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☆ A Provocative Satirist Left a Pervasive Legacy, Influencing African Writing
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-29 | by ( Anderson Tepper | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The Kenyan writer Binyavanga Wainaina was many things in his short, frenetic life: memoirist and roving essayist, trailblazing editor and publisher, agitator and activist. After winning the Caine Prize for African Writing in 2002, he used his prize money to finance a new literary journal, Kwani? (“So what?” in Nairobi slang), helping to promote a generation of Kenyan and African writers. His 2005 essay in the British literary journal Granta, “How to Write About Africa,” eviscerated timeworn Western tropes about Africa and African writing. Wainaina, who died in 2019 at age 48, became an outsize figure on the literary landscape, his omnivorous brilliance matched by ambition and vision on a continental scale.

Persons: Binyavanga Wainaina, ” Organizations: Granta Locations: Nairobi, Africa

☆ California Rep. Ro Khanna again calls on Dianne Feinstein to resign over health concerns: 'It's painful to watch.'
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-20 | by ( John L. Dorman | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Rep. Ro Khanna said it was "painfully obvious" that Sen. Feinstein should no longer serve in office. "I think they should have a loving conversation about it being time," Khanna said of Feinstein's confidantes. "First, let me say, I admire her career," Khanna told Wagner. Upon her return to the Senate, Feinstein appeared disoriented as an aide whisked her through the Capitol, according to The Times. "While she has had a lifetime of public service, it is obvious she can no longer fulfill her duties.

☆ Ally of Mitch McConnell Wins G.O.P. Primary for Kentucky Governor
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-16 | by ( Nick Corasaniti | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Craft, who belongs to one of the biggest Republican megadonor families in the country, was well behind Mr. Cameron. Republicans have long viewed Mr. Cameron as a potential political star who could join the next generation of the party’s leaders. Mr. Cameron turned to the general election in his victory speech. The party holds supermajorities in the Legislature, making it difficult for the governor to wield much power without a veto. Yet that dynamic has allowed Mr. Beshear to avoid contentious showdowns with Republicans on hot-button issues and has let him focus on using state resources to help repair infrastructure and improve the economy.

☆ Dianne Feinstein returning to U.S. Senate after health-related absence
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-09 | by ( Richard Cowan | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Senator Dianne Feinstein, 89, will return to Washington on Tuesday after a months-long absence due to illness, her spokesman said, restoring Democrats' 51-49 majority to full strength. The trailblazing lawmaker had been sidelined since February as she recovered from a bout of shingles, which had led to calls from some fellow Democrats to step aside and allow someone else to take her place. “I’m glad that my friend Dianne is back in the Senate and ready to roll up her sleeves and get to work," Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said in a written statement. Democrats' worries were further heightened as lawmakers have been spending 2023 arguing over raising the nation's borrowing authority. Feinstein could provide crucial support for whatever debt limit bill comes before the Senate that would avert a first-ever default on U.S. debt.

SAO PAULO, May 9 (Reuters) - Renowned Brazilian rock singer and songwriter Rita Lee, an icon of the Tropicalia artistic movement, died on Tuesday after a two-year battle with lung cancer, her family said. Her death brought an outpouring of tributes from artists, politicians and celebrities who cheered her trailblazing role in Brazilian rock. Rita Lee Jones de Carvalho was born on Dec. 31, 1947, in Sao Paulo, to a dentist of U.S. descent and a Brazilian pianist with Italian ancestry. Kicked out of Os Mutantes by Baptista, whom she had been married to, for supposed artistic differences, Lee played with the band Tutti Frutti in the 1970s. Rita Lee was diagnosed with lung cancer in 2021 and had been undergoing treatment since then.

☆ A New Survey Erases Male Artists From the Western Canon
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-02 | by ( Tiana Reid | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

But although her index of names succeeds in providing some answer to the question posed in Linda Nochlin’s trailblazing 1971 essay “Why Have There Been No Great Women Artists?,” Hessel does less than Nochlin did, 50 years ago, to unsettle the terms of the question itself. Can inserting women into the art-historical canon interrupt the system of canonization itself? Why does Hessel rely on the same methods of archival organization — linear history, market-based tastes, distinct genre boundaries — that played a part in producing women’s very exclusion? How instead might the fact of women’s presence disrupt the presuppositions of art’s place in the world? An especially moving chapter, “The Body in Sculpture,” initiates an answer.

