A GOP-supported voter-ID law signed earlier this year by Republican Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett would disenfranchise up to 10 percent of the state’s voters, according to the Huffington Post. While supporters argued that it was a simple measure meant to combat voter fraud, figures released this week show that the law may affect more than…

Idlewild, Mich., once the go-to vacation spot for African Americans during the days of Jim Crow, is celebrating its centennial this summer and its place in American history, according to NPR. Tucked away in the Huron-Manistee National Forests, the small town became known as “Black Eden,” attracting big-name entertainers such as B.B. King, Della Reese,…

George Zimmerman was released from jail on Friday, a day after a Florida judge set a $1 million bond with new restrictions: Friday, July 6, 3:26 p.m. EDT: He had to post $100,000 bond to meet the requirement for release, CNN reports. Zimmerman’s bond set at $1 million; court says he has the funds to…

(The Root) — The other day, Ashake Banks was planning to go shopping for her 7-year-old daughter, Heaven. But it wasn’t the usual trip for dolls, stuffed animals or games; it was for a dress to bury her in. See, Heaven was killed when she was struck in the back on June 27 by a…

Former Liberian President Charles G. Taylor was sentenced to 50 years in prison on Wednesday for providing, in return for “blood diamonds,” arms and other supplies to rebels who committed war crimes in Sierra Leone during its civil war in the 1990s, according to the Washington Post. Taylor, who was sentenced in an international criminal…

According to the Washington Post, the June 5 recall election of embattled GOP Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker is more important than whether Democratic Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett will replace him. If Walker remains in office, it will be an important step toward keeping the state as a battleground in the fight to electing a Republican…

The Associated Press reports that Brian Banks, a former California high school football star, plans to file a claim against the government after his rape conviction was tossed out this week. But he does not have plans to sue the woman, who retracted the decade-old sexual assault accusation, his lawyer said. Banks spent five years…

According to Reuters, more than 1,000 protesters gathered in a small North Carolina town on Sunday to denounce a Baptist minister’s sermon from two weeks ago in which he called for gays and lesbians to be locked up behind an electrified fence: More than 1,000 people on Sunday protested a small-town North Carolina Baptist minister’s…

The White House released President Barack Obama’s Memorial Day proclamation, which included a prayer for peace, the Huffington Post reports. PRAYER FOR PEACE, MEMORIAL DAY 2012 BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA Our Nation endures and thrives because of the devotion of our men and women in uniform, who, from generation to…