These are the top maybe-not headlines from the past 36-hours presented by The Conversation Project from raw engagement data from our social media to the headlines posted over the past day.
SUBSCRIBE TO THE EMAIL NEWSLETTER | BECOME A SUPPORTER VIA BUY ME A COFFEE
The 8 topics that our followers ranked as the most conversational are:
1 DEAD, 2 WOUNDED IN LONG ISLAND GROCERY STORE SHOOTING; PERSON OF INTEREST AT LARGE
A gunman clad in black opened fire inside a Long Island supermarket Tuesday, killing one and wounding two more, police said. Gabriel Dewitt Wilson was identified as a person of interest in the 11:19 a.m. attack, in West Hempstead, a suburb about 27 miles east of New York City, Nassau County Police Commissioner Patrick Ryder told reporters. Then at about 3:11 p.m., Nassau County Executive Laura Curran announced that a suspect “is in custody.” The person killed is a 49-year-old man, while the two other victims were taken to nearby hospitals and were alert, Ryder added. Their names and conditions were not immediately released by authorities. The shooting occurred in an upstairs manager’s office at a Stop & Shop supermarket, police said. “That person of interest we believe is the shooter,” Ryder said. “He left the scene and he was still carrying the handgun.”
[SOURCE: nbcnews.com / ENGAGEMENT: 19.01%]
VANESSA BRYANT AND THE KOBE BRYANT ESTATE ELECTED NOT TO RENEW THE PARTNERSHIP WITH NIKE
With Kobe Bryant’s five-year, post-retirement endorsement extension with Nike having expired this month, Vanessa Bryant and the Kobe Bryant estate elected not to renew the partnership, she confirmed to ESPN in a statement Monday night. “Kobe’s Nike contract expired on 4/13/21,” Vanessa Bryant, widow of the Lakers legend, told ESPN. “Kobe and Nike have made some of the most beautiful basketball shoes of all time, worn and adored by fans and athletes in all sports across the globe. It seems fitting that more NBA players wear my husband’s product than any other signature shoe.” According to a source, Bryant and the estate had grown frustrated with Nike limiting the availability of Kobe products during his retirement and after his January 2020 death in a helicopter crash. There was also frustration with the lack of availability of Kobe footwear in kids’ sizes, according to sources. Nike, sources said, had presented an extension offer that was not in line with expectations of an ongoing “lifetime” structure similar to the Nike Inc. contracts held by both Michael Jordan and LeBron James. It is believed that all future releases of Kobe Bryant-branded footwear and apparel manufactured by Nike will be halted. The Kobe Bryant estate could enter into negotiations with outside brands to form a new partnership. Vanessa Bryant also confirmed to ESPN that the Kobe Bryant estate owns the rights to both the “Mamba” logo and his signature. The “Sheath” logo often featured on the tongue of Nike’s Kobe sneakers is mutually owned by both sides, according to a source.
[SOURCE: espn.com / ENGAGEMENT: 15.52%]
NFL PLAYERS CAN SMOKE MARIJUANA FOR THE FIRST TIME DURING THE OFFSEASON AND THE WINDOW OPENED ON 4/20
The NFL opened its random drug test window on Tuesday, but this will be the first year the league doesn’t test for the chemical found in Marijuana. Under the league’s new collective bargaining agreement (CBA), which was passed last year, players will not be tested for Delta 9 THC-carboxylic acid, which is the prominent chemical found in cannabis, from April 20 to Aug. 9. The start date of April 20 coincides directly with the popular cult holiday 4/20, which is dedicated to celebrating marijuana. The holiday has become so popular among mainstream Americans in recent years that Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer went so far as to call it “an unofficial American holiday” on Tuesday. Players will be tested for THC once training camps open in August. However, the new CBA has also raised the threshold for a positive marijuana test from 35 nanograms to 150 and eliminates suspensions for positive drug tests. Instead, the NFL will issue fines for up to three weeks’ pay. The NFL will be moving away from severe discipline for marijuana use to an approach focused more on treatment. If a player tests positive during training camp, his test is reviewed by a board of medical professionals appointed by both the players and league. The board then decides if the player needs treatment. Overall public support for cannabis reform has grown in recent years, as several states have moved to end restrictions on the recreational drug. In November, a Gallup poll revealed that a majority of Americans —68% — favor legalization.
