Daytime Legal Show 'America's Court With Judge Ross' Renewed for Two More Seasons

Kevin "Boss" Ross, Deputy Thomas Upgraded In Chicago

With the NATPE (National Association of Television Program Executives) convention just weeks away in Miami, Florida, Entertainment Studios has officially extended its first-run court strip, 'America's Court with Judge Ross', through the 2012-13 television season.

Station groups having already re-upped include Acme, Barrington, Belo, Comp Corp., Cox, Gannett, Hubbard, Journal, LIN, Media General, Meredith, Mission, Newport, Nexstar, Raycom, Roberts, Sinclair, Tribune, Weigel and Young.

Former Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Kevin A. Ross presides over America's Court and serves as one of the show's producers. Sergeant Bruce Thomas of the LA County Sheriff's Department appears as the no-nonsense court bailiff.

America's Court Facebook Fan Page

The daily program, which premiered this fall in syndication and on Entertainment Studios' HD cable networks, airs on stations in back-to-back thirty minute blocks. Founded by comedian Byron Allen, Entertainment Studios' shows also run on the company's six high-definition cable networks, which air on Verizon FiOS TV's systems.

Earlier this month, Entertainment Studios said it had renewed that carriage deal for a multi-year term.

Follow America's Court on Twitter!

And on Chicago television station WCIU The U, America's Court has been upgraded to 8:30am in response to large numbers of viewers tuning in at 3:00am to watch Judge "Boss" Ross administer his unique brand of justice.

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Shonda Rhimes Sells TV Pilot About Crisis Manager Judy Smith, Another Successful Black Woman Doing Her Thing!

Talk about keeping black folks employed!

After successfully launching 'Grey's Anatomy and 'Private Practice,' series creator Shonda Rhimes has just sold ABC another television pilot inspired by the career of legendary public relations consultant Judy Smith.

This one, rumored to be called 'In Crisis,' involves a woman and her dysfunctional staff who help popular figures get through scandals in the media unscathed.

Smith's claim to fame is being the first black woman ever to hold the deputy press secretary position at the White House (under former president George W. Bush)

Through her Washington DC based firm, Impact Strategies, Smith has an impressive client roster, including some big-name politicians such as Bill Clinton, former D.C. Mayor Marion Barry, and New York Governor David Paterson.

Having also worked with Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Mike Vick in the midst of his dog fighting case, Smith's foray into Hollywood will be interesting to follow.

Slated for the 2011-2012 television season, Rhimes penned the pilot and is executive producing through her Shondaland production company. The African American television dynamo (she's the first black woman ever to create and executive produce an hour-long broadcast series that lasted longer than one season) is also developing and executive producing a comedic drama, 'Life After Marriage,' which centers on divorce and starting over.

Rhimes's third ABC show, a new medical drama, called 'Off the Map' premieres in January 2011.

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Attack of The 10-Year Olds: Move Over Willow Smith and Jackie Evancho, Here Come Darius and Demetrice Gillespie!

Franklin Leonard's Black List Showcases Best Overlooked Screenplays In Hollywood

One day a year, Franklin Leonard transforms from midlevel African American studio executive mired in development meetings, script readings and note-taking into Hollywood's most important soothsayer.

The 32-year-old native of Columbus, Ohio, is the mastermind and compiler of the Black List, a compendium of the year's best unproduced screenplays.

Today marks Leonard's sixth annual metamorphosis, and when he presses "send" on his e-mail — shooting the list around Hollywood and beyond — he may again change the fates of scores of screenwriters looking to crack the big leagues.

"The Black List opened doors and turned my life around," says writer Michael R. Perry, 47, whose trippy script "The Voices," about a man tormented by his talking pets, landed in third place on 2009's list. "My writing career has totally taken off."

Unlike in the early years, when most if not all of the scripts on the list were undiscovered gems, many of those on the 2010 Black List are spoken for: Of the 10 highest-ranked scripts, six have been purchased by studios. And with Hollywood bigwigs paying more attention, some people have tried to manipulate the system.

Nevertheless, Perry and others say their lives were changed by landing a spot on the list, which Leonard started in 2005 out of desperation. Then a development executive at Leonardo DiCaprio's production company Appian Way, Leonard had been drowning in a sea of bad screenplays. He turned to his counterparts in the industry for a life preserver, and his simple e-mail to 75 Hollywood execs asking for good script suggestions resulted in an avalanche of replies.

