State officials deliver highest level of rebuke and say production demonstrated ‘plain indifference’ to employee protectionThe state of New Mexico on Wednesday issued its maximum citation against the producers of the western movie Rust for safety lapses before what the authorities called the “avoidable” shooting death of the cinematographer Halyna Hutchins during filming last autumn.An investigation into Hutchins’ death found the company, Rust Movie Productions, knew firearm safety procedures were not being followed on set and demonstrated “plain indifference” to employee safety, the New Mexico environment department said in a statement. Continue reading...

Ruling by district court judge in Florida that Covid-19 measure was illegal is opposed by 49% of Americans, poll shows

Proposed map would chop up the fifth district into four new ones where Black voters would comprise a much smaller share of the vote – a visual guideFlorida’s Governor Ron DeSantis is brazenly trying to curtail Black political power in his state as he redraws its congressional districts to significantly benefit Republicans.The Florida legislature is meeting this week to consider a proposal from DeSantis that would give Florida Republicans a 20-8 advantage over Democrats in the state’s congressional delegation. That’s a four-seat increase from the 16-11 advantage Republicans hold now (Florida gained an additional seat in Congress because of population growth). The Florida senate approved the plan on a party line vote on Wednesday. It is still being debated in the Florida house of representatives. Continue reading...

The human costs of lockdown in Shanghai have sparked frustration and despair. But leaders have no exit strategyEven by the standards of China’s overzealous censors, suppressing a hashtag that simply quoted its national anthem was striking stuff. The opening line – “Arise, ye who refuse to be slaves!” – had been deployed to express the growing anger and distress in Shanghai as what was supposed to be a short, sharp lockdown stretched on for weeks, with gruelling results for individuals as well as damaging effects on the economy. On Wednesday the city eased restrictions somewhat, with millions allowed to leave home for the first time in weeks. Yet even if the worst proves to be over in the financial centre, experiencing China’s biggest outbreak since the virus first emerged in Wuhan, concerns about the country’s insistence on a zero-Covid strategy will persist.Outside China, the attention has been on the draconian nature of restrictions, with reports of the separation of small children from their parents, people dying from other medical problems because they could not access help, and the beating to death of a dog whose owner had apparently been sent to a quarantine centre. Plenty in China have lambasted the inhumanity, but it is also the inefficiency of authorities which has shocked. An international, sophisticated metropolis is asking why officials insisted there would be no lockdown until the last minute, leaving residents no time to prepare; why the testing and isolation process appears beset by confusion; why conditions are so poor in crowded quarantine centres; and why food is in such short supply. Officials have admitted “difficulties”. Delivery remains at the centre of the party’s legitimacy, even if nationalism has become an increasingly potent force. Continue reading...

US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) has contracted with private data brokers to get around some areas’ sanctuary laws, documents showOver the last decade, a growing number of American cities and states have restricted the information local law enforcement departments can exchange with immigration authorities.But new documents reveal that US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) has tapped a network of private technology companies to skirt such sanctuary policies, facilitating access to “real time” information about incarcerations and jail bookings, which enables them to pick up immigrants targeted for deportation. Continue reading...

After a judge struck down the mandate on transportation what anti-Covid mask rules apply in places from hospitals to theaters?Most US airlines and airports, the ride-sharing company Uber and national train service Amtrak are now lifting Covid-related mask mandates that have been in place for more than a year.The shift comes after a judge in Florida ruled against a federal mandate and the Biden administration said it would not enforce one even as Covid-19 infections are rising again in the US, and more than 400 people are dying every day from the airborne disease. Continue reading...

Russia’s humiliated military and intelligence blocs know they have let their leader down, and need the war to go onRussia’s war in Ukraine is not going according to plan. The sinking of the Moskva – the flagship of the Black Sea fleet – is the latest major military setback. In the course of almost two months, Russia has lost six major generals and between 15,000-20,000 troops, all the while failing to secure any appreciable gains.Reports of low morale and defection, coupled with sightings of mercenaries deployed by the Kremlin, hint at recruitment problems. This, along with Russia’s apparent inability to replenish lost military equipment – a consequence of western sanctions – has led some observers to wonder whether the Russian war machine is running out of road.Olga Chyzh researches political violence and repressive regimes. She is an assistant professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of Toronto Continue reading...

