Romeo Miller made his first public appearance since the news of the death of his 29-year-old sister Tytyana Miller, at the 2022 Essence Festival of Culture on Friday. From the Essence Wealth & Power stage, Miller, fellow panelists Lori Harvey and AT&T executive Michelle Jordan discussed ways to help advance Black representation in business. The 32-year-old entertainer also shared special words of wisdom for Black leaders who wish to become successful entrepreneurs.
“Laws and keys to success from the bible,” Miller began, reading from his bible study notes saved on his cell phone.
“You must understand your potential. You must have passion. Although you have vision and passion, you must have principles to protect them,” he read. “You have to plan your strategy to be successful. If you’re going to be successful, you have to protect yourself from the wrong people. That’s the big key right there. And the longest way to success is a shortcut.”
Miller finished by emphasizing the idea that Black leaders shouldn’t “cheat yourself,” while reiterating a key point in his speech: “the longest way to success is a shortcut.”
Throughout the discussion, the Growing Up Hip Hop alum provided personal life details including his status as second generation, only after his father, successful rapper and record label founder, Master P. He also opened up about his own entrepreneurial journey.
“I was literally in one of my film classes at USC a few years ago and all of the movies we were watching, it was only white actors,” he recalled. “How do you think the young Black girl, the young Black boy is going to think the world is represented?”
And that’s the reason events like the Essence Fest are important, Miller says, “Because we need generational love in the Black community.”
Fans in Las Vegas may not have gotten the concerts they were promised earlier this year, but Adele kept her appointment with her hometown crowd in London Friday night at Hyde Park.
It was the first time she’d performed in London since 2017, and even then, she canceled the final two shows of her four-night run at Wembley Stadium due to vocal issues. As Variety reports, when Adele took the stage Friday night, she started “Hello,” and then stopped to exclaim, “I’m so happy to be here!”
According to Variety, Adele did just as much chatting as she did singing, sharing stories about binging Stranger Things and taking her son to see Billie Eilish, and how much she likes Britney Spears memes. She also read the signs fans held up, and congratulated them on the special occasions they were celebrating, like birthdays, anniversaries and divorces.
But of course, she also sang: the setlist included songs old and new, from “Skyfall,” “Make You Feel My Love” and “Rumour Has It” to “Easy on Me,” “Oh My God” and “I Drink Wine.” Of course, she sang “Rolling in the Deep,” “Someone Like You” and “Set Fire to the Rain.”
Adele even appeared to address her Las Vegas residency, which has yet to be rescheduled. “I know a lot of things have happened with this album, I know a lot of you feel let down and I’m mortified,” she said, according to to Variety. “But I take my music very seriously and I had to do that.”
According to setlist.fm, here’s full list of what Adele sang Friday in London, as part of Hyde Park’s British Summer Time festival:
“Hello”
“I Drink Wine”
“I’ll Be Waiting”
“Rumour Has It”
“Water Under the Bridge”
“One and Only“
“Skyfall”
“Send My Love (To Your New Lover)”
“Easy on Me”
“All I Ask”
“Make You Feel My Love”
“Someone Like You”
“Oh My God”
“Set Fire to the Rain”
“Hold On”
“Rolling in the Deep”
Encore:
“When We Were Young”
“Love Is a Game”
Earlier this year, it was reported that Jack White and his label, Third Man Records, had obtained the rights to release the lost Prince album Camille. White has now shared a bit more info about the project and, more specifically, what he will not be doing with the record.
In an Instagram post, White sets out to clarify a “misleading” recent headline reporting that he “plans to ‘re-edit'” Camille.
“I want to make sure the message is clear,” White says. “Neither I nor Third Man Records, have any intention of ‘editing’ or ‘remixing’ Prince’s music.”
Prince originally recorded Camille in 1986 under a pseudonym. While all the songs on the album were eventually put out, including on Prince’s 1987 record Sign o’ the Times, they were never released together as a single package.
“I was referring to simply putting the songs in the original order that the album Camille was in, as those songs have been put out in multiple releases since Camille was first taken off the presses,” White explains.
