Victoria Fox's Blog, page 254
March 30, 2023
Trump’s historic indictment comes during his presidential primary run
Donald Trump will become the first former president to face criminal charges — and it’s happening right in the middle of a presidential primary campaign.
ADRIAN FLORIDO, HOST:
A New York grand jury has voted to indict former President Donald Trump for his alleged role in hush money payments to adult film star Stormy Daniels. A spokesperson for the Manhattan district attorney, Alvin Bragg, said in a statement that the office, quote, “contacted Mr. Trump’s attorney to coordinate his surrender to the Manhattan DA’s office.” The charges remain under seal but will likely be made public in the coming days.
Let’s turn now to the politics of this indictment. Joining us is NPR senior political editor and correspondent Domenico Montanaro. Hey, Domenico.
DOMENICO MONTANARO, BYLINE: Hey. Good to be with you.
FLORIDO: Trump has announced his run for president, Domenico. He is already campaigning. So how might this news affect his presidential bid?
MONTANARO: Well, he’s obviously going to try to use it and fire up his base even more than he already has. I mean, he’s already doing that. In a statement this evening, he attacked the prosecutor, the New York district attorney – Alvin Bragg, a Democrat – called the indictment political persecution, blatant election interference and a witch hunt that will backfire on Democrats. You know, Trump clearly also has the backing of Republicans on Capitol Hill. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, for example, tonight called the indictment an unprecedented abuse of power. And House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan put out a one-word statement. All it said – outrageous. So there you go.
All this plays into Trump’s air of grievance, really, that he’s used to propel his political fortunes – you know, that the left is out for him; that, in turn, also his supporters, they’re out to get; that the system is rigged; and that this indictment and investigation in New York, nothing more than a politically motivated attempt to derail his presidential campaign.
FLORIDO: Is there any evidence that this would help or hurt him politically?
MONTANARO: You know, you’d think that an indictment would hurt someone running for office, but Trump seems to have insulated himself with his base, you know, convincing them that these are trumped up charges. Our poll, the NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist poll, this week showed that a majority – 57% – said the criminal investigations into him are fair. But – and remember, this is what’s important here when it comes to a presidential primary – 8 in 10 Republicans agree that Trump – agree with Trump and call the investigations a witch hunt. You know, a Quinnipiac poll out yesterday found that a majority of people say criminal charges should disqualify Trump from running for president. But three-quarters of Republicans don’t agree with that.
And to Trump’s messaging, two-thirds of people overall think that the charges in New York are not that serious, and 6 in 10 say the investigation is politically motivated. Of course, this decision, though, is from a grand jury, not exactly something done by fiat, by a prosecutor or a judge. And remember, a grand jury hears evidence from a prosecutor, then decides whether there’s enough there to file criminal charges against a suspect. And, you know, if it’s a conspiracy, you know, a jury of his peers appears to be in on it.
FLORIDO: These charges are unprecedented, but is there any moment in political history that we can compare this indictment news to?
MONTANARO: Not really. I mean, Richard Nixon, former president, never faced charges because Gerald Ford controversially pardoned him. I mean, you have to go all the way back to 1872 to find a president who was even arrested. You know, President Ulysses S. Grant was speeding – arrested for speeding with his horse-drawn carriage in D.C. But, you know, let’s not overlook the fact that Trump is now the first former American president to face criminal charges.
So that’s a pretty big wild card, especially when, according to our poll, a significant number of people ranked preserving democracy as high on their list of most important issues facing the country. And that’s true of persuadable voters. Independents, for example, ranked preserving democracy second behind the economy. Trump’s brand, we know, has been toxic in competitive states in the last few elections, and he’s at risk with independents. Majorities don’t have a favorable opinion of him and that they believe that he should not be president.
FLORIDO: Domenico, a big question here seems to be whether this will make a dent in the support that Trump enjoys among Republicans.
MONTANARO: Very tough to say because 80% of them say they have a favorable opinion of Trump. Three-quarters say they want him to be president, and there are not any Republicans who are really making a sustained effort against him.
