Chileans near the epicenter were tossed about as if shaken by a giant.

HAWAII: Sirens blasted; tourists evacuated

GRAPHIC: Track tsunami’s path

INTERACTIVE MAP: See strength, location of aftershocks

OLYMPICS: Chilean team to skip closing ceremony

It was the strongest earthquake to hit Chile in 50 years. President-elect Sebastian Pinera said more than 120 people died, a number that was rising quickly.

The quake shook buildings in Argentina’s capital of Buenos Aires, and was felt as far away as Sao Paulo in Brazil — 1,800 miles to the east.

(READ MORE AT www.USATODAY.COM)

For more information or to book your trip log onto http//www.jazzinthegardens.com/

The NAACP elected a health care executive as its youngest board chairman Saturday, continuing a youth movement for the nation’s oldest civil rights organization.  Roslyn M. Brock, 44, was chosen to succeed Julian Bond. She had been vice chairman since 2001 and a member of the NAACP for 25 years.

Brock works for Bon Secours Health Systems in Maryland as vice president for advocacy and government relations, and spent 10 years working on health issues for the W.K. Kellogg Foundation. She joins Benjamin Todd Jealous, the 37-year-old CEO of the NAACP, as leader of the 500,000-member organization.

Brock said she plans to focus on pushing for policy changes to eliminate inequality, strengthening the relationship between the national and local NAACP branches and holding people accountable.

“It’s not always what someone is doing to us, but what we are doing for ourselves,” Brock said in an interview.

The departure of Bond, 70, after 10 years as board chairman marks a turning point for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored Pepole.

Bond came of age in the segregated South, helped found the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee and was on the front lines of the protests that led to the nation’s landmark civil rights laws. He is a symbol and icon of “the movement,” which was a defining experience for older generations.

Click here to read more…

VIA:  ShaniDavis.Com

Shani Davis was born on Friday, August 13, 1982, in Chicago, Illinois. Raised by his mother on the city’s south side, he started roller-skating at local rinks at age two. By age three Shani was darting around the roller rink so fast that skate guards would chase him just to ask him to slow down. Seeming to become bored with roller-skating, at age six a coach suggested that Shani switch to ice skating. Shortly thereafter, his mother started working for an attorney, Fred Benjamin, whose son happened to be involved in speed skating at an elite level. It was at that time that Benjamin suggested that Shani give speed skating a try.

Shani joined the Evanston Speedskating Club at age six and within two months started competing locally. Though immediately taking to ice, at competitions Shani was generally more interested in running around with his competitors and playing video games than he was with competing. Nevertheless, by age 8 he was winning regional age-group competitions and began to hear about the Olympic ideal from his Northbrook competitors and friends. Shani’s mother encouraged him to participate and, in an effort to build his endurance, woke him most mornings to run a mile on a track close to their home. As there were — and still are — no speed skating clubs in inner city Chicago, at age 10 Shani and his mother moved to the far north side of the city to be closer to the Evanston rink.

Click here to read more on Shani Davis…

Watch Shani’s video blog dated 2/13/10:

2006 World Cup Interview:

VIA: TYLERPERRY.COM

Tyler Perry is by all means, a Renaissance man.  He’s an actor, director, screenwriter, producer and author.  He is a true American success story.

Tyler Perry’s inspirational journey from the hard streets of New Orleans to the heights of Hollywood’s A-list is the stuff of American legend.  Born into poverty and raised in a household scarred by abuse, Tyler fought from a young age to find the strength, faith and perseverance that would later form the foundations of his much-acclaimed plays, films, books and shows.It was a simple piece of advice from Oprah Winfrey that set Tyler’s career in motion.

Encouraged to keep a diary of his daily thoughts and experiences, Tyler began writing a series of soul-searching letters to himself-letters full of pain, forgiveness, and, in time, a healing catharsis.  The letters inspired a musical, I KNOW I’VE BEEN CHANGED, and in 1992 Tyler gathered his life’s savings and set off for Atlanta in hopes of staging it for sold out crowds.  He spent all the money but the people never came, and Tyler once again came face to face with the poverty that had plagued his youth.  He spent months sleeping in seedy motels and his car but his faith-in God and, in turn, himself-only got stronger.  He forged a powerful relationship with the church, and he kept writing.

In 1998 his perseverance paid off and a promoter booked I KNOW I’VE BEEN CHANGED for a limited run at a local church-turned-theatre.  This time the community came out in droves, and soon the musical moved to Atlanta’s prestigious Fox Theatre.  Tyler Perry never looked back.I KNOW I’VE BEEN CHANGED was a poignant story of failure and redemption, and it resounded with urban audiences who identified with its themes and exalted in its spirit.  In Tyler they’d found a voice for their longings, and an outlet for their entertainment, and so began an incredible run of eight plays in as many years, including WOMAN THOU ART LOOSED!, a celebrated collaboration with the prominent Dallas pastor T.D. Jakes.

But if audiences were buoyed by Tyler’s faith, they were bowled over by his humor.  No way around it: the man was plain funny.  Nowhere was this more in evidence than in 2000’s I CAN DO BAD ALL BY MYSELF, which marked the first appearance of the now-legendary Madea.  A God-fearing, gun-toting, pot-smoking, loud-mouthed grandmother, Madea was played by Perry himself.  Madea was such a resounding success, she soon spawned a series of plays-MADEA’S FAMILY REUNION (2002), MADEA’S CLASS REUNION (2003) and MADEA GOES TO JAIL (2005)- and set the stage for Tyler’s jump to the big screen.

