Hip-Hop pioneer DJ Kool Herc has reportedly been hospitalized and is in need of financial help from fans to assist an ailing illness.
DJ Premier broke the news of Herc's unexpected condition over the weekend.
DJ Premier shared some terrible news today on the health condition of DJ Kool Herc. According to Premo's site, "It's doesn't look positive as Kool Herc doesn't have a health insurance and the billings go higher and higher. No more details were given but he is in need of some financial help as soon as possible. We at DJPremierBlog.com pray for the best..." DJ Kool Herc has helped launch the genre of hip-hop to where it is today. Anything helps! (The Source)
Within his statement, Premier made sure to remind fans of Herc's rap legacy.
DJ Premier divulged the information on his XM Satellite radio show, Live From Headqcourterz. "Kool Herc is very sick," DJ Premier said. "For those that know about Hip-Hop, who we call the father of Hip-Hop, Kool Herc, is not doing well. It's funny how we have a father of a culture that still lives, where as in some cultures they are dead and gone even though they may still be worshipped or reflected on in some kind of way." (About Rap)
Herc's run in hip-hop dates back to its roots in the 1970's.
Kool Herc is a Jamaican-born DJ who is credited with originating hip hop music, in The Bronx, New York City. His playing of hard funk records of the sort typified by James Brown was an alternative both to the violent gang culture of the Bronx and to the nascent popularity of disco in the 1970s. In response to the reactions of his dancers, Campbell began to isolate the instrumental portion of the record which emphasized the drum beat--the "break"--and switch from one break to another to yet another. (Wikipedia)
He has also helped to preserve rap's legacy and birthplace.
In recent years, Herc has rallied to prevent the sale of 1520 Sedgwick Avenue -- the birthplace of hip-hop where he would spin records at back-to-school parties-- in the Bronx, NY. In 2007, state officials were accepting bids from developers but ceased when the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation officially recognized the building as the birthplace of hip-hop. (The Boom Box)
Jerard Braboy is one of three men involved in allegedly raping a 22-year-old woman in Goodview, Minnesota.
Unfortunately for him, Braboy and his cohorts thought it would be entertaining to capture the deed on camera resulting in his own arrest yesterday.
After meeting the suspect and another man at a party, the victim was offered a ride home but ended up at the residence of a woman known as "Jackie."
"Jackie" fell asleep, and the victim was hit over the head after exiting the bathroom.
She was then thrown on the bed as the 39-year-old Braboy allegedly began to rape her.
Police report that a second suspect held her down and a third man videotaped the incident.
According to court documents, the victim told the men to stop several times, and pleaded for them to release her.
After reviewing the videotape, court documents show Braboy's cousin was the man holding the victim
down and he can be heard saying, “We don't get action like this where we're from.”
That action must have led Braboy to believe the sex act was either consensual or that he had won the victim over since he gave her his phone number under the nickname, “Cakes.”
Where they are from, they also don't understand that filming a crime is a sure way to get caught.
The victim pointed out the apartment and the vehicle, and when police arrived, two Black males were seen carrying a mattress and bedding out of the apartment.
"Cakes" was obviously about to cover his tracks and get rid of the evidence containing DNA, but forgot about the visual proof.
Braboy has previously been convicted of attempted murder, unlawful use of a weapon, aggravated battery with a firearm, aggravated assault, fraud, obstruction, impersonation to deceive law enforcement officers and several drug offenses.
He is expected in court on February 3.
(hiphopwired)
Society as a whole is getting sicker and sicker, the dispicable crimes we're taking part in is ridiculous and ignorant. We're living in a beast society and you have millions of people carrying on like savages with no knowledge and wisdom just total ignorance. Its truly sad that decent people and innocent children have to grow up in this wicked society. May "GOD" Bless!!!!!!!!!!THA CHILL ONE
Green is the only color that will count in any deal for the Mets.
And that could be a home run for Martin Luther King III, who wants to become the first black owner in Major League Baseball, a baseball source said yesterday.
"[Met owner] Fred Wilpon needs money, and I think that whoever comes in to buy the Mets is going to have to have very deep pockets and ready cash," the expert said.
No problem, King's partner Larry Meli says.
"We have the deep pockets, and deep pockets means cash. Our guys could do this, no question," Meli said.
The Post reported Sunday that King, son of the civil-rights leader, and Meli lead a group of investors -- including original Amazin' Ed Kranepool and Donn Clendenon Jr., son of the 1969 World Series-winning Mets -- seeking to buy the cash-strapped Flushing franchise.
Robin Nelson for the New York Po
Martin Luther King III
In his first public comments on the issue, King yesterday acknowledged that the Mets have had a tough few years.
"Well, no tougher than the Braves," he joked at his suburban Atlanta home.
He later issued a statement saying, if he "personally, or as part of a collective, can advance the vision of a more diverse ownership group in professional sports . . . then, like my father, I am prepared to act in that spirit."
(newyorkpost)
“I believe in the merit and American value of creating an example,” King said in the statement, “and if I personally, or as part of a collective, can advance the vision of a more diverse ownership group in professional sports, domestically or internationally, then, like my father, I am prepared to act in that spirit.”
He added, “There has been a lot of discussion and speculation about my participation in the acquisition of the New York Mets. The public release of those discussions was premature.”
King declined through a spokesman to elaborate on a report in the New York Post that he is collaborating with several major money players in the venture, including Mets legend Ed Kranepool, entrepreneur Donn Clendenon Jr., son of the 1969 Mets World Series MVP; and TV executive Larry Meli.
“It’s fitting with the legacy of Jackie Robinson essentially transferring to the Mets; what better place to have African-American ownership than with the Mets,” Meli told the Post.
King, 53, is scheduled to come to New York this week to set up a meeting with the owners, who announced Friday they’re looking to sell up to 25 percent of the team, the Post said. Meli told the Post he and his group wants to purchase at least 50 percent of the club.
“Martin Luther King Jr. died for the common man to do better in his life,” Meli said. “That sort of legacy is going to take hold here.”
(CNN) -- A mother in Tampa, Florida has admitted in detail to killing her two teen-aged children, police said.
Police checking on the family at the request of a relative found Julie K. Schenecker, 50, on the back porch of her home Friday morning, dressed in blood-covered clothing, according to a police statement.
