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  • Harvard agrees to relinquish early images of enslaved people, ending a long legal battle

    Harvard agrees to relinquish early images of enslaved people, ending a long legal battle


    BOSTON — Harvard University will relinquish 175-year-old photographs believed to be the earliest taken of enslaved people to a South Carolina museum devoted to African American history as part of a settlement with a woman who says she is one of the subjects’ descendants.

    The photos of the subjects identified by Tamara Lanier as her great-great-great-grandfather Renty, whom she calls “Papa Renty,” and his daughter Delia will be transferred from the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology to the International African American Museum in Charleston, South Carolina, the state where they were enslaved in 1850 when the photos were taken, a lawyer for Lanier said Wednesday.

    The settlement marks the end of a 15-year battle between Lanier and the university to release the 19th-century daguerreotypes, a precursor to modern-day photographs. Lanier’s attorney Joshua Koskoff told The Associated Press that the resolution is an “unprecedented” victory for descendants of those enslaved in the U.S. and praised his client’s yearslong determination in pursuing justice for the people she had identified as her ancestors.

    renty taylor papa renty daughter delia
    A sample image of “Papa” Renty and his daughter Delia, taken in 1850, during a press conference announcing a lawsuit against Harvard University, in New York City, on March 20, 2019.Kevin Hagen / Getty Images file

    “I think it’s one of one in American history, because of the combination of unlikely features: to have a case that dates back 175 years, to win control over images dating back that long of enslaved people — that’s never happened before,” Koskoff said.

    A key question of the case was whether Harvard could legally be allowed to continue owning dehumanizing images of enslaved people who couldn’t consent to taking part. The Massachusetts court system ultimately sided with Harvard on the question of ownership, but allowed Lanier to continue to pursue emotional damages from the institution.

    Harvard said Wednesday that it had long been working to relinquish ownership of the images “to put them in the appropriate context and increase access to them for all Americans.”

    Negotiations between Harvard and Lanier lawyers resulted in a settlement that included the removal of the images from Harvard’s ownership.

    On Wednesday, Lanier stood holding a portrait of Papa Renty while arm-in-arm with Susanna Moore, the great-great-great-granddaughter of Harvard biologist Louis Agassiz, who commissioned the images on behalf of the university and whose theories on racial difference were once used to support slavery in the U.S. Both great-great-great grandaughters — one of enslaved people and another of a man who exploited them — praised the resolution.

    “This is a moment in history where the sons and daughters of stolen ancestors can stand with pride and rightfully proclaim a victory for reparations,” Lanier said. “This pilfered property, images taken without dignity or consent and used to promote a racist psychoscience will now be repatriated to a home where their stories can be told and their humanity can be restored.”

    Moore called the images captured by her ancestor, Agassiz, a “deeply racist project.”

    “This victory reminds us that the meaning of such objects in museums can and should change,” she said. “This woman standing next to me, she knew all along she was not small and she was not alone.”

    A question of ownership

    In 2019, Lanier sued Harvard, alleging the images were taken “without Renty’s and Delia’s consent and therefore unlawfully retained.” The suit attacked Harvard for its “exploitation” of Renty’s image at a 2017 conference and in other uses. It said Harvard has capitalized on the images by demanding a “hefty” licensing fee to reproduce them.

    Agassiz came across Renty and Delia while touring plantations in search of racially “pure” enslaved individuals born in Africa, according to Lanier’s suit. To create the images, both Renty and Delia were posed shirtless and photographed from several angles.

    “To Agassiz, Renty and Delia were nothing more than research specimens,” the suit said. “The violence of compelling them to participate in a degrading exercise designed to prove their own subhuman status would not have occurred to him, let alone mattered.”

    tamara lanier renty descendant
    Susanna Moore, left, the great-great-great-granddaughter of Harvard biologist Louis Agassiz, celebrates with Tamara Lanier, second right, and attorneys Ben Crump and Josh Koskoff at the Boston Marriott Long Wharf hotel, in Boston, on March 28, 2025.Leah Willingham / AP file

    In 2021, a Massachusetts court ruled that photos are the property of the photographer, not the subject — a stance affirmed by the Massachusetts Supreme Court.

    However, while Harvard sought to have the case dismissed, the state high court allowed the case to proceed on Lanier’s claim to emotional distress damages.