In early 2005, Tyler’s first feature film, DIARY OF A MAD BLACK WOMAN, debuted at #1 nationwide.  By the end of its first weekend in theatres, two things had happened: the film had earned $22 million, and Tyler Perry-writer, actor, and producer-had become a superstar.  Tyler’s ensuing films, MADEA’S FAMILY REUNION, DADDY LITTLE GIRLS, WHY DID I GET MARRIED?, MEET THE BROWNS, and THE FAMILY THAT PREYS have all met with massive critical and commercial success, delighting audiences across America and around the world.  His most recent film, MADEA GOES TO JAIL, spent two weeks at the top of the box office and ultimately went on to gross more than $90 million.2006 saw the publication of Tyler’s first book, DON’T MAKE A BLACK WOMAN TAKE OFF HER EARRINGS: MADEA’S UNINHIBITED COMMENTARIES ON LIFE AND LOVE, which shot to the top of the New York Times nonfiction bestseller list and remained there for eight weeks.  It went on to claim Quill Book Awards for both “Humor” and “Book of the Year” (an unheard-of feat for a first-time author), and spread Tyler Perry’s unique brand of inspirational entertainment to a devoted new audience.   It is a brand that is quickly becoming an empire.

Read Tyler’s entire bio and more at TylerPerry.com.

Enjoy this interview with Tyler as he speaks with CBN about his rise to fame, relationships and marriage.

VIA:  TheGrio.Com

The Hysterectomy is one of the most invasive procedures in the medical practice, and Tony Hansberry  has invented  a device that will do the post surgery stitching with minimal chances of complications or harm.  Sounds like something a seasoned physician developed, but it’s actually something a 15-year-old high school student named Tony Hansberry invented. People in his hometown of Jacksonville, Florida are calling him the “next Charles Drew.”

Hansberry is a student at Darnell Cookman School of Medical Arts, referred to as the first medical magnet school in the country with an integrated medical curriculum. He came under the tutelage of Bruce Nappi, the director of the University of Florida’s Center for Simulation Education and Safety Research (CSESaR) in the summer of 2008. From his experience there, he developed a project that showed how to reduce surgical time for hysterectomies. It only won him second prize in his school’s science fair, but it caught the attention of University of Florida physicians who invited him to present his project alongside theirs during a medical education event.

Click here to read more on this extraordinary student…

JAKARTA, Indonesia — Authorities removed a statue of Barack Obama from a park in the Indonesian capital due to a public backlash and moved it Monday to a nearby elementary school that the U.S. president attended as a child.

The bronze statue, inspired by a childhood photograph of a 10-year-old Obama in shorts with a butterfly perched on an outstretched thumb, had been targeted by critics since it was erected in the Jakarta park last December. Detractors argued that an Indonesian hero should have been honored instead, noting that Obama still could pursue policies that hurt Indonesia’s interests.

Obama, whose American mother married an Indonesian after divorcing his Kenyan father, went to school in the capital from 1967 to 1971 and is regarded fondly by most Indonesians.

RELATED: Obama Makes First Major Presidential Trip To Asia

Edi Kusyanto, a teacher at the affluent government school Obama attended, said the 43-inch (110-centimeter) statue would be standing in the school grounds by the time the president visits Jakarta from March 20-22.

“There is no controversy about the statue being here. Everyone at the school welcomes it,” Kusyanto said.

The statue was erected with private funds raised by the Jakarta-based nonprofit group Friends of Obama Foundation, but Jakarta Gov. Fauzi Bowo is paying for its relocation.

Ron Mullers, an American living in Jakarta who came up with the idea for the statue and raised money for it, declined to say whether he thought moving it was an overreaction.

RELATED: SHARPTON: Why Obama’s Trip To Asia Matters

“It’s a beautiful statue and it had become a tourist attraction,” Mullers said.

“My feeling is that the park is a place where more Indonesian people can see it,” he said.

Still, he said he was happy that the statue might inspire the school’s students to follow their dreams.

Heru Nugroho, leader of a Facebook campaign to remove the statue, welcomed the move but added that the decision had taken too long. He said he would now drop court action seeking the statue’s removal.

Indonesia is home to the world’s largest Muslim population and many here believe Obama will improve relations with the West.

HOUSTON, Feb 09, 2010 (BUSINESS WIRE) –Dr. Bernard A. Harris, Jr., the first African American to walk in space, and ExxonMobil announced today that more than 1,500 middle school students will participate in free science camps this summer.

The ExxonMobil Bernard Harris Summer Science Camps will be hosted in 30 universities across the country. The announcement came on the 15th anniversary of Dr. Harris’ historic space walk on Feb. 9, 1995 while aboard the Space Shuttle Discovery.

“Much in my life has changed since that historic day, but one constant is my passion to make a difference with today’s students, especially kids who have similar backgrounds to mine,” Harris said. “This year’s summer science camps will give students a chance to learn about mathematics and science, more about themselves and about life on a college campus. Most importantly, campers learn that they have the power to achieve their dreams whatever they may be.”

Click here to read more…

Click here for more information on the Science Summer Camps…

Check out this video of the shuttle launch that Dr. Bernard Harris Jr. was on: