A Georgia teen convicted of nine burglaries and the rape of a 15-year-old girl was sentenced to life in prison plus 110 years. Darrian Bryant was a 17-year-old Parkview High School student when he was arrested for the crimes two years ago. Read more here.

Youth could serve life if convicted of officer’s murder. The 16-year-old who police say killed an Oak Park, Mich. cop has been charged as an adult. Jonathan Belton allegedly shot officer Mason Samborski, 28, on Dec. 28 after Samborski stopped Belton for driving without a license. Oak Park cops insist that Samborski took Belton into the lot of an apartment complex to release him to an adult without arresting him. But what caused a struggle between the teen and Samborski before the officer was shot in the head is unknown. Belton turned himself in after the incident. He pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder and is being held without bond. Samborski, who was married and dad to a small daughter, was buried this week. Belton was first arraigned as a juvenile, but could now face life in prison if convicted.

South African teen killer is sentenced. The White South African teen who went on a shooting spree that killed four people in a Black neighborhood was sentenced to four life terms in prison Friday, reports CNN. Two adults and two children, one three months old, the other 10 years old, were murdered during the spree, while the teen reportedly shouted racist slurs. Johan Nel was sentenced to 68 years for 11 counts of attempted murder, five years for possessing a firearm and three years for possessing ammunition, said Nell’s attorney, Frikkie Pretorius.  “I respect the court’s decision, [but] we are going to appeal,” Pretorius told CNN. “We believe there is a possibility that the court made a mistake.” Nel, who is now 19 but was 18 when he committed the crimes, confessed and pleaded guilty to the killings, so he wouldn’t have to stand trial, he said. But there were “compelling circumstances” the court didn’t consider, Pertorius said. The fact that Nel was home-schooled and didn’t learn how to socialize with Black children played a role in the crime, he said. A psychologist examined Nel and found he’s competent to stand trial, though. And the Congress of South African Trade Unions agreed with the sentencing. “No lesser sentence could possibly have been given for such an appalling crime, motivated purely by racist obsessions, for which there can be absolutely no mitigating circumstances,” a spokesman for the group said in a written statement. “COSATU agrees with the judge that there is no place for racially motivated violence in a democratic South Africa,” he said. The judge and prosecutor reportedly got death threats from people who hoped to stop them from giving Nel life sentences.
MTV holds its first African awards ceremony. MTV held its first award ceremony dedicated to Africans this weekend, reports the BBC. The MTV Africa Music Awards (the MAMAs) were held in Nigeria’s capital city, Abuja, and Nigerians dominated, winning six out of the 10 awards. Nigerian rapper D’banj won the artist of the year award and best male award; another Nigerian rapper, Naeto C won best new act; and 9ice took home the best hip-hop award. A Kenyan singer, Wahu, won the award for best female act. American acts, such as Rapper The Game, Flo-rida and singer Kelly Rowland hit the stage to perform during the ceremony. And U.S. artists, such as Lil Wayne and Alicia Keys, were also nominated in different categories, even though it was an African ceremony. The legend award went to Fela Kuti, the late Nigerian who spearheaded the Afrobeat movement. Kuti’s children accepted the award in his honor. “We’ll keep it in our house, and when the time comes then we’ll take it to him,” they said. The late South African singer Miriam Makeba, “Mama Africa,” was also honored during the ceremony. Winners of the awards were selected by fans who sent text messages.

A Black teen has lived 118 days without a heart. A South Carolina teenager survived for nearly four months without a heart before being released from the hospital on Thursday. The young woman was kept alive by a custom-built artificial blood-pumping device, until she was able to get a heart transplant, doctors in Miami said on Wednesday. The patient, D’Zhana Simmons, 14, of South Carolina Simmons, suffered from cardiomyopathy, a condition in which her heart doesn’t pump blood properly. Read more here.

