US President Barack Obama (4th L) signs a bill in the Oval Office designating the Congressional Gold Medal to commemorate the four young girls killed during the 1963 bombing of 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama
President Barack Obama is set to sign a bill Friday that awards the Congressional Gold Medal posthumously to the four African-American girls killed in the 1963 Birmingham church bombing.
The children were murdered when a bomb planted by white supremacists exploded at the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama, in September 1963.
The Congressional Gold Medal is the highest civilian award given in the United States. It is awarded to people “who have performed an achievement that has an impact on American history and culture that is likely to be recognized as a major achievement in the recipient’s field long after the achievement.”
It’s often said that the only certainties in life are death and taxes. But you can add “rehashing of the O.J. Simpson case” to that list — at least for the last 18 years.
So it should come as no surprise that a new book has been published about the 1994 murders of Simpson’s ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend, Ron Goldman.
In 1995, a California jury acquitted O.J. Simpson of the killings. A civil lawsuit, later filed by the victims’ families, resulted in a 1997 judgment finding Simpson liable for the deaths and ordering him to pay $33.5 million in damages.
The latest installment in the Simpson library is not another “If I Did It,” in which the former gridiron great speculated on how he might have killed his former wife. Instead, the new book points the finger of guilt away from Simpson and lays the blame on his son, Jason Simpson.
“Everything we have in the book is documented. It is not theory or hypothesis. It is fact,” renowned private investigator William C. Dear told The Huffington Post about his book, “O.J. Is Innocent and I Can Prove It.”
Dear’s 576-page “true account,” according to Amazon.com, hit the shelves today, retailing at $18 for the hardcover edition.
In the investigation into the murders of Brown and Goldman, Jason Simpson was never considered a suspect or a person of interest. The 41-year-old lives in Miami, where he reportedly works as a chef. HuffPost was unable to reach Simpson for comment Monday because his phone had been disconnected.
PHOTO: High school senior Chelesa Fearce, 17, has overcome homelessness to become a star student and valedictorian at Charles Drew High School in Clayton County, Ga. (ABC News)
When 17-year-old valedictorian Chelesa Fearce stands before her Georgia high school graduating class today to give her speech, she will talk about overcoming homelessness and fighting to “get the future that you want.”
Fearce, a senior at Charles Drew High School in Riverdale, Ga., spent most of her high school career living in shelters, the occasional hotel, short-term rented apartments and sometimes the family car — when the family had one — with her mother and three siblings.
“I would just pray,” Fearce told ABCNews.com. “My mom, whenever we’re in that situation, she always finds a way out of it. So I would just tell myself, tomorrow it will not be like this, so take your time, do what you have to do now so that you get the future that you want tomorrow.”
Regardless of where she was living, Fearce found a way to study. She recalled using a cellphone light in shelters to get her homework done.
“I’m so happy that I got through all of this and that I finally have gotten to this point,” she said. “All the studying I’ve done … you don’t know! It was crazy. I was studying science, math, everything. I’m very proud to come this far.”
Sergio, Sergio, Sergio. The high-spirited Spaniard golfer has been very opinionated over the years and most recently, at the Players Championship in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida just two weeks ago. During that tournament, Sergio Garcia, who was playing with Tiger Woods, was flustered when he hit an errant shot and then blamed it on Tiger. As Sergio was addressing his shot, Tiger, who had hit a bad shot on the hole, pulled a club out of his bag which produced an eruption from the gallery. Sergio took it as if Tiger purposely did this to disrupt his shot and from that moment on, It’s Been On!
After both players had completed the round, Sergio, instead of talking with Tiger about the issue, took it to the media and complained vehemently that Tiger did this on purpose. He added that Tiger isn’t a nice person on the tour and others felt the same but wouldn’t say anything about it. Tiger, who seemed blind-sided by the Hoopla, made a comment saying, “Sergio is always whining and complaining about something. What Now”? For two solid weeks, the back and forth has been going on, mostly on the part of Sergio.
On Tuesday night, during a European Awards Banquet, Sergio was asked by a Golf Channel writer if he would invite Tiger over for dinner, basically to squash their feud which prompted the following response: “We’ll have him round every night. We will serve fried chicken.” And with that comment, a firestorm has encircled around the embattled golfer.
Sergio is no stranger to controversy nor controversial statements but This one will be his demise. The Golf Channel, since the feud began two weeks ago, has highlighted some of Sergio’s missteps which included him spitting in a hole after having a terrible score. Kelly Tiglhman, Golf Channel host, made mention to how Garcia had skipped interviews and sniped, “Go and interview your boy Tiger”.
