Boy, 7, found unconscious in street with serious head injury after apparent random attack in Desert Hot Springs; Arrest made
A man faces an attempted murder charge after a 7-year-old boy was attacked and seriously injured in Desert Hot Springs over the weekend, authorities said.
Officers were dispatched to the 9600 block of Vista Del Valle around 7:10 p.m. Saturday after the child was found unconscious in the street, according to a Desert Hot Springs Police Department news release.
He had suffered a critical head injury and was airlifted to Loma Linda University Medical Center.
After speaking with witnesses and gathering evidence, officers determined the boy “had been deliberately attacked and injured,” the release stated.
They identified 32-year-old Daniel Poulsen as the suspect and arrested him early the next day, police said.
He was booked on suspicion of attempted murder and is being held on $1 million bail, according to Riverside County inmate records.
Poulsen lives in the same neighborhood as the boy, but did not appear to know him, Deputy Chief Steven Shaw told Palm Springs television station KESQ.
“Everything is indicating this is an absolutely random attack,” he said to the station.
The victim, identified only as Gavin, had to undergo surgery and is “fighting for his life,” according to a GoFundMe account.
“He was intubated and some of his very fractured skull removed to allow his brain to swell without further injury,” the page stated.
A breathing tube was removed Monday. While Gavin’s condition appears to be slowly improving, he remains hospitalized.
The GoFundMe seeks to raise money for costs related to this child’s medical care and recovery. His mother, a teacher, recently lost her husband to cancer and is raising two children by herself, according to the fundraiser’s organizer.
“Y’all, she is the kindest and best of us. Definitely one of our better angels and Gavin did NOT deserve this,” wrote Mandy Franklin, who identified herself as a family friend. “I know the world is haywire right now. I know the future is uncertain. But this is where we need to shine and lift up those of us in need.”
Authorities are continuing to investigate the incident, and anyone with information is asked to call
Detective Tooth at 760-329-2904, ext. 352.
Photo Credit: ktla.com
A Florida mother lost a son to Covid-19. Days later, her daughter also died of it
(CNN) — A Florida mother said two of her adult children died of Covid-19 within 11 days of each other.
Monete Hicks’ son Byron and daughter Mychaela, of Lauderhill, had health issues but were fine and “basically homebound,” she said. Then they took a trip to Orlando just before they became sick, Hicks said.
Byron, 20, had trouble breathing when he woke up one Saturday in late June. Paramedics rushed him to the hospital, but about noon, “I lost my baby,” Hicks said in an interview with CNN’s Brianna Keilar.
Mychaela, 23, started feeling ill the following Tuesday and insisted her mother take her to the hospital, she said.
“‘Mama, just crank up the car, let’s go,'” Hicks said her daughter insisted, even though she didn’t like hospitals.
“She went in with a headache, fever,” Hicks said. It went from not breathing, got worse “She lost a kidney, her liver began to fail. And it just went one after another, one after another.”
Her children “are my heart and will always be my heart,” Hicks said.
Byron was a gamer who loved his games and his family, his cousin, Darisha Scott, said. He was “very funny, just the goofball of the family.”
Mychaela “was the light of the family, her smile could light up a room,” Scott said.
Hicks and Scott are urging other people to take the virus seriously.
“All I can say is, take this, take this (virus) very seriously, because it’s real, it’s out there,” Hicks said.
“It’s not a joke. It’s not a game, it’s not something that the government … made up,” Scott said.
Wear a mask, wash your hands, keep your distance and “don’t come out unless you really, really got to, especially here in Florida,” she said.
“Nobody should have to feel the pain, my auntie shouldn’t have to feel this pain.”
Photo Credit: kmov.com/Courtesy Monete Hicks
Mom charged after crying baby found in trash outside North Carolina church
A mother accused of leaving her newborn in a trash can outside a North Carolina church has been arrested, police said.
Maryuri Estefany Calix-Macedo, 21, was taken into custody on a first-degree attempted murder charge by Wilmington police after a woman walking her dog near Christ Community Church discovered the newborn boy Thursday, the News & Observer reports.
Police announced the woman’s arrest on Saturday, days after releasing a statement that a newborn boy was “left for dead” in a trash can in the church’s parking lot until someone heard his cries and called cops.
