17.10.2024 Views

The Westside Gazette

e-Edition

e-Edition

SHOW MORE
SHOW LESS
  • No tags were found...

Create successful ePaper yourself

Turn your PDF publications into a flip-book with our unique Google optimized e-Paper software.

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

Hooray! Your file is uploaded and ready to be published.

Saved successfully!

Ooh no, something went wrong!