Miami Times Online News - South Florida's Largest Weekly Black Community Newspaper

Memorial Day weekend is a hit on South Beach
May 28 - June 3. Volume 80, Number 38, Pg 1A
Miami Beach was the place to be last weekend as nearly 250,000 people took part in the Memorial Day weekend festivities on the beach. The four-day, three-night hip-hop party on South Beach left thousands of revelers vowing to come back next year. “I’ve never seen so many rappers and celebrities in one place at one time outside of a concert. South Beach was definitely what it was hyped up to be,” said Myanda Jackson, who traveled from Washington, D.C. for the weekend. The weekend’s fun and festivities started Friday night with clubs and hotels opening their doors to hip-hop and R&B lovers to begin their fun filled weekend.

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MIAMI'S 4TH ANNUAL URBAN BEACH WEEK 2003
Memorial Day Weekend 2003: South Beach
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Protest begins statewide boycott
May 28 - June 3. Volume 80, Number 38, Pg 1A
A rain-soaked morning gave way to a sunny day full of protest over the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test last Thursday, as thousands gathered at the governor’s Miami office to voice their concern about the controversial test. An estimated 2,500 parents, high school students and community activists rallied at Florida International University’s South campus, demanding the governor place a moratorium on the FCAT, because they believe the test will unfairly bar thousands of students from receiving high school diplomas.

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Students Relieved, Angry Over FCAT Score Flap
Florida's Comprehensive Assessment Test
FCAT Resources on the Web
Governor Jeb Bush Announces Biggest Improvement Ever on FCAT
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Governor asks lawmakers to re-evaluate FCAT requirement
May 28 - June 3. Volume 80, Number 38, Pg 1A
The fate of thousands of high school seniors who failed the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test was placed in the hands of Florida lawmakers Friday when Gov. Jeb Bush asked that they consider easing the impact of the FCAT graduation requirements. The governor’s proposal is to permit those students who were able to reach certain thresholds on college entrance exams – for instance, the SAT or ACT – to receive high school diplomas, though they may have failed the FCAT. It would be up to the state board of education to determine what marks on college entrance exams equal passing FCAT scores.

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Students Relieved, Angry Over FCAT Score Flap
Florida's Comprehensive Assessment Test
FCAT Resources on the Web
Governor Jeb Bush Announces Biggest Improvement Ever on FCAT
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Haitian political influence grows in north Miami-Dade
May 28 - June 3. Volume 80, Number 38, Pg 1A
The political structure of northeast Miami-Dade County is changing, and the person who started the ball rolling in 1993 is continuing to bring about change in his newly adopted city of North Miami Beach. Local politicians began to sit up and take notice last week when Philippe Derose won his runoff election against John Julien to become North Miami Beach’s first Haitian-American council member. In 1993 Derose was the first Haitian-American elected to office in the United States when he won a seat on the El Portal village council. Eventually, he became vice mayor and then mayor of the village.

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Suit says Michael Jackson is broke
May 28 - June 3. Volume 80, Number 38, Pg 1A
Michael Jackson, who amassed a half-billion-dollar fortune in the past 20 years, is saddled with debt and teetering near bankruptcy, his former financial advisers say in a lawsuit. The suit, set for trial June 18 in Los Angeles, says Jackson's extravagant spending has created “a ticking financial time bomb waiting to explode at any moment.” But Brian Oxman, Jackson’s lawyer, says he sees “no signs of this impending disaster.”

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Claim: Michael Jackson nearly broke
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Parents meet to discuss FCAT crisis
May 28 - June 3. Volume 80, Number 38, Pg 3A
In the controversy about the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test (FCAT), the voices of parents have often been drowned out by those of policy makers and community activists. But last Tuesday, a group of parents from the Haitian American community met with advocates, teachers, and principals to express their opinions and to get a clearer understanding of the FCAT. A central theme was parent involvement in students’ education. “You have to play an active role in your child’s school and know what’s going on,” said Theron A. Clark, principal at Miami Edison Senior High School.

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Students Relieved, Angry Over FCAT Score Flap
Florida's Comprehensive Assessment Test
FCAT Resources on the Web
Governor Jeb Bush Announces Biggest Improvement Ever on FCAT
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Orange alert heightens county security measures
May 28 - June 3. Volume 80, Number 38, Pg 3A
Last Tuesday afternoon, the Homeland Security Council once again raised the colorcoded alert level to orange – the second-highest level – reflecting a “high risk of terrorist attacks.” Orange is the second-highest of the five threat assessment levels on the scale developed by the Homeland Security Department. The alert level triggers a series of preparations at the county level which have been underway in Miami- Dade since September 11, 2001. Heightened security has remained in place at critical infrastructure departments, including the airport, transit, seaport, water and sewer, and general services administration, continuously regardless of the national threat level. As a result of the increase in the alert level last Tuesday, additional security personnel were put in place, vehicle inspections were increased at these facilities and local public safety officials remain in close contact with their state and federal counterparts.

