Donyell Marshall to reach 15 years as Sixer. He may have been dropped by the then-unnamed, newly franchised Oklahoma City Thunder, but NBA vet Donyell Marshall wouldn’t be counted out. Marshall will reach his 15^th year in the league as a member of the Philadelphia 76ers after Oklahoma waived him. Marshall, 35, is expected to sign a one year deal with Philly for $1.26 million by week’s end. The deal makes the vet one of the seasoned class eligible for a minimum salary guaranteed only to players with at least 10 years experience in the league. Marshall last averaged 3.8 points off the bench with Seattle before the team moved to Oklahoma.

NFL season begins tonight. The Giants hope to defend their Super Bowl title as the NFL officially begins its regular season today. Meanwhile, New England is among top contenders, Adam “Pacman” Jones will try to show he’s worth his welcome back into the league from

suspension, and Chad Ocho Cinco, formerly Chad Johnson, will likely do his best impression as the Dennis Rodman of football. Keep up with all the action by visiting BET.com.

Adam “Pacman” Jones cleared to play in Dallas this season. Formerly suspended Tennessee Titans cornerback Adam “Pacman” Jones will officially begin his career with the Dallas Cowboys this season. Jones, who was the subject of an unconventional trade from Tennessee to Dallas while still banned from the league, has been reinstated. His numerous arrests in connection with felony incidents, including shootings - one of which left a nightclub employee paralyzed - led to Jones’ discipline. The kick returner restlessly missed all of last season, recently joining Dallas for workouts with permission from Commissioner Roger Goodell. “It feels good, man, you know, to get a second chance and I just have to take advantage of it,” Jones tells the Dallas Morning News. “First and foremost, I don’t want to let myself down, definitely (don’t want to let) my little girl down.” Jones also thanks the Cowboys ownership and fans.

Kevin Duckworth suffered from cardiomyopathy. Former Portland Trailblazers center Kevin Duckworth died of the same heart disease that killed his father and two siblings, a state medical examiner has announced. Duckworth was discovered collapsed and not breathing in Oregon this week, where he planned to host a free basketball clinic. The cause of his death was an enlarged heart “attributed to hypertrophic cardiomyopathy with congestive heart failure,” the medical examiner reports. His sister Francine Duckworth says the retired player’s dad and brothers also died of congestive heart failure. Duckworth was 44.

The Ohio Democratic lawmaker was revered by her constituents

Colleagues, friends and family of Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones (D-Ohio) are mourning her death. As a avid supporter of Sen. Hillary Clinton, the Cleveland-based congresswoman seemed to have lost considerable clout among her Barack Obama-loving constituents. But she will be remembered as loyal, progressive and productive. Read more about what her fellow Congress members had to say at Pamela On Politics. More about how brain aneurysms affect Blacks and women more at Vital Signs. Send your condolences below.

One in three schools are in “pollution danger zones.” One in three U.S. public schools are in the “air pollution danger zone,” according to new research from the University of Cincinnati (UC). More than 30 percent of American public schools are within 400 meters, or a quarter mile, of major highways that consistently serve as main truck and traffic routes, the researchers found. And studies have shown that proximity to major highways—and thus environmental pollutants, such as aerosolizing diesel exhaust particles—can leave school-age children more susceptible to respiratory diseases such as asthma later in life. “This is a major public health concern that should be given serious consideration in future urban development, transportation planning and environmental policies,” says Sergey Grinshpun, PhD, principal investigator of the study and professor of environmental health at UC. To protect the health of young children with developing lungs, he says new schools should be built further from major highways. “Health risk can be mitigated through proper urban planning, but that doesn’t erase the immediate risk to school-age children attending schools that are too close to highways right now,” he adds. “Existing schools should be retrofitted with air filtration systems that will reduce students’ exposure to traffic pollutants.”

As we mourn the death of Rep. Tubbs, we learn more about brain aneurysm. Vital Signs: As we morn the death of Rep. Tubbs, we learn more about brain aneurysm. Vital Signs tells why they are more common among women.

Bush will veto the tobacco bill
It seemed like further protections from tobacco additives may not become a reality any time soon. In its sharpest criticism yet of the pending tobacco legislation, the Bush administration says it “strongly” opposes the effort to give the Food and Drug Administration regulatory authority over tobacco. The criticism came Monday in a letter by Michael O. Leavitt, the secretary of Health and Human Services, which some saw as a signal that a veto would be likely if the legislation cleared the House and Senate. The letter was sent to Joe L. Barton of Texas, the highest-ranking Republican member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, which approved the bill in April. Barton voted against the bill. The White House and FDA Commissioner Andrew C. von Eschenbach, have previously raised concerns about the legislation. The letter provided the strongest indication yet that the administration would try to block the bill. The proposal has broad support in the House but, but in the Senate, it is believed to be three votes short of a majority sufficient to override a veto. In the letter, the administration expressed “serious concerns” that the bill could overload the FDA by piling on “significant added responsibility” that is inconsistent with the agency’s mission of ensuring the safety of food, drugs and medical devices. “This could result in diverting personnel and resources from current programs within the FDA, with the potential to seriously undermine the public health,” the letter said. The letter also raises new questions about the bill’s treatment of menthol cigarettes. The bill would ban candy, fruit and spice-flavored cigarettes, including clove cigarettes, but menthol cigarettes would be exempt from the ban. In expressing concern about the menthol exclusion, the administration finds itself precariously on the side of Black critics of the bill. Menthol cigarettes are the choice of about 75 percent of Black smokers. Researchers have long worried that menthol may play a role in the disproportionate diagnosis of smoking-related cancers among Blacks, possibly by masking tobacco’s harsh taste, and some research suggests that menthol smokers find it more difficult to quit. Supporters of the bill have said that, although menthol is exempt from the ban on flavorings in the bill, the FDA would have the power to limit or ban menthol if it is proved harmful. The measure could reach a vote in the House later this month.

