WINNER OF THREE SOCIETY OF PROFESSIONAL JOURNALISTS D.C. AWARDS Colleges Challenged to Better Accommodate Student Parents Page 24 Vol. 57, No. 16 • February 3 - 9, 2022
‘Commanders’ Becomes the New Name for The Washington Football Team
Official Announcement Caps Off Two-Year Process of Rebranding Initiative Ed Hill WI Sports Writer At long last and after much anticipation, the Washington Football Team finally has a new name – the Washington Commanders. Fans waited patiently for the announcement on the Today Show on Wednesday, Feb 2 with Craig Melvin, NBC anchor and Washington Football Fan Ambassador given the honor to break the news. The announcement also included the new logo and uniform com-
binations along with a video. The rebranding efforts have been in the works essentially since Team President Jason Wright came on board in August 2020. Often long and methodical, the process has been heavily reliant upon fan and alumni feedback. Fury rose exponentially in the last few years from the community and football fans across the U.S., with demands that the team change its name from the 5 The Washington Football Team revealed its new name on Feb. 2, during a press conference at FedEx Field. The team will be known as
CHANGE Page 45 the Washington Commanders. (Abdullah Konte/The Washington Informer)
Judge Rejects Federal Plea Deal for Convicted Killers of Black Jogger Ahmaud Arbery
Judge J. Michelle Childs Heads List of Supreme Court Nominees Will She Become First African-American Woman to Shatter the Glass Ceiling?
Stacy M. Brown WI Senior Writer
Stacy M. Brown WI Senior Writer Black women asserted themselves on the frontlines to help push President Joe Biden over the top in the 2020 election. Now, as the nation awaits word on who the president will nominate to fill the newly-vacant Supreme Court seat, there’s little doubt whether an African-American woman will be that pick. Among the few remaining questions: whether that individual will deliver progress on a high court that will maintain its 6-3 conservative advantage. “As a longtime advocate for diversity and inclusion at the high-
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5 Judge J. Michelle Childs. (Photo courtesy University of South Carolina School of Law
A U.S. District Court judge has rejected a plea deal offered to a white father and son convicted of murdering Black jogger Ahmaud Arbery that would have them serve decades of their life sentences while in federal custody instead of a less desirable state facility. Judge Lisa Godbey Wood nixed the deal for Gregory McMichael, 66, and his son Travis McMichael, 35, during a hearing Monday for
the latter, after prosecutors filed a notice that a deal had been reached to avoid a federal trial slated to begin next week. A hearing scheduled later Monday for the elder McMichael was canceled after the judge said her decision would be the same for both men. Godbey Wood came to her decision after emotional statements from Arbery’s parents and family members, who vehemently opposed the deal.
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