daily challenge 6-14-11

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PROGRAM TO FAST TRACK STUDENTS, REDUCE DROPOUT RATE - PG. 3

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PLAXICO BURRESS TO WARNCHILDREN AWAY FROM GUNS

Former New York Giants wide receiver Plaxico Burress, a week after hisrelease from prison on gun charges, pledged to preach against gun violenceto the nation’s children. Photo: Burress, seated, accompanied by his wife

Tiffany, Marc Morial, left, President and CEO of the National Urban League,and Paul Helmke, right, President of the Brady Campaign and the BradyCenter to Prevent Gun Violence, signs a pledge agreement. SEE PAGE 3.

DAILY CHALLENGE TUESDAY, JUNE 14, 20112 � � � � �

OBAMA: WEINER’S ACTIONS ARE A “DISTRACTION”

Speaking with reporters aboardAir Force One today, a White Housespokesman said President BarackObama thinks Congressman Antho-ny Weiner’s sexting scandal is“inappropriate” and a “distraction.”

White House Press Secretary JayCarney would not say whetherObama thinks that Weiner shouldresign, saying that the presidentand Congress need to focus on theU.S. economy and safety issues.

The House of Representatives isgoing back into session today, butthe Brooklyn-Queens representativeis on a leave of absence while heundergoes treatment for his habit ofonline dalliances.

House Democratic leader NancyPelosi and Representative DebbieWasserman Schultz, the nationalDemocratic Party head, called onWeiner to resign over the weekend.

Representative Steny Hoyer, thenumber-two House Democrat, said itwould be “extremely difficult” forWeiner to represent his constituentsefficiently.

Yesterday, more lewd pictures ofWeiner were released by the gossipwebsite TMZ. They show Weinerboth undressed and in exerciseclothes, posing in the House gym.

Weiner has said he did not useany congressional resources for hiscommunication with women, butthe photos taken in the governmentgym blur that line.

TMZ says Weiner sent the photosto at least one woman online.

People outside of Weiner’s officein Forest Hills, Queens agreed thismorning that the congressman is ina tough spot.

“I don’t know if he should resignor not, but it does appear the pres-sure for him to leave office in signif-icant,” said one Queens resident.“And recently Nancy Pelosi askedhim to leave, so I think that it wouldcount for something. I think ulti-mately he will have to leave.”

BROOKLYN MAN CHARGED WITH BRIGHTON

BEACH SHOOTINGA Brooklyn man was arrested in

connection with the shooting on theBrighton Beach boardwalk that lefta 16-year-old girl dead last week.

Iloune Driver, 19, was chargedwith one count of second-degreemurder and one count of assaultwith intent to cause serious injury.

Tysha Jones was shot dead whenpolice say two men opened fire onthe boardwalk Thursday afternoon.

Four men in their 20s who werealso shot survived.

The aftermath of the shootingwas caught on cellphone video.

Investigators say the gunmenmeant to shoot someone in Jones’group, and that the shooting was inresponse to an earlier fight on thebeach.

Police are still looking for theother shooter. Anyone with infor-mation on his whereabouts shouldcontact the Crime Stoppers hotlineat 1-800-577-TIPS, or text CRIMESand then enter TIP577, or visitwww.nypdcrimestoppers.com.

NNEEWWSS BBRRIIEEFFSS

By ALISTER BULL

DURHAM, North Carolina — Withfew tools left to heal the economy,President Barack Obama pledged onMonday to act on job-boosting ideasfrom a panel of top executives whosemodest proposals fell short of a quickfix for stubbornly high unemploy-ment.

Obama’s jobs council, led by Gener-al Electric Corp chief Jeffrey Immelt,called for measures to cut red tape,provide more loans and invest in con-struction, manufacturing, healthcareand tourism, many of which havebeen suggested before.

The president, whose 2012 re-elec-tion prospects hinge heavily on hisability to boost the sagging economyand create jobs, said he was “excited”by the panel’s recommendations butmade no specific commitments.

The president faces strong opposi-tion to any new spending from Repub-licans who control the House of Rep-resentatives.

“I promise you we we’re going toact on a range of these recommenda-tions,” Obama said, pointing out thatthe private sector could adopt many ofthe panel’s ideas.

“There are some common-senseideas that we can all embrace to makeourselves more competitive thatshould not be subject to the usualpolitical gamesmanship.”

With a raft of opinion polls show-

ing Americans unhappy with Oba-ma’s stewardship of the economy, hehas been counting on fresh ideas fromthe jobs council, which also includesthe CEOs of Eastman Kodak, Ameri-can Express, DuPont and Xerox.

Monday marked the second meet-ing of the full panel, which Obamainaugurated in March to brainstormon the economy and find ways toencourage business growth andemployment.

Brendan Buck, a spokesman forHouse Speaker John Boehner, the topRepublican in Congress, dismissedthe North Carolina event as a “photoop” and signaled more pressure fromCongress on Obama to cut deficits, notspend more in the run-up to the elec-tion.

“Photo ops with business leadersonly reinforce that no one in thisadministration has ideas to create theprivate sector jobs our economy des-perately needs,” he said. “Republicanshave a Plan for American Job Cre-ators, and we hope the president willwork with us to implement it.”

Analysts see little scope for thepresident to deliver much more eco-nomic stimulus with Republicansopposing any more governmentspending that adds to the U.S. debtand deficit.

Obama said an agreement betweenthe White House and Republicans onraising the federal government’s$14.3 trillion debit limit and cuttingthe U.S. deficit, which is estimated to

reach $1.4 trillion this year, couldhelp give businesses the confidence tohire more workers.

“The steps that we take do not haveto create a sudden drastic cliff in 2012or 2013 while the economy is stillrecovering. We have a 10-year timehorizon and a 20-year time horizonthat we are offering off of. That givesus a little bit of room to do smartthings,” he said.

A weak jobs report in May, inwhich unemployment rose to 9.1 per-cent from 9 percent in April, hardenednational unease over the economy,which many Americans think hasbarely climbed out of recession.

Immelt outlined the jobs council’sproposals in an opinion piece withAmerican Express Co. boss KenChenault in The Wall Street Journalon Monday.

“The economic decisions we makenow will determine American job cre-ation and competitiveness in the yearsto come. Government, business andlabor need to work together to get thisdone,” the two chief executives said.

Obama jobs-creation panelsuggests modest steps

By TRAVIS LOLLER

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — The manexpected to be in the running tobecome the first African-American inthe No. 2 position of the nation’slargest Protestant denomination did-n’t choose to become a Southern Bap-tist. By Fred Luter Jr.’s account, it justsort of happened.

In 1986, Luter was hired at thehead pastor at Franklin Avenue Bap-tist Church in New Orleans, a South-ern Baptist Convention affiliate. Eversince, he has been breaking racial bar-riers in the predominantly whitedenomination.

In 1992, he was the first African-American elected to the executiveboard of the Louisiana Baptist Con-vention. In 2001, he was the firstAfrican-American to preach the con-vention sermon at the SBC annualmeeting.

When the Southern Baptist Con-vention elects new officers at its annu-al conference in Phoenix beginningTuesday, the 54-year-old Luter will bein the running for first vice-president.And some prominent Southern Bap-tist leaders already have said theyhope that position will lead to his elec-tion as president next year when the2012 convention is held in Luter’shometown.

Luter said he doesn’t want to spec-ulate on that.

“I’m a street kid from the Lower

Ninth Ward of New Orleans,” Lutersaid in an interview on Friday. “It’svery humbling. It’s really an honorjust to be nominated.”

Technically, Luter hasn’t been nom-inated yet. But Danny Akin, Presidentof the Southeastern Baptist Theologi-cal Seminary in Wake Forest, N.C.,has already announced that he willnominate Luter.

“To my knowledge, no one hasannounced to run against him,” Akinsaid, “and I would be very surprised ifanyone does.”

Akin called Luter a “much-loved,much-respected pastor” who “can beelected on his own merits regardlessof skin color.”

The move to elect Luter comes atthe same time the SBC is making apush for greater participation amongwhat it sometimes calls its “non-Anglo” members in the life of the con-vention, particularly in leadershiproles.

Luter’s church is one of an estimat-ed 3,400 black churches in thenation’s largest Protestant denomina-tion, a small minority of more than45,700 total SBC-affiliated churcheswith about 16 million members total.

In 1994, the convention elected itsfirst African-American to an executiveposition when the Rev. Gary Frostwas named second vice president. In1995, the denomination issued anapology to blacks for slavery. Thatsame year, Luter was elected to suc-ceed Frost as second vice president.

The push for increasing minorityparticipation comes at a time ofdecline for the SBC. According to fig-ures released on Thursday by thedenomination’s Lifeway ChristianResources, baptisms were downalmost 5 percent in 2010 over 2009.Total membership declined slightly,by 0.15 percent to 16,136,044, thefourth straight year of decline.

Statistics on the number of ethnicchurches have not yet been released,but Roger S. Oldham, SBC vice presi-dent for convention communicationsand relations, said they have beengrowing.

Ethnic congregations made upabout 13 percent of SBC churches in1998. That had increased to 18 per-cent by 2008, with African-Americanand Hispanic congregations eachmaking up about 6 percent of SBCchurches, Asian churches at about 3percent and other ethnic churchesmaking up another 3 percent.

The SBC’s executive committeereleased recommendations in Febru-ary for increasing minority participa-tion in the denomination. The groupwill present those recommendationsthis week. They include encouragingthe president to give special attentionto appointing ethnically diverse repre-sentatives to SBC committees andencouraging the officials who orga-nize annual meetings to make surethose speaking during the programrepresent the diversity of the denomi-nation.

Southern Baptists poised for historic election

DAILY CHALLENGE TUESDAY, JUNE 14, 2011 3� � � � �

Former New York Giants widereceiver Plaxico Burress, a weekafter his release from prison on guncharges, pledged yesterday to preachagainst gun violence to the nation’schildren.The 2008 Super Bowl star said the

volunteer effort was the right moveafter serving nearly all of his 20-month sentence for weapons posses-sion.In November, 2008, Burress car-

ried a gun into a Manhattan night-club and accidentally shot himself inthe leg.“I paid a tremendous price for a

bad decision,” said Burress at a newsconference organized by his partnersin the effort, the National UrbanLeague and the Brady Center to Pre-vent Gun Violence.“All those 20 months and all those

days I was saying to myself how canI take the next step and how can peo-ple learn from what happened tome,” he said.

Burress, 33, who hopes to returnto play in the National FootballLeague, said he plans to speak withaudiences around the country and

will be mentored by former NFLcoach Tony Dungy, who has helpeddisgraced football star Michael Vickresurrect his reputation.

His particular focus will be con-vincing children to stay in schooland stay away from guns because“kids will listen to a person likemyself,” Burress said.“I know that I won’t be able to save

everybody. But if I can just help achild to think about the decision ofcarrying a firearm or making thedecision not to carry one out of thehome that... saves lives in itself,”Burress said.Burress caught the game-winning

pass in the last minute of New York’s17-14 upset of the unbeaten NewEngland Patriots in the Super Bowl42 in February, 2008.Released by the Giants following

the shooting incident, he has beenexpected to market his talents as anNFL free agent once the ongoinglabor dispute between NFL ownersand players is resolved.“I’m a champion on the field and

my goal is to be a champion in lifeand off the field,” Burress said.

NFL’s Plaxico Burress to warn children away from guns

By SHERNAY WILLIAMS

Special to the NNPA from the AFRO-American newspapersIt’s a crisis that in 2010, President

Barack Obama declared cannot beaccepted or ignored—high schooldropout rates. Roughly 1.2 millionstudents renounce school every year,the White House reported, and abouthalf of the dropouts are Black or Lati-no.Obama vowed to pour $900 million

worth of grants into states and schooldistricts that undergo sweepingreforms to address the issue, and twoalternative public high schools in Bal-timore City plan to do just that.The schools may not have ties to

Obama’s grant initiative, but this fall,Reginald F. Lewis and W.E.B. DuBoishigh schools in East Baltimore arelaunching a joint, accelerated pro-gram that will cater to older studentsthat are roughly two or more yearsbehind their peers in academic cred-its.The goal is to put the “over-aged

and under-credited” students on afaster and more accommodating pacetoward graduation—offering flexiblebell schedules, combined classes, andnon-traditional classrooms.“If we do nothing, it’s a high prob-

ability that they will drop out,” saidReginald F. Lewis Principal BarneyWilson, who is working with W.E.B.DuBois Principal Delores BerryBinder on the endeavor.The school officials have identified

170 students that qualify for the vol-untary program.Earlier this year, Wilson said, the

principals were approached by schooldistrict leaders to develop an innova-tive plan to encourage students thatare truant or falling behind academi-cally to remain in school.“We have to decide as a system to be

educational leaders or followers andthe city has decided to be leaders,”Wilson said.High school officials traveled to

New York to visit schools with like-

minded programs and held focusgroups with targeted students andtheir families to ask what would moti-vate them to stay in school and earntheir diploma.The students “overwhelmingly”

said they would attend the acceleratedprogram, Wilson said, if classes wereheld in a non-traditional setting andwere more engaging.“In their hearts, they do want to

graduate and they do want to suc-ceed,” he said. “And they have ideas;it’s just that no one ever asked them.”Wilson adds that school officials

are serious about considering studentinput for many aspects of the newprogram including its future name,mascot, and colors.Accelerated students will take

classes in a separate wing of theW.E.B. DuBois and Reginald F.Lewis’s shared school building. Con-struction for that division is sched-uled for this summer.Instead of a two semester structure

with four or six classes at a time, as iscustomary, accelerated studentscould have trimester or even fivesemester grading periods and enrollin seven or eight classes at a time.Classes would also be interdiscipli-

nary; courses such as world literatureand history would be combined—notonly allowing students to earn morecredits, but gain a deeper understand-ing of the content, officials say.The classroom structure would

also be nontraditional—chair rowswould be eliminated, students wouldwork in groups more frequently andportfolios and projects would be con-sidered as varying means of measur-ing student progress.Participating students would

choose whether to begin their schoolday in the morning or afternoon, giv-ing them the opportunity to have a setwork schedule.Wilson said it will take “out-of-the-

box thinking” to successfully tacklethe dropout rate.“We keep using models that we

observed and imitated in our ownupbringing without taking the time

to reinvent and modernize education,”he said. “If what we had in placeworked, we wouldn’t have to do this.”Researchers say varying factors

impede teenagers from earning theirdiploma including the need to work tosupport their families, fear of walkingthrough troubled neighborhoods toget to school, embarrassment aboutlearning disabilities or behavioralproblems, and some might even havecriminal records and restrictions onwhen they can leave their home.Cameroon E. Miles, founder and

director of Mentoring Male Teens inthe Hood, who’s worked with youngadults at Reginald F. Lewis HighSchool, said that’s why schools can’tapproach school with the “one-size-fits-all” mentality.“Anything the schools can do to

help young people get through andget their diploma to move on is a pos-itive thing,” Miles said.He’s pleased, he added, that Regi-

nald F. Lewis and W.E.B. DuBois lead-ers are working closely with teens toformulate the accelerated program.“Too many times we create a pro-

gram for young people and wehaven’t asked them what they want,especially in the juvenile justice sys-tem,” he said.The program is still in the develop-

ment stages as school officials planfor the fall and search for a programdirector.A spokeswoman for the Baltimore

City Public School System confirmedthe program, and said district leaderswill be “putting the finishing toucheson it” within the next few weeks.

Program to fast track students, reduce dropout rate

WASHINGTON — A Nigerianwoman has been convicted of humantrafficking and several other chargesafter forcing two women to workunpaid for her for years, in whatprosecutors called “a case of modernday slavery.”Bidemi Bello, 41, was convicted by

a federal jury Friday of eight counts:two counts of forced labor, twocounts of trafficking for forced labor,one count of document servitude, onecount of alien harboring and twocounts of making false statements inan application to become a US citizen.“The defendant both physically

abused and psychologically intimi-dated these women for her own per-sonal gain,” said Thomas Perez,assistant attorney general for thecivil rights division, after a verdictwas reached in the week-long trial.“This was a case of modern day

slavery hidden within an expensivehome in an upscale neighborhood,”said US Attorney for the NorthernDistrict of Georgia Sally QuillianYates.“The two women who were abused

here thought they were going to be

nannies; instead they were treatedinhumanely.“The laws of the United States pro-

tect all victims from such abuse,regardless of where they came fromor how they came to be in the UnitedStates,” Yates said.According to evidence and testi-

mony presented during the trial, thetwo women were separately recruitedin Nigeria by Bello and brought tothe United States to work as hernanny.The Nigerian woman had

promised to send the young womento school in the United States, and inthe case of one victim, had promisedto pay her as well.But the testimony showed, howev-

er, that once in the United States,Bello became verbally and physicallyabusive to both young women, whowere forced to sleep on the floor eventhough her upscale home had multi-ple bedrooms and bathrooms. Theywere given little to eat and forced towork unreasonably long days inharsh conditions.Officials said sentencing for Bello

has been set for August.

Nigerian woman guilty of ‘modern day slavery’

Plaxico Burress, center, is flanked by retired Indianapolis Colts coachTony Dungy, left, and Marc Morial, President and CEO of the NationalUrban League, during a news conference.

