Kentucky State University President Mary Sias says the school is trying to find funding to open a boarding school for Black males.

Sias told The State Journal of Frankfort that the proposal is part of an initiative to increase the number of Black men who earn college diplomas. She says high school students would live in campus dorms, have their own teachers and an on-site principal at the historically Black college in Frankfort.

The pilot program could start in the fall of 2010 if KSU receives enough federal and grant funding. Sias says there would be room for 30 to 50 high school students to participate.

The members of the Gate City Lodge No. 2 would like it known that Freemasonry, a centuries-old fraternal organization founded on the principles of the Enlightenment, is not racist.

In June, the Worshipful Master, or leader, of the Gate City Lodge was served with complaints from two other lodges, whose Worshipful Masters were upset that Gate City had admitted a “nonwhite man” to its ranks.

Although the rules of Freemasonry do not say that members must be white, and there are numerous Hispanics, Asians and other ethnicities represented in lodges across the state, the Grand Master of Georgia decreed that the complaints would be heard in a Masonic trial that could have resulted in expulsion of a lodge or members of it. In response, Gate City (the name is an old nickname for Atlanta) filed a lawsuit in state court seeking an injunction to prevent its charter from being revoked.

The “nonwhite man” whose presence had caused such a fuss is Victor Marshall, a shy, 26-year-old African-American Army reservist who has been eagerly studying the secret catechisms of the Masons for almost a year. Mr. Marshall, who has the Army rank of specialist, said he was attracted to the Masons because of the group’s spirit of volunteerism.

“I’ve been interested in the Freemasons for a very long time,” he said in an interview. “It took me a while to find my place and get up the courage to try and join.”

Mr. Marshall investigated historically black Masonic lodges, which are part of an entirely separate organization known as Prince Hall Masonry, but said he felt most at home at the Gate City Lodge, a predominantly white Masonic group where officers attend in tuxedos and regular members wear suits and ties. Recent Gate City programs have included talks by Hindu priests, a Mozart recital (the composer was a Mason) and a visit from an Auschwitz survivor.

After petitioning to join, Mr. Marshall moved up through the ranks, becoming a Master Mason, giving him the right to visit other lodges.

Mr. Marshall was actually the second black member of Gate City, said David Llewellyn, a member and lawyer who is representing the lodge. But he was the first to attract notice, when he and Masons from across the state attended the 275th anniversary of a lodge in Savannah.

“There were ill-informed brethren who were surprised that there was an African-American brother,” Mr. Llewellyn said, “and some of them were very upset.”

After questions were raised, the Grand Master, J. Edward Jennings Jr., sent out an e-mail message saying that Mr. Marshall was a legitimate Mason “and should be received as such.”

But Mr. Jennings then agreed to convene a court to hear the complaints against Gate City’s leader, Michael J. Bjelajac. Mr. Jennings has declined to comment, but some Masons have said that he was simply following the rules, while others have speculated that he wanted to have the matter settled in the open.

After The Atlanta Journal-Constitution wrote about the conflict on Tuesday, the internal complaints were dropped, but the lawsuit stands.

“What I hope to see out of this is a reaffirmation of our real principles,” Mr. Llewellyn said.

Freemasonry has traditionally been a tolerant and diverse fraternity that forbids discussion of politics, religion and other potentially divisive topics, said Christopher L. Hodapp, a 32nd-degree Mason and the author of “Freemasons for Dummies.”

Mr. Hodapp scoffed at the complaints against Gate City, which said in part that the lodge had violated the “ancient landmarks” and “immemorial usages” of Freemasonry.

The authors of the complaints, Douglas Hubert Ethridge, the Worshipful Master of the Metro Daylight Lodge No. 743 in Chamblee, and Starling A. Hicks, the Worshipful Master of the Philologia Lodge No. 178 in Conyers, both Atlanta suburbs, declined to comment. In court papers, Mr. Llewellyn wrote that when he called Mr. Etheridge to discuss the lawsuit, Mr. Etheridge said, “To hell with you, buddy,” and hung up.

Despite its principles of tolerance, Freemasonry in the United States has historically been divided between so-called mainstream Masons and traditionally black Prince Hall Masons. The mainstream Masons did not recognize the Prince Hall group until about 1990, when a thaw began in Connecticut and spread to all but 10 states, said Richard E. Fletcher, the executive secretary of the Masonic Service Association in Silver Spring, Md.

Mutual recognition does not alter the structure of either organization, each of which has a grand lodge in every state, but it does allow members to visit one another’s lodges. The main holdouts are the former Confederate states, including Georgia. Last year, a West Virginia Masonic leader was expelled for proposing to loosen the rules that kept the state’s mainstream chapters all white.

