FBI and Maryland officials join forces to determine how the Maryland inmate died.

The “vigilante justice” case of a Maryland cop-killer suspect who was found strangled to death in his cell has expanded to include everybody working at the D.C.-area jail. Initially, authorities announced that seven corrections officers who had access to Ronnie White were under investigation for the 19-year-old inmate’s death. White, who was held in solitary confinement, was discovered in his cell Sunday with two broken bones in his neck; he died from asphyxiation and strangulation, according to a Maryland medical examiner. Two days prior, White had been arrested and charged in the hit-and-run death of Prince George’s County police Cpl. Richard Findley. According to police, White, who was driving a stolen truck, struck the officer, who tried to flag the vehicle down. Prince George’s County Chief Executive Jack Johnson, who described White’s death as a case of “vigilante justice,” said that the suspect’s apparent payback killing is inexcusable. “The killing of the officer is absolutely abhorrent, but also, Mr. White was presumed innocent and deserved his day in court just like any other citizens,” Johnson said. “We live in a constitutional democracy, and no one has the right to be judge and jury.” The FBI, which is working with Maryland State Police, said Tuesday that all 630 staffers at the Prince George’s County Correctional Center will be part of the investigation. Several guards have said they will not talk to investigators, according to Ramon Korionoff, a spokesman for Prince George’s County State’s Attorney Glenn Ivey. “The family of Ronnie White is absolutely, unequivocally outraged, incensed and deeply saddened that the life of their loved one could be taken so cold[ly], so callously,” attorney Bobby Henry told reporters Tuesday. “Something is dreadfully wrong with the system.”

Two Black sharecropper couples died in a notoriously gruesome race murder

Federal and state investigators and lawmakers are hoping that, after 62 years, they can bring to justice the dozen or so men who riddled four Black sharecroppers with bullets and cut the unborn baby from one of the victims in the last recorded mass lynching in America. It was July 26, 1945 when a mob, armed with shotguns, rifles and machine guns, took the foursome to the Moore’s Ford Bridge and shot them hundreds of times. One of the men had been accused of killing a White man two weeks earlier. A Klansman bootlegger bailed the suspect out of jail, and drove him, his wife, her brother and her brother’s wife to the bridge, where they were massacred. This week, officials from the FBI and the Georgia Bureau of Investigation retrieved boxes of evidence from a home in a rural Georgia community of Walton County. “The FBI and GBI had gotten some information that we couldn’t ignore with respect to this case,” GBI spokesman John Bankhead told CNN. For the past several years, Tyrone Brooks, a member of the Georgia state House, has been pressing for justice in this 1946 case. “We just hope and pray they can bring some of these suspects to the bar of justice before they die, because they’re all getting up in age,” said Brooks, the president of the Georgia Association of Black Elected Officials. At the national level, Rep. John Lewis, who represents Georgia in the U.S. House, sponsored a bill that provides $10 million a year over the next decade to investigate lynch cases from the ‘50s and ‘60s. Although a lone Oklahoma senator, Tom Coburn, has been blocking the legislation – he almost never supports measures that require federal dollars – but his recently indicated that he might be willing to allow the legislation to go through.

The 90-year-old ex-president of South Africa has been unwelcome for many years

Following a national outcry which even included comments of outrage from Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, the United States government will finally remove former South African President Nelson Mandela’s from a U.S. terrorism watch list. The international icon and Nobel Peace Prize winner’s treatment by the U.S. government urged lawmakers to introduce a bill to take him off the list. President Bush signed the bill Tuesday. “He had no place on our government’s terror watch list, and I’m pleased to see this bill finally become law,” said Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry. Mandela, the former head of the African National Congress, was the jailed for 24 years during the heyday of apartheid, the South African regime’s longtime system of racial separation that was brutally enforced by the White minority government for 46 years. South African dubbed the apartheid-fighting ANC a terrorist group. Thus ANC members were denied U.S. visas, without special permission. Mandela was released from prison in 1990 and, four years later, apartheid officially crumbled, but the leader’s name remained on the U.S. terrorist watch list. Under the new bill, both the State Department and Homeland Security Department have the power to dissolve the restrictions against Mandela and fellow ANC members. “What it will do is make sure that there aren’t any extra hoops for either a distinguished individual, like former President Mandela, or other members of the African National Congress to get a U.S. visa,” State Department spokesman Tom Casey said.

The civil rights group accuses lenders of preying on African-American borrowers

NAACP chapters nationwide took a stand Wednesday in a national “Day of Action” against discriminatory lending practices of such mortgage giants as Citi, HSBC, WaMu, GMAC and JP Morgan. In addition to agreeing to stop preying on Black borrowers, the nation’s oldest and largest civil rights group wants the companies to make amends for the financial pain they have caused. “Every one of us deserves equal access to the ‘American dream’ of homeownership,” said NAACP Interim General Counsel Angela Ciccolo. “Making amends is just the beginning. We want to make sure African Americans are never victimized by the lending industry again. This discrimination was nationwide and cut across income-levels. People with six-figure incomes, significant down-payments and who had owned several homes before were not immune from being discriminated against because of their race.” The NAACP has filed a class-action lawsuit against 17 major lenders, alleging that “African-American borrowers were given loans with higher interest rates and other poor terms solely because of their race,” according to statement from association spokesman Richard McIntyre. During Wednesday’s simultaneous event, leaders at NAACP chapters in 21 locations – including New York, Chicago, Baltimore, St. Louis, Detroit, Las Vegas, suburban Atlanta, Salt Lake City, Colorado Springs, Reno, Memphis, Seattle and southern California – gathered at lending institutions and in affected neighborhoods to highlight the pervasive and systemic discrimination against African Americans within the mortgage industry and to demand an end to it, the NAACP said in the statement. “The only difference between the victims in this case and other customers is the color of their skin,” said Brian Kabateck, who is co-lead counsel on the suit. “They had the same credit, the same income and the same qualifications. But because they were African American, they were ripped off.” According to the NAACP, recent research, including federal data, proves the rampant discrimination in mortgage lending.

