PHOTO CREDIT: Robert Mora, Getty Images

LAS VEGAS — Former Motown vocalist Richard Street, a member of the Temptations for 25 years, has died. He was 70.

Street’s wife, Cindy, says her husband died early Wednesday at a hospital in Las Vegas after a short illness.

Richard Street sang as a young man with Temptations members Otis Williams and Melvin Franklin, but didn’t join the famed Motown group until the early 1970s. He later made the move from his native Detroit to Los Angeles with other Motown acts and stayed with the group until the mid-1990s.

Funeral arrangements are incomplete, but Cindy Street expects services to be held sometime next week in Cypress, Calif.

She says her husband “was a really good person” who should be remembered for his work with the Temptations.

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Have you ever sat back and said to yourself that you’d like a pet, but, in this unstable economy, don’t think you’d have the money to support one?

If you answered yes to that question, then Pet Food Stamps is for you!

Pet Food Stamps, is a donation-based program based in New York which aims to supplement the incomes of families below for poverty line with pets so that their furry friends don’t go without food and care.

Read more at OpposingViews.com:

[The program] already had more than 45,000 pets sign up in the past two weeks.Marc Okan, the program’s founder and director, said it works by having the pet owner’s income verified, then they will give the pet food each month from pet food retailer Pet Food Direct for six months. “We’re not looking for government funding at this point,” Okon said. “Should the government be willing to provide assistance further down the line, we will look into it.”As of now, the only way to apply is by filling out an online application. Okan said once they open their new office, they will begin accepting applications through mail.
They are still waiting to be approved as an official nonprofit.

The country does not have a federal pet food stamp program. The U.S. Department of Agriculture Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service does give protection to pets in emergencies and natural disasters. A 1996 Animal Welfare Act, however, does not state anything about giving food to pets.

Though Okon’s program seems one-of-a-kind, it’s actually one of a few programs in the country that give food to animals in need. Shelters and rescue leagues in the U.S., like the Washington Animal Rescue League, have provided pet food banks for years, in addition to giving discounted pet care.

“One of our missions is to provide income-qualified families with discounted pet care, vaccinations, vaccine clinics, neutered clinics and vet care,” Washington Animal Rescue League spokesman Matt Williams said. “We have a new medical center on site. We also have a food bank run entirely on donations.”

To be approved for the program, families must provide proof that they are currently receiving government assistance.

Read more about Pet Food Stamps here.

ATLANTA — Former WNBA player and Olympic gold medalist Chamique Holdsclaw is being indicted in a November 2012 shooting in Atlanta, prosecutors said Wednesday.

A six-count indictment charges Holdsclaw, 35, with aggravated assault, criminal damage and possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony, Fulton County District Attorney’s spokeswoman Yvette Jones said Wednesday.

Holdsclaw was arrested after an argument with Tulsa Shock player Jennifer Lacy, 29, who told police she was Holdsclaw’s ex-girlfriend. The two were also Atlanta Dream teammates in 2009. Holdsclaw broke the windows to Lacy’s car and shot at it Nov. 13, 2012, police said. No one was injured.

After a late-November court appearance, one of Holdsclaw’s attorneys said he talked with Lacy and they were trying to resolve the case.

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“They are still friends and we expect the alleged victim to support a proper resolution of this,” said Edward Garland, an attorney representing Holdsclaw. “In no way did she use the gun to threaten or assault the alleged victim, or do so with a baseball bat.”

He acknowledged that Holdsclaw caused damage to Lacy’s car, but said his client never intended to hurt her.

“Sometimes charges get made that exceed the scope of the actual events,” Garland said, adding that he and his client plan to resolve the case without it going to trial.

Holdsclaw is out on $100,000 bond and a court date has not been scheduled.

Holdsclaw led the University of Tennessee to three consecutive national championships from 1996-98 before beginning a pro career that included six WNBA All-Star selections.

She also played on the U.S. Olympic team that won the gold medal in the 2000 Games. She had 3,025 career points at Tennessee and remains the Southeastern Conference’s career scoring leader.

In September, Holdsclaw returned to her alma mater to discuss her fight with clinical depression, which included a suicide attempt during her pro career.

Holdsclaw recounted how she attempted suicide in 2006 as a member of the Los Angeles Sparks by overdosing on the medication she was taking for clinical depression. She also wouldn’t leave her Washington home for a few days in 2004, two years after the death of the grandmother who raised her.

