Petition earns 260,000 signatures to change Trump Tower address to Barack H. Obama Ave.

A petition to change Fifth Ave. in front of Trump Tower to Barack H. Obama Ave. has picked up 260,000 signatures and could end up renamed once the Donald leaves the Oval office.

—Jay-Z defends NFL deal with Roc Nation, talks Kaepernick—

By Thursday, the MoveOn petition earned 260,881 signatures and was making waves across the internet with dozens of people signing on in hopes that the request would be taken up by NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio, The NY Daily News reports.

“We request the stretch of Fifth Avenue between 56th and 57th Streets be renamed ‘President Barack H. Obama Avenue.’ Any addresses on that stretch of Fifth Avenue should be changed accordingly,” the online petition reads.

Once Trump leaves office (hopefully in 2020), it’s likely he’ll return to his beloved penthouse in the 58-floor skyscraper. Can you imagine the poetic justice of him having to repeat Obama’s name over as his address?

The petition also states as reason for the change that former President Obama had been honored in Los Angeles in May when a highway was renamed and it gives Obama praise for “saving our nation from the Great Recession; serving two completely scandal-free terms in office; taking out Osama bin Laden, the mastermind behind September 11th, which killed over 3,000 New Yorkers.”

Elizabeth Rowan, the creator of the petition said while the city normally doesn’t name streets after people who are alive, she thinks it’s doable to push for a change in policy.

“I am sure the conditions can be changed,” she told Newsweek Monday.

—Cardi B releases clip of sit-down with Bernie Sanders to talk raising minimum wages—

De Blasio doesn’t care for Trump either and told Buzzfeed in late July:

“He doesn’t understand New York City. And when his presidency is over, really soon, he will not be welcome back in New York City.”

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Truckers Gain More Freedom, Thanks to Tech’s Watchful Eye

Proposed federal rules would give truckers more leeway in taking breaks—because regulators already know when drivers are driving and not driving.

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Lizzo’s 2-year-old song ‘Truth Hurts’ might still qualify at 2020 Grammys

Lizzo’s breakthrough hit “Truth Hurts” is a two-year-old song, but it still has a chance at the 2020 Grammy Awards.

Typically older songs that become hits long after their initial release — from Pharrell’s “Happy” to John Legend’s “All of Me” — can compete at the Grammys when a live version of the song, released during the current Grammys eligibility period, is submitted.

But “Truth Hurts,” which was released as a stand-alone single in 2017, qualifies for the 2020 Grammys because the song was never submitted for contention in the Grammys process and it appears on an album released during the eligibility period for the upcoming show. Songs and albums released from Oct. 1, 2018 through Aug. 31, 2019 qualify for next year’s awards, and “Truth Hurts” appears on the deluxe edition of her album “Cuz I Love You,” released this year.

So far, the platinum-selling “Truth Hurts” has peaked at No. 4 on the all-genre Billboard Hot 100 chart. It has reached at No. 2 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop songs and Hot rap songs charts, respectively.

Normally if an artist submitted an older song — that appeared on an older album — it would not be allowed into the Grammys’ process. But “Truth Hurts” has the go-ahead and its fate will be decided when the Recording Academy and a group of music industry players meet in September at an annual gathering to choose what makes it on the ballot, what genres certain songs belong to, who really qualifies for best new artist and more.
A representative for the Grammys didn’t reply to an email seeking comment.

It’s part of a streak of good luck for Lizzo, who has dominated the music scene this year, appeared on dozens of magazine covers and earned praise for promoting body positivity and denouncing fat shaming. Though 2019 has served as her breakthrough, she released her debut album, “Lizzobangers,” in 2013. Her team has had that album and its follow-up, 2015’s “Big Grrrl Small World,” removed from streaming services because Lizzo wanted her musical journey to begin with 2016’s “Coconut Oil,” her debut EP on Atlantic Records.

