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After years of service as a military nurse in the naval Marine Corps, Los Angeles, California-resident Rhonda Jackson became one of the 37,000 retired veterans in the U.S. who are currently experiencing homelessness — roughly eight percent of the entire homeless population.

“I was living in a one-bedroom apartment with no heat for two years,” Jackson said. “The Department of Veterans Affairs was doing everything they could to help but I was not in a good situation.”

One day in 2019, Jackson felt a sudden sense of hope for a better living arrangement when she caught wind of the ongoing construction of Veteran’s Village in Carson, California — a 51-unit affordable housing development with one, two and three-bedroom apartments and supportive services to residents through a partnership with U.S.VETS.

Her feelings of hope quickly blossomed into a vision for her future when she learned that Veteran’s Village was taking applications for residents to move in later that year after construction was complete.

“I was entered into a lottery and I just said to myself, ‘Okay, this is going to work out,'” Jackson said. “The next thing I knew, I had won the lottery — in more ways than one.”

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Communities like Veteran’s Village are contributing to the national decline in homeless veterans. According to The Department of Housing and Urban Development, 793 fewer veterans experienced homelessness between 2018 and 2019.

That drop continued a steady decline over the past decade, as the number of veterans experiencing homelessness has fallen nearly 50 percent since 2009.

National Equity Fund (NEF), a nonprofit LIHTC syndicator and partner to Capital One, brought Veteran’s Village to the bank, which responded by providing a $14.3 million construction loan and $15.6 million long-term equity investment through the purchase of low-income housing tax credits.

Courtesy of Thomas Safran & Associates

“Everyone deserves safe, secure, stable housing — especially the heroes that protect our rights and freedoms,” says David Musial, a Capital One Senior Director of the Bank’s Community Finance team, which specializes in financing affordable housing. “We are honored to be able to support communities like Veteran’s Village as stable affordable housing is fundamental to physical and financial health and access to opportunity.”

Veteran’s Village strives to be more than just an affordable housing development. Its staff functions as a support system to help residents navigate their individual situations to ensure that each resident is equipped with the tools they need to thrive.

“Through the support of Capital One, we were able to provide much-needed housing for U.S. Veterans,” said Amy Hyde of Thomas Safran & Associates, an affordable housing development and management organization whose properties include Veteran’s Village. “Our goal is to enrich the lives of the people who reside in our buildings and Capital One’s funding is helping us do just that,” Hyde said.

For Jackson, that goal is realized through the sense of community throughout Veteran’s Village.

“It’s home for people who served their country and want to serve each other,” Jackson said. “We take care of each other and we look out for each other. We’re a family here.”

In addition to supporting housing for veterans, Capital One supports affordable housing for residents throughout the Los Angeles area, including Vista Grande Court, an affordable development that supports people over 60 years of age and Palo Verde Apartments, which includes 49 affordable units with 25 reserved for formerly homeless veterans and their families.

Capital One’s support to affordable housing communities in Los Angeles comes as part of its larger Capital One Impact Initiative, an initial $200 million, multi-year commitment to advancing socioeconomic mobility through advocating for an inclusive society, building thriving communities and creating financial tools that enrich lives.

Jackson said that while she is grateful for her living arrangement at Veteran’s Village, there is a long road ahead in ensuring that every veteran has access to stable housing.

“I pray that there will be more communities like this built because there are so many of my veteran brothers and sisters on the streets that don’t even realize their living situation doesn’t have to be the way it currently is,” Jackson said.

As if the GOAT debate in basketball wasn’t enough, Tom Brady and his seven Super Bowl titles has reignited the conversation about which athletes have a claim to the throne regardless of the sport. Names like Muhammad Ali, Tiger Woods, Usain Bolt, Serena Williams, Michael Phelps, etc. all join the likes of Brady and Michael Jordan when we talk about the most transcendent sports figures in history.

Inevitably, there are names that get overlooked in these discussions. Once you start cutting a wide enough swath, the criteria gets murkier and murkier, and before you know it, the conversation has been knocked completely off its axis and sent spiraling into the cosmos.

Thankfully, Bill Russell has come to bring us all back down to Earth with a simple yet profound photo. After a fan tweeted a pic of Brady and Jordan showing off their rings — along with the caption that only the two of them belong at the table — Russell responded with the iconic photo of himself wearing all 11 of the championships rings he won with the Celtics.

