New York Amsterdam News October 16-22, 2025

Advancing Peace: a new book offers new solution to old problem of gun violence

By SHANNON CHAFFERS Amsterdam News Staff, Report for America Corps Member

In the summer of 2005, Richmond, Calif., was at a turning point. The city’s gun violence rates were among the highest in the country. The City Council was set to declare a state of emergency that would have brought increased surveillance and law enforcement presence into high-crime neighborhoods.

But other city leaders, including Mayor Irma Anderson and the City Manager Bill Lindsay, were wary of such a heavy-handed approach. They brought in a team of consultants to explore alternative responses. One of those consultants was DeVone Boggan, who spent a year studying the issue, speaking to Richmond residents, and observing potential strategies in other cities.

“One of [our] recommendations [was to] create this new institution inside city government called the Office of Neighborhood Safety, the first office of its kind in the country … And I was asked to run the office after it was ratified in July of 2007,” Boggan recalled. In this role, Boggan developed a new model of gun violence prevention that was independent of law enforcement and centered around providing intensive men-

toring and material support to the small number of residents driving much of the city’s gun conflict. In 2018, with the help of longtime collaborator and University of California Berkeley professor Jason Corburn, Boggan brought the strategy to other cities via his newly-created nonprofit, Advance Peace.

In their new book “Advancing Peace: Ending Urban Gun Violence Through the Power of Redemptive Love,” Boggan and Corburn share how they developed and scaled this model, which has been credited with driving down gun violence in multiple cities while bringing healing and hope to affected communities.

“We felt like more and more people needed to hear about this, about this important work, about how there are demonstrably effective ways to make gun violence rare and non-recurring in some of our most impacted cities without increasing law enforcement budgets,” Boggan said.

The book arrives at a critical moment as the federal government cuts funding to community-based violence intervention and sends the National Guard into cities like Washington D.C., and Chicago under the pretense of fighting violent crime. Boggan and Corburn’s experiences offer a clear and

See BOOK on page 25

MTA President Demetrius addresses transit fare hike:

By ARIAMA C. LONG Amsterdam News Staff

Facing serious backlash over the upcoming fare hike in 2026, Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) President Demetrius Crichlow attempted to address commuter concerns directly last week.

Crichlow is the first Black man to hold the president’s position in the MTA’s history. A lifelong New Yorker, he is the third generation of men in his family to work in transit. He started his career in 1997 as an assistant signal maintainer for the Long Island Railroad (LIRR).

The Amsterdam News caught up with Crichlow and his leadership crew at the 42nd Street station, just below the bustling tourist junction that is Times Square, at their usual Transit Talk event. He spoke with people about phasing out MetroCards, fare hikes, major infrastructure improvements, subway crime, and other issues. Some listeners were amiable. Others were not convinced the train was worth the price of admission.

Here’s what he had to say to the AmNews in a short interview. (Questions and answers have been shortened or edited for space and clarity.)

AmNews: Why are you here today?

Crichlow: The reason why we’re here is that one or two times a month, my team — my

executive leadership team — goes out and hears the concerns of customers. [We] talk to customers directly, and we engage with them. What I found is most people want to be able to have a face that they can talk to, and have someone who’s actually a part of the organization — someone who has the experience to be able to say, I had this issue before, I changed this, I’m looking at this. Having someone like the head of buses to talk to you about issues that we have with bus service or the head of subways to talk about issues that you have with subway service is the way that we really speak to our customers. We do this either once or twice a month, and we’ve gotten a really good response.

AmNews: With the MetroCard being phased out, a lot of people who don’t have smartphones, bank cards, or the One Metro New York (OMNY) card might have a hard time paying for the subway or bus. How are you making sure these people aren’t left behind?

Crichlow: OMNY is, to me, the future of our system in terms of fair collection. The reality is the token was a way of the past. The MetroCard is now going to be a way of the past. Being able to tap into a system and go is the efficient way of being able to get through the system. We’ve done a number of outreach events to be able to talk directly with See MTA on page 27

‘We are doing our best’

30 years on: We were there — we remember the Million Man March

By JASON GONZALEZ Special to the AmNews

One million deep. One million strong. One million proud.

On Monday, Oct. 16, 1995, more than 1 million men converged at the National Mall in Washington, D.C., in a powerful demonstration of unity, responsibility, and hope for Black people — and all people. The Million Man March wasn’t just an event; it was a turning point in society; a statement not only to the United States, but to the rest of the world, suggesting that Black and Brown men would and will stand in solidarity, demanding justice, healing, and progress. Four men out of those million spoke to the AmNews, reflecting on the day and how it affected them.

Andre T. Mitchell-Mann: A call to action and community transformation

For Andre T. Mitchell-Mann, founder of the community organization Man Up, Inc. in Brooklyn, the Million Man March was a spark that ignited a lifelong commitment to community activism.

“We can put all our differences to the side when we have to, and we can come together like we did then, and we can be a force to be reckoned with,” he said. “We were viewed and looked upon differently from that day forward, and that’s something that I walked away with … to apply myself to my community. That was one of the marching orders that [Minister Louis Farrakhan] had mentioned in

his piece … he wanted us to go back to our communities, go back to our neighborhoods, to our barrios, let them see us as the men of the community.”

“It did have a huge impact on [my] starting the nonprofit, because my level was so high, my participation and my love and passion to reduce gun violence in the community, to create healthy, peaceful communities — it was all sparked from the Million Man March.”

Mitchell-Mann thinks that some progress has been made in the last 30 years, but much more work needs to be done.

“We are still under attack as a species, our families and our communities and our future depend, and is still dependent, on us to get it right,” he said. “People are rooting for us, and I have the utmost confidence in us getting together to be able to do like what we did 30 years ago.”

Dr. Shango Blake: Contemporary Challenges, a continuing legacy

The former school principal, activist, equity advocate, and president of Black Influencers United, shared his deep reflections on the enduring significance of this historic day. Known as the “Hip Hop Principal,” Blake was one of the organizers of the Million Man March, and his experiences continue to shape his leadership and activism in Queens.

“The Million Man March was born out of a vision and a call from the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan, head of the Nation of Islam, who saw at that time that there

was an inordinate amount of killing going on in our community,” he said. “Interesting, it’s 30 years later, we’re talking about the National Guard and the armed forces going into places like Chicago [and] D.C. The reason why it was called on a Monday was because we wanted to create a situation where we were sacrificing something like going to work, … it was also a day of absence. We were not at our places of employment. We sacrificed maybe a day’s pay.”

Reflecting on the period leading up to the march, Dr. Blake, who served as Chair of the Education and Youth Committee of the Million Man March Coordinating Council of Queens described the Black community as grappling with both progress and a destructive mindset. Most news stations in the mid90s would regularly broadcast the mounting number of homicides in the city, highlighting the gravity of the situation. Blake also highlighted the overt disconnection between older and younger Black men. The sharing of wisdom between both generations wasn’t evident. Blake believed that many young Black men were carrying the burdens of trauma, were angry and felt hopeless amid mass incarceration, and the devastating effects of the crack epidemic.

“It was a time where there was a lot of hopelessness in our community and we needed something, one, to unify the older Black man with the younger Black man,” he said. “To give these Black men who had maybe been involved in drugs, whether they were addict-

ed or selling it, an opportunity to show that they could do something else and come back instead of being destructive in their community, to be someone who could be a light to their community.”

Blake credits his experience of organizing the march as foundational to his development as a community leader and educator, noting that the organizational and leadership skills he gained shaped his career as a principal in the New York City Department of Education.

“The Million Man March has deeply impacted me and has shaped who I’ve become as a leader within my own community,” he said. “I was able to see leadership around me, learn from those who were my elders, and then add my own spin or approach to what I thought would get young people out at that time. I’m forever thankful for the Million Man March.”

He has observed that many of the same challenges faced by the community back then are resurfacing.

“I think that the spirit of the Million Man March must continue to live on,” he said. “I think that we as Black people have to begin to extol the principles of that march.”

Dr. Wayne Tuckson: A surgeon’s reflection on brotherhood and healing

Dr. Wayne Tuckson, a retired colon and rectal surgeon from Washington, D.C., now residing in Louisville, Kentucky, recalls the Million Man March as a healing moment for

a wounded community, believing that the Black and Brown community is victimized by how they’re portrayed in the media.

“I’m going to begin with a negative, and that is that I did not take my son with me,” he said. “I really wish I had, so that he could have experienced it. Now, the positive: I went with a friend of mine. We went down there, and I’ve seen many things in Washington, but I have never seen such a collection of African American men of all stripes who were respectful of one another, courteous to one another, and the amount of energy and drive that was there was just overwhelming … And yet, everybody was so polite, so nice.”

For Tuckson, the march symbolized more than just unity; it was a call to personal responsibility and service.

“It reminded me that coming out of this event, I had to redouble my effort to make sure that what goes on in our community is about uplifting people and providing [for] them, that they can live not only their best quality of life, but push them to be uncomfortable to achieve goals that they had not previously thought that they could achieve,” he said. “… (The march) was a thing that also showed me that other people felt this way and that I wasn’t the only one.”

Just like he has, throughout his years as a doctor.

Radio Rahim: Pride and power in collective action

For Radio Rahim, a sports broadcaster and boxing journalist from Oakland, California, the March was “one of the proudest moments in my life.” Covering events nationwide, he has witnessed many positive things, but none that matched the dignity and impact of the Million Man March.

“It feels like something we did,” he said. “It feels like something that happened organically. It was a collective moment that every participant, and sadly, probably some who didn’t actually make it to D.C., but wanted to and were unable to attend for whatever number of reasons, knew that moment needed to happen … It wasn’t an effort that I made independently; it was a moment I was a part of.”

It was a no-brainer for Radio Rahim; attendance was required.

“The way that I was raised, in my worldview, [was] that when Minister Louis Farrakhan called for a moment of Black unity amongst men, to show up in a peaceful way, with a determined outcome of unity and what ultimately was coined as atonement, you show up,” he said. “I don’t remember wrestling with (the idea of) whether or not we’re going to the Million Man March. We are the Million Man March. We got to walk there. We’re getting there. That’s always the mindset.”

He feels that this helped him become a better man, which, in turn, helped him become a better sports reporter.

Farrakhan’s national assistant, Brother Ishmael Mohammed, will deliver a message in commemoration

United in purpose, Black men connected

By ELINOR R. TATUM

Editor’s note: Thirty years ago today, our publisher, Elinor R. Tatum covered the convening of Black men, the largest gathering of Black people in America since the 1963 March on Washington. This is her original account of the day’s events.

As Monday’s Million Man March came to a close and the 1.2 million people, as estimated by march officials, who had gathered at the Mall started to make their way back home, an overwhelming sense of purpose was discovered. The men, from all walks of life, all corners of the country, all ages, came together in a show of unity that will go down in history as the greatest moment for Black people in this century:the Million Man March.

In Monday’s wee morning hours, people arrived from far and wide to become a part of this historic march. They came with determination and an even greater sense of pride. Arriving by train, bus, car, and by foot, they came. Every minute, thousands more stepped onto the mall.

By 5 a.m., over 100,000 men had gathered at the base of the Capitol. Journalists were arriving by the dozens, as my colleagues and I picked up our credentials in the dark of night. We were not yet sure of how many people would show, but we knew that even if it were only 10 people standing together, it would be a success.

As we tried to make our way from the press center to the front, we kept being turned around, the crowds were so thick. Finally, we tried to walk straight up the center. Men looked at us trying to make our way and did not really want to move until we told them who we were.

It was not really the fact of telling them, they saw our credentials and asked what publications we were from. We told them proudly, “The Amsterdam News.” At the hearing of those words, their faces changed and a chant began: “Let the Black press through, let the Black press through.”

From that point on, the men, instead of impeding our progress, did everything in their power to see to it that we arrived up front without incident.

We made our way over a wall and into the press pen. Hundreds of reporters and photographers were gathered there. There was a sense of camaraderie between all those involved.

As the sun began to appear over the Capitol and the light shone on the sea of faces waiting for the day to begin, a sense of hope and pride was renewed. By 10 a.m., there was no ground visible from the base of the Capitol to the Washington Monument. By noon, there were people as far as the eye could see.

Entire families came together for this day. Fathers and sons, mothers and sons, and grandparents. The people knew that by their participation, they could add their

names to history.

The huge crowd stood most of the day, listening intensely to the words of those on stage. Emotions overflowed as the feeling of unity ran like wildfire over the millionplus crowd. The Million Man March lived up to its name.

Outside the press area, it was evident

direction, you don’t see any land, you see people and that is amazing that this many people can come together like this.”

Although the official estimates from the National Park Services were around 400,000 people, the actual numbers were more than double that. The crowd stretched from the base of the Capitol all the way to the Lin-

that the crowds were just going to keep coming and coming and coming. Mr. Dice and his son Tony came from Maryland for the march. “This march had the same spirit as King’s march, people feel it is time for a change, and I think what you are seeing now is indicative of the overwhelming sentiment of Black men that change has to come,” offered Dice.

His 14-year-old son chimed in, agreeing with what his father had said and added, “I think it is amazing, you look out in any

Over 1 million strong, the MMM called on the Black men of this country to do more for themselves and their families. At the podium, several young people spoke. They talked about what they needed from the men in society, and how with the leadership of their fathers, grandfathers, and brothers, they can accomplish great things.

Alleynde Baptiste, a 14-year-old orator from Chicago, said in his speech, “You must change today, so that tomorrow will dare to

be different.”

The young people at the march know that their future hangs in the balance. They hope for a better tomorrow, and believe that this show of unity and strength will go a long way toward bringing that tomorrow to fruition.

Tiffany Jamille Mayo, a 10-year-old girl, read a poem by Maya Angelou with words added by Minister Louis Farrakhan. “Thank you for this power march. I know it’s all for me, I represent the Black woman of the 21st century … I’m everyone’s daughter and everyone’s friend, and everyone’s me. I must count on your clean devotion to me. I am not yet a woman, even if I pretend to be. I am tender enough to curl into the palm of your hand. I need the protection of every Black man …”

Two young men followed with a poem about fathers, and the fact that if men want to be called fathers, they must live up to the name. “Wake up, my father! Wake up, my father! Wake up, get up, our fathers, hear and fill our needs. An emergency alarm had to go off in the minds and hearts of all those that want to be called daddy. I need your strength. To all those that want to be called pops, I need your respect. For all those that want to be called big brother, I need your courage. For all those of you who want to be called grandpa, I need your wisdom and legacy. To all those that want to be called father, we need your discipline. We need your unconditional love to guide us to our future, father.”

Lt. Michael Smith of the D.C. Fire and E.M.S. Dept. said rather knowingly, “Everyone was in harmony today.”

For the 70% Black population of Washington, D.C. it was strange indeed that there were no arrests, and no fires on that special Monday in October when Black men made all America stand still.

A message was sent on the 16th of October. It came from the children, the women, and the leaders. It said that it is time to take responsibility, to make a change. One million men came out to hear that message. And the message they gave back in return was that they are willing and ready to make tomorrow a better place.

Over 1 million men came, thousands of women did, too. By day’s end, the hundreds of thousands of weary marchers started their trek back home, energized by a promise they made to themselves that tomorrow will be whatever they make it.

On the train back to New York, those exhausted by a day in the sun sat around talking about the march. They were happy to have been part of it. At stations along the way, young Black women welcomed their men back home, showing them that they are there to support them.

It was a great day, one I will not soon forget. One of the things that will always stand out in my memory of this day will be the children who spoke to their fathers, and the fathers that listened to them.

At Bank of America, we’re driven by the opportunity to help our clients here in New York City grow their businesses, impact communities and forge legacies. With competitive pay and world-class benefits, we’re also building our own futures.

José Tavarez President, Bank of America New York City

Could the Nobel Peace Prize quench Trump’s dictatorial thirst?

Maybe, and that’s a big maybe, peace has come at last in the Middle East, most jubilantly in Israel and Gaza. There was widespread joy on both sides over the two-year war that took an untold number of Jewish and Palestinian lives, and no celebrant could have been more pleased by the ceasefire than Donald Trump.

His victory lap, which many of his critics deemed nothing more than another ego trip, should provide him with more gravitas in his quest for the Nobel Peace Prize next year.

Even as he missed out on the prestigious honor this year, the winner, Maria Corina Machado, a prominent opposition leader in Venezuela against the governments of the late Hugo Chavez and current president Nicholas Maduro, believed that Trump should be given the award next year.

Popular entertainer John Legend has also voiced his support for Trump to be the recipient in 2026 (but only as a joke, saying he needs to “drop the dictator s—.”) This is sure to be a resonant theme for several months, particularly as Trump completes his tour of Israel and Egypt, and there are sure to be others cheering him on in this pursuit.

Don’t be surprised if Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu joins the chorus, especially since he desperately needs Trump’s help in the next elections in Israel. And how strange it was to have a ceasefire agreement with neither Netanyahu nor a major Hamas leader at the meeting. A cessation of gunfire doesn’t mean everything is settled between these contentious forces.

There was even a subdued rumble in the Knesset during Trump’s hour-long preface to the peace talks. Let us hope that Hamas is decommissioned, sets aside its weapons, and that the Israelis have acquired enough retaliation for the October 7, 2023 attack.

We know this is wishful thinking, and that any minor incident could precipitate another major round of combat. Maybe, and again maybe, Trump is sufficiently satisfied with this accomplishment and can return home and tend to the shutdown and put an end to his militarization of American cities. We know we have lots of maybes on the plate.

What our country needs now: Connection through service

By LAURA ROG

In the shadow of 9/11 National Day of Service and at a moment when division dominates our news feeds and affects the way we see our community and the country, one of the clearest paths forward is also one of the simplest: connecting with one another through service.

Volunteering has always been part of New York City culture — we have turned to each other through disasters, tragedy, and blue-sky times. Being “of service” is a responsibility we share as both stewards of our neighborhoods and to each other. Because New Yorkers know — and we now have research to support — that when we serve, we strengthen trust, bridge divides, and remind ourselves of the power of working together toward a good that serves us all.

NYC Service recently surveyed more than 8,000 New Yorkers, leading to our report “The Power of Volunteering: Findings on Connection, Unity, and Health of Volunteers in NYC.” New Yorkers overwhelmingly detailed how volunteering improves their personal well-being. Nearly 80% reported that volunteering helps build bridges across political differences and 65% of New Yorkers said volunteering helped them feel less lonely.

We also saw that after being involved, 82% of volunteers in New York City reported stronger ties to their communities, greater purpose, and more willingness to see service as a way to deliver equity and justice in their neighborhoods. These findings are critical to a path forward: We need to feel a sense of agency around our country and world, and recognize once again that our greatest asset is each other.

to take — to seek opportunities, volunteer, and strengthen the ties that hold our neighborhoods and our nation together. Find opportunities to volunteer and “The Power of Volunteering” report at nyc.gov/service.

Laura Rog is chief service officer at NYC Service, where she drives volunteer strategy, including emergency response efforts, civic engagement research, community-based resource development, and youth-focused initiatives.

