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PAGE 10 • OCTOBER 17 - OCTOBER 23, 2024<br />
Deeply Rooted<br />
www.thewestsidegazette.com<br />
Residents Attempt Recovery Efforts in Devastation of Hurricane Helene<br />
By Shaun White<br />
By Reginald Williams<br />
Slow-moving showers<br />
hovered over Asheville,<br />
N.C., on Sept. 25. At the<br />
time, Hurricane Helene was<br />
a Category 1 hurricane,<br />
swelling on Cancun’s eastern<br />
Gulf of Mexico. By the evening<br />
of Sept. 26, that Category<br />
1 hurricane dumped more<br />
than nine inches of rain on<br />
Asheville, and by noon Sept.<br />
27, the city, perched 2,134<br />
feet above sea level and 392<br />
miles to the nearest coastal<br />
waters, began to feel the<br />
unimaginable devastation<br />
of being submerged by<br />
floodwaters. By the afternoon<br />
of Sept. 27, the Category 1<br />
storm grew to a Category 4,<br />
causing residents in North<br />
Carolina to flee in search of<br />
safety.<br />
<strong>The</strong> breath of Helene’s<br />
raging rivers stretched for<br />
more than 600 miles through<br />
ten states, with the most<br />
intense destruction in North<br />
Carolina. Meteorologists<br />
estimated that between<br />
four and five months of rain<br />
descended on Asheville in<br />
three days.<br />
“You have entire<br />
communities that are gone.<br />
<strong>The</strong>y have just washed away,”<br />
Janice Royall Garland,<br />
who lives approximately<br />
10 minutes outside the<br />
city limits of Asheville in<br />
Weaverville, told the AFRO.<br />
“It is phenomenal. This is<br />
scary.”<br />
Janice Royall Garland,<br />
her husband Mike, and her<br />
mother were without power<br />
from Sept 26. to Sept 28. <strong>The</strong><br />
power outage severed access<br />
to water. <strong>The</strong> Garlands use<br />
well water, which has a pump<br />
that requires a power source.<br />
<strong>The</strong>y, too, had intermittent<br />
cell tower access, making it<br />
challenging to contact their<br />
families.<br />
“At first, it was<br />
disheartening because we<br />
didn’t see anything in the<br />
way of help coming for days,”<br />
Janice Royall Garland said.<br />
“Now we see the convoys of<br />
power companies from other<br />
states coming to help.”<br />
Get Your Flu and COVID-19<br />
Vaccines to Protect Yourself this<br />
Winter, Health Experts Urge<br />
FAMU Interim President Beard<br />
Appoints Jamal Sowell as VP<br />
of Government Relations<br />
Submitted by Alonda<br />
Thomas<br />
TALLAHASSEE, FL<br />
-– Florida A&M University<br />
(FAMU) Interim President<br />
Timothy L. Beard,<br />
Ph.D., announces Jamal<br />
Sowell as vice president of<br />
government relations. He is<br />
responsible for leading the<br />
implementation of FAMU’s<br />
government relations<br />
strategy and promoting the<br />
university’s interests and<br />
conveying the president’s<br />
strategic vision at local, state,<br />
and federal levels.<br />
“Jamal Sowell brings<br />
a wealth of experience in<br />
Florida public policy and<br />
regulatory matters that will<br />
greatly benefit our FAMU<br />
leadership team,” said Beard.<br />
“I look forward to working<br />
together to strengthen<br />
our relationships with<br />
policymakers to advance our<br />
strategic priorities and ensure<br />
that FAMU is represented<br />
in legislative developments<br />
affecting higher education,<br />
economic development, and<br />
workforce integration.”<br />
An Orlando native of the<br />
Pine Hills neighborhood,<br />
Sowell is the former Florida<br />
Secretary of Commerce and<br />
CEO of Enterprise Florida,<br />
where he led the state’s<br />
economic development<br />
strategy, managed the state’s<br />
14 international trade offices,<br />
and oversaw $250 million in<br />
assets. In 2023, Florida Trend<br />
recognized him as one of the<br />
500 most influential business<br />
leaders in Florida.<br />
“I am honored to serve<br />
FAMU and return to higher<br />
education where I started<br />
my career. Interim President<br />
Beard has the experience<br />
and vision for a time such as<br />
this,” Sowell said. “As the son<br />
of two Rattlers who met at<br />
FAMU, and the husband of<br />
Continue reading online at:<br />
thewestsidegazette.com<br />
A new variant, KP.3.1., of the Omicron family, is making its way across the U.S., now<br />
