Latest news with #GoodTimes
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
PBS Sues Trump, Claims Defunding Order Violates First Amendment
PBS sued the Trump administration on Friday, arguing that Trump's move to cut off funding violates the First Amendment. The lawsuit also argues that Trump has violated the statutory framework that established the service in 1969, and which was designed to keep its editorial content free from political interference. In an executive order on May 1, Trump called PBS 'corrosive' and said that its news broadcast is 'biased and partisan.' More from Variety At Cannes, Politics, Penny-Pinching and Strict Red Carpet Rules Overshadow the Glitz, Good Times and Glamour Lesley Stahl, Scott Jennings Join PBS Tense News-Panel Series 'Breaking the Deadlock' Ukrainian Filmmakers Weather 'Turbulence,' 'Uncertainty' of Trump 2.0, Set Sights on Post-War Rebuild: 'We Are Still Here' 'PBS disputes those charged assertions in the strongest possible terms,' the lawsuit states. 'But regardless of any policy disagreements over the role of public television, our Constitution and laws forbid the President from serving as the arbiter of the content of PBS's programming, including by attempting to defund PBS.' PBS joins NPR, which filed a similar lawsuit seeking to block the executive order on Tuesday. The order directed the Corporation for Public Broadcasting to cut off funding to both entities to 'the maximum extent allowed by law.' The CPB gives out government funding to local TV and radio stations, which in turn pays licensing fees to carry PBS and NPR programming. The CPB pushed back on Trump's order, saying that Congress established it as an independent agency outside of presidential control. Trump has also sought to fire three CPB board members — Tom Rothman, Diane Kaplan and Laura Ross — who have sued him to try to block their firing. In the latest case, PBS is joined by Northern Minnesota Public Television, based in Bemidji, Minn. The suit recounts numerous comments made by Trump and the White House attacking PBS' content, to underscore the point that the defunding is motivated by disagreement over speech. In a Truth Social post on April 1, Trump demanded that Republicans defund PBS and NPR, 'THE RADICAL LEFT 'MONSTERS' THAT SO BADLY HURT OUR COUNTRY!' Among the grievances cited by the White House was a 2017 panel discussion about 'white privilege' and 'what it means to be woke,' a 2020 Sesame Street town hall aimed at addressing racism amid the Black Lives Matter protests, and a 2021 children's program featuring a drag queen. 'PBS disputes those examples and assertions as inaccurate — and misrepresentative of the variety of PBS programming,' the lawsuit states. The suit, filed in federal court in Washington, D.C., seeks an injunction to block the order from taking effect. Best of Variety What's Coming to Netflix in June 2025 New Movies Out Now in Theaters: What to See This Week 'Harry Potter' TV Show Cast Guide: Who's Who in Hogwarts?
USA Today
4 days ago
- General
- USA Today
Public housing failed miserably in Chicago. Why is the city now opening a housing museum?
Public housing failed miserably in Chicago. Why is the city now opening a housing museum? The National Museum of Public Housing puts visitors in the shoes of former tenants through recreated apartments. Residents hope people see there's more to life in the projects than the news shows. Show Caption Hide Caption Jen Hampton named among USA TODAY's Women of the Year for North Carolina Following Hurricane Helene, Jen Hampton visited each of Asheville's public housing communities to ensure residents knew how to get help. She's one of USA TODAY's Women of the Year. CHICAGO – A 7-year-old boy walking to school dies under sniper fire. A 13-year-old girl taking the elevator is assaulted when a man slips in behind her. Conditions in hallways are hardly fit for rats. Public housing in the U.S. invokes images so horrible it begs the question why Chicago – where America's grand housing experiment arguably went more wrong than anywhere else – built the country's first museum of public housing and turned a spotlight on a past many people would prefer to forget. Chicago's National Public Housing Museum opened in April in the last remaining building of a public housing complex, located some two miles from the city's iconic downtown. The opening comes decades after former residents called for a museum in response to the city destroying much of Chicago's public housing in the early 2000s. America had soured on public housing then and was on a nationwide demolition derby, blowing up decrepit high rises from Philadelphia to San Francisco. Museum leaders say the questions the exhibits ask are more urgent than ever as President Donald Trump enacts sweeping cuts to Housing and Urban Development, the federal agency that handles public housing. Budget cuts are already expected to result in the loss of 32,000 housing vouchers. 