He compiled those answers into a dossier he dubbed the Black List — part self-referential title and part ironic nod to the 1940s and '50s Hollywood blacklist of suspected communists and communist sympathizers that on occasion derailed careers. A phenomenon was born.

Today, 300 people participate in compiling the list; those invited to participate contribute an unranked list of up to 10 of their favorite scripts of the year. While the number of participants has ballooned, Leonard says the purpose of the list remains the same: to recognize solid screenplays.

"I hope the additional attention has more to do with the list's increasing ability to predict quality writers," says Leonard, who recently left his development gig at Universal Pictures for a Vice President of Creative Affairs gig with Will Smith's Overbrook Entertainment. "When we did the first list, no one knew what it was. Three years later when Diablo [Cody] wins [the Academy Award for "Juno"] and Nancy [Oliver] is nominated [for "Lars and the Real Girl"] and writers deliver other great scripts, the list earned some credibility. I believe it's a pretty good source now for buying good material."

Fictionalized accounts of historical events occupy half of the top-10 spots this year. At No.1 is a buddy comedy, "College Republicans" by Wes Jones, which centers on a college-aged Karl Rove as he vies for the role of chief college conservative under the guidance of Lee Atwater. Shia LaBeouf and Paul Dano are said to be interested in the two lead roles. Spot No.2 went to "Jackie" by Noah Oppenheim, about the days immediately after President John F. Kennedy's assassination.

"Five scripts address the way in which the power was built and the way in which it has failed," Leonard says.

Also on the list is "Stoker," about a teenage girl who, in the wake of her father's death, must deal with her mysterious uncle; it is the screenwriting debut of biracial actor Wentworth Miller, best known for his role on the Fox TV drama "Prison Break."

Over the years, the Black List has recognized scripts and writers that went on to fame, acclaim and even fortune. In addition to "Lars" and "Juno," which won an Academy Award for original screenplay, high-profile writers such as David Benioff ("The Kite Runner"), Allan Loeb ("Things We Lost in the Fire") and Matthew Carnahan ("State of Play") have made the list. Sometimes writers already well known in Hollywood also land in Leonard's ranking: Aaron Sorkin, who made it for the second time last year with "The Social Network," which hit theaters this fall and is a favorite to nab an Oscar nomination for adapted screenplay.

Leonard releases his annual list in mid-December for a reason: Hollywood execs are now conditioned to anticipate the compendium, grab hold of the screenplays and spend the last two weeks of the year when the town is shut down reading the work of many previously unknown writers.

Now that many in Hollywood know how the list works, some people are tempted to try to game the system. Some executives attempt to promote their studios' screenplays, whether they believe them to be the best or not, to win their bosses' approval.

Leonard knows his system isn't perfect.

"The math nerd in me would love for it to be more scientific," he says. "But it's impossible for me to standardize that. They are not all choosing from an equal pile. It's a snapshot from an irregular, amorphous conversation that's been taking place all year long."

But in the cutthroat world of Hollywood, the list offers a rare opportunity for unknowns to get a leg up. Some advice from a previous winner: "Some 300-odd executives have just said that your script is one of the best in town right now," Sorkin says. "If you don't have an agent, use the list to get one. If you have an agent, make sure he or she is trumpeting the distinction from the top of the Griffith Observatory."

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Tired of Hair Damage From Braids, Wigs & Costly Weaves, Black Women Are Going Back To Their Roots - Are Men Cool With The Au Natural Do'?

Elizabeth Montgomery And The Cast of "Bewitched" In Blackface? An Old School Lesson About Prejudice!

To The Tune of $1.15 Billion, Black Farmers Finally Get Their Government Cheddar For Blatant Past Discrimination

JUSTICE AT LAST!

Dragging their feet ever step of the way, the U.S. Senate has officially approved a multi-billion dollar settlement involving two lawsuits: one by black farmers who alleged racial discrimination by government lenders and the other by 300,000 American Indians who said they had been cheated out of land royalties dating to 1887.

Passage of the measure, by voice vote, unblocks a legislative logjam that has thwarted payouts, negotiated by the Obama administration, of $1.15 billion to the black farmers and $3.4 billion to the American Indians.

“We are one step closer to ensuring that the black farmers and Native Americans in these suits are fully compensated for past failures of judgment by the government,” U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a California Democrat, said in a statement after the Senate vote. House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, a Maryland Democrat, said he hopes to seek a vote after Congress returns from a week-long recess on Nov. 29.