President says US can deliver ‘most successful’ rugby events in history, for men in 2031 and women in 2033, with decision in MayA letter from Joe Biden to Sir Bill Beaumont, chairman of World Rugby, was part of a finalised World Cup package submitted by USA Rugby in its bid to host the men’s event in 2031 and the women two years later.World Rugby is due to announce the success or not of the US bid on 12 May. Alan Gilpin, chief executive of the governing body, has said World Rugby believes it “can deliver the right outcomes with this hosting plan”. Continue reading...

Tracey Meares had highest grades at Springfield high school but was denied title, sharing ‘top student’ award with white peerIn 1984, Tracey Meares was on her way to becoming her Illinois high school’s first Black valedictorian, with the highest academic ranking at Springfield High. Instead, she was declared “top student” – alongside Heather Russell, a white student.Thirty-eight years later, Meares is valedictorian at last, after she was finally presented with the title last Saturday after a screening of the documentary No Title for Tracey. Continue reading...

‘We have pharaohs in neighboring countries,’ Zelenskiy recently said. I was privileged to join a group of refugees celebrating sederOn the first night of Passover, more than 100 Ukrainian refugees gathered for a seder at the Doubletree-Hilton in Warsaw, Poland. The Haggadah, the accompanying liturgical libretto, directs its readers to see themselves as if they had personally exited from slavery. This year, Russia made that task easier.“We have pharaohs in neighboring countries,” Volodymyr Zelenskiy said, speaking to the world from Ukraine.Lloyd Green is an attorney in New York. He was opposition research counsel to George HW Bush’s 1988 campaign and served in the Department of Justice from 1990 to 1992 Continue reading...

We know how important play and imagination are to children. But what is it about building, specifically, that feels so necessary?David Beckham apparently unwinds at the end of a long day by playing with Lego, which he’ll do until the wee hours – two, three, four in the morning. “It relaxes me,” he said during an interview.It’s something I thought about a lot earlier this year, as my family existed in the perpetual, foggy fugue state otherwise known as “everyone got Covid the day before we were supposed to go on our first family vacation in more than two years, and so now we’re stuck in our apartment and can’t leave, and we thought this was over, already”.Sophie Brickman is a contributor to the New Yorker, the New York Times and other publications, and the author of Baby, Unplugged: One Mother’s Search for Balance, Reason, and Sanity in the Digital Age Continue reading...

Rwanda has a long tradition of hospitality. But many asylum seekers view this British plan with suspicionIn the aftermath of genocide, Rwanda turned to tradition to help rebuild the country. There is a saying: turi bene mugabo umwe Gihanga – we all have the same father. Hospitality is part and parcel of this custom, a natural reflex of living together rather than an obligation. Sasa bugari, another saying goes, or widen your bed and always make room for the unknown traveller who may seek hospitality at any time. In the shack where we landed after being exiled, my mother immediately set about weaving two mats for any unexpected guests who may drop in, certain of a warm welcome.My father, too, would be up at cock’s crow, before dawn, and off into the savannah in search of more fertile earth on which to grow the next crop. Come nightfall, seeing smoke above a banana plantation, he knew he could simply lay down his staff outside a hut and call out “Yemwe abaha” (hey folks) to be received with all the respect and discretion that was due to a traveller. Early the next day he would set off again, secure in the knowledge that when the sun set behind the hills a woman somewhere would have prepared a welcome mat for the passing traveller.Scholastique Mukasonga is a French Rwandan novelist and author of Our Lady of the Nile and The Barefoot Woman. This article was translated by Harry Forster Continue reading...

A focus on open, inviting and community-centric interiors aims at appealing to a broad range of Black customers, including eldersWhen Kika Keith and her daughter opened a cannabis dispensary in South Central Los Angeles last year, they faced a design challenge: how could they create a store where older Black customers, who had seen all the ravages of the “war on drugs”, would feel comfortable making a purchase?It had been a tough battle for Keith to open a dispensary as a Black woman, in a post-legalized marijuana market where most of the business owners had become white men. She and her daughter, Kika Howze, wanted their store, Gorilla Rx Wellness Co, to reflect their focus on neighborhood investment and their hip-hop aesthetic. Continue reading...

Fears of a crime wave have fueled calls for harsher policing – but we’ve been down this road, says researcher James Forman JrIn the past two years, warnings of a pandemic-induced crime wave have become a staple of America’s evening news. A historic rise in homicide rates and reports of frequent retail thefts and “smash and grab robberies” have refreshed paranoia about a wave of violence and property crime. These fears have driven recall efforts against progressive prosecutors and calls from officials and residents alike to strengthen police forces.But this isn’t the first or even the second time the US has faced a moment of hysteria related to crime, reflexively calling for harsher punishments for perpetrators and more police officers on city streets. Continue reading...

