Toddler finds mom’s gun, accidentally shoots himself to death
MOORESVILLE, Ind. — Police in central Indiana say a toddler found his mother’s unsecured gun while she was out of the room and accidentally shot himself to death.
The Morgan County Sheriff’s Department says the shooting occurred Wednesday morning at a home outside Mooresville, about 15 miles (24 kilometers) southwest of Indianapolis.
The department identified the child as 2-year-old Anthony Jones of Indianapolis.
Deputies say his mother, 26-year-old Stephanie Jones, told them she had gone to the bathroom while her son was watching television, heard a gunshot and ran back to find him lying on the floor with a fatal head injury. The child was pronounced dead at the scene.
The boy’s father wasn’t home at the time. The family was housesitting for relatives.
The death remains under investigation.
via: https://pix11.com/2019/10/17/police-toddler-finds-moms-gun-accidentally-shoots-himself-to-death/
Photo Credit: Getty Images
Kellogg joins GLAAD for anti-bullying campaign with ‘All Together’ cereal with Raisin Bran, Corn Flakes, Rice Krispies, Frosted Flakes, Froot Loops and Frosted Mini Wheats in the same box
The new concoction isn’t just a kid’s breakfast dream — it’s an anti-bullying campaign.
Kellogg’s is partnering with the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) to release a cereal called “All Together,” mixing cereals and their mascots to support anti-bullying and LGBTQ advocacy work.
“We all belong together,” the company said in a statement. “So for the first time in history, our famous mascots and cereals are offered exclusively together in the same box for All Together Cereal. It’s a symbol of acceptance no matter how you look, where you’re from or who you love.”
The cereals are packaged individually inside a purple box.
All Together is available for a limited time in honor of Spirit Day, an anti-bullying campaign that has millions of people wear purple to stand up against bullying.
Along with the cereal campaign, Kellogg’s also pledged to donate $50,000 to GLAAD in support of the group’s efforts.
Photo Credit: pix11.com
Florida man accused of killing 3 people claims he did it for God
POLK COUNTY, FL (WFTS) — As 35-year-old Stanley Mossburg was transported from the Polk County, Florida Sheriff’s Office to be booked into the jail for murder, he admitted to killing at least three people because God “needs them for the war.”
The bizarre exchange between reporters and the man accused of killing at least three people, lasted about a minute and a half.
In that brief moment, Mossburg with a bloody bandage on his forehead, shook his head smiling, at times seemed slightly confused and stared down journalists working to uncover any clue as to a motive behind two gruesome murders in Winter Haven.
“I’m a prophet, not a serial killer,” Mossburg said. “I’m doing what God tells me to do. Y’all will see God, and there’s gonna be an Angels and Demons fight from God. There’s a war, everybody will see.”
People who live next to the two innocent victims disagree. They are still in shock, trying to understand the evil that entered their community, upending their lives.
“It’s a hard thing to go through, cause I had just talked to Peggy that morning and it happened later in the day,” Bob Strouse said. Strouse said the two people killed inside his neighbor’s home were friends of his, named Peggy and Ken.
Strouse said they lived with the only person to survive the murder spree.
“He was frantic. We didn’t believe what he was telling us right off because it sounded so far fetched you don’t want to believe it, but we did,” Strouse said.
Strouse said his neighbor of nearly two decades, he identified as Tom Kohl, escaped sometime around 6 p.m. Monday, banging on Strouse’s door for help.
“It’s scary, really scary to know it could’ve happened to anyone here,” Strouse said. “You know, that evening I was getting a glass of water and I saw the light on over in the office and found out later that a lot was going on at that time. But, you look, see a light on and curtains drawn and you don’t think anything about it.”
Sheriff Grady Judd said Mossburg is pure evil and deserves the death penalty.
Judd said the man and woman were tied up, then stabbed to death. Judd said because the man fought back, Mossburg made him suffer before killing him.Save 20% on DeliveryThis New Grocery Delivery Service Might Be the Best One Out ThereAd By WalmartSee More
On Tuesday, less than 24 hours after the search for Mossburg was over; neighbors want the focus and attention to be on Kohl, the lone survivor. A man in his mid-to-late 60s has not only survived cancer, but now also a double murder.
“He seemed to be in decent spirits for what he went through,” Strouse said. “You know I don’t know how you are supposed to act when you go through something like that. He has no money. He has no car. He has no support, only his neighbors, who are very supportive. Donate to the GoFundMe . Please help.”
Neighbors are now feeding Kohl’s animals and trying to clean up the crime scene.
