In a career spanning 35 years, Leonard Pitts, Jr. has been a columnist, a college professor, a radio producer and a lecturer. But if you ask him to define himself, he will invariably choose one word.

He is a writer, period.

A Pulitzer Prize recipient, Pitts has penned a syndicated column of commentary on pop culture, social issues and family life for the Miami Herald since 1994. His book, Becoming Dad: Black Men and the Journey to Fatherhood, was released in May, 1999 and was reissued in paperback in June of 2006. His critically-acclaimed first novel, Before I Forget, was released in 2009 and a collection of his columns, Forward From This Moment, was published that same year.

Join us Saturday at 8 pm EST as we sit down with the writer, the multi-award winner, and the man behind the pen. Tell a friend to tell a friend to tell a friend about us, and we'll see you all Saturday night.

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/seriously-sensual/2012/04/01/author-spotlight-leonard-pitts<

A shady iPhone app called Girls Around Me has just lost its best asset: The use of Foursquare's location-based services, crucial to the app being effective when it comes to literally finding girls by those on the hunt.

Foursquare said Friday it yanked access to Girls Around Me developer SMS Services O.o.o. because the app violates Foursquare's API (application program interface) policy. Specifically, Foursquare told Cult of Mac, which first wrote about the app Friday:

We have a policy against aggregating information across venues using our API, to prevent situations like this where someone would present an inappropriate overview of a series of locations.

"Inappropriate" is a diplomatic word for Girls Around Me, whose developers are based in Russia. As The Next Web wrote, it's "an incredibly creepy app that allows anyone to locate nearby girls based on public Foursquare checkins and Facebook data." 

SANFORD, Fla. -- Civil-rights leaders from the NAACP and other groups led thousands of other protesters on Saturday in a march to the city’s police headquarters to demand the arrest of the man who shot and killed Trayvon Martin.

The Rev. Jesse Jackson, the Rev. Al Sharpton and NAACP President Benjamin Jealous were among those leading the rally through Sanford’s streets, marching behind a huge yellow banner with the words “Justice for Trayvon.”

“We want an arrest. Shot in the chest,” marchers chanted.

NAACP President and CEO Ben Jealous joins MSNBC to discuss the investigation into the death of Trayvon Martin.

CHICAGO (AP) — Lottery ticket-holders in Illinois, Kansas and Maryland each selected the winning numbers for the world record-breaking $640 million Mega Millions jackpot, lottery officials said early Saturday.

Illinois' winning ticket was sold in the small town of Red Bud, near St. Louis, and the winner used a quick pick to select the numbers, Illinois Lottery spokesman Mike Lang said. The Maryland Lottery said it sold a winning ticket at a retail store in Baltimore County.

A winning ticket also was purchased in northeast Kansas, according to the Kansas Lottery website. A spokeswoman didn't immediately return a message Saturday morning.

Each winning ticket was expected to be worth more than $213 million before taxes, Lang said. The winning numbers in Friday night's drawing were 02-04-23-38-46, and the Mega Ball 23.

Maryland Lottery spokeswoman Carole Everett said the last time a ticket from the state won a major national jackpot was in 2008, when a ticket sold for $24 million.

"We're thrilled," she said. "We're due and excited."

The estimated jackpot dwarfs the previous $390 million record, which was split in 2007 by two winners who bought tickets in Georgia and New Jersey.

Chicago's Urban Prep Academy will continue it's remarkable run this year, as its entire all-male, All-African-American class of graduates have been accepted to college for the third straight year in a row. The charter school also reports that 83 percent of their 2010 class has enrolled for a second year of college education. The Chicago Tribune reports

For the third year in a row, every senior at Urban Prep Academy, the only all-African-American, all-male charter high school in Chicago, has been accepted to college, the school's leaders said.

The academy also said that 83 percent of its first graduating class in 2010 has re-enrolled in a second year of college, a rebuttal to critics of the school who have charged that students aren't always ready for college.

Critics have also suggested that Urban Prep squeezes out students with academic and discipline problems who other schools have to work with. Urban Prep officials acknowledge that this year's senior class of 85 was almost twice that size when the boys started out as freshmen.

Click here to read the rest of this story

Source

You already know what time it is. Join us Friday night at 10:30 pm EST for a very heated venting session! I know there are a few things that's got us heated and we know you have some things to get off your chest as well. Call in and tell us about it.

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/seriously-sensual/2012/03/31/venting-session<

Barbie is going bald to support children with cancer, Mattel has announced on its Facebook page.

A Facebook page titled "Beautiful and Bald Barbie! Let's see if we can get it made" was started a few days before Christmas and has now amassed more than 150,000 fans.

Mattel says the doll will be a friend of Barbie and she will come with wigs, hats and scarves that can be interchanged or completely removed. The dolls will be sold by the Children's Hospital Association exclusively to children's hospitals.

The Facebook group's petition at Change.org explains the bald Barbie idea: "Young girls who suffer from hair loss due to cancer treatments, Alopecia or Trichotillomania often feel that the loss of their hair makes them less beautiful and less like a princess. Similarly, many young girls whose mothers, sisters, aunts, etc. are loosing their hair due to illness or treatment also have trouble coping with the change. A bald Barbie would show these little girls that she can be both bald AND beautiful."

It’s one thing to have a woman request a restraining order against you, it’s quite another to have a man file papers against you because the bromance you thought you had going on is all in your head.

Diary of a Hollywood Street King is reporting that “Transformers” Director Michael Bay does not want to be associated with Tyrese, and he’s filed the paper work to prove it. First, Michael reportedly filed a cease and decist order against the singer/actor after he went on a promotional circuit claiming that he and the director are super close. Michael basically said you’re doing too much and you need to keep my name out your mouth, bro.

Unfortunately, Tyrese didn’t get the hint and Michael supposedly upped his legal action to a restraining order and Michael’s cousin, Susan, explained why:

“Michael didn’t like when Tyrese was calling out his name on television, like they were boys. Everywhere Tyrese went, he was calling out Michael’s name. Mike didn’t like that s***.”

Awkward…

“Dancing with the Stars” competitor Jaleel White has responded to an ex-girlfriend’s claims that he was physically abusive toward her.

The actor - best known for portraying Steve Urkel on “Family Matters” - told E! News in a statement that while he “would love to go detail for detail refuting [Bridget] Hardy's claims about the specifics of what was our relationship,” he can’t: “The family court judge made it very clear to me any public discussion of our case and ordeal would be held against me in a court of law,” he explained.

Hardy, who is the mother of White’s young daughter, told Star magazine recently that White became violent during a 2010 incident when she confronted him about being unfaithful. Police did look into the allegations at the time, but concluded there wasn't enough to warrant the City Attorney's Office to "take a look."

Earlier this week, Hardy told Star that White allegedly "hit me across the chest area," and "pushed me into the toilet and it broke...Water went everywhere, through the walls and even into the kitchen downstairs.”

But the 35-year-old actor has said he believes Hardy's allegations are oddly timed.

Black women are often portrayed as loud, ignorant, full of anger, materialistic and man crazy. <<< I hear this all the time and all the time people want us to protest against it, but the reality is some black women are this way. With that being said, they're not the only ones. Anybody seen Mob Wives? Real Housewives of Orange County? Beverly Hills? They show white women in the same light as Basketball Wives show black women. I think we as black people are going to have to start to accept the good with the bad. We're going to have start saying and admitting that the reality of the matter is some of you (us) really act the way we are betrayed on TV, especially in these reality shows. I know we all know at least one or two chicks that act, walk, talk, look, and like to fight and start mess just as Evelyn does. We know at least one or two women who behave like Tami Roman or Nene Leakes. We may not like it, but the fact of the matter is producers of these TV shows had to get the image from somewhere. It’s because they’ve been exposed more so to the negative images of us than the positive.

