Latest news with #NewOrleans-based
The Herald Scotland
3 days ago
- Politics
- The Herald Scotland
Trump wants Supreme Court to crack down on gun rules
Now the Trump administration wants the Supreme Court to declare that such rules in Hawaii, California, New York, Maryland and New Jersey violate the Constitution. "The United States has a substantial interest in the preservation of the right to keep and bear arms and in the proper interpretation of the Second Amendment," Solicitor General John Sauer wrote in explaining why the Department of Justice wants the high court to weigh in. That's not the only example of how the change in administrations is affecting litigation over gun regulations. Justice Department stopped defending federal handgun rule In a move alarming to groups working to prevent gun violence, the DOJ declined to continue to defend a federal law setting 21 as the minimum age to own a handgun after an appeals court ruled the restriction unconstitutional. "For the government to step back and say, `Hey, here's a major piece of federal firearms legislation that was passed by Congress; we're just not going to bother to defend it any longer,' that's a really, really significant thing," said Esther Sanchez-Gomez, litigation director for the Giffords Law Center. The DOJ has also told the Supreme Court that the federal government no longer opposes all aspects of a Missouri law - blocked by lower courts after the Biden administration and others challenged it - that would penalize state police for enforcing federal gun control laws. "This is the first time we've seen a Justice Department really actively fight for the Second Amendment rights of all Americans," said Hannah Hill, vice president of the National Foundation for Gun Rights. Hill said it's taken the administration longer than she'd hoped to take a stand and her group is eager for President Donald Trump to repeal federal regulations - including rules on untraceable "ghost guns" that the Supreme Court upheld in March. "But you're seeing a slow pivot of a massive ship back toward the Constitution," she said. "And I'm extremely encouraged by the trajectory." Trump: `No one will lay a finger on your firearms' During a 2024 campaign stop to address thousands of members of the National Rifle Association in Pennsylvania, Trump promised that "no one will lay a finger on your firearms" if voters put him back in the White House. "Your Second Amendment will always be safe with me as your president," Trump said. Soon after taking office, Trump signed an executive order directing a review of Biden-era firearm policies and of the positions the government has taken in gun-related litigation. Legal challenges to firearm rules spiked after the court created a new test for gun laws in its 2022 decision striking down a New York law that required state residents to have "proper cause" to carry a handgun. The court said gun rules must be similar to a historical regulation on weapons to pass constitutional muster. Lower courts divided over age restriction on handguns As the administration was changing hands in January, the New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said a decades-old federal law banning handgun purchases by 18- to 20-year-olds fails that test. "The history of firearm use, particularly in connection with militia service, contradicts the premise that eighteen-to-twenty-year-olds are not covered by the plain text of the Second Amendment," U.S. Circuit Judge Edith Jones wrote for the court. In July, the DOJ told a lower court that the government is not going to appeal that decision to the Supreme Court. But the high court may still take up the issue. More: Supreme Court rules Mexico can't sue US gunmakers over cartel violence In June, the Richmond-based 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reached the opposite conclusion as the 5th Circuit, ruling against a similar challenge. "From English common law to America's founding and beyond, our regulatory tradition has permitted restrictions on the sale of firearms to individuals under the age of 21," U.S. Circuit Judge J. Harvie Wilkinson III wrote for the court. The four 18- to 20-year-olds challenging the age restriction have appealed that decision to the Supreme Court. The DOJ has not yet filed its response. More: Supreme Court sides with Biden and upholds regulations of ghost guns to make them traceable Debate over the right to carry a gun in public In its brief supporting a challenge to Hawaii's law prohibiting the carrying of handguns onto someone else's property without their consent, the government said that the rule "effectively nullifies" the general right to carry a gun in public that the court upheld in 2022. "Someone carrying a firearm for self-defense cannot run errands without fear of criminal sanctions," Sauer told the court. Sanchez-Gomez, the litigation director for the Giffords Law Center, said property owners have always had the ability to restrict weapons. But Hawaii's law makes the default that handguns aren't allowed unless there's express permission, rather than that they are allowed unless they're expressly prohibited. When the court limited states' control over who could publicly carry guns, she said, the focus turned to where in public they could bring them. Alex McCourt, an assistant professor with the Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Violence Solutions, said the Supreme Court could take up the case not so much because the Trump administration wants them to but because one appeals court upheld Hawaii's rule while a different appeals court rejected New York's. "The fact that we have these differing opinions across the country probably weighs even heavier in the Supreme Court's mind," he said. Still, McCourt said, it's relatively rare for the high court to weigh in on gun laws. "They often say no," he said. Justice Department backs challenge to bans on AR-15s In June, the justices declined to hear a challenge to Maryland's ban on assault-style weapons, although Justice Brett Kavanaugh said he expects his colleagues "will address the AR-15 issue soon, in the next term or two." Days later, the Justice Department urged the Chicago-based 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to strike down a similar law in Illinois. "Because the Act is a total ban on a category of firearms that are in common use by law-abiding citizens for lawful reasons, it is flatly unconstitutional," lawyers for the DOJ wrote in a legal brief supporting the challenge. The Firearms Policy Coalition, one of the groups fighting Illinois' law, called the DOJ's filing a critical step toward Trump fulfilling his promise to defend the Second Amendment. "We hope Solicitor General Sauer will stand with us on this issue at the Supreme Court," coalition president Brandon Combs said in a statement, "when this case inevitably heads up."