Five or six years ago, the Prince Hall Masons in Georgia approached the mainstream Masons about recognition, said Ramsey Davis Jr., Grand Master of the Prince Hall Grand Lodge in Riverdale, Ga. But the group was not interested, Mr. Davis said.

“There’s deep-rooted racism in the leadership,” he said. “I’ve had many calls from white Masons to say they cannot understand why things are this way.”

Mr. Marshall’s Masonic brethren have struggled to shield him from the ugly battle, a gesture he appreciates.

“If this would have come up before, it would have changed my views of Freemasons,” he said. “These individuals, they don’t speak for Freemasonry; they just speak for themselves.”

MBTA supervisor Andrea Gordon walked into a district office in Brookline last month and couldn't believe what she saw. She found something that raises serious questions about whether racism is alive and well at the transit agency.

She discovered a toy truck with plastic action figures of a gorilla and well-dressed black man in sunglasses sitting together in the back.

"It brought tears to my eyes. I was embarrassed, I was angry," Gordon said. "I couldn't believe that something that racially disturbing would be sitting on a desk that upwards of 300 people could walk into at any time."

Gordon, who is black, is a veteran MBTA employee and currently works on the Green Line. She discovered the toy on the desk of a fellow supervisor in early June.

"I didn't know if I should cry, scream or grab it," Gordon told Team 5 Investigates.

Instead, she snapped a picture using her cell phone and reported the discovery to her supervisors.

"There's a systemic problem with the racism on the MBTA," said Gordon.

"People still characterize us with animals and gorillas and it's sinful, it's shameful, it's an embarrassment."

According to Gordon and papers she filed against the agency, it's a direct violation of one of the MBTA's own rules.

The T's policy states: "The following are examples of conduct that may constitute prohibited discrimination: Ethnic, racial, religious, age, sexual orientation or gender based slurs, jokes caricatures, cartoons or graffiti."

Attorney Michelle Carnevale helped Gordon file the complaint against the agency.

"At a minimum, the person who had this on her desk should have been disciplined, at a minimum, taken off the payroll for some amount of time," Carnevale said. "But nothing has happened. Nothing."

They're not optimistic that anything will happen given the MBTA's history of civil rights complaints. Discrimination against its own employees has already cost the agency and taxpayers millions of dollars.

"I think it's going to get swept under the rug like everything else does," Carnevale said.

MBTA spokesman Joe Pesaturo declined Team 5's request for an interview. He said the agency will investigate the complaint.

Gordon filed that complaint a month ago and so far no disciplinary action has been taken.

"I just want justice. I just want to be treated like a citizen that I am," Gordon said.

An inmate in Merced said he broke another jailed man's jaw because he "disrespected Michael Jackson," officials said.

Deputies said Jeffrey Salery, 50, was in custody at John Latorraca Correctional Facility on narcotics charges when he assaulted the 21-year-old inmate.

It's unknown what the victim said about Jackson.

The 21-year-old was taken to a Modesto-area hospital for treatment of a broken jaw.

Salery will be charged with aggravated assault on another inmate, officials said.

The King of Pop died last week at 50.

June 29, 2009

Dear Debra Lee,

Sunday night’s BET Awards show was a disgrace. It’s sad and unfortunate that your network, owned by Viacom, continues to crank out mediocrity and perpetuate negative stereotypes of black men, women, and children. Although you likely received high ratings for the awards show, there is no honor in reinforcing the status quo’s opinion of black people. Your tribute to Michael Jackson and the overall show had its great moments, however, BET failed to deliver a solid, quality show. Rather than “raising the bar” and presenting African-Americans as a creative, proud, dignified people, BET lowered the bar for the entire world to see. The BET Awards drew a huge audience to watch a tribute to Michael Jackson, but left millions of viewers feeling disappointed, embarrassed, and reduced to classic stereotypes.

During the most blatantly sexist performances of the night, the executives at BET failed to act and display intelligence, courage, and leadership. Show executives watched, approved, and applauded as artists Lil’ Wayne, Drake, and Cash Money brought young, under-aged girls onto the stage to dance and serve as window dressing while they performed “Every Girl,” a song that reduces girls and women to sex objects. In a culture where one out of four girls and women are either raped or sexually assaulted – and where manipulative men routinely traffic vulnerable women into the sex industry – it is not okay that BET allowed this to happen. BET owes its entire audience – particularly girls and women around the world – an apology for its failure to intervene. BET should also take immediate steps to ensure that this kind of sexist performance does not happen again. Sunday night’s show epitomizes why so many black people worldwide are fed up with BET and feel strongly that your network inaccurately represents black men and women.

Please take my letter and criticism as one that represents millions.