They found her son, Beau Powers Schenecker, 13, dead in the family's SUV, which had been parked in the garage, the statement said. Calyx Powers Schenecker, 16, was in an upstairs bedroom, also dead.
"She did tell us that they talked back, that they were mouthy," Tampa police spokeswoman Laura McElroy told CNN affiliate WTSP. "But I don't think that will ever serve as an explanation to the rest of us of how you could take a child's life."
The woman shot her son as she drove him to soccer practice and returned home to shoot her daughter as she studied on her computer, CNN affiliate WFTS reported, citing investigators.
The preliminary investigation indicates that the teens were killed on Thursday evening, a police statement said, but a medical county examiner will determine the time of death.
Police have charged the mother in the killings, the police statement said.
Police were called to the house after Schenecker's mother called from Texas to express concern about her daughter's welfare, saying she was depressed, the police statement said.
Schenecker was initially booked into jail, but was transferred to Tampa General Hospital for treatment of an existing medical condition, according to the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office, WTSP reported.
Hundreds of people attended a candlelight vigil on Friday night in memory of the siblings, according to WTSP.
"It's just sad that his mom did this to him and his sister because he didn't deserve this," one of the mourners, Hailey Johnson, told WTSP. "He was the sweetest kid ever."
"I came out here tonight because I just needed to show respect and show that I really did care about Beau," said another mourner, teenager Ann Sloan.
Raleigh, North Carolina (CNN) -- For 14 years, Floyd Brown was confined to a mental hospital in North Carolina, accused of murdering an 80-year-old woman. His chief complaint in his psychiatric assessment report: "I was framed."
His case is one of several that have shaken the foundations of the criminal justice system in North Carolina.
In 1993, Brown, then 29, was arrested in Wadesboro, North Carolina, suspected of killing Katherine Lynch. Acting on a tip that an African-American male knew something about the crime, an agent of the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation brought Brown in for questioning.
Brown didn't match the description in the tip, and there was no physical evidence linking him to the killing. But after a day of questioning, SBI Agent Mark Isley had something even more compelling: A six-page confession that he said Brown had dictated to him.
His lawyers found it unbelievable.
Read the confession (PDF)
"Floyd could never in a million years make that confession," said Kelley DeAngelus, one of Brown's attorneys. "He doesn't have that capacity, he doesn't have the communication skills, he doesn't have the knowledge, he could never speak with that much definition or detail."
Isley, who is under investigation by the North Carolina Department of Justice, declined to comment.
"I didn't murder nobody. I got locked up for a crime I didn't do."
--Floyd Brown, released after 14 years in a mental hospital
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In the confession, Brown allegedly stated his address, even though, according to DeAngelus, he didn't know where he lived. The confession also quoted Brown as saying he awoke at 6 a.m., even though he couldn't accurately tell time.
But even more surprising to DeAngelus was the sentence structure and logical narrative of the confession. "When I met Floyd, he couldn't put together a single grammatically correct sentence. Everything was in three-word or two-word phrases; having a conversation with him was very difficult."
The only thing Brown wrote on the confession was his own name, misspelling "Brown."
But the confession was enough evidence to commit Brown to Dorothea Dix mental hospital in Raleigh. There, he entered a legal limbo. He was accused of a serious crime, but for years, he was ruled incompetent to stand trial and therefore unable to have his day in court.
Finally, in 2007, DeAngelus and attorney Mike Klinkosum got Brown another hearing, and a last-ditch attempt at freedom. "This was the hearing where if we didn't win here, we really didn't know what we were going to do," DeAngelus said.
At that proceeding, Mark Hazelrigg, one of Brown's doctors at Dorothea Dix, said that Brown wouldn't have been able to dictate the six-page document. "This statement is not made in a language that is typical or even possible for Mr. Brown to make spontaneously on his own," Hazelrigg testified.
In an affidavit, Hazelrigg, the chief of forensic services at Dorothea Dix, continued: "Mr. Brown has a limited vocabulary. His speech is simple and repetitive. Mr. Brown does not use complete sentences. ... As a whole, the alleged confession is too detailed and organized for even a normally intelligent person."
The judge agreed. He freed Brown and ruled that there was no "convincing evidence" to keep him detained at Dorothea Dix. Klinkosum recalls that he didn't seem to understand that he was finally free.
"We were all hugging and so forth, and I saw Floyd, and he was walking back to the holding cell, and I said, 'Where are you going?' And he said, 'Court's over. I gotta go back in here.' "
Three years after being released, Brown, 46, lives with a full-time caretaker and has a job cleaning a school in rural North Carolina.
"I didn't murder nobody," he said. "I got locked up for a crime I didn't do."
(cnn)
A New York man was sentenced to 107 years behind bars Monday after making one last request to a judge, “suck my d*ck.”
24-year-old Zaire Page was hit with 107 to life for the death of Lethania Garcia and for wounding four other people.
Prosecutors report that Page was part of a deadly October 2008 shootout in Fort Greene New York.
He was given the maximum sentence Monday after he stood before Judge Vincent Del Giudice and said,
“With all due respect and from the bottom of my heart, suck my d---."
The New York Daily News reports that Judge Del Giudice, didn't miss a beat and replied,
“I respectfully decline your offer. You are a danger to all civilized members of society."
Paige and his accomplice Robert Crawford attacked the victim Garcia after he left a state court.
The pair chased him and shot inside a hair salon where Garcia was killed and the others injured
(hiphopwired)
Fox rejects 'Jesus hates Obama' Super Bowl ad according to site creator Richard Belfry
The Fox Television Network may have been displaying integrity by refusing to run the 'Jesus Hates Obama' commercial during the upcoming Superbowl but the controversial ad has brought exposure to the campaign created by comedian Richard Belfry.
The ad features two bobblehead dolls, one of President Barack Obama and another of what appears to be Jesus Christ.
While "Battle Hymn of the Republic" plays, the camera pans to both dolls signifying a standoff with Obama's figurine finally falling into a fish bowl.
The Jesus doll stands proudly wearing the company's signature shirt that reads, "Jesus Hates Obama."
A block of text on the front page of JesusHatesObama.com reads,
"Do we really believe that Jesus hates Obama? Of course not! However, we do believe in freedom...as in the freedom to make fun of the Obama administration with novelty t-shirts...our products may be a joke but so are the policies of this administration."
