Source: NBC

Heroism has no age. And 5 year old Nathaniel Dancy Jr., a New Jersey kindergartener, proved that this past Monday when he saved his father’s life.

Nathaniel and his father had been out all day, going to the movies and shopping for school shoes, when Nathaniel Dancy Sr. began having a stroke and aneurysm while driving. Somehow he was able to pull the car off the highway and into a parking lot before he lost function.

From there little Nathaniel took his father’s cell phone and called his grandmother who often takes care of him while his mother is at work. In the middle of the conversation Nathaniel Jr. hung up the phone. His grandmother called him back and put his mother on 3-way.

When the women tried to ask him where he was, he had trouble pronouncing the name of a nearby store. So they asked him to spell the name of it. That’s when Nathaniel said: “F-U-R-N-I-T-U-R-E,” the number 22 and then told them they had just gone through a tunnel, which was a highway overpass.

Nathaniel’s grandmother went to a nearby firehouse to find out where they might have been. They told her and then she dialed 911while her daughter rushed over to a parking lot at 22 Furniture Gallery on Route 22 in Hillside, N.J.

The ambulance arrived shortly after Nathaniel’s mom did.

Nathaniel Sr. was taken to the hospital where he is still in intensive care, on a feeding tube. Dancy Sr., 33, had been taking high blood pressure medicine before the incident.

In an interview with NBC New York, little Nathaniel’s mother, Janel Blackman, had this to say about Nathaniel Sr.’s condition and Nathaniel Jr.’s efforts:

“He is still in the hospital, still trying to survive. They did in fact save him just in time. I congratulated Nathaniel for being so heroic and helping his dad, and at the same time, his dad was a hero, too. To be in the midst of a stroke and know to get off the highway and get yourself and your child to safety is amazing, especially when you’ve lost feeling in half of your body.”

Nathaniel Jr. is the youngest of five brothers and sisters and is a kindergartener at West Side Park Elementary School, a charter school in Newark.

His mother says Nathaniel is very smart and has great diction. She says listening to him speak, you would never guess he’s just five. She says he’s on a third grade level and can spell words and understand concepts average elementary school students cannot.

Blackman told NBC she has yet to take Nathaniel to see his father in the hospital.

“I don’t think that it’s sunk in to him. He just thought his dad needed help. He’s not aware of the full severity of the situation. They are very close, and I don’t know the traumatic side effects it could have on him.

“I said to him, ‘Daddy might not be the same daddy you remember,’ and he said, ‘I hope my dad doesn’t end up in a wheelchair.’ It just melted my heart. He’s just so compassionate as a little guy.”

Source

Source: WENN

Poor Lauryn Hill. If it ain’t one thing it’s another with her — although I’m wondering when she’s going to learn that people don’t play when it comes to their money. We all know the Grammy-Award winning singer is in major trouble with the IRS, having pled guilty to tax fraud last year. Now she’s being sued for eviction by her landlord and could find herself out on the street.

According to TMZ, Lauryn’s been renting a mansion in South Orange, NJ, since 2009, but apparently stopped paying rent last month. As a result, her landlord went to court to file a legal ultimatum demanding that she pay up or get out. Apparently she still hasn’t paid, so the landlord is moving ahead with the eviction lawsuit.

Unlike Lauryn’s odd reasoning for not paying her taxes — she claimed she had received frightening threats — she likely has a somewhat decent reasoning for not paying her rent. According to TMZ, next week Lauryn will be sentenced for tax fraud and since she’s facing several years in federal prison, paying rent likely isn’t at the top of her list of priorities — if she even has the cash to pay. Still, the landlord needs his money too and it’s not the smartest move to add more money woes on top of others. Let’s just hope her babies have somewhere to stay for the time being and after if, unfortunately, she goes to prison.

Source: AP

Oh, Pedro. Just when the world was getting ready to offer congratulations to 44-year-old Pedro Quezada, the New Jersey man who won the $338 million Powerball jackpot Tuesday, news comes out that he’s something like a deadbeat dad. According to CBS News, Mr. Quezada owes $29,000 in back child support.

“[A]uthorities said Quezada owed child support payments that go back to 2009. It’s not known which of Quezada’s five children, who range in age from 5 to 23-years-old, are covered under the payments.”

I wonder if that child is who the Dominican Republic native was referring to when he said he wanted to use his earnings to help those in need? On Tuesday when he claimed a lump-sum payment worth $221 million –$152 million after taxes, which is the fourth-largest jackpot in Powerball history —  Quezada said he hadn’t made up his mind on what to do with the money, but he could “use a good car and give back to his community and ‘help those in need,’” CBS stated.

Regardless of whether he had child support payments in mind or not, authorities intend on making sure that $29K gets shelled out. According to CBS:

A spokesman for Passaic County Sheriff Richard Berdnik said the sheriff’s office’s warrant squad is attempting to find Quezada to resolve the matter.

