Black History Month Fact -- Honoring Our Own at Radio One

Tributes by Radio One

As the celebration of Black History Month comes to a close, we thought it appropriate to use this day to acknowledge, celebrate and honor members of our Radio One Family who have passed away in the past year. We lost seven beloved members of our family; all of them taken from us too soon and with little warning. Please take a moment to remember those below who were accomplished, passionate about what they did, committed to our company, and helped to write the next chapters of black history:
________________________________________________________

E. Steven Collins passed away on September 9, 2013 at the age of 58. E. Steven was known as the “Unofficial Mayor of Philadelphia”, with a rolodex that was the envy of both politicians and journalists. He was the Director of Urban Marketing and External Relations of Radio One Philadelphia and hosted a weekly show, Philly Speaks, on Old School 100.3. He served on the boards of the Urban League, Philadelphia Convention & Visitors Bureau (as well as its Multicultural Affairs Congress), the Ivy Legacy Foundation and the Marion Anderson Awards Association. He was a graduate of Temple University and posthumously received the Lew Klein Alumni in the Media Award from the University this past October. E. Stevens had been with Radio One for 10 years.

Shelia Leigh Stewart passed away on October 24, 2013 at the age of 44. Sheila was an award winning media journalist whose career spanned over 20 years in radio, TV and print. She was the Director of News Programming for the Radio One DC Stations and the Russ Parr Morning Show. Sheila was also an accomplished author having published her first book “Faith and The 3 P’s Overcoming Obstacles With Prayer, Persistence and Positive Thinking”. Sheila had been with Radio One for seven years.

James D. Mitchell, aka “Mitch Malone”, passed away on November 25, 2013 at the age of 57. He hosted the highly rated Quiet Storm radio show weeknights from 7 p.m. to midnight at Radio One-KISS FM in Richmond. Mitch was a native of Petersburg, Virginia and graduated from Virginia State University and later served as music and sports director for the university radio station. The day before he passed, after hearing a sermon about Thanksgiving at church, Mitch posted on his Facebook page his own set of thanks to his listeners, to his family and gave thanks for a long career with wonderful colleagues. Mitch had been with Radio One for eight years.

Bryan Keith Robinson passed away on January 18, 2014 at the age of 44. He was the Account Manager, Western Region for Reach Media. Bryan strongly believed in supporting his family and community and was involved in many civic organizations and a member of the Omega Psi Phi Fraternity. Bryan had been with Reach Media for seven years.

Preston Edward Lowe passed away on January 21, 2014 at the age of 45. Preston was well known for his musical skills and he, along with his brothers Paul, Pat and Perry, performed often as the Lowe Brothers. In the 1990’s, he helped launch 1370 AM in Austin, Texas, which then played urban adult contemporary music. He moved to Dallas in 2005 and became the Music Director at 97.9, The Beat in 2012. Preston had been with Radio One for two years.

Angelo Henderson passed away on February 15, 2014 at the age of 51. Angelo had a show titled Your Voice on WCHB(AM) in Detroit. He previously worked for The Detroit News and The Wall Street Journal, where he won the Pulitzer Prize in 1999 in the feature writing category for a portrait of a druggist driven to violence by encounters with armed robbers. Angelo was a founding member of the Detroit 300, a group focused on helping communities organize and eradicate crime. The organization he helped lead consisted of residents, civic groups, and businesses. They patrolled neighborhoods and prompted the public to help police with investigations. Angelo had been with Radio One for 10 years.

Samuel Michael Anderson, aka “Mike Roberts”, passed away on February 17, 2014 at the age of 54. Mike launched his radio career at WCBM and also held jobs at WFBR, WEBB and WGHT, which later became WWIN, Magic 95.9. He later worked in Washington, doing new age programming for SiriusXM satellite radio and World Space satellite radio. After a brief departure from radio to work for Comcast, Mike returned to terrestrial radio in 2001 joining the Radio One Baltimore family once again. He had been with Radio One for 13 years.

President Obama Speaks on the My Brother's Keeper Initiative

President Obama launches a new effort aimed at empowering boys and young men of color, a segment of our society that too often faces disproportionate challenges and obstacles to success.

Learn more: http://www.whitehouse.gov/my-brothers-keeper

Today: The First-Ever White House Student Film Festival

Hello everyone,

The very best person to talk to about how modern technology is changing our classrooms isn't me, or even the President.

It's a student who is actually learning from those tools every day -- accessing school assignments online, watching video lessons to learn a new concept, or even talking directly with other students around the world with new technology.

That's why, a few months ago, the White House challenged students all across the country to create short films answering a simple question:
Why is technology so important in the classroom -- and how will it change the educational experience for kids in the future?

The response was overwhelming. And today, the 16 official selections are going to be screened at the first-ever White House Student Film Festival.
You're going to want to tune in for this one. Watch the official selections, then tune in today at 2:30 p.m. ET.



Today's going to be a fun day, but this event speaks to something much bigger.

That's because these students' films all illustrate the critical conversation about education in our country right now: the importance of connecting our classrooms.

The fact is that right now, only around 30 percent of our students have the high-speed Internet access they need for digital learning. That means millions of kids across the country aren't currently benefiting from the kinds of technologies that made the student films you'll watch today possible.

The President's ConnectED initiative is making sure that changes -- by connecting 99 percent of students to next-generation, high-speed broadband within five years.

Want to see exactly why that's so important? Just take a look at some of the incredible things kids can produce when they're connected.
See the official film festival selections, then make sure you're watching the event at 2:30 p.m. ET today.

Looking forward to continuing the conversation,

Secretary Arne Duncan
Department of Education

FTC logs 53,000 complaints about broadcasting.

Story by Inside Radio

It’s not just the FCC that hears complaints about radio. The Federal Trade Commission says it collected 53,087 complaints about broadcast advertising in 2013. The agency says broadcasting was No. 9 on its list of top gripes, comprising 3% of all complaints it logged during the year.

The FTC received more than two million complaints overall according to its annual report. Identity theft was by far the biggest source of trouble.

Daft Punk fea Pharrell - Multi-Grammy Winners 2013

Get Lucky


Lose Yourself to Dance


Happy

Happy by Pharrell - Videos by Radio One DC and Dallas

Radio One - Washington DC


Radio One - Dallas, Tx

Black History Month Fact - Shirley Anita St. Hill Chisholm

Story by Radio One

Shirley Anita St. Hill Chisholm was born on November 30, 1924 in Brooklyn, New York.

At age three Chisholm was sent to Barbados to live with her maternal grandmother where she attended the Vauxhall Primary School. She did not return to New York until roughly seven years later.

Chisholm graduated from the Girls' High School, earned her BA from Brooklyn College in 1946 and later earned her MA from Teachers College at Columbia University in elementary education in 1952.

In 1964, Chisholm ran for and was elected to the New York State Legislature.

In 1968, she ran as the Democratic candidate for New York's 12th District congressional seat and was elected to the House of Representatives thus becoming the first Black woman elected to Congress.