“I would never mess with Prince’s music,” he adds. “Hopefully that clears up any misunderstanding, and this album can see the light of day in its original form.”
(UVALDE, Texas) — The district attorney investigating the May 24 massacre that killed two teachers and 19 students in Uvalde, Texas, revealed Friday that she has been meeting with the families of victims to update them on the ongoing investigation.
“We’re trying to make sure that they’re getting the resources that they need,” District Attorney Christina Mitchell Busbee, the top prosecutor in Uvalde, said in an interview at her downtown office. “And then I am telling them where I am in the investigation, and so those conversations have been ongoing.”
Busbee declined to tell ABC News which families she has spoken with and did not provide an update on the investigation of the shooting. Her comments came the day after some in the public tore into the DA and other leaders for keeping them in the dark about the ongoing probe into the Robb Elementary School shooting.
“I want the Texas Rangers and the FBI to have time to do their job to give me a complete and thorough investigation,” Busbee told ABC News. “This is a very complicated matter and so I’m allowing them time to do their job. And once the investigation is complete it will be submitted to me and then I will do my job.”
Police have said the shooter was killed by law enforcement, but the ongoing investigation is looking at, among other things, any communications the killer might have had prior to the massacre and the bungled response of police who, authorities have said, did not follow proper procedures in waiting over an hour to stop the rampage.
Complaints about Busbee and other agencies were at times impassioned during a special city council meeting Thursday evening.
“Come here, show your face,” said Tina Quintanilla-Taylor, whose daughter survived the shooting. “We’re here showing our face because we lost somebody or somebody’s suffering. Enough is enough.”
“We have questions,” Quintanilla-Taylor added. “We want answers. We demand answers. We’re not here just to sit around, we are demanding answers. Show your face, answer our questions.”
“No one should have much power,” Irma Garcia’s sister, Velma Lisa Duran, said of the district attorney at the meeting.
In response to the accusation by families of victims that she is covering for the police who are currently under investigation for their response to the shooting, Busbee told ABC News that she is going to put out a statement “at some point.”
As she continued during the interview, Busbee said, “I would hope that everybody in this community knows that if…” and then she paused out of concern she was about to say too much.
“I’m going to stop right there because I’m getting into the things that I’m going to put in a written statement at some point,” Busbee added.
The families complained the district attorney has dodged their questions and has refused to release evidence including 911 calls and surveillance footage. During the council meeting, Uvalde Mayor Don McLaughlin showed a letter from Busbee, explaining that the DA formally instructed city officials that “any release of records to that incident at this time would interfere with said ongoing investigation.”
“All questions relating to body cam videos and other Robb Elementary School investigative records should be directed to the Uvalde County District Attorney and the Texas Department of Public Safety/Texas Rangers,” McLaughlin said in a statement released last week.
“Anyone who suggests the City of Uvalde is withholding information without legitimate and legal reasons is wrong and is spreading misinformation,” the statement said. “There are specific legal reasons the City cannot release information at this time.”
Busbee declined to comment on whether McLaughlin has been briefed on the investigation.
Uvalde:365 is a continuing ABC News series reported from Uvalde and focused on the Texas community and how it forges on in the shadow of tragedy.
(NEW YORK) — A recent surge of U.S. labor organizing has spotlighted, above all, union campaigns at two high-profile corporations: Amazon and Starbucks.
But a watershed union victory last month at an Apple store in Towson, Maryland, may set off a nationwide labor campaign that combines the massive corporate heft of a company akin to Amazon and the nationwide wave of union victories on display at Starbucks, escalating a monthslong spike in worker organizing even as the economy approaches a possible recession, labor scholars and organizers told ABC News.
A succession of union wins at Apple stores across the U.S. is hardly assured and would likely take an extended period of time, since each Apple store employs far more workers than a typical Starbucks shop, making it more difficult and time-consuming to organize each location, the experts said. They also cautioned that Apple retains wide latitude to oppose unionization, which could hinder union efforts.
