Bryan Curtiss, Writer

Sharing success was the theme of this year’s State of the City Address in Columbus. However, three barriers – homelessness, unemployment, and education, were the focal points of Columbus Mayor Michael B. Coleman’s 15th Annual State of the City Address on Wednesday night.

In what was a reality check for most people in attendance at the Battelle Grand Ballroom of the Greater Columbus Convention Center, the city’s homeless was one of the big topics of the State of the City Address, and Coleman made it a goal to "rebuild the lives of the homeless."

"Columbus is a community of stark and sobering contrasts. Some bask in the glow of our success while others struggle every day just to see the light," Coleman remarked about the homeless population in the city. Columbus has a high poverty rate, with some neighborhoods having over 30 percent unemployment rates. The Median Household Income for Columbus residents is $ 8,000 below National Average.

Coleman then told the struggles of two homeless people living in the Faith Mission Shelter while striving for a better life for themselves. One was of a technical worker who ended up homeless due to loss of income, and another was of a dislocated worker, who chose to stay in Columbus, rather than relocate to another city.

“Sharing our success means ensuring our residents have roofs over their heads and strong neighborhoods to live in,” Coleman said.

"Homelessness is becoming a bigger problem in this city than in this city's history," Coleman added. This winter alone, there have been an estimated 1,200 homeless residents in the city, with approximately 150 of them being turned away from overcrowded shelters, left to "fend for themselves".

Coleman proposed that $ 1.1 Million will be used to combat homelessness, partnering with the Community Shelter Board on the nation’s first case management system of customized intensive individual care.

‘GH’, ‘Americans’, ‘Candelabra’, ‘Newsroom’, ‘Y&R’ Lead Bryan Award Nominations

July 8, 2013
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

The 13th Annual Bryan Awards were admitted into General Hospital in Port Charles, New York on Monday night, where the long-running daytime drama received a leading 31 Bryan Award Nominations, including Best Soap, when the nominations for the Bryan Awards were announced live on "The DJBC Happy Hour" radio program in Columbus, Ohio.

GH, which was almost cancelled last year, turned 50 in April, and leads in overall nominations for the second straight year. The show has eight of the twelve Guest Acting nominees for Daytime (four each in Guest Actor and Actress). Not far behind GH in the Daytime races is "The Young and the Restless", which celebrated its 40th Anniversary in March. Y&R has 24 nominations, including three for Lead Actor, and posthumous nods for Jeanne Cooper (Lead Actress) and Bonnie Franklin (Guest Actress) who both passed away this spring.

Joining GH and Y&R in the Daytime Soap category are the other two network soaps "The Bold and the Beautiful" and "Days of Our Lives", which have 18 and 14 nominations, respectively. The online revivals of "All My Children" and "One Life to Live", which debuted in late April, received only one and two nominations respectively.

In the Primetime field, the race is on in the New Series category, as that race appears to be Russians vs. Newsmen, as "The Americans" edges "The Newsroom" as the two most-nominated dramas and first-year programs with 24 and 20 nominations, respectively. "The Americans" is F/X's drama about KGB agents posing as married travel agents in the early 1980s, and "The Newsroom" is HBO's sleeper hit drama about the production of a cable news show.

Rain once again put a damper on the headlining acts at the Nelsonville Music Festival Saturday night. Wilco did take the stage eventually, but by then I was snug in my back-up-plan hotel room.

Nelsonville Pro-Tip #2: Always have a back-up plan.

Most of the day was bright and full of sound, though. Here's a few snapshots. Audio snippets are coming in the next entry.

Wheels on Fire - Still my favorite Athens band, making their third consecutive appearance at the festival. A three-piece this time.

Jonathan Richman - Jonathan strummed, danced, and exhorted us to engage fully in life.

Sharon Van Etten - a much more personable and cheerful stage presence than her music would lead you to expect.

