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Just two weeks before the nation moved closer to the possibility of election the first Black U.S. president, a series of racial incidents have suggested that skin color still matters to many Americans.

BATON ROUGE, LA (WAFB) - Trash talk over college football has led to the first arrest ever in East Baton Rouge Parish under a new state law making it a crime to intimidate using a hangman's noose. Reggie Drummer, an employee at the engineering firm of Louis J. Capozzoli in Baton Rouge, says he and another co-worker were "trash talking" last week about the upcoming LSU vs. Georgia football game. "Another guy was bragging for LSU, and of course, I was rooting for Georgia at the time," Drummer recalled. "It was just all friendly and trash talking." Drummer says he...

Justice Minister Eisuke Mori announced on Tuesday that two death-row inmates have been executed, marking the first executions under the government of Prime Minister Taro Aso formed in late September and breaking a record high for the number of people executed per year. According to the Justice Ministry, the two are Michitoshi Kuma, 70, who was at the Fukuoka detention center, and Masahiro Takashio, 55, at the Sendai detention center. They were the first executions since Sept. 11. They bring the annual total of people executed by the government to 15, the most since 1999 when the government started publishing...

A Halloween decoration showing a mannequin dressed as vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin hanging by a noose from the roof of a West Hollywood home is drawing giggles from some passers-by and gasps of outrage from others. The mannequin is dressed in brunet wig, glasses and a red business suit. Another mannequin dressed as John McCain emerges from a flaming chimney. Chad Michael Morisette, who lives in the house, told CBS 2 News that drivers and bus passengers have been stopping to snap pictures of the macabre scene. Morisette says the effigy would be out of bounds at any other...

Chinese Defense Minister Liang Guanglie on Tuesday pledged to increase military cooperation with Ecuador. Liang, also a State Councilor, made the remarks during his talk with Ecuador Minister of Defense Javier Ponce.

A Louisiana teenager who hung nooses off the back of his truck to intimidate a group of black civil rights demonstrators has been sentenced to four months in prison.

BRIDGEPORT — The jury in an attempted murder-rape case in Fairfield was dismissed Thursday after a hangman's noose was found drawn on a blackboard in the jury deliberation room. Superior Court Judge Lawrence Hauser said he had no choice under state law but to dismiss the six jurors and three alternates, and to order the case begin over again. The judge pointed out the noose has come to symbolize racial or ethnic bias because of the history of lynchings. A Halloween display in Stratford attracted widespread condemnation when a dark-skinned mannequin hanging from a noose was included in the display...

Police have launched an investigation after an anonymous package containing a noose was sent to an Orlando commissioner. Someone sent a noose to Orlando Commissioner Daisy Lynum, and police are investigating it as a threat. The small rope noose, delivered to Lynum's City Hall office Friday, was turned over to the Orlando Police Department. The anonymous package carried no return address. ''There was no name, so to me it's like the cowards in the Ku Klux Klan who wore hoods over their faces,'' Lynum said. ``This just shows there is still ignorance in our society.'' Last week, Lynum prompted an...

Eenie, meenie, minie, moe - Here's Donald Cross' tale of woe. The 65-year-old drug counselor was fired by a Long Island town this month after he recited a children's rhyme and offended an African-American co-worker. Cross said he was blindsided by the Town of Babylon's decision to can him for racially motivated harassment. He has filed a complaint with the state Division of Human Rights to win back the job he had held for 15 years. "I am astounded and dumbfounded that I received such an overreaction to such a seemingly innocuous question," Cross said in the complaint. Cross said...

Victim of Noose Incident, Columbia U. Professor Is Fired Amid Plagiarism Charges by Jamal Watson NEW YORK Last October, hundreds of students, faculty and community activists rallied on Columbia University’s campus to protest the hanging of a noose on the office door of a popular African-American professor. Now this same professor, Dr. Madonna G. Constantine, has been fired from her teaching post amid charges that she repeatedly plagiarized the work of two former students and a colleague. Constantine, 45, a tenured professor who has taught psychology and education at Columbia’s Teachers College for the past decade and is an expert...

The Columbia University professor who gained widespread attention last fall after a noose was found hanging on her office door was fired on Monday after months of wrangling over charges that she plagiarized the work of two former students and a former colleague. Madonna G. Constantine, a professor of psychology and education with a focus on racial issues at Columbia’s Teachers College, was sanctioned in February, after an 18-month investigation into the plagiarism charge, but allowed to stay in her job and to appeal the ruling that she had violated the university’s academic standards. But over the last five months,...