    The state’s highest court recognized “Harvard’s complicity in the horrific actions surrounding the creation of the daguerreotypes,” saying that “Harvard’s present obligations cannot be divorced from its past abuses.”

    In a statement, Harvard said it had “long been eager to place the Zealy Daguerreotypes with another museum or other public institution.”

    “This settlement now allows us to move forward towards that goal,” the university said. “While we are grateful to Ms. Lanier for sparking important conversations about these images, this was a complex situation, particularly since Harvard has not confirmed that Ms. Lanier was related to the individuals in the daguerreotypes.”

    A new home for Renty and Delia

    Tonya M. Matthews, the CEO of the International African American Museum, called Harvard’s relinquishing of the images a moment “175 years in the making.”

    “The bravery, tenacity, and grace shown by Ms. Lanier throughout the long and arduous process of returning these critical pieces of Renty and Delia’s story to South Carolina is a model for us all,” she said in a statement.

    The South Carolina museum has committed to working with Lanier and including her in decisions about how the story of the images will be told.

    In Lanier’s lawsuit, she asked for Harvard to acknowledge its complicity in slavery, listen to Lanier’s oral family history and pay an unspecified sum in damages. An undisclosed financial settlement was part of the resolution with Harvard announced Wednesday, but Koskoff said Harvard still hasn’t publicly acknowledged Lanier’s connection to them or its connection to perpetuating slavery in the U.S., Koskoff said.

    “That is just left unanswered by Harvard,” he said. Koskoff said he wants to be clear that Lanier and his team “firmly support” Harvard’s current fight against the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump as the White House moves to cut billions in federal aid and block the enrollment of international students, accusing the institution of being a hotbed of liberalism and antisemitism.

    “We are not here today to bash Harvard… but that doesn’t mean that they are perfect, and that doesn’t mean that they don’t have the obligation to tell a full history, even one that sheds poorly on their own veritas,” he said.

    He said Lanier isn’t expecting or waiting to hear from the institution, but that the settlement speaks for itself.

    “In the end, the truth will find you — you can, you can only hide from it for so long,” he said. “Yes, history is written by the winners. But over time, you know, those winners look like losers sometimes.”



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  • Trump commutes sentence of Chicago gang founder after lobbying by Ye

    Trump commutes sentence of Chicago gang founder after lobbying by Ye



    Many Americans may not know Larry Hoover Sr. beyond a passing reference to him in Rick Ross’ 2010 hit single “B.M.F (Blowin’ Money Fast),” in which Ross sings, “I think I’m Big Meech (Woo), Larry Hoover …”

    But on Wednesday, President Donald Trump commuted the six life sentences that Hoover, a Chicago gang founder, was serving for a 1997 conviction in federal court.

    Trump commuted the sentences after a campaign by hip-hop artist Ye, aka Kanye West, now Kim Kardashian’s ex-husband, who has lobbied Trump in the Oval Office to consider releasing Hoover.

    Hoover, though, will not be freed. He will be transferred from the federal “Supermax” prison in Colorado, where is held now, to a state prison in Illinois to serve the rest of a 200-year sentence for crimes he was separately convicted of in state court.

    Hoover founded the Gangster Disciples, a Chicago-based criminal organization that sold cocaine and other narcotics beginning in the early 1970s.

    Called the “chairman of the board” and “the king” of the gang, he was also declared “one of the most notorious criminals in Illinois history.” Prosecutors have said in court filings that “Hoover directed violence and drug trafficking in Chicago from at least 1970 until 1995.”

    Prosecutors presented evidence at trial that the Gangster Disciples profited $109 million each year from the sale of narcotics, “a substantial proportion of which went straight to Hoover’s family’s pockets.”

    Praise for the commutation

    Hoover’s attorneys praised Trump’s decision.

    “The Courts have demonstrated a complete unwillingness to consider Mr. Hoover’s considerable growth and complete rehabilitation,” Jennifer Bonjean and Justin Moore told CBS News in a statement.

    “Despite the Court’s unwillingness to do the right thing, Mr. Hoover has been able to keep his voice alive through the incredible work of many advocates and supporters,” they added. “Thankfully, Mr. Hoover’s pleas were heard by President Trump who took action to deliver justice for Mr. Hoover.”

    Larry Hoover Jr., Hoover’s son, has called for his father’s release for years and was featured in the 2021 Kanye West song “Jesus Lord.”

