80-year-old woman laughs off battling aneurysm, sepsis, heart surgeries, COVID-19 and broken hip
(CNN) — Eighty-year-old New Yorker Judith Hunt went to the hospital on January 31 after falling and breaking a femur and hip.
She left Manhattan’s Mount Sinai Morningside Hospital in early July — after battling an aneurysm, sepsis, abdominal and heart surgeries and COVID-19, she and her doctors told CNN.
“It was hysterically funny, in a way,” Hunt said of the experience. “It was like every time I turned around, something new came up. That’s why I started laughing at it. Because it was like, when do we get leprosy? When is the rain of frogs?”
Hunt tested positive for the coronavirus in March, according to Dr. Gabriele DiLuozzo, director of aortic surgery for the hospital. At one point, Hunt was intubated and put on a respirator. She was also initially given doses hydroxychloroquine, which worsened her heart condition and led to a heart attack, Dr. DiLuozzo said.
After “enormous collaboration” between multiple teams of physicians, physical therapists and other health care workers, Hunt was able to walk out of the hospital on her own. However, Dr. DiLuozzo credits her “remarkable recovery” at least in part to her spirit and attitude toward life.
“I spoke with the nurses,” Dr. DiLuozzo said. “I said if there was a way I could extract her genes, I would try somehow to put them in my bloodstream, because this woman is indestructible.”
Hunt said she realized early on that her chances were “not good.” She decided to accept her possible death with her indomitable sense of humor.
“Hell, at one point I died for two minutes,” Hunt said. “And did I get the white light? No. It’s like getting your tonsils out, and no ice cream or jello.”
Hunt can talk at length about the “magnificent” doctors, nurses, aides and room cleaners who took care of her.
“They gave me such hope for the human race that people like them existed,” Hunt said.
Dr. Malcolm Reid, chair of rehabilitation at Mount Sinai Morningside and Mount Sinai West, oversaw her physical recovery.
“Many patients just wouldn’t have had the mental fortitude to stay the course,” Dr. Reid said. “Just to be in the hospital that long is draining.”
This August, Hunt and two friends will be renting a room on Long Island’s East Hampton.
“I have no idea what’s next,” Hunt said. “All I know is there’s a next.”
Photo Credit: From Mount Sinai Health System
Oprah gives up cover of ‘O’ magazine for first time ever to honor Breonna Taylor
(Meredith) — Oprah Winfrey has graced the cover of her monthly magazine for the past 20 years, but the newest issue will honor Breonna Taylor.
Taylor, a 26-year-old EMT, died after police stormed her Louisville, Kentucky, apartment on March 13 and shot her as she slept.
Months after the shooting, protesters across the country are still demanding justice in her death, as none of the officers face charges.
On Thursday, Oprah announced the decision to feature Taylor on the September cover of “O, The Oprah Magazine.”
“What I know for sure: We can’t be silent. We have to use whatever megaphone we have to cry for justice. And that is why Breonna Taylor is on the cover of O magazine.”
“I cry for justice in her name,” Oprah wrote in her monthly column.
Alexis Franklin, a self-trained 24-year-old digital artist, created the cover image of Taylor.
The issue, which will hit newsstands on Aug. 11, will examine systemic racism and white privilege. It will also include lists of anti-racist actions readers can take.
Earlier this week, the magazine also announced it will end its regular monthly print editions with the December 2020 issue after 20 years of publication.
Photo Credit: O Magazine
Man allegedly decapitated landlord with samurai sword over rent dispute
A man allegedly used a samurai sword to decapitate his Connecticut roommate — a nationally known bridge player — and has refused to talk with investigators about the crime, claiming he is a sovereign citizen, according to a report.
Jerry David Thompson, 42, of Hartford, had recently moved into a vacant bedroom in the Asylum Avenue home of Victor King, 64, a Travelers insurance company retiree and professional bridge player, the Hartford Courant reported.
Thompson threatened his landlord with the sword after the two men had a dispute about the suspect not paying the rent, according to the arrest warrant cited by the news outlet.
A day before he was beheaded Sunday, King reported to police that Thompson had waved the blade at him, the Courant reported.
When King’s friends could not reach him Sunday, they alerted authorities. Police and firefighters later forced their way into the house and discovered the grisly, bloody scene.
Police tracked Thompson down and pulled him over in the city’s North End, but he refused to say anything to investigators – but just scribbled on a piece of paper, “paper in glove compart in Jeep is all you need,” according to the report.
In the vehicle’s glove compartment, cops found paperwork suggesting that he considered himself a sovereign citizen and not subject to the law.
Thompson, who has previous convictions for assault and robbery, was arraigned Tuesday in Superior Court, where he also remained mum and was ordered held on $2 million bail.
King worked in IT at Travelers for more than 20 years, retiring in 2018 to focus on playing bridge, the news outlet reported.
