Mariah Carey Gets $5 Million Dollar Settlement From Ex-Billionaire Fiance “For Wasting Her Time”
Mariah Carey & ex-billionaire fiance’ James Packer have reached a settlement agreement after the Grammy winner argued that she uprooted her life to move to L.A from NYC to be with the wealthy businessman. She also recalled an incident where James allegedly did something not so nice to one of her assistants during their vacation in Greece. Causing Mariah to have to cancel some dates on her South American tour and lose out on some major coins.
According to reports, the two have reached an agreement and Mariah was paid somewhere between $5 to $10 million dollars for the inconvenience.
This was allegedly paid back in October and we wonder if this major lick has anything to do with her currently canceling shows left and right on her Christmas tour. I mean can you fault her? $5 million does make it look like Christmas came early. I’d want to be home on my couch too.
Photo Credit: etonline.com
Boy Scouts file for bankruptcy due to sex-abuse lawsuits
(AP) — Barraged by hundreds of sex-abuse lawsuits, the Boy Scouts of America filed for bankruptcy protection Tuesday in hopes of working out a potentially mammoth victim compensation plan that will allow the hallowed, 110-year-old organization to carry on.
The Chapter 11 filing in federal bankruptcy court in Wilmington, Delaware, sets in motion what could be one of the biggest, most complex bankruptcies ever seen. Scores of lawyers are seeking settlements on behalf of several thousand men who say they were molested as scouts by scoutmasters or other leaders decades ago but are only now eligible to sue because of recent changes in their states’ statute-of-limitations laws.
By going to bankruptcy court, the Scouts can put those lawsuits on hold for now. But ultimately they could be forced to sell off some of their vast property holdings, including campgrounds and hiking trails, to raise money for a compensation trust fund that could surpass a billion dollars.
The bankruptcy petition listed the Boy Scouts’ assets as between $1 billion and $10 billion, and its liabilities at $500 million to $1 billion.
“Scouting programs will continue throughout this process and for many years to come,” the Boy Scouts said in a statement. ”Local councils are not filing for bankruptcy because they are legally separate and distinct organizations.”
The Boy Scouts are just the latest major American institution to face a heavy price over sexual abuse. Roman Catholic dioceses across the country and schools such as Penn State and Michigan State have paid out hundreds of millions of dollars in recent years.
The bankruptcy represents a painful turn for an organization that has been a pillar of American civic life for generations and a training ground for future leaders. Achieving the rank of Eagle Scout has long been a proud accomplishment that politicians, business leaders, astronauts and others put on their resumes and in their official biographies.
The Boy Scouts’ finances have been strained in recent years by declining membership and sex-abuse settlements.
The number of youths taking part in scouting has dropped below 2 million, down from more than 4 million in peak years of the 1970s. The organization has tried to counter the decline by admitting girls, but its membership rolls took a big hit Jan. 1 when The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints — for decades a major sponsor of Boy Scout units — cut ties and withdrew more than 400,000 scouts in favor of programs of its own.
The financial outlook had worsened last year after New York, Arizona, New Jersey and California passed laws making it easier for victims of long-ago abuse to file claims. Teams of lawyers across the U.S. have been signing up clients by the hundreds to sue the Boy Scouts.
Most of the newly surfacing cases date to the 1960s, ’70s and ’80s; the organization says there were only five known abuse victims in 2018. The Boy Scouts credit the change to an array of prevention policies adopted since the mid-1980s, including mandatory criminal background checks and abuse-prevention training for all staff and volunteers, and a rule that two or more adult leaders be present during all activities.
In many ways, the crisis parallels the one facing the Catholic Church in the U.S. Both institutions boast of major progress over recent decades in combating abuse. whether by priests or scout leaders, but both face many lawsuits alleging negligence and cover-ups, mostly decades ago.
“We are outraged that there have been times when individuals took advantage of our programs to harm innocent children,” said Roger Mosby, the BSA’s president and CEO. “While we know nothing can undo the tragic abuse that victims suffered, we believe the Chapter 11 process, with the proposed trust structure, will provide equitable compensation to all victims while maintaining the BSA’s important mission.”