Elinor R. Tatum: Publisher and Editor in Chief

Madison

Damaso

Gray: Executive & Investigative Editor

This evidence should also serve as a call to action. Whether you are a lifelong resident or new to your community, serving others is one of the most effective ways to invest in both personal well-being and the health of our democracy. The greatest acts can sometimes be found in the smallest steps, and we march forward putting one foot in front of the other. Help your neighbor clean a storm drain. Mentor a young person. Clean a park with your family or friends. Record historical documents with the Department of Records. Stock a local food pantry. In short, volunteer. Our society needs unity, trust, and connection. Service provides all of these and more. This report is a reminder that the potential for a new horizon is ours

"Whether you are a lifelong resident or new to your community, serving others is one of the most effective ways to invest in both personal wellbeing and the health of our democracy."

Rev. Jesse L. Douglas, an unheralded civil rights activist

By HERB BOYD Special to the AmNews

When Jesse Lee Douglas, Sr. died four years ago, it went mainly unnoticed by the mainstream media. Not being recognized and celebrated was consistent with the life of a man who made his mark behind the scenes, most notably for his role in helping to organize the historic march from Selma to Montgomery in 1965. But this was just one of the many key events during the civil rights campaign where Douglas was a key organizer or leader.

Douglas was born on August 9, 1930, in New Orleans. His father, William Douglas, was a chef for the United States Merchant Marines, and his mother, Isabella Douglas, worked as a maid. He was often misidentified as a white man, but he was a Black man affected by albinism, the rare genetic disorder that leaves his skin without pigmentation.

Douglas often said that his albinism spared him from being harassed and beaten by the police. He attended Dillard University and then transferred to Lane College, from which he graduated in 1959.

He was a student at the Interdenominational Theological Center in Atlanta (ITC) when Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. inspired him to lead a protest in the cafeteria in the Georgia State Capitol in 1960. That act to desegregate the cafeteria resulted in a landmark lawsuit, Douglas and Reynolds v. Vandenburg, that eventually led to all the facilities in the Capitol building being desegregated.

Later, he received his Doctor of Ministry degree from the ITC. As a minister, he pastored several churches, including one in Detroit at Metropolitan CME Church. He married Blanch Gordon in 1962, and they remained a couple until she died in 2015. They had three children, Adrienne, Jesse Jr., and Winston.

From 1963 to 1966, Douglas was president of the Montgomery Improvement Association, and it was in this capacity that he spearheaded the Selma march. There is one widely published photo of him being linked arm in arm with Dr. King, Rev. Ralph Abernathy, John Lewis, and James Forman.

In an interview he gave to The Park Church Charlotte in 2013, he left advice for the current generation as it navigates the current Civil Rights challenges.

“I would say learn to love one another, it’s the greatest force on Earth,” said Douglas. “Jesus said in his 11th commandment before he ascended into heaven, I want you to love one another as I have loved you, and if you have love one to another then all men will know that you are my disciples.”

“...Jesus Christ was the epitome of love and if we are to move ahead we’ve got to learn to love each other not because of.”

FDNY EMS: Is city giving us diversity without dignity?

By SHAKERIA M. THOMAS

What is the true value of a life in New York City? According to City Hall, it’s just above minimum wage, but certainly less than $20.

About $18.94 per hour is about all our city leaders are willing to pay Fire Department of New York (FDNY) Emergency Medical Technicians (EMTs) to serve as our “Street Doctors,” faithfully protecting city residents no matter how harrowing the circumstances. For someone with such a high level of medical training and experience to be paid that low seems kind of absurd.

Every single day, my colleagues and I are out there saving lives. We are the members of the busiest Emergency Medical Service (EMS) responder agency on the planet, yet we are forced to survive on poverty wages.

Is this how we are supposed to treat our role models in society, and even perhaps heroes, who are focused on saving life each day?

Since COVID struck in 2020, the number of New York City resident medical emergencies has risen sharply with each passing year. We are doing more critical work than ever, for pay we can barely live on.

Last year, New York City’s brave EMTs and paramedics responded to a record 1,630,446 medical emergencies across the five boroughs — yes: more than a million and a half incidents. That is a 15.4% increase since the peak of the pandemic. It also represents 86% of the nearly 1.9 million total emergencies responded to by the entire FDNY.

There really must be something wrong here with a city government leadership that is so blind or insensitive to New Yorkers’ real need for quality FDNY EMS pro-

tections. Yet the salaries of this mostly female and minority workforce are dwarfed by fellow first responders with whom they work shoulder to shoulder.

NYPD officers’ starting salary is $60,884, a figure that rises quickly to $126,410. Firefighters begin at $54,122, which rises to $109,532 after five and a half years.

FDNY EMTs, who start at just under $19 per hour, make less than $40,000 a year, with everyone topping out at $59,534 after five years of serving on the mean streets of New York City. That compensation is less than half of what our great police officers and firefighters get, who rightfully deserve proper compensation for their dangerous and difficult jobs.

However, elected leaders must recognize FDNY EMS as the critical lifesaving asset that it is. Our members respond continually to life-threatening strokes, cardiac events, stabbings, shootings, serious mental health episodes, drug overdoses, unknown virus outbreaks, and chemical, radiological, biological, or nuclear scares, all which endanger themselves in the process.

The EMS mosaic is representative of our diverse city population, but it seems to fly in the face of the department’s recruiting pitch and politicos hailing diversity initiatives while they hypocritically underpay those on their own payroll.

The mistreatment of these medical first responders has resulted in a toxic 70% brain drain, with most members quitting during the first few years on this extremely tough and dangerous job.

That continuous outflow of skilled medical staff would hurt any hospital or medical practice and certainly harms the ability of the EMS to protect the citizens of each borough. The impact of disinvestment in the FDNY EMS is illustrated in the latest Mayor’s Management Report, which

shows response times to life-threatening medical emergencies were 11 minutes and 21 seconds in fiscal year 2025, up 1 minute 47 seconds over the last four years.

Think about it: If it’s your loved one suffering a heart attack or stroke, those 11 minutes until an ambulance arrives — not at your door but instead outside the building where the emergency is taking place — take forever. When life is on the line, every second counts.

Politicians proclaim they want the FDNY to be more diverse and reflective of the city’s population, yet they condone this horrific treatment of the most diverse portion of the agency.

The last Brooklyn borough president said that if elected mayor, he would make it a priority to create wage equity for the EMS with police and fire. Since taking office and enjoying its power and prestige, Mayor Eric Adams has offered us only verbal compliments. Message to City Hall: Your workforce can’t buy groceries or pay rent with hollow words.

The members of FDNY EMS Local 2507 have attempted for years now to achieve a fair contract. The mayor’s spokesperson always says they are “in negotiations,” but even if you repeat an untruth 100 times, it’s still a lie. There is no good faith at all in City Hall.

Despite it all, the 4,300 members of the FDNY EMS continue to save lives throughout this great city that is far too expensive for us to live in. Some of our members live in homeless shelters or cars, until they can’t take it any longer, and just quit.

City leaders should be ashamed.

Shakeria M. Thomas is a 13-year veteran of the FDNY, serving as an EMT and, for the past three years, as a member of the department’s specialized Mental Health Response Division.

What does it really mean to be an American?

CHRISTINA GREER, PH.D.

Whenever “Columbus Day,” now more commonly known as Indigenous Peoples Day, rolls around, I always have deep questions about what it really means to be an American. Yes, I gladly take the day off of work and enjoy the rest, but I am always left struggling with what this identity truly means, especially now.

Even though there have been great attempts to erase the founding brutalities of this nation, the genocide of native peoples and the enslavement of African newcomers, as we fast-forward roughly four centuries, we are still grappling with exactly who can claim the mantle of “American.” I pondered this question in my first book, Black Ethnics: Race, Immigration, and the Pursuit of the American Dream (Oxford University Press, 2013), when I asked if Black people could ever be considered Americans without a prefix attached to their American status. As we see ICE raids on immigrant communities, both undocumented and documented, and now Black American communities, questions that we thought we were once asked and answered are now once again fresh in the minds of many.

For this particular administration, the answer is simple: To be American is to be white. That is nonnegotiable for this current administration, everyone else is called into question. Many in this current presidential administration are only second- or third-generation American, but it matters not to them. Their identification as white emboldens them to believe that they are the true (and only) individuals able and allowed to claim themselves as the

true Americans worthy of being on this soil; all others are called into question, no matter their generational status.

As the vice president rails against immigrants, he clearly does not look at members of his own wife’s family (same for the president). The hypocrisy is astounding and, for so many families and communities, the cruelty is frightening. Now more than ever, it is imperative that racial and ethnic groups build coalitions (whether short-term or long-term) to help protect one another from an administration that is very clear about wanting to return America back into a country where women, people of color, and immigrants have little if any rights. The attacks on diversity, equity, and inclusion were the first blow, and the current tactics of ICE agents have been the second more physical blow. Mandating that schools and universities make pledges and pacts to follow the exclusionary whims of this administration are tactics of brutal dictators. For so many Black people in this country, our parents and grandparents remember the days of rampant racism and inequity, and we are swiftly and sadly losing any strides we once made. This is not acceptable and as Americans, it is our duty not to accept this as the new normal.

Christina Greer, Ph.D., is an associate professor at Fordham University; author of the books “How to Build a Democracy: From Fannie Lou Hamer and Barbara Jordan to Stacey Abrams” and “Black Ethnics: Race, Immigration, and the Pursuit of the American Dream”; and co-host of the podcast FAQ-NYC.

By JESÚS CHUCHO GARCIA

Special to the AmNews

Translated by

KAREN JUANITA CARRILLO

Amsterdam News Staff

COTONOU, BENIN — In the Republic of Benin, the fight for women’s rights and dignity is gaining momentum. Dahoun Nondjinon Landros Biova, a sociologist and anthropologist who leads the Association des Femmes Leaders Sitsope le Refuge-Benin (AFSLR-Benin), is one of the leaders of the movement and is building a reputation as a champion for women’s rights.

“We operate within a society that relegates women to a secondary role, viewing them as objects and not central protagonists,” Landros Biova said. “Our objectives include contributing to the elimination of gender disparities, improving living conditions for women, combating forced marriages, and mobilizing against clitoridectomy, in line with national and international conventions on women’s rights.”

Although there’s been progress, gender-based violence and human rights abuses — including forced marriages, abductions, and the ongoing practice of clitoridectomy — remain prevalent across Africa and in Benin. Media outlets and international organizations keep documenting these violations, stressing the urgent need for change.

AFSLR-Benin was established to take on these challenges. Based in the Hountondji neighborhood of Cotonou, the organization was created to help eliminate gender disparities, improve living conditions for women, combat forced marriages, and mobilize against harmful practices.

This means challenges still remain for women in the country. According to a World Bank blog entry from 2023, “[women] have less access [to] physical or financial assets and are underrepresented in political bodies. There is an urgency to act, especially with respect to the multiple forms of gender-based violence that women and girls are exposed to. 31.7% of women aged 20

International News

In Benin, women are waging a fight for dignity and equality

to 49 were already in a union before the age of 18.”

Women make up nearly half of Benin’s population — 49.86 %, according to recent data — and, according to the World Bank, they play a vital role in agriculture and local markets, yet female representation

in Benin’s political decision-making remains limited, with women holding only 26.6% of parliamentary seats and remaining underrepresented in mayoral, gubernatorial, and ministerial positions.

AFSLR-Benin, which was legally registered on January 22, 2018,

is committed to supporting initiatives aligned with the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals, particularly those focused on gender equality and women’s empowerment. Through advocacy campaigns and community outreach in French and local languag-

es, including banners, arts, theater, and music, the organization raises awareness about women’s rights and combats violence against women and girls. AFSLR-Benin’s educational platforms inform women and girls about their rights and avenues for redress.

In Benin, formerly known as the Kingdom of Dahomey, women warriors called Agojie historically played an important role in resisting colonial oppression. The country’s feminists point to the fact that Benin’s cultural heritage is rooted in women’s contributions to local development, particularly in rural communities.

Today, women in Benin are starting to make their presence felt in more of the country’s professional sectors. Recent legal reforms, including the November 2019 constitutional amendments enacted by the National Assembly, mandate a minimum of 24 seats for women to ensure they have political representation. Still, the ongoing struggle for gender equality continues to be a national priority.

To contact the Association des Femmes Leaders Sitsope le RefugeBenin, email to assofem2013@ gmail.com.

NYU students celebrate cancellation of NSA at campus career fair

By EMMA DELAHANTY Special to the AmNews

Despite a protest that could have escalated, the New York University Chapter of Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) got their wish for the National Security Agency (NSA) to cancel its appearance at a recent career fair at the school’s engineering campus in Brooklyn.

The science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) career fair, held on October 8, was a place for students to come in and search for future job opportunities, but when the NSA was welcomed to the school, students did not feel safe.

The plan was to picket outside of the fair, and for students to know to stay away, but the picket did not happen because the NSA was removed from the event list on Monday.

NYU Tandon School of Engineering public affairs officer Leah Schmerl told the AmNews, “The NSA informed us that they were unable to attend the Career Fair due to the federal government shutdown.”

On Monday, NYU engineering student Ebtesham Ahmed, 21, saw that the NSA was removed from the employer list, and

when they reached out to the college, was told the NSA would not join due to the government shutdown.

However, SDS members say it was their opposition to having the NSA come to campus that warded them off. About 60 students signed a petition demanding that the agency not be present because of claims of sharing data for unethical surveillance purposes.

“It was because of the government shutdown and what we do recognize is that that definitely does play a factor, [but] we also believe our campaign pressure” also

worked, said Ahmed.

An Instagram post from the campus organization read, “The National Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) declares victory for our campaign to remove the National Security Agency (NSA) from the Fall career fair at NYU Tandon.”

The NSA did not respond to queries from the AmNews.

The New York University Chapter of SDS is a student organization founded in 2023 that meets every Thursday to discuss their campaigns, which currently include “demanding” that NYU become a sanctuary

campus, and not to comply with President Donald Trump.

The organization has stood against the NSA’s presence, believing the agency is also complicit in the violence in Palestine.

“It’s known that they shared data with the Israeli military, who use this to train killer AI that is used to target and kill Palestinians,” Ahmed said.

Ahmed said that while many students did not know what the NSA was, when they were told what it does, there was almost complete shock that it would appear on the NYU campus.

Arts & Entertainment

Neo-soul icon D’Angelo dead at age 51

Born Michael Eugene Archer on February 11, 1974 in Richmond, Virginia, neo-soul icon D’Angelo passed away on October 14 at Sloan Kettering Hospital on the Upper East Side in New York City after a battle with pancreatic cancer. The four-time Grammy Award winner’s family issued the following statement to Variety: “The shining star of our family has dimmed his light for us in this life. After a prolonged and courageous battle with cancer, we are heartbroken to announce that Michael D’Angelo Archer, known to his fans around the world as D’Angelo, has been called home, departing this life today, October 14, 2025. We are saddened that he can only leave dear memories with the family, but we are eternally grateful for the legacy of extraordinary moving music he leaves behind.”

The son and grandson of ministers, D’Angelo began showing his musical

talent as a child. Aside from his melodious voice as a singer, he played piano, keyboards, drums, and the guitar. His first foray onto the music scene was when he wrote the single “U Will Know” for Black Men United, an R&B supergroup which included Brian McKnight, Usher, R. Kelly, Boyz II Men, Raphael Saadiq, and Gerald

Levert. The track was featured in the 1994 film, “Jason’s Lyric.” In 1995, his debut studio album, Brown Sugar, was certified platinum and is renowned for starting the neo-soul movement. His album Voodoo came out in 2000, and his final album, Black Messiah, in 2014. The prolific musician’s final recorded song was a duet in

2024 with Jay-Z called “I Want You Forever” for the soundtrack of "The Book of Clarence," a Jeymes Samuel film.

D’Angelo never married, but was the father of three children. He had his eldest son, Michael D’Angelo Archer II, in 1998 with former girlfriend Angie Stone, with whom he collaborated with on music. She preceded him in death on March 1, 2025, in a car crash near Montgomery, Alabama. Their son performs under the name Swayvo Twain. D’Angelo had two other children, a daughter born in 1999 and a son in 2010.

Renowned journalist Marc Lamont Hill remembered D’Angelo in a statement on X, formerly Twitter: “My sources tell me that D’Angelo has passed. Wow, I have no words. May he rest in perfect peace.”

Says Michael Archer Ii, D’Angelo’s son with Angie Stone in a statement, “I am grateful for your thoughts and prayers: during these very difficult times, as it has been hard for me. I ask that you please continue to keep me in your thoughts as it will not be easy: but one thing that both my parents taught me was to be strong, and I intend to do just that.”

Trends

Spring / Summer ’26 Fashion Report

By RENEE MINUS WHITE Fashion & Beauty Editor

For Spring/Summer ’26, fashion presentations have changed, though there are still some designers putting on shows throughout the city. Designers & Agencies (D&A) changed their format from presenting designer runway shows to an international designer and manufacturer showcase at 601 W. 26th St. (Think: an event in the Jacob Javitt’s Center). D&A’s event floor was well planned and filled with merchandise displayed in booths created and sold by designers and merchandisers. For men, women, and children, there was a wide variety of merchandise like sportswear, raincoats, hats, accessories, boots, jewelry, hand-

bags, beautiful scarves, boots, shoes, jewelry, and bedding. Light refreshments were served in the seating area. Colors were bright, fabrics soft, and prints were a fusion of floral, abstract, and figurative designs. In a booth way in the back, Sundara & Pajama Jams displayed a magnificent collection of sportswear, skirts, jackets, dresses, children’s wear, and bedding, including comforters, shams, and pillowcases. Ericka Tucker, an African American designer/manufacturer from Newark, NJ, was on hand, selling her goods at the D&A event. It was a joy to see her booth so busy. In between customers, Tucker shared that if you buy a pair of her pajamas, she will give a pajama set away to an under-

privileged child or adult. Designer Ericka Tucker’s collection focuses on soft, natural fabrics, and prints. Her bedding line is fluffy and ruffled. Great for home decorating, Erika Tucker’s line looks and feels comfortable. To order Sundara & Pajama Jams, email Erika@sundaratextiles.com, call 240-344-8929, or visit sundaratextiles.com. You can also follow her on Instagram at @sundaratextiles.

Footwear fashion from Spain stood out. In trends, look for twotone cowboy boots, pony flats, saddle-shaped shoulder bags, and platform espadrilles. At D&A, there were many family and generational businesses on the floor. The scarves were outstanding. You can wear them as shawls, skirts, beach cover-ups, and head-ties.

For style, think Audrey Hepburn. Uptown, last month, Harlem Fashion Week (HFW) presented “Season 15: Harlem Nights” at the newly renovated Harlem School of the Arts. Their fashion lineup included a bold, immersive runway collection that is inspired by the revolutionary creativity of the Harlem Renaissance. The looks were glorious, celebrating Harlem’s culture. Reshaping the future of fashion, global unsung designers and disrupters were featured. Harlem Fashion Week also introduced its headlining designer, Nina Parker, a television host and producer.

