Black Woman Becomes Kansas Senator
Kansas made history this week, electing a Black woman to serve in the state Senate for the first time. “It’s kind of like a dream; it didn’t really sink in until now, until today, I mean wow,” said Sen. Oletha Faust-Goudeau, who was elected to fill the seat previously occupied by Sen. Donald Betts, a Democrat from Wichita. “To stand before the people and other senators and family and friends and say ‘I do’ was just an awesome, humbling feeling.” Faust-Goudeau previously served in the House of Representatives. Faust-Goudeau’s younger sister, Gladys Tsimonjela, said, “It’s really emotional. It really makes me think of our mother (Oretha A. Faust) and all of the advocacy work she did in the community.”

They killed an African-American man – just because he was Black

Two Kansas City men will spend the rest of their lives in prison for killing a man who was on his way to work – just because he was Black. A federal judge ruled that Gary Eye  and Steven Sandstrom, whose lives were spared by jurors for the March 2005 murder of William McCay, should never be free again. “I’m innocent of all these charges,” Sandstrom said. “This was not a hate crime. Not even close to it, your honor.” But Eye opted not to say anything during his sentencing hearing. Yvonne McCay, the victim’s mother, said she is now ready to move forward. “Justice has been served,” McCay said. “None of this will bring him back, but I pray constantly to God to remove this malice from my heart for these individuals.”

Hoops pic causes an international uproar. The Spanish basketball team has come under attack after taking a team photo with their players making a slit-eyed gesture, possibly mocking the host country, China. Is the photo offensive to you? Read more at BET.com Olympics ‘08.

Men’s soccer squad advances to quarter-finals. Nigeria’s 2-1 victory against the USA Wednesday pushes the African men’s soccer team into the Olympics quarter-finals. The Ivory Coast and Cameroon also qualified to continue the chase for gold medals at the Beijing Games. America’s loss to Nigeria drops the men out of contention for any prize. The team needed at least a draw, in order to advance, but will return home empty-handed.

Yankees shortstop too sore to play in Minnesota.

Derek Jeter isn’t expected to take the field for New York again until tomorrow after he sat out a game versus Minnesota with a sore foot. Jeter hit a foul tip off his foot Tuesday night and didn’t take his starting spot on Wednesday. But he’s expected to re-join the rotation against the Kansas City Royals. X-rays of Jeter’s foot returned negative. “He’ll never tell you that he can’t play, but by saying that it’s kind of sore and it’s throbbing all night, you kind of get the feeling that it’s pretty rough,” says manager Joe Girardi.