Are DNA Tests for Real? Black Prof. Not Convinced

Following his own frustration with false DNA tests, Harvard University Prof. Henry Louis Gates Jr. has launched African DNA LLC. In addition to DNA tests, the company will use historians and anthropologists to explain which of various genetic possibilities prompted by DNA traces are more historically likely, reports The Wall Street Journal. During his own search, Gates was at first told his maternal ancestry hailed from Egypt, but a second correct test indicated his maternal lineage came from a more mundane source, a white indentured servant. Gates says combining DNA testing with historical and anthropological sources will ensure fewer mistakes. African DNA LLC charges $189 to map a person's genetic ancestry. The industry includes at least 10 companies operating via web sites. For $888, African DNA LLC, which works with Houston-based Genealogy By Genetics Ltd., will include a family tree as far back as census records allow. For most African Americans, that is usually 1870, when their last names began to be recorded in post-slavery U.S. records, reports The Wall Street Journal.

(See also: Eisenhower, Too? Were There More Than 5 'Black' Presidents?)

Lakers Coach in Trouble for Anti-Gay Comment: What'd He Say?

Following a Lakers loss to the San Antonio Spurs in which Spurs players freely penetrated the Lakers defense and won the game 107-92, Lakers coach Phil Jackson used off-color language, incurring a reprimand from the NBA. "We call this a 'Brokeback Mountain' game because there's so much penetration and kick-outs," Jackson said, according to The Los Angeles Times. The film "Brokeback Mountain" portrays two cowboys who hid a gay affair. "The remarks are in poor taste, and the Lakers have assured us such remarks will not occur in the future," NBA spokesperson Brian McIntyre said. Jackson's remarks were also rebuked by the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation. "Phil Jackson's been coaching long enough that he should be able to talk about the Lakers' performance without resorting to cheap gay jokes," The Los Angeles Times reports. Jackson's apology wasn't really an apology at all. "It's poor humor," Jackson told the Times. "I deserve to be reprimanded by the NBA. If I've offended any horses, Texans, cowboys or gays, I apologize."

Stem Cells Produced in Monkey Embryos Signal Hope for Human Stem-Cell Production

Scientists in Oregon used cloning to produce monkey embryos--the first time such cells have been produced in any animal other than a mouse--and they say it should also work in humans, reports The New York Times. "We hope the technology will be useful for other labs that are working on human eggs and human cells," the lead researcher of the group, Shoukhrat Mitalipov, told the The New York Times. "I am quite sure it will work in humans."

(See also: Election Day Fallout: N.J. Voters Say No to Stem-Cell Research)

Who Will Give Undocumented Immigrants ID Cards?

San Francisco may soon become the nation's largest city to provide identification cards to anyone, including undocumented workers, who can prove they are residents of the city. In June, New Haven, Conn., passed a similar measure and several other cities, including New York, are considering other versions, reports The New York Times. In San Francisco, which already has a "sanctuary" policy forbidding police to assist with immigration enforcement, the ordinance is intended to make life easier for undocumented workers in the city, many of whom cannot get access to services because they have no formal identification, reports The New York Times.

(See also: How Does Your State Measure Up on Immigration?)

Subprime Lending: The Latest Plan

The House could consider regulations for mortgage issuers as early as Thursday while lawmakers create a separate measure that would allow bankruptcy judges to ease the loans requirements that are forcing some people to foreclose, reports The New York Times. Both proposals have bipartisan backing. "I would certainly like to see us take action at the federal level that will make things better for folks who want to stay in their homes," said Representative Steve Chabot, R-Ohio, reports The New York Times.

(See also: Killing Predatory Lending? What New Bill Means for Latinos, Blacks)

Black Churches Kick Out LGBT Ministers

Three words forced the Rev. Benjamin Reynolds out of his church in Colorado Springs when he said he is gay. Reynolds is not the only pastor to admit this. Ted Haggard of New Life Church was outed by a former male prostitute, which was widely covered in the news because of Haggard's connection to the Bush administration. Another Colorado pastor, Grace Chapel's Paul Barnes, recently admitted, "I have struggled with homosexuality since I was a 5-year-old boy." The difference in Reynold's case, writes The Denver Post, is he is a black reverend in a black church. Black churches, which once marched for civil rights, now stand silent with regard to LGBT civil rights, writes the Post. "Conflicts over sexuality are on the rise. And--if [Reverend Reynolds' excommunication] can be held up as an example--preachers who wield the church's civil-rights tradition on behalf of gay and lesbian people will be rebuffed by their members, if not sent packing." That stands in contrast to white churches, "where the departures of gay clergy have been followed by everything from news conferences to extended homilies to the formation of restoration committees, black congregations are more likely to shed their gay preachers with a deafening silence."

(See also: Is Your College on the LGBT-Friendly List?)

Diversifying Colleges Without Considering Race

Princeton, Yale, Stanford and Columbia are partnering with small colleges and nonprofit programs to diversify their student bodies. QuestBridge, The Posse Program, and Mathematics, Engineering, Science Achievement (MESA) help the nation's elite colleges find qualified low-income students, of whom many are students of color, to address restrictions on race-conscious admissions. According to a 2004 study by the Century Foundation, a New York-based research group, at the 146 most selective colleges in the United States, just 3 percent of the students came from families that ranked in the bottom 25 percent in income, while 74 percent came from the top 25 percent, reports The Wall Street Journal. The universities pay QuestBridge for its services. QuestBridge has created a network of about 30,000 recruiters, including high-school counselors, teachers and youth ministers, to identify a pool of about 4,000 talented low-income students.

(See also: Affirmative Action News: Why Race Still Counts in School Desegregation)

More News Digest >>