What’s New

I am now 45 years old, dubbing it my Jordan year.

To be sure, it’s humbling. The weight takes longer to shed. Crinkles frame the eyes. I fashion myself as cosmopolitan and stylish but I’m probably not hip.

This month I scanned the Lollapalooza lineup and recognized only a few names. Janet Jackson is sampled in a new record, a reminder that her sad song is more than 30 years old. I’m waiting for my children to mock New Edition and Jodeci songs as V103 radio “dusties” the way I referenced Motown music and oldie records played by my parents when I was growing up.

The 1990s were a golden era for music and culture. Exposure to A Tribe Called Quest and Mary J. Blige is essential to impart onto a new generation. But again, it’s probably old people’s music to them. Soon enough I’ll be pop-culture clueless in a way that not even Twitter can save me.

And while I am in denial about the sun rising on middle age, some of my friends and peers are shrieking “get off my lawn!” in a manner that’s disconcerting to me. Every generation thinks the one behind them is worse, disrespectful and hapless when it comes to music — and general simply not as good as theirs. In the words of R&B crooner Keith Sweat, something just ain’t right.

We should check ourselves. Reminiscing about the good ole days can beget a form of amnesia that distorts reality. Can we seriously think we are the moral authority on music when we listened to misogynists AMG and Snoop? Do we really think we weren’t disrespectful to teachers or authority figures?

When my contemporaries complain about the violence in Chicago today being worse than in the past, or talk about how we’re the last generation that could play outside without fear, I am dumbfounded. I went to high school in Chicago in the 1990s. I remember hanging out in co-ed groups and the threat of gang violence based on colors and territories could threaten a night out bowling.

One time on a CTA bus, a girl from a rival high school tried to cut my hair. Neighborhood boys worried about getting jumped and often had to put on a show of exaggerated masculinity to keep out of trouble. Fights broke out at the mall. We knew people who dabbled in gang life. These stories aren’t urban badges of honor. They are simply the truth. The crime stats alone show that things weren’t better back then.

For many, those experiences are washed away when they become parents. Adulting is hard and we compartmentalize our past. Feelings of youthful invincibility are shoved out of the way when you have your own children. I get it — you don’t want to take risks with your children or use bad judgement.

The flip side is that while every family wants to make sound decisions, the leash we put on our children can paralyze them. I do wonder if that anxiety projects on children. Playing with friends solo in a park, riding public transportation and exploring neighborhoods during the day are normal activities. Too many restrictions can stunt our children’s growth and development.

I know the headlines are scary; yet fear is its own prison. I live in this city and do not approach this as a pundit but as a resident and a mother. Smothering doesn’t protect my children in the long run.

And instead of wagging our fingers at young people or disparaging their cultural tastes (as our parents and grandparents did to us at times) let’s figure out a better way to settle into middle age. The kids can stay on the lawn as long as they’ll listen to a little New Jack Swing.

Natalie Moore is a reporter for WBEZ.

Send letters to [email protected].

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NEW YORK — A key accuser at the R. Kelly sex-trafficking trial returned to the witness stand on Thursday, saying he often videotaped their sexual encounters and demanded she dress like a Girl Scout during a relationship that began when she was a minor.

Jerhonda Pace resumed her testimony in Brooklyn federal court a day after telling jurors she was a 16-year-old virgin and a member of Kelly’s fan club when he invited her to his mansion in 2010. While there, she said, she was told to follow “Rob’s rules” — edicts restricting how she could dress, who she could speak with and when she could use the bathroom.

She said Kelly — born Robert Sylvester Kelly — sometimes demanded she wear pigtails and “dress like a Girl Scout” during sexual encounters that Kelly often videotaped.

On cross examination, defense attorney Deveraux Cannick sought to show Pace hid her true motivations regarding Kelly and deceived him by lying about her age.

“You were in fact stalking him, right?” Cannick asked.

“That is not right,” she responded.

Pace had testified earlier the she told Kelly she was 19 when they met but had informed him she was only 16 by the time he sexually abused her.

Cannick confronted her with a lawsuit settlement she signed indicating she agreed she never revealed to Kelly that she was a minor. She said it was in exchange for hush money.

The questioning fit a theme that defense lawyers have repeatedly pushed early in the trial: Kelly was victimized by groupies who hounded him at shows and afterward, only to turn against him years later when public sentiment shifted against him, they allege.

