VOL. 53, NO. 3 • NOVEMBER 2 - 8, 2017
Trump, GOP Tax Cuts: Robbing from Poor, Giving to Rich - Page 31
The Informer ‘Open House’ Page 42
DC Health Link to Hold Health Fair, Open Enrollment
SE Community Split on Future of Shepherd Park
By Stacy M. Brown WI Senior Writer
By Tatyana Hopkins WI Staff Writer
The Affordable Care Act — or Obamacare — remains in effect despite President Donald Trump’s recent string of actions to undermine the law and discourage enrollment for 2018. Locally, the DC Health Benefit Exchange Authority Executive Board announced that it had adopted an unanimous recommendation from its Standing Advisory Board to allow a special enrollment period for District residents to sign up for health insurance coverage from Dec. 16 through Jan. 31. The action effectively provides residents a three-month open enrollment period of Nov. 1 through Jan. 31, with the same calendar days and amount of time to enroll as last year’s open enrollment period, according to a news release. Notably, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) issued a final Insurance Market Stability regulation in April that shortens the upcoming enrollment period for HealthCare.gov to six weeks — Nov. 1 through Dec. 15. CMS recognized that statebased marketplaces may want to have longer enrollment opportunities for their residents, officials said in a statement. Recognizing that a three month open enrollment period works best for District residents, the HBX Executive
his treatment of and words addressed to Myeshia Johnson. Johnson’s husband, Army Sgt. La David Johnson, was one of four U.S. soldiers killed in Niger on Oct. 4 under circumstances that military officials have yet to fully explain. Wilson, 74, who represents a district in the Miami area, has been a mentor of Sgt. Johnson, who died at the age of 25, since
The small plot of land in Southeast known as Shepherd Park has been a bone of contention among residents in the area for decades. But a recent social media campaign urging the closure of the park has been a call to action for some community members to continue decades-old efforts to restoring the long-neglected park. Last month, Nikki Peele, author of the Congress Heights on the Rise blog, launched an online petition to close the park, which rests on the corner of Martin Luther King and Malcolm X avenues in Ward 8, pointing out several longstanding issues in the park, including littering, public intoxication, fights and other illegal activity. The petition called for a fence to be built around the park until residents and city officials could develop a plan of action for its restoration. “Shepherd Park is not a community park — at least not for the children, teens, adults, seniors and families that live in Congress Heights,” the petition read. “Residents of this community have never been able to utilize that park in any significant way for over four decades. … It is a hangout spot, a training ground for lawless and anti-social behavior.” Though several of the issues raised resonated with many residents, some did not like the tone of the petition, including community activist Yango Sawyer, who said many of the park’s users struggle
WILSON/TRUMP Page 46
PARK Page 11
ACA Page 37
5 Ricardo “Two Canes” Taliaferro, a resident of Southeast, tries to keep Shepard Park clean by sweeping up the area lo-
cated at the gateway of the Congress Heights commercial district in Southeast. The park is filled with people from all walks of life. /Photo by Shevry Lassiter
Congresswoman Wilson Stands Firm Against Trump
Calls President’s Treatment of Slain Soldier’s Widow ‘Horrendous’ By D. Kevin McNeir WI Editor
5 Rep. Frederica Wilson (D-FL
24th District), with a few of the Chibok girls who escaped from kidnappers in Nigeria while seeking an education, is the target of attacks by the U.S. President and his Chief of Staff John Kelly. /WI File Photo
Donald Trump has once again become embroiled in a political feud – this time with Rep. Frederica Wilson (D-Fla.) who recently had to skip voting in Washington after she received several threats, described by a spokesperson as “running the gamut from racist and rude to outright menacing,” after Wilson took on the president, criticizing
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