L-R are Bingo Clerk Minnie Byrd, Sheriff Joe Benison, School Board Employee Shirley Ezell, Boligee Mayor Louis Harper, Union Town Councilwoman Helen Sanford, Forkland Mayor Derrick Biggs, Eutaw City Police Linda Spencer, Brenda Burke for the Greene County Commission, and Bingo Clerk Emma Jackson.

On May 14, 2013, Greene County Sheriff Jonathan Benison distributed $202,826.66 in bingo allocations from the four licensed gaming operations in the county.  The recipients of the monthly distributions from bingo gaming designated by Sheriff Benison in his Bingo Rules and Regulations include the Greene County Commission, the Greene County Sheriff’s Department, the cities of Eutaw, Forkland, Union and Boligee and the Greene County Board of Education.

Green Charity (Center for Rural Family Development) gave a total of $62,800 to the following:

Greene County Commission, $25,120; Greene County Sheriff’s Department, $9,420; City of Eutaw, $4,710; and the Towns of Forkland, Union and Boligee each, $3,140; Greene County Board of Education, $14,130.

Greenetrack, Inc gave a total of $60,026.66 to the following: Greene County Commission, $24,010.67; Greene County Sheriff’s Department, $9,004; City of Eutaw, $4,502; Towns of Forkland, Union and Boligee each, $3,001.33; Greene County Board of Education, $13,506.

Frontier (Dream, Inc.) gave a total of $60,000 to the following: Greene County Commission, $24,000; Greene County Sheriff’s Department, $9,000; City of Eutaw, $4,500; Towns of Forkland, Union and Boligee each $3,000; Greene County Board of Education, $13,500.

Lucky Star (Young People Alliance Association) gave a total of $20,000 to the following:

Greene County Commission, $8,000; Greene County Sheriff’s Department, $3,000; City of Eutaw, $1,500; Towns of Forkland, Union and Boligee each $1,000; Greene County Board of Education, $4,500.

Branch requested that the Commission determine which parks are county parks and which are parks on private property with public use. He also cautioned the commission that with such a heavy rainy season, his department needs to use every opportunity of dry weather to work on dirt roads in the county.  Any time given to work on parks takes away from road repairs.

The commission addressed Branch’s initial inquiry by determining that the designated public parks are Knoxville, Boligee, Mantua and Forkland. “These are county obligation,” said Commission Chair, Nick Underwood. The commission authorized Attorney Hank Sanders to develop an agreement for public use of private land. This is regarding how the county could legally assist in grounds upkeep for such parks.

The commission discussed that roads are a priority, but the public parks did need the dirt to prepare for summer recreational programs, such as ball games. Commissioner Elzora Fluker stated that some communities were more organized to begin summer recreational programs and should get the grounds assistance first.

The commission heard a special report from Charlotte Watkins, an Occupational Therapist with the Greene County Hospital and Nursing Home who is also in charge of marketing. Watkins began by telling everyone she was born in the Greene County Hospital and did not understand why more local people did not use this hospital, nursing home and physician’s clinic.

Why travel 20 or 30 miles for basic health care you can receive it at home.  Our services also include the convenience of various types of therapy,” she explained.  Watkins also announced that the Greene County Hospital was holding its 2013 Health Extravaganza Saturday, May 18 from 10 a.m. until 1 p.m. on the hospital grounds and urged the public to attend.

CFO Paula Bird gave the financial report with recommendations for budget amendments including plumbing repair costs relative to Children Policy Council, Family Resource Center; request for jail duct work replacement; and adding $3,000 to Coroner’s budget for transporting bodies to Forensic Lab.  These amendments were approved by the commission.

Underwood advised the commissioners that their contract with Attorney Sanders as legal counsel had expired during March and the county had to solicit bids for professional services. However, Alabama Law does not require solicitation of bids for professional services.  The county commission can continue its legal counsel arrangement with Attorney Hank Sanders.

The commission  approved the Mag Lock System proposal presented by Jackson Security Services which will set up a swipe system for employees for the 2 back doors of the courthouse.  The front door will continue to be  manned by deputies.  Fluker explained that the employee swipe card will identify the employees entering the courthouse and collect data on each date and time the card is used.

The commission approved the $1.50 increase from the Water Authority. Commissioner Childs questioned why this board did not have 5 members so each district would have a representative. Attorney Sanders advised as he recalls that the Alabama Statutes only provided for a three member board. He said he would verify this for the commission.

