In today’s top news, students returned to school in Newtown, Connecticut, today, but Sandy Hook Elementary remained closed; members of the Electoral College cast final votes confirming President Obama’s re-election; and a fake Morgan Freeman post about the Newtown school shooting went viral.

Students returned to school in Newtown, Connecticut, today, but Sandy Hook Elementary remained closed. [BET]

Members of the Electoral College cast final votes confirming President Obama’s re-election. [AP]

A fake Morgan Freeman post about the Newtown school shooting went viral. [Grio]

Baltimore’s gun buyback program took in 461 firearms in the weekend after the Newtown shooting. [Baltimore Sun]

A sporting goods store has suspended the sale of certain semi-automatic weapons. [CNN]

Black GOP Rep. Tim Scott has been tapped to replace Jim DeMint in the U.S. Senate. [BET]

The FBI says hate crimes declined in 2011. [Grio]

Gas prices have reached a two-year low. [CNN]

Katt Williams canceled a show 15 minutes before showtime. [BET]

South African President Jacob Zuma is re-elected as head of the African National Congress political party. [AJE]

The International Criminal Court acquitted former Congolese militia leader Mathieu Ngudjolo Chui. [BBC]

In today’s top news, Jay-Z says he supports President Obama’s stance on gay marriage, a coalition of Black ministers and civil rights leaders are backing Obama on gay marriage and FAMU’s marching band will be suspended for another year amid the hazing scandal.

Jay-Z says he supports President Obama’s stance on gay marriage. [BET]

A coalition of Black ministers and civil rights leaders are backing Obama on gay marriage. [Politico]

FAMU’s marching band will be suspended for another year amid hazing scandal. [BET]

The shift in support for gay marriage has energized immigrant rights activists. [AP]

Evidence has been filed in the Trayvon Martin case. [Detroit Free Press]

Republican presidential hopeful Ron Paul has ended his campaign for the White House. [CSM]

Rev. Jeremiah Wright says Obama’s team tried to bribe him into silence. [BET]

Baltimore’s oldest Black cemetery is restored with the help of inmates. [Baltimore Sun]

New Orleans rapper Mystikal begins his 90-day sentence for domestic abuse. [BET]

American military advisers are in Uganda prepping troops to battle Somalia’s Al-Shabab militant group. [AP]

Iraq War Veteran Tyrone Brown Was Allegedly Killed By a Police Officer Outside of a Baltimore Club

This story is upsetting not just because a Baltimore police officer shot his gun 13 times and killed an unarmed Iraq war veteran outside of a club.

 It’s disturbing also because this is not the officer’s first offense. 

 And the events around this killing seem so familiar, it’s easy to see how it could happen on any sidewalk, outside of any nightclub in any city, USA.

 What we do know now is that, Tyrone Brown, 32, was hanging outside a nightclub with his sister and another friend on Saturday night in Charm City’s Mt. Vernon district, a bustling nightlife hub along one of the main north-south arteries in the city’s mid-town area. 

 Brown, known for his sense of humor and frequent practical jokes, reached over and put his hand on the rear of a woman who happened to be the female companion of Baltimore police officer Gahaji Tshamba (guh-HAHJ-ee tuh-SHAHM-bay).

Because of that, Brown and Tshamba got into an argument, which continued to escalate and ended when Tshamba shot his gun 13 times, killing Brown with six of those bullets.

 According to Brown’s sister, her brother, an Iraq War vet, apologized for the incident but the cop would not back down.

 In 2005, Tshamba shot at a group of men, hitting one of them in the foot. He was intoxicated during the incident. Although the officer was reprimanded for being under the influence of alcohol, he was neither charged nor suspended for the shooting. He also never faced any criminal charges.

So, why is he still on the city’s police force? Baltimore city officials are now investigating.

 Tshamba has not issued a statement about the event and, that night, he refused a breathalyzer test.

 Brown may have crossed the line, but our police officers should be trained to diffuse – not step up – incidents like that, which led to the young soldier’s murder.

It’s bad enough that we have to watch our backs and stay alert when hanging out at bars and clubs.  The fact that a cop reportedly did this, just underscores the senselessness and tragedy of this story.

 We’ll keep tracking the details as they develop to see what investigators find out and keep you posted on what happens to Tshamaba.

 Plus: Watch a local Baltimore more news station video report about the incident.

The political career of Baltimore mayor Sheila Dixon is over. Under a plea deal negotiated with Maryland prosecutors, Dixon will plead guilty to theft charges, step down from the mayoral office and donate $45,000 to charity in exchange for unsupervised probation and her $84,000 yearly pension.

Dixon stole $500 in gifts cards that were donated to City Hall to distribute to the poor.

Rapper Beanie Sigel was involved in a serious car accident on Saturday when a vechicle he was riding in collided with a tractor.

From ContactMusic.com

A source tells the Examiner, “Sigel was apparently leaving a studio in B-more (Baltimore, Maryland) when a tractor trailer side swiped the vehicle he was travelling in. The car was totalled and Beans sustained injuries to his face, arms and legs. It is not known if anyone else was harmed.”

Hopefully, Beans will have a speedy recovery.

A jury has convicted Baltimore Mayor Sheila Dixon of embezzlement for stealing donated gift cards intended to help the poor.

From CNN.com

She was found guilty of a single misdemeanor count of fraudulent misappropriation by a fiduciary. She could be removed from office because it is a theft-related crime, James I. Cabezas said.

