New England Sun-Times

Cassell Brooks, a Bronx father who went out to look for his son, Kemar Brooks, early Friday made a horrifying discovery: his son, murdered in a park, with a tennis racket in his hand. Police are investigating the slaying of a 14-year-old boy who was found shot in the back of the head in a Bronx park early Friday, police said. The teen was found with a tennis racket laying near his body. The body of Kemar Brooks was discovered by his father who went looking for him after the boy didn’t come home Thursday night. Emergency personnel said they got a 911 call reporting someone had gone into cardiac arrest in Haffen Park at the corner of Bruner and Burke avenues in Baychester just before 6 a.m. Detectives believe the teen was an innocent bystander, a source told NBC New York. He was with friends in the park and now cops are talking to them to sort out what happened. The investigation is ongoing. Cassell Brooks, Kemar’s ...

Cops say they have arrested the man accused of attacking his ex-girlfriend at her Jersey City home and forcing her out a third-floor window while she was holding her infant in her arms Friday morning. The Hudson County prosecutor’s office said police barricaded and apprehended Frederico Bruno, 19, in Belleville, N.J. Friday evening. He was found inside a refrigerator in a vacant building near where his siblings live. Bruno’s family members said he went to their home after the alleged attack and slept for most of the day. When he woke up, he told his teenage niece and nephews what had happened. He claimed his ex-girlfriend was trying to stab him while holding their baby, family members told NBC 4 New York. That’s when he pushed her and the child out the window, and fled. Police say Bruno had a key to his ex-girlfriend’s Jersey City apartment and had been hiding inside Friday morning, waiting f...

A black Illinois woman's abortion-related death is being used against Planned Parenthood.   By: Lynette Holloway | Posted: July 27, 2012 at 12:44 AM Tonya Reaves (Facebook) By all accounts, Tonya Reaves' life was spread out before her as she prepared to enter a new phase of adulthood. She was engaged to be married and had a 1-year-old son, according to the Huffington Post . But her life was cut short on July 20 when the beautiful 24-year-old with the winning smile died after an abortion at a Planned Parenthood clinic in Chicago. Now all that's left is an incomplete canvas and a grieving family as they struggle to find answers to her death, which has been ruled accidental. "It happened so fast," Reaves' twin sister, Toni Reaves, told WBBM News . "She was just fine one day, and then the next day she was gone. We're just trying to figure out what happened." Reaves u...

by illseed July 27th, 2012 @ 2:15pm IRS Sells EVERYTHING Young Buck Owns For Pennies On The Dollar! Man, this is some BS! I cannot help, but feel bad for Young Buck. I know he made some bad decisions, but damn! I’m thinking that maybe he did something else that we don’t know about and that his Karma is coming back. I cannot call it. At any rate, the IRS is going after rappers in alarming ways, but this is just disrespectful! The IRS has revealed that they sold all his stuff for $53K! This includes a 615 Cashville necklace for $12,600. Other things that were sold for much less, including flat screen TVs, gold albums, other jewelry, and recording equipment. EVEN HIS NAME WAS SOLD. So from now on Young Buck cannot even rap under that name. He owes about $11.5 million to the IRS and sadly another $10 million is owed to G-Unit records. Buck has also been sentenced to 18 months in jail.

by Similoluwa Ojurongbe | July 26, 2012  The recent death of Sally Ride , the first American female astronaut, has brought to light her contributions to the space program and science. Dr Ride has influenced many females to get into the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics ( STEM ). Today, there is an increased push for the American education system to improve their STEM programs as well as to get students to show interest in the fields. It is important to bring attention to some of the African-American females that have, and are still, paving the road for future scientists,  astronauts or any STEM degree holders. These women are just some of the many examples of African-American contributions to science. Nichelle Nichols  is not an astronaut, but her role in Star Trek as Lieutenant Uhura inspired many African-American women to become astronauts and astrophysicists including Mae Jemison. On...

