Excessive Force Lawsuit Filed in Jordan Edwards Shooting

The family of 15-year-old Jordan Edwards, the teenager who was shot by a now-former Balch Springs police officer, have filed suit against the city, department and the officer.

The lawsuit by the Edwards family, filed in Dallas on Friday, claims Roy Oliver used excessive and deadly force while on the call and lacked proper training in his job as a police officer for the City of Balch Springs.

In the suit, the family's attorney said when the teens heard what sounded like gunshots, they tried to leave the area but said Oliver shot into the vehicle with a rifle. Edwards was shot in the head, according to the lawsuit, and his brother drove away after the shooting and called his father.

The attorney said as the driver of the car was stepping out of the vehicle for police, he went the wrong direction and an officer said, "this n----- doesn't know his f----- left from his right."

The family also claims Edwards' brother was handcuffed and taken into police custody.

Read more: NBCDFW

Underground could be looking for a new network soon

There could be some bad short-term news for fans of the WGN America show Underground. The show which is popular with African American audiences could be looking for a new network soon due to the recent sale of WGN's parent company, Tribune Media to Sinclair Broadcast Group.

From Variety.Com:

Sinclair Broadcast Group CEO Chris Ripley didn’t mince words: WGN America’s programming focus will be very different once Sinclair’s $3.9 billion acquisition of Tribune Media is completed.

The Baltimore-based station owner has great ambition for using the heft of its expanded national footprint to launch new businesses, potentially even an MVPD-like bundle of channels, but high-end scripted originals will no longer be a priority if Sinclair and Tribune secure federal approval to tie the knot.

Ripley told Wall Street analysts Monday that WGN America’s ratings cannot support the channel’s current level of spending on original series. Sinclair’s focus will be on “repositioning WGN America for profitable growth.” Ripley noted that WGN America already had begun paring back under the direction of interim Tribune CEO Peter Kerns, emphasizing lower-cost originals and acquired series.

“The ratings WGN America (delivers) doesn’t justify the type of spending they do on the original programming side,” Ripley said. “The channel could be run much more profitably on a fraction of what they spend on programming.”

Ripley didn’t name specific shows but his remarks left no doubt the WGN America will back away from scripted dramas, a field it moved into aggressively under previous CEO Peter Liguori. Liguori left the company in March after four years at the helm.

“Underground,” WGN America’s top original series, has drawn critical acclaim and a respectable audience, by WGN America standards. The historical drama wraps its second season on Wednesday. It’s likely that producer Sony Pictures Television will look to find a new home for “Underground.”

Black men, get screened for Prostate Cancer

An important message to black men on the importance of getting screened for Prostate Cancer.

African American Lady Liberty Coin

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Trump questions constitutionality of key funding source for HBCUs

Looks like Trump played some HBCU presidents who are desperate for school funding not just for a photo-op, but for suckers and fools. Trump was speaking out of both sides of his mouth when he promised more funding for HBCUs (which he did not put in the budget) as he is now questioning the constitutionality of a key funding source for the schools. George L. Cook III African American Reports.

In February, President Donald Trump invited leaders from historically black colleges and universities to the White House, a move they hoped signaled his support for the institutions and showed an effort to give them more clout in his administration. But critics had a more cynical description of the Oval Office meeting: a photo op.

Those naysayers got more ammunition on Friday after the White House released a signing statement connected to the recently approved federal funding measure. Tucked away in the last paragraph, the White House announced that it would treat a program that helps HBCUs get low-cost construction loans "in a manner consistent with the (Constitutional) requirement to afford equal protection of the laws."

People in higher education circles worried that the statement meant that the president was planning to get rid of a capital financing program that helps historically black colleges repair, renovate and build new facilities. Congress approved the program in 1992 after finding that "HBCUs often face significant challenges in accessing traditional funding resources at reasonable rates," according to the Education Department.

"I would rather have Trump do nothing with HBCUs - not even know they exist," Marybeth Gasman, a University of Pennsylvania professor who has researched HBCU history, told The Washington Post. "He will see them as a handout. He doesn't understand that he was given a leg up by his rich father. He doesn't see that other people need help from programs because of past discrimination and inequity."

Read more: Trump questions whether key funding source for historically black colleges is constitional.