Toys ‘R’ Us plans to return in the United States
(CNN) — Toys “R” Us stores are coming back this year.
Richard Barry, CEO of Tru Kids Brands and former global chief merchandising officer at Toys “R” Us, plans to open at least two Toys “R” Us stores this year, according to a person familiar with Barry’s plans.
Tru Kids Brands’ owners won the rights to the Toys “R” Us brand last October. They also took over the former company’s other assets and brands including Babies “R” Us, Geoffrey the Giraffe, and Imaginarium.
“We’re definitely coming back in 2019. At minimum two stores. There’s more planned for 2020,” the person said. The new stores will be smaller than Toys “R” Us’ old stores and “experiential,” the person added.
Bloomberg first reported Barry’s plans.
“We have significant interest about how to bring the brand back to the US,” Barry told CNN Business earlier this year. “We’re working 24 hours a day, 7 days a week to bring it to life.”
Barry pitched his plans for Toys “R” Us at a recent conference in Las Vegas, said Isaac Larian, the billionaire toy executive behind Bratz dolls and Little Tikes toys.
“They’re considering opening two stores to begin with and then go from there. I hope they’re successful,” he said. “There is a need for an independent toy chain in the US, whether it’s Toys ‘R’ Us or something else.”
Larian tried to buy roughly 300 Toys “R” Us locations in the United States and Canada last year. Toys “R” Us rejected that offer.
Tru Kids Brands has dabbled in the United States since it won the rights to Toys “R” Us in October. The company teamed with US grocer Kroger to set up “Geoffrey’s Toy Box” sections in 600 stores during the holidays. Thirty-five toys were part of the promotion, which featured the iconic Toys “R” Us giraffe mascot.
More than 700 American Toys “R” US stores closed last year. But the company kept 900 stores open in Europe, Asia and India. The new owners have plans to open another 70 stores overseas — mostly in Asia — by the end of the year.
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Dad visiting Bronx for sister’s baby shower killed after fight spills from restaurant into street
THE BRONX —An Alabama father of two visited the Bronx for his sister’s baby shower; less than 24 hours later, he was dead.
Troy Scott, 40, was killed after a fight inside the Kennedy Fried Chicken at East 169 Street and Prospect Avenue spilled into the street. Video posted on social media shows the fight.
Stedroy Phillips, the victim’s father, has a message for his son.
“If I could say something to my son, I’d tell him I appreciate the life he lived with me and appreciated the love and understanding he brought to the community,” he said.
He also has a message for his son’s killer.
“I forgive him. I don’t love him. I don’t hate him. But I forgive what he did,” he said. “I’ll go with you to the police. Make sure you get there safe, nobody do nothing to you. Because I’m gonna let you know. I’ll go with you but you’re gonna stand trial and pay for what you did.”
Police say the man who killed Scott is about 5 feet, 7 inches tall. He fled the scene on June 16 in a red vehicle going southbound on Prospect Avenue.
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Queens Uber driver gets 3 years for kidnapping sleeping passenger
NEW YORK — A man who drove for Uber in New York City has been sentenced to three years in federal prison for abducting a woman who fell asleep inside his vehicle.
A judge Monday also ordered Harbir Parmar to pay more than $3,600 in restitution for overcharging customers.
Parmar pleaded guilty in March to charges of kidnapping and wire fraud.
The kidnapping happened in February 2018 after the woman ordered a ride from Manhattan to her home in White Plains, New York, about an hour away.
Prosecutors said Parmar changed her destination to an address in Boston, Massachusetts, after she fell asleep.
The woman told authorities she awoke to Parmar groping her in the back seat, reaching under her shirt.
Parmar ultimately left the woman on the side of a highway in Connecticut.
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A 2-year-old boy found a gun at home and fatally shot himself
A 2-year-old boy died after accidentally shooting himself in the head at home in South Carolina, authorities said.
Officers responded to a call Thursday about a child who got a hold of a gun at home and shot himself, Greenville County Sheriff’s Office Lt. Ryan Flood told CNN affiliate WYFF.
Deputies tried to provide medical aid to the child while waiting for EMS, but he died on the way to the hospital, Flood said.
The Greenville County coroner identified him as Kayden John Stuber, according to the affiliate, and ruled the cause of death as a gunshot wound to the head.
There have been 288 children killed or injured by a gun in 2019, according to the Gun Violence Archive, which compiles data on shooting incidents.
