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When the Olympic Games get underway in Paris this summer, there will be an Olympic first. While medals have been reallocated over the years due to various disqualifications, these Olympics will be the first time those medals will be officially presented at the Games. Ten athletes will receive their medals at Champions Park.

Among those medalists is the entire medal podium in the women’s 400-meter hurdles from the 2012 Olympics in London. The disqualification of gold medalist Natalya Antyukh of Russia due to doping means American Lashinda Demus will receive the gold medal, Zuzana Hejnova of Czech Republic will get the silver, and Kaliese Spencer Carter of Jamaica will receive the bronze.

“I’m extremely happy, but at the same time I think, ‘Imagine if that would have happened 12 years ago,’” said Carter. “I know I’m going to feel great when I get my medal, but also certain it won’t be the same [feeling] that I would have had 12 years ago if I were to get it right there in the stadium at the time of the race.”

The 2012 Olympics were amazing for Jamaican track athletes. Usain Bolt and Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce both repeated as champions in the 100 meters, among multiple other medalists. After missing the 2008 Olympics due to injury, Carter had been competing consistently.

“England has a lot of Jamaicans, so it was one of the places I wanted to do so well. I always performed well when I went there in the past,” said Carter. “In the finals, I was in lane eight. I gave it my all. I got a season’s best. Unfortunately, I didn’t get to finish in the top three. It would have been one of the greatest things for me having gotten that medal right there and then.”

Carter, 37, was still training and competing until last year. When she first received news that she would be receiving the bronze medal, she was in disbelief. Now a mentor to young track athletes, having this tangible moment will be special. Her three-year-old son, Michael, will accompany her to Paris.

“I have my suit from 2012; I’ve never worn it,” said Carter. “If I need to wear it, I will, but I’ll see if I get the 2024 suit. If not, I’ll put my 2012 suit on.”

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Teresa Weatherspoon is a pioneering basketball figure. She was a member of the inaugural New York Liberty team when the Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) launched its first season in 1997. A two-time All-American and NCAA champion at Louisiana Tech in 1988, the Pineland, Texas, native had a storied playing career: five-time WNBA All-Star, four-time All-WNBA Second Team honoree, two-time WNBA Defensive Player of the Year; member of the league’s 15th (2001) and 20th Anniversary Teams; and driving force behind the Liberty making it to the WNBA Finals four times between 1997 and 2003, although the team came up short of winning a title in each season. 

Affectionately known as T-Spoon, the 58-year-old 2019 Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame inductee is currently in her first season as head coach of the Chicago Sky. She recently reflected on her career playing for the Liberty before leading the Sky against her former team.  

“(The fans) treated me with such kindness and generosity from day one of me entering into this place, and it has been the same from that day until this day, so I’m thankful and I’m grateful for the love that’s given,” said Weatherspoon,. “And it’s definitely given it right back. I throw it right back at them because I love every one of them tremendously.”
Weatherspoon is not a coaching novice, having guided  her college alma mater from 2009–14. In facing and following the Liberty through the lens of an experienced coach, she has the utmost respect for how today’s team has carried on a legacy she greatly helped to build and the fans’ continued enthusiasm.
“When I take a look at the way the fans are supporting [the current team], that does bring up memories of how it was for us,” she said. “We could walk into the arena getting ready to play and it was just packed—fans are going crazy. You’ve got that same thing here—they have their towels waving and everyone gets excited about what’s going on, and it’s great to see. It’s great to see this across the board with people supporting women’s basketball and what we do.”

Being with the Sky is both different and the same, Weatherspoon said.

“It just so happens that I’m in a different uniform. I’m on the other side,” she said. “They know I’m a competitor. Everybody in here knows who I am. They know how I approach the game, so there’s no difference. I’m going to approach it the same way as a coach.”

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Seventy games into the 162-game Major League Baseball regular season, the Yankees have solidified themselves as one of the best teams in the sport. They were 48-21 before facing the Kansas City Royals Wednesday night in the third game of a four-game road series. The Yankees held a 2 1/2 game lead over the Baltimore Orioles in the American League East division and had the most wins in MLB, two more than the National League’s Philadelphia Phillies, who were 46-20.

The Yankees depth throughout their roster has been a key strength. They hosted the preseason World Series favorite Los Angeles Dodgers—who led the NL West with a 42-26 record when MLBs schedule began yesterday—in the Bronx this past weekend without outfielder Juan Soto, who has been sensational playing in the final year of his contract after being acquired in a seven-player trade with the San Diego Padres in December.

Soto was batting .317 with 17 home runs and 53 RBI in 244 at-bats prior to last night’s game. But he sat out all three-games versus the Dodgers recovering from left forearm inflammation. 

