A court in Russia on Tuesday designated a prominent LGBTQ+ rights group as an extremist organization, the latest blow to the country’s beleaguered community that has faced an intensified crackdown in recent years under President Vladimir Putin.
In a hearing that took place behind closed doors, the St. Petersburg City Court banned the Coming Out group as “extremist.” The authorities did not reveal any details of the lawsuit filed last month by Russia’s Justice Ministry and classified as secret.
The group, which now operates from abroad, said it will continue to help LGBTQ+ people in Russia and beyond, and fight for their rights despite the ruling.
“We have been preparing for this development for a long time. We enhanced security, developed sustainable work formats and continue to act responsibly, first and foremost for those who count on us,” Coming Out said in an online statement.
“Today it is especially important not to give into fear and not to be alone. Our community is stronger than any labels, and history has proven that.”
Coming Out is the first LGBTQ+ rights group to be designated since the 2023 Supreme Court ruling that effectively banned any LGBTQ+ activism. Similar lawsuits have been filed against two other LGBTQ+ rights groups, with courts in St. Petersburg and the Samara region still to rule on them.
Russia’s LGBTQ+ community has been under legal and public pressure for over a decade, but especially since the Kremlin invaded Ukraine four years ago. Putin has argued that the war in Ukraine is a proxy battle with the West, which he says aims to destroy Russia and its “traditional family values” by pushing for LGBTQ+ rights.
Any depiction of gay and transgender people that portrays them in a positive or even neutral light has been banned ever since. Gender-affirming medical care and changing one’s gender in official documents are prohibited.
In November 2023, Russia’s Supreme Court declared what the government called “the international LGBT movement” to be an extremist organization, exposing anyone involved with that community to prosecution and potential imprisonment.
Days after the ruling, the community was rattled by news of police raiding gay bars, nightclubs and venues that hosted drag shows in Moscow, St. Petersburg and other cities. Criminal cases on the charges of involvement with the “LGBT movement” have followed, and some people have faced fines for displaying what the authorities determined to be “extremist” symbols such as a rainbow flag.
The Russian authorities are seeking to make the LGBTQ+ community “as vulnerable, as lonely as possible,” said Denis Oleinik, executive director of the Coming Out LGBTQ+ rights group.
The group, formerly based in Russia’s second-largest city of St. Petersburg, has been operating entirely from abroad since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine. It no longer offers support groups or offline activities, but still provides psychological and legal support remotely. It also works with international organizations in advocating for LGBTQ+ rights in Russia and for helping those fleeing the country, Oleinik told The Associated Press in February.
The ruling makes it unsafe for people to share any Coming Out content publicly or for anyone inside Russia or who travels there to donate money to the group, he said.
The “extremist” designation also sometimes scares people away from reaching out for help, as well as other rights groups or media outlets from working with them, Oleinik said. There also might be risks for relatives of activists who speak openly in public.
But otherwise, “we can provide help, and receiving our help is also allowed,” he said.
A Georgia man whose teenage son is accused of killing two students and two teachers at a high school was convicted of second-degree murder and involuntary manslaughter Tuesday.Colin Gray also was found guilty of all other charges in the September 2024 shooting at Apalachee High School in Winder, northeast of Atlanta. Gray is one of a number of parents across the country who have been charged after their children were accused in fatal shootings.He was found guilty of second-degree murder in the deaths of two 14-year-old students, Mason Schermerhorn and Christian Angulo. Georgia law defines second-degree murder as causing the death of a child by committing the crime of cruelty to children. Gray was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter in the killings of teachers Richard Aspinwall, 39, and Cristina Irimie, 53.Prosecutors said Gray gave his son, Colt, access to a gun and ammunition “after receiving sufficient warning that Colt Gray would harm and endanger the bodily safety of another.”Colt Gray, who was 14 at the time of the shooting, was indicted on a total of 55 counts, including murder. He has pleaded not guilty, and the judge in his case has set a status hearing for mid-March.Investigators said Colt Gray carefully planned the Sept. 4, 2024, shooting at the school attended by 1,900 students.He boarded the school bus with a semiautomatic, assault-style rifle in his book bag, the barrel sticking out and wrapped in poster board, investigators said. He left his second-period class and emerged from a bathroom with the gun and then shot people in a classroom and hallways, investigators said.Colin Gray had given his son the gun as a gift the Christmas before the shooting and allowed him to have access to the gun and ammunition, despite his awareness that his son’s mental health had deteriorated, a prosecutor said.Colin Gray knew his son was obsessed with school shooters, even having a shrine in his bedroom to Nikolas Cruz, the shooter in the 2018 massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, prosecutors said.