Spokesman Bill Maer also said the state Lottery Division generally satisfies such judgments before winnings are released. He added that Quezada is subject to potential arrest like everyone else until the warrant is satisfied.

Anyone else hear Biggie’s “Mo Money, Mo Problems” playing in their ear?

Source: WENN

Mary, this is…out of hand.

In documents obtained by TMZ, singer Mary J. Blige has been hit with a tax lien by the state of New Jersey. The documents state that Mary owes the government $901,769.65 in back taxes.  They didn’t state what years the IRS is seeking back pay but she’s probably missed at least two years.

This is just the latest string of financial problems and embarrassments for Mary.  It was just over a week ago that we told you she defaulted on a loan from Bank of America and now owes them over $500,000. When she was asked about it, she said was that all she can do is just keep pushing on on and “let haters hate.” Ahhh yes, those haters sure do know how to get you in alleged financial trouble, don’t they?

But even prior to that, she defaulted on a $2.2 million dollar loan and  before that, she was sued because of her charity not paying back money.

It would seem like when you suddenly find yourself in major situations like this on an almost consistent basis, not only would you fire your accountants (even if they’re flesh and blood), but you might also consider taking some accounting classes so you can figure out how to go over the books yourself.  There just doesn’t seem to be a logical reason for these things to keep happening.

TMZ reached out to Mary’s reps but so far, they’ve received no response.

Source: WENN

Al Sharpton and Governor Chris Christie are almost always on opposite ends of the political spectrum, so it came as somewhat of a surprise when Sharpton offered to lend a helping hand to the New Jersey governor.

During this past Tuesday’s episode of PoliticsNation, the activist praised Christie for his ability to kick back and poke fun at himself, even when it came to a subject as sensitive as his weight, during his humorous appearance on the Late Show with David Letterman.

“Now I don’t agree with much of Christie’s politics, but he’s real. He can make fun of himself and he’s not afraid to do the right thing,” Sharpton said.

He went on to say that rigid Republicans should take a lesson from Christie and lighten up, in addition to saying that if the Governor was ever serious about shedding some of the excess weight, he knows a guy who can get him on the right track.

“Governor, if you’re ever serious about dieting, I know a guy you can get some advice from. Call me,” Sharpton said, before queuing a throwback photo of himself in his heavier days.

Considering how high tension has been running between Democrats and Republicans lately, I think it’s great to see these guys not at each other’s throats. Although Sharpton was joking about getting together with Christie to formulate a diet plan, you could tell there was a small ounce of seriousness in his voice. I would love to see these two get together as Sharpton helps Christie reach his weight loss goal; especially since Chris has been speaking out pretty candidly regarding his struggle with losing weight and overeating.

“If you talked to anybody who has struggled with their weight, what they would tell you is ‘every week, every month, every year, there’s a plan… Sometimes I’m successful, and other times I’m not. And sometimes, periods of great success are followed by periods of great failure,” expressed Christie to a reporter.

“I weigh too much because I eat too much.”

Check out footage of Sharpton offering Governor Christie weight loss advice on the following page.

Eugene Parciasepe / Shutterstock.com

Newark Mayor Cory Booker is joining the ranks of the millions of people who use food stamps to pay for their groceries — at least for a week. This past Sunday, Booker challenged one of his Twitter followers, a 39-year-old mother from North Carolina, to join him on a seven-day food stamp experiment. The challenge came after a back-and-forth discussion following a tweet by Booker that said: ‘An imbalance between rich and poor is the oldest and most fatal ailment of all republics’ Plutarch ancient Greek historian (c. 46 – 120 CE),” reports UPI. The follower, who is a self-described “Daughter of the American Revolution (DAR), fighting against any and all forms of socialism/communism,” took issue with the tweet.

The University of Bridgeport, which is holding the “UB SNAP Food Challenge” next month, offered to referee the Booker challenge, which will happen December 4 through 11.  Booker plans to document his efforts on various social media platforms.  According to the rules, reports BET,  it has been stipulated that each person has a total budget of $35 to spend on food and beverages, which is $5 per day or $1.66 per meal. They also can’t accept food from outside sources, such as family, friends and work, and cannot use food that’s already in the home, excluding condiments and spices.

It has been estimated that there is a likelihood that half of all adult Americans between the ages of 20 and 65 will use food assistance at some point.  Today a record number of people — nearly 50 million – will use food stamps to pay for their Thanksgiving dinners. According to United States Department of Agriculture data, 36 percent of participants in the food stamp program are white, 22 percent are African American, 10 percent are Hispanic, two percent are Asian, four percent are Native American, and 19 percent are of unknown race or ethnicity.

