News You Should Know wants to start the day with positive news.  A group of kids from a charter school in New Jersey are giving back to their peers in the Motherland by raising money for students in Rwanda and Kenya.

Former NBA star Jayson Williams has agreed to take an 18-month sentence for aggravated assault, according to media reports.

Williams, 41,  is on trial for the 2002 death of his limo driver, 55-year-old Costas “Gus” Christofi, who was shot at Williams mansion in New Jersey. Williams was originally charged with one count of reckless manslaughter.

From NJ.com

The details of the plea deal are not clear, and plea deals deals are never final until a defendant puts his plea on the record and the judge agrees to accept it.

The deal, however, is expected to be somewhat different from the one Williams was expected to take in November, but he did not appear in court and the hearing was delayed. The deal is expected to involve a prison sentence, combined with a stipulation of no parole for 18 months, according to the person with knowledge of the deal.

Williams first went to trial in 2004, accused of recklessly handling a shotgun that fired and killed Christofi. He hired the man to drive guests back to his estate after a Harlem Globetrotters game.

Christofi was in the room with other guests when Williams was reportedly showing off a shotgun. Witnesses said he snapped the gun shut and it fired a single shot into Christofi’s chest. Investigators said Williams then placed the gun in Christofi’s hands and asked those in the room to lie.

The defense has insisted the shooting was an accident that continues to haunt Williams. In 2003, he paid $2.75 million to settle a wrongful civil death suit with Christofi’s family.

Obama Calls on You to Make A Difference The call to service is now be immortalized in a bill signed Tuesday by President Barack Obama, giving $5.7 billion to triple the size of the AmeriCorps national service program and expanding opportunities for students and seniors wanting to earn money for college while volunteering for the country. Read more.

Candidate Hopes to Become First Black Woman Gov A New Jersey woman is hoping to become the nation’s third African-American governor. The Rev. Shannon Wright, an Independent candidate, announced her bid to lead the Garden State just days after resigning as campaign manager for Republican Brian Levine. On Thursday, Levine, the mayor of Franklin Township, was nixed from the GOP primary ballot after judges ruled that his petition did not contain enough valid signatures to justify his nomination. Wright, 42, was a registered Democrat in 2008, so she must obtain 1,000 signatures to run as an independent. She named health care, education and economic development as her focal points. She and her husband are co-founders of Faith, Grace and Mercy World Outreach Ministries.

 New Jersey authorities have taken custody of three siblings with Nazi-like names but declined to discuss the reason the children were removed. The state Division of Youth and Family Services removed the trio – 3-year-old Adolf Hitler Campbell, JoyceLynn Aryan Nation Campbell and Honszlynn Hinler Jeannie Campbell -from their home on Tuesday. Family Services would not elaborate on the reason for taking the children, saying they do not comment on specific cases. Last month, the parents grabbed headlines when a bakery refused to put the Nazi names on their children’s birthday cake.

The accused N.J. church shooter is captured. Police captured the man police say shot and killed his wife at a Clifton, N.J., church on Sunday.  Joseph M. Pallipurath was arrested around midnight Monday in Monroe, Ga., east of Atlanta, New Jersey district U.S. Marshal James Plousis told The Associated Press. Read more here.

Suspect is sought in fatal N.J. church shooting. Police are looking for a New Jersey gunman who entered a Clifton church, fatally shot his wife and injured two other people. The gunman, who police identified as 27-year-old Joseph Pallipurath, drove from California to New Jersey and entered the St. Thomas Syrian Orthodox Knanaya Church about noon on Sunday, police say. Read more here.