Known for breaking industry boundaries, Parker made history as the first Black woman to launch a plus-size clothing line that sold

exclusively at Macy’s. Her brand celebrates bold, feminine size, inclusivity, and powerful self-expression. From the red carpet to the design studio, Nina Parker has become a cultural force, using her voice and platform to champion body positivity and representation for women of color. Her NYFW debut was a powerful statement of style, confidence, glamour, and unapologetic authenticity. Earlier in the week, Ms. Parker appeared at a reception at Chase Bank on 125th St.

Harlem Fashion Week, founded in 2016 by mother-daughter duo Tundra Burkett and Yvonne Jewell of Yvonne Jewell New York LLC, was created to spotlight emerging designers in the heart of Harlem.

Sweet Catch BK’s unapologetically Black anniversary party celebrates with Ten to One Rum partnership

By BRENIKA BANKS Special to the AmNews

The importance of Black ownership within the hospitality industry is critical, especially in predominantly Caribbean and Black neighborhoods. Seafoodmeets-soul-food establishment

Sweet Catch BK recently co-hosted its third anniversary dinner party with Ten to One Rum. The celebration was held on Thursday, Sept. 25, at Sweet Catch BK’s location in Prospect Lefferts Gardens. Restaurant owner Ka-Wana Jefferson and the Caribbean rum company’s Market Manager, Eli Servance III, spoke about the significance of Black ownership within the hospitality industry as well as its challenges.

Jefferson led her team as she greeted guests and customers while making sure her restaurant’s “3rd Year Anniversary Unapologetically Black Dinner Party” went as planned. Her crew worked hard to ensure everyone in attendance, including Black media outlets, customers, and friends and family

members, had a fantastic experience. The restaurant’s newest member, Chef Erica, was praised for her outstanding contributions to the brand. The dinner was curated by their guest chef, Alex, and main chef Erica.

Sweet Catch BK opened in September 2022. The establishment’s Brand General Manager, Nucomme, also known as the “Magic Person for Sweet Catch,” hosted the dinner celebration. Jefferson and her crew proved their resilience after some uncertainty about the restaurant’s future earlier this year. Jefferson described her establishment’s environment as looking “a lot different.” The owner was concerned about her number of customers months ago. Nucomme provided comfort for Jefferson, along with their staff, through that challenging time.

“That’s just a testimony of where we were then to where we are now,” said Jefferson. She humbly thanked her staff for their support. “This is a big milestone for us, so I really appreciate you all being here to celebrate,” she con-

tinued. “I’m so happy that we are in a different place — I owe it to my team, one hundred percent.”

Jefferson praised her chef, Erica, who joined the Sweet Catch crew over a year ago. “She’s changed the trajectory of what we have going,” said Jefferson. “You cannot grow a restaurant without consistency.”

freshed pace and partnership with Ten to One Rum. This collaboration’s objective is to showcase the importance of Black hospitality’s existence and unity. Ten to One was founded in July 2019 by Marc Farrell. The Trinidad and Tobago native moved to the United States at 16, where he attended different

According to the National Restaurant Association, 16% of restaurant firms are Black or African American-owned. For New York State specifically, that accounts for only 10% of restaurants with Black owners.

Sweet Catch BK has found a re-

colleges and universities to learn business. After spending time as the CEO at a major coffee chain, Farrell decided to pursue a business that resonated more with his Caribbean background.

“Our whole thing is strength in

numbers and building a community,” said Market Manager Eli Servance III. Every bottle of their rum represents other Caribbean countries, including Jamaica, the Dominican Republic, and Barbados. This is the first Black owned rum company in the United States. Ten to One Rum is intentionally in many Black owned places, like Sweet Catch BK, which echoes their value to build up the Black community.

“We’re always doing business with ourselves — of course, we want to elevate each other, build this community,” said Servance III. During the dinner party, he mentioned the negative perception about rum due to pirates and ships. Ten to One Rum aims to erase those negative beliefs and present rum as a source that elevates Black communities and businesses. The rum brand recently received a new investment from Atlanta singer & performer Ciara. Ten to One Rum is available now at Sweet Catch BK. For more information, please visit sweetcatchbk. com and tentoonerum.com.

Beauty & style ‘gospel’ — according to André Leon Talley

By BRENIKA BANKS

Special to the AmNews

The Metrograph movie theater recently hosted a screening of “The Gospel According to André,” where filmmaker Kate Novack deep-dives into the career and life of fashion journalist, stylist, and creative director André Leon Talley. The screening coincides with the Met’s “Superfine: Tailoring Black Style” exhibition, which provides an insightful experience through the history of dandyism.

“Superfine: Tailoring Black Style” is based on the book “Slaves to Fashion: Black Dandyism and the Styling of Black Diasporic Identity,” published in 2009 and written by Monica L. Miller, Columbia University’s and Barnard College’s chair of Africana Studies and acclaimed scholar.

Fashion designer Marc Jacobs described Talley as “larger than life.” “I don’t live for fashion; I live for beauty and style,” Talley says in the opening line of the film. As a youth, Talley’s escape from reality was fashion magazines, specifically “Vogue.” “I loved seeing Black people in ‘Vogue,’” says Talley in the film.

French was Talley’s favorite subject and language to learn; he graduated with bachelor’s and master’s degrees in French literature. Knowing French came in very handy for him as he found his way into the fashion world. “When you wear a cap, you’re going to behave differently, walk differently, stand differently,” said Talley. He loved the world of Paris, fashion, and the runway.

He was also knowledgeable and talented. “You have to see the world from the kaleidoscope lens of a child and be in awe of everything,” said Talley.

made by his friend Patience Torlowei and is still on display in the Met’s “Superfine: Tailoring Black Style” exhibition.

Toward the end of the film, Talley revisits his childhood church and old neighborhood after he “made it.” The film ends with his closest friends speaking about how Talley’s dreams did indeed come true.

Miller, co-curator of the Met’s “Superfine” exhibition, conducted a conversation with fashion model and activist Bethann Hardison after a late-September viewing of the film. From the after-film chat, it was clear that Miller thought Talley would be proud and happy about the representation of Black culture in the “Superfine” exhibition.

Talley’s vulnerability was on full display throughout the film. “Any documentary film, when I think about an iconic figure, is both about setting up a narrative and peeling back that vulnerability,” said Miller. She mentioned how that narrative and vulnerability go together in this film, especially people from Talley’s early life.

Hardison talked about how conservative Talley was, although he loved the fashion world. “There will never be another [André],” she said. “André [was] such a genius human that it’s true: the things he would say, the way he would speak about things and how he would become so sensitive about things. What I loved about him the most is that he knew himself.”

Talley’s southern and racist experiences made him unique. “He’s like a Black superhero,” Tameron Hall says in the film. Talley’s West African piece, “Caftan,” was

Talley died on January 18, 2022, from complications of a heart attack.

“Superfine: Tailoring Black Style” at the Met closes on October 26.

Celebrating John Coltrane

Robin Bell-Stevens, Jazzmobile’s director and executive producer, along with Voza Rivers, executive producer of the New Heritage Theatre Group, State Senator Cordell Cleare, and a host of others, came together for the John Coltrane Jazz Appreciation Day Festival, held in Harlem’s Marcus Garvey Park on October 10, to celebrate the legend and to highlight the mission of pre-

senting fantastic music programming. Dr. Mannan and the all-star lineup of jazz greats included Dr. John “Satchmo” Mannan, Patience Higgins, Camille Thurman, and more.

Jazz Notes: BRIC, Harlem Writers Guild, Nat Adderley, Jr.

The keyboardist/pianist and composer Nat Adderley, Jr. describes himself as an R&B artist — somewhat modest, considering his many successful years (1981–2005). As the arranger, composer, and music director for the legendary R&B singer Luther Vandross, a collaboration that lasted until the singer’s death, his songs that contributed to the singer’s chart-busting career include “Stop to Love,” “Wait for Love,” and the Grammynominated “Give Me the Reason”; his arrangements for Luther include “Superstar,” “So Amazing,” “If Only for One Night,” and “Never Too Much.”

After four decades with Luther and another 10 years honing his improvisational skills in the tristate area of NYC, NJ, and CT, Nat steps into his family legacy as a jazz musician, following his legendary father, cornetist and composer Nat, Sr., and his uncle, alto saxophonist Cannonball Adderley. His debut album as a jazz pianist and leader, appropriately titled “Took So Long,” was just released on October 14, on his own NAJ independent label. The album includes 10 covers plus Nat’s original self-titled track.

“Took So Long” is a beautiful romping ballad with light drum cymbals, whispering bass, and Nat’s jazz piano leading the dance with bold flurries of colorful, rhythmic tones. Nat adds spice to the well-traveled “Old Devil Moon,” up tempo with a Latin tinge, a bouncy piano with open space for a hip drum stroll. His Luther-collaborated “Superstar” is transformed from a compassionate, heartfelt ballad into a bopping heartbeat with drums blazing. On Billie Holiday’s signature “Don’t Explain,” he debuts with his daughter Alana offering a radiant eloquence that will enthrall listeners. Stevie Wonder’s “You and I (We Can Conquer the World)” is swinging in a 4/4 makeover.

“Took So Long” is an intriguing album that extends Nat’s R&B arranging brilliance to the jazz forum. “I’m still working on my improvisational chops — it’s going to take a while to perfect,” he said during our phone interview. ”This idea of starting a jazz career and releasing my first jazz album at this

age makes me nervous. I will feel much better once the album is released and people have responded. During my years with Luther, each performance was basically the same — we performed each song as it appeared on the album — but jazz is more complicated, with constant improvisation.”

On the new record, the pianist is accompanied by longtime bandmates bassist Chris Berger and drummers Tommy Campbell, Dwayne Cook Broadnax, and Vince Ector, playing a dazzling assortment of standards that feature the creative arrangements of Adderley. His sound somewhat resembles pianist Erroll Garner. Nat plays fewer notes, allowing more open phrasing space, but like Garner, he has that subtle, highflyin’ bouncy flow.

Summer’s burning sun has faded into brisk-autumn chills, but October has some heat of its own with warm jazz winds blowing from the BRIC JazzFest, October 17–18, at Downtown Brooklyn’s BRIC House.

The festival, known for bringing world diversity to Brooklyn, continues its 11th year with a fierce lineup featuring London-based saxophonist and composer Nubya Garcia, mixing her Caribbean roots with a taste of avant gardism; the ensemble Saha Gnawa embracing its North African futurism, uniting the founders of Innov Gnawa with leading artists from New York City’s jazz music

scenes to reimagine modern Gnawa music; and OKAN, led by Cuban-born violinist/vocalist Elizabeth Rodriguez and percussionist/vocalist Magdelys Savigne fusing Afro-Cuban roots with jazz and global rhythms.

This genre-defying lineup extends even further with the music of NEA Jazz Master vocalist Dee Dee Bridgewater; bassist and composer Endea Owens & Cookout; the eclectic sounds of trumpeter/composer/producer Chief Adjuah (formerly Chrisitan Scott), recognized as the architect of the “Stretch Music” style, his inventive extension of the jazz genre; and the jazz artists of social media New Jazz Underground, with a following of more than 90,000 subscribers on YouTube, through their viral videos. The trio comprises Abdias Armenteros (the youngest member of the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra), Sebastian Rios, and TJ Reddick.

As America struggles under such diabolical leadership, it is crucial to acknowledge that this year’s genre-defying lineup exemplifies jazz as a global language — shaped by migration, innovation, and collaboration, with half the groups led by women. The outcry for democracy for all continues in the streets and in this music.

The festival’s guest curator producer, multi-instrumentalist Adrian Younge, is known for bridging global Black musical traditions and speaking out against injustice

ets are $20. For more information, visit theaterforthenewcity.net.

The United States of America is perplexed; there’s a sinister power in Washington, D.C., ordering book bans and erasing Black history. As such disgraceful actions take place, the Harlem Writers Guild (HWG) celebrates its 75th anniversary on October 24 at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture (6 p.m.–9 p.m.).

The event theme — “When We Write, We Free the World” — reflects both the transformative power of storytelling and HWG’s enduring mission to inspire, challenge, and liberate through the written word.

through Jazz Is Dead, his co-founded record label with Ali Shaheed Muhammad. Younge brings a curatorial vision shaped by recent collaborations with Brazilian artists on his 2025 album “Something About April III,” as well as with legendary Ghanaian guitarist and composer Ebo Taylor.

These two nights bring imaginative performances, daring new voices, and global celebration of sound from Brooklyn to the world to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. Music transcends words, albums — like books — represent self-expression, freedom of speech!

For a complete schedule and times, visit bricartsmedia.org.

A Celebration of Black Theatre Excellence takes place on October 20 at the Theater for New City (155 First Avenue at 10th Street).

The event is a pre-AUDELCO celebration honoring Black Theatre’s AUDELCO Awards and the visionary women behind it: the late Vivian Robinson, Grace L. Jones, and current president Jackie Jefferies.

This Jazzy Thespians Night, a Rome Neal Banana Pudding Production, will feature Tina Fabrique, Jeffery V. Thompson, Frank Senior, and Omar Edwards. Musicians for the evening will include pianist Andre Chez Lewis, saxophonist Patience Higgins (AUDELCO’s longtime friend and performer), noted bassist Melissa Slocum, and drummer Wen-Teng Wu.

The event begins at 7 p.m. Tick-

Dr. Brenda M. Greene, founder and executive director emeritus of the Center for Black Literature, Medgar Evers College, CUNY, will receive the Inaugural John Oliver Killens Literary Leadership Award, recognizing her lifelong dedication to advancing Black literature and amplifying underrepresented voices. Poet, author, and Grammy-nominated spoken word artist Kevin Powell will deliver the keynote address.

The nonprofit HWG was founded in 1950 by John Oliver Killens, Rosa Guy, Dr. John Henrik Clarke, Willard Moore, and Walter Christmas, and has nurtured and championed some of the most influential Black voices in literature and the arts. Its members have included Dr. Maya Angelou, Audre Lorde, Paul Robeson, Lorraine Hansberry, Sidney Poitier, Ruby Dee, Ossie Davis, Louise Meriwether, Valerie Wilson Wesley, Terry McMillan, and Grace F. Edwards.

“This celebration is not only about honoring our history, but also about promoting our future — using our stories to empower, inspire hope, and remind the world that when we Write, Speak, and Act, We Free the World,” said Diane Richards, executive director of the guild.

To RSVP, visit eventbrite.com.

This week’s column is dedicated to my grandmother Lillian McCloud, whose birthday was on October 12. Unfortunately, she didn’t have an opportunity to read any of my published works, but she was a major influence in my life and is responsible for who I am today. How can you ever thank your grandmother for all her love and compassion, and saving you from a few butt beatings? Happy heavenly birthday, Grandma!

timely alternative for sustainably reducing gun violence in urban communities.

Loving the ‘Shooters’

Like many researchers who have studied urban gun violence, Boggan soon realized that only a handful of Richmond residents — 25 or so in a city of 100,000 — were responsible for most of the city’s gun violence.

But what set his approach apart was his belief that they could change, not through threats of incarceration or death, but through unconditional love.

“It’s all about seeing these individuals’ potential, despite themselves and what they’ve done. Ultimately, we see them as human beings,” Boggan writes in his book.

Such an approach required a change to the status quo in Richmond, as many of those at the center of firearm violence were not being reached by the existing social service infrastructure.

“It became clear to me early on, with these facts in front of me, that we had to create a new system of care, specifically to focus on this particular individual and the experiences that these individuals brought to the table, and that new system of care became the Peacemaker Fellowship,” Boggan said.

The Peacemaker Fellowship invites active firearm offenders into an intensive 18-to24-month mentoring program. Fellows maintain daily contact with their mentor, a “credible messenger” from their neighborhood who was once involved in the cycles of gun violence they are now tasked with stopping. The program also provides fellows with tailored social support services, like cognitive behavioral therapy or job training, as well travel opportunities and a financial stipend.

The fellowship is a key pillar of the Advance Peace model — a reflection of Boggan and Corbun’s belief that many of the young men they identified were living with unaddressed trauma.

“The mentorship, the engagement, the what we call ‘triple A’ always available adult in these young people’s lives, when they’ve often had very uncertain upbringings and experiences in their community … we know that that can radically alter and address traumas that people are carrying with them,” Corburn said.

Like many other community violence intervention strategies, Advance Peace workers also engage in street outreach and conflict mediation. The same individuals who provide mentoring for the Peacemaker Fellows, known as Neighborhood Change Agents (NCAs), are also responsible for intervening in any brewing conflicts that could turn violent.

The statistics suggest the model is working. Studies have found that Advance Peace contributed to a 55% reduction in gun homicides and assaults in Richmond, a 22% reduction in Sacramento, California, and a

24% reduction in Rochester, New York.

Of the 627 Fellows active across ten Advance Peace cities between 2021 and 2023, 84% reported no longer using a gun to resolve conflicts and 83% reported having improved mental health. 92% said they had a trusted adult in their lives, up from 18% at the beginning of the fellowship.

The stories of the Fellows and NCAs the authors share bring these impacts home.

Julian was a former gang leader from Stockton, California who joined Advance Peace as an NCA after being released from prison. When he joined Advance Peace, many in his community were skeptical that he could change, including a member of the police department’s gang unit who said he was one of the most violent individuals in the city. But Julian was determined, motivated by the desire to be a better role model to his nephew than he was to his son, who was in prison for murder.

In fact, Boggan said they often receive calls from other cities that are already implementing other violence intervention models.

“We’ll ask them … ‘Why are you reaching out to Advance Peace when you already have this?’” Boggan said. “The answer we get most often is, ‘Yes … and we believe those models are doing great work. But here’s the issue: we don’t believe they’re reaching the shooters.’”

Reflecting on the status of the CVI movement as a whole, Boggan and Corburn said that recent turbulence at the federal level means the onus and focus should be on local governments. President Trump’s Department of Justice recently reversed funding to these groups provided under the Biden administration.

“Tip O’Neill, the late congressman back in the day said, ‘all politics is local.’ CVI is local. And it must sit in our local governments that are impacted by retaliatory gun violence,” Boggan said.

“That’s where the rubber hits the road. That’s where the spending is or isn’t happening,” Corburn added. “And I think if we can address that, in some ways the federal, either investment or lack thereof, may be less important, if we can really get action at the local level.”

That means getting local governments to be more intentional with how they use their budgets. When Richmond first created the Office of Neighborhood Safety, the budget was just $750,000 per year.

“I tire of hearing local policymakers say, we just don’t have the money. No, you do have the money. You’re just making the decision to do something different with the money,” Boggan said.

Corburn and Boggan argue that the budget excuse is particularly unconvincing when considering how much cities are willing to spend on policing. New York City, which is often held up as a model for CVI investment, spends about $100 million on its violence intervention program, which has yet to expand into all of the most impacted communities. In comparison, it spends $5.8 billion on policing.

Corburn and Boggan also tell the story of one fellow who had just taken an Advance Peace trip with a member of a rival crew who was also in the Peacemaker Fellowship. He arrived home to the news that one member of his crew was shot, likely by a member of his rival’s crew. His crew were anxious for his go-ahead to retaliate. Instead, reflecting on the bond he had just made with his rival, he told his crew to stand down.

