By Shari Carew, Fox 5 News Intern

When you intern at Fox 5, you never know what assignments they’ll have you work on.  On this particular day, my supervisor, Micheline  Bowman asked me to go and interview Chrisette Michelle for myvoicedc.com.  You should have seen my expression…priceless.  So I gathered my notes, my thoughts and I was off with a photographer.  I was nervous I must admit…but I held the mic and did what I came to learn at Fox 5…how to be a reporter and conduct an interview.   Here’s my story.

Enjoy! 

Grammy-nominated artist Chrisette Michelle recently served as “Principal for a Day” at Duke Ellington School of the Arts in NW Washington, DC.  When the word spread that she would be coming, you can only begin to imagine the excitement she brought to the building.  The halls were buzzing as students waited to get a glimpse of her.  Later they prepared for an exclusive performance from the singer and some of their peers. Chrisette sat at a piano, surrounded by 9-10 vocal students in the recording studio behind the cafeteria. Together they wrote and composed an original uplifting piece they entitled “Yes We Can”…..

Wow! That was an incredible experience and I’m looking forward to many more!

Controversial Ad (American Humanist Association)

By ERIC GORSKI
AP Religion Writer
You better watch out. There is a new combatant in the Christmas wars.

Ads proclaiming, “Why believe in a god? Just be good for goodness’ sake,” will appear on Washington, D.C., buses starting next week and running through December. The American Humanist Association unveiled the provocative $40,000 holiday ad campaign Tuesday.

In lifting lyrics from “Santa Claus is Coming to Town,” the Washington-based group is wading into what has become a perennial debate over commercialism, religion in the public square and the meaning of Christmas.

“We are trying to reach our audience, and sometimes in order to reach an audience, everybody has to hear you,” said Fred Edwords, spokesman for the humanist group. “Our reason for doing it during the holidays is there are an awful lot of agnostics, atheists and other types of non-theists who feel a little alone during the holidays because of its association with traditional religion.”

To that end, the ads and posters will include a link to a Web site that will seek to connect and organize like-minded thinkers in the D.C. area, Edwords said.

Edwords said the purpose isn’t to argue that God doesn’t exist or change minds about a deity, although “we are trying to plant a seed of rational thought and critical thinking and questioning in people’s minds.”

The group defines humanism as “a progressive philosophy of life that, without theism, affirms our responsibility to lead ethical lives of value to self and humanity.”

“UNSUNG”– Sneak peek of DeBarge Family episode airs Thanksgiving night (Nov. 27) at 7 PM, with the series airing on four consecutive nights starting Sunday, Nov. 30 at 10 PM ET –

Silver Spring, MD – Aretha, Whitney, Diana, Stevie, Marvin, The Winans - Everyone knows the name of black music’s biggest stars. But the full picture of black music in America is much larger than the acknowledged superstars, and many of the greatest have failed to achieve superstar status. Beginning with a sneak peek of one episode Thanksgiving night and airing on four consecutive nights starting Sunday, Nov. 30, TV One will premiere Unsung, a series of four, one-hour biography specials that celebrate the lives and careers of four of those accomplished artists or groups who deserved – but didn’t make – the transition to superstardom.

Narrated by singer, songwriter and radio personality Al B. Sure! Unsung will chronicle the careers of:

• Donny Hathaway – the musical genius who hit chart highs with Roberta Flack and influenced countless vocalists, but whose personal demons resulted in a tragic end; (airs 12/2)

• The Debarge Family – this sweet-voiced family group composed their own songs and were thought to be the answer to the Jackson 5, before changing musical trends, family squabbles, and deadly addictions led to their demise; (airs 11/27, 12/3)

• The Clark Sisters – these second generation gospel stars broke down gospel/secular barriers for artists such as the Winans and Kirk Franklin, but their own personal struggles and backlash from the most traditional in the church community kept them from becoming the crossover gospel household names they were destined to become; (airs 12/1) and

• Phyllis Hyman – sultry, statuesque and glamorous, with a smooth voice to match, Phyllis Hyman should have been a record executive’s crossover dream. But her jazzier musical inclinations ultimately limited her career, while her stormy temper and personal battles with weight and depression cut her life short (airs 11/30).

In a special Thanksgiving night sneak peek, TV One will offer The DeBarge Family episode Thursday, Nov. 27 at 7 PM. The entire series will then air on four consecutive nights beginning Sunday, Nov. 30, with each episode airing at 10 PM, 11 PM and 2 AM (all times ET). 

