Reporting About What Happened To Ahmaud Arbery
8 potential jurors advance in Ahmaud Arbery slaying trial
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/17/us/ahmaud-arbery-shooting-trial.html
BRUNSWICK, Ga. (AP) — A judge found eight potential jurors qualified to advance Tuesday following intense questioning aimed at finding an impartial jury for the trial of three white men charged with chasing and killing Ahmaud Arbery, whose slaying last year sparked a national outcry.
Father and son Greg and Travis McMichael and a neighbor, William “Roddie” Bryan, are charged with murder and other crimes in the 25-year-old Black man’s death after a cellphone video of the Feb. 23, 2020, killing was leaked online two months later.
“We can’t do this without you,” Superior Court Judge Timothy Walmsley told the eight pool members, the first to advance after being questioned individually by attorneys on what they know about Arbery’s death, how many times they watched the video and whether they think the shooting was motivated by racism.
https://www.nytimes.com/video/us/100000007142853/ahmaud-arbery-video-911-georgia.html
CaptionAhmaud Arbery
The shooting death of Ahmaud Arbery outside Brunswick, Georgia, sparked nationwide outrage — but not right away.
Arbery died Feb. 23, but it took more than two months for charges to be filed, and that was only after a disturbing video of the shooting was released. When Brunswick News reporter Larry Hobbs heard about Arbery’s death a day after it happened, what struck him was how no one was talking about it.
As the days and weeks went by following Arbery’s death, the scope of the tragedy began to take focus.
On this episode of Georgia Today, Hobbs recalls the strange, silent days and weeks following the shooting, the pinball movements as the case bounced from prosecutor to prosecutor and what the story revealed about the community he covers.Tags: Georgia TodayGregory McMichaelTravis McMichaelAhmaud ArberyBrunswick
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About the authors
Author
SEAN POWERSDirector of Podcasting
Sean Powers is Georgia Public Broadcasting’s first director of podcasting. He joined GPB in 2014 as a producer/reporter with On Second Thought, and remained with the program until 2018. For his last four months on the show, he served as acting senior producer.
Interviewing Spreaders of Misinformation
Story Logic From the Daily News
Boy, 13, shoots and wounds Snapchat rival, also 13, in Bronx playground — mom turns suspect in after seeing wanted poster
By BRITTANY KRIEGSTEIN, ROCCO PARASCANDOLA, THOMAS TRACY and LEONARD GREENENEW YORK DAILY NEWS |OCT 13, 2021 AT 2:19 PM
A 13-year-old boy wanted for shooting a rival his same age over a Snapchat feud was arrested after his mother saw a wanted poster and hauled him into a Bronx NYPD stationhouse, police said Wednesday.
The two boys had been sparring in messages to each other on the popular phone app — and on Oct. 6 the suspect sent a message threatening to shoot the victim, police said.
The next day, the argument moved from online messages to the street, with the 4-foot-11, 110-pound teen allegedly shooting the victim in the left knee inside Hunts Point Playground about 5:35 p.m., police said.
“You just shake your head,” NYPD Commissioner Dermot Shea said on PIX11 Wednesday morning. “It’s terrible all the way around. We have to do better as a society.”
EMS took the victim to Harlem Hospital in stable condition.
“It went in and it came out, so that’s good,” the victim’s mother, Suleykie Rivera, said. “They caught it in time, they called 911 in time. He was really lucky. If the bullet would have went in and stayed that would have been tragic.”
The boy was still recovering in Harlem Hospital on Wednesday. He had also tested positive for COVID-19, the mother said.
Rivera, 33, said she didn’t know the shooter or anything about the Snapchat feud.
Social media is really a bad thing for these kids. They shouldn’t even have social media,” she said.
Snapchat allows users exchange pictures and videos — called snaps — that are meant to disappear after they’re viewed. The app, which is particularly popular among teens, has about 293 million daily active users worldwide, according to the company.
She learned of the shooting from one of her son’s friends.
“I was just shocked,” she said. “I couldn’t think, I couldn’t feel, nothing, you know. He’s 13!”
The teen shooter ran off but was captured on surveillance video, gun in hand. A second suspect, still being sought, also appears on the video, clad in a red sweatshirt and riding his bike behind the shooter, police said.
Cops released the video Sunday and asked the public’s help tracking down the suspect, known to police by his nickname Chulo.
The suspected shooter’s mother, who declined comment, saw a wanted poster with her son’s image, took him to the 41st Precinct stationhouse Tuesday afternoon and asked for a lawyer, police said.
The pint-sized suspect was charged with attempted murder, assault and harassment. His name was not released because he is a minor. The Daily News is not naming the 13-year-old victim because of his age.
Cops said that the teen shooter was processed through Family Court and returned to his mother’s custody.
Shea said that the NYPD has been trying to get to children “before they get into the violence” but more needs to be done.
