Author: Kristin Early, Resident Editor

Daria, a cult classic from the late nineties, is finally getting the spinoff it deserves. What We Know: Tracee Ellis Ross has signed on to be the voice and executive producer of Jodie, a spinoff of the classic MTV animated series Daria. Grace Nkenge Edwards, the writer and co-producer for Insecure, is the creator and head writer of the show. As the name suggest, Jodie will focus on Daria’s good friend Jodie Landon. Jodie was the smart and confident black female character that many girls in the nineties aspired to be like. According to a press release from MTV, the show will focus on Jodie “as she comes…

Read More

Former NFL tight end, Kellen Winslow Jr., was convicted of raping a 58 year old woman and two other misdemeanors. What We Know: Winslow (35) has been on trial on rape and the charges. Five women have came forward an testified against Winslow for separate incidences. A 58 year old homeless woman stated that Winslow raped her in May 2018. That same month, a 57 year old woman stated that Winslow exposed himself to her. He has been accused of raping a 54 year old hitchhiker in March 2018. A 77 year old woman accused Winslow of committing a lewd…

Read More

Police consultant, David Blake, wrote a 51 page report reviewing the shooting of Willie McCoy. What We Know: In April, we reported on the shooting of 20 year California rapper, Willie McCoy, by six Vallejo police officers. After reviewing the body cam footage and reviewing the reports, David Blake determined that the officers’ use of force was “reasonable”. As a retired officer, Blake determined this “based upon [his] training and experiences as a range instructor as well as through applied human factors psychology”. According to Blake’s report, the officers felt “scared” and “fearful”. Even though the officers only waited 3.5…

Read More

Mother, Tiffany Kelly, started a petition to spread awareness to an issue she had with the Maryland County Police Department. What We Know: On May 14th, Kelly’s son was handing out toy money on his school bus as a way to learn to socialize. Kelly’s son has a disability that makes socializing hard for him. The toy money was bought on Amazon and it has pink Asian symbols and dotted lines on it. When the money was found on the bus, the school officials contacted the Maryland Police Department. The responding officers questioned the 10 year old. According to Kelly’s…

Read More

US District Judge, Paul Grimm, will let a jury decide if two officers violated the rights of a Secret Service agent. What We Know: On July 11, 2015, Secret Service agent Nathaniel Hicks was sitting in his parked car waiting to join a motorcade for Jeh Johnson. Johnson was the Homeland Security Secretary at the time and was traveling from Washington to his home in New Jersey. Hicks was the “lead advance agent”. According to Hicks, he had just gotten off the phone with his supervisor when Ferreyra knocked on his window. Ferreyra had his gun pointed at Hicks. Hicks…

Read More

New York City is preparing three bills to change the infamous Rikers Island into a solar farm and wastewater treatment facility. What We Know: Rikers Island is known for being a violent jail. It sits on a 400 acre island. In addition to this, it has a history of pollution. In 1903, it began to be used as a landfill for coal ash. Coal ash contains toxic chemicals. This has caused health problems for the staff and inmates of the island. In 2012, six guards with cancer filed a lawsuit for being exposed to carcinogenic pollution. There are three bills…

Read More

The First Step Act has reduced the sentences for 1051 inmates. What We Know: The First Step Act of 2018 stands for Formerly Incarcerated Reenter Society Transformed Safely Transitioning Every Person. President Trump signed the act into effect in December 2018. Since then, according to the US Sentencing Commission, 1051 inmates received a reduced sentence. Out of the 1051 inmates, 91.3% of them were black, 3.8% Hispanic, and 4.3% white. The First Step Act is an extension of Obama’s 2010 Fair Sentencing Act. The Fair Sentencing Act helped decrease the racial disparity between crack and cocaine sentences by 82%. Even…

Read More

On Friday June 6th, the Trump administration and Mexican officials signed an agreement regarding the immigration policy. What We Know: In an effort to force Mexico to do something about illegal immigration, the Trump administration threatened to impose new tariffs. These tariffs would have caused a 5% tax on all imported Mexican goods and this would increase regularly up to 25%. The goal was to get Mexico to decrease the amount of asylum seekers and immigrants. Despite Trump announcing that the tariffs would take effect on June 10th, a decision had already been reached in March. Negotiations were made between…

Read More

After dropping hints, Beyonce launched a new line of “beyhive” merchandise on June 11th. What We Know: Being Beyonce’s third attempt at designing clothes, her new line of “beehive” merchandise is not as impressive as fans expected. The clothing line consists of t-shirts, bodysuits, socks, bags, biker shorts, and tank tops. The clothing has a simple design which consists of the “beehive” written in either small or large print somewhere on it. The line does have some unique pieces. One piece, that doesn’t really go with the rest of the line, is an Indian theme. It consists of “beehive” being…

Read More

Joe Biden and Donald Trump both had speaking engagements in Iowa on June 11th. What We Know: Biden and Trump are both fighting for the vote of the white, working class voters. Iowa is an early voting state and this was both candidates first time speaking there for the 2020 presidential campaign. Like they have done in the past, both Biden and Trump began by criticizing each other. Biden had his speaking engagement prior to President Trump. But before Trump left the white house, he referred to Biden as a “loser” and a “dummy”. Iowa is a farming state and…

Read More