Author: chicagoinquirer

by Scott McFetridge DES MOINES, Iowa — Millions of lottery players around the country will try their luck again Monday night as they vie for an estimated $1.9 billion Powerball jackpot that dwarfs all previous prizes by hundreds of millions of dollars. The jackpot is nearly $400 million larger than the previous recordjackpot and will keep growing until someone wins the prize. Only four previous jackpots have topped $1 billion, but none of those are close to the current prize, which started at $20 million back on Aug. 6 and over three winless months has grown ever more massive. A…

by Jeff Amy ATLANTA  — Big money continues to roll into Georgia’s governor’s race even as Republican incumbent Brian Kemp and Democratic challenger Stacey Abrams have already blown through the records they set in 2018. Abrams has raised nearly $98 million, according to reports filed with the state ethics commission, while Kemp has raised more than $69 million. Abrams and Kemp filed their final periodic finance reports of the campaign Tuesday, for contributions through Oct. 25, but continue to file supplemental reports of large donations. Since Oct. 1, Abrams has received more than $14 million in cash and in-kind donations,…

by Peter Prengaman SHARM EL-SHEIKH, Egypt  — The first full day of the year’s most important summit on climate change, known as COP27, got underway on Monday with urgent calls by leaders to slash greenhouse gas emissions as the planet warms and severe weather events become more frequent and destructive. Scores of presidents, along with thousands of diplomats, climate negotiators, business leaders, activists and journalists descended on the Red Sea resort city of Sharm El-Sheikh to take part in discussions and negotiations slated to go through Nov. 18. “Climate change will never stop without our intervention,” said Egyptian President Abdel…

The problem of ancestry and original homeland is becoming a serious cause for concern for most African Americans. Courtesy of a special DNA test, interested African Americans can now trace their roots. In this interview with Editor of The Chicago Inquirer, Joseph Omoremi, an African American DNA expert and University of Chicago professor, Dr. Rich A. Kittles, bares his mind on how his research is providing opportunities for eager African Americans to trace their roots and why it is important for them to catch on this unique experience. Excerpts: Inquirer: What is the essence of DNA test? Dr. Kittles: As…

by Emeka Obasi Tears drenched Onyeka Paloma Gamero after the Flamingoes ousted the United States from the India 2022 FIFA Under 17 Women’s Championships. She wore the Stars and Stripes. While Onyeka cried, Nigerians smiled. It was pay back time. In 2012, Chioma Ubobagu wearing American colours was in their Under 20 team that beat Falconets in the semi finals of the  FIFA Under 20 Championships in Japan. The Yankees had laughed best for quite some time. Nneka Ogwumike played for the US basketball quad that stopped D’ Tigress, in the quarter finals of the FIBA World Cup in Tenerife.…

The 2004 Noble Laureate for peace Professor Wangari Maathai of Kenya has come a long way from her days as a controversial environmentalist and community organizer in Kenya to winning the Noble Prize for Peace. In this interview with Joseph Omoremi, she recalls her ordeal in the hands of security agents during the Green Belt campaign and the trouble she went through to emerge the winner of the Noble peace award. It is a must read. Inquirer: You are in parliament; you are a minister and you are engaged in so many speaking engagements besides the Green Belt Movement. How…

by Sudhin Thanawala and Gary Fields ATLANTA  — Black church leaders in Georgia organized rallies Sunday in a push to get their congregants to vote — a longstanding tradition known as “souls to the polls” that is taking on greater meaning this year amid new obstacles to casting a ballot in the midterm elections. State lawmakers nearly did away with Sunday voting under a bill signed into law last year. The Republican-sponsored legislation followed former President Donald Trump’s false claims that voter fraud cost him reelection in 2020. Though lawmakers backed off the Sunday voting ban, the bill shortened the…

by Emily Wagster Pettus MOUND BAYOU, Miss.  — The tiny, all-Black town of Mound Bayou became a safe haven for Emmett Till’s mother as she traveled to Mississippi to testify in the murder trial of two white men who lynched her son in 1955. Hundreds of people — a good portion of Mound Bayou’s 1,500 residents — turned out Thursday evening to watch the movie “Till.” The feature film is going into wide release across the U.S. this weekend after being in limited release since Oct. 14. “This place, this city, is very sacred to the story of Emmett Till,”…

by Aaron Morrison Devin Allen admits that he occasionally behaved like a knucklehead, growing up in Baltimore. But he was not so irreverent as a tenth grader that he could see an image of Emmett Till’s open casket and not find it arresting. The story of the 14-year-old Black boy who was lynched in Mississippi became widely known because his mother, Mamie Till-Mobley, asked a press photographer to document Emmett’s funeral. The horrifying 1955 photographs depicted tangible evidence of how violent racial hatred was plaguing the U.S., catalyzing the civil rights movement. “Back then, I was like, ‘Wow, that happened…

by Andrew Seligman CHICAGO  — Joel Embiid scored 25 points and made a tiebreaking 3-pointer to help the Philadelphia 76ers squeeze by the Chicago Bulls 114-109 on Saturday night. Philadelphia led by 19 midway through the second quarter before Chicago went on a big run to get back into the game prior to halftime. The Bulls took the lead in the third quarter, and it remained tight the rest of the way. But the 76ers made just enough plays to beat Chicago for the 12th straight time. “That wasn’t pretty,” coach Doc Rivers said. “That was the first thing I…