April 4 Peace Love Art Activism

Feminism

Mayor Susanna M Salter

April 4, 1887: voters elected 27-year-old Susanna M Salter mayor of Argonia, Kansas. She became the first woman elected as mayor and one of the first women to serve in any political office in the United States.

Her election was a surprise because a group of men against women in politics had placed her name representing the Prohibition Party as a prank on a slate of candidates. They hoped to secure a loss that would humiliate women and discourage them from running.

Because candidates did not have to be made public before election day, Salter herself did not know she was on the ballot before the polls opened.

When, on election day itself, she agreed to accept office if elected, the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union abandoned its own preferred candidate and voted for Salter en masse. Additionally, the local Republican Party Chairman sent a delegation to her home and confirmed that she would serve and the Republicans agreed to vote for her, helping to secure her election by a two-thirds majority.

Voting rights/Women

In 1897 New York State Association Opposed to Woman Suffrage founded. (next Feminism, see April 25, 1898)

US Labor History

The Labor Review

April 4, 1907: the first issue of The Labor Review, a “weekly magazine for organized workers,” was published in Minneapolis. Edna George, a cigar packer in Minneapolis, won $10 in gold for suggesting the name “Labor Review.” The Labor Review has been published continuously since then, currently as a monthly newspaper. (see Dec 5)

April 4 Peace Love Art Activism

FREE SPEECH

Strange Fruit

April 4, 1944: Harvard Professor Bernard DeVoto bought a copy of the novel,  Strange Fruit by Lillian Smith, as Boston police officers watched and then arrested him. The arrest was an pre-arranged test of a police ban on the book for “lewdness.” DeVoto was assisted by  the Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts, but the Harvard Law Book Store, which sold the book, was fined $200. An appeal failed, and the book remained technically banned in Boston for several decades.

The novel is the story of an interracial romance between a white man and an African-American woman in Georgia. It was also banned in Detroit because of its alleged “lewd” theme, and by the U.S. Post Office in May 1944. The ban lasted only three days, because First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt asked her husband, the president, to have it lifted. He did.

The novel’s title was taken from the famous song of the same name, first recorded by Billie Holiday on April 20, 1939. Holiday’s song was a searing indictment of the lynching of African-Americans, but the novel aroused censors because it dealt with an interracial romance. Smith denied that she took the title from the song. (see January 8, 1945)

Smothers Brothers

April 4, 1969: CBS canceled the Smothers Brothers Comedy Show because CBS considers it too controversial. (2010 NPR story) (see Apr 21)

April 4 Peace Love Art Activism

Cold War

NATO

April 4, 1949: The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) is founded by Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, the United Kingdom, and the United States, in order to resist Communist expansion. (NATO site)  (see Apr 7)

April 4 Peace Love Art Activism

April 4 Music et al

Roots of Rock

April 4, 1956:  Elvis Presley played the first of two nights in San Diego Arena in San Diego, California. The local Police chief issued a statement saying if Elvis ever returned to the city and performed like he did, he would be arrested for disorderly conduct. (pictures from Elvis Presley Music dot com) (see Apr 7)

Technological Milestone

April 4, 1960: RCA Victor Records announced that it would release all pop singles in mono and stereo simultaneously, the first record company to do so. Elvis Presley’s single, “Stuck on You,” is RCA’s first mono/stereo release. (TM, see Apr 13; Elvis, see Apr 8)

The Beatles

April 4 – May 8, 1964: the band occupied all five top positions with their singles “Can’t Buy Me Love”, “Twist and Shout”, “She Loves You”, “I Want to Hold Your Hand”, and “Please Please Me.” (see Apr 10)

April 4 Peace Love Art Activism

Nuclear/Chemical News

Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament

April 4, 1958: the start of a three-day 52-mile nuclear disarmament march from London to the Atomic Weapons Research Establishment at Aldermaston.

It was organized by the Direct Action Committee and supported by Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament. Gerald Holtam’s “Disarmament Symbol” (see Feb 21 above) made its public debut. (see Apr 16)

Chemical weapons ban

April 4, 1984:  President Reagan calls for an international ban on chemical weapons. (UPI archives article) (see August 22, 1986)

Syria uses gas weapons

April 4, 2017: President Bashar al-Assad used sarin gas in an attack on northwestern Syrian province of Idlib. The attack killed up to 100 civilians, including at least 11 children.

