• Sports

by Derek Major

July 20, 2021

E.U. Politicians Pushing International Olympic Committee To Lift Ban On Swim Caps For Natural Hair

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An anti-racist group of members of the European Parliament  have accused the global sports community including the International Olympic Committee (IOC) of “institutional structures and rules that exclude people of color and Black women specifically.”

The Anti-Racism and Diversity Intergroup of the European Parliament sent a letter to the presidents of the IOC and World Athletics Thomas Bach and Sebastian Coe saying the International Swimming Federation’s banning of the Soul Cap at international sporting events including the Olympics “reflects stigmatization of Black hair and leads to institutional inequalities, especially targeting Black women.”

Soul Cap, a U.K.-based brand, told BBC the federation refused to approve the caps which are designed for “thick, curly and voluminous hair” because they do not “follow the natural form of the head.”

According to CNN, the letter is calling for the ban to be lifted as the Olympics are an event based on fair play and equal opportunity. The members of Parliament also want the president to admit the rules are exclusionary and to establish rules and policies to ensure situations like this do not happen again.

This isn’t the only issue concerning Black women heading into the Olympic games. The IOC has also banned two sprinters from Namibia, Christine Mboma and Beatrice Masilingi, for high testosterone levels.

Additionally Sha’Carri Richardson has been banned from the Olympics after testing positive for cannabis and receiving a 30-day suspension. Richardson’s suspension has received significant backlash as more than 500,000 people have signed a petition calling for her reinstatement.

President Joe Biden is now seeking a meeting with the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) to discuss easing the restrictions as cannabis is now legal in 20 states.

The Olympic games are also dealing with the Delta coronavirus variant, which has led to a state of emergency and pushed the IOC and Tokyo, where the games are being held, to ban fans from the Olympic games.

• News

by Derek Major

July 20, 2021

Three Drug Distributors Settle Opioid Claims With New York State For More Than A $1 Billion

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Reuters – The three largest U.S. drug distributors agreed mid-trial to pay up to $1.18 billion to settle claims by New York state and two of its biggest counties over their role in the nationwide opioid epidemic, the state’s attorney general said on Tuesday.

McKesson Corp, Cardinal Health Inc and AmerisourceBergen Corp settled as state attorneys general prepare to announce as soon as this week a landmark $26 billion deal with the distributors and drugmaker Johnson & Johnson resolving cases nationwide.

The deal with New York Attorney General Letitia James and the populous Long Island counties of Nassau and Suffolk came three weeks into the first jury trial accusing companies of profiting from a flood of addictive painkillers that devastated communities.

“While no amount of money will ever compensate for the millions of addictions, the hundreds of thousands of deaths, or the countless communities decimated by opioids, this money will be vital in preventing any future devastation,” James said.

Hunter Shkolnik, a lawyer for Nassau County at the law firm Napoli Shkolnik, in a statement said that unlike the proposed national settlement, the New York deal “is not contingent on the rest of the country or other states joining.”

In a joint statement, the distributors called the settlement “an important step toward finalizing a broad settlement with states, counties, and political subdivisions.”

Nearly 500,000 people died from opioid overdoses in the United States from 1999 to 2019, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. And the crisis appeared to have worsened during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The CDC last week said provisional data showed that 2020 was a record year for drug overdose deaths with 93,331, up 29% from a year earlier. Opioids were involved in 74.7%, or 69,710, of those fatalities.

Justice Jerry Garguilo, who is presiding over the trial in Central Islip, on Tuesday morning granted a request by lawyers for the state and counties to drop the distributors from the case, without discussing the terms of the deal.

The New York trial will continue against three drugmakers accused of deceptively marketing their painkillers – Endo International Plc, Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd and AbbVie Inc’s Allergan unit.

Ahead of the trial, Johnson & Johnson agreed to pay $263 million to resolve the claims by the state and counties. Pharmacy operators Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc, CVS Health Corp, Rite Aid Corp and Walmart Inc agreed to settle with the counties for a combined $26 million.

James’ office said that of the nearly $1.18 billion the distributors agreed to pay, more than $1 billion will go toward addressing the epidemic. The counties have said the money will be used for mental health and addiction programs.

Payments will start in two months and will continue over the next 17 years, James said.

More than 3,300 cases have been filed largely by states and local governments alleging drugmakers falsely marketed opioid painkillers as safe, and distributors and pharmacies of ignoring red flags that they were being diverted to illegal channels.

The companies have denied wrongdoing, with drug distributors saying they maintained anti-diversion programs and drugmakers noting their pain medicines had U.S. approval and labels that warned of the known risks of opioids.

Two other opioid cases are also on trial in West Virginia and California. Those cases will be decided by judges, with closing arguments in the West Virginia case expected next week.

(Reporting by Brendan Pierson in New York and Nate Raymond in Boston; Editing by Tom Hals, Chizu Nomiyama, Bill Berkrot and Nick Zieminski)

• News

by Andrea Blackstone

July 20, 2021

Meet Vanessa Wyche, The First Black Woman to Lead a NASA Center

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A Black woman named Vanessa Wyche is making history at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration as “the first Black woman to lead a NASA center,” according to The Texas Standard.

