SIOUX FALLS, S.D. — Rodney Berget lives in a single cell on South Dakota’s death row, rarely leaving the tiny room where he awaits execution for bludgeoning a prison guard to death with a pipe during an attempted escape.

For Berget’s immediate family, his fate is somewhat familiar. He is the second member of the clan to be sentenced to death. His older brother was convicted in 1987 of killing a man for his car. Roger Berget spent 13 years on Oklahoma’s death row until his execution in 2000 at age 39.

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The Bergets are not the first pair of siblings to be condemned. Record books reveal at least three cases of brothers who conspired to commit crimes and both got the death penalty. But these two stand out because their crimes were separated by more than 600 miles and 25 years.

“To have it in different states in different crimes is some sort of commentary on the family there,” said Richard Dieter, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center, which tracks death penalty trends.

The siblings’ journey from the poverty of their South Dakota childhood to stormy, crime-ridden adult lives shows the far-reaching effects of a damaged upbringing — and the years of havoc wrought by two men who developed what the courts called a wanton disregard for human life.

Rodney Berget is scheduled to die later this year, potentially ending the odyssey that began when the two boys were born into a family that already had four kids.

A former prison principal described Rodney as a “throwaway kid” who never had a chance at a productive life. A lawyer for Roger recalled him as an “ugly duckling” with little family support.

The boys were born after the family moved from their failed farm in rural South Dakota to Aberdeen, a city about 20 miles away. Roger arrived in 1960. Rodney came along two years later.

His farming dreams dashed, patriarch Benford Berget went to work for the state highway department. Rosemary Berget took a night job as a bar manager at the local Holiday Inn.

The loss of the farm and the new city life seemed to strain the family and the couple’s marriage. When the family moved to town, “things kind of fell apart,” Bonnie Engelhart, the eldest Berget sibling, testified in 1987.

Benford Berget, away on business, was rarely around. When he was home, he drank and become physically abusive, lawyers for the brothers later said.

By the 1970s, the couple divorced, and Roger and Rodney started getting into trouble. Roger skipped school. Rodney started stealing. Soon, they were taking cars. Both went to prison for the first time as teens.

Roger Berget enjoyed a rare period of freedom in 1982 and met a woman while hitchhiking. The two started a relationship, and the woman gave birth to a child the next year. But Roger didn’t get to see his son often because he was soon behind bars again, this time in Oklahoma. And for a far more sinister crime.

Roger and a friend named Michael Smith had decided to steal a random car from outside an Oklahoma City grocery store. The two men spotted 33-year-old Rick Patterson leaving the store on an October night in 1985. After abducting him at gunpoint, they put Patterson in the trunk and concluded he would have to be killed to prevent him from identifying his captors.

They drove the car to a deserted spot outside the city and shot Patterson in the back of the head and neck, blowing away the lower half of his face.

A year later, Berget pleaded guilty to first-degree murder and was sentenced to death on March 12, 1987. An appeals court threw out a death sentence for Smith, who was later sentenced to life in prison without parole.

Less than three months after Roger was sentenced to death, Rodney Berget, then 25 and serving time for grand theft and escape, joined five other inmates in breaking out of the South Dakota State Penitentiary in Sioux Falls.

The men greased their bodies with lotion, slipped through a hole in an air vent and then cut through window bars in an auto body shop at the prison. Berget was a fugitive for more than a month.

Thirteen years passed before Roger Berget was executed by lethal injection on June 8, 2000. His younger brother was still in prison in South Dakota.

But the good days were numbered because a year later, he was sentenced to life in prison for attempted murder and kidnapping. He headed back to the South Dakota State Penitentiary — this time for good.

Then Rodney got to talking with a fellow inmate named Eric Robert about a goal they shared: to escape — or die trying.

The plan was months in the making. The inmates figured they would corner a solitary guard — any guard would do — and beat him with a pipe before covering his face with plastic wrap.

Once the guard was dead, Robert would put on the dead man’s uniform and push a box with Berget inside as the prison gates opened for a daily delivery. The two would slip through the walls unnoticed.

On the morning of April 12, 2011, the timing seemed perfect. Ronald “R.J.” Johnson was alone in a part of the prison where inmates work on upholstery, signs, custom furniture and other projects. Johnson wasn’t supposed to be working that day — it was his 63rd birthday. But he agreed to come in because of a scheduling change.

After attacking Johnson, Robert and Berget made it outside one gate. But they were stopped by another guard before they could complete their escape through the second gate. Both pleaded guilty.

In a statement to a judge, Rodney acknowledged he deserved to die.

“I knew what I was doing, and I continued to do it,” Berget said. “I destroyed a family. I took away a father, a husband, a grandpa.”

His execution, scheduled for September, is likely to be delayed to allow the State Supreme Court time to conduct a mandatory review.

Rodney Berget’s lawyer, Jeff Larson, has declined to comment on the case outside of court. Rodney did not respond to letters sent to the penitentiary.

The few members of the Berget family who survive are reluctant to talk about how seemingly normal boys turned into petty criminals and then into convicted killers of the rarest kind: brothers sentenced to death.

Dieter, of the Death Penalty Information Center, said some families of the condemned remain involved in appeals. But others see no reason to preserve connections.

“There’s no light at the end of it,” he said. “What happens at the end is execution.”

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The ex-couple had gone to a drive-in movie, and she was returning him to the home of his new girlfriend when the incident occurred, according to Warren Police Commissioner Jere Green.

“He opened the detached garage and told her to pull in,” Green said. “She did and before she could turn the car off, he closed the garage door behind her. Someone grabbed her by the neck and put a gun to her head.”

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The primary motive being considered at this moment is paternity, according to the News.

After her hands, feet and mouthed were duct taped, the woman was forced into the backseat of her car and driven to an abandoned lot. “You know why this is happening,” the unknown assailant told her after asking her how far along she was. He then covered her with lighter fluid and threw a lit match on her, reports the News.

“She instinctively jimmies her way out of the car and starts rolling on the ground to put out the fire,” Green said. As she was attempting to put out the fire, two shots were fired at her, one hitting her in the back, before she stopped moving.

“She said she basically played dead and she thinks that’s what saved her because she heard the guy run away.”

After freeing herself, she immediately drove to her mother’s house because she believed she was in danger. According to the woman, her mother was held at gunpoint at her baby shower earlier this month.

While Detroit authorities are unsure of exactly what role the ex-boyfriend played in the attempted murder of his future child’s mother, they have no doubt that he was involved in some capacity. He claims that he has no idea what happened because he was asleep, which conflicts with his ex’s story.

“We’re pretty confident he viewed the abduction. He never called 911,” Green said.

A spokesperson for Detroit Receiving Hospital says the woman is listed in serious condition, recovering from burns to her head and back. Due to give birth in three-weeks, ultrasounds show that the child is unharmed, reports WXYZ.com.

The ex-boyfriend, who has a criminal past including vehicular theft, drugs and armed robbery, remains in custody.

Unfortunately, if police determine that he is involved in this horrific crime, he would not be the first man to attempt to literally destroy a woman carrying his unborn child.

As previously reported by NewsOne, Dominic Holt-Reid, on supervised release after serving 20 months in federal prison stemming from a 2007 drug conviction, pled not guilty to an attempted murder charge after authorities accused him of trying to force his girlfriend at gunpoint to have an abortion.