Belfry explains,
“This isn't a stunt and we're definitely not trying to capitalize on the horrific events that happened in Arizona. ‘Jesus Hates Obama' has been around since 2009, we've made a ton of money with limited exposure so we and our investors can see the potential this brand has, which is more popular than ever.”
The popularity of the site may not reach the Superbowl audience it was intended for, but somehow the denial of the ad has been leaked to the media and Belfry may just be in for a bigger payday.
There is heavy speculation about the funding of this site and now about the release of this story.
Watch the "Jesus Hates Obama" commercial below.
This is pure madness and racist as hell............
(HIPHOPWIRED)
Much props to Mike Vick and the company that gave him his first endorsement deal in nearly two years since rebuilding his life and NFL career.
It's Vick's first national endorsement deal since he spent 19 months in the pokey for his role in an interstate dogfighting ring. A few months ago, he had done some endorsement work for Woodbury Nissan, but it was just a local gig, and Vick reportedly wasn't paid.
Before any of that dogfighting mess went down, Vick was one of the most sought-after endorsers in sports. There was the Madden cover, the Michael Vick Experience, Coca-Cola, and a bunch of others. Vick was on TV more than Ryan Seacrest.
Unequal Technologies isn't exactly Nike, so it's not like this means that Vick has snuggled his way back into the hearts of the American public. We don't know yet what the Unequal people plan to do with him, but the company's CEO, Rob Vito, described Vick's earnings on the deal as "sizable." From Philly.com:
"We believe it was worth it," he said, "because of Michael Vick and how he can shed light on the technology of our products."
"We're real excited about it," Vito said. "Michael is good people. He paid his dues. President Obama reached out to him. He deserves an opportunity. This is what makes America so great. He's moved forward. He's a whole other person."
(yahoo sports)
Like I said big props to Mike Vick for rebuilding his life and his career and helping keep football alive and well in Philadelphia after the departure of the legendary Donovan McNabb. Mike was also selected to the Pro Bowl, another major accomplishment for him after all the turmoil he's been through. (THA CHILL ONE)
The NBA’s Most Valuable Teams.............
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
By MIKE OZANIAN
(FORBES)
The average NBA team is now worth $369 million, 1% more than last year. But several of the league’s 30 teams have not fully recovered from the recession, and as a result values are still 2.6% below the $379 million peak average they hit two years ago.
No player in the 64-year history of the National Basketball Association has come close to having the immediate and profound impact that LeBron James had when he bolted the Cleveland Cavaliers for the Miami Heat this summer. The King’s move accounted for both the biggest gain and drop in team values: the Heat’s worth increased 17%, to $425 million (seventh among the NBA’s 30 teams), and the Cavaliers plummeted 26%, to $355 million (15th).
The Heat sold out their season ticket inventory for the 2010-11 campaign after four straight years of attendance declines. Ticket prices are going up next year and ratings for Heat games on Sun Sports, the Fox-owned regional sports network, have doubled this season. Meanwhile, after winning more than 60 games each of the past two seasons, the Cavs won only eight of their first 45 games this year and owner Dan Gilbert recently announced that prices for Cavs games would be lowered next season.
The New York Knicks replace the Los Angeles Lakers as the NBA’s most valuable team, worth $655 million, up 12% from last year. Signing Amar’e Stoudemire has been a big help both on the court and with sponsors. The Knicks sold out their full-season ticket inventory for the first time since the 2001-02 season. The Knicks’ parent company, Madison Square Garden, Inc., signed a sponsorship deal with JPMorgan Chase in September that’s worth at least $30 million a year over 10 years.
Full List: The NBA’s Most Valuable Team
Complete Coverage: The Business Of The NBA
Our valuations sometimes differ from the amount teams have recently sold for. Our estimations are based on the team’s current economics (unless ground has been broken for a new building) and do not include the value of real estate. For example, we value the Warriors, who negotiated a more lucrative cable deal soon after Peter Guber and Joe Lacob bought the team, at $363 million. One reason the new owners paid $450 million is their lease at the antiquated Oracle Arena expires in 2017 and the building is likely to be renovated, with the team getting a more lucrative lease or a new building entirely.
In June, Ted Leonsis purchased the 56% of the Washington Wizards and Verizon Center that he did not already own, plus the Baltimore-Washington D.C. Ticketmaster franchise, in a deal that put a value on the whole enterprise of $551 million. We value the Wizards at $322 million because we only include the revenue the team gets from the Verizon Center, not the value of the real estate itself.
The bad economy and a few suspect markets (Minnesota, Sacramento, Indiana among others) drained profitability during the 2009-10 season due to lower ticket receipts. Operating income (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization) fell to an average of $6.1 million, 22% lower than the previous season and the lowest figure since the 2002-03 season. Worse, 17 teams lost money, the most since the lockout-shortened 1998-99 season. Several franchises like the Detroit Pistons and the New Orleans Hornets are on the market, but can’t find buyers at the right price.
However, if NBA commissioner David Stern gets his way, an imbecile would be able to make money running a team. Stern wants to lop $750 million off of player costs, lowering the portion of basketball-related revenue that goes to players from 57% to around 40%. If Stern succeeds, even teams like the Hornets, who were thought to be headed for bankruptcy before the NBA rescued the franchise, would immediately rise at least 30% in value because potential buyers would know they don’t run the risk of writing checks to cover operating losses.
NEW YORK -- The New York Knicks have overtaken the Los Angeles Lakers as the NBA's most valuable franchise, and 17 of the 30 teams are estimated to have lost money last season, according to Forbes.
The Knicks' value rose 12 percent from $586 million to $655 million, the magazine said Wednesday in its annual evaluation. The rise was attributed to increased ticket sales and sponsorships at Madison Square Garden.
The Lakers went up 6 percent from $607 million to $643 million.
Chicago was third at $511 million, followed by Boston ($452 million), Houston ($443 million) and Dallas ($438 million).
After signing LeBron James, the Miami Heat had the biggest percentage rise, a 17 percent increase to $425 million, good for seventh place. Following the loss of James, Cleveland dropped a league-high 26 percent to $355 million.
The average value of a franchise increased 1 percent to $369 million, down from $379 million two years ago.
