GOP Sen. Tim Scott To Oppose Trump Judicial Nominee Thomas Farr

Republican Sen. Tim Scott announced Thursday he would oppose President Donald Trump's nominee to be a US district judge in North Carolina, effectively ending the nomination that had been plagued with accusations that Thomas Farr supported measures that disenfranchised African-American voters.

"This week, a Department of Justice memo written under President George H.W. Bush was released that shed new light on Mr. Farr's activities. This, in turn, created more concerns. Weighing these important factors, this afternoon I concluded that I could not support Mr. Farr's nomination," Scott said in a statement.

Scott, who is the Senate's sole black Republican, told reporters Wednesday that he wanted to speak to the author of a 1991 memo obtained by the Washington Post, which outlines a controversial postcard campaign distributed by the 1990 campaign of Sen. Jesse Helms that the Justice Department said were used to intimidate black voters from going to the polls.

Scott's decision to oppose Farr prevented Farr from being confirmed by the Senate, where Republicans hold a 51-to-49 seat majority. Also opposing Farr was Republican Sen. Jeff Flake, who has sworn off advancing Trump judicial nominees until the chamber votes on a bill to protect special counsels such as Robert Mueller. All 49 Democrats opposed the nomination.

[SOURCE: CNN]

Bomb threat at Texas Southern University

A bomb threat at Texas Southern University, one of the largest historically black universities in the United States, triggered an evacuation of the campus on Wednesday, but students were allowed back after a sweep, officials said.

The threat to the school in Houston was made in a call to emergency dispatchers, Houston police spokeswoman Jodi Silva said by phone.

"It was a generalized bomb threat," Silva said.

Thousands of students, including those in dorms, were forced to leave the campus and classes were canceled for Wednesday, Steve Scheffler, a spokesman for the university, said by phone.

Police conducted a sweep of the campus and the school was declared safe, with students allowed to return, Scheffler said.

[SOURCE: YAHOO NEWS]

Hakeem Jeffries defeats Barbara Lee to become Dem caucus chair

Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) has been elected Democratic caucus chair after edging past a fellow member of the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC).

In a 123-113 vote, Jeffries, one of the leaders of the party’s messaging arm, defeated veteran Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.), a former CBC chairwoman.

Jeffries, 48, is seen as a rising star among House Democrats and potential future Speaker. He frequently appears on the cable news shows to advance the Democrats’ message and push back against the GOP agenda.

But following his victory, Jeffries told reporters he wasn’t thinking about his future political ambitions and instead was solely focused on the task at hand. Jeffries will now preside over the rest of Wednesday’s leadership elections, which include picking a nominee for Speaker.

With Rep. James Clyburn (D-S.C.) expected to easily become majority whip, that means there will be two black lawmakers serving in the top five leadership positions for the first time in history.

“I stand on the shoulders of people like Jim Clyburn … There’s a great legacy of the Congressional Black Caucus,” Jeffries told reporters. “It’s a proud moment for our community. But I’m focused on standing up for everyone.”

[SOURCE: THE HILL]

2019 Congressional Black Caucus will be biggest ever

The 2018 mid-term election have added a number of African Americans to the United States Congress and in turn more members to the Congressional Black Caucus.

The newcomers to Congress will include nine more African-American members. With turnovers, the CBC is expected to have a record 54 members in the next Congress, four times as many as in 1971 when 13 Congress members formed the Caucus.

As a result, the CBC, which includes two senators, will rank among the largest caucuses in Congress.

ANDREA STEWART-COUSINS SELECTED AS FIRST WOMAN NEW YORK STATE SENATE MAJORITY LEADER

New York State Senate Democrats announced they have voted Andrea Stewart-Cousins (D–Yonkers) as the new Senate majority leader, making her the first woman to lead a majority conference in the state legislature.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Monday issued a statement congratulating Stewart-Cousins on her election.

“Since the beginning of her career in public service, [State Senate Majority] Leader Stewart-Cousins has always been a trailblazer. From being the first African-American woman to serve as director of community affairs in the City of Yonkers, to authoring and passing landmark legislation in the Westchester County Legislature to strengthen gun laws and protect human rights, to taking on local property taxes and fighting for our communities in the State Senate, she is a proven leader and a skilled legislator,” Cuomo said in the statement.

Her colleagues elected Stewart-Cousins to serve as leader of the Senate Democratic Conference in December 2012, which was in the minority at the time, becoming the first female leader of a legislative conference in New York, per the New York State Senate website. She was first elected to the state Senate in 2006 and currently represents Greenburgh, a portion of White Plains, part of New Rochelle, and parts of Yonkers and Scarsdale, the website says.

[SOURCE: CNYBJ]