WINDER, Ga. —
A Georgia man whose teenage son is accused of killing two students and two teachers at a high school was convicted of second-degree murder and involuntary manslaughter Tuesday.
Colin Gray also was found guilty of all other charges in the September 2024 shooting at Apalachee High School in Winder, northeast of Atlanta. Gray is one of a number of parents across the country who have been charged after their children were accused in fatal shootings.
He was found guilty of second-degree murder in the deaths of two 14-year-old students, Mason Schermerhorn and Christian Angulo. Georgia law defines second-degree murder as causing the death of a child by committing the crime of cruelty to children. Gray was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter in the killings of teachers Richard Aspinwall, 39, and Cristina Irimie, 53.
Prosecutors said Gray gave his son, Colt, access to a gun and ammunition “after receiving sufficient warning that Colt Gray would harm and endanger the bodily safety of another.”
Colt Gray, who was 14 at the time of the shooting, was indicted on a total of 55 counts, including murder. He has pleaded not guilty, and the judge in his case has set a status hearing for mid-March.
Investigators said Colt Gray carefully planned the Sept. 4, 2024, shooting at the school attended by 1,900 students.
He boarded the school bus with a semiautomatic, assault-style rifle in his book bag, the barrel sticking out and wrapped in poster board, investigators said. He left his second-period class and emerged from a bathroom with the gun and then shot people in a classroom and hallways, investigators said.
Colin Gray had given his son the gun as a gift the Christmas before the shooting and allowed him to have access to the gun and ammunition, despite his awareness that his son’s mental health had deteriorated, a prosecutor said.
Colin Gray knew his son was obsessed with school shooters, even having a shrine in his bedroom to Nikolas Cruz, the shooter in the 2018 massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, prosecutors said.
Over the past year, I‘ve had hundreds of conversations with business leaders about AI. The pattern is always the same. They’re not short on tools or ambition. They’re struggling with where to get started and how to get value.
Post-hardcore stalwarts Touché Amoré are marking a decade of their landmark 2016 album Stage Four with a deluxe anniversary reissue arriving digitally on April 10 via Epitaph Records.
The expanded edition includes eleven additional tracks, featuring unreleased demos and collaborations with Cody Votolato (The Blood Brothers), Youth Code, and Kerry McCoy (Deafheaven). Lead single “Rapture (Gloom Version)” – a delicate collaboration with Wisp – is out now, reimagining the devastating anthem into a stripped-down, lo-fi acoustic ballad.
“‘Rapture’ is a staple in our set and has been since the album dropped. Over time, the call and response bit that happens during the bridge has become as much of our show as anything else. I wanted to get Wisp on this track because I’m a big fan of Natalie’s vocal ability for its whispery, breathy nature. It has a haunting element that matched the energy of the song,” Bolm explained.
The limited-edition vinyl release is a collector’s dream: four square discs on exclusive colorways, housed in a clear pink slipcase with new artwork, diecut sleeves and labels, plus a double-sided poster.
Bolm reflects on the album’s enduring impact: “Stage Four was a mandatory album for my journey with grief, and the impact it’s had on the band as well as our audience – however heavy or light – feels worth celebrating.”
Originally recorded in early 2016 with producer Brad Wood, Stage Four is widely considered Touché Amoré‘s most raw and emotionally unflinching work. To celebrate the anniversary, Touché Amoré will embark on a U.S. tour in April and a European run in June, performing Stage Four in full.
Select festival appearances, including Primavera Sound and Outbreak Fest, are also on the schedule. Get your tickets here.