The Yankees dropped the series opener 2-1 in 11 innings on Friday and manager Aaron Boone’s squad was pounded 11-3 on Saturday.

The breadth of the Yankees’ quality was exemplified on Sunday when outfielder Trent Grisham, who came to the Yankees with Soto from the Padres, hit a go-ahead three-run homer in the sixth inning to give New York a 6-3 lead. Grisham was the Padres’ starting center fielder last season but has played a limited role with the Yankees, appearing in just 27 games as of last night.

Another example of the team’s foundational talent base is that they have thrived without their ace, starter Gerrit Cole, who is progressing towards making his 2024 season debut. Cole was shut down in spring training with nerve inflammation in his right elbow but made his second rehab start on Sunday.

There is no definitive timetable for last season’s AL Cy Young Award winner to return to the rotation, but there is the possibility he could be back in the fold next week. In his absence, the Yankees’ starting rotation has been superb. On Tuesday, the group received another strong outing on Long Island from native Marcus Stroman, who went 5 2/3 innings, allowing just four hits and no earned runs to improve to 6-2. Stroman is 4-0 in his last six starts. 

In the game, Aaron Judge hit his 25th home run, which topped the Major’s before yesterday’s slate of games, and extended his on-base streak to 36 games, which also led the MLB. 
The Yankees will be in Boston for three games this weekend beginning tomorrow and then be back home to meet the Orioles for three Tuesday through Thursday.

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* This article was originally published here

One of the country’s largest organizing groups wants New York City to reevaluate whether museums and other cultural institutions on public land should offer unconditionally free admission to local residents. And a study bill by State Sen. Cordell Cleare would do just that. 

On May 31, New York Communities for Change (NYCC) staged a rally outside the Museum of the City of New York pushing for the legislation and called for free admission for New Yorkers. 

Advocates believe a century-plus public-private partnership between the City and the 17 cultural institutions stipulates free rent on public parkland in exchange for free local admission. Those sites include the Museum of the City of New York, the Met and the four Wildlife Conservation Society-run zoos. 

A spokesperson for Sen. Cleare told the Amsterdam News that the Harlem-based lawmaker seeks to “peel back layers” on what led to these institutions deviating away from free access, as well as holding them to their initial pledges. Her bill would enlist the department of economic development to look into such matters and produce a one-year report. Key topics study areas include current public access, historical public access and laws governing free access. The bill did not pass this past legislative session.

While most institutions boast pay-as-you-want fee structures or free admission days, activists like NYCC’s Rachel Rivera believe anything but free access for locals is only a barrier. Rivera, a mother of six, recalled the mounting expenses for taking her family to a museum, pointing to additional costs of food and travel totaling well north of $100. The advocates said the suggested admission or complimentary tickets are not always readily advertised and can be lost to those who don’t speak English as a first language. 

Rivera added that several institutions, like the Museum of the City of New York in East Harlem, are located in working-class Black and Brown neighborhoods that aren’t accessing them to their fullest. 

“It’s not fair that you have all these beautiful museums, beautiful gardens and zoos for all these animals,” Rivera said in a phone interview. “And New Yorkers that live by these museums, zoos, and gardens still have to pay an admission fee.”

Stephanie Hill Wilchfort, Museum of the City of New York Ronay Menschel director and president, told the AmNews over email that paying staff fair wages and providing “robust service” is partially dependent on collecting admissions. She also pointed to the continued and upcoming budget cuts to cultural institutions as an added funding barrier, calling reduced entry revenue a “terrible blow” for “small and mid-sized organizations without significant endowments.”

She added that admission is free for SNAP/EBT holders, educators, city employees, CUNY students and members of the United States military.
“The Museum of the City of New York (MCNY) believes that culture should be accessible to all New Yorkers,” said Hill Wilchfort. “More than half of our visitors come for free or at a reduced rate, and MCNY never turns a visitor away for lack of funds. MCNY is always free to anyone under the age of 19, and to individuals of any age who live or work in zip codes 10029, 10035, or 10037 (our East Harlem neighborhood). Free passes can be obtained through the New York Public Library’s Culture Pass program.”

Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) told the AmNews that they are reviewing the request to respond and will provide a response. 
Tandy Lau is a Report for America corps member who writes about public safety for the Amsterdam News. Your donation to match our RFA grant helps keep him writing stories like this one; please consider making a tax-deductible gift of any amount today by visiting https://bit.ly/amnews1.

