Cosmologists want to know how fast the universe is growing, but their data doesn't match predictions. Wendy Freedman thinks red giant stars can help.
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Sunday, March 1, 2020
Biden wins South Carolina, aims for Super Tuesday momentum
COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — Joe Biden scored a thundering victory Saturday in South Carolina’s Democratic primary on the strength of African American support, a decisive win that could force moderate rivals out of the race and blunt the rise of progressive leader Bernie Sanders.
Biden’s win came at a perilous moment in his 2020 bid as he needed an emphatic rebound after underwhelming performances this month in Iowa, New Hampshire and Nevada. The race now pivots to the 14 states from Maine to California that vote on Tuesday in what effect will be a national primary.
“We are very much alive,” Biden declared at an exuberant post-election rally. “For all of you who have been knocked down, counted out, left behind — this is your campaign.”
Sanders claimed a distant second place, a loss that gave a momentary respite to anxious Democrats who feared that the democratic socialist would finish February with four consecutive top finishes that would make it difficult for anyone to overtake him.
The Associated Press declared Biden the winner just after the polls closed in South Carolina. The AP based the call on data from AP VoteCast, a survey of the electorate conducted for the AP by NORC at the University of Chicago. The survey showed a convincing win for Biden.
Even with the victory, the shortcomings of Biden’s campaign remain, including a lack of robust funding and organization, and he will face for the first time Mike Bloomberg, a billionaire who has spent more than $500 million advertising in the Super Tuesday states. Bloomberg announced his own plan to deliver a three-minute prime-time address Sunday night on two television networks. He didn’t say how much he paid for the air time, which is unprecedented in recent decades.
Biden is barely running any television advertising in Super Tuesday states. And both Sanders and Bloomberg have many more staff and volunteers.
But Biden is making an aggressive round of media appearances on Sunday in an effort to counter Bloomberg’s massive spending. He’s also working to secure endorsements from prominent Democrats and, shortly after the Saturday results were in, former Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe backed Biden.
The South Carolina primary was the first major test of the candidates’ appeal among black voters. That courtship will continue on Sunday when many of the White House hopefuls travel to Selma, Alabama, to participate in ceremonies commemorating civil rights heroism.
A number of states that vote on Super Tuesday, including Alabama, Tennessee, North Carolina and Virginia, have substantial black populations.
One of the candidates who spent recent weeks wooing black voters, billionaire activist Tom Steyer, ended his campaign on Saturday after a disappointing third place finish. He spent more than $24 million on television advertising in South Carolina — more than all of his rivals combined — but never found a clear lane in the crowded contest.
Seven candidates remain in the Democrats’ quest to find the strongest possible nominee to take on President Donald Trump in November. They spent Saturday assessing the impact of Biden’s win.
Aides to Bloomberg’s campaign said they still believe the former New York mayor can win in a handful of states that vote on Super Tuesday, including Arkansas, Alabama, Oklahoma, Virginia and North Carolina.
And Sanders was already looking ahead to the next contests as well, betting he can amass an insurmountable delegate lead. After two consecutive victories and a tie for the lead in Iowa, the 78-year-old Vermont senator’s confidence has surged.
Sanders congratulated Biden on his first win and said it was nothing for his own supporters to worry about.
“That will not be the only defeat. A lot of states in this country. Nobody wins them all,” he told a cheering crowd in Virginia. “Now we enter Super Tuesday.”
Pressure is building on lower performing candidates including former South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg, Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar and Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren to justify staying in the race. None gave any indication on Saturday that they would exit before Tuesday.
Through four contests, Sanders has a healthy, but shrinking, delegate lead.
The AP has allocated at least 54 delegates to Sanders with a few more expected as South Carolina’s remaining votes dribble in. Biden vaulted past Buttigieg into second place with at least 44 delegates and he’s likely to get several more. Buttigieg, Warren and Klobuchar remain stuck at 26, eight and seven, respectively.