“What do you do with a 13-year-old in this circumstance?” Shea asked. “There is no right answer. The courts will figure it out and you hope. You feel for the victim, but you also think about the side of the family of the child that pulled the trigger here. There are no winners.”
Amanda Palermo, 30, said she heard the shots.
“I was sitting right next to the basketball court. Four shots,” she said. “A bunch of kids came and then all you heard was four shots and he got shot in his leg. “
She said the boy fell to the ground and the shooter dashed off.
“When that happened the other kids in the park ran away,” she said. “The only ones that stayed were (the victim’s) friends.”
Local parents said the suspect and his crew have slashed tires of cars, thrown beer bottles at mothers and scared little kids with threatening looks. One of the menacing boys has a black dog that he sics on smaller kids, they said.
“Last year, they stole my son’s bike,” a local mother said. “I called the police and they never came. ”
She said parents have to take more responsibility.
“These boys have been making this a violent area,” she said, adding that one of the boys punched her son in the stomach during the robbery.
“These young boys know that the police will never come” she said. “It’s a huge problem. And as an adult, I can’t do anything against minors.”
Scared neighbors said there are also mischievousgirls who egg the boys on to fight.
“They’re really aggressive,” one of the mothers said. “They’re always alone, they’re never with their parents. One time we asked about their parents and they laughed at us.”
The parents said one of the boys flashed a knife when they threatened to call the cops but they were unaware of any of the boys carrying guns.
Michael Greene, 63, a painter who has lived in the neighborhood since the 1960s, said locals have worked to improve the area. The shooting didn’t help.
“It was kind of disturbing, a 13-year-old shooting a 13-year-old in a public park,” Greene said. “This neighborhood is trying to clean up and it’s like we’re right back where we started.”
Greene praised the mother who turned in her own flesh and blood.
“Well, that was a good thing,” Greene said. “That’s what parents are supposed to do. The kids, they so-called don’t want to snitch.”
“I feel for the young kid because he’s so young,” Greene said of the suspect. “He’s got his whole life in front of him and you’re making decisions like that. You’re supposed to run around, play fighting, playing PlayStation, eating candy. Not doing stuff like that.”
Rivera said her son is focused on his recovery, hoping to get back on the field to play football again when his knee heels. She said the doctors have given him a good prognosis for his recovery.
“I’m so thankful. He’s gonna be good. He can go back to football. He can go back to school. He’s in shock right now, so right now he isn’t really talking. Right now, he can’t even believe he got shot,” she said.
“And it’s just sad. Kids are kids. Kids trying to kill each other. It’s sad for my son who got shot, but it’s sad for the little boy that shot my son, because he’s also a kid.”
Mayor de Blasio News Conference
October 14, 2021
From the New York Daily News
By DAVE GOLDINER and MICHAEL GARTLAND
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS |OCT 13, 2021 AT 4:50 PM
An obscure city panel may vote to remove a statue of Thomas Jefferson from its place in the City Council chambers amid controversy over the Founding Father’s history as a slaveholder.
The city Public Design Commission will decide Monday whether to loan the statue to the City Historical Society, effectively ending its nearly two-century run in one of Gotham’s most revered spots.
The “long-term loan” of the statue is listed as a so-called consent item, meaning the 11-member committee of architecture and museum notables will vote up or down after reviewing any public comments submitted virtually.
“The individuals memorialized within the confines of our People’s House be reflective not only of the best traditions of our city’s history and its diversity but unquestionable character,” the City Council’s Black, Latino and Asian Caucus said in a statement.
New York City Councilman Joe Borelli (R-Staten Island) disagreed with removing one of the nation’s Founding Fathers from the chambers.
“This is more progressive war on history,” said the Staten Island rep. “Why wasn’t this put on the consent calendar? I thought we were having this big public discussion about monuments. Apparently not.”
City Council Speaker Cory Johnson and four other council members signed a letter to Mayor de Blasio in 2020 asking for the Jefferson statue to be removed. They acted soon after the police killing of George Floyd, which sparked nationwide protests for racial justice.
The 1833 cast-iron statue was created by Pierre-Jean David and was donated to the city a year later by Jefferson admirer and Navy commandant Uriah Phillips Levy.
The statue first came under fire in 2001 when firebrand then-Councilmember Charles Barron (D-Brooklyn) called for it to be replaced with an image of Malcolm X.
Its removal from the place of honor in the City Council chambers would mark another milestone in the campaign to reassess public monuments and memorials dedicated to historical figures with decidedly controversial histories.
Most of the movement’s energy has focused on removing statues of Confederate officials and generals. But many activists say America should also take another look at honors for Founding Fathers, who also owned slaves and held opinions that would be considered virulently racist in modern times.
