Amazon’s grocery plans go way beyond Whole Foods

Jason Luntz
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Amazon’s grocery plans go way beyond Whole Foods

By Nathaniel Meyersohn, CNN Business

(CNN) — It’s going to take a lot more than Whole Foods for Amazon to dominate the grocery business.

Amazon will reportedly accelerate its grocery push with new conventional supermarkets just two years after it bought Whole Foods for $13.7 billion.

The company plans to open dozens of its own grocery stores in major US cities separate from Whole Foods, its niche organic grocer, the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday. The stores will offer different, cheaper products than Whole Foods, including beauty and health items, according to the Journal. Amazon declined comment on the Journal article or its grocery plans.

The stores could help Amazon court shoppers that are not interested in Whole Foods organic fare. It will also give the company more pickup and delivery points to meet customer demand, help it gain data about shoppers, and introduce its expanded lineup of food and personal care brands, according to analysts.

“A more traditional grocery play would cover critical gaps” in Amazon’s current grocery model, said Danny Silverman, chief marketing officer at e-commerce data firm Edge by Ascential.

Amazon’s reported plans drove down Walmart, Kroger, Costco, and Target’s stocks on Friday. But some analysts predicted limited fallout for the retailers, which have already been investing heavily in pickup and delivery options and have shown they can compete with Amazon.

$830 billion grocery market

Buying Whole Foods was a small piece of Amazon’s sweeping ambitions in the $830 billion American grocery industry.

Amazon and Whole Foods together control 4% of the grocery market, according to an estimate from Cowen. Walmart, by comparison, controls an industry leading 21%.

The average American goes to the grocery store up to two times a week, according to Morgan Stanley, and Amazon wants to grab a bigger chunk and lock in more shoppers to Prime memberships.

Stores are crucial in the grocery industry because only a fraction of Americans buy fresh food online, so Amazon needs a brick-and-mortar footprint.

“Grocery has been the white whale for Amazon and Jeff Bezos,” said Michael Levin, analyst at Consumer Intelligence Research Partners. “It’s ripe for disruption.”

Amazon’s success with Whole Foods has also been uneven.

Amazon does not break out Whole Foods’ sales, but revenue at physical stores — which also include cashier-less Amazon Go stores, Amazon Bookstores and Amazon Four-Star — fell 3% during Amazon’s most recent quarter compared with a year ago. Amazon blamed an accounting change and a shift in the calendar for the decline.

Beyond Whole Foods

Running a new grocery chain will be expensive for Amazon. Each store will cost around $9 million to build, estimated Brian Nowak, analyst at Morgan Stanley.

But moving beyond Whole Foods could help Amazon reach different shoppers and expand the products it sells.

New, cheaper Amazon stores could crack into Kroger and Walmart’s customer bases.

Amazon is also looking for leases that will not restrict what it sells in the new chain, allowing it to offer more skin and personal care products, according to the Journal. Those products are often more profitable to retailers than selling fresh groceries.

With more flexibility on the shelves, Amazon could push its growing army of higher-margin house brands. Amazon has nearly 140 of its own brands in food, health and beauty, and household essentials, according to TJI Research.

Whole Foods does not sell products with artificial colors, flavors, or sweeteners. The new chain could offer mainstream brands like Coke, for example, to win a broader range of shoppers. The stores could also allow Amazon to tap into these big brands’ enormous advertising budgets, like Amazon does online, said Nowak.

Finally, Amazon’s new stores will be geared toward pickup as more Americans adopt buying their groceries online and picking them up in stores, the Journal reported. That would give Amazon more buy-online and pickup-in-store options to compete with Walmart and Kroger.

‘Dog fight’

Many analysts don’t expect Amazon’s reported plans to upend rivals.

Still, Amazon’s expansion and focus on lower prices at new stores could pressure retailers’ and grocers’ who already operate on thin profits.

“Supermarkets need to reduce their costs in anticipation of Amazon driving down profit margins,” said Bill Bishop, co-founder of the grocery retail consulting firm Brick Meets Click. “This is going to be a dog fight.”