The BSA said it is encouraging all victims to come forward to file a claim in the case. A deadline for filing claims has not yet been set by the bankruptcy court, but the BSA said that would likely happen later this year.
Among other matters to be addressed in bankruptcy court: the fate of the Boy Scouts’ assets; the extent to which the organization’s insurance will help cover compensation; and whether assets of the Scouts’ 261 local councils will be added to the fund.
“There are a lot of very angry, resentful men out there who will not allow the Boy Scouts to get away without saying what all their assets are,” said lawyer Paul Mones, who represents numerous clients suing the BSA. “They want no stone unturned.”
Amid the crush of lawsuits, the Scouts recently mortgaged the major properties owned by the national leadership, including the headquarters in Irving, Texas, and the 140,000-acre Philmont Ranch in New Mexico, to help secure a line of credit.
Founded in 1910, the Boy Scouts have kept confidential files since the 1920s listing staff and volunteers implicated in sexual abuse, for the avowed purpose of keeping predators away from youth. According to a court deposition, the files as of January listed 7,819 suspected abusers and 12,254 victims.
Until last spring, the organization had insisted it never knowingly allowed a predator to work with youths. But in May, The Associated Press reported that attorneys for abuse victims had identified multiple cases in which known predators were allowed to return to leadership posts. The next day, Boy Scouts chief executive Mike Surbaugh wrote to a congressional committee, acknowledging the group’s previous claim was untrue.
James Kretschmer of Houston, among the many men suing for alleged abuse, says he was molested by a Scout leader over several months in the mid-1970s in the Spokane, Washington, area. Regarding the bankruptcy, he said, “It is a shame because at its core and what it was supposed to be, the Boy Scouts is a beautiful organization.”
“But you know, anything can be corrupted,” he added. “And if they’re not going to protect the people that they’ve entrusted with the children, then shut it down and move on.”
Ahead of the Chapter 11 filing, lawyers said that because of the organization’s 50-state presence, as well as its ties to churches and civic groups that sponsor scout troops, a bankruptcy by the Boy Scouts would be unprecedented in its complexity. It would be national in scope, unlike the various Catholic Church bankruptcy cases, which have unfolded diocese by diocese.
“A Boy Scout bankruptcy would be bigger in scale than any other child abuse bankruptcy we’ve ever seen,” said Seattle-based attorney Mike Pfau, whose firm is representing scores of men nationwide alleging they were abused as Boy Scouts.
Photo Credit: AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez
Woman claims man kidnapped her, forced her to watch ‘Roots’ to ‘understand her racism’
(WAVE) – Police in Cedar Rapids, Iowa arrested a man after he allegedly kidnapped a woman and forced her to watch “Roots,” a 1977 TV miniseries about slavery in the United States.
Cedar Rapids newspaper The Gazette reports Robert Lee Noye, 52, was arrested Monday.
A criminal complaint stated Noye forced the victim to watch the show, which is a nine-hour historical miniseries about slavery in the U.S. through the post-Civil War era, “so she could better understand her racism.”
The complaint also stated the suspect told the victim he would “kill her and spread her body parts across Interstate 380 on the way to Chicago” if she did not sit and watch the show.
The Gazette reports Noye is charged with first-degree harassment and false imprisonment.
Photo Credit: The Gazette / Linn Co. Sheriff’s Office
Father lit Wisconsin mother on fire, forced children outside in extreme cold
A Milwaukee woman is recovering from being set on fire and her children were forced to stand outside in the cold as it happened, according to family member.
Wanda Bailey is now caring for her two granddaughters, 4-year-old Cerenity and 1-year-old Cemaya. While her daughter, Savanna, lies sedated in a hospital bed burned beyond recognition.
“He left her to die, her really did, ” said Bailey.
She says police showed up at her door with the kids early Friday morning. They told her the children’s father put the kids outside in -19 degree wind chill, then doused savanna in gasoline and lit her on fire.
