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Singer-rapper Sean Kingston was sentenced to three and a half years in prison after being convicted of taking part in a $1 million wire fraud scheme in South Florida.

Kingston, born Kisean Paul Anderson, 35, and his mother, Janice Eleanor Turner, were each found guilty by a federal jury in March of defrauding several businesses. Prosecutors said the two used fake wire transfer receipts to obtain luxury goods they never paid for. The pair was convicted on one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and four counts of wire fraud, according to Blavity and NBC News South Florida.

What did Sean Kingston say at sentencing?

On July 11, Judge David Leibowitz sentenced both Kingston and Turner to five years in prison, but Kingston’s hearing was rescheduled to Friday, per NBC News. During the sentencing, Kingston appeared remorseful and addressed the court directly.

“I apologize, I apologize, I’ve learned from my actions,” he said. “All I’m asking for is to accept my apology to the court.”

Kingston’s attorney requested that he be allowed to self-surrender at a later date due to health concerns. However, Judge Leibowitz denied the request and ordered Kingston into immediate custody. He was handcuffed and escorted out of the courtroom.

What are both sides saying about the outcome?

Assistant U.S. Attorney Marc Anton described Kingston as someone who exploited his fame to live beyond his means and mislead others.

“He clearly doesn’t like to pay and relies on his celebrity status to defraud his victims,” Anton said Friday, according to the Associated Press.

Defense attorney Zeljka Bozanic argued that Kingston lacked proper financial guidance after rising to fame as a teenager. She said he had relied heavily on business managers and his mother to handle his finances.

“No one showed him how to invest his money,” Bozanic said. “Money went in and money went out on superficial things.”

Prosecutors said Kingston and Turner had been carrying out the fraud scheme for years. They defrauded a jewelry store, a luxury bed company, a used exotic car dealership, and a microLED TV provider, according to Blavity. Kingston allegedly persuaded vendors to release the high-end items before making payments, using fake wire transfers as proof. The businesses later discovered the funds never cleared.

Patricia White, an iconic trailblazer in New York‘s Black theater scene, has died at age 77. White, who was recently hospitalized, died from an illness, Deadline reported. The legendary performer died at the University Rehab Facility in the Bronx, New York, where she was getting physical therapy after being released from the hospital.

“In her theatre career, Pat was a pillar of support to theater organizations and artists and a fierce champion for authentic representation and storytelling,” according to an obituary by Jonathan Slaff that was received by Blavity. “Her decades-long dedication helped build a more inclusive, vibrant theatrical world—one that will continue to reflect her love, vision, and tireless spirit.”

What were some of Patricia White’s most notable accolades?

White, who was widely known as Pat, showed off her talents in many different facets. Throughout her legendary career, the Brooklyn native served as a director, producer, backstage coordinator, grant writer, box office manager and administrator. She also served as a mentor for many other aspiring performers.

White landed one of her most notable roles in 1994 when her mentor, Woodie King Jr., hired her as company manager of New Federal Theatre. That’s when White managed the 20th anniversary production of Ntozake Shange’s for colored girls who have considered suicide when the rainbow is enuf.

Some of the other notable projects White directed include Marvin Schidkarut’s Root of Aggression, Fallen Angel and a reading of Cesi Davidson’s Eric and Theresa Deconstructed.

White is also well-remembered for ushering for the Pulitzer Prize-winning production No Place to Be Somebody by Charles Gordone while working at the Public Theatre. For 13 years, White worked on and off as a project coordinator for the Frank Silvera Writer Workshop. This opportunity allowed White to collaborate with iconic talents such as Amiri Baraka, Kimako Baraka, Amina Baraka, A. Marcus Hemphill and Richard Wesley, per Deadline.

How did Patricia White start her theater career?

White launched her career at age 17 when she worked as an intern at The American Place Theatre. That’s where she worked with producers Wynn Handman and Julia Miles. The internship also gave White a chance to learn from historic Black playwrights such as Ed Bullins, Phillip Hayes Dean, Charlie Russell, Barbara Ann Teer and others.

Capital One has agreed to pay $425 million to settle a class action lawsuit involving customers who maintained a 360 Savings account from September 2019 to June 2025.

Capital One customers filed the complaint against the bank in 2024, according to the notice filed in the U.S. District Court in Alexandria, Virginia.

Capital One has had other legal issues

It’s not the first time the company has faced legal problems. In January, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau sued the Richmond, Virginia-based financial institution for cheating customers out of more than $2 million in lost interest payments.

