Latest news with #Nettles
Yahoo
16-05-2025
- Yahoo
Angela Johnson named new Westwood High School Principal
The Westwood Independent School District Board of Trustees appointed Assistant Principal Angela Johnson as its new high school principal Monday during its meeting. 'I was excited about continuing the work here at Westwood High School,' Johnson said. 'As far as support, I feel at peace knowing that they support me and they trust my leadership to guide and be an example for students and teachers.' Westwood Public Relations Coordinator Britni Calzada said Johnson is the right person for the job. 'Mrs. Johnson has been serving as the assistant principal at Westwood High School and has already made a meaningful impact in our district,' Calzada said. 'We are excited to support her as she steps into her new role as principal. With her leadership, we are confident she will continue to help students excel and empower our staff to thrive.' Following the closed session, the motion was made and approved by a unanimous decision for Johnson to replace Scott Nettles, who is retiring Friday. 'I learned how to become a principal and lead and guide and support teachers and students [from Nettles],' Johnson said. Nettles is retiring after following a long career in which he taught social studies and coached basketball at Westwood for 10 years, before serving as assistant principal in 2017. He was made principal in 2018. With prior teaching and coaching positions at Elkhart High School, he has nearly 30 years of experience in education. He completed a Master's of Education in Educational Leadership at Stephen F. Austin University. Johnson has a bachelor's degree in Criminal Justice with 11 years in education and is the first female African American administrator at Westwood High School. 'I was at Palestine High School for six years as a Criminal Justice teacher,' Johnson said. 'I was promoted to the after school coordinator for three years at A.M. Story and the junior high. I have been at Westwood for the past three years.' She said when it comes to her goal for the upcoming school year, the students are the top priority. 'My goal is to create a safe, inclusive and inspiring school environment where teachers are supported,' Johnson said. 'I want the students to be challenged and cared for. I want to also increase involvement from the community and families. I am very committed to serving the needs of all students.'
Miami Herald
14-05-2025
- Miami Herald
Officer hid boyfriend accused of Christmas killing, AL deputies say. She's charged
A murder suspect was apprehended after Alabama deputies accused him of hiding at a shared residence with his girlfriend who is an officer. Gregory Jowers was arrested May 12, according to a Mobile County Sheriff's Office statement shared on Facebook. He is accused in the deadly assault of his roommate, John Fabian, who was found unresponsive in their home on Christmas Day, and later died at a hospital, WALA reported. Deputies said they found Jowers at a home in Mobile where he had been living with his girlfriend, Andrea Nettles, who worked as a community resource officer at the sheriff's office, according to WPMI. Deputies said Nettles helped hide Jowers, reported. She was arrested May 13 and charged with first-degree hindering prosecution, deputies said, according to the outlet. McClatchy News reached out to the Mobile County Sheriff's Office May 14 but did not receive an immediate response. In a news release, the sheriff's office said Nettles is no longer employed there, WPMI reported.
