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Four decades ago, at the start of 1984, Harold Washington was finishing his historic opening year in office as Chicago’s first Black mayor. An outsider candidate who had been persuaded to run by the city’s social movements, Washington represented a major break from the past, and his 1983 victory served as an important milestone in the efforts of civil rights activists to gain footholds in electoral politics. Today, as social movements increasingly take interest in running insurgent candidates for office, Washington provides a vital model for how grassroots forces can bring new constituencies into the electoral realm and upend the established practices of insider politics.

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The manufactured “crisis” over wokeness and critical race theory continues to have an impact on K-12 education. The concerted effort by conservative politicians, advocates, and academics to dismantle anti-racist teachings has focused, in part, on riling up parents (with a particular focus on white parents) over the kind of history instruction their children are receiving.

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In honor of Black History Month, we recognize the contributions of Black astronauts to our nation’s space programs. Coming to NASA from a variety of backgrounds as military pilots, engineers, scientists, and physicians, these astronauts have made history-making contributions participating in space shuttle missions to perform critical tasks such as deploying and retrieving satellites, performing spacewalks, conducting science and technology research, and piloting and commanding space shuttle missions.

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Moving forward, perhaps the idea of discussing and acknowledging our interconnected relationships to each other’s suffering can take us well beyond the important cease-fire resolutions, condemnations of the Oct. 7 atrocities and calls for the end of military occupation – into new hope for mutual understanding and a just and lasting peace for all our people.

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Blaine Hudson "Two Centuries of Black Louisville.” Explore African American history sites in the city with author Blaine Hudson -- author of "Two Centuries of Black Louisville."

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As a spoken word poet, for two decades, I've collected words. Stories filled with letters that were expertly placed by an artist who needed to convey a thought. I used to be one of these artist. I'd paint pictures on pages, that resembled humanity and reality. I used graphite and ink and keyboards as materials and then exhibited my work in front of crowds, on a stage, to ensure the emotional transaction was delivered. Yet in my evolution, I lament to find that we no longer value words as a society. We loath words, for they have been used to elect bad policy, misinform the masses and shame the most vulnerable among us.

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"Black Louisvillians are more likely to have single-parent households and single-parent households are more likely to take advantage of the housing voucher program. We can also look at it from the perspective of families that are disabled," he said. "Not having the source of income protection really creates an indirect form of discrimination on these classes of people that were supposed to be protected. Hopefully, he changes the language to add some clarity in what he's trying to do."

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FRANKFORT — Despite recent calls by several Republicans to loosen House leadership’s control of the legislative process, the House voted Tuesday to make no changes in its rules. Four Republicans joined Democrats in voting against the rules resolution, which was sponsored by House Speaker David Osborne and adopted by a vote of 72-23. The only change from the earlier rules was updating the year to 2024.

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Scarface's Tiny Desk concert radiates with his decadeslong passion as an emcee and producer. There's calculated intent behind every word and note of this 30-minute set and I learned that his love for golf also runs deep during our initial meeting. He was playing a round and had difficulty dividing his attention between the plan and the course. Three days before the show, amid rehearsals, I got a call from Facemob asking, "What if I brought Mike Dean?" My expectations were already high, but that final addition set the stage for something special.

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For nearly a decade, Hughes had been writing columns for the influential Black newspaper. These short articles have been rightly lauded as a proving ground for Hughes’s craft—and a spirited defense of his ideals. “Things that happen away off yonder affect us here,” Hughes wrote in his first column, on November 21, 1942. “The bombs that fall on some far-off Second Front in Asia rattle the dishes on your table in Chicago or New Orleans, cut down on your sugar, coffee, meat ration, and take the tires off your car.”

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Several common threads connect Arthur's reflections to an earlier episode featuring professor and former council member Dr. Deonte Hollowell. Both contend that electoral offices require Black men to code switch and contort their identities, prioritizing decorum over pressing issues facing the community. Unapologetically grassroots activists clash with expectations to maintain the status quo.

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It was the summer of 2022 and the Bronx resident was hoping her insurance would approve a new wheelchair, as her old one kept breaking down. Render-Hornsby was born with spina bifida, a spinal cord issue that limits use of her lower legs. This fall, more than a year after receiving that first denial letter, the 33-year-old aspiring cosmetologist still does not have the working, well-fitting wheelchair she needs to live independently.

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In fact, “Black children in stable, two-parent families are more likely to experience poverty and incarceration, and less likely to graduate from college, compared to their white peers from stable, two-parent families,” per the Institute for Family Studies.

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The streaming giant is planning to apply a minimum annual threshold to all songs on its platform, meaning that every track will have to generate 1000 streams before any money is paid out to the artists and rightsholders behind it. Until this point, every song played on Spotify for longer than 30 seconds generated a royalty payment: this will no longer be the case.

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The ordinance has been refined since 2020, said Councilman Jecorey Arthur, who has championed it on Metro Council. It will create a "displacement assessment" matrix, which will be used when land developers seek Metro resources to establish residential developments and will analyze the potential for displacement from the development.

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“We are here to speak for the innocent people. We are here to let the world know that what Israel and the United States are doing is not self-defence; it’s a genocide. And we’re not supporting that regardless of religion, regardless of our ways, regardless of agenda. We are all human beings.”

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No you silly goose, Drake isn’t actually going to be at the Mahaffey Theater. But The Florida Orchestra—under the direction of Steve Hackman—along with rapper Jecorey Arthur, three vocalists, a bassist, and a drummer, will blend 22 of Champagne Papi’s songs in with Tchaikovsky’s fifth symphony. There’s no intermission, so if you’ll be poppin’ bottles before the show, hit the John before curtain, OK?

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Overall, more than 3,000 people in Gaza have been killed, including 14 staff members from the UN agency that assists Palestine refugees, UNRWA. More than 12,000 people are injured and hundreds more are unaccounted for. Mr. Griffiths reported that the death toll has already exceeded that of the 2017 hostilities which lasted more than seven weeks. “The pace of death, of suffering, of destruction, of breaches of international law, cannot be exaggerated,” he said. Meanwhile, one million Palestinians have escaped their homes with nowhere to go, and as supplies of food, water, fuel and medical items dwindle. UNRWA has been forced to ration water to one litre per person per day, far less than the minimum standard of 1.5 litres.

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Even as the current proposal is still being debated, there are more potential changes already being discussed. Some are pushing for the government to expand gender beyond male and female options. Other activists are asking to create a “Black” subcategory called “American Descendent of Slavery,” as part of a push for reparations. “There is so much conversation now around descendants of slavery and the need to really deal with the legacy of slavery head on,” said Evan Shepard, a spokesman for the American Descendants of Slavery Advocacy Foundation. “This is a small step in that direction.”

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The Kentucky Court of Appeals has rejected a 2022 state law aimed at curbing powers of the Jefferson County school board because it singles out the school district for special treatment, which the judges said violates Kentucky’s Constitution. The decision could hamper efforts by Republicans who control the General Assembly and who have been highly critical of the Jefferson County Public Schools (JCPS) in recent years. Republican lawmakers from Louisville recently announced an interest in splitting up the state’s largest school district and other changes.

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