A Texas woman who says she unintentionally voted illegally was sentenced Thursday to 10 months in prison for violating the terms of her release for a felony conviction. In March, she had been sentenced to five years for the actual voting. The federal judge’s ruling comes after Crystal Mason voted with a provisional ballot in the 2016 election at the urging of her mother. Mason had been sentenced to five years in prison in 2011 after pleading guilty to tax fraud, and at the time of the election she was on supervised release. She said she was unaware that Texas law prohibited felons on supervised release from voting and that no one at the polling place tried to stop her. But state prosecutors

Colin Kaepernick’s case that the NFL’s owners are colluding against him can move forward. Today arbitrator Stephen Burbank announced his ruling that the case will not be dismissed, as the NFL had requested. “On August 28, 2018, the System Arbitrator denied the NFL’s request that he dismiss Colin Kaepernick’s complaint alleging that his inability to secure a player contract since becoming a free agent in March 2017 has been due to an agreement among team owners and the NFL that violates Article 17, Section 1 of the collective bargaining agreement between the NFL and the NFLPA,” Burbank’s statement said. A source tells PFT that further discovery is expected, meaning Kaepernick and his attorney

(CNN) Standing near the spot where her son was gunned down, Michael Brown's mother, Lezley McSpadden, announced she is running for city council in Ferguson, Missouri. "Almost four years ago to this day, I ran down this very street, and my son was covered in a sheet. It broke me, you know. It brought me down to my knees and made me feel crippled, as if I could do nothing else anymore," McSpadden said Friday during a news conference. "I learned to walk again," she said, "and this is one of my first steps." Brown, then 18 and unarmed, was gunned down in 2014 by a white police officer while walking home from a convenience store. His death sparked nationwide protests, helped launch the Black Live

While NBA players like Kevin Love and DeMar DeRozan publicly raise awareness for mental health concerns, ESPN.com's Jackie MacMullanreported that some team owners want access to the full range of players' medical records: "The union insists that mental health treatment be confidential, but some NBA owners, who in some cases are paying their players hundreds of millions of dollars, want access to the files of their 'investments.' "Confidentiality, says Love, has to be non-negotiable. Without it, he says, he never would have become comfortable enough to announce from that All-Star dais that he was seeking treatment." Houston Rockets assistant coach John Lucas told MacMullan he believes 40 perc

A.J. Johnson, a former University of Tennessee linebacker who was found not guilty of aggravated rape charges last month, is getting a chance at an NFL career with the Denver Broncos. “A.J. hasn’t had the opportunity to play football for the last three years while resolving a serious legal matter,” Broncos General Manager John Elway said in a statement released by the team. “We’ve had several conversations with him since he’s been cleared and have become very familiar with his background and character. Our organization is confident A.J. is ready to move forward and resume his playing career.” Johnson and Michael Williams, a former teammate at Tennessee, were indicted in February 2015 after a

(CNN) Aretha Franklin, whose gospel-rooted singing and bluesy yet expansive delivery earned her the title "the Queen of Soul," has died, a source close to the family said Thursday. She was 76. Franklin died at her home surrounded by family and friends, the source said. Her death comes three days after a source close to Franklin told CNN's Don Lemon that the singer was in hospice care. Franklin had been reported to be in failing health for years and appeared frail in recent photos, but she kept her struggles private. In February 2017, Franklin announced she would stop touring, but she continued to book concerts. Earlier this year, she canceled a pair of performances, including at the New Orle

Jineea Butler, a Republican congressional candidate for New York’s 13th District, is in the process of trying to create a new hip-hop based political party, and she’s asked LL Cool J and Busta Rhymes to be party leaders. Butler is also the founder of the Hip Hop Union and said both legendary rappers would be able to get younger people excited about the political process. At this time, however, neither LL or Busta have responded. “We’re looking for somebody that can energize the vote, so we can clear the 50,000 votes and someone who resonates with millennial's and young folks,” she explained. The line will be called the New American Party and Butler said she wanted to start it because she fee

Mike Evans is staying true to his word to "help a lot of people" after signing an extension with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers earlier this year. He donated $11,000 to the family of Gregory Hill, who was shot and killed by a St. Lucie County Sheriff's Office deputy in 2014. Hill's family filed a wrongful death lawsuit, and after a two-week trial in May, a jury ruled in favor of the St. Lucie County Sheriff's Office, saying Hill was 99 percent responsible for his death and the department 1 percent responsible. The jury awarded the family $4, $1 for each of Hill's three children and $1 for funeral expenses. The family, however, received just 4 cents (1 percent of the $4 award). Evans asked how he c

