S SOME GOOD NEWS. WE’RE IN THE THROES OF A DROUGHT. WE NEED THAT RAIN. SATELLITE RADAR FROM THE THAT TO THE WATER TEMPERATURE SHOWS TEMPERATURES HAVE DROPPED. THE SEA SURFACE TEMPERATURES BECAUSE OF THE RECENT COLD SPELL. AND YOU CAN SEE THE THE SHELF WATERS HERE OFF THE WEST COAST OF THE FLORIDA PENINSULA. AND YOU CAN SEE CENTRAL FLORIDA RIGHT UNDERNEATH THAT HIGH PRESSURE. RIGHT NOW WE ARE ONE OF THE COLDEST SPOTS IN THE ENTIRE PENINSULA. OVERNIGHT TONIGHT, A FEW CLOUDS WILL BE ARRIVING TOWARDS DAYBREAK UP TO THE NORTH. NOTICE THE WINDS FAIRLY LIGHT OUT THE DOOR TOMORROW MORNING. 12 HOUR FORECAST HERE. AS THE TEMPERATURES RUNNING IN THE LOW 40S OUT THE DOOR AT 6 A.M. COULD BE A LITTLE BIT OF FROST AND EVEN A SHORT DURATION FREEZE UP HERE INTO MARION COUNTY. FROSTY THROUGH SUMTER, LAKE COUNTY METRO AREAS. WE’RE GOING TO BE OKAY. EASTERN ORANGE, SEMINOLE COUNTY ON INTO RURAL OSCEOLA COUNTY. YOU CAN SEE DOWN TOWARDS CONNERSVILLE, SAINT CLOUD, DEER PARK, HOLOPAW HARMONY. YOU GUYS WILL LIKELY HAVE A LITTLE BIT OF FROST. THE LAND TO BURY ORANGE CITY UP TOWARDS THE LEON SPRINGS, ASTOR AND PEARSON YOU AS WELL. WE’LL HAVE A LITTLE BIT OF FROST NOW AS WE WORK OUR WAY INTO WEDNESDAY AND THURSDAY. HERE COMES THAT COLD FRONT. QUICK SHOT OF MAYBE A 10TH TO A QUARTER OF AN INCH OF RAIN. AND THEN WE TURN A LITTLE BIT COLDER. NOW, AS WE GET YOU INTO FRIDAY MORNING AND FRIDAY AFTERNOON. TEMPORARY THOUGH, AND NOT AS COLD AS WHAT WE JUST WENT THROUGH NOW, RAINFALL WISE, THE GRAPH IN THE ARE VERY, VERY CONSISTENT WITH ABOUT A 10TH TO 2/10 OF AN INCH OF RAIN. WHEN WE TAKE A LOOK AT TOMORROW’S TEMPERATURES. NOW GET OUT THERE, ENJOY IT. AFTERNOON HIGHS WILL BE RUNNING IN THE LOW 70S. CLERMONT LEESBURG BACK TOWARDS UMATILLA AND THEN LOOK AT THE LAND. SANFORD BITHLO SAINT CLOUD 7273 DEGREES UP AND DOWN THE I-95 CORRIDOR. LOW 70S NOW BEHIND THE FRONT. IT DOES GET COLDER HERE FRIDAY MORNING. LOOK AT OCALA 30. DELAND 33. DOWNTOWN ORLANDO MIDDLE UPPER 30S AND THEN BACK TOWARDS TITUSVILLE AROUND 37 DEGREES. AS WE TAKE A LOOK AT THE FREEZE HISTORY HERE, AS WE JUST SHOWED YOU THE POTENTIAL FOR ONE UP THERE IN OCALA AND MANY PARTS OF MARION COUNTY, 2010, WE HAD 32 OF THEM LAST YEAR. WE HAD TEN. THIS YEAR WE’RE UP TO 13. WILL BE TACK ON ANOTHER ONE OVERNIGHT TONIGHT. I’LL LET YOU KNOW OUT THE DOOR TOMORROW MORNING AS WE HEAD INTO THE WEEKEND. BIG DOME OF HIGH PRESSURE BUILDS SOUTHWARD. WINDS ARE FAIRLY LIGHT. A GOOD LOOKING WEEKEND. TEMPERATURES WILL BEGIN TO MODERATE, SO THAT’S TIMING. SUPER BOWL TIMING. THAT IS, EVEN THOUGH THE THE FORECAST FOR SANTA CLARA LOOKS COMFORTABLY COOL FOR KICKOFF THERE. IF YOU’VE GOT A SUPER BOWL PARTY GOING ON AT YOUR HOUSE THIS WEEKEND, LOCALLY IT’S GOING TO BE VERY, VERY NICE AND VERY, VERY COMFORTABLE AND A LITTLE BIT WARMER THAN FOLKS OUT WEST. HEY, THERE’S ANOTHER BIG EVENT GOING ON ON NBC THIS WEEKEND AND KICKING OFF FRIDAY NIGHT. THAT’S THE WINTER GAMES. THERE’S MILAN, GOT A LITTLE BIT OF RAIN COMING IN OFF OF THE MEDITERRANEAN. AND THEN WHEN WE LOOK AT THE FORECAST HERE AS WE GET YOU THROUGH WEDNESDAY, WEDNESDAY NIGHT AND THURSDAY, HIGHER ELEVATION SNOWS ACROSS THE THE ALPS OF ITALY AND SWITZERLAND. RAIN, THOUGH COMING ACROSS THE LOWER ELEVATIONS. LET’S TAKE A LOOK AT THE OPENING CEREMONIES. 50, 48 AND 46. PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER HERE FOR YOU. SEVEN DAY FORECAST ALONG THE COAST. A LITTLE BIT OF RAIN THURSDAY. BEAUTIFUL WEEKEND WEATHER AND WARMING UP INTO THE LOWER 70S BY NEXT WEEK. NEW TONIGHT A MOUSE IN BREVARD COUNTY HAD A NEED FOR SPEED. YOU’RE GOING TO WANT TO SEE THIS VIDEO. HE WAS CAUGHT ON CAMERA GOING FULL THROTTLE ON A WHEEL AT THE BREVARD ZOO. THE ZOO SHARED THIS LITTLE DAREDEVILS VIDEO ON FACEBOOK, EMPHASIZING THE FACT THAT THIS VIDEO IS NOT SPED UP. THIS IS HOW FAST HE WAS GOING. HE’S FAST, AND PROBABLY DIZZY. WANTED TO GO LOOK AT IT. AT ONE POINT HE LIKE, KIND OF STUMBLES OFF. IT’S FUNNY, BUT HE’S OKAY. YEAH, HE’S A GREAT SHAPE. YEAH. OH. GOT HIS CAR GOING. OKAY. YOU ONLY HAVE A COUPLE OF MONTHS TO RUN TO BAHAMA BREEZE BEFORE CLOSING. AFTER 30 YEARS. ORLANDO BASED DARDEN RESTAURANTS IS CLOSING ALL 28 OF ITS BAHAMA BREEZE LOCATIONS THAT ARE LEFT. DARDEN SAYS HALF OF THOSE WILL CLOSED OUTRIGHT, AND THEY WILL CONVERT THE REST INTO THEIR OTHER BRANDS. THIS MOVE COMES AFTER THE COMPANY CLOSED SOME OF THE OTHER LOCATIONS AMONG THE SALE. BAHAMA BREEZE WILL CLOSE DOWN APRIL 5TH. BLACK HISTORY IS ON DISPLAY IN OCALA. THE TOWN’S PAST CONTINUES TO BE FELT TODAY. COMING UP, HOW ONE OF OCALA’S EARLIEST FIGURES HELPED A PRESENT DAY LAWYER GET HIS EDUCATION. AND A MAN SAYS VOLUSIA COUNTY SHERIFF’S DEPUTIES WRONGLY ARRESTED HIM. THE PROOF? HE SAYS HE HAS THAT SHOWS HE’S INNOCENT. NEXT, A WESH TWO INVESTIGATES LOCAL. LIVE. LATE-BREAKING. WESH TWO NEWS ON CW STARTS NOW. NOW AT 1030. WE START WITH THE TOP STORIES THIS HALF HOUR. FIRST, WE HAVE SOME BREAKING NEWS OUT OF COCOA THIS EVENING. POLICE ARE TRYING TO FIGURE OUT HOW A THREE MONTH OLD DIED. THE CALL CAME IN AROUND 430 THIS AFTERNOON ON PINEDA STREET AND DUKE WAY. WESH TWO SAW THIS CRIME SCENE TAPE AROUND THE PROPERTY. OFFICERS WERE COMBING THROUGH THE AREA AND SPEAKING TO PEOPLE ON THE SCENE. ONE STEP CLOSER TO DECIDING IF THEY’LL CLOSE SEVEN SCHOOLS. THEY SHOW WHERE HUNDREDS OF STUDENTS WOULD END UP IF THEIR SCHOOL CLOSED DOWN. THE DISTRICT SAYS LOW ENROLLMENT IS BEHIND THESE CHANGES. THEY EXPECT TO VOTE ON FINALIZING THE PROPOSAL DURING THEIR MARCH 10TH BOARD MEETING. A STATE OF EMERGENCY HAS BEEN DECLARED OVER THIS TOXIC FIRE BURNING IN DUNNELLON. THOUSANDS OF USED RAILROAD TIES CAUGHT FIRE OVER THE WEEKEND. THE COUNTY SAYS THEY WERE STORED IMPROPERLY. THE STATE OF EMERGENCY ALLOWS THE COUNTY TO GET THE NECESSARY RESOURCES TO CONTROL ANY POTENTIAL CONTAMINATION. COUNTY COMMISSIONERS ALSO APPROVED FILING AN INJUNCTION AGAINST ALL PARTIES INVOLVED TO HOLD THEM ACCOUNTABLE FOR THEIR LACK OF ACTION, AND TO REQUEST A COURT ORDER FOR THE REMOVAL OF THE TIES. TRANSPORTATION, TRACK LINE RAIL, AND FLORIDA NORTHERN RAILROAD. THE FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION IS MONITORING THE AIR. TALKING TO YOU, BIG GUY. SURRENDER NOW. THIS DOG’S GONNA BITE YOU. HEY. NEW TONIGHT, ORLANDO POLICE SHARED THIS BODY CAMERA FOOTAGE FROM A SEARCH WARRANT AND ARREST LATE AUGUST. OFFICERS RECEIVED COMPLAINTS OF DRUG SALES IN CARVER SHORES. THEY FOUND PEOPLE WITH DRUGS LEAVING THE HOME, AND A SEARCH WARRANT LATER FOUND COCAINE, AMPHETAMINES, OXYCODONE AND GUNS. DEREK GILMORE TRIED TO RUN, AND HE AND BLAKE COLEMAN WERE BOTH ARRESTED AND CHARGED. BUT THE STORY DOES NOT END THERE FOR GILMORE. HE MAY HAVE STOPPED UNDER 408. YEAH. IF YOU GOT OMAR CLOSE, YOU NEED TO CHECK ON THIS. YEAH, HE’S SITTING THERE RIGHT NOW. SO IN NOVEMBER, POLICE FOUND GILMORE BACK NEAR HIS HOUSE. HE WAS OUT OF JAIL ON BOND. HE WAS SEEN DRIVING AWAY AND DITCHING A BACKPACK. THAT BACKPACK HAD FENTANYL, MDMA, COCAINE, OXYCODONE, AND A HANDGUN. GILMORE ABANDONED HIS CAR AND WAS PICKED UP BY A WOMAN, REGINA TAYLOR. THEY WERE BOTH FOUND AND ARRESTED LAST MONTH. ORLANDO’S TACTICAL ANTI-CRIME UNIT FOUND GILMORE DRIVING A STOLEN VEHICLE. HE WAS TAKEN INTO CUSTODY, AND OFFICERS FOUND MORE DRUGS. THEY SAY IN THE CAR. GILMORE HAS BEEN CHARGED AGAIN IN CONNECTION TO BOTH INCIDENTS. IN ORANGE COUNTY, A SEMI TRUCK DRIVER IS IN THE HOSPITAL WITH SERIOUS INJURIES AFTER THE TRUCK HE WAS DRIVING CRASHED INTO SEVERAL CARS. VIDEO SHOWS THE CRASH THIS MORNING ON ORANGE AVENUE NEAR HOLDEN AVENUE. TROOPERS SAY THE SEMI DRIVER HAD A MEDICAL EPISODE AND VEERED INTO TRAFFIC. THE TRUCK HIT TWO CARS AND THREE OTHERS PARKED OUTSIDE A BUSINESS. PARAMEDICS TOOK THE DRIVER TO THE HOSPITAL TO GET TAKEN CARE OF. ANOTHER DRIVER HAD MINOR INJURIES. TRAFFIC PROBLEMS HIT GROVELAND AFTER A ROAD SOUTHWEST OF TOWN COLLAPSED. LAKE COUNTY IS CALLING THE SCENE AT EMPIRE CHURCH ROAD. AT THE MOMENT, ENGINEERS ARE STILL TESTING TO DETERMINE IF IT’S A TRUE SINKHOLE. SOIL SETTLING HAPPENS VERY SLOWLY, BUT A SINKHOLE IS FAR MORE SERIOUS, SOMETHING MORE THAT HAPPENS AT THE LIMESTONE BEDROCK LEVEL. SO SOMETHING THAT IS CAUSING THESE CHEMICAL DISSOLUTION OF THE LIMESTONE AS ACIDIC WATER PERMEATES THROUGH THE SOIL AND EVENTUALLY ERODES, YOU KNOW, LIKE, SAY, 50 TO 100FT DOWN THE GROUND SURFACE. UCF ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR LUIS ARBOLEDA SAYS THAT IT IS LIKELY THE TEAMS ON SITE ARE DOING CONE PENETRATION TESTING. A CONE HITS THE GROUND WITH SENSORS AND CAN MEASURE RESISTANCE. LAKE COUNTY SAYS IT EXPECTS THE TEST RESULTS TO COME BACK ON MONDAY. A VOLUSIA COUNTY MAN SWORE HE WAS INNOCENT AFTER HE WAS ARRESTED FOR A CRIME HE SAYS HE DID NOT COMMIT, AND WESH 2 INVESTIGATES, UNCOVERED THE RECEIPTS PROVING IT. OUR JUSTIN SCHECKER DID WEEKS OF DIGGING TO HELP A LOCAL MAN GET HIS LIFE BACK. WHAT’S GOING ON? HE WENT IN FOR A HANDSHAKE AND WOUND UP IN HANDCUFFS. I NEED YOU TO PUT YOUR HANDS BEHIND YOUR BACK. FOR WHAT? YOU GOT A WARRANT? WHAT? I’LL TELL YOU. OH. BURGESS WAS SHOCKED AS A VOLUSIA SHERIFF’S DEPUTY ARRESTED HIM IN EARLY AUGUST. SO I’M ABOUT TO COME OUT HERE AND TALK TO YOU. DAD. HIS FIVE YEAR OLD SON WAS WITH HIM IN THE BACK SEAT OF HIS SUV IN A HOME DEPOT PARKING LOT. SO YOU GOT SOME SOME SORT OF FRAUD WARRANT? I WAS LIKE, HEY, YOU KNOW, AT FIRST I THOUGHT HE WAS JOKING. I WAS LIKE, HEY, MAN. ORANGE COUNTY COURT RECORDS REVEALED BURGESS HAD TWO ARREST WARRANTS FOR FRAUD AND THEFT CHARGES AT TWO UNIVERSAL ORLANDO RESORT HOTELS. THIS ORLANDO POLICE AFFIDAVIT SAYS A PERSON IN JUNE CHECKED INTO ROOMS WITH INVALID CREDIT CARDS AT ENDLESS SUMMER SURFSIDE RESORT AND CABANA BAY RESORT THAT APPROXIMATELY $4,406.98 WAS CHARGED TO BOTH RESORT ROOMS AND WAS NEVER PAID FOR BY THE SUBJECT. WHY WOULD I GO TO A HOTEL AND STAY AT A HOTEL RUNNING UP CREDIT CARDS WHERE, YOU KNOW, I GOT KIDS I CAN’T EVEN. LIKE I SAID, I CAN BARELY GO TO A GAS STATION. DURING OUR INTERVIEW IN OCTOBER, HIS SON AND SEVEN YEAR OLD DAUGHTER GOT HOME FROM SCHOOL. THIS IS ABOUT WHEN THE THE HOME DEPOT INCIDENT. OH, I KNOW THAT WHEN COPS ARRESTED YOU FOR NO REASON. YES. MY DAD DIDN’T DO ANYTHING. HE WAS AT WORK THAT NIGHT. THE AFFIDAVIT SAYS THE SUBJECT CHECKED INTO CABANA BAY RESORT ON JUNE 16TH. BURGESS MAINTAINS HE WAS NEARLY 70 MILES AWAY WORKING AT EVERGLADES BOATS IN EDGEWATER. HE SAYS THE COMPANY TERMINATED HIM AFTER HIS ARREST, BUT HR PROVIDED BURGESS HIS TIME CARD, SHOWING HE CLOCKED IN AT 4:57 P.M. ON MONDAY, JUNE 16TH, AND PUNCHED OUT AT 3:35 A.M. THE NEXT DAY. I’M INNOCENT. I DIDN’T DO THIS. SO WHY DID POLICE BELIEVE HE DID? THEY SAY THE SAME MAN WHO CHECKED INTO CABANA BAY RESORT ON JUNE 16TH. CHECKED IN AGAIN ON JUNE 22ND, BUT THIS TIME THE MAN GOT A TRESPASS ORDER FROM ORLANDO POLICE. SO BASICALLY, IT’S GOING TO BE A TRESPASS FROM ALL UNIVERSAL STUDIOS PROPERTIES. WESH TWO INVESTIGATES OBTAINED THIS BODY CAMERA VIDEO NEARLY TWO MONTHS AFTER REQUESTING IT. POLICE SAY THEY BELIEVE THE MAN IN THIS VIDEO WAS BURGESS GIVING A FAKE NAME AND ID TO POLICE. WHAT WAS YOUR NAME BY? FINE. ALL RIGHT. WE ARE NOT SHOWING HIS FACE. BUT THE MAN BEING BANNED IS CLEARLY NOT BURGESS. YOU CAN SEE HE HAS NO TATTOOS ON HIS LEGS. WHILE BURGESS SHOWED US HIS. HIS TIME CARD ALSO SHOWS HE WENT TO WORK ON JUNE 22ND, THE SAME DAY AS THE TRESPASSING INCIDENT. I’M JUST SO MIND BLOWN THAT THAT THAT THEY DIDN’T DO NO KIND OF INVESTIGATION AND JUST CHARGED IT BECAUSE THEY, THEY IT IT LOOKS SORT OF LIKE ME. THE ARREST WARRANT AFFIDAVIT SAYS POLICE IDENTIFIED BURGESS USING LAW ENFORCEMENT RESOURCES IN AN EMAIL TO WESH TWO INVESTIGATES ORLANDO POLICE CHIEF ERIC SMITH’S CHIEF OF STAFF SAID FACIAL RECOGNITION WAS NOT USED. HE ALSO SAID BECAUSE IT’S AN ACTIVE CRIMINAL CASE, POLICE ARE LIMITED ON WHAT ELSE THEY CAN SAY. THE TRUTH IS THE TRUTH, YOU KNOW, IT’S GOT TO COME OUT ON THE SAME DAY. WESH TWO INVESTIGATES RECEIVED THAT BODY CAMERA VIDEO IN DECEMBER FROM THE CITY OF ORLANDO. THE STATE ATTORNEY’S OFFICE FILED A NO INFORMATION NOTICE IN THE CASE AGAINST BURGESS. PROSECUTORS ARE DECLINING TO FILE CHARGES BECAUSE THEY SAY THE EVIDENCE IS INSUFFICIENT TO PROVE BEYOND A REASONABLE DOUBT DUE TO A LAW ENFORCEMENT ISSUE. WHAT WAS YOUR REACTION WHEN YOU SAW THAT FILING? I TOLD YOU SO, BURGESS SAYS HE FELT HOPELESS BEFORE HE SHARED THE STORY OF HIS WRONGFUL ARREST WITH WESH TWO. INVESTIGATES. BEFORE I SPOKE TO YOU, I DIDN’T KNOW WHAT TO DO. I CALLED EVERYBODY AND I JUST GOT THE PHONE SLAMMED ON ME. WITHOUT YOU GUYS, I DON’T KNOW WHAT I WOULD DO. YOU KNOW, YOU HAVE HELPED. YOU HAVE HELPED TREMENDOUSLY WHEN OUT OF THE WAY. AND I APPRECIATE EVERYTHING. WESH TWO NEWS IS DONE. FOR WESH TWO INVESTIGATES I’M JUSTIN SCHECKER. AND WE LEARNED ABOUT THAT CASE BECAUSE BO BURGESS CONTACTED JUSTIN THEROUX. WESH TWO INVESTIGATES. IF YOU HAVE SOMETHING OUR INTO. EMAIL US AT INVESTIGATES@WESH.COM. THE DEEP FREEZE IS OVER AND MANY PEOPLE ARE NOT HAPPY WITH WHAT THEY’RE FINDING AFTER UNCOVERING THEIR PLANS. BUT AUSTIN COATES OF LUCAS NURSERY AND BUTTERFLY ENCOUNTER IN OVIEDO SAYS NOW THAT WE’RE IN THIS POST FREEZE PERIOD, DON’T JUST RUN OUT AND CUT BACK ALL YOUR PLANTS. IF YOU DO, YOU’LL RUN THE RISK OF CAUSING MORE DAMAGE AND STRESS TO THE PLANTS. YOU’RE GOING TO WANT TO REALLY LEAVE IT, AT LEAST FOR THE FIRST 4 TO 6 WEEKS, SO THAT ANY SORT OF FROST DAMAGE THAT HAS YET TO SHOW ITSELF, YOU’RE GOING TO WANT TO WAIT A LITTLE BIT FOR THAT PLANT TO KIND OF FINISH SORTING OUT WHATEVER ISSUES MAY BE GOING ON WITH THAT FROST DAMAGE, AND THEN PROBABLY AROUND EARLY MARCH, FIRST WEEK OF MARCH, YOU’RE GOING TO WANT TO CUT A LOT OF THIS DEAD STUFF BACK. AND IF YOU SEE SOMETHING THAT LOOKS LIKE IT’S COMPLETELY COOKED, YOU CAN DO TWO TESTS TO DETERMINE IF IT’S STILL ALIVE. SO THE GREEN THAT’S ON THE INSIDE MEANS THAT THERE’S FLUID INSIDE OF THE TRUNK OF THE PLANT. SO IT’S STILL VIABLE AND IT WILL STILL COME BACK. YOU CAN ALSO TAKE A THUMBNAIL SKETCH OF THE PLANT AND SEE IF THERE’S GREEN ON THE INSIDE. A LOT OF GREEN THUMBS LIKE MINE JUST DID NOT GO GREEN. NO, I THINK WE LOST OUR ELEPHANT EARS. I THINK THEY’RE CALLED. YEAH, IT’S ALL RIGHT. IT’S OKAY. I’M SURE YOU’RE NOT ALONE. FEELS LIKE IT’S GOING TO BE ANDREW’S PROBLEM, NOT MINE. LET HIM DEAL WITH THAT. YES. AND ALL OF THAT HAPPENING BECAUSE OF THE COLD THAT WE HAD THROUGHOUT CENTRAL FLORIDA. AND IT’S GETTING A LITTLE BIT OF A BREAK, BUT THEN IT’S GOING TO COME BACK. YEAH. LET’S GET OVER TO TONY. NOW, WHO HAS THE DETAILS ON OUR FORECAST. WHAT’S UP TONY. YEAH, LET’S TAKE A LOOK AT WHAT’S GOING ON TONIGHT. WE STILL THINK THERE’S GOING TO BE SOME FROST AND MAYBE A SHORT DURATION FREEZE HERE IN MARION COUNTY, BUT WE WARM UP NICELY ONCE WE GET PAST DAYBREAK. YOU CAN SEE THE SQUARE RIGHT NOW, 42 DEGREES, 44 PALM COAST, 48 DOWNTOWN 40 BACK TOWARDS TITUSVILLE. THERE ARE A FEW CLOUDS NOW APPROACHING THE I-10 CORRIDOR SIGN OF THAT WEATHER MAKER THAT’S GOING TO HEAD OUR WAY WEDNESDAY NIGHT ON INTO THE FIRST HALF OF THE DAY THURSDAY. BUT NOTICE OUT AHEAD OF IT AGAIN ANOTHER EVENING PLUS FIVE PLUS TEN DEGREES WARMER THAN WHERE WE WERE THIS TIME LAST NIGHT. AND OCALA IS GOING TO BE DROPPING VERY CLOSE TO FREEZING THERE FOR SHORT DURATION, ONLY TO WARM UP QUICKLY TO ABOUT 64. YOU TAKE A LOOK NOW UP TOWARDS DAYTONA BEACH, MID 30S WITH SOME PATCHY FROST. THEN BY THE 11:00 HOUR WE’RE COMING IN AT ABOUT 65 DEGREES. NOW I’M GOING TO TIME OUT THAT FRONT THAT’S COMING IN ON THURSDAY. THE COOLER AIR ON FRIDAY. AND THEN A NICE BIG WARMING TREND HEADED OUR WAY. AS WE GET YOU ON INTO THE BEGINNING OF NEXT WEEK. WHEN I SEE YOU COMING UP IN THE NEXT COUPLE MINUTES, GUYS. ALL RIGHT, TONY, MEANTIME, DEAD FISH ARE STARTING TO SHOW UP ACROSS PARTS OF CENTRAL FLORIDA. THIS IS VIDEO FROM MOSQUITO LAGOON NEAR NEW SMYRNA BEACH SHOWING FISH THERE IN THE WATER TOWARDS THE BOTTOM OF THERE. THIS VIDEO SAYS THAT ALL THOSE FISH SPANNED AN AREA OF ABOUT 200FT. NOW, IT’S NOT JUST FISH. OTHER KINDS OF SEA CRITTERS ARE WASHING UP ON BEACHES IN FLORIDA, EXPERTS SAY THE COLD WEATHER GOT TO THEM. STINGRAYS, CRABS, EELS, SEA SHARK HAVE ALL WASHED UP ON BEACHES IN SOUTHWEST FLORIDA, OFFICIALS SAY WATER TEMPERATURES DROPPED TO THE LOWER 50S THIS WEEK THERE, WHICH CAN STUN OR KILL SOME OF THE MARINE LIFE IN THE GULF. SCIENTISTS SAY SOME CREATURES CAN LIVE IF THEY GET BACK IN THE WATER QUICKLY, BUT ANYTHING WITH GILLS LIKELY DIED AFTER A FEW MINUTES OUT OF THE WATER. ALL RIGHT, LOOK AT THIS. SEA LIONS AT AN IOWA ZOO. THEY MADE THEIR PREDICTION FOR THE SUPER BOWL ON SUNDAY. SO THE AFRICAN LIONS DO. SENDS ARENA COULD PICK A BARREL WITH THE LOGOS FOR THE SEATTLE SEAHAWKS AND THE NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS. SO DEUCE WAS HESITANT TO MAKE A PICK. BUT ARENA ULTIMATELY PICKED THE SEAHAWKS TO WIN THE GAME. THERE SHE GOES. THE ZOO SAYS IT’S ANIMALS ACCURATELY PREDICT THE WINNER. 80% OF THE TIME. ISN’T THAT SOMETHING? OKAY, YOU CAN WATCH SUPER BOWL 60 BETWEEN THE SEAHAWKS AND THE PATRIOTS OVER ON WESH TWO AT 630 ON SUNDAY. GOT BETTER ODDS THAN PUNXSUTAWNEY PHIL. I’LL TELL YOU THAT. CERTAINLY DO. ALL RIGHT, WESH TWO HERE WE CELEBRATE BLACK HISTORY MONTH AND YOU CAN FIND IT ON FULL DISPLAY IN MARION COUNTY. THIS LITTLE CITY CITY OF OCALA, FLORIDA, AND MARION COUNTY. IT PRODUCED SO MANY FAMOUS AND FIRSTS. COMING UP NEXT, HEAR ABOUT THE TRAILBLAZERS FROM OCALA AND HOW THEY INSPIRE PEOPLE TODAY. IT’S A LOOK BACK IN HISTORY, AND ITS PURPOSE IS TO GET ALL WHO SEE IT, TO SIMPLY ASK, WHO WAS THAT PERSON AND WHY IS THAT MOMENT SIGNIFICANT? WESH 2 STEWART MOORE WENT TO OCALA TO SEE THE BLACK HISTORY MURAL. WELCOME TO WEST OCALA, THE ONCE VIBRANT, BUSTLING, THRIVING ALL BLACK COMMUNITY HAS CHANGED AS MODERN TIMES HAVE TAKEN OVER. YOU KNOW WHAT THIS LITTLE CITY CITY OF OCALA, FLORIDA AND MARION COUNTY. IT PRODUCED SO MANY FAMOUS AND FIRSTS. YOU KNOW, WE HAVE SO MANY AFRICAN AMERICAN FIRSTS HERE. AND OF COURSE, WHEN YOU HAVE THOSE TYPES OF THINGS, THEY TEND TO SPREAD ABROAD. SO NOT JUST IN THE STATE OF FLORIDA, BUT IN THE ENTIRE COUNTRY. BUT THE HISTORY OF WHAT WAS IS ON FULL DISPLAY. THIS IS THE OCALA BLACK HISTORY MURAL AND ITS PURPOSE, SAYS LEADER OF THE BLACK HISTORY MUSEUM, IS TO MAKE YOU ASK QUESTIONS. IT STARTS WITH A TIMELINE. IT GIVES YOU A TIMELINE ALL THE WAY BACK TO THE CIVIL WAR. IT TALKS ABOUT LOCAL GOVERNMENT, POLITICS. IT GOES ON TO TALK ABOUT THE POPULATION OF AFRICAN AMERICANS IN MARION COUNTY. OBI SAMUEL JUNIOR IS A LOCAL ATTORNEY IN TOWN. WHILE IN LAW SCHOOL, HE RECEIVED THE VIRGIL HAWKINS SCHOLARSHIP. HAWKINS FEATURED RIGHT HERE ON THIS WALL PAVED THE WAY FOR ASPIRING BLACK LAWYERS TO ATTEND PREDOMINANTLY WHITE INSTITUTIONS. WELL, HE’S THE GUY THAT FOUGHT FOR THE INTEGRATION OF THE UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA LAW SCHOOL, SO HE WAS VERY INFLUENTIAL THERE. AND THOUGH HE NEVER ACTUALLY ATTENDED THE UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA LAW SCHOOL, BUT THROUGH HIS EFFORTS, IT BECAME INTEGRATED AND THUS OPENED AN OPPORTUNITY FOR ME TO ENTER LAW SCHOOL. VIRGIL HAWKINS IS ON THIS WALL. PARADISE PARK IS ON THIS WALL, BUT ALSO THIS WOMAN. THIS IS DOCTOR CARRIE HAMPTON. SHE’S THE FIRST BLACK FEMALE DOCTOR IN THE STATE OF FLORIDA. AND THE INTERVIEW WE DID WITH MR. SAMUEL WAS INSIDE OF HER HOUSE. THEY HAD A GREAT IMPACT AS FAR AS BLACK ENTREPRENEURSHIP. THEY MOTIVATED ME, AND THAT’S WHEN I HAD THE OPPORTUNITY TO PURCHASE THIS BUILDING. I FELT A CERTAIN SPIRIT ABOUT IT. YOU KNOW, A CERTAIN INSPIRATION TO CARRYING ON THEIR LEGACY, YOU KNOW, FOR BLACK EXCELLENCE. THIS HOME USED TO BE A FEW BLOCKS FROM WHERE IT SITS NOW PRESERVED HOME TO WHERE BLACK PEOPLE IN MARION COUNTY WENT FOR HEALTH AND WELL-BEING. DOCTOR CARRIE MITCHELL, THE FIRST BLACK WOMAN TO BE LICENSED PRACTICING MEDICINE IN FLORIDA AND OPERATED A DRUGSTORE. SHE WAS MARRIED TO DOCTOR LEROY HAMPTON, A DENTIST WHOSE NAMESAKE, HAMPTON CENTER, WHICH SITS ACROSS A BASEBALL FIELD FROM THE MURAL, STILL TRAINS PEOPLE TO CARE FOR TEETH. TODAY. HERE YOU NOT ONLY DO YOU HAVE THE DOCTOR AND THE DENTIST, BUT YOU HAD OCALA BAZAAR, WHICH WAS AN AFRICAN OWNED DRY GOODS STORE WITH OVER 20 EMPLOYEES. YOU HAD THE. METROPOLITAN BANK BANK, WHICH WAS THE FIRST AFRICAN AMERICAN BANK IN MARION COUNTY AND ALSO IN THE STATE OF FLORIDA, AND THE FIRST CHARTERED BLACK CORPORATION IN THE STATE OF FLORIDA. YOU HAD THE OCALA TEXTILE MILL THAT HAD OVER 100 EMPLOYEES. THE WALL IS LIVING HISTORY THAT YOU CAN TOUCH AND RESEARCH FOREVER. HISTORY MAKERS. SO NEXT TIME YOU PASS IT AND YOU ASK

