A Harlem athlete plunges to his death

. A high school athlete fell to his death in west Harlem Monday when he tried to jump from one roof to another during an egg-tossing prank, reports The New York Daily News. David Diaz, 19, and a few friends were hurling eggs off a roof on W. 135th St. when some of their targets below got angry. Diaz, a senior at Westside High School and a proud member of the Harlem Jaguars community football team, had one arm in a sling from a sports injury when he apparently tried to escape by bolting over a brick wall that he thought separated one building from another, friends and police source said. Instead, Diaz fell six stories to his death in the courtyard below shortly before 1:30 a.m. Monday. “He hit an air conditioner and then the [ground] floor. But he was alive. This kid was so strong he kept trying to sit up,” said David Ruiz, 48, president of the tenant association at 612 W. 135th St. Diaz died several hours later at St. Luke’s Hospital, relatives said. “He was my baby. He was a good boy. They were just fooling around,” said the teen’s mother, Rosa Diaz, outside the family’s Bronx apartment. “This shouldn’t have happened … This is terrible. I want to find peace.”

Journalism pioneer Nancy Maynard dies.

Nancy Maynard, who boldly went where no African-American news woman had gone before, died Sunday in Los Angeles after a long illness, Richard Prince reported in his online column Journal-isms. She was 61. Read more on Nancy Maynards life at BET.com/News. Funeral services are pending. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the Robert C. Maynard Institute for Journalism Education, 1211 Preservation Parkway, Oakland, Calif., 94612.”

County officials didn’t contribute to Sean Levert’s death.

No criminal charges will be issued against Cuyahoga County Jail workers who monitored R&B singer Sean Levert before his death this year. Prosecutor Bill Mason determined that there was no wrongdoing, despite a lawsuit by Levert’s reported widow Angela Lowe. She alleges that the singer died in the Ohio jail because his medical needs were ignored. A coroner ruled that Levert died of complications from the lung disease sarcoidosis. The singer was sent to jail for allegedly failing to pay child support. Do you think there was negligence in his death?

A Motown songwriting legend dies at age 65.The man who wrote such timeless hit songs as “Heard It Through the Grapevine,” “War” and “Just My Imagination” has died. Norman Whitfield, who helped Motown acts achieve star status through his moving, poetic lyrics, suffered from complications due to diabetes. Whitfield had come out of a coma before his death on Tuesday. His Temptations-performed hit “Papa Was a Rollin’ Stone” won a Grammy Award. Whitfield was 65.

Damon Dash hasn’t seen teenage son in weeks. The mother of rap label founder and entrepreneur Damon Dash’s 16-year-old has a warrant for her arrest. Linda Williams, son of Damon Jr., has allegedly refused to return the child to his dad for several weeks. Dash has full legal custody of the teen. An attorney for Damon Jr. and Williams has said that Damon Jr. wants to remain with his mother.

South Africa suffers over 100 weekend bush fires. Over the weekend, over 100 bush fires sparked across South Africa, leaving at least 20 people dead, reports the BBC.  Fourteen of the deceased died in fires in the KwaZulu-Natal province and three others died when their shack caught on fire in the Eastern Cape, say police. Three people in the Mpumalanga province also perished in the blazes. The fires, which started in the bush, spread and were made worse by strong winds, leaving dozens of people homeless in Cape Town. And a local forecaster is not optimistic about them ending soon. “There are still fires burning on the eastern Highveld, in Swaziland and northern KwaZulu-Natal and there are isolated fires over Limpopo,” said the forecaster. The fires, which have already burned 125,000 acres of land, are unprecedented in the nation. “This particular situation has never been experienced before. Reports are coming in from all over the country,” a spokesman from Johannesburg’s Emergency Services told the BBC.

Plane crashes in Congo. A plane, carrying charity workers, crashed in the Democratic Republic of Congo, reports the BBC. Fifteen people and two crew members were aboard the plane when it crashed. The aircraft lost contact Monday night with ground control after leaving Kisangani, and 10 minutes before reaching the city Bukavu. The plane crashed in pouring rain. A rescue helicopter was not able to land near the crash, so it is unknown whether there are any survivors. Because the country has a bad air safety history, many humanitarian agencies coordinate their own air travel. They used Air Serv, a non-profit.

Cause of death to rap heavyweight’s son still unknown
 It could be several weeks before the cause of Dr. Dre’s son’s death is known. The L.A. County Coroner says further tests have been ordered, since the reason for Andre Young Jr.’s passing wasn’t revealed in an autopsy. He was found unresponsive by his mother this past weekend after he’d reportedly been out with friends. Jenita Porter, Young’s mom, says she’d heard her son snoring a few hours earlier at about 5:30 a.m. “We don’t know yet why he died,” police Capt. Ed Winter tells People magazine. “There were no signs of trauma or foul play. We’ll be doing toxicology and other tests, which will take up to six weeks.” Young was 20.

