NYC Mayor Eric Adams, NYC Corporation Counsel Sylvia O. Hinds-Radix, and New York City Department of Consumer and Worker Protection (DCWP) Commissioner Vilda Vera Mayuga today announced an agreement with L’Officiel USA. A media company, to resolve a 2021 lawsuit brought by the city over the company’s failure to pay freelancers on time, fully, or at all, in…
The National Basketball Players Association (NBPA) Foundation launched the inaugural NBPA Foundation Las Vegas Golf Invitational at the iconic Las Vegas Country Club. Current and former NBPA members, including Matt Barnes, Devon Dotson, Marc Eversley, Langston Galloway, Kevin Garnett, Alonzo Mourning, Paul Pierce, Jalen Rose, Reggie Theus, Garrett Temple, Dylan Windler, Mike Woodson, together with Tamika Tremaglio, the…
In the vibrant year of 1971, El Museo del Barrio witnessed a seminal moment as it welcomed its first significant art donation. The exquisite collection known as La estampa puertorriqueña. This carefully curated ensemble of prints, hailing from the San Juan-based Centro de Arte Puertorriqueño (CAP), emerged with a profound purpose: to breathe new life…
LOS ANGELES (AP) — LeBron James will play another season for the Los Angeles Lakers.
The 38-year-old superstar announced his intentions on stage at The ESPYS on Wednesday night after accepting the record-breaking performance award for becoming the NBA’s career scoring leader.
At the end of last season, in which he surpassed Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s mark, James had said he wasn’t sure if he would be back.
“In that moment I’m asking myself if I can still play without cheating the game. Can I give everything to the game still? The truth is I’ve been asking myself this question at the end of the season for a couple years now. I just never openly talked about it,” James said.
“I don’t care how many more points I score or what I can and cannot do on the floor. The real question for me is can I play without cheating this game? The day I can’t give the game everything on the floor is the day I’ll be done. Lucky for you guys that day is not today.”
The crowd at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood let out a huge cheer.
“So yeah, I still got something left,” James said. “A lot left.”
He was presented his trophy by wife Savannah, sons Bronny and Bryce and daughter Zhuri. In her introductory remarks, Savannah said, “I think LeBron James is the baddest …”
She began to say an expletive but cut herself off as Zhuri exclaimed, “Mom!”
James later returned and was joined by Chris Paul and Dwyane Wade to honor Carmelo Anthony, who recently retired after a 19-year career.
Earlier, Chicago White Sox reliever Liam Hendriks told the audience that he pitched much of the 2022 season with non-Hodgkin lymphoma before being diagnosed with an advanced stage of the disease.
He accepted the Jimmy V Award for Perseverance. The 34-year-old Australian was declared cancer-free in late April and returned to the mound a month later.
“That was an eye-opener. I didn’t feel too many symptoms but I had some lumps around. It just shows you the power of the mind. When you don’t think anything’s wrong and you believe that you can do anything, you can do anything,” Hendriks said.
“I was throwing 100 miles per hour while going through Stage 4 lymphoma and then coming back after doing eight rounds of chemotherapy and four rounds of immunotherapy and was able to get out there and throw 96 miles per hour. That isn’t physically who I am. That’s all this, that’s all mental.”
The U.S. women’s soccer team was honored with the Arthur Ashe Award for Courage for its fight to receive equal pay. The players sued U.S. Soccer in 2019 and last year reached agreement on a deal that splits men’s and women’s pay equally.
Briana Scurry, goalkeeper for the national team from 1994-2008, saluted the 1985 team.
“They are the foundation of this entire community of giants,” she said.
The Buffalo Bills training staff received the Pat Tillman Award for Service, honored for saving the life of safety Damar Hamlin, who went into cardiac arrest at a game in Cincinnati in January.
The staff was greeted by a standing ovation. They huddled around Hamlin on stage, hugging him and patting his back. With his back to the audience, Hamlin bent his head and appeared to break down. He has since recovered and plans to play this fall.
“Damar, first and foremost, thank you for staying alive, brother,” said Nate Breske, head trainer for the Bills.
“We’re not used to having the spotlight on us. We were just doing our job, but the idea of service is definitely something that is engrained in our profession and that we take great pride in,” he told the audience.
