According to a poll by Suffolk University, 51 percent of white Floridians think the state should adopt immigration laws similar to Arizona. Unsurprisingly, the issues exposes deep differences amongst race.

White voters favor the law 59 percent to 26 percent. Hispanics opposes the law 47 percent to 36 percent. Somewhat surprisingly though African American voters disapprove of such laws by a far greater margin than Hispanics at a rate of 62 percent to 25 percent.

The suit alleges children endured "abusive, inhumane and illegal conditions" while confined at the center, including being locked in cells for 23 hours a day, being forced to work at for-profit businesses and being denied necessary physical and mental health care. Also, the suit claims at least one child was subjected to an illegal strip search and excessive force was used in other searches.

According to an opinion and order filed March 3 by U.S. District Court Magistrate Judge Terence Kemp, the county's attorney and attorneys representing Washington County Juvenile Judge Timothy Williams agreed not to oppose the motion to allow the creation of a class-action suit, which could mean as many as 300 children could join in the suit.

Everton Wagstaffe, in prison, has refused to accept any parole conditions that would amount to an admission of guilt in the kidnapping of a girl, 16, in 1992.

On a cold January day in 1992, a tow truck pulled into a parking lot behind a housing project in Brooklyn. Guided by a detective, the driver hooked up a brown Buick Skylark and hauled it to a police garage. Inside the car was a headband. Prosecutors said later that it belonged to a 16-year-old girl, Jennifer Negron, whose body was found at dawn on New Year’s Day 1992, dumped on the street a few blocks from where the car was parked. She was Homicide 001 of 2,020 in New York that year.

A prosecutor later told a jury that the headband, beyond all other evidence, proved the guilt of two men charged with snatching Jennifer off the street and forcing her into that brown Skylark. Both men were convicted in 1993 of kidnapping her.

Now the men, Everton Wagstaffe and Reginald Connor, have filed motions in State Supreme Court in Brooklyn, arguing that the verdict should be thrown out on the grounds that the police and the prosecutors covered up evidence that would have saved them from a guilty verdict in a crime they had nothing to do with.

Joining 17 other attorneys general, Conway signed a letter to the Illinois-based beer company that expresses concern about the alcoholic content of the drink and its packaging, which Conway says is appealing to underage drinkers.

The letter says Pabst is also targeting African-American youth in particular, pointing out that the company has hired hip-hop artist Snoop Dogg as its celebrity spokesperson. “I believe ‘Blast’ by Colt 45 poses a serious health and safety risk for America’s youth,” says Conway. “At a time when we’re fighting to prevent underage drinking and binge drinking, it is irresponsible of Pabst to introduce a ‘binge-in-a-can’ style drink targeted at youth and promoted by a popular hip-hop star.”

- Fox Host John Gibson Said We “Need More Babies” Because The Majority Of Americans May Be Hispanic In 25 Years [5/12/06]

- Fox Host Steve Doocy Claimed Barack Obama Went To A “Madrassa” And Was Possibly A Muslim Extremist [1/19/07]

- Fox News Managing Editor Said Barack Obama Had “Fairly Controversial” Views About “The White Race” [3/28/08]

- Fox News Host Brian Kilmeade Suggested “Special Screenings” For Muslim American Soldiers After The Fort Hood Shootings [11/7/09]

- Fox News Host Blamed Desecration Of A Tennessee Mosque On The “Stubbornness” Of Muslims Building A Community Center In New York City [8/24/10]

- Fox News Immediately Hired Disgraced NPR Commentator Juan Williams, Who Was Let Go For Making Insensitive Comments About Muslims [10/21/10]

- Fox Host Glenn Beck Said The 3/5 Compromise Was A “Way To Take A Step To Abolish Slavery” [1/6/11]

BP and Shell, had repeatedly denied that they had discussed Iraq’s oil with the British government.

From [HERE] BP (formerly British Petroleum) has made much of the earnings potential of its deals in Iraq over the past two years, but new reports from the Independent show that the company’s path to a presence in Iraq started months before the 2003 invasion.

 Incredibly, leaked memos from October and November 2002 show that BP, Shell, and BG (formerly British Gas) all met with then-Trade Minister Baroness Symons, emphasizing how important the acquisition of assets in Iraq was.

Minister Symons told BP in October that it was the Blair Government’s position that British oil companies should be given a share of Iraq’s enormous oil reserves as a “reward” for Tony Blair’s outspoken support for the war. This is, it must be remembered, five months before the war began.

One Year After BP Disaster, Congress Has Passed Zero Oil Spill Bills [MORE] 

From [ThinkProgress] BP has broken a self-imposed moratorium on political donations to make big contributions to key Republican congressional leaders and the party’s electoral campaigns. Its first round of political contributions for the 2012 cycle total $29,000 and it “went almost entirely to the campaigns of a handful of House Republican leaders.” BP North America’s PAC gave $5,000 each to House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) and House Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), along with $10,000 to the National Republican Congressional Committee and the National Republican Senatorial Committee, which are tasked with electing more Republicans to Congress.

Notably, BP also gave $5,000 to Rep. Fred Upton (R-MI), who has used his chairmanship of the Energy Committee to push legislation friendly to oil companies like BP. However, Upton told The Hill “he is not accepting the contribution and will return it to BP.” The company also gave $1,000 to Rep. Dave Camp (R-MI), who chairs the tax-writing Ways and Means Committee. Rep. Pete Visclosky (D-IN), the only Democrat to which BP donated, received $3,000.

"The scientific evidence conclusively proves that this man is innocent," clinic codirector David Moran said of Vinson, a former Detroiter who has spent 25 years in prison. Moran said Vinson, 56, is the victim of a flawed forensic test and that more recent tests rule him out as a suspect.

But the Wayne County Prosecutor's Office opposes the request because the girl identified Vinson as her attacker.

"Science does not trump the testimony of individuals," Assistant Wayne County Prosecutor Marilyn Eisenbraun said in court documents. She wouldn't discuss the case. The girl initially was unable to tell her mother who raped her, records show. But when her mother suggested Vinson, the girl said he did it.

The resumption of deportations to Haiti revives a senseless and inhumane policy by the Department of Homeland Security. The last time this occurred, in late January, at least one of the deportees died within days, prompting a nearly three-month hiatus in deportations that has now been lifted for no good reason.

Conditions in Haiti remain appalling as the nation struggles to overcome a severe humanitarian crisis. An estimated 680,000 people are still stuck in camps for the displaced 15 months after the powerful earthquake that destroyed much of Port-au-Prince in January of 2010. A cholera epidemic has affected 234,000 people and caused a reported 4,500 deaths. A recent article in the British medical journal The Lancet estimated that, “absent new interventions,” the epidemic could sicken some 800,000 people and kill 11,000.

Gray refrained from engaging in another act of civil disobedience, but several advisory neighborhood commissioners and D.C. shadow Sen. Michael Brown blocked traffic outside the Dirksen Senate Office Building, as Gray and others had done April 11.

Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner Keith Silver of Ward 6 was arrested Monday after several warnings from the Capitol Police to clear the street. Gray was among 41 activists arrested last week.

Gray, who was wearing a tag issued during his arrest, decided not to block traffic again. “I got arrested last week, and it has to be a statement made by a broad cross section of people,” he said. “These are folks who haven’t been arrested yet, they’ve said they want to be today, and I suspect there will be more.”

Monday’s protest was the third in just more than a week and the smallest yet. More than 100 attendees were at the April 11 event, while dozens turned out for another one Friday. But fewer than 20 protesters marched along the sidewalk outside the office building Monday, and the demonstration was over within an hour.