Dwayne Wade is opting to jump into the literary world.  Mr. Wade is seeking to pen a book on his thoughts and experiences about fatherhood.  

Magic 'Mr. Entrepreneur' Johnson just did it big in 2012 with his partners-in-large and brought the Dodgers.  People are excited over the endeavor but is it true that they spent too much in the deal? According to sources, this looks to be true.  

We all remember Jaleel White from the 90's.  Mister loveble, comical nerdy Steve Urkel who had his eye set on Lora Winslow, so when did he become a woman beating prick who loves Sara Palin shirts? Looks like we've stepped into the twilght zone.  With Jaleel working to make a comeback from being in the recent family movie "Judy Moody and the notso bummer summer", to appearing on tv shows such as Love that girl, Psych and now Dancing with the stars, all kind of dirt is coming up and I am shocked and sad about it all.

I have to give it to Spike, when he's mad everyone pays attention. Sadly, the attention will not be on a innocent elderly couple.

According to eonline, Spike took to the twitterdome about his (rightful) feelings of injustice about the Trayvon murder case.  In his rant Spike accidentally retweeted an address he thought was that of Zimmerman but really was the home of an elderly couple.

LOS ANGELES - Singer Bobby Brown, the ex-husband of late singer Whitney Houston, was arrested in Los Angeles on Monday on suspicion of driving under the influence, police said.

Brown, 43, was pulled over shortly after noon for talking on his cellphone while driving in the suburb of Reseda. Police suspected he had been drinking and he failed a sobriety test, said Los Angeles police Sgt. Mitzi Fierro.

Students at Martin Luther King, Jr. Charter School in New Orleans took part in a hoodie march for justice Monday, March 26, 2012 in support of Trayvon Martin, the Florida youth who was gunned down last month by a neighborhood watch volunteer. Trayvon was unarmed and carrying only a pack of Skittles and a bottle of iced tea when he was shot in the gated community where his father lives.

A white New Orleans police officer involved in the recent fatal police shooting of a young black man has been suspended after  posting comments below an online news story in which he said that a black youth in Florida who was killed by a civilian deserved to die because he acted like "a thug." Officer Jason Giroir wrote, "Act like a Thug Die like one!" below an article posted Sunday on wwltv.com about local citizens rallying to protest the fatal shooting last month of Trayvon Martin, an unarmed 17-year-old who was fatally shot while wearing a hooded sweatshirt and walking through a gated community.

Martin's encounter with a gun-wielding neighborhood watch volunteer has touched off a national debate about racial profiling and the morality of "stand your ground" laws, which allow people being attacked to defend themselves with force if necessary.

A new study in the American Journal of Epidemiology has linked hair relaxers to uterine fibroids, as well as early puberty in young girls.

Scientists followed more than 23,000 pre-menopausal Black American women from 1997 to 2009 and found that the two- to three-times higher rate of fibroids among black women may be linked to chemical exposure through scalp lesions and burns resulting from relaxers.

Women who got their first menstrual period before the age of 10 were also more likely to have uterine fibroids, and early menstruation may result from hair products black girls are using, according to a separate study published in the Annals of Epidemiology last summer.

Three hundred African American, African Caribbean, Hispanic, and White women in New York City were studied. The women’s first menstrual period varied anywhere from age 8 to age 19, but African Americans, who were more likely to use straightening and relaxers hair oils, also reached menarche earlier than other racial/ethnic groups.

While so far, there is only an association rather than a cause and effect relationship between relaxers, fibroid tumors, and puberty, many experts have been quick to point out that the hair care industry isn’t regulated by the FDA, meaning that there's no definite way to fully know just how harmful standard Black hair care products really are.

So You Want To Become A Sex And Relationship Blogger/Writer? Are you curious how NikkiTrue.com came from an idea into a brand? Do you have a lot to say but have no clue how to get your voice heard? I'll be sharing some of my best tips on how to run a successful blog, become a trusted figure for sex and love advice, and how to turn your passion into a paycheck. So save the date March 25, 2012 call 347-989-0573 then go to http://www.blogtalkradio.com/seriously-sensual

Listen to NIKKI TRUE LIVE on air and tune in and get ready to be turned on.

Kinky Kisses-Nikki True

NikkiTrue.com<

I don't even think we need words to explain this one. We will be bringing you some of the most erotic, romantic, love poems and stories that your body and mind CAN'T handle! We want you to relax, unwind, and release all of the pent up aggression from the week and let the ladies of SS take you to a whole other galaxy! So tell a friend to tell a friend to tell a friend about us and we hope to see you all Saturday night at 10:30 pm EST!<

Feeding his mind with books on history and social issues of the world widened his literary subjects outside his overwhelming sexual appetite. Nah’Sun writes stories from erotica to socio-political satire. Showcasing a range of topics keeps his writings fresh. Join us Saturday at 8:00 pm EST as we get to know the man behind the pen.<

Kim Kardashian was hit with a ‘flour bomb” Thursday night -- the latest in a series of benign celebrity “bombings” that can technically be considered assault and battery.

Kardashian showed up at the West Hollywood launch party for her new perfume and was walking down the red carpet when a protester threw a bag of flour at her, the Los Angeles Times reports. Kardashian, covered in white powder, was quickly ushered to safety.

It's not clear why the flour bomber attacked Kardashian. But the use of benign substances to “bomb” celebrities and public figures seems to be on the rise -- and legal consequences can follow.

Kardashian's flour bombing incident is similar to a series of "glitter bombings" across the country. Glitter bombers, however, have largely limited their assaults to conservative politicians who speak out against same-sex marriage.

For example, GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney was glitter bombed twice last month while campaigning, the Times reports. One bomb missed, but the second assault successfully dusted Romney's hair with glitter. The candidate shrugged off the attack, but the Secret Service sprang into action.

The man who allegedly threw Mitt Romney's glitter bomb -- Colorado University student Peter Smith, 20 -- was taken into custody and charged with causing a disturbance and throwing a "missile." Smith was also fired from his internship with the Colorado State Senate, the Associated Press reports.

Switzerland's Shawish Jewelry has created the world's first diamond ring.

Not impressed? Well, consider that the entire ring  is carved from a diamond, whereas most other diamond rings are composed of a precious-metal band with a diamond centerpiece. Styleite writes that the 150-carat ring runs laps around some other famous diamond competitors, including Beyoncé's 18-carat engagement ring from Jay-Z and the even better known 30-carat ring given to the late Elizabeth Taylor by Richard Burton.

The ring was created by Shawish's president and CEO Mohamed Shawesh using lasers (yes, lasers!) along with traditional diamond cutting and polishing techniques. It took a full year to carve the ring, which has been copyrighted and is expected to sell for $70 million.<

It seems like Florida is loosing it's mind, or the people are. A student at Florida Atlantic University decided to take teaching into her own hands and confront her teacher in an outburst that clearly seems like a psychotic rant....or was it? We know the topic of Evolution is a button pusher but...why you mad son?

According to Huffington Post,

A student at Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton was reportedly subdued with a taser after a violent outburst in a class discussing evolution.

Jonatha Carr's apparent meltdown, in which she hit another student, threw punches, and allegedly threatened to kill the professor and other students, was recorded on a cell phone camera and has quickly gone viral, the University Press reports.