In the past, acts have won Grammys with live versions of their songs because their songs have become hits long after its release. Pharrell’s Oscar-nominated anthem “Happy,” which appeared on the “Despicable Me 2” soundtrack and was released in mid-2013, eventually topped the charts in 2014. At the 2015 Grammys, a live version of the song competed for in the best pop solo performance category, and won the honor.

That same year John Legend’s “All of Me,” which also hit the No. 1 spot on the Billboard Hot 100 chart long after its release, competed in the same category with a live version of the tune. “All of Me” appeared on Legend’s 2013 album, “Love In the Future.”

At the 2012 Grammys, Adele won album of the year with “21” as well as record and song of the year with “Rolling In the Deep.” The following year she submitted a live version of “Set Fire to the Rain” — the third No. 1 single from “21” — and won best pop solo performance.

Beyoncé nabbed best female pop vocal performance at the 2010 Grammys with “Halo”; the following year a live version of the pop ballad competed in the same category.

Train’s megahit “Hey, Soul Sister” was featured on their 2009 album “Save Me, San Francisco,” but the song took off in 2010. It won the band their first-ever Grammy when a live version of the song was awarded best pop performance by a duo or group with vocals at the 2011 Grammys.

Because Lizzo’s “Truth Hurts” had not appeared on an album that qualified for previous Grammy eligibility, it could still compete at the 2020 show though it has been widely available for two years. Because Train, Pharrell, Legend and Adele’s songs were featured on albums that qualified for previous Grammy inclusion, their songs were disqualified unless a live version was submitted.

At the 2020 Grammys, Panic! at the Disco — whose song “High Hopes” set a new record as the longest-running No. 1 song on Billboard’s Hot rock songs chart this year — are likely submitting a live version of the track since the song and the album it appears on, “Pray for the Wicked,” qualified for the 2019 Grammys. “High Hopes” peaked at No. 4 on the all-genre Hot 100 chart.

It wasn’t clear if Drake’s new compilation album of previously released songs — featuring tracks like 2013’s “Girls Love Beyoncé” and 2010’s “I Get Lonely” — would qualify at the Grammys. The album, titled “Care Package,” debuted at No. 1 on Billboard’s 200 albums chart this week.

Representatives for Drake and Panic! at the Disco didn’t immediately reply to emails seeking comment.

Though Lizzo released the singles “Juice” and “Tempo” from her latest album, “Truth Hurts” has become her most successful song. The track got a major boost after it was featured in the Netflix film “Someone Great,” released on April 19, the same day Lizzo dropped her album, “Cuz I Love You.” ”Truth Hurts” wasn’t originally featured on the 11-track “Cuz I Love You,” but her record label released a deluxe version of the album — featuring three more songs including “Truth Hurts” — on May 3. “Truth Hurts” marked Lizzo’s first entry on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.

Nominees for the Grammy Awards will be announced on Nov. 20 and the show will air live from the Staples Center in Los Angeles on Jan. 26, 2020 on CBS.

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Halle Berry shares NSFW birthday pic

Jets’ Le’Veon Bell wants to be No. 1 on field, in rap game

Le’Veon Bell was in fifth grade when he simply couldn’t shake music from his mind.

The creative beats. The grooving basslines. The raw lyrics.

He was hooked on it all, just like football.

“That’s when I really realized I loved music,” the star running back recalled in an interview with The Associated Press at the New York Jets’ facility. “I remember 50 Cent, he had dropped the album ‘Get Rich or Die Tryin’, and I saved up my own money to go to Walmart and I bought the CD. I listened to the CD and I just remember thinking, ‘Man, 50 Cent is so cool. I want to be like 50 Cent,’ you know?”

Well, plenty of youngsters want to be like the 27-year-old Bell, who has been one of the NFL’s most exciting and dynamic players throughout his career. His focus is squarely set on winning and returning his name to the conversation about the best running backs in the game after sitting out all last season in a contract dispute with the Pittsburgh Steelers.
But he has similar lofty goals for his burgeoning rap career.

“For real, I want to be No. 1,” Bell said. “I want to hit the No. 1 song, the No. 1 Billboard (song), that’s what I want to do. I want to eventually get better and get to those music shows, making songs with the great ones and things like that.”