To bolster their claims against Kelly, prosecutors showed jurors screenshots from Pace’s phone showing several communications with Kelly in January 2010, including a text from him reading, “Please call.” There was also a photo of her with “Rob” tattooed to her chest. She said she’s since “covered it up with a black heart.”

Pace, the trial’s first witness, was among multiple female accusers — mostly referred to in court as “Jane Does” — expected to testify at a trial scheduled to last several weeks. Other likely witnesses include cooperating former associates who have never spoken publicly before about their experiences with Kelly.

The Associated Press doesn’t name alleged victims of sexual abuse without their consent unless they have shared their identities publicly. Pace has appeared in a documentary and participated in media interviews.

Kelly, 54, has denied accusations that he preyed on Pace and other victims during a 30-year career highlighted by his smash hit “I Believe I Can Fly,” a 1996 song that became an inspirational anthem played at school graduations, weddings, advertisements and elsewhere.

The openings and testimony came more than a decade after Kelly was acquitted in a 2008 child pornography case in Chicago. The reprieve allowed his music career to continue until the #MeToo era caught up with him, emboldening alleged victims to come forward.

The women’s stories got wide exposure with the Lifetime documentary “Surviving R. Kelly.” The series explored how an entourage of supporters protected Kelly and silenced his victims for decades, foreshadowing the federal racketeering conspiracy case that landed Kelly in jail in 2019.

The trial is occurring before an anonymous jury of seven men and five women. Following several delays due mostly to the pandemic, the trial unfolds under coronavirus precautions restricting the press and the public to overflow courtrooms with video feeds.

The New York case is only part of the legal peril facing the singer. He also has pleaded not guilty to sex-related charges in Illinois and Minnesota.

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WASHINGTON — A man sitting in a black pickup truck parked on the sidewalk outside the Library of Congress told police he had a bomb Thursday, triggering a standoff in the heart of the nation’s capital.

Officials evacuated a number of buildings around the Capitol and sent snipers to the area after officers saw the man holding what looked like a detonator inside the pickup, which had no license plates. Congress is in recess this week, but staffers were seen calmly walking out of the area at the direction of authorities.

Police negotiators were communicating with him as he wrote notes and showed them to authorities from inside the truck, according to three people who were not authorized to publicly discuss the matter and spoke on condition of anonymity. They were trying to determine whether it was an operable bomb, the officials said.

“My negotiators are hard at work trying to have a peaceful resolution to this incident,” U.S. Capitol Police Chief J. Thomas Manger said. “We’re trying to get as much information as we can to find a way to peacefully resolve this.”

The episode began about 9:15 a.m. when the truck drove up the sidewalk outside the library, Manger said. The driver told the responding officer that he had a bomb, and was holding what the officer believed to be a detonator, The truck had no license plates.

The nation’s capital has been tense since the Jan. 6 insurrection at the Capitol by supporters of then-President Donald Trump.

Fencing that had been installed around the Capitol grounds had been up for months but was taken down this summer. A day before thousands of pro-Trump rioters stormed the Capitol, pipe bombs were left at the headquarters of the Democratic National Committee and the Republican National Committee in Washington. No one has been arrested yet for placing the bombs.

The RNC, not far away from where the truck was parked Thursday, was also evacuated over the threat.

The area was blocked off by police cars and barricades, and multiple fire trucks and ambulances were staged nearby. Also responding were the District of Columbia’s Metropolitan Police, FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

The White House said it was monitoring the situation and was being briefed by law enforcement.

___

Associated Press writers Alanna Durkin Richer in Boston, Tom Foreman Jr. in Charlotte, North Carolina, and Zeke Miller, Nathan Ellgren, Ashraf Khalil, Alex Brandon and Michael Biesecker in Washington contributed to this report.

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The Chicago Park District’s deputy inspector general said Thursday he was placed on “indefinite, unpaid emergency” suspension last week in what he called an illegal attempt to whitewash an investigation into rampant sexual assault, sexual harassment and physical abuse among the district’s lifeguards.

Until he was walked out of Park District headquarters last week, Nathan Kipp led the internal investigation of lifeguards at Chicago’s pools and lakefront beaches that has implicated Park District Supt. Mike Kelly in an alleged cover-up.

