Category: North Carolina

Hansbrough hit by Henderson

Bloody Hansbrough
UNC beats Duke, clinches top ACC seed, N&O, (Good audio of the Coaches after game.)

I saw this live on TV and I still can’t believe it happened. I’ll post more links about it in the morning…

Continued
Carolina beat Duke 86 to 72 in a game that gave UNC the ACC’s top spot. But in the last few seconds Tyler Hansbrough went up for a rebound and was hit by Duke player Gerald Henderson. The TV replays were very violent. Henderson cocked his arm back and threw it forward after the ball had left Hansbrough’s hands and it came down on his nose with a lot of force. Hansbrough was on the floor a few seconds reeling in the pain and bleeding profusely. He jumped up amazingly fast after such a blow. Dewey Burke held Hansbrough back whose face was contorted with rage. After the officials reviewed the play they gave Duke a technical foul, threw Henderson out of the game, and suspended him from playing in Duke’s next game.

Bloodied, Not Beaten, The Daily Tar Heel

The video hits YouTube:

Help start Bill Hop NC

Another legislation tracking website called Bill Hop is focusing on state bill activity. They’re trying to get one going for North Carolina. [ nc.billhop.com ] Check out their about info:

BillHop is a network of sites (for each statehouse and Congress) that allows people to track and comment on legislation while connecting with others with common interests. All content on the BillHop website is contributed by its registered users. Some users are progressive, while others are conservative. Some may be wonks in specific fields of interest. Others are just novice armchair politicos. It is hoped that this amalgamation of perspectives and experience levels will result in a body of information that accurately reflects reality, and an experience everyone can benefit from.

Here is their help pitch:

Help Start BillHop in North Carolina

We’re starting a new site for North Carolina and are looking for sponsors. Sponsors are individuals who are committed to contributing to the site and spreading the word among their cohorts. We will reward those founding members with frontpage recognition of their own projects, organizations, or blogs.

If you are interested, it’s a two step process:
1) Register as a member; and
2) Sign-Up to sponsor this site.
Once we have 7 sponsors, BillHop – North Carolina will open and the fun will begin.

I wish I had more time to work on this.

Chapel Hill Town Council Resolution on Immigration

Tonight the Chapel Hill Town Council has on its agenda a petition from the Orange County Bill of Rights Defense Committee proposing A RESOLUTION ESTABLISHING A POLICY ON ARREST FOR CIVIL IMMIGRATION VIOLATION and A RESOLUTION TO REDRESS SOME OF THE HARM CAUSED BY THE ARREST AND IMPRISONMENT OF SIMA FALLAHI. See the pdf of the resolutions and full text bellow the fold. Tonights full agenda is located here. Learn more about what happened to Sima in the OP posts Free Sima and Sima Update.
(Text is subject to change)

A RESOLUTION ESTABLISHING A POLICY ON ARREST FOR CIVIL IMMIGRATION VIOLATION AGENDA #3a(3)

A RESOLUTION ESTABLISHING A POLICY THAT THE CHAPEL HILL POLICE DEPARTMENT WILL NOT SEEK TO ARREST PERSONS WHEN THE SOLE BASIS FOR ARRESTING SUCH PERSONS IS THAT SUCH PERSONS HAVE OR MAY HAVE COMMITTED A CIVIL IMMIGRATION VIOLATION

WHEREAS, in Section 15A-401 of the North Carolina General Statutes, the General Assembly has specified the circumstances under which law enforcement officers may arrest persons, with or without an arrest warrant;

and

WHEREAS, the list of circumstances under which a person may be arrested does not include an arrest of persons whose only known violation of law is or may be a civil violation of federal immigration statutes;

NOW THEREFORE, the Chapel Hill Town Council resolves:

Section 1. It shall be the policy of the Town of Chapel Hill not to arrest or take into custody persons when the sole basis for arresting or taking such persons into custody is that they have or may have committed a civil immigration violation.

Section 2. This resolution shall become effective upon adoption.

This the 26th day of February 2007.

A RESOLUTION TO REDRESS SOME OF THE HARM CAUSED BY THE ARREST AND IMPRISONMENT OF SIMA FALLAHI

WHEREAS, the Town of Chapel Hill is committed to the human and civil rights of its residents and to actions that preserve and protect those rights, demonstrated by its stand on October 8, 2003, in voting to protect its residents against unconstitutional actions (2003-10-08/R-5.1);

and

WHEREAS, enforcement of civil immigration laws has historically been a federal obligation considered off-limits to state and local law enforcement;

and

WHEREAS, serious concerns have been raised regarding the ability of state and local police to prevent and solve crimes when non-citizens fear that state and local enforcement officers will enforce immigration laws against them;
and

WHEREAS, the Chapel Hill Town Council regrets the tragic consequences of the detention of Sima Fallahi for a civil violation of a federal immigration statute, resulting in her subsequent imprisonment, separation from her eleven-year-old daughter Leila, and the threat of deportation leading to probable imprisonment in her native Iran;

and

WHEREAS, members of the community have come forward to support Sima and Leila Fallahi, including incurring legal costs which will be at least $10,000 to $1 5,000;

and

WHEREAS, the Chapel Hill Town Council seeks to redress some of the harm that has been done in this instance;

NOW THEREFORE, the Chapel Hill Town Council resolves:

Section 1. To make a significant contribution to the legal costs incurred in providing effective legal counsel to Sima Fallahi in her effort to reopen her case and seek political asylum in the United States.