    Hoover has said from prison that he changed the name of his group from “Gangster Disciples” to “Growth and Development.” He said he now discourages violence and has made education mandatory for his followers, pushing inmates to develop job skills they can use after they are released.

    Hoover’s family has said he is no longer associated with the Gangster Disciples.

    Prosecutors opposed release

    But federal prosecutors recently have said Bureau of Prisons intelligence records show that Hoover did not want to be disassociated from the gang.

    In September, attorneys for the Justice Department argued in court that “Hoover remains the heralded leader of the GDs, despite the intensive monitoring to which he is subject at Florence ADX,” which is the highest-level security prison in the United States and home to convicted terrorists and Juán “El Chapo” Guzmán.

    They strongly urged the court to decline any effort to release Hoover as part of the “First Step Act” supported by Kardashian, which Trump signed into law during his first administration.

    “Hoover has well earned his life sentence, and he is not the type of defendant Congress intended to benefit in enacting the First Step Act,” prosecutors wrote.

    During the 2108 Oval Office meeting with Trump, Ye urged him to commute Hoover’s sentence.

    “The reason why they imprisoned him is because he started doing positive for the community,” Ye said. “He started showing that he actually had power, that he wasn’t just one of a monolithic voice, but he could wrap people around.

    “So there’s theories that there’s infinite amounts of universe and there’s alternate universe,” Ye added. “So it’s very important for me to get Hoover out, because in an alternate universe, I am him. And I have to go and get him free because he was doing positive inside of Chicago.”

    After news of the commutation broke Wednesday, Ye posted on X, “WORDS CAN’T EXPRESS MY GRATITUDE FOR OUR DEVOTED ENDURING PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP FOR FREEING LARRY HOOVER.”



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  • No doubt remains: Thunder answer all questions, all critics with dominating win to advance to NBA Finals

    No doubt remains: Thunder answer all questions, all critics with dominating win to advance to NBA Finals



    We do this thing as sports fans where we say a team or player can’t win it all, until they do. Some fans wanted to break up Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown in Boston until the organization’s patience paid off with a banner No. 18. It’s not new — there was a time when it was popular to say Michael Jordan couldn’t win the big one — and it’s not just basketball, ask the Philadelphia Eagles’ Jalen Hurts.

    There were plenty of fans and some knowledgeable people inside basketball heading into the playoffs who were not convinced that Oklahoma City was any more than a good regular-season team.

    All those questions have been answered. Those critics have been silenced.

    “These guys are uncommon. They do everything right. They’re high character,” Thunder coach Mark Daigneault said.

    With a chance to make the NBA Finals on the line, the Oklahoma City Thunder blew out the Minnesota Timberwolves, 124-94, to take the series 4-1. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 34 and was rightfully named Western Conference Finals MVP.

    Oklahoma City will host Game 1 of the NBA Finals on June 5. The Thunder will be heavy favorites to win the title, regardless of whether the Pacers or Knicks come to town next week.

    While SGA was fantastic and Chet Holmgren added 22 points and Jalen Williams 19, it was the Thunder defense that won them this game, and this series. Oklahoma City came out on Wednesday with defensive pressure that once again had Minnesota on its heels, and the Timberwolves started the game 1-of-11, putting them in a hole.

    That hole only got deeper.

    The Timberwolves shot just 3-of-20 in the first quarter. Minnesota scored 32 first-half points with an offensive rating of 61.5 (compared to 125 for Oklahoma City), and they trailed by 33 at that point. Julius Randle and Anthony Edwards combined for `17 first half points on 17 shot attempts with five turnovers.

    The Timberwolves had 21 turnovers in this game, limiting those was a key coming into the series but something they proved unable to do. While the Timberwolves made a couple of pushes, the game was never in doubt in the final 24 minutes.

    “We just struggled to find a rhythm,” Timberwolves coach Chris Finch said. “Everyone was kind of trying to do it all by themselves. We lost our connectivity. But all credit to the Thunder. They certainly deserve this.”

    They do. And OKC has proved it is more than a regular season team.





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  • Trump admin’s effort to deport Mahmoud Khalil is likely unconstitutional, judge rules

    Trump admin’s effort to deport Mahmoud Khalil is likely unconstitutional, judge rules



    A federal judge in New Jersey ruled Wednesday that the Trump administration’s effort to deport pro-Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil on foreign policy grounds is most likely unconstitutional but stopped short of releasing him from detainment.