According to the Bureau, Capital One promised to provide its customers with a savings account that was “one of the nation’s best” and “highest” interest rates. Instead, the bank froze the interest rate at a low level while rates continued to increase nationwide. The company marketed the 360 Savings account, promising customers that they would earn more interest than any average savings account. The Bureau found this to be untrue.

“The CFPB is suing Capital One for cheating families out of billions of dollars on their savings accounts,” CFPB Director Rohit Chopra said in a news release. “Banks should not be baiting people with promises they can’t live up to.”

USA Today reported that the CFPB dropped the lawsuit in February, but Capital One has agreed to pay affected Capital One members $425 million in the class action settlement.

Here’s what Capital One customers should know about the settlement, including the allegations, who’s eligible for payment, how much they may receive, and when to expect it.

What is Capital One accused of?

According to financial outlet Kiplinger, Capital One told its customers that the bank’s 360 Savings account would provide them with more interest than any other savings account.

The company later froze rates at 0.3%. In contrast, rates on its newer, similarly-named 360 Performance Savings account rose and peaked at 4.3% in 2022 when the Federal Reserve began a rapid series of rate hikes.

Capital One first launched the 360 Savings account in February 2019, with its high-interest savings pitch. However, it was quietly discontinued in September of that year, removing all references to the account and stopping the offering to new customers. When the bank introduced the new 360 Performance Savings account, customers were unaware of it.

Who is eligible for payment?

Current and former customers who held a Capital One 360 Savings account between September 2019 and June 2025 are eligible for payment.

How much will customers receive?

There are two components to the settlement: In the first one, Capital One will pay around $300 million to make “pro rata payments to settlement class members relative to the approximate amount of interest each settlement class member would have earned if their 360 Savings account(s) had paid the interest rate then applicable to the 360 Performance Savings account,” according to the settlement.

In the second, Capital One will pay $125 million to customers who still maintain a 360 Savings account. According to the settlement, their accounts will earn an interest rate “at least two times the national average rate for savings deposit accounts,” as calculated by the FDIC.

Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson decided to fire back at President Trump after he threatened to send the National Guard and called him an “incompetent man.” Johnson criticized Trump for being “one of the biggest threats to humanity” and highlighted the improvement of public safety in Chicago in recent years.

Trump threatened to send the National Guard to other cities after Washington, D.C.

After announcing the deployment of the National Guard in Washington, D.C., Trump said he would take similar steps in cities like Chicago.

“And if we need to, we’re going to do the same thing in Chicago, which is a disaster,” he said, according to WGN.

“We have a mayor there who is totally incompetent, he’s an incompetent man. And we have an incompetent governor there,” Trump added in reference to Mayor Johnson and Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker.

In his weekly media briefing on Tuesday, Johnson addressed Trump’s comments and said he doesn’t have the legal authority to send troops in Chicago.

“He is provoking on sending federal troops, the National Guard, into cities to plunder them, though those entities do not have policing power,” Johnson said, according to NPR. “They can’t even do the very thing that he claims that he wants them to do.”

Johnson called Trump ‘one of the biggest threats to humanity’

“He is one of the biggest threats to humanity that we have seen in an entire generation,” Johnson said.

A journalist also asked him to react to Trump calling him “incompetent.”

“What do you say to Donald Trump? How did you feel when Donald Trump called you ‘incompetent’? Please answer that question if you will,” a reporter asked, according to Buzzfeed.

“OK. Fine. Since you are begging,” Johnson replied. “So, I will just say it like this, that the president has always been intimidated by the intellectual prowess of Black men.”

“And so, of course, he would speak in those petite and puerile terms, because he’s small,” he added.

Chicago’s crime statistics have been decreasing in recent years despite Trump funding cuts

Johnson highlighted that public safety has increased and crime statistics have decreased, countering Trump’s claims.

“From my first day in office, public safety has been my top priority. In just two years we have made historic progress, driving down homicides by more than 30% and reducing shootings by almost 40% in the last year alone,” Johnson wrote on X.

He called out Trump’s policies and funding cuts towards measures that would help curb violence.

“Last week, we learned that President Trump cut another $158 million in funding for violence prevention programs in cities like Chicago. These cuts are on top of the Trump administration dismantling the Office of Gun Violence Prevention and terminating more than $800 million in grants for anti-violence programs across the country,” Johnson added. “If President Trump wants to help make Chicago safer, he can start by releasing the funds for anti-violence programs that have been critical to our work to drive down crime and violence. Sending in the National Guard would only serve to destabilize our city and undermine our public safety efforts.“

Chicago police data show that crime has gone down by 15% since 2023. Violent crime has decreased by 23%, while shooting incidents are down 37% year to year, WGN reported.

