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In March 2012, Kit Darrant threw a party for more than 60 of his high school friends. The teens, all from Dr. Michael M. Krop Senior High School, partied in the apartment where Darrant lived with his mother. At one point, a student asked Darrant about a strange smell. He told her it was probably…

“Pic-a-nika.” The word was supposed to be an exaggerated play on the Italian pronunciation of the English word “picnic,” or at least that’s how the owners of Pizza by Certé in New York City say they saw it. But it wasn’t just the name (you have to say it out loud to really get the…

More than 1,000 people attended the funeral Saturday for Christian Taylor, the 19-year-old football player who was shot and killed by an Arlington, Texas, police trainee at a car dealership earlier this month, according to the Dallas Morning News. Dozens of teammates from Angelo State University, where Taylor was to start his sophomore year, shared…

When Shenitria Blocker witnessed Miami officers arresting a man last week, she immediately whipped out her cellphone and began recording, mindful of rising tensions between blacks and police, reports the Associated Press. What she recorded was breathtaking, as evidenced by her reaction on a 47-minute recording that captured an officer handcuffing man, placing him in…

Julian Bond, the longtime NAACP leader and civil rights champion, died late Saturday following a brief illness, according to the Associated Press. He was 75. The Southern Poverty Law Center, which released a statement announcing the death Sunday morning, called Bond unrelenting in his advocacy for civil rights, the report says. The native of Nashville,…

St. Louis County police are investigating a reported Facebook comment by one of their officers who reportedly bragged about spending extra income earned while working in Ferguson, Mo., on the one-year anniversary of the death of Michael Brown, The Guardian reports. Todd J. Bakula, also known as “T.J.,” appeared to be bragging about spending extra…

Atlantic writer Ta-Nehisi Coates’ powerful memoir about race is among six books on President Barack Obama’s summer reading list, reports The Hill. Although Coates has been a frequent critic of the president’s efforts to address racial inequality, Obama will read Between the World and Me, a memoir about being black in America, during his 16-day…

The LeBron James Family Foundation announced that it is providing more than $41 million to cover tuition at the University of Akron for 1,100 Ohio high school graduates, Fox Sports reports. In partnering with the university, James, who announced the program Thursday while hosting an event for students at Cedar Point Amusement Park, said he…

Donald Sterling, the former NBA team owner whose racist telephone rant precipitated his loss of the Los Angeles Clippers, on Friday sued the ex-girlfriend accused of leaking the audio and the entertainment-news outlet that broke the story, according to Variety. The lawsuit accuses ex-girlfriend V. Stiviano of “surreptitiously” recording phone conversations between Sterling and her…