Bronze Community Digest 21st Century Global Network!

2012-01-18T17:01:00.001-05:00

2012-01-16T18:41:00.001-05:00

Congratulations Ms. Octavia Spencer on winning the 'Best Supporting Actress' at the 69th Annual Golden Globe Awards on Sunday, January 15, 2012 in your role as "Minny" in the film "The Help!"

2012-01-02T17:08:00.000-05:00

Happy Bless New Year To All of You!

written by Miriam G. Aw

It's now Year 2012, a number #5 year that depicts freedom of movement, partaking in joyful events, exercising patience by avoiding hasty and impulsive use of words and actions, but equally important, this is the year to think and act "outside-the box" when it comes to seeking employment, starting a business, or revamping your existing business model in order to generate lucrative income!

Granted, most folks will read this and believe that what I say has no validity, nor reason, due to the many decades of hype portrayed in mainstream media that seemingly dictates what you should, or should not do based on what so-called experts in their field of expertise have to say about what to wear, eat, or relationships, just to mention a few.

For far too long, our society have been duped into believing mainstream media reports about the economy, and how it continues to either decline, or rebound, despite what we think or believe what's really going on - especially since it is us who are feeling the brunt of the country's economic woes.

There are statistics being thrown at us left and right with adamant tones that are design to make us believe that whatever is being said regarding anything that affect us, as a whole, should be taken as 'gospel.' But you and I know that we need to have honesty in reporting.

How many times have you learned about pertinent information that is beneficial for us to know at a later time when such information was available for us to get at an earlier time? Especially when such information was already revealed by a so-called friend, relative, congregant member, neighbor, etc., but somehow you got it through 'the grapevine.'

If no one else told you, please allow me to share with you on what I've been observing for at least 7 to 10 years, and what I've just learned about last week.

If you are seeking employment, or if you are interested in attending medical school, for example, it will behoove you to check outside the U.S.A., for employment and/or schooling.

Yes, the opportunities of employment and schooling are out there for you to partake in, whether you are single or married with, or without children!

Last Monday (day after Christmas), I met a nice young man in the hospital emergency room. My husband took ill, and this lovely fella took my husband's EKG. As always, and at the risk of sounding bias because I love seeing young people, especially young black males, working in the medical profession in any capacity, I asked him which school did he graduate from, and whether if he aspired to go higher in the medical profession.

Come to find out that this young man, whose name is Germaine, attended and graduated from South Carolina State University, which is located in Orangeburg, S.C., and he further his education in Aruba! Yes child, Aruba! Well, I was taken back a bit when he went on more about how much he learned, and that there myriad of schools that provide great education, but only if you are up to the task of really wanting to learn without being spoon-fed everything like some spoil rich kid!

In other words, you have to work for what you want, and ask questions if you don't know the answers by using your God-given common sense. And besides, who cannot learn anything in an environment that provides great weather every step of the way?!?

Out of curiosity, I asked him if he happen to convince, or at best, inform other youngsters who are in his peer group about attending medical school, or any other type of school in Aruba, or in any other part of the Caribbean, and much to my surprise, his answer astounded me, to say the least.

He stated that the majority of the people whom he shared his information with did not express any interest of doing the same, yet they continue to struggle with schools that they are unhappy with as a result of their teachers not giving enough 'instruction' on their class courses, and their extreme displeasure on the cost of books needed for their courses.

Unfortunately, paying through the nose for college books is a normal complaint. And if you are receiving a grant, most of your grant money goes to paying for the books and tuition, thus leaving practically nothing else for the remaining semester to use for much needed things (i.e., food, gas, apartment, etc.).

Although I cannot provide hard evidence of statistical data for your reading pleasure, I assure you that what I say here is a national problem . . . well, at least that is the problem here in the State of South Carolina.

Personally, it would behoove every young male and female to get their four-year degree at their local, regional, or national college/university, and then further their field of interest in the Caribbean, or some other country that offers superlative education. There are a host of great schools that offer a lot giving more bang to your buck. After all, this is a GLOBAL world, and no longer can any of us afford to remain isolated, or ignorant, to facts.

In fact, you can learn a lot about other countries, and what they can offer you by watching one of my favorite programs "House Hunter International," which is a HGTV program (Channel 229 on Directv). On this program, you will see how so many Americans left their home state, and home town, to live abroad to become gainfully employed, and/or attend school.

Also, Google Search "Caribbean Medical Schools," where you will find a list of schools in this part of the world. You must do your research. No one else can do it for you. Take the initiative, and start anew, or renew what you already know.

And if you decide that leaving the States is not your cup-of-tea, then you prepare yourself to undergo a major overhaul in your priorities regarding employment, school, money, family, comfortability, and so forth, that will allow you the freedom to enjoy life the way you want it.

With that said, may you have a Happy Bless New Year 2012, and may all of you aspirations are fulfilled, and your dreams realized with good spirits.

Peace & Blessings,

Miriam
BCD21CGN

2011-11-14T23:14:00.001-05:00

Boy in 2002 shower incident has denied abuse: Sandusky:

Sandusky, in a telephone interview with Costas that aired at the same time, acknowledged he had horsed around and showered with children involved in the Second Mile charity he founded.

But he denied he was a pedophile.

Costas asked Sandusky if he was sexually attracted to underage boys.

"Sexually attracted?" Sandusky said. "You know, I enjoy young people. I love to be around them. But no, I'm not sexually attracted to young boys."

Publisher's Note:

Didn't Mr. Michael Jackson expressed how much he had enjoyed being around children, especially since he did not have a normal childhood himself due to working in the entertainment industry at such a young age along with his siblings? Why isn't this man feeling the wrath of disgust by the public the same way Michael Jackson did back in the day? What is terribly wrong with this picture?

Lawsuit: Patti LaBelle threw water at a tot

R&B diva Patti LaBelle hurled curses — and half a bottle of water — at a woman and her 18-month-old daughter after a dust-up over parenting in an apartment building lobby, according to a lawsuit filed Monday and the family's lawyer.

LaBelle's publicists and lawyer didn't immediately respond to Kevin and Roseanna Monk's lawsuit.

Toys R Us, Walmart plan to open earlier on Thanksgiving

As stores up the ante with earlier holiday hours that creep into Thanksgiving night, Black Friday is turning into Black Thursday, and some shoppers and employees aren't happy about it.

•Toys R Us said Monday that it will open at 9 p.m. on Thanksgiving, an hour earlier than last year and the earliest of any retailer so far this year.

•Walmart will open at 10 p.m., two hours ahead of last year's midnight opening.

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Why Americans won't do dirty jobs

Skinning, gutting, and cutting up catfish is not easy or pleasant work. No one knows this better than Randy Rhodes, president of Harvest Select, which has a processing plant in impoverished Uniontown, Ala. For years, Rhodes has had trouble finding Americans willing to grab a knife and stand 10 or more hours a day in a cold, wet room for minimum wage and skimpy benefits.

Most of his employees are Guatemalan. Or they were, until Alabama enacted an immigration law in September that requires police to question people they suspect might be in the U.S. illegally and punish businesses that hire them. The law, known as HB56, is intended to scare off undocumented workers, and in that regard it’s been a success. It’s also driven away legal immigrants who feared being harassed.

I Don't Know About You But I'm Having Trouble With This News Article Regarding Sandusky

2011-11-14T19:50:00.004-05:00

Opinion:

Let me start by saying that I had no intention whatsoever in posting any articles regarding the Penn State scandal involving Sandusky, Paterno, and the other folks involved in this mess. There are numerous reports already focusing on this subject, and quite frankly, it is long overdue.

Then I remembered how much hell was given to the King of Pop, Mr. Micheal J. Jackson, who, too, underwent worse scrutiny than this Sandusky guy, involving children. Thankfully, he was cleared of those charges, but the public and mainstream media had a field day at Mr. Michael Jackson's expense.

So, yeah, Sandusky should be put through the same ringer as Jackson, but worse because this scandal was all about MONEY! And dare I say, perhaps there is a dark murky secret that lies within Sandusky that hasn't yet surfaced.

However, this particular article I was reading moments ago puzzles me. Based on the following written article, last paragraph:

Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett, the former attorney general who launched the investigation two years ago, said on “Meet the Press” Sunday that McQueary failed in his “moral obligation” to report the alleged rape to authorities.

Granted, McQueary should have notified the proper authorities about what he saw, but the question remains: Since an investigation was launched two years ago by Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett, then former attorney general, why didn't he take it further himself? After all, he was the Attorney General for crying out loud!

'Moral obligation.' Hhmm.

It was a moral obligation for the Attorney General to do his due diligence also. So why is McQueary being solely blamed for not reporting the incident to the "proper authorities?" Isn't the job of an attorney general proper enough for someone to tackle the situation?

Frankly speaking, Corbett should be put into the same criminal bag of laundry right along with Sandusky, Paterno, McQueary, and the whole kit and kubudle! Yeah, I said it, and I'm sticking to it, damn it!

Maybe it is me who is not reading this article correctly. What is exactly the role of an attorney general? Oh well, here is the news article below:

Penn State's Mike McQueary says he 'made sure it stopped' talking about Jerry Sandusky's alleged sex abuse in shower

Family of Heavy D speaks: 'he was a kind and giving spirit'

The family of legendary rapper Heavy D (born Dwight Errington Myers) has issued a statement regarding the performer's death, just days before his scheduled funeral. The statement, released to theGrio Monday, refers to Errington's love for his family and friends, saying the rapper "was a kind and giving spirit who extended and shared himself with everyone who crossed his path. He had a heart of gold, was approachable, very personable and gave of himself willingly and unconditionally."

Read the family's statement here.

Rocawear Pulls Jay-Z “Occupy” Line After Criticism Over Profits

Jay-Z’s Occupy Wall Street T-shirt line has been pulled from Rocawear’s website just days after critics slammed the millionaire rapper for cashing in on the movement without promising to share a penny of profits with the 99%.

Activists Discourage Muslims From Talking To NYPD

NEW YORK — After a decade of the police spying on the innocuous details of the daily lives of Muslims, activists in New York are discouraging people from going directly to the police with their concerns about terrorism, a campaign that is certain to further strain relations between the two groups.

Muslim community leaders are openly teaching people how to identify police informants, encouraging them to always talk to a lawyer before speaking with the authorities and reminding people already working with law enforcement that they have the right to change their minds.

Emotional Mom Of Missing Jahessye Shockley Promises “I’ll Find You”

In an emotional interview on Phoenix KPHO TV, Jerice Hunter, the mother of missing Glendale, Ariz. girl Jahessye Shockley has promised her daughter that she will find her.

Jahessye Shockley Missing: Emotional Mom Promises 'I'll Find You' (VIDEO)

University President’s “Cool To Be Smart” Message Makes It To 60 Minutes

The president of the University of Maryland-Baltimore County, Freeman Hrabowski, was profiled on CBS’s 60 Minutes last night in a segment that focused on the great work he’s done in the areas of science and math at
his university.

Check out the video here

UMBC and its president, Freeman Hrabowski, profiled on ‘60 Minutes’

You can watch the entire “60 Minutes” segment below. It’s well worth your time.

Black Atlas - Miami, Florida

NOTE FROM ME:

Just so you know: Miami is a Number #2 city . . . numerically speaking of course. And as a 'Date of Birth' Adviser and Counselor, it would behoove me to tell you that if you happen to be born on the 2nd, 11th, 20th, or the 29th of any month, Miami is harmonious for you to live. If hurricanes and humidity does not bother you in the least, check out Miami to live and work.

To learn more about your 'Date of Birth,' or how the numbers in your 'date of birth' affect you in life, check out "Ask Miriam" - just click here. Or buy my book "How To Succeed in Life By Understanding the Meaning of Your 'Date of Birth!' Just click here.

Personally speaking, I think it is a damn shame that in today's society we have to write an article about the dangers of having sex with animals. Yeah, I said it, and I'm sticking to it, damn it!

Sex With Animals Can Lead To Penis Cancer: Study

If you're searching for a reason not to have sex with animals, add this to the list: It could give you penis cancer, according to a new study published in the Journal of Sexual Medicine.

The authors found that men who have had sex with animals were twice as likely to develop penile cancer as those who stick with their own kind.

Lead author Stenio de Cassio Zequi, a urologist in Sao Paulo, gave Live Science his theory explaining the increased risk.

"We think that the intense and long-term SWA [sex with animals] practice could produce micro-traumas in the human penile tissue," Zequi said. "The genital mucus membranes of animals could have different characteristics from human genitalia, and the animals' secretions are probably different from human fluids. Perhaps animal tissues are less soft than ours, and non-human secretions would be toxic for us."

Buffett buys IBM, Intel and DirecTV

Funeral held in Philadelphia for boxing great Joe Frazier

Boxing great Joe Frazier was laid to rest Monday in Philadelphia, one week after dying of liver cancer and four decades after capturing the world's attention in an epic showdown with Muhammad Ali.

Ali was among those at Frazier's private funeral at Enon Tabernacle Baptist Church, along with other boxing luminaries such as promoter Don King and current World Boxing Council champion Bernard Hopkins, video from CNN affiliate CSN Philly showed. Civil rights activist Jesse Jackson and Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter were also in attendance.

A program for the service billed it as the "Homegoing Celebration of Joseph Frazier," offering friends and family one last chance to pay their respects to the late 67-year-old athlete.

He died November 7, just a month after being diagnosed with liver cancer.

Co-founder of social network site Diaspora, Ilya Zhitomirskiy, dies at 22

Ilya Zhitomirskiy, a co-founder of the startup social networking site Diaspora that put an emphasis on privacy and user-control, has died, a company spokesman said Monday. He was 22.

The cause of Zhitomirskiy’s death in San Francisco wasn’t immediately known, and neither the company nor the San Francisco Medical Examiner’s office would release details.

“No longer will you be at the whims of those large corporate networks who want to tell you that sharing and privacy are mutually exclusive,” Zhitomirskiy said alongside co-founders Raphael Sofaer, Dan Grippi, and Max Salzber.

1 in 10 adults could have diabetes by 2030

In a report issued on Monday, the advocacy group estimated that 552 million people could have diabetes in two decades' time based on factors like aging and demographic changes. Currently, the group says that about one adult in 13 has diabetes.

Players Reject N.B.A. Offer and Opt to Disband Union

Faced with a deal it could not accept, and a negotiating process that had reached a dead end, the National Basketball Players Association elected to disband Monday afternoon, thrusting the N.B.A. into chaos. The prospect of reviving the 2011-12 season now rests with the courts.

World’s Fastest-Growing Facebook App Will Scare the Crap Out of You

“I’ve never seen anything grow this fast that isn’t hugely supported by something,” says Zada, who hoped around 100,000 people would enjoy his side project. He threw the script together in about 30 minutes, and with the collaborative efforts of his production company, Tool of North America, and developer Jason Nickel, completed the interactive video in four weeks. It was simply a side project for Halloween.

“I just wanted to scare people. It’s kind of a horror movie that has no blood, no guts, but there’s this person that you don’t want looking at your information,” says Zada. “And that to me was the scariest of all.”

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2011-11-14T14:04:00.000-05:00

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2011-11-13T13:51:00.000-05:00

Social Security large part of rural economies

"I don't know if it means we have a larger population of aging individuals or those who are in some way disadvantaged," Bell said. "A lot of our children who go off to college don't come back because they go elsewhere to find jobs. In some cases they don't come back home until they are retirement age.

"If you are on Social Security, you are on a limited income. If that doesn't get adjusted upward, that can result in a trickle-down effect for local businesses. If they can't grow their income, then they have fewer assets upon which to draw."

The figures cover residents receiving an old age pension, a survivor benefit or a disability check, according to the Social Security Administration and the Bureau of Economic Analysis.

Rapper Erick Sermon “OK” After Heart Attack

Erick Sermon, one half of the popular hip-hop duo EPMD, suffered a heart attack on Saturday, but appears to be recovering, reports say.

These Four Things Happen Right Before a Heart Attack

Every year, approximately 785,000 Americans suffer a first heart attack. And 470,000 who’ve already had one or more heart attacks have another one. The scary thing is that 25 percent of ALL heart attacks happen “silently,” without clear or obvious symptoms.

Even when symptoms occur, they can be so mild or vague, most people don’t even realize it’s heart-related (unless they are made aware). Four things in particular are the most sinister signs of a silent heart attack.

Read more on Newsmax.com: These Four Silent Heart Attack Symptoms Happen Right Before a Heart Attack
Important: Do You Support Pres. Obama's Re-Election? Vote Here Now!

Funeral planned for Heavy D at historic NY church

A private funeral for rap legend Heavy D will be held at a historic black Baptist church in a northern suburb of New York City.

Grace Baptist Church of Mount Vernon announced Friday that the funeral for Heavy D had been scheduled for Nov. 18.

The New York-born rapper died at a Los Angeles hospital Tuesday after collapsing outside his home. He was 44.

Study: New drug cuts deaths after heart attack

People recovering from a heart attack or severe chest pain are much less likely to suffer another heart-related problem or to die from one if they take a new blood-thinning drug along with standard anti-clotting medicines, a large study finds.

But this benefit had a cost: a greater risk of serious bleeding, usually in the digestive tract.

Welfare for Millionaires

A startling new report reveals the billions in government dollars that benefit America’s wealthiest citizens.

Class warfare is a politically charged term these days, from the Wall Street protests to the Capitol Hill negotiations over curtailing the nation’s debt. But a new congressional analysis, obtained by Newsweek, may fuel populist outrage by showing the extent of government subsidies that go to the wealthiest people in America.

From unemployment payments to subsidies and tax breaks on luxury items like vacation homes and yachts, Americans earning more than $1 million collect more than $30 billion in government largesse each year, according to the report assembled by Sen. Tom Coburn, a Republican from Oklahoma, who is so often at odds with members of both parties that colleagues call him “Dr. No.” The Internal Revenue Service provided the data showing how much money was going to the much-referenced top 1 percent.

