Wycleff Jean Earns receives an honorary doctorate degree
The Haitian singer, guitarist, producer and actor Wyclef Jean has just taken another step in his great international career. On May 18, the former Fugees member was awarded the title of Doctor of Music by Five Towns College located in Ten Hills, Long Island, New York.
The native of Croix-des-Bouquets made the announcement via his Twitter account. Today, on the occasion of the celebration of Haitian bicolor, I became doctor of music. It was an honor to be recognized by the college I attended in the early years of my life,” he wrote.
Wyclef Jean, 49, immigrated with his parents to the United States at the age of ten.
IN NEW YORK, CREOLE IS AN OFFICIAL LANGUAGE
In New York, Creole is one of the six languages officially spoken in institutions since the beginning of the year.
Since January 1st, 2009, Creole is officially spoken in all of the institutions of New York. The Bloomberg administration adapted itself to this reality by recognizing Creole as one of the six the most used languages in the city. Creole speakers are indeed part of 25 % of New Yorker whose native language is not English, and among the 1.8 million people who have not yet mastered English, according to the site Grioo.com.
Originally, an order signed by former New York Mayor, Michael Bloomberg, in July, 2008, officially recognized six languages, widely spoken in the Big Apple, and granted them justifiable status within the administration. "Spanish, Chinese, Russian, Korean, Italian and French Creole," as it is read on the Internet portal of New York City. This is significant because Creole is recognized as a language in New York and a means of communication in the public places. It should be highlighted that French was not included as one of the six languages. Because New York City is home to so many Creole speakers, it became natural for Haitian Creole to become recognized as of one of the city’s six most widely-spoken languages.
Consequently, all municipal agencies are now obligated to have at least one employee who is fluent in Creole, and who can assist Creole speakers in translate the information. Forms, official documents, inspection reports, must also be available in Creole.
Canada: A Haitian woman was named one of the 100 black women to follow in 2019
Journalist and reporter for Téléjournal Ontario, Francesca Mérentié Cinéas, who arrived in Canada after the earthquake of January 12, 2010, was ranked among the 100 black women to follow in Canada in 2019.
The “Top 100 black women to watch in Canada” award, created by the Canadian Black International Event platform, recognizes women who have marked their generation by the quality of their work and their talent.
This is not Francesca M. Cinéas’ first recognition by this organization. In 2016, she was nominated for another important award, Michaëlle Jean, the former Governor of Canada who is also from of Haitian origin, became the recipient.
Cinéas is a host from Radio Ibo, in Haiti. A comedian and a reporter Cinéas first worked at Television Franco-ontarienne in Canada, from 2013 to 2018, as a program host for youth aged 9 to 12. She then joined the Canada Radio newsroom in October 2018 where she did the weather.
Opioid-dealing doctor with connections to Haiti, Mexico and Miami-Dade now a fugitive
Miami Herald - April 24, 2019 11:07 AM, Updated April 27, 2019 07:40 PM
More than a half-million people died from opioids between 2000 and 2015. Today, opioid deaths are considered an epidemic. To understand the struggle of a drug addiction, we take a closer look at what happens to the body. By
THURSDAY MORNING UPDATE: A review of Jeanne Germeil’s bond papers says, if Germeil remains a fugitive, three individuals will be on the hook for $250,000 -- husband Jean Rene Foureau, daughter Naela Foureau and family friend Jan-Yves Woel.
Before her scheduled sentencing in federal court for distributing a controlled substance, North Miami Beach doctor Jeanne Germeil declared in an email to the Miami Herald, “I will not obey an unjust and racist system!”
And, April 19, Germeil backed up that declaration — she didn’t show up for her sentencing.
That triggered an order from Judge Ursula Ungaro that read, “The defendant is hereby transferred to the Clerk’s suspended/fugitive file until such time as the fugitive(s) are apprehended.”
One of Germeil’s federal public defenders, Daniel Ecarius, would only say via email Tuesday that she had not appeared since Ungaro declared her a fugitive.
