• News

by Jeroslyn JoVonn

June 30, 2021

Mother of Naval Academy Midshipman Fatally Shot Outside Maryland Hotel

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The mother of a Naval Academy midshipman lost her life after being fatally shot outside of her Annapolis hotel on Tuesday morning.

Michelle Jordan Cummings, 57, was visiting Maryland from Houston, Texas to drop off her son, Leonard Cummings III, at the Naval Academy, KXXV reports. Police don’t believe that Cummings was the intended target, but she was hit while seated at an outdoor patio at the Graduate Hotel.

According to police. the shots were fired on Pleasant Street and traveled a short distance to where Cummings was sitting at around 12:21 am. Officers and emergency personnel attempted life-saving measures, but Cummings died at the scene, Fox Baltimore reports.

“This is a very difficult, very frustrating day for me,” Annapolis Police Chief Ed Jackson said in a press conference.

Authorities said the victim was shot “more than once,” but didn’t indicate how many times she may have been shot. Police are investigating for any active leads.

Jackson referred to the shooting as a “very tragic story… Ms. Cummings and her husband brought their son to settle in. He is to be inducted into the U.S. Naval Academy; he’s also a prospect for the football team, so what turned out to be a celebratory occasion for the family… turned into a tragic event.”

Her son will continue with his induction activities at the Naval Academy in Annapolis. The city’s mayor Gavin Buckley said a crisis intervention team is providing support for the Cummings family, KHOU-11 reports.

“There is no circumstance where this can be tolerated,” Buckley said in a statement. “My sympathies go out to the family. We are focused on getting guns off the street, but it only takes one criminal with a gun for the results to be tragic. This was a horrific outcome for the kind of everyday gun violence that many cities across America see. Annapolis is sadly not immune.”

Women filmmakers are on a mission to tell their stories—their way.

Taraji P. Henson is one actress who is helping to shape the narrative of how to tell stories through film. Henson is busy crafting a feature film called “Tell It Like a Woman, according to Iervolino & Lady Bacardi Entertainment.

The Tell It Like a Woman anthology has seven film segments that will be “directed by a diverse and international group of women filmmakers.” The stories, which will unfold around the globe, have been described as “inspirational and empowering.”

Of the seven segments, Henson will direct the “Pepcy & Kim” portion in the anthology.

According to Slash Film, “Pepcy & Kim” is inspired by the true story of Kim Carter, who was one of CNN’s Top 10 Heroes in 2015, according to reports. The story was penned by Catherine Hardwicke.

Variety identified Carter as a “former addict who has used her story and her nonprofit, the Time for Change Foundation, to help homeless women and children break the cycle and reclaim their lives.” She experienced issues with prostitution, drug abuse, and homelessness before turning the tables on her life and turning things around.

Carter created the Time for Change Foundation, whose mission is to “empower disenfranchised low-income individuals and families by building leadership through evidence-based programs and housing to create self-sufficiency and thriving communities.”

Powerhouse singer and actress Jennifer Hudson has been cast and actress Pauletta Washington, who is married to renowned actor Denzel Washington, is set to play opposite of her.

Per Variety, Henson, Hudson and Pauletta Washington joined the anthology project to bring a portion of it to life through use of their unique voices.

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Taraji P. Henson to Direct Jennifer Hudson and Pauletta Washington in ‘Tell It Like a Woman’ Anthology Project (EXCLUSIVE) https://t.co/v8Dg0PJeJG

— Variety (@Variety) June 28, 2021

“The talents of Taraji, Jennifer and Pauletta are awe-inspiring and on full display in their adaptation of the amazing Kim Carter story,” Andrea Iervolino said, according to Variety. “This trio is a marvelous compliment to the spirited filmmakers and talent banding together for this one-of-a-kind film, and their sincerity in delivering a ‘must see’ segment is simply moving. We can’t wait to show this film to the world.”

After nearly six years spent producing the film, the addition of the “Pepcy & Kim” marks the final portion of the feature, according to Variety. Henson is also a producer.

Slash Film noted that each segment was shot in either Italy, India, Japan, or the U.S.

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• Politics

by Derek Major

June 30, 2021

Supreme Court Shows It Has A Heart, Leaves Eviction Moratorium In Place

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The Supreme Court let a nationwide eviction moratorium put in place during the coronavirus pandemic stand, by a 5-4 vote keeping potentially millions in their homes.

The group of nine barely rejected an emergency request from a group of landlords asking the High Court to end the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) eviction moratorium which is slated to run through July. The landlord group argued the moratorium amounted to a government overreach.

Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Brett Kavanaugh sided with three liberal judges to keep the moratorium in place.

“Because the CDC plans to end the moratorium in only a few weeks, on July 31, and because those few weeks will allow for additional and more orderly distribution of the congressionally appropriated rental assistance funds, I vote at this time to deny the application to vacate the District Court’s stay of its order,” Kavanaugh wrote.

