Natasha Stewart, 40, told a jury she was only trying to help someone who felt insecure about her body. But prosecutors said her so-called help led to a woman’s death. Stewart, of suburban Memphis, Tenn., was found guilty of culpable negligence manslaughter Friday by a jury in Jackson, Miss., the Associated Press reports. The verdict…

A foundation to oversee the competitive process to select President Barack Obama’s library and museum was launched Friday, the Chicago Sun-Times reports. A site could be selected as soon as 2015. Contenders are said to include land in Hawaii, the tropical paradise of the president’s boyhood, and Chicago, where he came of age politically. Obama’s…

Kanye West appears to be off the hook for now. The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office rejected a battery case against the rapper because he had reached a civil settlement with the alleged 18-year-old victim and there were no significant injuries documented after the altercation, the Associated Press reports. The incident occurred on Jan.…

President Barack Obama released a proclamation Friday, declaring February Black History Month, saying, “Through centuries of struggle, and through the toil of generations, African Americans have claimed rights long denied.” The proclamation, released by the White House, urges all people of the U.S. to observe the month with appropriate programs, ceremonies, and activities. “During National…

R&B crooner Usher flew to Panama in an effort to have a sit-down with imperiled pop star Justin Bieber, TMZ reports. The 19-year-old singer’s mother, Pattie Mallette, his manager, Scooter Braun, and close friends Ryan Good and Ryan Butler were also reportedly on hand in Nitro City, a resort in Punta Chame, Panama, the report…

Ride Along cruised to the No. 1 spot at the box office for the second weekend in a row, earning $21.2 million and leaving its competitors the dust, the Daily News reported Sunday. The Universal Pictures buddy comedy, co-starring Kevin Hart and Ice Cube, zoomed past the week’s lone new release, the monster thriller I,…

A social media contractor is said to be out of a job after an offensive flowchart appeared briefly Friday on the website of the Iowa Republican Party, the Daily Beast reports. A.J. Spiker, the party’s chairman, told the Daily Beast in a statement that the contractor responsible for posting the flowchart, “Is Someone a Racist?”…

Here we go again. A school district in Washington state has suspended an elementary school principal after a group of fifth-graders claimed that she used the n-word during play rehearsal last week. Poulsbo Elementary School Principal Claudia Alves has been placed on a leave of absence while the district investigates the incident, North Kitsap County…