Teachers College at Columbia University is suspending indefinitely Madonna Constantine, a professor who claimed she was the victim of a hate crime after an investigation began into allegations that she committed plagiarism. In a letter sent out yesterday to Teachers College faculty, the college president, Susan Fuhrman, and dean, Thomas James, said the faculty advisory committee had rejected Ms. Constantine's appeal of the plagiarism charges. They said Ms. Constantine was suspended as of yesterday but that she is entitled to appeal the decision or request a hearing before the faculty executive committee. RELATED: The Letter to Faculty (pdf). The letter,...

MORRISON, Colo. -- A Broomfield family said their Mother’s Day celebration was ruined Sunday by what they saw and heard at “The Fort” Restaurant in Morrison. “It was shocking,” Lonza Dennis told 7NEWS Wednesday. Dennis, 37, and her husband Patrick, 38, said they were snapping photos at the table when they noticed a decorative noose hanging on the wall behind them. Patrick Dennis said he was equally unsettled by the waiter’s response when they asked about it. “My wife said, ‘We noticed a noose hanging behind the table,’ and his immediate reply was, ‘This is where we sit people who...

Gov. M. Jodi Rell has signed into law Senate Bill 604, An Act Concerning Hate Crimes, which makes it a crime to display a noose as a way of harassing or threatening someone. "Connecticut simply will not tolerate bigotry or racism," Rell said. "Let this bill send that message loud and clear. Using a noose -- a symbol of the racially motivated lynchings during the late 19th and first half of the 20th century -- to intimidate anyone because of their race or any other characteristic is a repugnant and cowardly act. No one should be subject to that kind...

Manhattan grand jury has subpoenaed the university records of the controversial black Columbia Teachers College professor who found a noose hanging from her office door - signaling that the investigation is broadening to examine possible links between the teacher, her closest friends and the racially charged incident, The Post has learned. According to sources, the subpoenas obtained recently by the NYPD Hate Crimes Task Force and prosecutors demanded the college hand over a laundry list of records pertaining to embattled professor Madonna Constantine, whose colleague found a 4-foot hangman's noose on her office doorknob last October. The incident happened at...

HARTFORD -- State lawmakers are proposing to make the hanging of nooses a hate crime in Connecticut. The proposed law responds to a spate of noose incidents in Connecticut last year, including a recently included investigation at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy in New London. The proposed law would make it illegal to use nooses to intentionally intimidate or harass another person based on race, national origin, sex, sexual orientation or physical disability. The legislation would prohibit the placing of nooses on public property at any time and on private property without the written consent of the owner. On Monday,...

THREE Bali bombers on death row over the 2002 bombings could soon be executed after a dramatic end to their final appeal today. Their lawyer Fahmi Bachmid today withdrew from their last-ditch legal appeal, bringing it to an abrupt end. Outside court, Chief Judge Ida Bagus Putu Madeg said the judges would now treat the appeal, known as a judicial review, as if it had "never existed". "With this, whatever happened in the previous hearings is considered to not exist," Madeg told AAP after the hearing for convicted terrorist Imam Samudra. "We will not convey this (case) to the Supreme...

FBI investigates noose at business Sea Ray Boats says man who hung rope has been fired By Jim Balloch Saturday, March 22, 2008 The FBI is investigating an incident at Sea Ray Boats' Riverview plant in which a white employee placed a noose where it was seen by a black employee. "They were contacted (Wednesday) by the FBI concerning this matter," said Dan Kubera, spokesman for the boat manufacturer's parent company, Brunswick Corp. of Lake Forest, Ill. "We will be meeting with the agency and cooperating in the investigation." Also, Kubera said, the company was notified March 17 that a...

Video of Sheppard Smiths' interview with Clinton supporter. No name is given at link. Sorry.

Star Jones Reynolds has never been one to mince words. It's no wonder that when Bill O'Reilly's most recent controversial (see also: racist) comments about Michelle Obama, wife of Democratic frontrunner Barack Obama, were discovered by Media Matters, the TruTV legal analyst was infuriated! O'Reilly, the curmudgeon host of Fox News Channel's 'The O'Reilly Factor,' was talking to a caller that was angry that Obama had said on C-Span that "for the first time in my adult lifetime, I'm really proud of my country." The 58-year-old television commentator, who privately settled a sexual harassment lawsuit against him in 2004, responded...

(CBS/AP) A Columbia University professor whose colleagues found a noose hanging from her office doorway has plagiarized the work of others, the school says. Madonna G. Constantine denies the finding and says the accusation is racially motivated. The university's Teachers College announced Wednesday it had imposed "serious sanctions" against Constantine following a lengthy investigation it said uncovered "numerous instances in which she used others' work without attribution in papers she published in academic journals over the past five years." Constantine's lawyer, Paul J. Giacomo Jr., said his client could prove her innocence and called the school's investigation "extremely underhanded from the...