Doctors treating victims at makeshift hospitals in the area said dozens of victims from Khan Sheikhoun showed signs of sarin poisoning, including foaming at the mouth, breathing difficulties and limp bodies.

Moments after the attack a projectile hit a hospital in the area, bringing down rubble on top of medics as they struggled to treat victims.  (BBC report) (see July 7)

April 4 Peace Love Art Activism

INDEPENDENCE DAY

April 4, 1960: Senegal independent from France. (see ID for complete listing of 1960s Independence days)

April 4 Peace Love Art Activism

BLACK HISTORY

Dorothy Bell

 

April 4, 1963: Dorothy Bell, 19, of Birmingham, Alabama, waited at a downtown Birmingham lunch counter for service that never came. She was later arrested with 20 others in sit-in attempts. (see April 12)

MLK/Vietnam

April 4, 1967: Martin Luther King, Jr delivered “Beyond Vietnam – A Time to Break Silence” speech in Riverside Church, New York City. “A time comes when silence is betrayal.” He will die in exactly one year. (Link to text and audio) (Vietnam, see Apr 5; MLK, see Apr 30)

Martin Luther King

April 4, 1968: Martin Luther King shot and killed in Memphis. The week following King’s murder sees black uprisings in 125 cities across the U.S. 

DC Revolt

April 4 – 8, 1968: Washington, DC revolts following King’s assassination. (see Apr 6)

Scottsboro Nine

April 4, 2013: Alabama Lawmakers voted to issue posthumous pardons to nine black teenagers who were wrongly convicted of raping two white women more than 80 years ago based on false accusations. The bill setting up a procedure to pardon the group, known as the Scottsboro Boys, must be signed by Gov. Robert Bentley to become law. He plans to study the legislation but has said he favors the pardons. (see Scottsboro for expanded story)

Walter L. Scott

April 4, 2015: in North Charleston, South Carolina, officer, Michael T. Slager, 33 and white, saying he feared for his life because Walter L. Scott, 50 and black, had taken his stun gun in a scuffle after a traffic stop, fired eight times as Scott fled. Scott died. ((B & S and Scott, see Apr 7)

Church Burning

April 4, 2019: the Mount Pleasant Baptist Church in Opelousas, Louisiana burned, the third Black church since March 26. (see Apr 11)

April 4 Peace Love Art Activism

Vietnam

March for Victory

April 4, 1970: the “March for Victory” marked the era’s largest pro-war demonstration, attracting about 50,000 protesters — simultaneously objecting to President Nixon’s reduction of U.S. troop levels and “hippies and yippies everywhere.”

Led by the Rv. Carl McIntire and his International Council of Christian Churches, many saw  reduction of American forces as running away from our duty to fight against communism.

“We’re going to demonstrate against the President’s policy of Vietnamization, which is a synonym for retreat,” McIntire had proclaimed a few days before the march

“Millions of people voted for President Nixon, thinking he would seek victory in Vietnam, and now he’s backing out…We should give our generals the green light to win this war. (see Apr 15)

Airlift disaster

April 4, 1975:  a major U.S. airlift of South Vietnamese orphans begins with disaster when an Air Force cargo jet crashes shortly after departing from Tan Son Nhut airbase in Saigon. More than 138 passengers, mostly children, were killed. Operation Baby Lift was designed to bring 2,000 South Vietnamese orphans to the US for adoption by American parents. (2016 Daily Mail article on Operation Babylift) (see Apr 7)

April 4 Peace Love Art Activism

World Trade Center

April 4, 1973: the Center officially opens. (NY Daily News article) (see August 7, 1974)

April 4 Peace Love Art Activism

LGBTQ

Kidnap/assault

April 4, 2011: David Jason Jenkins, 37, and Anthony Ray Jenkins, 20, kidnapped and assaulted Kevin Pennington because of Pennington’s sexual orientation. (see June 13, 2011)

NCAA lift ban

April 4, 2017: the NCAA announced it lifted its ban on holding championship events in North Carolina after the state repealed its controversial and costly “bathroom bill.” 

Gay workers protected

April 4, 2017: the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit in Chicago ruled that the 1964 Civil Rights Act protects gay workers from job discrimination, expanding workplace protections in the landmark law to include sexual orientation.