“He was very good at it. Very good at teaching others to play it. Just a kind and gentle person whose first love was bridge,” the victim’s cousin Jim Banks told the Courant.
Paul Linxwiler, executive editor of the Bridge Bulletin, a publication of the American Contract Bridge League, described King a Grand Life Master, “which is our highest rank.”
To achieve that rank, one must have at least 10,000 master points, Linxwiler said, which means “you have to play a lot…and you have to be good, too.”
King had accumulated 15,298.55 master points, said the ACBL’s Patsy Edwards. In 2016, he won a national championship.
Banks called his cousin “one of the good guys — one that would never hurt a soul. One that would always reach out and help others. He was pleasant as can be. Always seemed to be happy. He was just a joy to be around.”
via: https://nypost.com/2020/07/29/connecticut-man-allegedly-decapitated-landlord-with-samurai-sword/
Photo Credit: Hartford Police Department
Idaho teacher fired for saying mayor should ‘get laid’ by BLM members
An Idaho teacher who suggested that Boise’s mayor should “get laid” by Black Lives Matter members is now out of a job, district officials said.
Rita Soltesz, who formerly taught music at the Idaho Fine Arts Academy and Eagle Middle School, got axed by the West Ada School district following the sexually and racially charged comment about Mayor Lauren McLean, a spokesman told the Idaho Statesman.
Soltesz, whose last day was Friday, came under fire after district officials and parents spotted her July 18 Facebook post referencing McLean’s public condemnation of white supremacists who attended a Black Lives Matter protest in Boise, where some demonstrators were assaulted, the newspaper reports.
“Her white supremacist hater a– needs to get laid! … by BLM members,” Soltesz’s post read. “Should be a group activity … and make it go viral! … I’m still deciding if they should wear masks during the activity.”
Soltez’s controversial comment was a reply to an article detailing a recall campaign against McLean after she criticized the white supremacists who disrupted the Black Lives Matter protest, the Statesman reports.
Another Facebook user took screenshots of the post and sent it to the Idaho Fine Arts Academy’s Facebook page, KTVB reports. School officials later said the district would be taking “immediate action,” according to the station.
West Ada School District spokesman Eric Exline did not specify whether Soltesz was fired or if she resigned, the Statesman reports.
District officials will now “need to reiterate” its social media guidelines following Soltesz’s post, Exline told KBOI.
“We have received a number of emails from concerned parents and we share their concerns,” Exline said. “The statements in the post don’t reflect the values of the West Ada School District.”
via: https://nypost.com/2020/07/30/teacher-fired-for-saying-boise-mayor-should-get-laid-by-blm-members/
Photo Credit: West ADA School District
Andy Cohen says he has COVID-19 antibodies but can’t donate plasma because he’s gay
(CNN) — TV host Andy Cohen said he’s disappointed that — even though he’s tested positive for “robust” COVID-19 antibodies — he isn’t allowed to potentially help coronavirus patients by donating plasma because he’s a gay man.
Cohen told “The View” on Tuesday that the roadblock is what he calls “antiquated and discriminatory guidelines by the FDA to prevent HIV.”
The FDA’s updated rules bar any man who has had sex with another man in the past three months from donating blood or plasma.
If there are enough antibodies in donated plasma, some doctors say, it can potentially kill COVID-19 in patients who have the disease. In April, the FDA said they are limiting the plasma treatments to those who are most seriously ill.
Cohen announced his positive COVID-19 diagnosis on Instagram in March, “after a few days of self-quarantine, and not feeling great.” About 11 days later, the Bravo executive returned to work on his radio show and shared his experience recovering from the virus at home.
He told Anderson Cooper in April that after recovering, he signed up for a program at Mount Sinai in New York because the hospital system put out notice of an urgent need for plasma from people who had overcome coronavirus.
“They said, ‘You can’t do it,'” Cohen told “The View.” “I was hurt. I just thought well this is crazy, technology has come so far.”
“They’re worried about HIV in blood,” he said. “But I’m HIV negative. And you can find that out, and then you can test my blood a couple of times before putting it into a system.”
The “Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen” host said he’s been speaking out for months to urge the FDA to reexamine the outdated rules.
“What a loss,” Cohen said on “The View.” “Here I have these robust antibodies, and I can’t share my plasma and possibly help anybody. Extreme disappointment.”
Photo Credit: From The View/YouTube
Malik B, founding member of The Roots, dead at 47
Malik B, a founding member of The Roots and solo artist, has passed away. He was 47.
The Philadelphia rapper’s death was first confirmed by his cousin, former CBS News correspondent Don Champion, as well as founding members Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson and Tariq “Black Thought” Trotter.
Born Malik Abdul Baset, the rapper and singer first joined The Roots before the group’s 1993 debut studio album, “Organix.” He also appeared on the band’s next three albums including “Do You Want More?!!!??!,” “Illadelph Halflife” and “Things Fall Apart.”