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With the promise of verification, hackers are targeting Instagram influencers

CNN Newsource
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With the promise of verification, hackers are targeting Instagram influencers

By Donie O’Sullivan, CNN

(CNN) — A blue verified badge on Instagram is among the most sought after status symbols in the digital world, a must-have for many so-called influencers. But now a group of hackers are taking advantages of our obsession with appraisal online.

The hackers have sent emails claiming to be from the “Instagram Verify Team,” offering users the chance to apply for a verified check mark, the cybersecurity firm Trend Micro found. It’s unclear when the hacking scheme began.

Users that fall for the phishing email are asked to input their Instagram username, password, email address, and date of birth — an effort that allows hackers to gain control of accounts.

Trend Micro said that in one case it had seen the hackers threaten to delete an account unless the user pays a ransom or sends nude pictures or videos.

“We’ve seen cases where owners of Instagram profiles with followers between 15,000 and 70,000 were hacked and were never retrieved. The victims ranged from famous actors and singers to owners of startup businesses like photoshoot equipment rentals,” Trend Micro said in a blog post published Thursday.

The company said to look out for emails with “dubious font styles” and incorrect grammar and punctuation.

Although it’s unclear as of now who is behind the hacking, the company said they appear to be Turkish speakers.

Trend Micro said that it had disclosed its findings to Instagram and its parent company Facebook but has not yet heard back.

In a statement sent to CNN Business, Instagram warned users to be wary of any communication alleging to be from the company.

“We will never proactively email you about verification, and we will certainly never attempt to sell you verification. Beyond ads, Instagram does not sell any products or services and will not make any offers to you via email,” the statement said.

The company said it advises its users to implement two-factor authentication to make accounts even more secure.

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Museum displays work of historian who spent 30 years tracing descendants of northwest Tennessee plantation

Lee Johnson
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Museum displays work of historian who spent 30 years tracing descendants of northwest Tennessee plantation

By Lee Johnson | Nashville Voice

Historian John Baker Jr. spent 30 years researching descendants who lived on a northwest Tennessee plantation. His work is now on permanent display in the Tennessee State Museum.

It is among the slavery displays at the museum, which has been criticized for its presentation of black history.

Baker is the author of “The Washingtons of Wessyngton Plantation: Stories of My Family’s Journey to Freedom.”

His documentation of Wessyngton Plantation near Springfield, Tennessee, began in the 1970s. Intrigued by an 1891 photograph in his seventh-grade social studies textbook of four well-dressed, dignified African-Americans, Baker discovered that he’s related to them; two of the former slaves in the picture were his great-great-grandparents.

They had lived at Wessyngton, a huge plantation that in its heyday spanned thousands of acres and was a major producer of tobacco and other crops, all harvested by a slave labor force that included the author’s relatives.

That revelation spurred Baker to interview former Wessyngton inhabitants and dig through massive records kept by the plantation’s owners. The result is not only a history of Baker’s family, but also a portrait of what it was like to be a slave, and a former slave, in the pre- and post-Civil War South.

Before the new Tennessee State Museum opened late last year, a large body of Baker’s research was displayed at the old museum in an exhibit called, “Slaves and Slaveowners of Wessyngton Plantation.” A smaller display is now at the new museum, but it’s still gripping, says a museum official.

“His life’s mission to collect oral histories and photos from descendants of persons who were enslaved at Wessyngton cannot be understated,” said Rob DeHart, the museum’s history curator. “His research allows the museum to provide visitors with some very compelling stories.”

Currently, Baker said he gives about five tours a year to the plantation. He said he is often contacted by people who discover they too have descendants from the plantation after reading his book and want to pay a visit.

What is most enjoyable, Baker said, is the number of young people inspired to trace their roots after visiting the plantation.

“A lot of (black) history is not taught in school, so the younger generation has a hard time relating,” Baker said. “So, to see young people wanting to learn their history is probably my greatest joy.”

As for the criticism the museum has received about its black history presentations, officials have taken steps to address that.

“We are putting together an advisory group to address those concerns,” says Joe Pagetta, the museum’s communication director. “We want to get it right, we absolutely do.”

