Category Archives: Progress

Mary Hansen Staff Writer @maryfhansen

Magic Wade decided on renting a loft-style apartment above Caf Moxo because of its hard wood floors, the small number of neighbors in the building and its location in the heart of downtown.

Within a block, theres my hair salon, theres a coffee shop, theres a bunch of restaurants, said Wade, a 33-year-old assistant professor of political science at University of Illinois Springfield. Im able to spend whole days where I dont get in my car at all, which I really like.

The four apartments in Wades building are among an estimated 100 residential units that have been added to Springfields urban core in the five years since a study by a group of national urban design experts suggested downtown should provide 343 new dwellings.

The report from the Strategic Design Assessment Team, which visited the capital city in May of 2012, included recommendations on how to turn downtown into a vibrant residential neighborhood.

Five years later, significant progress has been made toward that goal, according to city officials, developers and those who participated in the study. In addition to the 100 new units, another roughly 70 apartments will be available to renters interested in living downtown in the next year.

Incentives

The TIF district has been crucial to revitalization efforts, said the citys economic development director Karen Davis.

State legislators extended the tax increment financing district late last year, which SDAT identified as a key financing tool to bridging the gap between what developers are willing to invest and the cost of renovating existing buildings into livable space.

The city created incentives and gave priority to residential development, Davis said, adding that many of the current projects are taking advantage of TIF money.

Specifically, she pointed to renovations at the St. George Building, 300 E. Monroe St., the Ferguson and Booth buildings, 524 and 518 E. Monroe St., and the former First United Methodist Church at Fifth Street and Capitol Avenue.

The church rehabilitation is another example of a suggestion taken from the SDAT report, according to Downtown Springfield, Inc. executive director Lisa Clemmons Stott.

The Greater Springfield Chamber of Commerce and the Springfield Project formed a community development corporation for the project, which the report recognized as a way to finance projects aimed at putting buildings that are most difficult to develop back into use.

Stott and Chuck Pell, a Springfield-based architect, were co-chairs of the SDAT follow-up committee that was charged with helping to guide implementation of its dozens of recommendations.

They say another success story is The Villas Downtown, the 79-unit apartment complex targeted to university and medical students.That Bluffstone LLC, the Iowa-based developer that built the Villas, went through with construction after the city rejected its bid for TIF money showed there was an untapped need for student housing.

The Villas was the first infill since Lincoln Square Apartments, Stott said of the newly constructed building on Madison Street. It was 25 year span since the last in-fill project.

Parking

The SDAT report acknowledged the need for a parking solution for both residents and visitors. It suggested parking meter leases for residents or designated spaces for those who live downtown to meet parking needs for residents.

If complaints about where to leave a car downtown are any indication, little progress has been made toward this goal. But some attempts have been made.

Downtown Springfield Parking, Inc. offers a 50 percent discount on monthly rates to downtown residents who commute to work outside of the citys core everyday, according to Pell who serves on its board.

For Stott, parking is a problem of perception because yearly parking studies show there are plenty of spots.

Less than half of the spaces available to the public, including on-street metered spaces and parking garages, are used on a typical weekday, according to a 2015 study by the Springfield-Sangamon County Regional Planning Commission.

One way to combat a perception problem is to give information, Stott said. I think the citys plan to do a parking app is the right strategy for this situation.

Mayor Jim Langfelder has said the city is looking into installing parking meters downtown that could accept credit cards, alert drivers when their meter is about to expire and even provide a map of available spots.

What comes first?

While the SDAT report estimated 343 new apartments are needed downtown, a housing market study by Bowen Research completed in 2013 put the number at 400. Either way, Stott says, theres still a need for more housing.

Were nowhere near what we think the demand would be, that studies have shown the demand would be, Stott said. Its not something we should be afraid of but something we should keep going for.

More housing could be coming. The citys request for proposals for the now-vacant YWCA block calls for 100 residential units on the 2.35-acre area.

The proposal includes ideas for an interactive plaza with an ice rink and amphitheater, which also addresses another SDAT recommendation, according to Davis.

It talks about family-friendly and interactive activities, thats certainly a part of the Y-block proposal, Davis said. Proposals are due May 15, and city officials hope the development will be complete in 2018.

Reaching a critical mass of downtown residents will spur other economic activity, according to Pell.

You have to put heads in beds and you hope that then translates to wanting services, Pell said. Those services could be a dry cleaner or a movie theater.

