By Douglas S. Wood and David Close This week saw the beginning of the NIL-era of college athletics. Suddenly allowed to profit from their name, image and likeness (or NIL), college athletes are unleashing a barrage of endorsement deal announcements. Potentially 460,000 NCAA student-athletes can now sign sponsorship deals. And the profit-making has already begun
More
By Steve Forrest and Susannah Cullinane Bill Cosby issued a statement in support of his former co-star and longtime friend Phylicia Rashad, who earlier apologized for celebrating Cosby’s release from prison. Cosby, once known as “America’s Dad,” was released on Wednesday after Pennsylvania’s highest court overturned his sexual assault conviction. At the time Rashad tweeted, “FINALLY!!!! A
More
By Lisa Respers France There was backlash over Vanessa Williams performing for Independence Day before it even happened. Williams hosted PBS’ “A Capitol Fourth” on Sunday, and it had been announced that she would sing “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” which has become known as the “Black national anthem.” In the promotion leading up to
More
By Eric Bradner, CNN The restrictive voting laws that Republican-led states are implementing this year are more likely to withstand legal challenges, experts said, after the Supreme Court on Thursday gave states the tacit green light to go as far as they want in imposing measures they say are intended to combat election fraud — even
More
Review by Brian Lowry A pair of documentaries showcase strong directing debuts by Black filmmakers for the Fourth of July weekend: “Summer of Soul” transforms long-lost video into an intoxicating and layered look back at the Harlem Cultural Festival of 1969; and “The One and Only Dick Gregory” celebrates the comedian who dropped the stand-up
More
Opinion by Roxanne Jones A few weeks ago, a meeting was not going well. My business partner had just shut down a room of wealthy, powerful White men. No easy feat. “That is not what I do,” she said to a client. “You need to go sit down with that question.” In other words, do
More
Analysis by Zachary B. Wolf It’s a strange twist at a strange time in sports: The fastest American woman has been banned from her signature event at the Tokyo Olympics for taking a performance decreasing drug. Marijuana is legal in some form in most US states and completely legal in Oregon, where the US track and field trials
More
By Emma Tucker, Omar Jimenez and Kristina Sgueglia At least 150 people were killed by gun violence in more than 400 shootings across the country during the Fourth of July weekend as major cities nationwide confront a surge in violent crime, according to data compiled by the Gun Violence Archive. The data, which includes the number
More