“I knew he was alive when I found him and I knew that was a good thing,” Cynthia Burton, who discovered the child, told WECT. “But I knew I didn’t have a lot of time.”
Burton found the boy — who “cried out to live,” she said — covered in blood with his umbilical cord still wrapped around his neck, the station reports.
“I know God put me at that place at that time,” Burton said.
The boy, who was taken to a hospital after he was found, was “healthy and doing well,” Wilmington police said Thursday.
Calix-Macedo, who was initially taken to New Hanover Regional Medical Center for an assessment, was later booked into the New Hanover County Detention Facility, where she remained held on $800,000 bond, jail records show.
Photo Credit: Wilmington Police
Show me your papers’: California ‘Karen’ confront landscaper
A white woman repeatedly asked a landscaper at a city-owned housing complex in California to show her his “papers,” video shows.
The unidentified woman first blows a kiss to the landscaper as he worked Wednesday at an affordable housing complex in Rancho Mirage, according to a 2-minute clip shot by Juan Carlos Andrade Mendez.
The smiling woman then circles Mendez before blocking his way, prompting the man to ask her to step aside as he shuts off his mower, video shows.
“Can you move?” Mendez said. “I’m doing my work. Can you move?”
The landscaper also asks the woman to put on a face covering, saying she was standing “too close” to him amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, according to the clip.
“You’re not wearing a mask, can you step away?” Mendez asks.
“Can you show me your papers?” the woman calmly replies before cutting the landscaper off when he asks if she an immigration official. “No, no, I want to see your papers.”
The woman then walked away briefly before returning and continuing to ask where the man was from,” video shows.
“No, you’re not Mexican,” she told Mendez after he made a playful reference to Mexico.
“What am I?” Mendez replies.
“I don’t know, you tell me,” said the woman, who later surmises he may Filipino or Vietnamese, according to the clip.
“I’m Chinese, actually,” the man replies. “Oh my goodness, you’re funny. You just made my day.”
The vile clip that went viral on social media sparked an investigation in Rancho Mirage that had been “pretty much” completed as of Sunday, the Desert Sun reports.
“It wasn’t very difficult,” city attorney Steve Quintanilla told the newspaper.
The investigation centered on city housing policy and whether any steps needed to be taken to prevent similar encounters from occurring, but officials decided it was an isolated incident, Quintanilla said.
Still, property managers at the development – Parkview Villas on San Jacinto Drive – are conducting a separate investigation that could to the woman’s eviction, Quintanilla said.
“I can say action will be taken,” Quintanilla told the newspaper, declining to elaborate.
Quintanilla also refused to identify the woman. City officials have said, however, she was a resident of the complex for people 55 and over, the newspaper reports.
“This matter will not be ignored, nor tolerated,” Mayor Dana Hobart said in a statement. “It is appalling to learn of the hateful misconduct of one of Rancho Mirage’s senior living residents. Racist conduct if any sort is strictly prohibited and not taken lightly in our public housing.”
Mendez, meanwhile, told Storyful it wasn’t the first time the woman interrupted his work, saying he recorded the interaction to show a property manager at the property, where he works twice a week, he said.
Mendez told NBC Palm Springs the woman also told him to “go back to his country” as he worked there some months ago.
“Like any other complex, I was just doing the work for all of them, mowing the lawn,” he told the station. “I passed by her apartment and when I turned around to do the second round, that’s when I saw her standing … When she was harassing me, I started to feel mad because I was just doing my work.”
via: https://nypost.com/2020/07/20/show-me-your-papers-watch-this-california-karen-confront-landscaper/
Photo Credit: nypost.com
Woman pees on floor of Verizon store after refusing to wear mask
A California Verizon store’s mask-wearing rule really pissed one customer off – so she dropped her pants and urinated on the floor, according to a report.
A police dispatch operator in Roseville told officers that three people “are refusing to leave, not wearing a mask … they’ve asked several times and she refuses,” according to CBS Sacramento.
“They’re calling back and advising that the female is pulling down her pants and is now urinating inside the business,” the operator adds a few minutes later.
The responding officers collared the woman and found several items that had been stolen from a nearby Dick’s Sporting Goods store in her car, according to the outlet.
