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Apollo Theater CEO Jonelle Procope to leave the historic landmark on safe financial ground

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:14:59 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Jonelle Procope’s 20-year tenure as president and CEO of The Apollo Theater evolved into an era of prosperity and expansion, markedly different from the tumultuous, cash-strapped decades that preceded it.Sure, the early years were a struggle, as the New York City landmark, where music legends from Billie Holiday and Stevie Wonder to D’Angelo and countless rappers graced the stage, dealt with financial difficulties and a shifting business model. And she had to navigate the COVID-19 pandemic when the hub of its Harlem neighborhood was closed for two years.However, when Procope steps down at the end of June, she will leave her successor Michelle Ebanks – the Essence Communications executive who was named her replacement last week – with the proceeds of a nearly $80 million campaign raised to complete a renovation and expansion of the historic theater by 2025. Though the bulk of that money came from donations, it also includes $15.7 million in support from the city of Ne...

Richer countries like Canada must deliver proactive aid: head of UN rural food agency

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:14:59 GMT

OTTAWA — The head of a UN agency working to shore up rural food systems says richer countries need to focus on delivering proactive aid to developing countries instead of shifting to humanitarian work after crises have happened.Alvaro Lario leads the International Fund of Agricultural Development and says supply-chain woes and climate change mean the world needs to focus on helping rural farmers feed their countries instead.He noted that countries facing food-security issues tend to import food, so the rising cost of commodities and instability in supply chains has put people at risk.Lario said during a recent visit to Ottawa from Rome that too many countries respond to instability through aid that amounts to “maintenance of the situation, rather than really tackling the underlying causes.”His comments come as Canada and other western countries cut back their aid for the developing world and divert funding away from African countries to help Europe cope with Russia’...

Wisconsin’s top elections official for 2024 uncertain as incumbent’s term nears end

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:14:59 GMT

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Who will oversee the 2024 presidential election in the critical battleground state of Wisconsin remains clouded with uncertainty just weeks before the state’s nonpartisan top elections official reaches the end of her term.Republicans who control the state Legislature could finally have a chance to oust the elections head they’ve sparred with over conspiracy theories and install their own appointee. But a recent state Supreme Court ruling appears to offer her an avenue to get around Republicans and stay in office.And that’s if Meagan Wolfe, administrator of the Wisconsin Elections Commission and one of the most respected election leaders in the nation, even wants to keep the job when her term ends on July 1. All across the country, election officials have left the profession after an unrelenting 2020 election cycle that brought unprecedented challenges related to the coronavirus pandemic but also an onslaught of harassment and death threats triggered by fal...

NCAA champion athletes go to White House, where Vice President Kamala Harris celebrates them

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:14:59 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — Vice President Kamala Harris saluted more than a thousand U.S. college athletes from championship teams who gathered Monday at the White House South Lawn, saying that sports have a “very special way of bringing people together.” President Joe Biden had been scheduled to greet the athletes, but he had a root canal and was unable to attend the outdoor event on an overcast morning. The first of its kind assembly comes as collegiate sports have increasingly spilled into the political arena.There was the recent drama over the champion women’s basketball team from Louisiana State University going to the White House after first lady, Jill Biden, suggested that the runners-up from the University of Iowa should also come. The LSU team ultimately went to the White House despite initial resistance from star Angel Reese who said the team should visit former president Barack Obama and his wife, Michelle, instead. Collegiate sports have also faced questions abo...

More work to be done on Indigenous representation in corporate world: panel

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:14:59 GMT

TORONTO — A panel of Indigenous women in the business world say much more work needs to be done to improve Indigenous representation on corporate boards and in business. Tabatha Bull, president and CEO of the Canadian Council for Aboriginal Business, says boards should expand their criteria when seeking new members.Bull says Indigenous people are often excluded because they lack things like top management experience.She says that by sticking to these kinds of criteria, boards may be missing out on a whole group of people.Bull spoke at a virtual panel hosted by the Empire Club of Canada, alongside Jenn Harper, the founder and CEO of Cheekbone Beauty Cosmetics Inc., and Tammy Brown, national industry leader for industrial markets at KPMG in Canada.Bull says while change is needed to improve Indigenous representation on boards, the boards also need access to education on equity and Indigenous issues.This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 12, 2023.The Canadian Press