All politics is local Boggan and Corburn believe Advance Peace’s explicit focus on active firearm offenders sets it apart from other community violence intervention (CVI) models like Cure Violence or hospital-based violence intervention. Rather than viewing themselves in opposition or competition with those models, however, they believe the strategies can work alongside each other.

As the saying goes, city budgets are not just numbers, but a reflection of a city’s values. Boggan and Corburn hope their book will show policymakers why they must value CVI by making it a permanent part of their city’s public safety expenditures.

“It is time that CVI becomes much more than piecemeal, much more than an experiment, much more than, you know what, that’s a nice thing to do. It’s got to become a permanent public system investment,” Boggan said.

Shannon Chaffers is a Report for America corps member and writes about gun violence for the Amsterdam News. Your donation to match our RFA grant helps keep her writing stories like this one; please consider making a tax-deductible gift of any amount today by visiting https://bit. ly/amnews1.

Education

Candidates split on future of NYC’s gifted and talented program

By ARIAMA C. LONG Amsterdam News Staff

Educators are concerned about where the future of New York City schools’ longdebated gifted and talented (G&T) program stands in the mayoral election. But the top three candidates don’t agree on the issue.

Democratic nominee Zohran Mamdani is for phasing G&T out, while independent candidate former Governor Andrew Cuomo and Republican Curtis Sliwa are for expansion.

First introduced to the city’s public school system in the 1970s, the G&T application and admissions process rigorously tests “exceptional” students around the age of four. After the 1990s, the city’s G&T programs went from being controlled by individual school districts to a more centralized process with standardized tests under mayoral control.

Where a student gets accepted is also a factor for families to consider. Not all districts have G&T classrooms, and there are no citywide G&T schools in the Bronx, Staten Island, or parts of Queens and Brooklyn. Combined with the time-consuming admissions process, it’s yet another example of inequities and segregation in the system that tend to benefit white, Asian and affluent students.

Still, when the city considered dismantling the entire program in 2019 under former Mayor Bill de Blasio in the hopes of diversifying schools, many pushed back. Instead of elimination, some educators advocated for expansion of the program without a focus on standardized tests to give more Black, Hispanic, and low-income children a chance to get in.

Black and Hispanic children made up about 30% of students in G&T for the 20232024 school year, reported Chalkbeat. Up from 12% in 2020, which was before the standardized exam was removed.

Current Mayor Eric Adams broke with de Blasio’s plans and became a huge proponent of expanding the G&T program when he got in office. In 2022, he and former Schools Chancellor David Banks added 100 kindergarten seats and 1,000 third-grade seats to all school districts. Students would be evaluated by their teachers in pre-K and then nominated for the program. Adams concurred that expansion ensured every child had a “fair chance” to get into an accelerated program.

With Adams dropping out of the race, G&T may be back on the chopping block with whoever succeeds him.

“I will return to the previous policy,” said Mamdani in an interview with the New York Times, indicating that he’d resume

de Blasio’s plans for eliminating the G&T program. “Ultimately, my administration would aim to make sure that every child receives a high-quality early education that nurtures their curiosity and learning.”

Mamdani’s education platform hinges mostly on free childcare for all children under the age of five, a free baby basket resource for new parents and guardians, and fully funded after-school programs. But he has gone on record this month saying he would phase out the G&T program while keeping the controversial Specialized High Schools Admissions Test (SHSAT) in place. Historically, the SHSAT has been criticized for excluding certain students of color from the city’s elite high schools, only admitting a handful of Black and Hispanic students annually.

With just weeks before Election Day on Nov. 4, Mamdani is still maintaining a hefty lead (46%) when it comes to polling, according to Quinnipiac University. He favors support from Democrats, Asian American voters, voters 18 to 34 years old, voters 35 to

49 years old, and voters who identify as not being part of any religious group.

Cuomo as a second runner up (33%) is gaining some steam, due largely to Adams dropping out of the race. His strongest supporters are among Jewish voters, said the polling.

The former governor is on the opposite side of the spectrum when it comes to education issues. He has been adamant about expanding G&T in every borough and building eight new specialized high schools to create more opportunities for students. Cuomo also slammed Mamdani’s “repeated flip-flopping on the SHSAT.”

“Zohran Mamdani’s latest proposal to eliminate New York City’s gifted & talented program is not just another political stunt –it’s destructive and emblematic of a deeper problem in today’s Democratic Party – the surface level appearance of a solution is sufficient,” said Cuomo in a statement.

“The Department of Education’s own survey shows that 40% of parents who left the public school system did so be -

cause they wanted more rigorous instruction,” continued Cuomo. “If there are tens of thousands of applications for limited G&T spots, parents are telling you something: They want more of it, not less. The answer isn’t to say good riddance to those families. If there are issues with how young children are selected, then fix that and expand opportunities — give more at the start of education and more on-ramps later. Don’t eliminate the program.”

Bringing up the rear in the polls is Sliwa with 15% of voter support. He has “been a proponent of the G&T programs” throughout his campaign, said his spokesperson. His robust education platform also includes keeping mayoral control of public schools with reforms, restoring school safety agents under the NYPD, restoring phonics-based reading, preserving the SHSAT, hiring more therapists, building new vocational high schools, addressing truancy, restoring arts programs, and implementing an audit to education department spending.

customers. We have done a couple things directly with customers. The first thing we did was to open up 15 customer service centers. We staff them with station agents and train them, especially on how to deal with customers when customers have questions about OMNY.

In anticipation of OMNY rolling out fully [next year], we’re going to increase that to 30 customer service centers out around the system where customers can go and have any of their questions answered, so you don’t have to have modern technology, a phone to be able to ask questions, because we’re bringing people with the answers to you in your neighborhoods, your towns, to be able to address the concerns that you have. You don’t need to have a bank account to use OMNY. You can purchase an OMNY card at a machine, just like you purchase your MetroCard. There are so many advantages to OMNY that we are offering. Once customers get comfortable with using it, I think it’ll be great.

AmNews: How do you deal with people who are really upset about the MTA’s price increase?

Crichlow: I’ve been here 28 years, and I don’t know one instance where an individual was happy about a fare increase. I can remember when I went to the gas station and gas was 99 cents, and I was like, ‘Oh, man, I hope it doesn’t break a dollar.’ No one likes to have things go up in price. The only thing I can say is we are doing our best to make sure that for the $3 that it takes to be able to ride our system, we give them service that customers deserve. It’s an aging system. It requires a lot of work to be able to get there.

We’ve been providing customer service at levels that we’ve never provided before. We used to have common complaints, like the cars are not clean. The number of complaints against things like car cleaning and things like that have reduced drastically because we’ve changed the way we clean our cars, where they get clean, how many people we have at terminals cleaning — really taking a serious look at how we improve service for customers. We want to make sure that $3 you spend is worth every penny of it.

AmNews: What about the status of two infrastructure projects — the Second Avenue subway up in Harlem, and in Brooklyn, the Interborough Expressway? Just curious if you have any information about that. Crichlow: They’ve been projects that have been determined to be great for the community, or for a lot of benefit, not just for now, but for the future. I think we’ve done a lot of research about what’s best for people, what people want to see. I’m hoping that they continue to progress as they’ve been scheduled.

AmNews: Do you think there will be issues with funding?

Crichlow: I won’t get into the funding. I think

people should speak about what their needs are for transportation. Ultimately, we’ve determined based upon what ridership looks like and what housing looks like. We believe that it’s needed for the environment and for the people.

AmNews: Would you consider implementing a citywide free bus service, which was proposed by mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani?

Crichlow: I won’t get into the politics of the plan. It’s a race that’s continually running ... I do think that there are opportunities to make sure that those who actually need the help, those who are in our lower-income areas who need that service, can take advantage of opportunities like Fair Fares. I think there are opportunities to make sure that the service is great for people who need it.

AmNews: The woman who walked away [from the Transit Talk event] did make a good point about some of the subway’s systems being unbearably hot. What do you plan to do about that?

Crichlow: I think the reality is the majority of our subway system, which is the lowest part, is not air conditioned, but 99% of our fleet is. When you get in the subway, the goal is to have great enough service that as soon as you hit the platform, something’s coming in your way that you can get on and you can get away from the heat. That’s what my commitment is to you: Don’t stand in the station, come ride my train.

AmNews: About subway safety — people are pretty worried about crime. What’s the real story, and what are you doing to keep riders safe?

Crichlow: [We’re doing] a couple of things. I think the partnership with the NYPD has been amazing. [NYPD Transit] Chief [Joseph] Gulotta really cares about the system and ways that we can improve it. He’s been really great about sending resources that we need. He’s introduced having cops on the overnight tour to be able to address some of our more problematic areas and problematic times. They have been really good at providing support, not just at the turnstile, but on platforms, riding on trains. I think that partnership is key to being able to have a safe system.

One of the things we did was install barriers on the platform. The commitment is to do 100 by the end of the year. We’ve heard from customers that they feel a lot more safe in the system when they have a barrier they can stand on. It kind of protects them from the end of the platform.

We’ve changed the lighting at different stations. People tell you right out, they feel more comfortable when the system has more light. We started changing the lighting on all of our older cars, so that people get a sense of security. We have cameras in every train car. When something happens, we make sure that it is on cameras and we give that information to officers so they can investigate it immediately. All of our stations — every single one of our stations has cameras.

efforts that are ongoing

make sure that customers feel safe.

Health

Trump called Digital Equity Act ‘racist.’ Now internet money for rural Americans is gone

By SARAH JANE TRIBBLE KFF Health News

Megan Waiters can recite the stories of dozens of people she has helped connect to the internet in western Alabama.

A 7-year-old who couldn’t do classwork online without a tablet, and the 91-yearold she taught to check health care portals on a smartphone.

“They have health care needs, but they don’t have the digital skills,” said Waiters, who is a digital navigator for an Alabama nonprofit. Her work has involved giving away computers and tablets while also teaching classes on how to use the internet for work and personal needs, like banking and health. “It’s like a foreign space.”

Those stories are now bittersweet.

Waiters is part of a network of digital navigators across the country whose work to bring others into the digital world was, at least in part, propped up by a $2.75 billion federal program that abruptly canceled funding this spring. The halt came after President Donald Trump posted on his Truth Social platform that the Digital Equity Act was unconstitutional and pledged “no more woke handouts based on race!”

The act lists exactly whom the money should benefit, including low-income households, older residents, some incarcerated people, rural Americans, veterans, and members of racial or ethnic minority groups. Politicians, researchers, librarians, and advocates said defunding the program, along with other changes in federal broadband initiatives, jeopardize efforts to help rural and underserved residents participate in the modern economy and lead healthier lives.

“You could see lives change,” said Sam Helmick, president of the American Library Association, recalling how they helped grandpas in Iowa check prescriptions online or laid-off factory workers fill out job applications.

The Digital Equity Act is part of the sweeping 2021 infrastructure law, which included $65 billion to build high-speed internet infrastructure and connect millions without access to the internet.

This year, Congress once again pushed for a modern approach to help Americans, mandating that state leaders prioritize new and emerging technologies through its $50 billion Rural Health Transformation Program.

A KFF Health News analysis found that nearly 3 million people in America live in

areas with shortages of medical professionals and where modern telehealth services are often inaccessible because of poor internet connections. The analysis found that in about 200 mostly rural counties where dead zones persist, residents live sicker and die earlier on average than people in the rest of the country. Access to high-speed internet is among a host of social factors, like food and safe housing, that help people lead healthier lives.

“The internet provides this extra layer of resilience,” said Christina Filipovic, who leads the research for an initiative of the Institute for Business in the Global Context at Tufts University. The research group found in 2022 that access to high-speed internet correlated with fewer COVID deaths, particularly in metro areas.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, federal lawmakers launched a subsidy program paid for by the infrastructure law. That aid, called the Affordable Connectivity Program, aimed to connect more people to their jobs, schools, and doctors. In 2024, Congress did not renew funding for the subsidy program, which had enrolled about 23 million lowincome households.

This year, U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick revamped and delayed the infrastructure law’s construction initiative — known as the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment Program, or BEAD — after announcing plans to reduce regulatory burdens. More than 40 states and territories have submitted final proposals to extend high-speed internet to underserved areas under the administration’s new guidelines, according to a Commerce Department dashboard.

In May, the Digital Equity Act’s funding was terminated within days of Trump’s Truth Social post. While many states in 2022 had received money to plan their programs, the next round of funding, designated for states and agencies to implement the plans, had largely been awarded but not distributed.

Instead, federal regulators — including the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, the federal agency overseeing implementation of the Digital Equity Act — notified recipients that the grants would be terminated. The grants were created and administered with “unconstitutional racial preferences,” according to the letter.

In Phoenix, officials learned in January that the city was slated to get $11.8 million to increase internet access and teach digital literacy, but they received an email on

May 20 stating that all grants, “except for grants to Native Entities,” had been terminated. “It’s a shame,” said Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego, a Democrat. The money, she said, would have helped 37,000 residents get internet access.

Georgia’s Democratic leaders in July sent a letter to Lutnick and NTIA’s then-acting administrator, Adam Cassady, urging reinstatement of the money, noting that the federal cut ignores congressional intent and violates public trust.

The act’s creator, Sen. Patty Murray (DWash.), said during an online press conference in May that Republican governors in 2024 supported the law and its funding when each state touted completing its required digital equity plans and asked for resources.

“I cannot believe there aren’t Republican governors out there that are going to join with us to fight back on this,” Murray said, adding, “the other way is through courts.”

All 50 states developed digital equity plans after months of focus groups, surveys, and public comment periods. NTIA Digital Equity Director Angela Thi Bennett, during an August 2024 interview with KFF Health News, said the “intentional community engagement” by federal and state leaders to deliver broadband to unserved communities was “the greatest demonstration of participatory democracy our country has ever seen.”

Thi Bennett could not be reached for

comment on this article. NTIA spokesperson Stephen Yusko said the agency “will not be able to accommodate” a request for an interview with Thi Bennett and did not respond to questions for this article.

Caroline Stratton, a research director at the Benton Institute for Broadband & Society, said the act’s funding allowed states to staff offices; identify existing high-speed internet programs, including those operating within other state agencies; and create plans to fill the gaps.

“This sent folks out looking,” Stratton said, to see whether agencies in the state were already working on health improvement plans and to ask whether the broadband work could contribute and “actively help move the needle.”

State grant applications included goals to promote health care access. In Mississippi, the plan consists of the state university and another agency’s health improvement plan, Stratton said.

While states were required to create programs that would help specific covered populations, some states modified the language or added subcategories to include other populations. Colorado’s plan included immigrants and “individuals experiencing homelessness.”

“In every state, there’s a loss,” said Angela Siefer, executive director of the National Digital Inclusion Alliance. The nonprofit, which was awarded nearly $26 million to work with organizations nationwide but did not receive any funds, filed a lawsuit Oct. 7 seeking to force Trump and the administration to distribute the money.

“The digital divide is not over,” Siefer said. The nonprofit’s grant had been planned to support digital navigators in 11 states and territories, including Waiters. Her employer, the nonprofit Community Service Programs of West Alabama, expected to receive a $1.4 million grant.

In the past two years, Waiters spent hours driving the roads of rural Alabama to reach residents. She has distributed 648 devices — laptops, tablets, and SIM cards — and helped hundreds of clients through 117 two-hour digital skills classes at libraries, senior centers, and workplace development programs in and around Tuscaloosa, Alabama.

People of “all races, of all ages, of all financial backgrounds” who did not “fit into our typical minority category” were helped through our work, Waiters said. Trump and his administration should know, she said, “what it actually looks like for the people I serve.”

Hands off

October 10. They were joined by a host of elected officials, especially Black women, who railed against James’s indictment.

Prison

Continued from page 3

entirely against people with disabilities or pregnancies.

On Sept. 29, the Correctional Association of New York (CANY), a nonprofit tasked by the state for DOCCS oversight, released findings suggesting the use of Special Housing Units (SHUs) or Rehabilitative Residential Units (RRUs), two forms of disciplinary solitary confinement, was more prevalent after the HALT laws passed. Such findings corroborated claims by advocates who long maintained the state never fully implemented the legislation. CANY’s findings also found that more than half of the people placed in SHUs and RRUs were Black.

Earlier this year, Department of Corrections and Community Supervision (DOCCS) staff went on strike with calls to suspend or abolish the HALT laws. They blamed the legislation for increased violence against corrections officers, despite

Numerous leaders showed up, including Speaker Adams, Congressmember Nydia Velasquez, civil rights leader Maya Wiley, and Mamdani, among others.

“This is an attack on our city, and each one of us represents different parts of that same city, and we speak with one voice today. We speak with a voice that recogniz-

advocates saying the ban was never properly implemented. In July, a judge temporarily blocked DOCCS from suspending HALT. Meanwhile, deadly violence from staff against incarcerated individuals also brought attention to prison conditions. Notably, the killings of Robert Brooks and Messiah Nantwi led to demands for more oversight and beyond.

Some advocates, including from the NAACP, believe Gov. Hochul’s constitutional clemency powers can ease the conditions by releasing people, particularly those serving out excessive sentences from decades ago. They gathered on Sept. 30 outside her Manhattan office.

“Governor Hochul, now is the moment to demonstrate bold leadership by utilizing the full power of your clemency authority,” said NAACP New York State Conference director Chris Alexander. “For too many New Yorkers, justice has been replaced by excessive punishment, and their complete and total rehabilitation has been ignored by our state in favor of endlessly warehousing them in the inhu -

es that we are standing in front of the same courthouse where Attorney General Tish James did her job, upholding the law and holding Donald Trump accountable,” said Mamdani in a statement.

“I’m running against a disgraced former governor who has chosen to issue a statement within which he cannot even say the name

mane conditions of our prisons.

“We urge you to grant clemencies boldly and immediately to individuals who have shown genuine transformation, and whose release would pose no public safety risk.”

So far in 2025, Hochul has granted clemency to 13 people. None were incarcerated at the time. To be clear, clemency does not necessitate innocence. Instead, the executive power points to mercy and fairness. As of last year, more than 1,000 clemency petitions were filed to the Governor by incarcerated individuals seeking a commutation or sentence reduction.

“Governor Hochul initiated significant systemic changes within DOCCS to improve the safety and security of everyone that enters our correctional facilities, and has implemented reforms to strengthen the clemency program by providing applicants with an updated website that includes new application forms, and by creating a panel of experts to advise on cases under review,” said a spokesperson for Hochul. “The governor is committed

Tish James, nor the name Donald Trump,” Mamdani’s statement continued. “And we know why: because his narrow path to City Hall is paved by the very billionaires who put Donald Trump back in the White House. He is unwilling to stand up in a moment of crisis, unwilling to speak up for the very New Yorkers that have been standing on the front lines.”

to continue working with the legislature to reduce recidivism, enhance reentry services for previously incarcerated individuals, and improve the prison system through enhanced recruitment efforts and policy reforms.”

Additionally, the governor’s office will review recommendations made by the HALT committee, a controversial task force formed following the illegal prison guard strike earlier this year, to revise the state’s solitary confinement ban. Hochul’s spokesperson says she does not comment on pending clemency applications.

