Category: Afro Briefs

Five men have been charged in the heinous gang rape of a 7-year-old New Jersey girl in a crime-ridden Trenton high-rise apartment, according to a release issued by the Trenton Police Department. The child’s 15-year-old stepsister attended a party at the Rowan Towers apartment complex and allegedly began to engage in sexual acts with male […]

Willie E. Jenkins, a retired university administrator and former Tuskegee Airman, died March 30 at the age of 85. Jenkins had been hospitalized at Tallahassee Memorial Hospital since February, according to the Tallahassee Democrat. The exact cause of his death was not immediately clear. Jenkins grew up in Petersburg, Va. before joining the airmen, where […]

Fox News and LL Cool J found themselves at odds during the week of March 29 over the cable channel’s use of the New York rapper’s image to promote a new show—one on which he won’t be appearing. The news channel aired an ad promoting Sarah Palin’s new show, “Real American Stories,” featuring a brief […]

The mayor of Washington Park, Ill., a suburb of St. Louis, was found murdered in his car in the early morning hours of April 1. According to Washington Park Detective Kim McAfee, John Thornton, 52, was shot twice in the chest at close range, the AP reported. He was taken to a local hospital where […]

Georgia lawmakers have called for the impeachment of state Attorney General Thurbert Baker for his refusal to join 14 other state attorneys general in suing the federal government over the health care reform bill passed by Congress last month. The resolution to impeach Baker, a Democrat, came from Republican state Rep. Mark Hatfield and was […]

The wife and father of former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick will be required to testify in a federal lawsuit related to the murder of an exotic dancer, The Detroit News reported, after a federal judge on March 23 refused to quash subpoenas for the two. According to the paper, Chief U.S. District Judge Gerald Rosen […]

The listing of calories on America’s fast food menus may result in the decline of many popular menu items that are not healthy, the Associated Press reported.  Signed into law by President Obama, the calorie-posting mandate assumes diners will feel guilty after reading the calorie counts for greasy, sugary and fatty foods.  Advocates against obesity […]

Former NBA Star Earvin “Magic” Johnson may be able to lend a helping hand to those seeking employment. According to Blackamericaweb.com, Johnson is actively promoting his Magic Workforce Solutions, a company that aims to put urban America back to work. The two-year-old firm has recruited top Fortune 500 companies to assist in the effort. “Magic […]

Erykah Badu has faced controversy for her video for the song “Window Seat,” but now she’ll face a criminal charge of disorderly conduct for it, as well. “The City attorney’s office and the Dallas Police Department has decided to charge the entertainer known as Erykah Badu with disorderly conduct,” a police spokesman told the New […]

According to Nashville’s News 2, a local man said he and his 10-year-old daughter were the victims of road rage because of a political bumper sticker on his car. Mark Duren told News 2 that Harry Weisiger made an obscene gesture with his hands and rammed into his vehicle after seeing his Obama-Biden sticker. Duren […]

Oprah Winfrey has settled a defamation lawsuit filed against her by the former head of her all-girls school in South Africa. The two women “met woman-to-woman without their lawyers and are happy that they could resolve this dispute peacefully to their mutual satisfaction,” lawyers for Nomvuyo Mzamane, the accuser, and Winfrey said in a statement […]

New home sales fell to a record low in February, evidence that the U.S. housing market still has not quite fully recovered from the turmoil of the last few years despite positive indicators in other industries. According to a monthly report released by the Department of Commerce, sales of new single-family homes declined to a […]