One person who has been asked to be part of the advisory group is Dr. Learotha Williams, an associate professor of history at Tennessee State University and founder of the North Nashville Heritage Project, an initiative to preserve and share stories of black history in North Nashville.

Williams, and others, said they would like to see a “broader, more up-to-date presentation and analysis of Tennessee history, particularly African-American.”

“Black folks … were here from the beginning, and not just passive participants,” Williams said. “We helped to shape Nashville as you see it today.”

He also said he wants to see more about African-American contributions in other areas, like music.

“Our beats, our rhythms, are at the heart of everything that makes us nod our head or tap our feet,” said Williams, “but you don’t really see that.”

To learn more about John Baker Jr. and his work, visit https://www.wessyngton.com.

 

Civil rights icon James Lawson says nonviolent practice still effective today

Lee Johnson
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Civil rights icon James Lawson says nonviolent practice still effective today

By LEE JOHNSON | Nashville Voice

Sixty years after the launch of the Nashville sit-ins, a leading theoretician and tactician of nonviolence within the civil rights movement says the practice is still effective.

James Lawson, described by the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., as the leading nonviolence theorist in the world, trained many of the future leaders of the movement, among them Diane Nash, John Lewis, Bernard Lafayette, and Marion Barry.

In 1959 and 1960, they and other Lawson-trained activists launched the Nashville sit-ins to challenge segregation in downtown stores.

In a recent interview with Nashville Voice, Lawson was asked about the effort to remove the bust of Nathan Bedford Forrest from the state Capitol. Over the last couple of months, several groups have rallied and petitioned to have the bust of the Confederate general and first Ku Klux Klan grand wizard removed.

The bust has been on display at the Capitol since 1978, but calls for its removal have been renewed in recent years amid a national debate about Confederate monuments and flags.

On Feb. 21, one of the groups, comprised of mostly college students, staged a sit-in in the office of House Speaker Glen Casada after the Republican lawmaker ignored several of their attempts for a meeting.

Members of the group sat on the floor of the office and held up sheets of paper inscribed with phrases like, “Retire Jim Crow,” and “Systemic Racism is Immoral.” The group stayed there almost two hours until a representative for Casada promised to schedule a meeting with them and the speaker.

Lawson said he understands the desire to remove the Forrest bust and believes it should be taken down. He lauded the nonviolent effort of the students, which he believes is still a more effective approach than violence.

“I advocate for it,” said Lawson, who lives in Los Angeles and is active in the labor movement, and movements for reproductive choice and gay rights. “I still teach it.”

Lawson said he hopes the group will also tackle other issues, like inequality in health care, pay wages, and voting rights.

“Black young people need to be focused on how they can continue the dismantling of the structures of racism,” Lawson said. “Our movement of the 60s was but the first stage. The second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth stages have not been implemented.”

Eric Holness, a divinity student at Vanderbilt University, is part of the group of mostly students. He said the group does plan to address other issues but decided to start with the bust because it’s such a blatant display of racism.

“There are those who choose to believe that racism doesn’t exist,” Holness said. “This bust is a symbol of the racism and legacy of Tennessee, and other southern states in this country.”

Randy Cook, one of several white members of the group, said he was once on the other side of the bust argument because he didn’t want to “whitewash history.” But he said his mindset changed after a conversation with a good friend, who is black.

Cook said his friend knew he was close to his grandfather, so he posed the question: “What if every time you walked pass something, you felt like your grandfather was insulted? How would that feel to you?”

The friend’s words resonated with Cook.

“I completely flipped over and said no,” Cook recalled. “Yes, this is part of our history. But as a citizen, I don’t want to be part of anything that insults my fellow citizens. And if African-Americans say this is offensive, because of what it represents, then let’s move it.”

Savage: ‘Andrew Delke defense team, FOP move to protect MNPD and villainize DA Glenn Funk’

Niara Savage
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Savage: ‘Andrew Delke defense team, FOP move to protect MNPD and villainize DA Glenn Funk’

By NIARA SAVAGE | Nashville Voice

Officer Andrew Delke’s defense and the Nashville Fraternal Order of Police know they’re sinking in increasingly hot water.

