Prince Georges Afro-American Newspaper 1 25 2014

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PRINCE GEORGE’S COUNTY EDITION

Volume 122 No. 25

JANUARY 25, 2014 - JANUARY 31, 2014

Maryland’s Three Largest Counties Seek State Aid to Replace Aging Schools By Courtney Jacobs AFRO Staff Writer The county executives of three of Maryland’s largest jurisdictions are pressing the General Assembly for more money for building and repairing public schools in their counties. If Prince George’s County Executive Rushern L. Baker III, Baltimore County

“This is truly a united effort,” Kamenetz said at a news conference. “For the first time in recent history, Baltimore County, Montgomery County and Prince George’s — or the ‘Big Three,’ as we often refer to our counties — are working together on an issue that is critical to each of our respective counties.” “We believe that the state

“We believe that the state needs to take a serious look at ensuring that all students have the best facilities and classrooms as we prepare them for the 21st century.” –Rushern Baker Executive Kevin Kamenetz and Montgomery County Executive Isiah Leggett and have their way, the state would partner with the three counties to raise money for construction.

INSIDE A2

‘The Butler’ Snubbed

A6

Lawyers for Black SC Teen Executed in 1944 Have New Info

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needs to take a serious look at ensuring that all students have the best facilities and classrooms as we prepare them for the 21st century,” Baker said in a statement. Said Leggett: “We three county executives have a very simple message: Our kids and families can’t afford for any of us to play ‘catch up.” The school buildings in the three counties are beginning to show their age. According to Prince Georges County data, 32 percent of its public schools were built at least 50 years ago and another Continued on A4

Maryland General Assembly Tackles Marijuana Legalization By Sean Yoes AFRO Contributing Writer

This week President Obama added fuel to the volatile national debate over the legalization of marijuana use. “Middle-class kids don’t get locked up for smoking pot, and poor kids do,” the president said during a wide-ranging interview on various subjects with New Yorker editor David Remnick. President Obama’s comments will likely be invoked during the 2014 Maryland General Assembly, which is considering bills in the House and the Senate that would legalize recreational use of marijuana in Maryland. The Marijuana Control Act of 2014 would make the personal use, possession and limited home cultivation of marijuana legal for adults 21 and older. The legislation, which closely mirrors the law in Colorado that made recreational use legal on Jan. 1 there, would also set up a system in which marijuana is regulated and taxed like alcohol. Colorado, the first state to implement the law, racked up

about $5 million in retail sales in the week it was legal to buy pot for recreational use. Washington state is expected to open marijuana dispensaries later this year. “When someone wants to purchase and use marijuana in Colorado, they get in their car, drive to one of the about 40 licensed retail marijuana stores that are open right now, show their ID to prove they’re over 21 and they walk up to a counter where there’s different strains of marijuana in little glass jars,” said Rachelle Yeung, a legislative analyst for the Marijuana Policy Project. “What we want to do in Maryland, similarly to what we’ve done in Colorado, is take that existing underground market and place it behind business counters, place it in the hands of licensed regulated business people,” Yeung added. The House bill is sponsored by Baltimore City Del. Curt Anderson (D-Baltimore City) and Del. Sheila Hixson (D-Montgomery County) and in the Senate by Sen. Jamie Raskin (D-Montgomery County). “We need to understand that arresting people for marijuana Continued on A4

Psych Screening Sought in Case of 2 Slain Md. Kids By Eric Tucker Associated Press

Montgomery Co. PD/AP Photos

Zakieya Latrice Avery and Monifa Denise Sanford are accused of killing two children. Police say the women thought they were performing an exorcism.

ROCKVILLE, Md. (AP) — Two women who police say killed two young children while performing what they thought was an exorcism will continue to be held without bond as prosecutors seek a psychiatric evaluation to determine if they are mentally competent to stand trial. The women, 28-year-old Zakieya Latrice Avery and Monifa Denise Sanford, 21, have told investigators that they believed evil spirits jumped successively between the bodies of the children, ages 1 and 2, and that an exorcism was needed to drive the demons out, said Montgomery County State’s Attorney John McCarthy. The women also reported to investigators that they saw the eyes of each of the children blackening and, after the intended exorcism, took a shower, cleaned up the bloody scene and “prepared the children to Continued on A3

Why We Fight

Senate Committee Searches for Answers about Maryland’s Predicament in HBI Court Case By David Burton Coalition for Equity and Excellence in Maryland Higher Education.

The Maryland Senate Committee on Education, Health and Environmental Affairs held a hearing just before the Christmas holidays to discuss the major findings and related implications of the Federal District Court ruling against the State of Maryland for the State’s failure to desegregate its system of higher education. The court ruled that Maryland continues to maintain a dual system of higher education, one Black and one White, by unnecessarily duplicating programs at its Historically Black Institutions (HBIs) and Traditionally White Institutions (TWIs) located near one another. Committee staff summarized the decision issued by Judge Catherine C. Blake, followed by position statements from the opposing attorneys and other representative of both the Coalition bringing the lawsuit and the state of Maryland. The briefings appeared to create great concern among committee members, with one member proposing a study to determine how the State managed to get in the position of having its system of higher education declared unconstitutional. He wanted to know specifically how the State Continued on A4

After 30 Years, BaltimoreWashington Singer Maysa Is Going to the Show By Zachary Lester AFRO Staff Writer Maysa Leak knew when her mother took her to see a performance of the Broadway show Purlie as a little girl that she would be an entertainer one day. And for decades she has worked as a singer. She left Morgan State University for Los Angeles to back up Stevie Wonder. She traveled across the Atlantic to front the British jazz funk band

Copyright © 2014 by the Afro-American Company

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