Check out the highlights from the show, the hot red carpet photos and some after party pics from the event here.

VIDEO: Mo’Nique Wins Best Supporting Actress Oscar

Actress, comedienne and TV host Mo’Nique won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in “Precious.”

She beat out Vera Farmiga, Anna Kendrick, Maggie Gyllenhaal and Penelope Cruz, as she did at the Golden Globes.

“I would like to thank the Academy for proving that it can be about the performance and not the politics, ” she said at the podium before thanking the cast and her husband. “To my amazing husband, Sidney — thank you for showing me that sometimes you have to forego doing what’s popular, in order to do what’s right.”

This was Mo’Nique’s first Oscar nomination and she joins a small sorority of Black women who have won Oscars. Hattie McDaniel claimed best supporting actress in 1939’s “Gone with the Wind,” Whoopi Goldberg won best supporting actress for 1990’s “Ghost,” Halle Berry took best actress for 2001’s “Monster’s Ball” and Jennifer Hudson got best supporting actress for 2006’s “Dreamgirls.”

VIA: MrWorldPremiere

Should Mo’Nique Win An Oscar For Precious?

Bad Meaning Good: Top 10 Black Movie Villains

]]> http://mypraiseatl.com/videos/darlenemccoy/video-mo%e2%80%99nique-wins-best-supporting-actress-oscar/feed/ 0 http://mypraiseatl.com/photos/darlenemccoy/michael-winans-jr-accused-of-ponzi-scheme-in-michigan/ http://mypraiseatl.com/photos/darlenemccoy/michael-winans-jr-accused-of-ponzi-scheme-in-michigan/#comments Fri, 05 Mar 2010 18:00:09 +0000 Darlene McCoy http://mypraiseatl.com/?p=97641

The Detroit Free Press is reporting that hundreds of investors in the Detroit area and elsewhere in Michigan lost as much as $11 million to a Ponzi scheme involving a Saudi Arabian crude oil bond scam connected to Michael Winans Jr., according to state regulators.

The Office of Financial and Insurance Regulation said that it has determined that Winans Jr. was the ringleader of a multilevel scheme that used the family name and connections in the Detroit religious community to prey on church members.

State regulators said that pastor Michael Winans Sr. also may have been one of the promoters.

OFIR found that Winans Jr., his subordinates Desmond Weems, Latonya Garth and Michael Winans Sr., and a number of related business entities violated the state’s Uniform Securities Act and the agency ordered them to cease and desist from the sale of unregistered securities products.

OFIR determined the individuals were not licensed to sell securities products in Michigan and the products sold were not registered with the state.

“We believe that the Winans family Ponzi scheme ran its course at the end of 2008,” said OFIR Commissioner Ken Ross in a conference call this morning.

Yesterday, just days before the Oscars, ESSENCE magazine honored the best and brightest of Black Women in Hollywood. They asked the ladies to come together to celebrate the legendary achievements of some of the greatest American actresses of our times.

They honored:

Hollywood royalty Cicely Tyson with the Legend Award

Break-out star Gabourey Sidibe with the Best Breakthrough Performance

Versatile A-Lister Queen Latifah with the Power Award

Tinseltown darling Zoe Saldana with the Star to Watch Award

and Hip-Hop turned starlet, Mary J. Blige with the Songstress of the Year Award.

The guest list was hefty, too–think Jada Pinkett-Smith, Taraji P. Henson, Joy Bryant, Nia Long, Anika Noni Rose and Paula Patton, to name a few…

Check out the stars below:

RELATED:

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Author Terry McMillan is planning on releasing a sequel to her 1992 novel “Waiting To Exhale.”

“Getting to Happy,” the long-awaited sequel to McMillan’s 1992 hit book, comes a whole 15 years later and will feature all of the original characters made famous by Whitney Houston and Angela Bassett in the 1995 film adaptation of the same name.

We don’t know if a movie adaptation will follow, but check out the trailer to the original “Waiting To Exhale” below:

Source

According to the AJC, about a quarter of DeKalb County’s residents went uncounted in the last census, causing the county to lose about $41 million in federal funding, County Commissioner Connie Stokes announced Wednesday.

“That’s not good enough because that means dollars are left on the table,” DeKalb CEO Burrell Ellis said Wednesday.

That money could have went to transit, roads, healthcare, schools, parks and public safety, Ellis said.

With an anticipated $100 million deficit, DeKalb is pushing to ensure every resident is counted during this year’s census. The new census figures will be used to determine where $400 billion in federal funding will be spent across the nation and DeKalb wants part of that money, said Stokes, chair of the county’s census committee.

Read the full story here.

