Up & Coming Weekly

January 12, 2021

Up and Coming Weekly is a weekly publication in Fayetteville, NC and Fort Bragg, NC area offering local news, views, arts, entertainment and community event and business information.

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WWW.UPANDCOMINGWEEKLY.COM JANUARY 13-19, 2021 UCW 9 e city of Fayetteville has matched a record set several years ago in the num- ber of homicides recorded this past year. Police spokesman Sgt. Jeremy Glass says 33 homicides in 2020 include the shooting death of a 7-year-old child and two man- slaughter cases. On average, Fayetteville homicides number in the mid-twenties annually. Glass said authorities are wait- ing on the state's chief medical examiner's findings in two other cases. e detective division is compiling an annual report which will include the identities of murder victims, the alleged perpetrators, causes of death and arrests in every homicide. A formal report will be issued in February according to Glass. Grant awarded for Murchinson Road redevelopment project e U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development has awarded a $450,000 grant to the City of Fayetteville and Fayetteville Metropolitan Housing Authority to create a revitalization plan for a section of Murchison — specifically the area between Rowan Street and Pamalee Drive. e grant will be used to develop a community-led plan to transform the area into a 'Choice Neighborhood.' Project managers will identify new opportunities for economic vitality. City leaders esti- mate it will take two years to complete the revitalization plan. $150,000 of the grant will be used for an "early action project" at the site of the Murchison Townhouses on Rosemary Street. "We want to satisfy current residents of Murchison Road and welcome new busi- ness and educational opportunities in the area," said Mayor Mitch Colvin who owns a business in the area. e City's Econom- ic and Community Development Depart- ment will continue to collect feedback from residents on their preferences. Women veterans benefit from new congressional package Congress has approved a bill that re- quires every VA hospital to hire dedicated women's health providers, to increase resources for homeless veterans and create a Department of Veterans Affairs advisory committee for Native American veterans among dozens of other measures. e legislative package, which lawmakers described as an end-of-year omnibus bill for veterans, is over 340 pages long and includes numerous provisions for female veterans. Following the Senate's approval earlier, the House passed the bill by voice vote without any objections. e vote came as Congress wrapped up its 116th legislative session. In efforts to improve services for women veterans, the bill provides $20 mil- lion to retrofit VA hospitals with women's health spaces and makes permanent a program to provide childcare at VA facili- ties. Women are the fastest-growing demo- graphic in the military, with the number using VA health care almost tripling since 2000, from 160,000 to 475,000, according to VA data. Rep. Hudson objects to election results, condemns violence e Republican Congressman who represents Fort Bragg and much of Cumberland County was among those who objected last week to election results in half a dozen states. Rep. Richard Hud- son, NC-08, announced his intentions the day the new Congress began. President Donald Trump had been calling for Re- publicans to overturn the election results, which have been certified in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. Demo- crat Joe Biden won 306 electoral votes to Trump's 232. Hudson joined his Repub- lican colleagues in signing onto a court brief in support of a Texas lawsuit seeking to invalidate the election results in four states won by Biden. e Supreme Court dismissed the case. "I believe it is my Constitutional duty to object to certifying the Electoral College votes of certain states that violated their own election laws," Hudson said. He added that his concerns included extending the deadline for mail- in ballots. Following the violence at the Capitol building on the afternoon of Jan. 6, Hud- son released a statement condemning the event : "I am sickened and heartbroken by what unfolded today at the U.S. Capitol. e violence, vandalism and loss of an American life are shocking and go against everything we stand for as a people and a nation. I condemn this violence and any- one on the right or the left who resorts to violence to achieve a political end." 2020 murders in Fayetteville match all time high by JEFF THOMPSON NEWS DIGEST JEFF THOMPSON, Reporter. COMMENTS? Editor@upandcom- ingweekly.com. 910-484-6200. Rep. Richard Hudson (Photo by Sgt. Alexis Washburn-Jasinski, courtesy of DVIDS)

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