Weezy’s week begins with court hearing.

It had to be a tough moment for rapper Lil’ Wayne’s assistant. At a Monday hearing on Weezy’s ongoing weapons case, in which he was allegedly arrested carrying a gun in New York, the subject of marijuana was raised. Wayne’s employee took the stand, admitting that weed is “something we always have” on the tour bus, and that Weezy only smokes “dro,” or hydroponically grown marijuana. Apparently, swearing to tell the truth kept the assistant from helping his boss a great deal. Wayne’s expected to return to court in December. In other New York-related Wayne news, the star sent his personal sympathies this past weekend to the family of a 16-year-old killed in a New York car wreck.

Rapper faces bench warrant after alleged failure to appear in court.

DMX is on track to setting a record for most rap star arrests in a single year. A bench warrant has been issued for the recording artist after he reportedly failed to show up for a hearing on felony drug charges in Arizona Tuesday morning. His bail was raised to $25,000 as prosecutors called the no-show “ridiculous.” DMX already has been arrested about a half-dozen times in 2008.

More Americans are going deaf
One of three U.S. adults already suffers from some degree of hearing loss, experts said on Monday. The use of personal stereos and an aging population may create a hearing impairment epidemic, a new study shows. A team at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore estimated that 55 million Americans have hearing loss in one or both ears, with men, Whites and the least-educated most affected, the researchers said. One out of six – or 29 million adults – has some trouble discerning speech, more than previous estimates, they reported in the Archives of Internal Medicine. “The prevalence of hearing loss in the United States is predicted to rise significantly because of an aging population and the growing use of personal listening devices. Indeed, there is concern that we may be facing an epidemic of hearing impairment,” Dr. Yuri Agrawal of the Baltimore hospital wrote. It is normal for people to ignore or disavow hearing loss, the researchers said, leading to difficulty communicating that can result in productivity problems at work, depression, and less access to health care that ultimately raises the risk of sickness and death. Hearing loss affected 8.5 percent of those in their 20s and 17 percent of people in their 30s. Exposure to workplace noise, firearms and loud music were all risk factors.

You need 55 minutes a day to lose weight permanently
Obese and overweight women need to cut calories and exercise 275 minutes a week more than their baseline physical activity – or at least 55 minutes a day, five days a week to lose weight and keep it off , a new study says. The research was led by John M. Jakicic, Ph.D., of the University of Pittsburgh, and colleagues. They tracked 201 overweight and obese women over a two-year period; 170 women completed the study. At the start, all of the participants were sedentary. They were randomly assigned to one of four groups based on how much and how intensely they exercised and how many calories they burned. The participants were told to eat or drink no more than 1,200 to 1,500 calories a day. Researchers tracked them by talking to them on the phone and having face-to-face talks. Participants were encouraged to spread the exercise out over five days during a week, done in at least 10-minute chunks. The women were given treadmills to use at home and taught to monitor their own heart rates. At the end of the two-year study, women who had lost 10 percent or more of their initial body weight reported that they had done more physical activity, compared with those who did not lose as much weight. After six months, women in all four groups had lost an average of 8 percent to 10 percent of their initial body weight. But the hard part was keeping that weight off. Most of them regained the weight. Nearly 25 percent of the participants managed to keep 10 percent or more of their original body weight off over the two years. Those women exercised about 275 minutes a week more over their baseline activity levels.

Will Michelle Obama’s image help young Black girls?
Vital Signs: She’s been called unamerican, an “angry Black woman,” the “b” word and worse. But is the criticism of Michelle Obama, whose worked to soften her image, hurt or help how young girls see themselves and what they can accomplish? Read more at Vital Signs.