In her "You're gonna learn today" voice, the student continues on in a rocking, hand slapping, rolling her eyes fest that leaves one confused about life!  Jonatha Carr was later admitted into a mental health facility by the University under the Florida Mental Health Act.

If you listen around the 2:20 mark, you can hear Zimmerman call him a "f*cking coon". Now who else is to tell us this wasn't racially motivated?

The Seminole County Grand Jury will be called to session on Tuesday, April 10, Wolfinger said.

Meanwhile, on Monday, the Justice Department and the FBI opened an investigation into the death of Trayvon Martin, a black teenager, who was shot by a neighborhood watch captain who was not arrested.

Miami Gardens teenager Trayvon Martin was on the phone up until the moments before he was killed, his family’s attorney said Tuesday, and the girl Martin was talking to could hear him when the teen asked a stranger: “Why are you following me?”

Benjamin Crump held a news conference Tuesday where he played a recording of his interview with the girl, whose name he would not disclose. In the taped conversation, the girl tells Crump how she and Martin were chatting on the phone when he became startled by someone following him.

WASHINGTON -- If the way Mitt Romney treated his dog 30 years ago is not an important part of the 2012 presidential election, Rick Santorum's campaign didn't get the memo.

The story of how Mitt Romney once transported his dog Seamus in a crate on the roof of his car has received wide circulation. A Romney rival in the race for the presidency, Rick Santorum, says it's important.

Twice last week top Santorum adviser John Brabender reminded voters that Romney once drove to Canada with the family dog, Seamus, in a crate fastened to the roof of the car. And on Sunday, in response to a question from Jonathan Karl on ABC's "This Week," Santorum said the Seamus story is important.

"As far as Seamus the dog, look, all I would say is, the issues of character are important in this election, and we need to look at all of those issues and make a determination as to whether that's the kind of person you want to be president of the United States," Santorum said.

Many dog lovers believe that what is being called "Crate-Gate" thoroughly disqualifies the candidate. An online group called Dogs Against Romney has pushed the story ever since the Boston Globe first reported the 1983 incident in 2007. During the 12-hour trip, Seamus suffered diarrhea and Romney stopped briefly to hose off the car and the dog, then continued driving, according to the newspaper.

The Romney campaign does not have a sense of humor about the story and has kept quiet about it. The candidate has said that he loves his dogs and that Seamus enjoyed riding on the roof. As governor, Romney in 2006 proclaimed September "Responsible Dog Ownership Month" in Massachusetts.

Karl predicted that the Seamus story won't go away.

"All right, well, Seamus the dog -- I think we'll be hearing more about him going forward," he said.

***** I don't like Rick Santorum nor Mitt Romney, but I think Santorum is pushing it using Seamus, Romney's dog, to win voters. However, with all the dog lovers out there, he may be on to something. If people refuse to vote for our POTUS simply because he's a Black man, why not reject Romney because he put his dog in a crate and put the crate on the top of his car 30 years ago? O_o

SOURCE<

Orange County Sheriff's Department

NBC News and msnbc.com

SANTA ANA, Calif. —

A 36-year-old California woman has been arrested on suspicion of child molestation and rape for allegedly flying across the country to have sex with a 13-year-old boy she befriended online, authorities said Friday.

Rachel Ann Hicks, of Lake Forest, was taken into custody Friday by Orange County sheriff's investigators.

A Maryland state trooper contacted an Orange County sheriff's investigator on Tuesday and reported that the woman initially "met" the boy in September in an X-Box live chat room. The online relationship progressed to phone calls, texting, e-mails and sending sexually explicit images and movies between one another, the sheriff's office said in a press release.

Hicks told the boy she was 23 years old and flew to Maryland and met him at his home where they had sex over the Thanksgiving holiday, the sheriff's office said.

Shortly after, the boy's family discovered "romantic" text messages on the boy's cell phone and he disclosed what had occurred.

On Friday, investigators served a search warrant on Hicks' residence. She was arrested without incident.

All the evidence collected will be forward to Hanford County Sheriff's Office in Maryland for their investigation, Orange County officials said.

Based on new information, investigators are seeking to identify a second possible victim, a California boy under the age of 18, authorities said.

SOURCE

***** This is one sick heifa! Are there no adult men in California? And I know there are PLENTY of adult males who play X-Box games, and hang out in the chat rooms. She couldn't look for one there? And please don't get me started on her flying all the way from California to Maryland. WTH??? She needs to be slapped six ways to Sunday. There is a really special place for her, but since I'm a lady, I'll refrain from saying where. All I have to say is where is Chris Hansen when you need him? SIDE BAR: Parents PLEASE pay attention and monitor your children's activities!<

The best fat burning exercises don't involve fancy equipment, or anything that you'd find only in an expensive commercial gym. Instead, you can burn fat just as well in the comfort of your own home as you would in the priciest, swankiest gym. So which close-to-home cardio activities blast fat fastest?

Try any one of these, and you'll boost your metabolism for up to a whole day afterward. One small workout, one giant payoff.

1. Inline skating

Burns 425 calories in 30 minutes

While skating might be so much fun you forget you're actually working out, it actually burns the most fat and calories than any other exercise on this list. The big burn stems from the side-to-side movement of your thigh and butt muscles (demanding more from your body than the straightforward motion of our number-two activity -- running). And your core gets involved in a big way to keep you balanced.

What's more, you get all these benefits without putting too much stress on your knees and other joints. Skate at a strong, steady pace. Don't forget your helmet, wrist guards, and knee and elbow pads.

Boost the burn: Alternate one minute of hard skating with one minute of medium-paced strokes.

2. Running

Burns 374 calories in 30 minutes

The typical runner's shape is sleek and lean, and there's a reason for that: The major running muscles -- legs, butt, core -- happen to be the biggest calorie-and-fat-burning muscles in your body.

To get the most out of each stride, swing your arms close to your body, don't lean forward, and keep your feet low to the ground. To lessen impact, land on the middle of your foot, then roll through to your toes.

Boost the burn: Alternate fast and slow intervals, or take to the hills.

An Indiana father is facing serious charges after launching a brutal attack on his daughter's assistant middle school basketball coach for the coach's implementation of an incredibly simple and traditional practice: He made her run laps in the gym.

As reported by South Bend-based TV network WSBT, Michigan City, Ind., basketball father Shelly Miller, aged 37, attacked Michigan City (Ind.) St. Stanislas School assistant middle school girls basketball coach Jeffrey Yackus shortly after one of the team's daily practice concluded.

According to WSBT, Yackus had punished Miller's daughter and another player who argued with each other during practice. Yet the only punishment that Yackus meted out was making the two girls run laps in the school's gym.

It appears that pushed the elder Miller over the edge. When he went to pick up his daughter later, she told the elder Miller about her punishment and he immediately attacked Yackus and punched him in the face.

That first punch apparently leveled the assistant coach, knocking him to the ground, where Miller climbed on top of him and repeatedly punched him in the face and head until he was completely unconscious.

Russell Brand was NOT arrested for a misdemeanor yesterday ... turns out it was a FELONY, and the late Steve Jobs may be to blame.

We did some digging and just found out ... in Louisiana property damage that exceeds $500 triggers a felony arrest.

You'll recall, Brand allegedly snatched a photog's iPhone Monday night and hurled it through a plate glass window.  The iPhone alone costs more than $500.

Here's the irony ... Russell tweeted a few days ago, "Since Steve Jobs died I cannot bear to see anyone use an iPhone irreverently, what I did was a tribute to his memory."

