Hard News- Breaking News
It is has happened, or is happening now.
From the New York Daily News
A woman unleashed a hateful racist diatribe against Asian workers in a lower Manhattan salon — before focusing her ire on an Asian plainclothes cop, who quickly arrested her, authorities said Wednesday.
Sharon Williams stepped into the Good Choice for Nails salon on Madison St. near James St. near Chinatown about 5 p.m. on Tuesday and started cursing out workers, according to cops
“You brought coronavirus to this country!” she allegedly screamed.
Williams, 50, was harassing another Asian pedestrian on the block when an Asian plainclothes cop began to question her.
Outraged, Williams called the cop a “monkey,” authorities said. “You’re a Chinese motherf—er who brought COVID to this country!” she screamed as she was taken into custody, according to police.
Williams was charged with aggravated harassment as a hate crime and criminal trespass.
By Jonah E. BromwichApril 6, 2021
The lobby staff members who closed the door to a Manhattan apartment building last week without taking immediate action after a Filipino-American woman was brutally attacked on the street outside have been fired, the building’s owners told residents in an email on Tuesday.
Rick Mason, the executive director of management at the Brodsky Organization, which owns the luxury apartment building in Midtown, told residents of all the organization’s buildings in an email that two staff members who were inside the building lobby at the time had not followed “required emergency and safety protocols.”
“For this reason, their employment has been terminated, effective immediately,” Mr. Mason’s email said.
He did not identify the employees by name, and a spokeswoman did not specify the protocols that staff members had not followed.
From The Guardian
Day 8 of Derek Chauvin trial testimony concludes
The eighth day of testimony in the Derek Chauvin murder trial has come to a close.
Two major themes have solidified during Wednesday’s testimony. The prosecution has tried to convey through their witnesses that Chauvin’s use-of-force wasn’t necessary. On cross examination, Chauvin’s attorney, Eric Nelson, has attempted to argue that this is a situational assessment.
During his cross examination, Nelson has also continued to lay the groundwork for his position that Floyd died from an overdose – not Chauvin’s knee against his neck for more than nine minutes.
Here are some key takeaways from today’s proceedings:
- Sgt Jody Stiger, whom prosecutors called as an expert witness on use-of-force, has said that, “No force should have been used once [Floyd] was in that position.” Stiger has said on
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Feature Stories
Feature stories cover everything from arts, to human interest, to trends and anything that is fun.
From the Wall Street Journal
Could You Go for a Month Without Coffee?
Ramadan challenges Muslims who have become especially addicted to caffeine this past year
He’s now down to one daily cup of coffee and is trying to cut back on his soda consumption as well.
Khadijah Fasetire, an 18-year-old high-school student in Dublin, picked up a daily coffee habit in lockdown.
A fan of cooking and baking shows, Ms. Fasetire started seeing TikTok videos about a whipped coffee drink that became popular early in the pandemic and decided she had to try it. Soon she was hooked and realized she had become dependent on a daily dose of coffee.
“I always need a cup before studying as it gives me a boost,” she said. “I have important exams in June and as Ramadan is between April and May I will be studying a lot…I’m trying to prepare my body and mind for this.”
SHARE YOUR THOUGHTS
Has your caffeine consumption increased during the pandemic? Join the conversation below.
She’s trying a mix of weaning techniques, switching to decaf coffee some days and putting off her first morning cup of Joe for as long as she can.
Pre-Ramadan decaffeinating regimens appear to be more common in the West or non-Muslim countries where lifestyles don’t adapt to the side effects of fasting. In the Middle East, for instance, coffee plays a prominent role in Ramadan night culture. In normal times, friends and families enjoy large group iftaar dinners to break the fast at sundown, then often stay up for much of the night and sleep in during the day.
Muslims aren’t the only ones who suffer headaches as a result of religious fasting.
Dr. Michael Drescher, chief of emergency medicine at the Rabin Medical Center in Israel, conducted studies to test if rofecoxib, a long-lasting anti-inflammatory drug, could combat not only the Ramadan headaches but also the “Yom Kippur Headache” suffered by many Jews when they fast for 25 hours during the Day of Atonement.
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From the New York Daily News
Copy of 1938 Superman comic sells for record-setting $3.25 million
An old Superman comic book sold for a super-duper price tag.
A copy of the 1938 “Action Comics #1” brought in $3.25 million in a private sale, according to a Tuesday announcement from online auction and consignment company ComicConnect.com.
The record-setting price, narrowly bested the previous record for the comic, sold in the auction of another copy in 2014 for slightly over $3.2 million, the Associated Press reported.
New York City-based company’s chief operating officer Vincent Zurzolo said the comic book that introduced Superman to the world is considered “is the beginning of the superhero genre.”
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From The New York Times
Profile, A Look at a Person
By Ian AustenFeb. 5, 2021
OTTAWA — For Murray Sinclair, being a bridge between Indigenous people and the rest of Canada has sometimes been a struggle. After he graduated from law school in 1979, a step that felt like “joining the dark side,” he was frustrated by courts where he heard racist comments flow and saw the justice system work repeatedly against Indigenous people.
“This is killing me, literally, to do this,” Mr. Sinclair, who is Anishinaabe, recalled telling his wife, Katherine Morrisseau-Sinclair. “I’m not really helping anybody, but I’m also being seen as one of them.”