Sincerely,
Byron Hurt
www.bhurt.com

Third Judicial District Administrative District Judge Juneal C. Kerrick announced today the selection of Dayo O. Onanubosi of Nampa as a Magistrate Judge for Canyon County.

Onanubosi is the first African-American judge in the 3rd Judicial District, district trial court administrator Dan Kessler said. He will fill a position left vacant in April when Bradly S. Ford was appointed as a District Judge for the 3rd Judicial District.

Onanubosi received both his undergraduate and law degrees from the University of Idaho. He was a deputy prosecuting attorney in Canyon County from January 1996 until May 1997. Since leaving his position as a deputy prosecuting attorney he has been employed with the Wiebe and Fouser law office in Caldwell as a deputy public defender. Onanubosi has maintained a civil and family law practice in addition to his public defender work.

Kerrick also announced today the selection of Brian D. Lee as a Magistrate Judge for Payette County. Lee and Onanubosi were selected from a field of 26 applicants at a meeting of the 3rd District Magistrates Commission in Caldwell Friday. Lee will fill a position to be left vacant by the retirement of William B. Dillon III on Sept. 30.

Texas death row inmate Rodney Reed lost another appeal before the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, which on Wednesdsay rejected his claims that new evidence pointed to another man as the killer of a 19-year-old woman in Bastrop County 13 years ago.

In a sixth petition to the state's highest criminal appeals court, Reed's lawyers argued they had evidence suggesting the boyfriend of Stacey Stites as the person who abducted, raped and murdered her.

Stites' fiance, Jimmy Fennell, is a former police officer who later was jailed for abducting and having improper sexual activity with a woman in his custody.

The court, however, said the information submitted by Reed failed to show innocence and failed to show that prosecutors withheld it.

"The allegations of Fennell's misconduct and domestic violence do not exonerate (Reed)," the court said in a brief decision. "The totality of the evidence before us still supports a guilty verdict."

The latest challenge cited Fennell's misconduct as he worked as a police officer in Georgetown and earlier in Giddings. It also pointed to a report of domestic violence from Fennell's ex-wife and an affidavit of a "possible sighting of the victim and (Reed) together," according to the court.

Reed, 41, has insisted he and Stites had a continuing secret affair even though Stites was engaged to soon marry Fennell when her body was found along a rural road after she failed to show up for work at a supermarket in Bastrop, southeast of Austin.

Reed is black and Stites was white and Reed's lawyers have described the racial aspects of the case as explosive. The also accused prosecutors of improperly withholding evidence. Prosecutors denied any wrongdoing and disputed the claims of a secret relationship between the victim and Reed.

Reed was arrested almost a year after the April 1996 slaying of Stites after his DNA surfaced in the investigation of an unrelated sexual assault case.

The court also turned down appeals in three other Texas death row cases, including a man whose death sentence for a murder in Smith County was thrown out by the court in 2005.

This time the court upheld the second death sentence for Gregory Russeau, 39, convicted of killing a 75-year-old auto mechanic during a robbery in Tyler. Attorneys for Russeau raised 17 claims of error from his second punishment trial, including insufficient evidence, improper psychiatric evidence, constitutional challenges and improper jury instructions.

The murdered man, James Syvertson, was found at his shop by his wife, daughter and grandchildren. His wallet and car were stolen. Russeau was arrested in Syvertson's car in Longview the day after the May 2001 murder. His palm print and hair were found at the auto shop. Russeau had a previous conviction for burglary.

His first death sentence was overturned after attorneys contended reports of his misbehavior while in prison improperly were presented to jurors when they were considering punishment.

In another case, the court refused an appeal for Chuong Duong Tong, condemned for the 1997 slaying of Houston police officer Coung Huy "Tony" Trinh, who was working off-duty at his family's convenience store when he was shot during a robbery. Tong, 32, is a refugee from Vietnam. He raised 12 claims challenging his conviction and sentence.

The court also refused an appeal from Patrick Murphy Jr., the last of the infamous "Texas 7" fugitives to receive the death penalty for the shooting death of an Irving police officer on Christmas Eve 2000. In his appeal, Murphy, 48, raised eight challenges to his conviction and sentence and all were rejected.

Murphy was serving 50 years for aggravated sexual assault when he and six other inmates broke out of the Connally Unit of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. About two weeks later, Officer Aubrey Hawkins was killed when he interrupted the escapees' robbery of an Irving sporting goods store.

Murphy and five of his companions were captured the following month in Colorado. The seventh fugitive killed himself as police moved in.

One of them, Michael Rodriguez, was executed last year. Murphy and the four others remain on death row.

Langdon Neal’s grandfather, Earl, aspired to be an attorney despite the fact that there were very few black lawyers in the 1930s.

