Would-be Florida burglar dies after window slams down on him
A thief’s burglary attempt backfired when the window of the Florida home he was trying to climb through abruptly crashed down on his neck, killing him, police said.
The freak incident unfolded Saturday when the convicted felon with facial tattoos and piercings, 32-year-old Jonathan Hernandez, attempted to break into a residence in Lehigh Acres, the Lee County Sheriff’s Office said.
“When Hernandez was trying to work his way through the window, it unexpectedly closed on top of him, pinning him and keeping him suspended in the air,” Lt. Russell Park, a spokesman for the sheriff’s office, said Monday.
Hernandez was dead by the time deputies arrived, according to Park.
The would-be crook was “no stranger to law enforcement,” said Park, who explained that Hernandez was busted in 2014 “for his involvement in a murder case.”
Details about that case were not immediately available.
Local jail records show that Hernandez, also known as Jonathan Hernandez-Zuluaga, had multiple prior arrests on his record including for marijuana possession, grand theft and probation violations, the News-Press reported.
Meanwhile, Hernandez’s loved ones were convinced that police were not providing the full story.
“Soon as I got there I’m like, there’s no way. This isn’t what happened,” Hernandez’s fiancée, Patricia Duarte, told NBC2 News.
“When I first met him, I was like man he looks like he has a rap sheet like El Chapo,” said Duarte. “And he’s the complete opposite of that. He’s the sweetest person you’d probably ever meet and has the biggest heart.”
Duarte said she will continue to push for more answers surrounding Hernandez’s death.
“I just need something to be done the right way. I need a proper investigation,” Duarte said. “I need the actual truth to come to light.”
Tyson Lane defended Hernandez, saying, “He is not a burglar. He’s not a thief. He’s not a bad guy.”
“That’s not what he is. If he had a roof over his head and you didn’t, he would give you a roof over your head, bring you in his household,” Lane told the news outlet. “That’s something that he did for a lot of people, including myself.”
via: https://nypost.com/2020/12/15/would-be-florida-burglar-dies-after-window-slams-down-on-him/
Photo Credit: Lee County Sheriff’s office
Sandy Hook victims remembered in online vigil on anniversary of elementary school shooting
NEWTOWN, Conn. — The 20 children and six educators killed in the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School were remembered on the eighth anniversary of the massacre during an online vigil.
The victims’ names were read aloud Monday, as were the names of more than 150 people killed by gun violence within the past year in Connecticut.
Advocates called for stricter gun laws to prevent mass shootings, during the video conference vigil hosted by Connecticut Against Gun Violence.
A few religious services and private gatherings were planned in Newtown during the day. U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy noted the 20 children would have been entered high school this year.
via: https://www.pix11.com/news/national-news/sandy-hook-victims-remembered-in-online-vigil-on-anniversary-of-elementary-school-shooting
Photo Credit: pix11.com
A New York businessman donated a $1 million art collection to Morehouse College
(CNN) — A Morehouse College alumnus has gifted the historically black college an art collection worth $1 million in an effort to diversify the world of art.
Business executive and art enthusiast George Wells has pledged the art collection — which features eight pieces that focus on identity politics and racial inequality — to Morehouse College, the school confirmed to CNN on Friday.
The collection includes works by a diverse range of artists, including McArthur Binion, Rashid Johnson, Amy Sherald, Mickalene Thomas and Ivy Haldeman.
“I will always be grateful for my Morehouse education and the springboard it created for my career on Wall Street and in business, and I want to recognize that with this gift,” Wells, 42, said in a statement.
“Owning multiple works by Johnson and Thomas is like owning a piece of history to me. Their practices both showcase black resiliency and triumph but in different ways and from different gender perspectives. It is my hope that this gift will serve as an impetus for furthering racial equality within the art world during this exceptionally vulnerable time for Americans and race relations.”
Wells is the founder of Wells Groups of New York, a management consulting firm that works with start-ups and mid-sized companies in tech, consumer goods and services, and health care, among other industries.
The artworks, which will be displayed around the school in 2021, were part of Wells’ and his husband’s personal art collection, which has grown to more than 50 pieces by both emerging and established artists.
“I would like to thank George Wells and Manfred Rantner for their generosity,” said Monique Dozier, vice president of institutional advancement at Morehouse, in a statement.