“That’s totally inappropriate. We’re not animals,” resident Michelle Davidson told CBS Sacramento about the woman’s vile act in the store.
“I’m very disappointed that we as a society choose to have this unity and let the virus divide us,” she added about those who reject calls to wear face masks during the coronavirus pandemic.
Another resident, Kelly Berger, said: “I don’t really have much to say except that’s probably not the right way to react to it. Simply wear the mask or leave, I guess.”
Verizon rep Heidi Flato told the outlet that the company is requiring all customers to wear masks in their stores.
She added that the incident wasn’t just about the mask policy but wouldn’t comment further.
via: https://nypost.com/2020/07/20/woman-pees-on-floor-of-verizon-store-after-refusing-to-wear-mask/
Photo Credit: dailymail.uk.co
Maxine Waters intervenes when LAPD detains black man
Rep. Maxine Waters was driving around her Los Angeles district when she noticed police detaining a black man — so she stopped to keep them in check, according to a report.
“They stopped a brother, so I stopped to see what they were doing,” Waters (D-Calif.), 81, tells a person who recorded the Friday incident on South Vermont Avenue, TMZ reported.
“They said I’m in the wrong place and that they’re going to give me a ticket,” she adds about the LA County sheriff’s deputies. “That’s OK as long as I watch them.”
A woman is then heard saying: “Gotta do what you gotta do! Make sure!”
“Bye, Maxine!” a man then shouts.
The brief confrontation comes amid widespread demonstrations that have roiled the country in the aftermath of George Floyd’s death in police custody in Minneapolis.
Waters, who founded the Black Women’s Forum, has fought to ban the use of chokeholds by law enforcement.
“It needs to be done all over the nation and any iteration of that, whether it is the arm or the knee or a piece of equipment, used to cut off the breathing to interfere with the ability for those who are the victims of these tactics to be killed,” she said recently, according to Spectrum News 1.
via: https://nypost.com/2020/07/20/rep-maxine-waters-intervened-when-police-detained-black-man/
Photo Credit: flipboard.com
St. Louis couple hit with criminal charges for waving guns at BLM protesters
The St. Louis couple that shot to viral infamy when they pulled guns on Black Lives Matter protesters outside their mansion have been hit with criminal charges over the incident, the city’s top prosecutor said Monday.
Personal injury attorneys Mark and Patricia McCloskey, 63 and 61 respectively, face charges of felony unlawful use of a weapon and fourth-degree assault, Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner, told The Associated Press.
“It is illegal to wave weapons in a threatening manner — that is unlawful in the city of St. Louis,” Gardner said.
The couple were filmed June 28 emerging barefoot from their home in the swanky Central West End neighborhood, each toting a firearm as protesters marched down their private street toward the home of Mayor Lyda Krewson.
The McCloskeys have defended themselves by saying they feared the crowd was going to kill them and burn their lavish house down like the “storming of the Bastille.”
But Gardner said their actions risked creating a violent situation during an otherwise peaceful protest.
Typically, the charges could result in up to four years in prison, but Gardner is recommending a diversion program such as community service, rather than jail time, if the couple is convicted.
Missouri Gov. Mike Parson said in a radio interview Friday that he would likely pardon the McCloskeys if they were charged and convicted.
With Post wires
via: https://nypost.com/2020/07/20/gun-triggered-st-louis-couple-hit-with-criminal-charges/
Photo Credit: UPI
Lowe’s Customer Claims Employee’s ‘Black Panther’ Shirt Is Racist, Returns to Store to Ensure He Was Punished
Lowe’s apologized after a teen employee was forced to change out of a “Black Panther” shirt because a customer claimed it was racist.
Kyle Sales was wearing a shirt that read “Black Panther Wakanda Forever” last weekend while working at a store in Bonney Lake, Washington, when a manager pulled him aside and asked him to change.
“She goes, ‘a customer said your shirt is offensive and racist,’” the 19-year-old told KIRO @7. “This is from a movie. How is this racist?”
Sales was upset but he decided to go home and put a jersey on over the shirt.
“I was very angry. It just did not seem fair in light of all of the things that are happening in our in the world right now,” he said. “This isn’t racist. I shouldn’t be punished for a T-shirt from a movie.”
