TX Observer: “This past summer, celebrating Juneteenth at home in Texas made me feel as though I was at the center of the world. I was used to spending the holiday, which celebrates the announcement of the end of legal slavery in Texas, gathering with my church in Houston, being chastised by my mother to…
“‘Decades ahead of his time’: history catches up with visionary Jimmy Carter”
The Guardian: “When I reach Jimmy Carter’s grandson by Zoom, he answers wearing a Raphael Warnock campaign T-shirt. Jason Carter is a lawyer and politician himself, mid-40s, animated and well-read, with blue eyes reminiscent of his grandfather’s. He’s just got off the phone with his 93-year-old grandmother, Rosalynn. It’s a special day; Joe Biden is…
ATL Mayor Surprises with Announcement She Won’t Run Again
Atlanta Journal-Constitution: “In a stunning announcement Thursday night, Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms said she will not run for reelection this year. Bottoms announced she will not seek a second term during a private call with friends, staffers and allies, according to two people who were on the call and several others who were told…
High Speed Rail Moves Forward in TX
NBC DFW: “Texas Central announced Monday they signed a $1.6 billion contract with Kiewit Infrastructure South to install core electrical systems for a proposed bullet train expected to run from Dallas to Houston…. Texas Central is hoping to replicate the Japanese Tokaido Shinkansen high-speed rail system in Texas, though there is stiff opposition from landowners…
Gov. DeSantis to Keep Dem Leaning House Seat Open for Rest of Year
Florida Politics: “Gov. Ron DeSantis says Alcee Hastings’ former congressional seat will remain unfilled for more than nine months after Hastings passed away following a cancer battle in early April. DeSantis announced Tuesday the General Election to replace Hastings will take place on Jan. 11. Primaries will be held on Nov. 2 to decide the respective parties’ nominees. The…
Profile of Ben Crump, “Black America’s Attorney General”
AP: “In less than a decade, the Florida-based attorney has become the voice for the families of Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, Breonna Taylor and George Floyd — Black people whose deaths at the hands of police and vigilantes sparked a movement. He has won multimillion-dollar settlements in police brutality cases. He’s pushed cities to ban…
“The G.O.P. Won It All in Texas. Then It Turned on Itself.”
NY Times: “A majority of Texas voters cast their ballots for Donald Trump in an election that a few polls showed Joe Biden winning in Texas by as much as five points. John Cornyn, the Republican incumbent senator whom Democrats spent more than $29 million trying to defeat, won re-election by more than nine points….
“MS House speaker, often guided by faith, doesn’t see Medicaid expansion in religious terms”
Sun Herald: “Health care advocates, many health care providers and others who desperately want to see the state expand Medicaid to cover primarily the working poor blame Gov. Tate Reeves for blocking the effort. But on the issue of Medicaid expansion, Reeves and House Speaker Philip Gunn, who have had their share of disagreements in…
“In South Texas, Hispanic Republicans Try to Cement the Party’s Gains”
NY Times: “Hispanic Republicans, especially women, have become something of political rock stars in South Texas after voters in the Rio Grande Valley shocked leaders in both parties in November by swinging sharply toward the G.O.P. Here in McAllen, one of the region’s largest cities, Mr. Trump received nearly double the number of votes he…
Discussion of Soul City, a Black Utopian Community Founded in NC in 1969
The Progressive Pulse: “If you missed Thursday’s fascinating and informative discussion of the new book, Soul City: Race, Equality, and the Lost Dream of an American Utopia that featured the author, Seton Hall University law professor Thomas Healy, and the son of the man behind the Soul City experiment, former North Carolina state senator and current state…