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Saturday, August 24, 2019
Honda's New Airbag Catches Your Head to Save Your Brain
Friday, August 23, 2019
A much less invasive way to monitor pressure in the brain
Traumatic brain injuries, as well as infectious diseases such as meningitis, can lead to brain swelling and dangerously high pressure in the brain. If untreated, patients are at risk for brain damage, and in some cases elevated pressure can be fatal.
Current techniques for measuring pressure within the brain are so invasive that the measurement is only performed in the patients at highest risk. However, that may soon change, now that a team of researchers from MIT and Boston Children’s Hospital has devised a much less invasive way to monitor intracranial pressure (ICP).
“Ultimately the goal is to have a monitor at the bedside in which we only use minimally invasive or noninvasive measurements and produce estimates of ICP in real time,” says Thomas Heldt, the W. M. Keck Career Development Professor in Biomedical Engineering in MIT’s Institute of Medical Engineering and Science, an associate professor of electrical and biomedical engineering, and a principal investigator in MIT’s Research Laboratory of Electronics.
In a study of patients ranging in age from 2 to 25 years, the researchers showed that their measurement is nearly as accurate as the current gold standard technique, which requires drilling a hole in the skull.
Heldt is the senior author of the paper, which appears in the Aug. 23 issue of the Journal of Neurosurgery: Pediatrics. MIT research scientist Andrea Fanelli is the study’s lead author.
Elevated risk
Under normal conditions, ICP is between 5 and 15 millimeters of mercury (mmHg). When the brain suffers a traumatic injury or swelling caused by inflammation, pressure can go above 20 mmHg, impeding blood flow into the brain. This can lead to cell death from lack of oxygen, and in severe cases swelling pushes down on the brainstem — the area that controls breathing — and can cause the patient to lose consciousness or even stop breathing.
Measuring ICP currently requires drilling a hole in the skull and inserting a catheter into the ventricular space, which contains cerebrospinal fluid. This invasive procedure is only done for patients in intensive care units who are at high risk of elevated ICP. When a patient’s brain pressure becomes dangerously high, doctors can help relieve it by draining cerebrospinal fluid through a catheter inserted into the brain. In very severe cases, they remove a piece of the skull so the brain has more room to expand, then replace it once the swelling goes down.
Heldt first began working on a less invasive way to monitor ICP more than 10 years ago, along with George Verghese, the Henry Ellis Warren Professor of Electrical Engineering at MIT, and then-graduate student Faisal Kashif. The researchers published a paper in 2012 in which they developed a way to estimate ICP based on two measurements: arterial blood pressure, which is taken by inserting a catheter at the patient’s wrist, and the velocity of blood flow entering the brain, measured by holding an ultrasound probe to the patient’s temple.
For that initial study, the researchers developed a mathematical model of the relationship between blood pressure, cerebral blood flow velocity, and ICP. They tested the model on data collected several years earlier from patients with traumatic brain injury at Cambridge University, with encouraging results.
In their new study, the researchers wanted to improve the algorithm that they were using to estimate ICP, and also to develop methods to collect their own data from pediatric patients.
They teamed up with Robert Tasker, director of the pediatric neurocritical care program at Boston Children’s Hospital and a co-author of the new paper, to identify patients for the study and help move the technology to the bedside. The system was tested only on patients whose guardians approved the procedure. Arterial blood pressure and ICP were already being measured as part of the patients’ routine monitoring, so the only additional element was the ultrasound measurement.
Fanelli also devised a way to automate the data analysis so that only data segments with the highest signal-to-noise ratio were used, making the estimates of ICP more accurate.
“We built a signal processing pipeline that was able to automatically detect the segments of data that we could trust versus the segments of data that were too noisy to be used for ICP estimation,” he says. “We wanted to have an automated approach that could be completely user-independent.”
Expanded monitoring
The ICP estimates generated by this new technique were, on average, within about 1 mmHg of the measurements taken with the invasive method. “From a clinical perspective, it was well within the limits that we would consider useful,” Tasker says.