The Hill
05-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Hill
How Ryan Coogler captured Black life in ‘Sinners'
(Editor's note: This article contains spoilers for the film Sinners. Stop reading here if you don't want to learn about them.) Ryan Coogler's Sinners has taken America by storm — so much so Warner Bros. announced that the film will be re-released in certain theatres May 15 through May 20. The historical thriller offers an unflinching glimpse into Black life in the 1930s, from sharecropping to chain gangs to the Ku Klux Klan. But it also shines a light on Black joy, love and resilience. For many, the film isn't truly horror, said Arionne Nettles, Garth C. Reeves eminent scholar chair at Florida A&M University. 'The scary stuff is the realness. When you put up vampires next to the Klan, I would rather have the vampires,' Nettles said. 'You're thinking about the real-life issues: the people still working the land and still picking cotton and not being paid in real currency.' It's that realness, Nettles said, that keeps audiences enthralled with Coogler's film. 'It doesn't feel like an unbelievable horror film where there is a big, bad boogeyman that is out to get you,' she said. 'It felt very much like the systems in place are the boogeyman, not some villain.' Here are three aspects of Black life Coogler weaves into Sinners. Music Coogler's use of music does more than set the tone or build toward a plot point; music is a weapon and the epitome of freedom. Much of the film revolves around Blues music, a genre born from the descendants of slaves and the experiences of free African Americans during Reconstruction and Jim Crow. Blues, Coogler told IGN, is 'for the full body. The soul and the flesh. It acknowledges the flesh and the pain that comes with a situation, the sexual desire, the anger. The whims of the flesh and the soul are acknowledged there.' Miles Caton's character Sammie, a young blues singer and guitarist who in the film is set to appear at a new juke joint opened by his cousins, uses music as his way to communicate his frustrations with his father, his desire to build his own life, even his attraction to a married woman. While Nettles admits she has had Sammie's 'I Lied to You' on repeat, it is the scene where Delta Slim, Sammie and Smoke drive past a chain gang where the music is at its most powerful. Delta Slim, an elder blues man played by Delroy Lindo, tells the story of his friend who was castrated and lynched, he begins to sing. Smoke — one of two identical twin cousins both played by Michael B. Jordan — calls for Sammie to use his guitar. The music in the scene was completely improvised, Lindo later shared. 'It's just a reminder that when we say music is in us, it is literally in us,' said Nettles. 'You have a car full of men who may be acting, but even within this acting, there is a connection to the music that supported us through tough times and helped us in our expression.' Coogler also explores how music creates cultural connections that span across time. In one scene at Club Juke, visions of future artists and music like rock and roll and trap take shape as Sammie sings of loving the blues. In many ways, the image showcases blues music and Black artists' role in creating other genres. Serena Göransson, who served as an executive producer for the film's soundtrack, told Variety that she hoped viewers would 'recognize that blues is the biggest cultural contribution to America, and to the world.' 'It's touched every genre of American popular music. I want people to care about the music, and not just listen to rap and hip-hop, but to care about the people who made it, and the people who lived through this moment in history, and who are still creating this music,' she said. 'I want people to care not just about the cultural contribution, but about the influence that they had.' Religion From the title alone, it's clear Sinners delves into religion and what is and is not a sin. Coogler's film posits whether one's love for music can be a sin. It explores the sins of adultery, gambling and drinking — and essentially freedom. But Sinners also delves into the loss of spirituality among many Black Americans. At one point, Slim tells Sammie, the son of a preacher, the blues was never forced upon Black Americans in the same way Christianity was. When Africans were first enslaved and brought to the colonies, many brought their own belief systems with them. But those religions were soon replaced with Christianity, sometimes willingly, but sometimes not. Some slaves were severely punished for practicing their beliefs, while slaveowners would often refer to passages from the Bible in their justification of slavery. In the film, Christianity stands opposite of Hoodoo, a religion that is often seen in Hollywood as demonic or evil. While Sammie struggles to find acceptance before his father and his father's religion, African spiritualism provides safety and knowledge. It is implied that Smoke survived World War I in part because of a mojo bag given to him by the character Annike that kept him safe in battle. It is Annie, played by Wunmi Mosaku, who in the film first considered Remmick and his coven to be haints before identifying the villains as vampires. And it is Annie, along with her spiritual knowledge, who was able to tell the others how to fight Remmick and survive. In all, Nettles said, Coogler offered a legitimacy to hoodoosim that is not always portrayed in other films. 'We do our ancestors a disservice when we say disparaging things about the parts of our spirituality that historically have been passed down from those African religions,' said Nettles. 'You don't have to believe it, but you can respect it.' Outsiders Many social media users pointed to Remmick's plans to 'save' those at Club Juke as an attempt at trying to play the white savior. He tells the brothers, Annie and Sammie that he believes in equality and if they join him, they can break free of the oppression of racism. Some viewers pointed out that Remmick is leaning into white saviorism, which centers around the idea that without the help of white people 'saving' them, Black people will never be truly free. Through this process, which appears to be good, the white savior reaffirms white superiority over Black people. But Nettles argues Coogler is actually highlighting the difference between outsiders and those who claim the culture. Though Remmick does tell Sammie that he wants his stories, he also says he wants to share his own with the pastor's son. 'Remmick comes from a time before racism,' Nettles said. 'In regards to the United States, slavery created race and racism as we know it today. But if you were born in the 1300s, long before that, you would not have that same type of racial pressure.' Remmick sees the power of Sammie's ancestry and his ability to connect with his past, something Remmick desires but does not have access to. Similarly, Hailee Steinfeld's mixed race Mary struggles to find acceptance from the community she is part of but does not look like. As a white-passing woman whose mother cared for many of those in Club Juke, including the twins, Mary finds herself initially denied entry to the club until Annie claims her as family. 'It wasn't that she was an outsider that came in and tried to claim this culture — this was her culture,' said Nettles. 'When you talk about Blackness in its essence, it's more than just our skin color. Blackness is expansive, but also can be confusing, and it's also one of the reasons why you have to be careful about trying to say who it encompasses and who it doesn't.'
