Woman dies in hot tub after husband allegedly closes lid on top of her
WHEELING, Ill. — A man was charged with involuntary manslaughter after his wife died in the couple’s hot tub, according to WGN.
Police said they responded to the couple’s home Feb. 9 in reference to an unresponsive female victim in the home’s outdoor hot tub. She was later identified as 57-year-old Laura Huska.
Outdoor surveillance video showed Laura Huska distressed and unable to get out of the hot tub. Eric Huska, 58, initially tried to help her, but then partially closed the lid of the hot tub while Laura was still inside. Eric Huska then went inside his home. Later that night, he returned to the hot tub and found Laura unresponsive and floating in the water.
Laura Huska was taken to Glenbrook Hospital and pronounced dead. Her death was ruled a homicide.
Eric Huska was charged with one count of felony involuntary manslaughter.
via: https://pix11.com/2019/02/18/woman-dies-in-hot-tub-after-husband-allegedly-closes-lid-on-top-of-her/
Police warn parents of ’48-Hour Challenge’, which encourages kids to go missing
(KMOV.com) – A warning is being issued to parents about a new challenge for teens that is circulating Facebook, the 48-hour challenge.
It encourages teens to go missing for up to two days at a time and awards points for every social media mention while they’re missing.
Police say it is not only dangerous but could also tie them up while there are real emergencies.
Child psychiatrists say it’s never a good idea to assume your child knows better than to involve themselves in such an internet challenge.
Police say anyone caught participating in the 48-hour challenge could face charges.
Pamela Taylor – Woman who called Michelle Obama an ‘ape in heels’ defrauded FEMA of $18K
A former West Virginia nonprofit director who called Michelle Obama an “ape in heels” pleaded guilty to defrauding the Federal Emergency Management Agency out of thousands of dollars.
Pamela Taylor admitted to falsely registering for over $18,000 in FEMA disaster relief for a 2016 flood which was among the deadliest in West Virginia history, according to the Department of Justice.
Taylor claimed that her primary residence was damaged by the flood forcing her to stay in a rental. However, her primary residence was undamaged by the flood and she still lived there.
She agreed to pay restitution of $18,149.04 as a part of her plea agreement. She faces up to 30 years in prison and a fine of up to $500,000 when she is sentenced in May.
“The flood was a natural disaster. Stealing from FEMA is a manmade disaster,” said United States Attorney Mike Stuart.
Following the election of Donald Trump as president, Taylor posted on Facebook: “It will be refreshing to have a classy, beautiful, dignified First Lady in the White House. I’m tired of seeing a Ape in heels.”
Taylor, who was a director of the nonprofit Clay County Development Corporation, was placed on leave after her controversial Facebook post.
via: https://nypost.com/2019/02/18/woman-who-called-michelle-obama-an-ape-in-heels-defrauded-fema-of-18k/
Netflix Hero Mask Now Streaming
Been watching this anime all day I’m likin it. Eng Dub available
After a rash of mysterious deaths, Crown prosecutor Sarah Sinclair and SSC agent James Blood discover a conspiracy surrounding uncanny new bio-masks.
Teen Wakes From Coma to Find She Gave Birth to Surprise Baby
Ebony Stevenson, 18, was suffering from headaches, then started having seizures on the bathroom floor in early December. The UK college student’s mother called emergency services—and within three hours, she had her granddaughter in her arms, despite both herself and her daughter having no idea the teen was pregnant. Stevenson was put into an induced coma and woke up after four days, at which point the newborn was placed on her chest. “It sounds awful now, but I asked them to take her away as I was so confused and sure they’d made a mistake,” the teen tells the BBC. After her mother explained what had happened, Stevenson took the infant back, the Independent reports. She says she was “confused” and “scared,” but that “it was a beautiful moment.” Doctors say a series of events came together to make the strange situation possible.