In this study, the researchers focused on patients with severe injuries because those are the patients who already had an invasive ICP measurement being done. However, a less invasive approach could allow ICP monitoring to be expanded to include patients with diseases such as meningitis and encephalitis, as well as malaria, which can all cause brain swelling.
“In the past, for these conditions, we would never consider ICP monitoring. What the current research has opened up for us is the possibility that we can include these other patients and try to identify not only whether they’ve got raised ICP but some degree of magnitude to that,” Tasker says.
“These findings are very encouraging and may open the way for reliable, non-invasive neuro-critical care,” says Nino Stocchetti, a professor of anesthesia and intensive care medicine at Policlinico of Milan, Italy, who was not involved in the research. “As the authors acknowledge, these results ‘indicate a promising route’ rather than being conclusive: additional work, refinements and more patients remain necessary.”
The researchers are now running two additional studies, at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Boston Medical Center, to test their system in a wider range of patients, including those who have suffered strokes. In addition to helping doctors evaluate patients, the researchers hope that their technology could also help with research efforts to learn more about how elevated ICP affects the brain.
“There’s been a fundamental limitation of studying intracranial pressure and its relation to a variety of conditions, simply because we didn’t have an accurate and robust way to get at the measurement noninvasively,” Heldt says.
The researchers are also working on a way to measure arterial blood pressure without inserting a catheter, which would make the technology easier to deploy in any location.
“This estimate could be of greatest benefit in the pediatrician’s office, the ophthalmologist’s office, the ambulance, the emergency department, so you want to have a completely noninvasive arterial blood pressure measurement,” Heldt says. “We’re working to develop that.”
The research was funded by the National Institutes for Neurological Disorders and Stroke, Maxim Integrated Products, and the Boston Children’s Hospital Department of Anesthesiology, Critical Care, and Pain Medicine.
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David H. Koch, prominent supporter of cancer research at MIT, dies at 79
David H. Koch ’62, SM ’63, one of the most important benefactors in MIT’s modern history, has died. He was 79 years old.
Koch’s willingness to back significant initiatives at the Institute was exemplified by his foundational gift establishing the David H. Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research, a pioneering facility that brings research scientists and engineers together to advance the frontiers of cancer medicine. The Koch Institute has become a centerpiece of MIT’s pursuit of biomedical innovation and the useful application of knowledge to global health.
Koch had wide-ranging interests concerning the life of the Institute, however, and in addition to cancer research, he supported many other causes and activities at MIT, including chemical engineering, childcare for employees, and athletics. At any given moment around MIT, beneficiaries of Koch’s gifts included faculty with endowed professorships, students with fellowships he supported — and toddlers in the childcare center he helped found.
“David Koch had a brilliant instinct for opportunities where the lever of his philanthropy could make a transformative difference,” says MIT President L. Rafael Reif. “As one example, his gift to launch the Koch Institute dramatically advanced a new strategy in which engineers and scientists push the frontiers of cancer research by working side by side. At the same time, he saw that the David H. Koch Childcare Center could play an indispensable role in helping young faculty, staff, postdocs, and graduate students manage the balance of family and career. We are grateful for his longstanding devotion to the Institute. Very few graduates have left such a broad and indelible mark on the life of MIT.”
The Koch Institute, dedicated in 2011, was backed by a $100 million gift Koch made to MIT in October 2007, allowing for a new state-of-the-art facility at MIT and an innovative, interdisciplinary approach to the fight against cancer. The Koch Institute houses a wide array of world-leading scientists: Five current and former faculty have been awarded the Nobel Prize, and nine current and former faculty have been awarded the National Medals of Science or Technology and Innovation. All told, Koch has given MIT $134 million to support cancer research and facilities.
“From my very first days as MIT’s president, David Koch became a friend, collaborator, supporter, and enthusiast,” says President Emerita Susan Hockfield, who led MIT from 2004 to 2012. “He already had a long history of generosity to MIT, but his commitment to accelerating progress against cancer gave particular force to MIT’s efforts to reimagine our own cancer research. David was one of this nation’s most generous donors to cancer research, and his engagement with many of the leading cancer research centers gave him an amazingly sophisticated understanding of the frontier of cancer biology and therapy.”