Steve Jobs famously believed he could charge a lot for the iPhone -- and did.  And now Russell is paying dearly for it.

The felony -- simple criminal damage -- is punishable by a maximum of 2 years in prison.

Now prosecutors must decide whether to go forward and file felony charges.

SOURCE<

HARRISBURG, Pa. — The billboard is down, but the issue’s not gone.

A billboard erected in one of the city’s most racially diverse neighborhoods featured an African slave with the biblical quote, “Slaves, obey your masters.” It lasted less than a day before someone tore it down.

Now, the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission is investigating and is meeting with both the atheists who sponsored it as well as leaders of the NAACP who found it offensive and racially charged.

The atheists behind the sign said they were trying to draw attention to the state House’s recent designation of 2012 as “The Year of the Bible” — an action by lawmakers that the atheists have called offensive.

But there were concerns that erecting such a billboard is playing with fire.

“If this had been Detroit, there would have been a riot,” said Aaron Selvey of Harrisburg, who visited the billboard site last Wednesday (March 7), the day after the sign was put up and later torn down.

“We don’t want things to escalate into violence or community tension, so we try to address situations like that right away,” added Shannon Powers, spokeswoman for the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission. “We would not recommend tearing down because it could lead to escalation. It hasn’t, and we’re tremendously thankful for that.”

No, it wasn't for a movie. Actor George Clooney, long a political activist, was arrested and handcuffed outside the Sudanese embassy in Washington for protesting the country's blockage of food and aid from entering the Nuba Mountains area of the country.

Clooney's father, journalist Nick Clooney, 78, was with him and was also arrested, as were Martin Luther King III, NAACP President Ben Jealous, Rep Jim McGovern (D-Mass.) and Rep. Jim Moran (D-Va.) and former Rep. Tom Andrews (D-Mass.).

Speaking before the large crowd that gathered to see the protest, Clooney said the group wanted "the (Sudanese) government in Khartoum to stop randomly killing its own innocent men, women and children. Stop raping them, and stop starving them."

Because the embassy is private property, Clooney and colleagues knew that refusing to move would end in arrest.

On Wednesday, Clooney appeared on TODAY with Ann Curry and discussed how he came under rocket fire in the Sudan on a recent trip there. And on Thursday, the actor testified before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee about what he saw in Sudan; then met with Secretary Hillary Clinton and President Obama in the Oval Office.<

Ouch! A woman walking her dog near an apartment complex in Longwood, Fla., early Friday morning was bitten in the rear end by a bear.

An official told the Orlando Sentinel that the woman was taken to a nearby hospital after the incident, which took place northeast of Orlando, the home of Disney World.

Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission spokeswoman Joy Hill said the attack happened at about 7 a.m. outside an apartment complex on Sable Lake Drive.

The woman was taken to Florida Hospital-Altamonte in Altamonte Springs with four puncture wounds, the paper reported

Hill told the Sentinel that officers are setting traps for bear, which will be euthanized if it is caught. Florida black bears, which are a sub-species, are listed as a threatened by the state's Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.

Source<

Well who knew! In dang...dang...dang....secret yay and really? news.  Melanie Fiona and heartthrob Adam Rodriguez have called it quits after three years.  As Melanie fans and Adam Rod fans, you know that the pair met on Lady Mel's video "It kills Me" and have been dating since. Part of me is like yasssss Adam likes his sistas and the other part of me is like ut oh. Check out what she said about her relationship with Mr. Rodriguez within her songs (via Necole Bitchie),

According to The NY Post, Melanie has parted ways with her boyfriend, CSI:Miami‘s Adam Rodriguez. The couple had been quietly dating for three years and he has influenced most of the heartbreak material on Melanie’s new album ‘The MF Life‘.

We’ve heard lyrics like, “Where were you when I needed a friend?” in ‘Wrong Side of a Love Song’ and ones like “It’s 4 am and my lover won’t answer. He’s probably somewhere with a dancer, sipping champagne while I’m in his bed,” in “4 AM” but who knew they could be about the guy who played her sexy love interest in the ‘It Kills Me’ music video.

Last month, during Melanie’s interview with the Breakfast Club, Angela Yee referenced Melanie’s heartbreak songs and asked ‘What Happened to You’? Melanie responded:

The same thing that happened to you and the girl down the street. Love somebody. He’s not a good dude. Shows you one side of him, gets comfortable and starts going back to his old ways. He doesn’t want to admit that he’s possibly ready to be the man he presented himself to be but kind of wants to string you along. By that time, you’re already fully engulfed in love and you’re doing all these foolish things for love.

SEATTLE (AP) – A corrections officer is facing bigamy charges after authorities said a Washington woman using Facebook discovered that she and a potential "friend" were married to him at the same time.

According to charging documents filed Thursday, Alan L. O'Neill married a woman in 2001, moved out in 2009, changed his name and remarried without divorcing her. The first wife first noticed O'Neill had moved on to another woman when Facebook suggested the friendship connection to wife No. 2 under the "People You May Know" feature.

"Wife No. 1 went to wife No. 2's page and saw a picture of her and her husband with a wedding cake," Pierce County Prosecutor Mark Lindquist told the Associated Press.

Wife No. 1 then called the defendant's mother.

"An hour later the defendant arrived at [Wife No. 1's] apartment, and she asked him several times if they were divorced," court records show. "The defendant said, 'No, we are still married.'"

Neither O'Neill nor his first wife had filed for divorce, according to charging documents. The name change came in December, and later that month he married his second wife.

O'Neill allegedly told wife No. 1 not to tell anybody about his dual marriages, that he would fix it, the documents state. But wife No. 1 alerted authorities.

"Facebook is now a place where people discover things about each other they end up reporting to law enforcement," Lindquist said.

(blackmediaSCOOP) Roland Martin, a CNN political analyst who was suspended by the network over inappropriate tweets directed toward gays, is making a comeback. 

Roland Martin, a CNN political analyst who was suspended by the network over inappropriate tweets directed toward gays, is making a comeback.

We toldya Martin was suspended in February after he sent out a tweet criticizing a TV commercial featuring soccer star David Beckham in his underwear, saying, “Ain’t no real bruhs going to H&M to buy some damn David Beckham underwear!… If a dude at your Super Bowl party is hyped about David Beckham’s H&M underwear ad, smack the ish out of him!”.

Martin eventually apologized on his website for the tweets and made a public apology to GLAAD, the organization that called for him to be fired. Well now it seems all the drama has been smoothed over and CNN execs are looking to take Roland off the temporary suspension.

Expect to start seeing Roland back on the air this week.

In addition to his work at CNN, Martin is a commentator for TV One Cable Network and host and managing editor of “Washington Watch with Roland Martin,” a one-hour Sunday morning news show. He’s also a senior analyst on the Tom Joyner Morning Show, a syndicated radio show.

SOURCE<

Shampoo as makeup remover? Toothpaste as zit cream? Your medicine cabinet offers tons of quick beauty fixes -- without spending a dime.  If you're in a pinch, here's a list of home remedies you can use as a temporary substitute.

Shampoo as makeup remover: It's not ideal, but this will do until you can make it to your beauty supply store to pick up makeup remover. Baby shampoo with water will help remove thick layers of makeup from your face, and it won't irritate your eyes.

Conditioner as shaving cream: You may have forgotten to put shaving cream on your shopping list, but no worries. You probably have conditioner, which will do the job for now. Its moisturizing ingredients should help the razor glide over your skin smoothly and help avoid razor burn. Body wash is also a common emergency remedy.