Stevenson has a rare condition known as uterus didelphys: She has two wombs, one of which continued to menstruate as her baby grew, unbeknownst to her, in the other one, which was positioned toward her back—allowing the pregnancy to go unnoticed, as Stevenson never got a “baby bump.” She also didn’t get morning sickness. But she developed pre-eclampsia, which caused the headaches and seizures, and upon her arrival at the hospital doctors quickly realized what was going on and did an emergency caesarean to deliver the little girl Stevenson would go on to name Elodie. She weighed 7lbs, 10oz, leading doctors to believe she was full-term. “I worried I wouldn’t bond with my daughter because I had no time to get my head around her arrival, but I think she’s amazing,” Stevenson says now. “It’s an absolute miracle.” Stevenson’s mother concurs, noting that many women with uterus didelphys struggle to conceive or carry a baby to term: “The doctors said that Elodie was a miracle baby.”
via: http://www.newser.com/story/271487/teen-wakes-from-coma-to-find-she-gave-birth-to-surprise-baby.html
Barbie unveils new dolls with wheelchairs and prosthetic limbs
Barbie’s new looks could help fight the stigma around physical disabilities.
In June, Barbie will debut a doll with a prosthetic leg and another that comes with a wheelchair.
The new dolls are part of Mattel’s 2019 Barbie Fashionistas line, which aims to offer kids more diverse representations of beauty.
“As a brand, we can elevate the conversation around physical disabilities by including them into our fashion doll line to further showcase a multi-dimensional view of beauty and fashion,” Mattel said in a statement.
Mattel collaborated with Jordan Reeves, a 13-year-old disability activist who was born without a left forearm, to create the doll with the prosthetic limb, which can be removed for a “more realistic” play experience. The toymaker also worked with UCLA Mattel Children’s Hospital and wheelchair experts to design a wheelchair, which the company said has been one of the most requested accessories from Barbie fans.
“While there are many types of wheelchairs, this chair is modeled after one that is designed for an individual who has a permanent physical disability,” Mattel said in a statement.
The company will include a Barbie DreamHouse-compatible ramp with the wheelchair.
The dolls’ new looks are a hit with disability rights activists.
It’s symbolic that “a big icon of society like Barbie now demonstrates or shows that there are different types of people … [who] can be attractive and something kids want to play with,” said Curt Decker, executive director of the National Disability Rights Network.
Decker said he hopes the new dolls can remove stigmas surrounding disabilities and show kids that there is “nothing wrong” with people who have them.
More than 1 billion people in the world have a disability, according to Jennifer Laszlo Mizrahi, president of RespectAbility, an advocacy group for people with disabilities.
“We want to see ourselves reflected in the culture, toys, products and everything around us,” Mizrahi said. “Barbie joins a number of powerful companies who also understand that marketing, and including, people with disabilities is both the right thing to do and the profitable thing to do.”
Other dolls in the 2019 Fashionistas line offer a variety of appearances, including braided hair texture and more realistic body types (smaller bust, less defined waist and more defined arms).
It’s part of a recent effort by Barbie to incorporate more diversity by offering dolls with different skin shades, eye colors, hairstyles and clothing. Mattel in 2017 introduced the first Barbie to wear a hijab, and the toymaker is considering creating a same-sex Barbie wedding set.
via: https://pix11.com/2019/02/18/barbie-unveils-new-dolls-with-wheelchairs-and-prosthetic-limbs/
School allegedly sent badly behaved disabled kids to closet called ‘dark door’
Children called it “the dark door” — a cramped closet where disabled kids in a Brooklyn special-ed classroom were sent when naughty, according to testimony in a teacher-discipline case.
“We’re always put in the closet. That’s where we go when we misbehave,” said one boy who endured the cruel confinement at PS 345 in East New York, officials charged.
One classmate was put in the closet “to let the rats eat him … because he is a monster,” the boy told administrators.
“Sit down, sit down and go to the dark door,” another boy said kids in the kindergarten/first grade class were told if they acted up.
An investigation by the city Department of Education concluded that teacher Sherri Edwers, 30, directed or authorized a paraprofessional to shut kids inside the dark closet as punishment.
