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February 15, 2006
BLACK HISTORY MONTH and the American Experience
Last Call for Victims in Hotels
Hurricane homeless must find other lodging
(AP) — About 12,(MX) families made hom e
less by last year’s hurricanes began checking
out o f their federally funded hotel rooms around
the country M onday after a federal judge let
FEM A stop paying directly for their stays.
The Federal Emergency M anagement Agency
prom ised the evacuees from Hurricanes Katrina
and Rita that they will still receive federal rent
assistance that they can put toward hotel stays
or other housing. But the agency will no longer
pay for their hotel room s directly.
Earlier in the day, attorneys for the evacuees
pleaded with U.S. District Judge Stanwood
Duval for a last-minute reprieve, saying the rent
assistance will not be enough for decent living
accom m odations or continued hotel stays.
"These people are going to be homeless.
W e've heard from a lot o f people who are going
to be sleeping in their cars," said Bill Quigley, a
lawyer for the evacuees.
But Duval denied the request.
FEM A said the majority o f those checking out
had made arrangements for other housing. But
some said they had nowhere to go except their
own cars, a relative’s couch or back to a shelter.
Monday marks the second wave o f evacuees
losing FEMA financing o f their hotel rooms.
Last week, the occupants o f roughly 4,500
rooms lost FEMA funding after failing to ask the
agency for extensions.
Spike Lee: Mississippi Should Get Rid of Flag
Hunting Accident Setback
Saturday.
W hittington had initially
been placed in intensive care.
He had been moved to a “step-
down unit” M onday after doc
tors decided to leave several
(AP) — A 78-year-old lawyer birdshot pellets lodged in his
who was shot by Vice President skin rather than try to remove
Dick Cheney in a Texas hunting them.
accid en t has som e birdshot
A Texas Parks and Wildlife
lodged in his heart and he had a D epartm ent
report
said
“minor heart attack,” a hospital Whittington was retrieving a
dow ned bird and
official said Tuesday.
stepped out of the
P eter B anko, the
hunting line he was
hospital administrator
sharing with Cheney.
at Christus Spohn Hos
“Another covey was
pital Corpus Christi-
flushed and Cheney
Memorial, said Harry
swung on a bird and
W hittington had the
fired ,
strik in g
heart attack early Tues-
Vice
President
W
hittington
in the
day while being evalu
Dick Cheney
face,
neck
and
chest
ated.
He said there was an irregular- at approximately 30 yards,” the
ity in the heartbeat caused by a report said,
birdshot pellet, and doctors per-
The wildlife department is-
formed a cardiac catheterization, sued a report Monday that found
Whittington, a prominent Re- the main factor contributing to
publican attorney from Austin, the accident was a “hunter’s
Texas, was accidentally sprayed judgment factor.” No other sec-
w ith shotgun p ellets w hen ondary factors were found to
Cheney was aiming for a quail have played a role.
Man shot by
Cheney has
heart attack
(AP) — Director Spike Lee,
known for his stylish and con
troversial films, said Mississippi
should get rid o f the confeder
ate battle cross in its state flag
during a speech at the Univer
sity o f M ississippi’s Black His
tory Month celebration.
Lee said M ississippianscling
too tightly to what he considers
sym bols o f oppression.
“Y ou’ve gotta do something
about that flag,” he said. “I know
people say its representative of
history. Well, so’s the sw as
tika.”
Lee is working on a docu
m entary entitled “W hen the
Levees B roke,” w hich deals
with the African-American ex
perience in the wake o f H urri Director Spike Lee is the featured speaker during the University
cane Katrina.
o f M ississippi's Black History Month celebration. (AP photo)
G
A
C
“W hen I saw the devastation
on TV and in the new s...it
(didn’t) prepare me for what 1
saw there,” Lee said o f New
O rle a n s . “ Y ou h e a r th e se
people’s stories, and it’s heart
breaking.”
“Levees” will be premiere on
HBO on Aug. 29, exactly one
year after Hurricane Katrina
made landfall.
Lee also targeted certain as
pects o f m odem black culture
during his speech.
Lee said that rap culture has
perpetuated a cult o f violence,
drug use, disrespect to women
and ignorance among a stag
gering portion o f young blacks.
