Brittney Griner arrested in Russia on drug charges

WNBA All-Star Brittney Griner was arrested in Russia last month at a Moscow airport after a search of her luggage revealed vape cartridges.

The Russian Customs Service said Saturday that the cartridges were identified as containing oil derived from cannabis, which could carry a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison. The customs service identified the person arrested as a player for the U.S. women's team and did not specify the date of her arrest. Russian media reported the player was Griner, and her agent did not dispute those reports.

“We are aware of the situation with Brittney Griner in Russia and are in close contact with her, her legal representation in Russia, her family, her teams, and the WNBA and NBA,” Griner's agent Lindsay Kagawa Colas said Saturday. “As this is an ongoing legal matter, we are not able to comment further on the specifics of her case but can confirm that as we work to get her home, her mental and physical health remain our primary concern.”

“Brittney Griner has the WNBA's full support and our main priority is her swift and safe return to the United States,” the league said in a statement.

[SOURCE: AP]

Ketanji Brown Jackson endorsed by fellow Supreme Court law clerks she served with

A group of two-dozen former law clerks from the 1999 Supreme Court term that served with Ketanji Brown Jackson have written a letter to the Senate Judiciary Committee in support of her confirmation.

In the letter to the former clerks extoll the intellect and character of Supreme Court nominee Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson with whom they served.

"We hold diverse points of view on politics, judicial philosophy, and much else. Yet we all support Judge Jackson's nomination to the Supreme Court," the group writes, "because we know her to be eminently qualified for this role in intellect, character, and experience."

Read the entire letter below:

Supreme Court Clerks Letter by Kate Pastor

Tamya De’Anna Alexander and her daughter Serenity Williams are missing

A Georgia woman and her 2-year-old daughter have disappeared and deputies are asking for the public’s help to find them.

The Bibb County Sheriff’s Office said Tamya De’Anna Alexander, 23, and her daughter, two-year-old Serenity Williams, were reported missing Tuesday.

Family members told investigators they last saw the mother and daughter Monday afternoon. The two were last seen getting into a blue BMW in 1900 block of Vining Circle in Macon.

Tamya is a Black woman described 5 feet, 8 inches tall and weighing 225 pounds. She has dark hair and brown eyes.

Her daughter Serenity is a Black child with dark hair and brown eyes. No height or weight information is available.

Anyone who has seen the pair or knows more information is urged to contact Bibb County Sheriff’s Office at (478) 751-7500, or Macon Regional Crimestoppers at 1-877-68CRIME.

Congressional Black Caucus Responds to Pres. Bidens's State of the Union Address

The Congressional Black Caucus has responded to President Joe Biden's State of the Union Speech.

Rep. Colin Allred spoke about the CBC’s support of Ukraine, praised the president for creating jobs but acknowledged that unemployment for Black America is lagging. He urged for the passage of voting rights legislation.

Watch his response below:

Rep. Rush statement on the passage of the Emmett Till Antilynching Act

The Emmett Till Antilynching Act (H.R. 55), legislation sponsored by U.S. Representative Bobby L. Rush (D-Ill.), overwhelmingly passed the House of Representatives by a vote of 422–3.

Rep. Rush released the following statement on the bill's passage:

“Today is a day of enormous consequence for our nation,” said Rep. Rush. “By passing my Emmett Till Antilynching Act, the House has sent a resounding message that our nation is finally reckoning with one of the darkest and most horrific periods of our history, and that we are morally and legally committed to changing course.

“The failure of Congress to codify federal antilynching legislation — despite more than 200 attempts since 1900 — meant that 99 percent of lynching perpetrators walked free. Today, we take a meaningful step toward correcting this historical injustice. I am immensely proud of this legislation, which will ensure that the full force of the U.S. federal government will always be brought to bear against those who commit monstrous acts of hatred.

“I was eight years old when my mother put the photograph of Emmett Till’s brutalized body that ran in Jet magazine on our living room coffee table, pointed to it, and said, ‘this is why I brought my boys out of Albany, Georgia.’ That photograph shaped my consciousness as a Black man in America, changed the course of my life, and changed our nation. But modern-day lynchings like the murder of Ahmaud Arbery make abundantly clear that the racist hatred and terror that fueled the lynching of Emmett Till lynching are far too prevalent in America to this day.

“I thank my colleagues in the House Judiciary Committee and the Senate who have worked tirelessly with me throughout the last year to reach agreement on the text of this legislation. I look forward to this bill passing the Senate and being swiftly signed into law,” Rush concluded.