In all, millionaires receive hefty help from Uncle Sam. The $30 billion in handouts, to put it in perspective, amounts to twice as much as the government spends on NASA, and three times the budget of the Environmental Protection Agency. On the other hand, it would only cover the cost of fighting about three months in Iraq and Afghanistan. Still, eliminating them would help make a small dent in the $1.5 trillion congressional leaders are trying to find by Thanksgiving.

Are You Ready to Be a Landlord?

Buying Investment Properties Can Be Risky. Here's How to Do It Smartly

The pitch is compelling: Buy a vacant house or apartment building and rent it out to some of the throngs of Americans who have lost their homes to foreclosure. With interest rates near record lows and property values still slumping, getting into the landlord business is cheaper than it has been in years.

'Wake up or die in your sleep!'

“We have more millionaires, and a few billionaires and more members of the Black middle class, yet the masses of our people are slipping further and further behind and are deeper and deeper in the valley of poverty and want,” said Min. Farrakhan.

“If we as a people are not mentally and emotionally and intellectually ready to fight the war for our survival, then our ignorance of the time will be the means of our own destruction,” Min. Farrakhan said over the airwaves of Chicago’s Black talk radio station and to viewers tuned in to a streaming online webcast.

“We are at war, and the war is for our survival and for the survival of our children and a future for our grandchildren and great-grandchildren.”

Hollywood's New Sodom & Gomorrah persona

People have always been fascinated with the beautiful, beguiling, and the fantasy-filled world created by Hollywood and the entertainment industry. Although the new faces in Hollywood and today's celebrities still inspire awe, admiration, and fanatical devotion, there was a certain mystique that surrounded the young starlets of yesteryear.

While some may look at Beyonce, Rihanna, and Nicki Minaj, as the epitome of stardom, Lena Horne, Dorothy Dandridge, Billie Holiday and the like of these women represented much more of the epitome of Black style, class and grace.

Has the time of regal beauty passed and are we really satisfied with what has taken its place?

Pittsburgh Will Pay You $100,000 If You'll Just Please Move There City resorts to plain bribery

How much money would it take to lure you to move to Pittsburgh? How about $100,000? Some wags in SoHo would probably say no amount is enough. STFU, SoHo! The oft-maligned hometown of the Steelers and Penguins (the Pirates are best ignored) is offering 100K in its "Experienced Dreamers" contest for folks 45 and older. Contest materials explain: "Pittsburgh is a place with a long history of dreamers—pioneers in arts and culture, business, medicine, robotics, and more." The competition "is all about getting you to think about your dream—whatever it is you believe you were born to do—and asking if you have the courage to pick up your life, move to Pittsburgh and make it real. If you've got a dream and the passion to follow it, we want to hear about it.

Remembering Flight 587, 10 Years Later

On a crystal clear morning on November 12, 2001, a routine flight prepares for take off from

JFK International Airport in New York City bound for Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic.

The American Airlines flight is packed with 260 passengers -- most Dominicans or Dominican-Americans -- and crew. The holidays are near, and there are generations of families on board. Flight 587 is a lifeline between the tight knit towns of the Dominican Republic and the heart of Dominican-American life in Washington Heights and Upper Manhattan.

2011-11-11T16:53:00.000-05:00

Mini-Strokes Linked to Increased Risk for Early Death

People who suffer from a transient ischemic attack (TIA), also known as a mini-stroke, face a significantly greater likelihood of dying early in comparison to individuals who have never experienced such an attack. A new study from the University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia found that those who suffer TIAs are 20 percent more likely to face death within just nine years of having a TIA.

TIAs occur when there is a temporary loss of blood flow to the brain. Symptoms are much the same as those for stroke, including paralysis, sudden weakness or numbness, dimming or loss of vision, impaired or slurred speech, and mental confusion.

Unlike stroke, symptoms of a TIA are normally resolve within a period ranging from a few minutes to 24 hours. While brain damage can still occur from a TIA, such attacks don’t result in permanent disabilities. However, the occurrence of a TIA increases a patient’s risk for suffering a stroke.

Things Baby Boomers Won't Say

U.S. panel advises testing children for cholesterol

Children from ages 9 to 11 should be routinely screened for high cholesterol so that action can be taken to avoid the development of heart disease, according to new guidelines from the U.S. National Institutes of Health.

The guidelines, endorsed by the American Academy of Pediatrics, aim to identify early risks that can sharply increase the likelihood of developing heart disease as an adult.

Tests Show Most Store Honey Isn't Honey

Ultra-filtering Removes Pollen, Hides Honey Origins

The results show that the pollen frequently has been filtered out of products labeled "honey."

The removal of these microscopic particles from deep within a flower would make the nectar flunk the quality standards set by most of the world's food safety agencies.

The food safety divisions of the World Health Organization, the European Commission and dozens of others also have ruled that without pollen there is no way to determine whether the honey came from legitimate and safe sources.

In the U.S., the Food and Drug Administration says that any product that's been ultra-filtered and no longer contains pollen isn't honey. However, the FDA isn't checking honey sold here to see if it contains pollen.

The 1% are the very best destroyers of wealth the world has ever seen

Our common treasury in the last 30 years has been captured by industrial psychopaths. That's why we're nearly bankrupt

If wealth was the inevitable result of hard work and enterprise, every woman in Africa would be a millionaire. The claims that the ultra-rich 1% make for themselves – that they are possessed of unique intelligence or creativity or drive – are examples of the self-attribution fallacy. This means crediting yourself with outcomes for which you weren't responsible. Many of those who are rich today got there because they were able to capture certain jobs. This capture owes less to talent and intelligence than to a combination of the ruthless exploitation of others and accidents of birth, as such jobs are taken disproportionately by people born in certain places and into certain classes.

The findings of the psychologist Daniel Kahneman, winner of a Nobel economics prize, are devastating to the beliefs that financial high-fliers entertain about themselves. He discovered that their apparent success is a cognitive illusion. For example, he studied the results achieved by 25 wealth advisers across eight years. He found that the consistency of their performance was zero. "The results resembled what you would expect from a dice-rolling contest, not a game of skill." Those who received the biggest bonuses had simply got lucky.

MF Global fires brokerage staff en masse

MF Global fired all 1,066 of its brokerage employees on Friday, triggering anger and resentment about the firm's collapse after bad bets on European debt under former CEO Jon Corzine's leadership.
How the final blow was delivered upset many staff -- with some learning by email and others through news on the television.

"Fifteen years and no severance!" shouted one angry MF Global employee as he left the firm's offices on 5th Avenue in Manhattan after hugging the receptionist and doorman.

Caterpillar to Shift Some Production to U.S.

Caterpillar Inc. said it plans to shift production of small construction machinery from Japan to a new plant in North America that is expected to employ more than 1,000 people.

The new plant, whose location wasn't identified, will become the company's global source for small bulldozers and mini-hydraulic excavators. It also will export partially assembled mini-excavators to Europe to improve delivery times for European customers.

Caterpillar, which is based in Peoria, Ill., said it expects to begin construction during the first half of 2012.

Under the Gun, Facebook Relents on Privacy

Facebook is reportedly ready to settle a privacy complaint with the FTC, agreeing to get consent from users before making private data public and to performing privacy audits for the next 20 years.

At issue is Facebook’s decision in December 2009 to make sweeping and retroactive changes to user profiles, including requiring all users to have their profile images, cities of residence, and expressed interests made public.

Facebook’s “simplified” privacy settings also changed users’ default settings to make status updates fully public. Other settings that had been private or limited to only “Friends” became visible to “Friends of Friends” and to third-party developers. Even though users could manually change many of these defaults, most (reportedly about 80%) did not.

2011-11-10T11:56:00.001-05:00

Wal-Mart Black Friday circular: See the deals

Not to be one-upped by Target, which recently announced it would open at midnight on Black Friday, Wal-Mart said it will kick off its Black Friday deals at 10 p.m. on Thursday.

"Our customers told us they would rather stay up late to shop than get up early, so we're going to hold special events on Thanksgiving and Black Friday," Duncan Mac Naughton, Wal-Mart's chief merchandising officer, U.S., said in a statement.

Starting at 10 p.m., Wal-Mart is offering doorbuster deals on toys, clothes and home accessories like $5 Barbies marked down from $19, jeans for less than $10, children's pajamas sets for $4.47 and a Black & Decker Coffeemaker for $9.44.

Then at midnight, the retailer said it will begin discounting electronics as well. Deals include a Samsung 51-inch plasma TV for $498 down from $649, a Kodak 14 megapixel camera for $49 and a Magellan GPS for $69, marked down from $89.

Another round of discounting will start at 8 a.m. and continue throughout the weekend, Wal-Mart said. Among those deals will be Goodyear tires starting at $59, a Vizio 42-inch 3D LED Wi-Fi HDTV for $598 and a selection of DVDs for $1.96 each.

How Hair Weaves Could Cause You To Die!

Glue extensions, or double sided tape, are often used with popular lace wigs. Unfortunately, they can cause damage that is often permanent. Some of the toxins that seep into your scalp can cause you to be poisoned and go into shock or coma!

Joe Frazier: 10 Facts You Didn’t Know About The Boxing Great

Heavy D: Ten Facts You Didn’t Know About The Hip-Hop Legend

More US mortgages 'underwater'

The number of U.S. homeowners who owe more than their properties are worth climbed in the third quarter as lenders repossessed fewer houses, according to real-estate data provider Zillow.

The share of borrowers with negative equity rose to 28.6%, up from 26.8% in the second quarter and 23.2% a year earlier, the Seattle company said Tuesday. Last quarter's portion was the biggest since Zillow began tracking the measure in the first quarter of 2009, when 22.3% of households were "underwater."

The number increased because fewer delinquent properties are being taken over by banks, said Stan Humphries, Zillow's chief economist. Banks have slowed the pace of seizures as they negotiate with state attorneys general probing the mishandling of foreclosure documents.

Home builders dogged by tougher lenders, foreclosures

2011-11-09T13:33:00.001-05:00

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Teen Murdered Grandmother After Confrontation Over Skipping School

A Chicago teenager murdered his grandmother this past Friday morning after she began admonishing him for skipping school.

The ninth-grader, Keshawn Perkins, 15, pummeled his grandmother with a lamp and stabbed her in the neck, head, and body with a kitchen knife. He then wrapped her body in a blanket and dumped it in a sewer trap behind her house, before taking off with her purse.

Lawyer: NBA Owners Treat Players Like “Plantation Workers”

NEW YORK — Magic Johnson said it’s “ridiculous” to suggest that David Stern is racist, saying it’s OK to disagree with the NBA commissioner but that you “can’t attack the man and what he stands for.”

Johnson was responding to comments made by attorney Jeffrey Kessler, representing the NBA players’ association, who told the Washington Post that owners are treating players like “plantation workers” during the ongoing lockout.

Rev. Al Sharpton On Dr. Murray Verdict: “Conrad Got Off Lightly”

“For the Jackson family, particularly his mother and children that have gone this horrific ordeal, to hear a verdict that buried Michael again would have been devastating. I am happy that they didn’t have to suffer that indignity,” said Sharpton. “I feel that Dr. Murray and others who benefited from Michael but didn’t protect him got off relatively lightly. Michael lost his life and we lost one of the greatest entertainers that ever lived. I lost a friend and will never forget him.”

Ruby Dee is alive, despite false Twitter reports

Contrary to a flood of tweets overnight, Ruby Dee is very much alive.

Jeffrey Leavitt, representative for the 87-year-old actress and civil rights activist, corrected the false reports on Wednesday.

Dee's rumored death apparently resulted from confusion between her name and that of Heavy D, the popular rapper who died in Beverly Hills, California, on Tuesday at age 44.

The mix-up was compounded when the Rev. Jesse Jackson informed his Twitter followers that Ruby Dee had died, and she became a trending topic on the social network.

2011-11-08T00:51:00.007-05:00

Rap legend Heavy D of Heavy D and the Boyz leaves lasting final lyric: ‘BE INSPIRED!’

LOS ANGELES — It was as if Heavy D knew that it would be his last tweet.

The self-proclaimed “overweight lover” of hip hop, who became one of rap’s top hitmakers with his charming combination of humor and positivity, enthusiastically told his Twitter followers Tuesday morning to “BE INSPIRED!” He later collapsed outside his home following a shopping trip, unable to breathe, before he was transported to a nearby hospital.

Heavy D died at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, according to Lt. Mark Rosen of the Beverly Hills police. He was 44. Rosen said detectives found no signs of foul play and believe his death was medically related. If true, Heavy D would of course not have known that “BE INSPIRED!” would be his last tweet but that it was is fitting for the life that Heavy D lived.

Heavy D may have died from pneumonia complications

Rapper Heavy D, who was pronounced dead Tuesday at the emergency room at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, may have collapsed and died from complications related to pneumonia, authorities said.

Dwight Arrington "Heavy D" Myers

May 24, 1967 – November 8, 2011

May God Bless His Soul & Spirit!

NBA players' union rejects latest offer from owners

The union refused to even put up for a vote of its 439 members a sliding-scale proposal in which players, who are seeking 52% of basketball revenue, could make 49% to 51%.

Emergency alert system to be tested Wednesday

The White House is preparing the country for the first nationwide test of the country's emergency alert system on Wednesday.

The test will occur at 2 p.m. EST Wednesday and will last about 30 seconds, presidential spokesman Jay Carney told reporters.

Dangerous! Laser Aimed At 6 NYC-Bound Planes

NEW YORK – The Federal Aviation Administration is urging witnesses to contact police after someone aimed a green laser at six airliners as they landed at LaGuardia airport over the weekend.

Lasers can blind or distract pilots. The laser came from a point about five miles southwest of the airport.

As baby boomers retire, the times will be a-changin'

The birth of this generation launched new directions in society. That is surely to continue as baby boomers age amid the loss of wealth from the recession, though the effects are hard to predict.

Mortgage payments show surprising rise in delinquencies

While lawmakers in Washington debated the debt ceiling and consumer confidence dropped, more homeowners were having a harder time making their

mortgage payments.

The rate at which mortgage holders were late with their payments by 60 days or more rose in the June-to-September period for the first time since the last three months of 2009, according to TransUnion.

The credit reporting agency said 5.88% of homeowners missed two or more payments, an early sign of possible foreclosure. That was up from 5.82% in the second quarter.

The increase surprised TransUnion researchers, who had expected late payments, or delinquencies, to fall for the quarter.

Why Science Majors Change Their Minds (It’s Just So Darn Hard)

But, it turns out, middle and high school students are having most of the fun, building their erector sets and dropping eggs into water to test the first law of motion. The excitement quickly fades as students brush up against the reality of what David E. Goldberg, an emeritus engineering professor, calls “the math-science death march.” Freshmen in college wade through a blizzard of calculus, physics and chemistry in lecture halls with hundreds of other students. And then many wash out.

Studies have found that roughly 40 percent of students planning engineering and science majors end up switching to other subjects or failing to get any degree. That increases to as much as 60 percent when pre-medical students, who typically have the strongest SAT scores and high school science preparation, are included, according to new data from the University of California at Los Angeles. That is twice the combined attrition rate of all other majors.

LME plans to list Charleston as steel warehouse

The London Metal Exchange plans to approve Charleston, South Carolina, as a location of good delivery for steel billet, head of business development Chris Evans told Reuters.

The port was chosen for its proximity to steel mills on the southeast coast of the United States and is aimed at expanding the steel contract's footprint in North America even as domestic steel mills continue to resist using the futures market for hedging.

Ventre: Frazier Deserves Same Reverence Given to Ali

It’s almost impossible to look at the career of Smokin’ Joe Frazier, who passed away far too soon Monday night from liver cancer at the age of 67, without also noticing the dancing shadow of Muhammad Ali. The two are locked in a clinch for eternity, and boxing fans tend to favor the flashier performer, especially when he is brilliant also as well as a once-in-a-lifetime personality.

But Joe Frazier was great, too. The phrase “Ali-Frazier” has been burned into the lexicon. It represents two titans of sport, not one and his able foil. It has been used to describe every clash between two parties of equal strength who pose a test to each other — Yankees-Red Sox, Lakers-Celtics, etc.

Boxing champ Joe Frazier passes away at 67

Frazier, who died Monday night after a brief battle with liver cancer at the age of 67, will forever be linked to Ali. But no one in boxing would ever dream of anointing Ali as The Greatest unless he, too, was linked to Smokin' Joe.

"You can't mention Ali without mentioning Joe Frazier," said former AP boxing writer Ed Schuyler Jr. "He beat Ali, don't forget that."

Joseph William "Joe" Frazier

January 12, 1944 - November 7, 2011

PHOTOS: Frazier's life in photos

Floyd Mayweather offers to pay for Joe Frazier's funeral

The death of boxing great Joe Frazier on Monday night has touched millions, including a deep admirer of the sport's history, unbeaten world welterweight champion Floyd Mayweather Jr.

On Twitter late Tuesday after hearing of Frazier's death, Mayweather tweeted, "My condolences go out to the family of the late great Joe Frazier. #TheMoneyTeam will pay for his Funeral services."

Mayweather has committed to such a gesture before, earlier this year paying for the funeral of a one-time opponent, Southland former world champion Genaro Hernandez.

Medicare's Blood Drugs

The FDA has warned that the blood drugs Procrit, Aranesp, and Epogen are dangerous to patients, but Medicare and Medicaid still spend billions paying for the medications, prompting charges of government waste from critics.

2011-11-07T20:21:00.003-05:00

Wealth Gap Between Oldest And Youngest Is Widest Ever

WASHINGTON — The wealth gap between younger and older Americans has stretched to the widest on record, worsened by a prolonged economic downturn that has wiped out job opportunities for young adults and saddled them with housing and college debt.

The typical U.S. household headed by a person age 65 or older has a net worth 47 times greater than a household headed by someone under 35, according to an analysis of census data released Monday.

While people typically accumulate assets as they age, this wealth gap is now more than double what it was in 2005 and nearly five times the 10-to-1 disparity a quarter-century ago, after adjusting for inflation.

