The last of six White West Virginians accused of kidnapping, raping and torturing a 20-year-old Black woman last year has pleaded guilty.  On Friday, Danny J. Combs followed the five other defendants, which included a mother-daughter and mother-son pair, admitting his role in one of the most heinous racial crimes in modern history. The case not only shined a spotlight on the backwardness of back-woods West Virginia, but it amplified the vicious racial division that still exists in America some 40 years after the Civil Rights Era. Get the rest of the story at BET.com/News. Has justice been served?

BET News Quiz: Crime surges on an HBCU campus;  Obama “lynched” on school campus and Beyoncé raked in big bucks last year. Were you paying attention this week? Take the quiz!
 

Getting arrested stinks – especially in this case. If you’ve gotta let one go, you better not do it in front a cop, or you could be charged with battery on a police officer.  That’s what happened to a West Virginia man who passed gas and then fanned it toward an officer. Go here for the rest of the story.

Stop targeting young Blacks, group tells tobacco industry.  African-American leaders in California on Thursday called on the tobacco industry to stop targeting their community with the promotion of menthol cigarettes and deceptive advertising. Menthol cigarettes are not more toxic than regular cigarettes, but the minty flavor and cooling sensation makes them more enticing and easier to smoke, paving the road to nicotine addiction, the group says. Seventy percent of African-American smokers prefer menthol cigarettes, compared to 30 percent of White smokers. “We’re here today to say enough is enough,” said Sharon Eubanks, the former government prosecutor who led the landmark 2005 lawsuit against tobacco companies. “The tobacco industry has been targeting the African American community for decades with deceptive ads and pushing menthol cigarettes that have an anesthetic quality. These cigarettes are harder to quit and make it easier for youth to take up smoking.” Convening in Leimert Park, a historic gathering place for Los Angeles’ African-American community, activists showcased a selection of historical ads created by the tobacco industry to entice African Americans to smoke and pointed to figures that show  the disastrous health effects in the Black community attributable to tobacco use. Leading the effort were Eubanks as well as the Rev. Anthony Evans, executive director of the Washington, D.C.-based National Black Church Initiative. The initiative comes at a time when the United States Congress is considering legislation to give the FDA authority to regulate cigarettes. This legislation would prohibit tobacco companies from adding flavorings like cherry and peach to cigarettes, but contains a specific exemption for menthol.