Justin Bieber Opens Up About His Past Drug Addiction

20 people dead in El Paso shooting, 26 injured Texas governor says!

20 people dead in El Paso shooting, 26 injured Texas governor says!

(CNN)Twenty people were killed and more than two dozen were injured in a mass shooting at an El Paso shopping center on Saturday, according to Texas and local authorities.”Lives were taken who should still be with us today,” Gov. Greg Abbott said at a news conference.Twenty-six people were injured, according to El Paso Police Chief Greg Allen.What we know about the shooting in El Paso, Texas“The ages and genders of all these people injured and killed are numerous in the age groups,” Allen said. “The situation, needless to say, is a horrific one.”A 21-year-old white man from Allen, Texas, is in police custody, Allen said. Authorities are looking at potentially bringing capital murder charges against him.FOLLOW LIVE UPDATESThe case also has a “nexus to a potential hate crime,” he said.”Right now, we have a manifesto from this individual that indicates to some degree a nexus to a potential hate crime,” Allen said.FBI El Paso Special Agent in Charge Emmerson Buie said more investigative work was needed before determining whether there was a possible hate crime.

Authorities on the scene of a shooting at a Walmart near Cielo Vista Mall in El Paso.CNN reported the suspect is 21-year-old Patrick Crusius of Allen, just outside Dallas, according to three sources.Two federal law enforcement sources and one state government source confirmed the suspect’s identity. The federal sources said investigators are reviewing an online writing posted days before the shooting that may speak to a motive.The online posting was believed to be written by Crusius, the sources said, but that has not been confirmed.

‘This was a massacre’

The first call of an active shooter went out at 10:39 a.m. local time, Allen said. The first officer arrived on scene six minutes later.El Paso Police Sgt. Robert Gomez previously told reporters police were initially given multiple possible locations for the shooting, at a Walmart and the Cielo Vista Mall next door.

WalmartCielo Vista Mall

“This is a large crime scene, a large area,” Gomez said of the scene Saturday afternoon.Multiple agencies responded to the scene, including the FBI, the sheriff’s department, the state Department of Public Safety and Border Patrol.The crime scene will “be in play for a long period,” Allen said. “Unfortunately, the deceased will remain at the scene until the scene is processed properly for evidentiary purposes to be gathered for later prosecution.”

El Paso Police Department Sgt. Robert Gomez briefs media on a shooting that occurred at a Walmart.Officials from two local hospitals said they had received at least 23 people.Thirteen people were taken to University Medical Center of El Paso, spokesman Ryan Mielke told CNN, and one of them has died. Two children with non-life-threatening injuries were transferred to a children’s medical facility, Mielke said.Eleven victims were transported to the Del Sol Medical Center, hospital spokesman Victor Guerrero said. Nine are in critical but stable condition, he said.At least two of the patients are in a “life-threatening predicament,” according to Del Sol Medical Center Dr. Stephen Flaherty. He said the patients ranged in age from 25 to 82. Two are in stable condition, he said, and seven required emergency operations.”This was a massacre,” US Rep. Veronica Escobar, who represents the area, told CNN. Escobar has received conflicting reports on the numbers of casualties, she said, but added, “The numbers are shocking.”

Footage shows people lying on the ground outside Walmart

Walmart issued a statement regarding the shooting, saying, “We’re in shock over the tragic events at Cielo Vista Mall in El Paso. … We’re praying for the victims, the community & our associates, as well as the first responders.”Inside the mall, crowds hid inside stores after hearing reports of an active shooter, according to 26-year-old Brandon Chavez, an employee at Forever 21.Chavez had just started his shift when he saw customers and staff members running to the stock room to take shelter.”There were about 20 children and adults, plus employees, hiding, all cramped like sardines,” he told CNN. “Most of us were desperate, some were on their phones. There were girls crying, people trying to talk to each other and women with babies in their arms.”

Shoppers exit with their hands up after a shooting in El Paso, Texas, on Saturday.Store employees had closed the glass doors but he could see police officers walking around the mall and evacuating people from other stores.After police officers knocked on the store’s doors, Chavez said his group had to leave the store, forming a line with their hands up and running.In a shaky Snapchat video aired by CNN, a woman holding the camera frantically runs with a small group of girls or women through a mall department store and into a parking lot.As the group hurries past racks of clothes and cases of merchandise, voices off camera shout, “Hands up!”Once in the parking lot, one member of the group asks, “What happened?””I don’t know,” the woman holding the camera responds. “I don’t know.”Another video, shot from outside the Walmart, showed people lying on the ground, some of them next to a table set up by the store’s entrance.

Authorities respond to an active shooter at a Walmart near Cielo Vista Mall in El Paso.”There’s a man lying down at the stand that a school set up,” the man holding the camera says in Spanish.”Help!” a man screams in English.”We need CPR,” someone else says. “We need CPR.”