'Ultimately, the big question the museum asks is what is the responsibility of government to its people,' museum Executive Director Lisa Yun Lee told USA TODAY. And about public housing, 'what were the successes that got drowned out by its loudest failures?' The institution is the first public housing museum of its kind, experts told USA TODAY. General admission is free. Admission to the historic apartments costs up to $25. The over $16 million museum was built with public and private funding, including $4.5 million from a city Community Development Grant. Federal officials began building public housing in the 1930s. Over the course of a century, 10 million people lived in public developments, according to the museum. They became synonymous with urban life. TV shows including Good Times celebrated residents striving for a better life but the image that endures in series like The Wire show people caught instead in an American nightmare. Chicago's new museum aims to broaden the debate through guided tours of three apartments: one belonging to a Jewish family in the 1930s, a Polish and an Italian family in the '50s and a Black family in the '60s. Visitors can take a gefilte fish recipe from the Turovitz apartment or see the apartment that a Chicago pastor credits for his development into a prominent voice for peace in the city. Other exhibitions highlight everyday objects from former public housing residents, including Supreme Court Justice Sonya Sotomayor; historic government posters that promoted public housing; and the impact of public housing residents on American music. Stars from Elvis Presley to Jimi Hendrix and Barbra Streisand all lived in public housing. But the uncelebrated life of everyday people is at the heart of the museum. For them, the museum stands as a witness to the stories of resilience and community that filled their days. 'These housing developments were not always bad,' The Reverend Marshall Hatch told USA TODAY. Hatch is the prominent West Side pastor who grew up in the Jane Addams Homes complex, where the museum is today. 'Even in the worst of times, people had community, had love, they had friendship, they had celebration, they were thoroughly human.' 'New, different and demonstratively better': Early public housing Public housing in America has always been for the nation's poor and working class. The earliest projects date back to the Great Depression and the administration of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt who declared in horror during his second inaugural address in 1937: 'I see one-third of a nation ill-housed, ill-clad, ill-nourished.' Already the progressive icon was building public housing projects around the country. Laborers lived in slums then and federal 'planned housing' was pitched as a panacea for everything from diseases associated with unsanitary conditions to juvenile delinquency and deaths from house fires, according to federal promotional posters at the museum in Chicago. 'It was built to be new, different and demonstratively better,' said Lawrence Vale, a scholar of public housing at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. But the projects weren't for everyone. Entry requirements were so strict, applicants had a better chance of getting into Harvard, according to Vale. Early projects accepted people who could cover rent; lived in tight nuclear families instead of large extended families; and had the 'right racial composition for the neighborhood' which usually meant being White, Vale said. Getting accepted for them was a sure step towards achieving the American dream. 'If you got a spot in public housing it was like a seal of approval of your prospects,' said Vale. Growth of public housing Federal housing programs became popular and soon cities and towns around the nation had started housing authorities aimed at helping more Americans enjoy a better life. In Chicago they sprang up with names that matched their utopian visions, including Jane Addams, the social reformer known for launching a movement in the U.S. to improve the lives of the poor, and Ida B. Wells, the Black journalist born into slavery whose reporting on lynching propelled the Civil Rights Movement. A total of nearly 1.4 million public housing units were built nationwide. Decades of demolitions have reduced the number to 877,000 units but still federal maps of public housing show towns from Glasgow, Montana, – population 3,000 – to Itta Bena, Mississippi, – population 1,700 – have agencies overseeing public housing. They even exist in U.S. territories. According to federal data, there are over 300 public housing developments in Puerto Rico alone, the largest of any single housing authority, although New York City has more total units at 180,000 to the island's 54,000. The vast majority of sites are low-rise complexes, according to experts. 1.6 million people live in public housing and 2.3 million households use housing vouchers, according to federal data. 'Grandest place to live,' says former resident Public housing aims to give people a chance at the American dream, according to Crystal Palmer, a former public housing resident in Chicago who works for the city's housing agency. Palmer, who is Black, moved into Chicago's Henry Horner Homes – a sprawling network of high-rises once located near the stadium where the Chicago Bulls play – in 1968 when she was nine years old. The high rises were destroyed by 2008. The complex was among several built in the '50s and '60s when Chicago's Black population was booming, growing from 230,000 people in 1930 to 810,000 in 1960. Martin Luther King Jr. blasted the slums that Black migrants were confined to before the Civil Rights era. King moved into a tenement in solidarity with residents in 1966 and told the Chicago Tribune: "We don't have wall-to-wall carpeting, but we have wall-to-wall rats and roaches." Palmer's family then was among Black West Siders taken from slums into the city's newest housing projects. It felt like no less a seal of approval. 'It was the grandest place to live,' said Palmer, adding there was green grass, fences around the yards and flower beds as well as a ballfield and candy stand. The buildings represented a chance to go from a house that often had problems with water and electricity and where rodents had the run of the place to instead a 'decent, safe, sanitary environment,' she said. Pleasant conditions gave way to years when the building fell into disrepair, gangs took over and police were afraid to come or brutalized people if they did, according to Palmer. But 'The Hornets,' as they became known, still offered her a place to fall back upon and save to become the homeowner she is today. 