Clear nail polish to ward off eczema: Ever have eczema outbreaks on your stomach when you wear your favorite jeans? Painting clear nail polish onto the back of the buttons on your denim gear can keep your skin from being irritated. People have an allergy to nickel.

Petroleum jelly as a soothing agent: Washing your hands with rings on your fingers can cause soap to build up under the jewelry, which leads to skin irritation. A quick fix for this is applying petroleum jelly at night to the affected area. To get to the root of the problem, take off your rings when you wash your hands!

Toothpaste as acne medication: It's the night before a momentous occasion, you've noticed an evil mountain of oil forming on your face, and you don't have time to run to the drugstore to pick up a zit-zapping cream. Fear not: A home remedy is right at your fingertips. First, wash your face with a mild soap and pat it dry with a towel. Then, dab a bit of toothpaste on the pimple and wait for it to dry. By morning the toothpaste will have dried the sucker out. Only plain toothpaste that is low in fluoride should be used for these emergency situations, because whitening toothpastes contain hydrogen peroxide, which will irritate the skin, and gels aren't as effective. But this home remedy is not for everyone. People with dry or sensitive skin should stay away from this quick fix because it could dry them out too much.

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(AP) RICHMOND, Va. - Religious broadcaster Pat Robertson says marijuana should be legalized and treated like alcohol because the government's war on drugs has failed.

The outspoken evangelical Christian and host of "The 700 Club" on the Virginia Beach-based Christian Broadcasting Network he founded said the war on drugs is costing taxpayers billions of dollars. He said people should not be sent to prison for marijuana possession.

The 81-year-old first became a self-proclaimed "hero of the hippie culture" in 2010 when called for ending mandatory prison sentences for marijuana possession convictions.

"I just think it's shocking how many of these young people wind up in prison and they get turned into hardcore criminals because they had a possession of a very small amount of a controlled substance," Robertson said on his show March 1. "The whole thing is crazy. We've said, `Well, we're conservatives, we're tough on crime.' That's baloney."

Robertson's support for legalizing pot appeared in a New York Times story published Thursday. His spokesman confirmed to AP that Robertson supports legalization with regulation. Robertson was not made available for an interview.

"I really believe we should treat marijuana the way we treat beverage alcohol," Robertson told the newspaper. "If people can go into a liquor store and buy a bottle of alcohol and drink it at home legally, then why do we say that the use of this other substance is somehow criminal?"

Robertson said he "absolutely" supports ballot measures in Colorado and Washington state that would allow people older than 21 to possess a small amount of marijuana and allow for commercial pot sales. Both measures, if passed by voters, would place the states at odds with federal law, which bans marijuana use of all kinds.

(CBS News) DALLAS - An American Airlines jet about to take off was halted after a flight attendant began "ranting" about 9/11 and claiming that the plane was about to crash.

Chicago-bound Flight 2332 had departed the gate at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport this morning and was preparing for takeoff when, according to a law enforcement officer, a female flight attendant began talking on the plane's public address system about mechanical problems. Her speech also included "ranting" about 9/11, according to CBS station KTVT in Dallas/Fort Worth, Texas.

"The flight attendant started repeating her sentences over and over again, (and) wanted us to have our seats even though we were in our seats," Stephen Termunde, who was a passenger in the 11th row, told CBS News.

Another flight attendant tried to calm others on board, as the woman continued to talk about the airline's bankruptcy. Many passengers said that she began to become incoherent.

"It was almost like she was talking and didn't realize the PA was on. We thought well maybe she's just talking to someone in the back, but no one was responding. Then we she said 'crash' twice. We knew something was wrong," Termunde said.

Some passengers helped to restrain the flight attendant. Two other crew members were reportedly injured in the altercation.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A California wine collector and dealer accused of trying to sell more than $1.3 million in counterfeit wine has been charged with fraud, a federal prosecutor said on Thursday.

Prosecutors charged Rudy Kurniawan, 35, with "multiple fraudulent schemes" relating to his wine business between 2007 and 2012, including attempting to sell fake wine and fraudulently obtaining millions of dollars in loans.

The complaint was unsealed on Thursday in Manhattan federal court.

"Mr. Kurniawan's days of wine and wealth are over, if the allegations in this case are proven," Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said in a statement. "Rudy Kurniawan held himself out to be a wine aficionado with a nose for a counterfeit bottle, but he was the counterfeit."

The complaint alleged that in one scheme, Kurniawan consigned for auction at least 84 bottles of counterfeit wine purporting to be from Domaine Ponsot in Burgundy, France, which were expected to sell for about $600,000.

Kurniawan attempted to sell one bottle that he said was a 1929 bottle from Domaine Ponsot, but Domaine Ponsot did not begin estate bottling until 1934, the complaint said.

WARSAW (Reuters) - A Polish woman lay nearly upside down in labour for 75 days to save the lives of her two premature babies after the first of three foetuses growing inside her was born prematurely and died.

Joanna Krzysztonek eventually gave birth to baby girl Iga and boy Ignacy 2-1/2 months later on February 15 at a neo-natal clinic in the south-western Polish town of Wroclaw and said the idea of lying in an awkward position for weeks on end hadn't bothered her.

"I sighed with relief that there was a chance to keep the pregnancy and to give the babies a chance to be born successfully," she told Reuters.

The head of the Wroclaw obstetrics and neo-natal clinic where Krzysztonek gave birth, Mariusz Zimmer, said doctors managed to ease Krzysztonek's contractions, but considered her to be in labour from the birth of the first child.

"This procedure - I mean giving birth - has a beginning and an ending. If the first baby was born that means the birth had started," Zimmer said.

Human childbirth typically lasts between 8 and 12 hours, while a full-term pregnancy generally lasts around 40 weeks. With help from her awkward positioning and medical attention, Iga and Ignacy's term inside their mother was 32 weeks.

Iga and Ignacy remain in special incubators, but were expected to leave the hospital soon.

Their mum had problems with maintaining her balance after leaving her unusual hospital bed, but now visits and holds her babies every day.

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LINCOLN PARK, Mich. – A Michigan woman won a $1 million lottery and continued to collect $200 a month in food stamps -- until she boasted about her situation to a local TV station and officials swooped in.

Amanda Clayton hit the jackpot in the "Make Me Rich!" lottery game show in October and, after electing to take a lump sum of $700,000 and allowing for taxes, was left with about $500,000, she told WDIV-TV.

The 24-year-old, who is unemployed, said she continued to receive public assistance.

"I thought that they would cut me off, but since they didn't, I thought, maybe, it was OK because I'm not working," Clayton said. "It's hard. I am struggling."

She added, "I feel that it's okay because I mean, I have no income and I have bills to pay. I have two houses."

But the Michigan Department of Human Services (DHS) said Wednesday that the woman was no longer receiving benefits and warned that people who continued to receive handouts in such circumstances may face criminal investigation and be required to pay back those benefits.

The State of North Carolina is fed up with rapper Waka Flocka’s so-called "security team" -- and now, it's telling them to stay the hell away ... this according to new legal docs.

The rapper -- real name Juaquin Malphurs -- was just slapped with a cease and desist letter by the North Carolina Protective Services Board, saying Waka’s security team is unwelcome at his upcoming concerts this month ... because they are unlicensed in the state.

In the letter, the NC Board cites a tour bus incident in Charlotte, NC last year -- when members of Waka’s entourage opened fire on cars after being shot at ... an incident that resulted in at least two arrests.