Breske urged support for funding for automated external defibrillators and CPR training, especially in underserved communities, as well as for athletic trainers in youth sports.
“Learn CPR and how to use an AED because they save lives,” he said.
Patrick Mahomes was honored as best men’s sports athlete, while skier Mikaela Shiffrin received the women’s sports honor.
The Kansas City Chiefs quarterback has won two Super Bowls in his five seasons and was named MVP of the game each time, including this past February. He turns 28 in September.
“It was an incredible season. There was many ups, many downs,” Mahomes said. “I appreciate my teammates, my coaches, the guys that are here. I go back to camp next Tuesday, so this is a great award. But we’re going to do this thing again, we’re going to keep this thing rolling.”
Shiffrin won her 87th World Cup race in March, breaking the mark set by Ingemar Stenmark for the most such wins by any skier. She went on to win an 88th Cup race, as well as the overall season title.
“This season was absolutely incredible and there was a lot of talk about records and it got me thinking, why is a record actually important?” Shiffrin said. “I just feel like it’s not important to break records or re-set records. It’s important to set the tone for the next generation, to inspire them.”
Sports talk host Pat McAfee handled the opening monologue in his first major public appearance since joining ESPN in May.
The show didn’t have its usual celebrity host as a result of the Hollywood writers strike. McAfee offered a series of hints that comedian Kevin Hart had been set for the gig but that Hart instead chose to support the Writers Guild of America.
An ESPN spokeswoman said a production team worked with presenters on their introductory remarks. The usual pre-taped comedy sketches were absent.
After years of working in global tech companies, as a software engineer, and forming his own companies, Alani Kuye created Relotis, Inc., a tech start-up for retailers and sellers.
Kuye, the founder and CEO of Relotis, said there has been a shift in technology from a decision-making system to a decision-support system, meaning the technology can either make sometimes flawed decisions for people, or people can use technology to leverage their choices.
He said the adaptation of technology has strengthened human decision-making skills by basing new ideas on accurate data. Along with others, Kuye said this idea is the aim of his company’s use of artificial intelligence.
Relotis is a technology company designed to use artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) to track user data for companies, and apply that data to promotional tools and other applications to help their businesses grow.
Kuye said Relotis is not a retailer but an optimization tool for vendors and other sellers that can limit the cost of social media marketing strategies that may not always represent an increase in sales, which he said would be “vanity metrics.”
“Many companies spend too much on social media marketing,” he said. “[These companies] go spend $2 or $3 million on Facebook, Instagram, and other platforms and I always ask them: ‘Your campaign got you 100,000 likes and 10,000 followers. Did you gain 10,000 new customers?’ The answer is always ‘No.’”
On the consumer side, Relotis works with retailers, resellers, manufacturers, and similar distributors to have its QR code printed on the retailers’ packaging for customers to scan. Relotis then draws a profit from this scan and directs the consumer to promotional tools from their chosen retailer.
On the supply side, Relotis acquires internal information from the company and then uses its AI technology to analyze the data and depict it simply through Large Language Processing models (LLMs). These models understand and generate text similar to human speech.
Similar to ChatGPT, another LLM that uses natural language processing models, Relotis uses this technology to display data that is easy for companies to understand and track, to then modify their plans based on the data presented.
But many people cite the issues with ChatGPT as its misinformation and outdated information. Even with its recent update in March, the system lacks information after September 2021.
The software may also produce misinformation because it uses open-source data. This means the system scrapes information from millions of sites and compiles this data, which can sometimes lead to inaccuracies.
Kuye explained that his company differs since it only relies on user data that the company already records. He said, therefore, the AI and ML model used with Relotis can accurately depict data.
The misinterpretation of data is often cited in the example of the motion-detected soap dispenser. Several videos online depict a hand-operated soap dispenser not recognizing Black hands, while dispensing soap to white hands. This citation often leads to a conversation about a greater need for diversity in technology and its testing departments, since humans are becoming increasingly reliant on technology and possibly AI and ML models as these increase in popularity.