“It is with heavy hearts and tearful eyes that we regretfully inform you of the passing of our beloved brother and long time Roots member Malik Abdul Baset,” Questlove and Black Thought said in a statement to The Post. “May he be remembered for his devotion to Islam, His loving brotherhood and His innovation as one of the most gifted MCs of all time. We ask that you please respect his family and extended family in our time of mourning such a great loss.”
The Roots also tweeted a similar statement.
“Mourning my beloved cousin today,” Champion wrote on Twitter. “He was so talented and had a huge heart. I still remember when he and The Roots were starting out. He’d give me and my dad their cassette tapes to listen to. I miss you already, Mailk. #RIP.”
“Heartbroken to hear of the passing of Malik B, one of the greatest MC’s to ever come from this city,” wrote fellow Philly-based rapper Reef The Lost Cauze, whose real name is Sharif T. Lacey. “He had his troubles for sure, but dude inspired a whole generation of us to touch the mic. Myself included. May he rest peacefully.”
The details of his death have not yet been revealed.
Malik B left the group in 1999 before The Roots released its fifth album, “Phrenology.” Roots member Black Thought dedicated a song to Malik B entitled “Water” on the album describing how they met.
The emcee was also a member of the underground rap group, Army Of The Pharaohs, and later appeared as a guest artist on several Roots’ songs, like “Game Theory.”
Baset also had a solo career after leaving The Roots, including an EP and two albums. His most recent was 2016’s “Unpredictable” with producer Mr. Green.
via: https://nypost.com/2020/07/29/malik-b-founding-member-of-the-roots-dead-at-47/
Photo Credit: The Roots via Twitter
News reporter under fire for using the N-word in daytime news report
A white BBC reporter came under fire Wednesday for using the N-word uncensored in a report describing a racist attack — giving just a few seconds’ warning it was coming.
Fiona Lamdin used the slur in a 10.30 a.m. report in the UK to describe the hateful words shouted at a black National Health Service worker who was hit by a car in a suspected racially aggravated assault in Bristol.
“Just to warn you, you’re about to hear highly offensive language,” Lamdin told viewers in the pre-recorded segment for a regional news show.
“Because as the men ran away they hurled racial abuse, calling him a ‘n—er,’ ” she said, with the offending word aired completely uncensored.
Her warning — just seconds before the word was used — was not enough to stop a swift backlash.
“The use of the n-word is violent towards Black individuals so why did you reinforce that violence by repeating the word?” a designer named tëa tweeted her.
“You could have used all manner of language to express the fact it was racial abuse. Your gratuitous use of the n-word is shameful.”
Another insisted that “nothing will ever justify” using the word, calling it “absolutely disgusting behavior.”
“Doesn’t matter which way you cut it, Fiona Lamdin should not have said the n-word on TV. What was she thinking?” tweeted documentary maker Matthew Teller, who has worked for the BBC.
“There was no need for her to say it, bleeped or not,” he said, insisting the reporter and management “must take responsibility.”
Freelance multimedia journalist Zab Mustefa tweeted at Lamdin: “Didn’t you get the memo? Non-Black people can never say that word, even when describing a racist incident.”
Others, however, were dismayed that repeating the language used in an attack was sparking more outrage than the initial assault itself, with many of the comments coming in a tweet the reporter sent of the victim’s gruesome injuries.
“Context is everything and I think people need to get their priorities straight,” one follower wrote.
The BBC justified its reporting to the UK’s Radio Times, while acknowledging it would no longer air the report uncensored.
“This was a story about a shocking unprovoked attack on a young black man. His family told the BBC about the racist language used by the attackers and wanted to see the full facts made public,” a spokesperson said, noting a “warning was given before this was reported.”
via: https://nypost.com/2020/07/29/bbc-under-fire-for-using-the-n-word-in-daytime-news-report/
Photo Credit: @fionalamdin
Free meals meant for NYC’s needy left at wrong address — since May
Emergency city coronavirus meals meant for the needy have since May been showing up outside the home of a Brooklyn woman who never requested the free food — despite her weekly calls to 311 about the mixup.
“It’s just crazy to me that there’s no way to actually get in contact with them to make a correction,” Windsor Terrace resident Elena Tavarez told The Post.
The city’s GetFoodNYC delivers meals to New Yorkers struggling from the COVID-19 pandemic as Mayor Bill de Blasio has said 2 million people don’t have enough to eat this summer.
“It’s horrible and we feel terrible because it keeps getting left outside and we’re not aware of it so I can’t even donate it because the food is rotten half the time,” she said. A couple times she has managed to rescue the misdirected deliveries and post the free food on a local Facebook page for redistribution.
Tavarez says the deliveries — made by out-of-work taxi drivers — are totally random though she said three to four boxes a week typically get dumped in different places around the outside of their private home.
