SAISD News – The SAISD board vote of 5-2 left us with a final list of school closures within SAISD. This is the last year these schools will be in operation. As it stands with public education in Texas and the schools closing in our neighborhoods, it is a sad time. History is within so many walls, generations of education and community belong within these walls. The kids become neighbors when they walk to school. School closures are so much more then money and losing our schools can be a difficult process.
Schools that will close at the end of the 2023-24 school year include:
Green Elementary School
Foster Elementary School
Miller Elementary School
Highland Park Elementary School
Knox Early Childhood Center
Nelson Early Childhood Center
Tynan Early Childhood Center
Douglass Elementary School
Forbes Elementary School
Huppertz Elementary School
Lamar Elementary School
Storm Elementary School
Other schools will merge: Beacon Hill Dual Language Academy and Cotton Academy, Kelly Elementary and Lowell Middle School, and Gonzales Early Childhood Center and Twain Dual Language Academy.
Another two schools, Baskin Elementary School and Carroll Early Childhood Center, will close in later school years after construction at campuses where those students are moving to is completed. Gates Elementary School will be closing at the end of the 2023-24 school year and students will be sent to M.L King Academy after renovations on that campus.
While those renovations are taking place, however, the Gates campus will house both MLK and Gates students.
Bexar County Early Voting’s Shows a Significant Lower Rate Compared to Election Days
In support of maintaining the community’s focus, on participation and turnout out, and the power that they represent, questions often arise: Does Voting Matter?
Last week we compared the number of voters registered vs. the number of voters that actually voted in the years 2010-2022. This week let’s look at the number of EARLY voters as they represent a significant part of voter turnout equation.
Bexar County’s voter participation and turnout, between 2008 to 2022, bears much discussion, particularly Early Voting, which shows a significantly lower rate when compared to Election Day.
Research reflects that increased participation must be the focus of more registered voters. See infographic shown here.
Several historical figures have spoken on the importance of voting, including the following:
The late former Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall: “Without the ballot, you’ve got no citizenship, no statue, no power, in this country. “
The late Congressman John Lewis: “The Vote is precious. It is the most powerful non – violent tool we have in a democratic society, and we must use it.”
Former President Lyndon B. Johnson, who signed the 1965 Voting Rights Act: The right to vote is the basic right, without which all others are meaningless. It gives people, people as individuals, control over their own destinies.”
Former President Barack Obama: ” There’s no such thing as a vote that doesn’t matter – it all matters. “
By the numbers, every election is decided by the people who choose to show up and vote.”
There’s more to naming one street, for a black person, as evidenced in Martin L. King, Jr. Ave. and Mel Waiters Way, to name a few.
The purpose in voting, in my personal opinion, is to be a part of the decision making process and to reap our just rewards.
It is most important, in the upcoming campaign and election seasons, to acknowledge those voices that must be heard and the Power of the People,, that choose to vote for the candidates of their choice.
Election enthusiasts have decided on and stressed: Your Vote Is Your Voice! “So Vito Es Su Voz!”
Brown helped launch the Grammy-winning group Kool & The Gang, originally called the Jazziacs, in 1694
George “Funky” Brown, the co-founder and longtime drummer of Kool & The Gang who helped write such hits as “Too Hot,” “Ladies Night,” “Joanna” and the party favorite “Celebration,” died last Thursday in Los Angeles at age 74.
Brown died after a battle with cancer, according to a statement released by Universal Music. He had retired earlier in the year, nearly 60 years after the band began, and revealed that he was diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer.
Kool & The Gang has sold millions of records with its catchy blend of jazz, funk and soul, what Brown liked to call “the sound of happiness.” In 1964, Brown helped launch the Grammy-winning group, originally called the Jazziacs, along with such friends as bassist Robert “Kool” Bell, brother Ronald Bell on keyboards and guitarist Charles Smith.
After years of relative obscurity, name changes and personnel changes, Kool & The Gang broke through in the mid-1970s with “Jungle Boogie” and “Hollywood Swinging” among others songs and peaked in the late ‘70s-mid 1980s, with hits ranging from the ballads “Cherish” and “Joanna” to the up-tempo, chart-topping “Celebration,” now a standard at weddings and other festive gatherings.