A professor at Columbia University’s Teachers College who was propelled into the national spotlight when a noose was found on her office door last fall has been found to have plagiarized the work of a former colleague and two former students, the college has announced. The college, in statements to the faculty and the news media, said an 18-month investigation into charges against the professor, Madonna G. Constantine, had determined there were “numerous instances in which she used others’ work without attribution in papers she published in academic journals over the past five years.” ... Dr. Constantine, in an e-mail...

'NOOSE' PROF A PLAGIARISTM STOLE STUDENTS' WORK AT COLUMBIA February 21, 2008 -- The black Columbia University professor who last fall found a hangman's noose pinned to her office door plagiarized the work of another faculty member and two students, according to a school investigation released yesterday. The plagiarism probe was already under way last year when a 4-foot twine noose was discovered on the door of psychology and education professor Madonna Constantine's office, officials at the university's Teachers College said.

We still don’t know who hung the noose at the office of Columbia University professor of psychology and education Madonna Constantine. It remains one of the notable unsolved mysteries of 2007. But now we know something about Constantine. According to a new report by the Columbia Spectator student publication, Constantine has been sanctioned for plagiarism. Fraud. Dishonestly passing something off as genuine (hat tip: reader Danny). Food for thought: Professor Madonna Constantine has been sanctioned by Teachers College for plagiarism, according to a memo obtained by Spectator Tuesday evening. The memo, dated Feb. 18, was hand-delivered to professors on the...

“(S)ome Americans do not understand why the sight of a noose causes such a visceral reaction,” declared President Bush to the White House gathering for Black History Month. As the Washington Post rushed to remind us, President Bush was “responding to news coverage of such episodes as the ‘Jena Six.’” But if history is about truth, not myth, that news coverage deserves another look, before the Jena Six enter the history books alongside Emmett Till and “the Scottsboro Boys.” By now, most folks know the media story. White students at Jena High in Louisiana hung nooses on a tree to...

Bush calls modern-day noose displays 'deeply offensive' February 12, 2008 16:00 EST WHITE HOUSE (AP) -- President Bush says recent displays of nooses are disturbing, and show that some Americans are losing sight of suffering that African Americans have endured throughout history. Marking African American history month at the White House, Bush says the era of lynching is "a shameful chapter in American history." He says displaying a noose "is not a harmless prank," and that the word "lynching" shouldn't be mentioned in jest. Bush says the noose is a symbol of "gross injustice," and that Americans should agree that...

ALEXANDRIA, La. (AP) - A Louisiana teenager has been indicted on federal hate-crime and conspiracy charges after police say he drove past a crowd of civil rights protesters with two nooses hanging from the back of his pickup. Eighteen-year-old Jeremiah Munsen was arrested after the incident last September in Alexandria, Louisiana. The marchers had taken part in a demonstration on behalf of the so-called, "Jena Six," a-half dozen black high schoolers regarded as unfairly prosecuted in the beating of a white student. Munsen was initially booked on state charges of inciting a riot, driving while intoxicated and contributing to the...

WASHINGTON, Jan. 24 (UPI) -- A Louisiana teen was indicted on federal civil rights violations for showing nooses to civil rights marchers in Alexandria, La., the Justice Department said. Jeremiah Munsen, 18, was indicted on hate crime and conspiracy charges for his role in intimidating black marchers who attended a rally Sept. 20 in Jena, La., to support six black teens accused of beating a white classmate, the Justice Department said in a news release Thursday. The indictment alleged Munsen and another person attached two nooses to a truck then repeatedly drove past a group of marchers waiting at a...

would have been a new low in Fire Department race relations: the apparent mock lynching of a stuffed toy monkey in a city engine house last month. Black firefighters called it a "terrible act of hate." Racial tension in the department flared. City Hall requested a federal investigation. After a two-week inquiry, the FBI concluded that happenstance, not hate, was the leading factor. The monkey, retrieved from a fire scene, had been draped from a coat rack to dry. The noose was actually an equipment strap around its neck. No racial bias was involved, the agency said.

Ten days after a Golf Channel anchor was suspended for her use of "lynch" in commentary on Tiger Woods, an editor was fired Friday for illustrating the controversy with a noose on the cover of Golfweek magazine.

