Jerry Hartfield’s conviction for robbing and murdering a bus-station worker in 1976 was overturned in 1980—and yet the now 56-year-old man has remained in prison ever since, with the hope of a new trial seeming like an increasingly long shot. According to the Daily News, a judge recently decided that Hartfield’s constitutional right to an immediate…

A science teacher in Fairfield, Ohio, was officially fired Thursday after facing accusations that he told a black student the nation did not need another black commander in chief, the Cincinnati Enquirer reports. According to the news site, Gil Voigt, who had been on unpaid leave since December, was fired after his termination was recommended…

Multitalented entertainer and current co-host of The View Whoopi Goldberg debuted her first column for the online publication The Cannabist on Thursday, writing about her first experiences with a vape pen, which allows her to inhale concentrated marijuana “vapor.” Goldberg, who has glaucoma and gets excruciating headaches because of it, affectionally calls her own pen Sippy—it was a…

Scandal actor Columbus Short briefly spoke about his wife’s startling allegations of domestic abuse in an exclusive interview with News One Now. When directly asked by Roland Martin about the charges, Short started laughing. “We have some amazing scriptwriters. Life has the best scriptwriters of all time. That’s all I can say about that,” he…

Prosecutors have decided not to press charges against wrestling-team members of New Jersey’s Phillipsburg High School who posed in a picture with a black dummy in a noose, CBS New York reports. “Based upon the evidence obtained and the concurrence of the Attorney General’s Office after reviewing the investigative file, no criminal charges will be…

Two seniors at a private Catholic high school in South Huntington, N.Y., were indefinitely suspended for wearing a Confederate flag draped around their shoulders, CBS New York reports. The students, who brought the flag to an after-hours sports event at the Long Island school, have prompted outrage, according to the report. “The African-American students who…

A new study by researchers at the University of Minnesota have uncovered a disquieting racial gap when it comes to exposure to air pollution, the MinnPost reports. Examining air-pollution exposure across racial, economic, educational and other relevant categories, researchers realized that race and income had the greatest impact on exposure, with people of color being…

Actor Columbus Short has been served divorce papers after allegedly threatening to kill his wife, Tuere Short, and then himself, TMZ reports. According to a restraining order that the entertainment news site got ahold of, on April 7 the actor went into Tuere’s room intoxicated, with a wine bottle in hand, acting as if he…

Darren Sharper could find out on Thursday if an Arizona judge will grant him bail, just a day after authorities gave testimony saying they found semen matching the former NFL star’s DNA, USA Today reports. According to the report, the sample was found on the leggings of one of his alleged Arizona victims, with testing…