Waiting until they dropped their 5 year old child at school, Holt-Reid reached into the glove compartment of the car and aimed a loaded .45 caliber handgun at girlfriend Yolanda Burgess because she refused to go through with a scheduled abortion. Forced to enter the clinic, she was able to slip a note to an employee and escaped the ordeal physically unscathed.

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Well, the name of the child is Jacob Philadelphia, the New York Times reports. He is the young son of Carlton Philadelphia, a White House staffer who is now posted to Afghanistan with the US State Department.

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Carlton took his family to the Oval Office for a photo to mark the ending of his posting on the National Security Council. When the family began posing for photos, Carlton told the President that his son had a question for him.

“I want to know if my hair is just like yours,” Jacob asked according to the New York Times.

Here’s what The Times says happened afterwards:

“I want to know if my hair is just like yours,” he told Mr. Obama, so quietly that the president asked him to speak again.

Jacob did, and Mr. Obama replied, “Why don’t you touch it and see for yourself?” He lowered his head, level with Jacob, who hesitated.

“Touch it, dude!” Mr. Obama said.

As Jacob patted the presidential crown, Mr. Souza snapped.

“So, what do you think?” Mr. Obama asked.

“Yes, it does feel the same,” Jacob said.

Carlton’s father says it truly was an important moment for his son and other black boys:

“It’s important for black children to see a black man as president. You can believe that any position is possible to achieve if you see a black person in it,” said Mr Philadelphia.

President Obama doesn’t delve into issues of race as often as many would like him to. But this photo proves that he doesn’t have to say much at all. Jacob, now eight, says he wants to be President someday. Or a test pilot.

Go to the New York Times for the rest of this incredible story!

The bizarre and tragic incident occurred right outside of The Miami Herald offices, near a ramp leading to MacArthur Causeway and witnesses to the incident took pictures as others called police.

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The Miami Herald reports:

According to police sources, a road ranger saw a naked man chewing on another man’s face and shouted on his loud speaker for him to back away. Meanwhile, a woman also saw the incident and flagged down a police officer who was in the area.

The officer, who has not been identified, approached and, seeing what was happening, also ordered the naked man to back away. When he continued the assault, the officer shot him, police sources said. The attacker failed to stop after being shot, forcing the officer to continue firing. Witnesses said they heard at least a half dozen shots.

The naked man who was killed lay face down on the pedestrian walkway just below the newspaper’s two-story parking garage. Police have requested The Herald’s video surveillance tapes.

The other man was transported to the hospital with critical injuries, according to police. Their identities were not released.

Miami PD is calling the officer who shot the man a “hero” and used this as cautionary tale that “a man doesn’t have to be armed to be dangerous”:

“There are other ways to injure people,’’ said Sergeant Altarr Williams, a Homicide Unit supervisor. “Some people know martial arts, others are very strong and can kill you with their hands.’’

According to the Herald, police speculate that the man may have been in the midst of “cocaine psychosis” when he stripped to cool off and the victim was a homeless man in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Traffic was at a stand-still due to the influx of visitors for Miami’s Urban Beach Week Hip-Hop festival.

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And we mean literally feel her pain.

The Daily Mail reports that Hartman, 34, allegedly yelled “You and I just had sex last night” before tasing the father of her child, Alvin Hennis, with her key-chain stun gun as he lay butt naked in bed. Hartman chased his lover, Cordelia Rose, outside of the house.

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Rose was getting into her car before Hartman caught up with her and tased her in the neck.

Neither Rose no Hennis were seriously injured as the strength of the stun gun was reportedly too weak to cause major damage.

Hartman was arrested and charged with battery. It is not known what kind of gun Hartman used. She did not have a permit for it, however. During Hartman’s hearing, Hennis took the blame for the entire situation.

“It was pretty much my fault,’ Mr Hennis told Broward Court Judge John Hurley at Hartman’s hearing.

“We were supposed to do something together that morning, and I forgot. I went to my house, and things happened.”

WATCH THE COURT HEARING WHERE HARTMAN HOLDS BACK LAUGHTER

Hennis pleaded with Judge Hurley to go easy on the mother of his child, saying that she is a great mom.

‘She is a beautiful mother, a hard worker and very responsible. I think she got emotional by what she saw,’ Mr Hennis told Judge Hurley.

‘I could imagine things could get very emotional,’ Judge Hurley answered.

‘Oh, things got very emotional,’ Mr Hennis said. ‘Very emotional.’

He apologized for his actions, adding that he forgot to lock the door to the master bedroom.

‘That probably was your first mistake,’ Judge Hurley said.

Tell us about it! Hartman was free on $2,500 bond and ordered to stay away from Rose.

President Barack Obama

Obama’s new worries about North Carolina and Wisconsin offer opportunities for Republican Mitt Romney, who must peel off states Obama won in 2008 if he’s to cobble together the 270 electoral votes needed to oust the incumbent in November.

Iowa, which kicked off the campaign in January, is now expected to be tight to the finish, while New Mexico, thought early to be pivotal, seems to be drifting into Democratic territory.

If the election were today, Obama would likely win 247 electoral votes to Romney’s 206, according to an Associated Press analysis of polls, ad spending and key developments in states, along with interviews with more than a dozen Republican and Democratic strategists both inside and outside of the two campaigns.

Seven states, offering a combined 85 electoral votes, are viewed as too close to give either candidate a meaningful advantage: Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Nevada, New Hampshire, Ohio and Virginia.

“As of today, the advantage still lies with the president, but there is a long and hard road ahead in this election,” said Tad Devine, who was a top strategist to Democratic presidential candidates Al Gore and John Kerry but isn’t directly involved in this year’s race.

If Romney wins all the states Republican John McCain carried in 2008 plus North Carolina, as trends today suggest he would, he would still need 64 electoral votes to hit the magic number. That would require him to win a majority of the states that are up for grabs.

Obama, on the other hand, faces the costly and labor-intensive challenge of defending those states in a much different environment than the one he enjoyed four years ago.

Big-spending, pro-Romney political committees are certain to be a factor, and already are running heavy levels of television ads in states where Obama is vulnerable, such as Florida.

But Obama’s early spending – more than $30 million on advertising before Memorial Day – and new glimmers of economic hope across the battleground states demonstrate the size of Romney’s challenge.

The race is expected to be close, and the past six weeks have been volatile.

North Carolina is a case in point.

Obama announced his support for gay marriage on May 9, one day after 60 percent of North Carolina voters approved a constitutional ban. “That issue definitely hurts him down there,” said veteran Republican presidential campaign strategist Charlie Black, a top aide to 2008 nominee McCain. Black’s not directly involved in this year’s race but is an informal adviser to Romney.

North Carolina’s high African American and young voter population, keys to Obama’s 2008 wins there, give him the edge, aides say. And the president so far has spent heavily there, $2.7 million on television, according to reports provided to the AP.

But Democratic Gov. Bev Perdue gave Republicans an opening by not seeking re-election this year. And union leaders, a key Democratic constituency, are upset that this summer’s Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, N.C., is being held in a state where union rights are weak.

In Wisconsin, embattled Republican Gov. Scott Walker’s improving fortunes as a contentious June 5 recall election approaches could alter that state’s landscape. Walker, who sparked mass protests by signing anti-union legislation last year, has pulled narrowly ahead of Democratic Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett in recent polls.