Chisholm joined the Congressional Black Caucus in 1971 as one of its founding members.

On January 25, 1972, she became the first major-party black candidate for President of the United States and the first woman to run for the Democratic presidential nomination.

Chisholm created controversy when she visited rival and ideological opposite George Wallace in the hospital soon after his shooting in May 1972, during the 1972 presidential primary campaign. Several years later, when Chisholm worked on a bill to give domestic workers the right to a minimum wage, Wallace helped gain votes of enough Southern congressmen to push the legislation through the House.

Shirley Chisholm survived three assassination attempts during the campaign. She campaigned in 12 states and won the Louisiana, Mississippi, and New Jersey primaries earning 152 delegates. Chisholm said she ran for the office "in spite of hopeless odds... to demonstrate the sheer will and refusal to accept the status quo."

Chisholm retired from Congress in 1982.

After retirement she resumed her career in education, teaching politics and women's studies.

In 1993, she was inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame.

In 2014, the Shirley Chisholm Forever Stamp was issued.

Black History Month Fact -- Meet Forest Steven Whitaker

Story by Radio One

Forest Steven Whitaker was born July 15, 1961 in Longview, Texas. He was awarded The NAACP Chairman's Award at the 45th NAACP Image Awards this past Saturday. His acceptance speech can be seen here. http://www.tvoneonline.com/shows/45th-naacp-image-awards/video/image-awards--forest-whitaker-s-amazing-speech.html.

Whitaker moved to Carson, California when he was four.

He attended Cal Poly Pomona on a football scholarship, but due to a debilitating back injury he changed his major to music. He was accepted to the Music Conservatory at the University of Southern California to study opera as a tenor and subsequently was accepted into the University's Drama Conservatory. He graduated from USC in 1982.

In 1988, Whitaker had his first lead role starring as musician Charlie Parker in the Clint Eastwood directed film, Bird. To prepare himself for the part, he sequestered himself in a loft with only a bed, a couch, and a saxophone having taken alto sax lessons. His performance earned him the Best Actor award at the 1988 Cannes Film Festival and a Golden Globe nomination.

Whitaker starred as General Idi Amin in The Last King of Scotland, which earned him positive reviews by critics as well as multiple awards and honors. To portray the dictator, Whitaker gained 50 pounds, learned to play the accordion, and immersed himself in research. He read books about Amin, watched news and documentary footage, and spent time in Uganda meeting with Amin's friends, relatives, generals, and victims; he also learned Swahili and mastered Amin's East African accent. His performance earned him the 2007 Academy Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role, making him the fourth African-American actor in history to do so, joining the ranks of Sidney Poitier, Denzel Washington, and Jamie Foxx. For that same role, he was also recognized with a Golden Globe, Screen Actors Guild Award, and the British Academy of Film and Television Arts Award.

Whitaker branched out into producing and directing in the 1990s. In 1995, he directed his first feature, Waiting to Exhale. Whitaker was one of the producers of the film, Fruitvale Station, which won the Grand Jury Prize and the Audience Award for U.S. dramatic film at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival.

He is also a supporter and public advocate for Hope North, a boarding school and vocational training center in northern Uganda for escaped child soldiers, orphans, and other young victims of the country's civil war.

Whitaker was inducted as a UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador for Peace and Reconciliation in a ceremony at UNESCO headquarters on June 21, 2011. As Goodwill Ambassador, Whitaker works with UNESCO to support and develop initiatives that empower youths and keep them from entering or remaining in cycles of violence.

Rise in violence feared after Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman capture

Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman is under indictment in several U.S. cities, including Chicago, where the head of DEA there said he'll push for a trial. Guzman allegedly used Chicago as his headquarters for shipping drugs to Canada. Dean Reynolds reports. Video by CBS

Read more: http://www.cbsnews.com/news/rise-in-violence-feared-after-joaquin-el-chapo-guzman-capture/

Ukraine issues arrest warrant for missing leader

Story by AP
Written by Yuras Karmanau and Maria Danilova

SEVASTOPOL, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine's acting government issued an arrest warrant Monday for President Viktor Yanukovych, accusing him of mass crimes against the protesters who stood up for months against his rule. Yanukovych himself has reportedly fled to pro-Russian Black Sea peninsula of Crimea.

Calls are mounting in Ukraine to put Yanukovych on trial, after a tumultuous presidency in which he amassed powers, enriched his allies and family and cracked down on protesters. Anger boiled over last week after government snipers killed scores of protesters in the bloodiest violence in Ukraine's post-Soviet history.

The turmoil has turned this strategically located country of 46 million inside out over the past few days, raising fears that it could split apart. The parliament speaker is now nominally in charge of a country whose failing economy is on the brink of default and whose loyalties are sharply torn between Europe and longtime ruler Russia.

"The state treasury has been torn apart, the country has been brought to bankruptcy," Arseniy Yatsenyuk, a protest leader and prominent lawmaker whose name is being floated as a possibility for prime minister, said in parliament Monday.

Ukraine's acting finance minister said Monday that the country needs $35 billion (25.5 billion euros) to finance government needs this year and next and expressed hope that Europe or the United States would help.

Arsen Avakhov, the acting interior minister, said on his official Facebook page Monday that a warrant has been issued for the arrest of Yanukovych and several other officials for the "mass killing of civilians."

At least 82 people, primarily protesters, were killed in clashes in Kiev last week.

Per capita economic output is only around $7,300, even adjusted for the lower cost of living, compared to $22,200 in Poland and around $51,700 in the United States.

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/ukraine-issues-arrest-warrant-missing-leader-123251908--finance.html

Cumulus adopts six weeks of maternity leave.

Story by Inside Radio

Under federal law every employee is allowed up to 12 weeks of unpaid family leave for the birth of a child. That’s what most radio groups offer according to an informal survey.

But Cumulus Media will today implement a new policy that sets the bar higher for radio groups. It will offer women up to six weeks of time off – fully paid – for the birth of a child. That’s in addition to the standard vacation time that parents-to-be use around the big day.

The company says the new policy is available to all full-time, non-commission employees with at least one year of service. “We are committed to providing benefits that recognize employees' health and family needs, and providing fully-paid leave to new mothers after they give birth is the right thing to do,” CEO Lew Dickey says in a statement. Employees are being notified of the new benefit today in an updated employee handbook.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, only 11% of all private sector workers have access to paid family leave. Among media companies, Disney (12 weeks) and Google (seven) are among the few that offer the benefit in addition to Cumulus.

Gil Scott-Heron - The Revolution Will Not Be Televised

Video by BBC4 featuring Chuck D, The Last Poets, Brian Jackson, Langston Hughes, and Richie Havens

Black History Month Fact - Meet Edward Alexander Bouchet

Story by Radio One

Edward Alexander Bouchet was born in 1852 in New Haven, Connecticut.

At that time there were only three schools in New Haven open to Black children. Bouchet was enrolled in the Artisan Street Colored School which had only one teacher and she nurtured Bouchet's academic abilities. He attended the New Haven High School from 1866 to 1868 and then Hopkins School from 1868 to 1870 where he was named valedictorian (after graduating first in his class).

