America’s best weekly Dorin Dickerson named morning show co-host on ‘The Fan’ Page A6
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www.newpittsburghcourier.com Vol. 113 No. 26 Two Sections
JUNE 29 - JULY 5, 2022
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What does Black Pittsburgh think about the Roe v. Wade reversal? Mayes: Decision hit me ‘like a ton of bricks’ by Rob Taylor Jr. Courier Staff Writer
Black women accounted for 44 percent of the abortions performed in Pennsylvania in 2020. The exact number, according to Pennsylvania’s Annual Abortion Report released by the Pa. Department of Health, was 14,177 Black women. Enough to fill the University of Pittsburgh’s Petersen Events Center to capacity, and then some. The U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling on June 24, reversing the Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision from 1973, which made it a constitutional right for a woman to have an abortion, has some Black women in the Pittsburgh area and beyond perturbed. Data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention from 2019 revealed that nationwide, Black women are almost four times as likely to have abortions as White women. But in many religious circles, which includes
some Black church denominations, abortion is not viewed in a favorable light, and the Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade reversal was applauded. With the Court’s Roe v. Wade reversal, the legality of abortion will be left to the states. Almost immediately, Alabama, Kentucky, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Missouri, South Dakota and Wisconsin banned abortion within its borders. Judges on Monday, June 27, temporarily blocked “trigger effect” abortion ban laws in Louisiana and Utah, and allowed abortions to resume. But other states are expected to ban abortion in the coming days and weeks, including West Virginia, Texas, Tennessee, Mississippi, North Dakota, Idaho and Wyoming. But what about Pennsylvania? Outgoing Pa. Governor Tom Wolf, a Democrat, already denounced the banning of abortion and, SEE ROE V. WADE A3
LA’TASHA D. MAYES, Democratic nominee for state House District 24 in the November election, denounces the June 24 Supreme Court decision to reverse Roe v. Wade.
‘A Force for Change: Esther Bush and the Urban League’ to air on WQED-TV by Rob Taylor Jr. Courier Staff Writer
On Thursday evening, June 30, at 8 p.m., WQEDTV will premiere a halfhour program on who many in the Pittsburgh region and nationally call a tireless advocate for civil rights. Even better, she’s a Pittsburgher. A proud graduate of Westinghouse High School, who spent the final 27 years of her professional career making the Urban League of Greater Pittsburgh into one of the top chapters in America. “A Force for Change: Esther Bush and the Urban League” will take viewers back to Bush’s early days as a youth in Pittsburgh, after her family moved to the Steel City from Alabama. It chronicles Bush’s
fight to better her African American community, from high school teacher to college administrator, to the Urban League in New York City, Hartford, and finally, Pittsburgh. “When Esther Bush was a little girl, she saw the world as a place filled with possibilities. The way she saw it, we should all have the same rights and opportunities to be whom and what she wanted to be. It was that belief that inspired Esther to join the Urban League of Greater Pittsburgh and become a force for change,” said WQED-TV marketing communications manager Delaney Healey, in a release announcing the Bush documentary. Minette Seate, lead producer of the Bush docSEE BUSH A6
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ESTHER BUSH LED THE URBAN LEAGUE OF GREATER PITTSBURGH FOR 27 YEARS.
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Justice Clarence Thomas and the conservative Supreme Court have fanned flames of racism in America by Stacy M. Brown The Supreme Court not only abolished abortion rights in America with its June 24, 2022, decision but also ended any semblance of racial tolerance in the United States. Former President Donald Trump’s Make America Great Again cry proved an easy to read betweenthe-lines moniker, but even that was seen as nothing more than the typical dog whistle – until now. After the high court’s ruling, the MAGA crowd has become more emboldened. “President Trump, on behalf of all the Maga patriots in America, I want to thank you for the historic victory for white life in the Supreme Court [June 24],” Illinois Republican Mary Miller told a cheering crowd during a rally as she stood next to the former president. Running for reelection in the 15th congressional district, Miller received an invite from Trump to speak. Her camp attempted to deflect from her racist comment, stating that she misspoke and intended to say, “right to life.” Responding to a tweet by the nation’s first African American president, Texas GOP Sen. John Cornyn compared the decision to reverse Roe v. Wade to segregation. “Now do Plessy v. Ferguson and Brown v. Board of Education,” Cornyn tweeted at Obama following the 44th president writing that the court not only reversed nearly 50 years of precedent, “it relegated the most intensely personal decision someone can make to the whims of politicians and ideologues – attacking the essential freedoms of millions of Americans.” Cornyn thundered what many in the GOP and the high court’s conservative majority have always whispered: a desire to overturn Brown v. Board of Education and resurrect the 1800s doctrine of “separate but equal” to re-establish racial segregation laws that inherently imply that Black people are inferior. “In future cases, we should reconsider all of this Court’s substantive due process precedents, including Griswold, Lawrence, and Obergefell,” Justice Clarence Thomas wrote a day before abol-
This Week In Black History
A Courier Staple • JUNE 29
NNPA Newswire Senior National Correspondent
JUSTICE CLARENCE THOMAS ishing Roe. Thomas and fellow conservatives had struck down a New York law that restricted gun ownership. “Because any substantive due process decision is demonstrably erroneous … we have a duty to correct the error established in those precedents,” said Thomas. The justice has gained the turncoat nickname, Uncle Thomas, from African Americans and others. In the 1965 Griswold v. Connecticut case, the court voted 7-2 to strike down a law restricting married couples’ access to birth control. The majority stated that such statutes are impermissible because they violate the right to privacy for citizens. The cases of Lawrence and Obergefell respectively made same-sex activity and marriages legal. Jim Obergefell, the plaintiff in that landmark case, called Thomas out in a nationally televised interview. He noted that Thomas specifically named samesex and contraceptive rights, in his opinion, omitting interracial marriage. If the court overturned that law, Thomas’ marriage to Ginni, who is white, would face peril. “He omitted Loving v. Virginia because it affects him personally,” Obergefell stated. Striking a severe nerve, Thomas went a step further when voting to strike down New York’s gun law, even after more than 277 mass shootings have occurred in 2022.
The Black justice invoked the disgusting Dred Scott decision, where then-chief justice Roger Taney cautioned that African Americans would have the right to carry firearms in public if the court recognized them as U.S. citizens. “Even Chief Justice Taney recognized that public carry was a component of the right to keep and bear arms – a right free Blacks were often denied in antebellum America,” Thomas dared to assert. Justice Stephen Breyer noted the “serious dangers and consequences of gun violence” against the Second Amendment. Thomas wasn’t done, however. He compared abortion statistics to soldiers killed during the Civil War. “I join the opinion of the court because it correctly holds that there is no constitutional right to abortion,” Thomas wrote. “Abortion is not deeply rooted in this nation’s history and tradition. It’s not implicit in the concept of ordered liberty,” he said. Attorney Daniel Goldman, the former lead counsel for the House Impeachment Committee who is running for Congress in New York’s 10th district, blasted Thomas. “When you read Clarence Thomas’ concurrence, where he calls into question many other rights based on the fundamental right to privacy, remember that he testified unequivocally in his confirmation hearings that there is a right to privacy in the Constitution,” Goldman tweeted.
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1970—NAACP Chairman Stephen Gill Spottswood creates a national controversy by telling the annual convention of the civil rights organization that the administration of President Richard Nixon was “anti-Negro” and was pursuing policies “inimical to the needs and aspirations” of African-Americans. 1972—The United States Supreme Court rules in a historic five to four decision that as it was being carried out in America, the death penalty was “cruel and unusual punishment” and thus violated the Constitution. The ruling also suggested that the death penalty was racist. At the time 483 of the approximately 600 people waiting to be executed in the nation were Blacks or members of other minority groups. However, since the decision, at least 38 states and the federal government have re-instituted the death penalty by supposedly meeting Supreme Court guidelines.
• JUNE 30
1847—Dred Scott (and his wife, Harriet) files his famous lawsuit in St. Louis Circuit Court arguing that after living with a slave master for several years in non-slave territories, they should be considered free. After several twists and turns, the case makes its way to the United States Supreme Court where the court rules against Scott and Justice Roger B. Taney writes what may be the most racist decision ever rendered by the court. Taney wrote that Scott was “private property” and had no right to sue in federal court. He also declared that Blacks were not citizens of America and never could be. Then he topped the decision by writing of Scott and all Blacks, “being of inferior order, and altogether unfit to associate with the White race…they have no rights which the White man is bound to respect.” 1917—Glamorous Singer-Actress Lena Horne is born in Brooklyn, N.Y., to an upper-income Black family. She would perform with Jazz greats such as Artie Shaw, Teddy Wilson, Billy Strayhorn and Duke Ellington. She also became the first African-American woman to sign a long-term contract with a major Hollywood studio. But she became disenchanted with Hollywood and returned to her nightclub career. She is best known for her 1940s hit “Stormy Weather.” In her later years she became active in civil rights including participation in Martin Luther King Jr.’s historic 1963 March on Washington. Horne died on May 9, 2010 at the age of 92. 1967—Major Robert H. Lawrence is named the first Black U.S. astronaut in the NASA space program. The Chicago-born Lawrence would later die under somewhat mysterious circumstances during a training exercise in December 1967. 1974—A deranged Black man, Marcus Chennault, shoots and kills the mother of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. at the Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta. Along with Alberta Christine Williams King, a church deacon was killed and another church member wounded. Chennault, a Dayton, Ohio, native, reportedly claimed that Black Christians were deceiving and misleading Black people. 1995—Song-stylist and singer Phyllis Hyman commits suicide in New York City shortly before she was scheduled to perform at a concert. Hyman was one of the premier female vocalists of her day. The reasons for her suicide were unclear. She left a note which read in part “I’m tired. I’m tired.” Hyman was 45—six days short of her 46 birthday—when she died.
• JULY 1
1863—Walter Francis White is born in Atlanta, Ga. For nearly 25 years White was one of the most influential Black leaders in the nation. He headed the NAACP from 1931 to 1955. However, he first received national attention because of the way he looked. As a light-complexioned Black man with blue eyes, White was able to infiltrate racist groups and investigate planned brutality against Blacks. But in 1919, he barely escaped with his life while attempting to investigate the deadly Elaine Race Riot in Phillips County, Ark., which had left more than 200 Blacks dead. Somehow the mob discovered that White was in the area and set out to lynch him. But he was able to catch a train back to Little Rock before he could be identified. While on the train, the White conductor told him he was leaving town too early because the mob had discovered “a damn yellow Nigger passing for White and the boys are going to get him.” White would die in New York City in 1955. His autobiography is entitled “A Man Called White.” 1899—Thomas Andrew Dorsey is born in Villa Rica, Ga. Dorsey is widely credited with being the “Father of Gospel Music.” During the early 1930s, after leaving Atlanta for Chicago, Dorsey combined gospel and the blues while performing under the name “Georgia Tom.” He wrote more than 400 gospel and blues songs including his most famous “Precious Lord, Take My Hand.” He died in Chicago in 1993 at the age of 96. Once asked to comment on his life, Dorsey said, “I had hope, faith, courage, aspiration and most of all determination to accomplish something in life.”
• JULY 2
1777—Vermont becomes first U.S. territory to abolish slavery. By 1783, New Hampshire and Massachusetts had followed Vermont’s lead. The abolition of slavery was formally placed in the Vermont Constitution, which was formally adopted on July 8, 1777. A major force in the early abolition movement was a group known as the Rights of Man Movement. 1822—Denmark Vesey and five of his co-conspirators are hanged in Charleston, S.C. Vesey’s “crime” had been the organization of the largest slave rebellion in American history. But the insurrection was betrayed by a “house slave” before it could be implemented. Vesey was actually a former slave who had purchased his freedom. 1908—Thurgood Marshall is born in Baltimore, Md. Marshall would go on to become chief counsel for the NAACP and the lead attorney in the Brown v. Board of Education case, which led to the desegregation of the nation’s schools. President Lyndon Johnson would, in June 1967, nominate him to be the first African-American Justice on the United States Supreme Court because as Johnson put it, “It was the right thing to do and the right time to do it.” 1943—Lt. Charles Hall became the first African-American pilot to shoot down a Nazi warplane during World War II. Hall was from Brazil, Ind.
