New England Sun-Times

When Mark Wahlberg began his wonderful career, he started off as a rapper in his hometown of Boston, Massachusetts. His brother Donnie Wahlberg, while touring with the New Kids On The Block, summoned the help of his good friend, M.C. Spice (Amir Quadeer Shakir of the Zulu Nation) to write some songs for Mark Wahlberg. Mark wasn't a rapper at the time, but he was into the Culture of Hip-Hop, and had what it took to be the leader of his own crew. 'Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch' was born, and their first single written and produced by M.C. Spice "Life Goes On", a rap version of John Cougar-Mellencamp's hit was rejected by Mellencamp. So, the crew started with the first single "Good Vibrations", written entirely by M.C. Spice within as he and Donnie drove to a recording studio. M.C. Spice also wrote and produced the follow up single "Wildside". In fact, "Wildside" aired on Boston radio station WILD-AM for nearly two years before ...

Updated: 04/25/2014 7:12 PM Created: 04/25/2014 5:37 PM KSTP.com By: Brad Sattin  Columbus Day is no more in the city of Minneapolis. The city council unanimously passed a resolution Friday that now recognizes the second Monday in October as Indigenous Peoples Day. The move symbolically switches the focus from Christopher Columbus to the recognition of the high price Native Americans paid when Europeans arrived to the New World. Supporters hope the symbolism will lead to real change for indigenous peoples in the forms of greater home ownership and closing the education achievement gap. Bill Means, a Native American, calls the resolution one of the few chances in history to right a wrong. But opponents of renaming the holiday call it "political correctness" saying there are other ways to recognize the suffering of Native Americans. The change will be noted on the city's website but will not impact any business...

In this Jan. 23, 2014 photo, Mount Pleasant, N.Y. police Chief Brian Fanelli and his wife Sonja exit Federal Court in White Plains, N.Y.  NEW YORK (AP) — A police officer, a paramedic, a rabbi, a nurse and a Boy Scout leader were among at least 70 people arrested in the New York City area in recent weeks as part of a sweeping investigation into the anonymous trading of child porn over the Internet. The five were among at least 70 men and one woman charged in a five-week operation by the Homeland Security Investigations arm of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Federal officials, who planned to announce the arrests a news conference later Wednesday, call it one of the largest local roundups ever of people who collect images of children having sex — and a stark reminder that they come from all segments of society. Consuming child porn "is not something that is just done by unemployed drifters who live in their parent's basement," said James ...

Everyone knows that dogs have a highly developed sense of smell, but is their olfactory sense good enough to send a person to prison? For a jury in Texas, the answer was ‘Yes’. A woman was sentenced to life in prison based on ‘testimony’ of a canine. Imagine being sent to prison for life based on the ‘testimony’ of a dog. Megan Winfrey, along with her brother Richard was charged with the slaying of high school janitor, Murray Burr in Cold Spring, Texas. “In a million years I never thought I’d be in this kind of situation”, said Richard Winfrey. Richard had never been in trouble with the law. Not even a traffic ticket. And there was no physical evidence connecting Megan or Richard Murray to the crime scene. But they did have one ‘witness’ who said they did it. A Bloodhound. “They said I was the murderer”, said Megan. The Winfreys came under suspicion because they lived near the murdered janitor, who they knew from high school. Megan and Richard agreed to all...

Jon Erickson, abc15.com staff 6:14 AM, May 20, 2014 3 hours ago   PHOENIX - A man is accused of child abuse after video shows him throwing a toddler into a pool and then dropping her back into the water after she was pulled out by the father's girlfriend. Corey Edmund McCarthy, 23, was charged with two counts of child abuse. McCarthy was “traumatizing that little girl,” said the girl’s mother, Samantha. She asked ABC15  to only use her first name. Tears rolled down Samantha’s face as she watched, for only the second time, surveillance video showing McCarthy tossing their daughter Mia into the pool. “This is somebody who’s supposed to protect [her],” the mother said. According ...