Last week, CANY released another pair of reports on recent site visits of Upstate New York’s Gouverneur Correctional Facility and the Finger Lakes region’s Cayuga Correctional Facility. While violence and racial abuse were lower than average in Cayuga, respondents incarcerated at Gouverneur reported higher than average verbal, physical, sexual, and racial abuse, and many said they did not file grievances due to retaliation concerns.

Religion & Spirituality

Black preaching has always been about survival and revival

By REV. DOROTHY S. BOULWARE Word in Black

When the Rev. Dr. Kelly U. Farrow founded the Kelly U. Farrow Institute for Black Preaching and Education in 2019, she wasn’t just creating another training program. She was building a movement to sustain and evolve the legacy of Black preaching — a tradition she calls “the heartbeat of the Black church and a lifeline for our people.”

The institute serves clergy, seminarians, and lay leaders through preaching intensives, leadership labs, and wellness cohorts. Rooted in the rich history of the Black pulpit, the programs combine theological rigor with social justice engagement and personal renewal.

RELATED: Listening to the ‘Sacred Voices’ of Black Women Preachers

“Our mission is to build a new generation of prophetic preachers and educators who are spiritually grounded, academically sound, and emotionally whole,” Farrow said in an interview posted on her website. “We teach preaching as formation — not performance.”

Preaching Circles and Leadership Labs

Farrow says the work began by addressing the need for Black women clergy to have training in sermon development, construction, delivery, and presentation.

Through the institute, Farrow launched Circle of Sacred Fire, an intensive program designed especially for women of

color in ministry.

“In 2018, I was asked to do a boot camp for some women at the university I was teaching at,” she said. “I think at the time, I just thought it was going to be that class.”

But it grew into so much more.

The institute’s signature offering is the Circle, a cohort-based preaching intensive that runs in three-, six-, or nineweek formats and program focuses on developing womanist ethics, leadership, and authenticity in the pulpit. Each Circle provides sermon labs, peer critique, and lectures from guest scholars. Graduates of the longer sessions earn a certificate equivalent to a three-credit course in a seminary setting.

“It’s a sacred space where women can bring their whole selves to the call of preaching,” she said.

Newer initiatives include the Wellness Circle, which addresses the mental and spiritual health of Black clergy, and Brotherhood and PhoeniX, companion programs for male preachers and intergenerational leaders. The institute also hosts the annual Flourish Preaching Conference and the podcast “Candid Conversations,” both exploring themes of preaching, justice, and healing.

A Growing Impact

Since its founding, the institute has partnered with seminaries and church networks, including McAfee School of Theology in Atlanta and Hampton University, to offer regional cohorts. The model emphasizes accessibility — both in geography and theology.

“Preaching should liberate, not limit,” Farrow says. “Our students don’t just learn to preach; they learn to listen — to God, to history, and to their communities.”

Farrow’s approach reflects both tradition and innovation. Her institute stands in the lineage of historic training grounds for Black clergy, yet it responds to contemporary challenges — burnout, funding, and the changing landscape of church leadership.

The Wellness Circle, launched earlier this year, grew directly from what Farrow calls “a crisis of exhaustion among Black ministers.” Through guided reflection, counseling partnerships, and retreats, participants learn practices for sustainable ministry.

Scholar, Pastor, and Educator Farrow holds degrees in business administration, theology, and higher education, including a Ph.D. in higher education administration. She also completed certificates in homiletics from Vanderbilt University and in Black theology from Princeton Theological Seminary.

Her pastoral experience is equally broad.

She has served as minister of discipleship at Double Love Experience Church in Brooklyn and as associate minister at Convent Avenue Baptist Church in Harlem. She currently teaches homiletics and womanist leadership through Union Theological Seminary’s Bedford Hills College Program at Bedford Hills Correctional Facility for women.

Looking Back

As for her own call, Farrow was at a national conference when she “heard” it.

“I felt like I heard God call me into ministry, but I wasn’t sure, and I said, well, God, if you’re calling me to this, I really would like to see a woman do this with precision and power and elegance because I hadn’t seen that.”

True to her request, the Rev. Dr. Rita Twiggs preached that Saturday a sermon entitled “Purpose,” Farrow says.

In an era when churches face declining attendance and rising stress among clergy, Farrow’s institute offers a hopeful model rooted in resilience. “Black preaching has always been about survival and revival,” she said. “We’re just making sure the next generation knows how to do both.”

professor at his alma mater, Rutgers University, where he facilitates an Introduction to Financial Accounting course. He thoroughly enjoys watching science fiction and horror movies and using several of his seven smokers for backyard barbeques.

From his profession to personal life and volunteer community service, this 54-year old planned for almost everything in life. When he met the woman of his dreams, he professed he would marry her. Now, more than 22 years Da’Shawn Reynolds, a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc., is his wife. They are the parents of two daughters, the late Olivia “Livi” Gwen and her little sister Mya, who is now a student at Morgan State University.

As a couple, they made a lot of plans, and they experienced happiness and heartache. Yet, as a husband and father, one thing that was not in the plans was a diagnosis of chronic kidney disease. Reynolds went from stage three to stage five, which is end-stage renal disease. Now, four days every week for about three hours a day, as part of a wellness regime, he uses a portable hemodialysis machine.

While sitting at home in his “Man Cave” wearing green scrubs, our discussion takes place on Zoom while the blood in his body moves through tubes to the dialysis machine and back into his body.

Reynolds is managing his diabetes and weight. He wants to be a “beacon of light” to others. “I am a person who is in end-stage renal failure, stage five kidney failure. Therefore, I am on dialysis. I happen to do it at home. I want to say to people, I am personally looking for a living donor kidney transplant. However, if you decide to be a donor, you may decide to try to transplant to be me, but you may not be a match. I am encouraging people to get tested because there are hundreds of thousands of people like me who are in end-stage renal failure on dialysis, looking for a living donor. We have been on these transplant lists for a number of years. The more beneficial way to come off of dialysis is through a living donor because kidneys usually last longer, and they’re usually a better match with a living donor.”

It’s been more than two years since his diagnosis. Initially, he

didn’t tell many people. Why? Reynolds said, “Ego. It took over two years to get past my ego because the transplant center had encouraged me for a while that a living donor would be a better method of identifying a donor. Reynolds loves life. He paused when sharing what this experience taught him, “Your health means more to you than anything else, more than money, more than anything. You could have all of these accomplishments in life, but if you’re not

alive to enjoy them, what was the point? So, when your doctor tells you something, even if you get a second or third opinion, the bottom line is you need to take care of yourself. Take precautions in the beginning before they lead to more major health concerns like high blood pressure and diabetes. I have diabetes, high blood pressure, and being overweight… I wouldn’t wish this on anybody.”

“Getting past ego. This is my life. The dialysis is sustaining the quality of my life,” he added. “For lon-

Next to Sci

gevity’s sake, I would like to get a donor much quicker to get off of this machine and to have a longer-lasting quality of life. I’d like to walk my daughter down the aisle.

I’d like to be alive to see grandchildren, if possible…I love life. I got a lot of things I want to do with my life that I can be effective and beneficial to the community.”

Long before Reynolds needed a transplant, he had already registered as an organ donor designation with the New Jersey Division of Motor Vehicle. Now, it is indi-

cated on his NJ driver’s license. He encourages others to visit CBMCLivingDonor.org to learn more and consider becoming a donor of the gift of life. Reynolds said, “The person whose life you save might be a your own loved one, your friend, your family member, or someone you don’t know. You might be on the other end of receiving a living donor kidney, as I am. I signed up to be a living donor on my driver’s license.” Reynolds said before adding, “You just may save a life.”

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NOTICE OF SALE SUPREME COURT COUNTY OF NEW YORK Wilmington Savings Fund Society, FSB, not in its individual capacity but solely as Owner Trustee of CSMC 2018SP3 Trust, Plaintiff AGAINST Sreeram Mallikarjun; et al., Defendant(s) Pursuant to a Judgment of Foreclosure and Sale duly entered April 23, 2025, I, the undersigned Referee, will sell at public auction in room 130 at the New York County Courthouse, 60 Centre Street, New York, NY 10007 on November 5, 2025, at 2:15PM, premises known as 350 West 42nd Street Apartment 53C, New York, NY 10036. The Condominium Unit (the "Unit") in the premises known as Orion Condominium and by the street number 350 West 42nd Street, Borough of Manhattan, City, County and State of New York, Block 1032 Lot 1484. Approximate amount of judgment $1,206,958.02 plus interest and costs. Premises will be sold subject to provisions of filed Judgment Index# 850224/2021. Doron Leiby, Esq., Referee LOGS Legal Group LLP f/k/a Shapiro, DiCaro & Barak, LLC Attorney(s) for the Plaintiff 175 Mile Crossing Boulevard Rochester, New York 14624 (877) 430-4792 Dated: September 23, 2025 87371

NOTICE OF SALE SUPREME COURT COUNTY OF NEW YORK Deutsche Bank National Trust Company, as Trustee on behalf of HSI Asset Securitization Corporation Trust 2006-HE2, Plaintiff AGAINST STATE4RS LLC; et al., Defendant(s) Pursuant to a Judgment of Foreclosure and Sale duly entered January 18, 2024, I, the undersigned Referee, will sell at public auction at the New York County Courthouse in Room 130, located at 60 Centre Street, New York, NY 10007 on November 19, 2025, at 2:15PM, premises known as 262 Mott Street, Apt. 4RS, New York, NY 10012. The Condominium Unit No. 4RS in the building (hereinafter referred to as the "Building") known by the street number 262 Mott Street, Borough of Manhattan and State of New York, Block 508 Lot 1167. Approximate amount of judgment $521,552.09 plus interest and costs. Premises will be sold subject to provisions of filed Judgment Index# 850216/2022. Mark McKew, Esq., Referee LOGS Legal Group LLP Attorney(s) for the Plaintiff 175 Mile Crossing Boulevard Rochester, New York 14624 (877) 4304792 Dated: October 1, 2025 87487

Gilded City Creations LLC Arts. of Org. filed with the SSNY on 6/10/25. Office location: New York County. SSNY has been designated as an agent upon whom process against it may be served & shall mail to: 255 W 108 St. 10A, New York, NY 10025. Purpose: Any lawful act.

NOTICE OF SALE SUPREME COURT COUNTY OF NEW YORK JPMORGAN CHASE BANK N.A., Plaintiff AGAINST ROOSEY KHAWLY, MARY THERESA KHAWLY, ET AL., Defendant(s) Pursuant to a Judgment of Foreclosure and Sale duly entered February 25, 2025, I, the undersigned Referee will sell at public auction at the New York County Courthouse in Room 130, located at 60 Centre Street, New York, NY on November 12, 2025 at 2:15 PM, premises known as 15 West 53rd Street, Units 29A, 29F, and 30A, New York, NY 10019. All that certain plot piece or parcel of land, with the buildings and improvements erected, situate, lying and being in the Borough of Manhattan, City, County and State of New York, Block: 1269, Lots: 1140, 1145, and 1146. Approximate amount of judgment $11,351,008.92 plus interest and costs. Premises will be sold subject to provisions of filed Judgment Index #850464/2023. Clark Whitsett, Esq., Referee Fein, Such & Crane, LLP 28 East Main Street Rochester, NY 14614 CHNC1631 87303

SUPREME COURT ‑ COUNTY OF NEW YORK. NYCTL 1998‑2 TRUST AND THE BANK OF NEW YORK MELLON, AS COLLATERAL AGENT AND CUSTODIAN, Plaintiffs ‑against‑ CLIFTON EDWARDS, et al Defendant(s).

Pursuant to a Judgment of Foreclosure and Sale entered herein on July 15, 2025, I, the undersigned Referee will sell at public auction in Room 130 of the New York County Court house, 60 Centre Street, New York, NY on November 19, 2025 at 2:15 p.m. premises situate, lying and being in the Borough of Manhattan, County of New York, City and State of New York, known and designated as Block 1751 and Lot 66 on the New York County Tax Assess ment Map.

Said premises known as 14 EAST 127TH STREET, NEW YORK, NY 10035

Approximate amount of lien $28,613.51 plus interest & costs.

Premises will be sold subject to provisions of filed Judgment and Terms of Sale. Index Number 151788/2024. TOM KLEINBERGER, ESQ., Referee Phillips Lytle LLP

Attorney(s) for Plaintiffs 100 S. Clinton Avenue, Suite 2900, Rochester, NY 14604 {* AMSTERDAM*}

Lithos Studio 'LLC' Arts. of Org. filed with the SSNY on 08/08/25. Office location: New York County. SSNY has been designated as an agent upon whom process against it may be served & shall mail to: 500 W 18th St Apt E19D, New York, NY 10011. Purpose: Any lawful act.

Notice of Qualification of ASPEN DOBBIN BORROWER LLC

Appl. for Auth. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 09/30/25. Office location: NY County. LLC formed in Delaware (DE) on 09/12/25. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to Corporation Service Co., 80 State St., Albany, NY 12207. DE addr. of LLC: 251 Little Falls Dr., Wilmington, DE 19808. Cert. of Form. filed with Secy. of State, 401 Federal St., Ste. 4, Dover, DE 19901. Purpose: Any lawful activity.

Notice of Qualification of CASIMIR TECHNOLOGY, LLC

Appl. for Auth. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 09/04/25. Office location: NY County. LLC formed in Delaware (DE) on 09/04/25. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to Attn: Moritz Hilf, Vibrant Capital Partners, 350 Madison Ave., NY, NY 10017. DE addr. of LLC: c/o Corporation Service Co., 251 Little Falls Dr., Wilmington, DE 19808. Cert. of Form. filed with Secy. of State of the State of DE, Corp. Dept., Townsend Bldg., Dover, DE 19901. Purpose: Any lawful activity.

Notice of Formation of FARNER NARNER, LLC

Arts. of Org. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 09/29/25. Office location: NY County. Princ. office of LLC: 200 Park Ave. South, 8th Fl., NY, NY 10003. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to the LLC at the addr. of its princ. office. Purpose: Any lawful activity.

Courtney Lemon Curd LLC Arts. of Org. filed with the SSNY on 08/07/25. Office location: NY County. SSNY has been designated as an agent upon whom process against it may be served & shall mail to: 303 E 37th St 5F, New York, NY 10016. Purpose: Any lawful act.

Zeanie B. LLC Arts. of Org. filed with the SSNY on 4/1/2025. Office location: New York County. SSNY has been designated as an agent upon whom process against it may be served & shall mail to: 261 West 136 Street, New York,NY 10030. Purpose: Any lawful act.

Manor Of Collective LLC Arts. of Org. filed with the SSNY on 08/05/2025. Office location: New York County. SSNY has been designated as an agent upon whom process against it may be served & shall mail to: 13 Saint Marks Place Apt 9F, New York, NY 10003. Purpose: Any lawful act.

LEGAL NOTICE OF POSTPONEMENT OF SALE

SUPREME COURT - COUNTY OF NEW YORK.

WOORI AMERICA BANK, Plaintiff -against- DK BEAUTY INC., et al Defendant(s). Pursuant to a Judgment of Foreclosure and Sale entered herein and dated March 27, 2025, I, the undersigned Referee will sell at public auction in Room 130 of the New York County Courthouse, 60 Centre Street New York, NY on October 29, 2025 at 2:15 p.m. premises situate, lying and being in the Borough of Manhattan, County, City and State of New York, known as Unit No. 2010 in the building known as the "20 West 33rd Street Condominium" together with an undivided 7.1629 percent interest in the common elements.

Block: 834 Lot: 1013

Said premises known as 18-28 WEST 33RD STREET, UNIT 2010, NEW YORK, NY

Approximate amount of lien $6,021,316.46 plus interest & costs.

Premises will be sold subject to provisions of filed Judgment and Terms of Sale.

Index Number 850042/2024.

SOFIA BALILE, ESQ., Referee Bronstein, Gewirtz & Grossman, LLC

Attorney(s) for Plaintiff 40 Calumet Ave, Lake Hiawatha, NJ 07034

The above sale, originally scheduled for October 8, 2025 at 2:15 p.m. has been postponed. The new sale date has been rescheduled for October 29, 2025 at the same time and place.

SOFIA BALILE, ESQ., Referee. {* AMSTERDAM*}

SOUL ARTISTIC TRENDS ART COMPANY LLC Arts. of Org. filed with the SSNY on 05/21/2025. Office location: NEW YORK County. SSNY has been designated as an agent upon whom process against it may be served & shall mail to: 950 EVERGREEN AVE, 2L , BRONX, NY, 10473. Purpose: Any lawful act.

Pendenza LLC. App. for Authority filed with the SSNY on 9/26/2025. Office: New York County. SSNY designated as agent of the LLC upon whom process against it may be served & shall mail to: The LLC, 445 Park Ave., Ste. 967, NY, NY 10022. Purpose: Any lawful act.

Barbary Collective LLC Arts. of Org. filed with the SSNY on 8/12/25. Office location: New York County. SSNY has been designated as an agent upon whom process against it may be served & shall mail to: 447 Broadway #3000, NY, NY 10013. Purpose: Any lawful act.

NOTICE OF SALE SUPREME COURT. NEW YORK COUNTY. USALLIANCE FEDERAL CREDIT UNION BY MERGER WITH NEW YORK METRO FEDERAL CREDIT UNION, Pltf. vs., UNKNOWN HEIRS AT LAW OF JAMES MCCASKILL A/K/A JAMES MC CASKILL, HIS NEXT OF KIN, DISTRIBUTEES, EXECUTORS, ADMINISTRATORS, TRUSTEES, DEVISEES, LEGATEES, ASSIGNEES, LIENORS, CEDITORS, AND SUCCESSORS IN INTEREST, AND GENERALLY ALL PERSONS HAVING OR CLAIMING, UNDER, BY OR THROUGH SAID DEFENDANT WHO MAY BE DECEASED, BY PURCHASE, INHERITANCE, LIEN OR OTHERWISE, ANY RIGHT TITLE OR INTEREST IN AND TO THE PREMISES DESCRIBED IN THE COMPLAINT HEREIN, ALL OF WHOM AND WHOSE NAMES AND PLACES OF RESIDENCE ARE UNKNOWN TO THE PLAINTIFF AND CANNOT AFTER DILIGENT INQUIRY BE ASCERTAINED, et al Deft. Index #850257/2022. Pursuant to judgment of foreclosure and sale entered August 12, 2024, I will sell at public auction at the New York County Courthouse, 60 Centre Street, New York, NY on October 29, 2025 at 2:15 p.m. prem. k/a 61 West 126 th Street, New York, NY 10027 a/k/a Block 1724, Lot 11. Approximate amount of judgment is $180,402.84 plus cost and interest. Sold subject to terms and conditions of filed judgment and terms of sale and the right of the United States of America to redeem within 120 days from the date of sale as provided by law. CHRISTY M. DEMELFI, Referee., MARGOLIN, WEINREB & NIERER, LLP., Attys. for Pltf., 575 Underhill Blvd., Suite 224, Syosset, NY. #102541

Woven Audiobooks Llc Arts. of Org. filed with the SSNY on 9/29/25. Office location: New York County. SSNY has been designated as an agent upon whom process against it may be served & shall mail to: 712 W 176th St, New York NY 10033 Purpose: Any lawful act.