'I know what it is to leave home when I could and come back when I really needed it,' she said. 'It's important because it gives people a leg up to do better, it gives their family an opportunity to do better.' 'Most notorious' housing project in the nation Public housing around Chicago and the nation fell into despair in the '80s and '90s when federal funding dropped precipitously. The country went from funding the federal public housing agency with $83 billion in 1978 to just $18 billion in 1983, as measured in 2004 dollars. Buildings became exactly what they were built to replace — slums. And the decline was perhaps most horrific of all in Chicago. A USA TODAY cover story from Oct. 21, 1992, titled 'Life, death in 'Little Hell'' called one Chicago housing project – the Cabrini-Green Homes – 'arguably the nation's most-notorious.' The complex was located just blocks away from Chicago's Gold Coast neighborhood, one of the ritziest in the nation, but it stood a world apart. The story was written in response to the death of 7-year-old Dantrell Davis who died by sniper fire while walking to school with his mother. 'No name invokes a grimmer image of urban blight, violence and poverty than this 70-acre, 7,000 person 'city' of isolation and dead-end despair,' the paper reported. 'Three children dead in eight months, a rubble-strewn, graffiti covered war zone just blocks from some of the richest downtown real estate in the USA.' Davis' story created a lasting image for the complex. It came to national attention in the '70s as the setting of the popular sitcom Good Times. Cabrini-Green became a symbol of the failures of public housing nationwide even though it represented just .5% of the 3.8 million people living at that time in public housing nationwide. Data from the period shows public housing residents in New York City were even safer than other New Yorkers, according to USA TODAY reporting at the time. Stepping over bodies to get to school The failures were awful. Francine Washington survived a decades-long horror show at a high rise on the South Side she moved into in the mid-1970s. Washington lived through the police beat covering Stateway Gardens, the complex where she lived until they were demolished in 2006, becoming among the most dangerous in Chicago. People overdosed in the buildings, women Washington knew were raped and wayward bullets killed children in their apartments. Some flew into Washington's apartment, hitting where her husband usually sat. 'Ping, ping,' she said, recalling the sound to a USA TODAY reporter recently. 'The bullets came through the window, if he had still been there, he would have been dead.' In 1990, no city police beat saw more murders or sexual assaults than the 7,400 residents living at Stateway, the Chicago Tribune reported. The 20 homicides in the 16-block area were more than in Montana, Delaware, Alaska, New Hampshire, Maine, the Dakotas, Vermont, Wyoming and Idaho, according to the Tribune. Washington was left to raise two sons under the conditions. One son wanted to skip school one day after finding a body in the hallway outside the apartment. 'Step over that damn body and get your ass to school,' she remembers telling him. A teacher called asking her how she could send her son to school after such a scare and Washington replied, 'he's gonna see that more than one time, he might as well get used to it.' Community despite odds Nearly 20 years after leaving the demolished high rise apartment building, Washington can recall terrible moments in detail but she also becomes sentimental in speaking about her neighbors. 'Even though we had all the problems and all the ills, it was still a community, everyone knew your name,' she says. 'You always had somewhere to go and somebody to visit. You weren't lonely.' Washington moved to another public housing site after her building was destroyed in 2006 but hasn't formed close relationships with her neighbors who aren't public housing residents. 'I do miss it because it was family,' she said of her old high rise. Faith in public housing shaken The buildings where Hatch, Palmer and Washington spent formative years were all destroyed as officials slammed high rise buildings themselves as the reason for the desperate conditions in public housing. They came down amid a wave of highly publicized demolitions that dated back to the razing of the 33 buildings of Pruitt-Igoe in St. Louis in the mid-70s. The complex of 11-story high rises designed by Minoru Yamasaki, the architect behind the original World Trade Center towers in New York City, was celebrated at its opening for its utopian vision. But that vision to landed on its face in less than 20 years. Famed American composer Philip Glass memorialized the rise and fall of the complex in 'Pruitt-Igoe,' a piece of music for an art film about the empty promises of modern life. Chicago officials called the policy of destroying high rises the 'Plan for Transformation.' Images celebrating the destruction of public housing came to typify how Americans felt about the project even as millions of people still relied on federal programs. 'It remains vivid in the public imagination because it is a major visible public failure,' said Akira Drake Rodriguez, a researcher at the University of Pennsylvania's Weitzman School of Design. 'It's meant to say we solved the problem.' A litany of failures so bad that the sites had to be blown up left America's faith in public housing forever shaken. Chicago pastor aims to restore public housing village People who lived in the buildings officials destroyed or at uneventful public housing sites wish the rest of America knew there was more to the story. Hatch, the West Side pastor who grew up in the complex where the museum sits today, remembers a crowded, joyful household. The family moved in 1960 when he was 2 years old and stayed until he was 16. He slept on the couch so his parents could have a room and his seven sisters could have the other. And for him they were some of the best years of his life. 