The scheme — which sounds a bit like “Matilda” headmistress Miss Trunchbull locking wayward students in “the Chokey” — could “instill an atmosphere of fear,” DOE officials argued.
The DOE sought to fire Edwers, who denied the charges.
But after a six-day administrative trial, hearing officer Mary O’Connell found the tenured Edwers guilty only of negligence, spared her job, and slapped her with a $4,000 fine.
The shocking allegations came to light on Dec. 22, 2016, when Assistant Principal Stacia Mason and an instructional expert made an unannounced visit to Edwers’ classroom, where she taught a dozen children, ages 5 and 6, with physical and emotional disabilities.
When the administrators walked in, Mason “had a feeling something was not right, but she could not put her finger on it,” O’Connell reported.
Edwers was seated on an alphabet rug with students, but the paraprofessional, Sachia Gaffney-Sharpe, was behind a smart board next to the closet.
Gaffney-Sharpe opened the closet door, and pulled a boy out by his hand, the instructional expert, Mia Williamson, testified. The closet, crammed with supplies, was dark, and the boy said he had been sitting cross-legged behind the door.
Mason said the boy then sat down by a radiator — “curled up in a ball.”
Edwers claimed the boy had tossed a pencil into the closet, and went inside to get it. But Mason argued that would be impossible because the closet was blocked by a smart board.
The principal questioned the child, who seemed “drugged up” by medication but confided that Sharpe-Gaffney had put him in the closet “for being bad,” the report says.
The boy said he didn’t cry or bang on the door.
In her hearing, Edwers insisted she never told Gaffney-Sharpe to lock kids in the closet, and wasn’t aware if she did so. Gaffney-Sharpe was suspended for two weeks without pay.
Edwers testified that some of her students had a tendency to make up stories or lie. She also said the boy found in the closet that day “was trying to stab another student with a pencil” — a claim she hadn’t made to DOE investigators.
Hearing officer O’Connell concluded that Edwers, even if she didn’t order it, improperly let a student go into the closet. The $4,000 fine will ensure the issue “does not repeat itself,” she said.
Edwers, a DOE teacher since 2012, still works at PS 345, and makes $73,112 a year. DOE spokesman Doug Cohen called her behavior in the closet case “completely unacceptable.”
9-year-old hangs herself after mom told her not to play on cellphone
A 9-year-old girl hanged herself in her Bronx home — after her mother told her it was too early in the morning to be on her cellphone, sources and neighbors said Sunday.
Heaven Vega was found dead by her horrified mom, Jennifer, in her bedroom at the family’s apartment in the Bronx River Houses shortly before noon Saturday, authorities said.
The child had tied a belt around her neck and hanged herself from her bed, police said.
Earlier in the morning, the mother and daughter had fought over the girl’s cellphone use, police sources and neighbors said.
“Nowadays, all kids have cellphones in their hands, and all they do is watch YouTube,” said a neighbor who didn’t want to be named. “Apparently the girl woke up, and she wanted to get the phone to go on YouTube. But the mother told her, no, it was too early in the morning.”
Next-door neighbor Zoraida Irizarry said the child’s grief-stricken mother is now blaming herself for the tragedy.
“I can’t imagine what the mother is going through right now. A friend of mine spoke to Jennifer, and Jennifer said that she thought that it was her fault,’’ she said.
The distraught mom called 911 after finding her daughter in the room, a source said. One of Heaven’s brothers performed CPR until paramedics arrived, the source said.
“I can hear into their apartment through my wall,” said Irizarry, who lives next door to the family’s third-floor apartment.
“Yesterday morning, I heard the older daughter calling for her sister at a regular tone, and then all of a sudden her voice got really loud, and she started screaming.”
The little girl was rushed to St. Barnabas Hospital but could not be saved. It’s unclear whether she left behind a note.
Neighbors in the building said Heaven was the youngest of four siblings, and recalled that all of the kids would sit in the hallway glued to their phones.
