news
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Eric Garner Grand Jury Testimony Won’t Be Released
The public will not know exactly what was said during the grand jury hearings that ended with a decision not to indict New York City Police Department officers in the choke hold death of Eric Garner. A judge on Thursday refused to release the testimony, the Associated Press reports. According to AP, “The New York…
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Remains of NJ Mom Allegedly Slain by Husband Found in Md.
Authorities, guided by a GPS unit in her husband’s vehicle, have discovered the body of a New Jersey mother who went missing on New Year’s in Maryland, prosecutors said, according to the New York Daily News. Erica Crippen’s body was found tied up with electrical cord and duct tape and hidden beneath a pile of branches…
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Martese Johnson: My Wounds Will Heal, but the Trauma Will Stay Forever
Martese Johnson, the University of Virginia honors student who was arrested by authorities early Wednesday, did not try to use a fake ID to enter a bar, his attorney said at a news conference Thursday in Charlottesville, Va. Early reports suggested that the third-year student had tried to use a fake ID to enter the…
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Black Man Found Hanging From Tree in Miss. Reportedly Robbed and Murdered Woman in 1980: Report
On March 2 a friend dropped off Otis Byrd at the Riverwalk Casino in Vicksburg, Miss. On March 8, members of the Byrd family reported the 54-year-old missing. On Thursday, Claiborne County, Miss., authorities found a man’s body, believed to be Byrd’s, hanged from a tree by a bed sheet, causing many in the area…
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Ratings for Empire’s Season Finale Break Record
Empire, the new “it” show on Fox, has succeeded in reeling in more viewers from week to week. For Wednesday night’s two-hour season 1 finale, the show broke all prior records, scoring on average some 16.7 million viewers, a rise of 12 percent from the 14.9 million watching last week’s episode, USA Today reported. According…
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President Obama’s Mother-in-Law Initially a Bit Leery That He Was Biracial
First lady Michelle Obama’s mother, Marian Robinson, was initially “a little bit” leery about her daughter dating a biracial man, Robinson said in a 2004 Chicago TV interview that has resurfaced in light of a biography about Michelle Obama’s life that will be released next month. During a sit-down interview with Chicago’s WTTW, which aired…
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College Catalog Shows Happy White Guys Finishing Before a Lagging Woman and a Black Man
The University of North Georgia is trying to make amends after a controversial course catalog stirred up some negative attention when an Atlanta Journal-Constitution reporter wrote about it. According to Raw Story, the university has “apologized” and will stop distributing a continuing-education catalog that shows two smiling white men in business suits (one with hands raised…
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Starbucks CEO Defends Its ‘Race Together’ Campaign
Despite the criticism levied upon Starbucks by people who think its Race Together campaign is way too ambitious, out of place and opportunistic, Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz insisted during the company’s annual shareholders meeting in Seattle Wednesday that its motivations are sincere, the Associated Press reports. “Some in the media will criticize Starbucks for having…
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Innocent, Deaf Ethiopian American Jailed for 6 Weeks With No Interpreter
Abreham Zemedagegehu was held in jail for six weeks in a Virginia prison without an interpreter and not knowing why he was being held in the first place, the Associated Press reports. It was alleged that Zemedagegehu, who is deaf, stole an iPad, which its owner later found. For that accusation he spent more than…
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Report: White Supremacist Threatens O.J. Simpson’s Life
Disgraced NFL running back O.J. Simpson used to make astonishing cuts on the football field, but cutting a jailhouse medication line may have the Hall of Famer running for his life. According to the Daily Mail, the 67-year-old Simpson is housed in the minimum-security section of a Nevada prison, but when it comes time for…