Time Out
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- Time Out
Discover NYC's hidden history of enslavement at these new augmented reality memorials
When slavery is taught in an educational setting, perspectives are often erased or overlooked. Marcus Brown, a New Orleans-based artist with enslaved African ancestors, aims to share the stories of enslaved people with four free Augmented Reality (AR) exhibitions across New York City opening July 25 and running through July 2026. As part of the city's Arts in the Park initiative, Brown's " Slavery Trails" takes historical sites that are tied to slavery and crafts them into digital memorials using sculpture and AR that visitors may access via mobile device. Manhattan will house two exhibitions while Brooklyn and Queens will showcase one; "merging technology, music and history into public memory spaces that honor the enslaved and challenge contemporary narratives," according to a press release about the exhibition. Manhattan's two sculptures are titled "The Slave Market: Wall Street" and "New York Slave Conspiracy of 1741. Brooklyn and Queens work together to tell "American Gold III" and "American Gold IV," respectively. In Manhattan, "The Slave Market: Wall Street" makes visible the enslaved Africans and Native Americans who were bought and sold during the 1711 New York slave market. The second installation in Manhattan, titled "New York Slave Conspiracy of 1741," brings attention to the mass hysteria in response to mysterious fires which led to the execution and exile of primarily Black and enslaved New Yorkers. Both are located in City Hall Park in Lower Manhattan. In Brooklyn and Queens, "American Gold III & IV" debut golden sculptures of enslaved people overseas on slave ships in the Middle Passage. The Brooklyn artwork is located at Bush Terminal Park; in Queens, find the artwork at Astoria Park. "My mission is to create artworks that educate the public on important issues while crossing media and societal boundaries," Brown said on his website. "As an artist with enslaved African ancestors, I feel a responsibility to use my work to tell their stories. To create new works that empower and bring everyone together. I see my role as an artist as a technical, scholarly, and performative one." I feel a responsibility to use my work to tell their stories. Each piece comes equipped with more information available via mobile device and merges site-specific research with AR sculpture and sound. Brown's goal with the works is just a small part of a larger endeavor to create a decentralized memorial to slavery in the United States. His new pieces will help to tell New York City's often overlooked history with slavery. Slavery Trails is not only AR interactive, but musically interactive as well. These two art forms are combined with deep historical research and produce a participatory memorial which centers the slavery narrative specifically on the enslaved peoples and their efforts at resistance.
Yahoo
08-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
As Essence fest takes blame for Lauryn Hill's wildly late set, Stephanie Mills lets criticism rip
The Essence Festival has taken responsibility for a Lauryn Hill performance that saw the hip-hop legend take the stage at 2:30 in the morning. "Let's be very clear — WE don't play about Ms. Lauryn Hill. Not for clicks. Not for headlines," organizers wrote Sunday on Instagram. "She arrived on schedule, stepped on that stage, and delivered the kind of performance only a legend can.' Read more: Fugees lawsuit: Pras Michél, Lauryn Hill trade barbs about scuttled tour The 31st annual New Orleans-based event, which ran Friday to Sunday, was peppered with issues from the beginning. According to the news site NOLA, Hill was quietly added to the already inflated lineup just two days before opening night. 'Does Lauryn know about this?' one fan quipped in comments on an Instagram post announcing the addition. Others riffed on her well-known history of tardiness. The festival was reportedly already running behind when contemporary R&B trio Psyrin opened the first day. At the halfway point, GloRilla finished 45 minutes after the next act was supposed to start, NOLA said. So it was little surprise that headliner Hill didn't get onstage until 2:30 a.m. Saturday. She performed to a nearly empty Caesars Superdome — hundreds of people were left instead of tens of thousands — closing with 'Fu-Gee-La' more than an hour later. Though Hill is notorious for starting her shows late, even telling a 2023 audience 'Y'all lucky I make it,' Essence Festival organizers quickly took the blame for this one. Read more: Lauryn Hill is so over those tardiness complaints: 'Y'all lucky I make it,' she tells L.A. "Family is family and around here we protect our own no matter what the PEOPLE have to say,' the organizers said. 'The delay? Not hers. We will take that. The moment? One for the books. The legacy? Still unmatched. Put some respect on her name. Keep the takes, but keep her out of them. All love and deep profound admiration for Ms. Lauryn Hill,' they added. Comments celebrated Essence's 'accountability.' The social media post even received love from Saturday headliner and legend Erykah Badu, who contributed some applause emojis. However, not everyone was over the moon. In an open letter to the Essence Festival on Tuesday, Grammy-winning artist Stephanie Mills voiced her grievances about the event's "overall level of professionalism." Read more: Fyre Festival 2 flames out as Billy McFarland puts brand up for sale: 'I need to step back' 'While I remain grateful for the opportunity to have participated, my overall experience was unfortunately marred by significant production issues that negatively impacted both my performance and the artist experience as a whole,' wrote Mills, who performed Sunday. 