It was decided that the county would do needed work on Bruce Hick Road Bridge and the town of Union would reimburse the cost.

A letter appealing a decision by  Sheriff Joe Benison to deny Great Western Development, Inc. a permit to open a bingo casino was discussed. This letter was not signed by any legal counsel and according to Sanders, that could present problems. A motion was  passed to defer any action.  Commissioner Turner abstained from the vote.

The commission discussed whether or not to hire a County Administrator, or transfer the duties to existing employees. After  some discussion,  Commissioner Turner’s suggestion to  use existing staff died for lack of a second. It was suggested by Commissioner Childs that this be postponed for the adjourned session to be held on Wednesday, May 15 at 2:30  p.m.

Two  entities were in need of board appointments. David Bailey was re-appointed to the Water Authority from District 1.  Underwood, stated he had talked to Don Lancaster about filling the vacancy on the DHR Board and this will also be discussed at the adjourned meeting on Wednesday.

In her finance report, CFO Paula Bird advised the commission that claims paid in April amounted to $493,197.48 and that the total funds in local bank accounts on April 13 amounted to $2,824,101.71.

As of April 13, the following percentages of total revenue still to be collected were:

General Fund – 28%; Gasoline Fund – 49%; Road and Bridge Fund – 0%; Highway/Traffic Fund – 48%; Capital Improvement – 0%; RRR Fund – 44%; Appraisal Fund – 0%; Solid Waste Fund – 52%; RSVP Fund – 14% and Sr. Citizens – 18%.

Percentages left to spend as of April 13 were:  General Fund – 41%; Gasoline Fund – 49%; Road & Bridge Fund – 10%; Highway Traffic Fund – 0%; Capital Improvement – 0%; RRR Fund – 57%; Appraisal Fund – 39%; Solid Waste Fund – 55%; RSVP Fund – 52% and Sr. Citizen  – 34%.

During the public comment portion of the meeting, Spiver Gordon  protested the delay of a petition to open a new casino in Greene County.

A Forkland resident told the commissioners that the grass was too high in the Forkland Park and that Alabama Power would not allow them to turn the lights on, telling them that request had to be made by the county. He also said that parents had gotten a girls’ softball team together which was playing their games in Demopolis.

The Network of Black Farm Organizations has responded to a 5,000 word investigative article published in the New York Times on April 26 which charges widespread fraud in the settlement of the initial $1 billion Black farmers discrimination lawsuit (Pigford I) against USDA.

The article, by Sharon LaFraniere, entitled “Federal Spigot Flows as Farmers Claim Discrimination” suggested that the “loose conditions for payment of claims opened the floodgates for fraud” . The article was also syndicated and rerun in many other newspapers including the Chicago Tribune. Right-wing commentators and others seized upon the article as supporting their long held contention that the discrimination claims process in the Black farmer and other cases involving Native Americans, Hispanic and women farmers was seriously flawed.

Ralph Paige, Executive Director of the Federation of Southern Cooperatives, in a letter to the New York Times and other press outlets points out that the article leaves out some key information about the settlement with Black farmers.

Paige writes, “Mainly, it does not offer historical context of the vast scope of discrimination in rural areas throughout the country by the Agriculture Department. It does not mention the decades of studies by the Commission on Civil Rights and the Agriculture Department itself that confirm discrimination against black farmers. It also does not mention the countless black farmers who worked diligently on farm plans only to have their loan applications thrown in the trash can right in front of them by the Agriculture Department’s county supervisor.

“Also, the fraud alleged in the article was minuscule. The 60 claims investigated by the F.B.I., in the first Pigford case amounted to less than three-tenths of 1 percent of the 22,000 claims filed.

“One would hope that the Agriculture Department would finally address the dreadful discrimination within its ranks, and thanks to Secretary Tom Vilsack, it is doing precisely that. The journey to overcome racial issues is not an easy one, but to ignore the existence of this injustice is the very definition of discrimination. Unfortunately, the article criticizes farmers who have been victimized rather than the Agriculture Department’s history of corrupt policies.”

The article quotes Secretary Tom Vilsack blaming “disgruntled USDA employees for the criticism of the payouts, saying some simply refused to acknowledge the pervasiveness of discrimination.”

The article suggests that the Obama Administration pushed the settlement of these discrimination cases, including Pigford II, which deals with Black farmers who filed late claims in the first case, for political reasons to court rural voters of color rather than for their merits in righting past wrongs by the USDA.

