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Congress Vows to Act to Avoid Shutdown
In an effort to avoid a repeat of last year’s partial government shutdown, lawmakers on both sides of the aisle are promising action as they return to Capitol Hill after summer break, the Associated Press reports. At the same time, they hope to define their parties for the fall campaign. Last fall, Republican House leaders…
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Sierra Leone Ebola ‘Lockdown’ Raises Concerns
A proposal by Sierra Leone officials to “lock down” its borders in an effort to contain the spread of Ebola may have the opposite effect as cases are concealed, health experts said Saturday, according to Reuters. The government plans to order citizens not to leave the areas around their homes for three days starting Sept.…
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Another Witness Says Michael Brown’s Hands Were Up
A witness, who spoke to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch on the condition of anonymity, says he was working on a building in the neighborhood when he saw Ferguson, Mo., police Officer Darren Wilson chasing Michael Brown and shooting him while the teen’s hands were up. So far the key witness to the shooting has been…
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Judge Signs $41,000,000 Central Park Five Settlement
A federal court judge has signed off on New York City’s $41 million wrongful-conviction settlement with the so-called Central Park Five, court records show, the New York Daily News reports. Magistrate Judge Ronald Ellis signed the deal Friday to give $7.125 million each to Antron McCray, Raymond Santana, Yusef Salaam and Kevin Richardson for their…
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Louisiana Cop Quits After Racist Texts Released
An officer with the Baton Rouge Police Department in Louisiana resigned under fire this week after a string of bigoted text messages he wrote about blacks were released to authorities, WBRZ-TV reports. “They are nothing but a bunch of monkeys,” one text read, according to the report. “The only reason they have this job is…
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Black Women Hit Hard by Unemployment
While unemployment rates have fallen for nearly every group of Americans after the most recent recession, there appears to be no reprieve for black women. An estimated 10.6 percent of black women age 20 or older are unemployed, a figure unchanged from a year ago, International Business Times reports, citing Friday’s jobs report from the…
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DC Could Not Have Prevented Disappearance of Relisha Rudd, City Report Says
Mayor Vincent Gray’s administration did its best to offer suitable services to missing 8-year-old Relisha Rudd and her family, according to a report (pdf) released this week by two deputy mayors of Washington, D.C. But lapses in communication among several key agencies, including schools and social services, may have led to mistakes in Relisha’s case, with…
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At least 6 Ferguson Cops Named in Civil Rights Suits
Besides Darren Wilson, the Ferguson, Mo., officer who killed unarmed Michael Brown earlier this month, six others on the same force have been named in civil rights lawsuits alleging the use of excessive force, the Washington Post reports. Killing a mentally ill man with a Taser, pistol-whipping a child, choking and hog-tying a child and…
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2nd NYPD Death Ruled Homicide
The death of a 45-year-old man who struggled with police while being taken into custody in July in New York City has been ruled a homicide by the medical examiner’s office, according to CNN. The man, Ronald Singleton, died in police custody on July 13, just four days before Eric Garner died after an officer…
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11 Shot in Chicago as Labor Day Weekend Kicks Off
As the long holiday weekend kicked off, at least one person was killed and 10 others were wounded in shootings across Chicago, according to NBC Chicago. In shootings scattered across the city, one man was killed late Friday in the Back of the Yards neighborhood. And just after 5 a.m. Saturday, a 28-year-old man was…
Black News and Black Views with a Whole Lotta Attitude
