New England Sun-Times

By COLLEEN CURRY Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling was banned for life and fined $2.5 million today by the NBA after he was recorded making racist comments about African-Americans. "Effective immediately, I am banning Mr. Sterling for life from any association with the Clippers organization or the NBA," said NBA Commissioner Adam Silver during a news conference in New York. Silver also said he would immediately recommend to the NBA Board of Governors that they force a sale of the Clippers and that he would do "everything in [his] power to ensure that happens." NBA players and officials -- including Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Steve Nash, and Players Association president Kevin Johnson -- applauded the decision from Los Angeles.  NBA Players Association Vice President Roger Mason said that players across the league had made it clear they were willing to boycott the playoffs if the NBA didn't take swift, decisive action again...

The NAACP said today they are still willing to work with Los Angeles Clippers' owner Donald Sterling despite yanking an offer of a lifetime achievement award over an audio tape containing racist comments that Sterling allegedly made. At a news conference today, NAACP Los Angeles president Leon Jenkins said that an audio recording that surfaced this weekend on TMZ, which purportedly had Sterling's voice recorded making racist comments, was "devastating." But the organization would be open to talking to Sterling, with whom they've worked for nearly 20 years. "God teaches us to forgive, and the way I look at it, after a sustained period of proof to the African American community that those words don't reflect his heart, I think there's room for forgiveness. I wouldn't be a Christian if I said there wasn't," Jenkins said. "We are negotiating with him about giving more moneys to African American students at UCL...

DJ EZ Rock has reportedly died. The news came via Rob Base’s Facebook status which read: “RIP Skip (DJ EZ Rock) friends since 4 th grade, I’m really going to miss you.” The Harlem hip hop duo Rob Base And DJ EZ Rock are most well known for their 1988 single and album It Takes Two (both of which went certified platinum).  But, after the release of that album, the two broke up for a few years due to personal reasons. In 1994, Rob Base And DJ EZ Rock reunited to release the album Break Of Dawn .  DJ EZ Rock’s cause of death has not yet been released to the public.