“The baby didn’t have no clothes on. No shoes… and Cerenity just had that on, and no shoes on,” said Bailey.
The flames on Savanna partially lit the home on fire near 8th and Cherry streets. She ran outside and put herself out in a snow bank.
“I said Cerenity, ‘Who burnt the house up? ‘Who did you say burnt the house up?,” she continued.
The child’s response: “My daddy did.”
After Cerenity told police what happened, they arrested her father. Savanna’s sister, went to see her in the hospital and says she’ll need to stay there for two to three months.
“I’m lost for words, like she doesn’t look like herself. But I know that’s my sister,” said sister Sharissa Johnson.
They say the man who burned Savanna has always been abusive and jealous of her working towards a better life.
“The message was based off her getting her hair done. And I feel like this is why he did that because she moved on and she found somebody new,” Sharissa added.
Savanna’s mother said she thinks the suspect should of been out of their family’s life early on.
“How my daughter is suffering, I want him to suffer. He should have been out they life a long time ago,” Bailey said.
Photo Credit: kmov.com
Black college student handcuffed facedown in the snow, threatened at gunpoint by Illinois officers who had the wrong guy
Jaylan Butler, a black student at Eastern Illinois University in Charleston, Illinois, filed a lawsuit against several police officers and sheriff’s deputies alleging he was wrongfully detained after being mistaken for a suspect.
The lawsuit, filed January 21 in US District Court for the Central District of Illinois, says that Butler was stopped by police and placed in handcuffs on February 24, 2019, near a rest stop off I-80 in East Moline, Illinois.
East Moline Police Officer Travis Staes, Hampton Police Officer Ethan Bush, Rock Island County Sheriff’s Deputy Jack Asquini, Rock Island County Sheriff’s Deputy Pena, whose first name not listed, and two John Does are all named as defendants in the filing.
A statement from Rock Island County Sheriff Gerald Bustos says his office was unaware of the incident prior to being served with the lawsuit on January 27, 2020. In the statement, Bustos said that a preliminary fact-finding mission concluded that Deputies Pena and Asquini had arrived at the scene after Butler had been detained by officers from other agencies, and had only “brief interaction” with Butler. Bustos says in the statement that he believes the allegations against deputies Pena and Asquini are “without merit.”
CNN has reached out to the Hampton Police Department, Officer Bush, and East Moline Police Officer Staes for a response to the allegations in the lawsuit and has not yet heard back.
In a statement posted to the police department’s Facebook account, East Moline Chief of Police Jeff Ramsey said that, at the time of the encounter with Butler, Staes had been searching for “an armed suspect that reportedly shot at a vehicle on Interstate 80,” and the suspect reportedly had crashed his vehicle and fled on foot a short distance from where Staes encountered Butler.
“Due to the pending lawsuit, I am not able to comment in detail, but I can confirm that Officer Staes did have a brief encounter with Mr. Butler and he handled that encounter properly, lawfully, and in accordance with the policies and procedures of the East Moline Police Department,” the statement read in part. “At this early stage of litigation, I encourage our residents not to jump to conclusions based on what has been portrayed in the media and language of the lawsuit. I am confident that the allegations against Officer Staes are without merit.”
Butler is a swimmer on the Eastern Illinois University swim team and had just competed in the Summit League Swimming and Diving Championships in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, the lawsuit said.
He was traveling back to his school with his teammates on a bus that pulled over near a rest stop and one of his coaches told him to go take a picture of a road sign near where they had stopped, according to the lawsuit.
After taking a photo, Butler began walking back to the bus when he was confronted by police officers from the East Moline Police Department and Hampton Police Department and deputies from the Rock Island County Sheriff’s Office, the lawsuit said.Build a dynamic banking and financial enterprise.Transform operations, operating models and enterprise architecture to become more agile and efficient, allowing you get to market faster.Ad By IBMSee More
“Plaintiff Jaylan Butler has always known that he could be targeted by police officers because he is Black. Mr. Butler’s father taught him at a young age how to maximize his chances of surviving an encounter with law enforcement — stop instantly, put your hands up, drop anything you are holding, and drop to your knees,” the lawsuit states.