Trump was paying close attention to the Democratic race.
Speaking before conservative activists earlier in the day, the president conducted a poll of sorts by asking his audience to cheer for who would be the best Democratic contender for him to face in November.
Sanders was the clear winner.
“How could you be easier to beat than Joe? That guy can’t put two sentences together,” Trump told attendees of the Conservative Political Action Conference in suburban Washington. “But you know he is more down the middle. Everyone knows he’s not a communist and with Bernie there a real question about that.”
But Saturday was all about Biden and whether he might convince anxious establishment Democrats to rally behind him at last.
Elected officials inclined to embrace his moderate politics had been reluctant to support him after bad finishes in Iowa and New Hampshire and a distant second place in Nevada last week. Yet fearing Sanders’ polarizing progressive priorities, they’re still searching for an alternative who’s viewed as a safer bet to defeat Trump in November.
Biden won 63% of the votes cast by African Americans. He also did well with older voters, women, moderates and conservatives and regular churchgoers, according to AP VoteCast.
Sanders earned the support of 14% of African American voters, while billionaire businessman Tom Steyer won 15%.
There was also evidence that Biden’s status as former President Barack Obama’s two-term vice president helped him win over African Americans.
VoteCast found that 45% voters in South Carolina wanted to return to the politics of the past, compared to about a third in Iowa and New Hampshire. That includes the 51% of African American voters who said they want a Democratic presidential nominee who would emulate the Obama presidency.
Democratic National Committee Chair Tom Perez cautioned Democrats that it’s still early in their presidential primary.
Speaking at a North Carolina Democratic Party fundraising gala, Perez noted that to win the nomination, a Democrat must win 1,991 delegates — and only a fraction of those have been allocated in the party’s first four primaries.
“We have a long way to go,” he said.
___
Peoples reported from Washington. Associated Press writers Brian Slodysko, Will Weissert and Seth Borenstein in Washington, Thomas Beaumont in Columbia and Charleston, South Carolina and Alexandra Jaffe in Charlotte, North Carolina, contributed to this report.
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Saturday, February 29, 2020
A force for health equity
After spending three weeks in Kenya working on water issues with Maasai women, Kendyll Hicks was ready to declare it her favorite among the international projects she’s participated in through MIT.
As a volunteer with the nonprofit Mama Maji, Hicks spoke about clean water, menstrual hygiene, and reproductive health with local women, sharing information that would enable them to become community leaders. “In rural Kenya, women are disproportionately affected by water issues,” she explains. “This is one way to give them a voice in societies that traditionally will silence them.”
The team also planned to build a rainwater harvesting tank, but climate change has transformed Kenya’s dry season into a rainy one, and it was too wet to break ground for the project. During her stay, Hicks lived in the home of the first female chief of the Masaai, Beatrice Kosiom, whom Hicks describes as “simultaneously a political animal and the most down-to-earth-person.” It was this close contact with the community that made the project especially fulfilling.
During MIT’s Independent Activities Period, Hicks also has traveled to South Africa to learn more about the cultural and biological determinants of that country’s HIV/AIDS epidemic, and to Colombia to lead an entrepreneurial initiative among small-scale coffee farmers. Hicks joined the Kenya trip after taking an MIT D-Lab class on water, sanitation, and hygiene. Each experience has been successively more hands-on, she says.
“I’ve been drawn to these experiences mainly because I love school, and I love the classroom experience,” Hicks says. “But it just can’t compare to living with people and understanding their way of life and the issues they face every day.”
Hicks, a senior majoring in computer science and molecular biology, says she has shifted her focus during her time at MIT from more incremental technical discoveries to addressing larger forces that affect how those discoveries contribute — or fail to contribute — to global health.
Her love of biology began with animals and zoology, later expanding into an interest in medicine. “Humans are these amazing machines that have been crafted by nature and evolution, and we have all these intricacies and mechanisms that I knew I wanted to study further,” Hicks says.