4/8 Austin, TX Mohawk Austin 4/10 Chicago, IL Concord Music Hall 4/12 Toronto, CA The Opera House 4/17 Philadelphia, PA Brooklyn Bowl Philadelphia 4/18 Washington, DC Howard Theatre 4/19 Brooklyn, NY The Brooklyn Monarch 5/16 Los Angeles, CA Hollywood Palladium 6/3-7 Barcelona, ES Primavera Sound 6/8 Lyon, FR Le Marché Gare 6/9 Milan, IT Magazzini Generali 6/11-13 Interlaken, CH Greenfield Festival 6/12 Köln, DE Die Kantine 6/13 Berlin, DE Berlin Breakout! 6/14 Hamburg, DE Fabrik 6/16 Vienna, AT Flex 6/17 Prague, CZ Lucerna Music Bar 6/18-19 Warsaw, PL Summer Punch Festival 6/21 München, DE Backstage 6/22 Wiesbaden, DE Schlachthof Wiesbaden 6/23 Amsterdam, NL Melkweg 6/24 London, UK OVO Arena Wembley 6/26 Paris, FR Mia Mao 6/27-28 Stretford, UK Outbreak Festival 9/9 Orlando, FL The Beacham 9/12 Sao Paulo, BR Sine Joia
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Versant Media Group said profit and revenue fell in 2025, hurt by lower revenue across its linear distribution, advertising and content-licensing businesses.
In front of the 30 other defendants, Billups, mostly expressionless, sat front and center for more than three hours as Judge Ramon E. Reyes heard arguments over all sorts of procedural and logistical issues, casting Billups as the face of a trial that includes violent criminals with long rap sheets, mobsters and members of the criminal underworld, as prosecutors allege he was a “face card” in the rigged poker games, whose fame lured victims to the table.
Billups’ wife, Piper, and three daughters were seated two rows behind him. He surveyed the courtroom, then turned to look over at the gallery of reporters seated to his left who’d come to observe and document the proceedings. He lingered a bit on the faces he knew from his career as a basketball player and head coach of the Portland Trail Blazers, a legacy now very much in question.
Billups’ only words that day were his plea on the charges against him. His attorney, Marc Mukasey, offered no comment when entering and exiting the courthouse.
It will be a long time before anyone fully knows how Billups allegedly became involved in this scandal and the extent to which he was. It’s a process that could take years.
In the courtroom, the judge put a protective order on the evidence in the case disseminated to attorneys — which prosecutors say includes a terabyte of bank records, surveillance photos and other electronic data — and said he hoped a trial could begin in September.
All 31 defendants in the case are required to appear in that ceremonial courtroom in Brooklyn on Wednesday at 2 p.m. ET for a status hearing in the case now that the defendants have had a few months to review the evidence in the government’s case.
Mukasey, who represented President Donald Trump during a 2019 suit to stop Manhattan’s district attorney from obtaining his tax returns, did not respond to messages left by ESPN asking for comment in advance of Wednesday’s hearing.
Ron Naclerio was one of the people who appeared in court in November to show support for a man he met nearly three decades earlier. The legendary coach of Benjamin Cardozo High in Queens first met Billups when he was a star point guard coming out of Colorado and trained him for the 1997 NBA draft.
“He saw me, we hugged, and I said, ‘I know you’re going through hell, but just keep going,'” Naclerio told ESPN. “Then his lawyer came over to me and thanked me for showing up.”
As Billups and his family exited the courtroom, throngs of cameras and people followed as Billups went to post his $5 million bail.
“It was overwhelming,” Naclerio said. “I mean, it’s obvious for a guy that used to get stopped to do interviews for winning an NBA championship or the Hall of Fame announcement, to get bombarded for something like this. I just said, ‘Wow, the bombardment now is such a low compared to the highs that he’s had.'”
ONE PERSON BILLUPS did not speak to or acknowledge at that hearing in November was his friend, former NBA player and coach Damon Jones, who was indicted in the federal probes into rigged poker games and illegal gambling and has pleaded not guilty at both of his arraignments.
Five years earlier they’d lived together in Billups’ house in Colorado, riding out the loneliest early months of the COVID-19 pandemic along with Billups’ best friend, Tyronn Lue, then the lead assistant for the LA Clippers and Lue’s cousin, J. Carter. Billups hired a chef who’d been furloughed from a high-end restaurant, asked him to prepare meals for his friends to ease some of the burden on his wife, and the three spent their days watching film of the NBA season, which had been paused, he told ESPN in 2021.
“All that time spent talking and studying,” Billups said then, after he’d officially joined Lue’s staff as an assistant in Los Angeles. “That’s actually what really made my decision to coach.”