FLORIDO: Of course, this is a developing story. We’re looking forward to hearing more from you over the next few days, Domenico. Thanks, Domenico Montanaro.
FLORIDO: Thanks for having me.
FLORIDO: NPR’s Domenico Montanaro. Thanks.
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Trump indictment is just one of the legal threats he faces post-presidency
NPR’s Adrian Florido talks to Kim Wehle, former U.S. attorney and now professor at the University of Baltimore, about the political and legal implications of an indictment of former President Trump.
ADRIAN FLORIDO, HOST:
A New York grand jury has voted to indict former President Donald Trump. The charges are related to Trump’s role in hush-money payments made to adult film star Stormy Daniels. The specific charges are still under seal, but this outcome has been expected for weeks and is just one of many legal threats Trump faces in his post-presidency. In a statement released this evening, Trump says he is innocent. To talk more about what this could mean legally and politically for the former president, I am joined now by Kim Wehle. She’s a former U.S. attorney and a law professor at the University of Baltimore. Kim Wehle, welcome to the show.
KIM WEHLE: Thanks for having me.
FLORIDO: Are you surprised by this outcome?
WEHLE: No, I’m not, especially given that we’ve been sort of hand-wringing over it for many days now. And in a way, it’s good to have it actually happen. And hopefully we will see, in due course, the actual terms of the indictment. Because until we see that, it’s very hard to really do a fair analysis of it, I think.
FLORIDO: Yeah, I noted that we don’t yet know the specific charges that he faces, but you know the legal code. What charges might the former president be facing?
WEHLE: Well, it sounds like what people are expecting is a violation of New York Penal Code, Section 175.10, which is falsifying business records in the first degree. That provision makes it illegal to falsify business records. It makes it a felony if that was done with an intent to commit another crime. And I think there’s some speculation that that other crime would be Michael Cohen – his former lawyer’s payoff of adult film star Ms. Daniels for keeping silent in the lead-up to the 2016 election. And then, according to Michael Cohen, Donald Trump paid him back in $35,000 installments as a legal retainer fee when there was no actual legal services provided. So the question is, why would you hide that if it didn’t matter to the 2016 presidential election and how voters were going to assess the presidential candidates, which is quite serious, even if the charge itself does not seem to reach kind of the heights that some people would expect for a former president.
FLORIDO: What kind of penalties would attach to charges like this? Can you give us a sense?
WEHLE: Well, it’s a Class E felony under Manhattan – New York law, so I believe it’s up to four years in prison. I think it’s – you know, that’s way, way down the line. We have to get through many hurdles. You know, due process applies and attaches to Mr. Trump. And I think it’s really important to distinguish, you know, political stakes from legal stakes, and there are a lot of procedural, evidentiary and constitutional protections in place to make sure, you know, that that far-off question is fairly adjudicated.
FLORIDO: This case is being brought by the Manhattan district attorney, Alvin Bragg. His predecessor looked into these alleged hush-money payments also, but did not pursue charges, which raises a question, I think, about the strength of this case. What do you think?
WEHLE: Well, I mean, he also – I think, at that point, reportedly, Cy Vance was looking into whether Donald Trump would be included in what ended up being an indictment and conviction of the Trump Organization for tax fraud and other crimes and, you know, the former CFO Allen Weisselberg’s guilty plea for that. And Mr. Bragg took some heat politically for not pursuing that, so, I mean, you could argue, you know, he was less aggressive on one, more aggressive on the other. You know, Alvin Bragg was – is an elected official, and all of this really is about the voters of Manhattan who chose him and Donald Trump’s – the grand jury of his peers that indicted him. And then ultimately, if it goes to trial, it will be other voters of Manhattan that will make those determinations as to whether he’s guilty as charged or innocent.
FLORIDO: We’ve got about 20 seconds left. We don’t know precisely when these charges will be formally announced, but can you walk us in about 15 seconds what happens next?
WEHLE: Well, he – I mean, he will either be arrested or would show up for an arraignment, and then he would enter a plea. You know, I worked on the Whitewater investigation many years ago. When Bill Clinton was before a grand jury, there were a lot of sort of special circumstances…
FLORIDO: Yeah.
