Nation

WASHINGTON – A White House-approved proposal to repeal the “don’t ask, don’t tell” ban against gays serving openly in the military is expected to face a vote in Congress as early as this week.

COVINGTON, La. – The Obama administration’s environmental chief dipped a small cup into the oily mess at the mouth of the Mississippi and was surprised by what came out.

From the New Haven Register: NEW HAVEN — Yale University afforded the “Queen of Soul,” Aretha Franklin, a lot of R-E-S-P-E-C-T and love Monday, with a short musical tribute and sustained cheering, when she was awarded an honorary doctor of music degree.

From the NY Times: From the second to last pew at All Souls’ Episcopal Church in Harlem on a recent Sunday morning, Sylvia Lynch, 80, lifted a hand toward the rafters and sang praises through a haze of burnt incense.

From TheBVX.com: BET, George Foreman Grills and Dark & Lovely No Lye Relaxer have a commonality: They’re not as black as you think. For the confused, theBVX ( which like Black Voices is NOT black-owned) has compiled a shocking list of 10 things you thought were black owned but actually aren’t.

From Mashable: Want to know what more than 1 million gallons of oil leaking into the Gulf of Mexico looks like? Now you can.

From HuffingtonPost.com: RNC Chairman Michael Steele on Sunday offered some of the most forceful disapproval of Rand Paul‘s libertarian positions to date from within the broader Republican Party.

Never mind that he and Benjamin Banneker were, at one point, engaged in a debate by letter about whether or not Negroes were intellectually equal to white men.

NEW ORLEANS — The gooey oil washing into the maze of marshes along the U.S. Gulf Coast could prove impossible to remove, leaving a toxic stew lethal to fish and wildlife, government officials and independent scientists said.