Unsung will reveal the multiple factors that kept these artists from achieving the iconic commercial status they deserved.  And, in the process, these specials will “sing” the praises and celebrate the artistry that has kept fellow artists and fans talking about them for years.  Featuring exclusive interviews, musical clips and archival footage, each episode will investigate the stories of these pivotal artists, their journey through music and their perhaps unexpected influence on the music of today.

“We wanted to celebrate the music of these artists that you remember fondly from your own or your parents’ collection of vinyl LPs and your classic editions of Ebony and Jet magazines…some of the most influential and talented R&B and Gospel artists of the 1970’s ‘80’s and ‘90’s,” said TV One Senior Vice President of Programming Strategy and Acquisitions Jeff Meier. “Though many of these artists managed to build a dedicated Black fanbase, they were not able to make the often musically deserved transition to superstardom.  In these specials, we want to answer, ‘Why did these artists remain mostly ‘unsung’ to the world at large?’”

11/12/2008  – 
In a strategy shift, the U.S. military in Iraq is redeploying its troops to positions outside cities, leaving the main defense to Iraqi security forces.

Starting in early 2007, with Iraq on the brink of all-out civil war, the troops were pushed into the cities and villages as part of a change in strategy that included President George W. Bush’s decision to send more combat forces.

The bigger U.S. presence on the streets was credited by many with allowing the Americans and their Iraqi security partners to build trust among the populace, thus undermining the extremists’ tactics of intimidation, reducing levels of violence and giving new hope to resolving the country’s underlying political conflicts.

Now the Americans are reversing direction, consolidating in larger bases outside the cities and leaving security in the hands of the Iraqis while remaining within reach to respond as the Iraqi forces require.

The U.S. is on track to complete its shift out of all Iraqi cities by June 2009. That is one of the milestones in a political-military campaign plan devised in 2007 by Gen. David Petraeus, when he was the top U.S. commander in Iraq, and his political partner in Baghdad, Ambassador Ryan Crocker. The goal also is in a preliminary security pact with the Iraqi government on the future U.S. military presence.

The shift is not explicitly linked to U.S. plans for increasing its military presence in Afghanistan, but there is an important connection: The logistical resources needed to house and supply a larger and more distributed U.S. force in Afghanistan have been tied up in Iraq. To some extent that will be relieved with the consolidation of U.S. forces in Iraq onto larger, outlying bases that are easier to maintain.

These moves coincide with priorities expressed by President-elect Barack Obama during his campaign: reducing the U.S. military commitment in Iraq and putting more resources into Afghanistan. It also fits with Petraeus’ view that a more robust counterinsurgency approach is needed in Afghanistan, meaning not only a larger number of troops but also getting them spread out into more villages.

But it also points up a major gamble in Iraq — namely, that the Iraqis are ready to handle the insurgency themselves.

Stephen Biddle, a senior fellow for defense policy at the Council on Foreign Relations and an occasional adviser to Petraeus, is among those who worry about the consequences of excluding U.S. forces from the cities.

“It gets us out of the way” should Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki decide to use Iraqi security forces to crush the U.S.-allied Sunni neighborhood militia groups who have been instrumental in attacking extremist elements of the insurgency, Biddle said in an e-mail exchange. Al-Maliki sees those militiamen, whom the U.S. has dubbed “Sons of Iraq,” as an internal threat to Shiite political predominance.

Biddle said that on balance he believes the risks are more likely to outweigh the benefits of sticking to the June goal.

Retired Army Col. Peter Mansoor, who served as Petraeus’ right-hand man in Baghdad during the U.S. troop buildup and has written a book, “Baghdad at Sunrise,” about the counterinsurgency effort, also has misgivings. He said in an e-mail exchange Tuesday that his main concern is sectarian violence.

“Without U.S. forces in the cities, the Shiite and Sunni militias could once again take to fighting each other without an honest broker to keep the peace,” he said. “The Iraqi army is not ready to play this role, in my view — not yet, anyway.”

Ready or not, U.S. commanders are marching steadily in that direction — and not just in Baghdad.

Brig. Gen. Martin Post, deputy commander of U.S. forces in western Iraq, where the Sunni insurgency has sharply abated — if not almost disappeared — since 2007, said Monday his outfit is shutting down the U.S. base at Fallujah. The U.S. headquarters elements there are moving to al-Asad air base, a large but remote facility in the vast desert halfway between Fallujah and the Syrian border.

“There’s been a big effort to move all the Marine forces out of the cities,” Post said in a videoconference with reporters at the Pentagon. “And so as you go throughout, from Fallujah all the way up the Euphrates River Valley, up to al-Qaim — where we used to have Marines actually living in the cities — we’ve pulled them all out.”