WEHLE: …That were given to him. And my expectation is, if Donald Trump accepts them, he will be given kind of that respect of the office that I think he would deserve, like any former president.
FLORIDO: We’ve been speaking with former U.S. attorney and law professor Kim Wehle about the New York grand jury’s decision to indict former President Donald Trump. Thank you.
Copyright © 2023 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.
Biden’s DHS admits that many of the 85,000 lost migrant children released in the US are victims of labor trafficking
President Joe Biden’s Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has admitted that many of the tens of thousands of unaccompanied alien children (UACs) lost in the United States over the past two years were trafficked labor.
During a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing this week, Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) noted that more than 85,000 UACs released inside the United States by DHS were lost in the system after being been sent to live with sponsors and family members by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).
“We have 85,000 unaccompanied foreign children … who have been released into the United States and HHS has lost track of those unaccompanied children,” Blackburn said. “…what you do at the border causes 85,000 children to be lost and you can’t find them and you don’t know if they’re trafficked, put into gangs, put into trade sex.”
Blackburn asked DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas how many people are being trafficked and what the administration is doing to find those lost UACs. Mayorkas, however, responded by suggesting that DHS focus on cracking down on labor trafficking programs because many UAC end up in brutal factory jobs.
“One of the reasons we devote our resources and energies to enforcing workplace laws against unscrupulous employers is precisely the reason you identified,” Mayorkas said. “We must hold employers who engage in child labor accountable.
The admission is significant, as the Biden administration has sought to downplay the link between the country’s UAC pipeline and labor trafficking.
Last month, as reported by Breitbart News, reports surfaced that federal investigators had opened an investigation into whether UACs were victims of a coordinated labor trafficking program to supply packaging companies meat industries and the supporting industries of cheap young cross-border workers – most of whom are teenagers – who were forced to accept the jobs while the traffickers took advantage of them.
WATCH: Ted Cruz TORCHES Mayorkas for refusing to answer if there is a border crisis
C-LIFE
John Binder is a reporter for Breitbart News. Email him at jbinder@breitbart.com. Follow him on Twitter here.
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ADHD drug prescriptions have increased during the pandemic, CDC report finds
According to a report released Thursday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, prescriptions for attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder drugs increased in the first year of the pandemic.
The jump in prescriptions came after several years of increases, dating back to 2016, according to the report. The trend coincides with rising rates of ADHD diagnoses among teens, adults, and women.
“This report shows that there is this growing population of adults who have been diagnosed with ADHD, and that there is a need for support for this population,” said the study’s lead author, Melissa Danielson, CDC statistician.
Pandemic pressureIn the report, researchers used insurance claims data to determine the number of stimulant prescriptions filled from 2016 to 2021 for people aged 5 to 64.
Three types of stimulants are approved for ADHD: amphetamine (Dexedrine, Adderall), methamphetamine (Desoxyn), and methylphenidate (Ritalin).
Overall, the percentage of people enrolled in employer-sponsored insurance plans who had a stimulant prescription filled fell from 3.6% in 2016 to 4.1% in 2021, but zooming in on some years and some age groups revealed much larger increases, particularly in prescriptions filled by adults in the first year of the pandemic. Patients who paid for their drugs out of pocket were not included in the data.
From 2020 to 2021, the number of stimulant prescriptions filled increased by more than 10% among women aged 15-44 and men aged 25-44. Among women aged 20 to 24, there was an increase of almost 20%.
Diagnoses for all mental health disorders have increased during the pandemic.
Joshua Langberg, an ADHD specialist and director of Rutgers University’s Center for Youth Social Emotional Wellness, said this may explain the further rise in teens and adults filling ADHD medication prescriptions during this time.
“People tend to seek diagnoses during times of stress and crisis, and we have anecdotal evidence that there has been a significant increase in the number of people seeking diagnoses during the pandemic,” Langberg said.
Increased accessOverall, stimulant prescriptions fell slightly among children, but increased among most adults, particularly among women, according to the report.
The exact reasons for the decline in children are unknown, said Danielson of the CDC.
