R. Kelly walks with supporters out of the Leighton Criminal Courthouse, Thursday morning, June 6, 2019. | Ashlee Rezin Garcia/Sun-Times
Kelly’s leading defense attorneys threw a wrench into the case earlier this week when they asked to withdraw from the case two months before trial. Other members of the legal team say they were fired.
R&B superstar R. Kelly confirmed for a judge Wednesday that he wants to move forward with his federal racketeering trial in New York without the Chicago-based attorneys who had been leading his defense.
U.S. District Judge Ann Donnelly did not immediately rule during a status hearing Wednesday on a request from defense attorneys Steve Greenberg and Mike Leonard to withdraw from the case.
However, the judge asked Kelly directly whether he wanted to move forward with two other members of his legal team, Thomas Farinella, of New York, and Nicole Blank Becker, of Michigan.
“Absolutely, yes ma’am, your honor,” Kelly said.
The singer began to say more, telling the judge, “I apologize for the confusion. I’m thankful that you’re giving me a chance to say something about it.”
But the judge decided to cut off the conversation, telling lawyers to instead file paperwork further explaining the situation.
Meanwhile, Farinella told the judge, “We’re prepared to move forward with trial,” which is set for Aug. 9.
Greenberg and Leonard threw a wrench into the case earlier this week when they asked Monday to withdraw two months before the trial date. Other members of the legal team say the men were fired, though.
Greenberg wrote in a letter to the judge that, “Our reasons for withdrawal are significant and it is impossible, in our belief, for us to be able to continue to properly represent Mr. Kelly under the current circumstances.”
Though Greenberg didn’t go into further detail in his letter, a dispute over trial responsibilities apparently played a role in the conflict. Greenberg told the Chicago Sun-Times that Farinella and Becker had sought greater roles in Kelly’s Brooklyn trial.
During Wednesday’s hearing, Greenberg said, “Frankly, everyone wants to be first chair.”
Greenberg and Leonard also wrote in text messages to the Sun-Times this week that they only felt comfortable giving significant trial responsibilities to lawyers who had substantial jury trial experience in federal court.
Farinella and Becker declined to comment Monday other than to say Kelly had fired Greenberg and Leonard before their letter to the judge was filed. Greenberg said he’d given prosecutors a heads up about the move earlier in the day.But Wednesday, he acknowledged that Kelly sent him an email after the Monday letter saying he did not want Greenberg and Leonard to continue their work on the case.
Kelly is charged in Brooklyn with racketeering. His indictment there alleges he led an “enterprise” made up of his managers, bodyguards, drivers and other employees who helped him recruit women and girls for sex.
A separate indictment in Chicago charges Kelly with child pornography and obstruction of justice. It alleges he thwarted his 2008 prosecution in Cook County with threats, gifts and six-figure payoffs.
Kelly, 54, has been held in Chicago’s downtown Metropolitan Correctional Center since his arrest in July 2019, though authorities have recently said they would be preparing to move him to New York for trial.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Elizabeth Geddes said Wednesday that paperwork had been filed, but she said Kelly’s attorneys “would like him to remain in Chicago for as long as possible.”
A cellphone displays The Associated Press Twitter account on Tuesday, June 8, 2021, in Los Angeles. The AP’s recent firing of a young reporter for what she said on Twitter has somewhat unexpectedly turned company and industry attention to the flip side of social media engagement — the online abuse that many journalists face routinely. | AP
“The Emily Wilder situation triggered this for many people on the staff,” said Jenna Fryer, an AP sportswriter.
NEW YORK — The Associated Press’ recent firing of a young reporter for what she said on Twitter has somewhat unexpectedly turned company and industry attention to the flip side of social media engagement — the online abuse that many journalists face routinely.
During internal meetings after the Arizona-based reporter, Emily Wilder, was let go, several journalists expressed concern over whether the AP would have the backs of employees under attack from the outside.
“The Emily Wilder situation triggered this for many people on the staff,” Jenna Fryer, an AP sportswriter who spoke at one of the meetings, said in a subsequent interview.
Wilder was fired last month because of what the company said were tweets on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict that violated AP’s social media policy against offering opinions on contentious issues. Before her firing, a conservative group had sparked an online campaign against her over her pro-Palestinian views, and while the AP has said it wasn’t responding to pressure, her dismissal ignited debate over whether the news organization acted too rashly.
Journalists are often subjected to racist or sexist slurs, vile insults and threats of rape, dismemberment or other violence from online readers.
