A woman who lived out of her car until she pleaded with the president for help could lose the home she was provided. Henrietta Hughes, of Florida, has sought work since meeting Barack Obama at a February town hall meeting, but remains unemployed. Read the rest.

Coast Guard records released Monday tell a harrowing tale of the two NFL players and their friends who were lost at sea off the west coast of Florida last month. The 23-page report, released to The Associated Press via a Freedom of Information Act request, provides the lone survivor’s account of what happened in what was likely the last moments in the lives of the four fishing buddies. Read more.

 More than 150 police officers combed through the early-morning dense fog of Southwest Florida Tuesday, searching for a 6-year-old, developmentally disabled boy who went missing over the weekend. Read the rest here.

Some viewers try to dissuade him while others egg him on. Internet viewers couldn’t tell if a Florida college student, who committed suicide by taking a drug overdose in front of a live Webcam, was joking or just faking it. (He had threatened to do it before.) By the time some concerned viewers on the bodybuilding Web site contacted police, Abraham Biggs, 19, had already killed himself.  Soon after, the officers entered the student’s home while the video camera was still rolling and streaming on the Web.  Biggs was a student at Broward College and suffered from what his family said was bipolar disorder. He killed himself in his father’s Pembroke Pines house. Its still not known how many people watched the suicide.

Baby Obama named in Florida. A Florida couple became among the country’s first to bestow the name Obama on their child, even before most news outlets had declared the Illinois senator the president-elect. Sanjae Obama Fisher was born at 8 p.m. (ET) at Hollywood’s Memorial Regional Hospital to Patrick and Sasha Hall Fisher. A hospital spokeswoman says it was the father’s idea. But mom still got to watch the election, after 14 hours at the hospital. Sanjae has two siblings, 8-year-old sister Shaniah and 4-year-old brother Shane. Read where else parents paid tribute to Obama’s family this way here.

Indicted U.S. Rep. William Jefferson wins re-election battle. Embattled congressman hopes to ride out storm. Indicted U.S. Rep. William Jefferson is breathing a sigh of relieve as he cruised to victory in the Democratic runoff for his 2nd Congressional District seat even as his trial on federal corruption charges looms and questions dog him about his effectiveness in Congress. Jefferson, 61, who became Louisiana’s first Black congressman since Reconstruction when he was elected in 1991, won 56 percent of the vote Tuesday compared to 42 percent for his opponent Helena Moreno, a former television reporter who had argued that scandal had obliterated the influence Jefferson built during his 18 years in Congress. Jefferson has pleaded innocent in the corruption case. Despite his loss of the Ways and Means post, he has insisted that he remains influential.

The most foreigners in a century become U.S. citizens.  More than 1 million people took the Oath of Allegiance and became U.S. citizens during fiscal 2008, the largest number in the 100 years that the government has been keeping records, according to the Department of Homeland Security. Last year’s spike was prompted by Hispanic media and grass-roots organizations that encouraged eligible residents to apply for citizenship during the heated debate on granting citizenship to undocumented residents. It also was the result of the government clearing a backlog of requests after increasing staff this year. The number of naturalization applications doubled from 730,000 in 2006 to almost 1.4 million in 2007. The surge led to a 16- to 18-month delay in processing naturalization applications, said Jonathan Scharfen, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services acting director. But, the agency has reduced processing times to no more than 10 months and is on track to reduce the wait to five months by next summer, he said. A fee increase enabled the agency to hire 1,600 adjudication officers and pay for employee overtime during fiscal 2008, he said. Additionally, the agency has worked with the FBI to speed name checks, reducing a backlog of 350,000 checks to 33,000, Scharfen said. “We had people waiting five years for an FBI name check,” he said, but now every case is cleared within a year.

Florida football player loses spot after alleged incident. Florida cornerback Jacques Rickerson will no longer wear a Gators uniform after Gainesville cops arrested him on a domestic violence charge. Rickerson, 20, allegedly hit and choked his girlfriend, covering her face with a pillow as she screamed for help, police say. The woman reportedly has visible injuries on her neck, arm and chest. Rickerson was dismissed from the Gators while still in custody at the Alachua County Jail. He was arrested last year on an alleged marijuana possession charge.