Traditionalists counter that removing statues of any historic figure with a checkered past amounts to sanitizing history.Dave GoldinerNew York Daily NewsCONTACT
Dave Goldiner is a political reporter at the New York Daily News. A 30-year newsroom veteran, he believes he is the only reporter to cover both the Sept. 11 terror attacks and the death and funeral of South African freedom icon Nelson Mandela on the ground.Michael GartlandNew York Daily NewsCONTACT
Michael Gartland covers the New York City Housing Authority, housing and homelessness. During his 20-year career, he’s covered politics, crime and religion for The Record in NJ, The Post and Courier in SC and Newsday, among others. His work has earned local and national journalism awards. He lives in Upper Manhattan with his wife and two children.
Stroll—And Eat—On An Italian Boulevard While In The Big Apple
by Gerald Eskenazi from Forbes
BELMONT BUSINESS IMPROVEMENT DISTRICT PHOTO
If you want to know what one of the most interesting neighborhoods in New York was like before the pandemic—-well, it’s back, and in these times, more important, more fun and more needed than ever.
There really is only one Little Italy these days, and it’s in the Bronx, in the area known as the Belmont Business Improvement District. To most of us, it’s simply Arthur Avenue, and if you’re a New Yorker, or are going to visit, this is a place for you along with the Statue of Liberty, the Empire State Building, and Times Square.
The somewhat-official launching of the return takes place Friday night, April 30, and continues until autumn unveils itself to New Yorkers.
It’s called, grandly and romantically, and with a nod to its Italian roots, Piazza di Belmont—the place for outdoor dining on Arthur Avenue. You don’t have to close your eyes to imagine you’re in Italy on a real piazza, a wide street you can stroll on without looking over your shoulder for a bicycle, car or truck. Look around and imagine an Italian town. You’ll soon be whistling Italian love songs, too.
The street becomes transformed as a piazza on Friday and Saturday nights from 6 to 10 P.M., and from 1 to 9 P.M. Sundays. This means that from East 188th Street to Crescent Avenue this swath on Arthur Avenue will be closed to vehicles. You can walk down the middle of the street, dine without being bothered by honking, hear the tinkle of wine glasses instead of the ring of a bicycle bell or any other vehicular noise.
ARTHUR AVENUE BUSINESS IMPROVEMENT DISTRICT
For Peter Madonia, chairman of the District, and purveyor of the tasty goodies from his eponymous bake shop, there is a deja vu aspect to what Arthur Avenue has done on the weekends:
“Many of the small businesses in Bronx Little Italy are owned and operated by the same families who founded them over a century ago – some of which have already been through the 1918 pandemic.”
During the day, the neighborhood will be the same—that is, the stores will be open for browsing, takeout, dining. This area looks and feels and sounds like the New York you first met in old movies, or television shows. It is a legitimate Little Italy in food—pizza the way it’s made in Naples; pasta from Italian semolina; food shops where a ton of slabs of pork hang from the ceiling; bakeries with 35 kinds of cookies.
If you’re a New Yorker, Arthur Avenue is, at most, a 30-minute drive by car. Little Italy in the Bronx has several parking options including metered spaces and a public parking lot at 2356 Hoffman Street. Also, anyone—New Yorker or visitor—can get to the Belmont neighborhood via Metro-North or the city’s subway via the D/B line.
If you want to know more about the neighborhood, log on to bronxlittleitaly.com. If you’re interested in making specific reservations, well, this evocative names of restaurants are among the places you’ll want to go: Zero Otto Nove, Mario’s Restaurant, Enzo’s of Arthur Avenue, Estrellita Poblana III, Ann & Tony’s, Pasquale’s Rigoletto Restaurant,
And, as I once heard someone say in Rome, “Mangia!”
I have had a rollicking 44-year ride as a reporter (sports) for The New York Times—that included 8,000 bylines, second-highest in the paper’s history. Along the way, I
BOXING: Foreman Flattens Moorer With Blast From the Past
by Gerald Eskenazi, from The New York Times
A right hand thrown from about 1973 tonight returned to 45-year-old George Foreman the heavyweight title he had lost 20 years ago.
With that heavy, short blow to the previously undefeated Michael Moorer in the 10th round, Foreman became the oldest heavyweight champion in history.
He looked it, too, his baggy orange trunks — they were red when he wore them in Zaire against Muhammad Ali 20 years and a week ago — ill-fitting under his stomach.
At 250 pounds, he was 28 pounds heavier than the southpaw Moorer, who was 19 years younger.
Foreman had trailed on all three judges’ scorecards. But the stunning shot proved to be the only knockdown of the bout. Moorer fell flat on his back and took the entire 10-count from Referee Joe Cortez, the bout ending at 2 minutes 3 seconds of the 10th with Foreman becoming the World Boxing Association and International Boxing Federation champion.
Oliver McCall holds the World Boxing Council title. McCall will fight 45-year-old Larry Holmes, a former champion, in a title bout next February.