‘Our community will heal,’ mayor says

Mayor Dee Margo said Saturday evening that his city would rise above this “senseless and evil act of violence.””We will be defined by the unity and compassion we showed in the wake of this tragedy,” he said. “United, our community will heal.”Nowhere was that spirit more on display than at blood donation centers. Authorities had said donations were urgently needed, and said if local residents wanted to help, they should make appointments to do so.Frances Yepez, waiting in line at one blood donation center, said the center was at max capacity and dozens of people were waiting to make appointments for Sunday or Monday.”It’s easy to make a dollar, but it’s harder to make a difference,” she said. “So I get out there and do whatever I can do to help.”She said the mood there was somber, and she could hear sniffling as the crowd of people learned updates over the television.

White House pledges ‘total support’

President Donald Trump has been briefed on the shooting, and the White House is monitoring the situation, deputy press secretary Steven Groves said in a statement.”Terrible shootings in El Paso, Texas,” the President tweeted Saturday afternoon. “Reports are very bad, many killed. Working with State and Local authorities, and Law Enforcement. Spoke to Governor to pledge total support of Federal Government. God be with you all!”

Terrible shootings in ElPaso, Texas. Reports are very bad, many killed. Working with State and Local authorities, and Law Enforcement. Spoke to Governor to pledge total support of Federal Government. God be with you all!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 3, 2019

Democratic presidential candidate Beto O’Rourke, who once represented the area in Congress, addressed the shooting while at a speaking event in Las Vegas.”We know there is a lot of injury, a lot of suffering in El Paso right now,” he said. “I am incredibly sad and it is very hard to think about this.””But I’ll tell you, El Paso is the strongest place in the world,” he added. “This community is going to come together.”O’Rourke said he would be cutting short his trip to Las Vegas to return to El Paso.Gov. Abbott tweeted late Saturday afternoon that he had arrived in El Paso.”Texans grieve today for the people of this wonderful place. We united in support of all the victims. We thank First Responders for their swift action,” the governor said. “We ask God to bind up the wounds of all who’ve been harmed.”The scene was unfolding in the same week two employees were fatally shot at a Walmart store in Southaven, Mississippi, and three people were shot and killed at the Gilroy Garlic Festival in California.

CNN’s Josh Campbell, Evan Perez, Ed Lavandera, Theresa Waldrop, Artemis Moshtaghian, Shawn Nottingham and Jay Croft contributed to this report.

source

The post 20 people dead in El Paso shooting, 26 injured Texas governor says! appeared first on NosyTalk.

from WordPress https://nosytalk.com/20-people-dead-in-el-paso-shooting-26-injured-texas-governor-says/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=20-people-dead-in-el-paso-shooting-26-injured-texas-governor-says

WATCH VIDEO: Where Are The Central Park 5 Now?

Raymond Santana, Kevin Richardson, Antron McCray, Yusef Salaam, and Kharey Wise were just teens when they were coerced into confessing to a rape they didn’t commit.

The “Central Park 5” case was one of the most publicized of the 1980s: five teens were falsely accused and convicted of raping a woman in Central Park and it would take years before they were exonerated.

Now, 30 years later, Ava DuVernay’s new four-part Netflix film “When They See Us” has prompted a reexamination of how the teens, mere boys, became victims of a vicious and false narrative that landed them behind bars. 

Trisha Meili was a 28-year-old investment banker out for a jog in Central Park on April 19, 1989. She was attacked by a serial rapist, Matias Reyes, but that wouldn’t be proven until years later following his confession from prison. Reyes, who was later convicted of raping multiple other women including a pregnant victim he also killed, hit Meili in the back of the head with a tree branch. He then dragged her off the jogging path and into the woods where he violently raped her, beat her with a rock, tied up with her own shirt and left her for dead.

Investigators chose to focus on a large group of mostly African-American boys who happened to be in the park around the same time of the rape. People had made 911 calls to police that night regarding groups of teens harassing people in the park.

As “When They See Us” shows, investigators honed in on five boys in particular: Raymond Santana, Kevin Richardson, Antron McCray, Yusef Salaam, and Kharey Wise. They all maintained their innocence and said they were coerced into confessing. The new series depicts the boys as confused, thinking that they could go home if they told police what they wanted to hear. The DNA found at the scene did not match any of theirs. Meili testified twice during the trial, under the identity “the Central Park Jogger,” and stated she didn’t remember the attack.

The boys, who came to be known as the “Central Park 5,” were sentenced to between seven and 13 years in prison for the attack. Their case became highly publicized and sensationalized, so much so that even Donald Trump weighed in on it. The five were exonerated in 2002 after Reyes confessed. District Attorney Robert Morgenthau withdrew all charges against the boys, by then men, and their convictions were vacated. Wise, who was still in prison, was released.