Bouchet was the first African American to graduate from Yale University in 1874. He completed his dissertation in Yale's Ph.D. program in 1876 becoming the first African American to receive a Ph.D. (in any subject). His area of study was Physics.

Bouchet was also the first African American to be elected to Phi Beta Kappa.

Bouchet was unable to find a university teaching position after college. He moved to Philadelphia in 1876 and took a position at the Institute for Colored Youth (ICY). He taught physics and chemistry at the ICY for 26 years. The ICY was later renamed Cheyney University.

He resigned in 1902 at the height of the W. E. B. Du Bois-Booker T. Washington controversy over the need for an industrial vs. collegiate education for Black students.

Bouchet spent the next 14 years holding a variety of jobs around the country. Between 1905 and 1908, Bouchet was director of academics at St. Paul's Normal and Industrial School in Lawrenceville, Virginia (presently, St. Paul's College). He was then principal and teacher at Lincoln High School in Gallipolis, Ohio from 1908 to 1913. He joined the faculty of Bishop College in Marshall, Texas in 1913.

Illness finally forced him to retire in 1916 and he moved back to New Haven. He died there, in his childhood home, in 1918, at age of 66.

The American Physical Society confers the Edward A. Bouchet Award on some of the nation's outstanding physicists for their contribution to physics.

In 2005, Yale and Howard universities founded the Edward A. Bouchet Graduate Honor Society in his name.

Black History Month Fact -- Meet Wilma Glodean Rudolph

Story by Radio One

Wilma Glodean Rudolph was born prematurely on June 23, 1940 at 4.5 pounds the 20th of 22 siblings from two marriages.

Rudolph contracted infantile paralysis (caused by the polio virus) at age four. She recovered, but wore a brace on her left leg and foot (which had become twisted as a result of the paralysis) until she was nine. She was required to wear an orthopedic shoe to support her foot for another two years. In addition, by the time she was 12 years old she had also survived a bout of scarlet fever.

Despite all of these health challenges, Rudolph became a basketball star setting state records for scoring and leading her team to the state championship. By the time she was 16, she earned a berth on the U.S. Olympic track and field team and came home from the 1956 Melbourne Games with an Olympic bronze medal in the 4×100 meter relay.

At the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome, she won three Olympic titles: in the 100 meter, 200 meter and 4×100 meter relay. Rudolph ran the 100-meter dash in an impressive 11 seconds flat. Her time in the 200-meter dash was 23.2 seconds, a new Olympic record. After these wins, she was hailed throughout the world as "the fastest woman in history".

In 1963, Rudolph was granted a full scholarship to Tennessee State University where she received her bachelor's degree in elementary education. After her athletic career, Rudolph worked as a teacher at Cobb Elementary School, coaching track at Burt High School, and became a sports commentator on national television. Wilma Rudolph was also a Professional Golfer.

Jordan Davis’ Parents React to Verdict

"It's sad for Mr. Dunn that he will live the rest of his life in that sense of torment. I will pray for him. I will ask my family to pray for him. But we are so grateful for the charges that have been brought against him, we are so grateful for the truth, we are so grateful that the jurors were able to understand the common sense of it all.''

Mistrial Declared on Murder Charge in Loud-Music Trial Jurors
Story by NBC News
Written by Elisha Fieldstadt
Contributors: NBC News’ Elizabeth Chuck and Reuters

Jurors on Saturday found a white Florida man guilty of three counts of attempted murder and one other charge for the fatal shooting of a black teenager over loud music, but a mistrial was declared on the most-serious charge against the defendant — first-degree murder.

After deliberating for more than 30 hours over four days, the jury convicted Michael Dunn, 47, of three counts of attempted murder in the second degree and one count of firing a deadly missile into an occupied vehicle, but deadlocked on the first-degree murder charge, prompting the judge in the case to declare a mistrial on that charge.

Florida State Attorney Angela Corey indicated she would seek a retrial on that count.

Sentencing on the other charges was set for March 24. Dunn still faces at least 60 years in prison on the lesser counts. He could face a sentence of life in prison if he was convicted on the first-degree murder charge on retrial.

Dunn argued he was acting in self-defense when he shot at an SUV 10 times while parked next to four teens at a Jacksonville, Fla., gas station in November 2012 after an argument about loud rap music emanating from the vehicle. The shots killed Jordan Davis, 17, of Marietta, Ga.

Dunn showed no emotion as the verdicts were read. Davis' parents left the courtroom in tears.

But Dunn’s attorney, Cory Strolla, said later that his client was stunned by the results.

“He basically said, ‘How is this happening?’“ he said. “It has not settled in.”

“It’s been a long, long road and we're so very happy to have just a little bit of closure,'' Davis' mother, Lucy McBath, told reporters later.

"It's sad for Mr. Dunn that he will live the rest of his life in that sense of torment. I will pray for him. I will ask my family to pray for him. But we are so grateful for the charges that have been brought against him, we are so grateful for the truth, we are so grateful that the jurors were able to understand the common sense of it all.''

On Dunn's potentially lengthy sentence, Davis' father, Ron Davis, said: "He's going to learn that he must be remorseful for the killing of my son, that it was not just another day at the office."

The case has been compared to that of George Zimmerman, the neighborhood watch volunteer who was acquitted of murder in the shooting death of unarmed black teen Trayvon Martin in Florida. Like the Zimmerman trial, the case has drawn international attention due to racial overtones and its connection to gun and self-defense laws.

Judge Russell Healey sent the jurors back to continue deliberations earlier Saturday when they indicated a deadlock on the murder charge, saying he wanted them to return to the jury room and express the weakness of each of their arguments.

The sequestered jury of eight whites, two blacks, one Asian and one Hispanic also had asked the judge on if they could rule whether self-defense was applicable to any of the five counts individually.

Healey answered that “self-defense or justifiable use of deadly force applies separately for each count."

“Each count has to, by law, be considered separately,” Healey said, adding that he realized, “It’s not easy to compartmentalize these things.”

NBC legal expert and former U.S. Attorney Kendall Coffey said the jury’s question showed they were divided about whether Dunn’s claim of self-defense justifies his shots at the other three teens. Some jurors might feel Dunn assumed Davis presented danger, but the other three individuals in the car did not, Coffey added.

Dunn, a software engineer who has a concealed weapons permit and no prior convictions, was waiting in his car while his fiancée was buying snacks inside the gas station convenience store when he got into a verbal fight with Davis and his friends over the volume of their music.

While testifying in his own defense on Tuesday, Dunn said that he started shooting because he felt threatened when he thought he saw the barrel of a gun emerge from the back window as Davis allegedly started getting out of the Dodge Durango.

Police said they didn’t find a weapon in the SUV the teens were in, and prosecutors said Davis — who had no police record — never exhibited a physical threat. Prosecutors also said forensic evidence proved that Davis never left the SUV.

Still, defense lawyer Cory Strolla argued Wednesday that Dunn “had every reason to stand his ground," using language pointing to a controversial self-defense law allowing people to use deadly force in lieu of retreating if they feel endangered by another person.