Moorer had thrown 641 punches, to only 369 by Foreman. Yet, Foreman had refused to sit in his stool between rounds against his younger opponent. He stood in his corner so calmly, it seemed like another attempt at a psych job.
The one shot made Foreman the first fighter in the division to appear in a title fight 20 years apart.
Ali had defeated him in Zaire in 1974. That ended the myth of the Invincible Foreman that had reached its peak when he knocked out Joe Frazier in 1973 to capture the title.
“These are the shorts that I fought in when I was heavyweight champion of the world,” said Foreman later. “They are short and make you look a little chubby, but I fought Muhammad Ali in these shorts.
“I exorcised the ghost, once and forever. Heavyweight champion of the world.”
Foreman had been hit with most of the bout’s punches, yet rarely faltered or staggered or changed his style. He moved forward.
The road to the knockout began with a right that sent a shudder through Moorer, who backed up. Then came a short left, and finally, the ultimate right.
“Anything you desire, you can make happen,” the once and future champion said afterward. “It’s like the song, ‘When you wish upon a star your dreams come true.’ Well, look at me tonight.”
And what better setting for this than a 15,000-seat indoor arena at the M-G-M Grand, the 5,005-seat hotel in which Dorothy and the Tin Man and the other “Wizard of Oz” characters cavort near the casinos.
“Bluebirds,” said Foreman, “fly over the rainbow. Why oh why can’t I?”
More gracious in defeat than he had been as champion, at least publicly, Moorer admitted afterward that he had been thinking of retiring if he won.
“But I’m not sure now,” he said. His record fell to 35-1, including 30 knockouts. For Foreman, who did not fight at all between 1977 and 1987, his impressive mark stands at 73-4. Moorer was his 68th knockout victim.
Why didn’t Moorer just coast the final rounds? Two judges had him ahead by 5 points, the third by 1 point. Moorer had to know he was leading.
I my mind, I knew I was winning,” he said. But apparently his trainer, Teddy Atlas, kept after him to keep circling to his right.
“I was doing it in the gym, but here it’s totally different,” Moorer explained.
Didn’t he consider backing off?
“No,” he replied, “I never considered backing off.”
Foreman claimed his strategy was to keep pounding until he could flatten Moorer. Foreman claimed that he would never get the benefit of a decision, and that the fact there was no three-knockdown rule would help Moorer. Thus, said Foreman, when he nailed Moorer, it was essential he stay down.
Foreman didn’t need to worry. Even while Moorer was down for a minute after being knocked out, Foreman was on his knees praying. In the excitement his brother, Roy, passed out in the ring, but a physician said later, “He’s O.K. “
And will Foreman continue?
“It’s too soon to say,” he said. “But I want to fight in the Astrodome. It’s my dream.” He is from Houston.
He entered the ring to a joyful sounds of “If I Had a Hammer,” looking all business in a gray hooded sweatshirt soaked with perspiration. He had on those baggy orange shorts.
Moorer, who won the championship only six months ago from Evander Holyfield, strode in to rap music, wearing a bright yellow robe over gold shorts. His handlers walked around holding his championship belts aloft.
Moorer got the first good blow, a left hook. that made the water bounce off the top of Foreman’s bald head.
Moorer connected with a few more right jabs against Foreman, who presented a stolid figure, as if waiting to unload a right. It was part of his strategy, he was to claim, to wait it out until the time was right, until Moorer could not get up again.
Foreman stood after the round, while Moorer was ministered to by Atlas, who had worked on preparing Moorer for George’s mind games as well as right uppercut.
Outwardly, the champion and the challenger represented a study in contrasts.
Snarling and intimidating, Foreman mowed down heavyweights and brushed aside friends in his rush to the title he captured from Frazier. But three years after losing it to Ali in Zaire, he dropped a decision to Jimmy Young in Puerto Rico.
After showering, he stormed out, dripping wet and started screaming that he had to find God. He tried to get back into the arena. His trainer, Gil Clancy, had to hold him down. Foreman became a preacher and didn’t fight for 10 years.
Harlem Man Shoots At Police Then Kills Himself
NBCU Internships Winter/Spring 2022
The Story Of A Shipwrecked Sailor Quiz
Name:
1. Who wrote the book?
2. What was the sailor’s name?
3. What was the destroyer’s name?
5. How old was the sailor?
6. What movie did the sailor see that made him anxious?
7. What port did the destroyer leave to return to Colombia?
8. Why were the sailors in that port?
9. Where in Colombia was the destroyer going?
10. What was the “message of hope” the sailor saw when he was drifting?
12. What did the sailor have with him when he went overboard?
13. What did he put between his teeth when he swam to shore?
14. How many days was he shipwrecked?
15. Who discovered the sailor?
16. What did the sailor think about the idea of his heroism?