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ART: Celebrating The Old and The New Summer
Friends Of The Texas Historical Commission
A very happy summer to you all! It As part of our anniversary ac- has been a while since we have communicated with you through our newsletter Past Matters, so please bear with this rather long report! There has been a lot happening at the Friends of the Texas Historical Commission over the last few months. In April, the Friends celebrated the 25th anniversary of the founding of the organization at a gala at the Bullock Texas State History Museum. We were honored to present the inaugural Julian Read Award for Philanthropy in Preservation to Texas Historical Commission Chairman John L. Nau, III, for his for his vision, his leadership, and his generosity in furthering the cause of preservation, not just in Texas but nationally.
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The Ensemble Theatre Honored With The Theatre Longevity Award At National Black Film Theatre Festival
The Ensemble Theatre has long been a center for the history, culture, and artistic expression of African American theatre arts in the City of Houston. Founded by George Hawkins in 1976, The Ensemble Theatre has grown to become a beacon of Black excellence and a focal point of Black history in the making, not only in the City of Houston, but across the Nation. That is the very legacy that was awarded at this year’s 2022 National Black Theatre Festival.
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25th Annual MFA - 5A Citywide Exhibition
Winners On Display At T.S.U.'s University Museum, Through Aug 30th
This year the African American Art Advisory Association (5A) of the Museum of Fine Art Houston celebrates the 25th anniversary of the Citywide African American Artists Exhibition. The Exhibit will be hosted at different venues and spaces across the city, including the University Museum at Texas Southern University and the Glassell School of Art at the Museum of Fine Arts. The Houston Citywide African American Artists Exhibition is open to all artists of the African diaspora in the greater Houston area. It is sponsored by the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, through 5A (the African American Art Advisory Association at the MFAH) and the University Museum at Texas Southern University.
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Proposed TDP Rules Amendment: Makes Precinct Chairs Automatic State Convention Delegates Starting in 2024
Next week, when we meet in Dallas for this year’s Texas Democratic Party Convention, I will be circulating a petition to collect signatures to amend the State Party rules to make Precinct Chairs automatic delegates to State Party Conventions beginning in 2024.
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HCDE releases 2022-2023 comprehensive school calendar for 25 Harris County districts
Key dates for the 2022-2023 school year for each of the 25 school districts in Harris County are available on the Harris County Department of Education (HCDE) comprehensive school district calendar.
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BUSINESS: McConnell Jones – Celebrates 35th Year
Company Business Principals Founded On Diverse Thinking – Unique Perspective
Many things have changed in the past 35 years. Smartphones, Zoom meetings, and streaming television have traversed from fantasy to essentials in our daily lives. When Wayne McConnell sat down at his kitchen table in the Summer of 1987 to create an accounting firm, he could not fathom the world—or the firm—today.
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Houston Health Department Receives CDC Center Of Excellence Designation
This week, Mayor Sylvester Turner, the Houston Health Department’s Stephen Williams, director, and Dr. Loren Hopkins, PhD, chief environmental science officer, Houston Public Works, and Rice University announced some good news for hard work during COVID.
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Complete Communities University Leadership Training Promotes Civic Engagement
Emerging Leaders Invited To Apply For Fall 2022 Courses - Link Below
The Department of Neighborhoods (DON) invites Houston residents committed to making a positive impact in their communities to apply for Fall 2022 Complete Communities University (CCU) leadership training. The 8-week course will run September 21 – November 9. The classes will be held online via Microsoft Teams and in person on Wednesday evenings, 6-8:30 p.m. The application deadline is August 31, 2022.
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Bill Russell was a champion and a hero
When Bill Russell passed away this weekend at the age of 88, America lost not only a champion but a hero, a star who lit the way for others to follow.
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Member of the Boston Celtics; 1966 Championship team Bill Russell is honored at halftime of a game between the Boston Celtics and the Miami Heat …
Published on August 5, 2022
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Top lawmakers renew call for DHS IG to step aside from investigation into missing texts, citing CNN reporting
Key House Democrats have issued a new call for the Department of Homeland Security's inspector general to recuse himself from a probe of missing Secret Service text messages after a CNN exclusive report showed investigators knew for more than a year texts had been erased.
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First on CNN: Jan. 6 text messages wiped from phones of key Trump Pentagon officials
The Defense Department wiped the phones of top departing DOD and Army officials at the end of the Trump administration, deleting any texts from key witnesses to events surrounding the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol, according to court filings.
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First on CNN: New Senate bill would strengthen oversight in wake of missing Secret Service texts
A top Senate Democrat is proposing new legislation in response to missing Secret Service text messages that would make it more difficult for the agency to deny records to the inspector general and require additional briefings to Congress.
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A Celebration of Club Music...Beyonce' Renaissance
Unique, strong, and sexy—that’s how Beyoncé wants you to feel while listening to RENAISSANCE. Crafted during the grips of the pandemic, her seventh solo album is a celebration of freedom and a complete immersion into house and dance that serves as the perfect sound bed for themes of liberation, release, self-assuredness, and unfiltered confidence across its 16 tracks. RENAISSANCE is playful and energetic in a way that captures that Friday-night, just-got-paid, anything-can-happen feeling, underscored by reiterated appeals to unyoke yourself from the weight of others’ expectations and revel in the totality of who you are.
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Predatory lenders are making money off rising gas and food prices
In the last few months, Yumekia Jones, a legal assistant at the Mississippi Center for Justice's Indianola office, has fielded an unusually high number of calls — a roughly 400% spike — from people in dire need of immediate financial assistance.
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Where state abortion bans stand amid legal challenges
In more than a dozen states, legal fights are underway over abortion bans and other laws that greatly limit the procedure after the US Supreme Court ended a constitutional right to an abortion on June 24. On July 26, the Supreme Court entered its judgment in the case, taking the procedural step that will start the process for some states to implement their so-called trigger bans on the procedure.
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Breonna Taylor killing: A timeline of the police raid and its aftermath
Four current and former Louisville police officers involved in the deadly raid on Breonna Taylor's home -- including detectives who worked on the search warrant and the ex-officer accused of firing blindly into her home -- have been charged with civil rights violations and other counts, Attorney General Merrick Garland said Thursday.
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Angelica Ross will be the first trans lead in 'Chicago' on Broadway
"Chicago" is Broadway's longest-running revival -- and even after more than 25 years, the production is still making history.
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Lawsuit says police chasing White suspect wrongly arrested Black man
A Black man in Massachusetts says he was wrongly arrested by police who were looking for a White man, according to a lawsuit filed Wednesday in the US District Court of Massachusetts.
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Family Of 11-Year-Old Boy Attacked By Police At State Fair Believe His Civil Rights Were Violated
Police brutality has become a thing that many Black and Brown people have sadly come to expect will happen, or at the very least prepare for it just in case.