Chicago's mayor continues his humility tour amid dismal polls, negative press By Erin Carlson|  Monday, May 19, 2014  |  Updated 1:15 PM CDT  While City Hall bristles internally from Rahm Emanuel's snowball effect of bad press, Chicago's Mayor projects a toned-down self-awareness in public. Emanuel smoothed over his perpetual smirk with self-deprecating humor when asked about a recent Sun-Times poll revealing that just 29 percent of Chicagoans would vote for him in February 2015's mayoral race. "Thank god the election is not today," he quipped, drawing a roomful of laughs, during an interview with "Chicago Tonight" host Phil Ponce at the University of Chicago on Friday. In the final stretch of his first term, the prickly, hyperkinetic city boss -- armed with a $7 million war chest and A-list supporters like Bill Clinton -- stands on shaky political ground here in the Win...

Andrea Massa allegedly created disturbance BOSTON — A Marshfield man accused of trying to carry two handguns into Boston University's commencement ceremony on Sunday has been ordered held on $100,000 bail, school officials said. Andrea Massa, 28, allegedly created a disturbance before a security checkpoint on the way into the school's commencement, B.U. spokesman Colin Riley said. He was arraigned on charges of carrying a dangerous weapon on school grounds, disturbing a school assembly, disturbing a public assembly and violation of firearms license restriction. Massa's wife told reporters that he was trying to leave when he was arrested and that it was all a misunderstanding. She said they were attending her sister's graduation. Massa is licensed to carry, his wife said. But a Suffolk County District Attorney spokesman said Massa is only licensed to carry firearms for hunting and target practice, and "faces a civil penalty for violating th...

Split ruling comes after untested drugs left inmate writhing in agony for 43 minutes before dying May 19, 2014 1:49PM ET   A law shielding the identity of a pharmaceutical firm providing Georgia with lethal injection drugs is constitutional and should not prevent a death row inmate being executed, the state's Supreme Court ruled in a 5-2 vote on Monday. The ruling comes amid renewed focus on the role of untested — or little tested — drug cocktails in executions. It follows a botched execution last month in Oklahoma during which an inmate writhed in agony on the gurney before finally succumbing to a new drug combination. Oklahoma also keeps the sources of its drugs secret. Georgia contends it needs the same provision amid a dwindling supply of execution drugs. In upholding the state law, the state’s Supreme Court ruled that, without confidentiality, there was "a significant risk that persons and entities necessar...

by Rafia Zakaria May 19, 2014 The myopic focus on the plight of Nigerian schoolgirls overlooks narratives of global inequality and Western complicity   On April 15, Nigeria’s militant group Boko Haram loaded nearly 300 Nigerian schoolgirls onto trucks in the middle of the night, telling the girls they were taking them to safety. A month later, most of the girls are still missing. In the past few weeks, however, their plight has caught the world’s attention. Parachute reporters have descended on the tiny and otherwise ignored northeastern town of Chibok, thrusting cameras in the faces of the girls’ parents. The United States dispatched a reconnaissance aircraft to Nigeria to help rescue the girls. The State Department is redoubling its efforts to defeat Boko Haram, which it considers a foreign terrorist organization. An 18-member interagency team has been deployed, and drones have been provided to assist with the search. This...

May 19, 2014 11:59AM ET by Renee Lewis Student debt and the hiring of relatively low-paid adjunct faculty rather than full-time professors have grown fastest at public universities with the highest-paid presidents, a new report found. University president pay has risen dramatically in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis, according to the report, which focuses on 25 state universities that pay their presidents almost double the national average. Released Sunday by the Institute for Policy Studies (IPS), a progressive Washington D.C.-based think tank, the study is called The One Percent at State U — referring to the financial gains made by executives after the 2008 recession. Nationwide, between the fall of 2009 and the summer of 2012, average executive compensati...

  L.A. Reid, the man who is well known for destroying the lives of many artists, including TLC, and the man who tainted Def Jam Records, showed the world just how much of a money-hungry, egotistical jerk he really is when he released the new Michael Jackson album featuring lackluster production and "duets" with artists who aren't even on Michael Jackson's level. The song featuring Justin Timberlake sounds more like Justin Timberlake featuring Michael Jackson. Everybody's trying to get a piece of the late Michael Jackson, and the move was strategically calculated with the installation of L.A. Reid at Sony. What's interesting, is that none of the Jackson family were given a chance to be a part of the process whatsoever. Now in death, Reid owns a piece of Michael and our the late Lisa "Left Eye" Lopez. The hologram "performance" of Michael Jackson at the 2014 Billboard Music Awards was not what the perfectionist what have wanted at all....