PHOTO CREDIT: WFTV

MIAMI — A Miami Beach man was sentenced to 15 years in prison for beating and strangling a woman he forced into prostitution.

The sentencing of 34-year-old Robert Burton on Tuesday marked the first conviction for the Miami-Dade Human Trafficking Unit.

The Miami Herald reports Burton forced at least six women into prostitution and fathered children with three of them. He faced similar charges in Nevada where he wasn’t convicted.

Burton was accused of beating and choking a 31-year-old woman and abducting their 7-year-old son in 2011. Prosecutors say when police pulled Burton over and inquired about the two women in the car, the child said, “those are my daddy’s hoes.”

State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle says human trafficking is similar to domestic violence. She called it “affection — with torture.”

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If you’re someone who feels that “nigga” is a term of endearment that empowers Black people by removing the sting of racism from the word, or if you’re a rapper who loves your “niggas” like you all escaped from Candieland plantation together and call each other “my nigga” to remember where you came from, then Abena Afreeka‘s “Nigga Recovery Program” just might be for you.

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Though the program has been in the conceptual stages for close to a decade, the Philadelphia therapist was motivated to kick it into overdrive after seeing the accolades heaped onto the shoulders of Hip-Hop heavyweights, Jay-Z and Kanye West, for their club smash, “Niggas In Paris.”

Because people of African descent have never engaged in the process of healing for experiences and effects of those experiences that came out of that term, continued use of the term without attending to deep emotional wounds is irresponsible on the part of all parties involved,” said Afreeka to The Philly Post. So I’ve developed this program, and am asking other folks of African descent, and Jay and Kanye, asking them and inviting them to engage in the process of recovery.

Afreeka goes on to explain the logistics of the therapy group and what participants can expect:

They will meet with me in a group. It’s a group intervention. There would also be some individual work. They would complete a cultural genogram, they would learn to understand their relationships, their history, they would work to learn and understand self. This is substance abuse, the substance being using the N-word. And many of them are benefiting from using that substance.

The use of the word has been in the news once again recently due to self-proclaimed comedian, Lisa Lampanelli, calling Lena Dunham, the creator of HBO’S hit series, Girls, “my nigga” on Twitter. Both women are White.

Me with my nigga @LenaDunham of @HBOGirls – I love this beyotch!! say.ly/oKP5chO—
Lisa Lampanelli (@LisaLampanelli) February 18, 2013

In a strategic interview conducted by actress Pia  Glenn for XOJane.com, a defensive Lampanelli felt compelled to explain to a Black interviewer why Black people shouldn’t be offended by White people using the word:

“The N-word ending in ‘er’ is far different context from the word ending in ‘a.’ Ask any person who knows the urban dictionary, it means ‘friend,’” she said. “And by the way, if I had put the word ending in ‘er,’ that would have been a very derogatory thing about Lena meaning she is less than me, and I view her as very above me. ‘A’ on the end means ‘my friend.’”

“I’ve played every comedy club and every theatre across the country for the last 25 years and seen a lot of audience members from different ethnic persuasions,” she continued. “I have been using these words since I started in comedy and guess what, people? I won’t stop anytime soon, just because your ass is up on Twitter. I have always used in my act every racial slur there is for Asians, blacks, gays, and Hispanics. To me, it’s acceptable if the joke is funny and if it is said in a context of no hate. It’s about taking the hate out of the word.”

*Crickets*

According to Afreeka, we live in a world of “White lunacy” where the use of the word “nigga” has become commonplace and the illness — brought about by historical trauma — must be treated like any other addiction, scientifically and systemically.

So how long will this treatment take?

“As with most treatment for folks in mental and behavioral health, treatment time varies,” said Afreeka.  “You start with where the person is, assess and go from there. The cost is on a sliding fee scale. Rap artists like Kanye and company would be expected to give more.”

Pop and gospel performer Michael Winans, Jr. (pictured) was sentenced to 13 years for running an $8 million Ponzi scheme, The Detroit Free Press reports. He was also ordered to pay his victims–some 1,200 investors–$4.8 million in restitution.

Winans, who is a member of the renowned Winans family gospel music dynasty, pleaded guilty to defrauding investors out of $8 million in  U.S. federal court last October. The 30-year-old was named as the operator of the Winans Foundation Trust, which represented itself as a business entity that invested in crude oil bonds in Saudi Arabia.

