Congressional Black Caucus Foundation Phoenix Awards Dinner

Congressional Black Caucus Foundation Phoenix Awards Dinner

Philadelphia cop charged with rape

Philadelphia (CNN) -- A Philadelphia police officer was charged with rape Wednesday after allegedly assaulting a woman while on duty, according to the Philadelphia District Attorney's Office.

Police Officer Keith Corley II was arrested and charged with rape, indecent assault, sexual assault and other related offenses. Corley, 27, has been with the police department for four years, according to the district attorney's office.

According to CNN affiliate KYW, a 32-year-old woman claims she was waiting for a bus around 3 a.m. on August 11 when she spotted Corley and flagged him down for a ride.

The victim alleged Corley drove to an area in Cobbs Creek and forced her to perform a sex act, then dropped her off at the 69th Street Terminal.

That's where the woman stopped a transit officer to report the attack, KYW reported.

"We are committed to rooting out those individuals who would violate the trust of the public and even commit crimes as a police officer. None of that is tolerable and we'll take whatever action we need to take in order to rid our ranks of them," Police Commissioner Charles H. Ramsey told KYW.

Ramsey suspended Corley for 30 days with the intent to dismiss, according to police.

Interrupting the cycle of teen violence

(CNN) -- Tard Carter got a call from the ticked-off young hustler in the middle of the day. A rival, the hustler explained, had been telling folks the hustler was a snitch, and he was ready to take care of it. In the hoods of East Baltimore, that often means one thing, and Carter knows this well. He offered to accompany the hustler, who we'll call John. Carter can't provide his real name for professional reasons. "He called me, said he was gonna ask dude why," Carter said of the September 10 incident. "I went with him to make sure he was all right." Carter, 34, is a so-called violence interrupter, part of Baltimore's Operation Safe Streets, one of several programs around the world that employ ex-outlaws to intercede in potentially violent situations. A felon who has been locked up three times on gun or drug charges, Carter acts as outreach worker -- hence the need for John's anonymity. Carter taps his past life to gather intelligence on gang and drug beefs. He appeals to youngsters by talking firsthand about slinging smack and crack, about slain street legends he once ran with, about hip-hop verses he spits as Kobra Kammanda and about how he hates cops and feds but hates even more that authorities are "all getting paid off our dumb decisions."

Homicide rate by state, ages 10-24

CNN Hero: Diane Latiker

Web Extra: CNN Hero Diane Latiker

Philadelphia DJ helps teens

"My credibility is real, man. This ain't no fake s**t," he said. "The rowdiest of the rowdiest respect my mind right here, the cruddiest of the cruddiest."

'Violence is reciprocal'

Carter kept watch from down the street as John and his rival talked privately. He immediately didn't like their body language. Soon, they were arguing. A punch was thrown. Carter saw John lift the front of his shirt.

"I was like, hell naw," Carter said, darting toward the scuffle. "(John) pulled out the (gun) but only had three bullets."

As he reached the two, Carter heard the hammer hit the three empty chambers.

Click. Click. Click.

Carter grabbed John before he could pull the trigger a fourth time.

"I was like, 'Hey, stop. Chill. You don't wanna do that,' " Carter said as the rival took off running. "It was wide open in front of the whole motherf**king 'hood."

Carter let John have it.

"What the f**k was you thinking about?" he asked him. "Rage will have you doing all kinds of s**t. Rage will have you waking up in central booking with a motherf**king body."

A "body" -- or murder rap, in street vernacular -- was avoided that day, but according to experts advocating this interventionist approach to violent crime, the benefits of Carter's intercession were many.

See the rate of murder raps in your state

"Violence is reciprocal. Stopping one homicide through mediation could buy you peace for months down the road," said professor Daniel Webster, co-director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Policy and Research.

With the help of Safe Streets' interrupters, juvenile involvement in homicides has been on a downward trajectory the last three years. It also helps that Baltimore's police have put more emphasis on gun crime than on street-level drug sales and possession, Webster said.

"Weapons make violence more deadly and less personal," the Baltimore police website says.

This certainly isn't news in Chicago. According to media reports, the city has tallied more than 300 murder victims so far this year, at least 43 of whom were younger than 19. Of those, 36 were shot, according to media reports.

"We are losing a generation to violence," said Diane Latiker, a Chicago resident and one of the top 10 CNN Heroes of 2011.

Surrounded by gang violence in her neighborhood, Latiker opened her Roseland home to area youth and started a program called Kids Off the Block. Like Carter in Baltimore, Latiker takes a proactive approach to curbing street violence, engaging the kids in dialogue about their dilemmas rather than vilifying or ostracizing them.