Please note: This content carries a strict local market embargo. If you share the same market as the contributor of this article, you may not use it on any platform.
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A newborn was found wrapped in a plastic bag in Indiana
An hours-old baby girl was found wrapped in a plastic bag on a quiet street in Indiana — the latest in a series of abandoned babies found nationwide. The newborn, found by a woman walking her dog in Seymour on Tuesday, WRTV reported, comes not long after a baby with her umbilical cord attached was found on a porch in Pennsylvania. And in June, another infant was found swaddled in a plastic bag in Georgia.
The incidents highlight the importance of safe haven laws that allow parents or guardians to leave newborns in designated safe locations without the fear of prosecution.
Here are five things to know about the laws:
All states have laws protecting newborns
All 50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico have some sort of safe haven legislation to protect newborns and provide parents with an alternative to criminal abandonment, according to government agency Child Welfare Information Gateway.
Safe haven laws differ in various states
There’s no umbrella federal law over all the states so the safe haven specifics vary depending on where you live.
“For example, in approximately 11 states and Puerto Rico, only infants who are 72 hours old or younger may be relinquished to a designated safe haven. Approximately 19 states accept infants up to 1 month old. Other states specify varying age limits in their statutes,” the government agency says.
Some states such as Alabama and Arizona require the infants to be three days or younger while others such as Indiana and Arkansas allow babies up to 30 days old, it says.
Not everyone can drop off a baby
The person allowed to relinquish a baby varies by state.
In four states — Georgia, Maryland, Minnesota and Tennessee — only the mother is allowed to surrender her infant, according to the government agency.
Some states provide other options.
“Idaho specifies that only a custodial parent may surrender an infant. In the District of Columbia, an infant may be relinquished only by a custodial parent who is a resident of the District. In approximately 11 states, an agent of the parent (someone who has the parent’s approval) may take a baby to a safe haven for a parent,” the government agency says.
In California, Kansas and New York, if someone other than the parent is relinquishing a newborn, he or she must have legal custody.
What’s considered a safe location varies by state
Safe locations to leave a newborn are not the same for every state, either. In each state, a hospital is considered a safe location while some allow newborns to be left at a fire station or a police station.
At least 16 states and Puerto Rico mandate that babies be left only at a hospital, emergency medical services provider or healthcare facility. In 27 states, fire stations are also designated as safe havens. While in 25 states, police stations or other law enforcement agencies may accept infants. Arizona, New Hampshire, South Carolina, Vermont and Puerto Rico allow churches to act as safe havens, but someone has to be present at the time the infant is left.
Some safe havens require family history
Once a baby is relinquished, the safe haven is required to provide any immediate medical care required. In 10 states, the baby must be transferred to the hospital if received at a facility that does not provide medical care, the government agency says.
And in at least 21 states, the provider is required to ask the parent for family and medical history information. Some are required to try and talk to whoever dropped off the child about the legal repercussions.
“Safe haven providers are given protection from liability for anything that might happen to the infant while in their care, unless there is evidence of major negligence on the part of the provider,” the government agency says.
Photo Credit: fox2now.com
Man with own name tattooed on neck arrested for falsely ID’ing himself
Mattoon police arrested a 36-year-old Illinois man for giving officers a fake name, despite having his real name tattooed on his neck.
Matthew C. Bushman, of Mansfield, had a warrant out for his arrest when officers booked him on Oct. 11 for obstructing justice. A police mugshot shows the “Matty B” tattoo across his throat.
Police said they were investigating a forgery when Bushman gave them a false name and date of birth in an attempt to dodge a warrant out of Peoria County.
Bushman was booked into Coles County Jail.
Photo Credit: fox2now.com
Minority Workers in Retail, Fast Food Have More Erratic Hours Than White Workers, UC Researchers Find
Retail and fast food work is notorious for erratic schedules.
But new research finds hourly workers of color in the industries have more unpredictable hours and last-minute schedules than their white colleagues.
Minority workers, particularly women of color, are “exposed to the most unstable and unpredictable work scheduling practices,” according to a report published Wednesday by sociologists at The Shift Project at the University of California. “This is not desirable schedule flexibility, but rather unpredictability and instability imposed by employers.”
Minority workers in the retail and food service industries are 10% to 20% more likely than white workers to report canceled shifts, on-call shifts and “clopenings” — shifts separated by fewer than 11 hours, the researchers found. The Shift Project, which studies scheduling practices, surveyed 30,000 employees at 120 of the largest retail and food-service firms for its report.
Although 13% of white workers reported at least one of their shifts was canceled in the last month, that percentage is 30% higher among minority workers, according to the findings.