Butler did just that and was promptly handcuffed, threatened and put into the back of a police car, according to the suit.
The lawsuit alleges the officers and deputies exited their vehicles with firearms pointed at Butler while shouting “Get down!” and “Don’t f**cking move! Stay right there!” Butler complied with orders he was given and was placed in handcuffs while face down in the snow, according to the lawsuit.
One of the defendants in the case pressed a handgun against Butler’s head and told him “If you keep moving, I’m going to blow your f**cking head off,” the lawsuit alleges.
The bus driver asked the officers and deputies what they were doing with his passenger and Butler’s coach explained to them that he was a college athlete the lawsuit said.
Eventually Butler was released and able to show his ID to law enforcement who did not give him any information regarding why he was detained or anything to follow up with such as a badge number or name, the lawsuit said.
The lawsuit is seeking unspecified damages from the officers and deputies to be determined by a jury.
Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker released the following statement on Facebook:
I’m deeply troubled by what I’ve read about how Jaylan Butler, an African-American athlete at EIU, was mistreated by law enforcement in East Moline. It’s unacceptable for any young person to feel unsafe and disrespected anywhere in this state – but every day, too many young people of color live through it. I urge a thorough and transparent investigation of what took place.
CNN’s Shawn Nottingham contributed to this story.
Photo Credit: CNN Wire
You can now wear Kim Kardashian’s booty, thanks to these Swedish artists
Want a butt like Kim Kardashian’s? Just slide it on!
Scandinavian conceptual artists Ida Jonsson, 22, and Simon Saarinen, 24, joined forces with Swedish fashion designer Beate Karlsson, 24, to debut a risqué replica of Kardashian’s bodacious backside at New York Fashion Week.
The Scandi threesome unveiled their “The Bum” — Kim K-inspired biker shorts made from flexible silicone that functions as shapewear — at an Elle magazine event last week, then took it for a little catwalk outside the Rebecca Minkoff and Christopher John Rogers shows at Spring Studios.
The haute heinie was boldly modeled by Karlsson herself (right), and styled with a red puffer jacket, denim tube top, open-toed thigh-high boots and statement sunglasses.
Fashionistas and street-style photographers couldn’t look away.
“You could see the confusion in people’s eyes,” Karlsson tells The Post. “We were quickly surrounded by a big group of paparazzi who wanted to take pictures of ‘The Bum.’ ”
The trio — who are all New York-based — started the “The Bum” project two years ago. Jonsson and Saarinen began by analyzing all the images and information they could find online to create a photorealistic and true-to-scale 3-D rendering of Kardashian’s unusual proportions, which Saarinen notes “have actually changed a bit” since 2018.
Soon after, they enlisted Parsons and Central Saint Martins alum Karlsson to help manifest a wearable version.
They’re in the process of perfecting the first 6-pound prototype, which is what they trotted out during Fashion Week and measures 15.3 inches across and has a circumference of 42 inches.
The goal is to make it as lightweight and comfortable as possible before selling it in limited quantities later this spring, and they’re currently exploring manufacturing it in China, Portugal or even Brooklyn.
“We will probably use a mix of silicone, spandex and microfiber, but we’ve not fully decided on how the product will be materialized yet,” says Karlsson.
Not surprisingly, looking like a curvy Kardashian comes at a pretty hefty price: The final design will cost between $450 and $600. Still, that’s more manageable than shelling out thousands for implants or injections.
“We’re living in a time where people are ready to undergo serious and sometimes dangerous surgeries to make their butt look like hers — all in the name of likes,” says Saarinen. “Her ass is probably one of the most recognized and talked-about symbols born out of Instagram.”
But on Instagram, “The Bum” has come under scrutiny, with some commenters calling the piece “cultural appropriation.”
