Review by Brian Lowry Earnest to a fault, “Respect” spells out a handsome tribute to Aretha Franklin, with Jennifer Hudson and her peerless singing pipes as its formidable anchor. Yet this biography never fully sparks to life, as the Queen of Soul fights in episodic fashion to establish and later protect her musical legacy from
More
By Dianne Gallagher The Texas state Senate passed Senate Bill 1, an election overhaul bill that would add new restrictions and criminal penalties to the voting process, Thursday morning on a 18-11 party line vote. The final vote was taken fewer than 20 minutes after a 15-hour filibuster of the bill from state Sen. Carol
More
By Ariane de Vogue A divided Supreme Court granted a request from a group of New York landlords to block a part of the state’s eviction moratorium that bars landlords from evicting certain tenants in the midst of the pandemic. The court’s three liberal justices dissented from the court’s order and would have left the
More
By Amir Vera and Cheri Mossburg San Francisco became the the first major US city to mandate proof of full vaccinations for certain indoor activities Thursday. City residents age 12 and older will now be required to show proof they have been fully vaccinated against Covid-19 in order to enter indoor restaurants, bars, gyms and
More
By Chauncey Alcorn Administrators and career service leaders at some of the nation’s top historically Black colleges and universities, also known as HBCUs, say recruitment of their students and graduates by major corporations has dramatically increased since the police murder of George Floyd more than a year ago. Public outrage spread globally after the widely
More
By Janie Boschma, Daniel Wolfe, Priya Krishnakumar, Christopher Hickey, Meghna Maharishi, Renée Rigdon, John Keefe and David Wright The United States is more diverse and more multiracial than ever before, according to new 2020 Census data released on Thursday. “Our analysis of the 2020 Census results show that the US population is much more multiracial,
More
By Jacqueline Howard The US Food and Drug Administration authorized an additional Covid-19 vaccine dose for certain immunocompromised people on Thursday. The FDA amended the emergency use authorization for the Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna Covid-19 vaccines to allow for an additional dose for certain people with compromised immune systems. That group includes “specifically, solid organ transplant
More
By Manu Raju and Daniella Diaz Nine Democratic House moderates are threatening to withhold their support for their party’s must-pass budget resolution until Speaker Nancy Pelosi changes course and instead allows their chamber to first vote on the $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure plan the Senate approved this week. The threat, outlined in a letter provided
More
By Lisa Respers France, Jennifer Hudson has Aretha Franklin to thank, in part, for her career. Hudson first came to fame in 2004 as a finalist on “American Idol.” She auditioned for the reality singing competition with Franklin’s song, “Share Your Love With Me.” Fast forward to 2021 and Hudson is now a Grammy winning
More
By STEPHANIE BAUMER The only surviving log African American school in St. Louis County is being moved to Faust Historic Village. African School House #4 was built on Wild Horse Creek Road in Chesterfield around 1894. While it was being constructed, Chesterfield school directors sent students to the neighboring Hilltown district and paid for nine
More