Wade, a downtown resident, would love to see a theater go in. But she said she understands its a difficult business to keep open if there arent many people to patron it.

So then, what comes first, the people or the amenities? she asked. I would probably just like to see more people like myself living downtown and walking around at a time that isnt just during the legislative session.

-- Contact Mary Hansen: 788-1528, mary.hansen@sj-r.com, twitter.com/maryfhansen.

*****

ACTION STEPS

The nearly 100-page Strategic Design Assessment Team report from 2012 included seven "Action Steps" for residential development, which the report labeled as a foundation for downtown revitalization. Here are comments for each and an update.

New financing tools

* Comment: "It is essential to find a way to replace the Central Area TIF (tax increment financing district) immediately, so that subsidies that will be required to build downtown housing over the next 10 years will be available."

* Followup: Central Area TIF extended in 2016 for 12 years.

Additional programs

* Comment: "While the Office of Planning and Economic Development has a great menu of financing programs that should be continued, additional programs should also be consider."

* Followup: No new programs.

Historic tax credits

Comment: "A 20 percent tax credit is available for buildings that are certified as historic, or a contributing building in a federally certified historic district."

Followup: District expanded in 2015 to include more than 80 additional buildings.

10-year property tax abatement

* Comment: "If the developer does not need to pay property taxes in the first 10 years, he/she will be able to borrow more money. If the City is forward thinking and provides the abatement, although they will have to wait 10 years, they will eventually reap the benefit of buildings on their tax rolls which might otherwise not be there."

* Followup: No action.

Parking solutions

* Comment: "It's time to come up with some parking solutions for developers and residents alike."

* Follow-up: Downtown Springfield Parking Inc. offers discounted spots at two garages and one surface lot to downtown residents who commute daily outside of the city's core for work.

Tackle the hardest buildings

* Comment: A Community Development Corporation with 501(c) status should be employed to tackle the toughest buildings, and the toughest projects."

* Follow-up: CDC formed in 2015 through partnership of The Springfield Project affordable-housing program and The Greater Springfield Chamber of Commerce; first project is conversion of former First United Methodist Church at Fifth Street and Capitol Avenue for residential-office space.

Creative activities

* Comment: "Plazas, recreational trails, links to parks outside downtown, a year-round farmer's market can all provide enrichment to residents, while at the same time providing a more enjoyable downtown experience for visitors."

* Followup: Bike lanes were added to Second Street between Laurel Street and downtown in 2014. The Illinois Realtors Association is moving forward with plans to build a Bicentennial Plaza, a landscaped pedestrian venue between Fifth and Sixth streets along Jackson Street.

Visit link:

Upside to downtown: City officials say progress being made - The State Journal-Register

Theres no magic to the first hundred days of a presidents administration, other than the memory sacred to liberal progressives of the fundamental changes to America that Franklin Roosevelt made in his first hundred days.

Roosevelt was inaugurated on March 4, 1933 (the date of inaugurations was moved to January 20 by the passage of the Twentieth Amendment in 1933). By the 104th day of his presidency, Roosevelt, aided by his advisor, Harry Hopkins (the most important of all Soviet wartime agents in the United States), had signed, among others, the Agricultural Adjustment Act, which paid farmers not to farm; the Truth-in-Securities Act; the Glass-Steagall Act; the National Industrial Recovery Act, later struck down by the Supreme Court; and bills creating the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the Tennessee Valley Authority, and the Home Owners Loan Corp. It may be a stretch, but not a big one, to say Roosevelt created the welfare state in a hundred days.

Liberal progressives are now hugely enjoying (and fooling) themselves at what they claim is the lack of legislation enacted during Donald Trumps first hundred days and chastising him for getting so little done.

Of course, the less legislation there is, the happier they are, since they do, or will, oppose most of Trumps proposals, as they have opposed most of the presidents nominees to executive branch positions.

Joe Peyronnin writes in The Huffington Post that Trump has had the worst first 100 days of any modern-era president.

MSNBC analyst Jonathan Alter said, This is the worst, least successful, first 100 days since it became a concept in 1933.

Charles Blow writing in The New York Times pats himself and others on the back saying, The resistance to the travesty of Donald Trumps presidency is holding up just fine, thank you very much. (Actually, it isnt.)

The Nation ran a piece that said, The great lesson of these first 100 days is that, even when Republicans control Washington, resistance is possible.