The Koch Institute emphasizes five main areas of research: the development of nanotechnology-based cancer treatments; new devices for cancer detection and monitoring; research about the molecular and cellular processes of metastasis; the advancement of personalized medicine, by studying cancer pathways and resistance to drugs; and research about how the immune system can fight cancer.
“This is a new approach to cancer research with the potential to uncover breakthroughs in therapies and diagnostics,” Koch said in 2007. “Conquering cancer will require multidisciplined initiatives and MIT is positioned to enable that collaboration. As a cancer survivor, I feel especially fortunate to be able to help advance this effort.”
President Emerita Hockfield, whose tenure included the period when David H. Koch made his initial gift funding the Koch Institute, as well as its opening, lauded Koch’s visionary support of the project.
“David provided resources, of course, but also wisdom and strategy to keep the project on time and on budget,” Hockfield says. “He took personal interest in the people and projects at what became the David H. Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research.”
Koch’s embrace of an interdisciplinary center for fighting cancer advanced and enhanced MIT’s capabilities in this arena, notes Tyler Jacks, the David H. Koch Professor of Biology at MIT, and director of the David H. Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research.
“As an MIT-trained engineer, David immediately saw the value in bringing together the great strengths in engineering on our campus with our cancer science efforts in order to solve the most challenging problems in cancer,” Jacks says. “As a cancer survivor, he has been deeply committed to supporting innovative approaches to improve outcomes for patients. David chose to invest in MIT because he believed that we were uniquely positioned to change the course of cancer, and his generosity has enabled us to do that.”
Jacks added that MIT benefitted from Koch’s high level of interest in the the research projects he backed.
“From the earliest days of planning the Koch Institute, David dug into the details,” Jacks says. “He was always inquisitive and really enjoyed asking probing questions, whether about the HVAC system in the building or the intricacies of nanotechnology-based cancer therapy. David was a huge supporter of what we do and rightly proud of what we have created in the Koch Institute. And we are extremely grateful for his support.”
In addition to the named chair Jacks holds, Koch endowed other professorships that bear his name, held by MIT faculty in the fields of biology, biological engineering, chemical engineering, and materials science and engineering.
David H. Koch was born in Wichita, Kansas, on May 3, 1940. He graduated from Deerfield Academy, a prep school in Massachusetts, and received his bachelor’s degree and master’s degree from MIT in chemical engineering, the Institute’s Course 10. He joined Koch Industries, the firm founded by his father, in 1970, and became president of a division of the company, Koch Engineering, in 1979. He served as executive vice president of Koch Industries until publicly announcing his retirement, due to his health, in June 2018.
Koch was also a Life Member Emeritus of the MIT Corporation. He first became a Member of the Corporation in 1988, and was elected a Life Member in 1998.
Beyond cancer research, Koch was also a significant supporter of MIT’s programs in chemical engineering. In the 1980s, Koch made a significant gift to sustain the School of Chemical Engineering Practice at MIT, whose roots go back to 1916. Now known as the David H. Koch School of Chemical Engineering Practice, this is a unique program for graduate students combining coursework with internships, to enhance both academic and professional development.
“David Koch was a model philanthropist who funded initiatives across a swath of cultural, scientific, and medical institutions,” says Robert Millard, chair of the MIT Corporation. “His generosity has benefited humanity broadly — from the arts to cancer research to science. MIT is deeply thankful for his many contributions to our community.”
In a different vein, Koch served as lead donor for the David H. Koch Childcare Center at MIT, which opened in 2013 and almost doubled the childcare capacity on campus. Situated on Vassar Street on the west side of the MIT campus, the center provides high-quality support for MIT faculty, postdocs, graduate students, and staff who are raising young families, often while pursuing intensive research careers.
Koch decided to give $20 million for the facility after serving on the Biology Visiting Committee at MIT — one of many such groups that advise the Institute — and recognizing the need for more extensive childcare facilities in order to help attract and retain talented personnel on campus. Along with Koch, Charles W. Johnson ’55 and Jennifer C. Johnson also helped fund the facility.