Forbes estimated teams averaged $6.1 million in operating income. It said the total of teams that lost money is the most since the lockout-shortened 1998-99 season.
(CNN) -- Former Orange County Sheriff Michael S. Carona, once dubbed "America's Sheriff," turned himself in Tuesday to a Colorado federal prison to begin serving his 5 1/2-year sentence for a witness tampering conviction.
Carona, 55, will serve 66 months in a minimum-security facility called "The Camp" at the Englewood federal prison in Littleton, Colorado, said John Sell, a corrections spokesman. The prison is 15 miles southwest of Denver.
Carona will have to serve at least 85% of his sentence, spokesman Thom Mrozek of the U.S. Attorney's Office of the Central District of California told CNN.
Carona was sentenced in April 2009 in federal court in Santa Ana, California. He was convicted of trying to persuade a former assistant to lie to and withhold testimony from a federal grand jury investigating claims of corruption in Carona's campaign and his administration, according to a statement by Mrozek.
Carona was also ordered to pay a fine of $125,000, according to Mrozek.
During the trial, prosecutors presented evidence of a wide-ranging corruption scheme in which Carona used illegal campaign contributions and personally accepted cash bribes, Mrozek's statement said.
According to the U.S. attorney's office's press release, U.S. District Judge Andrew J. Guilford sentenced Carona and called witness tampering "a very serious offense." The judge added that "lying will not be tolerated in this courtroom, especially by law enforcement, especially by the highest-ranking law enforcement official in the county," according to the prosecutors' statement.
During the trial, prosecutors said they presented evidence of a secretly recorded meeting in August 2007 in which Carona tried to persuade former Assistant Sheriff Don Haidl to lie to a grand jury that Carona thought had subpoenaed Haidl, according to Mrozek.
In papers filed with the court before the 2009 sentencing, prosecutors charged that Carona received or solicited cash and other items of value worth at least $432,144, according to Mrozek's statement. The FBI and IRS-Criminal Investigation conducted the investigation into Carona.
California news outlets have referred to Carona as "America's Sheriff" and have credited former CNN host Larry King with the nickname. In 2002, then-Sheriff Carona appeared on "Larry King Live" because he caught the kidnapper and killer of 5-year-old Samantha Runnion, whom Carona dubbed "America's Little Girl." King called Carona and the girl's mother, both guests, "genuine American heroes and heroines," according to a CNN transcript
A 32-year-old man is accused of forcing his girlfriend to watch while he sexually assaulted her 12-year-old daughter three times. Charlotte County Sheriff's deputies said the attack happened Wednesday morning at the mother's home. Jerome Nubin of Punta Gorda is charged with sexual battery on a 12-year-old, aggravated assault, kidnapping and domestic battery. He is being held without bond in the Charlotte County Jail. Detectives said Nubin threatened the mother and child with a baseball bat. He also slapped and punched the mother before assaulting the child." - AP
"It's a technical difficulty and has nothing to do with 50 or homeland security or hackers," he said. "We're more or less having difficulties with the site itself as far as our server. We're getting so much traffic we constantly have to upgrade." To further discredit 50's claims, Q reminded listeners that the site had been down before. "We were down in '07 because we got hacked. We got hacked last year and we've also had problems with our bandwith before," he said. According to Q, the site will be up in the next 24 hours. Q also gave 50 Cent a shout out for the "good promo," although he admitted that he and 50 do have personal beef due to miscommunication and a "falling out a while back." (Billboard)
BROUSSARD: Obviously, Pop is a terrific coach, one of the best to do it. But my pick for coach of the past decade or so is Jackson. With five titles and seven Finals appearances since 2000, he's led two separate dynasties in one decade. Not only has Jackson been the best coach of the past 10 to 12 years, he's been the best in NBA history.
Many sports analysis and sports critics have begun the debate of who's the NBA Coach of the past decade and truly speaking it has to be Phil Jackson hands down. Phil has won 11 NBA Championships, a feat likely to stand the true test of time for many generations to come and then some. The Spurs coach has four championships in twelve or thirteen years but Phil has led the Lakers to two seperate Dynasties in the same decade with a total of seven final appearances in ten seasons, that's incredible by any measure. Critics down play Phil's success because they argue he did it with the best players in the game but honestly who didn't whenever a team won? Most Dynasties have the best player or players in the game at that time period.
People can hate but Phil Jackson is the greatest NBA coach of alltime, I said it ,THE GREATEST EVER TO COACH THE GAME. He took the Bulls to the finals six times in the form of two threepeats and he has taken the Lakers to the finals seven times in the form of a threepeat and the journey of another threepeat. Men lie,Women lie,numbers dont,facts dont,history dont. Its sad and a disgrace that he has only one coach of the year award, that's hatred. Just like Kobe only has one regular season MVP award when he clearly should have three by now easily, easily.
Think about it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
COLUMBIA, S.C. — Authorities have charged a South Carolina woman with felony animal cruelty, saying she hanged her nephew's pit bull from a tree with an electrical cord and burned its body because the dog chewed on her Bible.
.Animal control officers said Monday that 65-year-old Miriam Smith told them she killed a female dog named Diamond because it was a "devil dog" and she worried it could harm neighborhood children. Authorities said bond wasn't immediately set for Smith, who remains jailed in Spartanburg County after her weekend arrest.
Officials said she didn't have an attorney yet.
She faces 180 days to five years in prison if convicted.
Authorities say the remains of the dog were found under a pile of grass with part of an electrical cord around its neck.
___
As police in Florida prepared for the funeral of two Miami-Dade County police officers gunned down in the line of duty, shots rang out Monday in St. Petersburg, on the other side of the state. Two other officers fell dead and a federal marshal was wounded. Follow updates on CNN and affiliate WFTS-TV.
On any given day, such violence against police officers would be disturbing. But the fatalities capped a particularly violent 24 hours in the United States for the men and women in blue. Eleven police officers were shot.
“It is a very disturbing trend for all of us,” said Hal Johnson, general counsel for the Florida Police Benevolent Association. “Florida has never seen a streak like this. I don’t think anybody has.”
It is natural to search for answers, Johnson said, even if there aren’t any. The shootings do not appear to be related, and the motives may never be known. Declaring it to be open season against police officers seems dangerously simplistic, he added.
He sees the shootings more as acts of desperation.
