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1. Obama urges people to push stalled gun legislation

Earlier this year President Barack Obama made a strong push for expanded background checks to control the increasing amount of gun crimes in America. Though legislation failed to clear the Senate POTUS Obama is now urging his supporters to “get back up and go back at it.”

“We can’t rest until all of our children can go to school or walk down the street free from the fear that they will be struck down by a stray bullet,” Obama said in a keynote speech to the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation’s annual awards dinner.

2. House Republicans passed nutrition bill that eliminates $39 billion from ‘food stamps’

Despite a veto threat from the president, Republicans in the House of Representatives on Thursday narrowly passed a nutrition bill that eliminates $39 billion from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, previously known as food stamps. Just about 15 percent of the population (or nearly 47 million Americans) will be affected.

But even with the cuts, SNAP would cost more than $700 billion over the next 10 years.

3. Kofi Awoonor, Ghanaian poet, among 39 killed in Nairobi attack

The 78-year-old Kofi Awoonor, a noted literary figure, died of injuries sustained in Saturday’s militant attack by the Somali militant group al Shabaab in Nairobi, Kenya. He was among 39 people killed during the attack on a shopping mall, according to news reports.

“Kofi Awoonor was one of the pioneering figures in the history of African literature,” The Root‘s Editor-in-Chief Henry Louis Gates Jr. said in an email statement. “This is a senseless, devastating loss.”

4. Merkel triumphs in German vote, elects Germany’s first black lawmaker

Chancellor Angela Merkel won Germany’s election Sunday, a personal triumph that cements her position as Europe’s most powerful leader. In addition, Senegal-born chemist Karamba Diaby won a seat in the lower house for the Social Democrats—becoming the first black lawmaker in Germany’s Parliament.

5. Help your HBCU win $50,000 from Allstate

Show your school pride by getting a quote now and Allstate will donate $10 to the Tom Joyner Foundation to support students at HBCUs. Then vote to help your favorite HBCU win a $50,000 donation from Allstate. The HBCU with the most votes wins $50,000!

Right now Lincoln University of Missouri is leading with 1976 votes!

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