At least 15 people, including two teens, were shot in Chicago as the Fourth of July holiday weekend began, according to NBC Chicago.  The first fatality among the shootings took place shortly after 4 p.m. Thursday in the East Garfield Park neighborhood on the city’s West Side in what police suspect was a drug deal…

In 1964 the Congress of Racial Equality and the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee launched the Freedom Summer campaign in an effort to increase African-American voter registration in Mississippi against fierce racist opposition. The campaign gave rise to scores of leaders who played pivotal roles in the civil rights movement. Many of them, including longtime Rep.…

A former U.S. Army soldier, found guilty in the 2005 beating death of his 5-year-old daughter, was sentenced to life in prison Friday “by a Honolulu jury in Hawaii’s first such capital case since it became a state in 1959,” the Honolulu Star-Advertiser newspaper reported. The decision came after jurors told U.S. District Judge J. Michael…

Emmy Award-nominated actor Meschach Taylor, best known for his roles in Mannequin and Designing Women, died late Saturday at his Los Angeles-area home following a long bout with cancer, TMZ reports. The 67-year-old was surrounded by family. Taylor portrayed Anthony Bouvier, an assistant at the Sugarbaker interior design firm in Atlanta on the popular late…

Arizona’s 3TV on Saturday released disturbing video footage of an encounter between a black female Arizona State professor and a white campus police officer last month, which turned brutal after she asked why she was being stopped. Ersula Ore, whose research interests include cultural studies, was trying to cross the street to avoid construction when…

Handsome felon Jeremy Meeks’ plans to turn his viral mugshot into an enterprising endeavor may have hit a snag after his manager allegedly received death threats, TMZ reports. For reasons that have not yet been made clear, the manager reportedly has received about 30 harassing phone calls from so-called “gangster-sounding people,” TMZ reports. One caller…

A 38-year-old Texas woman has been arrested and charged in the death of a girl who fell from on top of the woman’s car, where she had been forced to ride because her wet bathing suit potentially could have ruined the vehicle’s upholstery, the Daily News reports. Kisha Young was charged with intoxication assault, which…

Wayne County Circuit Judge Dana Hathaway ruled Friday that a jury would not be allowed to see certain text messages in the trial of a Dearborn Heights, Mich., man charged with the fatal shooting of 19-year-old Renisha McBride, the Detroit Free Press reports. “They are just unfairly prejudicial,” Hathaway said of McBride’s texts, which attorneys…

A 12-year-old Detroit boy who was found alive in his family’s basement after being missing for more than a week reportedly told investigators he had been abused, Click on Detroit reported Friday. A medical examination of Charlie Bothuell also showed signs of physical abuse, the report says. The child’s stepmother, Monique Dillard-Bothuell, allegedly knew he…

Nearly a week after Dave Chappelle sang the praises of Kanye West, the multiplatinum rapper made an unscheduled appearance Friday at the comedian’s nine-night stand-up engagement at New York City’s Radio City Music Hall, the Huffington Post reports. West’s performance included “New Slaves,” “Gold Digger” and “Jesus Walks,” the site says. During an appearance on…