New England Sun-Times

Bessie Coleman, born Jan. 26, 1892, was a renowned aviator who was the first African-American woman to become a pilot and to hold an international pilot’s license.  When she turned 18, Coleman took her savings and enrolled in the Oklahoma Colored Agricultural and Normal University (now called  Langston University) . She completed one term before her money ran out, and returned home. In 1915 she moved to Chicago and worked as a manicurist, listening to stories from pilots who had flown in World War I. Determined to become a pilot, she was encouraged by  Robert S. Abbott , founder and publisher of the  Chicago Defender   to study aviation abroad. Coleman received financial backing from a banker and the Defender. She eventually traveled to Paris and became the first African-American woman to earn an international aviation license and also the first in the world to earn an aviation pilot’s license. She later traveled to the Netherlands and Germany...

The mother whose 3-year-old twin boys were killed in a house fire Jan. 4 after she left them home alone for nearly an hour has been charged with involuntary manslaughter, endangering the welfare of children and reckless endangerment by Allegheny County Police in Pennsylvania. Dalawna Berran-Lett of North Braddock surrendered to police Tuesday afternoon and is being held at the Allegheny County Jail. The victims, Ky’heir and Dy’heir Arthur, were buried on Friday. The Allegheny County medical examiner’s office has determined that one boy died of burns and smoke inhalation, while the other died of smoke inhalation and carbon monoxide poisoning. Ms. Berran-Lett, 32, told police she left the boys watching television — after locking the front door’s deadbolt with her key — to go look for her 15-year-old daughter Mariah, who she believed had stolen a baggie of marijuana from her purse. She told police she did not want to bring the boys outside with her to the school bus stop...

 It’s hard to believe it has been almost a year since Whitney Houston passed away. And as that sad anniversary approaches, the music icon’s mother, Cissy Houston, opens up about the loss of her daughter with Oprah Winfrey during an in-depth interview airing next Monday on the OWN network. “My son called me and he was screaming, ‘Mom, Mommy. Oh god,’” she said about the moment she learned about Whitney’s death. “I said, ‘What’s wrong?’ He said, ‘Nippy. Nippy,” continues Cissy. (Nippy was the family’s nickname for Whitney.) Cissy goes on to recall how her son kept telling her that he simply couldn’t go upstairs to where they had found his sister. “I said, ‘Is she dead?’ And he said, ‘Yeah, Mommy, she’s dead.’ And I don’t remember too much else after that.” It was Feb. 11, 2012, when Whitney was found dead at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills, Calif., just one day before the Grammy Awards. She was 48. Meanwhile, all of Cissy’s interview on Oprah’s Nex...

(BlackMediaScoop) Aretha Franklin knows exactly what it’s like to sing at a presidential inauguration. She belted out My Country ‘Tis of Thee for President Obama’s first inauguration in 2009. And now she’s giving her take on the Beyoncé lip-syncing controversy. Franklin tells ABC News that when she heard Beyoncé’s national anthem performance “was pre-recorded I really laughed. I thought it was funny because the weather down there was about 46 or 44 degrees and for most singers that is just not good singing weather.” In fact, ABC notes that the temperature on Monday in Washington was around 40 degrees. Adds Franklin, “I thought it was really funny, but she did a beautiful job with the pre-record … next time I’ll probably do the same.” Franklin says that in 2009, she opted for a live performance because, “I wanted to give people the real thi...

25 year old Macaulay Onitcha, has been arrested by Nigerian police for burying his 2 month old born daughter, Edna Macaulay, alive. Macaulay took the young baby to the bushes, dug a shallow grave, threw the baby in the grave and covered it with sand. Fortunately for the little angel, someone witnessed him burying her alive and hurriedly exhumed her after fighting and overpowering Macaulay at the scene. The person, Saturday Ekama, took the child to the police station to report what had happened. Little Edna had a neck injury after she was dug out and she is currently undergoing treatment at Saint Francis Hospital, Okapra Inland in Asaba, while her dad is in police custody at the State Criminal Investigation Department, SCID, Asaba. Macaulay told police that he attempted to kill his daughter since she was born because his wife refused to have...

