Join the BHN Talk Radio news team, Julia Ann Dudley Najieb, Cheryl Smith and Brigitte Jones as they discuss the latest breaking and key news headlines affecting Black communities throughout the nation and world: BREAKING NEWS: Report: Sister Betsy Jean Farrakhan, daughter of Minister Louis Farrakhan, dies — Black America Web Summary: Reports said Betsy Jean Farrakhan, the eldest daughter of Minister Louis Farrakhan and the late Mother Khadijah Farrakhan, had died. Nation of Islam members remembered her agricultural work and efforts to inspire young people to farm; an official announcement had not yet been issued when the report was published. US Military had close call after using AI for false intelligence report, sources say --CNN The intelligence report, circulated across the US military this spring in the midst of the war with Iran, immediately set off alarm bells: A Chinese ship in the Middle East was transporting components of a nuclear weapons program. The US military swung into action with plans to intercept the vessel, according to four sources familiar with the episode. According to two of the sources, armed members of the US military were preparing to board the ship. Military planes were in the air, one of those sources and another source familiar with the incident said. It was only just before the planned operation that officials dug deeper into the report put together by a special operations command analyst and found it had been generated with the help of artificial intelligence (AI) — and that a chatbot the analyst had used inaccurately identified the material the ship was carrying. CNN was not able to learn what the misidentified cargo was. The report, according to one of the sources, was “entirely false.” But it also “almost started a war,” the source said. Any US operation against a Chinese vessel could have risked spiraling into an armed conflict between the two nations. MORE NEWS: NAACP files lawsuit to block federal agents from polling sites — Black America WebSummary: The NAACP and a coalition of civil-rights and labor organizations sued the Trump administration, seeking to prevent armed federal agents from being deployed at or near polling places during the midterms. The plaintiffs argue that threatened enforcement activity could intimidate voters—especially voters of color—in violation of the Voting Rights Act. UT Austin to eliminate Black, Latino and women’s studies majors — theGrio, Sept. 18 Summary: UT Austin stopped enrolling new students in African and African Diaspora Studies, Mexican American and Latina/o Studies, and Women’s and Gender Studies, while also planning to eliminate the Race, Indigeneity and Migration major. Current students may complete their degrees, but faculty criticized the consolidation as restricting academic choice. SPOTLIGHT: Two Black HBCU students receive up to $15,000 through the 2026 Astronaut Scholarship — BlackNews.com Summary: North Carolina A&T students Victoria Little and Avery C. Love were named 2026 Astronaut Scholars, joining 79 STEM students selected from 54 institutions. Each may receive up to $15,000, along with mentoring, professional development and networking opportunities.
