Kenneth Cole

  "The only thing I look at is if you can educate people enough to be understanding and respect other people, that’s the key point," Rana Singh Sodhi said. A memorial for Balbir Singh Sodhi. Balbir Singh Sodhi and his brother Rana Singh Sodhi, both turbaned Sikhs living in Mesa, Arizona, began immediately experiencing harassment the day after the attacks on Sept. 11, 2001. Friends of their faith called them with similar experiences. Hoping to curb racism in the area and protect their loved ones, Rana Singh Sodhi said he and his brother swiftly set up meetings with local Sikh leaders. They planned a news conference around Sunday service in hopes of showing others what Sikhs look like and what they stand for. But days later, Frank Silva Roque, a white aircraft mechanic who said he was going to “shoot some towel-heads” as retaliation for the attacks, mistook Balbir Singh Sodhi to be Muslim and murdered him on Sept. 15, 2001 outside the gas station he ran. “That person, he killed...

  State Sen. Lora Reinbold was banned by Alaska Airlines for refusing to wear a mask. State Sen. Lora Reinbold on March 12 in Juneau, Alaska. A state senator in Alaska says she cannot reach the capital of Juneau for senate votes because she was banned by Alaska Airlines for refusing to follow the federal transportation mask mandate. Lora Reinbold, a Republican state senator representing Eagle River, a suburb of Anchorage, was notified by Alaska Airlines in April that she is indefinitely banned for flouting the federal mask mandate that requires airline passengers to wear a face covering, according to an airline spokesperson. Reinbold made the procedural request Thursday to be excused from lawmaking business at the state capitol during a future session, the Anchorage Daily News reported from Juneau, because her only air route from Anchorage to the capital — a Delta flight that connected in Seattle — is seasonal and ends Sept. 11. Reinbold's transit situation is as unique as the capi...

  Gabriel Garcia's lawyers say the tracking device is also a safety hazard for the business owner. Attorneys for a former Army captain charged with breaching the Capitol on Jan. 6 are asking that his ankle monitor be removed because its random beeping could lead to embarrassing interactions with prospective business clients. The GPS device also is a safety hazard, said lawyers for Gabriel Augustin Garcia, a Florida man who was arrested in January. “The monitor has randomly started beeping loudly around potential clients, immediately followed by an embarrassing phone call from pretrial services asking for his exact location,” the lawyers said in court documents filed earlier this month. “The monitor around his ankle is unsafe and a work hazard; he climbs ladders and the GPS monitor often gets stuck on the next ladder step when climbing; one time, he almost fell off a ladder.” Garcia owns a Miami roofing business, Supreme Aluminum Florida, that employs 14 workers, the lawyers said in...