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Organizers of the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival have cancelled this year’s event due to the latest surge in COVID-19 cases in the region.In a statement on the festival’s website, the organizers said they made the decision based on “recent exponential growth of new COVID cases in New Orleans and the region and the ongoing public health emergency.”The event commonly known as “Jazz Fest” is traditionally held over the last weekend of April and the first weekend of May. After the event was cancelled in 2020, organizers had hoped to hold the event in October. But as deadlines for guaranteeing acts and building the festival site were approaching, they had to make an immediate decision.In the first 50 years of Jazz Fest, which began in 1970, the event had never been cancelled. While featuring big name international stars such as the Rolling Stones and Jimmy Buffett, the event also celebrates the indigenous music and culture of New Orleans and Louisiana, featuring nearly every music style imaginable: blues, R&B, gospel, Cajun, Zydeco, Afro-Caribbean, folk, Latin, rock, rap, contemporary and traditional jazz, country, bluegrass and others.The festival is now scheduled to return to its usual spring dates in 2022, three years after it was last held.While a disappointment to music fans, cancellation of Jazz Fest is also a setback for the economic recovery of New Orleans, a city that relies heavily on tourism. Officials from the area’s hospitality industry told NOLA.com hotels in the city had been nearly totally booked for the two weeks of the festival.The city had attempted to return to normal in recent months, with popular local music venues requiring proof of vaccination to enter. But the recent COVID-19 surge, driven largely by the highly contagious delta variant, have forced many of those venues to cancel concerts through August.(Some information in this report came from the Associated Press.)
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After several delays, the first phase of the sex trafficking trial of R&B hitmaker R. Kelly will begin with jury selection Monday in New York City. A judge in federal court in Brooklyn will question potential jurors about whether they can keep an open mind about Kelly two years after he was charged with abusing women and girls for nearly two decades. The proceeding will occur amid coronavirus pandemic precautions restricting the press and the public to overflow courtrooms with video feeds.     Kelly, 54, has been locked up since he was indicted, mostly housed in a federal jail in Chicago. He was moved last month to the federal Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn to face trial in a case that’s further diminished his superstar status. Last week, defense attorney Devereaux Cannick told a judge that Kelly needs to be measured for new clothing because he’s gained so much weight in jail. And he asked that court transcripts be provided at no cost because Kelly has been unable to work for two years, saying: “His funds are depleted.” The Grammy-winning, multiplatinum-selling singer has denied any wrongdoing and pleaded not guilty to charges accusing him of leading an enterprise of managers, bodyguards and other employees who helped him recruit women and girls for sex. Federal prosecutors say the group selected victims at concerts and other venues and arranged for them to travel to see Kelly.     Defense lawyers have said Kelly’s alleged victims were groupies who turned up at his shows and made it known they “were dying to be with him.” They only started accusing him of abuse years later when public sentiment shifted in the #MeToo era, they said.     The trial had been expected to start earlier in the year. But opening statements were moved to Aug. 18 after Kelly fired his original defense team. Jurors are expected to hear testimony from several of his accusers. A judge has ruled that the women will only be referred to by their first names.     Prosecutors have said the jury will also hear evidence that Kelly schemed with others to pay for a fake ID for Aaliyah, a singer on the rise at 15 years old, whom he married in a secret ceremony in 1994.     Aaliyah is identified as “Jane Doe #1” in court papers because she was still a minor when Kelly began a sexual relationship with her and believed she had become pregnant, the papers say. “As a result, in an effort to shield himself from criminal charges related to his illegal sexual relationship with Jane Doe #1, Kelly arranged to secretly marry her to prevent her from being compelled to testify against him in the future,” the papers say.     Aaliyah, whose full name was Aaliyah Dana Haughton, worked with Kelly, who wrote and produced her 1994 debut album, “Age Ain’t Nothing But A Number.” She died in a plane crash in 2001 at age 22.     The case is only part of the legal peril facing the singer, born Robert Sylvester Kelly. He also has pleaded not guilty to sex-related charges in Illinois and Minnesota.     Kelly won multiple Grammys for “I Believe I Can Fly,” a 1996 song that became an inspirational anthem played at school graduations, weddings, advertisements and elsewhere.    Nearly a decade later, he began releasing what eventually became 22 musical chapters of “Trapped in the Closet,” a drama that spins a tale of sexual deceit and became a cult classic. But Kelly has been trailed for decades by complaints and allegations about his sexual behavior, including a 2002 child pornography case in Chicago. He was acquitted in that case in 2008. Scrutiny intensified again amid the #MeToo movement in recent years, with multiple women going public with accusations against the singer. The pressure intensified with the release of the Lifetime documentary “Surviving R. Kelly” in 2019.     Criminal charges soon followed. 
