Arts & Entertainment
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R. Kelly: ‘We’re Going to Straighten All This Stuff Out’ 

R. Kelly walked out of a Chicago jail on Saturday after someone who officials said did not want to be publicly identified paid $161,633 that the R&B singer owed in back child support.  

  

Kelly, who was ordered taken into custody on Wednesday by a judge after Kelly said he didn’t have the entire amount he owed, briefly spoke with reporters, telling them: I promise you, we're going to straighten all this stuff out.'' He said that was all he could say — in stark contrast to a nationally televised broadcast that aired earlier in the week in which he cried and ranted about beingassassinated” by allegations of sexual abuse that led to criminal charges last month.  

  

Cara Smith., the chief policy officer for the Cook County sheriff’s office, which runs the jail, said a person who wished to remain anonymous handed a check on Saturday morning to the county clerk’s office for the full amount of Kelly’s back child support. A bond slip on which people putting up money to secure an inmate’s release write their names and relationship to the inmate was left blank, Smith said.  

  

Kelly’s attorney, Steve Greenberg, said he could not discuss the child support payment because of a judge’s gag order in that case. 

 

As is done with other high-profile inmates, Kelly, 52, was held in a solo cell under round-the-clock observation. 

Second incarceration

 

It was his second trip to jail in a matter of weeks and the second time a person had stepped up with money to get Kelly out of jail.  

  

Last month, after he was charged with 10 counts of aggravated sexual abuse pertaining to three girls and a woman, he was taken to the same jail. Kelly, whose attorney said at the time that the singer’s finances were in disarray, then spent a weekend in jail before a 47-year-old suburban Chicago business owner posted his $100,000 bail.  

  

His attorney and publicist told a similar story this week before and after the hearing in which the judge ordered Kelly into custody, with the publicist telling reporters that Kelly was prepared to pay $50,000 to $60,000 on Wednesday but was not able to pay the entire amount.  

  

Kelly has denied any wrongdoing and has pleaded not guilty to the sexual abuse charges. He has also very publicly proclaimed his innocence, telling Gayle King in an interview that aired Wednesday on CBS This Morning that all his accusers were lying about him. He also talked about his finances, saying that people had stolen money from his bank accounts, though he offered no details. 

 

Greenberg told reporters on Saturday that Kelly’s attorneys “haven’t seen one piece of evidence.”  

  

“When we get those things, we’re going to fight this case like we fight any other case — in the courtroom, based on the evidence,” he said.
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Science & Health
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Attackers in Congo Hit Newly Reopened Ebola Treatment Center

Armed assailants on Saturday attacked an Ebola treatment center in the Democratic Republic of the Congo less than a week after it reopened following a previous attack.  

 

The attack in Butembo came in the early-morning hours and left one police officer dead and several workers injured. 

 

Butembo Mayor Sylvain Kanyamanda told reporters that security forces had defended the center and wounded one of the attackers. 

 

World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus visited the center several hours later and encouraged health care workers to continue fighting the deadly Ebola virus. 

 

“It breaks my heart to think of the health workers injured and police officer who died in today’s attack, as we continue to mourn those who died in previous attacks while defending the right to health,” Ghebreyesus told reporters. “We have no choice except to continue serving the people here, who are among the most vulnerable in the world.” 

 

After the previous attack on the Butembo center, Doctors Without Borders suspended its operations in the city. 

​Precautions stir doubts

 

Anti-Ebola efforts already have faced adversity from residents suspicious of the extensive precautions taken by the health care workers to stop the spread of the highly contagious disease. Because Ebola virus can be transmitted through a victim’s bodily fluids even after death, even burial of the victims requires stringent safety protocols. 

 

Thursday, Doctors Without Borders President Joanne Liu said the containment efforts used to control the latest outbreak of Ebola, which started in August last year, faced a “climate of deepening community mistrust” that was worsened by the use of security guards at treatment centers.  

 

Congo’s health ministry has warned the attacks in Butembo and on another treatment center in Katwa last month can lead to a “significant upsurge” in new Ebola cases.  

