December 28, 2018

Unpopular Opinion: Bennett College is screwed

Things don’t look good for Bennett College, Greensboro’s 145-year-old private HBCU. On Tuesday, governing bodies announced that, in its second year of probation for enrollment and financial issues, the school will lose its accreditation at the end of the year. The decision has been appealed, with a final call scheduled for February, but it doesn’t look good.

Bennett College, founded in 1873 as a teacher’s college for freed slaves, became in 1926 one of just two colleges in the country exclusively for black women — the other is Spellman College in Atlanta.

Think about that: In Greensboro, at the height of Jim Crow, they were giving college degrees to black women. That sort of enterprise — along with the Underground Railroad near Guilford College and the civil rights warhorse that is NC A&T University — is woven into the fabric of the city. Bennett Belles were integral to the Woolworth Sit-Ins, and so many have gone on to public service in the Triad it’s impossible to name them all, but the list includes Yvonne Johnson, who was Greensboro’s first black mayor and sitting councilmember, and Carolyn Payton, the first African American to head the Peace Corps.

But the allure of the school has paled in recent years — currently there are just 469 students, and while nearby A&T, which is a state school while Bennett is a private one, has undergone millions of dollars in upgrades, there has been no significant new construction on the campus for decades.

Read more: https://triad-city-beat.com/unpopular-opinion-bennett-college-is-screwed/

December 28, 2018

Pamunkey tribe working to buy land for casino near Harbor Park in Norfolk

NORFOLK -- The Pamunkey Indian Tribe is in negotiations with the city to purchase land around Harbor Park and eventually build the state's first casino.

Jay Smith, spokesman for the tribe and its financial backer Jon Yarbrough, said the real estate developer hopes to buy approximately 20 acres between the baseball park and the Amtrak Station.

The casino would be on the same scale as facilities the tribe had discussed before now: a $700 million property with a $200 million payroll that Smith says would generate an economic impact for the state of well over $1 billion.

"After looking at other cities, they chose Norfolk," Mayor Kenny Alexander said in a statement Wednesday. "The tribe's decision validates Norfolk as an emerging destination for tourism in the mid-Atlantic, and the center for entertainment in Hampton Roads."

Read more: https://www.styleweekly.com/richmond/pamunkey-tribe-working-to-buy-land-for-casino-near-harbor-park-in-norfolk/Content?oid=13333640

December 28, 2018

Virginia Del. Nick "Freaky" Freitas (Far-Right Republican) Strikes Again, Compares People from Blue

Virginia Del. Nick “Freaky” Freitas (Far-Right Republican) Strikes Again, Compares People from Blue States to “Locusts” Eating Red States’ “Crops”


Remember how in the spring of 2018, when the Republican primary campaign for U.S. Senate was raging, there were actually people who argued that nutty, far-right Paul-bot Del. Nick Freitas was somehow less extreme than neo-Confederate Corey Stewart. That’s despite the fact that Freitas:

a) bragged about the “Courageous Leadership Award” he received from the “Virginia Christian Alliance” for having “voted the right way and…stood up and spoke out for Christian causes”;

b) was a co-sponsor, along with our old friend “Sideshow Bob” Marshall and other anti-LGBT Republicans like Scott Lingamfelter, Mark Cole and Dave LaRock, of Virginia’s version of the so-called “bathroom bill,” which even the highly conservative Richmond Times-Dispatch editorial page called “even more extreme” than North Carolina’s infamous law;

c) delivered this bizarre, unhinged speech in the House of Delegates, in which he claimed that we “can’t have an honest debate” on the issue of guns because supposedly Democrats will never stop until all guns are taken away (e.g., “assault weapons,” which Freitas defines as “something that looks scary”). And Freitas was SUPER insulted about, supposedly, being compared to Nazis and “segregationists” (which he claimed was all about the “Democrat Party,” not HIS party)

Read more: https://bluevirginia.us/2018/12/virginia-del-nick-freaky-freitas-far-right-republican-strikes-again-compares-people-from-blue-states-to-locusts-eating-red-states-crops

December 28, 2018

State details jammed equipment, missing volunteers and possibly uncounted votes in November election

Problems on Election Day this November ranged from humidity-induced paper jams to potentially incorrect final tallies being reported to the state from one locality, according to a report issued by the Department of Elections Friday.

Some election officials characterized the problems as typical hiccups. Others saw them as serious deficiencies.

“There are issues in every single election,” said Chris Piper, commissioner of the Department of Elections. “It’s a unique process we do as Americans. For 13 hours we try to get everybody in one place to vote, so there are going to be issues.”

Likewise, Chairman of the Board of Elections James Alcorn said it sounded like a “pretty well-run election.”

Read more: https://www.virginiamercury.com/2018/12/21/state-details-jammed-equipment-missing-volunteers-and-possibly-uncounted-votes-in-november-elections/

December 28, 2018

Aretha Franklin attorney: $3 million in back taxes paid to IRS

DETROIT (AP) — An attorney representing the estate of the late Queen of Soul says at least $3 million in back taxes have been paid to the IRS since Aretha Franklin's death this summer in her Detroit apartment.

David Bennett tells The Associated Press Thursday that Franklin's estate is being audited by the IRS, which he says filed a claim this month in a county probate court north of Detroit.

