Author: Pierre Brandon Washington
At least nine people were killed and 16 people injured after a shooting early Sunday in Dayton, Ohio, police said.The suspected shooter, who is believed to have acted alone, is also dead. What We Know: The shooting in Dayton comes just hours after 20 people were killed and 26 more injured in El Paso, Texas, when a gunman opened fire in a Walmart and around a nearby shopping mall on Saturday. That shooting was the 250th shooting in 215 days. This makes 251 in 216. Lieutenant Colonel Matt Carper of the Dayton Police told reporters the latest mass shooting to…
T.I. and his family suffered a terrible loss at the beginning of the year when the Rubberbandman’s sister, Precious Chapman, died in February after succumbing to injuries sustained in a tragic car accident. What We Know: The Atlanta rapper sought to honor her legacy in a fitting way and recently let fans in on his plans. During the taping of “Dear Mama: A Love Letter to Mama,” VH1’s annual tribute show creating space for celebrities to praise the women in their lives, T.I. has created a special scholarship fund in honor of his late sister. T.I. honored Chapman, his mother,…
Offset, one-third of the Migos is facing new felony charges, which stem from a Georgia arrest in 2018. What We Know: The Father of 4 rapper, born Kiari Kendrell Cephus, was pulled over in a traffic stop resulting in a felony charge for firearms possession by a convicted felon and misdemeanor charges of marijuana possession and a lane change. The traffic stop was originally stated to have been initiated due to the tinted windows on Offset’s car. Charges against Offset from the incident last summer were filed this past February. He was originally facing another charge in the arrest for felony possession of a…
Herman Cain is no longer a candidate for the Federal Reserve Board, according to a tweet from President Trump. What We Know: The news comes after the chief executive had said he was considering the businessman, but that subsequently ran into past allegations of sexual harassment. Cain ran for president as a Republican in 2012, but ended his campaign abruptly after several women came forth with allegations that he sexually harassed them. Cain vehemently denied the allegations during that time and Trump, a friend of Cain’s, also said they reeked of an “unfair witch hunt.” Cain seemed to realize his Federal Reserve Board nomination was…
A high school teenager died by suicide after being the target of homophobic bullying, according to reports that began to surface over the weekend on Facebook. What We Know: Nigel Shelby, a student at Huntsville High School in Huntsville, Alabama, was reportedly 15 at the time of his death. According to the Center for Social Equity, 74 percent of LGBTQ+ youth say they don’t feel safe at school. In Alabama specifically, according to locals there are no state-level protections for LGBTQ+ students in Alabama. A GoFundMe account has been created to help Shelby’s mother with funeral expenses. The $10,000 goal on…
While surprising to no one at all, another popular company is under fire for the publishing of a tone deaf commercial. What We Know: An Ancestry.com ad begins with a couple – a young black woman and young white man – clad in mid 19th century clothing, running through what looks like an alley. The couple stops. The man holds up a ring. “Abigail,” the man says, “We can escape…Will you leave with me.” The young woman gets out only a fraction of one word, “I…,” before the point of this ad becomes clear. Ancestry.com, which claims to have…
Danquirs Franklin appeared to be lowering a gun toward the ground at the time a Charlotte-Mecklenburg police officer fatally shot him, a video released Monday shows. What We Know: On March 25 Officer Wende Kerl was called to the parking lot of a west Charlotte Burger King. Kerl was responding to frantic 911 calls about a man with a gun threatening people at the restaurant. Kerl’s body camera shows that she and another officer instructed Franklin to put the gun down more than 15 times in the roughly 40 seconds before he was shot. In that span, the gun is…
This escalated quickly. What We Know: Kevin Hunter was fired as executive producer on Wendy Williams’ show after she served her philandering husband divorce papers last week The 47-year-old was also fired as Wendy’s manager and he was given 48 hours to remove his belongings fromtheir New Jersey home, a source told DailyMail.com Williams served Hunter with divorce papers last Thursday, April 11th, 2019. It’s been alleged that Kevin Hunter and mistress Sharina Hudson had been living the high life at a hideaway in New Jersey, going for dinner dates, dressing in designer gear and driving flashy new cars Hunter…
Insecure is taking a brief hiatus. What We Know: In an interview with Vulture’s Josef Adalian, HBO programming chief Casey Bloys confirmed that Insecure won’t be back for its fourth season until 2020 — because Issa Rae is booked and busy. Created by co-star Issa Rae and writer/comic Larry Wilmore (“The Daily Show With Jon Stewart”), the comedy series looks at the friendship of two black women in a unique, authentic way. It features the music of both indie and established artists of color, and touches on a variety of social and racial issues that relate to the contemporary black experience.…
The African-American civil rights group, which shepherded the 1964 Civil Rights Act into law, endorsed adding LGBTQ people to those the act protects. What We Know: The NAACP, the country’s oldest African-American civil rights organization, publicly endorsed the Equality Act, a federal LGBTQ anti-discrimination bill. “We support what it does — and we support it now,” Hilary Shelton, the organization’s D.C. bureau director, told NBC News on Friday. “It’s important that it gets through.” Shelton said the group had previously endorsed the bill in meetings with two of its sponsors, Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., and Rep. David Cicilline, D-R.I. Reintroduced…