National News - Page 126

Hollywood Writers Strike Over Streaming Pay, AI Concerns

By Daniel Arkin Hollywood writers are closing their laptops and heading to the picket line. Thousands of unionized scribes who say they are not paid fairly in the streaming era went on strike just after midnight Tuesday, bringing TV production to a halt. It comes after high-stakes negotiations between a top guild and a trade association representing Hollywood’s marquee studios failed to avert the first walkout in over 15 years. The board of directors for the Writers Guild of America, which includes West and East branches, voted unanimously to call for a walkout and said writers face an “existential crisis.” “The companies’ behavior has

Black Lawmaker Expulsions Highlight South’s Representation Gap

By Wayne Washington The outcry over the expulsions of a pair of Black Tennessee state lawmakers underscores a problem that often gets little notice – the already massive under-representation of Black Americans in the halls of state government. The majority of Black Americans – some 56 percent, according to figures from the Pew Research Center – live in the South. Most Black Americans have ancestral ties to the region, and despite its blood-soaked history of racism and racial violence, it’s where many Black folks have chosen to remain. But it’s also where Black Americans have far less political clout than they should

Don Lemon Fired by CNN After 17 Years Amid Controversy

By Joe Hernandez News anchor Don Lemon is out at CNN, the cable network announced Monday. “Don will forever be a part of the CNN family, and we thank him for his contributions over the past 17 years,” the news outlet said in a tweet. “We wish him well and will be cheering him on in his future endeavors.” In a statement posted to his Twitter account, Lemon confirmed his ouster, saying his agent told him Monday morning that he had been terminated by CNN. “I am stunned. After 17 years at CNN, I would have thought that someone in management would

Harry Belafonte Dies at 96: Singer, Actor, Civil Rights Icon

By Maria Puente Harry Belafonte, the “King of Calypso” who became one of America’s endearing and enduring civil rights activists into his 10th decade, has died. He was 96. Belafonte died Tuesday at his home in New York of congestive heart failure, representative Paula Witt said in a statement Tuesday. Belafonte will be remembered as one of the most popular entertainers of the 20th century, as a singer, musician and actor. But his civil rights work in the 1960s and his anti-apartheid work in the 1980s will be just as enduring. “I wasn’t an artist who became an activist. I was an activist who became an

Banned Books by Black Authors You Should Read Right Now

By Angela Johnson Across the country, there have been continuous efforts to ban books from libraries and schools that deal with issues of race and sexuality. And it’s no coincidence that many of those books were written by authors that identify as LGBTQ or Black. But as conservatives push to keep people from reading these books, it’s important that we push just as hard on the other side to keep them in circulation. This is even more important as Republicans set out to push their “anti-woke” agenda when they take control of the House of Representatives next year. We’ve rounded

Oklahoma Sheriffs Suspended Over Racist, Violent Recording

By Corky Siemaszko The Oklahoma Sheriffs’ Association suspended the McCurtain County sheriff and two other staffers Tuesday after they were secretly recorded talking about killing reporters and lynching Black residents after a public meeting. The vote to suspend Sheriff Kevin Clardy, sheriff’s investigator Alicia Manning and Jail Administrator Larry Hendrix was unanimous, the sheriffs’ association said on Facebook. The suspension does not remove them from their jobs with the sheriff’s department. Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt called for the trio’s resignations Monday and for County Commissioner Mark Jennings to step down, as well. The McCurtain County Gazette-News identified the four as the officials who were

Fox Settles Dominion Case for $787.5M Amid Misinformation

By Zack Lilly Dominion Voting Systems has officially settled its lawsuit against white nationalist propaganda porn network Fox News, which was accused of joining Donald Trump, Rudy Giuliani, and the rest of the idiocracy-infused fraternity of MAGA-lie-KKKappa in spreading demonstrable false claims about rigged voting machines costing Trump the 2020 election. But many people believe that all this last-minute settlement did was shield Fox “News” from having to admit during a nationally televised trial that it serves as a misinformation PornHub for conservative rubes and racists more than it serves as an institution of journalism. According to CNN, Tuesday’s $787.5 million settlement represents the largest

From Prison to Professor: Howard’s Dr. Stan Leads the Way

By Sequoia Carillo When he was 21, Stanley Andrisse hit rock bottom. “I was sitting in a courtroom facing 20 years to life and had this prosecutor telling me that I had no hope for changing,” Andrisse says. He was convicted on three felony counts and spent the next few years in a Missouri prison. He says his 21-year-old self could never have imagined his life today: Andrisse is now an endocrinologist, scientist and professor at Howard University’s College of Medicine. He has a Ph.D., an MBA, and a lab full of students who affectionately call him Dr. Stan. “So

Justin Pearson Reinstated After TN House Expulsion

By Chloe Kim The second of two Tennessee lawmakers expelled from the state legislature after leading a gun control protest on the chamber floor has been reinstated. Justin Pearson, 29, got his seat back after a unanimous vote from seven members of the Shelby County Board of Commissioners. His colleague Justin Jones, 27, was similarly voted back to the Tennessee House of Representatives on Monday. The two Democrats were expelled last week by the Republican-run statehouse. They were removed days after a school shooting in Nashville that left six people dead, including three children. After Wednesday’s vote, Mr Pearson addressed

Senate Urges Ethics Reform in Supreme Court After Scandal

By Washington Desk The Senate Judiciary Committee plans to hold a hearing about “the need to restore confidence in the Supreme Court’s ethical standards,” Sen. Dick Durbin, chair of the panel, wrote in a letter to Chief Justice John Roberts, following revelations in ProPublica last week that U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas accepted luxury vacations from a major GOP donor but didn’t disclose them. In his letter, Durbin also urged Roberts to “immediately open … an investigation and take all needed action to prevent further misconduct” on the court. “And if the Court does not resolve this issue on

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