    Ocala’s Black History Mural invites exploration of local heritage

    Updated: 11:51 PM EST Feb 3, 2026

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    The Ocala Black History Mural in West Ocala serves as a vibrant reminder of the area’s once-thriving African American community, inviting viewers to delve into the stories of its influential figures and moments.Davida Randolph, leader of the Howard Black History Museum, emphasized the significance of the mural, saying, “You know what this little civic city of Ocala, Florida, and Marion County, it produced so many famous and firsts. You know, we have so many African American first here.”The mural offers a timeline that stretches back to the Civil War, highlighting local government, politics, and the African American population in Marion County. Ob Samuel Jr., a local attorney, shared his connection to the mural through Virgil Hawkins, who fought for the integration of the University of Florida law school.”He’s the guy that fought for the integration of the University of Florida law school, so he was very influential there, and though he never actually attended the University of Florida law school, but through his efforts, it became integrated, and thus opened an opportunity for me to enter law school,” Samuel said.The mural also honors Black entrepreneurship and excellence, inspiring individuals like Samuel to continue the legacy.”They had a great impact as far as black entrepreneurship. They motivated me. And that’s when I had the opportunity to purchase this building. I felt a certain spirit about it, you know, a certain inspiration to carrying on their legacy for black excellence,” he said.This home, preserved a few blocks from its original location, was where black people in Marion County went for health and well-being.Dr. Effie Carrie Mitchell, the first black woman licensed to practice medicine in Florida, operated a drug store and was married to Dr. Lee Royal Hampton, a dentist.The Hampton Center, named after him, still trains people to care for teeth today and sits across a baseball field from the mural.The mural also highlights other significant establishments, such as the Ocala Bazaar, an African-owned dry goods store with over 20 employees, and the Metropolitan Blank Bank, the first African American bank in Marion County and Florida, and the first chartered black corporation in the state. The Ocala textile mill employed over 100 people.The Ocala Black History Mural is a living testament to the area’s rich history, encouraging passersby to explore and learn about the figures and events that shaped the community.

