Page 20 - Florida Sentinel 4-18-17

National
Judge Convicts Teen In Bathroom Brawl That Led To Another Teen’s Death
‘Hidden Figures’ Author Writing 2 More Books
Margot Lee Shetterly
shook the world after putting pen to page with her best- selling book, Hidden Fig- ures: The American Dream and the Untold Story of the Black Women Mathemati- cians Who Helped Win the Space Race.
Now, Shetterly is about to enlighten the masses with two more books.
True to the format of her 2016 release, Shetterly plans to share lesser-known narratives, bringing to life more phenomenal characters with huge historical impacts
Margot Lee Shetterly’s book ‘Hidden Figures’ was not only a historical victory it was a box office smash.
that we otherwise would not have known about.
Slated first is the story of venture capitalist Willie Adams and his wife, Victo- ria. Taking place in Balti- more, this figure invested money into black-owned businesses during a time when doing so was not only unheard of, but also a form of rebellion.
As if that compelling story wasn't enough, the book will also feature the Murphy family, an esteemed group that founded popular news- paper publication, The Afro.
DELAWARE —- A Delaware judge convicted a 17-year-old girl of homicide Thursday for last year's high school bath- room fight that left another teenage girl dead.
The judge also convicted a second girl of conspiracy in the 16-year-old's death, but acquitted a third teen of the same charge.
All three defendants, who were 16 when the fight hap- pened in April of 2016, were tried as juveniles.
An autopsy found that Amy Joyner-Francis died of sudden cardiac death, aggra-
vated by stress from the fight at Howard High School of Technology in Wilmington.
Family Court Judge Robert Coonin delivered the ruling Thursday following a week of testimony in the nonjury trial. All three girls charged in the case chose not to testify.
Coonin ruled last year that the girl charged with homi- cide would be tried as a juve- nile. She would have faced up to eight years in prison if she was tried as an adult.
Being declared delinquent, she would be subject to su- pervision until age 19.
New York Becomes First State To Offer FREE College Tuition
New York Judge Found Dead
NEW YORK — Last weekend it was announced that New York's State Senate was mov- ing forward with approving the next year's fiscal budget which included a bill that would make college tuition free at two and four-year public colleges for middle-class families.
Starting Fall 2017, students will be eligible for the Excelsior Scholarship if their families earn less than $100,000 per year. That cap will bump up to $110,000 in 2018 and $125,000 in 2019, according to Pix 11. This scholarship could possibly help more than 940,000 families with college- age children across New York state.
Eligible students must be en-
rolled full-time and average 30 credits per year to receive funding. They must also main- tain a passing grade point av- erage. Recipients must also stay in-state after college for the same number of years that they got free tuition, otherwise,
their scholarship will be con- verted into loans. Room and board expenses will not be cov- ered under this plan.
The budget also has $19 mil- lion for a new tuition award program for students at private colleges.
On Bank Of Hudson River
Four Blacks Announced As 2017 Pulitzer Prize Winners
Tyehimba Jess, Hilton Als, Lynn Nottage and Colson Whitehead.
NEW YORK CITY —- Sheila Abdus-Salaam, the first-ever female Muslim judge in U.S. history and the first African-American woman to serve on New York’s highest court, was found dead Wednesday on the bank of the Hudson River, police said.
Abdus-Salaam, 65, was discovered floating fully clothed on the Manhattan side of the river, just a mile from her central Harlem home, just before 2 p.m.
Her husband, who reported her missing last Tuesday morning, was brought in to identify the body, sources said.
Police sources said there were no signs of obvious trauma or injuries indicating foul play. Abdus-Salaam, who made history as the country’s first female Muslim judge, was nominated in 2013 to serve as an associate judge on the state Court of Appeals by Gov. Cuomo.
Abdus-Salaam, one of seven children born to a working-class family in
Judge Sheila Abdus-Salaam was found not far from her Harlem home.
Washington, D.C., graduated from Barnard College and re- ceived her law degree from the Columbia University School of Law, where she was a classmate of former U. S. Attorney General Eric Holder.
The medical examiner will determine the cause of death and the investigation is ongo- ing, police said.
On Tuesday, the Pulitzer Prize Committee publicly an- nounced the winners of its distinguished award.
Among the 21 selected, 4 of the winners were Black.
The categories for the four winners included poetry, crit- icism, drama and fiction.
Inducted into this year’s class of Pulitzer Prize winners are: Poet Tyehimba Jess, who won for his poetry col- lection titled Olio; Hilton Als for his theater criticism at The New Yorker. Als has been with The New Yorker since 1994, first as a staff writer and later promoted to his current theater critic role in 2002; Brooklyn native and
playwright Lynn Nottage, in the drama category for her notable work on Sweat, an on-Broadway play about long-term friends that are pitted against each other after a factory lay-off alters their existing dynamic, and finally, novelist Colson Whitehead for Under- ground Railroad in the fic- tion category. This incredible literary account narrates the journey of two slaves who take a chance at freedom from their plantation respon- sibilities in Georgia by fol- lowing the escape route of the Underground Railroad.
The Putlizer Prize is an
award for achievements in newspaper, magazine and online journalism, literature, and musical composition in the U.S. It was established in 1917 by provisions in the will of American (Hungarian- born) Joseph Pulitzer who had made his fortune as a newspaper publisher, and is administered by Columbia University in New York City.[ Prizes are awarded yearly in twenty-one categories. In twenty of the categories, each winner receives a certificate and $15,000 cash award.
These four should instill the ultimate sense of motiva- tion to strive for excellence.
PAGE 20 FLORIDA SENTINEL BULLETIN PUBLISHED EVERY TUESDAY AND FRIDAY TUESDAY, APRIL 18, 2017