☆ Carol Burnett's birthday special' is an elegant (and hilarious) event
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-26 | by ( Marianne Garvey | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +9 min

Hulton Archive/Getty Images Burnett peeks at a portrait of herself that was being painted by artist Dmitri Vails in 1963. CBS/Getty Images Burnett interacts with the audience of her new variety show, "The Carol Burnett Show," in 1967. CBS/Getty Images Burnett, left, and Cher perform a skit on "The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour" in 1972. CBS/Getty Images Burnett poses with her memoir "One More Time" at a book signing in Beverly Hills, California, in 1986. Will Hart/NBC/Getty Images Carol Burnett Square was unveiled in Los Angeles in front of her alma mater, Hollywood High School, in 2013.

☆ Gail Christian, Trailblazing News Correspondent, Dies at 83
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-22 | by ( Alex Williams | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

“I always wanted to be ‘the Black reporter,’ as in covering Black stories,” she said in an interview with The Chicago Tribune in 1986. “I felt that was the reason I was there. I didn’t resent it in the least. “And her pioneering role as a Black news reporter allowed young Black kids to see, many for the first time, someone admirable on TV who looked like them. That program featured several award-winning segments, including one about a banking scandal that hurt low-income communities and another about a chemical spill in Orange County that caused illnesses in the area, each of which won a Peabody Award.

☆ The Board's Role in Sustainable Leadership: Not Just Window Dressing
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-19 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: 1 min

Share Share Article via Facebook Share Article via Twitter Share Article via LinkedIn Share Article via EmailThe Board's Role in Sustainable Leadership: Not Just Window DressingHow do sustainability policies impact fiduciary responsibility? Board governance sets the tone for effective corporate stewardship but it's not always easy to integrate and implement into a company's existing strategy. Two trailblazing C-suite and board veterans with operational savvy, deep financial experience, and great, actionable advice on how to create fairer and more realistic socio-economic models when making business decisions.

☆ Swinging Sixties fashion designer Mary Quant dies aged 93
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-13 | by ( Farouq Suleiman | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

LONDON, April 13 (Reuters) - Fashion designer Mary Quant, often credited with popularising the miniskirt that helped define Britain's "Swinging Sixties" era, has died aged 93. Born and brought up in Blackheath, south east London, Quant helped pioneer bold new styles during the 1960s - a decade in which fashion, music and art subculture challenged and forever changed Britain's post-war national identity. "It’s impossible to overstate Quant's contribution to fashion," the Victoria and Albert Museum, which held a 2019 exhibition focused on her work, said in a statement. "She represented the joyful freedom of 1960s fashion, and provided a new role model for young women. A self-taught designer, Quant opened a west London boutique called Bazaar in the 1950s alongside her fashion entrepreneur husband Alexander Plunket Greene and their business partner.

☆ Unlocking AI's Potential in Medicine
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-04 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: 1 min

Share Share Article via Facebook Share Article via Twitter Share Article via LinkedIn Share Article via EmailUnlocking AI's Potential in MedicineArtificial intelligence continues to transform life sciences with breathtaking speed. With the application of computation in health care comes trailblazing scientific discoveries, earlier cancer detection, personalized oncology therapies, and better patient outcomes. An insightful conversation about the most promising investment opportunities and commercial applications at the intersection of AI, health care and precision medicine.

☆ Nikki Haley's road to the White House will be difficult, but she has a key polling advantage her rivals lack.
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-22 | by ( John L. Dorman | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +11 min

Nikki Haley faces a number of challenges — namely Donald Trump — as she runs for the White House. But the former governor still has the potential to overcome her current standing as the Republican primary season heats up. And if it works, she could position herself as a forward-thinking leader who can move the GOP past the tumult of the 2020 presidential election. And in a mid-March Morning Consult poll, Haley's favorability among GOP voters sat at 47%, while only 16% had an unfavorable view of her; roughly 1 in 5 respondents said they were unfamiliar with the ex-governor. AP Photo/Alex BrandonA push to move beyond the 2020 electionSince November 2020, Trump has continued to question his election loss, alleging voter fraud despite no evidence of widespread malfeasance.

"Consequently, there is a risk that current and emerging impacts to cultural heritage are not being readily identified and/or appropriately managed," ERM said. The audit also found nearly half of Rio's assets lacked access to appropriately qualified and experienced cultural heritage expertise within the business. Cultural heritage management should not be contracted out because ownership of decisions should reside at Rio Tinto, ERM said. The global miner needed to improve and make more consistent its cultural heritage planning around water management and around closure of its operations, it added. The report followed an audit of 37 Rio Tinto assets.

