New York Amsterdam News August 28 - September 03, 2025

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A family’s six-year bid to fire ’killer cop’ fails with Commissioner Tisch’s final decision

By TANDY LAU Amsterdam News Staff

In late 2019, billionaire heiress Jessica Tisch left the NYPD. She would accept an offer to head up the de Blasio administration’s Department of Information Technology and Telecommunications where she would oversee the city’s IT infrastructure. A rising star in city government, Tisch previously led efforts to modernize the NYPD with her tech-forward approach.

Meanwhile, the family of Allan Feliz mourned. The Washington Heights man could not wait to take his son trick-or-treating for the first time just a few weeks earlier. He planned on dressing the newborn as Tigger from the world of Winnie-the-Pooh. A tiny striped costume came through the mail and fit perfectly.

However, halfway to Halloween in October, Feliz encountered Sgt. Jonathan Rivera during a Bronx traffic stop. It ended with the officer fatally shooting him. He was 31 years old.

Nearly six years later, Tisch found herself back in the NYPD, making the ultimate decision not to fire Rivera for killing Feliz. On August 15, the now-police commissioner released a memo confirming she would not find the officer guilty of first-degree assault and second-degree menacing, which would have led to termination.

For more than half a decade, Allan Feliz’s family sought to remove Rivera from the NYPD. His younger brother Samy joined the Justice Committee, a membership organization formed by two former members of the Young Lords, a 1960s activist group advocating for families killed by police violence. He remained a common sight outside of One Police Plaza, leading rallies for Allan.

Early on, the Office of the New York State Attorney General (OAG) declined to criminally prosecute Rivera after a yearlong investigation. “Although the OAG finds no criminal culpability in this tragic matter, we do have serious concerns about the NYPD’s handling of the incident,” wrote AG Letitia James. Then, the NYPD Force Investigation Division (FID), which looks into use of force, conducted a two-year probe on the incident. Rivera maintained he feared for his and his partner’s life during the encounter, saying he believed Feliz was attempting to drive off and would immediately endanger their lives. The stop stemmed from an alleged seatbelt violation (although Feliz was shown strapped in, based on body-worn camera footage) but escalated after open warrants for low-level offenses like spitting and littering showed up after running the driver’s license he provided and led to a

See ALLAN FELIZ on page 36

Mayor Adams responds to indictments of close former colleagues

By ARIAMA C. LONG Amsterdam News Staff

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg has announced the indictments of at least three people in Mayor Eric Adams’ inner circle. This comes as the latest in a series of allegations against numerous people in Adams' administration over the past couple of years.

Among the seven people indicted by the DA’s office were former chief of staff and the mayor’s closest advisor, Ingrid Lewis-Martin; her son, Glenn D. Martin II; and former State Senator Jesse Hamilton, who was deputy commissioner of real estate services for the Department of Citywide Administrative Services.

“Ingrid is like a sister to me. I love Ingrid,” said Adams at a press conference on August 22. “She’s worked with me for over 40 years. I served as a police officer with her husband. I know her son, and I know her, and I know her heart. And she and her attorney will deal with the case that’s in front of her. My prayers are with Ingrid, and I wish her the best.”

Adams was not charged, and vowed not to interfere with the investigations into his former members of staff.

See INDICTMENTS on page 35

Mayor Eric Adams makes announcement at City Hall, Friday, August 22, 2025. (Ed Reed/ Mayoral Photography Office)

Allan Feliz with his child. (Photo courtesy of the Justice Committee)

Special Brooklyn screening for Flip the Script short film celebrates violence prevention efforts

By TANDY LAU Amsterdam News Staff

More than just the new Spike Lee joint brought moviegoers out to Brooklyn’s Alamo Drafthouse on a rainy night last Wednesday, Aug. 20. A new crop of local auteurs from the city’s “Flip the Script” program premiered their 11-minute film “Click” and fielded questions during a Q&A session. The screening culminates the current 12-person cohort’s work from the city-funded apprenticeship for Brownsville youth, ages 18-24. But the program’s curriculum centers as much around dropping a gun, as holding a camera. Participants stem from socially challenged backgrounds, some who joined with alleged ties to local rival crews. They receive “intensive” six-toone guidance from credible messengers — mentors who leverage former gang ties and neighborhood reputation — followed by a year of aftercare.

Flip the Script, which operates out of the Mayor’s Office of Criminal Justice (MOCJ), pays each participant $20 an hour throughout the program. Almost everyone shows up and graduates, with many finding jobs and some enrolling in college after.

More than 10 open felony cases were cleared and no one from the cohort has been involved in a gun violence incident since joining.

Earlier this summer, Mayor Eric Adams announced $500,000

towards Flip the Script programming from the city budget.

Comparatively, incarcerating a single person for a year on Rikers Island boasts a similar price tag.

“This is the culmination,” said

MOCJ director Deanna Logan.

“Because they think about it, you invite them for the internship [and] they are skeptical — they don’t trust because there have

Lawsuit demands Mayor Adams release Racial Equity Plan

By TANDY LAU Amsterdam News Staff

Mayor Eric Adams long imagined turning his haters into waiters. Apparently, the New York City Commission of Racial Equity (CORE) is certainly waiting. A lawsuit brought by the independent city board alleges the Adams administration missed deadlines to release the city’s Racial Equity Plan mandated by the city charter dating back to January 2024.

On Wednesday, Aug. 20, CORE commissioners, along with advocates and elected officials, announced the lawsuit outside City Hall. They say the litigation will legally compel the Adams administration to release the plan, which would help gauge how the city’s second Black mayor is addressing inequities in city government.

“We know that 45 city agencies have completed a plan and submitted it to the Mayor's Office,” said CORE executive director Linda Tigani to the AmNews

“We know that it has been under review month after month after month. The administration has repeatedly given us release dates up until two months ago, where they have then decided that they’re not going to share release dates or there is no release date, so we were left with no other option than to take him to court

to ensure that he follows the law.

“And the law in New York City is that we must have a racial equity plan and that every city agency must address racial inequities in our day-to-day work as government.”

Such a law stems from the 2022 election, when a ballot measure passed amending the City Charter, a.k.a. NYC’s constitution, to mandate the Mayor’s Office to produce a preliminary and final racial equity plan aligned with

the budget cycle. The similarly named New York City Racial Justice Commission (RJC), a charter revision commission formed by Adams’s predecessor Bill de Blasio in 2021, proposed such ballot initiatives, which ultimately created CORE to work with the mayor to produce the city’s Racial Equity Plan.

“They required, as part of their vote, for New York City to biannually release a racial equity plan for every city agency,” said RJC chair Jennifer Jones Austin. “That would demonstrate how they were going to go in and address all of the policies, procedures, [and] practices that had enabled racism to endure in government functioning. The plan was to have been released in January 2024. Here we are in August 2025 and this mayor has yet to release the plan.”

CORE is made up of 15 people, split between seven mayoral appointees and five City Council appointees, along with executive director Tigani and See RACIAL EQUITY PLAN on page 25

See FLIP THE SCRIPT on page 25

Still from “Click” of lead actor Desean Mingo as Day Day. (Courtesy photo)

On Wednesday, Aug. 20, CORE commissioners, along with advocates and elected officials, announced the lawsuit outside city hall. (Derek Evers/Courtesy of the NYC Comptroller’s Office)

#BoycottTarget campaign to continue, even with new Target CEO

By KAREN JUANITA CARRILLO Amsterdam News Staff

Target stores have been facing a nationwide boycott throughout the first half of 2025. Now those boycotts, led by Black, Latino, and LGBTQ+ organizations upset with the company’s acquiescence to the Trump administration’s efforts to end diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs, may have won a major victory with the exit of the company’s CEO from his position.

Brian C. Cornell, the head of Target since 2014, recently announced his resignation. His role will be taken over by Michael Fiddelke, another long-term Target employee, beginning February 1, 2026.

While Fiddelke, a 20-year Target veteran, will be the company’s new chief executive, Cornell will remain at Target as executive chair. The Associated Press reported that “Some retail analysts were surprised the board did not pick a candidate from outside the company to turn things around. Target’s stock price was down more than 8% in early morning trading after the company announced both Fiddelke’s appointment and another quarter of disappointing sales.”

Target is scrambling to find a way to boost its sales in the wake of the coast-tocoast boycotts it has been facing, and is also having to deal with President Donald

Trump’s import tariffs — the company will be forced to pay more for the products it sells, most of which it buys from China. The store has had declining sales for the first two quarters of 2025; compared to similar discount department stores, Target’s sales decreased by 3.8% in the first quarter and 1.9% in the second. “As one of the largest importers in the country, the prospect of higher tariffs meant we were facing some major financial and operational hurdles as we entered the year,” Cornell told investors during the company’s August 20th earnings call. “This was further complicated by the multiple changes in tariff policy that have been announced and implemented as the year has progressed.”

Target’s leadership claims their low sales are due to the current economic climate. During the earnings call, they hardly mentioned the nationwide boycotts it has endured.

However, Minnesota-based activists spoke out in front of the Target corporate center in Minneapolis, Minn., the day after Cornell said he would step down. Members of the Racial Justice Network (RJN), Black Lives Matter in Minnesota, and Twin Cities Metro Black Lives Matter chapter had called for the first nationwide #BoycottTarget campaign on February 1, once Target said it would adhere to Trump’s Executive Order 14173 which urged companies to

See #BOYCOTTTARGET on page 29

Blue vs. Red: After Texas lawmakers approve redrawn congressional maps, multistate flareup starts

By ARIAMA C. LONG Amsterdam News Staff

Lawsuits are flying over Texas’s recently approved “rigged” congressional maps, intended to give President Donald Trump control of Congress in next year’s midterm elections. In the meantime, states like California and New York are doing all they can to level the playing field.

Redistricting usually happens on a decennial basis, right after the U.S. Census count. Last month, Trump demanded that Republicans produce five GOP-leaning congressional seats in Texas before the 2026 midterms by redrawing the state’s redistricting maps now. This August, Texas Democrats broke quorum and called out the new racially gerrymandered maps on a national stage, but the Texas Legislature passed the maps at the expense of Black Texans and other voters of color in the state anyway.

Thirteen local Texans swiftly filed a lawsuit, arguing that the new maps are a violation of the U.S. Constitution’s Equal Protection Clause.

“Black voters are not a tool for legislators to use to cut up maps as they see fit. This redistricting process in Texas is a shameful

power grab at the expense of Black voices,” said Legal Defense Fund (LDF) Director of Policy Demetria McCain in a statement.

“The right to fair representation and free elections is the foundation of our government. If politicians continue to chip away at the foundation of our democracy, it will crumble atop our heads,” McCain said. “We must raise our voices against redistricting efforts that harm the political power of Black Texan voters and other voters of color, and that risk further damage to those communities.”

New York congressmembers, including House Democratic Leader and Congressmember Hakeem Jeffries, wrote a letter to Gov. Kathy Hochul and their State Legislature, asserting that the maps in Texas, as well as Trump’s actions, are an “assault on the Voting Rights Act of 1965” and an insidious effort to disenfranchise millions of people. They also pointed out that the U.S Court of Appeals has attempted to eliminate the ability of individual voters to challenge voting rights violations.

“I’ve been in touch, of course, with Governor Kathy Hochul, as well as the legislative leaders,” said Jeffries in his most recent CNN interview. “House Democrats are going to respond from coast to coast and

at all points in between, as has been done in California, forcefully, immediately, and appropriately, to make sure that Donald Trump cannot steal the midterm elections.”

They called for the state to strengthen the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Act of New York 2022 (NYVRA) to protect free and fair elections.

Meanwhile, California

fast-tracked his own plans through an independent commission to redraw their congressional maps, aimed at adding five Democratic congressional seats, in response to Texas. “This is not about parties. It’s not about …

See TEXAS on page 29

Gov. Gavin Newsom

Community member holds sign calling for national boycott of Target stores during news conference at Target Corporation’s headquarters, Thursday, Jan. 30, 2025, in Minneapolis, Minn. (Ellen Schmidt/AP)

Colorful map of USA on Asphalt. (Photo by Bl∡ke via Pexels)

Cafe owners share their story and hope with the community

By JASON PONTEROTTO

Special to the AmNews

Arnyce Foster-Hernandez, 50, and her husband, Danny Hernandez, 49, are dedicated to standing up for the Harlem community through their business, Featuring the Café on 135th Street. But their journey to securing the space and opening in June 2024 was not without hurdles — challenges they now hope to share in order to inspire and guide other ambitious entrepreneurs.

Several of their products are sourced from small businesses, many of which are Black and LGBTQ+-owned. They include coffee, tea, pastry, natural fruit juice, and spices. Some of the food made by Danny in their small kitchen are sandwiches and desserts.

The banana pudding and overnight oats are two popular items. The couple are also proud of the seasonal and organic food and beverages, a massive upgrade from the processed sugars and ingredients at the local bodegas.

Both Arnyce and Danny are lifelong New Yorkers, and have backgrounds working with the New York City Parks Department for decades. The two met at an event in 2011. Arnyce says she was passionate about creating this organization after seeing the ways in which Black men were being disproportionately hurt by “stop and frisk” policies and unable to find jobs.

Arnyce learned the art of cooking and using fresh organic items early on from family, namely, her great-grandparents in

Henderson, N.C., on their farm where they would eat everything organically grown.

She says she knew early that wanted to be in the culinary field, as she was drawn to TV chefs like Jacques Pépin and Julia Child.

Arnyce holds multiple degrees: an associate’s in nursing education from the Borough of Manhattan Community College, a culinary degree from The French Culinary Institute, a Bachelor of Business Administration from Ashford University, and an MBA from Louisiana State University.

She says the struggles of being Black in the Parks Department followed her throughout her tenure, pointing to how segregated it became under Mayor Rudy Giuliani and noting that Black women were consistently passed over for promotion.

“I have four degrees, not because I’m an overachiever, but because I had to keep being competitive to get promoted in an arena where white people didn’t have to do anything. They didn’t have to be educated, qualified or competent at all,” Arnyce said. After her tenure in NYC Parks, she had served as Parks and Recreation commissioner for North Hempstead in Long Island, but knew that she was tired of using her skills there when she could put that effort into her own business.

“I was battling that shallow-minded ignorance of people who didn’t have exposure to Black people in leadership. And it was exhausting,” Arnyce said. “I told my husband, ‘I can’t keep availing my skills and my talent

THE URBAN AGENDA

By David R. Jones, Esq

A Broken Ladder: NYC’s

Elite High Schools Continue to Shut Out Black and Latino Students

Another admissions cycle has come and gone, and once again, New York City’s specialized high schools have failed to reflect the diversity of the city they serve. The latest data released on July 31 by the NYC Department of Education paints a grim picture: just eight Black students were admitted to Stuyvesant High School, down from ten the previous year.

Across all eight specialized high schools, Black students—who make up 20 percent of the city’s public-school population—received only three percent of the seats, a drop from 4.5 percent last year. Latino students, who represent 42 percent of the system, accounted for just 6.9 percent of admissions, also down from 7.6 percent. These numbers are not just statistics. They are a stark indictment of an admissions policy that continues to reward privilege and punish potential.

The Specialized High School Admissions Test (SHSAT), the sole criterion for entry into these elite institutions, has long been criticized for favoring students whose families can afford expensive test prep courses. These courses, often costing hundreds or even thousands of dollars, give students a significant leg up -- not because they are more capable, but because they are more prepared. And preparation, in this case, is a commodity not equally distributed.

Multiple studies have shown that standardized tests like the SHSAT are not reliable predictors of long-term academic success. They measure test-taking ability, not intellectual curiosity, resilience, or creativity—qualities that define great students and future leaders. Yet, the city clings to this outdated metric, perpetuating a system that filters out talent based on zip code and income level.

The consequences are profound. These specialized high schools—Stuyvesant, Bronx Science, Brooklyn Tech, Staten Island Tech, Brooklyn Latin School, The High School of American Studies at Lehman College, The High School for Math, Science and Engineering at City College and Queens High School for the Sciences at York College —are not just prestigious institutions; they are gateways to the nation’s top colleges and universities. To be excluded from them is to be denied access to a powerful ladder of opportunity. And when Black and Latino students are systematically shut out, it sends a dangerous and false message: that they are not worthy, not capable, not destined for greatness.

This narrative is not only wrong—it is harmful. It undermines the confidence of students who, despite their brilliance and drive, are told by the system that they don’t belong. It reinforces stereotypes and deepens the racial and

socioeconomic divides that plague our city’s public education system.

What’s worse, this is happening at a time when the federal government is aggressively attacking diversity, equity, and inclusion in education. From rolling back affirmative action to defunding DEI programs, the national climate is increasingly hostile to efforts aimed at leveling the playing field. In this context, New York City’s refusal to reform its admissions policy is not just disappointing—it is a betrayal of its professed values of fairness and equality.

City leaders have had countless opportunities to act. Advocates have long called for a more holistic admissions process—one that considers grades, teacher recommendations, interviews, and other indicators of student potential. Yet, meaningful reform has stalled, often due to political cowardice and fear of backlash. Some opponents of change argue that altering the admissions process would unfairly target Asian American students, who currently make up 53.5 percent of those admitted.

But this is a false dichotomy. Equity is not a zero-sum game. We can -- and must -- build a system that honors the achievements of all students while expanding access to those who have been historically marginalized.

The city’s inaction speaks volumes. It suggests that maintaining the status quo is more important than ensuring every child has a fair shot at a quality education. It suggests that prestige and tradition matter more than justice and inclusion. And it suggests that, despite its progressive rhetoric, New York City is content to let its public school system remain one of the most segregated in the country.

This is not just a policy failure—it is a moral one. We owe it to our children to do better. We owe it to the Black and Latino students who dream of walking the halls of Stuyvesant and Bronx Science, not as exceptions, but as equals. And we owe it to the future of our city, which depends on nurturing the talents of all its young people, not just the privileged ones with resources.

The time for half-measures and empty promises is over. If New York City truly believes in equity, it must dismantle the barriers that keep its elite schools out of reach for so many qualified Black and brown students. It must replace the SHSAT with a fairer, more inclusive admissions process. And it must confront the uncomfortable truth that segregation, in all its forms, is still alive and well in our schools.

Until then, the ladder will remain broken— and the dreams of too many Black and brown students will remain deferred.

Arnyce Foster-Hernandez, 50 and husband Danny Hernandez, 49 with their son DJ, 8, opened Featuring The Cafe in June 2024 and want their space to be a communal space for the neighborhood. (Jason Ponterotto photo)

Katrina broke New Orleans levees, but also an illusion about America: a retrospective

By JIMMIE BRIGGS Special to the AmNews

I didn’t know I was driving into a requiem.

Nearly half a year after Hurricane Katrina made landfall and left hundreds of thousands of people displaced, and a still precisely unknown number of casualties over the course of its nine-day rampage, I was staying at the Algiers, La., home of my Uncle Leonard and my Aunt Anne.

Katrina had just torn through the Gulf Coast like it had a score to settle. My first book, about child soldiers and war-affected children, came out just before it hit, and I was still internally transitioning from a focus on war and crisis abroad to America’s own versions of those phenomena.

I should have been celebrating. Instead, I was in a car with legendary photojournalist Stanley Greene and his young assistant, driving east from New Orleans to Tallahassee, tracing the wreckage.

We were a strange trio. He only seemed to wear black leather, silver rings, and a bandana even in the extreme Southern heat and humidity, like armor. She was pretty, blonde, quiet, camera always ready, and eyes wide with the kind of innocence that I didn’t think would endure in that environment.

And me? Thirtysomething, emotionally drained, and in denial about being traumatized from my experiences in reporting on the lives of children in war zones.

We stayed with my uncle and aunt in Algiers, just across the Mississippi River from New Orleans. Algiers was quiet, but not untouched. The air smelled like rot and resignation. Most nights, I would step outside into the front yard, watching; listening; smelling the thick, damp air. The atmosphere wasn’t peaceful. It was the kind of silence that follows screaming.

Stanley and I, with his assistant in tow, first ventured into the historic New Orleans neighborhood of Treme, and later the infamous Ninth Ward. Eventually, we drove through Mississippi to Bay St. Louis, and on to small, rural villages in Alabama before reaching Mobile, through to Georgia and the Florida Panhandle. Two decades later, I often reflect on the towns whose names I’ve forgotten, but whose faces of the inhabitants I can’t.

After a week of crisscrossing New Orleans, stopping for Stanley to capture images and for me to grab quotes or invest more meaningful time with kids playing in front yards without actual houses, we began a weeks’ long journey on Highway 90 to document the swath of Katrina’s footprints across five states. Our stops were intermittent, without specific destinations in mind, grabbing something to eat during the daytime at familiar names, including Cracker Barrel, Waffle House, or Hardee’s — places where

grief sat heavy in the booths and the coffee tasted like burnt hope. We met people who had lost everything. Black and Brown folks mostly, but many poor whites, too. The kind of people America forgets until it’s time to count bodies.

Hurricane Katrina famously broke the levees in New Orleans, but also an illusion about America.

An American failure

August 25, 2025. Hurricane Katrina first made landfall near North Miami Beach as a Category 1 storm, with winds of up to 80 miles per hour. By the time it reached Buras-Triumph, Louisiana, on August 29, 2005, it had escalated to Category 3 with a maximum velocity of 130 miles per hour. The levees in Louisiana failed due to the strong winds but also the lack of maintenance, which officials had been warned about for years. The Lower Ninth Ward drowned.

More than 1,800 dead. Maybe more; we still don’t know. There’s no memorial. No list of names. Just silence. Just absence.

One site in New Orleans remains tragic, a haunting emblem of the worst failures in disaster preparation and the specific response to Hurricane Katrina: the Superdome — home field of the New Orleans Saints. The day before Hurricane Katrina made landfall in Louisiana, then-New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin had publicly identified the Superdome as a “shelter of last resort, for those residents unable to self-evacuate.”

Approximately 10,000 people entered the structure on August 28, 2005, the total number local and regional authorities had predicted. By the time Superdome occupants were transported out three days later, the number was shy of 30,000 people. Toilets overflowed, drinking water wasn’t readily available, trash overflowed. A drastically overwhelmed power system in the Superdo-

me failed, compromising air conditioning, refrigeration for food storage, and the plumbing. Violence erupted in the chaos. People died, waiting, from dehydration, heatstroke, or pre-existing medical conditions.

Outside, the choices were even less appealing.

When the levees succumbed to the rage of Katrina on August 29, 2005, 80% of New Orleans flooded, making it by far the worst major city throughout the Gulf Coast.

Thousands of families, elderly residents, children and their caregivers ascended to the highest ground around — their rooftops and attics.

The troubled federal response resulted in one of the largest civilian rescues in history, with more than 30,000 people plucked to safety by the U.S. Coast Guard, National Guard, FEMA, and Louisiana’s Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, as well as private citizens by helicopter and boat, between three and five days after Katrina’s landfall. Of the confirmed 1,400 people who perished, many died on rooftops and attics, but the total number of people who died in the storm itself, and the aftermath — across the Gulf Coast — remains unknown. Throughout the storm and the weeks that followed, onlookers — politicians, the media, and civilians — had cast the survivors desperate for food, water, and medicines, for themselves and their loved ones, as “looters.” Bitterly, it was no surprise when the Danziger Bridge shooting took place on Sept. 4 — New Orleans police opened fire on unarmed Black civilians. Two dead. Four wounded. One was mentally disabled. The cops planted a gun. Lied. Got convicted. Some got off.

This wasn’t just a natural disaster. It was a man-made failure. A betrayal. The government let New Orleans down. Let the Gulf Coast down. Let Black America down, again. Amidst the finger-pointing that inevitably followed, rapper Kanye West blurted out during a televised fundraiser for the victims: “George Bush doesn’t care about Black people,” while Mike Myers just stood there, stunned. The moment wasn’t just viral. It was prophetic.

Treme was gutted. One of the oldest Black neighborhoods in the country, and it was treated like an afterthought. More than 8,000 HIV-positive people were displaced across the Gulf Coast. The South already carried half the nation’s AIDS cases. Katrina made sure the burden got heavier. Bay St. Louis was obliterated. Boats in trees. Homes split open like fruit. A woman stood in front of what used to be her house, holding a photo album warped by water. She didn’t cry. She didn’t speak. She just stared. In Alabama, outside Mobile, we found a house draped in Confederate flags and See KATRINA RETROSPECTIVE on page 27

In this Aug. 30, 2005 picture, floodwaters from Hurricane Katrina pour through a levee along Inner Harbor Navigaional Canal near downtown New Orleans, a day after Katrina passed through the city. (AP Photo/Pool, Vincent Laforet)

A military helicopter making a food and water drop to survivors of Hurricane Katrina near the Convention Center in New Orleans. (AP Photo/Eric Gay, File)

Journalist Trymaine Lee reveals strength of Katrina survivors in hopeful documentary

By ARIAMA C. LONG Amsterdam News Staff

In 2005, Trymaine Lee was a young journalist working for the New Orleans TimesPicayune. He was a police reporter in a beautiful, vibrant city, rich with Black community and culture. But on September 29, Hurricane Katrina came. In the days and weeks that followed, the storm virtually wiped generations of that away.

“There was so much loss and so much death and so much uncertainty,” Lee told the AmNews in an interview. “Until you experience an American city and it feels as if the bottom of society has dropped out, where the least and hungriest among us are even more so in desperation … I can’t forget the smell — the smell of death, the smell of despair. But then also, within that, moments where neighbors stood up for each other.”