Although Delke has entered a not guilty amidst being indicted for first-degree murder for fatally shooting 25-year-old Daniel Hambrick last year, it’s clear that the FOP views well-deserved justice for the Hambrick family as an imminent and viable threat.

As a result, the fraternal organization has made obviously politically-motivated moves to victimize Delke and the rest of the Metro Nashville Police department.

On Thursday morning, not long after the MNPD cut the ribbon on their new headquarters, a billboard funded by the FOP popped on Murfreesboro pike across from the street from it.

The billboard read, “The Metro Police Department is Always Hiring* – 108 officers understaffed! Employees are subject to the following working conditions: Mayor Briley’s Broken Promises and District Attorney Funk’s Political Agenda #DoBetter.”

Many believe the motivation behind the billboard was in response to DA Glenn Funk’s decision to bring a warrant for Delke’s arrest, as well as the Funk’s controversial decision to publicly liken Delke’s defense to the argument used at Nuremberg in Nazi Germany.

FOP president James Smallwood has fired shots at Funk by suggesting that the district attorney brought a warrant against Delke who was ”doing exactly what the city has asked him to do,” only to advance his own political agenda.

“We’re not going to take this anymore,” said Smallwood, as he continued to defend the FOP’s decision to spend $600 on the billboard, which was visible until 7 p.m. on Thursday.  

In other news regarding the development of the Hambrick case, a judge ruled in favor of defense attorney Raybin’s request for future evidence against Delke to be sealed from the public.

Raybin said he feared that public knowledge of the details of the case could influence decisions made by the grand jury.

This suggests that evidence associated with the case would likely have worked against Delke’s highly fabricated public image of innocence.

The question remains: If the FOP and Delke’s defense are so confident that the shooting was legal, then why are they working so hard to villainize Funk, victimize the MNPD, and hide evidence from the public?

SVDP Carnival

The Nashville Voice
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SVDP Carnival

The alumnae of St Vincent de Paul School are hosting a “Carnival Culture” celebration on Saturday, March 2, 2019 at the Ivy Center of Nashville, 4344 Ashland City Highway, Nashville, 37203.

This fundraising event is open to the public and will reflect the Mardi Gras, Caribbean Festival, and African Cultural celebrations with food, music, dancing, and parades. Don’t forget your mask or costume for the contest.

The Family Celebration is from 5-7 pm for $40 per family.

An Afterglow Party, for adults only, takes place from 7-10 pm featuring Lee Humes spinning the tunes for an off-the-chart Carnival blast for $25 per person.

Parking is free or take an Uber. Ticket purchase and donations take place on Eventbrite at SVDP Carnival or at the door.

Proceeds go to the SVDP Capital Campaign. If you have any questions, send an email to dcqmcs@aol.com or call 216-577-0349.

Nashville Top 10 Bachelors

The Nashville Voice
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Nashville Top 10 Bachelors

Last month The Nashville Voice hosted our first Dating in the Ville discussion. We invited women to discuss the dating scene in Nashville with the goal of finding out why many women tend to remain single. We also surveyed the women to determine what character traits they look for in a man.

After reviewing our data 5 characteristics stood out:

  • Ambitious
  • Financial Stability
  • Fun/Outgoing
  • God-fearing
  • Trustworthy

With this information, The Nashville Voice editorial team selected the Top 10 Bachelors in Nashville.

Editorial Note: The following list is in alphabetical order by first names. 

Darryl Taliaferro – External Affairs & Congregational Care; Mt. Zion Baptist Church

Elder Darryl M. Taliaferro, a native of Gary, Indiana, was born to Deacon Clarence Taliaferro and the late Barbara Taliaferro. Understanding the need to grow and to develop intellectually, Taliaferro relocated to Nashville, Tennessee to attend American Baptist College, where he earned a Bachelor of Arts in Theological Studies. He also earned a Master of Science in Public Service Management from Cumberland University in Lebanon, Tennessee, and a Master of Divinity Degree from the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky.

