(Photo: Mario Tama/Getty Images)

In today’s top news, the African-American unemployment rate has held steady at 13.8 percent, Michael Jordan applied for a marriage license and Philadelphia officials have voted to close 23 public schools.

The national unemployment rate dropped to 7.7 percent as the jobless rate for Blacks held steady at 13.8 percent. [BET]

Philadelphia officials have voted to close 23 public schools; 10 percent of the city’s total. [NYTimes]

A college education is linked to lower divorce rates for white women, but not for Black women. [Futurity]

The late August Wilson’s plays are being brought back to life by high school students in a national monologue contest. [NPR]

Facebook showed off a new home page redesign that will include bigger pictures. [NYTimes]

Apple is looking to make iOS the operating system for cars made by other companies. [Business Insider]

Former Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez will be laid to rest today. [CNN]

Osama bin Laden’s son-in-law, Suleiman Abu Ghaith, has been brought to New York to stand trial for conspiracy to kill Americans. [Reuters]

Michael Jordan applied for a marriage license in Florida. [ESPN]

In today’s top news, Michelle Obama writes an open letter to Newtown, church bells in Newtown chimes 26 times in honor of the Sandy Hook shooting victims, and Fat Joe pleads guilty to tax evasion.

Michelle Obama writes an open letter to Newtown. [BET]

Church bells in Newtown chimes 26 times in honor of the Sandy Hook shooting victims. [NBCNews]

Fat Joe pleads guilty to tax evasion. [BET]

Sarah Palin bashed President Obama’s TIME Person of the Year win. [CNN]

The CDC reports that new infections of HIV among African-American women have declined. [Chicago Sun-Times]

Singer Frank Ocean is facing a $1 million lawsuit from his estranged father. [BET]

Katt Williams was detained in front of a Subway restaurant. [TMZ]

Cuba Gooding Jr., Vanessa Williams and Cicely Tyson will star in the Broadway play “The Trip to Bountiful.” [Grio]

ESPN suspends host Rob Parker for RGIII comments. [Grio]

Archbishop Desmond Tutu likens Uganda’s anti-gay laws to apartheid. [Sapa-AFP]

Humanitarian groups warn that a Mali intervention will harm civilians. [VOA]

In today’s top news, Olympic swimmer Lia Neal wins a bronze medal, a Mississippi church bans a Black couple’s wedding and HIV-positive women in Namibia are being sterilized.

HIV-positive women are being forced to undergo forced sterilization in Namibia, lawyers say. [BBC]

A Mississippi church bans a Black couple’s wedding. [BET]

Swimmer Lia Neal wins a bronze medal. [NYDN]

Mike Tyson and Spike Lee team up to bring the boxer’s life to Broadway. [USA Today]

Team U.S.A. basketball team is a shoe-in to become the Olympic champion. [LA Times]

An Ebola outbreak in Uganda has left at least 14 dead. [CNN]

Colorado shooting suspect to be led to court through underground tunnel. [CNN]

A new test might prove that Michael Jackson’s doctor was innocent. [CNN]

In today’s top news, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld President Obama’s Affordable Care Act, the U.S. House votes today on whether they will hold Attorney General Eric Holder in contempt of Congress and the Montford Point Marines, the first African-Americans allowed in the Marine Corps, were awarded a Congressional Gold Medal.

The U.S. Supreme Court upheld President Obama’s Affordable Care Act. [BET]

The U.S. House votes today on whether they will hold Attorney General Eric Holder in contempt of Congress for mishandling Fast and Furious. [CNN]

Attorney General Eric Holder defended President Obama’s record on civil rights. [BET]

The Montford Point Marines, the first African-Americans allowed in the Marine Corps, were awarded a Congressional Gold Medal. [AP]

Jordin Sparks talks to BET.com about the new video for her Whitney Houston duet “Celebrate.” [BET]

R. Kelly fell ill while on the way to New York to promote his new album and recently released autobiography. [Philly.com]

A Motown Records-inspired musical is slated to hit Broadway next spring. [BET]

Mali’s Timbuktu is on UNESCO’s danger list. [BBC]

Nigerian President Goodluck Johnathan urges families to limit the number of children they are having. [BBC]

In today’s top news, the last of 11 students charged in FAMU hazing case turns herself in to authorities, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder calls violence in Detroit “unacceptable” and Black women see the biggest drop in employment across all races, genders.

Last of 11 charged in FAMU hazing case turns herself in to authorities. [CNN]

U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder calls violence in Detroit “unacceptable.” [DetroitNews]

Black women see the biggest drop in employment across all races, genders. [BusinessWeek]

Colombian prostitute says her Secret Service agent clients were “stupid brutes.” [NBC]

Raven-Symoné talks to BET.com about her Broadway show, Sister Act and Whitney Houston. [BET]

Singer Chris Brown launches a toy line. [BET]

Study suggests men’s breast cancer more aggressive than women’s. [HealthDay]

Six Jamaicans are arrested in a U.S. lottery scam. [AP]

France elects Francois Hollande president. [BBC]

Four African leaders have been invited to this year’s G-8 summit to discuss food security. [CNN]

Carl Gordon, who played the proud and proudly-Black patriarch on the TV sitcom “Roc,” has died.

He passed at his home in Jetersville, Va..

His character on that 1990s sitcom, a  show about a working class family set in Baltimore, was likeable and grandfatherly. He always had something funny and interesting to say, bringing his unique, wry outlook to whatever topic was up for discussion.

The 78-year-old television and Broadway actor had battled non-Hodgkins Lymphoma, a form of blood cancer, which was the cause of his death.

According to the New York Times, Gordon only began acting in his mid-life after growing tired of a number of rote jobs — sheet metal work and merchandise stocking — that he felt had dulled his creative instincts.

Before “Roc,” he starred in several Broadway plays including August Wilson’s “The Piano Lesson” and “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom.”

Thanks for entertaining and inspiring us, Carl Gordon.

Rest in Peace.

Kerry Washington is a “dime” by any standard.

She’s beautiful, smart, talented, and she speaks seven languages. She also hangs out with the Obamas.

Starring in David Mamet’s Broadway play “RACE,” the Bronx-born Washington plays a legal assistant in a law firm that is taking on a racially charged case.

Her character is passionate and outspoken about race. Washington, clever and believable, leans into the role commendably.

But what does she think about race in real life? Watch the BET News interview exclusive above to find out.

To get tickets to the show or to get more info on it, visit this site.

Producer James L. Nederlander says his stage show version of Michael Jackson’s “Thriller,” will include songs from the pop star’s best-selling albums, Thriller and Off the Wall. “The Nederlanders and Michael Jackson represent live theater and musical excellence, so let the music begin,” Tohme Tohme, a spokesman for Jackson, said Monday in a statement. Nederlander, who runs the company that owns nine Broadway theaters, said, “I love the idea of making ‘Thriller’ a musical. Girl meets boy, they fall in love, boy has big secret, now what?”