Michael K Williams shared a cryptic final Instagram post just days before his tragic death. The Wire actor, 54, posted a video of comedian Tracy Morgan's passionate speech telling people "don't cry for me" following a car accident in 2014 which nearly killed him. Michael was found dead on Monday in his Brooklyn apartment, law-enforcement sources told The New York Post. The outlet reported that drug paraphernalia was found in the apartment, but no cause of death has been confirmed yet. In what appeared to be his last post on the social media platform on Wednesday, the actor shared the video alongside the caption "I love u brother!!!" The emotional video shows the 52-year-old comedian giving a speech on the radio, saying: "Don't cry for me. Okay, I had a misfortunate accident. Don’t cry for me! Cry for others man. "My grandmother told me when you think you doing bad, there’s always someone out there worse. There’s people out there in the world with …
Bay Area advocates applaud dropping ‘illegal alien’ in reference to undocumented immigrants
2 Bay Area immigration advocates on Tuesday praised a Biden administration directive that removes the word “alien” from government documents and communications and urges more “inclusive” language when referring to non-U.S. citizens. Acting director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Tracy Renaud signed the Feb. 12 memo designed to encourage “more inclusive language in the agency’s outreach efforts, internal documents and in overall communication with stakeholders, partners and the general public,” spokesperson Joe Sowers told The Chronicle in an emailed statement. The contents of the memo were first reported by Axios. Under the new directive, officials must replace “alien” with “noncitizen” and “illegal alien” with “undocumented noncitizen” or “undocumented individual.” “Assimilation” would be replaced with “integration” or “civic integration.” The memo “aligns our language practices with the administration’s guidance on the federal …
California Wanted to Protect Uber Drivers. Now It May Hurt Freelancers.
SAN FRANCISCO — Gloria Rivera likes the freedom of freelance. She moved to San Diego from Peru in 2005 and has a bustling career as an interpreter and translator for doctors, courts and conferences. Now, as a new California law governing freelancers is set to take effect on Wednesday, her clients are wary. They are asking for more paperwork. Some services are hitting pause on hiring Californians at all. “Everyone’s scared in California,” Ms. Rivera, 42, said. “Who’s going to hire me as an employee for three assignments a month?” The new law, Assembly Bill 5 , will radically reshape freelance work in California. Prompted in part by frustration with the treatment of workers by companies like the ride-hailing behemoths Uber and Lyft , the bill was created to extend workplace legal protections to roughly one million people in the state. On Monday, Uber and Postmates filed a lawsuit in federal court in California seeking to block the law from being enforced against …
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Democrats Nominate Biden for President, Delivering Long-Sought Prize
Democrats formally nominated Joseph R. Biden Jr. for the presidency on Tuesday night, anointing him as their standard-bearer against President Trump with an extraordinary virtual roll call vote that showcased the cultural diversity of their coalition and exposed a generational gulf that is increasingly defining the party. Denied the chance to assemble in Milwaukee because of the coronavirus pandemic, Democratic activists and dignitaries cast their votes from locations across all 50 states, the American territories and the District of Columbia — from the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Ala., to the iconic welcome sign in Las Vegas and far beyond to the shores of Guam, “where America’s day begins.” They offered a grand mosaic of personal identities and experiences, many speaking in raw terms about their aspirations and adversities. Appearing with his wife in a Delaware school after his home state put him over the top, Mr. Biden was feted by his grandchildren, who burst in with …
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3 face charges in alleged plot to smuggle cell phones to Death Row inmates at San Quentin
A San Quentin State Prison guard and two others faced federal charges this week in a plot to smuggle phones to inmates on Death Row, prosecutors and investigators say. The accused are correctional officer Keith Christopher, 37, of Pittsburg; Isaiah Wells, 32, of Tracy; and Tanisa Smith-Symes, 45, of Las Vegas, according to a news release from the U.S. attorney’s office for the Northern District of California. Prosecutors allege that Smith-Symes and a Death Row inmate with whom she had a relationship worked together to obtain cell phones and send them to Wells. He then sent the phones to Christopher, who smuggled them into San Quentin’s East Block, where Death Row inmates are housed, according to an FBI complaint filed after an investigation was conducted. Inmates are prohibited from having cell phones, which are contraband under state law and create safety risks for prison employees and inmates, the news release said. The Death Row inmate working with Smith-Symes sold at least …