Kuye said his company also seeks a $12 million investment to expand its marketing strategies, product development, and staff. He also said he is excited about growing his company further and especially to work in the healthcare field.
Kuye said he wants his model to offer financial advice or incentives through AI and ML to help reduce costs for people in need. He provided an example of people having to choose between paying medical bills and rent, among other fiscal difficulties.
“Someone who lives in Westchester, N.Y., or the right side of Greenwich, Connecticut, probably doesn’t care if they can afford a $5,000 a month (expense),” Kuye said. “But that’s the 1 percent. Most people care when those medical bills come, especially [those who are] disadvantaged. If you start to look at the biases in AI itself—that’s how we can solve it: by having it look at the right data.”
After years of working in global tech companies, as a software engineer, and forming his own companies, Alani Kuye created Relotis, Inc., a tech start-up for retailers and sellers.
Kuye, the founder and CEO of Relotis, said there has been a shift in technology from a decision-making system to a decision-support system, meaning the technology can either make sometimes flawed decisions for people, or people can use technology to leverage their choices.
He said the adaptation of technology has strengthened human decision-making skills by basing new ideas on accurate data. Along with others, Kuye said this idea is the aim of his company’s use of artificial intelligence.
Relotis is a technology company designed to use artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) to track user data for companies, and apply that data to promotional tools and other applications to help their businesses grow.
Kuye said Relotis is not a retailer but an optimization tool for vendors and other sellers that can limit the cost of social media marketing strategies that may not always represent an increase in sales, which he said would be “vanity metrics.”
“Many companies spend too much on social media marketing,” he said. “[These companies] go spend $2 or $3 million on Facebook, Instagram, and other platforms and I always ask them: ‘Your campaign got you 100,000 likes and 10,000 followers. Did you gain 10,000 new customers?’ The answer is always ‘No.’”
On the consumer side, Relotis works with retailers, resellers, manufacturers, and similar distributors to have its QR code printed on the retailers’ packaging for customers to scan. Relotis then draws a profit from this scan and directs the consumer to promotional tools from their chosen retailer.
On the supply side, Relotis acquires internal information from the company and then uses its AI technology to analyze the data and depict it simply through Large Language Processing models (LLMs). These models understand and generate text similar to human speech.
Similar to ChatGPT, another LLM that uses natural language processing models, Relotis uses this technology to display data that is easy for companies to understand and track, to then modify their plans based on the data presented.
But many people cite the issues with ChatGPT as its misinformation and outdated information. Even with its recent update in March, the system lacks information after September 2021.
The software may also produce misinformation because it uses open-source data. This means the system scrapes information from millions of sites and compiles this data, which can sometimes lead to inaccuracies.
Kuye explained that his company differs since it only relies on user data that the company already records. He said, therefore, the AI and ML model used with Relotis can accurately depict data.
The misinterpretation of data is often cited in the example of the motion-detected soap dispenser. Several videos online depict a hand-operated soap dispenser not recognizing Black hands, while dispensing soap to white hands. This citation often leads to a conversation about a greater need for diversity in technology and its testing departments, since humans are becoming increasingly reliant on technology and possibly AI and ML models as these increase in popularity.
Kuye said his company also seeks a $12 million investment to expand its marketing strategies, product development, and staff. He also said he is excited about growing his company further and especially to work in the healthcare field.
Kuye said he wants his model to offer financial advice or incentives through AI and ML to help reduce costs for people in need. He provided an example of people having to choose between paying medical bills and rent, among other fiscal difficulties.
“Someone who lives in Westchester, N.Y., or the right side of Greenwich, Connecticut, probably doesn’t care if they can afford a $5,000 a month (expense),” Kuye said. “But that’s the 1 percent. Most people care when those medical bills come, especially [those who are] disadvantaged. If you start to look at the biases in AI itself—that’s how we can solve it: by having it look at the right data.”
Establishing a New York State Community Commission on Reparations Remedies as actually becoming law is still in a waiting mode.
Passed in the state assembly as bill number A07691, the legislation awaits Gov. Kathy Hochul’s signature.
This was a polemical bill, authored by State Assemblymember Michaelle C. Solages, who chairs the assembly’s Black, Puerto Rican, Hispanic, & Asian Legislative Caucus. The bill was not universally accepted, even by caucus members, until it was rewritten to specifically identify the community to receive reparations.