Bell and his middle school buddies would spend lunch breaks tapping their pencils against cafeteria tables, creating makeshift beats. They’d go back and forth, freestyling lyrics. No topics were off limits: school, home, friends, sports, girls — whatever came to mind.

By the time Bell got to Groveport High School in Ohio, he noticed he was a little better than everyone else, and not just on the football field.

“I was around guys that said they could rap, too,” Bell said. “When people would just throw a beat on and they’d try to freestyle at the top of their head, and I could just do it for like five minutes straight without messing up, and staying on beat and other people couldn’t do it, I’m thinking like, ‘Oh, I’m better than you at freestyling.'”

Bell recorded his first song when he was 15, kept at it during college at Michigan State and got to know his way around a music studio the same way he deftly navigated opposing defenses. During his second season in Pittsburgh in 2014, he dropped his first music project.

“There’s been no looking back since,” Bell said. “I’ve been showing everybody I’ve been able to do it, I’ve been proud of it. I’ve been striving for it and I want to be the best at it. Just kind of how I take football, because I love it.”

Bell has faced some backlash over the years from people who simply don’t like his music or think it’s an unnecessary distraction from football. That criticism ramped up last year, when he sat out the entire season with the Steelers in a contract dispute. He signed a four-year, $52.5 million contract with the Jets in March. When he makes his debut for New York, it’ll be the first time he plays in a game in more than 19 months.

“Everybody has their own opinion and that’s why I don’t really take offense to it,” Bell said. “I just try to do what I can to feed the fans that do like it. I just try to keep giving them what they like, so they’re going to spread the word and maybe they find somebody else who likes it, and that’s why the fan base keeps growing.

“You’ve got to deal with trolls and things like that, but I accept that. I just continue to do what I do, what makes me happy, because I know that at the end of the day, people are behind me.”

Snoop Dogg is one of them — “We’ve got a song together, but I don’t know when I’ll drop it” — and the late Mac Miller was one of Bell’s closest friends. Miller, who died last year, encouraged Bell to keep working and artists and producers will want to create music with him.

“Just because I made a name for myself in football,” Bell said, “doesn’t mean I’ve made my name in the music game yet.”

Speaking of which, Bell went by the stage name “Juice” on his first several projects, but recently decided to drop it and go by his given name.

“It was an alter ego at first,” he said. “It’s not an alter ego anymore. It’s just who I am. That’s what I’m doing. Yes, I play football, and I do music. This is Le’Veon Bell. … This is me: football player, rapper, entertainer, however you want to look at it.”

Bell released an action-packed, cinematic-style video for his new single, “Slide,” on Tuesday night. Directed by Christian Breslauer, it features the running back in military gear slowly dropping upside-down from a ceiling before a “Call of Duty”-style gun battle.
He plans to release an EP later this month before the regular season begins, and has a catalog of nearly 500 recorded songs that are mixed and edited. It’s the result of spending entire weekends holed up in his Florida studio with his engineer during the offseason. He has another 200 or so songs that just need a little work.

Bell is deliberate with his music, just as he is with his running style. He’ll record a song and then wait several weeks before deciding if he truly likes it.

He also never writes out any of his lyrics. He’ll take a beat into the studio and spit lyrics on the spot.

“That’s how you make the best music, when it’s literally raw emotion,” said Bell, who ranks Drake as his No. 1 artist.

He’s focused on fine-tuning his vocals and experimenting with different styles. He was more melodic in his first few projects, but is a bit more hardcore lately.

“People kind of like this, what I’m doing, so I’m going to ride this wave until they want something else,” Bell said. “I think that’s what an artist’s supposed to do, you know?”
With the season about to kick off, football comes first now. But music will always provide the soundtrack on auto-play in his mind.

“I love music, man,” Bell said with a big smile. “I love making music and I’m going to continue making music.”

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Are Country Music Awards voters shunning ‘Old Town Road’ nominations?