    The Ocala Black History Mural in West Ocala serves as a vibrant reminder of the area’s once-thriving African American community, inviting viewers to delve into the stories of its influential figures and moments.

    Davida Randolph, leader of the Howard Black History Museum, emphasized the significance of the mural, saying, “You know what this little civic city of Ocala, Florida and Marion County, it produced so many famous and firsts. You know, we have so many African American first here.”

    The mural offers a timeline that stretches back to the Civil War, highlighting local government, politics, and the African American population in Marion County. Ob Samuel Jr., a local attorney, shared his connection to the mural through Virgil Hawkins, who fought for the integration of the University of Florida law school.

    “He’s the guy that fought for the integration of the University of Florida law school, so he was very influential there, and though he never actually attended the University of Florida law school, but through his efforts, it became integrated, and thus opened an opportunity for me to enter law school,” Samuel said.

    The mural also honors black entrepreneurship and excellence, inspiring individuals like Samuel to continue the legacy.

    “They had a great impact as far as black entrepreneurship. They motivated me. And that’s when I had the opportunity to purchase this building. I felt a certain spirit about it, you know, a certain inspiration to carrying on their legacy for black excellence,” he said.

    This home, preserved a few blocks from its original location, was where black people in Marion County went for health and well-being.

    Dr. Effie Carrie Mitchell, the first black woman licensed to practice medicine in Florida, operated a drug store and was married to Dr. Lee Royal Hampton, a dentist.

    The Hampton Center, named after him, still trains people to care for teeth today and sits across a baseball field from the mural.

    The mural also highlights other significant establishments, such as the Ocala Bazaar, an African-owned dry goods store with over 20 employees, and the Metropolitan Blank Bank, the first African American bank in Marion County and Florida, and the first chartered black corporation in the state. The Ocala textile mill employed over 100 people.

    The Ocala Black History Mural is a living testament to the area’s rich history, encouraging passersby to explore and learn about the figures and events that shaped the community.

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  • Sacramento region celebrates Kwanzaa with unity and cultural festivities

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    BY MOSCOW AND KYIV. WELL, TODAY MARKS THE FIRST DAY OF KWANZAA. IT’S A CELEBRATION THAT HONORS AFRICAN AMERICAN HERITAGE. THE ANNUAL CELEBRATION HAS DEEP ROOTS HERE IN CALIFORNIA. KCRA 3’S CECIL HANNIBAL IS LIVE IN RANCHO CORDOVA, WHERE THE COMMUNITY IS GATHERED TONIGHT. DEEP ROOTS IS FOR SURE. THIS IS THE FIRST DAY OF KWANZAA, OF COURSE, AND IF YOU DIDN’T KNOW, IT WAS ACTUALLY CREATED IN SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA NEARLY 60 YEARS AGO. NOW, THIS SEVEN DAY CELEBRATION, THIS HOLIDAY IS CELEBRATED BY PEOPLE AROUND THE WORLD OF AFRICAN DESCENT. THIS EVENT IS STILL GOING ON RIGHT NOW. FOR A CLOSER LOOK INSIDE, I WANT TO SHOW YOU THIS VIDEO. IF YOU CAN TAKE A LOOK AT YOUR SCREEN FOR ME REAL QUICK. EVERYONE IS WELCOME TO THIS EVENT, REGARDLESS OF RACE OR CULTURAL BACKGROUND. IT’S A CHANCE TO, OF COURSE, COME LEARN, BUT ALSO TO BUY THINGS FROM HANDMADE NECKLACES TO CLOTHING AND EVEN BOOKS THAT TEACH ABOUT BLACK HISTORY IN THE PAN-AFRICAN MOVEMENT. THERE’S A NUMBER OF SPEAKERS TONIGHT FROM THE MAYOR OF RANCHO CORDOVA. RIGHT NOW, A PASTOR IS SPEAKING. WE ALSO HEARD FROM THE ORGANIZER, MICHAEL HARRIS, WHO SAYS HE STUDIED UNDER THE ORIGINAL CREATOR OF KWANZAA, DOCTOR MAULANA KARENGA, AND EXPLAINED WHY THIS HOLIDAY IS SIGNIFICANT TO THE BLACK COMMUNITY AND HIS NOTION OF A HOLIDAY THAT CELEBRATED AFRICAN CULTURE IN A TIME WHERE BLACK FOLKS DIDN’T HAVE NO CLUE WHO THEY WERE. WITH NO BLACK STUDIES PROGRAM, AND FOR PEOPLE OF AFRICAN DESCENT TO DO A DEEP DIVE AND ASK THOSE QUESTIONS. WHO ARE YOU? WHO ARE YOU REALLY? ARE YOU? WHAT IS AFRICA TO YOU? WHAT IS AMERICA TO YOU? SO BACK OUT HERE LIVE. THEY ARE ALSO HAVING LIVE CULTURAL PERFORMANCES, REFRESHMENTS AND ARTS AND CRAFTS FOR KIDS. NOW THERE ARE SEVEN DAYS OF KWANZAA. TODAY IS UMOJA, WHICH STANDS FOR UNITY. SO THE HOPE OF THIS EVENT IS TO REALLY BRING PEOPLE TOGETHER ALL IN ONE ROOM AND TO CELEBRATE THIS HOLIDAY TOGETHER. RANC

    Sacramento region celebrates Kwanzaa with unity and cultural festivities

    Sacramento region celebrates Kwanzaa with unity and cultural festivities

    Updated: 12:20 AM PST Dec 27, 2025

    Editorial Standards

    The city of Rancho Cordova celebrated the first day of Kwanzaa with a cultural event inviting people from across Sacramento County to city hall on Friday.It’s part of the 27th Annual California State Capitol Kwanzaa celebration, organized by Michael Harris, president and CEO of the California Black Agriculture Working Group.Harris, who studied under Kwanzaa’s original creator, Dr. Maulana Karenga, emphasized the holiday’s significance to the Black community. “We carry the oldest, largest, most accurate notion of authentic California Pan African Ancestry,” Harris said. The event, which began on the first day of Kwanzaa, Dec. 26, features a variety of activities, including live cultural performances, arts and crafts for children, and a “Farm to Fork Friday” event offering samples of Pan African cuisine. The celebration includes speeches from notable figures such as Pastor Carl Dee Amattoe and Rancho Cordova Mayor Garrett Gatewood, along with other regional community leaders.Guests can also purchase handmade items like necklaces and Afrocentric clothing. The event aims to bring people together from diverse backgrounds to honor African culture and the seven principles of Kwanzaa, starting with Umoja, which means unity. The celebration continues throughout the week, offering a chance for reflection, dialogue, and shared creativity in the spirit of unity.See more coverage of top California stories here | Download our app | Subscribe to our morning newsletter | Find us on YouTube here and subscribe to our channel

    The city of Rancho Cordova celebrated the first day of Kwanzaa with a cultural event inviting people from across Sacramento County to city hall on Friday.

    It’s part of the 27th Annual California State Capitol Kwanzaa celebration, organized by Michael Harris, president and CEO of the California Black Agriculture Working Group.

    Harris, who studied under Kwanzaa’s original creator, Dr. Maulana Karenga, emphasized the holiday’s significance to the Black community.

    “We carry the oldest, largest, most accurate notion of authentic California Pan African Ancestry,” Harris said.

    The event, which began on the first day of Kwanzaa, Dec. 26, features a variety of activities, including live cultural performances, arts and crafts for children, and a “Farm to Fork Friday” event offering samples of Pan African cuisine.

    The celebration includes speeches from notable figures such as Pastor Carl Dee Amattoe and Rancho Cordova Mayor Garrett Gatewood, along with other regional community leaders.

    Guests can also purchase handmade items like necklaces and Afrocentric clothing.

    The event aims to bring people together from diverse backgrounds to honor African culture and the seven principles of Kwanzaa, starting with Umoja, which means unity.

    The celebration continues throughout the week, offering a chance for reflection, dialogue, and shared creativity in the spirit of unity.

    See more coverage of top California stories here | Download our app | Subscribe to our morning newsletter | Find us on YouTube here and subscribe to our channel

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  • Commentary: McCarthyism in a MAGA hat? Trump’s campus deal sounds familiar to her

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    Bettina Aptheker was a 20-year-old sophomore at UC Berkeley when she climbed on top of a police car, barefoot so she wouldn’t damage it, and helped start the Free Speech Movement.

    “Power concedes nothing without a demand,” she told a crowd gathered in Sproul Plaza on that October Thursday in 1964, quoting abolitionist Frederick Douglass.

    She was blinded by the lights of the television cameras, but the students roared back approval, and “their energy just sort of went through my whole body,” she told me.

    Berkeley, as Aptheker describes it, was still caught in the tail end of the McCarthyism of the 1950s, when the 1st Amendment was almost felled by fear of government reprisals. Days earlier, administrators had passed rules that cracked down on political speech on campus.

    Aptheker and other students had planned a peaceful protest, only to have police roll up and arrest a graduate student named Jack Weinberg, a lanky guy with floppy hair and a mustache who had spent the summer working for the civil rights movement.

    Well-versed in those non-violent methods that were finally winning a bit of equality for Black Americans, hundreds of students sat down around the cruiser, remaining there more than 30 hours — while hecklers threw eggs and cigarette butts and police massed at the periphery — before the protesters successfully negotiated with the university to restore free speech on campus.

    History was made, and the Free Speech Movement born through the most American of traits — courage, passion and the invincibility of youth.

    “You can’t imagine something like that happening today,” Aptheker said of their success. “It was a different time period, but it feels very similar to the kind of repression that’s going on now.”

    Under the standards President Trump is pushing on the University of Southern California and eight other institutions, Aptheker would likely be arrested, using “lawful force if necessary,” as his 10-page “compact for academic excellence” requires. And the protest of the students would crushed by policies that would demand “civility” over freedom.

    If you somehow missed his latest attack on higher education, the Trump administration sent this compact to USC and eight other institutions Thursday, asking them to acquiesce to a list of demands in return for the carrot of front-of-the-line access to federal grants and benefits.

    While voluntary, the agreement threatens strongman-style, that institutions of higher education are free to develop models and values other than those below, if the institution elects to forgo federal benefits.”

    That’s the stick, the loss of federal funding. UCLA, Berkeley and California’s other public universities can tell you what it feels like to get thumped with it.

    “It’s intended to roll back any of the gains we’ve made,” Aptheker said of Trump’s policies. “No university should make any kind of deal with him.”

    The greatest problem with this nefarious pact is that much of it sounds on the surface to be reasonable, if not desirable. My favorite part: A demand that the sky-high tuition of signatory universities be frozen for five years.

    USC tuition currently comes in at close to $70,000 a year without housing. What normal parent thinks that sounds doable?

    Even the parts about protests sound, on the surface, no big deal.

    “Truth-seeking is a core function of institutions of higher education. Fulfilling this mission requires maintaining a vibrant marketplace of ideas where different views can be explored, debated, and challenged,” the document reads. “Signatories acknowledge that the freedom to debate requires conditions of civility.”

    Civility like taking your shoes off before climbing on a police car, right?

    As with all things Trump, though, the devil isn’t even in the details. It’s right there in black and white. The agreement requires civility, Trump style. That includes abolishing anything that could “delay or disrupt class instruction,” which is pretty much every protest, with or without footwear.

    Any university that signs on also would be agreeing to “transforming or abolishing institutional units that purposefully punish, belittle, and even spark violence against conservative ideas.”

    So no more talking bad about far-right ideas, folks. That’s belittling to our racists, misogynists, Christian nationalists and conservative snowflakes of all persuasions. Take, for example, the increasingly popular conservative idea that slavery was actually good for Black people, or at least not that bad.

    Florida famously adopted educational standards in 2023 that argue slavery helped Black people learn useful skills. In another especially egregious example from the conservative educational nonprofit PragerU, a video for kids about Christoper Columbus has the explorer arguing, “Being taken as a slave is better than being killed, no? I don’t see the problem.”

    And of course, Trump is busy purging the Smithsonian of any hints that slavery was a stain on our history.

    Would it be violating Trump’s civility standards for a Black history professor to belittle such ideas as unserious and bonkers? What about debates in a feminism class that discuss Charlie Kirk’s comment that a good reason for women to go to college is to find a husband?

    Or what about an environmental science class that teaches accurately that climate change denial is unscientific, and that it was at best anti-intellectual when Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth recently referred to efforts to save the planet as “crap”? Would that be uncivil and belittling to conservatives?

    Belittle is a tiny word with big reach. I worry that entire academic departments could be felled by it, and certainly professors of certain persuasions.

    Aptheker, now 81, went on to become just the sort of professor Trump would likely loathe, teaching about freedom and inclusivity at UC Santa Cruz for decades. It was there that I first heard her lecture. I was a mixed-race kid who had been the target of more than one racial slur growing up, but I had never heard my personal experiences put into the larger context of being a person of color or a woman.

    Listening to Aptheker and professors like her, I learned not only how to see my life within the broader fabric of society, but learned how collective action has improved conditions for the most vulnerable among us, decade after decade.

    It is ultimately this knowledge that Trump wants to crush — that while power concedes nothing without a demand, collective demands work because they are a power of their own.

    Even more than silencing students or smashing protests, Trump’s compact seeks to purge this truth, and those who hold it, from the system. Signing this so-called deal isn’t just a betrayal of students, it’s a betrayal of the mission of every university worth its tuition, and a betrayal of the values that uphold our democracy.

    Gov. Gavin Newsom has rightfully threatened to withhold state funding from any California university that signs, writing on social media that the Golden State “will not bankroll schools that sell out their students, professors, researchers, and surrender academic freedom.”

    Of course, some universities will sign it willingly. University of Texas called it an “honor” to be asked. There will always be those who collaborate in their own demise.

    But authoritarians live with the constant fear that people like Aptheker will teach a new generation their hard-won lessons, will open their minds to bold ideas and will question old realities that are not as unbreakable as they might appear. Universities, far from assuaging that constant fear, should fight to make it a reality.

    Anything less belittles the very point of a university education.

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    Anita Chabria

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  • Migrants not taking jobs from Black, Hispanic people, data shows

    Migrants not taking jobs from Black, Hispanic people, data shows

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    WASHINGTON — Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump promises the biggest deportation event the U.S. has ever seen if he is elected — a promise he has predicated, in part, on the notion that immigrants in the U.S. legally and illegally are stealing what he calls “Black jobs” and “Hispanic jobs.”

    But government data show immigrant labor contributes to economic growth and provides promotional opportunities for native-born workers. And a mass deportation event would cost U.S. taxpayers up to a trillion dollars and could cause the cost of living, including food and housing, to skyrocket, economists say.

    Here’s a look at immigration and the U.S. labor market, and what Trump’s plan would mean for the U.S. economy.

    What has Trump said?

    Trump, who often uses anti-immigrant rhetoric, has referred during his campaign to immigrants he says are taking “Black jobs” and “Hispanic jobs.”

    At a recent rally in Reading, Pennsylvania, Trump said, “You have an invasion of people into our country.”

    “They’re going to be attacking — and they already are — Black population jobs, the Hispanic population jobs, and they’re attacking union jobs too,” Trump said. “So when you see the border, it’s not just the crime. Your jobs are being taken away too.”