Unionized Apple store workers in Maryland “showed it’s possible,” said David DiMaria, an organizer with the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, or IAMAW, who led the labor campaign at the store. “These workers have inspired lots of other Apple workers around the country.”
Since the victory last month, the IAMAW has garnered interest in unionizing from numerous Apple store employees “in all types of markets all over the country,” added DiMaria, though he declined to say how many total stores were represented by the workers. The company has more than 270 U.S. stores.
Workers at the store in Maryland organized over concerns about wages, professional development, scheduling, and Covid risks, the latter of which have worried workers since the pandemic began more than two years ago, DiMaria said.
The successful union campaign in Maryland, which began about a year ago, coincided with similar efforts at other Apple stores. Workers at a location in Grand Central Terminal, in New York City, have undertaken an ongoing union drive. Meanwhile, at a store in Atlanta, the Communications Workers of America withdrew a request for a union vote in May days before it was set to take place, citing anti-union efforts from Apple and logistical challenges posed by Covid.
In May, Apple raised the entry-level pay of its retail employees from $20 to $22 per hour amid the union activity, as well as sky-high inflation and a tight labor market.
Apple declined a request for comment for this article. CWA did not respond to a request for comment.
The surge of organizing at Apple comes amid an overall uptick in union activity nationwide. Petitions for union elections increased 57% over the first six months of fiscal year 2022, which ended on March 31, compared with the same six-month period a year prior, the National Labor Relations Board, or NLRB, said in April.
Over recent months, national attention has focused on union campaigns at Amazon and Starbucks, which have followed disparate trajectories.
In April, warehouse workers at a 6,000-worker Amazon facility formed the first-ever U.S. union at the company, though no additional warehouses have unionized since. While at Starbucks, an initial union victory at a store in Buffalo in December set off a wave of union elections, which now total 225 elections, of which the union has won 182, or 81%, the NLRB told ABC News.
“Starbucks shows that victory begets victory,” said Alex Riccio, a Philadelphia-based organizer with the union Workers United who works on Starbucks labor campaigns. “Once people see there’s a path to victory and a path to power, it has a galvanizing effect.”
But a wave of victories at Apple stores would likely prove more difficult and time-consuming because each shop employs more workers than a typical Starbucks, experts said. Ninety-eight workers voted in the union election at the Apple store in Maryland; as opposed to Starbucks union votes, which range in number but typically involve about 30 employees.
“The larger the workplace, the more uncertainty with respect to the organizing environment,” said Michael Duff, a professor at the St. Louis University School of Law and former attorney with the NLRB. “In trying to organize bigger places, it takes time to figure out whether you have support or not.”
An anti-union campaign from Apple may also limit or slow organizing at Apple stores, though opposition from employers can instead fuel the spread of labor campaigns, experts said.
Apple has not taken a public stance on the recent union efforts, but the company hired lawyers from Littler Mendelson, the law firm retained by Starbucks in its effort to fight unionizing workers. Workers at the store in Atlanta filed a complaint with the NLRB over alleged mandatory anti-union meetings, and Vice reported that the company sent anti-union talking points to managers at multiple stores to share with employees.
Meanwhile, managers at the store in Towson, Maryland, told workers false information about dues payments and mischaracterized how the bargaining process would work, said DiMaria, the lead organizer at IAMAW, citing conversations with workers.
“Employers have a lot of leeway in carrying out anti-union campaigns,” said Risa Lieberwitz, a professor of employment law at Cornell University’s School of Industrial and Labor Relations. “It could make it more difficult.”
When asked whether more Apple stores will unionize, DiMaria expressed cautious optimism.
“If I could call that, I’d play the lottery,” he said. “I know the public would love to see these tidal waves, but it’s the workers who are going through this and they need to build it themselves to sustain.”
(NEW YORK) — Advocates and some relatives of Emmett Till are pushing for the arrest of Carolyn Bryant Donham after finding an unserved arrest warrant for kidnapping, an attached affidavit from Moses Wright, and court minutes from 1955 in the basement of a Leflore County courthouse.