]]> http://mypraiseatl.com/photos/darlenemccoy/low-census-count-cost-dekalb-41-million/feed/ 0 http://mypraiseatl.com/videos/darlenemccoy/video-seek-first-the-kingdom-makes-a-splash-with-free-mixtape/ http://mypraiseatl.com/videos/darlenemccoy/video-seek-first-the-kingdom-makes-a-splash-with-free-mixtape/#comments Thu, 04 Mar 2010 14:00:58 +0000 Darlene McCoy http://mypraiseatl.com/?p=97301

VIA: Elev8.com

Could Seek First The Kingdom be the outfit that picks up where Cross Movement left off? While reminiscent of a new incarnation of The Roots, SFK has a refreshing vibe that crosses hip-hop, ministry, and musicianship to great effect on their new mixtape The Upper Room.

Sometimes their sound is vintage and lo-fi. Sometimes it’s progressive and edgy.

The group is making a smart play offering Upper Room for free download on their website. Here, SFK presents 9 tracks of well-crafted hip-hop that pulls more of its strength from passion for Christ and real music than swag and typical posturing wordplay. The set opens with “Selftitled” which appropriately details why one should follow Matthew 6 and seek the kingdom first.

“Let Go” is a relaxing, warm midtempo number with a thumpy bassline. The San Diego, CA natives continue in a neo-soul vein and take advantage of local talent by inviting Tonéx (and his alter ego T. Bizzy) to contribute to the funky, disjointed “Dance.”

The star player on this set is the celebratory “Liberty City.” Brassy rap verses are sandwiched between a homespun horn section worth throwing your fist in the air, and a gritty funk bassline that could light up a sidewalk. It’s an undeniable feel good track.

Read the full story here.

Download The Upper Room Mixtape here!

“Liberty City” by Seek First The Kingdom:

The best leave-in conditioner for your hair is nothing other than laundry room fabric softener. It’s very strong, so be sure to dilute it. Suggestions: 1 cup water, 1/2 cup fabric softener.

VIA: AJC.com

Evelyn Lowery had to chuckle when she fielded yet another phone call from someone wondering why her 88-year-old husband, who just got out of the hospital two weeks ago for a blood clot, didn’t show up to speak at a GABEO event 78 miles away in Athens.

“He just got out of the hospital,” Evelyn Lowery said about her husband, the Rev. Joseph E. Lowery. “We want him to rest.”

The Rev. Lowery was listed as a luncheon speaker at the annual winter conference of the Georgia Association of Black Elected Officials in Athens.

Rep. Tyrone Brooks (D-Atlanta), the head of the organization, said Lowery has spoken at the event for the past 17 years.

Brooks said that Lowery has a standing — but informal — invitation to speak at GABEO anytime he wants to.

“He is certainly not a stranger to us,” Brooks said, adding however that he had not talked to Lowery in more than two months. “He was kidding me about an honorarium for speaking.”

But Evelyn Lowery said her husband never officially confirmed that he was ever going to speak at the convention — and if he had confirmed, he wasn’t going anyway.

“He is missing a lot of things,” she said. “I have canceled all of his events for this month. We are having some private time to recuperate.”

Lowery, a civil rights icon and Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient, was admitted into Emory University Hospital Midtown in late January for a blood clot in his lung. He was released from the hospital on Feb. 13.

Mrs. Lowery said her husband is doing well. She said he has been relaxing and walking around the house. Even his sense of humor is intact.

“Well, he is doing the best he can on that one,” Mrs. Lowery said.

So well that Mrs. Lowery is planning her annual SCLC/Women Heritage Tour through Alabama this weekend.

The tours, a mainstay since 1987, carry hundreds of people through the state to visit significant sites from the civil rights era, as well as to see the memorial monuments that SCLC/Women have put up to honor civil rights heroes.

And no, her husband will not be joining her on the trip.

Read the full story here.

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VIA: WHIO-TV.com

The national board of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference has called a meeting Saturday to consider removing Rev. Raleigh Trammell of Dayton, Ohio from the board.

Dr. Arthur Rocker, a national board member, said the group will meet in Atlanta and take a vote on Trammell’s removal. The move follows allegations of misuse of S.C.L.C. funds that prompted an internal investigation. Rocker and others had attempted to remove Trammell earlier, but litigation by Trammell supporters stopped it temporarily.

Trammell also faces mounting questions from authorities in Montgomery County for use of public money. County authorities have launched a probe to determine what happened to county funds that were given to the local chapter of the S.C.L.C.

Funding for several social service projects operated by the S.C.L.C. was terminated when government agencies found financial records were missing or incomplete. A safe house for battered women was supposed to be in operation, but the county and state discovered it had closed months ago.