The New Yorker even ran a piece on April 17 by John Cassidy entitled The Trump Resistance: A Progress Report. This is all catharsis for Hillarys supporters, the non-deplorables. Thats OK. Were a rich country. Everyone can have something. Hillarys supporters have Resistance as Catharsis. Trumps have Schadenfreude. Both are growth stocks.

But the catharsis is taking a toll on the political integrity of the Trump opposition. How else to explain this line from Cassidys piece: To the extent that the goal of the resistance is to make sure the checks and balances in the American political system work as intended, and to prevent the emergence of an overweening presidency, or a potential despot, it seems to be succeeding. Are The New Yorker and John Cassidy turning their backs on the way Barack Obama governed? By pen, and phone, and executive order? That (if true and it isnt) would suggest Donald Trump has already been more successful than even his own supporters dreamed and well before a hundred days were up.

Trump supporters need not despair at the lack of major legislation so far. The hundred-day mark is purely arbitrary. A more meaningful period is the one that starts on the day of the inauguration and goes to the beginning of Congresss summer recess (July 28, 2017). But even that is an arbitrary timeline. Trumps stated goals are to make fundamental changes in the way the country has been governed since Harry Hopkins was whispering communist nostrums into Roosevelts ear.

Despite the resistances claim that they seem to be succeeding, all is not well for them. President Trump has already, inter alia: signed 25 executive orders (the most of any first 100-day period in more than 50 years); gotten a Supreme Court nominee confirmed; instituted immigration policies that have driven illegal border crossings to a 17-year low; and removed job-killing regulations.

Adam Cohen, author of Nothing to Fear: FDRs Inner Circle and the Hundred Days That Created Modern America says, Even if there are not many major tangible accomplishments, [Trumps] administration has changed the political and cultural trajectory of the country not as much as FDR did following Herbert Hoover, but more than the average new president does.

What President Trump hasnt accomplished, yet, is getting enacted the big ticket items he campaigned on: repealing ObamaCare, restructuring the tax code, building the wall, rebuilding the military, and deconstructing the administrative state.

But those items are hugely controversial, even among Republicans. They will take time. Fortunately, there is time. Trump still has a thousand days to go in his first term.

The bad news for the resistance is that if the election were held (again) today, Hillary would still lose. That means Resistance-as-Catharsis will be big business for a long time to come.

But not as big as Schadenfreude.

Daniel Oliver is Chairman of the Board of the Education and Research Institute and a director Citizens for the Republic. He is a former chairman of the Federal Trade Commission.

Excerpt from:

Trump's 100 days vs. Democrats' 100 days of resistance: A progress report - Fox News

BERLIN German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble was quoted in a newspaper interview on Sunday saying that Greece has made strong progress toward introducing reforms that could lead to the imminent release of further financial support.

"If the Greek government upholds all the agreements, European finance ministers could complete the review on May 22 and then soon after that release the next tranche," Schaeuble told the Funke media group newspapers.

Greece and its international creditors reached a preliminary agreement at a meeting of euro zone finance ministers in April to set up the next transfer of some 7 billion euros in aid. But the finance ministers will not release the tranche until the audit is completed.

"The longer it takes, the more uncertainty will be in the financial markets and economy," Schaeuble added.

He said the Greek government had promised to make further adjustments in pensions as well as improve tax collection.

Asked why he was optimistic the aid could soon be released, Schaeuble said, "Because we negotiated in a very determined fashion and the Greek government said it would adjust the pensions more strongly to the economic situation.

"That's not easy - I know that. And it wants to improve the tax collection system so that tax revenues will rise again from 2020."

(Reporting by Erik Kirschbaum; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)

TOKYO, - Japanese manufacturing activity expanded at a stronger pace in April than the previous month as export orders increased, a revised survey showed on Monday, suggesting firms' output remains on track to rise thanks to overseas demand.

WASHINGTON The Trump administration's push to overhaul tax laws might soon target a loophole used by some financial managers to lower their tax rates, White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus said on Sunday.

Original post:

Germany's Schaeuble says Greece has made good reforms progress - Reuters

Forbes

A's Struggling On Field, Making Progress Off Field Forbes Four weeks into the 2017 season, the Oakland A's sit in last place of the American League West. It is certainly too early to write off the season after a 10-13 start. On the field - as you might expect - some things have gone well: Khris Davis is tied ... and more »

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A's Struggling On Field, Making Progress Off Field - Forbes

The Miss Kansas and Miss Kansas Outstanding Teen contestants gathered in Pratt April 23 for an orientation session to review the tentative pageant schedule and review their requirements progress for the pageant.

