Hasbro strikes deal to buy Death Row Records, Peppa Pig, PJ Masks and more
Hasbro has cut a deal to buy the company that owns popular children’s cartoon Peppa Pig, expanding its push into entertainment with a bet on preschoolers.
The US toymaker said Thursday that it had reached an agreement to buy eOne for $4 billion. The entertainment company, which trades on the London Stock Exchange, owns the animated brands PJ Masks and Ricky Zoom.
eOne also owns Death Row Records, the notorious label co-founded in Los Angeles by rap mogul Marion “Suge” Knight, who is serving a 28-year prison sentence for manslaughter. The record company has released multi-platinum hip-hop albums by artists such as Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg and Tupac.
The deal would combine those brands with Hasbro’s popular titles, including My Little Pony, Transformers, Play-Doh, Monopoly and Power Rangers.
“Hasbro will leverage eOne’s immersive entertainment capabilities to bring our portfolio of brands that have appeal to gamers, fans and families to all screens globally,” Hasbro CEO Brian Goldner said in a statement.
The deal, which is still subject to some regulatory approvals, is expected to close by the end of this year. Top eOne executives will join the Hasbro team, the companies said, without naming the executives.
But shares of eOne shot up more than 35% Friday, climbing above the price Hasbro agreed to pay. That sparked speculation that eOne could receive a competing bid.
Hasbro has sought to recover from the closure of Toys “R” Us, a major partner by striking creative new deals.
That includes a partnership with Netflix, which said in June it would make an animated series based on Hasbro’s “Magic: The Gathering” trading card game.
Photo Credit: Entertainment One/Death Row Records
Doubling down on racist comments, council candidate says she opposes interracial marriage
MARYSVILLE, Mich. – Marysville City Council candidate Jean Cramer said she doesn’t have any plans to back out of the race despite coming under fire for racist comments she made at an election forum Thursday night.
Mayor Dan Damman and other local leaders, however, have called for her withdrawal.
“I would say that I probably came to the conclusion this morning,” he said Friday. “After the initial shock of what she said really sank in and (given) the deep-seated viewpoints that she has, I don’t believe that she is fit to serve as an elected official in Marysville or anywhere else.”
Cramer, one of five residents vying for three council seats in November’s election, responded to a question at a city candidates’ forum about attracting foreign-born residents to the community with: “Keep Marysville a white community as much as possible.”
After the forum, she expanded on her beliefs, particularly that people of different races shouldn’t get married.
Jean Cramer is opposed to interracial marriage
During a follow-up interview outside her Marysville home Friday afternoon, Cramer doubled down on her statements. Asked if she understood why that might upset her neighbors, she said: “If there is the biracial marriage in the family, yes.”
Mississippi: Sheriff texted racist remark, says he was ‘aggravated’ when he sent it
“Because those people don’t know the other side of it,” she said. “For whatever reason, I’ve heard, they love each other, whatever, but there’s also such a thing as remaining single. People don’t necessarily have to get married, and, if they love somebody, love them single. There’s nothing wrong with that.”
Cramer, 67, has cited the Bible in backing up her ideology. Despite the widespread condemnation of her views, she said she didn’t believe she was racist.
“As far as I know, as long as we’ve been here, Marysville has been a white community, a white city,” she said. “… If we have seen a black person here and there, whatever, we’re not bothered by it. I’m not bothered by it.”
‘I know in my heart she’s in the minority’
Kevin Watkins, president of the Port Huron chapter of the NAACP, said he also thought it was appropriate for Cramer to withdrawal from Marysville’s City Council race.
But he added it was important that the initial call came from that city’s own leaders.
Watkins said the local minority community was always aware that racism exists in the area — as in other communities. He said he believed individuals like Cramer are more recently emboldened to come forward, “taking a play out of the Trump playbook.”
“The good news is now that we can see you and (hear) how you feel,” he said. “I know in my heart that she’s in the minority.”
Maryland: House censures Democratic who used racial slur while referring to a district
Both Watkins and Damman said that the local controversy that has arisen from Cramer’s comments will ultimately spur a more constructive conversation for local residents.
And Damman said he wants to “ensure that everyone is heard.”
“It just tells us that as far as we have come as a society, there is still a very disappointing, close-minded, oppressive viewpoint out there,” the mayor said. “And I think we have to have the conversations that make all areas a better place for people of all races, nationalities and origins.”