According to the research, minority workers in retail and the food service industries are also more likely to be considered “involuntary part-time workers” — that is, workers who want to work full-time but are forced to work part-time, either because their hours were cut back or they could not find a full-time job.
The researchers attributed much of the scheduling gap between minority workers and white workers to managers’ conscious or unconscious racial bias. Although 80% of hourly white workers said their managers were white, only 38% of non-white workers said that they had a direct supervisor.
‘Fair workweek’ push
The retail and food service industries employ 17% of workers in the United States, and African-American and Hispanic workers make up a disproportionate share of the employees in the sectors compared with other industries. Top companies have relied on new technology and advanced algorithms in recent years to staff their stores and warehouses.
Last-minute scheduling creates financial strain and has damaging consequences for many workers and their families. Sometimes last-minute scheduling can make it difficult to care for young children or elderly family members. It can also lead to uneven pay and make it challenging for these workers to plan ahead.
At Walmart, the nation’s largest retailer and private employer, 44% of US employees are workers of color.
Adriana Bautista, a 13-year Walmart veteran who lives in Bay City, Texas, and works part time, said she wants to work there at least 20 hours a week. She said has worked just five hours some weeks in the past.
“Walmart also schedules me at different times every week,” said Bautista, a member of United for Respect, an advocacy group that presses for changes at Walmart and supports legislation to address unpredictable schedules. “On some days, I get off at 10 pm but have to be back at 8 am It’s exhausting, but I can’t afford to decline those shifts.”
She often relies on her family for help caring for her children.
“Most of the time I leave my kids alone with my 16-year-old daughter,” she said. “No mother wants to be in that position, but often the alternative is missing out on income we need to put food on the table.”
Kory Lundberg, a spokesperson for Walmart, said the company gives workers their schedules at least two and a half weeks in advance.
Walmart also provides “core hours” — a policy that offers workers the same shifts on the same days for as long as 13 weeks — and gives workers the ability swap shifts with other workers or volunteer to pick up additional hours.
“We are proud of the scheduling options we offer associates,” Lundberg said. “These options empower our people to build a schedule that meets their individual needs.”
Target does not disclose its mix of part-time workers or the racial breakdown of its workforce. But some Target workers, including several employees of color, recently told CNN Business that their hours have dropped.
Target has denied that it has cut hours. The company previously said that existing staffers are working this year, on average, approximately the same number of hours” as they were last year and the year prior and slightly more than they were three years ago. Target has added millions of payroll hours in recent years, the company said.
Jenny Allen, a former Payless employee who lives in Tacoma, Washington, said she often worked from opening to closing time late at night and then had to come back to work early the following morning.
“I missed a lot of time with my kids,” said Allen, who is also a member of United for Respect, the workers’ advocacy group.
Lawmakers are starting to address erratic hours and volatile pay for retail and service workers.
In recent years, San Francisco, New York City, Seattle, Chicago, Washington, DC, and Oregon and New Hampshire have passed “fair workweek” laws.
On the federal level, Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren and Connecticut Representative Rosa DeLauro have introduced the Schedules that Work Act, requiring retail, food service, hospitality and warehouse employers to provide schedules to their workers two weeks in advance. The bill also would call for companies to give workers more say in their own schedules and guarantee at least eleven hours of rest between shifts.
Warren and DeLauro plan to re-introduce the bill in the coming weeks.
Photo Credit: Joe Raedle/Getty Images
Wendy Williams Tears up as She’s Honored With Star on Hollywood Walk of Fame
Wendy Williams received the 2,677th star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on Thursday, joined by Jack Abernethy, CEO of Fox TV stations, radio host Elvis Duran, Los Angeles City Councilman Mitch O’Farrell and others who assembled on Hollywood Boulevard to celebrate the veteran TV host.
“If I don’t laugh, I’ll cry, so I’ll keep it light and laughter-y,” Williams said as she took the podium to accept her honor, choking back tears all the same. “Jack and Elvis and Mitch and people have said throughout the day … I’m successful because I’ve done things my way. No, not exactly. It’s because I’m a good listener to advice, and if I don’t like the advice, then I do things my way.”
The performer went on to thank her family, fans and “loyal, hard-working staff” at “The Wendy Williams Show,” as well as Mort Marcus and Ira Bernstein of Debmar-Mercury, which distributes the program. She also named some of her greatest talk-show inspirations, such as Mike Douglas and Dinah Shore.