Over the past few years things have changed a bit for Benet. The singer was once married to movie star and Hollywood A-Lister Halle Berry. However, the couple split and ended their marriage after being together for 3 years. Jay-Z famously called out Benet on his "Kill Jay-Z" record from his album "4:44." "You almost went Eric Benét/ Let the baddest girl in the world get away/ I don't even know what else to say/n#gga, never go Eric Benet," rapped Jay-Z. Benet would later respond to the line by saying "I got the baddest girl in the world as my wife." He would later fade black into the background after another quick moment in the spotlight. Now Benet has found the spotlight once again, but this

Controversial school psychologist Dr. Umar Johnson’s upcoming speaking engagement in the Bahamas(in June) was seemingly his first public event since the beginning of the year, when Pennsylvania challenged him – unsuccessfully, apparently – on the authenticity of his professional credentials. But it would seem all of that was behind the Philadelphia-based Hotep huckster, who was set to deliver the keynote speech in the Bahamas on Saturday “for a special event designed to encourage Bahamians to love their African roots as a part of understanding their true identity,” according to the Bahamas Weekly, which referred to him as “the Prince of Pan-Africanism.” On the surface, that sounds really mot

Google has reinstated the YouTube channel of Houston rapper William James Dennis—better known as Willie D and a founding member of the Geto Boys—after it was possibly taken down by mistake. The channel Willie D Live, which features a mix of social commentary, court footage, and videos of police, was taken down by YouTube on July 26. Dennis said at a news conference Monday that he believes it was his July 2 video titled "Maxine Waters responds to death threats: 'If you shoot at me, you better shoot straight'" which resulted in YouTube taking down his account. The video, which has more than 38,000 views, features Dennis discussing Rep. Maxine Waters, a California Democrat, who cancelled speaki

Randy Moss made a powerful statement at his Hall of Fame induction ceremony Saturday night in Canton, Ohio, without saying a word. Moss, the legendary Minnesota Vikings and New England Patriots wide receiver, donned a tie throughout the evening bearing the names of African American men, women and children who were killed in police shootings or died in custody. "What I wanted to be able to express with my tie is to let these families know that they're not alone," Moss said on NFL Network. "I'm not here voicing, but by these names on my tie and a big platform as the Pro Football Hall of Fame, there's a lot of stuff going on in our country. And I just wanted to let these family members know the

A man has been hailed a hero after he died in Rivers state while rescuing victims of a boat accident. 36-year-old Joe Blankson, a contractor who supplies diesel, single-handedly rescued 13 people when a boat capsized along the Abonnema-Bakana waterways in Degema, Rivers state, on Saturday, July 28, 2018. The boat was conveying 25 passengers from Abonnema wharf to Bakana before the accident happened around Iborama. Fishermen around the area rescued some people while Blankson succeeded in rescuing 13 people all on his own. As the father-of-two attempted to rescue a 14th person, he died in the river and his body was retrieved a day later. In all, six people died in the boat mishap, according to

President Donald Trump took a shot at Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James in a tweet Friday night. James was interviewed by CNN's Don Lemon on Monday, after his LeBron James Family Foundation and the Akron (Ohio) Public Schools launched a new elementary school for at-risk children in his hometown. In the interview, James discussed the impact of sports and how it brings people together. He said he felt Trump was "using sports to kinda divide us." "Sports has never been something that divides people," James told Lemon. "It's always been something that brings someone together." Trump's tweet came four days after the CNN interview originally aired. In the tweet, Trump also appeared to take side

This is the second year Kaepernick’s name has been scrubbed from a track in the NFL video game. The latest version of Madden includes a reference to Colin Kaepernick in a song — only the song was censored to remove his name. The former 49ers quarterback is also no longer featured in the video game, although he was listed as a free agent in Madden 18. “Big Bank,” one of the songs featured on this year’s Madden, includes the line “You boys all cap, I’m more Colin Kaepernick.” However, the Madden version censored the word “Kaepernick,” leading many to believe this move was made intentionally. Colin Kaepernick is currently aiming to prove that the teams are colluding to keep him out of the leagu

BALTIMORE (AP) — Advocates for Maryland’s prisoners are pressing the mid-Atlantic state to scrap “senseless and harsh” regulations they say restrict the ability of inmates to access books and violates their constitutional rights. As part of a new effort to block inmate access to Suboxone, a drug sold in thin strips that are easily concealed inside envelopes, prisoners in Maryland can now only order books from two vendors that the American Civil Liberties Union says offers only “extremely limited” selections. In a letter sent to Maryland’s secretary of correctional services, the ACLU’s Maryland chapter says the state’s “draconian new restrictions” makes Maryland an outlier when it comes to bo