But Assistant State Attorney Erin Wolfson said, “This defendant does not get to claim self-defense."

“This defendant may have forever silenced Jordan Davis, but he cannot silence the truth," Wolfson added.

Davis’ 19th birthday would have been Sunday.

President Obama Weekly Address: Calling on Congress to Raise the Minimum Wage 2-15-14

This week, President Obama took action to lift more workers’ wages by requiring that federal contractors pay their employees a fair wage of at least $10.10 an hour. In this week’s address, he highlights that executive action and calls on Congress to pass a bill to raise the federal minimum wage for all workers.

Black History Month Fact - Meet Granville Woods

Tribute by Radio One

Granville Woods was born on April 23, 1856 in Columbus, Ohio. He spent his early years attending school until the age of 10 at which point he began working in a machine shop repairing railroad equipment and machinery.

Intrigued by the electricity that powered the machinery, Woods studied other machine workers as they attended to different pieces of equipment and paid other workers to sit down and explain electrical concepts to him. Over the next few years, Woods moved around the country working on railroads and in steel rolling mills. This experience helped to prepare him for a formal education studying engineering although he never received a degree.

After two years of studying, Woods obtained a job as an engineer on a British steamship called the Ironsides. Two years later he obtained employment with D & S Railroads, driving a steam locomotive. Unfortunately, despite his high aptitude and valuable education and expertise, Woods was denied opportunities and promotions.

Out of frustration and a desire to promote his abilities, Woods, along with his brother, formed the Woods Railway Telegraph Company in 1884. The company manufactured and sold telephone, telegraph and electrical equipment.

In 1885, Woods patented an apparatus which was a combination of a telephone and a telegraph. The device, which he called "telegraphony," would allow a telegraph station to send voice and telegraph messages over a single wire. The device was so successful that he later sold it to the American Bell Telephone Company.

In 1887, Woods developed his most important invention to date - a device he called Synchronous Multiplex Railway Telegraph. A variation of the "induction telegraph," it allowed for messages to be sent from moving trains and railway stations. By allowing dispatchers to know the location of each train, it provided for greater safety and a decrease in railway accidents.

Other inventors made claims to his devices, including Thomas Edison. Woods was twice successful in defending himself against Edison's claims proving that there were no other devices upon which he could have depended or relied upon to make his device. After the second defeat, Edison decided that it would be better to work with Woods than against him and thus offered him a position with the Edison Company.

Over the course of his life Woods would obtain more than 50 patents and sell a number of his devices to such giants as Westinghouse, General Electric and American Engineering.

Comcast Agrees to Buy Time Warner Cable for $45.2 Billion

Read more: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-02-12/comcast-said-to-agree-to-pay-159-a-share-for-time-warner-cable.html

Ex-Mayor of New Orleans Ray Nagin convicted

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/ex-orleans-mayor-convicted-taking-bribes-190120317.html

US Attorney General Eric Holder Wants Ex-Felons to Get Their Voting Rights Back

Story by Slate
Written by Kevin Tunney
Photo by AP

Attorney General Eric Holder on Tuesday urged states to repeal laws that bar ex-felons from voting after they have served their time behind bars, a proposal that would restore voting rights to millions of Americans if it were to be enacted.

"These restrictions are not only unnecessary and unjust, they are also counterproductive," Holder said during a news-making speech at Georgetown University. "By perpetuating the stigma and isolation imposed on formerly incarcerated individuals, these laws increase the likelihood they will commit future crimes."

Here's more on the reasoning behind the proposal and what it means for the national debate, via the Washington Post:

Holder said that current laws forbidding felons from voting make it harder for them to reintegrate into society. He pointed to a recent study, which showed that felons in Florida who were granted the right to vote again had a lower recidivism rate. ...

Holder does not have the authority to force states to change their laws, but his request could influence the debate to restore voting rights. His appeal is part of a broader effort currently underway by the Justice Department to reform the criminal justice system, which U.S. officials say often treats minority groups unfairly.

By Holder's count, a total of 11 states currently restrict voting rights after a person has been released from prison and is no longer on probation and parole, laws that disenfranchise roughly 5.8 million Americans. Of that group, about 2.2 million are black citizens—or nearly one in 13 African-American adults.

President Obama today will sign an Executive order to raise minimum wage to 10.10 dollars an hour for Federal Contractors

In his State of the Union address, President Obama called on Congress to raise the federal minimum wage from $7.25 to $10.10 an hour, and announced he would issue an Executive Order to raise the minimum wage to $10.10 for federal contract workers. Today, the President will sign that Executive Order.

Read more: http://www.whitehouse.gov/raise-the-wage?utm_source=snapshot&utm_medium=email&utm_content=021214-topper

Black History Month Fact--Meet James Cleveland ("Jesse") Owens

Story by Radio One

James Cleveland "Jesse" Owens was born September 12, 1913 in Oakville, Alabama, the youngest of 10 children. J.C., as he was called, was nine years old when the family moved to Cleveland, Ohio for better opportunities.

When his new teacher asked his name he said "J.C.", but because of his strong Southern accent, she thought he said "Jesse". The name took, and he was known as Jesse Owens for the rest of his life.

As a boy and youth, Owens took different jobs in his spare time: he delivered groceries, loaded freight cars and worked in a shoe repair shop while his father and older brother worked at a steel mill.

During this period, Owens realized that he had a passion for running. Throughout his life Owens attributed the success of his athletic career to the encouragement of Charles Riley, his junior high track coach at Fairmount Junior High School. Since Owens worked in a shoe repair shop after school, Riley allowed him to practice before school instead.

Owens participated in the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin, Germany, where he achieved international fame by winning four gold medals: one each in the 100 meters, the 200 meters, the long jump, and as part of the 4x100 meter relay team. He was the most successful athlete at the 1936 Summer Olympics. The Jesse Owens Award, USA Track and Field's highest accolade for the year's best track and field athlete, is named after him, in honor of his significant career.

Black Radio Archive: October 24, 2000 Legendary WBLS's Chief Rocker Frankie Crocker Dies of Cancer in Florida

Video Production above by Curtis Stephens
Article below by Monte Williams
Video Tributes below by WRKS (narrated by Bob Slade) and WBLS

Frankie Crocker, a veteran radio broadcaster and program director who helped catapult WBLS-FM, the black-music format radio station, to the No. 1 spot among listeners ages 18 to 34 in New York City twice in the last three decades, died Saturday of pancreatic cancer. His age was uncertain.

For the past four weeks, Mr. Crocker had been hospitalized in a Miami area hospital, where he died. He had kept his illness a secret from his friends and even from his mother, a former colleague of Mr. Crocker's told The Associated Press.

On the air, he sometimes called himself the Chief Rocker, and he was as well known for his self-aggrandizing on-air patter as for his off-air flamboyance. He wore his hair long and drove flashy cars. When Studio 54 was at the height of its popularity, Mr. Crocker rode in through the front entrance on a white stallion.

