Week In Review

By Ronda Racha Penrice Urban News Service Fourteen-year-old Bobby Hill is ending 2015 on a high note. Since blowing away Pope Francis and the world with his impassioned rendition of “Pie Jesu” from Andrew Lloyd Webber’s 1985 Requiem during September’s Festival of Families, Hill has found himself in heavy demand. December has been especially busy. …

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ABOVE PHOTO:  Attorney Benjamin Crump, center, holds up the arms of two of the accusers in the trial of Daniel Holtzclaw, Jannie Ligons, second from left, and Shardayreon Hill, second from right, during a news conference in Oklahoma City, Friday, Dec. 11, 2015. The AP does not identify victims of sex crimes without their consent,…

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ABOVE PHOTO:  In this Oct. 20, 2014 frame from dash-cam video provided by the Chicago Police Department, Laquan McDonald, right, walks down the street moments before being shot by officer Jason Van Dyke in Chicago. Amid an outcry after the city waited more than a year to release dash-cam footage of Officer Van Dyke shooting…

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ABOVE PHOTO:  Rev. Terrance Griffith, (at podium) Pres. of Philadelphia Black Clergy & Vicinity is surrounded by Phila. NAACP President Min. Rodney Muhammad (fourth from left) and members of  Phila. NAACP and Phila. Community of Leaders, speaks about the latest in terroristic threats to the Islamic community.  (Photo by Bill Z. Foster) In a show…

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ABOVE PHOTO:   Mayor Michael Nutter presents Councilwoman Marian Tasco the Philadelphia Bowl.  (Photo: Leaping Lion Photography-M. Regusters) People from all walks of life gathered to celebrate the numerous accomplishments Tasco achieved during a combined 50 years as a public servant and elected official.  Councilwoman Tasco decided not to seek re-election as representative for the 9th…

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ABOVE PHOTO:  Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, left, and Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy speak at a news conference, Tuesday, Nov. 24, 2015, in Chicago, announcing first-degree murder charges against police officer Jason Van Dyke in the Oct. 20, 2014, death of Laquan McDonald. Emanuel fired Superintendent McCarthy on Tuesday amid protests calling for his dismissal.  (AP Photo/Charles Rex…

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ABOVE PHOTO:  A victim is wheeled away on a stretcher following a shooting that killed multiple people at a social services facility, Wednesday, Dec. 2, 2015, in San Bernardino, Calif.  (David Bauman/The Press-Enterprise via AP)   By Amanda Lee Myers and Justin Pritchard Associated Press SAN BERNARDINO, Calif.  — The two attackers who killed 14 people…

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ABOVE PHOTO:  Pastor Mark Burns, co-founder & CEO of Christian Television Network, from Easley, S.C., right, speaks to the members of the media outside Trump Tower in New York, Monday, Nov. 30, 2015.  (AP Photo/Richard Drew)   By Jill Colvin Associated Press JERSEY CITY, N.J. — Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump cancelled a press conference in…

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ABOVE PHOTO:  (Nando Machado / Shutterstock.com)   By Josh Lederman Associated Press KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia– Trying to reassure a nation on edge, President Barack Obama said Sunday the Islamic State group “cannot strike a mortal blow” against the U.S., and he warned that overreacting to the Paris attacks would play into extremists’ hands. “We will…

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ABOVE PHOTO:  Randall Jenson, lead advocate of the Kansas City Anti-Violence Project, shows an altar in Aug. 2015, made by the friends of Tamara Dominguez during a memorial service for her at her home. Dominguez was run over multiple times and left to die on a Kansas City street.  (Randall Jenson/Kansas City Anti-Violence Project via AP)…

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