• Hip-Hop Artists React to News of ESPN's Stuart Scott's Passing Via Twitter

    The relationship between competitive sports and hip-hop is an inspiring and important one. With many athletes looking to performing artists for motivational soundtracks to their daily workouts and hip-hop artists supporting athletes just the same, both teams were affected by today's news that ESPN sports anchor Stuart Scott has died after battling cancer.ESPN reported that the beloved anchor has lost his battle with cancer at age 49.Stuart Scott was known for interjecting elements of hip-hop culture into his reporting, such as coining hip catchphrases such as "Cooler than the other side of the pillow," and "Boo-Yah," to name a couple, to an audience hungry for journalists mixing it up in their reporting.As ESPN President John Skipper said, Scott spoke to athletes with a flair that "changed everything."The reporter was an inspiration for many beyond the realms of sports reporting and was known for pushing the envelope in everything he did.Stuart Scott worked at ESPN for 21 years, and in July accepted the Jimmy V Award for Perseverance, stating, "When you die, it does not mean that you lose to cancer. You beat cancer by how you live, why you live and in the manner in which you live."Clearly an inspiration to many. Check out what some members of the hip-hop community are saying on Twitter after hearing the news:

  • Melissa Rivers's Biggest Holiday Wish Is for Her Son to Laugh Again

    These last four months have no doubt been at times unbearable for Melissa Rivers and her son Cooper. The untimely death of Joan Rivers in early September has been a devastating blow for the tight-knit family, and while Melissa is starting to step out in public again, that does not mean things are back to normal either for her or Cooper.TMZ caught up with the late comedienne's daughter last week and asked her about her holiday wish, and Melissa said her fondest Christmas wish would be for her son to begin laughing again. While she said she believes 2015 will have great things in store for them, it seems it may be awhile before they are feeling somewhat back to normal.Even if Melissa and Cooper have adjusted to not having Joan as a prominent part of their daily lives, there is still a legal battle ahead. It seems many mistakes were made by the staff of the Yorkville Endoscopy Clinic, from administering too much propofol to Joan to ignoring the fact that her vitals had dropped for an extended period of time, and Melissa has every intention of holding them accountable.

  • Sydney Gunman Man Haron Monis Was Well-Known by Police But Not on Any Terror Watch List

    Just one day after a hostage situation at a Lindt Chocolate Cafe in Sydney, Australia's financial district ended with three dead after law enforcement stormed in, the country is left to ponder how something so sinister could have even played out there. We now know that Man Haron Monis was the 50-year-old gunman who fancied himself a sheikh with a personal agenda, but what is not clear is how he was free in the first place.Monis had a long history of brushes with the law and he was charged with everything from sexual assault to sending hate mail to the families of fallen Australian solders who died in Afghanistan. Perhaps the most horrific thing he had been charged with before yesterday was being an accessory to his former wife's murder.Apparently, Monis's latest girlfriend stabbed his ex and then set her on fire and he was actually out on bail for his part in the crime when he decided to take 17 hostages yesterday morning and demand that a flag of ISIS be brought to him.Sydney locals's shock morphed into anger when they realized that not only did their own law enforcement seem to drop the ball with Monis, but even with his outward love of Muslim extremist behavior he actually was not on any kind of terror watch list. This fact has left Prime Minister Tony Abbott deeply disturbed.

  • Sydney Police Move in to Rescue Hostages Held in Café by Man Haron Monis, a Self-Styled Iranian Sheikh with Ties to ISIS

    It appears that a 15-hour standoff between a lone gunman and police has come to an end. Man Haron Monis, a self-styled Iranian sheikh, has been identified as the man who walked into a busy chocolate café in Sydney, Australia's financial district and took a number of hostages, according to AOL. The situation remains fluid, but as of now we know police stormed the cafe and, while gunshots rang out, at least some hostages were able to escape to safety.Monis already has an illustrious criminal record with various charges of sexual assault, and he also has been arrested for sending hate mail to families of Australian soldiers who have died in Afghanistan. Monis is currently free on bail after being considered an accessory to murder after his alleged girlfriend was killed and he then set his wife on fire.After taking several people hostage earlier today, said ABC News, Monis encouraged them to use social media to get his wish for an ISIS flag and a conversation with Australian political figures across to everyone listening. At times the hostages were seen pushed up against the plate-glass windows and Monis could be seen pacing wildly. After about 11 hours in captivity, five hostages were able to make a run for safety and, upon realizing it, Monis reportedly became more unstable, leading police to start to formulate their plan to go in after him.

  • Sierra Leone Cancels Public Christmas and New Year's Celebrations to Curtail the Ebola Virus

    Only about 10 percent of all people who are living in Sierra Leone are Christians who will be celebrating this holiday season, but the government has already put necessary restrictions on the festivities due to the continuing Ebola outbreak. Sierra Leone is now the hardest-hit country, surpassing the illness and death that even Liberia has seen, and its leaders are scrambling to find ways to keep Ebola from spreading. That has led them to determine that public Christmas and New Year's celebrations are now banned.People are now forbidden from gathering in groups to celebrate as they normally would. Military personnel will once again take to the streets to make sure that groups of revelers are not gathering together, which would basically intensify the risk of spreading the virus to each other. This is just one more way the everyday lives of the people of West Africa have been disrupted by this epidemic.As of Dec. 10, Sierra Leone had recorded 8,000 cases of Ebola and nearly 1,900 deaths. In West Africa as a whole, more than 18,000 people have been infected, resulting in more than 6,500 deaths. Those numbers are pretty harrowing, but the truth is many at the World Health Organization feared they would be far higher by now.

