The former NFL player was killed in his Miami-area home last year.

It had been set for this month, but the trial of four men accused of murdering NFL star Sean Taylor won’t happen until next year. A judge on Friday set a new trial date of March 3, 2009. Prosecutors say the suspects shot the Washington Redskins safety last November during a robbery attempt at his home in the Miami area. One of the five suspects, 20-year-old Venjah Hunte, has pleaded guilty. The other four have pleaded not guilty and could get life in prison if convicted.

Racially insensitive remarks earned the officers a suspension without pay

NAACP officials in Wichita, Kan., want three White police officers fired for racist and sexist comments made at a party last week. “We are… calling upon the Wichita Police Department and Chief Norman Williams to act in the public’s interest by terminating the officers upon the conclusion of the investigation,” the NAACP said in a news release posted on its Web site. “The Wichita Police Department should have a zero-tolerance policy for racism and misogyny and it is our hope that the leadership in the Police Department will resolve this matter accordingly.” Although the exact comments have not been made public, current and former police officers have told The Wichita Eagle that the remarks were graphic and racist. Chief Norman Williams said that a sergeant and two officers had been suspended while the department’s Professional Standards Bureau investigates a complaint from a citizen who overheard the officers’ conversation at the party. “They call into question the fitness of these officers to actually protect and stand up for the rights of citizens for whom they have such little respect,” said Kevin Myles, president of the Wichita chapter of the NAACP, who says he was told what the officers said. He argues that the suspension without pay is not a serious enough penalty. “These are comments that are very hateful, very bigoted and very prejudicial against African Americans and women. “The rules on conduct on becoming state that an officer must conduct themselves both on duty and off duty in a way that is reflective of the morals and ethics of that department”, said Myles. No further information will be released until the investigation is finished, Williams said.

Black man gets law degree 60 years late
When Silas Hunt enrolled at the University of Arkansas in 1948, he was the first African American to study law at a public university in the South, but he died a year before getting his degree. Now, the University of Arkansas has bestowed a posthumous degree in his name. Cynthia Nance, the dean of the law school, said that this year, the 60th anniversary of his historic enrollment, was the perfect time to confer the degree. Hunt’s family moved from Oklahoma to Texarkana in 1936. Hunt attended the Agricultural, Mechanical nd Normal College at Pine Bluff, which later became the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff. He left to serve briefly in the U.S. Army but later returned to get his undergraduate degree. After enrolling at the University of Arkansas, he succumbed to tuberculosis before finishing the law degree.