June is African-American Music Appreciation Month, according to President Obama, who last year designated the start of summer as a celebration for all the black "musicians, composers, singers, and songwriters [who] have made enormous contributions to our culture."

In this spirit, we look at 10 black artists currently redefining the music industry with their particular brand of rap, hip hop and smart producer wits: Rihanna, Drake, Beyonce, Kanye, Jay-Z, Usher, Nicki Minaj, Chris Brown, Jennifer Hudson and Lil Wayne. 

MIAMI — George Zimmerman, the neighborhood watch volunteer charged with murder in the killing of Trayvon Martin, surrendered to police Sunday and was booked into jail after having his bail revoked two days earlier.

Zimmerman's legal team said in a tweet that he was in police custody. Zimmerman's bail was revoked because the judge said he and his wife lied to the court about their finances so he could obtain a lower bond.

On Sunday afternoon, about 40 minutes before the 2:30 p.m. deadline to surrender, Zimmerman was listed as an inmate on the jail website. He was listed as being held without bail and having $500 in his jail account.

Seminole County Sheriff Donald Eslinger said Zimmerman turned himself in to two sheriff's office employees around 1:25 p.m. near the jail, and was then driven to the jail. Zimmerman arrived in a white minivan and did not respond to questions from reporters as he walked inside, handcuffed and wearing blue jeans, sneakers and a button-down shirt.

"He is quiet and cooperative," Eslinger said at a news conference after Zimmerman's surrender.

The Seminole County Sheriff's Office said Zimmerman would be in a cell by himself, separated from the general population, because the case is so high-profile. The 67-square-foot cell is equipped with a toilet, two beds, a mattress, pillow, blanket and bed sheets. Zimmerman will not have access to a TV.

Prosecutors had said Zimmerman and his wife told the judge at a bond hearing in April that they had limited money, even though he had raised about $135,000 through a website. Defense attorneys said the matter was a misunderstanding.

Attorney Mark O'Mara announced earlier Sunday on his website that Zimmerman had arrived in Florida late Saturday evening ahead of his surrender. Zimmerman, who is charged with second-degree murder in the fatal shooting of the 17-year-old Martin, was ordered by a judge Friday to return to jail.

During a bond hearing in April, the couple had indicated they had limited funds. But prosecutors say Zimmerman had raised thousands through a website he had set up for his legal defense.

Zimmerman has pleaded not guilty to the second-degree murder charge. He maintains he shot Martin in self-defense under Florida's so-called "stand your ground" law because the teen, who was unarmed, was beating him up after confronting Zimmerman about following him in a gated community outside Orlando.Zimmerman's legal team said Sunday that they will ask for a new bond hearing to address those concerns, and that they hope Zimmerman's voluntary surrender will show he is not a flight risk. Furthermore, the money Zimmerman has raised is in an independent trust and cannot be directly accessed by Zimmerman or his attorneys, according to the press release.

Zimmerman's credibility could become an issue at trial, legal experts said, noting the case hinges on jurors believing Zimmerman's account of what happened the night in February that Martin was killed.

Zimmerman wasn't charged in the case until more than a month after the shooting. Protests were held across the nation, and the case spurred debate about whether race was a factor in Zimmerman's actions and in the initial police handling of the case. Martin was black; Zimmerman's father is white and his mother is from Peru.

Police in Sanford did not immediately arrest Zimmerman, citing the Florida law that gives wide latitude to use deadly force rather than retreat in a fight if people believe they are in danger of being killed or seriously injured.

Zimmerman was arrested 44 days after the killing.

Prosecutors pointed out in their motion that Zimmerman had $135,000 available when the bond hearing was held in April. It had been raised from donations through a website he had set up. They suggested more has been collected since and deposited in a bank account.

Shellie Zimmerman was asked about the website at the hearing, but she said she didn't know how much money had been raised. Circuit Judge Kenneth Lester set bail at $150,000. The 28-year-old was freed a few days later after posting $15,000 in cash – which is typical.

Prosecutor Bernie De la Rionda complained Friday, "This court was led to believe they didn't have a single penny. It was misleading and I don't know what words to use other than it was a blatant lie." The judge agreed and ordered Zimmerman returned to jail by Sunday afternoon.

The defense countered that Zimmerman and his wife never used the money for anything, which indicated "there was no deceit."

The judge said he would schedule a hearing after Zimmerman is back in custody so he could explain himself.

Benjamin Crump, an attorney for Trayvon Martin's parents, Tracy Martin and Sybrina Fulton, said his clients have always said Zimmerman should remain in jail until trial.

After an 11-year hiatus and an awkward on-air encounter with her mentor Oprah Winfrey last year, spiritual coach Iyanla Vanzant is poised to make a return to TV.