In 2014, the city of New York settled with the five wrongly convicted men for $40 million. Additionally they filed a $52 million lawsuit for extra damages, a suit that is still reportedly ongoing. Three of the members, Salaam, Richardson and Santana were given honorary diplomas from their former high schools in 2017, according to the New York Times.

So where are the “Central Park 5” now and how are they doing individually?

Raymond Santana

After spending five years behind bars, he is now the father of a teen daughter, according to “When They See Us.” He lives in Georgia but still appears to have strong ties to where he grew up. He founded his own apparel company called Park Madison NYC. Some of the apparel features the names of the “Central Park 5.” Musical artist Nas sports the gear in one of the company’s posts. One of the shirts even features a mugshot of himself. A post of that shirt states, “I created this shirt and called it the ‘Raymond Santana Tribute Tee’ because I wanted to recognize the ups and downs, the road I traveled, to become the man that I am today.”

Santana has pushed for criminal justice reforms in New York, including trying to mandate that all interrogations be recorded, according to AM New York.

Kevin Richardson

After five and a half years behind bars, Richardson is now married and the father of two daughters, whom he lives with in New Jersey. He travels to speak about his experience and advocates for changes in the system, according to the Innocence Project.

“There was such a media frenzy, during that time . . . we were physically scared to come outside,” he recounted during a 2017 talk.  He and Salaam talked about wrongful convictions and criminal justice reform at a Fashion Institute of Technology talk the same year.

Antron McCray

After six years behind bars, McCray is married and a proud father of six. He lives with his family in Atlanta, Georgia. He was the first of the five to leave New York City, according to “When They See Us.”

He has mostly stayed out of the spotlight. However in May, he did an interview with The New York Times, “I’m damaged, you know? I know I need help. But I feel like I’m too old to get help now. I’m 45 years old, so I’m just focused on my kids. I’m not saying it’s the right thing to do. I just stay busy. I stay in the gym. I ride my motorcycle. But it eats me up every day. Eats me alive. My wife is trying to get me help but I keep refusing. That’s just where I’m at right now. I don’t know what to do.”

He also told the publication he still struggles with complicated feelings towards his father, Bobby McCray, who testified in 1990 that he instructed his 16-year-old son to confess to a crime he knew he didn’t do.

Yusef Salaam

After spending seven years behind bars, Salaam also now resides in Georgia, where he lives with his wife and 10 children. He does public speaking, focusing on pushing for policy change in the criminal justice system. His website, Yusef Speaks, states that he “has traveled all around the United States and the Caribbean to deliver influential lectures and facilitate insightful conversations as he continues to touch lives and raise important questions about race and class, the failings of our criminal justice system, legal protections for vulnerable juveniles, and fundamental human rights.”

Salaam is a published poet and has been the recipient of several awards, including a Lifetime Achievement Award from President Barack Obama in 2016 and an honorary Doctorate of Humanities from Anointed by God Ministries Alliance & Seminary in 2014.

“Determined to educate the public, Yusef eagerly shares his story with others. In speaking out against injustice, he conveys the importance of continuing one’s education—whether formal or otherwise,” his site states. “He also touches on the effects of incarceration and the disenfranchisement of economically disadvantaged people and its devastating impact on both their families and the community at large.”

Kharey Wise

Wise was the eldest of the five and appeared to have been given the worst “deal” out of all of them. Because he was 16, he could be interrogated without a guardian present and, as the new Netflix series depicts, he may have been coerced the most. He may have also been particularly vulnerable, despite being the oldest.  In Sarah Burns’ 2011 book “The Central Park Five: The Untold Story Behind One Of New York City’s Most Infamous Crimes,” she wrote that he “had hearing problems from an early age, and a learning disability that limited his achievement in school.” Plus, he wasn’t even a suspect to begin with. He only went down to the station, as the series depicts, to support his friend Salaam. He spent most of his 14 years behind bars in adult facilities, including the infamously rough Rikers Island.

After he was released, Wise changed his first name from Kharey to Korey. He is the only member of the five who chose to stay in New York City. He both established and funded the Korey Wise Innocence Project at Colorado Law School which offers pro-bono legal counsel to wrongfully convicted people.

“You can forgive, but you won’t forget,” Wise in the 2012 Central Park Five documentary. “You won’t forget what you lost. No money could bring that time back. No money could bring the life that was missing or the time that was taken away.”

source

The post WATCH VIDEO: Where Are The Central Park 5 Now? appeared first on NosyTalk.

from WordPress https://nosytalk.com/watch-video-where-are-the-central-park-5-now/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=watch-video-where-are-the-central-park-5-now

Plane Carrying 143 People Slid Off A Runway Into A River In Florida!

A charter plane carrying 143 people slid off a runway and into a river in Jacksonville, Florida, Friday night, injuring 21 people and prompting a massive rescue effort.