In 2023, Brown produced the band’s latest album, “People Just Wanna Have Fun,” and released his memoir “Too Hot: Kool & The Gang & Me.”
He is survived by his wife, Hanh Brown, and his five children. In lieu of flowers, his family has asked that donations can be made in his honor to the Lung Cancer Society of America.
Bradsher discusses her personal journey in the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and priority to better serve Black and minority veterans.
Tanya Bradsher is on a mission to help bring change to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.
As deputy secretary, a role she’s held for less than two months, Bradsher is the federal agency’s highest-ranking woman and the first woman of any race to serve as second in command of the department providing critical services to U.S. military veterans.
The 20-year Army veteran and retired lieutenant colonel, who served as the VA’s chief of staff before taking on her historic role, tells theGrio that her mission is to ensure that the agency reaches as many Black and minority veterans as possible.
“I’m hopeful to use this platform to reach out to more of our minority veterans, or untethered veterans, or women veterans,” Bradsher said, “and hoping that by seeing me as deputy secretary, folks who maybe have tried the VA once and weren’t satisfied, look at an opportunity to come back and try again.”
The VA, which provides health care and non-health care benefits, including disability compensation, educational assistance and home loans, has been accused of decades-long discrimination against Black veterans. Earlier this year, the department released data revealing that Black veterans were denied benefits more often than white veterans.
Bradsher said the VA established an equity task force to analyze which benefits were disproportionately denied to Black veterans and to right those wrongs. She urged those denied to reapply and encouraged veterans to take advantage of expanded benefits provided through the Honoring Our PACT Act, which President Joe Biden assigned into law last year.
“If you were previously denied, please resubmit, and let’s take a look,” she said. “Give us an opportunity because we are here for you.”
For Bradsher, ensuring that Black, minority, and women veterans are taken care of is personal. Not only because of her personal identity as a Black woman but because military service is in her bloodline. She’s a fourth-generation army soldier and is married to a 30-year veteran.
Despite her two decades of service that led to prominent roles within the White House National Security Council and Office of the Secretary of Defense, Bradsher admits that it took her some time to see what Biden, Veterans Affairs Secretary Denis McDonough and others saw in her.
“I’ve been incredibly fortunate throughout my career that people saw more in me than I could see in myself,” said Bradsher, who described her U.S. Senate confirmation process as “challenging.”
“It can be really intimidating, especially when you’re breaking those barriers,” she shared. “A Black woman had never served as acting before in this role, let alone a woman ever being confirmed in this role.”
Just a couple of months into serving as deputy secretary, Bradsher said she is “learning” and leaning into the confidence that others have in her to do the job.
Bradsher also has the support of her sorority, Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc., the same historically Black sorority that touts Vice President Kamala Harris among its membership.
“I was so privileged when our international president came to my swearing-in [ceremony],” she recalled. “Having prominent members of our historically Black fraternities and sororities hold key leadership roles in government shows the strength of our sororities and fraternities.”
Bradsher said, whether she was serving in Korea or North Carolina, “I always knew that I had my fraternity brothers and my sorority sisters.”
Camaraderie and support is something Bradsher said she appreciated most while working inside the Pentagon when it was attacked by terrorists on Sept. 11, 2001, also known as 9/11.
“I was pregnant with our second daughter,” she recalled. “The minute you walked out the double doors, you saw the huge black plume of smoke. And that’s when we realized … that we were hit.”
Bradsher’s husband also worked inside the Pentagon. The two were eventually able to meet up after the Department of Defense headquarters was evacuated upon being hit by a hijacker plane, killing 184 people.
“Before me was an Air Force general, and we heard two jets fly by, and he said, ‘those are our guys. We have command of the sky,’” she recollected. “It was the first time for me that I really was grateful for the United States Air Force in a way that I just didn’t appreciate before.”
The bravery of the U.S. military, particularly Black service members, is why Bradsher says it’s important to honor and support Black veterans.
“Black Americans have contributed so much in the military, and we serve at a disproportionate number,” said the deputy secretary, who noted that racial progress in America can be traced back to its military.
“Desegregation started in the military, and it was out of necessity,” Bradsher said. “A lot of the advancements that we have made as a country actually started in the military.”