Now an active member of the Nashville community, he is affiliated with various community organizations, including the:

  • Nashville Junior Chamber of Commerce
  • Urban League Young Professionals of Middle Tennessee
  • The Church Network
  • Take One Tennessee (Middle Tennessee Chair)
  • New Level Community Development Corporation
  • Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Inc. (Life Member)

Also, in 2014, he was honored as one of Nashville’s best and brightest African Americans making significant contributions to the community when he received the Nashville Black 40 Under 40 Award.

In addition to his responsibilities at Mount Zion Baptist Church, Taliaferro is the President & CEO of Taliaferro Leadership Consultants LLC, a company dedicated to strengthening the leadership prowess within organizations.

DeRon Jenkins – Owner; DY Construction Inc. & Co-host of Flip or Flop Nashville; HGTV

DeRon Charles Jenkins is a former American football cornerback in the National Football League and Arena Football League. He played college football at the University of Tennessee. Jenkins also played for the San Diego Chargers, Tennessee Titans, Austin Wranglers and Nashville Kat

Jenkins is a licensed general contractor who has been renovating houses throughout Nashville and Atlanta. He is a co-host with real estate broker Page Turner on HGTV’s Flip or Flop Nashville which premiered in January 2018

Dr. Gerald Onuoha – Internal Medicine Residency; Meharry Medical College

Dr. Gerald Onuoha is a native Huntsville, AL. He moved to Nashville in 2003 to attend Tennessee State University where he received his Bachelors in Physics and Astronomy. He then attended Meharry Medical College where he started his community initiatives while serving as President of the Meharry student body and a member of the Board of Trustees.

Dr. Onuoha later received his Doctorate in Medicine with an intended specialty of Internal Medicine. Before starting residency, he received a Masters in Clinical Practice from Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire.

Today, alongside his Internal Medicine Residency at Meharry, Gerald serves as the CEO of the Project DReam Community Initiative and The Paragon Social Club Nashville, 2 local organizations created to assist in Nashville urban, cultural, and community development.

Hameed Yusuf – Director of Web and Mobile Products; Ascension


As an accomplished executive leader in the realm of IT,Hammed is passionate about the projects and teams he leads while innovative in the ways of forward action plans. With industry experience across industrial, telecommunications, and healthcare, he offers the level of adaptiveness and necessary change management skill set to be successful in any role he takes on.

True to my strategic mindset, he is consistently striving to improve, transform, and deliver greater impacts to the business.

Jamal Hipps – Founder; MPYER Marketing

An experienced visionary with an affinity for all things marketing and a “straight no chaser attitude,” Jamal Hipps is the founder and Chief Creative Officer for MPYER Marketing & Advertising. Jamal started MPYER in 2008 to help clients Maximize Potential Yielding Exceptional Results after more than a decade of driving marketing programs for brands and organizations.

In addition to MPYER, Jamal serves in many adjunct professional and social roles including:

  • National Black MBA Association
  • Friends of Fisk University Galleries -Advisory Committee
  • Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce
  • Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Incorporated,
  • American Advertising Federation
  • Nashville, Arts & Business Council of Greater Nashville Board Member

James Crumlin – Attorney; Bone Mcallester Norton PPLC

Mr. Crumlin is a well-known Nashville employment lawyer. His legal counsel is regularly sought out by management on issues arising from the employment relationship. James’ experience includes union and non-union arbitration and all forms of employment discrimination litigation. In addition, he conducts in-house training sessions on compliance with the numerous federal and state laws affecting employers

Encouraged by his mother, and following in his father’s footsteps, James says he wanted to be a lawyer for as long as he can remember. What he enjoys most about the profession is, “helping employers resolve their employee issues and assisting small businesses in maximizing their potential by focusing on the bottom-line and not legal problems.”

Jason Ridgel – Entrepreneur; Guidance Whiskey, Music City Dream Cars & Jusco Medical

Jason Ridgel is an exceptionally successful entrepreneur, funlanthropist, travel enthusiast and business mogul based in Nashville, Tennessee. For over a decade, Jason has founded, invested and led groundbreaking ventures throughout the United States.

Jason currently serves as a partner of Music City Dream Cars (based in Nashville, TN), the premier provider of exotic automobile rentals in the Southeast.

