A former New Hampshire high school teacher has pleaded guilty to a charge she e-mailed nude photographs of herself to a 15-year-old student. Forty-one-year-old Melinda Dennehy of Hampstead entered the plea Monday to a misdemeanor charge of indecent exposure. According to police, the ex-teacher sent ‘four sexy shots of herself,’ with her ‘genitals exposed,’ to her 15-year-old male student. The sophomore to which the photos had been sent told police that Dennehy texted him detailing sexual acts she wanted to perform with him.

As part of a plea agreement, Dennehy was given a suspended jail sentence on the condition that she remain on good behavior and have no contact with the child or go to the high school.

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In a Newsweek cover story titled “The Reinvention of the Reverend,” writers Allison Samuels and Jerry Adler give their perspective of  the “indefatigable” Al Sharpton.

Read a snippet of the News Week article below

If the Rev. Al Sharpton didn’t exist, he would have had to be invented. In fact, the novelist Tom Wolfe has claimed he did invent him, in the character of the Reverend Bacon, a supporting figure in The Bonfire of the Vanities.

Each generation of black America gives birth to its own incarnation of the charismatic preacher-activist who confronts the white power structure in the streets and talks circles around it on Meet the Press.

Just a few months after the fictional Bacon made his appearance in 1987, the real Sharpton burst onto the national stage as the fiery advocate for Tawana Brawley, a New York teenager who claimed to have been raped by a gang of white men, including a policeman.

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Al Sharpton at the round table

Sean Bell’s daughters and two friends who were with him the night he was killed will receive a $7 million settlement as a result of the federal lawsuit they filed.

New York City agreed on Tuesday to pay more than $7 million to settle a federal lawsuit filed by the family and two friends of Sean Bell, a 23-year-old black man fatally shot by the police in 2006, on what would have been his wedding day.

The decision came after two days of intense negotiations in Federal District Court in Brooklyn. The children whom Mr. Bell had with his fiancée, Nicole Paultre Bell, will receive $3.25 million, and two friends of Mr. Bell’s who were injured in the episode will also receive payments, with Joseph Guzman getting $3 million, and Trent Benefield $900,000.

The lawsuit, filed in 2007, accused the police of wrongful death, negligence, assault and civil rights violations. But it had repeatedly stalled as the state and federal governments and city police officials investigated the shooting.

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I AM SEAN BELL, black boys speak from Stacey Muhammad on Vimeo.

Three teens have been charged with murder in the beating death of a 47-year-old Salvadoran immigrant, in the upscale community of Summit, N.J. Not only that, but authorities say the teens also filmed the attack using a phone video-camera, and then circulated the video among teenagers in the town. To add still further insult to injury, as the father of four, Abelino Mazaniego, clung to life, a nurse in the emergency room allegedly helped himself to the $640.00 that was in the victim’s wallet.

Mazaniego had just finished his restaurant shift the evening of July 17 and was relaxing on a bench when three young men, ages 17, 18, 19, approached and decided to attack the man for no apparent reason. According to The Star Ledger, the video recorded at the scene shows one teenager holding Mazaniego’s shirt in front of him while another punched him in the face.

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Written by:  Mason Jamal on Twitter

By now, most of us have heard portions of the Melle Mel Gibson mix tape. It’s straight lunacy. But you have to admit his freestyle skills are a gift. Hopefully, Mel sent Satan a thank you card. After all, in order to separate yourself from the person you love in such a scornful way, one must first separate himself from his soul. It’s a prerequisite to going ape sh*t.

But look, things happen. Couples have intense disagreements all the time, though usually not so colorful. And, granted, they’re typically not recorded and leaked to the public in daily installments on tabloid television. Nonetheless, it’s not uncommon for a couple to love hard and fight harder, nor is it healthy. But, unfortunately, it’s more universal than it is unique. And to that end it transcends race. If I’m not mistaken, Mel even samples Ike Turner in his tirade. Listen closely to the mix tape and you can hear Mel say something to the effect of “goddamn it, Annie Mae!” I swore I heard it.