Black, Asian Teens Have Lowest Rates Of Drug And Alcohol Use

Nov. 7 — Black and Asian teenagers in the U.S. are less likely to use alcohol or drugs than adolescents of other races, a study found.

The survey of 72,561 teens found that American Indian youth had the highest level of drug or alcohol use, with 48 percent reporting they had used the substances in the past year. That was followed by 39 percent of whites, 37 percent of Hispanics, 36 percent mixed-race teens, 32 percent of blacks and 24 percent of Asians, according to the research published today in Archives of General Psychiatry.

Wireless Service Taxes Hit D.C., Maryland The Hardest

Did you know: Maryland (11^th) and the District of Columbia (15^th) are among the top 20 states with the most expensive wireless services?

A special report released by Tax Analysts, a non-profit provider of tax news and analysis, offers a detailed picture of the problem. If you live in Maryland, the combined federal-state local tax rate on your wireless services is 17.28% – and in D.C. the combined rate is 16.63% (as of July 2010). Wireless taxes in Maryland are about 6.3% higher than the national average and in D.C. about 2.3% higher.

Police Beat Teenage Black Girl For Riding Bike

A Majority Of Black Jobless No Longer Receiving Unemployment

A majority of Black unemployed are no longer receiving unemployment benefits.
In early 2010, 75 percent of Black unemployed were receiving benefits. Now, only 48 percent receive unemployment, a shift that highlights the nation’s issues with long tern unemployment.

Supreme Court to look at life in prison for juveniles

The Supreme Court on Monday agreed to decide whether juveniles convicted of killing someone may be locked up for life with no chance of parole, a follow-up to last year's ruling barring such sentences for teenagers whose crimes do not include killing.

The justices will examine a pair of cases from the South involving young killers who are serving life sentences for crimes they committed when they were 14.

Both cases were brought by the Equal Justice Initiative in Montgomery, Ala. The institute said that life without parole for children so young "is cruel and unusual" and violates the Constitution.

The group says roughly six dozen people in 18 states are under life sentences and ineligible for parole for crimes they committed at 13 or 14.

Who Killed Biggie Smalls?

A retired LAPD detective who worked on the case says he knows.

Investigations into the shocking murders of hip-hop stars Tupac Shakur and Biggie Smalls was shelved prematurely, according to a retired LAPD detective who said he knows who is responsible.

His new book "Murder Rap" points the finger at hip-hop mogul Suge Knight as responsible for ordering the hit on Christopher Wallace, better known as Biggie Smalls.

"This is the definitive account," said author and retired LAPD detective Greg Kading. "I think that right now is the time when this should be looked at to promote prosecution"

Kading retired in 2010 to write the book.

"At the time, I realized these cases were both shelved, and there was no proactive effort to solve them," Kading said.

A Bright Economic Outlook: Kool Smiles Plans to Hire Nearly 100 South Carolina Residents in the Next 12 Months

Increased Patient Demand Fueling Expansion Plans for Leading Dental Health Provider

ORANGEBURG, S.C., Nov. 7, 2011 -- – While the monthly news from the Bureau of Labor and Statistics reports slow – if any – job growth, Kool Smiles is pleased to announce plans to hire nearly 100 new employees for its South Carolina offices within the next 12 months. A leading

dental health provider for children and adults, Kool Smiles has seen an increase in patients through positive patient referrals and will continue to expand to meet the growing demand.

FBI Joins Search for Missing 2-Year-old Washington Boy

The FBI has joined the search for a 2-year-old Washington state boy who was last seen by his mother inside a parked car.

Sky Metalwala was reported missing Sunday morning after his mother discovered him missing from her car in Bellevue, Wash.

The child's mother, Julia Biryukova, told police that she had run out of gas and left the boy buckled into his car seat while she and her 4-year-old daughter walked to a Chevron gas station, about a mile away.

Conrad Murray guilty in death of Michael Jackson

Cardiologist Conrad Murray has been convicted of involuntary manslaughter in the drug-overdose death of Michael Jackson. Prosecutors accused him of administering a fatal dose of the powerful anesthetic propofol to the King of Pop.

The judge ordered Murray held without bail until sentencing Nov. 29.

D.A.: Conrad Murray unlikely to serve 'appropriate' sentence

It is unlikely that Dr. Conrad Murray will serve a lengthy stint behind bars, L.A. County Dist. Atty. Steve Cooley said Monday after the physician’s conviction in the death of Michael Jackson.

Cooley said legislation that calls for some state prison inmates to be returned to county jails will probably mean that Murray -– who was handcuffed and taken into custody after his conviction -– will probably not serve “an appropriate sentence.”

Murray faces a maximum term of four years in prison when he is sentenced Nov. 29.

SC's new voter ID law could hit GOP seniors

BLUFFTON, S.C. -- South Carolina's new voter ID law could affect an unlikely group: older white voters who have higher incomes, are reliably Republican and live in retirement homes and gated golf communities along the state's southern coast, according to an analysis by The Associated Press.

There are roughly 217,000 active voters in the state who do not have a driver's license or state ID card, election officials said. Of those, almost a third are 65 or older, and nearly 1,600 of them live in precincts in Beaufort County's Sun City retirement community or affluent neighborhoods nearby, according to AP's analysis.

The Corporate Welfare State

The Occupy Wall Street protesters aren't good at articulating what they want, but one of their demands is "end corporate welfare." Well, welcome aboard. Some of us have been fighting crony capitalism for decades, and it's good to have new allies if liberals have awakened to the dangers of the corporate welfare state.

Corporate welfare is the offer of special favors—cash grants, loans, guarantees, bailouts and special tax breaks—to specific industries or firms. The government doesn't track the overall cost of these programs, but in 2008 the Cato Institute made an attempt and came up with $92 billion for fiscal 2006, which is more than the U.S. government spends on homeland security.

New census measure shows aid programs are helping poor children

A new, more accurate way of measuring poverty shows that antipoverty programs are working to keep children from falling into absolute deprivation.

The U.S. Census Bureau released a supplemental poverty measure Monday that shows children's poverty is at lower levels than previously calculated, thanks to food stamps and other programs aimed at helping families survive.

"It looks like the programs are targeted well at families with children, bringing many up out of poverty," said Kathleen Short, the Census Bureau economist who wrote the report.

At the same time, the report shows that the number of elderly living in poverty is much higher than previously calculated.

49.1 million people are poor, new Census estimates show

The ranks of America's poor are greater than previously known, reaching a new level of 49.1 million — or 16%— due to rising medical costs and other expenses that make it harder for people to stay afloat, according to new Census estimates.

Based on the revised formula, the number of poor people exceeds the record 46.2 million, or 15.1%, that was officially reported in September.

Banning Sodas At School Not Enough, Say Experts

Although children are not buying sugary drinks at school because of state bans, their overall consumption of such beverages does not seem to have dropped, researchers from the University of Illinois at Chicago reported in Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine after carrying out a study involving nearly seven thousand pupils in 40 US states.

Emergency warning test coming to every radio and TV in the nation

This is only a test. Seriously.

That's what the Federal Emergency Management Agency wants the public to know about the first nationwide test of the emergency alert system, scheduled for Wednesday.

The decades-old warning system is often tested locally, but it’s never been tested on every radio and TV station in the country at the same time, according to FEMA.

The agency is trying to get the word out about the test to avoid unnecessary alarm like, say, the panic caused by Orson Welles’ 1938 radio broadcast of a fictional Martian invasion in New Jersey.

Officials also want to prevent the test from tying up 911 phone lines.

"We have alerted our 911 call centers about the possibility for increased call volume during the Nov. 9 test,'' Alisa Simmons, a spokeswoman for the 911 network in Tarrant County, Texas, said in a statement appealing to the public not to call to inquire about the exercise.

Wednesday's 30-second test, which will sound and look like the familiar local tests, will begin at 2 p.m. EST (11 a.m. PST). Some 30,000 radio and TV operations will participate in the test.

Federal officials considered a three-minute test but decided on 30 seconds "to reduce any potential disruptions to the American people, while still maintaining our ability to test the system's nationwide capabilities," said FEMA spokeswoman Rachel Racusen.

Woods: Williams apologized over racial slur

Tiger Woods says he has received an apology from former caddie Steve Williams over a racial slur, and the two met and shook hands Tuesday at The Lakes Golf Club ahead of the Australian Open.

At a caddies' awards party last week, Williams talked about a television interview he gave following his new employer Adam Scott's win at the Bridgestone Invitational, saying "it was my aim to shove it up that black a---."

Woods said Tuesday the comment "was hurtful ... the wrong thing to say, and something that he has acknowledged. Stevie is not racist."

The world is talking, are you listening?

2011-11-06T02:52:00.006-05:00

Engaged couple discover they are brother and sister when their parents meet just before wedding

An engaged couple who dated for five years have been left in turmoil after their families met and they discovered they were brother and sister.

The woman, who is due to give birth next month, is devastated by the discovery that the father of her child is her brother.

The couple, who met at university, had decided they wanted to introduce their single parent families to each other before they got married.

It reported: 'Their parents separated when the woman was eight months old and the man was two years old.

'The man's father said he dumped his wife in 1983 because she was cheating on him. The girl was raised by her mother, while her brother was raised by his father.

'Neither of them knew they had a sibling.'

Case of missing Jhessye Shockley reaches 3-week mark

Sources inside the Shockley family tell CBS 5 News that Jhessye wasn't in
school for a week and a half before she disappeared.

Family members say Jhessye's mother, Jerice Hunter, told the school Jhessye had ringworm.
Police said Monday the girl's mother is not a suspect.

Glendale police Det. Jeff Daukas tells CBS 5 Hunter's polygraph test has not yet been scheduled. Daukas says it will be conducted by the FBI or Glendale police.

Jhessye Shockley has been missing since Oct. 11 after police believe she wandered from her apartment in Glendale, outside Phoenix, while her mother was running an errand.

Ultrasound of patient’s testicles reveals startling image of a man in agony

Doctors at a Canadian hospital found a shocking image staring right back at them as they were scanning the testicles of a 45-year-old paraplegic man. The image of one of the testicles, shown above, looks like a man's face grimaced in agony.

"It was very ghoulish, like a man screaming in pain," Dr. Naji Touma of Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario told The Toronto Star. "His mouth was open and it looked like one eye was gouged out."

The image, taken in 2009, was sent to the medical journal "Urology," and was recently published with the headline, "The face of testicular pain: A surprising ultrasound finding."

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/life-style/health/ultrasound-patient-s-testicles-reveals-startling-image-a-man-agony-article-1.971604#ixzz1cwpbAsZS

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/life-style/health/ultrasound-patient-s-testicles-reveals-startling-image-a-man-agony-article-1.971604#ixzz1cwozzart

Arrest warrant issued for WR Terrell Owens

An arrest warrant was issued for Terrell Owens after he failed to show up for a court date regarding
child support payments.

Diana Bianchini, a spokeswoman for Owens, said Saturday the free-agent wide receiver tried to reschedule an Oct. 24 hearing in Contra Costa County Court because he had set up a televised workout in the hopes of hooking on with an NFL club. No teams attended the workout.

According to Bianchini, Owens was looking for a new attorney and was representing himself while trying to change the court date. She said his new attorneys will deal with the warrant issued this week.

Oklahoma quake buckles highway, damages several homes

No serious injuries had been reported as of midnight after the 5.6 magnitude earthquake near Oklahoma City, but a major highway buckled in three places, at least three homes sustained major damage and others had roof and chimney damage, officials said.

U.S. Highway 62, which crosses Lincoln County, buckled west of Prague, Okla., according to Aaron Bennett, a dispatcher with Lincoln County 911 and emergency management.

"There's a boulder the size of an SUV in a rural road," Bennett said, noting the quake had left many coping with "a lot of broken glass and ceiling tiles."

NBA Offers Players up to 51 Percent of Revenue

NBA players have an offer that could get them up to 51 percent of basketball-related income.
They rejected it Saturday, and if they don't take it by the close of business Wednesday, they'll get a proposal that would guarantee them just 47 percent and call for a flex salary cap.

Could Michael Jordan impede labor progress?

Charlotte Bobcats owner Michael Jordan is reportedly leading a faction of hard-line NBA owners that will urge the league not to make any more concessions to the players, according to a report in the New York Times. The group of 10 to 14 owners is reportedly upset that the league has proposed a 50-50 split of basketball-related income with the players and would likely vote against such an agreement.

North Charleston plant churns out bullet-proof vehicles for diplomats, CEOs

The 30,000-square-foot Fain Street factory and its 32 employees churn out 10 to 14 bullet-resistant vehicles a month on its single production line, but by late next summer Streit USA Armoring plans to expand, add two assembly lines and eventually 40 new employees to its payroll.

The auto armorer will leave the leased building where it has bullet-proofed about 125 vehicles a year since 2007 and will build a new, 75,000-square-foot, company-owned facility on eight acres along Palmetto Commerce Parkway beside the Daimler van assembly plant.

Does it pay to drive a cab in D.C.? A look at the fair wage debate in the nation’s capital

“Basically, we’re getting slammed out here,” he says, swinging his 2003 Grand Marquis to the curb recently. “If cabbies are a little grumpier these days, there’s a reason. We’re hurting.”

The District of Columbia implemented a new meter system and fares three years ago, and today few, if any, major U.S. cities offer such a sweet deal for the riding public. On the other hand, as Frankel, 58, and his cabbies have argued loudly ever since, the flipside is that cabbies are being shortchanged with virtually every fare.

6 Reasons Why You Can't Lose Weight

Do you feel like you've done everything you can but still don't seem
to lose weight? Chances are, you're not doing the right things. Americans are more confused than ever about how to effectively lose weight and keep it off. Furthermore, many people are surprised to learn that the seemingly insignificant choices they make every day can negatively affect their goal of losing weight. Are you guilty of any of these behaviors?

DC program turns vacant buildings into apartments

Named Sweat Equity, the program is centered in the poorest of part of the city, the southeast neighborhood just about five miles away from the White House. It takes homeless D.C. residents on temporary assistance and gives them jobs renovating vacant buildings owned by the city. Upon completion, participants can live in the buildings for two years rent-controlled. Though it is still a pilot program, officials with the Department of Homeland Securtiy have seen results, giving them hope it will become a permanent fixture for getting those on public assistance back into the workforce.

16-year-old girl shot repeatedly, killed in Philly

Teen Girl Shot, Killed in Norristown

Forgotten Negro league players finally get recognition

Amid headstones of chiseled and polished granite, at a Topeka Kansas Cemetery, Jeremy Krock, an Illinois Anesthesiologist, has purchased a new marker and is working hard to give a name to some African-American baseball heroes, who were invisible in death. Many of those men never became household names like their white counterparts, and sadly, some of those black players passed away and hardly anyone noticed, until now.

Click here to view a slideshow of some of the nameless Negro Leaguers being honored

"They played in anonymity and I don't want to see them buried forever in anonymity," said Krock. "To know that these players are out there and to know where they're buried and to just walk out there and see a plot of grass is an injustice."

Declining numbers of Blacks seen in math, science

With Black unemployment reaching historic levels, banks laying off tens of thousands and law school graduates waiting tables, why aren't more Blacks looking toward science, technology, engineering and math—the still-hiring careers known as STEM?

The answer turns out to be a complex equation of self-doubt, stereotypes, discouragement and economics—and sometimes just wrong perceptions of what math and science are all about.

“White men make up less than 50 percent of the U.S. population. We're drawing (future scientists) from less than 50 percent of the talent we have available,” says Mae Jemison, the first Black woman astronaut, who has a medical degree and a bachelor's in chemical engineering.

“The more people you have in STEM,” she says, “the more innovations you'll get.”

2011-11-05T01:43:00.002-04:00

The McRib Is Actually The McPigIntestines

Analyzing the contents of the mysterious sandwich. The reconstituted pork-based patty probably contains tripe, heart, and scalded stomachs. That may sound a bit gross to some, but they're all edible meats already found in products like sausages.

Rapper RoseMo Killed After Twitter Beef WorldStar Video

LOS ANGELES — Jomo Adoula Zambia who rapped under the name, “RoseMo,” was killed in Los Angeles, California while
driving his car.

Boxing Legend Joe Frazier Seriously Ill With Liver Cancer

PHILADELPHIA — Former heavyweight champion Joe Frazier has liver cancer and is under hospice care.

The 67-year-old boxer was diagnosed four or five weeks ago, Frazier’s personal and business manager said Saturday. Leslie Wolff told The Associated Press that doctors have not yet told Frazier how long he has to live.

City In The Dark! Unable To Pay Bill, Michigan City Turns Off Lights

HIGHLAND PARK, Mich. — As the sun dips below the rooftops each evening, parts of this Detroit enclave turn to pitch black, the only illumination coming from a few streetlights at the end of the block or from glowing yellow yard globes.

It wasn’t always this way. But when the debt-ridden community could no longer afford its monthly electric bill, elected officials not only turned off 1,000 streetlights. They had them ripped out — bulbs, poles and all. Now nightfall cloaks most neighborhoods in inky darkness.

More People Joined Credit Unions In Last Month Than In All Of 2010

At least 650,000 people joined credit unions since September 29th, the day Bank of America announced it would charge a $5 per month fee to use their debt card for purchases starting in 2012. The bank has since killed that idea after all the negative feedback they received from it.

Man Says He Was Fired For Hiring Black Cashiers At Bread Shop

PITTSBURGH — A white man claims he was fired as manager of a suburban Panera Bread shop for repeatedly having a black man work the cash register instead of putting him in a less visible location and having “pretty young girls” be the cashiers.

Andy Rooney dead at 92

Andy Rooney, the "60 Minutes" commentator known to generations for his wry, humorous and contentious television essays - a unique genre he is credited with inventing - died Friday night in a hospital in New York City of complications following minor surgery. He was 92, and had homes in New York City, Rensselaerville, N.Y. and Rowayton, Conn.

Large asteroid between Earth and the moon

Astronomers are keeping a very close eye on an asteroid which will pass between Earth and the moon in a few day's time. It's about 400 metres in diameter, and nothing that big has come quite as close to hitting earth for decades.