The change wasn’t the end of the ordeal. A coworker told Sales the woman came back the next day to ask if he was punished.
“She came in throwing a fit saying, ‘What happened to that kid — What was his punishment?’” Sales recounted.
Lowe’s addressed the issue in a statement to the media and revealed the company has already spoken to Sales.
“Mr. Sales should never have been asked to change his shirt, and we have apologized to him directly. We know this is a teachable moment, and we will take action to coach and train the managers at the store to help prevent this from happening again,” the statement read. “Diversity and inclusion are important to our culture at Lowe’s, and we remain committed to fostering an environment where all individuals are safe, treated fairly, valued and respected.”
Sales’ mother Kimberly believes the company owes her son more than an apology.
Photo Credit: Screenshot/KIRO 7
This is the last week of $600 unemployment benefits
The end is near for the $600 federal lifeline for millions of unemployed Americans — even though the economy is still far from recovered from the coronavirus pandemic and new layoffs are being announced regularly.
The coronavirus relief program technically doesn’t expire until July 31, but this coming week will be the last for which benefits are paid — because payments are only provided for weeks ending on either Saturday or Sunday.
Jobless Americans will still get state unemployment benefits, but the sunset of the Congress’ $600 enhancement — part of the $2 trillion economic aid package passed in March — will leave more than 25 million people thousands of dollars poorer each month. And it will expose more of the real pain of mass unemployment, just as many states are reimposing shutdowns.
“These emergency unemployment benefits have been propping up families and propping up the economy now for several months, said Kali Grant, senior policy analyst at the Georgetown Center on Poverty & Inequality. “Ending the benefits prematurely will really set back any economic recovery that may have been on the way.”
Congressional lawmakers are beginning to work this week on the next economic stimulus package. But it’s unlikely they’ll agree on — much less approve — the next step to help unemployed Americans before the payments lapse.
The provision was controversial from the start, mainly because the $600 boost, when added to state benefits, is more than what two-thirds of workers made on the job, according to an estimate from University of Chicago researchers.
But lawmakers approved it in late March as part of a historic expansion of the nation’s unemployment program at a time when health officials didn’t want people out looking for work. The flat $600 payment was much easier for state agencies — which were already struggling as a flood of claims overwhelmed their antiquated technology — to implement.
Congress approved the boost for only four months, thinking that the economy would bounce back quickly once the coronavirus was vanquished and businesses reopened. For a while, that seemed to be the case — with employers hiring more than 7 million workers in May and June after shedding an unprecedented 20.5 million jobs in April.
Senate Republicans, who are expected to release their proposal this week, are generally loath to extend the full benefit. They feel it creates a disincentive for people to return to work, a concern echoed by some business owners. Instead, GOP lawmakers are considering scaling back the enhancement by several hundred dollars and creating a bonus for those who go back to work.
Democrats, on the other hand, want to continue the bigger benefit into 2021. The House included that provision in the $3 trillion coronavirus relief bill it passed in May.
“The right thing to do for families and the economy is extend supercharged unemployment benefits,” said Oregon Sen. Ron Wyden, a Democrat. “They have unquestionably kept the economy afloat.”
Blunting the impact
The augmented benefit has blunted the impact of the coronavirus-induced economic upheaval, which prompted the sharpest and swiftest loss of jobs on record in April. Still, 4.3 million homeowners missed their mortgage payments in May, the highest level since 2011, according to Black Knight, a mortgage data company.Save on productivity-boosting techBig savings on performance business tech to stay fully connected and productive.Ad By Dell See More
And, the vast majority of food banks were still seeing a big jump in demand in early July, compared to a year ago, with 50% more people being served, on average, according to Feeding America, a network of food banks. Just under 30% were new clients.
The $600 payment provides more than $15 billion a week to 25 million Americans, according to an analysis by Andrew Stettner, senior fellow at The Century Foundation. Many are using it to cover their rent or mortgage, buy food and spend on other basic needs.
Shanga McNair of Jacksonville, Florida, is one of them. The veteran bartender lost her job at a brewhouse when the state shut down earlier this spring and then returned to work in early June at a jazz bar for about two shifts a week — down from her typical six. However, state officials closed the bars again in late June after coronavirus cases spiked, sending her back to unemployment. Her side jobs bartending at private parties and banquets have also dried up.