If Walker survives, Romney aides say they have a real chance to carry Wisconsin, which no Republican has done since Ronald Reagan in 1984.

“I don’t think there’s been any better dress rehearsal for a presidential election than what’s going on in Wisconsin right now,” said Rich Beeson, political director for the former Massachusetts governor.

Indeed, the Wisconsin recall could signal a GOP shift in an arc of states from Iowa to Pennsylvania that have reliably voted Democratic in presidential elections for a generation.

“Whether Walker wins or doesn’t is going to be a big indicator of how Wisconsin goes, and how the whole upper Midwest goes,” said Iowa’s Republican Gov. Terry Branstad.

Romney has signaled plans to contest Iowa, where Obama’s 2008 caucus win propelled him to the Democratic nomination. Romney also sees opportunity in his native Michigan, where Democratic presidential candidates have won since 1988.

Bright spots are developing for Obama, too.

Public polls this month showed the president narrowly ahead in Virginia, a Southern state Republicans had carried nine times before Obama won it in 2008. Obama’s advantage among Latino voters is moving New Mexico his way. Neither campaign nor the super PACs have advertised there, despite close finishes in 2000 and 2004.

Obama also has seized on new economic data that could give him a lift across the contested map. April unemployment ticked downward in all of the up-for-grabs states except Colorado as Obama and Romney have fought over who is best equipped to lead an economic recovery.

In Des Moines, Iowa, this month, Romney blamed Obama’s spending for the recovery’s slow pace. A week later, on the other side of town, Obama said Romney’s career as a private equity executive was more suited for the boardroom than the Oval Office.

Obama’s attack dovetails with scathing ads on Romney’s career at the head of Bain Capital, which ran briefly in Colorado, Iowa, Pennsylvania and Virginia. They remained on the air last week in Ohio, where Obama aides say Romney’s opposition to the auto industry bailout in 2009 hurts him with workers in the region’s auto manufacturing sector.

Obama has had an edge in getting out his message. For nearly two months, his campaign has aired spots across 11 states, heaviest in Florida, Iowa, Ohio and Virginia, according to the ad-tracking reports.

Romney has only been airing ads for two weeks in four states. But super PACs that support him have helped shave Obama’s advertising edge, airing $10 million in ads across 10 states.

Obama aides point to an edge in state-by-state organizing that could be the deciding factor in a close election. While Romney is quickly arranging with the Republican National Committee to deploy staff to various battlegrounds, Obama’s campaign has been up and running for years.

Said Democratic strategist Devine: “The president and his campaign have a real and potentially decisive advantage on the ground.”

The girls had been missing since Wednesday night, when Davis handed them over to a woman named “CC” on the recommendation of a man who worked at the motel where she was temporarily living. She did not report her daughters missing to Long Peach Police department until Friday morning around 11:00 a.m.

Officers conducted a thorough search of the motel and the surrounding area, but it wasn’t until Saturday afternoon that Long Beach police spokeswoman Lisa Massacani said the girls had been found.

The woman who took the kids was described “as black, late 20s to early 30s, 5 foot 1, and 190 pounds. She was wearing black spandex and a long pony-tail in video surveillance from the motel.

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She contacted the LAPD after she saw media reports about the girls and is being questioned, reports NBC Los Angeles. The man who recommended her was initially considered a suspect, but is now considered a fully cooperating witness.

“She is now being questioned for her role in the incident,” according to a statement from the Long Beach Police Department.

It is not clear at this time if she will be arrested.

Check his exclusive video here:

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LIVE COVERAGE: The New NAACP: “Protecting Our BMW’s – Black Men Walking”

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NAACP 500 Leadership summit

I have heavily critiqued the NAACP.

I’ve spoken about how it feels very much disconnected from my generation and I’ve watched as local chapters hold press conferences about ridiculous and frivolous issues. The nation’s oldest civil rights group to me seemed stagnant—Just a bunch of old Black folks being old and Black and not growing with the times. Yes, of course there were some places where the NAACP was still doing good work but I scoffed at it being genuinely relevant anymore.

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So when my co-host L. Joy Williams — an active member of the NAACP’s Brooklyn branch — wanted to invite the National  NAACP’s chairperson on to our radio show, I half-heartedly agreed and told her don’t get mad if I say something she doesn’t like.  Chairman Roslyn Brock appeared on “Blacking It Up” January 23, 2012, and when I thought I was pushing back on her and the organization she pushed back on me. She challenged me directly. She asked me if I was a member of the NAACP? If I had issues with it, why not join and voice them from within?

Why not work with them?

It wasn’t as if I hadn’t considered it before. At Netroots Nation in 2010 during the Black Caucus, the idea of “infiltrating” the NAACP was discussed by a group of very engaged Blacks who felt disconnected to the organization — but I personally didn’t follow up on that threat. The closest I came to joining was when they issued the resolution that there were racist elements in the Tea Party—which at first I thought was silly. But when the declaration caused some members of the Tea Party to respond with racism, I realized that it was sort of a brilliant move. Then within a week or two of that high profile checkmate, the Shirley Sherrod incident occurred and I crossed my arms and said “SEE.”

But as I spoke to the Chairman issuing a direct challenge to me, I felt as if I couldn’t just blow it off. If you’re going to talk smack about organizations you have to also be willing to stand up when asked. The historic nature of the NAACP can never be overstated. And with the challenge the chairman also invited me down to their annual Leadership 500 summit, a 4 day meeting of the minds discussing the path and focus of the organization.

That’s where I’m writing from now.

See Live Coverage of The NAACP 8th Annual Leadership 500 Summit, “Protecting our BMW’s – Black Men Walking,” here.

In the first full day there have been panels and discussions on a wide range of topics. There are people here that I wasn’t aware of before, like Shavon Arline Bradley, Director of Health Programs for the NAACP, who are speaking passionately and brilliantly about many issues that are plaguing our time in America. She came on “Blacking It Up” and dropped one of the scariest statements I’ve ever heard. When explaining the importance of universal healthcare and the actions that we have to take in order to make sure communities have access to fresh food and vegetables she said:

“This generation is the first one that may not live past their parents.”

Another one of my co-hosts, Aaron Rand Freeman had seen Bradley at an earlier panel and couldn’t heap enough praise on her. He was impressed by her knowledge and passion beyond belief. I mention him specifically because Aaron isn’t the type to get excited about conferences or speakers at said conferences. He’s not the type to want to join organizations like the NAACP. Yet after sitting around at the summit and observing it, he was not only excited, he was amazed. This was the NAACP people like myself and many others rarely get to see.

In recent weeks the media focus has been primarily on their recent stance on marriage equality for LGBT Americans, but there’s so much more going on. This civil rights group may be the oldest in the nation but the next generation of leaders are joining and stepping up to deal with the current civil rights issues of the day. Voter Id Laws, Healthcare, Drug laws—all of these are being dealt with head on. I thought to myself “I wish I heard more about this side of the NAACP.”

Then I realized maybe I should stop complaining and show this side of the NAACP.

UPDATE: 5-27-12 — 1:19 A.M. EST

Banks plans to file a claim against the state requesting money for the five years, two months  that he spent in prison, his attorney told the Los Angeles Times. As previously, reported by Newsone, he was exonerated of rape after his accuser recanted her statement.

