New York Amsterdam News March 27 - April 2, 2025

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Blueprint for resolving NYS prison crisis draws political support

By TANDY LAU Amsterdam News Staff, Report for America Corps Member

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The Justice Policy Institute’s (JPI) newest report titled “A Moment of Reckoning,” which delineates a criminal justice reform gameplan toward ending the state’s ongoing prison crisis and was released on March 13, is gaining support.

A wildcat strike among corrections officers across New York and the killing of Robert Brooks at the hands of prison staff thrust the Department of Corrections and Community Supervision (DOCCS) into national headlines. Preliminary reporting and statements by Gov. Kathy Hochul on the death of Harlemite Messiah Nantwi indicates a similar upcoming fallout to Brooks’ killing, which led to the arrest and murder charges for at least a half dozen prison guards.

Over a Zoom press conference, Rep. Nydia Velázquez said the report “lays out the solutions” for reforming the state’s prison system. She pointed to steps delineated by JPI like fully implementing the HALT law banning solitary confinement, establishing violence prevention programs, and expanding clemency. Additionally, the congress-

woman called for accountability for the deaths of Brooks and Nantwi.

“This is truly a moment of reckoning,” said Rep. Velázquez. “And [the report] lays out exactly what must be done to confront the deep injustices in our prison system. New York’s prison system is in a state of emergency — the tragic deaths of Robert Brooks and Messiah Nantwi, along with the illegal work stoppage have exposed deep injustices, rampant abuse, solitary confinement violations, and a system that prioritizes punishment over rehabilitation.

“This is not justice. Formerly incarcerated people have spoken out, telling us this brutality is not an exception.”

Decarceration is a key component to the blueprint, says JPI executive director Jasmine Tyler. She points to a series of parole reform bills in the state legislature which would allow the release of incarcerated individuals serving lengthy sentences who no longer pose public safety concerns.

“We just have to really think about getting people home and the elected officials,” said Tyler over the phone. “And the elected officials [like the] governor [and] legislature have to prioritize that. We just cannot warehouse this volume of people. It’s not safe and it’s unnecessary.”

The Elder Parole and Fair & Timely Parole bills would better guarantee incarcerated individuals who demonstrate “community readiness” for reentry a fair parole hearing. JPI also advocated for the Second-Look Act which allows people in state prisons to apply

Q&A with mayoral candidate State Senator Zellnor Myrie

By ARIAMA C. LONG Amsterdam News Staff

New York State Senator Zellnor Myrie, 38, is a candidate in this year’s crowded mayoral race against the incumbent Eric Adams.

Myrie represents the 20th Senate District in Brooklyn, encompassing Crown Heights, East Flatbush, Park Slope, Prospect Heights, Prospect Lefferts Gardens and Windsor Terrace. A native of Brooklyn, he was raised by immigrant parents from Costa Rica.

Myrie was first elected to office in 2019. He served as chair of the Senate’s Elections Committee, authoring the John R. Lewis New York Voting Rights Act, and now heads the Senate Codes Committee. He is best known for his criminal justice legislation, like the Clean Slate Act, and his leadership in fighting the closure of State University of New York (SUNY) Downstate hospital.

To date he has raised $785,391 in private funds and $2,240,993 through the city’s public matching funds program, according to the latest filings of the New York City Campaign Finance Board (NYCCFB).

The Amsterdam News caught up with Myrie over the phone. Here is what he had to say about his campaign. (Questions and answers have been shortened or edited for space and clarity.)

AmNews: Mayor Eric Adams is usually the law and order candidate, and to his credit, shootings have statistically gone down citywide. I would categorize you more as a criminal justice candidate. I was wondering if you could explain the difference between what law and order versus criminal justice looks like.

Myrie: I think that the value of keeping the public safe is what is centered in our vision for New York City and what has been my approach as a state legislator as well. I grew up in the late 80s and 90s in central Brooklyn, where I had to grapple with two realities. I could be a victim or survivor of gun violence, or I could be a victim or survivor of police brutality. And those two realities are unfortunately very familiar to too many New Yorkers and it is why we both need robust law enforcement that is held accountable, but also approaches that we know help drive down crime. While there may be some tension between those two realities, I don’t believe that they are at odds. The expectation of the leader of New York City is that you were able to hold both of those truths together. We need a system that is just, fair, and we also need to keep people safe in the here and now.

AmNews: The How Many Stops Act came out with a report: Black New Yorkers are still See ZELLNOR MYRIE on page 31

Rep. Nydia Velázquez (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta, File)

Senator Zellnor Myrie spoke at a rally in support of universal afterschool programming in Albany on Mar 20, 2024. (Photo contributed by the Office of New York State Senator Zellnor Myrie)

Cuomo’s going strong, Mamdani gains steam

By ARIAMA C. LONG Amsterdam News Staff

Former Gov. Andrew Cuomo is still leading from the front in the mayoral race, especially among Black and Latino voters, according to new polling.

Candidates have until April 3 to finish collecting at least 3,750 valid signatures on their petitions to get their names on the ballot. Then the city’s primary, using Ranked Choice Voting (RCV), will be on June 24 — so about three months overall to see who will win the Democratic nomination.

“We generally don’t comment on polls, but this shows what we all know,” said Cuomo’s spokesperson Rich Azzopardi in a statement, “the city is in crisis and New Yorkers believe that Andrew Cuomo is the candidate with the experience and the record of results needed to tackle the issues at hand and make New York City a safer and more affordable place for all.”

Cuomo’s campaign strategy has certainly been interesting. He went from being a disembodied boogeyman hovering over incumbent Mayor Eric Adams and the race for months to unofficially campaigning to finally announcing his candidacy late on Saturday, March 1. Despite a pushback from D.R.E.A.M (Don’t Rank Eric or Andrew for Mayor) and Women Against Cuomo co-

alitions because of Cuomo’s resignation over sexual harassment allegations and “failure” to protect nursing homes during the COVID-19 crisis, voters emphatically say they like him as mayor.

More importantly, many “anti-Trump surge” voters think Cuomo can stand up

for New York City against President Donald Trump and “keep the city safe.” He’s been especially favored among Black voters and clergy for years, going all the way back to Trump’s first term. And according to the poll, Cuomo is also popular with Latino voters and women voters.

Based on the opinion poll from Honan Strategy Group, which surveyed 909 likely Democratic primary voters, people want Cuomo for mayor (41%) but are really beginning to feel that Assemblymember Zohran Mamdani (18%) could be up to the task. City Comptroller Brad Lander rounded third place with 8% of the vote. Adams is back to being in fourth position (6%), similar to where he was in 2021. Bringing up the last rankings were Stringer and City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams (4%), who has literally been campaigning for about two weeks. Right below both of them was Senators Zellnor Myrie and Jessica Ramos with 2% of the vote.

Alana Sivin is director of Vera Institute of Justice’s Greater Justice New York (GJNY) initiative and affiliated with Vera Action, their independent nonprofit organization. She said that Cuomo has high name recognition, which helps with polling. Cuomo’s father, Mario M. Cuomo — who served three terms as governor after serving as Lieutenant Governor and Secretary of State — adds weight to the legacy of his name as well. She said in their own polling at Vera Action, they found that voters in general want candidates with serious ideas for public safety, government and police accountability, and more security on the streets and in the subway. Both Cuomo and

AmNews wins multiple NY Press Assoc. Awards

AmNews Staff Reports

The New York Amsterdam News was once again recognized by its peers, this time by the New York Press Association. The AmNews snagged four honors including Writer of the Year for former Blacklight Science Reporter Helina Selemon. Other awards include first place in Division 1 for Coverage of Crime/Courts/Police/ for Report for America corps member Tandy Lau; a third place award for Coverage of the Environment for staffer Ariama C. Long and freelancer Roxanne Scott; and another third place award for Best News or Feature Series for Lau’s twopart series on challenging wrongful convictions.

“We are very excited that our journalism has been honored,” said AmNews publisher Elinor R. Tatum. “It is a testament to the hard work of our reporters, editors, and freelancers.”

“These latest awards show that the work the Amsterdam News does is more necessary and vital than ever,” added AmNews President Siobhan Bennett.

“We are continuing to build a new Harlem Renaissance as we

look to keep growing and serving America’s largest Black and Brown community.

The New York Press Association awards are the latest in a string of honors including 2024 NABJ, Solutions Journalism, Deadline Club awards. Publisher Tatum was also recognized by Editor & Publisher Magazine as their Publisher of the Year and Blacklight Report for America corps member Shannon Chaffers received the Martha Coman Front Page Award from the Newswomen’s Club of New York.

The newspaper’s plans to create

a museum dedicated to the Black press was also highlighted in a recent New York Times article.

“The Amsterdam News has always been dedicated to providing opportunities for journalists of color and the creation of our Blacklight investigative unit is just one manifestation of that dedication. It is gratifying to me for Helina, Blacklight’s first reporter, to receive the Writer of the Year honor from the NYPA. The best is yet to come,” said Damaso Reyes, the AmNews’ Executive & Investigative Editor and founder of the Blacklight.

Former Governor Andrew Cuomo, a mayoral candidate this year, met Duane Shue, owner of NBHD Brûlée in Harlem, this past weekend on Sunday, March 23, 2025. (Photo contributed by Cuomo’s campaign) See

NYS introduces resolution to officially recognize Black Press Day

By ARIAMA C. LONG Amsterdam News Staff

New York State Assemblymember Stefani Zinerman spearheaded legislation to officially recognize Black Press Day, which has been held annually on March 16 for almost 200 years.

“Today we recognize an institution that has been the heart of our nation’s conscience — the Black press,” said Zinerman on the assembly floor.

Zinerman’s resolution was a part of the Black Legislative Task Force’s agenda. It also honored Black-owned and currently operated publications in the state: New York Amsterdam News (1909), the Buffalo Criterion (1925), Harlem Community Newspaper (1995), Our Time Press (1996), the New York Beacon (1981), New York Daily Challenge (1972), New York Carib News (1981), and the Blaque/OUT Magazine (2020).

“We have Black-centered, electronic and print media available to us all. There was a time in this country where that was not afforded to many Black people,” said Senator April N.M. Baskin, from Buffalo.

Black Press Day commemorates the first Black newspaper, called the Freedom’s Journal. It was published in New York City in 1827 by a group gathered by Boston Crummell, Reverend Samuel Cornish, and John Russwurm.

The objective was to discuss the socioeconomic, systemic racism and political challenges Black communities have faced

in the country. At the time major media outlets often attacked and belittled Black people in print, refused to run Black obituaries, and wouldn’t report on major disasters that impacted Black neighborhoods. This radical reporting sparked a wave of Black newspapers. There were 40 in oper-

ation by the 1920s and 1930s, including the Amsterdam News.

While Black voices were actively silenced, the Black press spoke boldly and led the charge against slavery, segregation, and racial injustice. Black journalists and publications championed landmark legisla-

tion like the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act, and extensively covered the Civil Rights Movement.

In 1941, representatives from 22 publications decided to form the National Negro Publishers Association (N.N.P.A.). The N.N.P.A., now the National Newspaper Publishers Association, comprises over 200 Black newspapers in the U.S. and the Virgin Islands. Black journalists remain underrepresented in mainstream media, comprising just 6% of all reporters, while Black media continues to publish up to six times more coverage on critical issues such as systemic racism, health disparities, voting rights, economic justice, and police reform than traditional news outlets. The Black press remains essential in the current U.S. political climate, reinforcing its role as the fourth estate that holds power accountable, said electeds.

“Often dubbed the fourth branch of government,” said Queens Assemblymember Khaleel Anderson, “it’s called that because it brings out the stories that are important to our communities. It should be and must be uplifted. We’ve heard of the adage, ‘If it bleeds, it leads.’ We know with Black press we’re looking for a few good stories, looking to tell a history, to combat the erasure that’s historically been happening in our communities.”

Assemblymember Brian Cunningham noted that it’s crucial to not only recognize the labor of Black journalism but to fully fund the state’s Black publications.

NYC jails death count rises as Rikers’ closure receives new roadmap

By TANDY LAU Amsterdam News Staff, Report for America Corps Member

Two people died in or immediately after NYC Department of Correction (DOC) custody this past week as the city jail population surpassed 7,000. The rise in the prison population is due to a combination of more judges setting bail and delayed prison transfers resulting from the recent illegal strike by corrections officers.

A recent report by the Lippman Independent Commission — the task force appointed by the city to plan the upcoming closure of Rikers Island — challenges the city’s acquiescence toward failing to replace the existing dilapidated jails and reduce the number of people held in them as solutions to prevent further custody deaths. The findings, which provided an updated blueprint for closing Rikers, came out last week coinciding with the two deaths.

Ariel Quidone died after he was reportedly found unresponsive in his jail cell and transferred to a hospital last week. However, the DOC did not respond to requests for comment as the 20-year-old was released on his own recognizance shortly before his passing.

Jail staff found Sonia Reyes unresponsive

last Thursday morning, March 20. She was pronounced dead 30 minutes later despite EMS response. The 55-year-old woman was held at West Facility, which houses Rikers Island’s Communicable Disease Unit.

“Care for those in our facilities is a pillar of our mission and a loss of life weighs heavily on every member of service,” stated DOC commissioner Lynelle Maginley-Liddie. “The department grieves this loss and shares our condolences with her loved ones. This death will be investigated thoroughly.”

Two other people died in DOC custody over the past month. Both were Black New Yorkers as jail conditions disproportionately impact people of color across the board. Black and Brown people make up 88% of people in DOC custody and 85% of uniformed staff.

The report described Rikers, which houses most city jails, as “decrepit, dysfunctional and violent.” The commission was re-appointed in 2023 by Council Speaker Adrienne Adams, with Mayor Eric Adams’ support, to roll out Rikers Island’s legally-mandated closure by August 31, 2027. Namesake Jonathan Lippman, the former top New York State judge, leads the task force.

This June 20, 2014 file photo shows the Rikers Island jail with the New York skyline in the background. New York Mayor Bill de Blasio plans to announce his $130 million, four-year plan to overhaul how the nation’s most populous city deals with mentally ill and drug-addicted suspects, diverting many to treatment instead of jail. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig, File)

State Assemblymember Stefani Zinerman held a press conference in Albany to speak about the importance of the Black Press on March 19. (Ariama C. Long and Assemblymember Eddie Gibbs.)

The Carter brothers, pioneers in NYC’s cannabis industry

How Rodney and Brandon Carter transformed TRENDS into NYC’s largest cannabis dispensary

New Yorker

By JASON GONZALEZ Special to AmNews

The Carter brothers can finally exhale.

In Long Island City, Queens, where gentrification is rampant, a story of resilience and innovation emerges. Rodney “Hurricane” Carter Jr., 43, and Brandon Carter, 41, are the innovative brothers from Jamaica, Queens, who are the key figures behind TRENDS, a pioneering cannabis dispensary. The Carter brothers have built New York City’s largest cannabis dispensary, creating a hub for culture, wellness, and community engagement.

“It became real for me the moment my brother called to say we got approved for the license,” Brandon said. “I was in Africa celebrating my 40th birthday. It felt like hitting the lottery. We saw this as a form of reparations, an opportunity that could change our family’s future. All we needed was that foot in the door to make magic happen.”

“At first, I wasn’t so sure,” said certified fitness instructor Rodney Jr. “Competing with smoke shops and the legacy market seemed like a challenge. I figured smoke shops would eventually be shut down, but the legacy market isn’t going anywhere, at least not for another 100 years, like alcohol after prohibition.”

The journey to TRENDS

The path to success was far from easy for Rodney Jr., a husband and father of two

teenage girls. The same goes for Brandon, set to be a father for the first time. Both brothers, along with their father Rodney Carter, Sr., 66, have faced arrests for cannabis possession, casting long shadows over their lives. Nearly three decades ago, Rodney Sr. received a conviction that would shape his family’s future. The opportunity to open a licensed dispensary represented more than a business venture for the Carters; it was a chance to rectify past injustices and secure generational wealth.

“My arrest happened during the stopand-frisk era, while I was coming home from college,” said Brandon, who had attended SUNY Delhi in Upstate New York. Mine and Rodney Jr.’s charges were reduced, so we have no convictions. But my father’s conviction qualified us for the social equity license.”

“I was arrested multiple times for possession,” Rodney Jr. said. “My charges were always reduced, but my father’s conviction remained. None of us served real time, but being arrested for a plant is still beyond frustrating.”

A vision realized

The Carter brothers channeled their experiences into creating TRENDS, a groundbreaking 6,000-square-foot venue that stands as a testament to their dedication and entrepreneurial spirit. Unlike conventional dispensaries, TRENDS offers See BNY on page 29

THE URBAN AGENDA

By David R. Jones, Esq

Albany can stand up to Trump by defending and funding the MTA

After attempting to kill congestion pricing by rescinding federal approval for the program, President Donald Trump has once again taken aim at the MTA this week.

Last week, the Trump Administration threatened to withhold federal funding from the agency over demands to see their data on crime and safety. While it is important that New Yorkers and visitors feel safe on one of the nation’s most vital and expansive transit networks, this appears to be another reckless attempt by the Administration to force New York to “bend the knee” to Washington.

Luckily, New York has an opportunity to stand up to this saber-rattling. As the Governor and legislative leaders finalize the state’s yearly budget by April 1, they can defend the transportation lifeline we depend on by fully funding the agency’s $68 billion 2025-2029 Capital Plan. The Trump administration is unlikely to step back from its antagonistic stance anytime soon, and we must ensure that such an essential public service can continue connecting New Yorkers to opportunities across the state.

It would be an understatement to say that the MTA is integral to the success of the state and its people. The agency carries over 5.5 million riders every weekday, and more than 80 percent of the state’s personal income tax and 65 percent of sales tax revenue are generated in the MTA’s service areas. Simply put, our transit system is the foundation on which our state’s economy rests.

The beauty of relying so deeply on public transit is that it empowers everyone, of any income, to get where they need to go at a low cost. Because of the MTA, New York City households have, on average, some of the lowest transportation costs in the country. In a city where nearly every other expense is markedly higher than the national average, a strong public transit system is one of the few factors making it possible for working class individuals and families to live here. One can argue that our public transit system is one of the key drivers of equity in our state.

Leaders in Albany must protect one of our city’s last bastions of affordability, and that means taking its funding into our own hands. By investing fully in the Capital Plan, the Governor and legislature will ensure the Trump Administration’s posturing doesn’t tangibly impact New Yorkers of all incomes who need it to get to work, school, medical appointments, and everything in between.

Importantly, funding the Capital Plan fully does not just maintain the transit status quo. This Capital Plan will provide greater access to opportunity, especially

through projects like the Interborough Express (IBX), which will connect neighborhoods – particularly Black and Latino communities – across Brooklyn and Queens that have been historically underserved with transit options. Projects like the IBX will expand the number of jobs accessible by transit to a million people living in these neighborhoods, shorten workers’ commutes, and encourage greater economic development opportunities in those areas.

Even beyond those projects, economic opportunities are stitched into the fabric of this Capital Plan. The plan will generate an estimated $106 billion in economic output and 72,000 jobs statewide over five years.

Businesses and workers alike in New York already benefit significantly from the MTA’s operations – since 2010, the agency has contracted with more than 800 firms and thousands of subcontractors across the state, for a total value of $54 billion. And the MTA has been thoughtful about contracting as a consistent leader in working with Minority- and Women-Owned Businesses (MWBE) and Disadvantaged Businesses Enterprises (DBE). The agency routinely surpasses the New York State MWBE contracting goal of 30 percent participation every year and ranks number one of all State agencies and public authorities in dollars paid to MWBE firms.

If fully funded, the Capital Plan will build upon this momentum to support historically underutilized businesses, awarding an historic $6.5 billion to $7.5 billion in contracts to State Certified MWBEs, Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Businesses (SDVOB), and/or Disadvantaged Business Enterprises (DBE). With that in mind, the Trump Administration’s efforts to hinder the MTA would be a major step back to achieve a diverse and inclusive economy that prioritizes equity for Black, brown, and other historically overlooked small business owners.

Whether New Yorkers are getting around or getting ahead, we depend on our public transit system. Federal officials know that, which is why they are attempting to hamstring the MTA as a way to put a thumb in the Empire State’s eye. But state leaders must step up in this moment to protect all of our communities and our economic futures. By fully funding the MTA’s 20252029 Capital Plan and unleashing the opportunities it contains, New York will not only safeguard and strengthen a vital public resource, but it will stand tall against the Trump Administration’s efforts to strongarm our state into submission.

The Carter Brothers, (L-R) Rodney “Hurricane” Carter Jr. (CEO), Brandon Carter (COO) (Monica Vie photo)

Pandemic solutions: COVID-19 sheds light on systemic biases Black physicians face

By JORDYN PYKON Special to the AmNews

Is the United States prepared for the next pandemic? Bird flu cases are on the rise, newly elected President Donald Trump recently removed the United States from the World Health Organization, and Robert F. Kennedy, who has a history of propagating vaccine misinformation, and attempted to suppress COVID-19 vaccine authorizations during the pandemic, is now running the Department of Health and Human Services.

If another pandemic should come our way — and experts say it will — it will be imperative to learn from the systemic consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic, such as the undue hardships endured by Black doctors.

While COVID-19-driven physician burnout increased tremendously during the pandemic, the stressors contributing to this burnout were not experienced equally among all physician populations. Minority as well as marginalized physicians were disproportionately impacted early in the pandemic compared to other physicians, with Black doctors being especially affected, according to an American Medical Association (AMA) report from 2020. The outcomes of this reinforce the legacy of health inequities and structural racism experienced by Black Americans.

Diana Lemos, one of the authors of the AMA report, told the AmNews that she and her team decided to conduct this study after seeing many reports and articles in the media emphasizing the specific ways physicians of color were impacted by the pandemic. Through a web-based survey, she and her team analyzed the impacts the pandemic had on non-minoritized, nonmarginalized physicians.

The report showed that Black physicians were among those who expressed the “highest rates of burnout onset or increase due to COVID-19.” Other findings from the AMA report found that Black physicians were more likely to experience “racist treatment from colleagues or patients” and that they were among those more likely to have a lack of resources to provide COVID-19 testing and treatment.

The lack of Black doctors

These findings are concerning given the shortage of Black doctors. Data from the AAMC’s 2023 Physician Workforce Data Dashboard shows that Black physicians represented 5.2% of the medical workforce in 2023, while United States Census data from the same year shows that Black individuals comprise 13.7% of the population.

In addition to the lack of Black physi -

cians, many doctors overall are leaving the medical field. A report from Definitive Healthcare said that 71,309 physicians left the workforce between 2021 and 2022, in part due to pandemic factors relating to physician burnout, as well as scarcity of staff and resources.

HIV doctor Dr. Stella Safo said that because Black and Brown physicians already experience baseline discrimination, the lack of protection and appreciation during the pandemic impacted them more intensely.

Immediate past president of the National Medical Association, Dr. Yolanda Lawson, told the AmNews physician burnout was a national crisis that was brewing pre-pandemic, and that burnout symptoms were aggravated by the stress of COVID-19.

“I think the pandemic was just the tip of the iceberg,” Lawson said. “There’s been consolidation in health care. We know that there are more administrative tasks physicians are responsible for, and some of those factors have contributed to burnout. And then you take something like the COVID19 pandemic and it definitely exacerbated it due to increased work hours, personal illness, [and] personal loss — these are all still emotional impacts.”

Lawson added that Black physicians may not have “equal footing” when it comes to resources for example, compared with white doctors, contributing to heightened stress. In addition, Lawson said seeing a disproportionate amount of Black patients die emotionally affected Black doctors. She experienced these effects herself working as a physician in Dallas.

“I can personally say I had never seen that many of my patients die as I did during that time. I have never gone through something like that through such a short period of time,” said Lawson.

An invited commentary published in 2020 signaled alarm that the COVID-19 pandemic could cause reductions in Black doctors due to various disparities experienced by the population, including the lack medical resources Black physicians had when caring for Black patients who were “overrepresented among cases of COVID19” and because they had “more comorbid chronic conditions that increase their own susceptibility to mortality from COVID-19.”

It also noted the negative mental health impacts that Black physicians may have experienced during the pandemic, suggesting that “being responsible for providing care to a disproportionate number of patients with COVID-19 — especially at sites with inadequate resources — also places Black physicians at greater risk for developing the mental health issues seen in health care workers dealing with the pandemic, including anxiety, depression,

and posttraumatic stress disorder as well as imposter syndrome, loneliness, and survivor guilt.”

The Pandemic’s impact

Dr. Janeen Marshall experienced first hand the difficulties with having a lack of resources during the pandemic, and like Lawson, saw many of her patients die from COVID-19. In November 2019, Marshall was working as a medical director at a nursing and rehabilitation center in the Bronx, which primarily served patients of color. By December, Marshall saw her patients getting sick and dying suddenly.

“People [were] coming out of the hospital and they [were] fine. And then the next day they [were] not. And then the next day they [were] dead,” Marshall said.

In March 2020, when the pandemic was reaching its height, Marshall was petrified to go to work. The nursing and rehabilitation facility’s morgue had three beds, but patients were dying 20 at a time.

“And at that point, nursing homes weren’t given any additional supplies,” Marshall said. “We weren’t set up like an acute hospital at all.”

On top of the pressure she experienced at work, Marshall, a new mother, lived with her father who had dementia in an apartment in the Bronx. After returning from a stressful day at work, Marshall said she would remove all her clothing at the apartment door, put her clothes in the washer and dryer, and shower.

“This was my life for weeks,” Marshall said.

Marshall had to grapple with keeping her patients, her family, and herself alive. It wasn’t just fear that she felt, it was also anger at the fact that the health outcomes and the lack of resources her facility had were unique to the Bronx.

“I came back to the Bronx to practice in the Bronx because that’s where I’m from,” Marshall said. “Those are my people. I think that was also hard because me and my staff, we all look alike, and we look like the patients in the beds.”

Lemos told the AmNews that when emergencies hit physicians of color, they are likely to be overburdened because they are more likely to already be serving a population with unmet needs. In addition, physicians of color may experience burnout from working in settings that lack access to essential resources, limiting the quality of care they can provide. Burnout can also stem from experiencing racism in the workplace.

A lack of resources

During the pandemic, Dr. Oni Blackstock, an HIV physician, researcher, and founder and executive director of Health Justice, remembers feeling like she did not have the See Story on next page Dr. Oni Blackstock

Diana Lemos

Dr. Oni Blackstock

resources to support her patients holistically when she was working at a public hospital caring for patients with HIV. This left her frustrated and disheartened.

Blackstock told the AmNews physicians of color were more impacted by pandemic burnout because they often work at under-resourced hospitals or community-based hospitals in communities of color.

“A disproportionate burden was placed on hospitals in Black and Brown communities, impacting the providers who work there, as well as the patient care they were able to provide, and thus the outcomes for patients,” Blackstock said. She added that the stress of being one of few physicians of color was intensified by caring for the sickest patients in places with limited resources.

While working in these low-resource settings, Safo said Black physicians were often asked to choose between themselves and their patients.

“The choice isn’t fair because at the end of the day, we should all be able to bring our full selves into the work versus sacrificing ourselves for the work,” said Safo.

“And that’s what I think a lot of Black physicians feel like they’re asked to do.”

Many Black physicians, Safo said, were deeply impacted by the death of Susan Moore, a Black physician who contracted COVID-19 and died after being ignored and mistreated by hospital staff.

“There’s this sense and this sentiment that these institutions do not appreciate you,” said Safo. “And if you died, they would simply replace you with the next person.”

Difficulties in direct patient care continued for Marshall when she started working as the deputy chief of geriatrics and chief of palliative medicine at the James J. Peters VA Medical Center, in the Bronx in August 2020.

“It was infuriating to practice in that part of the Bronx for patients who really should be getting better and not even the federal system is getting it right for us,”

Marshall said. “That part really, I think angered me more than anything else.”

In September 2022, Marshall returned to Mount Sinai, where she had done her residency and fellowship, as founding medical director for the Rehabilitation at Home program for Mount Sinai at Home as well as for a mid-career palliative care fellowship.

Eventually, the stress and burnout of her workload became insurmountable. Marshall had to balance many roles and nonclinical tasks like wading through an unending inbox of messages, requests, and follow-ups that far exceeded what a clinician reasonably can accomplish in a day.