Vanzant's new show "Fix My Life" is set to debut this fall on Winfrey's OWN Network, with an hour-long sneak peek airing on Saturday, June 2.

"They call this a show, but I'm calling it a workshop," Vanzant says of the show, whose premiere episode tackles a family crisis spanning three generations.

"I believe that the wounds that cut us the deepest and hurt the most are inflicted by the ones that we love," Vanzant says. "I'm here for one purpose -- to support us in remembering the truth of who we are."

Vanzant's personal struggles are the cornerstone of her approach to fixing other's lives, OWN Network says.

In February last year, Vanzant sat face-to-face with Oprah to clear the air about why their relationship abruptly came to an end more than a decade prior, revealing how her life completely fell apart during the hiatus.

There was a time when I had no idea that tomatoes didn’t come in green plastic trays, covered by cellophane, and that they could be any color other than pale red,” Michelle Obama writes in her new book, “American Grown.”

The First Lady certainly knows better now. She’s spent a great deal of time and energy over the past several years teaching kids (and adults) around the country how to eat healthily and get more exercise -- and a big part of her initiative is the garden she planted on the White House grounds in 2009.

Her new book offers practical advice and recipes as well as stories about different people and their gardens across the nation. Among other things, "American Grown" shows that you don’t need to live in the countryside to have a garden. For example, two Brooklyn schools, profiled in the book, successfully converted urban areas into thriving, green spaces.

The First Lady also makes a point of talking about our nation’s obesity problem, demonstrating its implications in terms of the economy and, “believe it or not,” national security, too (“more than one-quarter of our nation’s seventeen- to –twenty-four-year-olds are actually too overweight to serve in our military,” she reports).

When she puts it that way, fixing America’s health issues might sound like a daunting, painful process. But if you take a moment to consider the many simple things you can do to improve your and your family’s health, today and in the future, the path forward may seem as easy as it is important.

Finally, as Obama writes in her conclusion, healthy living isn’t just about growing food –- it’s also about how you eat and whom you eat with: "Barack, Malia, Sasha, and I eat dinner together pretty much every night at 6:30 p.m.; even if Barack is traveling, he always tries to make it back home in time for dinner. … [W]e talk with our daughters about what’s going on in their lives, and in ours."

By bringing natural food into our homes, we can improve our health and quality of life; by sharing family meals, we can support and learn about each other and keep important conversations -– about nature, health and every other subject under the sun –- going.

Racing fans are falling over themselves this week to scoop up tickets for the Detroit Grand Prix, making its return to Belle Isle. The IndyCar event runs through Sunday, but it may not be the last time visitors reach for their wallets in order to set foot on Detroit's most famous island and largest park.

The 982-acre island, which is sometimes called "Detroit's Jewel," sits on the Detroit River and is currently managed by the Detroit Department of Recreation. It's a popular destination for city residents to go hiking, biking, swimming and barbequing. Belle Isle also features a beach, a lighthouse and a conservatory designed by famed architect Albert Kahn.

But in response to its own budget crisis, the city is now trying to turn the island into a true monetary asset. On Thursday, Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder told Crain's Detroit Business the state is currently working out plans to integrate Belle Isle into the state park system.

Admittance to the park is currently free to the public, as with all city parks, but Detroit's recent consent agreement with the state includes a plan to lease the island to Michigan's Department of Natural Resources, while allowing the city to maintain ownership. The plan would save the city money on park maintenance as it looks to overhaul its finances.

Snyder told Crain's if Belle Isle does become a state park, visitors will likely have to pay a fee, but Detroit residents would probably get free admittance for several years. He also said plans for the park could include upgrades to lighting, transportation and police presence, adding the state is open to development proposals.

DNR director Rodney Stokes raised a similar point in an April interview with the Detroit Free Press, noting Belle Isle would be a great location for corporate outings.

"I don't think the state can do it by ourselves," he said. "We're hoping that the corporate community will be willing to adopt some of those facilities to restore those as well."

Mayor Dave Bing is looking for similar corporate backing for a new conservancy to replace the city's Recreation Department, which currently runs community centers and parks.

The privatization of Belle Isle is a hot-button issue in Detroit, but the idea has long had backers. An article from as long ago as 2000 by Michael D. LaFaive that appears on the website of the conservative Mackinac Center For Public Policy proposed selling the island outright to private investors.

Citgo has asked the owners of its gas stations to stop selling K2 and Spice—a synthetic form of marijuana.

The sale of K2 and Spice has caused concern for many parents and local officials in Michigan, and Alan Flagg, the general manager of light oils marketing for Citgo, joined the outcry.

In a letter dated May 31, Flagg asked the local owners of Citgo stations to stop the sale of K2 at locally-owned, Citgo-branded locations, even in states where the substances are legal, including Michigan.

