Northeast
Gigi Hadid's father apologizes for racist, homophobic messages to Democratic lawmaker
Mohamed Hadid, father of supermodels Gigi and Bella Hadid, apologized for several incendiary comments made to New York Democratic Rep. Ritchie Torres on Saturday.
The New York Post reported that the millionaire real estate developer sent Torres multiple direct messages from his verified Instagram account that accused the congressman of being a “slave to whites” over his ongoing support for Israel after the Hamas attack on Oct. 7.
“You worse than the rats of New York sewage system. They have bigger brains than you. You might get a job as bouncer at gay bar,” Hadid wrote.
“Make sure you dress as KKK to hide that ugly gray colored face of yours,” he added. “I know about Bronx.”
The New York Post reported Mohamed Hadid, father of models Gigi and Bella Hadid, sent direct messages to Rep. Torres that attacked him. (Photo by Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for Victorias Secret)
MODEL GIGI HADID APOLOGIZES, SAYS SHE ‘DID NOT FACT CHECK’ POST ON ISRAEL’S TREATMENT OF PALESTINIAN CHILDREN
Another message read, “You are just unusual Black and colorful mouth for Israeli and AIPAC and looking for payday of over 500K.”
Torres, who became one of the first openly gay African American members of Congress in 2021, later commented on the story in an X post on Sunday, criticizing Hadid for slinging “racist rhetoric.”
“For the thought crime of supporting Israel in the wake of October 7th, I have been the target of racist rhetoric from Mohamed Hadid. If you have the audacity to be a person of color AND Pro-Israel, you become fair game for racist hate and harassment,” Torres wrote.
After the story was published, Hadid later released an apology for his words but stood by attacking Torres as a “shill” for defending Israel.
“I need to apologize. Not for the anger I feel but for the words I used to express that anger. I intended to express how Mr. Torres is a shill being used by Israel. A state that not only mistreats Black and brown people but pinkwashes their atrocities using their projected gay rights as a shield for their human rights violations,” Hadid wrote.
Rep. Ritchie Torres. D-N.Y., has defended Israel’s right to defend itself following the Oct. 7 attacks. (Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
“My feeling after 76 years of being a refugee from the country where I and my ancestors were born and watching a genocide unfold are at an all time high,” Hadid continued. “I am watching United State politicians work as AIPAC messengers of genocide.”
“I used the wrong words to express this anger but the anger is warranted. To send Black and brown and other marginalized communities to do the dirty work of two countries who have never respected them is wrong. I apologize to my community for directing the conversation to this, and even for a minute away from Palestine. All eyes on Palestine. Free Palestine,” he concluded.
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In a comment to the New York Post, Torres attacked Hadid’s latest comments as insincere and “fraudulent.”
“The so-called apology is as fraudulent as the man himself. Mr. Hadid has been unmasked as a rabid racist to the core, and his pitiful attempt at a ‘mea culpa’ is fooling no one,” Torres said.
Rep. Torres attacked Hadid as a “rabid racist” and blasted his later apology. (Getty Images)
Torres’ office referred to this comment when responding to Fox News Digital.
A few days after the deadly Oct. 7 attack against Israel, Hadid referred to Israeli Prime Minister as “the new Hitler of modern times.”
“This was never about Hamas. This to create the new graveyard to 2.5 million Palestinians .. the new Hitler of modern times,” he wrote under an ABC News post reporting that “Israel cuts off Gaza in ‘total siege.’”
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Boston, MA
When did Southie get richy-rich? – The Boston Globe
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Born and raised in Southie, Heather Foley has seen her neighborhood morph over the past three decades of scrubbing, renovation, and new construction for higher-income new arrivals.
But even Foley was surprised to discover that her South Boston, where kids once went to the corner to buy milk and cigarettes for parents, has emerged with the city’s second-highest average income, even ahead of Charlestown and Beacon Hill.
Her first thought?: “I gotta start being nicer to my neighbors if that’s the kind of money they’re making.”
What’s a household?
Decades ago, when “Good Will Hunting” was filmed in the neighborhood and Southie was known as a working-class area, there were more kids around and maybe just a single breadwinner in some homes.
Since then, Southie saw more two-earner households, fewer kids, and spiffier rental units where three or four roommates could contribute to a “household.” The changes, along with spillover from the adjacent, pricier Seaport, or South Boston waterfront, are factors in Census data showing more than 40 percent of Southie households earn more than $200,000 a year.