Usher’s 11-year-old stepson was laid to rest Friday. Kile Glover – the son of the singer’s ex-wife Tameka Raymond and her former partner Ryan Glover – died from heart failure on Saturday – two weeks after being left brain dead following a jet ski accident, and his funeral was held in Atlanta, Georgia. Inside Wieuca Road Baptist Church, the Glover, Foster and Raymond families received tremendous amounts of support from many esteemed members of Atlanta’s music and political communities. Ludacris, Jazze Pha and Phaedra Parks from “The Real Housewives of Atlanta” were just some of the celebrities in attendance. The hour-long service began at 11 a.m. Following the service Kile was buried in a nearby cemetery. Kile was struck in the head during a jet ski collision while he was riding on an inner tube on Lake Lanier in Georgia, and he was put on life support after doctors declared him brain dead. Usher is said to be devasta...

 Jackson family friend Gladys Knight appeared on The Talk where she said that Paris Jackson should get her teeth knocked out for mouthing off to Janet Jackson. She said: “Paris is 14? How old is Janet? Who’s the one to try to direct the other one here? I would think it’s a good thing [Janet] lets Paris know who she is. If [Paris] called me that, she would have no teeth … That’s how we were brought up. You respect your elders.” Paris and Janet had an argument at the Jackson grounds earlier this week. Here is GLADYS: Janet called Paris a “spoiled little bitch” and Paris replied: “This is our house. Not the Jackson family house. Get the f**k out!” WATCH JANET & PARIS:

Ellianna Placas, Essence magazine’s fashion director, has been fired according to the New York Post. The magazine’s hiring of Placas (a KEY editorial role) , who is white, in 2010 sparked controversy among fans of Essence readers , some of whom felt Essence should have sought out a black editor. ESSENCE SALUTE TO COLORED GIRLS Subscriptions were dropped. And activists and black fashion journalists spoke out following the controversial appointment. Sources say her departure had less to do with race and more to do with her butting heads with editor-in-chief Constance White. “They had different visions for fashion coverage,” said one. An Essence spokesperson confirms that Placas has left the company. Placas wasn’t available for comment last night, and a search for her replacement is ongoing. SCOOP: NYPOST WHAT DO YOU THINK?

R&B singer-turned-pastor Montell Jordan has taken to Twitter.com to assure fans he is alive and well following reports of his death on Thursday. The This Is How We Do It hitmaker was said to have been found dead in Atlanta, Georgia, with the rumor quickly spreading on social networking sites and becoming a top trend. Jordan headed online to clear up the gossip, declaring on Twitter, “Sorry to disappoint… But I’m a new daddy and still got a lot of living to do! My son just told me I can’t be dead because I’m sitting here talking to him. “I can’t be dead. I don’t have an album coming out this week. It kinda sucks to have to be dead to trend. I’m gonna play a family game now. Please don’t kill me again.” Poking fun at the hoax, he adds, “My boy Shaggy just hit me to ask if I was dead. I told him ‘it wasn’t me.’” SCOOP: TWITTER

Skype is co-operating more closely with police to help them spy on users. The online phone service, used by friends and families to keep in touch but also favored by political dissidents and criminals, is making online chat and other user information available to police, according to The Washington Post. Surveillance of the audio and video feeds remains impractical, even when courts issue warrants, industry officials told the newspaper. But the changes, apparently in effect since late last year, allow police surveillance of online chats, Skype’s instant messaging feature, as well as access to addresses and credit card numbers of users. COPS had complained that Skype’s encryption and other features made tracking drug lords, pedophiles and terrorists more difficult and police listening to traditional wiretaps have even heard suspects suggest ‘let’s talk on Skype’ because it is more secure, The Post reports. Law enforc...

You might think HIV/AIDS has been relegated to a Third World problem, but the virus is ravaging populations right here in the American South. Some 50% of new HIV cases occur in Dixie, which is home to more HIV-positive Americans than any other region and also has the country’s highest AIDS death rate. Poor minority areas often lack effective treatments, particularly given the often-late diagnoses, writes documentary filmmaker Lisa Biagiotti in the Los Angeles Times. Mississippi provides a case in point: Half its residents who know they have HIV aren’t being treated—the same figure seen in Ethiopia. Mississippi’s death rate is 60% higher than the national average. In the South, “HIV is a social illness affecting a deeply entrenched underclass,” Biagiotti notes. “Deeper than poverty,” the epidemic can trace its roots to a social structure still feeling the effects of slavery, says a researcher. Young gay black men face a 60% chance of contracting HIV by the t...