 

More than 86 percent of the confirmed cases over the past three weeks came from Butembo and Katwa, according to the health ministry.  

 

The current outbreak is considered the worst since the two-year outbreak in West Africa that started in 2014 and killed more than 11,000 people.
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Arts & Entertainment
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NCAA Loses Federal Antitrust Case, Can Still Claim Win

The NCAA was able to claim victory Friday night after a judge ruled against the governing body for college sports in a federal antitrust lawsuit.

U.S. District Judge Claudia Wilken in Oakland, California, said college football and men’s basketball players competing at the NCAA’s highest level should be permitted to receive compensation from schools beyond the current athletic scholarship, but only if the benefits are tied to education.

The NCAA cannot “limit compensation or benefits related to education,” Wilken wrote. That opens the door to athletes receiving more scholarship money to pursue postgraduate degrees, finish undergraduate degrees or study abroad. The NCAA could not, under injunction, limit schools if they choose to provide athletes items that could be considered school supplies such as computers, science equipment or, musical instruments.

“Technically the plaintiffs won the case and the NCAA will not be happy that they were found to be in violation of antitrust law, but ultimately this allows the NCAA to keep the bulk of their amateurism rules in place,” said Gabe Feldman director of the Tulane University sports law program.

Alston cases seeking more

The plaintiffs in the so-called Alston cases were seeking much more.

Plaintiffs had asked the judge to lift all NCAA caps on compensation and strike down all rules prohibiting schools from giving athletes in high-profile, revenue-generating sports more financial incentives for playing sports. The goal was to create a free market, where conferences set rules for compensating athletes, but this ruling still allows the NCAA to prohibit cash compensation untethered to education-related expenses.

The claim against the NCAA and the 11 conferences that have participated in the Football Bowl Subdivision was originally brought by former West Virginia football player Shawne Alston. It was later merged with similar lawsuits, including a notable case brought by former Clemson football player Martin Jenkins.

Plaintiffs argued the NCAA illegally restricts schools from compensating football and men’s and women’s basketball players beyond what is traditionally covered by a scholarship. That includes tuition, room and board and books, plus a cost of attendance stipend to cover incidentals such as travel.

Plaintiffs touted the ruling as “monumental.”

“We have proven to the court that the NCAA’s weak justifications for this unfair system are based on a self-serving mythology that does not match the facts,” said Steve Berman, the Seattle-based lead attorney for the plaintiffs. “Today’s ruling will change college sports as we know it, forever.”

Feldman, though, said: “The remedy is relatively narrow and this is certainly not the sea change that the plaintiffs were looking for in college sports.”

Pay for play

The NCAA argued altering amateurism rules would lead to pay-for-play, fundamentally damaging college sports and harming academic integration of athletes.

“The court’s decision recognizes that college sports should be played by student-athletes, not by paid professionals,” NCAA chief legal counsel Donald Remy said in a statement. “The decision acknowledges that the popularity of college sports stems in part from the fact that these athletes are indeed students, who must not be paid unlimited cash sums unrelated to education. NCAA rules actively provide a pathway for tens of thousands of student-athletes each year to receive a college education debt-free.

The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals has already said it expects to take the case after Wilken’s ruling. It is possible the ruling will be stayed until the 9th Circuit rules. The case might not stop there, and could end up in front of the Supreme Court.

Wilken is the same judge who ruled on the so-called O’Bannon case, which challenged the NCAA’s right to use athletes’ names, images and likenesses without compensation. The case also produced a mixed ruling that eventually went to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals.

Wilken ruled schools should be permitted, but not required, to compensate athletes for use of their name, image and likeness, with payments capped at $5,000 per year. The appeals court overturned that and said payments “untethered” to education were not required by schools.”

Wilken also ruled the NCAA was required to allow schools to factor in their federally determined cost of attendance into the value of an athletic scholarship. That is now common practice in major college sports, though schools were already moving toward NCAA legislation allowing for cost of attendance when Wilken made her ruling.