Shawnee State University in Ohio had reprimanded Nicholas Meriwether, who then sued on first amendment groundsA public university in Ohio has agreed to pay $400,000 to one of its professors after it rebuked him for refusing to use a student’s preferred pronouns.In 2018, Nicholas Meriwether, a philosophy professor at Shawnee State University in southern Ohio, addressed a transgender student as “sir” when she raised her hand in class. Continue reading...

Shelling and strikes in Donbas increasing but Russians hampered by logistical problems, UK claims. Plus, Biden’s $6bn effort to save nuclear plants

New NCAA rules mean colleges can now pay athletes up to $5,980 per year for getting good grades. But few of them have plans to do soIn its athletic department’s mission statement, UCLA promises to “recruit only student-athletes who exhibit both an interest in the academic component of undergraduate life and the potential to succeed in the increasingly competitive academic environment of UCLA.” Duke University likewise “requires that students engaged in intercollegiate athletics be students first.”Yet, despite the supposed commitment to academics at these two premier universities – who have endowments of $7.4bn and $12.7bn respectively – neither has chosen to take up new NCAA rules which allow colleges to pay their athletes up to $5,980 per year for getting good grades or merely retaining eligibility. Just this week Duke publicly acknowledged that the it “has not yet made a decision on whether we will provide benefits for academic performance that are now permitted by the NCAA.” Nor are Duke and UCLA outliers: ESPN reported this month that only 22 of the 130 schools at the highest level of college football have firm plans to pay players for academic performance this year. Continue reading...

After Covid lockdown boom, orders dropped by 1% to 264.2m in first three months of 2022Just Eat Takeaway is considering selling off its Grubhub arm after reporting a decline in orders compared with bumper levels during Covid lockdowns.The online food ordering company said orders dropped by 1% to 264.2m in the first three months of 2022 as it struggled when trying to match the pandemic-boosted levels from a year earlier, when many cafes, restaurants and hospitality venues remained closed for several months. Continue reading...

The star ‘became irate’ after being asked to leave a private residence and reportedly threw a chair, which struck a womanFantastic Beasts star Ezra Miller has been arrested on suspicion of assault in Hawaii, just weeks after police on the Big Island arrested the actor for disorderly conduct and assault.The star, 29, also known for playing the Flash in Justice League films, “became irate” after being asked to leave a private residence and reportedly threw a chair, which struck a woman on the forehead, according to a statement from the Hawaii police department. Continue reading...

Former LA Lakers player and general manager claims HBO has ‘demeaned him for shock value’ in popular drama about basketball teamThe former Los Angeles Lakers player, coach and general manager Jerry West has reportedly demanded an apology and retraction over his depiction in the HBO series Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty, calling it “a baseless and malicious assault”.The new drama series is centred on the rise of the LA Lakers in the 1980s “Showtime era”, when West was the team’s general manager. The actor Jason Clarke plays West, alongside John C Reilly as the team’s owner, Dr Jerry Buss. Continue reading...

Member of House Capitol attack panel says hearings will focus on Trump’s bid to cling to powerDonald Trump attempted a coup on 6 January 2021 as he tried to salvage his doomed presidency, and that will be a central focus of forthcoming public hearings of the special House panel investigating events surrounding the insurrection at the US Capitol, the congressman Jamie Raskin has said.Raskin is a prominent Democrat on the committee and also led the House efforts when Trump was impeached for a historic second time, in 2021, accused of inciting the storming of the US Capitol by his extremist supporters who were trying to stop the certification of Joe Biden’s victory. Continue reading...

For the price of a tiny hovel in NYC, I’m living the dream in Philadelphia. Even doing the laundry is an adventure here!After more than a decade spent considering myself a New Yorker I have finally left Manhattan for cheaper pastures (Philadelphia). I am, of course, obliged to tell you all about it. One does not get out of Metropolis quietly. No, ever since Joan Didion wrote Goodbye to All That in 1967, anyone who moves out of New York (or London) must file a Why I Left essay on their way out. It’s the law. And I’m very law-abiding.I’m also, luckily for you, on a strict word limit. Therefore I’m going to have to boil down my completely unique, never-before-experienced reflections on how the combination of having a new baby and living in a one-bedroom flat throughout the pandemic made me realise I wasn’t young enough or rich enough to have the sort of life I wanted in New York. And what sort of life did I want? The pandemic, middle age and motherhood made me figure out what was really important: having a washing machine in my house. They are surprisingly hard to come by in Manhattan. Continue reading...

