• Celebrity News

by Cedric 'BIG CED' Thornton

November 6, 2023

Oakland Renames Section Of MacArthur Boulevard ‘Tupac Shakur Way’

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With a possible conviction for the killing of Tupac Shakur looming, the slain entertainer continues to get the recognition that escaped him when he was still alive. A street that the “All Eyez On Me” rapper lived on for some time in Oakland in the ’90s was recently renamed ‘Tupac Shakur Way’ on Nov. 3.

According to NBC Bay Area, a section between Van Buren and Grand Avenues on MacArthur Boulevard was named for the deceased rapper. A ceremony took place where his family, friends, and fans of Tupac attended.

Tupac’s sister, Sekyiwa “Set” Shakur, said, “On these streets, you can’t mention my brother’s name if you are still taking a Black man’s life.”

“It’s a moment that I know my brother would be proud of. Establishing love and peace in the Oakland community especially mattered to him. Being able to represent safety to his people mattered to him.”

In May, the city council voted in favor of the renamed street with a unanimous decision. The controversial artist made his way to Oakland in the early 1990s. In a 1993 video interview, he said he got his “game” from Oakland.

“When I got to Oakland, that’s when I learned the game,” he said. “I give all my love to Oakland. If I’m a claim somewhere, I’m a claim Oakland.”

The renaming ceremony coincidentally occurred a day after Duane Keith “Keffe D” Davis pleaded not guilty on Nov. 2, according to The Associated Press. County special public defenders Robert Arroyo and Charles Cano were assigned to represent Keffe D, who did not have a lawyer. The judge informed the defendant that he would not be facing the death penalty.

Tupac died on Sept. 13, 1996, after being shot multiple times in a drive-by shooting in Las Vegas on Sept. 7, 1996. He was in town for a boxing match featuring Mike Tyson. He was in a coma for six days before dying at 25.

• Women

by Stacy Jackson

November 6, 2023

Black Doctor Left Healthcare To Bake Some Of Oprah Winfrey’s Favorite Cookies

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“Kyri’s Kookies,” baked by Dr. Kyri Mosley, is part of Oprah Winfrey’s Favorite Things list for 2023.

“The founder behind this box of ginormous cookies—chocolate chunk, oatmeal cran-raisin, Georgia pecan turtle, and more—promises a hug in every bite. She’s not wrong,” Winfrey stated on the Oprah’s Favorite Things 2023 page. According to Oprah Daily, Mosley was full of nerves when she received the email about her feature on this year’s list.

According to the Kyri’s Kookies website, the entrepreneur opened her first brick-and-mortar store in December 2022 in the heart of Dallas, Georgia. The physical location followed the relaunch of her brand in 2021, a decision that stemmed from a story of life challenges. Mosley was diagnosed with Stage 4 Ewing Sarcoma in 2019. The trauma from the diagnosis was heavy as she underwent intense chemotherapy. Once she received news of remission, she left the healthcare field to pursue baking full-time.

The baker sent her cookies to her medical teams in New York and Georgia as a “thank you.” They returned positive feedback about her recipes and several suggestions that she should sell her cookies.

In August, Mosley shared with 11Alive that quality time in the kitchen with her grandmother when she was younger is how she found her love for baking.

“Cookies remind me of grandma’s baking,” she said. Baking kept Mosley going during times of feeling abandoned following a divorce. Baking cookies with her son led to sending coolers of treats to troops in Iraq, who she felt must have felt isolated at times, too.

“This went on for years,” Mosley told the outlet. “And just getting their feedback was encouraging because they would always tell me, ‘Why aren’t you doing this for the rest of the world? They need to taste your cookies,’ and I was like, ‘That’s never going to happen.’”

The former medical professional would distribute her cookies to her staff and other nurses and doctors while she ran her own healthcare compliance company.

Since launching, the brand has expanded from local cookie lovers to gaining the attention of national hotel chains. Kyri’s Kookies, which feature flavors such as Chocolate Chunk, Oatmeal Cran-Raisin, and Zebra Macadamia, can be purchased online or in person from the Georgia store.

• News

by Iman Milner

November 6, 2023

Brooklyn Landlord Arrested For Allegedly Setting Fire To Building Where Residents Refused To Vacate

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A Brooklyn landlord has been arrested after allegedly burning down a building he owns to force residents to vacate, CBS News reports. Rafiqul Islam now faces assault, arson, and eight counts of attempted murder charges for the incident that occurred on Sept. 26.

Investigators allege that Islam set the fire in response to the refusal of second-floor residents to either pay rent or move off of the premises. Fire marshals claim that the fire began on an interior staircase of the building, located on Forbell Street in the Cypress Hills area, according to the outlet.

