Month: April 2023

Legendary talk-show host Jerry Springer has died at age 79. Bradley Singer, a representative for Springer, confirmed that Springer died peacefully at his home in Chicago on Thursday morning following a brief bout with pancreatic cancer.

Jene Galvin, a lifelong friend and spokesman for the Springer family, said in a statement: “Jerry’s ability to connect with people was at the heart of his success in everything he tried whether that was politics, broadcasting, or just joking with people on the street who wanted a photo or a word. He’s irreplaceable and his loss hurts immensely, but memories of his intellect, heart, and humor will live on. To remember Jerry, the family asks that in lieu of flowers you consider following his spirit and make a donation or commit to an act of kindness to someone in need or a worthy advocacy organization. As he always said, ‘Take care of yourself, and each other.’”

Springer is best known for hosting his talk show ‘The Jerry Springer Show,’ which ran from 1991 to 2018. Guests shared their problems on the talk show, which ranged from accusations of infidelity to demands for paternity tests (and often culminated with physical altercations that had to be stopped by the show’s director of security). The series featured audience members chanting, “Jerry! Jerry! Jerry!” upon Springer’s entrance.

In addition to his time on television, Springer had a prolific career as a politician, starting out as a councilman in Cincinnati before becoming the city’s mayor from 1977 to 1978. He then switched up his career, working for WLWT as an anchor. Later on during the time hosting his talk show, Springer also made cameos in numerous films including 1999’s Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me, and on television shows, including Sabrina the Teenage Witch, The Simpsons, and The X-Files.

The final episode of The Jerry Springer Show aired in July 2018. The following year, Springer made his return to TV with ‘Judge Jerry’, a reality court show which ran for three seasons until August 2022.

Springer is survived by his daughter Katie Springer, and his older sister Evelyn.

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Carolyn Bryant Donham, the white woman who accused Black teenager Emmett Till of making improper advances before he was lynched in Mississippi in 1955, has died in hospice care in Louisiana at age 88. Donham died Tuesday night in Westlake, Louisiana, according to a death report filed Thursday in the Calcasieu Parish Coroner’s Office in Louisiana.

In August 1955, Till traveled from Chicago to visit relatives in Mississippi.  Bryant Donham (then named Carolyn Bryant) accused Till of making improper advances on her at a grocery store in the small community of Money; she was 21-years-old at the time. The Rev. Wheeler Parker, a cousin of Till who was there, has said 14-year-old Till whistled at the woman, an act that flew in the face of Mississippi’s racist social codes of the era.

Evidence indicates a woman identified Till to her then-husband Roy Bryant and his half-brother J.W. Milam. Till was later abducted from his great-uncle Moses Wright’s home by Bryant and Milam. Till’s remains were found days later in the Tallahatchie River.  Roy Bryant and Milam were charged with Till’s murder; however, the two men were acquitted by an all-white jury. They later confessed to the killing in a paid magazine interview. Till’s kidnapping and killing became a catalyst for the Civil Rights Movement when his mother insisted on an open-casket funeral in their hometown of Chicago after his brutalized body was pulled from a river in Mississippi.

Till’s cousin filed a federal lawsuit against the current Leflore County, Mississippi, sheriff a few months ago, seeking to compel him to serve an arrest warrant on kidnapping charges that was issued for Donham in 1955 but never served. A team searching a Mississippi courthouse basement for evidence about the lynching found the warrant in June 2022, which prompted calls from Till’s relatives for authorities to arrest Donham. However, a grand jury in Leflore County declined to indict her on charges of manslaughter and kidnapping last August.

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The U.S. Navy announced Thursday that Iran seized an oil tanker in the Gulf of Oman. The Navy’s 5th Fleet said the oil tanker Advantage Sweet, which is registered under a Marshall Islands flag, was seized by Iranian forces after leaving Kuwait on its way to Houston, Texas, and issued a distress call. The U.S. Navy’s 5th Fleet said: “Iran’s actions are contrary to international law and disruptive to regional security and stability. Iran should immediately release the oil tanker.”

US Naval Forces Central Command (NAVCENT) also released a statement attributing the vessel’s seizure to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy:  “Advantage Sweet was seized by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy while transiting international waters in the Gulf of Oman. Iran’s continued harassment of vessels and interference with navigational rights in regional waters are a threat to maritime security and the global economy. In the past two years, Iran has unlawfully seized at least five commerical vessels sailing in the Middle East.

Behnam Ben Taleblu, senior fellow and Iran expert at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, said: “The Islamic Republic continues to prove that its terrorism and regional destabilization is not limited to land, air, or even international waters. Tehran’s threat to international shipping is almost as old as the Islamic Republic itself. Iran’s continued hostage taking of oil tankers and harassment of other vessels blows a hole through the theory that greater Chinese involvement in the Persian Gulf might restrain the regime’s bad behavior.”

https://abcnews.go.com/Business/wireStory/us-navy-iran-seized-marshall-islands-flagged-oil-98901669

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