Section 2. This resolution shall be effective upon adoption.
This the 26th day of February, 2007

Cross posted from Orange Politics.

Help Teach Someone to Read or get their GED

Might you be interested in helping someone learn how to read? If so please contact Yashna Padamsee at the Durham Literacy Center ASAP. yashna (at) durhamliteracy (dot) org More info bellow.

I worked in AmeriCorp for one year at the Durham Literacy Center. Its a serious organization that’s been working very hard teaching people for over 20 years. Helping someone increase their reading literacy can have a dramatic effect on the quality of their lives. If you want to see the world change for the better this is a great place to start!

Please blog about this if you live in the Triangle Area. Thank you.

From Yashna:
Do you want to be a tutor with DLC?

Why you would:
To make a difference in your community!
Empower an adult through reading, teach an adult English, help a teen get his or her GED.

Here is how!

1. Attend a one hour volunteer orientation

When: 2.26.08 6-7pm OR 2.28.07 6-7pm

Where: Lakewood Baptist Church/ Education Building
2100 Chapel Hill Rd.
Durham, NC
Google Map

How: Call or email to sign up OR just show up!

2. Sign up for tutor training (TT) at the orientation
NOTE: *If you missed the orientations please call in you want to register for TT

3. Attend tutor training
(required to attend all three dates)

Monday March 5, 2007 6-9pm

Wednesday March 7, 2007 6-9pm

Saturday March 10, 2007 9am – 3pm

4. Get started with a student.
Work one on one with an adult student twice a week to help improve their reading and writing skills.

Looking forward to working with you!

phone: 919 489 8383 ext 27
fax: 919 489 1456

www.durhamliteracy.org

Bridging the Digital Divide RDU style

Big props to Fiona Morgan for writing about all the work people are doing in the Triangle to bridge the digital divide. The Independent has the following stories:

The future of individual empowerment is dependent on information access. For people young and old to create the good life they want they must have knowledge. That knowledge is increasingly obtained digitally.

Hat tip to Paul Jones.

The General Assembly belongs to the people, not the powerful

HKonJ: Big March in Raleigh Tomorrow
Historic Thousands on Jones Street, aka HKonJ, is tomorrow. Check out this video of Rev. Dr. William J. Barber II, President of the North Carolina State NAACP.

From the HKonJ website:

HKonJ: The People’s General Assembly

In order to make substantial and progressive change in North Carolina public policy, we need a movement and not a moment.

HKonJ is a call by the North Carolina NAACP to the progressive and civil rights community to come together to support 14-point public policy strategy that will begin to shift North Carolina political action in a way that will more clearly match our rhetoric with reality.

February 12, 2007 is the 98th birthday of the NAACP, in commemoration of a time when progressive whites and blacks came together to fight racial injustice and social inequality. Today, our challenges revolve around the issues of education, health, labor rights, economic empowerment, civic engagement, and criminal justice.

The goals of HKonJ are to:

* Gather 50-100 people from 100 counties in Raleigh before the General Assembly to embrace a 14-point agenda that we demand the legislature to act upon. We will insert the 14-point agenda in every political debate and discussion until they become a reality.

* Remind North Carolina that the General Assembly belongs to the people, not the powerful; to everyday folk, not just those with the money and the influence.

* Create a statewide network of the progressive and civil rights community which we will build in order to promote a progressive agenda and civil rights in North Carolina .

HKonJ will not be a moment, but a movement. This event will bring hardworking, everyday people together and on March 28, 2007 the Second Annual People of Color Legislative Day where we bring hundreds of people together to lobby the General Assembly will be held.

Historic K(thousands) on Jones Street

Saturday February 10, 2007 a large coalition of people from all over the state will gather at General Assembly Memorial Auditorium in Downtown Raleigh, NC for H K on J. Arrive at 11:00 am. The Program will be at 12:00 p.m. Thousands will march to Legislative Building on Jones Street. Bellow the fold you can read The People’s Agenda, Fourteen Points that the organizers have put together. This is going to be an amazing event. A milestone in North Carolina Politics. Read more about it over at NC Policy Watch. Here are some pdfs to print out and use to spread the word.
HKonJ Flyer PDF
The Peoples’ Agenda – 14 Points PDF
Continue reading “Historic K(thousands) on Jones Street” →

Snow in NC days after 70 degrees

What is going on? Last weekend here in Chapel Hill it was 70 degrees. Now we have a light, but sticky, covering of snow on the ground. Is this extreme weather related to Global Warming? Is this the effect of a El Niño on Global Warming?

One respected climate scientist who has gone out on a limb about the global warming-El Niño connection is Kevin Trenberth, a climatologist at the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colorado. He thinks that El Niño may function as a kind of pressure release valve on the tropics. In an era of global warming, Trenberth says, ocean currents and weather systems might not be able to bleed off all the heat pumped into the tropical seas. Periodically, it has to get rid of the excess that builds up, he suggests, and that safety valve is El Niño.

via pbs.org