Billups had worked in broadcasting since he retired as a player in 2014, first for ESPN and then for the Clippers. He and Lue had been close friends since they were teenagers. Lue has not been accused of anything in the federal probes and has denied any involvement in his public statements on the matter. Jones had played against both during his NBA career and served on Lue’s staff in Cleveland.
During the hearing in November, prosecutors said they are looking into 25 poker games between 2019 and 2023. In the indictment, Billups and Jones are mentioned in allegations about two games — in April 2019 and October 2020 in Las Vegas — a year before Billups invited Jones to live with him in the spring of 2020 and a few months before the second game.
Prosecutors allege that both Billups and Jones were recruited to the games by Robert Stroud, a 67-year-old Kentucky man with ties to the Gambino crime family. In the indictment, prosecutors allege that Stroud recruited famous athletes or celebrities “to lure wealthy victims into playing” in the rigged games, then “paid them a portion of the criminal proceeds.”
Stroud, who also pleaded not guilty, has a long criminal history of violence and gambling, including a manslaughter conviction from a shooting during a card game in Louisville in 1994.
How Stroud recruited them and the extent to which each man allegedly participated remains under sealed evidence. But evidence from Stroud’s iCloud account included in the initial indictment, showed a $50,000 wire to a 40-year old Queens woman named Sophie Wei, who then wired money directly to Billups.
Wei, whom investigators refer to as “Pookie” in their indictment, is a Taiwanese-Brazilian artist who is connected in the music, entertainment and basketball worlds. On her now-private Instagram page, Wei has posed in photos with musicians Drake, Mary J. Blige and Ne-Yo.
She also showcased commissions she did for Kevin Hart and for Shaquille O’Neal’s sons, Shaqir and Shareef. She also showcased her work at the 2024 NBA All-Star Game in Indianapolis.
Prosecutors allege Wei was one of the organizers of the rigged poker games in New York and Las Vegas. Her court-appointed attorney, Jacqueline Cistaro, declined to comment when contacted by ESPN.
SITTING BEHIND BILLUPS in the courtroom was 53-year-old Eric “Spook” Earnest. His court-appointed attorney sat directly behind Billups’ table.
In their indictment, prosecutors describe Earnest and Billups as longtime friends and included text messages from the October 2020 game in which Wei and Stroud discuss the need for Billups and Earnest to intentionally lose a hand to avoid suspicion of cheating.
Wei suggested they bring another member of the cheating team over to the table and have “Chauncey and/ spook lose to him.” Stroud agreed with the idea, to which Wei responded in text, “They already know all the signals.”
It is not clear how or when Billups and Earnest became friends. Public records indicate Earnest spent most of his life in the greater St. Louis area. Court records indicate that, in October 2007, Earnest pleaded guilty to money laundering charges and conspiracy to distribute cocaine and marijuana as part of a federal investigation into a St. Louis syndicate with connections to the Black Mafia Family — a Detroit-based drug trafficking and money laundering organization led by the Flenory brothers — Demetrious “Big Meech” and Terry “Southwest” — which has inspired three documentaries and the Starz television drama, BMF, produced by Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson.
Billups, who played seven seasons with the Detroit Pistons (2002-2009), winning a championship in 2004, has a connection to Terry Flenory. On April 14, 2021, Flenory — who was released from prison in May 2020 after serving 12 years of a 30-year sentence — posted a photo of himself and Billups posing in front of the Detroit River with the Ambassador Bridge in the background and a caption:
“Woke up this morning to a surprise my man BIG SHOT Billups tapping in before both of us head to work.”
Billups, then in his first year as an assistant coach with the Clippers, who beat the Pistons 100-98 later that night, responded:
“Always love bro. Great times ahead. Happy for u.”
On Oct. 30, The Athletic cited a former federal DEA task force officer who said that Earnest bragged on wiretaps about his connections to NBA players and other famous athletes, and identified links on social media between Earnest’s family and Billups’ family, noting that Billups follows Earnest’s wife and daughter.
Earnest’s attorney Peter E. Brill also did not respond to messages left by ESPN.
Earnest allegedly played a critical role in this scandal — and his link to Billups continued until at least 2023. Before a March 24, 2023, game between the Chicago Bulls and Portland Trail Blazers, Billups, then the team’s head coach, allegedly relayed nonpublic information to a man who subsequently used it to wager $100,000.