Golfweek magazine replaced the editor responsible for illustrating the current cover with a noose and apologized Friday for its depiction of a Golf Channel anchor's use of "lynch" in a comment about Tiger Woods. "We apologize for creating this graphic cover that received extreme negative reaction from consumers, subscribers and advertisers across the country," Turnstile Publishing Co. president William P. Kupper Jr. said. "We were trying to convey the controversial issues with a strong and provocative graphic image. It is now obvious that the overall reaction to our cover deeply offended many people. For that, we are deeply apologetic." Turnstile...

JENA (TV8) - It's been over a year since the hanging of nooses at Jena High School. And tonight, Jena is in the spotlight again over what's being preceived as a racial symbol that's being sold in a local store. TV 8's Julie Van Eman sits down with one angry customer who can't believe the store would sell what she says is clearly a depiction of a noose. Hilda Keene is appalled by a product on display at this Dollar General store in Jena. Keene says "I cannot believe a business in LaSalle Parish could sell something like this which...

It is with deep regret and concern that we are sending this email to inform you about a problem at our facility. Recently, in different parts of our property, two ropes were found that were tied in knots similar to a noose. This is clearly threatening behavior and we take it very seriously. We spend a lot of our time at work, and it should be a place where we feel respected and valued by our co-workers. *Company* and *Company* are committed to providing a safe workplace, as we believe this goal to be in the best interest of our...

Pascagoula, MS— It was unseasonably warm on the river when Moses Henry felt the first nibble on his fishing line, waiting a second before setting the hook. His fishing pole bent in half and sent the reel drag screaming as the big catfish began the fight. “This one’s decent”, he said as he reeled a 40 pound Flathead towards the boat. “This is what life is all about” he added. Henry, a 75 year-old retired African-American, has been fishing his entire life. “My first memories are of fishing with my grandpappy. I was scared of the worms and he’d bait...

A former Central Michigan University official, who reported directly to the president, explains why he was recently fired. Richard E. Morrison, the veteran associate vice president for public relations and marketing, said CMU President Michael Rao terminated his employment for a number of reasons including Morrison's personal judgment as well as the way he handled the findings of the nooses on campus. [Emphasis Added] Morrison said Rao had concerns about the information flow regarding the nooses. "I wasn't asking the right questions," Morrison said of a call that he received about the nooses. "I was in the information flow," Morrison...

Carol Swain A spate of hanging nooses is being reported all over the country. This is creating an environment that has encouraged at least one black man to hang his own noose and place the blame on white co-workers. Donald Maynard, a Baltimore, MD firefighter and paramedic, confessed to hanging a noose found last month in the fire station where he worked. Even though his report sparked a federal investigation and public outcry, Maynard will not face criminal charges for filing a false report. We will never be able to quantify the amount of damage that Maynard's action did to...

A firefighter who reported finding a knotted rope and a threatening note with a drawing of a noose in an East Baltimore station house last month had placed the items there himself, city officials said yesterday. The man was suspended last week for performance-related issues and will likely face additional punishment, fire officials said. Sterling Clifford, a spokesman for the Police Department and for Mayor Sheila Dixon, said the man admitted to the hoax and will not face criminal charges. Officials identified the firefighter who they say acknowledged writing the note as Donald Maynard, a firefighter-paramedic apprentice who is black....

State Sen. Ernie Chambers sent a letter to President Bush complaining about a Nebraska police officer and Army Reserve officer who allegedly left a noose hanging in the work area of a black woman, an Army Reserve sergeant under his command. The behavior is conduct unbecoming an officer, Chambers said in the letter, providing details of the alleged mid-October incident and the victim’s response. An Army Reserve spokeswoman verified the military is investigating an equal opportunity complaint on the incident. Bellevue Police Chief John Stacey will also investigate the incident after receiving a letter from Chambers Friday, but said Detective...

A firefighter who reported finding a knotted rope and a threatening note with a drawing of a noose in an East Baltimore station house last month had placed the items there himself, city officials said yesterday. The man was suspended last week for performance-related issues and will likely face additional punishment, fire officials said. Sterling Clifford, a spokesman for the Police Department and for Mayor Sheila Dixon, said the man admitted to the hoax and will not face criminal charges. Officials identified the firefighter who they say acknowledged writing the note as Donald Maynard, a firefighter-paramedic apprentice who is black....

Accusations of racism in a Lee's Summit high school have lead to suspensions, but now the parents say their kids were unfairly punished. Travis Grigsby loves playing drums, but he and his friend Alex Coday weren't able to play for two weeks after they were suspended. It started after the band's performance at a football game. Some kids on the drum line said they were talking about the best knots to use to tie up the drum equipment. "Someone asked if anybody knew how to tie a noose and Travis did admit he knew how to tie a noose," Kim...