A less well-known but vital aspect of Koch’s relationship with MIT was his enduring support for the Institute’s basketball team. Koch was a standout basketball player as an undergraduate, and captained the MIT team during the 1961-62 season, his senior year; he played alongside his brother Bill on MIT’s varsity team. David Koch’s attachment to the program continued throughout his life.
Indeed, Koch not only followed the team, and attended team banquets, but endowed the position of coach for the men’s basketball team, a role that has been filled since the 1995-96 season by Larry Anderson. During that time, MIT has had a superb run of success, which includes making the NCAA Division III Final Four in 2012.
“David’s generous philanthropy allowed us to do many impossible things at MIT, but I have valued equally his curiosity, interest, engagement, and enthusiasm,” Hockfield says. “Coming from an MIT family, David Koch was truly a son of MIT who made the Institute a better place, for its students and faculty, and for the lives they change through their work.”
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Atlanta Murder Mystery: Police say prominent surgeon’s ex-wife killed their children and then herself
Police were called to the home of a prominent family in Georgia where the mother is suspected of fatally shooting her two children before killing herself.
—Mother outraged over video showing school officer slam her daughter into a wall—
On Wednesday, Dr. Marsha Edwards, 58, her daughter, Erin Edwards, 20 and her 24-year-old son, Chris Edwards were found dead on the scene when Cobb County police entered their home, PEOPLE reports.
Police report that Edwards died from “an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound.”
The case has left the metro Atlanta community reeling since the doctor was a well-known surgeon who was formerly married to Dr. Christopher Edwards, a prominent surgeon and chairman of the Atlanta Housing Authority.
Just recently, Edwards posted a picture with her daughter after she and her children recently returned from an Italy trip with the caption: “I’ve had the best summer, first with Chris in Miami and Erin in Italy. I could not ask for better children.”
According to a statement from Christopher Edwards’ family, he is understandably overcome with grief, WXIA reports.
“Dr. Christopher Edwards learned Wednesday of the death of his former wife, Dr. Marsha Edwards, and his two adult children, Christopher Edwards, Jr. and Erin Edwards. Dr. Edwards, his extended family and friends are in a state of grief and shock, and privacy of the family is paramount as arrangements are being made.”
Erin Edwards was a Boston University student and had reportedly just returned from completing an internship with WNBC in New York.
The son, Chris Edwards, was a digital content manager for the City of Atlanta with the Mayor’s Office of Entertainment.
—White man who allegedly stabbed Black woman on subway platform arrested and charged with hate crime—
Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms released the following statement about their deaths:
“Derek and I join the greater Atlanta community in mourning the loss of three members of the beloved Edwards family. Chris and Erin were beautiful, vibrant, and brilliant young adults, whom we had the pleasure of knowing their entire lives. They filled the lives of all who met them with joy, compassion, and kindness. May the peace of God, that surpasses all understanding, be with the Edwards family and all who had the honor to have known them.”
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Kenya northern white rhinos: Vets harvest eggs from last two females
‘Power’ heads toward its finale, but its influence grows
With his characteristic bravado, Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson believed in “Power” so much that he predicted the series would become a massive hit to cast members even before the first episode aired five years ago.
Since then, Jackson has joyfully watched as his words have come to fruition. The original series has become a ratings juggernaut and Starz network says it is the most-watched show in the cable network’s history.
“Power” kicks off its sixth and final season Sunday night, but the gritty series isn’t going anywhere. Starz has at least two spinoffs in the works.
“I like anticipating success,” said Jackson, the show’s executive producer who also played the role of Kanan. “I don’t work on projects feeling like there’s a possibility for failure, because I don’t think you can work hard on a project feeling like it can just fail.”
“Power” stars Omari Hardwick as James “Ghost” St. Patrick who is trying to escape his life as a drug kingpin and go legit with a legal business, but his gangster-mentality wife and best friend still want him to run their drug operation. He struggles with the double life he’s created by dating a federal prosecutor.