“We do not plan on taking any legal action against Gibson,” said Banks’ attorney, Justin Brooks of the California Innocence Project, referring to Banks’ accuser, Wanetta Gibson. “We do plan on filing a state claim for the $100 a day Brian is entitled to under State Law 4900 for every day he was wrongfully incarcerated.”

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Brian Banks was 17-years-old in 2002 when Wanetta Gibson lied to her mother and school officials, telling them that he raped her in a stair-well at Long Beach Polytechnic High School. In that instant, his dreams of a collegiate football career at the University of California were shattered.

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But now, after spending nearly 6  years in prison– and being exonerated after Gibson admitted that she lied about the rape — grassroots activists are fighting loudly on Banks’ behalf and a Facebook page has been created to encourage USC to reinstate the scholarship they offered him 2002.

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As previously reported by Newsone, the Trojans had their eye on Banks as a middle line-backer and the Facebook page, ” Fight On” for Brian Banks,” which at the time this article was published had 308 ‘Likes,’ is dedicated to helping Banks’ achieve his football dreams. Justin Brooks, a lawyer who heads the Innocence Project, said that Banks has remained on probation, under electronic monitoring, has had to register as a sex offender and has had trouble getting a job.

But he has never stopped training for a potential football career.

The young woman who ruined at least six years of Banks’ life, had the audacity to send him a Facebook friend request because she wanted to “let bygones be bygones.”

“Fight On” for Brian Banks wants your support so that just the opposite happens. As it pertains to Bank’s scholarship, they don’t want USC to let the opportunity just fade away.

For his part, Banks is looking ahead to the NFL. Brooks has appealed to professional teams to just give him a fair shot. According to him, Banks has been training 6 days a week in preparation of his big break.

“He has the speed and the strength. He certainly has the heart,” Brooks said. “I hope he gets the attention of people in the sports world.”

The road might not be so easy though, according to NFL consultant Gil Brandt, who says that though Banks’ is eligible for any team in the country, his time away from the game could hurt him.

“History tells us guys who come back after one or two years away when they go into the service find it awfully hard,” Brandt said. “And this has been much longer a time.”

Banks is keeping his head held high, though, and refuses to give up.

“It’s been a struggle. But I’m unbroken, and I’m still here today,” he said through his tears at a news conference.

While Banks may be ready to move on to the big leagues, this Facebook page is about opportunity. It’s asking USC to send the same message that the courts sent to Banks when they finally exonerated him. It’s asking USC to send the same message that the Innocence Project sent when they proved they had faith in him.

This page is saying: USC, show Brian Banks that he’s just as worthy of recognition and opportunity as he was before some little girl decided to throw his life away.

To show your support for Brian Banks, ‘Like’ “Fight On” for Brian Banks by clicking here.

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The process of deciding the fate of streetlights has actually been put into effect in a few cities across the country like Santa Rosa, California, Colorado Springs, Colorado and Rockford, Illinois which have gone partially dark because they too were also cash-strapped but not to Detroit’s extent.  With nearly 40 percent of its existing 88,000 street lights not working anyway and since the city can’t afford to fix them,  the initiative would save nearly $10 million a year. The responses to the move have been both good and bad.

One eco-friendly, preservers of the night group, The International Dark-Sky Association, which has a large chapter in the U.S., contends that much outdoor lighting is not only wasteful, but counterproductive. It cites poorly placed street lights that blind drivers as much as help them, or misplaced safety lighting that creates sharp contrasts that can hide intruders rather than expose them.  Nighttime lights have been implicated in some environmental problems, such as confusing birds and bats.

Then there are more who worry that in large cities like Detroit which has one of the highest violent crime rates in the country, law breakers will have a field day in the dark.  Merchants and residents worry that in the dark, neighborhoods will become havens for street crimes and drug gangs and that these areas will then continue to decay.

The mother is currently in the hospital being questioned by Philadelphia Police. She allegedly attempted a murder-suicide by drowning one baby and suffocating the other, poisoning her 4-year-old daughter by putting some kind of medicine in her drink, then slashing her own wrists. The child is listed in stable but guarded condition at St. Christopher’s Hospital for Children, reports the Associated Press.

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Ron Smalls told WPVI-TV that the couple had been experiencing marital strife, but she refused to attend counseling:

“We’ve had some problems and I’d suggested therapy for both of us,” he said. “She didn’t think it was important.”

The children were discovered by their father when he arrived home at approximately 4:00 p.m. He called 911, telling the dispatcher that his wife had murdered his babies. Police quickly arrived on the scene and the babies were pronounced dead at approximately 4:10 p.m.

Upon arrival, Stacey Smalls allegedly said, ” I harmed my babies.”

According to NBC10, Stacey Smalls left notes next to the children, one saying, “This is why I killed your kids.” The detailed notes were left for her husband, who is a correctional officer, explaining her anger upon finding out on Mother’s Day that he was allegedly having an affair with Stacey’s daughter from previous relationship.

“She had something that she felt was justification but there is no justification… it’s a tragedy two young babies dead and there is no excuse for that,” said Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey.

Mrs. Smalls changed her Facebook status from “married” to “divorced” earlier this month and also put her marital issues out there for the world to see.

See exclusive NewsOne screenshots below:

In a macabre twist, her most recent Facebook Activity was to “Like” the page “I Love Being a Mom.”

Mrs. Smalls remained in custody Friday afternoon and has been placed on suicide watch.

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10 News reports:

“The nice thing about this is that at the grade level it looks like a regular garage floor,” said Cheryl Nauman, an employee at American Custom Lifts. “When you hit a button, another comes up.” Brad Davies created the sophisticated car elevator. His shop, American Custom Lifts, is located in downtown Escondido, but he has installed the lifts in homes around the world.”We just recently installed one in London,” said Davies. “We have one in New Zealand [and] Norway. We have quite a few in Canada.”Clients include actor Harrison Ford and singer Britney Spears. Now, presidential hopeful Mitt Romney wants to install a Phantom Park in his La Jolla home. First, Romney will bulldoze the current 3,000-square-foot home and build one that is 11,000 square feet. The basement alone will be 3,600 square feet and is planned to have a Phantom Park in it to store his cars.”For the cost of the lift, delivery and installed… it’s about $55,000,” said Davies.

While many Americans are struggling to keep their heads above water, why wouldn’t someone running for President of the United States plan to build a subterranean car elevator [note extreme sarcasm]?

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This is after all the same man who said that he wasn’t “concerned with the very poor.”

This is also the same man who said that Democrats begrudge people their wealth, while Republicans applaud it.

Maybe, Mr. Romney, Democrats don’t begrudge you your trust funds, rather they find it extremely laughable that you can even pretend to care about the economic conditions of people living in poverty.

And can you really blame them?

Pat Cunningham describes the former Massachusetts governor perfectly:

“Mitt Romney is the classic example of the guy who was born on third base and thinks he hit a triple. He would do better to admit that he was born into wealth and privilege and tailor his political message to his determination to improve economic opportunities for all Americans — and spare us the bootstraps imagery of his own experience.”

It’s clear from this gaudy display of wealth, that the only thing “poor” Romney is familiar with is taste.