She continued, “The military has formed friendships and relationships throughout the country that have allowed us as a country to come together.”
Whether for Veterans Day or beyond, Bradsher encouraged citizens to honor Black veterans by giving them space to tell their stories.
“Let’s not just let [their stories] go with them … see what they’ll share with you,” she said. “I think you’ll be blown away at the amazing service our Black veterans have done, and where they have been, and what they have seen.”
Florida law enforcement officials are investigating a woman’s disappearance as a homicide after they say they found her body in a storage unit registered to her estranged husband, authorities said Sunday.
Shakeira Yvonne Rucker was reported missing after her family told the Winter Springs Police Department that they last saw her on November 11, the department said in a Facebook post on November 13.
Rucker’s family said she left her home for “an unknown destination,” possibly with her estranged husband, Cory Hill, at around 7:30 p.m. on November 11, police said.
“The family has not seen or heard from Shakeira since that day and believes that she may be in danger,” police said in the social media post.
Cory Hill
The search for Rucker spanned four counties and included help from several law enforcement agencies, including the FBI, Winter Springs Police Chief Matthew Tracht said at a news conference on Sunday.
Tracht said investigators worked 16- to 18-hour days so they could bring closure in the case. The search for Rucker came to an end on Saturday, when authorities informed her family of the discovery of her body.
Orange County Sheriff John Mina said Sunday that deputies responded to a storage unit facility in Apopka, about 20 miles northwest of Orlando, around 5 p.m. Saturday after they received a 911 call about a smell coming from one of the units.
When deputies opened the unit, they found a woman later identified as Rucker dead from apparent gunshot wounds, Mina said. Her official cause of death is still pending as investigators await an autopsy result, Mina added.
Authorities named Hill, 51, as the prime suspect after investigators learned the unit Rucker was located in was registered to him, Mina said.
CNN has reached out to the public defender listed as legal representation for Hill.
The sheriff added that officials believe the shooting happened at the storage unit, and a motive is still undetermined.
Hill was booked in the Orange County Jail on November 13 for an unrelated shooting, Orange County Jail records show. Hill has been charged with four counts of attempted murder after allegedly shooting at a former girlfriend and her family on November 12, Mina said at the news conference.
Thirty years after Jimmy Johnson coached the Dallas Cowboys to consecutive Super Bowl titles, the former head coach will at last be inducted into the the team’s Ring of Honor.
Cowboys team owner and general manager Jerry Jones announced the news during a surprise news conference on Fox’s NFL pregame show before the Cowboys kicked off Sunday afternoon at the Carolina Panthers, a game Dallas cruised to a 33-10 victory.
Breaking: Jerry Jones is inducting Jimmy Johnson into the Cowboys Ring of Honor on December 30 pic.twitter.com/Ux40PnSj0m
Jones praised Johnson’s work ethic, inspiration and football acumen before telling him: “On December the 30th of 1923, you’re going into the Dallas Cowboy Ring of Honor.”
Johnson ribbed Jones on his misspeak: “I hope it’s 2023.”
Jones confirmed he meant that.
This recognition is one that Cowboys fans — and, after so much back-and-forth, NFL fans — have long awaited. Jones infamously fired Johnson after his second Cowboys Super Bowl ring to bring in head coach Barry Switzer, who led the Cowboys to another championship two years later.
Jones said Sunday that Bill Walsh once told them they’d gotten “careless with their relationship.”
“We’re talking and we’re friendly now,” Johnson said.
The Lombardi trophies marked Johnson’s peak coaching the Cowboys but don’t fully capture his impact. When Johnson was hired to coach the Cowboys in 1989, the team finished last at 1-15.
Two years later, they had a winning record. And then two Super Bowls.
Quarterback Troy Aikman, receiver Michael Irvin and running back Emmitt Smith anchored those championship teams. All three were enshrined in the Ring of Honor in 2005.
Johnson, who was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame Class of 2021, will become the 24th member of the Cowboys’ Ring of Honor and second coach.
Tom Landry, the Cowboys’ head coach from 1960 through 1988, was enshrined in 1993. Landry led the Cowboys to two Super Bowls and seven more conference championship berths in his tenure.
The Cowboys have not returned to the Super Bowl, or even a conference championship, since the 1995 season.
