NBA in Lockout After Sides Fail to Reach New Deal

NEW YORK (AP) — NBA players are locked out, possibly jeopardizing next season. Union chief Billy Hunter said on Thursday the owners locked out the players after failing to reach a new collective bargaining agreement. With this latest action, two of four major professional sports in the United States are locked out. The NFL locked out its players in March, and the two sides have been in discussions this week, trying to work toward a new deal. Despite a three-hour meeting on Thursday, the NBA and its players could not close the enormous gap that remained in their positions. The CBA was due to expire at midnight. All league business is officially on hold, starting with the free agency period that would have…

Reporter Suspended for Calling President Obama ‘Kind of a D–k’ on Live TV

Mark Halperin of Time calls President Obama a ‘d—’ on ‘Morning Joe,’ suspended by MSNBC (NYDailyNews) Mark Halperin probably wishes he could turn back time. The political analyst and editor-at-large for Time magazine referred to President Obama as a part of the male anatomy live on MSNBC‘s Morning Joe on Thursday, resulting in his indefinite suspension from the network. To the shock of hosts Joe Scarborough and Mike Brzezinski, Halperin called the president a “d—” while offering up his opinion on President Obama’s performance at his press conference on Wednesday. Here’s how it went down: Halperin: “Do we have the seven-second delay today? I want to characterize how I thought the President behaved?” Brzezinski: “We have it. [To producer] We can…

Mother Kills Baby in Drunken Rage, Goes Shopping with Corpse

Mom killed baby in a drunken rage, then strapped him in a BabyBjorn and went shopping: prosecutors (NYDailyNews) A Chicago-area mother suffocated her 3-month-old baby to death and then strapped him into a BabyBjorn carrier and went shopping, prosecutors said. Toyrianna Smith, 20, was drinking vodka with friends at a home in Harvey, Ill., south of Chicago, last Wednesday when she beat and suffocated Ken Blackman Jr. because he wouldn’t stop crying, prosecutors said in a bond hearing on Monday. Smith had allegedly crashed in a guest room at the friend’s house with the baby by her side when his crying woke her up, authorities said. She told cops that she put a blanket over his head, hit him…

‘To Catch A Predator’ Host Chris Hansen Allegedly Caught Cheating By Hidden Camera

Chris Hansen Caught Cheating On Wife By Hidden Camera: ‘To Catch A Predator’ Host Nailed: Report (HuffPost) Looks like the sting tactic that made Chris Hansen famous may have come back to bite him — big time. The National Enquirer is reporting that they’ve caught the “To Catch A Predator” host cheating on his wife with Kristyn Caddell, a Florida NBC affiliate news reporter twenty one years his junior, with a hidden camera. Hansen is married with two children and lives in Connecticut. The Enquirer says that they have footage of Hansen out with Caddell, having dinner at the Ritz Carlton Hotel in Manalapan, Florida, and then returning for the night to her Palm Beach apartment….

Do Black Men Get Better Health Care Behind Bars?

(theGrio) More than 850,000 black men and women are currently incarcerated in federal or state prisons, or in local jails throughout the U.S. The conditions of confinement have caused deep wounds for African-Americans, compromising the healthy development of communities and causing collateral damages such as severed family relationships, decreased parental responsibility over children, loss of employability and wages, housing and employment discrimination, and disenfranchisement, among others. Still, despite the numerous negative effects that have been associated with incarceration, could prison also be associated with a positive life outcome for black men? A research study published by Vanderbilt University sociologist Evelyn Patterson in 2010 shows state prisons are having a positive effect on the mortality rates of black men….

CATCH ME IF YOU CAN: Man Eludes TSA With Fake ID, Old Pass

Man Arrested for Boarding With False ID, Day Old Boarding Pass (ABC) A foreign national who flew from New York to Los Angeles last week with a stolen boarding pass and ID card has been arrested at Los Angeles International Airport, according to federal authorities. Olajide Oluwaseun Noibi, a Nigerian-born man who was found with the stolen ID and up to 10 old boarding passes containing various names, was arrested Wednesday after attempting to board a flight from Los Angeles to Atlanta; five days after passing through layers of airport security at New York’s JFK airport to board a plane with a day-old boarding pass. Noibi was charged with being a stowaway aboard an aircraft, according…

‘The Voice’ Crowns Its First Winner!

Javier Colon: ‘The Voice’ Winner For Season One Of NBC Singing Show (HuffPost) LOS ANGELES — Soulful crooner Javier Colon was crowned the inaugural winner of “The Voice,” NBC’s new singing contest. Colon triumphed over three other finalists when the audience vote was announced on Wednesday’s live season finale. He will receive a $100,000 prize and a recording contract. A slim, 2 percent margin separated Colon from second-place Dia Frampton, 23, of St. George, Utah, host Carson Daly said. The other finalists were Vicci Martinez, 26, of Tacoma, Wash., and Beverly McClellan, 41, of Virginia and Fort Lauderdale, Fla. VIEW PHOTOS FROM THE RESULTS SHOW “Wow, thank you,” a stunned-looking Colon said as confetti rained…

TRAGIC: Football Star Killed on Graduation Day

Bronx HS football star Isayah Muller fatally stabbed after graduation in brawl, dad charged (NYDailyNews) The father of the high school football star slain in a parking lot rumble was charged Wednesday with assault in the fatal fight after his son’s graduation. Isayah Muller, 19, was stabbed to death Tuesday after his father fought with two parking lot attendants that he accused of stealing a graduation gift from the family car. Andre Muller, 40, was charged with assault and criminal possession of a weapon, cops said. Investigators continued to question the parking lot employees Wednesday at the 52nd Precinct stationhouse. A friend of the Muller family was stunned that the father had been charged. “Those…

SLEEP TIGHT: Boy Wakes Up with Moth in Ear

12-year-old Wade Schlote in Colorado wakes up with live moth in his ear (NYDailyNews) A 12-year-old Colorado boy got an earful from a pesky insect after it crawled into his ear while he slept. The moth burrowed its way into Wade Schlote’s ear canal on Sunday, and became lodged there, KUSA 9 News in Denver reported. “I kinda had a moment of panicking because there was a moth in my ear,” the boy said. “I was screaming, and crying, because it hurt so much.” He initially tried to remove it by banging his head, but that failed. “[My mother] said try to shake it out, hold on to something and try to shake my head as hard…

Is ‘Planking’ Harmless Fun or Fundamentally Offensive?

(theGrio) Have you ever felt the urge to “plank” something? While it started out as an Australian Internet stunt – “planking” has become this year’s craze — inspiring intrepid, amateur stunt men and women lying with their face down, usually in a public place and then posting the photos to the web (preferably Twitter). And it’s not just something white kids are doing. It’s been a worldwide meme that’s been a viral phenomenon since at least this spring, with the widely publicized death of a 20-year-old who fell off a balcony trying to take a picture of himself planking. But now, the concept of planking is becoming more and more visible in references made on Twitter by…