Their No. 1 hit has become the first song to reach the 6 million mark in digital downloads.

The milestone was announced Friday and confirmed by Nielsen SoundScan. For the group's leader, will.i.am, the moment is about much more than the song.

"We came out in '98 and our career, if you would look at it on chart, there's no dips in it," he said in a phone interview Thursday. "For our career to still be healthy and vibrant and doing things like 6 million downloads, it's pretty significant."

It's also significant, he said, in a time when illegal downloading is the norm.

"That means that they chose to support the group, support the art," he said. "God knows how many people listened to it online and didn't buy it, downloaded it for free and didn't think about it."

The upbeat song about good vibes was No. 1 for 14 weeks; will.i.am said the reason it was so successful was because it gave people hope in a downward time.

"It's a positive, feel-good song at the time where there's question marks and uncertainty. People want to be reminded that it's going to be all right," he said.

The song was one of the hits from the group's multiplatinum "The E.N.D.," which was released last year. Although it is still on the charts, will.i.am said a new album, "The Beginning," is almost finished and likely due at the end of the year.

"It symbolizes growth, new beginnings and starts, fresh new perspective," he said.
___

Copyright 2010 The Associated Press.

She says past incidents make it a tough sell, things like the Tuskegee Syphilis Study, where government researchers experimented on 399 black men from 1932 to 1972.

They never gave the men the treatment they needed and many ended up dying.

"The other one is fear and distrust over the whole medical establishment and a lot of things have happened over the years, including Tuskegee where African Americans were not informed of their rights," Swain said.

Swain says treatments need to be tested on a variety of people because diseases like cancer effect everyone differently.

"For example, African-American women have a much higher incidence of triple negative breast cancer and that is a form of breast cancer that's very aggressive," Swain said.

Washington Hospital Center's initiative is part of a federal grant.

The program is creating a video to educate patients on the benefits of clinical trials.

They hope this will better inform people.

But off the beaten path, there is another art scene -- one where many up-and-coming artists are thriving...just waiting to make it big.

Take, for example, Art Crawl. Located in the Harlem section of Manhattan, Art Crawl is a guided tour of local and less mainstream exhibits throughout the city.

Just a few blocks further uptown, tourists who visit Sir Shadow may be in for a surprise. Sir Shadow, known by locals as the man who empowers through art, creates drawings without lifting the pen from the page.

Just over the bridge in long Island City, Queens, artist Rashaad Newsome is breaking cultural barriers with his shade composition film exhibit at PS1 Gallery.

The film highlights women's use of head gestures to get messages across.

So when seeking out new and cutting edge art, sometimes you have to look beyond the mainstream venues.

Police had said the case appeared to be a murder-suicide, but it wasn't clear until Thursday who killed the family members inside their Staten Island home.

The fire was briefly believed to be accidental before it became a homicide investigation.

One of the children who died, a 14-year-old boy named C.J., had been found with a razor under his body and had a history of starting fires. But the medical examiner's office on Thursday ruled the boy's death a homicide and said mother Leisa James' death was a suicide, clearing up remaining questions on who was responsible. The deaths of the other three children also were ruled homicides.

It still wasn't clear how the July 22 fire was started, but fire investigators say it was deliberately set.

Firefighters found the charred bodies of Jones and her two daughters, 7-year-old Melonie and 10-year-old Brittney, in a front room. C.J. was found slumped over a bed in a back bedroom. Police said later that day that the throats of the two girls and C.J. had been slashed.

Jones' 2-year-old son, Jermaine, was pulled out alive but died at a hospital of smoke inhalation. His throat was not cut.

Given the razor under C.J.'s body and his history of playing with fire, it was theorized that he might have killed his family, set the blaze and cut his own throat.

But an initial round of autopsies found that Jones and C.J. both had ingested some type of drug, according to two law enforcement officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to give out medical information.

Also, a badly damaged note with the words "am sorry" was found in an another room, and investigators concluded it was written by Jones. It remained unclear whether it was a suicide note, but that discovery -- combined with the initial drug evidence -- led to suspicions she killed her children.

The pills didn't contribute to their deaths. C.J. died from his neck wound, said Ellen Borakove, spokeswoman for the city medical examiner's office.

Copyright 2010 The Associated Press.

"Everything happened fast. I'm still absorbing this," Mostafa Mohammad said more than 24 hours later. "Nothing like this has ever happened to me before."

