Oprah to hit campaign trail for Stacey Abrams

Media icon Oprah Winfrey will hit the campaign trail this week for Georgia Democratic gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams.

Winfrey will participate in two town hall events with Abrams -- one in Marietta and one in Decatur -- on Thursday to aide her campaign in what has become a highly competitive, closely watched race.

"Oprah Winfrey has inspired so many of us through the years with her unparalleled ability to form real connections and strengthen the bonds of family and community," Abrams said in a statement Wednesday. "I am honored to have Oprah join me for uplifting and honest conversations with voters about the clear choice before us in this election and the boundless potential of Georgians."

It's a rare political endorsement for Winfrey, who backed former President Barack Obama during the primaries in 2008 and lent her support to Hillary Clinton during the 2016 election. On Tuesday, she appeared in a video with NBC News' Maria Shiver to urge people to vote, saying she's a political independent before adding, "people think I'm a Democrat."

Read more: Oprah to hit campaign trail for Stacey Abrams

Killing Of 2 African Americans At Kentucky Supermarket Is Being Investigated As Hate Crime

A white man charged with shooting and killing two African-Americans at a Kroger supermarket in Kentucky last week had first tried to enter a predominantly African-American church, police say.

Gregory Bush, 51, was charged with killing Maurice Stallard, 69, and Vickie Lee Jones, 67, at the supermarket in Jeffersontown, Ky., a suburb of Louisville.

As more information about the Wednesday attack and its alleged perpetrator have emerged, there are indications that Bush chose his targets because of the color of their skin.

Federal investigators are looking into the fatal shootings as "potential civil rights violations such as hate crimes," Russell Coleman, the U.S. attorney for the Western district of Kentucky, said in a statement.

Bush allegedly walked into the Kroger, pulled a gun and shot Stallard in the back of the head, then shot him several more times. Then he went outside and killed Jones, who also died from multiple gunshot wounds, according to The Associated Press.

Louisville resident Ed Harrell told the Courier-Journal that as he crouched in the Kroger parking lot clutching his own revolver, the gunman walked by him and said, "Don't shoot me. I won't shoot you. Whites don't shoot whites."

Police say that just a few minutes before heading to the Kroger, Bush first tried to get into the First Baptist Church of Jeffersontown, a predominantly African-American church. Jeffersontown Police Chief Sam Rogers told reporters that surveillance video showed Bush yanking on the church doors. If Bush had come to the church an hour earlier that day, some 70 people would have been gathered there, and the door might have been unlocked, the Courier-Journal reported.

Read more: Killing Of 2 At Kentucky Supermarket Is Being Investigated As Hate Crime

Andrew Gillum responds to Trump calling him a thief

Democratic candidate for Florida Governor Andrew Gillum took to Twitter to respond to Trump's ignorant remarks in which Trump referred to Gillum as a thief during a Fox News interview.

I heard @realDonaldTrump ran home to @FoxNews to lie about me. But as my grandmother told me — never wrestle with a pig. You both get dirty, but the pig likes it. So ignore him and vote, Florida!

— Andrew Gillum (@AndrewGillum) October 30, 2018

Ava DuVernay making Prince documentary for Netflix

Ava DuVernay the director of both 13th and Selma is now making a documentary about music legend Prince for Netflix.

“Prince was a genius and a joy and a jolt to the senses,” the Oscar-nominated filmmaker told Deadline tonight of the Purple Rain star who died in April 2016. “He was like no other,” DuVernay added of the Oscar winner and eight-time Grammy recipient. “He shattered every preconceived notion, smashed every boundary, shared everything in his heart through his music. The only way I know how to make this film is with love. And with great care. I’m honored to do so and grateful for the opportunity entrusted to me by the estate.”

As part of the development of the film, the estate has granted the ARRAY founder full access to the vast trove of archives recordings and, perhaps most immediately important to Prince’s global fanbase, the unreleased material by the prolific musician. The early stages of the project already have seen DuVernay, editor Spencer Averick and other members of her core production team visit Prince’s Paisley Park home and studios repeatedly during the past several months.

[SOURCE: DEADLINE]

Pharrell Williams sends Donald Trump a cease and desist letter after Trump uses his song 'Happy'

Pharrell Williams sent President Donald Trump a cease and desist letter against using the song “Happy” after the song was played at a rally in Indiana on Saturday, the same day Robert Bowers allegedly killed 11 people at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Trump is accused of violating federal law (copyright and trademark infringement) for using the song without Williams’s permission.

“On the day of the mass murder of 11 human beings at the hands of a deranged ‘nationalist,’ you played his song ‘Happy’ to a crowd at a political event in Indiana,” read the letter. “There was nothing ‘Happy’ about the tragedy inflicted upon our country on Saturday and no permission was granted for your use of this song for this purpose.”

The White House and a Trump attorney did not immediately respond to a request for comment Monday.

[SOURCE: LAW&CRIME]