March of Dimes

WASHINGTON (AP) — The March of Dimes says the rate of premature births varies widely from state to state.
  
The group’s report says it’s as low as nine percent in Vermont, and as high as 18.8 percent in Mississippi. The head of the March of Dimes, Dr. Jennifer Howse, calls that “a dash of cold water.”
  
The federal government set a goal of reducing premature births to no higher than 7.6 percent by 2010. The report from the March of Dimes shows little promise of meeting that goal.
  
The report says among the factors contributing to premature births are lack of insurance and smoking. Women who don’t have health insurance are more likely not to get proper prenatal care.

Kim Kardashian (John P. Wise/MyFox)

By STACEY PLAISANCE
Associated Press Writer
NEW ORLEANS  –  As New Orleans Saints running back Reggie Bush recovers from knee surgery, he and girlfriend Kim Kardashian are enjoying the down time.

In recent weeks, they’ve gone bowling, enjoyed movies and dined at some of their favorite restaurants in the city. But Kardashian, a recent competitor on ABC’s “Dancing With the Stars,” says one of their favorite things to do is play video games.

“Reggie is really competitive,” Kardashian said Tuesday after previewing the new Nintendo Wii game, “Rayman Raving Rabbids TV Party,” with Bush at a downtown hotel. “At first I was winning, then he came back and beat me.”

Bush, who’s recovering from arthroscopic surgery to repair a meniscus tear in his left knee, wasn’t available for comment.

Kardashian, daughter of the late attorney Robert Kardashian, and her family are the subjects of the E! reality show “Keeping Up With the Kardashians.” The series follows Kardashian’s mother and business manager, Kris Jenner, as well as her stepfather, Bruce Jenner, and her siblings.

Viewers won’t be able to catch Tuesday’s video game session in the series, she said.

“We just chill out when I’m in New Orleans,” she said. “It’s not about work when I’m here. It’s about spending time with Reggie.”

Kardashian said they have been successful in their long-distance relationship by seeing each other often.

“Sometimes we’ve had to go 10 days, but we try not to let it go that far,” she said. “We’re dedicated. When you’re committed to something and really want something, you make it work.”

Check out this week’s Today’s Voices where the discussion is on last week’s historic election.

In a Nov. 16, 2006 file photo South African singer Miriam Makeba performs on stage at the Avo Session in Basel, Switzerland. The emergency room of the Pineta Grande Clinic, a private facility in Castel Volturno, Italy, says the 76-year-old singer died early Monday Nov. 10, 2008. (AP Photo/Keystone, Georgios Kefalas/file)

By CELEAN JACOBSON
Associated Press Writer
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa  –  Miriam Makeba, the South African singer who wooed the world with her sultry voice but was banned from her own country for 30 years under apartheid, died after a concert in Italy. She was 76.

In her dazzling career, Makeba performed with musical legends from around the world — jazz maestros Nina Simone and Dizzy Gillespie, Harry Belafonte, Paul Simon — and sang for world leaders such as John F. Kennedy and Nelson Mandela.

She was also the first African woman to win a Grammy award.

The Pineta Grande clinic in Castel Volturno, near the southern city of Naples, said Makeba died of a heart attack early Monday.

Town Mayor Francesco Nuzzo said Makeba collapsed late Sunday at the end of a concert against organized crime, which has been blamed for the local massacre in September of six immigrants from Ghana.

Makeba had not looked well as she visited an immigrant aid center in Castel Volturno early Sunday afternoon, the mayor said.

The death of “Mama Africa,” as she was known, plunged South Africa into shock and mourning.

“One of the greatest songstresses of our time has ceased to sing,” Foreign Affairs minister Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma said in a statement.

“Throughout her life, Mama Makeba communicated a positive message to the world about the struggle of the people of South Africa and the certainty of victory over the dark forces of apartheid and colonialism through the art of song.”

Makeba wrote in her 1987 memoirs that friends and relatives who first encouraged her to perform compared her voice to that of a nightingale. With her distinctive style combining jazz with folk with South African township rhythms, she was often called “The Empress of African Song.”

She first started singing in Sophiatown, a cosmopolitan neighborhood of Johannesburg that was a cultural hotspot in the 1950s before its black residents were forcibly removed by the apartheid government.

She then teamed up with South African jazz trumpeter Hugh Masekela — later her first husband — and her rise to international prominence started when she starred in the anti-apartheid documentary “Come Back, Africa” in 1959.

When she tried to fly home for her mother’s funeral the following year, she discovered her passport had been revoked. It was 30 years before she was allowed to return.

