Farewell From 'News & Notes'

Melissa Kuypers, NPR

 

Top (left to right): Geoffrey Gardner, Drew Tewksbury, Joanne Griffith, Allison Samuels, and Zachary Slobig

Middle (left to right): Sonata Lee-Narcisse, Sasa Woodruff, Sherene Strausberg, [former staffer] Kenya Young, Tony Cox, Roy Hurst and Geoffrey Bennett

Seated (left to right): Christabel Nsiah-Buadi, Nicole Childers and Devin Robins

Not pictured: Marcia Caldwell

Geoffrey Bennett

2:50 PM ET | 03-20-2009 | permalink

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It's A Done Deal

Tony Cox hosts News & Notes' final broadcast.Geoffrey Bennett, NPR

Folks,

We aired our last original broadcast of News & Notes today -- Friday, March 20. And by 6 p.m. Pacific time, all the staffers here will have cleaned out their desks, turned in their I.D. badges, and discontinued their voice mail and e-mails. In that regard, we're going through what the rest of America is dealing with during these very tough economic times.

But, while it's the end of a show, it's not the end of what we started six-and-a-half years ago, first with Tavis Smiley, then with Ed Gordon, then with Farai Chideya, and lastly, with me as host. The central idea of News & Notes is that black folks matter. Our opinions matter. Our views matter. And we want to be heard. We want to be part of the national and international political and cultural dialogue, and not in the way mainstream media decides for us, but in the way that we decide for ourselves.

NPR was courageous enough to give that idea birth.

Now, it's up to us to keep it going.

So goodbye, News & Notes.

Hello, future.

Tony Cox

11:13 AM ET | 03-20-2009 | permalink

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John Bigham: The Soul Of John Black

The Soul of John Black is a band with a sound every bit as varied as the musical experiences of its leader, John Bigham.

Many people know Bigham from the ska-funk band Fishbone, but he also backed up jazz legend Miles Davis. Tony Cox talks with the musician, who also gives an in-studio performance.

Listen to the full interview here.

Geoffrey Gardner

4:04 PM ET | 03-10-2009 | permalink

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Report: Median Home Price In Detroit Dips To $7,500

Calling Detroit "a northern New Orleans without the French Quarter," the Chicago Tribune reports the median price of a home sold in the city was a mere $7,500 in December 2008.

Among the many dispiriting numbers that bleakly depict the decrepitude of this onetime industrial behemoth, the steep slide of housing values helps define the daunting challenge to anyone who wants to lead this shrinking, poverty-pocked city of about 800,000 people.

"We're always fighting ourselves out of a hole," said Wayne County Sheriff Warren Evans.

Despite the depth of the hole, Evans is running for mayor. In fact, he is one of 15 people who have raised their hands to be mayor of Detroit and fill the remaining months in office of the former mayor who now wears a green jumpsuit and resides in Evans' spartan house of justice, the Wayne County Jail.

Detroit has long been the snide remark and punch line to derogatory urban humor, and the conviction last fall of two-term Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick for lying about an extramarital affair with his chief of staff reinforced suspicions that Detroit is beyond help, let alone self-governance. But as the domestic auto industry, the city's principal private-sector employer and founding corporate father, seeks a financial bailout from Washington, formerly whispered remarks about the prospect of the nation's 11th-largest city being the first major American city to go bankrupt are now publicly discussed.

If the Obama administration is looking for a city to test new ideas for chronic urban problems, it can look to Detroit, a northern New Orleans without the French Quarter.

Geoffrey Bennett

1:24 PM ET | 03- 5-2009 | permalink

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Is Rush Limbaugh The Leader Of The GOP?

Rush Limbaugh's now infamous "I hope Obama fails" dictate has touched off a firestorm within the GOP in recent weeks. Critics have lambasted the popular radio host for using such language, including a few Republicans. However, each Republican critique has been quickly followed up by an apology to Limbaugh-- beginning with Rep. Phil Gingrey and moving all the way up to the on-going tussle with RNC chairman Michael Steele. With his 20 million listeners sympathetic to the conservative cause, it's probably not good politics for any of them to ruffle Rush's feathers. This all begs the question: Who, exactly, is the leader of the Republican Party?

Newly minted RNC chairman Michael Steele is the latest Republican to get blasted on Rush Limbaugh's radio show, this time for calling the man "an entertainer" whose show is "incendiary" and "ugly."

Here's the video of that exchange between Steele and D.L. Hughley:

Well, Limbaugh did not take kindly to that critique, and responded on his radio show. Then, low and behold, Michael Steele came up with an apology. According to Politico:

"My intent was not to go after Rush -- I have enormous respect for Rush Limbaugh," Steele said in a telephone interview. "I was maybe a little bit inarticulate. ... There was no attempt on my part to diminish his voice or his leadership."

"I went back at that tape and I realized words that I said weren't what I was thinking," Steele said. "It was one of those things where I thinking I was saying one thing, and it came out differently. What I was trying to say was a lot of people ... want to make Rush the scapegoat, the bogeyman, and he's not."

Then the third "voice of the GOP," Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal, threw his hat into the ring. On Larry King Live, Jindal said he was glad Steele had apologized.

With all this in-fighting and back-pedaling, will the Republican Party rise to the challenge of re-making their party-- by taking on Democrats-- or merely succumb to the pressure?

David Letterman didn't mince words the other night when he welcomed Katie Couric on to his show. Calling Limbaugh a "bonehead," he also made fun of Rush's CPAC appearance, saying he looked like an "East European gangster."

Geoffrey Gardner

12:20 PM ET | 03- 3-2009 | permalink

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