Online harassment is hardly unique to journalists. But the visibility of reporters makes them particularly vulnerable to attack, said Viktorya Vilk, program director for digital safety and free expression at the literary and human rights organization PEN America.
Fryer, who covers auto racing, said she “was in tears daily” over online abuse she received for coverage of a noose found last year in an Alabama garage stall used by NASCAR’s only full-time Black driver. She said the only time she heard from the company about harassment was when a manager remarked that Fryer had gotten a lot of it.
“Sometimes you feel like you’re on a total island,” she said.
The news agency says it has worked with law enforcement in many cases when its journalists were attacked online. Still, following the meetings, the AP ordered a study on whether more can be done.
“I can speak from personal experience that we have not been ignoring this,” said Julie Pace, the AP’s Washington bureau chief. “What we have to do is put this on a par with the way we handle what we have traditionally viewed as security threats for our journalists — if you are going to Syria, or if you’re covering protests that could potentially become chaotic.”
News organizations were often quick over the past decade to press their journalists to build social media profiles, recognizing it as important to their brands, but slow to see its dangers, said Vilk, who has worked with more than a dozen media outlets on this issue.
Women and minorities usually have it worse. Vilk believes the preponderance of white men in management has contributed to the industry’s delay in reacting.
Some members of the AP’s race and ethnicity reporting team approached their editor, Andale Gross, following Wilder’s firing with concerns over whether the company would support them if their stories or tweets proved controversial, he said. Racist slurs and threats happen frequently to the reporters he supervises, who include Blacks, Latinos and Asian-Americans, and AP security has responded to a number of them, he said.
The team’s story two weeks ago about racism in the military provoked many hateful messages from people who said they were in the military — essentially proving the article’s point, he said.
“I don’t want people to think it should be accepted or tolerated,” Gross said. “But it comes with the territory of the things we write about. We know that every story we produce, we can be dealing with an onslaught of racism.”
The National Association of Black Journalists has offered members help on the problem through in-person information sessions and webinars, said Dorothy Tucker, NABJ president.
Nearly three-quarters of 714 female journalists surveyed said they had experienced online attacks, according to a study released in April by UNESCO and the International Center for Journalists. Twelve percent sought medical or psychological help. The survey said 4% left their jobs and 2% quit the business altogether.
Washington Post columnist Margaret Sullivan wrote in March about receiving “viciously misogynistic name-calling and sexualized fantasies about dismembering me.”
“Unless you’ve been there, it’s hard to comprehend how deeply destabilizing it is, how it can make you think twice about your next story, or even whether being a journalist is worth it,” she wrote.
Taylor Lorenz, a reporter at The New York Times, wrote on Twitter this spring about the “unimaginable” attacks she had received online. “It’s not an exaggeration to say that the harassment and smear campaign I’ve had to endure over the past year has destroyed my life,” she wrote. “No one should have to go through this.”
Both journalist Glenn Greenwald and Fox News Channel host Tucker Carlson belittled her concerns.
“Destroyed her life? Really?” Carlson said on the air. “By most people’s standards Taylor Lorenz would seem to have a pretty good life, one of the best lives in the country, in fact.”
A “suck it up” attitude or feeling that nothing can really be done about online harassment leads many journalists to stay silent. Anne M. Peterson, a veteran sportswriter for the AP, said she has received lewd pictures online and a threat from someone who chillingly attached a Google image of her house. She has never reported an incident to management.
The AP’s Pace, who also writes stories and appears on television, said she has been a target of abuse and has had to address it for employees she manages.
“There have been moments when I sort of chalked it up to, ‘Yeah, this is part of the job,’” she said in an interview. “I know I’m in a high-profile job. … Then there are moments where they really cross a line, or if it affects your personal safety or your family where you think, ‘No, this is not something I should have to put up with. This is unacceptable and scary.’”
“So we don’t want to normalize it,” she said. “We don’t want people to feel like they have to sit there and take it.”
Online attacks in general have worsened. The Pew Research Center said in January that 41% of U.S. adults say they have been harassed online, up from 35% in 2017. The percentages of people who say they have been threatened or sexually harassed online have both doubled since 2014, Pew said.
There are signs that the problem is being taken more seriously in newsrooms.
One indication is a greater willingness to publicly back journalists under attack. That happened this past winter, when Washington Post reporter Seung Hin Kim was criticized for asking Sen Lisa Murkowski her reaction to something President Joe Biden’s failed nominee for budget director, Neera Tanden, had tweeted about Murkowski.