Earthquake, multiple aftershocks rattle central Oklahoma

The earthquake was the second-largest in Oklahoma history, seismologist Austin Holland said.

Around 3 million gather on Mount Arafat for Haj

ARAFA: As many as three million pilgrims gathered on Sunday on the historic Mount Arafat and its surrounding plain, marking the peak of the annual Haj pilgrimage.

Swarms of pilgrims who had spent the night in Mina on Friday headed towards Arafa to attend the day long stay, praying to God and chanting in unison: "Allah, I am responding to your call,"

Most of the unemployed no longer receive benefits

Nearly one-third of America's 14 million unemployed have had no job for year or more

The jobs crisis has left so many people out of work for so long that most of America's unemployed are no longer receiving unemployment benefits.

Early last year, 75 percent were receiving checks. The figure is now 48 percent — a shift that points to a growing crisis of long-term unemployment. Nearly one-third of America's 14 million unemployed have had no job for a year or more.

Former caddie Williams makes racial inference to Tiger

Steve Williams received a mock award Friday night for "Celebration of the Year" for his TV interview after Adam Scott won the Bridgestone Invitational. That was the day Williams said it was "the best win of his life," despite being on the bag with Woods for 13 majors.

At an awards party filled with banter, Williams said of his interview, "It was my aim to shove it right up that black a------."

NYPD Teams With FBI To Bust Harlem Gang

Investigators took down a violent street gang this week whose members are accused of terrorizing Central Harlem and stashing guns all over the neighborhood.

The New York City Police Department and Federal Bureau of Investigation recovered about 20 guns. Officials said Friday that dozens of people could have easily been killed with just two of them: a TEC-9 and a Chinese military semiautomatic rifle.
The members are accused of using violence to defend their drug-dealing territory near West 129th Street and Lenox Avenue.

Earthquakes have a bigger health toll than other disasters

There are more than a million earthquakes, of varying severity, around the world each year.
As well as the immediate deaths, many people receive serious injuries which cannot be treated because of the quake damage to infrastructure.

The Lancet review says children are often at particularly high risk.

Chickenpox lollipops? Some moms may be sending in mail

You’ve probably heard of "chickenpox parties," where parents get unvaccinated kids together (in the home of an infected child) in the hopes they'll catch the disease. They think making their kids suffer through the disease will help them develop stronger immunity than immunization would provide.

But now the buzz is all about people shipping objects that have been contaminated with the chickenpox virus to people who live too far away to attend a pox party.

A Phoenix TV station last week reported that a Facebook page called “Find a Pox Party in Your Area” was helping to arrange shipments of contaminated objects—jammies, blankets, suckers.

But shortly after the Phoenix story ran, the “pox party” FB page posted a warning:

Johnson & Johnson Baby Shampoo Has Cancer-Causing Chemicals, Group Says

TRENTON, N.J. -- Two chemicals considered harmful to babies remain in Johnson & Johnson's baby shampoo sold in the U.S., even though the company already makes versions without them, according to a coalition of health and environmental groups.

The Campaign for Safe Cosmetics has unsuccessfully been urging the world's largest health care company for 2 1/2 years to remove the trace amounts of potentially cancer-causing chemicals – dioxane and a substance called quaternium-15 that releases formaldehyde – from Johnson's Baby Shampoo, one of its signature products.

Johnson & Johnson said it is reducing or gradually phasing out the chemicals, but did not respond directly to the campaign's demands.

South Carolina women get life for toddler's death

Two South Carolina women will spend the rest of their lives in prison for beating a toddler to death in 2009, a sentence that fits their crime, the case's prosecutor said on Friday.

Erika Mae Butts and Shanita Latrice Cunningham, both 25, each received a life sentence from a Charleston judge on Thursday, two years to the day after 3-year-old Serenity Richardson died while in their care.

They pleaded guilty to the crime in August.

'Scared' bus drivers return to work in Detroit

Public buses resumed rolling on the city's streets Friday afternoon after Detroit's mayor promised drivers increased police patrols and security checks at stations.

2011-11-04T12:51:00.000-04:00

The Not-So-Empty Nest: More Young Adults Choose To Live With Parents

The U.S. Census Bureau released a study on Thursday that tracks living situations for this demographic from 1983 through 2011. According to the data set, entitled America’s Families and Living Arrangements: 2011, the number of 25 to 34 year olds living with mom and dad has risen among both sexes since 2005: the number of young men living with parents is up from 14% to 19% and the number of young women is up from 8% to 10%. The Census’ graphs indicate that the numbers of older Generation-Yers living under their parents’ roofs — a number that had already been trending up before the “Great Recession” — continued to shoot up following the financial meltdown of 2008, specifically from the beginning of 2009 onwards.

No More Home Alone as Economy Drives Men to Live With Parents

Too posh to push? More C-sections on demand in UK

LONDON—Pregnant women in Britain, where the government provides free health care, may soon be able to get a cesarean section on demand thanks to a rule change that critics describe as the health system caving into the "too posh to push" crowd.

"It's about time women who have no desire to view labor as a rite of passage into motherhood be able to choose how they want to have their baby," said Pauline Hull, who has had two children by cesarean because of medical reasons. "The important thing to me was meeting my baby, not the experience of labor."

Who Owns Your LinkedIn Contacts?

Who owns your LinkedIn profile? (Hint: it might not be you.)
That was the headline on a post on this blog back in June, 2011 — and the answer that I arrived at with help from a number of legal and compliance experts was, “It depends.”

2011-11-03T03:36:00.002-04:00

‘Oh Wow’: What Do Steve Jobs’s Last Words Really Mean?

“Oh wow.” Two words that can have many meanings.

Steve Jobs’s sister Mona Simpson has a moving tribute in the New York Times detailing some of his final moments and his last words.

According to the article, titled “A Sister’s Eulogy for Steve Jobs,” Jobs’s last words were “OH WOW. OH WOW. OH WOW.” (The words were rendered in all capital letters in the essay.)

People are fascinated by last words. They can be viewed as a summing up of a life. Because the person saying them has nothing left to gain (except in terms of their legacy), they can be seen by some as an honest a representation of a person’s true opinions as one can get in this life. And there’s a mystical quality to last words–we hear them and wonder if the person saying them can give us any insight or information about what’s really on the other side.

Fed downgrades growth forecasts, sees high unemployment for years ahead

The Federal Reserve sharply downgraded its projections for the U.S. economy Wednesday, warning that weak growth and high unemployment will be the norm for years.

The Fed expects that the unemployment rate will be around 8.6 percent at the end of next year, down only slightly from 9.1 percent today, and will still be between 6.8 percent and 7.7 percent in late 2014. In their June forecast, Fed officials said joblessness would come down faster, to around 8 percent by the end of 2012, when the next presidential election will take place.

Different State, Same Hate

On Monday, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) filed a lawsuit against South Carolina to block the implementation of SB 20, a divisive and dangerous anti-immigrant law signed by Gov. Nikki Haley (R-SC) earlier this year. If SB 20 does take effect on Jan. 1, 2012, the law will create a new $1.3 million immigration enforcement unit for South Carolina and provide local law enforcement with overly broad authority to investigate residents' immigration statuses. As NCLR (National Council of La Raza) has repeatedly pointed out in the past, when other states attempted to pass similar bills, these anti-immigrant laws not only promote racial profiling and discrimination, but also violate the Constitution.

5 things you didn't know about the first black NBA player

Earl Lloyd was the first black person to play in the National Basketball Association. Lloyd made his historic debut in the NBA on October 31, 1950, during a time when many American institutions were still segregated.

Lloyd is remembered for being a trail-blazer for African-Americans in the NBA. What other contributions did he give to the world?

Food Stamps: Democrats In Congress Attempt To Eat On $4.50 A Day To Protest Potential Budget Cuts

Rep. Jackie Speier (D-Calif.) along with eight other congressional Democrats are eating on a budget of about $4.50 a day to show solidarity with food stamp recipients who receive $32.59 a week.

The personal thrift, which is part of a challenge organized by Fighting Poverty With Faith, was reported by Pacifica Patch. The site also listed the food items that Speier was now buying.

The number of people relying on food stamps has risen as a consequence of the recession. Over 40 million individuals and 19 million households used the program in 2010, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

How To Look Good Using Food Stamps: Beautify Yourself with the Foods You Buy at the Market!

[Ebook, PDF Format]

Poorest poor in US hits new record: 1 in 15 people

The ranks of America's poorest poor have climbed to a record high — 1 in 15 people — spread widely across metropolitan areas as the housing bust pushed many inner-city poor into suburbs and other outlying places and shriveled jobs and income.

New census data paint a stark portrait of the nation's haves and have-nots at a time when unemployment remains persistently high. It comes a week before the government releases first-ever economic data that will show more Hispanics, elderly and working-age poor have fallen into poverty.

Owner of car dealership labeled "Taliban Toyota" wins millions

The owner of a large southwest Alabama car dealership derided as "Taliban Toyota" by a competitor has been awarded $7.5 million in damages after a jury trial for his slander claim.

Iranian-born Shawn Esfahani, owner of Eastern Shore Toyota in Daphne, Alabama, sought $28 million in compensatory and punitive damages from Bob Tyler Toyota, claiming employees at that Pensacola, Florida-based dealership falsely portrayed him as an Islamist militant to customers.

"The feeling I received in the courtroom for the truth to come out was worth a lot more than any money anybody can give me," Esfahani told Reuters on Tuesday.

4 million borrowers eligible for foreclosure review

More than 4 million borrowers who have faced foreclosure since early 2009 will have the chance to have their cases reviewed for potential wrongdoing, federal regulators and some of the nation’s largest mortgage servicers announced Tuesday.

The reviews stem from a deal forged earlier this year in which 14 servicers agreed to hire independent consultants to evaluate whether borrowers suffered financial injury during the foreclosure process. If a review finds errors or abuses by the financial firms, the consultants will determine what recompense wronged homeowners deserve.

2011-11-02T15:00:00.002-04:00

South Carolina Partnerships Address Statewide Nursing Shortage

In a continued effort to help alleviate the nationwide nursing shortage, the Johnson & Johnson Campaign for Nursing's Future will host the Promise of Nursing for South Carolina gala to raise funds and provide
scholarships to help ease the nursing shortage in South Carolina. As the 30th Promise of Nursing regional gala to be held, this year's proceeds will contribute to the more than $18 million raised across the country to date.

All funds raised from the event, which is being held in Charleston on Thursday, November 3, will remain in South Carolina to support undergraduate nursing student scholarships, graduate nursing education fellowships to prepare nurse faculty, and grants to South Carolina area nursing schools to help expand their program capacity. More than 500 South Carolina nurses and healthcare professionals are expected to be in attendance at the Charleston Marriott Hotel beginning at 6 p.m.

"Nurses are the heart and soul of patient care as they care for patients during their most intimate moments, from bringing new life into the world to helping patients die with dignity," says Marilyn J. Schaffner, PhD, RN, CGRN, chief nursing executive and administrator for clinical services, Medical University of South Carolina Medical Center. "Through partnership with the Johnson & Johnson Campaign for Nursing's Future, we have the opportunity to help fund scholarships for student nurses as they become part of the magic of nursing."

Black Nurses Can't Care for White Patients?

When your health is failing and you require assistance with your basic needs, the last thing you should be worried about is the color of the person providing it. Right? In the eyes of one nursing company, maybe not.

Four nurses recently filed a lawsuit alleging that their employer, Accord Services, violated their civil rights by refusing to send black nurses to care for white patients.

Black nurses suing company after not being allowed to take care of white patients

COBB COUNTY, Ga. —

Four women are suing a nursing company because they say their leaders wouldn't send black nurses to take care of white patients.

In the 63-page lawsuit, the women claim Accord Services violated their civil rights. They said the health care company screened their nurses based on their race before sending them to a patient's home.

"You could hear something from 'We can't use a nurse because they were too ghetto' or 'This client doesn't prefer foreigners' and 'Black women are not professional,'" Erika Arnold said, a former H.R. manager.

11 Foods That Will Kill You

Four Elderly Georgia Men Charged In Terror Plot

Four senior citizens will appear in front of a federal judge in Georgia today after telling undercover informants about plans to attack federal buildings with explosives and a biological toxin.

The men named in the charging documents, Frederick Thomas, 73, of Cleveland, Ga., and Toccoa, Ga., residents Dan Roberts, 67, Ray H. Adams, 65, and Samuel J. Crump, 68, were all members of a fringe militia organization, according to investigators.

They called themselves "the covert group," and met several times throughout the year to discuss killing federal employees with rifles, explosives and ricin, a dangerous toxin that can be extracted from castor bean seeds using acetone and lye.

Meet The Senior Citizen Militia Members Arrested In Georgia Bio Attack Plot

“When it comes time to saving the Constitution, that means some people gotta die,” Thomas allegedly said.

“Let’s shoot the bastards that we discover are anti-American or enemies of America, treasonous,” Thomas allegedly said. “And to me the easiest and best way to do that is to walk up behind them with a suppressed .22. I am of the, uh, old school, Mafia; one behind the ear with a .22 is all you need.”

New Gmail is here, first impressions

"That's one of the reasons we're embarking on a series of interface updates to help strip out unnecessary clutter and make Gmail as beautiful as it is powerful," said Google user experience designer Jason Cornwell. "This is part of a Google-wide effort to bring you an experience that's more focused, elastic, and effortless across all of our products."

Site reveals the human slavery behind your stuff

I have 66 slaves working for me. Or at least that’s what Slavery Footprint estimates based on my lifestyle and the size of my family.

The website — which was created by Call + Response, a non-profit dedicated to ending slavery, in collaboration with the U.S. State Department’s Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons — estimates the number of slaves by taking a look at more than 450 products, and breaking them down from the sourcing of raw materials through the manufacturing.

Methodology

2011-11-01T13:33:00.000-04:00

12-Year-Old Boys Arrested for Allegedly Dropping Shopping Cart on NYC Mother

Two 12-year-old boys were in police custody after allegedly dropping a shopping cart four stories onto a New York City mother who was out buying Halloween candy for underprivileged children.

Marion Salmon Hedges, a wealthy Manhattan real-estate agent, was struck in the head by the falling cart on Sunday while walking outside a Target store with her 14-year-old son in East Harlem, the New York Post reports.

Raising the Chance of Some Cancers With Two Drinks a Day

A burgeoning body of research links alcohol to cancers of the breast, liver, colon, pancreas, mouth, throat, larynx and esophagus. A large new study last week added lung cancer to the list—even for people who have never smoked cigarettes.

Deaths from OD of Rx Painkillers Triple in 10 Years

Deaths caused by overdoses of prescription opioid painkillers more than tripled over a decade, to nearly 15,000 in 2008, CDC researchers found.

That's up from 4,000 in 1999, Len Paulozzi, MD, of the CDC, and colleagues reported in Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report and in a Vital Signs brief.

"These increases occurred despite numerous warnings and recommendations over the past decade for voluntary education of providers about more cautious use of prescription opioid painkillers," they wrote.

U.S. Schoolchildren Don’t Make Grade on Reading, Math Tests

Only three in 10 U.S. schoolchildren make the grade in reading, the U.S. Education Department said today. Four in 10 passed muster in math.

About half of fourth-graders knew that a right triangle and a rectangle each had at least one right angle, according to a federal test, known as the Nation’s Report Card. On the 2011 National Assessment of Educational Progress, which measures fourth- and eighth-grade knowledge, scores rose from 2009 except in reading at the lower level. The score for younger readers was unchanged.

2011-10-31T13:58:00.000-04:00

Manufacturing plant looking to fill 1200 positions

Husqvarna, a manufacturing plant that makes tractors, tillers, LRVs and zero turns, will host an Open House for job seekers on November 5.

The company is looking to fill 1200 positions with assemblers, heavy lifters, welders, fork lift drivers, etc.
The event will be from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. at 172 Old Elloree Road in Orangeburg, SC 29115.

All are welcome to come and fill out an application.

2011-10-30T12:28:00.004-04:00

Fox to bring back 'In Living Color'

Remember Homey D. Clown? And Fire Marshal Bill?

Well, Fox has announced it will revive In Living Color, the sketch comedy series which

became famous in the early 1990s thanks to characters like Damon Wayans' Homey and Jim Carrey's Bill. Keenen Ivory Wayans, the original series' creator, will serve as host and executive producer of the new episodes. And even though the show helped launch the careers of Wayans' own family as well as those of Jamie Foxx, David Alan Grier and Carrey, the rest of the cast will be new faces.

Our Unpaid, Extra Shadow Work

THE other night at the supermarket I saw a partner at a downtown law firm working as a grocery checker, scanning bar codes. I’m sure she earns at least $300,000 per year. Even so, she was scanning and bagging her purchases in the self-service checkout line. For those with small orders, this might save time spent waiting in slower lines. Nonetheless, she was performing the unskilled, entry-level jobs of supermarket checker and bagger free of charge.

This is “shadow work,” a term coined 30 years ago by the Austrian philosopher and social critic Ivan Illich, in his 1981 book of that title. For Dr. Illich, shadow work was all the unpaid labor — including, for example, housework — done in a wage-based economy.

Census: The new U.S. neighborhood defined by diversity as all-white enclaves vanish

Around the region and across the country, the archetypal all-white neighborhood is vanishing with remarkable speed. In many places, the phenomenon is not being driven by African Americans moving to the suburbs. Instead, it is primarily the result of the nation’s soaring number of Hispanics and Asians, many of whom are immigrants.

The result has been the emergence of neighborhoods, from San Diego to Denver to Miami, that are more diverse than at any time in American history.

Daniel Fawcett Tiemann “The Paint King Of New York,” From The Village Of Harlem

Once upon a time there was a village called Manhattanville, a small, originally Quaker community that planted itself between a bustling but still bucolic section of Bloomingdale Road (later Broadway) and the Hudson River. A remnant of the old village remains in the small neighborhood that shares its name today, north of Morningside Heights between 122nd and 135th streets on the west side.