Though Lil Nas X has broken chart records and become a streaming juggernaut with his breakout country rap hit “Old Town Road” with Billy Ray Cyrus, the song faces an uphill challenge to get a nomination for a CMA award.

Ballots have gone out for nominations for the Country Music Association Awards, but some voters are struggling to decide how to recognize the musical phenomenon of the year, which has become the longest running No. 1 song in the history of Billboard’s Hot 100.

Billboard decided “Old Town Road” wasn’t a country song and pulled it off country charts early on, but the song made enough of an impact anyway that it became eligible for a number of CMA categories this year, including single of the year and song of the year. CMA voters, which include musicians, producers, songwriters, touring professionals, country radio employees and others, vote in three ballots with the final nominations typically being announced in late August or early September. The award show will air Nov. 13.

But there are already signs that the song isn’t getting wide support. It failed to get enough votes in the major song categories. The song only earned enough votes to be considered in the musical event category on the second ballot, which went out to voters Monday.

Shane McAnally, one of country’s biggest hit-makers who has written for Sam Hunt, Kacey Musgraves, Kenny Chesney and more, said he’s been impressed with the way the song has resonated with fans, but it never felt country to him.

“I just think country people do not see that as a country song,” said McAnally, who is co-president of Monument Records and one of three producers on NBC’s song competition series, “Songland.” ”Pop listeners think it’s a country song.”

The song’s genreless approach by mixing trap beats with a Nine Inch Nails sample and Western-themed lyrics appealed to millennials on TikTok but took Nashville’s music industry by surprise. While pop, rap and rock artists have gotten CMA nominations before, it’s a lot harder to earn a nomination without broad support among Nashville’s labels and country radio.

Nelly was nominated for musical event in 2013 with Florida Georgia Line for “Cruise,” but that was a country song with a rapper added to the remix. Nelly’s earlier collaboration with Tim McGraw on “Over and Over” in 2004, which was primarily promoted as a rap song, did not earn any nominations from the CMAs.

“I will be shocked if it makes the final ballot,” McAnally said of “Old Town Road.”
Still McAnally pointed out that non-country acts can still surprise at the CMA Awards, such as when John Denver, largely considered a pop-folk artist, won entertainer of the year in 1975, prompting Charlie Rich to set fire to the card with Denver’s name during the broadcast.

David Macias, president of Nashville-based entertainment company Thirty Tigers, which works with Americana artists like Jason Isbell and John Prine, said Billboard’s decision to not classify the song as country probably just reinforced CMA voters who weren’t inclined to vote for it anyway.

“I haven’t really decided what I am going to do where that’s concerned,” Macias said. “There’s no doubt it’s the musical cultural phenomenon of the year. I am on the fence on whether or not it sits in there. It deserves some recognition, and frankly no matter what happens on the voting part, it will be interesting to see what the CMA does.”

Hunter Kelly, a veteran country music journalist, was surprised that the song didn’t get enough early votes for single of the year, but he said its qualifications for the musical event category seemed undeniable.

“If you talk about a musical event, it’s still 19 weeks at No. 1,” Kelly said. “It’s the all-time No. 1 on the Hot 100, so as a musical event, it totally deserves a nomination.”

During the voting period, labels or management agencies often engage in lobbying efforts that include advertisements in music industry publications. Representatives for Lil Nas X’s label, Columbia Records, did not respond to the AP for comment about the CMA voting.
Kelly said that since “Old Town Road” didn’t originate in Nashville and Lil Nas X is not signed to a Nashville label, there’s fewer voters emotionally or financially invested in seeing it nominated.

At the very least, “Old Town Road” has proved that lightning can strike twice in the same place with the re-introduction of Billy Ray Cyrus to a new generation, McAnally said. The mullet-wearing Cyrus was last nominated for a CMA in 1992 when he won single of the year for his own ubiquitous, danceable hit “Achy Breaky Heart.”
“That’s pretty crazy,” McAnally mused. “He wasn’t going away. You can’t discount that.”