Staying put
Foley, 46, a photo shoot producer, considers herself lucky. She didn’t move out to the South Shore like many neighborhood longtimers. She’s living in a family home on a block with residents — oldtimers and newer arrivals — who aren’t flipping properties for big bucks.
Another blessing, particularly valuable this winter? She has a driveway.
As a kid, she went to church and school at Gate of Heaven, St. Brigid, and St. Peter, and jokes that she’s “so sad I didn’t buy a three-decker with my First Communion money, because I probably could have.”
Waves of gentrification
She remembers the earlier waves of newcomers, when glassy sports bars like Stats Bar & Grille muscled in among longtime restaurants like Amrheins.
But now, even the popular Stats is moving out at the end of the month. The property owner is developing a five-story, mixed-use residential building at the site.
A small silver lining
Foley notes that some of the onetime “newcomers” have been here for three decades — and in some ways, have stabilized the place. Many have raised kids, who, like her son, may return to the neighborhood as young adults (albeit splitting a rented apartment with friends). Stats, the sports bar, says it will also return to the neighborhood’s thriving food scene.
“We have a lot of great restaurants now,” Foley says, “and everyone cleans up after their dog.”
Read: These maps show Boston’s wealthiest and most populous neighborhoods — plus other key trends.
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Patriots, strippers, and hookahs: A downtown restaurant’s liquor license is in jeopardy after it allegedly hosted Patriots players and guests after their AFC Championship in January. A decision is expected today.
‘Culture of secrecy’: In a scathing report, R.I. authorities accused the Roman Catholic Diocese of Providence of decades of “inaction, concealment, and revictimization” in complaints of clergy sexual abuse of hundreds of children.
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🎥 Quiz: Test yourself with the Globe’s Academy Awards quiz.
⚽ Will $7.8 million stop the World Cup from coming here? Can Foxborough’s insistence on up-front security payments force the world’s soccer governing body to send matches somewhere else this summer?
♯ Teenage dreams: The future rock stars were teenagers when they wrote songs, influenced by David Bowie and Stevie Wonder, about a fictional nightclub. A half-century later, Squeeze has reworked and is releasing those songs.
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Thanks for reading Starting Point.
This newsletter was edited by Heather Ciras and produced by Ryan Orlecki.
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Pittsburg, PA
As his polarizing Pitt career winds down, a banged-up Cam Corhen has saved his best for last
Connecticut
Hartford community grieves men killed in police shootings
The Hartford community is grappling with two police shootings that happened within eight days of each other. Both started off as mental health calls about someone in distress.
People came together to remember one of the men killed at a vigil on Wednesday evening.
With hands joined, a prayer for peace and comfort was spoken for the family of Everard Walker. He was having a mental health crisis when a family member called 211 on Feb.19.
Two mental health professionals from the state-operated Capitol Regional Mental Health Center requested Hartford police come with them to Walker’s apartment on Capitol Avenue.
A scuffle ensued, and police said it looked like Walker was going to stab an officer. The brief fight ended with an officer shooting and killing Walker.
The family is planning to file a wrongful death lawsuit against the city.
“All I will have now is a tombstone and the voicemails he left on my phone that I listen over and over again at night just so I can fall asleep,” Menan Walker, one of Walker’s daughters, said.
City councilman Josh Michtom (WF) is asking whether police could have acted differently.
“To me, the really concerning thing is why the police were there at all, why they went into that apartment in the way that they did, in the numbers that they did,” he said.
The president of Hartford’s police union, James Rutkauski, asked the community to hold their judgment and wait for a full investigation by the Inspector General’s office to be completed.
A different tone was taken in a statement released about another police shooting on Blue Hills Avenue on Feb. 27.
Rutkauski said the union fully supports the officer who fired at 55-year-old Steven Jones, who was holding a knife during a mental health crisis.
In part, the union’s statement says that Jones “deliberately advanced on the officer in a manner that created an immediate threat of death or serious bodily injury. This was a 100% justified use of deadly force.”
The Inspector General’s office will determine if the officer was justified following an investigation.
The officer who shot Jones was the fourth to arrive on the scene. Three others tried to get him to drop the knife, even using a taser, before the shooting.
“It just feels like beyond the conduct of any one officer, we have this problem, which is that we send cops for every problem,” Michtom said. “I don’t know how you can de-escalate at the point of a gun.”
Jones died from his injuries on Tuesday.
The union’s statement went on to say that officers should not be society’s default for mental health professionals. The statement said in part, “We ask for renewed commitment from our legislators to remove police from being the vanguard of what should be a mental health professional response.”
The officers involved in both shootings are on administrative leave.
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