Tracy Morgan sues Walmart over deadly crash

[ SOURCE] Comedian Tracy Morgan is suing Walmart over a deadly limo bus crash on the New Jersey Turnpike that left him critically injured.

The complaint was filed Thursday in the U.S. District Court in New Jersey.

According to the complaint filed by lawyers acting for Morgan and three others, the truck driven by Walmart employee Kevin Roper collided with the rear end of Morgan's vehicle.

"The defendants' negligence was a substantial contributing factor in causing plaintiffs' injuries," the complaint states.

Major union cuts ties with United Negro College Fund over Koch connection

A major labor union is cutting ties with the United Negro College Fund because of the group's connections to the billionaire industrialist Koch Brothers, who have put their wealth behind supporting conservative causes and candidates for office.

Lee Saunders, president of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, penned a letter this week to UNCF President and CEO Michael Lomax informing him that he is ending the collaboration between the two groups on a joint scholarship program.

"Like many supporters of the UNCF, I was deeply troubled by your decision to accept $25 million from David and Charles Koch. But I assumed that in accepting those funds you were in no way supporting or lending the name of the UNCF to the political or social causes or substantive views of the Koch brothers," writes Saunders. "So I was truly stunned to learn that less than two weeks later, you attended and spoke at the Koch brothers summit in California. This was a betrayal of everything the UNCF stands for."

The UNCF announced the $25 million donation from Koch Industries Inc. and the Charles Koch Foundation last month. The money will go toward a scholarship program, loan assistance and providing general support to historically black colleges and universities.

Read more: Major union cuts ties with United Negro College Fund over Koch connection

Ford Announces $1 Million Donation to Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture

Ford Motor Company is building on a century-long commitment to supporting the African American community with a $1 million donation to the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture.

The donation from Ford Motor Company Fund, the company’s philanthropic arm, will support the museum’s capital campaign. It will also go toward funding key programs when the museum – the only national site devoted exclusively to documenting African American life, art, history and culture – opens on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. in 2016.

Read more: Ford Announces $1 Million Donation to Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture

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