4 DAILY CHALLENGE TUESDAY, JUNE 14, 2011

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By GEORGE E.CURRY

Give conservatives credit:They have a loud echo chamber.It usually begins with a lie or, atbest, a clever distortion, and therest of the right-wing crowd areimmediately off to the races. Themost recent example is the asser-tion that President Obama madethe economy worse.That point was advanced in a

Wall Street Journal column byPeggy Noonan, a former speech-writer for Ronald Reagan,George H.W. Bush and, briefly,George W. Bush. She is theauthor of 10 books, includingWhen Character was King: AStory of Ronald Reagan and TheCase Against Hillary Clinton.In her attempt to make a case

against Obama, Noonan wrote inthe June 3 Wall Street Journal:

“Two years ago I wrote ofClare Booth Luce’s observationthat all presidents have a sen-tence: ‘He fought to hold theunion together and end slavery.’‘He brought America througheconomic collapse and a worldwar.’ You didn’t have to be told itwas Lincoln or FDR. I said thatMr. Obama didn’t understandhis sentence. But Republicansthink they know it. “Fourwords: He made it worse.“Obama inherited collapse,deficits and debt. He inherited abroken political culture. Thesethings weren’t his fault. Butthrough his decisions, he madethem all worse.”Fox, the network that likes to

blame all bad things on Obamaall the time, was quick to ampli-fy what is certain to be a GOPcampaign theme in 2012.Conservative columnist

Charles Krauthammer said dur-

ing a June 7 Fox News’ SpecialReport with Bret Baier, “…And Ithink you can argue stronglythat the Obama administrationmade it worse. In the midtermelection last year, the idea thatRepublicans ran on was that he’sa left liberal. What they’re goingto run on in 2012 is he’s a fail-ure. He tried all of this stuff. Hepromised us we’d get improve-ment, and it hasn’t worked. Itwas a huge Keynesian experi-ment, and it hasn’t panned out.” Bill O’Reilly, host of The

O’Reilly Factor on Fox, arguedPeggy Noonan’s point againstresident liberal Alan Colmes[June 7].

O”REILLY: … For you to sitthere and say the Obama admin-istration has not made it worse.

COLMES: They made it better.

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Child Watch

Latest right-wing lie: Obamamade the economy worse

Continued on page 5

5DAILY CHALLENGE TUESDAY, JUNE 14, 2011

O’REILLY: — is for you to justignore the statistics.

Clearly, Bill O’Reilly is the oneignoring the statistics.The nonpartisan Congressional

Budget Office (CBO), in a reportissued last month on the effectivenessof the American Recovery and Rein-vestment Act, noted that PresidentObama’s economic stimulus plan hadhelped local and state governments byraising federal matching funds underMedicaid and increased funding fortransportation projects.The stimulus program also provid-

ed tax relief for individuals and busi-nesses, increased business write-offsand helped people in need by extend-ing and expanding unemploymentbenefits as well as increasing benefitsunder the Supplemental NutritionAssistance Program, formerly knownas the Food Stamps program.

According to the CBO, the stimulusprogram had the following effects inthe first quarter of 2011:

· Raised real (inflation-adjusted)gross domestic product (GDP)between 1.1 percent and 3.1 percent

· Lowered the unemployment ratebetween 0.6 percentage points and 1.8

percentage points

· Increased the number of peopleemployed between 1.2 million and 3.4million

· Increased the number of full-timeequivalent jobs by 1.6 million to 4.6million compared with what wouldhave happened otherwise

The Center on Policy and BudgetPriorities, an independent think tankin Washington, noted that economicactivity as measured by inflation-adjusted gross domestic product(GDP) was contracting when thefinancial stabilization bill known asthe Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) and the American Recovery

and Reinvestment Act were enacted.Since then, however, the economy hasgrown for seven straight quarters.Media Matters, the watchdog

group, observed: “Economists alsoagreed that the stimulus was effective.A March 2010 study in the Wall StreetJournal found that 70 percent of econ-omists surveyed said the stimulus‘boosted growth and mitigated joblosses.’ ABC News reported on Febru-ary 18, 2010, that most of the econo-mists on its panel thought the econo-my ‘would be worse today without thebig aid package.’ And a February2010 survey of 203 members of theNational Association for BusinessEconomics (NABE) found that

‘eighty-three percent believe that GDPis currently higher than it would havebeen without the 2009 stimulus pack-age.”Those are the statistics that Bill

O’Reilly chooses to ignore.None of this campaign to blame

Obama for everything wrong inAmerica should be surprising. It ispart of a pattern by conservatives:Make up an outrageous lie – such asthe President was not born in theUnited States and is therefore unqual-ified to hold office – keep repeatingthat lie over and over until a large seg-ment of ill-informed people believe itand even when the lie is proven to be

a lie, continue claiming it is the truthwhile you make up yet another lie.Perhaps we should send O’Reilly

and the folks at Fox News the lyrics toSunshine Anderson’s Heard it allBefore: “Heard it all before. All of yalies…But your lies ain’t workingnow.”

— George E. Curry, former editor-in-chief of Emerge magazine and theNNPA News Service, is a keynotespeaker, moderator, and mediacoach. He can be reached throughhis Web site, www.georgecurry.comYou can also follow himatwww.twitter.com/currygeorge.

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By HARRY C. ALFORD

Part III got my first promotion and was

transferred to the Windy Cityknown as Chicago. Chi-town wasvery, very good to me. I was singleand in good shape with my militaryphysique still intact. It was compet-itive to me to win the prettiest girlin the room. We would go to thePlayboy Club and I would come outwith a bunny. I earned the nick-name “Killer”. Besides that, theskills I learned in the grocery dis-tribution and product marketingbusiness from Detroit came in veryhandy. My team was constantly hit-ting “homeruns” from the westernsuburbs. In 10 months, I was pro-moted again and transferred to Buf-falo, NY.Upstate New York was totally dif-

ferent from Chicago or Detroit. Iwas there a year and hated everyminute of it, except for a few greatjazz clubs in Buffalo and the prox-imity of Toronto. When my bossasked me if I would be willing to goback to Detroit, I jumped up andstarted dancing. Now my careerwas back in stride again. TheChaldean store owners were equallyhappy. They never had a represen-tative of a major corporation, likeJohnson & Johnson, treat them

with respect and true friendship.The only major chain to stay in

inner city Detroit was Farmer Jackand it was a great decision. TheChaldeans and Farmer Jack weregrowing big time as they filled thevoid left by stores like Chatham,Kroger and Great Scott, who gaveup on the Black communities ofinner Detroit. As their businessrolled so did ours. The nationalaverage market share for Johnson& Johnson Disposable Diapers was8.5 percent. In Detroit, we had ashare of 42 percent. We were theleaders and the predominantlywhite managed division of this For-tune 100 company was perplexed. Ihad five sales reps and four wereBlack and the white sales rep worean impressive Afro. We were blaz-ing the trail thanks to Farmer Jackand the entrepreneurial Chaldeans.Most corporations would enter-

tain clients with dinners, plays orbaseball games. We would take ourclients to a Thomas Hearns boxingmatch or a Pistons basketball game.They were as much “street” as usand we were almost like family.They enjoyed giving us more storeshelf space and bigger displaysalong with more newspaper adver-tising. We were on first name basis;knew the names of their wives andchildren and would always let themknow that we gratefully appreciated

their businesses. After all, theymade us look special to our uppermanagement. Each Chaldean store was like a

clan. All the stores together becameone great tribe. When challengeswould appear they would cometogether and deal with them direct-ly. A fine example is when AlliedFood Distributors filed for bank-ruptcy. Its rival, Grosse PointeQuality, made a daring move. Itupped the costs of its services to allChaldean stores without fearing theChaldeans had any options. Thetribe thought it through. Theywent to the fragile Allied and cutthis deal: All Chaldean stores willimmediately do all business withAllied, if they would meet thisattractive cost. This would swelltheir business and get them out ofbankruptcy (pleasing their stock-holders). Allied agreed and soonthey were out of bankruptcy. Onthe other hand, Grosse Pointe Qual-ity’s business fell through the“floor” and it was them now inbankruptcy with little hope for thefuture. The tribe told Allied wewere glad to help you and let’s befriends forever. Then the tribe didsomething that was absolutelybodacious. They went to the bank-ruptcy court and bought out GrossePointe Quality Foods. Now theyowned their own distribution cen-

ter, which meant they can now buygoods at factory price and dealdirectly with the manufacturers.Their future became most bright.Keep in mind this success story waspossible because the Black commu-nity of Detroit could not figure outhow to sell groceries to themselves(lack of entrepreneurship). Thewhite man’s “ice” was colder and theChaldean “ice” was the coldest. The Chaldean community did not

rest on the above success. Theytook their profits and startedexpanding their business owner-ship of inner Detroit. Gas stations,dry cleaners, real estate offices, etc.They created an entrepreneurialkingdom right there in the hood.All the while, they started movingtheir families to the northern sub-urbs such as Bloomfield Hills, Birm-ingham, etc. Their children wereapplying and being accepted to theUniversity of Michigan, Universityof Detroit, Michigan State Universi-ty, and other prestigious schools.Soon their lawyers, doctors, den-tists, accountants, etc. will be mem-bers of the tribe. Oh yes, their polit-ical PACs are the most respected bylocal elected officials. TheChaldeans now have great politicalclout. They followed the four prin-cipals of Booker T. Washington andbecame a great American story.

— Mr. Alford is the co-founder,President/CEO of the NationalBlack Chamber of Commerce®.Website: www.nationalbcc.org.Email: [email protected].

Remembering the Chaldean Model

Continued from page 4

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Latest right-wing lie

6 DAILY CHALLENGE TUESDAY, JUNE 14, 2011� � � � ��

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By BRIANWINGFIELD

The Obama administrationoutlined a plan to upgradethe U.S. electric grid, provid-ing as much as $250 millionin loans for rural towns andurging steps that would barutilities from using marketpower to raise prices.

The strategy encouragesstate and federal regulatorsto favor “smart-grid” tech-nologies such as advancedmeters that can increaseenergy efficiency. It advisesprotections for consumersagainst anti-competitiveactions as companies developservices to take advantage ofnew technologies.

State and U.S. antitrustagencies should “address thepossibility that some firmswith substantial marketpower are in a position toimpede the market entry ofnew products and energymanagement applications,”according to the planreleased today.

The administration isseeking to coordinate publicand private efforts in replac-ing aging infrastructure asfederal and state agenciesadopt measures to encouragedevelopment of renewable

energy such as wind andsolar power. PresidentBarack Obama wants to put 1million electric vehicles onthe road by 2015 and doubleclean-energy use in the U.S.by 2035. Congress is consid-ering measures to protect thegrid from cyber attacks.

The U.S. governmentinvested $4.5 billion in gridupgrades in the 2009 stimu-lus bill, matched by $5.5 bil-lion in private investment.Investor-owned utilities areplanning at least $61 billionin high-voltage power-lineprojects through 2021,according to the Edison Elec-

tric Institute, a Washington-based industry group.

Smart-grid policies havebeen adopted in 25 states,creating a patchwork of dif-ferent approaches, accordingto the White House plan.“While there is no one-size-fits-all set of smart-grid solu-tions, there are importantunifying policy strategiesthat can advance U.S. leader-ship in the 21st centuryclean-energy economy,”according to “A PolicyFramework for the 21st Cen-tury Grid” issued by theadministration.

The White House plan has

four goals: spurring innova-tion, speeding investment tohelp cut utility bills, givingconsumers greater controlover their energy use andsteps to secure the gridagainst cyber attacks. It alsoallocates $250 million inloans through the Agricul-ture Department to promotegrid upgrades in rural com-munities.

“By unlocking the poten-tial of innovation in the elec-tric grid, we are allowingconsumers and businesses touse energy more efficientlyeven as we help utilities pro-vide cleaner energy and morereliable service,” John P. Hol-dren, director of the WhiteHouse Office of Science andTechnology Policy, said in astatement.

Regulators “should striveto reduce the generationcosts associated with provid-ing power” during periods ofextreme temperatures, whenelectricity costs are highest,according to the White Houseplan.

The Federal Energy Regu-latory Commission in Marchadopted a rule to promotesmart-grid technologies andenergy efficiency. The rulesmay aid companies such asEnerNoc Inc. of Boston andComverge Inc. of Norcross,

Georgia, which provide utili-ties and consumers with soft-ware and hardware toimprove energy efficiency.Power providers includingPPL Corp. of Allentown,Pennsylvania, and Constella-tion Energy Group Inc. ofBaltimore opposed the rule,saying the agency didn’thave jurisdiction to set ratesfor energy efficiency.

Constellation and ExelonCorp. of Chicago are seekingmerger approval from FERC,which must determinewhether the acquisition isthe public interest. DukeEnergy Corp. of Charlotte,North Carolina, andProgress Energy Corp. ofRaleigh also need agencyapproval for their merger,which would create thebiggest U.S. utility.

The Obama administrationsaid in its plan that it would“make sure grid operatorshave access to actionablethreat information to theelectric grid” in order to pre-vent cyber attacks.

Joseph McClelland, direc-tor of FERC’s Office of Elec-tric Reliability, told a Housecommittee last month thatthe agency lacks comprehen-sive legal authority to quick-ly respond to cyber attackson the grid.

Obama pledges $250 million to upgrade aging U.S. electric grid

LOS ANGELES — A for-mer California transit officerwas released from jail Mon-day after serving 11 monthsof a 2-year prison sentencefor involuntary manslaugh-ter, police said.

The day before Bay AreaRapid Transit officerJohannes Mehserle’s release,several hundred demonstra-tors marched peacefullythrough Oakland to protestthe release of the BART policeofficer who fatally shotunarmed train rider OscarGrant III on New Year’s Day2009, the San FranciscoChronicle reported Monday.

Although Mehserle wassentenced to state prison forthe conviction, he never wasplaced in the state prison sys-tem because of safety con-cerns. Mehserle’s attorney,Michael Rains, successfullyargued to keep Mehserle in aLos Angeles County jail,where he had his own celland was segregated fromother inmates.

A federal lawsuit and anappeal of Mehserle’s convic-

tion are still in the court sys-tems, the Oakland Tribunereported.

Members of Grant’s familysaid they don’t think Mehser-le was held accountable forhis actions, Cephus Johnson,Grant’s uncle and a familyspokesman, said earlier thismonth.

“We were totally let downby the judicial system,” John-son said.

Mehserle was chargedwith murder for killingGrant on a BART stationplatform in Oakland. Thekilling captured nationalattention and sparked violentdemonstrations after videosrecorded by BART passen-gers showed an unarmedGrant being shot in the backas he lay on the station plat-form with another BARTpolice officer holding himdown. At trial, moved fromOakland to Los Angelesbecause of publicity, Mehser-le testified the shooting wasan accident caused when hemistook his gun for his stungun.

Transit cop convictedin killing released

The average per-gallongas price in the UnitedStates has dropped nearly17 cents in the past threeweeks, and likely will con-tinue to drop further,according to a survey pub-lished Sunday.

The Lundberg Surveyfound the average price of agallon of self-serve regulargasoline as of Friday was$3.74.

Prices so far this yearpeaked on May 6, when theprice hit $4 per gallonnationwide — just 11 centsshy of the all-time record setin July 2008. On May 20,the last survey conducted,the price was $3.90. Thatmeans there has been a dropof nearly 26 cents per gal-lon over the past five weeks.

“There’s a very goodchance that pump priceswill continue down, becausethere is an oversupply ofgasoline at a time when ourdemand is weakening fromunemployment conditions,”as well as reports of a possi-ble output hike from SaudiArabia, said publisher Tril-by Lundberg.

The crude oil price isbelow $100 per barrel, shesaid. The closing price on

June 10 was $99.29.But Lundberg said she

believes that even withoutincreased output fromSaudi Arabia, “we will stillsee lower prices at thepump, because supply ishigh and demand is weak.... There’s a very goodchance it will continuefalling.”

However, the currentprice is about a dollar high-er than a year ago, as arediesel prices, she said.

The drop would likelyhave been greater, she said,but for increasing ethanol

prices.Within the selection of

cities updated, the highestaverage price was found inChicago, at $4.29 a gallon.The lowest was Jackson,Mississippi, at $3.41.

Here are the averageprices in some other cities:

- Charleston, South Car-olina $3.49

- Albuquerque, New Mex-ico $3.55

- Denver $3.63- Atlanta $3.66- Philadelphia $3.77- Los Angeles $3.93- Boston $3.84

Gas prices headed downward, survey finds

DAILY CHALLENGE TUESDAY, JUNE 14, 2011 7

INTERNATIONALD

By KHALEDYACOUBOWEIS

AMMAN - Syriantroops rounded uphundreds of peoplein a sweep throughvillages near Jisral-Shughour onMonday, fleeingresidents said, afterPresident Basharal-Assad’s armyretook the rebel-lious northwesterntown.

Nearly 7,000 Syrianshave fled the regionaround Jisr al-Shughour, seekingsanctuary in neighbor-ing Turkey, while thou-sands more are livingrough in rural areasjust inside Syria,activists say.

Hours of thunder-storms and drenchingrain made conditionseven more miserable forthe thousands of peoplewaiting in the hillsMonday, ready to fleeacross the border ifSyrian troops advancetoward them.

Monday’s wave ofarrests followed anassault by troops, tanksand helicopters toregain control of thetown, one week afterauthorities said 120security personnel werekilled there in fightingthey blamed on “armedgroups.”

Some residents saidthose killed were sol-diers who hadmutinied, refusing toshoot protesters andjoining demonstratorscalling for an end toAssad’s rule.

The town of 50,000,just 20 km (12 miles)south of the Turkishborder, is the latestfocus of a militarycrackdown on theprotests which haveswept Syria for nearlythree months and con-tinue despite the deathsof hundreds of civil-ians.

Refugees from Jisral-Shughour said themilitary was combingvillages to the east ofthe town and arrestinghundreds of menbetween the ages of 18and 40, in a patternseen in other militarycrackdowns since theunrest started in

March.Residents said the

army unit that took thetown was commandedby Assad’s brotherMaher.

Ahmad Yassin, 27,said he left his 7,000 sqmeter plot of land eastof Jisr al-Shughourearly Monday when aforce of 200 soldiersand men wearing blackcame in armored per-sonnel carriers andcars and poured petrolon the wheat crops.

“I tried to save mythree cows but therewas no time. I put mywife and two childrenin the car and drovestraight to the border,”he said.

