Pioneering Hip-Hop Journalist Dee Barnes Is Now Homeless
Check out Dee Barnes’ GoFundMe campaign here.
Dee Barnes has been evicted from her home after a long financial struggle.
In a new interview, Barnes revealed she’s now homeless. “I had never asked for public help before, but I then remembered a long time ago while I was going through the assault trial in 1991 people were sending me checks for my legal fees. I never cashed any of them — not one — but knowing I had that support kept me strong enough to continue to face each court date,” she told HipHopDx.
She continued, “right now, I am officially homeless. My goal with the campaign is to regain stability, which is imperative for survivors of any trauma.”
Barnes had recently created a GoFundMe explaining her situation.
A post on her account reads, “Standing in our own truth not the definitions or the expectations is powerful, and this is my TRUTH…Yes, I did post the link to my PayPal, CashApp and GooglePay accounts asking for help because I am in the process of being evicted. This page was created as an emergency fund to stop the process and the subsequent legal fees. Even though I am facing extreme financial hardship, I keep my head up. I know who I am, I know my worth and I know I’m not alone.”
As the host of Pump It Up! Barnes became the first female hip-hop journalist to have a broadcast television show. Her career derailed in 1991, after being brutally attacked by Dr. Dre. Barnes filed criminal charges against Dre and a civil suit followed before they settled out of court in 1993.
Dre, who had long dismissed the story, spoke on his history of abusing women during an episode of HBO’s The Defiant Ones, saying he was “out of his fucking mind.” The music mogul referred to abuse as “a major blemish” on who he is as a man.
After the attack, Barnes says she continues to have migraines 28 years later, and believes that she was blackballed by the industry.
“As far as the subject matter of my past history with Dr. Dre and my current situation, I will say any time a women tells her account of abuse from a public figure, there is always extreme backlash,” she said in the interview. “Women are punished first by the crime committed against them and then for holding abusers accountable for their actions and speaking out against domestic violence and sexual assault. Survivors should be able to hold people in positions of power accountable for their actions without losing their own power.”
In 2016, Dre threatened to sue Sony Pictures over the release of the TV movie Surviving Compton: Dre, Suge & Michel’le, which depicted him as a violent abuser to former girlfriend and singer Michel’le.
Michel’le has gone on record with allegations of physical abuse against Dre.
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O.C. District Attorney warns residents after release of 7 ‘high-risk’ sex offenders during coronavirus pandemic
Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer on Tuesday issued a warning to residents after seven registered sex offenders who he said were “high-risk” were recently released from custody early, amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
Spitzer said the convicted men spent “just days” in jail instead of the six months required by law for those registered as sex offenders.
The men apparently had also been charged with cutting off their GPS monitors or tampering with their tracking devices.
They were released beginning on April 7 as a result of rulings by appointed Court Commissioner Joseph Dane, Spitzer said.
The DA called the men “the most dangerous kind of criminal and the most likely to reoffend.”
“These are not the kind of people who should be getting a break,” he said.
Orange County Sheriff Don Barnes announced Tuesday that the jail population in the county has been reduced by nearly 45% since March 7.
After additional steps were taken to make sure inmates were safe during the crisis, Barnes said overcrowding is not an issue, according to Spitzer.
“It is not the court’s responsibility to control the jail population by releasing these dangerous criminals back into our communities,” the DA said. “The residents of Orange County deserve to have the peace of mind that registered sex offenders are being held accountable and not just let out the front door of a jail by a court commissioner who refuses to follow the law.”
Spitzer called the decision to release the inmates “dangerous” and vowed that his office will not appear in front of Dane on parole violations involving registered sex offenders.
Both Spitzer and Barnes have also expressed frustration over a statewide order that bail be reduced to zero for many offenders.
The inmates who were released are:
- Luis Joel Ramirez, 27. Ramirez was last known to have lived in Costa Mesa. According to the DA’s office, his criminal history includes sexual battery, assault with a deadly weapon, resisting a peace officer, burglary and possessing of a leaded cane, a deadly weapon. He was released on April 7 after serving 20 days on a parole violation for cutting off his GPS, then released again on April 24 after serving 16 days on a parole violation for failing to report, the DA’s office said.