'During my childhood it was a beautiful little village,' said Hatch, 'almost like a dream.' The apartment was so crowded they spent their days outside with other children. Life was playing baseball in the complex courtyard where Art Deco statues of animals served as the basepath. It was about developing friendships that last a lifetime. And it was about developing pride in community that turned Hatch into a prominent voice for peace in a city often rocked by gun violence. Decades later, Hatch is still trying to recreate the feeling he had when he lived in public housing. The New Mount Pilgrim Missionary Baptist Church pastor helps head a group that's aiming to build a similar community in West Side neighborhoods that have still never fully recovered from the riots following the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. in 1968. They hope to transform the area into a 'walkable village' with grocery stores, a health care clinic, an art center and credit union — everyday things that are out of reach for many in Chicago. The group was awarded $10 million for the project in 2023. For Hatch, the inspiration lies in his experience of public housing and the figures the projects were named after to begin with, who offer a different vision of the nation. 'These social reformers had this incredible vision of America being a place of inclusion and being able to support these immigrant and migrant families with what I call 'family-friendly public policies,'' Hatch said. 'And once we get through this current season that is almost embarrassingly amoral, I think these social reformers will offer a sense of what a more positive and spiritual vision of America looks like.'
Economic Times
27-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Economic Times
Janet Jackson's journey: from childhood star to iconic music legend still reigning in Vegas
Janet Jackson, the youngest of the iconic Jackson family, is marking over 50 years in music with a Las Vegas residency and a prestigious Icon Award at the American Music Awards. Her legacy, resilience and cultural impact continue to inspire generations, proving her enduring status as a music legend Tired of too many ads? Remove Ads A career that outlasted the noise Endurance through personal struggles Tired of too many ads? Remove Ads A living legend still breaking records At nearly 60, Janet Jackson still commands the stage with the intensity of a star in her prime. For fans who have followed her since her days on TV's Good Times or her breakthrough Control album, watching her headline a sold-out Las Vegas residency is more than nostalgia, it is year, Janet Jackson receives the honorary Icon Award at the American Music Awards, a moment that not only recognizes her record-breaking achievements but also highlights a deeper truth: she is still here, still shining, and still building her legacy far beyond what many expected. The ceremony, hosted by Jennifer Lopez from the Fontainebleau Hotel in Las Vegas, marks her first televised performance since read: AMAs red carpet 2025 & reality check: Do artists really get paid to perform or win? Janet's career has always been long-distance. She began performing at age seven, stepping onto a Las Vegas stage, and now, five decades later, she's returned to that same city to celebrate her achievements. Her cultural impact is undeniable, with five Grammy Awards , two Emmys, 180 million albums sold, and a spot in the Rock and Roll Hall of the Jackson family name helped open doors, Janet carved her own path, facing challenges that came with fame and identity. 'I wanted to make it on my own,' she once said, reflecting on the weight of being Michael Jackson's sister. She is now the most widely recognized woman in the Jackson family, having overcome the shadow of her brothers to claim her own runs in Janet's blood, but her journey has never been effortless. Her relationship with Michael was close but complicated. She revealed painful childhood memories, Michael teasing her about her weight, and body image issues that followed her into adulthood. At 30, she experienced severe depression, yet found strength in her private life has seen turmoil as well. Janet has been married three times and became a mother at 50 with her third husband, Wissam Al Mana. That marriage ended months after their son's birth, amid claims of control and emotional strain. Since then, she has lived more privately, focusing on motherhood and her read: American Music Awards 2025: Event date, time, host, performances, presenters, guest appearances, nominees and where to watch Despite not releasing a new album in a decade, Janet remains a powerful force in music. Her 2001 hit 'Someone to Call My Lover' is now trending on TikTok, driving a 1,400 per cent spike in streams and reaching No. 3 on the Billboard R&B recognizes her as one of only four artists, alongside U2, Bruce Springsteen, and Barbra Streisand, to top the charts in four consecutive decades. Her Las Vegas residency is a testament to her ongoing appeal. Performing for over two and a half hours, she delivers packed shows at Resorts World Theatre, with her mother Katherine often in the recent years, documentaries and public apologies have reignited public reflection on her past, including the 2004 Super Bowl controversy. She has chosen to respond not with bitterness, but with grace and continued fans and the music industry alike, Janet Jackson's legacy is not a chapter that's closing, it's a story still being written, one powerful note and sold-out show at a time.