Germeil, 55, has been out of jail since posting $250,000 bond six days after her Sept. 21, 2018, indictment on 16 counts of distributing a controlled substance. She had to give up her passport and could travel without special permission only to the U.S. District Court’s Southern and Middle Districts of Florida.
But, as one of the nation’s identity theft capitals, South Florida’s also a place where faux identification can be bought as readily as anywhere. Germeil wouldn’t be the first federal bond jumper to get out of the country.
Most fugitives wind up in areas familiar to them. Germeil was born in Haiti, and attended medical school in Mexico. Her registered address with the Florida Department of Health is in Aventura and Germeil Medical, the clinic where she prescribed the opioids, was in North Miami Beach.
Court documents say the home she had to be in from 9 p.m. to 6 a.m. daily under terms of her bond was in Naples.
Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office Maj. Bob Bromage says Beaufort County, S.C. saw about 20 opioid drug overdoses in January and February 2019. "It's a public safety issue, it's a public health issue," he said.
By
According to the Florida Department of Health, Germeil had been in practice since 1995 and licensed in Florida since 2007. The Department of Health dropped an emergency suspension order on her license last week because of the federal court conviction.
In 2017, she paid a total of $12,895 and had to complete a medical records course after a case that was a microcosm of her federal case, prescribing opioids with inadequate examination.
Jurors found Germeil guilty on 11 counts in February after prosecutors presented evidence she, among other actions, prescribed opioid pain medications at a rate of 687.95 prescriptions a month, a rate too high for actual diagnosis.
Her April 10 email to the Miami Herald declared her prosecution and conviction a product of misogyny, racism and a jury trial rigged against her defense team.
It ended with: “I am through playing it fair while the opposing party had been cheating left and right without consequences. I know they will label me and harass my daughter as they are already doing. However that justice system is rigged against people like me. Colored, Haitian, successful female physician. Enough is enough! They will get my corpse. I will not obey an unjust and racist system!”
Since 1989, David J. Neal’s domain at the Miami Herald has expanded to include writing about Panthers (NHL and FIU), Dolphins, old school animation, food safety, fraud, naughty lawyers, bad doctors and all manner of breaking news. He drinks coladas whole. He does not work Indianapolis 500 Race Day.
|
Dear Friends and Neighbors, The “Eastside Ridge” Special Area Plan (SAP) goes before the Planning and Zoning board once again tonight, Wednesday, May 15, 2019, @ 6:30 pm at Miami City Hall. It is item number 2 on the agenda. Information about the project: • Redesign of Design Place, 22.47 acres of land. • 3,157 residential units. • 418 hotel rooms. • 5,246 parking spaces. • 5,400,902 sq ft of total development, can build up to 20 stories (28 if they build a train station). • Currently, approximately 500 families live there. • They are not proposing any on-site affordable housing, only 10% workforce units. The Little Haiti community is exhausted by the onslaught of large scale development in its neighborhood. While most people have been consumed by the Magic City SAP being proposed less than 10 blocks north of this project, this project has largely flown under the radar, catching most people by surprise. While the attorney had been in the process of scheduling a community meeting with 30 groups earlier this year, we did not hear back from her on scheduling since March 1st. Perhaps they were hoping that the attention on Magic City would allow this project to pass through this board without much noise. It seems they are treating this step like a rubber stamp. You should not let them do so. Many of the concerns raised by the PZAB in the past have not been addressed: • There is still no on-site affordable housing, and the 10% workforce units they are proposed are hugely inadequate, given that the population of the surrounding neighborhood is very low income. • We all know that workforce housing is inadequate unless there is a maximum of 80-100% AMI place on those units. Otherwise, the workforce units themselves will be priced at higher than the current market rate. • At this rate, households currently living on the property will not be able to afford to live there beyond the 1 year reprieve the developers are giving them. They would effectively be displacing 500 households from units that are presently priced higher than what the median income for the area can afford, but attainable for workforce incomes ($1,300-1,700 for 1-3 bedroom units). • They are providing a “Capital Contribution” of $10M that is meant to cover all community