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Ronald Thomas Smith II, a chemistry teacher from Texas who spent more than a year at the International School Benghazi, was reportedly shot by unknown assailants. The school's principal tells NBC News that Smith was "very much loved."

Two years after a federal judge ruled that New York City's fire department's tests discriminated against blacks and Hispanics, nearly 62 percent of graduates from the most recent class of the FDNY's training academy are minorities.

The law aims to plug a $100 billion shortfall in the state's pension system, which is considered the nation's worst-funded.

Duke University is known for its basketball. But this year, Duke's fans are cheering for their football team, which has won the most games in its history. Lead by the national coach of the year, the Blue Devils are headed the Atlantic Coast Conference championship game.

The South African leader's life held special power for black Americans, who lost many iconic civil rights leaders tragically early. Karen Grigsby Bates reflects on Mandela's legacy.

The Asia trip is generating the kind of video and headlines that could prove useful if the vice president decides to run for president in 2016.

From his childhood as a herd boy, Nelson Mandela went on to lead the African National Congress' struggle against South Africa's racially oppressive apartheid regime. For his efforts, he spent 27 years behind bars as a political prisoner. In 1994, he became his country's first elected black leader. Mandela died on Thursday. He was 95.

President Obama addressed the nation Thursday after news that former South African president and anti-apartheid icon Nelson Mandela died, saying the world lost an influential, courageous and "profoundly good" man.

A big ruling on whether poor criminal defendants have the right to a lawyer came this week. A judge in Washington state finds two cities have systematically violated the rights of indigent defendants by providing them with lawyers who spent less than one hour on their cases.

On Feb. 11, 1990, upon his release from prison, Nelson Mandela stood on the steps of City Hall in Cape Town, South Africa. He told the gather crowd of more than 100,000 people to seize what he called "a decisive moment." In the audio above, you can listen to a segment of that speech.