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Philadelphia gunman in custody after hourslong standoff

A gunman who opened fire on police Wednesday as they were serving a drug warrant in Philadelphia, wounding six officers and triggering a standoff that extended into the night, is in police custody, authorities said.

Philadelphia police Sgt. Eric Gripp said early Thursday morning that the man was taken into custody after an hourslong standoff with police.

The shooting began around 4:30 p.m. as officers went to a home in a north Philadelphia neighborhood of brick and stone rowhomes to serve a narcotics warrant in an operation “that went awry almost immediately,” Philadelphia Police Commissioner Richard Ross said.
Many officers “had to escape through windows and doors to get (away) from a barrage of bullets,” Ross said.

The six officers who were struck by gunfire have been released from hospitals, Gripp said.
Two other officers were trapped inside the house for about five hours after the shooting broke out but were freed by a SWAT team well after darkness fell on the residential neighborhood. Three people who officers had taken into custody in the house before the shooting started were also safely evacuated, police said.

“It’s nothing short of a miracle that we don’t have multiple officers killed today,” Ross said.
Police implored the gunman to surrender, at one point patching in his lawyer on the phone with him to try to persuade him to give up, Ross said.

“We’re doing everything within our power to get him to come out,” Ross said during the standoff. “He has the highest assurance he’s not going to be harmed when he comes out.”
Temple University locked down part of its campus, and several children and staff were trapped for some time in a nearby day care.

Police tried to push crowds of onlookers and residents back from the scene. In police radio broadcasts, officers could be heard calling for backup as reports of officers getting shot poured in.

“I was just coming off the train and I was walking upstairs and there were people running back downstairs who said that there was someone up there shooting cops,” said Abdul Rahman Muhammad, 21, an off-duty medic. “There was just a lot of screaming and chaos.”
Dozens of officers on foot lined the streets. Others were in cars and some on horses.

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives said its agents responded to the scene to assist Philadelphia police.

President Donald Trump and Attorney General William Barr were briefed on the shooting, officials said.

Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney said he was thankful that officers’ injuries weren’t life-threatening.

“I’m a little angry about someone having all that weaponry and all that firepower, but we’ll get to that another day,” Kenney said.

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Jay-Z defends NFL deal with Roc Nation, talks Kaepernick

A day after Jay-Z announced that his Roc Nation company was partnering with the NFL, the rap icon explained that he still supports protesting, kneeling and NFL player Colin Kaepernick, but he’s also interested in working with the league to make substantial changes.

The Grammy winner and entrepreneur fielded questions Wednesday at his company’s New York City headquarters alongside NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell. When directly asked if he would kneel or stand, Jay-Z said: “I think we’ve moved past kneeling and I think it’s time to go into actionable items.”

He then added: “No, I don’t want people to stop protesting at all. Kneeling — I know we’re stuck on it because it’s a real thing — but kneeling is a form of protest. I support protest across the board. We need to bring light to the issue. I think everyone knows what the issue is — we’re done with that,” he added. “We all know the issue now. OK, next. What are we moving (on to) next? …And I’m not minimizing that part of it because that has to happen, that’s a necessary part of the process. But now that we all know what’s going on, what are we going to do? How are we going to stop it? Because the kneeling was not about a job, it was about injustice.”

Jay-Z has been among the biggest supporters of Kaepernick, who sparked a fissure in the NFL when he decided to kneel when the national anthem was played before games to protest the killings of blacks by police officers. Some called him unpatriotic, and he has not played for the NFL since he opted out of his contract with the San Francisco 49ers in 2017. Earlier this year, the NFL settled a lawsuit brought by Kaepernick and Eric Reid that alleged that owners colluded to keep them from playing in the league (Reid criticized Jay-Z’s new deal with the league).

When asked why he didn’t involve Kaepernick in the new Roc Nation-NFL deal, Jay-Z said: “You’d have to ask him. I’m not his boss. I can’t just bring him into something. That’s for him to say.”

Jay-Z also said he and Kaepernick had a conversation about the new deal but offered no details about what was discussed.

Kaepernick didn’t comment on the deal, but tweeted about his social justice work Wednesday.