It was around 5:20 p.m. Tuesday when a man walked into the Cricket Wireless store.

Surveillance video shows the man looking at a wall of phones and then showing a weapon as he moves behind the counter.

"He showed me the gun, and asked me to give him everything in the register," Mohammad recalled.

A few feet away, a woman standing at a register pulls out a phone, and thinking she was calling the police, the robber points the gun at her and in the direction of Mohammad's co-worker and her young daughter.

That's when Mohammed sprang into action, grabbing the gun.

The gun fired and put a hole in the counter.

A bullet grazed his co-worker and narrowly missed the young girl.

"He pointed the gun at them, right in my face, so it was just a split-second decision I made," Mohammad said.

The two men fell to the floor and fought for control of the gun.

Mohammad said the man told him during the struggle that he was going to kill him.

Seconds later, Mohammad got the upper hand.

"I was just trying to keep everybody safe. I didn't want anybody to be hurt," he said.

Despite his best effort to hold the robber, Mohammad said the man ran off seconds later.

"I don't shoot people. I'm not a violent person. Especially considering the way Palestinians are portrayed in the news, I wanted to be an example of non-violence," he said.

Mohammad said he's a former youth organizer who cares about his community and wants to see it improve.

Calumet Area detectives are investigating, but no one is in custody.

The robber made off with $83, a store employee said.

Whether it's dealing with property taxes or renewing your driver's license. But the next time you call, be prepared for this.

"Hello, hello, hello."

"It's not the same traditional boring message," Anne Gannon said.

Palm Beach County tax collector Anne Gannon wanted to try something new.

Surveys showed callers to the office were not happy.

"They waited too long on phone before they could get to the department or person they wanted to talk to," Gannon said.

So the phone maze has been reduced from a thick binder to a one-sheet diagram as part of what the agency calls its' "Ungovernment Experience".

"You might be pleasantly surprised to find out the tax collector's fancy new message didn't cost taxpayers one additional cent," Jon Shainman said.

That's because of Darlene Spence. The 25-year veteran of the office carries quite a tune.

She and a colleague were tasked with creating a new greeting, and one day she freestyled the vocals.

"So I figure if I mix the singing with the talking, we'd still keep it professional and fun," Spence said.

As for the man whose voice graced the office phone line for decades and who helped Spence produce the new greeting, he holds no grudges.

"I don't feel displaced or anything. We're in an era of change and change is good," David Brady said.

In this era of change, you might not have to always go to an agency office. Sometimes, you can do things online.

"Please log onto our website at www.taxcollectorpbc.com," Spence said.

"What does she expect to get out of it?" asked Drew Watkins, of Turner Sports in Atlanta, Ga. "I'd have to know what she's going to get out of it to know if it's a good idea or not."

Sherrod was the center of a political and racial firestorm this month when Breitbart released a heavily edited speech she made before an NAACP audience several months earlier that appeared to be racist. Sherrod was forced to resign from her position in the Agriculture Department, was condemned by the NAACP and said she has received hate mail and harassing calls in the scandal's wake.

Sherrod announced Thursday of her intent to file the lawsuit during a talk at the National Association of Black Journalists Convention at the Hyatt Manchester Hotel in San Diego.

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"I will definitely do it," she said of pursuing a suit, but did not say whether she would sue the government, Breitbart, or others involved in the incident.

Sherrod also blasted Fox News for its initial reporting of the out-of-context speech, and said she will never speak to the news entity.

"I will not give Fox an interview--period," she said. "They had a chance to get the truth out."

Michael McCarter, director of visuals for the Cincinnati Enquirer, said the entire debacle should never have happened, but questioned whether a lawsuit was the answer.

"I don't think that anybody ever wins in the long-term when you start litigating issues like this," he said. "I guess it's a little naïve to hope that we could ever sit down as one big happy family and work through these issues."

"But at the same time," McCarter added, "I do understand the position in needing to see if there is anything, based on what happened to her, that she could do to make sure it doesn't happen to others."

Christina Cobb, who sat in on the Sherrod's talk and works with APCO Worldwide, a public relations firm based in Washington D.C., said while she thinks that it may be difficult for Sherrod to win a lawsuit, the legal action would raise important questions about the blogosphere, people's ability to "make" their own news, and how that can impact other people's lives.

"I wish her the best," she said, "and I think in the future, there will be a lot more conversations had about how blogs and online news are affecting the world."

