Louisiana pastor, while on house arrest, again defies coronavirus order with church service
A Louisiana pastor who defied state orders against large gatherings amid the coronavirus pandemic has been placed under house arrest.
Tony Spell, of Life Tabernacle Church in the city of Central, has been fitted with an ankle bracelet and placed under house after he would not promise to maintain social distancing, his attorney confirmed Sunday. Spell has admitted to violating Louisiana’s mandate to avoid large gatherings by hosting church services.
Spell still showed up to the church’s Sunday service, where he was greeted with cheers, according to a livestream posted on Facebook. The pastor showed off his ankle monitor while standing in front of his congregation, claiming, “I’m not hiding anymore.”
“It’s a dirty, rotten, crying shame when you have to hide in America,” he said.
Joseph Long, Spell’s attorney, told NBC News in a statement that Spell lived 50 yards from his church, which still planned to host services Sunday. Long characterized the judge’s order as forcing Spell to stop “preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ to his congregation.”
“The judge has found him in contempt of Court for refusing to promise,” Long said. “Obviously, we believe this is an illegal order in violation of the Constitution, and will litigate the issue.”
In late March, Spell was issued a summons for violating the governor’s executive order against gatherings of more than 50 people. He hosted a church service of about 500 worshippers.
The following week, Spell was accused of violating the order again. He told CNN that he hosted around 1,220 churchgoers for a Palm Sunday service at his church.
Spell was then arrested Tuesday and charged with assault for allegedly backing up his church bus dangerously close to a protester outside the church. He was met outside the East Baton Rouge Parish Prison by cheering supporters after he posted bail. The pastor insisted he would not give up his rights to worship.
“My right to have church and to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ are endowed by my creator — not my district attorney, not my chief of police and not my Gov. John Bel Edwards,” Spell said.
Louisiana has been one of the harder hit states in the coronavirus pandemic, with more than 26,000 confirmed cases and at least 1,703 dead as of April 26.
via: https://currently.att.yahoo.com/news/louisiana-pastor-house-arrest-refusing-145723989.html
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Miami goes seven weeks without a homicide for first time since 1957
Crime rates in cities nationwide have dropped as stay-at-home orders keep people indoors in an effort to fight the coronavirus pandemic. In Miami, Florida, there were no homicides for seven weeks for the first time since 1957, according to the Miami Police Department.
There were also no homicides during a six-week period for the first time since 1960. “We can say that it’s due to our police high visibility, attributed with the pandemic and the Stay At Home order,” a Miami Police Department spokesperson told CBS News.
Miami Mayor Francis Suarez declared a local state of emergency on March 12 to slow the spread of the coronavirus, and the order has since been extended six times in week-long increments.
From February 17 until April 12 of this year — a total of seven weeks and six days — Miami had no reported homicides, according to police. In 1957, the city went 9 weeks and 3 days without any reported homicides. In 1960, a period of 6 weeks and 5 days passed without a homicide.
According to the Miami police, other crimes have also decreased. The department said the decrease has extended to domestic violence calls. But Miami Police Chief Jorge Colina told The New York Times he is concerned incidents of domestic violence and child abuse may be underreported during the order.
Crime is also down in Baltimore since Maryland issued its own stay-at-home order, CBS Baltimore reports. Although criminal incidents in the city still continue on a daily basis, assault, carjacking, robbery and shootings have all gone down since the order was implemented.
When compared to the same time last year, common assaults in Baltimore went down 34%, aggravated assaults went down 17%, and shootings dropped by 8%.
Los Angeles similarly reported that violent crime and property crimes are down compared to last year, according to CBS Los Angeles. Within a 9.73% drop in violent crime overall, homicides in particular were down 21%.
The same, unfortunately, cannot be said of Chicago. Despite a stay-at-home order in the city, robberies and shootings were up in the last week, according to CBS Chicago. Police responded to 19 shootings Tuesday night, six of which were homicides. That means shootings were up 42% from the same week last year, according to data analyzed by the station.
“We’re fighting the pandemic, and we’re fighting the epidemic,” said Tony Raggs with the Alliance of Local Service Organizations. “The epidemic being violence.”