The plaintiffs argued in the Alston case that implementation of cost-of-attendance stipends prove paying athletes even more would not hurt college sports.
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9
Science & Health
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Summit Calls for Radical Change to Protect the Oceans

The Sixth Annual World Ocean Summit was this week in Abu Dhabi. The event brought together a diverse group of political leaders, activists and academics trying to keep our oceans solvent in the face of climate change. VOA’s Kevin Enochs reports.
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Economy & business
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Powell: Fed Sticks With ‘Wait-and-See’ Approach on Rate Hikes

Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said Friday that the healthy U.S. economy and low inflation are allowing the central bank to take a “patient, wait-and-see approach” on interest rates.

Speaking at Stanford University, Powell said the Fed is well along in its effort to normalize Fed operations by scaling back the extraordinary efforts it employed to support the economy’s recovery from the Great Recession.

The Fed is trimming its sizable holdings of Treasury bonds and mortgage-backed securities. Officials are discussing a plan for wrapping up the efforts to reduce the central bank’s balance sheet later this year, Powell said, adding that the plan’s details should be announced soon.

The Fed’s moves to reduce its balance sheet, which hit a peak of $4.5 trillion, are being watched closely by investors.

Slimming its balance sheet

The Fed started in October 2017 reducing the balance sheet by allowing some bonds to run off as they matured. The balance sheet is now around $4 trillion but some investors have worried that the Fed could end up driving long-term interest rates higher and harming the economy by going too far in reducing its holdings.

Some analysts have projected the Fed’s balance sheet will end up being around $3.5 trillion, which would be significantly higher than the less than $1 trillion it held before the financial crisis hit in 2008.

Powell said the size of the holdings will “prove ample” to meet the Fed’s needs of supplying reserves to the banking system and he said “we could be near that level later this year.”

“As we feel our way cautiously to this goal, we will move transparently and predictably in order to minimize needless market disruption,” Powell said.

Updating procedures

The Fed is conducting a yearlong review of its procedures as part of its effort to update its operations in areas such as the way it communicates with the public, Powell said.

One area being examined is whether the Fed should consider altering its inflation target, which is currently a goal of annual price increases of 2 percent, to allow inflation to go above that goal for a time.

Powell did not specifically discuss the course of rate hikes other than to repeat the “patient” pledge the Fed began using in January to signal that it was planning a prolonged pause in hiking rates this year after boosting them four times in 2018.

Some analysts believe the Fed could leave its policy rate unchanged for the entire year and could possibly start cutting rates in 2020 if the economy slows significantly as the effects of the Trump administration tax cuts and a boost in government spending fade.

The rate hikes last year prompted strong criticism from President Donald Trump who charged that the rate increases were driving down the stock market.

In his remarks, Powell said, “We live in a time of intense scrutiny and declining trust in public institutions around the world. At the Fed, we are committed to working hard to build and sustain the public’s trust.”
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Science & Health
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HPV Hits Men as Well as Women

The HPV virus is so common that the U.S. Centers for Disease Control says nearly all sexually active men and women get it at some point in their lives, unless they are protected by vaccination.

The HPV virus can lead to cancer in both men and women. That’s why those who have gotten cancer caused by HPV are trying to get the word out to parents to get their children vaccinated. 

“Anytime you can fish is a good time,” Ward said.

Fishing is Scott Ward’s way of relaxing. He didn’t have any risk factors that he knew of for cancer so he ignored the lump on his neck until he couldn’t ignore it anymore. 

Dr. Donald Doll, an oncologist at the University of Missouri Cancer Center, treated Ward for his cancer.

“We’re seeing more and more younger and healthier patients,” Doll said. “They’re not smokers or drinkers. It’s HPV-related.” 

Smoking and drinking can cause oral cancers. But Ward’s cancer was caused by HPV, the human papilloma virus.

“Normally, you think HPV, you think of women — cervical cancer,” Doll said.

HPV does cause cervical cancer, but Doll says it’s a misconception that only women have to be concerned with cancers caused by this virus. 

“The big ones are cervical cancer and the oropharyngeal cancer,” Doll said. 