Your getting closer @nba @nfl @BleacherReport @SLAMonline @espn https://t.co/cVAwvSt0y7 pic.twitter.com/Oll2mvW1vg

— TheBillRussell (@RealBillRussell) February 12, 2021

It’s quite the mic-drop, and just another reason to love Bill Russell, regardless of how you feel about the GOAT debate. Critics are quick to point out that Russell played in an era when the level of skill and athleticism couldn’t even begin to match what we see today and a league that was much smaller and less competitive. Still, none of that should diminish his incredible accomplishments during his career, and Russell himself certainly isn’t about to let us forget.

Fans were overjoyed with Rita Ora returned in 2020 to share the bouyant track “How To Be Lonely.” But rather than ushering in a new era of music, the song ended up being a stand alone single. Now, Ora is back once again, this time dropping the four-track collaborative EP Bang. To celebrate the project’s release, the singer shared a short film visualizing a snippet from each track.

Bang is a joint effort between Ora and Kazakhstani producer Imanbek. But it also boasts features from Gunna, David Guetta, and Brazilian Argentinian singer Khea, who has established himself as a leading voice in the country’s trap scene. About the collaborative EP, Ora described it as a “global project” in a statement to Apple Music.

“It was like finding pen pals,” she said. “You had me in London, Imanbek in Kazakhstan, Gunna in Los Angeles, KHEA in Argentina and David Guetta, well, who knows where David is at any one time. It’s a global project that went beyond language and geographical boundaries but somehow stayed lovely and intimate.”

The singer may have recorded the EP in lockdown, but she didn’t exactly adhere to the restrictions put in place during quarantine. The UK singer was reprimanded by fans after she threw a 30-person birthday party at a restaurant in London, which she ended up reportedly being fined about $12,000 for.

Watch Rita Ora’s Bang short film above. Bang is out now via Atlantic. Get it here.

Rita Ora is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Young MA had a prolific year in 2020 despite the circumstances. The rapper followed up her 2019 debut album Herstory In The Making with the quarantine EP Red Flu. Now, the rapper is returning to tease even more music with her first track of the year, “Off The Yak.”

The rapper shared an opulent video alongside her “Off The Yak” single. The visual sees her flexing the finer things in life while spitting verses about making it big without being signed to a label. “I just stay loyal to money and music and all the guys that I be with / But back to the real, just bought me a ‘vette and still ain’t signed to a deal,” she raps.

Young MA may be unsigned, but that hasn’t stopped her from forming friendships with some iconic rappers. Most recently, Young MA earned a cosign from Eminem after she featured on his Music To Be Murdered By track “Unaccommodating.” But it took Eminem a few listens to catch some of the clever wordplay she used in a verse.

“I’m still catching [bars],” he said, gushing about Young MA’s talent. “When you get your punchlines or however your writing process is, you can always tell somebody who has studied the game and who is a student of it… Your punchlines don’t sound like setups, they sound like punchline after punchline after punchline. That requires a lot of skill and a lot of thought.”

Watch Young MA’s “Off The Yak” video above.

Donald Glover doesn’t have any posts currently visible on Instagram, but he used the social media to break some news of his own anyway on Friday night. The Atlanta star and musician revealed in a four-part Instagram story that he’s bringing a show to Amazon with Fleabag and Killing Eve creator Phoebe Waller-Bridge.

Waller-Bridge, who isn’t on any social media platforms that she’ll reveal publicly, let Glover do the promotional work on his also-defunct Childish Gambino Instagrm page, posting a pair of videos and two text messages that revealed the pair have a show coming to Amazon Prime in 2022. The video starts with Glover close to the screen, then backing away to begin what appears to be flossing.

The video then cuts to a bespeckled Waller-Bridge, who takes off her glasses as Paul Anka’s Put Your Head On My Shoulder starts to play. She then gets up, moves to the doorway behind her and leans against it as the song slowly starts to change.

From there is an abrupt cut to two text screens, one that reveals it was, indeed, Waller-Bridge in the video, and that she and Glover are working on an Amazon show together.

The head of Amazon Studios later put the entire video up in a post on her own Instagram page.

It’s unclear what the show will be about, as the story didn’t contain any actual words. But the title Mr. + Mrs Smith is the same as the 2005 action comedy Mr & Mrs. Smith, which starred Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie. Variety on Friday described the project as a “new spin” on the film. Judging by the work Glover and Waller-Bridge have done in the past and the clues from the video — Glover nearly flossing and Waller-Bridge leaning against a doorframe — well, your guess is really as good as any right now.