Maryland Man Ripped Off 12-Year-Old Girl’s Clothes, Molested Her as Wife Was in Labor
Authorities in Maryland have accused a man of molesting a 12-year-old girl while his wife was in labor.
News outlets report 29-year-old Luis Perez-Giron is being held without bond and faces up to 20 years if convicted of third-degree sexual offenses.
Montgomery County police said Perez-Giron molested the girl earlier this year and came to her home again in May while she was alone and his wife was in the hospital.
A charging document says the girl twice locked herself in a bathroom, only to be attacked by Perez-Giron, who ripped off her clothing. It says he was hiding in a closet before attacking her again, and threatened to rape her after she repeatedly fought him off.
Perez-Giron’s lawyer, Esteben Gergely, said his client denies the allegations.
Photo Credit: Getty Images
Mom forced to breastfeed son on train floor when no one offered her a seat
A UK mom said she was forced to breastfeed her 1-year-old son on the floor of a filthy train car — because not a single commuter got up to offer her a seat, according to a new report.
Sophie Molineux, 22, her toddler Chester Moore and partner Rob Moore were heading from Shropshire to Ludlow for a family outing Tuesday when they couldn’t find a seat on the packed train, Molineux told The Mirror.
They boarded around 11:40 a.m. and not one of the dozens of passengers — including those in priority seats meant for people who are disabled, pregnant, over 65 or have a child under 3 — got up for Sophie as she cradled her baby, she said.
So Sophie and Rob stood in the aisle, juggling a stroller and taking turns holding Chester during the 30-minute trip.
Chester became hungry — and the young mom was forced to sit in a corner on the floor of the train car and feed him. Commuters, meanwhile, gave her “blank expressions so they didn’t have to give up their seat,” she said.
“I was so shocked,” she told the paper. “There were around 50 people in the carriage and not one person moved. We were stood in the aisle with seats either side of us so both sides of the train could see us stood there and no one moved.”
“Obviously I’d rather not sit on the dirty floor of a moving train breastfeeding him — it wasn’t the nicest place — but I didn’t really have much choice,” she added.
Sophie told the outlet she’d been breastfeeding for more than a year and never had that type of problem before.
“I’m fairly confident about breastfeeding in public but I would probably have felt more uncomfortable about the situation if my partner hadn’t have been with me,” she told the outlet. “I just hope that people might be a bit more considerate in future, it should just be common sense to give up your seat for a child.”
Photo Credit: nypost.com
Parents avoid jail after strict vegan diet left 19-month-old baby without teeth, weighing 10.8 pounds
SYDNEY – An Australian couple, who fed their baby daughter a strict vegan diet resulting in severe malnourishment, have avoided jail time, according to CNN affiliate Seven News.
The mother and father, who are both in their 30s and who cannot be named for legal reasons, pleaded guilty to failing to provide necessities in life and causing injury to the child. The couple were sentenced to a 18-month jail term to be served as a community order.
Authorities discovered the couple’s child so malnourished that at 19-months she weighed just 4.9 kilograms (10.8 pounds).
Further medical tests revealed that her bones had not developed since birth. Her development was so stunted she didn’t even have any teeth, Seven News reported.
Her parents said they had kept the girl on a strict vegan diet. The child hadn’t been vaccinated and hadn’t received any medical care since birth, reported CNN affiliate Nine News.
The Sydney judge overseeing the case, Judge Sarah Huggett, called the child’s vegan diet “completely inadequate” — was only fed oats, bananas, peanut butter jelly sandwiches and rice, Seven News reported.
“This is not the case of an isolated act or omission or a momentary decision made in a pressured context, that led to a danger of serious injury to their child,” Huggett said, according to Seven News.
“Neither offender was particularly young, immature, uneducated or inexperienced as a parent or caregiver to young children.”
However, Hugget also said she believed the crime was committed out of recklessness rather than malice, and that the mother may have been dealing with a depressive mental illness at the time, Nine News reported.
On top of the community service, the parents must now complete parenting and nutrition programs.
The little girl, now aged three, has been placed under the care of a relative, and has reportedly made progress in her development. She has since been vaccinated, and is undergoing speech therapy and physiotherapy, according to Seven News.