Typically, food stamp recipients get $133 a month per person. Besides holiday meals, many recipients are using their stamps typically to purchase foods with poor nutritional value. The federal food assistance program SNAP pays $1.7 billion to $2.1 billion for purchases of sugar-sweetened beverages every year, reports The Los Angeles Times.  But the government doesn’t reveal details on what people spend their food stamps, notes the Washington Post.  Food stamps can be spent on goods ranging from candy to steak, says the newspaper.

While we don’t know what Booker will buy with his stamps, we do know this seems to be another move by Booker to take a hands-on approach to governing. You may recall that during Hurricane Sandy the Mayor invited  people without power over to his house. Mayor Booker’s hands-on approach was actually greeted with boos and a near pepper spraying last night when he stepped in to cast a vote to fill a city council spot with someone that other members and people in attendance didn’t agree with. You can watch the mayhem below (h/t Slate).

Josiah True/ WENN.com

Okay, okay, okay, so maybe rapper, Game, is not so bad after all. Well, at least around election time that is.

According to TMZ, The Los Angeles born and raised MC was actually in NYC during yesterday’s nerve-racking election. And since many residents were still struggling with no electricity, no gas and even being displaced from their homes that were hit by Hurricane Sandy, he decided to step up and try to help folks get to the polls–by any means necessary. The rapper doled out $20 for cab fare to more than 500 people who had no way to get where they needed to be in order to vote, and he also drove people in New Jersey to polling places using his own means of transportation. All in all, he says he spent about $10,000 in his efforts, but says that he planned to do so because he didn’t want the many people he saw affected by last month’s hurricane to lose out. Plus, he says it was “small change” anyway. And while he did vote for Barack Obama via absentee ballot for California, he told TMZ that he wasn’t trying to influence anybody to vote for any particular candidate–he just wanted them to get out there and vote.

Well isn’t that nice! Can’t say whether this was done for publicity for his new reality show “Marrying The Game,” or if he was just that moved by people hurting on the East Coast, but the man deserves some major props for coming through and helping out in such a way. Some claim he was trying to push people to vote a certain way, but I doubt that. Plus, I’m sure those folks riding around in whatever luxury vehicle he was rolling around the city in were appreciative. Check out what he had to say to TMZ cameras:

WENN

And in other rapper news that has to do with the election, according to BET.com, if you’ve been missing Young Jeezy, you’ll be glad to know that he’s got a new single out, and it’s in honor of President Obama and another historic win for the President. I’m sure that in 2008 and after the results came in last night, you were probably banging “My President Is Black” by the rapper out of your speakers, your cars, your computers, etc. And while that track is great, “We Done It Again,” is a bit more calm, cool, and collected and reflective of things that have happened since 2008. Jeezy says the thirst for another four years of leadership from someone like the President–NOT Mitt Romney–is real (“What does Romney know about my ghetto? I say the least”), and he’s hoping the President’s win will help every little boy and girl struggling in ghettos around the country. As Young Jeezy says, “We waitin’ on a savior, maybe Barack.” I’m also digging the fact that this track isn’t so heavy with expletives like “My President Is Black,” but it’s still a dope one. Check it out and let me know what you think!

AP Photo/Becky Bohrer

Another big storm is headed to the Northeast and airlines have already started cancelling flights.

United announced today that it has cancelled most flights in the New York area starting tomorrow at noon, through noon on Thursday. The airline also anticipates delays and other cancellations, according to MarketWatch.

American Airlines will also discontinue service starting today at 3pm. Philly flights end at noon. JetBlue and Delta are asking fliers to reschedule their flight with a promise to waive the usual change fees, the AP reports.

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie just held a press conference, reassuring listeners that the state has been preparing the already-devastated Jersey coastline for the coming nor’easter, bringing in sand, building up fortifications and putting supplies at the ready.

We can see rain already falling out the Madame Noire window, and in Philly, the Inquirer says that snow began falling this morning.

“Winds are the biggest threat, especially in towns hard-hit Oct. 29 by Hurricane Sandy, with additional power outages possible,” the paper says, adding that 300,000 are still without power from that storm. Even with preparations, wind and rain could be a problem along the Shore. People in the areas across the region that were hardest hit by Sandy have been asked to evacuate. For more about the preparations, click here.

Hot97 Instagram

Let’s face it: celebrities usually don’t get any credit when they do positive things. When they do try to do something nice and it becomes public, they’re often accused of just trying to get some attention. But in the wake of Hurricane Sandy destroying parts of New York and New Jersey, everyone – famous and not so famous – has come together to help those who may have lost everything.