The Miami Air International plane was carrying 136 passengers and seven aircrew from Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, when it attempted to land at Naval Air Station Jacksonville around 9:40 p.m. The Boeing 737 slid off a runway and came to a stop in the shallow waters of the nearby St. Johns River.

There were no fatalities or critical injuries, the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Department said, though 21 people were transported to hospitals and listed in good condition.

“The plane was not submerged. Every person is alive and accounted for,” the sheriff’s office said on Twitter.

http://bit.ly/2ZXSzO7 http://bit.ly/2UYh1Ly

Navy security and emergency personnel responded to the scene in addition to local first responders. Jacksonville Sheriff Office

Thunderstorms were observed in the area at the time of the incident. The National Weather Service in Jacksonville had warned drivers near the air station to be careful on roads during the brief, heavy downpours.

A passenger who was on the flight told CNN the plane flew through thunderstorms as it neared Jacksonville and “had a really hard landing.”

“We were in water. We couldn’t tell where we were, whether it was a river or an ocean,” Cheryl Bormann said. “There was rain coming down. There was lightning and thunder. And we stood on that wing for a significant period of time. Rescue folks came and eventually someone inflated a life raft that had been on the plane and we began climbing into it. Everybody was helping everybody.”

Jacksonville Mayor Lenny Curry said on Twitter that crews were working to keep jet fuel out of the water. The White House also called to offer help, he added.

In a tweet, Boeing said it was aware of the incident and gathering information. Air station officials said an investigation into the mishap was underway.

“No fatalities reported. We are all in this together,” Curry said.

The post Plane Carrying 143 People Slid Off A Runway Into A River In Florida! appeared first on NosyTalk.

from WordPress https://nosytalk.com/plane-carrying-143-people-slid-off-a-runway-into-a-river-in-florida/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=plane-carrying-143-people-slid-off-a-runway-into-a-river-in-florida

A Judge Has Blocked Mississippi’s 6-Week Abortion Ban

“Here we go again,” wrote US District Judge Carlton Reeves, who had previously ruled against Mississippi’s 15-week abortion law in November.

Reporting From

Washington, DC

WASHINGTON — A federal judge in Mississippi on Friday temporarily blocked the state from enforcing a new law that largely bans abortion after a fetal heartbeat is detected, usually around six weeks.

“Here we go again,” wrote US District Judge Carlton Reeves, who previously ruled against Mississippi’s 15-week abortion law in November after concluding it was unconstitutional.

Reeves wrote that the US Supreme Court had “repeatedly held” that women have the right to choose to have an abortion before the fetus is viable. A fetus wasn’t viable at 15 weeks, he wrote, which meant it wasn’t viable at six weeks either. He granted a preliminary injunction blocking the state from enforcing the law while the case went forward.

“By banning abortions after the detection of a fetal heartbeat, S.B. 2116 prevents a woman’s free choice, which is central to personal dignity and autonomy,” Reeves wrote. “This injury outweighs any interest the State might have in banning abortions after the detection of a fetal heartbeat.”

A spokesperson for the Mississippi attorney general’s office did not immediately return a request for comment.

Mississippi is one of five states to pass a fetal heartbeat law. Judges in Iowa, Kentucky, and North Dakota previously have blocked abortion bans in those states from taking effect. A lawsuit in Ohio is pending, and reproductive rights groups have vowed to file suit over a law in Georgia. None of these laws have taken effect yet.

Anti-abortion advocates see litigation over laws such as the one passed in Mississippi as vehicles to convince the Supreme Court to reconsider the 1973 decision in Roe v. Wade, which established that women have a constitutional right to abortion. Lower courts remain bound by Roe in the meantime, however.

The ACLU and Planned Parenthood filed a lawsuit Friday challenging a law passed in Alabama that, if it takes effect in November, would be the strictest abortion law in the nation — it makes it a crime for health care providers to perform all abortions unless the life of the women is in “serious” risk.

Reeves, who was confirmed to the US District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi in 2010, has been openly critical of the Trump administration and Senate Republicans, a rarity among federal judges. As BuzzFeed News reported in April, Reeves delivered a speech at a law school in April calling the Trump administration a “great assault on our judiciary” and comparing the president’s criticism of the judiciary to tactics used by the Ku Klux Klan and segregationists.

He blasted the White House and Senate Republicans for the lack of diversity among Trump’s judicial nominees, saying they were “not stumbling unaware towards a homogeneous judiciary.”

Source: http://bit.ly/2Qp4tMI

The post A Judge Has Blocked Mississippi’s 6-Week Abortion Ban appeared first on NosyTalk.

from WordPress https://nosytalk.com/a-judge-has-blocked-mississippis-6-week-abortion-ban/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=a-judge-has-blocked-mississippis-6-week-abortion-ban

DABABY KNOCKS OUT RAPPER CAM COLDHEART IN MALL!