Kim’s boss, Post national editor Steven Ginsberg, said the attacks were “wildly misguided and a bad-faith effort at intimidation. What she did was basic journalism.”
Vilk advises news organizations to conduct an anonymous internal survey to determine the extent of their problems, and to examine social media policies. Most policies concentrate on what journalists should or shouldn’t do, as opposed to what happens when the audience goes on attack, she said.
Organizations should provide cybersecurity training and support, legal and mental health counseling and access to services that can scrub an employee’s personal information from the web, she said. Companies must also be aware that harassment is often more organized than it appears, and be prepared to investigate the source of campaigns, she said.
The AP set a Sept. 1 deadline for a committee of staff members to bring forward ideas to improve how harassment is dealt with.
A man was killed and another wounded in a shooting Wednesday morning in the East Garfield Park neighborhood.
The men, 28 and 36, were outside when gunfire rang out in the 2800 block of West Warren Avenue at 8 a.m., Chicago police said.
Someone drove the men to Mount Sinai Hospital, where the 28-year-old was pronounced dead with gunshot wounds to his body, police said. The other man was listed in serious condition with gunshot wounds to his arm and thigh.
No arrest had been made, police said.
The 12th police district — which covers parts of East Garfield Park and much of the Near West Side — has recorded 39 shootings so far this year, a 9% decrease from the same period in 2020, according to police statistics.
At the same time, however, 12 murders have been logged in the district, a 33% increase over the same period last year.
DENVER — Nikola Jokic was selected with the 41st draft pick when he entered the NBA seven years ago.
Now, by overwhelming consensus, he’s No. 1.
The Nuggets’ big man was revealed Tuesday as the NBA’s Most Valuable Player for 2020-21, making him by far the lowest draft pick ever to win the award. “The Joker” now has his name etched alongside the greatest players in league history, which surely seemed unlikely when he was that unheralded prospect out of Sombor, Serbia, in 2014.
“To be honest, I didn’t even think I would be in the NBA,” Jokic said. “My goal when I started to play basketball back home, it was playing in Euroleague because that was kind of the closest top league to my country.”
He did a little more.
Jokic was the runaway winner, getting 91 of the 101 first-place ballots cast — 100 of them from a global panel of sportswriters and broadcasters who cover the league, the other being an aggregate first-place ballot compiled from fan voting.
That fan vote was the outlier: It went to 2011 NBA MVP Derrick Rose of the New York Knicks, the only vote Rose got.
Philadelphia’s Joel Embiid was second, Golden State’s Stephen Curry was third, 2019 and 2020 MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo of Milwaukee was fourth and Phoenix’s Chris Paul was fifth.
“It’s a big accomplishment, but it’s something that like I said to the guys, it’s not just me,” Jokic said. “I came here six years ago and I was growing, the organization was growing, the coaching staff was growing, the players next to me were growing.
“I couldn’t do it by myself. It’s an individual award, but it’s the effort of everybody.”
The previous record-holders for lowest draft picks who became MVPs were Steve Nash and Giannis Antetokounmpo, who were both chosen 15th overall. Antetokounmpo won the MVP award each of the last two seasons.
Greece now cedes the bragging rights to Serbia — the fifth nation outside of the U.S. to claim an MVP, joining Canada (Nash), Greece (Antetokounmpo), Nigeria (Hakeem Olajuwon) and Germany (Dirk Nowitzki).
The news came in a team meeting Tuesday, with NBA Commissioner Adam Silver appearing on a video screen to deliver the word.
“First of many,” Nuggets coach Michael Malone said. He wore a T-shirt Tuesday night with some of the knocks that Jokic has heard over the years, including “Can’t Jump,” “Flopper” and “Poor Defender.”
The back of the shirt told a different story: “MVP. Joke’s On You,” it said.
After the top five, the rest of the voting was Dallas’ Luka Doncic, Portland’s Damian Lillard, New York’s Julius Randle, Rose, Utah’s Rudy Gobert, Washington’s Russell Westbrook, Philadelphia’s Ben Simmons and, tying for 13th, was the Los Angeles Clippers’ Kawhi Leonard, Brooklyn’s James Harden and the Lakers’ LeBron James.
James got one fifth-place vote — extending his streak to 18 years with at least one vote in the MVP race.