The burdens of the non-patient workload drove Marshall to leave direct patient care. She now works remotely as a medical director for Biofourmis, where she oversees medical care for patients in the post-acute phase in addition to supporting efforts to design novel programs, and strategizing ways to improve patient care and program improvement.

Leaving medicine

Many of Lawson’s colleagues left clinical medicine altogether due to the pan -

demic, highlighting that their mental health was impacted by the disproportionate number of Black people who suffered or died of COVID-19. Many physicians she speaks to have some level of mental fatigue and burnout that lingers from the pandemic.

Similarly, Blackstock’s colleagues worked at hospitals with sicker patients, which contributed to some physicians she knew leaving the health care field.

“It was the moral injury of not being able to do all we can for our patients,” said Blackstock. “Not having enough ventilators, not having enough therapists to incubate patients, not having enough medications. If people were already thinking of leaving, if people already had doubts, this was that experience that cemented it for many people.”

It is anticipated that by 2034, the overall physician shortage could intensify, with losses ranging from 37,800 and 124,000, according to a report by the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC).

Lawson said if this exodus continues, the system will never stabilize and have adequate numbers to care for the population.

Dr. Malika Fair, senior director of equity and social accountability at the AAMC, said as the population ages and medical needs become more complex, the demand for physicians is not going to be met by the current supply. With the shortage of Black physicians, there is concern that Black populations, who are more likely to be medically underserved, will have less access to health care. Physicians who come from historically marginalized racial ethnic groups, such as Black, Hispanic, Latino, and Native American populations, are more likely to serve patients who are medically underserved.

“Physicians who represent the diversity of our nation are a key part of ensuring access to care for all Americans,” said Fair.

In addition, when a health provider and patient share the same race, there are many associated positive health outcomes for Black patients. For example, patients are more likely to follow physician guidance. Areas where there are more Black physicians result in longer lifespans Black populations.

“We need more Black physicians, but we also need all health care providers, regardless of race, to be able to provide care to Black patients and all patients too,” Blackstock said. “We want to work on increasing the number of Black physicians, but we also want to make sure that people are trained in a way where they are providing culturally and structurally responsive care to people.”

Finding solutions

There is no doubt that Black physicians are indispensable and integral to the medical workforce. Despite the challenges impacting this physician

population, it’s not too late to retain Black doctors and grow the workforce. In changing these structures, Blackstock said that it is important to address and rectify the consequences of the systemic roadblocks that have prevented building the Black physician workforce.

The historical roots of the shortage are multi-faceted, but can be attributed in part to the Flexner report — a 1910 study credited with dissolving a slew of medical schools, including five of seven Black medical colleges. The closure of these schools led to an estimated loss of 30,000 to 35,000 Black doctors.

One reparation effort that Blackstock suggested includes alleviating the cost burden of medical school. Black physicians have been found to accrue higher amounts of anticipated debt from attending medical school, which has been suggested as a factor preventing future Black doctors from medical school enrollment. Blackstock said that because Black physicians tend to lack intergenerational wealth, they can be at a disadvantage when it comes to paying for medical school.

This debt also impacts Black physicians from working in the primary care field. According to Blackstock, because Black physicians tend to work in underserved and under-resourced communities, their salaries tend to be lower, making it more challenging for Black physicians to pay off their high medical school debt. This may propel Black physicians to seek out jobs more lucrative than those in primary care, such as positions within the pharmaceutical or insurance industries. This holds true too for academia, said Blackstock, where salaries hang low compared to other health care fields. She said that loan repayments, and financial bonuses and incentives can support Black physicians pay off their high debt burden.

Blackstock added that free tuition programs provided by historically Black medical schools can also serve to support future Black doctors. These institutions are “powerhouses for Black physicians,” according to Blackstock, turning out a large number of Black doctors and demonstrating how they make students feel supported. Medical school environments that lack strong support systems for Black students can result in them prematurely leaving their program — an occurrence Blackstock observed while attending Harvard Medical School.

But the onus should not just be on historically Black medical colleges, as all medical schools can work towards cultivating a more diverse student population. Lawson said factors that are impacting the preservation of Black doctors include the Supreme Court decision putting an end to affirmative action and higher education being impacted by policies banning DEI. To address this, Lawson said that medical schools need See PANDEMIC SOLUTIONS on page 11

S. Safo

Yolanda Lawson

Janeen Marshall

Celebrating Black Girl Magic: Councilmember Stevens’ 2nd annual Bronx brunch

By ARIAMA C. LONG Amsterdam News Staff

Councilmember Althea Stevens celebrated her 2nd Annual Black Girl Magic Day Brunch at the Bronx Music Hall, honoring Black women leaders and community members. This year’s theme was “Wealth in Health.”

Stevens passed a resolution in 2023, designating Feb. 15 as Black Girl Magic Day in New York City. The first event was held at City Hall. This year, Stevens pushed back the brunch to coincide with Women’s History Month and specifically to honor Black and Brown women of the Bronx, she said.

“Black women in the Bronx aren’t necessarily [always] highlighted,” said Stevens. “This is important to just bring women together. To celebrate the work that we’re doing, and the contributions that we’re making, and to just really uplift each other. These events give me so much energy and so much life. It’s really a place where we can network and continue to grow and build. This year, the theme is wealth and health, and really about how we use this time and moment to take care of ourselves and have self-care.”

The brunch featured chicken and waffle plates, local vendors selling unique items, dances and poetry performances; and self

care activities like facials, massages, and a healing circle were available to attendees.

Stevens was joined by Assemblymember Chantel Jackson, Bronx Borough President Vanessa Gibson, Assemblymember Landon Dais, a representative for Councilmember Kevin Riley, and City Council Speaker Adrienne E. Adams. Each elected official awarded Black women leaders in community spaces that they chose with a proclamation or citation.

“It’s always a blessing to be a Black girl and we are definitely magic,” said Jackson. “But sometimes you get discouraged when you feel like no one’s watching you, no one’s

looking at you. A lot of the spotlight is on the elected officials, but the truth is that we know our community partners are the ones doing the hard work every single day. And so it’s important that we let them know they are seen, they are heard, and we want to honor them, make sure they feel special.”

There were 18 honorees: former Assemblymember Latoya Joyner, Lanita Jones, Justina Boateng, Mary Lawson, Leah Richardson, Dionne Ahart, Seleste Burns, Althea Matthews, Gwendolyn Kamara, Edriona Saija Stroud, Miriam Tabb, Eloise Bennett, Jeina Carmen Ettricks, Nichaela Slaven, Felicia Renay White, Destiny Wesby, Eva

community, I don’t know where we would be in the Bronx. My job would be impossible.”

White, like many of the honorees, said she was really nervous to speak. She recounted attending the Million Women’s March in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1997. “It was a powerful feeling, seeing all the beautiful women there, and I have the same feeling now,” said White.

Adams, who is running for mayor this year, was excited to speak about the city’s diverse, majority-women city council who have prioritized ending the maternal mortality crisis and its persistent racial disparities, among other key issues.

McFadden, and Lucille White.

Dais, a self-proclaimed member of the “men who get it” club, chose to honor public housing activist Lucille White.

“I think about my mama from Brownsville, Brooklyn, from Van Dyke Houses. My grandmother, Lillian, was the organizer in her building, similar to my awardee,” said Dais. “She has a job that is tough and she doesn’t get paid for it. What I do know is that she gives every day, every second, every minute, every hour to make sure those young people in that community have a leader within Sedgwick Houses. And without more people like her throughout our

“Our queens, we recognize you, we see you, we love you, we are you,” said Adams. “We go no place without you, and I’m going to digress just a minute because I’m so proud to be a Black woman I don’t know what to do. I am embarking on certain new plateaus and new higher heights in my life right now, and I’m so proud to be a Black woman. We have to ensure that we are paving the way for our sisters, our cousins, our aunties, our mothers, our grandmothers, and speaking here with you today as the first grandmother, the first mother to lead the city council, I can tell you that nothing feels better than to be a role model to your own people. Nothing.”

(From left to right) Bronx Borough President Vanessa Gibson, Assemblymember Chantel Jackson, honoree Eva McFadden, and Councilmember Althea Stevens.

Bronx Councilmember Althea Stevens (far left) with honorees at her Black Girl Magic Brunch at Bronx Music Hall on Sunday, March 23. (Ariama C. Long photos)

(From left to right) Bronx Councilmember Althea Stevens, honoree Lucille White, and Assemblymember Landon Dais.

Book Review: PLUNDERED: How Racist Policies Undermine Black Homeownership in America

By KAREN JUANITA CARRILLO Amsterdam News Staff

From the moment Black people arrived on what would become United States soil, governmental policies rooted in race have impacted our lives.

Bernadette Atuahene, a professor of law at the University of Southern California’s Gould School of Law, writes about what she terms a practice of “predatory governance” in her new book, “Plundered: How Racist Policies Undermine Black Homeownership in America.” Predatory governance, Atuahene says, is “when local governments intentionally or unintentionally raise public dollars through racist policies.”

Her book examines how inherited wealth shapes lives in the U.S., and how that wealth can be curtailed by policies like predatory governance. Atuahene tells the story of a Black family and the home they inherited from a grandfather who started out as a sharecropper but came to Detroit, Michigan, and was able to get work in the automobile industry. That same industry, at around the same time, employed an immigrant white Italian man who was also able to purchase a home for his family because of his work in the automobile industry.

Because the Italian man was accepted as white, he was able to earn more income than the Black former sharecropper. And,

because of his skin color, the Italian immigrant was able to move his family to the newer homes being built in Detroit’s suburbs. His children were able to attend better schools, and he was soon able to switch to a job in a newly constructed automobile factory in the suburbs.

Government redlining, exclusionary zoning in the suburbs, and disinvestment in predominantly Black cities like Detroit condemned residents to live in properties that depreciated in value and ultimately eroded any gains in generational wealth.

The grandson of the Italian immigrant still lives in the home his family purchased in 1976 for $28,000. With years of upgrades, that home is now worth $250,000. The granddaughter of the Black sharecropper inherited a home in Detroit, where home values have plummeted. Her family home was valued at less than $10,000, yet the city was taxing the property based on a higher home value estimation. When Detroit homeowners could not pay those taxes, they, like the granddaughter of the sharecropper, lost their homes to foreclosure.

“The federal government has never taken responsibility for the fact that, by cutting off investment in Black neighborhoods through redlining, it manufactured the blight that its urban renewal programs sought to erase,” Atuahene writes in her book: “This seemingly righteous work of eradicating blight had unholy consequences because razed alongside the ‘blight’ were also long-accumulated social capital and ‘unblighted’ residences. Gone, too, were the productive enterprises and vibrant cultural spaces –– such as the jazz and blues clubs, barbershops, and grocery stores.”

Dr. Atuahene was in New York City last week to participate in a discussion about her book with New York State Senator Cordell Cleare. She spoke at an NYU Law School event on Thursday, March 20, sponsored by New York University’s Center on Race, Inequality and the Law, and Fordham University’s Center on Race, Law and Justice. The professor is using the promotion of her book as a means of raising awareness about two groups she is

collaborating with to confront issues highlighted in her work. Atuahene works with the Coalition for Property Tax Justice, a collection of grassroots organizations that helps homeowners in Detroit get home evaluations that ensure that they are fairly taxed. She also helped form the Dignity Restoration Project (DRP), which is trying to raise $10 million to help compensate Detroit homeowners who lost their homes.

DRP funds would go to the homeowners who were hit the hardest –– meaning

people who were subjected to unregulated property taxes and had their homes foreclosed on. “The idea is if we can’t get it right in Detroit, where the theft was so recent, then the whole reparations movement is in peril,” says Atuahene. “You know, the question [about establishing reparations for the Black community] is what do you think we should start with, Jim Crow? We’re saying, let's start with what happened yesterday. If we can't get yesterday right, then this whole project is in peril.”

Book cover for “Plundered: How Racist Policies Undermine Black Homeownership in America” by Bernadette Atuahene. (Hachette Book Group photos)

USC Law School Professor Bernadette Atuahene.

Union Matters

Chicago celebrates new museum for Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters Ladies Auxiliary

By KAREN JUANITA CARRILLO Amsterdam News Staff

This year’s Women’s History Month will end with a special celebration in Chicago honoring the legacy of the Ladies Auxiliary of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters (BSCP), the female extension of the first chartered Black labor union in the U.S. The BSCP was chartered under the American Federation of Labor in 1925: it unionized Black men who worked as porters on Pullman railroad cars in the early 20th century. The Ladies Auxiliary consisted of wives and female relatives who actively raised funds and coordinated organizing efforts for the BSCP, especially when the male railroad porters were on work assignments and unable to take on such tasks.

On Saturday, March 29, there will be a groundbreaking for the BSCP Ladies Auxiliary Women’s History Museum, the latest addition to a stretch of land in Chicago’s historic South Side Pullman community neighborhood. It’s an area that National A.

Philip Randolph Pullman Porter Museum (NAPRPPM) directors are calling “A. Philip Randolph’s Way.” With the Pullman Porter Museum, the Ladies Auxiliary Museum, and more museums and businesses planned for the area, Pullman Porter Museum directors say they are creating the first Black Labor History Tourism District in America.

“What we’re doing, well, we’re multitasking,” Dr. Lyn Hughes, founder of the NAPRPPM, told the AmNews. “We’re actually doing two things at once because we’re expanding the existing A. Philip Randolph Pullman Porter Museum. In addition to that, we’re adding the Ladies Auxiliary Women’s History Museum. And that’s just one of them. On Randolph’s way, there will be those two institutions, but there are others. We want to have a series of businesses and for-profit entities all on the same block.”

Construction of the new museum and efforts to expand the labor history district are being self-funded. Dr. Hughes said the Ladies Auxiliary Museum is not underwrit-

ten by city, state, or federal funds –– the museum is operating based on admission fees, private funding sources, and community donations.

“We intentionally chose to operate on an entrepreneurial model because I think that, and maybe I’m wrong, but as the founder, I felt there would be no one else standing there to say what we couldn’t do. We decided that if we operated on an entrepreneurial model, we would be able to successfully start and complete our intent without interruption or having to be concerned about if a funder didn’t like what we’d be doing, and they would cut the funding off. So, if we didn’t have any funding that they could cut off, we could go full blast and do what we wanted to do.”

Construction drawings for the Ladies Auxiliary Museum were put together three years ago. But at the time, the plans were in place without the resources to buy a property. Then, two years ago, museum directors found out about a property a few doors down from the Pullman Porters Museum

that was being sold by Illinois’ Cook County Land Bank. The museum was able to acquire the property and just closed on it last month. After putting the permits through, they are now ready to build.

This year marks the 30th anniversary of the Pullman Porter Museum, which now features a Reverend Jesse Jackson Sr. Civil Rights Wing. The upcoming Ladies Auxiliary Museum will include a Madame C. J. Walker Wing, alongside exhibits honoring figures like former U.S. Congresswoman Shirley Chisholm and former U.S. Senator Carol Moseley Braun. Plans are for the district to also include a Jesse White Labor History Research Library, named to honor the now-former Illinois Secretary of State. The Ladies Auxiliary Museum is a tribute to Black women in particular, Dr. Hughes points out. “Not to say that we’re separating ourselves, but there’s no reason why we can’t celebrate Black women,” she said. “The point is that it’s very intentional because we like to see young Black children see what they could be if they wanted to.”

View of the National A. Philip Randolph Pullman Porter Museum. (National A. Philip Randolph Pullman Porter Museum photos)

Dr. Lyn Hughes, founder of the National A. Philip Randolph Pullman Porter Museum.

Pandemic solutions

to “develop broad policies that will allow for inclusiveness” which should be incorporated in the admissions process.

The admissions processes should also seek to take a holistic approach, considering all of a candidate’s talents and their background when determining whether they will be a good fit for an institution’s program, Blackstock said. Committees should also be diverse with themselves and have unified understanding regarding the importance of a diverse workforce.

Early exposure to seeing Black physician representation is also crucial. It is imperative for young Black individuals to see that becoming a doctor is achievable and mentoring programs can support this effort.

“You can’t be what you can’t see,” Blackstock said. To support under-resourced hospitals, Blackstock said that there needs to be an “equity centered funding for hospitals that bear a disproportionate burden in terms of taking care of people who are uninsured,” explaining how it’s important that these hospitals receive Medicaid Disproportionate Share Hospital Payments so that hospitals “can build up their capacity to be prepared when the next pandemic strikes.”

And while it is crucial to focus on the barriers faced by physicians of color, their experience is often the canary in the coal mine, according to Safo. The realities that impact doctors of color are still issues that affect all physicians, not just those who are marginalized. It is crucial to have conversations about the issues facing doctors of color in order to eliminate the systemic issues in health care — and to address these experiences before the next pandemic arrives.

NEED HEALTH INSURANCE

Amanda Ulloa Illustration / AmNews

The Trump administration is a mistake

A serious security breach that in ordinary times would be an ultimate disaster for the White House, will probably be of little consequence, and just another troubling incident in a political universe that is topsy-turvy.

Here is the deal: Jeffrey Goldberg, editor-in-chief of The Atlantic magazine, was inadvertently included in a Signal chat called “Houthi PC Small Group” along with 18 other members of top Trump cabinet members. They were assembled to discuss war plans for U.S. attacks on the Houthi armed group in Yemen.

During an interview on Radio Atlantic, Goldberg recounts how he was contacted and what transpired during the meeting. “I was in Salzburg, Austria, and what I’m thinking is not much, because in my line of work, that wouldn’t be the craziest thing to happen,” he said. “Well, I am always cautious about people reaching out across social media or messaging apps. I don’t assume that they’re the person that the name suggests, but I would have to say that I was glad, also, and I was hoping that it was the actual Michael Waltz, because I’d like to be in regular contact with Michael Waltz for all the obvious journalistic reasons.

“And then I got added to a group, a Signal group — you know, a text-messaging chat group —called ‘Houthi PC small group.’ PC I know from covering White House issues, you know: ‘Principals Committee,’ basically the top leaders of Cabinet departments generally associated with nationalsecurity issues, and then a message from Mike Waltz talking about how he’s putting together this PC small group to talk about the Houthis because something’s gonna be happening over the next 72 hours. That’s when I sort of think — I mean, hon-

estly, the first thing I thought was: I’m really being spoofed. Like, somebody is — this is a hoax. This is a state or non-state actor, probably a nonstate actor, looking to entrap, embarrass, whatever word you wanna use, a journalist.”

Suddenly, and surprisingly, Goldberg was part of the top security session with Vice President J.D. Vance, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and Tulsi Gabbard, the director of national intelligence. He was the proverbial fly on the wall in a discussion about war plans against an enemy. Some of you are old enough to remember when you picked up the phone and listened to your party line. Of course, this is false equivalency since hearing your neighbors’ gossip is an error of the phone company while this mistake is one contrived by a key Trump advisor. You can go online to see or hear the entire disclosure, one that the Trump administration at first admitted was a mistake and then brushed aside as more ado about nothing and that the attacks on the Houthis were successful. At least one of the cabinet members stated that Trump didn’t know about any of this, and he, too, said he was not aware. But Trump’s ignorance about things is nothing new, and what he doesn’t know would fill volumes. And, by the way, Musk was not at the session?

More fallout is sure to come as Trump and his cohort will blame the whole blunder on the media and Goldberg, that will come as no surprise, and we predict someone in the administration will have to fall on the sword.

Yes, it’s an extraordinarily stupid mistake but the entire Trump administration is a mistake, and let’s blame the 77 million voters who put him back in office.

Elinor R. Tatum: Publisher and Editor in Chief

Executive & Investigative Editor

Big tech needs to give photographers an AI-free version of Photoshop

By BRIAN PALMER

Recently I emailed executives at the digital tech giant Adobe to ask them to make a version of their photo editing apps Photoshop and Lightroom for professional photojournalists like me. It would be just like older versions of their products — no generative artificial intelligence, something Adobe added recently.

I’ve been a professional photojournalist for nearly 40 years.

I’m a Peabody Award-winning reporter and a hands-on reclaimer of historic African American cemeteries in Richmond, Virginia, where I live. I believe in facts, evidence, in reality as it unfolds around me.

That’s what I capture with my camera. I have taught photojournalism, documentary photography, and related courses at Columbia Graduate School of Journalism, the School of Visual Arts (where I’m on the Board of Directors), Hampton University, Baruch College, the City University of New York, and the University of Richmond, where I'm now a visiting assistant professor of journalism. I’m also a longtime user of Adobe software.

Why do I want an AI-less photo editing applications from Adobe? Because photojournalism and news photography are increasingly threatened, existentially, by the flood of photorealistic images made with generative artificial intelligence that are now contaminating our news feeds. These images sow doubt in the veracity of what we photojournalists do, and in any real-world photograph we see.

Creating a “Photoshop Neutral” would give professionals a trustworthy, no-nonsense tool to edit images, not fabricate them, which just might be a way to begin rebuilding public trust in the news media. It could serve as a teaching tool in schools and universities, where both skills and values, like the centrality of reliable news in a democracy, are imparted.

What high school kids and Internet trolls crank out with generative AI is bad enough, but that’s not my main concern.

I’m talking about stunningly realistic deep fake photos (and videos), visual disinformation, being deployed by the powerful, including people (person) at the highest level of U.S. government, those in government-ad-

jacent offices, and their minions. These faux-tographs, a wonderfully descriptive term, passed off as real, are corrosive not just to trust in the news media, but to democracy itself.

“You’re already using the digital tools and algorithms in Photoshop,” folks have said to me. That’s true, but as news photographers and photojournalists, we limit ourselves to tools that approximate what we did ethically in ye olde darkroom. There, we might adjust the exposure and contrast of a photo, crop lightly to home in on the subject of the image, even correct for color if the light on a scene had a funky cast. Now, we do all this in Photoshop, without resorting to tools that allow us to, say, erase people or things or make an explosion or a fish look bigger and badder. Unfortunately, Adobe is threading gen AI into the software while also suggesting that we use tools like “generative fill” to “remove distractions in a click” and “get amazing photorealistic results.” Yes, we have a choice whether to use those tools now, but for how long?

Damaso Reyes:

Kristin Fayne-Mulroy: Managing Editor Cyril Josh Barker: Digital Editor

"Sam" Bennett:

Photoshop is adding features that make it easier than ever to adulterate images.

Let our cry be,‘Fight Oligarchy!’

By HERB BOYD

Has a pushback against Trump’s authoritarian juggernaut finally kicked in? That’s probably the hope of millions as the news spread of the ageless Bernie Sanders, the senator from Vermont, and NY Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, completing the fourth stop on their “Fight Oligarchy” tour whose seeds began last month in Nebraska. Reportedly some 30,000 people turned out to hear them speak in Denver last week. Sanders, as ebullient as ever at an earlier rally in Tempe, Arizona, roared, “We have a message for Mr. Trump. And that is, we will not allow you to move this country into an oligarchy. We’re not gonna allow you and your friend Mr. Musk and other billionaires to wreak havoc on the working families of this country.”

Echoing Sanders’ warning, Ocasio-Cortez said, “They specialize in getting us to turn on one another. Along the lines of left or right, of race and gender, of status, creed, of culture, of who you love — they will roll out every label and judgment and cultural debate in the book in order to keep us distracted.”

For this dauntless duo on the left, this is a remarkable beginning. But the question is, will it last, gain momentum, and get the kind of traction that can lead to a critical mass of folks taking to the streets and marching? Will it lead to taking their anger to the voting booth?

One good sign thus far is the amount of money Sanders has raised since February — more than $7 million from some 200,000 donors, exceeding the money and turnouts during his presidential runs. But will the donations increase? Will working class Ameri-

ca step up and provide the needed push to challenge the Trump team and their determination to turn back the clock and calendar to a darker period of American history? Let us hope that the emerging energy doesn’t peter out like the Occupy Wall Street Movement and instead gathers the additional power and the urgency to get the media’s attention. Maybe this thundering herd of outraged citizens, ready to “Fight Oligarchy” and every manifestation of Trumpism, can shore up the increasingly fragility of freedom.

In honor of Kalief Browder: remember his story and fight to protect discovery reform

By PIYALI BASAK

In June 2015, a young Black man named Kalief Browder died by suicide. He was just 22 years old. His story is one we cannot forget or allow to happen again. At 16, Kalief was arrested for allegedly stealing a backpack. He never had his day in court. Caged for three years on Rikers Island, punished for a charge that was never proven. Trapped in a system designed to break him, he endured brutal beatings and spent nearly two years in solitary confinement. By the time he was released, he was deeply traumatized. The weight of those years never left him.

Why was Kalief jailed for so long? Because of New York’s broken and archaic discovery laws. Before 2019, prosecutors weren’t required to hand over evidence until the eve of trial, if at all. People like Kalief, overwhelmingly Black and Brown men, were faced with an impossible choice: plead guilty without ever seeing the evidence against them, or sit in jail, sometimes for years, waiting for trial.

Kalief refused to plead guilty to a crime he didn’t commit. For that, he lost his freedom, his youth, and ultimately, his life.

In the wake of his death, community organizers, activists, and defenders

fought for years to fix these laws. And in 2019, they won. New York finally joined the majority of states in ensuring that those accused of crimes had access to the evidence against them early enough to build a defense and make informed decisions. The reform brought longoverdue transparency and fairness to a system that had long relied on secrecy and coercion.

Now, those hard-fought reforms are under attack.

Right now, in Albany, Gov. Kathy Hochul is pushing a proposal that would gut these reforms, undoing the progress made in Kalief’s name. District attorneys claim that turning over evidence is too difficult, that they struggle to obtain materials from the NYPD, and that cases are being dismissed on “technicalities.” But these are misleading arguments designed to shift blame away from the real issue: a system that prioritizes convictions over justice.

Let’s be clear: Access to discovery is a constitutional right. It is not a loophole. It is not a technicality. It is the foundation of due process. And it is working exactly as intended, giving people a fair shot at defending themselves, rather than forcing them to plead guilty out of fear and desperation, or languishing in jail for months and years waiting to see the evidence.

Purpose Play

CHRISTINA GREER, PH.D.

And there is another way. State lawmakers have introduced an alternative proposal that addresses legitimate concerns without dismantling this fundamental right. If the real issue is inefficiency, fix it. If law enforcement isn’t turning over evidence, hold them accountable. But rolling back these reforms would be nothing short of a betrayal.

Before his death, Kalief Browder said, “I feel like I was robbed of my happiness.” But it wasn’t just his happiness that was stolen. It was his freedom. His future. His life. The evidence. We cannot let his story fade into just another cautionary tale. We owe him more than remembrance. We owe him action. The Alliance to Protect Kalief’s Law is leading this fight, pushing back against efforts to undo progress. Join the movement. Call your legislators. Make noise. Do not let them take us back to a time when young men like Kalief were thrown away, forgotten, and destroyed. Because no one should ever have to suffer what Kalief endured. Not now. Not ever again.

Piyali Basak is the Managing Director of Neighborhood Defender Service of Harlem, a public defender organization dedicated to serving the Harlem community.

I recently treated myself to Branden Jacobs-Jenkins latest play “Purpose” at the Hayes Theater and you must be sure to catch this play before it closes in June. First things first, under the direction of Phylicia Rashad (who will always be the beautiful and brilliant Claire Huxtable to most of us), there is a clear eyed perspective of a Black family grappling with past hurts, present-day disappointments, and uncertain futures. The all-star cast is a master class in acting with compassion and authenticity and you will find yourself cracking up laughing, tearing up, clutching your pearls, and sometimes shaking your head as this family navigates one another and their varying circumstances. I thoroughly enjoyed seeing Harry Lennix in the role of the acerbic patriarch. I had grown accustomed to seeing Lennix as the stoic moral compass in the television show “Blacklist” and it was so great to see his range as a frustrated and disappointed man of a certain age. LaTanya Richardson Jackson played the loving albeit passive aggressive matriarch. I have attended plays that Richardson Jackson has directed but I had never had the pleasure of seeing her as an actor on stage and what a force she is.

I can’t say enough about Kara Young (you may know her from her recent tour de force performance in “Purlie Victorious” on Broadway) as the house guest and friend who has somehow found herself in the midst of this family saga or Alana Arenas as the daughter-in-law who is

able to draw you into her every move even when she’s merely sulking at the dining room table. The brothers played by John Michael Hill and Glenn Davis complete the cast with thoughtful and sometimes heartbreaking portrayals of the struggles of Black manhood.