“Today marks the three year anniversary of the first time I protested systemic oppression. I continue to work and stand with the people in our fight for liberation, despite those who are trying to erase the movement! The movement has always lived with the people!” he wrote.

The NFL and Jay-Z’s entertainment and sports representation company announced Tuesday they were teaming up for events and social activism, a deal Jay-Z said had been in the works over the last seven months.

“First thing I said to Roger was, ‘If this is about me performing at the Super Bowl, then we can just end this conversation now,” Jay-Z said.

The league plans to use Roc Nation — home to Rihanna, DJ Khaled and other stars — to consult on and co-produce its entertainment presentations, including the Super Bowl halftime show. The NFL will also work with Jay-Z’s company to help its Inspire Change initiative, created by the league after an agreement with a coalition of players who demonstrated during the national anthem to protest social and racial injustice in this country. Those demonstrations were sparked by Kaepernick kneeling during the national anthem in 2016.

“Everyone’s saying, ‘How are you going forward if Kaep doesn’t have a job?’ This was not about him having a job. That became part of it,” Jay-Z said. “We know what it is — now how do we address that injustice? What’s the way forward?”

Jay-Z added that “the NFL has a huge platform and we can use that huge platform.”
“I believe real change is had through conversation, real conversation and real work … and what better way to do it than where the conversation first took place.”

Jay-Z has turned down invitations to perform at the Super Bowl, even rapping about it in a song. Rihanna has also turned down the gig.

Jay-Z said he is not performing at the 2020 halftime show, which his company will co-produce, and said he turned down the offer in the past because he “didn’t like the process.”
“You take four artists and everyone thinks they’re playing the Super Bowl, and it’s almost like this interview process,” he said. “I think the process could have been more definite.”
Maroon 5 headlined this year’s halftime show and when it was announced that Travis Scott was to join as a special guest, reports surfaced online that Jay-Z didn’t want the rapper to perform. Jay-Z acknowledged that was true, but clarified it didn’t have anything to do with Kaepernick.

“My problem is (Travis) had the biggest year to me last year,” Jay-Z explained, “and he’s playing on a stage that had an M on it. I didn’t see any reason for him to play second fiddle to anyone that year and that was my argument.”

Goodell also answered several questions Wednesday. When a reporter asked a question, looking at both Goddell and Jay-Z, the rapper said: “Are you asking me?”

“I’m not the commissioner yet,” Jay-Z said as the room burst into laughter.

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At Twitter, It Seems No One Can Hear the Screams

Twitter’s brass at an event this week struggled to balance the platform’s reputation for viral rage with the conversational mecca it wants to become.

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Actually, Gender-Neutral Pronouns Can Change a Culture

In 2012 a non-gendered pronoun dropped into Swedish discourse. Today it's widely used—and it's nudging people to see the world a little differently.

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A Strange Radioactive Cloud Likely Came From Russia

In 2017 a plume of radioactive gas wafted across Europe. A study now shows it probably stemmed from a nuclear accident in southern Russia.

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Google Assistant Now Lets You Send Reminders to Other People

Hey Google, is this the future of passive-aggressive exchanges at home?

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Zimbabwe FA bans its former president, Philip Chiyangwa, for life

The Zimbabwe Football Association (Zifa) bans its former president Philip Chiyangwa for life for 'bringing Zimbabwean football into disrepute.'

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Planning for life after football in Nigeria

Onome Ebi is a Nigerian footballer. She tells the BBC how she manages her finances and plans ahead.

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Henry Golding Might Star in the Next 'G.I. Joe' Movie

The 'Crazy Rich Asians' lead is in talks to play Snake Eyes. Also, Netflix is adapting a 'New Yorker' sci-fi story.

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Caster Semenya: Double Olympic champion 'never felt supported' by women in sport

Olympic and world champion Caster Semenya says she has "never really felt very supported" by other women in sport.

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Baltimore principal says ‘race-baiting’ police officer humiliated him in front of his son

A Baltimore high school principal is speaking out about how he was treated like “the n-word” by a white police officer in one of the city’s suburbs in late July.

