3 Florida Ex-Cops Sentenced In Scheme To Frame Innocent Black People

Three former Florida police officers were sent to prison this week after pleading guilty to their roles in a departmentwide conspiracy to frame people of color for crimes they did not commit.

A federal judge on Thursday sentenced Guillermo Ravelo, a 37-year-old former officer with the Biscayne Park Police Department, to 27 months behind bars, the Miami Herald reported. On Wednesday, former officers Charlie Dayoub, 38, and Raul Fernandez, 62, were sentenced to one year apiece after pleading guilty to making false arrests.

Dayoub and Fernandez had cooperated with federal authorities in making a case against former police chief Raimundo Atesiano. The former officers told prosecutors that Atesiano’s goal was to clear cases involving property crimes in the small village north of Miami, even if it meant pinning crimes on innocent people.

“Atesiano was acting under color of law as chief of police when on three separate occasions he ordered officers under his command to falsely arrest and charge individuals with unsolved burglaries,” the U.S. Department of Justice said in September.

Read more: 3 Florida Ex-Cops Sentenced In Scheme To Frame Innocent Black People

Tennessee Black Voter project sues Tennessee county over invalid voter registrations

A group representing black voters is suing the election commission in Tennessee's largest county, which includes Memphis, after thousands of registrations were deemed invalid by the commission.

The Tennessee Black Voter Project filed a lawsuit Monday in Shelby County Chancery Court asking a judge to allow the group to inspect voter registration forms that the county's Election Commission has rejected.

Groups including the Black Voter Project submitted more than 36,000 registrations to the Election Commission in Shelby County. But the commission said about 55 percent of them were invalid because they were incomplete, were duplicates from previously registered voters or had come from convicted felons.

The group wants to inspect records detailing why the applications were rejected.

Read more: Group sues Tennessee county over invalid voter registrations.

Chicago postal worker Kierra Coles is missing

Kierra Coles, a 27-year-old pregnant U.S. postal worker has been reported missing after last being seen Oct. 2 on Chicago's South Side.

Coles, was last seen on surveillance video in her neighborhood at near 81st and Vernon on the city's South Side. She called sick into work, but was seen on video dressed for work and walking past her vehicle.

Coles is about three months pregnant and has a boyfriend.

Coles is about 5-foot-4, weighs about 125 pounds and has black hair and brown eyes. Police said she has a tattoo of a heart on her right hand and another that says, "Lucky Libra" on her back.

Anyone with information is asked to call 911, Chicago Police Special Victim Unit at 312-747-8274 (Case# JB-462998) or the Postal Inspection Service at 877-876-2455 (Case# 2693502-WPV).

[SOURCE: ABC CHICAGO]

Donna Brazile's new book: For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Politics

The four most powerful African American women in politics Donna Brazile, Yolanda Caraway, Leah Daughtry, and Minyon Moore share the story of their friendship and how it has changed politics in America.

The lives of black women in American politics are remarkably absent from the shelves of bookstores and libraries. For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Politics is a sweeping view of American history from the vantage points of four women who have lived and worked behind the scenes in politics for over thirty years―Donna Brazile, Yolanda Caraway, Leah Daughtry, and Minyon Moore―a group of women who call themselves The Colored Girls. Like many people who have spent their careers in public service, they view their lives in four-year waves where presidential campaigns and elections have been common threads. For most of the Colored Girls, their story starts with Jesse Jackson’s first campaign for president. From there, they went on to work on the presidential campaigns of Walter Mondale, Michael Dukakis, Bill Clinton, Al Gore, Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton.

Over the years, they’ve filled many roles: in the corporate world, on campaigns, in unions, in churches, in their own businesses and in the White House. Through all of this, they’ve worked with those who have shaped our country’s history―US Presidents such as Bill Clinton and Barack Obama, well-known political figures such as Terry McAuliffe and Howard Dean, and legendary activists and historical figures such as Jesse Jackson, Coretta Scott King, and Betty Shabazz.

For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Politics is filled with personal stories that bring to life heroic figures we all know and introduce us to some of those who’ve worked behind the scenes but are still hidden. Whatever their perch, the Colored Girls are always focused on the larger goal of “hurrying history” so that every American ― regardless of race, gender or religious background ― can have a seat at the table. This is their story.

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Newark's Shakur Stevenson moves to 9-0 with first round knockout

Blue-chip featherweight prospect Shakur Stevenson, a 2016 U.S. Olympic silver medalist, scored three knockdowns in a spectacular first-round knockout performance against battle-tested veteran Viorel Simion in the co-feature of the Top Rank Boxing on ESPN card headlined by the Terence Crawford-Jose Benavidez Jr. welterweight title fight.

Watch the highlights below: