Images have surfaced on social media that show that the mural. of the late Dayvon “King Von” Bennett has been removed from the walls of O’ Block in his hometown of Southside Chicago.
The picture below shows the detailed image of the “Crazy Story” rapper sitting backwards in a chair wearing an MLB fitted cap and his iced out O’ Block chain being painted over, leaving a blank, grey wall. With the wall being buffed in broad daylight, there obviously was no objection to its removal.
The question is, why was the mural removed and who called for its removal? Also, was the removal of the image of one of Chicago’s most celebrated as well as criticized rappers related to any current legal proceedings, including the arrest of Lil Durk?
There is much speculation around the reason for the removal of the mural, but the fact is that King Von’s legacy will live on regardless of the existence of any drawing or recording ever created.
When will these deadly trends and challenges stop?The creators of the Paqui One Chip Challenge tortilla snacks have removed their products from store shelves after a Massachusetts boy died attempting a social media challenge.
14-year-old Harris Wolobah tried the Paqui One Chip Challenge at school and immediately complained of abdominal pain, his mother, Lois, told NBC 10 Boston. Harris was a member of the Doherty Memorial High School boys basketball team. He also started up his own basketball league at St. Bernard’s Church, WCVB reported.
His family picked him up from school and took him home. He initially said he felt better, but his condition quickly deteriorated. Harris was rushed to a nearby hospital and pronounced dead.
According to the NY Post, the “One Chip Challenge” tests how long a person can go without drinking water or a beverage after eating one Paqui tortilla chip.
The company said their One Chip products were intended for adults only and were not intended for children, pregnant women, anyone with allergies to spicy ingredients.
“We have seen an increase in teens and other individuals not heeding these warnings,” the company said on its website. “As a result, while the product continues to adhere to food safety standards, out of an abundance of caution, we are actively working with our retailers to remove the product from shelves.”
Paqui is offering refunds on any of the company’s single-serve “One Chip Challenge” products. The flaming hot chips contain Carolina Reaper Pepper and Naga Viper Pepper, according to the company’s website.
Paqui also advised people to seek medical care if they experienced trouble breathing, fainting or prolonged nausea after eating the “extremely hot” tortilla chips.
“After touching the chip, wash your hands with soap and do not touch eyes or other sensitive areas,” the company states.
“Harris was one of the kids that consistently came to me and tried to stay and play an extra game,” Doherty coach Douglas Hill said. “He just loved the game of basketball and wanted to really improve.”
A GoFundMe account collected over $24,000 toward its $30,000 goal, as of Tuesday afternoon.
COVID-19 is roaring back into the lives of New York City residents. According to NY Daily News, a summer surge of COVID is impacting NYC.
Data from across the city and state show a rise in COVID-19, signaling the latest run of the pandemic. Reasons for the surge have been connected to immunity to variants wearing away and more air-conditioned indoor events. The hospitalization rate per 100,000 residents is up to 10.22. The pre-surge figure was 4.41 hospitalizations.
“The main point is that we need to keep paying attention to COVID,” Dr. Jessica Justman, an infectious disease specialist and epidemiologist at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health, said.
On Wednesday, the State Department of Health encouraged NYC residents to take precautions and to test if they feel sick.
Beginning this past weekend, U.S. states will begin to kick as many as 15 million people off Medicaid insurance as the emergency safety net initially put in place during the COVID-19 pandemic comes to an end.
What is Medicaid? Medicaid is a public health insurance program for people who have lower incomes. It is jointly administered by the state and federal governments. Over the past three years since the global pandemic, under an emergency pandemic measure, states have stopped double-checking if people who are enrolled in Medicaid are still eligible for its coverage. Suppose you were enrolled in Medicaid in March 2020 or became eligible at any point during the pandemic. In that case, you have remained eligible the entire time no matter what, even if your income later increased. However, states will now double-check every Medicaid enrollee’s eligibility, a huge administrative task that will put health insurance coverage for millions of Americans at risk. Not everyone will be removed from the program all at once. States plan to verify all recipients’ eligibility over periods of nine months to one year.
The change is “disruptive,” said Dr. Adam Gaffney, a critical care physician at the Cambridge Health Alliance in Massachusetts who advocates for health care reform. Secretary of Health and Human Services Xavier Becerra says the Biden administration is working with states to prevent Americans from being without any health insurance. “One of the best ways to make sure they don’t, is to make sure that governors have adopted the Medicaid expansion program, which lets them cover more Americans within their Medicaid program,” Beccera said.
People with Medicaid should ensure their personal information is up-to-date, be on the lookout for Medicaid application materials in the mail or via email, and complete the renewal application by their state’s due date. People who lose Medicaid coverage will be eligible to purchase coverage under the Affordable Care Act. The termination notice should provide instructions.
As the COVID-19 pandemic seems to have died down over the last year or so, we are still very much still feeling its long-term effects. Some people who contracted the virus still face health problems caused by the virus, many lost family members, and many have PTSD from their experience with the virus.
DJ Jazzy Jeff was one of those people who struggled with the virus but made it through and still talks about his experience with it. The legendary DJ talked about his experience in a recent interview with AllHipHop.
“I was one of the first people to get sick, and I almost didn’t make it,” Jeff said. “I got sick the day the world shut down. That was the day it hit me. I actually did a ski resort in Ketchum, Idaho, which was the nation’s first hot spot. I came home and realized the world wasn’t right,” he added.
He went on to say that he told his wife that they needed to stock up on supplies, seeing how many were rushing to grocery stores to stock up on food and other items before they quarantined. “We kind of looked at each other like, ‘OK, the store is going to be crazy tomorrow,’” he said. “The next words that came out of my mouth was, ‘Babe, I don’t feel good.’ And she was like, ‘What is it?’ I said, ‘I’m just a little achy.’ She said, ‘OK, we have everything we need. Let’s go home and you can take a hot shower.’”
Jeff didn’t know he had COVID, and said that he contracted it so early that nobody knew the symptoms. He stated that doctors diagnosed him with double pneumonia, not knowing that pneumonia was a side effect of COVID. “I didn’t know I had COVID. I went to the doctor and they said I had double pneumonia. They sent me home to sit perfectly still,” he said. “That was so early, we didn’t know symptoms and things like that. I didn’t know pneumonia was a side effect of COVID. Like, I was really, really bad. It was bad to the point where Lynette started making phone calls.”
He added in the interview that his wife had been contacted by a journalist to see how he was doing becuase 15 people had died at a party he DJ’ed at. “Long story short, because I was in the first wave of people to get sick, I knew how serious this was very, very early. I was like, ‘I know the world is not going to be in a place like we know it for at least two years.’ I knew that in April 2020 just because of how sick I was.”
The CDC announced today that it is implementing a requirement for a negative COVID-19 test or documentation of recovery for air passengers boarding flights to the United States originating from the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and the Special Administrative Regions of Hong Kong and Macau. This includes passengers flying directly to the United States from China and passengers flying through popular third-country gateways, including Seoul, Toronto and Vancouver. The requirement aims to prevent the spread of Covid and transmission of any possible new variants.
According to federal health officials, passengers flying to the US must get a test no more than two days before flying and present proof of the negative test to their airline before boarding. Contrary to past regulations the test can either be a PCR or an antigen self-test administered through a telehealth service.
The new rules take effect at 12:01 a.m. ET on January 5. Reports reflect growing concern around China’s lack of transparency in disclosing their surge in cases including the absence of genome sequencing information. Withholding of this information slows detection of new strains of the coronavirus putting public safety at risk.
The execution timeline was selected to give airlines a grace period to fulfill new requirements. New rules are expected to last in accordance with the situation on the ground. In addition to this rule, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is expanding the Traveler-based Genomic Surveillance program to airports in Seattle and Los Angeles.
On Monday, China announced it will end quarantine requirements for international arrivals from January 8, marking a major step toward reopening its borders. The sudden end to China’s stringent health policy has raised eyebrows across the country and sparked the rollout of these restrictions. The gray area surrounding China’s reports and a surge in cases, has also influenced Japan’s decision to test all individuals upon arrival starting December 30th.
During an appearance on CBS’s 60 Minutes, President Joe Biden declared the COVID-19 pandemic “over.”
Biden was on hand at the Detroit Auto Show and stated while there is still an issue with COVID, the pandemic portion has passed us by.
“The pandemic is over,” Biden said. “We still have a problem with COVID. We’re still doing a lotta work on it …but the pandemic is over. If you notice, no one’s wearing masks. Everybody seems to be in pretty good shape. And so I think it’s changing. And I think this is a perfect example of it.”
BREAKING.
President Joe Biden just declared the Covid-19 pandemic “over” on 60 Minutes
Joe Biden in Detroit, with 60 Minutes: “The pandemic is over. We still have a problem with COVID. We’re still doing a lot of work on it. But the pandemic is over.” pic.twitter.com/zkgSwJ79Wf
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director-general of the World Health Organization, recently told CNN the end of the pandemic was near but not yet achieved. Ghebreyesus also cited the lowest number of weekly COVID-19 deaths since March 2020. “We have never been in a better position to end the pandemic. We’re not there yet, but the end is in sight,” he said.
Professional athletes and performers in New York City no longer have to comply with the private sector coronavirus vaccine mandate. Mayor Eric Adams says he’s making an exemption because hometown teams had an unfair disadvantage because visiting players who weren’t vaccinated were allowed to play.
This now means unvaccinated Nets star Kyrie Irving no longer has to sit out home games and Yankees and Mets players who have not gotten the shot can play at Yankee Stadium and Citi Field once baseball season starts.
The mayor is getting backlash from some who say this is unfair to other employees who were forced to get the shot. Hundreds of city employees were fired for not getting the vaccine and Adams says they will not be re-hired.
Councilman Joe Borelli took to Twitter saying it’s unfair to exempt basketball players from the city’s private sector vaccine mandate but not arena ushers or janitors.
This is appalling. We are firing our own employees but allowing exemptions for the fancy ones. https://t.co/rKfugRO3hM
New York City will drop two major coronavirus related requirements. Mayor Eric Adams says the vaccine mandate for certain indoor public places will no longer be in effect starting Monday.
Per the expiring order New Yorkers have had to show proof of the vaccine in order to take part in indoor dining, gyms and indoor entertainment venues.
Mayor Adams says the city is suspending requirements to the Key To NYC program but he’s leaving it up to businesses to put in their own mandates.
NY Mayor Adams is also dropping the school mask mandate starting Monday for K through 12th grade. He points to very low coronavirus positivity rates in the city and in the school system for both decisions.
The mayor’s comments came a day after he released a statement saying the city is looking at March 7th to lift vaccination requirements for indoor dining, fitness centers and entertainment venues.
“I can’t wait to get it done,” Adams said. “I take my hat off to New Yorkers — through masks, vaccines, through social distancing, we were hit with the uncertainty, the fear of COVID. I’m really proud of how we responded as New Yorkers. And every morning I meet with my health professionals. Because I always stated I’m going to follow the science. I’m not going to get ahead of the science, because I’m ready to get ahead of all of this and get back to a level of normalcy.”
“But they’re giving us clear instructions, they’ve given us benchmarks, we’re going to follow those benchmarks. But I look forward in the next few weeks of going through a real transformation — that I don’t have to wonder what you look like … We’re going to get the city back up and operating. And we’re going to be rolling out some things in the next day or so on how we’re going to carry that out.”
