Mother, Toddler Dead In NJ Decapitation-Suicide / NJ Mom To 911 Dispatcher: 'I Did It'

Authorities say a New Jersey woman decapitated her 2-year-old son before stabbing herself to death while police were outside her home.

Police have released the 911 call that a New Jersey woman made after officials said she decapitated her 2-year-old son. Authorities said Chevonne Thomas later fatally stabbed herself.

Jennifer Hudson: Always Kept Distance From Suspect

Prosecutors and the defense are focusing on the evidence, in the murder trial of Jennifer Hudson's former brother-in-law. William Balfour is accused of killing Hudson's mother, brother and nephew.

Tulsa Shooting Suspect: "No Hatred Toward Black People"

Tulsa shooting suspect Jake England denies harboring any hatred towards black people. England's attorney interviewed the 19-year old suspect, who is charged in a shooting spree where three blacks were killed and two wounded.

Suspect Sought In Minnesota Day Care Slayings

As police search for a suspect in a triple homicide at a home day care center near Minneapolis, a relative has identified the three shooting victims as 59-year-old DeLois Brown, the day care operator, and her elderly parents.

Tulsa Police Say Revenge One Motive In Shootings

Police say a shooting spree that spread fear in Tulsa's black community and left three people dead may have been partly motived by an Oklahoma man's desire to avenge his father's shooting by a black man.

Tulsa Resident: "We Can't Just Hate One Another"

Tulsa residents are expressing shock and relief after the arrest of two men in five shootings. Jake England and Alvin Watts were arrested for allegedly killing three black people and wounding two early Friday.

Police: 2 Suspects Arrested In Oklahoma Shooting

Police backed by a helicopter arrested two white men early Sunday and said they would face murder charges in the recent shootings that terrorized Tulsa and left three people dead and two others critically wounded, all black.

Miami Police Chief Blamed For Deaths Of 7 Black Men In 8 Months

AL SHARPTON ISSUES ULTIMATUM TO CHICAGO OFFICIALS

On Monday, Rev. Al Sharpton issued a series of recommendations for reforming the Chicago police department as he repeated his threat to lobby against the city's Olympic bid.

If he doesn't hear from Mayor Richard Daley before Dec. 29, Sharpton said, he will announce a date when he and people alleging police abuse will leave for an international tour to tell their stories.

"The Olympics can be a point of leverage for people in this city that have not been able to get direct action by the city fathers," said Sharpton, president of the civil rights group National Action Network.

Sharpton recommended that the U.S. Justice Department take control of the city's police force; that the city reject Mayor Daley's choice for police superintendant, J.P. "Jody" Weiss, because of what Sharpton called a lack of community input into his selection; and that the head of the Independent Police Review Authority be prohibited from speaking publicly about misconduct cases until agency investigations are completed.

CHICAGO'S $20 MILLION SETTLEMENT TO BLACK MEN

Did the Chicago police department have a practice of torturing confessions out of Black men during the 1970s and 1980s?

In essence, that is the accusation currently facing the city and it appears that before this week is over city aldermen will approve a $20 million settlement with four Black men who spent years in prison after allegedly being forced to confess to crimes they did not commit.

The four are among scores of Black men who have reported being beaten, tortured and even suffocated by police officials during the 1970s and 1980s.

A special prosecutor has agreed with many of the allegations. The four men scheduled to receive the settlements had been sitting on death row until former Governor George Ryan pardoned them in 2003.

"We have to acknowledge first that terrible wrongs were committed, then begin to make amends to those who were wronged," Alderman Toni Preckwinkle said, referring to the settlement. "Those wronged could've included dozens of men - virtually all of them Black and some still lingering in prison."

SEAN TAYLOR UPDATE

Four men arrested for football player's murder.

There's been movement in the Sean Thomas murder case.

The Miami-Dade Police Department has arrested four men in connection with the shooting death of the Washington Redskins star safety, reports the AP.

Three of the men arrested are teenagers.

The four men have been identified as: Venjah K. Hunte, 20; Eric Rivera Jr., 17; Jason Scott Mitchell, 19; and Charles Kendrick Lee Wardlow, 18.

Police spokesperson Linda O'Brien said the charges for each had not yet been determined, but "we are talking murder and burglary."

The four men were arrested Friday in southwest Florida, about 100 miles from Miami. They will be booked into the Lee County Jail and eventually will be returned to Miami, O'Brien said.

Taylor died Tuesday, one day after being shot at his home in an affluent Miami suburb during what officials said appeared to be an attempted burglary.

The suspects weren't expecting Taylor to be home, police director Robert Parker said, but Taylor was recuperating from a knee injury and had returned to Miami from Washington.

"They were certainly not looking to go there and kill anyone," Parker said. He added authorities had more than one confession but would not elaborate.

