ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — A key city council vote Thursday on a major redevelopment project in St. Petersburg could pave the way to give baseball’s Tampa Bay Rays a new ballpark, which would guarantee the team stays for at least 30 years. The $6.5 billion project, supporters say, would transform an 86-acre (34-hectare) tract in … Read more
WALLACE, La. — Sisters Jo and Dr. Joy Banner live just miles from where their ancestors were enslaved more than 200 years ago in St. John the Baptist Parish, Louisiana. Their tidy Creole cottage cafe in the small riverfront town of Wallace lies yards from property their great-grandparents bought more than a century ago. It’s … Read more
Michelle Mata wasn’t diagnosed with a mental illness until she was 23, after years of suffering. She knew very little about who to ask for help, having grown up in a Latino family in San Antonio that didn’t talk about mental health. At appointments, she was terrified of telling the truth. “I didn’t want to … Read more
TAHOLAH, Wash. — Standing water lies beneath the home Sonny Curley shares with his parents and three children on the Quinault reservation a few steps from the Pacific Ocean in Washington’s Olympic Peninsula. The back deck is rotting, and black mold speckles the walls inside, leaving the 46-year-old fisherman feeling drained if he spends too … Read more
Jenn Tran can’t stop thinking about being the first Asian American lead in the history of “The Bachelor” franchise — not that she wants to. “I think about it every day, all the time. I think if I pushed it aside, that would be such a dishonor to me in who I am because being … Read more
NEW ORLEANS — The City of New Orleans on Thursday officially welcomed thousands of people descending on the Big Easy for the Essence Festival of Culture. The celebration has been around for three decades — no easy feat, Essence CEO Caroline Wanga said Thursday during a news conference at Gallier Hall to kick off the … Read more
Amid blistering summer temperatures, a federal judge ordered Louisiana to take steps to protect the health and safety of incarcerated workers toiling in the fields of a former slave plantation, saying they face “substantial risk of injury or death.” The state immediately appealed the decision. U.S. District Judge Brian Jackson issued a temporary restraining order … Read more
NEW ORLEANS — The best of Black culture’s policymakers, thought leaders, creatives, spiritual gurus, business movers and shakers, health experts and, of course, musical talent are poised to converge in New Orleans over the Fourth of July weekend as part of the Essence Festival of Culture. The festival kicks off Thursday and runs through Sunday. … Read more
FRANKTOWN, Va. — FRANKTOWN, Va. (AP) — Arthur “Big Boy” Crudup helped invent rock ‘n’ roll. His 1946 song “That’s All Right” would become the first single Elvis Presley ever released. Rod Stewart would sing it on a chart-topping album. Led Zeppelin would play it live. But you wouldn’t have known it if you saw … Read more
FRANKTOWN, Va. — Arthur “Big Boy” Crudup helped invent rock ‘n’ roll. His 1946 song “That’s All Right,” an easygoing shrug to a lover, would become the first single Elvis Presley ever released. Rod Stewart would sing it on a chart-topping album. Led Zeppelin would play it live. But you wouldn’t have known it if … Read more