DaBaby had to put the paws on Cam Coldheart inside the Louis Vuitton store on Saturday.

The videos kick off with Cam recording and talking hot. “You a b*tch. Y’all look at the n**ga DaBaby. That n**ga DaBaby in here talking some shit,” Coldheart can be heard saying. “He walking up on me and shit like he about to do something. What you gon’ do? What you taking your shit off for?”

“When bullying Baby on the internet goes wrong,” the “Suge” rapper said. Cam is seen in the video with a bloody face and his pants around his ankles.

There’s no telling how that happened but he went online claiming that he was jumped by DaBaby and his security guard.

After posting the footage of the fight, the “Baby on Baby” rapper posted another video to his Instagram account. It was a clip from his “Suge” music video where the lyrics say “I’ll slap the shit out a n**ga/No talkin’, I don’t like to argue with n**gas (I don’t).”

This who drama stems from Cam saying DaBaby is falsely repping North Carolina and he’s originally from Ohio. The Billion Dollar Baby CEO simply laughed at Cam’s claims and told him to “DO SUMN.” Well he tried to and things just didn’t end too well for him.

Source: http://bit.ly/2X90Uwv

The post DABABY KNOCKS OUT RAPPER CAM COLDHEART IN MALL! appeared first on NosyTalk.

from WordPress https://nosytalk.com/dababy-knocks-out-rapper-cam-coldheart-in-mall/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=dababy-knocks-out-rapper-cam-coldheart-in-mall

Toys ‘R’ Us, Back From the Dead, Will Open U.S. Stores in 2019

KINGSTON, MA – MARCH 15: The exterior of the Toys R Us store in Kingston, MA is pictured on March 15, 2018. The company is declaring bankruptcy and closing all of its stores.

Maybe American kids will only have to live through one Christmas without Toys “R” Us.

About a year after shuttering U.S. operations, the remnant of the defunct toy chain is set to return this holiday season by opening about a half dozen U.S. stores and an e-commerce site, according to people familiar with the matter.

Richard Barry, a former Toys “R” Us executive who is now CEO of new entity Tru Kids Inc., has been pitching his vision to reincarnate the chain to toymakers, including at an industry conference this week, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the plans aren’t public.

The stores are slated to be about 10,000-square feet, roughly a third of the size of the brand’s big-box outlets that closed last year, the people said. The locations will also have more experiences, like play areas. The startup costs could be minimized with a consignment inventory model in which toymakers ship goods but don’t get paid until consumers buy them, some of the people said.

A spokeswoman for Tru Kids said the company wasn’t ready to publicly share details on its U.S. strategy.

New Rivals

It remains to be seen how much of a boost the retailer’s comeback will provide the toy industry, including giants such as Hasbro Inc. and Mattel Inc. The original Toys “R” Us, the only national toy chain, left a huge holewhen it went under. It had been generating about $7 billion in sales a year in the U.S. through more than 700 locations, including the Babies “R” Us brand.

Walmart Inc., Target Corp. and Amazon.com Inc. have swooped in to fill the void. They have all expanded toy assortments and marketing, including a printed toy catalog from Amazon. Other non-traditional chains jumped into the category, including grocery stores and Party City Holdco Inc.

There is also a question of how many toymakers will do business with the new Toys “R” Us after many lost money when the former company announced liquidation in March 2018, just months after filing for bankruptcy.

MGA on Board

MGA Entertainment Inc., one of the best-performing toymakers in the world, is already on board to sell at the re-imagined Toys “R” Us shops, said Chief Executive Officer Isaac Larian, who said he has been pitched the plan. His company’s properties include Little Tikes, L.O.L. Surprise! and Bratz dolls.

“This market needs a self-standing toy store, that’s for sure,” Larian said in an interview. “We will sell them inventory.”

Related: Tears ‘R’ Us: The World’s Biggest Toy Store Didn’t Have to Die

During the chain’s bankruptcy, lenders led by Solus Alternative Asset Management and Angelo Gordon took control of the company’s assets. After results didn’t improve, they opted to shutter operations in the U.S. Units in Australia and other regions also closed, with divisions in Asia and Canada acquired by new owners.