“When the fire first started, people speculated it was him,” one resident said. “I just see him usually just walking around, going house to house to the houses that he owns, but I’m just shocked that he got arrested.”

Eight people were said to be on the premises when the fire was started, causing two adults to jump from the roof of the building while first responders and neighbors rescued six children.

Islam was allegedly discovered on video by fire marshals who claim the man wore a hooded sweatshirt and a mask when he arrived to start the fire, Fox 59 reports. Before the fire, Islam threatened to turn off the tenant’s gas and electricity, as well as allegedly discussed burning the building down.

“Marshals spent four weeks conducting an extensive video canvas to verify the suspect’s identity, before finally finding an image of Islam with his hood and mask down,” the Fire Department of the City of New York said.

Islam was arrested on Oct. 26; however, this is not the first time a landlord in the borough of Brooklyn has faced consequences for a fire-related incident involving residents. Evener Leon was charged with second-degree manslaughter, criminally negligent homicide, second-degree reckless engagement, and four counts of endangering the welfare of a child in 2019. Eight adults and two children were trapped inside, forcing a 70-year-old resident to jump to his death. Leon was sentenced to six months in jail, according to the New York Daily News.

• Women

by Derek Major

November 6, 2023

Dawn Staley, South Carolina Gamecocks Are Ready To Make Another Final Four Run

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South Carolina Gamecocks Head Coach Dawn Staley acknowledged there are a lot of new faces on her team this year after losing six players from last year’s NCAA Final Four team, including five to the WNBA.

However, between the returning talent and who they’ve brought in this offseason, Staley believes her team is reloaded to make another Final Four run.

“It’s not a rebuild,” Staley said on ESPN’s SportsCenter last week. “I think for who we had sitting on the bench behind some of those WNBA players were really talented individuals who really just had to wait their turn. Now is their turn; now is time for them to step in…”

“They’ll take some hits, but they’re fighters.”

Fans of Staley and her Gamecocks will get their first look at the 2023-24 team on Monday as they play Notre Dame in Paris in the Aflac Oui-Play event. The game will be the first women’s college basketball game played in the City of Light.

The Gamecocks are ranked sixth to begin the season behind last year’s champion Louisiana State University, UConn, and last year’s runner-up Iowa, UCLA, and Utah.

Staley, a three-time Olympic gold medalist as a player and a two-time national title holder as a coach, is attempting to make her fourth consecutive Final Four appearance with the Gamecocks. Forward Kamilla Cardoso, who averaged 9.8 points per game and 8.5 rebounds last season, is expected to lead the team.

The Gamecocks will also rely on five new players, including two transfers in Te-Hina Paopao and center Sakima Walker, three freshmen, and six returning players.

“We’re playing together, we’re sharing the ball,” Cardoso told ESPN.

“We want everybody to touch the ball, and I think we actually have really good chemistry right now, even though it hasn’t been a long time.”

After its game in Paris on Monday, the Gamecocks will head home to take on 14th-ranked Maryland on Saturday afternoon.

• Politics

by Daniel Johnson

November 6, 2023

Project 2025 Seeks To Institute Fascism At The Federal Level

Dubbed the "Project 2025" handbook, the 1,000 page document spells out a plan to do away with the federal government as it currently exists.

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The Associated Press reported the right-wing Heritage Foundation and former Trump administration officials are putting together a playbook for either their former boss or another candidate who aligns with their ideals.

Dubbed the “Project 2025” handbook, the 1,000-page document spells out a plan to do away with the federal government as it currently exists. Paul Dans, the director of the 2025 Presidential Transition Project and a former Trump administration official, described his motivations to the Associated Press, saying, “We need to flood the zone with conservatives. This is a clarion call to come to Washington,” Dans said. “People need to lay down their tools, and step aside from their professional life and say, ‘This is my lifetime moment to serve.'”

In the past, conservatives have pushed for a smaller, more limited federal government by cutting taxes and gutting federal spending. The Presidential Transition Project wants to replace federal employees, who the think tank believes are standing between the group and its goals, going as far as to fire 50,000 federal workers and filling their positions with employees more amenable to their philosophy. 

Project 2025 may take its cues and roots from Trump and his presidency, but the rhetoric is finding a home with other Republican candidates like Ron DeSantis and Vivek Ramaswamy. Federal workers could be fired for any reason, according to the manifesto.

Mary Guy, a professor of public administration at the University of Colorado Denver, warns that their plans are a danger to democracy in general, telling the Associated Press, “It frightens me. We have a democracy that is at risk of suicide. Schedule F is just one more bullet in the gun.” 

The group sees presidential powers as broad and far-reaching, evidenced by their document’s diminishing of Congressional powers. The project even proposes to eliminate notifying Congress about the sale of arms to foreign powers. This view, however, is not shared by all conservative groups.

