Texas Governor Signs Posthumous Pardon For Timothy Cole, Who Was Wrongly Convicted Of Rape

Texas Gov. Rick Perry Tuesday posthumously pardoned Timothy Cole 11 years after he died in a Texas prison for a crime he did not commit.

"I have been looking forward to the day I could tell Tim Cole's mother that her son's name has been cleared for a crime he did not commit," Gov. Perry said in a statement. "The State of Texas cannot give back the time he spent in prison away from his loved ones, but today I was finally able to tell her we have cleared his name, and hope this brings a measure of peace to his family."

A judge sentenced Cole to 25 years for the 1985 rape of Michele Mallin in Lubbock County, Texas. Cole and Mallin were both Texas Tech students in Lubbock. Police investigated a series of campus rapes and an undercover Lubbock police woman declared Cole was the rapist.

Cole maintained his innocence, and in 2008 DNA evidence cleared Cole of Mallin's rape, pointing to Jerry Wayne Johnson, a serial rapist, who confessed to the crime in letters to Lubbock County officials. The Innocence Project of Texas, a Lubbock-based organization representing the wrongfully convicted, said Lubbock courts blocked Johnson's efforts to clear Cole (The NorthStar News & Analysis, 2/21).

Cole died in 1999 from asthma-related complications. In 2007, Johnson confessed to Mallin's rape in a letter to Cole's last known address. Cole's mother, Ruby Session, took the letter to Innocence Project of Texas, which secured a DNA test, exonerating Cole. The Innocence Project of Texas filed a petition with the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles for a posthumous pardon of Cole, one year after a district judge formally exonerated Cole in April 2009. Mallin and Lubbock Police Chief Dale Horton supported Cole's pardon.

Cole's pardon represents a victory for his family, The Innocence Project of Texas and the Texas Criminal Justice System, the Innocence Project said in a statement.

"We are optimistic Tim's story will shed light on the wrongful conviction problem and will pay the way forward," the organization said in a statement. "As a result of Tim's exoneration, the Texas legislature already passed the Tim Cole Act, which is the most generous exoneree compensation statue in the United States." Wrongfully convicted Texas exonerees receive an $80,000 lump-sum payment for every year spent in prison.

The case, however, is not over. Cole's family sued in federal court a Texas Tech police officer and four Lubbock police officers, including the the undercover cop, for Cole's mistaken arrest. ^ Top|Share

Charles Rangel

Rangel Temporarily Steps Down As Ways and Means Committee Chairman

U.S. Rep. Charles Rangel Tuesday temporarily stepped down as chairman of the powerful House Ways and Means Committee, one week after the U.S. House of Representatives' Committee on Standards of Official Conduct admonished him for accepting two- free trips to the Caribbean corporations funded (The NorthStar News, 2/28).

"My chairmanship is bringing so much attention to the press, and in order to avoid my colleagues having to defend me during their elections, I have this morning asked House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to grant me a leave of absence until such time as the ethics committee completes its work," Rangel said during a news conference.

The ethics committee concluded after an eight-month investigation, involving 29 witnesses and more than 3,000 documents, Rangel, D., N.Y., violated the House Gift Rule by accepting trips to Antigua and Barbuda in 2007 and St. Maarten in 2008 funded by corporations. The committee learned AT&T Corp., IBM Corp., Pfizer Corp. and Verizon Inc. paid the trips' cost. Carib News Foundation Multi-National Business Conferences sponsored the trip to discuss trade between the U.S. and Caribbean countries.

The committee ordered Rangel to repay the U.S. Treasury Department the undisclosed cost of both trips. The House Ways and Means Committee writes the nation's tax-writing laws, making it one of the most powerful congressional committees.

Rangel, 79, became Ways and Means chairman in January 2007, the first black man to hold the post. Speaker Pelosi named U.S. Rep. Sander Levin, D, Mich., Rangel's replacement. ^ Top|Share

USDA Agrees To Pay Black Farmers $1.25 Billion

The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) agreed to pay $1.25 billion to black farmers who suffered discrimination in obtaining USDA farm loans and other services. The agreement is contingent on Congress appropriating $1.15 million in the 2010 federal budget to pay the settlement, said U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder Feb. 18. Congress previously appropriated $100 million as part of the agreement.

The settlement, Pigford II, a reference to the original case Pigford v Glickman, applies to black farmers excluded from a 1999 consent agreement, which the Department of Agriculture agreed to pay black farmers for past discrimination in lending and other USDA programs. Three black farmers in 1997 sued the USDA, charging the agency discriminated against black farmers between 1983 and 1997. The class-action lawsuit was titled Pigford v. Glickman. In 1997, the parties signed a consent decree awarding $50,000 plus USDA loan forgiveness.