He is also the owner/founder JUSCO Med, a medical supply company Founded in 2012 that serves the needs of active, athletic adults. JUSCO Medical is a healthcare management company that provides pain management solutions and health products.

His most recent venture is Guidance Whiskey, making this company one of the select few African American owned liquor companies in America.

Known in the community as “The Best Jason in the World”, he has continued to press forward into the present, always on a mission to realize his dreams and help others to do the same—one vision, one venture, one charity, one destination at a time.

Omari Booker – Studio Artist; Omari Booker Artwork

Omari Booker began his journey as an artist his senior year of high school at Montgomery Bell Academy. There he realized his gift for visual art and like most true artists, the path to developing his talent has been anything but linear. It has taken him through various disciplines and institutions including Belmont University, Middle Tennessee State University, and Tennessee State University.

Omari takes a process-oriented approach to his art, embracing it as a therapeutic modality through which he is able to express his passion for the freedom and independence that the creative process allows him to experience. His art is his personal therapy, and his desire is that those viewing it will have personal experiences of catharsis. The philosophy that undergirds Omari’s work is FREEDOM THROUGH ART and he aspires to create work that communicates to his audience their unique and intrinsic ability to be free.

Patrick Johnson – Senior Vice President; Meharry Medical College

As Senior Vice President for Institutional Advancement for Meharry Medical College, Mr. Johnson works to build sustainable philanthropic partnerships. He previously served as the college’s Senior Associate VP for Institutional Advancement and helped cement relationships with major corporations and foundations. He also built the development infrastructure for a multi-million-dollar comprehensive initiative that supported clinical programs, training and community engagement affiliations with a range of nonprofit, private and government healthcare organizations.

Before coming to Meharry, Mr. Johnson was the former regional director of development for the University of Tennessee system, which included the Knoxville, Martin, Chattanooga, Memphis, and Tullahoma campuses.

He received his Bachelor of Arts degree from Fisk University and completed the Mini MBA program at Belmont University.

Wade Mundy – Executive Director; Tennessee Justice for Our Neighbors

The son of a Marine and the grandson of a sharecropper, Wade always had big boots to fill. He learned about hard work from his family. He listened to stories about his grandfather and father working the tobacco fields of Robertson County. He started working on a small farm operation at 15 himself.

Wade grew up in Sumner County, attended Trevecca Nazarene University, and earned a Masters of Divinity degree from Vanderbilt University. He was called to religion and public service thinking that he might become a minister or a missionary. After seeing so many politicians who turn public service into personal service, he decided that women and men like the ones he knew, honest and ethical folks, were the ones who need to run for office. So, he began working on campaigns and elections for ordinary folks across the nation and the state.

Politics hasn’t been everything, though. Wade’s public service includes work at an international pediatric cancer research hospital, the National Health Care for the Homeless Council, and now as the Executive Director of Tennessee Justice for Our Neighbors.

A mom found videos on YouTube Kids that gave children instructions for suicide

CNN Newsource
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A mom found videos on YouTube Kids that gave children instructions for suicide

By Doug Criss, CNN

(CNN) — Most parents feel pretty safe letting their children watch YouTube Kids, the child-friendly version of the video platform.

But disturbing videos recently found by some moms show the social media site may not be safe for kids at all.

A Florida mother said she has found clips on YouTube and YouTube Kids that gave children instructions on how to kill themselves.

Free Hess said the first time she saw such a video was back in July when another mom alerted her to it after she and her son were watching cartoon videos on YouTube Kids. Spliced in the middle of one of the videos was footage of a man in sunglasses telling children how to slit their wrists.

Hess, a pediatrician, put out a call to action to different groups to report the video to get it removed from the site. Hess said it took YouTube Kids a week to pull it down.

What she saw shocked her

But this month she saw the video again, this time on YouTube. Once again, after the video was flagged by her and others, it took a couple of days for YouTube to pull it, said Hess, who has been writing about the issue on her parenting blog.

“It makes me angry and sad and frustrated,” Hess told CNN. “I’m a pediatrician, and I’m seeing more and more kids coming in with self harm and suicide attempts. I don’t doubt that social media and things such as this is contributing.”

