Friday, November 1, 2019
Former Arsenal star Nwakali in Nigeria squad despite not playing since March
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Cuba Gooding faces new sex abuse charges, pleads not guilty
Cuba Gooding Jr. was in court yesterday facing new charges that he “forcibly touched” a New York nightclub waitress last year.
The woman became the third to accuse Gooding of inappropriate sexual touching in his sex abuse case. Gooding faces charges from three women in separate incidents, according to CNN.
READ MORE: Prosecutors will not move on sex assault claim against Cuba Gooding Jr.
Gooding was handcuffed and surrounded by his attorneys as he appeared in New York Supreme Court on Thursday. The Academy Award-winning actor was there to hear the latest sexual assault allegations, in which a waitress at LAVO nightclub accuses Gooding of forcibly touching her in September 2018. He is now charged with three counts of forcibly touching and three counts of third-degree sex abuse. Gooding also faces charges from previously alleged incidents in October 2018 at TAO Downtown and in June of this year at Magic Hour club in Midtown, CNN reported.
He has pleaded not guilty to all charges and maintains his innocence.
In court, Gooding’s lawyers poked holes in the new indictment, stating that it is unknown what the exact offense is that his client has allegedly perpetrated. According to the attorney the allegation just notes that “something” happened. Prosecutors argued that they have several additional women who all claim they were groped by Gooding that they could put before the court to testify.
READ MORE: Cuba Gooding Jr. pleads not guilty to allegations of sexual misconduct
Both sides argued over who leaked a videotape to TMZ that allegedly shows Gooding in an incident with a waitress at TAO Downtown named Natasha Ashworth. Ashworth alleges that Gooding “pinched her buttocks” on his way out of the club.
After the court proceeding, Gooding’s lawyers spoke to reporters outside of the courthouse. Mark Jay Heller said prosecutors were “maliciously prosecuting” Gooding simply because he’s a celebrity. “Anyone who has seen this video would say that there wasn’t any touching that is inappropriate,” Heller said, according to CNN.
“What I see in the TAO video is at roughly 4:30 a.m., at the end of the day, Cuba is exiting the facility and with the back of his hand, his fingernail, he taps the lady in the back and turns around to give her a high five just as a salutation of goodbye — it’s not criminal conduct whatsoever.”
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Curtis Symonds Launches New HBCU Go App
According to TheGrio, Curtis Symonds, CEO of HBCU Network, has introduced a new mobile app called HBCU Go.
Symonds has launched the HBCU Go app which “offers original, authentic and bodacious video content such as sports, music, entertainment, movies, edutainment and live events for our viewers to engage and share with others.” Since its launch earlier this year, HBCU Go has gained approximately 2,000 users with a target of 25,000 by the end of this year.
The app is a companion to HBCU TV that was founded by cable industry veterans Symonds (CEO) and Clinton Evans (General Manager). HBCU TV is headquartered in Washington, D.C. and is a 24/7, 365 education, entertainment, sports, and live events network.
The goal for the sports section of HBCU TV is for recruiters, parents, students, and alumni to view and be kept abreast of how well some of the black student-athletes are performing from the four major HBCU football conferences: the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association, Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference, Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, and Southwestern Athletic Conference.
According to Symonds in an interview with TheGrio, the concept of the HBCU Network originated back in 2011, and Symonds negotiated a deal with Comcast but when the company acquired NBC in 2013, the deal fell apart. “I never wanted to let it die,” explains Symonds. “I called myself being ahead of the game and it kind of blew me when it happened because it broke everything up. It didn’t stop me though because I always had in my mind that I was going to do something in the HBCU circle.”
“HBCU TV is dedicated to being a true destination for the total HBCU Experience, but more importantly, to utilize our digital and mobile platforms as a tool for recruitment, enhance the institutions’ endowments, networking, and provide tech-savvy millennials who are pursuing careers within the media and technology industries,” states Clinton Evans.
The HBCU Go app, which can be downloaded from the Google Play store, bills itself as the first and only mobile destination for the total HBCU Hangtime experience. In addition to watching the excitement, you can also invite others to “Hang Out” in your private lounge to chill and have real conversations and a chance to win prizes by playing games with your friends in real-time.