Teens Slain Since '06

A look at the number of people murdered in the U.S. and how many were 18 or younger (in parentheses):

2006 -- 7,285 (782)

2007 -- 7,069 (768)

2008 -- 6,940 (774)

2009 -- 6,631 (671)

2010 -- 6,284 (665)

Source: FBI

"Our young people need help," she said earlier this year. "All of them are not gangbangers. All of them are not dropouts. But the ones that are, they need our help. Somehow or another, something ain't right here. And why don't we ask them about it?"

Treating murder like disease

Finding an answer is important to more than just victims. A University of Chicago study published in 2009 said that in addition to societal costs that can reach about $1 million per gunshot wound (the figure includes everything from hospital treatment to extra policing to private security to prison construction), the fear that permeates a community is crippling.

Take, for instance, what one mother told the study's researchers: "We have to drive our kids everywhere. We can't go to work full time because we worry about how are our kids going to get to and from school? ... We can't send one 15-year-old girl down to the corner store three houses down from ours because there are too many kids hanging around on the corner. There are grown men hanging on the corner. We know they're packing. We know they're selling."

Along with a police force that, like Baltimore's, takes gun possession seriously, the Windy City can boast it was the first to explore the use of violence interrupters.

CeaseFire Chicago, the program on which Operation Safe Streets and others are modeled, is the brainchild of University of Illinois at Chicago epidemiologist Gary Slutkin.

Before founding CeaseFire in 1995, his work involved stemming the spread of disease -- tuberculosis in San Francisco, cholera in Somalia, AIDS in Uganda -- and he realized that violence infects communities in much the same way as disease. Rather than dirty water or unsafe sex, however, you're dealing with decrepit educational systems and a lack of economic opportunity.

Perhaps Carter, the interrupter, can break it down: "Poverty leads to frustration leads to unwise decision making."

Poverty means no money means no food, he said. If you can't eat breakfast, you can't concentrate in school. If you don't make good grades, you can't get a job, which means you have to find other ways to support yourself.

Tard Carter, right, leads a rally after a shooting in Baltimore.

"When I was young, you had a fantasy of being a drug lord -- not a dream, a fantasy," he said.

Many kids look up to drug dealers, despite their spurious status as role models, Carter said, and they're so young when they get caught up in the drug game, they don't realize they're being used because their status as juveniles means they won't face the same consequences as an adult.

Carter tells kids that the drug lords want to keep them "at the bottom ... stagnated" because all they are is a means to an end.

"Ain't nobody telling you how to be a man. They want you to stay a fool," Carter said.

The 'fresh prism' of interrupting

Author Alex Kotlowitz, who co-produced the documentary on CeaseFire's conflict mediators -- appropriately dubbed "The Interrupters" -- said many observers make the mistake of believing these kids are unreachable, too hardened by the crime and violence surrounding them.

Kotlowitz made the same mistake in the mid-1980s when he was working on his award-winning book, "There Are No Children Here." Crack was just beginning to earn its reputation in Chicago, and Kotlowitz remembered how Lafeyette, one of the subjects of his book, told him with no affect how a man had been shot in his building's stairwell.

He was so matter-of-fact, Kotlowitz didn't believe him. Lafeyette took him by the hand to show him the bloodstains on the steps.

Kotlowitz noticed Lafeyette wasn't the only child who seemed to find violence unremarkable -- "They'd talk about it as they had watched a basketball game the night before" -- but he soon realized it was a defense mechanism.

Like vets returning from combat, the kids showed signs of PTSD: Some were hyperactive, others depressed. Many complained they had trouble sleeping or experienced flashbacks, said Kotlowitz. Lafeyette's little brother, Pharoah, had a stutter that would worsen when gunfire erupted outside.

The CeaseFire model and the interrupters offer a "fresh prism" through which to view the problems associated with gun violence, Kotlowitz said.

CeaseFire's Effectiveness

In 2008, the U.S. Justice Department evaluated the effectiveness of CeaseFire's methods in several Chicago neighborhoods. Shootings were down the following percentages:

• Auburn/Gresham -- 17%

• Englewood -- 34%

• Logan Square -- 22%

• Southwest -- 24-27%

• West Garfield Park -- 23-24%

• West Humboldt Park -- 16%

Source: CeaseFire Chicago

The model appears to work where it is being used. A 2008 Justice Department evaluation showed shootings down in six neighborhoods where CeaseFire operated. Gang-related and reciprocal homicides were down in some communities, too.

See some of the results with links to original reports

The approach has been borrowed in several U.S. cities, including Phoenix, New Orleans, Brooklyn and East St. Louis, Illinois. Internationally, Basra, Iraq, and London, along with cities in South Africa and Trinidad and Tobago, have adopted the method.

"It becomes not about good and bad people, but about behavior," Kotlowitz said. "Our answer has been to throw more police and lock more people up for a longer time. I think -- I hope -- we realize that hasn't worked."