Yahoo
11-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Fort Worth city council debate cut short after candidate accusations and shoving
A Fort Worth City Council candidate debate was cut short Thursday after organizers and police had to physically intervene to separate two of the candidates. The altercation came after challenger Payton Jackson brought up a civil lawsuit against District 8 council member Chris Nettles, accusing the incumbent of conspiring with Jackson's landlord to reveal confidential information from her lease agreement. Nettles denied the allegations. Roughly 100 people attended the debate, which was organized by the Historic Southside Neighborhood Association and held in the gymnasium of the Bethlehem Center, 951 Evans Ave. The disagreement was sparked by a question from the moderators about what neighborhood in the district the candidates lived in. Jackson, who was seated at a table to the left of Nettles, took the opportunity to bring up the lawsuit while walking over to the incumbent to place the legal filing on his table. Nettles initially looked away from Jackson, but got up to address her as she remained hovering over his table. The pair pointed fingers at each other before Nettles looked away. Jackson then placed her left hand on Nettles' shoulder, appearing to push him before he parried away her advance. Organizers and Fort Worth police officers then stepped in to separate the candidates. Jackson had to be held back from Nettles while Nettles, who was surrounded by police, sat back down. This isn't the first time Jackson and Nettles have been at odds. In December 2024, Jackson released a two-year-old audio clip of Nettles where he could be heard calling some of his council colleagues racist. Nettles acknowledged his comments after the clip was released, saying in a statement that the recording 'may have been heavily edited' and was taken during a deeply emotional time for him. After the debate, Jackson took to social media to criticize Nettles for his response to her serving him a lawsuit. 'Let that sink in: an elected official put his hands on a woman to avoid accountability,' she said in an Instagram post. Nettles called Jackson's post a lie in a phone call with the Star-Telegram. 'I'm disappointed that the voters didn't get the opportunity to hear the entire debate or the entire candidate forum due to Payton Jackson, resulting in physical violence toward me,' he said, adding that he was grateful to Fort Worth police for getting the situation under control and protecting him. Election day is May 3.
Express Tribune
04-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Express Tribune
Kevin Bacon and Jennifer Nettles build musical bond in Prime Video's The Bondsman
Kevin Bacon and country star Jennifer Nettles are bringing more than just drama to their new Prime Video series The Bondsman—they're also sharing their musical talents. The show, which premiered on April 3, 2025, follows the story of exes reconnecting through music, a plotline that mirrors the actors' off-screen chemistry. Bacon, 66, who has performed with The Bacon Brothers since 1995, and Nettles, 50, best known from Sugarland, collaborated on several original songs for the series. Speaking exclusively to PEOPLE, Bacon shared that the musical connection between him and Nettles was instant. 'We just had a very good musical songwriting connection right away,' he said. The duo first met in a New York studio and began exchanging voice notes and songwriting ideas. 'Like I'd say, 'How about this for the bridge?' And she'd send back a verse. It was great,' Bacon explained. In The Bondsman, their characters once had a musical act before their relationship unraveled. Bacon's character is portrayed as a self-destructive man who sabotaged his own music career, while Nettles' character continues performing. Co-star Jolene Purdy described witnessing the two musicians in action as a 'private concert,' calling the experience unforgettable. With music playing a central role both on and off the screen, The Bondsman showcases not only emotional storytelling but also authentic musical collaboration, making it a must-watch for fans of both actors and music lovers alike.