Founded in 1806 the village grew due to its proximity to a major artery that led to the city of New York, but its fortunes really multiplied due to a developing port industry along the water. Together with its sister village Harlem, they grew into healthy rural communities.

Black buying power nears $1.1 trillion

Black buying power is expected to reach $1.1 trillion by 2015, according to The State of the African- American Consumer Report, recently released, collaboratively by Nielsen, a leading global provider of insights and analytics into what consumers watch and buy, and the National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA), a federation of more than 200 Black community newspapers across the U.S.

“Too often, companies don't realize the inherent differences of our community, are not aware of the market size impact and have not optimized efforts to develop messages beyond those that coincide with
Black History Month,” said Cloves Campbell, NNPA chairman. “It is our hope that by collaborating with Nielsen, we'll be able to tell the African-American consumer story in a manner in which businesses will understand,” he said, “and, that this understanding will propel those in the C-Suite to develop stronger, more inclusive strategies that optimize their market growth in Black communities, which would be a win-win for all of us.”

Taco Bell Terrorized As Man demands More Beef

A disgruntled customer apparently threw a Molotov cocktail outside the drive-through window of an Albany, Ga., Taco Bell after complaining that his two XXL Taco Bell chalupas weren’t living up to their promise of having extra meat.

The man, whom police and Taco Bell employees were unable to identify because of poor-quality surveillance footage, called the Taco Bell around 4 a.m. demanding more meat for his chalupas, the police report stated.

Assad predicts disaster if West meddles in Syria

Western powers would cause an "earthquake" in the Middle East if they intervened in Syria, President Bashar al-Assad said in an interview published on Sunday, after protesters demanded outside protection from a crackdown that has killed 3,000 people.

Syria, as Assad noted in his interview with Britain's Sunday Telegraph, sits at the heart of the volatile Middle East, where it borders Israel, Lebanon, Turkey, Iraq and Jordan.

"It is the faultline, and if you play with the ground, you will cause an earthquake," he said. "Do you want to see another Afghanistan, or tens of Afghanistans?"

White fruits and vegetables may lower stroke risk

Every 25 grams per day of white fruits and vegetables consumed led to a 9 percent decrease in the risk of stroke, and apples and pears were the most commonly consumed "white fruit," according to the study, published in the November issue of Stroke.

"Green, orange/yellow and red/purple fruits and vegetables weren't related to stroke. However, the risk of stroke incidence was 52 percent lower for people with a high intake of white fruits and vegetables, compared to people with a low intake," said study author Linda M. Oude Greip, a postdoctoral fellow at Wageningen University in the Netherlands.

2011-10-29T04:35:00.001-04:00

FBI Says Gangs Infiltrating the US Military

The U.S. military is facing a "significant criminal threat" from gangs, including prison and biker gangs, whose members have found their way into the ranks, according to an FBI-led investigation.

Some gang members get into the military to escape the streets, but then end up reconnecting once in, while others target the services specifically for the combat and weapons training, the National Gang Intelligence Center says in a just-released 2011 National Gang Threat Assessment/Emerging Trends.

Whatever the reasons, it's a bad mix.

""Gang members with military training pose a unique threat to law enforcement personnel because of their distinctive weapons and combat training skills and their ability to transfer these skills to fellow gang members," the report states. Gang members have been reported in every branch of the armed forces, though a large proportion of them have been affiliated with the Army, the Army Reserves or Army National Guard, it says.

Thousands of Detroit students without books for months

The 2011-2012 Detroit Public School year started on Sept. 6, with thousands of homes and streets all over the city adorned with signs that had the two-word slogan "I'm In" everywhere. Nearly two months into the school year, the one thing that is not in a lot of Detroit Schools right now are books.

"I know there is a shortage and there is an order and they are still sharing books," said Andrew Hayes, whose son is a third-grader at Fisher Magnet Elementary on the city's east side. "There are a lot of frustrated parents. They want the kids to have what they are supposed to have. At the beginning of the year, we were told that every student would have the textbooks. It's seven weeks into school."

Black Christians often lack Halloween spirit

Contractors Hired Goons To Beat, Pour Acid On Disgruntled Workers

A New York contractor working on a Brooklyn affordable housing project hired goons to pour acid and beat workers who blew the whistle on a kickback scheme, where a city official was indicted court papers show.

According to the New York Daily News, Bogdan Starzecki, head of MCR Restoration Corp., bribed his way into city contracts to get a piece of a $13 million public housing project in Greenpoint, Brooklyn.

'My Brooklyn: The Battle For The Soul Of A City' Documents Brooklyn Gentrification (VIDEO)

Northeast Weather: White To Be Fall Color This Weekend

You Family? Celebs Who We Didn’t Know Were Black

Does Will Smith want 'Independence Day' sequels to be family affair?

According to Film-News, insiders said that Fox is willing to make the movies without Will, if necessary, it's complicated because where and how [Smith] wants to shoot; he wants to be close to home, to the kids." There have also been comments from Smith stating he wants to include Jada and possibly his daughter Willow in the movie.

2011-10-28T09:16:00.002-04:00

First Black Daily Newspaper Founded
Thirty-seven years after the first Black newspaper in America was founded in New York City (Freedom’s Journal, 1827) the Black press reached another milestone with the launching of the New Orleans Tribune, destined to become the race’s first daily news publication.

The Tribune’s roots can be traced to another landmark event that saw the first Black newspaper published in the South. That was L’Union (the Union) a paper published in both French and English beginning in 1862 during the Civil War.

Sears employee wins $5.2 million jury award for racial harassment

The African American employee of Sears Home Improvement Products in Natomas was at an August 2008 company barbecue with his family, court records say. A co-worker walked up and blurted a racial slur, issued with a "slave dialect."

"Medro calls me Masta," co-worker Paul St. Hilaire said, according to court records.

Then St. Hilaire started laughing.

Johnson, an Elk Grove resident and a descendant of slaves, would later testify in court that he was humiliated to be referred to as a slave in front of his wife, son and daughter.

Last Friday, after a one-month trial and more than eight hours of deliberation, a Sacramento Superior Court jury gave Johnson the last laugh.

U.S. judge approves settlement for black farmers

A federal judge on Thursday approved a $1.25 billion settlement in a decades-old discrimination case by black farmers, clearing the way for them to seek compensation from the U.S. Department of Agriculture for being left out of farm aid programs.

The decision helps tens of thousands of farmers who had been denied part of an earlier 1999 settlement because they missed the filing deadline.

U.S. District Court Judge Paul Friedman wrote in an order approving the agreement that Congress by waiving the statute of limitations has further redressed "the historic discrimination against African-American farmers." He called the settlement "fair, reasonable, and adequate."

National Black Farmers Association president said it was "a very important step that should provide assurance to the black farmers that each of their cases will now move towards a resolution."

Stop and frisk outcry: 87% of those stopped by police in Bronx are not arrested

Willie Hazzard was walking down Westchester Ave. with his two children the other day, wearing a black Transformers fitted hat, black and white Rocawear leather varsity jacket, black jeans, black Jordans and diamond studs in his ears.

This outfit, he says, makes him a target for cops to stop and frisk him - something which he says has happened 17 times since he moved to Soundview two years ago.

None of the encounters resulted in arrest, he said.

The NYPD stop-and-frisk policy has recently come under fire again after a Staten Island cop was charged with falsely arresting a black man following a stop and then bragging on tape, "I fried another n-----."

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/bronx/2011/10/27/2011-10-27_brisk_biz_in_frisks_92_stopped_in_boro_by_cops_black_or_hispanic.html#ixzz1c53GkHB0

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/bronx/2011/10/27/2011-10-27_brisk_biz_in_frisks_92_stopped_in_boro_by_cops_black_or_hispanic.html#ixzz1c52hpH5T

Why You Need to Be Proud of Your Dark Skin

In a world where having a light skin is exalted as an ultimate sign of beauty, wearing a skin with a dark complexion is not usually a huge cause for bragging. And yet it is. The black pigment in your skin, something you will possibly remember as being referred to as melanin in your health science classes in primary school, is the single reason you are largely protected from this type of cancer (cancer of the skin).

That pigment, melanin, acts as a sort of shield, a protection from ultra-violet rays from the sun. The absence of which, manifested in a more light coloured skin, opens the gates for the rays to come in, cause damage to the skin, and leave cancer enjoying the time of its life.

While the very dark skinned people should thus look at their skins as a blessing, light skinned people, Whites, and most importantly, the albino population, should pay special attention to these cancers, and how they can best be nipped in the bud.

Rihanna's New Music Video Enrages Anti-Rape Group

Rihanna's has upset an anti-rape organization with her music video "We Found Love," which depicts a tumultuous relationship between the songstress and her co-star, Dudley O'Shaughnessy, who just so happens to look a lot like her ex, Chris Brown.

"Rihanna's new video is a disgrace. It sends the message that she is an object to be possessed by men, which is disturbingly what we see in real violence cases."

SOUND OFF: 53 And Pregnant! How Old Is Too Old?

Whether it’s a demanding career or the struggle to find Mr. Right, more women are postponing motherhood. Advancements in medicine have made it easier than ever to have children at 40 — even 50.

But pregnancy later in life is not without controversy.

2011-10-27T18:48:00.001-04:00

House votes to honor first black Marines

The nation's first black Marines received a rare national tribute Tuesday as the House voted to award the Montford Point Marines with the Congressional Gold Medal, the highest civilian honor given by Congress.

History books and Hollywood have chronicled the Army's Buffalo Soldiers and the Army Air Corps' Tuskegee Airmen, but the men who integrated the Marines during World War II often have been forgotten. That is starting to change, beginning with the House's 422-0 vote.

The black Marines received their basic training adjacent to Camp Lejeune in North Carolina, where conditions were harsh and the treatment from their fellow Marines could be even harsher. The black Marines were not allowed to enter Camp Lejeune unless accompanied by a white officer. In the few times they participated in training exercises, they could not eat until the white Marines had finished. They were routinely passed over for promotions.

"People forget they were fighting two wars -- both foreign and domestic," Rep. Sanford Bishop, D-Ga., said.

Census: Atlanta has widest income gap between rich and poor

It is a case of the have and the have not. Of all major American cities, Atlanta now has the widest income gap between rich and poor. U.S census numbers have given the city a new label that's nothing to be proud of, but puts into perspective how many Georgians are struggling to make ends meet.

"I've been out of work almost two years," says Marcia Tolbert. "Most places tell me I'm over qualified. Others say I've been out of work for too long. It's like they keep kicking you when you are down."

Tolbert is a name and a face to a trend that is unfolding all over the county. The recession that began in 2007 took a steep toll, with only a few places spared from a rise in jobless rates and a decline in incomes. Nearly one-in-six Americans live in poverty.

The Class War Has Begun

And the very classlessness of our society makes the conflict more volatile, not less.

AP: NYPD officers charged in ticket-fix probe

What began two years ago as a low-profile wiretap investigation of a New York Police Department officer has resulted in criminal charges against at least 16 officers alleging they abused their authority by helping family and friends avoid paying traffic tickets, two people familiar with the case said Thursday.

The officers were expected to be arraigned Friday in the Bronx, said the people, who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because authorities hadn't announced the results of the grand jury investigation.

The charges against 13 police officers, two sergeants and one lieutenant are the latest in a spate of corruption allegations against NYPD officers. They include delegates with the department's largest and most powerful union, the Patrolmen's Benevolent Association.

Hormones Linked to Weight Gain After Dieting

Findings of a new study from the University of Melbourne and Australia’s La Trobe University have revealed that for at least a year after dieting, a combination of hormonal changes endlessly signal the body to not only slow down metabolism, but also to increase the appetite.

Samuel L. Jackson named highest-grossing actor of all time

Samuel L. Jackson has been named the highest-grossing actor of all time by The Guinness Book of World Records, according to the New York Daily News. Jackson, 62, has made over $7.42 billion over the span of his entire career.

Jackson got his big break in 1991 in the Spike Lee film, Jungle Fever. He played the crack head brother of Wesley Snipes. Since then the acclaimed actor has starred in over 100 films such as Pulp Fiction, A Time To Kill, Eve's Bayou and Star Wars. You can see a more extensive list of his movie roles here.

Declining numbers of blacks seen in math, science

With black unemployment reaching historic levels, banks laying off tens of thousands and law school graduates waiting tables, why aren't more African-Americans looking toward science, technology, engineering and math -- the still-hiring careers known as STEM?

The answer turns out to be a complex equation of self-doubt, stereotypes, discouragement and economics -- and sometimes just wrong perceptions of what math and science are all about.

The percentage of African-Americans earning STEM degrees has fallen during the last decade. It may seem far-fetched for an undereducated black population to aspire to become chemists or computer scientists, but the door is wide open, colleges say, and the shortfall has created opportunities for those who choose this path.

STEM barriers are not unique to black people. The United States does not produce as high a proportion of white engineers, scientists and mathematicians as it used to. Women and Latinos also lag behind white men.

10 Ways The World Will End Videos

2011-10-26T01:20:00.002-04:00

Mixed reactions from black Muslims to Gadhafi death

Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan has publicly condemned what he describes as the "great assassination" of Muammar Gadhafi.

In his first major interview since the death of Gadhafi, Farrakhan says the "Nation of Islam mourns the loss of a great brother leader," and he personally feels as if he has, "lost a very important member of my own family."

College Prices Rise Again as States Slash Budgets

As President Obama prepared to announce new measures Wednesday to help ease the burden of student loan debt, new figures painted a demoralizing picture of college costs for students and parents: Average in-state tuition and fees at four-year public colleges rose an additional $631 this fall, or 8.3%, compared with a year ago.

"The states cut budgets, the price goes up, and the (federal) money goes to that," said Patrick Callan, president of the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education. "For 25 years we've been putting more and more money into financial aid, and tuition keeps going up. We're on a national treadmill."

Obama Speeds Up Aid for College Students: How Will It Help You?

President Obama will pitch a plan today to help ease the burden of loans on college students, as a new report shows that higher education is becoming more expensive for many young Americans.

Starting next year, borrowers’ student loan payments will be capped at 10 percent of their discretionary income, and they could be eligible for forgiveness on the balance of their debt in 20 years. Under the current plan, loan payments are limited to 15 percent of a borrower’s discretionary income, and their balance is forgiven after 25 years.

“The students who signed the petition [to the president] and the students in ‘Occupy Wall Street,’ most of them are students who have already graduated. Most of them are unemployed and need help,” said Mark Kantrowitz, publisher of FinAid and a student aid expert. “They are the ones who brought attention to this issue and most of them are not going to benefit from this.”

Delta Sigma Theta president warns members to not wear colors in light of rapist

A Dallas-area rapist appears to be preying on members of a national black sorority, leading the organization to urge alumnae to remove any trace of their affiliation from cars, clothing and even their
key chains.

Delta Sigma Theta issued the warning this week, citing four sexual assaults, all involving black women in their mid-50s to mid-60s. Police say the assailant indicated during the attacks that he knew personal information about the victims.

"We believe it's more than just accidental," said Matthew Kosec, deputy police chief in Coppell.

Detectives have not determined exactly how the rapist might be learning about the sorority affiliation.

"We just don't know if the suspect is identifying these ladies as they are out shopping in the area or if it's something more advanced than that" such as using social networking sites, Corinth police Capt. Greg Wilkerson said.

Top Foods to Avoid with High Blood Pressure

Could Your Finances Give You a Heart Attack

Read more on Newsmax.com: Your Finances Could Cause a Heart Attack.
Important: Do You Support Pres. Obama's Re-Election? Vote Here Now!

Why Black People Are Learning Chinese

A growing number recognize that it will be a crucial skill for competing in the global marketplace.

In today's economic climate, in which black unemployment is in the double digits, one way to give the next generation of black graduates a competitive edge is to think outside one's borders -- more globally -- and learn Mandarin Chinese. Today's black graduates aren't competing only with their white American counterparts anymore. The landscape has changed radically in a relatively short span of time. Black graduates must now compete with their cohorts from places like China.

"Ten to 15 years ago, hardly any African Americans were in China," he told The Root. "We all basically knew each other. The experience literally changed the trajectory of my life."

China's expansion has not always been welcomed by black people. In fact, on the African continent it has caused some resentment, given the proliferation of Chinese entrepreneurs in some African countries. An article in the Guardian, a newspaper in the United Kingdom, describes a Chinese "invasion" of Africa, detailing how Chinese entrepreneurs -- some of whom have remained in African countries illegally beyond their tourist visas -- have bought large plots of land, started import businesses, opened sprawling restaurants and established other ventures.

"Globalization isn't a buzz word," she said. "It's a reality, and so is the need to gain a global perspective."

Autistic children have distinct facial features, study suggests

We may be a step closer in understanding what causes autism, say University of Missouri researchers after finding differences between the facial characteristics of children who have autism and those who don’t.

Kristina Aldridge, lead author and assistant professor of anatomy at the University of Missouri, began looking at facial characteristics of autistic children after another researcher, Judith Miles, professor emerita in the School of Medicine and the Thompson Center for Autism and Neurodevelopmental Disorders, mentioned,

“There is just something about their faces. They are beautiful, but there is just something about them.”

“Children with other disorders such as Down syndrome and fetal alcohol syndrome have very distinct facial features. Autism is much less striking,” she says. “You can’t pick them out in a crowd of kids, but you can pick them out mathematically.”

Hertz fires 26 Muslim drivers in prayer break dispute

SEATTLE -- Car rental firm Hertz fired 26 employees at its Sea-Tac Airport location for failing to clock out when they take their prayer breaks.

The employees say Hertz is trampling on their right to religious freedom, but the company says it's merely trying to promote fairness in the workplace.

"We feel like we're being punished for what we believe in," said former Hertz employee Ileys Omar.

Omar is a Muslim who prays five times a day. In the past, Muslim employees at Hertz paused for their prayers without clocking out.

