Week In Review

ABOVE PHOTO:  A prison cell is home for life for many Black men who were convicted of murder as teenagers.    Overwhelming majority of juvenile lifers are African American; some states exceed 80 percent By Frederick H. Lowe TriceEdneyWire.com  Two years after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that 28 states cannot automatically sentence juveniles to…

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ABOVE PHOTO:  In this photo taken in January, a burned house is pictured following an attack by gunmen, in Wada Chakawa, Yola, Nigeria. Before the usher could finish warning worshippers of the gunmen approaching, the attackers were storming into the church, locking the main door, exploding homemade bombs and firing into the congregation. The shooting…

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ABOVE PHOTO:  Customers walk to a Hobby Lobby store in Oklahoma City, Monday, June 30, 2014. The Supreme Court ruled Monday that employers can hold religious objections that allow them to opt out of the new health law requirement that they cover contraceptives for women. The Hobby Lobby chain of arts-and-crafts stores is by far…

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ABOVE PHOTO:  D.A. Seth Williams and Rev. Terrence Griffith   District Attorney R. Seth Williams’s decision a few days ago to launch a grand jury probe into possible corruption charges against a number of African American elected officials was soundly criticized last Thursday by the leadership of the Black Clergy of Philadelphia and Vicinity.  “Black Clergy is deeply…

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ABOVE PHOTO:  Scene at the 2000 Democratic National Convention   (spirit of america / Shutterstock.com)   washingtonpost.com National Democratic campaign committees have spent more than $500 million on consultants over the past two elections, but less than 2 percent of it has gone to firms that are run at least in part by racial minorities….

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ABOVE PHOTO:  Justice Sonia Sotomayor   (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast, File)   By Kevin Freking  Associated Press WASHINGTON — Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor rejected on Sunday the notion that alternatives to affirmative action such as income or residency could achieve similar results in diversifying the nation’s colleges and universities. When asked whether other “less fractious”…

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ABOVE PHOTO:  Tony Gwynn of the San Diego Padres at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles,California during the 1996 season.  Gwynn died Monday, June 16 of  cancer.  He was 54.  (Larry Goren/Four Seam Images via AP Images)   By Bernie Wilson associated press SAN DIEGO — Hall of Famer Tony Gwynn has died of cancer at…

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By Joseph White Associated Press WASHINGTON — The U.S. Patent Office ruled Wednesday that the Washington Redskins nickname is “disparaging of Native Americans” and that the team’s federal trademarks for the name must be canceled. The 2-1 ruling comes after a campaign to change the name gained momentum over the past year. The team doesn’t…

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ABOVE PHOTO:  Tracy Morgan  (Photo by Greg Allen/Invision/AP, File) By Bruce Shipkowski Associated Press      TRENTON, N.J. — Tracy Morgan was recovering Sunday, but was expected to remain hospitalized for several weeks after having surgery on a broken leg suffered in a deadly chain-reaction crash on the New Jersey Turnpike that left two others…

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ABOVE PHOTO:  President Barack Obama   By Erica Werner Associated Press WASHINGTON — Senate Republicans on Wednesday blocked legislation aimed at letting people refinance their student loans at lower rates, a pre-ordained outcome that gave Democrats a fresh election-year talking point against the GOP. The 56-38 vote fell short of the 60 that would have…

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