One reason for the rise in stimulant prescriptions among teens and adults could be changes in the way ADHD is diagnosed. The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, the set of guidelines used by professionals to diagnose mental health disorders, was updated in 2013 in response to a growing understanding of how ADHD can manifest differently according to the people.
One of the changes raised the eligibility age at which a person’s symptoms must have started, from 7 to 12 years old. In other words, people whose symptoms began at a later age would now be considered eligible for an ADHD diagnosis, Langberg said.
Symptoms fall into two categories, inattentive and hyperactive-impulsive, and include failure to follow instructions, failure to pay close attention to detail, frequent loss of things, and excessive talking.
Although the symptoms used to diagnose ADHD in children and adults are the same, adults need fewer symptoms to qualify, said J. Russell Ramsay, director of the ADHD Treatment and Research Program at adults at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania.
Pandemic-era changes that have allowed mental health care providers to see patients via telehealth have opened up the possibility for more people to access care. This included a change that allowed qualified practitioners to prescribe Schedule II stimulants – which includes stimulants approved for ADHD – via telehealth without first seeing a patient in person, which was previously prohibited.
“This increased access allowed some people who had flown under the radar, or who said they were doing quite well, to get help,” Ramsay said.
Increased awarenessIn recent years, social media has fueled increased awareness of how signs of ADHD can occur differently in women and adults, which has likely prompted more people whose symptoms had been overlooked to seek a diagnosis. later in life, Ramsay said.
But increased awareness can be a double-edged sword. Viral memes or online videos can also lead to misdiagnoses.
“The benefit of awareness is that more women are being diagnosed. The downside is that people can see ADHD in themselves when it’s not there,” Ramsay said.
Many ADHD symptoms, such as trouble concentrating, are not unique to the disorder, which can further complicate an accurate diagnosis.
“Things like being distracted can be a symptom of anxiety, depression, schizophrenia, or even Lyme disease. You need more information,” Ramsay said.
The complexity of the disease has led to both overdiagnosis and underdiagnosis, Langberg said.
“A comprehensive ADHD assessment is time-consuming, can be expensive, and involves not only assessing ADHD, but also other things that can lead to concentration issues such as anxiety, depression, and lack of sleep,” he said, noting that providers don’t have the time, expertise or resources to perform comprehensive ADHD assessments for everyone who needs them.
Questionnaires can replace a full assessment in some cases, and some telehealth companies and pharmacies are being investigated for potential overprescription of stimulant medications for ADHD.
“Because ADHD occurs half the time with other mental health disorders, you need to make sure one of them isn’t causing ADHD symptoms,” said program director Dr. Lenard Adler. of ADHD for adults at NYU Langone. “You need to take a careful history.”
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March 29, 2023
It’s official. Mammoth Mountain had its snowiest season ever – by far
Mammoth Mountain Ski Resort in the Eastern Sierra said it was its snowiest season on record, with 695 inches at the main lodge and 870 inches atop the 11,053-foot peak on Tuesday . (Peter Morning/Mammoth Mountain via Associated Press)As another major storm brings more rain and snow to California, Mammoth Mountain has broken its all-time snowfall record – by far.
“With 28-30 [inches] of snow since yesterday afternoon, we just broke our all-season snowfall record of 668 inches, Mammoth Mountain said in an Instagram post.
“We received 695 [inches] snowfall to date at Main Lodge, making the 22/23 season the biggest in our history!”
Snowfall in the Southern Sierra is already at record highs, with the state record within reach.
The resort, which averages more than a million skiers each winter, has announced it will extend its ski season in what Mammoth spokeswoman Lauren Burke said “will likely be the best spring skiing ever.” and the best glide the eastern Sierra has ever seen.”
The typical season at Mammoth Mountain begins around the Thanksgiving holiday and ends on Memorial Day.
Indeed, the station’s Instagram post on Wednesday ended with optimism: “We will be open every day at least until July!”