    In a lengthy order, U.S. District Judge Michael Farbiarz said Khalil was “likely to succeed” in his claim that the administration’s determination that he is a threat to U.S. foreign policy is “unconstitutionally vague.”

    Farbiarz said the rarely used provision in immigration law the government cited for Khalil’s detention was “unconstitutional as applied” to Khalil and added that Secretary of State Marco Rubio did not “affirmatively determine” that Khalil’s conduct had any impact on U.S. relations with another country.

    Farbiarz said deporting Khalil under the provision would be “unprecedented.”

    Khalil’s legal team said in a statement, “The district court held what we already knew: Secretary Rubio’s weaponization of immigration law to punish Mahmoud and others like him is likely unconstitutional.”

    They added that his continued detention is an “affront to justice” and vowed to continue fighting for his freedom.

    The Justice and State departments did not immediately respond to requests for comment Wednesday night.

    The ruling is the first time a federal judge has weighed in on the constitutionality of the Trump administration’s use of the immigration provision.

    Farbiarz ordered Khalil’s legal team to submit additional information while he considers its request to release Khalil and block the administration from invoking the law against other noncitizens who have spoken out in support of Gaza or were critical of Israel while the case proceeds.

    Still, Farbiarz said, Khalil’s attorneys have not made a “substantial argument” against the government’s allegations that Khalil withheld information from his permanent residency application. Farbiarz said his attorneys are permitted to address the issue in subsequent filings.

    Khalil, who is a permanent U.S. resident, was arrested at his Columbia University apartment in March as part of President Donald Trump’s crackdown on foreign students who his administration alleges are a threat to U.S. foreign policy.

    After he was arrested in New York, Khalil was transported briefly to a facility in New Jersey and then transferred to an Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Jena, Louisiana, where he is currently held.

    Assistant Homeland Security Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement Wednesday night: “It is a privilege to be granted a visa to live and study in the United States of America. When you advocate for violence and terrorism that privilege should be revoked, and you should no longer be in this country.”

    Khalil’s attorneys have submitted evidence rebuking allegations of antisemitism, and they denied he ever provided support to Hamas or any other terrorist organization.

    Multiple federal judges in recent weeks have ordered the government to release other pro-Palestinian activists, including Mohsen Mahdawi, Rümeysa Öztürk and Badar Khan Suri, from immigration detention while they fight the administration’s efforts to deport them.



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  • U.S. Court of International Trade rules several of Trump’s tariffs as contrary to law

    U.S. Court of International Trade rules several of Trump’s tariffs as contrary to law


    A federal three-judge panel on Wednesday ruled against several of President Donald Trump’s tariffs on international trading partners, ruling that he had exceeded his authority.

    The Trump administration quickly moved to appeal in the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.

    In their judgment Wednesday, the U.S. Court of International Trade panel said that Trump’s tariffs lacked “any identifiable limits,” and found that the decades-old International Emergency Economic Powers Act, a federal law that Trump cited in many of his executive orders, did not “delegate an unbounded tariff authority to the President.”

    “We instead read IEEPA’s provisions to impose meaningful limits on any such authority it confers,” they wrote.

    The ruling blocks most of the tariffs Trump has rolled out so far in his second term, including the 10% rate applied to most trading partners and those on China. It also includes fentanyl-related levies on Canada and Mexico.

    The panel’s judgment on Wednesday pertained to two lawsuits over Trump’s tariffs — in one a group of states led by Arizona and Oregon had sued over the tariffs, and in another, several small businesses had sued, both arguing that Trump had exceeded his authority.

    Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes, a Democrat, said in a statement that the tariffs “were poised to devastate our state’s economy.”

    “I will continue to fight for affordability for Arizonans and against President Trump’s illegal abuses of power,” she added.

    Democratic Attorney General Dan Rayfield of Oregon lauded the ruling as a victory for working families and small businesses.

    “President Trump’s sweeping tariffs were unlawful, reckless, and economically devastating. They triggered retaliatory measures, inflated prices on essential goods, and placed an unfair burden on American families, small businesses and manufacturers,” Rayfield said.

    White House spokesman Kush Desai said in a statement that trade deficits “have created a national emergency that has decimated American communities, left our workers behind, and weakened our defense industrial base — facts that the court did not dispute.”

    “It is not for unelected judges to decide how to properly address a national emergency,” Desai added.