Time of India
27-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Time of India
Janet Jackson's journey: from childhood star to iconic music legend still reigning in Vegas
At nearly 60, Janet Jackson still commands the stage with the intensity of a star in her prime. For fans who have followed her since her days on TV's Good Times or her breakthrough Control album, watching her headline a sold-out Las Vegas residency is more than nostalgia, it is affirmation. This year, Janet Jackson receives the honorary Icon Award at the American Music Awards, a moment that not only recognizes her record-breaking achievements but also highlights a deeper truth: she is still here, still shining, and still building her legacy far beyond what many expected. The ceremony, hosted by Jennifer Lopez from the Fontainebleau Hotel in Las Vegas, marks her first televised performance since 2018. Also read: AMAs red carpet 2025 & reality check: Do artists really get paid to perform or win? by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Discover the best air conditioner unit prices in the Philippines 2024 Air Condition | Search Ads Search Now A career that outlasted the noise Janet's career has always been long-distance. She began performing at age seven, stepping onto a Las Vegas stage, and now, five decades later, she's returned to that same city to celebrate her achievements. Her cultural impact is undeniable, with five Grammy Awards , two Emmys, 180 million albums sold, and a spot in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Though the Jackson family name helped open doors, Janet carved her own path, facing challenges that came with fame and identity. 'I wanted to make it on my own,' she once said, reflecting on the weight of being Michael Jackson's sister. She is now the most widely recognized woman in the Jackson family, having overcome the shadow of her brothers to claim her own spotlight. Endurance through personal struggles Talent runs in Janet's blood, but her journey has never been effortless. Her relationship with Michael was close but complicated. She revealed painful childhood memories, Michael teasing her about her weight, and body image issues that followed her into adulthood. At 30, she experienced severe depression, yet found strength in her art. Live Events Her private life has seen turmoil as well. Janet has been married three times and became a mother at 50 with her third husband, Wissam Al Mana. That marriage ended months after their son's birth, amid claims of control and emotional strain. Since then, she has lived more privately, focusing on motherhood and her art. Also read: American Music Awards 2025: Event date, time, host, performances, presenters, guest appearances, nominees and where to watch A living legend still breaking records Despite not releasing a new album in a decade, Janet remains a powerful force in music. Her 2001 hit 'Someone to Call My Lover' is now trending on TikTok, driving a 1,400 per cent spike in streams and reaching No. 3 on the Billboard R&B charts. Billboard recognizes her as one of only four artists, alongside U2, Bruce Springsteen, and Barbra Streisand, to top the charts in four consecutive decades. Her Las Vegas residency is a testament to her ongoing appeal. Performing for over two and a half hours, she delivers packed shows at Resorts World Theatre, with her mother Katherine often in the audience. In recent years, documentaries and public apologies have reignited public reflection on her past, including the 2004 Super Bowl controversy. She has chosen to respond not with bitterness, but with grace and continued resilience. For fans and the music industry alike, Janet Jackson's legacy is not a chapter that's closing, it's a story still being written, one powerful note and sold-out show at a time.
Yahoo
16-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Janet Jackson turns 59: a look back
Singer Janet Jackson, best known for her hit songs "Someone to Call My Lover," "All For You," "That's the Way Love Goes," "Together Again" and for acting in "Good Times" and "Poetic Justice," turns 59 on Friday. Here's a look back at her career through the years.