More importantly, we’re presented us with the question: What makes a man behave this way? To be fair, by the time it escalates to this level of crazy, both sides are usually complicit in antagonizing the other. But don’t misunderstand me: physical and emotional abuse is abhorrent and unjustifiable. Speaking for men, we have to know when to step away, count to 10, look at porn and redirect ourselves – anything other than self-detonating. No one is impressed with the relationship jihadist.

Resuming business as usual is kind of difficult after you’ve impaled everyone around you with your fire-breathing shrapnel. Apologies aren’t always enough. Sometimes we go too far and end up doing irreparable damage to our reputations, our families and livelihoods. And that’s the lesson to be learned here.

Source

Profanity and Strong Language in video:

STOCKTON, Calif.—Stockton police say a teenager who was fatally shot by officers had escaped from juvenile hall, where he was being held on suspicion of robbery, conspiracy and torture.

James Rivera died on Thursday after two officers and a sheriff’s deputy fired on his van. The 16-year-old was suspected of having stolen the vehicle at gunpoint a day earlier.

Police spokesman Pete Smith says officers opened fire when they believed the van was moving back toward them as they approached it on foot. Police had rammed the vehicle following a chase.

About 20 people protested the shooting as unjustified outside police headquarters on Friday. Rivera’s family says he did not steal the van, but bought it.

The shooting is under investigation.

Police say Rivera escaped from juvenile hall last spring.

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Sitting down and talking to music industry veterans is one of our most favorite things. It seems that everyone has a story or two about someone they once associated with. Most of the time those stories are very funny, but they are often sad as well. Recently EURweb.com had the pleasure speaking with longtime industry veteran Robert Funderberg about his onetime client and longtime friend, Rick James.

As you can imagine, it’s almost impossible to speak about the late funk-rocker without the subject of drugs coming up. Funderberg recalls a hilarious, but somber story of the DEA, Rick, a guitar and yes drugs.

[Read on/and or scroll down to listen to Funderberg's account]

“This is during the Urban Rhapsody Tour, so we had a show at the House of Blues in Orlando,” he explained. “I got a call from the DEA. They wanted to know if Rick James would sign a guitar they were going to auction off for a charity function. I said no problem. In exchange they would go take his family on Safari that they had down there. I arrive at the performance and I have two DEA agents on either side of me. We’re talking, enjoying the show. I tell them I’m trying to change Rick’s image and, hopefully, we’re trying to move forward, do a serious come back, he’s changed, etcetera.”

For those that do not know or may have forgotten the Urban Rhapsody Tour was in support of Rick James’ album by the same name. It was his first comeback attempt after serving a 2 year jail sentence on drug related charges and had swore to clean up his life.

“So, as he’s performing I see someone from the crowd throw a cellophane bag on the stage, what I think is cocaine and heroin,” he continued. “Commonly known on the streets as an 8 Ball. And it lands right in front of him. As I’m talking to them I say ‘I don’t believe this’ and my hair starts to turn gray. As we’re talking I say ‘excuse me’. They did not see it because it’s dark in the club, the music was blaring, and they were focusing on him. They didn’t see, I saw it. Once I saw it I’m really trying to engage them to look at me.”

“I tried to block them with my body from seeing in the direction that I’m going, towards the cellophane bag, because I’m a pretty big guy. I walk in front of him, snatch the bag up and tuck it away in my shirt. Went back to them, then excused myself to the men’s room and flush it. By the time I get back the show’s over. Rick then comes up to me and says ‘Robert, where’s that bag at?’ I said ‘the one I flushed down the toilet that you don’t want, right?’ He said ‘Uh, yeah, yeah, that’s right.’”

Though to reminisce on the tomfoolery of his now deceased friend/client gave all that were present a hearty chuckle, it was at a price. Immediately following the laughter the mood became somber indeed.

