Nicole Ari Parker is the better half of Boris Kodjoe, the hunky star of such films as "Brown Sugar" and "Madea's Family Reunion." . . . Here, the Baltimore-bred beauty talks both about Sophie and about her latest film, "Imagine That," a family comedy where she plays the wife of Eddie Murphy. . . .

JACKSON, Miss. - A reputed Ku Klux Klansman will remain in prison after a federal appeals court's split ruling wiped out his acquittal in the kidnappings of two Black teenagers who were slain in 1964. James Ford Seale, 73, was found guilty in June 2007 of abducting the teens who authorities said were beaten, weighted down and thrown, possibly still alive, into a Mississippi River backwater in May 1964 . . .

Helen Zille has a sharp tongue and a short fuse, and she doesn't dodge a fight. In apartheid times she enraged South Africa's White rulers, and lately she has ruffled South Africa's Black political establishment . . .

Washington is paying hundreds of millions of dollars to build new, cleaner-burning buses, but don't scour the want ads looking for a burst of job openings soon at major manufacturers or suppliers. The bus money, like many other programs in the $787 billion stimulus plan, is having the less glamorous and harder-to-quantify effect of keeping workers employed, providing a slight buffer from the recession to some in the auto industry. At the White House, where saving jobs always was as much a priority as creating jobs, the bus industry is a success story. But it also shows how hard it is to account for that success, especially in an industry that keeps shedding jobs despite the stimulus. . . .

Last week we unveiled Operation Corridor Express ... This operation has resulted in 34 drug trafficking and racketeering indictments and dismantled a major drug trafficking ring in Clackamas and Washington Counties ... fight for federal stimulus money to protect our public safety budgets. These funds will be used to put more cops on the street, more patrols on the road in rural communities . . .

Washington homeowners on limited incomes can apply to defer paying their second half property taxes due Oct. 31. Applicants must have an annual household income of $57,000 or less in 2008, have owned the home for at least five years, use it as their primary residence, and have sufficient equity. Deferred taxes cannot exceed 40 percent of equity. . . .

The unofficial list of candidate filings for the 2009 primary and General Election Aug. 18 is posted online at ... Of the 331 county, city and local taxing district positions on the 2009 ballot, more than 500 candidates filed for office this week.  Candidates have until Thursday, June 11, to withdraw from office. While hundreds of candidates filed for office during the five-day filing period this week, there are 15 positions with no candidates filing for office. . . .

With the digital television transition coming up this Friday, Portland DTV Assistance Centers and the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights Education Fund (LCCREF) are sending the message that it is not too late for unprepared families to get ready for the DTV transition. Households that have applied for their $40 coupons, but have not yet received them, should purchase and install at least one converter box if possible . . .

A group of Black troopers is demanding the removal or demotion of nearly a dozen Mississippi Department of Public Safety administrators and a change in the way promotions are awarded. The Mississippi Central State Troopers Coalition is also seeking a criminal investigation into allegations of steroid and extortion charges, according to the group's list of 23 recommendations obtained by The Clarion-Ledger newspaper in Jackson. Specific details of those allegations were not revealed. But other recommendations include having the agency review how it reprimands troopers and assigning Black troopers to the New Albany office, where the group says there are none. . . .

A bi-annual report released last week by the Congressional Black Caucus may give a sneak peek at President Barack Obama's agenda for Black America. "We have a very forward-thinking, progressive, bold agenda and that's what we're working on in terms of the Congressional Black Caucus agenda - but also the president's agenda - which 99 percent of the time is in sync," says CBC Chair Barbara Lee (D-Calif.) in an interview with the NNPA News Service. . . .