Ya Habibi LLC Arts. of Org. filed with the SSNY on 8/12/2025. Office location: New York County. SSNY has been designated as an agent upon whom process against it may be served & shall mail to: 24-15 Queens Plaza North 6B, New York, NY 11101. Purpose: Any lawful act.

Meg Barber Basketball LLC Arts. of Org. filed with the SSNY on 18th Of June, 2025. Office location: New York County. SSNY has been designated as an agent upon whom process against it may be served & shall mail to: 115 Broadway Suite 1602, New York, New York 10006. Purpose: Any lawful act.

NOTICE OF SALE

SUPREME COURT - COUNTY OF NEW YORK.

AXOS BANK, Plaintiff -against- HUDSON 805 LLC, et al Defendant(s). Index Number 850233/2022.

Pursuant to a Judgment of Foreclosure and Sale dated November 26, 2024 and entered on February 3, 2025 (the “Judgment”), I, the undersigned Referee will sell at a public auction in Room 130 of the New York County Courthouse, 60 Centre Street New York, New York on November 12, 2025 at 2:15 p.m. (E.T.) premises situate, all that certain plot, piece or parcel of land, with the buildings and improvements thereon erected, lying and being in the Borough of Manhattan, City, County and State of New York, known as Unit No. 805-06 in the building known as the Printing House Condominium. Together with an undivided 0.0124% interest in the Common Elements. District: 0403 Section: 014.00 Block: 02.00 and Lot: 044.002. Said premises known as 421 HUDSON STREET, UNIT 805/806, NEW YORK, NEW YORK 10014.

Approximate amount of lien

$7,584,837.12 plus post-judgment interest & costs.

Premises will be sold subject to provisions of the filed Judgment and the Terms of Sale.

JEFFREY MILLER, ESQ., Referee

Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton, LLP

Attn: Benjamin O. Gilbert bogilbert@sheppardmullin.com

Attorney(s) for Plaintiff 30 Rockefeller Plaza, New York, NY 10112 (212) 896-0682

{* AMSTERDAM*} LEGAL NOTICE OF FORECLOSURE SALE, Supreme Court – New York County, BOARD OF MANAGERS OF THE PARKVIEW CONDOMINIUM, Plaintiff v. EDGAR HERNANDEZ, et al., Defendants, Index# 158090/2024. Pursuant to a Judgment of Foreclosure and Sale docketed on October 6, 2025, I will sell at Public Auction to the highest bidder in Room 130 of New York County Supreme Court, 60 Center Street, New York, New York 10007, on November 19, 2025 at 2:15 PM of that day, the premises known as 7 West 131 Street, Units A3 and AS3 , New York , New York 10037, Block 1729 Lots 1203 and 1206. Unit AS3 is a storage unit allocated to residential Unit A3. Unit A3 is approximately 1289 square feet with 2 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms. The approximate amount of Judgment is $31,660.52, through and including April 2, 2025, plus interest, common charges, special assessments, advances, administrative costs, and expenses accrued from April 2, 2025. Premises will be sold subject to: (a) provisions of Judgment of Foreclosure and Sale docketed on October 6, 2025; and (b) the terms of sale. IF YOU ARE BIDDING AT THE AUCTION, YOU MUST BRING A CERTIFIED CHECK MADE PAYABLE TO THE REFEREE

RONALD ZEZIMA , ESQ . IN THE AMOUNT OF 10% OF YOUR BID. If you have any questions, contact Attorney for Plaintiff: ANNA GUILIANO, BORAH, GOLDSTEIN, ALTSCHULER, NAHINS & GOIDEL, P.C., 377 Broadway, New York, New York 10013, (212) 965-2628.

SUPREME COURT ‑ COUNTY OF NEW YORK.

OLYMPIC TOWER CONDO

MINIUM BY ITS BOARD OF MANAGERS, Plaintiff ‑against‑ TAITAC CORP., et al Defen dant(s). Pursuant to a Judgment of Foreclosure and Sale dated September 3, 2025 and entered on September 4, 2025, I, the undersigned Referee will sell at public auction in Room 130 of the New York County Court house, 60 Centre Street, New York, NY on Wednesday, Octo ber 29, 2025 at 2:15 p.m. premises situate, ly ing and being in the Borough of Manhattan, City, County and State of New York, the Unit known as Apartment No. 35G known as and by the street address number 641 Fifth Ave nue. Together with an undivided .2213396% interest in the Com mon Elements. Block: 1287 Lot: 1111

Said premises known as 641 FIFTH AVENUE, INIT 35G, NEW YORK, NY

Approximate amount of lien $43,233.60 plus interest & costs.

Premises will be sold subject to provisions of filed Judgment and Terms of Sale. Index Number 159804/2024.

JEFFREY R. MILLER, ESQ., Referee

Schwartz Sladkus Reich Green berg Atlas LLP

Attorney(s) for Plaintiff 444 Madison Ave., 6th Floor, New York, NY 10022 {* AMSTERDAM*}

NOTICE OF SALE

SUPREME COURT COUNTY OF NEW YORK , Mary Djurasevic , Plaintiff, vs . Marcy Ellin Boucher, a/k/a Marcy Ellen Boucher, a/k/a Marcy E. Boucher a/k/a Marcy Boucher ET AL. , Defendant(s).

Pursuant to a Judgment of Foreclosure and Sale and Decision + Order on Motion dated January 30 , 2025, and duly entered May 21, 2025 I, the undersigned Referee will sell at public auction at the New York County Supreme Court, Room 130, 60 Centre Street, New York, NY on October 29, 2025 at 2:15 p.m., premises known as 406 West 25 th Street, New York, N.Y. All that certain plot, piece or parcel of land, with the buildings and improvements thereon erected, situate, lying and being in the Borough of New York, County of New York, City and State of New York, Block 722 and Lot 45. Premises will be sold subject to provisions of filed Judgment Index # 850003/2024. Approximate amount of judgment is $5,298,632.71, together with interest and costs.

Jeffrey R. Miller, Esq., Referee Law Offices of Morrison Cohen LLP, Joaquin Ezcurra, Esq., 909 Third Avenue, 27 th Floor, New York, NY 10022-4784, (212) 735-8600

NOTICE OF SALE SUPREME COURT COUNTY OF NEW YORK U.S. BANK NA, SUCCESSOR TRUSTEE TO BANK OF AMERICA, NA, SUCCESSOR IN INTEREST TO LASALLE BANK NA, AS TRUSTEE, ON BEHALF OF THE HOLDERS OF THE WAMU MORTGAGE PASS-THROUGH CERTIFICATES, SERIES 2007- HY7, Plaintiff AGAINST TERRE SIEPSER SIMPSON

A/K/A TERRE S. SIMPSON

A/K/A TERRE SIMPSON A/K/A TERRE SIEPSE-SIMPSON; ET AL., Defendant(s) Pursuant to a Judgment of Foreclosure and Sale duly entered August 4, 2025, I, the undersigned Referee will sell at public auction at the New York County Courthouse in Room 130, located at 60 Centre Street, New York, NY on November 5, 2025 at 2:15 PM, premises known as 106 Central Park South, Unit 3B, New York, NY 10019. All that certain plot, piece or parcel of land, with the buildings and improvements erected, situate, lying and being in the Borough of Manhattan, City, County, and State of New York, Block: 1011 Lot: 4089. Approximate amount of judgment $1,863,650.44 plus interest and costs. Premises will be sold subject to provisions of filed Judgment Index #850164/2023. Allison Furman, Esq., Referee Fein, Such & Crane, LLP 28 East Main Street Rochester, NY 14614 SPSNC846 87302

NOTICE OF SALE SUPREME

COURT COUNTY OF NEW YORK U.S. Bank Trust, N.A., as Trustee for LSF9 Master Participation Trust, Plaintiff AGAINST Llewellyn C. Werner a/k/a Llewellyn Werner Individually and as the sole member of Hawkes AP, LLC; et al., Defendant(s) Pursuant to a Judgment of Foreclosure and Sale duly entered December 7, 2022, amended September 5, 2025, I, the undersigned Referee, will sell at public auction at the New York County Courthouse in Room 130, located at 60 Centre Street, New York, NY 10007 on November 12, 2025, at 2:15PM, premises known as 160 West 66th Street Unit 46-G a/k/a 160 West 66th Street, Apartment 46G, New York, NY 10023. The Condominium Unit (the Unit) known as Unit No. 46G the building (the Building) known as Three Lincoln Center Condominium and by the Street Number 160 West 66th Street, Borough of Manhattan, County of New York, City and State of New York, Block 1137 Lot 1272. Approximate amount of judgment $2,290,728.13 plus interest and costs. Premises will be sold subject to provisions of filed Judgment Index# 810045/2010. Scott H. Siller, Esq., Referee LOGS Legal Group LLP f/k/a Shapiro, DiCaro & Barak, LLC Attorney(s) for the Plaintiff 175 Mile Crossing Boulevard Rochester, New York 14624 (877) 430-4792 Dated: September 23, 2025 For sale information, please visit www. Auction.com or call (800) 2802831 87352

Notice of Formation of Reese Peters Design LLC.

Articles of Organization filed with the Secretary of State of New York (SSNY) on 09/05/2025.

Office Location: New York, NY.

SSNY has been designated as agent of the LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail a copy of process to: 184 Franklin St Apt 5 New York NY 10013.

Purpose: To engage in any lawful act or activity permitted under the laws of the State of New York.

Management: The LLC is managed by Members.

NOTICE OF SALE

SUPREME COURT ‑ COUNTY OF NEW YORK.

SBT ADVANTAGE BANK, A DI VISION OF STERLING BANK AND TRUST, FSB, Plaintiff ‑against‑ YING MA, et al Defen dant(s). Pursuant to a Judgment of Foreclosure and Sale dated July 18, 2025, I, the under signed Referee will sell at pub lic auction in Room 130 of the New York County Courthouse, 60 Centre Street, New York, NY on Wednesday, November 12, 2025 at 2:15 p.m. prem ises situate, lying and being in the Borough of Manhattan, City, County and State of New York, known as Unit No. 3C in the building known as "The Iris Condominium" together with an undivided 1.39842% interest in the common elements. Block: 1198 Lot: 1117

Said premises known as 76 WEST 85TH STREET, UNIT 3C, NEW YORK, NY 10024

Approximate amount of lien $418,807.83 plus interest & costs.

Premises will be sold subject to provisions of filed Judgment and Terms of Sale. Index Number 850678/2023.

JEFFREY R. MILLER, ESQ., Referee DRUCKMAN LAW GROUP PLLC

Attorney(s) for Plaintiff 242 Drexel Avenue, Westbury, NY 11590 DLG# 39519 {* AMSTERDAM*}

Nooka Management LLC Arts. of Org. filed with the SSNY on 01/20/2025. Office location: New York County. SSNY has been designated as an agent upon whom process against it may be served & shall mail to: 455 Main St, Apt 12A, New York, NY 10044. Purpose: Any lawful act.

Crystal Venning Law PLLC (TX PLLC; formed 4/26/22). App. for Auth. filed 7/15/25 w/ SSNY to transact NY Cty. SSNY desig. svc. of proc. agent; mail: 125 Park Ave, 25th Fl, NY, NY 10017. TX off.: 440 Louisiana St, Ste 900, Houston, TX 77002. PLLC Cert. w/ TX SOS, P.O. Box 13697, Austin, TX 78711. Any lawful purpose.

NOTICE OF FORMATION of VSM NY WAREHOUSE LLC. Articles of Organization filed with the Secretary of State of New York (SSNY) on 8/26/2025. Office location: New York County.

CATEGORY: Ltd Liability Company, NY: New York AD Number:

NOTICE OF FORMATION of VSM NY WAREHOUSE LLC. Articles of Organization filed with the Secretary of State of New York (SSNY) on 8/26/2025. Office location: NY County. SSNY designated as agent upon whom process may be served and shall mail copy of process against LLC to DANIEL MCCARTHY, GENERAL COUNSEL, VILLAGE SUPER MARKET, INC., 733 MOUNTAIN AVENUE SPRINGFIELD, NJ, 07081, USA. Purpose: any lawful act.

SUPREME COURT - COUNTY OF NEW YORK

SAGA HOUSE CONDOMINIUM BY ITS BOARD OF MANAGERS, Plaintiff -against- HANNA JESIONOWSKA PRACTICE

L.L.C , et. al., Defendant(s). Pursuant to a Judgment of Foreclosure and Sale dated September 8, 2025 and entered on September 10, 2025, I, the undersigned Referee will sell at public auction on November 12, 2025 at 2:15 p.m., in Room 130 of the New York County Courthouse, 60 Centre Street New York, NY, or at such other location within the Courthouse as may be designated by the Clerk of the Court and/or the Office of Court Administration, the premises situate, lying and being in the Borough of Manhattan, City, County and State of New York, known as Medical Unit No. 1 in the condominium building known as "Saga House Condominium" together with an undivided 6.19% interest in the common elements as described in the Declaration of Saga House Condominium. Block 1409 and Lot 1001.

Said premises known as 157 East 74 th Street, Medical Unit No. 1, New York, New York. Approximate amount of lien $251,391.84 plus attorney’s fees and costs as awarded in the judgment, along with interest and costs.

Premises will be sold subject to provisions of filed Judgment and Terms of Sale.

Index Number 156127/2024

JEFFREY R. MILLER, ESQ., Referee

Levin & Glasser, P.C., Attorney(s) for Plaintiff, 551 Fifth Avenue, Ste. 1200, New York, NY 10176

{* AMSTERDAM*}

Ahern Painting Contractors, Inc is seeking M/WBE and SDVOB Subcontractor Proposals for the following MTA Bridges and Tunnels Project: “Solicitation No. WBM-398 TNM-402 BRIDGE PRESERVATION AT THE BRONX-WHITESTONE BRIDGE AND THE THROGS NECK BRIDGE ”. Please contact Anna at 718-639-5880 for details.

Ahern Painting Contractors, Inc is seeking M/WBE and SDVOB Subcontractor Proposals for the following MTA C&D Project: “Contract TN9A, Miscellaneous Structural Rehabilitation at the Throgs Neck Bridge”. Please contact Anna at 718-639-5880 for details

SUPREME COURT-NEW YORK COUNTY- HILTON RESORTS CORP., Pltf. v. TIMOTHY ANDREWS and NYC DEPARTMENT OF FINANCE, PARKING VIOLATIONS BUREAU, Defts. - Index # 850526/2023. Pursuant to Judgment of Foreclosure and Sale dated September 3, 2025, I will sell at public auction in Room 130 of the NY County Courthouse located 60 Centre Street, NY, NY on Wednesday, November 12, 2025, at 2:15 pm, interests in two undivided 0.1505136467542480% and 0.0741276267592057% tenants in common interest in the timeshare known as Phase II of HNY CLUB SUITES located at 1335 Avenue of the Americas, New York, New York. Approximate amount of judgment is $116,295.38 plus costs and interest as of June 24, 2025. Sold subject to terms and conditions of filed Judgment and Terms of Sale which includes annual maintenance fees and charges. Clark Whitsett, Esq., Referee. Cruser, Mitchell, Novitz, Sanchez, Gaston, & Zimet LLP, Attys. for Pltf., 341 Conklin Street, Farmingdale, NY.

SUPREME COURT-NEW YORK COUNTY- HILTON RESORTS CORP., Pltf. v. VERONICA NKOSI, ANDREA B. THWALA and BOARD OF DIRECTORS OF HC SUITES OWNERS ASSOCIATION, INC., Defts. - Index # 850096/2021. Pursuant to Judgment of Foreclosure and Sale dated September 3, 2025, I will sell at public auction in Room 130 of the NY County Courthouse located 60 Centre Street, NY, NY on Wednesday, October 22, 2025, at 2:15 pm, an interest of an undivided 0.0450946335738578% tenant in common interest in the timeshare known as Phase I of HNY CLUB SUITES located at 1335 Avenue of the Americas, New York, New York. Approximate amount of judgment is $73,631.96 plus costs and interest as of June 6, 2025. Sold subject to terms and conditions of filed Judgment and Terms of Sale which includes annual maintenance fees and charges. Allison M. Furman, Esq., Referee. Cruser, Mitchell, Novitz, Sanchez, Gaston, & Zimet LLP, Attys. for Pltf., 341 Conklin Street, Farmingdale, NY.

Due Processors LLC Arts. of Org. filed with the SSNY on 9/26/25. Office location: New York County. SSNY has been designated as an agent upon whom process against it may be served & shall mail to: 41 State St, Ste 112, Albany, NY 12207 Purpose: Any lawful act.

Wing & Root Management Consulting LLC Arts. of Org. filed with the SSNY on 10/01/25. Office location: New York County. SSNY has been designated as an agent upon whom process against it may be served & shall mail to: 50 Park Terrace E Apt 4L, New York, NY 10034. Purpose: Any lawful act.

Lucy's Hot Dogs LLC Arts. of Org. filed with the SSNY on 5/29/25. Office location: New York County. SSNY has been designated as an agent upon whom process against it may be served & shall mail to: 7014 13th Avenue, Suite 202, Brooklyn, NY 10228. Purpose: Any lawful act.

Pizza Accademia LLC Arts. of Org. filed with the SSNY on August 10, 2025. Office location: New York County. SSNY has been designated as an agent upon whom process against it may be served & shall mail to: 228 Park Ave S #117123, New York, NY 10003. Purpose: Any lawful act.

Clean It Up Pest Control, LLC Arts. of Org. filed with the SSNY on 08/11/2025. Office location: New York County. SSNY has been designated as an agent upon whom process against it may be served & shall mail to: 620 Malcolm X Blvd, Apt 12M, New York, NY 10037. Purpose: Any lawful act.

Brand Mystique LLC Arts. of Org. filed with the SSNY on 08/07/2025. Office location: New York County. SSNY has been designated as an agent upon whom process against it may be served & shall mail to: 251 W81 St 7E, NY, NY 10024 Purpose: Any lawful act.

Notice of Qualification of FIFTH AVENUE REAL ASSETS 7 LLC

Appl. for Auth. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 09/08/25. Office location: NY County. LLC formed in Delaware (DE) on 07/23/25. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to Corporation Service Co. (CSC), 80 State St., Albany, NY 12207-2543. DE addr. of LLC: c/o CSC, 251 Little Falls Dr., Wilmington, DE 19808. Cert. of Form. filed with Secy. of State, Div. of Corps., 401 Federal St., John G. Townsend Bldg., Dover, DE 19901. Purpose: Any lawful activity.

Notice of Qualification of GO LIC ADVISORY LLC

Appl. for Auth. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 09/09/25. Office location: NY County. LLC formed in Delaware (DE) on 05/07/25. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to c/o Corporation Service Co. (CSC), 80 State St., Albany, NY 12207-2543. DE addr. of LLC: c/o CSC, 251 Little Falls Dr., Wilmington, DE 19808. Cert. of Form. filed with Secy. of State, Div. of Corps., John G. Townsend Bldg., 401 Federal St., Ste. 4, Dover, DE 19901. Purpose: Any lawful activity.

