Enlarge Mentor Michaela Pilar Brown, right, helps students as a Y mentor. (Photo: The Charlotte Observer)

Posted: November 9th, 2011 Lee Howard

Stories worth sharing this week:

• The aftermath of North Carolina’s attempts to control “undesirables,” something euphemistically known as “eugenics,” is prompting state officials to consider compensation for thousands wronged by state-mandated sterilization. The program started in the 1920s to prevent the mentally ill, epileptics and the “feebleminded” from procreating. It lingered into the 1970s and has become a vicious scar no longer buried in the state’s past.
• History or sacrilege? It depends on your perspective. More than 14,000 tickets have been sold for the opening this coming Friday of Discovery Place’s Mummies of the World exhibit, a local record. But showing the mummified remains of people who have not given their consent could raise ethical questions for some religious, cultural and moral reasons. Will you be going to see this exhibit?
• With minority high school graduation rates lagging in Mecklenburg  County schools, the YMCA of Greater Charlotte has stepped up with a new program targeting students in local high schools with the lowest graduation rates. The local Y has formed a branch of a national youth club called Y Achievers. Workshops offer minority and underserved students assistance with character development, leadership and community service.
• New voting district boundaries, recently drawn up by Republican lawmakers, violate the state constitution, or so says the NAACP, the League of Women Voters and Democracy NC. The various groups have filed a lawsuit alleging racial bias in the new voting district boundaries. It seems the newly drawn districts meet federal requirements, but don’t meet state law, the suit alleges.
• A toothache hurts anyone, but if you’re homeless and have no access to dental care, it can wear away at your overall health.On Nov. 5, Shelter Health Service provided a dental van at Center of Hope, a Salvation Army emergency shelter for women and children, staffed with professionals from Landmark Dentistry in Matthews. Landmark, which made its services available for free, hopes to offer the mobile clinic on a quarterly basis for the next year.

Tweet

Previous Page