Ex-New Orleans mayor Ray Nagin sentenced to 10 years

Former New Orleans mayor Ray Nagin, the businessman-turned-politician who became the worldwide face of the city after Hurricane Katrina, was sentenced to 10 years in prison Wednesday.

Nagin, 58, was ordered to report to federal prison Sept. 8 and to pay restitution of $82,000. He was found guilty Feb. 12 of fraud, bribery and related charges involving crimes that took place before and after Katrina devastated the city in August 2005.

Read more: Ex-New Orleans mayor Ray Nagin sentenced to 10 years

Black Men Teaching Initiative aims to attract black males into teaching

A doctoral candidate at Indiana University of Pennsylvania recently stood in front of high school students from the Homewood Children's Village and asked how many planned to go to college. All hands shot up, but when he asked how many planned to go into education, the hands dropped down.

National statistics echo this scene, which involved about 20 black students, most from Pittsburgh Westinghouse 6-12 in Homewood. Less than 2 percent of teachers in the U.S. are African-American males, according to Robert Millward, education professor at IUP. To try to increase those numbers, Mr. Millward started the Black Men Teaching Initiative, which led to the teens, male and female, from Homewood Children's Village attending a workshop at IUP.

Through workshops such as this one, billboards on buses and changes in admissions policies, professors and administrators at IUP, California University of Pennsylvania, Point Park University and Community College of Allegheny County are trying to persuade young black men to pursue higher education and to become teachers. The second task is more difficult than the first, Mr. Millward explained.

"They say that teachers don't make much," he said. "They see teaching as a woman's profession. They say, 'I didn't have a good experience in school, so why would I want to spend life teaching?"

Read more: Program aims to attract black males into teaching

Could Ivy Taylor be the next mayor of San Antonio

With Julian Castro headed to Washington DC to become Secretary of Housing and Urban Development in the Obama administration it's quite possible that San Antonio could get it's first African American mayor.

Councilwoman Ivy Taylor is considered a front runner to become mayor on an interim basis. Ivy R. Taylor was elected to serve as the District 2 Councilperson on June 13, 2009 and was re-elected to serve a third term on May 11, 2013. Ms. Taylor is a wife, mom and City Planner.

Taylor has said that if she serves as interim mayor she will not run for the position when elections are held in 2015.

Ms. Taylor obtained a Master's Degree in City and Regional Planning from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1998. In 1992, she received a Bachelor's Degree from Yale University.

Michelle Howard gets 4th star, becomes first female admiral in the US Navy

[SOURCE] At a ceremony, held at the Women in Military Service for America Memorial at Arlington National Cemetery, Michelle Howard became the first woman to make four-star admiral. On Tuesday afternoon, she will assume duties as the vice chief of naval operations making her the Navy's number two officer.

Watch the promotion ceremony below:

NPR's "Tell me more" goes off the air August 1, 2014

In some very sad news NPR's African American focused talk show Tell Me More hosted Michel Martin by will air for the last time on August 1, 2014. The show has aired for seven years starting in 2007.

NPR says that the shows audience is just to small. NPR has stressed that point and let it be known that African Americans only make up 5% of their total audience.

[SOURCE] Michel Martin, the host of Tell Me More, will remain at the network, as will the program's executive producer, Carline Watson. They will be part of an initiative to incorporate the kind of coverage of issues of race, identity, faith, gender and family that appear on the show. Martin will appear on the network's primary newsmagazines, online and in public events.

"To be honest with you, I think we've been casualties of executive churn," Martin said. "Every CEO who has been at this network since I've been here — and how many are there now? Six? Seven? — all of them have supported this program, but none of them have stayed around long enough to institutionalize that support."

She said NPR's record with shows intended to appeal to African-American listeners speaks for itself.

But, Martin said, "clearly, it's not enough in this environment to fulfill an editorial mission. You've got to be supported across the board by every element of the organization. ... And I don't think that's always happened."

Martin admitted having "scar tissue" from her show's cancellation. But she also said she wants to hold NPR to its mission and its promises.

"We've done a lot to show what's possible here and I want to keep that going," Martin said. "I can't say you need to do better at serving these audiences and then walk away from it. I don't think that's fair."