Vance Benton, principal of Patterson High School in East Baltimore, claims he was insulted and demeaned by the officer in Owings Mills, Md., as he and his teen son watched the arrest of a young Black male a block from their home.

Benton was not involved in the crime that police were investigating but said he wanted to make sure the Black man at the scene of the incident was being properly handled by the officers.

READ MORE: Baltimore mayor makes Office of Civil Rights independent to avoid police conflict of interest

In an interview with The Baltimore Sun, Benton detailed the July 29 experience, during which the white officer approached him and “ranted” about how people try to hinder investigations. He also warned Benton: “Don’t you buck up at me.”

“Did you see me buck up or even raise my voice?” Benton said he asked his son. “I told him that’s how Black boys and men get killed by the police when police choose to see things that are not there.”

The officer, whose name is being withheld by the department, then shined a flashlight in Benton’s face. When Benton asked for his name and tried to read his badge through the light, the policeman asked: “‘Can you even read?’ Then he spelled out his name “in an exaggerated way,'” Benton told The Sun.

“He saw me as the ‘n-word’ and not as a Black man with his son. He saw me as another opportunity to degrade someone and he relished that opportunity to do it in front of my son,” Benton said.

READ MORE: Family of man arrested and handcuffed with rope led by officers on horseback demand to see body camera video

The officer then told his son, Taj, that “I will be seeing you again,” implying the teenager is bound for trouble and run-ins with the law.

Benton alerted the county’s new police chief Melissa R. Hyatt and about the policeman’s “innate racial biases and belittling actions,” writing in a letter that he experienced “degradation, disrespect and humiliation,” according to The Sun.

“The lives of innocent citizens, especially those that are African American, are in jeopardy if (the officer’s) innate racial biases and his belittling actions to ‘bait’ citizens into being arrested aren’t analyzed and addressed immediately,” Benton wrote in the letter.

Baltimore County police confirmed the matter was under investigation and have refused The Sun’s request for the release of the officer’s bodycam footage.

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CELEB PHOTO GALLERY: ’47 Meters Down: Uncaged’ red carpet premiere

Black lacrosse player files lawsuit over Athletic Association ban for calling out death threats and n-word taunts from opposing white players

A Black high school lacrosse player says potential future college scholarship are on the line after enduring violent, racist taunts from opposing teams in Florida.

During a press conference last week, 17-year old, Luther Johnson V, who plays for Christopher Columbus High School in Miami, met with members of the media to discuss his suspension from playing both football and lacrosse during his senior year, a decision his lawyer are calling out as being racially motivated.

Johnson maintains he’s been banned from sports by the Florida High School Athletic Association because of how he reacted to racist taunts from players who attend Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, while playing a game where he was the only Black student on the field, Local 10 news reports. Johnson says racial slurs, including the n-word and death threats, were hurled at him from these students.

After returning from that suspension, Johnson played in another game against Belen Jesuit Preparatory School and received an additional unsportsmanlike call for “targeting.”

READ MORE: Oprah Winfrey reveals why she was moved to tears when Tarell Alvin McCraney pitched her ‘David Makes Man’

According to WVFN, Johnson’s attorney Rawsi Williams said two independent lacrosse coaches reviewed the game footage and disagree with the ban.

“Not one coach who reviewed that agreed to a year ban, or even a few games,” Williams said. “They were saying these are in-game penalties.”

The Florida High School Athletic Association banned Johnson from high school sports for the full football season and the first half of the upcoming lacrosse season, a decision Johnson contends could cost him a college scholarship.

“That’s my future, my college future, for playing sports if I want to play sports,” Johnson told reporters.

His high school coach, David Dunn, agrees.

“Him not being able to play his senior year, that would be devastating to him and his family,” Dunn said.

READ MORE: Black home buyer who found KKK memorabilia in cop’s home receives death threats

Johnson’s attorney announced last Friday that the family is filing a lawsuit in civil court against the Florida High School Athletic Association, alleging their decision was unfair and racially motivated.

