Comedian Bill Maher has pledged to donate $1 million to a super PAC supporting President Obama’s re-election bid, according to the Washington Post. The donation is especially welcomed by the super PAC Priorities USA Action, which has struggled to match the fundraising of conservative rivals. It had managed to bring in only $58,000, while conservative…

The first black president of South Africa, Nelson Mandela, has been hospitalized for tests relating to an existing abdominal condition, according to the New York Times. South Africa’s current president, Jacob Zuma, made the announcement. “Madiba has had a long-standing abdominal complaint, and doctors feel it needs proper specialist medical attention,” the statement said, using…

A Connecticut woman has pleaded guilty for fraudulently enrolling her son in the wrong school district, according to the Huffington Post. The case, which ignited a media firestorm last year, ended Wednesday in a plea by Tanya McDowell. While she didn’t necessarily admit her guilt, she did agree that the state has enough evidence to…

Former U.S. Rep. Katie Hall and the first black member of the Indiana House has died at the age of 73, according to the New York Times. Hall, who was one of the key sponsors of the legislation that helped establish a national holiday for Martin Luther King Jr.  in 1983, died on Monday in…

Chris Brown is under investigation after a fan alleged that he stole her cellphone during a confrontation in Florida last week, according to the Daily News. The fan, Christal Spann, 24, says that she and her friends saw Brown getting into a black Bentley, and she took a photo. She claims that Brown saw her…

A Mississippi police chief and four members of his staff have been fired after allegedly forcing a mentally disabled 18-year-old black man to eat cinnamon as part of a prank, according to ABC News. In the cruel prank, which was videotaped and subsequently removed from YouTube, town clerk Angelia Chandler allegedly poured cinnamon powder into…

A white man who said that police harassed him when he was out with his 5-year-old black “granddaughter” lied about the incident, according to the Daily News. Austin, Texas, police have released a surveillance video of the incident on Feb. 10, in which Scott Henson claims that he was cuffed and roughed up by police.…

When video surfaced of former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum’s comments about Satan in 2008, the question of Americans’ belief in an evil supernatural power became a topic of discussion in the media. In a speech at Catholic University in 2008, the GOP presidential contender said, “Satan has been attacking the great institutions of America, using…

A new study from the University of Pennsylvania looks at the factors that help young black men succeed in an education system that has historically failed them. In a report based on the National Black Male College Achievement Study — the largest-ever qualitative research study of black undergraduate men — study author Shaun Harper, an…

Comcast Cable will launch four minority-owned networks over the next two years; two of them will be spearheaded by Magic Johnson and Sean “P. Diddy” Combs, according to the Christian Science Monitor. The four networks, which will be split into two black-owned networks and Hispanic-owned networks, will be headlined by Johnson’s Aspire and Combs’ Revolt.…