“They are shooting at people they know have guns,” Johnson said. “I don’t know what’s going on out there, but I’ve never seen it like this. I do see the developing of a callousness. It’s almost as if shooting a police officer has lost its shock effect.”
Consider:
– On Sunday, four officers were shot in a Detroit police station by a man who walked in, firing randomly. Lamar Deshea Moore was shot to death by police so his motive may never be known, but local reports say a relative was awaiting sentencing for double murder. Two of the police officers remain hospitalized. For more, read CNN’s update and affiliate reports from the scene: WXYZ-TV and WDIV-TV.
– Two deputies were shot outside a Walmart in Port Orchard, Washington, near Seattle, on Sunday. Check out CNN, KIRO-TV and KOMO-TV for the latest updates.
– A police officer is in a coma and in critical condition after being shot during a traffic stop early Sunday in Indianapolis. Check out WTHR-TV and WISH-TV for updates.
– In Lincoln City, Oregon, a police officer was shot Sunday night during a traffic stop. The officer is in critical condition. Check out affiliate KOIN-TV for more information.
Although they do not appear to be related, the weekend shootings follow two other violent incidents last week involving police officers, including the Miami killings and a slaying in Lakewood, New Jersey.
G-Unit head honcho 50 Cent has taken credit for the mysterious shutdown of popular urban video website World Star Hip Hop today and threatened any and all doubters.
I don't know why people underestimate me. I just shut down WORLDSTAR for future advertising contact thisis50.com suckers lol," 50 tweeted Monday (January 24).
"I put worldstar to bed, you don't believe try me I will shut your sh*t down. Lol"
"I predict 2 more web sites will shut down this week. Take a guess who they are. I'm sick of the hate I'm to strong."
"Me and @FloydMayweather don't thing worldstar was good representation of black people as a hole. We will present better"
"I want to thank howard gordon and the good folks over at homeland .hahaha suckers your move"
"50cent: I never lose q should have know better. He cant afford to go back in forth with me.http://plixi.com/p/72240142" (50 Cent's Twitter)
One of World Star Hip Hop's associates, G, responded on Twitter and denied 50 having taken part in the shutdown.
"WE WILL BE BACK!!! CAN'T SHUT US DOWN #WORLDSTAR.," G tweeted Monday.
"Smh I f*cks wit @50cent but n*ggaz clownin yall he aint done sh*t" (G's Twitter)
In November 2009, 50 announced a lawsuit against World Star Hip Hop.
"I gotta lawsuit against World Star for utilizing my likeness," he said in an interview. "A lot of people felt like that was my site because they saw my face on the cover of [the website] for a long time. I have lawyers on retainers and I have to pay them so much money anyway, so we'll go back and forth to court until [they] can't afford a subway sandwich. It's already too late for [them]." (Six Shot)
In late November, multiple urban websites were taken down over piracy and illegal sales accusations.
US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), an agency of the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS), announced on Monday that it had executed court approved seizure orders "against 82 domain names of commercial websites engaged in the illegal sale and distribution of counterfeit goods and copyrighted works as part of Operation In Our Sites v. 2.0." Operation In Our Sites is an ICE initiative aimed at Internet counterfeiting and piracy that began earlier this year with seizure warrants against nine domain names of websites that were offering first-run movies. The ICE press release for Operation In Our Sites v. 2.0 said that the "... operation targeted online retailers of a diverse array of counterfeit goods, including sports equipment, shoes, handbags, athletic apparel and sunglasses as well as illegal copies of copyrighted DVD boxed sets, music and software." (IEEE Spectrum)
Check out 50 Cent speaking on World Star Hip Hop down below:
California police are investigating reports that a number of second-grade students engaged in sexual activity while their teacher was present in the classroom.
Authorities were called to Markham Elementary School in Oakland where a second-grade teacher has been placed on administrative leave.
Police report that they have first-hand accounts from students that classmates engaged in oral sex and stripped off some of their clothes while class was in session.
The teacher, a man whose name has not been released, told officials that he did not see any of the alleged acts that took place last week.
He's been barred from campus until the investigation is completed.
A spokesman for the Oakland Unified School District released a statement on the situations saying,
"We believe if the reports are true, there was a serious lapse of judgment or lack of supervision in the classroom…We're investigating how could this have happened. It seems unthinkable to us, just the same way it does to the public."
(hiphopwired)
She apparently was right all along.
A pigtailed 4-year-old girl identified her mom's alleged killer 18 years ago, but he was never brought to justice for the heinous crime -- until now.
DeJohn Hoffman, then 29 -- already serving 25 years to life for an unrelated slaying -- was finally charged Thursday in the point-blank fatal shooting of 22-year-old Jessica Smith, his girlfriend and the child's mother.
"Daddy shot Mommy in the head," then-4-year-old Christina Smith -- the oldest of the victim's three kids -- blurted out to cops probing the April 6, 1993, disappearance of her mom.
TRAUMATIZED: Jessica Smith, with daughter Christina, was allegedly murdered by boyfriend DeJohn Hoffman in 1993 as the horrified 4-year-old girl looked on.
Hoffman was living with Jessica Smith and the children at the time in the Mount Eden section of The Bronx. Christina was not his biological child.
But prosecutors were troubled about using someone so young as their main witness in the case, and the Bronx District Attorney's Office declined to prosecute Hoffman.
Cold-case cops, however, refused to give up.
In 2006, detectives paid a visit to Hoffman at the Eastern Correctional Facility in Napanoch, NY, where the thug has been locked up for his later conviction in 1993 in the fatal shooting of an innocent bystander during a botched robbery at a Brooklyn bodega two years earlier.
Investigators grilled Hoffman about some of his bloodstained clothing, which had been recovered after Smith's murder.
He claimed that it was his own blood on the clothes -- but a forensic analysis proved it was actually Smith's.
In 2008, investigators then questioned one of Hoffman's former associates in a federal pen. The associate admitted to the cops that he had helped in the removal and disposal of Smith's body, sources said. The body had been found in a Bronx vacant lot six days after the murder.
The snitch testified before a Bronx grand jury last month, sealing Hoffman's fate. He was indicted on two counts of murder Dec. 30.
Still, for Christina, there is no happy ending. She has been diagnosed with schizophrenia, her family said, and now lives in a New Jersey group home for the mentally challenged.