In Atlanta, the death of a 92-year-old woman at the hand of police has sparked yet another investigation. While the federal probe is over and three former Atlanta police officers are serving time for crimes stemming from the botched drug raid that led to the Kathryn Johnston’s death in November 2006, Atlanta Police Chief Richard Pennington is creating a special task force to find out whether any other officers violated police procedures related to the drug raid that resulted in Johnston’s death, the chief said in a statement Tuesday. “Following this task force’s investigation, it will make recommendations directly to me as to any administrative action which should be taken against any other members of this department,” Pennington wrote. The announcement came the day after the FBI turned over a report to the Police Department – the contents of where not made public, reports The Atlanta-Constitution. Pennington said in his statement that no other federal charges are anticipated, but federal authorities did indicate last week that the report was going to address other issues. Johnston died when policed barged into her home with guns blazing as part of a drug raid at the wrong address. They shot her as she brandished her own gun, possibly thinking she was being robbed. U.S. Attorney David Nahmias said it would make recommendations that could lead to state prosecutions or administrative discipline for other officers who played a role in the raid.
A teen staggers into an L.A. school gym, collapses and dies. A teenager bleeding from a gunshot wound staggered into a basketball clinic inside the a Los Angeles High School gym, collapsed and died in front of about 40 stunned students and parents, The Los Angeles Times reported. Investigators say a gunman shot 18-year-old Luis Rosas about 8 p.m. Monday as he played basketball on courts outside the gym. It wasn’t immediately known if Rosas was a student. The teenager then stumbled into the gym and died in front of about 40 people.

Drug gang’s limo took youths to prom. A Hummer limousine connected to an organized crime ring with rap ties was later used to take teens to their proms. The vehicle once owned by the Black Mafia Family, which doubled as an artist promoter, was seized and repeatedly sold in auctions. Even brides and grooms rode to weddings in the Hummer. Later, authorities reportedly discovered $875,000 in cash and several automatic weapons stashed in the vehicle – apparently undetected by the passengers who followed BMF.

Cop-shooting teen gets 25-50 years in prison

. Donyea Phillips, a 17-year-old a runaway, who had been squatting with a cousin in an East Frankford rooming house, was sentenced to 25-50 years in prison for shooting and wounding two Philadelphia drug officers serving a search warrant at the house, reports The Philadelphia Inquirer. Phillips, a suspected crack dealer who pleaded guilty in July to two counts of attempted murder and related charges, apologized to Officers Christopher Reed and Stephen Holts. Phillips insisted to Common Pleas Court Judge Glenn B. Bronson that he did not know police were trying to come through the door when he blindly fired through a window Nov. 13. “I was afraid for my life,” Phillips told Bronson, adding, “All I’m just asking is not to lock me up and throw away the key, because I’m changed.” The prison term drew gasps from some of the dozen relatives in court to support Phillips because it’s above the 5- to 10-year minimum recommended under state sentencing guidelines. However, it was also less than the 32-1/2 to 65 years requested by the prosecuting attorney. “I think this sentence was clearly excessive,” said defense attorney James A. Lammendola. He said he would file a motion asking the judge to reconsider the sentence. Explaining his sentence, the judge credited Phillips with accepting responsibility by pleading guilty and acknowledged his grim upbringing: “You had a horribly deprived childhood, there’s no doubt about that,” Bronson said. Kirk Heilbrun, a forensic psychologist hired by Phillips’ defense, testified that Phillips was the oldest of six children. Heilbrun said Phillips experienced mental and physical abuse by his parents and was largely responsible for caring for his siblings. But the judge said Phillips’ background did not excuse the fact that he was squatting in a house, selling crack cocaine and spending $100 a day for marijuana. “Sadly, other people have been in similar situations, but they don’t hole themselves up in a crack house and fire a gun at police officers,” Bronson said.

Study shows teen suicide rate up in U.S. For more than a decade, the suicide rate among kids in this country had steadily and consistently declined. However, that trend ended abruptly. “Suddenly in 2004 we see the sharpest increase in the past 15 years and it appears that it’s persisting in 2005,” says Jeff Bridges, Ph.D. at Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus, Ohio. Bridge co-authored the study with Carnegie Mellon statistics Professor Joel Greenhouse. Researchers say while the numbers dipped slightly between 2004 and 2005, they’re still up significantly. Now that researchers have identified what may be an emerging crisis, the next step is to figure out the cause. Dr. John Campo says one reason might be the number of kids taking prescribed anti-depressants has dropped by as much as 20 percent. “The vast majority of young people who complete suicide have some sort of psychiatric disorder. Most commonly depression or some mood disorder,” said Campo. Campo says there’s no proven link between the drop in prescriptions and the rise in suicides, but the simultaneous happening is worth looking into. The study looks at young people aged 10 to 19 between 1996 and 2005. Researchers say they also want to look into the role the Internet may play in the number of kids committing suicide.