Keith Beauchamp, director of the movie, “Untold Story of Emmett Louis Till,” told ABC News that he and a team from the Emmett Till Legacy Foundation, including co-founder and Till’s cousin Deborah Watts, went to Mississippi to check if the warrant had ever been rescinded, but came across the documents in an unmarked box, seemingly untouched for over sixty years.
Beauchamp said he is looking to state law enforcement for prosecution on the kidnapping charge in an effort to hold Bryant Donham, 88, accountable for her alleged role in the lynching of 14-year-old Till. The Department of Justice first opened an investigation into Till’s murder under its Cold Case Initiative in 2004, but stated it lacked jurisdiction to raise federal charges.
“This is only the tip of the iceberg,” Beauchamp said. “I want people to understand that this is not a complicated case…I thought it was impossible to get the case reopened in 2004. But it happened.”
“Let’s follow the law and make sure that justice is done in this case,” he added.
In 1955, 21-year-old Carolyn Bryant accused the teenager, who was visiting from Chicago, of whistling at her after leaving a store, Bryant’s Grocery & Meat Market. Till was later abducted from his great-uncle Moses Wright’s home by Carolyn Bryant’s husband Roy Bryant and his half brother J.W. Milam.
Till’s brutalized remains were found days later in the Tallahatchie River. Mamie Till Mobley’s decision to have photos from her son’s open casket funeral published in Jet magazine catalyzed the civil rights movement.
The two men were indicted on kidnapping and murder charges, but later acquitted by an all-white jury. Rev. Wheeler Parker, Till’s cousin, was there the night he was kidnapped. He has worked for years to see justice for Till For him, the rediscovery of the warrant “is only a headline, not evidence.”
“For nearly 67 years, I have sought justice in the brutal lynching of my cousin and best friend, Emmett Till. We accepted the determination of the government that there was not sufficient evidence to indict Carolyn Bryant Donham,” he said in a statement to ABC News.
The Department of Justice closed its 2017 re-investigation of Till’s murder in December 2021. A spokesperson for the Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division declined ABC News’ request for comment on this recent development.
“I would be overjoyed if that woman could be held accountable for this horrible crime. If she can be compelled merely to tell the truth, I would even support that,” Parker said. “To me, there is a measure of justice in that, too.”
“We need to send a message that it doesn’t matter how long you live, if you commit a hate crime, eventually the law will catch up to you. But we don’t want to keep raising our hopes just to have them dashed again—if it’s not going to lead to justice.”
ABC News’ Fatima Curry contributed to this report.
(NEW YORK) – Brittney Griner appeared in a courtroom in Khimki, a suburb of Moscow, on Friday morning for the first day of the WNBA star’s trial in Russia, where she has been in custody for 134 days.
Griner was detained at Sheremetyevo International Airport in Russia on Feb. 17 after she was accused of carrying vape cartridges containing hashish oil, which is illegal in Russia.
The first witness at Griner’s trial was a customs officer who was at the airport when she was arrested.
According to a Russian reporter inside the courtroom, who spoke with ABC News, Griner said through a translator that she understood the accusation but declined to comment on the charge, saying she will share her thoughts at a later time.
The judge began the examination of evidence with the interrogation of witnesses. Representatives of the U.S. Embassy, as well as two representatives from Russian and foreign media were allowed into the courtroom.
An American reporter inside the courtroom, who spoke with Griner, told ABC News on Monday that Griner said she is fine, but she misses her ability to work out like she used to. She also said that since she doesn’t speak Russian, the court appearances are difficult for her, but she has been provided an interpreter.
As Griner left the courtroom, she did not respond to ABC News’ question when asked how she’s doing. The Phoenix Mercury player is expected to appear in court again for the second day of the trial on July 7.
Griner’s detention in Russia was extended repeatedly, most recently through Dec. 20, which is the expected length of her trial. If convicted, Griner, 31, faces up to 10 years in prison.
Ahead of the trial, friends and family members of Griner gathered for a vigil in New York City in honor of the detained athlete on Wednesday.
“Feb 17th was the last time I talked to my sister,” said Janell Roy, Griner’s childhood friend. “I haven’t been in communication with her, I haven’t been able to talk to her and it hurts.”