One of only two investigators assigned to the probe, Kipp had spent a year as acting inspector general. He was a candidate for the job that went to Elaine Little, ex-wife of State Rep. Curtis Tarver (D-Chicago).

Kipp said he was given no reason for his suspension. He called it “shocking”, “meritless” and “illegal,” since it was not ordered by Little and, he added, only the inspector general has the “authority to recommend discipline” for her staff.

Nevertheless, Kipp said he has no doubt about the motivation behind his suspension.

“This meritless action is a clear attempt by Park District officials to impede and obstruct a devastating investigation into widespread sexual assault, sexual harassment and physical abuse throughout the District’s Beaches & Pools Unit,” Kipp was quoted as saying in a four-page statement.

The investigation by the park district’s inspector general “is not independent, as Mr. Kelly falsely assures. Instead, the Park District and its Board of Commissioners have repeatedly and unsuccessfully exerted improper influence over the OIG [office of the inspector general] with the apparent goal of ending the investigation prematurely and as quietly as possible.”

Kelly has been under fire for giving his top managers the first crack at investigating a female lifeguard’s complaints about physical abuse, sexual harassment and drug and alcohol use by lifeguards at Oak Street Beach, instead of referring those allegations immediately to the inspector general.

That’s what he promised the young woman that he would do in an email applauding the lifeguard for her “courage” in coming forward.

Though required by park district rules, Kelly did not contact the inspector general until a second lifeguard’s more graphic complaint of more serious allegations was forwarded to him by Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s office.

Earlier this week, Kelly ordered the suspensions of two high-level officials — the assistant director of beaches and pools and the manager of beaches and pools. He told reporters he hopes to receive the inspector general’s final report next month.

Kipp branded the “September deadline” highly inappropriate and proof positive that Little’s final report will be a “whitewash.”

“I am perplexed why information regarding the status of the OIG’s ongoing investigation was shared with Mr. Kelly given that he, himself, should be considered a person of interest in the investigation,” Kipp wrote.

By all rights, Kelly should be at the very least a “material witness” because he received a complaint.

“Moreover, he is a potential subject of the OIG’s investigation because of, among other things, his admitted six-week delay in reporting that same complaint to the OIG, and his apparent abuse of authority when allegedly asking the complainant in April 2021 to keep him ‘in the loop’ of any future contact that she may have with OIG investigators,” Kipp wrote. “Despite these alarming facts, the OIG has not sought to interview Mr. Kelly, and I am not aware of any intention for the Office to interview Mr. Kelly.

“This is not how responsible and independent Offices of Inspectors General conduct investigations.”

While serving as interim inspector general, Kipp said he told Kelly and Park District Board President Avis LaVelle a year ago that the inspector general’s office had “severe staffing shortcomings.” His concerns were “wholly ignored.”

“When viewed in the larger context of the Park District’s repeated influence over the OIG’s investigation, I am left to conclude that the District and its Board have intentionally refused to provide the OIG with necessary resources to prevent it from uncovering the full extent of the criminal misconduct within the Beaches & Pools Unit,” he wrote.

“I have watched the OIG gradually abandon its role as the Park District’s independent oversight agency. Instead, the OIG has been methodically neutered to resemble an internal compliance department that exists to satisfy the Park District’s and its Board’s demands.”

Kipp called on State’s Attorney Kim Foxx to step in and take over the entire investigation, saying, “The dozens of survivors of sex crimes that have been brave enough to come forward deserve their justice.”

The Chicago Sun-Times reported earlier this month that in February 2020, an Oak Street Beach lifeguard sent 11 pages of explosive allegations to Kelly, detailing a frat-house environment at the beach during the summer of 2019. She said she’d been pushed into a wall, called sexually degrading and profane names by fellow lifeguards and abandoned for hours at her post for refusing to take part in their drinking parties and on-the-job drug use.

“I take your assertions very seriously,” Kelly responded, assuring the young woman he was forwarding the complaint to inspector general Little. “Thank you for your courage and call for change.”

But he didn’t forward the complaint, the Sun-Times has learned, for about six weeks — not until after a second woman wrote her own letter to Lightfoot, who forwarded it to Kelly.

That delay runs contrary to Park District rules, which require alleged wrongdoing be reported immediately to the inspector general. The Park District’s sexual harassment policy also mandates allegations be reported “as soon as possible,” or within five business days, to human resources.

