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.

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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.

Parents of missing teen say Chicago Police don’t care
The parents of a 15-year-old Chicago girl say police are not putting energy into finding their daughter because she is Black. Yasmin Acree’s mom, Rose Starnes, dismisses the assumption by police that her daughter ran away, pointing to the locks on two gates that were cut and the door to the basement, where her room is located, that was forced open. Starnes also notes that Yasmin, who has been missing since Jan. 15, was excited about starting a new job. Starnes says she discovered Yasmin, an African-American honor student from the West Side, missing when she returned from visiting her grandchildren in Elgin. Joseph Salemme, the grand-central commander with the Chicago Police, says that the family’s charge of racism is ridiculous and insulting.

Louisiana cop arrested for robbing Hispanic motorists
A 25-year-old police officer in the small southeast Louisiana town of Slidell is being accused of stopping Hispanic drivers and stealing their money before sending them on their way, The Times Picayune reports. The officer, Jonathan M. Lutman, handed in his badge and gun Friday, after a short two-year stint, and was booked on one count of theft over $500, eight counts of theft under $300 and four counts of malfeasance in office, Slidell Police Chief Freddy Drennan told reporters. “Anytime we have to arrest one of our own, it’s a blemish on our department,” Drennan said. “It’s a blemish on everybody here. It’s a blemish on law enforcement as a whole. And it’s not something we relish at all. It’s a very sad day when I, as the chief of police, have to tell the citizens of this city and the people of this state that we arrested someone that we put our trust and faith into.” Drennan said it was difficult to know whether Lutman actually stole more than the $3,000 he’s accused of taking during at least four traffic stops between April and June, the Picayune reports. Drennan said that Lutman apparently believed that the language barrier would keep the victims – he targeted Hispanics – from speaking out about the thefts. His theory backfired when two Latinos went to police, who initiated an internal investigation, according to the Picayune. The department then combed Slidell’s Hispanic community and found more victims. “We have gone above and beyond to reach these people out there to determine if other people were victims,” Drennan said. They found four victims, who picked Lutman out of a lineup, he said.

The jazz world loses another giant
Bobby Durham, one of the jazz world’s most recognized drummers, died of lung cancer and emphysema July 7 at a hospital in Genoa, Italy. He was 71. Durham spent many years backing such notables as pianist Oscar Peterson and vocalist Ella Fitzgerald, and appeared on a number of television shows, including The Tonight Show, the Merv Griffin Show and the Mike Douglas Show. He lived in Philadelphia for many years and also resided off and on in Europe, most notably in Italy. Durham, known for virtuosity as a percussionist, was also an accomplished vocalist. His last recording, Domani’s Blues, featured his lush voice on the standard “I should Care.” Following a 1968 concert with Peterson, the late New York Times jazz critic John S. Wilson once referred to Durham’s embellishments on drums as “remarkable displays of technical virtuosity.”

Deaths from accidents and smoking among eighth-graders are down

The teen birth rate is up for the first time in 15 years, and homicides among teens are up for the first time in 12 years, a new government report shows. On the plus side, there has been a drop in childhood deaths from injuries, and fewer eighth-graders are smoking, according to the report, put out by the Federal Interagency Forum on Child and Family Statistics. One interesting finding was that while the number of children has increased, the proportion of children in the population has decreased, Edward J. Sondik, director of the National Center for Health Statistics, said during a morning teleconference Thursday. The number of children in the United States has increased from 73.7 million in 2006 to 73.9 million in 2007, Sondik said. But the proportion of children in the population as a whole has decreased, from 24.6 percent in 2006 to 24.5 percent in 2007. On the other hand, the numbers reflect a couple of disturbing trends among teens. Researchers found an increase in the rate of births, Sondik said. “The 2006 teen birth rate was up for the first time in 15 years,” he said. “This is only a single-year increase, but we believe it bears watching.” The birth rate among girls, ages 15 to 17, increased 133,138 in 2005 to 138,920 in 2006, Sondik said. Also, the rate of low-birthweight babies born to young girls in this age group increased from 8.2 percent in 2005 to 8.3 percent in 2006. Another disturbing trend is the increase in violent crimes and homicides committed by adolescents, Sondik said. “Homicides increased in 2005 for the first time since 1993,” Sondik said. “In 2005, the firearm homicide rate also increased for the first time in more than a decade. Young people, ages 12 to 17, who committed violent crimes increased from 14 crimes per 1,000 in 2004 to 17 per 1,000 in 2005. This is still a substantially lower rate than in 1993, when there were 52 violent crimes per 1,000 adolescents, the report stated. Even at that rate, smoking declined among some middle school students. “Fewer eighth-graders are smoking now than they did a year ago,” Sondik said. Among eighth-graders, those who reported smoking cigarettes dropped from 4 percent in 2006 to 3 percent in 2007. This continues a decline in smoking among this group from a peak of 10 percent in 1996, Sondik noted. To see the full report, visit the Federal Interagency Forum on Child and Family Statistics.