Some Black farm advocates are concerned that the article and the public response to it, will further delay payments to farmers in the Pigford II case and the Hispanic and women farmer cases. 39,000 claimants, whose claims were accepted for adjudication in the Pigford II case have been waiting for over a year, since the May 11, 2012 closing date of the claims period, for decisions and payment of claims. This wait comes in addition to the long wait since 1999 when the late claims were initially filed.

Class counsel lawyers in the Pigford II case say that concerns for fraud have prompted audits by the Office of Inspector General in USDA, GAO for Congress and others to insure that fraudulent and duplicative claims are not paid.

The claims period in the Hispanic and Women Farmers USDA Discrimination Settlement process has just ended on May 1, 2013 with more than 25,000 claims filed. The Claims Administrator is working their way through these claims and preparing them for the adjudication process.

The Network of Black Farm Groups and Advocates responded in detail to many of the inaccuracies and misstatements in the New York Times’ article. A sample of the responses are shown below.

Article: “From the start, the claims process….encouraged people to lie”

Response: False. Claimants and the attorneys had to sign the claim form under penalty of perjury. Frivolous claims by underage individuals were screened out by the claims facilitator. While few documents existed, every claim was subject to scrutiny be a team of USDA officials. The claims were decided by experienced neutrals and, in the end, 30% of all claims were denied.

Article: “But critics, including some of the original black plaintiffs, say that is precisely what the government did when it first agreed to compensate not only those who had proof of bias, but those who had none.”

Response: Every claimant had to prove bias to prevail on a claim, including identification of a similarly situated white farmer who received more favorable treatment than the black farmer.

Article: “Justice department lawyers worried about false claims….it was better to err on the side of giving money to people…”

Response: This was no giveaway. Initially 40% of all claims were denied. Some of these people appealed and, in the end, 30% of all claims were denied.

For the full text of the response and more information on this issue, you can check the Federation’s website at www.federation.coop. The members of the Network, include the Federation of Southern Cooperatives, Black Farmers and Agriculturalists Association of North Carolina, Land Loss Prevention Project, Mississippi Family Farmers Association, Oklahoma Black Historical Research Project, Rural Advancement Fund and United Farmers USA.

“

South Africa President Jacob Zuma (center) with Jesse Jackson (left) and businessman Eugene Jackson (NNPA Photo by George E. Curry)

By George E. Curry,  NNPA Editor-in-Chief

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa (NNPA) – When international icon and former political prisoner Nelson Mandela was elected president of South Africa in 1994, it marked a watershed moment for the former minority-ruled country. Mandela, the standard bearer for the African National Congress, won with 62.6 percent of the vote. The ANC captured 252 of the 500 seats in parliament and at the regional level, the ANC took control of seven of the nine provincial governments.

“I was 20 when apartheid ended,” said Nelson Nkrsi, who owns a transportation firm here that caters to tourists. “There was so much excitement. We all sat down and thought, ‘Wow! Apartheid has ended, Nelson Mandela is free. We’re all going to be living in the suburbs. We’re all going to be driving really nice cars.’ It was a dream we all had.”

It was a dream deferred, if not erased. Today, 19 years later, the ANC – the major anti-apartheid group representing the 80 percent Black majority – is still winning elections, but by increasingly smaller margins. Moreover, even some staunch ANC backers are openly questioning whether the group that brought about the fall of apartheid is up to the task of governing successfully.

In an interview earlier this month with the Mail & Guardian, retired Archbishop Desmond Tutu said: “I’m not a card-carrying member of any political party. I have over the years voted for the ANC, but I would very sadly not be able to vote for them after the way things have gone.”

Tutu explained, “We really need a change. The ANC was very good at leading us in the struggle to be free from oppression. They were a good freedom-fighting unit. But it doesn’t seem to me now that a freedom-fighting unit can easily make the transition to becoming a political party.”

South Africa, nearly twice the size of Texas, has a population of 48.6 million. Blacks or Africans make up 79 percent of the population followed by Whites (9.6 percent), Colored ( 8.9 percent), and Indian/Asian (2.5 percent).

But the euphoria of the Mandela years in the public has faded. Kenneth Walker, a former White House correspondent for ABC News who now lives in Johannesburg, said much of the disappointment with President Jacob Zuma can be traced to the negotiations that led to a peaceful transition from White minority-rule to a democracy.