“T his ‘gangsta’ obsession is
m adness,” Lee said. “Thinking
like that is genocide.”
UN Probe Finds Torture at Guantanam o
(AP) - A United Nations in acts am ounting to torture at
vestigation has concluded that G uantanam o Bay, including
the United States com m itted force-feeding detainees and sub
jecting them to prolonged soli
tary confinem ent.
U.S. o fficials rejected the
verybo dy c a n be
reat
report, saying it was riddled
with errors and treated sta te
ecause
nybody
an
erve
m ents from d e ta in e e s’ law
yers as fact.
Martin Luther King Junior
"E
B
Bert Sutton m oves his belongings out o f the Astor Crowne Plaza on Canal S treet in New Orleans
on Monday after FEMA sto pped paying for hotels for h o m eless hurricane victims. Sutton said he
was going to try to stay with his brother in a trailer or a neighbor's couch. (AP photo)
S
"
The report from five U.N.
human rights experts also rec
om m ended the United States
close Guantanam o Bay and re
voke all special interrogation
techniques authorized by the
Department of Defense.
It accused the United States
of violating the detainees’ rights
to a fair trial, to freedom of
religion and to health.
The draft report, which fol
lows repeated claim s by pris
oners at Guantanam o Bay that
they have been m istreated or
denied their rights, was deliv
ered to the United States on
Jan. 16. It was first disclosed
Sunday by the Los Angeles
Tim es.
Riots, Deaths Hit LA Jails
Racially
motivated
brawls blamed
(AP) — Hundreds of Los An
geles County jail inmates were
being transferred to the state
corrections system after a series
of racially motivated brawls killed
two inm ates and rocked the
county jail system for more than
a week, authorities said Monday.
“We are in the process of get
ting all the prisoners we can out
of here and into the state prison
system,” Los Angeles County
sheriff's Chief Marc Klugman.
About 2(X) inmates already have
been moved out and another 400
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were expected to be transferred
this week, said Klugman.
“We are trying to stop all this
fighting,” sheriff s Deputy Alba
Yates said.
The county jail system, which
held 18,425 inmates as of Mon
day m o rn in g , rem ain ed on
lockdown, meaning restricted
movement within the jails and a
loss of privileges such as visiting
rights, Yates said.
The American Civil Liberties
Union of Southern California said
punitive measures may not stop
the riots, adding that community
leaders, gang intervention spe
cialists and racial integration ex
perts must be involved.
Some black community activ
ists called for the FBI to investi
gate the incidents as hate crimes.
The latest inmate death oc
curred Sunday afternoon after a
fight between four Hispanic and
two black prisoners in a six-man
cell at the downtown Men’s Cen
tral Jail.
A 38-year-old black inmate col
lapsed and died after the fight.
Another black inmate was killed
Feb. 4 in racial fighting at the
P itchess D etention C e n te r’s
North Facility in Castaic, north
of Los Angeles.
On Sunday, two fights be
tween black and Hispanic inmates
broke out at the Pitchess facility.
Five inmates sustained minor in
juries before the fights were bro
ken up with tear gas and pellet
weapons.
Swann Wins GOP Endorsement
(AP) — Pennsylvania’s Re
publican Party leaders endorsed
former Pittsburgh Steelers star
Lynn Swann for governor Satur
day, virtually guaranteeing that
he will be the candidate to face
D em ocratic in cu m b en t Ed
Rendell this fall.
“ I haven’t cried this much
since I was inducted into the Hall
of Fame,” Swann told the ap
plauding crowd as he wiped tears
from his eyes.
Swann, 53, is seeking to be
come Pennsylvania’s first black
governor. Though he has re
vealed little about his political
philosophy, he has said the
Democratic Party has “taken
Lynn Swann
the African-American vote for
granted.”
He didn't shed any new light
on his platform Saturday.
A novice in politics, Swann
remains a sports celebrity and his
name is as inextricably linked to
Pittsburgh — the state's second-
largest city— as Rendell is tied to
Philadelphia, where he once was
mayor.
Swann was a wide receiver
for the Steelers from 1974-83
and led his team to four Super
Bowl victories. After retiring from
football, he worked as an ABC
Sports com m entator. He was
elected to the Pro Football Hall of
Fame in 2001.