Assemblymember Nikki Lucas told the Amsterdam News that she was not initially willing to support Solages’s bill.
In an impassioned speech before the bill’s final vote, Lucas had declared: “It is essential to advocate for lineage-based reparations to ensure justice and equity for American Freedmen who are direct descendants of enslaved individuals in the United States. Reparations should be targeted toward those who directly experienced harm and their descendants due to slavery and its enduring effects.”
Lucas felt Solages’s bill was not specific enough about specifying that the Community Commission would study ways to endorse reparations for the descendants of people who suffered chattel slavery and later Jim Crow discrimination in the United States.
Solages’s bill had to make clear that this was not going to be a reparations commission that would factor in the concerns of all Americans of African descent, Lucas said.
Lucas had drawn up a separate bill to create a New York State American Freedmen Equity Task Force on Reparations Remedies. Her bill was designed to “[examine] all aspects of slavery, subsequent de jure and de facto racial, social, and economic discrimination against American [F]reedmen and the impact of these forces on living American [F]reedmen.”
“This is more lineage-based, not race-based,” Lucas explained. “I wanted to make sure that it aligned with constitutional principles of equal treatment. Without having a lineage-based community of eligibility, other groups like Jewish and Chinese and Middle Eastern groups would be able to participate in reparations.”
Assemblymembers Ari Brown (R-Cedarhurst), who is Jewish, and Lester Chang (R-Brooklyn), who is of Chinese descent, had each pointed out on the assembly floor that their communities could also participate in reparations. Brown reportedly noted that he has family members “of African descent” and Chang spoke about how Chinese Americans were forced into indentured servitude in the mid-19th century.
“And that was exactly my point,” Lucas said. “That was my exact thing: I referenced Elon Musk.” The tech billionaire was born in South Africa. “Without defining what African descent was and without defining a specificity, these are the things that you’re risking when putting together a very broad-scope bill like this.
“It would have watered down the purpose of a bill like this, which is intended to repair damage. I believe that, for me, after my speech and after clearly explaining things during the session, those backroom discussions of why it should be so broad…came to a head on the floor, with people recognizing. A lot of my colleagues were talking about their personal experiences with their great-grandmother or their grandmother and wanting to repair some of the wrongs. Once the sponsor herself acknowledged and responded on the assembly floor that the Commission would in fact conduct a study that included lineage-based reparations, I felt like I was able to change my vote.”
Lucas represents the Brooklyn neighborhoods of East New York, Starrett City, Brownsville, and Canarsie. She talked about how New York state once played a major role in facilitating the enslavement of African people. New York City-based companies like New York Life Insurance Company, Aetna, JPMorgan Chase, Domino Sugar, United States Life Insurance Company of New York, Citibank, Brown Brothers Harriman, and Columbia University were each financially buttressed by revenue from the labor of enslaved Black people. Even after the official end of the trans-Atlantic slave trade in 1808, New York City remained a hub of illegal slave trading until the 1860s.
“These are the reasons why it was important that New York State be one of the leads in having a reparations bill,” Lucas added.
“I wish that the language was much tighter,” she said. “I wish that there was more specificity within the bill. But we’re here and these are the cards we’re dealt. Once the acknowledgment of the intention of the author of this bill was actually displayed on the assembly floor, I was slightly satisfied that we would at least have the beginning of a repairing of those who have been enslaved on American soil.”
The New York Liberty faced the Indiana Fever on the road Wednesday in a rare weekday 12 p.m. tip-off for their last game before the WNBA All-Star break. They went into the game at 13-4, holding the second best record in the league, trailing only the 17-2 Las Vegas Aces.
The Liberty suffered a 98-81 defeat to the Aces in Las Vegas on June 29, the first matchup between the teams this season, but then won three straight before yesterday’s meeting with the Fever. One of those wins came against the Seattle Storm this past Saturday.
