President Barack Obama browses crafts and antiques at Grasshoppers store in LeClaire, Iowa, Aug. 16, 2011, during a three-day bus tour in the Midwest. Photo by Pete Souza
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SPLCenter: We’ve Lost A Champion
It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of legendary civil rights activist Julian Bond, SPLC’s first president. He was 75 years old and died last evening, August 15, in Fort Walton Beach, Florida. From his days as the co-founder and communications director of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee in the 1960s to his chairmanship of the NAACP in the 21st century,
Julian was a visionary and tireless champion for civil and human rights. He served as the SPLC’s president from our founding in 1971 to 1979, and later as a member of its board of directors. With Julian’s passing, the country has lost one of its most passionate and eloquent voices for the cause of justice. He advocated not just for African Americans, but for every group, indeed every person subject to oppression and discrimination, because he recognized the common humanity in us all
More here
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WSJ: Pell Grants To Be Restored For Prisoners
The Obama administration plans to restore federal funding for prison inmates to take college courses. The plan would allow potentially thousands of inmates in the U.S. to gain access to Pell grants, the main form of federal aid for low-income college students. The grants cover up to $5,775 a year in tuition, fees, books and other education-related expenses. Prisoners received $34 million in Pell grants in 1993, according to figures the Department of Education provided to Congress at the time.
But a year later, Congress prohibited state and federal prison inmates from getting Pell grants as part of broad anticrime legislation, leading to a sharp drop in the number of in-prison college programs. Between the mid-1990s and 2013, the U.S. prison population doubled to about 1.6 million inmates, many of them repeat offenders, Justice Department figures show. A 2013 study by the Rand Corp. found that inmates who participated in education programs, including college courses, had significantly lower odds of returning to prison than inmates who didn’t.
More here
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https://twitter.com/andendall/status/632188177046990848
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BOOM
https://twitter.com/thinkbri/status/613430475844100096
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Double BOOM
https://twitter.com/KenJennings/status/611583638707146753
https://twitter.com/KenJennings/status/611584465047916545
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President Barack Obama has breakfast with small business owners at Rausch’s Cafe in Guttenberg, Iowa, during a three-day bus tour in the Midwest, Aug.16, 2011. Photo by Pete Souza
President Barack Obama signs H.R. 2097, the Star-Spangled Banner Commemorative Coin Act, at the Resolute Desk in the Oval Office, Aug. 16, 2010. Photo by Pete Souza
Television microphones hang in the air as the media listens in while a Park Ranger explains the site to President Barack Obama and family during a tour of the Grand Canyon on Aug. 16, 2009. Photo by Pete Souza
President Barack Obama looks at the Grand Canyon in Arizona on Aug. 16, 2009. Photo by Pete Souza
President Barack Obama talks with people at Grasshoppers store in LeClaire, Iowa, Aug. 16, 2011, during a three-day bus tour in the Midwest. Photo by Pete Souza
The Obama Diary 
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