benefits, including construction of off-site affordable housing. If we were to receive all of this money at once (which we will not, as the payment is structured) and spend it all on housing units, it would only amount to 50 units. This is not charity, though they will paint it as such. They stand to gain a lot more than they are giving. But aside from the paltry benefits they are offering (especially compared to their astronomical profit margin), this is just a bad project for Little Haiti and Miami in general. Eastside Ridge’s proposed Special Area Plan is grossly out of proportion with the surrounding neighborhood. The request is excessively above and beyond the current land use and zoning regulations for the area. If approved, particularly in conjunction with the other large-scale SAP applications that are pending in the immediate vicinity, this project will be detrimental to the existing residents and businesses of the area. Traffic is going to be unmanageable. The traffic study they provided is from 2016 and does not take into consideration surrounding development - in particular the other SAPs proposed in the near vicinity. Should not be relied upon. There is virtually no chance that the train station will materialize. Even in the tentative plans that exist for a commuter rail, there will likely be stations at Design District and 79th Street. The reference to a train station is misleading. This New York-based developer has a history of racial discrimination as a landlord. They have been sued twice for fair housing violations just in the Design Place neighborhood, to say nothing of what their record may have been in New York. We need to get a sense of what the environmental impacts of this project will be. In particular, lack of inclusive housing all but assures displacement of people from what is relatively higher ground to areas that may be more climate vulnerable. This is regressive and wrong. Owner has had this property for decades. This rezoning will put tens of millions dollars in their pockets the moment the SAP rezoning is approved, at the expense of the surrounding community. Come tonight at 6:30 p.m. to make your voice heard!
FANM| 305-756-8050 | 100 NE 84th ST, Miami, FL 33138 | www.fanm.org |
Hundreds of migrants to be flown to California in as many as 3 flights a week, officials say
Fox News
Hundreds of migrant families will be flown to California in as many as three flights a week as U.S. Border Patrol agents continue to struggle with the growing number of illegals crossing into the U.S., officials said.
Flights carrying 120 to 135 people were set to begin flying Friday to San Diego from the Rio Grande Valley in Texas and would continue to do so indefinitely, Border Patrol's interim San Diego sector chief Douglas Harrison said.
Harrison called it a “contingency operation” that would see at least three flights a week making the trip. Each flight would cost the government around $6,000, officials said.
SEN. MARSHA BLACKBURN: EVERY TOWN IS A BORDER TOWN UNTIL WE SECURE THE SOUTHERN BORDER
“We don’t have an end date,” he said. “We’ve got to give the people in Rio Grande Valley some relief.”
Once taken in at the border, migrants will go through processing where their biographical information will be collected. They will then go through a medical screening before being placed on a flight to San Diego International Airport where they will be transported to a Border Patrol Station upon arrival. There, they will be fingerprinted and interviewed and subject to a second medical screening.
The process of screening and interviewing one person typically takes several hours. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) will decide whether to release or detain the families in San Diego.
Border arrests have skyrocketed since Oct. 1, having reached a record 520,000, the highest in a decade, and on average agents make around 4,500 arrests a day, Reuters reported. The Rio Grande Valley, with nearly 8,000 people in detention, is by far the busiest charter followed by El Paso.
Officials have said they are also considering similar flights to Detroit, Miami and Buffalo, N.Y.
Taiwan becomes first in Asia to legalize same-sex marriage
By Nick Aspinwall
TAIPEI, Taiwan — Thousands of marriage-equality advocates celebrated Friday in the pouring rain outside Taiwan’s legislature as it voted to become the first in Asia to fully legalize same-sex unions.
The law — which allows for same-sex couples to apply for “marriage registration” as part of “exclusive permanent unions” — came a week before Taiwan’s codes barring same-sex marriage would have been automatically dropped by court order.
Lawmakers had faced pressure from LGBT groups demanding sweeping changes and from religious groups and others opposing the changes. Friday’s 66-to-27 vote recognizes same-sex marriages and gives couples many of the tax, insurance and child-custody benefits available to male-female married couples.