Pumpkin spice lovers, we may have finally outdone ourselves
You can smell it in the air. It’s pumpkin spice season.
Sure, it’s September and maybe it’s still 90-plus degrees if you live in the South. But fall is on its way, so let all pumpkin spice lovers rejoice.
During this transitional time in our seasonal earthly world, let us also take a moment to reflect on our ever-growing passion for the scientifically proven addictive flavor.
We’ve gotten Starbucks to provide us with our yearly dose of pumpkin spice drink options. (Three cheers for PSLs!) Krispy Kreme has even joined the pumpkin spice movement, adding a pumpkin spice doughnut with cheesecake filling to its menu.
But we must ask ourselves the question: How far is too far? Because let’s be honest. Some pumpkin spice items don’t make sense.
Here’s a list of eight pumpkin spice items you can buy right now that have no business being on the market.
Pumpkin spice spam
If pork wanted to taste like pumpkin spice, then it would be a pumpkin. But it’s not. It’s pork.
Pumpkin spice CBD drops
You can scare your anxieties away with Pumpkin Spice CBD drops in your preferred drink, courtesy of Summit CBD.
Pumpkin spice dog treats
Please Greenies, don’t addict our lil pups to the pumpkin spice flavor, too.
Pumpkin spice beard oil
A well moisturized beard is 1000% necessary. A beard that smells like you’d like your beard to be eaten is quite the opposite.
Pumpkin spice protein powder
Pumpkin spice in your protein powder is just going to confuse your body. Is it time to build up our muscle strength and go workout or is it time to cuddle up by the fire and devour everything that smells like pumpkin spice?
Pumpkin spice dish soap
If we’re trying to get food off our dirty dishes, why would someone want pumpkin spice dish soap to add the scent of food back on it?
Pumpkin spice kale chips
You’re either kale or you’re pumpkin spice. You can only be one, Angel Kale..
Pumpkin spice lip balm
Because consuming it isn’t enough. We have to wear it on our lips to remind us of the flavor we crave.
Photo Credit: Hormel Foods
Boy ‘humiliated’ on birthday after cafeteria worker takes food off lunch tray due to negative balance
(Meredith/WEWS/CNN) — A 9-year-old boy from Green, Ohio, said he was humiliated on his birthday when a cafeteria worker took away his hot meal and replaced it with a cold sandwich due to an outstanding balance.
Jefferson Sharpnack said he tried to purchase cheesy breadsticks at Green Primary School on Sept. 3, but experienced an issue at the checkout line.
“I got my cheesy breadsticks and put in my number,” he said. “And when I was going to check out, the lunch lady didn’t say anything and took away my cheesy breadsticks and sauce.”
He said the cafeteria worker reached into the fridge and gave him a cheese sandwich instead, embarrassing him in front of his friends.
The boy’s grandmother, Diane Bailey, said prior to the incident, Jefferson came home from school on Aug. 30 with a note stating he owed $9 for his lunch account.
Bailey said she spoke to a school administrator to straighten things out. She said Jefferson and his two brothers recently moved to Ohio to live with her, and they are supposed to be enrolled in the free and reduced lunch program.
The school reportedly told Bailey she could write a check for her grandson’s lunch balance until the free and reduced lunch registration paperwork was processed.
Bailey said after speaking with the school administrator, she thought Jefferson was in good-standing, until he came home from school complaining about his lunch being taken away.
“In my mind, he didn’t owe anything,” Bailey said. “And my other question is, if they take the food off of your tray, they have to throw it away. You’re going to throw it away and not feed the child? That doesn’t make sense to me.”
Green Local Schools released the following statement about the incident:
We are in the process of looking into this specific situation. We were not notified directly from the family, but district employees reached out after being made aware of a social media post. The lunch program is complex due to federal requirements. As it relates specifically to our policy, students receive multiple means of communication when their accounts become negative. Currently students who are $15 or more in debt are provided a lunch that includes fruit, vegetables, and either a cheese quesadilla or cheese sandwich.
Additionally, our district works hard to ensure that students who qualify for free and reduced lunches receive them. We have Family Support Specialists on staff whose primary jobs are to reach out and help families in need. It is important to us that students have positive experiences in the lunchroom and all areas of the school. For that reason, we will continue to look into our practices and come up with solutions that work for our students and families.