Two decades since that time, Lee has gone on to win multiple accolades in his field, but his heart has always been in the Big Easy. He has returned to his reporting roots with his first foray into documentary work with “Hope in High Water: A People’s Recovery Twenty Years After Hurricane Katrina,” focusing on the precariousness of Black life in a post-Katrina landscape.

A New Jersey native, Lee, 46, was hired as a reporter at the Times-Picayune in 2005, a few months before the storm hit. His coverage of the devastation Katrina wrought earned him a Pulitzer Prize in 2006. Lee went on to become a writer for the Huffington Post and the New York Times, an MSNBC contributor, author, entrepreneur, and host of the “Into America” podcast.

“I’ve been back to New Orleans many times since, over the last 20 years. I go back a few times every single year, for personal and professional reasons,” said Lee. “And I think in this context, so close to the anniversary, to walk in the footsteps that I walked 20 years ago, in the communities and neighborhoods that I walked 20 years ago, and remember and reflect on, you know what had been.”

From the frontlines to the new front porches, his documentary purposefully leans away from reciting the destruction of the hurricane. Instead, it is essentially a love letter to those in the community who were able to stay and rebuild over the last two decades. It shines a light on people working in areas like environmental activism, arts and music, Black maternal health, schools, education, technology, and agriculture and farming, within the New Orleans and Mississippi communities that are on the ground now.

“The hope in high water — even in the high water of being Black in America, there is always hope,” said Lee. “To be able to show how we are working to help and heal

and save ourselves when everything else fails us — it’s a story that I’m privileged to tell, honestly, so I don’t take my role lightly.”

Lee serves as host and executive producer of “Hope in High Water,” while Emmy-nominated filmmaker Haimy Assefa directs. The film is a co-production between Lee’s I Am Somebody Media and Assefa’s Blue Black Studio.

The documentary is also supported by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation (WKKF), founded in 1930. In the immediate aftermath of the hurricane, the WKKF responded with millions in grants and emergency funding to help struggling residents. The foundation now invests about $34 million annually in the New Orleans and Jackson region, said WKKF.

“It is important we honor the strength and leadership of communities who are reimagining and rebuilding — not just their homes and neighborhoods, but systems rooted in equity, culture, and care,” said La June Montgomery Tabron, president and CEO of the WKKF, in a statement. “As more communities across the country and world face climate threats and systemic disruption, we have much to learn from the Gulf South. We are proud to support ‘Hope in High Water’ and to uplift the stories of people leading the way toward a more just future for all children.”

The documentary features nonprofit WKKF grantees such as the Sankofa Community Development Corporation, Grow Dat Youth Farm, STEM NOLA, Saul’s Light, Ashé Cultural Arts Center, Black Education for New Orleans (BE NOLA), and Boat People SOS.

Lee spoke about the younger generations that did not witness or experience the horrors of Hurricane Katrina firsthand and missed “the harsh reality of how America can turn on” people who are Black, vulnerable, elderly, impoverished, and — in many cases — disabled. He hopes that his work

will show today’s youth the resiliency and community that people marshalled in a time of great need.

“Whether it’s the carceral system and police, or the violence of hunger, or the violence of segregation, children are bearing the weight of all that,” said Lee, “so I think there’s this wild juxtaposition in New Orleans because they love life. You know, they are such a giving, loving, fun-loving people, but children to adulthood are facing stark odds, and so to highlight folks who are working to mitigate some of that, it was beautiful to see.”

Photo of award-winning journalist, entrepreneur, and documentarian Trymaine Lee. (Contributed by I Am Somebody Media/Blue Black Studio)

Trumpet player in Hope in “High Water” documentary.

Two Cities, Two Tragedies and a Reminder of Our Humanity

By N’DEA DAVENPORT Special to the AmNews

At the peak of my nomadic life, I was just going about my way, honoring my journey, living in constant motion, adventure and discovery when my destiny brought me to New Orleans.

As an outsider, I was welcomed with open arms. However as I found out, old folklore speaks of legacy generations past that must give approval if you’re allowed to stay. Be it the mysteries of the city, or the magic of it. Everyone was just enjoying and engaging in the more fruitful acts of life.

Shifting timelines and cities, I had recently moved to Lower Manhattan, living as a dual resident of NOLA and New York. But out of nowhere, on Sept. 11, 2001, the World Trade Center came crashing down and for the first time in this generation, we gasped after witnessing real mass casualty and destruction. Back then, I stood one block away at the time of the collapse, later walking in ash and debris that day. I continued to live near Ground Zero for

a time, around the remains of the unimaginable.

Despite my experiences living through 9/11, nothing could have prepared me for what was to come and for the wrath of destruction brought by Hurricane Katrina four years later. In New Orleans, there was always talk of this great flood that was to come and that the city has been overdue for many years. Intuition kept haunting me, creeping in my mind that perhaps my time living in New Orleans should come to a close. So exactly 90 days before Katrina hit, I moved fulltime back to New York.

But when reports came in that the levees broke, we all saw the horrors unraveling and that major parts of the city were underwater. As someone that had just moved away from the city, I felt more than helpless. Feeling that I had abandoned a beloved family member in their time of need. I don’t recall grief so intense in my hours of walking through ashes on 9/11 in New York, even being comparable to the grief of watching my neighbors, friends and community that I knew slowly sink into despair.

Most painful of all was seeing what New Orleanians thought was safe shelter, only to find deplorable conditions while seeking safe ground at the Superdome. The feeling of seeing that felt like a direct link and just a taste of what it must have been like to endure being in the belly of a slave ship.

I lost beloved friends and neighbors. We lost wonderful people. Grandfathers, mothers, daughters and sons. Many that gave so much. Some drowned, some fell victim to violence and some from the illnesses brought on, over time. I lost contact or never got to see some friends again due to the displacement. So many that we never got to say goodbye to. The loss of treasured collectables and keepsakes that families had passed on, in respect and in honor of their family’s close reliance on togetherness. Gone in an instant. I had developed some pre-existing health conditions over time and just started the process of addressing them. The first procedure was done a few days before Katrina and as the events started to unfold, it was impossible

to physically travel, be active or go back there with aid or to help at that time due to my condition then. But there was work to do and work we did!

People began to reach out to me to find ways to help. To send money, to get clothing, personal care items, food and water, children’s needs. I assisted people in navigating where they could go to get these things for people in their hour of need. Quickly scrambling to support people with whatever they needed. To my amazement, I came to discover that so many around the world also felt a calling to help by sending aid, offering donations, providing housing or just by showing up. I was so thankful and proud of people during that time. People giving with their hearts to anybody that needed a hand.

Through these tough times, I have come to learn however, that despite what can come with the dangerous hiss of darkness, the light can also thrive, be revived and prevail. I have come to learn great things that can also come out of atrocity. For what

comes from grief, can also inspire action. And from action comes the will to make something better. That pure will and generosity can apply to self or extend to others. The simple unifying quality of human effort inspiring a natural ability of just being present speaks volumes. That is why after the dark, comes the light, which has the ability to shift society in the oddest and most mysterious ways. Simply put, I suppose the quest was to bring us all right back to center, to bring us all right back together.

I rarely, if ever, have spoken publicly in depth about these personal experiences. But today as I understand what may be the overall plot of it all, or as to why things happen as they do.... I am still thankful.

N’Dea Davenport is a 21st century digital nomad, world renowned Grammy and BRIT Award nominated vocalist and songwriter, stage presentation curator, and former lead singer of The Brand New Heavies. She is also a DJ/vinyl supporter, part-time drummer, design and architecture enthusiast.

(AP Photos)

The YMCA wants Black folks to learn to swim, and there’s a good reason

By KAREN JUANITA CARRILLO Amsterdam News Staff

New York City’s YMCA offers swim lessons year-round, and Romulus Staton, director of the Y’s lifeguard training and certification programs, wants to make sure people know that. That’s because even with summer quickly coming to a close, the Y firmly believes that knowing how to swim is essential.

“I hope to increase access to swim lessons,” Staton said, “to get people of all ages in. It’s not just for children but for parents as well. If you take your child to a pool but are not comfortable, if anything happens to your child, you won’t be able to assist them. So, for all ages, if you’re not comfortable in the water where you swim, find some place to pay for lessons. Just get yourself acclimated to the water.”

Every YMCA in the city that has a swimming pool offers swim lessons throughout the year. The fees for classes vary by location, but financial assistance is also available.

Last summer, the Y offered a “Swim into Summer” initiative, which provided free swim lessons to 500 people, primarily elementary school children, to help them get in the water. But truth is the Y has been offering swim lessons to people of all ages for several years now. They have an introduction to water class for elementary school-aged children called “Safety Around Water.”

The course teaches kids the key elements for a beginning swimmer, like knowing what to do if they fall into the water. It shows children how to catch some air once they’re in the water, before turning over and getting back to the edge of the pool. The Y’s classes also teach young kids to “Swim, Float, Swim,” or to understand that if they get tired while swimming, they can flip onto their backs, float forward, and then flip back over to continue swimming.

Reasons to learn to swim

Swimming basics classes for elementary school-aged kids, teenagers, and adults are designed to familiarize people with the water. In a 2021 YMCA survey, 44% of Black parents were found to have little to no swimming ability, and 40% had negative feelings about even being near pools.

This is another reason Staton has dedicated himself to encouraging more Black people to learn to swim. The Y has posted videos of public figures it has convinced to take swim classes.

Senator Jamaal T. Bailey and NYC Councilmember Kevin Riley last summer both took part in an eight-week swim class at their Northeast Bronx branch; Assemblymember Khaleel Anderson and Council Member Selvena Brooks-Powers took swim lessons at the Rockaway YMCA; and ABC News’ “Good Morning America” journalist DeMarco Morgan, took swimming lessons last year with Staton.

Staton says he’s been involved in aquatics for a number of years now. He mentioned that, as the Y’s director of lifeguard training and certification, another great reason to learn to swim is that if you become a knowledgeable enough swimmer, you might be able to become a lifeguard.

“Lifeguarding and learning how to swim is just something everyone should be able to do,” Staton said, “because the planet is covered in water. And pretty much anything that we do, like, if we go on vacation, there’s going to be some water element involved, and you want to be able to enjoy it safely.”

The training can take a while, but if you wanted to become a lifeguard, you would just have to have a minimum standard of swimming ability and stamina, and you would have to learn a bunch of rescue, first aid, and CPR skills. The lifeguard program is a nearly 40-hour training course that features hands-on water and skill-based learning, as well as an online and classroom component.

Lifeguard classes, which are offered free of charge at the Y, are taught throughout the year. Those interested can come in for swim testing and then take a lifeguarding course. The YMCA does try to hire people once they have completed the course.

“Learning how to swim is something that everyone should work to do and should have access to. And then, because there’s water everywhere, lifeguarding is one of those jobs that you can do anywhere, pretty much. Being a new lifeguard and being someone knowledgeable and skilled enough to do that job, it’s something that’s transferable almost anywhere.”

YMCA 2021 study on “Understanding U.S. parents’ relationship with water.” (YMCA.org photos)

Every YMCA in the city that has a swimming pool offers swim lessons throughout the year.

Union Matters

Ignoring Black contributions on Labor Day holds us all back, says UCLA professor

By KAREN JUANITA CARRILLO Amsterdam News Staff

The Labor Day holiday is the perfect opportunity to acknowledge the history of African enslavement in America, its repercussions, and tBlack labor in the U.S., says Dr. Marcus Anthony Hunter, a sociology and African American Studies professor at UCLA.

The idea for Labor Day originated in the late 1800s, and the first parade came from union leaders who were mostly white men. Ironically, though, most labor unions had denied protections and dignity to the descendants of enslaved people, the original laborers who built much of America’s early wealth. Hunter notes that the many immigrants who came to the United States and were able to charge for their labor were able to do so as a byproduct of slavery, because African slavery had ended.

Although we tend to view Labor Day as a holiday and part of the long weekend before school starts, we should also consider it as an opportunity to commemorate Black labor. Hunter, the author of “Radical Reparations: Healing the Soul of a Nation” and other works, emphasizes the need to look at the various ways we can provide our own reparations for African slavery. One way is simply by remembering and acknowledging the quality and depths of Black labor.

Acts of social repair, which would mean celebrating, marking, or acknowledging the physical locations where Black people have labored in the United States and the products that have resulted from their work, will encourage people to see today’s environment as something Black workers played a large part in creating.

“The story of America is land dispossession and involuntary enslavement, so how do we start talking about those and acknowledging those together, and also demonstrating that that, in and of itself, is a form of repair; to literally make public acknowledgment in spaces or places where enslaved labor built it, designed it, created it –– alongside the acknowledgment that the land

upon which America is built is unceded territory from Native and Indigenous people,” Hunter told the AmNews

Many people make attempts to tell the history of the land they are on. They may do so by opening up a meeting with a verbal acknowledgment of the Indigenous people who originally inhabited the lands they are on or by including a notice about it in their email signature. Those living in Harlem would raise awareness by pointing out that the famed Black neighborhood sits on the ancestral homeland of the Lenape and other Indigenous groups.

We could also extend this idea, Hunter said: “Using Labor Day as an example where you’re supposed to intentionally, explicitly acknowledge labor as important, think about what if they were paired together in these public discussions. When people welcome a space, they are welcoming people in. [What if] you have a land acknowledgment –– and you have a labor acknowledgment? That, I think, [would] help remind people about how integral the enterprise of slavery is to our common experience today.”

Hunter admits that Black labor, from slavery through today, has been used to create wealth in the United States is basically a nonmonetary form of reparations, but he sees it as a way to help people make connections, so they start seeing the links and value between the past and the present.

“For example, with a place like D.C., you do a land acknowledgment that says the Anacostan people, the original caretakers — this is their unceded land, but we know D.C. also was designed and built by African people, by enslaved Africans, and by descendants of enslaved Africans. It makes me wonder a lot about the tension you might feel as a Black person, feeling gaslit, like you’re hearing this land acknowledgment all the time. But what about acknowledging your people and their contributions?

“Labor Day seems like one of those opportunities to really coalesce those two ideas together, the land and the labor, and acknowledge that much of what we think of as America was built by unpaid, involuntary labor.”

Dr. Marcus Anthony Hunter, author of “Radical Reparations: Healing the Soul of a Nation,” discusses significant contributions of Black people to science, technology, and academia. Their work has gone largely unrecognized, discredited, or uncompensated. (HarperCollins (Amistad) photo)

244 Club gives back(packs) to school

Men of the 244 Club hosted a Back to School Supplies Extravaganza at Cheryl Thomas’s Go Hard Dance Studio in Harlem, where they gave notebooks, composition books, pens, crayons, and more to local kids.

(Bill Moore photos)

Standing Black and defiant against Trump’s overreach

Let us hope that the bold stances against Trump by Governor Wes Moore of Maryland and Mayor Brandon Johnson of Chicago spread as fast as his administration’s intent to impose a military presence in the nation’s major cities. That goes especially where there’s a Black populace or where a Black man or woman leads the government.

Moore has been steadfast in his challenge of Trump’s lies, most recently his claim that Moore, during their meeting last year at the Army-Navy game, called him “the greatest president of my lifetime.” Moore said in a radio interview that the conversation never happened. On Monday, Fox News aired footage showing that Moore never praised Trump. The video also showed that both parties did not hug each other, rather they both shook hands as Moore welcomed him to Maryland.

During an appearance on MSNBC, Moore ripped into Trump’s charges about Baltimore’s public safety issues, refuting claims about crime in the city. He told the press that “they have not walked our streets. They have not been in our communities and they are more than happy to keep making these repeating tropes about us.” His outrage is sure to intensify with the news that on Sunday the National Guard in the nation’s capital has begun carrying weapons.

Johnson was equally perturbed and outraged about Trump’s threat to deploy the National Guard to Chicago. His rationale, as if he had a legitimate one, is to combat crime. “The guard is not needed,” Johnson told the press. “This is not the role of our military. The brave men and women who signed to serve our country did not sign to occupy American cities.”

As with Moore’s defiance, citing stats to show a decline in crime, Johnson said Chicago police crime data from earlier this month show murders are down 31% from the same time last year, shootings have dropped by 36 percent and vehicle thefts are down 26%.

In contrast to Trump’s initiatives, according to the FBI, cities in Republican-leaning states often have some of the highest crime rates, but we know they are not low-hanging fruit for Trump. And if he plans to target New York City, the NYPD recently announced a record low of shootings and murders for the first five months of 2025. Moreover, Mayor Eric Adams would complicate any military move, given his relationship with the Oval Office.

But wherever Trump deploys the military next, we hope the leaders there are as defiant and bold as Moore and Johnson. This is the kind of resolve that is absolutely required to halt the anti-democratic moves of a so-called leader who is the epitome of stupidity.

None of us are safe: 20 years after Katrina, the storm is still with us

By ALEXIS RENEE POSEY, J.D.

I was 20 years old when Hurricane Katrina made landfall. From my hometown of Mount Vernon, New York, I watched the levees break and the people of New Orleans drown on rooftops, in the Superdome, in the silence of a government that decided Black lives were disposable. I cried, yes. But even in my tears, I told myself: That’s not me. I was in the North, shielded, so I thought, from one of, if not the, worst, climate disasters of my generation.

Now, 20 years later, as a Harlem resident, I know better.

Katrina wasn’t just a “natural” disaster; it was a manufactured catastrophe, born from the unnatural neglect and systemic divestment that defines environmental racism. While it all seemed so distant before, I now live with the slow violence of climate crisis every day. The New York City train stations flood routinely. The air quality fluctuates with a menace I never used to track. Last summer, smoke from Canadian wildfires turned our sky an apocalyptic orange. None of us are safe. And none of us are separate.

Black suffering was built into the levees

Katrina didn’t just expose the weaknesses of New Orleans’ infrastructure; it exposed the lie of American equity. More than 1,800 people lost their lives, and hundreds of thousands were displaced, the vast majority of

them Black. Black women, in particular, bore the brunt. A report by the Institute for Women’s Policy Research found that post-Katrina recovery efforts failed Black women on nearly every front, from housing to employment to healthcare access. Their labor was expected; their pain was ignored. A Brookings Institution analysis noted that in New Orleans, where Black residents made up 67% of the population pre-Katrina, they were the least likely to own cars, the most likely to live in lowlying areas, and the least likely to receive timely government assistance. Survival depended not on merit or preparedness but on race, class, and ZIP code. This is not history. This is a mirror.

Environmental racism doesn’t respect state lines

What happened in New Orleans echoes in New York. Communities like the South Bronx, East Harlem, and Brownsville — Black and Brown neighborhoods — are disproportionately affected by heat islands, poor air quality, and flooding. A 2021 report from the NYC Environmental Justice Alliance found that these neighborhoods experience up to 15 more extreme heat days per year than their whiter, wealthier counterparts. Asthma hospitalization rates are highest in the very ZIP codes where public housing sits beside expressways and power plants.

The same systemic disregard that left Black New Orleanians abandoned on rooftops now lets Black New Yorkers

suffocate slowly under the weight of fossil-fueled neglect.

This Black August, we remember and we act

Black August is a time of remembrance and resistance. We honor those who struggled for Black liberation inside and outside the walls of prison, across continents and generations. Katrina must be part of that memory, not as a “storm” but as a signal flare, an unheeded warning of what happens when policy, poverty, and pollution collide. If we are to truly honor the memory of those lost, displaced, and discarded, we must build a future worthy of their names. That starts with a transition away from big oil and extractive industries that poison our communities. It demands serious investment in Black neighborhoods — not after disaster, but before it. And it requires us to lead in demanding climate policies that center the most affected, not the most comfortable. We can no longer afford to see climate injustice as someone else’s issue. If Katrina taught us anything, it’s that when the levees break, the flood doesn’t check your address.

Twenty years later, the water is still rising. But this time, I won’t pretend it can’t reach me.

Alexis R. Posey, J.D., is chief campaigns officer at the Cultural Engagement Lab and General Counsel for the Center for Cultural Power. She writes at the intersection of culture, policy, and racial justice.

Being a journalist covering a war without end

By HERB BOYD

Elinor R. Tatum: Publisher and Editor in Chief

Madison

Gray: Executive & Investigative Editor

Damaso Reyes: Editor at Large

Kristin Fayne-Mulroy: Managing Editor

Cyril Josh Barker: Digital Editor

Siobhan "Sam" Bennett: Chief Revenue Officer and Head of Advertising

Wilbert A. Tatum

As a journalist who has covered warfare in Africa and the Middle East, I was appalled by the news that a hospital in Gaza had been hit twice by the Israeli military. Among the 20 reported killed, five were Palestinian journalists. Targeting a hospital, no matter the pretext, is sure to leave considerable collateral damage, and no amount of apology is sufficient.

In 1987, I was standing on a balcony in Beirut with Stokely Carmichael (Kwame Ture) watching missiles flying over our building with no understanding where they landed and luckily we were not hit. A year later, I was in Angola where the war between UNITA (the National Union for the Total In-

dependence of Angola) and the People’s Armed Forces for the Liberation of Angola (FAPLA) was underway and centered on the Battle of Cuito Cuanavale. This conflict was magnified by the involvement of the Cubans and the South African mercenaries, and this made the situation all the more precarious.

The point here is that covering a war, whether traveling as a freelancer, a correspondent or an embedded journalist is a dangerous and risky endeavor. And when you have a combatant with no respect for journalists or hospitals, the possibility of being a casualty is even greater.

I was lucky to survive these encounters but my heart goes out to the Palestinian journalists, particularly to the

family of Anas al-Sharif, and the families of the nearly two hundred — according to the Committee to Protect Journalists — who have been killed since the war between Hamas and Israel began. Beyond the deaths of the journalists, a larger issue is the number of Palestinian civilians who have been killed, including more than 18,000 children. We can debate the cause of this conflict, who started it, and whether it is merely another battle in a “forever war,” but it’s hard to ignore the genocidal elements reported each day, so much so that even Israeli organizations are beginning to speak out against any further devastation. But even as we voice our distress, the IDF is on the move into the Gaza Strip, so we know the outcome.

From betrayal to renewal, New Orleans 20 years after Katrina is a city for the ages

By MARC H. MORIAL

As the nation marks the 2oth anniversary of the historic catastrophe that was Hurricane Katrina,

The American Society of Civil Engineers called it the worst engineering catastrophe in U.S. history.

The failure of the levees flooded the city, leaving 80% of the city underwa-

Even as their elected representatives failed them again and again, the people of New Orleans continued to fight for their city, eventually succeeding in the release of significant federal dollars for rebuilding the leves, their homes, and their communities. However, the path forward was difficult and fraught.

Let’s be sure to support our teachers

CHRISTINA GREER, PH.D.

In the days after Katrina, I wondered if my hometown would become a modern-day Herculaneum or Pompeii, frozen forever in its destruction and never rebuilt. In fact, many thought that large portions of the city should not be rebuilt. They had a plan to ethnically cleanse New

Last week, I wrote about summer’s end and all of the emotions about returning to school. The excitement and anxiety surrounding our young scholars is real and we must be sure to support them on their intellectual journey. However, in doing so, we must not forget about the teachers who are such an integral part of the development of the children in our communities.

So many teachers are starting the coming school year out of pocket and using their own resources to create the best

Some years, I choose a school in my ZIP code. Some years, I’ve chosen a random teacher with my last name. I’ve even chosen schools in my beloved favorite city of Baltimore, where my late Omega uncle, Dr. Walter Amprey, was superintendent of Baltimore City public schools. What is very clear is the dedication of thousands of teachers who are trying to create the best classroom environments for their students. Not surprisingly, many of the teachers on the site teach at underfunded and under-resourced schools; however, they are keenly aware that the deficits of material goods in the classroom do not mean there are deficiencies with their students.

There is a real need for investment in our schools — something the federal government seems increasingly disinterested in. It is incumbent upon communities to keep their eye on the prize and support our future leaders at all stages of their development and growth. What so many teachers state on DonorsChoose is that no donation is too small. We must resist the urge to emulate the selfishness and hoarding we are witnessing at the federal level. We know better, and we must do better. Our investment now will pay off dividends in the future. I know it.

Christina Greer, Ph.D., is an associate professor at Fordham University; author of the books “How to Build a Democracy: From Fannie Lou Hamer and Barbara Jordan to Stacey Abrams” and “Black Ethnics: Race, Immigration, and the Pursuit of the American Dream”; and co-host of the podcast FAQ-NYC.

Caribbean Update

Guyana, Trinidad on board with U.S. action against Venezuela

By BERT WILKINSON Special to the AmNews

Two South Caribbean nations bordering Venezuela have thrown their support behind plans by the Trump administration to move against Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his regime, with one even offering the U.S. access to its territory as a military launching pad if Venezuela engages in any irresponsible action.

The governments of Guyana and Trinidad appeared to time their support for Washington just as the flotilla of U.S. warships and other military equipment was arriving near the South American nation, which the U.S. and other countries have dubbed as a rogue nation because of its history of rigged elections and other political and constitutional infractions.

On Friday, Guyana’s government issued a mild statement supporting international moves to rid the region of organized gangs and criminal networks like the Cartel de los Soles of Venezuela, while Trinidadian Prime Minister Kamla Persad Bissessar came out blazing with a late-Saturday statement unequivocally supporting the U.S. against Venezuela. Her announcement appears to have left the federation with Tobago in a state of political shock, especially be-

cause Foreign Minister Sean Sobers had just hours earlier vowed that the twin island republic was planning to stay out of the conflict.

Local pundits and opposition parties have complained that the move has left the nation open to reprisals from Venezuela in the future and should not have been made. The two countries are separated by only seven miles of water, while Guyana shares small bordering rivers with Venezuela.

