New England Sun-Times

Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images     An emotional Fantasia Barrino broke down in tears in front of hundreds of adoring fans at a Port-of-Spain concert on Saturday night, the UK Guardian reports. In a tribute to Whitney Houston, she connected the late singer's struggles to her own, urging fans to show compassion to those in the public eye with statements like, "We've begun to put our own people down instead of picking than up, and "I almost lost my own life worrying about what people were saying about me. "  And in a segment of her performance that was as much like a church service as a concert, she proclaimed, " I'm begging you, before you talk, get on your knees, so we won't lose any more greats." The star who was in Trinidad to celebrate her 28th birthday told fans she had been through many obstacles in her life but had emerged stronger with the help of God. “No matter what you’ve been through, know that you...

Getty Images The relationship drama with his ex-wife raises the question: Why do we trust Steve Harvey's love advice? By: Patrice J. Williams | Posted: January 30, 2011 at 1:16 PM   Love Guru. King of Relationships. Relationship Expert. Best-Selling Love Expert. And, according to Essence magazine, " the man women trust to tell them the truth about, well, everything." All of these words have been used to describe Steve Harvey, whose relationship-expert status has been affirmed by the women who made his books, Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Man and the most recent Straight Talk, No Chaser: How to Find, Keep, and Understand a Man , best-sellers. From appearances on The Oprah Winfrey Show to a column in Essence to a position on Good Morning America , Steve Harvey has been using media to tell it like it is to women who are either looking for love,...

A Tampa, Fla., polling station (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)   By: Jenée Desmond-Harris | Posted: July 2, 2012 at 12:53 PM   Florida and dozens of other states have passed or debated onerous changes to their voting rules since 2010. ColorLines , in an article representing part of its Voting Rights Watch 2012 partnership with The Nation, tells the story of what it says is the very clear racial impact of restrictions, especially when it comes to voter-registration drives. Despite the risks, 63-year-old LaVon Bracy, profiled in the piece, is just as determined to conduct one through her church as she was to brave violence to integrate a white high school during the civil rights era: Bracy's beating was so traumatic that she stayed home from school for the next three days wondering whether to go back. But in the end, she returned. Bracy told the Voices of the Civil Rights project, "I refused to allow t...

By: Claudio E. Cabrera | Posted: March 7, 2012 at 9:37 PM   Longtime black news anchor Sue Simmons has been informed by WNBC-Channel 4 in New York City that her contract will not be renewed in June, according to the New York Post . The Harlem native has worked at the station for 32 years. Her anchor partnership with Chuck Scarborough has been one of the most enduring in New York media. In 2003 the duo were named New York's top anchor team by the Daily News. Both Simmons and Scarborough are 68 and had contracts up for renewal in June; Scarborough's contract has been extended for three more years. Earlier this year, Simmons was removed from the 6 p.m. slot she'd held with Scarborough and worked only the 11 p.m. news shift. The New York Association of Black Journalists released a statement about Simmons' departure: "The NYABJ wishes Ms. Simmons the best as she transitions to the next chapter of h...

Lil Boosie (Ray Tamarra/Getty Images); Clyde Smith (Houma County) If artists' songs are used against them in court, what's really being judged: hip-hop or the crime? By: Erik Nielson | Posted: July 3, 2012 at 12:39 AM   Torrence Hatch, the Baton Rouge, La., rapper better known to fans as Lil Boosie, faced the trial of his life in May. Charged with first-degree murder in the 2009 shooting death of Terry Boyd, Boosie stood accused of paying his friend Mike "Marlo Mike" Loudon $2,800 to carry out the hit. A conviction would have put him behind bars for good. But local prosecutors had very little with which to work. With no physical evidence tying Boosie to the crime, they built their case on a prior confession from Marlo Mike -- a statement he later recanted at trial -- and, more important, Boosie's rap lyrics. Despite objections from def...

Maybe lack of sex can make you did stupid stuff! A Brevard County man told police that he robbed a convenience store because he was upset with his fiancé for refusing to have sex with him and because he needed money to buy car insurance. 25 year old James Seehaus, of Palm Bay, was arrested June 28 on suspicion of robbing a 7-Eleven. He also told police that he would probably have committed more robberies if he had not been caught. WTH! Palm Bay police said Seehaus robbed the gas station with a BB gun wrapped in white cloth to disguise it as something more dangerous. Seehaus, who faces charges of armed robbery and theft, pointed the gun at the clerk of the 7-Eleven at 1925 Palm Bay Road and demanded all of the money in the cash register, police said. A Palm Bay police officer spotted Seehaus leaving the area and stopped his car in a parking lot about a half a mile from the gas station. He found a BB gun in the back seat, police said. ...

The drama from VH1′s hit reality show “Love & Hip Hop Atlanta” has spilled out onto the streets of Atlanta! Joseline Hernandez, star of “Love & Hip Hop: Atlanta,” was reportedly attacked at an Atlanta nightclub. According to local reports, the reality star/recording artist got into an argument with a woman who questioned why she allegedly got an abortion. After arguing Monday night, numerous sources claim Joseline hit the woman and the unidentified woman fought back. A witness had this to say… “ This is some bull….I am so tired of telling people what happened…My friend asked her Joseline “why would you get rid of the baby her and stevie J” had made…She then brushed my friend off (the chick was every NYC hood type) so my friend hit her. I mean, you can’t just brush people off in the club and think it’s cool. Now she’s telling people that my friend hit her with a bottle and that’s not true. It was crazy; things j...