Ms. Morrisseau-Sinclair persuaded him to visit Angus Merrick, an elder from the Long Plain Indian band and an Aboriginal court worker.
The two men met in Mr. Merrick’s tepee, the elder smoking cigarettes and both of them drinking pots of tea until 6 in the evening, at which point Mr. Merrick became direct.
From The New York Times
She Never Dreamed of Acting. Now She’s an Oscar Nominee for ‘Minari.’
The veteran Korean star Yuh-Jung Youn has had a thriving career for five decades — all because of a choice she made when she failed her college entrance exam.
By Carlos AguilarPublished April 2, 2021Updated April 7, 2021, 4:39 p.m. ET
For her 60th birthday, the veteran Korean star Yuh-Jung Youn made herself a promise. She would collaborate only with those she trusts. Even if their ventures fell short, as long as she personally appreciated the people making them, the result wouldn’t much concern her.
That late-life philosophy, born of decades of limited choices and professional trauma, brought her to “Minari,” the director Lee Isaac Chung’s semi-autobiographical story about a Korean family putting down roots in Arkansas. Youn’s bittersweet performance as the grandmother, Soonja, in the tenderhearted immigrant drama has earned her an Academy Award nomination for best supporting actress, the first for a Korean actress.
“Me, a 73-year-old Asian woman could have never even dreamed about being nominated for an Oscar,” Youn said via video call from her home in Seoul. “‘Minari’ brought me a lot of gifts.”
As she recounted this triumph and the many pitfalls that preceded it, her pensive expression often broke into an affable smile, cheerful laughter even. Dressed in a demure black top and long necklace, there was an effortless grace to her serene presence. She came off unhurried and welcoming but determined to make her ideas understood. Occasionally she asked a friend off-camera for help with certain English words to hit each point more precisely.
Read more.
Sports Stories
They break down into categories of breaking news and those stories cover games and scores. Great sport stories also involve features and profiles.
From The New York Daily News
Alize Johnson occupies the NBA’s most valuable roster spot and the Nets should keep him there
Alize Johnson is a workhorse, and on a championship contender, you can’t have too many.
For that reason, and that reason alone, the Nets should guarantee his contract for the remainder of the season. Even if it means they can’t add depth at the point guard position.
The latter would not be a long trip: Other teams are monitoring Johnson’s situation, and the Nets don’t want to let him go. It’s no surprise: Johnson adds to general manager Sean Marks’ track record of finding needles in NBA haystacks. Caris LeVert, Spencer Dinwiddie, Joe Harris, D’Angelo Russell and Jarrett Allen each became local household names thanks to Marks providing an opportunity, not to mention second-year forward Nic Claxton, a second-round pick who has been playing key minutes on a presumptive championship contender.
As has Johnson, who has impressed teammates and coaches alike, in his minimal time in Brooklyn.“I think we’re pretty comfortable in what we have with Alize. He’s been outstanding, works hard, plays with incredible energy, he’s a great teammate,” said Nets head coach Steve Nash. “So he’s been really productive in the minutes he’s gotten so we feel confident in him as a player.”
A Morning in the Kitchen With the Grandmother Who Cooks for Major League Baseball Players
Altagracia Alvino is used to cooking large meals for her family, teammates and visiting players. I sampled her (very tasty) goat stew.
The first words out of Altagracia Alvino’s mouth after opening the door to the apartment and hearing my hello were abrupt. “Shh,” she said. “El nene está durmiendo.” The kid is sleeping. Whoops.
Alvino was referring to her grandson, Toronto Blue Jays third baseman Vladimir Guerrero Jr., one of baseball’s brightest young stars. He was still slumbering in the other room. Normally, she cooks without an audience after she wakes up at 7 a.m. But on this recent morning, photographer Tara Walton and I were in attendance.
We slipped inside and quietly watched as Alvino prepared a feast of white rice with stewed goat meat and beans. Alvino, 66, has been doing this for nearly two decades: cooking food for her baseball-playing kin — notably her son, Vladimir Sr., who was inducted into the Hall of Fame last year, and his son, Vladimir Jr. — plus their teammates and visiting players.
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Obituaries
Gianluigi Colalucci, Who Showed Michelangelo’s True Colors, Dies at 91
The chief restorer of the Vatican Museums, he led the cleaning of the Sistine Chapel, a 14-year effort that revealed a new vision of Michelangelo’s complex work.
Gianluigi Colalucci, who led what was known as the restoration of the century — the cleaning of the Sistine Chapel — and in so doing revealed a new vision of Michelangelo’s storied, complex masterpieces there, died on March 28 in Rome. He was 91.
The Vatican Museums, where he was the chief restorer for many years, announced his death but did not specify a cause.
It took Michelangelo four years to create the Sistine Chapel’s ceiling frescoes and six more to paint his roiling, swirling Last Judgment on the altar wall, and almost immediately both works were under assault.
Soot, smoke and dust in what was always a working chapel began to darken the once-vivid colors. And starting in 1565, after years of criticism that deemed the naked figures of the Last Judgment obscene, decorous draperies were painted over their genitals. (Michelangelo refused to do that work, declaring of Pope Pius IV, “Let him make the world a suitable place, and the painting will fit in.”)