- James Franklin Bowling, 50. Bowling last lived in Orange and his criminal history includes lewd conduct in a public place, repeated convictions for failing to register as a sex offender, repeated convictions for sex offender on school grounds and possession of controlled substance and paraphernalia, officials said. Bowling had two parole violations since February and was released on April 9 after serving 14 days on a parole violation for failing to charge his GPS monitoring device. He was ordered to report to parole but “does not report,” the DA’s office said.
- Rudy William Grajeda Magdaleno, 39. Magdaleno last lived in Anaheim. His criminal history includes child molestation, indecent exposure, assault, battery, criminal threats and inflicting injury on an adult, officials said. He has had five parole violations since 2017. He was released on April 13 after serving 142 days on a parole violation for failing to charge his GPS monitoring device. He was ordered to report but he “does not report,” officials said.
- Calvin Curtis Coleman, 52. Coleman last lived in Santa Ana and his criminal history includes lewd conduct in a public place, officials said. He has had three parole violations since 2019 and was released on April 13 after serving 18 days on a parole violation after failing to charge his GPS monitoring device. He was ordered to report to parole.
- Kyle Albert Winton, 40. Winton last lived in Mission Viejo and his criminal history includes annoying or molesting a child, criminal threats to cause great bodily injury or death, resisting a peace officer and DUI and hit and run with property damage, officials said. He has one parole violation and was released in April after serving 10 days on a parole violation for failing to charge his GPS. He was ordered to report to parole, but he “does not report,” officials said.
- Jose Adrian Oregel, 46. Oregel last lived in Santa Ana and his criminal history includes unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor, oral copulation of a person under the age of 18 and causing great bodily injury. He was described by the DA’s office as a second striker. He was released on April 22 after serving 18 days for failing to charge his GPS device. He was ordered to report to parole.
- Mario Ernesto Sandoval, 45. Sandoval was last known to live in Stanton and his criminal history includes sexual battery, touching for sexual arousal, indecent exposure, assault on a peace officer and assault, officials said. He has had one parole violation in 2020. Officials said he failed to charge his GPS device and was unaccounted for one-third of the time he was out of custody. He was released on April 22 after serving 16 days on a parole violation for failing to report to charge his GPS device. He was ordered to report to parole.
Photo Credit: ktla.com
Brooklyn man arrested for stealing stimulus checks, credit cards from mail
BROOKLYN — A Brooklyn man has been arrested over accusations he’s been stealing mail, including credit cards and stimulus checks from the US Trasury Department, according to US Attorney Richard P. Donoghue’s office.
Feng Chen was arrested in Brooklyn Tuesday and appeared via videoconference before a judge Wednesday afternoon. In the early morning hours Tuesday, NYPD officers saw Chen looking inside the medical collection bin at a closed medical office and then walking to a nearby residence and examining mail left at the door. He then walked into the gated area of a second residence and left carrying what appeared to be mail.
When he saw the police, Chen tossed the mail on the sidewalk. When officers got out of their vehicle, they observed a bulge in Chen’s jacket pocket. Upon a search, officers found checks, stimulus payments totaling up to $12,000, credit cards, opened envelops and letters.
“For many families, these stimulus checks are a lifeline in these difficult times and anyone who tries to cut that lifeline will face the full weight of the law,” stated United States Attorney Donoghue. “This Office will vigorously prosecute all those who seek to take advantage of the public health crisis.
“The NYPD recognizes how the COVID-19 pandemic presents an opportunity for a variety of malicious, criminal scams. In this case, I applaud our alert detectives and federal partners for interrupting an alleged scheme to victimize New Yorkers by stealing important mail and stimulus money meant to aid them during this unprecedented crises,” stated NYPD Commissioner Dermot Shea.
