Viewpoint
Do you think the city is being fair to the 700 or so teachers being laid-off due to right sizing and modernization of the District of Columbia Public School system?
Interviews By Carlton R. Van Lowe; Photos by Joanne C. Jackson
Teens Offer Solutions to Pressing Issues
By Tia Carol Jones
WI Staff Writer
In an effort to make the youth of Prince George’s County a part of the political process, the County Council Community Leadership Institute held Teen Talk II, on April 17 at Prince George’s Community College. The Communication Leadership Institute has eight students in its youth commission, which is comprised of young people from all over the county. During Teen Talk II, they gathered to discuss some of the pressing issues affecting their generation. It was the second time in two months the Leadership Institute held the forum.
County gives contractors tools to make them successful
By Tia Carol Jones
WI Staff Writer
The Prince George’s County Economic Development Corporation has named 10 companies to participate in the inaugural class of their “Contractors’ College.”
“To me this is the beginning of a very vibrant future for Prince George’s County,” said Kwasi Holman, president of the Prince George’s County Economic Development Corporation.
Holman joined Charlotte Ducksworth, director of the Small Business Initiative, Senator David Harrington and Councilwoman Ingrid Turner in congratulating the 10 finalists for the Contractor’s Development Program. Harrington said programs like the “Contractor’s College” helped provide people with hope and make them realize “I, too can take advantage of wealth in Prince George’s County.”
This Week in Black History
April 24
1867 – The first national meeting of the Ku Klux Klan is held at the Maxwell House in Nashville, Tenn. The White supremacist organization and its various offshoots would go on to launch a wave of terror which would result in death and injury to thousands of African Americans over the years. The Klan would remain the nation’s most powerful anti-Black terrorist organization for the next 70 years. The first chapter, however, was actually formed a year earlier in Pulaski, Tenn. Most of the early Klan members were former soldiers of the defeated Confederate Army from the Civil War. The group’s initial aim was to spread fear among Blacks and prevent them from voting. But as the organization grew, it expanded into ant-Jewish, anti-Catholic and anti-foreigner activities. The first grand wizard was Nathan Forest.
1944 – The United Negro College Fund is incorporated. Over the years, the fundraising activities of the UNCF would result in thousands of college educations for African Americans.
Walking for Life
Hundreds of walkers took the four mile walk for March for Babies in Watkins Park, Upper Marlboro, Md. Saturday.
By Taaq Kirksey
WI Contributing Writer
U.S. Army Cpt. Yolanda Lee did not think she would see combat when she first signed on with the D.C. National Guard in 1993, two years after the Gulf War came to an end.
“I was always of the mindset that you only went to war every 20 years,” she said at a panel discussion Monday at the Rayburn House Office Building. The discussion, sponsored by Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.),
Annual Walk for Lupus
The second annual Walk for Lupus Now event was held Saturday. People gathered at Freedom Plaza at 13th St. and Pennsylvania Avenue, NW to walk to raise money for research of the disease, which primarily affects women of color.
Emancipation Day Parade: ‘Must Go On’
By Joseph Young
WI Staff Writer
It is Wednesday, April 16, Emancipation Day. A small band of observers make a pilgrimage to Franklin Square Park in downtown Washington, D.C. where the first Emancipation Day Parade was held in 1866. But this year’s city sponsored Emancipation Day Parade has been cancelled, due in part to Pope Benedict XVI’s visit, according to city officials.
“D.C. decided not to organize the march this year,” said Stephanie D. Stokes, secretary of the District of Columbia. “We were concerned about the impact on D.C. resources coupled with the Pope’s visit.”
Stokes added that the District planned a week’s worth of other Emancipation Day activities.
Problems of Area Public Hospitals Reveal National Trend
By Talib I. Karim, Esq.
Special to the Informer
Thursday, April 24, 2008
Recently, lawmakers in Annapolis approved a bail out package aimed at keeping afloat ailing Prince George’s County Hospital. Yet, the problems faced by the largest publicly funded hospital in Prince Georges’s County are not new. Observers see a clear similarity between the problems of Prince George’s County Hospital and the issues that caused the closure of the District’s public hospital, D.C. General.
According to Robert A. Malson, president of the District of Columbia Hospital Association (DCHA), the underlying issue that crippled both D.C. General and P.G. County Hospital comes down to simple economics: too much demand and insufficient resources to fund the supply of services to meet the demand.
The economic realities that threaten a medical crisis in both the nation’s capital and the Maryland suburbs are also troubling public hospitals across the country, according to Rick Wade, spokesperson for the American Hospital Association (AHA).
“The primary financial drain on public hospitals is the emergency room. One-third of the patients seen in [public hospital] emergency rooms don’t need to be there. Another third of public hospital emergency room patients suffer from ailments that could have been treated by a family physician or other primary care provider,” Wade said.
Candidates Sought for Congressional Seat
By Tia Carol Jones
WI Staff Writer
The Prince George’s County Democratic Central Committee will meet at 7:30 p.m. Thursday to find a candidate for the special election of the fourth District Congressional seat.
The meeting will be held at the James R. Cousins Municipal Center, 8600 Glenarden Parkway. The seat will be left vacant because of the early resignation of Congressman Albert Wynn (D-Dist 4). Donna Edwards won the Democratic primary for the seat in February.
Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley signed legislation for a special election on April 17. The special election will take place on June 17, per the HB 1627 Election Law. The law allows the Governor to make a proclamation for a special election to fill the vacancy left by a resigning member of Congress.
“At a time when our families are struggling to deal with a recession and national foreclosure crisis they must have representation in the United States Congress,” O’Malley said in a press release.
Tia Carol Jones can be reached at tiacaroljones@sbcglobal.net.