The decision by the Seventh Circuit, the highest federal court yet to grant such employment protections, raised the chances that the politically charged issue might ultimately be resolved by the Supreme Court. While an appeal was not expected in this case, another appellate court, in Georgia, last month reached the opposite conclusion, saying that the law does not prohibit discrimination at work for gay employees. (see May 1)

Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

April 4, 2019:  The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints repealed rules unveiled in 2015 that banned baptisms for children of gay parents and made gay marriage a sin worthy of expulsion.

The surprise announcement reversed rules that had banned baptisms for children living with gay parents until they turn 18, disavowed same-sex relationships and received approval from global church leaders.

With the change, children of gay parents could  be baptized as long as their parents approved the baptisms and acknowledged that the children would be taught church doctrine.

The statement said that the Church was not changing its doctrinal opposition to gay marriage and still considered same-sex relationships to be a “serious transgression,” but people in same-sex relationships would no longer be considered “apostates” who must be kicked out of the religion. (next LGBTQ, see May 28)

April 4 Peace Love Art Activism

Hurricane Katrina shootings and cover-up

April 4, 2012: the four officers directly involved in the shooting were sentenced in federal court to lengthy terms ranging from 38 to 65 years, while a police sergeant who was charged with investigating the shooting, and instead helped lead the efforts to hide and distort what happened, was sentenced to six years. Three police officers who pleaded guilty and later testified at the trial were involved in the shooting on the bridge and received sentences ranging from five to eight years. Two others, a detective and a police lieutenant who helped orchestrate the cover-up, were sentenced to three and four years. (2015 NPR story) (see Katrina for expanded chronology)

April 4 Peace Love Art Activism

Sexual Abuse of Children

August 4, 2015: the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Milwaukee said that it would pay $21 million to more than 300 victims of clergy abuse in a settlement that would end a four-year bankruptcy proceeding.

The proposed deal, which would be part of a reorganization plan submitted to a bankruptcy court later this month, was to be reviewed by a judge overseeing the case at a Nov. 9 hearing. Archbishop Jerome Listecki called the settlement a “new Pentecost,” but an attorney for the victims, along with advocates for those abused by clergy, decried the settlement as a paltry amount. (March 1, 2016)

April 4 Peace Love Art Activism

Voting Rights

April 4, 2016: in Evenwell et al, v Abbott, Gvoernor of Texas, et al the US Supreme Court refused to change the way state and municipal voting districts were drawn, denying an effort by conservatives that could have increased the number of rural, mostly white districts at the expense of urban, largely Hispanic ones.

The “one person, one vote” case was among the most consequential of the high court’s term, and once again the court’s liberal wing won out. The ruling left intact Texas’ method — followed by all states — of drawing districts with roughly equal numbers of residents. (see Apr 22)

April 4 Peace Love Art Activism

Stop and Frisk Policy

April 4, 2016: Mayor Bill de Blasio announced that NYC had seen a significant drop in major crimes in the first quarter of 2016 with the fewest murders and shootings in its recorded history.

“We are the safest big city in America. This quarter’s statistics prove it once again,” de Blasio said.

In the first three months of the year, New York City saw a 21 percent drop in murders compared with the same period last year, a statistic de Blasio called “extraordinary.” The city also saw a 14 percent decrease in shootings compared with those months in 2015. (see November 17, 2019)

April 4 Peace Love Art Activism

Immigration History

Trump backs down

April 4, 2019: President Trump backed down from his threat to shut down the U.S. southern border.

Trump had issued the warning in a bid to curtail surging border crossings by asylum-seekers from Central America. Instead, on this date he gave Mexico “a one-year warning” to address his concerns about its handling of immigrants traveling through the country on the way to the US.

He also demanded that Mexico tamp down on the flow of drugs.

Motel 6 settlement

April 4, 2019: hotel chain Motel 6 agreed to pay $12 million to settle a lawsuit filed by the state of Washington after several locations gave information on thousands of guests to Immigration and Customs Enforcement without warrants.

Washington State Attorney General Bob Ferguson said that Motel 6 had shared the information of about 80,000 guests in the state from 2015 to 2017.

That led to targeted investigations of guests with Latino-sounding names, according to Ferguson. He said many guests faced questioning from ICE, detainment or deportation as a result of the disclosures.