The moratorium was enacted by former President Donald Trump and has been twice extended by current President Joe Biden.

According to The Hill, despite his decision, Kavanaugh did agree that the CDC exceeded its authority in enacting the moratorium. The court’s conservative judges, Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch and Amy Coney Barrett, all indicated they would have lifted the eviction moratorium while the Biden administration appeals.

The federal ban on evictions allows tenants who’ve lost income due to the coronavirus pandemic to stay in their apartments by declaring under penalty of perjury they made their best efforts to pay rent and would face extreme conditions if evicted.

The other side of the High Court’s decision is playing out in some states despite the moratorium. In Tennessee, a federal judge struck down the moratorium, paving the way for evictions to resume in full force in that region.

According to the Washington Post, the decision has led Judges in the state to fly through a case a minute as they work their way through an estimated 20,000-case backlog. Additionally, rental experts are bracing for a tidal wave of evictions when the moratorium runs out as more than 10 million Americans are still behind on rental payments according to data from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.

Making the situation worse is that more than $425 million in rental assistance programs didn’t go to tenants or their landlords due to slow rollout, significant and overwhelming demand and states reallocating the funds for other uses.

• Business

by Cedric 'BIG CED' Thornton

June 30, 2021

The California Black Freedom Fund Invests Nearly $9 Million in 74 Black-led Power-Building Groups

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The California Black Freedom Fund has recently announced it is investing nearly $9 million in general operating grants to 74 Black-led groups across the state of California as part of its commitment to resource, connect, and strengthen Black-led power-building organizations in the state.

“The critical work of combating anti-Black racism calls for funders to work together in order to achieve real scale and impact,” said Miguel A. Santana, president, and CEO of the Weingart Foundation in a written statement.

“The California Black Freedom Fund is a powerful vehicle to advance the Weingart Foundation’s commitment to racial justice. Along with efforts such as the Committee for Greater LA’s Black Experience Action Group, we are collectively building momentum for change.”

This is the second round of grantmaking and the fund is awarding grants to many Black-led organizations in the state of California.  The areas included: San Francisco Bay Area, Los Angeles County, Northern California, Inland Empire, San Diego — Imperial, Orange County, San Joaquin Valley, and Central Coast. The California Black Freedom Fund is providing operating support grants to Black-led organizations with operating budgets of $1 million or less. The full list of grantees can be found here.

“Google.org congratulates the California Black Freedom Fund on awarding another 74 grants to Black-led organizations focused on Black-power-building,” said Adrian Schurr, regional giving lead at Google.org. “These dynamic organizations confronting anti-Black racism and promoting social justice are aligned with Google.org’s mission to provide opportunity for everyone.”

The California Black Freedom Fund launched this past February as the first-of-its-kind fund, which was co-created with Black leaders and organizers. The Fund ensures that California’s growing ecosystem of locally rooted Black-led organizing efforts have the investments and resources needed to eradicate systemic and institutional racism.

Some of the donors and funders who have joined the fund or increased their commitments include Arrow Impact, Google.org, The Larsen Lam Family, Meadow Fund, Panta Rhea Foundation, Reis Foundation, Silicon Valley Community Foundation, Sobrato Philanthropies, Someland Foundation, Stupski Foundation, Surdna Foundation, Tipping Point Community and Y & H Soda Foundation.

“The road to justice requires those with privilege and power to leverage every platform and resource available to amplify the voices that have often been silenced,” said Sandy Herz, president of Sobrato Philanthropies. “We are deeply grateful to be working with Silicon Valley Community Foundation and others as effective allies and supporters in this vital movement to sustain, build upon, and accelerate the Black-led racial justice movement underway in California. The depth and diversity of the organizations that applied and have now been funded with unrestricted general operating grants through the California Black Freedom Fund give us great hope for a racially just California of the future.”

Silicon Valley Community Foundation provides fiscal and administrative management of the fund.

• News

by Jeroslyn JoVonn

June 30, 2021

Illinois Brothers Jailed For One Month In Miami And Never Charged, One Loses College Scholarship

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Two brothers from Illinois traveled to Miami for a little fun in the sun but ended up spending over 30 days in jail despite never being charged for a crime.

Shyquawn and Carl McNickles had only been in Miami for a few hours when they found themselves in jail, KITV reports. They ended up staying in jail for 33 days even though they were never charged with anything. Their father believes his 20- and 18-year-old sons were racially profiled and thrown in jail.

“The police pull up, guns out; told us if we move, they were going to shoot us,” Shyquawn recalled of the unexpected arrest that came on his 18th birthday.

“I couldn’t even hear, like my ears started just ringing,” said Carl McNickles III, “like I didn’t know what was going to happen.”