During the transition, Whites – representing only 16 percent of the population – had disproportionate representation in government and were not forced to make the kind of land concessions White farmers experienced in Zimbabwe.

“The ANC cut a bad deal,” Walker said. “When the farm seizures started in Zimbabwe, I asked President Mugabe why was it that in the African countries that used to be colonies, Africans controlled the governments, but the economies were still largely controlled by Whites. He said, ‘We thought once we got the government, everything else would follow. We were wrong.’ By the time the ANC cut its deal, this model was well known and thoroughly discredited; yet the ANC settled for it anyway.   Basically, they accepted the government and pretty much agreed that apartheid would continue to rein everywhere else – the economy, access to health care, education and decent housing.”

A report last October by Statistics South Africa painted a mixed picture of South Africa. Over the past decade, annual earnings of Black households increased by 169 percent to 60,613 rand (approximately U.S. $6,644). White household earnings over that same period rose by 88 percent to 365,134 rand (about U.S. $40,927).

“These figures tell us that at the bottom of the rung is the black majority, who continue to be confronted by deep poverty, unemployment and inequality. Great strides have been made,” President Zuma said. “However, much remains to be done to further improve the livelihoods of our people especially in terms of significant disparities that still exist between the rich and poor.”

Those economic disparities were highlighted last year in a report by the World Bank titled, “South Africa Economic Update: Focus on inequality of opportunity.”

According to the report, the top 10 percent of the population receive 58 percent of the country’s income. The bottom 10 percent accounted for only .5 percent of South Africa’s income. Overall, the bottom 50 percent of South Africans receive only 8 percent of the country’s income.

Earlier this month, The Economist noted, “… the gap between rich and poor is now wider than under apartheid.” South Africa has an official unemployment rate of 25.2 percent – 33 percent if discouraged workers are counted – according to the World Bank.

“… Africa’s population, unlike Asia’s, is growing fast. From 1 billion now it is set to double in little more than a generation,” said The Economist. “A youthful population is a blessing in many ways. But if the extra people cannot find jobs, they may cause unrest and instability. South Africa knows this too well. Joblessness is one reason for high crime rates that make it necessary for rich South Africans to sleep behind heavy barred doors and windows.”

A U.S. State Department report on South Africa observed that although most U.S. tourists travel safely in South Africa, crime is a major concern. “Criminal activity, such as assault, armed robbery, and theft, is particularly high in areas surrounding certain hotels and public transportation centers, especially in major cities,” the report stated. “Theft of passports and other valuables is most likely to occur at airports, bus terminals, and train stations. A number of U.S. citizens have been mugged or violently attacked on commuter and metro trains, especially between Johannesburg and Pretoria.”

The report said, “South Africa also has the highest reported occurrence of rape in the world.” A country profile by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) said South Africa ranks No.1 in the world with the 5.6 million people living with HIV/AIDS. The number of deaths from AIDS – 310,000 in 2009 –  also places South Africa ahead of all other nations.

Jesse Jackson said that anti-apartheid activists in South Africa were so focused on ending rigid segregation in the early 1990s that they didn’t have the luxury of focusing on broader, economic matters.

“What we’re seeing increasingly is Africans are free, but not equal,” he said, ticking off a list of areas that ranged from healthcare to banking.

Still, Jackson said, the “born frees” – those born after apartheid ended in 1994 – will be responsible for addressing remaining issues, such as economic inequality.

Ranjeni Munusamy, one of the top political writers in South Africa, is hopeful about the country’s future – but not under Zuma, who has a year left on his term.

“When Zuma began his presidency, there were high hopes and goodwill for him to succeed in the targets he set,” Munusamy said. “It was neither in the national nor international interests to wish him to fail. When a president fails, the country fails. In the past four years, South Africa has looked on in astonishment as his administration lurched from one crisis to another. Even by his own standards, and in his own mind, Zuma cannot believe that his presidency has been a success.”

NNPA Washington Correspondent

WASHINGTON (NNPA) – Kathleen Sebelius, Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services announced plans to provide $150 million to community health centers to assist in getting uninsured Americans prepared for the Oct. 1 opening of the Health Care Marketplace.

The 1,2000 Community Health Centers across rural and urban centers in America provide medical services to over 21 million patients a year. These centers serve in many of the neighborhoods that are set to benefit the most from the coming availability of insurance options that will be provided in the new insurance marketplace.

