After many years of complaints about the racial insensitivity of having a man dressed as a Confederate soldier as the symbol of a university where 14 percent of students are black, Ole Miss is pulling the plug on ‘Colonel Reb’ this football season. The white-bearded, cane-toting mascot has not been the Rebels’ official team cheerleader…

The National Bureau of Economic Research has released findings that state the “Great Recession” is over. The study says that this latest recession lasted for 18 months, which is the longest recession the U.S. has had since World War II. The bureau reported that the recession began in 2007 and ended in 2009, which marked…

Gastric banding, which has not been approved for teenagers, is becoming the most popular weight loss surgery for teens in California. It surpassed gastric bypass, which is considered the gold standard for such surgery. A report in the journal Pediatrics states that most of the teens getting the surgery, in which a silicone band is…

A Texas high school quarterback collapsed and died after suffering a seizure. Reggie Garrett, a star senior quarterback for West Orange-Stock High School, had just thrown a pass for a touchdown. After celebrating on the sidelines, he collapsed and was dead on the scene. His parents were in the stands and rushed to his aid.…

Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) is on edge over the rise of the Tea Party. In a CNN Political Ticker interview, Snowe expressed her concern that if Tea Party candidates continue to win, then Republicans will have less of a chance to gain the majority in the House or the Senate. She also stated that Republicans…

On Meet the Press, former Secretary of State Colin Powell urged the Republican Party to support immigration. He stated that illegal immigrants do “essential work,” which he knows firsthand because of the work that immigrants perform on his house. Ouch. Powell, a moderate Republican, also says that illegal immigrants are “what’s keeping this country’s lifeblood…

A South Florida police chief has been suspended after sending racist e-mails from his office account. Wilton Manors police chief Richard Perez was suspended for 30 days without pay for sending what appear to be racist chain e-mails about blacks, the homeless and President Barack Obama and his family. For example, one email read, “A…

Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele says there’s no beef between the Republican Party and the Tea Party. Apparently they are fighting for the same issues. He says, in fact, that the Tea Party will help Republicans. Perhaps it is the way some Tea Party members are fighting for the same issues. Steele, at a stop…

The Senate passed long-delayed legislation designed to open up credit to small businesses and award them with incentives to expand and hire new workers. Democrats, joined by two Republicans, won a 61-38 vote to pass the legislation. The measure would establish a $30 billion government fund to help open up lending for credit-starved small businesses, cut…

The city of Montgomery, Ala., is declaring homes “blighted” and condemning them. The home of a woman named Karen Jones was declared blighted because of a ragged porch and bulldozed. Many of Jones’ things were still in the house, since she did not have time to move her belongings out. The city then promptly sent…