On Thursday, Miami Heat guard Dwyane Wade tweeted that the drive into New York City from the airport for the game against the Knicks was about three hours (normally, it might be 30 minutes), saying that if it took that long for them to reach their destination, he knows how hard it must be for people really affected. He was still clearly upset on Friday about the decision not to cancel the game and explained his tweet further by saying, “…We shouldn’t be here to play a basketball game. If anything, we should be doing something to help the city.” Since the show had to go on, Dwyane decided the least he could do was donate his salary from Friday night’s game. The total came out to roughly $209, 536.86.  Kudos to him!

Also, in the spirit of giving back, New York radio station Hot 97′s foundation, Hip Hop Has Heart, found various ways to volunteer.  As the trains and buses slowly started getting back on track, their team was outside giving out coffee to the thousands of passengers waiting to board buses to take them to work. They also reached out to celebrity friends and they did not disappoint. Music director Karlie Hustle tweeted shout outs to Swizz Beatz, Jay-Z and Lil Wayne, thanking them for their generosity in donating clothing from their respective clothing lines. The foundation has been going to different volunteer locations to hand out clothes and toiletries.

Finally,Jersey Shore star Snooki tweeted a picture of herself packing bags of clothes to be given out.  She said she’s sending clothes for everyone to keep warm which will include slippers, robes, sweats, blankets and anything else she could find to donate.  It should come as no surprise that she would help in the efforts as the actual Jersey Shore, the place that made her famous, was one of the hardest hit places during the storm.

We all have to stand strong and together during times of crises.  You may not can afford to send a day’s worth of salary to help out and maybe you aren’t even able to donate clothes but if you have time – even an hour – and a smile, it can make a bigger difference than you may ever know.

Shutterstock

By Cecily Michelle

For the majority of my life, I’ve been surrounded by nothing but black and brown faces.

I come from a city where it’s hard to spot a white hue if it’s not draped in a police uniform or posted downtown at a hockey game. So naturally, I grew to love and accept environments where people resemble me. That’s why as a high school senior, there was no question about where I was going to college. If you asked, I wouldn’t hesitate to tell you that I would be stomping yards and strutting the halls in my finest threads at an HBCU.

But as graduation neared, my plans took an abrupt turn when I realized that my dream school didn’t supply my major, and most importantly, it didn’t offer much financial aid—for me, the ultimate deal-breaker. So instead, I decided to take a scholarship to my community college, which just happened to be predominately black as well. Although not an HBCU, I felt at ease when I saw skin, hair, clothes and faces that reminded me of the people in my neighborhood.

When graduation rolled around, I received another scholarship that promised me a free ride at any public four-year college or university in New Jersey— all Predominantly White Institutions (PWI). From there, any thoughts of attending an HBCU had washed down the drain.
It took awhile, but after making my decision, I was excited about going away to school.  Still, I couldn’t shake the knots that had lodged in my stomach—the discomfort that moving outside of my mostly-black world had created. And after the first few weeks of settling in on the chiefly white campus, where most of the kids walking through the halls did not give me that comforting feeling from the neighborhood block, I fell into a serious funk.

All of the things that I had feared about going to a non-black college were coming to fruition. I was outnumbered, I felt like most people hated me, and I couldn’t shake the firm holds of feeling alienated. But as time progressed, those overwhelmingly negative feelings began to fade away, and I started to adjust. I socialized with people, both black and white, who were able to ease my worries and provide some level of comfort. I formulated strong bonds with professors who seemed to genuinely care about my success despite the difference in the tones of our skin. Basically, I got over myself.

Although I wasn’t getting the full experience of an HBCU, I discovered that there were plenty of events, clubs and organizations to make up for it.  Black students from near-by campuses came to participate in step shows and showcase their frat’s signature stroll at parties. Student organizations aimed at black unity and empowerment hosted monthly events which provided entertainment that, at times, made me forget that I was surrounded by a race other than my own.

So on May 16, 2012, the day that I said goodbye to my years as a college student, I sat draped in elation. I thought about how rough it was for me in the beginning—how I walked the campus with my head hanging low and how I wanted so badly to transfer to a school where I would have been more at ease, where I basically wouldn’t have to put forth much effort, but just be a black woman around black people. Maybe that’s what made my success at this university so much more sweeter—I was proud that in just a few moments, my name would be called to receive the case to my degree.

That day is now gone, and I’ve since realized—from both my own experience and conversations with other students who felt the same as me—that some of us are so wrapped up in the comfort of our neighborhoods that we forget that the planet is not dipped in black. There are millions of new people, places and things to be explored. And for me, attending a PWI not only helped me to accept racial differences and diversity, but better prepared me for life beyond my neighborhood.  I went through some tough times, a few encounters with subtle racism and smart remarks from both peers and professors, but it prepared me for the real world. I learned how to deal with complicated racial environments, how to behave when a person of a different race throws blows intended to evoke anger, and to accept cultural differences in people who don’t look like me. It wasn’t easy, but I survived at a predominantly white college, and it made me stronger.

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