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Thursday, October 31, 2019
Africa's top shots: 25-31 October 2019
Drawn to open-ended problems
Vilhelm Lee Andersen Woltz, who goes by Billy, sits by the outdoor track at MIT on a New England fall day. It’s cold, gray, and misty, but it’s nothing compared to the weather during his most cherished personal cross country memory last year.
“The weather was terrible. It was pouring rain and with massive puddles. My heels were numb by the end of the race,” he recalls. The plan was to start out slow then speed up and obliterate the other team. Once Woltz came down a hill, he saw that the field to the finish line was one massive puddle.
“I couldn’t see the ground or any rocks and was so worried about falling,” he laughs. “I had put in all this work. Like, if I fall now, then first of all, I’d lose the race, so that would suck. But I would also just be cold.” But he plunged in and placed first.
Woltz, an MIT senior majoring in physics and in electrical engineering and computer science, is a distance runner for the Institute’s varsity track and cross country team. He dedicates at least 20 hours a week to the sport, and he can recall all of his meets in college.
Woltz takes an analytical approach to his running: “I think, ‘I want to win this race, what do I need to do to get there?’ It’s kind of like an open-ended problem and involves research and conducting my own experiments. I really like that kind of tinkering approach to my training,” he says.
Drawn to open-ended scientific questions as well, Woltz works in the lab of Professor William Oliver in the Research Laboratory of Electronics, on research to advance the cutting-edge field of quantum computing. In principle, ultrapowerful quantum computers could solve problems that are intractably complex for classical computers, but the field is still in very early stages.
When he took his first class on the subject, he was fascinated by the theory but skeptical about whether quantum computing could work on a large scale. But then he took Oliver’s graduate applied physics class, and that sucked him in.
“I was convinced,” he says. “I thought, okay, this might work. And I knew I wanted to work on it.”
Science, not football
Even though physics wasn’t offered at his high school in Logan, Ohio, a tiny town in the southeastern part of the state, Woltz always knew he wanted to do something related to science.
“My grandma was fond of reminding me that when she would ask me what I wanted to be when I was older, I’d say ‘a scientist.’ And she was like, ‘That’s not what little kids say. Why not a professional football player?’” he says.
Woltz, whose parents were both helicopter pilots in the U.S. Army, went to the same high school his father went to 30 years ago, which is the same school his grandmother went to 30 years before that. Logan is a football town — kids grow up dreaming of being professional football players, Woltz says. The town has a population of around 7,000, and about 25 percent of his graduating class went to college.
Woltz’s background has given him a clear-eyed view of what public education is like for many in America. He grew up on a 64-acre farm and before going to school, he would wake up early to go break the ice that had frozen over the horses’ drinking water during the night. He lived far from the town and only had limited options for internet — none of which had high-speed internet that could handle online gaming or even streaming movies.
Bringing coding to rural schools
Even though he now studies computer science, Woltz didn’t learn any computer programing before college. It wasn’t offered at his high school, so he asked a friend to show him the ropes when he came to MIT.
“Computer programming should be a basic skill for the American population. It’s so useful,” he says. “To not cover it at all, that seems outdated.”
Because he did not have the chance to learn programming in Logan, he wanted to create that opportunity for people in his hometown. After his sophomore year at MIT, Woltz decided to start a one-week summer camp for kids in Logan and the surrounding areas to learn how to program. His old high school gave him a classroom, and the first year 15 students joined the free program. By the end of the week, the students were able to program their own tic-tac-toe game using Python.
After that pilot year, the program grew. This past summer, he taught four courses with increasing difficulty levels. He also got in touch with Fugees Family, a nonprofit organization devoted to working with child survivors of war, and he taught 25 middle-school-age refugees from Syria, Bengal, and Bosnia, in Columbus, Ohio.
In total, Woltz taught close to 70 students and hopes to keep the program growing. He wants to teach the teachers computer programming so it can be sustainable and implemented across the school system.
After he graduates, he wants to get a PhD in Physics and continue working on quantum technologies. He’s currently in the process of obtaining a scuba diving license.
“I like going to places where humans don’t belong but where we build technology that lets us go there,” he says. “I’m just curious. I like to explore and figure out what is going on in the world around me, which is probably why I’m so interested in physics and science.”