Radial disparities persist in breast cancer treatment. Black breast cancer patients are not being prescribed radiation therapy as often as Whites, finds a study – the largest of its kind – which was presented Wednesday in advance of the American Society of Clinical Oncology Breast Cancer Symposium. “Although there have been smaller studies of racial disparities in breast cancer care, no prior research has examined the differences across the nation in the rates of radiation therapy after lumpectomy between Whites and Blacks,” said Grace Li Smith, M.D., Ph.D., the study’s lead author and a postdoctoral fellow in M. D. Anderson’s Department of Radiation Oncology. “The national Medicare database, because it’s so comprehensive, allowed us to determine the extent to which racial disparities in radiation therapy affected patients across the country.” The researchers reviewed the Medicare records of more than 37,000 patients diagnosed with early stage breast cancer in 2003. They used Medicare claims to examine the treatment history of women aged 66 and older diagnosed in 2003 with early stage, newly diagnosed breast cancer. Of the 37,305 women who underwent a lumpectomy for their breast cancer, 34,024 were White and 2,305 were Black. Overall, 74 percent of the White women received radiation therapy after their lumpectomy; in contrast, 65 percent of the Black breast cancer patients received the same treatment. “The use of radiation after lumpectomy is considered to be the standard of care for women with invasive breast cancer, as clinical trials have demonstrated that it both reduces the chance of recurrence and improves the chance of survival,” said Thomas Buchholz, M.D., professor in the Department of Radiation Oncology and the study’s senior author. Perhaps the most unexpected aspect of the study, Smith said, was the magnitude of the disparity in specific areas of the country: the Pacific West, 72 percent (Whites) vs. 55 percent (Blacks); East South Central, 72 percent (Whites) vs. 57 percent (Blacks), and the Northeast, 70 percent (Whites) vs. 58 percent (Blacks). “Until further research is conducted, we may only speculate about the underlying reasons why Black and White women are not receiving radiation at the same rate,” Smith said. “We don’t know if fewer Black women are receiving radiation simply because it is not offered to them, because they decline the treatment, or perhaps because they are unable to complete a whole course of treatment due to other health problems. These questions will be important subjects of future study.”

He has been allowed to enroll in a Georgia high school to play football.

One of the six Black teens charged in the infamous Jena, La., beating case two years ago is getting a fresh start in life. Robert Bailey, Jr., whose case highlighted the Black-White racial rift in the tiny central Louisiana community, has learned that he will be allowed to play for Shaw High School in Columbus, Ga. He and five other Black youths, dubbed the “Jena Six,” initially were charged with attempted murder after a fight with a White student, Justin Barker. Last September, tens of thousands of protestors converged on Jena, arguing that the teens were being prosecuted too harshly for a schoolyard scrap. The charges were later reduced to second-degree battery. Five of the six teens, including Bailey, are still awaiting trial. On Monday, the Georgia High School Association approved Bailey’s appeal to be granted eligibility for the upcoming school year. Four similar appeals were rejected by the executive committee.

BET News Quiz – Louisiana teen is sentenced for showing off nooses, Diddy is set to come out with new fragrances and the Williams sisters shine in Beijing. Take the quiz here!

He hung nooses from his truck and drove past a crowd of “ Jena Six” protestors

Jeremiah Munsen, a 19-year-old from Colfax, La., thought he’d send a powerful message to the protestors who showed up in his state last September to march against the prosecution of the six Black teens from the town of Jena accused of beating a White classmate. So he slung two nooses from his pickup truck and made sure the protestors got a glimpse. A judge has now sent a powerful message to Munsen, sentencing him to four months in prison for that single act of ultra-insensitivity. He could’ve been slapped with a one-year term, but Munsen bargained for the lesser sentence in April by fessing up to a misdemeanor charge of interfering with the protestor’s federally protected right to travel, The Associated Press reports. A group of African-American protestors were in Alexandria, La., waiting for their bus back home to Tennessee when Munsen repeatedly drove past them, displaying the nooses.