I interviewed Blues master Bobby Rush, one of the enduring elder statement of American Blues music in May 2011. The interview promoted his upcoming engagement at Wilebski’sBlues Saloon in St. Paul.
This Insight Cover Feature pays homage to Bobby Rush, Grand Master of the Blues, who returns to Twin Cities for 7pm shows March 6th and 7th at the Dakota in downtown Minneapolis. Rush, the Dean of Blues Music, is a veritable living library of the soundtrack for resistance and emergence at the core of Black survival in America.
He is performing with the North Mississippi Allstars, In 2011, promoting his upcoming engagement at Wilebski’sBlues Saloon in St. Paul.
Performing with the North Mississippi Allstars, March 6th and 7th at the Dakota in downtown Minneapolis, The Dean of Blues Music is a veritable living library of the soundtrack for resistance and emergence at the core of Black survival in Americ.
In 2011 Bobby Rush joined my KFAI radio broadcast by phone from Jackson, MS. He talked about his longevity in the
industry, about his health, and about the business of building new and expanding audiences that will be touched by the artistry of his gift.
Rush has discovered the meaning of timelessness. His soujourn as artist, performer, entertainer, and businessman includes experience gained and shared throughout the Chitlin’ Circuit South, and Urban Blues Emporiums across the North and West Coast. He has performed throughout the capitals of Europe and even at the Great Wall of China.
The multitudes of Chinese fans who saw him perform, he said, hailed him warmly as “Little Brother.”
With endearing embraces, they compared him to the Great Wall of China. “You have withstood the test of time,” they said, acknowleding his stellar career that produced over 260 records over more than a half century of performance.
During his renowned stage show Bobby Rush, frequently jumps high into the air, arms spread and legs tucked, only to land gracefully and return without a hitch to his dazzling routine. It’s a move you might expect at a contemporary R&B show, but it’s downright shocking when you realize that Rush is 92 years old, he says in a Concert Tour bio.
“I never thought I would be here this long,” says Rush. “I was 83 years old before
I won a Grammy, but it’s better late than never. I laugh about it, but I’m so blessed and I surely never thought I’d be making a living doing what I’m doing. I’m not just an old guy on my way out.”
Hardly. Rush’s busy schedule includes headlining European festivals with his band and solo programs at venues including Jazz at Lincoln Center, and he just recorded an album of brand new material, All My Love For You, coming out via his own label Deep Rush Records in collaboration with Nashville-based Thirty Tigers. Over the last several years he’s won a second Grammy, rerecorded his 1971 hit Chicken Heads together with his old friend Buddy Guy and young blues star Christone “Kingfish” Ingram, and written a critically acclaimed autobiography, I Ain’t Studdin’ You: My American Blues Story.
In a feature story I wrote in 2003, entitled “Artists preserve southern blues tradition” I described my first encounter with the legendary bluesman at a concert in Jackson, Mississipi. Here is the article:
Mar 10, 2003 - Our culture and the larger than life personalities that both embody and drive our creative genius, like most great things in creation, get better with age. And the getting better, the aging does not stifle the newly
created or the new creators, but rather, benchmarks, or creates lamplights at the portals where the unknown and the unknowable intersect with human experience. That crossroad, that cross, in African tradition, is the gateway to an eternal truth about rebirth and redemption, about crossing over “one more river.”
Bobby Rush, legendary rhythm and blues showmaster headlined an intergenerational blues and soul revue at the historic Alamo Theater in Jackson, Mississippi’s Farish Street District, last week, closing out the community’s Black History Month celebrations.
From start to finish, the blues maestro commanded the elements of history and hope, revealing the ancient African life-force rhythm within a musical-dance trance ritual riddle that celebrates Black women, young and old. Rush’s high voltage show followed a performance by classic torch singer Pat Brown. Bar room blues diva Brown performed a conversation with her audience and her band that was accented by the brother and sister backup singer team, Val and Richard Kashimura. New blues and soul legend in the making, T.K Soul, another native Mississippian stoked the flames which had been ignited by the opening act.
But it was Rush, a veritable grandmaster, that held open the breach .You could call him a shaman or a root doctor in respect of his power to transform both people and the moment, transporting them to a space where blues funk intoned reality lays itself bare for all to see and know. It is obvious that Rush has been doing what he does for a long time, as well. After his final number, Rush talked with the audience, recalling how appropriate it was that he be part of the Black History Month celebrations at the Historic Alamo Theater.
“I am celebrating 50 and 1/2 years as a professional entertainer,” he said. Rush said he first performed on the Alamo stage almost 48 years ago. Before that, he said, he performed on the sidewalks outside the Alamo on Farish Street, the vibrant Blacktown business and cultural section of downtown Jackson.
A patron shouted from the audience “How old are you?” Rush flashed a broad virile smile and did a classic roll and grind pose, and without missing a beat, declared “I am 67!”
From new funk blues artists, T.K. Soul and Patrice, to seasoned icons Brown and Rush, it remains clear that the we still own the blues, jazz, soul tradition using that tradition as that tradition uses us to maintain a pathway to renewal and
creativity.
In a 1998 article by David Earl Jackson that appeared in the Tri-State Defender, Nashville, rush speaks of his independence.
“I’ve formed a partnership with Keith A. Federman [a young White guy who serves as Rush’s Artist Representative],” Rush says, “but he works for me. I’m the last of the independent soulmen. I don’t have a White manager who controls me, tells me what I can say or play or think. I’m my own man. Not many in this business can say this now days, not even those riding high in the blues world.” Jackson writes further:
“It’s undeniable that the most arresting aspect of Bobby Rush’s appeal is his flamboyant showmanship, with an emphasis on hardcore nitty gritty soul blues funk, outrageous humor, and blatant eroticism. Watching him perform at the New Daisy Theatre early last month I kept having hallucinatory flashbacks that took me back to the Union Hill Missionary Baptist Church in Chattanooga and the astonishing
By Bill Stebe
Bobby Rush: 3x GRAMMY winning legend, Blues Hall of Famer, six-time Grammy nominee, and 18-time Blues Music
Dolemite Is My Name starring Eddie Murphy.
By Haley Taylor Schlitz, Esq.
Rep. Elliott Engen (R-36A) recently had an epiphany. After becoming a father and experiencing the financial strain of buying baby essentials, he introduced a bill to exempt certain baby products from sales tax. His reasoning? He personally felt the burden.
“Going to Target with my wife and seeing all the items that not only I’m purchasing, but friends and peers of ours are also purchasing – that influenced my decision,” Engen explained.
His words reveal a fundamental truth about how too many Republican lawmakers approach policy: If they don’t experience a problem firsthand, they simply don’t believe it exists.
Engen is not an outlier, he is a case study in the broader Republican pattern of only recognizing an issue when it affects them personally. Whether it’s healthcare, paid family leave, or economic hardship, Republican lawmakers routinely dismiss these issues until they or someone close to
them is directly impacted.
This selective empathy raises a question: if Engen and his Republican colleagues could experience the realities of being Black in America for even a single day, would they suddenly understand why policies promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion are essential? Would they recognize systemic racism, acknowledge the barriers it creates, and have the courage to push for change?
Because right now, Engen stands with a Minnesota Republican Party that is actively working to erase these conversations. His party’s 2024 platform, “A Contract with Minnesota”, calls for eliminating affirmative action, banning discussions of systemic racism in schools, and blocking government agencies from collecting racial data that could expose disparities. It’s a platform built on the denial of lived experiences, unless, of course, those experiences are their own.
Supporting families and parents is a worthwhile discussion and policy pursuit. But his justification for his legislation is telling: He had to personally feel the impact before acting. That’s not leadership, it’s self-interest masked as governance. And it’s the same pattern we see across the Republican Party.
By Anna Hall, Justin Terrell and Joshua
A report sought by the Legislature and presented by the Minnesota Justice Research Center did 18 months of rigorous research. Minnesota’s criminal legal system is at a crossroads. For years, community members have raised alarms about our pretrial practices — the ways people are treated in the earliest stages of court cases, when bail decisions determine whether they are released or await trial in jail. In 2023, the Minnesota Legislature tasked the Minnesota Justice Research Center (MNJRC) with studying the issue and producing recommendations for policy change. After 18 months of rigorous research, we’ve presented the Legislature with a comprehensive, communitycentered plan for redesigning Minnesota’s pretrial system
toward safety, liberty and equity. (See tinyurl.com/mnjrcpretrial for the full report, and “Report to Legislature: Minn. should end cash bail,” Feb. 23, for news coverage of the issue.) Our solution-focused team led extensive listening sessions; interviewed judges, prosecutors, defense attorneys and others who work in Minnesota’s criminal legal system; spoke to experts across the country, and conducted site visits in states that have implemented innovative and effective approaches to pretrial justice. We identified promising, evidence-based changes to address the biggest problems in Minnesota’s pretrial system. More than 56% of people in Minnesota jails are held pretrial. They are locked up because they have been charged with — but not yet convicted of — a crime. One of the main reasons people remain behind bars is because they can’t afford to pay cash bail. Minnesota law says that judges must offer bail
from a place of privilege
And the consequences of this limited perspective are deadly. Consider maternal mortality. A new report found that Black women in the U.S. are now dying in childbirth at nearly 3.5 times the rate of white women, a shocking
increase from the 2.6 times disparity seen in prior years.
