Once a year, some of the nation’s best black journalists, those aspiring to be journalists and all those in between converge on a city to discuss the politics, coverage (and lack thereof) of African Americans in the news. This year, Boston plays host to the 39th annual National Association of Black Journalists Convention & Career…

On Friday a 16-year-old Nigerian weightlifter became the youngest female to win a Commonwealth Games gold medal in the 117-pound division. On Tuesday officials suspended Chika Amalaha for testing positive for banned substances, the Associated Press reports. According to AP, Chika “tested positive for diuretics and masking agents” after officials tested her “A” sample and found…

It only took a weekend for cooler heads to prevail and for Stephen A. Smith to back away from Twitter. On Monday the normally brash and cocky Smith issued a heartfelt two-minute apology for his controversial statements regarding domestic violence and Ray Rice on ESPN2’s First Take. During the discussion on last Friday’s show about…

Spider-Man is in prison, and while he has superhuman powers, he doesn’t have $3,500 to post bail. According to the New York Daily News, Junior Bishop, 25, who dresses up as the web-slinging superhero and panhandles photos with tourists in New York City’s Times Square, reportedly punched a cop, breaking his glasses. Bishop was charged…

A Canadian fertility clinic doesn’t want to create “rainbow families,” so it refuses to match clients with donors of different ethnicities, claiming that children should be able to easily identify their “ethnic roots.” A 38-year-old white woman named Catherine (she didn’t want to give her last name) told the Calgary Herald that she was looking…

Marion Barry told me in a recent interview that when you realize you’re in a hole, stop digging. Stephen A. Smith could have used that advice Friday morning when he hopped out there on ESPN’s First Take and did his Stephen A. Smith thing (which includes loud talking and a nod to his homeboys) to…

Jacksonville, Fla., police arrested a 23-year-old woman who left five children in the car on a 92-degree day while she ran into a business to get a job application. According to News 4 Jax, Betty Brunson was charged with five counts of child neglect. Police told the news station that her relationship to the children…

Audra McDonald is the most decorated actress in Broadway history. In June she won her sixth Tony Award for her performance as Billie Holiday in Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar & Grill. But life for McDonald wasn’t always this rosy. “When I was [in college] at Juilliard, I had a suicide attempt,” she said in…

The Boondocks creator Aaron McGruder’s new show, Black Jesus, hasn’t even aired its first episode, and if Christian-rights groups have their way, it never will. McGruder’s comedy show for the Adult Swim network finds Black Jesus, played by actor Gerald “Slink” Johnson, living in Compton, Calif., where he tells his followers, “You get money f—king with…

An internal investigation is being launched within the New York City Police Department after a second video reportedly surfaced of another officer using an alleged choke hold on a man during an arrest. Choke holds are banned by the NYPD as a tactic for restraining a suspect. According to the Associated Press, on July 14,…