Damaso Reyes, freelance reporter for the New York Amsterdam News, said although it's unclear who Sherrod plans to sue, she has been treated poorly by both the government and the media.

"I don't think a lawsuit is going to change anything or make people feel better," he said, " but I think she is still looking for resolution on an emotional level. And I don't blame her at all. I would feel very ill-used."

The allegations -- which include failure to report rental income from vacation property in the Dominican Republic or more than $600,000 in other income on his congressional financial disclosure statements -- came as lawyers for Rangel and the House ethics committee worked on a plea deal.

One was struck, people familiar with the talks said, but Republicans indicated it might be too late.

"Mr. Rangel was given multiple opportunities to settle this matter. Instead, he chose to move forward to the public trial phase," said Rep. Jo Bonner of Alabama, the senior Republican on the ethics panel.

The alleged violations of House standards of conduct also include using congressional letterhead to solicit donations for a center for public service to bear Rangel's name on the New York campus of the City College of New York.

Rangel was also accused of accepting a rent-stabilized property in Manhattan for his campaign office and initially not paying federal taxes on the Dominican Republic property.

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The charges, agreed upon after a two-year probe, were read in a public session of the Committee on Standards of Official Conduct, as the ethics committee is formally known.

Rangel, 80, did not attend.

The session set the stage for a committee trial, expected to be held in September. Democrats had hoped to avoid such a public confrontation as November elections approach.

"We live at a time when public skepticism about the institutions in our country is very high," said Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif., the ethics committee chair.

She said it had been the panel's goal "to by our actions rebuild and earn trust by the public and our colleagues."

Republicans have been trying to turn the case into an indictment of Democratic leadership. Rangel stepped down earlier this year as chairman of the tax-writing House Ways and Means Committee, one of the top posts in the House.

But Bonner told colleagues, "No one, regardless of their partisan stripes, should rejoice."

"It is the duty of the House to punish its members for disorderly behavior. As such, this is truly a sad day," the Alabama Republican said.

Under the tentative plea deal, it was not immediately clear how many of the 13 charges of ethical violations Rangel agreed to accept.

The ethics panel that will judge Rangel's conduct held its first meeting Thursday.

It includes eight members, equally divided between Democrats and Republicans. Thus, for any deal to be accepted it must be approved by at least one Republican.

In the frantic hours leading up to the meeting, Rangel's lawyer, Leslie Kiernan, talked to attorneys for the panel about how to avoid a trial for the 40-year veteran.

Rep. Michael McCaul of Texas, the top Republican on the panel that will try Rangel, said that the Democrat had been "given the opportunity to negotiate a settlement during the investigation phase."

However, he said, that phase is now over. "We are now in the trial phase," he said.

A congressional trial could be avoided only if Rangel admitted to substantial violations, or resigned.

Punishment could range from a report criticizing his conduct to a reprimand or censure by the House, or a vote to expel him -- which is highly unlikely. Any agreement would have to be approved by Rangel and ethics committee members.

"Sixty years ago I survived a Chinese attack in North Korea and as a result I haven't had a bad day since," Rangel told reporters earlier Thursday. "But today I have to reassess that statement."

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was asked if she was worried about the potential election-year fallout for Democrats. "The chips will have to fall where they may politically," she said. Pursuing ethics cases against House members is "a serious responsibility that we have," she added.

"I think everyone is looking forward to getting all the facts out in the open, and people will have to react once we know what we're dealing with," said Rep. Mike Quigley, D-Ill.

Rangel is tied for fourth in House seniority. He's still vigorous at 80 years old.

He had substantial influence as Ways and Means chairman. The panel handles taxes, trade, portions of health care, Medicare and Social Security.

But he stepped down from that post in March after the ethics committee criticized him in a separate case, saying he should have known that corporate money paid for two trips to Caribbean conferences.

Rangel had repeatedly said he looked forward to a public discussion of the current allegations. A four-member investigating panel, with separate members from the judging subcommittee, brought the charges.

The 42-member Congressional Black Caucus has warned Democrats against a rush to judgment, and any lawmaker with a significant African-American constituency must consider whether it's worth asking Rangel to quit.

However, some Democratic House members in close races may think it's more important to distance themselves from Rangel. They don't want to have to answer negative Republican ads about Pelosi's promise to wipe Congress clean of ethical misdeeds.

Two Democrats didn't wait to hear the charges.