“Today there were about six meals left that were supposed to be frozen. The other day we got three boxes and each box had about nine meals in it so about 18 meals.
“Some are fresh fruit; the ones today were like a chicken parmesan and pasta bolognese and a salmon,” she recounted.
Tavarez said 311 dispatchers take her complaint but claim there’s no way for her to contact the food program directly — and the messages don’t appear to be getting through.
“I have called a minimum at least once a week if not more than that,” Tavarez said.
She’s also left messages for the delivery people on her front door alerting them to the problem, but it continues.
A spokesman for the GetFoodNYC said the mixup occurred after a program client listed an incorrect address for deliveries on two occasions. GetFoodNYC learned of the problem via Tavarez’s 311 calls, but only one of the entires was corrected.
“This was a unique case, the result of a technical error where an individual was in the system twice. We appreciate it being brought to our attention and have stopped deliveries to this address,” the spokesman said.
But earlier this week The Post exclusively reported that someone ditched 34 boxes of GetFoodNYC meals near a Queens highway overpass. A city Department of Sanitation worker eventually came to toss the spoiled food into his garbage truck– eight hours after a concerned passerby called 311 about the issue.
In April another Post investigation revealed that seniors, including a Holocaust survivor keeping Kosher, were going hungry because of the programs many missteps.
via: https://nypost.com/2020/07/29/free-city-meals-meant-for-needy-left-at-wrong-address-since-may/
Photo Credit: Elena Tavarez
Baboons ‘armed with knives and chainsaw’ spotted in safari park
Baboons at a popular safari park have been spotted with knives, screwdrivers and even a chainsaw, according to reports.
The primates at Knowsley Safari Park in Merseyside are already known for their destructive abilities and have been pictured previously pulling things from visitors’ cars.
But now, some staff are concerned that the baboons are being given weapons “for a laugh” by park-goers, according to the Sunday Times.
One worker told the newspaper: “We’re not sure if they are being given weapons by some of the guests who want to see them attack cars, or if they’re fishing them out of pick-up trucks and vans.”
The worker said the animals sometimes go into people’s toolboxes to grab what they can, adding: “One of the baboons was seen lugging around a chainsaw.”
Another said some had been found with knives and screwdrivers and also questioned whether the baboons were being armed by visitors on purpose.
The baboons are already known for causing damage to people’s vehicles, with one mechanic telling the Sunday Times that they had repaired cars left damaged by the primates.
But the safari park said suggestions that the baboons were being armed with weapons was likely to be an urban myth, saying some tales had “grown in exaggeration” as they had been shared to make objects found in the animals’ enclosure “seem more exciting and unbelievable”.
Knowsley, which is home to animals including lions, tigers and rhinos, reopened on June 15.
Its website includes reassurance that measures to make it COVID-Secure are in place, including reminding guests: “If you take a drive through our Baboon Jungle, we’re unable to return any car parts that our cheeky baboons may take” whilst pointing out that a “car friendly route” is available.
via: https://currently.att.yahoo.com/att/xandr/safari-park-baboons-knives-chainsaw-160316231.html
Photo Credit: PA
Georgia mom reportedly went to Epcot Center with guns, drugs in diaper bag
A Georgia mom visiting Disney’s Epcot Center with her family — including her 7-month-old daughter — allegedly filled her diaper bag with more than baby products – two loaded pistols and marijuana, according to a report.
Yunique Smith, 27, of Stone Mountain, was accused of carrying the firearms and weed when she showed up at the back entrance of the Florida theme park on July 18, Bay News 9 reported.
An Orange County deputy who responded to a report of a guest with a firearm and marijuana at 6:40 p.m. escorted Smith to a back office, along with her baby, 7-year-old son and the baby’s father, according to the outlet.
Another deputy, who was working an off-duty shift at Epcot, “opened the diaper bag and observed the firearm in plain view, as well as a plastic baggie [gallon size] with what appeared to be cannabis,” the police report said.
“Smith admitted to him that the gun and the ‘weed’ in the diaper bag belonged to her,” it said.
“While searching through the diaper bag, I noticed another firearm in the bottom of the bag,” said the deputy, who identified the second weapon as a .45-caliber handgun.
A records search indicated that Smith did not have a permit to carry concealed weapons.
Disney prohibits all guests, including those with concealed weapon permits, from bringing firearms into its theme parks.
Smith, who had less than 20 grams of marijuana, was charged with carrying a concealed weapon and possession of cannabis, both misdemeanors.
She was released from the Orange County Jail on July 20 and is scheduled for arraignment on Aug. 19.
via: https://nypost.com/2020/07/27/georgia-mom-goes-to-epcot-center-with-guns-drugs-in-diaper-bag/
Photo Credit: Orange County Sheriff’s Office