New York finished with 29 assists on 33 field goals against Breanna Stewart’s former team in a 80-76 win at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn. The 6-4 forward, in her first season with the Liberty, has been sensational. The 28-year-old former UConn star was averaging 24.3 points and 9.8 rebounds per game before taking on the Fever and was a leading candidate for the WNBA’s MVP award. She was the league MVP in 2018 and a two-time Finals MVP with the Storm’s 2018 and 2020 championship teams.
Stewart finished with 25 and guard Sabrina Ionescu added 20 for the Liberty. They are two of the Liberty’s All-Stars for Saturday’s game in Las Vegas. Stewart was named a starter and captain along with the Aces A’ja Wilson. Ionescu and her backcourt partner Courtney Vandersloot will also represent the Liberty.
Jewell Loyd, the WNBA’s leading scorer as of Tuesday at 23.9 points per games, and the Storm have struggled in their first season after Sue Bird’s retirement and Stewart’s departure in free-agency. They were just 4-14 entering their game versus the Washington Mystics on the road on Tuesday.
It has been announced that Ionescu will be the next featured cover athlete for the popular video game NBA2K.
The Liberty hosted its second annual Sneakerhead Game on Saturday at the Barclays. Fans were treated to a complimentary Jason Markk sneaker-cleaning station, presented by American Express. The first 2,000 fans received exclusive pairs of New York Liberty socks.
In the spirit of community, NY Liberty also partnered with Soles4Souls, a nonprofit dedicated to turning unwanted clothing and shoes into opportunities. Fans can bring new and used sneakers in good condition to Barclays on game day and drop them in a Soles4Souls donation box that will be available on the arena concourse. In exchange, donors will receive two complimentary tickets when the New York Liberty face off with the Fever at home on Sunday, July 23.
The Brooklyn Nets will play their fourth of their five NBA2K23 Summer League games in Las Vegas Thursday at 5 p.m. on ESPN2 when they face the Toronto Raptors. The Nets are 2-1 going into the contest after defeating the Milwaukee Bucks 92-71 on Tuesday.
Brooklyn opened summer league play with a 101-97 loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers last Friday. Jalen Wilson, a 6-8 forward from the University of Kansas and the 51st overall pick in the second round by the Nets in last month’s draft, led the team with 17 points, adding five rebounds and two blocks. Wilson signed a two-way contract with the organization last week. Armoni Brooks, who last played in the NBA during the 2021-2022 season for the Houston Rockets and Toronto Raptors, also scored 17 points while grabbing six rebounds.
18-year-old first-round pick Noah Clowney (No. 21 overall) struggled in the opener, scoring four points on 1 of 9 shooting from the field, missing six of seven three-point attempts. The 6-10 forward/center from the University of Alabama had seven rebounds.
In the second contest against the Knicks, Brooklyn came away with a 98-80 victory. Armoni Brooks led the team with 21 points, while David Duke Jr. chipped in with 19 points and four assists. Wilson, who won the 2022 NCAA championship with Kansas, finished with 18 points and eight rebounds. Clowney added eight points, seven rebounds and two blocks.
While Clowney hasn’t shot the ball well in two Summer League games thus far, with a combined 5-18 through three games, he has shown the athleticism, mobility, and force to be a plus rim protector, rebounder and floor runner that translates well to the NBA. With only one year of playing college basketball and weighing around a slim 210 pounds, he has much room for physical growth and skill development.
The Nets’ other first-round pick, Dariq Whitehead, an 18-year-old 6-7 forward from Duke, is sitting out the summer league. The Newark, New Jersey native is recovering from foot surgery performed in New York last month.
Brooklyn announced they re-signed Cam Johnson, who came to the team from the Suns in the Kevin Durant trade. The deal is reportedly four years and close to $95 million.
Brooklyn also signed Whitehead, former Knicks point guard Dennis Smith Jr, who was a lottery pick by the Dallas Mavericks in 2017, and shooting guard Lonnie Walker IV, the 18th pick in 2018 who spent last season with the Los Angeles Lakers.
The Knicks’ NBA2K24 Summer League team is devoid of a 2023 first round pick. That’s because the Knicks didn’t have any picks in last month’s NBA Draft. So most of the focus in discerning which players have the potential to be part of the team’s future rotation has been on second-year guard Trevor Keels and undrafted free-agent Jaylen Martin. Both are on two-way contracts.