I have been a fan of the playwright Jacobs-Jenkins for well over a decade when I first saw his play “Appropriate” at the Signature Theater. I thought it was pure genius to have a play about race in America, racism, lynching, and the transference of white wealth all while having an all-white cast. “Purpose,” meanwhile, tackles race and racism in America and Black wealth with an all-Black cast that is also haunted by various aspects of their past. It is so important to see representation and quality writing and direction on Broadway, and “Purpose” does not disappoint. To be honest, I have to see the play another one or two times to fully grasp the intricacies of the language and weight of the play. I have no doubt Tony Award-winning Jacobs-Jenkins will be one of the undisputed great American playwrights in the years to come.

“Purpose” is currently playing at the Hayes Theater at 240 W 44th St, New York, NY 10036.

Christina Greer, Ph.D., is an associate professor at Fordham University; author of book “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 is co-host of the podcast FAQ-NYC.

Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., left, greets Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., as they speak during a stop on their “Fighting Oligarchy” tour that filled Civic Center Park in Denver.

(AP Photo/David Zalubowski)

Caribbean Update

Secretary Rubio comes calling amid policy concerns from Caricom

By BERT WILKINSON Special to the AmNews

The plethora of requests for a senior U.S. official to meet with Caribbean Community leaders to discuss radical policy changes from Washington have been rewarded with

a swing through the region by Secretary of State Marco Rubio this week.

Rubio will meet with several regional leaders in Jamaica on Wednesday before heading southeast to Caricom bloc headquarters in Guyana and neighboring Surinam as the two are now being regarded as key geopolitical partners given the fact that humongous quantities of oil and gas have been discovered there in the past decade.

His expected arrival and mini-summit with presidents and prime ministers come amid rising concerns in the region, which could severely impact a geographic subgrouping that is usually friendly to the U.S. and with which it has strong historical, cultural, and other links.

For example, Rubio and the Trump administration recently threatened to revoke the visas of Caribbean officials linked to the Cuban medical brigade program through which doctors, nurses, and other professionals are hired to work in regional hospitals and health institutions.

In most jurisdictions, a portion of the earnings of these very professionals goes back to the Cuban government, triggering accusations in Washington that this is a form of forced labor and human trafficking. Most importantly, American officials think that Cuban authorities have used this system over the decades to knowingly circumvent the sanctions and economic em-

bargo system to earn millions in foreign exchange annually.

Anxious to avoid a showdown with the U.S., several nations have either rushed to amend the payment system or to review it altogether, with the aim of both continuing the medical assistance program while complying with American dictates. A recent government statement from Antigua noted that the federation with Barbuda “will nonetheless modify how these professionals are compensated. The threat by the Trump administration to declare the Cuban medical brigade as equivalent to ‘human trafficking’ is not supported by the payment method and the contractual arrangement into which the governments of Cuba and Antigua and Barbuda have entered.” The Bahamas has hinted that it will do likewise while St. Vincent and Dominica say they are also reviewing their compensation packages.

Meanwhile, Guyanese President Irfaan Ali and Prime Minister Gaston Browne of Antigua have both expressed concerns about plans by Washington to impose punitive tariffs on ships or vessels that are made in China doing business with the region.

The plan is to slap a $1.5 million surcharge on Chinese-built or flagged vessels docking at U.S. ports. The region fears this could affect them indirectly and drive up inflation if these very vessels transit the U.S. and call on Caribbean ports.

“That, of course, can have effects on the cost of goods coming into the region, the cost of transport coming into the region,” Ali told reporters. “This is a policy that was alluded to so there are some discussions that will have to occur, so all of these things are key regional issues that we are discussing together. We have to have early conversations to mitigate or minimize the impact. The U.S. is our partner, the region recognizes that the U.S. is an important partner. The regional private sector will be having some conversations with the US. We will also be having conversations with various actors in the U.S. secretary of state for example and also the chair of Caricom will be seeking to have a meeting with the White House to go through some of these challenges that we may face, and to have a better understanding of each other’s positions,” he said. PM Brown also shared regional concern, noting that “if that happens, you are talking about an increase in prices of between eight and 10 percent easily, which would be extremely inflationary at this time considering that there is already an elevated rate of inflation of about 4.5 percent at the moment. This means that inflation could trend to up to 12 or 14 percent,” he added. “The United States, obviously, should be concerned about its southern ‘third border’ and to lessen any unintended consequences of any policies that it would implement,” Browne said.

Got a green card? Check before travelling outside the U.S.

One of the biggest concerns bubbling up in immigrant communities right now is a simple but critical question: Can green card holders still travel outside the U.S. and reenter without trouble?

The answer, as it turns out, is not so simple anymore. For many Legal Permanent Residents (LPRs) or green card holders, the longheld belief of “I’ve got a green card, so I’m good” is being turned on its head — especially under the lingering shadow of Trumpera immigration enforcement policies that are still very much in effect.

Just ask Fabian Schmidt, a German-born green card holder living in New Hampshire. Schmidt, who has reportedly held LPR status since 2008, was allegedly stripped naked and “violently interrogated” by U.S. officials at Boston’s Logan Airport after returning from Luxembourg, according to Boston’s WGBH.

Now he sits in Immigration and Customs

Enforcement (ICE) detention. Why? No one’s quite sure. His attorney, David Keller, says the case can’t even move forward until Schmidt receives a notice to appear from the Department of Homeland Security, (DHS). While Schmidt reportedly had a minor marijuanarelated charge dating back to 2015 in California, those charges were apparently resolved. Still, that single infraction appears to have triggered a full-scale flag upon his reentry.

As Irwine Clare, Sr., OD, head of Caribbean Immigrant Services, told me recently, “Any such infractions are now flagging green card holders upon arrival at a U.S. port of entry.”

This is the reality in the United States, where immigration policy continues to be wielded as a blunt-force tool of enforcement — even for those with legal status. The Trump administration, which made immigration the centerpiece of its political platform, drastically altered border protocols. The focus: zero tolerance for green card holders with any past brushes with the law, even misdemeanors.

And it’s not just criminal records raising red flags; time spent outside the U.S. is now under deeper scrutiny. Clare warns that green card holders must be mindful of the

six-month rule. Staying abroad for more than 180 days can be deemed as abandonment of residency.

U.S. immigration law is crystal clear on this point: once you’ve been outside the U.S. for more than six months consecutively, you’re considered to be applying for admission upon return. That means border officers have full authority to grill you — not just about your trip, but your continued ties to the U.S.

The burden is now on the Green Card holder to prove their connection to America: tax records, U.S. bank accounts, property ownership, a steady job, even a driver’s license — these are now vital documents that could determine whether you’re let back in or detained.

There are more than 60 grounds of inadmissibility listed in the Immigration and Nationality Act, (INA), and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers are actively applying them to returning LPRs.

“The Trump administration is enforcing immigration laws, something the previous administration failed to do,” DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin told Newsweek. “Those who violate these laws will be processed, detained, and removed as required.”

So, what can green card holders do to protect themselves? Here’s a quick checklist:

• stay clear of criminal charges — even minor ones can trigger removal proceedings;

• renew your green card on time — while status doesn’t expire, complications can arise if your card does;

• limit time outside the U.S. — prolonged or repeated trips abroad can be viewed as abandoning your status;

• keep strong U.S. ties — own property, maintain U.S. bank accounts, keep a job, pay taxes; and

• always file taxes as a resident — filing as a “non-resident” can raise questions about your intent to reside. The bottom line: holding a green card is no longer a guarantee of safety or stability, especially for Black and Brown immigrants. LPRs or green card holders must stay vigilant, informed, and prepared — because traveling outside the U.S. might just be a risk not worth taking.

EDITOR’S NOTE: Felicia J. Persaud is the publisher of NewsAmericasNow.com, a daily news outlet focused on positive news about Black immigrant communities from the Caribbean and Latin America.

Guyanese President Irfaan Ali. (State Department photo by Ron Przysucha / public domain)

South Africa president says persecution of whites a ‘false narrative’ as Musk repeats genocide claim

By GERALD IMRAY Associated Press

CAPE TOWN, South Africa — South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said Monday the claim that white people are being persecuted in his country is a “completely false narrative.” It was his latest attempt to push back against allegations made by U.S. President Donald Trump, Elon Musk and some white minority groups in South Africa.

South African-born Musk, who has regularly accused South Africa’s Black-led government of being anti-white, repeated a claim this weekend in a social media post that some of the country’s political figures are “actively promoting white genocide.”

Ramaphosa said in his weekly message to the nation that South Africans “should not allow events beyond our shores to divide us or turn us against each other.”

“In particular, we should challenge the completely false narrative that our country is a place in which people of a certain race or culture are being targeted for persecution.”

Ramaphosa did not mention names, but his denial was a reference to the allegations by Trump and others that South Africa is deliberately mistreating a white minority group known as Afrikaners by encouraging violent attacks on their farms and introducing a law designed to seize their land.

The allegations were central to an executive order issued by Trump last month cutting funding to South Africa to punish the government, while offering Afrikaners refugee status in the U.S. Afrikaners are descendants of mainly Dutch and French colonial settlers who first came to South Africa more than 300 years ago. They were at the heart of the apartheid government that systematically oppressed non-whites, although South Africa has been largely successful at reconciling its many racial groups after apartheid ended in 1994.

“In particular, we should challenge the completely false narrative that our country is a place in which people of a certain race or culture are being targeted for persecution.”

—South African President Cyril Ramaphosa

In his post on X, influential Trump adviser Musk cited a political rally last Friday in South Africa where Black leaders of a far-left opposition party sang a song that has the lyrics “Kill the Boer, the farmer.” Boer is a word that refers to an Afrikaner.

“Very few people know that there is a major political party in South Africa that is actively promoting white genocide,” Musk wrote. He linked to a video of the rally.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio wrote on X late Monday that the song “is a chant that incites violence. South Africa’s leaders and politicians must take action to protect Afrikaner and other disfavored minorities. The United

States is proud to offer those individuals who qualify for admission to our nation amid this continued horrible threat of violence.”

The party in question, the Economic Freedom Fighters, is the fourth biggest in Parliament and a political opponent of Ramaphosa’s African National Congress. It won 9.5% of the vote in last year’s national election. It has come under scrutiny for stirring racial tensions before and for singing the song, which was used during apartheid as a call to fight against government oppression.

The song’s modern-day use has been criticized by some in South Africa, including by other political parties, and a group

representing Afrikaners challenged its use in court. It was ruled hate speech and effectively banned by a court more than a decade ago.

But it was the subject of several other legal cases before a 2022 ruling found that it was not hate speech and protected under freedom of speech because there was no proof it incited violence. The EFF says it is a historic chant that shouldn’t be taken literally and has sometimes changed the lyrics to “kiss the Boer.”

Since Trump’s executive order, the South African government has sought to dispel what it says is misinformation over white farmers, who are sometimes victims of violent attacks in their homes.

The government has condemned the attacks, but experts say there is no evidence of any widespread targeting of whites and they are in fact part of South Africa’s extremely high violent crime rates, which affect all races.

The group representing Afrikaners says the police have sometimes undercounted farm homicides in official statistics. It recently said it had figures showing there were eight farm homicides in the three-month period between October and December last year when police only recorded one.

There were a total of 6,953 homicides across South Africa during that same time period, according to the police statistics.

President Cyril Ramaphosa at the U.S. Embassy to South Africa. (U.S. Embassy South Africa photo)

Religion & Spirituality

Finding God in ourselves, and loving her fiercely

“We finally got you.” That’s what an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent reportedly told immigration rights activist Jeanette Vizguerra when they arrested her on March 17, according to a New York Times report. She was on her lunch break at Target, and the incident sent her legal team and family scrambling. According to the report, her family said, “There is no reason to target her. Nothing has changed in her case except the administration. It’s clear to us now that the government of our country is targeting our mom in violation of her rights and due process, for her bravery and courage, for her leadership and skill, for her speech.”

Women’s bodies aren’t battlefields, but governments treat them as collateral damage. Arrested. Deported. Exiled. Stoned. Starved. Lynched. Burned alive in Gaza holding their children. The powerful call this behavior policy but we know it’s sin.

I love the ways women have shaped my story. Like Paulette L. Williams, who was born in 1948 in Trenton, New Jersey. She changed her name in 1971 to Ntozake, meaning “she who has her own things” in Xhosa, and Shange, meaning “she who walks with lions” in Zulu, to show her pride in her African heritage. My preaching professor at Princeton Theological Seminary let me produce her Obie Award winning choreoplay, ”for colored girls who considered suicide/ when the rainbow is enuf,” for class credit.

For me, this work is sacred text. My favorite poem from the piece is “a laying on of hands.” i waz missin somethin somethin so important somethin promised a laying on of hands fingers near my forehead strong cool moving makin me whole sense pure all the gods coming into me laying me open to myself i waz missin somethin somethin promised somethin free a laying on of hands i know bout/laying on bodies/laying outta man bringin him all of my fleshy self & some of my pleasure being taken full eager wet like i get sometimes i waz missing somethin a laying on of hands not a man laying on not my mama laying/holdin me tight/sayin i’m always gonna be her girl not a laying on of bosom and womb a laying on of hands the holiness of myself released i sat up one nite walking a boardin house screamin/cryin/the ghost of another woman who waz missin what i was missin i wanted to jump up outta my bones & be done with myself leave me alone & go on in the wind it was too much i fell into a numbness til the only tree i cd see took me up in her branches held me in her breeze made me dawn dew that chill at daybreak the sun wrapped me up swingin rose light everywhere the sky laid over me like a million men i waz cold/i waz burnin up/a child & endlessly weavin garments for the moon wit my tears i found god in myself & i loved her/i loved her fiercely That last strophe? Everything! Sacred!! My sacred texts include the story of Hagar, who saw and named God, The God Who Sees. Shiphrah and Puah

defied Pharoah, and Mary birthed a revolution. The Magdalene preached the very first sermon about Jesus.

Our sacred stories also include Harriet, who never lost a passenger as she brought folks to freedom.

And Mary who kicked lynching in the teeth.

And Fannie who reminded us that no one is free until everyone is free.

And Ruby who asked us where it hurts and helped us heal.

And Genesis who had the moral courage to call us to care for people, not, things.

And Aunjanue who, along with Genesis, got that confederate flag down in Mississippi.

And Karen, whose art and activism tell new stories.

And Shari who boldly told the story of Black suffragists.

And Dawn, Erica, Fabienne, and Jamia, who make sure literature shifts the atmosphere.

Our faith makes us people of stories, our identities are formed by stories, and stories have the power to transform our circumstances.

What if we finally got the women and their stories?

Finally understood the truth and ethics in our stories? What if we finally got — rather than feared — the power of the feminine?

I strongly believe this: If you say you are a person of faith, if you claim any part of the story of God interacting with humans as part of your story, then you must hear the women. Women, like all of us, are created in the image of God. You must hear the Ruach/ Pneuma Divine Feminine Spirit teaching, preaching, wailing. Hear the Spirit blowing through our systems and structures making change. Feel the power of the Feminine Divine in motion and move with her. Stand with all the vulnerable. Stand for the women. Listen to the women.

What if we, together, make a new story, fully honoring the women? That is our project in this month in which the history of women is on our minds and hearts. That is our ongoing project for all of time. All the stories of women shape our own stories. We must dismantle patriarchy and misogyny to build a society that reflects God’s intention for all of us.

No matter our gender, we can seek and find the divine feminine in ourselves and love her, fiercely.

At Middle Church on Sunday, March 23, I’ll be preaching about the Divine feminine and the power of stories at 3:00 p.m. at Judson Memorial Church, who is hosting us until Easter Sunday. Right after, we will screen ”Mississippi Turning,” a film about the activism of Genesis Be. Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor and Irshad Manji are producers.

Rev. Dr. Jacqui Lewis is senior minister and public theologian at Middle Church in New York. Celebrated internationally for her dynamic preaching and commitment to justice, she champions racial equality, economic justice and LGBTQIA+/gender rights. Featured on MSNBC, PBS, NBC, CBS and NPR, she is the author several books, including “Fierce Love” and the “Just Love Story Bible.” Countless individuals and communities have been inspired by Lewis’ transformative work on her podcast, “Love Period;” in columns and articles; and on stages, in churches, on the street and in digital spaces around the globe.

REV. DR. JACQUI LEWIS FIERCE LOVE

Arts & Entertainment

With ‘Othello,’ Denzel Washington proves why he is a legend

By LINDA ARMSTRONG Special to the AmNews

I was thrilled when I heard that William Shakespeare;s “Othello,” starring Denzel Washington, was coming to Broadway. Washington has always proven himself to be a stunning actor to behold. He takes you through every emotion with such intensity, I absolutely love seeing him. Every time he takes the stage, he proves why he is a legendary, iconic actor. And, starring now in “Othello” at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre on W. 44th Street, he displays his acting chops with such skill and ease that he is a joy to behold!

“Othello” tells the story of an older Black military commander who falls in love with and marries a young white woman, a daughter of a senator. The marriage that is destined to fail. One of his ensigns, Iago, who feels slighted by Othello for denying him a promotion, and seeks to destroy his happiness in any way that he can. Denzel’s rendition of the Moor delivers passion, anger, empathy, and vulnerability. And what’s additionally great is that he is joined on stage by a stupendous cast. Jake Gyllenhaal, diabolically evil as Iago, takes that character’s jealousy, hatred, and revenge to a level of no redemption. This character, when played brutally well, can inspire hatred in an audience, and Gyllenhaal definitely inspired that feeling in his deliberately cruel, ambitious, and mur-

dering character. Molly Osborne is precious as the lovely Desdemona, the love of Othello’s life. She depicts the character

with a tenderness, deep love and loyalty to the Moor, even when he accuses her of infidelity. Kimber Elayne Sprawl is electric

and brilliant in the role of Emilia, as she tries to support and protect Desdemona. Sprawl shines so brightly in every scene that she’s in. Andrew Burnap is delightful as Cassio, the soldier used, unknowingly, to assist in the destruction of Othello. Anthony Michael Lopez is captivating as Roderigo, who is so misused by Iago. Greg Wood (playing a role usually played by Daniel Pearce) was engaging as Brabantio. Every person in the ensemble cast brings their A game, giving the production a marvelous consistency and flow.

Of course, this production’s riveting flow is also courtesy of Kenny Leon’s superb direction. Any time you attend a Broadway production and hear that Leon is directing, you should expect to see something bold, different, and funny, but also brutally dramatic where it needs to be. Leon is able to get his actors to totally commit to their characters and deliver them in such a poignant way that it demands and sustains the audience’s undivided attention. At the performance I attended, there were several curtain calls.

“Othello” is outstanding theater.

The production boasts creative costume design by Dede Ayite, lighting design by Natasha Katz, sound design by Justin Ellington, hair and wig design by Mia Neal, and intimacy direction by Claire Warden.

“Othello” is outstanding theater. Be warned though, the Moor doesn’t like late seating; don’t just get there on time, be early! For tickets visit othellobway.com.

Denzel Washington and Jake Gyllenhaal in a scene from “Othello.”

Molly Osborne and Denzel Washington in “Othello.” (Julieta Cervantes photos)

New novel details real-life kingdom created by formerly enslaved Americans

By JULIAN MICHAEL CALDWELL Special to the AmNews

Author Dolen Perkins-Valdez draws inspiration from a real-life kingdom in North Carolina founded by formerly enslaved Black Americans for her new novel “Happy Land,” which will be released via Penguin Random House on April 8. With “Happy Land,” the NAACP Image Award-winning writer continues her trend of pulling from real-life, little-known American stories as the basis for fiction novels, including her 2022 release “Take My Hand,” 2015’s “Balm,” and her debut “Wench: A Novel” in 2010.

In 1873, a group of recently freed Black Americans fled violence in South Carolina in search of a new home, and settled in an area in the Appalachian Mountains in Henderson County, North Carolina. Nine years later, they purchased 205 acres of the land they were living on, and established the Kingdom of the Happy Land, which the author describes as a “constitutional monarchy,” led by the Queen Luella Bobo and her husband, King William Montgomery. The last recorded deed of sale of the land was in 1919, to a white family with the last name Bell, who Perkins-Valdez discovered still owns the land.

The novel introduces the story of the Kingdom of the Happy Land through the lens of Bobo’s fictional great-great-great granddaughter Nikki Berry, who, as an adult, discovers the family history during a visit to her grandmother, who lives in Henderson. Like the character she imagined for her book, Perkins-Valdez was shocked when she first learned that there had been a Black kingdom in the U.S. less than 20 years after the nation’s formal abolishment of slavery.

“I was looking up old-time musicians in Western North Carolina because my pandemic hobby was teaching myself the banjo, and I was looking for Black North Carolina banjo players. And I stumbled on this in the Asheville area,” Perkins-Valdez explained in an interview with the AmNews. “And I thought, is that true?”

Perkins-Valdez, who lives in Washington D.C., took her own pilgrimage to Henderson County to do on-the-ground research about the kingdom. There she began to draw a connection between the kingdom’s history and more recent accounts of Black land loss she had read about, including the 2022 return of Bruce’s Beach in California to a family that saw the land stripped from them in 1924 due to eminent domain, and the Reel Brothers in North Carolina, who were held in contempt of court for eight years in a county jail for not vacating land that their family had owned for a century that a distant relative had sold.

A research paper published by Boston College Law School in 2022 estimates that “[the] compounded value of the Black land loss from 1920 to 1997 is roughly $326 billion.” For Perkins-Valdez, herself a native of

a historically Black neighborhood in Memphis called Orange Mound, and a fifth-generation Memphian, the idea of Black land ownership is personal.

“In this book I’m using the experience of what land meant to my daddy, and part of what I’m trying to do is [speak about] the return to the land and why it meant so much,” Perkins-Valdez said, adding that the majority of her family stills lives in Orange Mound. “And even what happened in the Great Migration, when African Americans migrated to urban centers and lost our connection to rural life, we know we lost generational wealth and that is the biggest part of it. But we also lost our connection to each other, we lost our connection to the outdoors.”

Perkins-Valdez’s research revealed that in addition to establishing its own political system with a queen, king and council, the Kingdom of the Happy Land also had its own branded liniment, or pain relieving cream, which brought in revenue for the community. In the novel, Perkins-Valdez imagines fictional conversations between the architects of the kingdom about their motivations for intentionally setting up a monarchy as opposed to a sovereign land that operated under the same governmental structure as the rest of the country.

“The men had gotten the right to vote and they had been terrorized for that by the Ku Klux Klan,” Perkins-Valdez explained of their lives in South Carolina. “So when they go up on that mountain,

I found no record that they ever voted again in the context of the kingdom. They decide that rather than participate in this nation’s government they’re going to create their own system, they’re going to pool their resources together.”

“Happy Land” details two storylines more than a century apart. Perkins-Valdez illustrates Bobo’s challenges as queen of a brand-new monarchy in the late 1800s and her great-great-great granddaughter’s quest to save the land in the present day after finding out it is in danger of being stolen away from her family — at the same time she learns of its full significance.

Perkins-Valdez doesn’t intend for “Happy Land” to solely entertain; it also comes with calls to action. The first is for Black Americans to connect with nature in any way they can, such as visiting national parks and teaching children how to identify different species of birds, as she practices in her own family.

“What I recognize is the beauty and value of Black rural life, and how we have to somehow reconnect to that,” she said. “There’s strength there. That’s why I’m urging everybody to get outside.”

Perkins-Valdez is also using her book as a means to raise awareness about the Uniform Partition of Heirs Property Act (UPHPA), legislation meant to help families sort through legal discrepancies and understand their ownership rights before they lose land in auctions they may have never known about. So far 24 states have enacted the law, but North Carolina is not one of them. Perkins-Valdez has gone as far as to include information in the back of the book about how to encourage lawmakers in the other 26 states to enact the UPHPA.

Dolen Perkins-Valdez (Norman E. Jones photo)

Quinta Brunson files for divorce; Joe and Jill Biden attend ‘Othello’ Broadway premiere; Sherri Shepherd vs Nia Long?

Quinta Brunson accepting a Peabody Award for “Abbott Elementary” in June, 2023. (Peabody Awards / commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Quinta_Brunson_Peabody_Awards,_ Jun_2023.jpg)

Quinta Brunson has filed for divorce from Kevin Jay Anik, her husband of three years. The “Abbott Elementary” star and creator filed for divorce from Anik on March 26 in Los Angeles, citing that pesky celebrity disease called “irreconcilable differences,” according to several news outlets. There is no reported date for their actual separation. According to documents, Brunson and Anik have a postnuptial agreement, with Brunson requesting their mutual property be divided between them. So far, there has been no comment from the Emmy winner’s representative nor from Anik....... Tongues are wagging that Mariah Carey and Anderson.Paak are still going strong. The coosome twosome were spotted dining together on March 23 at the Birds Street Cafe in West Hollywood. At 39, Anderson is 16 years younger than Carey. Last week, the singer/rapper/ record producer escorted Mariah to the iHeart Radio Music Awards where he helped her onstage as she was presented with the Icon Award…….

Also on March 23, Denzel Washington returned to Broadway where he stars in a modernized version of Shakespeare’s “Othello” with Jake Gyllenhaal.

It was one star-studded evening. Celebrities who graced the red carpet included former President Joe Biden and his wife Dr. Jill Biden, Nicole Ari Parker, Sherri Shepherd, Jawn Murray. Colman Domingo, Angela Bassett, Samuel L. Jackson, Jennifer Lopez, Tamron Hall, Sunny Hostin and Gayle King. Washington and Gyllenhaal greeted the Bidens. Washington told Joe, “It’s an honor for us just to have you here, and to do our best for you just not for being here tonight, but we thank you for your service.” ......

According to Sherri Shepherd, there was also drama going on at the “Othello” premiere that wasn’t onstage: On her March 24 “Sherri Talk Fest,” Shepherd discussed an unnamed celebrity who approached her in the lobby of the Barrymore Theatre. Shepherd told her live audience, “She grabbed my arm and forcefully turned me around … and she says to me, ‘You’ve been shading me a lot.’” When Shepherd kept telling the celebrity she had not been shading her, the actress told her, “Yes, you have!””A source close to the multi award-winning talk show host exclusively told Go With The Flo that the unnamed celebrity in question is Nia Long.....

for 6 to 10 year olds

Children are invited to audition for the School of American Ballet’s world-renowned ballet training program.

HARLEM

SATURDAY, APRIL 5

Aaron Davis Hall

Additional auditions for children across NYC this April.

Classes begin in September. | Students must be 6 by 9/1/2025 to audition. Substantial scholarship program for students with need.

The official school of NEW YORK CITY BALLET

Photo by Rosalie O’Connor

AmNews FOOD

Harlem Shake collabs with Figure Skating in Harlem for ‘Sweet Lena’

By BRENIKA BANKS

Special to the AmNews

Women’s History Month provides a time of empowerment, celebration, and acknowledgement of women and their many contributions and achievements. Their struggles and sacrifices have, historically, improved society and increased opportunities for not only the betterment of women, but also for society as a whole. During this Women’s History Month, women-owned neighborhood favorite Harlem Shake has collaborated with Figure Skating in Harlem (FSH), a 28-year-old organization that helps girls develop, flourish, skate, and more, by celebrating with “Sweet Lena,” a strawberry cheesecake milkshake named after the iconic Lena Horne, and inspired by Figure Skating in Harlem’s ice show, “Harlem to Hollywood.”

DarDra Coaxum, co-owner of Harlem Shake, remembers being a young girl in Harlem. She understands how essential a program like Figure Skating in Harlem is for the community. “It is important to us at Harlem Shake that these young women know they are supported and celebrated by those in their own neighborhood,” said Coaxum. “It was only fitting for us to collaborate with [FSH] for Women’s History Month with such a delicious milkshake named after another female icon who went from Harlem to Hollywood.”

Making her Hollywood debut at 24, Lena Horne became a singer, actress, and civil rights activist. Her 1981 segment on CBS’ “60 Minutes” covered the excessive discrimination she dealt with, to the point where Horne couldn’t enjoy her fame. During the episode, Horne revealed that it took her 64 years to finally, “believe in my real self, yes!” and jokingly said, “Some people are late bloomers.”