Now, NC ain't taking any chances -- refusing to allow ANY members of Waka’s entourage to engage in private or protective security services while Waka's in the Tar Heel State. If they fail to comply, the NC Protective Services Board promises to file criminal charges.

Sources close to the rapper tell TMZ, the NCPSB is merely trying to harass them -- insisting they have the right to self-defense like anyone else. We're told Waka and his team are currently exploring their legal options.

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TMZ has learned ... Rihanna has reached out to the Invisible Children organization and has expressed an interest in creating a video to help raise awareness about an evil S.O.B. named Joseph Kony.

Kony is quickly becoming a household name ... thanks to a viral YouTube video that exposes the Ugandan warlord as the bloodthirsty leader of a child army and child prostitution ring.

In the YouTube video, producers beg for celebrity support to raise awareness and showed a picture of Rihanna, in an effort to get her involved.

TMZ has learned ... Rihanna saw the video and was so moved by the story ... that she called the organization this week and set up a meeting, hoping to create another video to keep the momentum alive.

We're told both sides are hoping to complete the project ASAP.<

Information Technology (IT) professional by day and a makeup enthusiast, beauty blogger, and freelance artist by night, Ashley Beard is looking to take the fashion and make-up industry by storm. Join us Thursday night at a special day and time as we get to know the woman behind the scenes. Tell a friend to tell a friend to tell a friend about us and we will see you all tomorrow night at 7:00 pm EST.<

I swear some stories tick you off to no end and lights a fire under your bum to make you want to rant at the world.  Tell me what is the point of Neighborhood Watch if codes are not put into place to protect innocent people from crazies who call themselves the neighborhood watch? How do you protect yourself from the Neighborhood watch? How can you accept that this person may get off with murder of your child?  This is one of many questions that have risen in the horrible slaughter of a 17 y.o Trayvon Martin.

BOBBY!...BOBBY B!! That phrase will always be in my mind, when I think of Whitney Houston and now it'll live on with her daughter.  Family are now calling after Bobbi Kristina and wanting to pull rank by having her step back from the limelight.

Part of me says, hooray because she does need time to heal, she needs time to process and learn what she as an adult is going to do here on out, especially with the will that surfaced and she also needs to protect herself from moochers.

Which leads to the other part of me that thinks, there's a lot of moochers in the Houston camp and many are eager to find ways to control the estate of Whitney Houston by controlling Bobbi Kristina, but again, we are on the outside looking in and everyone has their own stories.

In more as the world turns around Chris Brown news, remember when we reported that Mr. Brown may be in hot water (yet again) for possibly violating his patrol in Miami after a police report was issued stating that he stole a woman's cell phone and threw it out of his car? Yeah, looks like the true culprit is the one and one Tyga! (cue gasps)  Seriously, this is getting to be too dang much and now the media is reporting on CB as if it's some soap.  Can we move on and do something different people? Can CB and Tyga act right? Who knows....but this bro-ship is causing issue (but hey so is the other 'ex-lover-friendship' so he's not falling off track).

There's something wrong with the world today, I had to quote that lyric because what in sam googly moogly is going on with teachers today. Now I am a huge advocate for teachers, they do mounds of work and do not get paid half of what they really deserve for educating our youth and dealing with the antics of some of our children. Yet, in the same note, because you as a teacher are is having a bad day, does not make it right to verbally abuse students, period. Some teachers are really forgetting themselves. But you be the judge of that,

Huffington Post shares,

A South Florida reading teacher accused of calling a Haitian student "little chocolate boy" and "chocolate nobody wanted" will be suspended.

Leslie Rainer, 46, was ordered suspended for 10 days without pay Tuesday following a hearing with the Broward County School Board, more than three times the duration Superintendent Robert Runcie had initially recommended.

Rainer is accused of making the comments, some of which were captured on video, on the job last May at Pompano Beach Blanche Ely High School. In an administrative complaint, Runcie said Rainer, who is black, has a history of "inappropriate conduct towards her part-Haitian, minority descent students" and had already been verbally counseled about such matters.

She previously "made a statement to a student that, 'I wish they would put you in a boat and send you back where you came from.'...[she also] told a student to stand in the corner near a garbage can because 'that's where he belongs,"' the complaint reads.

Everyone remembers their first date, from some being nervous about how it'll go, to other being hyped over the new experience. Sadly for one 18 y/o Florida girl, her first date will forever be labeled as the date from hell.

Daily mail shared,

An 18-year-old Florida girl thought that she had met a cute Italian hunk at a party. She was thrilled when he asked her out on a lunch date to the local Applebees. She was significantly less thrilled when it turned out that his friend was robbing her house of over $5,000 worth of electronics while they were on their less-than-stellar date.

When the girl, who has not been identified, returned home from the lunch, she found her home broken into and immediately contacted police. She said the young man had told her that his name was Florenciano Valentino and that he had just moved from New York to Coral Springs, Florida two months ago.

Walker told the site You Know I Got Soul the following Sunday, regarding "Steady Ground," "It was really the first single after 'Rock the Boat,' but my engineer was mixing the record and somehow lost the vocals. So the vocals that you hear are really just the demo vocals. The final vocals got erased, so yeah. So that's why it didn't make the album."

The clip below is the version that leaked awhile back. Aaliyah, who would have celebrated her 33rd birthday in January, died in an airplane crash on Aug. 22, 2001.

CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO THE TRACK 'STEADY GROUND'

***** I am so glad to hear that Aaliyah has some unreleased tracks. I really do miss her music and her vibe. She was a shining star that was taken from us way too soon...

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RALEIGH - A jury found Jason Young guilty of first-degree murder Monday in the 2006 beating death of his pregnant wife Michelle.

Superior Court Judge Donald Stephens quickly sentenced the 37-year-old to life in prison without parole.

Michelle was five months pregnant when she died. During the trial, prosecutors called witnesses to testify about the couple's long history of marital problems and Jason's affairs with multiple women in the months before the murder.

Before sentencing, Young's defense made a motion to set aside the conviction, but Judge Stephens told the courtroom he had "no quarrel with this jury verdict."

He said the case was similar to just about every other case of domestic violence he has ever seen - saying the evidence clearly showed the relationship between Young and his wife escalated from unpleasant to volatile.

Stephens said the evidence showed Young continued to beat his wife long past the point where she was unconscious - to the point he was physically exhausted.

"This woman suffered a beating the likes of which we seldom see," he said.

Sleep is the best medicine for a long, hard day at work, school, or everyday errands and activities, but many people aren't getting the eight hours of re-energizing power for the following day.

In fact, most are getting barely six hours of sleep, which could result in a high risk of developing certain conditions, including diabetes.

People in a recent study who slept less than six hours were 4.5 times more likely to develop abnormal blood sugar readings in six years compared with those who slept longer.

"This study supports growing evidence of the association of inadequate sleep with adverse health issues," said Lisa Rafalson of the University at Buffalo in New York, who presented her findings at the Conference on Cardiovascular Disease Epidemiology and Prevention in Palm Harbor, Florida.

Several studies have shown negative health consequences related to getting too little sleep. In children, studies showed it raises the risk of obesity, depression and high blood pressure. In older adults, it increases the risk of falls. And in the middle aged, it raises the risk of infections, heart disease, stroke and cancer.

Adults typically need between seven and nine hours of nightly sleep, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Continuing our update on Maia Campbell, she's recently sat down and given an update on where she is today. She is looking good and seems to be getting back on the right track. Check the video and more pictures below.

A South Florida former marine will spend 15 years in prison for viciously beating his wife in front of a judge during a divorce court hearing last spring.