Jackson was already a rap star who then tried to parlay his success into a film and television career. At first, he wasn’t taken seriously. He stumbled with some other projects, but he remained so confident in “Power” that it rubbed off on everyone else, and ultimately millions of viewers.
“When people say, ‘Are you shocked about how popular this show is?’ — I was less shocked because he told us it would be this,” said Joseph Sikora of Jackson’s vision for the series. Sikora plays Tommy Egan, the lifelong best friend and business partner of Ghost, who find themselves at odds after Tommy shot Ghost’s girlfriend in the previous season.
“Omari and I met him at the same time, he gave us a big hug and basically broke everything down,” Sikora recalled. “He didn’t say, ‘I think this is going to happen.’ He said, ‘This is going to happen and this will, too.’ Then everything happened. … He spoke it into existence.”
“Power” built a cult following for its take on the glamorous and gung-ho gangster lifestyle, twisted love triangles and violent drug deals gone wrong.
Hardwick said the story line in “Power” resonated with viewers the same way HBO’s “Game of Thrones” did.
“But they have books,” he said. “I’m proud that we were able to create the book. There was no book. We created it with the help of incredible writing and fellow cast mates.”
Hardwick said fans of the series’ characters have a love-hate relationship toward them. He acknowledged that his character has received mixed praise, but his other cast mates including Lela Loren — who plays his girlfriend Angela Valdes — have faced blatant threats over the years that sent her into therapy.
“How many times have Tommy and Ghost been mentioned in a song?” he asked. “It was culturally shifting. But there’s another side. For people to follow Lela in the bathroom, it was sometimes negative. We have an 18-year-old on the cast who started at 12, and he’s getting hate mail at that level. … But that’s how much people are invested in this show.”
Starz is banking on viewers to invest even more.
“‘Power’ has been an absolute monster. There’s nothing else bigger on television right now,” said Starz COO Jeffrey Hirsch, who noted the series helped build the network as a destination to watch original content. He gave credit to Jackson and the show’s creator Courtney Kemp, whom he says helped lead a team to keep “the audience in every episode with cliffhangers.”
“Power” will air its final season in two parts. The first 10-episode installment begins Sunday and the concluding five episodes will start airing in January.
The series will come to an end, but several spinoffs are planned to be part of a collection of new shows inspired by the world of “Power.” The first is titled “Power Book II: Ghost,” which will feature Grammy-winning singer and actress Mary J. Blige.
Jackson said “Power Book II” will pick up soon after “Power” ends. He said in the new version “we’ll see the aftermath of what happens in the season six finale.”
Jackson is also planning other “Power” prequels including “Raising Kanan,” based on his popular character Kanan who was killed in season five.
“It will show the influences from the ’90s, where Kanan was growing up and how the activities in the neighborhood groomed him into who he was in ‘Power,'” he said.
Along with “Power” spinoffs, Jackson wants to develop a project on Starz focused on the Black Mafia Family. The story would delve into the backstory of Demetrius “Big Meech” Flenory, who started the drug trafficking and money laundering organization in Detroit before intersecting it with the hip-hop music scene.
The plethora of shows is a part of Jackson’s plan to take over Starz.
“As (Starz) becomes a household necessity like HBO, you’ll see faces that look like ours consistently on it,” he said. “It’ll become more of a diverse leading cast than what you would find on HBO. They want to house that content here. It’ll become the place that people who enjoy ‘Power’ and enjoy the programming on Starz.”
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Trump’s Black friends want A$AP Rocky to publicly thank president for Swedish prison release
As the saying goes, A$AP Rocky knows where his bread is buttered.
—A$AP Rocky finally freed from Swedish prison…for now—
The rapper has not once publicly thanked President Donald Trump for taking up his case on Twitter to facilitate his release from a Swedish prison earlier this month.
And that has pissed off two of Trump’s Black supporters who said the rapper and his team are “ungrateful mother f****rs” and they are demanding a public thank you.