An erosion of Black voters, a crucial part of Biden’s coalition that won him the White House in 2020, could spell disaster.
The White House and Democrats are riding high after sweeping election victories on Tuesday across the country in key swing states like Ohio and Virginia and in the deeply red state of Kentucky.
But a recent poll indicating that voters in battleground states, including 20% of Black voters, prefer Donald Trump over President Joe Biden has some worried about Biden’s chances at reelection in 2024. Twenty-three percent of Black voters polled by CNN also favored the four-times indicted, twice-impeached Republican president.
The small but noticeable erosion of Black voters, a crucial part of Biden’s coalition that won him and Vice President Kamala Harris the White House in 2020, could spell disaster.
Biden’s Democratic primary challenger, Rep. Dean Phillips, told theGrio that the outcome from Tuesday’s contests was “outstanding.”
He said the 2023 off-year election contests compared to polls suggest, “We don’t have a Democratic brand problem,” but rather, “unfortunately,” Democrats “have a Joe Biden problem.”
“Americans are asking for an alternative to President Biden,” said the three-term Minnesota congressman. “This is not rocket science, and I’m just surprised and increasingly disappointed by a dangerous culture of protecting numbers that are clearly screaming red alert.”
But Democratic strategists and political experts tell theGrio it’s too early to sound the alarm and that there’s plenty of time to convince Black voters that in a Biden vs. Trump 2024 rematch, there is only one choice.
“In every single election, Black people cast the survival vote because, in these elections, the outcome determines whether or not most Black communities live or die,” said Antjuan Seawright, a Democratic strategist who advises national campaigns.
“Every time our lives have been on the line, we always stepped up to save our communities and save this country,” added Seawright. “I don’t think this election or any elections in the future will be any different.”
“Remind me again what the record of the Trump administration is on the issues that Black people care about, and how that is infinitely better than the record that Joe Biden has?” Kevin Olasanoye, national political and organizing director at the Collective PAC, asked rhetorically.
The former campaign director for Senator Cory Booker said in addition to Trump’s record, the broader Republican Party continues to lose at the ballot box because of their focus on “culture wars.”
Republican governors and candidates across the country have largely focused on policies like restricting Black history curriculums, banning books by some Black authors, and enacting “parental rights” laws that advocates say are really designed to silence Black and LGBTQ+ communities.
This, coupled with the party’s position on abortion, is why strategists believe Republicans continue to fail at the ballot box.
“There is something happening on the undercurrent here that is consistent,” said Olasanoye.
In response to polls about President Biden’s favorability compared to Trump, he cautioned, “So many things can happen between now and then that could alter this.”
Olasanoye pointed to Trump’s pending criminal trials as one glaring issue for the former president. However, he also acknowledged the same goes for President Biden, who could face any number of wild cards like a downturn in the economy or foreign policy challenge.
“Who would have ever thought in 2018 and 2019 that the COVID-19 pandemic would be a thing that would decide or help to decide the election in 2020?” he said.
Terrance Woodbury, a Democratic pollster and CEO of HIT Strategies, warned that, unlike the past two election cycles that were good for Democrats, Trump will be on the ballot in 2024, which could see a “surge” in voters.
“He changes the electorate,” he told theGrio. “It’s just as much about who didn’t vote as it is about who did vote.” He added, “Those white voters who did not vote, they will show up when Trump’s name is on that ballot.”
Woodbury said it’s imperative that Democrats better engage with Black men, who he suspects represent most of the Black voters in recent polls who say they would vote for Trump over Biden. However, he noted the “erosion” of Black male voters didn’t start with President Biden.
“We’ve seen [this] since Barack Obama exited the political stage,” he said. Woodbury described Black men and men of color as the “new swing voters.”
In order to court them back, he said, Democrats will have to treat them like “persuasion voters” as opposed to “mobilization voters” like Black women. Woodbury said in polling Black men who say they’re voting for Trump, he learned that even things like “racism and incendiary language” do not disqualify Trump for them.
What could be a disqualifier for Black men is abortion, he said, noting that exit polls in Ohio’s Tuesday vote to enshrine abortion rights in the state’s constitution saw overwhelming support from Black voters.
