WWW . THESKANNER . COM
J ULY 10, 2013
S EATTLE , W ASHINGTON
V OLUME XXXV, N O . 40
25
CENTS
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C HALLENGING P EOPLE TO S HAPE A B ETTER F UTURE N OW
WALLINGFORD PARADE
Enough
School
Money?
McCleary decision
prompts second look
at budget
PHOTO BY SUSAN FRIED
By Donna Gordon Blankenship
The Associated Press
The Electronettes, one of Seattle’s talented drill teams, joined drum squads, marching bands, local business and
community groups in the 64th Annual Wallingford Family Parade. The parade (formally known as the Wallingford
Kiddie Parade) is the longest running Seafair Parade and features children as major participants.
Police Editorial Wins NNPA Award
The Skanner News takes a first place prize in national competition
Helen Silvis
Of The Skanner News
T
he Skanner News has
taken first place in the
Best Editorial category at
the National Newspaper Pub-
lisher Association Awards, for
“Don’t Play Politics With Our
Lives.” The editorial urged
action to change the system of
police discipline.
The National Newspaper Pub-
lishers Association represents
about 200 African American
newspapers. The NNPA held its
annual convention June 26-29
in Nashville, Tenn. The event
celebrated 187 years of the
Black Press, and recognized the
best work of 2012 and brought
together publishers, industry
leaders and academics. The
Black press has a circulation of
19.5
million
readers.
The NNPA presented the tradi-
tional Merit awards for excel-
lence in publishing.
The St. Louis American won
the top award for general excel-
lence for the second consecutive
year. The NNPA also presented
excellence awards for two
smaller categories. The Houston
Defender won for the best mid-
sized paper. And The Miami
Times won for the best paper
with a smaller circulation.
“There were many exception-
al entries this year,” said Karl B.
Rodney, Merit Awards Chair-
man and publisher of the Carib
News. “We congratulate not
only the winners, but other
papers that exemplify excel-
lence every week.”
Speakers led discussions on
everything from education, Hip-
hop and Historically Black Col-
leges and Universities to AIDs
prevention, financial forecasting
and the future of digital publish-
ing. And participants shared
their perspectives on the chal-
lenges facing African American
communities
Among more than two dozen
panelists were: rapper Kangol
Kid, music producer Ralph
McDaniels, Jineea Butler,
founder of the Hip Hop Union;
Osei Mevs, associate VP at
Meharry Medical College;
See NNPA on page 3
SEATTLE (AP) — The people who sued
the state over money for schools are taking
a closer look at Washington’ s new budget,
but they doubt a $1 billion down payment
will be enough to convince the Supreme
Court that the Legislature is making good
progress toward paying the whole cost of
basic education.
“Thanks for the down payment’’ is the pri-
mary message from Nick Brossoit, superin-
tendent of the Edmonds School District,
speaking for the Network for Excellence in
Washington Schools, which sued the state.
But he is quick to add, ``the state is still
far away from the levels of K-12 funding it
promised and one million public school stu-
dents deserve.’’
The Washington Supreme Court ruled in
January 2012 in the case known as the
McCleary decision that the state isn’t meet-
ing its constitutional obligation to amply
pay for basic public education. The court
gave the Legislature a 2018 deadline to fully
implement and pay for the education
reforms it had already passed and to find a
stable source of money for education. The
justices required yearly progress reports
from the Legislature. They rejected last
year’s report. The next report is due soon.
The attorney for the coalition that sued the
state expects the Legislature will get anoth-
er poor grade from the court this fall.
“It does not appear that the state’s
progress will be in line with the Supreme
Court’s McCleary dictates,’’ Seattle attorney
Thomas Ahearne said.
The highest praise he would offer the Leg-
islature was that it did not move backward
this year in its efforts to pay the cost of edu-
cating children.
Superintendent of Public Instruction
Randy Dorn also expressed concern that the
Legislature wasn’t making enough progress
to meet the requirements of the Supreme
See EDUCATION on page 3
INDEX
Urban Wilderness Project Gears Up
News .....................2,3,6
BoUnce: Beloved open-mic storytelling competition is back
Opinion .......................4
A&E ..........................2,8
Auto ............................7
Bids/Classifieds............7
The Staff
Of The Skanner News
C
ontinuing in the tradition of mixing
environmental consciousness with
young people and art, Seattle’s
Urban Wilderness Project returns this
month with its beloved open-mic story-
telling team competitions.
BoUnce is a monthly series held on last
Wednesdays at 6 p.m. This month it’s
Wednesday, July 31, at Columbia City’s
Royal Room, at 5000 Rainier Ave.
BoUnce is the sport of storytelling, requir-
ing skill and improvisation – not unlike bas-
ketball, says poet and storyteller Jourdan
Keith, who founded the organization and
created the art form. Two teams of players
face off to win cheers and prize money from
the audience.
“BoUnce integrates the arts across genres,
racial and cultural lines through the team-
style competitions that give LGBTQ,
straight, People of Color and white writers
and performers a time and place to tell their
stories together,” Keith says.
The evening begins with a free of charge
flash-writing workshop at 6 p.m. Sign-ups
See STORY on page 3