Author: chicagoinquirer

by Ed White PONTIAC, Mich.  — Five years after her death, the final wishes of music superstar Aretha Franklin are still unsettled. An unusual trial begins next Monday to determine which of two handwritten wills, including one found in couch cushions, will guide how her estate is handled. The Queen of Soul, who had four sons, did not have a formal, typewritten will in place, despite years of health problems and efforts to get one done. But under Michigan law, it’s still possible to treat other documents — with scribbles, scratch-outs and hard-to-read passages — as her commands. The dispute is…

ABUJA  –     Nigeria’s average daily petrol consumption has fallen by 28% since President Bola Tinubu scrapped a popular but costly subsidy on the fuel at the end of May, data from the industry regulator shows. Average daily petrol consumption fell to 48.43 million litres in June, down from the previous average of 66.9 million, according to figures released to Reuters by the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA). A subsidy had kept prices cheap for decades in Africa’s biggest economy but it became increasingly expensive for the country – the government spent $10…

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — The Illinois State Museum have returned nearly 40 sacred artifacts to Kenya so they can go back to their rightful owners. Museum officials said in a statement Wednesday that they have completed transferring 37 wooden statues known as vigango to the National Museums of Kenya so they can be returned to Mijikenda communities. The statues are considered sacred and are believed to carry the spirits of deceased male Mijikenda elders. The Illinois State Museum said the statues were removed from Mijikenda villages and sacred sites in the 1980s, acquired by art collectors and later transferred to the…

by Lori Ewing MANCHESTER, England  –     Former Chelsea striker Didier Drogba says soccer players in Africa too often fall prey to fake agents peddling promises of fame and fortune. Through his foundation, Drogba has teamed up with global soccer players union FIFPRO and the International Labour Organisation to raise awareness about the risks. “Please, I need you to hear this,” former Ivory Coast international Drogba says in an animated campaign video to players. “Be very careful who you trust. Never trust the person who wants your money.” FIFPRO recently surveyed 263 players from seven African countries and…

by Mark Sherman WASHINGTON  — Overturning Roe v. Wade and eliminating affirmative action in higher education had been leading goals of the conservative legal movement for decades. In a span of 370 days, a Supreme Court reshaped by three justices nominated by President Donald Trump made both a reality. Last June, the court ended nationwide protections for abortion rights. This past week, the court’s conservative majority decided that race-conscious admissions programs at the oldest private and public colleges in the country, Harvard and the University of North Carolina, were unlawful. Precedents that had stood since the 1970s were overturned, explicitly in the case of abortion…

by Emeka ObasiThere must be something about Labour Party anchorman, Peter Obi, that continues to confound those who stand in his way. What they pretend not see is just what makes him a celebrity within and without. Sierra Leone is trending.While Obi was busy at the Presidential Election Petitions Tribunal in Abuja, his name was all Sierra Leoneans heard as they prepared for their own elections. Chairman of that country’s Political Parties Regulation Committee ( PPRC ) Abdulahi Bangura implored presidential candidates to adopt the Obi Formula.It is a peaceful approach that applies legal means, instead of jungle method, to…

by Meg Kinnard PICKENS, S.C.  — Former President Donald Trump marked a return to the large-scale rallies of his previous presidential campaigns, speaking to a massive crowd gathered in the streets of a small South Carolina city on a blazing summer weekend. “There’s nowhere else I’d rather be to kick off the Fourth of July weekend than right here on Main Street, with thousands of hardworking South Carolina patriots who believe in God, family and country,” Trump said Saturday to a roaring crowd in downtown Pickens as temperatures climbed into the 90s. Randal J. Beach, the police chief in the conservative Upstate…

by Jay Cohen CHICAGO  — Chicago Bears quarterback Justin Fields got a closer look at NASCAR on Sunday when he served as the grand marshal for the Cup Series’ first street course race. He was impressed. “It’s fun,” he said. “This is my first kind of interaction with it, and you know, my time here, I really enjoyed it. It’s fun, and I think as time goes on, I mean I know it’s already a big sport, but I think it’s going to continue to grow, for sure.” Fields got a chance to practice his command for drivers to start…

by Agency reports CHICAGO — Heavy rains flooded Chicago streets Sunday, trapping cars and forcing NASCAR officials to cancel the last half of an Xfinity Series race set to run through the city’s downtown. The National Weather Service issued a flash flood warning for multiple counties in the Chicago area, saying up to 6 inches of rain had already fallen in suburban Cicero and Berwyn by midday. The NWS website warned the flooding could be “life-threatening” through 3 p.m., with numerous impassable roads, overflowing creeks and streams and flooded basements. The Illinois State Police said parts of Interstate 55 and Interstate 290…

by Will Weissert and Collin Long WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden vowed Friday to push ahead with a new plan providing student loan relief for millions of borrowers, while blaming Republican “hypocrisy” for triggering the day’s Supreme Court decision that wiped out his original effort. Biden said his administration had already begun the process of working under the authority of the Higher Education Act of 1965, which he called “the best path that remains to provide as many borrowers as possible with debt relief.” In the meantime, since student loan-payment requirements are to resume in the fall, the White House is creating an “on ramp” to…