The Miami Herald reported investigators believe the men learned of Taylor's house through someone who unwittingly set up the burglary by bragging about Taylor's wealth.

In another twist in the case, sources close to the family indicated there was a link between the arrested men and Taylor's stepsister, Sasha Johnson, who often stayed in Taylor's house when he was out of town. Wardlow's uncle, Christopher Devon Wardlow, 21, was dating Johnson, a neighbor of Wardlow's said.

Taylor and longtime girlfriend, Jackie Garcia, were awakened early Monday by loud noises at Taylor's home, family friend Richard Sharpstein said. Taylor grabbed a machete he keeps in the bedroom for protection, Sharpstein said, then someone broke through the bedroom door and fired two shots, one missing and one hitting Taylor in the upper leg. Neither the couple's 18-month-old daughter, also named Jackie, nor Garcia were injured.

The bullet damaged the femoral artery in Taylor's leg, causing significant blood loss. Taylor never regained consciousness and died a little more than 24 hours later.

A public viewing for Taylor is scheduled Sunday in Miami, and the entire Redskins organization plans to fly to Florida to attend Monday's funeral at Pharmed Arena at Florida International University.

The Redskins also announced that fans attending the team's Sunday game will receive a towel with Taylor's No.21 jersey on it and that his name will be displayed prominently in one of the end zones. Team owner Dan Snyder said in a statement the team will contribute a minimum of $500,000 to a fund to benefit Taylor's daughter.

POLICE DETAIN THREE IN WASHINGTON REDSKINS PLAYER'S MURDER

MIAMI -- Police have detained at least three people in the Fort Myers area for questioning in the death of Washington Redskins football star Sean Taylor.

A law enforcement official in Lee County confirmed the men from the Fort Myers area were in custody, but requested anonymity because the investigation is being handled by Miami-Dade County police.

Miami-Dade police Detective Carlos Maura said he was not aware of anyone in custody. He said only that detectives were in the Fort Myers area for a case, but declined to say which one.

The Miami Herald, which first reported the development on its Web site, said investigators believe three suspects learned of Taylor's house through someone who unwittingly set up the burglary by bragging about his wealth. The suspects include two teenagers and a man in his 20s, all from the Fort Myers area, the paper reported.

A telephone message left at the Florida City Police Department for Taylor's father, Chief Pedro Taylor, was not immediately returned.

Richard Sharpstein, a former Taylor lawyer and family friend, said: "It looks like the police are pursuing extremely good leads. It appears that the burglary was exactly as I've always stated, not random, that Sean's house was targeted."

Evidence at Taylor's home indicated one or more intruders barged into the house early Monday in an attempted burglary, Miami-Dade police director Robert Parker said Wednesday. After a confrontation inside the home, Taylor was shot once in the upper leg and died early Tuesday after losing a tremendous amount of blood.

Taylor's family has scheduled a funeral service for 11 a.m. Monday at Pharmed Arena at Florida International University in Miami.

Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press

DISTORTING SEAN TAYLOR'S MURDER

THE HUTCHINSON POLITICAL REPORT

A handful of black sportswriters hit the ceiling when they read initial press reports on the shooting death of Washington Redskins All pro safety Sean Taylor.

The issue was the perennial, suspect, and sneaky alleged double standard in the reporting on and public view of tragedies that befall blacks and whites, especially athletes and celebrities.

The howl of protest goes up that when a black athlete is accused of bad behavior, criminality or boorishness the press and public go ballistic. They dredge up every misdeed the player has committed and ad nauseum drill it home that they are bad guys (or girls) and deserve the scorn of the nation.

When white athletes are accused of the same or worse bad behavior, criminality or boorishness, the excuses fly like raindrops in a hurricane, and then the news of their misdeeds vanishes from print and the airwaves faster than a Houdini disappearing act. Taylor is no exception to this rule, and the black journalists that raised the hue and cry were right to scream their lungs out about it.

The first accounts of Taylor's murder were spare on details of the shooting, since there was almost none, and there were no suspects, no reported clues, and no reported motivation for the shooting. But the reports more than made up for the sparseness by dredging up every sordid detail about Taylor's past run-ins with the law.

The image rammed into the public brain, was what's become a template for depicting supposedly bad behaving, bad acting young black males. The war of words was now on with a vengeance. The denials flew hot and heavy that any disrespect, and minimizing the tragedy, or that a subtle dump the blame for Taylor's death on his alleged thug lifestyle was intended. After all, those run-ins did badly color his life. As distasteful as they might be, they were fair game for reporting ... (READ MORE)

Earl Ofari Hutchinson is an author and political analyst. His new book: The Latino Challenge to Black America: Towards a Conversation between African- Americans and Hispanics (Middle Passage Press October 2007). email: hutchinsonreport@aol.com - web: www.earlofarihutchinson.blogspot.com