To this day, Horne’s legacy encourages women, especially other Black women, to pursue the careers they desire. Coaxum is appreciative of the women who have broken barriers, fought for equality, and paved the way for her to own a business. “As a Black woman, this month holds even deeper significance because it’s a reminder of the resilience and strength of Black women through-

vides a dedicated opportunity to truly pause and acknowledge the impact women have had on our everyday lives,” said Reed. She described FSH’s collaboration with Harlem Shake as a “perfect example of community uplift.”

According to Coaxum, part of the proceeds from “Sweet Lena” sales will support Figure Skating in Harlem. “We are a communitydriven organization, and we cannot do this without our community’s support,” said Reed. “Every dollar raised helps keep our doors open and ensures that more girls in Harlem get to experience the transformative power of our program.

“Working with DarDra shows our students a powerful example of what it means to be a successful Black woman giving back,” said Reed. “We want them to see firsthand that they, too, can grow up to make an impact right here in Harlem — or anywhere they choose.” Figure Skating in Harlem students are witnessing their support system extending beyond their families and friends into the Harlem community.

Women’s History Month 2025 is particularly special for Figure Skating in Harlem because their history is being broadcast on a global platform. Reed shared how their Disney+ docuseries. “Harlem Ice,” tells the story of FSH and extraordinary young women. “As the first synchronized skating team of color in the world, we are making history ourselves,” said Reed. “This Women’s History Month, we’re not just celebrating the achievements of others — we’re celebrating our own accomplishments and showing the world that Black girls belong in every space, including the ice rink.”

Coaxum’s focus as a businesswoman is on honoring women who have shaped Harlem’s rich history and those who continue to contribute. She also shared that Harlem Shake is franchising and will expand to Philadelphia later this year.

out history who have often been overlooked, but have always been the backbone of our communities,” said Coaxum. “It’s about creating spaces like Harlem Shake,

where women feel seen, valued, and empowered.”

Jasmine Reed, development and marketing manager at Figure Skating in Harlem, expressed her grat-

itude towards women who have shaped culture, history, and advancement. “I believe we should celebrate women’s contributions year round, but this month pro-

Lena Horne, DarDra Coaxum and Jasmine Reed’s careers have surpassed socially expected gender norms while inspiring young women to dream big and achieve their goals. For more information, please visit www. harlemshake.com and www. figureskatinginharlem.org.

Figure Skating in Harlem girls performing on ice during the finale of their “Harlem goes Hollywood” show. (Brenika Banks photos)

AmNews writer Brenika Banks (left) and Harlem Shake co-owner DarDra Coaxum posing with the Sweet Lena and Red Velvet milkshakes.

Harlem Shake co-owner DarDra Coaxum with menu favorites, including their newest Strawberry Cheesecake milkshake “Sweet Lena,” named in honor of Lena Horne.

Menu items from Harlem Shake including their Impossible burger with bacon, the Sweet Lena Shake, DarDra truffle fries, a sandwich, and the Red Velvet Shake.

Côte d’Ivoire breaks stereotypes, becomes tourism hub

By EDEN HARRIS Special to the AmNews

Second in a two-part series.

ASSINIE-MAFIA, Côte d’Ivoire

— For many years, the Western media has portrayed Africa poorly through a “crisis-centric” lens of war, corrupt government officials, and poverty. This includes derogatory remarks from President Donald Trump during his first term, when he described Africa as a “sh*thole” nation.

Now more than ever, though, with the explosion of Afrobeats and Nollywood, people outside the continent can see how many countries have become tourism destinations, including Kenya, South Africa, and Côte d’Ivoire (Ivory Coast), to name a few.

Prince Edja, a tourism advisor to the Ivorian government, said a new generation in Côte d’Ivoire is determined to break outdated perceptions of Africa, pushing for development and a fresh narrative that challenges longheld stereotypes.

“We have development; we have a generation that wants to change things; we want to break the perception, the narrative about Africa ... I understand what he said because of his point of view, because he needs to travel, he needs to learn more about history, learn more about Côte d’Ivoire, learn more about Africa,” Edja said of Trump.

Edja said past African leaders “weren’t thinking about the wellbeing or welfare of the country, but nowadays, new leaders are coming up, and people understand that we need to change Africa by ourselves.”

Ivorian economy grows, showcasing vibrant culture

According to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the Ivoirien economy has done just that, performing strongly over the past decade, with a Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth averaging 6.4% and inflation hovering around 2.2%. So far, the country’s GDP for 2025 is $95.46 billion. The IMF also reported “a declining proportion of the population living below the national poverty line.”

Today, the world sees a different story of Africa, according to Joel Williams, an Ivorian citizen and cultivator of arts and culture.

“It changed because we show the

right things right now,” Williams told the AmNews. “Let’s say, 10 years ago, we were showing the war, we were showing the bad side of Africa, and now they see that people enjoy the same as they do in Europe or the USA.”

Côte d’Ivoire has the “best of both worlds” to offer tourists from

aboard, Williams said.

“[In] the Côte d’Ivoire, you can have everything at the same time; you have mountains, you have beaches, you have forests, you have lagoons, you have all types of landscapes; all types of dance and culture,” he said. Williams has traveled to several

Language barrier in the Côte d’Ivoire

The Côte d’Ivoire is widely known as a predominantly French-speaking country, which may discourage tourists who only speak English from visiting. According to Edja, though, there’s no need to worry if you don’t speak French because its citizens are worldly.

“A lot of people speak English; I [and] my whole team [do] because I have a tourism agency. They are learning in school, they travel a lot,” Edja said. “You’ll also find professionals who are bilingual and trilingual, so don’t worry — come visit. We have the facilities, we have the competence to welcome you [and] take good care of you in this country.”

Beyond everyday interactions, Côte d’Ivoire’s growing tourism industry has made efforts to accommodate English-speaking visitors. Places like Abidjan and Assinie, known for their vibrant culture and history, are particularly welcoming to international travelers. “When you come and visit the Côte d’Ivoire, no one will think you are a foreigner, because we just mix and mingle with the people,” Edja said.

Everyone is welcome, even sports fans Côte d’Ivoire is diverse, attracting Europeans, Americans, and Africans from across the continent to their beaches and towns. For example, every Sunday, people from all over the continent travel for a luxury brunch on the beach at the five-star hotel at La Maison D’akoula, an hour from the capital of Abidjan.

continents and doesn’t want people to think that because he’s Ivorian, he’s selling his country, but he truly believes it is a great place to visit. He raved about the parties: “The parties are just crazy. Every day, we have [a] party — sometimes you just ask, ‘When [do] people go to work?’” he said with a laugh.

The country also held the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON), which they won against Nigeria. It’s their second time hosting the event; the first time was in 1984, when only eight nations participated; this time around, 24 joined in. The country invested $1 billion in the overall sporting event. The event was viewed by about 2 billion people, according to Confederation of African Football (CAF) President Patrice Motsepe. One U.K.-based sporting data company, Opta, dubbed it the most exciting ever.

Not only are foreigners describing the country’s happenings as amazing, but Williams said the common thing he hears from visitors is that “Côte d’Ivoire is so welcoming.”

La Maison D’Akoula resort in Assinie, Ivory Coast in 2025. (Eden Haris/New York Amsterdam News photos)

Private home in Assinie, Ivory Coast, in 2025.

Tony nominee Whitney White brings ‘Macbeth in Stride’ to BAM

By TRACY E. HOPKINS Special to the AmNews

At the time of our early morning Zoom call, Obie and Lilly awardwinning director, actor and musician Whitney White is on the go and in demand.

The Chicago native had “Liberation,” which she directed, in its final weeks at Roundabout Theatre Company; a second show she’s directing, “The Last Five Years” starring pop star Nick Jonas, about to open at Broadway’s Hudson Theatre; and “Macbeth in Stride,” which she wrote, composed and will star in, about to launch at the Brooklyn Academy of Music’s BAM Strong Harvey Theater (April 15-27).

How does she manage it all? Collaboration, White said, is key.

“You can’t make theater alone. You can, but it’s not that fun. [For] all these projects, I have team members I rely upon. And that’s really been the miracle of the season,” White said.

“In New York City, there’s such a trove of expertise and visionary thinking. I’m amazed by other artists, especially by women and artists of color. In a weird way, despite what’s going on in the world, we are in a renaissance of theater making. I’m working with all these beautiful people, and they make the impossible possible.”

The proud Brooklyn, New York transplant is especially eager to bring “Macbeth in Stride” to BAM, a place where she’s seen some of her favorite pieces by Black artists.

“First of all, Brooklyn forever, Brooklyn for life, Brooklyn strong. You can print that,” beamed White, who lives in the BedfordStuyvesant neighborhood.

“BAM is a very important institution — it is our artistic hub. I love that that building is there that I can bring my son to. So it feels very meaningful to me. It’s not just about theater. It’s about music and cinema and Dance Africa.”

She added, “I’d like to see more lucrative mainstream arts projects coming to Brooklyn. I don’t think we should have to travel to midtown every time we want to see something good.”

When she’s not juggling theatrical productions, you might find White dining at one of her favorite spots in her beloved borough. Her picks include The Council Café, a Black-owned coffee shop on Nostrand Avenue; Macosa Trattoria on Tompkins (“go get some pasta”);

Saraghina Bakery on Halsey Street (“the best croissant in America”); and Clover Hill, a Michelin-starred, Black-owned restaurant in Brooklyn Heights (“it’s pricey, but delicious for a fancy night out”).

“Now that I have a toddler, food is my happiness,” she said. White started performing at a young age and she credited her mother with encouraging her and exposing her to the arts. Her trajectory as a writer and director started at Brown University’s MFA program.

“For me, the arts have always been a way to understand the world,” said White, who was a staff writer on Boots Riley’s “I’m a

Virgo” (Amazon, Media Res).

“Black stories are part of the human experience. So we just gotta keep coming at it. We have to be bold. We have to be brilliant, and we have to be there for each other.”

Theatergoers may recognize White’s name from directing the Tony Award-winning “JaJa’s African Hair Braiding,” written by Jocelyn Bioh. The play marked her Broadway directorial debut and earned her a Tony nomination for Best Direction of a Play.

“Hair braiding salons are such a microcosm of our culture, but also a place of safety. I really feel that when I go to get my hair braid-

characters. In the work, White reimagines the Shakespeare classic “Macbeth” told through rock, soul, and gospel music and a Black feminist lens.

“I read ‘Macbeth’ and I heard myself in it. So I always saw myself in that play, even if the world didn’t,” said White, who portrays Lady Macbeth.

“Macbeth in Stride” is one in a four-part musical exploration of what it means to be an ambitious woman, using Shakespeare’s most popular female characters as the source material. White is the first Black woman to helm a series of Shakespearean adaptations.

“I would read these iconic Shakespearean plays, and they would make me feel like I was listening to a record or an album. So Lady Macbeth sounds like Tina Turner, and Juliet sounds like indie folk and pop music, and Emilia from ‘Othello’ sounds like the blues. So I started writing music that helped score their experience,” she said.

“But then it became a much bigger project, because all my favorite Shakespearean women tend to die before Act 4, sometimes at their own hands. I started research to try and understand what these narratives do to us today. Literally, there is a thing called the Lady Macbeth Syndrome: if you’re too ambitious, these misconceptions or preconceptions, they come from somewhere.”

White continued: “The project is really a questioning of the effect of fatalistic stories on our lives. They hinder women from getting promotions. They hinder women from being taken too seriously when they’re emotional.”

ed, it is a communal experience that gives me care and helps me prepare for dealing with the daily world,” said White, who grew up getting her hair braided at a Chicago salon called Clem’s African Hair Braiding.

“When I read Jocelyn’s script, I was amazed at the uncanny portraits of the braiders. They’re larger than life and yet completely realistic portrayals. It was also hilarious. It’s easy to make people cry right now. It’s really hard to make them laugh. So I jumped at the opportunity to direct it.”

Like “JaJa’s African Hair Braiding,” White’s “Macbeth in Stride” features fiercely dynamic female

Although the themes in “Macbeth in Stride” are contemplative, White performs with a live band and promises a rousing good time.

“I love music. I love theater. So I was like, let me try and do Shakespeare in a way that we might want to see,” she said.

“I grew up in an apostolic church, and the band at my church was so dope, so we’re really trying to go in for people. I have an incredible Black music director, Nygel D. Robinson. And I have three Black women who are performing the piece with me. They are everything. So if you don’t want to come out for me, come for them.” For more info, visit www.bam.org/macbeth.

Whitney White in “Macbeth in Stride.” (Lauren Miller photos)

‘Wine in the Wilderness’ wows at Classic Stage Company

By LINDA ARMSTRONG Special to the AmNews

The late Alice Childress definitely had a way with words. She used them to not only point out how Black people were being mistreated in this country, but to also point out — with a glaring light — how we as Black people can also mistreat each other. In her play “Wine in the Wilderness” the audience sees how Black men can tear down Black women with their words and dismissive actions and attitudes. Playing at Classic Stage Company’s Lynn F. Angelson Theater, located at 136 E 13th Street, this production has a powerful message and one that will stay with you.

Childress gives us Bill, a painter who is trying to create a work that represents Black women, from their innocence and an imagined perfect beauty, to showing the worst that Black womanhood has to offer. Set during the 1964 riots in Harlem, Bill is searching for a model for the last part of his triple work. His friend, Oldtimer, comes to him to hide what he was able to gather after the looters took what they wanted from the destroyed neighborhood stores. In the midst of the unrest, Bill’s friends Sonny-man and his wife Cynthia are at a bar and find Tommy, a woman who has lost her home and possessions to the looters. The couple is excited to bring her to Bill as she seems to represent the lowest of the low — crass, simple, ignorant, and funny, saying whatever comes to her mind. Tommy is truly

nothing like she first appears to be, however, and there are quite a few deep layers to this sista. Childress examines relationships between Black men and women and how being too quick to judge can truly be a mistake. She also shows how much Black women have to put on a façade to find acceptance and love. Watching this play you will find yourself laughing, shocked, and insulted, but also realizing that Black women are mistreated and misjudged by Black men and Black women alike. This play makes you see what a Black woman can go through and have to overcome, while ultimately triumphing over misconceptions. There are times that this play may have you in tears, just because of the passion of the

characters and the truths being shared about the way that Black women are readily demeaned by society.

This cast is superb! It is led by Grantham Coleman as Bill, who plays this character with such conviction you find yourself wanting to grab and shake him, but also shows the character’s growth as the story continues. Olivia Washington is on fire as Tommy. She is a very versatile actress who can easily inhabit a role — first a seemingly desperate, fake woman but then someone who later clearly demonstrates her intelligence and stands on the shoulders of her ancestors to claim her dignity. Milton Craig Nealy is absolutely charming in the role of Oldtimer. Brooks Brantly gives a strong per-

formance as Sonny-man. Lakisha Michelle May is memorable as Cynthia, a woman who at first thought Tommy the perfect candidate for the painting, but then begins to feel sympathy for the situation she has placed her in. This company is able to come together and make this production riveting. You will be sitting with bated breath, waiting to hear the explosive conversations between these very distinct and interesting characters. “Wine in the Wilderness” will leave an impression on your soul. As the production concluded, I could see people in the audience so touched that they were visibly crying. Another reason for the stunning success of this play is its excellent direction by LaChanze, making her directorial debut. LaChanze was last seen on Broadway starring in Alice Childress’ “Trouble in Mind,” and it is beautiful to see how respectfully she handles Childress’ work here. Her direction of this play is magnificent. She drives these talented thespians to deliver performances that will leave you stunned, touched and revitalized. You must make plans to see “Wine in the Wilderness.”

Everything about this production clicks. Please notice the scenic design throughout the theater space by Arnulfo Maldonado, which includes amazing paintings of historic figures. There is wonderful costume design by Dede Ayite, lighting by Jeanette Oi-Suk Yew, sound by Bill Toles, and wig/ hair by Nikiya Mathis. For ticket information visit www.classicstage.org.

‘Nickel Boys’ actor Trey Perkins on passion and resilience

By NADINE MATTHEWS Special to the AmNews

Born on an Air Force base in Nebraska and raised in Belleville, IL, a suburb of St. Louis, MO, actor Treyvoyn “Trey” Perkins was just like any other kid in many ways. “I liked going to the carnival. I was a huge LEGO fan and played different video games. And then sometimes I just loved to go to the playground at the park.” The twenty four year old, who is featured in the Oscar nominated “Nickel Boys” was, in addition, a huge “Star Wars” fan. Speaking recently with the Amsterdam News, he shared, “I love the original classic ‘Star Wars’ movies, the first three ‘Star Wars’ movies. My nana would take me to Goodwill, where we would sometimes thrift around. I found those ‘Star Wars’ VHS tapes there, and I was like, ‘Oh my God, I need to get those.’ We had a VHS player. And so my Nana bought me the original three ‘Star Wars’ on VHS and I would just watch every single night.”

But Perkins, who is hearing impaired, also did something not so typical of kids — he actively honed his skills as an actor. He was so passionate about the craft as a child, he sometimes did something even more extraordinary.

“While watching all my favorite TV shows, growing up,” he shared, “it got to a point to where if a favorite scene played, I’d get up and start acting along that scene as if I were

the characters.” One of his favorites is the Jim Carrey comedy “How The Grinch Stole Christmas.” It was pivotal to his decision to become an actor. He said, “I really feel I started getting into acting because of that movie.”

In addition to his DIY at-home practices, Perkins did community theater and performances in school throughout middle school and high school. He was majoring in theater dance at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville (SIUE), taking additional online acting courses, and auditioning when he got his big break playing Chickie Pete in the Brad

Pitt produced “Nickel Boys.” A story of survival and resilience in the face of injustice and terror, it is based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Colson Whitehead, chronicling the friendship of young African-American boys at an abusive Florida reform school. It is a fictionalization of events at the infamous Arthur G. Dozier School for Boys which operated in Marianna, FL from 1900 to 2011.

Perkins’ time at SIUE was transformative. “They just gave me all the resources, all the tools, all the history behind acting that I never even knew before. Growing up, I thought, ‘I gotta be better than everybody else. I gotta be the star of the show.’ No, that’s not what it is. Acting is simply really about putting yourself in another person’s shoes and telling their stories to the audience. Going to SIUE for theater and dance not only changed my whole perspective on acting, but helped me to grow more into the young man that I am now.”

“Nickel Boys” is Perkins’ first major film production and he considers it a positive experience. “Once I arrived on set, everybody treated me with nothing but love and respect. They truly recognized me for who I am, truly recognized me for my talent, for what I have to offer in this film. That kind of caught me by surprise because I had heard stories about issues that can happen on set.”

Since the film shot in Louisiana, Perkins was able to visit New Orleans, a city which

had intrigued him since seeing “The Princess and The Frog” as a child. He was able to take in some of the city’s famed cuisine, particularly the beignets. “I saw ‘The Princess and the Frog’ when it came out in theaters,” he remembered. “I just so happened to stumble upon ‘Princess Tiana’s Cookbook Recipes’ when my mom and I were at the store one day and I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, mom, we gotta get this!” Perkins and his mother sometimes tried the beignets recipe, and he was excited to try them in New Orleans while there. “When I went to Cafe Du Monde in New Orleans and got an actual, real beignet, it was delicious. I was in love with it.’” He conceded it even topped his and his mom’s efforts. “I was like, ‘Yeah, this is better.’” Perkins’ hearing loss is moderate in one ear and severe in the other. On the set of “Nickel Boys,” the crew kept his hearing aids close by in case he needed them, and modified some cues for his scenes. For other hearing-impaired actors, he said, “Don’t feel discouraged at all. Having disabilities shouldn’t hinder us from amazing opportunities. I also believe it’s an opportunity, not only for us, but for the audience, to see who we are because at the end of the day, we don’t see a lot of hearing impaired actors on screen. We can use those opportunities to tell our stories. It’s important for us to take heed of that.”

(L-R): Grantham Coleman and Olivia Washington in “Wine in the Wilderness” playing at Classic Stage Company. (Marc J. Franklin photo)

“Nickel Boys” actor Trey Perkins. (Howard Ash photo)

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

Smoke, Jazz Gallery, Roulette, JOHJASz

It seems like just yesterday the trumpeter and composer Jeremy Pelt, was a young musician first arriving in New York City looking to make his way through the competitive jazz waters. He is now recognized as a well-established artist with a definitive sound that lingers in your mind like a warm summer kiss. His sublime rhythms move with the carefree subtlety of a fluttering butterfly. He carries on with beautiful lyrical phrasing and captivating solos similar to trumpeters like Roy Hargrove, Freddie Hubbard and Donald Byrd.

On March 27-30 at Smoke Jazz & Supper Club (2751 Broadway) Pelt, one of the sharp dressers in jazz, will lead an exceptional quintet featuring vibraphonist Jalen Baker, guitarist Misha Mendelenko, bassist Leighton McKinley Harrell, and drummer Jared Spears — in celebration of his January 2025 release, “Woven.” The release is a captivating exploration that blends the rich textures of 21st-century jazz with the dynamic possibilities of electronically synthesized sound. This collection of nine tracks, mostly original compositions, highlights Pelt’s masterful artistry as both an instrumentalist and a composer, committed to expanding the quilted setting of jazz. For reservations visit smokejazz.com.

On March 28, The Jazz Gallery (1158 Broadway), a music maverick in the deep sea of jazz dwellings will present the resourceful alto saxophonist and composer Steve Lehman cel-

ebrating the musical legacy of NEA Jazz Master Anthony Braxton, in honor of his 80th birthday. Lehman will be joined by his longtime piano-less trio of bassist Matt Brewer and drummer Damion Reid with special guest tenor saxophonist Mark Turner. Their new release “The Music of Anthony Braxton was released earlier this year on Pi Recordings. Few are better qualified to present the originality of Braxton than Lehman who appears on over 15 recordings with the multi-instrumentalist (who favors his alto saxophone) and was a core member of his various performing ensembles from 1999-2007. Unfortunately, Lehman has but one night to share the multifaceted treasures of Braxton’s music.

Braxton’s unbridled creativity became apparent to newfound listeners upon hearing him playing over ten instruments on his debut album “3 Compositions of New Jazz” (Delmark 1968). The album’s trio configuration included violinist Leroy Jenkins and trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith, with pianist Muhal Richard Abrams playing on two tracks. That following year, he recorded the double LP “For Alto” (Delmark 1969), one of the first complete solo saxophone recordings.

He has recorded religiously on a yearly basis, sometimes releasing three or four recordings within a single year, since his debut recording in 1968. He introduced his 13-CD boxset “Quartet” (Standards 2020). Since 2012, he’s released two 4-CD operas; a 7-CD set of the music of Lennie Tristano and associated artists; an 11-CD set of Charlie Parker’s music; a memorable CD “Six Monk Compositions” (Black Saint 1987), and an audio Blu-ray of

12 compositions for sextet, septet, and nonet, totaling over 11 hours of music. And there’s more!

To witness the Steven Lehman Trio + Turner resourcefulness as they journey through their interpretations of Braxton’s far-reaching repertoire will be a joyful excursion. For tickets and information visit jazzgallery.org.

Saxophonist and composer Emilio Modeste is considered a young lion in the same realm as Josh Evans, Camille Thurman, or Marcus Gilmore. Fundamentally, the term references those who are virtuosos, a young emerging talent ready to rocket into the jazz stratosphere like a riveting Charlie Parker solo.

Modeste’s new project, INSTANT ALTER, features four abled young visionaries, co-led by the saxophonist and vocalist/ composer Natasha Agrama, with bassist Ryoma Takenaga, and drummer Miguel Russell with inventive special guests keyboards/ vocals Black Buttafly and drummer Kassa Overall. This work was commissioned by Roulette.

On April 2, at Brooklyn’s Roulette music hall (509 Atlantic Avenue), INSTANT ALTER will present their unique art of storytelling inspired by the genre-bending jazz-rock bands of the past as well as the radical protest of psychedelia and Brazilian Tropicália.

Modeste has curated a distinctive sound that represents a progressive 21st century outlook with music most certainly for now and beyond that embraces peace and disruption with immediate attention and care. INSTANT ALTER’s debut album is produced by Return to Forever bandmates Stanley Clarke and Lenny White, and is set to be released later this year.

The young native New Yorker was fortunate enough during his formative years to be mentored by a virtuoso in his own right, trumpeter and composer Wallace Roney. He studied and toured with Roney’s Quintet from 2017 until his transition in 2020. He appeared on Roney’s final studio album, “Blue DownBlue Nights.”

As a teen, he also came under the tutelage of drummer and producer Lenny White. During COVID, the saxophonist along with a host of established musicians zoomed in on White’s Friday night music discussions and workshops that often continued past midnight. Proficient on tenor or soprano saxophones, Modeste explores endless styles of musical expression in his artistry inspired by his mentorships and playing with such renowned artists as Ron Carter, Buster Williams, Donald Harrison, Gary Bartz, Will Calhoun, Patrice Rushen, Antoine Roney, Kojo Roney (another young lion), Rene McLean, and Christian McBride.

Modeste has developed a fierce intonation that instantly draws listeners into his fascinating excursion of melodic sounds which has earned him a chair in the bands of Stanley Clarke, Cindy Blackman Santana, and Dezron Douglas. He can be heard on Steve Turre’s “Generations” (Smoke Records) and Douglas’ “Atalaya” (International Anthem 2022).

During this Roulette outing, INSTANT ALTER will invite their heroes, influences, and collaborators to share the stage with them, in a celebratory affirmation of yesterday’s history, now, and beyond tomorrow. For tickets visit roulette.org.

JOHJASz (Junior One Hundred Jazz All Stars) is a revolving ensemble of aspiring musicians who are high school and college students, committed to a minimum eightweek intensive music mentorship program sponsored by the NYC Young Men’s Initiative, and One Hundred Black Men of New York. Some of the ensemble members recently graduated high school and are now attending colleges in the tri-state area. Some recently graduated college and are working in various fields, as well as pursuing their musical endeavors while participating in JOHJASz.

On April 4 with a propelling wind of standing ovations pushing them forward, JOHJASz will swing into Harlem at the Harlem Community Center (228 East 125th Street) with their youthful take on popular R&B soul, interpreted in the jazz tradition. The ensemble will be performing under the direction of Tony and Grammy Award winner trumpeter Reggie Pittman.

The event celebrating April International Jazz Month will include a screening of the informative documentary “Max Roach: The Drum Also Waltzes,” a panel discussion with Raoul Roach and film producer Ben Shapiro moderated by yours truly Ron Scott. The evening will also acknowledge April 4, as the unforgettable day that Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated at the Lorraine Hotel, in Memphis, Tennessee in 1968. It is important to discuss the significance of Dr. King’s horrendous terrorist assassination as the world observes the daily destruction of America’s so-called democracy being demolished under the misguided leadership of insanity.

Jeremy Pelt (Eva Kapanadze photo via www.jeremypelt.net)

Junior One Hundred Jazz All Stars (JOHJASz) (Dina Gardner photo)

Andrew Cuomo

Mamdani speak to those issues in different ways, said Sivin.

“People like candidates who are authentic,” said Sivin. “Assemblymember Mamdani throughout his career has consistently spoken to affordability, and he centered his campaign on creating an affordable, livable city, and by the way that his approach to safety has fallen right in line with that as well. Interestingly enough, former Governor Cuomo also has authenticity on his side in a very different way as well. He stuck by his brand.”

In terms of endorsements, there’s been a bit of splintering happening among Black and Brown electeds for or against Cuomo. He notably captured support from quite a few already, including Brooklyn Democratic Chair and Assemblymember Rodneyse Bichotte Hermelyn; Assemblymembers Eddie Gibbs, Latrice Walker, and Jordan J.G. Wright; former New York State Comptroller Carl McCall, Congressmember Ritchie Torres, and former Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr. Assemblymember Landon Dais, who is “slow walking” his mayoral endorsement, said that he understands why some state electeds go for Cuomo but also why others are gravitating towards his colleague Mamdani. He said Mamdani is “extremely smart,” efficient, relatable on controversial issues, and disciplined in his messaging while Cuomo has already demonstrated that he’s a “good manager” in a crisis. Dais likened the matchup

to when former Mayor Michael Bloomberg was running for a third term in 2009 against Comptroller William Thompson. That race, said Dais, was ridiculously close despite Bloomberg benefiting from name recognition, buying power, and the absolute perception of “invincibility.”