Mammoth gets its heavy snow due to the elevation and topography that surrounds it. Most years, Pacific storms hit the western slopes of the Sierra and rise in a thinner atmosphere against the ridges. Relative cloud humidity rises, ice particles congeal, and snow falls—mostly in the uppermost uninhabited interior—wrung from the 12,000 to 14,000 foot peaks.
But at the resort, storms roll through the deep gorge of the San Joaquin River’s Middle Fork, rising rapidly to a wide break between the high peaks, known as Mammoth Pass, at just 9,300 feet above sea level.
Clouds roll across the pass and dump snow with a vengeance, especially on volcanic Mammoth Mountain, which rises to 11,059 feet.
Ski enthusiast Barbara Kelman got excited about Mammoth’s announcement in a Facebook post: “I’m ready to start skiing when it stops draining!”
Although snowfall is good news for skiers, it causes problems for those who live on the mountain. A Times photographer captured photos of residents trying to dig out “walls of snow” in early March.
The story continues
Snowmelt will also be a concern as the weather warms. In the worst-case scenario, massive snowmelt over the next few weeks could flood towns along US Highway 395, which winds along the base of snow-capped Sierra peaks that reach up to 14,000 feet.
Meanwhile, Los Angeles Department of Water and Power officials fear record runoff in Mono and Inyo counties could overwhelm the city’s water system.
Times writers Louis Sahagún, Joe Mozingo and Christopher Reynolds contributed to this report.
This story originally appeared in the Los Angeles Times.
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Alex Murdaugh trial judge speaks for the first time after sentencing
The judge who presided over the Alex Murdaugh double murder trial has spoken publicly about the case for the first time, saying he had ‘no doubt’ that Murdaugh loved his family despite committing “an unforgivable and unimaginable crime”.
“In my mind, there’s no doubt he loved his family. I don’t believe he hated his wife, and certainly I don’t believe he didn’t love his son, but he did commit a unforgivable, unimaginable crime, and there is no way he can sleep peacefully given these facts,” Judge Clifton Newman told a panel at the Cleveland State University College of Law on Tuesday.
Murdaugh, 54, was sentenced to life in prison earlier this month for the murders of his wife, Maggie, 52, and son, Paul, 22. The six-week trial in South Carolina captured national attention and was the subject of numerous podcasts and television documentaries. due to the legal power of the Murdaugh family in the area.
Judge Clifton Newman presides over the double murder trial of Alex Murdaugh at the Colleton County Courthouse in Walterboro, South Carolina on January 26, 2023.Grace Beahm Alford/The Post and Courier via AP, Pool
“All the judges, all the judges in the state, knew him or knew him,” Newman said of Murdaugh, who was a fourth-generation attorney before his disbarment. “It didn’t affect me in terms of the sentencing that I gave.”
Newman, who was lightly billed at his former law school as “the best-known judge in the world right now,” said he was surprised at the attention the trial received.
“I have received letters from all over the world about this case. It’s really, really amazing,” he said.
Although Newman said he was still unable to speak freely about the case, and in particular his opinion on it, he pointed to certain interviews several jurors gave in the days that followed.
Some jurors said they hadn’t seen any real tears from Murdaugh, who dramatically wept on the stand as he pleaded innocence, and that his testimony showed “he couldn’t be trusted with anything.” he said or did,” Newman said.
“Genuine remorse usually has an impact,” the judge said later when asked about the defendants speaking in their own defense.
Alex Murdaugh appears for his sentencing hearing on March 3. The former lawyer was sentenced to life in prison after his double conviction for murder.
Murdaugh’s lawyers had advised him not to testify, but Murdaugh felt he should try to explain some issues that arose during the trial, Newman said.
A major bombshell that emerged during Murdaugh’s testimony was his admission on the stand that he lied to investigators about his whereabouts when his wife and son were shot in 2021. Murdaugh had previously claimed that he was never at the kennel where the two were killed, but later said he lied about it because he was drugged and paranoid.
Newman said one thing about the trial that has continued to resonate with him is how unpredictable people are.
“It’s hard to predict what a human being might do, especially when involved with drugs. It’s just a reality that we all have to face,” he said.
