michael jackson

Mar 1 2012

Ex-doctor deemed flight risk

A judge turned down the defense’s request to release Michael Jackson’s personal physician from jail while he appeals his involuntary manslaughter conviction stemming from the singer’s death from an overdose of the powerful anesthetic propofol in June 2009.

Dr. Conrad Murray was not required to be in court for the hearing on Friday before Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Michael Pastor, who sentenced him on Nov. 29 to four years in county jail.

Terri Schichenmeyer  |   OW Contributor
Feb 16 2012

By Joseph Vogel, foreword by Anthony DeCurtis

There was no way you were sitting down.

As soon as you heard those four notes—just four beats—your feet were itching to move. You were up and on the dance floor quick, not caring that you didn’t have a partner. With songs like that, you’d dance alone, but not for long: other people’s feet were itching, too, and you knew you wouldn’t be by yourself but for a minute.

Feb 2 2012

He leaves a long list of thankful musical artists

Don Cortez Cornelius, the always immaculately dressed impresario of television’s long-running dance show, “Soul Train,” didn’t just happen to mirror and influence African American culture. He both lived and led it as he followed through on a dance-party concept he had birthed years before.

Dec 29 2011

Gets maximum sentence

Despite calls for leniency from a group of South Los Angeles clergy and activists, Michael Jackson’s personal physician was sentenced to four years behind bars for the singer’s June 2009 death from an overdose of the powerful anesthetic propofol. During sentencing, the judge blasted the doctor for engaging in a “money-for-medicine” experiment that killed the entertainer.

Conrad Murray, 58, was convicted Nov. 7 of involuntary manslaughter.

Dec 15 2011

Hit in the face and torso by ‘random’ shots

Funeral services are pending for 40-year-old Los Angeles native John Atterberry, a music industry executive and entrepreneur who was shot by a crazed gunman randomly firing at motorists in Hollywood Friday.

Across Black America

Here’s a look at African American people and issues making headlines throughout the country.
 

Alabama
Freeman A. Hrabowski, president of the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, will address the annual African American Business Council luncheon on June 28. Hrabowski, who is chairman of President Barack Obama’s Advisory Commission on Education Excellence for African Americans, has a national reputation for his work studying the performance of minority students in math and science. Hrabowski, named one of the 10 best college presidents in the country by Time magazine, was a child leader in the Civil Rights Movement in Birmingham in the 1960s.
 

Arkansas
The Liberty Counsel filed a motion and a brief in United States District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas seeking to intervene on behalf of a Concepts of Life crisis pregnancy center to defend against a suit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union and the Center for Reproductive Rights. The groups seek to impose a permanent injunction before the Human Heartbeat Protection Act goes into effect July 18. Liberty Counsel also filed a brief opposing the ACLU’s request for an injunction. The “Heartbeat” bill states that when a woman seeks an abortion at or after the 12th week, doctors must test for a fetal heartbeat before an abortion is performed and inform the pregnant mother that the child in her womb has a heartbeat. If a heartbeat is detected, a woman cannot have an abortion, except in cases of rape, incest, and if a mother’s life is in danger. “As we promised when the legislation was introduced, Liberty Counsel will defend this law without reservation for the people of Arkansas, born and pre-born,” said Matt Staver, founder and chairman of Liberty Counsel. “No right is more foundational than the right to life. Without life, all other rights are irrelevant,” concluded Staver.