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Deputy fired for slamming S.C. student
A white deputy who violently slammed a black female high school student to the floor and dragged her during a classroom arrest was fired Wednesday. Officer Ben Fields, 34, a senior deputy with the Richland County, S.C., Sheriff’s Department is also the focus of a federal civil rights probe.
Controversial Bishop Eddie L. Long dies at 63
During a 30-year tenure, Bishop Eddie Lee Long transformed the once tiny New Birth Missionary Baptist Church near Atlanta into a megachurch that peaked at 25,000 members before he became embroiled in a sex scandal. A controversial figure who lived a lavish lifestyle and earned millions of dollars from real estate investments and book royalties while pastor, Bishop Long died Sunday, Jan. 15, 2017. His church attributed his death to an aggressive form of cancer.
Afghan evacuees mark first U.S. Ramadan with gratitude, agony
Sitting cross-legged on the floor as his wife and six children laid plates of fruit on a red cloth in front of him, Wolayat Khan Samadzoi watched through the open balcony door for the sliver of the new moon to appear in the cloudless New Mexico sky, where the sun had set beyond a desert mountain.
Michael Jordan donating $100M to racial equality and social justice organizations
Basketball legend Michael Jordan and the Jordan Brand are giving $100 million to organizations dedicated to promoting racial equality and social justice.
Kaine’s history readies him for VP role
He has been Richmond’s mayor, Virginia’s governor and a U.S. senator. Now Sen. Timothy Michael Kaine — whom everyone calls “Tim” — has leaped to the national stage as Democrat Hillary Clinton’s running mate.
U.S. greets pope
Pope Francis urged the United States to help tackle climate change and touched on other divisive U.S. political issues such as immigration and economic inequality on his first visit to the world’s richest nation. In a speech Wednesday on the White House South Lawn, the Argentine pontiff — known as “The People’s Pope” — lauded President Obama’s efforts to reduce air pollution, months after Pope Francis made the environment one of his top issues by issuing a landmark encyclical letter to the church.
Charlottesville roils with protests over Confederate statue
Protests reminiscent of Ku Klux Klan rallies are rattling Charlottesville over the city’s plans to remove a statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee from a park in downtown.
Obama picks D.C. jurist
President nominates Judge Merrick Garland for U.S. Supreme Court amid GOP pushback
President Obama nominated veteran appellate court Judge Merrick Garland to the U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday, setting up a potentially ferocious political showdown with Senate Republicans who have vowed to block any Obama nominee.
Megapastor tries to defend himself after Hurricane Harvey
Pastor Joel Osteen’s Lakewood Church in Houston is helping Texans cope in the wake of Hurricane Harvey — and trying to counter a flood of comments on social media accusing the church of turning its back on storm victims. The church took in about 400 people from the overflow at Houston’s George R. Brown Convention Center, a Red Cross shelter, church spokesman Don Iloff said last week.
Pharrell Williams wants to grow Virginia’s film, TV industry
Two years ago, Pharrell Williams co-produced the movie “Hidden Figures.”
Former congressional delegate Walter Fauntroy arrested
Civil rights leader and former congressional delegate Walter Fauntroy was released from a Virginia jail Tuesday following his arrest Monday at Dulles International Airport on a 5-year-old charge of writing a bad check in Maryland, authorities said. Mr. Fauntroy, 83, had been living abroad for the past four years, and relatives and friends had expressed concerns about his health. He told The Washington Post in a telephone interview last week that he was coming home and that he believed the bad check issue was resolved.
Granddaughter of Dr. King releases new book
Six months ago, the 15-year-old granddaughter of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. announced that she was collaborating on a picture book tribute to the late civil rights leader and his wife, Coretta Scott King.
Dr. Patricia Bath, whose patents advanced cataract treatment, dies at 76
Dr. Patricia Bath, a pioneering ophthalmologist who became the first African-American female doctor to receive a medical patent after she invented a more precise treatment of cataracts, has died. She was 76.
Alabama law protecting Confederate statues remains in effect during appeal
An Alabama law that prohibits cities from removing Confederate monuments will remain in effect while the state appeals a judge’s ruling that declared the statute constitutional, the Alabama Supreme Court ruled last month.
Acclaimed writer Paule Marshall, professor emeritus at VCU, dies at 90
Writer Paule Marshall, an exuberant and sharpened storyteller who in books such as “Daughters” and “Brown Girl, Brownstones” drew upon classic and vernacular literature and her mother’s kitchen conversations to narrate the divides between African-Americans and Caucasians, men and women, and modern and traditional cultures, died Monday, Aug. 20, 2019, in Richmond.
Archaeologists uncover remnants of one of nation’s first Black churches in Williamsburg
The brick foundation of one of the nation’s oldest Black churches has been unearthed at Colonial Williamsburg, a living history museum that continues to reckon with its past storytelling about the country’s origins and the role of Black Americans.
Tiger Woods roars back to win Masters Tournament
Tiger’s back! The fallen hero and crippled star is now a Masters champion again. The 43-year-old Tiger Woods thrilled viewers — and himself — as he rallied to win the Masters Tournament for the fifth time on Sunday in a comeback that goes well beyond the two-shot deficit he erased before a delirious audience that watched memories turn into reality at Augusta National.
Trump steadily fulfills goals on religious right’s wish list
When Donald Trump assumed the presidency, conservative religious leaders drew up “wish lists” of steps they hoped he’d take to oppose abortion and rein in the LGBTQ rights movement. With a flurry of recent actions, the Trump administration is winning their praise for aggressively fulfilling many of their goals.
Anguish of a nation
From memorial services to protests, numerous questions arise after senseless killings
“Can we all get along? Can we get along? Can we stop making it, making it horrible …?” The late Rodney King spoke those memorable words as he called for calm in 1992 after the acquittal of four white police officers who were videotaped savagely beating him triggered riots in Los Angeles.
FBI detects breaches in two state voter systems
The FBI has found breaches in Illinois’ and Arizona’s voter registration databases and is urging states to increase computer security ahead of the Nov. 8 presidential election, according to a U.S. official familiar with the probe.
