PEOPLE IN THE NEWS
Weinstein tests positive for coronavirus in prison
Harvey Weinstein tested positive for the new coronavirus at a state prison in New York while serving a 23-year sentence for rape and sexual assault, the head of the state correctional officers union said Monday.
The former film producer, 68, who was hospitalized with heart issues in recent weeks, was diagnosed and quarantined just days after being transferred to the maximum security Wende Correctional Facility near Buffalo.
Weinstein was previously locked up at New York City’s Rikers Island jail complex, which has had a spate of coronavirus cases.
Michael Powers, president of the New York State Correctional Officers and Police Benevolent Association, said Weinstein was one of the prisoners with the virus. Five officers and two supervisors at Wende were also placed in isolation because of possible exposure to the virus, he said.
Weinstein was sent to Wende last Wednesday, the day before the state prison system stopped accepting inmates from local jails to stymie the spread of the coronavirus.
Civil rights activist and Till relative Gordon-taylor dies at 50
Airickca Gordon-taylor, a relative of Emmett Till who spent her life educating others about the black teenage lynching victim’s legacy through her foundation, died at age 50, according to family members.
Gordon-taylor, of suburban Chicago, died early Saturday, hours after a hospital stay.
She had kidney problems for decades, including two transplants, according to her mother, Ollie Gordon, who was Till’s cousin.