At the same time, she says, “I’ve always been interested in health care and medicine, and the main impetus behind that is the fact that when someone you love is sick, or if you’re sick, you’ll do whatever you can.”
As a first-year student she worked in the Lippard Lab at MIT, helping to synthesize and test anticancer compounds, but she soon decided that lab work wasn’t the right path for her. “I made the realization that health care and medicine are extremely political,” she recalls. “Health policy, health economics, law — those can be the drivers of real large-scale change.”
To learn more about those drivers, Hicks has worked two summers at the management consulting firm McKinsey and Company, and will take a full-time position with the company after graduation.
“As someone immersed in the world of science and math and tech, I had this lingering insecurity that I didn’t know that much about this entirely different but super-important area,” she says. “I thought it would be important to understand what motivates business and the private sector, since that can have a huge effect on health care and helping communities that are often disenfranchised.”
Hicks wants to steer her work at McKinsey toward their health care and hospital sector, as well as their growing global health sector. Over the long term, she is also interested in continuing fieldwork that involves science, poverty eradication, and international development.
“Being at MIT, it’s like this hub of tech, trying to venture further into novel breakthroughs and innovations, and I think it’s amazing,” Hicks says. “But as I have started to garner more of an interest in politics and economics and the highly socialized aspects of science, I would say it’s important to take a pause before venturing further and deeper into that realm, to make sure that you truly understand the downstream effects of what you are developing.”
“Those effects can be negative,” she adds, “and they oftentimes impact communities that already are systematically and institutionally oppressed.”
Hicks joined MIT’s Black Students Union as a first-year student and now serves as the BSU Social and Cultural Co-Chair. In the role, she is responsible for planning the annual Ebony Affair fly-in program, which brings more than 30 black high school students to campus each year to participate in workshops, tour labs, and join a gala celebration with BSU students, faculty, and staff. “We’re doing our best as a community to convince young bright black minds to come to a place like MIT,” she says.
It worked for Hicks: She participated in Ebony Affair as a high schooler, and the experience cemented her decision to attend. “When I saw everyone showing out and having such pride in being black and being at MIT, I was like, ‘OK, I want to be a part of that,’” she recalls.
Last year, Hicks planned BSU’s first Black Homecoming event, a barbecue that brought together current and former black MIT students — some who attended the school 50 years ago. The event was a celebration of support and a way to strengthen the BSU network. “You have to do what you can to cultivate communities wherever you are, and that’s what I’ve tried to do here at MIT,” she says.
Hicks also served as the Black Women’s Alliance alumni relations chair and GlobeMed’s campaigns co-director, and was on the Undergraduate Association Diversity and Inclusion Committee. She has discovered a love of event organizing and leadership at MIT, although it has been a change of pace from her former shy, “hyper-bookworm” self, she says.
“I have realized that in my career that I really want to do a lot of good and affect a lot of change in people’s lives, and in order to do that, you kind of have to be this way.”
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What Is The Best Medicare Supplement Plan For You?
Finding The Best Medicare Supplement Insurance Plan
If you qualify for Medicare coverage, you need to know what the best Medicare Supplement insurance plan is for you. Our review will highlight important rules and benefits of Medicare Supplement insurance plans and how to pick the right one for you.
Medicare Supplement Insurance Plan Basics
Medicare Supplement insurance plans are health insurance plans issued by private insurance companies. They work with, or supplement, Original Medicare by helping to cover out-of-pocket expenses. Unlike Medicare Advantage plans, however, they do not replace Original Medicare coverage.
As we’ll discuss below, Medicare Supplement plans fill in some of the cost coverage gaps in Original Medicare. Because of this, Medicare Supplement plans are often referred to as Medigap plans.
Eligibility
To be eligible for Medigap coverage, you must be enrolled in both Part A and B of Original Medicare. In many states, you must be age 65 or older even if you enter Medicare earlier due to health or disability.