“I did not know I would be a talk-show host, but I liked the chit-chat; I’ve always liked the chit-chat,” she said. “When they told me, ‘It’s going to be a live talk show,’ I was frightened — frightened. Doing it by myself, I had no problem with because most of my career I’ve been by myself. Even in a room full of a thousand people, I always feel like the person who doesn’t belong.”
Photo Credit: ktla.com
Colorado woman tried to mail human fetuses to UK
A woman in Colorado has been indicted for trying to ship three human fetuses to the UK using the United States Postal Service, reports said.
The fetuses, believed to have been stillborn in the 1920s, were sold to a buyer over Facebook, KUSA-TV reported.
Emily Suzanne Cain, 38, shipped the package from Canon City, Colorado, on Oct. 15, 2018, but Customs and Border Protection officers in San Francisco flagged it before it could be loaded onto a London-bound flight.
Cain tried to disguise the contents by labeling them “school teaching aids and T-shirts” on a customs form certifying there are no dangerous items in the package, KXTV-TV reported.
But she didn’t sign the form, so CBP officers X-rayed the bundle and were horrified to see “human shapes.”
Cain, who had also hand-written an apology for the package’s delay, was outraged when she discovered it had not been delivered and called USPS customer service on Oct. 30 and Nov. 2, to inquire about the delivery.
San Mateo County Coroner’s Office identified the remains as human, while Homeland Security investigators obtained a warrant for her Facebook communications, KDVR reported.
Facebook posts indicate Cain bought the “wet specimens” from a friend who heads a university’s BioMed department “and recently picked them up in a U-Haul trailer,” KUSA-TV reported.
She had allegedly been trying to sell the fetal collection for $20,000.
Investigators traced the fetuses’ origins to Creighton University in Omaha, Nebraska — which confirmed they had belonged to the lab, reports said.
Cain was charged with violating a US law that prohibits the sale of human fetal tissue. She was released on a $5,000 bond with a GPS monitor and pleaded not guilty Tuesday.
via: https://nypost.com/2019/10/16/colorado-woman-tried-to-mail-human-fetuses-to-uk-reports/
Photo Credit: Shutterstock
Man off meds stabbed mom 21 times over ‘inheritance
An Indiana man who stopped taking medication for paranoid schizophrenia stabbed his mother 21 times over his non-existent inheritance, police said.
Vinson Edge, 39, of Speedway, was arrested Monday in connection with the slaying of his mother, 58-year-old Vickie Edge, the night before.
She was stabbed with two kitchen knives in her head, neck, hands, arms and chest after an argument with her son over money, the Indianapolis Star reports.
Cops found the man’s brother outside of the family’s apartment complex holding a bat as he told investigators that Edge had killed their mother, whose body was found inside near a large kitchen knife, court documents show.
Edge had stopped taking his medication for paranoid schizophrenia about a month earlier, his brother told cops, prompting him to act erratically. Edge was not known to be a violent person prior to the change, his brother said.
Edge, who fled the apartment, was busted the following day after police got a tip that he was going to meet up with his mother’s longtime boyfriend, WXIN reports.
Terry Brown, 52, shot Edge in the leg just before he was taken into custody. A witness told the station that Brown and two others subdued Edge as they waited for cops to arrive.
Brown is now facing a charge of battery with a deadly weapon and is expected to appear in court on Thursday, the Indianapolis Star reports.
Relatives, meanwhile, said they saw no signs of trouble prior to the fatal stabbing that took away the “heartbeat” of the family, according to Samantha Riley, who is married to Vickie Edge’s nephew.
“It was no means, merit, there was no argument,” Riley told WXIN. “It just happened out of the blue.”
Photo Credit: Speedway Police Department
A woman sues San Antonio after a police officer pulled out her tampon in public
Natalie D. Simms was in shock as she stood on the dimly lit side street in San Antonio with her hands raised in the air. A police officer looking for drugs had failed to find anything after combing through her pockets — but much to Simms’s horror, the search wasn’t over.
“Spread your legs,” the officer allegedly told Simms.
On Aug. 8, 2016, Simms was subjected to a public vaginal cavity search during which her tampon was pulled out in view of male police officers and others nearby, according to a federal lawsuit filed last year in the Western District of Texas. Simms sued the city of San Antonio and now-retired San Antonio Police Department detective Mara Wilson for unspecified damages, alleging that the act was a “blatant violation” of her constitutional rights, and resulted “in significant and lasting harm.”
“Natalie suffered through a shocking display of what can occur when police power is unchecked,” Dean Malone, an attorney for Simms, told WOAI in 2018. “We intend to seek full damages available under the law and look forward to presenting Natalie’s horrible experience to a jury.”