“This wonderful contribution from a Morehouse College alumnus celebrates the culture, creativity, intellect, and history of Black people. It also reinforces the importance of investing in the talents of diverse artists. The George Wells Collection will spur academic conversations in our classrooms and be a source of pride for the College, our scholars, alumni, and the Southwest Atlanta community.”
Art that goes beyond politics
While most of the artworks — which include figurative and abstract art — were created by Black and LGBTQ artists, not every piece in Wells’ donated collection tells a story of injustice.
Some works, including Ivy Haldeman’s piece included in the donated collection, simply embody blissful joy, devoid of any trace of race or gender. This, according to Uzee Brown, the chairman of Morehouse College’s Creative and Performing Arts department, is why the collection means so much to the college.
“This gift speaks volumes because what it brings to our community. It brings attention to works that have been underrepresented, as it is with many aspects of African American culture,” Brown told CNN. “Not all art by Black artists is political. It’s art made by someone who’s Black, but the subject matter is broad. It’s about love, happiness, the beauty of nature. We need to let that allow that part of the art to breathe.”
“There is nothing wrong with reflecting the voice that come out of a community, it’s important because our art is an expression of life, but we do not need to be as a people of color marginalized to the point where it’s always the assumption, that our struggles will be the basis of our subject matter,” he added.
Along with sharing stories through art, Wells hopes his donation will educate the Black community from both a creative and business standpoint to add diversity to the art industry.
“Morehouse doesn’t yet have a permanent art collection, so I thought if I could gift this art collection to them, the halo effect and the impact it would have on cultural discourse would be paramount,” Wells told CNN.
“In the art world, there are so few Black people in positions of power, so if we start at the core, which is education, and educate more people about the contemporary art world, we could make that world more inclusive.”
via: https://www.kmov.com/a-new-york-businessman-donated-a-1-million-art-collection-to-morehouse-college/article_3735029d-8841-54c1-8c90-b357c51f5808.html
Photo Credit: Manfred Rantner
UK father dies of cancer after begging for MRI amid COVID-19 crisis
A 27-year-old father of two from the UK died of cancer — months after he had to beg for an MRI scan amid a slowdown during the coronavirus crisis.
Sherwin Hall, of Leeds, West Yorkshire, died on Dec. 3, following an illness that began more than a year earlier.
Hall first began experiencing groin pain in September 2019 that subsided and re-emerged in January — and was given antibiotics both times, he wrote on a GoFundMe page back in May.
He thought he was feeling better, but then the pain returned “with a vengeance” in March, when he experienced pain in his right leg and buttock, and a hard lump by his rectum, he wrote.
He returned to the hospital, where doctors were convinced he had a sexually transmitted infection.
“It didn’t matter that I told them I couldn’t have an STI,” he wrote. “They were so convinced that I might have one that I began to believe it myself and started thinking maybe I had picked it up from sitting on a public toilet.
“I had so many blood tests and swabs. They were all clear. Meanwhile, the pain was so bad that I kept going back to the hospital, begging for a scan to see what was wrong.”
Then another doctor assumed he had prostatitis, or inflammation of the prostate gland, and prescribed antibiotics once again.
“I told them I thought they were wrong, but no one would listen,” Hall wrote. “I did my own research and knew it was something else. I kept begging them in April and May to give me an MRI scan, but no one would listen.
“Both my GP and my consultant told me that I couldn’t get a scan because scanning services were slowed down because of the coronavirus. By this time, my pain was so excruciating and I felt so unwell and so exhausted that I was almost suicidal.”
On May 26 — several months after first experiencing symptoms — Hall was finally given the scan, which revealed a 5.5-inch mass in his pelvis, he said.
He also had 30 lung tumors, the Sun reported.
When Hall died, his son, Sancho, whom he shares with wife La’Troya Hall, was only 9 months old, the Daily Mail reported.
“I am devastated. I have lost the love of my life,” Hall said in a statement. “If Sherwin’s cancer had been found earlier, it is likely he would still be here today. He would want me to do everything I can to prevent other families suffering as we have.”
“It worries me that the Government and NHS leaders continue to say cancer services are back to normal,” she said.
“Our family’s experience has been that, even now, this is simply not the case.”
via: https://nypost.com/2020/12/14/father-dies-of-cancer-after-begging-for-mri-amid-covid-crisis/
Photo Credit: facebook
British teen stabbed mom 118 times, asked police to ‘bring a body bag’
A deranged teenage killer stabbed his mom 118 times after first strangling her in their UK home — and then calmly told police to “bring a body bag,” according to a UK court hearing.
