Good Morning! Thank goodness it’s Friday. What are your plans for the holiday weekend? If you plan on hitting the road, expect to pay more for gas today than you would have yesterday. A new North Carolina state gas tax is going into effect. So, drivers will be paying two and a half cents more per gallon. For local fun around the Qcity including details on the first annual Hip Hop and R&B in the Park happening tomorrow at Marshall Park, check out the Qcitymetro events page. 

Today, the weatherman says we will see lots of sunshine and highs in the low 90’s. The weekend forecast calls for a mixture of sunshine and clouds on Saturday with a high of 94°. Sunday expect partly cloudy skies with highs in the mid 90’s. The 4th of July should be hot and partly cloudy with highs in the upper 90’s. Be safe and don’t forget your sunscreen.

Here’s what’s brewing this morning in the news:

Study on Black men in prison
The United States leads the world in rates of incarceration, and African Americans, particularly black males, are more likely to end up behind bars. Currently, there are more than 850,000 black men and women doing time in county jails and federal or state prisons across the country.

While high rates of incarceration continue to cause deeps wounds for the African-American community and severe ties in black families, research suggests that incarceration could have a positive life outcome for black men.

A study published by Vanderbilt University sociologist Evelyn Patterson in 2010 found that black men experienced lower mortality rates while incarcerated, while post-release mortality was high. The study also found that white men experience a higher mortality rate while incarcerated.

Patterson reports that inmates aged 15–64 years experience 19% lower mortality while incarcerated than members of general population in the same age group. Among blacks, mortality for prisoners is 43% lower than age-adjusted mortality for the general black population, according to a Bureau of Justice Statistics report.

According to the study, four causes of death (homicide, transportation, accidental poisoning, and suicide) accounted for 74% of the decreased mortality during incarceration, while 6 causes (human immunodeficiency virus infection, cancer, cirrhosis, homicide, transportation, and accidental poisoning) accounted for 62% of the excess mortality following release for black men.

Question: Why does it seem that health care for many black men in America is so poor that they actually get better care in prison?
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Is Eddie’s accuser a drug dealer?
Speaking of men behind bars, one of the four men who accused Bishop Eddie Long of sexual misconduct was arrested this week in Florida on suspicion of being a drug dealer. Jamal Parris, 24, was pulled over Tuesday evening after driving a white 2011 BMW in Miami Beach with no tags, reports the Atlanta Journal Constitution.

A Florida Highway Patrol officer searched the vehicle and said he found 181 grams of marijuana, which is worth about $1,000 on the street. He said he also found 50 clear plastic baggies and a Taurus semiautomatic handgun. Parris, he said, was also carrying $1,250 in cash. The arresting officer said the gear was "indicative of a drug dealer,"

Parris was arrested and jailed. He was charged with two felony counts: possession of marijuana with intent to distribute and possession of a firearm while committing a felony. He also was charged with operating a motor vehicle with no registration, a misdemeanor. The car was seized, and passenger Jeremy Jouvanni Gordon, 20, of Miami was also arrested.

The arresting officer told AJC that Parris kept telling him he bought that BMW with his settlement money! He also reportedly told the cop he'd been accepted to Miami-Dade College and said, ‘you guys are getting the wrong impression of me.'"

You think Creflo Dollar will preach a forgiveness sermon about this on Sunday?
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Officers on the wrong side of law
Sometimes officers end up behind bars too. Eight people, including four Fulton County jail officials, have been arrested in connection to an alleged drug scandal reports the Atlanta Journal Constitution. The men were implicated in various jail smuggling plots including attempts to bring marijuana, cocaine, cell phones and cigarettes into the jail for distribution among inmates, or to sell drugs outside the jail. One defendant is accused of accepting nearly $27,000 to arrange for four civilians dressed as Fulton County Sheriff’s Office employees to make cocaine deliveries outside of the jail. The suspects were unaware that the men they were doing business with were actually undercover FBI agents. (Read more here)

*** This is your chance to speak out. What's brewing on your mind this morning? Share your thoughts and opinions in the comments section below.

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