“Substances such as synthetic marijuana and Bath Salts, sold under a variety of names, including Spice and K2, have proven to be harmful substances, especially for teenagers,” Flagg wrote in the letter. “At least 40 states have banned their sale in some form and legislation is pending in other states. Clearly, the sale of these substances creates a negative image that is disparaging to the CITGO brand and the many individual identities that your retail locations have in their communities.

“Therefore, the sale of these substances in a CITGO-branded location is prohibited under our Marketer Franchise Agreement (the “MFA”),” Flagg continued. “Should sales of these substances at CITGO-branded locations continue after the date of this letter, CITGO may take such action as it deems appropriate to protect its brand image, including debranding the location.”

In addition, Citgo is working with the Michigan Petroleum Association to back a bill in the state Senate that would prohibit the sale of “synthetic cannabinoids.”

Senate Bill 1082 is sponsored by Sen. Dave Hildenbrand, who represents the 29th District in Kent County.

State Rep. George Darany of Dearborn has introduced a similar bill in the House.

This morning, Oakland County Executive L. Brooks Patterson and Sheriff Michael Bouchard announced that on June 7, they and Auday Arabo, President and CEO of the Associated Food & Petroleum Dealers, will unveil a countywide initiative to help stem the distribution and use of synthetic marijuana and other synthetic drugs. 

A Facebook Group called Ban K2 Shelby has organized a rally at the Citgo Gas Station on Van Dyke in Shelby Township June 2 at 10:45 a.m. after the owner said he would not stop selling K2 until it becomes illegal to do so in Michigan.

In yet another horrifying incident of human flesh-eating this week, a student in Maryland allegedly admitted to devouring his roommate's brain and heart.

Alexander Kinyua, a 21-year-old Morgan State University student, admitted to murdering his roommate Kujoe Bonsafo Agyei-Kodie, who was reported missing last Friday, cops told the Baltimore Sun.

Kinyua's father called police late Tuesday night when Kinyua's brother reportedly found human remains -- a head and two hands -- in a metal tin in the basement. The brother and father left the room for a short time, but when they came back, the body parts had been moved and Kinyua was washing out the tin, the paper reported.

Officers searched the house and arrested Kinyua. The man allegedly confessed a shocking revelation: not only had he killed Agyei-Kodie by cutting him up with a knife and then dismembered him, he ingested parts of the victim's brain and all of his heart. He then allegedly dropped most of the remains in a Dumpster behind a church in Joppatowne.

It's yet unclear what Kinyua's motive may have been, but he was charged with first-degree murder on Wednesday. In another incident on May 20, he was charged with first-degree assault when he allegedly beat a fellow student randomly with a baseball bat and then fled into the woods.

The gruesome case comes on the heels of a similar attack in Miami on Saturday, in which Rudy Eugene, 31, was killed by cops while in the process of chewing off most of a homeless man's face.

Ronald Poppo, 65, is alive, but the bizarre flesh-eating attack left doctors with a literal puzzle in how to put his face back together.

We live in a culture where water is something that happens when you turn a knob, light is something that happens when you flip a switch, and food is something that happens when you open a can.

Anything that lifts the veil to constantly remind us what's going on behind the drywall or the storefronts is considered unsightly, even vulgar.  

For instance, where does food come from? The answer is not "the store". Sorry.

Food comes from soil, from farms. Farms can be beautiful places if managed correctly, and orchards are perhaps the most beautiful parts of a farm.

So why on earth people think the fruit orchard in Palmer Park will be unsightly or attract rodents is beyond me. 

Yesterday the Detroit City Council heard complaints from some residents in Palmer Parkwho opposed a 500 tree fruit orchard because they don't want to live near a farm. How dare anyone live near where food is being produced, right?

An excerpt from a Detroit News report: 

"All this vacant land in Detroit, and they want to put it in our neighborhood," said Eric Sabree, deputy Wayne County treasurer for Land Management, who lives on Pontchartrain and lodged some of the complaints. "We didn't move here to be next to a farm."

OK. I do understand the social stigma on farming. It's dirty, it's for poor people to do, it's to be hidden and sanitized. Farms are light blight. That's the broader cultural mindset. But people have to understand that there is a lot of misinformation around food. Relationships between people and where food comes from have been severed. And removing one orchard is not about one orchard. It's a piece to a larger movement in the city gearing to heal relationships between people and food and provide economical and healthy avenues in doing so.

Having been raised on a farm, I know how orchards can explode into spectacular shows of color when in bloom, how they provide shade and coolness on a hot day, and, best of all, the flowers turn into fruit that have more flavor than anything bought at a store.

