Remembrances

Jalal Mansur Nuriddin of The Last Poets, in London on September 12, 1984. The poet, known as the Godfather of Hip-Hop, died on June 6, 2018 at the age of 74.

Music & Culture

Jalal Mansur Nuriddin: Bidding Farewell To The Schoolyard Bard

8:42pm June 07, 2018

by dream hampton

The writer dream hampton recalls how The Last Poets' music, and Jalal Mansur Nuriddin's work in particular, interwove with the lives that surrounded her as a child, in a disappearing Detroit.

The Redwood Falls Gazette in Minnesota removed a death notice from its website last week after it sparked an outcry over what's fair to say about the deceased.

National

'She Will Not Be Missed': Children Deliver Harsh Send-Off In Mother's Death Notice

5:26pm June 07, 2018

by Samantha Raphelson

The Redwood Falls Gazette in Minnesota removed a death notice from its website last week after it sparked an outcry over what's fair to say about the deceased.

Yup'ik Language Storyteller John Active Dies At 69

6:27pm June 06, 2018

Former All Things Considered commentator John Active has died at 69. He was a Yup'ik language storyteller in Bethel, Alaska. His efforts helped keep the indigenous language alive.

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Arts

Kate Spade's Fashion Legacy

5:11am June 06, 2018

by Karen Grigsby Bates

The fashion designer Kate Spade has died at age 55 of an apparent suicide. She was known for playful handbags and other accessories that millions of women wanted.

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Fashion Designer Kate Spade Found Dead At 55

6:25pm June 05, 2018

by Andrew Limbong

The Kate Spade brand of bags is immensely popular, pioneering a wave of playful but still luxury fashion. The designer and entrepreneur behind the brand, Kate Spade, died Tuesday from an apparent suicide.

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Designer Kate Spade is seen in 2004 among handbags and shoes from her collection. Spade was found dead in her New York City apartment on Tuesday. She was 55.

National

Fashion Designer Kate Spade Found Dead In Apparent Suicide

5:05pm June 05, 2018

by Amy Held

Police say the designer who built a billion-dollar brand of luxury handbags and accessories was found dead in her Park Avenue apartment in Manhattan on Tuesday. She was 55.

Handbags — which are not examples of the "Sam" mentioned below — hang on display in the window of a Kate Spade & Co. store in Corte Madera, California, U.S., on Friday, Feb. 27, 2015.

Arts

My First (Real) Kate Spade Bag

4:46pm June 05, 2018

by Barrie Hardymon

Weekend Edition editor Barrie Hardymon remembers saving up for her first Kate Spade bag as a young New York music student. Yes, it held her Russian novels — but it also represented something more.

Music & Culture

Blind Boys Of Alabama Member Clarence Fountain Dies At 88

9:39pm June 04, 2018

by Neda Ulaby

Clarence Fountain was one of the last surviving founding members of The Blind Boys of Alabama. They first met as pre-teens at the Alabama Institute for the Negro Blind in the early 1940s. Fountain died Sunday of complications from diabetes at 88.

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Ted Dabney (far left) stands in front of a Pong arcade machine in 1973 with (left to right) co-founder Nolan Bushnell, head of finance Fred Marincic and the man credited with the idea for Pong, Allan Alcorn.

Arts

Ted Dabney, Co-Founder Of Atari And Video Game Pioneer, Dies At 81

7:53pm June 01, 2018

by Colin Dwyer

Together, he and Nolan Bushnell made games with makeshift materials that eschewed the bulky computers of the era. Their company created Pong — and their tumultuous partnership changed gaming forever.

Astronaut Alan Bean was photographed by Charles "Pete" Conrad Jr., who is reflected in Bean's helmet visor, during the Apollo 12 moonwalk in 1969.

National

Alan Bean, Apollo 12 Astronaut Who Walked On The Moon, Dies At 86

4:24pm May 26, 2018

by Russell Lewis

Bean was the lunar module pilot of Apollo 12, which made the second moon landing, in 1969. Later in life, as a painter, he chronicled the people and experience of the Apollo program.