That man was Eric Earnest.
BILLUPS WAS ONE of two defendants to be released on bail after posting his $5 million bond. The other was Anthony Schnayderman, whom prosecutors allege was the primary money launderer in the operation.
Though that was the largest sum of any of the 31 defendants to post bail, legal experts consulted by ESPN suggested that amount could be due to the lenient conditions put on his release, as well as Billups’ means and notoriety.
Billups used a house he owns in Colorado as collateral for the bond, which was signed in court by his wife and daughter Sydney.
Billups has been in one of his two Colorado houses for the past several months, according to sources with direct knowledge of his whereabouts. The 15,000-square-foot Greenwood Village estate he purchased in 2007 was used as collateral for his $5 million bond. He sold his Lake Oswego, Oregon, house for $4.275 million shortly after his arrest and indefinite unpaid leave from his head coaching job with the Trail Blazers.
He spends his days quietly, according to sources close to him, with his family and friends in the Denver area, playing golf, watching games and communicating with a handful of NBA brethren. The terms of his release restrict him from traveling outside the United States, and any state or city other than Colorado, California, Maryland, Minnesota, Oregon, Washington D.C. or New York City.
The last public image of Billups came as he left the courthouse that afternoon in late November. He walked quickly through the crowd of camera crews along Duane Avenue in Brooklyn. A black sprinter van waited for Billups, his family and team of attorneys about 400 feet away.
Billups kept his eyes up the entire time, projecting the kind of poise he was known for as a player.
Nobody took questions or slowed down until they reached the van. Billups didn’t get inside as soon as he reached the doors. He stopped, turned to face the crowd, then waited until his wife and daughters were inside.
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE) – AeroVironment, Inc. (AV) announced Tuesday that it plans to invest more than $30 million to significantly expand its defense manufacturing operations in Albuquerque. The project is expected to create more than 450 jobs and generate more than $670 million in economic impact over the next 10 years, according to the company. “The growth we’re […]
As Ella Langley‘s “Choosin’ Texas” keeps breaking records, it’s important for Langley to have friends like Miranda Lambert in her corner to check on her every step of the way.
Langley was a guest on Country Countdown USA, where she revealed some of the stellar advice that Lambert has given her to help her overcome any mental health struggles she may be going through at the time.
‘You are more important than this job.’ She made me care for myself. Having someone like that made me feel like I’m okay.
What Female Country Stars Has Miranda Lambert Mentored?
In addition to Langley, Lainey Wilson has also stated on Taste of Country Nights that Lambert always texts her to check in with her, asking “How’s your head? How’s your heart?”
Langley has always been very open and candid about what she is going through mentally.
She told me on Taste of Country Nights that the night she won five ACM Awards in 2025 was the best and worst day of her career.
“That day is the brightest of my career, but it’s also the darkest. It’s hard to compute those two feelings happening at the same time,” she states, but she knows she’s on the right path.
“God has chose you,” she says. “I have gotten so close with Him in these past few months.”
What Are Ella Langley’s Mental Health Struggles?
Langley has struggled with depression and imposter syndrome.
She revealed to me on Taste of Country Nights, “It’s just the disease of my family, really,” talking about her longstanding struggle with mental health.
“I think it’s important to talk about it and to share that just because I might seem like I’m on the top of the mountain right now, it doesn’t look like that all the time.”
11 Ella Langley Facts Guaranteed To Shock Her Biggest Fans
This list of 11 Ella Langley facts includes the things you actually want to know, including several you can find with a Google or Wikipedia search. Name, age, hometown … we’ll let other outlets handle the simple stuff.
Our Ella Langley fact sheet zooms in on the pop-country star who gave her a big break, a surgery that may have changed her voice and the state championship team she was a part of in high school.
20 Things Miranda Lambert Has Done in the Last 20 Years
Miranda Lambert has been a busy woman since her debut studio album Kerosene arrived in 2005. In addition to several more albums and tours, the country singer scratched her entrepreneurial itch by starting a line of clothing and opening a bar.
She’s also continued to wear her heart on her sleeve with her MuttNation Foundation, which is dedicated to helping animals. These are just a few of the things Lambert has done, both personally and professionally, in the last 20 years.