Mamdani’s campaign considered being second in the polling as a definite win. Even though his name recognition is still below 50%, he became the first candidate this cycle to reach the fundraising cap this week — at the fastest rate in city history.

“Today’s poll makes one thing clear: Zohran Mamdani is the best candidate to beat disgraced ex-governor Andrew Cuomo,” said Mamdani’s campaign in a statement. “While Cuomo sold out New Yorkers for a book deal, slashed funding for our schools and subways, and curried favor from real estate moguls like Donald Trump, Zohran is laser-focused on the needs of working New Yorkers — and will continue to make that known until Election Day.”

Other electeds, like Assemblymember Khaleel Anderson, have backed Lander in the race.

A coalition of politicians from southeast Queens endorsed Cuomo, a Queens native, in a “blind vote” this week. There was, however, confusion when not everyone on their press release actually wanted to back him. Anderson was among three who broke away from the pack. His reasoning was that the next Mayor needs to focus on affordability, flooding, and shorter commute times among other major issues for Black New Yorkers. He believes that Lander is one of the only

Criminal justice reform

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for reduced sentencing and the Marvin Mayfield Act which eliminates mandatory minimums that coerce defendants into pleading guilty to lower charges to avoid the risk of going to trial for a harsher sentence.

All those reforms would decrease the current prison population, which the report says will also contribute to safer working conditions that the corrections officers said led to their strikes by cutting down on double shifts and consolidating staff in smaller facilities.

Parts of the HALT laws were suspended as a condition to end the illegal strikes on March 11, which largely affected programming. The legislation is modeled after the United Nations’ Nelson Mandela Rules, which considers solitary confinement for more than 15 straight days as torture.

Properly implementing HALT would mitigate the mental and physical health conditions exposed to incarcerated individuals, according to the report. The findings point to studies concluding solitary confinement causes heart disease, anxiety and depression, along with higher rates of suicide.

The report did not shy away from racial disparities in DOCCS facilities — 49.5% of

candidates that can beat Cuomo. He said he’d ranked Speaker Adrienne Adams, another Queens native, highly as well.

“I’m honored to have earned the support of Khaleel Anderson, a longtime friend of mine who I’ve supported since his 2020 run for the legislature, which made him [then] the youngest Black Assembly Member in New York State history,” said Lander in a statement. “I’m proud that our campaign is the only that boasts support from the Upper West Side to South East Queens, securing the broadest coalition of the mayor’s race.”

Of course, there’s a subset of voters and political groups that have vowed to never support Cuomo or Adams. Jasmine Gripper, the co-director of the New York Working Families Party (WFP), is spearheading the movement for women to vote against them.

“The former Governor has high name recognition but the reality is that he really hasn’t been spending a lot of time talking to voters and sharing his policy platform and what he intends to do. He might be hitting a ceiling, now or anyday, as voters begin to evaluate the field,” said Gripper. “We’re reminded of why he left politics in the first place and the multiple scandals that came with him. People are working hard to remind voters that we don’t have to replace one scandal-ridden politician with another.”

Stringer and Adams have had similar sexual misconduct and assault allegations against them too.

Meanwhile, Mayor Adams is quietly collecting signatures in areas like Harlem and the Bronx to get his name on the ballot but not outwardly campaigning like other candidates. Most political experts looking at the polls don’t consider him much of a contender in the race anymore, whether he runs as a Democrat, Republican, or resorts to running as an Independent. He has repeatedly said when asked that he’s running as a Democrat.

Polling is not infallible.

As the current Mayor likes to point out constantly, around this time in the 2021 mayoral race, his opponent Andrew Yang — as well as the former sanitation commissioner Kathryn Garcia, activist Maya Wiley, and former City Comptroller Scott Stringer — were beating him in the polls as early front runners, and he ultimately succeeded, albeit under wildly different circumstances.

“Most registered Democratic voters did not cast a ballot in the 2021 mayor election,” said Bradley Honan, founding partner and CEO & President of Honan Strategy Group at a media briefing on March 25. “Yet they continue to be a very popular audience to be polled and will continue to be pulled. My argument, when I stand on my soap box here, is that it’s an interesting academic exercise to examine registered voters but they’re not the ones who are going to determine the outcome of the primary election.”

incarcerated individuals are Black. And they are more likely to be sent to solitary confinement and less likely to receive parole. The current “moment of reckoning” impacts them the most.

“There are countless thousands of others who are just as vulnerable or at risk or subjected to these conditions that we need to be thinking about on a daily basis,” said Tyler. “And that is why advocates, activists [and] family members who have been aware of this are helping to lift up that drumbeat and holding elected officials accountable…it can’t just be the day that we released the report. These are ongoing efforts, because the work is about human rights and liberation.”

DOCCS declined to comment due to department practice for pending legislative actions.

Tandy Lau is a Report for America corps member who writes about public safety for the Amsterdam News. Your donation to match our RFA grant helps keep him writing stories like this one; please consider making a tax-deductible gift of any amount today by visiting https://bit.ly/amnews1

Educator, activist and communist, Dr. Doxey A. Wilkerson CLASSROOM IN THE

By HERB BOYD

Special to the AmNews

Dr. Doxey Alphonso Wilkerson, a formidable educator, devout Marxist, and civil rights activist, was born on April 24, 1905 in Excelsior Springs, Missouri. He began his prodigious education journey at Sumner High School in Kansas City, Kansas and he continued on to the University of Kansas, where he earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in 1926 and 1927. Many years later in 1958, he received his Ph.D., specializing in education, from New York University.

As a teacher, Dr. Wilkerson had stints at such institutions as Virginia State College, Howard University, and Yeshiva University. At Howard, he was a professor of education and president of the teachers union from 1935-1943, and later working as a research associate for the Carnegie Corporation study of the Negro in America, 1939-1940. His study, “The Negro in American Education” was included in the study’s final publication. From 193741, he was the national vice president of the American Federation of Teachers, facilitating federal aid for the education of Black Americans.

In 1941, demonstrating his academic and civic versatility, Dr. Wilkerson published a study on the Agricultural extension services among Negroes in the South, where he concluded: “While realizing that there is need for further expansion in extension work with Negroes, it is also realized that such expansion can not be made without adequate funds to finance it. Because of the cooperative nature of the work, availability of State and county funds, in addition to Federal funds, is a factor which has to be considered.”

Two years later he joined the Communist Party, where he wrote for the organization’s organ, “The Daily

Worker,” and served on its national committee. Like many of his comrades, he was targeted by Sen. Joe McCarthy and his Senate subcommittee on the House UnAmerican Activities Committee (HUAC) as part of the Red Scare. In 1957, disillusioned about the activities of Russia’s leader, Joseph Stalin, he resigned from the party. His political activism also manifested as the executive editor of “The People’s Voice,” founded by Rep. Adam Clayton Powell, Jr.,

which had a seven year run (1941-1948). The paper was perpetually under attack for its radical views, and when it closed Dr. Wilkerson resumed his socialist/Marxist views as the director of curriculum and teacher at Manhattan’s Jefferson School of Social Science.

By 1959, Dr. Wilkerson centered his concerns on teaching, which he did at Bishop College, in Marshall, Texas, but two years later was asked to resign because of his participation in

communist party. “I joined the Communist Party as the logical and impelling next step in a series of experiences which pointed inexorably toward that end. My feelings as a Negro American, considerable study of social theory, direct observation of social relationships in many parts of the country, increasingly extensive activities in the trade union movement, and in numerous progressive organizations, all served to define social values and to develop social insights, the inevitable outcome of which, at some time, simply had to be affiliated with the Communist Party,” he wrote.

ACTIVITIES

FIND OUT MORE

There is certainly much more to know about this social and political activist and the dissertation by Shante Lyons is full exposition of his extraordinary life.

DISCUSSION

the lunch counter protests against segregation. His next academic post was at Yeshiva University where served for more than a decade before becoming a vice president of the educational consulting firm, Mediax Associates. He remained at the company until his retirement in 1984.

He was a prolific writer with countless articles, book chapters, and books to his credit. And one of his most explicit articles was his response to why he joined the

Moreover, he said, “I joined at this time, leaving a challenging professional career to become a full-time party functionary, because of a powerful urge to render maximum service to the winning of the war. It becomes increasingly clear that this war has assumed a character which opens up new vistas of freedom for the millions of ‘little people’ of the world. To the well informed, it is also clear that no civilian organization in our nation has more completely subordinated its own special interests to all-out and effective promotion of the nation’s victory program than the Communist Party. Having passed the age of military service, I entered the service of the party because of the conviction that therein lay the opportunity for my maximum civilian contribution toward victory and the building of a constructive and durable peace.”

Along with his union with the CP was his first marriage with Jeanette May and they had one child, Doxey A. Wilkerson, Jr. In 1944, he married Ferda Yolanda Barnett, with whom he shared the Marxist ideology and the teaching profession. They moved to S. Norwalk, Conn. in 1962 where Dr. Wilkerson died at the age of 88 on June 17, 1993.

More could and should be known about his affiliation with Paul Robeson and other prominent activists during the Civil Rights Movement, particularly the role he played in getting Marian Anderson a platform of vocal freedom.

PLACE IN CONTEXT

His impressive days nearly stretched across a century, and there were few political activities where he wasn’t seen or heard.

THIS WEEK IN BLACK HISTORY

March 23, 1942: Scholar and Political activist, Dr. Walter Rodney, was born in Guyana. He was killed on June 13, 1980. He was 38.

March 25, 1942: Aretha Franklin, the Queen of Soul, was born in Memphis, Tenn. She died in 2018.

March 26, 1944: Motown legendary vocalist, Diana Ross, was born in Detroit, Mich.

Doxey Wilkerson

Jail death

Closing Rikers Island by 2027 relies almost entirely on transferring the remaining people in custody into four borough-based jails currently under construction. However, the replacement facilities’ completion date will miss the deadline by at least two years. In fact, construction of all the borough-based jails besides Brooklyn’s will likely run into the 2030s. COVID-19 and “market conditions” are to blame for the delays, according to the commission’s report.

“The commission acknowledges that it will take longer for the facilities to be complete and for Rikers to fully close,” said Dana Kaplan, a senior advisor for the Lippman Independent Commission. “That being said, the commissioners strongly believe that any discussion about extending the legal deadline to close Rikers Island has to be part of a fullthroated commitment to move ahead a plan that will effectively close the jails on Rikers Island.

“And that plan has to include benchmarks [and] commitments to have real leadership and urgency demonstrated on reducing the jail population, making the type of necessary community based investments that will im-

Photoshop

prove safety but also allow [for] a smaller number of people [to be] incarcerated and also change the cultures of the city’s jails.”

The city can potentially shave a year off the wait time by beginning building at the same time as designing the interior, according to the Department of Design and Construction. The commission also recommends employing “value engineering,” which enlists outside experts “to conduct a top-to-bottom review of construction, timeline, and program plans for the new facilities” and has previously reduced costs and months off build time in other local projects.

Some concurrent construction and design-work is currently underway at the Brooklyn borough-based jail, according to the report. The city also plans on using value engineering for the Manhattan borough-based jail in response to the commission’s multiple requests.

The promise of new jails Borough-based jails promise “more humane” living conditions and direct proximity to criminal proceedings — almost all the facilities will be built right next to their corresponding courthouses. The DOC spent more than $30 million towards transporting people from Rikers Island to their court dates, sometimes for minor appearances.

Forget the ethical photojournalism types who have pride in the fidelity of our photos. What about the “decepticons”? Now that anyone with a smartphone and a wifi connection can call themselves a journalist and “flood the zone with s…” as Trump consigliere Steve Bannon put it, this amounts to feeding a raging fire and hiding the extinguishers. By slipping generative AI tools into its workhorse photo-editing apps — and then promoting them in the app and through advertisements — Adobe’s making it easier for them to create their realitytainting images. With no ethical guardrails. At the same time, and perhaps most disturbingly, it’s selling photorealistic gen AI images of ongoing tragedies like the wars in Ukraine and Gaza through Adobe Stock. One can’t ignore the good stuff Adobe is doing. The company spearheaded the Content Authenticity Initiative (CAI) and is a leading member of the Coali-

Back in 2018, the de Blasio administration cut the planned number of borough-based jail beds from 6,000 to 4,000 (and was reduced further to 3,544 in 2019) based on then-upcoming bail reform laws and declining crime rates.

Yet currently city jails hold more than 7,000 people and around 84% of them are pretrial detainees, who remain innocent until proven guilty for the crime they are in custody for (to be clear, some were meant to be sent to state prisons but held up due to the recent strikes). The Adams administration has since increased the planned number of boroughbased jail beds to 4,500 and reduced the number of projected secure hospital beds within the facilities.

“The current jail population is too large,” said Kaplan. “But we believe that it’s been artificially inflated, and that there are very, very safe, practical steps that can be taken to reduce that and make it possible for the entire population to fit in the new borough jails, particularly with some additional mental health beds.”

When COVID-19 struck, the city reduced the detainee population to just 3,809 people. Arrests rose after the height of the pandemic and more people ended up on Rikers Island. Yet major crime

started decreasing drastically since last summer but the jail population continues to rise.

The average person held on Rikers Island for pretrial detention waits “269 days and counting waiting for their day in court,” according to the report. While past research failed to find correlations between pretrial detention and case time delays, there is of course more urgency compared to defendants who are released.

Clearing up backlogs through case processing reforms can realistically reduce the jail population by 1,200 to 1,600 and potentially up to 2,000, according to the commission. Those reforms include clear case schedules, case conferences to ensure progress and firm trial dates detailed in the New York State Office of Court Administration’s plans. A Brooklyn pilot program implemented many such practices at the Kings County Supreme Court, leading to an 11% increase in closed cases within six months of the indictment.

Mental health also factored heavily in the commission’s findings for the growing jail population, deeming Rikers Island as the second largest psychiatric facility in the country. Only Los Angeles County jail houses more people living with mental illness.

57% of people held on Rikers receive some sort of mental healthcare. 21% are diagnosed with

tion for Content Provenance and Authenticity (C2PA). This is heartening but not nearly enough in these dis/misinformation-saturated times.

CAI/C2PA technology creates unique,

encrypted information in the metadata of a digital photo file, “content credentials,” that a camera — for now, only a very expensive camera. This has very limited value for most of us as gen AI fakery rages, in part

serious mental illness.

The report points to the underlying dilemma for judges when someone with a mental health condition is arrested. Should they send them to Rikers where they can receive treatment but subject them to jail conditions? Or release them back into the community “without realistic options for either, and therefore taking an inordinate risk the person will reoffend.” Instead, the commission suggests more services outside of jails like opening 250 residential treatment beds and expanding supportive housing.

The DOC responded to several recommendations. A suggestion toward combating correctional staff attribution was pushed back on, as the department pointed to a 35% growth in registration credited to outreach efforts. The DOC also highlighted improvements in transportation to scheduled court dates and community input for reentry and behavioral health services.

Tandy Lau is a Report for America corps member who writes about public safety for the Amsterdam News. Your donation to match our RFA grant helps keep him writing stories like this one; please consider making a tax-deductible gift of any amount today by visiting https:// bit.ly/amnews1.

through Adobe’s own tools and products.

My request is very small in the face of this global disinformation and propaganda tsunami.

Adobe, an international corporation with a market capitalization of more than $171 billion, could take greater leaps by integrating AI labeling into its products so the public can more easily tell the difference between real and fake. It could embed ethical guidelines for the use of AI in its apps and advertising. Right now, I’m asking only for a first step, one that would help journalists capture the world as it is, clearly and honestly. Adobe has the way 40 years ago with the release of Photoshop. It can lead the way again by protecting photojournalism, thereby helping restore trust in our medium and counter the visual lies we’re being fed online.

Brian Palmer is a visual journalist, writer, and educator based in Richmond, Virginia. Palmer also serves on the board of directors of the School of Visual Arts. The opinions expressed here are his own.

Brian Palmer

Long COVID: finding solutions to a continuing public health challenge

By SRI PRANITA CHERUKURI and HEATHER M. BUTTS, JD, MPH, MA Special to the AmNews

Months or even years after recovering from COVID-19, millions of people find themselves still struggling with exhaustion, brain fog, and shortness of breath. For some, everyday tasks like climbing stairs or working full-time become impossible. This condition, known as Long COVID, remains a major public health crisis. According to Dr. Michelle Morse, MD, MPH and Acting Health Commissioner and Chief Medical Officer of the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (NYC DOHMH) in an interview with the AmNews, Long COVID is “a range of symptoms that can include things like fatigue or trouble breathing or muscle aches or trouble focusing or remembering tasks. Those are the kinds of things that people might experience and unfortunately this can happen…during an infection with COVID or in the weeks to months following.”

decorated with the words “Still

and “Disabled 10+

COVID-19 and myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic

suffering from post-infectious disease. (Andrew Harnik/AP

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) defines Long COVID as a chronic condition lasting three months or longer after initially being infected with SARS-CoV-2, showcasing a wide array of symptoms and continues to pose a major public health challenge.

According to Dr. Eric Griggs, a New Orleans-based Community Medicine Doctor and Health Educator, in an interview with the AmNews, “we're still finding out about Long COVID, that's why we're calling it Long COVID.”

Long COVID affects everyone, but certain groups are more vulnerable:

• older adults and those with existing health issues;

• individuals who have not been vaccinated;

• patients who were hospitalized during their initial COVID-19 illness;

Study Data from the U.S. Census Bureau’s Household Pulse Survey also reveals that

Hispanic respondents were the most likely to report long-lasting COVID-19 symptoms, followed by Black respondents, compared to other racial or ethnic groups. This highlights the need for equitable access to healthcare and preventive measures to lessen its long-term impacts.

Long COVID can also lead to serious conditions, such as heart disease, diabetes, or autoimmune disorders, making its diagnosis and management complex. A Cleveland Clinic study found that people with any type of COVID-19 infection were twice as likely to have a major cardiac event, such as heart attack, stroke, or even death, for up to three years after diagnosis.

The risk was significantly higher for patients hospitalized for COVID-19 and more of a determinant than a previous history of heart disease. In a similar context, Dr. Griggs stated that “when you think about Long COVID and think about the way it [affects] the supply of the blood vessels to your brain, how long would it take for you to get back to clear thought and function… there's not a finite number to it. We're still finding out more and more.”

Long COVID significantly affects both individuals and society at large. According to the CDC, around one in four adults suffering from this condition report limitations in daily activities, with over 1 million Americans potentially unable to work because of its debilitating nature. According to Dr. Griggs, “I know some people that have had COVID and unfortunately Long COVID and the effect of COVID…pushed them over the edge. They were pre-diabetic and now they're diabetic. That lasts for the rest of their lives.”

The CDC recommends the following strategies to safeguard against respiratory illnesses, including Long COVID:

• keep vaccinations up to date;

• practice good hygiene;

• enhance indoor air quality;

• implement preventive measures if experiencing respiratory illness symptoms; and

• seek prompt medical attention if at high risk for severe illness.

New York City has taken proactive steps

to address Long COVID. The NYC Health + Hospitals AfterCare Program links individuals with ongoing symptoms to relevant health and social services. Residents who experience symptoms for more than 28 days after infection can access information and assistance through this initiative. Support groups such as Long COVID Alliance, and Long COVID Families provide crucial resources for both patients and caregivers. These organizations play a crucial role in creating a sense of community and pushing for improved research and treatment solutions.

Children suffering from Long COVID also need special care. Resources like “Pacing Penguins,” offered by Long COVID Kids, help children manage their energy levels and prevent exacerbation of symptoms. The U.S. Department of Education guarantees protections for students with Long COVID under Section 504, ensuring they receive necessary accommodations to support their educational requirements.

For those dealing with Long COVID while employed, the Department of Labor and the Job Accommodation Network (JAN) offer helpful guidance. Employers are encouraged to provide accommodations such as flexible work schedules, remote work options, and adjusted job responsibilities to assist affected workers.

Long COVID is a stark reminder that the consequences of the pandemic are far from over. Continued research, public awareness, and support for affected individuals are crucial in addressing this multifaceted condition. If you or someone you know is struggling with Long COVID, seek medical care and explore support groups. The fight against COVID-19 didn’t end with the vaccine. It continues with ensuring care for those still suffering.

If you are recovering from COVID19 or experiencing Long COVID, you can call 212-COVID19 to receive specialty care, or visit www.nychealthandhospitals.org/services/covid-19 to learn more about NYC’s COVID-19 Centers of Excellence. For additional resources about COVID-19, visit www1.nyc.gov/site/coronavirus/index.page. COVID-19 testing, masks, and vaccination resources can also be accessed on the AmNews COVID-19 page: www.amsterdamnews.com/covid.

Pillows

Sick”

YRS” are visible as advocates for people suffering from long

fatigue syndrome host an installation of 300 cots in front of the Washington Monument on the National Mall in Washington, Friday, May 12, 2023, to represent the millions of people

photo)

a dynamic space that hosts cultural events, wellness activities, and community gatherings. This innovative approach not only caters to the needs of cannabis consumers but also fosters a sense of community and well-being.

“Cannabis is something many of us consume,” Brandon said. “It’s a healthier alternative to alcohol and has real benefits that help a lot of people.”

“We’re in the business of health and happiness,” Rodney Jr. said. “Cannabis is just one part of a holistic lifestyle, and the plant itself has so many health benefits.”

Rodney Jr. added, “The name came from a smoke session with some of the women in our family. Brandon’s girlfriend threw out a name that stuck, but I wanted to give it deeper meaning. So, I asked everyone to brainstorm names, and my sister Kiara came up with the best one: TRENDS –

The Real Experience Needs Different Stories. We believe cannabis has been stigmatized for too long, and shifting the narrative starts with education and storytelling.”

Brandon noted that TRENDS required significant capital and negotiations, but legal requirements and state procedures were the real challenges. The Carters faced various setbacks and delays beyond their control but eventually launched successfully. They chose Long Island City due to their decade-long familiarity with the area and its growth.

Rodney Jr. shared that as one of the first CAURD licensees, they received many predatory offers from investors. The best choice for them was partnering with Housing Works, NYC’s first legal dispensary, connected through their realtor.

“Our biggest focus is breaking the stigma around cannabis,” Brandon said. “Most of our customers aren’t ‘stoners’, they’re everyday people looking for relief from anxiety, pain, sleep issues, and more.”

“Cannabis is medicine,” Rodney Jr. said. “While people use it recreationally, the medicinal benefits are life changing. Selling something that enhances people’s well-being is a win-win.”

Honoring the past, investing in the future

Several months ago, TRENDS hosted an exclusive dinner and performance that paid homage to Christopher Alexander of the NAACP. The event benefited the Last Prisoner Project, a non-profit organization dedicated to cannabis criminal justice reform. This initiative underscores the Carters’ commitment to addressing the historical injustices associated with cannabis prohibition and supporting those still affected by its legacy.

“I think a lot of people are often uninformed or misinformed,” Brandon said. “Some people think if something is illegal, it must be bad, but I believe that logic is flawed. At one point, even Black people were considered ‘illegal’ in this country.”

“There’s still an agenda to keep cannabis stigmatized because it threatens industries like alcohol and pharmaceuticals,” Rodney Jr. said. “But education is key. Once people see how this plant is changing lives, their perspective shifts. I think it’s important to keep an open mind, which I always strive to do.”

TRENDS stands as a symbol of what can be achieved when vision, dedication, and community converge. The Carter brothers have not only built a successful business but have also created a space where culture, wellness, and community thrive.

“My mom passed away when I was 22,” Rodney Jr. said. “At the time, she was hurt and disappointed by the lifestyle I was living and the choices I was making. On her deathbed, I promised her I’d change my life for the better, and I did. I no longer sell things that harm people; I sell something that heals them. I know she’d be proud of me today, and I feel like she’s been guiding us through this journey.”

Need help with healthcare?

Education

Despite the $4M allocation of funds to the city’s public schools, arts education advocates say it is not enough

BY LEYRIAN COLÓN SANTIAGO Special to the AmNews

The executive director of the NYC Arts in Education Roundtable, Kimberly Olsen, recently called on the City Council and mayor to prioritize funding for arts education in NYC schools and communities during a recent City Council hearing.

During a New York City Council Committee on Cultural Affairs preliminary budget hearing about the critical role of cultural organizations, Olsen urged council members to protect funding for the arts and ensure no student loses access to arts education opportunities.

“The Department of Cultural Affairs and the Cultural Development Fund are essential resources for NYC’s arts education community, enabling hundreds of organizations to deliver essential arts education services across all five boroughs. These programs cultivate not only the next generation of arts workers and audiences but prepare our city’s young people with the skills necessary to enter the 21st-century workforce,” said Olsen.

For the Education Roundtable and other groups including the Starts with the Arts coalition and the Coalition for Equitable Education Funding, the annual allocation of $4 million is not enough. During the hearing, Olsen said, “we stand with the Coalition of Equitable Education Funding and call on the city to shift from a one-year restoration to an annual allocation to sustain arts education and other programs currently on the chopping block.”

The reallocation of funds for arts programs in public schools only covers arts programs for 239 schools across the city, with each school receiving $16,527. Additionally, nearly 1,500 other schools across the city are not receiving any of the money.

Among the requests from organizations to the municipal government, they also ask to ensure a certified arts teacher in every school, increase the per-student cost for arts education, and expand the initial investment to raise the allocation to $6 million.

The claims that Olsen expressed during the hearing are also part of “It Starts with The Arts,” a campaign that was relaunched last month from the NYC Arts in Education Roundtable, urging the mayor and City Council to support arts education funding and improve transparency about how city schools are spending the money and where.

“We cannot allow our students, especially those in underserved communities who rely on public funding for arts access, to suffer from political inaction. The mayor and City Council must invest in arts education ” said Olsen. Currently, only 3% of the NYCDOE budget is allocated to arts education. Additionally, the terms and conditions passed by the Council last year revealed that during 2020-2023 one in five NYC public schools lacks a certified arts teacher.

“Investing in arts education is an investment in our future. Therefore, I urge our City to take decisive action to ensure that all students have access to high-quality arts education,” said Olsen.

Students were also part of the relaunch of the It Starts with The Arts campaign. Advocates urge NYC Council and mayor to prioritize arts education funding. (Leyrian Colón Santiago photo)

Zellnor Myrie

being stopped disproportionately for level one and level two encounters. They’re not necessarily being recorded or reported and I was wondering if you wanted to comment on that information.

Myrie: You know I think that it’s important that we have all of the information that we need as it relates to law enforcement and transparency in that process. We saw historically low crime rates in the city in 2018 and in 2019 pre-pandemic, even with the ruling that unconstitutional stops can no longer continue. So the city can and has in the past done this in a way that allows for people to not have their constitutional rights violated. But to do so in a way that still keeps people safe, that would be the expectation of the police department under my administration and I think that would be the expectation for most New Yorkers.

AmNews: Switching to the Office of Gun Violence Prevention, why do you think there wasn’t a centralized office in the state before, considering we’ve always had an issue with violence in our communities?

Now that the White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention has been eliminated by Trump, do you feel like the statewide office would be as effective?

Myrie: I think it would be even more important that we establish a state Office of Gun Violence Prevention given that this president eliminated that national office on his first day in office. I think that in an era where a small percentage of the blocks in New York City are responsible for the outside amount of gun violence that takes place, we need a coordinated government response to this and that’s what an office of gun violence prevention would do. It would bring all of the stakeholders to the table. It would employ an interagency approach, not just to the execution of our current gun safety laws, but giving us data research and coordinating with educators, violence interrupters, medical professionals, and students.

The fact that we have not had this already, I think, speaks to the neglect that many of our communities have felt for decades. We’ve known the things that can help us get out of this crisis. We’ve been screaming for them for many years. We’ve marched for them for many years and I’m really proud that we have been a leader on this issue in the state legislature and that we are hopefully going to see this office finally created and cannot be undone by executive order but enshrined in our statute. So that no matter who is governor, no matter who is president, this office will remain and that we will have a real focus on preventing some of the most disruptive crimes that we see in our city.

AmNews: What strategy would you employ to reduce gun violence and gang violence among youth? Would you support ending the gang database?