While maternal deaths among white women have declined, the crisis for Black women has worsened. These aren’t just statistics; they represent lives lost due to systemic inequities in healthcare, biases in treatment,
to accused people. Judges can set a higher bail based on safety or flight risk concerns, but if the defendant is wealthy, they can buy their freedom. Meanwhile, those without money, no matter how low-risk, often remain incarcerated. If they resort to using a bail bond company, they are charged hundreds or thousands of dollars in fees. Typically, defendants’ family members pay this money — and since many are poor, the financial hit can leave them unable to afford rent or other necessities. In this way, the harms of cash bail move outward, impacting not only individual defendants but their families and communities. Bail hearings typically last only a few minutes. Still, the judge’s decisions are immensely consequential. In community listening sessions, Minnesotans who have experienced pretrial detention told stories about losing jobs, housing, cars, savings, pets, student financial aid, public benefits and more.
They spoke about dehumanizing jail conditions. And they told us that desperation to end their detention often forced them to take plea deals, even when innocent. These harms are not felt equally; Black and Indigenous Minnesotans are overrepresented in Minnesota’s pretrial population.
Victims, too, are negatively impacted. They told our team that they struggle to navigate, let alone have their voices heard in the pretrial process. Judges, prosecutors and others in the legal system were troubled by these issues and raised additional concerns about the underlying problems that bring people into contact with the system in the first place, including mental health challenges, substance use and homelessness. From our work, it’s clear that we must prioritize supportive services and use pretrial detention only after careful consideration of all possible alternatives. The
and a refusal to address racial disparities.
Before anyone attempts to explain away this crisis as an issue of income or education, let’s be clear: Black maternal mortality is not just a matter of socioeconomic status. These disparities persist across all income and education levels. Studies show that Black women face higher maternal mortality rates than white women, regardless of wealth, education, or access to healthcare. The reality is that the healthcare system does not treat Black women the same, it devalues their pain, dismisses their symptoms, and fails them at every stage of care. This isn’t just about policy gaps; it’s about deeply ingrained racism in medical institutions that continues to cost lives.
If Engen and his colleagues had to experience the fear of navigating pregnancy as a Black woman, would they finally advocate for policies that address these injustices? Would they fight for expanded maternal healthcare, racial bias training for medical professionals, and better postpartum care?
Republicans like Engen approach policy with a narrow lens, only acknowledging issues when they personally experience them. If a problem doesn’t touch their lives, they dismiss it as irrelevant or nonexistent. But governance is about more than just addressing the problems you encounter in your own life. It’s about listening, learning, and leading for all.
The awakening of Engen and his fellow Republicans to the financial strain of parenthood is proof of how personal experience can drive policy. Now the question is: How many more realities do they need to live through before they stop legislating from a place of privilege and start advocating for a nation and Minnesota that works for everyone?
The truth is that the Republican Party’s approach to policy making isn’t based on solving problems, it’s based on whether they personally feel those problems. Imagine what could change if Republicans truly understood the struggles so many Americans face every day. If they were the parents of Sandra Bland or George Floyd, would they still deny the existence of systemic racism? If they had to navigate healthcare as a Black woman, would they still dismiss the Black maternal mortality crisis? If they struggled to make ends meet as a single mother, would they still oppose paid family leave? And yet, it takes personal experience, like becoming a father, for a Republican lawmaker to finally realize that raising a child is expensive.
MNJRC’s recommendations offer detailed plans.
We propose implementing an “intentional release/detain system” that does not use cash bail. Only people accused of certain serious crimes would be eligible for pretrial detention. Before ordering detention, judges would have to determine that a defendant presents a high risk of fleeing justice or committing a new, serious crime, and that detention is the only way to mitigate those risks. Defendants would be guaranteed counsel at bail hearings, and procedural reforms would ensure judges have enough case information to make careful detention decisions. We further recommend that victims/ survivors receive timely updates regarding release and detention decisions, plea agreements and other critical developments in their cases, and that the Legislature fund wraparound services for victims/survivors.
Finally, we propose the establishment of statewide Pretrial Service Organizations (PSOs). These organizations help courts make evidencebased decisions about pretrial release, support defendants through the pretrial process and connect accused people with voluntary support services. PSOs help individuals stay connected to their communities and help break the cycle of involvement in the criminal legal system. The MNJRC’s report presents Minnesota with an enormous opportunity. Together, we can transform a broken and unequal pretrial system into one that serves all of our communities.
The authors work with the Minnesota Justice Research Center. Anna Hall is project manager and research co-lead for pretrial best practices, Justin Terrell is executive director, and Joshua Page is a member of the research steering committee.
Columnist
Rep. Elliott Engen( R-36A)
Rep. Ilhan Omar, D5-MN
Dr. Joshua Page
Justin Terrell
Anna Hall
Elon Musk targets federal workers, federal contractors
Maryland Governor Wes Moore is bracing for the upcoming unemployment numbers. The expectation is that the new figures will be significant for federal job losses. Maryland is one of two states that neighbors the district line which houses the federal epicenter of Washington D.C. Maryland is also home to large swaths of federal
government employees and headquarters to the National Security Agency as well as the Social Security Administration and other federal departments. Maryland has the second highest concentration of federal workers only behind Washington D.C. The state is offering help for those workers who are without jobs. Governor Moore Launches Resource Website for Maryland Workers
Black Republican Armstrong Williams who has the ear of Donald Trump says of the daily federal job cuts upheaval is that “everyone will feel the hurt as there is an effort to make the government leaner and more efficient if Trump’s
plan is executed properly.” This reporter has spoken to many fired or soonto-be-fired federal workers and federal contractors who are terrified over retribution. They have acknowledged Elon Musk has told departments that he does not like federal contractors. There is a strong contradiction there as he is a federal contractor too. According to Reports Musk has about 100 contracts with the federal government totaling 3.1 Billion dollars. Those Musk contracts involve his products like Tesla and Space X. What we know about rumor Musk makes $8M per day from US … Meanwhile, as Elon Musk and DOGE go from federal department to federal
department, Human Resources is not necessarily the unit utilized to find what President Trump calls “waste, fraud, and abuse.” There are reports of whisper campaigns among employees who are telling each other to sift out who they feel is abusing work privileges or not doing work etc. Those facts have been confirmed by a Republican close to the process and the employees I have spoken with. Also, to dig in the weeds a bit more on the probationary firings. That probationary period extends to people who could be 22-year federal government employees
The announcement that MSNBC is canceling The ReidOut, hosted by Joy Reid, is not just another shake-up in cable news. It’s a warning. A reminder. A familiar play that we’ve seen too many times before.
For years, MSNBC has been considered the “safe space” for Black political thought on mainstream television, largely because of the work of Black hosts like Joy Reid. Her show didn’t just report the
By Claire B. Wofford Associate Professor of Political Science, College of
Those who wrote and wrangled over America’s Constitution might be troubled by the second presidency of Donald J. Trump. While almost all modern presidents flex their muscles in the initial stages of their administration, the first weeks of the second Trump presidency have seen a rapidfire, often dizzying array of executive actions that have sparked heated, even virulent, disputes among politicians, the media and citizens about how much power the president of the United States should have.
Historians differ about the framers’ precise intent regarding the executive branch. But the general consensus is twofold: First, domestic lawmaking power, including the critical “power of the purse,” would rest with Congress; second, the president would not be the equivalent of a king.
Fresh off the coercion of King George III, the framers were in no mood to recreate the British system. They debated extensively about whether the executive branch should be led by more than one person. A single chief executive was eventually favored in part because other institutional checks, including the selection of the president by the American people and Congress’ ability to impeach, seemed sufficient. And, of course, Congress would
retain lawmaking powers. Almost immediately, however, Congress began delegating some of that power to the presidency. As the nation grew and Congress found itself unable to manage the ensuing demands, it put more and more policymaking powers into the executive branch. Congress frequently passed vaguely worded
statutes and left important details largely to the president about how to manage, for instance, immigration or the environment. Presidentas-policymaker and the development of an immense federal bureaucracy that is now in the crosshairs of Trump and Elon Musk
MSNBC has parted ways with Joy Reid, marking the departure of another prominent Black woman from the network. Reid joins Rashida Jones, the first Black woman to head a major cable news network, along with Melissa Harris-Perry and Tiffany Cross. All four women brought critical, unapologetic perspectives on race, politics, and power—voices that many believe are being systematically eliminated.
Bobby Henry, chairman of the National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA), called Reid’s removal unacceptable and urged immediate action.
“As Chairman of the National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA), I stand in unwavering solidarity with Joy Reid and the impactful legacy of The ReidOut,” Henry said. “Joy’s voice has been a beacon of truth, justice, and empowerment for our community, and now is the time for us to show up for her. I urge you to join us—together, we will lift our voices, strategize, and continue to support those who champion our stories. Our collective strength is our greatest asset—let’s stand united for
Roberta Flack, the Grammywinning singer and pianist whose smooth vocals and intimate style made her a defining artist of the 1970s, died Monday at her home surrounded by family. She was 88. Her publicist, Elaine Schock, confirmed the news in a statement. Flack revealed in 2022 that she had been diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, which had taken away her ability to sing. Her death came just one day after the passing of soul-funk singer Gwen McCrae, who died Sunday at 81. McCrae, best known for hits like “Rockin’ Chair”
Roberta Flack, Gwen McCrae and Jerry Butler.