“Guyana reaffirms its support for a collaborative and integrated approach to tackle transnational organized crime,” authorities said in a cleverly disguised statement. “We are committed to working with our bilateral partners to find meaningful solutions and will support regional and global initiatives aimed at dismantling criminal networks to safeguard our shared security.”

Persad Bissessar, however, was far more forthright. “The U.S. government’s deployment of American military assets into the Caribbean region to destroy the terrorist drug cartels has the full support of the government of TT,” she said in a statement.

“The only persons who should be worried about the activity of the U.S. military are those engaged in or enabling criminal activity. Law-abiding citizens have nothing to fear.”

She made it clear that no con-

A youth drives a motorcycle in front of a mural of a map of Venezuela with Essequibo territory, a swath of land administered and controlled by Guyana but claimed by Venezuela, in 23 de Enero neighborhood of Caracas, Venezuela, Dec. 11, 2023. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix, file)

tact was made with the umbrella 15-member Caribbean Community about this development, noting that “each member state can speak for themselves on this issue. Most Caribbean countries, and in particular TT, have been dealing with out-of-control crime for the last 20 years. Small island states like ours simply do not have the financial and military resources to take on the drug cartels,” she said in her unequivocal support from any anticipated American action.

Speaking directly about allowing the federation to be used as an American military launching base, Persad Bissessar pointed to peren-

nial threats from Venezuela about invading Guyana to enforce a decades-old claim for Guyana’s western Essequibo region. Any moves by Caracas would result in immediate assistance to U.S. forces.

“I want to make it very clear that if the Maduro regime launches any attack against the Guyanese people or invades Guyanese territory and a request is made by the American government for access to Trinidadian territory to defend the people of Guyana, my government will unflinchingly provide them that access,” she said. “May good sense and peace prevail.”

She said that so far, Washington

Trump administration turns U.S. visas into weapons

For Donald Trump, the U.S. visa has become less a travel document than a political weapon. From Grenada and Cuba to countries in Africa and Latin America, Washington is now wielding the visa not as a gateway of mobility but as a blunt instrument of punishment and control. Last week, Grenada confirmed that its finance minister, Dennis Cornwall, had all his U.S. visas revoked, including his diplomatic A1 visa. Even Cornwall’s estranged wife lost her visas, underscoring how the Trump administration’s punishment can spill from politics into private lives. Washington’s justification? Grenada’s continued support

of Cuba’s medical brigades, which the U.S. brands as “forced labor.”

The Cuban brigade pretext

For decades, Cuban doctors have staffed hospitals across the Caribbean, including Grenada. Cornwall, who studied in Cuba during the revolutionary 1980s, has been unapologetic about his solidarity with Havana. “I would rather lose my U.S. visa than abandon Cuba,” he told Parliament earlier this year. That defiance has now come at a cost. Under Trump, the State Department — led in this effort by Cuban American Senator Marco Rubio — has rolled out new visa restriction policies not just for Grenadian officials but also for African leaders, immigration officers, and even their families if they are deemed complicit in “facilitating illegal immigration” or supporting Cuba’s medical pro-

gram. Section 243(d) of the Immigration and Nationality Act is the legal cudgel being wielded.

A familiar pattern of pressure

Grenada is hardly alone. Across Africa and Latin America, officials have faced similar sanctions for resisting U.S. deportation demands, failing to “do more” to stop migration north, or maintaining ties with Cuba. The message is unmistakable: America’s visa, once seen as a coveted privilege, is now a political leash.

The U.S. State Department also ordered visa revocations for Brazilian judicial officials and their immediate family members due to a perceived “political witchhunt” against former President Jair Bolsonaro.

Those who resist Washington’s geopolitical priorities suddenly find themselves grounded, unable to

has made no formal request for access, but contended that organized criminal networks have been able to exert “significant influence in political, legislative, media, banking, security, and economic decisions, often rendering governments toothless to enact actual change to stop criminal activity. Therefore, it is shocking to hear some persons using referrals to the Caribbean region as a zone of peace to push negative commentary on the U.S. military deployment against these terrorist cartels. The U.S. military is operating legally in international waters within the region and has not breached any nation’s sovereignty.”

Former Prime Minister Keith Rowley, meanwhile, has bashed the administration for abandoning collective regional diplomatic efforts to solve problems, saying this is setting a dangerous precedent. He said “past aggressive, frenetic Caricom leadership” efforts to solve problems without force worked seamlessly.

“With this legacy in the face of the intractable issues surrounding us, Trinidad and Tobago has now set our decades-old successful foreign policy alight as a beacon to advocates of the Monroe Doctrine,” Rowley argued.

No other Caribbean country has publicly supported American plans so far.

travel, and publicly shamed. In some cases, even family members with no political role are swept up — collateral damage in a policy that confuses intimidation with diplomacy.

The hypocrisy exposed

What makes the Grenada case especially glaring is the hypocrisy. The U.S. invokes “human rights” while punishing small, poor countries that depend on foreign-trained doctors to keep their health systems afloat. Stripping visas from officials — and even their relatives — is not a policy of principle. It is coercion dressed in the language of freedom.

A dilemma for small states

For small nations like Grenada, this weaponization of visas poses a painful choice: Toe the U.S. line or risk punishment. Cornwall made his choice clear. Some leaders, he signaled, will not trade sovereignty

or solidarity for the ability to shop in Miami or vacation in Orlando.

The Trump administration’s gamble is that fear of visa revocation will keep governments in check. But the more Washington uses visas as a blunt weapon, the more it exposes the fragility — and the hypocrisy — of its “big stick” foreign policy. Visas should not be reduced to cudgels of intimidation. Yet under Trump, they increasingly are. And for Grenada, for Africa, and for Latin America, the message is clear: America’s “big stick” diplomacy didn’t die with Roosevelt. It just got a new stamp: visa revoked! Felicia J. Persaud is the founder and publisher of NewsAmericasNow.com, the only daily newswire and digital platform dedicated exclusively to Caribbean Diaspora and Black immigrant news across the Americas.

South Africa’s most vulnerable are struggling to find HIV medication after U.S. aid cuts

By LOUISE DEWAST Associated Press

JOHANNESBURG (AP) — On a warm evening in Johannesburg, the news spread like wildfire among sex workers: Within 24 hours, several nonprofit clinics providing free HIV services would be closing as President Donald Trump announced the United States was slashing foreign aid.

Some South Africans living with, or at risk of, HIV secured supplies of life-saving drugs just in time. Others did not.

Half a year later, the country with more people living with HIV than any other is struggling to treat its most vulnerable. More than 63,000 people were being treated in the 12 clinics across the nation that shut down. Up to 220,000 people have faced disruption to their daily HIV medication.

South Africa’s government has vowed it won’t let the U.S. withdrawal of about $427 million in support collapse its HIV program, the largest in the world.

Sex workers, among the most vulnerable South Africans because their work is illegal, and transgender people spoke to the Associated Press on condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation from families or communities. They described a new world of difficulty in obtaining HIV medication or the preventive medicine for people at risk of HIV.

One HIV-positive sex worker and mother of three said she was off medication for almost four months after being turned away from public hospitals, which the government’s health department says should not be happening.

“The only thing that I could think of was my kids, and that I am going to die, and how am I going to explain to my kids that I am sick because of the line of work that I chose?” she said. The 37-year-old said she finally obtained a month’s supply of medication in June from a mobile clinic that was introduced after the funding cuts. She didn’t know what she would do after that.

Another HIV-positive sex worker said she had resorted to buying medication illegally on the black

market, where the pills have nearly doubled in price.

The U.S. has since issued a limited waiver allowing the resumption of certain life-saving HIV services globally, but the dismantling of much of U.S. foreign aid has created chaos, and for many people affected, harm is already done.

Overall, experts warn of hundreds of thousands of new infections in the next few years in South Africa, and tens of thousands of additional deaths, if the cuts in aid aren’t restored or covered by other means.

Turned away from hospitals

A major challenge for those who lost access to the U.S.-funded nonprofit clinics is finding help elsewhere, including public hospitals.

“I have tried local clinics, three of them, and I have been refused treatment because I don’t have a referral letter from my previous clinic,” the 37-year-old sex worker said.

Kate Rees, a public health specialist at Anova Health Institute in Johannesburg, said while it’s ideal to have a transfer letter, it’s not needed and people can't be turned away — “but people at the

clinic, whether it’s nurses, security guards, doctors, whoever, actually, do turn them away,” Rees said.

In response to AP questions, Foster Mohale, a spokesperson for South Africa’s health department, said they were not aware of anyone who had been turned away and encouraged people to go to the nearest public health facility.

Another challenge at public hospitals and clinics is discrimination, especially for sex workers and transgender people.

“In hospital, they said they only give PrEP to people who are in a relationship with someone who’s HIV-positive and trying to have a baby,” one transgender woman said. She decided to buy medication privately, moving in with her mother to save money to afford it.

“I am not going back to the clinic, with people who are going to make fun of me, like I’m a clown,” she said.

The health department didn’t respond to questions on that issue.

Not everyone can afford to buy medication privately or on the black market, where a bottle reportedly goes for about $25 —

and whose contents might be unverified.

The withdrawal from regular health care by sex workers and others means that many are no longer being tested and don’t know what level of the virus they have in body fluids — and whether they can pass it on to others.

Anger with their countryman Musk

Even before the U.S. cuts, about 2 million of South Africa’s estimated 8 million people living with HIV were never on medication. Some didn’t have the time or money to spend on traveling to clinics. Some were in denial or didn’t believe in the drugs. Some had not yet been diagnosed.

Now that number is rising.

Yvette Raphael, co-founder of the local Advocacy for Prevention of HIV and AIDS group, said she and fellow activists are worried that South Africa could go backwards.

“We are scared that we are going to see people dying again,” she said.

The concerns echo across Africa, the continent hardest hit by the U.S. aid cuts. The Trump

administration has defended the cuts, saying the spending was not aligned with U.S. interests.

“And we’re $37 trillion in debt, so at some point, the continent of Africa needs to absorb more of the burden of providing this health care,” Russell Vought, director of the U.S. Office of Management and Budget, told a hearing in June. Among South Africans, some wonder whether Trump’s stance may have been influenced by their countryman Elon Musk, who oversaw the early efforts to cut U.S. aid.

“I’ve got no civil words to express how I feel, but I just hate them for what they did,” one transgender woman said. “Our lives matter.”

For more about Africa and development: https://apnews.com/hub/ africa-pulse.

The Associated Press receives financial support for global health and development coverage in Africa from the Gates Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters, and funded coverage areas at AP.org.

An HIV-positive sex worker holds government-supplied antiretroviral drugs in Johannesburg, South Africa. (Louise Dewast/AP photo)

Embattled Fed Gov. Lisa Cook says she’ll sue Trump to keep her job

By CHRISTOPHER RUGABER AP Economics Writer

Washington, D.C. (AP) — Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook will sue President Donald Trump’s administration to try to prevent him from firing her, her lawyer said Tuesday.

“President Trump has no authority to remove Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook,” said Abbe Lowell, a longtime Washington lawyer who has represented figures from both major political parties. “His attempt to fire her, based solely on a referral letter, lacks any factual or legal basis. We will be filing a lawsuit challenging this illegal action.”

Trump’s unprecedented effort to fire Cook is likely to end up at the Supreme Court and could define the limits of the president’s legal authority over the traditionally independent institution more clearly. The Fed exercises expansive power over the U.S. economy by adjusting a short-term interest rate that can influence broader borrowing costs for things like mortgages, auto loans, and business loans.

The Federal Reserve weighed in on the firing Tuesday for the first time, saying it would “abide by any court decision.”

The Fed also defended its independence from politics: “Congress, through the Federal Reserve Act, directs that governors serve in long, fixed terms and may be removed by the president only ‘for cause,’” the central bank said. “Long tenures and removal protections for governors serve as a vital safeguard, ensuring that monetary policy decisions are based on data, economic analysis, and the long-term interests of the American people.”

A spokesperson said the Fed has deferred any decision on Cook’s working status and added that there is no official business before the board this week. However, the Fed’s statement did not explicitly criticize Trump’s decision to fire her.

Trump, a Republican, has repeatedly demanded that Fed Chair Jerome Powell and the Fed’s rate-setting committee cut its rate to boost the economy and reduce interest payments on the govern-

ment’s $37 trillion debt pile. If Trump succeeds in removing Cook from the Fed’s Board of Governors, it could erode the Fed’s political independence, which is considered critical to its ability to fight inflation because it enables the Fed to take unpopular steps like raising interest rates. A less-independent Fed could leave Americans paying higher interest rates, because investors would demand a higher yield to own bonds to offset potentially greater inflation in the future, pushing up borrowing costs throughout the economy.

Who’s on the board?

Trump appointed two members of the board, Christopher Waller and Michelle Bowman, in his first term and has named Steven Miran, a top White House economist, to replace Gov. Adriana Kugler, who stepped down unexpectedly on August 1. If Miran’s nomination is approved by the Senate and Trump is able to replace Cook, he would have a 4-3 majority on the Fed’s board.

Trump criticized Powell at a cabinet meeting Tuesday and said, “We'll have a majority very shortly” on the Fed.

The Fed’s board oversees financial regulations and also votes on all interest rate decisions. Five of the Fed’s 12 regional bank presidents also have a vote, with one of those five always being the New York Fed and the other four serving on a rotating basis.

Legal experts say the president’s claim that he can fire Cook, who was appointed by Democratic President Joe Biden in 2022, is on shaky ground, but it’s an unprecedented move that hasn’t played out in the courts before.

The Supreme Court this year has been much more willing to let the president remove agency officials than in the past.

“It’s an illegal firing, but the president’s going to argue, ‘The Constitution lets me do it,’ and that argument’s worked in a few other cases so far this year,” said Lev Menand, a law professor at Columbia University and author of a book about the Fed. Menand said the Supreme Court construes the Constitution’s meaning, and “it can make new constitutional law in this case.”

Allegations against Cook

Bill Pulte, a Trump appointee to the agency that regulates

me ‘for cause’ when no cause exists under the law, and he has no authority to do so,” she said in an emailed statement. “I will not resign.”

The courts have allowed the Trump administration to remove commissioners at the National Labor Relations Board, Merit System Protection Board, and other independent agencies. Cook’s case is different. Those dismissals were based on the idea that the president needs no reason to remove agency heads because they exercise executive power on his behalf, the Supreme Court wrote in an unsigned order in May.

In that same order, the court suggested that Trump did not have the same freedom at the Fed, which the court called a “uniquely structured, quasi-private entity.”

Removing governors ‘for cause’

The law that governs the central bank, the Federal Reserve Act, includes a provision allowing for the removal of Fed governors “for cause.”

mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, made accusations against Cook last week. Pulte alleged that Cook had claimed two primary residences — in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and in Atlanta — in 2021 to get better mortgage terms. Mortgage rates are often higher on second homes or those bought to rent.

The most likely next step for Cook is to seek an injunction against Trump’s order that would allow her to continue her work as a governor, but the situation puts the Fed in a difficult position.

“They have their own legal obligation to follow the law, and that does not mean do whatever the president says …,” Menand said. “The Fed is under an independent duty to reach its own conclusions about the legality of Lisa Cook’s removal.”

Trump said in a letter posted on his Truth Social platform late Monday that he was removing Cook effective immediately because of allegations she committed mortgage fraud.

Cook says she won’t resign Cook said Monday night that she would not step down. “President Trump purported to fire

“For cause” is typically interpreted to mean malfeasance or dereliction of duty by an official while in office, not something done before that person is appointed, Menand said.

To establish a for-cause firing also requires a finding of fact, said Scott Alvarez, the Fed’s former general counsel and now adjunct professor at Georgetown Law.

“We know there’s allegations by Bill Pulte, but Lisa has not been able to respond yet, so we don’t know if they’re true,” Alvarez said. “Allegations are not cause.”

Lowell said Monday night that Trump’s “reflex to bully is flawed and his demands lack any proper process, basis, or legal authority,” adding, “We will take whatever actions are needed to prevent his attempted illegal action.”

Cook is the first Black woman to serve as a Fed governor. She was a Marshall Scholar and received degrees from Oxford University and Spelman College, and has taught at Michigan State University and Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government.

Associated Press writers Mark Sherman and Paul Wiseman contributed to this report.

Federal Reserve Board of Governors member Lisa Cook. (U.S. Federal Reserve photo)

Arts & Entertainment

Your 2025 Emmy Awards Ranked-Choice Guide: Outstanding Limited or Anthology Series

By MARK WINSTON GRIFFITH Special to the AmNews

The 77th Emmy Awards will be held September 14 and broadcast on CBS and Paramount+. Chances are, you haven’t seen all of the nominated productions, so think of me as your friendly neighborhood guide to 2025 television achievement — or in some cases, underachievement.

On August 14, I began the gradual release of my ranked choices of the nominees, from my least favorite to my most favorite, in four marquee categories: Outstanding Television Movie; Outstanding Limited or Anthology Series; Outstanding Comedy Series; and Outstanding Drama Series. These choices are not predictions of what will win, nor am I trying to tell you what is the objectively “best” television film or series; just my personal favorites. I hope reading these mini reviews will simply help you be a more informed and discerning viewer.

This week: Outstanding Limited or Anthology Series

5. “Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story”

It’s hard to imagine a more upfront spoiler than a murder drama that highlights a series of criminal adjudications currently playing out in public, in real time. Similar to the attempts to dramatize the O.J. trial on television, the central tension in “Monsters” actually takes place on our side of the television screen, where each of us enters with our own pre-existing takes on how the justice system should handle entitled and

damaged celebrity murderers. Perhaps the greatest inherent flaw of “Monsters” is that the Menendez case is still evolving, way beyond the rolling of the series credits, which means there will always be a postscript out of reach. Just last week, Lyle and Erik Menendez were denied parole.

“Monsters” employs the “Rashomon” technique in which different versions of the “truth” are provided based on a multitude of perspectives. In the end, though, you’re aware that much of the dramatization is simply convenient speculation. If you want to get the investigative skinny on the case or hear from the brothers themselves, you’re better off watching the mul-

tiple documentary treatments (including Netflix’s own 2024 “The Menendez Brothers”) and following the news on your own.

4. “Dying for Sex”

Based loosely on the life of Molly Kochan and the podcast presented by Kochan and Nikki Boyer, “Dying for Sex” is a dramatic comedy that follows Molly (Michelle Williams) as she seizes control over her sexual destiny (and takes sexual matters into her own hands, wink wink) after being diagnosed with terminal cancer. Upon separating from her self-absorbed, clueless, and sexually inept husband, she embarks on a series of sexual misadventures that feature

kink, fetish, and hijinks. Meanwhile, Molly is struggling to confront the trauma of past sexual abuse and the advancement of cancer, while managing all the clumsy relationships in her life, including her mother, best friend, and ex.

In its best moments, “Dying for Sex” stares down the process of dying with a frankness rarely captured on television, and highlights a friendship with Nikki (Jenny Slate) that is inspiringly selfless and literally lifegiving. Its comic moments hit their marks, and Williams gives a tender portrayal of emotional courage. However, the sex moments, which are played mostly for laughs, often feel random and unintelligible for those uninitiated in fetish and kink. In the end, the emotional toggle between heartwrenching moments and sex gags is often more admirable than satisfying.

3. “The Penguin”

It’s not easy to make a high-quality, prestige television drama from a superhero comic book. How does a screenplay keep a straight face when the characters are running around in tights and leaping tall buildings in a single bound? In “The Penguin,” however, the leotarded one — Batman — never shows up. Like most of the villains in the “Batman” franchise stable, Oswald “Oz” Cobb, aka the Penguin, is a mere mortal, or to be more specific, a schlubbly capo thrashing and scheming his way to the top of the criminal dogpile.

The fact that Oz has no superpower — other than being pathologically diabolical

Continued on next page

Cooper Koch, Jeff Perry, Nicholas Chavez (left to right) in “Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story.” (Miles Crist/Netflix photo)

Jenny Slate, Michelle Williams (left to right) in “Dying for Sex.” (Sarah Shatz/FX photo)

Colin Farrell, Cristin Milioti (left to right) in “The Penguin.” (Macall Polay/HBO photo)

— may explain why “The Penguin” manages to be such a surprisingly thoughtful and effective drama.

Oz, mockingly nicknamed the Penguin by his criminal peers, is an emotionally and physically impaired man who is so deviously murderous, narcissistic, and backstabby that he helps answer the question, What if Donald Trump had been raised poor, disabled, and fatherless?

The series picks up where the 2022 theatrically released DC reboot, “The Batman,” ends, in a Gotham devastated by the destruction of its seawall by the Riddler. The Batman franchise has always been most successful when it leans into its dark, brooding take on humankind. In this iteration, Gotham is a poster child for urban nihilism and Oz is an avatar for Gotham’s soullessness. Criminals are not born here, they’re made. In the words of Oz’s criminal rival, Sofia Falcone (a captivating Cristin Milioti), “I’m not the one who is sick. Neither are you. The world is.”

To say that Colin Farrell gives an outstanding performance and is unrecognizable in the role of the Penguin is an understatement. Farrell’s voice is arguably too derivative of the late James Gandolfini’s Tony Soprano, but it requires nothing short of genius to take a slime creature like Oz and make him into a complex mama’s boy about a dozen heinous acts short of redeemable. Although any temptation the audience may have to sympathize with Oz is eventually snuffed out, there are early moments when we wonder if we should at least root for Oz to be the first among Gotham psychopaths.

You certainly find yourself rooting for Victor (Rhenzy Feliz), an Afro Latino kid orphaned by the flooding of Gotham, who gets pulled into indentured servitude by Oz. Victor (poetically nicknamed “Vic”) serves to humanize the body count casually racked up by DC and Marvel world-leveling battles. As Falcone observes, “Victims are so quickly

forgotten. Our stories are rarely told.”

2. “Black Mirror”

Delivering six episodes in its seventh season, “Black Mirror” is the gift that keeps on giving. Long recognized as the worthy successor to Rod Serling’s classic “Twilight Zone,” “Black Mirror” has as much frightful insight into human frailty as it does foresight into the ways in which technology will infiltrate and subvert our lives.

The most crowdpleasing episode this season is “U.S.S. Callister: Into Infinity,” a sequel to the “U.S.S. Callister” episode

from Season 4. It tells the story of a highly immersive, “Star Trek”-inspired, virtual reality game that gets animated with the illegally acquired DNA of gaming company staffers. Less bleak than most signature “Black Mirror” episodes, it not only features comic bits, but Good actually gets opportunities to triumph over Evil.

Even the best anthology series — and “Black Mirror” certainly ranks among them — has unevenness. The “Plaything” episode doesn’t leave much of an impression and is not particularly insightful. Issa Rae is awkwardly cast in “Hotel Reverie” as a Hollywood star who finds love in an immersive, AI-recreated movie reminiscent of “Casa Blanca.” In “Bête Noir,” which starts thrillingly before turning goofy, a highly competitive executive (Siena Kelly) has her career and personal life upended when a former classmate joins the staff of her company and begins to bend reality to her will. In “Eulogy,” Paul Giamatti takes a sentimental turn as a man who reconstructs the defining romance in his life using advanced, memory-enabled photograph technology.

Perhaps the most unnervingly successful episode of the season is “Common People,” starring Rashida Jones as Amanda, a terminally ill woman who is offered a lifeline through a medical subscription service perpetually upsold by an amoral company representative (Tracee Ellis Ross). The catch is that the price of the service starts to climb as advertising gets introduced and the quality of the service diminishes (not unlike subscription services like Netflix). It is a scathing

commentary on what lies ahead for us as capitalism increasingly exploits technology to dictate the quality of our lives and the terms of our mortality.

1. “Adolescence”

I challenge you to find a more sublime tour de force of television story, form, and character development than “Adolescence.” From its explosive opening scene to its heart-wrenching finale, “Adolescence” is an unflinching social autopsy of a teenage murder mystery.

A 13-year-old boy is accused of killing a girl from his school. In four one-take episodes, the camera retraces the steps of a toxic teen culture as it wends its way through a working-class family, school, community, and criminal justice system. Owen Cooper plays the accused, Jamie Miller, with a quintessential teen inscrutability and vulnerability that masks seething grievance.

Series co-creator Stephen Graham provides the role and performance of a lifetime as a father who poignantly struggles to process the trauma of his own fleshand-blood being accused of a morally unfathomable act. Two scenes alone, one featuring a pre-trial psychological evaluation, and the other involving a teddy bear, are themselves worthy of awards for dramatic achievement.

Trigger warning: “Adolescence” is all the more emotionally harrowing because of its realism, its depictions of violence, and the depths of rage and sadness it is willing to plumb. For any parent watching, there but for the grace of God go we.

Siena Kelly in “Black Mirror.” (Parisa Tag/Netflix photo)

Kaine Davies as Ryan Kowalsky, Ashley Walters as Detective Inspector Bascombe (left to right) in “Adolescence." (Netflix photo)

How to score tix for Shakespeare in the Park 2025

By JOHNNY KNOLLWOOD Special to the AmNews

The Public Theater’s Shakespeare in the Park has returned to the newly renovated Delacorte Theater in Central Park and runs through September 14. The series, started by Public Theater founder Joseph Papp in 1954, is completely free of charge to attendees.

The current season boasts performances of “Twelfth Night,” which stars Lupita Nyong’o, Sandra Oh, and Peter Dinklage, and features a diverse cast of players reinterpreting the critically lauded, genderbending comedy for today’s audiences. Shakespeare in the Park’s “Twelfth Night” provides laughter and raises questions about societal and gender roles that are as relevant today as they were when the play debuted in the 1600s.