The $600 federal boost, on top of her $275 weekly state benefit, is less than she made while working. It barely pays her rent but has allowed her to keep up with her bills. The 40-year-old, who also visits a local food pantry occasionally to supplement her grocery shopping, figures that if Congress doesn’t extend the enhancement, she has three months to find a job before she’s evicted.
So far, she’s had no luck. McNair has sent scores of applications to restaurants, warehouses, customer service firms and offices, but they have yielded nothing. She even filled out an application while grabbing a bite at Popeye’s after seeing the manager working multiple jobs but was told there was a hiring freeze.
“I hate depending on the government, but everything is out of my control,” said McNair, who is putting two daughters through college and has never collected unemployment before. She has written to her elected representatives in both parties. “You can’t just pull the rug because it’s not over.”
Eliminating the federal benefit will reduce workers’ weekly unemployment payments by 50% to 85%, depending on their state, Stettner said.
As Congress debates what to do, more people are at risk of losing their jobs in fresh rounds of layoffs. United and American airlines have warned this month that tens of thousands of employees could be cut or furloughed this fall. JCPenney announced last week that it would cut 1,000 jobs from its executive and regional offices. Other retailers, including Brooks Brothers and Neiman Marcus, have filed for bankruptcy.
Also, the spike in coronavirus cases has prompted at least two dozen states to halt or reverse their reopening plans, which will also cost people their jobs. For instance, California last week ordered the shuttering of bars, movie theaters and indoor dining at restaurants statewide, as well as the closing of gyms, houses of worship, indoor malls, hair salons and some offices in many counties.
The impact is already showing up in the data. The states with the largest surge in coronavirus cases earlier this month also had the biggest increase in initial unemployment claims, according to William Rodgers III, chief economist at the Heldrich Center for Workforce Development at Rutgers University.
Some economists fear that the nascent jobs recovery will be derailed, sending even more people onto the unemployment rolls.
“Conditions in the labor market remain weak and the risk of mounting permanent job losses is high, especially if activity continues to be disrupted by repeated virus-related shutdowns,” said Rubeela Farooqi, chief US economist at High Frequency Economics.
Photo Credit: Reuters
Kentucky couple under house arrest after testing positive for COVID-19, refusing to quarantine
KENTUCKY (WAVE/CNN) — A Kentucky couple is under house arrest after one of them tested positive for coronavirus and refused to sign self-quarantine papers.
On Saturday, Elizabeth Linscott of Hardin County got tested for COVID-19 because she was planning to go visit her parents in Michigan.
“My grandparents wanted to see me, too,” Elizabeth Linscott said. “So, just to make sure if I tested negative, that they would be OK, that everything would be fine.”
After testing positive but without showing any symptoms, Elizabeth says the health department contacted her requesting she sign documents. She choose not to sign.
“Pretty much it was I agreed to consent to. I agreed to comply to call the health department if I was to go. I was to call the health department if i was to leave my house for any reason,” she said. “I had gotten a message from them, a text message that stated ‘Because of your refusal to sign, this is going to be escalated and law enforcement will be involved.'”
On Thursday, the Hardin County Sheriff’s Department greeted Elizabeth’s husband, Isaiah, at their front door.
“I open up the door, and there’s like eight different people, five different cars, and i’m like ‘What the heck’s going on?’ This guy’s in a suit with a mask. It’s the health department guy and they have three papers for us. For me, her and my daughter,” Isaiah Linscott said.
The couple was ordered to wear ankle monitors and to notify law enforcement more than 200 feet
“We didn’t rob a store. We didn’t steal something. We didn’t hit and run. We didn’t do anything wrong,” Elizabeth Linscott said.
The couple says they never denied self-quarantining. They just didn’t agree with the wording of the documents.
“And, that’s exactly what the director of the Public Health Department told the judge, [He said] that I was refusing to self-quarantine because of this, and I’m like that’s not the case at all. I never said that,” she continued.
Even without the ankle monitor, the Kentucky woman plans to be cautious.
Photo Credit: kmov.com