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Illinois Honors Barack Obama With His Own Holiday
Former President Barack Obama has been honored with his very own holiday in the state of Illinois. Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner signed into law Friday a measure to designate August 4th as “Barack Obama Day.” The holiday will be celebrated on President Obama’s birthday, beginning in 2018. Gov. Rauner praised the commemorative holiday but stopped short of making it a legal holiday. “It’s incredibly proud for Illinois that the president came from Illinois. I think it’s awesome, and I think we should celebrate it. I don’t think it should be a formal holiday with paid, forced time off, but I think it should be a day of acknowledgment and celebration.”…
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Rihanna Named Harvard’s Humanitarian Of The Year
Rihanna has been named the 2017 Harvard University Humanitarian of the Year. The Grammy Award-winning singer will receive the Harvard Foundation‘s Peter J. Gomes Humanitarian Award at a ceremony scheduled for Feb. 28. Rihanna is being honored for several philanthropic efforts. She built a state-of-the-art center for oncology and nuclear medicine to diagnose and treat breast cancer in her home nation of Barbados. She created the Clara and Lionel Foundation Scholarship Program — named for her grandparents — for students attending college in the U.S. from Caribbean countries. She also supports the Global Partnership for Education and Global Citizen Project to provide children with access to education in more than…
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Alicia Keys Attend Women’s March
Protests against Donald Trump’s presidency have become a global movement. Washington D.C., Chicago, Los Angeles, New York City, London, Toronto, and Paris, are just some of the cities hosting marches Saturday (Jan. 21). Though the final numbers have yet to be tallied, it’s already clear that the Women’s March trumped the inauguration figures. Alicia Keys, Janelle Monae, America Ferrera, and Uzo Aduba, were among those at the Washington D.C. march. “We are mothers, we are caregivers, we are artists, we are activists,” Keys told the crowd. “We are entrepreneurs, doctors, leaders of industry and technology. Our potential is unlimited. We rise!” Keys also performed “Girl on Fire,” while Monae shared…
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Tupac Inducted Into Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
Tupac Shakur will be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2017, along with Pearl Jam, Joan Baez, Electric Light Orchestra, Journey, and Yes. The induction ceremony will be held on April 7th, 2017, at Brooklyn‘s Barclays Center. Tupac Shakur will be the sixth hip-hop act to join the ranks of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, Run D.M.C., the Beastie Boys, Public Enemy, and NWA have also made the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame cut. SOURCE: VLADTV
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Amber Rose Hosts 2nd Annual #Slutwalk
Amber Rose was joined by reality TV stars Blac Chyna and Kendra Wilkinson as she staged her second annual “Slut Walk” in Los Angeles. The model and ex-girlfriend of rapper Kanye West wore a tiny black outfit for the event which was organized to highlight “sexual injustice and gender inequality”. Amber, 32, was joined on stage in downtown LA by her pregnant friend Chyna, who is expecting a child with Robert Kardashian. Slut Walks have been organized in recent years after a police officer told female students in Toronto in 2011 that women “should avoid dressing like sluts in order not to be victimized” On her website, Amber explained why…
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Akon Talks Giving Millions Electricity
Akon stopped by to talk with VladTV about his light up Africa Project, how he used to live without electricity, and how the politics of starting his project were extremely tricky. Akon let us know that he grew up in Senegal a small country on the West coast of Africa. Akon grew up without electricity and running water, and when it came time to eat, cook, or wash he had to use the same water from a running water well for everything. “When I came to the United States, and [saw] the projects or what they claimed to be projects, Vlad I thought they was living in luxury, compared to…
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NASA’s African American Mathematicians
The story of the space race has been told from a million angles. But there’s one perspective that our pop culture has long overlooked: the voices of African American women who worked at NASA as mathematicians. In her upcoming book Hidden Figures, author Margot Lee Shetterly describes the lives of women like Katherine Coleman Goble Johnson who played significant roles in Americans getting into orbit and then to the moon. They worked as NASA’s first computers, crunching numbers long before the invention of the hardware we call computers today. Hidden Figures is set to come out in September and on its heels will be a film adaptation starring none other…
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‘Underground’ Renewed for Season 2
WGN America has renewed “Underground” for a second season, the network announced Monday. The series, created by Misha Green and Joe Pokaski, is currently averaging over 1 million viewers per episode in live-plus-same-day ratings and 3 million viewers in live-plus-seven. It was also the sixth highest-rated scripted series premiere of any cable drama this season. “With enormous pride we are announcing a second season of ‘Underground,’ a series that has resonated with so many passionate fans across the country,” said Matt Cherniss president and general manager of WGN America. “We are deeply proud of the work that the talented cast, crew and production team have done to bring this story…
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NWA Reunites At Coachella
On Saturday (April 23rd), all living members of the legendary rap group, N.W.A., reunited to perform for the first time in 16 years. Iconic rapper, actor, and producer, Ice Cube, brought MC Ren, DJ Yella, and most notably Dr. Dre onstage during his weekend set at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival. Dre joined his former bandmates on stage after they performed “Straight Outta Compton” and “F-ck The Police” to an exhilarated sold-out crowd. The members of N.W.A. performed Dre’s solo hits “California Love” and “Still D.R.E.” and joined together to pay tribute to their friend Eazy-E saying, “Rest in Peace Eazy-E.” Lil Eazy-E, Eazy-E’s son, joined the N.W.A…
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Lil Wayne Receives Key to the City
Lil Wayne was gifted a key to the city of Lafayette in his home state of Louisiana, and Mayor-President Joel Robideaux made sure the key was made into a one-of-a-kind gold chain. Robideaux told the New Orleans rapper, “We want to present to you a very special key to the city that we made specifically for you. One of a kind, nobody else has it. … That’s the only one in America. Thank you, sir.” This came before Wayne took the stage at the University of Louisiana Lafayette, which was the result of a student-led charity contest. The Alpha Pi Alpha Fraternity won the contest after donating after 7,000 bottles of water…