Page 36 - Florida Sentinel 1-20-17 Edition

National
Ringling Brothers Circus To Close After 146 Years
SARASOTA, FL —- After its nearly century and a half run, Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus plans to shut down "The Greatest Show On Earth."
The historic American spectacle will deliver its final show in May, says Kenneth Feld, the chairman and CEO of Feld Entertainment, the producer of Ringling.
Feld announced the news on the company website Sat- urday night, citing declining ticket sales — which dipped even lower as the company retired its touring elephants.
"This, coupled with high operating costs, made the cir- cus an unsustainable busi- ness for the company," Feld
Ringling Bro. and Barnum & Bailey Circus closing.
says. Ringling has been phasing
out elephants as a result of shifting public tastes and crit- icism from animal rights groups over the well-being of the animals.
The company held its last show featuring elephants in May, before completely retir- ing the animals to its 200- acre conservation center in Polk City, Fla., established by Feld Entertainment in 1995.
Report: Women’s March On Washington Will Upstage Trump’s Inauguration
An estimated 200,000 women are expected to participate in the Women’s March on Washington on Jan. 21. The demonstra- tions could attract more people than the inaurguation, a day ear- lier, of President-elect Donald Trump.
The inauguration is on the verge of being upstaged.
Though it’s billed as the main event, Donald Trump’s ceremony may take a back seat to the protest de- nouncing his presidency, in- cluding an estimated 200,000 women expected to participate in the Women’s March on Washington.
If the number of city park- ing applications in the na- tion’s capital are any indication, there are far more people boarding buses to air their grievances than there are to watch Trump take the oath of office as President.
There have been at least 1,200 bus permits requested for the city-run lot by RFK Stadium in Washington for
the march on Jan. 21, said D.C. Councilman Charles Allen.
By contrast, Allen said, only 200 were sought for the inauguration on Friday, Jan. 20.
Approximately 200,000 people said they will be going to the women’s march, ac- cording to the event’s Face- book page.
Organizers said the number of protesters at the women’s march may outnumber the people at the inauguration.
Nearly 30 protest groups have been granted permits for Inauguration Day, more than four times the number aver- aged in past inaugurations, according to the National Park Service.
Former McDonald’s CEO Opens Own Investment Firm
CHICAGO —- McDonald’s former CEO, Don Thomp- son has begun a second act in his career, this time as venture capitalist.
Crain’s Chicago Business reports that Thompson has launched Cleveland Avenue, an investment group and ac- celerator, which focuses on building new food, beverage, and restaurant concepts.
He joined McDonald’s in 1990 and had an illustrious 25-year career, serving for nearly three years as CEO of the restaurant chain.
DON THOMPSON ...was an executive for McDon- ald’s for 25 years.
Approximately a month
after announcing his retire- ment, McDonald’s agreed to continue to work with Thompson as a consultant, paying him $3 million.
Cleveland Avenue opened an office last fall in a three- story building. The firm is re- portedly named after the Chicago street where Thompson grew up. Ac- cording to Crain’s Chicago Business, the company an- nounced the opening of its first restaurant concept, a non-alcoholic beverage bar called Drink.
One Year After Flint Was Declared A Federal Emergency, The City’s Water Will Be Bad For Years To Come
Kidnapped As A Baby, Teen Pleads For Woman Who Raised Her After Her Arrest
JACKSONVILLE, FL —- Kamiyah Mobley was ab- ducted from a Jacksonville, Fla., hospital nearly two decades ago from her birth parents and raised in South Carolina under the name Alexis Manigo. Authorities closed the case after recon- necting Mobley’s birth par- ents with the 18-year-old, but she was visibly torn apart at the arrest of the woman she knew as “Momma.”
The bizarre case began when Gloria Williams, now 51, had a miscarriage in South Carolina and traveled to a Jacksonville facility, pre- tending to be a nurse caring for Shanara Mobley’s baby girl, who was just eight hours old.
The younger Mobley was informed on Friday, Jan. 13, by Jacksonville authorities that Williams was not her mother and spoke to her birth parents via a FaceTime
Kamiyah Mobley and the woman who raised her, Gloria Williams. Williams was arrested and faces kidnapping charges.
video chat. Craig Aiken and Ms. Mobley will travel Sat- urday to see their daughter for the first time since her birth.
However, Kamiyah Mob- ley’s emotional ties to Williams were on display at the Colleton County jail in Walterboro, S.C. In the din of the media throng, Mobley can be heard crying out for Williams and telling her that she loves her. Williams blew Mobley a kiss from be- hind bars while the teen
grabbed for her through the bars.
Mobley took to Facebook to defend Williams, saying she was provided with a good life and that “my mother [Williams] is no felon.”
Williams bore two biolog- ical children after kidnapping Mobley, and the children were all raised together as siblings. Williams will be extradited from South Car- olina to Florida in the coming weeks to face charges for her crime.
One year after President Barack Obama declared a federal emergency in Flint, Michigan, over the lead poi- soning crisis, experts say the city’s water system has signif- icantly improved ― but resi- dents still can’t drink the water from their taps, and there’s no clear end in sight.
On last Wednesday, re- searchers and public officials hosted a town hall meeting in Flint to share the latest water quality data, following a pri- vate U.S. Environmental Pro- tection Agency summit in Chicago the previous day. They focused on progress: lead levels in water samples are easily below the threshold to comply with the federal safe drinking water standard,
and have been for several rounds of testing.
Other issues with water quality have improved, offi- cials said, citing the ongoing replacement of lead pipe serv- ice lines and maintenance of chlorine residuals, a disinfec- tant used to kill bacteria and other pathogens.
The city’s lead pipes were corroded by Flint River water, which caused leaching and the subsequent contamina- tion of the water supply, re- sulting in an ongoing public health crisis. City, state and federal groups have banded together to respond to the im- mediate crisis, fund long- term health and education initiatives, and eventually overhaul the city’s water sys- tem.
FRIDAY, JANUARY 20, 2017 FLORIDA SENTINEL BULLETIN PUBLISHED EVERY TUESDAY AND FRIDAY PAGE 13-B