• JULY 3
1775—Prince Hall founds African Lodge Number One—the first Black lodge of Free Masons in the United States. Hall would become the pioneer builder of Black Masons in America. He was also a leading voice against slavery and for Black rights in the North. 1962—The first Black man permitted to play Major League Baseball, Jackie Robinson, is named to the Baseball Hall of Fame.
• JUNE 4
1922—Samuel L. Gravely is born. Gravely became the first African American admiral in the United States Navy and the first African American to command a U.S. warship. The Richmond, Va., native died in 2004 at the age of 82. 1972—College professor and activist Angela Davis is acquitted of charges that she assisted and conspired with the young men involved in a deadly 1970 shootout at the Marin County courthouse in California. The assault on the courthouse was an attempt to free imprisoned Black activist George Jackson. At least three people were killed during the escape attempt. Davis, a Birmingham, Ala., native who became a member of the Communist Party, spent 16 months in prison but on this day in 1972 she was found not guilty of all charges by an all-White San Jose, Calif., jury. 1973—Arna Bontemps dies at the age of 72 in Nashville, Tenn. Born in Louisiana, Bontemps became one of the key figures in the Black artistic and cultural movement known as the Harlem Renaissance of the 1920s and 1930s. Bontemps was a prolific writer and poet.
• JUNE 5
1872—The Republican Party National Convention takes place in Philadelphia with substantial representation from former Black slaves. At least three Blacks addressed the national political gathering. At this point in history, the Republicans were the nation’s most progressive party and attracted the allegiance of African Americans. Blacks would remain loyal to the Republicans until the 1930s. But by 1945 with the Republicans becoming increasingly conservative and attracted to the New Deal programs of Franklin D. Roosevelt, the vast majority of Blacks had switched to the Democrats. 1894—Black inventor G.W. Murray patents a fertilizer distributor, cotton chopper and a seed planter all on this day in 1894. Dr. John Carlos, the 1968 Bronze medalist in the 200m, spoke on a panel recently in Washington, DC about the connection between the struggle he and fellow Olympian Tommie Smith endured to the #BlackLivesMatter movement. (Robert Roberts/The Washington Informer) 1945—Track star John Carlos is born in Harlem, N.Y. Carlos and fellow sprinter Tommie Smith created an international sensation when they protested American racism by giving the “Black Power” clinched fist salute when accepting their medals at the 1968 Olympics. 1956—Although the actual decision may have been reached the previous day, a federal district court hands down a ruling declaring that Alabama laws requiring racial segregation in public transportation were unconstitutional. The decision, which was later confirmed by the United States Supreme Court, was the first major legal victory for the Civil Rights Movement. It grew out of the historic Montgomery Bus Boycott sparked when Rosa Parks defied the law and custom by refusing to give up her seat on a public bus to a White man. Although actually organized by Rev. E.D. Nixon, the Boycott would result in Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. becoming the nation’s most prominent civil rights leader.
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Roe v. Wade reversal has many in Black Pittsburgh talking ROE V. WADE FROM A1
in a statement from May when news of the pending Supreme Court reversal leaked to the media, vowed that “abortion access in Pennsylvania will remain legal and safe as long as I am governor. “Any decision to overturn Roe v. Wade is an assault on the right to access safe, legal abortion services,” Gov. Wolf added. “Let’s be clear: the issue is not whether we believe in choice, but rather who is going to make that choice. I believe that should be the person who is most closely involved in making this difficult decision – not lawmakers and judges. And I believe that’s a right that applies to every person across this country.” Political experts are calling Pennsylvania a “battleground state” for abortion rights. Next-door-neighbor Ohio is seen as a state that swings more toward an abortion ban, while states east of Pa. are considered pro-choice, or in favor of abortion access. Come November in the general election, abortion is likely “on the ballot,” as Democratic gubernatorial candidate Josh Shapiro is in favor of abortion access. But his challenger, Republican Doug Mastriano, said on June 24 that “Roe v. Wade is rightly relegated to the ash heap of history. As the abortion debate returns to the states, Pennsylvania must be prepared to lead the nation in being a voice for the voiceless.” In Pennsylvania, 32,123 abortions were performed in 2020; 46 percent were to White women (44 percent to Black women), 88 percent were to unmarried mothers. The largest age group to receive abortions were 25-29 year-olds, followed by 20-24 year-olds. In Allegheny County, 3,083 abortions were performed. Data on the ethnicities of the women in Allegheny County who received abortions was not made available. “To hear the news that Roe v. Wade was overturned hit me like a ton of bricks,” said La’Tasha D. Mayes, the soon-to-be state
Representative for House District 24, which includes Homewood, East Liberty and Lincoln-Lemington. Mayes has been at the forefront of women’s rights and leadership development for Black women and girls as the founder of New Voices for Reproductive Justice, a multi-state organization. “We have been operating under this false idea that women, transgender and non-binary folx have control over our bodies when the reality is — our government has control over our bodies.” In a 2017 research poll conducted by the National Black Women’s Reproductive Justice Agenda organization, 71 percent of Black Pennsylvanians said that Roe v. Wade “should remain the law of the land.” In the same poll, 87 percent of Black Pennsylvanians agreed that women should have the right to make their own decision about abortion, and 81 percent of Blacks in the state believed that Black women should be trusted to make decisions for themselves. “In overturning Roe v. Wade, the court eliminated any pretense that women are equal under the law,” said the organization’s president and CEO, Marcela Howell, in a statement. “They have made clear that the founding fathers’ declaration the right to ‘life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness’ did not — and does not — include women or birthing people.” Howell added: “Black women and birthing people will continue to be disparately impacted by attacks on our reproductive health. Eliminating abortion rights in many states will be an inconvenience for women and birthing people of means — mostly White — who will be able to afford the high cost of accessing safe abortion. Many Black women and birthing people will lose all access — for them, the cost may be their health, lives or livelihood.” Sydney Etheredge, an African American woman, has been Planned Parenthood of Western Pa.’s executive director since January. Planned Parent-
hood is the nation’s leading provider and advocate of high-quality, affordable sexual and reproductive health care. “While we knew this could be our reality following the leaked opinion, knowing now that we will be living in a postRoe world is heartbreaking,” Etheredge said in a statement. “For now, abortion is still legal in Pennsylvania, and we will do everything in our power to keep it that way. Your decision to control your lives, bodies and futures should be yours, and yours alone, and we will not compromise on this.” But Rev. A. Marie Walker, servant pastor of St. John Baptist Church in Wilmerding, told the New Pittsburgh Courier she is against abortion. She referenced the Bible, the book of Jeremiah, chapter 1: “Before I formed thee in the belly, I knew thee. And before thou came forth out of the womb, I sanctified thee. And I ordained the prophet unto the nation.” “As a believer, we believe life begins at conception,” Rev. Walker said. “We honor the life when it’s in the womb. It’s a life because the baby can feel, it moves, it eats, and it’s being formed. It’s important that we honor that life.” In May, the Washington Post cited a March 2022 survey conducted by the Pew Research Center which found that Black Protestants (66 percent) were more likely than Catholics overall (56 percent) or White evangelicals (24 percent) to agree that abortion should be legal in all or most cases. The study implies that there are at least a third of Black churchgoers who want abortion banned. Include Rev. Walker in that category. “Yes, it’s our (the woman’s) bodies, but that little person living in there is a separate human being,” Rev. Walker said. “I guarantee you that any mother that’s had an abortion, it was a difficult choice, one that’s not taken lightly. I don’t think you ever get over it.”
CHILD SUPPORT... Is it an unfair burden on men? Read more from Mr. Damon Carr on Page B1.
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The 2022 Three Rivers Arts Festival
GETTING HER FACE PAINTED is Rhya Sutton, 6, from Irwin. She was part of the two weekends of festivities at Pittsburgh’s Three Rivers Arts Festival, held in June 2022, Downtown. (Photos by Courier photographer J.L. Martello)
BETTIE SMITH
KOREY EDMONSON, FROM BALDWIN
DARRIN MILLINER, WITH FATHER, JEFF MILLINER
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KHALIAH GUENTHER, from McKees Rocks, with her artwork, at Pittsburgh’s Three Rivers Arts Festival, held in June 2022.
BIRANA BERTHE
LETITIA LEE, from Maryland, with her art. (Photos by Courier photographer J.L. Martello)
TALINN AND DUAYNE CARAY
SIDNEY TURNER, FROM ATLANTA
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Praise & Worship
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“The Lord is my STRENGTH and my SHIELD; my heart trusted in HIM, and I am helped: therefore, my heart greatly rejoiceth; and with my song will I praise.”
ST. BENEDICT THE MOOR CATHOLIC CHURCH 91 Crawford Street Pgh., PA 15219 412-281-3141 Sunday Mass 11 AM
- Psalm 28:7
Rev. Thomas J. Burke- Pastor Rev. C. Matthew HawkinsParochial Vicar Rev. David H. TaylorSenior Parochial Vicar.
REV. WALKER SAYS: The Lord IS: Our personal protector, so let us take great comfort in HIM and HE deserves our praise.
www.sbtmparishpgh.com
East Liberty Presbyterian Church Rev. Dr. Randy Bush, Senior Pastor 412-441-3800
Worship in person or Online on Facebook/YouTube www.ELPC.church Journey Worship..........8:45am Sanctuary Worship.......11:00 a.m. Taize -Wednesdays.........7:00 p.m.
‘A Force for Change: Esther Bush and the Urban League’ to air on WQED-TV Join our growing Praise and Worship Church Community! For rate information, call 412-4818302, ext. 128. We want to feature positive youth from our Pittsburgh church community. Please mail their bio and photo to: New Pittsburgh Courier 315 E. Carson St. Pittsburgh, PA 15219 or email us: religion@newpittsburghcourier. com
BUSH FROM A1
umentary, told the New Pittsburgh Courier in an exclusive interview, June 27, that she often pitches ideas to profile African Americans to WQED management. Though now retired, Bush is a person, a figure whose life and career accomplishments couldn’t be summed up in a “digital short documentary” that would live, say, just on the website. Seate and other producers agreed that an entire half-hour should be dedicated to the trailblazer, and it would air on WQED-TV. To offset the cost of the documentary, major underwriting support was
provided by PITT OHIO and UPMC, and also by Howard Hanna Real Estate Services, PPG, First National Bank, The Diocese of Pittsburgh, Koppers, Eckert Seamans, Urban Academy of Greater Pittsburgh, and Verizon. “There were so many aspects of her personality,” Seate told the Courier. “The breadth of her commitment and how many years she spent working for the Urban League in various cities, and how many people she’d helped, I wasn’t aware of all those details.” Bush shared with Seate her many photo albums, yearbook, “and stories of the people that she met
who influenced her, and she, in turn, influenced... it was really a big learning experience and something grateful for her to share with me,” Seate said. The documentary will explore the many relationships that Bush built as leader of the Urban League of Greater Pittsburgh. The Urban League proudly stands at the intersection of Pittsburgh’s corporate sector and Pittsburgh’s community outreach sphere. Bush was able to weave the two entities together to improve life for Black Pittsburghers. But in true Esther Bush fashion, her work was never “done.” In the
Urban League of Greater Pittsburgh’s annual “State of Black Pittsburgh” program which airs on WQED, Bush was always championing the improvements that Black Pittsburgh was making, while still calling out the corporate community for not doing more to achieve true equity for African Americans in town. Seate said the documentary spotlights Bush’s relationships with Pittsburgh prominent African Americans like Tim Stevens (of the Black Political Empowerment Project), Peggy Harris (of Three Rivers Youth), and Evan Frazier (formerly of Highmark, now of The Advanced Leader-
ship Institute). “They all had these great stories to share about (their) experiences with Esther,” Seate said. “Esther is a remarkable woman,” Seate said, as part of the WQED release. “Hers is a perfect example of just one of the many great stories of people who’ve done so much to make Pittsburgh a better place. And having the chance to help share those stories is an opportunity that’s just too good to pass up.” (Editor’s note: A link to the Esther Bush documentary can be found at wqed.com/estherbush)
Dorin Dickerson named co-host of 93.7 ‘The Fan’ Morning Show
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The New Pittsburgh Courier has learned that Dorin Dickerson, former NFL standout, University of Pittsburgh star and West Allegheny High School Hall of Fame member, is the newest member of the “93.7 The Fan Morning Show.” “The Fan” is a sports radio station in Pittsburgh. Dickerson, who is African American, will host alongside Colin Dunlap and Chris Mack, weekday mornings beginning Aug. 1. “It is always great to see someone grow within our organization, and through his time in various roles with us, Dorin has truly developed into a host who can entertain on topics well beyond the field,” said Michael Spacciapolli, vice president and market manager of Audacy Pittsburgh, in a release, June 28. “As a former All-American at Pitt and NFL player, Dorin has a perspective that our listeners truly appreciate and we are extremely excited to welcome his thoughts on the sports world and all things Pittsburgh to ‘The Fan Morning Show’ every day.”