[SOURCE: insider.com / ENGAGEMENT: 9.99%]
BALTIMORE PRIVATE SCHOOL STUDENTS STAGE WALK OUT IN PROTEST OF BLACK TEACHER’S MISTREATMENT
A Black teacher in Baltimore who resigned following an incident of alleged mistreatment fueled a movement where students from three private schools teamed up for a peaceful protest and walk out. Close to 100 students and faculty members from Bryn Mawr School, Roland Park Country School, and Gilman School hit the streets on Friday morning to protest the treatment of a former Black teacher who resigned after being berated by a white student, Baltimore Sun reports. Adrienne Knight was employed at Bryn Mawr School, but quit after she posted a YouTube video earlier this year detailing an encounter with a white student who told her to go “fetch me something.” She recalled the student gluing a sheet of notebook paper to a desk. When Knight asked the female student to clean up the mess she made, the student allegedly told Knight, “I’m not going to clean it up, but if you want to go fetch me something to do it, then you can do it.” Knight worked for Bryan Mawr School for four years as the drama and seminar teacher. While the details leading to her resignation haven’t been revealed, Niara Robinson, a teacher’s assistant at the school, understood how the word “fetch” could be a trigger word when used by a white person toward a Black person. “I only got a chance to work with her a short period of time. It was clear to me that she was connected with the students,” Robinson said.
[SOURCE: blackenterprise.com / ENGAGEMENT: 8.34%]
FORMER VIRGINIA TECH SOCCER PLAYER SUES COACH, CLAIMING SHE WAS FORCED OFF TEAM FOR REFUSING TO KNEEL BEFORE GAMES
Former Virginia Tech women’s soccer player Kiersten Hening has filed a federal lawsuit against Hokies women’s soccer coach Chugger Adair, alleging that after she refused to join her teammates kneeling before games this season, the coach engaged in a “campaign of abuse and retaliation” that led her to leave the program. “Hening’s stance was costly — too costly,” reads the lawsuit, filed March 3. “Her coach dislikes Hening’s political views. Because she refused to kneel, he benched her, subjected her to repeated verbal abuse, and forced her off the team.” Adair, who just completed his 10th season at Virginia Tech and is the program’s all-time winningest coach, declined to comment. He is being represented by university attorneys. The university is not named as a defendant in the suit, only Adair. Mark Owczarski, associate vice president of university relations, said the school is declining comment at this time. The suit seeks a ruling ordering Adair to “undergo First Amendment training,” and to have Hening reinstated on the team, in addition to unspecified monetary awards for compensatory, punitive and nominal damages and costs associated with her case.
[SOURCE: richmond.com / ENGAGEMENT: 5.82%]
HULU TRUE CRIME DOC ‘SASQUATCH’ INVESTIGATES WHETHER BIGFOOT MURDERED THREE NORCAL CANNABIS FARMERS
The most interesting true crimes are often the ones that sound so unlikely that they verge on fiction, spiraling from headlines into myths. Hulu’s new series “Sasquatch” covers that type of crime, investigating rumors that three cannabis farmworkers were murdered in a gruesome fashion attributed to legendary forest monster Sasquatch. Directed by Joshua Rofé (“Lorena”), the Hulu series follows gonzo journalist David Holthouse as he investigates an anecdote he heard at a cannabis farm in Northern California in the 1990s. The area best known as a hotbed of cannabis cultivation has gained a reputation in popular culture as a particularly dangerous region, partially due to the Netflix series “Murder Mountain.” While the series has been criticized as sensational, its sentiments are echoed by the longtime cannabis farmers interviewed in “Sasquatch.” Holthouse, who has worked as an embedded journalist for 25 years covering subjects like neo-Nazi communities, serves as the lead detective on the series, gumshoeing his way through Mendocino County trying to find clues to the supposed murders. Scenes were often shot with only one cameraman and no support crew in order to create a sense of security between Holthouse and his sources, many of whose voices and images are obscured. The three-episode series premiering April 20 is indeed terrifying. For inspiration, Rofé looked not to other true crime docs, but rather tense feature films like “McCabe & Mrs. Miller,” “Zodiac,” “The Parallax View” and “Memories of a Murder” by “Parasite” director Bong Joon-ho.