29 year old Paul Gonzalez Jr., seen below, had to be subdued with a stun gun after he attacked his wife, Catherine Scott, 23, choked her and repeatedly hit her in the face during an appearance in a Broward County judge’s chambers last April.

Authorities said Gonzalez was enraged that the judge had ordered him to pay child support. He pleaded no contest to a charge of aggravated battery.

Scott suffered a broken nose, a broken jaw, a torn lip, a concussion and severe bruises to her face and eyes in the attack.

At a sentencing hearing on Friday, a judge ignored Gonzalez’s apologies and shot down a defense psychologist’s argument that the former soldier should be spared a long sentence because he suffered from bipolar disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder, CBS Miami reported.

“[The attack] was in a court of law where people for hundreds of years have been coming to peaceably resolve their disputes where people have an expectation of safety — certainly where your former wife thought she would be safe,” Judge Geoffrey Cohen said.

“You chose it as a place to viciously assault her,” he said.

Can I buy my ticket now! lol! Sexy Idris Elba and Taraji P. Henson will star in No Good Deed, a thriller from Screen Gems.

Movie execs say the thriller will follow a former DA-turned-stay-at-home mom and her two small children who are terrorized and kidnapped from their home when she invites a good-looking mysterious stranger in to wait for help after his car ran off the road.” (I would’ve invited his sexy azz in too lol)

Will Packer of Rainforest Films banner is producing along with Lee Clay. Ellen Goldsmith-Vein, Lindsey Williams, Elba and Rob Hardy will executive produce. Screen Gems plans to begin shooting next month in Georgia.

Elba won a Golden Globe for the acclaimed BBC police drama Luther and has been growing in stature across the pond in America. He was a key figure in last summer’s Thor and is onscreen in Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance. Deed will be his third movie for Screen Gems, after Takers and Obsessed. He also starred on HBO’s acclaimed drama The Wire.

Henson, who was nominated for Oscar for her work in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, stars in Screen Gems’ upcoming Think Like a Man. She currently appears on TV’s Person of Interest.

***** Now this should be hot! Two of Hollywood's best and brightest (and yet underrated, despite their accomplishments) stars in this type of movie should be a blockbuster for Screen Gems. We all need to support this movie when it comes out! I just hope it get the promotions blitz it deserves...

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Want to make a simple, ten-second check on the state of your health? Take a look at your feet.

"You can detect everything from diabetes to nutritional deficiencies just by examining the feet," says Jane Andersen, DPM, president of the American Association of Women Podiatrists and a spokeswoman for the American Podiatric Medical Association.

Together, your feet contain a quarter of the body's bones, and each foot also has 33 joints; 100 tendons, muscles, and ligaments; and countless nerves and blood vessels that link all the way to the heart, spine, and brain.

So when the feet send you one of these 10 warning signs, you should listen:

1. Toenails with slightly sunken, spoon-shaped indentations

What it means: Anemia (iron deficiency) often shows up as an unnatural, concave or spoonlike shape to the toes' nail beds, especially in moderate-to-severe cases. It's caused by not having enough hemoglobin, an iron-rich protein in the blood cells that transports oxygen. Internal bleeding (such as an ulcer) or heavy menstrual periods can trigger anemia.

More clues: On fingers as well as toes, the skin and nail beds both appear pale. The nails may also be brittle, and feet may feel cold. Fatigue is the number-one sign of anemia, as are shortness of breath, dizziness when standing, and headache.

What to do: A complete blood count is usually used to diagnose anemia. A physical exam may pinpoint a cause. First-step treatments include iron supplements and dietary changes to add iron and vitamin C (which speeds iron absorption).

2. Sudden hairloss on feet or toes

What it means: Poor circulation, usually caused by vascular disease, can make hair disappear from the feet. When the heart loses the ability to pump enough blood to the extremities because of arteriosclerosis (commonly known as hardening of the arteries), the body has to prioritize its use. Hairy toes are, well, low on the totem pole.

More clues: The reduced blood supply also makes it hard to feel a pulse in the feet. (Check the top of the foot or the inside of the ankle.) When you stand, your feet may be bright red or dusky; when elevated, they immediately pale. The skin is shiny. People with poor circulation tend to already know they have a cardiovascular condition (such as heart disease or a carotid artery) yet may not realize they have circulation trouble.

What to do: Treating the underlying vascular issues can improve circulation. Toe hair seldom returns, but nobody complains much.

NIKKI TRUE LIVE is going to be a show filled with grown and sexy conversations, entertaining topics, and of course Nikki True giving advice and talking about everything from love,life and yes sex.

Nikki True Goes Hollywood - No one is safe from Nikki True's opinion not even your favorite celebrities. Nikki will be commenting and sharing some of the biggest celeb scandals and stories  with her own version of the No Spin Zone(Take that Bill O'Reilly)! So Save The Date Sunday, March 4, 2012 at 11:00 pm EST. Call 347-989-0573, then go tohttp://www.blogtalkradio.com/seriously-sensual

Listen to NIKKI TRUE LIVE on air and tune in and get ready to be turned on.

Kinky Kisses-Nikki True

NikkiTrue.com<

Several articles outlining the reasons Black men – good black men – are still single have been published on numerous African American websites. I read these lists with amusement due to the fact that they have glaring holes and utilize questionable logic. Well, join us Saturday night at 10:30 pm EST as we give you the 12 most logical reasons some black men are still very much single.<

North Miami High School senior Daniela Palaez has a 6.7 GPA, the valedictory nod from her classmates, a brother in the U.S. Army and deportation papers to Colombia.

In a hearing on Monday a federal immigration judge ordered the 18-year-old Palaez, in the U.S. since she was 4 years old, to voluntarily leave the the country for her native Colombia by the end of the month after her request for a green card was denied.

"Everything I've worked for, it's, like going down the drain in a matter of days," says the aspiring surgeon who has already applied to a number of Ivy League colleges. "I consider myself an American. [Deportation] would mean I'd leave a country and go back to a country that I don't remember, a country [where] I don't feel at home, and I don't even graduate high school,"

Flanked by American flags and backed by chants of "justice for Daniela" from the thousands gathered Friday outside her school, Miami Dade Superintendent Alberto Caravalho upped the ante, saying "over my dead body will this student be deported," to roaring approval by the students.

After the judges' order on Monday, Emily Sell, a longtime friend, began a petition in support of Palaez on Facebook. It already has 5,000 signatures and is picking up momentum, with new signatures coming in at the rate of about 200 an hour.

"My goal is not to make Daniela another statistic, but rather the face of the American Dream," Sell told ABC News. "Her possible deportation is very hard for her friends and family and community to hear."

A Washington, D.C., charter school teacher has been fired after it was discovered the teacher had assigned third-grade students a number of math problems framed around violent and illegal scenarios.

At first, the unnamed teacher at the Trinidad Center City School claimed he had been ordered to assign the problems, but it was quickly discovered that the teacher had actually downloaded them from a free homeschooling website called "HomeschoolingParadise.com."

"I was absolutely distressed," Dr. Beverley Wheeler, the CEO of Center City PCS, which oversees Trinidad, told WUSA9.  "It doesn't follow anything we do. We are about character, excellence and service and I found them to be violent and racist."

Even more baffling, other parents at the school say the teacher in question is a minister.

[Parents outraged after homework references slavery, beatings]

I went to the Homeschooling Paradise website and took a look at the third-grade homeschooling "Worksheets" curriculum. To start, the site's own promotional slogan uses oddly harsh (and racially problematic) language, asking:

"Want your kids to sharpen their mathematical skills to a razor's edge? There is nothing better than grinding their neurons on Singapore math." You can read more about the Singapore math system here.

