If you didn’t make it to this year’s Family Comedy Show, don’t worry! We have footage from the show here. Check out the video below:

The city of Durham will honor the life and achievements of Dr. King and other great African Americans this Saturday Feb. 4th at 12noon… with Grand Marshall Dr. Chuck Davis. 

The parade will begin at noon at W.G. Pearson elementary and continue to NCCU.  The Grand Marshall will be Dr. Chuck Davis, founder and artistic director of the African American Dance Ensemble.

The theme for the parade is: “I Still Have a Dream.”

A newly discovered letter from a freed former slave to his onetime master is creating a buzz. Letters of Note explains that in August of 1865, a Colonel P.H. Anderson of Big Spring, Tennessee wrote to his former slave Jourdan Anderson, requesting that Jourdan return to work on his farm.

In the time since escaping from slavery, Anderson had become emancipated, moved to Ohio where he found paid work and was now supporting his family. The letter turned up in the August 22 edition of the New York Daily Tribune. Some excerpts:

Sir: I got your letter, and was glad to find that you had not forgotten Jourdon, and that you wanted me to come back and live with you again, promising to do better for me than anybody else can. I have often felt uneasy about you. I thought the Yankees would have hung you long before this, for harboring Rebs they found at your house. I suppose they never heard about your going to Colonel Martin’s to kill the Union soldier that was left by his company in their stable. Although you shot at me twice before I left you, I did not want to hear of your being hurt, and am glad you are still living. It would do me good to go back to the dear old home again, and see Miss Mary and Miss Martha and Allen, Esther, Green, and Lee. Give my love to them all, and tell them I hope we will meet in the better world, if not in this. I would have gone back to see you all when I was working in the Nashville Hospital, but one of the neighbors told me that Henry intended to shoot me if he ever got a chance.

On the “good chance” offered by the former slave owner:

I want to know particularly what the good chance is you propose to give me. I am doing tolerably well here. I get twenty-five dollars a month, with victuals and clothing; have a comfortable home for Mandy,—the folks call her Mrs. Anderson,—and the children—Milly, Jane, and Grundy—go to school and are learning well. The teacher says Grundy has a head for a preacher. They go to Sunday school, and Mandy and me attend church regularly. We are kindly treated. Sometimes we overhear others saying, “Them colored people were slaves” down in Tennessee. The children feel hurt when they hear such remarks; but I tell them it was no disgrace in Tennessee to belong to Colonel Anderson. Many darkeys would have been proud, as I used to be, to call you master. Now if you will write and say what wages you will give me, I will be better able to decide whether it would be to my advantage to move back again.

And then Jourdan explains that anything his former master could offer, he’s already earned on his own. Other than some back wages:

As to my freedom, which you say I can have, there is nothing to be gained on that score, as I got my free papers in 1864 from the Provost-Marshal-General of the Department of Nashville. Mandy says she would be afraid to go back without some proof that you were disposed to treat us justly and kindly; and we have concluded to test your sincerity by asking you to send us our wages for the time we served you. This will make us forget and forgive old scores, and rely on your justice and friendship in the future. I served you faithfully for thirty-two years, and Mandy twenty years. At twenty-five dollars a month for me, and two dollars a week for Mandy, our earnings would amount to eleven thousand six hundred and eighty dollars. Add to this the interest for the time our wages have been kept back, and deduct what you paid for our clothing, and three doctor’s visits to me, and pulling a tooth for Mandy, and the balance will show what we are in justice entitled to. Please send the money by Adams’s Express, in care of V. Winters, Esq., Dayton, Ohio. If you fail to pay us for faithful labors in the past, we can have little faith in your promises in the future. We trust the good Maker has opened your eyes to the wrongs which you and your fathers have done to me and my fathers, in making us toil for you for generations without recompense. Here I draw my wages every Saturday night; but in Tennessee there was never any pay-day for the negroes any more than for the horses and cows. Surely there will be a day of reckoning for those who defraud the laborer of his hire.

And after a few more jabs about how his children are now happy and receiving an education, Jourdan concludes his letter with:
Say howdy to George Carter, and thank him for taking the pistol from you when you were shooting at me.

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Don Cornelius — who famously created “Soul Train” was found dead in his Sherman Oaks, CA home this morning … and law enforcement sources tell us it appears he committed suicide.

We’re told cops discovered the body at around 4 AM PT. Law enforcement sources tell us … Cornelius died from a gunshot wound to the head and officials believe the wound was self-inflicted.

We’re told Cornelius was taken to the hospital where he was pronounced dead.

“Soul Train” changed the landscape of television when it debuted in 1971 and ran until 2006.

Officials have notified Don’s family.

Cornelius was 75.

During Don’s bitter divorce proceedings in 2009, he told an L.A. judge he was suffering from “significant health issues” and wanted to “finalize this divorce before I die.”

The divorce was granted later that year.

Who growing up doesn’t remember the exiting words of Love, Peace and Soul!  The exiting words of the first host and creator of Soul Train has been silenced. 

As saved as we may be right now, many of us remember and grew up watching and dancing with Soul Train on Saturday mornings.  Now this morning California authorities are reporting the Don Cornelius was found dead in his Sherman Oaks, CA home from an apparent suicide. 

Reports say the body was discovered around 4am and Cornelius died from a gunshot wound to the head and believe it was self-inflicted.  Officials have notified the family and are awaiting more details. 

Cornelius was 75 and was the creator of “Soul Train” which debuted in 1971 and ran until 2006.

Judge Charles Anderson awarded four deferred prosecution verdicts and three prayers for judgment Monday for charges filed in the Nov. 13 occupation of the vacant car dealership building on Franklin Street in Chapel Hill.

