New England Sun-Times

A 17-year-old Maryland honors student destined for Harvard University was shot to death in her own bed after a home invasion. Police in Prince George’s County said that Amber Deanna Stanley was murdered when a male suspect kicked in the front door of her Kettering home around 10.30 p.m. on Wednesday and shot her multiple times in her bed. Stanley’s 37-year-old sister and her small daughter, as well as a 17-year-old foster sister, were at home when the shooting happened but were not harmed during the attack and now police are canvasing the area for leads in their search for the shooter. Neighbors remembered her as a quiet, dedicated student who had hoped to attend Harvard University. Stanley had just started her senior year at C.H. Flowers High School in Springdale, Md., where she was a member of the school’s science and technology program. “This young girl had a bright future ahead of her with dreams to pursue and goals to reach,” read a statement from Prince G...

Angela Bassett and Ruby Dee are heading to Lifetime. The duo has joined the cast of the female-skewing cable network’s TV movie Betty and Coretta. The telepic, first announced during the network’s upfront presentation in May, tells the dual stories of Coretta Scott King and Dr. Betty Shabazz as they carry on as single mothers following the assassinations of their husbands, Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X. Bassett will play King opposite Mary J. Blige, who co-stars as Shabazz in the effort previously known as Parallel Lives. Dee will appear onscreen as a historical witness to narrate the duo’s story as someone familiar with the events of both their lives. Betty and Coretta (seen below) remains a working title for the project. Bassett, who starred in Fox’s failed spy drama pilot Rogue, picked up an Image Award for her turn as Shabazz in the 1992 feature Malcolm X. Other credits include her Oscar-nominated role as Tina Turner in 1994′s What’s Love Got to Do ...

photo credit: Jed Hresko (Three Stripes Media) August 19, 2012 – Members of the community took to Franklin Field in Dorchester for the ‘Shake The City’ Rally, asking for justice for the three women recently murdered on Harlem Street in Roxbury.  On hand at the rally was Pastor William Dickerson of Greater Love Tabernacle Church, Pastor Culpepper of Pleasant Hill Baptist Church, Brother Randy Muhammad of the Nation of Islam, and Rodney Muhammad of the Nation of Islam.  Speakers included City Councilors Tito Jackson and Ayanna Pressley, plus various members of the community. Johnathon Gates and M.C. Spice led a “Real Man Pledge” and all pastors, officers, elected officials, and other men of the community participated in a call-and-response call-to-action. Women could be seen crying   as the men repeated the pledge aloud. The actual pledge went as followed: “I WILL STAND UP Since the beginning, God gave Adam orders to provide for, care for, and te...