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Winans reportedly enlisted the help of 11 people to invest in the crude oil bonds and ordered them to solicit outside investments. The gospel entertainer guaranteed his contributors hefty monetary returns of anywhere from $1,000 to $8,000 within a 60 day period. Instead of paying off his investors, he lined his own pockets.

While Winans said in court that me made some “mistakes,” prosecutors argued his intentions were purely criminal in nature.

The Free Press has more:

Winans took advantage of “good, decent, church-going people,” said Judge Cox in U.S. District Court before sentencing him. “That is very, very troubling to me…You used…churches to perpetuate this fraud.”

Assistant U.S. Attorney Abed Hammoud said of Winans: “He used religion. He used the church, the good reputation of the family,” to rob victims.

Winans pled guilty in October to wire fraud. Prosecutors said in court filings that “he clearly abused the fact that he came from a very well known family with a good reputation in order to induce people to invest with him.”

Dressed in a gray suit, Winans addressed the court today, acknowledging that “I did make mistakes.”

I caused “financial and emotional damage. For that I repent,” Winans told the judge.

But, he claimed, there was no “malicious intent on my part…I wanted people to have a good life.”

His scheme did the direct opposite. People tricked by Winans convinced family members to pay into the scheme. Homes and college tuition money were lost. Tina Hurt, one of his victims, said that many marriages and relationships have been destroyed because of Winans.

“We’ve experience turmoil,” she said.

Calvin Jackson Jr., another victim, said he received death threats. “I trusted him,” he said. “I confided a lot in him.”

But despite what Winans did to him, Jackson said that he had to forgive him. “I feel so bad for him,” he said. “I feel so bad for us.”

This Black History Month, NewsOne takes a look back at the top African-American moments from 2000 to 2012. Some will make you happy while others will undoubtedly make you angry and/or sad. Either way, here’s to the last 12 years of our living history. Enjoy!

Moment: Eric Holder Becomes First African-American Attorney General

With the arrival of President Barack Obama in the White House in 2009, many were newly appointed to fill the top positions for the incoming President’s Cabinet. The Administration immediately made waves with the nomination of New York-native Eric Holder, a former judge of the Superior Court of the District of Columbia. After being approved by a large margin by the Senate Judicary Committee, Holder officially took office on Feb. 2, 2009.  

SEE ALSO: Top Moments In Black History: Bob Johnson Becomes 1st African-American Billionaire

Holder has been especially vital in the war on terrorism and is a known advocate of civil rights, especially protecting the sanctity of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Holder’s office also played a huge role in combating voter disfranchisement with the purposefully confusing Voter ID laws that nearly derailed the electoral process last year. The Attorney General’s time in office has been marked by both triumph and mild controversies, such as the botched “Fast And Furious” operation in Mexico that he was cleared of.

Watch Holder get confirmed as Attorney General here:

SEE ALSO: Top Moments In Black History: Disney Introduces 1st African-American Princess

Lendsey and Delilha Harbin (pictured) are facing felony theft charges for allegedly “movie-hopping” last Saturday night at a Portage, Ind., multiplex.  The couple is accused of paying to see only one film, then sneaking in to another without paying another admission fee, according to The Smoking Gun.

SEE ALSO: Cop Charged With Not Investigating Racial Threats…Against Himself

Reportedly, the hitched pair sprung $6.75 to see the new Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson film, “Snitch,” but when they exited the movie and snuck in to the zombie thriller “Warm Bodies,” they failed to pay.

Two off-duty policemen were moonlighting as security at a nearby IMAX theater and just happened to be standing outside when “Snitch” was letting viewers out. One officer reportedly remembered Lendsey’s bright attire when he first entered theater No. 13, where “Snitch” was playing, and then noticed that the man was nowhere in sight.  The second officer thought he had seen the Harbins previously “sneak in to movies without paying.”

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The officer reportedly decided to search for the Gary, Ind., duo and found them in another theater waiting for the film “Warm Bodies” to begin.  When the law enforcers asked the couple to produce their stubs for the second movie, they could not but admitted to police that they had previously snuck in to movies at the multiplex at least three or four times prior.

When further pressed, they also confessed they had been to a funeral earlier in the day and were not in their right minds.

The Harbins’ excuses apparently fell on deaf ears and they were taken in to custody and placed in a county jail.  The pair were later released on their own recognizance.