As for the conclusion of the case, Newman, who has presided over hundreds of trials, said he was not surprised that the jury reached a verdict in just three hours, saying “it’s about almost normal, as far as I’m concerned”.
The 12 jurors — whittled down from an initial pool of 750 potential jurors in just three days — had been presented with more than 800 pieces of evidence and more than 75 witnesses, Newman said. After weeks of trial, the judge said he believed they would neither want nor need to review all the evidence again.
What surprised Newman, he said, was how quickly Murdaugh was sentenced, with defense and prosecution lawyers saying they would be ready to go the day after his sentencing. The lawyers also did not ask to make any statements or present anything before Newman announced his sentence.
All of the lawyers in the case lived elsewhere and had to travel to the trial, so “I think they were all ready to finish the case,” he said.
With the attorneys unwilling to make statements, Newman said he asked Murdaugh if he had anything to say.
“He’s standing in front of me to be sentenced, having been convicted of a double murder, and basically he told me he had nothing to say either, other than, ‘That wasn’t me,’” Newman said.
Murdaugh received two consecutive life sentences for the murders. His lawyers filed a notice of appeal.
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Philippines ferry fire kills 12, leaves at least 7 missing
A ferry carrying around 250 passengers and crew caught fire between the Philippine islands and at least 12 people were killed and seven are still missing
Manila, Philippines — A ferry carrying about 250 passengers and crew caught fire between the Philippine islands and at least 12 people were killed and seven are still missing, a provincial governor said on Thursday.
Many of those rescued had jumped off the ferry in panic at the height of the blaze and were pulled out to sea by the Coast Guard, the Navy, another ferry and local fishermen, Governor Jim Hataman said. southern island province of Basilan. The search and rescue effort continued Thursday.
The governor said most people aboard the MV Lady Mary Joy 3 were rescued overnight, but authorities were checking numbers from various rescue teams, suggesting the numbers could change.
The ferry was en route to the town of Jolo in Sulu province from the southern port town of Zamboanga when it caught fire halfway to Basilan around midnight, he said. declared.
Among the dead were at least three children, apparently separated from their parents, and several passengers were injured and taken to hospital, he said.
“Some of the passengers were roused from their sleep due to the commotion caused by the fire. Some jumped off the ship,” Hataman told The Associated Press by phone.
Most of those who died drowned and were recovered at sea, officials said.
The burnt-out ferry was towed to Basilan shore and an investigation was underway, Hataman said.
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Tom Schwartz, Raquel Leviss’ Flirting Heats Up Before Sandoval Affair
Before Scandoval, all eyes were on Tom Schwartz and Raquel Leviss.
Take, for instance, on Vanderpump Rules‘ March 29 episode, which saw the former beauty queen continue to pursue Schwartz ahead of Scheana Shay‘s August 2022 wedding in Cancun—and months before Leviss’ affair with co-star Tom Sandoval was made public.
During Shay’s surprise bridal shower at Lisa Vanderpump‘s house, Leviss and Schwartz stole a moment away from their castmates to catch up one-on-one. “I love that Schwartz and I have gotten to the place where we’re tight and, who knows, maybe we’ll be even tighter in the future,” she admitted in her confessional. “Tighter kind of sounds like vaginal tight, though.”
Ahead of their getaway, Leviss even encouraged the TomTom co-owner to let loose on the trip. “We’ve gotta enjoy our time in Mexico,” she said. “When we’re out of the country there’s nothing you can do but to have fun.”
The sweet moment didn’t go over well with Leviss’ ex-fiancé James Kennedy, who overheard their convo.
“Honestly, what the f–k is that?” Kennedy reacted in a confessional. “Why are you flirting with Raquel right in front of me? You look f–king absurd mate, like desperate and absurd. Go hit the treadmill you fat f–k.”
2023 Whiting Awards recognize 10 emerging writers
Enlarge this image Mia Chung photo by Chelcie Parry; Ama Codjoe photo by David Heald © Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, New York; Marcia Douglas photo by Patrick Campbell; photos of all others by Willy Somma/The Whiting Foundation
The winners of the 2023 Whiting Awards might not have many, or any, well-known titles to their name — but that’s the point.