''He knew how to attract attention,'' said Hal Jackson, a venerable broadcaster and group chairman of Inner City Broadcasting, the owner of WBLS. ''We called him Hollywood.''

In the studio, before he left for the day, Mr. Crocker would light a candle and invite female listeners to enjoy a candlelight bath with him.

He actually did light a candle. Sound effects simulated running water.

Mr. Crocker, a native of Buffalo, coined the phrase ''urban contemporary'' in the 1970's, a label for the eclectic mix of songs that he played (everybody ''from James Brown to Dinah Shore,'' as Mr. Jackson said).

Mr. Crocker, who last worked for WBLS about four years ago before moving to California, played a recurring role in a pitched battle for audiences among New York's black-oriented radio stations.





After first joining WBLS in the 1970's, he left the station twice and was rehired in 1995 as both D.J. and program director to regain listeners who had defected to rival WRKS, better known as KISS-FM. ''We'll be planning our work, then working our plan,'' he said in an interview that year.


Frankie Crocker himself being real about the changes in Black Radio and Music TV Channels

He was rehired by WBLS as part of efforts to bring the station back to the top spot in the metropolitan region, most recently in the mid-1990's, when it fell from No. 5 to No. 13 in the Arbitron ratings.

Mr. Crocker worked most recently in California on a gospel radio show and in New York on a Saturday night countdown show on the rhythm and blues station KISS-FM.

Mr. Crocker was also employed by stations in Los Angeles, St. Louis and Chicago.

He was the master of ceremonies of shows at the Apollo Theater in Harlem and was one of the first V.J.'s on VH-1, the video cable channel. He also played host of the TV show ''Solid Gold.''

As an actor, Mr. Crocker appeared in five films, including ''Cleopatra Jones'' and ''Darktown Strutters.''

He is survived by his 82-year-old mother, Frances Crocker.

**Alert:** Emmis Buys New York Pair - WBLS and WLIB

Briefing by Inside Radio

Emmis Communications has struck a $131 million deal to buy urban AC WBLS (107.5) and gospel WLIB (1190) from YMF Media. The two stations will be paired with Emmis’ heritage urban outlet “Hot 97” WQHT. The operations and studios for WBLS and WQHT have been co-located with WQHT since 2012, and more than 40% of their employees are Emmis alumni drawn from its former New York urban AC “Kiss 98.7” WRKS.

"Today's announcement is indicative of our belief in the US radio industry and our desire to increase our footprint in the nation's largest market," Emmis CEO Jeff Smulyan says in a statement. "Emmis has deep ties to the New York African-American community, and it is with great pride we take the helm of these iconic stations."

YMF general manager Deon Levingston will become GM of Emmis' New York cluster when the a local marketing agreement begins March 1. Levingston previously worked for Emmis in various management roles.

Great White Sharks feed

Video by ITM/Discovery Channel


Video by Grind TV/BBC

President Obama to launch new initiative to address challenges facing African-Americans and Latino men

Story by the Grio
Written by Percy Bacon Jr.

President Obama will unveil this week a new program to address specific challenges facing black and Latino young men, who studies show are disproportionately unlikely to graduate from high school or attend and finish college.

In the “My Brother’s Keeper” initiative, which the White House has dubbed the program, the President will direct the federal government to look for ways to help minority men ages 12-18, such as a recent set of guidelines issued by the Department of Education that encourages schools to try to avoid suspending students, as minority males are often those who are removed from classrooms.

The President will also announce a partnership with business leaders and foundations in which they will pledge to create and support programs around the country like the Harlem Children’s Zone that have been found to help minority students, White House officials said.

This program is modeled after a project started by New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg in 2011 called the Young Men’s Initiative. It also targeted black and Latino men and boys for extra help.

This new effort, which will include an event at the White House on Thursday, is an attempt to meet two of President Obama’s goals. It’s part of his strategy this year to work around Congress and instead use business leaders and other officials to enact his policies. And the initiative fulfills the promise Obama made last year in his speech after the acquittal of George Zimmerman in the killing of Trayvon Martin to target some of his policies specifically to help young male black men.

More broadly, this initiative, like policy changes announced last year by the Obama administration to reduce drug sentencing disparities that disproportionately affect minorities, show a president who wants part of his legacy to be policies that benefit people of color and low-income Americans, two groups whose struggles Obama says motivated him to get into politics in the first place.

The initiative could address criticisms by black activists such as commentator Tavis Smiley, who argues African-Americans have twice voted overwhelmingly Obama, but he has done little in return to address the high jobless rate among blacks.

White House officials would not say how much federal money would go into this new program.

The President's aides said that Thursday’s event would include boys from a Chicago-based group called “Becoming a Man.” The President has become an informal mentor to some of the students in this group, meeting with them in Chicago early last year and then inviting them to the White House. .

Black History Month Fact--Meet Elijah J. McCoy

Elijah J. McCoy, born May 2, 1844, was a Black Canadian–American inventor and engineer.

McCoy was born to George and Mildred McCoy who had escaped from Kentucky to Canada via the Underground Railroad. In 1847, the family returned to the U.S., settling in Ypsilanti, Michigan.

At age 15, McCoy traveled to Edinburgh, Scotland for an apprenticeship and study. After some years he was certified in Scotland as a mechanical engineer.

He rejoined his family in Michigan but could find work only as a fireman and oiler at the Michigan Central Railroad. In a home-based machine shop in Ypsilanti McCoy also did more highly skilled work, such as developing improvements and inventions.

He invented an automatic lubricator for oiling the steam engines of locomotives and ships, "Improvement in Lubricators for Steam-Engines" (U.S. Patent 129,843). Lubricators were a boon for railroads as they enabled trains to run faster and more profitably with less need to stop for lubrication and maintenance. McCoy continued to refine his devices and design new ones; 50 of his 57 patents dealt with lubricating systems.

The popular expression "The Real McCoy," which typically means the real thing, has been associated with McCoy's oil-drip cup invention. One theory is that railroad engineers would inquire if a locomotive was fitted with "the real McCoy system" in order to avoid inferior copies. This possible origin is mentioned as a legend in Elijah McCoy's biography at the National Inventors Hall of Fame.

Black History Month Fact--Meet Matthew Alexander Henson

Matthew Alexander Henson was the first African-American Arctic explorer, an associate of Robert Peary on seven voyages over a period of nearly twenty-three years.

At the age of twelve, Henson made his way to Baltimore, Maryland, where he went to sea as a cabin boy on a merchant ship named Katie Hines. Henson sailed around the world for the next several years.

While working at a clothing store in Washington, D.C., in November 1887, Henson met Commander Robert E. Peary. Learning of Henson's sea experience, Peary recruited him as an aide for his planned voyage and surveying expedition to Nicaragua, with four other men. Peary supervised 45 engineers on the canal survey in Nicaragua.

Impressed with Henson’s seamanship on that voyage, Peary recruited him to travel to the Arctic. Henson served as a navigator and craftsman, traded with the Inuit people and learned their language, and was known as Peary's "first man" for these arduous travels.

