Free Republic

Westbrook's parents admit he got in trouble with the law when he was younger for at least one break-in but said he was getting his life together.

The man being held in Austin for that fatal car assault at the South by Southwest festival was in town to perform during it, according to reports. Rashad Charjuan Owens, 21, is an aspiring rapper who goes by the name KillingAllBeatz or K.A.B254. Mixes, posted on a SoundCloud account that matches his rapper name and mugshot, have attracted scores of comments in the past 24 hours.

The state’s child protection agency has found that the family of a 9-year-old Brockton rapper did not abuse or neglect him by allowing the boy to star in several videos posted online showing him in club scenes and simulating sexually suggestive activity with women. The controversy surrounding Luie Rivera Jr., whose stage name is “Lil Poopy,” began in February, when Brockton police filed a child abuse and neglect complaint against Luis Rivera, the boy’s father. After a month of investigation, the state Department of Children and Families has closed the case without taking any action against the father. “After a...

Seven people were injured in an overnight shooting at a record release party at a nightclub in Chicago's South Side Gresham neighborhood. Police said three men opened fire inside Mr. G's Supperclub on the 1500 block of West 87th Street around 1:15 a.m. A fight had started at the release party for a local rapper, police said, and three men pulled out handguns and fired into the crowd.A 19-year-old woman was struck and taken to Christ Hospital in Oak Lawn. Six men, mostly in their 20s, were also wounded. Only one was transported by ambulance.

LA JOLLA – Newly announced Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama made his first campaign appearance in California yesterday, telling supporters he intends to withdraw American troops from Iraq by March 2008. He also subtly scolded rivals who voted to authorize President Bush to go to war. “It's not going to be easy,” Obama told between 400 and 500 supporters at the Birch Aquarium in La Jolla at a late afternoon fundraising reception. “There are no good options in Iraq at this point. There are only bad options or worse options. But the worst option is to continue to put our...