But now, it appears the legal battle may be ending differently than how Malone envisioned. The city is scheduled to vote Thursday on a proposed settlement that would award Simms $205,000, according to an official agenda. Simms and her lawyer have agreed to the sum, the San Antonio Express-News reported, citing a city memo.
The potential payout offered to Simms, 40, is not the first of its kind in Texas. Last January, officials in Harris County paid $185,000 to a Houston woman who alleged in a federal lawsuit that her constitutional rights were violated when two sheriff’s deputies performed a cavity search on her near a bustling convenience store, the Houston Chronicle reported at the time. In that case, the settlement drew backlash from the woman’s lawyers and advocates, who decried the amount as “an injustice,” according to the Chronicle.
In a statement to The Washington Post on Wednesday, San Antonio City Attorney Andy Segovia said cases are evaluated with the goal of finding “potential resolutions without the necessity of proceeding to trial.”
“We were able to resolve this matter with this proposed settlement and believe it to be in the best interest of all involved,” Segovia said.
According to Simms’s lawsuit, her troubles began as she sat on a curb on that August night waiting for her boyfriend. Simms was perched near the street, talking on her cellphone when police officers descended, the suit said. It was later revealed that officers had been investigating the area after receiving complaints about possible drug activity, the Express-News reported. A police detective reportedly said he had seen Simms, who has a criminal record, and another woman walk beneath a highway underpass where they appeared to sell drugs, according to the Express-News.
First, police obtained consent to search Simms’s car, which she gave “knowing that she had done nothing wrong,” court documents said. Meanwhile, a female officer was called to the scene to search Simms, and it wasn’t long before Wilson, a department veteran, arrived.
After looking through Simms’s clothing and not finding anything, Wilson, who allegedly did not have a warrant at the time, asked whether she could remove the woman’s shorts, making small talk as she continued the search, according to the lawsuit.
“Officer Wilson was initially talking as if she were sitting down and having a cup of coffee with Natalie,” the suit said. “Unfortunately, this was not a meeting over coffee, and Officer Wilson’s decision as to how to conduct the search was about to take a turn for the worse.”
Wilson instructed Simms to “spread your legs,” according to a transcript of dash-cam footage included in the lawsuit. Wilson added, “I’m going to ask you, do you have anything down here before I reach down here?”
Simms said she didn’t and expressed alarm about Wilson’s intent to examine her vagina, noting that she was on her period. Armed with a flashlight, the officer said she only planned to look, not touch, and “pulled open Natalie’s pants and underwear,” the complaint said. Five other officers, all of whom were men, were nearby, the suit alleged.
“Officer Wilson did so knowing that Natalie was on her period, and also knowing and seeing that Natalie had a menstrual pad in place,” the lawyers wrote.
Still, Wilson repeatedly asked Simms to confirm she was using a tampon.
“It’s full of blood, right?” Simms said. “Why would you do that?”
“I don’t know,” Wilson responded. “It looked like it had stuff in there.”
Ignoring Simms’s protests that she didn’t have contraband, Wilson continued her search, at one point even remarking, “You’re very hairy,” the suit alleged.
Then, Wilson told Simms to turn around and spread her legs again, the complaint said. There was another place she had yet to look.
“Officer Wilson had violated Natalie vaginally, and now it appeared that she might violate Natalie anally,” the suit said. “She was doing so without a warrant, with no medical personnel present, and on a public street in view of several people as well as those passing by.”
Simms asked multiple times if she could be taken to a police station, but her requests were disregarded, according to the lawsuit.
“If you don’t have nothing, you don’t have anything to worry about, okay, but these are all the places that everybody hides stuff, so this is where we have to search,” Wilson told Simms, according to the transcript. Wilson later testified that she has recovered plastic bags containing drugs, such as marijuana, cocaine and heroin, tied with string from people’s crotches, the News-Express reported.
It is unclear whether Wilson proceeded with the cavity search of Simms. The complaint said Simms ultimately left in her own car after officers did not find anything illegal in her possession.
“Even though Natalie was allowed to leave the scene, a part of her dignity and self-worth was left behind,” the lawsuit said.
According to the complaint, officials said Wilson “did nothing that violated any of the City’s procedures by searching Ms. Simms in the manner she searched her.” Instead of facing serious punishment such as termination, a notation was made in Wilson’s personnel file, the lawsuit alleged. Wilson retired in May 2017, about nine months after her encounter with Simms, as a 32-year veteran of the department.
Photo Credit: nypost.com