    In early evening trading, Nasdaq futures jumped nearly 2% while S&P 500 futures rose about 1.7%.

    Dow Jones Industrial Average futures rallied 520 points, or nearly 1.2%. In the weeks since the president rolled out his massive tariff plan on April 2, markets have lost and regained tens of trillions of dollars of wealth — and that’s just counting the U.S. market.

    At one point, some of Wall Street’s top banks dialed up their recession predictions to as high as 60%. Since April 2, the 30-stock Dow remains slightly negative, but the broad S&P 500 is up 3.8%. The tech-heavy Nasdaq has risen 8.5% throughout the wild ride. The Russell 2000, which tracks smaller companies, is up 1% since April 2.



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  • Jayden Reed said meeting with Packers was “misinterpreted”

    Jayden Reed said meeting with Packers was “misinterpreted”



    Jayden Reed met with the media for the first time since his agent, Drew Rosenhaus, talked to the Packers to discuss the wide receiver’s role. Reed said he knew about the meeting beforehand, but he he wasn’t worried about his standing with the team after the draft.

    The Packers selected Matthew Golden in the first round and Savion Williams in the third.

    A lot of people misinterpreted that,” Reed said, via Rob Demovsky of ESPN. “I hired a new agent [Rosenhaus], and we talked about it before even the draft, really, that he said he was going to talk to the front office and everybody here to just catch up and make sure everybody’s on the same page. As a new client, he told me that’s the way he was going to do it, and he did it.

    “Now, I don’t know how it got out, because it was supposed to be confidential. But that’s how it goes sometimes. People get a different perception; they make their own perception, which is OK. That’s how it goes sometimes.”

    Reed led the team in receptions and receiving yards in each of his first two seasons, but he has yet to have a 1,000-yard season. Davante Adams, who had 1,553 yards receiving in 2021, was the last Packers wide receiver with 1,000 yards.

    As Packers running back Josh Jacobs said this offseason, the Packers need a No. 1 wide receiver to go with Reed, Romeo Doubs, Christian Watson and Dontayvion Wicks, among others.

    “As long as, at the end of the day, we end out on top and we win, that’s all that matters,” Reed said. “I’m not the type to care about targets. I really don’t care about it. I could have two targets. If we win, I don’t care, you know what I’m saying? That’s just how I look at things.

    “I’m a very unselfish person. Whenever anybody fall, I try to be the first person around to pick ‘em up. I try to pick players up when they got they head down, so yeah, that’s just what kind of player I am.”





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  • Forget stadiums. These rockers may be coming to a back yard near you

    Forget stadiums. These rockers may be coming to a back yard near you


    The All-American Rejects are bringing back the house party. The rock band, who topped the charts in the early 2000s such with hits as “Move Along” and “Gives You Hell,” is popping up, playing surprise shows in small venues across the country.

    So far, the concert spots have included a backyard near the University of Missouri in Columbia, a barn in Ames, Iowa, and a Minneapolis bowling alley.

    The band’s frontman, Tyson Ritter, said the musicians “wanted to get back to the spirit of what started this band.”

    Shortly before each surprise show, the location is sent to fans in the area who have signed up for the band’s text messages.

    leeds, United Kingdom, 26th may 2024, all american rejects perform live at slam dunk festival uk AAR tyson ritter Mike Kennerty
    Tyson Ritter of The All-American Rejects perform live at Slam Dunk Festival in Leeds, UK, on May 26, 2024.ChrisJamesRyanPhotography / Shutterstock file

    With concert ticket prices skyrocketing, it’s a novel approach to making live music accessible to fans. The band’s drummer, Chris Gaylor, said he hopes the shows make fans “excited to go to a show again and see it’s possible to see something without having to pay exorbitant money.”

    Videos of the shows have been flooding social media.

    Some, taking to TikTok,offering up their back yards for potential future shows.

    The non-traditional tour has been widely well-received, though police appeared to shut down one event in Missouri.

    “This thing got bigger than our band,” Ritter said. “This thing became something, I guess, in the last week that spoke to people, and hit a nerve.”

    He said the band plans to keep the house party tours going throughout the summer.





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  • Smokey Robinson sues accusers and their lawyers, claiming defamation

    Smokey Robinson sues accusers and their lawyers, claiming defamation



    LOS ANGELES — Motown legend Smokey Robinson on Wednesday filed a lawsuit alleging defamation by four former housekeepers who earlier this month in a lawsuit accused him of sexual assault and abuse.