“Excited is an understatement…I didn’t know what my purpose was after I retired from the NFL,” said Dickerson. “Five years ago, I found myself sitting in the 93.7 The Fan studio doing a three-hour show, and immediately fell in love with sports radio. That opportunity wouldn’t have happened if it weren’t for Larry Richert having faith in me and passing my name along to the station. I can’t thank Michael Spacciapolli and brand manager Kraig Riley enough for giving me the opportunity of a lifetime. I plan to bring positive energy, experience, and fun to ‘The Fan Morning Show.’ I can’t wait.” Josh Taylor, another African American sports host on “The Fan” as well as sports anchor on KDKA-TV, applauded Dickerson on Twitter upon learning the news: “Excited for my guy (Dorin). He’s earned the opportunity and I know he’s going to smash it. It’s your time my dude!” Dickerson started his football career in Western Pa. and was a High School All American and
DORIN DICKERSON Pennsylvania Player of the Year in 2005 at West Allegheny. He played for the University of Pittsburgh and was First-team All American tight end in
2009. Dickerson was a seventh-round draft pick to the Houston Texans in 2010 and played six seasons in the NFL for the Pittsburgh Steelers, New
England Patriots, Buffalo Bills and Tennessee Titans. He joined the radio station in February 2017 as an on-air personality.
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Is Aaron Donald the greatest D-Lineman of all-time? :10—Let’s start out with this...Good pitching will always beat good hitting. Now let’s look at some pitchers throughout the major leagues, shall we?!?! 1) Jameson Taillon, Yankees - 8-1, 3.19 ERA 2) Joe Musgrove, Padres - 8-1, 2.12 ERA 3) Gerrit Cole, Yankees - 6-2, 2.99 ERA 4) Tyler Anderson, Dodgers - 8-0, 3.00 ERA. Combined, these pitchers are 30-4, with an ERA of 2.81. And let’s throw in Clay Holmes, relief pitcher for the Yankees - 12 saves, 0.52 ERA and just broke the legendary Mariano Rivera’s 29-inning scoreless streak record. What do all these pitchers, who will no doubt be on their league’s All-Star team rosters this year, have in common? That’s right, all were Pittsburgh Pirates at one time, traded for prospects. 30-4. ‘Nuff said. :09—Has anyone noticed that your Pittsburgh Steelers now have the highest salaried defense in the entire NFL? With Cam Heyward, Minkah Fitzpatrick and T.J. Watt, you’d expect it to be higher this year, along with the recent signings of Levi Wallace, Myles Jack and Larry Ogunjobi. The question is, with all the money poured into the defense in an offense-first league, has this significantly improved their chances next season? The answer is yes. The offense behind quarterback Mitch Trubisky, a much better O-line and the second-year improvement of
Pat Freiermuth and Najee Harris will be tough and smooth. Expect big seasons from all involved and don’t be surprised if Trubisky is in contention for AFC Offensive Player of the Year at the end of the season. :08—Speaking of Najee Harris, a certain sportscaster recently said Najee was nowhere near the top five running backs in the league and does not expect him to be after this season either. C’mon, man!!! Pay attention - 1,200 yards rushing behind a poor (at best) O-line last year, 74 receptions out of the backfield for 467 yards, a combined 1,667 yards total and 10 touchdowns. Behind a better O-line this season, a little less wear and tear and Harris rushes for 1,300+ yards and scores 15 TDs minimum. :07—Aaron Donald, the pride of Penn Hills High School, the University of Pittsburgh and Super Bowl-winning LA Rams, just became the highest-paid defensive player in NFL history and well deserved. Three-time Defensive Player of the Year, should have been Super Bowl MVP, and all-around menace to NFL QBs and RBs. That being said, let’s pump the brakes on naming him the greatest defensive tackle of all-time. I’m an old school cat, so I remember how impossible it was to stop Joe Greene and Bob Lilly of the Dallas Cowboys back in the day. Those men are the two
greatest D-Linemen of alltime. Period. End of discussion. That being said, a few more otherworldly seasons and we might slip Aaron Donald past Bob Lilly. Not Joe though. A person of some football knowledge, Bill Belichick, said emphatically, “Joe Greene was unstoppable and is simply the greatest defensive lineman of all-time.” When you win six Super Bowls as head coach, give me a call and we’ll discuss the D-Line. Until then, Joe is #1 forever.
:06—Do you remember watching Earnie Shavers and Larry Holmes box on a Friday or Saturday night on NBC in 1979 for the heavyweight title? As a young teen I remember going to a friend’s house where 7 or 8 of us, all knowledgeable in boxing, watched and cheered on Earnie as he knocked down Larry Holmes in the seventh round but ultimately lost in the 11th due to a TKO. There were so many nights like that back then as boxing was huge and televised fights were events to share with your best friends and brothers. Man, I miss those events;
sorry, but MMA is not the same, no knock on MMA events, just doesn’t capture the zeitgeist like Earnie Shavers vs. Ron Lyle, two of the hardest punchers in boxing history, or Muhammad Ali vs. Ken Norton or Joe Bugner. :05—How much is truly enough? How much money, on top of the multi-millions you already have, are you willing to sell your soul for? Apparently for top-flight golf talent like Dustin Johnson, Brooks Koepka and Phil Mickelson, the price tag is $150 to $200 million over five years. And, hey, that’s a lot of money to play eight tourneys a year. I’ve never been one of those sign-forless, hometown-discount guys - if the Padres offer me a lot more than the Bucs, I’m gone. But the caveat here is that Saudi Arabia’s dirty, blood-coated money is behind the new LIV Tour. The crew that killed journalist Adnan Khashoggi, that had 15 of the 19 terrorists in the planes on 9/11 and primarily funded al-Qaeda for years. On top of their tragic history of oppressive human rights violations. Blowback at their U.S. tournaments has already begun and I don’t see many tournaments in the U.S. in the future. But good luck men, here’s hoping you never play on the PGA Tour again, majors included. :04—The NBA just held its draft and Paolo Banchero out of Duke was
the overall #1 pick of the Orlando Magic. Having seen Paolo play against Pitt in Coach K’s final appearance at the Peterson Events Center a few months back, I have to say he seems a singular talent and I expect he’ll live up to the pick and be a star in the NBA, along with #2 pick Chet Holmgren out of Gonzaga by the Oklahoma City Thunder and #3 pick Jabari Smith out of Auburn by the Sacramento Kings. Outside of those three it’s really a crap shoot for the rest of the draftees this year, but we know several will step up and be stars and several will be serviceable players, but not excel as you would expect a first round draft pick to do. Good luck to all, be talking about ya over the next few years. :03—As everyone knows, I am a hockey purist and savant, extremely knowledgeable in the history and current climate of the NHL. (Yeah, just go along with it). This season of hockey playoffs, ending with the Colorado Avalanche besting the twotime defending Stanley Cup champion Tampa Bay Lightning, will go down as one of the best, most exciting playoff seasons ever, even with another firstround loss by our injured, without-a-goalie Penguins. Yeah, that’s all I got. :02—Back to the pitching-poor Pirates, on pace to lose 97 games this season. One night recently they fielded a starting nine that
had four players hitting below .200, another at .211 and a pinch-hitter, Daniel Vogelbach, who, despite his ninth home run, is really auditioning for the WWE. The influx of young talent has, temporarily, injected some excitement into the team but that talent, Oneil Cruz, Jack Suwinski, Bligh Madris, are probably two years away from truly being productive MLB players and by that time the Pirates will have traded away Brian Reynolds, David Bednar and Roansy Contreras for prospects. And on and on it goes. :01—It’s summer!!! Get out and cook out. Go to a summer movie, just not Jurassic World Dominion - it’s awful; go see a free concert at Hartwood Acres. Head downtown on a Friday night and enjoy some incredible food at one of the many great restaurants and then skip on over to PNC Park and watch the young men (and future of the Bucs) battle it out at the finest baseball park in the world. Pass by a street corner where the sun takes a dive behind a stone edifice and catch a band playing in the Cultural District before heading into see a play or a musical at Heinz Hall or the Benedum Center or the O’Reilly Theater. Fall in love again with your favorite somebody and with the city of a 1,000 wonders every Friday night. Enjoy summer!!! :00—OVER AND OUT.
DON’T DO AS I SAY OR AS I DO Tomlin’s hiccup seems to be ridiculed more than Belichick’s prolonged cheating From almost the very beginning of competitive sports, the performers have been placed on a mythical pedestal and are often required to abide by a unrealistic false code of honor. The Khan Academy website tells us that: “The (early Olympic) games were held on an official basis every four years from 776 B.C.E., but they probably originated much earlier. Sacrifices and gifts were offered, and athletes took oaths to obey the rules before a statue of Zeus. The games were announced by heralds traveling to all the major Greek cities around the Mediterranean, and hostilities were banned during the period around the Games to safeguard those traveling to and from Olympia.” That being said, there was probably less violence during those ancient spectacles and sporting events than fistfights and assaults that occur on a fairly regular basis in the stands of an NFL stadium on any given Sunday. Let’s go back to the premise of; “Sacrifices and gifts were offered, and athletes took oaths to obey the rules before a statue of Zeus.” Hmm, in my opinion, the definition of sacrifices and gifts is: “Compensation that athletes, coaches and owners receive to insure that the games they present are fair, honest and are performed within the boundary of the set rules of competition.” Let’s review a few socalled NFL competitive violations. In a Thanksgiving 2013
game between the Baltimore Ravens and the Pittsburgh Steelers, Steelers coach Mike Tomlin strayed too far from the sideline and inadvertently slowed down Ravens kickoff returner Jacoby Jones as he was returning a kickoff. That gaffe by Tomlin turned an almost sure touchdown by Jones into just a great return because Jones ended up getting caught from behind by Steelers cornerback Cortez Allen. Despite that play, the Ravens went on to win that game, 22-20. Tomlin said afterwards: “I was watching the JumboTron and lost track of where I was. Such is life. I really don’t think about it too often at this juncture because I have more press-
ing business.” On June 24, USA Today posted an article that continued with the vilification of Mike Tomlin: “There are few plays more infamous in the career of Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin than the Jacoby Jones play. If you don’t recall just how it all went down when Tomlin found himself on the field while Jones was returning a kickoff and inadvertently impacted the play, we have the video.” My first question is, how many infamous plays have there
MIKE TOMLIN, head coach of the Pittsburgh Steelers. been in the career of Mike Tomlin? I am only aware of that one incident. Continuing on, the article also points out that: “We have the video.” Mike Tomlin was fined $100,000 for an action that took approximately 10 seconds. Let’s take a quick peek back at another infamous act by an NFL head coach, New England’s Bill Belichick. According to Wikipedia: “‘Spygate’ was an incident during the National Football League’s (NFL) 2007 season, when the New England Patriots were disciplined by the league for videotaping New York Jets’ defensive coaches’ signals from an unauthorized location during a September 9, 2007 game. Because the Patriots were instead videotaping the Jets’ coaches from their own sideline during the game, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell deemed it
to be in violation of league rules, stating that the act represented a calculated and deliberate attempt to avoid long-standing rules. After an investigation, the NFL fined Belichick $500,000 (the maximum allowed by the league and the largest fine ever imposed on a coach in the league’s 101-year history) for his role in the incident. The Patriots were fined $250,000. “As part of their probe into the allegations, the NFL required the Patriots to turn over any and all notes and tapes relating to the taping of opponents’ defensive signals; the Patriots did not want the tapes to leave their facilities, and in turn league officials went to Patriots athletic facilities and proceeded to smash the tapes, by order of Goodell. Former Pennsylvania Senator Arlen Specter
BILL BELICHICK, head coach of the New England Patriots. (now deceased) requested to meet with Goodell, and after meeting with Goodell on Feb. 13, 2008, Specter reported that Goodell told him that Belichick had been engaged in the practice since he became head coach of the Patriots in 2000. “ Mikle Tomlin was fined $100,000 for sticking his foot out during an approximately 10-15 second kickoff return and the videotape of that incident has been carefully preserved and the incident well documented. Bill Belichick and the ownership of the New England Patriots were fined $750,000 and a draft pick for seven years of blatant violations and outright cheating. By the way, the videotape of Mike Tomlin tripping a player during an active play has been placed in a special temperature controlled vault. Why wasn’t the vid-
eotape of the Patriots egregious conduct similarly preserved? One hundred thousand dollars for a ten-second violation compared to a $750,000 penalty for seven years of skullduggery? The historical record of the Patriots’ dastardly deeds will never be corroborated. Why? Because the court that was about to judge them not only allowed the evidence against them to be destroyed, but ordered the proof that would have been used to convict them to be promptly disposed of. There are actions that oftentimes show that power brokers consider many statue-looking Zeus-like fans, mindless. “Athletes took oaths to obey the rules before a statue of Zeus.” In certain circles, the powers-that-be ask us the following questions: Who the hell is Zeus and why is he in my business?