The recipients of the $50,000 prize, which were announced on Wednesday evening, show an exceeding amount of talent and promise, according to the prize’s judges. The Whiting Awards aim to “recognize excellence and promise in a spectrum of emerging talent, giving most winners their first chance to devote themselves full time to their own writing, or to take bold new risks in their work,” the Whiting Foundation noted in a press release.
The Whiting Awards stand as one of the most esteemed and largest monetary gifts for emerging writers. Since its founding in 1985, recipients such as Ocean Vuong, Colson Whitehead, Sigrid Nunez, Alice McDermott, Jia Tolentino and Ling Ma have catapulted into successful careers or gone on to win countless other prestigious prizes including Pulitzers, National Book Awards, and Tony Awards.
“Every year we look to the new Whiting Award winners, writing fearlessly at the edge of imagination, to reveal the pathways of our thought and our acts before we know them ourselves,” said Courtney Hodell, director of literary programs. “The prize is meant to create a space of ease in which such transforming work can be made.”
The ceremony will include a keynote address by Pulitzer Prize winner and PEN president Ayad Akhtar.
The winners of the 2023 Whiting Awards, with commentary from the Whiting Foundation, are:
Tommye Blount (poetry), whose collection, Fantasia for the Man in Blue, “plunges into characters like a miner with a headlamp; desire, wit, and a dose of menace temper his precision.”
Mia Chung (drama), author of the play Catch as Catch Can, whose plays are “a theatrical hall of mirrors that catch and fracture layers of sympathy and trust.”
Ama Codjoe (poetry), author of Bluest Nude, whose poems “bring folkloric eros and lyric precision to Black women’s experience.“
Marcia Douglas (fiction), author of The Marvellous Equations of the Dread, who “creates a speculative ancestral project that samples and remixes the living and dead into a startling sonic fabric.”
Sidik Fofana (fiction), author of Stories from the Tenants Downstairs, who “hears voices with a reporter’s careful ear but records them with a fiction writer’s unguarded heart.”
Carribean Fragoza (fiction), author of Eat the Mouth That Feeds You, whose short stories “meld gothic horror with the loved and resented rhythms of ordinary life, unfolding the complex interiority of her Chicanx characters.”
R. Kikuo Johnson (fiction), author of No One Else, a writer and illustrator — the first graphic novelist to be recognized by the award — who “stitches a gentle seam along the frayed edges of three generations in a family in Hawaii.”
Linda Kinstler (nonfiction), a contributing writer for The Economist’s 1843 Magazine, whose reportage “bristles with eagerness, moving like the spy thrillers she tips her hat to.”
Stephania Taladrid (nonfiction), a contributing writer at the New Yorker, who, “writing from the still eye at the center of spiraling controversy or upheaval, she finds and protects the unforgettably human — whether at an abortion clinic on the day Roe v. Wade is overturned or standing witness to the pain of Uvalde’s stricken parents.”
Emma Wippermann (poetry and drama), author of the forthcoming Joan of Arkansas, “a climate-anxious work marked not by didacticism but by sympathy; It conveys rapture even as it jokes with angels…”
Michael Sterling Vows to Win Eva Marcille Back After Divorce Filing
Eva Marcille wants to divorce Michael Sterling, but he’s not ready to call it quits on their relationship just yet.
On March 29, six days after the former cast member of Bravo’s The Real Housewives of Atlanta filed papers to end their four-year marriage, her husband issued a defiant statement to theJasmineBRAND website. “I am not going to lose my wife,” he said. “I am going to fight for her with every fiber in my being.”
He added, “I love her and I plan to show her how much I love her and that our love is strong enough to get to the other side.”
Eva has not responded to Michael’s comments. Regarding her divorce filing, she told People in comments published March 28, “This has been one of the hardest decisions I have ever had to make, but sometimes life takes your journey in a direction you were not expecting.”
The reality star shares sons Michael Todd, 4, and Maverick, 3, with Michael and is also a mom to daughter Marley Rae Sterling, 9, from a previous relationship.
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