A Florida man is facing charges of unlicensed practice of health care causing serious bodily harm after he injected silicone into at least two patients’ buttocks at a motel room, according to a Palm Beach Sheriff’s Office arrest report obtained Wednesday. Calvin Edward Butler, 44, also known as Tamieka Butler, performed the injections at El Patio Motel dating back to June 2012, the report said. The first alleged victim, a woman, told detectives in December that she received injections from Butler at the motel four times between September and October, the report said. The victim said she would disrobe from the waist down and Butler would use a felt tip pen to mark areas on her buttocks where Butler felt she “needed fullness,” according to the report. With the victim lying down, Butler would pour out a clear liquid from a Pedialyte bottle, telling the woman it was sterile silicone. After pouring the liquid into a plastic cup, he filled syringes from the cup which he use...

It may have been the most infamous taunt in the history of NBA trash talking – if only because of the bizarre nature of the comment. Last time the New York Knicks played the Boston Celtics, Kevin Garnett reportedly taunted Carmelo Anthony with the words “Your wife tastes like Honey Nut Cheerios,” enraging Anthony to the point that he waited near the Celtics team bus after the game until he was ushered away by MSG security and the NYPD…watch it here. Before Thursday night’s Knicks-Celtics game – which New York won 89-86 – security at TD Garden confiscated multiple Cheerios boxes from fans seemingly planning to rib Anthony. One sign taken by security featured a Honey Nut Cheerios box taped to plaster board with a message: “Hey Melo, I agree!” Before the game, Melo and Garnett shared a brief fist bump. Both have maintained the incident is behind them. SOURCE: NYD

The nine singers from various different seasons have joined together to sue the Fox competition for allegedly forcing them out of the show. The ex-contestants claim they were axed as part of a racist plot to boost ratings for the network. A letter has been submitted to the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission by New York attorney James H. Freeman, stating that he wants permission to sue Idol and Fox on behalf of his nine clients. The acts in question are: Corey Clark (Season 2), Jaered Andrews (Season 2), Donnie Williams (Season 3), Terrell Brittenum (Season 5), Derrell Brittenum (Season 5), Thomas Daniels (Season 6), Akron Watson (Season 6), Ju’Not Joyner (Season 8) a nd Chris Golightly (Season 9). Freeman claims that he conducted an investigation into the show after Jermaine Jones was booted off last year in relation to outstanding warrants for his arrest. He says that he discovered producers had only publicly disqualified nine people from the program, and...

An Ohio math teacher could be fired after posting a Facebook photo of her students with duct tape over their mouths. Middle school teacher Melissa Cairns in Cleveland said that she gave a female student a roll of duct tape after the girl asked for tape to fix a binder. Cairns claims the student then cut a piece of tape, put it over her own mouth and laughed. The incident happened last October at Buchtel Community Learning Center in Akron. “The other kids in the class thought it was funny also, and they proceeded to pass the tape and scissors around the class,” Cairns said. Ultimately, eight or nine students put tape on their mouths. Thinking her Facebook privacy settings would only show her friends, the math teacher posted a picture of the duct-taped students on the social network, with a caption that read: “Finally found a way to get them to be quiet!!!” It was all supposed to be a joke, Cairns said, adding that the students had encouraged her to take the picture. But the pho...

A 29-year-old man was arrested in Orlando on suspicion of trying to force his fiancee to swallow her diamond engagement ring because she no longer wanted to live with him. Faron Thompson was arrested Sunday on charges of battery via strangulation and child neglect. According to the Orange County Sheriff’s Office, Thompson’s girlfriend of four years contacted authorities about the incident after she left home and drove to Walmart. She said she was arguing with Thompson about moving her things out of her home and left the ring on the kitchen counter, according to deputies. When she went to retrieve it, she realized Thompson had the ring and tried to force the ring down her throat while holding her down. Thompson also threatened to burn her house down, prompting her to call him a “psycho,” according to Orange County sheriff’s deputies. During the alleged attack, the woman said Thompson pushed her against a wall while she was holding her one-year-old child, said deputies...