Former rap label boss accused of domestic violence attack on girlfriend

Suge Knight, former head of the bankrupt Death Row Records, faces charges of assault with a deadly weapon, possession of controlled substances and domestic violence after allegedly attacking his lady. Vegas cops arrested Knight after his girlfriend of three years said he punched her in the back of the head while he was driving early Wednesday. The alleged victim says she grabbed the steering wheel to draw attention to the car, in hopes that she’d receive help. The car jumped a curb and Knight allegedly chased her when she ran; police reportedly arrived just as he caught the woman. Cops say they witnessed Knight kicking the alleged victim and carrying a knife. With his prior record, if convicted, Knight seems a likely candidate to become the next rap industry figure to disappear for a while.

Sale of gangsta rap label is held up in legal

The recent purchase of Death Row Records has been canceled after a lawsuit by former CEO Suge Knight’s estate and the label’s trustees was filed. Global Music Group failed to consummate the purchase by July 23 or by an extension until July 29, according to the action. The suit states that “since July 29, GMG (Global Music Group) has continued to fail to forward the purchase money, instead making a number of requests for extension, none of which has been granted by the Trustees.” The deal was called off with a termination letter earlier this month. Trustees are asking the court to let them negotiate with new potential buyers for the sale of the bankrupt company that made superstars of Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg and Tupac in the 1990s.

Nigerian who married 86 women could face death penalty. The Nigerian man, who gained international fame in recent weeks for having 86 wives, could face the death penalty, reports the BBC. The country’s Islamic authority, Jamatu Nasril Islam, told 84-year-old Mohammed Bello Abubakar that he had to choose only four wives and repent within three days to avoid being sentenced to die. Abubakar, a former teacher and Muslim preacher, lives with his wives and at least 170 children. According to many Muslims, up to four wives are allowed as long as they’re treated equally. But Abubakar (obviously) disagrees. “To my understanding the Koran does not place a limit and it is up to what your own power, your own endowment and ability allows,” he told the BBC. “God did not say what the punishment should be for a man who has more than four wives, but he was specific about the punishment for fornication and adultery.” He also says God gives him the power to handle that many. “A man with 10 wives would collapse and die, but my own power is given by Allah. That is why I have been able to control 86 or them,” he said. The authority made the decision based on Sharia law, which has had its punishments reintroduced in the predominately Muslim state of Niger, in the last eight years. While there have been people sentenced to death for adultery under Sharia, none of them have actually been carried out.

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Dog protects baby abandoned by teen mom. A dog showed its motherly instincts by sheltering an abandoned newborn – along with its own six puppies – in 37-degree weather in Argentina, reports CNN. A man called the police to his house near La Plata (a rural part of the country) when he heard cries from a baby in a field near his house. When he went outside, he saw the baby lying alongside the dog and its six puppies, says a police official. “She took it like a puppy and rescued it. The doctors told us if she hadn’t done this, he would have died,” Daniel Salcedo, chief of police of the Province of Buenos Aires told CNN. “The dog is a hero to us.” It seems as if the dog carried the baby 50 meters from the place he was left by his 14-year-old mother to where her puppies were. The baby, a boy only a few hours old, was found to be in general good shape when examined by the hospital, says Dr. Egidio Melia, director of the Melchor Romero-Hospital in La Plata. The baby’s mother, who was driven to the hospital by a neighbor, claimed the baby as hers the next morning. She was then given psychological care and hospitalized, said Melia. The baby has since been transferred to a children’s hospital.

Is Vytorin safe? Federal drug safety regulators said Thursday they are investigating whether the cholesterol-lowering drug Vytorin can increase patients’ risk of developing cancer.  However, the Food and Drug Administration said patients should not stop taking Vytorin because the evidence of a cancer link is unclear. While one recent clinical trial indicated higher rates of cancer for patients taking the medication, two studies currently under way have shown no increased risk, the FDA said. Meanwhile, senior lawmakers in Congress issued a demand for data on the clinical trial that indicated a cancer risk, ScienceDaily is reporting.  Vytorin has been heavily promoted, particularly in African-American communities, as a novel way to reduce cholesterol. The drug is a combination of Zocor, a statin drug, which reduces the amount of cholesterol produced by the liver, and Zetia, which limits the amount of cholesterol absorbed through the digestive system. But the combination became a focus of controversy after a study earlier this year showed it was no better at reducing the buildup of plaque in the arteries than the much cheaper generic, Zocor. Separately, on Thursday, leaders of the powerful House Energy and Commerce Committee asked the companies for extensive data on the clinical trial that indicated a possible cancer risk for Vytorin. Merck and Schering-Plough said they would cooperate with the panel. The companies defend the drug, saying it is effective at reducing cholesterol – its approved use.
How could Upshaw die so soon after diagnosis?

Vital Signs: Questions surface after football legend Gene Upshaw died this week of pancreatic cancer. How could he and others stricken with the disease die so soon after they are diagnosed? Vital Signs has answers.