A GoFundMe has been set up for funeral expenses.
via: https://pix11.com/2019/06/23/a-2-year-old-boy-found-a-gun-at-home-and-fatally-shot-himself/
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Man struck his 15-year-old brother in the head because he was upset about the teen vaping indoors, cracking his skull that led to death
The (Northwest Indiana) Times reports that a recording of a hearing in the involuntary manslaughter case against 21-year-old Tyler Kiger detailed the circumstances of the June 7 dispute involving Michael Kiger. It happened in rural LaPorte County at their great-grandmother’s home.
Records don’t yet list a defense lawyer, but their father has said Tyler Kiger didn’t intend to harm his brother.
LaPorte County sheriff’s Detective Sgt. Adam Hannon says Michael Kiger called 911 and told the dispatcher he had head pain after his brother hit him. He was pronounced dead June 8 at a home in LaPorte.
via: https://fox2now.com/2019/06/21/authorities-man-upset-about-vaping-cracked-brothers-skull/
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Woman falls asleep on flight, wakes up ‘alone’ and ‘locked up’ in empty plane
Tiffani Adams was on her way home to Toronto after visiting a friend in Quebec when “one of the best weekends I’ve ever had” turned into a nightmare.
She woke up in a cold, dark Air Canada jet a few hours after it landed at Toronto International Airport to discover she was left sleeping on the plane.
“I think I’m having a bad dream,” she recounted in a Facebook post. “When my seat an inch back or my tray down flight crew take notice but yet you missed a person still strapped into her seat and just all go on home?!?!”
Adams described the harrowing experience in which she was unable to recharge her phone while stuck inside the parked aircraft, which sent her into a panic attack.
Left to grope around the plane for some way to alert someone she was still on board, Adams eventually found a flashlight in the cockpit, and opened one of the plane’s doors. Hanging 40 or 50 feet above the pavement, she flashed the light at distant ground crews until someone driving a luggage truck saw her and came to the rescue.
Air Canada officials gave her a ride home and have been in contact with her since, but Adams is still recovering from the ordeal.
“I haven’t got much sleep since the reoccurring night terrors and waking up anxious and afraid I’m alone locked up someplace dark,” she wrote in her post.
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Husband-and-wife duo convicted of conspiracy to commit $3.4 million in food stamp fraud
Dayton (WCPO) — The husband-and-wife duo behind a Findlay Market business that prided itself on family values was convicted Friday of leading a scheme to commit $3.4 million in food stamp fraud over the course of eight years.
Michael and Amanda Jo Busch, who ran Busch’s Country Corner until federal investigators raided it in May 2018, were each convicted on 25 charges, including conspiracy to steal government funds, submitting false claims, SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) fraud and wire fraud.
According to the office of U.S. Attorney Benjamin Glassman, the Busches began exchanging cash for SNAP benefits in 2010. Investigators found that, in the eight years that followed, they recorded an average of 2,167 SNAP transactions each month — more than twice the number conducted by similar businesses in the area.
Altogether, Busch’s processed 195,113 SNAP transactions totaling $5.4 million between 2010 and 2018. Federal agents estimated only about 36 percent were authentic.
Co-conspirator Randall Busch, Michael’s brother, pleaded guilty to 19 counts of SNAP fraud in April and was sentenced to five years probation.
Busch’s is no longer listed on Findlay Market’s roster of vendors, but an archived snapshot of the site from early 2018 describes it as a family business run by high school sweethearts. Its owners wrote they chose Findlay because it is “a constantly interesting place to be.”
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Texas mom playing ‘chicken’ game with Lincoln Navigator fatally strikes 3-year-old son, officials say
HOUSTON (AP/Meredith) — Authorities say a 26-year-old Houston woman who was driving an SUV toward her children in an apparent game of “chicken” struck and killed her 3-year-old son.
Harris County prosecutors said Friday that Lexus Stagg is charged with criminally negligent homicide in the June 11 death of her son.
They say surveillance video from an apartment complex shows Stagg getting into a Lincoln Navigator, then backing up. As her three young children began running after her, she drove the SUV forward. Two children moved out of the way, but the 3-year-old was caught under a tire.
District Attorney Kim Ogg said, “Cars aren’t toys and playing chicken with your kids isn’t a game.”
Stagg was booked into the Harris County jail but was no longer being held Saturday.
It’s not clear whether she has an attorney to speak on her behalf.