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Ty Hobson-Powell: Creative Entrepreneur On A Mission To Inspire The Youth
BE Modern Man: Ty Hobson-Powell
Public advocate, author, speaker; 23; CEO, NEITH L.L.C.
Twitter: @TyHobsonPowell; Instagram: @TyHobsonPowell
Born to be a statistic, the sole amazing thing that I’ve done is make the conscious choice to become a positive one and to inspire the youth and encourage others to adopt that same spirit of positivity along the way.
I graduated high school at 13 and went on to attend Howard University, becoming the youngest student in the history of the institution. I eventually graduated from college at 15, receiving a bachelor’s degree from the University of Baltimore. The next year, I pledged Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity Inc. at the age of 16. I finished grad school at age 17 at Liberty University with my master of arts degree in 2013. I worked for the D.C. government’s Office of Youth Programs as a curriculum developer and special projects manager, for Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign, and in the private sector doing logistics consulting after Clinton’s loss.
In the time since, I have moved to Atlanta to focus on more creative aspects of my career. In my capacity as senior editor for We The People, a youth-run digital publication, I was able to snag an interview with the embattled Rachel Dolezal before the Netflix content aired. I have published a book. I have engaged in a national speaking series called TyTalks where I visit campuses to inspire the youth. The last speech was held at Harvard University in November 2017 discussing womanism and how we must rise to the occasion to better protect our black women.
In 2018, I decided to get into music. I realized that I had a voice that people wanted to hear. I am dropping a project called “For Colored Boys Who Love Trap Music & Beethoven” in 2019. It is an exploration of conversations I wish we would have more of. It’s a pretty deep project. Music, like love, is a universal language. I want to use the language of music and love to inspire the world. With the assistance of my housemate Warren “Ghost” Hallmon, in 2019 we launched NEITH L.L.C. and incorporated it in the state of Georgia. NEITH is a creative content agency that will reweave the reality of the 21st century. People often think that creativity is limited to the arts. However, at NEITH we believe that the same ingenuity and spirit of innovation used to make an awesome movie or music video or photo could be employed to inspire the youth, revamp public school curricula, or find an effective solution to homelessness. We believe that a world full of collaboration by intellectuals and creatives is the world that we need, and we are fighting every day to make that world real. This year I will also be consulting with government officials in Caribbean nations to promote human rights equity.
WHAT ARE YOU MOST PROUD OF IN LIFE?
I was the most proud of being able to fund a scholarship award in 2017 that helped a senior graduate from Fayetteville State University. The Colin R. Kaepernick Social Justice Award emerged from seeing the problems that face young people in trying to pay for higher education. To that end, I wanted to reward somebody matriculating through higher education that was also a pillar for community activism. I took my refund check and created a support scholarship. Even though I’m not rich, it just seemed like the right thing to do. My years in D.C. government working to avail academic and professional resources to District residents showed me that the youth of the world just want opportunity. That was my best effort toward providing such opportunity, to inspire the youth. I did not have the scholarship this year because I dissolved the fund, but I would like to pick it back up if I could get some partners to help with funding.
HOW HAVE YOU TURNED STRUGGLE INTO SUCCESS?
I am fighting to create generational wealth for my future kids in a world where I did not have it to inherit. I was born to a one-bedroom apartment, but my kids will rule over nations. My life has been a struggle that I have been working tirelessly to turn into a success story with every single hour. Should I drop dead tomorrow, it’s already a success to the extent I was able to plant seeds for trees whose shade I do not expect to sit in.
WHAT IS THE BEST ADVICE YOU’VE EVER RECEIVED?
The best advice I’ve ever been given is that a child not embraced by their village will burn down that same village to feel its warmth. It motivated me to work to inspire the youth, to always have a collaborative nature with my peers and let them know that I care and will do whatever I can to assist them. We are each other’s business.
WHAT DO YOU LIKE MOST ABOUT BEING A BLACK MAN?