“… The fact remains that the U.S. Government has determined that Brittney Griner is wrongfully detained and being used as a political pawn,” Griner’s agent, Lindsay Kagawa Colas, wrote in a series of tweets on Monday . “The negotiation for her immediate release regardless of the legal proceedings should remain a top priority and we expect [President Joe Biden] and [Vice President Kamala Harris] to do everything in their power, right now, to get a deal done to bring her home.”
White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters on Tuesday that Griner is “unjustly detained” and called on the Russian government to release the American basketball star.
Sullivan further stressed that the U.S. is “actively engaged” in working to secure Griner’s release, but added that the diplomatic efforts are “sensitive matters.”
“But I will tell you it has the fullest attention of the President and every senior member of his national security and diplomatic team, and we are actively working to find a resolution to this case, and will continue to do so without rest until we get Brittney safely home,” he said. “We also are trying to work actively to return all unjustly detained Americans and hostages being held overseas, whether that be in Iran or Afghanistan or Russia or Venezuela, or China or elsewhere.”
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine began one week after Griner was detained. Some officials are concerned that Americans jailed in Russia could be used as leverage in the ongoing conflict.
Calls to free Griner escalated following the release of U.S. Marine veteran Trevor Reed in April, who was freed from a Russian prison as part of a prisoner exchange. Former Marine Paul Whelan has also been detained in Russia since 2019.
Griner’s wife, Cherelle Griner, told “Good Morning America” co-anchor Robin Roberts in May that she would like to speak with President Joe Biden.
“I just keep hearing that, you know, he has the power. She’s a political pawn,” she said. “So if they’re holding her because they want you to do something, then I want you to do it.”
Asked about a potential meeting between Cherelle Griner and President Biden last week, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said, “We don’t have anything to share about a potential phone conversation or meeting.”
ABC News’ Shannon Crawford and Molly Nagle contributed to this report.
Disco legend Gloria Gaynor is one of the many artists confirmed to perform on the 2022 edition of PBS’ annual A Capitol Fourth television special, which airs Monday, July 4, at 8 p.m. ET.
Airing live from Washington, D.C., the 42nd annual edition of A Capitol Fourth will be hosted by country star Mickey Guyton and will feature an all-genre performance lineup that includes Gaynor, Cynthi Errivo, Jake Owen, Darren Criss, Yolanda Adams, Andy Grammer, Keb’ Mo’, Rachel Platten andthe National Symphony Orchestra.
The program also will feature a 65th anniversary celebration of the Broadway musical West Side Story led by Tony Award-winning legend Chita Rivera, tributes to U.S. military personnel and a commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the Lincoln Memorial.
Capping off the event will be a massive fireworks display. In addition to airing on PBS, the A Capitol Fourth special will be viewable on PBS.org and at the network’s official YouTube channel.
The show, which took place last September in Manchester, England, features Hackett and his backing band performing Genesis’ 1977 live double album Seconds Out in its entirety, as well as some select solo tunes, including a couple from his latest studio effort, 2021’s Surrender of Silence.
Genesis Revisited Live: Seconds Out & More will be released as a two-CD/Blu-ray set, a two-CD/DVD package and via digital formats on September 2, while a four-LP/two-CD collection will follow on November 25.
The versions featuring the Blu-ray and DVD will boast 5.1 surround sound, as well as a behind-the-scenes documentary and promotional videos.
“I’m so happy to release my ‘Seconds Out & More’ show,” Hackett says. “A spectacular night with a band on fire tearing into that magic music combining the true spirit of Genesis with a fresh virtuosic approach and an extraordinary sound under amazing lights. This show is a feast for both ears and eyes. The best of so many worlds!”
You can check out a video of Hackett and his band playing the 1976 song “Squonk” from Genesis Revisited Live: Seconds Out & More at Steve’s official YouTube channel.
Meanwhile, Hackett and his solo band recently completed a series of Down Under shows and will continue their “Seconds Out & More” trek tour this year in Japan, Europe and North America. Hackett will also launch a new themed tour, “Foxtrot at Fifty,” in the U.K. in September and October. Visit HackettSongs.com for his full tour schedule.