“In Ohio, Black folks supported Issue 1 higher than any other demographic, specifically…88% of Black men voted yes,” said Woodbury. “If Biden gets 88% of Black men’s votes in Ohio, that’s gonna change some things.”
Woodbury said there are other issues important to Black men where President Biden has “demonstrated tremendous progress,” like the economy, in which Black unemployment reached record lows. He also noted Biden’s “record investment” in Black businesses and actions on criminal justice reform.
“The best way to reform the criminal justice system is by appointing more Black women to the bench than every single president prior,” said Woodbury, referring to Biden’s record number of Black female judges installed to the federal courts.
He also acknowledged Biden’s policing executive order, which included demands from advocates like mandatory body cameras and a national database of police misconduct, and the Justice Department’s growing pattern and practice investigations into police mistreatment.
Olasanoye of the Collective PAC said the president should also look at ways to reorient recreational and medicinal marijuana through “intentional” policies that create “opportunities for Black people to participate in this new economy that has largely been used as a cudgel to hold [Black men] down.”
Seawright said Black men are the “most consequential constituency” for Democrats’ short-term and long-term election success.
“We have to do more listening than talking and find out what’s important,” he said, “but we also have to remind them what we’ve been able to do for them and what the other side has made a serious, honest attempt not to do for them and their families.”
While it’s unclear why Snoop Dogg concluded that no longer smoking marijuana was in his best interest, he’s inspiring others to kiss cannabis goodbye, including two of his fellow rappers.
Snoop Dogg is parting ways with cannabis culture, at least in terms of smoking it.
The rapper and entrepreneur — real name Calvin Broadus — shared the news with his 82.5 million Instagram followers on Thursday.
“After much consideration & conversation with my family, I’ve decided to give up smoke,” the rapper said. “Please respect my privacy at this time.”
According to CNN, Snoop Dogg, who claims to have once smoked herb in the White House, has built an entire brand around his love for marijuana. He has started various weed-related businesses, including the Leafs by Snoop cannabis brand and Merry Jane, a marijuana-focused media company.
He has also invested in Casa Verde Capital, a venture capital business focusing on marijuana start-ups.
In 2019, he disclosed that he had a full-time assistant whose primary duty was to roll his blunts. While the blunt roller initially made between $40,000 and $50,000 annually, Snoop Dogg shared last year that they received a pay raise due to inflation.
The rap icon has also stated more than once that he got the most stoned he’s ever been with Willie Nelson.
During a 2022 appearance on SiriusXM’s “Let’s Go!” with Tom Brady, Larry Fitzgerald and Jim Gray, Snoop Dogg recalled being in Amsterdam on 4/20 while the country music legend was performing. After that, they returned to Nelson’s hotel room and played dominoes, People reported.
The “Doggyland” rapper said he wanted to quit smoking but refused because he didn’t “wanna show no signs of weakness!”
“Me and him were playing dominoes one-on-one,” Snoop shared, People reported. “He whooping my a–, and I’m just getting higher and higher and higher. He just keep passing it to me, and I’m like, ‘This old motherf—er’s outsmoking me.’”
While it’s unclear why Snoop Dogg and his family concluded that no longer enjoying marijuana was in his best interest, he’s inspiring others to do the same. Complex reported Meek Mill declared on Thursday that he would follow in Snoop’s footsteps and “completely stop smoking.”
The Dream Chasers CEO said that his doctor not only informed him that he had “a lil bit [of] emphysema,” but also cautioned him that continuing to smoke might potentially cut his “lifeline in half.”
Coi Leray also shared via her Instagram Story on Thursday that she plans to “quit after Thanksgiving.”
The former first lady died on Sunday in Plains, Georgia surrounded by family
Rosalynn Carter, former first lady and wife of Jimmy Carter, as well as a devoted housing and mental health advocate, died on Sunday, Nov. 19, at her home in Plains, Georgia while surrounded by family, the Carter Center announced. She was 96.
“Rosalynn was my equal partner in everything I ever accomplished,” former President Carter said in a statement. “She gave me wise guidance and encouragement when I needed it. As long as Rosalynn was in the world, I always knew somebody loved and supported me.”