And for the record, fruit trees don't attract rodents. They just don't. What does attract rodents is the overflowing trashcans and rubbish lining the street just a block away. This orchard will be managed properly, and clearing the dropped fruit is orchard maintenance 101.

Before we jump to conclusions about what it means to live near an orchard there should be some education around it. Talks, if you will. Which is why it's best the City Council decided to let the Palmer Park neighbors come to an agreement.

But the larger picture to this is that food is being grown in Detroit. Metric tons. It is being eaten and sold at markets. All this is happening contrary to zoning codes and ordinances. This economic shift should be eflected in zoning and planning as it blooms into something larger than just one issue.  It's about people and our most fundemental need: food.

The director of Michigan State University's Civil Rights Clinic is suing the state Department of Corrections in federal court.

Dan Manville says the DOC is violating some lawyers' Constitutional rights by limiting when they can visit prisoners.

Manville says the new visiting hours are three days a week from 2:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.

"Now under this present procedure, you're having to drive at least two or three days to do the same thing you used to be able to do in one day," Manville says.

He says some lawyers have clients at several locations around the state.

The suit asks that lawyers be allowed to see inmates on any day between 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.

A Department of Corrections spokesman says the state cut back prison visiting hours to save money.

Manville also says some prisons no longer provide separate rooms in which lawyers can meet their clients.
 
"Where's the confidentiality?" Manville asks.  "I'm sitting right next to other inmates, family members, and my client  is supposed to discuss their case with me?"

Around 30 community members, led by state Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Detroit), blocked traffic on Fort Street at a rally Tuesday evening in front of Southwestern High School, staging a sit-down to protest its scheduled closing.

The recent decision by Detroit Public Schools to keep operating southwest Detroit's Maybury Elementary School has emboldened parents and community members working to prevent the closing of the nearby Southwestern High.

"This is about bringing attention to an injustice," said Tlaib, herself a graduate of Southwestern, who called for the rally.

Police were on the scene when Tlaib sat down in front of traffic at 5:30 p.m. after giving a short speech to the gathering. Police cruisers were already parked in the center lane from an earlier effort to prevent members of the crowd from marching across the road. The crowd finally responded to police requests to return to the sidewalk after about 10 minutes of blocking traffic.

"I wouldn't do this if this was a school that wasn't working -- a school that wasn't graduating our kids," Tlaib told The Huffington Post, noting only eight students had failed to graduate during the previous year.

She also wondered how the district would accommodate future high school students.

"Forty percent of the population [of Southwest Detroit] are children, 18 and under," she said. "We're building K-8 schools all over the district right now. What high school are they going to [go to]?"

Southwestern is one of five high schools DPS plans to close next year as the district continues to cut costs and respond to shrinking enrollment. The district says it is closing Southwestern due to low enrollment.

"Southwestern High School has lost over 27 percent of its enrollment since 2009 and is expected to lose 31 percent over the next five years," said DPS spokeswoman Jennifer Mrozowski in an email. "The 583 students at Southwestern can be accommodated at Western International (800 empty seats) or Northwestern (1,000 empty seats)."

Mrozowski said the district believes it can handle stable or increasing demographics in southwest Detroit, but said the depopulation of other areas of the city has forced the district to make tough decisions.

"Rather than continue to support buildings that are far under-utilized, we will close, consolidate and merge schools, allowing us to drive additional resources to a smaller group of higher-quality facilities and to our students in those buildings," she said.

Mrozowski also noted that Southwestern appeared on the Michigan Department of Education's 2011 Persistently Low Achieving (lowest 5 percent) list for academic performance and was eligible for closure by the state or for transfer to the state's newEducational Achievement Authority district for low-performing schools.

Cheryl Elum heads Southwestern's Local School and Community Organization, a parent-teacher group, and has a 17-year-old son attending Southwestern. She doesn't think the district or its state-appointed emergency manager are being straightforward about motivations for closing the school.

Tuesday's protest was not the first action to keep the high school open. In April, students from Southwestern and nearby Western International High School walked out of class, demanding the former school be kept open. Community members who successfully fought to keep Maybury Elementary open have also participated in joint rallies with those supporting Southwestern.

Tlaib said the example parents set in saving Maybury inspired her to put a call out for the Tuesday rally. She said she is pushing to keep Southwestern open so that other young people in the neighborhood have an opportunity to become state representatives.

"Amazing people have come out this school: [neurosurgeon] Dr. Ben Carson, Jalen Rose, who is now an ESPN correspondent," she said. "They have done a phenomenal job in educating our youth here and they need to keep it open."

Rose, who went on to become a college basketball and NBA star after his time at Southwestern, awards a scholarship to a Southwestern High School student each year and recently paid to re-do the school's basketball court. Rose also runs a charter high school in Detroit.