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      *Usher will hand Jermaine Dupri his the Golden Note Award at the ASCAP Pop Music Awards on Monday in Beverly Hills. Big Boi, Clay Aiken, Twista, Dashboard Confessional, J-Kwon, Sean Paul and producers the Matrix and John Shanks are also scheduled to attend the event.

      *Jim Brown threw down a $5,000 cash donation at a benefit for Cystic Fibrosis hosted by Tommy Pooch Saturday at the Gansevoort Hotel in Miami Beach.

      *Whoopi Goldberg, who attended New York’s Hudson Guild theater program in the 1980s before her rise to fame, will return to receive the Guild's first Arts in the Community Award at a public ceremony later this month. Hudson Guild provides community-building services and activities primarily for Manhattan's Chelsea neighborhood, including education, social services, healthcare, and the arts for children, adults, and seniors. After more than a year of reconstruction, renovation, and fundraising, its flagship location, the Elliott Center (441 West 26th Street), will reopen later this month with a series of community events and salutes from celebrities and public officials.

      *Spelman College will honor former faculty member Howard Zinn, Ph.D., actress Diahann Carroll and activist Dr. Virginia Davis Floyd at the college’s 118th Commencement to be held 4 p.m. Sunday at Cathedral at Chapel Hill in Decatur, GA.  Dr. Zinn, author of "A People's History of the United States" and former mentor of Spelman students who worked in the civil rights movement, will receive an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters. Diahann Carroll will be honored with a Doctor of Fine Arts, while Dr. Virginia Davis Floyd - the Visiting Scholar in Traditional Knowledge at Spelman – will receive the National Community Service Award. Dr. Floyd is highly regarded for her research and community leadership in the area of traditional medicine and global cross-cultural experiences. 

      *The Negro League Legends Hall of Fame Celebration, designed to educate folks about the contributions of the Negro League players in American baseball history, will feature a number of events around the Washington Metropolitan Area this weekend. The First Annual Spring Negro League Hall of Fame Golf Benefit and Black Tie Reception, featuring a meet-and-greet with several dozen Negro League players, will be held tomorrow at the Marlborough Golf Club in Upper Marlboro, MD (4750 John Rogers Blvd.). On Saturday the an autograph signing will be held from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at World Gym in Largo, MD (860 Largo Center Drive). At 7 p.m. Saturday, the Negro League Legends Hall of Fame Black-Tie Silent Auction and second autograph signing will be held at 9100 Basil Court in Largo. Both autograph signing events are open to the public.

      *The National Coalition on Black Civic Participation will hand out their 2005 Spirit Of Democracy Awards at 6:30 tonight at the Hyatt Regency in Washington D.C., (400 New Jersey Ave. NW). Honorees include Congressman John Lewis,  (D-GA) – for Public Service and Voting Rights; Wangari Maathai, Kenyan environmentalist and Nobel Peace Laureate – for Human Rights and Environmental Conservation; Kenny “Babyface” Edmonds, Tracey Edmonds, and Jonathan Lewis - producers of the star-studded remake of “Wake Up Everybody” – for Innovative Youth Engagement; Senator Arlen Specter – for Public Service and Educational Opportunity; Evelyn G. Lowery, founder and chair, SCLC/W.O.M.E.N – for Voting Rights and Women’s Empowerment; Joe Davis, co-managing partner MGM Grand Detroit - Corporate Leadership Award; Jennifer Henderson, president, Strategic Interventions - Community Empowerment Award; Ronald Walters, Ph.D., director, African American Leadership Institute, University of Maryland - Community Empowerment Award.