So on Wednesday morning, Garcia, in a press conference said, “I want to also apologize to my Ryder Cup teammates who were there last night for taking the shine away from a wonderful event, and finally and foremost, I want to apologize to Tiger to anyone I could have offended. I felt very sick about it and feel really bad, and just hope to settle things down and move on.” Yep, he felt sick about it because we live in a world of Instant Access to News. And the news spread like a wild fire with Sergio holding the matches that started it.
But this time, his whining, complaining and big mouth has caused ‘Race’ to the forefront of what has been deemed to be a Sport For the Rich and Elite.
Tiger has been exposed to and directly targeted in racially motivated language. After firing his long-time caddy, Stevie Williams, the caddy attended a “Caddies Dinner” in his homeland of Australia and was asked a question about his new golfer’s victory, Adam Scott’s with Tiger in the field. His response: “It was my aim to shove it right up that black a——.” Williams, too, apologized afterwards.
And after Tiger won his 1st major, the Master’s Tournament in 1997, fellow golfer Fuzzy Zoeller shocked the T.V. audience after he referenced fried chicken as a potential meal Woods may choose to serve at the Masters Champions’ dinner. Of course, Zoeller issued an apology for his comments but suffered dramatically in sponsorships and on the tour itself.
Tiger was quick to answer the racially insensitive comment by Sergio on Twitter. He said in three tweets,
“The comment that was made wasn’t silly. It was wrong, hurtful and clearly inappropriate…”
“I’m confident that there is real regret that the remark was made.”
“The Players ended nearly two weeks ago and it’s long past time to move on and talk about golf.”
Sergio has been quick to talk to media showing his disdain for the #1 golfer in the world but now, he has to be even quicker to repair the damage HE caused, not just to Tiger, but to the African Americans who also watch, follow and are participate in one of the greatest individual sports in the world.
Golf is a Global sport which is played by All sorts of people. Black, White, Asian, Latino’s, Men, Women, Boys and Girls participate in this sport. In 2013, the 21st century for Heaven Sake, Race is still an Issue in our lives.
This is the world in which we live. Unfortunately, racial intolerance will Always be a part of our everyday lives. And when we try to get away from it in our sporting outlets, it will creep into our lives there as well. That’s because we will always have “Sergio’s” and “Zoeller’s” to make that possible.
A man reported to be a British soldier was killed and two others were shot in London today in an attack that is being treated as an act of terrorism, NBC News reports.
Video from ITV News shows one of two alleged attackers, with blood-stained hands and holding a machete, explaining the motivation for the crime. In it, he says, “We swear by Almighty Allah, we will never stop fighting you until you leave us alone. The only reasons we killed this man is because Muslims are dying daily. This British soldier is an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. We apologize that woman had to see this today, but in our lands our women have to see the same. You people will never be safe. Remove your government. They don’t care about you.”
Students at Hofstra University wore white ribbons at their graduation ceremony today to honor a fellow student who was accidentally killed by a police officer responding to a home invasion call.
Andrea Rebello, a 21-year-old Hofstra University junior, was killed Friday when police confronted an armed intruder at the off-campus rental house she shared with her twin sister and two other students on Long Island, N.Y.
The suspect, Dalton Smith, 30, entered the home when someone went outside to move a car around 2 a.m. on Friday, according to police.
Smith was apparently unsatisfied with the valuables in the home and sent one of the Rebello’s roommates to an ATM, said Detective Lt. John Azzata of the Nassau County Police Department.
“He said if she wasn’t back in eight minutes, he’d kill one of the individuals in the house,” Azzata said.
The roommate called 911, Azzata said, and two officers were dispatched to the scene.
An officer entered the two-story home and found Smith holding Rebello in a headlock at gunpoint, Azzata said. When the suspect pointed the gun at the officer, he said the two exchanged fire.
“The officer eventually fired eight rounds in total,” Azzata said. “Seven of those rounds struck our subject, one of those rounds struck the victim.”
Alyssiah Marie Wiley’s body was found Friday in near Bridgeport-Trumbull line, identified Saturday through DNA testing
Hours after a body found on the Bridgeport-Trumbull line Friday was identified as that of a missing Eastern Connecticut State University student, a Bridgeport man was charged in her kidnapping and killing.