It's over a month away but the Miss Kansas Pageant contestants have been very busy with appearances and meeting obligations for the pageant.

The Miss and Outstanding Teen contestants gathered in Pratt for Contestant Orientation on Sunday, April 10. The purpose of the orientation meeting was to brief them on the schedule and logistics of pageant week, said Lisa Perez Miller, Miss Kansas co-executive director.

Each contestant provided an update on their progress of several of Miss Kansas achievement award areas including Sunflower Princess recruitment, Miss Kansas program book salute page sales, Children's Miracle Network Hospital fundraising and their activities on Miss America Serves Day on April 8.

Orientation was also a chance for contestants to meet their director's and local team.

Local contestant Miranda Flemming captured the Miss Leavenworth title and will be competing in the Miss pageant for the first time. Flemming said she was pleased with her efforts. She expects to have 25 Sunflower Princesses for the pageant.

The Sunflower Princess program provides an opportunity for little girls to have a mentoring day with the Miss and Teen contestants plus get to be introduced on stage at the Miss Pageant and do a pre show performance on Finals night.

Flemming said she has also raised $350 for the CMNH program and more is coming. On her Miss America Service Day she helped Miss Kansas Outstanding Teen Paige Kauffman host a golf tournament and raised money from golfers on a hole for longest drive.

The contestants had a workshop in February. Orientation was a chance to meet all contestants and get to know them better.

"The (orientation) weekend was great. I absolutely loved it. I made new pageant friends and it was great to be around them," Flemming said.

Flemming was in the Princess program several years and was in the Teen pageant once.

The Miss Kansas Pageant is held at Pratt Community College. Miss Kansas Preliminaries are Wednesday and Thursday, June 7 and 8 with finals on Saturday, June 10.

@GaleR_Tribune

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Miss Kansas contestants orientation session reviews schedule and contestant progress - Pratt Tribune

PIERRE | The state Board of Internal Control made a little more progress Wednesday on creating standard financial forms for state government departments and offices to use.

The legislature established the board one year ago at the suggestion of Gov. Dennis Daugaard, in response to state Department of Legislative Audit findings.

The six members who attended the hourlong meeting Wednesday at the Capitol focused much of their time on exemptions for two agencies: the Department of Health and the Department of Social Services.

The (Uniform Grant Guidance) workgroup is kind of at an impasse, said Liza Clark. She is commissioner for the state Bureau of Finance and Management, the governors budget office that is at the center of the internal-control work.

Clark asked UGG members to make a list for the May meeting showing what is different for Social Services, Health and a third group seeking exemptions, the Board of Regents, whose members govern the state universities.

Thatll help, Clark said. So we can specifically say why the forms wont work.

She added, Its a slippery slope.

The regents meanwhile had their presentation rescheduled Wednesday to the May meeting as well.

Monte Kramer, the regents vice president for finance and administration and a Board of Internal Control member, said he envied the freedom being given to Social Services and Health. Kramer praised the sub-recipient form outlined by Social Services attorney Dave McVey.

That was very thorough, Kramer said. It was very well done.

That group has done an amazing job, Keith Senger, a BFM administrator, said about the Social Services panel. This process takes a lot longer than anticipated.

Laurie Mikkonen, chief finance officer for Social Services, spoke to the board about the contract template form. She said program staff members determine the template to be used.

They can choose among interagency; sub-recipient; contractor, with a choice of consultant or vendor; or individual beneficiary.

Thats our basic form, Mikkonen said.

Kari Williams, who is Healths finance officer and a board member, said about her department's pre-contract risk assessment: We like our form.

This form gets filled out by the sub-recipient. It gets sent back to the fiscal office, Williams explained.

She said there is standardized scoring. Every entity is scored exactly the same way," Williams said. "The number comes out the way it comes out. We dont make any adjustments to it. Its fair to everybody.

McVey said the intent of the sub-recipient agreement at Social Services is uniformity with flexibility.

He said there are three substantive sections. The first sets all 13 requirements from the UGG group, with options for records retention, audit months and closeout language.

The second and third sections deal with topics such as termination days and insurance requirements. These are clauses I wouldnt say are optional, but they can be added or deleted as needed, McVey said.

Original post:

State's Board of Internal Control makes progress, slowly, on forms - Rapid City Journal

The sounds of screeching saws and radio music filter through the Monticello Hotels Crystal Ballroom, where a newly re-plastered ceiling is awaiting a fresh coat of paint. Upstairs, on the third floor, remodeling crews are hammering in nails and preparing to install new kitchen cabinets into future luxury apartments.