Enrollment Windows
The best time to enroll in a Medicare Supplement insurance plan is when you first enroll in Part B. The six months after you enroll in Part B is called your Medigap Open Enrollment Period. During these six months, you cannot be declined for coverage or charged a higher rate due to health issues.
During your Open Enrollment Period, you have Guaranteed Issue rights. If you don’t enroll in a Medicare Supplement insurance plan during this time period you may have to go through underwriting if you want a Medigap plan later.
If you go through underwriting you will be asked health questions. Your coverage could be declined, or you could be charged a higher premium due to health conditions. It is far better to enroll during your Medigap Open Enrollment Period.
There are times when you may be able to have extra Guaranteed Issue rights to a Medigap plan. You may be able to get a Medigap plan with Guaranteed Issue rights in these cases:
- You enrolled in Medicare Advantage when you first got Part B, and you’ve been on it for less than 12 months (Trial Right).
- You enrolled in Medigap when you were first eligible but dropped your coverage for your first Medicare Advantage plan, and you’ve been on it for less than 12 months (Trial Right).
- Your Medicare Advantage plan loses or fails to renew its contract with the government.
- You permanently move out of your Medicare Advantage plan’s service area.
There can be other reasons you’d qualify for Guaranteed Issue rights. They can be technical, so it’s recommended that you speak with an independent professional if you think you may qualify.
Costs
As mentioned earlier, Medicare Supplement insurance works with Original Medicare. You must be enrolled in both Part A and B in order to get Medigap coverage. You will also need to obtain prescription drug coverage from a standalone prescription drug plan since Medigap plans don’t cover drugs.
When you use Medigap in conjunction with Original Medicare and a standalone drug plan, you can expect to pay the following premiums:
- Part B premium
- Medicare Supplement plan premium
- Prescription drug plan premium
Specifics Of Medicare Supplement Insurance Plans
Medicare Supplement insurance plans fill in some or all of the gaps in Original Medicare. These gaps can include:
- Part A deductible – $1,408 in 2020
- Part B deductible – $198 in 2020
- Part B coinsurance – 20% of the cost for each Part B procedure
- Emergency services while traveling internationally
Medicare Supplement insurance comes in 10 standardized “plans.” Each plan offers slightly different coverage. The premium for each plan is different, too, increasing with the comprehensiveness of coverage.
Plan A
Plan A provides basic coverage. It covers:
- Part A coinsurance charges.
- Part B coinsurance charges.
- First 3 pints of blood.
- Part A hospice care charges.
Plan A does not provide coverage for:
- Skilled nursing care coinsurance.
- Part A deductible.
- Part B deductible.
- Part B excess charges.
- Foreign travel emergency.
Plan B
Plan B provides slightly more comprehensive coverage. It covers:
- Part A deductible.
- Part A coinsurance charges.
- Part B coinsurance charges.
- First 3 pints of blood.
- Part A hospice care charges.
Plan B does not cover:
- Skilled nursing care coinsurance.
- Part B deductible.
- Part B excess charges.
- Foreign travel emergency.
Plan C
Plan C is a comprehensive plan. It covers:
- Part A deductible.
- Part A coinsurance charges.
- Part B deductible.
- Part B coinsurance charges.
- First 3 pints of blood.
- Part A hospice care charges.
- Skilled nursing care charges.
- Foreign travel emergency coverage.
Plan C does not cover Part B excess charges.
Plan D
Plan D is not quite as comprehensive as plan C. It covers:
- Part A deductible.
- Part A coinsurance charges.
- First 3 pints of blood.
- Part A hospice care charges.
- Skilled nursing care charges.
- Foreign travel emergency coverage.
Plan D does not cover:
- Part B deductible.
- Part B excess charges.
Plan F
Plan F is the most comprehensive plan available. It fills in every gap in Original Medicare. It covers:
- Part A deductible.
- Part A coinsurance charges.
- Part B deductible.
