BRYAN STEVENSON

Alabama has changed death penalty procedures to give the prison system longer to carry out executions — a move that comes after a string of troubled lethal injections in the state — and also eliminated an automatic review for trial errors.

With a guilty verdict in the sex-trafficking trial of Ghislaine Maxwell, here’s a look at what the once high-flying Jeffrey Epstein confidante was accused of and what’s next for her.

The case for and against Ghislaine Maxwell has been made, and as soon as Monday, her fate will rest squarely in the jury’s hands.

It began as a prize-winning magazine issue and became a cultural flashpoint, and now “The 1619 Project” is coming out as a book.

The Equal Justice Initiative is opening an expanded museum in Alabama that focuses on the legacy of slavery in America.

The organization that created the nation’s first memorial to lynching victims has announced a major expansion of a museum designed to trace the impact of slavery and racism through the centuries.

Videos of a Black and Latino Army lieutenant who was pepper-sprayed and handcuffed during a traffic stop in rural Virginia have been viewed millions of times.

Two books based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning “1619 Project” will be released this fall, with contributions from Jesmyn Ward, Jason Reynolds, Ibram X.

NEW YORK – Author James McBride and editor Chris Jackson were among those honored Thursday night by the Center for Fiction. Jackson, whose authors range from Ta-Nehisi Coates to Bryan Stevenson, was given the Medal for Editorial Excellence Award. Jackson runs the One World imprint of Penguin Random House. The Center for Fiction awarded its First Novel Prize to Raven Leilani for “Luster,” the story of a young Black woman's affair with a married, middle-aged white man. Finalists included this year's Booker Prize winner, Douglas Stuart's “Shuggie Bain.”

FILE - In this Saturday, June 21, 2014 file photo, Belarusian human rights advocate Ales Bialiatski is welcomed by his supporters at a railway terminal in Minsk, Belarus. The prominent Belarus opposition figure Ales Bialiatski and leading imprisoned Iranian human rights lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh have been awarded the 2020 Swedish Right Livelihood Award, sometimes referred to as the Alternative Nobel, along with activists from Nicaragua and the United States. (AP Photo/Dmitry Brushko, File)STOCKHOLM – A prominent Belarus opposition figure and an imprisoned Iranian human rights lawyer on Thursday were awarded the Right Livelihood Award, sometimes referred to as the “Alternative Nobel,” together with activists from Nicaragua and the United States. Created in 1980, the annual Right Livelihood Award honors efforts that the prize founder, Swedish-German philanthropist Jakob von Uexkull, felt were being ignored by the Nobel prizes. Earlier recipients of the Right Livelihood Award include Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg.

Lee Daniels, Lulu Wang and Taraji P. Henson are among the talent participating in a series of virtual panels about inclusion and equity in Hollywood hosted by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. The organization that puts on the Oscars said Thursday that the panels rolling out through September and October will be available to the public. Entitled Academy Dialogues: It Starts with Us, the series is part of the film academys push to further equity and inclusion in its ranks and in the entertainment industry. The series launched last month with a conversation between Whoopi Goldberg and civil rights attorney Bryan Stevenson about the power of narrative. Its currently available on YouTube.

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. Zion Williamson will be out of quarantine by the time New Orleans plays in the first official game of the NBA restart at Walt Disney World. The NBA said Saturday that Williamson will have to serve a four-day quarantine for leaving the leagues Disney bubble on July 16 to tend to an urgent family matter. He returned to Disney on Friday night and immediately went into quarantine. The most important thing is we hope everythings OK with him, Pelicans forward Derrick Favors said Saturday, shortly after the NBA revealed the four-day quarantine determination. COACHES PINSNBA coaches started wearing a large pin during games this weekend, the message reading Coaches for Racial Justice.Its not uncommon for NBA coaches to wear pins or ribbons to support various causes.

In just about any other year, Juneteenth, the holiday celebrating the day in 1865 that all enslaved black people learned they had been freed from bondage, would be marked with a cookout, a parade, or a community festival. But Juneteenth 2020 will be a day of protest in may places Friday, June 19. The day is recognized in 47 states and the District of Columbia, according to the National Juneteenth Observance Foundation. Andrew Cuomo signed an executive order recognizing Juneteenth as a paid holiday for state employees. So Juneteenth is a celebratory event but were not celebrating the country.

The Equal Justice Initiative said it has now documented nearly 6,500 lynchings of black people between 1877 and 1950. The group, which previously documented 4,500 lynchings, on Tuesday released a new report titled Reconstruction in America that documents nearly an additional 2,000 lynchings between 1865 and 1876. In one lynching documented in the report, Perry Jeffreys, his wife, and four sons were killed in Georgia after a mob learned they planned to vote for presidential candidate Ulysses S. Grant. The National Memorial for Peace and Justice, a memorial to lynching victims, opened in 2018. The rectangular structures include the names of counties where lynchings occurred, in addition to the dates and the names of the victims.

NEW YORK The 2019 film Just Mercy, which chronicles courtroom struggles against racial injustice and mass incarceration, will be made free on digital platforms throughout June in the wake of George Floyd's death, Warner Bros. said Tuesday. In the film, Michael B. Jordan plays attorney Bryan Stevenson, founder of the Equal Justice Initiative, who helps a character played by Jamie Foxx. We believe in the power of story, Warner Bros. said. The rider was initiated as a way to change long-term under-representation of people of color and women in Hollywood. Recent studies have shown that films like Just Mercy are starting to reshape the film industry.

(CNN) - Kim Kardashian West is joining the fight to save a Texas death row inmate set to be executed next month. Greg Abbott on Saturday about the upcoming execution of Rodney Reed. Reed has spent over 21 years on death row for the 1996 murder of Stacey Stites in Bastrop, Texas. The court eventually ruled against Reed, which led prosecutors to seek a new execution date. She has been working with lawyers and activists in a national bipartisan advocacy group for criminal justice reform.