Wyche is officially working as the director of NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, located in Texas.

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The history-maker told The Texas Standard that “working her way through the ranks of NASA to reach” her current position has “given her a focus on safety.”

“The other thing that informs me is the leadership, and what it takes to lead a team,” she said in the news interview. “And part of that may be understanding that diversity of thought and of personnel is very important for us to bring everything to bear.”

Wyche’s demanding position comes with meeting high expectations.

“I’m humbled and honored to be chosen to lead the more than 10,000 employees at Johnson Space Center, who work each day to enhance scientific and technological knowledge via space exploration to benefit all of humankind,” Wyche said in a press release.

“As the home to America’s astronaut corps, International Space Station mission operations, the Orion and Gateway programs, and a host of future space developments, Johnson is a world leader in human space exploration and is playing a key role in the next giant leaps in American excellence in space. I look forward to working with everyone as we push forward to the Moon and inspire a new generation of explorers to reach for the stars.”

NASA’s Johnson Space Center’s new director served as deputy director at Johnson, “since 2018,” according to information provided in Wyche’s official bio. Other NASA leadership positions that she held include working as “director of the Exploration Integration and Science Directorate, flight manager of several missions of the retired Space Shuttle Program and executive officer in the Office of the NASA Administrator,”  per NASA.

Just two days after becoming South Carolina State University’s acting president, Col. Alexander Conyers  announced that “the university will clear account balances of more than 2,500 continuing students,” according to a press release.

The purpose of the decision to clear $9.8 million for the HBCU students was rooted within providing financial “relief” to students who previously were unable to resume their college education at the university, mainly due COVID-19 pandemic financial hardships.

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Conyers has been acting president of @SCSTATE1896 for less than 3 days and he’s already moved to forgive $9.8 million in student debt using only federal COVID funds. https://t.co/K7UXyqvCWf

— Lucas Daprile (@LucasDaprile) July 15, 2021

“We are committed to providing these students with a clear path forward so they can continue their college education and graduate without the burden of financial debt caused by circumstances beyond their control,” Conyers said in the announcement. “Our university was founded on the tenet of providing students with access to a quality affordable education. That’s exactly what we intend to do. No student should have to sit home because they can’t afford to pay their past due debt after having experienced the financial devastation caused by a global pandemic.”

Even before the pandemic, “student loans have seen almost 157 percent in cumulative growth over the last 11 years,” the University of Washington reported in 2019.

Students like Romaun Myers were mentioned in South Carolina State University’s press release. The junior’s response underscores the impact of Conyers’ gracious decision.

“This is a tremendous weight I won’t have to carry,” Myers said. “I’m a first-generation college student, one of the only boys on my mom’s side of the family. I have to make it so I can provide for my family.”

Funds used to make debt cancellation possible came from “aid received from the federal government,” which included Cares Act and American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 funding, according to a press release.

A July 13 announcement introduced Conyers as acting president of South Carolina State University. He is a retired U.S. Army Col. and South Carolina State University alumnus who earned a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice from the higher institution, in addition to “a master’s degree in corrections from the University of South Carolina, and a master’s degree in public administration from Troy University,” according to an announcement.

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• Lifestyle

by Cedric 'BIG CED' Thornton

July 20, 2021

Michael B. Jordan Praises Lauren London For Opening Up About Grief Before Filming ‘Without Remorse’

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Michael B. Jordan co-stars in his hit Amazon Prime movie “Without Remorse” with actress Lauren London who was the girlfriend of rapper Nipsey Hussle, at the time of his death on March 31, 2019.

Hussle died tragically having been shot and killed and the manner in how London lost her boyfriend was pretty tragic. And with London playing opposite Jordan in a pretty graphic shooting scene that leaves her character dead, she opened up to Jordan, who said her “transparency” about grief helped him in the role he had to play for the movie as a widower.

According to the New York Post, in an interview on “Jemele Hill Is Unbothered” podcast, “The Wire” actor, 34, stated that he was initially concerned that the storyline in “Without Remorse” would be too much to bear as it hit too close to home for London, since Nipsey Hussle was shot and killed in March 2019. Instead, he said that the way the 36-year-old actress handled the mourning process ended up inspiring him in preparation for his role.

“I think it was very emotional,” Jordan said on the “Jemele Hill Is Unbothered” podcast on Monday.

“I think we wanted to be aware and sensitive with that and how we shot some of those scenes. But also her sharing her experience with me and having pretty lengthy conversations about grief and suffering and what that looks and feels like really helped me get to a certain place as a character.”

In the movie, which is currently streaming on Amazon Prime, London plays the role of Jordan’s pregnant wife, who is killed in the movie as he goes on to avenge her death.

“She was really transparent about [grief], and I was extremely grateful for that. She’s very talented and has so much to give,” Jordan stated. “Wanting this to be a little therapeutic note for her as an artist is sometimes our space to vent and express ourselves in a certain type of way, and she felt like it was time for her to do that. So, I just kind of lined up where she was in her life and this project.”

In a twist of fate, Jordan will be receiving a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and was announced in the same class as Jordan’s late boyfriend, Nipsey Hussle.

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