'In these communities, the American dream is fiction'

In Uganda, Kotlowitz said, sex workers helped convince people to change their sexual behavior. In Somalia, it was about identifying the dirty water sources and educating people to stay hydrated if they came down with diarrhea.

Once you change the behavior that spreads the disease, you can address the issues that caused it.

"Until you diminish the violence, the grass won't grow," Kotlowitz said, explaining that the dearth of businesses, jobs, two-parent households and investments in education and housing can't be broached until people know they can walk to the store without being shot by gangbangers or drug dealers.

"In these communities, the American dream is fiction, and we have to find a way to address that," he said.

Convincing kids they don't want to kill each other -- even in the most violent neighborhoods -- is not as tricky as it seems.

As Latiker shows us in Roseland, one of Chicago's most violent neighborhoods, simply opening your door to them, or offering food, tutoring or a place to talk, can help.

"We've had six gangs in my living room at one time," she said, "but that was the safe place. And you know what? They respected that."

It can get trickier when a youngster is hell-bent on avenging a cousin's slaying or retaliating over a drug deal gone awry, but Johns Hopkins' Webster said many kids put up fronts.

"As tough as these guys are and want to boast about their ability and willingness to take somebody out, they actually don't want to kill someone," he said.

If you can get young people through the rocky period of their teens and early 20s, they often settle themselves down.
--Daniel Webster, co-director, Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Policy and Research

Interrupters appeal to their human side. If someone wants to avenge a dead brother, an interrupter might explain they're making matters worse if they get locked up or killed: "Your mother just lost a son. If you do this, she will lose two," Webster said, offering hypothetical counsel.

If a drug dealer was robbed or hasn't gotten his or her money, an interrupter might work out a payment plan.

Many times, though, people are killed over something petty -- a funny look, a misunderstanding or a perceived "dis" in an environment where respect means everything. Things spin out of control, and "if you can slow it down, let everyone get their wits about them," an amicable solution is more likely, Webster said.

Webster realizes there is controversy in overlooking gang activity and drug crimes in the name of stopping violence, but he likens it to needle exchange programs that ignore the scourge of drug use to stop the transmission of diseases.

About 4,000 kids have been murdered since 2006, according to FBI statistics. Webster and others consider this a public health initiative requiring a harm-reduction strategy (indeed, Operations Safe Streets is run out of Baltimore's Health Department).

"If you can get young people through the rocky period of their teens and early 20s, they often settle themselves down," he said.

Carter, who has two daughters, 14 and 4, and a son, 9, said he is a case in point.

"At the age of 34, within the last five or six years, I'm really learning what it is to be a man," he said. "I tell (the kids): 'I'm a changed man. I'm on some different s**t, and you better get on what I'm on.' I'm ready to die to make this a better place."

Iran planning to send ships near U.S. waters

 Iran plans to send ships near the Atlantic coast of the United States, state-run Islamic Republic News Agency reported Tuesday, quoting a commander.
"The Navy of the Iranian Army will have a powerful presence near the United States borders," read the headline of the story, in Farsi.
"Commander of the Navy of the Army of the Islamic Republic of Iran broke the news about the plans for the presence of this force in the Atlantic Ocean and said that the same way that the world arrogant power is present near our marine borders, we, with the help of our sailors who follow the concept of the supreme jurisprudence, shall also establish a powerful presence near the marine borders of the United States," the story said. The reference to the "world arrogant power" was presumably intended to refer to the United States.
IRNA cited the force's website as saying that the announcement was made by Adm. Habibollah Sayari on the 31st anniversary of the Iran-Iraq war.
State-run Press TV said Sayari had announced similar plans in July. In February, two Iranian Navy ships traversed the Suez Canal in the first such voyages by Iranian ships since 1979.
U.S. Defense Department officials had no immediate reaction to Tuesday's announcement. The United States has deployed fleets to the Persian Gulf in the past.
State-run Press TV, citing IRNA, said Tuesday's announcement came as Iran also plans to send its 16th fleet of warships to the Gulf of Aden to protect Iranian vessels and oil tankers from pirates, who have hijacked dozens of ships and exchanged their crews for ransom.
The Islamic Republic has repeatedly assured that its military might poses no threat to other countries, stating that Tehran's defense doctrine is based only on deterrence, Press TV reported in a story in July about the deployment