“He went to law school at night and during the day he worked as a redcap in the train station in downtown Chicago,” Neal said.

But when he started his legal practice in 1938, almost no commercial buildings in the Loop would rent to black people. And since minority-owned law firms did not really exist, and most firms did not hire minority lawyers, he went out on his own as a solo practitioner. He started his practice above a storefront, and handled general legal services for those living on the South Side.

In the mid-1950s, Langdon Neal’s father and grandfather practiced law together. A client hired them to litigate a case in Lincoln, Ill. They traveled there to try the case, but they couldn’t find a hotel within 100 miles that would rent rooms to black people. They were forced to drive hours every day back and forth to the courtroom until the trial was over.

Fast-forward to 2009.

Discrimination may not generally be as overt today for minority lawyers as it was for Neal’s grandfather and father, but many minority lawyers still face ongoing struggles because of their race or ethnicity.

Minority-owned law firms give non-white lawyers a chance to practice law in a place that welcomes diversity and encourages the advancement of lawyers irrespective of their race or ethnicity.

These firms often act as training grounds for newer, diverse lawyers; while other, more senior minority lawyers start these firms so that they can own a business, and call the shots in their legal practice.

But these firms face challenges as they attempt to build their businesses in a world where it is still more common to work with a white lawyer.

Leaders from some of the local minority-owned law firms describe some of the challenges they’ve faced in building their careers and how they see diversity today.

“Minority lawyers always have to prove themselves, that they have the talents and abilities that the larger legal community possesses,” said Neal, managing partner and owner of Neal & Leroy, the law firm his grandfather started 71 years ago. “In many circumstances, minority lawyers are held to higher standards of excellence when they work for majority corporate clients. All those things present challenges in the everyday practice of law for minority lawyers.

“Each year that passes, I think the larger business community becomes more and more receptive to giving opportunities to lawyers irrespective of their race,” he said. “And so, each year that passes, there are more opportunities to represent a diverse client mix, and to establish yourself in the mainstream legal community.”

Setting goals

The first lawyer Manuel “Manny” Sanchez encountered was Perry Mason on Channel 9.

Despite being raised in a blue-collar family as the son of Mexican immigrants, when he saw Mason wearing a nice suit, acting in front of an audience called a jury, and winning every case, he knew he wanted to be a lawyer.

Sanchez’s dreams didn’t stop at practicing law. Twenty-two years ago he decided that he wanted to be one of the most “well-credentialed, well-thought-of Latino leaders.”

He said the post-Baby Boomer corporate leaders were beginning to understand the value of having strong relationships with Latino business leaders, and he saw the potential for a successful minority-owned business enterprise.

He founded in 1987 what is today Sanchez Daniels & Hoffman, a certified minority-owned law firm with 38 lawyers.

“I asked myself in 1987 who the 10 most prominent Hispanic leaders were,” Sanchez said. “I considered myself well-read in terms of ethnic magazines, and I started out naming quickly three people, but I couldn’t name five. … There was a dearth of Latino business leaders that were embraced by the general community. I saw this as an opportunity. I wanted to help fill that void.”

To reach this goal, he created a mission statement and business plan for the firm, and got into what he considered the most prestigious Chicago business organizations — The Executives’ Club of Chicago, The Economic Club of Chicago, and The Commercial Club of Chicago. Through those clubs he met more members of the business community.

“I’m thrilled to tell you that I made the right decision, and I look back on it with no regrets,” said 61-year-old Sanchez about becoming a lawyer. “Instead of looking to Perry Mason, there are Latino business leaders and lawyers like myself who [young people] can look up to today and view as role models.”

Diversity in the legal profession, he said, “is very, very, very slowly improving. There has been no remarkable enhancement in the last decade, but there is enhancement, albeit it’s at a very slow pace. That is particularly true among the top 100 law firms.”

A historical perspective

About 50 years ago, black lawyers’ access to the legal business was limited to representing poor and middle-class black people, said James D. Montgomery, Sr., head of the Chicago office of Cochran, Cherry, Givens, Smith & Montgomery.

Whenever a fairly wealthy black person needed a lawyer he went with a majority law firm, he said. Minority lawyers created “bread-and-butter practices,” handling areas like domestic violence and criminal defense. But that type of practice does not always financially sustain itself, he said.

“The first discrimination I described to you was the inability to get the kind of business you needed because people perceived you as inferior because of your race or ethnicity,” said 77-year-old Montgomery. “The perception among African-American people was that it was best to get a white lawyer because a white lawyer knows the judge.”

Majority law firms began to hire black lawyers in the ’80s when the city elected a black mayor. Many black-owned law firms started popping up, but they still had trouble maintaining a steady business, he said.