Notice of Qualification of IRC AIRBEL VENTURES LLC

Appl. for Auth. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 09/24/25. Office location: NY County. LLC formed in Delaware (DE) on 12/20/23. Princ. office of LLC: 122 East 42nd St., NY, NY 10168. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to Corporation Service Co., 80 State St., Albany, NY 12207-2543. DE addr. of LLC: 251 Little Falls Dr., Wilmington, DE 19808. Cert. of Form. filed with Secy. of State, 401 Federal St., Ste. 4, Dover, DE 19901. Purpose: Any lawful activity.

Formation of NEW YORK DENTAL COLLABORATIVE, LLC filed with the Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 9/22/2025. Office loc.: NY County. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. The address SSNY shall mail process to Arti Jagirdar, 17 W. 24th St., Floor 2, New York, NY 10010. Purpose: Any lawful activity.

PURPLE ARROW PRODUCTIONS LLC. Arts. of Org. filed with the SSNY on 09/08/25. Office: New York County. SSNY designated as agent of the LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail copy of process to the LLC, 8333 Braesmain Drive, Apartment 1459, Houston, TX 77025. Purpose: Any lawful purpose.

NOTICE OF FORMATION of VITRUVIAN MAN ENTERPRISES, LLC. Arts of Org filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 8/22/2025. Office location: NY county. SSNY designated as agent upon whom process may be served and shall mail copy of process against LLC to 177 Duane Street, #6 New York, NY 10013. Purpose: any lawful act.

Notice of Formation of JC8687 LLC

Arts. of Org. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 05/14/25. Office location: NY County. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to Martin D. Hauptman, Esq., c/o Mandelbaum Barrett PC, 3 Becker Farm Rd., Ste. 105, Roseland, NJ 07068. Purpose: Any lawful activity.

Notice of Formation of LESLIE-LOHMAN HOLDINGS LLC

Arts. of Org. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 09/16/25. Office location: NY County. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to the LLC, c/o Carter Ledyard & Milburn LLP, Attn: Christopher Rizzo, Esq., 28 Liberty St. - 41st Fl., NY, NY 10005. Purpose: Any lawful activity.

Notice of Qualification of Levittown SL OpCo LLC Appl. for Auth. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 09/17/25. Office location: NY County. LLC formed in Delaware (DE) on 09/04/25. Princ. office of LLC: 745 Fifth Ave., 25th Fl., NY, NY 10151. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to the LLC at the princ. office of the LLC. DE addr. of LLC: Corporation Service Co., 251 Little Falls Dr., Wilmington, DE 19808-1674. Cert. of Form. filed with DE Secy. of State, 401 Federal St., Ste. 3, Dover, DE 19901. Purpose: Any lawful activity.

Notice of Qualification of Levittown SL PropCo LLC Appl. for Auth. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 09/17/25. Office location: NY County. LLC formed in Delaware (DE) on 09/04/25. Princ. office of LLC: 745 Fifth Ave., 25th Fl., NY, NY 10151. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to the LLC at the princ. office of the LLC. DE addr. of LLC: Corporation Service Co., 251 Little Falls Dr., Wilmington, DE 19808-1674. Cert. of Form. filed with Secy. of State, 401 Federal St., Ste. 3, Dover, DE 19901. Purpose: Any lawful activity.

NOTICE OF FORMATION OF ALEXANDER ALLANA GROUP LLC.

Articles of Organization filed with the Secretary of State of NY (SSNY) on 07/09/2025.

Office location: New York County.

SSNY has been designated as agent upon whom process against it may be served.

The Post Office address to which the SSNY shall mail a copy of any process against the LLC served upon him/her is: 1540 York Avenue, Apt 4L, New York, NY 10028. The principal business address of the LLC is:

1540 York Avenue, Apt 4L, New York, NY 10028. Dissolution date: None.

Purpose: Any lawful act or activity.

Notice of Formation of LIMA TOWERS DEVELOPER, LLC

Arts. of Org. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 08/13/25. Office location: NY County. Princ. office of LLC: 6 Greene St., Ste. 500, NY, NY 10013. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to Corporation Service Co., 80 State St., Albany, NY 122072543. Purpose: To control the funds used to fund costs for acquisition and renovation of Lima Towers.

Notice of Formation of WUNGOO HOLDINGS LLC

Arts. of Org. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 09/22/25. Office location: NY County. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to the LLC, 300 E 64th St., Apt. 27C, NY, NY 10065. Purpose: Any lawful activity.

Notice of Qualification of MILES ON HUDSON, LLC

Appl. for Auth. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 09/16/25. Office location: NY County. LLC formed in Delaware (DE) on 04/25/24. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to Corporation Service Co. (CSC), 80 State St., Albany, NY 12207-2543. DE addr. of LLC: c/o CSC, 251 Little Falls Dr., Wilmington, DE 19808. Cert. of Form. filed with Secy. of State, 401 Federal St., Ste. 4, Dover, DE 19901. Purpose: Any lawful activity.

Notice of Qualification of MONTICELLOAM FUNDING SH-95, LLC

Appl. for Auth. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 08/28/25. Office location: NY County. LLC formed in Delaware (DE) on 08/26/25. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to Corporation Service Co. (CSC), 80 State St., Albany, NY 12207-2543. DE addr. of LLC: CSC, 251 Little Falls Dr., Wilmington, DE 19808. Cert. of Form. filed with Secy. of State, 401 Federal St., Ste. 4, Dover, DE 19901. Purpose: Engaging in and exercising all powers permitted to a limited liability company formed under the Delaware Limited Liability Company Act.

Notice of Qualification of PATRIOT HYDRO FUNDING, LLC Appl. for Auth. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 09/22/25. Office location: NY County. LLC formed in Delaware (DE) on 10/27/22. Princ. office of LLC: 1700 Broadway, 35th Fl., NY, NY 10019. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to Corporation Service Co. (CSC), 80 State St., Albany, NY 12207-2543. DE addr. of LLC: CSC, 251 Little Falls Dr., Wilmington, DE 19808. Cert. of Form. filed with Secy. of State, Charuni Patibanda-Sanchez, 401 Federal St., Dover, DE 19901. Purpose: Any lawful activity.

LEGAL NOTICE

Notice of formation of Limited Liability Company ("LLC"). Name: Rangel PACT JV, LLC. Articles of Organization filed with the Secretary of State ofthe State ofNew York (SSNY) on August 29, 2025. N.Y. office location: New York County. The SSNY has been designated as agent ofthe LLC upon whom process against it may be served. The SSNY shall mail a copy of any process to Rangel PACT JV, LLC, c/o Genesis Companies, 745 Fifth Avenue, Suite 500, New York, New York 10151.

Purpose/character ofLLC is to engage in any lawful act or activity.

Notice of Qualification of RBC MUNICIPAL CAPITAL, LLC Appl. for Auth. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 09/17/25. Office location: NY County. LLC formed in Delaware (DE) on 12/02/24. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to Corporation Service Co., 80 State St., Albany, NY 12207-2543. DE addr. of LLC: 251 Little Falls Dr., Wilmington, DE 19808. Cert. of Form. filed with Secy. of State, Div. of Corps. - John G. Townsend Bldg., 401 Federal St. - Ste. 4, Dover, DE 19901. Purpose: Any lawful activity.

Notice of Qualification of SKYTON BEAUTY LLC

Appl. for Auth. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 09/30/25. Office location: NY County. LLC formed in Delaware (DE) on 09/03/25. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to Corporation Service Co., 80 State St., Albany, NY 12207-2543. DE addr. of LLC: 251 Little Falls Dr., Wilmington, DE 19808. Cert. of Form. filed with Secy. of State, Div. of Corps., John G. Townsend Bldg., 401 Federal St., Ste. 4, Dover, DE 19901. Purpose: Any lawful activity.

Notice of Formation of RBEC1 DEVELOPER, LLC

Arts. of Org. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 08/28/25. Office location: NY County. Princ. office of LLC: 30 Hudson Yards, Fl. 72, NY, NY 10001. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to Corporation Service Co., 80 State St., Albany, NY 12207. Purpose: Any lawful activity.

Notice of Qualification of WASABI ROLLOVER LLC Appl. for Auth. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 09/30/25. Office location: NY County. LLC formed in Delaware (DE) on 05/06/24. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to Corporation Service Co., 80 State St., Albany, NY 12207-2543. DE addr. of LLC: 251 Little Falls Dr., Wilmington, DE 19808. Cert. of Form. filed with Secy. of State, 401 Federal St., Ste. 4, Dover, DE 19901. Purpose: Any lawful activity.

Notice of Qualification of CVTB LLC Appl. for Auth. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 09/12/25. Office location: NY County. LLC formed in Delaware (DE) on 02/06/25. Princ. office of LLC: 100 Causeway St., Ste. 1120, Boston, MA 02114. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to Corporation Service Co. (CSC), 80 State St., Albany, NY 122072543. DE addr. of LLC: c/o CSC, 251 Little Falls Dr., Wilmington, DE 19808. Cert. of Form. filed with Secy. of State, Div. of Corps., 401 Federal St. - Ste. 4, Dover, DE 19901. Purpose: Any lawful activity.

Notice of Formation of 130 W 19th 8D LLC. Arts. of Org. filed with NY Dept. of State on 9/3/25. Office location: New York County. NY Sec. of State designated agent of the LLC upon whom process against it may be served, and shall mail process to 130 West 19th St, Apt 8D, New York, NY 10011. Purpose: any lawful activity.

Notice of Formation of AHRENS CREATIVE LLC Arts. of Org. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 09/22/25. Office location: NY County. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to the LLC, 333 W. 56th St., Penthouse A N, NY, NY 10019. Purpose: Any lawful activity.

Notice of Formation of ANNIE'S NEW YORK LLC

Arts. of Org. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 09/12/25. Office location: NY County. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to Corporation Service Co., 80 State St., Albany, NY 122072543. Purpose: Any lawful activity.

Notice of Formation of DD GANSEVOORT LLC Arts. of Org. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 09/29/25. Office location: NY County. Princ. office of LLC: 7 Penn Plaza, Ste. 600, NY, NY 10001. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to the LLC at the addr. of its princ. office. Purpose: Any lawful activity.

Notice of Formation of MARGARET NELL LLC

Arts. of Org. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 09/26/25. Office location: NY County. Princ. office of LLC: 325 East 79th St., Apt. 2A, NY, NY 10075. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to Emily M. Bromley at the princ. office of the LLC. Purpose: Any lawful activity.

HEXAGON INVESTORS LLC. Arts. of Org. filed with the SSNY on 09/11/25. Office: New York County. SSNY designated as agent of the LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail copy of process to the LLC, c/o Shivam Agarwal, 959 1st Avenue, Apartment 8P, New York, NY 10022, which also serves as the Registered Agent address. Purpose: Any lawful purpose.

Metamechanics Architecture PLLC.

6/24/2025. New York County. SSNY has been designated as agent upon whom process against it may be served. 236 West 27th St Suite 1303, New York, New York 10001. 236 West 27th St Suite 1303, New York, New York 10001. Architecture.

Notice of Qualification of NothingBetter Health Group, PLLC. Application for authority filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 9/5/2025. Office Location: NY County. PLLC formed in Virginia (VA) on 5/4/2025. SSNY designated as agent of PLLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to: 10304 Eaton Pl., Ste 100, Fairfax, VA 22030. Purpose: any lawful purpose.

101 E 9 DEVELOPER LLC. Arts. of Org. filed with the SSNY on 09/16/25. Office: New York County. SSNY designated as agent of the LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail copy of process to the LLC, c/o Peraino Malinowski LLP, 152 Madison Avenue, 16th Floor, New York, NY 10016. Purpose: Any lawful purpose.

Notice of formation of Catalyst 48 LLC. Arts. of Org. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 9/21/25. Office location: New York County. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to: Erica Leone, 280 Park Ave S NY,NY 10010. Purpose: any lawful activity.

Daniel Adam Goldstein LCSW PLLC filed w/ SSNY 8/26/25. Off. in NY Co. Process served to SSNY - desig. as agt. of PLLC & mailed to the PLLC, 424 E. 52nd St, #5C, NY, NY 10022. Any lawful purpose.

This is to announce that the next open meeting of the Harlem Children's Zone Promise Academy II Charter School Board of Trustees will be held on Thursday, October 23, 2025, at 4:30 pm. The meeting will take place at 245 West 129th St, NY, NY.

Notice of formation of Papilio Strategies LLC. Articles of Organization filed with the Secretary of State of New York SSNY on 9/12/25. Office located in NY County. SSNY has been designated for service of process. SSNY shall mail copy of any process served against the LLC at 7 Park Ave #116, NY NY 10016. Purpose: any lawful purpose.

Notice of Qualification of STEAMBOAT PROP ACQUISITION PARTNERS LLC

Appl. for Auth. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 09/09/25. Office location: NY County. LLC formed in Delaware (DE) on 08/06/25. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to c/o Michael Spizzuco, Esq., Brach Eichler L.L.C., 101 Eisenhower Pkwy., Roseland, NJ 07068. DE addr. of LLC: c/o Corporation Service Co., 251 Little Falls Dr., Wilmington, DE 19808. Cert. of Form. filed with Secy. of State, John G. Townsend Bldg., 401 Federal St., Ste. 4, Dover, DE 19901. Purpose: Any lawful activity.

Notice is hereby given that a license, serial #NA-0340-25103028 for beer, wine & liquor has been applied for by the undersigned to sell beer, wine & liquor at retail in a restaurant under the ABC Law at 994 Columbus Ave., New York, NY 10025 for on-premises consumption; Limone LLC

NOTICE is hereby given that a license, number NA-0370-24135212 for liquor, wine, beer & cider has been applied for by the undersigned to sell liquor, wine, beer & cider at retail in a bar/tavern under the Alcoholic Beverage Control Law at 4371 3rd Ave; Bronx, NY 10457 in Bronx County for on premises consumption. Zion Restaurant and Lounge Corp d/b/a Zion Restaurant and Lounge

Notice of Formation of RBF1 DEVELOPER, LLC

Arts. of Org. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 08/28/25. Office location: NY County. Princ. office of LLC: 30 Hudson Yards, Fl. 72, NY, NY 10001. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to Corporation Service Co., 80 State St., Albany, NY 12207. Purpose: Any lawful activity.

This is to announce that the next open meeting of the Harlem Children's Zone Promise Academy I Charter School Board of Trustees will be held on Thursday, October 23, 2025, at 4:30 pm. The meeting will take place at 245 West 129th St, NY, NY.

Notice of Formation of ROSEMOND PROPERTIES LLC

Arts. of Org. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 09/08/25. Office location: NY County. Princ. office of LLC: 195 Fenimore St., Brooklyn, NY 11225. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to Corporation Service Co., 80 State St., Albany, NY 12207. Purpose: Any lawful activity.

Florihana Realty LLC Arts. of Org. filed with the SSNY on August 23, 2025. Office location: Richmond County. SSNY has been designated as an agent upon whom process against it may be served & shall mail to: 626 New Dorp Lane, Staten Island, NY 10306. Purpose: Lessor of real estate.

ROOM FOR RENT

ROOM FOR RENT!

Kitchenette and small room.

Good Heat and hot water and near all transportation. Phone Number: 917-583-4968

Notice of Qualification of AP CREDIT SOLUTIONS HOLDINGS (AIV) II, L.P. Appl. for Auth. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 01/08/25. Office location: NY County. LP formed in Delaware (DE) on 12/26/24. Princ. office of LP: Attn: General Counsel, 9 W. 57th St., 43rd Fl., NY, NY 10019. Duration of LP is Perpetual. SSNY designated as agent of LP upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to the Partnership at the princ. office of the LP. Name and addr. of each general partner are available from SSNY. DE addr. of LP: c/o Corporation Service Co., 251 Little Falls Dr., Wilmington, DE 19808. Cert. of LP filed with The Secy. of State of the State of DE, Dept. of State, Div. of Corps., John Townsend Bldg., Dover, DE 19901. Purpose: Any lawful activity.

Occupational Therapist Priority Care Staffing. Full time. Bronx. 75,712/year (36.4/ hour) Evaluate patients’ conditions; Develop and implement treatment plans; Demonstrate exercises to help relieve patients’ pain; Evaluate results and progress of occupational therapy on patients; Educate caregivers and family members of clients on patient care. usotjobs@prioritycarestaffing. com.

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Rikers Island

Continued from page 2

be by the time Rikers’ current jail is by law supposed to close. Doing nothing - which is Mamdani’s plan— will result in no jail anywhere and no place to put the 7,000 people held at Rikers.”

Vera Action director Alana Sivin lambasted Cuomo’s proposal, particularly due to the former governor’s hand in signing several pivotal criminal justice reform bills like Bail Reform and Raise the Age.

“Cuomo knows better,” she said. “He rightfully has pointed out how we can’t let Kalief Browder happen again. He rightfully defended the reforms that would prevent people from dying due to incarceration at Rikers Island like bail reform [and] closing the jail complex, so it’s a real shame that he’s straying from what he knows is right in a really misguided tactic to build a base.”

Borough-based jail plan proponents argue the newer facilities cut down sizable transportation times and costs to courthouses, and would reduce jail violence and deaths caused by Rikers’ outdated infrastructure (there are instances of detainees fashioning weapons from dilapidated walls). More programming and medical services would allow those in custody, most who remain innocent until proven guilty, to prepare for re-entry and address physical and mental health conditions.

Beyond the actual conditions of Rikers Island’s existing jails, advocates believe the remote location between the Bronx and Queens prevents visitation from family, friends, and lawyers. Just one MTA bus line — the Q100, — currently services the island. Cuomo addressed these concerns by also proposing express bus service for “family members, legal aid, and community service

“It’s out of sight [and] out of mind, and that really breeds a culture of violence,” said Sivin. “It breeds a culture where people are stripped of their humanity. People are far from courthouses, far from their lawyers and families. The distance of Rikers Island makes it so the violence and the torture that happens there every day go unchecked.”

While Cuomo claims focusing construction in one location can save New York City billions, his proposal may actually be costprohibitive. According to the most recent report by the Lippman Commission, which the city contracts with to plan the closure, rebuilding Rikers’ jails would cost 8%–15% more than the borough-based jail plan and would require more time. However, local opposition remains where the city is currently building the jails. Notably, Chinatown residents across the political spectrum organized against the Manhattan site for years and recently proposed to move the construction to a nearby federal facility while turning the planned lot into affordable housing for the working class Asian American community. Neighbors United Below Canal (NUBC), one of the groups leading such efforts, said the news reinforces the ad-

vocates’ calls for 100% affordable housing in Chinatown.

“Our goal is a cost-effective and humane approach that protects Chinatown and meets the needs of its residents,” said NUBC in a statement. “Since its release in April, our housing plan has garnered strong and growing support, with more than 10,000 petitions and 3,500 online signatures. We remain confident that our plan reflects the community’s priorities and provides a safe and responsible path forward. We are grateful for the community’s continued support.”