“We’re supporting community health centers as they reach out to those in need,” Sebelius said on a press call last Wednesday, the day of the announcement.

“Many of the Americans we’re trying to reach have spent their whole lives outside of coverage,” Sebelius said. “This will be a huge undertaking, but it’s an undertaking that’s important to the American people.”

The money, which comes from Affordable Care Act funds set aside specifically for community health centers in the 2013 budget, is set to help the centers hire new staff and train staff to properly educate patients about their insurance options.

Sebelius hopes the funds will also help the community health centers reach uninsured people within communities who otherwise would not have known about the insurance marketplace, their new options in terms of coverage.

About 60 percent of the existing community health centers are in communities where racial and ethnic minorities are the majority. Currently, about 21 percent of African Americans are uninsured, along with about 30 percent of Hispanics.

Mary Wakefield, an administrator at the Health Resources and Services Administration, said on the call that community health centers are “really perfect partners in outreach and enrollment efforts.”

“Those of us who are in Obama administration have been working hard to make sure that Americans that aren’t in the health system can get in, Wakefield said. “ We can now double the outreach and education capacity of health centers nationwide.”

Each community health center is eligible to receive about $50,000 in funds, with an extra $5,000 available for additional resources like computers. The funds provided to community health centers are a mere portion of the efforts by the Obama administration, mostly being rolled out this summer, to get information out about the Insurance Marketplace.

The goal—to reach as many uninsured people as possible to ensure the success of Obama’s huge, and often begrudged, overhaul of the health care system.

Community health centers are positioned to reach a number of the uninsured, given their reputation as “trusted community partners” for people on the fringes of the health care system. According to the health care officials about one seventh of the uninsured population gets treatment from community health centers.

Wakefield said, ““It’s about making sure every American can access the support they need.”

(L) Paulette Brown displays poster board of a local paper depicting her fight to find the killer of her 17-year-old son Aubrey Abrakasa. Photos: Charles Jackson, Jr./City Pride Magazine (R) Victims’ rights advocates represent for the various community groups including the Southern California Cease Fire Committee and the Rolland “Rocky” Miller Foundation.

by Charlene Muhammad

Special to the NNPA from The Final Call

SACRAMENTO – Hundreds gathered in front of the California state capitol April 23 to remember their murdered loved ones during National Crime Victims’ Rights Week. But, some whose family members died in police violence, foster care, and other killings rallied with this specific message: “Our children are victims, too!”

One rally, sponsored by the California Correctional Peace Officers Association (the prison guards’ union), but carried by Crime Victims United of California, called for a repeal of the state’s realignment plan.  The plan  shifts non-violent, non-serious, non-sexual offenders to local jails and supervision.

Another simultaneous rally on an adjacent capitol lawn, sponsored by Californians for Safety and Justice (a non-profit, crime victims advocacy organization), highlighted the depth of crime victims’ pain and their struggles to overcome such tragedies.

“We thought it would be important to elevate the voices of crime victims that’s not usually heard … Our loved ones are victims, too and we want healing for our community,” said Robert Rooks, organizing director for Californians for Safety and Justice.

He helped to organize chartered busses that carried more than 150 people on the “Bring the Healing” Bus Ride from Los Angeles and across the state for the event, which included a Healing Circle. The year old non-profit organization grew out of a desire to help the state safely implement realignment, he stated.

“What our folks came to say is we have a pathway to justice, too. And that our pathway to justice is not rooted in vengeance. Our pathway to justice is rooted in healing and prevention for ourselves and our community and that’s why we didn’t join in on that rally because we’ve heard those speeches before,” said Mr. Rooks.

Over the last 30 years, crime victims in California have played a major role in advocating for policies relating to death penalty sentencing, and they’ve done well to raise their voices and become opinion leaders on justice policy, Mr. Rooks noted.

However, they only represent a small percentage of California’s crime victims, he argued. “Categorically, they are often White – White men, White women – when over 90 percent of victims of crime in California are Black and Brown.  So, we don’t see Black and Brown victims represented in Sacramento in the way that you see other victims,” Mr. Rooks told The Final Call.

“We have been going to the Victims’ March on the capitol for the last 10 years and we have been ignored. The real plight of victims have been ignored, particularly people of color,” said Mattie Scott, founder of Healing 4 Our Families and Our Nation, a non-profit advocacy group based in San Francisco.