Kathryn Mizelle, who overturned the federal requirement for masks on transport, part of Trump’s bid to reshape the judiciaryShe has become an instant heroine of the Republican right.In a 59-page opinion on Monday, the US district judge Kathryn Mizelle of Tampa, Florida, overturned the federal requirement that people wear masks on planes and public transportation. Continue reading...

I asked Asian Americans to share their funny-not-funny stories of being mistaken for other peopleRecently, standup queen Ali Wong announced her separation from her husband of eight years, Justin Hakuta. Sad news for the couple, who have two young daughters. And sad news for uninvolved bystander Randall Park, who, by virtue of having co-starred with Wong in the breakout Netflix romcom Always Be My Maybe, found his face splashed across the internet in breaking-news posts by Parade magazine and MSN – both of which used photos of Park in place of Hakuta.I don’t know what it was like for him on the day the story of Wong’s divorce hit the headlines. I imagine him driving home from a long day of being hilarious on TV, when all of a sudden his phone begins buzzing like a bag of angry hornets. He pulls over and looks at his messages. They’re from concerned friends and relatives, asking what he had to do with the breakup of his close friend and co-star’s marriage. He’s not on Twitter, so he messages back in panic asking for context. And then the phone rings, and it’s his wife, and honey, there’s some ’splainin to do … Continue reading...

With possession legalized, weed trucks and pop-ups are everywhere. But that could all change when the state swoops inFor the past few months, anyone visiting Katz’s Deli in the Lower East Side of Manhattan – as famous for its role in When Harry Met Sally as it is for pastrami – has queued near a green-painted food truck, strategically parked on Houston Street to capture Katz’s foot traffic, adorned with multi-colored LED signage advertising the city’s latest hot delicacy: cannabis.Passersby can stroll up to the truck’s sales window and peek at a menu written in marker on a white dry-erase board and ask to see and smell a sample before forking over $60 cash for 3.5 grams, the cannabis industry’s standard serving size. Continue reading...

If the centrist president wins, it will be by swinging the political pendulum further in Marine Le Pen’s directionThe promise of Emmanuel Macron’s presidency was straightforward: he would transcend the concepts of left and right, and consign populism to the margins of French politics. His rise to power in the spring of 2017 was an apparent lifeboat for liberals traumatised by Brexit and Donald Trump: here was the “centrist” prince over the water, a beacon of good governance and confirmation that the grownups were back in the room.It hasn’t worked out that way. Champions of so-called centrism believed Macron would be a desperately needed antidote to political polarisation. But Macronism has acted as an accelerant, not a coolant, leaving the country more troubled, divided and disillusioned than when this former investment banker secured office. Macron’s likely re-election, thanks to tactical voting, should not obscure a damning fact: the far right will come closer to holding power in a western European nation than at any time since 1945.Owen Jones is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...

Agreement between diocese of Camden and plaintiffs is one of largest cash settlements involving Catholic church in USA New Jersey Catholic diocese has agreed to pay $87.5m to settle claims involving clergy sexual abuse with some 300 alleged victims, marking one of the largest cash settlements involving the Catholic church in the United States.The agreement between the diocese of Camden, which encompasses six counties in southern New Jersey on the outskirts of Philadelphia, and plaintiffs was filed with US bankruptcy court in Camden on Tuesday. Continue reading...

Lawsuit asks court to rule SB 8 unconstitutional, citing public threats and legal action from anti-abortion activistsReproductive rights advocates in Texas have filed a new legal challenge to halt a near-total abortion ban that has been in effect for more than half a year.Senate Bill 8 bars abortion once embryonic cardiac activity is detected – typically as early as six week of pregnancy, which is before most people are aware they are pregnant – and offers no exception for rape or incest. The lawsuit, filed on Tuesday, asks a federal court to rule the extreme law unconstitutional. It cites public threats and legal action from anti-abortion activists against Texas abortion funds, groups that have been instrumental in helping patients travel out of state for care, arguing that this conduct has chilled their first amendment rights. Continue reading...