“Unfortunately, half the time I was battling guys that would come in there because they had benefited from when he was a multi-millionaire tremendously … when he was getting high,” Funderberg explained. “And they would come in there to supply him with drugs at his concerts. So, I would tell security ‘no they can’t come in’. I didn’t want to see them in the building. But I couldn’t watch him 24-7.”

If there was anyone that would have some reason to watch James around the clock it was Robert Funderberg. He was not only Rick’s manager, he was as close to being a family member as one can get without actually being related. Robert went on to tell EURweb.com that, despite reports to the contrary, Rick James was a great guy and was even gullible at times. But there was a dark side to him that was overindulgent in all of his appetites.

“People would take advantage of him. I had known Rick since I was 18. He knew my family he knew my uncles. When he wasn’t doing drugs we would have great conversations. He knew the Bible backwards and forwards. But once drugs were introduced it was like Jekyll and Hyde. He flipped. And that was the bad part. Unfortunately he started to become more Hyde than Jekyll. As he increased his use of the drugs he became more and more negative. More self destructive. Unfortunately, he was the kind of guy where, if there was a bottle of liquor he would want all of the liquor and then would say ‘Let’s get another bottle.’ He was hurting himself. The core of what he was, was a good person. I think him trying to live up to what other people wanted him to be is what killed him.”

We are aware of the circumstances of what led up to the death of Rick James, but many do not know the level to which James’ health had deteriorated due to his abusive habits and physical neglect.

“His heart stopped two or three times. The doctors told him he had to stop getting high because they might not be able to revive him the next time,” he explained. “For myself, if that happened to me just once whatever activities I was doing I would cease and desist. It’s too bad, musically he was a genius, but when the drugs took control … and unfortunately those around him egged him on. They benefited from his lack of judgment. His distraction. ‘Rick give me this, Rick give me that.’ No talent, just hangers on. And those that had talent, he took advantage of them. How long can you stay around and let somebody do that? Plus, on top of that, you don’t want to see your friend destroy himself. Some things you can do, some things are just not in your hands. I told him once ‘Rick, I cannot care more about your career than you do.’ That’s one of the last conversations I had with him.”

On the morning of August 6, 2004, Rick James was found dead in his Burbank, California, home at the Oakwood apartment complex on Barham Boulevard by his caretaker. James had died from pulmonary failure and cardiac failure with his various health conditions of diabetes, stroke, a pacemaker, and a heart attack. Through his autopsy it was discovered he was under the influence of alprazolam, diazepam, bupropion, citalopram, hydrocodone, digoxin, chlorpheniramine, methamphetamine and cocaine. But his autopsy states he died of an enlarged heart.

James’ story is a cautionary tale at its core. One cannot help but wonder how many people are actually listening.

Think that story was something? Shortly we will post the thoughts of Robert Funderberg’s wife Jo-Jo McDuffie Funderberg, former lead vocalist for The Mary Jane Girls as well as background vocalist on several of Rick’s projects. We promise, it’s going to be eye opening! Source.

From Soultracks.com:

It is with immense sorrow that we inform SoulTrackers that Al Goodman, one-third of Ray, Goodman & Brown as well as the Moments (”Love on a Two Way Street”), has died. Part of two of the most underrated soul groups of the past half century, Goodman provided the “bottom end” on hits such as “Special Lady” and “Take It To the Limit.” We had gotten to know Al here at SoulTracks, and he was a wonderful man and a consummate entertainer. He often wrote to us to tell us about the newest happenings with the group and always expressed a deep love for the audiences who had supported him throughout his career. All of the deaths of soul music greats so far in 2010 have hurt, but this one brings particular pain to us.

Ray Goodman and Brown. Part of the generation of soul music groups that arose in the late 60s and early 70s, the combination of Harry Ray, Al Goodman and Billy Brown became most notable as perhaps the greatest live performing group of that elite bunch. While many groups of that era had more successful recording careers, few have equaled the stage presence and consistent crowd pleasing shows of RG&B.

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