Syracuse police say Friday that 20-year-old Aaron Hickman had been living with his brother but got into an argument with him Wednesday night and was told to leave. Before doing so, officials say, Hickman poured bleach into a container of milk in the refrigerator.

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Police say the brother’s 1- and 3-year-old sons drank the milk Thursday morning and got sick, suffering severe vomiting and diarrhea. The boys were treated at a hospital.

Hickman is charged with assault and endangering the welfare of a child. He is being arraigned Friday in Syracuse City Court.

It wasn’t immediately clear if he had a lawyer.

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Innovative in his approach to music, Davis challenged himself constantly and introduced new styles of playing that are still peerless in every way. On what would have been Davis’ 86^th turn around the sun, we celebrate the jazz great on his day of birth by remembering his towering musical achievements.

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Miles Dewey Davis III was born today on 1926 in the southern Illinois city of Alton to a dentist father and a housewife mother. Raised primarily between East St. Louis and Arkansas, Miles enjoyed a charmed life full of the trappings of affluence. His mother, Cleota Mae, was a trained pianist and wanted her son to learn the instrument. His father, Miles Henry, gave his son a trumpet at 13 – which Miles Davis said was an affront to his pianist mother, who hated the sound of the instrument. After being trained by a local musician, Miles would go on to join the music society at his school and played professionally during off-hours at age 16.

WATCH Miles Davis Perform “So What”

Many large bandleaders tried to recruit the prodigious Davis, but at his mother’s urging, he finished high school before chasing his dreams. Graduating in 1944, he would encounter the Billy Eckstine Band during a stop in East St. Louis; the band featured future jazz legends Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie. While the band took residence in the city, Davis would replace regular trumpeter Buddy Anderson, filling big shoes and doing enough to impress the vets. However, Davis’ parents wanted their child to gain advanced education so he left for New York’s Julliard School of Music that same year.

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Arriving in the big city, Davis would join jam sessions and also seek out his idol Charlie Parker, playing in some of Harlem’s famous nightclubs honing his craft. The early seeds of the “bebop” jazz movements were being planted and the players came together to form this new, upbeat and largely improvisational style of music. Davis would eventually drop out of Julliard to focus on a professional jazz career at his father’s blessing. He would go on to join Charlie Parker’s quintet, which also featured drummer Max Roach. During a tough time on tour where Parker suffered a breakdown, Davis would rejoin Billy Eckstine in California and returned to New York after being stranded on the west coast. However, Davis would leave Parker’s quintet amid tension and other issues.

Although a celebrated piece of work now, Davis’ album in 1957 The Birth Of Cool ushered in a new sound in jazz that confused and enthralled many. It was not a commercial success but would prove to cement Davis in the annals of musical lore for his contributions. The 1950s proved to be a turbulent time for Davis, after splitting time between New York and Paris. Rumors of drug addiction swirled about in jazz circles, and he too began to develop a heroin habit himself. Kicking the habit in 1955, Davis would enact the Miles Davis Quintet and sever his ties with the bebop movement after leaving New York to get clean and returning to the big city.

Of Davis’s 48 studio albums and 53 live recordings, his thirty-year relationship with Columbia Records would spawn groundbreaking albums such as Kind Of Blue, Bitches Brew and Quiet Nights with his mentor Gil Evans.  Davis would also begin experimenting with rock and funk artists such as Sly and the Family Stone, James Brown, Jimi Hendrix and others. His psychedelic songs of the later periods were often misunderstood but Davis’ vision was fully realized as his career went on. Davis’ music has been sampled heavily by Hip-Hop producers, most notably his 1972 album On The Corner and it is fitting because he wanted his music to be relatable to younger African-Americans.

Davis would pass in Santa Monica, Ca. at the age of 65 from a stroke and respiratory failure associated with pneumonia. His gravesite is located at the Woodlawn Cemetery in his beloved New York. The legacy he’s left behind was an impenetrable cool, a playing style that no musician has been able to mimic since and leaving his mark on music in a way that style baffles critics of today. Miles Davis is a true legend in every sense of the word.

Rest In Power, Miles Davis and Happy Birthday!

The 6-year-old boy vanished on May 25, 1979, from Soho, after his parents allowed him to walk from his home to a nearby bus stop.

Watch the Atlanta Child Murders case here:

Patz’ case; the Atlanta child killings, where 29 bodies of Black children were discovered by the time a suspect was arrested; and the case of Adam Walsh, who disappeared from a Florida mall, brought attention to the flaws regarding law enforcement’s response to missing children, including the lack of coordination between agencies.

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Three decades after President Ronald Reagan signed national Missing Children’s Day into law, African-American children make up a large proportion of the children who go missing. According to the National Center For Missing & Exploited Children and the Department of Justice, African Americans make up 42 percent of the children reported missing each year and  minorities make up 65 percent of the non-family abductions.

That’s why the Black and Missing Foundation and their spokeswoman, Jacque Reid, have been working to educate all parents, but specifically African-American parents, about ways to keep their children safe.

“The whole idea is how to educate parents to help keep their kids safe. In the spring and summer, the number of missing kids goes up tremendously. You have to be more alert with your kids,” said Reid, a host of NBC 4′s New York Live as well as a member of the nationally syndicated Tom Joyner Morning Show.

“We want to remind the community as a whole to be aware. It’s really up to us to make sure we raise the awareness,” said Reid.

Derrica Wilson and Natalie Wilson, founders of Black and Missing Foundation, say there are simple steps that parents can take to help save their child’s life in case of an emergency.

Many parents take simple things for granted such as teaching your child his home address and telephone number, teaching kids the safe spots in their neighborhood to run if they are in trouble, and teaching kids to scream at the top of their lungs if someone tries to abduct them.

The man who abducted Patz said he lured him away with the promise of a can of soda, according to news reports. We have to teach our children not to fall for those common tricks, such as needing help find a lost puppy.

“Be more careful of the time your child spends alone, have a recent photo of your child, have their fingerprints on file,” said Reid.

“Take notice of what your child has on before they leave the house. Teen girls are being abducted in record numbers, so don’t be afraid to monitor their social media. It may see like an invasion of privacy, but I’d rather have my child be upset with me than go missing,” said Reid.

If parents aren’t comfortable turning over their child’s DNA to an agency, Derrica Wilson said you can take your child’s old toothbrush, dry it out, store it in a ziplock bag and place it in the freezer.

In the event your loved one goes missing, you have DNA to turn over to law enforcement immediately,” she said.

Reid said parents need to be prepared in advance. It’s important to know who your child’s friends are, as well as their parents. Have updated contact information on all of your child’s friends.

“When something happens, they may have critical information because kids talk to one another,” said Reid.

Watching your child on the computer is incredibly critical these days. There have been a number of sex-trafficking cases where young girls have been brainwashed and recruited over the Internet.

“Teenagers are fearless when they are on the computer. Little does that 11-year-old know that they could be chatting with a 44-year-old pretending to be their age,” said Natalie Wilson. “The computer is the No. 1 way for people to enter your home without coming through your back door. A lot of sex trafficking is being done online these days.”

One of the biggest mistakes is that parents don’t know the local laws regarding missing persons. The false belief that you have to wait 24 hours to report a child missing is one of the biggest myths that the Black and Missing Foundation is trying to destroy. If you think your child is endangered, it is imperative that police begin their efforts immediately.