Photo Credit: Getty Images
Student in Custody After Prank Call About Person With Gun Prompts Lockdown of 2 San Dimas Schools
A student was taken into custody after a prank call regarding an armed person on campus prompted the lockdown of two schools in San Dimas on Thursday, authorities said.
The incident began just before 9:40 a.m. when the San Dimas Sheriff’s Station received a 911 call regarding a person with a gun at San Dimas High School, according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.
Both schools were placed on lockdown as deputies searched the campus to verify the validity of the call, sheriff’s officials said.
After a sweep of the school, deputies determined there was no threat to either campus.
The incident was determined to be a hoax, and the student who placed the call was subsequently detained and taken into custody, according to the Sheriff’s Department. Authorities are not identifying the juvenile due the student’s age.
The Bonita Unified School District took to Twitter earlier to calm fears of a possible armed person on campus, saying that all students and staff were safe, and that every precaution had been taken to protect them.
The district reported they had been told by the Sheriff’s Department that call had likely been a hoax.
Meanwhile, many concerned parents could be seen waiting outside the school as deputies searched the campus. Some said they showed up after receiving a text message from their children.
“Very stressful, he texted us to let us know he was scared and they had them on lockdown, they had tables up against the door, and that he was freaking out,” one mother told KTLA through tears.
The uncle of another student said his niece first reported the school had been locked down because of a possible student with weapons in his backpack.
“Now we’re hearing that there’s two possible guys who do not come to this school that they’re hanging around in the basketball court with weapons also. So we don’t know what’s going on,” the man told KTLA as he awaited word from authorities.
A short time later, parents and guardians were allowed to pick up their children from school once they determined the call was a hoax.
Photo Credit: ktla.com
8-year-old boy takes mom’s car on 87 mph joyride: ‘I just wanted to drive a little bit’
GERMANY — An 8-year-old German boy stole his mother’s car and took it for a night-time drive at 87 mph (140 kmph) along a highway, local police said.
The child was discovered parked at a motorway services along the A44 highway near the northwest German city of Soest in the early hours of Wednesday — about 5 miles (8 kilometers) from his home.
The boy’s mother called police at 12:25 a.m., alerting them that her son had taken her VW Golf, which has automatic transmission.
Local police and the boy’s mother started to look for the car-loving child, and he was found by his mother shortly after in a service station along the autobahn.
The boy had parked the car and turned on the hazard lights, securing the area with a warning triangle.
When speaking to police after the incident, the boy reportedly said: “I just wanted to drive a little bit.”
A spokesperson for Soest North Rhine-Westphalia police told CNN that the boy stopped driving because he didn’t feel comfortable driving on the motorway.
The boy would regularly go karting and drive bumper cars and had driven a car on private property, police said.
Police told CNN that they had spoken to the boy about the danger posed by his night-time ride, and that he would face no criminal charges.
Photo Credit: pix11.com
Trial begins for man accused of killing ex, eating parts of her body
Louisville, KY (WLKY) — The trial for accused killer Joseph Oberhansley began Wednesday in Jeffersonville. As he was led into the courtroom he once again proclaimed his innocence telling the media gathered outside that two black men had broken into his ex’s home and were responsible for the crime.
His day in court comes nearly five years after Tammy Jo Blanton, 46, was found murdered inside her Locust Street home in Jeffersonville. Blanton had broken up with Oberhansley and moved out of her home days before.
According to the prosecutor, Blanton stayed with a friend then returned home after work on September 10, 2014- telling that friend she was ‘taking her life back.’ When she failed to show up to work the next morning co-workers called her phone.
Oberhansley, according to investigators, answered, claiming to be someone else and at one point said Blanton was with her father. When a welfare check was done, police found Oberhansley still at her home. Police say he had a knife, covered in blood and hair, in his pocket.
The body of Blanton was discovered in her bathtub, covered with a tent. There was also evidence, according to investigators, her organs had been eaten.
In his opening statements Wednesday, Clark County Prosecutor Jeremy Mull called the crime scene “horrific” and urged the jury to convict Oberhansley on murder, rape, and burglary charges.
Oberhansley interrupted Mull on two occasions, at one point telling him, “You don’t have proof of that.” The defense addressed the jury for just eight minutes, urging them to :look and listen” to evidence.