His account of troopssetting fire to cropsechoed reports fromother refugees, but theofficial state newsagency has accused“armed terrorist

groups” of burningland as sabotage.

Syrian rights groupssay 1,300 civilians havebeen killed since thestart of the uprising.One group, the SyrianObservatory for HumanRights, says more than300 soldiers and policehave also been killed.

Syria has bannedmost foreign correspon-dents, making it diffi-cult to verify accountsof events.

ARMY TAKESCONTROL

The government saysthe protests are part ofa violent conspiracybacked by foreign pow-ers to sow sectarianstrife.

Army units “havetaken total control ofJisr al-Shughour andare chasing remnantsof the armed terroristgangs in the woods andmountains,” the Syrian

news agency saidSunday.

It said a soldier andtwo armed men werekilled in clashes aroundthe town. The armydefused explosivesplanted on bridges androads and uncoveredmass graves holdingmostly mutilated bodiesof 12 security menkilled by armed groups,it said.

Conscript DarwishMohammad Sebo, 23,sneaked into theTurkish border villageof Guvecci Monday,nearly a month afterdeserting his post nearHoms on May 14.

“I was in the frontline against protesters,armed with a baton anda shield. Behind mewere ‘shabbiha’ andforces they trust moreto shoot, armed withautomatic rifles. NoSyrian would have

accepted being in myposition, seeing hiscompatriots slaugh-tered,“ he said.“Shabbiha” are gunmenloyal to Assad.

“I paid a bribe to alieutenant to give mesick leave and I neverwent back. Many morewere like me. Morale isvery low.”

“I have been goingback and forth carryingwounded people toTurkey by car or takingthe martyrs to be buriedin the villages,” saidSebo.

Thousands of peoplefrom Jisr al-Shughour,located on a vital roadjunction, had alreadyfled the town beforeSunday’s assault.Turkey has grownincreasingly critical ofAssad and has now setup four camps toaccommodate refugees.

In a sign of tensionbetween the neighbors,which had close tradeand political ties beforethe crisis, supporters ofAssad protested outsideTurkey’s embassy inDamascus Sunday.

Turkey’s Anatoliannews agency said somepeople climbed theembassy walls andhung a Syrian flag, andSyrian security forcesprevented some protest-ers from trying to lowerthe Turkish flag. Thecrowd then tore downtourist posters outsidethe embassy.

Syrian forces round up hundreds near northwest town

Darwish Mohammad Sebo, looks to Syria on theTurkish side of the border zone between Turkeyand Syria in the Turkish border town of Guvecciin Hatay province.

Syrian refugees who fled the unrest in Syriafill water from a well at a makeshift refugeecamp in the northern Syrian city of Idlib.

By LAILABASSAM &

YARABAYOUMY

BEIRUT - Lebanon’sPrime Minister NajibMikati announcedMonday a long-delayedgovernment dominatedby Iranian-backedHezbollah and its allies,which is likely to causealarm among Westernpowers at a time ofregional turmoil.

Formed after fivemonths of political stale-mate, the new Lebaneseleadership was wel-comed by PresidentBashar al-Assad ofneighboring Syria,

another Hezbollah spon-sor now beset by inter-national censure of itscrackdowns of anti-regime protests.

“This government iscommitted to maintain-ing strong, brotherlyties which bind Lebanonto all Arab countries,without exception,”Mikati said at theBaabda PresidentialPalace.

“Let us go to workimmediately accordingto the principles ... (of)defending Lebanon’ssovereignty and its inde-pendence and liberatingland that remains underthe occupation of theIsraeli enemy.”

Mikati was appointed

after Hezbollah and itsallies toppled U.S.-aligned former premierSaad al-Hariri inJanuary over a disputeinvolving the U.N.-backed probe into the2005 assassination ofstatesman Rafik al-Hariri, Saad’s father.

Shi’ite Hezbollah andits Christian and Druzeallies secured 18 postsin the new government,up from 11 underHariri’s coalition,enabling them to pass orblock decisions moreeasily.

Hezbollah leaderSayyed HassanNasrallah has thrownhis weight behindAssad, saying that

should the Syrian gov-ernment fall it wouldserve American andIsraeli interests.Lebanese media saidAssad had telephonedMikati to congratulatehim.

Mohammed Safadi,Lebanon’s former econo-my minister, was namedfinance minister andwill try to improvegrowth expected ataround 2.5 percent thisyear, dampened bydelays in key cabinetappointments and arash of violent incidents.

The deadlock had alsosnagged both the 2010and 2011 budgets, hold-ing up $2 billion ininfrastructure projects.

HARIRI STAYS OUTThe configuration of

Mikati’s government —which Hariri refused tojoin — marks a reemer-gence of Syrian andIranian influence inLebanon, a proxy arenafor Middle East powers.

Officials say a coreaim of the governmentwill be to agree on a uni-fied stand to confrontindictments by the U.N.-led tribunal, which isexpected to implicatemembers of Hezbollah.

Hezbollah, whichdenies any role in the2005 killing, and itsallies quit Hariri’s cabi-net in January after herefused to disavow theinvestigation. Efforts by

Syria and Saudi Arabiato broker rapproche-ment between Haririand his rivals failed.

For the first timesince Lebanon’s 1975-90civil war, Sunnis out-number Shi’ites in the30-member cabinet, byseven ministers to fiveministers.

Mikati, a telecomstycoon from northernTripoli who deems him-self politically neutral, isSunni, in accordancewith the Lebanesepower-sharing systemthat allots senior politi-cal roles along sectarianlines. The presidentmust be a MaroniteChristian and the parlia-ment speaker a Shi’ite.

Lebanon gets Hezbollah-led cabinet after 5-month lag


AFRICAN SCENE8

By JEREMYCLARKE &

ALEXDZIADOSZ

JUBA/KHARTOUM - South Sudan’sarmy said northernwarplanes bombedits territoryMonday, after fight-ing in the borderstate of SouthernKordofan spreadacross the ill-defined north-southborder.

The northern armyhas been battling south-ern-aligned troops inSouthern Kordofan, thenorth’s main oil state,since June 5.Humanitarian organi-zations fear a mounting

death toll, although fewcasualties have beenconfirmed so far.

South Sudan is dueto become independenton July 9.

Analysts seeSouthern Kordofan as aflashpoint in the build-up to the split because itis home to thousands offighters who sidedagainst Khartoum dur-ing the last civil war.

The southern armyaccused the northernmilitary of bombing itsterritory in Unity stateFriday and againMonday.

“There has beenanother bombing of thesouth. It was this morn-ing, at the same loca-tion (as Friday), at Jauin Unity state. It wasmore Antonovs fromKhartoum,” southern

military spokesmanPhilip Aguer toldReuters.

“We are in defensivepositions and continueto monitor what theyare doing.”

A spokesman for thenorthern military wasnot immediately avail-able to comment.

CIVILIANS FLEEMore than 53,000

people have fled fight-ing — including bom-bardments and artilleryshelling — in SouthernKordofan, the UnitedNations estimatedMonday.

The U.N. Office forthe Coordination ofHumanitarian Affairs(OCHA) said its part-ners had reported the“burning of tukuls,looting of humanitari-an assets and emer-

gency relief stocks, andthe presence of landmines” in the state cap-ital Kadugli.

“As the security situ-ation shows no sign ofimprovement, the num-ber of displaced civilianpopulations who are inurgent need of reliefassistance is increasingwith unconfirmedreports of more than53,000 people dis-placed,” it said in astatement.

The United Nationspreviously estimatedbetween 30,000 and40,000 may have fledKadugli alone.

The OCHA statementsaid fighting “hasspread to PariangCounty in Unity State,southern Sudan.”

Officials from thenorthern and southern

ruling parties havetraded blame over whostarted the fighting inSouthern Kordofan,which has since spreadacross the state.

Leaders in the north-ern branch of thesouth’s dominantSudan Peoples’Liberation Movement(SPLM) said it beganwhen the northernarmy tried to disarmfighters. The northernarmy has blamed south-ern-aligned armedgroups for provokingthe clashes.

The north’s rulingNational CongressParty Sunday warnedthe south against sup-porting what itdescribes as a “rebel-lion” in the state.

The southern mili-tary says the fighters in

Southern Kordofan areno longer part of itsarmy, despite sharing aname and historicalties.

Southerners voted tosecede in a January ref-erendum, the culmina-tion of a 2005 peacedeal that ended decadesof north-south civilwar. That conflict costsome 2 million lives.

The two sides haveyet to settle a number ofissues, such as where todraw the common bor-der and how to divideoil revenues.

The north’sPresident Omar Hassanal-Bashir and thesouth’s President SalvaKiir continued talksover unresolved issuesahead of the split in theEthiopian capital ofAddis Ababa on

South Sudan accuses north of second airstrike

MAPUTO -Mozambique isspeeding up prepa-rations to join aninternational con-flict diamond moni-toring scheme amidwidespread gemsmuggling fromZimbabwe’s contro-versial Marangemines, state mediasaid on Monday.

Mining MinisterEsperanca Bias saidMozambique, whichhopes to start miningits own diamonds soon,wants to join theKimberley Process dia-mond certificationscheme by December,Noticias newspaper

reported.“Government’s idea

is that we shouldn’t losetime. We are in theprospecting phase, yes,but we have to join theKimberley Processalready, so that we arefamiliar with it whenwe start mining activi-ties,” Bias said.

Currently 27 compa-nies and individuals areprospecting for dia-monds in Mozambiqueunder 40 separatelicences.

Tests are alreadybeing done to see ifsome samples are com-mercially viable, Biassaid.

Her announcementcomes amid reportsthat diamond smug-

glers are trading ingems worth millions ofdollars from neighbour-ing Zimbabwe’sMarange diamondmines through the cen-tral Mozambican bordertown of Manica.

The Marange fields,touted as Africa’s rich-est diamond find of thedecade, have been at thecentre of a years-longcontroversy overreported abuses byZimbabwean PresidentRobert Mugabe’s mili-tary.

Monitors say the mil-itary seized control ofthe fields in late 2008,violently evicting tensof thousands of smallminers and then beat-ing and raping civilians

to force them to minethe gems.

Human rightsgroups say about 200people were killed, andKimberley Processinvestigators later doc-umented “unacceptableand horrific violenceagainst civilians byauthorities”, promptinga ban on exports of thegems.

The KimberleyProcess last yearallowed two specialsales of Marange dia-monds. In March,Zimbabwe’s deputymines ministerannounced that theKimberley Processwould again allow thecountry to sell dia-monds from the mines.

The watchdog’s cur-rent chairman, MathieuYamba of theDemocratic Republic ofCongo — who has links

with Mugabe — wassubsequently criticisedfor acting unilaterallyin authorising the sale.

Mozambique to step up diamond controls

File photo shows a man checking raw diamondsat the Gold and Diamond department in theSierra Leone Central Bank in Freetown.Mozambique is speeding up preparations to joinan international conflict diamond monitoringscheme amid widespread gem smuggling fromZimbabwe's controversial Marange mines, statemedia said.

Photo/Issouf Sanogo

Magistrate JackieRedelinghuys receiveda medical report onXolile Mngeni fromprosecutors onMonday, when the trial

was to have started in aSouth African court.Redelinghuys post-poned trial until Aug.2 for both Mngeni andhis co-accused,

Mziwamadoda Qwabe.The medical report

did not say whatMngeni’s prospects forrecovery were, but saidhe had surgery lastweek and remainedhospitalized.

Co-accused Qwabe isjailed pending trial.

Anni Dewani wasfound shot dead in anabandoned taxi in CapeTown’s impoverishedGugulethu township inNovember. Her rela-tives were in CapeTown Monday for what

they had thoughtwould be the start ofthe trial.

Her uncle AshokHindocha spoke toreporters on behalf ofthe family, thanking“the whole world forthe support” they havereceived.

In a confession lastyear, taxi driver ZolaTongo said Dewani’shusband, Shrien,offered him 15,000rand (about $2,100) toarrange the murderand make it look like a

carjacking. Tongo saidhe recruited Mngeniand Qwabe to carry outthe murder.

In a plea bargain,Tongo was convicted ofkidnapping, murder,aggravated robberyand obstructing jus-tice, and was sentencedto 18 years in prison.He is expected to testi-fy against the othersuspects.

Shrien Dewanidenies involvement. Hehad been allowed toreturn to Britain

before Tongo’s confes-sion and is fightingextradition.

During extraditionhearings, SouthAfrica’s lawyer said31-year-old ShrienDewani told a witnesssix months before themurder that he feltpressured into gettingmarried and wanted away out. The unnamedwitness is willing togive evidence if ShrienDewani stands trial,according to SouthAfrican authorities.

Suspect in S. African honeymoon murder has tumorBy THANDISIZWE MGUDLWA

CAPE TOWN, South Africa - Doctorsdiscovered a brain tumor in a suspect inthe murder of a Swede whose British hus-band is accused of orchestrating herdeath while the two were honeymooningin South Africa, prosecutors said Monday,postponing a trial that has gained inter-national attention.


AFRICAN SCENED

Clinton: African leadersmust heed Arab revolts

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia - U.S.Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clintonis warning African leaders that unlessthey enact broad social, economic andpolitical reforms, they will face the samekind of revolts now sweeping the Arabworld.

In a speech Monday to diplomats at the AfricanUnion headquarters in the Ethiopian capital ofAddis Ababa, Clinton said that the repressive gov-ernance is no longer accepted in the world. Shesaid discontent, mainly among exploding youthpopulations, cannot be suppressed in the era of theInternet and social media.

Clinton said the status quo has been broken andthat governments must treat their people with dig-nity, respect their rights and deliver economicopportunity. She said unprecedented uprisings inthe Arab world were sign that African leadersignore their citizens’ demands at their own peril.

- MATTHEW LEE

Nigerian Islamists ready to talk to govt

KANO, Nigeria - A Nigerian Islamistsect behind a spate of bombings and shoot-and-run killings on Monday said it wouldlay down arms and open dialogue withauthorities provided some conditions aremet.

One of the conditions Boko Haram set was thestrict application of Sharia law in 12, or a third, ofNigeria’s 36 states.

“We demand for the strict enforcement of sharialegal system in the Muslim-dominated states in thenorth as part of conditions for dialogue with thegovernment,” the group said in a statement anony-mously delivered to journalists in the northeasterncity of Maiduguri.

The 12 states re-adopted Sharia in 1999, butBoko Haram — whose name means ‘Western edu-cation is sin’ in the local hausa dialect — believesthe law is cosmetic and not adhered to.

Written in the widely-spoken northern lan-guage of hausa, the statement titled “conditionsfor dialogue with President Goodluck Jonathanand governor Kashim Shettima” was released inMaiduguri where the sect has concentrated itsattacks.

The statement was in apparent response to over-tures for talks with the militants by the newly-elected governor of Borno state, Shettima, with thebacking of Jonathan.

Jonathan last week told reporters in New Yorkthat he would support attempts to talk to theIslamic militants in the predominately Muslimnorth to end months of deadly attacks in thisregion of Africa’s most populous country.

The group, demanded the prosecution, underthe Islamic Sharia law, of some politicians, tradi-tional and security forces accused of responsibilityfor the extra-judicial killing of sect members in the2OO9 uprising.

f

AFRICAN SCENE

By DONNA BRYSON

JOHANNESBURG - Aregional bloc of southernAfrican states said it wantsthree of Zimbabwe’s neigh-bors to appoint officials toa committee charged withpreparing for elections inZimbabwe, but the coun-try’s long-ruling partyindicated on Monday itwould resist such a move.

The 15-nation SouthernAfrican DevelopmentCommunity SADC urged mem-ber states South Africa, Zambiaand Mozambique late Sunday toappoint officials to theZimbabwean committee and saidZimbabwean leaders should has-ten to create an environment forfree and fair elections. PresidentRobert Mugabe has been accusedof using violence and electionfraud to hold onto power inZimbabwe. Mugabe and hisZANU-PF party have been inpower since independence fromBritain in 1980.

The ZANU-PF released a state-ment indicating it would resistincluding the three countries onthe committee even as Mugabewas quoted by Zimbabwean statemedia Monday as welcoming theoutcome of the SADC summit inJohannesburg. Mugabe’s sup-porters are calling for polls thisyear to replace his shaky coali-

tion with Prime MinisterMorgan Tsvangirai.Independent groups say the pos-sibility of a vote has led toattacks on Mugabe’s opponents.

U.S. Secretary of State HillaryRodham Clinton told a newsconference in Tanzania onMonday that the U.S. is encour-aged by the regional bloc’sstance, saying it emphasizesthat Mugabe must follow anagreement that paved the wayfor the coalition after inconclu-sive and violent 2008 elections.The agreement calls for reformsbefore a new vote. Both sides inthe conflict have turned toSADC, of which Zimbabwe is amember, to mediate.

The Zimbabwean committee,the Joint Monitoring andImplementation Committee, iscurrently comprised of membersof Mugabe’s party, ofTsvangirai’s Movement forDemocratic Change and of athird party allied with the MDC.

Zimbabwe was once theregion’s breadbasket, but nowits main export is millions ofpeople who have fled economiccollapse. Observers blameMugabe’s orders to seize thou-sands of white-owned farms in2000, disrupting the country’sagriculture-based economy.

In addition to the economicmisery, Zimbabwe is politicallyisolated because of the Mugaberegime’s brutality. ButZimbabwe’s neighbors have been

reluctant to completely shunMugabe, saying he must be partof a negotiated solution.

Dewa Mavhinga, spokesmanfor a coalition of Zimbabweanrights and development groups,said SADC’s action shows itwants to step up involvement insolving Zimbabwe’s festeringpolitical situation.

“There is definitely a shiftthat ZANU must contend with,”Mavhinga said.

Still, Mavhinga said it will bedifficult to translate words in acommunique into change on theground.