The House included the funding in war supplemental legislation it passed this summer, but it must vote on the settlements again. The Senate version of the war supplemental did not contain the funding to settle the lawsuits because Republicans objected to the proposed financing method, saying it added to the deficit.

The farmers’ 1997 class-action lawsuit alleged discrimination by the Agriculture Department’s lending programs. Under a negotiated settlement announced in February, qualified farmers can collect as much as $50,000, plus debt relief. Others may collect monetary damages up to $250,000.



At least seven times this year, Senate Republicans blocked efforts to include the spending provisions in pending legislation.

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said in a statement yesterday that the Senate’s “bold step” to finance the black farmers’ settlement “marks a major milestone in USDA’s efforts to turn the page on a sad chapter in our history.”

The Obama administration had requested $1.15 billion in its 2010 budget, on top of $100 million that Congress approved in the 2008 farm bill to finance the settlement.

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Oprah Puts The OH-MY-GOD In Christmas With Her Favorite Things Episode: Stand Down Usher!

Black Males Doing Worse Than Expected In US Schools

Proficiency of Black Young Men Is Bleak & Getting Bleaker!

By TRIP GABRIEL

Only 12 percent of black fourth-grade boys are proficient in reading, compared with 38 percent of white boys, and only 12 percent of black eighth-grade boys are proficient in math, compared with 44 percent of white boys.

Poverty alone does not seem to explain the differences: poor white boys do just as well as African-American boys who do not live in poverty, measured by whether they qualify for subsidized school lunches.

The data was distilled from highly respected national math and reading tests, known as the National Assessment for Educational Progress, which are given to students in fourth and eighth grades, most recently in 2009. The report, “A Call for Change,” is to be released Tuesday by the Council of the Great City Schools, an advocacy group for urban public schools.

Although the outlines of the problem and many specifics have been previously reported, the group hopes that including so much of what it calls “jaw-dropping data” in one place will spark a new sense of national urgency.

“What this clearly shows is that black males who are not eligible for free and reduced-price lunch are doing no better than white males who are poor,” said Michael Casserly, executive director of the council.

The report shows that black boys on average fall behind from their earliest years. Black mothers have a higher infant mortality rate and black children are twice as likely as whites to live in a home where no parent has a job. In high school, African-American boys drop out at nearly twice the rate of white boys, and their SAT scores are on average 104 points lower. In college, black men represented just 5 percent of students in 2008.

The analysis of results on the national tests found that math scores in 2009 for black boys were not much different than those for black girls in Grades 4 and 8, but black boys lagged behind Hispanics of both sexes, and they fell behind white boys by at least 30 points, a gap sometimes interpreted as three academic grades.

The search for explanations has recently looked at causes besides poverty, and this report may further spur those efforts.

“There’s accumulating evidence that there are racial differences in what kids experience before the first day of kindergarten,” said Ronald Ferguson, director of the Achievement Gap Initiative at Harvard. “They have to do with a lot of sociological and historical forces. In order to address those, we have to be able to have conversations that people are unwilling to have.”

Those include “conversations about early childhood parenting practices,” Dr. Ferguson said. “The activities that parents conduct with their 2-, 3- and 4-year-olds. How much we talk to them, the ways we talk to them, the ways we enforce discipline, the ways we encourage them to think and develop a sense of autonomy.”

The report urges convening a White House conference, encouraging Congress to appropriate more money for schools and establishing networks of black mentors.

What it does not discuss are policy responses identified with a robust school reform movement that emphasizes closing failing schools, offering charter schools as alternatives and raising the quality of teachers.

The report did not go down this road because “there’s not a lot of research to indicate that many of those strategies produce better results,” Mr. Casserly said.

Other have a different response. The key to narrowing the achievement gap, said Dr. Ferguson, is “really good teaching.”

One large urban school district that has made progress is Baltimore’s, where the dropout rate for African-American boys declined to 4.9 percent during the last academic year, down from 11.9 percent three years earlier. Graduation rates for black boys were also up: 57 percent in 2009-10, compared with 51 percent three years earlier.

Andres A. Alonso, the chief executive of the Baltimore City Public Schools, said the improvement had little to do with changes at the margins, like lengthening the school day or adding mentors. Rather, Mr. Alonso cited aggressively closing failing schools, knocking on the doors of dropouts’ homes to lure them back and creating real-time alerts — “almost like an electrical charge” — when a student misses several days of school.

“Hispanic kids and African-American kids this year had a lower dropout rate than white kids,” Mr. Alonso said.