Every time I come up here its always new. ... It changes daily! exclaimed Sharon Walker, general manager, as she walked through the third floor.

In spite of recent shakeups in the hotels management, progress on the multimillion-dollar remodel continues, and much of the work will be done by June, Walker says. However, that will depend on a fresh infusion of money.

According to city permits, the project already has exceeded $1.3 million in valuation and likely is closer to $3 million, said Sean Comfort, a Tacoma engineer and investor in the Monticello. Combined with the $2.8 million sale price, this means the investors may end up putting nearly $6 million into the place.

The project hangs in a delicate balance; owners are waiting for a multimillion-dollar loan to help pay for additional remodeling expenses. Without that loan, Monticello Place could face bankruptcy, Walker said. But the new managers and owners are determined to see the restoration through, and they are hoping to once again make the Monticello a vital community gathering space.

Were looking forward to tying us back into the community its pretty exciting, Comfort said.

Here is a breakdown of the work that has been done so far, and what the future hotel could look like:

The Crystal Ballroom, with its arching plasterwork ceiling, will once again be a venue for community events, with some events already scheduled in late June. A old drop ceiling was removed, revealing decorative plaster patterns in some areas. Some of the decorative patterns had to be replicated, and now painting has started. An early 20th century-style bar will be installed in the next few weeks, adjacent to a stage and VIP section in the Speak Easy section of the ballroom.

Workers salvaged one of the original decorative columns that used to line the Crystal Ballroom. The original was sent to Las Vegas to be replicated, and 42 columns will once again edge the room, which will feature original tiling.

Outside, an area that was walled off 40 years ago is now open, with new concrete poured to make way for an outdoor seating area. An iron railing will be installed in early June. New landscaping and flowers have been added. In some areas, four feet of concrete were removed, revealing original mint and dark green checkered tiling.

After removing a wall in the restaurant area, crews found a heavy-duty crane wheel that historically was used to hoist food from the basement to the first floor, Walker said. The wheel will be on display in the restaurant, slated to open in August. A new wooden bar accented with zebra wood and early 20th century embellishments has been installed. Sliding glass doors will lead to an outdoor patio with views of R.A. Long Park.

In the area where the Fireside Lounge used to be, a new coffee shop and bakery is slated to open in July, which will be operated by Monticello Place.

The lobby will be returned to its original configuration; walls that were installed in the 1960s will be torn down, but the paintings depicting Lewis and Clarks expedition will remain intact.

On the third floor, work on the luxury apartments continues with electrical, plumbing, steel stud framing and sheetrock complete. Kitchen cabinets were slated to be installed by late last week. New tiles, six-foot tubs and new appliances were installed. Five out of 10 units have already been pre-leased, with two more leases pending, Walker said.

Once the first and third floor, renovations are complete; the hotel will have 18 suites. Some will have themes with a nod to the hotels history, such as the Eleanor Roosevelt Suite (because the former first lady stayed at the hotel once), Walker said. Some overnight rooms will be available, as well as space for extended stay visitors such as traveling doctors or international student athletes. The newly refurbished rentals will help to fill the need for more rental spaces in Longview, too, Comfort said.

The construction project has taken a few more months than the owners originally expected, but Comfort said the project is coming along smoothly. It is only a matter of months before the historic gem of Longview shines again, owners say.

Contact Daily News reporter Marissa Luck at 360-577-2539

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Part 3: Monticello progress continues despite drama - Longview Daily News

LOS ANGELES Twenty-five years after the acquittal of four Los Angeles police officers in the beating of black motorist Rodney King and the deadly riots that followed the verdict, an undercurrent of distrust pulses through a city that says it worked hard at police reform.

Long before the advent of the Black Lives Matter movement, the name Rodney King became synonymous with the use of excessive force in policing minority groups. King, then 25, was battered by a squad of white officers after a traffic stop in March 1991, an incident caught in graphic detail on a bystander's video.

South Los Angeles, where the violence started and where almost half the residents are African-American, is still plagued by many of the economic problems that contributed to the unrest. The riots killed more than 50 people and caused some $1 billion in damage over six days.

A mostly African-American crowd of hundreds of people gathered there on Saturday, to mark the anniversary with a march from the intersection where the violence broke out when a crowd attacked a white truck driver, Reginald Denny, an incident that was broadcast on national television.

Marching to the sound of African, Native American and Korean drum crews, the crowd chanted the word "resilient," flanked by a parade of "low-rider" customized cars.