I have been called a thug by strangers who know nothing of my character or background. I’ve been profiled by police for existing while black and felt the tightness in my chest that most black people do when they see red and blue cop lights in their rearview mirrors. I have been subject to monkey chants abroad and racism at home. I’ve walked on sidewalks with women who clutched their purses tighter when seeing my charcoal skin, even though I would be more likely to put money in than take any out. If I was a murderer or a thief I’d be famous already, but in my exceptionalism, there is little to no sensationalism. Still, I love everything about being a black man. Life is harder for people with darker skin all around the world, but in 2019 nothing is unattainable. We are free. What I love most as a black man who is the descendant of slaves is that very freedom that my ancestors did not have.
BE Modern Man is an online and social media campaign designed to celebrate black men making valuable contributions in every profession, industry, community, and area of endeavor. Each year, we solicit nominations in order to select men of color for inclusion in the 100 Black Enterprise Modern Men of Distinction. Our goal is to recognize men who epitomize the BEMM credo “Extraordinary is our normal” in their day-to-day lives, presenting authentic examples of the typical black man rarely seen in mainstream media. The BE Modern Men of Distinction are celebrated annually at Black Men XCEL (www.blackenterprise.com/blackmenxcel/). Click this link to submit a nomination for BE Modern Man: https://www.blackenterprise.com/nominate/. Follow BE Modern Man on Twitter: @bemodernman and Instagram: @be_modernman.
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Kamala Harris campaign cuts headquarters staff, moves some to Iowa
By KATHLEEN RONAYNE Associated Press
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris is laying off several dozen staff members and transferring others in an effort to salvage her prospects in the Iowa caucuses.
The move, which comes roughly three months before the caucuses formally usher in the Democratic contest, make the California senator the most prominent candidate so far to announce a major campaign restructuring. Harris’ campaign turned to history to make the case that in order to win the leadoff caucuses, candidates sometimes have to overhaul their operations.
“Plenty of winning primary campaigns, like John Kerry’s in 2004 and John McCain’s in 2008, have had to make tough choices on their way to the nomination, and this is no different,” her campaign manager, Juan Rodriguez, wrote in a memo to staff that was shared by the campaign Wednesday.
Politico was the first to report the overhaul.
Harris had already pledged to go all-in on Iowa, joking she was moving there, and earlier Wednesday her campaign touted the 15 days she spent in the state this month as the “October Hustle.” It was more than any of her competitors spent there in October, but she’s still polling behind leading candidates such as Joe Biden and Elizabeth Warren.
The latest changes come a full month after Rodriguez visited Iowa to evaluate the campaign’s organization and on the eve of an important Iowa Democratic fundraiser. On Friday, thousands of party activists, donors and officials — along with more than 150 members of the news media — will be listening closely to Harris’ speech for signs of new energy.
Among the changes outlined in the memo: Rodriguez and campaign consultants will take a pay cut, though it doesn’t say by how much; several dozen people will be laid off at Baltimore headquarters; and staff from New Hampshire, Nevada, California and headquarters will be moved to Iowa. The memo also doesn’t say how many people will be transferred to Iowa.
Harris plans to spend significant time in Iowa again in November, including over Thanksgiving.
The campaign, which has not yet run any television advertising, hopes to spend at least $1 million on a media campaign in the weeks before the Feb. 3 caucus, the memo said.
Rodriguez tried to distinguish the memo from what he called “gimmicks” by New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker and former Obama Cabinet official Julian Castro, who have released urgent appeals for money in recent weeks, raising the prospect of leaving the race if they couldn’t raise enough quick cash.
But Harris has underperformed on the fundraising front. She hails from California, a state that is home to many of the party’s most prominent donors and which has long served as an ATM for politically ambitious Democrats.
That hasn’t translated into success for Harris. Although she did better than her rivals in the state, she has struggled to raise money in recent months, despite keeping up an aggressive fundraising schedule.
She has consistently posted middling quarterly fundraising hauls. And during the most recent quarter, which ended Sept. 30, she revealed that she spent roughly $3 million more than the $11.6 million she took in while delaying about $1 million in payments to campaign strategists.
While her aides initially tried to project California as locked up in her favor, many of her rivals have found deep pockets of support among top donors there. Last spring, Democratic megadonor Susie Tompkins Buell, who was initially a top Harris fundraiser, also started to raise money for South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg.
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Associated Press writer Brian Slodysko in Washington contributed to this report.
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Online:
Read the Harris campaign memo: https://ift.tt/323WsRs
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