“Luther was playing against Marjory Stoneman Douglas [High School]. He is not only the only African American kid on his team. There, he was the only Black kid in the whole game,” Williams said.

Johnson and his attorney said the other players from Stoneman Douglas were using racist language and making death threats in the moments leading up to the plays in question.

The suit seeks to have Johnson’s season-long football and half-season-long lacrosse ban lifted.

Johnson’s legal team has launched a social media campaign to support lifting the ban using the hashtags #HelpUsFightForLJV and #LetHimPlay and are calling on supporters to contact state leaders and the FHSAA with calls on his behalf.

They are requesting immediate reinstatement of Luther Johnson to play all sports without restriction, or that he be allowed to play all football games this season while missing only some lacrosse games next spring; and, an investigation of the racially discriminatory treatment at the Marjory Stoneman Douglas game.

Williams is also seeking a court hearing for an emergency motion for a temporary restraining order against FHSAA’s ban on Thursday.

“If that order is granted, our motion is granted, that means he gets to go out there and play,” Williams told WSVN. “Those items are necessary to stop the board’s actions in its tracks, so that Luther can play while the lawsuit is determined.”

READ MORE: Black teen becomes second Parkland shooting survivor to commit suicide in a week

Luther Johnson, the player’s father, told reporters his son maintains a 4.0 GPA and had several letters of interest from Ivy-League schools. But now, he concerned that the suspension could threaten his son’s college prospects.

“Playing sports is one love that I have, and I just don’t want to stop over a decision that people make, and I can’t make,” the younger Johnson said. “I’m just ready to get back on that field.”

The Johnson’s supporting their son Luther Johnson V ’20 at the @univmiami‘s Rising Juniors Football Camp. #CPride #Adelante pic.twitter.com/yzCIUSPqWt

— Columbus High School (@ColumbusHS_Mia) June 20, 2018

The post Black lacrosse player files lawsuit over Athletic Association ban for calling out death threats and n-word taunts from opposing white players appeared first on theGrio.

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Cardi B releases clip of sit-down with Bernie Sanders to talk raising minimum wages

Cardi B has released a short clip from that sit-down she had back in July with2020 presidential candidate Bernie Sanders questioning the Democratic contender about his agenda to help folks make a livable wage.

—Cardi B teams up with Bernie Sanders to film 2020 campaign video—

“What are we gonna do about wages in America?” the Money rapper asked during a convo at Ten Nail Bar in Detroit.

She then discussed her former challenges paying her monthly bills, The Daily Mail reports.

“For example, as a New Yorker — not now but when I was not famous — I felt like no matter how many jobs I get I wasn’t able to make ends meet,” the 26-year-old said.

Cardi opened up about why she became a stripper saying her $200 a week supermarket job didn’t cut the mustard.

Sanders complimented Cardi on her “’excellent and important” question and explained his plan for raising the minimum wage to $15.

“Right now we have tens of millions of people making what I call starvation wages,” Sanders said. “How do you pay your rent? How do you pay for food? How do you pay for transportation? You can’t.”

Last month, Cardi teased that she teamed up with Sanders to shoot a commercial to discuss how to include young people in the political process and they discussed a number of issues affecting underrepresented communities.

—Cardi B schools her fans on the difference between race and ethnicity: “Schools don’t teach this to people”—

Sanders wrote on Facebook last month: “Cardi B and I had a great conversation about the future of America. Together, we’ll get millions of young people involved in the political process and transform this country. Stay tuned for our video coming soon!”

Tuesday Cardi wrote: “So I know this is long over due but here it is ! A couple of weeks ago I asked my followers if you all had the chance to ask a Democratic candidate a question, what would that question be? The topic that was mentioned the most by all of you was about raising MINIMUM WAGE.

“I got the chance to ask @berniesanders about this, and these are his answers. Keep sending your questions, we will be addressing more of these soon.”

The post Cardi B releases clip of sit-down with Bernie Sanders to talk raising minimum wages appeared first on theGrio.

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