A8 JUNE 29-JULY 5, 2022
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BUSINESS New Pittsburgh Courier
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Record inflation shrinks housing affordability, worsens racial wealth gaps This summer, temperatures are not the only thing rising above normal. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that the nation’s consumer price index (CPI) at the end of May was the largest since December 1981, more than 40 years ago. This key economic measure tracks the change in prices paid by consumers for goods and services for about 93 percent of the total U.S. population. The most recent report released on June 10, showed double-digit CPI increases for fuel, food, utilities, and both new and used vehicles. Even before this data release, many consumers already adjusted their lives to compensate as best they could for $5 dollar per gallon gas prices, keeping family
Charlene Crowell
Plan for the unexpected
Commentary cars longer, and taking fewer family outings to free up funds for still-rising food prices. But how much longer can housing remain affordable when prices for both homes and rents are rising even higher? Homeownership, historically a reliable building block to family wealth, is more of a challenge today for first-time homebuyers. As of 2022’s first quarter, the median price of an existing single- family home grew to $368,200, according to the National Association of Realtors (NAR), 15.7 percent higher than a year ago. Families able to afford a 20 percent down payment on this median-priced home can look forward to a monthly mortgage of approximately $1,383, which is $319 more – 30 percent higher – than a year ago, according to NAR. For Black America, however, a history replete with systemic discrimination in education, employment, lending and housing imposes additional harsh realities that have yet to be effectively addressed. From 2013 to 2019, after adjusting for inflation, the median household income of Black households increased by just $800, compared with about $3,000 for White households and $3,700 for Latinx households, according to research by the National Equity Atlas that analyzed the nation’s 100 largest metro areas. Additionally, during these same years, the number of neighborhoods affordable to Black households dropped by 14 percent. “Shrinking neighborhood affordability and the dearth of affordable neighborhoods that provide the necessary conditions for health, well-being, and economic success in many large metros are reinforcing longstanding patterns of racial segregation and creating new ones,” conSEE INFLATION B2
ESTATE PLANNING by Gina Gallovich For New Pittsburgh Courier
One aspect of financial literacy that many forget is legal in nature. You’ve seen the headlines and read stories about lives cut short unexpectedly, or freak accidents that incapacitate an individual or family member. The inevitable consequences and heartbreak for the families and loved ones left behind includes leaving them unsure of what medical care you want, or what your final wishes are. Those questions can be addressed by you today. With a few simple steps you can plan for the unexpected and ensure that your wishes, wants and desires are carried out and that your assets are protected. Regardless of your assets, whether large or very small, having these documents in place is critical to a smooth transition to ensure that your wishes are met. No matter what your age is, the time to start planning is now. How do you get started? Meet with an attor-
ney preferably with estate planning experience so that you can have the proper documents drawn up. At the minimum, consider a Trust or Will, Power of Attorney, and an Advanced Care Directive (living will). It is advisable to have your
sure that your last wishes are followed. But which is right for you? According to Jehan Crump-Gibson, co-founder and manager partner of Great Lakes Legal Group, “Not one size fits all. An estate planning attorney will work with
Your attorney will work with you to ensure that you have an accurate accounting of all assets; that you have determined who you wish to bequeath money or property to; which, if any, charitable contributions you want to make; and how to best mitigate your estate taxes. affairs organized before the meeting to keep your expenses down. Why these documents and what protection do they provide? Let’s go through them one by one. Trust or Will Trusts and Wills do basically the same thing, secure your assets and en-
you to decide which option will work best, with the ultimate goal of avoiding Probate Court.” Your attorney will work with you to determine the best estate plan option. For instance, if you do not own property but have various financial accounts, insurance and personal property, a Will
may be the right course of action. But if you own property in multiple states or in your name alone or have someone with special needs that you wish to care for, a Trust may be the best option. Your attorney will work with you to ensure that you have an accurate accounting of all assets; that you have determined who you wish to bequeath money or property to; which, if any, charitable contributions you want to make; and how to best mitigate your estate taxes. Should you die without either, then it can lead to a long, drawn-out time in Probate Court which could be both costly and time consuming. “Your best option,” says Crump-Gibson “is to avoid Probate Court at all costs as it can be tedious, costly, and open to the public.” Once your Trust or Will has been signed, witnessed and notarized, plan to meet with your attorney on SEE ESTATE PLANNING B2
Is child support an unfair burden on men? Child support has been a recurring topic on my Facebook private group page. This is a hot topic in both hair salons and barber shops around the world. However, in both settings, the audience is either majority women or majority men. As a result in both settings you’re generally hearing one side of the story. What makes this conversation interesting on my Facebook page is both men and women offer their views and opinions. One of our discussions was based on a TikTok video that went viral. In this video a woman who is divorced and remarried is detailing her experience with the Child Support Enforcement Agency. Her ex-husband is the father of their 4-year old son. He, too, is remarried. He is currently paying $69 per week or $276 dollar per month in child support. Her ex-husband got a new job. The Child Support Enforcement Agency initiated a court proceeding to have the child support payments modified. According to her, the agency felt she deserved an increase in payment. She disagreed. She said that $276 is enough to help provide for their 4-year-old child. She said she can pay her own bills and that she understands this man has a family, other children and his own bills to pay. She then goes on a tirade about women abusing the child support system for their own selfish gain. She said she hears women saying things like, “that little child support doesn’t pay half my bills.” She said child support isn’t supposed to pay your bills. It’s supposed to help take care of the child. Below are a few comments from people in our Facebook group: PREACH WOMAN PREACH!!!! ~Torry This is amazing! I wish more women thought this way!! ~Anna Child support was put in place for deadbeat dads. That money doesn’t cover much.
I know this firsthand. However, some men are being taken advantage of. Men need to step up to reform laws that were put in place years ago. I understand both sides of the child support plight. ~Juanita From my studies of child support and its origination, child support in America was designed for children which were abandoned and separated from their families in the 1950s welfare system; as well as, families in poverty due to separation from divorce. Most American women/wives in the 1950s & 1960s were homemakers who depended on their men/husbands to financially provide for them and their children. When I was expecting my first child, I told my child’s father, “I am not looking to take your money and place you on child support! Just ‘Man-Up’ and help raise our child. Provide for his needs when needed.” I never sought modification for an increase in child support payments. He didn’t own up to his end of the bargain. He missed out on opportunities to cultivate the seed that he planted. His loss! ~Leslie She’s 100 percent accurate with her statement. I recently went to court to get off of child support. I never should have been on it. You’d think I was holding my child’s mom hostage based on their line of questioning. Are you sure you are OK with this? Are you speaking on your own free will? We had three separate appearances in court over a six-month period. To this day, they still threaten me and tell her that she needs to reconsider. Child support for the Black male is not designed for support. It is designed to
I don’t know what planet she lives on where $69 per week helps to support a child. Recreational expenses aside, the monthly cost of raising a child demands more than $69 per week. I can’t stand women like her because they wanna make it seem like the status quo of women asking for child support are those who want somebody to pay their bills and that’s bull. Pay your fair share! What’s hard about that? It doesn’t make anyone any less of a woman or mom for seeking fair and justifiable child support. ~ Olivia
on. Generally speaking, single parents struggle financially; single mothers in particular. What’s interesting to me is I observed many men willing to take on car payments of $600 per month or more but frown upon paying $500 per month in child support. It’s not child support in and of itself that men frown upon, it’s the lack of control he has with the money taken from him. You can be paying child support and you still have to fight for visitation rights. Secondly, you have zero control over how money is spent. Mom could be a spendthrift, a user, a woman who gives her money to her deadbeat boyfriend. It doesn’t matter. You still have to pay child support until the courts says otherwise. Uncle Sam didn’t impregnate the child’s mother. If the mother is receiving some type of government assistance, the child’s mom is required to provide the father’s information so that they can rightfully put ownership and responsibility on the child’s father as opposed to the government. When child support is calculated, it takes both parents’ income, other dependents, and various expenses into the equation in an effort to make it an equitable payment amount. It doesn’t take various loans into consideration because child’s care should be a higher priority than loan payments. If mom is gainfully employed with no government assistance, it’s her choice to decide whether to file for child support or not. If both mom and dad are gainfully employed with benefits and the father is a stand up guy, I think it’s best to work out child care, child support, and visitation arrangements outside of the court system. If dad is a deadbeat, an uninvolved father, or if mom is receiving government assistance...child support it is.
Damon here: Men in general hate paying child support. It’s a touchy topic. Let me start with something we can all agree
(Damon Carr, Money Coach can be reached @ 412-216-1013 or visit his website @ www.damonmoneycoach.com)
check and destroy. A man working multiple jobs in order to pay child support and other bills reduces the time a man has to spend with the child. If you miss child support payments, you’re subject to incarceration and/or license suspension. You can’t earn money while in jail. It’s hard to get to work without a driver’s license. A man in jail risks losing his job. ~Will My children’s mom’s current boyfriend is in prison doing 8 years because he put himself on child support and was giving her $793 a month for one child. His child’s mom felt that $793 wasn’t enough to take care of her four children. Keep in mind that he’s the biological father of only one of her four children. Being the vindictive person that she is, she had her oldest daughter lie and say he sexually assaulted her when she was 12 years old. This is all a made up lie because $793 a month for one child wasn’t enough. ~John
BUSINESS
B2 JUNE 29-JULY 5, 2022
NEW PITTSBURGH COURIER
Moving from surviving to thriving by spending less to save more by Amber Tucker For New Pittsburgh Courier
In our last installment of Financially LIT, we discussed navigating the troubled waters of debt. This month, we want to talk about preparing for the future—saving money. Saving doesn’t mean starving (although it may mean reducing how often you splurge). We’re going to discuss a few best practices to help you save for the future of your dreams. Where should you save? Many banks offer higher interests if you put your money in a savings account as opposed to a regular checking account. Similarly, Certifi-
cates of Deposit, where you give your funds to a bank for a promised amount of time, are also a good option to actually make money by doing nothing other than saving it, with the bank typically giving you a higher interest rate for these funds over time. However, they do require that you keep the funds locked up for a specific period of time, which varies across banks. Mindset towards saving Prioritizing our spending is important, but it’s almost just as important to prioritize how we save. Whether it’s a for a new concert tickets or a down payment on your first home, you are never too
young to start saving money. The important thing is to review your budget first and factor your savings plan into your budget. First Independence Bank has a Savings Calculator to limit the guess work at https://www.firstindependence.com/resources/ calculators/. A good rule of thumb is to start with something manageable. Try taking the money you would’ve spent going out to lunch one day a week and put it in a savings account. Over time, add a little more. The goal is to get to the point where you can set aside 20 percent of your income without having to touch it. This is generally just enough
to build up a sizeable amount of untouched funds over time, while still covering everyday expenses. Like most things in life, devising your savings plan is a constant battle between what you want now, and what you want most. Age and current income will likely dictate what that looks like for each of us. For example, age 16, saving for a car might be thing to put above everything else if you’re about to get your driver’s license. At 25, with a stable job, it might be time to consider how much skipping a vacation this year could potentially speed up your timeline towards making a down payment on your dream home.