estimated to be the predominant variant by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and<br />
Prevention (CDC). On Aug. 22, 2024, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)<br />
authorized and approved an updated 2024-25 mRNA COVID-19 vaccine from Pfizer and<br />
Moderna.<br />
(networkforphl.org)<br />
By Breanna Reeves<br />
(Source: Black Voice News)<br />
Overview: <strong>The</strong> FDA authorized and approved an updated 2024-25 mRNA COVID-19<br />
vaccine from Pfizer and Moderna, which is now available for everyone six months of age<br />
and older. <strong>The</strong> new variant, KP.3.1., of the Omicron family, is making its way across the<br />
U.S., and other respiratory viruses like influenza (flu) and Respiratory Syncytial Virus<br />
(RSV) are also circulating. <strong>The</strong> updated COVID-19 vaccine is important to protect<br />
against new COVID-19 variants, and the California Department of Public Health<br />
recommends the following groups get vaccinated against RSV. <strong>The</strong> California Bridge<br />
Access Program (CA BAP) has been extended to existing BAP providers, which will<br />
allow uninsured and underinsured adults ages 19 years and older access to COVID-19<br />
vaccines without payment.<br />
As temperatures drop, local health officials urge Californians to prepare for the upcoming<br />
winter season by learning more about the updated COVID-19 vaccine and asking their doctor if<br />
and when they should get another dose.<br />
On Aug. 22, 2024, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) authorized and approved<br />
an updated 2024-25 mRNA COVID-19 vaccine from Pfizer and Moderna. With the new updated<br />
vaccines, the 2023-24 mRNA COVID-19 vaccines are no longer being administered.<br />
A new variant, KP.3.1., of the Omicron family, is making its way across the U.S., now<br />
estimated to be the predominant variant by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention<br />
(CDC). In addition to this new COVID variant, other respiratory viruses like influenza (flu) and<br />
Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) are also circulating.<br />
Continue reading<br />
online at: thewestsidegazette.com<br />
<strong>The</strong> Transatlantic Slave Trade: Overcoming<br />
the 500-Year Legacy Counts As Urgent Call to<br />
Dismantle and Repair Centuries of Racism<br />
<strong>The</strong> National Newspaper<br />
Publishers Association<br />
(NNPA) has launched<br />
a global news feature<br />
series on the history,<br />
contemporary realities<br />
and implications of the<br />
transatlantic slave trade.<br />
Part 5<br />
By Stacy M. Brown<br />
Authors, Legendary Civil<br />
Rights Icon Dr. Benjamin F.<br />
Chavis Jr. and Acclaimed<br />
Journalist Stacy Brown,<br />
Detail the Consequences<br />
of the Transatlantic Slave<br />
Trade<br />
New York, NY—Civil<br />
Rights icon and National<br />
Newspaper Publishers<br />
Association (NNPA) President<br />
and CEO Dr. Benjamin F.<br />
Chavis Jr. and renowned<br />
journalist and NNPA Senior<br />
National Correspondent<br />
Stacy M. Brown collaborated<br />
on the groundbreaking book<br />
<strong>The</strong> Transatlantic Slave<br />
Trade: Overcoming the 500-<br />
Year Legacy, which is now<br />
available from Select Books<br />
(ISBN 978-1-59079-569-9).<br />
Released on October 8, 2024,<br />
this work explores the brutal<br />
legacy of the transatlantic<br />
slave trade and its ongoing<br />
impact on African people<br />
throughout the world.<br />
This searing book offers<br />
an unflinching account of<br />
the 500-year legacy of the<br />
transatlantic slave trade,<br />
beginning in 1500 with<br />
the abduction of millions<br />
of Africans and following<br />
the historical arc through<br />
centuries of oppression, Jim<br />
Crow-era terror, and modern<br />
systemic racism. <strong>The</strong> book is<br />
an unapologetic examination<br />
of how the horrors of the past—<br />
rooted in slavery—continue<br />
to manifest in present-day<br />
America through police<br />
brutality, mass incarceration,<br />
economic disparities, and<br />
educational inequality.<br />
Select Books, Inc.<br />
Chavis, a central figure<br />
in the civil rights movement,<br />
draws on his decades of<br />
activism and personal<br />
experiences in the fight for<br />
Continue reading<br />
online at: thewestsidegazette.com