RELATED:

FBI Interviews SCLC Officials In Atlanta

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SCLC Internal Battle Heats Up

CNN is reporting that Golfer Tiger Woods is back at his Isleworth, Florida, home after a week of family counseling, a person with knowledge of his schedule told the network.

The person, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the athlete returned from Arizona, and is now working on getting back into a routine of golfing and working out.

Although Woods, who has taken an indefinite break from professional golf, has been hitting golf balls near his home, the person would not say what kind of timetable there was for him to return to competition.

Woods apologized last month in a tightly controlled televised statement for his “irresponsible and selfish” behavior, which he said included infidelity.

In his remarks, he left open the possibility of returning to professional golf this year.

The February 19 statement was Woods’ first public appearance since he crashed his Cadillac Escalade into a fire hydrant and then a tree near his home in November.

After the early-morning crash, infidelity allegations began to emerge about the golfer, who is married to Elin Nordegren. The couple has two children.

Woods said in February that answers about whether he and his wife will remain together are between a husband and a wife, emphasizing the privacy for which he was known before November.

Woods’ wife was not among about 40 people who sat at the TPC Sawgrass clubhouse in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, to listen to the golfer’s apology.

“As Elin pointed out to me, my real apology to her will not come in the form of words, it will come from my behavior over time,” he said then. “We have a lot to discuss. However, what we say to each other will remain between the two of us.”

RELATED:

Tiger Woods: “I Had Affairs, I Cheated”

VIA: Singersroom.com

Grammy Award winning Gospel recording star Karen Clark Sheard graces the cover of the new issue of EEW Magazine.

Saying she’s always been the “shy” one and “baby girl of the family,” Clark Sheard tells the magazine that she is looking forward to her first album under a joint venture with EMI, titled Karew Records, and setting the record straight on just who she is.

“First of all, I’m the baby girl of the family and that has a lot to do with it, because everybody fought for me,” says Sheard. “I had big sisters that spoke up for me.”

Due in stores April 6, Sheard says “All In One” (the album) takes on the many hats she wears including mother, First Lady and businesswoman.

“This record is gonna talk about who I am,” Clark Sheard tells Empowering Everyday Women, “and all of the hats that I wear. I’m a First Lady, a wife, a mother, and I’m a business woman… so it’s just all about the people knowing me.”

For more of Clark Sheard’s exclusive interview with EEW, visit eewmagazine.com.

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VIA: USA Today

Leaders from the largest black Methodist churches have gathered in Columbia, South Carolina to seek solutions to the problems plaguing many young African Americans.

The event, which is being called the Great Gathering, is the first time these three denominations will jointly meet.

Participating churches are:

• African Methodist Episcopal (AME)
• African Methodist Episcopal Zion (AMEZ)
• Christian Methodist Episcopal (CME)

The bishops organizing the summit, which takes place today through Wednesday (March 1-3) at the Carolina Coliseum in Columbia, say they will address issues including incarceration, drug abuse, unemployment and high school dropout rates that disproportionately affect blacks.

Those invited include not only the ministers and 5 million members of the three denominations but also politicians, educators, and others interested in these social issues.

Big-name speakers include several prominent black thinkers and activists:

• Cornel West, a Princeton professor and expert on racial justice
• Marian Wright Edelman, founder and president of the Children’s Defense Fund
• Rev. Charley Hames Jr., pastor of the rapidly growing Bebe Memorial Cathedral in Oakland, California

“We have invited some of the best minds around the country and we do feel that they are going to be helpful to espouse many of these issues,” says senior Bishop George Walker of the AMEZ Church.

The three days will also include prayer, discussion and musical performances.

Rev. Staccato Powel, pastor at Grace AME Zion Church in Raleigh, N.C., and the chair and coordinator of the gathering, says:

We want to come out of this meeting with an initiative focused on the plight of African American males being caught up in the judicial system as well as having more of them matriculate through higher education. We feel our collective voices will really affect the issue, because when people of faith speak we have the voice of God behind us.

The event began with the three senior bishops, John Bryant of the AME Church, William Graves of the CME Church, and Walker of the AMEZ Church, who decided that the three denominations face many of the same issues within the African-American community and could better address them collectively. Says Walker:

We are hopeful that whatever comes out of Columbia will speak loudly not only to the administration but to America and it really is our intent to make a very bold statement to America to call its attention to many of the atrocities that our people are faced with, especially the African American male.

VIA: Elev8.com

The greats of the gospel music world came out in full force for the 25th Annual Stellar Music Awards, which aired Sunday, February 28 on the Gospel Music Channel.

Check out some photos from the red carpet and behind the scenes at the 2010 Stellar Music Awards.