On the run for 41 years, hijacker traced to Portugal

 He had been on the run for four decades. He escaped from prison when Richard Nixon was in the White House, joined the Black Liberation Army in Detroit, hijacked a plane and (in)famously demanded that FBI agents deliver ransom money in bathing suits. And they did.
Now, after a manhunt spanning three continents that often appeared to run cold, the FBI has finally found George Wright.
At age 68, he was living quietly in the resort of Sintra near Lisbon in Portugal when he was arrested Monday.
The United States is seeking his extradition from Portugal to serve the remainder of a 15- to 30-year sentence for murder. Portuguese judicial authorities could not be reached Tuesday for details of the extradition process.
Wright is fighting extradition, a U.S. federal agent said, and his next court appearance in Portugal is in about two weeks.
Wright's life story reads like an international crime novel. In 1962, at the age of 19, he and three associates carried out a series of robberies in New Jersey. Wright and another man shot and killed a World War II veteran in a gas station robbery in Farmingdale.
He was arrested soon afterward and, after pleading no defense, was sentenced to 15 to 30 years in prison. But in 1970, Wright escaped from Bayside State Prison in Leesburg, New Jersey, reportedly stealing the warden's car to make his getaway.
Wright made his way to Detroit, then a hotbed of militant black politics, and joined the Black Liberation Army. (He is also reputed to have made some money during this period as a part-time model, using an alias.)
On July 31, 1972, Wright and four other members of the Black Liberation Army went to Detroit airport and boarded Delta Flight 841 for Miami. Wright was dressed as a priest and carried a handgun in a hollowed-out Bible.
Airport security was different in those days. Various Palestinian groups were hijacking planes regularly, as were individuals keen to go to Cuba. Altogether, the U.S. Department of Transportation recorded 364 hijackings worldwide between 1968 and 1972: more than one a week on average.
The hijackers of Delta 841 -- three men and two women accompanied by three children -- seized the plane as it approached Miami. The FBI says "subsequent investigation identified Wright as one of the hijackers."
Once on the ground, the hijackers demanded that FBI agents dressed only in bathing suits deliver $1 million ransom to the plane. They wanted to be sure the agents were not carrying guns. The money was duly delivered by the scantily clad agents.
The hijackers allowed the 88 passengers off but kept the flight crew on board and ordered that the plane fly to Boston. With the addition of an extra navigator (wearing swim trunks and a shirt), the DC-8 was refueled there and flew on to Algiers.
Algeria in the early 1970s was run by a hard-line socialist government that was no friend of the United States and allowed various dissidents, militants and alleged terrorists to take sanctuary there. A leading member of the Black Panthers, Eldridge Cleaver, had been welcomed as a political refugee there in 1968 after jumping bail in California.
The Algerian government confiscated and returned the $1 million in ransom money to the U.S., but Wright and his associates melted away. Some of the hijackers were arrested in Paris in 1976, but for decades, there was no trace of Wright.
Then, nine years ago, a fugitive investigator with the New Jersey Department of Corrections working with the U.S. Marshals Service got a lead. Officials won't comment on reports that Walker had begun to contact relatives in the U.S.
Juan Mattos, U.S. marshal for the District of New Jersey, said: "Over the course of nine years, their tenacious resolve has proven to be very powerful in seeking justice and closure for the victims."
And in a press release Tuesday, Michael Ward of the FBI's Newark Division said the case should "serve notice that the FBI's determination in pursuing subjects will not diminish over time or distance."
At the time of the hijacking, there was limited screening of passengers at U.S. airports. This screening system did not require every passenger to be examined, only those who met a profile established by the Federal Aviation Administration.
After the Algiers flight and several hijackings that turned violent, the Nixon administration instructed the FAA to adopt emergency regulations to improve screening. At the end of 1972, the FAA ordered airports to ensure that all passengers and their carry-on baggage be inspected before boarding

First witnesses testify in trial of Michael Jackson's doctor

Tune in to HLN for full coverage and analysis of the Conrad Murray trial and watch live, as it happens, on CNN.com/live and the CNN mobile apps. "Nancy Grace" at 8 ET asks, was Murray criminally responsible for Michael Jackson's death? And "Dr. Drew" at 9 ET has more on the role Murray played in the singer's life.

Los Angeles (CNN) -- Jurors in the involuntary manslaughter trial of Michael Jackson's doctor Tuesday heard dramatic opening statements and a startling recording of the pop singer, his words slow and slurred as he talks about his planned comeback concerts.
Prosecutors portrayed Dr. Conrad Murray as motivated by money, while the defense contended Murray's superstar client self-administered a fatal mix of drugs. Witnesses gave varying accounts of Jackson's condition as he prepared for the shows in London.
Murray abandoned "all principles of medical care" in attending to Jackson, prosecutor David Walgren said in his opening statement.
Defense attorney Ed Chernoff countered, saying Jackson's death was "tragic, but the evidence will not show that Dr. Murray did it."
Murray acquired massive quantities of the powerful surgical anesthetic propofol to help Jackson sleep, giving him a final dose of the drug after a long, restless night when the singer begged for help sleeping, according to recordings played by prosecutors.
Murray gave in to Jackson's demands not because it was the right medical decision, but because he was motivated by a $150,000 a month contract to serve as Jackson's doctor, Walgren said.
"The evidence in this case will show that Michael Jackson trusted his life to the medical skills of Conrad Murray, unequivocally that that misplaced trust had far too high a price to pay," Walgren said. "That misplaced trust in the hands of Conrad Murray cost Michael Jackson his life."
Jackson fans create bizarre scene outside courthouse

