news
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Grandmother of 3-Year-Old Found Dead on Swings Opens Up: Daughter Would Never Harm Son
A Maryland grandmother is trying to set the record straight about her daughter, a young woman who, she says, would never hurt her son, WUSA9 reports. On Friday, Romechia Simms was swinging her son for an “unusual amount of time,” according to investigators, in a La Plata, Md., playground. She eventually drew the attention of…
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Fla. Man Tried as an Adult at 16 Set Free After 44 Years in Prison
Prince Johnson, a 60-year-old Miami man, was freed from prison Friday after serving 44 years for participating in a robbery that led to the killing of a woman in 1971, the Associated Press reports. Johnson was tried for murder as an adult and given a life sentence in 1971 when he was only 16 years…
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Chicago Cops Stand in for Girls Without Dads at Daddy-Daughter Dance
As it now stands, police departments and the black community may as well be on polar opposite ends of the spectrum when it comes to building an effective relationship against the backdrop of the #BlackLivesMatter movement. But that didn’t stop the Chicago Police Department from trying. On Friday it held its first “Daddy Daughter Dance”…
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Cleveland to Overhaul Police Department in Agreement With Justice Department
Updated Tuesday, May 26, 5:45 p.m. EDT: Specifics of the agreement between the Department of Justice and the city of Cleveland over abusive and excessive use of force by police have been released, according to Yahoo News, and they include a substantial overhaul of police procedures and policies. An independent monitor will oversee changes in…
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Military Mom Surprises Son at Ala. Graduation
It was the best graduation present ever for a son who hadn’t seen his mom in many months. Petty Officer 2nd Class Vera Turner surprised her son, Steven Turner, Jr., at his high school graduation in Tuscaloosa, Ala., Saturday. The 16-year Navy vet returned home after a nine-month deployment at Guatanamo Bay, Cuba, according to…
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Cleveland Verdict: Where the Threat of Blackness Prevails
The numbers: 137 rounds; 49 shots from one gun; two unarmed black victims dead. Not guilty. Perhaps the most chilling element of the verdict in the case of Cleveland Police Officer Michael Brelo, charged with the voluntary manslaughter of two unarmed black suspects, was a mainstay phrase uttered by Judge John P. O’Donnell in his…
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‘You Don’t Belong Here’: Racists Warn Black Family in Long Island, NY
Police in Suffolk County, N.Y., are investigating a possible hate crime aimed at an African-American family in Lindenhurst, according to PIX11. Ronica Copes, a resident of the Long Island suburban neighborhood, received the hate letter, written in bold capital letters, on Thursday, warning her family that they did not belong in the neighborhood because “Lindenhurst…
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Fla. Teen Loses Battle to Cancer Weeks After Going to Prom With NFL Player Sen’Derrick Marks
A Jacksonville, Fla., teen who went on a dream date to her high school prom earlier this month with Jaguars tackle Sen’Derrick Marks has passed away following a long bout with cancer, reports the Florida Times-Union. Khameyea Jennings, 18, died Thursday after a battle with liver cancer, which was diagnosed in 2013, said Cindy Hamilton,…
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Protests, Arrests in Cleveland After Judge Acquits Cop in Deaths of Unarmed Couple Shot at 137 Times
Protests erupted in Cleveland Saturday after a judge found a white officer not guilty in the deaths of two unarmed black motorists who were shot at 137 times by police after a high-speed chase in November 2012, according to NBC News. Cuyahoga County judge John P. O’Donnell on Saturday found Michael Brelo, 31, not guilty…
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Ex-Va. Delegate in Antebellum Family Portrait Plans to Marry Teen Baby Mama
Just days after a former Virginia House delegate took a hit on social media for posing in an antebellum family portrait with the teenage mother of his child, Joe Morrissey announced plans to marry the 19-year-old African-American woman, reports Richmond Magazine. Morrissey, 57, who is white, last week publicly acknowledged fathering a child with the…