[1/2] The processing facility at an oil sands operations near Fort McMurray, Alberta, September 17, 2014. The company joins Canada's biggest oil producers in urging policymakers to boost public funding for the costly technology that is seen as key to cutting emissions from the carbon-intensive oil sands. Until then, the company will pay Canada's carbon tax, set to rise to C$170 a tonne by 2030, Nicholson said. Canada's oil sands produced a record 3.15 million bpd in 2022 and are forecast to hit 3.7 million bpd by 2030, according to S&P Global. "The oil sands are long-life, low-decline assets," said Wood Mackenzie analyst Scott Norlin.

☆ Will ‘Akuna’ Robinson Found a Path to Mental Health in Hiking
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-17 | by ( Emily Bobrow | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +1 min

In 2016, physical and emotional injuries from his military service in Iraq had made life feel unbearable for Will “Akuna” Robinson. “Between my chronic pain, nerve damage, blood pressure, depression, anxiety and insomnia, I was taking almost 30 pills a day,” he recalls. “I had never been hiking before in my life.” Within weeks he was at the PCT trailhead in Southern California. Three years later, in 2019, he became the first known Black man to have conquered the Appalachian, Pacific Crest and Continental Divide scenic trails—America’s triple crown of hiking. In 2021 ESPN anointed him “the trailblazing superstar of thru-hiking,” the term for hiking a long trail end-to-end.

☆ Australia's biggest pension funds not doing enough on climate, activist investor says
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-15 | by ( Industry Insight | Reuters Professional | Food Brands Struggling To Weather The 'Polycrisis' Unleashed War | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

SYDNEY, March 15 (Reuters) - Australia's five largest pension funds were not doing enough to push fossil fuel companies toward decarbonisation, activist investor group Market Forces said on Wednesday, arguing their environmental commitments could amount to greenwashing. The term 'greenwashing' describes exaggerated and misleading claims that suggest an entity are stewards of the environment without real action. Market Forces said in a new report AustralianSuper, Commonwealth Super Corp, Australian Retirement Trust, Aware Super and AMP, which cumulatively manage more than A$1 trillion ($668 billion) in savings, had failed to "demonstrate effective engagement strategies". Commonwealth Super Corp, Australian Retirement Trust, Aware Super and AMP did not immediately respond to a Reuters request seeking comment. Australia's corporate regulator has ramped up action against greenwashing, last month accusing pension fund Mercer Superannuation of misleading members about the sustainability of some of its investment options.

The SFDR defines sustainable investment as contributing to "an environmental or social objective", assessed by indicators such as use of raw materials or production of waste. The people Reuters spoke to said discrepancies among fund portfolios reflected a lack of clarity from the Commission over what constitutes a sustainable investment. Reuters GraphicsReuters GraphicsTEMPERATURE GAUGEMSCI, the finance industry data provider, has developed a way of checking on investment funds' green credentials with its ESG Implied Temperature Rise tool. Among them, for example, are BlackRock's Sustainable Energy Fund, Nordea's Global Climate and Environment Fund and Pictet's Global Environmental Opportunities Fund. "The characterisation of what constitutes a sustainable investment under the SFDR is also a concept that needs further clarifications at European level."

LONDON, March 9 (Reuters) - The European Union's financial watchdogs will test the financial sector's resilience to shocks that could derail the bloc's push to meet a 2030 deadline for slashing carbon emission. This will need extra investments totalling 350 billion euros ($370 billion) a year over this decade, not all sourced from the public sector, meaning a stable financial system will be needed for raising funds. "As part of this work, we would also appreciate any insights into the financial system’s capacity to support green investments under stress." Any "policy relevant" conclusions should be provided to the commission no later than the first quarter of 2025, Berrigan said. "Results should be as differentiated (notably by countries, types of financial institutions, economic sectors) as possible," he said.

☆ Trailblazing former UK House of Commons Speaker Betty Boothroyd dies
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-27 | by ( William James | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

[1/2] FILE PHOTO-British Speaker of the House of Commons Betty Boothroyd looks on during her visit to State Duma lower house of parliament October 14. LONDON, Feb 27 (Reuters) - Betty Boothroyd, the trailblazing first female Speaker in Britain's House of Commons, has died aged 93, drawing tributes from across parliament for her distinctive, firm-but-fair style honed over a five-decade political career. She remains the only woman to serve as Speaker in the House of Commons. After retiring from the House of Commons in 2000, she was made a member of parliament's House of Lords upper chamber where she continued to contribute to political debate into her nineties. Tributes to Boothroyd poured in from across the political divide, hailing her formidable parliamentary presence and her personal warmth.

