Florida Sentinel Bulletin

WASHINGTON — Picking up the pace, President Barack Obama raised $45 million for his re-election bid in February, bringing his total to about $300 million for this election cycle, his campaign said Monday.

Pres. Obama stepped up fundraising efforts during the month, collecting nearly twice as much as the $23 million per month average he raised during the final three months of 2011 and more than the $29.1 million he raised in January. The money was spread among Pres. Obama’s campaign, the Democratic party and two campaign funds.

Pres. Obama’s campaign said nearly 350,000 people contributed in February and the average donation was about $59 for the entire election cycle. Nearly 98 percent of the donations were $250 or less.

With Republicans locked in an extended primary campaign, Pres. Obama’s team has tried to build a large 50-state operation that will help it register new voters, bring back past supporters and boost turnout.

Pres. Obama’s campaign had about $75 million in the bank through the end of January.

Campaign officials have implored its supporters to donate money and get involved, pointing to Republican-leaning super PACs expected to raise hundreds of millions of dollars to defeat the president.

A 5-year-old boy remained in critical condition Monday after police said his mother took a kitchen knife to his throat.

Daphne Spurlock, 45, told Magnolia, Texas police she slashed her son’s throat because “he was infested with demons.” On Saturday night Spurlock stomped on her son’s head and chest before slitting his throat.

The child’s father came home from work to find Spurlock standing over the child.

The young boy was air-lifted to Memorial Hermann Hospital after his father called 911. His mother has confessed and is in Montgomery County Jail on attempted capital murder charges.

A total of sixteen Black and Hispanic employees at the Coca-Cola soft drink company have filed a lawsuit claiming that they have been forced to work under conditions that can be categorized as being “a cesspool of racial discrimination.”

The Brooklyn Federal Court lawsuit which was filed against two of the company’s five production plants in Maspeth and Elmsford, New York, accuses the popular soft drink manufacturer of maintaining racially discriminatory and hostile environments.

The latest lawsuit is just one of a few that have been lodged against Coca-Cola over the years.

In November 2000, in the largest settlement ever in a racial discrimination case, the Coca-Cola Company agreed to fork over more than $192 million to resolve the federal lawsuit brought by those Black employees which implemented changes in the way that the company manages, promotes and treats Black employees in the U.S.

A Black ninth-grader in Fairfax Country, Virginia was reading a Langston Hughes poem in class when his teacher instructed him to read it blacker.

As Jordan Shumate recalls the incident, the teacher didn’t hold back in punches in expressing her displeasure with how he was reading the poems. “She told me, ‘Blacker, Jordan — c’mon, blacker. I thought you were black’.”

When he refused to comply with her ridiculous request, the teacher read the poem herself.

Memphis Officer Dion Anthony was busy at work, but it was not defending the public.  Rather, Officer Anthony was allegedly having sex with an unnamed woman and his antics were broadcast over the police radio scanner.

Investigators are still trying to determine which mic picked up on Anthony’s alleged sexual romp. The open radio transmission of the illicit act was not only heard by more than 35 employees who work at Anthony’s Mount Moriah precinct, but it was also picked up by anyone who was in possession of a police scanner.

One Florida father is trying to punish his son for his failing grades by using peer pressure.

Michael Bell, Sr. was upset by the fact that his son came home with three F’s on his report card, so came up with an unusual way to teach the self-proclaimed ‘class clown’ a lesson.

Throughout his spring break, Michael Bell, Jr. had to stand at the corner of a busy intersection in Miami while wearing a poster that told passers-by about his bad grades.

The teen had to wear a poster that read ‘Hey, I want to be a class clown. Is it wrong?’ on his front side.

On his back, there was a longer explanation for inquisitive drivers: ‘Hey, I’m in the 7th grade and I have an ‘F’ for the semester. Is anything wrong with that. Blow your horn if you don’t think so. Thank you!!!’

Like all teens who are concerned about their reputations, young Michael took the lesson to heart. ‘I don’t like it, but I know that it was my fault that it got to this point.’

Michael’s father Michael, Sr. was with his son throughout the punishment to make sure that nothing bad happened.

Public Policy Polling has released information about southern Republican voters that show that many southerners still believe that President Barack Obama is a Muslim. It is not clear from the poll how these people have come to this conclusion.

The information shows that only 14% of Alabama Republicans believe that Pres. Obama is a Christian, while 45% believe he is a Muslim, and the 12% of Mississippi Republicans believe that Pres. Obama is a Christian, while 52% of Mississippi republicans believe he is Muslim.

A small-town police department in Ohio is on lockdown after one of its officers allegedly tasered a 9-year-old boy.

An officer was called out to an apartment where a child was refusing to go to school. The situation reportedly became so hostile that the officer used a taser to subdue the child. The chief of police department has been suspended for allegedly hiding the incident from town leadership.

Tanya McDowell, the homeless Black Connecticut mother who was charged with felony larceny last year after she was caught lying about her home address so that her 6-year-old could attend an elementary school in a good district, was slapped with a 12-year sentence earlier this month.

The Mom, who only wanted her young son to get the best education that she could provide, is also indebted to the state for $6,200.  What is the fine for? It is for “stealing” educational services for her child.

McDowell is just one of countless parents who live in impoverished areas across the country, yet still want their children to have a fighting chance at getting an education that is solid.

The inequalities in education among the haves and have-nots has been the subject of many staunch debates throughout the years.  McDowell’s cause célèbre is a clear-cut case that depicts the gaping disparities in both the wealth and quality of education across this country.