A South Florida woman previously charged with injecting people with Fix-a-Flat in a black market buttock-enhancing business was arrested Thursday on a charge of manslaughter, authorities said. The Broward Sheriff’s Office said Oneal Morris, 32, was arrested at her mother’s house in Coconut Creek on one count of manslaughter. Shatarka Nuby, 32, died in March in Tallahassee from what an assistant medical examiner called “massive systemic silicone migration” as a result of the cosmetic silicone injections, authorities said. “Shatarka Nuby would pay a transvestite she knew as Dutchess up to hundreds of dollars to come to her house and inject her buttocks, hips, thighs and breasts with an unknown substance. Then Dutchess, sometimes wearing medical scrubs and a stethoscope, would seal the injection sites with super glue and cotton balls,” the Broward Sheriff’s Office said in a statement. Morris h...

A hospital worker admitted to stealing the credit card information of a dead patient and using it to buy airline tickets and bridal shoes, according to police. 53 year old Margaret Nunn, was arrested on counts of identity theft and credit card fraud. The victim, 63, who has not been identified, was lying dead in the DAMN ER of Sarasota Memorial Hospital in Florida when Nunn stole his details. She also used the card to pay her phone bill. Nunn, who is employed as a patient registration representative, admitted to the charges over the incident on June 10. Her deception was uncovered by police and hospital authorities. The woman was suspended from her job before being fired on June 29. She is currently being held at the county jail in Sarasota on $10,000 bond. A hospital spokesman said it was an isolated incident and routinely checks take place to ensure employees only access patient information for the correct reas...

McDonald’s workers in Croatia allegedly carried on selling burgers despite the fact a customer had dropped dead in front of the counter. After efforts to revive her failed, the woman was instead propped up in the corner of the restaurant and had a napkin placed over her head as workers continued to serve other customers, according to reports. The woman, thought to have died of a suspected heart attack, had complained of feeling unwell just moments after going inside the fast food restaurant in the southern town of Sibenik. She collapsed at the counter and, despite emergency services being called, doctors were unable to revive the Bosnian woman, who lived in Denmark but had been visiting the area. Workers have been criticized after they carried on serving drive-through customers after she was declared dead. Croatian media reported that the body was in the restaurant for an hour-and-a-half before a mortuary car arrived...

By Kristen Welker, NBC News Locked in a tough re-election battle with Mitt Romney, President Barack Obama aimed to energize his core supporters – African American voters – by delivering a rousing speech and unveiling a new executive order at the Urban League’s annual convention in New Orleans Wednesday night. The president told the largely African American crowd of roughly 3,700 people that the executive order will seek to improve educational achievement for African Americans at all levels “so every child has greater access to a complete and competitive education from the time they’re born to the time, all through the time they get a career” the president said to cheers. An administration official tells NBC News the order will create a new White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for African-Americans that will “work across Federal agencies and with partners and communities nationwide to produce a more effective continuum of education programs fo...

By: Jenée Desmond-Harris | Posted: July 25, 2012 at 8:02 PM   Ice-T (Getty Images) In the wake of last Friday's shooting in Colorado, rapper and actor Ice-T spoke out in defense of gun rights, calling them “the last form of defense against tyranny." Rush Limbaugh reacted yesterday by praising Ice-T and noting that he “knew the word 'tyranny,' " to which Ice-T responded last night by calling Limbaugh a “racist piece of shit," Mediaite reports.

Katherine Jackson has finally come out of hiding and speaking just HOURS after she lost custody of Michael Jackson’s 3 kids. Judge Beckloff handed over guardianship to TJ, Tito’s 34 year old son. Katherine Jackson, who was at least temporarily stripped of custody of Michael Jackson’s three children earlier today, tells ABC News that she’s “devastated” about the ruling and plans to return home to California. Grandson T.J. Jackson, Tito’s son, who has been caring for Prince, Paris and Blanket Jackson since some of Katherine’s children took her to Arizona for rest, won custody of the kids WEDNESDAY, and told the judge that Katherine “wasn’t sharp” when he spoke to her early this morning. TJ’s lawyer said TJ had a strange phone call with Katherine yesterday and TJ said, “I’ve never heard my grandmother talk like that.” TJ added, “She wasn’t sharp. The pauses, choice of vocabulary … she has not...

