April 2, 2018

Black activists of the 21st century are taking it beyond 'takin' it to the streets'

MEMPHIS -- For better than a century, he sat astride his horse on a bluff high above the Mississippi River.

He sat there as Model Ts trundled beneath, and biplanes carved the skies overhead. He sat there as the river rose and fell, as the stock market crashed, as local boys kissed their sweethearts and went off to war, never to return. He sat there as B.B. King taught Elvis Presley a few new licks in some Beale Street dive. He sat there as the shot rang out, and Martin Luther King was hammered down to the balcony of the Lorraine Motel. 　

Nixon lied, Elvis died, the Internet rose, the towers fell, a newly elected president named Barack Obama exulted that “Change has come to America” and yet still, there he sat, unchanged.

He sat there so long that maybe people forgot to even notice the abhorrent absurdity of it, Nathan Bedford Forrest, slave trader, Confederate general, leader of a massacre of unarmed black people, early grand wizard of the Ku Klux Klan, sitting on a bluff above a river in a city that is over 60 percent black. Or maybe they just saw it and sighed and accepted it as some immutable part of The Way Things Are.

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/opinion/opn-columns-blogs/leonard-pitts-jr/article207648769.html

April 2, 2018

Louisiana starts process to replace 10,000 voting machines

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Louisiana's elections will be getting a face-lift over the next few years, with plans underway to replace the state's decade-old bulky voting machines with sleeker, smaller equipment and beefed-up technology.

The request seeking proposals from contractors for new voting machines went out this week, with bids due May 1. The solicitation went out as Secretary of State Tom Schedler learned Louisiana is getting a nearly $6 million federal grant to cover a portion of the costs.

The state last purchased voting equipment in 2005. This time, Louisiana will be shopping for new equipment as concerns about cybersecurity threats are heightened and hacking worries have consumed election discussions — and as the state is struggling with repeated financial problems.

Schedler said Louisiana's nearly 10,000 early and Election Day voting machines are antiquated, with spare parts dwindling and no longer manufactured.

Read more: http://www.tbo.com/louisiana-starts-process-to-replace--voting-machines-ap_election328c14d2324d46d58010dabe7951ece0

April 2, 2018

Missouri Senate considers banning touchscreen voting

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — The Missouri Senate is considering whether to permanently unplug the state's touchscreen machines amid concerns that electronic voting machines might be susceptible to hackers.

The proposal, which already passed the House in a 108-31 vote, would require voters to use paper ballots exclusively. Machines could still be used to count votes and to assist disabled voters in marking their ballots. But systems that only recorded votes electronically would be phased out.

The bill's sponsor, Republican Rep. Paul Curtman of Washington, said the proposal would help ensure the "highest confidence in the integrity of our election system."

If enacted, the proposal would not be a sea change for the state. Every county in Missouri already uses at least some paper ballots. About two dozen counties also use electronic voting machines that do not require a paper ballot, but those machines still create a paper trail for auditing vote totals.

Read more: http://www.tbo.com/missouri-senate-considers-banning-touchscreen-voting-ap_election711cb63ef2de4cbd81033d007a9e9434

April 2, 2018

Help wanted: Nudist campground searching for a lifeguard

FOSTER, R.I. (AP) — A Rhode Island nudist campground is looking for a lifeguard, and the uniform is cheap: nothing.

The Providence Journal reports Dyer Woods Nudist Campgrounds' help wanted notice for a lifeguard this summer says qualified candidates must have "excellent communication skills" and the ability to "work as part of a team."

Campground president Jim Johnson says the lifeguard can wear a swimsuit but it's not necessary.

The campground offers swimming, hiking, volleyball and a sauna for people who aren't afraid to bare it all.

Read more: http://www.tbo.com/ap/offbeat/help-wanted-nudist-campground-searching-for-a-lifeguard-ap_offbeat_newsf9c163eb4ea648b09258f457120d9da0

April 2, 2018

Woman wearing hijab attacked while waiting in emergency room, lawsuit says

DETROIT -- A woman checking into an emergency room in February was attacked by another patient because she was wearing a hijab, according to her lawsuit.

John Deliz had been discharged from Beaumont Hospital earlier Feb. 10, but he was waiting for a friend to pick him up and was asking others in the waiting room for cigarettes when he attacked the 19-year-old woman checking in for a possible broken jaw from a slip and fall, according to WDIV.

"She never saw it coming," Majed Moughni, the victim’s attorney, told WDIV.

In her lawsuit, the woman suffers emotional distress from the unprovoked attack and is seeking $25,000 in damages from the hospital, according to The Detroit News.