If convicted, Chen faces a maximum of five years in prison.
via: https://www.pix11.com/news/local-news/brooklyn/brooklyn-man-arrested-for-stealing-stimulus-checks-from-mail-officials
Photo Credit: pix11.com
News anchor allegedly caught cheating when half naked woman walks into live shot
A Spanish news anchor was accused of cheating on his TV star girlfriend when viewers spotted a semi-naked woman saunter behind him while he was filming a live segment, according to a report.
Alfonso Merlos, 41, was hosting the Estado de Alarma channel news report from his home amid the coronavirus lockdown when the scantily clad gal walked into the background of the shot, according to The Sun.
Eagle-eyed fans pointed out the woman was not his partner Marta López, a former star of the “Big Brother” reality show — sparking a media firestorm earlier this week, according to the outlet.
Merlos remained silent for days despite accusations of two-timing, then apologized to López during an appearance on “The Ana Rosa” news show Monday.
“If you think that my attitude has not been correct or that there are things that I have not done well, I have no problem asking for forgiveness, although my goal was not to harm someone else,” he said.
He claimed he’d broken up with the reality star before the at-home segment was shot — but Lopez insisted they were still together at the time. She called the incident “unpleasant” and “shameful.”
The partially clothed woman was later identified as journalist Alexia Rivas, according to the local new site 20 Minutos. Rivas said she has been dating the newsman for several weeks.
via: https://nypost.com/2020/04/29/news-anchor-caught-cheating-when-naked-woman-walks-into-shot/
Photo Credit: nypost.com
Dozens of dead bodies found in U-Haul trucks outside NYC funeral home
Police found dozens of bodies being stored in unrefrigerated trucks outside a Brooklyn funeral home and lying on the facility’s floor Wednesday, law enforcement sources told The Post.
Between 40 to 60 bodies were discovered either stacked up in U-Haul box trucks outside Andrew Cleckley Funeral Services in Flatlands or on the building’s floor, after neighbors reported a foul odor around the property, sources said.
NYPD detectives were joined by several other city agencies investigating the trucks at the Utica Avenue facility Wednesday evening, with the section of the street closed off to the public.
John DiPietro, who owns a neighboring property, said he had observed cadavers being stored in the trucks for at least several weeks during the coronavirus pandemic.
“You don’t respect the dead that way. That could have been my father, my brother,” said DiPietro.
Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams was on the scene, but could not confirm any details of the storage. Adams said the city needed to ramp up staff for a “bereavement committee” to deal with the surging deaths due to the coronavirus.
“We need to bring in funeral directors, morgues, [medical examiners], clergies … when you find bodies in trucks like this throughout our city, treating them in an undignified manner, that’s unacceptable.”
Calls to the funeral company, went unanswered Wednesday afternoon.
via: https://nypost.com/2020/04/29/bodies-stored-in-trucks-at-brooklyn-funeral-home-sources/
Photo Credit: nypost.com/Paul Martinka
Tacoma nurse brought COVID-19 home. Now her husband is on a ventilator, fighting for his life
Tammy Edwards remembers closing her front door and falling to her knees.
Moments earlier, the nurse at Tacoma General Hospital had watched her husband of nearly 10 years, Brian Edwards, strapped to an oxygen tank and taken away in an ambulance.
She knew he was stricken with COVID-19, because she had brought it home from work.
She knew, because of her medical training and the overwhelming signs, he was struggling — most notably an inability to breath and dangerously low oxygen levels.
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And, amid the coronavirus precautions and limits on visitation, she knew precisely what a trip to the hospital under such circumstances could mean — that the kiss on the cheek she’d given Brian moments earlier might be the couple’s last.
Three hours later, Edwards said, her husband had been intubated — sedated and placed on a ventilator that has been helping him breath ever since.
“I said, ‘I love you. You know I can’t be with you,’” Edwards recounted Monday, eight days after Brian, 50, was rushed to the hospital where she works.
“I remember closing my door, and I just lost it. I just had a meltdown,” Edwards, 51, continued. “I didn’t know if I was ever going to see him again. It was really hard. I paced around in my house for a couple hours, crying and praying.”