Kelly was appointed by former Mayor Rahm Emanuel to his $230,000-a-year post, and retained by Mayor Lori Lightfoot.

He has acknowledged having second thoughts about the way he handled the first woman’s complaint.

“In hindsight, should I just have turned it over to the inspector general that day? Maybe I should have. I always knew it was going there. And it’s my word against whomever’s. But, I gave it to my managers. The second letter came in, and I realized one is terrible. Two is too many,” Kelly has said.

Kelly has said he forwarded the first complaint he received in February 2020 to his chief programs officer, Alonzo Williams, who then had Eric Fischer, the district’s assistant director of recreation, look into it.

Fischer’s daughter is also mentioned as a lifeguard who allegedly participated in hazing and bullying on Oak Street Beach, sources said.

“This is all part of the investigation, and it’s all going to come out,” Kelly said when asked about a possible conflict of interest Monday. “I don’t want to get any further into talking about my employees’ names.”

Kelly and LaVelle could not be reached for comment about Kipp’s allegations.

The mayor’s office had no immediate comment.

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DETROIT — Bill Freehan, an 11-time All-Star catcher with the Detroit Tigers and key player on the 1968 World Series championship team, has died at age 79.

“It’s with a heavy heart that all of us with the Detroit Tigers extend our condolences to the friends and family of Bill Freehan,” the team said Thursday.

The cause of death was not disclosed, but family members in recent years have publicly said that Freehan had Alzheimer’s disease.

Freehan played his entire career with the Tigers, from 1961 through 1976. Besides his All-Star appearances, he was awarded five Gold Gloves.

“The guy was the best catcher I ever pitched to. … Nobody did it better,” said Denny McLain, who won 31 games for the Tigers in 1968.

In Game 5 of the 1968 World Series against the St. Louis Cardinals, Freehan tagged out Lou Brock in a crucial play at home plate. Detroit won the game and the series — a result best captured by a famous photo of pitcher Mickey Lolich jumping into the arms of his catcher at the end of Game 7.

Detroit Tigers catcher Bill Freehan puts the tag on Lou Brock of the St. Louis Cardinals at the plate in the fifth inning of Game 5 of the 1968 World Series at Tiger Stadium. AP

Willie Horton, an outfielder who made the throw that nailed Brock, said Freehan was one of his greatest teammates.

“His entire Major League career was committed to the Tigers and the city of Detroit, and he was one of the most respected and talented members of the organization through some difficult yet important times throughout the 1960s and ’70s,” Horton said.

Freehan also coached baseball at the University of Michigan and in Detroit’s minor league system.

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NEW YORK — A key accuser at the R. Kelly sex-trafficking trial returned to the witness stand on Thursday, saying he often videotaped their sexual encounters and demanded she dress like a Girl Scout during a relationship that began when she was a minor.

Jerhonda Pace resumed her testimony in Brooklyn federal court a day after telling jurors she was a 16-year-old virgin and a member of Kelly’s fan club when he invited her to his mansion in 2010. While there, she said, she was told to follow “Rob’s rules” — edicts restricting how she could dress, who she could speak with and when she could use the bathroom.

She said Kelly — born Robert Sylvester Kelly — sometimes demanded she wear pigtails and “dress like a Girl Scout” during sexual encounters that Kelly often videotaped.

On cross examination, defense attorney Deveraux Cannick sought to show that Pace mixed up dates about when she interacted with Kelly and that she deceived him by at first lying about herself.

“You were in fact stalking him, right?” Cannick asked.

“That is not right,” she responded.

His questioning fit a theme that defense lawyers have repeatedly pushed early in the trial: Kelly was victimized by groupies who hounded him at shows and afterward, only to turn against him years later when public sentiment shifted against him, they allege.

To bolster their claims against Kelly, prosecutors showed jurors screenshots from Pace’s phone showing several communications with Kelly in January 2010, including a text from him reading, “Please call.” There was also a photo of her with “Rob” tattooed to her chest. She said she’s since “covered it up with a black heart.”

Pace, the trial’s first witness, was among multiple female accusers — mostly referred to in court as “Jane Does” — expected to testify at a trial scheduled to last several weeks. Other likely witnesses include cooperating former associates who have never spoken publicly before about their experiences with Kelly.

The Associated Press doesn’t name alleged victims of sexual abuse without their consent unless they have shared their identities publicly. Pace has appeared in a documentary and participated in media interviews.