Motel 6 also signed a legally binding commitment to no longer share guest information without a warrant at any of its locations nationwide, a practice the chain says it had already ended. (next IH,  see Apr 5)

April 4 Peace Love Art Activism

April 3 Peace Love Art Activism

BLACK HISTORY

Thomas Sims

April 3, 1851: in 1850, the U.S. Congress passed the Fugitive Slave Act (see September 18, 1850), which sought to force Northern officials to apprehend alleged runaway slaves and ensure their return to slavery in the South. Any official who would “hinder or prevent” the arrest of a runaway slave or “harbor or conceal” a fugitive slave faced a fine of $1000 or six months imprisonment. Captured fugitives – as well as the many free blacks who were erroneously captured under the law as runaway slaves – had no right to a trial by jury and could not defend themselves in court.

In early 1851, Thomas Sims, a slave from Savannah, Georgia, successfully escaped and fled to Boston, Massachusetts, where slavery had been abolished. Only a few weeks later, on April 3, 1851, a United States Marshal and members of the local police force arrested Sims and took him to the federal courthouse. Fearing riots or an escape attempt, authorities surrounded the courthouse with chains and a heavy police force.

The morning after his capture, attorneys for James Potter, the man who purported to own Sims, presented a complaint to the United States Commissioner. After a short proceeding in which several individuals testified that Sims was the slave who had escaped from Potter’s possession, the Commissioner issued an order remanding Sims back to Georgia. Sims sought review from both the Massachusetts Supreme Court and the United States District Court in Boston, but was unsuccessful. On April 12, Sims left Boston and was returned to Savannah, where he promptly received 39 lashes as punishment for seeking freedom. The marshals who escorted Sims to Georgia received praise and a public dinner for their service.

After the Emancipation Proclamation and in the midst of the Civil War, Thomas Sims again escaped from slavery in 1863, this time fleeing Vicksburg, Mississippi, to return to Boston. (BH, see June 21; SR, see Oct 1)

Smith v Allwright

April 3, 1944: the US Supreme Court overturned the Texas state law that authorized the Democratic Party to set its internal rules, including the use of white primaries. The court ruled that the state had allowed discrimination to be practiced by delegating its authority to the Democratic Party. This affected all other states where the party used the rule.

The Democrats had excluded minority voter participation by this means, another device for legal disfranchisement of blacks across the South beginning in the late 19th century.(Oyez article) (BH, see Apr 22; see June 10, 1946)

Thurgood Marshall

April 3, 1960: speaking at Bennett College, NAACP legal counsel Thurgood Marshall urged attendees not to compromise. The protests strengthened after an economic boycott of the two stores was organized by local leaders. (see Greensboro for expanded story)

Military desegregation

April 3, 1962: President Harry Truman had desegregated the U.S. armed services on July 26, 1948. His order  did not cover the Reserves or the National Guard, however. The Defense Department on this day corrected that problem with regard to the Reserves and ordered them racially integrated. National Guard units, however, were still not covered. Although some states began integrating National Guard units in 1947, full integration did not come until the 1964 Civil Rights Act.

The issue of whether the federal government or the states control state National Guard units arose again in 2013, when several states refused to comply with Pentagon policy that same-sex spouses of military personnel were entitled to military identification cards. (see Apr 9)

“B Day”

April 3, 1963: “B Day” (for Birmingham) marked the beginning of massive civil rights demonstrations protesting segregation in Birmingham, Alabama. The Birmingham campaign was Rev. Martin Luther King’s major project for 1963. King and other leaders of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) began a freedom campaign of nonviolent direct action to demand an end to segregation in Birmingham public facilities and employment discrimination in the city. The Birmingham protests became one of the iconic events of the civil rights movement, marked by the use of police dogs and fire hoses against civil rights demonstrators, on May 3, 1963. Images of the protests sparked national and international protest.