    Trump’s rhetoric about jobs has been widely condemned by Democrats and Black leaders who have called it a racist and insulting way of implying that Black and Hispanic Americans take menial jobs.

    Janiyah Thomas, the director of Team Trump Black Media, told The Associated Press that Democrats “continue to prioritize the interests of illegal immigrants over our own Black Americans who were born in this country” and that Biden-era job gains in the labor market were primarily due to illegal immigration.

    The latest U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Current Population Survey data shows that as of 2023, native-born Black workers are most predominantly employed in management and financial operations, sales and office support roles, while native-born Latino workers are most often employed in management, office support, sales and service occupations.

    Foreign-born, noncitizen Black workers are most often represented in transportation and health care support roles, and foreign-born, noncitizen Hispanic workers are most often represented in construction, building and grounds cleaning.

    How has immigration contributed to U.S. growth?

    In 2023, international migrants — primarily from Latin America — accounted for more than two-thirds of the population growth in the United States, and so far this decade they have made up almost three-quarters of U.S. growth.

    After hitting a record high in December 2023, the number of migrants crossing the border has plummeted.

    The claim that immigrants are taking employment opportunities from native-born Americans is repeated by Trump’s advisers. They often cite a report produced by Steven Camarota, research director for the Center for Immigration Studies, a right-leaning think tank that seeks a reduced immigration flow into the U.S. The report combines job numbers for immigrants in the U.S. legally and illegally to reinforce the claim that foreigners are disproportionately driving U.S. labor growth and reaping most of the benefits.

    Camarota’s report states that 971,000 more U.S.-born Americans were employed in May 2024 compared to May 2019, prior to the pandemic, while the number of employed immigrants has increased by 3.2 million.

    It is true that international migrants have become a primary driver of population growth this decade, increasing their share of the overall population as fewer children are being born in the U.S. compared with years past. That’s according to the U.S. Census Bureau’s annual American Community Survey.

    Are immigrants taking native-born workers’ jobs?

    Economists who study immigrant labor’s impact on the economy say that people who are in the U.S. illegally are not taking native citizens’ jobs, because the roles that these immigrant workers take on are most often positions that native workers are unwilling to fill, such as agriculture and food processing jobs.

    Giovanni Peri, a labor economist at the University of California, Davis, conducted research that explores the impact of the 1980 influx of Cuban immigrants in Miami (the so-called Mariel Boatlift) on Black workers’ employment. The study determined that the wages of Miami’s Black and Hispanic workers moved above those in other cities that did not have a surge of immigrant workers.

    Peri told the AP that the presence of new immigrant labor often improves employment outcomes for native-born workers, who often have different language and skill sets compared to new immigrants.

    In addition, there are not a fixed number of jobs in the U.S., immigrants tend to contribute to the survival of existing firms (opening up new opportunities for native workers) and there are currently more jobs available than there are workers available to take them. U.S. natives have low interest in working in labor-intensive agriculture and food production roles.

    “We have many more vacancies than workers in this type of manual labor, in fact we need many more of them to fill these roles,” Peri said.

    Stan Marek, who employs roughly 1,000 workers at his Houston construction firm, Marek Brothers Holdings LLC, said he has seen this firsthand.

    Asked if immigrants in the U.S. illegally are taking jobs from native-born workers, he said, “Absolutely not, unequivocally.”

    “Many of my workers are retiring, and their kids are not going to come into construction and the trades,” Marek said. He added that the U.S. needs an identification system that addresses national security concerns so those who are in the country illegally can work.

    “There’s not enough blue-collar labor here,” he said.

    Data also shows when there are not enough workers to fill these roles, firms will automate their jobs with machines and technology investments, rather than turn to native workers.

    Dartmouth College economist Ethan Lewis said, “There is a vast amount of research on the labor market impact of immigration in the U.S., most of which concludes the impact on less-skilled workers is fairly small and, if anything, jobs for U.S.-born workers might by created rather than ‘taken’ by immigrants.”

    How would mass deportations affect the economy?

    Trump has said he would focus on rounding up migrants by deploying the National Guard, whose troops can be activated on orders of a governor.

    Peri says a deportation program would cost the U.S. up to a trillion dollars and would result in massive losses to the U.S. economy. The cost of food and other basic items would soar.

    “They are massive contributors to our economy and we wouldn’t have fruits and vegetables, we wouldn’t have our gardens,” he said, if the deportation effort comes to fruition.

    Since the labor force made up of people in the U.S. illegally makes up roughly 4% of U.S. GDP annually, he estimates that mass deportation would result in a roughly $1 trillion loss.

    “It’s a cost that is mind-boggling in terms of income loss, production loss and there will be a logistical cost to organize this,” he said.

    Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said this month in a podcast interview with David Axelrod that immigrant labor “is an important source of labor force growth.”

    “On balance, it helps the economy grow without actually depriving other people of jobs,” she said. “It’s not in any way a zero-sum game.”

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  • Federal court reviews civil rights lawsuit alleging environmental racism in a Louisiana parish

    Federal court reviews civil rights lawsuit alleging environmental racism in a Louisiana parish

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    NEW ORLEANS — A federal appellate court is reviewing a civil rights lawsuit alleging a south Louisiana parish engaged in racist land-use policies to place polluting industries in majority-Black communities.

    The Fifth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans heard oral arguments on Monday for a lawsuit filed by community groups claiming St. James Parish “intentionally discriminated against Black residents” by encouraging industrial facilities to be built in areas with predominantly Black populations “while explicitly sparing White residents from the risk of environmental harm.”

    The groups, Inclusive Louisiana, Rise St. James and Mt. Triumph Baptist Church, seek a halt to future industrial development in the parish. They say they have suffered health impacts from pollution, diminished property values and violations of religious liberty as a result of the parish’s land use system.

    The plaintiffs say that 20 of the 24 industrial facilities were in two sections of the parish with majority-Black populations when they filed the complaint in March 2023.

    The parish is located along a heavily industrialized stretch of the Mississippi River between New Orleans and Baton Rouge, Louisiana, known as the Chemical Corridor, often referred to by environmental groups as “Cancer Alley” because of the high levels of suspected cancer-causing pollution emitted there.

    The lawsuit comes as the federal government has taken steps during the Biden administration to address the legacy of environmental racism. Federal officials have written stricter environmental protections and committed tens of billions of dollars in funding.

    “The decisions made in this courtroom will resonate far beyond our borders, impacting frontline communities nationwide who are yearning for acknowledgment and accountability,” said Shamell Lavigne, a St. James Parish resident and a leader with Rise St. James, a local environmental justice organization. “We are advocating for our future and the wellbeing of our children.”

    In November 2023, U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier of the Eastern District of Louisiana had dismissed the lawsuit against St. James Parish largely on procedural grounds, ruling the plaintiffs had filed their lawsuit too late. But he added, “this Court cannot say that their claims lack a basis in fact or rely on a meritless legal theory.”

    Barbier had accepted the parish’s argument that the lawsuit hinged on its 2014 land-use plan, which generally shielded white neighborhoods from industrial development and left majority-Black neighborhoods, schools and churches without the same protections. The plan also described largely Black sections of the parish as “future industrial” sites, a classification described by the plaintiffs as a form of “racial cleansing.”

    Regardless, the plaintiffs had missed the legal window to sue the parish by not filing their lawsuit within one year after the land-use plan was formalized, as required by statute of limitations laws, the judge had ruled.

    During the appeals hearing, Fifth Circuit Court Judge Catharina Haynes said that the argument raised by the parish “basically makes it sound like if you didn’t sue within a year, well, heck, you can be discriminated against in a bunch of different ways for the rest of eternity.”

    Carroll Devillier, Jr., a lawyer representing the parish, responded that residents had already had the opportunity to challenge the 2014 land use plan when it was being formulated. He also said the plaintiffs “have nothing” to prove they suffered from harms from discrimination in the year before they filed their lawsuit in March 2023.

    Haynes also observed that parish officials, including those representing majority Black areas, had voted to support the 2014 land-use plan. “Why would you vote to discriminate against yourself?” she asked.

    Pamela Spees, a lawyer for the Center of Constitutional Rights representing the plaintiffs, said the land-use plan could be approved by government officials but still reinforce discrimination.

    After the hearing, Spees said that the approval of the land use plan had to be understood in the context of ongoing structural racism.

    At its core, the lawsuit alleges civil rights violations under the 13th and 14th amendments, stating the land-use system in the parish allowing for industrial buildout primarily in majority-Black communities remains shaped by the history of slavery, white supremacy and Jim Crow laws and governance.

    The parish’s 2014 land use plan is just one piece of evidence among many revealing persistent and ongoing discrimination by the parish, Spees said.

    As evidence of more recent alleged discrimination, the lawsuit highlights the parish’s decision in August 2022 to impose a moratorium on large solar complexes after a proposed 3,900-acre (1,580-hectare) solar project upset residents of the mostly white neighborhood of Vacherie, who expressed concerns about lowering property values and debris from storms. The parish did not take up a request for a moratorium on heavy industrial expansion raised by the plaintiffs, the lawsuit states.

    The parish’s lawyer, Devillier, Jr., told judges the solar moratorium had applied to the entire parish and that the plaintiffs’ request for a moratorium on industrial expansion, which initially came in the form of a letter sent by the plaintiffs in 2019, was “never formally considered” by the parish.

    The lawsuit also argues the parish failed to identify and protect the likely hundreds of burial sites of enslaved people by allowing industrial facilities to build on and limit access to the areas, preventing the descendants of slaves from memorializing the sites. The federal judge tossed out that part of the lawsuit, noting the sites were on private property not owned by the parish.

    Lawyers for St. James Parish have said the lawsuit employed overreaching claims and “inflammatory rhetoric.” Victor J. Franckiewicz, who has served as special counsel to St. James Parish for land-use matters since 2013, declined to comment after the hearing. St. James Parish did not respond to a request for comment.

    “How can a judge rule a statute of limitations on clean air, clean water and clean soil? There should be none,” said Gail LeBoeuf, 72, a life-long St. James resident and a plaintiff in the case who co-founded Inclusive Louisiana.

    The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency found in a 2003 report that St. James Parish ranked higher than the national average for certain cancer deaths. Both majority Black sections of the parish are ranked as having a high risk of cancer from toxic pollutants according to an EPA screening tool based on emissions reported by nearby facilities, the complaint noted.

    ___

    Jack Brook is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues. Follow Brook on the social platform X: @jack_brook96.

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  • Jimmy Carter at 100: A century of changes for a president, the US and the world since 1924

    Jimmy Carter at 100: A century of changes for a president, the US and the world since 1924

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    Already the longest-lived of the 45 men to serve as U.S. president, Jimmy Carter is about to reach the century mark.

    The 39th president, who remains under home hospice care, will turn 100 on Tuesday, Oct. 1, celebrating in the same south Georgia town where he was born in 1924.

    Here are some notable markers for Carter, the nation and the world over his long life.

    Booms most everywhere — but not Plains

    Carter has seen the U.S. population nearly triple. The U.S. has about 330 million residents; there were about 114 million in 1924 and 220 million when Carter was inaugurated in 1977. The global population has more than quadrupled, from 1.9 billion to more than 8.1 billion. It already had more than doubled to 4.36 billion by the time he became president.

    That boom has not reached Plains, where Carter has lived more than 80 of his 100 years. His wife Rosalynn, who died in 2023 at age 96, also was born in Plains.

    Their town comprised fewer than 500 people in the 1920s and has about 700 today; much of the local economy revolves around its most famous residents.

    When James Earl Carter Jr. was born, life expectancy for American males was 58. It’s now 75.

    TV, radio and presidential maps

    NBC first debuted a red-and-blue electoral map in the 1976 election between then-President Gerald Ford, a Republican, and Carter, the Democratic challenger. But NBC’s John Chancellor made Carter’s states red and Ford’s blue. Some other early versions of color electoral maps used yellow and blue because red was associated with Soviet and Chinese communism.

    It wasn’t until the 1990s that networks settled on blue for Democratic-won states and red for GOP-won states. “Red state” and “blue state” did not become a permanent part of the American political lexicon until after the disputed 2000 election between Al Gore and George W. Bush.

    Carter was 14 when Franklin D. Roosevelt made the first presidential television appearance. Warren Harding became the first radio president two years before Carter’s birth.

    Attention shoppers

    There was no Amazon Prime in 1924, but you could order a build-it-yourself house from a catalog. Sears Roebuck Gladstone’s three-bedroom model went for $2,025, which was slightly less than the average worker’s annual income.

    Walmart didn’t exist, but local general stores served the same purpose. Ballpark prices: loaf of bread, 9 cents; gallon of milk, 54 cents; gallon of gas, 11 cents.

    Inflation helped drive Carter from office, as it has dogged President Joe Biden. The average gallon in 1980, Carter’s last full year in office, was about $3.25 when adjusted for inflation. That’s just 3 cents more than AAA’s current national average.

    From suffragettes to Kamala Harris

    The 19th Amendment that extended voting rights to women — almost exclusively white women at the time — was ratified in 1920, four years before Carter’s birth. The Voting Rights Act that widened the franchise to Black Americans passed in 1965 as Carter was preparing his first bid for Georgia governor.

    Now, Carter is poised to cast a mail ballot for Vice President Kamala Harris. She would become the first woman, first Black woman and first person of South Asian descent to reach the Oval Office. Grandson Jason Carter said the former president is holding on in part because he is excited about the chance to see Harris make history.

    Immigration, isolationism and ‘America First’

    For all the shifts in U.S. politics, some things stay the same. Or at least come back around.

    Carter was born in an era of isolationism, protectionism and white Christian nationalism — all elements of the right in the ongoing Donald Trump era. In 2024, Trump is promising the largest deportation effort in U.S. history, while tightening legal immigration. He has said immigrants are “poisoning the blood of our country.”

    Five months before Carter was born, President Calvin Coolidge signed the Immigration Act of 1924. The law created the U.S. Border Patrol and sharply curtailed immigration, limiting admission mostly to migrants from western Europe. Asians were banned entirely. Congress described its purpose plainly: “preserve the ideal of U.S. homogeneity.” The Ku Klux Klan followed in 1925 and 1926 with marches on Washington promoting white supremacy.

    Trump also has called for sweeping tariffs on foreign imports, part of his “America First” agenda. In 1922, Congress enacted tariffs intended to help U.S. manufacturers. After stock market losses in 1929, lawmakers added the 1930 Smoot-Hawley tariffs, ostensibly to help American farmers. The Great Depression followed anyway. In the 1930s, as Carter became politically aware, the political right that countered FDR was driven in part by a movement that opposed international engagement. Those conservatives’ slogan: “America First.”

    America’s and Carter’s pastime

    Carter is the Atlanta Braves’ most famous fan. Jason Carter says the former president still enjoys watching his favorite baseball team.

    In the 1990s, when the Braves were annual features in the October playoffs, Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter were often spotted in the owner’s box with media mogul Ted Turner and Jane Fonda, then Turner’s wife. The Braves moved to Atlanta from Milwaukee between Carter’s failed run for governor in 1966 and his victory four years later. Then-Gov. Carter was sitting in the first row of Atlanta Fulton-County Stadium on April 9, 1974, when Henry Aaron hit his 715th home run to break Babe Ruth’s career record.

    When Carter was born, the Braves were still in Boston, their original city. Ruth had just completed his fifth season for the New York Yankees. He had hit 284 home runs to that point (still 430 short of his career total) and the original Yankee Stadium — “The House that Ruth Built” — had been open less than 18 months.

    Booze, Billy and Billy Beer

    Prohibition had been in effect for four years when Carter was born and wouldn’t be lifted until he was 9. The Carters were never prodigious drinkers. They served only wine at state dinners and other White House functions, though it’s a common misconception that they did so because of their Baptist mores. It was more because Carter has always been frugal: He didn’t want taxpayers or the residence account (his and Rosalynn’s personal money) to cover more expensive hard liquor.

    Carter’s younger brother Billy, who owned a Plains gas station and died in 1988, had different tastes. He marketed his own brand, Billy Beer, once Carter became president. News sources reported that Billy Carter snagged a $50,000 annual licensing fee from one brewer. That’s about $215,000 today. The president’s annual salary at the time was $200,000 — it’s now $400,000.

    The debt: More Carter frugality

    The Times Square debt clock didn’t debut until Carter was in his early 60s and out of the White House. But for anyone counting the $35 trillion debt, Carter doesn’t merit much mention. The man who would wash Ziploc bags to reuse them added less than $300 billion to the national debt, which stood below $1 trillion when he left office.

    Other presidents

    Carter has lived through 40% of U.S. history since the Declaration of Independence in 1776 and more than a third of all U.S. administrations since George Washington took office in 1789 — nine before Carter was president, his own and seven since.

    When Carter took office, just two presidents, John Adams and Herbert Hoover, had lived to be 90. Since then, Ford, Ronald Reagan, Carter and George H.W. Bush all reached at least 93.

