Critics say N.C.’s death penalty is racially wrong

The state of North Carolina might have to start executing people again before lawmakers agree to allow an examination of the lopsided way the death penalty is administered to Blacks and Whites. The North Carolina chapter of the NAACP has been enlisting the help of Democrats in the state legislature to get a measure passed that would force judges and juries to pay attention to statistics showing that far more African Americans are put to death than Whites. Ever since last year, when the state Medical Board adopted ethics rules barring doctors from participating in executions, North Carolina has put all executions on hold. But in a strange twist, many political observers believe that the only way to get the Republican members of the legislature to agree that the racial disparity should be addressed, Democrats must first agree to adopt a measure that would override the ethics rules banning executions. That idea is not sitting too well with William Barber, president of the North Carolina chapter of the NAACP, who believes that the statistics bill “should stand alone. This is about people dying simply because of their race.”

B.B. King gets his own radio show

The man widely recognized as “King of the Blues” – B.B. King – will get a long-deserved forum to spread his brand of music and stories about artists and his life as a musician. The 82-year-old Mississippi native, who spent many years in Memphis, will begin hosting his own show on XM Radio in September, the satellite station announced Monday. “I love the blues and am looking forward to sharing my passion, stories and my favorite music with all the folks who listen to XM, one of the few places where the vibrant sounds of the blues still thrive,” King said in a statement. XM also noted that it will change the name of its blues channel from “Bluesville” to “B.B. King’s Bluesville.”

Gunmen blast man in FEMA trailer
Somebody rolled up on the trailer of a Hurricane Katrina victim Tuesday morning and blasted it with automatic weapons, killing the 39-year-old man who lay asleep inside, according to New Orleans Police. The Times Picayune reported that “unknown gunmen toting AK-47 opened fire on the exterior of a FEMA trailer in Gentilly … murdering a man….” The deceased man was idenfited as Terrence Vine, who “was in bed when the gunmen sprayed his trailer with bullets, several of which struck his body.” Garry Flot, an NOPD spokesman, told the newspaper that a dispatcher received a “shots fired” call and emergency workers arrived later, finding the exterior of Vine’s trailer riddled with bullet holes.

Teen apparently scaled a restricted-area fence to retrieve his hat

A South Carolina teenager died this weekend after he was struck and killed by a rollercoaster in Georgia’s Six Flags Amusement Park, reports The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Asia Leeshawn Ferguson, age 17, and a friend scaled two fences that surrounded the Batman ride as a short cut to get back into the park Saturday afternoon, police said. Ferguson was decapitated and died instantly when the coaster hit him. Both fences, police say, were marked with warning signs, one saying “restricted area” for “authorized personnel only” and other saying “Danger zone” and “Do not enter.” “The area’s clearly defined with signs. It’s very tragic that these individuals would decide to jump over the fence. It would be hard to imagine somebody not seeing the signs and jumping two fences,” Sgt. Dana Pierce, a Cobb County Police spokesman, told reporters. The Batman Ride travels up to 50 m.p.h. Ferguson, whose family was in the park when the tragedy occurred, was in Georgia on a church trip, reports the newspaper. No one who was actually on the ride was injured in the incident. Afterward, the ride was closed to the public. It was scheduled to reopen today. This is the second fatality at the same park and on the same ride. In 2002, 58-year-old Samuel Milton Guyton was killed when he was kicked in the head by a teen girl on the Batman ride. Here’s more.
 

NAACP wins a round in a long-running racial-profiling case
The NAACP won a major victory in its long-running battle with the Maryland State Police when Baltimore circuit court judge ruled that the civil rights group may review documents relating to allegations of racial profiling. The Maryland chapter of the NAACP and the American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit last year accusing the law enforcement agency of withholding information about its handling of racial-profiling complaints. In his decision Friday, Judge Timothy Martin gave the NAACP’s lawyers 120 days to examine the documents and pick the ones they want copied. Responding to concerns expressed by attorneys for the Maryland troopers, Martin ordered names of officers and people who filed complaints blacked out. “I believe the fair approach is to find a middle ground,” Martin told The (Baltimore) Sun. “I know state police fear a precedent, but I believe the NAACP is entitled to disclosure of these documents.” Brian L. Schwalb, lead attorney for the NAACP and ACLU, said, “We are not on a witch hunt against troopers,” he said. The decision comes on the heels of another major racial-profiling decision three months ago. In that case, the state of Maryland settled the infamous 1998 “Driving While Black” case after being accused of stopping motorists because of their race. Six plaintiffs received a total of $400,000. Maryland troopers are required to document the race of drivers they stop, because of a federal ruling in 2003.