President follows video call with allies on Ukraine with trip to New Hampshire to discuss infrastructure

Steve Cohen says the US must establish ‘deterrents’ against lawyers accused of carrying out ‘unscrupulous work’A US congressman has urged the Biden administration to ban six British lawyers from entering the US amid accusations that the lawyers have “enabled” “Putin’s” oligarchs by engaging in “abusive” lawsuits against journalists as part of an alleged effort to silence them.Steve Cohen, a Democratic congressman from Tennessee, said in a letter to the US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, that the US needed to begin establishing “deterrents” against lawyers whom he accused of performing “unscrupulous work” that ultimately undermined democratic values. Continue reading...

The messages could strengthen a theory being explored by the House committee that January 6 included a coordinated assaultTop leaders in the Oath Keepers militia group indicted on seditious conspiracy charges over the Capitol attack had contacts with the Proud Boys and a figure in the Stop the Steal movement and may also have been in touch with the Republican congressman Ronny Jackson, newly released text messages show.The texts – which indicate the apparent ease with which Oath Keepers messaged Proud Boys – could strengthen a theory being explored by the House January 6 committee and the US justice department: that the Capitol attack included a coordinated assault. Continue reading...

White House press secretary becomes emotional in podcast discussion of wave of legislation sweeping Republican statesThe White House press secretary, Jen Psaki, broke down in tears during an interview in which she condemned the “cruelty” of a wave of anti-LGBTQ+ legislation sweeping Republican states.Known for her toughness at the briefing room podium, Psaki showed a more emotional side during the discussion with Jessica Yellin, host of the News Not Noise podcast, in an interview released on Tuesday. Continue reading...

Lyoya, a 26-year-old refugee from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, was killed by police at the end of a traffic stop in MichiganLawyers for the family of Patrick Lyoya, a Black man killed by police in western Michigan, have released results from an independent autopsy.Video from a bystander showed that Lyoya, who was not armed, was on the ground when he was shot in the head during a struggle with a white Grand Rapids officer on 4 April. Continue reading...

Majority of court sides with Pentagon over challenge by lieutenant colonel who cited religious grounds for refusal to get vaccineThe supreme court has allowed the US Department of Defense to take disciplinary action against an air force lieutenant colonel who refuses to get a Covid-19 vaccine.In a brief, two-sentence ruling on Monday, a majority of the court sided with the Pentagon. Three justices in the conservative majority – Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito and Neil Gorsuch – dissented. Continue reading...

Federal judge cites ‘whirlpool of colliding constitutional interests’ in allowing 14th-amendment challenge to far-right RepublicanAn attempt to bar the far-right Republican Marjorie Taylor Greene from Congress over her support for the January 6 attack can proceed, a federal judge said.Citing “a whirlpool of colliding constitutional interests of public import”, Amy Totenberg of the northern district of Georgia sent the case on to a state hearing on Friday. Continue reading...

President ‘thinks he’s the only one who can beat Trump’, source tells the Hill, as Trump is readying his own third runJoe Biden has told Barack Obama he will run for re-election in 2024, according to a Washington website, the Hill.The site cited two anonymous sources. One was quoted as saying Biden “wants to run and he’s clearly letting everyone know”. Continue reading...

While CEOs earn multimillion-dollar salaries, most workers make significantly less than a living wageSome of the largest, most profitable companies in retail and food services are still paying most of their workers less than $15 an hour, and many still make less than $10 an hour, according to a new company wage tracker developed by the Economic Policy Institute and the Shift Project.The tracker, which covers 66 large retail and food service corporations, found:Dollar General pays 92% of workers less than $15 an hour and 22% are paid less than $10 an hour.McDonald’s pays 89% of its workers less than $15 an hour and 23% are paid less than $10 an hour.Wendy’s pays 87% of workers less than $15 an hour and 17% are paid less than $10 an hour.At Sonic, 85% of workers are paid less than $15 an hour and 22% less than $10 an hour. Continue reading...

The threat of Omicron in no way justifies this draconian response. The state’s priority is its image, not people’s livesWhen cases grew in Shanghai, I was hopeful. I thought there would be no way Shanghai would be like Jilin and Changshun, smaller cities that had recently locked down millions of people to contain Covid outbreaks. I assumed that the government would finally have to relax its kneejerk “zero Covid” approach. I could not have been more wrong. Restrictions throughout China have become more draconian.We call this the Shanghai effect. After 24 million people became locked down here, everything was amped up elsewhere too. I live in a smaller city near Shanghai, and life has changed significantly in the last few months, our movements increasingly restricted. Some factories in Shanghai are beginning to reopen, but it seems that other restrictions will remain until cases fall further. Continue reading...