That night, Edwards also took to social media, posting photos and an update on Brian’s condition to Facebook. The couple grew up in Tacoma — both graduating from Wilson High School — and have a large circle of friends and relatives. She wanted people to know how he was doing.
As a nurse, Edwards said she also wanted people to take COVID-19 seriously. Brian had no underlying health conditions, she explained, and yet he was still fighting for his life.
“I decided, you know what, there’s so much going on in the news right now — so much controversy — that I wanted to reach out to our community and show this is real,” Edwards said of the Facebook post, which has now been shared thousands of times and garnered widespread attention.
“This is not a hoax, and it’s not a conspiracy,” she added. ”This is the real deal.”
Since her husband was admitted to Tacoma General, the emotions have been overwhelming and come in waves, Edwards said.
She’s often terrified and unable to sleep for fear of missing a call from the hospital. Her husband is now in stable but critical condition, but the illness is unpredictable, and he’s “very sick and has a long road ahead of him,” Edwards said.
Edwards also longs to hear her husband’s voice again — to connect with him, even from afar. Right now, her contact with him has been limited to nightly, one-way video chats. Edwards talks to Brian for hours every evening, she explained, confident he can hear her through a phone placed next to his ear, while she watches for small signs to confirm it.
“I just talk to him until his phone dies,” Edwards said.
Then there’s the guilt — which might be the hardest part of all and underscores the incredible sacrifices being made by medical professionals during the coronavirus pandemic.
The registered nurse, who works on Tacoma General’s birthing and postpartum unit, said she became ill earlier this month and tested positive for COVID-19 on April 10. Previously, Edwards was notified of exposure on her unit, she explained.
Brian, meanwhile, developed symptoms the day before her test results came back.
Today, Edwards is still recovering, and has yet to return to work.
The toll COVID-19 has taken on her husband is much greater, she said.
“When he first went in (to the hospital), I figured that he was likely not going to make it. That was awful,” Edwards said, recounting Brian’s persistently worsening cough, gasps for air and exhaustion-induced delirium.
“When he left that day, on Sunday, I buckled and I had to sit down. All I thought about is, ‘This is your fault. It’s your fault,’” Edwards said. “I’m devastated by it. I’m heartbroken. I know I likely caused this, even though we were taking precautions.”
The “only thing that really keeps me strong,” Edwards said, is how Brian supported her career, even after he became ill with COVID-19.
That doesn’t stop Edwards from apologizing to him every night over the phone, she said.
“He knows I’m a nurse, and we know the risk. We talked about it, and he’s not upset with me. But I still tell him I’m sorry,” Edwards said.
”I apologize to him, because I brought it home and he got sick. I have a lot of guilt about that.”
Read more here: https://www.thenewstribune.com/news/local/news-columns-blogs/matt-driscoll/article242275096.html#storylink=cpy
‘Tyler Perry’s Bruh’ debuting on BET streaming service May 7
The latest Tyler Perry project is debuting Thursday, May 7, exclusively on the BET+ streaming service. “Bruh” is a dramedy focused on four 30-something friends who have known each other since college.
This is Perry’s second production exclusively for BET+ following the drama “Ruthless” about a woman trapped in a cult.
The first three episodes of “Bruh” will be available at launch. A new show from the 24-episode season will then drop each week after that.
The publicity materials note that “in a society where companionship between men of color is often misjudged and misrepresented, ‘Tyler Perry’s Bruh’depicts a healthy image of black brotherhood; embracing vulnerability without playing on stereotypical hypermasculinity.”
“Bruh” is a slang term popularized in African-American greek culture, referencing friends so close they’re more like brothers.
That is the case for John (Barry Brewer), Tom (Mahdi Cocci), Mike (Phillip Mullings Jr.) and Bill (Monti Washington), who are navigating different career and relationship paths while relying on each other for support. The publicists note: “Sometimes their love is tough and their honesty brutal, but they manage to see each other through every scenario with levity and laughter.”
As usual, this entire season was written by Perry himself. He also directed and executive produced the series at Tyler Perry Studios.
Article via AJC