Hall

NEW YORK — Mayor David N. Dinkins, battered by the budget crisis and seeking to project a message of personal accountability, invited ordinary citizens to his office Monday with suggestions on how to better life in the city.

Hundreds of people started lining up before dawn with complaints and ideas–including sending a squad of cowboys and cowgirls through poverty-stricken areas to preach AIDS-awareness and anti-drug messages, offering centralized computer access to municipal information, encouraging volunteerism and sacrificing a day’s pay a year to help the city.

After being pre-screened in front of City Hall, people in line were funneled through a metal detector to chat with the heads of appropriate agencies. A far smaller group met the mayor himself.

Was it a sincere search for innovation or a folksy public relations exercise? “I’d say it was 50-50,” said Michael Attisano, who emerged from the mayor’s office after suggesting a consolidation of the city’s separate housing and transit police forces. “I think he is going to get a lot of good ideas today.”

“Even now, there are those who see this as some sort of a gimmick,” Dinkins said. “It really is a desire to convey to the people of our city that this government really cares about them.”

The mayor’s invitation for ordinary citizens to meet with him came during a major televised address on July 30 that was designed to reassure both the city and the New York State Emergency Financial Control Board, created during the great fiscal crisis of the 1970s. The review board has the power under certain circumstances to seize financial control of the city.

In his speech, the mayor laid out a mixture of money-saving ideas, including ordering the heads of all city agencies, except for the police and fire departments, to give up their chauffeurs.

The mayor announced that he would not accept a pay raise for at least a year and set aside Monday as the day when New Yorkers with concerns and innovative ideas could come to see him.

And come they did. Coreen Brown of Brooklyn, arrived before dawn with a complaint about a sewer problem. When she emerged from the mayor’s office after waiting in line for hours, she admitted that she had broken into tears and Dinkins had given her a tissue.

“I forgot everything I wanted to say. I was going to invite him to my house,” Brown said.

Others remembered to deliver their messages.

Irving Scharf, a store owner from Brooklyn, suggested among other things that the mayor set up a lending-library system of math videotapes so children who miss classes because of illness or those who need extra credit can increase their learning skills.

“I am not here to berate the mayor. I am here to encourage him,” said Thelma Williams of the Bronx, who pushed for increased volunteerism and the sacrifice of a day’s pay by New Yorkers to help the city.

Carlos Foster, a rodeo producer who also lives in the Bronx, arrived wearing cowboy garb and proposed riding into poorer areas of the city with 10 cowboys and four cowgirls to preach against substance abuse and for safe sex.

Hulan Jack Jr., the son of a former Manhattan borough president in the 1960s, suggested putting all city data in central computer depositories for quick access.

Jack said that Dinkins listened and then had a municipal computer expert deliver a 30-second capsule of what already was being done. “Then we talked another minute and a half, and that was it,” he explained after leaving the mayor’s inner office.

The Dinkins invitation to New Yorkers brought out a summer Santa Claus, complete with red suit, and a woman dressed as the Easter Bunny. Police looked on bemusedly, except when Tasia Figueroa arrived with her 11-foot python, Shorty, draped around her neck.

The mayor’s staff, after quick consultation with police, asked that the snake be parked with Figueroa’s fiance while she went into City Hall to voice her municipal license complaint.

Blake Griffin, Candace Parker, Jamal Crawford, the 1996 U.S. Olympic women’s basketball team, Bruce Pearl and Kelvin Sampson were among the first-time nominees announced Friday that will be considered for enshrinement into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame next year.

Also among the notable first-time nominees: Elena Delle Donne and Joe Johnson as players, and Mike D’Antoni as a contributor.

Nearly 200 players and teams were on the list unveiled by the Hall, including some finalists that fell short of enshrinement in the 2025 class — Jennifer Azzi, who was a member of that 1996 U.S. women’s team that won gold at the Atlanta Games. Azzi is a nominee again as an individual this year.

“The candidates for the Class of 2026 have each left an indelible impact on the game of basketball,” said John L. Doleva, president and CEO of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. “Through defining performances, influential leadership, and achievements that helped elevate the sport on the national and international stage, this year’s ballot recognizes those whose legacy continues to shape how the game is played, coached, and celebrated.”

Finalists are typically announced at NBA All-Star weekend in February. The 2026 class will be unveiled April 4 at the NCAA Final Four, with enshrinement weekend Aug. 14 and 15 at the Mohegan Sun in Uncasville, Conn., and at Symphony Hall in Springfield, Mass.

Other finalists a year ago who are back on the ballot include Gonzaga coach Mark Few; NBA legends Marques Johnson and Buck Williams; and Jerry Welsh — who coached Potsdam in upstate New York to NCAA Division III titles in 1981 and 1986.