Rowan Thompson, 17, was on a break from his $21,000-a-year private school when he strangled mom Joanna Thompson, 50, after they returned from a morning jog in their quaint Hampshire village, The Times of London said, citing a hearing into the death Monday.
After taking a 15-minute break from the attack, he went back — stabbing her 38 times in the forehead, 64 times in the neck and 16 times in an arm, Winchester coroner’s court was told.
“I’ve just killed my mum . . . I strangled her and I’ve been stabbing her with various knives and whatnot,” he told a dispatcher for the UK’s equivalent of 911, relaying it in a “calm, unemotional and quite ordinary manner” after the killing in July last year, the hearing was told.
“I need someone to arrest me, as that’s what you do, and an ambulance would be nice,” Thompson told the operator in the call played in court, the UK Times said.
“Bring a body bag or whatever you do,” Thompson had said.
Along with details about the bloodbath, Thompson also filled in the operator about details from his weekend, saying he’d “had a meal and went to the cinema with my best friends, which was really nice.”
Thompson was due to stand trial in October for the murder — but was found dead four days before the start of the trial while in custody at a secure mental health facility, the report said.
The teen — who struggled with “gender identity issues,” according to his father — had a history of mental health problems as well as an earlier suicide attempt, the paper said.
However, psychiatrist John Sandford told the court that apart from minor autism “there was nothing to suggest [Thompson] was suffering from abnormal mental functioning” when he killed his mother.
Coroner Jason Pegg recorded a verdict of unlawful killing for the mom’s death, saying that “no one will ever know why” Thompson killed her.
via: https://nypost.com/2020/12/14/british-teen-stabbed-mom-118-times-asked-bring-a-body-bag/
Photo Credit: Family/Solent News
West Virginia child charged with killing four family members
A juvenile in West Virginia has been charged in the slayings of two boys and their parents inside their home, authorities said.
The unidentified man, woman and their two sons, ages 3 and 12, were found dead with gunshot wounds around 10:40 a.m. Sunday in a house in Elkview, WV Metro News reported.
Authorities said a relative went to the home that morning to check on the family after not hearing from them for days.
When he arrived, he found the front door unlocked and three people dead, news station WSAZ reported.
Responding authorities found the fourth victim, the outlet reported.
“We determined immediately on the deputies’ arrival they were all deceased,” Kanawha County Sheriff Mike Rutherford told WV Metro News.
Rutherford said a fifth member of the family — a teenage boy — had been found safe away from the crime scene. He has spoken to authorities.
A juvenile has been charged with murder in connection with the grisly slayings, though it’s unclear whether the child has any relationship to the victims.
Rutherford declined to release more information because the suspect is a minor.
No further details were provided about the victims or the circumstances surrounding their deaths.
“We’re in the process now of going through the residence collecting evidence. Right now it’s very, very early,” Rutherford told reporters.
via: https://nypost.com/2020/12/14/west-virginia-child-charged-with-killing-four-family-members/
Photo Credit: WOWK13
Over 900 cars paid for each other’s meals at a Dairy Queen drive-thru in Minnesota
(CNN) — What started as a random act of kindness from one man paying for the car behind him in a Dairy Queen drive-thru resulted in over 900 cars also taking part in the pay it forward chain.
There’s no question about it: This year has been tough for so many. Some, fighting battles we may know nothing about. But at a drive-thru in Brainerd, Minnesota, over 100 miles north of Minneapolis, people stepped up in a small way to show one another that they care.
Tina Jensen, the store manager at one of the two Dairy Queens in town, told CNN a man came by the drive-thru window on Thursday and asked if he could pay for his meal and for the car behind him.
Jensen told her cashier this tends to happen once in a while but at most it lasts for 15 or 20 cars and fizzles out.
This time, the chain continued for two and a half days with over 900 cars participating, raking in $10,000 in sales, according to Jensen.
When the next customer came to the fast food chain’s window, Jensen explained what the man in front of them had done — and the acts of kindness continued to multiply.
“There’s all different types of ways to help people,” Jensen said. “I think this touched a lot of people that we didn’t even know it touched, deeper than we know. And you don’t know what’s going on in a person’s life.”
When the chain closed for the night Thursday, one car left $10 to begin the chain back up Friday morning and again on Saturday morning. Jensen provided updates on the number of cars at each day’s end on the store’s Facebook page.Benefit From a New Digital Journey to Financial Well-BeingVanguard Understands that Your Journey to Financial Well-Being Is The Result of Smart People Partnering with Smart TechnologyAd By Vanguard See More
Heidi Bruse experienced that act of kindness on Friday evening during a dinner run, she told CNN.