“Like everything else, it’s growing much too slow for my liking,” Montgomery said about diversity in the legal community. “Firms like mine have done well and survived. We’ve left the bread-and-butter law business and gone into handling major plaintiffs cases that involve death or serious injury.

“I’ve known for many years that it’s been a tougher road to hoe for me as an African-American lawyer,” he said. “I’ve had to do the kind of work to generate both a good reputation and some public attention, usually working for free. I would venture to say that over time in my career, I felt as an African-American lawyer I had to prove myself.”

While the judicial landscape has improved, with more non-white judges, the large law firms still do not do enough to improve diversity, Montgomery said.

Large law firms have a tendency to pick off the cream of the crop in black graduates from universities like Harvard, Yale, and the University of Chicago and pay them large salaries like everyone else, he said. But when it comes time for the partnership track, they fall by the wayside or become non-equity partners.

The legal community needs minority-owned law firms because they serve a segment of the population that’s not always represented, Montgomery said.

“I don’t think you can adequately serve the African-American community without having African-American law firms, because you are dealing with an impoverished community,” he said.

“You are dealing with people who would otherwise be under-served or un-served. Large law firms simply don’t deal with that level of business.”

Three men who were videotaped being beaten and kicked by Philadelphia police last year were found not guilty yesterday on charges of attempted murder, aggravated assault, and conspiracy.

Dwayne Dyches, 26, Brian Hall, 24, and Pete Hopkins, 20, were charged after a shoot-out in the city's Feltonville section wounded three people May 5, 2008.

The men led police on a 21/2-mile chase that ended when officers dragged them from Hall's Mercury Grand Marquis near Second and Pike Streets and beat them as a Fox29 helicopter captured the scene.

Police Commissioner Charles H. Ramsey called the beatings "a black eye" on the department. Four officers were fired and 12 others disciplined or demoted.

After the verdict, the packed courtroom in the Criminal Justice Center erupted with cheers and applause from the defendants' friends and family.

Hopkins' attorney, Mary T. Maran, and Hall's attorney, Evan Hughes, said they were considering a federal civil-rights suit against the city.

Jurors leaving the building said the videotape of the beating, played in court numerous times, had no influence on their decision. The beating occurred while police were conducting a citywide manhunt for the killer of Sgt. Stephen Liczbinski.

"We threw [the videotape] out right at the beginning because we didn't think it had anything to do with the shooting," said a 19-year-old juror, a student who did not want to be identified by name.

Another juror, a 38-year-old therapist, said testimony by an undercover narcotics officer, Carlos Buitrago, had inadvertently crippled the prosecution's case.

Buitrago, who was staking out Fourth and Annsbury Streets, was the lone witness to the shoot-out. The three victims said they had not seen who fired 15 shots at them.

Buitrago was heard on a tape describing the events. At one point, he said four men had gotten out of the defendants' car. In another instance, he mentioned two black males, one of them "probably the shooter," who fled down a nearby alley.

Buitrago's final report did not include those observations.

"It's not like we didn't believe him," the juror said. "It's just that his story kept changing."

In addition, the juror said Assistant District Attorney Carol Sweeney had failed to connect the gun to Hopkins, the alleged gunman.

When the pistol was found 25 days later, there were no fingerprints on it, and investigators could not retrieve any DNA evidence.

The jury, five men and seven women, deliberated for four hours, said the forewoman, a 34-year-old educator.

When asked about the chase, the forewoman said the three men most likely had been afraid they would be beaten if caught by police.

"And what they were scared of happened," she said.

The will and the wake.

Grauman's Chinese Theatre in Los Angeles is the scene of a makeshift Michael Jackson memorial Wednesday.

Amid the frenzy of confusing and conflicting information that has followed the death of Michael Jackson, Wednesday began with clarity on two fronts. The day ended, however, with more questions than answers.

A federal law enforcement official said Wednesday night that the Drug Enforcement Administration had joined Jackson's death investigation, once again fanning speculation that drugs may have been involved in the pop icon's passing.

Earlier in the day, the Jackson family said they would not hold a public or private viewing of his body at Neverland Ranch, as had been reported. They didn't indicate where else or when such a ceremony would be held.

And though Jackson's will, made public Wednesday, placed his entire estate in a family trust, the document that described the trust was not filed in Los Angeles Superior Court.

"He was such an enigma in life, why would we expect him to be anything different in death?" said Antoni Devon, a Jackson fan who huddled with other music lovers at a makeshift memorial for the singer outside Grauman's Chinese Theatre in Hollywood.

DEA joins investigation

Two law enforcement officials separately confirmed the DEA probe, saying agents would look at various doctors involved with Jackson, their practices and their possible sources of medicine supply.