In a New York City tradition, fans online

have reported lining up as early as 5 a.m. to score tickets to the coveted show; however, some folks’ schedules might make doing so next to impossible.

Luckily, there has been a push by the Public Theater to make these free, in-demand tickets even more accessible. Currently, there are five ways to score free tickets to a performance, which are distributed on the day of each show.

You can wait in line outside the Delacorte Theater in Central Park. Public Theater employees begin monitoring the line at around 6 a.m., but some attendees line up much earlier. Hundreds of people flock to the theater daily with lawn chairs and snacks, braving the weather and time to earn a spot in the theater. This option is best for people who have flexibility in their schedules and can spend long hours outside, but may not be ideal for everyone.

This year, the Public Theater is distribut-

ing tickets at various Citizen Bank locations in the five boroughs, giving fans who may not have the means to trek to Central Park in the wee hours of the morning an opportunity to attend a performance of “Twelfth Night.” I showed up to a Wednesday morning distribution line in the Bronx at about 10:45 p.m. and they had only just started advising people at the end of the line to go home, with 100–200 people waiting at the time — significantly fewer than in Central Park. This is a better option for people who do not live in or close to Manhattan, and do not have flexible mornings.

The Public Theater also hosts a daily, inperson lottery in their lobby (425 Lafayette Street, near Astor Place). They take names from 11a.m.–12 p.m. and begin drawing at noon. On a Wednesday morning, roughly 150–200 people were signed up for the lottery, and the theater gave away roughly 50 spots. This is a great option for people in

the area with flexible dates who may have a free hour on their lunch break or otherwise.

An online lottery system is also available through the ticketing service TodayTix, although the odds of winning are unclear, nor how many tickets are distributed through these channels. This could be a good option for someone with flexible dates, but without the time or means to get tickets during regular distribution hours.

As a last resort, a standby line opens at the Delacorte Theater after the last ticket is distributed for the day. This is an option for anyone who may have missed the distribution window, doesn’t have flexible dates, but really wants to see the show.

The r/Broadway community on Reddit has created a daily “megathread” where users can report line activity. Check these out to give you a sense of your odds, and the best option is for you. Good luck and happy hunting!

Free Shakespeare in the Park series has returned to the revitalized Delacorte Theatre in Central Park featuring performances of “Twelfth Night,” starring Lupita Nyong’o, Sandra Oh, and Peter Dinklage. Performances run through September 14. (Johnny Knollwood photo)

A community remembers Lloyd Williams

By MICHAEL HENRY ADAMS Special to the AmNews

To pay tribute and say goodbye, the Harlem community and other admirers turned out by the score on Saturday to remember Lloyd Asburn Williams. The historic setting was Williams’s landmarked faith-home, the Salem United Methodist Church, founded by the Reverend Dr. Frederick Cullen (foster father of famed Harlem Renaissance poet Countee Cullen). Williams was first recruited to community leadership by Hope Stevens in 1970. Then, starting 18 years later, he served as chief executive and president of the Greater Harlem Chamber of Commerce for 37 years, succeeding Lloyd E. Dickens. I already knew who Williams was when we first met 30 years ago — the cofounder of Harlem Week. But not until then had I realized that the group he led was a continuation of the Harlem Board of Commerce, later the Uptown Chamber of Commerce, established in 1896, when Harlem was almost entirely white. Apart from the chamber’s ubiquitous presence

uptown, I knew of him because of my friendship with his sister Grace Williams, an extraordinary artist. Grace had generously put her apartment on 120th Street, on the parlor floor of the house her family had owned since 1919, on the Mount Morris Park Community Improvement Association’s annual house tour.

“My son is the fourth generation on the block,” she told a reporter from the New York Times on June 6, 1991.

Telling me then of her brother’s success and hers as well, Grace spoke of the guidance of their mother and grandmother, of the pride instilled in them as “strong and independent people who had immigrated from Jamaica in pursuit of America’s rich opportunities. ”

Echoing these words Saturday, Leticia James eulogized Lloyd Williams, saying: “He embodied the hopes and dreams of immigrants, people who today live in fear, but have contributed mightily to making our city, state, and nation as great as we are today.” A little while later, noting how in part, thanks to Harlem Week’s exposure and Williams’s ability to present Harlem in a posi-

tive light many had failed to see previously, she warned, “Now everyone wants to live in Harlem.” James admonished the receptively applauding congregation, “You must hold onto your brownstones or whatever other part of Harlem you still have.”

Speaking for a citywide political delegation in attendance, the Hon. Inez Dickens recalled a familial relationship with Williams as a follower of her father. Despite once having borrowed her car and letting it get towed, he was, she insisted, “a reliable friend to my family, to me, and to all Harlem.”

It was Williams’s indomitable spirit as a freedom fighter that the Rev. Al Sharpton wished to convey: “Lloyd wasn’t no punk … We got too many elected punks around here.” Speaking of a festering national hysteria seeking to demean and demonize African Americans, Sharpton said forces are seeking to undermine the progress made through Williams’s efforts: “You don’t know who we are. We aren’t scared. Lloyd, we won’t let you down. We got here, not 250 years ago, but in 1619, stripped of our names, our land, our history. If we can survive all of that, we are ready when you

come. Stand up for yourself,” he concluded, “like Lloyd stood up for us.”

Interspersed with inspirational anthems, like a stirring rendition of “Down by the Riverside” by Vy Higginsen’s wonderful choir, with everyone clapping, every remembrance was profound and uplifting. Not surprisingly, the most heartfelt and poignant testimonial of all came from Williams’s son, Lateef Adé Williams, joined at the lectern by his wife Valorie RobersonWilliams and their young son.

Intimating something of the challenges of being heir to a great man, he said: “Dad drove a Lexus, I drive a bicycle.” He reflected on what others had already suggested was his father’s philosophy of life: “Your problem is that you only see the problem,” recalling, “Dad practiced what he preached: Move on and seek the possibilities.”

For our troubled times ahead in Harlem, in New York, in the nation, and throughout the world, these are wise words indeed that we can all abide by and for which we can thank Lloyd Williams.

1. Ever valiant, the Hon. Letitia James.

2. Lloyd Williams’s godchildren, Akiysa Sanders and Gilbert Paschall IV.

3. Michael Henry Adams with Lana Turner.

4. State Senator Cordelle Cleare.

(Michael Henry Adams photos)

Continued from previous page

5.

Old friends Veronica Jones, Valerie Jo Bradley, Linda Adams, Grace Williams, Norma Jean Darden, Dana McBroom Manno, and Doris Taylor pose to mark historic moment.

6. The lovely Ibrahims, Amina, Zarobi, Cianni, and Amari.

7. Sybil and Cynthia YoungTree.

8. Indiyah and Lisa Aird.

9. Realtors Elaine Perry and Laurent Delly.

10. Jazzmobile’s Robin Bell.

(Michael Henry Adams photos)

Obituaries for Sheila Jordan, David F. Gibson, Joe Daley

Unfortunately, with so many brilliant jazz artists passing in such a short period of time, it was necessary to combine their obituaries into this one column. My apologies.

Sheila Jordan, a self-taught singer of Charlie Parker recordings who became a significant pioneer in bebop and the art of scat singing, died on August 11 at her apartment in Manhattan. She was 96.

Jordan recorded her first album, “Portrait of Sheila” (Blue Note Records, 1963), at the age of 34. As the first vocalist to be recorded on the label, she was proclaimed as a bright new voice in jazz. Such good publicity, along with her fierce vocal fluctuations, kept audiences enchanted and allowed her to etch out a modest singing career that continued into her 90s. As a single mother, she held down a fulltime job to raise her only daughter, Tracy. Once her daughter was in college, Jordan returned to the stage and to recording. She recorded more than a dozen albums, including “Sheila Jordan Live at Mezzrow,” released when she was 92, and “Portrait Now,” released earlier this year. The nonagenarian never stopped performing. She was usually accompanied by pianist/composer Steve Kuhn and bassists Harvie S (he and Jordan often recorded or performed exclusively as a duet) and avant-gardist Cameron Brown.

As a native of Detroit, a fertile jazz land, Jordan had an opportunity to immerse herself in the jazz scene. In her early years, she performed and jammed with bebop pianist and composer Barry Harris, who described her as “one of the great innovative voices in jazz.” They remained friends and performed together on occasion in New York City until his death. Harris died shortly after their performance with an all-star ensemble at Flushing Town Hall. Harris

She received the NEA Jazz Masters Award in 2012, and two years later, her biography, “Jazz Child: A Portrait of Sheila Jordan,” was published, written by vocalist and educator Ellen Johnson. Jordan’s glowing reputation as an inventive song stylist led her to the City College of New York, where she became an artist-inresidence and taught there from 1978 to 2005. She was also on the faculty at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst.

Jordan inspired generations of musicians and vocalists during her career. She had the same fearlessness as her daring hero Charlie Parker. When it came to exploring music, her goal was to push beyond jazz boundaries whether she was scatting, exploring some realm of avant-gardism, or singing a welltraveled standard. Her contributions to jazz and her creative style will motivate many generations to come. “Sheila put her life on the line for the music all her life,” said trombonist and composer Craig Harris.

David F. Gibson, whose smooth drumming ability caressed the vocals of Joe Williams and

Diane Schuur or could quickly segue into a hard-driving melodic force to power the big deal legacy swing bands of the Duke Ellington, Count Basie, and Cab Calloway orchestras, and smaller ensembles, died on July 30. He was 72.

“I am honored to have collaborated with Dave on my forthcoming 2025 release, ‘Squeeze in Tight: Jazz and Blues Songs for Solidarity.’ Dave played drums and maintained a formidable presence throughout the album’s production; always pushing me and our team to do our best and swing as hard as possible. He was like that: Go for broke, every time,” according to Jazz Power Initiative co-founder, managing director, and artistic director Eli Yamin. Gibson’s exploding force earned him extensive stints with Frank Foster’s Loud Minority Big Band, Illinois Jacquet Big Band, Sun Ra Arkestra, David Murray Big Band, and — up until his transition — the Duke Ellington Orchestra. He was the co-producer and collaborated [with Radam] on the “Radam Schwartz Organ Big Band” self-titled album released independently in 2020. “Dave Gibson was a consummate drummer, an incredibly large ensemble player,” said trombonist and composer Craig Harris. “He made everybody in the band sound good; he lifted great players even higher. He was a magical artist.”

After Gibson’s graduation from Temple University, the native of Philadelphia learned his craft as an active participant on the city’s vibrant jazz scene, where he quickly earned a local reputation as the young drummer of choice. His playing ability caught the attention of saxophonist and composer Odean Pope, who invited Gibson to join his Saxo-

phone Choir. He appeared on the 1985 debut album “The Saxophone Shop” that featured eight of Pope’s fellow saxophonists, who included Philly’s local legend Bootsie Barnes.

“Dave was an extraordinary drummer/percussionist and a great big band drummer that made him invaluable. He was from the Max Roach school of drumming,” said saxophonist and owner of Bill’s Place Bill Saxton.

After leaving Philly, Gibson adopted New York City as his second home and connected with Harlem’s inventive jazz community. “The long musical journey Dave Gibson and I shared as neophytes in the Count Basie Band, directed by Frank Foster, was the beginning of many experiences together that included the Duke Ellington Orchestra, Lionel Hampton Band, and Cab Calloway Band,” said saxophonist and composer Patience Higgins.

Gibson later joined one of Harlem’s most invigorating jazz bands — the Sugar Hill Quartet, which included bandleader Higgins with pianist Marcus Persiani, bassist Andy McCloud, and bassist Alex Hernandez. The noted quartet enjoyed long residencies at the renowned St. Nicks Pub, Lenox Lounge, and Smoke Jazz Clubs. “His playing was always inventive, innovative, sensitive and always swinging,” noted Higgins.

Joe Daley, the multi-instrumentalist who defied the construct of musical genres as a composer and arranger for big bands, marching bands, small ensembles, and playing with an astounding group of musicians from Gil Evans to Warren Smith, Bill Dixon, Natalie Merchant, Sam Rivers, Jayne Cortez, and Carla Bley, died on August 3 in Hackensack, New Jersey. He was 75.

During his prolific career as a musician, Daley devoted three decades of his life as a music teacher for the New York City and Englewood, New Jersey, public school systems. He inspired countless young musicians until his retirement in 2005. The Harlem native was honored to have been the band director at Wadleigh JHS 88 and associate director of the Manhattan Borough-Wide Band ( 1972–1976). Daley was a graduate of the Manhattan School of Music, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in performance in 1972 and a master’s degree in music education in 1973.

His main instruments were the tuba (primary), trombone, and euphonium. As a composer and bandleader, he earned acclaim for his works, including “The Seven Deadly Sins” (2011); “The Seven Heavenly Virtues” (2013); and then in 2014, “Portraits: Wind, Thunder and Love,” which includes the multimovement suite ”Wispercussion: Five Portraits of Warren Smith” and the “Tuba Trio Chronicles” (2015). His creative vision and musicality can be experienced as a co-founding member of the eclectic ensemble Hazmat Modine, and his own groups: the Ebony Brass Quintet and Earth Tones Ensemble.

“Joe Daley was a great musician and friend; he helped me during some very tough times. He was very soft-spoken — I never heard him raise his voice to anyone,” said trombonist and composer Dick Griffin. “He was a great composer and arranger. The pieces he arranged for his Ebony Brass Quartet were brilliant.”

Daley was a creative musician, composer, and educator. He leaves behind an artistic perspective that will have a profound impact on generations of future students and listeners.

Joseph Daley with Hazmat Modine (Peter Leutsch photo/ creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/legalcode0

Sheila Jordan performing at Great American Music Hall, San Francisco, Calif., May 1985. (Brian McMillen photo/creativecommons. org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/legalcode)

Racial Equity Plan

Continued from page 3

an appointee each from Offices of the Public Advocate and City Comptroller.

Assembling the board apparently takes time. The lawsuit blames the Adams administration, which did not appoint a single commissioner in 2023 and only rounded out all seven mayoral picks last October. Contrarily, NYC Comptroller Brad Lander made his lone selection by July 2023.

Adams’s delayed appointments led to an agreement with CORE to initially postpone the Racial Equity Plan. The revised timeline scheduled community engagement efforts in April 2024 with a preliminary plan from the mayor slated by the end of October 2024. A final plan was to come out by December 20, 2024 … but more delays occurred.

This past January, Deputy Mayor for Strategic Initiatives Ana Almanzar predicted the preliminary plan would come out in February and the final plan would follow in May after a review period, according to the lawsuit complaint. The Adams administration then pushed back the publication date back another time before announcing an indefinite postponement with no interim date.

During the rally, Lander, whose office appoints one CORE commissioner, underscored the plan’s importance in the face of President Donald Trump’s attacks on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) efforts at the federal level.

“When communities have the courage to develop racial equity plans and to step up and implement them, everyone does better, because we wind up with safer neighborhoods in a safer city that everyone can thrive in, when some people aren’t kept in crappy schools

Flip the Script

Continued from page 3

been a lot of times where they’ve been disappointed, and then to see their face when they realize that this is different…we work with you at your pace where you want to be and then your vision is on the screen. It’s amazing.”

“Click” hits home as a film about friendship and gang violence in Brownsville, inspired by the collective experiences of the cohort and their mentors. The participants wrote, produced, directed and filmed the movie. And in classic Alfred Hitchcock fashion, they also act in their work.

“When I did this film, I was thinking about how we could put film, in real life, together,” said participant Koran “KJ” Campbell. “So we really made the film about real life: what’s going on [and thinking] before you react. That’s what it’s all about.”

“When

the actual arguments may be pushed back to a later date. Even with a ruling, the Adams administration frequently appeals unfavorable decisions and can potentially drag the case out further.

A spokesperson for Adams blamed the delays on several lawsuits threatening federal funding and said the administration’s legal team is reviewing the report to ensure “it is iron-clad, legally sound, and protects New Yorkers’ best interests.” She also called the lawsuit “incredibly misguided, shortsighted, and jeopardizes the well-being of the vulnerable communities it claims to protect.”

Diversity initiatives remain under attack on the federal level after Trump issued targeted executive orders when he returned to office this past January. However, CORE argues the Adams administration cannot flout the city charter enforcing the Racial Equity Plan’s release for any reason.

—Brad Lander, New York City Comptroller

with limited job opportunities,” said Lander. “When everyone has access to capital and can create new businesses, more jobs are created and people thrive more broadly.”

The firm of Emery Celli Brinckerhoff Abady Ward & Maazel LLP will take up the lawsuit for CORE. The civil rights law firm is no stranger to suing the city, handling multiple key cases, including the Nunez settlement over city jail conditions.

“The mayor’s job, set forth right there in the rule book, is to do one thing [at] a very specific time, and that is to create and publicly release a written plan for how city government will address and mediate the racial inequities that plague our city,” said partner

Campbell both acts and co-directs the film. While he seemed like a natural during the Q&A, he thought the crowd could sense his nervousness. Another participant and co-director named Shawn (who asked to withhold his last name), believes Flip the Script helped him and others break out of their shells.

“You got people stepping out of their comfort zone just for the movie,” he said. “When it comes to standing in front of people to talk, I’m shy. [When] I’m outside I’m a very interactive person.”

Flip the Script’s ongoing efforts in Brownsville coincide with six decades without a movie theater in the historically Black Brooklyn neighborhood. But Logan says there are plans to bring “Click” home.

“We’re thinking about being able to do [a] rooftop scenario where we have the park and the projector,” she said. “And then maybe using some of the churches [and] all the different things already in the community [like the] schools.”

Celli. “There’s nothing vague or ambiguous or subject to interpretation about what the mayor must do and when he must do it.”

Celli will be seeking a mandamus, or court order, mandating Adams to release the plan. The parties will tentatively meet on September 10, although

The CORE commissioners and their proponents believe there’s also a moral obligation to release the Racial Equity Plan. Rev. Kirsten John Foy, the Public Advocate’s appointee, provided particularly pointed words for Adams as New York City’s second Black mayor.

“You got a historic mandate from the ancestors by invoking them to get there,” said Foy, “and now, brother, you have a mandate to step before the people and tell the truth about your record.”

POWER POWER

UNITY UNITY

Andrew

Education

With growing demands from politicians, parents, and administrators, Black teachers share how they’re navigating burnout

By VICTORIA MEJICANOS AFRO.COM

Word in Black

Teachers spend each and every day of their lives committed to building the future by educating children across the nation. Oftentimes, their job requires them to be more than teachers. They are communicators, collaborators, and evaluators, investing in children’s futures at all times.

However, with the growing demands of politicians, parents, and administrators, teachers have reported feeling stretched too thin, with many leaving the profession as a result. According to the Office of the State Superintendent of Education in D.C, 53% of teachers who began teaching in the 2019–2020 school year were no longer teaching by the 2024–2025 school year.

Many teachers cite burnout as the reason they leave the profession. Andrea Young, an associate professor of psychiatry at Johns Hopkins University, said that many people may be familiar with the feeling of burnout, but don’t always know the term. She described burnout as being “intensely fatigued, overwhelmed and apathetic about work,” and believes burnout is much more than just someone losing the spark.

“It’s not finding the joy in your work that you once did,” said Young. “It’s struggling to find your ‘why.’”

Young said that burnout, “if unmanaged, can bleed over into a person’s home life and their overall physical health. People experiencing burnout may not be getting enough sleep or be preoccupied with work during time with family or other social activities.”

Jasmine Lane, a teacher originally from Minneapolis, now working in London as an English teacher, had her career in the U.S interrupted by COVID-19. In the midst of the global pandemic, she experienced burnout as a teacher for the first time.

“I was doing everything I possibly could … everything that I liked about teaching was gone. And everything that was the worst — which was the adults — was all that was left,” said Lane. “I didn’t have anyone, so ultimately, I quit.”

Young touched on the importance of receiving support from fellow teachers and administrators. She spoke about the fact that teachers tend to overcommit to tasks, even after they realize they are burnt out. Her advice is simple.

“Ask for the help — from your colleagues, from your principal, from the other folks who are there to support you. And ask for help from a mental health professional,” she said. “The one thing that I always say,

as someone who struggles sometimes to ask for help myself, is that sometimes help is mutual help, sometimes it’s collaborating, sometimes it’s teamwork and helping each other. There could be mutual sharing of resources.”

Capathia Campbell has been an educator at Hedville Elementary in Baltimore County for 25 years, and said that the support of her administrators has made all the difference.

As a seasoned teacher, she knows whom she can approach for support, and often goes out of the way to support younger teachers and provide advice. She acknowledged that although she has support, not every teacher does.

“Every day, we are struggling with our students. Every day. Some of us struggle more, depending on the ZIP code, and we have more in our back pocket than our lesson plan,” said Campbell.

Steps people can take to prevent and

manage burnout, Young said, include the importance of being aware of signs before they worsen, such as getting more frustrated with students and handling situations differently than normal. Young also said it is important to disconnect from work when not at work. Although difficult, that can help teachers focus on other, healthy habits to make them feel rested and connected to themselves.

Campbell said that she practices meditation and prayer, and is intentional about exercise, swimming three times a week.

“As a woman of color, I know how we have been told we need to work harder than everybody else, but I now know how it can make us sick, so I set serious work boundaries,” she said.

Campbell doesn’t check her emails on weekends, and she always takes her lunch break.

For Lane, the solution to her burnout was moving out of her environment. She

explained that in London, the students, teachers, and administrators have a shared goal and responsibility toward success.

“London especially has some of the best results, because we work extremely hard, and the kids work hard, and we know exactly what we need to do to get them there.

I’m much happier,” she said. “I work way harder now than I did in the States, but I actually see a real outcome.”

Campbell touched on the importance of positivity, especially given everything that has happened in the past five years. “After this pandemic, make space for fun and joy, and laugh with the children,” Campbell said. “Let them see that you’re human also and be present. Enjoy every minute of it, because the children are watching.”

The post How Black educators have experienced and managed burnout appeared first on AFRO American Newspapers.

(RDNE/Pexels)

Katrina retrospective

military memorabilia. The war photographer — whom I grew to love and respect in our month-plus journey together — didn’t flinch. “Even here,” he would later note in an interview, “the storm didn’t discriminate. But the recovery will.”

My father’s country

Whenever I think about Louisiana, New Orleans, the South, and the span of the Gulf Coast, I can’t help thinking about my father. During my trip across the Gulf Coast to document the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, all I saw was his face.

He grew up in Louisiana’s “Cancer Alley,” one of nine siblings, raised by a single mother who picked cotton and did whatever else she could do for her children to survive. Enlisting in the U.S. Army during the Vietnam War bought him a ticket out of crushing poverty, and Jim Crow racism, but he never forgot the family he left behind.

Most spring breaks and summers in my childhood growing up in Missouri, he would take me along on the day-long drive from St. Louis to New Orleans on I-55 in his mint-condition Trans Am T-Bird. The heat was initially suffocating, but I soon enough was running around outside with my seemingly countless cousins and extended family in New Orleans and “the country.”

Some of the fondest memories of my life

include eating ice-cold watermelon, collard greens with bacon, ham hocks, candied yams, fried catfish, steaming hot chicken with gravy, macaroni or spaghetti, with a canned soda — usually grape — from someone’s cooler. I was fascinated when watching my father and uncles cast nets into the ocean for shrimp, or coming back to my grandmother’s house with a bucket of crawfish after an afternoon trek into the woods for a swim in the river, or sloshing through some creek.

Not sure how old I was, but the most cherished visit to New Orleans was for the centennial birthday of my great-grandmother, the daughter of a slave owner, whose mind was as clear as a bell.

I didn’t understand the weight nor importance of that legacy then.

When I got older and went off to college in Georgia, he’d drive me down, at times detouring through the Gulf Coast while listening on the cassette deck to blues musicians like Howlin’ Wolf, Muddy Waters, Lightnin’ Hopkins, John Lee Hooker, Memphis Slim, and scores of others who created the rhythm of the South. After college, it was well over a decade since I had gone down South, gone to Louisiana, New Orleans, the “country.”

I didn’t really “hear” the rhythm or the lives behind what those blues musicians were singing about … until Hurricane Katrina. The storm called me back.

Ghosts of the Bayou

During my weeks on the road as part of a truly motley trio (two Black men and a white woman), we encountered survivors who still hadn’t seen a FEMA trailer, hadn’t heard from the Red Cross, were still only eating irregularly.

There’s no memorial listing the names of the total number of lives lost from Katrina. No National Day of Mourning. Just silence. Just absence. Just the occasional photo — boats in trees, homes split open, bodies covered in sheets on sidewalks. Just the occasional story — of a mother who lost her children, of a nurse who stayed behind, of a man who drowned in his attic.

The media moved on. The country moved on. But the Gulf Coast didn’t. It still carries the weight. It still hears the water.

There are no monuments to the migrant workers who rebuilt the city unpaid. No plaques for the families who buried loved ones in backyards. No statues for the nurses who stayed behind.

Katrina didn’t just expose broken levees. It exposed a broken country. A country where nonwhite lives remain disposable, or are used as political props. Where poor lives are invisible. Where disaster can be profitable. Like a scab pulled from bruised skin, it revealed a truth we knew but can’t say out loud. As a country, we remain unable to face ourselves, who we are, what we’ve done, from where we came. In the Superdome. On Danziger Bridge. In the Lower Ninth Ward. In Bay St. Louis, and the forgotten towns

along the Gulf in Alabama, Georgia, Florida. Highway 90 still runs like a scar across the Gulf Coast. It’s a road of ruin and resilience. Of forgotten towns and unforgettable pain. Driving it in 2005 was like tracing the contours of a wound.