- Part B coinsurance charges.
- Part B excess charges.
- First 3 pints of blood.
- Part A hospice care charges.
- Skilled nursing care charges.
- Foreign travel emergency coverage.
Plan F is also available in a high deductible version. With High Deductible F, you pay the first $2,340 (for 2020) and then the plan pays the rest of your Medicare-approved expenses. In exchange for the deductible, premiums are much lower than for regular Plan F.
Plan F has been the most popular Medicare Supplement insurance plan over the years. People choose it because they like the ability of not making any out-of-pocket payments for health care services.
Plan G
Plan G is the next most comprehensive. It covers:
- Part A deductible.
- Part A coinsurance charges.
- Part B coinsurance charges.
- Part B excess charges.
- First 3 pints of blood.
- Part A hospice care charges.
- Skilled nursing care charges.
- Foreign travel emergency coverage.
Plan G does not cover the Part B deductible. You must pay the first $198 (for 2020) of Part B services. The plan will pay 100% of all other Medicare-approved expenses.
Plan G is available in a high deductible version. For 2020, the deductible is $2,340. After you’ve paid this amount the plan will begin paying benefits for Medicare-approved expenses.
Now that Plan F is no longer available for people new to Medicare (see more below), Plan G is the most popular Medigap plan. People choose Plan G because they know that the most they’ll spend on Medicare-approved expenses is $198 – the Part B deductible.
Plan K
Plan K is a hybrid plan that offers partial coverage with a hard out-of-pocket maximum amount. Plan K covers:
- Part A coinsurance charges.
- 50% of Part A deductible.
- 50% of Part B coinsurance charges.
- 50% of the cost of your first 3 pints of blood.
- 50% of Part A hospice care charges.
- 50% of skilled nursing care charges.
- Annual out-of-pocket maximum is $5,880.
Plan K doesn’t cover:
- Part B deductible.
- Part B coinsurance.
- Foreign travel emergency coverage.
Plan L
Plan L is another hybrid type with partial coverage for many services combined with a low out-of-pocket maximum. Plan L covers:
- Part A coinsurance charges.
- 75% of Part A deductible.
- 75% of Part B coinsurance charges.
- 75% of the cost of your first 3 pints of blood.
- 75% of Part A hospice care charges.
- 75% of skilled nursing care charges.
- Annual out-of-pocket maximum is $2,940.
Plan L does not provide any coverage for:
- Part B deductible.
- Part B excess charges.
- Foreign travel emergency coverage.
Plan M
Plan M is a fairly comprehensive plan with coverage for most of the gaps in Original Medicare. It covers:
- 50% of Part A deductible.
- Part A coinsurance charges.
- Part B coinsurance charges.
- Part B excess charges.
- First 3 pints of blood.
- Part A hospice care charges.
- Skilled nursing care charges.
- Foreign travel emergency coverage.
Plan M does not cover:
- Part B deductible.
- Part B excess charges.
Plan N
Plan N resembles traditional employer-provided health insurance. It covers:
- Part A deductible.
- Part A coinsurance charges.
- Part B coinsurance charges.
- Part B excess charges.
- First 3 pints of blood.
- Part A hospice care charges.
- Skilled nursing care charges.
- Foreign travel emergency coverage.
Plan N is unique in that you pay small copays for seeing a doctor or using emergency services. Your copay is no more than $20 to see a doctor and no more than $50 to be seen in the emergency room.
Plan N doesn’t cover:
- Part B deductible.
- Part B excess charges.
Changes To Medicare Supplement Insurance In 2020
Plans C, F, and High deductible F will not be available for people who enter Medicare on or after January 1, 2020. If your Medicare coverage began before January 1, 2020 you will always have the right to enroll in these three plans, assuming you qualify for Guaranteed Issue rights, or can be approved by underwriting.
Extra Benefits
The benefits listed above are all standardized; they must be provided by all Medigap plans in every state except Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Massachusetts. These three states have their own rules for Medicare Supplement insurance.
