Lisa Michelle Hatchell, a 37-year-old mother of two, has been missing since July 19, 2003. Police say that she was last seen that night on the street outside her Philadelphia rowhome she shared with her boyfriend. The couple had been in an argument over money, according to witnesses, and it was the last time anybody saw her. Read the rest.

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.

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, the Congressional Black Caucus and several other House members unveiled a portrait this week of the late Congresswoman Shirley Chisholm, who was the first African-American woman to launch a serious run for the White House. Read more.

Women might wear them for length or just to switch their individual styles up, but one Missouri woman’s hair weave might’ve saved her life. According to Kansas City, Mo., police, a 20-year-old woman’s hair weave stopped a bullet, reports MSNBC. The victim called police late Wednesday night to a local market, and told the officers that she encountered her ex-boyfriend and another man in the parking lot. The man accompanying her ex approached her car telling her that the ex-boyfriend was still in love with her. After she responded, “I don’t love him,” she saw her ex walking toward her car shooting a gun. With her back window shattering, she zoomed out of the parking lot. Later on, the police discovered a bullet in the woman’s hair, according to reports. Her tightly-woven weave prevented it from entering her body. She was not injured. The victim’s ex and the man with him were arrested shortly thereafter.

“King Tut” allegedly knifed woman seven times. New Jersey cops are still after a Dipset-affiliated rapper almost a week after he allegedly stabbed a woman seven times. Darnell “King Tut” Brittingham is accused of attacking the woman in an apartment just a day after he was reportedly caught with a cocaine-stuffed teddy bear in a vehicle during a traffic stop. He was released on $25,000 bail last week, and a day later, police say Brittingham committed the knife attack. She’s expected to survive. But Brittingham, 23, could be charged with attempted murder when he’s found. The rapper is said to be associated with Freaky Zeekey’s 730 Dips.

Berry named second sexiest movie character. Does Halle Berry in a superhero suit turn you on? If so, you’re not the only one. From her role as Storm in the X-Men film series, Berry earned a number two rank as the sexiest science fiction shawty of all time. Actually, the title was more like “sci-fi babe,” but you get the point. The MSN Movies poll awarded Megan Fox the top spot for her role in the film Transformers, barely ahead of Berry. Conceived in the X-Men comic books, the character Storm is an African princess whose super-powers include controlling weather elements.

Lima, Ohio, chief says the community needs to assist officers.

The head of the Lima, Ohio, Police Department acknowledged that there may be some lessons to be learned in the shooting death of a Black woman while she held her baby, an incident that widened the racial rift between cops and the Black community. Chief Greg Garlock, pressed by Lima’s African-American preachers, released a statement saying that the department will review the findings of the various investigations into the practices of the S.W.A.T. team and its member, Sgt. Joe Chavalia, who killed Tarika Wilson on Jan. 4. The officer was acquitted by a jury earlier this month. “It is my intent to take the information derived from all those investigations, along with an examination of ‘best practices’ of other SWAT teams in the United States, to determine what we can do to enhance our internal practices,” Garlock said in his statement. He said that the community plays a crucial role in helping police solve crimes. Speaking for the ministers’ group, Coalition for Change, the Rev. H. Frank Taylor, described Garlock’s actions as “a good step. It’s good we have gotten such a quick response. …I believe police are here to serve and protect citizens of this community. If there is a perceived high-risk threat to apprehend a person, police move that mission to secure and apprehend. Under no circumstances do police move to a search and destroy mission,” Taylor said.

Her version of the shooting contradicts police account
A Los Angeles woman says that LAPD officers opened fire on her husband, killing him for no other reason than that he was Black, The Los Angeles Daily News reports. Laura Cox, who filed a lawsuit against the department last week, is claiming discrimination, civil-rights violations, wrongful death, negligence and battery in the March 1 episode. She told the News that her husband was in a car accident, which left him dazed and disoriented, so when officers asked him to step out of the car, he was unable to respond immediately. “He did not attempt to flee the scene, he merely began running for his life when the defendants opened fire on him for no reason,” the lawsuit says. “Mrs. Cox contends that the defendants would not have fatally shot her husband to death had he not been African-American.” Laura Cox is seeking unspecified damages. That account does not jibe with the officers’ version. They contend that the 38-year-old man crashed his speeding truck into a tree, and when officers ordered him to surrender – for more than 15 minutes – he threatened them. Next, he fled, pointing something at them that looked like a gun, which forced officers to shoot him, the News reports. The item he was holding turned out to be a power adapter for a car cigarette lighter. He died shortly after arriving at California Hospital Medical Center.