LOS ANGELES -- Civil rights leaders said they will demand a federal investigation into a display of nooses found in the Cal State Fullerton quad area last week prior to a campus rally against hate. "The hanging nooses at Fullerton are only the latest in the dozens of hanging nooses that have been found on campuses and work places in California and throughout the nation," said Earl Ofari Hutchinson, President of the Los Angeles Urban Policy Roundtable. "We are demanding an immediate Justice Department full probe," said Hutchinson, who planned to hold a news conference this morning to publicize the...

Does anyone still wonder why college culture is the laughingstock of the larger community? Our campuses seem to lurch from one politically correct knee-slapper to the next. Does anyone crack a book at these places anymore? Meet Gabriel Keith, an aspiring journalist who attends Minneapolis Community and Technical College. Keith has served as news editor of the campus paper, volunteering many hours and even quitting his part-time job when it interfered with the paper's needs. Keith came to MCTC after three tours of duty in Iraq as a Marine. He saw some pretty scary stuff there. But now he knows...

Foxman and Sharpton Issue Joint Statement on Symbols of Hate New York, NY, November 1, 2007….Abraham H. Foxman, National Director of the Anti-Defamation League, and Rev. Al Sharpton, President of the National Action Network, today issued the following statement regarding the series of recent displays of nooses and swastikas in our community: The recent epidemic of nooses and swastikas appearing in various places in our communities are acts of hate and are intended to intimidate and instill fear. Such acts are despicable, and we call upon all people of good will – of all races, religions and ethnicities – to...

BASTROP (TV8) - Since the events in Jena, there have been a number of reported incidents involving nooses across America--in schools, offices, even on a college campus. Tonight, a newspaper is in dutch over just such a graphic in one of its own ads. TV8's Dustin Barnes has the story. Bastrop Councilwoman Betty Olive got calls from her constituents after this ad appeared in friday's issue of The Daily Enterprise Newspaper. Betty Olive says "Certainly at this particular time, that caught the eyes of a lot of readers and they expressed their concerns. The copy for the newspaper's advertising office...

RALEIGH (AP) — N.C. State University police are trying to find out who left a noose made of toilet paper dangling from a restroom stall door in the Sullivan Shops building. "This could be someone's idea of a prank, or it might constitute a crime," Chancellor James Oblinger said. "In either case, it is inappropriate. This is an act that has become symbolic of racial hatred." An employee found the 10-inch noose Thursday morning in the building that houses a maintenance shop for school vehicles. Few students use the facility, which is on the far western edge of campus and...

A Thibodaux, Louisiana police officer has been fired for hanging a noose from the rear-view mirror of his personal car. A group of black police officers went to the chief of police after noticing the display. Corporal Michael Rodrigue had the vehicle parked on city property. "They're hurt by it. You know, what could he possibly be representing to put something like this up?" Chief Craig Melancon said. Rodrigue originally was suspended with pay. His termination came, Melancon said, after the officer couldn't come up with a reasonable explanation for the noose. "I to this day do not know what...

A black mannequin found with a noose around its neck in a county landfill building has triggered a joint hate crime investigation between the FBI and the Sacramento County Sheriff's Department.

Nooses are found hanging from a tree on a Tri-State university campus. Authorities say the nooses were discovered on Miami University's campus Tuesday. MU freshman, Dan DeRubbo, was walking back to his dorm room when he passed a tree near the corner of Patterson and Western Drive on campus. "I noticed there was a tire swinging from the tree and a noose above it," said DeRubbo. DeRubbo kept walking, but other students saw it and called campus police to complain. The university says three students had hung the nooses and a tire as part of a class project to show...

Sar-ron Beverly knew about nooses from family stories and historical photos. But he never understood their power until he walked into his boss' Fairfield office one day and saw one hanging from the ceiling, in front of a bookshelf and a family portrait. "It was just too much," said Beverly, 30. "I'm from Mississippi. My grandparents moved to California to get away from this stuff. "A hangman's noose shows the ultimate hatred for African Americans." Since a noose hanging in a schoolyard triggered a civil rights firestorm this summer in Jena, La., there's been a resurgence of nooses across the...

SHREVEPORT, La. -- A noose found in a doctors' break room at LSU Health Sciences Center might be a piece of rope fashioned with a knot and a loop used to treat orthopedic patients, the head of the facility said. After a maintenance worker found the rope on Wednesday, administrators at the hospital and medical school notified federal authorities because they were concerned the rope with loops on each end might have been placed in the break room to intimidate blacks. But on Thursday, Dr. John McDonald, the hospital's top administrator, said the rope might be one used by surgeons...