By Cato T. Laurencin and Joanne M. Walker Cell Systems George Floyd, a Black, 46-year-old male who was unarmed and handcuffed by a white Minneapolis police officer died after the police officer knelt on his neck making it impossible for him to breathe. Ahmaud Arbery, a 25-year-old Black male, was jogging in a neighborhood in Georgia on February 23, 2020 when ex-police officer Gregory McMichael and his son Travis, both of whom are white, killed him in a shooting. These are just two examples of acts in our country indicative of the lasting and pervasive prominence and institutionalization of racism.…
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By Debra Adams Simmons HISTORY Executive Editor, National Geographic All of the women in my circle—Black, Jamaican, Indian, Asian, Latina, Indigenous, Jewish, and white women—cried when Vice President-Elect Kamala Devi Harris joyfully emerged on the presidential stage Saturday night. For a few moments our world stopped as we paused to bear witness to our ancestors’ wildest dreams. The tears were not only in celebration of Harris’s achievement, but for the generations of women who made the moment possible. Harris honored her mother, Shyamala Gopalan Harris, and the “women who fought and sacrificed so much for equality and liberty and justice for…
WASHINGTON (AP) — President-elect Joe Biden has chosen his longtime adviser Ron Klain to reprise his role as his chief of staff, installing an aide with decades of experience in the top role in his White House. Klain will lead a White House likely to be consumed by the response to the coronavirus pandemic, which continues to spread unchecked across the nation, and he’ll face the challenge of working with a divided Congress that could include a Republican-led Senate. Klain served as the coordinator to the Ebola response during the 2014 outbreak. In a statement Wednesday night, Biden suggested he…
NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Nashville Mayor John Cooper’s administration today announced a partnership with Nashville Electric Service, the Tennessee Valley Authority, and Vanderbilt University to construct 100 megawatts of utility-scale solar power under the TVA Green Invest program—placing Metro General Government operations over one-third of the way toward being sourced with 100% renewable energy and enabling Metro to meet a 2025 benchmark for renewables established by Council legislation.[1] Vanderbilt will be a 25-megawatt co-subscriber to the solar array, thereby reaching their own 100 percent renewable-energy goal for campus operations. Metro-Nashville will be the first local government to pursue access to Green…
NASHVILLE, Tennessee – The Chief Financial Officer of the Metropolitan Nashville Airport Authority (MNAA), Marge Basrai, has been selected as one of The Bond Buyer’s “2020 Trailblazing Women in Finance” for her outstanding commitment to public finance and contributions made to the public sector. She is one of just six public sector finance professionals recognized nationwide for the award. “Marge Basrai is a passionate leader and financial expert of incalculable value to our organization,” said Doug Kreulen, president and CEO of MNAA. “Her expertise in airport financing and the bond market are evident by the strength of both Nashville International…
MURFREESBORO Tenn. — Officials from MTSU and the new Music City Grand Prix signed a partnership Monday, Nov. 9, allowing the university’s acclaimed concrete program and its students to create special environmentally conscious mixes for barriers and pit row for the August 2021 open-wheel race in downtown Nashville, Tennessee. University Provost Mark Byrnes and Music City Grand Prix CEO and MTSU alumnus Matt Crews signed the memorandum of understanding in the Jeff Hendrix Stadium Club at Floyd Stadium, with MTSU School of Concrete and Construction Management and Music City Grand Prix representatives present. Music City Grand Prix is working with…
NASHVILLE – Tennesseans for Student Success (TSS) is announcing the winners of Tristar Reads, an annual reading scholarship competition for Tennessee students grades K-12. Students were encouraged to log reading hours during the summer for the opportunity to earn a $1,000 postsecondary scholarship across multiple age divisions. Tristar Reads awarded $1,000 college scholarships to the following outstanding Tennessee readers: Elementary School Division – Jeffrey Stubblefield, 2nd Grade, Hamilton County, 39,420 minutes of reading Middle School Division – Sarah Collier, 8th Grade, Cheatham County, 30,540 minutes of reading High School Division – Amelia Cole, 9th Grade, Knox County, 40,800 minutes of…
By TRAVIS LOLLER Associated Press NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) _ Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee has granted a death row inmate a temporary reprieve from execution. Lee issued a short statement Friday afternoon saying he is granting a reprieve to Pervis Payne until April 9 “due to the challenges and disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.” Payne is the fourth inmate to receive a reprieve this year because of the virus. Lee granted one in July to Harold Nichols, and the Tennessee Supreme Court issued two earlier reprieves to Oscar Smith and Byron Black. Payne had been scheduled to die on Dec.…
NASHVILLE, TN – The votes are still being counted in Alaska and although Biden won the White House, the Democrats are making excuses and blaming each other for their poor showing in other 2020 races up and down the line. The polls were wrong. Again. There was no blue wave. There wasn’t even a higher blue tide. There will be no democratic supermajority in Congress and that will make governing very difficult. The Democrats were lucky to hold onto the House and the final make up of the Senate will not be decided until January 5, 2021 by a special…
MEMPHIS, Tenn. — A former sanitation worker who was awarded a $70,000 grant years after participating in the 1968 Memphis sanitation worker’s’ strike has died. Kelly Lofton Sr. was 89 when he died Monday. His daughter said he worked for the city from 1951 to 1995. The strike he took part in was led by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., who was pushing for economic equality and social justice when he was assassinated in Memphis. Nearly 50 years later, in 2017, the city of Memphis recognized the workers who participated in the 1968 events and awarded them $70,000 grants for…