An aerial camera caught a delightful sight off the coast of St. Petersburg, Florida last week, as a small pod of dolphins swam through a huge aggregation of manatees. As the dolphins make their way through the shallow waters, we see around 170 manatees just chilling, as manatees do. Then we get to see the dolphins show off their playfulness, as dolphins do.

The marine mammal mingling is particularly meaningful knowing how the manatee has struggled for survival.

170 Manatees and Some Jumping Dolphins in St Petersburg, FL

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Florida manatees became protected under the Endangered Species Act in 1973, when their numbers were estimated to be between 800 and 1,000. By 1991, their population was still less than 1,300. But dedicated conservation and rehabilitation efforts in recent decades have increased that number to around 6,300. Manatees in Florida currently make up around half of the world’s total manatee population.

The increase in numbers does come with a couple of caveats, however. Manatee populations are notoriously difficult to count accurately, so estimates are just that. The manatee was downgraded from “endangered” to “threatened” in 2017, but some advocates said that designation is misleading because the threats to its survival are still just as much of a problem.

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The biggest threats manatees face are collisions with watercraft, habitat loss and degradation, fishing gear entanglement, human harassment, exposure to red tide, and climate change. The loss of the manatee’s warm-water habitat is a vital long-term threat to the species, as it can’t tolerate cold waters. Traditionally, they rely on natural springs to stay warm during cold weather, but urban and agricultural development has impacted many of Florida’s natural artesian springs.

However, as far as conservation and rehabilitation goes, Florida manatees are a success story. Many groups, both within the government and non-profit sectors, work diligently to advocate for the protection of Florida manatees and educate people on how they can help. Seeing this large aggregation of manatees from above is a heartening reminder of how important that work has been.

The footage was captured by See Through Canoe, a company that sells transparent canoes and that shares videos of animal encounters off the Florida coast. They say that dolphins and manatees often swim in the same waters, but rarely interact directly. This summer, they shared a video of a small pod of dolphins actually seeming to play together—a phenomenon they say they’ve not seen in 30 years of observing these animals.

The Odd Pod. Dolphins and a Manatee Swimming and Playing Together

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As human activity continues to impact the well-being and survival of creatures like the manatee, we can use videos like this as inspiration and incentive to implement more environmentally responsible habits. Seeing what we’re saving by pushing for ecologically sound policies and practices can go a long way toward keeping the momentum going.

As if spending all week getting dragged for his tweets wasn’t enough, Ted Cruz showed up to Donald Trump’s impeachment trail today with a brand new haircut that opened up a whole other avenue of comedy for dunking on the Florida senator. Social media had a field day with Cruz’s new look as folks tried to figure out what exactly Ted is shooting for with his new… mullet? We’re going with mullet.

This isn’t the first time Cruz has stumbled into a hair disaster. While joining his fellow Republicans in mocking COVID-19 restrictions during the start of the pandemic, Cruz visited a Dallas hair salon after the owner was imprisoned for contempt of court and violating a state-mandated restraining order by refusing to close her business. Cruz supported her defiance and stopped in for a not-so-stellar haircut, which also got him roundly mocked.

You can see the reactions to Cruz’s latest hair disaster below:

Cruz’s new haircut is just the latest in a long series of embarrassing moments. Cruz has been ruthlessly dragged on Twitter for mocking the NBA’s choice of Black Americans to salute during Black History Month, badmouthing Princess Leia to defend Gina Carano, trying to look smart by incorrectly citing Shakespeare, and tweeting about breast milk. And that’s just from this week! Cruz also suffered a humiliating moment when Cary Elwes tore into the senator by letting him know that the entire cast and crew of The Princess Bride have “nothing but rabid contempt” for him. As for why that message would be particularly stinging, The Princess Bride is Cruz’s all-time favorite movie. That’s gotta hurt.

Jay-Z has been making a lot of business endeavor as of late. The rapper recently launched his own brand of cannabis and signed on to a new at-home workout startup. But now, he’s linking up with Twitter and Square CEO Jack Dorsey for an innovative project. The two billionaires are set out on a new mission: to make Bitcoin the official currency of the internet.

Jay-Z and Dorsey have both invested $23 million in Bitcoin to start the development of cryptocurrency in other countries. Dorsey was the first to share the news, which he of course did on his Twitter page. “JAY-Z and I are giving 500 BTC to a new endowment named ₿trust to fund #Bitcoin development, initially focused on teams in Africa & India,” he wrote. “It‘ll be set up as a blind irrevocable trust, taking zero direction from us.” Dorsey also added that they are looking for three board members and attached an application form to his tweet.