Molly Bolin, the first player signed by the Women’s Professional Basketball League, is back as well, as is former Serbian professional player and longtime coach Dusan Ivkovic — already a FIBA Hall of Famer.

Doc Rivers, the only NBA coach with more than 1,000 wins who isn’t yet in the Hall of Fame, is a nominee again, as are Amar’e Stoudemire and legendary broadcaster Marv Albert.

Some teams that will also be considered include the 1936, 1972 and 1976 U.S. Olympic men’s teams; the 1982 Cheyney State team coached by C. Vivian Stringer that lost to Louisiana Tech in the inaugural NCAA Division I women’s national championship game; the Kentucky Wesleyan men’s teams that won three Division II national titles in a four-year span during the late 1960s; and the 1963 Loyola Chicago men’s team that won the NCAA title and broke racial barriers in the sport by using as many as four Black starters.

CBS News is moving forward with a series of town hall and debate telecasts with a major advertiser backing them, the first major initiative under editor-in-chief Bari Weiss.

The news division announced Thursday it will have a series of one hour single issue programs under the title “Things That Matter” done in collaboration with the digital platform the Free Press.

CBS News parent Paramount acquired the Free Press which was co-founded by Weiss, in September.

Bank of America will be a major sponsor of the series.

The town hall participants include Vice President JD Vance, who will discuss the state of the country and the future of the Republican Party, OpenAI Chief Executive Sam Altman on artificial intelligence and Maryland Gov. Wes Moore on the future of the Democratic Party.

The debate subjects include “Should Gen Z Believe in the American Dream?,” “Does America Need God? and “Has Feminism Failed Women?” The debaters include journalist Liz Plank, New York Times opinion writer Ross Douthat, and Isabel Brown, a representative for the right-wing organization Turning Point USA.

No dates have been set, but the programs will air in the current 2025-26 TV season which ends in May.

CBS tested the town hall format Saturday with a telecast that featured Weiss sitting down with Erika Kirk, the widow of slain right-wing activist Charlie Kirk. The program taped in front of an invited audience and averaged 1.9 million viewers according to Nielsen data, on par with what CBS entertainment programming has delivered in the 8 p.m. hour in the current TV season.

The town hall format where a news subject takes questions from audience members has long been a staple of cable news channels. Broadcast networks have typically only used it with presidential candidates.

“Things That Matter” is less of a play for ratings than a symbol of the new vision for CBS News under Weiss.

“We believe that the vast majority of Americans crave honest conversation and civil, passionate debate,” Weiss said in a statement. “This series is for them. In a moment in which people believe that truth is whatever they are served on their social media feed, we can think of nothing more important than insisting that the only way to get to the truth is by speaking to one another.”

Weiss hosted the town hall with Kirk. CBS News has not announced the on-air talent for the “Things That Matter” series.

Weiss was recruited by Paramount Chief Executive David Ellison to pull the news division towards the political center where he believes most of the country stands.

The Free Press gained popularity for its criticism of DEI, so-called woke policies, and strong support of Israel. The site is often described as “heterodox” and has been critical of numerous actions of the Trump administration. But its biggest fans tend to be in the business community who disdain high taxes and big government.

The return of Philip Rivers is becoming a dadgum reality.

The Indianapolis Colts have added the 44-year-old quarterback to their active roster and plan to start him in Sunday’s game against the Seattle Seahawks, according to multiple reports.

Rivers, an eight-time Pro Bowl selection and Hall of Fame semifinalist, has not played since calling it a career after the 2020 season. The father of 10 — who is also a grandfather — had been coaching football at St. Michael Catholic High in Fairhope, Ala., where his son is a four-star quarterback recruit.

The Colts came calling after starter Daniel Jones suffered a season-ending torn Achilles tendon last Sunday and rookie backup Riley Leonard sustained an undisclosed knee injury. Leonard was a full participant in practice all week and did not have an injury designation Friday, indicating he will be available to play. But Rivers is set to start for a Colts team jockeying with the Rams for the top seed in the NFC.

In deciding to add Rivers to their active roster, the Colts will reset the quarterback’s Hall of Fame eligibility clock because the Chargers legend has to have been retired for at least five years to be considered. Rivers made it clear this week that that’s not a concern.

“It’s a real honor to be mentioned with those other 25 guys, certainly,” Rivers said of being named a semifinalist. “But I’m not holding my breath on that. I hadn’t been counting down the years. With all respect to the Hall, if one day I can be part of that group, it will be special, no question about it. But the extension of that timeline, if that comes to be, was not a factor in my thinking.”