VOL. 54, NO. 17 • FEBRUARY 7 - 13, 2019
February is American Heart Month; Get the Facts to Prevent Heart Disease
Northam Faces Uphill Battle to Retain Governor’s Seat
Howard Univ. Seniors Receive a Welcome Gift
Alfred St. Baptist Church Pays 34 Student Account Balances
By William J. Ford WI Staff Writer @jabariwill
By Brenda C. Siler WI Contributing Writer Before Rev. Dr. John-Howard Wesley preached his sermon at Howard University’s Andrew Rankin Memorial Chapel on Feb. 3, he made a major presentation before students and worshippers. Wesley, pastor of Alfred Street Baptist Church, presented an oversized check of $100,000 for the university’s “gap scholarship” to cover unpaid balances for 34 graduating seniors. Individual debt among the students ranged from $3,000 to $10,000. The donated funds were from a “love offering” given by pa-
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5 Rev. Dr. Howard-John Wesley presents a $100,000 check for “gap scholarships” to Tashni-Ann Dubroy, executive vice president and COO at Howard University, during an event at the university’s Rankin Chapel on Feb. 3. (Brenda C. Siler/ The Washington Informer)
Abrams Blasts Trump, McConnell for ‘Power Grab’ After SOTU By Stacy M. Brown WI Senior Writer @StacyBrownMedia Stacey Abrams delivered a scathing Democratic rebuttal to President Donald Trump’s State of the Union Address on Tuesday, Feb. 5. The former Georgia Gubernatorial candidate said the “hopes of American families are being crushed” by Republican political leadership. “In Georgia and around the
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country, people are striving for a middle class where a salary truly equals economic security,” Abrams said. “But instead, families’ hopes are being crushed by Republican leadership that ignores real life or just doesn’t understand it.” The response is a tradition undertaken by a representative of the president’s opposing party, who gives a speech immediately after the State of the Union to
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5 Newly-inaugurated Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam joined community workers who spent Dr. King’s birthday on Jan. 15, sprucing up the historic Evergreen Cemetery in Richmond, which serves as the final resting place for many prominent African Americans. (Dorothy Rowley/The Washington Informer)
Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam continues to face criticism from prominent politicians, civil rights organizations and voters in his state and nationwide after a photo surfaced from his 1984 medical school yearbook page with someone in blackface and another person wearing a Klu Klux Klan costume. Northam apologized Friday, Feb. 1 for being in the racist photo published on a conservative website. The next day during a more than 40-minute press conference at the Governor’s Mansion in Richmond, Virginia, the 59-year-old Democrat backtracked and became “convinced” that he’s neither person in the photo and doesn’t plan on resigning. “We will continue to lead. We will continue to talk about the issues that are important,” he said. “We’ll also have a conversation about trust and I have been a man of honor…I ask Virginians to accept my word.” Northam also revealed Saturday he spread “a little bit of shoe polish to put on my cheeks” more than 30 years ago to dress as Michael Jackson in a dance contest in San Antonio, Texas, upon graduation from Eastern Virginia Medical School. Northam, who’s been in office since January 2018, received a flood of calls for him to resign from prominent Virginia Democrat Rep. Bobby Scott to Virginia’s and nation’s first elected Black governor, L. Douglas Wilder.
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