Page 8 - Florida Sentinel 10-18-16 Online Edition

White House News
President Obama Announces ‘Record High’ Graduation Rate
Race To The White House
Final Presidential Debate Is Wednesday, October 19th At 9 P.M.
President Obama visited a Washington, D.C.-area high school Monday to announce that the country's high school graduation rate hit 83.2 percent in the 2014-15 academic year.
In a press release sent out Monday morning, the White House touted the number as a "record new high" since 2010- 11, when all states recorded a four-year adjusted measure of high school graduation.
The President will use the number and other education initiatives enacted during his tenure to reflect on his admin- istration's record in a speech to
students and teachers at Ben- jamin Banneker Academic High School.
According to figures re- leased by the White House, the 2014-15 graduation rates show progress across all demograph- ics of students and show every state has made progress since 2010-11, with Washington, D.C., recording the greatest amount of progress in the coun- try.
The high school graduation rate has grown by 4 percent since the updated recording method was put into practice for the 2010-11 school year.
The third presidential de- bate between Trump and Clinton will take place on Oct. 19 at the University of Ne- vada in Las Vegas (UNLV). No other presidential candidate met the 15 percent polling threshold to qualify for the de- bate.
The debate runs from 9:00 p.m. to 10:30 p.m. E.T. with- out commercial breaks.
The debate will air on the
leading major cable and tele- vision networks as well as C- SPAN.
Chris Wallace, the anchor Fox News Sunday, will
of
moderate the final debate.
President And Former Attorney General To Head Up Committee For Re-Districting Reform
According to the Washing- ton Post, a progressive advo- cacy group is launching an advertising campaign accusing Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, who also is the Republican vice-presidential nominee, of allowing voter suppression after state police raided the of- fices of a voter registration pro- gram aimed at signing up African Americans.
Patriot Majority USA will place the ads on Black-oriented radio stations and in print and online with Black newspapers throughout the state starting Saturday, said the group’s di- rector, Craig Varoga. For- merly aligned with the pro-Democratic Senate Major- ity PAC, Patriot Majority USA's super PAC is not involved in any Senate races this year.
On Oct. 4, one week before the state’s deadline to register to vote, state police raided the Indianapolis office of the Indi- ana Voter Registration Project, seizing computers, cellphones and records. The state police
Donald Trump’s running mate Indiana Gov. Mike Pence is being accused of voter sup- pression, mainly in the Black community.
launched an investigation in late August after elections offi- cials in Hendricks County, a suburb of Indianapolis, alerted authorities to some applica- tions that seemed amiss. A spokesman for the state police told local news media that “at least 10” applications were confirmed to be fraudulent.
Varoga estimates that 45,000 people, most of them African Americans, might not beabletovoteonNov.8ifin- vestigators put a hold on appli-
cations collected by the group during its investigation. The group has asked the Justice Department to investigate, and the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, an ad- vocate for voting rights, sent a letter to Indiana Secretary of State Connie Lawson asking her to take steps to ensure that eligible voters who signed up through the voter registration drive will not be disenfran- chised.
Matthew Lloyd, Pence's
deputy chief of staff, said in a statement released Saturday afternoon: “These allegations are completely false and be- yond absurd. In fact, the Indi- ana State Police has uncovered strong evidence of voter fraud by Patriot Majority USA. Among Governor Pence’s top priorities is ensuring the integrity of the election and that every single Hoosier vote counts. He has full confidence in the Indiana State Police in- vestigation to achieve this goal.”
Group Accuses Republican V.P. Nominee, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence Of Voter Suppression In Indiana
As Democrats aim to capi- talize on this year’s Republi- can turmoil and start building back their own decimated bench, former Attorney Gen- eral Eric Holder will chair a new umbrella group focused on redistricting reform—with the aim of taking on the gerry- mandering that’s left the party behind in statehouses and made winning a House major- ity far more difficult.
The new group, called the National Democratic Redis- tricting Committee, was devel- oped in close consultation with the White House. Presi- dent Barack Obama him- self has now identified the group—which will coordinate campaign strategy, direct fundraising, organize ballot initiatives and put together
legal challenges to state redis- tricting maps—as the main focus of his political activity once he leaves office.
Although initial plans to be active in this year’s elections fell short, the group has been incorporated as a 527, with Democratic Governors Associ- ation executive director, Eliz- abeth Pearson as its president and House Majority PAC executive director, Ali Lapp as its vice president. They’ve been pitching donors and aiming to put together its first phase action plan for De- cember, moving first in the Virginia and New Jersey state elections next year and with an eye toward coordination across gubernatorial, state leg- islative and House races going into the 2018 midterms.
War Rages On In Iraq; 1 Million Could Be Displaced By Newest Battle
The look of war on this mother’s face as Iraq’s 2nd largest city is headed into major fight to remove ISIL from the
As many as 1.5 million Iraqis are bracing for a major offensive on the city of Mosul, an operation that could force as many as 1 million people from their homes and send as many as 100,000 refugees across the border into war-rav- aged Syria.
Some 4 million Iraqis have been displaced and more than 24,000 killed since 2014, when
the Islamic State, sometimes known as ISIL, tore through the country, capturing numer- ous key population centers, in- cluding Mosul, the country's second-largest city.
This amounts to one out of
every ten Iraqis who have been forced to flee their homes in a fresh convulsion of violence as the U.S. marks five years since the end of its combat opera- tions in the country.
Aid groups have been rush- ing to prepare for what could be the largest and most com- plex humanitarian operation in a year that has already seen several major disasters, the UN said on Sunday. As many as 200,000 could flee during the first weeks of fighting and as many as 700,000 could re- quire emergency shelter.
PAGE 8 FLORIDA SENTINEL BULLETIN PUBLISHED EVERY TUESDAY AND FRIDAY TUESDAY, OCTOBER 18, 2016