Brent Westerfeld, one of three attorneys representing Oberhansley, later told reporters, “We believe his decision making was a result of his mental illness and we believe that that makes this process unfair.”
But Mull said Oberhansley needed his day in court. “We were able to finally get a jury we think is fair and impartial and I’m thrilled they’re here,” he said of the jury that was selected earlier this week in Hamilton County.
Mull said he looked forward to getting justice for Blanton’s family, whom he said had been “so patient” during the five years it took for the case to go to trial.
The trial resumes Thursday at 8 a.m. and could last several weeks. The jury will be sequestered in Clark County during that time
via: https://pix11.com/2019/08/22/trial-begins-for-man-accused-of-killing-ex-eating-parts-of-her-body/
Photo Credit: pix11.com
Prosecutor wants to ensure officer accused of exposing himself, urinating on 12-year-old girl never returns to force
CLEVELAND, OH (WJW) — He took an oath to serve and protect, but a Cleveland police officer is now charged with lewd and despicable crimes against a 12-year-old girl. Prosecutors say he tried to kidnap her from a school bus stop, but he did not stop there.
A Cuyahoga County grand jury indicted Solomon Nhiwatiwa Wednesday on the following eight counts:
- 1 count of attempted kidnapping (with sexual motivation specification)
- 1 count of pandering obscenity involving a minor
- 1 count of disseminating matter harmful to juveniles
- 1 count of endangering children
- 1 count of criminal child enticement
- 1 count of public indecency
- 1 count of assault
- 1 count of attempted interference with custody
“This is just an individual who is just a bad man, who just happens to work as a police officer,” said Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Michael O’Malley.
Solomon Nhiwatiwa, 34, has been a Cleveland police officer since March 2014 and was most recently assigned to the third district.
“He approached a young girl, tried to entice that young girl; she was a 12-year-old child who was waiting for her school bus,” O’Malley explained.
O’Malley says the girl was at her bus stop along Euclid Avenue in Euclid around 7:00 a.m. Friday. She says a man in a blue BMW SUV pulled up and asked if she needed a ride to school.
According to a Euclid police report, Nhiwatiwa asked,”what are you doing?”
She told him she was waiting for the bus.
He then asked “what school do you go to?”
After naming her school, he asked, “can I take you there?”
The girl declined and said, “no thanks.”
“He continued to engage in conversation with her. The young child continued to shut him down, tell him no — she didn’t want to talk to him, no, no,” said the prosecutor.
The report states that Nhiwatiwa continued and said, “can I talk to you and ask you some questions?”
Again the girl said”no.”
Investigators say he left, then returned with his genitals exposed and appeared to be recording himself with his cell phone.
“Several minutes later, he then approached her and began to urinate on the child,” said O’Malley.
According to the report, the girl then yelled, “what is your problem?”
He responded, “what’s wrong?” and called her an expletive.
Investigators say they suspected Nhiwatiwa because an hour earlier, a neighbor called police about a man peering into cars and reported the license number of a suspicious blue SUV.
“Police are our safety net, they are the people that protect children like this girl every day…The mission of my office is to ensure that he never acts as a police officer again and never holds that title again,” O’Malley said.
Nhiwatiwa has been placed on administrative leave without pay. He turned himself in to Euclid police Tuesday and remains in the Euclid City Jail. He will eventually be transferred to the Cuyahoga County Jail.
He is scheduled to make his first court appearance Monday morning.
Photo Credit: pix11.com
Women steal baby stroller from store, leave child behind
MIDDLETOWN, N.J. — Two women who allegedly stole a baby stroller and left a child behind have been arrested in New Jersey.
A group of three women and children entered a baby store in Middletown on Aug. 16.
Authorities say one of the women went to the front of the store to grab the stroller, while the other two distracted an employee.
One of the women then returned after realizing one of the children was left behind.
Two of the three women have been arrested and face shoplifting and conspiracy charges. Both are from England and in their early 20s.
The store’s owner Enelio Ortega says the women stole an English stroller that likely would have been cheaper overseas.
Ortega says the stroller has been returned.
The third woman remains at large.
via: https://pix11.com/2019/08/22/nj-women-steal-baby-stroller-from-store-leave-child-behind/
Photo Credit: pix11.com