An East Harlem man who pleaded guilty to killing a woman whose body was found stuffed in a suitcase in 2010 was sentenced to 20 years in prison. The man, Hassan Malik, apologized to the family of the woman, Betty Williams, during his sentencing in State Supreme Court in Manhattan. He pleaded guilty to manslaughter last month in the killing Williams, 28, whose body was discovered in a suitcase among trash on a sidewalk in Manhattan. Williams was staying with Malik, who had been on probation in an unrelated attempted-robbery case, when the killing occurred. In a confession to the police, he said he and Williams fought after she used drugs in December 2010. She grabbed the cord to his VCR and wound it around his neck, he said. But he disarmed her and ended up choking her, he said. Malik then put her body in a suitcase, he said, which he left on 114th Street. What do you think? SCOOP: NYT

by Caryn Freeman | July 24, 2012 U.S. District Judge Michael Shipp This week, the U.S. Senate confirmed Michael Shipp as Federal District court Judge for the District of New Jersey. The Senate confirmed Shipp with a nearly unanimous vote of 90-1. Judge Shipp was the first African-American to become magistrate in the same district five years ago. Prior to becoming magistrate, Shipp worked for the New Jersey Attorney General’s Office, as assistant attorney general in charge of consumer protection. The National Law Journal reports that Senators described Shipp as “coming from humble beginnings” and having “strong qualifications and a reputation for excellence.” Judge Shipp received his undergraduate degree from Rutgers University and his law degree from Seton Hall University School of Law, where he later taught as an adjunct professor.

A 34-year-old grandmother sought by Palmetto police after her grandson allegedly ate crack cocaine surrendered to authorities Tuesday afternoon, and the woman’s 22-year-old boyfriend was taken into custody that evening. Enlarge photo 22 year old Charlie Martin, was taken into custody Tuesday. He is charged with possession of cocaine, cruelty to children in the first degree and reckless conduct. 34 year old Special Ebony Daniel’s 13-month-old grandson allegedly ingested cocaine. Ebony Daniel, seen below, turned herself in about 5:35 p.m. after arrest warrants were issued for her and Charlie Martin, charging both with possession of cocaine, cruelty to children in the first degree and reckless conduct. Martin contacted police Tuesday and told them he planned to turn himself in, police said. He too was in custody by nightfall. The investigation began when the mother of a 13-month-old south Fulton County boy brought him to...

Authorities say the daughter of music legend James Brown stole an SUV and injured her boss before she was arrested this week. Venisha Brown is charged with theft by taking a motor vehicle in Richmond County and is wanted by North Augusta authorities on charges of possession of a stolen vehicle, leaving the scene of an accident and first-degree assault and battery. Brown remains in custody at the Richmond County jail. Authorities say Hope Ellis Campbell was injured when she tried to gain control from Brown, who works for Campbell, of a Chevrolet Suburban stolen from St. Stephen Ministries. Authorities say Brown accelerated, dragging Campbell over the hood of another vehicle parked nearby. Brown was arrested Tuesday. The extent of her injuries was not released. SCOOP: AUGUSTA CHRONICLE WHAT DO YOU THINK?

Katherine Jackson has lost custody of Michael Jackson’s three kids. Judge Beckloff handed over guardianship to TJ, Tito’s 34 year old son. TJ’s lawyer said TJ had a strange phone call with Katherine yesterday and TJ said, “I’ve never heard my grandmother talk like that.” TJ added, “She wasn’t sharp. The pauses, choice of vocabulary … she has not used certain phrases like that before.” TJ thought she was talking in code. As TJ addressed the court, he was choking up. Beckloff said this was not a power play by TJ and ordered the Michael Jackson Estate to give TJ the funds necessary to take care of security and anything else that’s needed for the children. Before Beckloff appointed TJ, the lawyer for MJ’s kids said the kids all support TJ getting temporary guardianship. The lawyer for the MJ Estate just said the executors are very concerned for the kids and Katherine. The judge said Katherine was not suspended for wro...