☆ A generation of high-profile women tech leaders have stepped aside. What’s next?
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-24 | by ( Catherine Thorbecke | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

The tech industry has now lost an entire generation of trailblazing women leaders and replaced them mostly with men. And in the wake of the pandemic, women leaders in corporate America more broadly are more likely than ever to quit, according to the most recent Women in the Workplace report from McKinsey & Company and LeanIn.Org. Now that she’s departing, Big Tech is facing a new reckoning over its failure to promote and support women leaders, and what this could mean for the next generation of women in the industry. “Without women in the C-suite who have come before them, it could make this transition period tougher for next generation women leaders,” Kray said. “I think that what she achieved and what she modeled will be something that will live on beyond the fact that now we don’t have a female Big Tech CEO.”

☆ A New Hampshire GOP national committeewoman says 'there are people' in the party who 'want to put women back into the 1960s'
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-20 | by ( John L. Dorman | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Nikki Haley is embarking on a trailblazing bid as she seeks the 2024 GOP presidential nomination. However, GOP voters might not be receptive to accusations of sexism in political attacks. A New Hampshire GOP committeewoman said some in the party wanted "to put women back into the 1960s." Kristi Noem of South Dakota and Kim Reynolds of Iowa, only a few Republican women have sought the presidency. If Haley were to win the GOP presidential nomination, she'd be the first female in party history to do so.

☆ The founder of Uncle Nearest Premium Whiskey, the best-selling Black-owned spirit brand in the US, explains how she reached $100 million in sales
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-18 | by ( Jennifer Ortakales Dawkins | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Fawn Weaver founded Uncle Nearest Premium Whiskey, the US's best-selling Black-owned spirit brand. Uncle Nearest has generated more than $100 million in sales since its launch, information Insider verified with documentation. Uncle Nearest Premium Whiskey. In 2017, Weaver opened the Nearest Green Distillery and launched Uncle Nearest Premium Whiskey, making storytelling the foundation of her brand's success. Fawn Weaver, founder and CEO of Uncle Nearest Premium Whiskey.

☆ Trailblazing U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein will not seek re-election
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-15 | by ( Moira Warburton | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Senator Dianne Feinstein, a trailblazer for women in American politics, announced on Tuesday that she will not seek re-election in 2024, clearing the path for a hotly contested race for her seat among California Democrats. I can honestly say that Dianne Feinstein is one of the very best," Democratic President Joe Biden said on Tuesday night, noting their time serving together on the Senate Judiciary Committee. Senator Diane Feinstein (D-CA), who announced she will not be seeking re-election, leaves the Senate floor after a vote on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., February 14, 2023. Feinstein "was a tough woman on the front lines in fights like access to assault weapons and national security and intelligence," Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren told reporters on Tuesday. "Every other woman in public office owes a special debt to Dianne Feinstein."

☆ When a journalist's home was raided by the FBI, Glenn Beck and Tucker Carlson erroneously speculated about the government's motive. The journalist has now been charged with transporting child porn.
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-02 | by ( Charles R. Davis | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Glenn Beck, Tucker Carlson, and others initially treated the case as a part of a Biden war on journalism. An October report in Rolling Stone said that an indictment was being prepared but could not say why, noting only that "classified information" had been found on one of his laptops. Instead of updating his audience on the case, Beck released a video Thursday on how to prepare for a "HUGE cyber attack." Carlson did not address the development in Meek's case on his Wednesday broadcast. That report came after the department issued new guidance generally prohibiting investigators from targeting reporters over classified information gathered as part of their job.

☆ Tech's ultimate nepo babies: Meet the Drapers, the first family of Silicon Valley
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-23 | by ( Sindhu Sundar | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +10 min

The billionaire Tim Draper is part of a lineage often lauded as Silicon Valley's premier VC family. As far as powerful professional networks go, it's hard to top the Draper family tree. Draper's venture-capital career began in the 1950s at his father's own trailblazing firm, Draper, Gaither, and Anderson, an early entrant in a new field. Meet the Draper family, the ultimate tech nepo babies and Silicon Valley royalty. Jesse DraperJesse Draper founded Halogen Ventures, which counts her father as an advisor.

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