[SOURCE: sfgate.com / ENGAGEMENT: 3.88%]
DEREK CHAUVIN FOUND GUILTY ON ALL COUNTS IN THE MURDER OF GEORGE FLOYD
The jury has found former police officer Derek Chauvin guilty on all counts in the murder of George Floyd last May. Chauvin, 45, was found guilty of second- and third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter. The judge asked each juror if the verdict was correct, thanked them and dismissed them. “I have to thank you, on behalf of the people of the state of Minnesota, for not only jury service, but heavy-duty jury service,” Hennepin County Judge Peter Cahill said. He revoked bail and told Chauvin to report back in eight weeks for sentencing. Chauvin, silent and wearing a gray suit and a light blue surgical mask, was handcuffed and taken into custody. Chauvin, who is white, was seen on video pinning George Floyd, a 46-year-old Black man, to the ground with his knee last Memorial Day for over nine minutes after police responded to a report that Floyd used a counterfeit $20 bill. Cellphone video of the incident went viral and touched off months of protests in the U.S. and abroad condemning police brutality and calling for racial justice. The widely watched trial, which began in March with jury selection, was livestreamed – Minnesota’s first criminal case to be televised. Chauvin faces 12 1/2 years or 150 months in prison under sentencing guidelines for a first-time offender. But, the prosecution argues there are aggravating factors that require a longer prison term. That means Chauvin may face longer than that sentence.
[SOURCE: usatoday.com / ENGAGEMENT: 3.78%]
INCEST ADVOCATES STEP UP THEIR CALL TO DECRIMINALIZE INCESTUOUS RELATIONSHIPS IN WAKE OF LAWSUIT DEMANDING NEW YORK ALLOW A PARENT TO MARRY THEIR CHILD
***DISTURBING CONTENT***Advocates for the legalization of consensual incest are using a recent New York lawsuit demanding the state allow a parent to marry their adult child to further their agenda, the New York Post reported over the weekend. An anonymous New Yorker filed a lawsuit this month to overturn the Empire State’s laws outlawing incestuous marriages because they want to marry their adult offspring. Under New York law, incest is a third-degree felony punishable by up to four years in jail. According to the New York code, someone “is guilty of incest in the third degree when he or she marries or engages in sexual intercourse, oral sexual conduct or anal sexual conduct with a person whom he or she knows to be related to him or her … as an ancestor, descendant, brother or sister of either the whole or the half blood, uncle, aunt, nephew or niece.” Incestuous marriages are null in New York, and spouses in such marriages are subject to fines and jail time, as is anyone who “knowingly and willfully” solemnizes such a marriage. The parent behind the lawsuit — who has remained unnamed because their request is, as they admit in their filing, “an action that a large segment of society views as morally, socially and biologically repugnant” — is unhappy that the state would dare to “diminish their humanity” in an issue that is a matter of “individual autonomy.” Now advocates for legalizing incest are jumping at the chance to support the suit and use it to advance their agenda.
[SOURCE: theblaze.com / ENGAGEMENT: 2.81%]
Eight Things To Talk About uses the raw engagement data from the social media engagement from The Conversation Project to generate the top-ranking headlines over the course of the past day.
A full weeks’ data (from Friday to Friday) is compiled, weighed, and sorted to produce the content for the Weekly Wrap-Up with J Cleveland Payne, published every Saturday as a podcast available at ThisIsTheConversation.com or wherever your favorite podcasts are found.
To ‘participate’ in the rankings of the headlines for this newsletter or the podcast, follow the Conversation Project on social media and engage with the posts to give them more ‘votes.’ The Conversation Project can be found on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
Connect with us directly by emailing us at theconversationinbox@gmail.com or by simply visiting thisistheconversation.com.