Dorsey and Jay-Z’s new Bitcoin program wouldn’t be the first time the two billionaires have worked together. Back in December, Bloomberg reported that Dorsey’s company Square was in talks to buy Jay-Z’s Tidal streaming platform. Purchasing the platform would be a way for Square to “diversify” their assets. It would also be potentially beneficial to Tidal, who have not released their year-end figures since reporting they had 3 million paying customers back in 2016.

Check out Dorsey’s announcement above.

With Valentine’s Day coming up this weekend, we felt like it was high time to talk about the Clover Club cocktail. Yes, this is a pink drink, but it’s also one of the most iconic cocktails of the 1800s and the Philadelphia cocktail scene back in those days. Plus, it’s one of my favorite sour variations across the board.

All suitable reasons for you to make this your first-ever homemade pink cocktail.

The key to the Clover Club is raspberry. You need to build raspberry into the body of the drink via raspberry syrup. While you can make your own, you can also buy a bottle right here for $10. You can use the extra syrup to pour over ice cream, make raspberry sodas, or construct more Clover Clubs. You can also add dry vermouth, but that threatens to take away from the beautiful simplicity of the drink.

The rest is a pretty standard sour variation that’s very shaken. The most technical part is that you’ll need to use a little elbow grease on the shake to get that egg white nice and frothy (you don’t really need to dry shake this one first). Other than that, you’ll just need to squeeze and strain some fresh lemon juice, making the Clover Club easy to master over a weekend at home.

Let’s get shaking!

Clover Club

Ingredients:

• 3-oz. gin
• 1/2-oz. fresh lemon juice
• 1/2-oz. raspberry syrup
• 1 large egg white
• Fresh raspberries
• Ice

Two things, use a standard dry gin. You don’t want something overly wrought in the base as it can overwhelm the softer nuances of the cocktail.

Also, please use fresh, ethically raised eggs. They taste and froth better, if nothing else.

What You’ll Need:

• Cocktail glass, coupe, or Nick and Nora glass
• Cocktail shaker
• Cocktail strainer
• Jigger
• Juicer
• Sieve
• Cocktail stick

Method:

• Pre-chill your glass either overnight in the freezer or with fresh ice while mixing.
• Add gin, fresh lemon juice, egg white, and raspberry syrup to the shaker.
• Top the shaker with ice, affix the lid, and shake vigorously until the shaker is very well-chilled and completely frosted over (once the shaker fills too cold to go on holding it, shake for another ten seconds).
• Strain the glass into the pre-chill glass (remove ice first if needed).
• Let the cocktail rest for a minute so that a layer of whipped egg white creates a layer on the top of the cocktail.
• Spear three raspberries and balance the stick on the edge of the glass.
• Serve.

Bottom Line:

This is one of the drinks that makes you say “ahhhhh…” from the first sip. The raspberry body of the drink offers a bright-yet-slightly-earthy foundation. The botanicals from the gin just peek in through the fruit and citrus. The egg white turns into pure silk, making this a velvety sip.

It’s so refreshing. Light, yet full of strong flavors.

The best part is using your raspberries as little bowls to scoop out a little of the cocktail and egg white. You pop that raspberry into your mouth with the cocktail filling the cavity and you have a texture and flavor burst that’s tough to match. Hopefully a nice start to a very sensuous weekend.

Barleywine isn’t what it seems. First of all, it’s definitely not wine. Crack one open expecting a drink made from fermented grapes and you’ll be very disappointed. The moniker comes from its alcohol content. Barleywine, like all beers, is made with malts, yeast, water, and hops, but the ABVs are more like wine-ish — typically in the 6-12% range.

There are two main styles of barleywine on the market these days. The first is the American barley wine, which has a bit of extra bite from hops. This is because Americans love hops almost as much as we love apple pie, the designated hitter rule, and Easy Cheese. The other version is the English style. It’s known to be much less bitter with a much fruitier, maltier flavor profile.

Due to its high alcohol content, and rich, malty flavor notes is perfectly suited for winter drinking. So we asked a handful of bartenders to tell us their go-to barleywines to enjoy this February.

Off Color Bare Bear

Hayden Miller, head bartender at Bodega Taqueria y Tequila in Miami

Off Color Bare Bear.

It’s perfect and loaded with malt and a light tannic flavor from juniper berries. Too easy to drink. Helps with the relentless gray skies that make Chicago winters so tough.

