news
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Ky. Teen Dies in Police Custody; Family Left With Few Answers
The family of 16-year-old Gynnya McMillen is left with many questions and few answers after the teen was found unresponsive at a Kentucky juvenile-detention center. According to CBS News, McMillen was found the morning of Jan. 11 at the Lincoln Valley Regional Juvenile Detention Center in Elizabethtown, Ky. But state and local officials have been…
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Mother Thanks Ind. Target Cashier for Kindness; Facebook Post Goes Viral
Ishmael Gilbert had only been working at the Glendale, Ind., Target for a few days when an elderly woman approached his checkout line to purchase her items. The 19-year-old rang up her items and then learned that she would be paying for them in coins. “She was all worked up because the line was getting…
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Two Students Frame Muslim Classmate in Bomb Hoax
Two high school seniors sent an email from a Muslim student’s account that announced a bomb threat, the Washington Post reports. More than 600 current and former students received the message. A The subject said “Bomb.” And the brief message stated: “Friday there will be a big boom.” It turned out to be a hoax.…
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Spike Lee Announces Oscar Boycott
Another black celebrity has decided to sit out the Oscars in February. Director Spike Lee joins actress Jada Pinkett Smith in protest against the lack of racial diversity among Oscar nominees. For the second consecutive year, the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Science nominated only whites for its major categories. The Twitter hashtag #OscarsSoWhite…
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Samuel Dubose’s Family Reaches Settlement of Wrongful Death Lawsuit
The family of Samuel Dubose, a black Ohio man killed by a University of Cincinnati police officer, agreed to settle their wrongful death lawsuit out of court for a package valued at $5.3 million, CBS News reports. Under the settlement announced Monday, the university will pay the family $4.85 million in monetary compensation. It will…
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Jesse Jackson: Flint, Mich., Is a Crime Scene
The Rev. Jesse Jackson told a church congregation in Flint, Mich., Sunday that the city’s water crisis “is a disaster, not just an emergency,” the Detroit Free Press reports. His comments came one day after President Barack Obama declared a federal emergency and authorized the release of federal resources to alleviate Flint’s lead-contaminated water crisis.…
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GoFundMe Terminates Woman’s Campaign to Recoup Money Spent on Powerball Tickets
Hope is getting slim for a Tennessee woman trying to recoup the money she spent on Powerball tickets. GoFundMe, the online crowdfunding site, shut down her lucrative fundraising campaign, the New York Daily News reports. Cinnamon Nicole claimed that she blew all her money on the lottery in hopes of winning last week’s $1.6 billion…
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Clinton Backs Obamacare and Appeals to Black Voters in Final Debate Before Primaries
Hillary Clinton defended President Barack Obama’s political legacy and appealed to African-American voters during last night’s debate in Charleston, S.C., sponsored in part by the Congressional Black Caucus Institute. She called out systemic racism when asked whether black lives are seen as “cheap.” “It’s been heartbreaking and increasingly outraging to see stories of young…
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Jada Pinkett Smith on Oscars: Stop Chasing Others’ Recognition
Updated Monday, Jan. 18, 2016: Jada Pinkett Smith posted a Facebook video on this Martin Luther King Jr. Day that shares her thoughts on how to address the Academy Awards’ snub of people of color. Smith says that black people need to recognize the power and influence they have. Out of self-respect, African Americans do…
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Mom of Denver Broncos Wide Receiver Who Was Pardoned by Obama Will Attend Her 1st NFL Game
Update: 1/17/16 at 12:37pm. ESPN’s NFL Countdown reports that Demaryius Thomas’ mother will be in the stands in Denver today to see her son play for the first time in his professional football career. After her release from a halfway house in Atlanta, Katina Smith was allowed to travel to see the Broncos take on…