In a related development, twoleaders of the MDC’s youth winglearned after leaving Zimbabwefor Johannesburg for a SADCbriefing that police are seekingthem on murder charges in thedeath of a police officer, accord-ing to Sibanengi Dube, a partyspokesman in Johannesburg.

Several party activists havebeen arrested after the killing ofpolice officer Petros Mutedza onMay 30 in Harare. Tsvangiraisupporters deny involvement inthe policeman’s death and saythe arrests are politically moti-vated.

Dube said the two canceledthe briefing because they fearedbeing attacked by ZANU-PFagents in Johannesburg. Dubesaid they would return toZimbabwe Tuesday to face arrestand trial to prove their inno-cence in the homicide case.

Zimbabwe’s neighbors totake more active role

By JEFFREYHELLER

JERUSALEM - Analleged Israeli spyarrested in Egypt is aU.S. immigrant to Israelwho once wrote that hehoped to promote Israelipolicies in the Arabworld, according toinformation he and oth-ers posted on websites.

The man, detainedSunday in a develop-ment that could strainIsrael’s relations withEgypt’s new leaders,was identified by theEgyptian MENA newsagency as Ilan ChaimGrabel, a misspelling ofhis family name,Grapel.

Ex-Israeli DefenseMinister Binyamin Ben-

Eliezer, a former point-man in Israel’s relationswith Egypt, said onIsrael Radio he hopedthe arrest was not anattempt to “put peaceinto total freeze.” Egyptsigned a peace treatywith Israel in 1979which ordinary Israelisrefer to as “the coldpeace.”

Israel’s ambassadorto Cairo said Mondaythat Israel was lookinginto the case. The U.S.embassy in Cairo said itwas working to confirmGrapel’s identity andcitizenship.

On his Facebookpage, Grapel made nosecret of his presence inEgypt, writing that hewas “preaching at al-Azhar,” an Islamic uni-versity in Cairo, and

that he had studied atJohns HopkinsUniversity in Baltimore,Maryland. The refer-ence to al-Azhar laterdisappeared from thepage.

A judiciary source inEgypt said the arrestedman had been active inCairo’s Tahrir Square,the epicenter of therevolt against HosniMubarak, after the for-mer president steppeddown.

A statement issuedby Egypt’s public prose-cutor said the suspect,ordered held for 15days, had been sent toEgypt to recruit agents“trying to gather infor-mation and data and tomonitor the events ofthe January 25 revolu-tion.”

Photographs ofGrapel on the Facebookpage, on the website ofthe Israel Project — apro-Israel group wherehe trained in mediarelations in 2008, andin the online newsletterof an organization thatraises funds for Israelisoldiers, matched thosein a video clip of thesuspect released byEgypt.

Grapel’s mother,Irene, said her son hadbeen working for SaintAndrew’s RefugeeServices, a non-govern-mental organization, inCairo. In a telephoneinterview with Israel’sChannel 2 TV, she saidhe holds U.S. and Israelicitizenship and that shehad not spoken to himsince his arrest.

Alleged spy in Egypt immigrated to Israel from U.S.


CARIBBEAN NEWS1

Death toll rises fromfloods in Haiti

PORT AU PRINCE,Haiti — Floods causedby heavy rainfall andmudslides in Haiticlaimed the lives of 23people and damaged470 homes last week,the United Nationshumanitarian officereported, citing infor-mation provided by thecountry’s authorities.

Eight people wereinjured and six othersremain missing afterthe Artibonite Riverbroke its banks, flood-ing the Grande Salinecommune in ArtiboniteDepartment of north-western Haiti, accord-ing to an update issuedby the UN Office forthe Coordination ofHumanitarian Affairs(OCHA).

Tents, tarpaulins,and non-food itemshave been distributedin community sheltershousing those dis-placed by the floods.Drainage in camps forinternally displacedpersons (IDPs) needsto be improved andthere is also a scarcityof for water treatmenttablets in those settle-ments.

This year’s humani-tarian appeal for Haitithat seeks $915 mil-lion is currently 24percent funded, with$223 million havingbeen received, accord-ing to OCHA.

Meanwhile, the UNStabilization Missionfor in Haiti (MINUS-TAH) said it is examin-ing an incident thatallegedly took placelast Sunday at theToussaint LouvertureAirport in Port-au-Prince between aHaitian customs offi-cial and the mission’smilitary personnelover baggage inspec-tion.

MINUSTAH is prob-ing the exact circum-stances of the incidentand has informed theHaitian authorities of

its investigation, themission said in a pressrelease.

The mission saidthat it takes the allega-tions very seriouslyand stressed thatunder the agreementbetween the UnitedNations and theHaitian Government,MINUSTAH and itsstaff must “complywith all laws and regu-lations of the country.”

According to mediareports a group ofarmed MINUSTAH sol-diers forced their wayinto the airport andprevented customsofficers from inspect-ing the luggage oftheir colleagues. Onceoutside the airport, thesoldiers are alleged tohave fired shots intothe air.

Brazil to join Guyanaand Suriname in

Islamic blocJEDDAH, Saudi

Arabia — SouthAmerica’s largestnation and home to alarge Arab Diaspora,Brazil is seekingobserver membershipin the Organisation ofIslamic Conference(OIC). Sergio LuizCanaes, theAmbassador of Brazilto the Kingdom ofSaudi Arabia and theRepublic of Yemen,made an officialrequest on behalf ofthe Foreign Minister ofBrazil indicatingBrazil’s interest in get-ting observer status inthe OIC on an officialvisit recently to theOIC Secretariat inSaudi Arabia.

The 57-membergrouping of mainlyAfrican, Asian andArab nations is pre-dominantly Islamic butmany countries likeGuyana and Surinamewith Muslim minori-ties are members. TheRussian Federation isan observer member ofthe OIC as well.

CARIBBEAN BRIEFSONE FAMILY.

Whether West Indian, Africanor African American.

One God, One Aim, One Destiny.

By IVAN CAIRO

P A R A M A R I B O ,Suriname — Citing “per-sonal circumstances”,Suriname’s minister offinance, Wonnie Boedhoe,resigned late Friday after-noon. In a press release,the Office of the Presidentsubsequently announcedthat President DesiBouterse had accepted herresignation, bringing thenumber of cabinet minis-ters who have steppeddown since he came intooffice in August 2010, to

two.In December 2010, forestry

minister Martinus Sastroredjo,was sacked by the governmentleader after his spouse submit-ted proposals to acquire state-owned land.

According to the president’soffice, in consultation withBoedhoe, how she could servethe government and the countryin another position will be exam-ined.

Boedhoe, a former banker,was Bouterse’s personal choicefor the position of minister offinance, when his NationalDemocratic Party came intopower after the May 25 generalelections last year.

Meanwhile Minister of

Foreign Affairs, WinstonLackin, will be in charge as act-ing minister of finance until anew official has been appointed.

Meanwhile Boedhoe has refut-ed claims that she was forced toresign.

“I, myself have requested to berelieved of my duties. It is pure-ly personal and I am gratefulthat he (the president) hasaccepted my resignation. Wehad a very pleasant relation thepresident and I, and together weworked long hours,” she told deWare Tijd newspaper.

Although the governmentpresented its budget to parlia-ment in October 2010, the legis-lature is still to debate this bill.

Suriname finance minister resigns

Wonnie Boedhoe

GEORGETOWN, Guyana — The CaribbeanCommunity (CARICOM) and the Food andAgriculture Organisation (FAO) of the UnitedNations will next week tackle the recent upsurgein food prices that has reached unprecedentedlevels in the region.

Against the backdrop of the FAO Global FoodPrice Index, in January 2011, indicating that ithad surpassed the high level reached in 2007-2008, the FAO Sub-regional Office for theCaribbean, in collaboration with the CARICOMSecretariat and the Caribbean Development Bank(CDB), has organised a regional consultation onpolicy and programmatic actions to address highfood prices in the Caribbean, 13-14 June.

Trinidad and Tobago will host the consulta-tion, which is aimed at assisting the CaribbeanForum of African, Caribbean and Pacific States(CARIFORUM) to identify various options in theimmediate, medium and long-term, in response tothe crisis.

Recent efforts to address food security inCARICOM included a full assessment of foodprices by the Council for Trade and EconomicDevelopment (COTED), at its thirty-second meet-ing in Georgetown, Guyana, 19-20 May 2011.

Against this backdrop, part of the agenda ofthe consultation in Trinidad and Tobago focuseson existing policy measures to address the foodcrisis at regional and national levels.

By CATHY LASHLEY

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados (BGIS) —Prime Minister Freundel Stuart heads afive-member delegationwhich Barbados onThursday for an officialvisit to China from June12 to June 16.

Stuart first travelled toLondon, where he will meetBarbadians living in theDiaspora, before proceeding toChina.

Other members of the delegationinclude Minister of Foreign Affairs and ForeignTrade, Senator Maxine McClean; Barbados’Ambassador to China, Sir Lloyd ErskineSandiford; Permanent Secretary in the PrimeMinister’s Office, Keith Franklin; and PermanentSecretary in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs andForeign Trade, Charles Burnett.

Barbados and China established diplomaticrelations in 1977 and since then the two coun-tries have enjoyed highly rewarding and mutual-ly beneficial relation.

The state visit is expected to further strength-en and deepen ties between the two nations.

CARICOM, FAO to tackle high foodprices at regional consultation

Barbados prime minister topay official visit to China


CARIBBEAN NEWSD

By BRENTDEAN

N A S S A U ,Bahamas — One ofthe major fears theUnited States haswith the Baha Marproject in TheBahamas is that, asa result of the largenumber of Chinesecoming into thecountry to build theresort, the smug-gling of Chineseinto the US fromThe Bahamas willincrease dramati-cally, according to acable from the USEmbassy inNassau.

“Regardless of what-ever number of workersthe parties agree upon,the continuous arrivalof thousands of low-wage Chinese workersin The Bahamas willlikely lead to a signifi-cant increase in illegalmigration of Chinesefrom The Bahamas tothe United States,” saidthe November 2009secret cable obtained byThe Nassau Guardianvia WikiLeaks.

“The GCOB

(Government of theCommonwealth of TheBahamas) does not havethe institutional capaci-ty to effectively monitorthe movements of theChinese workers noreffectively detect inau-thentic travel docu-ments.”

The $2.6 billion BahaMar resort is beingfinanced by the Export-Import Bank of China.The China StateC o n s t r u c t i o nE n g i n e e r i n gCorporation is buildingthe resort.

As a part of the deal,8,150 foreign workerswill help build theresort, along with4,000-plus Bahamianworkers. The majorityof the 8,150 workerswill be Chinese.

Citing a conversationan embassy official hadwith former Chamber ofCommerce presidentDionisio D’Aguilar, thecable said that PrimeMinister HubertIngraham was verywary of allowing thatnumber of Chinese intothe country, hopingonly 1,000 to 2,000Chinese would be need-ed.

Before the deal wassealed Ingraham pub-

licly expressed his con-cerns about the labourcomponent of the deal.

The Americans hadprivate conversationswith Baha Mar seniorvice president RobertSands on the Chineselabourer issue, accord-ing to the cable.

“Sands did empha-size that Baha Mar andthe GCOB were con-cerned with [the] legiti-macy of individual[workers], or those thatwould come to TheBahamas solely to ille-gally migrate to theUnited States,” said thecable.

“He noted that theworkers would be‘highly regulated, closeto the site in a fully con-tained camp,’ thoughthe men ‘will be let outoccasionally.’ Sandsindicated that they werelooking into biometricidentifications to helpmanage the workforce.”

According to thecable, at the time, BahaMar wanted to establisha large work camp forthe Chinese labourersat the Cable Beach GolfCourse.

“Baha Mar execu-tives and the GCOB areclearly cognizant of thenegative message they

will send to tourists, aswell as the Bahamianpublic, by maintaininga 4,000-strong Chineselabourer camp in ahighly visible and afflu-ent section of town,”said the cable.

“Still, the GCOBbelieves that the com-pletion of this massiveproject is a vital compo-nent of its long-termplan to provide thou-sands of new jobs forBahamians.”

A February 2009cable, also labeledsecret, indicated thatBahamian officials wereso concerned about thelabourer issue that theyapproached theAmericans for help.

“Senior GCOB offi-cials expressed concernto the Charge over theChinese request for for-eign workers. Theyrequested US assistancewith obtaining back-ground checks andmused that it would bepreferable if theChinese workers werefirst routed throughthe UK or US so thatthey would be properlyvetted,” said the cable.

“Of primary concernis ensuring that... ade-quate accounting meth-ods are in place to track

that those that entereventually leave.”

Timothy Zuniga-Brown was, and is, theUS Charge d’Affairesreferred to in the cable.

Weary PartnersIn 2008, Harrah’s

Entertainment pulledout of an earlier jointventure deal with BahaMar to develop themega-resort. Chinesefinancing and partner-ship revived the CableBeach redevelopmentplan.

The Ingrahamadministration alwaysappeared less enthusi-astic to the Baha Marproject than PerryChristie and theProgressive LiberalParty (PLP). The lastPLP administrationbegan negotiationswith Baha Mar.

A March 2009 cable,also labeled secret, saidthat Bahamian officialstold the Americans theywere not, at the time,enthused about Chineseinvolvement in the deal.

“Senior GCOB offi-cials privatelyexpressed that China isnot their preferred part-ner and acknowledgethat negotiations aredifficult,” said the cable.

The Bahamian offi-

cials expressing thatview were not named.

The cables alsorevealed that theChinese expressed theirconcerns to theAmericans about get-ting so deeply involvedwith Baha Mar.

“Chinese Embassyofficials privately told(an embassy official)the China Ex-Im Bankwould prefer anotherinvestor in the mix inorder to diminish thefinancial risk,” said theMarch 2009 cable.

Baha Mar has said itwill not comment on thecables.

The company hassaid 11,000 Bahamianjobs will be created as aresult of the project.There will be 6,500 to7,000 permanent jobswhen the resort is com-pleted; and 4,000 con-struction jobs forBahamians will be cre-ated during the buildphase of the project.

There will be sixhotels at the property,almost 2,250 newrooms and condos, thelargest convention cen-tre in The Bahamas, thelargest casino in theCaribbean, a world-class golf course and aretail village.

US fears Chinese migration as a result of Bahamas project

By PATRICIARONDONESPIN

C A R A C A S ,Venezuela -V e n e z u e l a nPresident HugoChavez said Sundayhe is quickly recov-ering after under-going surgery inCuba last week fora pelvic abscess andnoted that medicaltests have shownno signs of any“malignant” illness.

Chavez, who is recu-perating in Havana,said the operation hasnot slowed him downand he is diligentlyattending to day-to-dayduties while closely fol-lowing events inVenezuela.

“Each passing day Ifeel better,” saidChavez, speaking dur-ing a brief telephone

interview broadcast bythe Caracas-basedTelesur television net-work. “I’ve gonethrough biopsies, stud-ies, microbiology, dif-ferent laboratories andthere’s no sign of any-thing malignant.”

A pelvic abscess is anaccumulation of pusthat can have variouscauses, including infec-

tion or complicationsfrom surgery.

Chavez recalled thathe felt an acute pain inhis pelvis during ameeting with Cuba’sFidel Castro and knewit was important to actquickly with the sur-gery. He said thatCastro immediatelyexpressed concernupon seeing Chavez in

pain and urged him toundergo an operation.

Foreign MinisterNicolas Maduro saidChavez began to feelpain during a tourthrough Brazil andEcuador, before he flewto Havana.

“We had to act quick-ly,” Maduro said.

Supporters of Chavezgathered at plazas inseveral cities onSunday to wish theirleader a speedy recov-ery.

Carmen Zerpa saidshe felt reassuredknowing that Chavezwould bounce back.

“We’re sad becausethis happened to you,but we feel betterbecause we know you’regoing to recuperate,”she said.

Last month, Chavezinjured his knee whilejogging, prompting theself-proclaimed social-ist to postpone his tripto Brazil, Ecuador andCuba.

Hugo Chavez recovering after surgery in Cuba

Hugo Chavez

ST GEORGE’S, Grenada — TheGrenada government is strongly sup-porting two initiatives designed to bringmore land under agricultural produc-tion, a local monthly newspaper hasreported.

Barnacle, in its June edition, said that bothinitiatives involve the renting or leasing of idlefarm land.

The paper quotes Ferron Lowe, policy advisorin the Ministry of Agriculture, as saying that a“substantial amount of land” that once wasunder cultivation in Grenada is now “abandonedand underutilized.”

He said government is offering to act as amediator between owners of abandoned orunderutilized agricultural fields, andGrenadians who are desirous of working theland.

The Ministry of Agriculture, under theNational Democratic Congress administration ofPrime Minister Tillman Thomas, is encouragingprivate land owners, who can no longer cultivatetheir lands, to rent or lease them to people inter-ested in doing so, Lowe said.

“The ministry will not be directly involved butwill facilitate the relationship between privateland owners and the renters,” explained Lowe, alawyer and farmer. “Both parties can seek inde-pendent legal advice to come up with a workableagreement.”

More land in Grenada to be broughtunder agricultural production

DAILY CHALLENGE TUESDAY, JUNE 14, 201112

New AmericanThe

One Thought - One Humanity

FFoorr tthhee ccoonncclluussiioonnss ooff tthheessee ssttoorriieess cchheecckk oouutt tthhee JJuunnee 22nndd -- JJuunnee 88tthh,, 22001111 iissssuuee ooff

TThhee NNeeww AAmmeerriiccaann,, wwhhiicchh hhiittss nneewwssssttaannddss eevveerryy TThhuurrssddaayyBritish singer Leona

Lewis has taken aim atcritics of her personali-ty, insisting she “could-n’t care less” if theythink she’s dull. Thestar shot to fame as ashy and retiringwannabe on SimonCowell’s British showThe X Factor in 2006,and went on to super-stardom in the U.K.and the U.S. after win-ning the competition.However, Lewis isangry music fans pre-sume she’s boring justbecause she’s not asoutlandish as the likesof Lady Gaga, and she’sadamant her strengthslie in good qualitysongs. She says, “Idon’t care what anyonesays. I’m not boring.Unless you know me, Idon’t really care aboutyour opinions. I could-n’t care less. Lady Gagadoes her crazy thingand she is great. I defi-nitely have somethingdifferent to offer. I’mall about the music andsongs.”

