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PepsiCo Pulls 'Racist' Mountain Dew Ad After Criticism

(AP) — PepsiCo is once again learning the risks of celebrity partnerships after an ad for Mountain Dew was criticized for portraying racial stereotypes and making light of violence toward women.

The soda and snack food company said it immediately pulled the 60-second spot after learning that people found it was offensive. The ad was part

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UPDATE: 4 Morehouse Student Athletes Arrested on Sexual Assault Charges

Four Morehouse College athletes have been accused of sexual assault, according to arrest warrants obtained by WSB and information discovered by the Atlanta Daily World.

A source tells the Daily World that the reported incident happened in December before students left campus for winter break at a Morehouse residential living facility for the school's upperclassmen. The building has a total capacity of 372 students and a number of the accused athletes lived there.

The alleged victim is an 18-year-old female student at Spelman who says she was held against her will inside a room at the residential community on the night of the alleged incident. According to Morehouse College Police arrest warrants and incident reports, the three allegedly had non-consenting sex with the Spelman student who was under the influence of an unknown substance.

“She wasn’t able to communicate or answer questions,” said the source who told the Daily World that he spoke with her following the incident.

The four suspects are three juniors and a senior who have played on the College’s football and basketball teams. The basketball players named were Malcom Jamal Frank, a junior; Tevin Mgbo, also a junior; and senior Chukwudi Ndudikwa. The named football player was Lucien Kidd, who was previously identified as a freshman, but played for Morehouse his freshman year in 2010. All of them face rape charges, except for Mgbo.

In a statement issued Wednesday afternoon, school officials acknowledged that there were “two alleged assault incidents involving Morehouse students,” in March and that the school is working with the Fulton County District Attorney’s Office.

“After the information was brought to the attention of campus police, the suspects were identified and arrested,” according to the statement.

“While we cannot speak to specifics of these cases, our policies and procedures call for disciplinary actions against students who violate our code of conduct and the law, up to and including dismissal from the college,” read the statement from the Morehouse College Office of Communications.

None of the three basketball players logged significant minutes for the Maroon Tigers during the 2012-13 season, but all three saw playing time in the school's SIAC Championship game loss to Benedict College in March.

Kidd is listed on the football team's website only for his freshman year. He did not participate in any of the team’s games that season.

Website Jailbase.com reports that Mgbo was arrested on April 11, 2013 for aggravated sodomy, disorderly conduct and kidnapping. No report of the arrest was issued from the college in regard to his arrest or the arrest of any other Morehouse student athletes. The website reports that Mgbo is still in custody but lists his bond at $0.

Frank and Ndudikwa were each charged with sodomy and multiple counts of rape, according to police records.

At least two of the four accused are from Georgia. Mgbo graduated from Clarke Central High School in Athens, Frank graduated from Miller Grove High School in Decatur and Ndudikwa is a transfer from Georgia State University, according to the Maroon Tigers official website. Kidd's hometown is listed as Cincinnati, Ohio, on the website.

Calls to Morehouse's athletic director were not immediately returned.

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Children's Healthcare of Atlanta Launches New Concussion Web Portal

Georgia's newly signed "Return- to-Play Act of 2013" aims to improve the management of concussions in school and recreational leagues around the state.

As part of its role in preventing, diagnosing and treating concussion patients, Children's Healthcare of Atlanta has launched a new online portal equipped with extensive videos and resources to help primary care physicians and first-response caregivers -- coaches, athletic trainers, nurses and families -- provide appropriate and effective care to people impacted by concussions.

Developed by the Children's Concussion Program, the web portal can be accessed at www.choa.org/concussiontools and will help health professionals and athletic leaders recognize and treat concussions using evidence-based tools, guidelines and research. The goal is to prevent serious, long-term injuries that could have been avoided through immediate proper care of a concussion.

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Boston Police: 3 More Suspects in Custody in Connection With Marathon Bombing

Here's the latest on the Boston Marathon bombings

(CNN) -- Boston police said Wednesday that three additional suspects have been taken into custody in connection with the Boston Marathon bombings of April 15. Here are the most recent developments in the case:

New developments:

-- The charge of conspiracy to obstruct justice against two of the additional suspects in the Boston Marathon attack investigation refers to moving things from Dzhokhar Tsarnaev's dorm room and throwing them into a trash bin, a federal law enforcement official said. The source said the objects thrown out included fireworks inside backpacks. The trash bin was subsequently taken to a landfill. Authorities carried out a two-day search of the landfill in New Bedford, Massachusetts late last week.

-- A federal law enforcement official told CNN on Wednesday that the charges against two of the individuals taken into custody involve allegedly lying to officials, because when first questioned by the FBI they lied about not seeing the suspects and not knowing their whereabouts after the attack.

