Ending months of speculation, former Secretrary of State Hillary Clinton on Sunday officially launched her campaign to seek the 2016 Democratic presidential nomination. She broke the news via Twitter and a video announcement. I'm running for president. Everyday Americans need a champion, and I want to be that champion. –H https://t.co/w8Hoe1pbtC — Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton)…

A 41-year-old Philadelphia woman is accused of abandoning her disabled son for five days in a park with only a blanket and a Bible, according to the New York Daily News. Police on Saturday said that they’ve issued a warrant for the arrest of the victim’s mother, Nyia Parler, 41, according to the News. She…

Nelly, the rapper and reality-TV star, was arrested Saturday on felony drug charges after Tennessee Highway Patrol officers allegedly recovered drugs from his tour bus in Nashville, according to USA Today. Nelly, 40, was released from Putnam County Jail on a $10,000 bond, writes the news outlet. The rapper, whose real name is Cornell Haynes,…

Mourners gathered Saturday at funeral in South Carolina to say goodbye to Walter Scott, a black 50-year-old father of four, who was senselessly gunned down by a white officer during a traffic stop last week. Hundreds assembled on a rainy afternoon at W.O.R.D. Ministries Christian Center in Summerville, S.C., to “celebrate his life and death…

Taraji P. Henson, who became the 10th black woman to host Saturday Night Live, brought fire to the set with her portrayal of Empire’s Cookie Lyon. In the best sketch of the night, Cookie, dressed to the nines and sporting her trademark purple fur stole, hit up Sesame Street, talking trash and stealing, well, cookies.…

Chicago officials are prepared to approve a $5 million settlement with the family of a black teenager who died when he was shot 16 times by a police officer on the Southwest Side, reports the Chicago Tribune. The settlement with Tina Hunter, the mother of Laquan McDonald, is to be discussed at Monday’s monthly finance-committee…

A lawyer for a 15-year-old youth who was shot and injured by a Los Angeles police officer this year has filed a $20 million claim against the city on behalf of his client, according to the Los Angeles Times. John W. Harris, the lawyer for Jamar Nicholson and another teenager, told reporters Wednesday that the…

Prosecutors in Broward County, Fla., have dropped more than three dozen criminal cases connected to four former police officers embroiled in a racism scandal, according to CBS Miami. The move comes after three Fort Lauderdale police officers—Jason Holding, 31; James Wells, 30; and Christopher Sousa, 25—were fired last month after a five-month investigation into a…

A friend and artistic partner of Solange Knowles’ was in critical condition Friday after she was stabbed 10 times during an altercation outside her home in New Orleans, according to the website NOLA. Arronesia Christophe, 26, was arrested and charged with attempted second-degree murder after, police say, she stabbed Mussa, 24, during the incident about…

University of Kentucky guard Andrew Harrison apologized Sunday for directing an obscenity and a racial slur at the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Frank Kaminsky during a Final Four postgame news conference, according to the Associated Press. Harrison, who is African American, muttered ”F—k that n—ger” into a live microphone when another player was asked a question…