“Besides being a loving mother and extraordinary First Lady, my mother was a great humanitarian in her own right,” their son, Chip Carter, said in a statement. “Her life of service and compassion was an example for all Americans. She will be sorely missed not only by our family but by the many people who have better mental health care and access to resources for caregiving today.”
In May, it was announced that Rosalynn had been diagnosed with dementia, about three months after Jimmy, 98, decided to forgo “additional medical intervention” and enter hospice care at the Carters’ home in Plains, Georgia.
At the time of her dementia diagnosis, the Carter Center issued a statement that alluded to Rosalynn’s extensive work as a mental health advocate: “We recognize, as she did more than half a century ago, that stigma is often a barrier that keeps individuals and their families from seeking and getting much-needed support. We hope sharing our family’s news will increase important conversations at kitchen tables and in doctors’ offices around the country.”
Eleanor Rosalynn Smith was born Aug. 18, 1927, in Plains, a small town in the southwest part of the state near the border with Alabama. Rosalynn grew up in poverty, and her father died of leukemia when she was 13. Rosalynn not only helped care for her younger siblings, but chipped in with the dressmaking her mother took up to provide for the family. On top of all that, she finished high school and enrolled in Georgia Southwestern College, graduating in 1946.
Rosalynn and Jimmy — who also grew up in Plains — started dating in 1945 and married the following year. After Jimmy’s graduation from the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, and subsequent enlistment, the couple moved around a lot, with stays in Virginia, Hawaii, and Connecticut. They had three sons — Jack, James III, and Donnel — each born in a different state; years later, in 1967, the Carters welcomed a daughter, Amy.
Jimmy left the Navy in 1953 and brought the family back to Plains following the death of his father. Together, he and Rosalynn took over and ran the family businesses, which famously included a peanut farm. As Rosalynn recalled in her 1984 memoir, First Lady From Plains, the couple gained prominence and notoriety in their small community as they fought in favor of school desegregation. This fight partly propelled Jimmy into politics, and Rosalynn was not only supportive but played a key role in his successful 1962 campaign for Georgia state Senate.
Rosalynn remained equally involved when Jimmy embarked on his first failed gubernatorial bid, in 1966, then again when he won in 1970. On the campaign trail, Rosalynn met numerous people and families grappling with mental health issues and learning disabilities; as the first lady of Georgia, she made this her primary focus. Rosalynn admitted in her memoir that she “had a lot to learn” about the issue, but committed herself thoroughly, attending every meeting of the special commission established to improve services, volunteering one day a week at a regional hospital, and touring other facilities around the state.
The commission helped totally overhaul Georgia’s mental health system, and as Rosalynn wrote: “When people ask, ‘What was the most rewarding thing you did as first lady of Georgia?’ I always answer, ‘My work with the mentally ill.’”
In many ways, Rosalynn reshaped the role of first lady, notably being the first to establish an official office in the East Wing of the White House. But when asked about her legacy in an interview with C-SPAN, Rosalynn was quick to say she hoped it “continues to be more than just first lady.” She went on to mention the work of the Carter Center, saying, “I hope that I have contributed something to mental health issues, and helped improve, a little bit, the lives of people living with mental illnesses.”
From there, though, she spoke about the small, but monumentally gratifying moments of her humanitarian work, zeroing in on the Carters’ efforts to eradicate Guinea worm disease. Recalling visits to villages where the disease had finally been snuffed out, Rosalyn suddenly got emotional as she said, “It’s just so wonderful — just to see the hope on their faces. Something good is happening.”
AUSTIN, TX — Today, the Texas House of Representatives in a bipartisan 84 to 63 vote defeated Governor Abbott’s voucher scam that would defund our public schools to subsidize private education for the wealthy few.
Representatives Martinez Fischer, Talarico, and Hinojosa released the following statement:
“The People’s House has spoken. A bipartisan majority in the Texas House with unanimous Democratic support has defeated Governor Abbott’s voucher scam.
As if it wasn’t clear before, the Governor can no longer deny reality: Texans do not want voucher scams. Governor Abbott and his billionaire mega-donors have miscalculated the will of the people.
We now call on Governor Abbott to support a clean school finance bill — one that fully funds our schools, gives our teachers the pay raise they deserve, and actually helps our kids.”