Cuomo did not respond to the Campaign to Close Rikers voter guide questionnaire, which leading proponents of the boroughbased jail plan conducted. Neither did Re-

“It’s out of sight [and] out of mind, and that really breeds a culture of violence ... It breeds a culture where people are stripped of their humanity. People are far from courthouses, far from their lawyers and families. The distance of Rikers Island makes it so the violence and the torture that happens there every day go unchecked.”

—Alana Sivin, Vera Action director

publican candidate Curtis Sliwa. However, Democratic nominee Zohran Mamdani promised to “comply with the law, and close Rikers,” specifically pointing to how he would reduce the existing jail population by pursuing alternatives to incarceration and increasing supportive housing.

“The city has for years paid lip service to decarceration while doing nothing to make it a reality, with a non-existent investment in actually reducing the number of people locked up,” wrote Mamdani. “We have not sufficiently invested in alternatives to incarceration, and our courts have taken that lack of investment as a cue to continue shuffling people to Rikers. Dozens of people have died as a result, and tens of thousands of lives have been disrupted.”

Housing scams

house to Yuan Kuei Li for $950,000 on April 25, 2024. That same day, Li allegedly sold it to Abdur Rahman and his company, Great Neck Acquisitions, for $1.5 million.

The paperwork hid the fact that neither Rahman nor Great Neck Acquisitions ever paid Li for the property, and Li never actually received the $950,000 to acquire the building. The defendants all allegedly used the deed for 267 West 131st Street as

collateral to secure a mortgage and construction loan totaling $1,636,000.

“During a time when housing is scarce,”

D.A. Bragg said in a statement, “I will not stand for fraudsters coming to Harlem to try and perpetrate these pernicious schemes. This type of alleged conduct preys on longtime New Yorkers, and we will prosecute those who take advantage of homeowners.”

D.A. Bragg said that he wants Ramos, Li, and Rahman to be held accountable: they each face charges related to mortgage fraud and identity theft. But he also wants to see Okryun Marrero’s rightful

heirs regain their property.

But, as with other recent cases involving Black New Yorkers whose property has been stolen, 267 West 131st Street is currently still listed as owned by Great Neck Acquisitions. The building’s true owners will have to keep the pressure on to get their property back.

Solny conviction highlights systemic gaps Carmela Charrington, whose family has been a victim of deed theft, recently helped establish the People’s Coalition to Stop Deed Theft. She says many in her group have become suspicious of

government officials who are supposed to assist victims but often seem unable to help them recover their homes. “We have no way to seek justice,” Charrington told AmNews. “When we go to the police or district attorney, we get no relief.”

The situation involving the disbarred attorney Sanford Solny highlights this issue. On June 5, Solny, 68, was convicted of stealing the deeds to 11 residential properties in Brooklyn. Following a bench trial before Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Danny K. Chun, Solny was found guilty of 13 counts of third-degree criminal possession of stolen property, three counts of first-degree scheme to defraud, and one count of third-degree grand larceny.

Solny, who had previously pleaded guilty to felony possession of stolen property in Queens in 2018 and was on probation, was taken into custody last week following a probation hearing. He will remain incarcerated until his upcoming October 22 sentencing in Brooklyn, where he faces additional jail time.

But even after Solny’s conviction, two of his victims — Patrice and Wendy Sawadogo — are still fighting to reclaim their homes. Solny had stolen two properties from them, both supposedly under legal hold, yet one was still unlawfully sold.

In a statement, the Sawadogos said they were “assured that our homes would be returned following Solny’s prosecution. Instead, we were stunned to learn that our property at 406 East 21st Street, Brooklyn, NY 11226 was sold for approximately $1,000,000, despite being under a court-ordered legal hold. The status of our second property, 729 Eldert Lane, Brooklyn, NY 11208, remains unknown. For more than 14 years, Sanford Solny unlawfully controlled our properties, collected rent, and deprived us of ownership. Now, as victims finally await justice, our property has been sold out from under us, and we are being served eviction notices to vacate our own homes.”

Rachel Cyprien, an organizer with the Black Homeowners Preservation Coalition (BHPC), a grassroots alliance fighting to stop deed theft and end the systemic erasure of Black generational wealth, says she is also deeply frustrated with the system.

“What I feel is that there are several Sanford Solnys out there,” Cyprien said. “And the Black community, specifically, is being harmed...

“I understood what this man was doing — stealing homes. He was stealing people’s homes, and people acted like he was taking insignificant little somethings. But we’re talking about people’s homes — sanctuaries where they sleep, where their families gather. They are homes. Homes. And the way he was treated with such kid gloves boggles my mind. It hurts me to my core. It made me really angry. He took 50 adjournments before he was finally arrested, and he should have been caught a long time ago.”

Jaron Ennis levels up in class to win the WBA interim super welterweight title

By DERREL JOHNSON Special to the AmNews

Jaron “Boots” Ennis relinquished his IBF and WBA welterweight titles at 147 pounds to challenge for the WBA interim super welterweight championship at 154 pounds. Turns out, Ennis only needed one minute and 58 seconds to earn his first win at the new weight.

Ennis (35-0, 31 KOs) knocked down Angolan Uisma Lima (14-2, 10 KOs), who was making his first appearance in the United States, before referee Shawn Clark stepped in to stop the fight in the first round to win the title at Xfinity Mobile Arena in his hometown of Philadelphia.

“(Lima) was a bigger guy, he’s fought at 160 (middleweight) a couple times, and I just wanted to test my body out at 154,” the 28-year-old Ennis said after his win. “I felt way better at 154 for sure, and the extra seven pounds did justice. I felt great. I was feeling great all fight week, and like I said, even when I was at my last training for my last workout, I felt great. I usually don’t want to do nothing around that time, but I felt great. I was energized, I was moving around, all that stuff, so I love 154.”

What’s next for Ennis?

“I know (undefeated interim WBC super welterweight champion Vergil Ortiz) got a fight coming,” he remarked when asked about a clash between the two undefeated interim titleholders. “He is focused on his fight (versus Erickson Lubin on Nov. 8).” Ennis later asserted that he wants any champion present title holder or active past titleholder at 154 if Ortiz is unavailable.

“(Former undisputed super welterweight champion) Charlo, he can get it next,” he said, then mentioning other super welterweight champions, including the WBC champ Sebastian Fundora, IBF titleist Bakhram Murtazaliev, and WBO strap holder Xander Zayas.

On Saturday at the Barclays Center, Danny Garcia (37-4 21 KOs) will fight a record 10th time at the Brooklyn venue when he faces Queens native Daniel Gonzalez (22-4-1 7 KOs). Garcia is 7-2 at the Barclays Center, including the first two losses of his career.

On October 25, Tom Aspinall will make his first defense of the UFC heavyweight title vacated by Jon Jones against Frenchman Ciryl Gane at UFC 321. Gane has only lost to Jones and PFL heavyweight champion and former UFC heavyweight title holder Francis Ngannou.

CIAA commissioner Jacquie McWilliams Parker moves women’s sports forward

By LOIS ELFMAN Special to the AmNews

Now in her 14th year as commissioner of the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association (CIAA), a Division II conference comprised of Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), Jacqie McWilliams Parker is excited to see emerging sports, like wrestling and flag football, join established college sports like basketball as collegiate opportunities for female student-athletes.

“The CIAA is excited about flag football; we started it last year,” said McWilliams Parker. “We have seven institutions that have committed if we go varsity.”

The story of women’s sports in the CIAA, most notably basketball, is told in the film “Inside the CIAA: Her Story” now available on the HBCU Week NOW YouTube channel.

In the film, McWilliams Parker and others, including Dr. Aminta Breaux, president of Bowie State University, speak about the evolution of women’s sports from play days –– when women would travel to other HBCUs for a day of sport-

ing activities — to the current prominence of the CIAA Women’s Basketball Tournament, which is held in great excitement at Baltimore.

“I thought, wow, how far we’ve come and we’re still growing,” said McWilliams Parker. “It seems like it was way, way

back in the day, and it wasn’t. It was just 50-something years ago. It’s incredible to watch how [basketball] has unfolded over these decades.”

McWilliams Parker’s evolution as a leader is evident in her willingness to take charge of challenging situations, as well as in her

personal style, which is now characterized by locs and African-inspired clothing. “Whatever I put on, I want to feel good in it and I want to be who I am,” she said. “I want to be able to intertwine showing up for young women who could see themselves in the position and what that looks like.”

There are only eight Black female conference commissioners across NCAA Divisions I, II, and III, as well as the NAIA. And three of those women — McWilliams Parker, Dr. Kiki Baker Barnes, and Sonja Stills — are at HBCU conferences. Basketball is a bright light. The men’s and women’s CIAA Basketball Tournament take place together with equal fanfare.

Heading into the CIAA’s 50th anniversary of women’s basketball, Under Armour created special uniforms for the 2025 tournament.

“These women, they walked into an experience I don’t think they expected,” said McWilliams Parker. “Our schools set the uniforms up in their locker rooms to surprise them. … Celebrating in Baltimore, where the culture and the mayor love basketball, really helped us amplify the game.”

The Knicks approach the start of the regular season with outsized expectations

By JAIME C. HARRIS AmNews Sports Editor

Tomorrow at Madison Square Garden is the last of the 3-1 Knicks’ five preseason games. When the buzzer sounds to conclude the matchup with the Charlotte Hornets and everyone hopefully emerges uninjured, it won’t matter if they are 4-1 or 3-2.

What is truly consequential are the games that begin next Wednesday when the Knicks open the regular season versus the Cleveland Cavaliers as the fourth-highest betting favorite as established by major sports gaming companies.

The team they host has the second-highest odds behind only the defending NBA champion Oklahoma City Thunder. If the Thunder do ultimately win their second straight title, they will be the league’s first repeat champion since the Golden State Warriors back-to-back wins in 2017 and 2018.

After losing to the Indiana Pacers in six games in last season’s Eastern Conference Finals, the bar is set high for the Knicks. Merely reaching the conference finals again won’t be viewed as a success-

ful season in the eyes of rabid fans who raucously celebrated outside of MSG last May as if the Knicks won the whole thing after they defeated the Boston Celtics in the conference semifinals 4-2.

Ask Tom Thibodeau the same thing if you run into him. The former Knicks head coach was

canned after leading the team to 101 combined victories over the past two regular seasons, scaling from the conference semis in 202324 season to the conference finals the following campaign. These improvements were obviously not good enough for Knicks owner James Dolan and team pres-

ident Leon Rose. Enter 55-year-old veteran coach Mike Brown, a twotime NBA Coach of the Year with the Cavaliers in 2009 and Sacramento Kings in 2023. Yes, each night will be analogous to a Broadway show and he’ll be centerstage in the spotlight, replacing the 67-yearold Thibodeau with the mandate to

win a championship. How else could his charge be characterized other than finals or bust? But this Knicks squad still needs more size and proven depth when measured against the Thunder, Cavaliers and Houston Rockets, the latter being the third betting favorite after the rising young team added all-time great Kevin Durant this past summer via the Phoenix Suns.

The first thing Brown said at the Knicks’ annual Media Day last month: “I don’t know if anyone has higher expectations than me. I love being in a position where you have expectations.”

Knicks All-Star guard Jalen Brunson, speaking in late August on his podcast “Roommates Show,” co-hosted with Villanova and Knicks teammate Josh Hart, said his goals have long remained the same.

“My definition of success has not changed,” Brunson said. “You win or you don’t succeed.” Brunson’s zero-sum mentality must permeate the roster from head coach to the last man to achieve their objective of snatching the Knicks’ first title since 1973.

A’Ja Wilson enters GOAT discussion after leading Aces to WNBA Finals sweep

By LOIS ELFMAN Special to the AmNews

The Las Vegas Aces are a dynasty. They have moved into the pantheon of an all-time great WNBA franchise by winning their third title in the last four seasons, sweeping the Phoenix Mercury 4-0 in the league’s first-ever best-of-seven finals, culminating with a resounding 97-86 road win, last Friday. Apparently, four is the Aces’ lucky number. Their titles in 2022 and 2023 were both earned in four finals games in a best-of-five finals series.

And their star, 6’4 center A’ja Wilson, is now in the conversation as to who is the best women’s player in the history of the sport. After being bestowed her fourth regular-season MVP last month, Wilson, who scored 31 points in Game 4 (tied for the most in a title-clinching victory in WNBA history), garnered the series MVP. Thus, she stands alone among WNBA and NBA players to win the regular season scoring title (23.4), MVP, Defensive Player of the Year, and Finals MVP in the same season.

“We worked our butts off to get

to this point. And now it’s time to have some fun,” Wilson joyfully expressed after the No. 2 seed Aces took down the No. 4 seed Mercury. Indeed, the Aces didn’t have the look of a championship squad on July 10 when they were two games

under .500 at 9-11, battling injuries and performing inconsistently. But head coach Becky Hammon and Wilson held the team together, and the Aces surged into the postseason, going 18-1 in their last 19 regular-season games.

The players praised Hammon and spoke about the relationships she built with them through adversity, understanding the ebbs and flows of long campaigns, experience gained during a 16-year WNBA playing career,

eight of those with the New York Liberty. The Aces’ collective resilience manifested in a razor-thin 74-73 win over the Seattle Storm in the decisive Game 3 in their best-of-three opening round playoff series and then a dramatic 107-98 overtime victory against the unwavering Indiana Fever in Game 5 of their best-of-five semifinals matchup.

With guards Jackie Young (7 years) and Chelsea Gray (11 years), who have a combined 18 years in the WNBA, making immeasurable contributions along with other Aces, Wilson anchored a talented group that found ways to overcome all that could have stopped their march to the mountaintop.

Embattled league commissioner Cathy Engelbert was loudly booed by the crowd when she presented the championship trophy to the Aces and the MVP award to Wilson. A long and complicated postseason lies ahead as the players and owners negotiate a new collective bargaining agreement, with many prominent players highly critical of Englebert’s leadership and desiring her to resign.

Sports

‘Once There Were Giants’ illuminates towering era in heavyweight boxing

By TONY PAIGE

Special to the AmNews

Part 2 of a two-part story. Part 1 was published in the October 9 issue. There are a lot of dictators or wannabe dictators in the world today. Back when Muhammad Ali fought, dictators used his talent, along with promoter Don King, to prop up their countries and hide their sinister pasts.

Ali battled Joe Frazier in the “Thrilla in Manila,” under the gaze of President Fernando Marcos. He fought Joe Bugner in Malaysia under President Suharto. It was infamously different under President Mobutu Sese Seko of Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo), where Ali fought Big George Foreman 50 years ago and counting on October 30, 1974.

Jerry Izenberg, the long-time sports columnist for the Star-Ledger (now NJ.com), remembers his first encounter with Mobutu. “Ali took me to meet Mobutu,” said Izenberg, now 95. “We went to the bottom of this hill. These little

naked kids were running around.

Their bellies were covering their genitals. That’s how swollen they were. They were starving.”

After the meeting, he saw the same kids begging for pennies.

“We go up this hill and there is a solid-gold leopard cage and there’s a leopard in it because that’s the national symbol. Mobutu comes out. He says, ‘Hello,’” remembered Izenberg. “I put out my hand to shake and the guards took a step forward and said, ‘You can’t shake his hand. Don’t touch him,’ so I didn’t.”

Mobutu thought the fight would enhance Zaire’s reputation. Hardly. He was overthrown in 1997. “Everyone was scared to death [of him],” Izenberg stated. The stadium was another matter.

“The wooden seats were horrible. It was a dump,” said Izenberg.

“The Rumble in the Jungle” was held in the 20th of May Stadium (now Stade Tata Raphael), which was primarily a soccer venue, but it had a darker side: It was used for executions under Mobutu, and

Izenberg should know. He heard what was going on when he visited the stadium.

“They didn’t just execute them. They didn’t want to waste bullets,” Izenberg recalled. “They clubbed them to death. It sounded like a mother hitting the mattress in spring cleaning.” Izenberg and the rest of the writers found out that a “free press” did not exist in Zaire. He dealt with censorship because of an unflattering portrayal he was writing about the country’s crumbling infrastructure.

“I used ‘dusty roads’ and this censor said, ‘No dusty roads inside [Zaire].’ He winked his eye,” said Izenberg. “I thought it was a gag. He said to use ‘pretty country roads.’ I told him, ‘That ain’t the Ohio Turnpike out there,’ and that’s when he called the guys with the guns. That’s when we understood that Zaire had no dust at all.”

He’s seen it all. How many writers got to see Imelda Marcos’s famed shoe room in Manila? The Newark-born scribe did. Ali’s reign

as the best heavyweight in the world took Izenberg to faraway places like Japan, Switzerland, Indonesia, and Germany, to name a few. Today, it seems like Las Vegas and Saudi Arabia are the main fight destinations. “There won’t be any more places other than Saudi Arabia, because Saudi Arabia will win on [account of] money,” Izenberg noted, adding, “They own an English soccer team (Newcastle United) and half the golf tour (LIV Golf).”

Before Ali’s dreadful performance against Larry Holmes in 1980, Izenberg went to his room. Ali wanted to know if Izenberg thought he could win. “I came here to thank you because many days, you filled a big white space for me [for my boxing column],” said a humbled Izenberg, who hours later had to fill space about the end of the Ali era.

Changes are necessary and imminent for the Jets to course correct

By JAIME C. HARRIS AmNews Sports Editor

Something has to change. The Jets are 0-6, the only winless team in the NFL after a 13-11 loss to the Denver Broncos on Sunday in London, UK. Many Jets fans probably found it difficult to digest their breakfast watching their team lose another winnable game, which kicked off a little after 9:30 a.m.EST.

The 4-2 Broncos, tied for first place in the AFC West with the Los Angeles Chargers, were ripe for the Jets to snatch their first victory of the season. Denver managed just 246 total yards across 12 drives. Its defense, ranked second in the league at 254.2 yards allowed per game and only six touchdowns surrendered all year, held firm as expected. But — and don’t wipe the lens of your glasses or rinse your contact lenses thinking you aren’t

seeing these numbers clearly —the Jets offense unfathomably generated 82 total yards on 12 yards and was minus-10 passing. Yes, no passing yards. A negative with quarterback Justin Fields on the controls. So the heated exchange be-

tween Jets wide receiver Garrett Wilson and head coach Aaron Glenn on the sideline before halftime was understandable. It occurred after the Jets let the clock run out instead of attempting a play, obvious and inexcusable mismanagement by both players

and coaches.

“I just didn’t know exactly what the plan was. Once I figured it out, I was disappointed. I’ll just say that,” said Wilson, who hyperextended his knee on

Sunday and will now be out for the next few weeks.

“We were waiting for a Hail Mary or something, and then the clock ran out,” a perplexed Broncos head coach Sean Payton said. ”That was surprising. That was unusual.”

Nearly all of the rightful scrutiny for the Jets’ negligence has been directed at Fields and Glenn. It is common for the QB and head coach, the most prominent figures of virtually every NFL franchise, to be the recipients of most of the credit for success and the bulk of the blame for failure.