    ——-

    This story was first published on Sep. 28, 2024. It was updated on Oct. 1, 2024 to correct that only one other former president, John Adams, lived to be at least 90. Herbert Hoover died at 90 in 1964.

    ___

    Follow Barrow at https://twitter.com/BillBarrowAP

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  • California to apologize for state’s legacy of racism against Black Americans under new law

    California to apologize for state’s legacy of racism against Black Americans under new law

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    SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California will formally apologize for slavery and its lingering effects on Black Americans in the state under a new law Gov. Gavin Newsom signed Thursday.

    The legislation was part of a package of reparations bills introduced this year that seek to offer repair for decades of policies that drove racial disparities for African Americans. Newsom also approved laws to improve protections against hair discrimination for athletes and increase oversight over the banning of books in state prisons.

    “The State of California accepts responsibility for the role we played in promoting, facilitating, and permitting the institution of slavery, as well as its enduring legacy of persistent racial disparities,” the Democratic governor said in a statement. “Building on decades of work, California is now taking another important step forward in recognizing the grave injustices of the past –- and making amends for the harms caused.”

    Newsom signed the bills after vetoing a proposal Wednesday that would have helped Black families reclaim or be compensated for property that was unjustly seized by the government through eminent domain. The bill by itself would not have been able to take full effect because lawmakers blocked another bill to create a reparations agency that would have reviewed claims.

    California entered the union as a free state in 1850. In practice, it sanctioned slavery and approved policies and practices that thwarted Black people from owning homes and starting businesses. Black families were terrorized, their communities aggressively policed and their neighborhoods polluted, according to a report published by a first-in-the-nation state reparations task force.

    Efforts to study reparations at the federal level have stalled in Congress for decades. Illinois and New York state passed laws in recent years creating reparations commissions. Local officials in Boston and New York City have voted to create task forces studying reparations. Evanston, Illinois, launched a program to provide housing assistance to Black residents to help atone for past discrimination.

    California has moved further along on the issue than any other state. But state lawmakers did not introduce legislation this year to give widespread direct payments to African Americans, which frustrated some reparations advocates.

    Newsom approved a $297.9 billion budget in June that included up to $12 million for reparations legislation that became law.

    He already signed laws included in the reparations package aimed at improving outcomes for students of color in K-12 career education programs. Another proposal the Black caucus backed this year that would ban forced labor as a punishment for crime in the state constitution will be on the ballot in November.

    State Assemblymember Isaac Bryan, a Democrat representing Culver City, called legislation he authored to increase oversight over books banned in state prisons “a first step” to fix a “shadowy” process in which the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation decides which books to ban.

    The corrections department maintains a list of disapproved publications it bans after determining the content could pose a security threat, includes obscene material or otherwise violates department rules.

    The new law authorizes the Office of the Inspector General, which oversees the state prison system, to review works on the list and evaluate the department’s reasoning for banning them. It requires the agency to notify the office of any changes made to the list, and it makes the office post the list on its website.

    “We need transparency in this process,” Bryan said. “We need to know what books are banned, and we need a mechanism for removing books off of that list.”

    ___

    Sophie Austin is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues. Follow Austin on X: @sophieadanna

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  • Belgium’s appalling abuse legacy clouds pope’s trip as survivors pen letter seeking reparations

    Belgium’s appalling abuse legacy clouds pope’s trip as survivors pen letter seeking reparations

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    VATICAN CITY (AP) — Fresh off a four-nation tour of Asia, where he saw record-setting crowds and vibrant church communities, Pope Francis travels to Belgium this week as the once-staunchly Catholic country again confronts its appalling legacy of clergy sex abuse and institutional cover-up.

    He will receive a sobering welcome: Abuse survivors have penned an open letter to Francis, asking him to launch a universal system of church reparations and assume responsibility for the wreckage that abuse has wrought on their lives.

    The open letter, a copy of which was obtained by The Associated Press, will be hand delivered to Francis when he meets with 15 survivors during his four-day visit starting Thursday, according to the Rev. Rik Deville, who has been advocating on behalf of abuse survivors for over a quarter-century.

    Another unpleasant welcome has come from Belgium’s parliament, which spent the past year hearing victims recount harrowing stories of predator priests and this week announced a follow-on investigation. The scope? How Belgian judicial and law enforcement authorities bungled a massive 2010 criminal investigation into the church’s sex crimes.

    And in a cascade of events underscoring how easily the scandals still surface, one bishop first had to withdraw himself from attending the pope’s events because he had recently warmly eulogized a priest accused of involvement in an abuse case. And late Wednesday, the pope’s main Mass had to be changed because the final hymn was composed by an alleged abuser.

    None of this was foreseen when Belgian King Philippe and Queen Mathilde met with Francis in the Vatican Apostolic Palace on Sept. 14, 2023 and invited him to visit to commemorate the 600th anniversary of the founding of Belgium’s two Catholic universities.

    That anniversary is technically the reason for Francis’ trip, which also includes a stopover in Luxembourg on Thursday and a Mass on Sunday in Brussels to beatify a 17th century mystic nun.

    And in Belgium, Francis will speak about two of his pet priorities during visits to the French and Flemish campuses of the Leuven university: Immigration and climate, according to Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni.

    But Bruni acknowledged in a rare preview that Francis will certainly raise Belgium’s abuse record.

    “Clearly the pope is aware of the difficulty, and that for years there has been suffering in Belgium, and certainly we can expect a reference in this sense,” Bruni said.

    Revelations of Belgium’s horrific abuse scandal have dribbled out in bits over a quarter-century, punctuated by the bombshell year in 2010, when the country’s longest-serving bishop, Bruges Bishop Roger Vangheluwe, was allowed to resign without punishment, after admitting he had sexually abused his nephew for 13 years.

    Two months later, Belgian police staged what were then unprecedented raids on Belgian church offices, the home of the country’s recently retired Archbishop Godfried Danneels and even the crypt of a prelate — a violation the Vatican decried at the time as “deplorable.”

    Danneels, a longtime friend of Francis, was caught on tape trying to persuade Vangheluwe’s nephew to keep quiet until the bishop retired. And finally, in September 2010, the church released a 200-page report compiled by child psychiatrist Peter Adriaenssens who said 507 people had come forward with stories of being molested by priests, including when they were as young as two. He identified at least 13 suicides by victims and attempts by six more.

    And despite everything that was known and already in the public domain, the scandal reared its head in a shocking new way last year, when a four-episode Flemish documentary, “Godvergeten” (Godforsaken) aired on public broadcaster VRT in the weeks surrounding the royal visit to the Vatican.

    For the first time, Belgian victims told their stories on camera one after another, showing Flemish viewers in their living rooms the scope of the scandal in their community, the depravity of the crimes and their systematic cover-up by the Catholic hierarchy.

    “We brought nothing new. We just put it all together. We brought the voices together,” said Ingrid Schildermans, the researcher and filmmaker behind Godvergeten. “We put all the things that happened on a timeline, so that they couldn’t say ‘It’s one rotten apple.’”

    Amid the public outrage that ensued, both a Flanders parliamentary committee and Belgium’s federal parliament opened official inquests and heard months of testimony from victims, experts and the Catholic hierarchy.

    Their testimonies cast new attention on a scandal that had already been blamed for the steep decline in the Catholic Church over a generation in Belgium, where church authorities don’t even publish statistics of weekly Mass attendance because the monthly rate is already in the single digits.

    By March, with a papal visit already announced, Francis finally took action and defrocked Vangheluwe, 14 years after he admitted to molesting his nephew. The laicization was seen as a clear bid by the Vatican to tamp down the outrage and remove an obvious problem clouding Francis’ visit.

    All of which has left a rather bitter taste among the Belgian public ahead of Francis’ visit, not least because Francis remained tight with Danneels even after his cover-up was exposed, and again showed ignorance of Belgium’s problem when he named the retired bishop of Ghent a cardinal in 2022. The bishop declined the honor because of his poor record dealing with abuse.

    The visit has also in some cases retraumatized victims, some of whom had sought to meet with the pope only to be told by church authorities they didn’t make the cut, said Schildermans.

    It’s a far different atmosphere than the rapturous welcome Francis received in Asia less than two weeks ago and far removed from the excitement that surrounded St. John Paul II when he toured Belgium in 1985.

    Even De Standaard, one of Belgium’s main dailies which long was seen as the most Catholic, had a big weekend takeout under the headline “How revolutionary is Pope Francis really?” The dead giveaway: Not really.

    Tuesday brought further evidence of how Belgium’s dreadful record of abuse, cover-up and insensitivity to victims had clouded Francis’ visit.

    Bishop Patrick Hoogmartens of northern Limburg announced he wouldn’t take part in celebratory papal events, after revelations that he had just warmly eulogized a priest who was known to have been involved in an abuse case.

    “I didn’t make the assessment that it would hurt an abuse victim from the 1970s,” he told TV Limburg.

    Late Wednesday, a spokesman for the church authorities, Geert De Kerpel, confirmed a story by VRT network that the choir will have to practice a new closing hymn, since otherwise the pope would have been listening to the melody of a composer-priest who was an alleged abuser.

    ___

    Casert reported from Brussels.

    ___

    Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.

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  • Today in History: September 23, Nixon’s ‘Checkers’ speech

    Today in History: September 23, Nixon’s ‘Checkers’ speech

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    Today is Monday, Sept. 23, the 267th day of 2024. There are 99 days left in the year.

    Today in history:

    On Sept. 23, 1952, Sen. Richard M. Nixon, R-Calif., salvaged his vice presidential nomination by appearing on television from Los Angeles to refute allegations of improper campaign fundraising in what became known as the “Checkers” speech for its reference to his family’s cocker spaniel.

    Also on this date:

    In 1780, British spy John Andre was captured along with papers revealing Benedict Arnold’s plot to surrender West Point to the British.

    In 1806, the Lewis and Clark expedition returned to St. Louis, more than two years after setting out for the Pacific Northwest.

    In 1955, a jury in Sumner, Mississippi, acquitted two white men, Roy Bryant and J.W. Milam, of killing Black teenager Emmett Till. (The two later admitted to the crime in an interview with Look magazine.)

    In 1957, nine Black students who entered Little Rock Central High School in Arkansas were forced to withdraw because of a white mob outside.

    In 2002, Gov. Gray Davis signed a law making California the first state to offer workers paid family leave.

    In 2018, capping a comeback from four back surgeries, Tiger Woods won the Tour Championship in Atlanta, the 80th victory of his PGA Tour career and his first in more than five years.

    In 2022, Roger Federer played his final professional match after an illustrious career that included 20 Grand Slam titles.

    Today’s Birthdays: Singer Julio Iglesias is 81. Actor/singer Mary Kay Place is 77. Rock star Bruce Springsteen is 75. Director/playwright George C. Wolfe is 70. Actor Rosalind Chao is 67. Actor Jason Alexander is 65. Actor Chi McBride is 63. Singer Ani DiFranco is 54. Producer-rapper Jermaine Dupri is 52. Filmmaker Yorgos Lanthimos is 51. Actor Anthony Mackie is 46. Actor Skylar Astin is 37. Tennis player Juan Martín del Potro is 36.

    Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.

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    By The Associated Press

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  • Trump vows to be ‘best friend’ to Jewish Americans, as allegations of ally’s antisemitism surface

    Trump vows to be ‘best friend’ to Jewish Americans, as allegations of ally’s antisemitism surface

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    WASHINGTON — Former President Donald Trump on Thursday decried antisemitism hours after an explosive CNN report detailed how one of his allies running for North Carolina governor made a series of racial and sexual comments on a website where he also referred to himself as a “black NAZI.”

    North Carolina Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson vowed to remain in the race despite the report, and the Trump campaign appeared to be distancing itself from the candidate while still calling the battleground state a vital part to winning back the White House. Trump has frequently voiced his support for Robinson, who has been considered a rising star in his party despite a history of inflammatory remarks about race and abortion.

    Trump did not comment on the allegations during his Thursday address to a group of Jewish donors in Washington. His campaign issued a statement about the CNN story that did not mention Robinson, saying instead that Trump “is focused on winning the White House and saving this country” and that North Carolina was a “vital part of that plan.”

    Robinson’s reported remarks — including a 2012 comment in which he said he preferred Adolf Hitler to the leadership in Washington — clashed with Trump’s denunciations of antisemitism in Washington and his claim that Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic nominee, sympathized with enemies of Israel. The story also could threaten Trump’s chances of winning North Carolina, a key battleground state, with Robinson already running well behind his Democratic opponent in public polls.

    “This story is not about the governor’s race in North Carolina. It’s about the presidential race,” said Paul Shumaker, a Republican pollster who’s worked for Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., and warned that Trump could risk losing a state he won in 2016 and 2020.

    “The question is going to be, does Mark Robinson cost Donald Trump the White House?” Shumaker added.

    After allegations against Robinson became public, a spokesman for Harris’ campaign, Ammar Moussa, reposted on social media a photo of Trump and the embattled candidate. “Donald Trump has a Mark Robinson problem,” he wrote.

    The North Carolina Republican Party issued a statement standing by Robinson, noting he “categorically denied the allegations made by CNN but that won’t stop the Left from trying to demonize him via personal attacks.”

    Trump has angled to make inroads among Black voters and frequently aligned himself with Robinson along the campaign trail, which has more and more frequently taken him to North Carolina. At a rally in Greensboro, he called Robinson “Martin Luther King on steroids” in reference to the civil rights leader, for his speaking ability.

    Robinson has been on the trail with Trump as recently as last month, when he appeared with the GOP nominee at an event in Asheboro, North Carolina.

    Recent polls of North Carolina voters show Trump and Harris locked in a close race. The same polls show Democrat Josh Stein with a roughly 10-point lead over Robinson.

    Both Trump and Harris, the Democratic nominee, were making appearances meant to fire up their core supporters, with Harris participating in a livestream with Oprah Winfrey.

    Trump appeared Thursday with Miriam Adelson, a co-owner of the NBA’s Dallas Mavericks and widow of billionaire casino magnate Sheldon Adelson.

    “My promise to Jewish Americans is this: With your vote, I will be your defender, your protector, and I will be the best friend Jewish Americans have ever had in the White House,” Trump said during the donor event in Washington, titled “Fighting Anti-Semitism in America.”

    “But in all fairness, I already am,” Trump added.

    Trump also has been criticized for his association with extremists who spew antisemitic rhetoric such as far-right activist Nick Fuentes and rapper Ye, formerly known as Kanye West. And when former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke endorsed Trump in 2016, Trump responded in a CNN interview that he knew “nothing about David Duke, I know nothing about white supremacists.”

    But during his four years in office Trump approved a series of policy changes long sought by many advocates of Israel, such as moving the U.S. embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem and recognizing Israel’s annexation of the Golan Heights.

    In his remarks, Trump criticized Harris over the Biden administration’s handling of the Israel-Hamas war and for what he called antisemitic protests on college campuses and elsewhere.

    “Kamala Harris has done absolutely nothing. She has not lifted a single finger to protect you or to protect your children,” Trump said. He also repeated a talking point that Jewish voters who vote for Democrats “should have their head examined.”

    Multiple attendees at the event said they weren’t familiar with the story about Robinson or declined to discuss it. Rep. Virginia Foxx, a conservative North Carolina Republican who was asked about the CNN report beforehand, told reporters she wasn’t taking questions.

    Later Thursday, Trump was scheduled to address the Israeli-American Council National Summit to honor the victims of Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel. That summit will also focus on the fight against antisemitism.

    Harris on Thursday faced pressure from parts of her liberal base over the war. Leaders of the Democratic protest vote movement “Uncommitted” said the group would not endorse Harris for president, but also urged supporters to vote against Trump. The group, which opposes the Biden administration’s handling of the Israel-Hamas war, has called for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and an end to U.S. weapons transfers to Israel.

    “Uncommitted” drew hundreds of thousands of votes in this year’s Democratic primaries, surfacing a rift within the party. The group has warned that some Democratic voters may stay home in November, particularly in places like Michigan.

    Harris’ campaign did not directly address the group’s announcement, but said in a statement that she will “continue working to bring the war in Gaza to an end in a way where Israel is secure, the hostages are released, the suffering in Gaza ends, and the Palestinian people can realize their right to dignity, security, freedom and self-determination.”

    _______

    Gomez Licon reported from Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Associated Press writer Thomas Beaumont in Des Moines, Iowa, contributed to this report.

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  • To pumped-up Democrats, Harris was everything Biden was not in confronting Trump in debate

    To pumped-up Democrats, Harris was everything Biden was not in confronting Trump in debate

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    WASHINGTON — To many Democrats, Kamala Harris was everything Joe Biden was not in confronting Donald Trump on the debate stage: forceful, fleet of foot, relentless in going after her opponent.

    In a pivot from Biden’s debate meltdown in June, Democrats who gathered in bars, watch parties and other venues Tuesday night found lots to cheer in her drive to rattle the Republican.