Champion of African American History: Carter G. Woodson

Story by Whitehouse.gov
Written by Senior Adviser to the President and Chair of the White House Council on Women and Girls Valerie Jarrett

In the fall of 1870, a handful of students made their way through the northwest quadrant of the nation's capital, and through the doors of D.C.'s "Preparatory High School for Colored Youth," the country's first public high school for African American children. There, in the shadow of the American Civil War, and dawned with the spark of reconstruction, a converted basement-turned-classroom in the lower floor of Fifteenth Street Presbyterian Church bore the seeds of Dunbar High School, which would become one of the country's preeminent institutions for African American educational achievement. The students and teachers who graced its hallways would be heard through the years in the halls of Congress, in the highest ranks of the U.S. military, at the heart of our civil rights movement, and in the upper echelons of medical and scientific study.

One such voice was that of Carter G. Woodson; a journalist, author, historian, and co-founder of the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History (ASNLH). It was through his work with the ASNLH that Woodson spearheaded the celebration of "Negro History Week" in America, which served as the precursor to Black History Month, which was officially recognized by President Gerald Ford in 1976.

The son of former slaves, Woodson grew up poor, and unable to attend school regularly. Still, he managed to master scholastic fundamentals on his own. After entering high school at the age of 20, he earned his degree in 2 years and continued on with an impressive academic career earning a bachelor's degree from Berea College in Kentucky, a post as a school supervisor in the Philippines for nearly five years, a master's degree in 1908 from the University of Chicago, and his Ph.D. in history from Harvard University in 1912.

After Harvard, Woodson moved to Washington, D.C. and joined the Dunbar High School staff, which at that point was called the "M Street School." He taught there for years until joining the faculty at Howard University, where he began teaching Howard's first ever black history courses.

Carter Woodson spent his career promoting the importance of black history as part of the American story, and in context of the birth and evolution of global civilizations. With the publication of The Journal of Negro History, the formation of the ASNLH, and the inception of Negro History Week, Woodson is often cited as the "father of black history," and one of the earliest champions of African American empowerment through historic learning.

Woodson taught us that, "those who have no record of what their forebears have accomplished lose the inspiration which comes from the teaching of biography and history."

It was his belief that a thorough and prideful understanding of our history as Americans, and a full grasp of the contributions of black people would provide us the foundation and vision we need to confidently contribute to society, and reach our full potential.

I was struck by Carter Woodson's story both as we observe Black History Month at the White House, and as I reflect on the tangential story of another Dunbar faithful. My father, Dr. James E. Bowman, who would be 91 years old today, attended Dunbar and graduated at the age of 16, decades after Mr. Woodson had moved on, and amidst another era of struggle and restructuring in America. He would later become a renowned pathologist and expert in genetics and inherited disease, as well as the first African American resident at St. Luke's Hospital in Chicago, and the first African American to receive tenure at the University of Chicago Division of Biological Sciences. Like Mr. Woodson, and so many others over the years, my dad broke down barriers throughout his life and career, and left us a world better than the one he found.

Today, Dunbar struggles against many of the same economic, social, family, and scholastic barriers to success that face so many schools in America, and which leave too many children fighting for the chance they deserve. But we can certainly learn from Carter Woodson, that we need only look to our past to understand our capacity for forging our own destiny in the face of unrelenting challenges. The strength of our future as a country, as always, lives in the hearts and minds of our young people, and I can think of no surer vessel in which to place our faith.

Carter G. Woodson is buried at Lincoln Memorial Cemetery in Suitland-Silver Hill, Maryland, and his D.C. home is preserved as a National Historic Site.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________

KT: Carter G Woodson is also the author of ground-breaking and timeless book "The Mis-Education of the Negro": http://www.amazon.com/Mis-Education-Negro-Carter-Godwin-Woodson/dp/1440463506

Black History Month Fact--Meet Pearl Mae Bailey

Pearl Mae Bailey was an American singer and actress.

She is probably most remembered for her role as matchmaker "Dolly Gallagher Levi" in David Merrick's production of Hello Dolly!—a part first created on Broadway by Carol Channing. The all-black version of Hello Dolly! played on Broadway from 1967 to 1969, and garnered Bailey the theater's highest honor, the Tony Award.

Bailey was given an honorary degree by Georgetown University in 1978, and while receiving her award onstage she told the audience that she planned to return to college there the following year. In 1985, after five years of studying she graduated with a B.A. in Theology at the age of 67. Bailey’s first major was French. When asked why she switched from French to Theology she allegedly said, "Because it's easier to know the Lord than it is to know French."

Jordan Davis: Opening Statements In Trial Over Loud Music Death

Story by AP

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Prosecutors are presenting their opening statements in the trial of a Florida man charged with fatally shooting a 17-year-old teen during an argument over loud music at a Jacksonville gas station.

Michael Dunn’s trial is getting under way Thursday, a day after a panel of 12 jurors and four alternates was picked.

Authorities say 47-year-old Michael Dunn fatally shot Jordan Davis of Marietta, Ga., outside a convenience store in Jacksonville in November 2012. Dunn has claimed he felt threatened and thought Davis had a gun.

Dunn and Davis had begun arguing after Dunn complained that music coming from a vehicle with Davis and two friends was too loud.

The trial is expected to last more than a week.

Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater

America's cultural ambassador to the world, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater returns to the Kennedy Center in Washington DC USA for its annual engagement with its winning combination of captivating new works and enduring classics - Now through Sunday February 9th. (photo by Andrew Eccles)

Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater
Robert Battle, Artistic Director
Masazumi Chaya, Associate Artistic Director

"The popularity that the Ailey company now enjoys is phenomenal."
--The New York Times

"Thrilling. Superb. Dancers going to the absolute limit."
--The New Yorker

One of the world's favorite dance companies, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater grew from a now-fabled performance in March 1958 at the 92nd Street Y in New York City. What makes this phenomenal company so special is the incomparable sense of joy, freedom, and spirit that the dancers and audiences share. Discover for yourself what tens of millions of fans already know--you don't just see an Ailey performance, you feel it.

Artistic Director Robert Battle, "who understands the limits of a company's past, even if that past is still popular beyond belief" (Time Out Chicago), is pushing boundaries by presenting new works from leading international choreographers in addition to Company favorites. The Ailey dancers return to the Center for their annual engagement with three programs:

Program A
Tue., Feb. 4 at 7 p.m.; Fri. & Sat., Feb. 7 & 8 at 7:30 p.m.
Chroma / D-Man in the Waters (Part I) / Revelations
Program B
Wed., Feb. 5 at 7:30 p.m., Sun., Feb. 9 at 1:30 p.m.
The River / Four Corners / Revelations
Program C
Thu., Feb. 6 at 7:30 p.m., Sat. Feb. 8 at 1:30 p.m.
LIFT / Petite Mort / Revelations

Link: http://www.kennedy-center.org/events/?event=DODSE

First Lady Michelle Obama: “I’m First”

The First Lady talks about being the first in her family to attend college. The above video is part of the “I’m First” storytelling project, which lifts up the stories of first generation college students in order to inspire future generations, many HS Seniors facing a deadline to select their College for the Fall of 2014.