This group tried to sell the intellectual property, but opted to keep it to garner a better return. As owners of the intellectual property, they have been collecting licensing and other fees from the units still operating and selling them private-label goods. The lenders then formed Tru Kids with the goal of reviving the brand in the U.S. and other regions it exited. It has since hired several industry veterans and signed a deal to bring Toys “R” Us and Babies “R” Us back to Australia through a partner.

source

The post Toys ‘R’ Us, Back From the Dead, Will Open U.S. Stores in 2019 appeared first on NosyTalk.

from WordPress https://nosytalk.com/toys-r-us-back-from-the-dead-will-open-u-s-stores-in-2019/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=toys-r-us-back-from-the-dead-will-open-u-s-stores-in-2019

Who’s the victim, and who is to blame? A bullet, a miscarriage and an unthinkable question

A 27-year-old Birmingham woman was indicted on manslaughter charges Wednesday in the loss of her pregnancy, even though, police say, another woman pulled the trigger. The East Thomas neighborhood is shaken with the question of who is to blame. (Gheni Platenburg for The Washington Post)

A 27-year-old Birmingham woman was indicted on manslaughter charges Wednesday in the loss of her pregnancy, even though, police say, another woman pulled the trigger. The East Thomas neighborhood is shaken with the question of who is to blame.

BIRMINGHAM — As she recovered in a hospital bed on a chilly December night, Marshae Jones could only think about what she’d lost.

The 27-year-old was five months pregnant when she was involved in a fight that, authorities say, prompted a woman to fire a gun in self defense. The bullet tore through Jones’s abdomen and caused a miscarriage, anguishing the young mother — and the historic East Thomas neighborhood of central Alabama, where her family has lived for generations.

“As her pastor, I would ask whoever to prayerfully consider the heart of this young lady,” said Rev. George Robinson Jr., the pastor of First Baptist of East Thomas, where Jones and her family attend church. “Marshae is not the person that has been pictured or painted of her. She’s not that young lady.”

Robinson said he prayed with Jones in the hospital that night, and in the weeks leading up to Wednesday, when a grand jury indicted her on a manslaughter charge for the death of her own fetus.

The complex case has divided those seeking to place blame in the fetus’s death, a tension augmented by the abortion debate in Alabama and the state’s broad manslaughter law, which makes it a felony to “recklessly” cause the death of another person.

“She was really sorrowful about everything that actually transpired up to this point,” Robinson told The Washington Post, speaking of the woman’s reaction in the aftermath of the shooting. “Her words to me were she could not believe she lost the baby.”

In a Friday statement, the office of District Attorney Lynneice Washington said they have not decided whether Jones will be prosecuted for manslaughter, face a lesser charge or be cleared in the death of her fetus. A grand jury looked at actions by both women and declined to indict Ebony Jemison, the woman who fired the shot, prosecutors said. The jurors instead returned an indictment for Jones.

Robinson and others close to Jones, who has a young daughter, say it’s difficult to picture the “lovable and caring” mother as an aggressor. They say Jones may have been caught up in the heat of the moment on the afternoon of Dec. 4, 2018, when police and prosecutors allege she initiated a fight with Jemison outside a Dollar General.

In a phone interview late Thursday, Jemison’s mother, Earka, told The Post that her daughter was cleared by the grand jury because evidence and testimony was presented to suggest that Jones started the fight, causing Ebony to fire a warning shot out of fear. Jones worked at the same company as Ebony Jemison and the fetus’s father, and tension developed between the two women, according to Jemison’s mother.

She said things boiled over in December when Jones, who was driving with friends at the time, spotted Jemison and leaped out of the vehicle to attack her. Jones’s friends left the car soon afterward and began to move toward the scuffle, she said.

“Ebony was afraid for her life and reached in her purse for the gun,” her mother said, adding that her daughter had a license to carry the weapon. “She tried to fire a warning shot to get away from her.”

But the shot — which Jemison’s mother says was aimed at the ground — ricocheted into Jones. Earka Jemison told The Post that her daughter received threats after the indictment.

“If they weren’t sitting in the courtroom, let them talk,” the mother said about the people threatening her daughter. “I saw the evidence. I saw the evidence.”

Jones was released on $50,000 bond Thursday. In a statement Friday, Jones’s attorneys said their client was facing “unprecedented legal action” that had tarnished the reputation of both Jones and the state of Alabama. The law firm White Arnold & Dowd said it would fight vigorously for her exoneration to prevent a “grave injustice.”

“This young mother was shot in the stomach while five months pregnant and lost her baby as a result. She lost her home to a fire and lost her job,” the firm said. “Now, for reasons that defy imagination, she faces an unprecedented legal action that subjects this victim of violence to further distress and harm.”

In front of a modest blue home in Birmingham on a hot, sunny day, Jamal Jones identified himself as Marshae Jones’s second cousin. He told The Washington Post that Jones and Jemison had feuded in the past but that Jones has always been a quiet, soft-spoken person.

“She’s a good mom,” the 37-year-old said of Jones, who has a young daughter. “Her daughter is with her everywhere. She makes sure she gets her to school every day, picks her up, feeds her. She don’t try to put her off on anybody.”

Booking photo of Marshae Jones. (Jefferson County Jail)

He added: “She’s a good person. I’m not just saying that because she’s my cousin. She gets along with anybody.”

Jones’s mother, who declined to give her first name, said she was turning to her faith amid a trying time for her family.

