Editor’s note: The Root has not been able to independently confirm that any researchers coined the term “hood disease.” The CBS station in San Francisco that originally reported this story has removed references to “hood disease” from its online report. It has been widely reported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and others…

The 82-year-old police commissioner who was overheard calling President Obama the N-word and would later refuse to apologize citing that the president meets all of his criteria for being called such, has resigned amid heavy political pressure and national outrage, The Washington Post reports. Police officials confirmed to the Post that Robert Copeland turned in…

According to a new documentary set to air on the BBC, Nat King Cole’s white Hollywood neighbors terrorized the singer and his family with racist and hate-filled acts, including killing their dog and burning the n-word onto their lawn, The Independent reports. Nat King Cole: Afraid of the Dark reveals the hostility that the Cole…

After a bit of a scandal that involved a keynote speaker invite and a rescinding of said invitation, paralyzed football player Eric LeGrand delivered an impassioned commencement speech to his fellow Rutgers graduates Sunday, the Associated Press reports. LeGrand, who suffered an injury during a 2010 game that left him paralyzed, took to Twitter a…

Rihanna’s wristband caused a chain reaction that raised over $80,000 for the Los Angeles Police Department. Last week at a Los Angeles Clippers game, the pop princess, who was wearing an LAPD wristband, just happened to be seated next to Los Angeles Police Commission President Steve Soboroff, who of course wanted to take a selfie…

A Michigan man savagely beaten by five men after he accidentally struck a 10-year-old boy with his truck has been released from the hospital some six weeks after the attack, the New York Daily News reports. Steven Utash, a tree trimmer, was driving in Detroit on April 2 when a 10-year-old boy slipped from the…

A Maryland man who took his unresponsive 3-year-old son to the hospital earlier this year is now in custody on first-degree child-abuse and manslaughter charges, WUSA-9 reports. Police believe that Thomas Everett Holland, 38, gave the child lethal amounts of cocaine, acetaminophen and codeine after autopsy and toxicology reports showed that the child could not have…

A mother whose 5-year-old son was shot in the arm during a Mother’s Day shootout in the Richmond, Va., project where they live told NBC 12 that she would rather be homeless than move back there with her child. Tiara Saunders has only been home to the Whitcomb Court housing projects once, to gather clothes…

Florida State quarterback Jameis Winston didn’t protest when he was caught stealing more than $30 worth of crab legs from a Florida grocery store, and now the video shows why. Security-camera footage from the Publix supermarket, released Thursday by the Leon County Sheriff’s Office in Tallahassee, Fla., shows exactly what happened that day in April…

Looks like Donald Sterling will not go quietly into the night, since the embattled Los Angeles Clippers owner is refusing to pay the $2.5 million that he has been fined, and his newly hired attorney has sent a letter to the NBA threatening to sue, ESPN.com reports. According to SI.com, Sterling’s lawyer, Max Blecher, sent…