Neither official wanted to be identified because they could not comment publicly on the matter.

Officially, a DEA spokeswoman referred questions to the Los Angeles, California, police department -- which would not confirm the involvement.

"We routinely offer assistance to any agency regarding the Federal Controlled Substance Act," said Sarah Pullen of the DEA. "However, at this time, we have nothing further to comment about the death of Michael Jackson."

Speculation about the role of drugs has been swirling since Jackson died on June 25 at his rented estate in Holmby Hills. The cause of his death, at age 50, was pending toxicology results.

On Wednesday, police released a car belonging to Jackson's cardiologist, Dr. Conrad Murray. They had impounded the vehicle Friday, saying it might contain evidence -- possibly prescription medications.

Police did not say whether they found anything.

Murray's lawyers issued a statement, asking the public to reserve judgment about the cause of death until the coroner's tests are complete.

"Based on our agreement with Los Angeles investigators, we are waiting on real information to come from viable sources like the Los Angeles medical examiner's office about the death of Michael Jackson," the statement said. "We will not be responding to rumors and innuendo."

The comments were in reaction to a claim by a nutritionist who said Jackson suffered from severe bouts of insomnia and pleaded for the powerful sedative, Propofol, despite knowing its harmful effects.

"I told him this medication is not safe," said Cherilyn Lee, a registered nurse. "He said, 'I just want to get some sleep. You don't understand. I just want to be able to be knocked out and go to sleep.'"

Will nominates Jackson's mother as kids' guardian

Meanwhile, details of Jackson's will -- written on July 7, 2002 -- showed that the singer estimated his estate to be worth at least $500 million.

In it, he nominated his mother, Katherine Jackson, as the guardian of his three children.

If his 79-year-old mother is not living, "I nominate Diana Ross as guardian," Jackson stated.

Singer Ross, 65, is a lifelong friend of Jackson's.

The will said Jackson "intentionally omitted" his former wife and the mother of his two oldest children, Debbie Rowe.

It will be up to a court to decide who gets custody of the children, ages 7, 11 and 12. Rowe has not publicly indicated whether she will challenge the Jacksons for custody.

The two men whom the will named as executors immediately filed a request to take control of the estate.

One is John Branca, who represented Jackson from 1980 until 2006 and was hired again before the singer's death. He helped acquire Jackson's music catalog, which is worth millions.

The other is music industry executive John McClain, a longtime Jackson friend who has worked with him and his sister Janet.

The men said in their filing in Los Angeles Superior Court that control of the estate would allow them to tend to Jackson's numerous outstanding debts, legal cases and business obligations.

Judge Mitchell Beckloff held an emergency hearing Wednesday morning and decided there was no urgency to replace Katherine Jackson -- whom he appointed temporary administrator earlier this week.

Another hearing has been set for Monday.

Fans crestfallen over viewing

Jackson's will did not specify where he wished to be buried.

Many of his fans had hoped they'd get a chance to pay last respects at Neverland Ranch, which Jackson purchased in 1987, filled with animals and amusement rides, and named after the fictional world in J.M. Barrie's "Peter Pan."

Planning had been under way for a motorcade to carry Jackson's body from Los Angeles to the ranch in Santa Barbara County, California, which state and local officials suggested would be difficult and costly.

A public viewing at the ranch on Friday also had been under consideration, law enforcement sources said.

But a spokesman for the family said Wednesday that no events were planned at the ranch.

"Plans are under way regarding a public memorial for Michael Jackson, and we will announce those plans shortly," said Ken Sunshine, whose public relations firm had just been hired by the Jackson family.

Despite the announcement, more than two dozen television satellite trucks lined the narrow two-lane road leading to the ranch.

For a time, the California Highway Patrol closed the road to clear up a small bottleneck and mess of cars created by Jackson fans and media traveling up and down.

Gregory Son, a 31-year-old musician, was among many fans who had planned to ride to the ranch to say goodbye to Jackson.

"I think he was a modern-day prophet," Son said outside Grauman's. "We kind of lost our father."

Next to him, 26-year-old Sean Vezina, wearing sunglasses and a fedora like Jackson's, stood silently. Vezina said he made his living as a Jackson impersonator, but was mourning too much to display any moves.

"It's too painful," he said. "It'll take awhile."

In the day's final development, a London woman filed a 93-page handwritten document in Los Angeles Superior Court claiming she was Jackson's secret wife and the mother of all three of his children.

In asking for all of Jackson's assets, the woman also added: "I have up to 30 children. My Father (Satan the Devil) Khalid Lucifer as he is known, gave them to us."

Wendy Duren thought she did everything right.

Wendy Duren says she doesn't get as much sleep but loves her adopted daughter, Madison.