Other things you may want to consider saving for include: • Retirement: 401Ks and IRAs offer opportunities to put pre-tax dollars aside for retirement, but they also can come with penalties for withdrawing your money before you are of age for retirement. • Sending your children (or yourself) to college- 529 savings plans offer tax benefits for those looking to save specifically for college, although early withdrawal penalties can apply. • Rainy day funds • Loss of income or employment A theme in a couple of these is saving for the unexpected. We’ve seen the rash of nat-
ural disasters all over the country wipe out homes and sources of income more than ever in recent years. Even our own government is currently shut down, potentially delaying tax refunds that thousands of Americans rely on each year. These real-world occurrences are just a couple of the demonstrations of how we never really know what could happen next that might affect our income, so it’s important to start saving now. Remember, every dollar counts when saving money— start small and work your way up. Your future you will thank you.
ESTATE PLANNING—PLAN FOR THE UNEXPECTED ESTATE PLANNING FROM B1
a yearly basis. “Following up with your attorney is important as nothing ever remains stagnant,” said Crump-Gibson. “You may buy or sell real estate, open new accounts, have additions to the family, all of which should be included in you plans.” Power of Attorney Simply put, a Power of Attorney is a legal document where you, the principal, give someone the power to act on your behalf, generally for financial decisions. A General
Power of Attorney is broad in nature and generally gives your designated individual the power to make all financial decisions while you are alive and have the capacity to make decisions and give advice. A General Power of Attorney ends when the principal dies. A Limited Power of Attorney is less broad in nature and the rules of engagement are spelled out. You could use a Limited Power of Attorney to allow someone to represent you in a real estate transaction, to pick up you
mail, or to buy and sell stocks, for instance. As the principal you can specify a time limit for this document. Advanced Care Directives As with Powers of Attorney, there are numerous versions of Advanced Care Directives. The oldest one is a Living Will. It is a legal document that allows you to specifically state your wishes as to your health care at the end of your life. Often, people opt for the administration of “palliative” care (be made comfortable) while avoiding “extraordinary” measures such as CPR
or ventilators. A Durable Power of Attorney for Health Care, unlike many Living Wills, does not require that your condition be terminal in order to be enforced. Also, you will designate an individual to make health care decisions on your behalf. It is very important to have very honest and upfront discussions on your wishes with the person you designate as your agent. Be Organized Let you executor or another trusted person know where all your documents are. Con-
sider renting a safe deposit box so that they will all be in one place or leave them in the hands of your attorney. So many of us do all our business electronically with different accounts and their accompanying passwords, whether it’s banking, investments, loans, etc. It’s important to keep securely a listing of all accounts with the names of the institutions and updated passwords. Should anything happen to you, this will help your executor better handle your estate. The time and effort you take
now will save you and your loved one’s heartache down the road, and, hopefully it will be a very long road from now. Nevertheless, you can demonstrate your literacy by ensuring that your loved ones have your directives in advance to prevent the public display of your affairs whether you have acquired a fortune, or your financial matter appear to be extremely small. Your privacy should always be a large matter. (First Independence Bank, Member FDIC, Equal Housing Lender)
Record inflation shrinks housing affordability INFLATION FROM B1
cludes this report. Other new research from Freddie Mac sought to identify the causes of soaring home prices and where affordable homes might still be found. What drove home price growth and can it continue? Freddie Mac’s new report found four factors driving escalating home costs: 1. Record low mortgage rates in 2020 and 2021 generated a race to beat future rate increases; 2. Home inventories were limited due to underbuilding on one hand, and below average distressed sales on the other; 3. The number of first-time homebuyers grew due to in part due to favorable age demographics; and 4. Many consumers left high-cost cities for cheaper ones that already had a housing shortage. Where affordable homes can be found brings to mind an old adage in real estate, ‘location, location, location’. Where affordable homes can be found brings to mind
an old adage in real estate, ‘location, location, location’. “As of February of 2022, migration out of the largest 25 cities remains three times higher than the rate pre-pandemic,” states the Freddie Mac report. “The most significant increase in migration has been to midsized metro areas with popu-
lations between 500,000 to 1 million, followed by smaller midsized metros and smaller metro areas.” The irony is that today, many consumers are paying more for fair market rent (FMR) than many monthly mortgages that lead to home equity and wealth. The down payment – rath-
er than the monthly mortgage note – is the primary barrier to homeownership for many renters. With a rising cost of living, few – if any – dollars remain at the end of a month for many families. And even if a family has managed to save a few hundred dollars or more, home down payments on the
private market are tens of thousands of dollars. Some home lenders may offer adjustable-rate mortgages (ARMs) as an alternative. to cash-strapped buyers. But the key word in these loans is ‘adjustable’. When loan interest resets occur, borrowers should plan for higher interest rates. It would also
be prudent to remember that the foreclosure crisis of the early 2000s was fueled by high-cost mortgage loans that left millions of Black and Latino homeowners either without a home, or remaining in one with a loan balance larger than its market value If this nation really wants to address its affordable housing crisis, then it is time to give Black America a level playing field with access to affordable and sustainable mortgages. It is equally important to diversify new construction housing Currently, the vast majority of new construction housing ---whether for rent or for purchase-- are for higher-income consumers, leaving moderate and low-income families with severely shrinking housing options. . Every family of every income needs a home. Effective housing reforms would offer both access and affordability – not an either-or. (Charlene Crowell is a senior fellow with the Center for Responsible Lending. She can be reached at Charlene.crowell@responsiblelending.org.)
OPINION
NEW PITTSBURGH COURIER
JUNE 29-JULY 5, 2022
B3
It was just a ‘dust up’
Guest Editorial The last line of defense against anti-abortion legislation in Pennsylvania On Friday, the U.S. Supreme Court effectively struck down Roe v. Wade and eliminated federal protections for abortion care. Thirteen states across the country have “trigger laws” in place, that is, laws that will severely limit or prohibit access to abortion care that are set to take effect within 30 days of the Supreme Court decision. Pennsylvania is not among them, so pregnant Pennsylvanians still have access to abortion care. For now. We need to vote in the gubernatorial election in November if we want to protect access to abortion care in Pennsylvania for at least a few more years. Republicans have controlled the state Senate since 1994, and the state House of Representatives since 2011. In the last few years, various Republican members of the state Legislature have been making a concerted effort to limit or prohibit access to abortion care in the commonwealth. They have proposed bills that would strip funding from clinics that provide abortion care. They have proposed bills that would prohibit physicians from performing abortions if they detect a fetal heartbeat (such a heartbeat is often detectable before a person even knows they’re pregnant) or if the pregnant person dislikes the gender of the fetus or the fetus has received a Down syndrome diagnosis (which starts a slippery slope of proof of reasoning). And most recently, they have proposed an amendment to the state constitution that would say “there is no right to an abortion or abortion funding” guaranteed in the state constitution. They have continued to push these bills even though polls show that 61 percent of Americans—including 85 percent of Pennsylvanians —say abortion should be legal in all or most cases. The governor has been the last line of defense against Republicans’ antiabortion legislation. Gov. Tom Wolf has vetoed every bill the Legislature approved that even hinted at limiting access to abortion care in the commonwealth, and he has committed to continuing to veto such legislation for as long as he’s in office. But his term ends this year. In November, Pennsylvanians will elect a new governor. Democratic candidate Josh Shapiro has promised to pick up where Wolf leaves off and “protect the reproductive freedoms of every Pennsylvanian.” He has committed to vetoing any legislation that would limit access to abortion care in the commonwealth. Republican candidate Doug Mastriano, on the other hand, has promised to ban all abortions in Pennsylvania, without exceptions for rape, incest or preserving the life of the pregnant person. So there’s only one choice if we want to keep abortion care legal and accessible. (Reprinted from the Philadelphia Tribune)
Rod Doss Editor & Publisher Stephan A. Broadus Assistant to the Publisher Allison Palm
Rob Taylor Jr.
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John. H. Sengstacke
Dr. E. Faye Williams, Esq.
Commentary folks. Find an enemy/target, demonize them/it, make an unfavorable characterization about/against one’s adversary, and use that characterization to justify one’s own immoral or illegal conduct or beliefs. This is the same myopic justification of oppressive and discriminatory conduct that has plagued this nation from its beginning. Del Rio and those whose tactics mirror those described are not stupid, but they suffer from the ignorance inspired by an unwillingness to honestly assess facts, and an inflated sense of self-worth and arrogance. Sadly, this belief system flourishes and the coup d’état that it inspires remains an ongoing threat. This has been dramatically illustrated in the public hearings of the House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States. There is no debate about the fact that Trump, Giuliani, Eastman, Guilfoyle, Brooks, Hawley, and the remaining participants in the menagerie of January 6th speakers incited the mob to riot and violence. For those willing to open their eyes and minds, there is no debate that the incited mob assaulted and invaded
the seat of our national government for the purpose of interfering with the orderly transition from one political administration to another. In the process of their invasion, they desecrated the Capitol with the destruction of historic artifacts, the looting of public and private documents, the smearing of human defecation, and the terrorism of elected officials of both parties. (This was more than a dust-up!) We cannot deny or ignore the insidious and growing crusade to revise procedures to count and certify votes for the purpose of invalidating elections. We should expect this because the “deconstruction of the administrative state” was a central pledge of the Trump campaign. I recognized the danger of this pledge when I saw a female Trump supporter state, “If we have to have a dictator, I would prefer it be Trump.” The incitement, violence, and rejection of traditional norms have been documented and, through multiple outlets, are available for analysis. The more important question is the motivation for this radical turn to fascism by this small, but focused, minority. I find the answer simple. It is the white fear of sharing and the equitable distribution of national resources. Like Trump, it is the fear of losing power. (Dr. E. Faye Williams, Esq. is a minister, a UN Peace Ambassador, President of the Dick Gregory Society.)