I was in Tallahassee when I got the call, just shy of a month on the road. My erstwhile companions stayed behind, continuing their documentary work. I remember the flight alone back to New Orleans, to pick up my bags, notebooks, and equipment at my family’s home in Algiers. The clouds looked bruised. The descent felt like falling into grief. My father was dying of lung cancer. Twenty years later, he’s gone, as well as his seven brothers, most from cancer; only my aunt survives. I think about that journey often. About Stanley Greene, who passed in 2017. About the quotes and stories that have steadily blended together and faded, of individual and collective loss, disbelief, but also resilience and survival. If another storm comes, will we be ready? Will we count the dead? Will we remember? Or will we drive on, past the wreckage, past the flags, past the ghosts — hoping the road leads somewhere past the loss, past the legacy of pain.

Jimmie Briggs is a Baltimore-based writer and lecturer. His 2005 book “Innocents Lost: When Child Soldiers Go to War” took readers into the everyday lives of child combatants in Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, Colombia, Uganda, and Rwanda.

Health

Focusing on Black Men’s Health: Dr. Torian Easterling and nonprofit

By HEATHER M. BUTTS, JD, MPH, MA

Special

to the AmNews

Chris Williams is the founder and CEO of Heart, Body, and Soul a Brooklyn-based nonprofit focused on Black men’s health. Dr. Torian Easterling is the Senior Vice President for Population and Community Health at One Brooklyn Health, a safety net health system that services Central Brooklyn. He formerly served as the First Deputy Commissioner for the New York City Health Department. Both Williams and Easterling spoke with the Amsterdam News about Black health for men and ways to work together as a community.

Editor’s Note: This article has been edited and condensed for clarity.

AmNews: Talk about why there’s such a need to talk about these disparities at this moment in Black health for men?

Dr. Torian Easterling: I think there are a couple of reasons. The thing that we always have to keep top of mind is, the reason why we see these disparities and inequities in our data is because we have an erosion of trust, built over time, from our healthcare institutions. We have seen a lack of resources that have been invested in communities that have experienced these inequities. And there has never been a time where we can say unequivocally that the data shows that everyone is really doing well [with their health].

We have always seen these disparities when you’re talking about Black populations versus other populations. So I think if we just want to put it in context, what we’re really talking about is the ways in which structural racism and inequities have really impacted the health and well-being of Black people within this country. What are our actions? What are our strategies? Particularly, when we’re talking about Black men, we need to think about what are those resources that are available and that aren’t available? Then we also have to talk about how we restore that trust? How do we repair the harm that has been caused?

Christopher Williams: Right now

CEO Chris Williams

it’s extremely critical that we pay even closer attention because we’ve seen a lot of changes when it comes to the funding that’s available to organizations that are focused on communities of color.

We really have to double down on our efforts to make sure that our communities are served. And when I say “we,” I mean we, the people that look like us, have to double down on the efforts to make sure that we get the resources that we need into our communities, that we empower the men in our communities to take action when it comes to their health so that there’s a trickle-down effect. Because the reality is if our men are healthier, then they’re going to make sure everybody else is healthier.

“So our focus as we started our organization has always been about access, action, awareness, and advocacy. Those are sort of the things that drive us to make sure that men can take action and do the things they need to do to improve their lives and their health outcomes.”

So our focus as we started our organization has always been about access, action, awareness, and advocacy. Those are sort of the things that drive us to make sure that men can take action and do the things they need to do to improve their lives and their health outcomes.

AmNews: Any final thoughts?

—Dr. Chris Williams, founder and CEO of Heart, Body, and Soul

AmNews: Could you talk about the Black Men’s Health Festival that took place in June?

Williams: Back in 2022, I launched this event called the Black Men’s Health Festival, that was geared towards really celebrating, supporting, and uplifting Black men. I came up with the idea of putting all this information, everything into festival format, because I wanted something that was a lot less clinical in its approach, and more celebratory. Support and uplift men so that they had the feeling that they mattered, that they would feel more connected, feel more rooted, feel

more invested in attending and being a part of this event. So we created a space where they would have access to yoga, breathwork, massage, acupuncture, free haircuts, lock retwists, panel discussions, tapping, and like a healing circle. All this was designed to really give men the feeling of warmth, the feeling of love, the feeling that they mattered, the feeling that they were in a safe space. And while doing so, we then included the other information; the health information, the screenings, the panel discussions and other things that they would need to digest to take action.

Williams: I would say this. It’s really important that we now, more than ever, prioritize our health because the reality of it is, we’ve seen the results of not prioritizing our health. We’ve got issues with diabetes, heart disease, hypertension. We’re losing too many of our young men. Who’s taking care of the young children? So we really want to do everything in our power to seize the opportunity to take care of our health in our own communities.

There are great resources. If you’re in Harlem, there’s Harlem Hospital. In Brooklyn, you have the One Brooklyn Health Center. In Queens and in the Bronx, there are tons of other community-based hospitals that are there for us to utilize. So the thing of it is, I really want people to take into consideration the fact that they have the power to demand the kind of health care that they want. They do this by going to the doctor

and getting a checkup and getting screened, that’s one thing, but they also do this by making sure that they take action in their communities with their local elected officials, making sure that they’re doing everything in their power to provide quality health care for them. So we’re out here doing it. We just need people to fight with us so that we can get what we deserve, which is quality care, which is great health.

AmNews: Dr. Easterling, same thing Dr. Easterling: We’ve got to marshal all of our resources. We need folks to be activated. The other thing that we’ve been talking about is just making sure that we’re all, sort of, wrapping our arms around each other and giving them the tools to act. Be active and take care of yourself. Know your numbers. We want you to make sure that you have a primary care physician. There is this myth and narrative that Black men do not want to take care of themselves. And I’m always trying to push back on that. We do have to stay connected as much as possible. We need to share this information. We certainly have to be our own advocates and push for truth in our community.

(Ketut Subiyanto/Pexels photo)

“combat illegal private-sector DEI preferences, mandates, policies, programs, and activities.”

The activists promised to continue to apply pressure on the retailer.

Jaylani Hussein, executive director of the Minnesota chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), recalled that after the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis, Target had been the first company to speak up. The company had pledged to spend more than $2 billion with Black-

owned and Black-founded brands by the end of 2025, but Hussein claimed Target has spent nothing near that number and that it “has historically not invested in the communities that it says that it cares about.”

“What we found out is that they lied,” he told the press conference. “Not only did they lie, but they crumbled. The leadership of Target decided that the consumers were not important enough, Black dollars were not important enough, women’s dollars were not important. They chose to be cowards instead of being courageous; they chose

to stand up for greed, not for people. Target believed that this boycott would not impact them: It’s been now nearly 200 days and what all the statistics and economic data are showing is that since this Target boycott was announced … every single week since then, Target’s foot traffic in every store [has] declined sharply and continues to decline.”

Civil rights attorney and activist Dr. Nekima Levy Armstrong, who helped put the BoycottTarget campaign together, said that instead of applauding the resignation of Target’s CEO, she has been wondering why it took so long for the company to get rid of someone whose

decisions had helped destroy their profits “by not addressing the simple concerns around their decision to roll back diversity, equity, and inclusion.”

Levy Armstrong added that Minnesota’s activists are willing to meet with the incoming CEO but won’t do so for a photo op. “We’re calling on Target,” she said. “You have seen the damage that has been done because the people have decided to rise up and not sit on their side; to use the power of their purse to fight back against oppression, fascism, and authoritarianism.

“We oppose companies like Target that, on one hand, pretend to be community-mind-

ed, but on the other hand, have shown that they are willing to align with the Trump administration,” she continued. “We refuse to accept companies that put profits over people. Therefore, we hope Target accepts this invitation for change, which can only happen if they meet the two demands we have laid out on the table.”

Those demands, Levy Armstrong said, are for Target to roll back their decision on DEI and to account for the $2.1 billion pledge that they made in 2021 after the Minneapolis police murder of George Floyd She said the pledge in-

cluded commitments like including Black brands on Target shelves, increasing the company’s supplier diversity, enhancing the Black customer shopping experience, and improving hiring and promotions for Black employees.

“We expect them to show data that they have met these goals and metrics set in 2021,” she said. “They also pledged millions of dollars toward engaging moreinclusive media groups, and we want to see that happening as well … As I said, we’re standing 10 toes down; we’re asking people to double down, get involved, and hold Target accountable for its actions.”

redistricting lines. It’s about holding the line. It’s about protecting all of us, regardless of political party. It’s about power at the end of the day,” said Newsom. “The rule of Don versus the rule of law. It has never been more clear, vivid, what’s at stake.” Newsom also signed the Election Rigging Response Act (Proposition 50), a ballot measure for residents to vote on in Novem-

ber’s general election. The act is a package of bills allowing Californians the ability to adopt a new and temporary Congressional map, and establishing a statewide special election to vote on the ballot.

Trump has vowed to sue Newsom over Prop 50. “We believe in a just and fair game. Democrats have supported in Congress, over and over again, federal laws to ensure nonpartisan gerrymandering, but if Donald Trump is going to enter this basketball game

and foul over and over again, then we’re going to fight fire with fire,” said U.S Senator Cory Booker on a virtual press call organized by the Democratic National Committee (DNC) on August 20.

“This is not just a California fight. What Californians decide to do in the coming weeks and months will determine which way our nation goes,” continued Booker. “Will we go to the low road, back to the quicksand that seem to swallow up our democratic ideals,

or will we be like my grandparents’ generation and my parents’ generation, the civil rights generation that decided in those dark days to be the light and to help guide this nation forward — to not just justice for African Americans, but really justice for all.”

During the press call, Texas State Rep. Nicole Collier was kicked off and threatened with a felony charge.

that I’ve acquired over all of these years for the government when we can do it for ourselves for our business.’”

Despite all the education, the process of obtaining loans, sponsors, and grants has been one challenge after another for the couple.

“It’s becoming increasingly more and more difficult to continue the sustainment because of the small things nickel and diming small businesses, because of the policies and guidelines and we feel like that’s really pushing us out, as opposed to really endearing us,” Danny said.

After the two-year process of trying to lock down a location and not receiv-

ing help from loan agencies, on the day before their son DJ’s birthday, Arnyce was delighted to discover a location on 135th Street open for leasing. It has not been without infrastructure issues.

“This little, tiny place brought me down to my knees the amount of stuff that landlords are allowed to get away with violating building codes and health department violations and electrical rewind. It was a mess in here,” Arnyce said. While Danny still works as a manager with the Parks Department, Arnyce works full time at the shop 10-12 hours a day, six days a week. The couple cannot afford to hire any employees, but are still intent on opening a larger space with a full kitchen to be able to fulfill all the ambitions of

their business.

The cafe is only part of their mission to support Arnyce’s nonprofit, Featuring the Center for Culinary Arts, a 501(c)(3) founded in 2021 to provide culinary education, with a particular focus on community members in need of economic opportunity. Participants in the program would be paid for the full two years, with the first spent training in the arts and the second, being placed with humanitarian relief organizations. Arnyce says they would continue paying the members until they find a fulltime position, even if it goes beyond the two years. They have yet to be able to launch as they are hoping to raise up to an annual endowment of $250,000 to start with in covering two participants.

“I became a Texas representative because the people of Texas deserve a fighter. They’ve asked me to be their voice in Austin, and I’ve earned their trust over these six legislative sessions to come back and to fight for them,” she said.

The couple says they are committed to building community with their customers and aim to become profitable by early 2026. At the cafe, they have hosted a range of events — including a women’s empowerment meeting, a community meet-and-greet, an NYPD Build the Block session, and various sip-and-chat gatherings — and they continue to offer the space as a platform for community members to share helpful information with others.

Danny is proud whenever kids in the neighborhood can come in after school and try their items and share with their families.

“It’s gonna take a village to have this become sustainable, and we want it to be that way, because it’s gonna take people’s interest to keep us going,” Danny said.

“My will to do that has not only strengthened, and I don’t take my oath lightly.

I’ll be damned if I’m going to let some Republican use these petty intimidation tactics to silence the voice of my voters. They sent me here to fight, and that’s exactly what I’m going to do.” Texas Dems have launched a long-term statewide strategy, called Blue Texas, that aims to have 270 Electoral College votes and a Senate majority by 2032.

An 81 unit building including 4 units designated for the disabled, located at 122 South Broadway, Yonkers, NY, is available for renting to those with limited income. Qualifications will be based on income guidelines.

Interested persons may obtain an application by telephoning the Griffin House at (914) 376-1400, picking it up in person, sending an email to info@ hhmgmt.com or writing to us at 122 South Broadway, Yonkers, NY 10701.

Completed applications sent by regular mail, not registered or certified mail must be received by October 31, 2025. All applications received after this deadline date will not be processed until all applications received by the deadline are processed.

Religion & Spirituality A spotlight Lloyd Williams could not avoid

By HERB BOYD Special to the AmNews

During his remarkable life, and as part of his legacy, Lloyd Williams had a favorite phrase: “Harlem and the Harlems of the world.” A representative slice of that global demographic assembled last Saturday at Salem United Methodist Church to say farewell to the tireless leader, who died August 6 at age 80.

From Mayor Eric Adams to former street vendors, expressions of gratitude and appreciation flowed for nearly three hours with the church at its near 1,000seat capacity. The celebration began with a gentle prelude from Beverly Lewis’s organ to the thunderous drums of Baba Don Eaton Babatunde, music that reflected Lloyd’s eclectic taste.

The Rev. Raschaad Hoggard offered a prayer of comfort and consolation, followed by Rev. Jaques DeGraff and attorney Larry Frazier, a Harlem Week cofounder, who read from the Old and New Testaments, respectively. The crowd in the church was then asked to read the obituary in silence. It highlighted some of his numerous achievements, none more notable than his stew-

ardship of the Greater Harlem Chamber of Commerce and his 50 years of overseeing the everexpanding Harlem Week.

Nearly every speaker, unavoidably, mentioned Harlem Week, and with a cursory look around the church, you could see several of Lloyd’s staff and trusted lieutenants: Marko Nobles, Winston Majette, Jared McCallister, Darryl Downing, Michele Scott Powell, Jason Au -

guste, Michael Franklin, et al.

Seated not far from the podium was Voza Rivers, whose wife, Sharon Morris, passed away a day before Lloyd’s death. He was an indispensable partner to both these Harlem stalwarts.

A litany of encomiums and words of remembrance began with Hugh Williams, Lloyd’s younger brother. His comments were laced with humor, recounting that even when he was an

Michele Scott Powell, Lloyd’s chief of staff for many years, said, “he was the heart of an illustrious extended family. It was not unusual to see him slip away from the spotlight,” which often happened even when he was the center of attraction.

Lloyd’s cousin-in-law, Darrell Byrd, devoted his comments to Lloyd’s wife, Valorie, who was always very supportive of her husband and assisted him through various events.

A musical interlude featured Vy Higgensen’s Sing Harlem Choir, and the lead singer had a voice that soared as magnificently as Mahalia Jackson’s as she led the choir into a traditional rendition of “Down by the Riverside.”

Reginald James Idlett, Lloyd’s godchild, who everyone at the Chamber knows as “R.J.,” said that one of Lloyd’s favorite ways of showing affection was to kiss you on the forehead, something that often followed a gentle chastising. “You don’t sit around doing nothing at the Chamber,” he noted.

If anyone in the church could speak chapter and verse to Lloyd’s outstanding career, former New York State Assemblymember Inez Dickens, who had known Lloyd since she was very young, could, but she only had 5 minutes. Even so, she explained how Lloyd and Voza Rivers “fought against institutional racism. He touched about everything in the Harlem community and he possessed the organizational skills to connect across barriers.”

excellent student, Lloyd expected more of him. He elicited a bit of laughter when he said Lloyd’s resumé was “longer than a receipt from CVS.”

Marvin Kelly, one of the founders of Harlem Week, said Lloyd gave him “the keys to life, literally and figuratively.” The literal keys were to Lloyd’s car, which he allowed Marvin to borrow temporarily. “With his passing, a mighty tree has fallen,” Kelly added.

She even broke down his LAW initials: “L is for his leadership; A is for his advocacy, and W is for his wisdom.” She was surrounded by several elected officials, including Yusef Salaam, Keith Wright, Gail Brewer, and Al Taylor. Adams, accompanied by the Rev. Dr. Herbert Daughtry, picked up where Dickens left off, using a Good Samaritan incident as a metaphor on the freeway to show how Lloyd “shaded us from adversity.”

New York Attorney General Letitia James was equally abun-

Rev. Jaques DeGraff speaks to attendees of Lloyd Williams’ memorial service at Salem United Methodist Church in Harlem. (Bill Moore photos)

Ade Williams, son of Lloyd Williams, with his family.

Continued from page 30

dant in her recognition of Lloyd’s teaching ability. “One day, he sat me down in his office and gave me some lessons on Harlem’s history. He had a vision much like Malcolm X,” said James. Williams considered Malcolm his godfather and as she spoke, James seemed to look toward his daughter, Attallah, who was seated in the front row.

When Rev. Al Sharpton observed that Lloyd was “no punk,” he almost brought the same applause the attorney general received when she was introduced.

“He stood up for us and never let us down,” Sharpton said.

Ade, Lloyd’s son, took the podium and confessed that he had made a lot of mistakes in his life, including having the mayor, the attorney general, and Sharpton speak before he took the lectern. The previous speakers had exhausted all the superlatives, so he chose to focus on his father’s ability to see possibilities where there was little hope and promise. “Move forward and focus on what can be,” he said, the words almost like Lloyd’s mantra.

With his wife, Valerie, and his son by his side, Ade stripped off his jacket to reveal one of the slogans Lloyd had dreamed up for last year’s Harlem Week, “Be

the Change.”

Rev. Dennis Dillon delivered the eulogy and retold a story that many in the audience had experienced with Lloyd — his late night and early morning phone calls. “I was determined to beat him to the punch on the holidays, especially Christmas and New Year’s, but he never answered the phone,” Dillon said.

“I guess he wanted to always be the first to call.”

Among the things Dillon cited in his closing remarks about Lloyd, much of which he advised listeners could be found in the current Christian Times newspaper, which was devoted almost exclusively to Lloyd’s legacy, was the number of scholarships the Chamber had given to young people over the years.

“He was always giving, and giving, and giving,” Dillon said.

There was some wonderful

music and dismissal blessings from the church’s pastor, Rev. Noel Chin.

Before Doug E. Fresh, told the audience that he was the first hip-hop artist to be featured at Harlem Week, Mavis Swan Poole got the crowd’s attention with her heartfelt version of Frank Sinatra’s “My Way,” which could have been Lloyd’s theme song.

Like Mayor Adams, saxophonist Bill Saxton and Melissa Moore

Nobles were not listed in the printed program but his horn was uplifting and her recitation from Jeremiah about one’s readiness for the future was spot-on and blended perfectly with the words of the celebration — “God Has a Plan.”

Lloyd seemed to have had a plan, too, one very much like Jeremiah’s: to give his community and residents “a future with hope.”

Lloyd’s younger brother, Hugh Williams (center), with other relatives at the memorial service.

An attendee holding a memoiral booklet for Lloyd Williams. (Bill Moore photos)

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NOTICE OF SALE SUPREME COURT ‑ COUNTY OF NEW YORK. HNY CLUB SUITES OWNERS ASSOCIATION INC., BY AND THROUGH ITS BOARD OF DIRECTORS, Plaintiff ‑against‑ UNKNOWN HEIRS AND DIS TRIBUTEES OF THE ESTATE OF PHILIP DEARBORN, if liv ing, and if he be dead, etc..., et al Defendant(s). Pursuant to a Judgment of Foreclosure and Sale dated June 18, 2025, I, the undersigned Referee will sell at public auction in Room 130 of the New York County Courthouse, 60 Centre Street, New York, NY on September 24, 2025 at 2:15 p.m. premises being an undivided ownership interest as tenant‑in‑common with other owners in the Timeshare Unit in the building located at 1335 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY; known as The NYH Condominium. Together with an appurtenant undivided 0.0381% in common interest percentage. This is a foreclosure on own ership interest in a timeshare unit, a studio penthouse on a floating use basis every year, in accordance with and subject to declarations. Declaration of Covenants, Conditions and Restrictions dated October 27, 2003 and November 3, 2003 as CFRN # 2003000442512 as re corded in the Office of the City Register, County, City and State of New York. The Timeshare Unit is also designated as Block 1006 and Lot 1302.

Said premises known as 1335 AVENUE OF THE AMERICAS, NEW YORK, NY 10019

Approximate amount of lien $30,742.97 plus interest & costs.

Premises will be sold subject to provisions of filed Judgment and Terms of Sale. Index Number 850674/2023. BRUCE LEDERMAN, ESQ., Referee

DRUCKMAN LAW GROUP PLLC

Attorney(s) for Plaintiff 242 Drexel Avenue, Westbury, NY 11590

DLG# 39577 {* AMSTERDAM*}

Notice of Formation of 60 ORCHARD PH LLC

Arts. of Org. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 06/26/25. Office location: NY County. Princ. office of LLC: 60 Orchard St., Unit 8, NY, NY 10002. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to Corporation Service Co., 80 State St., Albany, NY 122072543. Purpose: Any lawful activity.

SUPREME COURT - COUNTY OF NEW YORK. BOARD OF MANAGERS OF THE 130 WEST 30TH STREET CONDOMINIUM, SUING ON BEHALF OF THE UNIT OWNERS, Plaintiff -against- DAVID M. SIMON a/k/a DAVID SIMON; LISA D. GOODMAN a/k/a LISA GOODMAN, et al Defendant(s). Pursuant to a Judgment of Foreclosure and Sale entered herein and dated December 3, 2024, I, the undersigned Referee will sell at public auction in Room 116 of the New York County Courthouse, 60 Centre Street New York, NY on October 1, 2025 at 2:15 p.m. premises situate, lying and being in the Borough of Manhattan and County of New York, City and State of New York, known as Residential Unit No. 16A in the building known as 130 West 30th Street Condominium located at 130 West 30th Street together with an undivided 2.241% interest in the Common Elements. Block: 805 Lot: 1043

Said premises known 130 West 30th Street, Unit 16A, New York, NY 10001.

situate, lying and being in the Borough of Manhattan and County of New York, City and State of New York, known as Storage Unit No. 11 in the building known as 130 West 30th Street Condominium located at 130 West 30th Street together with an undivided 0.079% interest in the common elements. Block: 805 Lot: 1060

Said premises known as 130 WEST 30TH STREET, STORAGE UNIT NO. 11, NEW YORK, NY 10001

Approximate amount of lien $113,708.03 plus interest & costs.

Premises will be sold subject to provisions of filed Judgment and Terms of Sale.

Index Number 850614/2023.

ROBERTA E. ASHKIN, ESQ., Referee

Schwartz Sladkus Reich Greenberg Atlas LLP

Attorney(s) for Plaintiff 444 Madison Ave., 6th Floor, New York, NY 10022

{* AMSTERDAM*}

AR REAL ESTATE BROKERAGE LLC. Arts. of Org. filed with the SSNY on 06/24/25. Latest date to dissolve: 12/31/2080. Office: New York County. SSNY designated as agent of the LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail copy of process to the LLC, 80 Varick Street, Suite 1A, New York, NY 10013. Purpose: Any lawful purpose.

NOTICE OF SALE SUPREME COURT ‑ COUNTY OF NEW YORK. 57TH ST. VACATION OWNERS ASSOCIATION, INC., BY AND THROUGH ITS BOARD OF DIRECTORS, Plaintiff ‑against‑ AHMEDRUFAI MOHAMMED, et al Defendant(s). Pursuant to a Judgment of Foreclosure and Sale dated June 3, 2025, I, the undersigned Referee will sell at public auction in Room 130 of the New York County Courthouse, 60 Centre Street, New York, NY on September 17, 2025 at 2:15 p.m. prem ises situate, lying and being in the Borough of Manhattan, County of New York, City and State of New York, being an undivided ownership interest as tenant‑in‑common with other owners in the Timeshare Unit in the building located at 102 West 57th Street, New York, NY. Together with an appurtenant undivided .009864% common interest percentage. This is a foreclosure on ownership inter est in a timeshare unit, a studio penthouse on a floating use basis every year, in accordance with and subject to declara tions. Declaration of Covenants, Conditions and Restrictions dated October 10, 2008 and October 31, 2008 as CFRN # 2008000426142 as recorded in the Office of the City Register, County, City and State of New York. The Timeshare Unit is also designated as Block 1009 and Lot 37.

Said premises known as 102 WEST 57TH STREET, NEW YORK, NY 10019

Approximate amount of lien $31,530.69 plus interest & costs.

Premises will be sold subject to provisions of filed Judgment and Terms of Sale. Index Number 850129/2023.

SCOTT H. SILLER, ESQ., Ref eree

DRUCKMAN LAW GROUP PLLC

Attorney(s) for Plaintiff 242 Drexel Avenue, Westbury, NY 11590

DLG# 39136 {* AMSTERDAM*}

Notice of Qualification of BLACKSTONE ABF ASSOCIATES L.P.