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* This article was originally published here

The White House South Lawn was teeming with Black professionals, artists and musicians for Washington’s annual Juneteenth concert, marking its second staging this year. Performances from legendary stars including Gladys Knight, Patti LaBelle, Charlie Wilson and Anthony Hamilton masterfully crafted a musical portrayal of enamoration for the trials overcome by a resilient community.

“Black artists like these have put song to our nation’s fight for freedom,” Vice President Kamala Harris told concertgoers in her opening remarks. “Through spirituals, blues, and gospel, through jazz, soul, and hip-hop, artists give voice to the joy and hope, ambition and aspiration, courage and conviction of the people of our nation.”

Moments later, she took the stage next to gospel legend Kirk Franklin twirling and dancing gleefully. Afterwards, Gladys Knight floated on stage in a bright red suit singing melodies including “I Heard it Through the Grapevine” and “Midnight Train to Georgia.”

Eventually attendees were graced by charting record label phenomenon LaBelle who swayed to songs like “Love, Need and Want You” and “Oh, People,” kicking off her shoes to ignite attendees with her stage presence.  

The evening was filled with opportunities for celebrities and lawmakers to let their hair down and take a moment to enjoy dreams fulfilled and achieved. Famed Netflix actor Billy Porter jammed with her while sitting in the front row next to the Vice President and Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff. Congressman Jim Clyburn, Maxine Waters and Symone Sanders also enjoyed the live concert and could be seen cheering, chanting and singing along to hit records of the present and past. 

Amidst a bright stage and shining lights, host Roy Wood Jr. of “The Daily Show” fame frequented the stage embarking down the path of history by narrating Black Americans’ journey to success from oppression.

“It’s important to understand how we got from enslavement to the first Black vice president. It is important to understand how we got from enslavement to the first Black supreme court justice,” he said.

Flanking Wood were two screens rolling the names, faces and likeness of the formerly enslaved as he addressed the audience.

“More than 186,000 Black Americans joined the armed forces to fight for their liberation, half of whom were formerly enslaved,” he continued. “They turned the tide of the Civil War from a conflict about preserving the union into something about the ending of slavery.”

Wood reflected on the day many discovered they were freed under the Emancipation Proclamation. A formalized declaration of Black freedom that would fail to be ratified by many states in the South, leading to Black codes and Jim Crow laws. 

“Just because we were free didn’t mean everybody was ready to give us our freedom,” Wood said with affirmations from the crowd.

Throughout the evening, Biden affirmed this message by referencing haunting hate crimes and horrific tales of “old ghosts in new garments.” He pledged to continue making a difference by uplifting community activists like Texas native, Opal Lee who’s credited for the idea of making Juneteenth a federal holiday, an aspiration that became a reality in 2021 as Biden signed the bill into legislation.

“The North Star is the idea that we’re all created equal, [in] the image of God, and deserve to be treated equally throughout our lives. While we’ve never lived up to it, we’ve never fully walked away from it either,” Biden said hopefully. “That’s because of you and the generation before you who led the march from slavery to freedom toward more than a perfect union.”

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* This article was originally published here

City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams and the majority of the city council voted to pass the ‘advice and consent’ bill last Thursday, which most have clocked a legislative dig at Mayor Eric Adams.

“Advice and consent is a safeguard of good government, ensuring the city’s agency leaders are qualified and their priority is the public interest,” said Adams in a statement. “When you cut through the noise, the truth is that advice and consent is a common feature of representative democracy in cities and states across this country, including New York, and New York City is an outlier.”

The bill, Introduction 908-A, requires the city council to be a part of the appointment process for city agency commissioners, and hold a subsequent approval by voters in a citywide election. 

The commissioners of the following agencies are covered by the bill: Aging; Buildings;  Children’s Services; Citywide Administrative Services; Consumer and Worker Protection;  Cultural Affairs; Design and Construction; Environmental Protection; Finance; Health and Mental Hygiene; Homeless Services; Housing Preservation and Development; Information Technology and Telecommunications; Parks and Recreation; Sanitation; Small Business Services; Social Services; Transportation; Youth and Community Development; City Planning.

The vote was held to pass the bill at a city council stated meeting on June 6. During the meeting, Adams briefly addressed the controversy surrounding the legislation.

“There’s been a lot of public conversation about this legislation and I want to be clear that advice and consent is not a new concept,” said Adams. “Contrary to what some have claimed, this legislation does not usurp the Mayor’s power to appoint commissioners and top city officials. And at no point would the council be able to choose its own nominees to lead agencies.”

She added that the bill is not likely to slow down the appointment process since it has guardrails in place to ensure the council takes action within 30 days if there’s a commissioner vacancy.