    In a race for the White House that surveys say is exceptionally close, with both sides looking for an edge, it was the Democrats who came away more exuberant after the nationally televised debate.

    “She prosecuted Donald Trump tonight,” said Alina Taylor, 51, a high school special education teacher who joined hundreds of people on a football field of the historically Black Salem Baptist Church of Abington in a suburb of Philadelphia, where people watched on a 33-foot (10 meter) screen.

    As for Trump, she said, “I was appalled” by his performance. “People were laughing at him because he wasn’t making very much sense.”

    In Seattle, people gathered at Massive, a queer nightclub where scores watched the debate on a projector set up in front of the club’s large disco ball. The crowd laughed and cheered when Trump branded Harris a Marxist. More cheers when the debate moderator called out Trump’s false claim that some states legalize the killing of babies after birth.

    “He’s getting smoked,” one said.

    But in Brentwood, Tennessee, Sarah Frances Morris heard nothing at her watch party to shake her support of Trump.

    “I think he beat her on the border,” she said. “I think he also beat her on actually having plans and letting the American people know what those are. And I think that Kamala Harris likes to mention that she has plans for things, but she doesn’t actually ever elaborate on what those plans are.”

    Morris conceded she was watching history being made, “because we have our first Black woman running for president.” But, she added, “I don’t think she delivered to get her to that place she needed to be.”

    Harris supporter Dushant Puri, 19, a UC Berkeley student, said the vice president took command before the first words were spoken — when she crossed the stage to shake Trump’s hand. “I thought that was pretty significant,” Puri said. “It was their first interaction, and I thought Harris was asserting herself.”

    At the same watch party, fellow student Angel Aldaco, 21, said that unlike Biden, Harris “came in with a plan and was more concise.”

    Aldaco was struck by one of the night’s oddest moments, when Trump “went on that rampage about eating pets.” That’s when Trump endorsed a baseless conspiracy theory that immigrants were stealing and eating people’s dogs ands cats. Harris was incredulous. “That was good,” the student said.

    It’s questionable how much viewers learned about what Harris would do as president or whether she won over independents or wavering Republicans. But for some Democrats, despondent if not panicked after Biden’s fumbling debate performance, it was enough to see a Democratic candidate getting seriously under Trump’s skin.

    “He is pretty incapable when he is riled up,” said Ikenna Amilo, an accountant at a Democratic watch party in a small concert venue in downtown Portland, Maine.

    “When you poke him, he is really reactive and he doesn’t show the temperament you want in a president, so I think Kamala has shown she’s doing a good job.”

    Annetta Clark, 50, a Harris supporter from Vallejo, California, watched at a house party hosted by the Oakland Bay Area chapter of the National Coalition of 100 Black Women. To her, the second presidential debate was a mighty relief from the one in June.

    “I couldn’t stomach the first one, if I’m being honest,” Clark said. “I tried to watch it and it was a little too much. This one I was able to enjoy.” On Trump’s performance: “It was almost like talking to a child with him.” Harris? “Fabulous job.”

    Democrat Natasha Salas, 63, of Highland, Indiana, saw the debate from an Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority watch party at a bistro in Markham, Illinois, and welcomed Harris’ call to cool the political temperature — even as the vice president denounced Trump at every turn.

    “We all want the same things, Democrats and Republicans,” Salas said. “We are more alike than different. I want to see the country move forward and less divisiveness.”

    Interest in the debate transcended national borders. From a shelter for migrants in Tijuana, Mexico, where dozens watched a translated version of the debates on a television, Rakan al Muhana, 40, an asylum-seeker from Gaza, became animated when the candidates discussed Israel and Palestine.

    “We are running from the war,” he said. “We are running from the Israeli bombs. He (Trump) doesn’t see us as human. My daughter, who is four months — for him, she’s a terrorist.”

    Al Muhana has been on a four-month journey from Gaza to this border city, with his wife and four children. They left when both his mother and father were killed in a bombing.

    ___

    Associated Press journalists Michael Rubinkam in Philadelphia; George Walker in Nashville; Robert Bukaty in Portland, Maine; Lindsey Wasson in Seattle; Godofredo Vasquez in Berkeley, California; and Gregory Bull in Tijuana, Mexico, contributed to this report.

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  • Freshman classes provide glimpse of affirmative action ruling’s impact on colleges

    Freshman classes provide glimpse of affirmative action ruling’s impact on colleges

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    Some selective colleges are reporting drops in the number of Black students in their incoming classes, the first admitted since a Supreme Court ruling struck down affirmative action in higher education. At other colleges, including Princeton University and Yale University, the share of Black students changed little.

    Several schools also have seen swings in their numbers of Asian, Hispanic and Native American students, but trends are still murky. Experts and colleges say it will take years to measure the full impact of last year’s ruling that barred consideration of race in admissions.

    The end of affirmative action isn’t the only factor affecting the makeup of freshman classes. Some colleges are changing standardized test requirements, heightening their importance. And the federal government’s botched rollout of a new financial aid form complicated decisions of students nationwide on where and whether to attend college.

    “It’s really hard to pull out what one policy shift is affecting all of these enrollment shifts,” said Katharine Meyer, a fellow at the Brookings Institution think tank. “The unsatisfying answer is that it’s hard to know which one is having the bigger impact.”

    On Thursday, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill reported drops in enrollment among Black, Hispanic and Native American students in its incoming class. Its approach to admissions has been closely watched because it was one of two colleges, along with Harvard University, that were at the center of the Supreme Court case.

    The population of Black students dropped nearly 3 percentage points, to 7.8%, compared with the UNC class before it. Hispanic student enrollment fell from 10.8% to 10.1%, while the incoming Native American population slid half a percentage point to 1.1%, according to the university. The incoming Asian student population rose 1 percentage point to 25.8%. The share of white students, at 63.8%, barely changed.

    It is “too soon to see trends” from the affirmative action decision, said Rachelle Feldman, UNC’s vice provost for enrollment. She cited the delays in the Free Application for Federal Student Aid application process as another possible influence on the makeup of the incoming class.

    “We are committed to following the new law. We are also committed to making sure students in all 100 counties from every population in our growing state feel encouraged to apply, have confidence in our affordability and know this is a place they feel welcome and can succeed,” Feldman said.

    Some colleges reported sharp declines in the percentages of Black students in their incoming class, including drops from 15% to 5% at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and from 11% to 3% at Amherst College. At Tufts University, the drop in the share of Black students was more moderate, from 7.3% to 4.7%. At Yale, the University of Virginia and Princeton, the change year-over-year was less than a percentage point.

    Many colleges did not share the demographics of applicants, making it impossible to know whether fewer students of color applied, or were admitted but chose not to attend.

    Changes in other demographic groups also did not follow a clear pattern. At MIT, for example, the percentage of Asian students increased from 40% to 47% and Hispanic and Latino students from 16% to 11%, while the percentage of white students was relatively unchanged. But at Yale, the percentage of Asian students declined from 30% to 24%. White students at Yale went from 42% of the class to 46%, and Hispanic and Latino students saw an increase of 1 percentage point.

    Colleges have been pursuing other strategies to preserve the diversity they say is essential to campus life.

    JT Duck, dean of admissions at Tufts, emphasized the school would work on expanding outreach and partnerships with community organizations to reach underrepresented, low-income and first-generation students. He cautioned against reading too much into year-to-year changes in enrollment.

    “The results show that we have more work to do to ensure that talented students from all backgrounds, including those most historically underrepresented at selective universities, have access to a Tufts education. And we are committed to doing that work, while adhering to the new legal constraints,” he said in an email. “We’ve already done a lot of work toward these ends and look forward to doing even more.”

    At UNC, Feldman said it is a priority to offer substantial financial aid to low-income families, along with retaining students through investments in undergraduate advising and other initiatives. She said there are no plans for dramatic changes in light of the new enrollment data.

    The university wants to make sure “anyone from any background knows they can earn their way here,” she said at a news conference.

    Sharp declines in the number of students of color can impact how prospective students view schools, leading some to choose other colleges where they might feel a stronger sense of community, said Mitchell Chang, a professor of higher education at the University of California, Los Angeles.

    “If we’re below a certain threshold, people who see themselves as having a more difficult time developing a sense of belonging will choose elsewhere,” he said. That’s especially true at selective colleges, where admitted students may be choosing between multiple top-tier schools.

    So far, the drops in underrepresented minority students are smaller in scope than when states like Michigan and California passed bans on affirmative action decades earlier, Meyer said. But since those bans, colleges have developed more best practices for effective, non-race-based ways of recruiting and enrolling a diverse class, Meyer said.

    ___

    The Associated Press’ education coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.

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  • Donald Trump falsely suggests Kamala Harris misled voters about her race

    Donald Trump falsely suggests Kamala Harris misled voters about her race

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    CHICAGO (AP) — Donald Trump falsely suggested Kamala Harris had misled voters about her race as the former president appeared Wednesday before the National Association of Black Journalists in Chicago in an interview that quickly turned hostile.

    The Republican former president wrongly claimed that Harris, the first Black woman and Asian American to serve as vice president, had in the past only promoted her Indian heritage.

    “I didn’t know she was Black until a number of years ago when she happened to turn Black and now she wants to be known as Black. So, I don’t know, is she Indian or is she Black?” Trump said while addressing the group’s annual convention.

    Harris is the daughter of a Jamaican father and an Indian mother, both immigrants to the U.S. As an undergraduate, Harris attended Howard University, one of the nation’s most prominent historically Black colleges and universities, where she also pledged the historically Black sorority Alpha Kappa Alpha. As a U.S. senator, Harris was a member of the Congressional Black Caucus, supporting legislation to strengthen voting rights and to reform policing.

    Trump has leveled a wide range of criticism at Harris since she replaced President Joe Biden atop the likely Democratic ticket last week. Throughout his political career, the former president has repeatedly questioned the backgrounds of opponents who are racial minorities.

    Michael Tyler, the communications director for Harris’ campaign, said in a statement that “the hostility Donald Trump showed on stage today is the same hostility he has shown throughout his life, throughout his term in office, and throughout his campaign for president as he seeks to regain power.”

    “Trump lobbed personal attacks and insults at Black journalists the same way he did throughout his presidency — while he failed Black families and left the entire country digging out of the ditch he left us in,” Tyler said. “Donald Trump has already proven he cannot unite America, so he attempts to divide us.

    White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre was asked during her briefing with reporters on Wednesday about Trump’s remarks and responded with disbelief, initially murmuring, “Wow.”

    Jean-Pierre, who is Black, called what Trump said “repulsive” and said, “It’s insulting and no one has any right to tell someone who they are, how they identify.”

    Trump has repeatedly attacked his opponents and critics on the basis of race. He rose to prominence in Republican politics by propagating false theories that President Barack Obama, the nation’s first Black president, was not born in the United States. “Birtherism,” as it became known, was just the start of Trump’s history of questioning the credentials and qualifications of Black politicians.

    He has denied allegations of racism. And after Biden picked Harris as his running mate four years ago, a Trump campaign spokesperson then pointed to a previous Trump political donation to Harris as proof that he wasn’t racist.

    “The president, as a private businessman, donated to candidates across all aisles,” the spokesperson, Katrina Pierson, told reporters. “And I’ll note that Kamala Harris is a Black woman and he donated to her campaign, so I hope we can squash this racism argument now,” Pierson said.

    During this year’s Republican primary, he once referred to former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, the daughter of Indian immigrants, as “Nimbra.”

    What to know about the 2024 Election

    Later Wednesday, Trump did not repeat his criticism of Harris’ race at a campaign rally in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, although he called her “phony” and said she has been trying to change her image. He also repeatedly mispronounced her first name.

    “If she becomes your president, our country is finished,” Trump charged.

    Before he took the stage, Trump’s team displayed what appeared to be years-old news headlines describing Harris as the “first Indian-American senator” on the big screen in the arena.

    Trump’s appearance Wednesday at the annual gathering of Black journalists immediately became heated, with the former president sparring with interviewer Rachel Scott of ABC News and accusing her of giving him a “very rude introduction” with a tough first question about his past criticism of Black people and Black journalists, his attack on Black prosecutors who have pursued cases against him and the dinner he had at his Florida club with a white supremacist.

    “I think it’s disgraceful,” Trump said. “I came here in good spirit. I love the Black population of this country. I’ve done so much for the Black population of this country.”

    Trump continued his attacks on Scott’s network, ABC News, which he has been arguing should not host the next presidential debate, despite his earlier agreement with the Biden campaign. He also several times described her tone and questions as “nasty,” a word he used in the past when describing women, including Hillary Clinton and Meghan the Duchess of Sussex.

    The Republican also repeated his false claim that immigrants in the country illegally are “taking Black jobs.” When pushed by Scott on what constituted a “Black job,” Trump responded by saying “a Black job is anybody that has a job,” drawing groans from the room.

    At one point, he said, “I have been the best president for the Black population since Abraham Lincoln.”

    The audience responded with a mix of boos and some applause.

    Scott asked Trump about his pledge to pardon people convicted for their roles in the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol and specifically whether he would pardon those who assaulted police officers.

    Trump said, “Oh, absolutely I would,” and said, “If they’re innocent, I would pardon them.”

    Scott pointed out they have been convicted and therefore are not innocent.

    “Well, they were convicted by a very, very tough system,” he said.

    At one point, when he was defending his supporters who entered the Capitol on Jan. 6, he said, “Nothing is perfect in life.”

    He compared the 2021 insurrection to the protests in Minneapolis and other cities in 2020 following the death of George Floyd by Minneapolis police and to more recent protests at the Capitol last week by demonstrators opposed to the war in Gaza. Trump falsely claimed that no one was arrested in those other demonstrations and that only his supporters were targeted.

    As Trump made the comparison, a man in the back of the room shouted out, “Sir, have you no shame?”

    The former president’s invitation to address the organization sparked an intense internal debate among NABJ that spilled online. Organizations for journalists of color typically invite presidential candidates to speak at their summer gatherings in election years.

    As he campaigns for the White House a third time, Trump has sought to appear outside his traditional strongholds of support and his campaign has touted his efforts to try to win over Black Americans, who have been Democrats’ most committed voting bloc.

    His campaign has emphasized his messages on the economy and immigration as part of his appeal, but some of his outreach has played on racial stereotypes, including the suggestion that African Americans would empathize with the criminal charges he has faced and his promotion of branded sneakers.

    Trump and NABJ also have a tense history over his treatment of Black women journalists. In 2018, NABJ condemned Trump for repeatedly using words such as “stupid,” “loser” and “nasty” to describe Black women journalists.

    The vice president is not scheduled to appear at the convention, but NABJ said in a statement posted on X that it was in conversation with her campaign to have her appear either virtually or in person for a conversation in September.

    Harris addressed Trump’s comments briefly Wednesday night while speaking at a gathering of Sigma Gamma Rho, a historically Black sorority, in Houston.

    “It was the same old show,” she said. “The divisiveness and the disrespect.”

    Harris added: “And let me just say, the American people deserve better.”

    ___

    Price reported from New York. Associated Press writers Aaron Morrison and Steve Peoples in New York, Gary Fields in Chicago and Will Weissert and Farnoush Amiri in Washington, Marc Levy in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania and Chris Megerian in Houston contributed to this report.

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  • Biden gets a rousing ovation as he endorses Harris

    Biden gets a rousing ovation as he endorses Harris

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    CHICAGO — President Joe Biden delivered his valedictory address to the Democratic National Convention on Monday night, saying, “I gave my best to you” and basking in a long ovation that reflected the energy released by his decision to cede the stage to Vice President Kamala Harris.

    Biden, 81, received a hero’s welcome weeks after many in his party were pressuring him to drop his bid for reelection. One month after an unprecedented mid-campaign switch, the opening night of the convention in Chicago was designed to give a graceful exit to the incumbent president and slingshot Harris toward a faceoff with Republican Donald Trump, whose comeback bid for the White House is viewed by Democrats as an existential threat.

    On Monday, Biden insisted he did not harbor any ill will about the impending end of his tenure — despite reports to the contrary — and called on the party to unite around Harris.

    “I made a lot of mistakes in my career, but I gave my best to you,” Biden said.

    Speaking clearly and energetically, Biden relished the chance to defend his record, advocate for his vice president and go on the attack against Trump. His delivery was more reminiscent of the Biden who won in 2020 than the mumbling and sometimes incoherent one-time candidate whose debate performance sparked the downfall of his reelection campaign.

    Visibly emotional when he took the stage, Biden was greeted by a more than four-minute ovation and chants of “Thank you Joe.”

    “America, I love you,” he replied.

    He called his selection of Harris as his running mate four years ago “the very first decision I made when I became our nominee, and it was the best decision I made my whole career.”

    “She’s tough, she’s experienced and she has enormous integrity, enormous integrity,” he said. “Her story represents the best American story.”

