Urban News

(LOUISVILLE, Ky.) -- A legendary black slave who made the trek west with Lewis and Clark will soon be immortalized in Louisville. City fathers have unveiled a model of a proposed larger-than-life bronze statue of a man known as York. He was a slave to the Corps of Discovery and holds the distinction as being the first black person to have crossed the American continent ... of which historians know.

Because York spent most of his life in Louisville, the city thinks that it's the perfect place for a memorial to York (who has no known last name). Louisville Mayor Dave Armstrong introduced the statue's designer to the media. He's Ed Hamilton, who has a studio in the area.

The planned statue shows York as a strapping, handsome man, standing tall and strong, as he was described in the official journals of the adventure that explored the uncharted "American West."

York was assigned as a slave, while still a boy, to adventurer William Clark. By the way, Clark is credited with doing much to open up the West to expansion. His elder brother, George Rogers Clark, successfully won the only battle of the Revolutionary War fought outside of the Thirteen Colonies. He captured the fort at Vincennes, Ind., securing the new nation's right to move westward.

Back to William Clark. He would free York a decade after the historic expedition. The former slave would live out his life a free man in Louisville. The completed memorial to York will be on the city's waterfront and will be unveiled in about a year.

(SEATTLE) -- The city council of Seattle has revised long-standing rules concerning what posters may be plastered on city-owned light poles and walls. According to the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, the new restrictions would allow the posting of information (including handbills and other items) on utility poles, streetlights and traffic devices, with restrictions.

First, signs would have to be a single layer. That means no flashy signs or other things with moving parts that might serve as distractions to pedestrians or motorists.

Second, nothing may be glued on. That means that the mess you see in some cities where posters, usually of a political nature or for upcoming concerts, looking like wallpaper, are still verboten in Seattle.

Additionally, staples bigger than 3/8 inch or nails may not be used to hang the placards.

A court recently overturned the previous wording, ruling that posting of such information is traditional and a "public forum" protection.

(NEW ORLEANS) -- In the wake of warnings that New Orleans school overseers have one more chance to "get it right" or risk the takeover of city schools by state regulators, the school board there says that eight people have submitted their names for the post of superintendent. There have been over half a dozen people in the "hot seat" at that commission in less than a decade.

The New Orleans Times-Picayune is reporting that the current superintendent plans to resign in June. The system has about 50,000 students and more than 7,300 employees.

In recent years, the New Orleans system has been plagued with problems and is drowning in red ink. The Crescent City is not alone in this, but many there have seen what's happened in other cities where state agencies have taken control away from local boards.

One member of the board tells the newspaper that he doubts that anyone would want to move in from outside the area to take the job because of the cash-strapped situation there.

(ATLANTA) -- Which is worse? Non-citizens driving around without driver licenses with no oversight from local agencies, or non-citizens -- technically illegal aliens -- being given legal permission to drive? Those are the options being debated by police jurisdictions in Atlanta. The Atlanta Journal and Constitution says that many police units say it's better to actually provide a license to these "illegals," simply to bring some sense into the system and to know who is driving.

Others fight the concept, saying that to do so puts the state's imprimatur on border-jumping immigrants.

Police say that it's essential for everyone to have some kind of identification. And that if an "illegal" has an ID it works in his or her favor. That person is no longer an "unknown commodity" to police.

Where this concept has been offered in other areas, church and advocacy groups have had to step in to assure immigrants coming forward that their information will not be turned over to the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service. In some Texas cities, for example, local Mexican consulates have cooperated in such a venture.