Oropharyngeal (auro-fah-RINGE-ee-ul) cancers affect the head and neck, including tonsils. Ward’s cancer started in a tonsil. HPV can also lead to anal cancer in both sexes and penile cancer in men.  

But there’s a vaccine that’s been around for more than a decade that can protect against the HPV virus. If all boys and girls received it, no one would get HPV-related cancers.

The HPV vaccine is best when given to children between 9 and 12 years old, before they are sexually active. But teenagers and young adults can still benefit from the  vaccine.

Not everyone who gets the HPV virus develops cancer. But it is a risk factor. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control estimates that 70 percent of cases of head and neck cancers are caused by HPV. The agency says about 14 million people in the U.S. alone become infected with HPV each year. Yet, about half of all U.S. adolescents have not been vaccinated, which requires a series of three shots.  

The CDC says the side effects are generally short term and not serious. They can include dizziness, headache, nausea, fever, and pain and swelling in the arm where the shot was given. 

Ward’s recovery was difficult. He had surgery, radiation and chemotherapy. But he’s now cancer-free.

“It’s a journey. I made it through,” Ward said.

Ward wishes the HPV vaccine existed when he was a teen. He says if he had kids, he would get them vaccinated.

“I tell people that do have kids …  it’s a prevention. Get it.”

Head and neck cancers are the sixth most common cancers worldwide. The HPV virus also causes half a million cases of cervical cancer each year. 
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Science & Health
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HPV Strikes Men as Well as Women

The HPV virus is so common that the U.S. Centers for Disease Control says nearly all sexually active men and women get it at some point in their lives, unless they are protected by vaccination.

The HPV virus can lead to cancer in both men and women. That’s why those who have gotten cancer caused by HPV are trying to get the word out to parents to get their children vaccinated. 

“Anytime you can fish is a good time,” Ward said.

Fishing is Scott Ward’s way of relaxing. He didn’t have any risk factors that he knew of for cancer so he ignored the lump on his neck until he couldn’t ignore it anymore. 

Dr. Donald Doll, an oncologist at the University of Missouri Cancer Center, treated Ward for his cancer.

“We’re seeing more and more younger and healthier patients,” Doll said. “They’re not smokers or drinkers. It’s HPV-related.” 

Smoking and drinking can cause oral cancers. But Ward’s cancer was caused by HPV, the human papilloma virus.

“Normally, you think HPV, you think of women — cervical cancer,” Doll said.

 

WATCH: Men Can Get HPV, Cancers It Causes, Too

HPV does cause cervical cancer, but Doll says it’s a misconception that only women have to be concerned with cancers caused by this virus. 

“The big ones are cervical cancer and the oropharyngeal cancer,” Doll said. 

Oropharyngeal (auro-fah-RINGE-ee-ul) cancers affect the head and neck, including tonsils. Ward’s cancer started in a tonsil. HPV can also lead to anal cancer in both sexes and penile cancer in men.  

But there’s a vaccine that’s been around for more than a decade that can protect against the HPV virus. If all boys and girls received it, no one would get HPV-related cancers.

The HPV vaccine is best when given to children between 9 and 12 years old, before they are sexually active. But teenagers and young adults can still benefit from the  vaccine.

Not everyone who gets the HPV virus develops cancer. But it is a risk factor. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control estimates that 70 percent of cases of head and neck cancers are caused by HPV. The agency says about 14 million people in the U.S. alone become infected with HPV each year. Yet, about half of all U.S. adolescents have not been vaccinated, which requires a series of three shots.  

The CDC says the side effects are generally short term and not serious. They can include dizziness, headache, nausea, fever, and pain and swelling in the arm where the shot was given. 

Ward’s recovery was difficult. He had surgery, radiation and chemotherapy. But he’s now cancer-free.

“It’s a journey. I made it through,” Ward said.

Ward wishes the HPV vaccine existed when he was a teen. He says if he had kids, he would get them vaccinated.

“I tell people that do have kids …  it’s a prevention. Get it.”

Head and neck cancers are the sixth most common cancers worldwide. The HPV virus also causes half a million cases of cervical cancer each year. 
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