Top 5 Live –WURD Wednesday March 11

 1. Oklahoma fraternity faces more racism allegations

The University of Oklahoma expelled two students on Tuesday for “playing a leadership role” in racially-charged chants on a school bus during a Sigma Alpha Epsilon (SAE) fraternity event, according to a university release.

“I have emphasized that there is zero tolerance for this kind of threatening racist behavior at the University of Oklahoma. I hope that the entire nation will join us in having zero tolerance of such racism when it raises its ugly head in other situations across our country,” the school’s president David Boren said in a statement.

The expulsions come as new allegations of racism within SAE emerged on Monday, fueling the outrage and the ongoing investigation into the fraternity’s discriminatory behavior.

 

2. Nick Foles traded to Rams for Sam Bradford

The Eagles traded Nick Foles to the St. Louis Rams for Sam Bradford, NFL sources confirmed. There is draft compensation involved, but those details have yet to be worked out. It will at least involve swapping picks.

Adam Schefter of ESPN was first with the report.

There had been much speculation that Foles was on the market, especially after the Eagles re-signed Mark Sanchez to a two-year contract on Sunday.

With Bradford now in the fold, the theory that Kelly was prepared to do whatever it took to get Marcus Mariota in the draft may have died a quick death — for now. But what if the Eagles were to get a high draft pick in the deal? Could that further aid Kelly in his efforts to try and move up for his former Oregon quarterback?

 

3. Clinton Tries to Quell Email Controversy

 Hillary Rodham Clinton on Tuesday defended her exclusive use of a private email address during her time as secretary of state as a matter of “convenience,” saying that about 30,000 of her work-related emails would be made public, but that thousands more personal emails had been deleted.

“I thought using one device would be simpler; obviously, it hasn’t worked out that way,” she said in her first public comments since the issue emerged last week.

She said that most of her emails were work-related, went to government employees and were captured on government servers. Clinton said that the State Department would make public all of her work-related emails, but that her personal messages — about her daughter’s wedding and her mother’s death — would remain private.

 

 4. Jury finds Pharrell, Thicke copied for blurred lines song

A jury awarded Marvin Gaye’s children nearly $7.4 million Tuesday after determining singers Robin Thicke and Pharrell Williams copied their father’s music to create “Blurred Lines,” the biggest hit song of 2013.

Gaye’s daughter Nona Gaye wept as the verdict was read and was hugged by her attorney.

“Right now, I feel free,” she said outside court. “Free from … Pharrell Williams and Robin Thicke’s chains and what they tried to keep on us and the lies that were told.”

The verdict could tarnish the legacy of Williams, a reliable hit-maker who has won Grammy Awards and appears on NBC’s music competition show “The Voice.”

 

5. Did 47 Republican senators break the law in plain sight?

Forty-seven Senate Republicans may have broken the law this week. But no one’s losing any sleep over it.

Pundits and legal scholars are raising questions over whether Sen. Tom Cotton and the 46 Senate Republicans violated the Logan Act when they penned a letter to Iran’s leaders on Monday, undercutting President Barack Obama’s efforts to negotiate a nuclear agreement with those same leaders.

The law, passed in 1799, forbids any U.S. citizen — acting without official U.S. authority — from influencing “disputes or controversies” involving the U.S. and a foreign government.

But a quick look at the law’s track record isn’t exactly shudder-inducing: 216 years on the books have resulted in just one indictment and zero prosecutions.

Click here to read these stories on 900amWURD.

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Solomon Jones is an Essence bestselling author and award-winning columnist. He is the creator and editor of Solomonjones.com and morning host on 900 am WURD radio. Click here to learn more about Solomon