The bottom line, said Reid, is that awareness and knowledge is the biggest tool parents have in keeping their kid safe.

“The truth is that regular life gets in the way. We are trying to keep food on the table and money in the bank,” said Reid.  “But you have to talk to your child. Do not live in fear, but scare them straight. Anything can happen to them and they have to be prepared.”

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The boy’s 14-year-old sister found him hanging from a bunk bed with a belt tied around his neck. She alerted her mother and called 911. Then the Mom took the son down with the assistance of a neighbor.

Police are still investigating the child’s death, but they say that the cause of death is likely as it appeared: a suicide. Autopsy results are pending, according to the Wayne County Medical Examiner’s Office.

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The boy, who has not been named, was reportedly bullied at school and was also particularly troubled over his parent’s separation. Detroit Police Chief Ralph Godbee Jr. said that the boy had told his parents that he wanted to harm himself. The Mother also told police that the child was being counseled by the family’s pastor.

“It’s just a tragedy on so many levels,” Chief Godbee Jr. said Thursday, calling the situation “unfathomable.”

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As unfathomable as it may be that a young child can actually have the wherewithal to carry out such a horrible act, it is something that all parents should take very seriously:

Experts say children that young may not understand the finality of death, but they need to be taken seriously when signs of depression arise.

“Any time a child makes a threat or engages in talking about suicide, it should always be taken seriously,” said Polly Gipson, a child psychologist at the University of Michigan and at U-M’s Center for the Child and the Family.

“We shouldn’t think that because a child is a child, there’s no way (he or she) can act on those behaviors.”

In December, Gov. Rick Snyder (R-Mich) signed anti-bullying legislation. Last fall, the Detroit City Council approved an ordinance that makes bullying children in person or online a misdemeanor.

A council member was particularly upset by the tragedy:

Detroit City Councilwoman Saunteel Jenkins, who sponsored the ordinance, said the boy’s apparent suicide shows the need for a stronger response to such mistreatment.

“For a 7-year-old to lose his life in any form is heartbreaking. But to imagine a child that young, who is so sad, that believes his only option is to do this? Heartbreaking is not a strong enough word,” she said.

In case you think that this 7-year-old’s case is an exception to the rule, please consider some figures cited by the Detroit Free Press:

In 2010, a medical examiner ruled the death of a 6-year-old girl in Oregon a suicide, according to news reports, which say the girl hung herself after her mother sent her to her room.

Of the 36,951 suicides recorded in the U.S. in 2009 by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 265 involved children ages 5-14.

Some may also think that today’s kids are “soft” or that they get upset over the “smallest things,” but of the 265 kids who took their own lives in 2009, we truly cannot simplify these deaths as issues of mental and emotional toughness.

With young people being beaten over “Twitter beefs” and having their brutal attacks posted on WorldStarHipHop, we have to consider that bullying and the emotional trauma that comes afterward is ratcheted up several hundred decimals. (Or can be re-tweeted to the entire school several hundred — or thousand — times)

This 7-year-old’s death is not the time for parents and those of us older than the age of 30 to beat our chest over the toughness of our childhoods. Instead, we have to take child bullying and depression very seriously so that another 7-year-old will not feel that he is not “tough enough” to enjoy his precious young life.

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Barry made the remark when he was meeting with Asian Americans. That meeting was set up after Barry made two offensive statements last month about Asians. He later apologized.

Watch Barry’s controversial comments about Asians:

Barry was asked Thursday about racial tensions in the United States and he said: “The Irish caught hell, the Jews caught hell, the Polacks caught hell.”

In a seven-word statement Friday, Barry says he misspoke and should have said Polish.

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Gary Kenzer is the executive director of the Chicago-based Polish American Association. He has called on Barry to apologize to the Polish-American community.

Tell us!

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Several mosque leaders who attended a meeting Thursday with Attorney General Jeffrey S. Chiesa said they were shocked he found no violation of state criminal or civil laws by the NYPD in operations that many Muslims considered unjustified surveillance based solely on religion.

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“This is a big violation of our civil rights, and we need to go to our communities and explain it?” Imam Mohammad Qatanani, the spiritual leader of the Islamic Center of Passaic County said Thursday as he left the meeting. Qatanani said he would not tell his congregants to stop collaborating with law enforcement, but added, “We need from them to show us the same seriousness and honesty in building bridges with the Muslim community.”

Chiesa had been asked by Gov. Chris Christie, who appointed him, to look into operations in New Jersey that were part of a widespread NYPD program to collect intelligence on Muslim communities both inside New York and beyond. Undercover officers and informants eavesdropped in Muslim cafes and monitored sermons, even when there was no evidence of a crime. They infiltrated Muslim student groups, videotaped mosque-goers or collected their license plate numbers as they prayed.

The result was that many innocent business owners, students and others were cataloged in police files.

The interstate surveillance efforts, revealed by The Associated Press earlier this year, angered many Muslims and New Jersey officials. Some, like Newark Mayor Cory Booker and the state’s top FBI official, criticized the tactics. Others, like Christie, focused more on the fact that the NYPD didn’t tell New Jersey exactly what it was up to.

In response, Chiesa launched what he described as a fact-finding review. Further, authorities found that New Jersey has no laws barring outside law enforcement agencies from secretly conducting operations in the state, representatives of the attorney general’s office told the AP. However, New York police have agreed to meet with New Jersey law enforcement regularly to discuss counter-terrorism intelligence and operations, the attorney general said.

“We remain committed to striking the appropriate balance of ensuring the safety of our citizens through vigilance in fighting terrorism, while not undermining the public’s confidence in how we approach that mission,” Chiesa said in a written statement.

Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly, who had been out of the country earlier Thursday, said he hadn’t seen the report. But he said the NYPD had recently held a law enforcement conference at police headquarters and many New Jersey agencies attended it, a testament to the department’s overall commitment of working with agencies in other cities.

Muslim leaders said they were told that every instance of NYPD activity in New Jersey had been justified by a lead, but that the attorney general would not provide any details on the nature of any of those leads, saying the fact-finding was ongoing.

Imam Mustafa El-Amin (pictured) of the Newark-based Masjid Ibrahim said he was concerned that Chiesa refused to explain what leads had been received. With the NYPD compiling a map of every mosque in Newark – including his – he said he wanted to know about any problems or potential dangers in his mosque he might be unaware of.

“We understand the need for surveillance and security,” said El-Amin, “We just don’t appreciate how this was done. We as Muslims feel we were violated, simply because we are Muslims.”

Several Muslim leaders at Thursday’s meeting said that they did not find the assertion that the NYPD had leads for all their operations in New Jersey credible, adding that efforts to maintain communication between the community and law enforcement would be hurt by the findings that the NYPD had done nothing wrong – and could keep doing what they have been doing.

“It was basically an,`FYI, good Thursday afternoon, let it die in the media before the Memorial Day weekend,’” said Mohamed El-Filali, executive director of the Islamic Center of Passaic County, across the Hudson River from New York. If the surveillance of every mosque, burger joint and barbershop targeted was justified, he asked, why were no arrests made?

Aref Assaf of the American Arab Forum said the attorney general made them feel like second-class citizens.