    Lawyers for Robinson also filed a motion in Los Angeles Superior Court seeking to have the complaint against him dismissed, arguing that it was filed under false names.

    Robinson, 85, was sued in early May by four women identified in court documents as Jane Does 1-4. They alleged Robinson assaulted them while they worked as low-wage housekeepers at his home in the Los Angeles suburb of Chatsworth.

    Robinson has denied the allegations.

    In addition to the civil lawsuit, which seeks no less than $50 million, a law enforcement source told NBC News two weeks ago that Robinson is under criminal investigation. No charges have been filed.

    The lawsuit filed by Robinson against the four women who have accused say the housekeepers were treated in a “collegial, even familial, manner” and never alleged any abuse in while employed.

    They first demanded $100 million before filing a lawsuit, attorneys for Robinson wrote in the cross-complaint.

    “When the Robinsons resisted the extortionate demands, Plaintiffs filed this lawsuit,” the lawsuit says, alleging that subsequent public statements made against the Robinsons were false.

    “Plaintiffs did not have the right to create a media circus of a press conference, and use that platform to slander the Robinsons,” the suit reads.

    The women, three of whom appeared at a May 6 press conference wearing masks to protect their identity, said they didn’t speak out earlier because they were afraid of losing their paychecks and were embarrassed, one of their lawyers, John Harris, said then.

    The women’s lawsuit is against Robinson and his wife, Frances Robinson. Their attorneys said that Frances Robinson was aware of the alleged abuse.

    The suit claims that Smokey Robinson assaulted one woman at least 23 times from May 2014 to February 2020, often in places in his home without security cameras.

    The suit alleges that he assaulted another former employee at least 20 times during the 12 years she worked for him, beginning in 2012. According to the suit, Robinson would force her into his bedroom and perform a “ritual” of leaving his bathroom naked or nearly naked.

    According to the suit, Robinson would then place a towel on his bed so the linens would not be soiled “for what was about to occur.”

    The suit says he subjected two other plaintiffs to the same behavior. One of the former housekeepers worked for Robinson for 13 months, during which, she alleges, he assaulted her at least seven times.

    Robinson’s defamation lawsuit named the four Jane Does, and Harris and his law firm, among others.

    It singles out Harris’ use of the phrase “serial and sick rapist” and “serial assaulter” referring to Robinson at the May 6 press conference.

    At the news conference, Harris said that “We believe that Mr. Robinson is a serial and sick rapist that must be stopped.”

    At another point Harris said, “We have reason to believe that this behavior has existed for many years, and I think given the allegations we’re fairly confident that he’s a serial assaulter.”

    Harris and his law firm partner, Herbert Hayden of Harris & Hayden of Los Angeles, called Robinson’s defamation lawsuit “nothing more than an attempt to silence and intimidate the survivors of Mr. Robinson’s sexual battery and assault.”

    “It is a baseless and vindictive legal maneuver designed to re-victimize, shift blame and discourage others from coming forward,” Harris and Hayden said in a statement Wednesday in response to the suit.

    They said they will file a motion to strike Robinson’s complaint, citing a California law about “strategic lawsuits against public participation,” or SLAPP.

    Robinson, a recording, producing and songwriting legend, is known for, among other hits, “You’ve Really Got a Hold on Me,” “Ooo Baby Baby” and “The Tracks of My Tears.”

    Robinson’s law suit seeks damages of not less than $500 million. It alleges defamation, intentional infliction of emotional distress, and invasion of privacy, among other claims.



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  • Diddy trial judge denies defense team’s mistrial motion

    Diddy trial judge denies defense team’s mistrial motion



    This is a free article for Diddy on Trial newsletter subscribers. Sign up to get exclusive reporting and analysis throughout Sean Combs’ federal trial.

    U.S. government prosecutors spent much of today attempting to back up testimony from key witnesses like Kid Cudi, the hip-hop artist who dated Diddy’s ex-girlfriend Cassie Ventura and accused the defendant of breaking into his house and setting his car on fire. The prosecution team also tried to bolster its racketeering conspiracy charge with more evidence of Diddy’s alleged crimes. Meanwhile, the defense team made a failed bid for a mistrial.