Jokic’s rise was meteoric, but not totally unexpected after the way he played in recent years. Even Kobe Bryant, back in 2019, said he had challenged Jokic to fulfill his potential and win an MVP award.
Challenge accepted. Challenge met. And now Jokic has the trophy that Bryant won in 2008.
“MVP! BEST PLAYER IN THE NBA!” Nuggets teammate Will Barton posted on Instagram.
“I couldn’t win it without you guys,” Jokic told his teammates when the word came.
Jokic had a league-high 60 double-doubles and added 16 triple-doubles — second-most in the NBA behind only triple-double king and former MVP Westbrook — this season. Jokic’s scoring average jumped from 19.9 points per game last season to 26.4. He tied his career high with 10.8 rebounds per game and his average of 8.3 assists was just shy of Wilt Chamberlain’s all-time season average (8.6) for a center.
He shot 56% from the field and 39% from 3-point range.
“The Denver Nuggets drafted me, it was an opportunity for me to become an NBA player,” Jokic said. “I think I did a good job of using that opportunity.”
A year after leading the Nuggets to the Western Conference Finals in the Walt Disney World bubble in Florida, Jokic steered his team through a trying season marked a rash of injuries, most notably to fellow star Jamal Murray, who tore his left ACL in April.
Amid all those injuries — not to mention a jampacked season where virtually everyone got some rest along the way — Jokic was a rare everyday player, a big man who logged big minutes. He’s the only player to start all of his team’s regular-season games in the last two seasons, being on the floor for tip-off all 145 times. Others have also played in every game, but no one else has started them all.
Including playoffs, Jokic has logged 5,766 minutes in the last two seasons. That’s nearly 300 more than anyone else; he’s one of only six players to eclipse 5,000 minutes in that span.
Despite that ever-changing cast around him, Jokic guided Denver to the No. 3 playoff seed in the West. Behind Jokic, the Nuggets went 13-5 after Murray tore his ACL on April 12 and he led Denver past the Portland Trail Blazers in the first round of the playoffs.
And his numbers against the Blazers? Historic. He averaged 33 points and 10.5 rebounds on 53% shooting from the field, 43% from 3-point range and 92% from the free throw line — making him the first player in NBA history to average 30 points and 10 rebounds with the lofty benchmarks of 50% from the field, 40% from 3 and 90% from the foul line in a playoff series.
“Life’s about little moments,” Malone said late in the regular season. “And Nikola’s got about 56 moments where he’s shown he’s the MVP.”
LONDON — The NFL wants to expand its international series by holding regular-season games in Germany, launching a process Wednesday to identify a partner city.
Germany boasts a strong NFL fan base and is one of the world’s largest economies, making the country an attractive partner.
The NFL has staged 28 regular-season games in London since 2007 and will play two more in October at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. German fans often travel to London to attend games, the league said.
“We are very excited about the development of our German fan base, and the time is right to identify a partner who can execute a game at NFL standards as part of our international growth strategy,” Brett Gosper, the NFL’s head of UK and Europe, said in a statement.
The NFL has hired London-based The Sports Consultancy to assist, including working with interested cities to develop their proposals.
“This process is designed to explore potential local partnerships, stadium suitability and game logistics,” Gosper said. “We need engaged and motivated host partners that span the public sector, venue, sport, community and major event spheres and can help us deliver a high-impact event and a long-term partnership. Identifying a preferred host city is a key step in bringing regular-season NFL games to our millions of German fans.”
Weekly television viewership in Germany has grown by more than 20% annually since 2017, the league said.
German viewership of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ 31-9 victory over the Kansas City Chiefs in the Super Bowl on Feb. 8 set a record.
“Germany is a leading market outside North America for NFL Shop sales, fantasy football participation and sales of the Madden NFL video game,” the league said in its statement.
The NFL staged five preseason games in Germany between 1990 and 1994, and had a professional team presence in Germany between 1991 and 2007 with the Berlin Thunder, Cologne Centurions, Frankfurt Galaxy, Hamburg Sea Devils and Rhein Fire playing at various times in the former World League/NFL Europe/NFL Europa.
NFL regular-season games have also been played in Mexico and Canada.
Chicago House AC announces a major partnership with Nike, which will see the iconic sport brand’s Nike Soccer division align with Chicago’s NISA club for at least the next three years.
