news
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Congresswoman Convicted of Scamming Low-Income Students Pulled Up to Prison in a Limo Bus
You might think a politician who’s been indicted on federal corruption charges and convicted of fraud would want to keep a low profile, but you would not be thinking like former Rep. Corrine Brown. Brown, who used to represent Florida’s 5th Congressional District, was sentenced last month to five years in federal prison after being…
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South Carolina Police Decline to Pursue Charges Against Man Who Fatally Shot Unarmed 15-Year-Old Over a Stolen Car
The North Charleston, S.C., Police Department has declined to pursue criminal charges against a man who went after and then fatally shot an unarmed 15-year-old boy in a car theft. Derrick Grant was killed Jan. 17 by 24-year-old Quadarrel Lamont Morton, who claimed that the teen repeatedly reached into the stolen car, the Post and…
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Report Finds Some HBCUs Graduating Less Than 1 Out of 5 Freshmen Within 6 Years
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, after analyzing federal data tracking graduation and retention rates for HBCUs, came across an alarming finding. At 20 HBCUs, six-year graduation rates were at 20 percent or lower in 2015. To frame it another way, only 1 in 5 enrolled freshmen ended up graduating within six years. For perspective, the 2015 national…
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Baltimore Cops Kept Toy Guns to Plant Just in Case They Shot an Unarmed Person
In April 2016, a 13-year-old boy was shot by officers of the Baltimore Police Department. The boy ran when faced with the police, so they gave chase. During the chase, the police spotted the boy holding a gun, and when he turned, they shot the teenager. The youngster wasn’t critically injured, and it seemed like…
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Illinois Man, Mistaken for Robbery Suspect, Wrongfully Detained in Incident That Left Him Injured, Unable to Work: Report
An Evanston, Ill., man is filing a police-misconduct complaint after he says he was injured while being detained by police officers who were looking for a robbery suspect last week. According to the Chicago Tribune, 60-year-old Gregory Hall was walking down Main Street the afternoon of Jan. 22 after spending some time in the south…
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Joe McKnight’s Killer Faces Up to 40 Years in Prison After Manslaughter Conviction
The answer to the question of whether or not a jury with only one black person on it would be able to mete out justice in the killing of former NFL running back Joe McKnight is “sorta.” After seven-and-a-half hours of deliberation Friday, a jury in Louisiana found Ronald Gasser, 56, guilty of manslaughter in…
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Blake Griffin Just Got Traded to the Detroit Pistons for a Scratch-Off, an Expired EBT Card and a Pack of Newports
Imagine you are Blake Griffin. You are the franchise player of the Los Angeles Clippers—the one who actually got people in L.A. interested in the Clippers again, to be exact. You are an All-Star. You are a pivotal member of the team. You are the star of Kia ads, and you are known for your…
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The Cleveland Indians Are Getting Rid of Racist Logo but Sticking to Racist Name
It is not lost on this writer that the name of the stadium where the Cleveland Indians play is “Progressive.” Why? Because the name of the team that plays there and its mascot are anything but. In fact, the fire-engine-red, big-nosed caricature is … what’s the word that white folks hate again? … oh yeah,…