Photo Credit: kten.com
Man Who Ran Heroin and Cocaine Delivery Service in the San Fernando Valley Gets Nearly 20 Years in Prison
A man who oversaw deliveries of heroin and cocaine in the San Fernando Valley was sentenced Monday to nearly 20 years in federal prison, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
Sigifredo Gurrola Barrientos pleaded guilty to one felony count of conspiracy to distribute controlled substances in April 2018.
Barrientos, 42, ran “Manny’s Delivery Service” from 2013 until December 2017, when law enforcement officials busted the drug ring and discovered about 11 and a half pounds of heroin and just over a pound of cocaine at a so-called “stash house” in Van Nuys.
Authorities said Barrientos and a co-defendant possessed $434,327 in drug money that was also found at the house.
As part of what federal prosecutors have described as a “sophisticated, high-volume narcotics business,” authorities said Barrientos would obtain wholesale quantities of narcotics and maintain a fleet of vehicles to deliver them to street dealers and others.
He also managed employees, kept drug sale ledgers and arranged the storage and transportation of the narcotics and money made from them.
The delivery vehicles were equipped with hidden compartments to transport bulk amounts of cash and drugs, according to prosecutors. Others in the drug ring moved hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash and obtained pound quantities of heroin.
The stash house was used to store bulk narcotics while smaller amounts were packaged and sold to customers from the drug ring’s main facility in Van Nuys. Delivery drivers would meet customers at different locations around the San Fernando Valley.
During one such instance in November 2014, prosecutors said, Barrientos coordinated the delivery of nearly one pound of heroin but law enforcement officials seized the drugs.
In a federal grand jury indictment charging him and 13 other people, Barrientos was named the lead defendant and has been in custody since his arrest in December 2017. Prosecutors said he is the last to be sentenced out of the 14 defendants charged in the indictment.
Others in the case have received up to 97 months in federal prison, or just over eight years.
Another three drug dealers associated with the drug ring were charged in separate indictments. They each pleaded guilty to distribution or possession with intent to distribute heroin and have been sentenced to up to 63 months in prison.
Photo Credit: Getty Images
Florida mom charged after two sons drown in pool
A Florida mom has been charged in the deaths of her two young sons, who drowned in a pool after playing unsupervised for about two hours, according to authorities.
Branario Minto, 5, and Ja’Kye Joseph, 6, were found by a relative submerged in a community pool at a North Lauderdale condominium in May, according to the Broward County Sheriff’s Office.
The brothers were pulled from the water and raced to a local hospital but could not be saved.
Surveillance showed the boys completely unsupervised as they played by the pool hours earlier, officers said. Investigators believe the boys may have climbed a fence to reach the pool, according to the South Florida Sun-Sentinel.
“The brothers had been submerged under water for almost two hours prior to being found,” the sheriff’s office said.
Mom Wildline Liline Joseph, 23, was arrested Saturday and charged with two counts of aggravated manslaughter of a child.
“Detectives said Joseph failed to provide proper care and supervision for the brothers, which made her responsible for their deaths,” the department said.
Joseph’s boyfriend, John Louis Lynn Jr., 24, had been arrested Tuesday on the same charges. He is not the biological father of either boy but was living with Joseph at the time, the Sun Sentinel reported.
The couple’s two other children, a 1-year-old and a baby, were removed from their home in May as part of the death investigation, the paper stated.
Lynn and Joseph were booked into the Broward Sheriff’s Office Main Jail on $500,000 bond each.
via: https://nypost.com/2019/09/09/florida-mom-charged-after-two-sons-drown-in-pool/
Photo Credit: Broward Sheriff’s Office
Tesla driver apparently caught sleeping at the wheel going 60 mph
The driver of a Tesla on autopilot appeared to be asleep behind the wheel while whizzing along a Massachusetts highway, new video shows.
A fellow motorist captured the driver with his head slumped forward — and his passenger equally zonked out — along I-90 on Sunday.
“Some guy literally asleep at the wheel on the Mass Pike (great place for it),” tweeted fellow motorist Dakota Randall with the clip. “Teslas are sick, I guess?”
Randall guessed he and the Tesla were both going about 60 mph through Newton at the time. He said he tried to wake up the daredevil drivers by honking — but “it didn’t work at all,” he told NBC10 Boston.
“I kind of looked over and saw what I thought was somebody asleep at the wheel and I was like that can’t be right, so I did a double-take, looked over and sure enough this guy was just, head between his legs completely asleep,” Randall told the network.
While the autopilot system features advanced safety features, Tesla takes pains to stress that it is “not a self-driving system.”
