A report by the College Board Advocacy & Policy Center paints a bleak picture of the state of young Black males in America.

According to the report, nearly half of the U.S. men of color now between the ages of 15 and 24, who graduate from high school, will end up jobless, in jail or prematurely dead.

This jarring statistic is just one of many highlighted in one of two new reports released June 20 by the College Board Advocacy & Policy Center at an event held in collaboration with the Harvard University’s W. E. B. Du Bois Institute for African and African American Research in Cambridge, Mass. The report, The Educational Experience of Young Men of Color: A Review of Research, Pathways and Progress, is especially relevant given the need for these young men to attain postsecondary degrees if the nation’s economy is to thrive and compete globally.

RICHMOND, Va. (AP)—The Food and Drug Administration is conducting an independent review of research on the public health impact of menthol cigarettes—which are mint flavored and one of the few growth sectors of the shrinking cigarette business. The process is expected to be completed in the fall of 2011.

The review comes after the FDA in March received a report from the Tobacco Products Scientific Advisory Committee on the minty smokes Panels like the tobacco committee advise the FDA on scientific issues. The agency doesn't have to follow its recommendations, but often does.

PARIS (AP)—Will.i.am is used to filling stadiums, but a simple trip down the catwalk at Japanese label Rynshu’s spring-summer menswear show June 26 had the Black Eyed Peas' rapper blushing.

Sporting a snug leather blazer, a pair of cropped harem pants in shiny black and clunky combat boots, will.i.am shuffled up the runway, shooting sheepish glances at the photographers’ pit as the audience encouraged him with a round of applause.

WILL.I.AM of the hip-hop group Black Eyed Peas wears a creation by Japanese fashion designer Rynshu as part of spring-summer 2012 men's fashion collection, in Paris, June 26. (AP Photo/Jacques Brinon)

Week of July 2-8

July 2

JACKIE ROBINSON

1777—Vermont becomes first U.S. territory to abolish slavery. By 1783, New Hampshire and Massachusetts had followed Vermont’s lead. The abolition of slavery was formally placed in the Vermont Constitution which was formally adopted on July 8, 1777. A major force in the early abolition movement was a group known as the Rights of Man Movement.