Florida Sentinel Bulletin

JARRATT, Va. — A man who raped and suffocated an 88-year-old woman was executed, becoming Virginia’s first inmate to be given a lethal injection using a revised three-drug cocktail.

Jerry Terrell Jackson, 30, was pronounced dead at 9:14 p.m. Thursday at Greensville Correctional Center.

Asked if he had any final words, Jackson shook his head and said “no” under his breath. As he waited for the drugs to be administered, he tapped his foot as he lay strapped to a stainless steel gurney. The execution team took about 15 minutes to insert two intravenous lines, one into each arm. Within four minutes of the lines being inserted, he was pronounced dead.

Jackson was sentenced to death for the 2001 rape and murder of seamstress Ruth Phillips in her Williamsburg apartment.

PHOENIX — The U.S. Attorney’s Office says a federal grand jury has returned an indictment charging three African refugees with attempting to take a simulated explosive device through Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport.

Luwiza Laku Daman, Shullu Anguwi Gorado, and Asa Shani are scheduled to appear in federal court Friday afternoon in Phoenix for a bail hearing. All three are from Eritrea, a country on the Red Sea.

Authorities say Daman was carrying the suspicious item in her bag on Aug. 5 as she went through security at Sky Harbor intending to board a plane to Des Moines, Iowa. Police say Gorado and Shani gave it to her.

EAST DUBLIN, Ga. — Video from a police cruiser in rural Georgia town shows just how quickly a traffic stop can turn deadly.

In the recording, officer Jeffrey Deal jumps out of his patrol car and runs toward Melvin Williams, who has gotten out of his vehicle. The two begin fighting. Williams punches the officer in the head and takes a couple of steps toward Deal, who draws his gun and fires, killing the unarmed Williams.

Police encounter similar split-second decisions each day and rely on their intensive training and “shoot or don’t shoot” scenarios to guide them. Yet in this case, Deal had gone more than a year without a mandatory training on the use of deadly force. He should have lost his arrest powers several months before the May 2010 shooting, according to a report from state investigators.

IOWA — President Barack Obama announced fresh steps to boost rural hiring on the second day of a bus tour through the U.S. heartland to explain his economic and job policies to anxious voters.

Pres. Obama, who began his three-day tour in Minnesota, was visiting Iowa Tuesday and will end the tour in his home state of Illinois. He embarked on this bus tour along the back roads of the rural Midwest to press his case.

Pres. Obama won all three states in the 2008 presidential election, although Iowa has recently played host to Republicans vying to battle him for the White House next year. They have been criticizing his record over the ballooning U.S. deficit.

A white powdery substance believed to be narcotics was discovered on the body of a megachurch pastor who was discovered dead in a Times Square hotel room, police said Monday.

Pastor Zachery Tims, 42, was found dead at the W Hotel in Times Square Saturday. Tims was the Pastor of New Destiny Christian Center in Apopka, Florida. His cause of death is still pending.

A law enforcement official familiar with the case said, “what that white powdery substance is and whether it played a role in Mr. Tims’ death is still to be determined.”

Police found no signs of trauma to his body. At this point criminality is not suspected, officials said. Detectives spoke with his family members and it appears Tims died in possession of his jewelry and other belongings.

Two Broward teens charged with second-degree murder in the accidental shooting death of their friend while the trio scouted robbery targets in Boynton Beach are expected to make their first court appearance Wednesday.

The two unidentified boys, ages 14 and 16, have been in police custody following the death of 15-year-old Gian Davis Tuesday morning.

Davis was accidentally shot in the back while he was behind the wheel of a stolen BMW as the trio drove through the Heron Pointe development looking for a place to rob, according to a Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office report.

Police say Davis was shot when the gun accidentally went off while one of the other teens played with it in the backseat.

Chicago will hire 111 bypassed black firefighters by March 2012 and pay at least $30 million in damages to some 6,000 others who will never get that chance, under a court order expected to be approved Wednesday by a federal judge.

Last year, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously agreed that African-American candidates did not wait too long before filing a lawsuit that accused the city of discriminating against them for the way it handled a 1995 firefighter’s entrance exam.