Murray defense: 'He's not guilty'

Murray defense questions Kenny Ortega

Jurors heard a May 10, 2009, recording, captured by Murray's iPhone, of Jackson "highly under the influences of unknown agents," as he talked about his planned comeback concert, according to Walgren.
"We have to be phenomenal," Jackson said in a low voice, his speech slurred. "When people leave this show, when people leave my show, I want them to say, 'I've never seen nothing like this in my life. Go. Go. I've never seen nothing like this. Go. It's amazing. He's the greatest entertainer in the world.' I'm taking that money, a million children, children's hospital, the biggest in the world, Michael Jackson's Children's Hospital."
The tape, prosecutors say, is evidence that Murray knew about Jackson's health problems weeks before his death.
Jurors also saw a video of the superstar rehearsing at the Staples Center in Los Angeles the night before he died. Jackson sang and danced to "Earth Song," the last song he would rehearse on stage.
Prosecutors also presented a photo of Jackson's lifeless body on a hospital gurney, about 12 hours later.
If convicted of involuntary manslaughter, Murray, who wiped away tears during his lawyer's opening statement, could spend four years in a California prison and lose his medical license.
Chernoff blamed Jackson's death on drugs that he said Murray had neither given to Jackson nor known about.
Scientific evidence will show that, on the morning Jackson died, he swallowed a sedative without his doctor's knowledge, "enough to put six of you to sleep and he did this when Dr. Murray was not around," Chernoff said.
Jackson, desperate for sleep, then ingested a dose of propofol on his own, creating "a perfect storm that killed him instantly," Chernoff said.
"When Dr. Murray came into the room and found Michael Jackson, there was no CPR, no paramedic, no machine that was going to revive Michael Jackson," he said.
"He died so rapidly, so instantly that he didn't have time to close his eyes," Chernoff said.
Chernoff told jurors that Murray was trying to wean Jackson off propofol when Jackson died.
Jackson was addicted to Demerol, prescribed by another doctor, and his insomnia was at least in part related to that, according to Chernoff.
Jackson's inability to sleep on the morning he died was "one of the insidious effects" of Demerol addiction withdrawal, Chernoff said. Since Murray did not know about the Demerol, he could not understand why Jackson was unable to fall asleep that morning, Chernoff said.
Jackson told Murray a day before he died that he needed to fall asleep in order to be able to rehearse for upcoming concerts, Chernoff said. "I have to sleep, I have to get some sleep. They will cancel my rehearsals. I will lose that performance," Chernoff quoted Jackson as saying.
Chernoff said Tuesday that he will challenge prosecution assertions that greed factored into Murray's treatment of Jackson.
"If the prosecution is going to tell you he is greedy, callous and reckless, you need to hear the full story," he told jurors, adding that Jackson was the only celebrity Murray had ever met.
Jackson died June 25, 2009.
"Just make me sleep. It doesn't matter what time I get up," Murray quoted Jackson as telling him, according to a recording of a police interview played in court.
He agreed to administer the drug and Jackson fell asleep. After he left to go to the bathroom, he discovered Jackson was no longer breathing.
Walgren argued Murray was not a specialist with anesthetics and misused the drug, which he said can suppress proper function of the heart and lungs.
"It is not a sleep aid, it is not a sleep agent," Walgren told jurors. "It is a general anesthetic."
Between April 6, 2009, and the time of Michael Jackson's death, Murray ordered enough propofol to give Jackson 1,937 milligrams a day, Walgren said. Murray told police he gave the entertainer doses of propofol virtually every night for two months, according to a recording played in court.
Murray also used a cheap instrument to monitor oxygen levels in Jackson's blood, Walgren said. The device was "utterly useless" unless Murray constantly monitored it because it lacked an alarm that would go off if Jackson was not getting enough oxygen into his lungs, Walgren said.
Murray "repeatedly acted with gross negligence, repeatedly denied care, appropriate care, to his patient, Michael Jackson, and it was Dr. Murray's repeated incompetent and unskilled acts that led to Michael Jackson's death," Walgren told jurors.
Prosecutors contend that Murray used a makeshift intravenous drip to administer propofol, a practice they argue violated the standard of care and led to the pop star's death.
But Chernoff said Murray did not use a makeshift intravenous drip to administer the drug. Chernoff added that an expert on propofol will testify that Murray was not responsible for Jackson's death.
Murray never told emergency responders or emergency room doctors trying to save Jackson's life that the musician had been dosed with the propofol, Walgren said.
Producer Kenny Ortega, the first prosecution witness, said he was jolted by Michael Jackson's appearance when the latter arrived at a rehearsal, on June 19, less than a week before he died.
"He appeared lost and a little incoherent," said Ortega. "I did not feel he was well." Ortega said he gave the pop singer food and wrapped him in a blanket to ward off chill. Jackson watched the rehearsal and did not participate.
Ortega was helping Jackson prepare for the "This Is It" world tour scheduled for London's O2 Arena in autumn 2009.
In an e-mail written early June 20, Ortega wrote, in part, to AEG president Randy Phillips, "My concern is, now that we've brought the Doctor in to the fold and have played the tough love, now or never card, is that the Artist may be unable to rise to the occasion due to real emotional stuff. He appeared quite week and fatigued this evening. He had a terrible case of the chills, was trembling, rambling and obsessing. Everything in me says he should be psychologically evaluated. If we have any chance at all to get him back in the light. It's going to take a strong Therapist to (get) him through this as well as immediate physical nurturing. ... Tonight I was feeding him, wrapping him in blankets to warm his chills, massaging his feet to calm him and calling his doctor.
"I believe that he really wants this ... it would shatter him, break his heart if we pulled the plug," Ortega wrote. "He's terribly frightened it's all going to go away. He asked me repeatedly tonight if I was going to leave him. He was practically begging for my confidence. It broke my heart. He was like a lost boy. There still may be a chance he can rise to the occasion if get him the help he needs."
AEG was the concert promoter.
Murray was unhappy that Jackson did not rehearse and told Ortega not to try to be the singer's physician, Ortega testified, adding Jackson insisted the next day he was capable of doing the rehearsals. Jackson was a full rehearsal participant in the days before he died, the producer said.
AEG executive Paul Gongaware testified that after the 50 London shows sold out instantly, there were still 250,000 buyers wanting tickets.
Gongaware said he negotiated with Murray, at Jackson's request, to work as the singer's personal doctor. Murray initially asked for $5 million a year, explaining that he would have to close four clinics and lay off employees.
Gongaware rejected that deal, but later offered him $150,000 a month, an amount recommended by Jackson. The physician agreed.
Both Gongaware and Ortega testified that Jackson on many occasions appeared fully engaged and excited about the impending concerts.
The trial has attracted widespread attention. On Tuesday, a woman rushed toward Murray as he was walking to the courtroom, but she was stopped by three deputies guarding him. The woman said she just wanted to talk to Murray.

