The white Chicago police officer who shot a black teen 16 times in a fatal encounter that was caught on video has been charged with first-degree murder, multiple sources report. According to Reuters, local newspapers, including the Chicago Tribune and Sun-Times, are both reporting that murder charges were filed Tuesday against Officer Jason Van Dyke,…

Attorneys representing 14-year-old Ahmed Mohamed, the boy who was arrested after bringing a homemade clock to his Dallas-area school, have sent letters to the school district and the city in which it’s located, indicating that Ahmed was publicly mistreated and demanding $15 million in damages, the Associated Press reports.  A law firm representing the boy,…

Donald Trump has gone on a hiring spree, tapping several individuals as he expands his campaign.  Most notably he has been hiring quite a few black Republicans, including Tea Partier Katrina Pierson, who now serves as national spokesperson. On Thursday he announced that Earl Phillip had joined his team as his North Carolina state director,…

A California businesswoman gave a harrowing first-person account of her encounter with the Santa Monica, Calif., Police Department in the Washington Post, detailing how 19 officers arrived at her apartment after a white neighbor reported a possible burglary.  Fay Wells, the vice president of strategy at a California company, told of how she accidentally locked…

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has brought on Katrina Pierson, a black Tea Party activist, as his new national spokeswoman, Politico reports.  Pierson, who used to stand firmly by the side of Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), represents, the news site explains, Trump’s hope to keep his hold on the party lead and keep it away…

The death of Ralkina Jones, the 37-year-old woman who was found dead in her Cleveland Heights Police Department jail cell back in July after being arrested two days before, has been ruled accidental by the Cuyahoga County Medical Examiner’s Office.  The official report lists Jones’ cause of death as sudden cardiac death in association with…

The White House is announcing a series of initiatives on Friday, all of which are designed to empower and provide better opportunities for women and girls of color. The initiatives include pledges of millions of dollars over extended periods of time to support program goals. One such initiative consists of a $100 million, five-year-funding commitment…

A sign for the University of Missouri’s Gaines-Oldham Black Culture Center was vandalized early Thursday morning, apparently the latest tinder cast to the flames as the school continues to grapple with racial threats since the ousting of President Tim Wolfe, the Los Angeles Times reports.  The sign in front of the center was reportedly spray-painted…

University of Missouri campus police have arrested a 19-year-old suspect on charges of making a “terrorist threat” to black students on campus via social media, the university announced on Wednesday, USA Today reports. The white suspect, identified as Hunter Park, was arrested at the Missouri University of Science and Technology in Rolla, where he is a student.…

A Louisiana judge has ordered two officers charged in the shooting death of a 6-year-old boy to be held on $1 million bond, a lawyer for the boy’s father told the Associated Press.  Mark Jeansonne, the attorney for Chris Few—who is still hospitalized after being shot in the head—said that police body-camera video shows that…