A federal appeals court affirmed that ruling in May and remanded the case back to the trial court to implement a hiring remedy the city had been stalling. Now, both sides have agreed on that plan and how it should be implemented.

“We’re extremely pleased that, after all these years, this long-running legal fight is coming to an end,” said plaintiffs’ attorney Matt Piers.

Noting that Chicago taxpayers are liable for an additional $500,000 in back pay for every month the hiring is delayed, Piers said, “The attitude of the Emanuel administration has been to attempt to resolve this as quickly as possible.”

The court order, to be presented to U.S. District Judge Joan Gotschall on Wednesday, calls for the city begin by sending postcards to all 6,000 black bypassed black candidates.

Those who indicate they are still interested in becoming Chicago firefighters will be entered into a “jobs lottery” to identify 750 candidates who will take a physical abilities test in October and undergo background checks, drug tests and medical exams. From that group, the city will select 111 candidates who will enter the fire academy for training by the end of March 2012.

Would-be firefighters who have moved on to other careers or choose to bypass the jobs lottery for other reasons will receive cash awards of at least $5,000 per person. Chicago taxpayers will also be on the hook for $10 million to $20 million in back pension contributions for those who get jobs. That means the total cost could approach $50 million.

The Chicago Fire Department’s age limit for new hires is 38, but that will not apply to the 111 black firefighters because the discrimination occurred before the cut-off was established.

“I don’t think we’ll have a problem coming up with 111 who still want the job and are fully qualified to have it,” said Joshua Karsh, another attorney representing the plaintiffs. Some of these people are older than 38. But, better than half the department is older than 38.”

When results from the 1995 entrance exam were disappointing for minorities, the city established a cut-off score of 89 and hired randomly from the top 1,800 “well-qualified” candidates. In 2005, a federal judge ruled that the city’s decision had the effect of perpetuating the predominantly white status quo, since 78 percent of those ‘“well-qualified’’ candidates were white.

Currently 19 percent of Chicago’s 5,000 firefighters and paramedics are African-American. The force is 68 percent white and 11 percent Hispanic.

“By comparison to the Police Department, African-Americans are dramatically under-represented. There will [now] be 111 additional African-Americans. That’s a very good thing,” Karsh said. He added, “This is the remedy for violating the law. Hopefully, this will deter the city from ever violating the law in this fashion again.”

The Cascade United Metodist Church of Atlanta recently gave struggling Morris Brown College a lifeline, when they donated $22,000 to school.

The money, which was raised during a month-long fundraising effort, helped the school eliminate its hefty debt to the U.S. Department of Education.

Rev. Dr. Marvin Moss said they couldn’t let a historic part of their community go by the wayside.

“We recognize the historical significance of Morris Brown College to our community and the world,” Moss said in a statement last week. “We are grateful that our Cascade members have answered the call during these tough economic times. We are called to be a light in the community so we are pleased to participate in this vital way.”

WASHINGTON – Stevie Wonder, Aretha Franklin, Berry Gordy, Jr., George Lucas, Jamie Foxx and Clarence Avant will serve as celebrity co-chairs for the Dedication of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial in Washington, D. C..

The Memorial, the first on the National Mall to honor a man of peace, hope, and color, will be dedicated on August 28 in a West Potomac Park ceremony on the 48th anniversary of the March on Washington and Dr. King’s historic “I Have a Dream” speech.

Members of the King Family, civil rights leaders including Congressman John Lewis, Ambassador Andy Young, Reverend Al Sharpton, Reverend Jesse Jackson, and Reverend Joseph Lowery, and Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar will play a role in several events in the nation’s capital to celebrate the Memorial’s dedication August 24 through 28.

Former Secretary of Labor Alexis Herman, General Colin Powell, Tom Brokaw, Maya Angelou, Alpha Phi Alpha General President Herman “Skip” Mason, Jr., Tommy Hilfiger,General Motors Chairman and CEO Dan Akerson, leaders of the faith-based community and more will participate in Dedication Week events. President Barack Obama will deliver remarks during the August 28 Dedication Ceremony.