Transcript of the First Lady’s video message:

Hi! My name is Michelle Obama and I’m first!

Neither of my parents graduated from college, so when I got to campus as a freshman, I’ll admit I was a little overwhelmed. I didn’t know how to choose my classes or find the right classrooms. I didn’t even know how to furnish my own dorm room. In fact, when I moved in, I realized that I hadn’t even packed the right size sheets for my bed. Mine were way too short. So that first night, I slept with my legs sticking out past the end of the sheets, rubbing up against one of those old plastic mattresses… and I ended up sleeping that way for my entire freshman year.

But here’s the thing – I may not have had the right sheets, but I learned pretty quickly that I had what it took to succeed in college.

Sure, there were moments when I had doubts. At first, I even worried that maybe I just wasn’t as smart as some of my classmates. But soon enough I realized that that was all in my head. I was just as smart as everyone else – and I had just as much to contribute – I just had to have the confidence to believe in myself and the determination to work hard and ask for help when I needed it.

So that’s my message to all of you – no matter where you come from or how much money your family has, I want you to know that you can succeed in college, and get your degree, and then go on to build an incredible life for yourself.

That’s been my life story, and my husband’s as well. And if you’re willing to put in the time and the effort, I want you to know that it can be your story too.

So I want to wish you the best of luck in the years ahead… I know you can do it.

Black History Month--Meet Matthew MacKenzie Robinson

Matthew MacKenzie Robinson was born in 1914 and was the older brother of Jackie Robinson.

Mack Robinson, as he was affectionately called, attended Pasadena City College where he set national junior college records in the 100 meter, 200 meter, and long jump events. He then went on to win a silver medal in the 200-yard dash in the 1936 Olympics coming in second to Jesse Owens, another African-American athlete.

Later in life he was known for leading the fight against street crime in his home town of Pasadena, California.

Several locations are named in honor of Robinson. In addition to the Pasadena Robinson Memorial, the stadium of Pasadena City College was dedicated to him in 2000. That same year, the United States Postal Service approved naming the new post office in Pasadena the Matthew 'Mack' Robinson Post Office Building.

Cochran Firm to Hold Press Briefing About DC Firefighter's Refusal to Treat Dying Man Near Station

MEDIA ALERT

Family of Medric Cecil Mills, Jr. and Attorney to Hold Press Conference Regarding D.C. Firefighter’s Refusal to Treat the Senior Citizen During An Emergency Near Station House

WHAT: The family of Medric Cecil Mills, Jr. and their attorney, Karen E. Evans of The Cochran Firm, D.C., will hold a press conference to bring attention to what they view as the unconscionable treatment of the 77-year-old Washington, D.C. resident and longtime employee of the Department of Parks and Recreation. Witnesses say Mills collapsed on January 25, 2014, across the street from Engine Company 26 fire station at 1340 Rhode Island Avenue in Northeast Washington, D.C. while firefighters allegedly watched from across the street and refused to respond to multiple pleas for help. Mills suffered a heart attack and died at the MedStar Washington Hospital Center later that afternoon. The Mills family has retained The Cochran Firm to represent them.

WHO:
- Karen E. Evans of The Cochran Firm’s Washington, D.C. office
- Family of the Medric Cecil Mills, Jr.

WHEN:
- Thursday, February 6, 2014
- 11:00 a.m. EST

WHERE:
- Brentwood Village Shopping Center parking lot (1301-1333 Rhode Island Avenue NE, Washington, D.C. 20018)

CONTACT:
William Atkinson, Media Relations,
The Cochran Firm, D.C.
202-682-5800
Watkinson@CochranFirm.com

LAPD Officers Violated Policy In Manhunt

Story by AP

LOS ANGELES — Eight Los Angeles police officers violated department policy when they mistakenly riddled a pickup truck with bullets, injuring two women, during a manhunt last year for cop-turned-killer Christopher Dorner, a civilian oversight board announced Tuesday.

Police Chief Charlie Beck and Alex Bustamante, inspector general for the Los Angeles Police Commission, independently recommended that the shooting be ruled out of policy, commission President Steve Soboroff said. He did not provide further details.

Beck will decide disciplinary measures for the officers, who were assigned to non-field duties during an LAPD investigation. Possible measures include reprimands, suspensions or even firings.

At a news conference, Beck said he couldn’t comment on what discipline the officers may receive because personnel information is private.

Last year, the city paid the women $4.2 million to settle a claim. That was in addition to a separate $40,000 settlement for the loss of their truck.

The Police Commission’s determination didn’t surprise the women’s attorney, Glen Jonas.

“There (are) 4.2 million reasons I have to believe it’s out of policy,” he said. “Anyone with any common sense would agree it’s out of policy.”

Read more: http://newsone.com/2863988/lapd-officers-violated-policy-in-manhunt/

Black History Month: Find Your Roots Through DNA Testing

Want to find your roots? Roland Martin and the “NewsOne Now” panel discussed DNA ancestry research Monday with Gina Paige from AfricanAncestry.com.

“For us as African Americans, we hit a brick wall when we go through that traditional genealogical path,” Paige says. “What we’re doing at African Ancestry is taking what’s innate in us, our DNA, and using that to reconnect and replenish our identities…Imagine is we all knew where we came from. We wouldn’t have that void in our identities.”



Paige says African Ancestry’s researchers examine mitochondrial DNA to connect customers with their distant African relatives by sorting through the largest database of indigenous African to look for matches. Celebrities including Oprah Winfrey, Quincy Jones, Rev. Jesse Jackson and Roland Martin have all taken the test.

Microsoft Signals New Era With Thompson as Chairman

Story by Bloomberg
Written by Dina Bass and Peter Burrows

With Microsoft Corp. (MSFT)’s appointment of John Thompson as chairman to replace co-founder Bill Gates, the world’s largest software maker is looking to the veteran technology executive as the main outside voice in its new leadership structure.

Thompson was the lead independent director heading the board’s search for a new chief executive officer, resulting in the appointment of Microsoft insider Satya Nadella to replace Steve Ballmer, the Redmond, Washington-based company said in a statement today. While the naming of Thompson and Nadella, who were already involved in Microsoft’s transition, signal continuity, it’s also the biggest break in the company’s history as the Gates-Ballmer duo who have been in charge for more than three decades step aside.

The former CEO of Symantec Corp. (SYMC), Thompson, 64, is stepping in at a crucial point as Microsoft remakes itself to better compete with rivals including Apple Inc. (AAPL) and Google Inc. (GOOG) In picking Thompson, the board is betting that he’ll be able to use his experience running a security-software company to help turn around Microsoft.

‘Major Voice’

“Thompson’s going to be a major voice for the company,” James Staten, an analyst at Forrester Research, said in an interview. “They wouldn’t have made him chairman, if he didn’t have strong opinions about how to drive the company forward. And Satya is looking for strong partners on the board.”