Dixon solicited several cards for her own use from two developers, including Patrick Turner, who testified this month that Dixon asked him to donate gift cards from retailers and have them delivered to her office. He said he spent $1,000 total — $500 for a Best Buy gift card and $500 for a Target one, according to the Baltimore Sun newspaper.

No date was set for sentencing. Cabezas said Dixon, Baltimore’s first black female mayor, faces up to five years in prison. She was indicted in January.

Baltimore Mayor Sheila Dixon is fighting for her political career and freedom as she faces two separate felony trials, according to the Baltimore Sun.

Dixon will go to trail in Nov. for allegedly stealing gift cards donated by local businesses and charities for the poor.  Her lawyers are trying to convince a judge to throw out perjury charges stemming from her not disclosing gifts she received from her boyfriend, a developer who was awarded city contracts.

The Baltimore NAACP questions who has the power to appoint an interim mayor if Dixon is removed?

Baltimore Mayor Sheila A. Dixon says she wasn’t flipping a bird at photographers, despite a photograph of her in Tuesday’s edition of The Daily Record with her middle finger up as she seemingly glares into a camera. “I have a habit of using my fingers to put my glasses up,” Dixon said at a news conference that was broadcast on WJZ-TV. “I really think that, that was a low blow, and I really did not appreciate it, but, you know, such is life in this business. Now I’m going to be very careful how I put my glasses on and how I adjust them. But, you know, I really think that was a low blow.” The photo was taken by Daily Record staff photographer Rich Dennison at a City Council luncheon Monday. Adding to the notion that Dixon was giving photojournalists the finger was the timing. A camera crew, which had been ejected from the chamber, was allowed back in just moments after Dixon consulted with her staff. Plus, the mayor can’t be too fond of reporters these days. She’s been a favorite target of the media after being indicted Friday on 12 criminal counts, including theft, perjury and misconduct in office. The indictment alleges that Dixon accepted thousands of dollars in gifts from real estate developer Ronald H. Lipscomb, whom she dated in 2003 and 2004. She’s also accused of accepting gift cards from Lipscomb that were intended for needy children.

Five students are charged with attacking a teacher. Five students were arrested and charged Tuesday with attacking two teachers at Forest Park High School in Baltimore, school officials told The Baltimore Sun. The attack was apparent retaliation against one of the teachers, who alleged he was the victim of an unarmed robbery by two other students at the school the day before. City police came to the school on Tuesday to arrest those two students. Then, later that morning, the brother of one of the robbery suspects attacked the teacher, and other students joined in, school sources said. Another teacher tried to come to his colleague’s rescue, and took the brunt of the beating. City police were called to assist school police. City school system spokeswoman Edie House told the Sun that no one was hospitalized or seriously injured. The five students were charged with assault and disorderly conduct.

Huckabee: Stop demonizing Obama!

As the presidential race picks up steam, there’s an increasing amount of sludge being heaped on Sen. Barack Obama, and it’s made from all kinds of stuff. There’s the thick, sticky kind consisting of rumors about Obama’s alleged lack of patriotism; some of it is made of banter about the senator’s so-called secret ties to al-Qaeda and other Muslim extremist groups; and who could forget about the muck composed of Obama and his wife Michelle’s purported disdain for “Whitey.” And aside from all of the unsubstantiated reports that “disqualify” Obama from sitting in the White House, there are all the slurs depicting him as everything from a snob to a monkey. In fact, the rumors and innuendos have gotten so out of hand that the Obama campaign has launched a Web site specifically aimed at dealing with false rumors head-on. But former Republican presidential candidate and ex-governor of Arkansas Mike Huckabee has a stern warning for any of his party-mates who think slinging slime at Obama is the way to whip him in November: “Stop demonizing him!” Speaking to reporters in Tokyo , Huckabee said that what Obama has accomplished by winning the Democratic nomination is a “landmark achievement” and should be respected by all Americans. “Republicans will make a fundamental if not fatal mistake if they seek to win the election by demonizing Barack Obama,” Huckabee said, according to Agence France-Presse. Such a tactic distracts from the reality that America has gotten “to a point where we did not see his color but we truly saw his charisma, his message and what he brought to the campaign trail,” he said. “When people are really hurting — and they are right now — they’re not looking at a person’s race.” Huckabee said, however, his comments should not be construed to mean that he is an Obama supporter. He said he wants Sen. John McCain to be the next president, and he has hinted that he wouldn’t mind sharing the ticket with the Arizona senator.

Baltimore leaders are outraged by raid on Mayor Dixon’s home ”

Leave the mayor alone!” That’s what Baltimore leaders are screaming after a raid of Mayor Sheila Dixon’s home Tuesday morning. At around 6:30 a.m. Maryland State prosecutors and police made their presence known on the mayor’s Southwest Baltimore property, serving a search warrant; within hours, they were carrying out boxes and folders. When Dixon was asked about the raid, she told reporters to ask those conducting the raid. Prosecutors refused to say what they were looking for or what they removed from Dixon ’s home. Investigators have been probing spending irregularities at City Hall since a March 2006 series of articles in The Baltimore Sun questioned the role of Dixon , then council president, in approving contracts that benefited her sister’s employer. Councilman Robert Curran told The Baltimore Examiner, “This investigation has gone on for two years with no outcome, and it will end with no outcome.” Councilman Bernard “Jack” Young, who also has the mayor’s back, said Dixon is a “straight-up person” who operates “aboveboard.” Dixon previously called the investigation “a witch hunt.” She said, “All I can say is that this has been a long investigation, and I have cooperated with the prosecutors. I am really staying focused on running the city and doing the best we can to move forward.” Dixon is the first Black female mayor of Baltimore.