Keshia Sexton, an organizer at Los Angeles Neighborhood Land Trust who joined the march, lived in the Compton area during the riots, when she was only 7. She remembers having to get home before the curfew officials imposed to quell the unrest.

"I was terrified as a young person," she said. "But I want to be clear: I wasn't terrified of my community, those were my neighbors. I was scared of the police."

At a separate commemoration on Saturday at a prominent South Los Angeles church, members of the city's African-American and Korean-American communities came together in a gesture of reconciliation. Korean-American-owned businesses were particularly targeted by rioters in 1992, ransacked at a disproportionately high rate.

Current and former city officials point to changes they say have reduced strains between police and the community. But blight still mars South Los Angeles, where many residents struggle to find work and earn enough to live on, and many in Los Angeles think that riots are not just a thing of the past.

STRAINED RELATIONS

The last quarter-century has brought sweeping changes to the way the Los Angeles Police Department operates, according to current and former city officials, reducing some of the mistrust many residents feel toward law enforcement.

Bernard Parks, the city's police chief from 1997 to 2002 and later a city councilman, said one of the most important changes he made was taking away the power of supervisors to quash misconduct complaints against officers.

"I found the greatest complaint people had about the system wasn't necessarily the outcome but that they weren't necessarily able to make a complaint," Parks said in a phone interview.

More broadly, Mayor Eric Garcetti and other current officials credit federal oversight imposed on the Los Angeles Police Department in 2001 with helping to reform it.

Garcetti called the 1992 unrest "one of the most painful moments in the history of Los Angeles," saying in a statement on Saturday the anniversary is "about both how far L.A. has come and how far we have to go."

In an indication of strained relations, there have been a number of Los Angeles police shootings in the last two years, culminating in protests at police commission meetings.

"The police department has definitely changed. There's still a lot of work to be done, but I credit a lot of the changes to the community and those activists who have picked up the mantle from the activists in 1992," said Jasmyne Cannick, a writer and commentator who has been a high-profile critic of the LAPD.

Many residents are worried about a recurrence of rioting, especially after the destructive unrest that broke out in Baltimore, Ferguson, Missouri; and other U.S. cities after police killings over the past three years.

Nearly 60 percent of Los Angeles residents think another riot is likely in the next five years, according to a survey released this week by Loyola Marymount University. It was the first time in 20 years researchers found an increase in the share of residents who gave that answer.

Henry Keith Watson, 53, who took part in the beating of Denny, the truck driver, and was later convicted of misdemeanor assault, is among those who see the city as still dealing with the same problems as in 1992.

"What do you think has changed?" Watson said in an interview at his house in South Los Angeles. "Please tell me."

(Additional reporting by Ben Gruber in Los Angeles; Editing by Leslie Adler, Frank McGurty and Matthew Lewis)

WASHINGTON A U.S. service member who died when an improvised explosive device detonated while he was on patrol outside the northern Iraqi city of Mosul was identified on Sunday as 1st Lieutenant Weston Lee.

WASHINGTON The Trump administration's push to overhaul tax laws might soon target a loophole used by some financial managers to lower their tax rates, White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus said on Sunday.

Original post:

25 years after Los Angeles riots, progress and distrust live side by side - Reuters

Jared Hunter (center) (Jacob Arthur/Alabama Crimson White)

When is progress actual progress and when is it an act of tokenism? Thats the question some have pondered since the election of Jared Hunter as student president at the University of Alabama.

While many praised his victory as a symbol of progressthe 21-year-old junior being only the third black student to win the student government presidency in 54 years since the school began admitting black studentsmany other students, especially black students, were skeptical.

Particularly because Hunter had the backing of the Machine.

A secret society that has long dominated campus politics and social life, the Machine has an infamous history when it comes to race relations.

Officially named Theta Nu Epsilon, the Machine is a 100-year-old secret society made up of a select group of traditionally white fraternities and sororities that has long pulled the strings of campus politics, at times with allegedly coercive tactics. Not only is it a powerful force on the university campus, but it has historically served as a training ground for local and national politicians. Just a few years ago, the elite group was accused of rigging a local school board election to benefit a UA alum.

Thus, while the president of UAs National Pan-Hellenic Council (the governing body of black fraternities and sororities) endorsed Hunter in a campaign video, black Greeks have generally been quiet about his victory.

