The Associated Press is reporting that Los Angeles prosecutors have declined to file a felony drug charge against rapper Clifford “T.I.” Harris stemming from his arrest last month on the Sunset Strip. Deputies found four ecstasy pills on the 30-year-old rapper from Atlanta. T.I. was on supervised release after serving 10 months in prison for…

Bene Viera of Clutch Magazine takes on Garfield Hylton’s post on FreshXpress about natural hair and whether it is, in fact, the new “light skinned.” Viera questions Hylton’s ability to tackle the subject because he is a man. Since many hairstylists are men, and many men wear natural hairstyles, why not? She takes him to…

Tucson news station KVOA reported that Arizona Rep. Raul Grijalva received a slip of papers with swastikas drawn on them and suspicious white powder at his Tucson office. Grijalva later told KVOA that the powder was toxic. The state lawmaker’s office was shut down after the envelope was discovered. News of the mysterious package comes…

Slovenia has elected its first black mayor. Dr. Peter Bossman, a Ghana-born physician known as the “Obama of Piran,” has made history. Bossman settled in this tiny Alpine nation in the 1970s to study medicine in what was then known as Yugoslavia. Bossman, 54, is a member of Slovenia’s governing Social Democrats. He won a…

On Election Day 2008, Maruse Heath, the leader of Philadelphia’s New Black Panther Party, stood in front of a neighborhood polling place, dressed in a paramilitary uniform. Within hours, an amateur video showing Heath, slapping a black nightstick and exchanging words with the videographer, had aired on TV and ricocheted across the nation. Among those…

California’s marijuana-legalization ballot initiative, Proposition 19, is trailing badly, according to a new Los Angeles Times/USC poll, which found likely voters opposing the measure 51 percent to 39 percent. Top candidates for statewide office have opposed the measure. As the Times/USC poll was being conducted last week, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder announced that the…

The United States has withdrawn its bid to host the 2018 World Cup soccer tournament. The USA Bid Committee will concentrate on trying to land the 2022 tournament. With the U.S. withdrawing, four European candidates now remain in the race for 2018: Belgium/Netherlands, England, Russia and Spain/Portugal. FIFA, the tournament’s governing body, has indicated that…

The drama surrounding the representation of black women in virtual vignettes that have gone viral on the Web may give way to brothers. Under the title “Dating the Modern Mid-Twenties Black Man,” which was “inspired by the movies attacking black women in relationships,” a young lady has taken aim at black men. We wonder if…

It looks as if Wyclef Jean has started something. Hip-hop artist Che “RhymeFest” Smith wants to join the Chicago City Council. The 33-year-old rapper, best known for co-writing the Grammy-winning song “Jesus Walks” with his friend Kanye West, announced Thursday that he is running for alderman on the city’s South Side. Smith says he hopes…

According to MSNBC, at least 142 people have died in a cholera outbreak in Haiti. Aid groups are rushing in medicine and other supplies Friday to combat Haiti’s deadliest health problem since its devastating earthquake. Haitian President René Préval confirmed the outbreak of cholera in the quake-hit country’s central region, saying his government was taking…