“I said to him it’s not only insulting, it’s offensive to our sense of justice, that you bring us to Trenton to tell us that you accept as legal and valid the actions of the NYPD, and I will not be surprised if you’re issuing an order informing your law enforcement officials that they too can spy on American Muslisms because if it’s legal for NYPD, than it must be legal for NJ to do the same.”

The Muslim leaders said they would consider all legal options, including renewed appeals for action by the U.S. Justice Department. A federal civil rights lawsuit has also been considered.

The governor was not at the meetings. He was on a visit at the same time to Atlantic City. Asked about the findings, he said: “I have every confidence in Attorney General Chiesa. If that’s what he determined, it’s good enough for me.”

The NYPD has long maintained that its operations were lawful and necessary to keep the city safe. New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg says the NYPD can gather intelligence anywhere in the country it wants and is not required to tell local authorities. NYPD lawyers say they are not bound by jurisdictional lines because they are just collecting intelligence, not making arrests or otherwise acting as police.

Told of New Jersey’s findings, Bloomberg’s spokesman, Marc La Vorgna, said in a statement: “We’ve said it time and again, NYPD has kept the city safe and they conduct their work legally.”

The attorney general said a directive he issued requires all New Jersey law enforcement agencies to notify the New Jersey State Police Counter-Terrorism Bureau and the Office of Homeland Security and Preparedness if they hear of outside departments working in New Jersey. The state agencies will then coordinate with the Joint Terrorism Task Force, of which the NYPD is a member.

Chiesa said he is also establishing a Muslim outreach committee.

Christie, who was the U.S. attorney for the state at the time of the New Jersey surveillance, has said he didn’t recall ever being briefed on the NYPD operations. He was one of several state and federal officials who had earlier criticized the NYPD’s conduct in New Jersey, accusing the agency of acting like “masters of the universe” by sending agents into his state.

New Jersey’s FBI chief, Michael Ward, also has been critical of the NYPD for not conducting the operations within the umbrella of the Joint Terrorism Task Force. He said the actions undermined the bureau’s own efforts by sowing distrust of authorities among Muslims and weakened national security.

What do you think?

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Blacks and Hispanic children are at an increased risk for drowning compared to Caucasians.   The deaths and injury statistics associated with pools, hot tubs, and spas that involve Black and Hispanic children are unnerving: According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Black children between the ages of 5 and 14 are three times more likely to drown than White children of the same age range.

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The USA Swimming Foundation, the organization responsible for selecting and training teams for international competitions including the Olympic Games, found that a whopping 70 percent of Black and Hispanic children cannot swim, which is nearly twice as many as their Caucasian counterparts.  In addition, in ethnically diverse communities, the youth-drowning rate is more than double the national average.

Safety commission chairman Inez Tenenbaum told the Associated Press, ”There’s no question that not knowing how to swim contributes to the deaths of minority children who drown in pools and in natural bodies of water such as lakes, streams or the ocean. We are focusing on minority children because the data shows that they are most at risk for drowning,” she said in a telephone interview.

Tenenbaum went on to point out the probable main reason why our kids are not swimming, “It’s a cultural issue, because many of the African-American and Hispanic children have parents and grandparents who never learned to swim.”

Michelle Obama’s focuses on swimming in her “Let’s Move!” fitness campaign, which looks to solve the problem of childhood obesity in a generation.  Tenenbaum is urging all parents who don’t know how to swim, to learn, and then to make the sport a fun activity that all members of their family can participate in and enjoy.

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According to the NAN website, membership begins at $25, and includes:

• An Annual or Lifetime membership card.
• Participation in a monthly call with NAN leadership.
• Receipt of a monthly leadership email updating members on issues and NAN activities from across the country.
• Participation in a special members only event during the Annual National Convention.
• Premium seating at all National Action Network events.

NewsOne readers interested in helping may join by clicking here.

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Carnelle Parks

Parks chose the home randomly after he allegedly held-up Bob’s Market in Rialto, California on Thursday afternoon. Unbeknownst to him, an off-duty police cop, Officer Roger Nakamura, was eating lunch when he pulled a gun on the worker behind the counter. The cop stood to confront him and Parks bolted. A chase ensued, ending with Parks barricading himself in a random home after pushing himself inside. Two teenagers were alone inside.

“I looked outside and there was police right here outside of my window with their guns drawn pointing this way,” said witness Kristin King to CBS Los Angeles. “A police woman actually came in the house and was looking outside my back patio and told me and my son just to go upstairs.”

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KTLA reports:

Parks told two occupants, a 13-year-old boy and an 18-year-old [woman], to go upstairs and lock themselves in a bathroom.

Officers created a perimeter in the area and eventually made contact with Parks.

He gave himself up to police after about an hour.

Parks is on parole for a residential robbery.

Both the gun used in the crime and the money stolen from Bob’s market have been recovered, reports CBS Los Angeles.

“The officer that chased him in the initial foot pursuit was able to positively identify him as the suspect involved in the armed robbery,” said Capt. Randy De Anda of the Rialto Police Department.

See the exclusive video report from KTLA here.

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As previously reported by NewsOne, Shaw was murdered by gang members three doors from his home because of his red Spider-Man backpack, said Deputy District Attorney Bobby Grace during opening arguments of the trial.

“I hope he (Espinoza) leaves the prison the same way my son was brought into the mortuary — in a casket,” said Jamiel Shaw Sr., the victim’s father.

Since his death, Shaw’s parents tried unsuccessfully to sue the county. Espinoza, an alleged member of the 18th Street Gang in L.A., was a dangerous felon and an “immigration violator” according to them, who was just released two days prior to their son’s murder. The Shaws also tried to get a law passed that would allow police to turn over undocumented immigrant gang members to federal authorities. That effort failed as well, reported the Huffington Post.

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In the days before his death, Shaw was contacted by both Rutgers University and Stanford University and, according to coach Hardy Williams, he was not only a “Houdini on the football field,” but a genuinely good person.

“He was a very special kid,” Williams said. “Not only was he an outstanding athlete, he was a good person. I’ve never seen Jamiel mad. He had such a big smile.”

The parallels between this case of Trayvon Martin are striking. Both young Black men, 17-years-old, walking home to their fathers, talking on the phone with their girlfriends, were gunned down by Hispanic vigilante-thugs, intent on taking “justice” into their own hands, because of an article of clothing — and skin color — that made them suspects.

“He chose to execute a 17-year-old for the color of his skin and the color of his backpack,” Deputy District Attorney Allyson Ostrowski told jurors during the trial, calling the killing of Shaw a “cold-blooded, calculated execution.”

The sentencing recommendation will now be taken in consideration by a judge. NBC Los Angeles reports that a motions hearing in the case will be held Sept. 17, and sentencing is scheduled for Sept. 21.

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Detroit News reports:

The Rev. Marvin Winans had a warrant out for his arrest on driving-related offenses when he was carjacked last week in a case that grabbed national headlines, records show.

The warrant was issued March 15 for failing to appear in a Hazel Park court after he was ticketed for driving with a suspended license.

The state suspended his license most recently on May 9 after he didn’t pay two tickets issued in December in Hazel Park, Michigan Secretary of State records show. One was for previously driving on a suspended license; the other was for impeding traffic.

The gospel singer didn’t show at a March hearing in 43rd District Court in Hazel Park on the two tickets and a warrant was issued for his arrest, according to a court official.