Cee Lo Green hasconfirmed speculationGnarls Barkley’s fanfavorite tune Who’sGonna Save My Soul isall about the passing ofJames Brown. TheCrazy singer made thebig reveal during arecent taping of VH1show Storytellers,explaining the song issupposed to empoweranyone grieving theloss of a loved one - andhe wrote it as he wasdealing with the 2006death of the Godfatherof Soul. He says, “Thesong is actually aboutthe passing of JamesBrown... It has to dowith everyone; heart-break, loss, regret,helplessness, hopeless-ness, and I felt all of theabove when we lostJames Brown - becausehe embodied every-thing. “James Brown ismy father... I got whatI needed from him - Igot guidance, I gotstyle... integrity, I gotconsistency... Hetaught me how todance too. When he

passed we lost somuch. It was just like,‘Who else...?’ ‘How can Ishow him that all of hiswork was not in vain?The song hurts me(because) there’s somuch genuine pain.”

In a recent inter-view, Lauren Londonrevealed that Lil Waynealmost wifed her. Shealso explained that sheand Wayne were notsome one-night stand.Lauren London: “I metDwayne when I was 15years old. I’ve knownhim a very long time,and we were in a rela-tionship that didn’tmake it. We tried morethan once to revive it,and we were engagedbriefly years ago, butwe eventually partedways. People see the“Lil’ Wayne” personaand think they knowwho he really is. Myson’s father is an intel-ligent, loving and lov-able person who willalways be a dear friend.That is all.”

New dad Nick Can-non struggles to fit allhis projects in to hisbusy schedule, surviv-ing on just four hoursof broken sleep everyday. The star and hiswife Mariah Carey wel-comed twins lastmonth, but Cannon hasrefused to cut back hisworking commitments,still broadcasting hisNew York radio showand hosting realityseries America’s GotTalent, which pre-miered its sixth seasonin the U.S. on Tuesdaynight. But Cannonpays a hefty price forhis busy schedule as hecan only fit in just afew hours of sleeparound work and hisduties as a dad.

Rihanna stopped byThe Today Show to talkabout her hair, pre-per-formance rituals, andwhat she would’vebecome if she wasn’t anentertainer. Not sure ofthe exact name of thecolor of her hair, shesaid it’s a mixture of

different reds. She said,“ It’s like copper-ish,red-ish.” If she wasn’tan entertainer, Rihan-na said she would’vestudied psychology.“Something I was alsointerested in. I reallyenjoy observing, read-ing, and analyzing sit-uations for what theyreally are,” she said.Before hitting up thestage, Rihanna warmsup, drinks tea, praysand then gets dressedas a ritual. Lastly, shewould love to collabo-rate with DepecheMode because she real-ly likes them.

Queensbridge, NewYork rap star Nas hasannounced the title ofhis new upcoming soloalbum. The rapper tookto Twitter early thismorning (May 28th), toreveal the name of thealbum, which is titledLife is Good. In pub-lished reports, the 37-year-old rapper saidLife is Good will fea-ture production from avariety of new produc-ers, as well as veteranSalaam Remi and othernotable producers. Nas’last official studioalbum was 2008’s Unti-tled release.

Cadbury recentlyreleased advertise-ments for their Blisschocolate bars, a“dreamy chocolate truf-fle.” On one of the ads,the British confec-tionary companyincluded the tagline‘Move over Naomi,there’s a new diva intown.” Upon seeingthis, Naomi Campbell,41 year old supermod-el, was not pleased. Theway Campbell sees it,Cadbury is placing herin the same league aschocolate. In a state-ment sent to CNN,Campbell complainsthat the ad is “insult-ing and hurtful.” Thiskind of reaction isn’tsurprising, as Camp-bell is known for her,well, diva-like antics.She’s been accused sev-eral times for violenceand abuse against

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By LJ Knight

The Queen is back. Well, thequeen to some. I am referring toBeyonce Knowles. While it can beargued that she is a queen to someand a toad to others, there is nodoubt that the chick is bad. Badmeaning good. So bad that everytime she drops an album or a single,we expect for it to be hotter thanchicken grease on a June morning.For her not to deliver said hotnesswould be an atrocity to some. Soafter months of blogs hyping us upwith news of her being in the studioworking with hot producers, andfinally a release date for a single, weexpect that s**t to be hot. Someexpect it to be life changing. Yes,there are some people who really feelthis strongly towards Beyonce.

Unfortunately for her, the firstsingle to be released from Beyoncetitled “Girls Who Run The World”has been receiving mixed reviews.Some of them luke warm. Whilemany of her devoted drones, whowould cherish a Beyonce turdstraight from her rectum, are quick-

ly falling in love with the single,there are others who are lessinclined to simply accept anythingthat the queen gives us. Myselfincluded. I have to be honest, thesong sucks. Big time.

I am a Beyonce fan. Not herbiggest fan. But I dig much of hermusic. I also am a part of the gener-ation that grew up with Beyonce. Iremember the first time I saw thevideo for Destiny’s Child’s single“No No No”. I remember when theyblew up into super stardom. I wasthere to see the ugly break up of thegroup and all of the nasty rumorsabout Beyonce. I was also therewhen “Crazy In Love” blew andmade her an official super star; outshining her time in Destiny’s Child.I was also there to see her grow andmature with the content of hermusic. Sure she has her make yourbooty roll ladies singles but she alsohas singles that touch women on adeeper level. Deep as one can getfrom a Beyonce single. For instancetouching on women giving toomuch in love and never being recip-rocated from the man that they love.

Can Beyonce still please all ofher fans with new album?

- Full Story In This Week’s New American Newspaper -


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14 DAILY CHALLENGE TUESDAY, JUNE 14, 2011� � � � �

��

By ALISONMCCOOK

Researchers have identi-fied cockroaches as a poten-tial explanation for dramaticvariations between neighbor-hoods in asthma rates amongNew York City children.

In some New York Cityneighborhoods, 19 percent —nearly 1 in 5 — children haveasthma; in others, the rate isas low as 3 percent.

Heavy traffic, industrialincinerators, and other out-door air pollution sourceshave been blamed in the pastas potential contributors toasthma differences acrossthe city.

Now, researchers atColumbia University havefound that children living inneighborhoods with highrates of asthma were twice aslikely to carry antibodiesagainst a cockroach proteinin their blood, a sign the kidshad been exposed to theinsects and were likely aller-

gic to them.In addition, homes in the

neighborhoods with highrates of asthma containedmore of the allergen pro-duced by cockroaches inhousehold dust.

This study provides “fur-ther evidence that cockroachexposure is part of thestory,” study author Dr.Matthew Perzanowski toldReuters Health. “Cockroachallergen really could be con-tributing to disparities inasthma prevalence, even inan urban environment likeNew York City.”

These findings also sug-gest that controlling cock-roaches may help eliminatesome of those disparities,Perzanowski noted. But par-ents don’t want to spray tonsof harmful chemicals, whichcould “have other detrimen-tal effects,” he added.

Instead, people can takesimple steps such as sealingup any cracks, and removingfood and water sources. (TheNew York City Department

of Health and MentalHygiene offers advice forcombatting roaches athttp://www.nyc.gov/html/doh/html/ehs/ehscroach.shtml)

To investigate why somecity neighborhoods havemore asthma cases than oth-ers, Perzanowski and histeam visited the homes of 239seven- and eight-year-olds,half of whom lived in areaswith high asthma rates.

Previous research haslinked poverty to anincreased risk of asthma inchildhood. To eliminate theinfluence of income on theresults, the authors onlyincluded families with thesame middle-income healthinsurance plan, to ensurethey had the same incomeand access to health care.

More than half of the chil-dren already had asthma.

During home visits, theresearchers collected dustfrom the children’s beds,then took blood samples tolook for antibodies againstvarious allergens associated

with asthma — including cat,dog, mouse, dust mite andcockroach proteins.

Nearly 1 in 4 kids living inneighborhoods with highasthma rates appeared to beallergic to cockroaches, com-pared to 1 in 10 kids living inareas where asthma is lesscommon.

Homes in high-asthmacommunities also had higherconcentrations of the cock-roach allergen, as well asallergens associated withmice and cats, the authorsreport in the Journal ofAllergy and ClinicalImmunology.

In addition, kids who wereallergic to cockroaches andmice were more likely to haveasthma, noted Dr. JoanneSordillo at the Channing Lab-oratory, affiliated both withBrigham and Women’s Hos-pital and Harvard MedicalSchool, who reviewed thefindings for Reuters Health.

“Mouse or cockroach aller-gen exposure may increasethe risk of allergic sensitiza-

tion (allergies), which is inturn related to the develop-ment of asthma in children,”she said in an email.

Although cockroach pro-tein sensitization was morecommon in kids in high-asthma neighborhoods, over-all, children who were aller-gic to dust and cats were alsomore likely to have asthma.

Perzanowski explainedthat cockroaches leavebehind proteins that peopleinhale and can become aller-gic to, which in turn increas-es the chance they will devel-op asthma.

But when it comes to catownership, the picture gets abit murkier, he explained.Some previous research hasfound that kids in homeswith cats were more likely tobe allergic, but in this study,having a cat did not predis-pose kids to asthma.

“It’s complicated,” theresearcher said. “Avoidanceof cats doesn’t seem to reduceyour risk of developing asth-ma.”

Crawling culprit seen in urban kids’ asthma

By KATEKELLAND and

ADRIAN CROFT

LONDON — Internationaldonors including Britain andbillionaire Bill Gates pledged$4.3 billion on Monday tofund vaccination programs toprotect children in poor coun-tries against diseases such asdiarrhea and pneumonia.

The funding would allowmore than 250 million of theworld’s poorest children to bevaccinated by 2015 andwould prevent more than 4million premature deaths,the Global Alliance for Vac-cines and Immunization(GAVI) said.

“Today is an importantmoment in our collectivecommitment to protectingchildren in developing coun-tries from disease,” saidLiberian President EllenJohnson Sirleaf, who attend-ed the pledging conference inLondon.

“But every 20 seconds, achild still dies of a vaccine-preventable disease. There’smore work to be done.”

British Prime MinisterDavid Cameron, who hasdefended increased spendingon aid at a time of sharp statespending cuts, pledgedalmost a third of the totalraised, which beat the $3.7

billion target.“Britain will play its full

part. In addition to our exist-ing support for GAVI, we willprovide 814 million pounds($1.33 billion) of new fund-ing up to 2015,” Camerontold the conference, winninga standing ovation from theaudience.

“This will help vaccinateover 80 million children andsave 1.4 million lives.”

Billionaire philanthropistand Microsoft co-founderGates, a major GAVI backer

who helped set up thealliance more than a decadeago, also announced morefunding.

“We are pledging an addi-tional billion dollars,” Gatessaid, adding that the moneywould be spread over the nextfive years.

“It’s not every day that wegive away a billion, but for acause like this it’s exciting tobe doing this.”

GAVI says it has helpedprevent more than 5 millionchild deaths in the last

decade with its immunizationprograms.

The alliance funds bulk-buys of childhood vaccinesagainst diseases such aspneumococcal pneumonia,Haemophilus influenzae typeb, or Hib disease, diphtheria,pertussis or whoopingcough, tetanus, measles androtavirus.

The World Health Organi-zation considers vaccinationto be “one of the most suc-cessful and cost-effective pub-lic health interventions.” It

estimates that between 2 and3 million deaths are avertedeach year through immu-nization.

A series of academic stud-ies published last week foundthat if 90 percent of childrenin the more than 70 poorcountries supported by GAVIwere fully immunized, some6.4 million children’s livesand more than $151 billion intreatment costs and lost pro-ductivity could be saved over10 years, producing econom-ic benefits of $231 billion.

Donors pledge $4.3 billion to provide vaccines

By FREDERIKJOELVING

There is no solid evidenceto support screening toddlersfor autism, a new study con-cludes.

It’s estimated that autismspectrum disorders, whichrange from mild Asperger’sSyndrome to severe mentalretardation and social disabil-ity, affect nearly one percentof kids in the U.S., putting asignificant burden on fami-lies and society at large.

Both the American Acade-my of Pediatrics and the U.S.Centers for Disease Controland Prevention encourage

routine screening for the dis-orders.

But the new report, areview of the medical litera-ture, suggests those recom-mendations are premature.

“We don’t have researchevidence to show how wellscreening works and whetherwe do more good than harm,”Dr. Jan Willem Gorter, a pedi-atrician at McMaster Univer-sity in Hamilton, Canada, toldReuters Health.

While many screeningtests exist — usually based onsimple questions about thechild’s use of eye contact andgestures — none of them arevery accurate, Gorter and col-leagues report in the journal

Pediatrics.Often the tests will misdi-

agnose healthy kids, such asone recent test that yieldedfalse positives a quarter of thetime, or they will fail to detectautism.

“The potential burdens onfamilies of receiving a misdi-agnosis (either a false-posi-tive or a false-negative) maybe enormous,” theresearchers write, “and theremight be labeling effects thatcan be hard to remove.”

They found other reasonsto avoid screening, too.

For instance, there is nocure for autism, and interven-tions to help the kids functionbetter on a daily basis often

have shaky underpinningsand cost a lot.

Such treatment programsmay not be easily availableeither, the researchers note,adding that offering screen-ing without providing helpfulservices would be “pointless,and almost certainly unethi-cal.”

“The reality is there arealready waitlists of up to ayear, or over a year,” Gortersaid.

At this point, he added, thebest way to help children withautism is probably to makeparents understand how theirkids communicate and makesure they meet other chil-dren.

Study recommends against autism screening


NEW JERSEY

TRENTON - ThePulaski Skywayand the Route 7bridge don’t havethe same magicring as the notionof boring a grandtunnel toManhattan, butthe governorargued Thursdaythey were the bestplace for NewJersey’s trans-portation dollars.

Gov. Chris Christiesaid he plans to redi-rect money from theHudson River traintunnel he terminated10 weeks ago to helpshore up the nearlybroke trust fund thatpays for New Jersey’sroad and bridgerepairs.

Turning aside pleasthat he find the moneyby raising NewJersey’s low gas tax,Christie unveiled an$8 billion, five-yeartransportation capitalprojects plan, whichcalls for the PortAuthority of NewYork and New Jerseyto pick up about $1.8billion in costs.

Among the GardenState projects the PortAuthority will take onare the renovation ofthe Pulaski Skyway -New Jersey’s mostfamous and decrepit

bridge - and the Route7 Wittpenn Bridge inKearny.

The governor saidthere would be no tollhikes as part of theplan.

Standing next toenlarged photos of thecrumbling Route 46bridge in Dover andRoute 21 bridge inNewark, Christie said,“That kind of condi-tion of roadways inthe state of NewJersey is dangerousand is unacceptable.”

Christie said pasttransportation plansrelied almost exclu-sively on debt andrequired enormousballoon payments atthe end of the 30-yearbond cycle.

“It was irresponsi-ble and it was done forone simple reason:Because people wereunwilling to stand upto the plate and dowhat needed to bedone to make difficultdecisions, to make asystem work and beresponsible fiscally,”he said during a newsconference in Trenton.

Critics said the gov-ernor’s plan relies onthe thing he cam-paigned against -more debt - and a one-shot gimmick to divertmoney from the can-celed Access to the

Region’s Core com-muter rail tunnel.

“I thought debt wasa dirty word toRepublicans,” notedSen. PresidentStephen Sweeney (D-Gloucester).

“The governor does-n’t just kick the candown the road - hepunts it there,” addedAssemblyman JohnWisniewski (D-Middlesex), whochairs the AssemblyT r a n s p o r t a t i o nCommittee.

Wisniewski saidNew Jersey Turnpiketoll hikes set for nextJanuary were predi-cated on the moneygoing toward theHudson River traintunnel, known asARC, which was todouble rail capacity toNew York City.Christie scrapped theS e c a u c u s - t o -Manhattan tunnel inOctober, saying it wasexpected to go overbudget by billions ofdollars.

“The ARC tunnelproject was supposedto be a lifeline for theregion’s rail network,”Wisniewski said.“Now, Gov. Christie isusing the project’sfunding as a lifeline tokeep his national con-servative credentialsintact.”

“Until we’re willing

to really come up witha comprehensive solu-tion, we’re just goingbe stuck in traffic,going nowhere, whileour roads are crum-bling,” Jeff Tittel, N.J.Sierra Club director,said outside the gover-nor’s news conference.“These are, at best, aBand-Aid.”

The costs for the$8.7 billion ARC tun-nel were to be splitthree ways, with thePort Authority andfederal governmenteach chipping in $3billion and New Jerseypaying $2.7 billion,part of which included$1.25 billion from theNew Jersey TurnpikeAuthority.

Christie again reit-erated his aversion toincreasing NewJersey’s 10.5 cent pergallon gas tax,America’s third-lowestbehind Georgia andAlaska.

“With rising gasprices right before us,the idea of raisingtaxes in this economyis something that thisadministration simplywill not do under anycircumstances,” hesaid.

The transportationfund was set to runout of money earlythis year.

In addition to theWittpenn Bridge and

the Pulaski Skyway -an engineering mar-vel in 1932 that hasfallen into disrepair -New Jersey projectsthat the PortAuthority will salvageinclude work on Route139 and a proposedroadway connectingSt. Paul’s Avenuealong the CSX rail-road crossing overNew County Road andending at SecaucusRoad in Jersey City.

The plan alsoincludes $672 millionfor NJ Transit and$200 million a yearfor local projectsthrough the NewJersey Department ofTransportation.