“During times like these it kinda restores your faith in humanity a little,” Bruse said. “The way the world is now you see a lot of anger, tension, and selfish behavior. What we witnessed was pure kindness and it was a breath of fresh air really.”
But that wasn’t even the best part. For Bruse, it was going home to tell her family that they played a role in the chain and kept it going.
“Not that we got free ice cream,” she said. “The gesture was way more valuable.”
Like so many others in the restaurant industry, the restaurant has faced some challenges adapting to new business practices during the coronavirus pandemic.
“With the lobby shutting down, being only open for take out, being able to open for half your capacity, different things like that,” have played a role in trying to keep morale high, Jensen said. Her top priority is the safety of her customers and crew with increased disinfecting and cleaning measures, she said.
Seeing how positive her staff became with every passing car paying it forward, married to the reactions of her customers when the cashier told them their meal had been taken care of, was touching, Jensen said.
“No matter what’s going on, take care of each other, be positive, be happy and don’t focus on the negative, we’ll get through it,” she said.
via: https://www.kmov.com/news/over-900-cars-paid-for-each-others-meals-at-a-dairy-queen-drive-thru-in/article_1d81dc88-0140-5f61-a775-8ad9b38ea97e.html
Photo Credit: Courtesy Tina Jensen via CNN Wire
7-year-old’s bracelet making raises $20,000 for hospital pandemic gear
(CNN) — Hayley Orlinsky wanted to fundraise $200 for Chicago’s Ann and Robert H. Lurie Children’s hospital by making colorful rubber band bracelets.
A few months and over 8,000 bracelets later, Orlinsky, 7, has raised over $20,000, helping the hospital purchase personal protective equipment (PPE) and support research efforts.
The Chicago second-grader began the project with an apparent knack for entrepreneurship — she sold the most cookies in her girl scout troop last year — and a desire to spread kindness in response to bullies who made fun of her height.
“When I was three years old, I got bullied for being the shortest kid in the class, and my mom wrote a book about it, and it was my moment I knew I wanted to spread kindness everywhere,” Orlinsky said.
When asked if she understands what a significant financial contribution she’s made to her hometown hospital, she smiled.
“It’s definitely more than the tooth fairy gives!” she said.
Orlinsky’s mom, author Lori Orlinsky, says what started as an after school hobby quickly became a sensation.
Orlinsky has now sold bracelets to customers as far as Italy, as well as to Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot, the Chicago White Sox and Miguel Cervantes, the lead role in Chicago’s production of “Hamilton.”
Quickly after Mayor Lightfoot posted about the bracelets, the Chicago flag colors became Orlinsky’s most in-demand bracelet design.
Orlinsky’s bracelet making has become a community effort. She says she’s gotten her friends involved, teaching bracelet making at her summer camp, and later to friends over Facetime and Zoom.
“Every day the campers had the choice to help Haley make bracelets, and she would come home with hundreds. It was really helpful to us,” said Lori Orlinsky.
Added Haley: “Yeah, because that’s when we were really in a tight squeeze.”
Orlinsky chose to donate to the Lurie Children’s hospital, having spent time in their intensive care unit at birth. She wanted to give back after hearing that healthcare workers were running low on PPE.
“$20,000 is a pretty incredible amount to raise, especially for a 7-year-old,” said Tracey McCusker, an associate director for the hospital’s foundation. “This kind of fundraising effort allows the hospital to use the money for a variety of different things. It was definitely needed at a time, when we really needed to respond rapidly to Covid-19.”
McCusker says the money has been used for PPE, but it has also helped fund the hospital’s telehealth services, development of a diagnostic test and Covid-19 research. Additionally, McCusker says the hospital has used some of the money to provide low-income communities with PPE and safety information they need to help combat the virus.
“Her support is helping, of course, inside of our hospital, but I would certainly in our greater community as well,” McCusker said.
Orlinsky says she wants to keep making bracelets until the pandemic is over, and she is already planning special designs for the holidays. As her donations near the $21,000 mark, her mom says she’s most proud of her daughter for being a uniting force during divided times.
