New England Sun-Times

The City Council on Wednesday finally got some street cred by opening its doors to some old school rappers.Afrika Bambaataa, Grandmaster Melle Mel and other founding fathers of rap turned out for the Council meeting, where they were honored with proclamations celebrating their role in launching a “global cultural revolution.”For a few minutes, Council members acted like giddy fans, crowding around their guests and jockeying to take pictures, which several lawmakers quickly tweeted. “It is truly an honor to stand here,” said Councilman Fernando Cabrera (D-Bronx), who organized the ceremony.In addition to Bambaataa and Melle Mell, the Council honored Joe Conzo, Grand Wizard Theodore, Cutman LG, Rocky Bucano, Grandmaster Caz, Jorge Fabel Pabon, Pete “DJ” Jones and Kurtis Blow, the first rapper to sign with a major record label. All attended except for Jones, who died in January, and Blow. "New York City is more than 8 million rhythms strong, but for nearly 40 years a comple

Photo By Eric Kayne/For the Chronicle A total of $600,000 in cash and checks - along with written credit card information – was stolen from Houston's Lakewood Church on Sunday, according to an email sent by church leaders to members on Monday. Someone  broke into the church's safe Sunday evening, taking cash, checks and envelopes containing written credit card information, the statement said.  A church employee made the discovery Monday morning. Lakewood, which is led by Pastor Joel Osteen, encouraged those who made contributions to the church on March 8 and 9 to monitor their bank and credit card accounts closely for fraudulent charges. The statement reiterated that this was not an electronic data breach, and was only limited to donations made during those services. Further, if a church member put their offering in a drop box, gave online or through other electronic means, they