Many insurance companies offer extra benefits to their customers. These benefits can vary by state and are not guaranteed. Some of these extras include:
- Discounts on vision coverage.
- Discounts on hearing coverage.
- Discounts on prescription drugs.
- Discounts on dental coverage.
- Gym memberships or fitness programs.
- Access to 24-hour nurse help lines.
Choosing The Best Medicare Supplement Plan For You
Getting your Medigap coverage right is important for your health and financial future. To get the best Medigap plan for you you’ll need to balance your monthly premium cost with your tolerance for out-of-pocket expenses.
You’ll want a plan that has the right blend of coverage, extra benefits, and price. Not all insurance companies offer plans in every state, so be sure to connect with a professional to get quotes and find a plan in your area.
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OPINION: My first time at the National Museum of African American History and Culture
This year I was able to visit the National Museum of African-American History and Culture (NMAAHC) in Washington D.C. As a first-timer, the anticipation was unreal.
In some ways, it felt like I was going to the carnival for the first time, but when I told my family who had already gone, the excitement wasn’t the same. I was instead met with soft nods and kind warnings.
“Take your time.”
“It’s very humbling.”
“See as much as you can, but you can’t see it all.”
Nothing they said was negative, they assured me that I would have a good time, but they said it with a type of wisdom in their eyes that I couldn’t understand. It felt like discussing it commanded a moment of silence.
The tour begins with an elevator ride through time, from present-day all the way to the 15th century. As we approached the bottom, the quieter the group became. The silence felt similar to that of my family as if the elevator was truly bringing us back to the 1400s.
The entire bottom level is dedicated to slavery. From the Atlantic Slave Trade all the way to the Emancipation Proclamation. Colonialism, the revolutionary war, free communities of color, and abolitionist movements are only SOME of the topics covered on that floor.
When I passed the revolutionary war and was moving onto the civil, there were walls of photographs, and paintings of enslaved people I never knew existed.
In paintings, you have to battle the artist’s interpretation with your own understanding, but in a photograph, what you’re looking at is clear as day. Photographs show the whole, raw truth.
A small photo of a boy in a blue coat stopped me in my tracks. At that moment I was looking at a picture of my cousin.
Not literally of course, but there was a level of familiarity in his face I wasn’t comfortable with receiving. I instantly felt like I knew the person staring back at me. We had playdates together, reunited every summer at the cookout, or one of our birthday parties. We’d cannonballed into a pool before or made snow angels when school was closed.
And now he was enslaved.
He wasn’t wearing family hand-me-downs, but a suit to make him presentable in front of guests. He served a master, a family, not himself.
Everything I’d learned and seen on the tour weighed on me. I wasn’t looking at photos of strangers anymore, I was looking at pictures of my family, and that’s what made the difference. Once that realization hit it was hard to keep my composure even as I tried to walk on. But the boy in the blue coat continued to follow me, revealing familiar faces in every photograph I saw.
I watched a montage of Civil War-era photos and picked out the faces of my uncles, and grandpas. I looked at photos of plantations and saw my aunts, nieces, and friends from down the block even- sitting on the porch of a shack.
The NMAAHC opened my eyes in ways I can’t even begin to describe.
“It gets easier after that floor,” a friend told me after I recapped my visit. She had that same wisdom in her eyes. Now I recognize it as a knowing or what we are all bound to experience when we leave there.
I wouldn’t take back a single minute of that experience and I want to go back for more. I know no matter what, I will revisit the boy in the blue coat.
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Lizzo faces countersuit in ‘Truth Hurts’ copyright battle
Lizzo is facing a countersuit by three songwriters who claim they did not receive proper credit for writing her highly successful song, “Truth Hurts.”
Justin and Jeremiah Raisen, as well as Justin “Yves” Rothman filed the suit Friday in federal court in California alleging that the hit is very similar to another song they composed with Lizzo called “Healthy,” according to Variety.