Jermaine Richards, 30, of 115 Beardsley Park Terrace in Bridgeport was charged with first-degree kidnapping and murder Saturday in the killing of Alyssiah Marie Wiley, a 20-year-old Eastern Connecticut State University student who went missing from campus April 20. He is being held on $2 million bond and will be arraigned Monday in Bridgeport Superior Court.
State Police Lt. J. Paul Vance said in a release Saturday that they also seized evidence related to Wiley’s killing from Richards’ home.
It’s not clear what, if any, connection WIley had with Richards, though several television stations reported that they were dating.
Wiley’s body was found Friday in a wooded area on the Bridgeport-Trumbull line, some 80 miles from the Willimantic campus where she was last seen almost a month ago. The 20-year-old was positively identified Saturday through DNA testing. Her cause of death is not yet known, and state police spokesman Lt. J. Paul Vance said in a release that she will be autopsied by the state medical examiner to determine how she died.
Wiley was last seen in Willimantic on April 20 as she made her way back to her on-campus apartment at Eastern from a Dairy Queen on Main Street, a few blocks away. University police searched for her after her roommate reported her missing, then State Police joined in the search on April 24.
Her family appealed to the public for information at a news conference on May 2. Her parents said Wiley wanted to go to medical school and get a doctorate in psychology.
“She is not a young lady who would walk away,” her mother, Corrine Martin, said then.
Police located a car tied to her disappearance in Bridgeport on April 26, but have not yet released the identity of its owner. They searched for Wiley at several sites throughout eastern Connecticut and greater Bridgeport before finding her Friday. Her body was found Friday morning when a state police search-and-rescue unit, using cadaver dogs, searched the wooded area off Quarry Road in Trumbull, Vance said. In the area is a busy multiplex movie theater and the city of Bridgeport’s parks department offices.
A U.S. Airways official said a jet with 34 people aboard was forced to make a belly landing early this morning at Newark Liberty International Airport after experiencing landing gear trouble. No injuries were reported.
The turboprop plane, which was operated by Piedmont Airlines, departed Philadelphia before 11 p.m. Friday to make the short flight to Newark, U.S. Airways spokesman Davian Anderson told ABC News.
He said tower operators tried to help the pilot troubleshoot when the landing gear remained in a retracted position. After a couple attempts, he said the decision was made to execute a belly landing.
Sparks flew upon landing, but the pilot managed to keep the airplane on the runway and the wings level.
The 31 passengers and the three crew on board were evacuated and bused to the terminal.
Anderson said U.S. Airways believes the mechanical issue was an isolated problem.
The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating the incident.
Updated Friday, May 17, 9:05 a.m. EDT: After Akein Scott, 19, was arrested Wednesday night, his brother Shawn Scott, 24, was arrested on Thursday, the Los Angeles Times reports. Four other people have been arrested for allegedly harboring the fugitives during an intense manhunt, officials said Thursday.
Earlier:
The Associated Press is reporting that 19-year-old Akein Scott, the suspect in the New Orleans Mother’s Day parade shooting that wounded 19 people, faces 20 charges of attempted second-degree murder.
Out on bond at the time he committed the crime, he was arrested Wednesday night in New Orleans. Scott was already facing a charge of gun and drug possession.
Police have not established a motive and haven’t said whether they know the identity of the shooter’s target. Officials initially said three people were spotted running away from the shooting scene, but Scott has been the only suspect identified publicly.
Investigators launched an intense search for Scott, with police Superintendent Ronal Serpas urging him to surrender at a news conference Monday and warning the teen that “we know more about you than you think we know.” At one point, SWAT team members and U.S. marshals served a search warrant at one location but did not find Scott.
Police offered a $10,000 reward in the case, and investigators received several tips after images from the surveillance camera were released.
The Washington Post is reporting that the question that led Lois Lerner to disclose the IRS’s wrongdoing was planted by none other than Lerner herself.
Celia Roady, the lawyer whose question led Lerner to disclose the committee’s wrongful targeting of conservative groups, said Friday that Lerner asked her to ask the question.
“On May 9, I received a call from Lois Lerner, who told me that she wanted to address an issue after her prepared remarks at the ABA Tax Section’s Exempt Organizations Committee Meeting, and asked if I would pose a question to her after her remarks,” Roady said. “I agreed to do so, and she then gave me the question that I asked at the meeting the next day. We had no discussion thereafter on the topic of the question, nor had we spoken about any of this before I received her call. She did not tell me, and I did not know, how she would answer the question.”
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