Although an elaborate, ethnically diverse photo exhibit saturated the lawn of the Crime Victims United of California’s rally, Ms. Scott said there’s more to recognition than including their loved ones pictures in the event.

“We’ve been the number one victims in inner cities that suffer from gun violence, due to economic injustice that goes on daily in communities of color,” Ms. Scott said. Each year they’ve attended the March, hoping to grace the speakers’ podium to talk about their plight, but to no avail.

But, she keeps pushing in the name of her son and for other mothers whose children were murdered. Ms. Scott’s 20-year-old son, an activist who worked to improve the plight of Black males in his San Francisco community, was killed in 1996 while trying to stop a fight at a graduation party, she shared.

Her organization helps to support mothers like Maggie Agnew.  Four of her six children have been murdered. Her five-month old daughter died of “unknown” causes while in foster care, according to the soft-spoken, wheel-chair bound woman. Two of her children were placed in foster care and four with their fathers, when she fell ill, she explained.

She insists, however, she was still very capable of caring for them when child protective services allegedly barged in her home to remove them. She turned to her community for help. But, by the time her children would be returned to her sister, her five month old daughter had been killed, Ms. Agnew stated. Her investigations led her to a dead end, she said.

Another son was killed in a drive by and the other while walking. And a third son was shot down by a so-called friend, as they were playing, she continued.

“I’m traumatized, for one thing…But, thank God I did have some support.  I couldn’t even arrange their funerals, I was grieving so much,” Ms. Agnew said.  Community activists and members of her church helped her to cope with her ordeal and to get her children recognized during the rally.

“I just broke down and started screaming,” stated Ms. Agnew on seeing  them in the state photo exhibit this year. “It was so beautiful but I just couldn’t take it.  I feel that if my sons and my daughter were here, I wouldn’t be in the condition I’m in now. They’d be helping their mama,” she lamented.

Supporters lay their hands on Rev. William Barber ahead of the April 29 civil disobedience (Photo courtesy of the Wilmington Journal)

WILMINGTON, N.C. – Seventeen people, including eight ministers, civil rights leaders, and students, were arrested for a prayerful protest at the state legislature in Raleigh on April 29, 2013 .They promise to return again.

The activists were handcuffed and taken to jail while they sang and prayed in front of the locked chamber doors of the North Carolina Senate. The nonviolent civil disobedience was the opening round in a series of protests to focus national attention on what Rev. William Barber, North Carolina NAACP State President, called “the ideologically driven, extremist, mean-spirited agenda” that has captured both legislative houses and the Governor’s office in North Carolina.

“The decision to engage in civil disobedience is not one we take lightly,” stated Rev. Barber. “But the extremists are acting like the George Wallaces of the 21st century. They are pursuing a cruel, unusual and unconstitutional agenda reminiscent of the Old South. What happens in North Carolina does not stay in North Carolina. It has national implications. North Carolina is ground zero in a national struggle to defend democracy for all.”

The group arrested Monday was composed of men and women of many different races and backgrounds, with ages ranging from 18 to 74. The ministers included: Rev. William J. Barber, II; Rev. Jimmie R. Hawkins; Rev. Curtis Gatewood; Rev. Nelson Johnson; Rev. John Mendez; Rev. Maria Palmer; Rev. Larry Read and Rev. Theodore Anthony Spearman.

The others included three college professors, two students, and veteran civil rights leaders: Adam Sotak; Dr. Timothy Tyson; Margaretta Belin; Bryan Perlmutter; O’Linda Gillis; Professor Perri Morgan; Molly McDonough; Barbara Zelter; and Bob Zellner, a veteran of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). One of those arrested was in a wheelchair.

Republican lawmakers say they are only doing what the voters elected them to do.

In the first 50 days of the North Carolina legislative session, the Republican-controlled legislature enacted polices that critics say will adversely impact hundreds of thousands of North Carolinians. A recent PPP poll found that a majority of North Carolinians oppose what Rev. Barber calls “an extreme and aggressive agenda.” However, the legislature appears steadfastly committed to acting on it.

This session, the legislature has:

• Rejected funding to expand Medicaid to cover 500,000 North Carolinians without health insurance;

• Rejected more than $700 million in federal funds for unemployment benefits, affecting 170,000 laid off workers;

• Cut the payroll tax credit for over 900,000 poor and working people, while giving a tax break to 23 of the wealthiest people in the state;

• Planned to reduce access to pre-school and kindergarten; and

• Pushed a voter ID bill, in addition to stopping Sunday voting, cutting the early voting period, stopping same-day registration and ending straight-ticket voting, efforts that critics say disenfranchise Black and young voters.