READ MORE: Lizzo takes legal action over allegations she stole ‘Truth Hurts’ from songwriters
The countersuit comes in response to a lawsuit Lizzo filed in October against the trio, claiming they did not help write the song. But the countersuit claims that the award-winning singer is of a “bad faith, unprincipled attempt to deny songwriting and producer credits and royalties,” according to Rolling Stone and claims that “Lizzo would never have collected her Grammy Award [for Best Pop Solo Performance] but for the songwriting and producing contributions of [the Raisens and Rothman].”
The artist initially sued writers last October to receive a determination that the men should not be credited for writing the song last October, Variety reports.
“Lizzo is a talented musician and performer who currently enjoys immense popularity based on a hit song that she did not write alone,” their attorney, Lawrence Iser, said in a statement. “The Counterclaims we filed today seek a judgment from the court that the song that is now called ‘Truth Hurts’ originated in Justin Raisen’s home recording studio from a collaboration among our clients, Justin and Jeremiah Raisen and Yves Rothman, along with Lizzo and Jesse Saint John. When the case proceeds to trial, we look forward to sharing the sound recordings, videos, photographs and musicology that 100% prove that collaboration. Our clients deserve their fair share of the recognition and revenue that comes from collaborating on a hit song.”
READ MORE: Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos fans out after meeting Lizzo at the Super Bowl
The countersuit states that a musicologist found that the songs had “strikingly similar lyric and musical elements.” The songs also open with the well-known line, “I just did a DNA test / turns out I’m a 100% that b**h.” The countersuit details other similarities between the two songs as well such as Lizzo’s “vamping,” and the song’s overall structure.
Lizzo’s attorneys stated in an earlier complaint that the Raizen brothers formerly provided a written waiver of the rights to “Truth Hurts.”
Lizzon’s reps have not released a statement regarding the countersuit.
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R. Kelly’s lawyer seeks to dismiss racketeering charge
An attorney for R. Kelly on Friday filed papers in Brooklyn federal court to dismiss a 12-count racketeering charge against the embattled singer.
Kelly, 53, the motion claims, shouldn’t be charged with being involved in a “criminal conspiracy” because prosecutors did not identify other members who were associated with the alleged crime, Page Six reports.
READ MORE: R. Kelly receives default judgment in latest sexual abuse civil lawsuit
Prosecutors claimed that the singer was working with managers, drivers and members of his entourage.
“The superseding indictment is silent on how any other individual benefited from Mr. Kelly engaging in sexual activity,” defense attorney, Steven A. Greenberg said, according to New York Daily News. “If no others benefit, then the only member of the enterprise is Mr. Kelly.”
Kelly was indicted this past July under the RICO Act, which is a federal anti-racketeering statute. The charge alleges that Kelly and others recruited women and minors to have sex with him and also threatened them to report the crime to police, The Chicago Tribune reports.
Prosecutors have to prove that the singer was the “leader” of the crime.
“Robert Kelly is not an enterprise,” Kelly’s lead attorney, Steven Greenberg, wrote in the motion. “RICO was not designed as a means to punish a single individual for his own wrongful actions. RICO is only being used in this case in an effort to subvert various statutes of limitations.”
The Brooklyn’s US Attorney’s office did not comment on the motion.
READ MORE: Syleena Johnson thinks R. Kelly fans should be allowed to enjoy his music without shame
Kelly is also facing other charges in New York. One includes the singer allegedly bribing a government official back in 1994 to obtain a fake ID to marry R&B singer Aaliyah, who was underage at the time. He is also accused of taking a woman across state lines to have sex with her.
Kelly is facing criminal cases in Manhattan and Chicago as well.
In Chicago, Kelly is charged with his association with child pornography and sexually exploiting minors.
