NEWS YOU OUGHT TO KNOW
Dwaine Caraway, Former Dallas mayor pro tem sentenced to over 4 1/2 years
Dallas (AP) — Former Dallas Mayor Pro Tem Dwaine Caraway has been sentenced to just over 4 ½ years in prison after pleading guilty in a federal corruption probe that’s shaken local government in the North Texas city.
A long-time fixture in city politics, Caraway resigned from the Dallas City Council last August after pleading guilty to tax evasion and wire fraud. The 66-year-old acknowledged he accepted hundreds of thousands of dollars in kickbacks and bribes.
In federal court Friday, a judge berated Caraway and ordered him to pay $482,000 in restitution and report to prison May 5.
“I was disgusted by your conduct,” U.S. District Judge Barbara Lynn told the politician.
Caraway expressed contrition before receiving his sentence, saying he was embarrassed and ashamed of his past behavior.
Larry Duncan, a Former Dallas Council member, receives probation in a corruption scandal
Dallas, Texas– (AP) — A former Dallas official caught up in a federal corruption probe has been sentenced for his role in a scandal that’s reached high into the city’s government.
Former City Council member Larry Duncan was sentenced Tuesday to three years of probation and six months of home confinement for tax evasion.
Duncan is the ex-board president of a shuttered school bus agency. He pleaded guilty last October in a scheme in which public officials accepted bribes and payments from a company to support placing its cameras on school buses.
Former Dallas Mayor Pro Tem Dwaine Caraway was sentenced Friday to just over 4 ½ years in prison for his part in the scandal.
Leaders of the company, Force Multiplier Solutions, have also pleaded guilty. They’re awaiting sentencing.
Documentary Movie honoring Robert Hughes, all-time winningest high school basketball coach of Fort Worth
Fort Worth, Texas – In less than a month, May 2 the film “5700 Ramey Ave: The Story of Robert Hughes” will premiere at the Fort Worth Modern Art Museum. The title of the documentary was named for the location of, Dunbar High School, “5700 Ramey Ave” where the Wildcats won 1,333 games, and multiple state titles.
The documentary focuses on one of the most influential men in the history of basketball in the state of Texas and now can be shared with the public.
Coach Hughes was inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame in 2017 after he led I.M. Terrell and Dunbar High Schools to five state basketball championships.
Mike Byars, the creator of the documentary and a native of Fort Worth, was one of Coach Hughes’ former basketball players. He is now living in Los Angeles and is a filmmaker, but in the 1990’s he was a star shooting guard at Dunbar High where he viewed Hughes as a living, breathing Greek mythological figure. Like a lot of kids who played for Hughes, they still view him the same way.
Byars’ project that began years ago is now complete with Coach Robert Hughes the star.
Publisher of iconic black magazines files for bankruptcy
Hubert G. McCann
Chicago (AP) — Johnson Publishing Co., the owner of the iconic Ebony and Jet magazines that helped change the negative image of black people portrayed by U.S. media, filed for bankruptcy liquidation Tuesday in a federal court in Chicago.
In announcing the Chapter 7 bankruptcy petition, the company said it was “caught in a tidal wave of marketplace changes and business issues which, despite exhaustive efforts, could not be overcome.” The issues included the bankruptcy of a major retailer that carried its Fashion Fair Cosmetics line, a “costly recall” of products and increasing competition from digital rivals, the company said.
John H. Johnson founded the company in 1942 when he launched Negro Digest with a $500 loan from his mother. The magazine summarized newspaper articles about black life.
But the key to the company’s growth was Ebony magazine, founded in 1945 and patterned after Life magazine, one of the nation’s leading magazines at the time. The average monthly circulation of Ebony was around 2 million for a time in the 1990s, making it the largest magazine catering to blacks.
In 2014, Jet ceased print editions and became a digital-only publication. In 2016, Ebony and Jet were sold to Clear View Group, an equity firm in Texas.
Despite being under new ownership, the company struggled financially, with freelance writers suing to be paid. The lawsuit was settled last year.