Middle class' share of the nation's income is shrinking

A USA TODAY analysis of Census data found the Reno area was among 150 nationwide where the share of income going to the middle class — generally made up of households that make $20,700 to $99,900 a year — shrank from 2006 to 2010. Metro areas where the middle class' share of income dropped outnumbered those where it grew by more than 2-to-1.

"The lower share of income is a way of saying income inequality is growing in the middle," says Paul Taylor, executive vice president of the Pew Research Center, who has studied the shift. "The vast middle has less of the pie than it had before."

Income is shifting to the top tier of households, especially those in the top 5%, Taylor says. The top 5% earn more than $181,000 annually.

The Home Affordable Refinance Program: What You Need To Know

President Obama unveiled changes to the Home Affordable Refinance Program in a campaign stop in Nevada yesterday. A city which has been hit hard by the housing crisis.

Jahessye Shockley's Family Claims Police Let Race, Mom's Criminal Past, Stand In Way Of Search

PHOENIX -- Nearly two weeks after a 5-year-old girl seemingly vanished outside her suburban Phoenix home, police were no closer Monday to figuring out what happened to her as her family criticized the investigation.

Jahessye Shockley has been missing since Oct. 11 after police believe she wandered from her apartment in Glendale, outside Phoenix, while her mother was running an errand. The girl's three older siblings were the last to see her.

Police have no evidence, suspects or promising leads, but the case points to a kidnapping because they found no trace of her after combing a 3-mile radius around her home.

"This little girl doesn't just fall off the face of the earth," Glendale police Sgt. Brent Coombs said Monday.

Death toll from listeria outbreak rises to 28

2011-10-25T18:57:00.001-04:00

The Northern Lights: You Saw Them Where?

Northern Lights Seen Across Midwestern U.S.

The red and pink streaks of the Northern Lights made a rare U.S. appearance Monday, delighting sky watchers in the southeastern part of the country. According to ABC News, the Aurora Borealis was caused after Earth’s magnetic field was hit by a coronal mass ejection at about 2 p.m. Eastern time.

States that caught a glimpse of the elusive shy show included Arkansas, Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi and North Carolina. Viewers as far away as Chicago also claimed to see the Northern Lights.

Boy, did I see red - and green, and blue, and . . .

2011-10-24T13:54:00.002-04:00

10 banned books that may surprise you

Sometimes the banning of a book is self-explanatory, but other cases may leave some of us scratching their heads – who could object to "The Wizard of Oz," for example? Here are 10 books that may seem innocent – but somehow they managed to offend someone.

2nd UDPATE: Obama Administration Unveils New Refinancing Program

Two North Carolina schools locked down after shooting

Two schools in Fayetteville, North Carolina, have been locked down after a female student was shot in the neck, officials said on Monday.

Why Senior Citizens Should Be Furious About So-Called Social Security ‘Increase’

Seniors might get a bigger check, but they're losing out

Social Security checks will see their first increase in three years this January. The Social Security COLA, or Cost of Living Adjustment, will amount to 3.6%.

Why Senior Citizens Should Be Furious About So-Called Social Security ‘Increase’

Seniors might get a bigger check, but they're losing out

Social Security checks will see their first increase in three years this January. The Social Security COLA, or Cost of Living Adjustment, will amount to 3.6%.
But seniors should be outraged by the Social Security increase — because it isn’t an increase at all. The fact is the government program is paying less than it has in years past, and the recent COLA “increase” doesn’t make up for the ground that seniors have already lost.

Why Companies Aren't Getting the Employees They Need

With an abundance of workers to choose from, employers are demanding more of job candidates than ever before. They want prospective workers to be able to fill a role right away, without any training or ramp-up time.

Government announces new program to help ‘underwater’ homeowners

The federal government on Monday announced new rules that would allow many more struggling borrowers to refinance their mortgages at today’s ultra-low rates, reducing monthly payments for some homeowners and potentially providing a modest boost to the economy.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency, working with the Obama administration, said that up to 1 million “underwater” borrowers might benefit from an expanded program that targets homeowners who owe more than their properties are worth.

Children's Risk For Nearsightedness May Be Reduced By Spending More Time Outdoors

Children's risk for myopia or nearsightedness, where objects further away look blurred because light entering the eye focuses incorrectly, may be reduced by spending more time outdoors in natural light, according to a new review of research being presented at a conference this week.

Will Dropouts Save America?

True, people with college degrees tend to earn more. But that could be because most ambitious people tend to go to college; there is little evidence to suggest that the same ambitious people would earn less without college degrees (particularly if they mastered true business and networking grit).

H.A.D.L.E.Y. Players, one of Harlem's last surviving black theater companies, looks to the future

It's one of the last surviving black theater companies – and its founder wants nothing more than to see Harlem's beloved H.A.D.L.E.Y. Players continue for a new generation of actors.

Gertrude Hadley Jeannette officially started the theater group (Harlem Artist's Development League Especially for You) in 1980, but its roots go back to the 1950s.

"When we started out, my students were Esther Rolle, Isabel Sanford and Rosalind Cash," Jeannette, 96, told the Daily News. "They started out on my stage. I was their first teacher and they all came from Harlem."

See Video

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/uptown/2011/10/21/2011-10-21_hadley_players_one_of_harlems_last_surving_black_theater_companies_looks_to_the_.html#ixzz1bipLBAhr

The Ugly Racial Backstory Behind Harlem’s Sewage Plant Explosion

NEW YORK — In 1962, when New York city planners first proposed a
sewage treatment plant for the residents and businesses of Manhattan’s West Side, they picked a spot on the Hudson River around 72nd Street. The neighborhood, however, was well on its way to becoming what it is today — the white, upper middle class district of stylish brownstones, grand co-ops and newfangled condominiums known to most Americans as the backdrop for the TV sitcom, Seinfeld.

2011-10-23T00:39:00.002-04:00

MUSC dedicates new laboratory complex named for Clyburn

The complex was named after U.S. Rep. James E. Clyburn, South Carolina Democrat, for his long-standing efforts to correct health disparities in the state and for his support of biomedical research.

2011-10-23T00:03:00.001-04:00

5-Year-Old Black Girl Disappears and No One Cares

I know it's a hard and ugly truth to swallow, representative of a reality we don't want to believe exists anymore. But sadly, nothing else explains why the country is currently obsessed with finding Lisa Irwin and largely unaware that Jhessye Shockley is even lost.

CPSC: Target Corp To Recall 3,400 Children's Frog Masks

Target Corp. (TGT) agreed to a voluntary recall of about 3,400 children's frog masks due to a suffocation hazard, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission said.

The commission advised consumers to stop using the masks immediately, as the plush masks lack proper ventilation, it said. No suffocation incidents were reported related to the masks. Full refunds are available at Target, which sold the items exclusively from August through September for $1 each.

The commission is charged with protecting the U.S. public from unreasonable risks of injury or death associated with the use of thousands of consumer products. In the prior two months, Target agreed to recall about 447,000 Embark resistance cords and cord kits on an injury hazard, 304,000 Chefmate blenders due to a laceration hazard and about 547,000 step stools with storage due to a fall hazard.

Defunct German Satellite Hits Earth in Fiery Death Dive

An old German satellite fell to Earth today (Oct. 22), after languishing in a dead orbit since it was decommissioned more than a decade ago, but officials do not yet know where it landed.

"There is currently no confirmation if pieces of debris have reached Earth's surface," German aerospace officials said in a statement.

After Alabama law, Hispanic kids being bullied

It was just another schoolyard basketball game until a group of Hispanic seventh-graders defeated a group of boys from Alabama.

"They told them, `You shouldn't be winning. You should go back to Mexico,"' said the woman, who spoke through a translator last week and didn't want her name used. She and her son are in the country illegally.

Spanish-speaking parents say their children are facing more bullying and taunts at school since Alabama's tough crackdown on illegal immigration took effect last month. Many blame the name-calling on fallout from the law, which has been widely covered in the news, discussed in some classrooms and debated around dinner tables.

Is the US Declaration of Independence illegal?

Some background: during the hot and sweltering summer of 1776, members of the second Continental Congress travelled to Philadelphia to discuss their frustration with royal rule.

By 4 July, America's founding fathers approved a simple document penned by Jefferson that enumerated their grievances and announced themselves a sovereign nation.

Called the Declaration of Independence, it was a blow for freedom, a call to war, and the founding of a new empire.

It was also totally illegitimate and illegal.

At least, that was what lawyers from the UK argued during a debate at Philadelphia's Ben Franklin Hall.

NBA lockout: Negotiations could be hijacked by racial perceptions

The owners “lied to you,” Derek Fisher said, moments after the players’ union president walked out of fruitless labor talks in Manhattan on Thursday night. And with that the mutual distrust and name-calling began anew.

Soon, the Rev. Jesse Jackson worries, it will be personal and irreconcilable and no longer about the color green.

“I hope it doesn’t degenerate into names and language that’s hard to take back once it’s started,” Jackson said from his Chicago office late Thursday afternoon. “If it goes down this road, that could amount to irreparable damage. If it goes away from labor negotiations, things could become irretrievable.”

Coretta Scott King, Martin Luther King’s other half

Coretta King was his other half. She did more than anyone else to advance his legacy. And, dare I say, if it were not for this woman by his side, his legacy would never have risen to such heroic proportions.

Somewhere on that vast four acres there should be a statue, a bust, a plaque or something showing that she was a co-partner in this great freedom movement. (She died on Jan. 30, 2006.) Why not a mention of her on the monuments wall of great quotes? He once said, “In every campaign if Coretta was not with me, she was only a heartbeat away.”

Is This the Future of Punctuation!?

On the misuse of apostrophe's (did your eye just twitch?) and our increasingly rhetorical language

Punctuation arouses strong feelings. You have probably come across the pen-wielding vigilantes who skulk around defacing movie posters and amending handwritten signs that advertise "Rest Room's" or "Puppy's For Sale."

The apostrophe is mainly a device for the eye, not the ear. And while I plan to keep handling apostrophes in accordance with the principles I was shown as a child, I am confident that they will either disappear or be reduced to little baubles of orthographic bling.

2011-10-21T07:16:00.004-04:00

2nd grader forced to walk home from school 2 miles away

A second-grader from Houston, Texas was forced to walk home from his elementary school after he was not allowed to take the bus.

The boy, Damion Robinson, had to cross a freeway to get to his home two miles away.

Drivers who saw him walking along the freeway tried to help but he refused and continued on his way home.

The elementary school recently had a policy change dealing with which students could ride the bus.

Robinson's mother met with school administrators and said her son was misidentified with another student.

Grandma of missing Ariz. girl pleads for attention

The grandmother of an Arizona girl missing for more than a week pleaded Thursday for more attention from police investigators and the national media, saying that the case of her granddaughter's disappearance hasn't been made a priority because she's black. Jahessye Shockley was last seen Oct. 11 by her three older siblings at their Glendale apartment in suburban Phoenix while their mother was out running an errand.

Cops Say 5-Year-Old Girl Was Kidnapped In Arizona

PHOENIX — Police looking for a 5-year-old Arizona girl who has been missing six days said Monday they now believe she was most likely kidnapped, because otherwise they would have found her.

Jahessye (JES’-ee) Shockley was last seen by her three older siblings last Tuesday at her Glendale home while their mother was running an errand. Police believe she left their apartment through the front door but don’t know anything about what happened next.

“If it was just her walking away, we would have found her by now,” Coombs told The Associated Press. “Obviously she’s not with us. Somebody knows something or somebody has interacted with her and put her in a place, and we just haven’t found her yet.”

Hunter also declined to speak about her other children but pleaded for Jahessye’s safe return.

“I would really appreciate anybody who has any information, anyone who thinks they have seen anything, to contact the police,” she said. “If you have my child, please take her to a safe place, a public place where she can be located.”

Few Americans take immigrants’ jobs in Alabama

Potato farmer Keith Smith saw most of his Hispanic workers leave after Alabama's tough immigration law took effect, so he hired Americans. It hasn't worked out: They show up late, work slower than seasoned farm hands and are ready to call it a day after lunch or by midafternoon. Some quit after a single day.

In Alabama and other parts of the country, farmers must look beyond the nation's borders for labor because many Americans simply don't want the backbreaking, low-paying jobs immigrants are willing to take. Politicians who support the law say over time more unemployed Americans will fill these jobs. They insist it's too early to consider the law a failure, yet numbers from the governor's office show only nominal interest.

"I've had people calling me wanting to work," Smith said. "I haven't turned any of them down, but they're not any good. It's hard work, they just don't work like the Hispanics with experience."

50% of All Workers Made Less than $26,000 in 2010

Today we get our first look at American wages in 2010 based on payroll taxes reported to the Social Security Administration. David Cay Johnston picks out the most important takeaways, including:

2nd earthquake - aftershock - rattles Bay Area

An earthquake and an aftershock, both on the Hayward Fault near Berkeley, rattled the Bay Area on Thursday, the U.S. Geological Survey said.

The first quake, with a preliminary magnitude of 4.0, struck at 2:41 p.m. The second, a 3.8, was at 8:16 p.m.
The earlier quake's epicenter was 2 miles southeast of Berkeley, and the aftershock's epicenter was 1 mile east of Berkeley. Both quakes were felt throughout the East Bay and San Francisco.

Should all Americans pay income tax?

About 46 percent of American households will pay no federal income tax this year, according to a study published in July by the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center.

Provisions in the tax code, such as the personal exemption, the standard deduction, and various tax credits and preferences, such as the $1,000-per-child tax credit, have reduced millions of Americans' tax liability to zero.

CDC: Most Americans Eat Too Much Salt

Study Shows Daily Salt Intake of Most Americans Is Greater Than Federal Guidelines

Most Americans eat more salt than federal guidelines call for, increasing their risk of high blood pressure, heart disease, and stroke, a new CDC report shows. Eating too much sodium can't be blamed on the salt shaker alone, because most salt intake comes from other sources.
About 75% of the salt in our diets is added to commercial foods during processing or to restaurant foods during preparation. Only about 25% is found naturally in food or is added at the table or during cooking by consumers.
There are two levels of recommended salt intake, according to the Dietary Guidelines for Americans 2010 recommendations.
People 51 and over, African-Americans, and people with hypertension, diabetes, or chronic kidney disease should eat no more than 1,500 milligrams of sodium daily to reduce their heightened risk for high blood pressure, heart disease, and stroke. This is about 48% of the population age 2 years or older.

2011-10-19T07:02:00.003-04:00

The Fresh Prince of Bel Air and his wife just bought part of the 76ers

To most of your parents, Will Smith owns the only rap lyric they can reliably relate word for word -- "The Fresh Prince of Bel Air" theme. And because everyone seems to know that Will Smith was "born and raised" in West Philadelphia, it makes complete and total sense that he and his wife, Jada Pinkett Smith, are members of the latest group to pay way too much for an NBA team. The team, as you and your parents would guess, is the Philadelphia 76ers.

Job fair scheduled Oct. 27 at Prince of Orange Mall

The free event will be held from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 27, and is being sponsored by the Prince of Orange Mall and state and local agencies.

The job fair comes at a time when unemployment rates in The T&D Region are hovering around 15 percent.

“We hope this might remedy it,” said John Timmons, S.C. Department of Social Services program manager. “We are comforted by the fact that Universal Trade Solutions will bring with them 100 new jobs. It is a step in the right direction.”

Making South Carolina a high-tech hotbed
Some say making South Carolina a hotbed for technology can be an uphill battle because from the outside looking in, the Palmetto State appears to be lagging behind. Tuesday, industry insiders worked to change the high tech picture for the state.

“South Carolina is the tip of the spear in so many different ways around new initiatives that involve technology and is a huge market for growth,” said Mike Carter with South Carolina based tech company eGroup.

Woman Accused Of Throwing Cupcakes At Husband Charged With Domestic Battery

After that, she reached for the box of desserts and directed a fusillade of snack cakes at his head and body, her husband told police. Several of the confections apparently hit their mark, as the man's head and shirt were smudged with icing when officers arrived, according to a police report.

Medicare will cut Social Security’s “raise” in 2012

Rep. Jesse Jackson Calls on Government to Hire All Unemployed Americans for $40,000 Each

Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. has offered his own $804 billion jobs plan that calls on the federal government to hire the nation’s 15 million unemployed Americans for jobs paying roughly $40,000 each, and bail out all the states and cities facing budget crises.

“Now we’re making some progress,” Jackson said, comparing the legislative gridlock in Congress to the states that seceded from the union during the Civil War.
"We've seen Congress is in rebellion," he said, "determined to wreck or ruin at all costs."

Most Food Stamp Recipients Have No Earned Income

Some 70% of households that relied on food stamps last year had no earned income, a new report shows.

Thieves steal wheelchair of girl with cerebral palsy

Over the weekend, Georgia bandits made off with a family's van with very special cargo within: the
wheel chair of a 9-year-old girl with cerebral palsy.

Without her custom made wheelchair, Aysia Clements is homebound and unable to attend school.
Her parents, James and Batoya Clements, were left with no other option other than to beg for the thieves to return the purple and black chair with their daughter's name engraved on it.

13 Best Job Sites for Baby Boomers

The first step to finding a new job is to look in the right place, and these sites are especially beneficial to experienced workers who are looking to fill a particular niche in the labor market. Take a look at these top sites for the experienced worker -- maybe one of them has the perfect opportunity waiting for you.

Employees Wanted: 10 Middle-Class Jobs That Are Actually Growing

Where did all the jobs go? And where did all the good jobs go?
It's a question 13.9 million unemployed Americans and countless disgruntled workers have wondered since the "Great Recession" began. Most jobs seem to be hiding in the health and educational services, with 544,000 openings as of April 2011.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) projects that the U.S. will add 15.3 million new jobs between 2008 and 2018, and a whopping 15 out of 30 jobs with the most projected openings and vacancies will pay wages that are above the national median wage for all workers in the United States.

10 Middle-Class Jobs That Will Vanish by 2018
By the year 2018, the manufacturing industry will lose 1.2 million jobs, the mining and oil/gas extraction industry will lose another 104,000 jobs and utility companies will lose 59,000 jobs, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).