    Here’s what you need to know:

    • Christoper Ignacio, a Los Angeles police officer, testified about responding to a break-in at Kid Cudi’s home in 2011. The Cadillac Escalade that cops saw leaving the scene was registered to Bad Boy Productions, one of Diddy’s companies, Ignacio said. The break-in wasn’t reported as a burglary, he confirmed during cross-examination.
    • Lance Jimenez, a Los Angeles Fire Department arson investigator, told jurors he found a Molotov cocktail inside Kid Cudi’s burned Porsche in early 2012. Jimenez characterized the car fire as a “targeted crime.” In the government’s indictment against Diddy, arson is one of the crimes listed under the racketeering conspiracy charge.
    • Deonte Nash, a celebrity stylist, testified he once jumped on Diddy’s back to keep him from beating up Cassie. Nash said that he was thrown off and the rapper continued striking Cassie until she hit her head on a bed frame and started bleeding. Nash also testified that Diddy threatened to send sex tapes of Cassie to her parents’ workplaces to get them fired.

    ALSO: Cassie gave birth yesterday, roughly two weeks after she testified, a source familiar with the matter confirmed. It’s her third child with her husband, Alex Fine. NBC News’ Rebecca Cohen and Chloe Melas have details.


    🔎 The view from inside

    By Adam Reiss, Chloe Melas and Jing Feng

    The trial came to an abrupt halt around 10:30 a.m. when Jimenez, the arson investigator, said some of the fingerprints lifted during the Kid Cudi break-in investigation were destroyed. Diddy’s lawyers argued that testimony about the lost prints should be struck from the record because jurors might infer that their client was somehow involved.

    “What the government has done is outrageous,” Marc Agnifilo, Diddy’s lead attorney, told Judge Arun Subramanian. Subramanian seemed to agree. He struck mentions of the lost prints from the record. But the judge swiftly turned down the defense’s motion for a mistrial.

    In other news: Nash, the stylist, was a spirited and sometimes amusing witness who made it clear to the jury that he would rather not testify against Diddy. He said he had kept in touch with the rapper and doesn’t harbor any ill will toward him, despite the violence he said he witnessed.

    “I don’t hate him,” Nash said. “It’s just not me.”


    👨‍⚖️ Analysis: No mistrial, but not a setback for Diddy’s team

    By Danny Cevallos

    In denying the defense’s motion for a mistrial, Subramanian said there “was absolutely no testimony from [Jimenez] that was prejudicial in any way, shape or form.” It seems to have been the right call. The questions might have been objectionable, but it doesn’t seem that they were designed to suggest Combs tampered with evidence. It seems equally likely that the questions were designed to establish only that this witness wasn’t responsible for destroying the fingerprint cards.

    But was this a setback for the defense? I’d argue it wasn’t. First, even the defense likely didn’t expect the mistrial to be granted. This was probably an example of making a “highball” demand, to get to the middle — where you want to be. The judge acknowledged that there was an issue with the testimony and excluded some of the evidence. That’s not what the defense asked for, but it’s a win.


    🗓️ What’s next

    Tomorrow: Nash will return to the stand. We’re also expecting testimony from an accuser identified in the government’s indictment as “Victim 4.”

    PSA: Every night during Diddy’s trial, NBC’s “Dateline” will drop special episodes of the “True Crime Weekly” podcast to get you up to speed. “Dateline” correspondent Andrea Canning chats with NBC News’ Chloe Melas and special guests — right in front of the courthouse. Listen here. 🎧



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  • Baylor defensive lineman Alex Foster dies at 18

    Baylor defensive lineman Alex Foster dies at 18



    Baylor defensive lineman Alex Foster died early Wednesday in Greenville, Mississippi, the school announced.

    He was 18.

    No details were revealed on the cause of death for the player who redshirted last season and took part in spring practices.

    “We are heartbroken by the unexpected loss of Alex Foster, a beloved member of our football family,” coach Dave Aranda and athletic director Mack Rhoades said in a joint statement. “Our immediate focus is on supporting Alex’s family and his teammates through this devastating loss. Alex’s memory will forever be part of our hearts and this program.”

    Aranda posted a separate message in referring to Foster making a “long-lasting impact on all of us,” and adding, “Our hearts are broken, and our prayers are with his family, friends and all those who loved him so deeply.”

    Listed at 6-foot-5 and 292 pounds, Foster was rated by 247Sports as being among Mississippi’s top-20 prospects and 69th defensive lineman in the nation coming out of St. Joseph High School in Madison.



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