Author: Staff

Former President Barack Obama and former first lady Michelle Obama returned to the White House Wednesday, reuniting with President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden to unveil their official portraits and introduce the artists behind them. The ceremony returned to the White House after a 10-year hiatus.

For his portrait, the former president selected Robert McCurdy as the artist. McCurdy, an artist and photographer known for his hyperrealistic paintings of several well-known figures, including Toni Morrison, the Dalai Lama and Jeff Bezos. The portrait unveiled Wednesday of a photo-realistic image of Obama in a black suit with a grey tie against a stark white background, was painted from photographs that McCurdy took of Obama. Former President Obama said: “When future generations walk these halls and look up at these portraits, I hope they get a better and honest sense of who Michelle and I were and I hope they leave with a deeper understanding that if we could make it here, maybe they can too. They can do remarkable things too.”

For her portrait, the former first lady selected Sharon Sprung as the artist. Sprung also worked off photographs she took at the White House to paint Obama in a blue dress, seated on a sofa in the Red Room. The former first lady said the day was not about her or the images, but illustrating what is possible in America:  “And as much as some folks might want us to believe that that story has lost some of its shine, that division and discrimination and everything else might have dimmed its light, I still know, deep in my heart, that what we share as my husband continues to say is so much bigger than what we don’t. Our democracy is so much stronger than our differences.”

President Biden said of Obama: “There are a few people that I’ve ever known with more integrity, decency, and moral courage than Barack Obama. Mr. President, nothing could’ve prepared me better or more to become President of the United States than being by your side for eight years and I mean that from the bottom of my heart.” 

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Authorities have confirmed that an American woman was killed in a shark attack while snorkeling with her family in the Bahamas on Tuesday afternoon.  According to the Royal Bahamas Police Force, the 58-year-old woman — along with four members of her family from the Lake Erie area of Pennsylvania — were on a snorkeling tour in the waters northwest of Rose Island when the victim was attacked by a bull shark shortly before 3 p.m. local time. The victim and her family had arrived in the Bahamas on Tuesday morning via Royal Caribbean’s cruise ship Harmony of the Seas.

Family members and tour operators attempted to rescue the woman but were unsuccessful. The victim suffered serious injuries to the left side of her body and was transported by the tour boat to nearby Fort Montagu on the eastern shore of New Providence island, where she was pronounced dead by emergency medical responders.

Royal Caribbean confirmed in a statement that the woman was a guest on their seven-night cruise, which set sail from Port Canaveral, Florida on Sunday. According to the cruise line, the victim and her family were on an “independent shore excursion” in Nassau when attacked by a shark and succumbed to her injuries at a local hospital. The company said in a statement:  “Royal Caribbean is providing support and assistance to the guest’s loved ones during this difficult time.”

The victim was identified by her employer as Caroline DiPlacido, project coordinator for the Office of Community and Government Relations at Gannon University in Erie, Pennsylvania. The university said in a statement: “Caroline was a powerful presence of kindness and friendship to colleagues, students, and the wider community and cherished many family ties to Gannon. The news is devastating, and she will be missed.” DiPlacido is survived by her husband and three children, according to the school statement.

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