Source - NY Times

Spelman Coeds Win AT&T Mobile Campus Challenge, Besting MIT & Harvard

Sisters Are Getting Their Tech On!

Jonecia Keels and Jazmine Miller of Spelman College have won the 2010 AT&T Big Mobile on Campus Challenge^SM with their next generation e-learning mobile application, HBCU Buddy.

HBCU Buddy is a mobile application created to educate and inform users, including both prospective and current college students, about Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) across the United States. It is a fully-fledged mobile service application that provides detailed information about HBCU's and integrates all facets of college life.

The application opens with a directory profiling each HBCU with information on academics, admissions, research, student life, alumni, among other details. After selecting a school, students can navigate through the school – literally – by accessing virtual tours of buildings, on-campus videos, and local GPS and directions.

HBCU Buddy can also provide students with customizable social networking features to connect with each other, their school and community. The application connects to social networking sites, such as Facebook and Twitter, and integrates tools such as chat and calendar to help students stay informed. Students can use the application to follow the latest on school club and campus happenings, local events, hot spots around the community, and more.

Jonecia Keels and Jazmine Miller were recognized and awarded a $10,000 scholarship (divided between them) and a mobile device of their choice each at the Higher Ed Board of Advisors Meeting in Miami, Florida, on October 7, 2010.

The President has been keen to foster stronger STEM education for all American students (science, tech, engineering and math) because the jobs of the future will require strong skills in these disciplines.

Source: Jack & Jill Politics

Jesse Jackson, Michael Jackson And Barack Obama - Here's Your Latest Tech And Online News Brief

Rainbow PUSH Hosts DC Telecommunications Symposium

The Rainbow PUSH Coalition and the Citizenship Education Fund will host its annual symposium examining the current state of telecommunications and international affairs on Friday, October 29. The event takes place at the Capital Hilton hotel in Washington, DC., 1001 16th Street, NW from 7:30 - 2:00 pm and is open to the public. Pre-registration is required.

The topics and panels to be convened include "Obstacles and Opportunities in Implementing the National Broadband Plan," "Digital Civil Rights," "Broadband Adoption: Why it Should be the Top National Priority in Technology Policy," "Focus on Africa: U.S. HIV-AIDS Policy," and "Financial Literacy Training."

An opening VIP reception will be held on Thursday, October 28, 2010 6:00 PM, at The Willard Hotel, 1401 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW. To RSVP call 202-383-7974.or additional information visit http://www.rainbowpush.org/.

Commander-In-Chief Giving Lots of Love To Black Bloggers

President Obama stopped by a "black online summit" at the White House Monday as part of an outreach to African American journalists and bloggers before the midterm elections, an effort that includes the Democratic National Committee spending what it calls an unprecedented $3 million to reach the most loyal part of Obama's base, African American voters.

"I thought the meeting was great in that it showed that President Obama and his administration are taking black new media and our growing influence seriously," David A. Wilson, managing editor of theGrio.com, told Journal-isms via e-mail.

"They outlined how the administration's policies have had a positive effect on the African-American community and they invited us to make suggestions on how they could work better with us and provide us with more access to the White House.

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Michael Jackson Earned More This Past Year Than Any Living Celebrity Except Guess Who?

Over the past year Lady Gaga, Beyoncé, Madonna and Jay-Z each each earned more than $50 million. But Michael Jackson earned more than all four--combined.

Thriller To Become A Movie

The King of Pop, who died in June 2009, made an astonishing $275 million in the past 12 months, putting him -- by a wide margin -- atop the Forbes list of top-earning dead celebrities. Jackson's take was in no small part because of the more than $250 million worldwide box-office haul of the Sony film This Is it. Check out the one celebrity who still banks more than the music legend.

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Never Heard of TuneCore? Then You Need To Step Your Music Game UP!

Less than five years after Price launched it, TuneCore has become the world's largest distributor of music, as measured by its volume of releases. The New York-based company pumps out 15,000 to 30,000 new songs each week, more than most major record labels release in a year. And it achieves that without scouting and signing artists, operating a recording studio or cranking up the marketing and promotion machine typically part of a traditional recorded music label.

Established musicians such as Jay-Z, Trent Reznor and Aretha Franklin use TuneCore's services, as well as lesser known artists such as Dave Days and Liam Sullivan.

The story of how TuneCore became a key part of the digital music ecosystem parallels the rise of the digital music business, once the shock of widespread piracy began to wear off and executives began to question every assumption they had about the industry.