Olympic Hopefull Hopes To Save Black Children From Drowning

Vial Signs: Olympic contender Cullen Jones is helping to save Black children from drowning. Read the plans of the world’s fastest sprint swimmer at Vital Signs.

Ex-NBA player says he’ll consider running for mayor

A businessman and former Detroit Pistons star says he may run for mayor in the city that houses his company Bing Steel. Retired NBA player Dave Bing is considering his first-ever jump into politics. Bing says he’d seek only one term because the moves he’d make in city hall would leave him unpopular in some circles. The bid, if Bing pursues it, would be for embattled Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick’s job. Kilpatrick’s in the last year of his second term and facing felony prosecution on perjury charges.

Former track star seeks President’s help

Former track and field star Marion Jones was one of hundreds who wrote President George W. Bush in hopes of receiving pardon and commutations for their felony crimes. Why shouldn’t the President grant her wish? Get the details at Playa Hater.

NFL’s Fred Davis will get $1.8 million bonus
Rookie tight end Fred Davis has signed a $3.5 million, four-year deal with the Washington Redskins. The deal includes a $1.8 million signing bonus for the second-round draft pick. “I can finally say I’m a Redskin,” the Toledo, Ohio, native says. “I didn’t want to lose any time, any chance to play or get out there.”

The Democratic presidential candidate slams a Black lawmaker for latching on

Sen. Barack Obama is making it clear that an African-American U.S. senatorial candidate from Georgia has crossed the line by linking the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee to his campaign. In recent days, Vernon Jones, the DeKalb County CEO, released a campaign flier showing him and Obama smiling together; the caption reads: “Yes We Can.” But the Illinois senator is screaming, “No He Can’t!” Obama, speaking to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution Tuesday, said, “I do not endorse him; I have not endorsed him. He put my picture on his literature, without asking me. Now I will tell you in the southside of Chicago, and I’m assuming here in Georgia, those kinds of things aren’t uncommon. It’s a little less common to do when you’re a U.S. Senate candidate when presumably the scrutiny is a little higher.” Jones, who says he wasn’t trying to trick anybody, mailed thousands of the leaflets, the Journal-Constitution reports. The photo appears to be of himself standing next to Obama in front of a campaign crowd, the newspaper says, while the photo was really a digital compilation of two or more images. “I think he may have come to an event of ours a while back,” Obama said. “The reason I think I may have met him is I know somebody told me as I was shaking his hand that he had taken pride in voting for George Bush twice.” Still, Jones’ spokeswoman says that her candidate is a strong supporter of Obama. “Vernon Jones is a conservative Democrat who holds views consistent with mainstream Georgians, and like Vernon Jones, Sen. Barack Obama kicked off his Georgia campaign in Cobb County,” Jones said Tuesday. He has called the flier a campaign “keepsake piece,” noting that he has been asked to autograph it at campaign stops everywhere. Jones is battling fellow Democrats Dale Cardwell, a former WSB television reporter; Atlanta businessman Rand Knight; former state legislator Jim Martin; and retired businessman Josh Lanier of Statesboro in July 15 primary. They are vying to challenge incumbent Republican U.S. Sen. Saxby Chambliss and Libertarian Allen Buckley in the November general election. Jones says that “for Sen. Obama to win Georgia, he will need conservative Democrats like myself.” Do you agree with Jones?

Soccer player is charged with felonies after allegedly biting official
A Delaware soccer player is charged with felonies, including assault and terroristic threatening, after he allegedly bit a ref on the chin. Witnesses say Rannord A. Jones challenged the official, who’d given him a red card, ejecting Jones from the game last week. The ref had initially called unsportsmanlike conduct on Jones. “The player was so enraged that he just savagely attacked the official, biting him almost in an animal manner about the chin,” says police Cpl. Trinidad Navarro. Blood gushed from the referee’s face, witnesses say, proving what some thought a joke to be real violence. The mother of Jones, 28, says the official cursed at Jones, provoking him. He turned himself in to police the next day. No name or condition of the referee has been released.

Member of Super Bowl-winning team allegedly involved in club scuffle.
The son of Detroit’s most popular TV anchor woman and a native son returning home from the NFL have allegedly clashed. Geoffrey Pope, cornerback for the New York Giants, faces felony charges after visiting Detroit this past weekend to show his grandmother his Super Bowl ring and celebrate his 24th birthday. Police say Pope got into a scrap at a downtown club where he allegedly struck the son of the local NBC affiliate’s long-time evening anchor woman Carmen Harlan with a champagne bottle. The alleged victim was treated with 28 stitches. Pope’s lawyer says he didn’t commit the assault, while Pope has declined comment.

Kearse is the latest NFL player to get arrested
Tennessee Titans defensive end Jevon Kearse was arrested early Sunday morning for driving under the influence near the campus of Vanderbilt University. Why did he refuse to take a breathalyzer test? Read more details at Playa Hater.