Nevertheless, the Gen Z designers see their Kim-inspired project as a commentary on the “hyperbolic social-media landscape, where everyone’s fighting to stand out,” says Jonsson.
“It’s our mission as artists and thinkers to question — and sometimes highlight — the changing demands that surround us in order to start a discussion,” says Karlsson.
Photo Credit: Simon Saarinen
A Bartender Posted Her Paycheck Showing She Made Only $9.28 For 70 Hours Of Work “This is why you tip.”
One bartender in Texas is taking on the service industry’s standard practice of paying low wages and the importance of tipping in a TikTok post that shows just how small her paycheck is.
Aaliyah Cortez uploaded a video of her paycheck on the viral platform, and breaks it all down for viewers. “So this is why you should always tip your bartenders and servers, anyone who waits on you or provides a service for you” she said.
Cortez then pointed out that she worked 70 hours and that she gets paid $2.13 an hour. As if that’s not bad enough, after federal taxes, social security, and Medicare, she ended up with a paycheck of exactly $9.28. “For 70 hours of work,” she stressed.
“Of course, I got tips, but this is what I got for my hourly,” Cortez said. “This is why you tip.”
Cortez’s post has received more than 99,000 likes and 3,058 comments.
Cortez later spoke to BuzzFeed and said she decided to post her video to try to help shed light on how the service industry pays their employees. Laws in some states allow tipped employees to be paid as little as $2.13 an hour, as long as their tips get their average income up to the minimum wage of $7.25 an hour. As a result, a service industry employee’s take home pay can be incredibly low.
“It’s not right that we have to do this, but I wanted to shed some light on the issue and inform the public about the importance of tipping,” Cortez said.
Some people pointed out in the comments of Cortez’s post that people in the service industry “get a bunch of tips,” but Cortez responded by saying that not everyone tips well, or even at all.
“I would like to see the system change who pays our wages,” she told The Daily Mail. “Obviously, it should be our employers, but until that can happen we still have to rely on the generosity of our customers.”
Cortez posted a followup TikTok thanking people for watching and listening to her. “I owe it to you guys. Thank you,” she said.
via: https://currently.att.yahoo.com/lifestyle/bartender-posted-her-paycheck-showing-213200004.html
Photo Credit: TikTok/f.aa.ded
Utah man accused of releasing rodents in hotel rooms to get free stays
A Utah man was arrested for allegedly releasing mice and hamsters in various hotel rooms and then complaining to management in order to get a free stay, a report said
Ryan State, 37, is accused of using the rodent ruse to scam at least three Utah hotels, including the Hyatt House in Salt Lake City, according to KUTV.
The location’s general manager, Sean Medina, told the network State was compensated for two nights after complaining about two mice in his room.
Medina reported the scam to police, who said two other hotels fell for State’s ploy, the report said.
State, who is accused of damaging several hotel rooms, would complain about feces in the room left by the rodents.
He’s charged with two counts of theft by deception and three counts of criminal mischief.
Photo Credit: Salt Lake County Jail; Shutterstock
FreakNik to return this summer as 3-day festival called Freak World
ATLANTA — FreakNik is coming back once again as a three-day music festival that will feature more than 40 artists performing live over the course of the weekend.
This year’s festival will run June 19-21 at the Cascade Driving Range in southwest Atlanta.
This year, the festival is debuting a new name, Freak World.
Last summer, Carlos Neal, of Atlanta-based promotion company After 9, resurrected the infamous Atlanta event with a daylong concert at Cellairis Amphitheatre at Lakewood. A lineup featuring Project Pat, Uncle Luke, Da Brat, Foxy Brown and many more nearly sold out the venue and attracted an adult audience old enough to remember the rambunctious Freakniks of the past, but young enough to still party responsibly.
“For everyone who said, ‘This isn’t the Freaknik of the ‘90s,’ I’m like, look, we’re older now and most people got that and still had fun,” Neal told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
This year’s festival has been expanded to three days. Neal said the Cascade Driving Range has significance to him.