"Thousands of claims were adjudicated, but thousands of other claims were not considered on their merits because affected farmers submitted claims after the consent decree's deadline," Holder said. The filing deadline for submitting a class-member claim was Sept. 12, 2000, reports the Congressional Research Service.

"To address remaining claims, Congress provided these farmers another avenue for restitution in the 2008 Farm Bill by providing a right to file a claim in federal court," Holder said. The 2008 Farm Bill mandated a moratorium on loan acceleration and foreclosures where there is a pending claim of discrimination against the USDA, reports the Congressional Research Service.

The Environmental Working Group, a Washington, D.C.-based organization that works with black farmers, and the National Black Farmers Association, a 60,000 member organization based in Richmond, Va., said the USDA awarded 13,000 black farmers compensation as part of the 1999 consent decree, but the USDA denied 81,000, or 86% of black farmers compensation.

The Congressional Research Service, which reports to Congress, said between 1990 and 1995, loans to black-male farmers averaged $4,000 or 25% less than loans to white-male farmers and 97% of disaster payments went to white farmers. The Congressional Research Service includes its finding in its Nov. 10, 2009, report, titled "The Pigford Case: USDA Settlement of a Discrimination Suit by Black Farmers."

In 2004, Environmental Working Group and the National Black Farmers Association called on the Justice Department to reopen civil rights claims after a former Justice Department lawyer who the USDA hired to fight black farmer claims was charged by a California district attorney with practicing without a license.

Black farmers who establish they were USDA discrimination victims are entitled to up to $50,000 in debt relief and up to $250,000 in damages, Holder said.

"Bringing this litigation to a close has been a priority for this administration," Holder said in a statement.

In 2007, there were 32,938 farms operated by African Americans and more than 74% of black-owned farms were located in Texas, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Alabama, Georgia, Virginia and Louisiana, according to the Congressional Research Service. ^ Top|Share

Black-Male Unemployment Rate Rises Again In February

The seasonally adjusted black-male unemployment rate climbed again in February, but the overall unemployment rate held at 9.7% as 36,000 non-farm payroll jobs were lost. The unemployment rate for black men 20 years old and older was 17.8% as 1,424 million African-American men looked for work in February.

This figure compares with January's seasonally adjusted black-male unemployment rate of 17.6%, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Friday. In January, 1,405 million black men 20 years old and over were jobless.

The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate in February for black women was 12.1%, as 1,099 million black women were jobless. In January, the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for black women was 13.3% as 1,198 million black women were jobless.

Blacks in February had the highest unemployment rate among major worker groups. The unemployment rate for whites was 8.8%, 12.4% for Hispanics and 15.8% for blacks. The unemployment rate for Asians was 8.4%, but it was not seasonally adjusted, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported.

Overall, the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was unchanged at 9.7% as construction jobs fell, but temporary employment agencies continued to add workers. This winter's severe weather may have affected payroll employment and hours. ^ Top|Share

Harold Ford Jr.

NorthStar News & Analysis Briefs

Harold Ford Jr. Decides Not To Run
Harold Ford Jr., who was thinking seriously about running for the U.S. Senate from New York, ended his campaign March 2.

In a New York Times Oped piece, Ford accused Democratic party insiders of "bullying him out of the race."

Ford, who lost in 2006 a close race for the U.S. Senate from Tennessee, is a Merrill Lynch executive and a frequent commentator on "Morning Joe," a MSNBC news program.

Minister Louis Farrakhan Says Obama Blocked
Minister Louis Farrakhan said "white right" is attempting to make President Barack Obama a one-term president.

Minister Farrakhan of The Nation of Islam, which is based in Chicago, made his comments Feb. 28 during Saviours' Day, which attracted 20,000 people.

Black-Male High School Sends Entire Senior Class To College
The entire senior class of Urban Prep Academy for Young Men, a Chicago high school for black-male high school students has been accepted to four-year colleges, Chicago Mayor Richard Daley announced Friday.
Some 107 students earned spots at 72 colleges nationwide. This is the first graduating class of Urban Prep Academy, which opened in 2006.

Former Birmingham, Ala., Mayor Sentenced To 15 Years
U.S. District Court Judge Scott Coogler Friday sentenced former Birmingham, Ala., Mayor Larry Langford, 63, to 15 years in prison, following his October conviction on fraud and bribery charges (The NorthStar News, 12/13/09).
Judge Coogle ordered Langford to pay nearly $367,000 in fines.City officials removed Langford from office, following his conviction.

NBA Commissioner Expects Quick Approval For Jordan
National Basketball Association Commissioner David Stern expects Michael Jordan to be approved as owner of the Charlotte Bobcats later this month.

Jordan, managing member of the Bobcats basketball operations, headed a group that purchased the team's majority share from Robert L. Johnson, Black Entertainment Television founder (The NorthStar News, 2/28/10).
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