The demonstrations led directly to President John F. Kennedy’s nationally televised speech, on June 11, 1963, when he called for a federal civil rights bill. The bill eventually became law on July 2, 1964. (BH, see Apr 4; MLK, see Apr 12)

Viola Liuzzo

April 3, 1965: Mrs C L Wilkins, the mother of Collie Leory Wilkins, one of four men held in connection with the death of Mrs. Viola Liuzzo, told President Johnson that he made it impossible for her son to have a fair trial. (see Liuzzo for expanded story)

“I Have Been to the Mountaintop”

April 3, 1968: Martin Luther King spoke publicly for the last time. He delivered the “I Have Been to the Mountaintop.” speech at the Mason Temple (Church of God in Christ Headquarters) in Memphis, Tennessee. [Text] (see Ap4 4]

Rep John Conyers

April 3, 2001: Rep. John Conyers introduced the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act. It was referred to the Subcommittee on Crime. The bill died when it failed to advance in the committee. (next BH, see Apr 7; LGBTQ, see March 28, 2002; Byrd & MSM, see April 2, 2004)

DEATH PENALTY

see Anthony Ray Hinton for full story

April 3, 2015: (from the NYT) nearly 30 years after the Alabama authorities relied on analyses of a handgun and bullets to send him to death row, Anthony Ray Hinton was freed after experts undermined the state’s case.

Hinton’s release from the Jefferson County jail, where he was being held awaiting a new trial that was ordered last year, came close to three decades after a court-appointed lawyer mounted such a feeble defense that the United States Supreme Court ruled it was “constitutionally deficient.”

At the time of Mr. Hinton’s initial trial, his lawyer used a visually impaired civil engineer with little expertise in firearms to rebut prosecutors whose case hinged on linking the handgun found in Mr. Hinton’s home to a string of shootings in and around Birmingham.

Despite pleas by Mr. Hinton’s lawyers, who cited conclusions by newly enlisted specialists, the state refused for years to reconsider the evidence. And so it was not until Friday at 9:30 a.m., one day after a Circuit Court judge ordered his release, that Mr. Hinton exited the jail to hugs, tears and wails of “Thank you, Lord!”

“The State of Alabama let me down tremendously,” Mr. Hinton said in his first interview after his release. “I have no respect for the prosecutors, the judges. And I say that not with malice in my heart. I say it because they took 30 years from me.” (next death penalty, see Apr 29)

April 3 Peace Love Art Activism

see  April 3 Music et al for more

LSD

April 3, 1896:  Havelock Ellis was among the pioneering investigators of psychedelic drugs and the author of one of the first written reports to the public about an experience with mescaline, which he conducted on himself on April 3, 1896. He consumed a brew made of 3 Echinocacti (peyote) in the afternoon of Good Friday alone in his apartment in Temple, London.

During the experience, lasting for about 24 hours, he noted a plethora of extremely vivid, complex, colourful, pleasantly smelling hallucinations, consisting both of abstract geometrical patterns and definite objects such as butterflies and other insects. He published the account of the experience in The Contemporary Review in 1898 (Mescal: A New Artificial Paradise).

The article’s title alludes to an earlier work on the effects of mind-altering substances, the 1860 book Les Paradis artificiels by French poet Charles Baudelaire (containing descriptions of experiments with opium and hashish). (see November 16, 1938)

Elvis Presley

On April 3, 1956: NBC broadcast the Milton Berle Show live from the deck of the USS Hancock while it was docked at the Naval Air Base in San Diego, California. The show was one of the most popular programs on TV. This one starred Esther Williams, Berle’s comedy sidekick, Arnold Stang and the Harry James Orchestra featuring Buddy Rich.

More importantly, Elvis appeared. Afterwards the Elvis Presley Fan Club sent members a 12″ x 18 1/2″ TV/Concert double-sided announcement / promotional handbill from the Colonel to publicly thank Milton Berle for having Elvis perform on his program and to promote the upcoming concerts in San Diego.

Elvis played “Heartbreak Hotel,” “Money, Honey,” and “Blue Suede Shoes.” An estimated 25% of the Americans tuned in to hear him. (see Apr 4)

Howl

April 3, 1957: the  American Civil Liberties Union announced it would defend Allen Ginsberg’s book Howl against obscenity charges. (see June 3)

“Blue Moon”

April 3 – 23, 1961: written by Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart in 1934, “Blue Moon” by the Marcels #1 Billboard Hot 100.

The song had been a hit twice already in 1949 with by Billy Eckstine and Mel Tormé.

Over the years, “Blue Moon” has been covered by various artists including versions by Frank Sinatra, Billie Holiday, Elvis Presley, the Mavericks, Dean Martin, The Supremes, and Rod Stewart.