Christie touted thejobs the projects willcreate.

“The governor’splan to fund ourstate’s transportationcapital plan for thenext five years is apositive step,” saidRaymond M. Pocino,vice president andeastern regional man-ager for the Laborers’International Union ofNorth America, repre-senting more than40,000 constructionworkers in NewJersey, New YorkCity, Long Island andDelaware. “At a timewhen New Jerseyneeds to grow its econ-omy and create jobs,

the state has made acommitment to investin its infrastructure.”

Sal Risalvato, exec-utive director of theNew Jersey Gasoline,C o n v e n i e n c e ,A u t o m o t i v eAssociation, said thegovernor was justifiedin allocating unspentARC tunnel dollars topay for transportationprojects.

“The simple fact isthat those dollarswould be better spenton projects that themajority of NewJersey residents makeuse of - namely ourinfrastructure androadways,” Risalvatosaid. “We are a state ofcommuters.”

Others gave theChristie plan mixedreviews.

“The proposal pre-sented by the gover-nor (Thursday) beginsto head in the rightdirection,” New JerseyFuture executivedirector PeterKasabach said. “Itaddresses the immedi-ate need to replenishthe Trust Fund, movesaway from excessivereliance on debt andback toward the ‘pay-as-you-go’ model onwhich the fund wasfounded. ... This isnot, however, a sus-tainable solution tothe Trust Fund.”

Gov. Christie plans to use ARC tunnelmoney to pay for repairs to N.J. bridges,

By MATTFRIEDMAN

TRENTON - Gov.Chris Christie hassigned a bill that, advo-cates say, gives NewJersey the toughestanti-bullying law in thecountry.

The news reached GardenState Equality ChairmanSteven Goldstein during aSomerset conference onreducing the risk of suicidefor gay and lesbian teens.

“This is no overstatement.Today is one of the most

important civil-rights daysin New Jersey history,” saidGoldstein. “Gov. Christiesigned a law that is so differ-ent and so much better thananti-bullying laws that existelsewhere across the coun-try, that it’s stunning.”

The “Anti-Bullying Bill ofRights” is intended to elimi-nate loopholes in the state’sfirst anti-bullying law, enact-ed in 2002, that encouragedschool districts to set up pro-grams to combat bullyingbut did not mandate it.

The bill, in the works foralmost a year, gainedmomentum after the suicide

in September of Rutgersfreshman Tyler Clementi,whose roommate streamed aromantic encounter betweenhim and another man overthe internet.

“The Tyler Clementitragedy was certainly upper-most in legislators’ minds inacting as quickly and boldlyas they did,” said Goldstein.“New Jersey would havepassed some law, but itwouldn’t have happened asquickly and it would have nowhere as strong as the lawthat just passed.”

The new law will requiretraining for most public

school teachers, administra-tors and other employees onhow to spot bullying andmandate that all districtsform a “school safety team”to review complaints. Schooldistricts would be graded bythe state on their efforts tocombat the problem.

Administrators who donot investigate reported inci-dents of bullying would bedisciplined, while studentswho bully could be suspend-ed or expelled. Schoolemployees would also berequired to report all inci-dents they learn of, whetherthey took place in or outside

of school.The bill sailed through the

Assembly and Senate inNovember. It passed 73-1,with 5 abstentions, in theAssembly, and 30-0 in theSenate.

Christie signed the billWednesday, spokesmanMichael Drewniak said.

Assemblywoman ValerieVainieri Huttle (D-Bergen), asponsor, said she thinks thebill will protect vulnerablestudents.”I also hope whenthey go to school they have asense of safety and be freefrom being intimidated orharassed,” she said.

N.J. Gov. Christie approves toughest anti-bullying law in the country


��

The long lost biologicalfather of Kelly Rowland hasdone an interview with aLondon tabloid, saying heregrets the destructivebehavior that cost him thechance to see his daughtergrow up.

Christopher Lovett, whohas not seen his 30-year-olddaughter since she wasseven, reportedly pleadedthrough tears: “Kelly, I loveyou with all my heart. Pleaseforgive me and let me beyour dad again.”

The interview was done inadvance of Rowland’s role asa judge on UK’s “X Factor,”which begins a new seasonthis summer.

Read an excerpt below:Lovett admits his failure

to provide for his family, adrinking problem and avicious temper tore his fami-ly apart. But he still idolizeshis daughter, and treasuresthe memories of their timetogether.

Christopher, 65, says: “Iloved her from the momentshe took her first breath. Iremember as clear as dayKelly and I singing together,from the moment she couldtalk. Our favorite songswere by Stevie Wonder. Iwould put one headphone inmy ear and the other in hersand we would sing and sing,so happy to be together.

“But then I lost my job ata transportation company,sank into a depression aboutmoney and began drinkingmore and more. The failure

to provide for my familyfueled an anger that I will beashamed of until my dyingday.

“It wasn’t physicalbetween me and Kelly’smom, but there were manydays and nights when Kellywould be bawling her eyesout, clutching my leg beg-ging me, ‘Please daddy stopshouting at mommy.’ Thatimage of her howling, beg-ging me to stop will haunt

me forever.“I really hoped I would get

to make it up to her. Sadly Iam still waiting for that day.But I can’t give up hope.That’s why there is a room inmy house which I have deco-rated especially for Kelly,just in case she comesthrough the front door.”

Destiny’s Child star Kellyhas spoken of her father inthe past, saying: “I don’tknow where he is but I hope

he’s not dead. That wouldbreak my heart.

“I remember my dad beingdrunk and aggressivetowards my mom but notme. I don’t know if he knowswho I am or what I’ve done.He must be hiding under arock if he doesn’t.”

Kelly was born on Febru-ary 11, 1981 in Atlanta,Georgia. Christopher andher mom Doris, who marriedfour years later, named herKelendria.

Christopher says: “Shewas just this joyous, happysmiling baby who could meltmy heart just by looking atme. She was a real daddy’sgirl.”

“When she started to talkthings just got even better.My heart would burst withpride when she belted outWhitney Houston songs. Isaw her jumping round thefront room singing like apro, when she had barelyjust learnt to walk.”

But Christopher lost hisjob when Kelly was six andthings started to fall apart.He says: “I am a proud manand wanted the best for myfamily so when I lost my jobI was utterly ashamed andhid from that shame withdrink.

“When Doris challengedme, I would just lose it. Noparent should scream andshout in front of their child,and I am sorry to say therewere too many times to men-tion that Kelly heard mescreaming abuse at her

mother. Sometimes shewould run to her bedroomscreaming, other times shewould cling to my trouserleg begging me to stop.When the electricity was cutoff and we received an evic-tion letter we agreed forDoris to take Kelly to heraunt’s house while I sortedthings out.

“Little did I know the daythey left would be the lasttime I would see my wife anddaughter ever again.

“Every time I phoned heraunt’s house she told meKelly and her mom were out.I had no job, no money, nocar and just no way of get-ting the 20 miles to wherethey were staying.

“When six months hadpassed I begged a friend fora ride to her aunt’s houseand she told me they hadmoved to Texas. I begged herto give me an address, butshe flat-out refused.”

For the next 23 years,Christopher did everythinghe could to find Kelly, whowill appear on the “X Factor”in August. He says: “I knewI had to stop drinking, get ajob or I would never see mydaughter again.

“And I did. But by then itwas too late and they weregone, the two people I lovedwith all my heart and thattore me up and still doestoday.”

At one point he drove 800miles to Texas and walked

Kelly Rowland’s biological father explains his absence

Continued on page 17

Fantasia Barrino is head-ing to the big screen. The“I’m Doin’ Me” hitmakerhas been summoned to playfamed gospel singerMahalia Jackson in a newbiopic. The biopic, based onJules Schwerin’s 1993 bookGot To Tell It: Mahalia Jack-son, Queen of Gospel, iscurrently in pre-produc-tion.

Mahalia Jackson, born inNew Orleans, LA in 1911, isknown to be one of the bestvocalists of all time and thefirst gospel singer to everperform at Carnegie Hall.

She also used her influenceto support the Civil RightsMovement in the 1960s.

According to the NewYork Post, the film,endorsed by Jackson, has a$23.9 million dollar budgetand Fantasia has a deal thatwill get her a percentage ofthe film’s box office gross.

Barrino portrayed her-self in her 2006 biopic, theLifetime Channel’s ‘Life IsNot a Fairy Tale’ andearned a 2007 TheaterWorld Award for her per-formance in The Color Pur-ple on Broadway.

Fantasia tapped to playgospel great MahaliaJackson in new biopic

ORLANDO, Fla. — Theprice of admission to DisneyWorld is going up for thesecond time in less than ayear, the Florida amusementpark says.

It will cost $85 plus tax tospend a day at Disney World,the Orlando Sentinel report-ed. That’s a 3.7 percent hikefrom $82.

Buying longer-term pass-es won’t be as good a deal asin the past. A five-day ticketwill rise 5.9 percent from$237 to $251, the newspapersaid. A seven-day pass isbeing bumped up 8.1 percentto $267 and a 10-day passspikes 11.1 percent to $291.

The price hikes followincreases invoked lastAugust.

“Our research tells us thatnearly all of our guestsagree that a Disney theme-park experience is a strong

value,” spokesman BryanMalenius said.

Ticket prices are alsogoing up at Disneyland inAnaheim, Calif., the Sentinelsaid.

The increases come as Dis-ney tries to get away from

the discounts it used toattract vacationers duringthe recession. Disney is notalone in that regard, the Sen-tinel said, with SeaWorldParks & Entertainment alsorecently ending its “FunCards” incentive.

It’s going to cost more at Disney World

DAILY CHALLENGE TUESDAY, JUNE 14, 2011 17� � � � �

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By ROBMARKMAN

Drake can have just aboutany woman he wants, but onhis new song “Marvin’sRoom,” the Young Moneyrep has his eye on anotherman’s squeeze.

It’s unclear whether thetrack, released on Thursday(June 9), will appear onDrake’s upcoming TakeCare, but in the post accom-panying the song on hisOctober’s Very Own blog,Drizzy writes, “Anotherpiece of the story. Singlecoming in July. Take Carecoming Oct. 24th.” The“another piece of the story”

in Drake’s message likelyrefers to a May 20 post inwhich he dropped “DreamsMoney Can Buy.” The Toron-to MC wrote of “Dreams,”“Not my single. Just a pieceof my story.” But for fanseagerly awaiting his sopho-more album, the announce-ment that it will drop on the24th of October required nodeciphering.

“Marvin’s Room” openswith a phone conversationbetween a young lady and anunheard party. The younglady explains that she wentout to a couple of clubs, camehome and then “went to bed.”The story begins to unfoldwith Drake’s opening lyrics:“Cups of the rosé, bitches in

my old phone/ I should callone and go home/ I’ve been inthis club too long.”

Drizzy goes on singingabout how the object of hisaffection is happy in a com-mitted relationship before hedrops the telling hook: “F—-that n—-a that you love sobad/ I know you still thinkabout the times we had.”

The track’s slow thumpand pounding kick drum isreminiscent of Drake’s previ-ous R&B ventures like “ShutIt Down,” from last year’sThank Me Later, and hisInternet leak “I Get LonelyToo.” “I think I’m addicted tonaked pictures/ And sittin’talkin’ about bitches that wealmost had/ I don’t think I’m

conscious of making mon-sters out of the women Isponsored, until it all goesbad,” he raps.

As fans eagerly await therelease of Take Care, detailsremain scarce. One thing iscertain, though: WhenDrake is around, you maywant to watch your girl-friend.

from hotel to hotel in afailed attempt to find Kellyand her mother. Then,years later, he heard howhis daughter was part of asuccessful girl band – Des-tiny’s Child – and felt asurge of hope.

He says: “I had heardshe was doing wellsinging, but I didn’t knowhow well until I turned onthe TV and saw her per-forming. I cried and cried,with sadness but also withpride at what a wonderful,talented young womanKelly had grown into.”

In 2000 he heard Des-tiny’s Child were perform-ing in North Carolina sohe drove for eight hoursand bought a ticket. Hesays: “I sat for the wholeconcert in one of the cheapseats at the back with tearsof joy and utter despairrolling down my face. Iwrote a note and begged asecurity guard to pass it toher.

“It said, ‘Darling I havebeen looking for you. I amso proud of you and I loveyou so much and I justlong to tell you that in per-son. Love Dad’. But nomatter how much I beggedthe guard he would notbelieve I was her father.”

Christopher –who hasframed Destiny’s Childposters on the walls of theAtlanta home he shareswith his second wife Gra-cie – says he wants noth-ing from his daughter.

He just wants to tell herhow proud he is and howmuch he loves her.

He adds tearfully: “Iown a big home now andhave retired so I don’t wantany of Kelly’s fortune, Ijust want her love. I justhope she does not becomesuch a big star in Englandon ‘X Factor’ that she for-gets about her dad com-pletely.

“I’m getting old now – Ijust hope she reads thisand doesn’t leave gettingback in touch with mebefore it is too late.”

Drake reveals October 24‘Take Care’ release date

KellyRowland’sbiological

father Continued from page 16

LOS ANGELES —Clarence Clemons, the saxo-phone player in BruceSpringsteen’s E Street Band,has suffered a stroke,according to a pair of mediareports on Sunday.

Reuters could not confirmthe reports, and late-nightemails sent to publicists forClemons and Springsteenwere not answered.

The news was broken byentertainment gossip websiteshowbiz411.com, which saidClemons was “seriously ill”

after suffering the stroke athis Florida home. RollingStone magazine said it inde-pendently confirmed thestroke, but not its severity.

Clemons, 69, started play-ing with Springsteen in1971, and had notable soloson such tunes as “Born toRun,” “Thunder Road” and“Badlands.” He was dubbed“Big Man,” which was alsothe title of a 2009 memoir heco-wrote with Don Reo.

Away from the E StreetBand, Clemons enjoyed a hit

single in 1985 with “You’re aFriend of Mine,” a duet withJackson Browne. He alsodabbled in acting, andworked with other artistsincluding Ringo Starr,Aretha Franklin and LadyGaga.

Clemons underwent dou-ble knee-replacementsurgery in 2008, and walkedfor the first time in threemonths when Springsteenand the E Street Band playedthe Super Bowl early in2009.

Springsteen sideman Clemons suffers stroke

Although we won’t be get-ting anything new from latenovelist E. Lynn Harris, all ofhis fans will have a brand newway of connecting with hiswork. The Root recentlyreported that TraceyEdmonds of Edmonds Enter-tainment and Proteus Span ofProteus E2 productions havedeveloped a series of filmsbased on the library of the

writer.The first novel up for the

project is “Invisible Life.” Thefilm will be a joint productionwith Shelia Ducksworth,Glendon Palmer and JovanJohnson.

It was only two years agoHarris passed, but he madethe deal before his death.Shortly after making every-thing final, he passed away

from a heart attack in hishotel room.

“E. Lynn Harris entrustedProteus and myself with hisdream of seeing his bookstranslated into film,” saysEdmonds about Harris.“After his tragic passing, weare even more determined tosee his dream become a reali-ty. With his first blockbusternovel, ‘Invisible Life,’ we begin

the journey that millions ofhis fans have traveled.”

Spann adds, “My dearfriend E. Lynn was a manwith an unshakeable spiritand an unbreakable passion toinspire and change lives. Heentrusted with me his visionand the responsibility to pro-duce this American coming ofage love story accuratelythrough the lens of sensitivityin which it was originally cre-ated. This project is a mustfor his millions of fans.Because if we were all honest,we would acknowledge, thatwe all live a portion of ourlives ‘invisible.’”

Edmonds‘ most recent suc-cess is “Jumping the Broom,”which so far has brought inover $36 million at the boxoffice. It was budgeted at only$6.6 million.

E. Lynn Harris novels coming to the big screen soon

Veteran sax man SonnyRollins was named Musi-cian of the Year this week-end at the annual JazzJournalists AssociationJazz Awards in New York.

The 80-year-old Rollins,who also won the award forbest tenor sax, was not pre-

sent for the event becausehe was touring Australiaand New Zealand to ravereviews.

The JJA said in a writtenstatement despite Rollins’longevity, it was JimmyHeath who received theLifetime Achievement

award.Other awards went to

Blue Note (Record Label ofthe Year), the Joe LovanoUs Five (Small Ensemble ofthe Year) and trumpeterAmbrose Akinmusire (Upand Coming Artist of theYear).

Sonny Rollins named jazz musician of year


� ��

By PETERAPPS

LONDON — Govern-ments, multinationalcorporations and globalinstitutions are losingthe battle against com-puter hackers and mustcombine their resourcesif they are to lock outcyber intruders,experts say.The International

Monetary Fund hasjoined Sony and Googleon a growing list ofhacking victims but itis hard to identify theculprits who consis-tently manage to keepone technological stepahead of their pur-suers.“This is an example

of technology develop-ing faster than theframeworks and some-times the regulationsaround that,” saidUnilever chief executivePaul Polman on thesidelines of a WorldEconomic Forum meet-ing in Jakarta.Cyber security

experts say the onlyway to effectively com-bat the menace is forthe public and private

sectors to join forcesand combine greaterregulation with inter-national action.“Clearly we are los-

ing the battle,” saidVijay Mukhi, one ofIndia’s leading cybersecurity experts.“We are not doing

enough... every year wehope things will changebut now people like mehave turned cynical. Itrequires co-operationon a global scale,” hesaid.Earlier this month,

Internet giant Googlepointed the finger atChinese hackers for anattempt to access theGmail accounts ofassorted rightsactivists, officials andothers.Entertainment giant

Sony suffered seriousdamage to its reputa-tion after hackersaccessed the details ofthousands of PlaySta-tion users, while Lock-heed Martin and Citialso reported attemptsto steal data.The growing com-

plexity and seriousnessof cyber attacks hasbegun to break downsome of the stigma of

being a victim, firms,government and organ-isations realizing theymust work together.“There has been a

real change,” said JohnBassett, senior fellowfor cyber security atLondon’s Royal UnitedServices Institute and aformer senior official atBritain’s signals intelli-gence agency GCHQ.“There is much more

awareness of the threat(and) organisations arebeing much more openabout the attacks theyface. Lockheed, Googleand now the IMF areshowing far more open-ness than organisa-tions would have done ayear ago.”Experts like Alexan-

der Klimburg, said theattempt to steal sensi-tive information fromthe IMF, the globallender of last resort,was a chance for allsides to come togetherto confront a commonmenace.“This is potentially a

great opportunity tolaunch a “communal”investigation into anattack on a “communal”institution,” said Klim-burg, a cyber security

specialist at the Austri-an Institute for Interna-tional Affairs.“If fingers can be

pointed, they should bepointed. The only wayto stop such attacks is‘naming and shaming’,and in this case, unlikethose of individualnational governments,there is a clear globalinterest at stake.”With the volume of

data stored onlineincreasing exponential-ly every year, some spe-cialists say the problemis escalating out of con-trol and action must betaken.While some civil lib-

erties campaigners feargiving governmentsgreater control of theInternet would under-mine privacy, otherssay that same privacy isalready being under-mined by both criminaland state-linked hack-ers.Countries such as

the United States havebegun to publishnational doctrines oncyber security and war-fare but talks on inter-national standards andagreements seemremote.