NOTICE OF SALE SUPREME COURT ‑ COUNTY OF NEW YORK. HNY CLUB SUITES OWNERS ASSOCIATION INC., BY AND THROUGH ITS BOARD OF DIRECTORS, Plaintiff ‑against‑ PHILIP R. JACOBS, CLAUDIA G. CASE‑JACOBS, et al Defen dant(s). Pursuant to a Judgment of Foreclosure and Sale dated June 3, 2025, I, the under signed Referee will sell at pub lic auction in Room 130 of the New York County Courthouse, 60 Centre Street, New York, NY on September 17, 2025 at 2:15 p.m. premises being an undivided ownership interest as tenant‑in‑common with oth er owners in the Timeshare Unit in the building located at 1335 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY; known as The NYH Condominium. Together with an appurtenant undivided 0.0381% in common interest percentage. This a foreclosure on ownership interest in a time share unit, a studio penthouse on a floating use basis every year, in accordance with and subject to declarations. Decla ration of Covenants, Conditions and Restrictions dated October 27, 2003 and November 3, 2003 as CFRN # 2003000442512 as recorded in the Office of the City Register, County, City and State of New York. The Timeshare Unit is also designated as Block 1006 and Lot 1302. Said premises known as 1335 AVENUE OF THE AMERICAS, NEW YORK, NY 10019

Approximate amount of lien $20,687.29 plus interest & costs.

Premises will be sold subject to provisions of filed Judgment and Terms of Sale. Index Number 850266/2023. ELAINE SHAY, ESQ., Referee DRUCKMAN LAW GROUP PLLC

Attorney(s) for Plaintiff 242 Drexel Avenue, Westbury, NY 11590 DLG# 39260 {* AMSTERDAM*}

Notice of Formation of 155 7J LLC

NOTICE OF SALE

SUPREME COURT COUNTY OF New York, Merchants Bank of Indiana, Plaintiff, vs. 19 W 55 LLC, ET AL., Defendant(s). Pursuant to a Judgment of Foreclosure and Sale and Decision + Order on Motion duly entered on July 22, 2024, and a Decision + Order on Motion duly entered on May 8, 2025, I, the undersigned Referee will sell at public auction at Room 130 of the New York County Courthouse, 60 Centre Street, New York, NY 10007 on September 17, 2025 at 2:15 p.m., premises known as 19 West 55th Street, New York, NY 10019. All that certain plot, piece or parcel of land, with the buildings and improvements thereon erected, situate, lying and being in the Borough of Manhattan, County, City and State of New York, Block 1271 and Lot 25. Approximate amount of judgment is $49,430,972.88 plus interest and costs. Premises will be sold subject to the provisions of filed Judgment Index #850114/2023. Cash will not be accepted. Clark Whitsett, Esq., Referee Knuckles & Manfro, LLP, 120 White Plains Road, Suite 215, Tarrytown, New York 10591, Attorneys for Plaintiff

Notice of Formation of RBF1, LLC Arts. of Org. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 07/22/25. Office location: NY County. Princ. office of LLC: 30 Hudson Yards, 72nd Fl., NY, NY 10001. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to Corporation Service Co., 80 State St., Albany, NY 12207. Purpose: Any lawful activity.

Appl. for Auth. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 08/12/25. Office location: NY County. LP formed in Delaware (DE) on 03/07/25. Princ. office of LP: 345 Park Ave., 31st Fl., NY, NY 10154. NYS fictitious name: BLACKSTONE ABF ASSOCIATES GP, L.P. Duration of LP is Perpetual. SSNY designated as agent of LP upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to c/o Corporation Service Co. (CSC), 80 State St., Albany, NY 122072543. Name and addr. of each general partner are available from SSNY. DE addr. of LP: c/o CSC, 251 Little Falls Dr., Wilmington, DE 19808. Cert. of LP filed with DE Secy. of State, John G. Townsend Bldg., 401 Federal St., Dover, DE 19901. Purpose: Any lawful activity.

Arts. of Org. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 07/23/25. Office location: NY County. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to the LLC, 201 E. 36th St., #6A, NY, NY 10016. Purpose: Any lawful activity.

Lunessa Partners LLC Arts. of Org. filed with the SSNY on July 15, 2025. Office location: New York County. SSNY has been designated as an agent upon whom process against it may be served & shall mail to: 28 Liberty Street, New York, NY 10005. Purpose: Any lawful act. THE DOCUMENTARY HELPLINE LLC Arts. of Org. filed with the SSNY on 07/18/2025. Office location: NEW YORK County. SSNY has been designated as an agent upon whom process against it may be served & shall mail to: 545 E 12TH ST , 2B,, NEW YORK, NY, 10009. Purpose: Any lawful act.

NOTICE OF SALE SUPREME COURT COUNTY OF NEW YORK 21ST MORTGAGE CORPORATION AS MASTER SERVICER FOR CHRISTIANA TRUST, A DIVISION OF WILMINGTON SAVINGS FUND SOCIETY, FSB AS TRUSTEE FOR KNOXVILLE 2012 TRUST, Plaintiff AGAINST JIN HUA LIN, ET AL., Defendant(s) Pursuant to a Judgment of Foreclosure and Sale duly entered September 19, 2023, I, the undersigned Referee will sell at public auction at the New York County Courthouse in Room 130, located at 60 Centre Street, New York, NY on September 10, 2025 at 2:15 PM, premises known as 44-46 Market Street, Unit 10A, New York, NY 10002. All that certain plot piece or parcel of land, with the buildings and improvements erected, situate, lying and being in the Borough of Manhattan, County, City and State of New York, Block 274, Lot 1216. Approximate amount of judgment $831,930.17 plus interest and costs. Premises will be sold subject to provisions of filed Judgment Index #850085/2018. Clark Whitsett, Esq., Referee Gross Polowy, LLC 1775 Wehrle Drive Williamsville, NY 14221 19-002279 85474

Guy Furrow, LLC. Arts. of Org. filed with SSNY 08/06/2025. Office: New York County. SSNY desig. agent for service of process & shall mail to: 460 West 24th Street, 14A, New York, NY 10011. Purpose: Any lawful act.

Notice of Formation of G&N FAMILY CAPITAL LLC Arts. of Org. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 07/25/25. Office location: NY County. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to Corporation Service Co., 80 State St., Albany, NY 122072543. Purpose: Any lawful activity.

NOTICE OF SALE SUPREME COURT ‑ COUNTY OF NEW YORK.

57TH ST. VACATION OWNERS ASSOCIATION, INC., BY AND THROUGH ITS BOARD OF DIRECTORS, Plaintiff ‑against‑ JAMES L. FERGUSON, MARY

J. FERGUSON, et al Defen dant(s). Pursuant to a Judgment of Foreclosure and Sale dated June 10, 2025, I, the under signed Referee will sell at public auction in Room 130 of the New York County Courthouse, 60 Centre Street, New York, NY on September 17, 2025 at 2:15 p.m. premises situate, lying and being in the Borough of Manhat tan, County of New York, City and State of New York, being an undivided ownership interest as tenant‑in‑common with other owners in the Timeshare Unit in the building located at 102 West 57th Street, New York, NY. Together with an appurtenant undivided .019728% common interest percentage. This is a foreclosure on ownership inter est in a timeshare unit, a studio penthouse on a floating use basis every year, in accordance with and subject to declara tions. Declaration of Covenants, Conditions and Restrictions dated October 10, 2008 and October 31, 2008 as CFRN # 2008000426142 as recorded in the Office of the City Register, County, City and State of New York. The Timeshare Unit is also designated as Block 1009 and Lot 37.

Said premises known as 102 WEST 57TH STREET, NEW YORK, NY 10019

Approximate amount of lien $16,660.87 plus interest & costs.

Premises will be sold subject to provisions of filed Judgment and Terms of Sale.

Index Number 850372/2023.

GEORGIA PAPAZIS, ESQ., Referee DRUCKMAN LAW GROUP PLLC

Attorney(s) for Plaintiff 242 Drexel Avenue, Westbury, NY 11590 DLG# 39273 {* AMSTERDAM*}

NOTICE OF SALE

SUPREME COURT COUNTY OF NEW YORK, KEYBANK, NA., PLAINTIFF, VS. RACHEL KIM AKA RACHEL G. KIM, ET AL., DEFENDANT(S).

Pursuant to a Judgment of Foreclosure and Sale and Decision

+ Order On Motion duly entered on May 16, 2025, I, the undersigned Referee will sell at public auction at Room 130 of the New York County Courthouse, 60 Centre Street, New York, NY 10007 on September 17, 2025 at 2:15 p.m., premises known as 100 W 39th Street, Apt. 38A, New York, NY 10018. All that certain plot, piece or parcel of land, with the buildings and improvements thereon erected, situate, lying and being in the Borough of Manhattan, County of New York, City and State of New York, Block 814 and Lot 1029. Approximate amount of judgment is $230,172.51 plus interest and costs. Premises will be sold subject to provisions of filed Judgment Index #850398/2023. Referee will not accept cash payments as any portion of the deposit or purchase price.

Bruce Lederman, Esq., Referee Greenspoon Marder, 1345 Avenue of the Americas, Suite 2200, New York, NY 10105, Attorneys for Plaintiff

NOTICE OF SALE SUPREME COURT ‑ COUNTY OF NEW YORK. HC SUITES OWNERS AS SOCIATION, INC., Plaintiff ‑against‑ MIJUNG LYNN LIND, AS PROPOSED PERSONAL REPRESENTATIVE OF THE ESTATE OF JOHN A. LIND, et al Defendant(s). Pursuant to a Judgment of Foreclosure and Sale dated June 3, 2025, I, the undersigned Referee will sell at public auction in Room 130 of the New York County Courthouse, 60 Centre Street, New York, NY on September 17, 2025 at 2:15 p.m. premises being an undivided ownership interest as tenant‑in‑common with other owners in the Time share Unit in the building lo cated at 1335 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY; known as The NYH Condominium. Together with an appurtenant undivided 1.7341% in common interest percentage. This is a foreclosure on own ership interest in a timeshare unit, a studio penthouse on a floating use basis every year, in accordance with and subject to declarations. Declaration of Covenants, Conditions and Restrictions dated October 27, 2003 and November 3, 2003 as CFRN # 2003000442512 as re corded in the Office of the City Register, County, City and State of New York. The Timeshare Unit is also designated as Block 1006 and Lot 1302. Said premises known as 1335 AVENUE OF THE AMERICAS, UNIT HU3, NEW YORK, NY 10019

Approximate amount of lien $23,557.30 plus interest & costs.

Premises will be sold subject to provisions of filed Judgment and Terms of Sale. Index Number 850466/2023.

PAUL R. SKLAR, ESQ., Refer ee DRUCKMAN LAW GROUP PLLC

Attorney(s) for Plaintiff 242 Drexel Avenue, Westbury, NY 11590 DLG# 39212 {* AMSTERDAM*}

NOTICE OF SALE SUPREME COURT: NEW YORK COUNTY. NYCTL 19982 TRUST SUCCESSOR IN INTEREST TO NYCTL 2016A TRUST AND THE BANK OF NEW YORK MELLON AS COLLATERAL AGENT AND CUSTODIAN, Pltf. vs. KIPS BAY COMMUNITY ASSOCIATION, INC., et al, Deft. Index #153256/2024. Pursuant to judgment of foreclosure and sale entered June 4, 2025, I will sell at public auction in Room 130 of the New York County Courthouse, 60 Centre Street, New York, NY on October 1, 2025 at 2:15 p.m. prem. k/a 303 East 33 rd Street, Unit CF B, New York, NY 10016 a/k/a Block 00939, Lot 1002. Approx. amt. of judgment is $6,888.56 plus costs and interest. Sold subject to terms and conditions of filed judgment and terms of sale. SOFIA BALILE, Referee. THE DELLO- IACONO LAW GROUP, P.C., Attys. for Pltf., 312 Larkfield Rd., Lower Level, East Northport, NY. File No. 22000218 - #102419

SUNNYBROOK LANE LLC. Filed with SSNY on 05/16/25. Office: New York County. SSNY designated as agent for process & shall mail copy to: ℅ EResident Agent, Inc. 1 Rockefeller Plaza, Ste 1204, New York, NY 10020. Purpose: Any lawful.

NOTICE OF SALE SUPREME COURT ‑ COUNTY OF NEW YORK. HNY CLUB SUITES OWNERS ASSOCIATION INC., BY AND THROUGH ITS BOARD OF DIRECTORS, Plaintiff ‑against‑ TAHITA QUOIN DOYLE, et al Defendant(s). Pursuant to a Judgment of Foreclosure and Sale dated June 25, 2025, I, the undersigned Referee will sell at public auction in Room 130 of the New York County Court house, 60 Centre Street, New York, NY on October 1, 2025 at 2:15 p.m. premises being an undivided ownership interest as tenant‑in‑common with other owners in the Timeshare Unit in the building located at 1335 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY; known as The NYH Condominium. Together with an appurtenant undivided 0.0381% in common interest percentage. This is a foreclosure on own ership interest in a timeshare unit, a studio penthouse on a floating use basis every year, in accordance with and subject to declarations. Declaration of Covenants, Conditions and Restrictions dated October 27, 2003 and November 3, 2003 as CFRN # 2003000442512 as re corded in the Office of the City Register, County, City and State of New York. The Timeshare Unit is also designated as Block 1006 and Lot 1302. Said premises known as 1335 AVENUE OF THE AMERICAS, NEW YORK, NY 10019

Approximate amount of lien $66,810.23 plus interest & costs.

Premises will be sold subject to provisions of filed Judgment and Terms of Sale.

Index Number 850255/2023.

PAUL SKLAR, ESQ., Referee DRUCKMAN LAW GROUP PLLC

Attorney(s) for Plaintiff 242 Drexel Avenue, Westbury, NY 11590 DLG# 39246

{* AMSTERDAM*}

NOTICE OF SALE

SUPREME COURT COUNTY OF New York , Bank of America, National Association as Successor Merger to LaSalle Bank National Association aS trustee for WAMU 2005-AR7 , Plaintiff, vs . Nicholas J. Sands a/k/a Nicholas Sands , ET AL., Defendant(s). Pursuant to a Judgment of Foreclosure and Sale and Decision + Order On Motion duly entered on April 23, 2025 , I, the undersigned Referee will sell at public auction at Room 130 of the New York County, 60 Centre Street, New York, NY 10007 on September 10, 2025 at 2:15 p.m., premises known as 30 East 76th Street, Unit# 7B, a/k/a 971/973 Madison Avenue, Unit# 7B, New York, NY 10021. All that certain plot, piece or parcel of land, with the buildings and improvements thereon erected, situate, lying and being in the Borough of Manhattan, County of New York, City and State of New York, Block 1390 and Lot 1101 together with an undivided 3.639 percent interest in the Common Elements. Approximate amount of judgment is $1,300,211.64 plus interest and costs. Premises will be sold subject to the provisions of filed Judgment Index #810068/2010. Stephen Markman, Esq., Referee Eckert Seamans Cherin & Mellott, LLC, 10 Bank Street, Suite 700, White Plains, New York 10606, Attorneys for Plaintiff

NOTICE OF SALE SUPREME COURT ‑ COUNTY OF NEW YORK. 57TH ST. VACATION OWN ERS ASSOCIATION, INC., BY AND THROUGH ITS BOARD OF DIRECTORS, Plaintiff ‑against‑ ADWOA BOATEMAA OKYERE, YASMIN AGYEPO MAA BOAMA, if living, and if they be dead, etc..., et al Defen dant(s). Pursuant to a Judgment of Foreclosure and Sale dated June 3, 2025, I, the under signed Referee will sell at pub lic auction in Room 130 of the New York County Courthouse, 60 Centre Street, New York, NY on October 1, 2025 at 2:15 p.m. premises situate, lying and being in the Borough of Manhat tan, County of New York, City and State of New York, being an undivided ownership interest as tenant‑in‑common with other owners in the Timeshare Unit in the building located at 102 West 57th Street, New York, NY. Together with an appurtenant undivided .009864% common interest percentage. This is a foreclosure on ownership inter est in a timeshare unit, a studio penthouse on a floating use basis every year, in accordance with and subject to declara tions. Declaration of Covenants, Conditions and Restrictions dated October 10, 2008 and October 31, 2008 as CFRN # 2008000426142 as recorded in the Office of the City Register, County, City and State of New York. The Timeshare Unit is also designated as Block 1009 and Lot 37.

Said premises known as 102 WEST 57TH STREET, NEW YORK, NY 10019

Approximate amount of lien $28,286.03 plus interest & costs.

Premises will be sold subject to provisions of filed Judgment and Terms of Sale. Index Number 850055/2020. SOFIA BALILE, ESQ., Referee DRUCKMAN LAW GROUP PLLC

Attorney(s) for Plaintiff 242 Drexel Avenue, Westbury, NY 11590 DLG# 38674 {* AMSTERDAM*}

Notice of formation of InHome BeautyServices LLC Arts. of Org. filed with Secy of State of NY (SSNY) on 7/11/25. Ofc. loc: NY Cty. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to Registered agent svcs, 54 State St. #804 Albany, NY 12207, Purpose: Any lawful activity.

GWENDOLYN CODY, MD, PLLC. Arts. of Org. filed with the SSNY on 07/29/25. Office: New York County. SSNY designated as agent of the PLLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail copy of process to the PLLC, 228 Park Avenue South, New York, NY 10003-1502. Purpose: For the practice of the profession of Medicine.

Notice of Formation of a NY Limited Liability Company GASS LLC, Articles of Organization filing date with Secretary of State (SSNY) was 06/03/2025. Office Location: New York County. SSNY has been designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served and SSNY shall mail copy of process to 523 West 152 nd Street #42 New York, New York 10031 US. Purpose is to engage in any and all business activities permitted under NYC laws.

NEW YORK - INDEX NO.: 850023/2025– SUPPLEMENTAL SUMMONS. Plaintiff designates NEW YORK COUNTY as the place of trial based upon the location of the premises herein described having tax map Block 792, Lot 1036, NEW YORK, NY, County of NEW YORK – CITIMORTGAGE, INC., PLAINTIFF, -against- ABBIE SMILEY AS HEIR TO THE ESTATE OF JACQUELINE MONFORT STEPHANIE MONFORT AS HEIR TO THE ESTATE OF JACQUELINE MONFORT, any and all persons unknown to plaintiff, claiming, or who may claim to have an interest in, or generally or specific lien upon the real property described in this action; such unknown persons being herein generally described and intended to be included in the following designation, namely: the wife, widow, husband, widower, heirs-at law, next of kin, descendants, executors, administrators, devisees, legatees, creditors, trustees, committees, lienors, and assignees of JACQUELINE MONFORT, deceased, any and all persons deriving interest in or lien upon, or title to said real property by, through or under them and their respective wives, widows, husbands, widowers, heirs-at law, next of kin, descendants, executors, administrators, devisees, legatees, creditors, trustees, committees, lienors, and assignees, all of whom and whose names, except as stated, are unknown to plaintiff, THE BOARD OF MANAGERS OF THE 135 CONDOMINIUM, NEW YORK STATE DEPARTMENT OF TAXATION AND FINANCE, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA-INTERNAL REVENUE SERVICE, “JOHN DOE #1” through “JOHN DOE #12,” the last twelve names being fictitious and unknown to plaintiff, the persons or parties intended being the tenants, occupants, persons or corporations, if any, having or claiming an interest in or lien upon the premises, described in the complaint, DEFENDANTS. YOU ARE HEREBY SUMMONED to answer the complaint in this action and to serve a copy of your answer, or, if the complaint is not served with this summons, to serve a notice of appearance on the Plaintiff's Attorney within 20 days after the service of this summons, exclusive of the day of service (or within 30 days after the service is complete if this summons is not personally delivered to you within the State of New York); and in case of your failure to appear or answer, judgment will be taken against you by default for the relief demanded in the complaint.

NOTICE YOU ARE IN DANGER OF LOSING YOUR HOME

If you do not respond to this Summons and Complaint by serving a copy of the answer on the attorney for the mortgage company who filed this foreclosure proceeding against you and filing the answer with the court, a default judgment may be entered against you and you can lose your home. Speak to an attorney or go to the court where your case is pending for further information on how to answer the summons and protect your property. Sending a payment to your mortgage company will not stop this foreclosure action.

YOU MUST RESPOND BY

tion on how to answer the summons and protect your property. Sending a payment to your mortgage company will not stop this foreclosure action.

YOU MUST RESPOND BY SERVING A COPY OF THE ANSWER ON THE ATTORNEY FOR THE PLAINTIFF (MORTGAGE COMPANY) AND FILING THE ANSWER WITH THE COURT.

Dated: Syosset, New York, August 4, 2025. Roach & Lin, P.C., attorney for Plaintiff, 6851 Jericho Turnpike, Suite 185, Syosset, NY 11791. Tel: 516938-3100. To the above-named defendants: The foregoing summons is served upon you by publication pursuant to an Order of the Hon. HON. FRANCIS A. KAHN III, a Justice of the Supreme Court, State of New York, dated July 31, 2025 and filed with the NEW YORK County Clerk together with the supporting papers thereon. This is an action to foreclose a mortgage held by Plaintiff on the premises known as Block 792, Lot 1036, NEW YORK, NY, County of NEW YORK as described in the complaint on file and commonly known as 135 WEST 16TH STREET, UNIT NO. 554, NEW YORK, NY 10011.

Mind Share Therapy LCSW PLLC Arts. of Org. filed with the SSNY on 8/14/2025. Office location: New York County. SSNY has been designated as an agent upon whom process against it may be served & shall mail to: 363 West 30th Street Apt 2D, New York, NY 10001 Purpose: Any lawful act.

Mosaic Strategy & Support LLC Arts. of Org. filed with the SSNY on 5/28/2025. Office location: New York County. SSNY has been designated as an agent upon whom process against it may be served & shall mail to: 523 East 14th Street, 1B, New York, NY 10009. Purpose: Any lawful act.

Javier Jbara Music LLC Arts. of Org. filed with the SSNY on 07/28/2025. Office location: New York County. SSNY has been designated as an agent upon whom process against it may be served & shall mail to: 449 W 153rd Street Apt 3, New York, NY 10031. Purpose: Any lawful act.

Something Colorful Productions LLC Arts. of Org. filed with the SSNY on 06/24/25. Office location: New York County. SSNY has been designated as an agent upon whom process against it may be served & shall mail to: 100 Morningside Dr. Apt 1J, New York, NY 10027 Purpose: Any lawful act.

TOKPA MASSAGE THERAPY, PLLC Arts. of Org. filed with the SSNY on 05/22/2025. Office location: NEW YORK County. SSNY has been designated as an agent upon whom process against it may be served & shall mail to: 234 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY, 10001. Purpose: Any lawful act.

JAM331E81 LLC Arts. of Org. filed with the SSNY on 07/15/2025. Office location: NEW YORK County. SSNY has been designated as an agent upon whom process against it may be served & shall mail to: C/O: JARED S. PINCHASICK, ESQ, 477 MADISON AVENUE, 6TH FLOOR , NEW YORK, NY, 10022. Purpose: Any lawful act.

NOTICE OF SALE

SUPREME COURT COUNTY OF New York, Wilmington Savings Fund Society, FSB, not in its Individual Capacity, but Solely as Owner Trustee of CSMC 2019-RPL11 Trust, Plaintiff, vs. Unknown heirs at law of Hyunjeong Han, if they be living and if they be dead, any and all persons unknown to plaintiff, ET AL., Defendant(s). Pursuant to a Judgment of Foreclosure and Sale and Decision + Order duly entered on May 17, 2023 and a Decision + Order on Motion duly entered on May 29, 2025, I, the undersigned Referee will sell at public auction at Room 130 of the New York County Courthouse, 60 Centre Street, New York, NY 10007 on October 1, 2025 at 2:15 p.m., premises known as 70 Little West Street Unit 22G, New York, NY 10004 a/k/a 70 Battery Place, Unit 22G, New York, NY 10280. All that certain plot, piece or parcel of land, with the buildings and improvements thereon erected, situate, lying and being in the Borough of Manhattan, County, City and State of New York, Block 16 and Lot 1878 together with an undivided 0.36855 percent interest in the Common Elements. Approximate amount of judgment is $665,379.10 plus interest and costs. Premises will be sold subject to provisions of filed Judgment Index #850044/2021. Cash will not be accepted. Thomas R. Kleinberger, Esq., Referee Knuckles & Manfro, LLP, 120 White Plains Road, Suite 215, Tarrytown, New York 10591, Attorneys for Plaintiff

NOTICE OF SALE SUPREME COURT ‑ COUNTY OF NEW YORK.

HILTON RESORTS CORPO RATION, Plaintiff ‑against‑ MARK D. STOREY, if living, and if he be dead, etc..., et al Defendant(s). Pursuant to a Judgment of Foreclosure and Sale dated June 3, 2025, I, the undersigned Referee will sell at public auction in Room 130 of the New York County Courthouse, 60 Centre Street, New York, NY on September 17, 2025 at 2:15 p.m. premises being an undivided ownership interest as tenant‑in‑common with other owners in the Time share Unit in the building lo cated at 102 West 57th Street, New York, NY. Together with an undivided .01995% interest in the common elements. This is a foreclosure on ownership in terest in a timeshare unit, a stu dio penthouse on a floating use basis every year, in accordance with and subject to declara tions. Declaration of Covenants, Conditions and Restrictions dated October 10, 2008 and October 31, 2008 as CFRN # 2008000426142 as recorded in the Office of the City Register, County, City and State of New York. The Timeshare Unit is also designated as Block 1009 and Lot 37.

Said premises known as 102 WEST 57TH STREET, NEW YORK, NY 10019

Approximate amount of lien $136,345.09 plus interest & costs.

Premises will be sold subject to provisions of filed Judgment and Terms of Sale.

