Page 2 The Skanner May 3, 2017
Challenging People to Shape
a Better Future Now
Bernie Foster
Founder/Publisher
Bobbie Dore Foster
Executive Editor
Jerry Foster
Advertising Manager
Christen McCurdy
News Editor
Patricia Irvin
Graphic Designer
Melanie Sevcenko
Reporter
Monica J. Foster
Seattle Office Coordinator
Susan Fried
Photographer
Opinion
FROM THE PUBLISHER:
Who’s Responsible for County Commissioners?
I
n light of Multnomah Coun-
ty’s investigation into Lo-
retta Smith, I’d like to point
to the county’s charter (BE-
LOW) which states that the
Chair (Kafoury) of the Board:
“Shall have sole authority
to appoint, order, direct and
discharge administrative of-
ficers and employees of the
county, except for the person-
al staff, employees or agents
of elective county offices.”
Ms. Smith is an elected
county official that represents
District 2. She cannot be dis-
Bernie Foster
Publisher
charged by the Chair, only by
recall petition. So we’d like
to hear what our readers
think.
Comment on the story at
www.theskanner.com/news/
northwest/25330-commis-
sioner-smith-files-claim-
against-multnomah-county.
Comment on Facebook or
Twitter @theskanner.com.
Page 13 of the Multnomah County Home Rule Charter
2016
Famine in Africa: Will Trump Act?
MERIT
AWARD
WINNER
A
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BE A PART
OF THE
CONVERSATION
#SkNews
s you read this, our
world stands at a cross-
roads. As you read this,
20 million people stand
at risk of starvation at the
hands of what has the poten-
tial to become the worst hu-
manitarian crisis since World
War II; famine in South Su-
dan and impending famine in
Northeast Nigeria, Somalia,
and Yemen. Our country has
a moral responsibility to ad-
dress this issue head on.
For famine to be declared,
two children younger than
five years old in every 10,000
people have to die due to mal-
nutrition and one in five fam-
ilies have to have insufficient
food to sustain themselves.
Waiting for famine to be de-
clared to act means you’re al-
ready too late.
Famine has already been de-
clared in South Sudan, where
hunger is expected to spread
to 40 percent of the country’s
population in the absence of
humanitarian aid. The coun-
try’s man-made famine is a re-
sult of violent conflict in vast
swaths of the country. De-
spite promises of access for
relief efforts to these areas by
Karen Bass
State Rep.
D-Calif
the South Sudanese govern-
ment, humanitarian organi-
zations remain unable to gain
access to provide urgent vital
assistance in the form of food,
water and shelter in many lo-
cations.
Somalia, Nigeria, and Ye-
men are all on the brink of
“
country’s 6.2 million people
experiencing acute food in-
security with the aid that they
desperately need.
In Northeast Nigeria, ter-
rorism by Boko Haram has
resulted in widespread dis-
placement and a growing
humanitarian crisis. Over
50,000 people in the region
are at risk of famine. In addi-
tion, counter-insurgency op-
erations against Boko Haram
by the Armed Forces of the
Federal Republic of Nigeria
in Adamawa, Yobe and Borno
states have led to population
displacement, limited access
In Northeast Nigeria, terrorism by
Boko Haram has resulted in wide-
spread displacement and a grow-
ing humanitarian crisis
having famine declared. More
than half of Somalia’s total
population of 12.3 million are
experiencing acute food inse-
curity and are on the brink of
death from starvation as a re-
sult of drought. Due to conflict
with Al-Shabaab terrorists,
humanitarian access remains
an obstacle in providing the
for relief efforts and have
prevented farmers from ac-
cessing their fields, leading to
significantly below-average
harvests.
In Yemen, agriculture pro-
duction has drastically de-
clined due to conflict, insecu-
rity, high costs, and sporadic
availability of agricultural in-
puts. Two years of escalating
conflict have left 18.8 million
Yemenis in need of some kind
of humanitarian or protec-
tion support. Seven million
women, children, and men
could risk famine in 2017.
In each country, whether it’s
existing famine in South Su-
dan or the brink of famine in
Somalia, Nigeria, or Yemen,
the particularly disastrous
characteristic is that these
situations are either caused
or exacerbated by man-made
crisis.
You wouldn’t know that this
was occurring though – oth-
er than a largely lackluster
statement about South Sudan
on “Face the Nation” in early
April by Ambassador to the
United Nations Nikki Haley,
the Administration has been
quiet about the impending
disaster in Africa and Ye-
men. When asked about the
implications of the Admin-
istration’s budget proposal,
Ambassador Haley called for
“smarter spending” when it
comes to foreign and human-
itarian aid.
Read the rest of this commentary at
TheSkanner.com
Flat Funding for HBCUs Is a Win
M
y job is to promote the
interests of Ameri-
ca’s Historically Black
Colleges and Univer-
sities. So naturally I was con-
cerned when I heard earlier
this year that the new Trump
administration was planning
to propose increasing defense
spending by $54 billion and
slashing nonmilitary spend-
ing by an equal amount.
That’s when the HBCU pres-
idents, chancellors, and I de-
cided to roll up our sleeves
and get to work engaging the
Trump Administration and
the
Republican-controlled
115th Congress to fight and
protect our interests. It paid
off: In late February, after
weeks of meetings and phone
calls with administration of-
ficials, more than 70 HBCU
leaders and I attended a lis-
tening session with top Ad-
Johnny C.
Taylor
NNPA Guest
Columnist
ministration officials, and a
dozen returned the next day
for a signing ceremony event
at the White House, where
President Trump signed an
executive order recognizing
“
levels. Let me be clear: flat
spending for HBCUs in a pres-
ident’s budget that calls for a
13 percent funding decrease
to the Department of Educa-
tion is a win!
It’s clear that this Adminis-
tration understands the val-
ue of HBCUs, which educate
nearly 300,000 students a
year, award three-quarters of
all doctorates earned by Afri-
can Americans and provided
the undergraduate degrees
of 80 percent of black federal
budget for HBCUs. Such no-
tions are naïve in the cur-
rent political environment in
Washington, now run by Re-
publicans who’ve vowed to re-
duce the size of government.
There are some other im-
portant things to remember:
First, the President makes
a “budget request” while the
Congress has to ultimately au-
thorize and appropriate the
funding for the actual bud-
get. The HBCU community is
working to ensure the Pres-
We must seek an open dialogue that transcends parti-
san lines to ensure access to quality higher education
the importance of our insti-
tutions. A few weeks later,
the administration released
its budget blueprint, which
called for maintaining feder-
al HBCU spending at current
judges.
Not everyone is happy
though—some are critical of
President Trump because
they believe he should have
significantly increased the
ident’s final budget request
scheduled to be released in
May protects HBCU funding.
Read the rest of this commentary at
TheSkanner.com