In reality, moststates engage in someform of electronic espi-onage but some worryit is now getting out ofcontrol.The Stuxnet comput-

er worm widely believedto have been built by astate intelligenceagency to attack theIranian nuclear pro-gram through repro-gramming centrifugesto inflict damage onthemselves is seen bysome as a sign ofthings to come.Both Western and

emerging powers haveplowed funding intocyber warfare capabili-ties, with China, Russiaand smaller statesbelieved to see it as anarea in which they canchallenge the conven-tional military superi-ority of the UnitedStates.As Chinese and Viet-

namese hackers appar-ently attack systems ineach other’s countriesas tensions over a dis-puted maritime borderescalate, there are alsogrowing worries aboutthe potential risks ofdamaging state-on-state cyber warfare.

Although he did notmention China byname, Vietnam’s PrimeMinister Nguyen TanDung on Mondayannounced a directiveordering governmentagencies to boost cybersecurity and increaseresearch on preventionof cyber war.“Many serious

threats have emergedthat seriously endangerthe application of digi-tal technology for socio-economic developmentand ensuring nationaldefense and security,”the directive said.Even if international

agreement werereached on a commonapproach, investigatorsface almost insur-mountable technicaldifficulties in tracingthe source of a cyberattack.“Such attacks are

very difficult to pin-point and so respond-ing is both difficult anddangerous as wrongreactions can causeinternational tensions,”said Tony Dyhouse,cybersecurity directorat the UK-based DigitalSystems KnowledgeTransfer Network.

IMF cyber attack boosts calls for global action

By PEDRONICOLACIDA COSTA

WASHINGTON —Talk about getting itfrom all sides. Econo-mists want Americansto cut down on debt andboost spending all atonce, even as home val-ues tumble and gaso-line prices soar.It may all be a bit too

much for the averageU.S. household, particu-larly with an alreadysluggish labor marketstuttering again.A raft of economic

reports this week willhelp sort out just howbad things have gotten,and offer some hints asto whether the slow-down is temporary orthe start of a trend.“At this point in the

cycle, everyone believedwe’d be on the mend,but it looks like that’snot the case,” saidWilliam Larkin, portfo-lio manager of Cabot

Money Management inSalem, Massachusetts,citing high levels ofapplications for newjobless benefits.As goes the world’s

largest economy, sogoes the world, thoughthe relationship is hard-ly one-sided. Uprisingsin the Middle East andNorth Africa havehelped to keep oil priceshigh, putting a damperon U.S. consumerspending.In Europe, Greece’s

debt saga continues torage on with no clearresolution in sight.Even as European pay-master Germanydemanded on Fridaythat private investorscontribute to a secondbailout for Greece, rat-ing agencies havewarned that any type ofrestructuring wouldlikely be considered adefault.The aftermath of

Japan’s earthquake andtsunami is also of cru-cial importance to the

global outlook, sincesome economists believeit helps explain part ofthe recent softness.U.S. Federal Reserve

officials have remainedcautiously optimistic,saying the economywill pick up in the sec-ond half of the year andwill not need additionalmonetary support froman already highly stim-ulative central bank.But their upbeat tone

is perceptibly less self-assured. Fed ChairmanBen Bernanke last weekcharacterized the jobmarket as “far fromnormal” after employ-ment data showed only54,000 net new jobswere added to the econ-omy in May, while thejobless rate rose to 9.1percent, the highestsince December.Kicking off a full cal-

endar, U.S. retail saleson Tuesday are expect-ed to show a 0.4 percentdrop for May but a gainof 0.2 percent exclud-ing autos, according to

a Reuters poll of econo-mists. Weakness in theauto sector may be duein part to supply chaindisruptions followingthe Japanese disaster.Also of keen interest

will be two reports fromregional Fed banks onmanufacturing activityaround their districts,since they offer an earlyglance into the econo-my’s performance inJune. Both are seen ris-ing, but to unimpres-sive levels.Any upsets could

send already jitteryfinancial markets into atailspin. U.S. stocks,which fell sharply onFriday on concernsover global growthprospects, have postedsix straight weeks oflosses.Japan this week will

release data on machin-ery orders and revi-sions to industrial out-put for April. The Bankof Japan, which meetsto set interest rates onTuesday, will consider

expanding a loan pro-gram aimed at support-ing certain industries,according to sources.Reports on U.S.

industrial output andconsumer sentimentwill also be combedclosely for signs thateither business or con-sumer spending cansteady a stumblingrecovery.Two other data

releases from Washing-ton will shed light onthe nation’s inflationpicture.High energy and

food costs had until

recently been risingrapidly, eating into con-sumer budgets. At thesame time, wages haverisen all too slowly,damaging householdpurchasing powerwhile also preventing amore pervasive infla-tionary trend.“As for the concerns

of inflation hawks, thetrend in wage growthprovides absolutely nocause for alarm,” saidHeidi Shierholz, aneconomist at the Eco-nomic Policy Institute,a liberal think tank inWashington.

Asking too much of U.S. consumers

19DAILY CHALLENGE TUESDAY, JUNE 14, 2011� � � � �

� ��

By JEFFMASON and

CAREN BOHAN

WASHINGTON —Former White Houseaide Larry Summers onSunday urged expand-ed tax cuts on U.S.workers’ wages, warn-ing that America’s econ-omy was at risk of yearsof Japan-style stagna-tion without a furtherboost.

In an opinion piecepublished by Reuters onSunday, Summers — aHarvard professor andformer Treasury secre-tary under PresidentBill Clinton — arguedthat it would be “prema-ture” to withdraw fiscalsupport for the econo-my at the end of 2011.

Summers’ commentscome as Republican andDemocratic lawmakersdebate ways to reducethe U.S. deficit and ashis former colleagues inPresident Barack Oba-ma’s administrationmull a temporary cut inpayroll taxes for

employers.Summers said the

United States mighthave faced a double-diprecession if Obama hadnot agreed to a deal lastyear with congressionalRepublicans to extendunemployment insur-ance benefits and pay-roll tax cuts for work-ers.

The deal was part of awider package thatincluded an extensionof Bush-era tax cuts forthe wealthiest Ameri-cans.

“Fiscal supportshould be continued andindeed expanded by pro-viding the payroll taxcut to employers as wellas employees,” Sum-mers wrote.

“Raising the share ofthe payroll tax cut from2 percent to 3 percentwould be desirable aswell.”

He said the costwould be a little over$200 billion.

“These measuresoffer the prospect of sig-nificant improvement ineconomic performance

over the next few yearstranslating into signifi-cant increases in the taxbase and reductions innecessary governmentoutlays,” he said.

In an interview, Sum-mers offered moredetails of his idea, say-ing the $200 billionwould cover both theexpansion of the tax-cutand its extensionthrough 2012.

He also said the econ-omy would benefit froman extra $100 billion ininfrastructure spendingover the next severalyears and recommendedadditional aid to statesand cities.

Summers, who head-ed the National Eco-nomic Council for thefirst two years of theObama administration,said that the “greatestthreat” to U.S. credit-worthiness was a sus-tained period of slowgrowth.

“This means thatessential discussionsabout medium-termmeasures to restrainspending and raise rev-

enues need to be cou-pled with a focus onnear-term growth,”Summers wrote.

“Substantial with-drawal of fiscal supportfor demand at the end of2011 would be prema-ture.”

During much of2010, Obama’s econom-ic advisers wrestledwith a debate overwhether to shift towarddeficit reduction or pur-sue further fiscal stimu-lus.

Summers and formerWhite House economistChristina Romer werein the camp arguingthat the recession thatfollowed the financialmarkets meltdown of2008-2009 was aunique event thatrequired aggressivestimulus to avoid a longperiod of stagnationsimilar to Japan’s “lostdecade” of the 1990s.

Former White Housebudget director PeterOrszag was amongthose who cautionedagainst a further bigstimulus that was not

coupled with deficitreduction in later years,as he warned of the dan-ger of ballooning debtand deficits.

The payroll-tax cutwas enacted late lastyear just before Sum-mers returned to histeaching job at HarvardUniversity.

He left the adminis-tration hopeful that thepackage would beenough to restore theeconomy to vigor. Solidpayroll growth in thefirst few months of theyear offered reasons foroptimism.

In the interview,Summers listed severalfactors that contributedto the slowdown: thefallout on the globaleconomy from Japan’searthquake, concerns inEuropean debt markets,high oil prices and adeceleration in China’srate of growth.

But he also said theU.S. economy is in a“cycle that has some ofthe characteristics ofwhat happened inJapan” following the

bursting of its assetbubble and that’s why ithas struggled to regainits stride.

“The economy isn’t asstrong as I expected lastwinter,” Summers. Hesaid that in post-bubblerecessions, such asJapan’s in the 1990sand the Great Depres-sion of the 1930s, thereis a tendency to assumeany pickup in growthmeans a return to nor-mal growth but recover-ies in those cases takemuch longer.

Separately, JeffImmelt, chief executiveof General Electric andhead of Obama’s jobsand competitivenesscouncil, said Washing-ton should streamlinepermitting for construc-tion projects and makeit easier for tourists tovisit the United States tohelp boost hiring andspur the economy.

In an opinion piececo-written with Ameri-can Express chief exec-utive Ken Chenault,Immelt said his panel’s“progress report” out-lined ways to increasehiring in manufactur-ing, construction,healthcare, and tourismsectors.

Summers calls for new boost to economy

By TARMOVIRKI

HELSINKI — Sam-sung Electronics Co Ltdwill become the world’slargest smartphonemaker this quarter,overtaking strugglingNokia Oyj which haslead the market since1996, Nomura said onMonday.

In the next quarterNomura also sees alsoApple Inc overtakingNokia, pushing the

Finnish company to No.3 in the rankings.

“Nokia looks set torelinquish its smart-phone crown to Sam-sung and Apple,” Nomu-ra analysts said in aresearch note. “Furtheremphasizing the shift inpower to Asia is ourforecast for HTC toalmost match Nokiaduring 2012.”

Research firms Gart-ner and Canalys bothsaid they saw Nokia —which created the smart-phone market with its

1996 launch of the Com-municator model — los-ing smartphone volumeleadership later thisyear.

“If Nokia’s newphones are not wellreceived in the thirdquarter and (with) theGalaxy S2 ramping up,Samsung might over-take them and becomethe smartphone leaderin Q3,” said Gartneranalyst Carolina Milane-si.

Nokia has lost initia-tive in the smartphone

market to Apple’siPhone and Google Inc’sAndroid devices, and atthe lower end to morenimble Asian rivals.

Overall, Nokia stillmakes more cellphonesthan Samsung due to itsstrong position in basiccellphones and its widerdistribution network inemerging countries.

The company isswitching to MicrosoftCorp’s software from itsown Symbian platformas part of an overhaul ofits phone business set

out in February by newChief Executive StephenElop.

On May 31 Nokiaabandoned hope of meet-ing key targets just

weeks after settingthem, raising questionsover whether its newboss can deliver on theturnaround hepromised.

By ALISTAIRBARR

SAN FRANCISCO —The websites of com-puter giant Dell Inc andbook seller Barnes &Noble Inc provide someof the worst customerservice, according to asurvey of the largestInternet retailersreleased on Monday.

Crate & Barrel’s web-

site also performedpoorly in the survey,which was conductedby StellaService, anindependent providerof customer-service rat-ings for online compa-nies.

DisneyStore.com, thewebsite of Walt DisneyCo, was among the topperformers.

StellaService gradedthe biggest 100 Inter-net retailers, based on

how long customerswait on the telephoneand how long it takesto get an emailresponse.

Among the largest10 Internet retailers,Amazon.com Inc wasthe best for average callhold time and fifth foraverage emailresponse, according toStellaService’s survey.

“With prices andproduct selection no

longer a key differen-tiator among onlineretailers, customer ser-vice has become thedeal maker or breakerfor today’s shopper,”StellaService ChiefExecutive Jordy Leisersaid in a statement.

BN.com, the Barnes& Noble website, hadthe second-longestaverage call hold timeat just over eight min-utes, the survey found.

The worst was Etron-ics.com, which did notrespond to telephonecalls during StellaSer-vice’s survey.

Dell.com had thefourth-longest averageemail response time atmore than 65 minutes,according to the sur-vey. Spiegel.com, Crate-andbarrel.com and Fin-gerhut.com rankedlower than Dell.combased on this measure.

Crateandbarrel.comwas also in the bottom10 based on averagecall hold time, the sur-vey found.

DisneyStore . comwas the only websiteranked among the top10 for both email andtelephone support.

Amazon.com did notrank in the top or bot-tom 10 for either crite-ria among the 100retailers surveyed.

Dell, BN.com do poorly in online service survey

Samsung and Apple to end Nokia’s smartphone reign

DAILY CHALLENGE TUESDAY, JUNE 14, 201120 � � ��!��

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CHALLENGE

By BRIANMAHONEY

MIAMI - As DirkNowitzki andDwyane Wade trad-ed big shots in athrilling NBAfinals, with fanstuning in at levelsthe league hadn’tseen since the daysof the Kobe-ShaqLakers, the ques-tions came morefrequently.

The answers growharder to understand.

How canCommissioner DavidStern tell all those view-ers to go watch some-thing else?

Why are owners andplayers willing to throwaway all the momentumthe league has builtsince last summer?

How can they shut itdown now?

“It’s an odd position,when the game is thebest it’s ever been, whenthe ratings are thehighest they’ve everbeen, when the excite-ment is the greatest it’sever (been),” PlayersAssociation attorneyJeffrey Kessler said lastweek. “It’s sort of odd tosee the owners saywe’re going to destroythis game unless youchange this whole sys-tem. Players just wantto play.”

Nobody can predictwhen they’ll get thatchance again. When theDallas Mavericks fin-ished off the MiamiHeat on Sunday nightin Game 6, it sent theNBA into a most uncer-tain offseason.

Owners and playersare nowhere close on anew collective bargain-ing agreement toreplace the one thatexpires June 30.Without a new deal,players say they havebeen told by the ownersthey will be locked out.

The NBA wasreduced to a 50-gameseason by a work stop-page in 1998-99, andthe loss of games is athreat now. Citingleaguewide losses ofabout $300 million thisseason, the league has-n’t budged on its desirefor significant changesto the financial struc-ture, ranging fromreductions in thelength of contracts andthe amount of guaran-tees, to an overhaul ofthe salary cap systemthat would preventteams from being ableto exceed it, as they cannow under certainexceptions.

And Stern said therecord TV ratings andall the other positiveattention the league hasreceived doesn’t makehim any more motivat-ed to get this settled,since he’d want to do it

anyway.“I don’t need any

external prod to want tobe able to make a deal,”he said.

The clincher was thehighest-rated Game 6ever on ABC, and fanshave pointed to the rat-ings for that network,along with ESPN andTNT, as reasons whythings can’t be as bad asthe league claims. Yetthose ratings meannothing to the NBA: Itslong-term contract withthose network partnersguarantee its moneywhether people watchor not.

Yet they are watch-ing, in large partbecause of the Heat.When LeBron Jamesand Chris Bosh joinedWade in Miami, it creat-ed a must-see team,either in hopes ofwatching it win or withthe desire of witnessingits failure.

“Obviously, whatwe’ve been able to dowith the star powerdown in Miami andobviously the city ofMiami, it hasn’t hurt inthe sense of whetherpeople don’t like it orwhether they like it. Allyear they’ve tuned in tosee, is it going to be ameltdown with thisteam?” Wade said dur-ing the finals.

“We’ve been having alot of record-breakingviews of people tuningin to check out a lot of

our games,” he added.“As players we appreci-ate the support,whether it’s positive ornegative, you’re watch-ing our game. That’swhat we appreciate.Because it’s our job tomake sure as pioneersof the game that it con-tinues to grow longwhen we’re done.”

The feeling was sodifferent for the NBA ayear ago. It rode aseven-game seriesbetween the Lakers andCeltics right into theoffseason, knowing itshistoric free-agent sea-son would dominate theheadlines, giving it farmore offseason pressthan usual. With thoselongtime rivals stillstrong, and major mar-ket cities such asChicago and New Yorkscoring in free agencyand surging in thestandings, the attentioncontinued right into theseason.

But the free agencybonanza also showedwhy owners want thechanges. Stern has saidthey feel the pressure tospend as much as possi-ble to show their fans acommitment to win.The smaller-marketteams, meanwhile,don’t have the luxury oftaking those chances,knowing the moneywon’t be coming inthrough ticket salesand local TV revenue iftheir teams struggle. So

now they want a systemthat would curb theirspending through ahard salary cap, whichthe players stronglyoppose.

