NBA star DeMarcus Cousins offers to pay for funeral of Stephon Clark

Former Sacramento Kings players DeMarcus Cousins has reached out to the family of Stephon Clark to cover the cost of the funeral.

Clark, 22, was shot and killed by Sacramento police on Sunday while holding a cellphone in his grandmother's backyard. The death of Clark, who was unarmed and African American, sparked protests Thursday.

Cousins, an All-Star center who spent the first six years of his NBA career in Sacramento, was traded to the New Orleans Pelicans last season. Barnes, a former area prep star at Del Campo High School, was waived by the Kings after Cousins was traded. He announced his retirement from the NBA this season.

Cousins has a history of outreach in the Sacramento community.

He paid for the funeral of Grant High School football player Jaulon "JJ" Clavo, who was shot before a playoff game in 2015. He held free basketball camps at Sacramento High School and bought a new scoreboard for the school's basketball gym.

Cousins was a regular at high school games and enjoyed being accessible to students, especially at inner-city schools that high-profile athletes might not want to visit.

Cousins participated in forums with police in his hometown of Mobile, Ala., and in Sacramento, and has spoken candidly about the issues and concerns from both sides.

The NBA recognized Cousins' work away from the court last October, awarding him the inaugural Offseason NBA Cares Community Assist Award for his work in Alabama, New Orleans, Sacramento and South Africa.

When Cousins was traded to New Orleans last February, he said he would always consider Sacramento home and that his ties to the community would remain.

Film shows black women as hidden figures in pro wrestling

A new film explores the role of black women recruited as professional wrestlers in the 1950s and 1960s.

Lady Wrestler: The Amazing, Untold Story of African-American Women in the Ring is a 90-minute documentary that chronicles the stories of Babs Wingo, Ethel Johnson, Marva Scott, Ramona Isbell and dozens of other African-American women who braved racism and sexism in the 1950s, '60s and '70s to succeed in the male-dominated world of professional wrestling. These courageous women raised families while blazing a trail for female athletes long before many of the breakthroughs of the civil rights and feminist movements.

The documentary debuts Thursday at Ohio State University’s Wexner Center for the Arts.

Filmmaker Chris Bournea said people like these female grapplers wrestled not only before women were deemed capable of athletic accomplishments but before blacks had civil rights in many places.
They also didn’t talk a lot about what they did, perhaps concerned about others’ reactions. And when they were finished, they wanted to move on with their lives.

Bournea, who is black, grew up in Columbus without ever hearing the stories. After he learned of them as a journalist about a decade ago, he knew he had to do something.

“Awareness needed to be brought to these women’s accomplishments,” Bournea said.

Bournea said he has planned screenings in other cities with large professional wrestling fan bases and will then release the film on Amazon.

Lean more about the movie here https://www.ladywrestlermovie.com/ and watch the trailer below:

Protesters throughout Sacramento after Stephon Clark shooting

Protests erupted in Sacramento four days after Stephon Clark, an unarmed black man was shot by police in his grandmother's backyard. Demonstrators delayed the start of an NBA game as well as blocked entrance to an interstate highway.

Protesters block NBA arena over fatal Sacramento police shooting.

Demonstrators blocked the entrance to an arena where an NBA game was scheduled Thursday, chanting "Black Lives Matter" and the name of the 22-year-old who was killed.

Most ticketholders weren't able to get inside, and the Sacramento Police said via Twitter that "no one else will be admitted to the #SacKings game."

Outside the arena, protesters linked arms and chanted at fans, "Join us or go home!"

The NBA and the Kings made the decision to close the doors, Sgt. Vance Chandler of the Sacramento Police Department told CNN. The game started with a delay and the team said it would refund the tickets.

Protesters began to disperse at night, and police made no arrests.

[SOURCE]

Protesters of police shooting shut down I-5 and block entry to Sacramento Kings game.

A dramatic day of protest Thursday over the shooting of Stephon Clark a young unarmed black man began at Sacramento City Hall, shut down Interstate 5 during rush hour.

The protest snarled traffic around central city freeways, with cars backed up nearly a mile south on I-5 toward Sutterville Road and on the westbound W/X freeway.

Around 5:30 p.m., southbound lanes reopened. It took another 30-plus minutes for protesters to leave northbound lanes. [SOURCE]

Demonstrators gather at Sacramento City Hall to protest fatal shooting of unarmed man.

Demonstrators in Sacramento, California, gathered Thursday evening to protest the death of 22-year-old Stephon Clark, who was killed in his grandmother's backyard over the weekend after two police officers fired 20 shots at him.

A crowd of people went to Sacramento's City Hall, chanting phrases like "Stand up, fight back" and "No justice, no peace."

Black Lives Matter Sacramento is hosting the demonstration, according to the Facebook event titled "Turn Up - for [Stephon] Clark!"

"We are tired of Sacramento law enforcement killing us!" the event description reads. "We are tired of talking and meeting and sitting trying to convince our elected officials that there needs to be change!"[SOURCE]

Smithsonian moves Michelle Obama portrait due to 'high volume of visitors'

Michelle Obama was so popular she needed more space.

The distinctive Amy Sherald painting of the former first lady, unveiled at the Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery last month, has relocated to a different part of the museum due to demand.

"We're always changing things up here. Due to the high volume of visitors, we've relocated Michelle Obama's portrait to the 3rd floor in our 20th-Century Americans galleries for a more spacious viewing experience," the National Portrait Gallery tweeted.

The museum has been inundated with visitors since the portraits of the Obamas were unveiled; 176,700 people visited the gallery in February 2018, its biggest month in three years, per Smithsonian Institution data. Last weekend, nearly 45,000 visitors stopped by from Thursday to Sunday.

[SOURCE: CNN]

Austin Texas bombing suspect dead

This is a breaking story, details may change as more information comes in.

A man whom authorities were attempting to arrest early Wednesday in a string of bombing attacks that originally focused on minorities in Austin killed himself with an explosive device as authorities closed in, a high-ranking law enforcement official told the American-Statesman early today.

The official said authorities identified a suspect in the past 24 hours based largely on information gained after police said the suspect shipped an explosive device from a FedEx store in Southwest Austin. That evidence included security video.

Authorities also relied upon store receipts showing suspicious transactions from the person and obtained a search warrant for his Google search history that showed him conducting searches they considered suspicious, the official said.

Authorities relied upon cell phone technology to trace the suspect to a hotel in Williamson County, the official said.