Autopilot is intended for use with a fully attentive driver, who has their hands on the wheel and is prepared to take over at any time,” the company states on its website.
Randall said he’ll always watch out for Teslas on the road.
“I’m always going to look to see if somebody’s asleep,” he said.
State police told NBC10 Boston they were aware of the incident from media reports but had not been contacted by anyone.
In June, another Tesla driver was similarly caught snoozing behind the wheel in the San Francisco Bay Area.
In a statement, the company implied the video was a hoax and claimed it’s cars would not allow users to fall asleep at the wheel.
“Many of these videos appear to be dangerous pranks or hoaxes. Our driver-monitoring system repeatedly reminds drivers to remain engaged and prohibits the use of Autopilot when warnings are ignored. At highway speeds, drivers typically receive warnings every 30 seconds or less if their hands aren’t detected on the wheel,” the company said.
“Tesla owners have driven billions of miles using Autopilot, and data from our quarterly Vehicle Safety Report indicates that drivers using Autopilot experience fewer accidents than those operating without assistance.”
via: https://nypost.com/2019/09/09/tesla-driver-apparently-caught-sleeping-at-the-wheel-going-60-mph/
Photo Credit: nypost.com
Mom charged after 16-year-old son dies weighing just 42 pounds with skeletal structure ‘visible underneath the skin’
MILWAUKEE — A 32-year-old Milwaukee woman faces a felony charge of chronic neglect of a child — after the medical examiner determined her 16-year-old son died from severe malnutrition.
Iraida Pizarro-Osorio, 32, brought her son to the Sixteenth Street Health Center on Sept. 4. He was “unresponsive, had a faint pulse, and appeared extremely emaciated,” according to a criminal complaint. Despite efforts by clinic personnel and Milwaukee first responders, the child died at the health center.
The 16-year-old weighed just 42 pounds at the time of death — “placing (the child) in the zero percentile on the CDC’s growth chart for boys ages 2-20,” the complaint reads. A detective noted the boy’s “skeletal structure was visible underneath the skin” and he was “lacking muscle.”
When interviewed by police, Pizarro-Osorio indicated she had recently returned from Puerto Rico with her three children — including the 16-year-old. She told police the teen “became sick and was not eating.” Pizarro-Osorio said she took the child to a doctor in Puerto Rico and was turned away because she did not have insurance. She said after returning home on Sept. 4, she took the boy to the medical center after he was found unresponsive in his bedroom.
The complaint says Pizarro-Osorio told police the 16-year-old suffered from a genetic disorder, had seizures, epilepsy and autism. She said his condition impacted his ability to gain weight. Pizarro-Osorio told police the teenage “has never weighed more than 75-80 pounds in his lifetime.”
Investigators claim in the document that an 18-year-old woman they spoke with said in March, 2019 that “the defendant placed a lock on the outside of (the teen’s) door to prevent (him) from leaving his room at night.” The unidentified 18-year-old also said Pizarro-Osorio had not recently traveled to Puerto Rico.
In a second interview with police, the complaint says Pizarro-Osorio admitted lying — that she and her children “never went to Puerto Rico during the summer of 2019.” When asked about the lock on the teen’s bedroom door, the complaint says Pizarro-Osorio “claimed the lock was to ensure that (the teen) did not leave his bedroom at night. The defendant claimed that she would feed (the teen) dinner and then lock (the teen) in his bedroom at bedtime. When (the teen) fell asleep, the defendant claimed she opened the door back up so that the defendant could hear if (the teen) suffered a seizure.” When questioned about why she lied to police, the complaint says Pizarro-Osorio said she “was scared that child protective services would be called and the defendant’s children would be taken away.”
Pizarro-Osorio made her initial appearance in court on Sunday, Sept. 8. Cash bond was set at $35,000. Pizarro-Osorio is due back in court for a preliminary hearing on Sept. 18.
Photo Credit: pix11.com
L.I. duo knock over woman holding baby before choking, kicking landlord
BAYVILLE, L.I. — A man and woman face multiple charges after a vicious attack on their landlord that sent him to the hospital and knocked a woman and her baby to the ground Sunday, according to police on Long Island.
Authorities said Johnathan Sunderland, 31, and Jennifer Garcia, 25, went to confront their landlord at his residence on Sunday around 10 p.m.
A woman holding her 1-year-old child started to open the door as the duo knocked, but then they pushed the door open, knocking the woman and her baby to the ground, police said.