After Juneteenth—reparations now (TriceEdneyWire.com) — Juneteenth, or June 19, 2022, was marked with fireworks and concerts, parades, and proclamations, a big difference from Juneteenth a year ago when President Biden signed the executive order making Juneteenth a federal holiday just two days before its actual occurrence. Last year’s hastily implemented plans were replaced by well-orchestrated programs this year. Last year’s celebration merited brief chats; this year, there was a nationally televised concert. This year, the media has gone to great lengths to explain Juneteenth, perhaps doubling their coverage from a year ago. Corporations and other organizations are observing or commemorating Juneteenth. I was surprised, for example, by receiving notices of Juneteenth observations from not one but two of the financial services organizations I deal with. A white man at the airport wished me a “Happy Juneteenth,” and while I somewhat appreciated his greeting, it didn’t make me happy, mainly because I don’t think the word “Happy” should be applied to Juneteenth. Big Dot of Happiness, a company out of Wisconsin, has produced cringe-worthy”Happy Juneteenth” greeting cards. An online search will yield all kinds of products, many presumably not owned by Black people, commercializing Juneteenth with t-shirts, stickers, stationery, and more. Commercialization is the way of predatory capitalism, so I’m not surprised at those who hope to extract surplus profits from the people who want to observe the day when formerly enslaved people were reminded that their enslavement was over. Many who heard the announcement in Galveston back in 1865 were elated, some were angry at being exploited, and some understood
Julianne Malveaux
Commentary that the quality of their lives was not to change immediately or soon. Jim Crow laws, peonage and the sharecropping system, and economic lynching emerged immediately after the passage of the 13th Amendment. The holiday observation of Juneteenth is a vital way to inject the issue of enslavement into the popular lexicon, if only once a year. But the holiday transcends symbolism only if coupled with decisive action to combat contemporary economic exploitation and virulent racism. President Biden set the right tone when he issued a proclamation a few days before Juneteenth. He described the day as “a chance to celebrate human freedom, reflect on the grievous and ongoing legacy of slavery, and rededicate ourselves to rooting out the systemic racism that continues to plague our society as we strive to deliver the full promise of America to every American. This Juneteenth, we are freshly reminded that the poisonous ideology of racism has not yet been defeated — it only hides.” Now that the fireworks have faded, the barbeque has been digested, and the red soda water has been consumed, President Biden might do more to attack the hidden, and not so hidden, ideology of racism. Has his administration sufficiently tackled pay disparities in federal employment? On Equal Pay Day 2022, the Biden-Harris Administration issued a forceful pay equity statement. Yet, gaps remain, and many are the result of the
hidden racism that Biden referred to in his Juneteenth statement. African Americans are more likely than others to work for the federal government and experience smaller pay gaps with the federal government than in the private sector. At the same time, pay gaps remain, and Black employees are more likely to be clerical workers in the federal government than employed in the Senior Executive Service (SES). Connecting the Juneteenth proclamation to a strong statement about economic equity in federal government employment would have been impactful. There are still opportunities for this focus, perhaps incorporating a statement about workers’ rights with a strong message about Black federal workers. HR 40, the legislation to study reparations and offer remedies for economic discrimination against Black people, has enough votes to pass the House of Representatives. Still, it cannot pass the Senate, given its current composition. President Biden has been urged to, through an executive order, establish an HR 40 Commission to examine the reparations issue thoroughly. He could do this with the simple stroke of a pen, putting action behind the strong words he issued on Juneteenth. By embracing reparations to remedy historic racial economic exploitation, President puts teeth behind his lofty sentiments about hidden racism. The federal observation of Juneteenth is an important step forward in our nation’s recognition of enslavement and its foundational contribution to the wealth of this country. Reparations are the necessary next step. We must move from recognition to remedy.
(Dr. Julianne Malveaux is an economist, author, and Dean of the College of Ethnic Studies at Cal State LA. Juliannemalveaux. com)
How are we moving through all of this loss? by Dr. Christina Greer
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( T r i c e E d n e y W i r e . c o m ) — Ja c k Del Rio is not necessarily a stupid man. He was a three-sport athlete who received an athletic scholarship to USC. He had a successful collegiate career and was drafted into the NFL by the New Orleans Saints. In addition to the Saints, during his non-stellar playing career, he played for the Kansas City Chiefs, Dallas Cowboys, Minnesota Vikings, and the Miami Dolphins. While playing for Kansas City, in 1990, he even earned his undergraduate degree in political science from the University of Kansas. He began an NFL coaching career in 1997 which he continues in its latest iteration as defensive coordinator for the Washington Commanders. With all of his professional achievements, Del Rio has gained his greatest notoriety for comparing “riots” associated with the George Floyd murder as more egregious than the insurrection on January 6, 2021, simply describing the insurrection as a “dust-up.” I find it difficult to comprehend how anyone could rationalize the attempted coup d’état of the US Government as being less significant than any civil disorder. That intemperate remark cost him $100,000 in team fines and widespread condemnation in the metro DC area. Del Rio’s remarks are indicative of a mind-set that is becoming more pervasive throughout the nation— a circling of the wagons to protect and defend the interests of White
If you watch the news, you are well aware that it feels like each week seems to bring a new set of horrors and stressors. If it’s not White supremacists targeting Black communities or a school full of young people or doctors at a hospital, we must digest stories of police officers shooting Black and Latino civilians first and asking questions later. And as the summer months approach, we have more neighborhood killings of young Black people who are sometimes in the wrong place at the wrong time and caught in neighborhood squabbles or all out wars. With all this violence surrounding us, in addition to the perpetual losses due to COVID, my question is, “How are we to process and move through this supreme amount of loss that surrounds us?” Many years ago, I lost my maternal aunt, grandmother, and grandfather in the span of two weeks. The
feeling of loss was all encompassing. The feeling of grief was so large it was as if I could not feel any grief at all. I hate to say I am nearing that point. It seems like each day there is a new story about a community who has lost someone due to senseless violence, which has become such a common occurrence, many of those stories barely make the news and if they do, they don’t remain in our collective imagination for more than a few days. So, what are we to do with all that we are presently enduring? I wish I had an answer. I do know that I am trying to find and hold on to all the joy and beauty that surrounds me on a daily basis, that helps me stay present and not get too overwhelmed with the constant thought of grieving families and communities. So many people are living through the unimaginable and besides donating to particular causes, I wish I could do more. A mentor once told me that all of
life is a series of losses. We have lost friends over time. We’ve lost objects we’ve loved. We lose so many things on any given day, life is indeed an exercise of triumphing over loss. This is a unique concept I am still struggling to fully embrace. However, if I see life as a vessel of loss, it helps me pay attention to all the things and all of the people around me so I can appreciate them even more. I am still working through this concept and will likely need more time to fully articulate the ever present and all-encompassing concept of loss. Until then, I will continue to do my part to support communities struggling to find a sense of normalcy after their tragic and unexpected losses. One day and one action at a time.
(Christina Greer, Ph.D., is an associate professor at Fordham University, the author of “Black Ethnics: Race, Immigration, and the Pursuit of the American Dream,” and the cohost of the podcast FAQ-NYC.)
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Trump’s lies destroyed lives (TriceEdneyWire.com)—“Do you know how it feels to have the president of the United States target you?” Those are the words of Ruby Freeman, a Black woman and election worker in Georgia during the 2020 election. She and her daughter Wandrea “Shaye” Moss were falsely accused by Rudy Giuliani of rigging the election against Donald Trump. Their lives were virtually destroyed by the Trump team’s lies. Thanks to the public hearings being held by the House committee investigating Trump’s effort to overturn the election, Americans got to hear about the racist threats that rained down on the two women after they were falsely accused. Trump supporters drove Freeman out of her home in fear for her life—and invaded the home of Moss’s grandmother. They testified that they still avoid even going to the grocery store for fear of being harassed by Trump supporters. These are just some of the harms done by Donald Trump’s endless lying about the election he lost. In the case of Freeman and Moss, two people performing an essential public service had their privacy shredded and their lives turned upside down. Other election workers were singled out, lied about, and harassed. The hearing reminded us of the alarm sounded by Gabriel Sterling, an election official in Georgia, against Trump supporters’ “Stop the Steal” frenzy. A young computer technician was getting death threats based on false claims circulating among Trump’s supporters. “Someone’s going to get hurt, someone’s going to get shot, someone’s going to get killed,” he warned. “It has to stop,” Sterling demanded. But it did not stop. Trump has never stopped lying about losing the election.
Ben Jealous
Commentary Others who testified about the consequences of Trump’s lies were high-ranking Republican officeholders. By now, most of us knew about the phone call Trump made to demand that Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger “find” the number of votes needed to throw the election to Trump. At the public hearing, we learned more about the threats and harassment experienced by Raffensperger and his family when he refused to break the law on Trump’s behalf. Some Trump supporters broke into his widowed daughter-in-law’s house. Rusty Bowers, Speaker of the Arizona House, testified that Trump and Trump’s attorneys urged him to abuse the power of his office to overthrow the election, while failing to provide him with any evidence of widespread voter fraud. Giuliani appealed to the fact that they were both Republicans. But Bowers refused to violate his oath to the Constitution. In return for his courage and integrity, Bowers and his neighbors were harassed outside his home by Trump supporters, including at least one carrying a gun, while Bowers’ dying daughter was inside. During his powerful testimony, Bowers cited his faith and read a passage from his personal journal in which he had written, “I do not want to be a winner by cheating.” Trump, of course, was desperate to be a “winner” and was trying to bully election officials into cheating on his behalf. The Jan. 6 committee’s public hearings are proving to be an invaluable public service. Getting the truth is the first step in holding people responsible for the attack on our country—including Trump— accountable. Trump was repeatedly told that his claims were false. But he kept lying and inflaming his supporters to anger and violence without any regard for the country or the people he was hurting. There’s another benefit to the hearings. In our partisan and polarized times, I believe it has been a gift to the country to highlight the testimony of so many Republicans. These were people who voted for and worked for Trump, but whose commitment to the country and Constitution were more important to them than their desire to keep Trump in power. Their example is a reminder to all of us that we can and must find ways to work with our political opponents for the good of the country. I may have very different views on most political issues than Rep. Liz Cheney, the vice chair of the Jan. 6 committee, but I admire her willingness to withstand the intense pressure being brought against her by less courageous and less principled Republican leaders. In our deeply polarized country, when common ground seems increasingly difficult to find, a commitment to the peaceful transfer of power to the president elected by the voters is a good place to start.
(Ben Jealous serves as president of People For the American Way and Professor of the Practice at the University of Pennsylvania.)
When global truths collide On Juneteenth, the news outlet Democracy Now! produced a holiday special. Their audience was treated to a replay of the keynote address delivered to the United Nations on the International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade in March. The keynote speaker was no other than Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones. Hannah-Jones was born in 1976. Her father is African American and her mother is White of Czech and English descent. Hannah-Jones revealed that her father was born in a shack on a cotton plantation in 1945 and her grandmother only had a 4th-grade education. Jones said her grandmother resisted Mississippi’s racial caste system by relocating north, so her children would not have to pick cotton their entire lives, and that the defining story of Black people in America is not slavery but Black people’s resistance to subjugation. Hannah-Jones insisted that it wasn’t merely enlightenment ideas that brought slavery to an end but constant revolt from the enslaved. She highlighted how the people of the African diaspora resisted slavery at its inception, and, today, the descendants of slaves are resisting the systemic conditions that make them suffer the highest rates of poverty in the societies that once enslaved them. Hannah-Jones concluded, “This is our global truth … There can be no atonement if there’s no repair. It is time – it is long past time – for reparations for the transatlantic slave trade and all the devastation that it has wrought, and all the devastation that it continues to reap.”
J. Pharoah Doss
Check It Out Well-meaning people are sympathetic to Hannah-Jones’s historical analysis and the plight of her father’s ancestors. However, there is a global truth from her mother’s Czech background that is never contemplated when reparations for slavery are discussed. Fifteen years after Hanna-Jones’s father was born, Senator John F. Kennedy explained the global crisis of the 20th century during the presidential debate. Kennedy told the nation: In the election of 1860, Abraham Lincoln said the question was whether this nation could exist half slave or half free. In the election of 1960, the question is whether the world will exist half slave or half free. Will the world move in the direction of freedom, the road we are taking, or will the world move in the direction of slavery? Kennedy used the term slavery in reference to the totalitarian communist regimes that took over countries after World War II and deprived their citizens of liberty and economic prosperity. In 1948 the Soviet-backed communist party seized power and took control of Czechoslovakia. Thousands fled the country to avoid living under totalitarianism, many escaped to the United States. During the same time period, Soviet-back communists took over Albania, Bulgar-
ia, East Germany, Romania, Poland, and Hungry. Andrew Grove (1936 -2016), the Hungarian-born co-founder of Intel Corporation, wrote in Swimming Across: A Memoir, “By the time I was twenty, I had lived through a Hungarian Fascist dictatorship, German military occupation, the Nazis’ ‘Final Solution, and the siege of Budapest by the Soviet Red Army … Many young people were killed; countless others were interned. Some two hundred thousand Hungarians escaped to the West. I was one of them.” Outside of Europe, totalitarian communist regimes followed China’s lead and violently emerged in North Korea, Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos. Cheuang Kavan, a refugee from Laos, explained that under communism the people were forced to work in collective farms. But the crops went to Russia and China in exchange for weapons and warplanes, while the majority of the population starved. Many families escaped Laos into Thailand, but the Thai government didn’t allow refugees. We lived in a refugee camp for three years. The Thai government only gave us food three days a week, hoping the malnourishment would make us go back to Laos. In 1984, Laos finally allowed the United States and other countries to offer the refugees new beginnings. The demand for reparations for slavery expects the descendants of those that escaped totalitarian communist regimes to set aside the horror of their past and make amends for atrocities their ancestors didn’t inflict. If that’s social justice, then social justice is unjust.