Phillip Wallach, senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, sees the group’s plan as a bit unbelievable in their view of the powers of the president, telling the AP, “Some of these visions, they do start to just bleed into some kind of authoritarian fantasies where the president won the election, so he’s in charge, so everyone has to do what he says — and that’s just not the system the government we live under.”

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• Celebrity News

by Jeroslyn JoVonn

November 6, 2023

Pusha T’s Medical Transportation Company Scaled Into A ‘Really Lucrative’ Business

Pusha T is proud of his "lucrative" medical transportation company.

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Pusha T is a rapper and businessman who gladly joined a friend to invest in a medical transportation company that has turned into a “lucrative” opportunity.

The “Grindin” rapper recently appeared on Assets Over Liabilities, where he shared his love for the medical business Caring Hands Medical Transportation, which he launched with a close friend.

“This is my favorite business,” Pusha T said.” “I have a friend, right, you notice all my businesses come with friendship. Passion and friendship, it don’t come with just one of them.”

While Pusha’s friend was serving time in prison, he learned more about the medical transportation industry and aiding those in need by getting them to their doctor’s appointments.

“I have this friend and he ended up having this unfortunate run-in with the law…He ends up coming out and he was such a trustworthy person before he went to jail,” Pusha explained.

“He was like, ‘I’ve been researching medical transportation.’ Basically, we would get these vans and put them with wheelchair lifts and go pick up people who need rides — the elderly, handicapped, or whatever.”

After starting out small, Caring Hands Medical Transportation quickly scaled from operating two vans to 25 vehicles throughout the state of Virginia.

“We get in the car, I go buy two vans. I’m just like, ‘Here, two vans. We’ll figure out the business,’” Pusha T explained. “That business is like 25 vans strong running through seven cities [in Viriginia]. It’s called Caring Hands Medical Transportation. It has helped my mother, sick cousins, family members, and friends.”

The “Mercy” rapper has launched a number of businesses over the years. But his medical transportation company has been the most “lucrative,” he shared on The Breakfast Club in 2022.

“It’s been really lucrative and fulfilling,” Pusha T said. “It’s really dope.”

RELATED CONTENT: Diddy Donates $1 Million To Howard University At Homecoming

• News

by Daniel Johnson

November 6, 2023

Racists’ Feathers Are Ruffled After Reckoning With Antiracist Birds Naming

Going forward, the AOS said in a report in 2020, bird names will be centered either on the bird's location, their features, or other information about the species.

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The reckoning with the racist nature of every aspect of American history has reached the American Ornithological Society.

According to Newsweek, the group’s choice to rename birds has triggered a reaction from people who are unhappy about its decision to rename birds because of the connection between the birds named for people and those people’s history and attitudes toward Black people. 

Colleen Handel, the AOS president, released a statement on Nov. 1 detailing the group’s motivation for the changes.

“There is power in a name, and some English bird names have associations with the past that continue to be exclusionary and harmful today,” Handel said.

“We need a much more inclusive and engaging scientific process that focuses attention on the unique features and beauty of the birds themselves. Everyone who loves and cares about birds should be able to enjoy and study them freely—and birds need our help now more than ever.”

In 2020, the AOS also renamed a bird species in the Great Plains that was formerly named for a Confederate general. In the future, the AOS said in a report at the time, bird names will be centered either on the bird’s location, their features, or other information about the species.

“Eponyms are poor names when it comes to describing a bird. Names that describe the bird (e.g., Spotted Sandpiper, Red-breasted Nuthatch), its habitat (e.g., Marsh Wren, Pinyon Jay), its range (e.g., Eastern Wood-Pewee, Mexican Chickadee), or something else about the species (e.g., Fish Crow, Northern Mockingbird) convey more information.”

According to CNN, Judith Scarl, the AOS’s executive director and CEO, remarked that naming conventions from the past often ignored the role that racism and misogyny played as they sought to honor historical figures.

“Exclusionary naming conventions developed in the 1800s, clouded by racism and misogyny, don’t work for us today, and the time has come for us to transform this process and redirect the focus to the birds, where it belongs.”

Like most other American institutions, in the wake of the murder of George Floyd in 2020, the movement within the community to deal with racism in the ornithic community received a push. It was also buoyed by the experience of Christian Cooper, a Black birdwatcher whom a white woman harassed. The experience exposed tensions that some Black people felt while trying to navigate the outdoor space as themselves while being made to feel unwelcome by white nature lovers. 

In 2021, the AOS announced they were exploring a committee to recommend a course of action regarding names of birds created to honor historical figures. In 2022, the committee was officially formed, and it released its guidance on names earlier in 2023. The AOS’s move to rename nearly 80 birds results from that guidance, and the project will begin in earnest in 2024. 