  • Kelly Osbourne Is Furious that Kathy Griffin Is Replacing Joan Rivers on 'Fashion Police'

    Kelly Osbourne was not exactly best friends with Joan Rivers — in fact, the two actually clashed quite a bit — but that does not mean Osbourne did not have respect for her "Fashion Police" costar. In fact, when she found out that Melissa Rivers has handpicked Kathy Griffin to replace Joan on "Fashion Police," Osbourne made her dissatisfaction abundantly clear to everyone within earshot.According to a report by Radar Online, Osbourne also flipped when she found out what Griffin's starting salary on the show will be. Apparently, it is considerably more than what Osbourne started out with, and that is just one more reason for her to be ticked off. It is not like Griffin and Osbourne have ever seen eye to eye anyway, but these issues are only adding fuel to the fire.

  • Jeanine Pirro of Fox News Claims that 'Minority Communities' Need to Be More Sensitive Toward the Police

    Fox News often finds itself under fire for the stance that the network appears to take on hot-button issues, and right now nothing is more volatile than the tension between police and their handling of the black community. Last night, Jeanine Pirro decided to ask for viewer feedback on whether or not police should be more careful in the way they deal with incidences occurring in black communities and the response was quite unified.In between people stating the obvious — that if you are not breaking the law then you are less likely to find yourself tangled in any sort of altercation — there was also the thinking that communities need to be more mindful of the police. Pirro backed up that notion and, interestingly enough, it Is a sentiment that even New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio has echoed.Basically, the thinking is that there is a rift, and in order to fix it both sides need to take steps toward meeting in the middle. He also admitted last week, shortly after it was announced that NYPD Officer Daniel Pantaleo would not be indicted in the chokehold death of Eric Garner, that his own biracial son has been directed on how to carry himself if he should be stopped by a police officer.

  • Melissa Rivers Emerges from Mourning Her Mothers' Death and Appears to Have Had Some Work Done on Her Face

    In the three months since Joan Rivers untimely death, her daughter, Melissa Rivers has barely been seen in public. The 46-year old mother of one was absolutely gutted by the loss of her mother and while she has tried to put one foot in front of the other, her social media accounts reflect the fact that she is still buried in grief. Melissa did step out on Friday to attend the 2014 NASCAR Sprint Cup Awards in Vegas and it was kind of hard to ignore the fact that she looks different.

  • 23-Year-Old Woman Dies Aboard United Airlines Flight 115 from London to Newark Airport

    Travelers on a United Airlines flight from London's Heathrow Airport were faced with an in-flight medical crisis last night, Dec. 1, while en-route to Newark Liberty Airport in New Jersey. Apparently, a 23-year-old woman became unconscious on Flight 115 and attempts to resuscitate her were unsuccessful. A doctor on board was unable to save the woman, who was traveling alone.The woman, who was pronounced dead at around 8:30 p.m., has yet to be identified. Police and a medical examiner greeted the plane, which landed at 9:45 p.m. and, while no official cause of death has been given, Port Authority officials claim that she appears to have died of natural causes. According to the "Daily Mail," the woman had pre-existing medical problems, but as of now no one is confirming what they may be.

  • Melissa Rivers is Hosting Thanksgiving Dinner in Honor of Her Mother in NYC

    Melissa Rivers has been working hard to move on from the untimely death of her beloved mother, Joan Rivers, back in September. We now know that the circumstances surrounding the comedienne's death were likely due to mistakes made by the healthcare professionals that she was trusting, and that Melissa has already hired a bulldog law firm to insist on some level of legal accountability. This is one of Melissa's top priorities right now but she also realizes that life must go on so she's going to celebrate Thanksgiving exactly as Joan would have.

  • Diane Sawyer's Famed Oscar-Winning Director Husband Mike Nichols Has Died

    Sad news this morning as we have learned that Mike Nichols, one of the all-time greats of American filmmaking, has died at the age of 83. Nichols, who directed films such as "The Graduate," "Primary Colors" and "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?," was married to ABC news anchor Diane Sawyer. It was the head of ABC News, Jeff Goldston, who broke the news this morning in a staff note that read:"I am writing with the very sad news that Diane's husband, the incomparable Mike Nichols, passed away suddenly on Wednesday evening. In a triumphant career that spanned over six decades, Mike created some of the most iconic works of American film, television and theater — an astonishing canon ranging from "The Graduate," "Working Girl" and "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" to "Closer," "Charlie Wilson's War," "Annie," "Spamalot," "The Birdcage" and "Angels in America." He was a true visionary, winning the highest honors in the arts for his work as a director, writer, producer and comic and was one of a tiny few to win the EGOT — an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar and a Tony."

  • Dr. Martin Salia Dies of Adavanced Symptoms of Ebola at Nebraska Medical Center Despite Testing Negative for Virus Last Week

    Sadly, Nebraska Medical Center has confirmed that Dr. Martin Salia has died after a fast-moving battle against the Ebola virus. The surgeon had been treating patients at several facilities in Sierra Leone when he became ill himself. As early as Nov. 6, Salia had tested negative for the deadly virus, but by Saturday, Nov. 15, he was transferred to Nebraska in deteriorating condition.A press conference surrounding Salia's case was scheduled to take place earlier this morning. In the meantime, Nebraska has confirmed that it had treated Salia with a blood plasma transfusion and Zmapp therapy that has worked on several other patients. The surgeon had reportedly arrived at the facility Saturday already showing signs of kidney and respiratory failure, neither of which he was able to rebound from.
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