April 2, 2018

Florida teachers unions recruiting new members to stay ahead of state decertification law

TALLAHASSEE — A move by the Republican-led Legislature that could weaken the Democratic-allied state teachers unions is showing signs of having the opposite effect as an epic election-year unfolds in Florida.

A provision in a sweeping education proposal recently signed into law by Gov. Rick Scott requires local unions to have a majority of a county’s eligible teachers as dues-paying members or face possible decertification as a collective bargaining unit.

While the new law appears threatening, the Florida Education Association said it’s turning into a rallying point for recruiting in a union that already has added 3,200 members statewide in the past nine months.

“We saw this coming and know it’s driven by politics, plain and simple,” said FEA President Joanne McCall, whose 140,000-member union is the largest labor organization in the Southeast and traditionally a major contributor to Democratic candidates and the Florida Democratic Party.

Read more: http://www.heraldtribune.com/news/20180401/florida-teachers-unions-recruiting-new-members-to-stay-ahead-of-state-decertification-law

April 2, 2018

Tampa Bay Times to be sold to GateHouse Media in $79M deal

One of the nation’s busiest acquirers of newspapers and online media has agreed to buy the Tampa Bay Times and other related properties in a deal announced late Saturday night at a price of $79.25 million.

Executives at New York-based New Media Investment Group Inc. said the Times will join a growing GateHouse Media stable of more than 140 daily newspapers. That represents more than 1 in 10 in the country.

The sale is expected to be completed by May.

“We see Tampa Bay as another attractive and growing market that fits in well with our current Florida footprint,” said Michael E. Reed, New Media’s president and CEO. He called the papers “the primary source of news in their respective communities for over 100 years” and said they have “created high digital engagement that we are excited to work to build upon.”

Publicly traded New Media Investment Group (NEWM) has been on a buying spree in an industry grappling with change and consolidation. Earlier this month, the company announced it had agreed to purchase the Austin American-Statesman newspaper and related publications in Texas, for $47.5 million.

Read more: http://floridapolitics.com/archives/260203-tampa-bay-times-to-be-sold-to-gatehouse-media-in-79m-deal

April 2, 2018

'Resign to run' bill signed into law

Local and state office holders in Florida will have to resign from their seats to run for a federal office that overlaps with their current term, under a bill signed by Gov. Rick Scott.

The measure (SB 186) was among 18 bills the governor signed into law on Friday.

The resign-to-run law expands a requirement that already applies to state and local elected officials who decide to run for other state or local offices.

If the terms of the offices overlap, the officials have to submit resignations at least 10 days before qualifying to run, with the resignations effective when the officials would take the new offices or when their successors would take office.

Read more: http://floridapolitics.com/archives/260196-resign-to-run-bill-signed-into-law

April 2, 2018

Feeling horny? If it's April Fools Day, then it's Hornhub!

Keeping with tradition, the Website Pornhub has parody videos for the occasion. Among the video selections:

Pornhub aria is epicly saxy
Aria polishes dat brass
Biggest Shoehorn You've Ever Seen
Horn Jerk With Huge Messy Finish
Aria blows her big moment

I thought the year that they did "Cornhub" was funnier with "huge group of kernels takes buttery load", "Hard shucking like you’ve never seen!", and "Hot young corn gets plowed".

I'm certain that anyone interested in further research can get there, so no link is included.

April 2, 2018

Miami Has a Four-Year Backlog of Overbuilt Luxury Condos Amid Affordable-Housing Crisis

By nearly every metric, Miami-Dade County is one of the most difficult places to live if you don't make a ton of money. The county's median income is a staggeringly low $44,000, compared to the $80,000 median income in a comparably expensive city such as Seattle. That means Miamians wind up spending a higher percentage of their incomes on rent than residents of any other city in America.

What have Miami-area officials done to help the working poor? They've encouraged developers to overbuild so many luxury condos for millionaires that it will now take years to sell them all, according to new research from local real-estate analyst Peter Zalewski.

Zalewski's CraneSpotters.com reported at the end of February that it will take 49 months (just over four years) to sell all the luxury condos developers have built across town. As of February 27, there were 2,767 luxury-grade condos up for sale across the county — despite the fact that ultrawealthy buyers bought only 684 of those units (57 per month) in 2017. A luxury condo in this instance costs a minimum of $1 million. (There were, in total, 14,452 condo units for sale across the county as of a month ago — an oversupply of about 16 months.)

The problem is especially bad in some of Miami-Dade's fanciest zip codes. Earlier this month, Zalewski noted that Miami Beach, Bal Harbour, and Sunny Isles Beach each have a four-year backlog. Downtown Miami has a whopping 6.5-year backlog.

Read more: http://www.miaminewtimes.com/news/miami-has-a-four-year-luxury-condo-backlog-amid-an-affordable-housing-crisis-10218908