America has crossed a landmark in its demographic make-up, presaging a monumental shift in the country's culture, politics and economics, with minority groups for the first time in US history accounting for more than half of all births.

New figures released by the US census bureau underline the changing face of the world's only superpower. They show that most children born between July 2010 and July 2011 belonged to ethnic or racial minorities, with Hispanic families driving the demographic growth. Read More...

President Barack Obama’s endorsement last week of gay marriage appears to have boosted black North Carolinians’ support for the issue, according to a poll released Thursday.

A Public Policy Polling survey found that 27 percent of black voters believe same-sex marriage should be legal, up from 20 percent in a poll conducted on May 6, three days before Obama announced his support. And 59 percent say they are opposed to gay marriage, down from 63 percent in the previous poll, which was taken before the North Carolina primary. Read More...

he New York police department is changing the way it trains and supervises officers carrying out controversial stop-and-frisk searches, the tactic which has left it facing a class action lawsuit over claims it is unconstitutional.

NYPD commissioner Ray Kelly said he hoped the changes would "increase public confidence" in the procedures.

He outlined the changes in a letter to New York council speaker Christine Quinn, an outspoken critic of the policy which she said had "sown distrust in communities of color" in the city. Read More...

Jordan Oliver was overheard telling friends she couldn't swim shortly before she leapt into the water in what was believed to be a game of 'bridge jumping' in Bolingbrook, Illinois. Read More...

Gas prices may feel high in the U.S., but they are much higher in the rest of the world. We have the 12th lowest gas prices on a list of 55 countries compiled by Bloomberg, cited by blogger Barry Ritholtz. Read More...

The US Department of Justice sent a strongly worded letter to the Baltimore Police Department (BPD) on Monday, reprimanding it for insufficiently supporting the right of citizens to record video of officers on duty — a move that suggests the federal government is becoming increasingly concerned over related civil rights abuses. The DOJ is not satisfied with the BPD's response to a settlement for a case involving the unlawful harassment and detention of a man named Christopher Sharp — just one of many similar incidents across the US involving police officers encroaching on the right of citizens to record their public duties. Read More...

Are controversial covers the secret to news magazine success? Newsweek certainly seems to think so.

A few days after Time made headlines around the Internet with its cover photo featuring a mom breastfeeding her maybe-too-old child, Newsweek is going to press with an image of President Obama, featuring a rainbow-colored halo and a caption declaring him the “first gay president.”

Andrew Sullivan, an openly gay and self-described conservative writer, wrote the title article for Newsweek, which outlines the president’s “evolution” on the issue of gay marriage.

President Obama announced his personal support for same-sex marriage during a television interview broadcast last Wednesday. Read More...

Black ministers have been among the most vocal opponents of gay rights, yet liberals seem scared to call them out. Mansfield Frazier and Larry Durstin write that needs to change. Read More...