Joy Reid
Columnist
By Haley Taylor Schlitz, Esq.
Black Press USA Washington Bureau Chief
By April Ryan
By
End of the line for faltering Northstar Commuter Rail service could be in sight
By Rob Hubbard
It’s a rare occurrence when a House committee gathers to debate a bill, then is told during testimony that the bill’s wish has been granted.
Such was the case at Monday’s meeting of the House Transportation Finance and Policy Committee. The committee’s chair, Rep. Jon Koznick (R-Lakeville), was presenting a pair of bills taking separate approaches to ending operations of the Northstar Commuter Rail line between downtown Minneapolis and Big Lake.
But, hours before the meeting convened, the Department of Transportation released a study that concluded: “There are opportunities for improved, more cost-effective transit service in this corridor.” Both Transportation Commissioner Nancy Daubenberger and Metropolitan Council Chair Charlie Zelle said that other means of bus or rail transportation would be more efficient and effective, which rendered the bills largely moot.
HF269 calls for MnDOT and the Metropolitan Council to request approval from
By Vivek Astvansh
Imagine: You’re in charge of marketing for a major automaker, and your biggest competitor just recalled thousands of vehicles. Now customers are worried about the safety of cars like yours. Do you seize the moment and ramp up advertising to steal market share? Or do you pull back on ads, fearing that customers will connect your brand with the bad press?
For what marketing professors like me call “substitute brands,” this sort of dilemma pops up all the time. Whether it’s a product recall, a customer data breach or a
scandal, bad news for one brand can shake customers’ confidence in an entire product category.
The big question: Should competitors respond by increasing or decreasing their advertising? And will these adjustments help or hurt sales?
At first glance, the answer might seem obvious. More ad spending should mean bigger market share, right? But the reality is more complex. In a recent study looking at how 62 car brands responded to a 2014 recall, my colleagues and I found that, on average, when a rival brand issues a recall, its competitors cut their ad spending in half. In other words, most brands treat a rival’s crisis as a threat rather than an opportunity. And when we looked at the ads’ content, we saw something even more
the intention of [HF269]. We want to take the steps to ensure that course is possible and costeffective, but yes, we are in favor of terminating service.”
“We’ve been working closely with the Met Council as we’ve worked on this report,” Daubenberger said. “We are with them on the move to exploring another transit service option.”
“Although Northstar performed much better before the pandemic, it wasn’t a stellar performance,” Zelle said. “Since the pandemic, ridership has dropped to approximately 16% of what it was in 2019. Even then, it shows very little growth over the past number of years.” Zelle said the change may take some time, because Northstar was created from “a very complicated set of agreements.” Rep. Erin Koegel (DFL-Spring Lake Park) suggested that the change would require $85 million to $90 million in loan forgiveness from the federal government. Zelle suggested that such numbers would be on “the high end.”
“We think terminating the service and providing bus service is the best alternative,” Zelle said. “We totally support
HF749 would set out performance conditions for the Northstar Commuter Rail line and require termination of the line if any of the conditions are not met. It was laid over for possible omnibus bill inclusion.
“We would need an act of Congress to get this loan forgiven,” Koegel said. “That doesn’t sound like a deal the Trump-Musk administration would take.”
interesting. When a rival brand stumbled, we found substitutes boosted their price-focused advertising by 25% on average, likely in an attempt to attract deal seekers. At the same time, they cut quality-focused advertising by 71%, possibly to avoid drawing unwanted comparisons. And here’s the kicker: This strategy works. We found, on average, a rival’s recall raises a substitute’s monthly sales by 35.3% – and the more a brand pulls back on ad spending, the greater the effect. So, when a competitor falters, the best response isn’t necessarily to shout louder. Instead, the data suggests a smarter play: Spend strategically, focus on price messaging, and avoid drawing attention to quality
comparisons.
How we did our work To understand how brands respond when a competitor faces a crisis, we focused on a real-world case: Volkswagen’s recall of nearly half a million cars branded under the Sagitar model in October 2014. This provided the perfect opportunity to study how rival brands adjusted their advertising strategies. We identified Sagitar’s substitute models –62 other sedans in the A-class category, sold by more than 30 manufacturers – and collected data on sales and ad spending across 308 media markets in the months before and after the recall. We then did a statistical analysis, controlling for several other variables that could
influence ad spending.
Why it matters
Prior research offers mixed guidance on how a substitute brand should adjust its ad spending after a rival’s marketing crisis. Anecdotal evidence from the automotive and consumer goods industries is also mixed. For example, after Samsung recalled its Galaxy Note 7 in 2016 due to faulty batteries, competing phonemakers aggressively ramped up their advertising in an attempt to increase their market share. Similarly, in 2010, after a Toyota recall, General Motors offered incentives for Toyota owners to switch to a GM car. GM’s chief marketing officer positioned these incentives as GM’s way to meet car buyers’ desire for peace of mind, and reports suggest that GM’s and other rival carmakers’ sales
House Photography file photo
A Northstar Commuter Rail train in Big Lake.
3
Reid 1
From 3
return to power, that space is being taken away. Again. We should not be shocked. We should be angry, yes. But not surprised.
Because MSNBC has done this before.
Melissa HarrisPerry built something special with her weekend show on MSNBC. She created a space where Blackness in all its dimensions could be explored, where we could talk about identity, justice, and policy without being filtered through the lens of white comfort. And what happened? The network silenced her, refused to respect her voice, and when she spoke up, they canceled her.
Back then, the outrage
Reid 2 2
From 3 From
Joy and for the future of Black journalism. The Black Press of America and Black-owned media is needed now just as we were almost 200 years ago.”
and transferred to another position in less than a year. They too can be fired as they are in the one-year probationary period for that new position. In attempts to dismantle anything that is
was loud. Some Black viewers swore off MSNBC. But over time, we let it go. We moved on. We continued to watch because MSNBC still gave us hosts like Joy Reid, and we thought that meant progress. It wasn’t progress, it was a placeholder. Until the cycle repeated itself. Now we are watching the same story unfold. Joy Reid took that primetime seat and filled it with unapologetic truth. She challenged power. She amplified Black issues. She refused to water down the realities of race in America. And just as Melissa Harris-Perry’s presence became too much for MSNBC to tolerate, Joy Reid’s presence became too bold for them to continue backing. And just like before, some white MSNBC hosts are expressing their disappointment. They’ll talk about how much Joy meant to the network. They’ll dedicate a segment to discussing the loss
Reid’s departure has drawn immediate criticism from viewers, journalists, and activists. Kevin Simmons, a supporter of The ReidOut, wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter, “The racists are rejoicing” after MSNBC announced the show’s cancellation. “The ReidOut had a great run. Joy will be okay. Crazy this announcement comes after she just won two NAACP awards last night.”
Trump
From 3
was one unintended result.
Whether the current American president has become a king, particularly after the sweeping grant of immunity in 2024 by the Supreme Court and the seeming acquiescence by Congress to Trump’s latest directives, remains up for debate.
In 2019, Trump said, “And then I have an Article 2, where I have the right to do whatever I want as President.”
I’m a constitutional law scholar, and I can comfortably respond: With all due respect, Mr. President, no. Article 2 does not grant the president unlimited power.
Here’s what the Constitution does say – and doesn’t say – about the power of the president.
Exploiting imprecise language
The Constitution divides power among the three branches of the federal government – executive, legislative and judicial.
Article 1 specifies in great detail the structure and powers of Congress.
In comparison, Article 2 is relatively short, outlining the powers of the executive
Justice Correspondent Elie Mystal called Reid irreplaceable.
branch, which now encompasses the president, his advisers and various departments and agencies. There is no extensive laundry list of enumerated powers for the executive branch. Instead, there is a smattering. The president is given the power to “grant reprieves and pardons,” to “receive ambassadors,” and, with the consent of the Senate, “make treaties” and “appoint” various federal officials. The president is also the “Commander in Chief.”
Aside from the ability to veto legislation and “recommend” policies to Congress, the president was intended to serve primarily as an administrator of congressional statutes, not a policymaker.
It is other, much less precise language in Article 2 that undergirds much of what Trump claims he can do – and what opponents say he cannot.
Specifically, Section 1 states, “The Executive power shall be vested in a President,” and Section 3 requires the President to “take care that the laws be faithfully executed.”
On their face, these “vesting” and “take care” clauses seem relatively innocuous, reflecting the framers’ view that the President would implement rather than create the nation’s public policy. Congress would have that prerogative, with the
against the priorities of antiDEI, anti-woke and anti-family a gay male contractor who has received a termination letter from the federal government says their department had to end their pride employee affinity
of her voice. They’ll lament the decision made by MSNBC leadership. But what won’t they do?