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• Black Lives Matter

by Jameelah Mullen

November 6, 2023

Police Officer Who Shot A Black Man Is ‘No Longer Employed’ Amid Racist Text Messages

Former San Jose police officer Mark McNamara has resigned  after investigators discovered a series of racist text messages between him and a coworker, Police chief says. 

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Former San Jose, California, police officer Mark McNamara has resigned after investigators discovered a series of racist text messages between him and a coworker, the San Jose police chief says. 

McNamara had been under an internal affairs investigation after shooting and wounding K’aun Green, a Black man, in March 2022. Green was in a restaurant near San Jose University when he disarmed a gunman. As the 20-year-old was walking out of the restaurant backward, holding the gun, McNamara shot him.

The disparaging text messages were discovered during an investigation of an unrelated incident, where McNamara used the n-word several times and referred to Green’s supporters as “African looking Mother F—–s.” 

 “N–g- wanted to carry a gun in the Wild West,” McNamara said in a text to his colleague. 

His colleague appeared to approve of his fellow officer’s actions.  

“I was like ‘oh s–t my boy ganked some fool. F–k yea! “the unnamed police officer responded. 

Police Chief Anthony Mata confirmed McNamara’s departure in a statement on the San Jose Police Department website.

“Earlier this week, through an unrelated Criminal Investigation into one of our officers, Internal Affairs Investigators discovered that the officer had sent disgusting text messages that demonstrated racial bias. Immediately, Internal Affairs initiated a separate proactive administrative investigation. These messages came to light in the last few days and hours and that officer is no longer employed with the City.”

Mata also addressed the “current employee” who participated in the racist text exchange. 

“it was also determined that a current employee who was on the receiving end of some of the messages engaged in other concerning dialogue with the former officer. That employee was immediately placed on administrative leave pending an internal investigation. “

The texts were sent in June and July while officials were conducting hearings about the officer-related shooting. McNamara shared his experiences with his unidentified colleague. 

“Had more court today from blastin’ that fool. This n–ga is asking for 10 million dollars.” 

In an interview with KUTV TV, Green said, “I never thought that someone would have so much hatred in their heart.”

Green’s lawyer, Andante Pointer, says the text messages back up their claim that the shooting was racially motivated.

Mata stated that he is “prohibited by law from providing additional details of the case, but he did say that criminal charges “have not been filed nor are anticipated” for either McNamara or the other officer.

Mata’s full message is available on the San Jose Police Department website. 

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• Celebrity News

by Jeroslyn JoVonn

November 6, 2023

Nicki Minaj Asks Her Fans Not To ‘Threaten Anyone On My Behalf’

Nicki Minaj wants to increase the peace and deteriorate the hate among her Barbz fan club and is asking to "never threaten anyone on my behalf."

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Nicki Minaj wants to increase the peace and deteriorate the hate among her Barbz fan club and is asking to “never threaten anyone on my behalf.”

The “Starships” rapper took to Instagram Story over the weekend to send a special request to her fan club. With a new album on the way, Nicki is seemingly asking her fans to play nice and not spread negativity and violence in her honor.

“Dear Barbz. Be sure to never threaten anyone on my behalf,” she wrote in a post captured by The Shade Room. “Whether on the internet or in person.”

Nicki continued. “Whether in jest, or not. I don’t and have never condoned that.”

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by The Shade Room (@theshaderoom)

The “Freaky Girl” rapper ended by bringing attention to her new album “Pink Friday 2,” which is due early next month.

“We have an amazing album right around the corner. 12/8/23. It feels so surreal and euphoric,” she wrote. “Wishing you blessings on blessings.”

Nicki received mixed responses from onlookers who cited her as the reason much of her die-hard fan club is known for spewing negativity online.

“Girllllllll I love you but, you know you be the problem,” one person wrote.

“Girl bye. You have literally told your fans to attack other artists. You like their negative comments about other artist on Twitter and everything,” added someone else.

In September 2022, YouTuber Kimberly Nicole Foster threatened to file a lawsuit against Nicki Minaj fans who leaked her personal information online after the vlogger sent out a tweet calling Nicki a “horrible person.” Screenshots reportedly showed Nicki’s “liked” tab on Twitter where the rapper was liking tweets that encouraged further harassment against Foster.

“It was normal, annoying stuff where I was like, ‘OK, block and move on,’” Foster told The Daily Beast. “The messages became more threatening and dark, and then it started to be, ‘We’re gonna find you. I’m gonna kidnap you, I hope you get raped.’”

Now Nicki appears to be calling for peace from her fans as she prepares to release another studio album.

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