Rep. Betty Sutton of Ohio, a second-term lawmaker who received 65 percent of the vote two years ago, said Rangel needs to resign to preserve the public's trust in Congress.

Rep. Walt Minnick of Idaho, a freshman who got 51 percent of the vote last time, called for resignation if the charges are proven.

Congress adjourns for its August recess after this week.

___

Associated Press writers Ann Sanner and Alex Brandon contributed to this report.

Copyright 2010 The Associated Press.

In a telephone call from a southwest Virginia prison, Malvo told Shatner two men planned to join in the attacks to make them more deadly but reneged. Malvo said his fellow shooter, John Allen Muhammad, killed one of the men in retaliation. Malvo did not identify them in the interview for a show on the cable channel A&E.

Malvo's revelations came in response to questions about claims by a psychiatrist that the duo had co-conspirators. The psychiatrist, Neil Blumberg, who worked with Malvo before his trial, also said Malvo had confessed to more shootings in addition to the spree that terrorized the Washington region in 2002, when 13 people were hit and 10 of them died.

An FBI spokeswoman declined to comment Thursday on the claims. Malvo's lawyer during his trial, Timothy Sullivan, did not immediately return a call.

In the TV interview, Malvo initially denies his psychiatrist's claims that he and Muhammad had co-conspirators. Once pressured, he says someone in Arizona helped them get weapons and explosives, and a man in New York was supposed to help them get out of the country "when it's all said and done."

He said both later backed out of plans to help with the shootings.

"There was supposed to be three to four snipers with silenced weapons," said Malvo, who was 17 at the time of the shootings. "In this way we could do a lot more damage along the entire Eastern Seaboard."

Blumberg said Malvo told him Muhammad made him shoot two of the co-conspirators once they backed out of the plan. Malvo told Shatner only one of the men was killed, and that Muhammad did it.

Blumberg also said Malvo told him there was a third co-conspirator who was supposed to have joined them in Washington but did not. Malvo does not mention that person during the interview with Shatner.

The one-hour "Confessions of the DC Sniper with William Shatner: An Aftermath Special" premieres at 10 p.m. Thursday on A&E.

Previously, Malvo and Muhammad had been linked to as many as 27 shootings resulting in 17 deaths in 10 states and the District of Columbia.

Blumberg told the show Malvo had confessed to him to at least 42 shootings. When Shatner asked about the number of shootings, Malvo rattles off states where he claims he and Muhammad shot people but doesn't give an exact number.

Malvo's statements have been inconsistent in the past, and authorities have cast doubt on some of his reported confessions since he was sentenced to life in prison. Muhammad was executed in Virginia last year.

The sniper-style attacks all but paralyzed the nation's capital, as people were shot at random while going about their everyday life -- pumping gas, buying groceries, and for one young boy, as he went to school. The shooters used a high-powered rifle, firing from the trunk of a modified Chevy Caprice until they were tracked down at a Maryland rest stop.

Authorities involved with the massive hunt and prosecution of the pair are reluctant to say how many shootings they may have been involved in as they drove across the country to the nation's capital.

Before Muhammad was executed last November, the prosecutor who put him on death row said it may be impossible to ever know how many were killed. Malvo has only confessed to authorities in jurisdictions that promised not to prosecute him.

"I don't know that you can trust anything Malvo says," Prince William Commonwealth's Attorney Paul Ebert said.

Speaking on ABC's "Good Morning America" on Thursday, Shatner said he was fascinated by Malvo's turnabout, "the fact that remorse creeps into his life."

"He was a kid who was brainwashed. He was a malleable teenager and lacking love in his life," Shatner said. "John Muhammad supplies the love and influences him to become a killer, and he becomes a cold-blooded killer at the age of 17. Now he's in jail and now he begins the turmoil in his mind."

Malvo, now 25, said he has forgiven Muhammad, who at trial he accused of turning him into a "monster."

"This is going to be surprising, but I've had to forgive him in the same way in which I've had to, over time, gradually forgive myself," Malvo said. "...Every day I get up, somebody's wife, child, husband is not going to come home tonight. There is nothing that I can say or ever do that will ever change that fact.

"That is my constant reminder. Someone else cannot breathe for you. You can allow someone else to think for you, and when you do these are the consequences."

Malvo, who lives in segregation at a maximum security prison, said he is filled with "hope and dread" for his future.