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Report: Washington D.C Has The Highest Intensity Of Gentrification In The U.S
Gentrification has ravished America’s largest cities, leaving many low-income and marginalized people on the outskirts unable to afford the high cost of living in their neighborhood. And no one has been hit harder than the country’s capital city, Washington, D.C.
In 2019, the National Community Reinvestment Coalition, a research and advocacy group of 600 community organizations that promote economic and racial justice, released a damning study showing the influx of gentrification has changed the makeup of the nation’s capital and how it has disfranchised the native population. The report showed that roughly 40% of D.C’s lower-income neighborhoods experienced some form of gentrification between 2000 and 2013.
This puts it just behind New York City and Los Angeles for the highest number of gentrifying neighborhoods. Nationally, at least 135,000 African Americans and Hispanics have been forced out of their neighborhoods due to increase of gentrification in their communities.
But the District ranked first in the “intensity of gentrification” based on the percentage of lower-income neighborhoods being reshaped by new residents. It is also the black residents there who have been the hardest hit by the effects of gentrification, with more than 20,000 African Americans moving out of their neighborhoods during that time.
“You feel it and you see it,” said Jesse Van Tol, chief executive of the NCRC. “It’s the visibility and the pace of it.” Van Tol said gentrification has followed a national move back to cities, particularly among affluent workers who had historically left the bigger cities for suburban neighborhoods.
D.C, also known as Chocolate City, has historically been known for its thriving black population that has shaped the local culture of the city. This effect has caused serious effects on the city’s makeup moving toward more predominantly white, affluent newcomers.
“The tens of thousands who have migrated to Washington, D.C., over the last five years live in a city that rolled out the proverbial red carpet for their arrival,” Sabiyha Prince, an activist with the group Empower DC, wrote in an essay accompanying the report. “Infrastructure has been altered, public property has been privatized, the will of voters has been rescinded, minority-owned businesses have been shuttered, and the bodies of people of color have been stopped and frisked to accommodate and enhance the respective presence and comfort of newcomers.”
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Disney+ is Bringing Back ‘The Proud Family’
What’s old is new again! It has been announced that the animated series, The Proud Family is making a return to the new streaming service Disney Plus according to Deadline.
The original series creator/executive producer Bruce W. Smith and executive producer Ralph Farquhar are bringing it back along with co-executive producer and story editor Calvin Brown. The family-sitcom will have a new take and will also see the return of the original cast. The animated show debuted on the Disney Channel in 2001. The latest version will be titled The Proud Family: Louder and Prouder.
“In our minds, the show never really went away, as we still had tons of stories left to tell,” original series creator/executive producer Bruce W. Smith and executive producer Ralph Farquhar said in a statement to Deadline. “It’s the perfect time to bring back this show, and we can’t wait to take fans, old and new alike, on this journey with us.”
The new show will still center on the story of a young woman named Penny Proud and the never-dull happenings of her family, parents Oscar and Trudy, twin siblings and grandma Suga Mama. The show will feature the original cast from The Proud Family reprising their roles: Kyla Pratt as Penny, Tommy Davidson as Oscar, Paula Jai Parker as Trudy, Payton as Suga Mama, Karen Malina White as Dijonay Jones, Soleil Moon Frye as Zoey Howzer and Alisa Reyes as LaCienega Boulevardez. Cedric the Entertainer will also return as Uncle Bobby.
Hug ‘em! #TheProudFamily: Louder and Prouder, an all-new Original Series, is coming soon to #DisneyPlus! And the best part? The original cast is reprising their voice roles. pic.twitter.com/94VbDL2FG9
— Disney+ (@disneyplus) February 27, 2020
“The show’s humor and relatable stories are as relevant with audiences today as ever,” said Agnes Chu, SVP Content at Disney+. “Our audiences have loved rediscovering their favorite episodes of The Proud Family, and we’re excited Bruce, Ralph, Calvin, and the returning cast are creating new stories for their new home on Disney+.”
You can currently watch episodes of the original 2001-05 Disney Channel series, The Proud Family on Disney Plus.
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