“I don’t get it. She always had a smile on her face. I only ever saw her happy,” Irizarry, 59, said of Heaven. “I would come home and she would be sitting in the hallway doing her homework, I guess because it was quieter out there.”
She said the entire community is in shock over the girl’s death.
“I don’t know how her mother can function after this,” she added.
The grieving mom could not be reached for comment.
Additional reporting by Stephanie Pagones
via: https://nypost.com/2019/02/17/9-year-old-hanged-herself-after-argument-with-mother-cops/
Woman becomes 1st known attorney with autism to practice law in Florida
(Meredith) – Haley Moss, who was diagnosed with autism at the age of 3, is the first openly autistic person to be admitted to the Florida Bar.
At an early age, doctors thought Moss would never work a minimum wage job or live independently, the Sun-Sentinel reported. The 24-year-old now lives on her own and works at a top law firm in Miami.
Before she graduated from the University of Miami School of Law, Moss had already authored two books — including one that was published when she was just 15.
“I’m very passionate about things I enjoy, and I love to write,” Moss told the Sun-Sentinel. “That’s also part of why I went to law school, and I love to be able to help others. So even with writing, I love that I’m able to express myself completely and what I can say has the ability to help someone else.”
Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Lisa Walsh said it was “a great privilege” to administer the oath to Moss at her swearing-in ceremony on Jan. 11, according to Law.com. She described Moss as someone who “has actually had to overcome issues and develop skills that may not be natural.”
Moss’ current employer, the Zumpano Patricios law firm, recognized her talent before she even passed the bar exam.
“When I was introduced to Haley by a former lawyer at our firm, I immediately picked up on the fact that she was obviously brilliant — brilliant and a good person,” Joseph Zumpano, the co-founder of the firm, told the Sun-Sentinel.
“As a core value, we wanted to be the first firm to bring in an openly autistic lawyer and make the point that if you align people to their strengths then given the chance, they excel,” he continued.
On Saturday, the autism charity Unicorn Children’s Foundation declared Moss a Youth Ambassador in recognition of her achievements.
Moss, who has a high-functioning form of autism, told the Palm Beach Post her main goal is to help children facing similar challenges and to change the negative stigma often associated with autism.
“It takes a village to raise a child,” Moss said. “Well, it takes an even bigger village to raise a special needs child. I realized I could be an integral part of a child’s village.”
‘Shoot the President’ Party Game for Kids Raises Concern in Ohio
A popular performing arts building is advertising a kid’s birthday party where participants can play “Shoot the President” with Nerf guns – and it’s raising more than a few eyebrows in Northeast Ohio, according to KTLA sister station WJW.
The game was being advertised at Olmsted Performing Arts building in Berea.
A description of the party listed on the website states, “There is one president with body guards. Everyone else tries to eliminate or shoot the president.”
“I think it’s unfortunate that they chose that kind of theme only because of the atmosphere we are living in now,” Julie Berghaus told WJW.
“I wouldn’t say it was anything political or a statement about politics. I think the game was made up just for kid fun,” said Samuel Fravel, a former OPA student.
“For kids, it’s just fun, but they don’t realize what they are being taught subconsciously,” added Berghaus.
According to Adam Sheldon, director of the Baldwin Wallace Community Arts School, BW acquired OPA on Jan. 1.
“I was certainly shocked to learn this existed. It’s certainly not something that is in our institutional values at Baldwin Wallace,” Sheldon said.
They are in the process of turning the building into the Community Arts School and they were not aware that kind of party was listed on OPA’s website.
“As part of the transitioning, we are reviewing all of our communication sources and current programming. I assure you that certainly does not fit into the program of Baldwin Wallace,” added Sheldon.
Sheldon said the new Community Arts School will deliver educational programming and still host birthday parties, however any games involving Nerf guns are no longer offered.
“We apologize for the description on the website that is currently undergoing renovation. It’s not something that will be present for sure,” said Sheldon.
via: https://ktla.com/2019/02/16/shoot-the-president-party-game-for-kids-raises-concern/