She broke off relationships with men who didn't want to settle down. She refused to get pregnant out of wedlock. She prayed for a child.

Duren's yearning for motherhood was so palpable that her former fiancé once offered to father a child with her. But he warned her that he wasn't ready for marriage.

"I get bored in relationships after a couple of years," he told her, she recalls.

Those events could have caused some women to give up their dreams of motherhood. But Duren, a pharmaceutical saleswoman, didn't need a man to be a mom. At 37 years old, she decided to adopt.

"It's the best decision I could have made in my life," Duren says, two years later. She's now the mother of Madison, a 1-year-old daughter she raises in Canton, Ohio.

"People say I have never seen you so happy," she says, "but it's also the hardest thing I've ever done."

What's driving more single African-American women to adopt

Marriage and motherhood -- it's the dream that begins in childhood for many women. Yet more African-American women are deciding to adopt instead of waiting for a husband, says Mardie Caldwell, founder of Lifetime Adoption, an adoption referral and support group in Penn Valley, California.

"We're seeing more and more single African-American women who are not finding men," Caldwell says. "There's a lack of qualified black men to get into relationships with."

The numbers are grim. According to the 2006 U.S. Census Bureau's American Community Survey, 45 percent of African-American women have never been married, compared with 23 percent of white women. Sound Off: What are the biggest challenges for black families?

Yet the decision to adopt isn't just driven by the paucity of eligible African-American men, others say.

Toni Oliver, founder and CEO of Roots Adoption Agency in Atlanta, Georgia, says her agency sees more single African-American women adopting because of infertility issues.

Some of the infertility issues may be related to advancing age or health issues, she says. But the result of not being a mother for many older African-American women is the same: panic.

"Their doctors, friends and family are telling them the same thing: 'You're not getting younger; you better hurry up,' '' Oliver says.

The unfulfilled desire to be a mother can damage a woman emotionally, Oliver says. Her agency provides counseling to prospective mothers who have invested so much of their self-worth into being mothers.

"In many cases, it [the pressure to be a mother] begins to set up feelings of unworthiness, poor self-esteem and the feeling that 'I'm not fully a woman,' " Oliver says.

That pressure can cause some African-American women to rush into a marriage with a man they should not partner with, says Kenyatta Morrisey, a 34-year-old mother of three adopted children in Raleigh, North Carolina.

Morrisey wants to be married, but says she'd rather become a mother now and wait for God to guide her to the right man.

"I am not going to settle and get married just for the sake of being married," Morrisey says. "I'd rather trust God to fulfill all of my dreams instead of relying on a man to fulfill my dreams."

Some single African-American women deal with another challenge: criticism for bringing another African-American child into a single-parent household.

Kaydra Fleming, a 37-year-old social worker in Arlington, Texas, is the mother of Zoey, an adopted eight-month-old girl whose biological mother was young and poor.

"Zoey was going to be born to a single black mother anyway," Fleming says. "At least she's being raised by a single black parent who was ready financially and emotionally to take care of her."

Yet there are some single African-American women who are not emotionally ready to adopt an African-American child who is too dark, some adoption agency officials say.

Fair-skinned or biracial children stand a better chance of being adopted by single black women than darker-skinned children, some adoption officials say.

"They'll say, 'I want a baby to look like a Snickers bar, not dark chocolate,' " Caldwell, founder of Lifetime Adoption, says about some prospective parents.

"I had a family who turned a baby down because it was too dark," she says. "They said the baby wouldn't look good in family photographs."

'You have so much love to give'

Skin tone didn't matter to Duren, the pharmaceutical saleswoman. She says she just wanted a child to love.

She was so natural with children that all of her friends predicted that she would be the first to marry, she says. But adoption was "never an option" for her.

"I wanted my genes, my looks to be passed on," Duren says. "I wanted to see me."

The African-American men she dated, however, didn't want to marry, she says. She dated African-American professionals: engineers, attorneys and managers. But there were so many eligible African-American women, and they still wanted to play, she says.

Time was running out for her. At 37 years old, Duren had earned an MBA degree, a six-figure income and had traveled widely. But she couldn't find the right man to raise a family.

One man she thought she would marry broke off their relationship because he said he wasn't ready to be a father. Then he had a child out of wedlock with another woman, she says.

"He broke my heart," Duren says.

The persistent heartache ate away at her.

"I was struggling," Duren says. "I prayed: 'You know Lord, I worked so hard. I have my integrity, morals -- how did this happen?' ''

A turning point came when she was playing with her niece and nephews. Her brother, their father, asked her why she didn't adopt a child when there were so many black children who needed adopting.

"You have so much love to give," he told Duren.

