• Kerry Washington Pregnant With 1st Child

    Beloved Scandal actress Kerry Washington is pregnant with her first child, according to an exclusive issue of Us Weekly. “She’s about four months along,” Washington’s friend told Us, but she has apparently been concealing her baby bump with roomy dresses.  The Emmy-nominated actress, who is notoriously discreet about her private life, married San Francisco 49ers cornerback Nnamdi Asomugha…

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  • Jesse Jackson Jr. Begins Comfy Prison Stay

    Former Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. (D-Ill.) checked into one of the least harsh federal prisons Monday to begin his two-and-a-half-year sentence for campaign theft, according to NBC News.  Jackson will be staying at the Butner Federal Correctional Complex near Raleigh, N.C., serving time after stealing $750,000 in campaign funds to pay for expensive items such…

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  • W. Kamau Bell Is Now an ACLU Ambassador

    Comedians W. Kamau Bell and Lewis Black were named ambassadors for the American Civil Liberties Union on Tuesday, according to a press release. They’re representing the ACLU Ambassador Project, which was also launched on Tuesday. The release describes the project as a “new initiative that joins personalities from the worlds of film, television, music and comedy…

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  • Trayvon's Mom Aims to Fix 'Stand Your Ground'

    Sybrina Fulton, the mother of Trayvon Martin, the unarmed black Florida teenager killed in 2012 by George Zimmerman, is taking her fight in her son’s memory to a Senate panel on Tuesday, demanding that states clarify their “Stand your ground” laws in self-defense cases, according to the Associated Press.  The laws are known for excusing…

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  • Kanye Sells Confederate Flag Merchandise

    Hip-hop star Kanye West has opened a pop-up shop next door to his fiancee Kim Kardashian’s boutique, Dash, in Los Angeles. The “Yeesus tour” store sells T-shirts and bags featuring the Confederate flag, according to the Daily Mail. One shirt depicts a skeletal grim reaper wrapped in the Confederate flag and carrying a scythe. Another…

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  • Teacher Suspended for Racist Halloween Rant

    An Ohio music teacher has been suspended after taking to Facebook to complain about trick-or-treaters in a racially charged post.  Akron Firestone High School teacher David Spondike expressed his annoyance at “ghetto” children, alleging that they had urinated in front of his home. He used the n-word twice in the post, the Raw Story reports: I…

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  • The Maasai Name Isn't Free

    The Maasai people of Kenya and Tanzania are looking to take back their name and culture by seeking royalties for the unauthorized commercial use of their name, Bloomberg reports.  According to the news site, approximately 10,000 companies around the world are profiting by selling products using the tribe’s name, six of them earning an estimated…

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  • Women Atop Million-Dollar Companies

    (The Root) — Nakia Stith has been running Top of the Clock, a security company, mostly on her own since she was about 23.   Stith, who was tossed into the proverbial frying pan at such a young age, had little choice 12 years ago. Her father, who originally owned the company, was battling kidney disease…

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  • '12 Years a Slave': Horrors Hard to Sell?

    The brutal honesty of 12 Years a Slave could make it difficult for the critically acclaimed film to make it into the mainstream. The film’s distributor, Fox Searchlight, is aware that showing slavery in an authentic light may be difficult for some viewers to watch, the Los Angeles Times reports. An unflinching look at whippings,…

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