Sound off!

The Voting Rights Act of 1965 remains a landmark centerpiece of civil rights legislation, effectively outlawing voting discrimination and supporting the United States Constitution’s 15th Amendment. One of the Act’s aims is to give power to federal authorities in ensuring certain states with a history of voter discrimination obey the “preclearance” policy covered under Section 5 of the Act, which means that states (known as “covered jurisdictions”) cannot make changes to the voting laws unless approved by the Department Of Justice. Today (Feb. 27), the Supreme Court will hear arguments regarding the Shelby County v. Holder case, which focuses heavily on Section 5′s constitutional merit.

SEE ALSO: A Vivid Glimpse Into Slavery In Brazil

The significance of Shelby County v. Holder is staggering: If you’re a voter in Virginia, South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Alaska, Mississippi, and Louisiana, Section 5 mandates that these covered jurisdictions must have voting law changes cleared by Attorney General Eric Holder‘s office and the United States District Court in the District of Columbia.

Without the protections of Section 5, these states can make changes to the laws and risk disenfranchising voters by implementing unnecessary changes that serve as nothing more than barriers.

If Section 5 is voted out of the Act, voting rights in these areas could essentially be snatched away. Voters of color will most certainly feel the deepest impact, a fact that many on both sides of the aisle have taken notice of.

SEE ALSO: Will A Black Justice Set Back The Vote?

The Act has been renewed and amended four times by Congress; the last 25-year extension was signed in to law by then-President George W. Bush in 2006. Those in opposition of the law, in particular Section 5, claim that Congress made an error in allowing an extension on that portion of the Act.

Lawmakers from preclearance states, led by Republican Georgia congressman Lynn Westmoreland, claimed that the Act unfairly targeted them and stated they’ve made changes to protect the voting rights of its citizens.

Shelby County v. Holder isn’t the first time the covered jurisdiction of Alabama’s Shelby County has sought to file suit against the Department of Justice. The county claims that enforcement of preclearance is unconstitutional and that federal authorities have yet to produce facts that give solid reasons for the states to follow preclearance procedures.

Section 5 opponents essentially believe that race discrimination in voting is no longer a threat to the electoral process, although the last general election proved time and again that flaws in the system were abundant.

Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act prohibits voting discrimination based on race and possible language barriers. After an amendment in 1982 to the Section, lawsuits can be brought against state and local jurisdictions that have allegedly violated the agreements set forth in Section 2. Coupled with Section 5, it would appear that the Voting Rights Act offers all the legal protection a voter of color would need but that hasn’t been entirely true considering the stakes ahead.

Curiously, many of Section 5’s opponents are those from the Right and the bulk of the covered jurisdictions requiring preclearance are in the South – at one time the largest opponents to the Voting Rights Act.

In essence, these states claim that they are tired of being monitored closely when it comes to elections. They assert that the section is unconstitutional and in fact undermines the efforts of civil rights activists as jurisdictions have to maintain racially segregated and gerrymandered voting districts.

Although much of the Act’s sections may seem nothing more than esoteric legalese, the Shelby County v. Holder puts Section 5’s constitutionality under the glaring lights of examination.

Will the court uphold the law and keep these states under preclearance rule or will states have free reign to change voting laws as they please?

These are key questions as a deeply divided Congress continues to widen the partisan chasm in the second term of President Barack Obama. For the election cycles of 2014 and 2016, Wednesday’s argument is a perfect example of the complicated arena of voting rights.

SEE ALSO: A Vivid Glimpse Into Slavery In Brazil

WASHINGTON (AP) — Restaurateur B. Smith (pictured) will be the guest chef Wednesday in a White House restaurant run by the Navy.

Word got out during an interview that Michelle Obama taped ahead of time and was broadcast Tuesday on Smith’s program on SiriusXM radio.

Smith said her menu will be soulful and healthy. Mrs. Obama described White House staff as anxious to get their lips on Smith’s food.

Smith’s restaurant at Washington’s Union Station serves Cajun, Creole, and Southern food. She also has two restaurants in New York.

The White House mess was established in 1951. Cabinet secretaries can make reservations to eat in, while West and East wing staff are served by a takeout window.

Smith’s stint is part of Black History Month observances by the White House.

SEE ALSO: Evolution of Mom Dancing: Michelle Obama Gets It In On ‘Late Night With Jimmy Fallon’ [VIDEO]