Black seeks change in prison, term

bkrueger — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 10:12:51 -0400

Former House Speaker Jim Black is asking President Barack Obama for some help.

WRAL-TV has reported that attorneys for Black, a Mecklenburg County Democrat, has asked Obama to commute his federal prison sentence or let him serve the remainder of his five-year sentence in North Carolina or South Carolina.

Black is in a federal prison in Pennsylvania after being convicted in 2007 on a corruption charge.

The television station quoted Whit Powell, an attorney for Black, saying that the former lawmaker is in poor health and that his wife has Lou Gehrig's disease.

Black surrenders optometric license

bkrueger — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 14:13:49 -0500

Former House Speaker Jim Black is now a former eye doctor.

Black, a Mecklenburg County Democrat, has agreed to surrender his license to practice optometry in North Carolina, according to a statement this afternoon by his attorney, Whit Powell.

But Powell said the agreement with the N.C. State Board of Examiners in Optometry leaves open the possibility of Black getting his license back when he completes his term in federal prison.

The move precludes a hearing by the state board. Black, speaking through his attorney, said he did not want to put the board "through the ordeal of a hearing" that he said would not be "in the best interest of my profession."