IN THIS EPISODE:
- Khambrel Marshall dives into questions about Israel’s democracy.
- A Precinct 4 Fort Bend County Commissioner discusses his plans to provide more broadband internet access to people.
- Discover more about a Houston program that exposes underserved youth to Major League Baseball.
Watch Houston Newsmakers on KPRC 2+ and KPRC 2 at 10 a.m.
Questions about strength of democracy in Israel in wake of vote that weakens the judiciary
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was pleased this week after the Knesset passed the first of several measures aimed at weakening the country’s judiciary. He has said the moves are necessary to rein in what he calls an “activist court,” and is using a coalition of extreme right-wing and religious conservatives to pass the initiatives. The latest moves were forecast and precipitated months of protests by thousands of Israelis who fear Israel’s democracy is falling apart.
David Satterfield is the Director of the Baker Institute for Public Policy, former ambassador to two countries and leads the institute’s Edward P. Djerejian Center for the Middle East. He said the protests from outside Israel about the legislation seem misplaced.
“We would be extraordinarily resistant to a foreign country telling us that a vote in the U.S. Congress passed by too slim a margin in order to be considered appropriate,” he said on this week’s Houston Newsmakers with Khambrel Marshall.
While the ambassador said the Israeli democracy should be respected as a sovereign nation making its own decisions, he said the divisive legislative policies can lead to unintended consequences.
“We don’t want to see Israel move in a direction of internal descent, internal division so severe that it challenges Israel’s ability to serve as a platform for greater, rather than lesser stability,” Satterfield said.
See much more about the latest challenges in Israel and the speculation about talks with Saudi Arabia and its potential involvement normalizing relations in the Middle East. Also in depth additional conversation on this week’s Newsmakers EXTRA with the honorable David Satterfield.
Fort Bend County Commissioner pushes for greater dignity
Dexter McCoy has been a Precinct 4 Fort Bend County Commissioner for seven months and has hit the ground running. He is a guest this week and addresses efforts to restore a slave era cemetery, calls attention to homelessness in the county and more.
“What we’ve been focused on is how do we restore human dignity,” he said. “The dignity of those who came before us and those who are still living here today. Part of that is making sure people have the ability to engage in our society, and you can’t do that without access to the internet.”
His efforts to help expand broadband access and more on this week’s program.
Astros Manager Dusty Baker encourages minority youth
The program Take Me Out to the Ballgame is designed to expose a thousand youth from underserved communities to Major League Baseball at Minute Maid Park this season.
“We believe that all the children in this city deserve to see that beautiful Minute Maid Park,” said Nakia Cooper, one of the co-creators of the program. “We’re feeding everyone, paying for your transportation. You come completely Scott-free because you cannot ask children from underserved communities to come and then they don’t have money for food.”
Local women push for minority access to Major League Baseball
The premise behind the program is to increase American minority participation in MLB by letting youngsters see the game in person.
”We just want to make sure we give these opportunities, exposure, experience, just once in a lifetime opportunities (that) these children would most likely never have,” said Rebecca Briscoe, also a co-creator of the program.
Briscoe and Cooper founded a nonprofit called Sister2Sistah that focuses on mentoring. They are still looking for sponsors for the rest of the season. That information can be found on their Sister2Sistah website here.
For more information on this week’s Houston Newsmakers
· The Honorable David Satterfield, Director, Baker Institute for Public Policy
· Website: https://www.bakerinstitute.org/expert/david-m-satterfield
· Dexter McCoy, Commissioner, Fort Bend County Precinct 4
· Website: https://www.fortbendcountytx.gov/government/departments/commissioners-court/commissioner-precinct-4
· Website: https://www.dextermccoy.com
· Nakia Cooper, Co-Creator “Take Me Out to the Ballgame”
· Website: https://sister2sistah.com
· Rebecca Briscoe, Co-Creator “Take Me Out to the Ballgame”
· Website: https://sister2sistah.com