University of Connecticut alumna Josephine Minnow has upped the ante in the battle to reinstate Autum Ashante, a 13-year-old prodigy, at the school. Minnow is floating an electronic petition to overturn the university’s decision to rescind its acceptance of Ashante as a freshman this coming September. The university revoked its acceptance, saying the homeschooled student …

Now that the myth that President Barack Obama was not born in the United States has been debunked, we can go on to dispel some other prominent urban legends. The Atlanta Post points to eight political myths that continue to dog the African-American community. The first and most preposterous of these fallacies was in the…

Stevie Wonder just might have some competition on his hands. We’re sure you know of his “Happy Birthday” paean to slain civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Well, on Monday, an estimated 12 million South African pupils will sing a birthday song to Nelson Mandela. The nationwide sing-along to Madiba on his 93rd…

Fresh from the “SMDH” files, a new study says that African-American men survive longer in prison than on the outside. What? Researchers found that African-American men are half as likely to die if they are in prison because they are isolated from alcoholism and drug-related deaths, as well as lethal accidents and certain chronic diseases,…

Debunking widespread beliefs that access to fresh fruit and vegetables will help fight obesity in low-income neighborhoods, a new study shows that poverty and proximity to restaurants are more likely driving food choices, according to results of a recent study cited by the Los Angeles Times. The study, published in the Archives of Internal Medicine, says…

Rep. Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.) took to the House floor and issued a stern warning to his fellow lawmakers on Thursday, saying that spending cuts will disproportionately hurt African Americans working in the public sector, according to the Hill. The comments reportedly came amid increasingly rancorous debt-ceiling talks. Rangel cited jobs as teachers and police officers,…

The Washington Post is reporting that a judge issued an arrest warrant for Marion Christopher Barry, the son of Washington, D.C., Councilmember Marion Barry, after he failed to show up at a hearing on PCP-possession charges. But the warrant was rescinded almost as quickly as it was issued when the judge learned that the 31-year-old…

Does Chicago have another Michael Pfleger in the house? Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s top cop, Garry McCarthy, has been in office for only a minute, but he’s already sounding like the tough-talking white pastor of St. Sabina Church on the city’s predominately African-American South Side who made headlines back in 2008 by defending President Obama’s former…

The Washington Post is reporting that a 5-year-old boy accidentally shot his 4-year-old neighbor at a playground in Prince George’s County, Md. The incident happened just before 4 p.m. on Thursday, the Post reports, when officers were called to a low-rise apartment complex in the 4400 block of 23rd Parkway for a shooting, said Cpl.…

Fresh from the “What took you so long’?” pages of our history books, Friday marks the first day of the end of death row in Illinois. Gov. Pat Quinn signed the ban into law in March, bringing an end to an era that thrust the state into the center of a widening vocal debate a…