Myrie: So when I represented Brownsville in

the state Senate, we worked with many community partners to flood the most violent blocks with services. We worked in tandem with the 73rd Precinct and many other violence interrupters and social service providers to ensure that we gave these blocks the attention that they needed. We saw, in those periods where there was a concerted effort, we saw the incidents of violence go down.

The city has recently adopted that model in some precincts, the Every Block Counts initiative, and I’d like to expand that to all of our precincts where we are seeing the highest rates of gun violence. And that it is an approach that is informed by community experience, but that has also been demonstrated that it can bring down crime.

covery law requires that defendants have the evidence that they are being charged with and we changed that process in 2019 to ensure that they were getting that evidence in a timely fashion, and not making lifechanging decisions without having that evidence before them.

What we’ve seen over the past five years is that the timeline has been impacted because the police department and the prosecutor’s office are not exchanging the information in a timely fashion. Prosecutors don’t have access to the evidence that the police department has in their custody so I proposed a law that would give the prosecutors that access. That information can be turned over quicker and done so in a smoother fashion

I think that our young people need alternatives. We have told them to not be gangs. We have told them to not pick up guns, but we have not given them after school programming. One of the major initiatives that I wanna get done in my first term in City Hall is to provide universal after school for all of our kids. I want 50,000 more summer youth employment slots so that no young person is on the waitlist and has that opportunity. I also want to create some pathways for our young people who college may not be the best route for them.

I think that the gang database has provided law enforcement with a tool to bring down incidents of violence and I think that it is an important tool for them to utilize. Like with everything that law enforcement does, I think it’s important that we have paired that with accountability. We have seen that this civilian complaint review board (CCRB) has not received the amount of resources that it deserves over the past year, so I plan to increase the resources that it has so that it can hold officers accountable.

AmNews: Evidence sharing and discovery in a timely manner. Could you just explain a little bit your role in that legislation and what the pushback is against it?

Myrie: Yeah, you know this is a common sense approach to how we implement discovery here in the state and the city. The dis-

documented, feel this in a very personal way. Most people come here to work and I would like to see something called Work NYC, where we would provide New York City work permits for individuals who were seeking asylum and allow for them to work. That’s what my parents came here for, that is what the overwhelming majority of people come here for, that is what I’d like to institute as the next mayor. We gotta be clear in the face of what is happening in this Trump administration. He is sending subpoenas to our city hotels. He’s not just asking for information on asylum-seekers. He seeks information on the city workers that help them. This is a major breach and an unprecedented step that we cannot afford to cower in the face of, and I’d be using the bully pulpit every day if I have to stand up for our immigrant community. And to partner with our state and federal colleagues to ensure that we’re using every tool that is at our disposal to protect New Yorkers.

AmNews: As a Brooklyn guy, does it hurt that Assemblymember Bichotte Hermelyn, the Brooklyn Dems’ party boss, would endorse Cuomo over you?

Myrie: You know, I think every elected leader is gonna make a decision on who they support for mayor. We’re still early in this process. Voters are just beginning to pay attention and I’m excited about the endorsements that we received thus far and the endorsements that we will be getting down the line. The most important thing to me at this moment is communicating what my vision is to New Yorkers and I have been a proud Brooklyn representative. I’m born and raised here and I would be very much looking forward to communicating that vision not just to the great people of Brooklyn but to every New York City resident.

so they were not having cases dismissed because of a technicality. We’re also having defendants given that information in the timely fashion, we’ve actually gotten support from some prosecutors and public defenders on this, which to me demonstrates that it is one of the common sense approaches to us improving our discovery loss.

AmNews: What can be done on a city and state level to help immigrants wrongly detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)?

Myrie: We’re in a tough spot because there are some jurisdictional boundaries that we have as a city and state as it relates to the federal government, but I’ve been proud to be a sponsor on a state bill called New York for All, which would protect New Yorkers from any ICE involvement on state owned, and in state run properties and facilities. I think that there are some opportunities for us to do something similar on the city level. You know our sanctuary city laws right now are under question because this Mayor has put them under question, but they used to not be a political football. It used to be protected by Democratic and Republican Mayors alike because they understood the value of protecting vulnerable New Yorkers.

I myself, as the son of two Costa Rican immigrants, who had me when they were not

AmNews: How do you manage to balance appealing to both Jewish and Muslim voters and their concerns over what’s happening with Mahmoud Khalil?

Myrie: I think that all New Yorkers are watching what this administration is doing and shocked that they would ignore our constitution, that they would ignore due process. I think that, regardless of how people feel about the content of speech, people do care deeply about the process. Seeing what happens when that is disregarded and how slippery a slope that it can be, my job as the next mayor is to keep all New Yorkers safe and to enjoy feeling safe and are free to express their opinions without consequence from the government when that does not cross any criminal line. So I think it’s really important at this moment to stand up for our constitution and for our protections and that’s what I would plan to do as mayor.

AmNews: Is there anybody you could see yourself eventually cross endorsing with towards June?

Myrie: I think it’s still early. As you know, we’re trying to get on the ballot. All of us. I think after that ballot is solidified, there can be conversations, but at the moment I’m very much focused on just trying to make sure we get on the ballot.

Senator Zellnor Myrie, a mayoral candidate, spoke at a rally in support of universal afterschool programming in Albany on Mar 20, 2024. (Photo contributed by the Office of New York State Senator Zellnor Myrie)

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NOTICE OF SALE

SUPREME COURT COUNTY OF New York , NYCTL 2021A Trust and The Bank of New York Mellon as Collateral Agent and Custodian , Plaintiff, vs . 187 Street Mazal LLC , Defendant(s). Pursuant to a Judgment of Foreclosure and Sale and Decision + Order on Motion dated August 14, 2024 and entered on December 27, 2024 , I, the undersigned Referee will sell at public auction at Room 116 of the New York County Courthouse, 60 Centre Street, New York, NY on April 23, 2025 at 2:15 p.m., 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 2170 and Lot 29. Said premises may also be known as 659 West 187 Street, New York, NY. Approximate amount of judgment is $47,989.20 plus interest and costs.

Premises will be sold subject to provisions of filed Judgment and Terms of Sale. Index #156380/2022.

Elaine Shay, Esq., Referee

The Law Office of Thomas P. Malone, PLLC, 60 East 42nd Street, Suite 553, New York, New York 10165, Attorneys for Plaintiff

SUPREME COURT-NEW YORK COUNTY- HILTON RESORTS CORP., Pltf. v. KENNETH R. TEMPLE, PATRICIA LARAINE TEMPLE and NYC DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SERVICES OFFICE OF LEGAL AFFAIRS -SLRLU, Defts. - Index # 850365/2024. Pursuant to Judgment of Foreclosure and Sale dated March 19, 2025, I will sell at public auction in Room 130 of the New York County Courthouse located at 60 Centre Street, New York, NY on Thursday, April 24, 2025, at 2:15 pm, an interest of an undivided 0.03434696076644787% tenant in common interest in the timeshare known as 48TH STREET VACATION SUITES located at 12 East 48th Street, New York, NY. Approximate amount of judgment is $33,234.29 plus costs and interest as of January 6, 2025. Sold subject to terms and conditions of filed Judgment and Terms of Sale which includes annual maintenance fees and charges. Thomas R. Kleinberger, Esq., Referee. Cruser, Mitchell, Novitz, Sanchez, Gaston, & Zimet LLP, Attys. for Pltf., 341 Conklin Street, Farmingdale, NY.

MTA REAL ESTATE Request for Proposals

RFP No. (#AE2025-6309) - Opportunity to lease a street-level retail space located at 63096311 18th Ave at NYCT’s 18 Ave Station, N line, Brooklyn, New York. For info on this RFP, please go to https://new.mta. info/agency/real-estate/

NOTICE OF SALE SUPREME COURT NEW YORK COUNTY

MCLP ASSET COMPANY, INC., Plaintiff against

KEVIN C. LAU, et al Defendant(s)

Attorney for Plaintiff(s) Knuckles & Manfro, LLP, 120 White Plains Road, Suite 215, Tarrytown, NY 10591.

Pursuant to a Judgment of Foreclosure and Sale entered February 6, 2025, I will sell at

public auction to the highest bidder at Room 130 at the Supreme Court, New York

County, 60 Centre Street, New York, New York on April 23, 2025 at 2:15 PM. Premises

known as 200 East 94th Street, Unit 2012, New York, New York 10128. Block 1539 Lot

1516. The Condominium Unit (the "Unit") known as Residential Unit 2012 in the building (the "Building") known as Carnegie Park Condominium ( the "Condominium") and by the street address 200 East 94th Street, New York, New York, Borough of Manhattan,

County of New York, City and State of New York. Approximate Amount of Judgment is

$755,529.61 plus interest, fees, and costs. Premises will be sold subject to provisions of

filed Judgment Index No 850624/2023. Cash will not be accepted at the sale.

The foreclosure sale will be conducted in accordance with 1st Judicial District's

Covid-19 Policies and foreclosure auction rules. The Referee shall enforce any rules in place regarding facial coverings and social distancing. Referee will only accept a

certified bank check made payable to the referee.

Paul Sklar, Esq., Referee File # 2296-004151

NOTICE OF FORMATION OF [SHOP N DROP ONLINE LLC]. Articles of Organization filed with the Secretary of State of NY (SSNY) on [03/10/2025]. Office Location [NY] County. SSNY has been designated as agent upon whom process against it maybe served. The P.O address to which the SSNY shall mail a copy of any process against the [LLC] served upon him/her is: [7014 13TH AVENUE, SUITE 202 Brooklyn, NY 11228]. The principal business address of the [LLC] is [228 Park Ave S #977430, New York, NY 10003].

REFEREE'S NOTICE OF SALE IN FORECLOSURE

SUPREME COURT - COUNTY OF NEW YORK

MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY FEDERAL CREDIT UNION, Plaintiff - against - DAVIS BERGMAN, et al Defendant(s).

Pursuant to a Judgment of Foreclosure and Sale entered on January 9, 2025. I, the undersigned Referee will sell at public auction in Room 130 of the New York County Courthouse located at 60 Centre Street, New York, New York 10007 on the 30th day of April, 2025 at 2:15 PM. All that certain piece or parcel of real property, situate and being a part of a condominium in the Borough of Manhattan, County, City and State of New York.

Premises known as 225 East 46th Street, Unit 12F, New York, NY 10017.

(Block: 1320, Lot: 1723)

Approximate amount of lien $327,829.92 plus interest and costs.

Premises will be sold subject to provisions of filed judgment and terms of sale.

Index No. 850049/2023. Scott H. Siller, Esq., Referee.

Stein, Wiener & Roth LLP

Attorney(s) for Plaintiff

1400 Old Country Road, Suite 315 Westbury, NY 11590

Tel. 516-742-1212 GREGMAN-79220

Dated: January 10, 2025

During the COVID-19 health emergency, bidders are required to comply with all governmental health requirements in effect at the time of sale including but not limited to, wearing face coverings and maintaining social distancing (at least 6-feet apart) during the auction, while tendering deposit and at any subsequent closing. Bidders are also required to comply with the Foreclosure Auction Rules and COVID-19 Health Emergency Rules issued by the Supreme Court of this County in addition to the conditions set forth in the Terms of Sale. Auction Locations are subject to change

Notice of Formation of a NY Limited Liability Company. Model City Home Renovation, LLC. Arts. of Org. filing date with Secy. of State NY. was January 8, 2025. Office location: New York County. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served and SSNY shall mail copy of process to 55 W. 116 ST Suite 129, New York, NY 10026. Purpose any lawful act.

SUPREME COURT - COUNTY OF NEW YORK THE COLUMBIA CONDOMINIUM BY ITS BOARD OF MANAGERS, Plaintiff -againstIR 96TH ST HOLDING LLC, et al Defendant(s). Pursuant to a Judgment of Foreclosure and Sale dated September 28, 2023 and entered on October 2, 2023, 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 April 30, 2025 at 2:15 p.m. premises situate, lying and being in the Borough of Manhattan, City, County and State of New York, known as Unit No. 25F in the premises known as "The Columbia Condominium" together with an undivided 0.002716% interest in the common elements. Section 7 Block 1868 and Lot 1240. Said premises known as 275 WEST 96TH STREET, APT. 25F, NEW YORK, NY

Approximate amount of lien $96,753.84 plus attorneys fees and costs as awarded in the judgment, along with interest & costs. Premises will be sold subject to provisions of filed Judgment and Terms of Sale.

Index Number 154633/2021.

ALLISON M. FURMAN, ESQ., Referee

Schwartz Sladkus Reich Greenberg Atlas LLP

Attorney(s) for Plaintiff

444 Madison Ave., 6th Floor, New York, NY 10022

{* AMSTERDAM*}

NOTICE OF SALE SUPREME COURT – NEW YORK COUNTY – NEW YORK COMMUNITY BANK, Plaintiff v. 176 W. 86 ST. CORP., et al., Defendants. Pursuant to a Judgment of Foreclosure and Sale and Decision and Order on Motion entered on December 12, 2024 (the “Judgment”), I will sell at public auction to the highest bidder in Room 130 of the New York County Supreme Court, 60 Centre Street, New York, New York, on April 9, 2025 at 2:15 p.m., the premises known as 176 West 86th Street, Commercial Units A & B, New York, New York. All that certain plot, piece or parcel of land, with the buildings and improvements thereon erected, situate, lying and being in New York County and State of New York: Block 1216, Lots 1001 and 1002, as more particularly described in the Judgment. Approximate amount of Judgment is $2,374,356.14, plus additional interest and fees. Premises will be sold subject to provisions of Judgment and Terms of Sale. Index #850025/2023. The foreclosure sale will be conducted in accordance with 1st Judicial District's Covid-19 Policies and foreclosure auction rules.

Clark A. Whitsett, Esq., Esq., Referee. Andriola Law, PLLC, 1385 Broadway, 22 nd Floor, New York, NY 10018, Attorneys for Plaintiff

SUPREME COURT-NEW YORK COUNTY- HILTON RESORTS CORP., Pltf. v. YUKO MATSUDA, Deft. - Index # 850291/2024. Pursuant to Judgment of Foreclosure and Sale dated January 24, 2025, I will sell at public auction in Room 130 of the NY County Courthouse located 60 Centre Street, NY, NY on Thursday, April 3, 2025, at 2:15 pm, an interest of an undivided 16,000/28,402,100 tenant in common interest in the timeshare known as Phase I of HNY CLUB SUITES located at 1335 Avenue of the Americas, New York, New York. Approximate amount of judgment is $59,778.54 plus costs and interest as of November 6, 2024. Sold subject to terms and conditions of filed Judgment and Terms of Sale which includes annual maintenance fees and charges. Referee will not accept cash as any portion of the deposit or purchase price. Bruce Lederman, Esq., Referee. Cruser, Mitchell, Novitz, Sanchez, Gaston, & Zimet LLP, Attys. for Pltf., 341 Conklin Street, Farmingdale, NY.

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 on Motion duly entered on May 17, 2023 and a Decision + Order on Motion duly entered on January 9, 2025, I, the undersigned Referee will sell at public auction at the Room 130 of the New York County Courthouse, 60 Centre Street, New York, NY 10007 on April 30, 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

STILLWATER ASSET MANAGEMENT, LLC, AS TRUSTEE OF LBC2 TRUST,

V. 3RD AND 36TH STREET LLC, ET. AL.

NOTICE OF SALE

NOTICE IS HERE BY GIVEN pursuant to a Final Judgement of Foreclosure dated October 23, 2024, and entered in the Office of the Clerk of the County of New York, wherein STILLWATER ASSET MANAGEMENT, LLC, AS TRUSTEE OF LBC2 TRUST, is the Plaintiff and 3RD AND 36TH STREET LLC, STANLEY GUREWITSCH, ERIC NEMIROFF, ALL STATE LIFE INSURANCE COMPANY, UNITED ACQUISITION LEASING CORP., THE MURRAY HILL TERRACE CONDOMINIUM, BY THE BOARD OF MANAGERS are the Defendants. I, the undersigned Referee, will sell at public auction at the NEW YORK COUNTY SUPREME COURT, ROOM 130, 60 CENTRE STREET, NEW YORK, NY 10007 on April 23, 2025 at 2:15PM, premises known as 201-205 East 36th Street, Unit C-, City of New York, County of New York, Block 917, Lot 1001. Premises will be sold subject to provisions of filed Judgement Index# 850110/2022. All foreclosure sales will be conducted in accordance with Covid-19 guidelines including, but not limited to, social distancing and mask wearing. *LOCATION OF SALE SUBJECT TO CHANGE DAY OF IN ACCORDANCE WITH COURT/CLERK DIRECTIVES.

Elain Shay, Esq – Referee. Elaine Shay Attorney at Law, 757 Third Avenue, 20th Floor, New York NY 10017. David Pikus, Bressler, Amery & Ross, P.C., 17 State Street, 34th Floor, New York, NY 10004, attorney for Plaintiff.

NOTICE OF SALE

SUPREME COURT COUNTY OF NEW YORK, FREEDOM MORTGAGE CORPORATION, Plaintiff, vs. FARHAD M. BOUKANI, ET AL., Defendant(s).

Pursuant to a Judgment of Foreclosure and Sale and Decision + Order on Motion duly entered on December 19, 2022 and a Decision + Order on Motion duly entered on July 29, 2024, I, the undersigned Referee will sell at public auction at the New York County Courthouse, Room 130, 60 Centre Street, New York, NY 10007 on April 9, 2025 at 2:15 p.m., premises known as 467 Central Park West, Unit No. 1-D, New York, NY 10025. 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 1842 and Lot 1003 together with an undivided 0.4972 percent interest in the Common Elements. Approximate amount of judgment is $332,718.76 plus interest and costs. Premises will be sold subject to provisions of filed Judgment Index #850053/2019.

Roberta Ashkin, Esq., Referee

Friedman Vartolo LLP, 85 Broad Street, Suite 501, New York, New York 10004, Attorneys for Plaintiff. Firm File No. 244201-1

NOTICE OF SALE SUPREME COURT COUNTY OF NEW YORK CITIMORTGAGE, INC., Plaintiff AGAINST ELVIRA P. CHRISTI, ET AL., Defendant(s) Pursuant to a Judgment of Foreclosure and Sale duly entered May 23, 2024, 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 April 16, 2025 at 2:15PM, premises known as 520 West 112th Street Unit 4B, New York, NY 10025. All that certain plot piece or parcel of land, with the buildings and improvements erected, situate, lying and being in the Borough of Manhattan, City, County and State of New York, Block 1883, Lot 1104. Approximate amount of judgment $392,131.52 plus interest and costs. Premises will be sold subject to provisions of filed Judgment Index #116866/2009. Allison M. Furman, Esq., Referee Gross Polowy, LLC 1775 Wehrle Drive Williamsville, NY 14221 18-003305 83903

Supreme Court-New York County – Hilton Resorts Corp., Pltf. V. MAREYUKI YAHATA and YUMIKA YAHATA, Defts. – Index # 850261/2024. The foregoing summons is served upon you by publication pursuant to an Order of the Honorable FRANCIS A. KAHN, III, Justice of the Supreme Court of the State of New York, County of New York, dated the 25th day of February 2025 and duly entered the 26th day of February 2025 in the office of the Clerk of the County of New York, State of New York. TO THE ABOVENAMED DEFENDANTS:

Supreme Court-New York County – Hilton Resorts Corp., Pltf. V. ANTOINETTE TURNER BEALE, Deft. – Index # 850276/2024. The foregoing summons is served upon you by publication pursuant to an Order of the Honorable FRANCIS A. KAHN, III, Justice of the Supreme Court of the State of New York, County of New York, dated the 12th day of March 2025 and duly entered the 13th day of March 2025 in the office of the Clerk of the County of New York, State of New York. TO THE ABOVE-NAMED DEFENDANTS:

NOTICE OF SALE SUPREME COURT COUNTY OF NEW YORK US Bank National Association as Trustee for CMSI REMIC Series 2007-03REMIC Pass-Through Certificates Series 2007-03, Plaintiff AGAINST Chaya Gottesman a/k/a Chayala C Gottesman a/k/a Clare C Gottesman, et al., Defendant(s) Pursuant to a Judgment of Foreclosure and Sale duly entered February 9, 2022, 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 April 16, 2025 at 2:15PM, premises known as 127 West 82nd Street, Unit 1B, New York, NY 10024. All that certain plot piece or parcel of land, with the buildings and improvements erected, situate, lying and being in the Borough of Manhattan, City, County and State of New York, Block: 1213, Lot: 1159. Approximate amount of judgment $873,418.90 plus interest and costs. Premises will be sold subject to provisions of filed Judgment Index #850006/2018. Joseph Buono, Esq., Referee Frenkel Lambert Weiss Weisman & Gordon, LLP 53 Gibson Street Bay Shore, NY 11706 01-086495-F00 83828

NOTICE OF SALE SUPREME COURT COUNTY OF NEW YORK U.S. BANK TRUST NATIONAL ASSOCIATION, NOT IN ITS INDIVIDUAL CAPACITY BUT SOLELY AS OWNER TRUSTEE FOR RCF 2 ACQUISITION TRUST, Plaintiff AGAINST KAREN M. LORCH, RONALD J. LORCH, ET AL., Defendant(s) Pursuant to a Judgment of Foreclosure and Sale duly entered September 10, 2024, 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 April 30, 2025 at 2:15PM, premises known as 140 East 63rd Street Apt. 11A, New York, NY 10065. All that certain plot piece or parcel of land, with the buildings and improvements erected, situate, lying and being in the Borough of Manhattan, City, County and State of New York, Block 1397 and Lot 1556. Approximate amount of judgment $2,375,077.45 plus interest and costs. Premises will be sold subject to provisions of filed Judgment Index #850298/2023. Christy Demelfi, Esq., Referee Gross Polowy, LLC 1775 Wehrle Drive Williamsville, NY 14221 22-004129 84096

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 twenty (20) days after the service of this Summons, exclusive of the day of service (or within thirty (30) days after completion of service where service is made in any other manner than by personal delivery within the State) 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 OF NATURE OF ACTION AND RELIEF SOUGHT

THE OBJECT of the above captioned action is for the foreclosure of a fractional interest of 0.00493200000% in the premises at Block 1009, Tax Lot 37 located at 102 West 57th Street NY, NY. Mortgage bearing the date of February 18, 2022, executed by Mareyuki Yahata and Yumika Yahata to Hilton Resorts Corporation, a Delaware Corporation, to secure the sum of $19,305.00, and interest and recorded in the Office of the Clerk of New York County on April 14, 2022, in CRFN 2022000157866. The relief sought in the within action is a final judgment directing the sale of the Mortgaged Premises as described above to satisfy the debt secured by the Mortgage described above.

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

CADENCE TEMPO CONSULTING LLC Arts. of Org. filed with the SSNY on 12/03/2024 . Office location: NY County. SSNY has been designated as an agent upon whom process against it may be served & shall mail to: The LLC 228Park Ave S#943518, New York, NY 10003. Purpose: Any lawful act.

CITY CRAWL ADVENTURES

LLC Arts. of Org. filed with the SSNY on 1/09/2025. Office location: NY County. SSNY has been designated as an agent upon whom process against it may be served & shall mail to: 242 W 61st St, Apt 3A, New York, NY 10023. Purpose: Any lawful act.

IGLESIAS NOTARY AND MANAGEMENT

LLC Arts. of Org. filed with the SSNY on 3/14/2025. Office location: New York County. SSNY has been designated as an agent upon whom process against it may be served & shall mail to: Business Filing Incorporated, 187 Wolf Road, Ste 101, Albany, NY 12205. Purpose: Any lawful act.

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 twenty (20) days after the service of this Summons, exclusive of the day of service (or within thirty (30) days after completion of service where service is made in any other manner than by personal delivery within the State) 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 OF NATURE OF ACTION AND RELIEF SOUGHT-

THE OBJECT of the above captioned action is for the foreclosure of a fractional interest of 0.0147201260419194% in the premises at Block 1283 and Lot 1002 located at 12 East 48th Street New York, NY. Mortgage bearing the date of June 20, 2020, executed by Antoinette Turner Beale to Hilton Resorts Corporation, a Delaware Corporation, to secure the sum of $18,876.00, and interest and recorded in the Office of the Clerk of New York County on December 30, 2022, in CRFN 2022000465769. The relief sought in the within action is a final judgment directing the sale of the Mortgaged Premises as described above to satisfy the debt secured by the Mortgage described above.

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

Notice of Formation of 39 E 1ST HOLDINGS LLC Arts. of Org. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 03/03/25. 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.

4056 HARPER AVE LLC, Arts. of Org. filed with the SSNY on 02/25/2025. Office loc: Bronx County. SSNY has been designated as agent upon whom process against the LLC may be served. SSNY shall mail process to: The LLC, 4056 Harper Ave, Bronx, NY 10466. Purpose: Any Lawful Purpose.

Halwa NYC LLC filed w/ SSNY 12/29/24. Off. in NY Co. Process served to SSNY - desig. as agt. of LLC & mailed to the LLC, 228 Park Ave S #850152, NY, NY 10003. The reg. agt. is United States Corporation Agents, Inc., 7014 13th Ave, Ste. 202, Brooklyn, NY 11228. Any lawful purpose.

Supreme Court-New York County – Hilton Resorts Corp., Pltf. v. VERONICA NKOSI, ANDREA B. THWALA, and BOARD OF DIRECTORS OF HC SUITES OWNERS ASSOCIATION, INC., Defts. – Index # 850096/2021. The foregoing summons is served upon you by publication pursuant to an Order of the Honorable FRANCIS A. KAHN, III, Justice of the Supreme Court of the State of New York, County of New York, dated the 13th day of March 2025 and duly entered the 14th day of March 2025 in the office of the Clerk of the County of New York, State of New York.

TO THE ABOVE-NAMED 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 twenty (20) days after the service of this Summons, exclusive of the day of service (or within thirty (30) days after completion of service where service is made in any other manner than by personal delivery within the State) 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 OF NATURE OF ACTION AND RELIEF SOUGHT

THE OBJECT of the above captioned action is for the foreclosure of a fractional interest of 0.0450946335738578% in the premises at Block 1006, Tax Lot 1304 located at 1335 Avenue of the Americas NY, NY. Mortgage bearing the date of August 14, 2016, executed by Veronica Nkosi and Andrea B. Thwala to Hilton Resorts Corporation, a Delaware Corporation, to secure the sum of $65,915.00, and interest and recorded in the Office of the Clerk of New York County on March 27, 2017, in CRFN 2017000117556. The relief sought in the within action is a final judgment directing the sale of the Mortgaged Premises as described above to satisfy the debt secured by the Mortgage described above.

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

SUPREME COURT - COUNTY OF NEW YORK.

EAST WEST BANK, Plaintiff -against- HOP CHONG TRADING COMPANY, INC., et al Defendant(s). Pursuant to a Judgment of Foreclosure and Sale entered February 28, 2025, 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 April 23, 2025 at 2:15 p.m. premises situate, lying and being in the Borough of Manhattan, City and State of New York, known as 38 East 73rd Street, New York, New York 10021, Block: 1387 Lot: 49. Approximate amount of lien $8,564,556.48 plus interest & costs.

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

Index Number 850313/2024. PAUL SKLAR, ESQ., Referee Pryor Cashman LLP Attorney(s) for Plaintiff 7 TIMES SQUARE, NEW YORK, NY 10036

{* NY AMSTERDAM NEWS *}

NOTICE OF SALE

SUPREME COURT COUNTY OF NEW YORK, U.S. BANK NATIONAL ASSOCIATION, AS TRUSTEE, SUCCESSOR IN INTEREST TO BANK OF AMERICA, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION AS TRUSTEE AS SUCCESSOR BY MERGER TO LASALLE BANK, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION AS TRUSTEE FOR WAMU MORTGAGE PASS-THROUGH CERTIFICATES SERIES 2006-AR13 TRUST, Plaintiff, vs. DAHLIA DAMAS, THE PUBLIC ADMINISTRATOR OF NEW YORK COUNTY, AS LIMITED ADMINISTRATOR OF THE ESTATE OF GUITI MIODOWNIK BENADON, ET AL., Defendant(s).

Pursuant to a Judgment of Foreclosure and Sale and Decision + Order on Motion duly entered on November 13, 2024, 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 April 30, 2025 at 2:15 p.m., premises known as 55 Wall Street, Unit 735, New York, NY 10005. 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, City, County and State of New York, Block 27 and Lot 1067 together with an undivided 0.3251 percent interest in the Common Elements. Approximate amount of judgment is $730,474.85 plus interest and costs. Premises will be sold subject to provisions of filed Judgment Index #850117/2016.