Kelly, 54, has denied accusations that he preyed on Pace and other victims during a 30-year career highlighted by his smash hit “I Believe I Can Fly,” a 1996 song that became an inspirational anthem played at school graduations, weddings, advertisements and elsewhere.

The openings and testimony came more than a decade after Kelly was acquitted in a 2008 child pornography case in Chicago. The reprieve allowed his music career to continue until the #MeToo era caught up with him, emboldening alleged victims to come forward.

The women’s stories got wide exposure with the Lifetime documentary “Surviving R. Kelly.” The series explored how an entourage of supporters protected Kelly and silenced his victims for decades, foreshadowing the federal racketeering conspiracy case that landed Kelly in jail in 2019.

The trial is occurring before an anonymous jury of seven men and five women. Following several delays due mostly to the pandemic, the trial unfolds under coronavirus precautions restricting the press and the public to overflow courtrooms with video feeds.

The New York case is only part of the legal peril facing the singer. He also has pleaded not guilty to sex-related charges in Illinois and Minnesota.

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No. 6 Marist doesn’t return many starters from the spring season, but the RedHawks have two of the top talents in the area in quarterback Dontrell Jackson Jr. and offensive lineman Deuce McGuire.

Coach Ron Dawczak said Jackson, a Coastal Carolina recruit who has been a highly regarded player his entire career, has impressed in practice this summer.

”He’s been dynamic,” Dawczak said. ”This is his third year on varsity. The reads are quicker. He’s really progressing with the reads and getting rid of the ball. He’s a tremendous athlete and buys time in the pocket and can run, which is a really dangerous element that teams have to account for. He’s just a special player.”

Jackson’s father was a quarterback at Ohio University, and his grandfather is former Proviso East and Thornton basketball coach Troy Jackson.

”We are coming out with the mentality to just dominate on every play and be fierce,” Jackson Jr. said. ”We want to make it to the state championship. If we keep working hard and making each other better at practice, we will get there.”

Jackson will have McGuire, a Northwestern recruit, and three other starters back on the offensive line.

”The line has been playing together for countless years,” McGuire said. ”We all started together as freshmen, and two of us have played together since fourth grade. We’re very close.”

Senior Jaylen Johnson will be the starting running back, and junior Ryan Sims could have a breakout season at receiver. The RedHawks’ offense should be one of the most effective in the state.

”Johnson is a tough, hard-nosed player who will fight to get the tough yards,” Dawczak said.

Marist only returns three starters on defense, so that’s where the question marks will be. Linebacker Jimmy Rolder, who had a knack for making big plays in the spring, said he isn’t worried.

Marist linebacker Jimmy Rolder chases the play at practice in Chicago.Kevin Tanaka/For the Sun-Times

”The chemistry is good with all the younger guys,” Rolder said. ”Even though we lost a lot, the talent is there. It’s a new defensive line coming in, looking to prove what they can do.”

Seniors Jayson Harris and Aidan Smith are expected to step up and anchor the defensive line. Nick Verzoni, Johnny Nestor and Sammy Laurencell are the names to watch in the secondary.

The RedHawks play in the best conference in the state, the East Suburban Catholic/Chicago Catholic Blue, so the season will be challenging. But imagine if Marist and Brother Rice saunter into the ”Battle of Pulaski” undefeated in Week 9. A victory in that game would give either team a massive boost heading into the state playoffs.

”A state championship is always the ultimate goal,” Dawczak said. ”But we don’t focus on that. We just need to be as prepared as we can each week to win that game, then have that build throughout the season. Hopefully by doing that, we’re giving ourselves the best chance to be successful to reach that ultimate goal.”

MARIST SCHEDULE

Aug. 27 vs. Curie

Sep. 3 vs. Richards

Sep. 10 vs. Nazareth

Sep. 17 at Mount Carmel

Sep. 24 at Marmion

Oct. 2 at Loyola

Oct. 8 vs. Montini

Oct. 15 at Carmel

Oct 22 vs. Brother Rice

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DENVER — Jake Arrieta got clobbered by Colorado and left with an injury in his Padres debut, and the Rockies beat San Diego 7-5 Wednesday.

C.J. Cron had two hits and three RBIs and Trevor Story homered for the Rockies, who scored five runs in 3 1/3 innings against Arrieta before he departed with an injured left hamstring.