Photo Credit: kmov.com/CNN Wire
Airplane Crew Discovers Fetus Abandoned In Airplane’s Waste System, Prompting Flight’s Cancellation
A flight departing from Durban, South Africa was halted on Friday after flight crew members discovered a fetus had been left in the plane’s waste management system.
Flight FA 411 had been scheduled to depart Durban for South Africa’s capital city of Johannesburg at 6:15 a.m. local time. The flight was operated by FlySafair, an airliner known for cheap flights in the African nation.
FlySafair initially did not confirm that a fetus had been abandoned on the plane, saying only that the aircraft had been delayed due to a “finding which requires formal investigation from technical teams and police authorities,” the company said via a statement on its website.
However, passengers booked on the flight tweeted about the situation, which was later confirmed by authorities called to investigate at the scene.
Kirby Gordon, head of sales and distribution at FlySafair, later told News24 that a fetus had been found on the plane and that police were conducting an investigation. Gordon added that all passengers scheduled for Flight FA 411 had been accommodated by moving to other flights, at no additional expense.
“We will be doing everything in our power to aid authorities in the necessary investigations and thank our loyal customers for their patience with the resultant delay,” FlySafair said in its statement.
While the circumstances regarding the fetus’ abandonment are unknown, The South African reports that it could prove difficult for authorities to charge a parent or other individual with a crime.
“Section 113 of the General Law Amendment Act 46 of 1935[15] criminalises concealment of birth. It provides that a person commits this offence if he or she disposes of a body of a newly born child without a lawful burial order, and does so with the intention of concealing its birth,” Lorraine du Toit-Prinsloo, a professor at University of Pretoria’s Forensic Medicine Department wrote in a study on the country’s laws surrounding fetus abandonment and disposal told the newspaper.
“The offence stands regardless of whether the child was born alive or died before, during or after birth. The Act does not define ‘child’. However, S v. Molefe[12] provides that ‘child’ refers to a fetus that has reached at least 28 weeks’ gestation. One will therefore not commit this crime if one’s conduct involves a fetus of less than 28 weeks’ gestation,” Du Toit-Prinsloo wrote.
In South Africa, abortion is legal until 13 weeks into a pregnancy, though Metro reports that some medical professionals refuse to perform the procedure as it goes against their religious beliefs, making abortions difficult to obtain in some parts of the country.
Still, South African Police spokesperson Colonel Thembeka Mbele urged pregnant women who felt they could not care for a child to contact social services rather than abandon a fetus.
“If they have a problem, there are social workers, or they can go to the police, who can advise them where to go. There are social workers who can assist if you think you’re not ready for the pregnancy,” Mbele said, according to Metro.
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FL Man Throws Feces At Judge, Says ‘It’s Protein, It’s Good For You’ Before Jury Acquits Him Of Charges – Witnesses on hand at the time said that man also ate some of the excrement
A Florida man’s courtroom antics didn’t seem to deter a jury who later cleared him of burglary charges.
The trial for 33-year-old Dorleans Philidor was delayed on Friday morning after Philidor defecated on himself in the courtroom and proceeded to throw his feces towards Miami-Dade Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Lisa Walsh, the Miami Herald said.
The excrement did not reach Walsh, but the move sent lawyers scattering out of Philidor’s reach as law enforcement members and corrections officers hurried in to stop the man from continuing with his actions. According to the Herald, Philidor told Walsh “It’s protein! It’s good for you!” as he threw the feces her way.
“It was intense. The corrections officers and police officers were swarming. Like 60 of them. They told everyone to leave and you couldn’t go back in. It was a hazardous area,” witness Allen Rios told the Herald.
Rios posted a short video of part of the encounter on his Instagram account.Philidor’s move came during the morning docket routine, when no jurors were present in the courtroom. However, the courtroom was evacuated so that the area could be cleaned and sanitized while proceedings continued in a different room.
Philidor’s appearance on Friday was in connection to a burglary charge, where he is accused of breaking into a home in North Miami Beach while the owner was home. The homeowner called police after the break-in, and Philidor was captured afterward. He was acquitted by a jury later in the day on the burglary charge. However, he still faces charges of grand theft auto for which a separate trial will be held at a later date, the Herald said.Philidor exhibited similar behavior to his courtroom actions on Thursday when he defecated on himself in his holding cell next to a courtroom, smearing the feces on himself over the walls of the cell. Afterward, he was escorted out of the cell and into the hallway, where the smell was noticeable.That courtroom, as well as half of the second floor of the building, was shut down so that it could be cleaned and disinfected, the Herald said.
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