But outsourcing and foreign competition aren't the only reasons for shrinking industries. The needs of our economy have changed in recent years while companies have become leaner and meaner in order to survive.

Oral Sex May Cause More Throat Cancer Than Smoking in Men, Researchers Say

A virus spread by oral sex may cause more cases of throat cancer in men than smoking, a finding that spurred calls for a new large-scale test of a drug used against the infection.

Researchers examined 271 throat-tumor samples collected over 20 years ending in 2004 and found that the percentage of oral cancer linked to the human papillomavirus, or HPV, surged to 72 percent from about 16 percent, according to a report released yesterday in the Journal of Clinical Oncology. By 2020, the virus-linked throat tumors -- which mostly affected men -- will become more common than HPV-caused cervical cancer, the report found.

2011-10-18T03:46:00.003-04:00

Ravitch: Why Finland’s schools are great (by doing what we don’t)

What makes the Finnish school system so amazing is that Finnish students never take a standardized test until their last year of high school, when they take a matriculation examination for college admission.

Their own teachers design their tests, so teachers know how their students are doing and what they need. There is a national curriculum — broad guidelines to assure that all students have a full education — but it is not prescriptive. Teachers have extensive responsibility for designing curriculum and pedagogy in their school. They have a large degree of autonomy, because they are professionals.

Admission to teacher education programs at the end of high school is highly competitive; only one in 10 — or even fewer — qualify for teacher preparation programs. All Finnish teachers spend five years in a rigorous program of study, research, and practice, and all of them finish with a masters’ degree. Teachers are prepared for all eventualities, including students with disabilities, students with language difficulties, and students with other kinds of learning issues.

Million Man March, Farrakhan Forgotten At MLK Dedication

Many around the world watched with great pride as President Obama spoke at the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial dedication. Black civil rights, political, and entertainment royalty were present, surrounded by thousands of people who wanted to be close to the tribute on the National Mall for a non-president.

Everyone from Rev. Al Sharpton and members of the Congressional Black Caucus to Nikki Giovanni and Aretha Franklin were there as presenters and participants alike. References were made to all forms of black resistance and struggle, providing the audience with a picture of the movements that shifted the country and the world to change. That is all but one movement and its leader.

Left out of the MLK Memorial celebration by every speaker was the fact that it was the 16th anniversary of the Million Man March. And Minister Louis Farrakhan, the leader of the Nation of Islam and the march's charismatic and often chastised convener, was no where to be found in Washington DC.

The Next Great Migration? Black Chicagoans Return To The South

As the economy stays stagnant, many African Americans are leaving northern cities and returning to their more rural, southern roots.

Chicago's Great Migration: Blacks Leaving Historic Neighborhoods To Return South

Former magnets for black migrants, including Illinois, Michigan, New York and California, all have had black population declines. Atlanta has even overtaken Chicago as the city with the second-largest black population behind New York City. The black population in Atlanta has grown in the past decade by 473,493. In Dallas it grew by 233,890, and in Houston by 214,928 over the same period. Today, 57 percent of the country's black population lives in the South, a 50-year high, according to the most recent census data.

"There are places like Harlem that no longer have majority black populations because many of the black folks who have lived there for the last 50 or so years have decided to cash in, and they are going to live somewhere more affordable, places that don't come with the urban baggage that maybe we didn't ever want but put up with because this was our best chance at a solid economic future," said Khalil Muhammad, director of the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, part of the New York Public Library and renowned for its collections of historic artifacts. "Those people are going to places that look just the way they want them to look. They are not going to be shackled by a political nationalism or the segregation of the past."

Video Of Toddler Being Hit By Van And Ignored Sparks Outrage

BEIJING — A video showing a toddler being struck twice by vans and then ignored by passers-by is sparking outrage in China and prompting soul-searching over why people didn’t help the child.

The 2-year-old girl, identified as Wang Yue, is in a coma in critical condition in the Guangzhou Military District General Hospital following Thursday’s accident, state media reported Tuesday. The Guangzhou Daily quoted the hospital’s head of neurosurgery as saying the girl is likely to remain in a vegetative state if she survives.

Loss Of A Hero! Tuskegee Airman Dies In Tucson At 90-Years-Old

Retired Lt. Col. Luke J. Weathers Jr., a member of World War II’s legendary Tuskegee Airmen died in Tucson at age 90. He will be buried with full honors at Arlington National Cemetery.

Choose Wisely In Your Career Choice!
Create Your Own Business Choice To Serve Your Neighbors and Community!

Let's face facts: The economy sucks! Year 2011 has become a nightmare for so many individuals who are seeking employment, have lost their jobs, and as a result of this despicable trend of employers not wanting to hire more people at their place of business is downright shameful! But then again, who is really to blame for this crisis?

While many of you are still figuring out whom to blame for our present economic condition, I urge all of you who are contemplating on a career choice to delve into, the following career choices that I believe will catapult your horizons by increasing your chances of getting hired, especially since a few of my suggestions are not palatable to some, or create for yourself, may prove to be beneficial in the long run.

What's Your 'True Calling?'

Take Advantage of "Who You Really Are" in Life!
Your parents want you to become a doctor. You, on the other hand, want to sing and dance on Broadway. Ahhh, decisions, decisions.

Well, the truth of the matter is that not everyone can become a doctor or dentist, and love it!

Much can be said about other careers that parents would rather see their child pursue in life, and to the parents dismay, these adult children are much happier than ever before doing what they know is best for them, and not the other way around!

However, let us not forget that those 20th Century days and ways of decision-making choosing to “do their thing,” or engaging in a career that “makes them happy” are basically OVER!

Postage prices go up ... again

Snail mail is about to get a little more expensive.

The price of a first class stamp is going up by one cent starting next year, the United States Postal Service said Tuesday.

Cops Say 5-Year-Old Girl Was Kidnapped In Arizona

“If it was just her walking away, we would have found her by now,” Coombs told The Associated Press. “Obviously she’s not with us. Somebody knows something or somebody has interacted with her and put her in a place, and we just haven’t found her yet.”

Hunter also declined to speak about her other children but pleaded for Jahessye’s safe return.

“I would really appreciate anybody who has any information, anyone who thinks they have seen anything, to contact the police,” she said. “If you have my child, please take her to a safe place, a public place where she can be located.”

Home sales gain ground as prices drop in S.C.

‘There are just too many houses on the market’ in some areas, one broker says

Website created for people with disabilities

The Arc of Mecklenburg County , led by Executive Director Lauren Borchert, has launched a new website - separate from the agency's main website - called SCHOOL2Life to assist young people with disabilities in transitioning from school to college or employment.

The organization, located on Park Road, is a United Way agency for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities.

One of Four Imprisoned in Basement Reported Missing in 2005

One of four mentally handicapped people found chained in a Philadelphia basement over the weekend was reported missing in 2005, but the case was closed by police, myFOXphilly.com reported Monday.

The woman found in the basement was identified by myFOXphilly.com as 29-year-old Tamara Breeden.

Her family reported her missing in 2005. A Philadelphia detective closed her case last year even though she had not been found.

Poll: 50% of Americans -- a record high -- favor legal marijuana

Slowly but surely, Americans seem to be making peace with the pot pipe.

According to a poll released by Gallup on Monday, 50% of Americans surveyed say marijuana use should be legal — up from 46% last year. This year, 46% percent said it should be illegal.

Those numbers mean that, for the first time in the poll's 42-year-history, Americans who say that marijuana should be legal outnumber those who say it should be illegal.

Mystery condition makes woman age 50 years in just a few days

Doctors have been left baffled by a strange condition which saw a woman of 23 age 50 years in a matter of days.

Vietnamese woman Nguyen Thi Phuong now looks like a septugenarian after the rapid aging affliction took hold following an allergic reaction to seafood.

Her sad story began in 2008, when her youthful beauty began to fade over the course of just a few days, leaving her with sagging, wrinkled skin all over her face and body.

Chinese toddler run over twice after being left on street

A Chinese toddler was run over twice and ignored by nearly 20 passers-by in Guangdong Province in a case that has caused outrage around the world.

Toxic Seaweed Poisons Coral Reefs on Contact

A new study of reefs in the South Pacific suggests that some algae can poison coral on contact. This chemical warfare may be increasing the pressure on struggling reef communities worldwide, researchers say.

12 Companies that Could Go Bankrupt Very Soon

During the past generation, a reasonable level of debt has always been seen as appropriate, because balance sheets were able to withstand a typical recession. Yet all that changed in 2008. GM's (NYSE: GM) debt load crashed the company, forcing it into bankruptcy, while many other companies such as GE (NYSE: GE), Ford Motor (NYSE: F), Hertz (NYSE: HTZ) and Domino's Pizza (NYSE: DPZ) saw their stocks plunge on fears a bankruptcy filing would be necessary if economic conditions worsened.

Thankfully, many companies wizened up and have been taking many steps to strengthen their balance sheets. But not everyone got the message. Some companies still carry too much debt and might run into trouble if the U.S. economy slips into recession in coming quarters. These companies will need to make large payments to handle their debt in coming periods, and right now they lack the cash to meet potential obligations. Typically, a company can simply roll over that debt and push out the time frame when debts come due. But a weak economy would make this task much harder as lenders grow skittish.

2011-10-17T01:56:00.001-04:00

Bond set for captors of disabled adults locked in filthy room

Bond was set $2.5 million each on Monday for two of the captors who allegedly locked four mentally disabled adults in a filthy Philadelphia basement in order to cash in on disability checks, authorities said.

The ringleader, convicted murderer Linda Weston, 50, was being arraigned on Monday morning, Philadelphia Police spokeswoman Jillian Russell said. Police over the weekend had spelled her last name Westen.

"There were a couple water bottles but no food or anything," Green said. "There was a bucket they used to urinate in."

Feds Find L.A. Provides Inferior Education To Black Students

A 19-month civil rights investigation of the Los Angeles Unified School District found that the district failed to provide an equal education to English-learners and black students, resulting in wide academic disparities, the U.S. Department of Education announced Tuesday.

Only 35 Black Calculus Students In All Oregon High Schools

According to a U.S. Department of Education survey somewhere between seven and 35 Black high school students took calculus in Oregon schools during the 2009-2010 school year.

These startling low numbers and other statistics are prompting district leaders to acknowledge and reevaluate ways to reverse the inferior educational outcomes of African Americans in the state.

Lowe’s Closes 20 Stores, Cuts 1,950 Jobs

Home improvement giant Lowe’s Cos. said today it will close 20 underperforming stores in 15 states and cut 1,950 jobs.

Half of the locations closed yesterday while the others will be shut in a month, the Mooresville, N.C. company said today in a statement. Lowe’s, the No. 2 building supply chain after Home Depot, said the move will allow it to focus on more-profitable locations.

Before the closures Lowe’s operated 1,725 stores.

Kenyan Army Invades Somalia

Kenyan tanks, artillery and hundreds of fighters are moving through militant territory in Somalia, residents said Monday.

Fighter jets and helicopters have been flying overhead since Kenyan forces moved en masse into Somalia on Sunday. The invasion came one day after Kenyan defense officials said the country has the right to defend itself against al-Shabab militants after a string of kidnappings inside Kenya. Four Europeans have been abducted and one killed.

Medicare will cut Social Security’s “raise” in 2012

After two years without an inflation adjustment, the Social Security Administration is expected to announce a 2012 cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) of more than 3 percent next week. That would be a sizable raise in this economy, and very welcome news to seniors hit hard by rising costs, slumping home equity and very low returns on fixed-income investments.

But the good COLA news will come with a nasty kicker. Many seniors will see a substantial part of the COLA consumed by a higher premium for Medicare Part B (doctor visits and outpatient services), which usually is deducted from Social Security payments. The situation sheds light on the complex interaction of Social Security COLAs and Medicare premiums — and it underscores the critical importance of the Super Committee deficit deliberations on possible cuts to future COLAs.

“Social Security does not add a penny to the deficit and it shouldn’t be part of the deficit discussions,” said Nancy Altman, co-director of the Strengthen Social Security coalition. “The President made it clear that he wanted Social Security on a separate track, but I’m hearing from very credible sources that the Democrats are putting Social Security into play, and that the chained CPI is being considered very seriously.”

How cuts to Social Security Administration will hurt you

“Starving the beast” is a favorite conservative strategy for forcing cuts in federal spending. The idea is to deprive the government of revenue in order to force spending cuts – and resistance to new taxes is a central feature of the current Super Committee deliberations in Washington.

6 Offbeat Warehouse Club Savings

Clubs raise the price of membership, but less-publicized perks may offer extra savings.

ADHD Guidelines Issued for 4 and Up

Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder can be diagnosed in children as young as age 4, according to new treatment guidelines by the American Academy of Pediatrics.

The guidelines, released Sunday at the academy's annual meeting in Boston, provide instructions for pediatricians on diagnosing and managing ADHD in children 4 to 18. They say behavioral management techniques should be the first treatment approach for preschool-age children.

Detroit contracts expose auto workers' simmering anger

"I think they've finally pushed us to the point that we have to do something," said Kevin Branham, 49, a metal finisher at the plant. "This vote, it's a matter of people speaking out."

Divorce stress meets recession mess, and women struggle

2011-10-16T05:17:00.006-04:00

Activist West arrested in Supreme Court protest

Author, commentator, civil rights activist and Princeton University professor Cornel West has been arrested while protesting on the steps of the Supreme Court about corporate influence in politics.

A Supreme Court spokeswoman says 19 people were arrested Sunday afternoon after they refused to leave the grounds of the court.

Idris Elba: Black Men Not Considered “Sexy” By America

Actor Idris Elba said that he felt Black men are not considered “sexy” by mainstream America, during a recent interview.

“Black men, we’re never called sexy. We’re called athletic, intense, we’re described as being the strong type, the silent type. But we’re never really described as being sexy… in general the word sexy doesn’t
apply to black men, particularly … The word has been thrown at me a few times so if I have to say I own it, fine,” Elba said.

Obama Sending Troops To Africa To Help Fight Renegade Group

President Barack Obama said Friday he’s dispatching roughly 100 U.S. troops to central Africa to help battle the Lord’s Resistance Army, which the administration accuses of a campaign of murder, rape and kidnapping children that spans two decades.

King James! LeBron Takes His Talents To England

LeBron James took his talents to Liverpool on Friday – and finally got his hands on a championship trophy.

Wall Street Protests Spread to Four Continents

Protesters opposed to economic inequality amassed on four continents over the weekend, camping out from Hong Kong to London, as a Rome rally turned violent and police in New York and Chicago arrested more than 250 people.

Seeing Value in Ignorance, College Expects Its Physicists to Teach Poetry

“Every member of the faculty who comes here gets thrown in the deep end. I think the faculty members, if they were cubbyholed into a specialization, they’d think that they know more than they do. That usually is an impediment to learning. Learning is born of ignorance.”

Bleak News for Americans' Income

Americans' incomes have dropped since 2000 and they aren't expected to make up the lost ground before 2021, according to economists in the latest Wall Street Journal forecasting survey.

From 2000 to 2010, median income in the U.S. declined 7% after adjusting for inflation, according to Census data. That marks the worst 10-year performance in records going back to 1967. On average, the economists expect inflation-adjusted incomes to rise over the next decade, but the 5% projected gain isn't enough to reach prerecession levels.

Number of the Week: Millions Cut Off Without Unemployment Extension

2,153,700: The number of jobless people currently receiving unemployment benefits who will lose them by Feb. 11, 2012 if an extension isn’t enacted by Congress by the end of the year.

While Republicans and Democrats continue to spar over the best way to inspire job creation, millions of recipients of unemployment benefits may get caught in the cross-fire.

Nearly Half of U.S. Lives in Household Receiving Government Benefit

Families were more dependent on government programs than ever last year.

Nearly half, 48.5%, of the population lived in a household that received some type of government benefit in the first quarter of 2010, according to Census data. Those numbers have risen since the middle of the recession when 44.4% lived households receiving benefits in the third quarter of 2008.

The share of people relying on government benefits has reached a historic high, in large part from the deep recession and meager recovery, but also because of the expansion of government programs over the years. (See a timeline on the history of government benefits programs here.)

Most Food Stamp Recipients Have No Earned Income

Click here for an interactive map.

Some 70% of households that relied on food stamps last year had no earned income, a new report shows.

More than 40 million individuals and nearly 19 million households tapped the food stamp program in 2010, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. While the recession technically ended in 2009, a sluggish economic recovery left millions out of work or underemployed and leaning on the government for assistance last year.

How To Look Good Using Food Stamps: Beautify Yourself with the Foods You Buy at the Market! ISBN 978-0-557-08788-4

Five Black Americans Who Deserve Monuments

While our country has dedicated plenty of our monuments to many great African Americans in various cities and towns, there are still a host of individuals who made a tremendous impact in this country who have yet to be honored in this manner.

How to Make It in America as a TV Soundtracker

He’s known as Broke Mogul, and his specialty is hustling up just the right
songs to play with your Entourage or when you’re struggling with How to Make It in America.

Chris Tucker Facing Foreclosure On Mansion

Court records show comedian Chris Tucker is facing foreclosure on his multimillion-dollar mansion in central Florida.

Denzel Washington Donates $2.5 Million To Alma Mater

Denzel Washington has donated $2.25 million to Fordham University, his alma mater.

White People Rapidly Moving In To “Do The Right Thing” Hood

The Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York City, a historically Black neighborhood famously depicted in Spike Lee’s “Do The Right Thing,” is becoming more and more mixed due to a high influx of whites moving in.

The white migration has made rent prices higher and forced many African Americans to move from the neighborhood.

White-Out! Census Shows Brooklyn Has Fewer Black Residents

Fewer Black Children In Big Cities As Parents Seek Better Lives

Last year’s census found that the number of black, non-Hispanic children living in New York City had fallen by 22.4 percent in 10 years. In raw numbers, that meant 127,058 fewer black kids living in the city of Jay Z and Spike Lee, even as the number of black adults grew slightly.

