A Florida jury is hearing testimony in the trial of the last three former Florida A&M University band members charged in the hazing death of Robert Champion. The defendants—Benjamin McNamee, 24; Aaron Golson, 22; and Darryl Cearnel, 28—are being tried together, the Orlando Sentinel reports. Fifteen former members of the famed FAMU marching band were…

Recent videos of deadly police encounters with unarmed black men give credibility to what communities of color have complained about for years. The shocking reality on those videos is driving a nationwide movement. So it’s no wonder that many are alarmed by this video that surfaced Sunday on YouTube. It appears to show a law-enforcement…

More Americans are giving President Barack Obama a thumbs-up. In fact, the president’s approval rating climbed to 46.4 percent in the first three months of 2015—a 3-percentage-point increase from the previous quarter, USA Today reports. It was his best quarter since mid-2013, according to the Gallup poll. A separate CNN/ORC survey (pdf) found a similar…

Former Tulsa, Okla., Reserve Deputy Robert C. Bates was not certified to use the .357 Magnum revolver involved in the shooting death of Eric Harris, an unarmed black man. Furthermore, that personal weapon was not on the Tulsa County Sheriff’s Office list of approved weapons, the lawyer for Harris’ family said, according to the Associated…

Prosecutors argue in a court filing that a “bloodlust” compelled Aeman Presley to commit a series of murders in the Atlanta area, the Associated Press reports. Presley, 34, appeared in a DeKalb County courtroom Monday. He’s accused of killing three homeless men and a female hairdresser. Prosecutors in DeKalb and Fulton counties want the death…

Police in Charlotte, N.C., arrested four men for a shooting incident that injured one person at Johnson C. Smith University, the Charlotte Observer reports. The four suspects—Everett Phifer, Elijah Craig, Juan Leon and Shalique Edmond—reportedly shot an unidentified male student while he was sitting in a car on the campus of the historically black liberal…

A video viewed by millions shows a white policeman fatally shooting a fleeing, unarmed black man. But it’s not a slam dunk, warns a black lawyers group. There are legal scenarios in which full justice could elude the victim, Walter Scott, and his family. That’s why Black Lawyers for Justice, the group that brought a…

A group of advocates have launched a hunger strike to pressure the Senate to bring Loretta Lynch’s bid to become the next attorney general to a vote, Politico reports. Lynch’s supporters are angry that Republican leaders in the Senate continue to delay her confirmation, which would make Lynch the first female African-American U.S. attorney general.  The…

Jeffrey Walker, a 24-year veteran of the Philadelphia Police Department, has admitted to committing “thousands” of crimes. The disgraced former narcotics investigator also has testified against six members of his undercover unit in a federal corruption trial, the Associated Press reports.   The FBI caught Walker in a sting operation. He began cooperating with federal…

Davontae Sanford’s new legal team filed an affidavit in court from an imprisoned hit man who says that he—not Sanford—killed four people in a Detroit drug house, the Associated Press reports. The sworn statement is part of a motion for a new trial. Vincent “Vito” Smothers underscored in the affidavit that he has “nothing to…