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National Threat Level Raised
Homeland Security Advisory System
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Miami neighborhood services chief arrested
May 28 - June 3. Volume 80, Number 38, Pg 3A
A City of Miami public official and the former Chief Operating Officer for Lanzo Construction Company was arrested Thursday and charged with multiple counts of forgery, grand theft, wire fraud and notary fraud. Victor J. Monzon-Aguirre, 54, a resident of Miami, is the current Chief of Neighborhood Services for the City of Miami. Prior to being appointed to this city position in January 2003, Monzon-Aguirre had been the Chief Operating Officer for Lanzo since 1996 and a 30- year veteran Miami-Dade County employee. From 1983 to 1996, he served as the Director of the County’s General Services Administration.

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Lanzo Construction Company Official Website
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Democrats say Bush lied to justify war
May 28 - June 3. Volume 80, Number 38, Pg 4A
Sen. Robert Byrd, the Senate’s senior Democrat, unleashed a stinging attack Wednesday on President Bush’s Iraq policies and said the administration may have lied to justify the war. “The American people may have been lured into accepting the unprovoked invasion of a sovreign nation, in violation of long-standing international law, under false premises,” said Byrd, of West Virginia. “It has raised serious questions about prevarication and the reckless use of power.” The White House dismissed the comments. “This is nothing new for Sen. Byrd, and the president is proud to have taken action to protect our country.” spokesman Ari Fleischer said.

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Bush War Plan: "Blind and Improvident"
‘This reckless and arrogant Administration ... may reap disastrous consequences for years'
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Baldwin, Wright, Ellison and Hurston lead American literature
May 28 - June 3. Volume 80, Number 38, Pg 5A
ZORA NEALE HURSTON (1891-1960) was a brilliant African American author and anthropologist who wrote stories, novels, anthropological lore and autobiography She died in 1960, but her works have increased in popularity and are passing the test of time. She was a unique artist and scientist who produced for us a large body of meritorious work that pioneered in both areas of interest and modes of expression.

RICHARD WRIGHT (1908-1960) is generally credited with being the African American writer who changed the face of American litrature. His most successful work, Native Son, had an autobiographical tone: A Mississippi boy, Bigger Thomas, finds and loses himself in 1930s Chicago.

RALPH WALDO ELLISON (1914- 1994) achieved international fame with his first and only novel, Invisible Man (1952), a monumentally comprehensive and profoundly allegorical story of an African American's life in a society that denies his humanity and aspirations. Ellison was influenced by the "frontier" mentality that viewed the.United States as a land of infinite possibilities.

JAMES BALDWIN (1924-1989) ranks as one of the most prolific African American playwrights, essayist and novelists of modern times. His works consistently treats racial discrimination as a disease of white society. Baldwin felt his creativity was stifled by the white perception that he was "just another Negro writer," and he left America for Paris, where the relative absence of racial prejudice gave him courage to write.

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AIDS vaccine being kept secret, many think
May 28 - June 3. Volume 80, Number 38, Pg 6A
Bethesda, MD — Many Americans wrongly believe that a preventive vaccine for HIV/AIDS has already been developed, according to surveys recently conducted by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID). Nearly half of African Americans surveyed (48 percent) and more than a quarter of Hispanics (28 percent) believe that an HIV vaccine already exists and is being kept a secret. Twenty percent of adults in the general population share that belief. The preliminary findings are from a national survey of 3,500 people conducted by NIAID, a component of the National Institutes of Health. The research included a 2,000-person national survey of American adults and three smaller surveys of communities most affected by HIV and AIDS – African American, Hispanics, and men who have sex with men. As a part of NIAID’s efforts to educate the public about ongoing research, the institute sponsored the sixth annual HIV Vaccine Awareness Day Sunday.

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The Body: An HIV and AIDS Information Resource
National HIV Testing Resources Official Website
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Civil Rights Act passes in Florida Legislature
May 28 - June 3. Volume 80, Number 38, Pg 7A
TALLAHASSEE – Attorney General Charlie Crist last Wednesday praised the Florida Legislature following the Senate’s passage of landmark legislation that provides the Attorney General with the authority to initiate a civil rights action when a pattern or practice of discrimination has occurred, or where there is an issue of great public interest. The vote was 36-1, and came five days after the House approved the legislation. This will make Florida law consistent with federal law and grant authority to the Attorney General similar to that of the United States Attorney General. Under current law, the Florida Attorney General must rely on economic statutes to bring legal actions against alleged civil rights violations, unless there is a direct threat or coercion from one individual to another.

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Disability Related Federal Laws
Attorney General Charlie Crist Official Website
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Four counties stage disaster at Pro Player
May 28 - June 3. Volume 80, Number 38, Pg 8A
Last Wednesday, Pro Player Stadium was the site of a fullscale multi-jurisdictional exercise to practice readiness for response to terror threats when a simulated attack triggered the mobilization of over 100 Miami-Dade, Broward, Palm Beach and Monroe county agencies. This first-of-its-kind drill in South Florida was designed to test an integrated response strategy to a “non-convention mass casualty threat.” The Southeast Florida Regional Domestic Security Task Force, headed by Broward Sheriff Ken Jenne, works with the federal government and state agencies to provide the area protection against weapons of mass destruction.

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Mock Explosion Punctuates Pro Player Terror Exercise
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