“Nike is a global brand that resonates locally, who shares our views and similar core values as it relates to social justice, equity and diversity,” explains Chicago House AC Managing Partner, President & CEO Peter Wilt. “Nike will supply the best possible equipment and gear for our players and staff, along with access to quality merchandise and leisure wear for our fans. We see our partnership as a good fit on all fronts.”
As a Public Benefit Corporation (P.B.C), Chicago House AC is committed to grassroots engagement across Chicagoland’s diverse landscape of vibrant communities. This includes working with appropriate amateur sports teams, non-profits, community organizations and international groups to develop relationships that will mutually benefit the club and its community partners.
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Nike’s similar approach in their business and public stance on social justice, equality, and drive for sustainability makes them an excellent partner during the club’s developmental stages and beyond. The Beaverton, Oregon-headquartered corporation recently announced a $40 million commitment over the next four years to support the Black community in the U.S., on behalf of the Nike, Jordan and Converse brands collectively. Michael Jordan and Jordan Brand will also donate $100 million over the next 10 years to organizations dedicated to ensuring racial equality, social justice and greater access to education.
Chicago House AC aims to have a deeply positive impact on underserved neighborhoods through initiatives that provide opportunities for educational programming, mentorship and safe places to play soccer and futsal for children in the city. The club will also work inclusively with organizations to improve social justice, racial equality, diversity and community improvement. The club is committing 10% of annual corporate partnership revenue and Nike jersey revenue to be donated to non-profit and community-based organizations and fan directed initiatives.
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To celebrate the partnership, Nike will collaborate with Chicago House AC on the creation of a limited edition, collectible kit design that will only be available during Chicago’s inaugural season this Fall. More information on the release of this kit is forthcoming.
As the club’s official equipment and merchandise provider, Nike will supply Chicago House AC with the latest high-performance on-field team wear, along with an impressive range of cutting-edge fanwear for the club’s growing base of fans. The initial Nike House merchandise launch is slated for later this month, when the 2021 line will become available on the Chicago House AC website at www.chicagohouseac.com.
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“We’re excited to be partnering with the Nike brand and their world-renowned, top-notch product,” says Chicago House AC Head Coach & Technical Director, C.J. Brown, who became more familiar with the brand’s capabilities during his time with Nike Soccer partner, US Soccer. “I know our staff and team will be thrilled at the quality of the product and equipment Nike Soccer will be supplying. We can’t wait to get into the gear as we prepare our new squad for our debut season in NISA!”
In addition to the partnership with Nike, Chicago House AC has also partnered with industry-leading sports merchandise distributor, WeGotSoccer, and local Chicago distributor Soccer 2000, to ensure a continual line of unique House branded Nike products will be available for fans to purchase online and during House home matches at SeatGeek Stadium in Bridgeview in the Fall.
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Chicago House AC will kick off their inaugural season in the National Independent Soccer Association (NISA) this coming August. Fans can secure Season Tickets for the 2021-2022 season by visiting www.chicagohouseac.com/tickets. Season memberships cover all home matches during the Fall 2021 and Spring 2022 NISA league seasons, and includes a 10% discount on club website merchandise purchases. The Fall NISA scheduled will be announced later this summer.
Dee Alaba seeks collaborators who celebrate and respect identity.
Born in Davao in the Philippines and raised in Des Plaines, Dee Alaba began dancing at the age of four. A graduate of Columbia College, she currently performs with the Seldoms, Loud Bodies, and Erin Kilmurray.…Read More
A man barricaded himself inside a home June 9, 2021, after he was seen shooting two men in Gresham. | File photo
About 12:25 a.m., officers on patrol saw a man shooting in an alley into a garage in the 8300 block of South Kerfoot Avenue.
A Chicago police officer fired at a man who had just shot two people early Wednesday in the Gresham neighborhood, but the man got away after barricading himself in a home, authorities said.
Officers on patrol had seen the man shooting from an alley into a garage in the 8300 block of South Kerfoot Avenue around 12:30 a.m., police said. One officer fired once at the man but it was not known if he was hit.
They discovered two men in the garage who had been shot by the suspect, police said. One man, 60, was struck in his thigh, and a man in his 50s was struck in the leg, police said. Both were taken to the University of Chicago Medical Center, where the 60-year-old was in good condition and the younger man in serious condition.
After running from the scene, the man barricaded himself inside a home, police said. A SWAT team responded and surrounded the home for about eight hours. Later Wednesday morning, police said the standoff was over but that no one was in custody.
The Civilian Office of Police Accountability said it was investigating the officer’s use of force.