But that’s not all she said she found. When Hess went to YouTube Kids and started exploring the site, what she saw there shocked her. She said she found videos glorifying not only suicide but sexual exploitation and abuse, human trafficking, gun violence and domestic violence. One video, inspired by the popular “Minecraft” video game, even depicted a school shooting.

“There were just so many that I had to stop recording,” she said.

Hess wants YouTube to do a better job of screening videos intended for YouTube Kids. She said she understands that Google (which owns YouTube) is a business and “they might not have the exact goals that I have, but I do want them to respond better when people report offensive videos, and I want offensive things taken down immediately when reported.”

In response to Hess’ allegations, YouTube said in a statement that it works to make the videos on YouTube Kids family-friendly and takes feedback seriously.

“We appreciate people drawing problematic content to our attention, and make it possible for anyone to flag a video,” the statement said. “Flagged videos are manually reviewed 24/7 and any videos that don’t belong in the app are removed.

“We’ve also been investing in new controls for parents including the ability to hand pick videos and channels in the app. We are making constant improvements to our systems and recognize there’s more work to do.”

She says parents need to step up

Hess did say that YouTube is faster about pulling questionable videos from YouTube Kids than from regular YouTube. But she thinks by the time someone reports something, it could have already caused harm.

“Once someone reports it, it’s too late because a kid has already seen it,” she said.

Hess also wants parents to be more aware of what their children are watching on YouTube and YouTube Kids, and for parents to do a better job in general of keeping up with technology.

“There is this disconnect between what kids know about technology and what their parents know because the parents didn’t grow up with it,” she said. “The kids are the digital natives and the parents are digital immigrants.”

Most importantly, she says, parents need to team up with each other to combat this problem.

“We need to fix this,” she said, “and we all need to fix this together.”

Update: This story has been edited to update wording used to describe some of the inappropriate footage seen in some YouTube Kids videos.

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Oscars 2019: Takeaways from the ‘host-free’ Academy Awards

CNN Newsource
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Oscars 2019: Takeaways from the ‘host-free’ Academy Awards

By Brian Lowry, CNN

(CNN) — It’s sigh-of-relief time at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. After a tumultuous build-up, a host-free, more streamlined Oscars yielded a mild uptick in ratings Sunday night, and while far from perfect, a slick and satisfying enough show to avoid the disaster that some surely anticipated.

The question is: Now what?

Like the Grammys, the Oscars achieved a modest audience gain, after an alarming drop in 2018. Yet the lessons that the Academy can apply going forward aren’t entirely clear — thanks in part to all the variables at play — other than the fact that efforts to change or evolve the show and its format in any significant way, including the nominees and winners, are going to be met with stiff resistance from traditionalists who would protect the institution.

Sifting through the remnants of Oscar night, here are five key takeaways, and areas that the Academy will surely be contemplating in postmortem conversations:

The ratings

Oscar ratings exhibited marked improvement after last year’s all-time low, rising to 29.6 million viewers, per Nielsen data, a 12% increase. Then again, with blockbuster nominees, high-profile talent like Lady Gaga — likely to attract viewers who might not have watched otherwise — and the lure of a train wreck that didn’t materialize, the Oscars possessed enough sizzle that anything less than an uptick would have left the Academy as panic-stricken as organizers sometimes looked in the run-up to the awards.

Notably, the pattern for the Oscars mirrors the Grammys, which also plummeted in 2018 and rebounded slightly earlier this month. In the current crowded broadcast environment, just holding serve, in tennis terms, feels like reason to jump over the net, even if the lower level becomes the new normal.

The host

The Oscars usually featured the host as a means of promoting the show, since that’s one of the few new elements from year to year. In a way, the absence of a host filled that role this year — wondering what the show would look like — and not having to service one’s shtick did help streamline the ceremony and put the focus on the nominees.

Still, forgoing a host doesn’t feel like a change that can as yet be embraced in perpetuity. It’s an option, but hardly a panacea.