Roberta Ashkin, 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 U.S. BANK NATIONAL ASSOCIATION, AS TRUSTEE FOR BNC MORTGAGE LOAN TRUST 2006-2, MORTGAGE PASS-THROUGH CERTIFICATES, SERIES 2006-2, Plaintiff AGAINST REGINALD BORGELLA, ET AL., Defendant(s) Pursuant to a Judgment of Foreclosure and Sale duly entered June 8, 2017, 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 April 9, 2025 at 2:15PM, premises known as 140 7th Avenue Unit 7R, New York, NY 10011. All that certain plot piece or parcel of land, with the buildings and improvements erected, situate, lying and being in the Borough of Manhattan, City of New York, County of New York, State of New York, Block 768, Lot 1203. Approximate amount of judgment $1,043,907.05 plus interest and costs. Premises will be sold subject to provisions of filed Judgment Index #850069/2014. The aforementioned auction will be conducted in accordance with the NEW YORK County COVID-19 mitigation protocols and as such all persons must comply with social distancing, wearing masks and screening practices in effect at the time of this foreclosure sale. Scott H. Siller, Esq., Referee Gross Polowy, LLC 1775 Wehrle Drive Williamsville, NY 14221 00299477 83949

Supreme Court-New York County – Hilton Resorts Corp., Pltf. V. IBRAHIM ALEMU, Deft.

– Index # 850368/2024. The foregoing summons is served upon you by publication pursuant to an Order of the Honorable FRANCIS A. KAHN, III, Justice of the Supreme Court of the State of New York, County of New York, dated the 25th day of February 2025 and duly entered the 26th day of February 2025 in the office of the Clerk of the County of New York, State of New York. TO THE ABOVENAMED 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 twenty (20) days after the service of this Summons, exclusive of the day of service (or within thirty (30) days after completion of service where service is made in any other manner than by personal delivery within the State) 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 OF NATURE OF ACTION AND RELIEF SOUGHT

THE OBJECT of the above captioned action is for the foreclosure of a fractional interest of 0.006173181814852670% in the premises at Block 1010, Tax Lot 1905 located at 101 West 57th Street NY, NY. Mortgage bearing the date of April 20, 2023, executed by Ibrahim Alemu to Hilton Resorts Corporation, a Delaware Corporation, to secure the sum of $24,742.50, and interest and recorded in the Office of the Clerk of New York County on August 23, 2022, in CRFN 2023000213873. The relief sought in the within action is a final judgment directing the sale of the Mortgaged Premises as described above to satisfy the debt secured by the Mortgage described above.

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

NOTICE OF SALE

SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK COUNTY OF NEW YORK

GREEN MOUNTAIN HOLDINGS (CAYMAN) LTD; Plaintiff v. 2040 MADISON LLC; et al.; Defendants

Attorney for Plaintiff: Hasbani & Light, P.C., 450 7th Ave, Suite 1408, NY, NY 10123; (212) 6436677

Pursuant to the judgment of foreclosure and sale granted herein on 10/16/24, I will sell at Public Auction to the highest bidder at the New York County Courthouse located at 60 Centre Street, New York, NY 10007 on April 9, 2025, at 2:15 PM Premises known as 2040 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10035 Block: 01754 Lot: 0116

All that certain plot, piece, or parcel of land, situate, lying and being in the County of New York, State of New York.

As more particularly described in the judgment of foreclosure and sale.

Sold subject to the terms and conditions contained in said judgment and terms of sale. Approximate amount of judgment: $2,604,204.14 plus interest and costs.

Index Number: 850007/2021 Clark Whitsett, Esq., Referee

Supreme Court-New York County – Hilton Resorts Corp., Pltf. V. Any unknown heirs to the Estate of MARIE J. ABRIL, next of kin, devisees, legatees, distributees, grantees, assignees, creditors, lienors, trustees, executors, administrators or successors in interest, as well as the respective heirs at law, next of kin, devisees, legatees, distributees, grantees, assignees, lienors, trustees, executors, administrators or successors in interest of the aforesaid classes of persons, if they or any of them be dead, all of whom and whose names and places of residence are unknown to the plaintiff, et al., Deft. – Index # 850192/2020. The foregoing supplemental summons is served upon you by publication pursuant to an Order of the Honorable FRANCIS KAHN, III, Justice of the Supreme Court of the State of New York, County of New York, dated the 26th day of February 2025 and duly entered the 27th day of February 2025 in the office of the Clerk of the County of New York, State of New York. TO THE ABOVENAMED 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 twenty (20) days after the service of this Summons, exclusive of the day of service (or within thirty (30) days after completion of service where service is made in any other manner than by personal delivery within the State) 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 OF NATURE OF ACTION AND RELIEF SOUGHT

THE OBJECT of the above captioned action is for the foreclosure of a fractional interest of 0.00986400000% in the premises at Block 1009, Tax Lot 37 located at 102 West 57th Street NY, NY. Mortgage bearing the date of November 26, 2014, executed by Marie J. Abril to Hilton Resorts Corporation, a Delaware Corporation, to secure the sum of $30,712.00, and interest and recorded in the Office of the Clerk of New York County on March 6, 2015, in CRFN 2015000077700. The relief sought in the within action is a final judgment directing the sale of the Mortgaged Premises as described above to satisfy the debt secured by the Mortgage described above.

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

GLOBALLYCLEAN LLC Arts. of Org. filed with the SSNY on 12/16/24. Office location: New York County. SSNY has been designated as an agent upon whom process against it may be served & shall mail to: 1159 Second Avenue #202, New York, New York 10065. Purpose: Any lawful act.

PHR NPL Fund IV, LLC Arts. of Org. filed with the SSNY on 7/18/2024. Office location: NY County. SSNY has been designated as an agent upon whom process against it may be served & shall mail to: P.O. Box 230653, New York, NY 10023 Purpose: Any lawful act.

SUPREME COURT-NEW YORK COUNTY- HILTON RESORTS CORP., Pltf. v. DAWN TREHARNE-ESPARZA, Deft.

- Index # 850381/2024. Pursuant to Judgment of Foreclosure and Sale dated March 19, 2025, I will sell at public auction in Room 130 of the New York County Courthouse located at 60 Centre Street, New York, NY on Thursday, April 24, 2025, at 2:15 pm, an interest of an undivided 0.0147201260419194% tenant in common interest in the timeshare known as 48TH STREET VACATION SUITES located at 12 East 48th Street, New York, NY. Approximate amount of judgment is $41,510.76 plus costs and interest as of January 3, 2025. Sold subject to terms and conditions of filed Judgment and Terms of Sale which includes annual maintenance fees and charges. Thomas R. Kleinberger, Esq., Referee. Cruser, Mitchell, Novitz, Sanchez, Gaston, & Zimet LLP, Attys. for Pltf., 341 Conklin Street, Farmingdale, NY.

SUPREME COURT-NEW YORK COUNTY- HILTON RESORTS CORP., Pltf. v. CHARLES KC HUMPHREY, RITA SUSAN HUMPHREY and NYC ENVIRONMENTAL CONTROL BOARD, Defts. - Index # 850324/2024. Pursuant to Judgment of Foreclosure and Sale dated February 3, 2025, I will sell at public auction in Room 130 of the New York County Courthouse located at 60 Centre Street, New York, NY on Thursday, April 3, 2025, at 2:15 pm, an interest of an undivided 0.0424631946437561% tenant in common interest in the timeshare known as 48TH STREET VACATION SUITES located at 12 East 48th Street, New York, NY. Approximate amount of judgment is $162,319.45 plus costs and interest as of November 1, 2024. Sold subject to terms and conditions of filed Judgment and Terms of Sale which includes annual maintenance fees and charges. Jeffrey R. Miller, Esq., Referee. Cruser, Mitchell, Novitz, Sanchez, Gaston, & Zimet LLP, Attys. for Pltf., 341 Conklin Street, Farmingdale, NY.

Notice of Formation of 123A

7TH HOLDINGS LLC

Arts. of Org. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 03/03/25. 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.

Argentinos en NY LLC. Filed with SSNY on 01/25/25. Office: NY County. SSNY designated as agent for process & shall mail copy to: 339 West 48 St #1C, NY. NY 10036. Purpose: Any lawful.

Notice of Formation of CPG

DOBBS MANAGER LLC

Arts. of Org. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 02/07/25. 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 122072543. Purpose: Real Estate Investment & Development.

Supreme Court-New York County – Hilton Resorts Corp., Pltf. V. CROMWELL T. CABRISOS, Deft. – Index # 850084/2021. The foregoing summons is served upon you by publication pursuant to an Order of the Honorable FRANCIS A. KAHN, III, Justice of the Supreme Court of the State of New York, County of New York, dated the 26th day of February 2025 and duly entered the 28th day of February 2025 in the office of the Clerk of the County of New York, State of New York. TO THE ABOVE-NAMED 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 twenty (20) days after the service of this Summons, exclusive of the day of service (or within thirty (30) days after completion of service where service is made in any other manner than by personal delivery within the State) 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 OF NATURE OF ACTION AND RELIEF SOUGHT

THE OBJECT of the above captioned action is for the foreclosure of a fractional interest of 0.0271980765638990% in the premises at Block 1006, Tax Lot 1304 located at 1335 Avenue of the Americas NY, NY. Mortgage bearing the date of August 27, 2017, executed by Cromwell T. Cabrisos to Hilton Resorts Corporation, a Delaware Corporation, to secure the sum of $45,854.02, and interest and recorded in the Office of the Clerk of New York County on November 30, 2017, in CRFN 2017000440252. The relief sought in the within action is a final judgment directing the sale of the Mortgaged Premises as described above to satisfy the debt secured by the Mortgage described above.

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

SUPREME COURT-NEW YORK COUNTY- HILTON RESORTS CORP., Pltf. v. WILLIAM J.P. LANGAN and NYC ENVIRONMENTAL CONTROL BOARD, Defts. - Index # 850325/2024. Pursuant to Judgment of Foreclosure and Sale dated February 3, 2025, I will sell at public auction in Room 130 of the New York County Courthouse located at 60 Centre Street, New York, NY on Thursday, April 3, 2025, at 2:15 pm, an interest of an undivided 0.034346960764478% and an interest of an undivided 0.0343469607644787% tenants in common interests in the timeshare known as 48TH STREET VACATION SUITES located at 12 East 48th Street, New York, NY. Approximate amount of judgment is $47,953.62 plus costs and interest as of November 5, 2024. Sold subject to terms and conditions of filed Judgment and Terms of Sale which includes annual maintenance fees and charges. Jeffrey R. Miller, Esq., Referee. Cruser, Mitchell, Novitz, Sanchez, Gaston, & Zimet LLP, Attys. for Pltf., 341 Conklin Street, Farmingdale, NY.

Supreme Court-New York County – Hilton Resorts Corp., Pltf. V. KUMUD K. DHITAL, JANE E. DHITAL and BOARD OF DIRECTORS OF 57TH STREET VACATION OWNERS’ ASSOCIATION, INC., Defts. – Index # 850169/2021. The foregoing summons is served upon you by publication pursuant to an Order of the Honorable FRANCIS A. KAHN, III, Justice of the Supreme Court of the State of New York, County of New York, dated the 26th day of February 2025 and duly entered the 27th day of February 2025 in the office of the Clerk of the County of New York, State of New York.

TO THE ABOVE-NAMED 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 twenty (20) days after the service of this Summons, exclusive of the day of service (or within thirty (30) days after completion of service where service is made in any other manner than by personal delivery within the State) 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 OF NATURE OF ACTION AND RELIEF SOUGHT

THE OBJECT of the above captioned action is for the foreclosure of a fractional interest of .009864% in the premises at Block 1009, Tax Lot 37 located at 102 West 57th Street NY, NY. Mortgage bearing the date of December 30, 2011, executed by Kumud K. Dhital and Jane E. Dhital to Hilton Resorts Corporation, a Delaware Corporation, to secure the sum of $43,690.00, and interest and recorded in the Office of the Clerk of New York County on May 21, 2012, in CRFN 2012000200512. The relief sought in the within action is a final judgment directing the sale of the Mortgaged Premises as described above to satisfy the debt secured by the Mortgage described above.

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

Notice of Formation of Limited Liability Company (LLC) Name: Emmy Eats LLC

Articles of Organization filed by the Department of State on New York on: 01/02/2025 Office location: County of New York Purpose: Any and all lawful activities. Secretary of State of New York (SSNY) is designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail a copy of process to: c/o Ivey, Barnum & O'Mara, LLC, STOP JAH 170 Mason Street, Greenwich, CT 06830

Notice of Formation of USHG DETROIT F&B LLC Arts. of Org. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 03/12/25. Office location: NY County. Princ. office of LLC: 853 Broadway, 17th Fl., NY, NY 10003. 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. Purpose: Any lawful activity.

Supreme Court-New York County – Hilton Resorts Corp., Pltf. V. MICHELE C. ALANIS, Deft. – Index # 850006/2024. The foregoing summons is served upon you by publication pursuant to an Order of the Honorable FRANCIS A. KAHN, III, Justice of the Supreme Court of the State of New York, County of New York, dated the 25th day of February 2025 and duly entered the 26th day of February 2025 in the office of the Clerk of the County of New York, State of New York. TO THE ABOVENAMED 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 twenty (20) days after the service of this Summons, exclusive of the day of service (or within thirty (30) days after completion of service where service is made in any other manner than by personal delivery within the State) 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 OF NATURE OF ACTION AND RELIEF SOUGHT THE OBJECT of the above captioned action is for the foreclosure of a fractional interest of 5,000/28,402,100 in the premises at Block 1006, Tax Lot 1302 located at 1335 Avenue of the Americas NY, NY. Mortgage bearing the date of August 18, 2017, executed by Michele C. Alanis to Hilton Resorts Corporation, a Delaware Corporation, to secure the sum of $30,200.00, and interest and recorded in the Office of the Clerk of New York County on November 13, 2017, in CRFN 2017000416025. The relief sought in the within action is a final judgment directing the sale of the Mortgaged Premises as described above to satisfy the debt secured by the Mortgage described above. YOU MUST RESPOND BY SERVING A COPY OF THE ANSWER ON THE ATTORNEY FOR THE PLAINTIFF AND FILING THE ANSWER WITH THE COURT.

Notice of Formation of RESERVE MANAGEMENT LLC Arts. of Org. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 02/25/25. Office location: NY County. Princ. office of LLC: c/o Certes Partners, 1359 Broadway, Ste. 800, 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 12207-2543. Purpose: Any lawful activity.

ACLM GROUP LLC Arts. of Org. filed with the SSNY on 03/13/2025. Office location: New York County. SSNY has been designated as an agent upon whom process against it may be served & shall mail to: 99 Wall Street, Suite 1020, New York, New York 10005 Purpose: Any lawful act.

Antioco Enterprises LLC Arts. of Org. filed with the SSNY on 2/20/2025. Office location: Bronx County. SSNY has been designated as an agent upon whom process against it may be served & shall mail to: 4380 Vireo Ave Apt 2O, Bronx, NY 10470. Purpose: Any lawful act.

NOTICE OF SALE SUPREME COURT BRONX COUNTY

RESIDENTIAL MORTGAGE

LOAN TRUST 2013-TT2 BY U.S. BANK NATIONAL

ASSOCIATION, NOT IN ITS INDIVIDUAL CAPACITY, BUT SOLELY AS LEGAL TITLE

TRUSTEE, Plaintiff against ANDREA DAVIS, et al Defendant(s)

Attorney for Plaintiff(s) Knuckles & Manfro, LLP, 120 White Plains Road, Suite 215, Tarrytown, NY 10591 and .

Pursuant to a Judgment of Foreclosure and Sale entered July 31, 2017, I will sell at

public auction to the highest bidder at the Bronx County Courthouse, Courtroom 711 at 851 Grand Concourse, Bronx, New York on April 21, 2025 at 2:15 PM. Premises known

as 851 East 220th Street, Bronx, New York 10467. Block 4679 Lot 13. All that certain plot, piece or parcel of land, situate, lying and being in the Borough of and County of Bronx, City and State of New York. Approximate Amount of Judgment is $658,107.47 plus interest, fees, and costs. Premises will be sold subject to provisions of filed Judgment Index No 382261/2009. Cash will not be accepted at the sale.

The foreclosure sale will be conducted in accordance with 12th Judicial District's Covid-19 Policies and the Bronx County foreclosure auction rules. The Referee shall enforce any rules in place regarding facial coverings and social distancing.

Ricardo Oquendo, Esq., Referee File # 2600-000011

Notice of Formation of USHG HoldCo, LLC Arts. of Org. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 03/12/25. Office location: NY County. Princ. office of LLC: 853 Broadway, 17th Fl., NY, NY 10003. 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. Purpose: Any lawful activity.

IPPSOLAR CROSSROADS

ESS LLC Arts. of Org. filed with the SSNY on 09/26/2024. Office location: NEW YORK County. SSNY has been designated as an agent upon whom process against it may be served & shall mail to: PAUL JEUN; 200E 33RD ST., #30E, NEW YORK, NY, 10016. Purpose: Any lawful act.

Mikasho LLC Arts. of Org. filed with the SSNY on 1/23/2025. Office location: New York County. SSNY has been designated as an agent upon whom process against it may be served & shall mail to: 2425 95th Street Fl 1, East Elmhurst, NY 11369. Purpose: Any lawful act.

Supplemental Summons and Notice of Object of Action Supreme Court Of The State Of New York County Of New York ACTION TO FORECLOSE A MORTGAGE Index #: 850267/2024 U.S. Bank National Association, Not In Its Individual Capacity But Soley As Trustee For The RMTP Trust, Series 2019-C Plaintiff, vs Carlin C. West AKA Carlyne West, AKA Carlyne C. West, Tony Zamora As Heir To The Estate Of Steven James Zamora If Living, And If He/She Be Dead, Any And All Persons Unknown To Plaintiff, Claiming, Or Who May Claim To Have An Interest In, Or General Or Specific Lien Upon The Real Property Described In This Action; Such Unknown Persons Being Herein Generally Described And Intended To Be Included In Wife, Widow, Husband, Widower, Heirs At Law, Next Of Kin, Descendants, Executors, Administrators, Devisees, Legatees, Creditors, Trustees, Committees, Lienors, And Assignees Of Such Deceased, Any And All Persons Deriving Interest In Or Lien Upon, Or Title To Said Real Property By, Through Or Under Them, Or Either Of Them, And Their Respective Wives, Widows, Husbands, Widowers, Heirs At Law, Next Of Kin, Descendants, Executors, Administrators, Devisees, Legatees, Creditors, Trustees, Committees, Lienors, And Assigns, All Of Whom And Whose Names, Except As Stated, Are Unknown To Plaintiff, Carla Fierros As Heir To The Estate Of Steven James Zamora, Unknown Heirs Of Steven James Zamora If Living, And If He/She Be Dead, Any And All Persons Unknown To Plaintiff, Claiming, Or Who May Claim To Have An Interest In, Or General Or Specific Lien Upon The Real Property Described In This Action; Such Unknown Persons Being Herein Generally Described And Intended To Be Included In Wife, Widow, Husband, Widower, Heirs At Law, Next Of Kin, Descendants, Executors, Administrators, Devisees, Legatees, Creditors, Trustees, Committees, Lienors, And Assignees Of Such Deceased, Any And All Persons Deriving Interest In Or Lien Upon, Or Title To Said Real Property By, Through Or Under Them, Or Either Of Them, And Their Respective Wives, Widows, Husbands, Widowers, Heirs At Law, Next Of Kin, Descendants, Executors, Administrators, Devisees, Legatees, Creditors, Trustees, Committees, Lienors, And Assigns, All Of Whom And Whose Names, Except As Stated, Are Unknown To Plaintiff, People Of The State Of New York, United States Of America On Behalf Of The IRS, Board Of Managers Of Le Domaine Condominium, Criminal Court Of The City Of New York, New York City Parking Violations Bureau, New York State Department Of Taxation And Finance, Commissioner Of Social Services Of NYC, John Doe (Those unknown tenants, occupants, persons or corporations or their heirs, distributees, executors, administrators, trustees, guardians, assignees, creditors or successors claiming an interest in the mortgaged premises.) Defendant(s). Mortgaged Premises: 403 East 62nd Street, Unit#19B New York, NY 10065 To the Above named Defendant: 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 Supplemental Summons, to serve a notice of appearance, on the Plaintiff(s) attorney(s) within twenty days after the service of this Supplemental Summons, exclusive of the day of service (or within 30 days after the service is complete if this Supplemental Summons is not personally delivered to you within the State of New York). In case of your failure to appear or answer, judgment will be taken against you by default for the relief demanded in the Complaint. The Attorney for Plaintiff has an office for business in the County of Erie. Trial to be held in the County of New York. The basis of the venue designated above is the location of the Mortgaged Premises. TO Tony Zamora, Unknown Heirs of Steven James Zamora Defendants In this Action. The foregoing Supplemental Summons is served upon you by publication, pursuant to an order of HON. Francis A Kahn of the Supreme Court Of The State Of New York, dated the Twenty-Sixth day of February, 2025 and filed with the Complaint in the Office of the Clerk of the County of New York, in the City of New York. The object of this action is to foreclosure a mortgage upon the premises described below, dated December 20, 2006, executed by Carlin C. West AKA Carlyne West, AKA Carlyne C. West and Steven James Zamora (who died on June 13, 2019, a resident of the county of Santa Clara, State of California) to secure the sum of $1,000,000.00. The Mortgage was recorded at CRFN 2006000707984 in the City Register of the City of New York, New York County on December 29, 2006. The consolidated mortgage was subsequently assigned by an assignment executed August 12, 2009 and recorded on August 28, 2009, in the City Register of the City of New York, New York County at CRFN 2009000277626. Plaintiff is also holder of a mortgage dated August 13, 2009 executed by Carlin C. West AKA Carlyne West, AKA Carlyne C. West and Steven James Zamora to secure the sum of $29,113.45 and recorded at CRFN 2009000277627 in the City Register of the City of New York, New York County on August 28, 2009. Said mortgage was consolidated with the mortgage referred to at CRFN: 2006000707984 by a Consolidation, Extension and Modification Agreement executed by Carlin C. West AKA Carlyne West, AKA Carlyne C. West and Steven James Zamora dated August 13, 2009 and recorded August 28, 2009 at CRFN 2009000277628 in the City Register of the City of New York, New York County to form a single lien in the amount of $975,000.00. The consolidated mortgage was subsequently assigned by an assignment executed June 4, 2012 and recorded on June 21, 2012, in the City Register of the City of New York, New York County at CRFN 2012000244218. The consolidated mortgage was subsequently assigned by an assignment executed January 3, 2020 and recorded on January 15, 2020, in the City Register of the City of New York, New York County at CRFN 2020000018724. The mortgage was subsequently modified by a Deferral Agreement on December 28, 2021. The property in question is described as follows: 403 East 62nd Street, Unit#19B, New York, NY 10065 HELP FOR HOMEOWNERS IN FORECLOSURE NEW YORK STATE LAW REQUIRES THAT WE SEND YOU THIS NOTICE ABOUT THE FORECLOSURE PROCESS. PLEASE READ IT CAREFULLY. SUMMONS AND COMPLAINT YOU ARE IN DANGER OF LOSING YOUR HOME. IF YOU FAIL TO RESPOND TO THE SUMMONS AND COMPLAINT IN THIS FORECLOSURE ACTION, YOU MAY LOSE YOUR HOME. PLEASE READ THE SUMMONS AND COMPLAINT CAREFULLY. YOU SHOULD IMMEDIATELY CONTACT AN ATTORNEY OR YOUR LOCAL LEGAL AID OFFICE TO OBTAIN ADVICE ON HOW TO PROTECT YOURSELF. SOURCES OF INFORMATION AND ASSISTANCE The state encourages you to become informed about your options in foreclosure. In addition to seeking assistance from an attorney or legal aid office, there are government agencies and non-profit organizations that you may contact for information about possible options, including trying to work with your lender during this process. To locate an entity near you, you may call the toll-free helpline maintained by the New York State Department of Financial Services at 1-800-342-3736 or the Foreclosure Relief Hotline 1-800-269-0990 or visit the department's website at WWW.DFS.NY.GOV. RIGHTS AND OBLIGATIONS YOU ARE NOT REQUIRED TO LEAVE YOUR HOME AT THIS TIME. YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO STAY IN YOUR HOME DURING THE FORECLOSURE PROCESS. YOU ARE NOT REQUIRED TO LEAVE YOUR HOME UNLESS AND UNTIL YOUR PROPERTY IS SOLD AT AUCTION PURSUANT TO A JUDGMENT OF FORECLOSURE AND SALE. REGARDLESS OF WHETHER YOU CHOOSE TO REMAIN IN YOUR HOME, YOU ARE REQUIRED TO TAKE CARE OF YOUR PROPERTY AND PAY PROPERTY TAXES IN ACCORDANCE WITH STATE AND LOCAL LAW. FORECLOSURE RESCUE SCAMS Be careful of people who approach you with offers to "save" your home. There are individuals who watch for notices of foreclosure actions in order to unfairly profit from a homeowner's distress. You should be extremely careful about any such promises and any suggestions that you pay them a fee or sign over your deed. State law requires anyone offering such services for profit to enter into a contract which fully describes the services they will perform and fees they will charge, and which prohibits them from taking any money from you until they have completed all such promised services. § 1303 NOTICE 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 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 SERVING A COPY OF THE ANSWER ON THE ATTORNEY FOR THE PLAINTIFF (MORTGAGE COMPANY) AND FILING THE ANSWER WITH THE COURT. DATED: March 10, 2025 Gross Polowy LLC Attorney(s) For Plaintiff(s) 1775 Wehrle Drive, Suite 100 Williamsville, NY 14221 The law firm of Gross Polowy LLC and the attorneys whom it employs are debt collectors who are attempting to collect a debt. Any information obtained by them will be used for that purpose. 84969

COLON & PARTNERS PLLC Arts. of Org. filed with the SSNY on 02/04/2025. Office location: New York County. SSNY has been designated as an agent upon whom process against it may be served & shall mail to: 250 Park Ave 7th Fl, New York, NY. 10177. Purpose: Any lawful act.

TACC Farms LLC Arts. of Org. filed with the SSNY on 03/14/2025. Office location: Orleans County. SSNY has been designated as an agent upon whom process against it may be served & shall mail to: 3710 Tuthill Road, Albion, New York, 14411. Purpose: Any lawful act.

Notice of Formation of I LOVE JUICY 200, LLC Arts. of Org. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 02/24/25. 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, 200 Amsterdam Ave., Unit 20B, NY, NY 10023. 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 April 9, 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*}

The Wellness Odyssey LLC Arts. of Org. filed with the SSNY on 10/31/2024. Office location: NY County. SSNY has been designated as an agent upon whom process against it may be served & shall mail to: 228 Park Ave S #187967, New York, NY 10003. Purpose: Any lawful act.

RADIANT REFLECTIONS

BEAUTY SALON LLC Arts. of Org. filed with the SSNY on 11/25/24. Office location: NY County. SSNY has been designated as an agent upon whom process against it may be served & shall mail to: 2505 Adam Clayton Powell, Front, New York, NY 10039. Purpose: Any lawful act.

Jocelynn Cheng Acupuncture

PLLC Arts. of Org. filed with the SSNY on 1/24/2025. Office location: New York County. SSNY has been designated as an agent upon whom process against it may be served & shall mail to: 26 E 93rd St, Apt 7AB, New York, NY 10128. Purpose: Any lawful act.

Notice of Qualification of hLevel, LLC

Appl. for Auth. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 02/25/25. Office location: NY County. LLC formed in Delaware (DE) on 10/29/24. Princ. office of LLC: 2248 Broadway, #1954, NY, NY 10024. 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, 401 Federal St., #4, Dover, DE 19901. Purpose: Management.

SALON DE LILY LLC LLC Arts. of Org. filed with the SSNY on 02/14/2025. Office location: New York County. SSNY has been designated as an agent upon whom process against it may be served & shall mail to: 29W 36th St, STE 5U, New York, NY, 10018. Purpose: Any lawful act.