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Technology Impacts The Diaspora In Unimaginable Ways

Ask web entrepreneur Stefan Magdalinski why he moved from London to Cape Town two years ago, and he points to a map that illustrates the technological revolution reshaping Africa.

The map shows the 14 undersea fibre-optic cables that will link the continent's Internet service providers to the servers of Europe and Asia by mid-2012, increasing the capacity of its cable Internet connections almost three-fold from today and nearly 300-fold from 2009.

The cables are drawn in different colours and in thicknesses that represent their capacity -- from the thin gray line showing the 120-gigabit cable that was Africa's only fibre optic link in January 2009, to the broad orange swath showing a 5,120-gigabit cable set to launch in 2012.

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Starbucks Wants Your Business Coffee Addicts, Badly!

Starbucks, the world’s largest coffee retailer, have unveiled additions to their WiFi network that will allow customers to enjoy free access to media like movies and e-books while in store. Smartphone toting coffee lovers–as well as those with iPads and laptops–can now enjoy a variety of “snackable” content simply by connecting to the Starbucks network.

After network connection is established a welcome page will appear, allowing customers to scroll through various sections including entertainment, wellness, business and careers, and “my neighborhood,” where they can find community news, restaurant reviews and more.

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The Latest From Hip Tech Site Mashable

Every week, Mashable puts together a calendar of upcoming social media and web events, parties and conferences. Would you like to have your conference or event listed here? If so, please contact us at least one month before your event to establish a media partnership. For more upcoming listings, check out Mashable’s Events section.

In the meantime, here are some tips on how to network, share your information and/or promote your event(s) using social media:

Check it out

Egyptian Women Use Twitter to Fight Sexual Harassment

Women who experience sexual harassment while walking the streets of Cairo will soon have a way to use Twitter to fight back. A Web service called Harrasmap will collect tweeted or texted reports of gropings, whistles and other unwanted harassment; the data will be used to generate a real-time map of the city showing areas that might be unsafe for women.

With 83% of Egyptian women and 98% of female foreign residents saying they have experienced harassment in Cairo, the site's founders say they hope the service will help victims realize that they aren't alone.

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Time To Get Out Of That Unemployment Line

Wake up, job seekers. Sixty percent of you aren’t using social media in your quest to land a position, according to MicroTrain, a professional training and job services company. That means the 40 percent of job hunters who are using social media—sites like LinkedIn and Twitter—hold a decided advantage over their behind-the-times counterparts. As James Ellis, director of professional services at MicroTrain, pointed out, many job postings on Twitter and LinkedIn never appear anywhere else.

JOBS IN SOCIAL MEDIA

Social media specialist and author Dan Schwabel noted recently that the old approach to finding a job—“developing a resume and cover letter, locating jobs on and submitting your resume to corporate sites and job banks, and crossing your fingers in hopes of receiving a call from a hiring manager—is, for the most part, a thing of the past.”

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BE THE CHANGE YOU WANT TO SEE – THE WORLD IS WAITING!

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Meet The Ohio Sextuplets And The Couple Who Loves Them!

BROWN SUGAR!

An Ohio woman has given birth to the state's second set of sextuplets, and her husband jokes he might have to work some overtime to support his new family.

Rozonno McGhee of Columbus says he's a proud and happy new dad. The 30-year-old carpet cleaning specialist and his wife Mia gave birth by cesarean section to four boys and two girls at Ohio State University Medical Center back in June.

A team of about 50 medical staff members oversaw the delivery.

The first baby weighed in at a fraction over 2 pounds and the smallest at 1 pound, 12 ounces.

Fewer than 200 deliveries of sextuplets have occurred in the United States. The McGhee children's names are Isaac, Josiah, Elijah, Rozonno, Madison and Olivia.

A Perspective On The Million Man March, Written 15 Years Ago: Has Anything Changed?

Why I Won't Be in Washington on Monday

Frederick Douglass once said, "A man who will not labor to gain his rights is a man who would not, if he had them, prize and defend them."

This is why I should be on a plane, train, bus, moped, skateboard or pogo stick to Washington, where Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan is calling on 1 million black men to gather for a "holy day of atonement and reconciliation."

On Monday (October 16, 1995), brothers will be exhorted to reclaim their lives, atone for their mistreatment of one another and of black women, come to terms with their abandonment of family and accept their failure to put God first.