In 1963, Makeba appeared before the U.N. Special Committee on Apartheid to call for an international boycott of South Africa. The South African government responded by banning her records, including hits like “Pata Pata,” “The Click Song” (”Qongqothwane” in Xhosa), and “Malaika.”

Makeba received the Grammy Award for Best Folk Recording in 1966 together with Belafonte for “An Evening With Belafonte/Makeba.” The album dealt with the political plight of black South Africans under apartheid.

Thanks to her close relationship with Belafonte, she received star status in the United States and performed for President Kennedy at his birthday party in 1962. But she fell briefly out of favor when she married black power activist Stokely Carmichael and moved to Guinea in the late 1960s.

Besides working with Simone and Gillespie, she also appeared with Paul Simon at his “Graceland” concert in Zimbabwe in 1987.

After three decades abroad, Makeba was invited back to South Africa by Mandela, the anti-apartheid icon, shortly after his release from prison in 1990 as white racist rule crumbled.

“It was like a revival,” she said about going home. “My music having been banned for so long, that people still felt the same way about me was too much for me. I just went home and I cried.”

She insisted that her songs were not deliberately political.

“I’m not a political singer,” she insisted in an interview with Britain’s Guardian newspaper earlier this year. “I don’t know what the word means. People think I consciously decided to tell the world what was happening in South Africa. No! I was singing about my life, and in South Africa we always sang about what was happening to us — especially the things that hurt us.”

Makeba announced her retirement three years ago, but despite a series of farewell concerts she never stopped performing. When she turned 75 last year, she said she would sing for as long as possible.

Makeba is survived by her grandchildren, Nelson Lumumba Lee and Zenzi Monique Lee, and her great-grandchildren Lindelani, Ayanda and Kwame.

Acclaimed South African filmmaker Anant Singh, who worked with Makeba on the hit anti-apartheid film “Sarafina,” was in awe of the singer.

“We acknowledge the huge role she played in bringing global awareness to African music during the time she lived abroad and she will always be remembered as the mother of African music,” he told the South African Press Association.

Tributes poured in on morning radio talk shows, with many callers in tears as they recalled her humor and her unrelenting spirit.

“She had been part of my life for a long time. It is a great loss,” singer P.J. Powers told radio station 702. “She had a huge soul.”

President Bush walks with President-elect Obama along the West Wing Colonnade at the White House in Washington, Monday, Nov. 10, 2008, to the Oval Office for a private meeting.

WASHINGTON — President-elect Barack Obama and his wife, Michelle, have arrived at the White House for a visit, their first since Obama’s landslide election victory.

President George W. Bush and first lady Laura Bush were at the South Portico of the White House to greet the Obamas on a sunny fall day with moderate temperatures and colorful — but fading — autumn leaves.

Just a couple moments later, Bush and Obama were seen walking along the White House collonade to the Oval Office.

The Obamas’ arrival had the look of a foreign head-of-state state visit — although there were no fife and drum bands, speeches or official pageantry. The Obamas were driven up to the South Portico, where they were welcomed by the Bushes and escorted into the Executive Mansion that they’ll call home in a little more than two months.

Capitol Visitor Center spokesman Tom Fontana gives a guided tour of the new Capitol Visitor Center on Capitol Hill in Washington, Monday, Nov. 10, 2008. Behind Fontana is a cross-section of the Capitol Dome.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – After years of construction and controversy, the media is getting the first look at the brand new United States Capitol Visitor Center, which is set to open to the public next month. 

Located below the East Capitol Grounds of the U.S. Capitol Building in D.C., the visitor center is three-quarters the size of the Capitol itself.  It’s also the largest expansion project ever completed in the Capitol’s 215-year history. 

The new United States Capitol Visitor Center (CVC) features amenities that include an exhibition gallery, orientation theaters, a cafeteria, and gift shops—all within an environment that keeps visitors out of the unpredictable D.C. weather.

Also, 85 new trees have been planted, new skylights added, and historic lanterns and fountains have been restored in an effort to revitalize the Capitol’s historic landscape. 

The nearly 580,000 square-foot CVC will officially open to the public on December 2.  That day also marks the day that the Statue of Freedom was placed atop the Capitol building in 1863, signifying the completion of construction on its dome. 

Since the ceremonial groundbreaking for the CVC in June 2000, the project has received significant criticism for being behind schedule and over budget.  Construction on the center was originally scheduled to be completed in January 2004.  Delays and extra expenses have been blamed on the high cost of fuel, inclement weather, and extra security measures after 9/11. 

To find out more about the new Capitol Visitor Center, follow this link to their official website. 

For general information about public tours of the Capitol, call the Capitol Guide Service at (202) 225-6827.