They won’t put their own status on the line to fight back. They won’t walk away in solidarity. They won’t truly call out the very executives they work for. They won’t use their influence to demand real accountability. Because at the end of the day, their careers are safe. Their positions are secure. And Joy Reid’s cancellation, much like Melissa HarrisPerry’s before her, will become just another passing moment in MSNBC’s history.
This is what allyship often looks like in these spaces, words without action. Acknowledgment without resistance. And we cannot afford to keep falling for it.
So, the real question is: What are we going to do differently this time?
Because we cannot
“I owe the television part of my career to Joy Reid, as do so many other Black voices y’all never would have heard of if not for her,” Mystal wrote. “And that’s why she’s gone. They can treat Black folks as interchangeable, but everybody Black knows that Joy was indispensable.”
Many have pointed out that while MSNBC cuts ties with Reid, the network keeps shows like Morning Joe,
president generally confined to ensuring those laws were carried out appropriately.
Trump and his allies, however, have seized on these words as authorizing unlimited control over each of the 4 million employees of the executive branch and, through program changes and spending freezes, allowing him to exert significant policymaking power for the nation.
The administration has now surpassed what even the strongest proponents of presidential power may have once argued. Trump adviser Stephen Miller has said, “All executive power is vested in the one man elected by the whole nation. No unelected bureaucrat has any ‘independent’ authority.”
Yet the overriding goal of the framers at the Constitutional Convention was to avoid creating an American version of the British monarchy, with a single, unaccountable ruler in charge of national policymaking, free to implement his vision at will.
In the view of Trump’s critics, this is precisely what has occurred.
Going around Congress Trump is not the first president to use Article 2’s ambiguity to push the boundaries of executive authority.
Particularly since
group that was on the work site. The worker says the Pride group continues its activities and meetings now away from the job site. With the tremendous fear of speaking out. Employees
keep making the mistake of putting our trust in media networks that have already shown us how little regard they have for us. We cannot keep acting as if these media institutions will ever truly be invested in centering Black voices for the long term. Roland Martin knew this years ago. That’s why he built Roland Martin Unfiltered and the Black Star Network. He saw that mainstream networks would always cycle Black voices in and out at their convenience, so he created a space where our stories wouldn’t be subject to corporate approval. He built something that answers to us, not corporate advertisers or network executives. But how many of us have truly invested in it? How many of us are actually subscribed, sharing the content, ensuring it thrives? And it’s not just Roland Martin. We have an entire national network of
whose hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski reportedly visited Donald Trump at Mar-aLago after his 2016 victory. The decision to retain programming aligned with political power while eliminating Black voices critical of that power is being viewed as deliberate. MSNBC’s move comes as Trump continues targeting the press. He has filed a lawsuit against 60 Minutes, claiming the program
the end of World War II and the Franklin D. Roosevelt administration, presidents have seized upon the same phrases in the Constitution to put their particular political agendas into action.
Barack Obama, for instance, famously touted his “phone and pen” as a way to make policy when Congress refused. The vehicle for most executive branch policymaking, including by Trump, has been the executive order. Executive orders are mentioned nowhere in the Constitution, but presidents have, since the very earliest days of the republic, issued these directives under their “executive” and “take care” power. Since the founding, there have been tens of thousands of executive orders, used by Democratic and Republican presidents alike.
Often, executive orders are relatively minor. They form commissions, set holiday schedules or brand an agency with a new seal. Dozens are signed unnoticed during every administration. In other instances, they have sweeping and substantive effect.
Among those, Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation freed Southern slaves, Franklin Roosevelt placed Japanese Americans in internment
are finding solace in their ranks through private chat networks to support one another.
For this report, I talked to fired contractors who are Black, women, gay, and white. As most of those are on
historically Black newspapers, publications that have been serving our community for generations, covering our victories and our struggles when no one else would. Yet we’ve taken them for granted, expecting them to always be there while doing little to sustain them. Now, in this moment, when misinformation is rampant, when powerful voices are being silenced, when the stakes are higher than ever, we are going to need them. And if we’re lucky, they’ll still be standing. But luck isn’t a strategy. Intentional support is. Joy Reid’s show may be gone, but our power isn’t. We still have the ability to determine where we place our attention, our money, and our influence. So, if we’re truly upset about MSNBC’s decision, let’s do more than just talk about it. Let’s stop giving these networks our loyalty when they
the verge of being fired or have already been terminated. The names, positions, locations, and departments will not be revealed to prevent retribution from the Trump administration, Elon Musk, or DOGE.
have made it clear that our voices are only welcome when it’s convenient for them.
Let’s commit to supporting the Black-owned and independent media outlets that are fighting every day to ensure our stories are told, not just in moments of crisis, but always. Because this isn’t just about Joy Reid. It wasn’t just about Melissa Harris-Perry. This is about a long-standing pattern of erasure. And we have the power to break that cycle. Now more than ever, we must stand with Black media. Not just when another host is removed. Not just when we’re mad. But every single day. Because if we don’t, we’re the ones allowing them to decide who gets to speak for us. And that is something we can no longer afford.
and “Funky Sensation,” was celebrated for her enduring influence on soul and disco music. It also came just days after three-time Grammy nominee and Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Jerry Butler, a premier soul singer of the 1960s, died at 85.
Butler, known as “Ice Man,” had numerous hits including “For Your Precious Love,” and “Make It Easy on Yourself.”
Butler’s niece, Yolanda Goff, told The Associated Press that Butler died of Parkinson’s disease at his home in Chicago.
Roberta Flack: A Life in Music
Born Roberta
Cleopatra Flack on February 10, 1937, in Black Mountain, North Carolina, she was raised in Arlington, Virginia, where her musical roots were cultivated at the Lomax African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church. Flack began piano lessons at nine and earned a full scholarship to Howard University at 15. She initially studied piano before switching to voice. She graduated at 19 and later taught music and English in North Carolina after her father’s death. In Washington, D.C., Flack balanced teaching with nightclub performances, captivating audiences at local venues like Mr. Henry’s on Capitol Hill. Her breakthrough came when jazz pianist Les McCann discovered her and arranged an audition with Atlantic Records. Her 1969 debut album First Take initially
received little attention until Clint Eastwood featured her rendition of “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face” in his 1971 film Play Misty for Me. Released as a single in 1972, the song topped the Billboard Hot 100 for six weeks and earned Flack her first Grammy Award for Record of the Year. Flack’s success soared with her 1973 recording of “Killing Me Softly with His Song,” which became her signature hit. The song spent five weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and earned her two Grammys: Record of the Year and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance. With the win, Flack became the first artist to earn consecutive Record of the Year awards. Her partnership with Donny Hathaway produced hits like “Where Is the Love,” which won a Grammy for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group. She continued
her chart success with “Feel Like Makin’ Love” in 1974, making her the first female vocalist to top the Hot 100 in three consecutive years. Flack’s later collaborations with Peabo Bryson and Maxi Priest yielded popular tracks like “Tonight I Celebrate My Love” and “Set the Night to Music.” Throughout her career, Flack advocated for artist rights and founded the Roberta Flack School of Music, providing free music education to underprivileged youth. She received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1999 and performed for Nelson Mandela that same year. Flack is survived by her son, musician Bernard Wright.
Gwen McCrae: Soul and Disco Legacy Gwen McCrae, celebrated for her rich voice and lasting impact on the
manipulated an interview with Vice President Kamala Harris. Trump also ordered federal agencies to cancel subscriptions to major outlets, including The New York Times, Politico, and Reuters, cutting public employees off from independent news sources. He has praised Fox News as his administration’s “official” media outlet, further tightening control over the information pipeline. Trump has declared that only the president can decide what is lawful—a statement more in line with authoritarianism than constitutional democracy. Henry, the NNPA chairman, said the Black community must remain vigilant.
camps, Harry S. Truman integrated the military, and Joe Biden forgave student loans. Trump has attempted to redefine birthright citizenship – a move which, for now, has been stopped by federal courts.
Because they have the force of law and remain in place until revoked by a subsequent president, executive orders have often faced legal challenges. Currently, there are more than 80 lawsuits challenging Trump’s executive orders for violating both federal law and the Constitution. Some orders, but not all, have been halted by lower courts.
But if many presidents have believed that Article 2 of the Constitution gives them the power to make policy via executive order, the nation’s highest court hasn’t always agreed.
Out of bounds?
Requests to the high court to rule on Trump’s executive orders are a virtual certainty.
Historically, the Supreme Court has struck down some executive orders as outside the scope of Article 2. As the court wrote in 1952, “In the framework of our Constitution, the President’s power to see that the laws are faithfully executed refutes the idea that he is to be a lawmaker.”
“Our collective strength is our greatest asset,” he said. “Let’s stand united for Joy and for the future of Black journalism.”