Sunderland proceeded to charge toward the landlord, threw him to the ground and started choking him, as Garcia began to kick him in the face, according to police.
Both alleged attackers left the residence but were followed outside by the woman they had just knocked over, authorities said.
While in the driveway, Sunderland took a pellet handgun from his waistband and fired four shots toward the woman, missing her with each shot, police said.
Police arrived on the scene and both Sunderland and Garcia were arrested without further incident, officials said.
The landlord was transported to an area hospital for treatment of his injuries, while the female victim and her child were not injured, according to authorities.
Sunderland has been charged with burglary, assault, menacing, criminal obstruction of breathing, and endangering the welfare of a child. Meanwhile, Garcia has been charged with burglary, assault, and endangering the welfare of a child, police said.
Photo Credit: pix11.com
‘Keep That Nasty Black Thing Under Control’: Threat Sent to Family of Interracial Girl in Illinois
An Illinois family is working with police after receiving an anonymous letter threatening their 8-year-old interracial daughter on Aug. 23.
“You better keep that nasty black thing under control otherwise you just might find it in a ditch somewhere,” the writer said in the letter CBS affiliate WMBD-TV obtained. “Nothing but garbage ALL of YOU! Get out of this neighborhood. You are nothing [but] trash.”
Leona Heller, the great-grandmother of the child, Audrey Harvey, opened the letter at her Canton home.
The city is about 195 miles southwest of Chicago.
The letter writer added, this is the “1st warning.”
Heller told WMBD she cried when she got it.
“When I opened it and I seen the letter I got really mad [and] angry and I just wanted to go around and knock on everyone’s door and find out where this letter came from,” she said. “What right do you have to say this to my grand daughter?”
Heller told WMBD the child is afraid to play outside.
“My granddaughter is paranoid,” she said. “She won’t go off this street and that’s not right.”
When asked what she thinks would happen if she rode her bike around the neighborhood, the child told WMBD:
“My grandma, my mom, my family might find me in a ditch like he said in the letter.”
Canton police officers told WMBD the letter will be forensically analyzed, but murder cases and unsolved crimes take precedence.
“That’s the problem it’s sitting at the Morton Crime Lab as we speak, but it’s sitting on a backlog,” police spokesman Edward Glad told the news station.
“This is one of those things that will have to wait its turn, unfortunately. Fingerprinting is not an easy thing to do. It takes a while to track down anything in the system that might match up to it,” Glad said.
Heller said she doesn’t know what the world is coming to.
“I just want everything to stop and stop now,” Heller told WMBD.
Anyone with information is asked to call the Canton Police Department at (309)-647-5131 or Canton Crime Stoppers at (309)-647-3636.
Photo Credit: Screenshot from CBS affiliate WMBD-TV video
Eazy-E Gets a New, Extravagant Tombstone on 55th Birthday
Eazy-E would’ve been happy about this — his family just put in a new tombstone over his grave that’s worthy of his excellence … and that’s properly fact-checked too.
The unveiling of E’s new headstone went down Saturday at the Rose Hill Cemetery in Whittier, CA — where his kids, friends, fam and die-hard fans came out to show the world a newly commissioned engraving that was way more decked out than his OG slab.
It also included his correct date of birth, with the right year … 1964, not 1963 as his tombstone had indicated for years since he was buried in the ’90s.
Besides that, the headstone is truly a work of art — with photos of Eazy from his NWA days, and a new title that reads, “The Godfather of Gangsta Rap.” It includes the same line from his old tombstone — “We loved him, but God loved him more” — but has an additional remembrance as well … “He Put Compton On The Map.” Yep, he sure did.
Eazy’s kids have told the media that this is something they’ve wanted to do for a long time for their dad, as the old grave site was, frankly, not up to par … not to mention misleading.
What makes the day so special in addition to the new headstone itself is the fact that it was put on display on what would’ve been Eazy’s 55th birthday. People were certainly in a celebratory mood too, as the crowd rapped his lyrics and released doves to boot.
We talked to the creator of the new tombstone, and he told us about the pressure he felt in creating this new one in the ground. Looks like he did a job well done, ’cause his daughter was pretty ecstatic with how it all played out.
The rapper died in 1995 from complications due to HIV/AIDS. He was only 30 years old.
via: https://www.tmz.com/2019/09/07/eazy-e-new-tombstone-55th-birthday/
Photo Credit: tmz.com