-- The federal law enforcement source said the charge of conspiring to obstruct justice relates to their moving things from Dzhokhar Tsarnaev's dorm room and throwing them into a dumpster. The source said the objects disposed of included fireworks inside backpacks. The trash bin subsequently was taken to a nearby landfill. Authorities carried out a two-day search of the landfill in New Bedford late last week.

Previously reported developments:

-- Attorneys for two students in New Bedford, Massachusetts, who are originally from Kazakhstan, told CNN Wednesday that the two -- Azamat Tazhayako and Dias Kadyrbayev -- have been arrested in connection with the investigation.

-- A Department of Homeland security source with firsthand knowledge of the investigation told CNN on Wednesday that two of the suspects were New Bedford, students who have been arrested on charges of making false statements and conspiracy to obstruct justice. A third student, a U.S. citizen, also had been arrested.

-- Police in Boston said "there is no threat to the public" after announcing that three more suspects have been taken into custody.

-- Alan Dershowitz, a prominent defense attorney and Harvard law professor, said at least two of the additional three people arrested do not appear "to have been charged with anything relating to the bombing itself."

"If they knew about the bombing, if they were involved in the bombing, the charges would be conspiracy to do the acts for which the other man has already been charged," Dershowitz said Wednesday. "So it sounds like at this point in time the only evidence they have is actions that took place after the bombing."

-- Lawyers for the widow of the dead Boston Marathon bombing suspect said Tuesday evening that "we have just been informed that the Massachusetts Medical Examiner's Office is prepared to release the remains of Tamerlan Tsarnaev." But as of that time, his remains had not been released.

-- When the body is released, Katherine Russell wants it to go to her in-laws -- not her -- her attorneys said in a statement.

-- Russell has spent "many hours over the past week" with law enforcement officials and will continue to cooperate with them as they investigate the Boston attacks, her lawyers said.

-- Investigators have discovered at least one fingerprint among the Boston bomb debris, a law enforcement official with knowledge of the investigation tells CNN. There have been no matches yet, the official said.

-- The FBI -- which investigated Tamerlan Tsarnaev, the older of the two suspects, in 2011 after Russia raised concerns about him -- "not only investigated the older brother, they interviewed the older brother," President Barack Obama said. The agency concluded that there were no signs Tamerlan Tsarnaev "was engaging in extremist activity."

"Based on what I've seen so far, the FBI performed its duties, the Department of Homeland Security did what it was supposed to be doing," Obama said.

-- Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-South Carolina, continued his sharp criticism of the Obama administration after the president's remarks, calling it and the intelligence community's handling of "an example of a pre-9/11 stovepiping mentality."

"In Boston, both the FBI and CIA were warned by the Russians about a radical Islamist in our midst," Graham said. "Once enrolled in the system as a potential terror suspect, the older brother was able to travel back to Russia unimpeded by (Department of Homeland Security) or any of our intelligence agencies. Agencies under your control were unable to coordinate the information they received on the Boston terrorists."

-- Obama said Russian authorities "have been very cooperative with us since the Boston bombing," adding that Russian President Vladimir Putin has "committed to working with me ... (to ensure) that those who report to us are cooperating fully, not only in this investigation ... but (on) counterterrorism issues directly."

"Obviously, old habits die hard," Obama said. "There's still suspicions sometimes between our intelligence and law enforcement agencies that date back in some cases 10, 20, 30 years, to the Cold War."

-- The Intelligence Community inspector general, a watchdog that investigates risks, vulnerabilities and deficiencies within 16 intelligence-related agencies and departments across the government, will lead a review of how the government handled its investigation of Tamerlan Tsarnaev, who died after a gunfight with police days after the Boston attack. Director of National Intelligence James Clapper believes that all of the agencies involved in collecting and sharing information about Tsarnaev "took all the appropriate steps," says Clapper spokesman Shawn Turner, but nonetheless believes an independent review is prudent.

-- Some very preliminary talks have been under way "for the past few days" to potentially allow Boston bomb suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev to resume providing investigators with information about the attacks in exchange for having the death penalty taken off the table, two government sources say.

Communications are in the very early stages, and not a sign lawyers for either side are ready to make a deal, said one source, who did not want to be identified because of the sensitive nature of the private discussions. A Justice Department official said it is not accurate to suggest there are negotiations.

-- Of the more 260 people injured in the marathon bombing, 20 remained hospitalized Tuesday, according to a CNN tally. None of the patients is in critical condition.

-- More than $30 million has been donated to offset expenses for the Boston victims, though it's not clear if even that much money will defray a lifetime of new costs and expenses. The American Orthotics & Prosthetic Association, a national trade association, announced Tuesday that it would create a coalition to help victims who have insufficient insurance coverage cover their initial costs.

