THE 10TH ANNIVERSARY HARLEM BOOK FAIR PRESENTS THE 2008 WHEATLEY BOOK AWARDS

THE 10TH ANNIVERSARY HARLEM BOOK FAIR PRESENTS THE 2008 WHEATLEY BOOK AWARDS

Author Herb Boyd celebrates the life and literary work of actor Ossie Davis

2007 Wheatley Award recipient, Walter Mosley delivers spellbinding comments to an enraptured audience

New York, NY (BlackNews.com) – On Friday July 18th, 2008 The Harlem Book Fair will usher in its 10th Anniversary by honoring key figures in African and African American Literature. The Schomburg Center for Black Research will host the annual Wheatley Book Awards Program and Dinner. This year’s honorees are Haki Madhubuti (Third World Press); W. Paul Coates (Black Classic Press); Kassahun Checole (Africa World Press); Cheryl Willis Hudson and Wade Hudson (Just Us Books); and Tony Rose (Amber Communications Group).

Created by HBF founder Max Rodriguez, the Wheatley Book Awards recognizes literary achievement that transcends culture, boundary, and perception. Past honorees include Maya Angelou, Chinua Achebe, Sonia Sanchez, Walter Mosley, Octavia Butler, Ishmael Reed, John A. Williams, Walter Dean Myers, and other notable authors.

The awards foreshadow an expansion to honor more writers in various categories from African and the African Diaspora experience. Max Rodriguez says of the possibility, “Through this year’s honorees, we acknowledge the diversity of our reading public. Next, we will embrace those writers and publishers who contribute to our awareness as a global community.”

The Wheatley Book Awards Program and Dinner will be held on Friday, July 18, 2008, at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, 515 Malcolm X Boulevard in Harlem, New York, with a reception starting at 6:00pm followed by the awards program and dinner. The dress is black tie/evening formal. The red carpet opens at 5:30pm. The public and all media are invited to the reception and awards program.

The Wheatley Book Awards serve as the perfect inauguration of the Harlem Book Fair’s historic 10th year anniversary. The highly celebrated Harlem Book Fair takes place on Saturday, July 19th, 2008, following the Wheatley Awards evening gala. As the largest annual nationally televised African American book fair (C-Span’s BookTV), this year’s 10th anniversary promises to be extraordinary. As with past HBF celebrations, the Harlem Book Fair will expand its tradition of showcasing the most talented and gifted authors while featuring inspiring and informative panel discussions, author readings, workshops, and performance events. All publishers and authors are encouraged to exhibit at this year’s Fair. All events are free to the public.

Congresssman Charles B. Rangel, Chairman of the U. S. House Ways and Means Committee, said of his participation in the Harlem Book Fair, “the discussions and expressions shared were poignant and enlightening, and I am truly grateful to have been part of something special. Please continue to count on my support and advocacy as we work together to promote literacy and education in Harlem and throughout the nation.”

Howard Dodson, Chief of Harlem’s renowned Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture declares “the Harlem Book Fair is an event that has become a major force in the cultural life of the Harlem community.”

Please confirm your participation via email (rsvp@qbr.com) or contact Tiffany Newton at 212-348-1681 for reservations and additional information about the Wheatley Awards or the 10th anniversary Harlem Book Fair, please contact Tiffany Newton at 212-348-1681 or visit www.qbr.com

MOTHER’S DAY BRUNCH

SUBWAYS’ BLOOD-BUG INVASION

SUBWAYS’ BLOOD-BUG INVASION
By PATRICK GALLAHUE, JOHN MAZOR and SYLVIA HARVEY

http://www.nypost.com/video/?vxSiteId=0db7b365-a288-4708-857b-8bdb545cbd0f&vxChannel=NY%20Post&vxClipId=1458_283856&vxBitrate=700
Bed Bugs Lurk Under Subway Benches

Bed bugs are subway-bound as they have turned up in five stations, including Union Square.

May 8, 2008 –

Don’t let the bedbugs swipe!

The blood-sucking insects aren’t just living with New Yorkers at home – they’re on the subways, too, according to one of the city’s leading bedbug authorities.

At a recent Department of Housing, Preservation and Development forum on the subject, a city bedbug educator admitted to seeing the pests on benches in subway stations – in one case, catching a ride on an unsuspecting straphanger’s caboose at Brooklyn’s Hoyt-Schermerhorn station, according to people at the meeting.

The official, identified as Edward Brownbear, also reported seeing the bugs on wooden benches at the Union Square and Fordham Road stations in Manhattan and The Bronx, respectively.

Sharis Lugo, 20, of Brooklyn leaped off a bench at the Union Square station when she heard the news, saying, “Ewww! That’s nasty . . . They’ve got to take these benches out of here!”

SUBWAYS’ BLOOD-BUG INVASION – New York Post.

Psychedelic Herb, Public Urination Among the Targets of Lawmakers

Psychedelic Herb, Public Urination Among the Targets of Lawmakers

By JACOB GERSHMAN
Staff Reporter of the Sun
May 8, 2008

State lawmakers are pushing for a crackdown on Salvia divinorum, a widely available hallucinogenic herb that plunges users into a bizarre dreamscape world.

Under a bill introduced in the Senate, New Yorkers possessing the leafy plant could face Class B misdemeanor charges, punishable by up to three months in prison. The sentence for dealing the drug would be a Class A misdemeanor, which comes with a maximum penalty of a year behind bars.

The legislation is one of hundreds of new bills circulating in Albany in the last weeks of session, a time when lawmakers, having wrapped up the budget, tend to turn their attention to other issues. Lawmakers are also trying to ban public urination, permit the sale of wine and beer in movie theaters, and name a highway after the top American commander in Iraq, General David Petraeus.

The Senate sponsor of the anti-salvia legislation, George Maziarz, who represents a district in Western New York, said he had his staff draft a bill after he received calls from parents upset that their children were smoking the herb.

The senator said he was convinced that the drug should be banned after he and his aides watched YouTube videos of people smoking salvia and having psychedelic experiences.

One video he watched showed a man falling under a table. Another one ? shot by amused friends gathering in a ramshackle backyard ? shows a teenager taking a hit from a pipe and then stumbling around in a trance, before collapsing on the ground as if he were zapped by a stun gun.

clickThe New York Sun for more.

11 Years of Police Gunfire, in Painstaking Detail

11 Years of Police Gunfire, in Painstaking Detail

By AL BAKER
Published: May 8, 2008

New York City police officers fire their weapons far less often than they did a decade ago, a statistic that has dropped along with the crime rate. But when they do fire, even at an armed suspect, there is often no one returning fire at the officers. Officers hit their targets roughly 34 percent of the time.

click  New York Times for full story.