"It's a little bit of both," he said. "It's hope and dread because everything has to be repaid."

Copyright 2010 The Associated Press.

While Stella Obadiya of Hugo was taking her two children to Valley Fair she accidentally pulled onto the shoulder of the interstate to exit. When she tried to go back into traffic, she couldn't get the car to slow down. She hoped the fence would stop her, but it didn't. The car sped down the embankment into the pond.

"They were urging me, 'mom, let's get out of here, let's get out of here.' so I was like, 'they will come, they will come.'"

Stella, a registered nurse, called 9-1-1 and began praying with the children.

Shortly after making the call, Don Machacek arrived on the scene.

"I jumped out of my truck and there they were. Jumped over two fences, got down to the edge of the water and I seen three sets of eyes looking out of the back window of the vehicle."

Don got the door open and moved them to away as more water poured into the sinking sedan, and yet after all this, he remained matter-of-fact about it.

"Instincts just took over. And, okay, they're still in the car. I got to go in. Nobody else is here so I got to do it, so, I did."

Don works for Mn-dot's freeway incident response safety team, commonly known as the Highway Helpers. But on this day, he became Angel Don.

The woman was apparently sleeping under a blanket on the grass when the police cruiser crushed her.

She's identified as 48-year-old Joann Burton. Her family doesn't know how long she had been sleeping in the park but says the bad economy had been tough on her.

A group has already held a prayer vigil in the park.

The Hamilton County coroner's office will perform an autopsy on Burton to determine what caused her death.

Police identified the officer driving the cruiser as Marty Polk. Polk has been placed on leave pending the investigation.

Officials say it is not standard protocol to drive on the grass in the park but that is is also not unusual for officers to do that.

Find out what the guys had to say this week on the Barbershop Buzz.

He joined Twitter on Wednesday, one day after going to the offices of Facebook, in Palo Alto, Calif., to preview some of his new material.

Videos of him rapping a cappella while standing on a conference table have been posted on YouTube. On his website afterward, West posted a letter to Facebook, thanking the staff for their support: "Your energy was a gift so electric, so genuine, that it really helped me give my best."

WATCH A VIDEO OF KANYE PERFORMING AT FACEBOOK HERE:

An e-mail request for comment from Facebook was not immediately returned.

West's new as-of-yet untitled album is expected to be released Sept. 14.

Copyright 2010 The Associated Press.

"We have an obligation to lift up every child in every school in this country, especially those who are starting out furthest behind," Obama told the centennial convention of the National Urban League.

The Urban League has been a vocal critic of Obama's education policies, most notably the $4.35 billion "Race to the Top" program that awards grants to states based on their plans for innovative education reforms. A report released earlier this week by eight civil rights groups, including the Urban League, says federal data shows that just 3 percent of the nation's black students and less than 1 percent of Latino students are affected by the first round of the administration's "Race to the Top" competition.

Obama pushed back Thursday, arguing that minority students are the ones who have been hurt the most by the status quo.

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Obama's reforms have also drawn criticism from education advocates, including prominent teachers' unions like the American Federation of Teachers, who have argued that the reforms set unfair standards for teacher performance.

Obama said the goal isn't to fire or admonish teachers, but to create a culture of accountability. He pinned some of the criticism on a resistance to change.

"We get comfortable with the status quo even when the status quo isn't good," he said. "When you try to shake things up, sometimes people aren't happy."

Obama laid the groundwork for what he called "an honest conversation" about education with comments on several recent developments that were designed as sweeteners for his mostly minority audience.

For instance, he said his goal with his domestic agenda, including the economy, health care and other priorities, is to create "an economy that lifts all Americans -- not just some, but all." That comment earned him significant applause and pleased murmurs in the room.

The president also said he very much looks forward to signing a bill recently passed by Congress to reduce the disparities between mandatory crack and powder cocaine sentences. The matter has been a longtime thorn for the black community, as the quarter-century-old law that Congress changed has subjected tens of thousands of blacks to long prison terms for crack cocaine convictions while giving far more lenient treatment to those, mainly whites, caught with the powder form of the drug.

"We got it done," Obama said. "It's the right thing to do."

And he forthrightly addressed the racial firestorm over the recent ouster of a black Agriculture Department official. He said the forced resignation of Shirley Sherrod "marked both the challenges we face and the progress we've made."

"She deserves better than what happened last week," Obama said.

Copyright 2010 The Associated Press.