Free Republic

HOMESTEAD, Pa. - The new 50 Cent movie "Get Rich or Die Tryin'" has been pulled from a theater where a man was fatally shot even though officials said Thursday they do not know whether the film was a factor in the slaying. Loews Corp. decided to stop showing the rapper's bullet-ridden bio while the investigation is going on, said John McCauley, the company's vice president of marketing. "We're unclear whether there is a direct connection," McCauley said. He said the company is doing all it can to make sure patrons are safe at the 22-screen multiplex in a popular...

50 Cent is suing a car dealer over advertisements that he said used his trademarked name without permission. The rapper — born Curtis James Jackson III — describes himself in the lawsuit as "a hugely popular and extremely successful hip-hop music artist ... known for his good looks, `gangsta' image and hard knocks success story." The lawsuit, filed in federal court Friday, seeks more than $1 million from Gary Barbera Enterprises, which used the slogan "Just Like 50 Says!" and the 29-year-old artist's picture in a print advertisement for a Dodge Magnum. A spokesman for Barbera wasn't immediately available for...

A school district in Southern California approved the "affirmation and recognition" of Ebonics into its curriculum as a way to help black students improve academic performance. The San Bernardino Board of Education says a pilot of the policy, known as the Students Accumulating New Knowledge Optimizing Future Accomplishment Initiative, has been implemented at two city schools, according to the daily San Bernardino Sun. Ebonics, a dialect of American English spoken by many blacks, was recognized as a separate language by the Oakland, Calif., school board in 1996. Mary Texeira, a sociology professor at Cal State San Bernardino, believes the program...