Jones “is a fun-loving mom, churchgoing, a hard-working lady,” Jones’s mother said. “My child just doesn’t bother anybody.”

Speaking with AL.com, Jones’s grandmother, Patrice Jones, echoed those sentiments.

“It’s not fair,’’ the grandmother said. “Marshae didn’t have a gun. How did they turn it around on her?”

“We feel sympathy for the families involved, including Ms. Jones, who lost her unborn child,’’ the district attorney’s office said. “The fact that this tragedy was 100 percent avoidable makes this case even more disheartening.”

Alabama is among 38 states with laws that classify fetuses as victims in homicide or assault, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. In Alabama, a “person” includes embryos and fetuses at any stage of development. And rights groups say those laws are ensnaring pregnant women.

Lynn Paltrow, executive director of National Advocates for Pregnant Women, says Alabama leads the country in mothers charged with crimes related to pregnancy. But she said this case was unique.

“This is the first time the idea that fertilized egg or fetal personhood has provided the basis for arrest of a woman because she was pregnant, and she herself was the victim of a criminal act,” Paltrow said. “Alabama has indicted Ms. Jones, claiming it is a crime for a woman to be unable to protect her own life and health.”

Randall Marshall, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Alabama, said the state “is one of the most dangerous places in the country for a black woman trying to carry her pregnancy to term, and this prosecution is just one more attack on the basic human rights and dignity of black women in our state.”

Rev. Robinson, the pastor at Jones’s church, said he did not see young woman as a criminal. He called the situation “shocking” and said the 200 or so members of his tight-knit congregation are equally concerned about the case.

As they struggle to answer unthinkable questions, the East Thomas community waits for a prosecutor to decide whether Jones should be held accountable for her lost pregnancy.

Source

The post Who’s the victim, and who is to blame? A bullet, a miscarriage and an unthinkable question appeared first on NosyTalk.

from WordPress https://nosytalk.com/whos-the-victim-and-who-is-to-blame-a-bullet-a-miscarriage-and-an-unthinkable-question/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=whos-the-victim-and-who-is-to-blame-a-bullet-a-miscarriage-and-an-unthinkable-question

This is how NASA would respond to an asteroid impacting Earth

What would happen if an asteroid impacted Earth sorta like a comet did in 1998’s ‘Deep Impact?”

BY RAYMOND WONG 18 HOURS AGO

If an asteroid were ever to be come hurtling towards Earth, what would be the plan to stop it from impacting the planet?

That’s the question NASA and its partners, including the European Space Agency and the U.S.’s Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), are gathering at the 2019 Planetary Defense Conference in early May to investigate.

During the five day conference, NASA and its partners plan to engage in a “tabletop exercise” that simulates what would happen if scientists and authorities were to learn of a near-Earth Object (NEO) impact scenario.

“A tabletop exercise of a simulated emergency commonly used in disaster management planning to help inform involved players of important aspects of a possible disaster and identify issues for accomplishing a successful response,” says NASA.

In the exercise (detailed by the ESA here), NASA and its partners have to respond to a “realistic — but fictional — scenario” involving a NEO named “2019 PDC,” which has a 1 in 100 chance of impacting Earth in 2027.View image on Twitter

ESA Operations

@esaoperations

Each day of the #PlanetaryDefense Conference, a press release will be put out, updating participants on the hypothetical asteroid #2019PDC – now (hypothetically) hurtling towards Earth. More on this year’s #ImpactScenario on the #rocketscience blog:http://blogs.esa.int/rocketscience/2019/04/25/rolling-coverage-brace-for-hypothetical-asteroid-impact/ …719:57 AM – Apr 27, 201946 people are talking about thisTwitter Ads info and privacy

Armed with all of the hypothetical information about “2019 PDC,” the exercise is intended to see how the various organizations and governments would handle the situation as it unfolds.

“The first step in protecting our planet is knowing what’s out there,” said Rüdiger Jehn, the ESA’s Head of Planetary Defence. “Only then, with enough warning, can we take the steps needed to prevent an asteroid strike altogether, or minimize the damage it does on the ground.”

In such a situation, the ESA says it would live tweet details “so you’ll find out the ‘news’ as the experts do.” And for the hypothetical 2019 PDC asteroid exercise at the conference, the agency will indeed live tweet the series of decided actions as if they are made.

“These exercises have really helped us in the planetary defense community to understand what our colleagues on the disaster management side need to know,” said Lindley Johnson, NASA’s Planetary Defense Officer. “This exercise will help us develop more effective communications with each other and with our governments.”

Despite NASA having participated in six NEO impact exercises before, each scenario is different and the agency says it’s learned that the focus is not always on the asteroid details, even though that’s still crucial to creating a plan to either deflect it or reduce its impact.