One defendant – Kassandra Ofray, 21, of Pittsboro – did not appear in court to answer a breaking and entering charge. Her attorney, Daniel Hatley, said neither he nor her mother has had contact with her, and they have filed a missing persons report. Anderson issued a warrant for Ofray’s arrest and set bail at $200.

More than a dozen people filled two pews for the hearings, laughing at times in response to attorney questions or witness answers. A protest planned for outside the courthouse did not happen.

The brief building takeover has divided local residents. An internal review upheld the police raid as appropriate, but a town advisory group wants an outside investigator to help compile a factual timeline of events. The Chapel Hill Town Council was expected to vote on that Monday night.

In separate hearings Monday, defendants Ellen Crawford, 23, of Richmond, Va., Eva Jones, 22, of Chapel Hill, David Maliken, 24, of Carrboro and Monica Ganguly, 29, of Chapel Hill received deferred prosecution on a single charge each of misdemeanor breaking and entering. They did not have to admit guilt, and the charge will be dismissed if they are not charged or convicted of another crime over the next year.

Read more here:

“Over the past few days I have given serious consideration to a run for governor of North Carolina,” Foxx said in a statement. “Given the unusual circumstances and short time, such a run would have required more focus on a statewide campaign than on my young family and many local issues of importance to me and so many Charlotte residents. Therefore, I have decided to forgo a statewide race this election cycle, and will continue my efforts to build a brighter future for our city.”

Foxx is starting his second term as mayor. When Perdue announced last week she wouldn’t run again, Foxx said he would consider running. But the mayor has decided to stay in Charlotte, according to a source close to his campaign. The mayor is expected to make a formal announcement later today.

Foxx’s decision means there won’t be matchup between former Pat McCrory, the former Charlotte mayor, and Foxx. McCrory, a Republican, is considered a favorite for the Republican nomination.

Read more here:

U.S. agriculture officials confirmed last week what plants have been telling us for years: Winters aren’t as cold as they used to be. The temperature difference over the past two decades has caused a marked shift in this state’s winter-hardiness planting zones, the weather bands on a map that indicate where plants will grow.

According to a new zone map from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the zones have shifted by several counties in parts of the state, including a total reclassification of Johnston County from Zone 7 to Zone 8.

The difference is most noticeable along North Carolina’s southeastern rim, where the dividing line between those two zones has migrated more than a 100 miles, from the Atlantic coast as far inland as Charlotte.

If the trend continues, sometime in this century Raleigh will be reclassified into the same climate zone that today includes Dallas and Montgomery, Ala. Raleigh, technically in Subzone 7B, is now less than 1 degree away from being in Zone 8.

Read more here:

Officers watching for drivers who are texting, talking on the phone or just otherwise distracted.

The state Highway Patrol is conducting a special campaign to crack down on distracted drivers this week.  Troopers will be on interstates 95 , 85 and 40 in marked and unmarked vehicles.

Troopers are looking for drivers involved in activities that could take their attention away from the roads. 

Top 5 driving distractions are:

* texting
* cellphone
* changing the radio/mp3/CD player
* grooming (shaving/applying makeup)
* eating and drinking

source:  N&O

Scotty says the platinum certification marks a major milestone in his career. “It means the world to me,” he says. “It’s one of the highest honors you can get with your album and it’s a huge testament to the loyalty of country music fans and how great they have been to me this year. 2011 was absolutely an incredible, life-changing year for me. I want to say a huge thanks to the fans for this.”

Clear As Day debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard Top 200 and Top Country Albums charts, making him the youngest man in history to open at the top of the all-genre chart with a debut release. It also garnered the highest sales of any country solo album released last year. It held the No. 1 spot on the Billboard Top Country Albums chart for six weeks.

The album’s first single, “I Love You This Big,” has also been certified gold. His current single, “The Trouble With Girls,” is approaching gold status as well. The album, which was released Oct. 4, was certified gold for sales of 500,000 in November. The platinum certification followed about seven weeks later. “Never in a million years did I dream that the album would go platinum in three months,” he says. “Never in a million years did I dream that the album would go platinum. It’s wild! It’s going to take me a few months or years to really wrap my head around it.”

He is also grateful to be included in Billboard’s Dec. 17 year-end issue. In addition to being named No. 1 in its list of Top New Country Artists, he ranked No. 9 on its list of Top Country Albums Artists. Clear As Day ranked No. 12 on its list of Top Country Albums. He is No. 15 on Billboard’s Top Country Artists list. “That is a huge honor,” he says. “I’m honored to be included in that list of great artists.”

On Thursday, he began his first country music tour as he joined Brad Paisley’s “Virtual Reality Tour 2012” presented by Chevrolet. The tour, which also features the Band Perry, kicked off in Grand Rapids, Mich.
“I’m looking forward to having a great time,” he says. “It’s going to be a fun, jam-packed set. We are including a lot of the fun songs on the album, and both of the singles are in there. It will be a good chance to see the fans and just enjoy a good show with Brad Paisley and The Band Perry.”

He is well aware of Paisley’s reputation as a great prankster. “The band and I were talking about pranks yesterday in rehearsals. It has to be good pranks, but know-your-place pranks, so we are figuring out what we’ll have in store for Brad. But he has to get us first. We’ll wait!”

His second single, “The Trouble With Girls,” is about to break into the Top 20. “It’s great to see it doing well,” he says. “Still hearing it on the radio is something else, when you hear your voice coming across the other side of the stereo. It’s a pretty incredible feeling. I want to say a huge thanks to country radio for their support and for believing in me. I am looking forward to seeing them while on tour.”

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