    “And like many of our best presidents,” he added in a nod to his own career, “she was also vice president.”

    Harris and second gentleman Doug Emhoff came out after his address to embrace him and his family.

    “Joe, thank you for your historic leadership, for your lifetime of service to our nation, and for all you’ll continue to do,” she said earlier in the evening. “We are forever grateful to you.”

    The president touted his proudest accomplishments

    Biden’s speech, billed as the marquee event of the evening, was pushed into late night as the convention program lagged more than an hour behind schedule. The delay led convention organizers to cancel a performance from legendary musician James Taylor.

    He celebrated the successes from his administration, including a massive boost in infrastructure spending and a cap on the price of insulin. The spending resulted in more money going to Republican-leaning states than Democratic states, he said, because “the job of the president is to deliver for all of America.”

    The president recalled the 2017 “unite the right” rally, when torch-carrying white supremacists marched in Charlottesville, Virginia, an episode he cites as cementing his decision to run for president in 2020 despite his ongoing grief over the death of his son Beau Biden.

    First lady Jill Biden alluded to her husband’s wrenching decision to leave the race in her remarks minutes before Biden took the stage. She said she fell in love with him all over again “just weeks ago, when I saw him dig deep into his soul and decide to no longer seek reelection and endorse Kamala Harris.”

    Monday’s speakers tried to boost both Biden and Harris

    A long list of high-profile speakers tried to connect both Biden and Harris to what the party sees as the governing pair’s most popular accomplishments.

    Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who was greeted with prolonged applause, saluted Harris while noting her potential to break the “highest, hardest glass ceiling” to become America’s first female president. Clinton was the Democratic nominee in 2016, but she lost that election to Trump.

    “Together, we’ve put a lot of cracks in the highest, hardest glass ceiling,” Clinton said, invoking a metaphor she referenced in her concession speech eight years ago. “On the other side of that glass ceiling is Kamala Harris taking the oath of office as our 47th president of the United States. When a barrier falls for one of us, it clears the way for all of us.”

    Clinton also saluted Biden for stepping aside, saying, “Now we are writing a new chapter in America’s story.”

    Highlighting the party’s generational reach, Clinton, 76, followed New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, 34, who endorsed Harris while delivering the first mention of the war in Gaza from the convention stage, addressing an issue that has split the party’s base ever since Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack and Israel’s resulting offensive.

    Biden tells antiwar protesters they ‘have a point’

    Outside the arena, thousands of protesters descended on Chicago to decry the Biden-Harris administration’s support for the Israeli war effort.

    Israel’s counterattack in Gaza after more than 1,200 were killed and about 250 taken hostage on Oct. 7 has killed more than 40,000 Palestinians, according to the Hamas-run health ministry. Pro-Palestinian activists held a panel earlier Monday in which they discussed the plight of Gaza, in what organizers called a first for the DNC.

    A couple of protesters from the Abandon Biden movement unfurled a protest sign late Monday that read, “STOP ARMING ISRAEL” a few minutes after Biden began his speech.

    The sign was quickly wrestled away from the protesters and the lights in that section of the convention were turned off. Others in the hall responded to the protest by chanting “We love Joe” and holding up their banners in support of the president.

    Biden acknowledged the protests as he spoke, saying, “Those protesters out in the street have a point. A lot of innocent people are being killed on both sides.” He reiterated his push to get Israel and Hamas to agree to a cease-fire deal that would also see the release of hostages taken by Hamas on Oct. 7.

    Democrats presented a giant version of ‘Project 2025’

    Meanwhile, Democrats also looked to keep the focus on Trump, whose criminal convictions they mocked and who they asserted was only fighting for himself, rather than “for the people” — the night’s official theme.

    Michigan State Sen. Mallory McMorrow hoisted an oversized copy of “Project 2025” — a blueprint for a second Trump term that was put together by the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank — onto the lectern and quoted from portions of it.

    Democrats kept abortion access front and center for voters, betting that the issue will propel them to success as it has in other key races since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade two years ago. Speakers Monday included women whose healthcare suffered as a result of that decision, and one woman who was raped and became pregnant by her stepfather attacked Trump for trying to roll back access to abortion. The convention program included a video of Trump praising his own role in getting Roe struck down.

    The convention program also honored the civil rights movement, with an appearance from the Rev. Jesse Jackson, the founder of the Chicago-based Rainbow PUSH Coalition, who is ailing with Parkinson’s disease. There were several references to Fannie Lou Hamer, the late civil rights activist who gave a landmark speech at a Democratic convention in 1964.

    Hamer was a former sharecropper and a leader of the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party, a racially integrated group that challenged the seating of an all-white Mississippi delegation at the 1964 Democratic National Convention. Hamer spoke on Aug. 22, 1964 — exactly 60 years before Harris is set to accept the Democratic nomination and become the first Black woman and first person of South Asian descent to be the presidential nominee of a major party.


    Associated Press writers Will Weissert and Josh Boak in Chicago, Ali Swenson and Michelle L. Price in New York and Chris Megerian in Washington contributed to this report.

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    By ZEKE MILLER, JONATHAN J. COOPER, AAMER MADHANI and DARLENE SUPERVILLE – Associated Press

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  • Schools have made slow progress on record absenteeism, with millions of kids still skipping class

    Schools have made slow progress on record absenteeism, with millions of kids still skipping class

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    MEDFORD, Mass. (AP) — Flerentin “Flex” Jean-Baptiste missed so much school he had to repeat his freshman year at Medford High outside Boston. At school, “you do the same thing every day,” said Jean-Baptiste, who was absent 30 days his first year. “That gets very frustrating.”

    Then his principal did something nearly unheard of: She let students play organized sports during lunch — if they attended all their classes. In other words, she offered high schoolers recess.

    “It gave me something to look forward to,” said Jean-Baptiste, 16. The following year, he cut his absences in half. Schoolwide, the share of chronically absent students declined from 35% in March 2023 to 23% in March 2024 — one of the steepest declines among Massachusetts high schools.

    Years after COVID-19 upended American schooling, nearly every state is still struggling with attendance, according to data collected by The Associated Press and Stanford University educational economist Thomas Dee.

    Roughly one in four students in the 2022-23 school year remained chronically absent, meaning they missed at least 10% of the school year. That represents about 12 million children in the 42 states and Washington, D.C., where data is available.

    Before the pandemic, only 15% of students missed that much school.

    Society may have largely moved on from COVID, but schools say they’re still battling the effects of pandemic school closures. After as much as a year at home, school for many kids has felt overwhelming, boring or socially stressful. More than ever, kids and parents are deciding it’s OK to stay home, which makes catching up even harder.

    In all but one state, Arkansas, absence rates remain higher than pre-pandemic. Still, the problem appears to have passed its peak; almost every state saw absenteeism improve at least slightly from 2021-22 to 2022-23.

    Schools are working to identify students with slipping attendance, then providing help. They’re working to close communication gaps with parents, who often aren’t aware their child is missing so much school or why it’s problematic.

    So far, the solutions that appear to be helping are simple — like letters to parents that compare a child’s attendance with peers. But to make more progress, experts say, schools must get creative to address their students’ needs.

    Caring adults — and incentives

    In Oakland, California, chronic absenteeism skyrocketed from 29% pre-pandemic to 53% in 2022-23 across district and charter schools. Officials asked students what would convince them to come to class.

    Money, they replied, and a mentor.

    A grant-funded program launched in spring 2023 paid 45 students $50 weekly for perfect attendance. Students also checked in daily with an assigned adult and completed weekly mental health assessments.

    Paying students isn’t a permanent or sustainable fix, said Zaia Vera, the district’s head of social-emotional learning.

    But many absent students lacked stable housing or were helping to support their families. “The money is the hook that got them in the door,” Vera said.

    More than 60% improved their attendance after taking part, Vera said. The program is expected to continue, along with district-wide efforts aimed at creating a sense of belonging. Oakland’s African American Male Achievement project, for example, pairs Black students with Black teachers who offer support.

    Kids who identify with their educators are more likely to attend school, said Michael Gottfried, a University of Pennsylvania professor. According to one study led by Gottfried, California students felt “it’s important for me to see someone who’s like me early on, first thing in the day,” he said.

    A caring teacher made a difference for Golden Tachiquin, 18, who graduated from Oakland’s Skyline High School this spring. When she started 10th grade after a remote freshman year, she felt lost and anxious. She later realized these feelings caused the nausea and dizziness that kept her home sick. She was absent at least 25 days that year.

    But she bonded with an Afro-Latina teacher who understood her culturally and made Tachiquin, a straight-A student, feel her poor attendance didn’t define her.

    “I didn’t dread going to her class,” Tachiquin said.

    Another teacher had the opposite effect. “She would say, ‘Wow, guess who decided to come today?’ ” Tachiquin recalled. “I started skipping her class even more.”

    In Massachusetts, Medford High School requires administrators to greet and talk with students each morning, especially those with a history of missing school.

    But the lunchtime gym sessions have been the biggest driver of improved attendance, Principal Marta Cabral said. High schoolers need freedom and an opportunity to move their bodies, she said. “They’re here for seven hours a day. They should have a little fun.”

    Image

    Flerentin “Flex” Jean-Baptiste, 16, poses at Medford High School, Aug. 2, 2024, in Medford. (AP Photo/Josh Reynolds)

    Image

    Flerentin “Flex” Jean-Baptiste, 16, works on an assignment at Medford High School, Aug. 2, 2024, in Medford. (AP Photo/Josh Reynolds)

    Stubborn circumstances

    Chronically absent students are at higher risk of illiteracy and eventually dropping out. They also miss the meals, counseling and socialization provided at school.

    Many of the reasons kids missed school early in the pandemic are still firmly in place: financial hardship, transportation problems, mild illness and mental health struggles.

    In Alaska, 45% of students missed significant school last year. In Amy Lloyd’s high school classes in Juneau, some families now treat attendance as optional. Last term, several of her English students missed school for vacations.

    “I don’t really know how to reset the expectation that was crushed when we sat in front of the computer for that year,” Lloyd said.

    Emotional and behavioral problems also have kept kids home from school. Research shared exclusively with AP found absenteeism and poor mental health are “interconnected,” said University of Southern California professor Morgan Polikoff.

    For example, in the USC study, almost a quarter of chronically absent kids had high levels of emotional or behavioral problems, according to a parent questionnaire, compared with just 7% of kids with good attendance. Emotional symptoms among teen girls were especially linked with missing school.

    How sick is too sick?

    When chronic absence surged to around 50% in Fresno, California, officials realized they had to remedy pandemic-era mindsets about keeping kids home sick.

    “Unless your student has a fever or threw up in the last 24 hours, you are coming to school. That’s what we want,” said Abigail Arii, director of student support services.

    Often, said Noreida Perez, who oversees attendance, parents aren’t aware physical symptoms can point to mental health struggles — such as when a child doesn’t feel up to leaving their bedroom.

    More than a dozen states now let students take mental health days as excused absences. But staying home can become a vicious cycle, said Hedy Chang, of Attendance Works, which works with schools on absenteeism.

    “If you continue to stay home from school, you feel more disengaged,” she said. “You get farther behind.”

    Changing the culture around sick days is only part of the problem.

    Image

    Melinda Gonzalez, 14, in Fresno, Calif., Aug. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Gary Kazanjian)

    Image

    Melinda Gonzalez, 14, shown in her home getting ready to start her day in Fresno, Calif., Aug. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Gary Kazanjian)

    At Fresno’s Fort Miller Middle School, where half the students were chronically absent, two reasons kept coming up: dirty laundry and no transportation. The school bought a washer and dryer for families’ use, along with a Chevy Suburban to pick up students who missed the bus. Overall, Fresno’s chronic absenteeism improved to 35% in 2022-23.

    Melinda Gonzalez, 14, missed the school bus about once a week and would call for rides in the Suburban.

    “I don’t have a car; my parents couldn’t drive me to school,” Gonzalez said. “Getting that ride made a big difference.”

    ___

    Becky Bohrer contributed reporting from Juneau, Alaska.

    ___

    The Associated Press’ education coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.

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  • Latest search for 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre victims ends with 3 more found with gunshot wounds

    Latest search for 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre victims ends with 3 more found with gunshot wounds

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    OKLAHOMA CITY — The latest search for the remains of 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre victims has ended with three more sets containing gunshot wounds, investigators said.

    The three are among 11 sets of remains exhumed during the latest excavation in Oaklawn Cemetery, state archaeologist Kary Stackelbeck said Friday.

    “Two of those gunshot victims display evidence of munitions from two different weapons,” Stackelbeck said. “The third individual who is a gunshot victim also displays evidence of burning.”

    Forensic anthropologist Phoebe Stubblefield, who will remain on site to examine the remains, said one victim suffered bullet and shotgun wounds while the second was shot with two different caliber bullets.

    Searchers are seeking simple wooden caskets because they were described at the time in newspaper articles, death certificates and funeral home records as the type used for burying massacre victims, Stackelbeck has said.

    The exhumed remains will then be sent to Intermountain Forensics in Salt Lake City for DNA and genealogical testing in an effort to identify them.

    The search ends just over a month after the first identification of remains previously exhumed during the search for massacre victims were identified as World War I veteran C.L. Daniel from Georgia.

    There was no sign of gunshot wounds to Daniel, Stubblefield said at the time, noting that if a bullet doesn’t strike bone and passes through the body, such a wound likely could not be determined after the passage of so many years.

    The search is the fourth since Tulsa Mayor G.T. Bynum launched the project in 2018 and 47 remains have now been exhumed.

    Bynum, who is not seeking reelection, said he hopes to see the search for victims continue.

    “My hope is, regardless of who the next mayor is, that they see how important it is to see this investigation through,” Bynum said. “It’s all part of that sequence that is necessary for us to ultimately find people who were murdered and hidden over a century ago.”

    Stackelbeck said investigators are mapping the graves in an effort to determine whether more searches should be conducted.

    “Every year we have built on the previous phase of this investigation. Our cumulative data have confirmed that we are finding individuals who fit the profile of massacre victims,” Stackelbeck said.

    “We will be taking all of that information into consideration as we make our recommendations about whether there is cause for additional excavations,” said Stackelbeck.

    Brenda Nails-Alford, a descendant of massacre survivors and a member of the committee overseeing the search for victims, said she is grateful for Bynum’s efforts to find victim’s remains.

    “It is my prayer that these efforts continue, to bring more justice and healing to those who were lost and to those families in our community,” Nails-Alford said.

    Earlier this month, Bynum and City Councilor Vanessa Hall-Harper announced a new committee to study a variety of possible reparations for survivors and descendants of the massacre and for the area of north Tulsa where it occurred.

    The massacre took place over two days in 1921, a long-suppressed episode of racial violence that destroyed a community known as Black Wall Street and ended with as many as 300 Black people killed, thousands of Black residents forced into internment camps overseen by the National Guard and more than 1,200 homes, businesses, schools and churches destroyed.

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  • As political convention comes to Chicago, residents, leaders and activists vie for the spotlight

    As political convention comes to Chicago, residents, leaders and activists vie for the spotlight

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    CHICAGO — As the American city that has hosted more political conventions than any other, Chicago has pretty much seen it all.

    Presidential candidates have been made official in Chicago more than two dozen times since Abraham Lincoln in 1860, including the infamous 1968 convention, where police clashed with protesters, and Bill Clinton’s 1996 renomination.

    Now the nation’s third-largest city is back on the global political stage as it hosts the Democratic National Convention starting Monday, with city leaders, residents and activists each hoping to claim time in the spotlight and shape the city’s reputation.

    Tourism officials are eager to highlight the best sites and eats, while allaying security concerns about crowds and street violence. Anti-war protesters, drawing from the area’s large Palestinian population, are ready to march. And elected leaders say it’s an historic opportunity to be the city where a woman of color, Vice President Kamala Harris, will be designated to lead a presidential ticket for the first time.

    “It’s a remarkable testament to who we are as a people, and hosting the world yet again where major history will take place by launching the first Black woman of Asian descent to the most powerful post in the world,” Mayor Brandon Johnson told The Associated Press. “Chicago gets to do that.”

    But not everyone sees it that way.

    Even though there have been convention highs, such as the 1996 convention going off largely without a hitch, comparisons to the 1968 convention are inescapable, especially as disapproval of U.S. support for war in Gaza grows.

    Lee Weiner, 85, is the last living member of the “Chicago Seven” activists who were tried for organizing an anti-Vietnam War protest outside the 1968 convention, where bloody clashes with police were captured on live television.

    Weiner said the protests changed the course of his life.

    The sociologist wrote a memoir about his experiences growing up in Chicago and sitting for the high-profile trial. Weiner said he thinks people are now more divided than ever and that police tactics haven’t really changed.

    “Echoes of that time are very much a part of our day to day now,” Weiner said. “If you’re going to be out in the streets, you should watch your ass.”