The structure

The Academy retreated from plans to present four technical categories during the commercial breaks — amid serious blowback from its membership — and the buoyant speeches by some of the less-heralded winners made a strong case for keeping them in the show.

That said, no other televised awards hands out honors for things like documentary and animated shorts that practically no one in the viewing audience has seen, or little-understood technical skills like sound mixing. Racing through those categories — having a single pair of presenters hand out multiple awards rapid-fire — simply makes sense, at least, until the Academy perhaps inevitably tries again to squeeze them out of the telecast.

As it was, other obligatory elements, like the “In Memoriam” segment and acknowledging lifetime-achievement honorees, felt somewhat truncated. Clearly, this year’s commitment to shorten the show — which still ran beyond three hours — isn’t going to fade away, given ABC’s commitment to that strategy.

The nominees/winners

The Academy dispensed with plans for a “popular film” category, then actually nominated — and even extended several honors to — some popular films, including “Black Panther,” “Bohemian Rhapsody” and “A Star is Born.”

Problem solved? Not exactly. “Green Book” turned out to be a highly divisive choice for best picture. But it felt like a more conventional choice, whereas its two principal rivals faced historic impediments: “Black Panther” is a superhero movie, a genre that the Academy had never deigned to even nominate before; and “Roma” came from Netflix, a streaming service that — despite the millions spent on promotion — remains an upstart in movies, and indeed a perceived threat to the basic theatrical model.

In hindsight, the example of “The Lord of the Rings” might be the most instructive, as the third movie in the trilogy, “The Return of the King,” finally won best picture in 2004, in what amounted to recognition of director Peter Jackson’s overall accomplishment.

For a movie like “Black Panther” to win, given the Oscars’ recent history, it’s likely going to require such trailblazers, with the beneficiaries building on what they accomplished. The same likely goes for “Roma,” as Netflix appears determined to wear down the movie business, mirroring its approach to television.

Inclusion

Many hailed the diversity of winners and nominees on Oscar night, just a few years after the #OscarsSoWhite hashtag.

Despite the Academy’s conscious efforts to address the issue, this is one area where the organization remains reliant on the companies that submit films for consideration.

Simply put, a greater abundance of on-screen opportunities — more at-bats for movies made by and starring people of color — will yield more contenders.

On the plus side, the success of movies like “Black Panther” and “Crazy Rich Asians” should pave the way for more. And if there’s one thing that has remained true of Hollywood, even in these fast-changing times, it’s the old adage that nothing succeeds quite like success.

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Janet Jackson to launch a Las Vegas residency

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Janet Jackson to launch a Las Vegas residency

By Chloe Melas, CNN

(CNN) — Janet Jackson is headed to Sin City.

The five-time Grammy winner announced on Tuesday that she will be launching her first-ever Las Vegas residency in May. Titled “Metamorphosis,” show will begin May 17 and run until August.

“‘Metamorphosis’ peels back the layers of the immensely private life of Janet Jackson, sharing her transformation from a young girl with issues of self-esteem to global Icon,” a press release for the show read.

“The centerpiece of this all new thought-provoking show, will be Janet herself, captivating you through your senses with electrifying visuals, explosive dance numbers, chart-topping hits and fan favorite deep cuts,” the statement continued. “Fans will follow her path to self-love, empowerment, motherhood and activism, amidst the challenges faced along her personal journey.'”

Jackson welcomed her first child, a son, in 2017, and talked about the joy motherhood has brought into her life.

“The height of happiness is holding my baby son in my arms and hearing him coo, or when I look into his smiling eyes and watch him respond to my tenderness,” Jackson shared in Essence. “When I kiss him. When I sing him softly to sleep. During those sacred times, happiness is everywhere. Happiness is in gratitude to God. Happiness is saying, ‘Thank you, God, for my life, my energy and my capacity to grow in love.'”

The singer dropped her first single in three years last March titled, “Made For Now.”

Jackson joins Celine Dion, Britney Spears, Mariah Carey and the Backstreet Boys as artists who have had Las Vegas shows. Her concerts will take place at the Park MGM’s Park Theater, where Lady Gaga is currently in residence.

Tickets for “Metamorphosis” go on sale Saturday.

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