"Ricky Harris, Actor and Comedian, Dies at 54"

Actor and comedian Ricky Harris has died, The Hollywood Reporter was told by his manager, Cindy Ambers. He was 54. Harris, whose numerous credits in television and film include Heat, Poetic Justice and Everyone Hates Chris, died Monday of a heart attack, Ambers said.

Harris also worked with Snoop Dogg on his rap albums. Snoop, Ice Cube and Chuck D, among many others, paid their respects on social media. […] MSN.com

Honestly, I didn't know him and was not familiar with his work. But I assume he was well-known by many people.

Re: the *Honorable Mention* list:

Unfortunately, I'd add THIS alarming issue to that list:

"Heroin Deaths Topped Gun Homicides Last Year, Depressing CDC Data Shows"

Heroin deaths surpassed gun homicide deaths last year for the first time in more than 15 years, according to data released Thursday by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Opioid deaths hit 33,091 in 2015, quadrupling since 1999. Heroin deaths in particular rose 23 percent year over year to 12,989; synthetic opioid deaths rose 73 percent to 9,580.

“I don’t think we’ve ever seen anything like this. Certainly not in modern times,” Robert Anderson, chief of the mortality statistics branch of the CDC, told the Associated Press.

The new figures are a tragic expression of the United States’ urgent addiction problem. As it stands, more than 20 million Americans have a substance use disorder and 12.5 million report misusing prescriptions painkillers, behaviors linked to the aggressive marketing and overprescription of opioids in the 1980s-90s.

It’s a problem health officials know well. In November (2016), Surgeon General Vivek Murthy issued a 400-page report entitled “Facing Addiction in America,” urging everyday Americans to rethink their views on addiction. Murthy also called for doctors and policymakers to expand proven treatment programs, invest in substance use prevention and fund treatment research. [….] HuffPost

Wish i could say that I don't understand how such a growing crisis gets so little attention (if any) from the mainstream news media. (sigh)!.