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Erma Byrd, spokesperson for Winans, says that he was unaware of the suspended license because his mail went to another address. Staff just recently became aware of traffic tickets in the weeks prior to the carjacking.

Read more at Detroit News.

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Pedro Hernandez, 51, confessed to NYPD detectives that he had choked Patz to death after luring him into the bodega where he had been employed for approximately one month. He promised him soda and candy, then led him to the basement where he murdered him.

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MSNBC reports:

Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said police focused on Hernandez, who now lives in Maple Shade, N.J., after the Missing Persons Squad received a tip from someone who remembered Hernandez speaking of having killed a child. Others close to Hernandez also recalled those claims, a source told NBC 4 New York.

Kelly did not answer whether Hernandez had a lawyer.

Mayor Bloomberg said Thursday that the disappearance of Patz “broke the hearts of millions” across the nation, especially parents, and expressed sympathy again for the boy’s family.

“I certainly hope that we are one step closer to bringing them some measure of relief,” he said.

As previously reported by Newsone, Jamaican immigrant Othniel Miller, 75, was long considered the top suspect in the cold case. His niece accused him of raping her as a child, strengthening suspicions that he was guilty. After a cadaver-sniffing dog reacted strongly to the basement floor of an apartment building where Miller once worked as a handyman, the NYPD decided to reopen the case. Miller had coincidentally poured fresh concrete days after Patz’s disappearance and became visibly aroused looking at images of children when he was questioned by FBI investigators, reported the Daily Mail.

But suspicion obviously does not equal guilt.

A lawyer for Miller said his client is “relieved by these developments, as he was not involved in any way with Etan Patz’s disappearance.”

Hopefully, this news can at least bring some measure of peace to young Etan’s parents as well as the city of New York. The disappearance of the boy led to city-wide mania as parents began to rethink allowing their children to walk to the bus stop alone.

Colin Powell has yet to support President Barack Obama or his party’s presumptive nominee, Mitt Romney, in this year’s presidential campaign. But the former Secretary of State voiced his approval of Obama’s support of gay marriage during an interview with CNN’s Wolf Blitzer on Wednesday.

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“As I’ve thought about gay marriage, I know a lot of friends who are individually gay but are in partnerships with loved ones,” Powell told Blitzer. “And they are as stable a family as my family is. And they raise children. And so I don’t see any reason not to say that they should be able to get married under the laws of their state or the laws of the country, however that turns out. it seems to be the laws of the state.”

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Powell is remembered for the 1993 “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell“policy that was a compromise to then-president Bill Clinton’s wish to lift the ban on gays serving openly in the military outright. Powell opposed gays serving openly in the military at the time over concerns of how it would affect military operations. In a 2010 interview, Bill Clinton said that Powell did not clearly explain how  “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” would actually work in practice.

This is what Clinton said in a 2010 interview with CBS’s Katie Couric:

“Now, when Colin Powell sold me on don’t ask, don’t tell, here’s what he said it would be. Gay service members would never get in trouble for going to gay bars, marching in gay rights parades as long as they weren’t in uniform.”

“That was what they were promised,” the former president said. “That’s a very different don’t ask, don’t tell than we got.”

“What we got as soon as General Powell retired was this vicious mid- and low-level officer feedback where they–for a year or so–made it worse than it had been before,” Mr. Clinton continued. “Then, they sort of settled down. But the reason I accepted it was because I thought it was better than an absolute ban. And because I was promised it would be better than it was.”

Powell shot back, saying that he did not misrepresent the policy. Moreover, he said that it was not him who enforced the policy, arguing that he retired in 1993 and Clinton had two terms to change it. During his interview with Blitzer on Wednesday, Powell said “it was certainly my position and my recommendation to get us out of an even worse outcome that could have occurred, as you’ll recall.”

“Dont Ask, Don’t Tell,” was repealed by President Barack Obama in 2011.

Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals, Inc.

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Researchers saw a need to address and collect data from the underrepresented data samples of African Americans in order to study how Blacks combat diabetes. This study is the first of its kind, focusing on DPP-4 inhibitors and patients with Type 2 diabetes.

“These findings support the efficacy and safety profile of linagliptin as a treatment option for African-American adult patients with Type 2 diabetes,” said lead investigator James Thrasher, MD, FACE, Arkansas Diabetes and Endocrinology Center. “As there may be differences in response to treatment among ethnic groups, an important finding of this trial is that the results are consistent with the A1C reduction seen in the linagliptin pivotal trials, which included a small sample of African-American patients.”

While Tradjenta is not recommended for persons with Type 1 diabetes, you can learn more about it here.

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In Missouri, those on death row used to be put to death with a three-drug combination, but now, authorities have decided to use a large dose of propofol as the means to the end.

Propofol slows one’s brain and nervous system activity. Originally, it was used in hospitals as a general anesthesia during medical procedures.

Last November, Dr. Murray was found guilty of second-degree manslaughter for killing pop icon Jackson, after administering a cocktail of the aforementioned propofol and mild sedatives. Among other things, it was ruled that Dr. Murray was amiss in giving Jackson the powerful drug in an unmonitored environment. It was also determined that he should have known not to mix the already lethal anesthetic with any other drugs.

Dr. Murray lost his medical license and is currently serving a four-year sentence at L.A. County Jail, with other fallen stars singer James DeBarge and ex-Met baseball player Lenny Dykstra. As for Missouri and its new drug of choice, 19 inmates are reportedly on deck to receive it.

Who wants to be on death row in Missouri?

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Clinton was co-hosting a gala Wednesday evening with Prince Albert of Monaco to benefit the Prince Albert II of Monaco and the William J. Clinton Foundations.

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The event drew folks from all walks of life, including  A-listers Diane Kruger and Joshua Jackson.

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Clinton, who wore a smile as big as…well…his pockets, was flanked by porn stars Brooklyn Lee, 22 (right) and Tasha Rain, 23 (left).

Lee is quite the accomplished thespian. She is the proud recipient of the highly coveted 2012 AVN Award for best new starlet and she also won an award for “Best Sex Scene” in the highly acclaimed film “Mission Asspossible.” Lee tweeted about her attendance at the gala and of her er…brush with Clinton. Rain’s illustrious film credits include ”Baby Got Boobs 8″ and “Farm Girls Gone Bad.”

Even though ‘Slick Willie’ is photographed with these busty babes, let’s not assume that he had improper relations with any of them.  I repeat, “He did not have sexual relations with these woman!”

Nuff said….

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Genthner thought so highly of little Breanna’s honesty that he mentioned it online. One of his friends in Florida sent him a $10 bill in the mail for the little girl. Breanna took the money home saying that, ” I gave it to my moma.”

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Van Riper also said that “I hope the $100 she found is real. If she gets it back, good for her.” (The bill was a fake and it was confiscated by the Secret Service)

The Detroit News has more:

On Tuesday, her classmates applauded her. Her friend Mariah Copeland, 8, said that Breanna’s action was typical. “She always helps people out. She does nice things.”

Breanna stood on the stage, proud and slightly stunned, as Principal Cindy Lang saluted her honesty.

“The great thing she did,” Taurean Simpson, 8, explained to me, “was she didn’t take the money home, even though she probably needed it. In the end, she probably got more.”

Most likely, she surely did.