Jackson's parents, brothers Tito, Jermaine and Randy, and sisters La Toya, Janet and Rebe filled a row in the courtroom for opening statements and the first witness Tuesday. Jackson's three children are not expected to attend the trial or testify, according to a source close to their grandmother, Katherine Jackson

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Controversy erupts over Campus Republicans bake sale plans

Controversy erupts over Campus
(CNN) -- Campus Republicans at the University of California Berkeley have cooked up a storm of controversy with their plans for a bake sale.
But it's not your everyday collegiate fundraiser they've got in mind. They've developed a sliding scale where the price of the cookie or brownie depends on your gender and the color of your skin.
During the sale, scheduled for Tuesday, baked goods will be sold to white men for $2.00, Asian men for $1.50, Latino men for $1.00, black men for $0.75 and Native American men for $0.25. All women will get $0.25 off those prices.
"The pricing structure is there to bring attention, to cause people to get a little upset," Campus Republican President Shawn Lewis, who planned the event, told CNN-affiliate KGO. "But it's really there to cause people to think more critically about what this kind of policy would do in university admissions."
Lewis says it's a way to make a statement about pending legislation that would let the California universities consider race or national origin during the admission process.
But the young Republicans have been on the receiving end of a fierce backlash. Reaction has been so negative they've been forced to cancel their customary lunchtime tabling duties, according to KGO.
Lewis told CNN's Don Lemon that they expected a certain amount of opposition but not the level of outrage they experienced.
"We didn't expect the volume, the amount of response that we got," Lewis said. "In the first few hours, hundreds of posts on our Facebook page. And the tone of some of the responses -- we expected people to be upset. We didn't expect personal threats to be made. They were implicit and explicit threats made to the organizers of the event, from burning down the table to throwing our baked goods at us and other kinds of physical threats."
Tim Wise, author of the book "White Like Me: Reflections on Race from a Privileged Son," calls the bake sale a "sarcastic and rather smarmy slap at people of color."
"There are a lot of ways to make a point about your disagreement with affirmative action," Wise told Lemon Saturday night.
"I get the joke," he continued. "How very original. It's been done for 15 years. The point that I think needs to be made ... is that by the time anyone steps on a college campus ... there has already been 12- to 13-years of institutionalized affirmative action for white folks, that is to say, racially embedded inequality, which has benefited those of us who are white. And it's only at the point of college admissions that these folks seem to get concerned with color consciousness."
Lewis insists, however, that Campus Republicans will go ahead with their bake sale and are committed to their controversial pricing structure. Republicans bake sale plans

