National News - Page 73

R. Kelly convicted of racketeering and sex trafficking by a federal jury in New York

By Sonia Moghe, Jurors have found R&B singer R. Kelly guilty of racketeering, including acts of bribery and sexual exploitation of a child, along with separate charges of sex trafficking. In this federal case in the Eastern District of New York, Kelly faced a total of nine counts — one count of racketeering, with 14 underlying acts that included sexual exploitation of a child, kidnapping, bribery and sex trafficking charges, and also eight additional counts of violations of the Mann Act, a sex trafficking law. Kelly was found guilty of nine counts — one count of racketeering and eight counts of violating

Covid-19 vaccine boosters can begin for some US adults as CDC partially diverges from its advisers’ recommendations

By Jamie Gumbrecht, Following days of lengthy debate among vaccine experts, booster shots of the Pfizer/BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine can now be officially administered to some adults in the United States. Early Friday morning, US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky diverged from the agency’s independent vaccine advisers to recommend boosters for a broader group of people — those ages 18 to 64 who are at increased risk of Covid-19 because of their workplaces or institutional settings — in addition to older adults, long-term care facility residents and some people with underlying health conditions. The CDC recommendation

These families of missing Black people are frustrated with the lack of response to their cases

By Nicquel Terry Ellis, David Robinson has been in Arizona for the last three months searching for his 24-year-old son, Daniel Robinson, who went missing after leaving a work site in the desert in his Jeep Renegade on June 23. Robinson, who lives in South Carolina, hired an independent investigator and assembled a volunteer search team when he says he felt the police weren’t making progress in the investigation. He also says he failed to get the amount of media coverage he believed the case needed. The case was reported by the local media as early as July 9. Robinson

Kerry James Marshall to create ‘racial-justice themed’ windows for Washington National Cathedral

By Veronica Stracqualursi, The Washington National Cathedral announced Thursday it has commissioned renowned Black artist Kerry James Marshall to create “racial-justice themed windows” that will replace two stained-glass windows the church removed in 2017 that memorialized Confederate Gens. Robert E. Lee and Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson. The church has also tapped celebrated poet Elizabeth Alexander, who was the inaugural poet for President Barack Obama’s 2009 inauguration, to write a poem that will be inscribed on stone tablets alongside Marshall’s new windows. The tablets with Alexander’s poem will overlay the previous ones that revered the lives of Confederate soldiers. Both projects are expected

Pennsylvania school district reverses ban on books by authors of color after students fought back

By Mirna Alsharif and Liam Reilly A southern Pennsylvania school board has reversed its decision to ban anti-racism books and resources. The Central York school board unanimously approved the reinstatement of a list of anti-racism books and resources, effective immediately, spokeswoman Julie Randall Romig confirmed to CNN. The reversal comes a week after a student protest and a heated virtual school board meeting about the “diversity resource list” that was banned from the curriculum by the board last year. Last year, the all-White school board unanimously banned a list of educational resources that included a children’s book about Rosa Parks, Malala Yousafzai’s autobiography, and CNN’s Sesame Street

TSU EXPERT SAYS SLOW DECLINE IN TENNESSEE’S COVID CASES NOT ENOUGH: ‘WE NEED TO DO BETTER’

By Emmanuel Freeman, A recent report shows that Tennessee is ranked 7th in the nation with the number of COVID-19 cases, which is a drop from number 1 and a 21 percent decrease compared to a week ago. According to the weekly State Profile Report for Tennessee released Sept. 14, the state also fell to 18th in COVID deaths, dropping from 11th the previous week. While this decline shows improvement, a Tennessee State University public health expert says, “We need to do better.” “Twenty-one percent is excellent. That means our cases have fallen, but we still have a high transmittable number,” says

Rev. Jesse Jackson is discharged from rehab facility after being hospitalized for Covid-19

By Carma Hassan and Devon M. Sayers, The Rev. Jesse Jackson was discharged from a rehabilitation facility Wednesday following an earlier diagnosis of Covid-19. Jackson was being treated at the Shirley Ryan AbilityLab in Chicago after he and wife Jacqueline Jackson were hospitalized for Covid-19 in August. The couple were released from Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago early in September, with Jacqueline Jackson going home and the civil rights leader heading to the facility for physical therapy due to his Parkinson’s disease, according to a statement from Rainbow PUSH Coalition, Jackson’s organization. “Both my parents are ever so thankful for all of

Ten current and former Black women officers sue DC police claiming racial and sexual discrimination

By Emma Tucker and Christina Carrega, A group of former and current Black women officers filed a class action lawsuit against the Washington, DC police on Wednesday claiming racial and sexual discrimination, a hostile workplace and a culture of intimidation. The 10 women say that while on the job at the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) they were treated with contempt and subjected to a male-dominated “culture of race and sex discrimination” and “intense pervasive retaliation” when they complained about it, according to the lawsuit. Nine of the women are current and former members of the force with at least 15 years of

FDA authorizes booster dose of Pfizer’s Covid-19 vaccine for people 65 and older

By Maggie Fox, The US Food and Drug Administration said Wednesday it would grant emergency use authorization for a booster dose of Pfizer’s Covid-19 vaccine in people 65 and older, people at high risk of severe disease and people whose jobs put them at risk of infection. “After considering the totality of the available scientific evidence and the deliberations of our advisory committee of independent, external experts, the FDA amended the EUA for the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine to allow for a booster dose in certain populations such as health care workers, teachers and day care staff, grocery workers and those

Melvin Van Peebles, trailblazing director and Black cinema champion, has died

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By Megan Thomas, Melvin Van Peebles, a trailblazing African-American director who helped champion a new wave of modern Black cinema in the 1970s, has died, his son announced Wednesday. He was 89. Van Peebles, father of actor and director Mario Van Peebles, died at his home on Tuesday night, according to a statement shared on social media. “Dad knew that Black images matter. If a picture is worth a thousand words, what was a movie worth? We want to be the success we see, thus we need to see ourselves being free,” Mario Van Peebles said of his father’s work

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