Arrieta (5-12) was signed Monday after being placed on waivers by the Cubs. He allowed seven hits and let his ERA rise to 7.13 on Dom Nunez’s solo homer before grabbing his hamstring and exiting the game.

The 2015 NL Cy Young Award winner said he felt the hamstring when he landed on his left leg, but he thinks the injury is minor and he shouldn’t miss much time.

“I’ve had two of these in the past that were significantly worse than this one,” Arrieta said. “Testing the strength with the trainers postgame, all the tests were good. Strength is at a pretty high level, which was something that wasn’t the case with the two previous hamstrings that I had, and I came back pretty quick from those two.”

Arrieta was signed to help bolster a rotation hit hard by injuries, and he was planning on pitching deeper into the game before the hamstring flared up.

“Felt great, felt really good,” said Arrieta, who also singled and scored a run. “More than capable of going upwards of 100 pitches. That was the game plan going into the start. Would have loved to give the team at least two more innings.”

Wil Myers homered twice for the slumping Padres. San Diego has lost seven of eight but still leads Cincinnati by 1 1/2 games for the second NL wild card.

“The standings are what they are, but the standings will be different in a month and a half from now,” Myers said.

The Padres dropped four straight before avoiding a sweep at Arizona on Sunday but suffered their seventh straight loss at Coors Field. Colorado swept two straight home series from San Diego.

“We haven’t been great on the road, we haven’t been good against some of the teams with below .500 records,” manager Jayce Tingler said. “This place is a little bit different. It’s extremely tough to win here.”

The Rockies took a 3-0 lead in the first on Cron’s two-run double and Ryan McMahon’s single. Myers hit his first homer, a two-run shot, in the second, and Manny Machado drove in Arrieta in the third to tie it.

Myers’ 15th homer in the fourth evened it again before Nunez’s shot.

Story’s 16th home run of the season, a two-run shot in the fifth, gave Colorado a three-run cushion.

Ben Bowden (2-2) allowed one run in an inning and Daniel Bard, the fifth Rockies reliever in the game, pitched the ninth for his 20th save in 26 chances.

The bullpen allowed just two runs over the last six innings.

“The five guys who pitched, they got punched a little but they put their dukes up and responded back with some swings of their own,” Rockies manager Bud Black said.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Padres: LHP Matt Strahm was placed on the 10-day injured list with right knee inflammation. Strahm, who started Tuesday in a bullpen game, missed the first four months of the season right patella tendon surgery.

Rockies: To make room for starter Chi Chi Gonzalez on the active roster, OF Yonathan Daza (left thumb laceration) was placed on the 10-day injured list. … OF Raimel Tapia (toe) is improving but there is no timetable for a return, Black said.

FIRST THINGS FIRST

Colorado outfielder Connor Joe has performed well since moving atop of the lineup. He reached base in his first at-bat in all three games — a home run on Monday, a single on Tuesday and a leadoff walk Wednesday. He scored the first run Monday and Tuesday and was thrown out at home Wednesday.

UP NEXT

Padres: LHP Blake Snell (6-4, 4.80) opens a three-game home series against the Philadelphia Phillies on Friday night.

Rockies: LHP Austin Gomber (9-7, 4.09) returns from the paternity list to open a weekend series against the Arizona Diamondbacks on Friday night.

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Mike Richards, executive producer and the newly named host of “Jeopardy!,” has spoken out for a second time after more of his past offensive comments were resurfaced.

A report from The Ringer published Wednesday included several quotes from a since-deleted episode of Richards’ podcast, “The Randumb Show,” which he hosted in 2013 and 2014 as a way to promote a behind-the-scenes look at CBS game show “The Price is Right,” for which he was a co-executive producer.

Richards, 46, repeatedly used offensive language to describe and denigrate women’s bodies, according to The Ringer’s review of the 41 episodes available online until Tuesday. Richards confirmed in a statement that he has since taken the episodes down.

In his apology, Richards said that it was “humbling to confront a terribly embarrassing moment of misjudgment, thoughtlessness, and insensitivity from nearly a decade ago. Looking back now, there is no excuse, of course, for the comments I made on this podcast and I am deeply sorry.”