After being one of the highest rated high school basketball players in the class of 2021 out of Paul VI Catholic in Chantilly, Virgina, Keels spent one year at Duke before being taken by the Knicks in the second round (No. 42) in last year’s draft. The stout, 6-foot-4, 19-year-old shooting guard from Clinton, Maryland, split time this past season with the NBA squad and their G League affiliate, the Westchester Knicks.
Martin’s path next season will also be in the NBA and G League. The 19-year-old from Florida was coached in high school at the Florida State University School in Tallahassee by former Knicks player Charlie Ward before transitioning to the Overtime Elite (OTE) program. While playing for the YNG Dreamerz, he faced Amen and Asur Thompson—who were drafted No. 3 (Houston Rockets) and No. 4 (Detroit Pistons), respectively, last month, in this year’s OTE championship. The Dreamerz lost 3-0 to the twins’ City Reapers.
Heading into the third of their five summer league games last night (Wednesday) against the Orlando Magic, Keels has so far not stood out in the Knicks’ two summer league games this weekend against the Philadelphia 76ers and the Brooklyn Nets. In the Knicks’ 110-101 loss to the 76ers, Keels was 1-6 for two points in 14 minutes playing in the starting lineup. He was 3-7, including 2-6 on 3-point attempts, for eight points in 19 minutes versus the Nets in a 98-80 Knicks defeat.
The 6-foot-6 Martin showed more upside, scoring 12 points in 26 minutes versus the Sixers coming off of the bench, and then 15 points, logging a team-high 34 minutes as a starter facing the Nets. Although Martin shot poorly, missing eight out of 11 3-pointers and going 5-14 overall, he said he found his footing as the contest progressed.
“I feel like as the game went on, I loosened up and was able to play my game,” he said. Knicks summer league head coach Dice Yoshimoto said there will be inherent highs and lows for young players as they navigate a learning curve.
“He did some good things and things he needs to work on,” Yoshimoto said, referring to Martin. “Anybody coming into this league…has to learn how to be a pro. Since the draft he’s done that. He’s been in the gym all day. He’s a gym rat.”
The Knicks play the Boston Celtics tomorrow (7 p.m. ESPN2) and will finish their schedule against a yet to be determined opponent, date, and time.
Knicks forward Josh Hart, who opted into the final year of his contract at $12.9 million at the start of this year’s free-agency period, which began at the end of June, will represent Team USA at the FIBA World Cup, which will take place from August 25 to September 10 in the Philippines, Japan, and Indonesia.
The Team USA roster also includes Hart’s Knicks teammate Jalen Brunson, the Nets’ Mikal Bridges, 2023 NBA Rookie of the Year Paolo Banchero, and NBA All-Stars Tyrese Haliburton, Jaren Jackson Jr., and Anthony Edwards.
During a visit last month to the Bronx’s Universal Hip-Hop Museum (610 Exterior Street), its co-curator, Prime Minister Pete Nice (from 3rd Base), guided DMC, half of the legendary Run DMC duo, through a mini-tour. Chief curator Paradise Gray also shared some valuable history as the three legendary artists traveled through time while detailing some of the vintage memorabilia on display. The full gallery is scheduled to open across the street next year.
At one point, they came across a pair of “like new” vintage red, black, and white Adidas-sponsored Run DMC sneakers in a glass case.
“Where’d you find them?” DMC asked. “Me and Dise got ’em off eBay,” Nice answered. ”Some guy in Japan had them.” Nice showed DMC a late-1980s Video Music Box event flier that “you and (DJ Jam Master) Jay signed to Paradise.” An astonished DMC glanced and reacted with “Yep. Wow.”
They went to another section where there was a flier of Run DMC performing at the legendary Disco Fever night club up in the Bronx. “A lot of people don’t know that Jay missed that,” Nice said. “Yep, cuz he went to the avenue to get fly,” DMC agreed. “How crazy is that?”
Next, they viewed some more classic memorabilia by several other “Golden Era” artists, such as Joe Ski Love, Salt & Pepa, and Rakim, among others.
Thanks to the museum, “people have the wherewithal to save stuff,” DMC surmised.