Duren didn't have an answer. She then went online and learned about Lifetime Adoption, the agency based in California. The agency referred her to a married woman who already had five children, but says she couldn't afford to take care of another.

The woman put her through an interview process. She asked about her family history; how she would discipline her child; and what she would do if her baby woke up screaming in the middle of the night.

The woman eventually picked Duren. When the woman gave birth, she invited her to the hospital and handed Duren her daughter.

The adoption process -- from the beginning to receiving her child -- took eight months, Duren says. It cost about $15,000.

"It was so smooth," she says of the adoption process.

What single moms lose and what they gain

The adoption process will go smoothly if a prospective mother prepares well, Caldwell says.

Two brothers died from gunshot wounds overnight in the middle of a street in front of a former Biddeford mayoral candidate's house, police said. Five hours later, SWAT officers took the former candidate into custody after a standoff.

Police charge Rory Holland, 55, in the shooting deaths of two brothers in Biddeford.

Maine Department of Public Safety spokesman Steve McCausland said police charged Rory Holland, 55, with two counts of murder. Residents who live in the community described Holland as "an intimidator" who has terrorized the neighborhood for years from his South Street home that neighbors said he called "Fort Rory," News 8's Jim Keithley reported.

"Shoot him, kill him," witnesses screamed as SWAT officers received Holland dressed in a three-piece suit and fedora after the standoff ended, News 8 video showed.

At about 1:30 a.m. Tuesday, Biddeford police were called to Holland's house on South Street, where police said Holland barricaded himself inside for five hours before surrendering at about 6:15 a.m. He's expected to be arraigned in York County Superior Court in Alfred on Wednesday morning.

Biddeford police are called to Rory Holland's house on South Street in Biddeford, where two brothers lie bleeding from gunshot wounds, police say.

Keithley reported that officers wearing hazardous materials suits and equipped with metal detectors executed a search warrant to see what Holland kept inside his house.

Brothers Shot In Street

According to the medical examiner's office, Gage Greene, 19, died from a gunshot wound to the chest, and his brother, Derek Greene, 21, died from multiple gunshot wounds. Police said Holland first shot Gage Greene before shooting Derek Greene three times in the chest and torso.

Derek Greene lived with Wendy Foster up the street from where he died.

"I got up here, walked around the corner and there was Gage laying there with a hole in his chest, and then I looked across the street and there's his brother," she said. "I just couldn't look no more. I had to go."

The medical examiner's office says Derek Greene, 21, was shot three times in the chest and torso.

A friend of the brothers, Elijah Copeland, heard the shots and came down on his bicycle.

"I got one brother here bleeding and another brother over there bleeding, I was just stuck. I didn't know which way to go, but Derek was closer to me. I tended to him," Copeland said.

According friends, tensions between Holland and Derek Greene were building since last month, when, friends said, Holland tried to grope Greene.

"That happened right outside here and in front of a lot of people. That's when Derek hit him. Cops got involved, arrested Rory, then Derek hit him, unarrested (sic) Rory and arrested Derek," said Dana Foster, a witness.

Derek Greene was charged with simple assault in the incident and was told to stay at least 100 feet away from Holland.

Holland's History Of Trouble Follows Him To Maine

Holland has a long history of trouble in Biddeford and beyond. Before moving to Maine, Holland had a long arrest record in his home state of Kansas, where he was convicted of attempted murder and assault.

Before moving to Maine, Holland was convicted of attempted murder after, police said, he tried to flush his baby daughter down the toilet.

"I got up here, walked around the corner and there was Gage laying there with a hole in his chest, and then I looked across the street and there's his brother. I just couldn't look no more. I had to go."

In the early 1990s, Holland was convicted of assault in Portland. In 1999, he went on trial for making threats and assaulting one of his tenants but a jury acquitted him.

Later that year, Holland ran for mayor of Biddeford. Just before Election Day, racist graffiti was painted on his fence and police caught three people wearing white hoods in front of his house. Holland ended up losing the election.

An arrest has been made in the 2008 slaying death of a North Carolina A&T student.

The Greensboro Police Department said Wednesday that U.S. marshals arrested Jaguar Emanuel Wright, 24, in Springfield, Mass.

Wright will be charged in connection with the death of Derek Carl Eaddy Hodge II, 21, who was found shot to death in his home on Kaye Street in April, 2008.

Greensboro police said they contacted U.S. marshals with information that eventually led to the arrest.

Police said they think Hodge walked in on a burglary-in-progress when the shooting happened.

Several rewards had been offered for information in the case that led to an arrest, including $10,000 from the state, $2,000 from Crimestoppers and $3,000 from Hodge's family.

State Department of Corrections records show Wright was convicted in 2006 on assault charges.