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Your local barbershop probably consists of TVs broadcasting ESPN, animated banter on almost any subject and music to match the vibe of the shop. The only literature you would expect to find is a magazine. A Palm Beach County, Fla., barbershop is altering this traditional view of barbershops by taking away the televisions and radios and adding a library of books. The owner of Royal Touch Barbershop, Reggie Ross, is promoting literacy by asking his young customers to read one of the books he provides while they wait to get their haircut. Ross extends the option for children to continue reading the book during their haircut. He even asks them to read aloud to him and sparks discussions with them about the book. Read more.

Like this story? Check out NewsOne’s latest “On the Corner.” We hit the streets to ask teens what would make them want to read more. Plus, we created our own list of 50 books every black teen should read.


It Took 17 Years, But The Senate Has Finally Confirmed Ronnie White To The Federal Bench

The first time Ronnie White came up for a vote in the Senate, he was one of President Bill Clinton’s judicial nominees and Senate Republicans sunk his confirmation to a Missouri district court. Then-Sen. John Ashcroft (R-Mo.) led the charge against White, who is African-American, saying he’d been soft on criminals in death penalty cases he oversaw in his role as a state judge, and pointing to opposition from Missouri police associations later found to be all-white. White’s supporters charged that race was a factor in his defeat, and Ashcroft’s role in sinking White’s confirmation contributed to his own loss in the subsequent Senate election. That was in 1999, two years after Clinton nominated White to the bench. Read more.


 

Deborah Cox Will “Provide Vocal Tracks” for Lifetime’s Whitney Houston Bio

E! Online is reporting that singer Deborah Cox will be “providing the vocal tracks” for Lifetime’s upcoming Whitney Houston biopic, which is being directed by Angela Bassett (her debut). Essentially, the star of the upcoming telepic, Yaya DaCosta Alafia will in fact not be singing Houston’s songs; Cox will. Read more.


 

Law Enforcement and the KKK Have a Close History in Florida

Once upon a time in Florida, for many law-enforcement officers, being in the Ku Klux Klan was almost akin to being in the Fraternal Order of Police. This was especially true in Lake County, a central county of the state once ruled by the Klan and the brutality and bigotry of Sheriff Willis McCall. “The FBI knew, too, that in Florida in the 1940s and ’50s, county sheriffs openly joined the Klan,” wrote Gilbert King in Devil in the Grove: Thurgood Marshall, the Groveland Boys and the Dawn of a New America. Lately, though, it seems that the Klan has been trying to reclaim some of that police power. Read more.