The Lansing, Illinois, residents had arrived in Miami with their father to celebrate Shyquawn’s birthday. After their father allowed them to go hang out with friends shortly after their arrival, Carl III’s girlfriend called Carl Sr. around 3 a.m. to tell him that both of his sons were in jail.

They had been arrested in connection with two armed robberies that took place less than an hour earlier. Their father pleaded with officers telling them that his sons had no criminal records and Shyquawn was just a high school student while Carl III plays football and wrestles at William Penn University, KAKE reports.

Their mother recalled her sons spending “33 long, miserable days,” in jail as that’s the maximum someone can be held in Florida jail without charges.

After hiring lawyer Tony Moss, the attorney was able to easily spot issues with the police report including the vague description an eyewitness gave of the robbery suspects.

Miami-Dade prosecutors say they will not pursue legal action against the brothers, as noted by the Latin Times. But, for some reason, the arrest will remain on their records. As a result, Carl McNickles III lost his college athletic scholarship.

Moss said he will support the family should they choose to “sue the hell out of the Miami Beach Police Department.”

• News

by Christian Spencer

June 30, 2021

Passenger High On Crystal Meth Opened Exit Door And Jumped From Plane, Breaking Leg

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A 33-year-old passenger was high on crystal meth when he breached the exit door and jumped from a plane at LAX after he tried to break into the cockpit, KTLA reports.

Luis Antonio Victoria Dominguez of La Paz, Mexico, had to undergo surgery for a broken leg on Friday after he pulled the stunt and jumped out of the plane which was taxiing on the tarmac on Sunday. Victoria Dominguez pulled open the exit door which deployed the emergency slide but he missed it and smacked the tarmac in a fall, thus breaking his leg at Los Angeles International Airport, said the U.S. attorney’s office in Los Angeles, according to reports.

Before his unhinged action, Victoria Dominguez reportedly told a woman passenger about his intentions to jump from United Express flight 5365, KTLA reports.

“I’m serious,” Victoria Dominguez said, the woman recalled.

According to a complaint, Victoria Dominguez “was coming down from all the drugs he had used the last couple of days,” the complaint says.

Related stories: UNITED AIRLINES FLIGHT 1258 CELEBRATES ALL-BLACK FLIGHT STAFF ON JUNETEENTH 

Now Victoria Dominguez is facing a 20-year maximum sentence in federal prison on the charge of interfering with the flight crew. He reportedly also told FBI agents that he drank several beers and used $20 worth of crystal methamphetamine, which the man said was “a lot.”

On Sunday, he was supposed to travel from downtown Los Angeles to Salt Lake, Utah, but he had no connecting flights.

He had missed two previous flight dates on Thursday and Friday, having ingested a lot of alcohol and drugs in his system, according to reports.

When he was rescheduled for the Sunday flight, still high on his supply, Victoria Dominguez reportedly overheard two passengers joking that the flight was not going to Salt Lake, which allegedly caused him to panic.

Victoria Dominguez reportedly unbuckled his seat belt and charged at the cockpit doors, knocking down a flight attendant.

The door did not open.

When the flight attendant tried to address him, he allegedly pushed them away and turned to the emergency door, which did open, deploying the emergency slide.

• News

by Jeroslyn JoVonn

June 30, 2021

Tuskegee Experiment Relatives Promoting COVID-19 Vaccine in New Ad Campaign

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Many in the Black community who are reluctant about getting the COVID-19 vaccine, often reference the controversial Tuskegee experiment.

But the relatives of the men involved with the racist study want people to feel differently, which is why they are participating in a new ad campaign in support of getting vaccinated, CBS42 reports.

The ad was released on Wednesday and aims to change the minds of Black people who might think the vaccine is being forced upon them for some underlying conspiracy theory.

’I want to save lives,” Omar Neal told The Associated Press. ‘’I didn’t want people to use Tuskegee and what transpired there as a reason for not taking the vaccine.’’

He’s a 63-year-old nephew of Freddie Lee Tyson, one of the Black men who were tested on unknowingly for a federally backed syphilis study. The 1932 study was initially dubbed the “Tuskegee Study of Untreated Syphilis in the Negro Male”, as noted by the CDC.

It involved 600 Black men, some with syphilis and some without, who were lied to and led to believe that they were being treated for “bad blood.” They were tested and studied without their consent. By 1943, penicillin was widely available for syphilis treatment. However, the study participants were not offered the drug.

Though the study was deemed “ethically unjustified” in 1973 and the men who participated received $10 million from a class-action lawsuit and lifetime health benefits, the incident only added to the lack of trust between the Black community and the medical industry.

Now Neal and other Tyson relatives are among a group of Tuskegee descendants participating in the vaccine ads in hopes of easing hesitancy among Black Americans. The descendants are urging Black people to educate themselves on the vaccine and help to curb the spread of a disease that has disproportionately affected Black Americans.