Shelby Norman, a senior and member of the largest black sorority on campus, Alpha Kappa Alpha, said student elections are just not a priority for Alabamas black Greek-letter organizations, which are more focused on community involvement off campus.

Clearly, though, that wasnt the only reason she and her friends werent out celebrating.

The Machine candidate doesnt make progress. It just shows the Machine continually manipulating, added Norman, who didnt support Hunter because she felt he downplayed the Machines racist past. It was very saddening for the minority community. I was let down.

Hunter has done little press since his election, and declined my numerous requests for an interview. But he went public about the Machines endorsement a week before the election and promised to act independently: The Machines stigma casts a shadow on the history of this university to this day. I wrestled with the dilemmaand eventually realized I had an incredible opportunity. I knew my campaign and my ideas were my own. No matter who chose to support me, I would run on my own terms, he wrote in the school paper, the Crimson White.

That didnt do much to assuage those skeptical of the hoopla around his win. Within the responses of the many Alabama students with whom I spoke, were the echoes of black Americans reactions to political firsts on the national stage: How many times has the election of a black official been heralded as a signal of changeregardless of whether the institution behind the win has shown any intention of tackling the systemic discrimination many African Americans still face?

To paraphrase the title of The Root contributor Michael Arceneauxs essay back in 2014 following the election of South Carolina U.S. Sen. Tim Scott and Utahs U.S. Rep. Mia Love: Black wins may be historic, but theyre not (necessarily) progress.

Arceneaux maintained Love and Scott could succeed precisely because they are black faces to political views typically associated with white men.

That may not be the case with Hunter. The first African-American member of UAs chapter of Theta Chi, he carried 54 percent of the vote in the three-candidate race and vowed to foster inclusion and promote transparency in student elections. But in helping elect him, the Machine seems to have continued to employ the tactics that often prevent independent students from succeeding in campus politics by rallying Greek students to support one of their own instead. According to a recent expos by the Crimson White, the Machine threatens to jeopardize the social life of fraternities, sororities and their members if they dont follow the secret societys wishes.

Fitzgerald Mosley is a UA senior and student organizer for the campus civil rights group BamaSits. He was disappointed by the Machines imprint on the new presidents campaign, describing Hunters decision to run with the Machines support as a question mark, adding, It didnt sit right with the community.

And he had a more concrete bone to pick with Hunters election: allegations about campaign violations (not infrequently made against the Machines candidate), which, in Mosleys eyes, should have disqualified Hunter.

Early this year, the UAs Elections Board (pdf) found that Hunters campaign went over the spending limit and paid a $500 tab for students at a kickoff party. On its website, the board also urged students to come forward and give information about the Machine.

The Office of Student Conduct said it is currently investigating Hunter and additional allegations concerning several groups and individuals who may have tampered or interfered with the SGA election process. The universitys Elections Board has cited the Machines endorsement and Hunters failure to complete community service as possible campaign violations, and has urged the Office of Student Conduct to consider all sanctions, including Hunter losing his right to serve.

In a Crimson White article, Hunters campaign manager, Caitlin Cobb, said the UAs Elections Board unfairly targeted her candidate. The number of emails we received from the Elections Board, some totally frivolous, combined with the many times our team was called to appear before them was unlike any [investigation] the University has seen before, she wrote.

A university spokesperson told me that Hunters term has not yet ended and the university cannot speculate on the potential outcomes of future decisions that will be based on future findings.

Black students on campus arent the only ones wondering how much the election reflects any real change in the Machines philosophy. For many students, the election was less about Hunter as a candidate than about the Machines effort to keep up with changing social and political dynamics on campus.

The fact that even the Machine has to run an African American for president speaks about the progress the university has made in the last couple of years, said Josh Shumate, a white student who helps lead a campus watchdog organization that monitors UA elections called the United Alabama Project.

As I helped report in Fusion TVs investigative documentary The Naked Truth: Frat Power, the Machine has a dismal record when it comes to its relations with black Alabama students: from burning crosses, to protesting the election of the first black student government president in the 1970s, to viciously threatening candidates, to fighting student efforts to integrate UAs Greek system as recently as 2014.

The Machine has adapted over the years, especially when its power has been under threat. In 2013, allegations surfaced thattraditionally white sororities were blocking black women from joining. Sorority women were first allowed to join the secret society in the 1970s right after they voted against the Machine candidate and helped to elect the first black student government president. In 2016, the group reportedly supported a white sorority woman for executive office, which students say is very rare, after the Machine candidate lost the presidency once again to an independent African-American student.