TMZ reported earlier Thursday that legal documents it obtained showed the IRS claimed Franklin owes more than $6.3 million in back taxes from 2012 to 2018 and $1.5 million in penalties.

Bennett says all of Franklin's returns have been filed. He adds that the IRS is questioning the filed returns and that Franklin's estate is disputing what the IRS claims "was income."

Read more: https://www.news-journal.com/ap/entertainment/franklin-attorney-million-in-back-taxes-paid-to-irs/article_bdc31891-4bed-5fdc-b707-573ce46e6e3d.html

December 28, 2018

Man indicted on terroristic threat charge against Kilgore and Longview high schools

A grand jury of the 124th District Court this past week indicted a 19-year-old Elderville man who was charged with making a terroristic threat against Kilgore and Longview high schools.

The grand jury indicted David Alexander Nelson stemming from an incident Oct. 24.

Kilgore police arrested Nelson on Oct. 26 at the police station after an investigation in which they worked with Longview police and other law enforcement agencies.

The threats that led to Nelson’s arrest were made on the messaging app Snapchat beginning Oct. 24 against Kilgore High School. Nelson confessed to creating the posts as a prank, Kilgore police said in a written statement Oct. 29.

Read more: https://www.news-journal.com/news/police/man-indicted-on-terroristic-threat-charge-against-high-schools/article_31fc2560-0a1b-11e9-a43a-fb3823ebc538.html

December 28, 2018

El Paso, NM hospitals do medical checks after 2nd migrant child dies in CBP custody

Medical facilities in El Paso County and New Mexico have screened 450 migrant children since Christmas Day — the day after a second child died in U.S. custody.

The U.S. Customs and Border Protection ordered medical exams of all children in U.S. custody after the Christmas Eve death of 8-year-old Felipe Alonzo-Gomez. Another child from Guatemala, 7-year-old Jakelin Caal Maquin, died in U.S. custody earlier this month.

Hospital leaders in El Paso and Southern New Mexico met with federal immigration officials Wednesday morning to coordinate the new medical checks, El Paso County Commissioner Vince Perez said.

Representatives from U.S. Customs and Border Protection met with members of the Border Regional Advisory Council, which represents regional medical providers in El Paso, Hudspeth, Culberson and Southern New Mexico.

Read more: https://www.elpasotimes.com/story/news/2018/12/26/el-paso-nm-hospitals-cbp-medical-checks-second-migrant-child-dies-ice-custody/2416486002/

December 28, 2018

Montana Lawmaker Proposes State Rock and Roll Song

HELENA — Montana has a state song, a state ballad and a state lullaby.

And, for goodness sake, Democratic Rep. Jacob Bachmeier of Havre would like to see the 2019 Legislature declare the “Hippy Hippy Shake” Montana’s official rock and roll song.

It was written in 1959 by Chan Romero when he was a 17-year-old student at Billings Senior High School.

Romero, who now lives in Southern California, tells the Great Falls Tribune his song has been featured in seven or eight movies and has been recorded by about 20 groups, including The Beatles. He says he’d be proud to have his song honored by the Legislature.

Read more: https://flatheadbeacon.com/2018/12/27/montana-lawmaker-proposes-state-rock-roll-song/

December 28, 2018

Flathead Beacon: Best of the Police Blotter 2018

A review of some of the most insignificant crimes to rock our community in 2018


Crime is no laughing matter.

Like any community, the Flathead Valley has more than its fair share of criminal issues: drug use, property crime, and sometimes even worse. Every day, the valley’s law enforcement agencies deal with serious crimes that have serious impacts.

But every once in awhile, a call comes through dispatch that can only be described as bizarre, such as a roommate eating their soup a little too loud or a fight that broke out because of the 1989 classic “The Little Mermaid.”

Here are some of the most bizarre and hilarious blotter items that ran in the Beacon in 2018. We hope you enjoy. – Justin Franz

Read more: https://flatheadbeacon.com/2018/12/27/best-police-blotter-2018/

December 28, 2018

Wyoming lawmaker introduces legislation to tackle crossover voting

A newly elected state senator is introducing a bill to address crossover voting in Wyoming’s elections, despite a lack of appetite by the committee that sets the rules for elections across the state.

Sponsored by Senator-elect Bo Biteman, R-Ranchester, the bill — if enacted — would require voters looking to switch their party to fill out an application before a notary or election official, which they would then be required to file with the county clerk.

Like previous versions of the bill, the legislation also sets parameters for when voters can change their party, and would prevent voters from changing their party affiliation during the roughly 10-week period between candidates officially filing for office and the primary election.

The bill would also require changes in party affiliation to be recorded by an election judge. According to a fiscal note attached to the bill by the state treasurer’s office, there will be added administrative duties levied upon county election officials should the bill be enacted. However, it is currently unclear what the cost of the bill would be or whether or not it would require additional staffing. However, previous fiscal notes for similar bills have noted the financial impact would be negligible.

Read more: https://trib.com/news/state-and-regional/wyoming-lawmaker-introduces-legislation-to-tackle-crossover-voting/article_d953a7d0-d01c-533d-a764-f80f91464b42.html