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Bobby Bowden did it all. He put Florida State on the map by taking the football team from an afterthought to a dynasty, and he left an indelible mark on the game with a rare combination of coaching acumen, gracious demeanor and a compassion for those he coached and competed against. The beloved, folksy Hall of Fame coach who built one of the most prolific college football programs in U.S. history died early Sunday at 91 at his home in Tallahassee, Florida, surrounded by his wife, Ann, and their six children following a battle with pancreatic cancer. Bobby’s son, Terry, called his passing “truly peaceful.” And while he’s gone, Bowden’s legacy as a top-notch coach — and human being — will live on. The numbers are staggering: Bowden piled up 377 wins during 40 years as a major college coach and his teams won a dozen Atlantic Coast Conference titles and national championships in 1993 and 1999. Perhaps the statistic that jumps off the page is his sustained success with Florida State, which finished the season ranked in the top five of The Associated Press college football poll an unmatched 14 straight seasons (1987-2000) under his tutelage. Bowden’s legacy can’t just be told in numbers. “This guy was probably the greatest ambassadors of all time because he had success coaching, but he was also one of the greatest people and set an outstanding example for everyone in our profession in terms of you don’t have to dislike somebody, you don’t have to discredit somebody that you’re competing against,” Alabama coach Nick Saban said. “That example of being a good person is something that can help us all professionally. He wasn’t always just about him; he was always about helping other people.” Bowden, a devout Christian, said last month, after announcing he had a terminal illness, he had always tried to serve God’s purpose and he was “prepared for what is to come.” “My wife, Ann, and our family have been life’s greatest blessing,” he said then.  Bowden retired following the 2009 season with a Gator Bowl win over West Virginia in Florida State’s 28th straight postseason appearance, a victory that gave him his 33rd consecutive winning season.  A month after he resigned, the NCAA stripped Florida State of victories in 10 sports because of an academic cheating scandal in 2006 and ’07 involving 61 athletes. Still, only Penn State’s Joe Paterno is credited with winning more games (409) as a major college football coach. Bowden’s win total ranks fourth across all divisions in college football history. Bowden was also the patriarch of college football’s most colorful coaching family. Son Tommy Bowden had a 90-49 record at Tulane and Clemson, and Terry was 47-17-1 at Auburn. Another son, Jeff, served 13 years coaching wide receivers for his father at Florida State and six seasons as offensive coordinator before he resigned in 2006. By 1979, Bowden had Florida State positioned for one of the great runs in the annals of college football.  Led by All-American nose guard Ron Simmons, the Seminoles enjoyed an 11-0 regular season but lost to Oklahoma in the Orange Bowl. In 1993, despite a late slip at Notre Dame, Florida State won its first national title after nearly getting there in 1987, 1988, 1991 and 1992.  Bowden’s lone perfect season came in 1999 when the Seminoles became the first team to go wire-to-wire in The Associated Press rankings, No. 1 from the preseason to finish. Success also brought a glaring spotlight, and Bowden’s program was touched by scandal on a few occasions. The school was put on NCAA probation for five years after several players in 1993 accepted free shoes and other sporting goods from a local store.  Bowden prided himself on giving players a second chance, but critics said he was soft on discipline with an eye on winning games.  The cheating scandal that led to the loss of a dozen wins from Bowden’s final resume took place in an online music history course from the fall of 2006 through summer 2007. The NCAA said some athletes were provided with answers to exams and in some cases, had papers typed for them. Bowden stayed in the public eye after retirement, writing a book, making speeches and going public with his treatment for prostate cancer in 2007. His fear of retiring from coaching resulted in part from the death of his longtime idol, former Alabama coach Paul “Bear” Bryant, who died within weeks of leaving the sidelines. “After you retire, there’s only one big event left,” Bowden frequently said. Bowden stayed active into his 80s, finally slowing down over the last year or so. He was hospitalized in October 2020 after testing positive for COVID-19. The test came a few days after he returned home from a long hospital stay for a leg infection. Born Nov. 8, 1929, in Birmingham, Alabama, Robert Cleckler Bowden overcame rheumatic fever as a child to quarterback Woodlawn High School in Birmingham, then attended Alabama for a semester before transferring back to his hometown Howard College, where he starred at quarterback. He married his childhood sweetheart, Ann, and they stayed together for 72 years. Bowden is survived by wife Ann; sons Terry, Tommy, Jeff and Steve; and daughters Robyn Hines and Ginger Madden. Services were scheduled for Saturday at the Donald L Tucker Center, Florida State’s basketball arena. 
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