Surely Rocky knows that wouldn’t go over well with his fans if he does.
Ohio Pastor Darrell Scott and Kareem Lanier, co-chair of the Urban Revitalization Coalition, accused Damien Granderson, one of Rocky’s attorney of being too “nonchalant” when he received word that Trump was looking into the rapper’s assault case and pushing for his release.
“I was like, man, you ungrateful motherf****rs, you. I can’t believe you,” Scott recalled saying to the attorney.
“The White House didn’t ask for anything,” Scott said, according to Yahoo News. “There were no conditions attached, but my condition and Kareem’s condition was that all I’m asking for you guys to do is say thank you.”
Rocky was freed Aug. 2 from a Swedish prison after pressure from celebrities and Trump.
The 30-year-old Harlem rapper, whose given name is Rakim Athelaston Mayers, was being held on charges of assault after getting involved in a street altercation in which he says he was being harassed.
Rocky did however say thank you, but it was a broad sweep thanking any and everybody who had something to do with his case.
“Thank you from the bottom of my heart to all my fans, friends and anyone across the globe who supported me during these last few weeks,” the rapper wrote on his Instagram. “I can’t begin to describe how grateful I am for all of you.”
—Congressman, celebs push for A$AP Rocky’s release from jail—
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Freed man says he relied on mother, God while in prison for crime he didn’t commit
A North Carolina man who maintained his innocence even as he served a life sentence for a murder he didn’t commit was freed Thursday and said he got his strength in prison from God and his mother.
Dontae Sharpe went free after an evidentiary hearing in Pitt County court in Greenville, where a judge ordered a new trial. Prosecutors then said they wouldn’t seek a retrial, and the 44-year-old Sharpe was released within about an hour, said his attorney, Theresa Newman.
When asked in a phone interview how he maintained his determination to reject offers of a lighter sentence in exchange for a guilty plea, Sharpe said: “My faith, knowing I was innocent and the way I was raised. My momma always told me if you didn’t do something, don’t own up to it. Don’t say you did it.” He said his faith provided the “positivity to help me when I was around all that negativity.”
Sharpe was convicted of murder in 1995 in the death of 33-year-old George Radcliffe in a drug deal a year earlier. His repeated attempts to get a new trial failed, including a motion for appropriate relief that a judge rejected in 2016, Newman said.
The difference this time around was the testimony of former state medical examiner M.G.F. Gilliland, the attorney said. Gilliland testified at an evidentiary hearing in May that the state’s theory of the shooting was not medically or scientifically possible. After that testimony, the judge ordered Thursday’s hearing to hear more evidence.
“It was a too-long journey for Dontae Sharpe,” said Newman, co-director of Duke University’s Wrongful Convictions Clinic. “We can lament that at some point, but right now, it’s a time of great joy to restore him to his family and his community.”
Sharpe’s mother, Sarah Blakely, kept his case in the spotlight with the help of the NAACP. Blakely said she was feeling joy and she was “relieved it’s all over. Justice was served.”
The Rev. William Barber, who was president of the state chapter of the NAACP when the organization took up Sharpe’s case, said racism and poverty contributed to Sharpe’s conviction despite the lack of physical evidence.
“It was the racism within the system that said basically, any black man will do,” said Barber, who’s now co-director of the president of Repairers of the Breach and co-chair of the Poor People’s Campaign. And Sharpe’s family couldn’t afford the “powerhouse attorney” needed to fight the charge, he said.
Sharpe’s conviction relied partially on the testimony of a woman who said she saw Sharpe kill Radcliffe. Charlene Johnson Frazier, who was 15 when she testified, later recanted. She testified again Thursday.
Gilliland also testified again Thursday, saying Radcliffe was shot in the side. His killer could not have been standing in front of him, as Frazier testified at Sharpe’s trial, she said.
Sharpe said he plans to spend time with his family, including his daughter, two grandchildren and nieces and nephews. “I’m going to take a breath right now and gather myself,” he said. “I’m feeling shocked a little bit.”