Did Trump’s actions on Jan. 6 reach the level of treason? (TriceEdneyWire.com)—Will Donald Trump be held accountable for the attack on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021 and what was a multi-layered conspiracy to overturn the results of the presidential election? Attorney General Merrick Garland has stated that, “We’re just going to follow the facts wherever they lead ... to hold all perpetrators who are criminally responsible for January 6 accountable, regardless of their level, [or]their position...” The House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack has systematically revealed the facts, confirming what Republican Rep. Liz Cheney stated when she announced she would vote to impeach Donald Trump: “On January 6, 2021 a violent mob attacked the United States Capitol to obstruct the process of our democracy and stop the counting of presidential electoral votes. This insurrection caused injury, death and destruction in the most sacred space in our Republic...,” Cheney said. “The president of the United States summoned this mob, assembled the mob, and lit the flame of this attack. Everything that followed was his doing. None of this would have happened without the president,” she said. “The President could have immediately and forcefully intervened to stop the violence. He did not. There has never been a greater betrayal by a president of the United States of his office and his oath to the Constitution.” The committee’s investigation has confirmed what Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell stated: “The mob was fed lies. They were provoked by the president and other powerful people, and they tried to use fear and violence to stop a specific proceeding of the first branch of the federal government which they did
Jesse Jackson Sr.
Commentary not like.” This is a question of treason, a charge that should not be made lightly. The Constitution defines the crime: “Treason against the United States shall consist only in levying War against them, or in adhering to their Enemies, giving them Aid and Comfort.” Do Trump’s actions meet the test of treason? Professor Carlton F.W. Larson, author of “On Treason: A Citizen’s Guide to the Law” notes that the framers of the Constitution had “a very specific image in mind—men gathering with guns, forming an army and marching on the seat of government.” Larson notes that few events in American history have matched that description as clearly as the sacking of the Capitol on Jan. 6. Their purpose assaulted the very heart of democracy: trying to stop the congressional proceeding that would formally certify the transfer of power following a democratic election. As Larson noted, “At some point, you have to say, if that’s not levying war against the United States, then what on earth is?” The Justice Department has prosecuted over 800 people who participated in the attack on the Capitol. The most serious charges were directed at leaders of the Proud Boys and the Oath Keepers, gangs
that conspired to breach the Capitol in order to stop the proceedings and possibly kidnap or kill public officials. They were charged, and some have pled guilty to, seditious conspiracy. They thought they were doing the bidding of Trump. Reviewing the evidence in a hearing on whether to honor the subpoenas of the committee, a federal judge found that Trump had “most likely” committed at least two crimes: obstructing an official proceeding and engaging in a conspiracy to defraud the United States. He was not asked to rule on whether Trump had committed treason. Prosecuting a former president is something that no prosecutor would take on lightly. A trial would no doubt be a bitter national trauma. Yet, the very essence of the rule of law is that no person—not a governor or a general, a billionaire or an oligarch, or even a former president—is above the law. Trump’s responsibility for the crimes that occurred is clear. And worse, he not only has expressed no remorse for his actions, he has spread the Big Lie relentlessly, and enlisted partisans across the country to attack election officials, change election laws, and leave the country more vulnerable to another assault on democracy. Accountability under the law serves as a deterrence for those who would seek to violate it in the future. That is why the Justice Department has prosecuted 800-plus perpetrators with more to come. And that is why the attorney general must follow the evidence and bring to justice all those responsible for the attack, including the undeniable instigator: Donald Trump.
Female athletes need pay raises by Devon Davis (Indianapolis Recorder)—According to Forbes, WNBA players make an average of $71,635 a year, while the average NBA salary is $6.4 million. Women have been fighting for equality in many spheres throughout history, longing for rights equal to their male counterparts. Women were once not even permitted to participate in the Olympic Games. When women were finally allowed to participate in sports, many had to go through gender testing to assure they were not men trying to cheat their way around. Organizations, including universities, need to do more to advocate for female athletes, provide them with the support needed to achieve success and highlight their success, just as they do for male athletes. Women athletes are rarely talked about with such reverence as Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, Tom Brady, Tiger Woods, Usain Bolt, Michael Phelps and so many more. Even if you aren’t interested in sports, chances are you’ve heard those names but are less familiar with Billie Jean King, Katie Ledecky, Yolanda Griffith and Diana Taurasi.
WNBA players have called out the pay disparity between their league and the NBA for years. The New York Times reported earlier this year the league raised $75 million as it attempts to revamp its business model and address those concerns. The gender pay gap exists in almost every industry, and sports are no exception. But between particular sports, there are vast discrepancies in pay for men and women, ranging from tennis, where pay is comparable in terms of winnings. Some examples of this widespread wage gap highlight the institutionalized gender discrimination in sports. It is also important to acknowledge the head start men’s sports have gotten in terms of the lucrative leagues in which they participate. Now, we are slowly seeing a change with more professional clubs introducing a women’s team as a counterpart to the commercially successful men’s team. This creates a level playing field where both the teams get the same coverage, same facilities, same media attention, multi-year contracts and sponsorship deals. It is obvious that personal branding and endorsements only come in
when the players play in these lucrative leagues. There still is a very long way to go to achieve gender equality across all sports, but it definitely is the need of the hour. The U.S. soccer team, which lost its legal battle over gender discrimination and reached a settlement agreement this year, have also made leaps of progress in public opinion, and one day, their names will be mentioned in the same breath as Billie Jean King and Venus Williams for their fight outside the field. The staggering pay gap in sports for men and women is a result of the institutionalized gender discrimination that has caused, contributed to and perpetuated gender-based pay disparities against the players in nearly every aspect of their employment. As women and girls across the world continue to fight for equal opportunity in the workplace, the fields, the arenas and the courts have been and will continue to be no exception. #FreeBG (Devon Davis is a public policy specialist at Bose Public Affairs Group. Contact him at ddavis@bosepublicaffairs.com.)
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MANAGER OF RAILCAR PROGRAMS Pittsburgh Regional Transit is seeking a Manager of Railcar Programs to be responsible for all engineering and project delivery functions related to railcar programs. Manages and oversees a team of engineers and consultants to develop and execute maintenance and renewal projects to keep the Light Rail Vehicle fleet in a state of good repair. Ensures railcar programs are within scope, schedule, and budget constraints as well as interfaces with consultants, contractors, and external stakeholder representatives. Essential Functions: • Oversees and manages all staffing, technical and control (such as budgets, schedules, reporting, quality assurance) required to implement and complete railcar programs. Leads all project management functions necessary to implement the design, implementation, and closeout of funded railcar programs within established scope, schedule, budget, and quality metrics. Provides guidance and assistance to Port Authority personnel on project issues and activities pertaining to assigned railcar programs and projects. • Directly responsible for and supervises the daily activities of assigned staff; provides day to day guidance and oversees various project design disciplines, provides oversight to staff managing projects and performing field inspections, reviews field design changes, resolves technical problems and methods regarding codes. Evaluates staff performance, performs necessary administrative tasks and develops staff’s technical and interpersonal skills. • Develops scopes of work for outside consultant firms and provides oversight and management of the firms on assigned projects. Provides cost estimating for projected work activities. Understands various work rules, union trade requirements, and company policies on outside work. Leads development of Requests for Proposals for any railcar procurements Job requirements include: • BS Degree in Mechanical/ Electrical Engineering or a related engineering field, plus a minimum of ten (10) years of progressive experience in the management of railcar or transit projects; or Associates Degree in Mechanical/ Electrical/ Electronic Engineering Technology and a BS Degree in a non-engineering field plus a minimum of twelve (12) years of experience as stated above. • Five (5) years in a management supervisory role. • Professional and effective communication skills. • Valid PA driver’s license. • Demonstrated ability in the use of Windows. Preferred attributes: • Registered Professional Engineer in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. • Demonstrated ability in the use of Microsoft Word, Excel, and Power Point.
We offer a comprehensive compensation and benefits package. Interested candidates should forward a cover letter (with salary requirements) and resume to: Missy Ramsey Employment Department 345 Sixth Avenue, 3rd Floor Pittsburgh, PA 15222-2527 MRamsey@portauthority.org EOE
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ALLIES & ROSS MANAGEMENT AND DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION INVITATION FOR BIDS (IFB) FOR THE MANCHESTER REDEVELOPMENT IFB NO. 2022-38-REBID ALLIES & ROSS MANAGEMENT AND DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION will receive separate sealed bids for the Manchester Redevelopment. The construction work is estimated to begin in December 2022. The estimated values of the project are in the following ranges General Construction: $7,000,129.82 - $10,196,887.87; Electrical Construction: $429,377.33 $625,461.61; Plumbing Construction: $375,427.91 - $546,875.04; Mechanical Construction: $371,713.41 - $541,464.24. Bid Documents will be available on or about Monday, June 27, 2022 and may be obtained from the Housing Authority of the City of Pittsburgh’s webpage, www.hacp.org. Bidders may register on the website and download the bid documents free of charge. A Virtual Pre-Bid Conference will be held on Thursday, July 7, 2022 at 9:00 a.m. virtually at the following link: Join Zoom Meeting https://us06web.zoom.us/j/86997155904?pwd= M29URj dEb0s0UHFzOEJ5eVdlaDY1Zz09 Meeting ID: 869 9715 5904 Passcode: 948159 One tap mobile +19292056099,,93645753832#,,,,*302603# US (New York) +13017158592,,93645753832#,,,,*302603# US (Washington DC)
