NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) -- Benjamin L. Hooks, a champion of minorities and the poor who increased the NAACP's stature as its executive director, died Thursday. He was 85.

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) -- Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour drew criticism for proclaiming April as Confederate Heritage Month without mentioning slavery, the second governor this month to come under fire for the omission.

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) -- When the Rev. George Davis learned the government was coming to take his family's home to make room for a shiny new interstate, he told his loved ones he'd defend 304 Rondo Avenue with a shotgun.... Now, just as what used to be Rondo is finally starting to rebuild itself thanks to new businesses and strong community groups, another transportation mega-project is ticketed to come blazing through the same neighborhood

NEW YORK (NNPA) - Recent violence in New York City has officials and community residents questioning if the practice of flash mobs are on the rise. Coupled with the recent news that crime in the city is on the rise, activists are also questioning how the alarming trend is being handled by the city.

WASHINGTON (NNPA) – The numbers are clear. As the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported last week that the national unemployment rate remained steady at 9.7 percent last month, there remains the untold story.

WASHINGTON (NNPA) – Black publishers around the nation are mourning the sudden death of one of their own this week. Houston Forward Times Publisher Lenora "Doll" Carter, treasurer of the board of directors for the National Newspaper Publishers Association, and a former NNPA Publisher of the Year, was found dead of an apparent heart attack on Saturday morning, April 10. She was 69.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- A Qatari diplomat who sparked a bomb scare after sneaking a smoke in an airplane's bathroom will be sent home or transferred to another country, U.S. officials said.

Dangerous gases forced rescue crews to abandon the search Thursday for four coal miners missing since an explosion killed 25 colleagues in the worst U.S. mining disaster in more than two decades.
Rescuers had been working their way through the Upper Big Branch mine by rail car and on foot early Thursday, but officials said they had to turn back because of an explosive mix of gases in the area they needed to search.

Scouts failed to act when they knew they had a serious problem since the 1920s. Sex-abuse lawsuit against the Boy Scouts of America

AUGUSTA, Ga. (AP) -- Jim Furyk finally feels like he's at the Masters, not at Tiger Woods' comeback.