Historically, black men were too proud to be controlled by the dominant society. Lynched for even daring to dream, many simply gave up. And yet others took a stand and ultimately moved the world. It is these men, men whom I aspire to emulate, who have persuaded me that I, like millions of other African American men, have no reason to atone for anything.

I attended a black college, hosted a black radio talk show and ran for a seat on the Los Angeles City Council. Married to a black woman and working to curb gang and youth violence, I challenge this litmus test, the notion of taking a day off from my job simply to draw attention to the problems facing black men in this country.

And that's not to disparage the march or the personalities involved. I rejoined the NAACP under Ben Chavis and have heard Farrakhan speak on several occasions. I found both men's views compelling and vexing.

But I cannot march just for the sake of marching. The assertion that this is a unique opportunity to "reconcile with our Creator and unite for the betterment of all African Americans" is nebulous and unpersuasive. "I know there's no real agenda for the march, no platform and no clearly defined plan for the future," one minister said, "but there is a need for black men to come and stand together in each other's presence. Hopefully, something will come of it."

Hopefully?

Even those supporting the march seem unclear about the ultimate outcome. What happens Tuesday? What happens in 1996? What happens the next century?

While some feel their manhood is based on making babies, destroying their own people with drugs and killing to gain a warped sense of respect, many black men who feel otherwise unfortunately are no longer willing to be their brothers' keepers.

With one in three of our boys having some connection with the legal system, few African Americans actually believe that descending on our nation's capital will restore what centuries of racism, discrimination and inequality have created.

Thus the disenchantment of those not attending speaks more to the day-to-day accountability that goes unaddressed rather than to the march itself. Some argue that money being raised to bus men to Washington should go instead toward formula for the babies these men have created.

Instead of heading east, a few need to march south (as in South-Central) and spend time with sons and daughters they've never met. Men don't have to travel to Washington to respect black women. They just need to keep their hands off of them in Los Angeles.

When we start accepting responsibility, stop dealing crack and stop paying tribute to the "gangsta" mentality, that's when we'll see real atonement. Ralph Ellison said, "When I discover who I am, I'll be free." If this march, this sacred ceremony of declaration, can teach one black boy the true meaning of this and this alone, then I would concede that it was worth it.

But for now, I'll be at work on Monday. To Chavis and others, respectfully: I like what I'm doing more than what you're not.

October 13, 1995| Los Angeles Times | Kevin A. Ross is a deputy district attorney in Los Angeles

You May Want To Rethink Those Facebook Photos - Seriously!!!

By Peggy Klaus

Admittedly, I am not a heavy user of social networking sites and I don’t blog on a regular basis. However, I have become very mindful about how I might be perceived and the messages I want to convey. After all, any online content will continue to brag on my behalf for months and years to come.

I started thinking seriously about virtual branding after a recent visit from my niece, who, after taking a few months to travel in South America following graduation from college, returned home to apply for jobs. She stopped by for some help with her resume and some coaching for an upcoming interview. Wanting to show me a few pictures from her trip, she logged onto her Facebook page. As we sat together and scrolled through her photo albums, I was appalled. Now admittedly, I’m two generations removed from Millennials and much has changed regarding etiquette and behavior during that time.

However, of the 300-some pictures on her Facebook page, about 280 of them showed her in party mode with drink in hand or tilting towards her glassy-eyed inebriated friends. And the kicker was a photo of her smoking a hookah. When I shrieked at that one, she said very innocently, “We’re not smoking grass, Aunt Peggy! It’s tobacco!”

Although that might be the truth, I explained, a potential employer couldn’t possibly know that. It’s a well-known fact that employers not only Google potential employees but also look them up on sites like Facebook and MySpace. And, though I might be accused by some Gen-Yers of being old fashioned, the photos my niece had posted on her Facebook site did not portray the image of her she would want hiring managers to have. She reluctantly agreed to revise her selection of photos and delete the incriminating ones.

Social media is a powerful tool that can do wonders for our businesses, rekindle relationships, make us feel more connected, and save us time. But unfortunately, if left unattended, it can become a negative gift that keeps on giving. For some tips on making social media work for you, not against you, click here.

Was Heralded Civil Rights Photographer Ernest Withers Actually A FBI Informant?

Turns out Ernest Withers, a revered civil rights photographer who captured iconic images of Martin Luther King Jr. on the night King was shot in Memphis, actually played a different role the day before: FBI informant.

