HOBSON CITY, Ala. (AP) - The cafes, the school and the roller rink are long gone from Alabama's oldest Black city. Empty homes and businesses line the narrow streets.
Hobson City has no police or fire department, and weeds have overgrown the oldest part of the cemetery and a park.
But this small town once thrived as a place where Black people were in charge in the midst of the Jim Crow South.
Now, with the town on the verge of dying, preservationists have put the east Alabama landmark on the critical list. The Alabama Historical Commission this month included the town of 878 people on its annual inventory of "Places in Peril." . . .

More Africans than ever want democracy - though violent, rigged elections and failure to translate freedom into better lives have left a bad impression among some, according to a survey published Monday. Only 45 percent of African citizens support democracy, up from 40 percent in 2005. Afrobarometer, which has done such surveys every three years since 1999, questioned more than 25,000 people in 19 countries for the latest survey.

President Barack Obama chose federal appeals judge Sonia Sotomayor to become the nation's first Hispanic Supreme Court justice on Tuesday, praising her as "an inspiring woman'' with both the intellect and compassion to interpret the Constitution wisely. Obama said Sotomayor has more experience as a judge than any current member of the high court had when nominated, adding she has earned the "respect of colleagues on the bench, the admiration of many lawyers who argue cases in her court and the adoration of her clerks, who look to her as a mentor.'' . . .

Michael Vick, the suspended Atlanta Falcons quarterback who served 21 months in a Leavenworth, Kan. prison on dog-fighting convictions, was released May 20.
Evading media, Vick and his fiancée, Kijafa Frink, immediately traveled to his Hampton, Va. home. There he will remain under court-ordered supervision, serving the last two months of his 23-month sentence. According to the Associated Press, Vick, Frink, Woodard and Vick's security team, traveled 19 hours by car to Virginia. There, he will live with his girlfriend and their children.
Speculations are rampant over whether Vick will be allowed reinstatement into the NFL. . . .

For years there have been charges that African Americans are under-represented in the U. S. Census counts conducted once every decade. ''It's very possible that some African Americans or Spanish speaking persons were under-counted in previous Census because there may have been some belief that making face-time with the government was not in their best interests,'' acknowledges Arnold Jackson, chief operating officer for the decennial Census. . . .

The president of Niger issued a decree on Tuesday dissolving the West African country's parliament after he lost a court battle to change the constitution so he could run for a third term in office. President Mamadou Tandja's decree was read on state-owned radio, and it gave no reason for his decision for the dissolution of the assembly. However, it came hours after Niger's constitutional court rejected Tandja's call to change the constitution so he can run for a third term as the country's leader. . . .

What's happening for you in your city this week? Read here a day-by-day diary of community events to fill your spare time. For a full calendar please click on "Read the complete article" below . . . .

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If you haven't yet heard of Errick Lewis, odds are you will soon. The 25-year-old bass player already has an impressive resume. . . .

The family of an Edmonds man says he hasn't regained consciousness since he suffered a head injury early Sunday as he was being arrested in Seattle. The family fears 29-year-old Chris Harris may not survive. He's in intensive care at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle. The King County sheriff's office says he ran from deputies looking for a stabbing suspect. It turns out Harris was not a suspect. . . .