1. Jada Pinkett-Smith Talks Parenting, Fame, and Drugs with Mom and Willow
The first episode of Jada Pinkett-Smith’s new web series Red Table Talks has been released and in it she sits with her mom, Adrienne Banfield Jones, and daughter Willow to talk candidly about good parenting, Adrienne’s past drug use and how Willow feels about fame. To spark topics of conversation and promote open communication between them, the three wrote down questions that were then dropped into a bowl for them to pick from as well as a few must-have questions that Jada jotted into her notebook. [MORE]

2. White Women More Likely Than Black Women to Smoke Cigarettes While Pregnant
Twelve percent of all American babies are born premature — before 37 weeks — which translates into roughly half a million babies a year. And while lack of access to quality prenatal care, obesity, stress and other diseases such as high blood pressure and diabetes play a role in those numbers, so does substance abuse. A recent report from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) highlights just how common and serious smoking, drinking alcohol and abusing drugs are among expectant mothers. And what they found is eye-opening. [MORE]

3. Newsweek Cover Heralds Obama as “First Gay President”
President Obama has been named the “first gay president” on the cover of the just released Newsweek issue, which features the president with a rainbow halo over his head. The cover comes a week after the president publicly supported the legalization of same-sex marriage. In the cover story, Andrew Sullivan, who is gay, says that as the offspring of a white American woman and an African man Obama grew up understanding what it’s like to be different. [MORE]

4. Trayvon Martin’s Mother Gets Donated Vacation Time
Employees of the Miami-Dade County housing authority have pooled together eight months of paid leave to support Sybrina Fulton’s fight to see justice served in the death of her son. [MORE]

TAGS: Adrienne Banfield Jones, Andrew Sullivan, babies, first gay president, Jada Pinkett-Smith, Miami-Dade county housing authority, Newsweek, Pregnancy, premature births, President Obama, Red Table Talks, same-sex marriage, smoking, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, Sybrina Fulton, Trayvon Martin, vacation time, Willow