Notice of Qualification of NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC PARTNERS, LLC

Appl. for Auth. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 03/06/25. Office location: NY County. LLC formed in Delaware (DE) on 08/27/15. Princ. office of LLC: 1145 17th St., NW, Washington, DC 20036. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to 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, 401 Federal St., Ste. 3, Dover, DE 19901. Purpose: Any lawful activity.

Vcare Homes Services NYC LLC Arts. of Org. filed with the SSNY on 03/01/2025. Office location: BRONX County. SSNY has been designated as an agent upon whom process against it may be served & shall mail to: 1056 GERARD AVE , BRONX,NY,1452. Purpose: Any lawful act.

Notice of Qualification of VETRICS GROUP LLC Appl. for Auth. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 02/06/25. Office location: NY County. LLC formed in Virginia (VA) on 04/19/21. 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. VA addr. of LLC: 100 Shockoe Slip, 2nd Fl., Richmond, VA 23219. Cert. of Form. filed with Clerk of the Commission, 1300 E. Main St., 1st Fl., Richmond, VA 23219. Purpose: Any lawful activity.

White Tiger 2024 LLC Arts. of Org. filed with the SSNY on 11/01/2024. Office location: Bronx County. SSNY has been designated as an agent upon whom process against it may be served & shall mail to: 3857 White Plains Rd, Bronx, NY 10467. Purpose: Any lawful act.

Hugues Loiret

Loup

NOTICE OF SALE

SUPREME COURT COUNTY OF NEW YORK, NYCTL 19982 TRUST AND THE BANK OF NEW YORK MELLON AS COLLATERAL AGENT AND CUSTODIAN, Plaintiff, vs. HARLEM INVESTORS LLC, ET AL., Defendant(s).

Pursuant to a Judgment of Foreclosure and Sale and Decision + Order on Motion dated June 27, 2024 and entered on November 29, 2024, I, the undersigned Referee will sell at public auction at the New York County Courthouse, Room 116, 60 Centre Street, New York, NY on April 9, 2025 at 2:15 p.m., 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 1937 and Lot 48.

Said premises may also be known as 240 West 132 Street, New York, NY.

Approximate amount of judgment is $46,263.01 plus interest and costs.

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

Index #151257/2020.

Scott H. Siller, Esq., Referee

The Law Office of Thomas P. Malone, PLLC, 60 East 42nd Street, Suite 553, New York, New York 10165, Attorneys for Plaintiff

MOTION MADE LLC Arts. of Org. filed with the SSNY on 2/8/2025. Office location: NEW YORK County. SSNY has been designated as an agent upon whom process against it may be served & shall mail to: 262 Elizabeth St, Apt 3, New York, NY 10012. Purpose: Any lawful act.

Notice of Qualification of 155 EAST 79TH PROPCO LLC Appl. for Auth. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 03/18/25. Office location: NY County. LLC formed in Delaware (DE) on 03/17/25. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to c/o Standard Management Services LLC, 9 W. 57th St., 46th Fl., NY, NY 10019. DE addr. of LLC: c/o Corporation Service Co., 251 Little Falls Dr., Wilmington, DE 19808. Cert. of Form. filed with DE Secy. of State, John G. Townsend Bldg., 401 Federal St., Ste. 4, Dover, DE 19901. Purpose: Any lawful activity.

Notice of Qualification of ER NORTHWAY LLC Appl. for Auth. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 02/24/25. Office location: NY County. LLC formed in Delaware (DE) on 02/18/25. Princ. office of LLC: 60 Cutter Mill Rd., Ste. 601, Great Neck, NY 11021. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to Corporation Service Co. (CSC), 80 State St., Albany, NY 122070543. DE addr. of LLC: c/o CSC, 251 Little Falls Dr., Wilmington, DE 19808. Cert. of Form. filed with Secy. of State of DE, John G. Townsend Bldg., 401 Federal St., Ste. 3, Dover, DE 19901. Purpose: Any lawful activity.

NOTICE OF SALE SUPREME COURT - COUNTY OF NEW YORK.

HNY CLUB SUITES OWNERS ASSOCIATION INC., BY AND THROUGH ITS BOARD OF DIRECTORS, Plaintiff -againstJEFFREY A. HILLS, PATRICIA E. HILLS, et al Defendant(s). Pursuant to a Judgment of Foreclosure and Sale dated on September 17, 2024, 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 April 30, 2025 at 2:15 p.m. premises being an undivided ownership interest as tenantin-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 a foreclosure on ownership 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 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 $62,870.27 plus interest & costs.

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

Index Number 850201/2023. TOM KLEINBERGER, ESQ., Referee

DRUCKMAN LAW GROUP PLLC

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

DLG# 39357 {* AMSTERDAM*}

Notice of Qualification of FLATIRON DRAGADOS CONSTRUCTION HOLDING LLC Appl. for Auth. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 03/06/25. Office location: NY County. LLC formed in Delaware (DE) on 12/01/09. Princ. office of LLC: 810 Seventh Ave., 9th Fl., NY, NY 10019. 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: CSC, 251 Little Falls Dr., Wilmington, DE 19808. Cert. of Form. filed with Secy. of State, John G. Townsend Bldg., 401 Federal St., Ste. 4, Dover, DE 19901. Purpose: Any lawful activity.

Notice of Qualification of SILLY WITCH LLC Appl. for Auth. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 02/20/25. Office location: NY County. LLC formed in Delaware (DE) on 09/18/24. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to the LLC, 50 Murray St., Apt. 1104, NY, NY 10007. DE addr. of LLC: 251 Little Falls Dr., Wilmington, DE 19808. Cert. of Form. filed with Charuni Patibanda-Sanchez, DE Secy. of State, 401 Federal St., Ste. 4, Dover, DE 19901. Purpose: Any lawful activity.

NOTICE OF SALE SUPREME COURT - COUNTY OF NEW YORK.

HILTON RESORTS CORPORATION, Plaintiff -against- FOLAYEMI ANIFOWOSHE, et al Defendant(s). Pursuant to a Judgment of Foreclosure and Sale dated on July 30, 2024, 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 April 16, 2025 at 2:15 p.m. premises 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 1335 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY; known as The NYH Condominium. Together with an appurtenant undivided 0.0381% common interest percentage. This a foreclosure on ownership 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 # 2003000442513 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

Approximate amount of lien $59,947.94 plus interest & costs. Premises will be sold subject to provisions of filed Judgment and Terms of Sale. Index Number 850029/2020.

ROBERTA ASHKIN, ESQ., Referee

DRUCKMAN LAW GROUP PLLC

Attorney(s) for Plaintiff 242 Drexel Avenue, Westbury, NY 11590 DLG# 36988 {* AMSTERDAM*}

Notice of Qualification of PAMALICAN ASSET MANAGEMENT US LLC Appl. for Auth. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 03/10/25. Office location: NY County. LLC formed in Delaware (DE) on 02/25/25. Princ. office of LLC: 535 5th Ave., 4th Fl., 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 DE Secy. of State, John G. Townsend Bldg., 401 Federal St., Ste. 4, Dover, DE 19901. Purpose: Any lawful activity.

KSX Consulting LLC Arts. of Org. filed with the SSNY on Feb 3, 2025. Office location: New York County. SSNY has been designated as an agent upon whom process against it may be served & shall mail to: 312 11th Ave #19D, New York, NY 10001. Purpose: Any lawful act.

Bar Reuven LLC Arts. of Org. filed with the SSNY on 10/2/2024. Office location: New York County. SSNY has been designated as an agent upon whom process against it may be served & shall mail to: 525 E 14th St, New York, NY 10009 Purpose: Any lawful act.

NOTICE OF SALE

SUPREME COURT COUNTY OF NEW YORK, NYCTL 2019A TRUST, AND THE BANK OF NEW YORK MELLON AS COLLATERAL AGENT AND CUSTODIAN FOR THE NYC TL 2019-A TRUST, Plaintiff, vs. KATHERINE MOSLEY A/K/A CATHERINE MOSLEY, IF LIV ING AND IF SHE BE DEAD, ANY AND ALL PERSONS UN KNOWN TO PLAINTIFFS, ET AL., Defendant(s).

Pursuant to a Judgment of Foreclosure and Sale and De cision + Order on Motion dated January 6, 2025 and duly en tered on January 6, 2025, I, the undersigned Referee will sell at public auction at the Room 130 of the New York County Courthouse, 60 Centre Street, New York, NY 10007 on April 30, 2025 at 2:15 p.m., premis es known as 123 West 142nd Street, New York, NY 10030. 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, City, County and State of New York, Block 2011 and Lot 25. Approx imate amount of judgment is $131,692.39 plus interest and costs. Premises will be sold subject to provisions of filed Judgment Index #159074/2020.

Roberta Ashkin, Esq., Referee Bronster, LLP, 156 West 56th Street, Suite 703, New York, New York 10019, Attorneys for Plaintiff

NOTICE OF QUALIFICATION of Oui Do Good LLC. App for authority filed with NY Secy of State (SSNY) on 1/28/2025. Office location: NY County, LLC formed in Delaware (DE) on 8/9/2018. SSNY is desig nated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail pro cess to 45 W 90th St.. Apt 2B. New York, NY 10024. LLC ad dress in DE: 160 Greentree Dr. Ste 101. Dover, DE 19904. Cert. of Formation filed with DE Secy of State, 401 Federal St. Ste 4, Dover, DE 19901. Pur- pose: any lawful activity. 5090 Wo

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March Madness becomes sadness for St. John’s after loss to Arkansas

By DERREL JOHNSON Special to the AmNews

As the final seconds ticked away in the St. John’s men’s basketball team’s season, this past Saturday, RJ Luis Jr. and Kadary Richmond sat on the bench, their faces marked by disappointment, but for different reasons. The Red Storm, the NCAA Tournament’s No. 2 seed in the West Region, fell in the second round to the No. 10 seed Arkansas Razorbacks, 75-66, in Providence, Rhode Island.

The loss marks the end of the collegiate career of 6-6, fifth-year senior guard Kadary Richmond from Brooklyn, who played only 16 minutes due to foul trouble, scoring just five points and grabbing four rebounds. As for Luis Jr., a 6-7 junior guard from Miami, Florida, the team’s leading scorer and Big East Player of the Year, he failed to reach double figures for only the second time this season, totaling just nine points on 3-17 shooting and experienced the frustration of being benched by head coach Rick Pitino for the final 4:56 of the game. Zuby Ejiofor, a 6-9 junior forward from Garland, Texas, who won the Big East Most Improved Player award, led the team with 23 points on 7-12 from the field and 12 rebounds. But the rest of the team shot an

agonizing 14-63 (22%), with senior point guard Deivon Smith the only other St. John’s player in double figures with 13. The Red Storm shot a horrific 2-22 on threepoint attempts and missed eight foul shots

(22-31). The team’s Achilles heel all season was below average shooting, and it ultimately was their downfall.

“Tonight we didn’t play a great brand of offensive basketball, and that’s disappointing,

but overall, I’m grateful for these three guys that gave me everything they had,” Pitino said after the loss. “They were the reason for the turnaround that St. John’s had, winning a regular season and winning a tournament.

I’m just very, very thankful for them.”

The emotionally draining defeat temporarily put a blemish on the remarkable campaign St. John’s had built, going 31-5, winning their first conference regular season title in 33 years, first conference tournament in 25 years, and making their first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2019.

Time will tell if St. John’s can sustain their newfound success. Hall of Fame coach Pitino is a spry 72-years-old and as long as he leads the program his track record says the team will be back. If Luis and Ejiofor return, St. John’s will have two of college basketball’s best players as their core. Roc Nation Sports represents Luis Jr., and so he may declare for the 2025 NBA Draft, projected as a secondround pick. However, Luis Jr. should return to St. John’s and try to improve his draft status, taking in a healthy NIL (name, image and likeness) payment. Pitino, Ejiofor and Luis Jr. running it back should have St. John’s poised to make a run at another Big East title and an NCAA Tournament title.

JuJu Watkins’ injury dampers the star power of the women’s Sweet 16

By LOIS ELFMAN

Special to the AmNews

Postseason basketball action is underway with three Division I women’s tournaments. The early rounds of the NCAA Tournament have not provided any big surprises, but the possibility looms as some high profile players, including JuJu Watkins of USC and Olivia Miles of Notre Dame, have sustained injuries.

Miles sustained an ankle injury in Notre Dame’s 106-54 victory over Stephen F. Austin last Friday but will be ready to go Saturday versus TCU in what should be one of the tournament’s most competitive games thus far as the women’s postseason has reached the Sweet 16. Conversely, Watkins’ injury is crushing to USC and the entire sport of basketball.

The sophomore sensation, arguably the best women’s player in college, and whose popularity transcends sports, tore her right ACL on Monday night in USC’s 96-59 win over Mississippi State. She is out for the remainder of the season and faces months of grueling rehab. The Trojans entered the tournament as one of the favorites to capture the championship but without Watkins their odds have been greatly diminished.

There were some historical moments for teams from New York and New Jersey. In its second tournament appearance, Columbia won its first-ever game, defeating Washington 63–60 in the First Four. The Lions fell to West Virginia 78–59 in the first round.

“This is what March is about,” said Columbia head coach Megan Griffith. “It’s about get-

ting this experience, but we didn’t just come here to come here. That’s a really valuable lesson that the rest of our program has learned today and will continue to learn.”

Princeton fell to Iowa State 68–63 in the First Four. In their debut NCAA Tournament appearance, Fairleigh Dickinson lost to TCU 73–51 in the first round. TCU, the #2 seed in their regional, then defeated Louisville in the second round to advance to the Sweet 16.

Also, advancing to the Sweet 16 is Tennessee, the only school to have played in every NCAA Tournament since its inception in 1982.

As for the two HBCU schools in the NCAA Tournament, Southern lost to San Diego State in the First Four and Norfolk State

put up a ferocious battle before succumbing 82–69 to Maryland in the first round. Shortly after, it was announced that Larry Vickers, the head coach who has brought Norfolk State to MEAC supremacy, will be leaving to take the head coaching job at Auburn. While this is no doubt a blow to the Spartans, it is further proof of the growing respect that HBCU programs have.

“Throughout the search process, one name continually rose to the top — Larry Vickers,” said Auburn athletic director John Cohen, as reported by WAAY TV. “He demands excellence from his student-athletes, while fostering an environment for young women to succeed.”

In WBIT action — a post-season tournament launched by the NCAA last year — Seton Hall won their opening game versus Quinnipiac 57–40 before succumbing to Portland 61–55 in the second round. Rutgers won its first game in the WNIT tournament defeating Army 71–60. The Scarlet Knights take on Charleston this evening.

Guard Amari Wright capped her Seton Hall University playing days in the WBIT. (Seton Hall Athletics photo)

St. John’s guards RJ Luis Jr. (middle) and Kadary Richmond watch dismayed as the Red Storm fell to Arkansas 75-66 in Round 2 of the NCAA Tournament. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)

Columbia University’s women’s basketball squad had a historic season for the program. (Columbia University Athletics photo)

The Knicks are holding steady with the East’s No. 3 spot still unsettled

By JAIME C. HARRIS

AmNews Sports Editor

The NBA Eastern Conference’s No. 1 and No. 2 postseason seeds have been virtually determined, although their order is still undecided. When the league’s schedule tipped-off last night (Wednesday), the Cleveland Cavaliers sat atop of the East at 58-14 followed by the Boston Celtics, which were 53-19, a five-game divide.

Both teams had 10 games remaining. It is possible, but low probability the Celtics will overtake the Cavaliers. Directly below the Celtics are the No. 3-seed Knicks, which were 45-26 and 7 1/2 games behind the Celtics before hosting the Los Angeles Clippers yesterday evening at Madison Square Garden and 24 hours after defeating the Dallas Mavericks by 128-113 Tuesday at home.

The Indiana Pacers are breathing fire down the Knicks’ neck. They were just three games behind them at 42-29 with the Los Angeles Lakers in Indianapolis last night. The Knicks and Pacers do not have any more head-tohead games. If the Knicks handle their business, they will end the regular season on April 13, a little over two weeks from today against the Brooklyn Nets in the No. 3 spot. But as of now, the standings from the No. 3 to the No. 6 positions remain fluid.

tween them and the Cavaliers and Celtics, they are a formidable albeit flawed squad that was tied with the 2023 NBA-champion Denver Nuggets for the fifth-most wins in the league prior to playing the Clippers. In the win over the Mavericks, center Karl-Anthony Towns and guard Josh Hart became the first pair of Knicks to ever record triple-doubles in the same game. Towns finished with 26 points, 12 rebounds and 11 assists for his first triple-double in three years and Hart notched his ninth, the most in a season for the franchise, surpassing Walt Frazier’s eight in the 1968-1969 campaign. Hart registered 16 points, 11 assists and 12 rebounds. Forward OG Anunoby scored a team-high 35.

“Yeah, it’s just a blessing,” said Hart of his new Knicks record. “I got a great group of guys. It means I at least played nine good games out of 82 so far, or whatever we’re at, sixty-whatever. But yeah, man, it’s just a blessing. I can’t say more than that.”

Towns viewed his and Hart’s accomplishments through the lens of winning.

“He got nine, I got one. So he’s doing a much better job at being able to get tripledoubles. The way he does it is special. It’s all energy, and it’s effort, and it’s for the betterment of the team.”

That same day, the Knicks showed that despite the chasm in the standings be-

The Milwaukee Bucks, which were 40-31 and tied at No. 5 with the regenerated Detroit Pistons, which held a 41-32 record, prior to last night’s slate of matchups, received a proverbial hook to the body when they learned that All-Star and future Hall of Fame guard Damian Lillard was diagnosed with deep vein thrombosis in his right calf and was prescribed blood-thinning medication. The team announced on Tuesday the 34-year-old Lillard will be out indefinitely.

The Knicks will play the Bucks in Milwaukee on Friday and be back at the Garden to host the Portland Trailblazers on Sunday, and the Philadelphia 76ers next Tuesday.

The Brooklyn Nets find wins elusive as the regular season closes

By DERREL JOHNSON Special to the AmNews

With only nine games left in the season for the Brooklyn Nets after last night’s contest against the Toronto Raptors at the Barclays Center, the most important date on the calendar for the Brooklyn Nets is the May 12 NBA Draft Lottery, which will decide where the franchise will pick in June’s draft.

The Nets had lost four in a row and were 23-49 before facing the Raptors. On Monday night, they were non-competitive against the Dallas Mavericks at Barclays in a 120101 defeat. It was their seventh loss over the previous eight games and 14th in their last 16. Nets head coach Jordi Fernandez addressed what he expects from his group to close out the season as they are virtually eliminated from playoff contention.

“The approach is the same: to get 1% better and go out there and compete and fight for the game, no matter who’s out there. I think we’ve done that the whole year,” Fernandez said. “Our main purpose is, like I said, to get better and see who’s the next Net [up] and who’s going to be here for the long run, and obviously, we have a job to do and evaluate, and it’s good to see all those guys that haven’t played as much.”

Coming into this season, it was widely accepted by followers of the NBA that the

Nets were at the start of a rebuilding phase with Fernandez in his first year as an NBA head coach following three seasons as the associate head coach of the Sacramento Kings. So their current record is expected. Laying a solid foundation for the future was one of the primary objectives. In September, general manager Sean Marks discussed some of the objectives.

“Everyone has got a job to do,” he said at the team’s media day. “Our job… and (Fernández’s) job on the court is to help develop a culture, develop an identity, and establish that as the season goes on.

Ultimately, our goal — it’s been the same way every year — is to go out there and compete,” Marks continued, “and compete at the highest level, no matter what the stakes may be and no matter what is being put in front of you — to go and compete and establish that identity through that.” Marks said his job also entails discovering which players on the roster can potentially be with the franchise for years to come.

Outside of the 2025 NBA Draft, reserve center Day’Ron Sharpe and guard Cam Thomas are restricted free agents, and point guard D’Angelo Russell is an unrestricted free agent. Brooklyn will host the Los Angeles Clippers tomorrow before taking on the Wizards in Washington on Saturday. The Nets will face the Mavericks in Dallas on Monday.

Knicks forward OG Anunoby dunks for two of his team-high 35 points in a 128-113 home win over the Dallas Mavericks on Tuesday. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)

Nets forward Trendon Watford navigates to the basket in his team’s 120-101 home loss to the Dallas Mavericks on Monday night. (Bill Moore photo)

After sterling World Championships, sledder Mystique Ro

looks towards the Olympics

By LOIS ELFMAN Special to the AmNews

The 2026 Olympic Winter Games are less than a year away, and after podium finishes at the recent International Bobsled and Skeleton Federation (IBSF) World Championships in Lake Placid, U.S. skeleton athlete Mystique Ro is feeling inspired. She earned a silver medal in women’s skeleton and a gold medal in skeleton mixed team partnering with Austin Florian.

“It was a very long season,” said Ro. “We started in Asia, which took a lot of preparation because those were two brand new tracks to me. It was a little rough. Then, we finally got to Europe, so I got a little bit more comfortable. Once we got to Europe, I started to build my confidence back. Then ending

the World Cup tour in Lillehammer with a silver medal was great momentum going into the World Championships.”

Lake Placid is home base for Ro, so she enjoyed feeling the excitement build for the World Championships, and then she appreciated the hometown feel of the competition. This was her eighth season in skeleton.

Ro comes from a track and field background. As a teenager, she watched bobsled and skeleton on TV thinking it looked crazy. In college, she competed in heptathlon, which built her strength and diversified her skills, so when USA Bobsled and Skeleton invited her to try out, she was ready. Deemed too small for bobsled, she took up skeleton.

“I like the individual challenge,” said Ro. “It’s all happening in less than a minute.

There’s a challenge about how you take all of the information and simplify it to make a smooth run, but you don’t just want a smooth run, you want a smooth but fast run. That’s the delicate balance.”

Mixed team is a relatively new event and combines male and female times. It will be held at next year’s winter olympics in Italy, Milano Cortina 2026. Ro had competed with Florian a couple of times previously and done well. She said it was nice to put it all together and get the win.

“With the Games on the horizon, it’s kind of surreal because this will be the third Olympic season I’ve experienced, but now I’m actually a contender,” Ro said. “I’m in a good spot. I’ve had great results, great pushes, great trajectory. I feel pretty excited and positive.

NYU women’s basketball scores second consecutive national championship

By LOIS ELFMAN Special to the AmNews

New York University (NYU) was determined to repeat as NCAA Division III Women’s Basketball Champions, and they did with a 77–49 victory over Smith College. The win continues the Violets’ now 62-game winning streak and number one ranking.

“We have winners in our locker room, and the way they’re wired and the way that our program has been focused on ourselves has really allowed us to block out noise of a streak or worry about the level

of who our opponent was any given night during this time,” said NYU coach Meg Barber. “It’s about our team just continuing to keep our foot on the gas and try to get better every day and better every game.”

Barber spoke of taking a chance on the right people coming out of high school to build this successful team. Senior Belle Pellecchia was named tournament

Most Outstanding Player. She described Pellecchia as a Division Ilevel player who was overlooked coming out of high school.

“College basketball is a grind, and

you need to find the players that are willing to put the work in consistently, sometimes when the results aren’t yet seen,” said Barber. “Two of the top players in our program are two of the hardest workers in the program, and that has been a catalyst to the entirety of the team culture being about work.”

With several seniors and graduate students now going onto the next chapter of their lives, Barber said it’s a somewhat harsh reality that this team’s run is over, albeit in the best way possible. Now is a time to celebrate and reflect on

the fruits of their labor.

Having a team based in the city that never sleeps means players must be disciplined, focused and able to balance academics, athletics and the city itself. Barber said they have to approach being an elite student-athlete in a mature way.

“What we’re asked to do on a basketball court every day in terms of you make a mistake, you need

to pivot and find another way, we go through every day in New York City,” said Barber. “Whether it’s a subway being delayed or the everyday hustle and bustle of the city, they’re living in a world where resilience is a requirement. It reflects in the way this team plays because they play unfazed and very together. Those are two things New Yorkers are known for.”

Mystique Ro claimed silver in the women’s skeleton at the 2025 World Championships. (Photo courtesy of IBSF/Viesturs Lacis)

Senior guard Belle Pellecchia was voted most outstanding player of the Division III tournament.

NYU captured its second consecutive Division III championships by a commanding 77-49 win over Smith College on Saturday. (NYU Athletics photos)

Sports

The life of George Foreman is a tale of a remarkable transformation

By JAIME C. HARRIS AmNews Sports Editor

If American exceptionalism is more than just a fleeting abstract concept, George Foreman is one of its embodiments.

The sport of boxing, more than any other athletic pursuit, has transformed men who at one point of their lives were seemingly incorrigible thugs and gangsters, into beloved American heroes, models of reformation. Foreman, who passed away last Friday at the age of 76 surrounded by family at a hospital in Houston, for four decades was a living, breathing algorithm of redemption and success. His cause of death was not publicly shared.

Born in Marshall, Texas in 1949 in the Jim Crow era — Texas being the last state in America where in 1865 more than 250,000 Black slaves were informed they were liberated from white ownership well after the Emancipation Proclamation of 1863 — Foreman grew up in Houston’s notoriously dan-

gerous Fifth Ward as one of its most feared inhabitants, strong arming for money and committing other petty crimes as strapping teenager.

Foreman was one of six children and his mother, Nancy Ree, misled him for much of his early life as to the true identity of his biological father. In adulthood, Foreman finally learned that it was a man named Leroy Moorehead. These experiences informed and shaped who Foreman became as a father — raising 10 biological children and two others he called his own. He named all five of his sons George in part so they would have no doubt as to who was their dad and “so they would always have something in common,” he once quipped.

A junior high school dropout, he joined the Job Corps at 16, but boxing ultimately became Foreman’s salvation. He rose to the world’s best amateur heavyweight, winning the Olympic gold medal in the weight class at the 1968 Mexico City Olympics. Though only 19 years old, Fore-

man was roundly ostracized by many Black people for waving the American flag in the ring after his victory at the height of this country’s Black liberation movement.

It was a stark juxtaposition with track stars Tommie Smith and John Carlos each raising a fist adorned with black gloves standing on the medal ceremony podium during the playing of the Star-Spangled Banner after capturing the gold and bronze respectively. The apolitical and socially ill-educated Foreman was unfairly labeled a sellout by a plethora Black folks, one that he carried with him into his seminal 1974 heavyweight title fight against Muhammad Ali, globally revered by those of the African diaspora as a fearless freedom fighter.

The heavily favored, 6’4”, 220pound, supremely chiseled 25-year-old undefeated Foreman would lose by eighth round knockout to the 6’3”, 217-pound, 32-year-old Ali in the Rumble in the Jungle in Kinshasa, Zaire,

with the African nation’s dictator, Mobutu Sese Seko, deceitfully utilizing the international stage to legitimize what was in application one of the world’s most brutal and repressive reigns of terror.

“Foreman enhanced the legend, stature and myth of Muhammad Ali with his loss. Yet set the stage for his own immortality. And proving there is such a thing as a good loss,” boxing historian Mel “Doc” Stanley profoundly said to this writer on Tuesday.

Foreman would retire from the ring three years later at 28, embracing the spiritual calling that compelled him to serve as a bornagain Christian and ordained minister. With his church facing financial hardship, he returned to the ring at age 38 and astoundingly, at 45, regained the heavyweight title in 1994 by knocking out Michael Moorer in the 10th round with a short, powerful combination.

It marked the beginning of Foreman’s im-

probable standing as one of America’s most popular and adored personalities and richest former athletes. The jovial giant, eternalized in the 2023 biopic

“Big George Foreman: The Miraculous Story of the Once and Future Heavyweight Champion of the World,” became ubiquitous as his eponymous George Foreman Grill made him a small fortune as a must-have household item in tens of millions of kitchens and college dorms across the planet. Foreman amassed generational wealth as his reported net worth left to his family is over $300 million. And he also reinforced the truism that life’s long play has many acts in which the protagonist can find peace, joy and prosperity after a fall from grace.

The 25-year-old George Foreman training in 1974 for his famous heavyweight title fight versus Muhammad Ali, later in life evolved into one of this country’s most beloved figures. (AP Photo/Horst Faas, File)

George Foreman (AP Photo/Matt Sayles, File)