"It messed her up," her uncle, Andre Smith, 41, told The Post yesterday.
"I don't think she understood what happened -- that her mother was dead," said aunt Kim Smith-Tippens, 49. "After that, she just shut down."
Read more: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/bronx/time_after_crime_EMM9SaMwj1XybE2lmO3XdI#ixzz1Bxxul5pL
HOLMES MILL, Ky.-The U.S. Postal Service plays two roles in America: an agency that keeps rural areas linked to the rest of the nation, and one that loses a lot of money.
Now, with the red ink showing no sign of stopping, the postal service is hoping to ramp up a cost-cutting program that is already eliciting yelps of pain around the country. Beginning in March, the agency will start the process of closing as many as 2,000 post offices, on top of the 491 it said it would close starting at the end of last year. In addition, it is reviewing another 16,000-half of the nation's existing post offices-that are operating at a deficit, and lobbying Congress to allow it to change the law so it can close the most unprofitable among them. The law currently allows the postal service to close post offices only for maintenance problems, lease expirations or other reasons that don't include profitability.The news is crushing in many remote communities where the post office is often the heart of the town and the closest link to the rest of the country.
Shuttering them, critics say, also puts an enormous burden on people, particularly on the elderly, who find it difficult to travel out of town.
The postal service argues that its network of some 32,000 brick-and-mortar post offices, many built in the horse-and-buggy days, is outmoded in an era when people are more mobile, often pay bills online and text or email rather than put pen to paper. It also wants post offices to be profitable to help it overcome record $8.5 billion in losses in fiscal year 2010.
A disproportionate number of the thousands of post offices under rev
iew are in rural or smaller suburban areas, though the postal service declined to provide any estimate on how many beyond those slated to begin closure in March might ultimately close or which ones are being targeted. "We want to make the smartest decisions possible with the smallest impact on communities," Dean Granholm, vice president for delivery and post office operations, said in an interview.
He said the agency is identifying locations that are operating at a deficit and looking "for the opportunity to start the process of closing."
In addition to reducing employees-it has cut staffing by a third since 1999- the postal service has sought for years to deal with financial woes by raising rates or cutting services, such as a proposal to drop Saturday delivery. It has also talked in the past about closing a much smaller number of post offices. But while closures have been "on the table" in the past, this push is the agency's most serious yet, Mr. Granholm said, and is drawing widespread interest from a cost-cutting Congress. Still, shutting down post offices is often politically unpopular: elected officials in several communities have already written the Postal Regulatory Commission protesting planned closures.
Keanu Reeves Says "Matrix 4" and "5" are Coming
AICN received a scoop from an event that took place at the London International School of Performing Arts, where Keanu Reeves spoke to the class about his career while promoting his new movie "Henry's Crime."
He spoke briefly about "47 Ronin" and "Bill and Ted 3," but the big news came when Reeves revealed that he met with the Wachowskis around Christmas. They told him that they completed script treatments for two more "Matrix" installments. They are planning to make the films in 3D and have already met with James Cameron to discuss the advantages and disadvantages of the technology.
Reeves added that he's excited to return as Neo and promised that the treatments will truly revolutionize the action genre like the first "Matrix" film did.
(ajcn)
(CNN) -- Police officials will reassess security measures after a gunman shot four officers at a Detroit police precinct, the city's police chief said.
Detroit Police Chief Ralph Godbee said Sunday's police precinct shooting and the recent Tucson, Arizona, shooting rampage that left six dead and wounded 13 would force officials "to take a step back and reassess security procedures at each one of our facilities."
"It's more than likely we will be changing a number of things relative to standard operating procedures as to how we screen our public before they come in," he said. "We want to still maintain community policing format, we want to engage our public but at the same time incidents like this are very sobering (and) remind us how vulnerable we all are, especially in the public sector."
All four officers are expected to survive, Godbee said. The most seriously injured officer -- he was shot in the lower back -- emerged from surgery Sunday evening at Sinai-Grace Hospital, he said.
A person who police identified as the shooter was shot dead, Godbee said at a Sunday evening press conference.
Officers shot in Detroit police station
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Police have identified the shooter, Godbee said, but are withholding the person's name as they conduct an investigation of the incident.
Godbee said that a man walked into a police precinct Sunday and "indiscriminately began firing and as you can imagine utter chaos and pandemonium took place."
"Through it all, our officers maintained courageous calm," he said. "They returned fire, they took cover, they did all the things we train them to do under pressure."
Godbee said the "prognosis we feel is very good" for the officer who was shot in the back, who is a commander.
A female sergeant was shot in the chest but was protected by a bulletproof vest. She has been treated and released from the hospital, Godbee said.
Two other male officers were grazed in the head, with one in serious condition, but both are conscious, alert and talking, he said
"We are very relieved that it appears that all our officers are going to be OK," Godbee said.
He said the identities of the wounded officers are being withheld until their families are notified.
Detroit Police Department Sgt. Eren Stephens said the shooter was a 35-year-old man. He walked into Detroit's sixth precinct station Sunday at 4:25 p.m., and "opened fire, striking 4 officers," Stephens said. "Return fire fatally wounded the assailant."
Finally, there came a point when Coach Phil Jackson felt comfortable enough the Lakers would secure a victory that Kobe Bryant no longer needed to be on the court.
"Maybe I should take him out because the game is in the bag," Jackson recalled saying to Lakers assistant coach Frank Hamblen, as detailed in the updated edition of his book, "Sacred Hoops." According to Jackson, Hamblen responded this way: "There would be a riot."
That's because at that point very little of the 18,887 at Staples Center cheered because the Lakers would prevail in a 112-104 victory over Toronto after overcoming a 14-point halftime deficit exactly five years ago. No, the fans chanted "M-V-P" throughout the game and stood up for the entire fourth quarter as they witnessed Bryant scoring 81 points, marking the second-highest scoring total in NBA history behind Wilt Chamberlain's 100-point performance with Philadelphia against the New York Knicks on March 2, 1962. It's a good thing Jackson heeded Hamblen's advice because he initially considered yanking Bryant when he had 77 points, one point behind Chamberlain's then-No.-2-all-time mark when Philadelphia visited the Lakers in a 151-147 triple-overtime loss on Dec. 8, 1961.
