Florida Sentinel Bulletin

WASHINGTON — Two key senators have reached a bipartisan deal on expanding background checks to more gun buyers, a Senate aide and lobbyist said Wednesday, an agreement that could build support for President Barack Obama’s drive to curb firearms violence in the wake of the elementary school shootings in Connecticut.

Sens. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., and Patrick Toomey, R-Pa., planned to announce their compromise later Wednesday morning. Subjecting more firearms purchases to federal background checks has been the chief goal of Pres. Obama and gun control supporters, who promote the system as a way to prevent criminals and other potentially dangerous people from getting the weapons.

Nelson Mandela was released from a South African hospital Sunday after nearly two weeks of treatment.  Mandela was hospitalized for a lung infection, later revealed to be pneumonia.

South African President Jacob Zuma asked the world to pray for Mandela who, at 94 years old, has run into reoccurring health issues.

According to a statement from Zuma’s office, Mandela’s condition has improved, but he will  require further treatment. “The former President will now receive home-based care,” the statement said.

CHICAGO – Bond for a 64-year-old woman who allegedly paid her grandson to kill her husband was set at $500,000 Saturday.

Janet Strickland was charged with one count of first-degree murder and one count of armed robbery with a firearm after her husband was fatally shot in the gangway near his home on the Far South Side while on his way to dialysis, police said.

William Strickland, 72, was shot six times in the back on March 2 while on his way to dialysis treatment in what police suspected to be a robbery.

Janet Strickland was reportedly not in court for her hearing Saturday because she was receiving treatment for a lung disease.

Janet Strickland allegedly commissioned her grandson to kill her husband, and watched as he did so before stealing a casino bag with money in it as her husband laid shot on the street.

CHICAGO – The city of Chicago will reportedly pay a $55,000 settlement to a woman who claimed she was shocked with a stun gun while eight months pregnant.

Tiffany Rent, 31, filed suit against the city after she was shocked with a stun gun by a police officer in front of her two young children in June.

Rent said she pulled into a handicapped parking spot in the Walgreen’s lot on the 110 block of South Michigan Avenue while her fiance ran into the store. She then got out of the car to re-seat her 3-year-old when a Chicago police officer began writing her a ticket.

Police said she tore up the ticket and threw it at the officer. When the officer asked her for identification, police said she refused to comply.

Police said the officer deployed his stun gun when Rent tried to put her car in gear and drive away.

“I don’t think that it should have went this far,” she said. “It just makes me afraid of the Chicago Police Department because there’s other women that may have went through this or that’s going through this.”

Roughly one year ago, many of us were encouraged by a string of positive jobs reports which showed the economy was adding on average 275,000 jobs per month. And then came the spring swoon, ushering in a long stretch in which the economy struggled to add even enough jobs to keep up with population growth. While the unemployment rate continued to fall slowly throughout the year, much of that progress was due to workers dropping out of the labor force altogether.

So while the Labor Department’s employment situation reports have been generally positive since November of last year, economy-watchers have been wary of declaring the beginning of a robust labor market recovery just yet, especially when tax increases and spending cuts are almost certainly taking some of the spring out the economy’s step. And with today’s announcement from the Labor Department that the economy added just 88,000 jobs in March, those fears would appear to be legitimate.

The parents of slain Florida teen Trayvon Martin have settled a wrongful-death claim with the homeowners association of the Sanford gated community where their son was gunned down by neighborhood watchman, George Zimmerman on February 26, 2012.

According to numerous reports, the settlement is believed to be more than $1,000,000, but the amount was redacted on public documents and Attorney Benjamin Crump would not confirm when asked.

Trayvon’s parents, Tracy Martin and Sybrina Fulton, filed suit against the Retreat at Twin Lakes subdivision in August, 2012.

Under the heading “Neighborhood Watch,” the neighborhood’s newsletter’s recommended that residents first call police and then “please contact our Captain, George Zimmerman … so he can be aware and help address the issue with other residents.”

Florida man Felix Lockett, 34, was hospitalized with “serious” injuries Wednesday afternoon after a single-car crash that left him literally dancing in the street.

Law-enforcement officers and rescuers arrived on the scene to find Lockett “stripped naked and dancing around in the street,” said Fire Rescue spokesman John Mulhall.

Responders began to experience watery eyes and respiratory distress after opening the vehicle’s door. When a hazard team arrived, a bottle containing formaldehyde was discovered. Lockett allegedly confessed to authorities that he had mixed the formaldehyde — commonly used in embalming fluid — with the marijuana.

The man who once backed Jesse Jackson Jr. for Illinois’ 2nd District is supporting the former congressman’s likely successor.

President Barack Obama on Tuesday endorsed Robin Kelly in the race to replace Jackson, who resigned from the seat last year amid a federal investigation and later pleaded guilty to misspending hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign funds.

“I share Robin’s passionate advocacy to end gun violence with common sense solutions because like her, I believe families impacted by gun violence – especially in my home city of Chicago – deserve a vote,” Pres. Obama said in a statement. “I urge you to elect Robin Kelly as your representative in the United State Congress.

ATLANTA, GA – A grand jury indicted a former superintendent and more than 30 other educators Friday in one of the nation’s largest cheating scandals that rocked Atlanta’s public schools.

The indictment named the former Superintendent Beverly Hall as well as several high-level administrators, principals and teachers. Hall faces charges including racketeering, false statements and theft. She retired just days before the 2011 probe was released, and has previously denied the allegations.

A state investigation in 2011 found cheating by nearly 180 educators in 44 Atlanta schools. Educators gave answers to students or changed answers on tests after they were turned in, investigators said. Teachers who tried to report it faced retaliation, creating a culture of “fear and intimidation” in the district.