Index Number 850161/2018.

ELAINE SHAY, ESQ., Referee

DRUCKMAN LAW GROUP

PLLC

Attorney(s) for Plaintiff

242 Drexel Avenue, Westbury, NY 11590

DLG# 38026

{* AMSTERDAM*}

NOTICE OF SALE

SUPREME COURT COUNTY OF NEW YORK, WELLS FARGO BANK, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION, AS TRUSTEE FOR THE REGISTERED HOLDERS OF J.P. MORGAN CHASE COMMERCIAL MORTGAGE SECURITIES CORP., MULTIFAMILY MORTGAGE PASSTHROUGH CERTIFICATES, SERIES 2018-SB54, Plaintiff, vs. 505 W 161 LLC, ET AL., Defendant(s). Pursuant to a Judgment of Foreclosure and Sale and Decision + Order on Motion duly entered on January 30, 2025 and a Decision + Order on Motion duly entered on June 3, 2025, I, the undersigned Referee will sell at public auction in Room 130 of the New York County Courthouse, 60 Centre Street, New York, NY 10007 on September 10, 2025 at 2:15 p.m., premises known as 505 West 161st Street, New York, NY 10032. All that certain plot, piece or parcel of land, with the buildings and improvements thereon erected, situate, lying and being in the Borough of Manhattan, County, City and State of New York, Block 2120 and Lot 42. Approximate amount of judgment is $5,934,554.75 plus interest and costs. Premises will be sold subject to provisions of filed Judgment Index #850499/2023.

Matthew D. Hunter, III Esq., Referee

McCarter & English, LLP, 250 W 55th Street, 13th Floor, New York, New York 10019, Attorneys for Plaintiff

Z&L 66, LLC LLC Arts. of Org. filed with the SSNY on June 22, 2025. Office location: New York County. SSNY has been designated as an agent upon whom process against it may be served & shall mail to: 235 W 56TH ST, APT 29G, New York, NY 10019. Purpose: Any lawful act.

AERO ENGINEERING PLLC Arts. of Org. filed with the SSNY on 07/09/2025. Office location: NEW YORK County. SSNY has been designated as an agent upon whom process against it may be served & shall mail to: 1 New Mill Road, Smithtown, NY, 11787. Purpose: Any lawful act.

SB Tennent LLC LLC Arts. of Org. filed with the SSNY on 07/09/2025. Office location: New York County. SSNY has been designated as an agent upon whom process against it may be served & shall mail to: 228 PARK AVE S #594730, New York, NY 10003. Purpose: Any lawful act.

The P LYLES GROUP LLC Arts. of Org. filed with the SSNY on JUNE 23, 2025. Office location: NEW YORK County. SSNY has been designated as an agent upon whom process against it may be served & shall mail to: 458 WEST 146TH ST UNIT 3N, NEW YORK, NY 10031. Purpose: Any lawful act.

Rutha Berger Design LLC Arts. of Org. filed with the SSNY on 5/20/25. Office location: New York County. SSNY has been designated as an agent upon whom process against it may be served & shall mail to: 437 East 80th St Apt 28, New York, New York, 10075. Purpose: Any lawful act.

NOTICE OF SALE

SUPREME COURT COUNTY OF NEW YORK, DEUTSCHE BANK TRUST COMPANY AMERICAS, AS TRUSTEE FOR THE REGISTERED HOLDERS OF WELLS FARGO COMMERCIAL MORTGAGE SECURITIES, INC., MULTIFAMILY MORTGAGE PASS-THROUGH CERTIFICATES, SERIES 2017SB34, Plaintiff, vs. RH 532 WEST 159 STREET LP, ET AL., Defendant(s).

Pursuant to a Judgment of Foreclosure and Sale and Decision + Order on Motion duly entered on June 3, 2025, I, the undersigned Referee will sell at public auction in Room 130 of the New York County Courthouse, 60 Centre Street, New York, NY 10007 on September 10, 2025 at 2:15 p.m., premises known as 532 West 159th Street, New York, NY 10032. All that certain plot, piece or parcel of land, with the buildings and improvements thereon erected, situate, lying and being in the Borough of Manhattan, County, City and State of New York, Block 2117 and Lot 20. Approximate amount of judgment is $3,174,348.32 plus interest and costs. Premises will be sold subject to provisions of filed Judgment Index #850547/2023.

Christy M. Demelfi, Esq., Referee

McCarter & English, LLP, 250 W 55th Street, 13th Floor, New York, New York 10019, Attorneys for Plaintiff

Notice of Qualification of BLACKSTONE ABF ASSOCIATES L.L.C.

Appl. for Auth. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 08/12/25. Office location: NY County. LLC formed in Delaware (DE) on 03/07/25. Princ. office of LLC: 345 Park Ave., 31st Fl., NY, NY 10154. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to c/o Corporation Service Co. (CSC), 80 State St., Albany, NY 12207-2543. DE addr. of LLC: c/o CSC, 251 Little Falls Dr., Wilmington, DE 19808. Cert. of Form. filed with DE Secy. of State, John G. Townsend Bldg., 401 Federal St., Dover, DE 19901. Purpose: Any lawful activity.

Notice of Qualification of ADAPT INVESTMENT MANAGERS USA LLC

Appl. for Auth. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 07/28/25. Office location: NY County. LLC formed in Delaware (DE) on 06/30/25. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to Corporation Service Co., 80 State St., Albany, NY 12207-2543. DE addr. of LLC: 251 Little Falls Dr., Wilmington, DE 19808. Cert. of Form. filed with Secy. of the State of DE, Div. of Corps., John G. Townsend Bldg., 401 Federal St., Ste. 4, Dover, DE 19901. Purpose: Any lawful activity.

Stuyvesant Apartments 257 LLC Arts. of Org. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 4/28/2025. Office in New York Co. SSNY desig. agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to 1 W 85 th St, Suite 1F, New York, NY 10024 . Purpose: General.

NOTICE OF SALE

SUPREME COURT COUNTY OF NEW YORK, WELLS FARGO BANK, NATIONAL ASSOCATION, AS TRUSTEE FOR THE REGISTERED HOLDERS OF J.P. MORGAN CHASE COMMERICAL MORTGAGE SECURITIES CORP., MULTIFAMILY MORTGAGE PASSTHROUGH CERTIFICATES, SERIES 2018-SB54, Plaintiff, vs. 510 W 148 LLC, ET AL., Defendant(s).

Pursuant to a Judgment of Foreclosure and Sale and Decision + Order on Motion duly entered on January 30, 2025 and a Decision + Order on Motion duly entered on June 3, 2025, I, the undersigned Referee will sell at public auction in Room 130 of the New York County Courthouse, 60 Centre Street, New York, NY 10007 on September 10, 2025 at 2:15 p.m., premises known as 510 West 148th Street, New York, NY 10031. All that certain plot, piece or parcel of land, with the buildings and improvements thereon erected, situate, lying and being in the Borough of Manhattan, County, City and State of New York, Block 2079 and Lot 41. Approximate amount of judgment is $6,906,398.22 plus interest and costs. Premises will be sold subject to provisions of filed Judgment Index #850500/2023.

Allison Furman, Esq., Referee McCarter & English, LLP, 250 W 55th Street, 13th Floor, New York, New York 10019, Attorneys for Plaintiff

Notice of Qualification of GovCIO, LLC Appl. for Auth. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 07/30/25. Office location: NY County. LLC formed in Delaware (DE) on 10/11/23. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to Corporation Service Co., 80 State St., Albany, NY 12207-2543. DE addr. of LLC: 251 Little Falls Dr., Wilmington, DE 19808. Cert. of Form. filed with Secy. of State, Div. of Corps., John G. Townsend Bldg., 401 Federal St., Ste. 4, Dover, DE 19901. Purpose: IT Services remote employees working from home.

Notice of Qualification of 577 BALTIC TIC 1 LLC

Appl. for Auth. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 07/11/25. Office location: NY County. LLC formed in Delaware (DE) on 04/22/25. Princ. office of LLC: 551 Fifth Ave., Ste. 1720, NY, NY 10176. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to the LLC, 251 Little Falls Dr., Wilmington, DE 19808. DE addr. of LLC: 251 Little Falls Dr., Wilmington, DE 19808. Cert. of Form. filed with Secy. of State, Div. of Corps., John G. Townsend Bldg., 401 Federal St., Ste. 4, Dover, DE 19901. Purpose: Any lawful activity.

CREET LLC Arts. of Org. filed with the SSNY on 03/30/25. Office location: New York County. SSNY has been designated as an agent upon whom process against it may be served & shall mail to: Entity Protect Registered Agent 447 Broadway 2nd Fl , New York,NY 10013 Purpose: Any lawful act.

Notice of Qualification of ELITE CLINICAL NETWORK, LLC Appl. for Auth. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 08/05/25. Office location: NY County. LLC formed in Nevada (NV) on 12/30/20. Princ. office of LLC: 6970 Wineberry Dr., Las Vegas, NV 89119. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to Corporation Service Co., 80 State St., Albany, NY 12207-2543. Cert. of Form. filed with Secy. of State, 202 N. Carson St., Carson City, NV 89701-4201. Purpose: Any lawful activity.

Notice of Qualification of MarcyPen Capital Partners LLC Appl. for Auth. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 07/14/25. Office location: NY County. LLC formed in Delaware (DE) on 05/22/19. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to Corporation Service Co., 80 State St., Albany, NY 12207-2543. DE addr. of LLC: 251 Little Falls Dr., Wilmington, DE 19808. Cert. of Form. filed with Secy. of State, 401 Federal St., Ste. 4, Dover, DE 19901. Purpose: Any lawful activity.

Notice of Names of Persons Appearing as Owners of Certain Unclaimed Property Held By Live Oak Banking Company. The following persons appear from our records to be entitled to abandoned property in the amount of fifty ($50) dollars or more.

Queens County KIM, ELIZABETH, 3542 CORPORAL KENNEDY, BAYSIDE NY 11361

A report of unclaimed property will be made to the Comptroller of the State of New York, pursuant to Article III of the Abandoned Property Law. A list of the names contained in such notice is on file and open to public inspection at the principal office of the bank, located at Live Oak Banking Company, 3542 CORPORAL KENNEDY, BAYSIDE NY 11361 where such abandoned property is payable. Abandoned property will be paid on or before October 31, 2025 to persons establishing to its satisfaction their right to receive the same; and that in the succeeding month of November, and on or before the tenth day thereof, such unclaimed moneys or other property still remaining will be paid or delivered to the state comptroller and that it shall thereupon cease to be the liability of Live Oak Banking Company.

Civic Spark Cleaning Co. LLC Arts. of Org. filed with the SSNY on 03/26/25. Office location: New York County. SSNY has been designated as an agent upon whom process against it may be served & shall mail to: 447 Broadway, 2nd Floor, New York, NY 10013. Purpose: Any lawful act.

Somethingsoft LLC Arts. of Org. filed with the SSNY on 02/16/2025. Office location: New York County. SSNY has been designated as an agent upon whom process against it may be served & shall mail to: 125 Delancey St, Apt 1305, New York, NY 10002. Purpose: Any lawful act.

NOTICE OF FORMATION OF OM SHADOW LLC Articles of Organization filed with the Secretary of State of NY (SSNY) on May 31, 2025, Office Location, New York County. SSNY has been designated as an agent upon whom process against it may be served. The Post Office address to which the SSNY shall mail a copy of any process against the LLC served upon him/her is: UNITED STATES CORPORATION AGENTS, INC. 7014 13TH AVENUE, SUITE 202, BROOKLYN, NY, 11228, USA. The principal business address of the LLC is OM Shadow LLC 228 PARK AVE S #195985, NEW YORK, NY, 10003

Notice of Qualification of RD PROPERTY LLC

Appl. for Auth. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 07/09/25. Office location: NY County. LLC formed in Delaware (DE) on 07/01/25. NYS fictitious name: RD MANAGEMENT REAL ESTATE HOLDINGS LLC. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to c/o RD Management LLC, Attn: Richard Birdoff, 810 Seventh Ave., 10th Fl., NY, NY 10019. DE addr. of LLC: Corporation Service Co., 251 Little Falls Dr., Wilmington, DE 19808. Cert. of Form. filed with DE Secy. of State, P.O. Box 898, Dover, DE 19903. Purpose: Any lawful activity.

Notice of Qualification of TS SIGNAGE LLC

Appl. for Auth. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 08/08/25. Office location: NY County. LLC formed in Delaware (DE) on 08/04/25. Princ. office of LLC: 1 Vanderbilt Ave., NY, NY 10017. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to Corporation Service Co., 80 State St., Albany, NY 12207-2543. DE addr. of LLC: 251 Little Falls Dr., Wilmington, DE 19808. Cert. of Form. filed with Charuni Patibanda-Sanchez, 401 Federal St., Dover, DE 19901. Purpose: Any lawful activity.

Notice of Formation of AMM APPAREL LLC

Arts. of Org. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 07/18/25. Office location: NY County. Princ. office of LLC: 315 W. 39th St., #700, NY, NY 10018. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to Corporation Service Co., 80 State St., Albany, NY 122072543. Purpose: Any lawful activity.

Royal Bleu LLC Arts. of Org. filed with the SSNY on March 28,2025. Office location: New York County. SSNY has been designated as an agent upon whom process against it may be served & shall mail to: 2140, Lakeview Ridge Cir Apt 107, Apopka FL. Purpose: Any lawful act.

Etico Managment LLC Arts. of Org. filed with the SSNY on 1/29/2025. Office location: New York County. SSNY has been designated as an agent upon whom process against it may be served & shall mail to: 211 Thomspon Street APT 2E, New York, NY 10012. Purpose: Any lawful act.

Notice of Qualification of WILSHIRE ADVISORS LLC

Appl. for Auth. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 07/28/25. Office location: NY County. LLC formed in Delaware (DE) on 01/05/21. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to the LLC, 320 Park Ave., 7th Fl., NY, NY 10022. DE addr. of LLC: c/o Corporation Service Co., 251 Little Falls Dr., Wilmington, DE 19808. Cert. of Form. filed with Secy. of State, Corp. Dept., Townsend Bldg., 401 Federal St., Dover, DE 19901. Purpose: Any lawful activity.

Notice of Qualification of SHARPE ADVISORS, LLC

Appl. for Auth. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 08/13/25. Office location: NY County. LLC formed in Wyoming (WY) on 08/12/25. Princ. office of LLC: (WeWork c/o Nick Mela), 524 Broadway, 11th Fl., NY, NY 10012. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to Corporation Service Co., 80 State St., Albany, NY 12207-2543. Cert. of Form. filed with Secy. of State, Herschler Bldg. East, Ste. 101, 122 W. 25th St., Cheyenne, WY 82002-0020. Purpose: Any lawful activity.

NOTICE OF FORMATION OF ELLIE'S GRANOLA LLC. Articles of Organization filed with the Secretary of State of NY (SSNY) on 02/08/2025. Office Location New York County. SSNY has been designated as agent upon whom process against it may be served. The Post Office address to which the SSNY shall mail a copy of any process against the LLC served upon him/her is: WILLIAM SOBEL 93 4TH AVE, NEW YORK, NY, 10003, USA. PURPOSE: any lawful act or activity.

Notice of Formation of 1340 STRATFORD INTERESTS

OWNER LLC Arts. of Org. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 07/21/25. Office location: NY County. Princ. office of LLC: 116 E. 27th St., 11th Fl., NY, NY 10016. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to Corporation Service Co., 80 State St., Albany, NY 12207. Purpose: Products and Services: Real estate investment & development.

Notice of Formation of AUBREY VENTURES 4 LLC

Arts. of Org. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 07/02/25. Office location: NY County. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to Greeley Square Station, P.O. Box 20366, 4 E. 27th St., NY, NY 10001-9998. Purpose: Any lawful activity.

Rover Cleaners LLC Arts. of Org. filed with the SSNY on 05/19/2025. Office location: New York County. SSNY has been designated as an agent upon whom process against it may be served & shall mail to: 5 Union SQ FRNT 1 #1171, New York, NY 10003. Purpose: Any lawful act.

SOLID STATE BAKERY LLC.

Arts. of Org. filed with the SSNY on 07/23/25. Office: New York County. SSNY designated as agent of the LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail copy of process to the LLC, 27 West 70th Street, #2A, New York, NY 10023. Purpose: Any lawful purpose.

Notice of Formation of BREAKTHROUGH BEHAVIORAL BILLING LLC

Arts. of Org. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 07/25/25. Office location: NY County. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to Corporation Service Co., 80 State St., Albany, NY 122072543. Purpose: Any lawful activity.

Brittany Anne Consulting LLC Arts. of Org. filed with the SSNY on June 12, 2025. Office location: New York County. SSNY has been designated as an agent upon whom process against it may be served & shall mail to: 152 E 84th St, Apt 5I, New York, NY 10028. Purpose: Any lawful act.

Notice is hereby given that a license, serial #NA-0340-25103028 for beer, wine & liquor has been applied for by the undersigned to sell beer, wine & liquor at retail in a restaurant under the ABC Law at 994 Columbus Ave., New York, NY 10025 for on-premises consumption; Limone LLC

BGM SOLUTIONS LLC Arts. of Org. filed with the SSNY on 06/04/2025. Office location: NEW YORK County. SSNY has been designated as an agent upon whom process against it may be served & shall mail to: 228 PARK AVE S #485903, NEW YORK, NY, 10003. Purpose: Any lawful act.

NOTICE is hereby given that a license, number NA-0370-24135212 for liquor, wine, beer & cider has been applied for by the undersigned to sell liquor, wine, beer & cider at retail in a bar/tavern under the Alcoholic Beverage Control Law at 4371 3rd Ave; Bronx, NY 10457 in Bronx County for on premises consumption. Zion Restaurant and Lounge Corp d/b/a Zion Restaurant and Lounge

Gian New York LLC Arts. of Org. filed with the SSNY on 6/16/2025. Office location: County. SSNY has been desig nated as an agent upon whom process against it may be served & shall mail to: 66th Street, New York, NY 10065. Purpose: Any lawful act.

WEISSBERGER PRODUCTIONS LLC Arts. of Org. filed with the SSNY on 07/03/2025 Office location: NEW YORK County. SSNY has been designated as an agent upon whom process against it may be served & shall mail to: 45 EAST 72ND STREET, NEW YORK, NY, 10021. Purpose: Any lawful act.

NOTICE OF SALE

SUPREME COURT COUNTY OF NEW YORK, WELLS FARGO BANK, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION, AS TRUSTEE, FOR THE BENEFIT OF THE REGISTERED HOLDERS OF GS MORTGAGE SECURITIES TRUST 2019-GC40, COMMERCIAL MORTGAGE PASSTHROUGH CERTIFICATES, SERIES 2019-GC40, AND THE POOLED RR INTEREST OWNER, ACTING BY AND THROUGH ITS SPECIAL SERVICER, LNR PARTNERS, LLC, Plaintiff, vs. NAMOR REALTY COMPANY L.L.C, ET AL., Defendant(s).

Pursuant to a Judgment of Foreclosure and Sale and Decision + Order on Motion duly entered on June 5, 2025, I, the undersigned Referee will sell at public auction in Room 130 of the New York County Courthouse, 60 Centre Street, New York, NY 10007 on September 17, 2025 at 2:15 p.m., premises known as 57-59 East 11th Street, New York, NY 10009. All that certain plot, piece or parcel of land, with the buildings and improvements thereon erected, situate, lying and being in the Borough of Manhattan, County of New York, City and State of New York, Block 563 and Lot 46. Approximate amount of judgment is $61,766,450.32 plus interest and costs. Premises will be sold subject to provisions of filed Judgment Index #850285/2024.

Notice of Qualification of AP CREDIT SOLUTIONS HOLDINGS (AIV) II, L.P. Appl. for Auth. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 01/08/25. Office location: NY County. LP formed in Delaware (DE) on 12/26/24. Princ. office of LP: Attn: General Counsel, 9 W. 57th St., 43rd Fl., NY, NY 10019. Duration of LP is Perpetual. SSNY designated as agent of LP upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to the Partnership at the princ. office of the LP. Name and addr. of each general partner are available from SSNY. DE addr. of LP: c/o Corporation Service Co., 251 Little Falls Dr., Wilmington, DE 19808. Cert. of LP filed with The Secy. of State of the State of DE, Dept. of State, Div. of Corps., John Townsend Bldg., Dover, DE 19901. Purpose: Any lawful activity.

Indictments

Continued from page 2

In September 2024, Lewis-Martin, Hamilton, and others took a personal trip together to Japan. She resigned from her role shortly after, in December 2024, but continued to volunteer for Adams’s mayoral reelection campaign.

Lewis-Martin was indicted for accepting more than $75,000 in bribes, including $50,000 in cash directed to her son’s account, between March 2022 and November 2024 while serving as chief advisor to the mayor, according to the DA’s office. The two allegedly conspired to steer city contracts for asylum seeker shelter sites for developer Tian Ji Li’s preferred property owners; fast-tracked permit approvals for a karaoke bar for Li in Queens; and conspired to have the transportation department withdraw its approval for protected bike lanes on McGuinness Boulevard in Brooklyn for money, catering, and a speaking role on TV shows like “Godfather of Harlem” and “Blue Bloods.”

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Continued from page 4

“We allege that Ingrid Lewis-Martin engaged in classic bribery conspiracies that had a deep and wide-ranging impact on City government,” said Bragg in a statement. “As alleged, Lewis-Martin consistently overrode the expertise of public servants so she could line her own pockets.”

Hamilton, Lewis-Martin, and her son are accused of trying to fast-track development projects in Queens, Brooklyn, and the Bronx on behalf of real estate developer Yechiel Landau in exchange for renovations on their homes, said the DA’s office.

his own indictment in September 2024 on a five-count felony charge.

After months of Adams’s increasing connection to President Donald Trump and signing off on the Republicans’ mass deportation agenda, a federal judge moved to dismiss Adams’s case in April.

“I’ve committed my life to this city, as a police officer, as a state senator, as a borough president, and now as your mayor,” Adams said. “We have not always gotten it right, but we have never stopped being dedicated to the people of this city. And I’m going to continue to do that as long as you allow me to do so.”

First Deputy Mayor Randy Mastro, who was appointed in March of this year, did not comment about the specifics of any case at the press conference. He defended Adams, saying that the indictments are being used to “smear” him and his administration.

Securitad I, a 69 unit, Housing Development located at 206 East 31st St. New York NY 10016, which is for the Elderly/disabled and includes 3 units designated for the mobility impaired, opened its waiting list to eligible applicants with limited incomes. Qualification is based on Section 8 Federal guidelines. Interested persons may obtain an application by calling 732-987-4823, Monday – Thursday, 10AM – 2PM, or by writing to; 443 Third Avenue, LLC 282F Cedar Bridge Avenue Lakewood NJ 08701

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Since the announcement of the indictment, Hamilton has resigned from his position with the city.

The new indictments came just after Winnie Greco, another former Adams adviser who had to resign from his administration but was still working on his campaign, got in trouble for handing a reporter a potato chip bag filled with cash at a campaign event.

“I am not going to interfere in any way with the process,” said Adams. “Our communications with the district attorney’s office indicated that in no way am I involved in any of the reviews that they’re conducting in this manner.”

Adams is no stranger to being investigated. His administration was under intense scrutiny from federal Manhattan prosecutors because of alleged fraud in his 2021 mayoral campaign back in 2023. There was a series of raids, subpoenas, resignations, and indictments that saw several of Adams’s top officials and agency heads abruptly resign from their positions. He faced

“I’ve stood by this mayor’s side for the past five months. We talk every day. We talk about how to resolve issues, how to address questions,” said Mastro. “There’s not a single time when he’s given me a direction that wasn’t in the best interests of the city. And the people who work in this building, who are so dedicated — I cannot tell you how proud I am to be their colleague.” Adams is in the middle of running for reelection as an Independent in the upcoming general election this November. He is up against Democratic nominee Zohran Mamdani, former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, and Republican nominee Curtis Sliwa.

“The people that you put your faith and your trust in [are] a reflection of your own leadership,” said Mamdani in his remarks. “That Adams continued to associate himself with Winnie Greco, with Ingrid, after so many clear examples of their corruption — it showcases what he is willing to sacrifice, and that is the public.”

His opponents all seized on the opportunity to criticize Adams and his campaign, calling his administration “corrupt.”

Adams pushed back hard against his mayoral competition in response: “I’m not going to leave this city to a beretwearing, carnival display,” he said. “I’m not going to leave it to a person who put dangerous laws on the books that hurt us, from cannabis to bail reform to 15,000 nursing homes death. I’m not going to leave this city to someone that wants legalized prostitution on our streets. I’m not going to leave this city to someone that does not understand what it is to run a city [and who] went from being a rapper to an assemblyman and now wants to be the mayor of the most complex city. We’ve come too far to go backward. That is not going to happen.”

Allan Feliz

Continued from page 2

pat-down request turned physical struggle behind the wheel.

While the OAG declined to press charges, the findings allege Rivera “brandished his firearm and threatened to shoot Mr. Feliz before deadly force was justified” when the officers attempted to remove him from the Volkswagen. But the question remains: Was deadly force justified at all?

The previous FID investigation delayed the Civilian Complaint Review Board (CCRB) — the city’s independent NYPD oversight agency — from legally pursuing many disciplinary actions due to an 18-month statute of limitations, which even Tisch called “wrong.” A seven-and-a-half month extension due to the COVID-19 pandemic allowing such charges to expire on December 2, 2021. The FID handed its file over to the CCRB on December 8, 2021.