9/11 is fading into history — but not for the Coloradans most affected by it
After the Twin Towers collapsed — mangled steel cascading down, clouds of dust billowing across Lower Manhattan — a business card fluttered onto the 17th-floor window sill outside Peter Wells’ apartment. He opened the window, pulled the card in, blew the dust off. “It was a guy who didn’t make it,” Wells recalls now, 20 years later. “He was at work that day.” The Denver resident still has the card, a tangible token of the morning he was jolted awake in his bed two blocks from the World Trade Center by the opening salvo of what would become the deadliest terror attacks ever carried out on American soil. A wide-body airliner hijacked by al-Qaida terrorists slammed into several high floors of the north tower, setting off a massive blast seen and heard for miles. Wells, 60, is still haunted by what he witnessed while standing on his building’s rooftop on a day that would end with nearly 3,000 people dead at three sites. His visceral memories are part of Americans’ collective …
I was diagnosed with cervical cancer at 24, now I use stand up comedy to raise awareness
I've always been funny, I have to say. I have a bit of a background in drama at uni, and I loved stand up, but I thought I could never do it. There was absolutely no way. I'm sure I would've been fine if I'd just gone for it, but at that time, I didn't think I had the right angle, I didn't know what to say. But when I was diagnosed with cervical cancer , all of that changed. I found out at the end of 2014. I was going into my third year of university at Birkbeck, doing evening classes in drama. A couple of months before that, I'd been spotting a little bit in between periods, but no more than a bloody discharge. So I didn't panic, I wasn't in pain or anything. I thought, it's because I've gone on holiday, or it's my pill. After having sex with my boyfriend, I started to bleed bright red blood, and I was worried because unlike the discharge, there was quite a lot of it. So at that point I went onto Google and typed in "bleeding after sex". I was 24. I hadn't ever had a …
Emma Raducanu: Will the teenager be able to stay at the top in tennis for years to come?
How big a name is Iga Swiatek in your household? Bianca Andreescu? Each has unexpectedly won a grand slam tennis tournament as a teenager in the past five years, and neither has yet repeated the trick. Emma Raducanu has all the tools to be a force for years to come, but it is not a given. The immediate future is as bright as the red shirts she sported on her unstoppable march to US Open glory , with her 10 successive wins and no dropped sets. Because the world rankings are based on a 52-week system, the Bromley 18-year-old is certain to see hers continue to improve until at least next year's Wimbledon . Advertisement Essentially, your ranking is likely to rise if you do better than the same week 12 months earlier. This time last year, Raducanu's main focus was her A-levels. More on Emma Raducanu Emma Raducanu: 'We are taking her home' - Delighted British tennis star posts first tweet since historic win Emma Raducanu: …
Woman who QAnoners demanded hospital treat COVID with Ivermectin dies
A woman who became the center of a harassment campaign against a Chicago hospital as QAnon supporters demanded they treat her COVID-19 diagnosis with ivermectin has died, according to reports. Veronica Wolski, a popular QAnon advocate best known for hanging banners from a bridge in Chicago, died in the early hours of Monday morning after spending weeks in hospital with COVID-19. Her death was announced on Telegram by conspiracy theorist Lin Wood, one of the biggest and most influential QAnon supporters . Wood previously urged his 814,000 Telegram followers to ring up the Amita Resurrection Hospital and demand that Wolski be treated with ivermectin instead of approved and tested drugs or vaccines. Tributes were also paid to Wolski on other QAnon telegram channels and Twitter following reports of her death. In his post on Telegram, Wood claimed that Wolski had been murdered by the hospital for refusing to treat her COVID with ivermectin. "I have just learned that …
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Shockingly expensive Boston parking spot listed for $375,000
A single parking space, located in a Boston garage, is making headlines for its exorbitant price. This particular parking space, however, is far from unique: across Boston and other major metropolitan areas, the cost of owning a parking space routinely hits—and even exceeds—hundreds of thousands of dollars. The parking space, located at 201 W. Brookline Street in Boston's South End neighborhood, has been listed by Campion and Company for $375,000. The spot is located in a heated parking garage, attached to a luxury condo development built in a converted church. According to the Boston Herald, a unit in the building recently sold for approximately $6.3 million, making the parking space seem like a relative bargain. Not everyone living in the area, however, is required to pay such high fees for parking. With proof of residence and a vehicle registration, South End residents can get a street parking permit. Using that method, however, forces drivers to search for spaces and leaves …
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