Whether Trump’s various directives are within his Article 2 authority or violate both the letter and spirit of the Constitution awaits determination, most likely by the U.S. Supreme Court. Much of the genius of that document is its often ambiguous language, letting the government adapt to a changing nation. Yet that very ambiguity has allowed both sides of today’s political divide to claim that their version of executive power is faithful to the framers’ vision. As with the Civil War and the Civil Rights Movements, such a dispute could very well drive the U.S. to the breaking point. Congress or the American people may eventually decide that Trump has gone too far. The next presidential election is years away, but Congress still retains the power of impeachment. More realistically, they could rein him in via legislation, as they did with President Richard Nixon. For now, it is up to the judicial system to evaluate what the administration has done. Courts will need to use their constitutionally mandated authority to evaluate whether Trump has exceeded his. In 2022, I donated $20 to ActBlue. This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license.
disco and soul music scenes, died Sunday at 81. A statement from her official brand account called her passing “more bad news” for the music world and acknowledged how fans “are still jamming to ‘Rockin’ Chair’ all these years later.”
Born Gwen Mosley in Pensacola, Florida, McCrae began singing in church choirs before meeting George McCrae, whom she married in 1963. The couple performed as a duo and signed with Henry Stone’s Alston label. By 1970, McCrae had achieved early success with “Lead Me On.” In 1972, she released “Always On My Mind,” a song later popularized by artists including Elvis Presley, Willie Nelson, and the Pet Shop Boys. Her biggest commercial success came in 1975 with “Rockin’ Chair,” which topped the R&B chart and reached No. 9 on the Billboard Hot 100. While
the single remains her most widely recognized hit, many fans and DJs remember her for the 1981 club favorite “Funky Sensation,” which has endured as a dancefloor staple. McCrae’s career spanned decades, and her other notable songs included “Keep the Fire Burning.” Despite her accomplishments, she often spoke about the lack of recognition and fair compensation for Black artists of her era. After suffering a stroke in 2012 that left her partially paralyzed, McCrae retired from performing. Her daughter, Leah McCrae, carries on the family’s musical legacy as a solo artist and member of the group Daughters of Soul.
African Americans lead both legislative chambers
A power-sharing agreement between Republican and DFL leaders last month spelled out how the two parties would operate for the next two years with or without a membership tie.
Rep. Lisa Demuth (R-Cold Spring) was elected speaker of the House for the biennium. The first Black person to hold the position, she prevailed in her selection over House DFL Leader Melissa Hortman (DFL-Brooklyn Park) by a 67-65 party-line vote. Demuth’s election to Speaker of the House means both legislative chambers are Black led. Senator Bobby Joe Champion is President of the Minnesota Senate. For at least the next month or so, Republicans
will hold the speakership and the gavels for all 26 House committees. All but one committee will have a one-vote Republican advantage. The new House Fraud Prevention and State Agency Oversight Committee will continue to be chaired by a Republican and have a 5-3 Republican majority. However, if the House
returns to a 67-67 tie following a March 11 special election in House District 40B, new rules will come in to play. If that’s the case, then all committees except fraud prevention will be evenly divided by party and each will have a co-chair and a co-vice chair from each party. It would be up to co-chairs to determine rules on how to share power in their committees.
And no matter what happens in the District 40B special election, this fraud committee arrangement will remain through 2026.
Looking forward into the spring, House membership on conference committees will be evenly divided by party.
In the past, House speakers appointed all conference committee members and decided how many came from each party. If a Republican wins the March 11 special election, then the next two years will look like they did when House committees assumed a regular schedule.
Source: Session Daily writers Tim Walker and Rob Hubbard..
House Republicans cuts to Medicaid will end health care for millions
Republican lawmakers from Minnesota in the House of Representatives voted for a budget resolution that includes slashing Medicaid funding by nearly $1 trillion in order to give tax breaks to the ultrawealthy and big corporations, according to Protect Our Care Minnesota State Director Trent Andersen. He said the budget resolution opens the door for Republicans to achieve their goal of cutting up to $2 trillion from Medicaid, ripping away health care from tens of millions of Americans. Some 72 million Americans currently are covered through the Medicaid program, including 1,325,000 Minnesotans. The GOP plan to slash Medicaid would have a devastating impact on the most vulnerable Americans, including low-income seniors, children, veterans, people with serious disabilities, and people who take care of their children or elderly parents, the advocacy group Protect Our Care said in a press release last week. “Americans across party
the government should spend more on health care — not less.
Protect Our Care is continuing its “Hands Off Medicaid” campaign to defend Medicaid from devastating cuts with ads in 10 key House districts,› the organization said..
“Republicans ripping away health care from their own constituents to give a tax break to billionaires and big corporations. No matter where they live or what political party they belong to, Americans of all backgrounds want and need Medicaid for critical health care coverage. Voters overwhelmingly oppose these cuts to Medicaid and every member who supports these cuts will pay the price. This fi
Flanagan seeks Senate seat, Walz will not
Lt. Governor Peggy Flanagan is running for the US Senate seat being vacated by Minnesota junior senator, Tina Smith. Flanagan is the only Democrat to enter the race so far. But Reps. Angie Craig and Ilhan Omar, Attorney General Keith Ellison and Secretary of State Steve Simon are being looked at as potential candidates.
“Throughout my career, I’ve championed the kitchen-table issues that impact our children and families every day, including raising the minimum wage, paid family and medical leave, and free school meals,” Flanagan said.
“If we win this race, I’ll become the first Native American woman ever elected
“I was raised by a single mom in St. Louis Park. I had a home because of a Section 8 housing voucher, and public programs that helped my mom pay for school lunch, health insurance coverage, and child care.” Flanagan said. “Now, I get to pay back the investments my neighbors made in my family through my career in public service.”
Despite Republicans in the House of Representatives control of committees, because they only have a 1-member advantage, they still require DFL support to pass anything, Rep. Mohamud Noor told District 60B constituents in a recent legislative update to District residents.
“If we return to a tie, committees would have balanced membership and DFL and GOP co-chairs,” he said.
“Regardless of where this session goes, I know there are
to the U.S. Senate,” she said. “I’m a Minnesotan — not a D.C. insider. I’ve lived here my whole life, and my Ojibwe relatives have called this land home since time immemorial.”
“My Anishinaabe name, Gizhiiwewidamookwe, means ‘speaks in a loud and clear voice woman’. Flanagan said in an email appeal to potential campaign donors. Associated Press reported that Gov. Tim Walz has decided he won’t run for U.S. Senate and will instead continue weighing a third term for governor.
“He loves his job as Governor and he’s exploring the possibility of another term to continue his work to make Minnesota the best state in the country for kids,” his spokesperson Teddy Tschann said in a statement.
Tina Smith’s surprise retirement announcement, has created a rare opening in the U.S. Senate that’s likely to bring a real contest to Minnesota for the first time in decades, the AP report said.
Lt. Governor Peggy Flanagan
Rep. Mohamud Noor
Insight News
Senator Bobby Joe Champion is President of the Minnesota Senate.
Photo by Michele Jokinen
House Speaker Lisa Demuth, left, is congratulated by House DFL Leader Melissa Hortman following Demuth’s election as House speaker.
Wolves rookies show veteran poise in improbable comeback win versus OKC
By Britt Robson MinnPost
The torch wasn’t passed Monday night at Paycom Center in Oklahoma City, but it was borrowed honorably, and hoisted high during a stunning, late-game rampage through the best basketball team in the Western Conference.
The five oldest players on the Minnesota Timberwolves roster played a grand total of four seconds during the fourth quarter and overtime as the Wolves rallied from 22 points down against an Oklahoma City Thunder opponent who had squashed them back in Minneapolis just the night before and owned a record of 25-3 in their own building this season.
Rudy Gobert (back), Julius Randle (groin) and Donte DiVincenzo (toe) were in street clothes, sidelined by injury. Mike Conley was mostly ineffectual during his two seven-minute rotations in the first and third quarters. Joe Ingles was tapped for his important but miniscule role as a designated in-bounder for one possession in overtime.
In their stead, the Wolves leaned on a trio of rookies (Terrence Shannon Jr., Rob Dillingham and Jaylen Clark), the three players who figure to comprise the essential core of their roster once the aforementioned veterans depart (Jaden McDaniels, Naz Reid and Anthony Edwards), plus the team’s most reliable performer all season (Nickeil AlexanderWalker). This is the septet that overcame a deficit of more than 20 points in the fourth quarter against a team with a winning percentage better than .800 –something that had never been done before in NBA history.
And yet this stupendous, unlikely victory was not a fluke. The reasons for it are multi-faceted but explainable.
Begin with the fact that the Thunder, for all their virtues, become more vulnerable without at least one of their two primary rim protectors in the game. On Monday, OKC rested Chet Holmgren on this second night of a back-to-back because it has been less than three weeks since Holmgren returned after missing nearly three months with a fractured pelvis suffered in mid-November. Then Isaiah Hartenstein suffered a significantly bloody nose less than four minutes into the second half and did not return.
The Thunder’s subsequent inability to provide better resistance at the rim became more meaningful due a mixture of familiarity, fatigue and human nature. The two teams had just played the night before in a contest where
OKC grabbed a large early lead, lost most of it during the middle two periods, actually fell behind briefly in the final quarter and then abruptly decided it with an 18-2 flurry. By contrast, on Monday, OKC established a double-digit lead early in the second quarter and held it or increased it pretty much until the last five minutes of regulation. They were at home, perched in a position of near insurmountable odds for failure. And they, like the Wolves, were dead tired from playing the previous night (in a game where the starting time was pushed to 8:30 p.m. to account for national television) then flying back for a 7 p.m. rematch in the same time zone.
