(Photo: Michael Nagle/Getty Images)

In today’s top news, Black leaders are calling for Dov Hikind, New York’s “blackface” assemblyman, to resign; the disparity between Blacks’ and whites’ median income has tripled; and civil rights activists are expressing “nervousness” as the Supreme Court decides the future of the Voting Rights Act.

Black leaders are calling for the resignation of New York assemblyman Dov Hikind, who wore blackface costume to a party. [BET]

Civil rights activists are expressing nervousness as the Supreme Court rules on a key provision in the Voting Rights Act. [BET]

Pope Benedict XVI will be resigning at 2 p.m. ET today. [CNN]

Comedian Kevin Hart will make his Saturday Night Live debut this weekend. [TheGrio]

In today’s top news, a coalition of Black fraternities and sororities launch an anti-hazing campaign, John Edwards found guilty of campaign fraud and Walmart drops its alliance with conservative advocacy group ALEC over its voting rights stance.

A coalition of Black fraternities and sororities launch an anti-hazing campaign. [USATODAY]

John Edwards found not guilty of campaign fraud. [BET]

Walmart drops its alliance with conservative advocacy group ALEC over its voting rights stance. [LATimes]

New drugs give autism patients hope for recovery. [Reuters]

Floyd Mayweather Jr. is scheduled to surrender for his three-month jail sentence for his domestic battery charge. [NYDN]

Some critics say Diddy’s son Justin should return the $54,000 scholarship he received from UCLA. [BET]

Kanye’s Nike Air Yeezy II to debut in June. [BET]

Police say drug dealer unknowingly sent text messages to officer in an attempt to sell methamphetamines. [AP]

Rwandan youth minister Callixte Nzabonimana received a life sentence for planning 1994 genocide. [BET]

U.N. human rights chief Navi Pillay warned that Syria risks descending into a full civil war. [TIME]

In today’s top news, CNN suspends Roland Martin over “offensive” Super Bowl tweets, Atlanta 10-year-old Gyasi Francis is missing and FEMA plans to waive debts of Katrina victims.

CNN suspends Roland Martin over “offensive” Super Bowl tweets. [BET]

Atlanta 10-year-old Gyasi Francis is missing. [AJC]

FEMA plans to waive debts of Katrina victims. [AP]

BET is developing two new shows. [BET]

University of Florida suspends Alpha Phi Alpha for hazing incident. [CNN]

Black officers file discrimination lawsuit against Capitol police. [BET]

Dennis Rodman’s topless women’s basketball dream team is almost complete. [BET]

An Illinois NAACP chapter is concerned about churches hooking up with banks. [CBS]

Timbaland and Missy Elliott are planning to release comeback albums this summer. [BET]

White college students donned blackface in a disturbing Black history video. [BET]

(Photo: Jeff Fusco/Getty Images)

In today’s top news, music legend Aretha Franklin gets a ring, two Black frats have Obama’s back and Georgia’s anti-fat ads attract bad flack.

The ‘Queen of Soul’ Aretha Franklin gets engaged. [BET]

Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum says poor Blacks shouldn’t get welfare handouts. [CBS]

FAMU Board approves anti-hazing plan. [CNN]

Some Memphis Black farmers say they have been shut out of a class action lawsuit. [WMC-TV]

Nigerians take to the streets to protest high gas prices. [BBC]

Diabetes during pregnancy may lead to ADHD. [CNN]

Two Black fraternities have joined forces to rally support for Obama’s re-election bid. [BET]

Senegalese musician Youssou Ndour eyes the country’s top post. [AP]

Georgia’s anti-obesity ads featuring children are ruffling feathers. [NYDN]

Hong Kong rings in 2012 with fresh fears of a Bird Flu outbreak. [WSJ]

Oldest Black frat gets fat gift from the first Black senator. Sen. Edward Brooke and his wife donated $100,000 to Alpha Phi Alpha, confirmed Darryl R. Matthews, the fraternity’s president. Read the rest here.

A Black NASA pioneer dies. Arthur Thompson, a Black pioneer at NASA’s spaceport, has died.  He was 70. Along with his brothers, Alphonso and Raymond, Thompson was among the first African Americans to work at Kennedy Space Center in the 1960s, helping their country race to the moon. He was an engineering technician, running experiments, setting up equipment, collecting data and calculating results for teams of the young aerospace engineers for whom they worked at NASA’s contractor companies. “It was pretty exciting,” recalls his son Anthony Thompson of Winter Park. “It was a first opportunity for a Black man to work in a profession alongside engineers. So, yes, he and his brothers were pioneers.” Thompson died Wednesday of complications from a stroke he suffered last year. He was the fifth of six sons born to a Baptist minister. He and his brothers had owned a TV repair shop in Melbourne before working at NASA.