He continued: “The podcast was intended to be a series of irreverent conversations between longtime friends who had a history of joking around. Even with the passage of time, it’s more than clear that my attempts to be funny and provocative were not acceptable, and I have removed the episodes. My responsibilities today as a father, husband, and a public personality who speaks to many people through my role on television means I have substantial and serious obligations as a role model, and I intend to live up to them.”

Representatives for Sony Pictures Television, which produces “Jeopardy!”, declined to comment.

Richards also twice praised “average” white male TV hosts, who he said made it seem like he, too, had the potential to host a show one day, according to The Ringer. (In addition to producing, Richards earlier hosted several shows, including “Beauty and the Geek” in 2008 and “Pyramid.”)

“Jeff Probst had a daytime talk show, which I was cheering for because I like, you know, the average white-guy host,” Richards said, according to The Ringer. “I cheer for him to succeed because I feel like through his success I could have some success hosting.”

He later said former “American Idol” host Ryan Seacrest “actually made the world a safer place for what I like to call the skinny white host, like (‘The Price is Right’ announcer) George (Gray) and I.”

After the long-running syndicated quiz show spent the past seven months rotating 16 guest hosts at the podium once manned by late host Alex Trebek, Richards got the permanent nod earlier this month to host the nightly show. “The Big Bang Theory” star Mayim Bialik will host primetime specials and tournaments on ABC, starting with a college championship next year.

Richards’ apology this week follows a statement he issued August 9 to “Jeopardy!” employees regarding resurfaced discrimination lawsuits against him by “The Price is Right” models during his work on the show.

One 2010 complaint came from a model who claimed Richards fired her because she had become pregnant, according to reports from Variety and Deadline. She was awarded more than $8 million in damages and the case was later settled after an appeal. Richards was named in the lawsuit but not listed as a defendant.

Another lawsuit alleged a model was harassed on the set and wrongfully terminated, but the case was also settled out of court after Richards was removed as a defendant.

“I want to address the complicated employment issues raised in the press during my time at ‘The Price is Right’ ten years ago,” Richards wrote in a statement obtained by The Ringer and Deadline.

“These were allegations made in employment disputes against the show. I want you all to know that the way in which my comments and actions have been characterized in these complaints does not reflect the reality of who I am or who we worked together on ‘The Price is Right.’ I know firsthand how special it is to be a parent. It is the most important thing in the world to me. I would not say anything to disrespect anyone’s pregnancy and have always supported my colleagues in their parenting journeys.”

Contributing: Elise Brisco

Read more at usatoday.com

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KABUL, Afghanistan — Afghan protesters defied the Taliban for a second day Thursday, waving their national flag in scattered demonstrations, and the fighters again responded violently as they faced down growing challenges to their rule.

A U.N. official warned of dire food shortages and experts said the country was severely in need of cash while noting that the Taliban are unlikely to enjoy the generous international aid that the civilian government they dethroned did.

In light of these challenges, the Taliban have moved quickly to suppress any dissent, despite their promises that they have become more moderate since they last ruled Afghanistan with draconian laws. Many fear they will succeed in erasing two decades of efforts to expand women’s and human rights and remake the country.

On Thursday, a procession of cars and people near Kabul’s airport carried long black, red and green banners in honor of the Afghan flag — a banner that is becoming a symbol of defiance. At another protest in Nangarhar province, video posted online showed a bleeding demonstrator with a gunshot wound. Onlookers tried to carry him away.

In Khost province, Taliban authorities instituted a 24-hour curfew Thursday after violently breaking up another protest, according to information obtained by journalists monitoring from abroad. The authorities did not immediately acknowledge the demonstration or the curfew.

Protesters also took the streets in Kunar province, according to witnesses and social media videos that lined up with reporting by The Associated Press.

The demonstrations — which come as Afghans celebrated Independence Day and some commemorated the Shiite Ashoura festival — were a remarkable show of defiance after the Taliban fighters violently dispersed a protest Wednesday. At that rally, in the eastern city of Jalalabad, demonstrators lowered the Taliban’s flag and replace it with Afghanistan’s tricolor. At least one person was killed.

Meanwhile, opposition figures gathering in the last area of the country not under Taliban rule talked of launching an armed resistance under the banner of the Northern Alliance, which allied with the U.S. during the 2001 invasion.

It was not clear how serious a threat they posed given that Taliban fighters overran nearly the entire country in a matter of days with little resistance from Afghan forces.