“We got maxsalaries, we got a limiton annual increases, wegot restrictions on play-er movement, so we’vegot as far as I’m con-cerned pretty much ahard cap,” union execu-tive director BillyHunter said.

The sides are sched-uled to meet twice thisweek and say they hopefor frequent discus-sions before the end ofthe month. Shouldthose fail, the NBAcould follow the NFL’slabor situation rightinto the court system,which both sides saythey want to avoid. So

although a work stop-page in July wouldn’tseem to have mucheffect since gamesaren’t going on, Sterninsists “we very muchfeel the weight of thedeadline.”

But can they getsomething done beforeit?

“I think this is goingto be a scenario wherethe players are going tohave to sacrifice and Ithink at the end of theday the owners areprobably going sacri-fice a little bit as well,”player rep Roger MasonJr. of the Knicks said. “Iguess the biggest thingis figuring out whatthat middle ground isand we haven’t beenable to do that at thispoint.”

Finals over, NBA heads to offseason of uncertainty

By SAMANTHAHENRY

NEWARK, N.J. -Tennessee Titans widereceiver Kenny Britt wasarrested again in NewJersey, a day afterappearing in court for aprevious arrest on trafficcharges.

Police said the formerRutgers star was chargedwith resisting arrest aftertwo plainclothes officers sus-pected he was carrying amarijuana cigar and attempt-ed to handcuff him at a

Hoboken car washWednesday evening.

Hoboken Detective Sgt.Sam Williams said the detec-tives from the city’s vicesquad, Det. Steven Aguiarand Det. David DiMartino,were in line to pay at the carwash when they detected anodor of marijuana, andAguiar noticed Britt allegedlyholding a brown, rolled cigarthey believed to be the source.

Both detectives identifiedthemselves as police,Williams said, and attemptedto handcuff Britt, whoallegedly tried to wrestle freeand push away whileattempting to crush the cigar

in his fist. Williams saidpolice believe a man who waswith Britt may have disposedof the cigar in the scuffle aspolice wrestled Britt to thefloor and handcuffed him; theother man has not beencharged.

Britt is charged withobstructing the administra-tion of the law, resistingarrest and tampering with orfabricating evidence. Policedid not recover the cigar orfind any drugs on Britt, andhe has not been charged withany drug-related offenses.Britt was released on his ownrecognizance, according topolice, and has a June 16

court date.The Associated Press left a

message for Britt’s attorneyThursday afternoon.

New Titans coach MikeMunchak said he didn’t knowmuch about Britt’s latestarrest when asked byreporters after an event at theteam’s headquarters withSpecial Olympics athletes andothers. Coaches can’t contactplayers during the NFL lock-out, and Munchak said theyare trying to find out detailson what he called probably acase of “making some baddecisions.”

“Unfortunately, he’s had afew things that’ve come up

for him in the offseason,”Munchak said in video postedon the team’s website. “That’ssomething we’ll deal withwhen he comes in.”

Britt pleaded guiltyTuesday to separate motorvehicle violations related toan April arrest on speedingcharges in his hometown ofBayonne. He must pay a fineof more than $400 as part ofthat plea deal on carelessdriving charges. He was notpresent when the plea wasentered Tuesday during amunicipal court hearing, andBritt will have to sign a courtaffidavit before the plea canbecome official.

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CHALLENGE

By KATHYMATHESON

PHILADELPHIA- In the minutesbefore giving hisfirst commence-ment speech,Philadelphia Eaglesq u a r t e r b a c kMichael Vick pro-fessed to be morenervous than beforea football game.

He had nothing toworry about. A lovinglyraucous crowd of sever-al hundred cheeredVick throughout hisremarks Friday tograduates of the alter-native Camelot highschools at the KimmelCenter in Philadelphia.

The fact that he sur-prised a pair of stu-dents with $5,000 col-lege scholarships didn’thurt either.

The theme ofredemption proved to bethe heart of the connec-tion between the ex-conNFL superstar and the450 graduates.Camelot’s six campuses

in Philadelphia serveabout 1,800 studentswith emotional, discipli-nary or academic prob-lems.

In speeches duringFriday’s ceremony andin a private meetingwith Vick before the bigevent, several gradu-ates spoke of rebound-ing from previous trou-bles or poor choices toearn a diploma with thesecond chance theywere given at Camelot.

Radames Quinones,17, who met with Vick,said he ran with agang, ditched class,assaulted someone andgot kicked out of sever-al schools before find-ing a home at Camelot’sShallcross Academy innortheast Philadelphia.He hopes to attend culi-nary school in the fall.

“It was like a family Inever had,” Quinonessaid of the Shallcrossstaff. “They treat youlike their own kids.”

Vick, of course, is theposter child for secondchances. The formerAtlanta Falcon hasrebuilt his career with

the Eagles after serving18 months in prison ondogfighting charges.And the Hampton, Va.,native is rebuilding hisimage by speaking reg-ularly against animalcruelty to schools andcommunity groups.

“I had all the fameand fortune; I thought Iwas unstoppable,” Vicktold the students. Butafter his conviction, hesaid, “I lost my free-dom, I lost my money, Ilost my family.”

He challenged thestudents to makethoughtful decisions,pursue their goals andmake the most of theirsecond chances.

“I stand before youtoday a changed man,”Vick said. “Use me asan example at how tobecome an instrumentof change ... you can doit as well.”

Vick then announcedthat grads MoniqueJoseph and RickeySavage would each bereceiving a scholarship.Joseph plans to attendPenn State in the fallwhile Savage will go to

Virginia UnionUniversity inRichmond, Va.

Neither the studentsnor their families - noteven school staff - knewthey would be receivingthe funds, said CamelotCEO Todd Bock.

“I heard a little bitabout it yesterday, but Ihad no idea how gener-ous he was going to beto our students,” Bocksaid after the ceremony.“I think our kids, ourschools and our storyreally resonated withhim.”

Savage, 19, said he isgrateful to Vick for thefinancial aid, which willhelp him study busi-ness technology, andfor the motivationalspeech.

Savage said his ownsecond chance camefive years ago afterbeing arrested for rob-bery and assault. Astern talking-to from ajudge made him realizehe was on a dead-endpath, he said.

“Michael Vick, really,he put everything inperspective,” Savage

said. “He said it’s notyour journey, it’s yourdestination.”

Vick spokesmanAndrew Stroth said thescholarship recipientswere chosen based on

academic achievement,attendance and partici-pation in student gov-ernment. He said Vickplans to give out the$5,000 awards annual-ly.

Michael Vick surprises 2 grads with scholarships

By DAVECAMPBELL

MINNEAPOLIS -Jake’s Stadium Pizzahas been a fast-food fix-ture on the MinnesotaState University campusfor nearly four decades.This summer, they’recooking that thin crustwith crossed fingers inMankato, Minn.

The NFL lockout,now headed toward itsfourth month, is threat-ening a revenue-driv-ing, profile-raisingevent for this small,family-owned business:Vikings training camp.

“We’re hoping theyget it done, because it’snot just us. It’s thewhole state that will suf-fer,” said Wally Boyer,the owner of the jointwhere players from JimMarshall to JohnRandle have recuperat-

ed after many a drain-ing workout. Fans, too,have long made thatfamiliar walk downStadium Road afterwatching practice to fillup and cool off.

If the work stoppagelingers long enough tokeep teams holding tra-ditional training camps,the hit would be felt farbeyond Minnesota, andit wouldn’t just be aboutlosing money.

In upstate New York,the Jets have trained onthe SUNY Cortland cam-pus the last two years.

“Just their presencealone has stimulatedpeople. It’s just good forthe mental health of thecommunity,” saidCortland State footballcoach Dan MacNeill.“For our people, it’s beenfun. It has impacted thefootball program. Wedon’t have normal use ofour facilities. But an

NFL franchise, no mat-ter where you go,there’s a heck of a fol-lowing.”

Seventeen of the 32NFL teams last yearheld training camp attheir year-round facili-ties, reflecting a trendtoward cost-and-timeefficiency in an era inwhich chemistry is builtand conditioning estab-lished well before thetwo-a-day grind inAugust.

But the other 15teams still take theirshow on the road, manyof them to slower-pacedcities and small collegeswhere their presence isa big deal - and a bigfinancial boon.

Some people make asummer vacation out ofwatching their favoriteteam run drills andscrimmages. Day-trip-pers at least stop for abite to eat on the way

out of town.The Cardinals have

held camp at NorthernArizona University inFlagstaff since 1988,and the school’s RuralPolicy Institute estimat-ed it brought $7 millionto the local economy lastyear, with an overallimpact of $10 million.There were over 38,000visitors, 81 percent ofthose from out of town,along with 122 jobs cre-ated by the camp.

In southernMinnesota, a 90-minutedrive from the TwinCities, Vikings trainingcamp makes a $5 mil-lion impact on theregion, said Anna Thill,president of the GreaterMankato Conventionand Visitors Bureau.Last year, it drew60,000 visitors from atleast 30 states, and a fewforeign countries.

The university

charges $7 for parkingnear the practice fields,but that’s only part ofthe story. The schoolalso receives tremen-dous exposure.

“They do bring peoplehere, and young peopleare introduced to thecampus. There’s certain-ly a marketing value tothe Vikings being herethat is difficult to deter-mine,” said MichaelCooper, the university’smedia relations director.

Whether it’sWestminster, Md.,Anderson, Ind., orSpartanburg, S.C., thereflected glamour ofhaving an NFL team intown for a few weekscan go a long way.

“You can’t put a priceon it, to be honest.Newspaper articles goout every day that haveGeorgetown, Ky., as thedateline. It puts the com-munity on the map,”

said John Simpson,executive director of theG e o r g e t o w n / S c o t tCounty TourismCommission. TheBengals train atGeorgetown College,about 100 miles south ofCincinnati.

The Vikings’ pres-ence was enough to getJake’s Stadium Pizza amention in SportsIllustrated once. Boyersaid his business spikesabout 20 percent duringcamp.

“It’s a lot of frostingon the cake,” he said.

Even some of theteams that don’t trainoff site, like theWashington Redskins,make a mark on localeconomies. VisitLoudoun presidentPatrick Kaler said hisgroup estimates a$600,000 impact to theVirginia county duringcamp alone.

Locked-out? NFL training camp sites start to sweat

DAILY CHALLENGE TUESDAY, JUNE 14, 2011 23


CHALLENGE

By CAROLINECHEESE

EASTBOURNE,England - A grate-ful Serena Williamsrealizes just howclose she came tolosing her tenniscareer because ofblood clots in bothlungs.

“A lot of people diefrom that because youdon’t recognize it,” the13-time Grand Slamchampion said Monday,a day before returningto action at theE a s t b o u r n eInternational afternearly a year awayfrom competition.

“They (the doctors)just said it could havegotten a lot more seri-ous a day later or twodays later. It could havepossibly been career-ending, but for thegrace of God I got therein time and I was able torecover from it.”

The 29-year-oldWilliams’ travails allstarted at a night out at

a restaurant shortlyafter she won herfourth Wimbledon titlelast summer. Wearingsandals instead of bootsto show off a new pedi-cure, Williams steppedon broken glass.

“My coach, he tookhis phone, he lookeddown and there’s likethis massive puddle ofblood. I was like, ‘Oh,my gosh,’” she said. “Iended up faintingbecause I lost so muchblood.”

The ligament dam-age to her foot requiredtwo bouts of surgery,10 weeks in plaster and10 weeks in a protectiveboot.

“I was debatingwhether I’d rather be injail for 20 weeks or acast, and I was leaningtowards jail because Ireally hated that cast,”she said. “Mentally thatwas one of the toughestthings for me.”

But then inFebruary, she had trou-ble breathing.

“I always use theword ‘blessed.’ I hadgreat people around

me,” she said. “My(trainer) forced me togo to the hospital,whereas I was actuallyon the way to a party, tobe quite honest. She’slike, ‘No, you need to goto the hospital.’

“Glad I didn’t go tothat party.”

Finally fit, she joinedsister Venus in enter-ing Eastbourne, break-ing with their normaltradition of preparingfor Wimbledon at homein Florida. Serena’sstatement last weekconfirming her long-awaited return endedwith the words:“Serena’s back!”

She was immediatelyinstalled as one of thefavorites forWimbledon, despite herlack of preparation.

Women’s tennis hasstruggled to fill thevoid left by the sisters.In Serena’s absence,Caroline Wozniacki hastaken the No. 1 rank-ing, but the 20-year-oldDane has struggled tojustify that status with-out a grand slam title toher name. Compelling

rivalries and story linesare lacking.

“We’ve missed tennisso much,” Serena said.“If tennis has missed ushalf as much as we havemissed tennis, we’re ina good place.”

Venus returned witha three-set win overeighth-seeded AndreaPetkovic on Monday.Serena looks to followher sister into the sec-ond round when shefaces TsvetanaPironkova of Bulgariaon Tuesday.

The younger sister isadamant that while theexperience of a poten-tially career-ending ill-ness means she’s nolonger “taking thingsfor granted,” she isn’tcoming back to play forfun.

“My attitude hasn’tchanged. I still crackeda couple of rackets inpractice,” she said. “Butthat’s good. That juststill makes me feel like Ihave that desire, and Ihave that insatiable,just innate thing insideme that I just wanteverything and I just

want to win.”Williams wouldn’t

say whether winning afifth Wimbledon title inthree weeks’ time was a

realistic aim, althoughshe is hoping to peak inthe second week andtake it from there.

Serena Williams still just wants to win

NEW YORK - NFLemployees have hadtheir salaries trimmedby 12 percent sinceApril, and seven teamshave instituted pay cutsor furloughs of work-ers outside the huddlesince the owners’ lock-out of players beganMarch 12, TheAssociated Press hasfound in interviewsaround the league.

Miami, Buffalo, theNew York Jets, KansasCity, Detroit, TampaBay and Arizona arethe teams known tohave slashed payroll.

In all, the number ofaffected employees whowork for either theclubs or the league islikely more than 100.Count CommissionerRoger Goodell and JeffPash, the NFL’s leadlabor negotiator,among them. Their

salaries have beenreduced to $1 eachwhile the league’s laborimpasse is unresolved.

Two teams, theFalcons and 49ers,would not commentwhen asked if theymade any cuts, citingprivacy issues.Information about sev-eral other clubs camefrom people withknowledge of the cutsor furloughs who spokeon condition ofanonymity because themoves had not beenannounced by the team.

Several team owners,particularly John Maraof the Giants, Vikingsowner Zygi Wilf, andJim Irsay of the Colts,have been adamantabout avoiding suchreductions.

“I try to stay focusedin the now. I just don’tanticipate that sort of

thing,” Irsay said. “Myfeeling is I’m interestedin good morale aroundhere. I look at someonewho’s making $40,000,$50,000 a year, whohas rent to pay, and Idon’t see it for me as anowner to be askingthem for anything.”

Buffalo has asked fora lot.

The Bills madeacross-the-board cuts toall salaried employeesin March rangingbetween 20 and 25 per-cent.

“We have made pru-dent preparations forthe possibilities of awork stoppage,” BillsCEO Russ Brandon saidthen. “We have, forsome time, been veryupfront and transpar-ent with our staff sothat they, too, couldmake prudent prepara-tions. We have built a

program that focuseson shared sacrifice.Every employee in theorganization will beaffected. As you moveup the organizationchart, the sacrificeincreases in absoluteand percentage terms,as it should.

“We plan no layoffsas a result of the situa-tion at this time. Ourhope is that ouradvanced planning willallow us to avoid themin the future as well.”

But in May the teamalso suspended pay-ments into the employ-ees’ pension and 401Kplans for the durationof the lockout.

Lions employeeshave taken two-weekfurloughs, a personfamiliar with the movestold the AP.

“Any decisions wemake, the impact will

start with me,” saidteam president TomLewand, adding thenames of coach JimSchwartz and generalmanager MartinM a y h e w .“Unfortunately, it isaffecting the entireorganization, startingwith us.”

The Cardinals had acompanywide week-long furlough duringthe last week of May.All the coaches have intheir contracts payreductions in the eventof a work stoppage.

The Jets have beenrequiring their dozensof non-contractedemployees to take aone-week unpaid fur-lough every monthsince the lockoutbegan. Contractedemployees in footballoperations, includinggeneral manager Mike

Tannenbaum, coachRex Ryan and assistantcoaches, took 25 per-cent pay cuts.

And the Jets imple-mented other cost-cut-ting measures, such asscaling back teamevents - they canceledtheir “Taste of the NFL”benefit and their annu-al golf outing.

Dolphins GM JeffIreland, coach TonySparano and his assis-tant coaches received apay cut on June 1. InMay, the Dolphins cutsalaries of support staff10 to 20 percent. Thepercentage was largerfor higher-paid employ-ees, and all employeeswere told they’ll returnto full pay when thelockout ends. CEO MikeDee blamed laggingticket sales resultingfrom the lockout.

- BARRY WILNER

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TUESDAY, JUNE 14, 2011

By TIM REYNOLDS

MIAMI - LeBron James swiped at critics after the final MiamiHeat game of the season, saying the quality of their lives willnot improve because he failed to win a championship.

Neither will his.His enormous fame and fortune not withstanding, the perception of

James is shaped mostly by what he does in his basketball uniform - and whathe says out of it. For the eighth straight year, he failed to reach the NBAmountaintop, this time after he and the Heat lost to the Dallas Mavericks.

So now what? James says he’ll get better. Dwyane Wade has the same sen-timents. And whenever next season begins, be it October or delayed by alockout, James and the Heat will face the same situation they did in the sea-son’s final game: Win or bust.

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daily challenge 6-14-11

Documents

house gym

leave of absence

weiners actions

president barackobama

queens resident

gun charges

gun violenceto

weiner shouldresign