Thus, the Thunder relaxed into what they perceived to be their positive destiny, especially after the Wolves opened the fourth quarter with three rookies and neither Ant nor Naz on the court. What they didn’t realize was that the lineup provided a great mix of skills and circumstances to launch the comeback.
All three rookies know that their current places in the rotation are in jeopardy when the three injured veterans return. Of the trio, Clark has made the deepest positive impression with his ball-contain defense (a priority under Coach Chris Finch) and steady enabling of other aspects of the gameplan. Dillingham, the ballyhooed lottery pick, has deserved much more checkered reviews, and Shannon has been held back by injuries and a logjam at the forward slots.
But both of them like to run, because pace makes a virtue of Dillingham’s speed and Shannon’s physicality. Playing a tired opponent that had lost its top two rim protectors, both of them were aggressive getting to the cup.
Aside from Clark subbing in for Dillingham for 12 seconds of defense, Dillingham and Shannon joined NAW (Alexander-Walker) in playing the entire fourth quarter. Of his five shots, Dillingham took, and missed, one pullup midrange jumper. His other four field goal attempts in the period (he made two) were drives, culminating in layups or floaters. He also earned and made two free throws scrambling for an offensive rebound and immediately going up with it to draw the foul. Shannon was even more single-minded. All six of his fourth-quarter shots were layups, of which he made four. All but one of the half-dozen were within three feet of the basket. One was an and-one (a nifty baseline cut that produced an equally nifty rocket-dime from Dillingham) and two more free throws were taken and made when OKC’s defensive ace Alex Caruso unsuccessfully
tried to draw a charge. Add it up and the rookies Dillingham and Shannon were a combined 6-11 from the field and 5-5 from the line for 17 points. They shot zero three-pointers: Ten of their 11 attempts were layups. Move to McDaniels who is simply a different basketball player than he was during first couple months of the season, a renaissance that quickened when injuries to the vets opened up more chances to create on offense and play in a small ball frontcourt on defense.
No longer is McDaniels devoting his time exclusively to either a private, maniacal, game-long war with the person he is guarding, or psychologically slapping himself upside the head for missed catch-and-shoot treys and mental errors. Inexorably he has begun to assert himself within his team’s pecking order and therefore on the prevailing state of play in a major way.
Losing Randle to the groin strain compelled Finch to experiment more with lineups that put Naz at center and McDaniels at power forward. Now that Gobert has also been sidelined the past few games, that small ball pairing has been the starting frontcourt.
The results are illuminating.
Since the calendar flipped to 2025, the Wolves have a net rating (points scored per 100 possessions minus points allowed per 100 possessions) of plus 9.1 in the 531 minutes they are on the court, compared to a plus 2.0 net rating overall. And specific to the month of February, that net rating holds solid at plus 9.1 in 317 minutes versus the team’s overall rating of plus 4.6.
Monday night showcased the latest iteration of McDaniels in full flower. On a night when both Ant (5-for-15) and Naz (7-for-21) made only a
third of shots, he took control, frequently taking his man off the bounce and probing even when gap help created a double team. Finch chipped in, as McDaniels was purposefully used as the roller on set-play dishes from both Conley and Ant. The box score at the end of the night showed him making 9-of-16 from the field – and zero three-point attempts. No, he preferred his threes the old-fashion way, racking up a trio of and-one finishes that contributed to his 9-for-9 performance at the free throw line, giving him a game-high 27 points. Now consider the other box score stats, and compare them to the old McDaniels. He had 10 rebounds, eight on the defensive glass, four assists – including one off a pick-and-roll as the screener, one on a baseball pass in transition after a steal, one on a kickout from an offensive rebound, and a simple feed to an open teammate. He had two steals, keeping him in the top 10 overall in the NBA in that category, just one turnover and a mere two personal fouls. All in 42:25 of playing time, just two seconds behind Thunder MVP favorite Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (SGA) for game high, and in line with McDaniels’ 39:39 and 41:49 in the two regulation time games the Wolves have played since the All Star break.
Another absolutely key factor in the Monday night comeback was Finch’s decision to take the ball out of SGA’s hands by greeting him with a staunch double-team above the three-point arc near midcourt. Even with the reigning Defensive Player of the Year Gobert out, the Wolves were and are blessed with myriad options for this, with NAW staging an exceptional performance in this role, variously alongside McDaniels, Ant and Clark.
The fourth quarter narrative went like this: The teams mostly traded baskets and stops for the first three or four minutes, keeping the Thunder’s 22-point lead to start the period now closer to 20 than to 10. But during that time, while OKC understandably grew more complacent, Shannon and Dillingham were finding a delicious groove and McDaniels and NAW continued to scrap productively. At the 7:10 mark, Finch upped the ante by bringing Ant back from his usual rest to start the period, and Naz also, surprisingly, returned after hobbling off to the locker room with a bad ankle in the third quarter. Clark was subbed out along with McDaniels, the latter earning a brief respite.
Naz wasn’t the only one dinged. Ant suffered a bruised calf on a play involving Luguentz Dort, further complicating his usage in a game that still had all the signs of a blowout defeat. But the Wolves kept grinding. Asked after the game when he genuinely thought the Wolves had a chance, Finch responded that it happened when the Wolves cut the margin to 12 with just under five minutes left in regulation.
That was the play where OKC’s Jalen Williams couldn’t convert a SGA lob, NAW got the rebound and zipped it up to Shannon. The rookie caught the ball at midcourt and went hell-bent for the hoop, tossing off initial contact from the Thunder’s 220-pound slab of tungsten, Dort, who then decided a repeat collision might cause a foul and watched Shannon glide in for the layup.
That particular dynamic was among the most memorable sparks created as the Wolves inexorably kept grinding the mettle of their opponent – and their proximity to a tie ballgame
– from fantasy to reality. Minnesota’s perimeter defense kept hounding SGA, and he kept making the “right” play, feeding his teammates for open looks that clanged with a clarity that siphoned away most of the Thunder’s thunder. Bottom line, without Gobert and Randle, the Wolves played bully-ball anyway. The Thunder were 2 for 15 from three-point territory in the fourth period. The Wolves were 1 for 2. They outrebounded OKC 19 to 10, confiscating the boom stick and dashing for the rim. Points in the paint were 228. The free-throw disparity was 14 to 6 and the Wolves didn’t miss any of their 14 freebies. On the play that forced overtime, it was only fitting that Dillingham inbounded it to McDaniels out near the arc with 15 seconds to play and the Wolves down three. Jaden squared up on the defensive specialist Caruso, used his spidery length to go right down the lane, and banked in the layup while absorbing the foul. McDaniels’ subsequent tie-maker hit nothing but twine. The overtime was a slugfest. The Wolves made one of nine shots, the Thunder two of eight. Ah but Minnesota forced OKC to foul them enough for eight trips to the line versus three for the Thunder. And once again they were perfect, with Naz 4-4 to atone from his 0-4 from the field in OT. But the highlight of OT was claimed by Ant, who yet again demonstrated what a phenomenal defender he can be. With 17 seconds left and the Wolves up by one, and NAW hitting a pressure-packed pair of free throws, SGA wove his way through three defenders and seemed poised right in front of the hoop to drop in a floater and get fouled on the attempt. Nope. Ant flashed over hard from the weak side, quickly enough not to immediately register on SGA’s radar and leaping high enough that he could avoid body contact with one of the NBA’s wizards at drawing fouls. With 13 ticks left on the clock, the block was clean and any other contact was non-existent. The Thunder was forced to foul NAW in a desperate attempt to escape an unfathomable loss. But he hit the first free throw. And then the second. SGA’s last-ditch trey attempt caromed away at the buzzer. And fans have a story to tell their grandkids.
Britt Robson
Britt Robson has covered the Timberwolves since 1990 for City Pages, The Rake, SportsIllustrated.com and The Athletic. He also has written about all forms and styles of music for over 30 years.
By Cliff Brunt AP Sports Writer
Just when it appeared the Oklahoma City Thunder were going to run away from Minnesota like they’ve run away from the pack in the Western Conference standings, the Timberwolves made a stand.
Minnesota rallied from a 25-point deficit in the second half to win 131-128 in Oklahoma City on Monday night. Now a Timberwolves team that reached the Western Conference Finals last season but has struggled at times this season has regained its confidence. The Thunder led 8257 with just over seven minutes left in the in the third quarter and 102-80 heading into the fourth. Some Timberwolves players weren’t even sure they could rally.
“Probably not, just
because this one didn’t feel like there was a chance in hell,” Nickeil Alexander-Walker said. “For me, my mindset was, ‘Okay, this game is pretty much over.’ However, how we finish is going to carry over to the next game.”
Minnesota finished by outscoring the Thunder 4119 in the fourth quarter, then winning in the extra period. Jaden McDaniels had 27 points and 10 rebounds, Naz Reid had 22 points and 11 rebounds and Anthony Edwards added 17 points, 13 rebounds and eight assists for the Timberwolves.
A road win against the top team in the West is just what Minnesota needed. The Timberwolves had lost their first two games since the AllStar break, including a 130-123 home loss to the Thunder on Sunday night.