In May 2023, the police watchdog ultimately substantiated misconduct charges against Rivera but would not seek discipline against his partners. If found guilty of the top charge, he would be fired based on the department handbook.

The NYPD, however, attempted to take the prosecution out of the CCRB’s hands and handle the proceedings internally. Then-police commissioner Edward Caban famously buried disciplinary cases using an inconspicuous authority known as retention, according to ProPublica.

Thirty-nine elected officials penned a September 2023 letter to Mayor Eric Adams and Caban, demanding the CCRB move forward with prosecuting Rivera. Signees included Public Advocate Jumaane Williams, City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams, and a relatively unknown Queens Assemblymember at the time named Zohran Mamdani.

“Lt. Rivera has an extensive history of abusing his authority as a police

officer and committing misconduct and has already cost the City $195,000 in civil suit settlements in cases separate from Mr. Feliz’s, yet his annual salary has increased by approximately $60k since 2019,” they wrote in 2023. “In the interest of public safety and police accountability, Lt. Rivera must answer to CCRB’s substantiated charges without any delay or interference.”

Last November, Rivera — now an NYPD lieutenant — finally faced a disciplinary trial for his CCRB charges over Feliz’s death. A few days after the proceedings started, Jessica Tisch returned to the NYPD, this time as commissioner.

A nearly unprecedented ruling Caban resigned in September 2024 after feds seized his phone in a corruption probe. Weeks later, the FBI searched his interim replacement Thomas Donlon’s house over a non-NYPD matter. Tisch’s following appointment signaled a departure from controversy.

She cleaned house almost immediately as NYPD commissioner and notably pushed out Jeffrey Maddrey, a prominent police chief who weathered significant disciplinary efforts from Caban’s predecessor, Keechant Sewell. Tisch also began tracking proper street stop compliance among the rank-and-file and promised to hold commanding officers responsible for their precincts’ performance.

While the Rivera disciplinary case played out and the NYPD dealt with a revolving door of commissioners, Tisch was busy building a name for herself. In 2022, she moved over to head the Department of Sanitation and helped architect containerization efforts to get trash off New York City streets and into sealed bins.

This past February, NYPD Deputy Commissioner of Trials Rosemarie Maldonado, who ostensibly serves as the administrative judge for the department’s internal disciplinary trials, ruled Rivera guilty of firstdegree assault. During the proceedings, she seemed unmoved by his claims of a life-or-death response. The offense, like most serious felonies committed behind a badge, is punished by termination under the department’s disciplinary guidelines.

The decision seemed monumental. Just one other officer was ruled guilty for a fireable offense stemming from a CCRB prosecution: Daniel Pantaleo, for the killing of Eric Garner. After such a ruling, the police commissioner makes the final call; 17 days after Maldonado found Pantaleo guilty, thenNYPD commissioner James O’Neill agreed to his termination.

But Tisch did not reach such a rapid decision. Throughout winter and spring, the family of Allan Feliz did not hear back about whether Rivera would lose his job. On Mother’s Day, Feliz’s mom Mery Verdeja and long-time partner Julie Aquino penned a letter to Tisch urging her to confirm the firing.

Several other mothers of police killing victims signed the letter, including Kadiatou Diallo, whose son Amadou was killed by NYPD plainclothes officers in 1999.

On Father’s Day, Feliz’s stepdaughter Kilsi sent a similar letter to Tisch. “To me, he is my dad in every way that matters,” she wrote. “I was only 15 when Allan was killed. I will never forget the moment I found out. I experienced panic attacks then, and I still do now. I remember the heartbreak and horror I felt the first time I saw the video of what the NYPD did to Allan. It made me physically sick. I had sleepless nights, constant anxiety, and a deep

sadness that still lives in me.”

Tisch overturns the decision

As New Yorkers eagerly awaited for the impending long Independence Day weekend last month, Tisch made her preliminary decision to find Rivera not guilty on the afternoon of July 3. The family of Allan Feliz was not informed until a CCRB contact told them the news.

Police unions, including the one representing Rivera, lauded the move. “Today’s decision by PC Tisch to clear Lt. Jon Rivera sends a clear and decisive message to members of the NYPD,” tweeted the NYPD Lieutenants Benevolent Association on X. “Our Commissioner will back officers acting in good faith. We commend her for doing what she believes is right, no matter the political risks.”

“This is an important decision that recognizes the difficult decision, split-decision choice that NYPD members must make in lifeor-death situations,” added NYC Police Benevolent Association president Patrick Hendry, who represents most NYPD officers.

Meanwhile, Public Advocate Williams lambasted Tisch’s rationalization. Much of Tisch’s memo pointed to the Attorney General’s report years ago. However, the standard is much higher in criminal cases than for internal disciplinary proceedings. “You should have been looking at the standard of the administrative judges who said that the actions of this officer at minimum means he should be fired,” said Williams during a July rally.

Despite efforts from advocates, electeds, and the CCRB to change her mind, Tisch finalized her verdict on Aug. 15. Lt. Rivera will keep his job, for now (he faces another substantiated misconduct allegation).

“We knew it was an uphill battle, something that would be tough — to ask the police commissioner to change their decision, but it was something that was still possible, since the final decision had not been made,” said Samy Feliz by phone. “But now, this final decision being exactly the same just continues to show us the sham of the process that we had to go through with the disciplinary trial.”

Despite his disappointment, he remains keen on continuing his Justice Committee advocacy. “It’s not going to stir us away from the fight,” he said. “It’s going to bring us all closer together, and we’re going to continue to fight, and I will still stand with families that are beginning this process or [are] far in-between this process.”

Erin Jones takes on leadership role as St. John’s volleyball begins new season

By LOIS ELFMAN

Special to the AmNews

St. John’s University volleyball opens its season on the road with back-to-back, talent-packed tournaments. The Red Storm kick things off tomorrow at the Louisville Invitational against Morehead State, followed by matchups with Auburn on Sunday and Louisville on Monday. After that, they head to the Hawaii Invitational on Thursday to face Utah Valley, San Jose State, and RV Hawaii.

“We’re making some big trips for the next couple of weeks,” said senior Erin Jones, a unanimous selection to the Preseason AllBig East Team for the second consecutive year. “It’s a great way to start off the season because we’re going to be playing really high level competition that we don’t normally get to play. We’re playing really awesome teams, which is going to be beneficial to us.”

In her fourth and final season at St. John’s, Jones has seen her skills and confidence grow with each year. “I felt I had to earn and show that I wanted a spot on this team,” she said. “When I was given an opportunity to play on the court, I went out

there with the mentality of it doesn’t matter if I have as much experience as everyone else, I’m going to show them that I can compete and play. Now, being a senior and having that experience to back me up has made a world of difference in not only my playing but being able to help the other girls on our team.”

In terms of being a senior leader, the setter/right side hitter sees herself as the energy hype leader. “That person on the court who is cheering every single point, and who likes to set the standard when things aren’t maybe going that well and getting us back up to still compete,” Jones said. “There are two things we can control, and that’s energy and effort.”

Jones is a biology major with a chemistry minor. Her long-term goal is pharmacy school, but her plan after graduation next spring is to play professionally. She is open to one of the pro volleyball leagues in the U.S. or to going overseas. “I want to see how far I can push my body in this sport that I love,” she said.

The volleyball team opens home play on Sept. 12 against Marist and West Virginia. Big East action starts on Sept. 26 at home against Villanova.

Olympic champion Dawn Harper-Nelson pumps up the excitement for track and field

By LOIS ELFMAN Special to the AmNews

On Oct. 9, track and field will come to Times Square when Athlos NYC, a women’s-only meet that will take place on Oct. 10 at Icahn Stadium on Randall’s Island, brings the qualifying round for the long jump to the heart of Manhattan. Dawn Harper-Nelson, who won Olympic gold in the 110-meter hurdles at the 2008 Beijing Games and silver in the event at the 2012 London Games, will serve as the voice of the action.

“I’ll be an announcer when they’re shutting down a portion of Times Square for the field portion; groundbreaking,” she said. “They’ll have a long jump. There will be Olympic Champion Tara Davis-Woodhall. My job is to bring this to life, to help people understand the beauty, the craziness that they’re watching and how talented these women are.

I’ll be talking all things track and field.”

She recently made a trip to New York to hype Athlos NYC at Envsn Festival, a series of events to inspire millennials and Gen Zers. Harper-Nelson came away duly impressed and loving the style and creativity.

“Athlos reached out to me and asked me to go,” said HarperNelson. “When I went there, it was all things womanhood, all things empowerment and access. They allowed women to ask questions to any and all kinds of people. It was really nice to be there and share my story, to encourage, inspire and answer questions.”

After a much decorated track career, Harper-Nelson turned to commentary and hosting. She was part of the NBC broadcast team for the 2024 Olympics in Paris. “It was really mind-blowing; you’re finally on this side of it,” she said. “You know what the athletes

are going through, but to be able to share my personal experiences to help viewers understand behind the scenes was really nice.”

When she’s not working in television, Harper-Nelson returns to her home state of Missouri, where she and her husband, Alonzo Nelson, are raising two daughters, ages six and two. “Both of them really like running and want to race me,” Harper-Nelson said with a laugh, adding that she makes sure they know she’ll win. Whether they’ll follow in their parents’ footsteps — Nelson also ran track and now teaches math and coaches track at a high school — remains to be seen. For now, she’s focused on encouraging them to find their own passions.

“It can be sports or arts,” Harper-Nelson said. “My hope until the end of time is that they will know themselves. Sports and arts help you learn that.”

Olympic track and field champion Dawn Harper-Nelson was part of the NBC broadcast team for the 2024 Paris Games. (Photo courtesy of Dawn Harper-Nelson)

Senior setter/right side hitter Erin Jones leads the Johnnies into non-conference action. (St. John’s Athletics photo)

With the return of Stewart, the Liberty look to climb in the standings

By DERREL JOHNSON Special to the AmNews

For most of this season, the New York Liberty held one of the top two spots in the WNBA standings, battling the Minnesota Lynx, the team they defeated in last year’s finals.

But the past month has been turbulent for the Liberty. They were 17-6 on July 25 yet enter tonight’s home game at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn against the Washington Mystics 23-15, having gone 8-9 over their last 15 games and falling to fifth in the standings. When the league’s schedule tipped off yesterday (Wednesday), the Liberty trailed the first place Lynx (30-7), Atlanta Dream (24-13), Las Vegas Aces (2514) and Phoenix Mercury (23-14).

Injuries have been a factor in the Liberty’s setback. Now, with the return of star forward Breanna Stewart on Monday as New York hosted the Connecticut Sun at Barclays, they should once again start to resemble the squad that began this season 9-0 — the best start in franchise history.

Stewart, a three-time WNBA champion, and two-time WNBA regular season and finals MVP, missed 13 straight games after suffering a bone bruise in her right

the team’s lineup on Monday after missing the previous 13 games with a bone

knee on July 26. She had an immediate impact back in the lineup on Monday, leading the team with 19 points in only 21 minutes in the tight 81-79 win. Forward/center Jonquel Jones notched a double-double with 18 points and 11 rebounds, pushing the team’s record to an astonishing 33-0 when she posts double figures

in points and rebounds.

“(Stewart) just has this relentlessness about her that can rub off on her teammates,” Liberty head coach Sandy Brondello said before the game. “She’s got the highest motor I’ve ever seen in a player that just keeps going and going.

Now, tonight she’s not going to be

happy because I have to take her out all the time, but it is just nice to be out there. Just the vibe that she brings to the team, the confidence that she brings to the team. They are all intangibles, what we have missed in this long month.”

Brondello noted the team will have to regain connectivity, particular-

ly with Stewart playing with forward Emma Meesseman, who debuted with the team on August 3 after not playing in the WNBA since 2022. Coming back to the league from a successful stint in Europe, where she won several titles, Meesseman, a WNBA champion and Finals MVP with the Mystics in 2019, has averaged 13.2 points and 5.5 rebounds.

“Now it’s about building chemistry,” said Brondello, because we have players in and out all the time. That's the hardest part right now.”

Brondello experimented with a big lineup on Monday, featuring the 6-foot-6-inch Jones playing alongside Stewart, Emma Meesseman, and Leonie Fiebich, all 6-4 or taller. Brondello does not have much time to maximize the team’s potential, but with so many talented and accomplished players on the team, it appears to be a great problem to have.

Still, unlike last year, when the Liberty had the best record in the WNBA and home court advantage throughout the playoffs, they will not have that luxury this season. The Liberty have six regular season games remaining. After the Mystics tonight, they have road games versus the Mercury on Saturday and the Golden State Valkyries on Tuesday.

Fabian Edwards captures middleweight crown at the PFL world tournament

By DERREL JOHNSON Special to the AmNews

The Professional Fighters League (PFL) crowned its world tournament champions in the heavyweight, light heavyweight, and middleweight divisions last week at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Hollywood, Florida, with each winner earning a $500,000 bonus.

Among the titlists was Kingston, Jamaica native Fabian Edwards (16-4), who fights out of Birmingham, England. Edwards floored Dalton Rosta (11-2) in the card’s main event by knockout with a thunderous head kick at 1:28 in the third round to win the middleweight tournament.

“(There is) so much more to achieve,” said Edwards, who is the younger brother of former UFC welterweight champion Leon Edwards, after his win. “I’m 32. I started this sport when I was 22, and I still feel like I have so many years and so many things to achieve and so much more big performances to come.”

Edwards is now targeting PFL middleweight world champion

Costello van Steenis, who handed him the first loss of his career in September 2020.

“As long as the shoulder’s good, yeah,” Edwards said. “I don’t think I can lift my arm above my head (right now), so as long as my shoulder’s [all right], let’s go.” Edwards suffered a left shoulder injury in the victory over Rosta.

Antônio Carlos Jr. (19-6) won the light heavyweight tournament by defeating Sullivan Cauley (8-2) by submission with a rearnaked choke hold. The Brazilian became the only fighter to repeat as PFL world tournament champion after doing so in 2021.

“Man, it feels great. Different from the first one,” he said. “Especially after a lot of injuries. I had so many injuries in my knee that sometimes I even doubt myself.”

In the battle of the big men, Russian Oleg Popov (22-2) won the heavyweight world tournament, defeating Moldova’s Alexandr Romanov (19-4) by a 49-46, 48-47, 47-48 split decision.

New York Liberty AllStar forward Breanna Stewart (left) returned to

bruise in her right knee. (Brandon Todd/ NY Liberty photo)

Fabian Edwards lands a kick on his way to victory over Dalton Rosta and the PFL world tournament middleweight championship. (Professional Fighters League photo)

Inner City Handball Association prepares to honor some of the sport’s greats

By LOIS ELFMAN Special to the AmNews

When Paul Williams founded the Inner City Handball Association (ICHA) in 1991, the initial goal was to be a centralized source for local handball information. Williams also envisioned providing opportunities for boys and girls to play handball and expand their horizons as he had decades before.

“Growing up, I loved the sport,” said Williams, a Brooklyn native. “I was sponsored by a gentleman into club handball. Instead of just playing in the streets, I ended up being a part of the handball team of Union Temple, which is a Jewish club in Brooklyn. Then, getting involved with the West Side Y and a few other clubs where I was able to travel and play handball across the country.”

Seeing a void in youth handball in the early 1990s, Williams decided to take on building a sustainable community in New York. At the time, he was the only Black member of the United States Handball Association (USHA) board. He started ICHA, formed a board, filed for nonprofit status and slowly built up the organization.

“We focus on kids, but we do have older divisions,” said Williams, who still plays regularly.

“The primary tournaments are junior tournaments.”

Approximately 500 to 600 kids participate in tournaments each season. Although participants are majority boys, there are about 30 girls each tournament. Williams serves as a referee with the Public Schools Athletic League (PSAL), which has about 3,000 kids across 100 teams.

“To make sure that the kids who are playing in high school have an opportunity to play not just in the high school league, but play in the private leagues, so they have opportunities to be part of a club after high school and be involved with colleges across the country that have handball teams,” said Williams. The ICHA website has information about those colleges.

On November 13, ICHA will hold its dinner and awards gala celebrating some of the best individuals in the New York City handball community. At the gala, the organization gives out scholarships to kids who have been both good athletes and shown community service. Three New York City women will be inducted into the USHA Hall of Fame: Karen McConney, Adrian Floyd and Tracy Davis, who competed in ICHA tournaments in their youth. The long-term goal for the organization is to have an indoor facility at one of the armories in Brooklyn, so there can be yearround training and competitions.

“We set good standards of sportsmanship, respect and courtesy,” said Williams. “These ladies appreciated an environment where they could excel. They won national and world titles and now play socially.”

In September 2026, ICHA will be one of the presenters for the World Wallball Championships along with the World Handball Council and the USHA. “We’re expecting 1,200 players from around 15 countries,” Williams said.

Today, ICHA’s mission is to build partnerships with diverse community groups, including through community clinics that introduce handball to new audiences. The next clinic takes place September 20 in Brooklyn at the ICHA Bed-Stuy/ Crown Heights Outreach Classic in St. John’s Park, with Assemblywoman Stefani L. Zinerman participating.

Brooklyn FC building a legacy in the borough and Gainbridge Super League

By TYRESE ALLEYNE-DAVIS Special to the AmNews

When Brooklyn FC stepped onto the pitch at Maimonides Park (formerly known as MCU Park and KeySpan Park) in Coney Island this past Saturday for their season opener against the reigning champion Tampa Bay Sun, the night meant more than just the start of a new campaign. It represented the continuation of something historic: Brooklyn’s first professional women’s soccer team writing its second chapter in the Gainbridge Super League.

The vision for Brooklyn FC has been shaped by Matt Rizzetta, founder and chairman of North Sixth Group, the club’s principal owner, who has made it clear from the start that the team’s mission extends beyond the field. Under his leadership, the club has embraced a dual purpose — building a competitive team on the pitch while also establishing a cultural and community footprint in Brooklyn.

The Gainbridge Super League, launched in 2024 with Division I sanctioning from U.S. Soccer, was

designed to create more professional opportunities for women while aligning its fall-to-summer schedule with the global game.

Alongside the National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL), it gives American players new pathways to top-level competition. The league features a diverse slate of clubs nationwide, including Carolina Ascent FC, Dallas Trinity FC, DC Power FC, Fort Lauderdale United, Lexington SC, Spokane Zephyr, and Tampa Bay Sun — the league’s inaugural champions.

Saturday’s opener in Coney Island showed just how far Brooklyn FC has come since their turbulent inaugural season. Manager Tomás Tengarrinha, a Portuguese coach with experience building winning sides in Europe, unveiled a refreshed roster and a disciplined 4-3-3 formation. Newcomer Breanna “Bre” Norris anchored the defense in goal, supported by captain Kelsey Hill and returning leaders Leah Scarpelli, Jessica Garziano, and Samantha Kroeger. The squad was also bolstered by international signi ngs, including Croatian forwards Ana Maria and Kiki Marković,

as well as forward Catherine Zimmerman and defender Antoinette “Annie” Williams.

Against Tampa Bay, Brooklyn showed resilience and control.

In the 55th minute, Zimmerman scored the club’s first goal of the season, adjusting brilliantly inside the box to give Brooklyn the lead. Substitutions in the second half proved decisive, as Williams made an instant impact, heading home the eventual winner in the 71st minute — just moments after coming on. Tampa Bay clawed one back in stoppage time through Carlee Giammona, but Brooklyn held firm for a 2–1 victory, a statement result against the league’s defending champions.

Yet the match was about more than just points on the table. For the fans in attendance, many from Brooklyn’s diverse neighborhoods, it was a chance to see women’s professional soccer thrive in their own backyard. Brooklyn FC’s new Front of Kit program, partnering with community institutions like the Brooklyn Children’s Museum, deepens that connection by keeping the borough front and center.

Handball players Adrian Floyd (white top, black shorts), Tracy Davis and Karen McConney (not pictured) will be honored at the upcoming ICHA gala. (Photos courtesy of ICHA)

Brooklyn FC women’s soccer team opened their season at Maimonides Park on Saturday versus the reigning Gainbridge Super League champion Tampa Bay Sun. (Ryan Campbell/Brooklyn FC)

Sports

Momentum of U.S. Open’s first-ever Sunday start intensifies

By B.L.OLIVER

Special to the AmNews

History was made at the outset of the U.S. Open as the tournament began its 145th edition on a Sunday for the first time ever. Traditionally, the Open, which began in 1881 in Newport, Rhode Island, starts on the last Monday of August — until this past weekend.

Top players who took the court on Day 1 included Aryna Sabalenka, Jessica Pegula, Emma Radaucanu, and Jasmine Paolina on the women’s side, in addition to the surprising Alexandra Eala, who became the first player from the Philippines to ever win a singles match in a Grand Slam main draw, defeating Denmark’s Clara Tauson 6-3, 2-6, 7-6 (11).

The 20-year-old Eala, the world’s No. 70-ranked women’s player, was the 2022 US Open junior girls’ singles champion. Tauson was the Open’s No. 14 seed. She faced the world’s No. 95-ranked Cristina Bucsa yester-

day (Wednesday) afternoon.

No. 6 Madison Keys, this year’s Australian Open champ, shockingly didn’t make it out of the first round, losing to Mexico’s Renata Zarazua 6-7 (10), 7-6 (3), and 7-5 with 89 self-inflicted unforced errors. Zarazua is ranked No. 82.

“For the first time in a while, my nerves really got the better of me, and it kind of became a little bit paralyzing,” said Keys, a native of Rock Island, Illinois. “I felt like I was just slow. I wasn’t seeing things the way that I wanted to, which I feel like resulted in a lot of bad decisions and lazy footwork.”

In the men’s draw, No. 7 Novak Djokovic, No. 6 Ben Shelton, and No. 4 Taylor Fritz all had victories, providing the Sunday crowd with an early look at some of the favorites to win the championship.

On Monday night, at age 45, twotime tournament champion (2000, 2001) Venus Williams played in her 25th U.S. Open as a wild card entry

in the main draw. Her presence at Arthur Ashe Stadium drew buzz and generated enthusiasm in her first Grand Slam match since the 2023 U.S. Open. Despite her valiant effort, Williams fell 3-6, 6-2, 1-6 to No. 11 seed Karolina Muchova.

“I knew going into this match that people in this stadium, people in the United States, people around the world were really rooting for me, and that felt great,” said Williams. “That felt great to have that kind of support.”

The U.S. Open is celebrating the 75th anniversary of trailblazer Althea Gibson’s debut at the tournament. Gibson, who died in 2003 in East Orange, New Jersey, was the first Black player — man or woman — to win a Grand Slam event, capturing the French Open in 1956.

“Althea accomplished so much,” Williams said, “and a lot of it has not been given the credit it deserves and the attention and the praise.”

Yesterday, HBCU Live at the

2025 U.S. Open was held for the fifth year, celebrating the culture, history, and pride of Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). A tribute to the 75th anniversary of Althea Gibson break-

ing the color barrier in tennis was part of the festivities. Gibson, born in Clarendon County, South Carolina, and raised in Harlem (New York City), is a graduate of HBCU Florida A&M University.

Jets and Giants rosters remain fluid after mandatory 53-man cut-down

By JAIME C. HARRIS AmNews Sports Editor

The Jets and Giants have shaped the core of their teams before the start of the NFL regular season.

The Jets’ distinct characteristic is youth, while the Giants’ obvious strength is a talented defensive front seven.

The NFL’s deadline for the league’s 32 franchises to submit their initial 53-man rosters was Tuesday at 4 p.m., but they are still fluid. Teams will make trades or claim players cut by other clubs to shore up depth at various positions, and release players or sign them to the standard 16-man practice squad (17 with one player from the NFL’s International Player Pathway Program) to make room for the new additions.

All of the Jets and Giants' picks from this year’s draft held in April made the rosters. That is seven picks for each team. A few may wind up on the practice squad, but it is a good early sign that the scouting department and gen-

eral managers — first-year GM Darren Mougey for the Jets and Joe Schoen of the Giants — have appraised and selected well. However, that is still to be determined on the field in the coming weeks and months.

“Like I’ve said a number of times, these days, these couple days we’ve had, they’re always tough on players, on their families, on their teammates, on coaches, on staff members,” said Daboll on Tuesday. “We understand that. That’s the nature of the NFL.

“…There’s always cut-down dates. We’ll have our team, but there’s always evaluations that take place,” he expanded. “Do you want to add this player? Do you want to claim this player? You’re trying to improve any way you can. I’m excited about the guys that are here right now. We’ll just try to do the best we can.”

Under rookie head coach Aaron Glenn, the Jets retained 17 players with two or fewer years

of experience. This is subject to change and probably will, but it is an indication of Mougey’s and Glenn’s belief in their coaching staff’s capacity to cultivate the raw ability of their youngsters.

The Jets’ most notable cut was wide receiver Malachi Corley, who they drafted in the third round last year, 65th overall, out of Western Kentucky. Corley played in nine games last season, primarily on the special teams unit, and had only three receptions for 16 yards on six targets from the wideout spot.

“This time of the season is the hardest part for any coach,” said Glenn. “You can only have 69 — that’s your 53 and 16 on the practice squad … And I’ve said this before: My job is to hopefully be able to help those men get on another squad if possible.”

On Monday, two-time U.S. Open singles champion Venus Williams played in her first Grand Slam match since 2023. (Margot Jordan photo)

Jets safety Malachi Moore (No. 27) and Giants defensive tackle Darius Alexander are rookie draft picks who made their team’s initial 53-man rosters. (L-R: AP/Adam Hunger; AP/Yuki Iwamura)