“There is nothing inherently bad,” about a city having fewer children, Bositis said. “On one level, it is a big plus for the cities. People without children are much cheaper than people with children. Especially young people. They are making very little in way of demands on city services.”

Venezuela Seeks to Shoot Down Drug-Smuggling Planes

The Venezuelan National Assembly will soon debate a bill that, when passed as expected, will allow the government to shoot down airplanes flying over national territory that are suspected of trafficking drugs. President Hugo Chávez, who proposed the measure late Thursday night, said carrying through such drastic actions would be a difficult choice but may help deter smugglers in Venezuela, which U.S. officials have identified as a major stopping point in the international drug trade.

2011-10-14T11:38:00.003-04:00

Scientists correct sickle cell disease in mice

U.S. scientists have found a way to get mice with a form of sickle cell disease to make normal red blood cells, offering a potential new way to treat the blood disorder in people, they reported on Thursday.

U.S. Scientists Correct Sickle Cell Disease in Mice

In the latest study, published in the journal Science, the team looked to see what would happen if they blocked production of the BCL11A protein in mice with sickle cell disease.

They found that when the protein was disabled, the mice switched back to producing fetal hemoglobin. And mice that once exhibited symptoms of sickle cell disease improved.

25% of millionaires pay lower tax rates than many middle-class Americans, study says

According to the report, which was based on 2006 data, about a quarter of millionaires (about 94,500) paid less than 26.5 percent of their income in federal taxes, while about 10 percent of moderate-income taxpayers (about 10.4 million taxpayers) paid more than 26.5 percent in taxes. Moderate-income taxpayers were defined as those with an adjusted gross income less than $100,000.

Materialistic couples have more problems

"We thought it would be the incongruent or unmatched pattern that would be most problematic, where one's a spender and one's a saver," Carroll told LiveScience. "Our study found that it's the couples where both spouses have high levels of materialism that struggle the most.

Casting Call with Vince Paul of Talent Link Friday October 14, 2011

Friday, October 14, 2011 from 6:00 PM to 9:00 PM (ET)

Orangeburg, SC

2011-10-13T09:07:00.006-04:00

Amber Alert issued for 11-year-old Maryland boy after his mother was found dead

An Amber Alert has been issued for a missing 11-year-old boy from Germantown, Maryland after his mother was found dead from an apparent murder inside of her

apartment Wednesday night.

The 11-year-old is described as approximately 5-feet tall and weighing 85 pounds. A vehicle registered to Jane McQuain is also missing and William McQuain could be with the vehicle. It is described as a black, 2011 Honda CRV with Maryland tags 5AG9405.

Our news partner ABC2 News spoke with Montgomery County Police early Thursday morning, which said that 11-year-old William McQuain was last seen on Sept.30 in the 13100 block of Briar Cliff Road.

Around 8:30 p.m. Wednesday, police found the child’s mother, Jane McQuain, dead inside her apartment in Briarcliff Terrace. Detectives are treating it as an apparent homicide after officers found trauma to her body.

Please Find Her! Chicago Police Search For Missing Black Teen Girl

Police are searching for Soulchartirya Terry who was last seen in her military uniform leaving Phoenix Military Academy on Campbell Ave in Chicago.

Terry is African-American, 5’10″ tall and 184 pounds. She has brown eyes, sandy-brown hair and a light complexion. Terry wears black rimmed glasses and was carrying a brown Coach messenger bag when she was last seen.

Anyone with information about Soulchartirya Terry’s whereabouts is asked to call Chicago police at 312-747-8385.

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Read More At The Huffington Post

ACLU sues to stop new S.C. law

A coalition of immigrants and groups who work with them filed a federal lawsuit Wednesday against South Carolina’s immigration law, saying it will encourage racial profiling and violate people’s constitutional rights.
The law, which is scheduled to go into effect Jan. 1, requires law enforcement officers to check the immigration status of anyone they detain, including people pulled over during traffic stops. It also creates a statewide Illegal Immigration Enforcement Unit that would be under the direction of the S.C. Department of Public Safety.

“Individuals perceived as ‘foreign’ by state or local law enforcement agents will be in constant jeopardy of harassment and unlawfully prolonged detention and arrest,” the lawsuit states.

Georgia's independent hospitals hurting

“There is a strong move toward consolidation here in Georgia,” said Holly Lang, director of the Hospital Accountability Project at Georgia Watch, a statewide consumer organization. “It can be both a positive and a negative thing. It depends on how the hospitals go about this and whether they consider the patients in what they are doing.”

Latest Freemason Conspiracy: Recruiting Younger Bros

No self-respecting secret society can get by without a Facebook fan page anymore.

That's transparently true of the Freemasons, renowned for their medieval blood oaths, their often-alleged plot to create a New World Order, their locked-door conclaves of U.S. presidents and power brokers and their boring pancake breakfasts.

A menagerie of 19th-century civic and social brotherhoods, and their attendant sisterhoods, lives on around the globe: the Elks, the Moose, the Lions, the Odd Fellows. Freemasonry is the oldest of all, still the biggest, and—in the public mind—about as penetrable as the mythic crypt beneath the ninth vault of Solomon's Temple.

Cops Say Bus Driver Was Stabbed By Masturbating Passenger

Authorities say the driver was picking up passengers at the Silver Spring station when he was told by several patrons that a man in the back of the bus had exposed himself and was masturbating.
As the bus approached the Wheaton station, police say the man got into a confrontation with a woman on the bus. The driver intervened and later realized he had been stabbed.

Metro Bus Driver Stabbed Near Wheaton Station: MyFoxDC.com

Parents Smoking Mad Over Pot-Shaped Candy

Would you buy your child a marijuana leaf-shaped (but totally drug-free) lollipop? One aghast Buffalo parent most definitely would not—and after she alerted the City Council to the controversial candy, city leaders and anti-drug activists started working to get it off shelves. “It's the whole idea that it promotes drugs and the idea that, here, you'll look cool if you use this—which is what gets these kids in trouble in the very first place,” says one treatment center supervisor. But the president of Kalan LP, which distributes the candy, insists this is the first complaint he’s gotten.

Social Entrepreneurs Look For The “Double Bottom Line”

Aiming to uplift urban communities through businesses that believe in economic empowerment as well as social responsibility, Rutgers University is hosting the first New Jersey Social Entrepreneurship Summit on October 19, 2011 at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center in Newark.

The event, sponsored by PSE&G and Rutgers and Hosted by the Center for Urban Entrepreneurship and  Economic Development at Rutgers Business School (CUEED), is an opportunity for businesses and entrepreneurs to share ways to create what they call a “double bottom line,” which measures a business’s fiscal performance as well as its social contributions.

Content from the event will be posted on the summit’s Website and tweeted throughout the day.

Big Dreams! NBA Players Consider Starting Own League

Players have discussed starting an alternate league, if the current NBA lockout forces a cancellation of the season, according to New York Knicks star Amar’e Stoudemire.

It looks like the players in the NBA aren’t going for the okey-doke on the recent lockout by team owner. While there are some who have gone to play overseas, some players are wondering why they can’t be owners themselves. This would be a major move in the land of the NBA athlete.

Silenced! Civil Rights Icon Denied Chance To Speak At Occupy Atlanta

Occupy Atlanta, a protest inspired by the Occupy Wall St. demonstrations in
New York, made news this past weekend after civil rights legend John Lewis was denied the chance to speak to protesters.

Educated Black People Are More Likely To Marry Whites

The more education African-Americans have, the more likely they are to marry white people, a new study conducted by the Journal of Marriage and Family suggests.

Blacks who have completed higher levels of education are more likely to marry whites because they have a greater chance of interacting with them in school, the workplace and neighborhoods where they live — a fact that has been true for other groups for a while but not for blacks, Qian says.
“This doesn’t imply that we’ve moved into a post-racial society,” says Daniel Lichter, director of the Cornell Population Center and study co-author. “Even though there’s been a rapid increase (in black-white unions), it’s still very low.”

Only 3 “Good” Black Men For Every 100 Black Women

The chances of a Black woman finding a “Good” Black man are extremely slim, according to a study by Best Black Dating Sites.

The study claims that only about 3% of Black men fulfill the criteria of being a good, qualified partner.

Gonorrhea Becoming 'Incurable'

STD mutating so fast that antibiotics can't keep up

The clap is mutating so quickly that there is a real danger that it will become incurable unless new treatments are developed, British doctors warn.

"Our lab tests have shown a dramatic reduction in the sensitivity of the drug we were using as the main treatment for gonorrhea. This presents the very real threat of untreatable gonorrhea in the future," an expert at Britain's Health Protection Agency says. "This highlights the importance of practicing safe sex, as, if new antibiotic treatments can't be found, this will be only way of controlling this infection in the future."

Tavis Smiley And Cornel West Clash With O’Reilly Over Poverty

O’Reilly believes that people bare a personal responsibility for their own poverty, while West and Smiley argued about the government factors that contribute to it.

Fight! Smiley, West Engage In Heated Debate With CNN Host

Disgusting! N-Word Products Are Common In China

These products are becoming more and more noticeable as more African Americans travel to China on business.

What is “n-word-oil”? Well, it turns out that this medicinal remedy is for muscle pain and a host of other ailments the Chinese have been using for a very long time. It’s ubiquitous in Chinese medicine shops worldwide, including in the U.S.

Another product — a tanning oil — also is known as “n-word oil” in Chinese. I asked a Chinese friend, who’s 53, about this oil and he hadn’t heard of it. In fact, he didn’t believe it was called that until I showed him the picture, and he said he found the name offensive, and that if blacks knew about it they would find it very offensive.

2011-10-11T00:11:00.000-04:00

Lettie Fisher, Texas Woman, And Her Mentally Handicapped Son, Missing

Authorities in Texas are trying to locate a missing mother and her mentally disabled son. They have not been seen since they went fishing more than three weeks ago. Investigators now suspect the pair may have met with foul play, police said.

According to the Tyler County Sheriff's Office, 79-year-old Lettie Fisher and her son, 31-year-old John Fisher Jr., have been missing since Sept. 19. The mother and son were last seen leaving Lufkin Memorial Medical Center, where the elder Fisher was treated for breast cancer. After leaving the medical center, detectives believe the Fishers went to their Chester home to pick up their fishing gear and then to Wolf Creek.

Dr. Boyce: Five Reasons the NBA is Now Afraid of Black Men

Many of us read with interest about the blow up between NBA superstar Dwyane Wade and commissioner David Stern. In a heated discussion that took place during the pending NBA lockout, Wade told Stern that he “isn’t his child,” and then stormed out of the meeting. I read about the interaction with curiosity, wondering whether or not I was witnessing the kind of revolt that hasn’t been seen among black athletes since the 1960s.

If this is the case, then NBA team owners are rightfully nervous. If black professional athletes were to get even a whiff of the power that they truly possess, they’d be amazed at what they could do. Here are five reasons that the NBA now has good reason to fear black men:

Disturbing! Pastor Allegedly Rapes 12-Year-Old Girl 9 Times

NORTH CAROLINA — The former pastor of the North Carolina church New Life Christian Center, Keith Devon Pitts, has been convicted of nine counts of sexual abuse with the same girl.

WCNC News reports that “his nine counts include sex offense of a child and taking indecent liberties with a child.”

Pastor Charged With Raping And Impregnating 12-Year-Old

Michael Clare, 38, refused the offer from prosecutors, despite “almost irrefutable proof” he impregnated the child, said Bronx Supreme Court Justice Megan Tallmer.

US Ballplayer Dead After Brutal Attack Over Woman In Romania

Shame! 96-Year-Old Woman: Voting Now More Difficult Than During Jim Crow

Occupy Wall Street protesters plan 'Millionaires March' to Rupert Murdoch's, tycoons' NYC homes

2011-10-10T10:40:00.005-04:00

Mother, daughter enjoy working together as extras

The Gathers are among a handful of people from Orangeburg represented by Talent-Link Inc. of Charlotte, N.C.

Talent-Link will hold an open audition from 6 to 8 p.m. Friday, Oct. 14, in South Carolina State University Fine Arts Center's Barbara Vaughn Recital Hall.

Audition slots are limited. To register, visit http://dareauditions1.eventbrite.com.

For more information, call Sharon Gathers at 803-682-4863 or Rose Graham at 678-863-1639, or visit http://talent-link.com.

Surprise! Who's not paying federal income tax?

Amid complaints that nearly half of tax filers in the U.S. won't pay federal income taxes this year, this has been lost: Those making $75,000-$100,000 a year are the fastest-growing share of people who don't pay federal income taxes.

Not working poor people — but those who are firmly middle class.

They still make up less than 1% of the total number of income tax filers who pay no tax at all, but their overall number has exploded, from fewer than 5,000 not paying taxes in 1996 to nearly 500,000 in 2009, the most recent year of available data.

The lowest-income Americans — those who make less than $25,000 a year — account for the largest number of those not paying any federal income tax: 76% as of . . .

Sharpton to broadcast from Occupy Wall Street protests

The Rev. Al Sharpton will bring his nationally syndicated radio show to lower Manhattan Monday as the Occupy Wall Street demonstrations enter their 24th day.

Sharpton, an outspoken civil rights activist and talk show host, will broadcast from Zuccotti Park, where the protests are based, according to his National Action Network.

"Even as banks got bailed out, American children have witnessed their parents get tossed out of their homes and lose their jobs. Public school kids have lost arts, music and physical education," the movement's website said. "Now our kids can see activists take these issues to the streets in a democratic forum at Occupy Wall Street."

The strange, glowing object that put Missouri on "UFO alert" this week

This is the only picture available of a UFO that has been terrorizing residents in the state of Missouri for the past few days. Apparently the brightly-lit vehicle has been flying low over cars on the highway, and appears to break up into smaller craft. Dozens of witnesses have reported seeing it, boosting Missouri to a "UFO Alert" level 3. The state had the 8th highest number of UFO reports in the U.S. last month. What's going on?

Why pancreatic cancer is so deadly

Special report: China's debt pileup raises risk of hard landing

Deadline: NBA, players in danger of cancellations

A hot dog in Tiger's direction marks his return

"When I looked up, the hot dog was already in the air," Woods said. "The bun was kind of disintegrating."

Older, wiser O'Donnell launches 'Rosie Show'

New hurricane emerges off Mexico's western coast

State may ban 'bath salts'

Stimulants that authorities say are marketed as “bath salts” and mimic the effects of cocaine have gone largely unregulated in the state but could soon be subject to a state law, a federal ban and a growing number of local ordinances.The number of calls to the Palmetto Poison Center about the synthetic drugs has gone from two in all of 2010 to 135 this year, said managing director Jill Michels.

“They’re not abusing grandma’s bath salt,” Michels said. “It’s a totally different compound.”

One dead, seven rescued in Florida after boat capsizes

6 lowball-offer errors home buyers make

Increase your chances of buying a home for a steal

“Sellers who had their homes on the market all summer are anxious to move on, especially before the holidays hit,” said Bill Golden, a real-estate agent with ReMax in Atlanta. The closer it gets to the holidays, the more anxious unsuccessful sellers can become, he said.

Baby-decapitation case: Mom awarded nearly $1.4 million

A jury Thursday night awarded nearly $1.4 million in damages to a mother whose premature baby was decapitated during delivery at a Louisville hospital in 2006.

Under the verdict, reached after about five hours of deliberation, the two doctors involved must pay the mother, Micheatria Donelson, the $1.4 million for pain and suffering.

The hospital and the nurses involved in the case were not held liable, and the jury declined to award punitive damages.

When the Uprooted Put Down Roots

At the Saturday farmer’s market in City Heights, a major portal for refugees, Khadija Musame, a Somali, arranges her freshly picked pumpkin leaves and lablab beans amid a United Nations of produce, including water spinach grown by a Cambodian refugee and amaranth, a grain harvested by Sarah Salie, who fled rebels in Liberia. Eaten with a touch of lemon by Africans, and coveted by Southeast Asians for soups, this crop is always a sell-out.

Casting Call with Vince Paul of Talent Link Friday October 14, 2011

Friday, October 14, 2011 from 6:00 PM to 9:00 PM (ET), Orangeburg, South Carolina.

“No N***ers Please” Sign Shocks Michigan State University Students

2011-10-09T01:07:00.000-04:00

The campus of Michigan State University has been rocked by recent acts of racial intimidation directed toward Black students.

Dream Act Becomes Law in California

Illegal immigrants can now apply for state-financed scholarships and aid at state universities after Gov. Jerry Brown announced Saturday that he had signed the second half of a legislative package focused on such students.

10 Cities Where Black Unemployment Is Rising Fastest: EPI

Of all demographic groups in the United States, the black community has been hit hardest by the unemployment crisis. Indeed, the percentage of currently unemployed African Americans is more than double that of whites, comparing more closely in some cities to those of the Great Depression.

In major cities like Detroit, Milwaukee and Minneapolis, black unemployment doubled from 2007 to 2010, with each of those cities recording jobless rates of more than 20 percent in 2010, according to the Economic Policy Institute. Those figures reflect the wider trend of skyrocketing black unemployment. In August, nationwide black unemployment stood at 16.7 percent, compared to an average of 8.5 percent in 2007.
Economists blame the black unemployment crisis on a variety of factors, including a younger workforce, a smaller proportion of college-educated job candidates and a higher population of citizens living in areas that have been most affected by recession, according to CNN Money.

Occupy Wall Street Protests Spread Across Country

Liberal activists seem to be getting a boost from the spreading Occupy Wall Street protests in the United States. Their influence on American political dialogue is a work in progress.

The demonstrations in New York against corporate greed and war have spread to Washington and other cities.

10 bodies found in Mexican port of Veracruz

Mexican officials say 10 more bodies have been found in what appears to be more bloodshed in the battle between rival cartels for control of drug trafficking in the port city of Veracruz.

Don't Buy Too Much Insurance!

Firms are pushing everything from cancer coverage to tuition protection. We check the latest policies—and lay out what you really need.

IRS Clarifies Estate Rules