’’Don’t deny ourselves the opportunity the men were denied,” Tyson’s 76-year-old daughter, Lillie Tyson Head, said in one ad.

‘’It’s really up to us to take ownership of our health and this story,” Carmen Head Thornton, Tyson’s granddaughter said.

Janet Hubert, who is widely known as the original “Aunt Viv” on the NBC’s ’90s sitcom, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, is getting a fresh start and joining the cast of a Netflix film called The Perfect Find.

The actress currently seems to be on a winning streak, after a long stint of sporadic acting gigs amid feuds over why she disappeared from the popular sitcom.

This time around, Hubert is joining the cast of the rom-com along with Gabrielle Union and La La Anthony.

The synopsis gives a small taste of a drama-filled plot, “while centering around a woman who is attempting to juggle numerous conundrums in midlife,” according to IMDB.

“Will a forty-year-old woman with everything on the line—her high-stakes career, ticking biological clock, bank account—risk it all for an intensely lusty secret romance with the one person who could destroy her comeback, for good?”

Numa Perrier directed the film which is based on a novel written by Tia Williams. The cast also includes stars such as Gina Torres and Aisha Hinds.

Hubert is ecstatic and made the announcement on social media and thanked Gabrielle Union for her encouragement.

“Hey everyone it’s really great to be working again. If I say no to certain things it’s only because I need to stay close to home. I will never live in LA again…it drains my soul…but I have learned to never say NEVAH. Thank you Gabrielle for your amazing words of support. You are so giving and gracious and professional as is your entire team. What a JOY you all are #blessedblacktress #gabunion, “ @janethubertformyfanspage posted on Instagram.

Hubert’s feisty portrayal of Aunt Viv was well received by fans. However, the actress left The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air show in 1993 after issues concerning pay and for which she blamed Will Smith for failing to speak up for her. Daphne Maxwell Reid replaced her as the second Aunt Viv.

“During that third season, when I got pregnant, there were a lot of things going on in my life, and in Will’s life as well,” Hubert said on camera, according to TV Line. “There was some friction because I was pregnant [and] my home life was not good at all. I was no longer laughing, smiling and joking because there were things going on that nobody knew about. The cast had no idea what was going on.”

The U.S. Sun reported that Will Smith and Hubert’s public feud ended in 2020.

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It took just two months for Richard Hutchins to go from a homeless LA-based artist to a high-profile viral sensation with a secured movie role and a roster of A-list clientele.

Hutchins is off of “Skid Row” and currently hosting his own art gallery show/auction at the Sofitel in Beverly Hills after meeting rapper 2 Chainz’s former manager Charlie Rocket. The chance meeting while he was sitting on a shopping cart changed his fate and made him famous.

Meeting in a grocery store parking lot on Easter Sunday, the two hit it off and had a conversation that ultimately worked in Hutchins’ favor.

While speaking with TMZ Live, Rocket recalled how he fell in love with Hutchins’s energy after he jokingly asked to drive his car. The two ended up talking at length, and Hutchins told the industry professional how he used to be a world-renowned artist creating pieces for celebrities such as Muhammad Ali, Richard Pryor, and Marvin Gaye before he fell on hard times.

“He just started showing us his art and that’s what inspired us to make Richard’s dream come true because his dream was simple, ‘I just want people to be inspired by my work,'” Rocket shared.

From there, he helped Hutchins go viral after sharing an Instagram video telling his celebrity friends to support his work.

 

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A post shared by Charlie Rocket 🚀 (@charlie)

On his website, Hutchins describes himself as a “homeless artist” with a dream “to make people happy with his art every single day.” It goes on to share his hope of seeing “his art hanging on the walls of a museum.”

Now it’s on display at his own gallery/auction that has brought in the likes of Damon Dash and sold pricey pieces to 2 Chainz, Steve Harvey, and his newest patron Oprah Winfrey.

“It’s my pleasure to meet you,” Winfrey told Hutchins after surprising him with a visit, as captured by E! News. “I saw some of your beautiful art, and I said, ‘Well, I have to get one of those paintings.’ Actually, I think you’re not charging enough money,” the TV and entertainment mogul said.

Hutchins revealed how he’s already made over $200K and has plans of going back to Skid Row to help the community he lived in not too long ago.

“I’m going to go back to skid row and see where I can be of use,” he said. “At this point right now, I have over $200,000 in gross.”

He has also been offered a movie role playing none other than an art gallery director who gets to have his real-life work on display in the film.

“There’s no words for it, I’m just blessed, and I’m very humbled,” Hutchins told ET. “When I look at the computer and I see all these millions of people sending out their love and respect for me, and buying my work… there’s no words for it.”