news
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Calif. Man Says He Felt ‘Good’ After Brutally Killing Mother: Report
A California man was arraigned earlier this week on charges of murder and desecration of human remains after allegedly detailing to investigators how he killed his mother and how “good” he felt after the brutal slaying, the San Francisco Chronicle reports. Omar Mark Pettigen of Fremont was arraigned Tuesday at the Fremont Hall of Justice.…
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Walter Scott’s Family Reaches $6,500,000 Settlement With City in Cop Shooting
City officials in North Charleston, S.C., have agreed to a $6.5 million settlement with the family of Walter Scott, the unarmed African-American man who was shot in the back by a white police officer who is now facing murder charges. According to USA Today, the City Council approved the amount Thursday after months of negotiations…
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Parchman Ordeal: Natchez, Miss., Apologizes for Shipping Hundreds of Innocent Black People to State Penitentiary
Fifty years ago, police in Natchez, Miss., rounded up hundreds of innocent, civil rights protesters and shipped them off to the Mississippi State Penitentiary at Parchman. Last week, the city’s mayor and Board of Aldermen publicly apologized for the grave injustice, the Natchez Democrat reports. In anticipation of the national spotlight that will illuminate the…
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NY School Employee Reportedly Tells Group of Black Students Sitting Together That They Look Like a ‘Gang in the Hood’
A Catskill, N.Y., mom is furious after her crying fifth-grader detailed how a support-staff employee at Catskill Elementary School told the child and her black friends that they shouldn’t be sitting together because they looked like a black “gang in the hood,” the Catskill Daily Mail reports. The employee who allegedly made the remarks has…
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‘Kanye Western’ Frat Party at UCLA Causes Protests Because, of Course, Blackface
It’s never too early in October (or in the year, period), for a solid dose of blackface, apparently. According to the Los Angeles Times, a “Kanye Western”-themed frat party at UCLA is prompting student protests after some partygoers showed up wearing blackface—because of course they would. Cute theme name, not-so-cute theme attire. The party, hosted…
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Ben Carson Claims He Was Once Held at Gunpoint at Popeyes Restaurant
Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson has come under harsh criticism after he suggested that he would fight a gunman and “not just stand there and let him shoot me,” a seemingly dismissive response to the recent mass shooting at Umpqua Community College in Roseburg, Ore. Now Carson is backing up his supposed bravado, recounting, on Wednesday…
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Watch: Minn. Cop Appears to Shove, Hit Somali Teen in Park
A Somali teen said that he was standing in a Richfield, Minn., park Saturday night when an officer approached him and began yelling at him to leave. The young man says that when the teen told the officer that the park was public property, things took a turn that included the officer pushing him and…
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Fla. Teen Suffers 2nd-Degree Burns After ‘Fire Challenge’
A 15-year-old Pine Hills, Fla., boy is suffering from second-degree burns after he and a friend were reportedly playing the “fire challenge,” in which participants douse themselves in flammable liquid and then light themselves on fire. According to the Orlando Sentinel, Robert Seals went to a friend’s house near his home Monday. Police say that…
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Minn. Man Charged With Felonies After Yelling Racial Slurs at 13-Year-Old Girl While Wielding Knife
A Minnesota man has been charged with two felonies after allegedly pulling a knife on a 13-year-old girl who reportedly made fun of his white supremacist tattoos, the Post Bulletin reports. Jamie Lee Chris Schammel, 35, of Austin was charged with second-degree assault with a dangerous weapon and making terrorist threats, but he has since…
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Watch: Ala. Commissioner Arrested, Charged With Assault After Striking Reporter
Amos Newsome, commissioner of Dothan, Ala.’s District 2, was arrested Tuesday after being caught on camera hitting a local television reporter twice, causing injury, the Dothan Eagle reports. Newsome, 82, was taken into custody and charged with third-degree assault, a Class A misdemeanor. The commissioner reportedly hit WTVY reporter Ken Curtis Tuesday after the reporter…