In today’s top news, Usher’s stepson was declared brain dead after a Jet Ski accident, George Zimmerman is at a safe house in Florida after posting $1 million in bail and a court battle over a Texas voter ID law is set to take place this week.

Usher’s stepson was declared brain dead after a Jet Ski accident. [BET]

Trayvon Martin shooter George Zimmerman relocates to a safe house in Florida after posting $1 million in bail. [AP]

A controversial court battle over a Texas voter ID law is set to take place this week. [Reuters]

Hundreds of thousands of Internet users will lose access today because of a nasty virus. [CNN]

The Williams sisters took home the Wimbledon doubles title this weekend. [BET]

Morgan Freeman says President Obama’s white “mama” makes him America’s first mixed-race president — not the first Black president. [BET]

Study: The HPV vaccine is helping even those who skip it. [HealthDay]

South Sudan celebrates its first year of independence. [AFP]

South Africa desperately seeks to boost Black oil company ownership in the country. [Reuters]

Libya held its first democratic election this weekend. [Guardian]

Feds say they will no longer use prosecutors as vote monitors.

Following concerns from voting rights advocates that criminal prosecutors don’t make good election monitors because they intimidate minority voters, Justice Department officials said Tuesday that it would do things a little differently this Election Day. In 2004, the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, People for the American Way and other groups complained that the Republican Party deployed prosecutors as a way to deter Blacks –  who are more likely to be Democrats and have a history of rough relations with law enforcement officials at polling places – from voting. An unprecedented number of African Americans are expected on to turn out on Nov. 4 – given the fact that they have a chance, for the first time in U.S. history, to vote for an African-American nominee – Sen. Barack Obama. In light of questions we have been asked regarding who will serve as election monitors, I want to inform the public that no criminal prosecutors will be utilized as election monitors on Election Day this year,” acting Assistant Attorney General Grace Chung Becker said in a statement. “This decision was made as a precaution and is not the result of any instance of intimidation or complaint regarding any specific incident.” Becker and Attorney General Michael Mukasey met with dozens of representatives of voter watchdog groups recently and promised to do everything in their power to ensure a less contentious Election Day than four years ago when minorities, particularly those in Ohio and other battleground states, complained of widespread intimidation.