In response to years of allegations about discrimination, since 2013, Alabama has developed an action plan, with the assistance of the U.S. Department of Justice, to increase diversity in traditionally white Greek-letter organizations. By fall of 2016, there were 104 black students in white fraternities and sororities. Thats less than 1 percent of the total membership, but more than 16 times the number of black members five years ago.

The change reflects calls for more diversity within the Greek system at other big Greek schools like Vanderbilt (pdf) and Stanford universities. According to University of Connecticut Associate Professor Matthew Hughey, who has studied race relations in America for more than two decades, people of color make up only about 4 percent or 5 percent of Greek organizations membership nationwide.

Hughey is also wary of reading too much social change into Hunters win. I dont know how an elite, secret anti-democratic white power organization backing a black candidate is a sign of progress, he told me. They were the elite of the already elite, and they were used as vehicles to retain power and prestige. They are functioning as they were designed to function.

Hughey said Americans have a tendency to focus on the exceptions, citing the election of the countrys first black U.S. senator, Hiram Revels, in the 1800s. At the time, people claimed that his election to Congress represented the end of racism, he said. [White] people were arguing the same with the election of President Obama, and they are going to do the same with Hunter. You have these black faces in high places without any actual changes in the system.

Similar prognostics about broader change were made when Michael Steele became the first African-American chairman of the Republican Party in 2009.

The discussions around inclusion that Hunters election has sparked go beyond race. While Greek students represent less than 40 percent of UAs undergraduate student body, fraternity and sorority members hold most of the executive and senatorial positions in student governmentmany thanks to the Machines support.

They have an automatic voting bloc that preclude [non-Greek] students from participating, Jordan LaPorta, news editor of theCrimson White, who says Greek power also excludes people from student government on the basis of socioeconomic status.

There is undeniable power in Hunters election, in seeing a black face at the helm of the student body at an institution like Alabama. The Root contributor Andre Perry has written about how having a black president of the United States showed his 5-year-old son that he, too, could become POTUS. Sometimes one person can make a big difference. Obama had the most diverse cabinet in recent history, and issues like criminal-justice reform and racial disparity became central topics for his administration.

And, yet, as the oft-cited Zora Neale Hurston quote goes, All my skinfolk aint kinfolk.

Amanda Bennett, an African-American graduate student who organized anti-discrimination protests in 2015, sais she is willing to give Hunter the benefit of the doubt. She agrees his election is a symbol of change, adding: Only time will tell if its a symbol of progress, and if the Greek system is really adapting to modern times.

Connie Fossi is an Emmy-nominated and award-winning investigative producer at Fusion with special skills in politics, criminal justice and immigration.

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Does a Black Face in a White Place Count as Progress at the University of Ala.? - The Root

Top seed Lucas Pouille booked his spot in the semi-finals of the Gazprom Hungarian Open on Friday as he defeated Martin Klizan 6-4, 6-3 in Budapest.

The Frenchman saved two match points to edge Jiri Vesely in his opening second-round match on Thursday, but had an easier time against Klizan, claiming victory in 84 minutes as he saved five of seven break points.

"I think it was a great match," said Pouille. "It was much better than yesterday. My level is increasing and that's good because tomorrow I know it's going to be a tough one. I'm very happy with my performance today."

The 23-year-old Pouille is coming off his second ATP World Tour Masters 1000 semi-final showing at last weeks Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters (l. to Ramos-Vinolas) and improved to a 7-1 mark on clay for the season.

Currently at a career-high No. 14 in the Emirates ATP Rankings, Pouille is bidding to win his second ATP World Tour title, adding to his victory in Metz last year.

For a place in the final, Pouille will face sixth seed Paolo Lorenzi, who defeated Andrey Kuznetsov 6-4, 6-4 in one hour and 33 minutes, fending off a late fightback from the Russian after leading 5-1 in the second set. "I think it was one of my best matches of the year," said Lorenzi. "He was playing really good tennis. I'm very happy about the match."

Pouille leads Lorenzi 2-0 in their FedEx ATP Head2Head series, including victory over the Italian last week in Monte-Carlo. Lorenzi is looking to reach his second ATP World Tour final of the season, after finishing runner-up on clay in Quito in February (l. to Estrella Burgos).

In doubles semi-final action, fourth seeds Brian Baker and Nikola Mektic defeated second seeds Treat Huey and Max Mirnyi 6-4, 6-2.

Originally posted here:

Pouille Enjoys Smoother Progress In Budapest - ATP World Tour