Minnesota is 3227 this season, but Monday’s win shows the Timberwolves’ potential heading into road
games against the Los Angeles Lakers, Utah and Phoenix.
“I think this starts a lot of momentum for us,” Reid said. “We bring the energy we brought tonight in the fourth quarter from the jump, we’ve got a great chance of beating all of those teams. I’m excited to get going.”
Minnesota center Rudy Gobert missed the game with back spasms and forward Julius Randle has been out all month with a groin injury.
Edwards suffered a slight lower leg injury in the fourth quarter and sat for most of it. But he made one of the game’s biggest plays when he blocked what would have been a go-ahead bucket from Shai GilgeousAlexander with 13.2 seconds left in overtime.
“That took everything out of me,” Edwards said. “What’s crazy is I don’t even think I jumped that high. That’s what was crazy. When I blocked it, I was definitely talking a lot
of trash, for sure.” Gilgeous-Alexander, the league’s leading scorer, finished with 39 points. Jalen Williams, another All-Star, added 27. Sure, the Thunder rested forward Chet Holmgren and center Isaiah Hartenstein went out after his nose was bloodied in the second quarter. But this is the same Thunder team that has compiled its 46-11 record with seemingly endless configurations under Mark Daigneault, the reigning NBA Coach of the Year. The season series ended up tied at 2-all, and this win has the Timberwolves thinking they could have the same success in the postseason.
“A hundred percent,” Reid said. “I think the score’s even now, as Nickeil would say. Hopefully we get a chance to see them in the playoffs.” Minnesota coach Chris Finch’s game plan leaves the Thunder with some things to think about. The Timberwolves
USA TODAY Sports via Reuters Connect
Timberwolves guard Terrence Shannon Jr. goes to the basket as Oklahoma City Thunder guard Alex Caruso defends during the second half at Paycom Center on Monday.
AP Photo/Kyle Phillips Minnesota Timberwolves guard Anthony Edwards (5) celebrates during a timeout during overtime of an NBA basketball game against the Oklahoma City Thunder, Monday, Feb. 24, 2025, in Oklahoma City.
Education
The daycare myth
By Katie Dukes, director of early childhood policy at EdNC and Liz Bell, early childhood reporter for EdNC
The inaccuracy of the term “daycare” is at the heart of a book by Dan Wuori, an early childhood expert who you may know from his viral social media posts or his previous work as senior director of early learning at the Hunt Institute.
In “The Daycare Myth,” Wuori argues that what we think of as “daycare” doesn’t exist. “That’s a strange thing to say because there are businesses all over North Carolina who have that right outside on their signs,” Wuori said. “But for almost 100 years now, we have envisioned daycare as just this safe, warm place that children can be left during the day while their parents go to work.”
Wuori asserts that vision has never captured the vital teaching and learning that takes place inside what people have typically called “daycare” or “childcare” programs. “The problem with both of those terms in my mind is that they center care. The care in those settings is necessary, but not sufficient,” Wuori said. “This is you selecting who is going to co-construct your child’s brain. This is not babysitting while you go to the movies.” Wuori’s book captures a sentiment shared by many researchers, educators, and leaders in early childhood education, including North Carolina state Rep. David Willis, R-Union, cochair of the early childhood caucus and owner and operator of a preschool program in his district. “There are several terms describing early childhood education that carry somewhat negative or minimizing connotations, such as childcare, daycare, and nursery schools,” Willis wrote in an email. “The
teachers are providing so much more than just ‘babysitting.’ I challenge anyone who thinks this is easy to come spend a day in the classroom.”
Centering learning
As parents know, babies don’t come with instruction manuals. While parents are their children’s first and most important teachers, decades of evidence show that professional educators play a crucial role in the development of infants, toddlers, and preschoolers. Their expertise and experience make them an
essential resource for parents. Most human brain development occurs in the first three years of life. During this time more than one million neural connections are formed each second. Strengthening these connections during the 2,000 days between birth and kindergarten leads to improved outcomes in education, health, employment, and economic stability. Because of that, research has found that high-quality early childhood programming yields a 13% %-%-per-year return on investment as children grow into adults.
In our travels to other states, as we’ve researched best practices, we’ve found a variety of ways that people refer to early childhood education at the state level: New Mexico has a cabinet-level Early Childhood Education & Care Department. Oregon has its own state-level Department of Early Learning and Care. Michigan’s Office of Child Development and Care is housed in its newlycreated Department of Lifelong Education, Advancement, and Potential.
Massachusetts houses its Department of Early Education and Care within its Executive Office of Education (like our state’s Department of Public Instruction). Vermont similarly places Early Education within its Agency of Education. North Carolina’s state government also emphasizes the significance of education in its official nomenclature. The state entity that oversees much of our formal system is the Division of Child Development and Early Education (DCDEE) under the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS). That name indicates the focus is on the brain development and education of our youngest learners. But all these phrases and titles are cumbersome, both in conversation and in writing. A simpler term has been adopted in Finland and by a specific model of early childhood education here in the United States — educare In both instances, this model centers education while still acknowledging the care inherent in early childhood education settings. Though “Educare” has not found its way into the common vernacular of the United States, “daycare” simply isn’t an accurate term for describing the provision of care and education in the earliest years. As Terra Flint, childcare director and assistant pastor at Trinity Wesleyan Education Center in Eden, North Carolina, put it at a recent rally outside the legislature: “It’s not daycare, because I don’t care for days!”
Teachers union sues over Trump administration’s deadline to end school diversity programs
By Collin Binkley AP Education Writer
A new federal lawsuit in Maryland is challenging a Trump administration memo giving the nation’s schools and universities two weeks to eliminate “race-based” practices of any kind or risk losing their federal money.
The lawsuit, filed Tuesday by the American Federation of Teachers union and the American Sociological Association, says the Education Department’s Feb. 14 memo violates the First and Fifth Amendments. Forcing schools to teach only the views supported by the federal government amounts to a violation of free speech, the organizations say, and the directive is so vague that schools don’t know what practices cross the line.
“This letter radically upends and re-writes otherwise well-established jurisprudence,” the lawsuit said. “No federal law prevents teaching about race and racerelated topics, and the Supreme Court has not banned efforts to advance diversity, equity, and inclusion in education.”
The memo, formally known as a Dear Colleague Letter, orders schools and universities to stop any practice that treats people differently because of their race, giving a deadline of this Friday. As a justification, it cites a Supreme Court decision banning the use of race in college admissions, saying the ruling applies more broadly to all federally funded education. President Donald Trump’s administration is aiming to end what the memo described as widespread discrimination in education, often against white and Asian American students. At stake is a sweeping expansion of the Supreme Court ruling, which focused on college admissions policies that considered race as a factor when admitting students. In the Feb. 14 memo, the Education Department said it interprets the
ruling to apply to admissions, hiring, financial aid, graduation ceremonies and “all other aspects of student, academic and campus life.” The lawsuit says the Education Department is applying the Supreme Court decision too broadly and
overstepping the agency’s authority. It takes issue with a line in the memo condemning teaching about “systemic and structural racism.”
“It is not clear how a school could teach a fulsome U.S. History course without teaching about slavery, the Missouri Compromise, the Emancipation Proclamation, the forced relocation of Native American tribes” and other lessons that might run afoul of the letter, the lawsuit said. The department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
In the memo, Craig Trainor, acting assistant secretary for civil rights, had said schools’ and colleges diversity, equity and inclusion efforts have been “smuggling racial stereotypes and explicit raceconsciousness into everyday training, programming, and discipline.
“But under any banner, discrimination on the basis of race, color, or national origin is, has been, and will continue to be illegal,” Trainor wrote in the memo.
The lawsuit argues the Dear Colleague Letter is so broad that it appears to forbid voluntary student groups based on race or background, including Black student unions or Irish-American heritage groups. The memo also appears to ban college admissions practices that weren’t outlawed in the Supreme Court decision, including recruiting efforts to attract students of all races, the lawsuit said. It asks the court to stop the department from enforcing the memo and strike it down.
The American Federation of Teachers is one of the nation’s largest teachers unions. The sociological association is a group of about 9,000 college students, scholars and teachers. Both groups say their members teach lessons and supervise student organizations that could jeopardize their schools’ federal money under the memo.
The Associated Press’ education coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.
Liz Bell, EdNC
Precious, a teacher at Kate’s Korner in Durham, North Carolina, oversees center time in a toddler classroom.
AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, speaks during the Democratic National Convention Aug. 22, 2024, in Chicago.
Dr. Artika Tyner’s Kojo Goes to the Library
By W.D. Foster-Graham
KOJO GOES TO THE LIBRARY
By Dr. Artika Tyner
Promoting literacy in our community is vital, especially when it comes to our children. This past weekend, I had the honor of being the MC for the St. Peter’s AME Church’s 145 church anniversary, and the 2nd annual We Are Wordsmiths community event. It is always inspiring to be around the collective energy of authors in one space, and that space includes children’s authors. Today, I give a hat tip to Planting People Growing
Justice and author Dr. Artika Tyner’s Kojo Goes to the Library.