A 20-year-old Houston mother is accused of abusing her 1-year-old son because she was jealous and thought his dad loved him more than her. Lessielee Ann King was charged with felony injury to a child. The baby’s father told investigators with the Humble Police Department that he grew concerned after finding various unexplained bruises on his little boy’s body. The father said the bruises only surfaced when King was alone with him, so that made him suspicious. The father said on September 18, 2012, there were no bruises on his son when he put the baby to bed. But when he arrived home from work the next morning, he discovered a bite mark on the baby’s right cheek. That wasn’t the first time the child sustained such injuries, the father said. Afraid to leave the baby with King, the father told investigators he asked his friend to move in with them for a few months and to monitor King’s interactions with the child. The friend confirmed his suspicions. The friend said h...

Bobby V. was the victim of a carjacking, at gunpoint in Atlanta Tuesday (Jan. 22). One of the suspects has already been arrested. The R&B singer parked his 2013 Bentley outside of the Hot Beats Recording Studio, when he was approached by two men with guns. According to police, the singer—born Robert Wilson— gave up his car without a fight, and the assailants drove away. He and other witnesses were able to identify one of the suspects, leading to his arrest. Bobby tweeted about the incident and was thankful that he wasn’t killed. “GOD saved me last night.. Thank u Lord life is so precious & we take it 4 granted!! Everything u wanna do, DO IT! pray&be thankful 4 wht u hav!” he wrote. An off-duty lieutenant heard about the incident over a police radio, and found the car abandoned near the MARTA public transportation station. Bobby V, a former artist on Ludacris’ Disturbing the Peace label, dropped his last album, Dusk Till Dawn, in 2012. He changed his stage...

WASHINGTON ( The Borowitz Report ) – A rising chorus of congressional Republicans are calling on President Obama to acknowledge that the pop singer Beyoncé lip-synched during his inaugural festivities on Monday and resign from office, effective immediately. “By lip-synching the national anthem, Beyoncé has cast a dark cloud over the President’s second term,” said Sen. Rand Paul (R-Kentucky).  “The only way President Obama can remove that cloud is by resigning from office at once.” While many in the media have blamed Beyoncé for the lip-synching controversy, Mr. Paul said, “We must remember that this happened on President Obama’s watch.” Mr. Paul said that the White House’s refusal to comment on the Beyoncé crisis “only serves the argument that this President has something to hide.” “If Beyoncé lip-synched the national anthem, how do we know President Obama didn’t lip-sync his oath of office?” he said. “If that’s the case, he’s not legally ...

The Long Island mother of the Kansas City Chief who killed his baby’s mother and then himself signed a notarized agreement giving up guardianship of the couple’s child, who stands to inherit nearly $3 million in life insurance and NFL benefits. By signing the document, Jovan Belcher’s mother, Cheryl Shepherd, severely damaged her chances of winning control of baby Zoey’s estate, legal experts said. Both families are currently locked in a custody battle for the 4-month- old girl, who was orphaned last month when Belcher killed girlfriend Kasandra Perkins, 22, then drove to the Chiefs practice facility and killed himself. And it’s not clear that Belcher was Zoey’s father. His mother told police and NFL officials that there were questions about Zoey’s paternity. Shepherd wrote and signed the agreement on Dec. 3 — two days after the murder-suicide — giving Perkins’ family “temporary guardianship” allowing Zoey to attend her mother’s Texas memorial service. “I, Cheryl S...

Bishop Larry D. Trotter out of Chicago is facing a lot of scrutiny after he posted a photo on Instagram with his 4-year-old granddaughter. Sounds innocent right? Well, it was where the photo took place that outraged people. However the Bishop says he’s not ashamed of the pic…you can LISTEN to his interview below. In the photo, Trotter is smiling in the bathtub covered in bubbles with his cute granddaughter. Many people are saying the photo is inappropriate and disgusting, while others say it’s an innocent photo of a grandfather and grandchild.   Trotter is a Bishop for the Sweet Holy Spirit Church in Chicago. No word on who took the photo but people are claiming the photo was taken by Trotter’s daughter, the mother of the small child. LISTEN to what the Bishop had to say about the pic… What do you think about the photo? Do you think it’s inappropriate or do you agree it’s an innocent pic? SCOOP: BAW/ JOHNHANNAHMORNINGSHOW