The federal government issued three rounds of stimulus checks between 2020 and 2021, and speculation about a possible fourth payment has circulated for months, though there’s no confirmation so far.

There is a specific amount that is circulating around: $1,390 to be exact.

Read on for more about the latest stimulus check rumors.

Where did the fourth stimulus check rumors originate?

Blavity reported that government officials have cleared up some misinformation about a $2,000 stimulus check that has circulated on social media and unverified websites. They have confirmed that, as of now, there will be no fourth stimulus check on the way for Americans.

However, President Donald Trump has hinted at a different kind of cash payment for Americans. On July 25, he floated the idea of issuing tariff rebate checks to the public, citing the influx of revenue from tariffs.

“We’re thinking about that actually,” Trump said, according to USA Today. “We have so much money coming in, we’re thinking about a little rebate. But the big thing we want to do is pay down debt. But we’re thinking about a rebate.”

Other proposed direct payments for Americans

Days later, Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., introduced the American Worker Rebate Act of 2025. He said the payout would be similar to the stimulus checks Americans received during the pandemic, with $600 per adult and dependent child or $2,400 for a family of four, according to Blavity. Congress has not yet passed the legislation.

The idea of a direct payment has been discussed since earlier this year. In February, the Department of Government Efficiency proposed sending $5,000 stimulus checks to taxpayers as part of an ongoing effort to downsize the government and reduce federal spending. At the time, Elon Musk, who was head of the department, was unsure about the proposal, but Trump seemed to have loved the idea.

“We’re considering giving 20% of the DOGE savings to American citizens and 20% to paying down the debt,” Trump said at the time while speaking at the FII PRIORITY Summit in Miami Beach, per USA Today.

Here’s what Americans should know about stimulus checks, inflation relief, and tax refunds, and how to track these funds with the IRS:

When were past stimulus checks issued?

The U.S. government has sent three consecutive stimulus checks to American households nationwide, providing some financial relief to working taxpayers.

First check (2020): Up to $1,200 per individual, $2,400 per couple, plus $500 per child under 17.

Second check (2021): Up to $600 per individual, $1,200 per couple, plus $600 per child under 17.

Third check (2021): $1,400 per eligible individual and dependent. The deadline to claim the third stimulus check or the Recovery Rebate Credit was April 15.

What states are sending inflation refund checks?

These funds are sent to Americans who pay property taxes or rent in states like Pennsylvania, Georgia and Colorado. However, to receive the direct payment, residents would have to be eligible based on varying criteria and qualifications, according to Blavity.

Several states, including New York, have issued or are in the process of issuing one-time “inflation relief checks” to residents affected by rising sales taxes. Payment amounts vary by income: individuals earning up to $75,000 receive $200, while married couples filing jointly with incomes up to $150,000 receive $400.

Those who filed their federal income taxes and provided their bank information can expect their refund within 21 days. Without bank details, they can expect their refund within six to eight weeks by mail.

According to the IRS, the most effective way for Americans to check the status of their refund is to use the “Where’s My Refund” tool on the federal agency’s website. They may also call the IRS at 800-829-1954 for more information.

In 2021, The Gathering Spot DC opened its doors in Washington, D.C., to professionals, entrepreneurs and cultural leaders across sectors so they could connect, collaborate and build community.

Now, the private membership club is launching Safe House, an opportunity for non-members in the area to use the space as a sanctuary to “work, rest, connect, or simply find refuge in community” during this politically charged time.

Read on for more about the initiative.

D.C. locals interested in Safe House must complete an application and vetting process

As the National Guard deployment and federal control continue to strain Washington, D.C., Safe House hopes to provide locals with a place to breathe. The Gathering Spot DC explained that locals interested in attending Safe House must complete an application and vetting process to get in.

The Gathering Spot’s co-founder, Ryan Wilson, explained in an Instagram reel shared earlier this week that “it is more important that we are in community during moments like this than ever.”

He clarified that while non-members won’t have the same access as The Gathering Spot members, they will get the “opportunity to be with one another.”

“This is what The Gathering Spot was created to do in many ways,” he said.

Wilson urged D.C. locals to “resist” and find power in connection.