“What emergency managers want to know is when, where and how an asteroid would impact, and the type and extent of damage that could occur,” said Leviticus Lewis of the Response Operations Division for FEMA.Paragraph

Well, you know what they say…it’s better to be prepared. At the very least, NASA and friends won’t be panicking as hard if an asteroid were ever to really hit Earth.

Source: http://bit.ly/2ZHiqcQ

The post This is how NASA would respond to an asteroid impacting Earth appeared first on NosyTalk.

from WordPress https://nosytalk.com/this-is-how-nasa-would-respond-to-an-asteroid-impacting-earth/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=this-is-how-nasa-would-respond-to-an-asteroid-impacting-earth

FDA approves new nasal spray to treat depression

A new drug has been approved by the FDA for patients with treatment-resistant depression. The drug is called esketamine — it’s a chemical cousin to an illegal …

The post FDA approves new nasal spray to treat depression appeared first on NosyTalk.

from WordPress https://nosytalk.com/fda-approves-new-nasal-spray-to-treat-depression/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=fda-approves-new-nasal-spray-to-treat-depression

Woman Was Arrested For Turning In Her Husband’s Guns After He Was Charged With Abusing Her!

Woman Was Arrested For Turning In Her Husband’s Guns After He Was Charged With Abusing Her!

A 33-year-old woman from Lakeland, Florida, was arrested for trying to turn her estranged husband’s firearms in to the police after he’d been charged with domestic violence and attempting to run her over with his car.

Courtney Irby was charged with two counts of grand theft of a firearm and one count of armed burglary last week. She spent five days in jail.

According to an affidavit obtained by BF News, Courtney collected all of her estranged husband Joseph Irby’s firearms at his home while he was under police custody, and brought them into the Lakeland Police Department.

When an officer questioned Courtney about how she obtained the guns, she told him, “Well, he was arrested yesterday for trying to run me over with his car, and he is now in jail. So I went to his apartment since he is in jail and I searched his apartment for the guns I knew he had and I took them.”

The officer, Brent Behrens, stated that he proceeded to question her to confirm that she entered Joseph’s home without his permission. “So you are telling me you committed an armed burglary?” he said.

“Yes I am, but he wasn’t going to turn them in so I am doing it,” she then responded, according to Behrens. Courtney proceeded to tell Behrens that she has a temporary injunction against her ex, and that she knew he would not turn in his firearms himself — as reportedly mandated by a judge’s orders.

According to Joseph’s arrest record from the day prior on June 14, Courtney told an officer of the Bartow Police Department that her husband was repeatedly “ramming” his car into hers, and eventually off the road. She said she was “in fear for her life.” Behrens stated that on June 15, he “determined [Courtney] committed the Act of Armed Burglary” when she admitted to retrieving the guns from her ex’s residence, and charged and booked her at Polk County Jail.

Woman Was Arrested For Turning In Her Husband’s Guns After He Was Charged With Abusing Her!

The affidavit stated that Behrens contacted Joseph following his arrest of his wife. Joseph said he wanted to pursue charges as she “did not have permission to enter his dwelling and remove his firearms.”

Online and across the country, Courtney’s story has drawn confused and contentious reactions from citizens and lawmakers. Specifically, people are angry the Lakeland Police Department chose to arrest Courtney without consideration of other critical factors for her actions.

@LakelandPD Who was supposed to turn in the firearms in the #CourtneyIrby case? Did you expect her abusive husband, with a violent and aggressive record, to go to his apartment alone, get his guns, and bring them to you? I hope you realize this is absurd.

— Salt Mine (@SaltMine10) June 22, 2019

Some are demanding they drop the charges against her.

@LakelandChamber Why would any decent person with a choice spend their hard earned money in a town where the cops value a violent man’s gun stash over a woman’s safety? Tell @LakelandPD to drop the charges against #CourtneyIrby.

— Randy Childs (@RandyMathHippie) June 21, 2019

After hearing about what happened, Florida state Rep. Anna Eskamani (D-Orlando) spoke out in support of Courtney and her decision. “I cannot stress enough the importance of keeping guns out of the hands of domestic abusers, and empowering our survivors to ask for help — not arrest them,” she tweeted on Tuesday.

I cannot stress enough the importance of keeping guns out of the hands of domestic abusers, and empowering our survivors to ask for help — not arrest them. https://t.co/qWyCyIpDdS

— Rep. Anna V. Eskamani 🔨 (@AnnaForFlorida) June 25, 2019

source

The post Woman Was Arrested For Turning In Her Husband’s Guns After He Was Charged With Abusing Her! appeared first on NosyTalk.

from WordPress https://nosytalk.com/woman-was-arrested-for-turning-in-her-husbands-guns-after-he-was-charged-with-abusing-her/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=woman-was-arrested-for-turning-in-her-husbands-guns-after-he-was-charged-with-abusing-her