The Taliban so far have offered no specifics on how they will lead, other than to say they will be guided by Shariah, or Islamic, law. They are in talks with senior officials of previous Afghan governments. But they face an increasingly precarious situation.

“A humanitarian crisis of incredible proportions is unfolding before our eyes,” warned Mary Ellen McGroarty, the head of the U.N.’s World Food Program in Afghanistan.

Beyond the difficulties of bringing in food to the landlocked nation dependent on imports, she said that drought has seen over 40% of the country’s crop lost. Many who fled the Taliban advance now live in parks and open spaces in Kabul.

“This is really Afghanistan’s hour of greatest need, and we urge the international community to stand by the Afghan people at this time,” she said.

Hafiz Ahmad, a shopkeeper in Kabul, said some food has flowed into the capital, but prices have gone up. He hesitated to pass those costs onto his customers but said he had to.

“It is better to have it,” he said. “If there were nothing, then that would be even worse.”

Two of Afghanistan’s key border crossings with Pakistan, Torkham near Jalalabad and Chaman near Spin Boldak, are now open for trade. However, traders still fear insecurity on the roads and confusion over customs duties that could push them to price their goods higher.

Amid that uncertainty and concerns that the Taliban will reimpose a brutal rule, which included largely confining women to their homes and holding public executions, many Afghans are trying to flee the country.

At Kabul’s international airport, military evacuation flights continued, according to flight-tracking data. However, access to the airport remained difficult. On Thursday, Taliban fighters fired into the air to try to control the crowds gathered at the airport’s blast walls. Men, women and children fled. Fighter jets later roared overhead, but no airstrike accompanied their pass.

Overnight, President Joe Biden said that he was committed to keeping U.S. troops in Afghanistan until every American is evacuated, even if that means maintaining a military presence there beyond his Aug. 31 deadline for withdrawal. In an interview with ABC’s “Good Morning America” aired Thursday, Biden said he didn’t believe the Taliban had changed.

“I think they’re going through sort of an existential crisis about do they want to be recognized by the international community as being a legitimate government,” Biden said. “I’m not sure they do.”

Indirectly acknowledging the resistance they face, the Taliban on Thursday asked preachers to urge congregants to remain in the country and counter “negative propaganda” against them.

The Taliban have also urged people to return to work, but most government officials remain in hiding or are themselves attempting to flee.

The head of the country’s Central Bank warned that the supply of physical U.S. dollars is “close to zero,” which will batter the currency, the afghani. The U.S. has apparently frozen the country’s foreign reserves, and the International Monetary Fund cut off access to loans or other resources for now.

“The afghani has been defended by literally planeloads of U.S. dollars landing in Kabul on a very regular basis, sometimes weekly,” said Graeme Smith, a consultant researcher with the Overseas Development Institute. “If the Taliban don’t get cash infusions soon to defend the afghani, I think there’s a real risk of a currency devaluation that makes it hard to buy bread on the streets of Kabul for ordinary people.”

Still, Smith, who has written a book on Afghanistan, said the Taliban likely won’t ask for the same billions in international aid sought by the country’s fallen civilian government — large portions of which were siphoned off by corruption. That could limit the power of the international community’s threat of sanctions.

“You’re much more likely to see the Taliban positioning themselves as sort of gatekeepers to the international community as opposed to coming begging for billions of dollars,” he said.

There has been no armed opposition to the Taliban. But videos from the Panjshir Valley north of Kabul, a stronghold of the Northern Alliance militias that allied with the U.S. during the 2001 invasion of Afghanistan, appear to show potential opposition figures gathering there.

Those figures include members of the deposed government — Vice President Amrullah Saleh, who asserted on Twitter that he is the country’s rightful president, and Defense Minister Gen. Bismillah Mohammadi — as well as Ahmad Massoud, the son of the slain Northern Alliance leader Ahmad Shah Massoud.

In an opinion piece published by The Washington Post, Massoud asked for weapons and aid to fight the Taliban.

“I write from the Panjshir Valley today, ready to follow in my father’s footsteps, with mujahideen fighters who are prepared to once again take on the Taliban,” he wrote.

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Faiez reported from Istanbul, Gannon from Guelph, Canada, and Gambrell from Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Associated Press writers Tameem Akhgar in Istanbul, Edith M. Lederer at the United Nations and Munir Ahmed in Islamabad contributed to this report.

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