    Chicago has been preparing for more than a year, with extensive police training and security drills ahead of the event that’s expected to draw 50,000 people, including thousands of anti-war activists.

    Johnson says his leadership — as a Black man and former union organizer — shows how things are different, and that Chicago will accommodate First Amendment rights.

    But anxiety that things might take a turn remain.

    Some downtown businesses boarded up their windows this week while Cook County courts added more space and hours in anticipation of mass arrests during the convention.

    Police Superintendent Larry Snelling said Chicago has held many large-scale events without problems, including the NATO convention in 2012. He touted the department’s training for constitutional policing and de-escalation tactics as critical to the city’s security plan.

    The department faced strong criticism for being unprepared in the aftermath of George Floyd’s killing in Minneapolis in 2020, when civil unrest broke out nationwide.

    But Snelling said that was a different situation — Chicago’s police are prepared for planned protests during the DNC — and that the department has learned many lessons.

    “We’ve evolved as a department. We’ve evolved in training,” Snelling told the AP this week. “You look at 1968; I think anyone who’s still around from that time will tell you that officers didn’t have the training or the preparedness to deal with that type of situation.”

    Protests are expected every day of the convention, with the overarching message being a call for an immediate end to the war in Gaza. Activists say Chicago is the ideal location because demonstrations will draw from the city’s southwest suburbs, where the largest concentrations of Palestinians nationwide reside.

    “It’s not hyperbole to say the genocide is affecting the people of Chicago on a very personal level,” said Muhammad Sankari, an organizer. “Because of that, it’s a moral imperative for us to be organizing and bringing our demands to the doorstep of the Democratic Party.”

    Some Chicago residents are also hoping to seize the chance.

    Bradly Johnson leads an anti-violence organization, BUILD Chicago, on the West Side, not far from the United Center where the convention will take place. For months during after-school and weekend programming, his group has cited the upcoming convention in teaching young people about the democratic process.

    He’s hoping the thousands of party leaders coming to Chicago will also learn from young people.

    “It’s an opportunity for Chicago to demonstrate that although there are shootings, that’s not the totality of who we are,” he said.

    Former U.S. Sen. Carol Moseley Braun of Illinois said excitement around the convention — the city’s 26th for a major party— was clear.

    Her phone has been buzzing with friends and acquaintances looking for tickets since Harris became the presumptive nominee. Adding to the hype, Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker had been under consideration as Harris’ running mate.

    Moseley Braun, the first Black woman elected to the U.S. Senate, said it was fitting that Harris would accept the nomination in Chicago, where former President Barack Obama started his political career.

    “We have a tradition in this city of men and women moving forward for new horizons,” she said.

    Tourism officials were also excited about boosting revenue.

    Conventions of a similar size in other cities have generated as much as $200 million for hotels, restaurants and retailers, according to Choose Chicago, the city’s tourism marketing organization.

    “We’re like a ‘Type A’ personality,” said Rich Gamble, the interim president of Choose Chicago. “We have expectations of ourselves. If you’re here, we want the best version to be seen and the best behaviors.”

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  • Prominent 2020 election denier seeks GOP nod for Michigan Supreme Court race

    Prominent 2020 election denier seeks GOP nod for Michigan Supreme Court race

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    LANSING, Mich. (AP) — A Donald Trump ally who faces felony charges of trying to illegally access and tamper with voting machines is seeking the Republican nomination for the highest court in Michigan, an epicenter of efforts to overturn the 2020 election.

    In June, attorney Matthew DePerno announced his intent to run for the state Supreme Court, almost one year after he was charged and arraigned.

    Delegates will vote on nominees Saturday, Aug. 24, at the Michigan GOP party convention for two state Supreme Court seats in a battleground state where the court has the potential final say in Michigan election matters.

    Michigan Supreme Court races are officially nonpartisan — meaning candidates appear on the ballot without party labels — but candidates are nominated at party conventions. Democratic-backed justices currently hold a 4-3 majority. Republican nominees would have to win both seats to take back majority control while Democrats stand to gain a 5-2 favorability.

    DePerno rose to prominence for pushing false claims that the 2020 election was stolen from then-President Trump. He unsuccessfully ran for Michigan attorney general in 2022 and lost a bid to be the GOP state party chair in 2023.

    DePerno was named as a “prime instigator” in the voting machine tampering case. Five vote tabulators were illegally taken from three Michigan counties and brought to a hotel room, according to documents released in 2022 by Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel’s office. Investigators found the tabulators were broken into and “tests” were performed on the equipment.

    He was charged with undue possession of a voting machine and conspiracy. A state judge has ruled it is a felony, punishable by up to five years in prison, to take a machine without a court order or permission directly from the secretary of state’s office.

    DePerno has denied wrongdoing. He’s not due back in court until Nov. 21 after the general election and no trial date has been set. He also faces a separate complaint from the Michigan Attorney Grievance Commission, threatening his law license, over accused attorney misconduct when he represented a former state lawmaker.

    DePerno in a phone interview said both the felony charges and the attorney misconduct allegations are politically motivated.

    Michigan is just one of at least three states where prosecutors say people breached election systems while embracing and spreading Trump’s lie that the 2020 election was stolen.

    DePerno is seeking nomination to run for a partial-term seat currently held by Justice Kyra Harris Bolden, who was appointed by Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer after a Democratic-backed justice announced she was resigning by the end of 2022 with six years left on her term.

    Bolden is seeking the Democratic nomination for the seat she was appointed to in January 2023. She is the first Black woman to sit on the state’s highest bench and would be the first elected if successful in November.

    Republican-backed conservative Justice David Viviano announced in March that he would not seek reelection, opening another seat.

    The Democratic Party is holding its convention the same day as the GOP, Aug. 24.

    What to know about the 2024 Election

    Campaign finance reports showed an astounding gap between candidates seeking Democratic and Republican nominations and a serious lack of fundraising on DePerno’s part.

    Bolden, seeking the Democratic party’s backing, has raised more than $1.1 million as of Aug. 8th, while DePerno has only raised $136, according to the most recent campaign finance reports.

    DePerno has focused on shoring up delegate support, not fundraising and expressed confidence that he can out-fundraise Bolden if nominated for the general election, citing his own name recognition, he said.

    “I don’t think the other candidates in my race can raise any money in the general election,” he said.

    DePerno’s Republican competitors at the party convention include Detroit attorney Alexandria Taylor and Circuit Court Judge Patrick O’Grady. Both have outraised DePerno so far by thousands of dollars according to campaign filings.

    State Court of Appeals Judge Mark Boonstra and state Rep. Andrew Fink are competing for the Republican nomination for Viviano’s seat. Boonstra was endorsed by Trump in May. On the Democratic side, University of Michigan Law School professor Kimberly Ann Thomas is seeking nomination for the opening.

    Michigan’s Democratic Party executive committee has endorsed Bolden and Thomas and they face no nominating challengers.

    Thomas reported raising over $826,603 as of Aug. 8 in recent campaign filings, hundreds of thousands more than Fink and Boonstra.

    State Supreme Court races have taken on new meaning in light of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, shifting abortion policy to the states. Millions of dollars were spent in hotly contested races in Wisconsin and Pennsylvania in 2023. Supreme Court races in Ohio and Montana are expected to be heated because of potential rulings on abortion.

    “Michigan is one of only two state Supreme Courts in the country that could flip to a conservative majority this cycle — putting abortion access, unions and workers, and our very democracy at risk,” Lavora Barnes, the Michigan Democratic Party chair, said in a statement.

    Republicans in the state have framed the race as a fight to stop government overreach while Democrats say it’s a fight to preserve reproductive rights. Abortion rights were added to the state constitution by voters in 2022, months after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.

    “We continue to respect the laws that are in place in Michigan here,” Republican party executive director Tyson Shepard said. “We’re tired from the fearmongering from the left.”

    ___

    Associated Press writer Joey Cappelletti contributed to this report.

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  • Prominent 2020 election denier seeks GOP nod for Michigan Supreme Court race

    Prominent 2020 election denier seeks GOP nod for Michigan Supreme Court race

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    LANSING, Mich. — A Donald Trump ally who faces felony charges of trying to illegally access and tamper with voting machines is seeking the Republican nomination for the highest court in Michigan, an epicenter of efforts to overturn the 2020 election.

    In June, attorney Matthew DePerno announced his intent to run for the state Supreme Court, almost one year after he was charged and arraigned.

    Delegates will vote on nominees Saturday, Aug. 24, at the Michigan GOP party convention for two state Supreme Court seats in a battleground state where the court has the potential final say in Michigan election matters.

    Michigan Supreme Court races are officially nonpartisan — meaning candidates appear on the ballot without party labels — but candidates are nominated at party conventions. Democratic-backed justices currently hold a 4-3 majority. Republican nominees would have to win both seats to take back majority control while Democrats stand to gain a 5-2 favorability.

    DePerno rose to prominence for pushing false claims that the 2020 election was stolen from then-President Trump. He unsuccessfully ran for Michigan attorney general in 2022 and lost a bid to be the GOP state party chair in 2023.

    DePerno was named as a “prime instigator” in the voting machine tampering case. Five vote tabulators were illegally taken from three Michigan counties and brought to a hotel room, according to documents released in 2022 by Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel’s office. Investigators found the tabulators were broken into and “tests” were performed on the equipment.

    He was charged with undue possession of a voting machine and conspiracy. A state judge has ruled it is a felony, punishable by up to five years in prison, to take a machine without a court order or permission directly from the secretary of state’s office.

    DePerno’s case has not gone to trial and he has denied wrongdoing. He also faces a separate complaint from the Michigan Attorney Grievance Commission, threatening his law license, over accused attorney misconduct when he represented a former state lawmaker.

    DePerno in a phone interview said both the felony charges and the attorney misconduct allegations are politically motivated.

    Michigan is just one of at least three states where prosecutors say people breached election systems while embracing and spreading Trump’s lie that the 2020 election was stolen.

    DePerno is seeking nomination to run for a partial-term seat currently held by Justice Kyra Harris Bolden, who was appointed by Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer after a Democratic-backed justice announced she was resigning by the end of 2022 with six years left in her term.

    Bolden is seeking the Democratic nomination for the seat she was appointed to in January 2023. She is the first Black woman to sit on the state’s highest bench and would be the first elected if successful in November.

    Republican-backed conservative Justice David Viviano announced in March that he would not seek reelection, opening another seat.

    The Democratic Party is holding its own convention the same day as the GOP, Aug. 24.

    Campaign finance reports showed an astounding gap between candidates seeking Democratic and Republican nominations and a serious lack of fundraising on DePerno’s part.

    Bolden, seeking the Democratic party’s backing, has raised more than $1.1 million dollars as of Aug. 8th, while DePerno has only raised $136, according to the most recent campaign finance reports.

    DePerno has focused on shoring up delegate support, not fundraising and expressed confidence that he can out-fundraise Bolden if nominated for the general election, citing his own name recognition, he said.

    “I don’t think the other candidates in my race can raise any money in the general election,” he said.

    DePerno’s Republican competitors at the party convention include Detroit attorney Alexandria Taylor and Circuit Court Judge Patrick O’Grady. Both have outraised DePerno so far by thousands of dollars according to campaign filings.

    State Court of Appeals Judge Mark Boonstra and state Rep. Andrew Fink are competing for the Republican nomination for Viviano’s seat. Boonstra was endorsed by Trump in May. On the Democratic side, University of Michigan Law School professor Kimberly Ann Thomas is seeking nomination for the opening.

    Michigan’s Democratic Party executive committee has endorsed Bolden and Thomas and they face no nominating challengers.

    Thomas reported raising over $826,603 as of Aug. 8 in recent campaign filings, hundreds of thousands more than Fink and Boonstra.

    State Supreme Court races have taken on new meaning in light of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, shifting abortion policy to the states. Millions of dollars were spent in hotly contested races in Wisconsin and Pennsylvania in 2023. Supreme Court races in Ohio and Montana are expected to be heated because of potential rulings on abortion.

    “Michigan is one of only two state Supreme Courts in the country that could flip to a conservative majority this cycle — putting abortion access, unions and workers, and our very democracy at risk,” Lavora Barnes, the Michigan Democratic Party chair, said in a statement.

    Republicans in the state have framed the race as a fight to stop government overreach while Democrats say it’s a fight to preserve reproductive rights.

    “We continue to respect the laws that are in place in Michigan here,” Republican party executive director Tyson Shepard said. “We’re tired from the fearmongering from the left.”

    ___

    Associated Press writer Joey Cappelletti contributed to this report.

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  • What to know about the controversy over a cancelled grain terminal in Louisiana’s Cancer Alley

    What to know about the controversy over a cancelled grain terminal in Louisiana’s Cancer Alley

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    NEW ORLEANS (AP) — An agricultural company made the surprise decision Tuesday to cancel a project to build a massive grain terminal in a historic Black town in Louisiana’s “Cancer Alley,” a heavily industrialized stretch of land along the Mississippi River.

    The company, Greenfield Louisiana LLC, and its supporters — including Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry — blamed “special interest groups”, “plantation owners” and the Army Corps of Engineers for delaying construction on a grain export facility which would have brought jobs and development to St. John the Baptist Parish.

    But community organizers and environmental advocates said the company had brought the problem on itself by attempting to install a 222-acre (90 hectare) facility in an area filled with nationally recognized historic sites and cultural spaces worthy of preservation and investment.

    The Army Corps of Engineers said the company had chosen to build in the middle of an area with “environmental justice” and “cultural concerns” which required it to prove it could comply with a range of laws.

    What Greenfield promised

    Greenfield said that its $800 million grain terminal would have generated more than 1,000 construction jobs, north of 300 permanent jobs, $300 million in state tax revenue and $1.4 million in direct state and local taxes.

    The company said its facility was “expected to drive transformative social and economic benefits to the local community” and play a significant role in connecting American farmers with global markets. The facility had been designed with the potential to store 11 million tons of grain.

    On its website, Greenfield features testimony from a range of parish residents pledging their support for the facility and the economic growth they believed it would bring.

    St. John the Baptist Parish President Jaclyn Hotard described the company’s decision as “a devastating blow to economic development” and lamented the loss of hundreds of jobs at a “state-of-the art, eco-friendly facility.”

    What caused Greenfield to pull the plug?

    Greenfield’s Van Davis blamed the project’s failure to advance on “the repeated delays and goal-post moving we have faced have finally become untenable, and as a result, our local communities lost.”

    The company said the Army Corps of Engineers had recently extended the deadline for the fifth time, pushing a decision on the project’s permits to March 2025.

    But Army Corps of Engineers Public Affairs Specialist Matt Roe disputed Greenfield’s framing in an emailed statement.

    Roe said the company had to show compliance with multiple laws, including the Clean Water Act and the National Historic Preservation Act, and that “the regulations do not set forth a prescribed timeline for the process.”

    Roe said the project’s location “was in a setting with many cultural resources” and that the Corps’ review has been “timely in every respect.”

    The Corps has found the project would adversely impact historic sites. Greenfield had said it would take steps to preserve any historical sites or artifacts found during construction.

    What was at stake?

    Governor Jeff Landry pinned the blame on the Army Corps of Engineers for bringing “additional delays” by listening to “special interest groups and wealthy plantation owners instead of hardworking Louisianans.”

    Opponents included the sisters Joy and Jo Banner, whose nonprofit The Descendants Project has bought land in the area — including a former plantation — to protect their town’s heritage. They gained national recognition for their efforts to invest in preserving history of enslaved people and their descendants.

    But they are not the only people who thought there should be more focus on finding other avenues to bring jobs and growth to the historic Black town of Wallace and the surrounding parish.

    Whitney Plantation Executive Director Ashley Rogers oversees a nearby National Register Historic District which draws 80,000 visitors a year from around the world. The area surrounding the proposed grain terminal site offers two centuries of well-documented history and culture containing “huge potential” for the community to capitalize on, she added.

    There is also a National Historic Landmark, Evergreen Plantation, and the Willow Grove cemetery for descendants of the formerly enslaved which would have been adjacent to the 275-foot-high grain terminal.

    “There does need to be economic development,” Rogers said. “I just think it can be done in a way that doesn’t permanently destroy the heritage, the culture and the environment and ruin people’s livelihoods and homes, right?”

    Fighting in and out of the court

    From Greenfield’s representatives to community activists, everyone acknowledged the fight over the project had been exhausting and brutal.

    In recent months, flyers attacking local activists opposed to the grain terminal were distributed throughout the community, including images featuring racist tropes. Greenfield representatives denied the company had any connection to the flyers.

    There are multiple ongoing lawsuits related to the facility filed by the Descendants Project related to zoning changes and tax exemptions for the company.

    Joy Banner, of the Descendant Project, has also sued Parish Council Chairman Michael Wright in federal court for allegedly making threats against her at a council meeting. Wright did not respond to a request for comment.

    ___

    This story has been updated to correct the spelling of Joy Banner’s first name on first reference. It is Joy, not Joyce.

    ___

    Jack Brook is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.

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