'The schedule and time management were severely lacking, creating a chaotic and stressful environment backstage … the technical difficulties, specifically concerning the sound system, proved deeply problematic,' she continued. She closed out the letter by calling for a 'vastly improved experience' for artists and fans of the festival in future installments. Get notified when the biggest stories in Hollywood, culture and entertainment go live. Sign up for L.A. Times entertainment alerts. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Los Angeles Times
08-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Los Angeles Times
As Essence fest takes blame for Lauryn Hill's wildly late set, Stephanie Mills lets criticism rip
The Essence Festival has taken responsibility for a Lauryn Hill performance that saw the hip-hop legend take the stage at 2:30 in the morning. 'Let's be very clear — WE don't play about Ms. Lauryn Hill. Not for clicks. Not for headlines,' organizers wrote Sunday on Instagram. 'She arrived on schedule, stepped on that stage, and delivered the kind of performance only a legend can.' The 31st annual New Orleans-based event, which ran Friday to Sunday, was peppered with issues from the beginning. According to the news site NOLA, Hill was quietly added to the already inflated lineup just two days before opening night. 'Does Lauryn know about this?' one fan quipped in comments on an Instagram post announcing the addition. Others riffed on her well-known history of tardiness. The festival was reportedly already running behind when contemporary R&B trio Psyrin opened the first day. At the halfway point, GloRilla finished 45 minutes after the next act was supposed to start, NOLA said. So it was little surprise that headliner Hill didn't get onstage until 2:30 a.m. Saturday. She performed to a nearly empty Caesars Superdome — hundreds of people were left instead of tens of thousands — closing with 'Fu-Gee-La' more than an hour later. Though Hill is notorious for starting her shows late, even telling a 2023 audience 'Y'all lucky I make it,' Essence Festival organizers quickly took the blame for this one. 'Family is family and around here we protect our own no matter what the PEOPLE have to say,' the organizers said. 'The delay? Not hers. We will take that. The moment? One for the books. The legacy? Still unmatched. Put some respect on her name. Keep the takes, but keep her out of them. All love and deep profound admiration for Ms. Lauryn Hill,' they added. Comments celebrated Essence's 'accountability.' The social media post even received love from Saturday headliner and legend Erykah Badu, who contributed some applause emojis. However, not everyone was over the moon. In an open letter to the Essence Festival on Tuesday, Grammy-winning artist Stephanie Mills voiced her grievances about the event's 'overall level of professionalism.' 'While I remain grateful for the opportunity to have participated, my overall experience was unfortunately marred by significant production issues that negatively impacted both my performance and the artist experience as a whole,' wrote Mills, who performed Sunday. 'The schedule and time management were severely lacking, creating a chaotic and stressful environment backstage … the technical difficulties, specifically concerning the sound system, proved deeply problematic,' she continued. She closed out the letter by calling for a 'vastly improved experience' for artists and fans of the festival in future installments.
American Press
07-07-2025
- Business
- American Press
Jury: Trust in Preston Marshall case cannot be revoked
(Metro Creative Services) A Calcasieu Parish jury has returned a defense verdict in favor of Preston Marshall, affirming a 2011 gift — valued at $100 million — that would benefit Marshall and his descendants cannot be revoked. Marshall is the grandson of J. Howard Marshall II — a Texas oil tycoon who died in 1995 and who may be better known for marrying Anna Nicole Smith, a former Playboy playmate and reality television star who died of an accidental prescription overdose in 2007. She was 26 when she married the 89-year-old. In 2015, a family member initiated legal action to revoke half of the charitable lead annuity trust, with Preston and his children as beneficiaries. The gift was set to mature in 2031, providing a payout exceeding $100,000,000. The basis for the revocation suit was 'ingratitude,' a legal claim that had never before been tried in Louisiana involving such a significant sum. The case has had years of litigation in Texas and Louisiana courtrooms. Marshall's defense team was led by Hunter Lundy, with assistance from the Lundy Firm headed by Matt Lundy, along with Daniel Kramer, Houston Middleton, and Gary Blanchard. They collaborated with Jeff Chambers and the Susman Godfrey Firm of Houston and New Orleans-based counsel Sher Garner. Hunter Lundy said revoking a trust explicitly designated as 'irrevocable,' especially one that provided the donor with a multi-million dollar tax deduction, is challenging when based on 'unjustifiable claims.' 'Justice was served and I pray that this family can resolve their disputes out of court in the future,' he said.
