Under pressure, Baltimore’s mayor is donating her salary. Facing outrage from recession-weary Baltimore residents, and criticism from union leaders, Baltimore Mayor Sheila Dixon said on Thursday that she will donate her $3,700 raise to a “city government charity.” “I woke up this morning and said, ‘You know what? It is not worth it,’” Dixon said to Baltimore reporters during an impromptu news conference. She said she hopes the decision will help “get things moving forward and stay focused on the bigger plan.” The mayor plans to announce which charity will get the money on Friday, according to The Baltimore Sun.

Designers make a Web browser for African Americans. A group of entrepreneurs recently launched Blackbird, a Web browser based on Mozilla’s Firefox that is designed specifically for African Americans. The browser was developed by a team of African Americans to allow viewers to connect to the African American community. While still in beta testing mode, the Browser includes pre-installed links to various Black-focused news sites, forums and even something called “Black Search.” It has links to social networks, email and popular Web content. To see it for yourself, go here.

Sierra Leone president turns down huge salary increase. An attempt to increase the salary of President Ernest Bai Koroma ten-fold has sparked a public outcry and forced the resignation of his senior aide. Koroma claimed he was unaware of the proposed raise and had not approved it. The requested pay hike also provided retroactive pension payments dating back to 1996 for former President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah and other senior members of the previous administration. Secretary to the President James Sanpha Koroma, who resigned, claimed not to have been the one proposing the increases, but he accepted responsibility. “The president says 2.5 million leones is enough for him- he’s not interested in any increment,” the presidential press secretary told Reuters.  Daily life is a struggle for most Sierra Leoneans, who face erratic supplies of light and water, appalling roads and poor access to health and education services. The proposals sent to Parliament last week would have upped the president’s pay from 2.5 million leones to 25 million leones a month. A similar raise was proposed for his vice president, Samuel Sam-Sumana.