Calexico's Horn Players - I opted for this shot over the full band photo. These guys were good. Lots of sound checking and audio-tech strife prior to this brief but very good set on the main stage.

The Porch Stage was the place to be at the Nelsonville Music Festival, as a string of loud rockers of various genres took over after mid-day. There is a sampling of clips from various sets below.

The rain we had all been fretting about arrived in time to push the headliner, Cat Power, back to a 10:30 start. A fearless and soggy bunch took in her set and blistering sets by Screaming Females and the Reigning Sound.

Unfortunately The Coup had to abbreviate their set in order to get everything done before 2 a.m.

Rested (a bit), showered, back at it again...

The Nelsonville Music festival is in full swing. Thursday night offered up some of Athens' finest local acts, including Hex Net, Unmonumental, D-Rays, and the Makebelieves.

Headliners Gogol Bordello killed it. I don't have any pictures from their set, but trust me. They set the stage on fire. Jeff Tweedy should just turned the bus around right now and head back to Chicago, for Gogol Bordello will not be topped.

Nelsonville Pro Tip #1: If you actually want to sleep, request Family Camping when you pull into the campsite. Our campsite rules and it even has wifi.

Some snapshots:

Unmonumental - Featuring Stuart's Opera House's own Brian Koscho

Hip-swinging salsa from Los Hacheros - Catch them again on the main stage today at 4:30

Hex Net

Wild Belle

The Makebelieves

tonight's show is a tribute to the activist mohamed haroun, the journalist tahar djaout, and the singer cherifa.

Dance music and joyful songs to hit the dance floor

Happy Mother's Day to all the Moms listening to my show. For this special occasion, I'll be playing songs describing moms and performing by El ghazi, Siham Stiti, Mohamed Allaoua, Makhlouf, Karima, Alilou, Hamidou, R KAM and Rachid Koceila

Thank you for joining me again today on Berbers from America.

I'll be talking about the book: Muhand Abdelkrim di Dawla n Ripublik by Aumer U Lamara, about launching of the nwe Amazigh TV of Libya, the performance of Numidia Band in Mawazin Festival of Morocco, about the Chawi Singer Markunda, and I'll be playing the songs of Idban n Rif,Said Zerwali, Milouda, Mimoun Rafrou, Abdelmoula, Numidia Band, Markunda, and Tatrit Band.

For any suggestions please send your feedback to sonialadjadj@yahoo.com

Today we'll talk about the double berber springs of April 20th 1980 and the black srping of april 20th 2001. We also have a short biography of Ferhat Mehenni the leader of GPK, and protestant singer, and we'll be playing songs of Matoub Lounes, Lounis Ait MEnguellet, Abderrahmane Oulahlou and Ferhat Mehenni.
Thank you for being with us.

The Berber Spring (in Berber: Tafsut Imaziɣen or simply Tafsut for "Spring") was a period of political protest and civil activism in 1980 claiming recognition of the Berber identity and language in Algeria with events mainly taking place in Kabylie and Algiers. The background was marked by two decades of harsh Arabization measures instituted by the Arab nationalist FLN dictatorship government, which refused to recognize Algeria's Berber identity and banned the Berber language altogether.

The Berber Spring is traditionally dated as beginning on March 10, 1980 with the banning of a conference due to be held by the Kabyle intellectual Mouloud Mammeri at Hasnaoua University in Tizi-Ouzou. A critical point was the coordinated arrest of hundreds of Berber activists, students and doctors on April 20, sparking a general strike.

While the Berber Spring was in the end violently suppressed by the Algerian authorities, it created a lasting legacy for Kabylie and the Berbers across North Africa. Many of today's prominent Kabyle politicians and activists made their name during the Berber Spring events, and organizations such as the Rally for Culture and Democracy (RCD) and the Berber Cultural Movement (Mouvement Culturel Berbère – MCB) were later created by activists of the Spring. The Spring was also an important event for Algeria's nascent human rights community, including outside Berber circles.