“We have to actively resist what we are seeing,” he said in the clip. “This is absolutely unprecedented and unacceptable, but together in community, we will be able to overcome.”

Trump has deployed around 500 federal agents and the National Guard in D.C.

On Aug. 8, after the beating of former Department of Government Efficiency operative Edward Coristine, President Donald Trump deployed around 500 federal agents into Washington, D.C., under a 1973 law that allows the president to take temporary control over the capital’s police, The New York Times reported. Since then, he’s commandeered the city’s police force and deployed the National Guard to secure D.C., which Trump said is a hotbed of violent crime.

It’s the first time a U.S. president has taken over the city’s police, a move Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser finds “unsettling,” per The New York Times. She said crime is under control in the city and considers deploying troops an “authoritarian push,” the BBC reported.

According to the Metropolitan Police Department of the District of Columbia, violent crime is down 26% this year compared to last year, and robbery is down 28%, per the BBC.

Trump has expressed a desire to initiate similar deployments in New York and Chicago.

A Minnesota teenager filed a charge of discrimination against a Buffalo Wild Wings restaurant on Tuesday. She claims a server followed her into the women’s restroom as she went to dinner in April 2025 and asked her to prove she was a girl.

Gerika Mudra, an 18-year-old cis lesbian woman, went to dinner at a Buffalo Wild Wings restaurant location in Owatonna, which is near Minneapolis. She said that a server followed her inside the restroom and said, “This is a women’s restroom. The man needs to get out of here,” NBC News reported.

When she came out of the stall, she reportedly told the server, “I am a lady.”

“You have to get out now,” the server allegedly replied, according to Gender Justice, the organization that filed the charge on Mudra’s behalf.

Mudra said she showed she had breasts in order to prove her gender: “She made me feel very uncomfortable,” she said. “After that, I just don’t like going in public bathrooms. I just hold it in. … I want to be able to use the bathroom in peace.”

The lawsuit alleges the incident violated Minnesota’s Human Rights Act

Gender Justice filed a charge of discrimination with the Minnesota Department of Human Rights on Tuesday. The organization said the incident violated the Human Rights Act, which forbids gender identity and sexual orientation discrimination.

“Businesses have a legal obligation not to just have antidiscrimination policies on paper, but to train staff and ensure that those policies are followed in real time,” Sara Jane Baldwin, a senior staff attorney at Gender Justice, said on Tuesday. “When that doesn’t happen, the business is liable for the harm caused.”

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A climate of ‘fear and suspicion’ based on gender

Gender Justice also said that the incident “reflects a broader climate of fear and suspicion aimed at anyone who doesn’t conform to narrow expectations of what girls and women ‘should’ look like,” according to NBC News.

Several states have laws restricting transgender people. Nineteen states prohibit trans people from using bathrooms in accordance to their gender identity in K-12 schools, while 27 states ban them from playing on school sports teams corresponding to their gender identities, per NBC News.

“This kind of gender policing is, unfortunately, nothing new,” Gender Justice executive director Megan Peterson said. “And yet, in our current climate we have to ask: What if Gerika had been a trans person? Would this story have ended differently? That’s the terrifying reality too many trans people live with every day.”

An instant coffee brand sold at Dollar General stores nationwide has been recalled due to the “potential presence” of glass in its products, the U.S. Food & Drug Administration announced Tuesday.

The company voluntarily recalled three lots of its 8-ounce Clover Valley Instant Coffee that were sold and distributed in 48 states between July 9 and July 21, according to the federal agency.

“The recall is being initiated after a customer notified Dollar General employees about the potential issue,” the statement said. “Ingesting glass fragments may cause injury to the consumer, and these injuries may include damage to teeth, laceration of the mouth and throat, or perforation of the intestine,” according to the FDA. “No illnesses or injuries have been reported to date.”

Product information for customers to look out for

The following details are essential for customers to check if they purchased any affected cases of the 8-ounce Clover Valley Instant Coffee:

UPC: 876941004069Lot: L-5163 / Best By 12/13/2026Lot: L-5164 / Best By 12/13/2026Lot: L-5165 / Best By 12/14/2026

The Lot codes can be found around the neck of the jar.

Customers who purchased the recalled products are urged to discard them immediately and contact Dollar General for a full refund, including tax. The company can be reached by email at [email protected] or by phone at 1-888-309-9030 between 6 a.m. and 1 a.m. CT, seven days a week.

Dollar General is investigating the source of the glass contamination and has apologized for the inconvenience. The recall is being conducted with the knowledge of the FDA.