A just completed a two-year investigation reveals how Withers provided the FBI with details about where King was staying and information on his meeting with black militants on April 3, 1968 — the day before the assassination.

Withers' spying, however, extends far beyond the slain civil rights leader.

Apparently Withers collaborated for years with FBI agents monitoring the civil rights movement. Beloved in Memphis, Tennessee, where a namesake museum is scheduled to open next month, it remains to be seen how these new revelations may affect Withers' legacy.

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Favorite New Song Right Now - Bruno Mars "Just The Way You Are"

Days after he was arrested in Las Vegas on a cocaine charge Sept. 19, rising R&B singer Bruno Mars, claimed his first No. 1 on Billboard's Hot 100 singles chart this week.

"Just the Way You Are," which also marks his first charting single as a lead artist, rose two places to the top and ended the two-week reign of Katy Perry's "Teenage Dream," which fell to No. 4. (Mars previously went to No. 1 in May, as the featured artist on B.o.B's "Nothin' On You").

Mars, 24, was arrested early Sunday on suspicion of possessing cocaine after a suspicious bathroom attendant at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino alerted authorities. the Hawaiian native, born Peter Gene Hernandez, is scheduled to perform on Saturday Night Live when it debuts this Fall.

With an incredibly smooth, soulful voice, let's hope the young performer can leave the drugs alone (assuming it's true) and just focus on making great music!

Acclaimed Cosby Show Artist Varnette Honeywood, Dead at 59

By Moses X Ball

The world has just lost an incredible individual. Varnette P. Honeywood has died.

Well-known as an artist and illustrator, Varnette P. Honeywood is highly regarded for her use of color and light, patterns and textures. Her work—primarily paintings, collages, and prints—has received wide exposure in galleries and individual and group shows, as well as in books and on television.

A graduate of Spelman College and member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Honeywood is famous for her upbeat depictions of black family life.

Carrying on the tradition of genre painting, a black artistic movement that followed in the wake of the Harlem Renaissance, her work portrays blacks in a range of settings, going about various activities, always stressing the colorful and creative aspects of African-American culture.

Her work tells stories and communicates ideas and thoughts. Much of Honeywood's art concerns the history of black Americans, their sufferings and triumphs, and celebrates the strength and leadership of black women.

Her work is probably most known for appearing on Cliff and Claire Huxtable's wall on The Cosby Show. I met Varnette back in the early 90's at the [Los Angeles] Crenshaw Plaza's yearly African American Fine Art Exhibition.

This was back when the exhibition featured some of the most well respected artists we have, from Jacob Lawrence, to Samella Lewis, Elizabeth Cattlett and John Biggers.

Varnette stuck out for me because she was so open about her process and full of so much advice for a young annoying kid who loved to draw pictures. I would go back every year (until leaving for college) and always check in with her, showing her new work and always learning something new from her practical wisdom.

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My Journey With Oprah - From Unimpressed Student To Inspired Colleague

Farewell and Hello

By Kevin Ross

When Oprah Winfrey hit the national stage on Sept 8, 1986, who could have imagined that a 32-year-old news journalist with a strange, biblical-inspired name would amass such a level of fame, wealth and influence?

And it all started with a television show.



For me, what initially stood out about the undisputed queen of talk was that she was one of only a few minority personalities on network TV, particularly during the day.

Admittedly, I was underwhelmed watching the A.M. Chicago host interview Mr. T during a brief visit to the Windy City in the early 80's. “Who is this Oprah?” I remember saying disdainfully to my Morehouse College buddy. “People like her," he responded defensively. "She’s more popular here than Phil Donahue!”

(Years later, that same friend would marry a woman who ended up working at Harpo Studios.)

By the time Winfrey’s show debuted around the country, I had just finished college. Although I felt like the same person, the “new” Oprah I was now eying seemed more entertaining. I actually wrote to her the following month, inquiring whether I could be on the show to discuss why students such as myself preferred attending Historically Black College and Universities over mainstream white institutions (in my case the University of Southern California).

Hoping to get her attention, I included a 1986 Men of Morehouse Calendar that some classmates and I had created and sold earlier that year.

Although I was never contacted by the show’s producers, I remained a loyal fan. Between scouring newspaper job listings and filling out law school applications, I always made it a point to get my regular Oprah fix.

But once my student loans started getting uppity and my parents began inquiring whether I was as clear about my career path as I kept insisting, it was decision time. Was I going to continue working the marketing job I had just landed, or follow the path that I felt compelled to pursue?

