Dr. April Young advocates a comprehensive approach, including involving parents and family members, to prevent Black kids from getting trapped in Florida’s school-to-prison pipeline.

A Miami native fights disproportionately harsh discipline of Black students in Escambia County schools – another challenge Florida’s Race to the Top money must tackle.

BY STARLA VAUGHNS CHERIN
FLORIDA COURIER

ENSACOLA – At least Escambia County admits it has a problem.

During the 2007-08 school year, 41 percent of all Black middle school students in the county received out-of-school suspensions, compared to 13 percent of all other non-White middle school students. That means that four of every 10 Black middle school kids were temporarily thrown out of school during the school year.

Jefferson Thomas

Faced death to desegregate high school in Arkansas

COMPILED FROM WIRE REPORTS

COLUMBUS, OHIO – Jefferson Allison Thomas, a member of the "Little Rock Nine" – students who desegregated Arkansas’ largest high school in 1957 while under National Guard protection – died Sept. 5 from pancreatic cancer at an extended-care living facility in Columbus, Ohio. He was 67.

Taking some hardware home

Southern coach Stump Mitchell is all smiles as he holds the 2010 MEAC/SWAC Challenge trophy after his Jaguars defeated Delaware State, 37-27, earning the SWAC its second win in this annual HBCU game in Orlando. (PADRAIC MAJOR FOR ESPN)

~~Click here for full story  ~~

Pastor Terry Jones of the Dove World Outreach Center in Gainesville has received worldwide attention since announcing a ‘Qur’an-burning’ set for Saturday. (MCT)

BY STEPHEN HUDAK
THE ORLANDO SENTINEL/MCT

GAINESVILLE – The pastor of a tiny fundamentalist Christian church refused to heed pleas Tuesday from Gen. David Petraeus, the U.S. commander in Afghanistan, and religious leaders to abandon plans to mark Saturday’s anniversary of the 9/11 attacks with a bonfire fueled by 200 copies of the Qur’an, the Islamic holy book.

NEWS SERVICE OF FLORIDA

The Center for the Study of the American Electorate at American University notes an interesting turnout fact.

President proposes $50 billion to create jobs; blasts GOP

BY STEVEN THOMMA
MCCLATCHY NEWSPAPERS/MCT 

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama Monday proposed a quick $50 billion boost in federal spending to rebuild roads, railways and runways – a move he said will create jobs and which Democrats hope will improve their election prospects in November.

NNPA NEWS SERVICE

ColorOfChange.org, the community activist group that successfully urged dozens of advertisers to pull away from Glenn Beck’s Fox News show, recently announced a new initiative directed at discouraging public establishments across the country from airing the network.

With more than a billion followers, Islam is one of the largest religions in the world, yet many misconceptions persist about Muslims, their practices and their faith.

By Benjamin Woods
BLACK AGENDA REPORT

August 28 was the 47th anniversary of the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. At this demonstration, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. gave his most well-known and, at the same time, misunderstood speech.

Media outlets have been doing all they can to make a latter-day Moses out of the redneck pastor of a little church (or mini-cult) in Florida for threatening to burn copies of the Qur’an on September 11.

The fact that it has become an international sensation – with grave political consequences – says far more about the hopelessly compromised media than it does about this hopelessly misguided pastor. The only thing that is truly worth commenting on is the extent to which the media will stoop these days to make anyone or anything seem newsworthy.