John Lennon

April 3, 1973: John Lennon  appealed of the order to leave the United States by May 21 and sought to show that the Justice Department’s legal arguments in the action against him had made it “not just a John-and-Yoko case” but one where “many cases hinge on the outcome.” (see “in May”)

April 3 Peace Love Art Activism

Vietnam

April 3, 1965: an American campaign against North Vietnam’s transport system began. In a month-long offensive, Navy and Air Force planes hit bridges, road and rail junctions, truck parks and supply depots. (see April 6)

April 3 Peace Love Art Activism

Technological Milestone

April 3, 1973: in New York City Martin Cooper made the first handheld cellular phone call . (2010 CNN article) (see December 17, 1976)

April 3 Peace Love Art Activism

Symbionese Liberation Army

April 3, 1974: In a fifth tape recording, sent to KSAN radio station 59 days after the kidnapping, Patty Hearst denounces her family and claims allegiance to the S.L.A. She takes the guerrilla name “Tania.” Her family claims she has been brainwashed. (see Patty Hearst for expanded story)

April 3 Peace Love Art Activism

Falklands War

April 3, 1982: the UN Security Council condemned the invasion (Telegraph chronology article) (see Apr 5)

April 3 Peace Love Art Activism

Iraq War II

April 3, 2003:  U.S. forces seized control of Bagdad’s Saddam International Airport. (see April 9)

April 3 Peace Love Art Activism

LGBTQ

April 3, 2009: the Iowa Supreme Court handed down a unanimous decision in favor of the freedom to marry in Varnum v. Brien. The ruling went into effect on April 27, and same-sex couples begin marrying. (see April 7)

April 3 Peace Love Art Activism

Environmental Issues

April 3, 2018:  the E.P.A. announced that it would reconsider and most likely roll back, Obama-era rules requiring automakers to hit ambitious emissions and mileage standards by 2025. The statement also implied that the Trump administration would take on California’s authority to set its own rules. (see May 1)

April 3 Peace Love Art Activism

Immigration History

April 3, 2018: the White House announced that President Trump planned to deploy the National Guard to the southern border to confront what it called a growing threat of illegal immigrants, drugs and crime from Central America after the president for the third consecutive day warned about the looming dangers of unchecked immigration. (see Apr 6)

April 3 Peace Love Art Activism

Crime and Punishment

Barr Expands Early Release of Inmates at Prisons Seeing More Coronavirus Cases

April 3, 2020: Attorney General William P. Barr ordered the Bureau of Prisons to expand the group of federal inmates eligible for early release and to prioritize those at three facilities where known coronavirus cases had grown precipitously, as the virus threatens to overwhelm prison medical facilities and nearby hospitals.

Barr wrote in a memo to Michael Carvajal, the director of the Bureau of Prisons, that he was intensifying the push to release prisoners to home confinement because “emergency conditions” created by the coronavirus have affected the ability of the bureau to function.

He directed the bureau to prioritize the release of prisoners from federal correctional institutions in Louisiana, Connecticut and Ohio, which comprise the bulk of the system’s 91 inmates and 50 staff members who have tested positive for the coronavirus. [NYT article] (next C & P, see May 24)

April 3 Peace Love Art Activism

Trump Impeachment

April 3, 2020:  NPR reported that President Trump fired Intelligence Community Inspector General Michael Atkinson.

In a letter to the Senate Intelligence committee chairs, Trump said he “no longer” has the fullest confidence in Atkinson. The letter said the removal will be effective “30 days from today.”

Atkinson first raised concerns about a complaint involving President Trump’s communications with Ukraine, which led to the impeachment inquiry. (next TI, see or see TIA for expanded chronology)

April 3 Peace Love Art Activism

Cannabis

April 3, 2023: in addition to the National Basketball Association (NBA) removing marijuana from its banned substances list for players—it also planned to let  players promote and invest in cannabis companies.

That was the latest detail that surfaced in reporting on the new seven-year collective bargaining agreement which was also expected to remove drug testing requirements for marijuana.

With respect to league’s broader marijuana reform, it would formally codify what has been the league’s decision to temporarily suspend cannabis testing for the past three seasons. [MM article] (next Cannabis, see  orsee CAC for expanded chronology)