However, a handful of council members, like Counilmember Kalman Yeger, noted that the Speaker’s bill was hastily introduced and passed. He said that the Speaker’s bill is “for show” and can be knocked off the ballot by the Mayor’s recently convened charter revision commission. 

“This bill, we talk about being a deliberative body, was introduced 15 days ago. 15 days from introduction to passage. It’s not a secret why we’re seeing this now,” said Yeger. “There’s a lot of talk that it’s not about a personalities conflict between this side of the building and the other but it clearly is and I think we’ve seen that I think we’ve seen how that plays out in public.” 

Mayor Adam’s aimless charter commission has held one sparsely attended public meeting so far. Most critics agree with Yeger that he quickly formed the commission in order to block Speaker Adam’s bill from being on the ballot in November.

The bill isn’t likely to make it to the ballot to be voted on by the general public, said Yeger.

Ariama C. Long is a Report for America corps member and writes about politics for the Amsterdam News. Your donation to match our RFA grant helps keep her writing stories like this one; please consider making a tax-deductible gift of any amount today by visiting https://bit.ly/amnews1.

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* This article was originally published here

NEW YORK (AP) — The Apollo Theater, a bastion of Black music and culture and one of New York City’s most storied venues, celebrates its 90th anniversary this year.

On Tuesday, the historic theater held its annual spring benefit — its largest annual fundraising effort, this year raising $3 million — with a star-studded event featuring Usher, Babyface, Big Daddy Kane, Jordin Sparks and more.

Sparks opened the night with an impressive medley of Stevie Wonder’s “Superstition,” Aretha Franklin’s “Respect,” and Chaka Khan’s “I’m Every Woman.” Then Kym Whitley emerged as a hilarious host, joking about the producer Babyface, who was being honored, arguing that he should now be known as “Grown-man-face, sexy-face, kiss-your-face.”

Later, she’d offer her own transformative story at The Apollo, sharing with the audience that it was on that stage where she first made an appearance as a stand-up comedian on television. “If you can make it at The Apollo,” she said, “You can make it anywhere.”

Speeches were given by a number of Apollo representatives, including President/CEO Michelle Ebanks, chairman of the board Charles Phillips, executive producer Kamilah Forbes as well as New York Gov. Kathy Hochul.

But it was the performances that really got the crowd on their feet. Dancers treated Usher to a choreographed medley of his own songs, from “Yeah!” to “Burn,” “Caught Up” to “Confessions Part II” and beyond.

Usher, who just a few months ago wowed audiences with his own career retrospective while headlining the 2024 Super Bowl halftime show, was presented with the Icon Award.

In his speech, he recalled watching “Showtime at The Apollo” with his late grandmother. “I remember thinking, ‘Man, someday I’m gonna make it to that stage,’ and ‘hopefully one day, I’ll get a standing ovation,’” he said as everyone in the audience stood. “I stand before you humbled by your appreciation.”

“You know, they say if you make it in New York, you can make it anywhere,” he continued, referencing Whitley’s comments from earlier. “Well, if you can make it to The Apollo, you can do anything.”

Fat Joe and Kwanza Jones, formerly winners of The Apollo’s famed Amateur Night, came out and led the crowd in a singalong of Babyface’s 1989 hit, “Soon as I Get Home.” They were tasked with introducing the super-producer, who had been presented the day prior with the inaugural legacy award at The Apollo Theater’s 2024 Walk of Fame ceremony.

“I never imagined I would get this,” Babyface said during Monday’s ceremony. “I never saw myself actually, you know, being here at The Apollo. I didn’t want to perform here because I didn’t want to get booed, but I didn’t get booed,” he laughed. “I’m so glad that I came here for The Apollo.”

On Tuesday, his acceptance speech mostly ditched the jokes to express gratitude. “To be here at The Apollo — what’s so hard for me to find the words, because if I’m honest, I just never saw myself as like being on The Apollo stage. I was always the guy behind the scenes and writing songs for everyone else,” he said. “I am just in awe to be considered as part of this.”

“I’m just going to thank everybody. Normally I stand up here, I’m funnier than this,” he continued, “Usually, I am. But I’m just, I’m really just so taken by this, and I just want to thank you for the bottom of my heart. I appreciate it.”

The night ended with a series of singers coming out on stage to serenade Babyface with some of the most famous songs he produced: Toxi Braxton ‘s “You Mean the World to Me,” Eric Clapton’s “Change the World,” Whitney Houston’s “I’m Your Baby Tonight” and so on.

Standouts included Karyn White doing her own “Superwoman,” Johnny Gill getting everyone out of their seats for his “My, My, My” and of course, Babyface himself closing the night out with “Whip Appeal.” They’re called classics for a reason.

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* This article was originally published here