Try as you might to be perfect, there’s no grace for Black people who mess upFor as long as I can remember, Will Smith has been the “nice guy”. The 53-year-old actor has spent the last three decades crafting himself into the perfect image of the ever-pleasant, non-threatening Black man.From curse-free rap lyrics to his tender, nuanced portrayals of complicated characters, Smith has been a darling of mainstream Hollywood for a very long time. And prior to the last few years, he was one of a few celebrities who had made it to the peak of their careers virtually scandal-free. In him, white Hollywood found a Black man who was equal parts insanely talented and widely marketable, according to their standards of propriety and respectability.Tayo Bero is a Guardian US columnist Continue reading...

Russian troops have begun the battle for the Donbas, Ukrainian president says in video addressGood morning.Russia has begun its long-expected large-scale military action to seize the east of Ukraine, the country’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, said.Why is Donbas so important to Vladimir Putin? The Russian president has declared his intention to seize Donbas, which is already partly controlled by pro-Russian separatists. Control of Donbas would allow Moscow to create a southern corridor to the occupied Crimean peninsula.What is Biden doing? The US president will hold a call today with allies to discuss the Ukraine crisis, including on how to coordinate on holding Russia accountable, the White House said.What else is happening? Here’s what we know on day 55 of the invasion.What did the judge say? In her 59-page ruling, Mizelle said the only remedy was to vacate the rule entirely because it would be impossible to end it for the limited group who objected to it in the lawsuit. Continue reading...

After the subway shooting last week, New York City mayor Eric Adams declared he will deploy more police to the subway. But that’s the last thing that will helpLast week, as I sat at a desk in a hotel room in lower Manhattan where I was traveling for work, my phone buzzed. A friend who knew I was in New York had texted to ask if I was all right. Bewildered, I sent a question mark back in response, and turned to Twitter for real-time answers as to what was going on. And there was the news: a man had opened fire inside a subway car as it pulled into a station in Brooklyn’s Sunset Park neighborhood, shooting what we’d eventually learn to be 10 people, and injuring more than a dozen others either with bullet grazes or smoke inhalation from smoke grenades he’d thrown. (Mercifully, no one was killed, and reports are that no one still hospitalized has life-threatening injuries.)In the aftermath, the shooter vanished as if a ghost. Continue reading...

Henrika McCoy, an expert on victimization, says timeworn stereotypes prevent real understanding of violent crime in the USIn the first year of the pandemic, homicides throughout the US increased by 30%, the most dramatic one-year rise since the FBI began keeping crime data.The increase was driven by a significant rise in gun violence, with shootings ticking up in cities big and small, in states led by Republicans and Democrats alike. Since then, curbing the rise in shootings has become a central topic among candidates vying for midterm election success. It has also prompted policy shifts from mayors across the country and recall challenges for progressive prosecutors in San Francisco and Los Angeles. Continue reading...

For Black women in Congress, maternal mortality hits close to home. The Black Maternal Health Caucus seeks changeWhen Alma Adams’s daughter complained of abdominal pain during a difficult pregnancy, her doctor overlooked her cries for help. The North Carolina congresswoman’s daughter had to undergo a last-minute caesarean section. She and her baby daughter, now 16, survived.“It could have gone another way. I could have been a mother who was grieving her daughter and granddaughter,” Adams told the Guardian, following a week in which the White House highlighted the crisis of pregnancy-related deaths among Black women. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Black women die at three times the rate of white women. Continue reading...

Since the first winning drive in Buffalo, 18 US locations have unionized – including at the chichi New York ‘reserve’When Starbucks opened it flagship reserve roastery in the Meatpacking District of Manhattan in late 2018, the “sleek, inspiring, coffee extravaganza” was supposed to show the world a new, more sophisticated side of the coffee chain.A 10ft, 2,000lb copper sculpture of the Starbucks siren logo presides over the space, which includes a coffee roasting manufacturing plant, a terrarium based on Starbucks’ coffee farm in Costa Rica, a mixology bar that offers cocktails, an on-site bakery, a coffee roastery scoop bar, and full dine-in service. Continue reading...