Gucci, Ugg, Burberry, Coach, Nike and Louis Vuitton. Those were among the brand names of counterfeit goods that federal authorities said they hauled in from what they called one of the largest counterfeit goods smuggling operations ever.

So far 29 people from the U.S. and China have been charged for allegedly smuggling counterfeit shoes, handbags and clothing worth about $325 million, had they been genuine, according to a statement from the U.S Attorney's Office for the District of New Jersey Friday.

CNBC said authorities from several agencies, including Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Homeland Security and the FBI, put together the pieces of several international investigations into one massive probe. CNBC said the interconnected scams involved U.S. warehousers, distributors and wholesalers. The laundered money was sent back to China.

The U.S. Attorney's office said the defendants allegedly attempted to smuggle the counterfeit goods from China through Port Newark-Elizabeth Marine Terminal in Elizabeth, N.J. The complaint alleges the defendants paid $900,000 to undercover law enforcement agents posing as a shipping company with "connections" at the terminal to clear the goods through customs.

In 2011 alone, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, which is part of the Department of Homeland Security, seized 24,792 counterfeit and pirated goods, valued at $178.9 million, with a manufacturers' suggested retail value of about $1.1 billion, if they had been real. The CBP said that China continues to be the top source of counterfeit and pirated goods, accounting for 62 percent of the total domestic value of seizures.

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A San Jose home was the scene of one of the largest methamphetamine busts in United States history Thursday, according to the DEA. Three suspects were arrested on state drug violations after about 750 pounds of the drug was discovered in a home on the 4400 block of The Woods Drive. The find carries an estimated street value of $34 million.

Detectives from the Palo Alto Police Department were investigating a case of stolen Apple iPads Thursday. During a search of the San Jose home, they found a large amount of methamphetamine.

Read the original report on the meth best at NBCBayArea.com

The DEA was called in and a state search warrant was issued.

During the search, they found what appeared to be a methamphetamine conversion laboratory, where the drug is transformed into crystal or "ice" form, according to the DEA.

Multiple items believed to be stolen from Palo Alto were also found at the home.

The investigation is ongoing and the names of the suspects have not been released.<

"It was either change your bra or you don't have a job."

For the past nine months, VaShawn Dennis has worked sorting mail with a contract company at this UPS facility near Forest Park. She says that, for the same length of time, when she comes into work, she sets off the metal detector because of the under wire in the bra she wears.

But two weeks ago, she says she was told that her undergarment was no longer acceptable, and couldn't come back unless she changed it. "I was told by my supervisor after I went through the metal detector I would need to not wear underwire bras to work, and I told her that that's the only kind of bras I can wear because of the support, and I needed that support." said VaShawn Dennis.

A UPS spokeswoman told 11alive that Dennis has not been terminated, and issued this statement: "We require our employees to go through security screening without incident. This is not an individual where the alarm has gone off every time she's entered or exited. To our knowledge, we have not had an issue with under wire garments going off in the past, but would encourage her to wear a different undergarment to work. This in no way threatens her ability to work at the UPS facility."

But Dennis says she's already looking for another job, and doesn't want to go back.
"If I'm not causing a security threat, then what's the problem, that's not fair to any woman."

Have an extra $1.4 million dollars lying around? Great! Now you can buy an entire town for that handsome sum. Some celebrities own their own islands, but why not be a regular Joe and purchase Pray, Montana, just 30 miles north of Yellowstone Park.

The 5-acre village has a population of 197 people and comes with its own post office, a trailer park, killer views and a home owned by the town's unofficial mayor, Barbara Walker. Walker bought the town in 1953, but does not wish to continue being the owner without her husband, who died in 2006. She said that whoever buys Pray will have to "wear many hats," from animal control officer to garbage control and even sheriff.

The town was founded in 1907 and has a general store, now boarded up, that once served as the gathering spot for locals to shop for groceries and talk about who just got married or had a baby; they could even visit the petting zoo that used to be in the back. Walker says she hopes that whoever buys it will restore Pray to its former glory.

By the way, if you happen to purchase the town, you will have some celebrity neighbors, actors Dennis Quaid, Peter Fonda, and Jeff Bridges all have homes in the area.<

First-degree larceny and conspiracy seem like odd charges for sending your child to school, but that’s what Connecticut mother Tanya McDowell has pleaded guilty to after she “fraudulently” enrolled her son in the wrong school district. The prosecution says she stole money from taxpayers by putting her child in the wrong school and now she’s been sentenced to 12 years in prison.

But what’s the appropriate school district for your child when you have no home? Tanya and her son were homeless at the time that she enrolled him in Kindergarten in the Norwalk school district last year, using her babysitter’s address, rather than the district of Bridgeport where her last home was. Unmoved by her circumstances, police say Tanya stole up to $15,686 in educational services from the city of Norwalk, which is the documented average cost for educating a child in 2010. In addition to her jail sentence she’s been ordered to pay back up to $6,200 in restitution.

Tanya’s 12-year sentence also includes four counts of drug possession and sale charges, which she pleaded guilty to as well, and her sentence is expected to be suspended after she serves five of the 12 years. Despite support from the NAACP, the defense was unable to get the charges dismissed, now Tanya is stuck serving time for trying to educate her son and explain to him why she’s going away. She said he’s read the newspapers that say she stole something and he doesn’t understand what’s happening.

“He is curious because he thinks I stole Brookside [the school he attended] away from him,” she said, “that I took it away from him,”

I guess it would have been better if she didn’t send her child to school at all. How ridiculous. What do you think about this case? Is Tanya McDowell really guilty of stealing education?

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Seriously? What happened to background checks on these teachers, some folks need their arse kicked.

Teacher-student love and mid-life crisis gone wild, according to Bossip:

A California school teacher has quit his job and left his wife and kids to move into an apartment with an 18-year-old student less than half his age. The Modesto Bee says the teen’s mother has waged a Facebook campaign since her daughter moved out of the family’s home last week and into a Modesto apartment with 41-year-old James Hooker.

Hooker quit his teaching job at Enochs High School last week and left his wife and children, one of them an Enochs student, to live with Enochs senior Jordan Powers.
Modesto police are investigating whether there was inappropriate contact before the girl turned 18 last fall. Hooker acknowledges the couple hurt a lot of people, but says they decided to follow their hearts.

“In making our choice, we’ve hurt a lot of people,” Hooker was quoted in the Modesto Bee. “We keep asking ourselves, ‘Do we make everyone else happy or do we follow our hearts?”

I feel bad for the wife and children involved in this ratchetness. The fantasy is not all that, but I guess for him it is. I wonder how long they waited for her to be 18? Perverted *bleeper*

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Phylicia Rashad will make her return to TV after a 12-year hiatus with the pilot show "Do No Harm" on NBC.

The story is a modern take on the Dr. Jeckyll and Mr. Hyde drama that circles Jeffrey Kohl (Steven Pasquale), a highly successful Neurosurgeon who struggles with his dangerous alter ego.

Rashad will play the role of Dr. Vanessa Young, the head surgeon in charge and Jeffrey’s boss. Joining the former Cosby show actress to the cast is Alana De La Garza, Mousa Kraish, Michael Esper and Ruta Gedmintas.

David Schulner will pen the script, and has teamed up with Peter Traugott, and Rachel Kaplan to executive produce. Michael Mayer has agreed to co-exec produce and direct.

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