Texas Department of Public Safety Director Steve McCraw acknowledged on Tuesday that officers are responsible for escalations that may occur during a stop or arrest, the Texas Tribune reports.  According to the report, when asked if Sandra Bland was in any way to blame for the heated exchange that was caught on a dashboard camera,…

A Texas middle school student who was suffering an asthma attack and accepted an inhaler from a classmate faces one month in an alternative school, Fox 4 News reports.  Alexis Kyle, 13, who used her classmate’s inhaler, is facing the same penalty as Indiyah Rush, 12, who offered Alexis her inhaler Tuesday in gym class…

Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson has stated that the two officers involved in the fatal shooting of 12-year-old Tamir Rice will face a new administrative review, following a grand jury decision to decline to press charges against the officers, NBC News reports.  During a press conference Tuesday, Jackson insisted that regardless of what the grand jury…

Two years after an Oakland, Calif., teen was declared brain-dead following tonsil-surgery complications, the family is still fighting to void the death certificate that was issued, the New York Daily News reports. Jahi McMath was declared brain-dead in December 2013 after surgery to cure her sleep apnea. Hospital officials wanted to remove her from life…

Updated Wednesday, Dec. 30, 3 p.m. EST: Bill Cosby was arraigned Wednesday afternoon in an Elkins Park, Pa., courtroom, ABC News reports, to answer to charges of alleged aggravated indecent assault. According to the report, the bail for the fallen comedian was set at $1 million, and he also turned over his passport to the…

Chicago Police Officer Jason Van Dyke, who faces a first-degree-murder charge in the shooting death of 17-year-old Laquan McDonald, entered a not-guilty plea at his Tuesday-morning arraignment, the Chicago Tribune reports.  According to the report, it was the first time Van Dyke appeared before Cook County Judge Vincent Gaughan, who is hearing the case. His…

Updated Monday, Dec. 28, 2015, 8:24 p.m. EST: Samaria Rice, the mother of Tamir Rice, released the following statement shortly after the grand jury released its decision not to indict Officers Timothy Loehmann (who shot and killed Tamir) and Frank Garmback: My family and I are in pain and devastated by the non-indictment of officers…

To the mother of Amadou Diallo, it’s like pouring salt into a wound.  Officer Kenneth Boss, one of the four New York City police officers who shot her son to death back in 1999, recently got a promotion and a raise, nearly 17 years after the shooting that shook the Bronx. The 22-year-old Diallo, who…

A Mississippi mother is speaking out to ensure that other kids know they can speak up, after her 8-year-old was made to change out of her “Black Girls Rock!” shirt while at Popps Ferry Elementary School in Biloxi. According to WLOX, Sharika Jolly has long been hoping to instill some self-esteem in her daughter, Makiyah-Jae,…