Estate of MS. DIANE SANDRA MILLER, Deceased, of 639 Prospect Street, Crescent, Pennsylvania 15046, Estate No.: 02-2201479, Mr. Todd Kevin Miller and Ms. Cheryl Lynn Miller, Co-Executors, c/o Max C. Feldman, Esquire and the Law Office of Max C. Feldman, 1322 Fifth Avenue, Coraopolis, PA 15108 Estate of JAMES N. WATSON, Deceased, of Bridgeville, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, No.: 02-22-03719, Sandra Brooks, 289 Maxwell Drive, Pittsburgh, PA 15236 or to PNC Bank, N.A., 300 Fifth Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15222, or to AUBREY H. GLOVER, Atty; BRENLOVE & FULLER, LLC. 401 Washington Avenue, Bridgeville, PA 15017 In the Court of Common Pleas of Allegheny, Orphan’s Court Division, Estate of MARILYN J. S. HERRLICH, deceased, Case No. 3758 of 2022: Notice is hereby given that on June 9, 2022 a Petition was filed by Harry C. Herrlich to terminate the interests of the heirs and devisees of Marilyn J. S. Herrlich in the real estate located at 14 East Woodford Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15210 and determine that fee simple title is vested in Harry C. Herrlich. Estate of HENRY C. FLOOD, JR. No. 02-22-03539 Date of Death: 05/05/2022 PNC Bank, National Association Attn: Sharon L Whitney, VP 300 Fifth Ave, FL 31 Pittsburgh, PA 15222 And/or: Carolyn A. Witworth, Esquire 1500 One PPG Plaza Pittsburgh, PA 15222 NOTICE OF TRUST ADMINITRATION The Trustee named below gives notice of the death of JEAN M. SEILER, Bethel Park, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, who died on March 7, 2022. During her lifetime, the said Decedent established the Jean M. Seiler Revocable Trust under Trust Instrument dated November 5, 2012, as the same had been amended and restated, of which Tammy Ardolino is the Trustee. The Trustee requests all persons having claims against the Decedent to make known the same in writing to her or her attorney, and all persons indebted to the Decedent to make payment to her without delay: Tammy Ardolino, Trustee 2298 Sidgefiled Lane Pittsburgh, PA 15241 or to Aubrey H. Glover, Atty. Brenlove & Fuller, LLC. 401 Washington Avenue Bridgeville, PA 15017 Estate of LORRAINE M. DESPOT, A/K/A BEBE DESPOT, deceased of Homestead Borough, Pennsylvania, No.: 02-22-03475, Denise Hertzler, Executrix, or to Ryan W. Brode, Atty, 6 Clairton Blvd., Pittsburgh, PA 15236 Estate of ROBIN KENYATTA LITTLEPAGE, A/K/A ROBIN LITTLEPAGE, deceased of Pittsburgh,PA, No.: 4066 of 2022, Regina K. Cobbs, Administrator, 2917 Maryland Avenue, North Versailles, PA 15137 or to Jennifer Roller Chontos of Chontos & Chontos, P.C. Attys. 561 Beulah Road, Turtle Creek, PA 15145 Estate of MR. TIMOTHY A. KACSUR, deceased of 149 Orchard Street, McKees Rocks, PA 15136, Estate No. 02-22-03407, Mr. David Kacsur, Administrator, c/o Max C. Feldman, Esquire and the Law Office of Max C. Feldman, 1322 Fifth Avenue, Coraopolis, PA 15108
Bids will be received at: Housing Authority of the City of Pittsburgh (HACP) Procurement Department 100 Ross Street, Suite 200 Pittsburgh, PA 15219 Attn: Kim Detrick, Director of Procurement until 10:00 a.m. Thursday, July 14, 2022 at which time and place all bids will be received. Bids will be received at: Allies & Ross Management and Development Corporation will only be accepting physical proposals dropped off in person from 8:00 AM until the closing of 10:00 AM on July 14, 2022 at the HACP Procurement Department, 100 Ross Street, Suite 200, Pittsburgh PA 15219 Attn: Kim Detrick, Chief Procurement Officer. Due to COVID, the bid opening on July 14, 2022 at 10:00AM will be conducted virtually via Zoom. Zoom link: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/87023382740?pwd=dzVFeStwRD BGalM4QUh5NGxGLzh3UT09. Copies of bid documents are not available for in person pickup. Bid Documents, including the Bid Forms, Project Manual, and Drawings, may be obtained from the Business Opportunities Section of the HACP website, www.hacp.org. Prospective Bidders may register as a vendor on the website and download the documents free of charge. Allies & Ross Management and Development Corporation will only be accepting physical proposals dropped off in person on July 14, 2022 from 8:00 AM until the closing of 10:00 AM on July 14, 2022. Bids may still be submitted electronically at the following link: https://www.dropbox.com/ sh/mtzg6tyrijtr6g7/AAD750oIeKTQ5JLdEjrY30jHa?dl=0 and can still be mailed via USPS at which time they will be Time and Date Stamped at 100 Ross Street 2nd Floor, Suite 200, Pittsburgh, PA 15219. ALLIES & ROSS MANAGEMENT AND DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION reserves the right to waive any informality in, or reject any and all bids. No bid shall be withdrawn for a period of sixty (60) days subsequent to the opening of bids without the consent of ALLIES & ROSS MANAGEMENT AND DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION. The Contractor will be required to comply with all applicable Equal Employment Opportunity requirements for Federally Assisted Construction Contracts. The Contractor must ensure that employees and applicants for employment are not discriminated against because of race, color, religion, sexual preference, handicap or national origin. The Housing Authority of the City of Pittsburgh has revised its website. As part of those revisions, vendors must now register and log-in, in order to view and download IFB/RFP documentation. ALLIES & ROSS MANAGEMENT AND DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION AND THE HOUSING AUTHORITY OF THE CITY OF PITTSBURGH STRONGLY ENCOURAGES CERTIFIED MINORITY-OWNED BUSINESS ENTERPRISES AND WOMAN-OWNED BUSINESS ENTERPRISES TO RESPOND TO THE SOLICITATION. Additional information may be obtained by contacting Kim Detrick, Director of Procurement at (412) 456-5116 Opt 1. Caster D. Binion, President & CEO ALLIES & ROSS MANAGEMENT AND DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION
Allies & Ross Management and Development Corporation conducts business in accordance with all federal, state, and local civil rights laws, including but not limited to Title VII, the Fair Housing Act, Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, the Americans with Disabilities Act, The PA Human Relations Act, etc. and does not discriminate against any individuals protected by these statutes.
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JUNE 29-JULY 5, 2022 NEW PITTSBURGH COURIER
LEGAL ADVERTISING
LEGAL ADVERTISING
Bids/Proposals
Bids/Proposals
HOUSING AUTHORITY OF THE CITY OF PITTSBURGH REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL (RFP) FOR PROFESSIONAL SERVICE TO EXPORT CAMERA FOOTAGE RFP#350-12-22 REBID The Housing Authority of the City of Pittsburgh (HACP) hereby request proposals from qualified Firms or Individuals capable of providing the following service(s):
HOUSING AUTHORITY OF THE CITY OF PITTSBURGH REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL (RFP) FOR PRE REAC INSPECTIONS RFP#300-08-22 Pre REAC Inspections The Housing Authority of the City of Pittsburgh (HACP) hereby request proposals from qualified Firms or Individuals capable of providing the following service(s): The documents will be available no later than June 27, 2022 and signed, sealed proposals will be accepted until: 10:00 A.M. on July 19, 2022. The Housing Authority of the City of Pittsburgh will only be accepting physical proposals dropped off in person from 8:00 AM until the closing time of 10:00 AM on July 19, 2022 in the lobby of 100 Ross St. Pittsburgh, PA 15219. Proposals may be uploaded to the Authority’s online submission site, the link is accessible via the HACP website and within the RFP. Sealed proposals may still be mailed via USPS at which time they will be Time and Date Stamped at 100 Ross Street 2nd Floor, Suite 200, Pittsburgh, PA 15219. Parties or individuals interested in responding may download a copy of the Solicitation from the Business Opportunities page of www.HACP.org.
Professional Service to Export Camera Footage The documents will be available no later than June 27, 2022 and signed, sealed proposals will be accepted until: 9:00 AM on July 19, 2022. The Housing Authority of the City of Pittsburgh will only be accepting physical proposals dropped off in person from 8:00 AM until the closing time of 9:00 AM on July 19, 2022 in the lobby of 100 Ross St. Pittsburgh, PA 15219. Proposals may be uploaded to the Authority’s online submission site, the link is accessible via the HACP website and within the RFP. Sealed proposals may still be mailed via USPS at which time they will be Time and Date Stamped at 100 Ross Street 2nd Floor, Suite 200, Pittsburgh, PA 15219. Parties or individuals interested in responding may download a copy of the Solicitation from the Business Opportunities page of www.HACP.org. Questions or inquiries should be directed to: Mr. Kim Detrick Housing Authority of the City of Pittsburgh Procurement Department 100 Ross Street 2nd Floor, Suite 200 Pittsburgh, PA 15219 412-643-2832 A pre-submission meeting will be held via Zoom meeting; on July 7, 2022 at 10:00 AM. Please see meeting information below: Join Zoom Meeting https://us06web.zoom.us/ j/83135631313?pwd=N EduOHlOWWlJbXNKQ29mY2d PWWpDUT09 Meeting ID: 831 3563 1313 Passcode: 207396 +1 301 715 8592 US (Washington D.C) The Housing Authority of the City of Pittsburgh strongly encourages certified minority business enterprises and women business enterprises to respond to this solicitation. HACP has revised their website. As part of those revisions, vendors must now register and log-in, in order to view and download IFB/ RFPs documentation. Caster D. Binion, Executive Director Housing Authority of the City of Pittsburgh HACP conducts business in accordance with all federal, state, and local civil rights laws, including but not limited to Title VII, the Fair Housing Act, Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, the Americans with Disabilities Act, The PA Human Relations Act, etc. and does not discriminate against any individuals protected by these statutes.
PUBLIC NOTICE REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS COMMERCIAL, REMOTE ACCESS GATES/CONTROLLERS T h e M i d M o n Va l l e y Tr a n s i t Authority (MMVTA), 1300 McKean Ave., Charleroi, PA,15022, 724-489-0880, aerield@mmvta.com, nbasile@mmvta.com will be accepting proposals up until 12:00 PM on Wed., July 27, 2022, for the purchase & install of commercial, remote access gates/controllers. Proposal information is available to be picked up, mailed, faxed or e-mailed during normal business hours (Mon.- Fri., 8:30 AM to 4:30 PM). Proposers will be required to comply with all regulations applicable to a federal and statefunded procurement. The MMVTA will a ff o r d S m a l l B u s i n e s s e s a n d Disadvantaged Business Enterprises full opportunity to respond and will not discriminate on the basis of race, color, sex, or national origin.
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Questions or inquires should be directed to: Mr. Kim Detrick Housing Authority of the City of Pittsburgh Procurement Department 100 Ross Street 2nd Floor, Suite 200 Pittsburgh, PA 15219 412-643-2832 A pre-submission meeting will be held via Zoom meeting; on July 7, 2022 at 11:00 A.M. Please see meeting information below: Join Zoom Meeting https://us06web.zoom.us/ j/89118827987?pwd=WnBxdmx SRUNudjFpa0hiOFUzclpsdz09 Meeting ID: 891 1882 7987 Passcode: 955046 +1 301 715 8592 US (Washington D.C) The Housing Authority of the City of Pittsburgh strongly encourages certified minority business enterprises and women business enterprises to respond to this solicitation. HACP has revised their website. As part of those revisions, vendors must now register and log-in, in order to view and download IFB/ RFPs documentation. Caster D. Binion, Executive Director Housing Authority of the City of Pittsburgh HACP conducts business in accordance with all federal, state, and local civil rights laws, including but not limited to Title VII, the Fair Housing Act, Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, the Americans with Disabilities Act, The PA Human Relations Act, etc. and does not discriminate against any individuals protected by these statutes.
SONNY BOY
Want to help improve collaboration between African-centered organizations in Pittsburgh? Take the survey A new initiative is being launched to identify the ways in which African-centered organizations are practicing collectivism and to find ways to enhance the practices of shared wealth and shared assets in the City of Pittsburgh. This endeavor, entitled, “The African-centered Cooperative Research Project,” is spearheaded by Ujamaa Collective, Cocoapreneur Pgh LLC, and Sankofa Research Institute. Ujamaa Collective serves as the project leader. Although individuals of African descent may have some history of being cooperative, based on their African roots, in some ways the community has moved away from the concept of cooperation. There is a need to encourage individuals and organizations to work together and overcome the barriers to cooperation that may be exasperated by separation of African-centered individuals, organizations and businesses based on location, education levels, income levels, and so- LAKEISHA WOLF, with Ujamaa Collective. cial status. The goal of The African-Centered Cooperative Research Project is to build to learn more about our colgreater awareness of cooper- lective history, we learn more ative practices and encourage about the practices that made us successful in our own terms. intentional cooperation. “This research project will be Every time we have grown in used as a starting point to cre- America, it was under coopate greater awareness and to erative economics. It was imget our communities focused portant for Cocoapreneur to be on advancing as a collective,” part of this work because the said LaKeisha Wolf, executive work of this project serves to director of Ujamaa Collective, guide us more clearly into a in a statement. “We expect this future of collective growth and study to unveil areas in which power!” The African-centered Coopour communities are strong as well as areas that we need to erative Research Project will improve upon in terms of coop- be executed through a series of focus groups and an online eration.” Khamil Bailey, founder of Co- survey. Just a few of the quescoaprenuer Pgh LLC, added: tions that the study will seek “As Black people globally start to answer include: Which or-
ganizations in Pittsburgh are practicing cooperation? What is needed to better serve Black and Africana communities? What are the biggest challenges faced by nonprofits? Black and Africana-centered organizations can access the survey through the following link: https://www.surveymonkey. com/r/BetterCommunities The African-centered Cooperative Research Project has been made possible through support from The Heinz Endowments and The Pittsburgh Foundation.
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