“Love and justice demand a witness in the face of this regressive public policy,” stated Rev. Barber. “The noblest sentiment of our constitution and deepest aspirations of our religious traditions summon us in the public square to enact policies that maintain a commitment to the protection of civil and human rights, the common good, the good of the whole, equal protection and justice for all, and the uplift of the poor and marginalized. Anything opposing these principles must be challenged.”

“This much is clear: the Republican-led legislature is standing in the way of progress and passing laws that violate fundamental constitutional rights. As leaders of moral conscience, we must draw the line somewhere. That is what this direct action is all about,” Rev. Barber added.

Critics say the attack on voting rights seen in North Carolina is being mirrored in state legislatures across the country, particularly the South. Legislators are pursuing extremist, regressive agendas, critics say, to block progress by making it harder for people to vote.

“Those most impacted by these policies are seniors, students, people of color and the working poor,” stated Attorney Al McSurely. “Reverend Barber calls on all people of conscience to hold similar protests and direct actions in cities and states across the country, in solidarity with us in North Carolina.”

(Reporter Cash Michaels contributed to this report).

Attorney General Eric Holder

By Tom Curry, National Affairs Writer, NBC News

Attorney General Eric Holder told reporters Tuesday that he recused himself last year from any involvement in an investigation of national security leaks.

Holder also announced Tuesday that he has ordered an investigation to see if there were criminal violations in the Internal Revenue Service scrutiny of conservative political groups that had sought non-profit status.

On the leaks case, Holder – who is slated to testify before the House Judiciary Committee Wednesday afternoon — reminded reporters that he testified to a congressional committee last year that he had recused himself to avoid the appearance of a conflict of interest.

The Associated Press reported Monday that phone records of its reporters and editors had been subpoenaed and seized in that probe.

Holder said decisions in that investigation were being made by Deputy Attorney General James Cole and “the deputy attorney general would have been the one who ultimately had to authorize the subpoena that went to the AP.”

He added that since he was recused from the investigation, “I’m not familiar with all that went into the formulation of the subpoena.”

He also said he could not explain why voluntary cooperation wasn’t sought from the Associated Press before the subpoena was executed.

“I am confident that the people who are involved in this investigation, who I know for a great many years and who I’ve worked with for a great many years, followed all of the appropriate Justice Department regulations and did things according to DOJ rules,” Holder said.

He added that it “certainly not the policy of this administration” to target reporters. What has been done in the leaks investigation was, he said, “not as a result of a policy to get the press.”

Referring to the leaks of national security information, Holder said, “This was a very, very serious leak. I’ve been a prosecutor since 1976 – and I have to say that this is among, if not the most serious, in the top two or three most serious leaks that I’ve ever seen. It put the American people at risk – and that is not hyperbole.”

Trying to find out who leaked the information “required very aggressive action,” Holder said.

Senate Majority Leader Sen. Harry Reid, D- Nev., on Tuesday joined other congressional critics of the Justice Department’s search of SAP’ phone records telling reporters  “I have trouble defending what the DOJ did. It’s inexcusable. There is no way to justify this.”

In a letter to Holder on Monday, Associated Press President and Chief Executive Officer Gary Pruitt said, “There can be no possible justification for such an overbroad collection of the telephone communications of The Associated Press and its reporters.” Pruitt complained that the records could “disclose information about AP’s activities and operations that the government has no conceivable right to know.”

In a response, Cole wrote to Pruitt Tuesday that seeking phone records from media organizations “is undertaken only after all other reasonable alternative investigative steps have been taken.” He said that the Justice Department sought the AP phone records only after a comprehensive investigation which included conducting over 550 interviews and reviewing of tens of thousands of documents.

The home of Otis Robinson which burned early Monday morning. To the right are Robinson’s daughters, Jasmine Cole and Brenda Washington.

71-year-old Stanley Martin, a member of the Springfield Volunteer Fire Department, died early Monday morning, May 6, fighting a fire at the home of Otis Robinson on Hwy. 11 about a mile out of the city limits of Eutaw.

The one-story brick home was considered a complete loss.

According to Robinson, the fire began some time between 2 and 3 a.m. Monday morning. No one was in the home when it caught fire.

Further developments were unavailable at press time.