Here’s the full Genesis Revisited Live: Seconds Out & More track list:
“Apollo Intro”
“Clocks — The Angel of Mons”
“Held in the Shadows”
“Every Day”
“The Devil’s Cathedral”
“Shadow of the Hierophant”
“Squonk”
“The Carpet Crawlers”
“Robbery, Assault and Battery”
“Afterglow”
“Firth of Fifth”
“I Know What I Like (In Your Wardrobe)”
“The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway”
“Musical Box (Closing Section)”
“Supper’s Ready”
“The Cinema Show”
“Aisle of Plenty”
“Dance on a Volcano”
“Los Endos”
(WASHINGTON) — President Joe Biden on Friday met virtually with Democratic governors to talk reproductive health care amid some party disappointment over the administration’s response to the overturning of Roe v. Wade.
New York’s Kathy Hochul provided a list to Biden of potential actions, including additional funding for family planning services more broadly so that providers can focus private dollars for abortion services.
Hochul also asked Biden to give more consideration to his ability to “use federal facilities” for abortion care — a move the White House has said would have “dangerous ramifications.”
“What am I talking about? Veterans hospitals, military bases and other places where the federal government controls the jurisdiction in some of the states that are hostile to women’s rights, and make sure that those services can be available to other women,” Hochul suggested.
New Mexico’s Lujan Grisham said she agreed “wholeheartedly” with Hochul’s assessment that there are more federal opportunities to protect women’s access to care, and suggested Indian Health Service clinic and sovereign tribal nations could be another avenue for Biden to pursue.
The president on Friday again decried the Supreme Court’s decision ending 50 years of abortion rights as “terrible.”
“I share the public outrage at this extremist court that’s committed to moving America backwards with fewer rights, less autonomy,” he said as he spoke with state leaders from the White House’s South Court Auditorium.
Biden also touted some steps he’s taken in the aftermath of the Roe decision, such as instructing the Justice Department to protect women traveling out-of-state for care and Health and Human Services to ensure access to federally-approved medication such as contraception and the abortion pill mifepristone.
But some Democrats say the administration should have been better prepared for Roe’s fall, given the decision released by the high court on June 24 was leaked in early May.
Washington Sen. Patty Murray expressed frustration that the Biden team wasn’t ready, telling ABC News on Monday that Biden should do “absolutely everything in his power to protect access to abortion in America.”
Other governors in attendance for the virtual roundtable were New Mexico’s Michelle Lujan Grisham, Connecticut’s Ned Lamont, Colorado’s Jared Polis, Illinois’ J.B. Pritzker, Washington’s Jay Insee, Oregon’s Kate Brown and Rhode Island’s Daniel McKee.
Their states have moved to protect women’s access to reproductive health care before and after the high court’s decision.
In Connecticut, Gov. Lamont signed a new law strengthening abortion rights. The law, which also includes protections for medical providers and patients traveling from out of state seeking abortion, went into effect today.
Hochul has instructed the state legislature to add equal rights to the agenda of their special, stating that after today lawmakers will be a step closer to enshrining abortion rights in the state constitution.
“The rights of millions of women across this country are now falling on the shoulders of just a handful of states,” Hochul said.
In addition to urging more action from Biden, some of the governors in attendance also called on Congress to make Roe federal law by passing the Women’s Health Protection Act.
The president yesterday called for a carveout in the Senate filibuster to codify Roe, but acknowledged on Friday that he didn’t have the votes.
Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz., view of the filibuster remains “unchanged,” her spokesperson told ABC News. Fellow moderate Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., is also unlikely to support changes to the rule, telling reporters he wants to see a bipartisan solution.
Biden said Friday the American people need to elect more Democrats to the House and Senate to “get this bill to my desk.”
Biden predicted that a Republican-controlled Congress would try to pass a total ban on abortion.
“So the choice is clear: We either elect federal senators and representatives who will codify Roe, or Republicans who will elect the House and Senate will try to ban abortions nationwide,” Biden said.
