1. Box Office: Bourne Beats Batman
Batman finally takes a bow. The Dark Knight Rises relinquished the top spot at the box office after three straight weeks in first place to The Bourne Legacy.

Tony Gilroy’s reboot of the Bourne franchise, which sees Matt Damon passing the torch to Jeremy Renner for the title role, proved to be a good gamble, bringing in $40.3 million in a weekend when many moviegoers opted to stay home and watch the Olympics. [MORE]

2. The Sparkle Cast Graces the Cover of Ebony Magazine
Jordin Sparks, Tika Sumpter, and Carmen Ejogo look pretty in pink for the September 2012 issue of Ebony magazine. The Sparkle starlets have been busy promoting their new movie, which hits theaters August 17, and talking about working alongside the late Whitney Houston on her final film. [MORE]

3. On Blacks and Fat: Dr. Gayle Porter
For the eighth in the series, The Root talked to Dr. Gayle Porter. A clinical psychologist by training, she’s the author of Prime Time: The African-American Woman’s Complete Guide to Midlife Health and Wellness and, along with Dr. Marilyn Hughes Gaston, she founded the Gaston & Porter Health Improvement Center. Operating in four states and Washington, D.C., its mission is to improve the health outcomes of African-American women and reduce health disparities. She talked to us about why she refuses to accept poverty as an excuse for African-American obesity, her problem with the food served in black churches and the difference a 30-minute daily walk can make. [MORE]

4. Commentary: The Evidence Continues to Mount Against Voter ID
A wave of disenfranchising legislation that has washed through state houses across the country since the 2010 elections has the potential of taking away the right to vote from eligible citizens in ways this country hasn’t seen since the era of the civil rights movement (see the Lawyers’ Committee’s Map of Shame). Proponents of these laws have justified them by claiming voter fraud threatens the integrity of our elections. However, the only type of fraud that strict photo ID requirements would prevent — the impersonation of another voter — is so rare there were only nine reported cases between 2000 and 2007, during a period when 400 million votes were cast. [MORE]

5. First White President of NAACP Chapter at HBCU Found Dead
Forty-year-old Michael Teasley, a student at Jackson State University who became the first white person to head an NAACP chapter at an HBCU in 2010, was found dead in his apartment last week. The Clarion-Ledger reports:

“Teasley, 40, who grew up in rural Rankin County, was elected president of the JSU chapter of the NAACP in late 2010. He was the first white person to hold that position among historically black colleges and universities. Friends said sometimes he endured scrutiny for that reason, but that he was never known to bow to pressure from anyone. He stood for what he believed.” [MORE]

TAGS: BATMAN, Carmen Ejogo, Dr. Gayle Porter, Ebony Magazine, election, HBCU, Health, Jackson State University, Jeremy Renner, Jordin Sparks, Matt Damon, Michael Teasley, NAACP, Olympics, Sparkle, The Bourne Legacy, The Clarion-Ledger, The Dark Knight Rises, The Root, Tika Sumpter, Tony Gilroy, vote, voter ID, Whitney Houston