With a little help from the media mogul and the debut of a one-hour drama set in a fictitious law office, the answer would be revealed.

You see it was the power of television that ultimately gave me the confidence to believe that I had a shot at having a legal career. At the time, I neither knew anyone in the profession, nor did I fully understand what would be required to succeed in it.

What I did know was after watching LA Law, which also premiered in the Fall of 1986, I became convinced that if Mario Van Peebles and Blair Underwood could portray polished attorneys who just happened to be black, then I could actually be one?

And with Bryant Gumbel successfully at the helm of The Today Show, The Oprah Winfrey Show obliterating afternoons and The Cosby Show dominating primetime, the so-called “boob tube” kept reinforcing in my mind one thing and one thing only:

Achievement!

In 2010, that message is making a comeback!

Look no further than the upcoming Primetime Schedule of the major networks and you’ll find more "color" (at least in front of the camera) than we’ve seen in quite some time. And NBC, to their credit, is leading the way with shows like Undercovers, Outlaw, The Event, Law & Order: Los Angeles, and Community.

In daytime, returning programs like ABC’s The View with Whoopi Goldberg and Sherri Sheppard, Meredith’s Better with Audra Lowe, and Debmar Mercury’s The Wendy Williams Show feature multi-talented women conversing with everyone from reality stars to an African American Commander-In Chief. Joining that mix is Holly Robinson Peete, one of the six ladies helming CBS’s new chatfest The Talk.

With respect to syndicated game shows, Emmy-winning host Wayne Brady kicks off a second season of Let’s Make A Deal, while comedian, radio host and NY Times best-selling author Steve Harvey will now have the pleasure of kissing cheeks on Family Feud.

And if you go inside any of the court shows this year, you’ll discover 5 out of 10 feature African Americans dispensing justice They include mainstays Judge Joe Brown, Judge Greg Mathis, Divorce Court with Judge Lynn Toler, as well as Judge Karen’s Court.

I did say five, right?

The remaining one is mine.

And that's because I ended up going to law school and working as a LA prosecutor before serving for several years as an elected member of the California judiciary.

Now, America’s Court with Judge Ross is set to find its niche with audiences this Fall.

"These years with you… have enriched my life beyond measure," Oprah stated when she announced her decision to leave her award-winning show.

In joining my soon to be colleague for her 25th and final season (beginning Monday September 13), I look forward to sharing with the iconic figure what many, irrespective of race, truly feel about her journey.

“Thank you for inspiring me Ms. Winfrey. Mission accomplished!”

Former Superior Court Judge Kevin Ross is the host of America's Court. The show, from Entertainment Studios, debuted on broadcast television Monday, September 20. 2010 (check your local station for show times)

Will 'For Colored Girls' Give Black Actresses A Chance For Oscar Gold?

Tyler Perry's film adaptation of Ntozake Shange's For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow Is Enuf will hit theaters on November 5, according to Variety. The movie was originally scheduled for a January 2011 release.

The film features a slew of stage veterans including Tony winners Whoopi Goldberg, Anika Noni Rose and Phylicia Rashad as well as Kerry Washington, Janet Jackson, Thandie Newton, Loretta Devine, Kimberly Elise, Macy Gray and Tessa Thompson.

More info here

Don't Mess With 9-Year Old Willow Smith - You Hear That Rihanna?

Willow Camille Reign Smith is the daughter of Will and Jada Pinkett Smith. Her elder brother is a fellow child actor Jaden Smith, and paternal half-sister to Trey Smith. She along with her brother are youth ambassadors for project Zambia in conjunction with the Hasbro corporation-which helps children orphaned by AIDS in Africa.

Smith presented an award at the Kid's Choice Awards. She made her acting debut in I Am Legend alongside her father. Her next film, Kit Kittredge: An American Girl, was released on July 2, 2008.

The soon to be 10-year old's first single, "Whip My Hair" leaked on September 7, 2010. As you just heard, it definitely has some kick!

President Obama, Are You The Problem Or Is It Something Else?

How broken is Washington? Beyond repair? A day in the life of the president reveals that Barack Obama’s job would be almost unrecognizable to most of his predecessors—thanks to the enormous bureaucracy, congressional paralysis, systemic corruption (with lobbyists spending $3.5 billion last year), and disintegrating media.

Inside the West Wing, author Todd Purdum talks to Obama’s top advisers about the challenge of playing the Washington game, ugly as it has become, even while their boss insists they find a way to transcend it.

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