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NFL coach says he supports player protest movement ‘I’ve been stopped because I fit the description’
Miami Dolphins coach Brian Flores says he supports the NFL player protest movement and receiver Kenny Stills’ involvement, but wants him to play better.
“Everything these guys protest, I’ve lived it, I’ve experienced it,” said an impassioned Flores, who is the son of immigrants from Honduras. “They’re bringing attention to my story. I’m a son of immigrants. I’m black. I grew up poor. I’ve been stopped because I fit the description.”
Flores’ comments came late Thursday following Miami’s exhibition win over Jacksonville. The subject arose because Stills objected Monday to recent remarks from Jay-Z about social activism by current and former NFL players, and the next day the Dolphins played more than half a dozen songs by the rapper at the start of practice.
Flores, who chooses the songs for practice, said he was trying to motivate Stills.
“I walked up to Kenny in front of the entire group and said, ‘This is a challenge to you to get over it and catch the football. Make plays for this team, regardless of what’s going on outside of this building,'” Flores said.
“It was a challenge to Kenny to perform regardless of what’s going on outside. He hasn’t performed to that level over the course of this training camp.”
Stills’ reaction to the Jay-Z medley?
“It was just music,” Stills said. The veteran receiver is outspoken on social issues, and has been kneeling during the national anthem for the past four seasons to protest racial inequality and police brutality.
“I’ve been dealing with this since 2016 — music, boos, racial slurs — so I don’t think a little bit of Jay-Z is going to ruffle my feathers that bad,” Stills said.
Flores said he was surprised by extensive publicity about his Jay-Z practice playlist, and told the team the next day that he supports Stills and the player protest.
“It’s important,” Flores said. “But you know what else is important? There are 89 guys in that locker room who are counting on Kenny to get open and catch the football and perform for this team.
“If anybody has a problem with that, we’ve just got a problem.”
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Descendants of America’s first Africans will mark 400 years
A family that traces its bloodline to America’s first enslaved Africans will gather at its cemetery to reflect on their arrival 400 years ago.
The family is holding a reflection Friday at the Tucker Family Cemetery in Hampton, Virginia. The reflection is one of several events commemorating the Africans’ 1619 arrival to what is now Virginia.
The landing on the Chesapeake Bay is considered a pivotal moment that set the stage for a race-based system of slavery that continues to haunt the nation.
The family traces its roots to William Tucker. He is considered by many to be the first documented African child born in English-occupied America.
His parents were among 30 men and women from what is now Angola who were traded for food and supplies from English colonists.
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Obamas’ first Netflix project ‘American Factory’ takes aim at Trump’s failed promises to restore factory jobs
The Obamas’ first project from their Higher Ground Productions called American Factory, starts streaming on Netflix today and Donald Trump may not like what he sees.
—The Obamas announce details of their slate of projects with Netflix—
Though the documentary doesn’t directly mention Trump, the film reportedly explores the questionable pledges he made during his presidential campaign to resuscitate the manufacturing industry in Ohio.
According to the official description: “The docu focuses on post-industrial Ohio, where a Chinese billionaire opens a new factory in the husk of an abandoned General Motors plant, hiring 2,000 blue-collar Americans. Early days of hope and optimism give way to setbacks as high-tech China clashes with working-class America.
The filmmakers capture every key moment in this high-stakes intercultural chess game, revealing how American and Chinese workers view themselves within systems of authority. It’s a collision of the future of American labor and Chinese economic dominance, all within the confines of a factory in Ohio.”
The filmmakers were allowed behind the scenes at Fuyao. The Fuyao founder and chairman Cao Dewang complained about the workers saying “American workers are not efficient. Output is low, I can’t manage them.”
—Michelle Obama reflects on road to the White House and raising her daughters—
Barack and Michelle Obama sat down with the filmmakers to talk about the series.
A good story gives you the chance to better understand someone else’s life. It can help you find common ground. And it’s why Michelle and I were drawn to Higher Ground’s first film, American Factory. Take a look at our conversation with the directors, and check it out on Netflix. pic.twitter.com/KzkYFqjrFV
— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) August 21, 2019
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