Vesta Williams Passes Away

Vesta Williams Passes Away In an unfortunate bit of news for fans of longtime R&B diva Vesta Williams, the singer was found dead last night (September 22) in a Los Angeles hotel room. Although varying sources listed Vesta’s age as 48, in a 2010 interview with online series The Couch the Ohio native stated she was 53. While there has not been an official release from a medical examiner, police officials do not expect foul play. As news of Williams’ passing moved throughout daytime radio and the Web, fans and celebrities to took Twitter to remember and honor the singer.
Actress Jackee Harry said via her Twitter page, “[J]ust received truly devastating news: R&B great, and my friend of many yrs, Vesta Williams (@vesta4u), has passed away. #RIPVesta" while fellow actress Sheryl Lee Ralph added, “I am so deeply saddened at the passing of my diva friend Vesta Williams. RIP Vesta.” Comedian Sinbad reflected as well by tweeting, “Our dear sister and one of the sangiest divas ever, Vesta Williams, has passed away. I loved that sister.”
Vesta Williams officially began her career in 1977 in a group setting while in Ohio before heading to Los Angeles to launch a solo career. After toiling about as a background and session singer, Vesta was signed to A&M Records and released her first album Vesta in 1986 which featured the mild hit “Once Bitten, Twice Shy.” In 1988, her second album Vesta 4 U established the singer as an R&B powerhouse with hits such as “Sweet Sweet Love,” “4 U,” and her signature and most recognizable offering “Congratulations.”
Armed with an attractive and bubbly personality, Vesta battled with weight issues during the early part of her career – something the singer felt held her back from nationwide fame. However in the 90s, Vesta made headlines from dropping pounds from a reported size 26 to a petite size 6 and became an advocate for obesity and diabetes issues. While her last album Distant Lover was released in 2007, Vesta still managed to work as a session singer and toured moderately across the country – becoming a staple at jazz festivals and the like.
Rest in peace to Ms. Vesta Williams.

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June Pointer, The Youngest Pointer Sister, Dies Of Cancer

June Pointer, The Youngest Pointer Sister, Dies Of CancerJune Pointer, the youngest singer in the Pointer Sisters, whose '80s hits included "Jump (For My Love)," "He's So Shy" and "I'm So Excited," died Tuesday of cancer. She was 52.
"[June died] in the arms of her sisters Ruth and Anita, and [with] her brothers, Aaron and Fritz, by her side," the Pointer family said in a statement released Wednesday. "Although her sister Bonnie was unable to be present, she was with her in spirit."
June had been hospitalized at University of California at Los Angeles Medical Center in Santa Monica since late February. The type of cancer she suffered from was not disclosed.
The Pointer Sisters, who learned to sing at the Oakland, California, church where their parents were ministers, began as a duo with June and Bonnie but quickly became a quartet with their other sisters, Ruth and Anita. With their gospel background, the girls merged not just R&B and soul, but jazz, scat, be-bop and country, the genre in which they won their first Grammy.
After singing backup for artists including Grace Slick, Taj Mahal and Boz Scaggs, the sisters released their self-titled debut in 1973.
The group scored some R&B hits during the '70s and began crossing over into pop with hit singles in 1979 and 1980, including a cover of Bruce Springsteen's "Fire." That success exploded in 1984, after Bonnie had left the group for a solo career, with the aptly titled Break Out. Two of that album's tracks, "Jump (For My Love)" and "Automatic," earned Grammys, and several more hit the charts, including the "Beverly Hills Cop" anthem "Neutron Dance."
Break Out turned the Pointer Sisters into MTV stars, but their chart reign was short-lived, and the years since have seen the group's successes occurring mostly onstage.
June, who recorded two solo albums, suffered from substance abuse in recent years and left the group in 2004. Shortly after, she was charged with felony cocaine possession and ordered to a rehabilitation facility

Vesta Williams | R&B singer, 53

Vesta Williams, 53, a big-voiced R&B diva perhaps best known for her 1980s hits "Don't Blow A Good Thing" and "Congratulations," was found dead of a possible drug overdose Thursday in a hotel room in El Segundo, Calif., coroner's investigators said.Born Mary Vesta Williams to a disc jockey in Coshocton, Ohio, she had hits with "Once Bitten Twice Shy," "Sweet, Sweet Love" and the torch song "Congratulations," where she emotionally bids goodbye to her ex on his wedding day.
Ms. Williams also appeared in movies and on television. She was a saloon singer in the Mario Van Peebles movie Posse and she had a recurring role on the television situation comedy Sister, Sister, playing actress Jackée Harry's best friend, Monica.
Ms. Williams possessed powerful, soulful pipes. Her initial success in the music industry came as a background singer for artists including Chaka Khan, Anita Baker, and Sting. But she would eventually establish her career with the release of her first album, Vesta, in 1986.
Over the years, she had hits including "Once Bitten Twice Shy," "Sweet, Sweet Love," and her signature song, "Congratulations."
Ms. Williams was supposed to perform at the 21st annual "DIVAS Simply Singing!" in Los Angeles next month. The Oct. 22 show will now pay tribute to her and another late soul singer, Teena Marie.
The 5-foot-3 entertainer gained weight in the 1990s, ballooning to a size 26. She went on a dramatic weight-loss program, losing 100 pounds and getting down to a size 6.
She went on to become an advocate for the prevention of childhood obesity and juvenile diabetes. - AP