"I wasn't keeping track on what he had," Jackson told The Times' Mike Bresnahan regarding Bryant's mark, which also eclipsed the Lakers' franchise record -- Elgin Baylor's 71-point performance in a 123-108 victory over the Knicks on Nov. 16, 1960.
Surely, it was a night to marvel at Bryant's seeming ability to will his team on his scoring prowess alone. The feat itself proved enough of a sight, with The Times' Mark Heisler writing that the performance epitomized Bryant's penchant for "dropping in seemingly impossible shots -- defenders all over him, not squared up, moving laterally, from way downtown, not even he can make that one, nice shot, Kobe -- one after another as if they were routine." And Bresnahan's game story certainly captured the emotions surrounding a record-breaking night. He noted public address announcer Lawrence Tanter telling fans to save their ticket stubs, quoted Lakers owner Jerry Buss describing Bryant's performance as "like watching a miracle unfold" and related the scene of teammates and staff members asking Bryant to sign the box score.
Five years later, Bryant won't wax too much sentimentality on it.
"I really don't think about it too much," The Times' Broderick Turner quoted Bryant, who also noted his grandmother attended in what was her "first and only game she's ever been to in the NBA." "I still don't know how the hell it happened. It's just one of those things, I guess."
But here's where it's not just one of those things. The performance partly contributed to an improved relationship with Jackson and perfectly juxtaposed what Bryant's facing, where he's playing both facilitator and scorer on a championship-contending roster.
"The funny thing is that this was one of the few scoring tears Kobe has gone on where I wasn't anxious about making sure he didn't make it a one-man show," Jackson wrote in the updated "Sacred Hoops." "As a coach, you always strive for success of the team over any individual. But, on this night, it was Kobe who was responsible for the team's success. Without his heroic performance, we would have lost. His outburst came in the context of the game. I trusted him, and he trusted me. This was a moment in a relationship that has certainly endured its share of turmoil."
That included the contentious and ego-clashing dynamic shared by Shaquille O'Neal, Bryant and Jackson during the Lakers' three-peat seasons (1999-2002) and the next two, which fell short by Lakers standards (an elimination in the 2003 Western Conference semifinals to San Antonio and a five-game series loss to the Detroit Pistons in the 2004 NBA FInals) and illustrated in Jackson's book "The Last Season," which captured the coach's feelings that swung between admiration for Bryant's competitiveness and disdain for Bryant's ego fueled higher distrust.
With Jackson returning to coach the Lakers only a season removed from his departure, however, it didn't take long for the two to foster a better relationship. Consider Bryant's revelation to ESPN Los Angeles' Dave McMenamin that Jackson asked him numerous times that season whether " I wanted to stay in," including a 62-point performance in the Lakers' 112-90 victory Dec. 20, 2005, against Dallas, four games he scored between 50-59 points and 21 contests he logged between 40-40 points.
"Phil's been really cool about stuff like that," Bryant told McMenamin. Bryant's 35.4 points per game that season was the NBA's highest single-season average since Michael Jordan's 37.1 during the Chicago Bulls in 1986-87.
Surely, there were other adversities ahead, including two first-round exits to Phoenix in 2006 and 2007, his trade demands in 2007 and another NBA Finals loss in 2008. But Bryant's performance, among other things, helped paved the way for what's resulted in five NBA titles. Bryant's no longer having to carry a team. The Lakers' 107-97 victory Friday over Denver featured five players scoring at least 17 points. It's astonishing to see Bryant make 28 of 46 shots (60.9%), hit 18 of 20 free throws and drain 13 three-point attempts in a record-setting night against Toronto. It's still intriguing, however, to witness Bryant still seemingly do everything on offense, but in various capacities. His 18-point performance with seven assists and six rebounds showcased his scoring mentality (14 third-quarter points, including two consecutive baseline jumpers) an uncanny court vision (an alley-oop lob to Pau Gasol and a jump-pass to Lamar Odom) and a good dose of pure grit (diving and tipping a loose ball to the Lakers' favor).
Trust issues occasionally remain, such as the his 27 shot attempts in a double-digit loss to San Antonio last month and his six of 24 clip in Game 7 of the NBA Finals against Boston. His changed game also points to his increased awareness on maintaining health and longevity on a taxing body. But it also speaks to how he's thrived and excelled in complementing and elevating the increased talent around him.
"We are going from the bottom to the top all together, so it's important for us to enjoy the journey, and that is what we are doing right now," Bryant said to reporters after his record-setting performance. "We are on a journey, and to put on a show like this for the fans here in L.A. is truly something special."
As Jackson remarked in his book and Bryant later found out, that was just the beginning to a storied second chapter.
(latimes)
DENVER -- Kobe Bryant clarified his remarks that Denver Nuggets fans are "stupid" for booing Carmelo Anthony over his trade stance.
The Lakers were in town to play the Nuggets, and after shootaround Friday, Bryant was asked again about Anthony getting roundly booed following his 35-point performance against Oklahoma City 48 hours earlier.
"I said they were idiots for booing," Bryant recounted.
“
It's stupid. You don't boo him. It's silly. You boo him the first time, let him know how you feel and get over it.
”
-- Kobe Bryant
Reminded that a day earlier he had characterized those frustrated fans as "stupid" for booing their own superstar, Bryant replied, "Stupid and idiots are synonymous."
Idiots might be harsher.
"I don't know," Bryant said. "They're close. They're cousins."
Either way, the Los Angeles Lakers star who regularly gets booed at Pepsi Center himself, contends Anthony -- his teammate on the 2008 Olympic gold-medal team -- doesn't deserve similar treatment from his home crowd.
Bryant quieted the Nuggets fans his own way, scoring 14 of his 18 points in the decisive third quarter as the Lakers won 107-97.
He suggested that if Anthony were at all waffling about his desire for a trade, the Nuggets fans' hostile treatment just might push him out of Denver.
"Melo's a good friend of mine and it's the truth," Bryant said after the game. "It's stupid. You don't boo him. It's silly. You boo him the first time, let him know how you feel and get over it."
Anthony has been the subject of trade talk since refusing to sign a three-year, $65 million extension last summer. Two potential blockbuster trades with the New Jersey Nets have fallen apart.