“I wanted to do it in a community where people embraced this event. I chose the community where I grew up because I wanted the dollars to impact that community,” he said, adding that last year’s crowd was about 94 percent African American. “So I wanted to do it in a predominately African American neighborhood.”
Neal, who is also working with Atlanta festival promoter Eric Barnes, plans to enlist more than 100 vendors and schedule about 40-50 acts during the three-day event, which he will cap at about 10,000 fans per day (the event is 18 and older).
Freaknik started back in 1983. It was a small gathering then, but over the years and into the ’90s, hundreds of thousands of people came from all over the country to the big event.
The community became outraged over huge parties, chaos in the streets and crime.
In the ’90s, then-Mayor Bill Campbell’s staff made a big decision to stop Freaknik.
By 2010, then-Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed banned any Freaknik-related activities from being staged within the city, and a hallmark of Atlanta revelry disappeared.
The festival returned last year in a more family-friendly form, endorsing inclusiveness and a safe environment.
Several thousand parking spaces will be available among the driving range site and the parking lots of nearby Changing a Generation Full Gospel Baptist Church and Greenbriar Mall.
Neal has only praise for Lakewood and its Live Nation management, but believes moving the event to a location where he has more control will ultimately benefit the consumer.
For information about tickets for this year’s FreakNik festival, CLICK HERE.
Photo Credit: Photo: STEVE SCHAEFER / The Atlanta Journal-Constitution/wsbtv.com
6-year-old committed to mental health facility and was allegedly given anti-psychotic medications without mother’s consent
(NBC NEWS) – A 6-year-old girl from Jacksonville, Florida, was committed for two days to a mental health facility without her mother’s consent after she allegedly threw a temper tantrum at school.
Also without the permission of her mother, the child was allegedly given anti-psychotic medications at the center.
The child’s mother, Martina Falk, is now demanding answers from officials at Love Grove Elementary School in Jacksonville for how they handled the incident that happened on Feb. 4.Follow this story to get email or text alerts from NBC2 when there is a future article following this storyline.Follow this story
According to NBC News, Falk’s lawyer, Reganel Reeves, said a mental health counselor was called to the school because Nadia was reportedly having a tantrum and throwing chairs.
Nadia, who has ADHD and has been diagnosed with a mood disorder, was evaluated by the counselor who determined Nadia needed to be committed under the Baker Act.
The Baker Act gives social workers in Florida the power to initiate involuntary holds on children as young as 2 without the need for parental permission, reported NBC News.
Falk was not called and informed of the incident until after Nadia had already been committed to the facility.
Falk said her daughter is not able to communicate what happened to her because of her disability.
“She can only tell you bits and pieces. ‘Mommy, they locked the door. They wouldn’t let me out. Mommy, they gave me a shot,'” Falk said.
Deputies with the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office had been called to the school to assist in taking Nadia to the facility.
In police body-cam footage, Nadia appears to be calmly walking out of the school with deputies, NBC News reported.
“You’re not no bad person,” a deputy says, later adding that Nadia has been “acting very pleasant.”
A police incident report shows that staff at the school said Nadia was “destroying school property, attacking staff, out of control and running out of school.”
The decision to have Nadia committed under the Baker Act did not come from school district personnel or police, according to Tracy Pierce, with Duval County Public Schools.
After evaluating the girl, a licensed mental health counselor with Child Guidance Center made the decision to commit the child.
“The officers in the video were not present during the events which motivated the school to call Child Guidance. The police officers were also not present when Child Guidance was intervening with the student,” Pierce said. “The student was calm when she left the school, but at that point, Child Guidance had already made the decision to Baker Act based on their intervention with the student.”
According to Pierce, the school will only call for assistance from a counselor when the child is behaving in a way that might put others or themselves at risk.
She said several steps are followed to try and de-escalate a situation before a counselor is called and the parent of the student is notified immediately when the counselor decides the child should be committed under the Baker Act, according to NBC News.
Photo Credit: cnn.com