In a video that Microsoft posted online, Thompson said he was “looking forward to working closely with Satya and other members of the board. The board is always focused on long-term success of this great company and takes seriously its responsibilities to shareholders to ensure long-term success.”

As Microsoft’s key products face decline, Thompson and Nadella will oversee a transition to a new organizational structure and integrate the $7.2 billion acquisition of Nokia Oyj (NOK1V)’s handset unit. The management transition at Microsoft follows the worst decline on record for personal computers in 2013, when shipments dropped 10 percent and are projected to languish through 2017.

Thompson knows what it’s like to be at the head of a struggling incumbent. While at Symantec in 2005, he orchestrated the ill-fated $10.2 billion purchase of Veritas Software Corp., in an effort to push into data storage. When Thompson stepped down as CEO four years later, Symantec was contending with slowing growth amid an economic downturn and rising competition. Thompson joined Microsoft as a director in 2012 as part of an expansion of the board.

Florida Roots

The son of a Florida postal worker and a teacher, Thompson joined International Business Machines Corp. (IBM) straight out of Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University in 1971. The IBM interviewer said he was interested in a stereo, so Thompson spent the session trying to sell him one, Thompson wrote in a New York Times column in 2012. He wound up with a job as a sales representative for IBM in Tampa, Florida.

Thompson likes to tell people he spent “27 years, 9 months and 13 days at IBM” before joining technology security company Symantec as CEO in 1999. He took the company from $600 million to $6 billion in sales over his decade-long tenure, before stepping down in 2009. Thompson currently runs Virtual Instruments Inc., a San Jose, California-based maker of software that tracks application and hardware performance.

After joining Microsoft’s board in February 2012, Thompson was involved in discussions about the company’s performance under Ballmer, regulatory filings show. The board, in annual reviews, rebuked the CEO for poor results in Windows and tablets machines, even as it lauded areas such as server software and expense cutting.

The Chairmanship

Thompson helped to create an environment that sped Ballmer’s decision to retire, according to people with knowledge of the matter, and the director led the board in pressing the CEO on his strategy. Thompson listened to each board member and made sure Ballmer heard them, improving lines of communication and making strategy talks more productive, the people said.

The new chairman is only Microsoft’s second since the company was founded by Gates and Paul Allen in 1975. Some external candidates who discussed the CEO job with Microsoft expressed concerns they would lack independence if both Ballmer and Gates stayed on as directors, people familiar with their thinking have said. Gates and Ballmer together own 8.3 percent of the stock; Gates is Microsoft’s largest individual shareholder with a 4.3 percent stake.

A new director set to join the board next month is Mason Morfit, president of activist shareholder ValueAct Holdings LP. He’s eager to see Microsoft emphasize its business software and Internet-based cloud services rather than consumer technology, people familiar with the situation have said.

The nine-member board includes seven independent directors. Three of the seven have been on the board for more than eight years, including 33 years for David Marquardt, an early investor in the software maker.

Why Did Barack Obama Waste His Time Interviewing With Bill O’Reilly?

Story by Kulture Kritic
By David Bloodsaw

If you didn’t know, there was a pre-Super Bowl interview between President Obama and Fox News pundit Bill O’Reilly. The interview ventured into testy territories between the two which aired before the most watched sports event in the United States.

The Huffington Post reports that President Obama accused Fox News of keeping controversial topics alive that the White House feels have been settled.

O’Reilly questioned the President about Benghazi and the IRS scandal and even positing that the White House has distracted from those issues to avoid criticism and to protect his image.

According to Huffington Post, O’Reilly said, “Your detractors believe that you did not tell the world [Benghazi] was a terror attack because your campaign didn’t want that out. “That’s what they believe.”

“And they believe it because folks like you tell them that,” Obama said. “These kinds of things keep on surfacing in part because you and your TV station will promote them.”

Bill O’Reilly also brought up the unveiling of the healthcare plan and the many problems with that. O’Reilly asked why the White House did not fire Kathleen Sebelius the Health and Human Services Secretary after the website didn’t operate properly and took a month to get people enrolled.

Obama reaffirmed that, “My main priority right now is making sure that it delivers for the American people.”

President Obama said some “boneheaded” decisions were the cause for extra scrutiny of Tea Party Members seeking tax-exempt status. O’Reilly pressed the President why the IRS Head Douglas Shulman visited the White House 157 times, which Obama said were routine. Obama said those issues were cleared up in multiple hearings in Congress.

Bill O’Reilly closed the interview with stating that he believes the President’s heart is in the right place. POTUS responded by saying he enjoyed it.

Black History Month Fact--Meet Lewis Howard Latimer

Black History Fact by Radio One

Lewis Howard Latimer was born in Chelsea, Massachusetts on September 4, 1848, and was the youngest of five children.

Lewis Latimer joined the U.S. Navy at the age of 15. After receiving an honorable discharge from the Navy on July 3, 1865, he gained employment with a patent law firm, Crosby Halstead and Gould.

He learned how to use a set square, ruler, and other tools. Later, after his boss recognized his talent for sketching patent drawings, Latimer was promoted to the position of head draftsman earning $20.00 a week by 1872.

In 1876, Alexander Graham Bell employed Latimer, then a draftsman at Bell's patent law firm, to draft the necessary drawings required to receive a patent for Bell's telephone.

Third World's Reggae singer 'Bunny Rugs' Clarke dies at age 65

Story by AP
Written by Howard Campbell

KINGSTON, Jamaica -- William "Bunny Rugs" Clarke, the husky-voiced lead singer of internationally popular reggae band Third World, died of leukemia at his home in Florida, longtime friends and colleagues said Monday. He was 65.

Former bandmate Colin Leslie said the singer died Sunday in Orlando a week after he was released from a hospital following cancer treatment.

Clarke worked with the band Inner Circle and top reggae producer Lee "Scratch" Perry in Jamaica before joining Third World in 1976. The next year, the band released "96 Degrees in the Shade," one of its most popular albums. The group was signed to Island Records and had hits on British and U.S. charts, including "Now That We Found Love," "Always Around" and "Reggae Ambassador." He performed on all of Third World's records except the group's debut.

Stevie Wonder, who performed on stage with the band at Jamaica's Reggae Sunsplash festival in 1981, co-wrote and produced Third World's 1982 song "Try Jah Love."

"He was a remarkable talent. Bunny had a great voice, something even Stevie Wonder admired," Leslie said.

Clarke and Third World were known for seamlessly fusing reggae with soul and pop music, something they were occasionally criticized for by reggae purists. In a 1992 interview with Billboard magazine, he described the band's identity this way: "Strictly a reggae band, no. Definitely a reggae band, yes."

Drummer Willie Stewart, who kept the beat in Third World until 1997, said Monday that the fun-loving Clarke "loved his art but always had a joke."

In a government statement noting Clarke's death, Culture Minister Lisa Hanna said: "Bunny Rugs' voice was distinct. He had a charisma and stage presence that was spellbinding with a smile that was vibrant."

Clarke is survived by his wife and eight children.