VOL. 52, NO. 39 • JULY 13 - 19, 2017
Tributes Pour in for Martha Rivera Chavis / Page 20
Jealous Focuses Bid for Governor on Health Care, Education
Nation's Football Classic Cancelled
Organizers Cite 'Shift in Corporate Priorities'
Seeks to Create a Movement
By Tatyana Hopkins WI Staff Writer For the past six years, the football teams of historically black colleges and universities faced off in the annual AT&T Nation's Football Classic at the historic RFK Stadium in Southeast. But this year, the fledgling fall tradition will not take place. Events DC, the official convention and sports authority for the District and manager of the grounds that house RFK Stadium, announced late last month the discontinuation of the game
CLASSIC Page 11
BBQ Means Business Page 14
By William J. Ford WI Staff Wirter @jabariwill
with an appropriations rider. Several cities and states have debated legislation similar to the District's law regulating the labeling of personal hygiene products, particularly wet wipes, as safe to flush, Holmes' office noted in a news release. Under the Commerce Clause, Congress has the legitimate authority to regulate the labeling of consumer paper products shipped in interstate commerce, and could preempt state and local labeling laws. "This is the first time in memory that multinational corporations have challenged a local D.C. law in Congress," Norton said. "While we have previously faced conservative
Maryland gubernatorial candidate Ben Jealous says the state has promise in industries such as solar energy, cyber security and hi-tech, but can thrive even more. The former president of the NAACP with an extensive background in community activism has already received an endorsement from the national progressive organization Democracy for America, and anticipates a few more in the near future. But he admits the run for governor is the biggest challenge he's ever pursued. He touted Johns Hopkins University and its hospital in Baltimore as one of the top research campuses in the world, but acknowledged that the state isn't without its problems. Maryland has the nation's third-highest foreclosure rate — one in every 997 units — trailing only New Jersey and Delaware, according to www.realtytrac.com. And two years ago, the Brennan Center for Justice at the New York University School of Law released a report on how the state spent $1.3 billion on corrections in 2013 — about 10 times more than education — despite imprisoning 390 per 100,000, below the national average of nearly
HOME RULE Page 40
JEALOUS Page 46
5 Ben Jealous launched his bid for Maryland governor in front of his cousin's boutique in Baltimore on May 31. /File photo by Travis Riddick
Norton Defends D.C. Home Rule By Stacy M. Brown WI Senior Writer
5 D.C. Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton /WIFile Photo
Ultimately, Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton wants statehood for the District of Columbia. For now, though, she has continued to vigorously oppose and fight colleagues and others when it comes to home rule. The longtime Democrat has called on her congressional colleagues to pursue national labeling legislation if they disagree with the merits of local labeling laws, doing so in the face of powerful multinational corporations led by Kimberly-Clark, which continue to aggressively lobby both parties in both chambers to block D.C.'s new wet-wipes labeling law
Celebrating 52 Years of Service / Serving More Than 50,000 African American Readers Throughout The Metropolitan Area