Three teens charged in armed robbery investigation in Vaughan

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:14:59 GMT

Three teens have been charged and police are seeking the victims in connection with an armed robbery investigation in Vaughan.On June 10, York police’s Community Oriented Response unit was in the Jane Street and Rutherford Road area at approximately 9:20 p.m. when they were approached by three teens who reported being robbed by another group, with one suspect armed with a knife.Police located and arrested the suspects in the area, recovering the knife as well as items robbed from the victims. However, the victims left the area before officers concluded the investigation and police are looking to speak with them.Investigators with York’s Criminal Investigations Bureau have charged a 16-year-old male from Markham with carrying a concealed weapon and possession of a weapon, and charged two 17-year-old males from Toronto with failure to comply with undertaking.

Youth go to trial in a test of state’s obligation to protect Montana residents from warming

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:14:59 GMT

HELENA, Mont. (AP) — Youth plaintiffs said warming temperatures were harming their health and threatening their futures as a closely-watched climate trial kicked off Monday in Montana. But a lawyer for the fossil fuel-friendly state argued its emissions were “minuscule” on a global scale and that eliminating them would have little impact.The case over state government obligations to protect people against worsening climate change is the first of dozens of similar lawsuits to reach trial. It’s scheduled to last two weeks.The 16 young plaintiffs — supported by a parade of leading climate experts — are trying to persuade state District Judge Kathy Seeley that the state’s allegiance to fossil fuel development endangers their health and livelihoods and those of future generations.Plaintiffs attorney Roger Sullivan said in opening arguments that his clients and their families already were suffering health problems and economic losses as climate change dries up rivers and worse...

Monday Forecast: Temps in low 70s with mostly sunny conditions, showers arrive late

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:14:59 GMT

Monday: Mostly sunny, NNW 10-15 G20, isolated late day shower. High: 71Monday Night: Mostly cloudy, chance for rain & storms, W 10-15 G25. Low: 617-Day Forecast | Chicago, Illinois | WGN TVTuesday: Mostly cloudy, showers and storms, W 10-15 G30. High: 67 Interactive Radar: Track showers and storm here

Pride Train returns Monday to CTA’s Red Line

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:14:59 GMT

CHICAGO — The CTA announced Monday the return of the Pride Train, "which celebrates the dynamism and continuing evolution of the LGBTQIA community in Chicago and nationwide," according to the transit agency.The train is celebrating its sixth anniversary and will be in service on the Red Line now through the fall. This year's train will feature designs that represent the “Philly Flag” and the Transgender Flag, as well as the traditional Pride Flag."In Chicago, we're proud to champion the LGBTQIA community and will continue to make our city a beacon for freedom, hope, and love for all," said Mayor Brandon Johnson. "The Pride Train is a reminder to residents and visitors that members of the LGBTQIA community are welcome and celebrated here."The CTA and Ventra have launched a Pride Signature Ventra Card, which is available through the Ventra website.For more information on the Pride Train, go to: transitchicago.com.

'Eat, Pray, Love' author Elizabeth Gilbert pulling latest book over 'enormous' pushback to Russian setting

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:14:59 GMT

(The Hill) - The bestselling author of “Eat, Pray, Love” says she’s pulling her latest book from its planned publication following a “massive” backlash about its setting in Russia.Elizabeth Gilbert had announced the publication of her latest novel, “The Snow Forest,” last week, describing it as a story “set in the middle of Siberia in the middle of the last century" that tells "the story of a group of individuals who made a decision to remove themselves from society to resist the Soviet government and to try to defend nature against industrialization.”But on Monday in a video posted on Twitter, Gilbert said she was “making a course correction.”“Over the course of this weekend, I have received an enormous, massive outpouring of reactions and responses from my Ukrainian readers expressing anger, sorrow, disappointment and pain about the fact that I would choose to release a book into the world right now — any book, no matter what the subject of it is — that is set in Russia,...