More on the Lakers
For more news, notes and analysis of the Lakers, check out the Land O' Lakers blog from the Kamenetzky Brothers. Blog
Nuggets general manager Masai Ujiri said after the Nets halted negotiations on their latest megadeal Wednesday that he still was talking to several teams about his All-Star forward.
Anthony missed the Nuggets' shootaround Friday morning because of what coach George Karl called a personal matter (it was an excused absence), but he was in the starting lineup Friday night, scoring 23 points.
"I see both sides," Karl said. "I want to support Melo. I also want to support the fans. They're part of us. They're part of our organization. We can't be successful without them. I can't deny that some of them are probably very frustrated."
The situation reminded Bryant of a difficult time in his own career, when in May 2007, he demanded to be traded because the Lakers were not focused on building a winning team.
"In my situation, we weren't spending the money to get players [to the Lakers]," Bryant said. "They had me playing around with Smush Parker. So until they decided that they wanted to make the necessary sacrifice financially and give me a team that was going to be competitive, then I didn't want to be here. It was as simple as that.
In Bryant's view, it's clear what the Nuggets -- who have salary-cap space to play with this summer -- have to do to keep Anthony.
" . . . It's about winning. If you want to keep a player here, make the right decisions," Bryant said. "Make the right choices, first of all. Get a team around a guy that can help you win and there won't be no problem."
A Texas town that the Jonas Brothers call home tops the list.
The Town of Westlake, Texas, might be best-known for being the home of the Jonas Brothers. But this Dallas suburb, where Buffalo roam the ranch land, is crawling with the rich and famous. Texas Rangers slugger Josh Hamilton has a house there, as does his boss, Rangers owner Chuck Greenberg. Vernon Wells, the Toronto Blue Jays center fielder, is building a massive home in Westlake; New York Yankee Mark Teixeira already owns a house there that he's been trying to sell.
Westlake boasts a Tom Fazio designed golf course and some famous golfers like K.J. Choi and Todd Hamilton live there, too. Former Exxon chief Lee Raymond is building a house in Westlake, which is already home to Matthew Rose, the CEO of Burlington Northern Santa Fe ( BNI - news - people ), who is seen as a potential successor of Warren Buffett.
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• In Pictures: America's Most Affluent Neighborhoods
No wonder this Dallas suburb is the most affluent neighborhood in the country, with estimated annual median household income of $250,000.
"It's not so much of a surprise, since we are a very small town and we have a number of highly paid professional athletes who live here, CEOs of major corporations, members of a popular band of brothers," says Laura Wheat, the mayor of the Town of Westlake. "There is no place like it."
Westlake has 703 residents who live in rolling estates and send their children to the only municipally owned federal charter school in Texas. There is also a grass runway for airplanes belonging to the residents. Deloitte, a big accounting and consulting firm, is building a $300 million training center in Westlake, adding to a strong corporate presence that includes Fidelity Investments' regional headquarters.
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But not even Westlake has been able to escape the tough fiscal realities confronting many municipalities across America. Westlake recently introduced a property tax that was necessary because declining sales tax revenue was forcing the town to eat into its financial reserves.
To determine America's most affluent neighborhoods, we looked at average median household income estimates from 2005 to 2009 provided in the U.S. Census' American Community Survey. On Dec. 14, 2010, the Census released for the first time ever data estimates based on surveys collected between 2005 and 2009 from all communities in America. These include cities, towns and villages, as well as Census-designated places (CDPs), a type of neighborhood that lacks a separate municipal government, but otherwise physically resembles one of these other places. None of the most affluent communities and places had populations greater than 64,999.
Topping the list was Westlake, followed by the Village of Kenilworth, Ill., a Chicago suburb that ranks as the most exclusive neighborhood in the Midwest, with estimated median household income of $247,000. Even after the housing slump the average house in Kenilworth sells for about $1 million. Another suburb, Mission Hills, Kan., rounds out the top three. With median household income of $243,000, Mission Hills is home to Kansas City's richest, including former Kansas City Royals star George Brett.
[See Best Cities to Move to in America]
The smallest neighborhood to make the list ranks fourth: Popponesset Island, Mass., which at the time of the 2000 Census had only 39 residents. The small population is the reason for the huge margin of error cited by the Census for its median household income estimate. Nevertheless, this Cape Cod island, surrounded by the waters of Popponesset Bay, is estimated to have household median income of $243,000. Billionaire Robert Kraft, the owner of the New England Patriots, has owned a residence on Popponesset Island, but he recently reportedly sold a big stake in the property to his son and daughter-in-law.
No region, however, has more of the nation's most affluent neighborhoods than Long Island, N.Y.. The villages of Plandome, Hewlett Neck, Plandome Manor and Munsey Park are all among the nation's richest, with estimated household median income of between $234,000 and $242,000. All of these Long Island communities are in Nassau County.
1: Town of Westlake, Texas
Average Median Income: $250,000
This Dallas suburb is home to the Jonas Brothers, famous baseball players and golfers like Josh Hamilton and K.J. Choi, and big-shot CEOs like Matthew Rose. It's the richest place in the nation with an estimated annual median household income of $250,000.
2: Village of Kenilworth, IL.
Average Median Income: $247,000
Located along Lake Michigan's north shore, this Chicago suburb is the most exclusive neighborhood in the Midwest. Its estimated median household income is $247,000. Even after the housing slump, the average house here goes for just under $988,000, according to Zillow.
3 (Tie): Mission Hills, Kan.
Average Median Income: $243,000
Mission Hills is a suburb of Kansas City. It's in Kansas, not Missouri, but is home to the richest people in the area, like Kansas City Royals legend George Brett. Its estimated median household income is $243,000.
3 (Tie): Popponesset Island, Mass.
Average Median Income: $243,000
The smallest neighborhood to make the list, this Cape Cod island had only 39 residents, according to the 2000 Census. Billionaire Robert Kraft, owner of the New England Patriots, has owned a residence here, but recently reportedly sold a big stake in the property to his son and daughter-in-law.
The median household income is estimated to be $243,000, but the margin of error cited by the Census is as big as the Patriots' offensive line.
5: Village of Plandome, N.Y.
Average Median Income: $242,000
Long Island, N.Y., is well represented on the list of the most affluent neighborhoods. The Village of Plandome has an estimated annual median household income of $242,000.
(yahoo)
