Top 5 Live-WURD Wednesday November 11
1. Republican debate: Trump’s immigration plan savaged by rivals
Republican Donald Trump’s plan to deport 11 million undocumented immigrants from the US has been savaged by his party rivals in a TV debate.
His hardline proposal was attacked as impractical and divisive by John Kasich and Jeb Bush, who are also running for the Republican presidential nomination.
Mr Trump, a billionaire New Yorker who has been leading in the polls, was booed as he tried to counter-attack.
Another source of friction at the debate in Milwaukee was foreign policy.
The eight candidates were divided on whether the US should do more to intervene in the Middle East, especially in the fight against Islamic State militants.
But immigration sparked the biggest confrontation, when Mr Trump said a wall should be built at the US-Mexico border and all migrants living illegally in the US must be deported.
2. Kane held for trial on new perjury charge
A judge ruled Tuesday that state Attorney General Kathleen Kane should face an additional perjury charge for wrongly insisting that she had never signed a key secrecy oath.
Kane was held for trial on the felony count after a preliminary hearing before Magisterial District Judge Cathleen Kelly Rebar in Norristown.
The judge also ordered her to stand trial on misdemeanor counts of false swearing and obstruction, bringing to 12 the total charges she faces in connection with what prosecutors say was her illegal scheme to leak confidential material and then lie about it.
The new charges stem from the discovery of an oath she signed binding her to secrecy in grand jury matters. Prosecutors say Kane lied when she testified last year that she had never signed such an oath.
First Assistant DA Kevin Steele said the judge’s ruling reflected “the powerful evidence” against Kane. During the hearing, prosecutors presented documents that included the secrecy oath with Kane’s signature.
3. African-American leaders to air concerns about casino company
A coalition of African-American leaders this morning has scheduled a news conference outside City Hall to call for City Council to hold a special hearing to probe allegations that the Cordish Cos. uses discriminatory policies to control the number of blacks that are allowed into the company’s venues in Louisville, Ky., and Kansas City, Mo.
Coalition members said they are also concerned that minority firms were not included when the state Gaming Control Board awarded the casino license to Cordish and its partner, Greenwood Racing Inc., last November.
“I don’t want City Council to award that zoning to Cordish on a fast track without having a thorough discussion about the impact of the wealth-development process that we, in fact, are being denied,” said Bill Miller, a retired public-relations executive, who added that the state Supreme Court is still reviewing a legal challenge filed by another group against Cordish and Greenwood, which owns the Parx Casino in Bensalem.
Cordish, which owns the Xfinity Live dining and entertainment venue in South Philadelphia, does not discriminate against anyone, company officials have repeatedly said since the allegations were first published in Philadelphia this spring.
4. Tyshawn Lee funeral shocks Chicago
People in the Auburn-Gresham neighborhood have become used to the shootings on Chicago’s South Side. But the killing of 9-year-old Tyshawn Lee, who was buried Tuesday, came as a shock.
“I’ve never seen anything this violent since I have been here,” said Kirk McKinney, who has lived there for 44 years.
Even prominent members of the gangs allegedly involved in Tyshawn Lee’s November 2 slaying question how the 9-year-old could wind up dead in an alley, Congressman Bobby Rush told CNN affiliate WLS after visiting gang members in a supermax federal prison.
Larry Hoover and Abdul Malik Kabah, formerly Jeff Fort, are founders of the Gangster Disciples and Black P. Stone Nation street gangs, respectively.
“They knew about it and were appalled,” Rush told WLS, adding that the men told him to “Tell those youngsters to stop the killing.”
“Tyshawn was on his way to play basketball at the park down the street from his grandmother’s house…” the Rev. Michael Pfleger told the crowd gathered for his funeral. “Tyshawn was doing what every child has a right to do: be a child.”
5. Some at U. of Missouri on edge after social media threats of violence
Threats of violence toward black students at the University of Missouri raised concerns Tuesdaynight, as the school remained tense following the the toppling of the school’s leadership over racist campus incidents.
University administrators said late Tuesday that they were aware of anonymous threats made on social media and have increased security on campus.
Someone using the anonymous social media app Yik Yak wrote they would shoot every black person they see Wednesday. Others tweeting from the university’s Columbia, Mo., campus said people used racial epithets as they drove around campus, and a group of men walking with bandannas covering their faces yelled racial slurs at black students.
David Kurpius, dean of the Missouri School of Journalism, noted in a CNN interview that Yik Yak has been buzzing since Monday’s resignations with people “who are being very hurtful and we’re hearing a lot of people from the fringe that does not help the conversation go well.”
The student body was sent a mass email on Tuesday, asking students to report “hateful/and or hurtful speech” to campus police.
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Solomon Jones is an Essence bestselling author and award-winning columnist. He is the creator and editor of Solomonjones.com and morning host on 900 am WURD radio. Click here to learn more about Solomon