Average Price: $11.74 for a six-pack

Side Project Anabasis

Andy Printy, beverage director at Chao Baan in St. Louis

Anabasis from Side Project in St Louis has to be one of the best barleywine approaches of all time.

Aged for 18 months in ex- Blanton’s bourbon barrels, this one is as complex as they come. It’s rich, full of caramel and toffee, and finishes with a touch of bourbon and oak.

Average Price: $20 for a 750ml bottle

Coniston Brewing NO.9

Christopher Wright, bartender at Don Camillo Tuscan Cuisine in Corinthe, Texas

Coniston Brewing NO.9 is a barley wine worthy of your palate for several reasons. Imagine opening a bottle of toffee and caramel accented liquid apples with a hint of deep malt and marzipan. This barleywine carries a warming sensation when enjoyed on a cold night, and offers an 8.5% ABV which is can’t be overlooked but isn’t quite the overwhelming 12% that some barley wines carry.

Average Price: $4.49 for a 16-ounce bottle

Epic Brewing Whiskey Barrel Aged Barleywine

Kimberly Basnight, lead bartender at Fins Bar in Nashville

Epic Brewing Barleywine is one of my favorites this winter because of its caramel hints and sherry-like undertones. It’s a perfect winter sipper.

Average Price: $20 for a 22 ounce bottle

Surly Fourteen Barrel

Joan Percival, bartender at Proof Whiskey and Craft Cocktails in Omaha

Surly Fourteen Barrel. They used Parker’s Heritage barrels and you really get the whiskey character. Lots of vanilla and baking spice, but there’s also an unexpected little zing of hops in there too.

Average Price: $11.99 for a 16 ounce can

Sierra Nevada Bigfoot

Sire Negri, lead mixologist at Havana Beach Bar & Grill, located at The Pearl Hotel in Rosemary Beach, Florida

Barleywines are perfect for the winter. One of the best this year is Sierra Nevada Bigfoot. This hefty ABV barleywine shines through with deep delicious notes of plum and currants. Brewed by Sierra Nevada since 1983, this release has become one of the brand’s classics and is sought out by beer nerds around the world.

While not being released in 2021, be sure to keep an eye out for Sierra Nevada’s barrel-aged version for a true treat.

Average Price: $11.99 for a six-pack

Lagunitas Olde Gnarlywine

Andres Rairan, lead bartender at High Tide Beach Bar & Grill in Miami

I must admit this category is not one of my strongest and I have not had many experiences with barley wine. I have tried one I did not hate, it was Lagunitas Olde Gnarlywine. It tastes pretty smooth and had interesting flavors such as toffee and caramel that meshed well together.

Writing this makes me want to start trying more barley wine to see if I can get behind this as much as some of the other bartenders.

Average Price: $4.49 for a 22 ounce bottle

Local Relic Sweet Potato Barleywine

Anastacio Garcia Liley. bartender at Axe and Oak Whiskey House in Colorado Springs, Colorado

The sweet potato barley wine at Local Relic Brewery is amazing vanilla and marshmallow with roasted sweet potato. During cold Colorado days, this beer feeds my soul at 12% ABV. It’s sure to get you feeling “real nice.”

The cool thing about this brewery is there are no flagships, so they brew over 200 different beers a year.

Average Price: $15 for a 22 ounce bottle

Anchorage Brewing A Deal With The Devil

Jane Danger, national mixologist for Pernod-Ricard USA

Anchorage Brewing Company makes a world-class barleywine, A Deal With The Devil.

As the name implies this is a seriously flavorful beverage. With little to no alcohol burn, this barleywine is great for first-timers. Fully delivers on the dark berries and stone fruits with waves of chocolate, vanilla, oak, burnt sugar, and cognac. Awesome with hearty winter meals or on its own for dessert with a bit of dark chocolate.

Average Price: $37 for a 750ml bottle

The Bruery Saule

Allen Lancaster, master cocktail craftsman at The Bar at The Spectator Hotel in Charleston, South Carolina

The Bruery Saule. Bourbon barrel aging lends dark fruit notes with a rich chocolatey boldness that fills your soul. Drinking one is truly a rich, memorable, flavor experience.

Average Price: $28.99 for a 750ml bottle

Real Ale Sisyphus

Aaron Hanson, bartender at Casa Santo Stefano in Tampa

Sisyphus from Real Ale is in the top tier of craft beers the hop character makes lovely briny bouquet. If you ever get a chance to try it, don’t miss the opportunity. You won’t be disappointed.

Average Price: $15 for a 4-pack