Fla. high school keeps Klan leader’s name.  A Florida school board voted late Monday night to keep the name of a Confederate general and early Ku Klux Klan leader at a majority Black high school, despite opposition from a Black board member who said the school’s namesake was a “terrorist and racist.” After hearing about three hours of public comments, Duval County School Board members voted 5-2 to retain the name of Nathan Bedford Forrest High School. The board’s two Black members cast the only votes to change the name. “(Forrest) was a terrorist and a racist,” argued board member Brenda Priestly Jackson, who is Black. Betty Burney, the board chairman and the board’s other Black member, also voted against retaining the name. “It is time to turn the page and get beyond where we are,” she said. More than 140 people crowded into the meeting room, with another 20 watching the meeting on a television in the lobby. Many urged a name change, saying the Forrest name was an insult. But others argued that Forrest was “a good man” and “military genius” and that those who wished to change the name of the school wanted to “wipe out Southern history.”
The slain trick-or-treater may have saved his family. The parents of a 12-year-old boy who was shot to death while trick-or-treating say their son was a hero.  T.J. Darrisaw died Halloween night after a convicted felon unloaded a barrage of bullets from inside a home through the closed door as Darrisaw, his father and brother approached.  The boy’s father and brother also were wounded. T.J.’s parents say Darrisaw was determined to get candy first, so he was in front when the shots were fired. “T.J. saved us that night,” the father, Freddie Grinnell Jr., told Reuter News Monday. “He took most of the shots.” Police said the suspect, Quentin Patrick, 22, opened fire with an AK-47 because he thought he was being robbed. The family went to the home because the porch light was on, usually a signal that trick-or-treaters are welcome. Patrick is expected in court today to face charge related to the shooting. Patrick, who is charged with murder and three counts of assault and battery with intent to kill, was denied bond Monday.  Grinnell says he hopes the man accused of killing his son suffers for the rest of his life. “The injury to my arm is not as bad as the injury to my heart. I’ve lost a piece of my heart forever,” Grinnell said.

Only 2 percent of cancer docs are Black, 3 percent Hispanic.

  Susan G. Komen for the Cure and the American Society of Clinical Oncology have partnered to create the Komen/ASCO Diversity in Oncology Initiative, which hopes to reduce health care disparities by boosting the number of minority cancer docs, The Cleveland Plain Dealer reports. Minorities disproportionately are affected by several forms of cancer, but only 2 percent of oncologists in the United States are Black; 3 percent are Hispanic, according to the Plain Dealer report.  “The gaps in disparity, especially in oncology, can only be closed with (the addition of more) individuals who are culturally competent, who in some way are able to relate and feel comfortable to these patients,” said Derek Raghavan, director of the Taussig Cancer Institute at the Cleveland Clinic and co-chair of ASCO’s Health Disparities Advisory Group. Socioeconomic factors, language and literacy barriers and a mistrust of the medical community also contribute to minorities’ access to quality health care, health experts say. “The ultimate endpoint is to improve survival rates,” Raghavan added. Using a multimillion-dollar grant from Komen over the next two years, the initiative will give monetary awards to support medical students with oncology rotations and a mentor; oncologists or oncology fellows who have completed training; and loan repayments; and travel to annual ASCO meetings.
Black women in Florida county die younger than others. Black women are dying at a younger age than White women from a number of conditions, including HIV/AIDS, heart disease and diabetes, The Florida Times-Union reports. The report by the county Center for Health Statistics is based on government figures form 2006. It looks at the years of potential life lost, which, according to center coordinator Rebecca Filipowicz, tabulates “years that were lost that shouldn’t have been.” The barometer for Black women is nearly 50 percent higher than for Whites, she said. “As with a lot of the health issues we study, there’re major health disparities, especially with race and geographic distribution.” Women living in primarily Black Jacksonville communities had the highest rates of heart disease, cancer and diabetes. Filipowicz said that even though such conditions are preventable, many women cannot afford health care or they might not know enough about their health to recognize a problem. The report noted that about one in five Black women was uninsured, compared with one in 10 White women. A similar report released earlier this year focusing on men also found that Blacks were dying from preventable diseases, in large part because of limited access to medical care, according to the Times-Union.

“Sugar” Shane Mosley delivers just before bell. A possible title shot could be in the works for boxer Shane Mosley after he dropped Ricardo Mayorga with one second left in the last round of their fight. Mayorga had just taken a mandatory eight-count before Mosely knocked out the Nicaraguan in California this past weekend. Judges had Mosely set to win a split decision when the former four-time world champ took matters out of their hands. He hopes to fight for the Antonio Margarito for the welterweight belt.

Dwyane Wade in legal battle over sports bar. Miami Heat baller Dwyane Wade is suing the partners in two of his now-defunct Florida sports bars, saying they ran the establishments out of business. D. Wade’s two Florida locations closed within weeks of each other, with a third shutting down before it ever officially opened. The Olympic gold medalist, who shined in Beijing this summer, is being counter-sued by the partners. They say D. Wade – the player – didn’t show up for promo appearances at D. Wade’s the restaurant.

Saggy pants are not police business, judge rules.

Government doesn’t have the right to penalize folks for wearing saggy pants, a Florida judge ruled Tuesday. “Somebody help me,” Palm Beach Circuit Judge Paul Moyle, said mockingly before delivering his decision. “We’re not talking about exposure of buttocks. No! We’re talking about someone who has on pants, whose underwear are apparently visible to a police officer who then makes an arrest and the basis is he’s then held overnight, no bond.” Get more on that case at BET.com/News.  Should government be able to dictate what people wear?