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Obama at Black Caucus dinner: "I need your help"

(AP)  

WASHINGTON - In a fiery summons to an important voting block, President Barack Obama told blacks on Saturday to quit crying and complaining and "put on your marching shoes" to follow him into battle for jobs and opportunity.

And though he didn't say it directly, for a second term, too.

Obama's speech to the annual awards dinner of the Congressional Black Caucus was his answer to increasingly vocal griping from black leaders that he's been giving away too much in talks with Republicans — and not doing enough to fight black unemployment, which is nearly double the national average at 16.7 percent.

"It gets folks discouraged. I know. I listen to some of y'all," Obama told an audience of some 3,000 in a darkened Washington convention center.

But he said blacks need to have faith in the future — and understand that the fight won't be won if they don't rally to his side.

"I need your help," Obama said.

The president will need black turnout to match its historic 2008 levels if he's to have a shot atwinning a second term, and Saturday's speech was a chance to speak directly to inner-city concerns.

He acknowledged blacks have suffered mightily because of the recession, and are frustrated that the downturn is taking so long to reverse. "So many people are still hurting. So many people are barely hanging on," he said, then added: "And so many people in this city are fighting us every step of the way."

But Obama said blacks know all too well from the civil rights struggle that the fight for what is right is never easy.

"Take off your bedroom slippers. Put on your marching shoes," he said, his voice rising as applause and cheers mounted. "Shake it off. Stop complainin'. Stop grumblin'. Stop cryin'. We are going to press on. We have work to do."

Topping the to-do list, he said, is getting Congress to the pass jobs bill he sent to Capitol Hill two weeks ago.

Obama said the package of payroll tax cuts, business tax breaks and infrastructure spending will benefit 100,000 black-owned businesses and 20 million African-American workers. Republicans have indicated they're open to some of the tax measures — but oppose his means of paying for it: hiking taxes on top income-earners and big business.

But at times, Obama also sounded like he was discussing his own embattled tenure.

"The future rewards those who press on," He said. "I don't have time to feel sorry for myself. I don't have time to complain. I'm going to press on."

Caucus leaders remain fiercely protective of the nation's first African-American president, but in recent weeks they've been increasingly vocal in their discontent — especially over black joblessness.

"If Bill Clinton had been in the White House and had failed to address this problem, we probably would be marching on the White House," the caucus chairman, Rep. Emanuel Cleaver of Missouri, recently told McClatchy Newspapers.

Like many Democratic lawmakers, caucus members were dismayed by Obama's concessions to the GOP during the summer's talks on raising the government's borrowing limit.

Cleaver famously called the compromise deal a "sugar-coated Satan sandwich."

But Cleaver said his members also are keeping their gripes in check because "nobody wants to do anything that would empower the people who hate the president."

Still, Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., caused a stir last month by complaining that Obama's Midwest bus tour had bypassed black districts. She told a largely black audience in Detroit that the caucus is "supportive of the president, but we're getting tired."

Last year, Obama addressed the same dinner and implored blacks to get out the vote in the midterm elections because Republicans were preparing to "turn back the clock."

What followed was a Democratic rout that Obama acknowledged as a "shellacking."

Where blacks had turned out in droves to help elect him in 2008, there was a sharp drop-off two years later.

Some 65 percent of eligible blacks voted in 2008, compared with a 2010 level that polls estimate at between 37 percent and 40 percent. Final census figures for 2010 are not yet available, and it's worth noting off-year elections typically draw far fewer voters.

This year's caucus speech came as Obama began cranking up grass-roots efforts across the Democratic spectrum.

It also fell on the eve of a trip to the West Coast that will combine salesmanship for the jobs plan he sent to Congress this month and re-election fundraising.

Obama was leaving Sunday morning for Seattle, where two money receptions were planned, with two more to follow in the San Francisco area.

On Monday, Obama is holding a town meeting at the California headquarters of LinkedIn, the business networking website, before going on to fundraisers in San Diego and Los Angeles and a visit Tuesday to a Denver-area high school to highlight the school renovation component of the jobs package.

MELANIE FIONA ON MICHAEL BAISDEN- GIVE IT TO ME RIGHT

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