World Lens: Animated anti-Mugabe protests erupt in London; West Indies cricket players celebrate; and French models show off next year’s hottest threads. Go  to World Lens to see this week’s photos.

Souvenir from record hit reaches Cooperstown branded with asterisk.
Barry Bonds’ best baseball’s been branded. But it still made its way into the Cooperstown, N.Y. Hall of Fame after much controversy. Following urban entrepreneur Marc Ecko’s $752,467 purchase of the souvenir from Bonds’ Major League record-breaking 756th home run in a Web auction, Ecko let the public vote to brand the ball with an asterisk, symbolizing Bonds’ widely suspected steroid use. After a back-and-forth this week between the Hall and Ecko, who Bonds called an “idiot,” over whether the ball would be a loan or gift, the Hall’s spokesman Brad Horn announces: “We are very happy to receive the baseball as a donation, and not as a loan. We look forward to adding this ball to our permanent collections.” Bonds has threatened to boycott the Hall of Fame. He was indicted on perjury charges for allegedly lying to a grand jury, in connection with his alleged use of steroids.

A silly game lands a mother in jail
The mother of a 10-year-old boy and a teenage girl has been arrested after allegedly driving a car on which the two youths were “car-surfing” before being thrown off and seriously injured. The names of the victims were not released because of their age. Police say that the boy, who is in critical condition at the Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio, Texas, is suffering from serious head trauma; the teen was treated and is now in good condition, police said. “It seems ludicrous that anybody would do that,” said Sgt. Marcus Booth of the San Antonio Police Department. “There’s plenty of room in the car, so we don’t know why she did it. It really looks like poor judgment.” The mother was allegedly driving the car while the youngsters stood on the hood. When she hit the brakes, the kids went flying and rolled into the street, police said. Police say they do not know exactly how fast the woman was driving and noted that she did not appear to be under the influence of alcohol.

Where should Young Buck go?
What’s you with Young Buck and where will he wind up? BET.com’s Sound Off has the latest.

Black Republicans have put a media hit out on Barack.
Just when you think you can’t be surprised anymore, something else comes along in this unprecedented presidential race to make you raise both eyebrows again. The National Black Republican Association has launched a series of ads attacking Barack Obama, calling him every dis from the urban dictionary that they could Google. Go to the You(th) Vote for more on this and other stories.

Jay-Z’s club could be hit with a class-action lawsuit
A Manhattan judge has ordered management at rapper Jay-Z’s nightclub to turn over the names of all employees from the past three years. An ex-waitress’ lawyer wanted the names, in connection with a lawsuit that alleges Jigga’s establishment didn’t pay minimum wage or overtime. “This is a good day for restaurant workers all over the city,” said plaintiff’s attorney Maimon Kirschenbaum. He’s reportedly planning to recruit from hundreds of other club workers who may want to join the lawsuit.

Morgan Freeman, wife have 24 years together
Morgan Freeman says he has no knowledge of where rumors that he’s anticipating a divorce from his wife of 24 years originated. The actor was reportedly questioned about his marital status at a recent celebrity event, following word that he’d been unfaithful. “I don’t know anything about that,” Freeman said. A spokesman for the actor, who’s currently co-starring role is in the Matrix-esque film Wanted, adds: “We officially have no comment.”

Bulls’ new point guard has traffic court date
The NBA’s No. 1 draft pick is making headlines off the court after he was ticketed for allegedly driving 106 miles per hour in a 65 zone. The Chicago Bulls’ Derrick Rose is due in a Chicago court next week to face a misdemeanor charge from the alleged April offense. Rose was driving a Land Rover registered to his management firm when he got the citation. He could receive a year in jail because of the highly excessive speed he allegedly drove, but will likely be assigned to traffic school and given a fine for a first-time offense, if he’s found responsible.

Lawyer wants Holyfield jailed if he doesn’t pay $9,000
Having recently arranged to settle a mortgage debt and denying that he was bankrupt, Evander Holyfield may have to ante up again. The ex-heavyweight champ has allegedly failed to pay child support for one of his 10 children for the past three months. Toi Jenese Irvin’s son with Holyfield is owed $9,000, Irvin’s lawyer says. Holyfield has also allegedly dropped the boy’s health insurance coverage. The lawyer has asked a judge to order payment or Holyfield’s arrest.

Will B-Diddy turn around the Clips?
With the pending signing of free agent Baron Davis, can the point guard help save the Los Angeles Clippers franchise? Will he get them to .500? Get more at Playa Hater.