Tyner shares Kojo’s excitement about going to the community library with his father, having his own library card, and enjoying the story time circle with his friends Akua and Kofi. After a local author shared his book about Ghana, Kojo and his friends create the Ghana national flag. This spurred his interest in books about the African continent which, with
the help of librarian Miss Grace, gave him new books to check out. I loved the way Kojo and his dad considered their weekly trip to the library as special bonding time, reminding us that kids mimic what they see in the adults around them. My father was a voracious reader, which is where I inherited my love of reading and eventually writing—to become a good writer, you must be a good
reader. Showing how parents, educators, and authors can encourage a love of and exciting for reading in this story reminds me of my nightly reading time with my son from the time he was a baby and later as a boy, and our own trips to the library so that we could read together. Having grown up in a time when there were no characters in children’s books who looked like me, it touches my heart every time children’s books by Black authors are published to add to our personal libraries, and I thank Dr. Tyner for being one of those authors and a vanguard for literacy. Kojo Goes to the Library is available through Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and the Planting People Growing Justice website www.ppgjli.org. In the words of Dr. Tyner, “Leaders are readers.” Literacy and representation matters!
By Richard Gunderman Chancellor’s Professor of Medicine, Liberal Arts, and Philanthropy, Indiana University
“Who wants to live forever?”
Freddie Mercury mournfully asks in Queen’s 1986 song of the same name.
The answer: Quite a few people – so much so that life extension has long been a cottage industry.
As a physician and scholar in the medical humanities, I’ve found the quest to expand the human lifespan both fascinating and fraught with moral peril.
During the 1970s and 80s, for example, The Merv
Griffin Show featured one guest
32 times – life extension expert Durk Pearson, who generated more fan mail than any guest except Elizabeth Taylor. In 1982, he and his partner, Sandy Shaw, published the book “Life Extension: A Practical Scientific Approach,” which became a No. 1 New York Times bestseller and sold over 2 million copies. One specific recommendation involved taking choline and vitamin B5 in order to reduce cognitive decline, combat high blood pressure and reduce the buildup of toxic metabolic byproducts.
Last year, Pearson died at 82, and Shaw died in 2022 at 79.
Insight 2 Health
No one can say for sure whether these life extension experts died sooner or later than they would have had they eschewed many of these supplements and instead simply exercised and ate a balanced diet. But I can say that they did not live much longer than many similarly well-off people in their cohort.
Still, their dream of staying forever young is alive and well.
Consider tech entrepreneur Bryan Johnson’s “Project Blueprint,” a lifeextension effort that inspired the 2025 Netflix documentary “Don’t Die: The Man Who Wants to Live Forever.” His program has included building a home laboratory, taking more than 100 pills each day and undergoing blood plasma transfusions, at least one of which came from his son. And Johnson is not alone. Among the big names investing big bucks to prolong their lives are Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, Google founders Sergei Brin and Larry Page, and Oracle’s Larry Ellison. One approach involves taking senolytics – drugs that target cells that may drive the aging process, though more research is needed to determine their safety and efficacy. Another is human growth hormone, which has long been touted as an anti-aging mechanism in ad campaigns that feature remarkably fit older people.
(“How does this 69-year-old doctor have the body of a 30-year-old?” reads one web ad). These billionaires may reason that, because of their wealth, they have more to live for than ordinary folks. They may also share more prosaic motivations, such as a fear of growing old and dying. But underlying such desires is an equally important ethical – and, for some, spiritual – reality.
Quality versus quantity Is it a good thing, morally speaking, to wish to live forever? Might there be aspects of aging and even death that are both good for the world and good for individuals?
Cicero’s “On Aging” offers some insights. In fact, the ancient Roman statesman and philosopher noted that writing about it helped him to find peace with the vexations of growing old.
In the text, Cicero outlines and responds to four common complaints about aging: It takes us away from managing our affairs, impairs bodily vigor, deprives us of sensual gratifications and brings us to the verge of death.
To the charge that aging takes us away from managing our affairs, Cicero asks us to imagine a ship. Only the young climb the masts, run to and fro on the gangways, and bail the hold. But it is among the older and more experienced
members of the crew that we find the captain who commands the ship. Rome’s supreme council was called the Senate, from the Latin for “elder,” and it is to those rich in years that we look most often for wisdom.
As to whether aging impairs bodily vigor, Cicero claimed that strength and speed are less related to age than discipline. Many older people who take care of themselves are in better shape than the young, and he gives examples of people who maintained their vigor well into their later years. He argued that those who remain physically fit do a great deal to sustain their mental powers, a notion supported by modern science. Cicero reminds readers that these same pleasures of eating and drinking often lead people astray. Instead, people, as they age, can better appreciate the pleasures of mind and character. A great dinner becomes characterized less by what’s on the plate or the attractiveness of a dining partner than the quality of conversation and fellowship. While death remains an inevitable consequence of aging, Cicero distinguishes between quality and quantity of life. He writes that it is better to live well than to live long, and for those who are living well, death appears as natural as birth. Those who want to live forever have forgotten their place in the cosmos, which does not revolve around any
single person or even species.
Those of a more spiritual bent might find themselves drawn to the Scottish poet George MacDonald, who wrote: “Age is not all decay; it is the ripening, the swelling of the fresh life within, that withers and bursts the husk.”
Embracing the circle of life
What if the dreams of the life extension gurus were realized? Would the world be a better place? Would the extra good that a longer-lived Einstein could have accomplished be balanced or even exceeded by the harm of a Stalin who remained healthy and vigorous for decades beyond his death?
At some point, preserving indefinitely the lives of those now living would mean less room for those who do not yet exist. Pearson and Shaw appeared on many other television programs in the 1970s and 1980s. During one such segment on “The Mike Douglas Show,” Pearson declared: “By the time you are 60, your immune function is perhaps one-fifth what it was when you were younger. Yet you can achieve a remarkable restoration simply by taking nutrients that you can get at a pharmacy or health food store.”
For Pearson, life extension was a biomedical challenge, an effort more centered on engineering the
self rather than the world.
Yet I would argue that the real challenge in human life is not to live longer, but to help others; adding extra years should be seen not as the goal but a byproduct of the
Celebrate the year of the Asclepias by planting Milkweed
By Melinda Myers
Grow milkweed (Asclepias) to support monarch butterflies, hummingbirds, and bees while adding color, fragrance, and beauty to your landscape.
You’ll find native milkweeds throughout North and South America. In recognition of this garden star’s attributes, 2025 has been deemed the Year of the Asclepias by the National Garden Bureau. With so many to choose from, select the milkweed that is best suited to the growing conditions, your landscape design, and garden maintenance. Some milkweeds are very aggressive and can quickly take over garden beds and large areas in the landscape, requiring time and effort to maintain their spread. Butterfly milkweed
(Asclepias tuberosa) is one of the tamer milkweeds with lots of ornamental appeal. This adaptable milkweed is hardy in zones three to ten and was named the 2017 Perennial Plant of the Year. Grow butterfly milkweed in full sun with welldrained soil. You’ll appreciate its drought tolerance once it’s established. If you are gardening in clay soil, consider growing Asclepias tuberosa var. clay, a natural variant found growing on clay soil. Mark the location of any butterfly milkweed in the garden or plant some spring
flowering bulbs nearby to avoid accidentally digging up this late-to-emerge perennial.
You’ll enjoy the orange blossoms in meadow, prairie, and even semiformal gardens. Combine this beauty with yellow, purple, and blue flowers. Deadhead faded flowers to extend bloom time and prevent reseeding if this is a concern.
When looking for a bit larger plant that tolerates moist to wet and occasionally dry soils, check out red milkweed (Syriaca incarnata), also known as pink and swamp milkweed. You’ll enjoy the fragrant reddish-pink flowers and the butterflies, bees, and hummingbirds that visit the flowers. It’s hardy in zones three to nine plus red milkweed grows three to five feet tall in upright clumps. The flowers are followed by narrow pods that release silky-haired seeds like other milkweeds. It grows best in full sun with moist soil and is less aggressive than common milkweed. Grow this milkweed in sunny mixed borders, natural gardens, rain gardens, and alongside ponds. And best of all, the deer and rabbits tend to leave it, and other milkweeds, be. Common milkweed Asclepias syriaca is a favorite of monarchs, hardy in zones three
to eight, but very aggressive, spreading by deep rhizomes and seeds. The purple-pink flowers are fragrant at night, and you will find a variety of butterflies stopping by for a visit. Keep it contained by persistently removing unwanted suckers and seedpods before they open to prevent reseeding. Sullivant’s milkweed Asclepias sullivantii is similar but a bit less aggressive. It has the same great butterfly appeal and is hardy in zones four to seven. These are just a few of the more than 100 native milkweed species, many of which you may want to add to your gardens. You can find out more about the species native to your region in the Milkweed Regional Guides located on the Xerces Society website. You are sure to find one or more to add to your garden beds. Melinda Myers has written over 20 gardening books, including Midwest Gardener’s Handbook, Revised Edition, and Small Space Gardening. She hosts The Great Courses “How to Grow Anything” instant video and DVD series and the nationally syndicated Melinda’s Garden Moment radio program. Myers is a columnist and contributing editor for Birds & Blooms magazine. Myers’ website is www.MelindaMyers.com.