-- A spokesman for the Massachusetts Office of the Chief Medical Examiner said Tuesday that Tamerlan Tsarnaev's cause of death has been determined. "It doesn't become public record until the decedent remains have been released and the death certificate has been filed," said Terrel Harris.

-- Federal agents are looking into possible links between his brother Tamerlan Tsarnaev and William Plotnikov, a Canadian boxer-turned-jihadist killed last year by Russian troops, a source briefed on the investigation said Monday.

-- Plotnikov, 23, died in a firefight with Russian forces in the southwestern republic of Dagestan in July 2012, while Tsarnaev was visiting the region, the source said. Plotnikov, who was born in Russia, had moved as a teenager with his family to Canada. Investigators are looking into whether Tsarnaev was radicalized during the six-month visit.

-- Investigators are also looking into whether Tsarnaev had had contact with an 18-year-old militant, Mahmoud Mansur Nidal, who was killed last May by Russian forces during a gun battle in Makhachkala, which is Dagestan's capital and where Tsarnaev's parents live.

-- Investigators on Monday searched the family home of Tsarnaev's widow, Katherine Russell, in Rhode Island. She and her toddler daughter -- Tamerlan's child -- have been staying with her parents at their home in North Kingstown. Agents took items that included DNA samples. Russell has said she had known nothing about her husband's alleged plan.

-- Female DNA was discovered on a fragment of a pressure-cooker bomb used in the attack, and investigators are trying to determine whose genetic material it is, law enforcement sources told CNN. One of the sources said it could be from anyone who had contact with any of the bomb's components and it does not necessarily implicate anyone.

-- FBI agents have interviewed "Misha," whose name has surfaced in the Boston bombing investigation, in Rhode Island, a U.S. government official told CNN on Monday. Investigators spoke with the man after members of the suspected bombers' family blamed a "Misha" for radicalizing Tsarnaev. The man, whose real name is Mikhail Allakhverdov, denies having encouraged a violent take on Islam and denies having taught Tamerlan, according to a New York Review of Books writer who says he interviewed Misha.

-- On Monday, a federal judge appointed lawyer Judy Clarke to represent Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, Tamerlan's brother and himself a suspect.

-- After two days of searching a landfill in New Bedford, Massachusetts, investigators have given up trying to find a laptop that could be relevant to the case, a U.S. law enforcement official told CNN on Monday.

-- Russian authorities intercepted a phone call in early 2011 from one of the Tsarnaev brothers in the United States to their mother, Zubeidat Tsarnaev, in Dagestan, an official with knowledge of the investigation told CNN over the weekend. The wiretapped communication discussed jihad, but the conversation was vague, two U.S. officials said. It was unclear why the Russians were eavesdropping on the mother.

-- On Monday, Zubeidat Tsarnaev told CNN's Nick Paton Walsh that she plans to travel to the United States to see her son, despite pending shoplifting charges against her in Massachusetts.

  • Written by CNN Staff
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Education Campaign Encourages Black Moms to Breastfeed Their Babies

The U.S. Surgeon General has announced a public education campaign that will focus on raising awareness among African-American moms on the significance of breastfeeding.

"One of the most highly-effective preventive measures a mother can take to protect the health of her infant and herself is to breastfeed," said Dr. Regina M. Benjamin, surgeon general. "By raising awareness, the success rate among mothers who want to breastfeed can be greatly improved through active support from their families, their friends and the community."

The "It's Only Natural" campaign was designed to provide material that reveals the experience of African-American moms said Benjamin, who noted breastfeeding gives mothers and their babies a healthy start.

Additionally, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention determined nearly 80 percent of all U.S. women, in spite of status, race or income, start out breastfeeding.

Statistically, the rate of African-American mothers who breastfeed was almost 55 percent, which is up 35 percent since the 1970s.

Although these rates have improved, African-American women are still the lowest of all ethnicities living in the U.S., especially within those living in the South.

This difference in the rates may show that African-American moms face issues meeting breastfeeding objectives and may need additional assistance to start and continue breastfeeding.

It's Only Natural was developed to equip new moms with practical information and emotional support from peers, as well as tips and education about the benefits of breastfeeding and how to make it work in their own lives.

All of the material is uniquely crafted for African-American women. Materials include:
• video testimonials from new moms talking about the challenges they have overcome, providing breast feeding tips, sharing their individual stories, and much more;
• articles on a variety of topics ranging from laws supporting breastfeeding to how to fit breastfeeding into your daily life;
• two fact sheets, which contain proper holding and latching techniques, as well as information on managing discomfort and how much milk is enough; and
• radio public service announcements.

To learn more about the campaign, visit www.womenshealth.gov/ItsOnlyNatural.

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