“It was just a time when the world was at odds with each other and we had people from all walks of life donate,” Lori said. “This is proof that in really trying times we can all come together under a little girl with a beautiful mission.”
via: https://www.kmov.com/news/7-year-olds-bracelet-making-raises-20-000-for-hospital-pandemic-gear/article_819befc9-e388-53e5-9ee7-95214bfaff61.html
Photo Credit: Office of Mayor Lightfoot
New comic book celebrates nurses as health care superheroes
Marvel Comics and Allegheny Health Network (AHN) say they have collaborated to celebrate real-life health care heroes with a new comic book. It’s been developed with advertising agency Doner.
In a year where the coronavirus pandemic has overshadowed everything else, health care workers have emerged as real-life superheroes, risking their own health every day to save the lives of others.
The True Nurse Stories comic book focuses on nurses and their heroism. Each character and story stems from the experiences of real people who provide health care throughout AHN’s 13 hospitals in Western Pennsylvania, serving as amalgams of the dozens of nurses who shared their stories, Marvel comics said in a news release.
“Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, we have been in awe of the courage and resourcefulness of our nurses, who put their own health at risk to care for these vulnerable patients,” said Claire Zangerle, chief nurse executive at AHN.
Jessi Showalter, who works at West Penn Hospital, is one of eight nurses featured in the comic books, according to CNN affiliate KDKA. “I think that, ‘why me? I’m not anything special.’ I kind of just come here and do what I love every day and try to help my patients. If that makes me a hero, I guess that makes me a hero,” Showalter told KDKA.
The project was a complete surprise to all the nurses across the network and was unveiled to them on Thursday morning, according to KDKA. The comic books are a tribute of thanks to the sacrifices nurses have been making throughout this pandemic.
“We are so proud of them, and we want to make sure they know how much we appreciate their exceptional work. We hope that in seeing themselves as real Marvel Comics Super Heroes, they can take a moment to look back in pride on their exceptional work and compassion during an exceptionally difficult time for our communities,” Zangerle added.
AHN’s website showcased a video of the nurses featured in the comic books. In the video clip, their children talk about how they have not seen their parents much this year because they are busy in the hospital and how they worry they might get Covid-19. Some of the nurses teared up while reading the comic book to their kids.
“At Marvel, we tell stories about heroes every day. But this story is special. It tells a story about our everyday heroes — the nurses and health care professionals working tirelessly and courageously to save lives,” said Dan Buckley, president of Marvel Entertainment in a news release. “Along with AHN, we are honored to help tell these stories, which we dedicate to the real heroes who are saving the world.”
via: https://www.kmov.com/news/new-comic-book-celebrates-nurses-as-health-care-superheroes/article_dbabd980-a39b-5bb7-aae4-78a0dfc8fd15.html
Photo Credit: Courtesy of AHN and Marvel
Georgia mom facing murder charges after stabbing her children, ages 5 and 6
(CNN) — A Gainesville, Georgia, mother is facing murder charges after, investigators say, she fatally stabbed her 5- and 6-year-old children before turning the knife on herself.
Berenice Jaramillo-Hernandez, 26, faces two counts each of felony murder, malice murder and aggravated assault in the Friday killings, the Hall County Sheriff’s Office said, calling the incident “heartbreaking.”
Authorities announced Saturday evening that it had notified the siblings’ next of kin, and that Jaramillo-Hernandez would be charged.
Police received a Friday afternoon 911 call about a woman who had cut herself. When they arrived at her home east of Gainesville, about an hour’s drive north of Atlanta, deputies found the injured mother, along with the bodies of Mateo Miranda Jaramillo, 5, and Katherine Miranda Jaramillo, 6.
The investigation, which is in its preliminary stages, indicates “Jaramillo-Hernandez killed the children with a knife and then turned the knife on herself, resulting in serious injuries,” the sheriff’s office said.
The mother was transported to a medical center. She will be formally charged after doctors finish treating her injuries, the sheriff’s office said Saturday night. It was not immediately clear if Jaramillo-Hernandez has an attorney. CNN has reached out to the sheriff’s office for further comment.
On Friday, before the mother was named as a suspect, the sheriff’s office said that the incident was isolated and it was not seeking any other suspects.
“There is no danger to the community as a result of the incident,” the sheriff’s office said.
Police disclosed no motive. The investigation remains ongoing.
via: https://www.kmov.com/news/georgia-mom-facing-murder-charges-after-stabbing-her-children-ages-5-and-6-police-say/article_1cfa567d-bb5a-5988-ba13-b027b33be28e.html?block_id=985911
Photo Credit: Hall County Sheriff’s Office