In Los Angeles, the drop in violent crime has been marred by an increase in domestic violence calls. According to Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva, deputies responded to about 8% more domestic violence calls between mid-March and mid-April, when compared to last year.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, intimate partner violence affects 12 million people a year. Since stay-at-home orders went into affect, some regions have reported spikes in domestic violence complaints, while others are seeing a drop-off in domestic violence calls, as victims holed up with their abusers become more isolated.
“Everyone living in confined quarters, with very few options or reliefs, it’s a concern,” Villanueva said.
via: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/miami-no-homicide-seven-weeks/?ftag=CNM-00-10aab6a&linkId=87287887
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DJ Jazzy Jeff says he has COVID-19, can’t get tested
LOS ANGELES (CNN/Meredith) — Grammy-winner DJ Jazzy Jeff says he’s suffering from COVID-19.
The recording artist thinks he contracted the virus while DJ-ing in Idaho. But he can’t get tested and now says he is terrified to leave the house.
Fly in, spin some music and create memories, that’s what the musician does.
“My whole life is playing for people in large crowds,” he said.
But when the famed turntablist left Ketchum in Idaho’s Sun Valley, he may have brought something with him from the skier’s paradise: the novel coronavirus.
“It spiraled downhill extremely fast,” he said. “I lost my sense of smell. I lost my sense of taste. … I started hallucinating.”
That was in early March, before the lockdowns, before most realized the outbreak was already spreading in the US.
Less than a week after his return home, it hit him while in the store with his wife Lynette.
“I looked at her and I said, you know what? I don’t feel well,” he said. “I can honestly say I had one or two times that my brain started going down a dark path. I cannot believe this is how I’m going to go out.”
He said he was never tested for the coronavirus.
“There was no doubt in my mind that I had COVID,” he said. “It was just trying to figure out where. I never thought Ketchum.”
DJ Jazzy Jeff’s Sun Valley Party on March 6 was open to all. Among those who attended were members of the national brotherhood of skiers.
“When I walked off stage, I might have given 3 high-fives before I went to the dressing room,” he said.
By week’s end, people headed out, all over the country and even abroad, the local health department said.
Eventually, Jeff’s wife got sick, and then her mother fell ill.
“Now I’m feeling absolutely terrible, who else did I get sick?,” Jeff said.
His family have all recovered, but sadly that’s not the case for the brotherhood.
Several of them, including Haymon Jahi and Charles Jackson Jr., died of COVID-19.
Dr. Broderick Franklin, an emergency medicine physician in Los Angeles, was also in Sun Valley for the ski summit.
“Within a week after I returned from the trip, at least 4 people who I knew personally … tested positive,” he said.
While he never developed symptoms, Dr. Franklin did test positive for antibodies for the virus.
“It absolutely changed the way I looked at a patient’s presentation,” he said.
He said Jazzy Jeff’s case highlights that more virus and antibody testing remains key.
The DJ also wants the antibody test, if he can get over his fear.
“I am absolutely terrified to go out of the house,” he said. “Because you know, the unknown if you can get it again, the unknown, if I’m still carrying.”
From early on, performing with Will Smith AKA The Fresh Prince in the mid-80s, DJ Jazzy Jeff has traveled the world to rock people.
He says these new developments change how he sees his future.
“But the funny thing is I don’t think its just my future, I believe that 60% of this is our new norm,” he said.
Photo Credit: kmov.com
Nintendo reveals 160,000 accounts were breached
(CNN) — Nintendo revealed on Friday that 160,000 accounts were breached since the beginning of April, by hackers using others’ Nintendo Network IDs without permission. The company announced users will no longer need to use these IDs to log into their accounts, and that passwords on accounts that may have been breached will be reset.
Over the past month, users on social media were complaining of missing funds from their Nintendo accounts and, in some cases, seeing their money being used to buy Fortnite’s virtual currency, V-Bucks.
In addition to logging in to potentially play other users’ games, the hackers were also able to see individuals’ date of birth, country or region and email addresses. They could also access payment services linked to these accounts, including PayPal accounts or credit cards to buy items on Nintendo’s platform.
“We sincerely apologize to our customers and related parties for any inconvenience and concern. In the future, we will make further efforts to strengthen security and ensure safety so that similar events do not occur,” said Nintendo in an announcement originally written in Japanese.
A Nintendo Network ID is a unique username and password used mainly for older Nintendo 3DS and Wii U consoles. On the newer Nintendo Switch, users don’t have to register a Nintendo Network ID and can simply create an account using an email address, although it was possible to link the two.
Nintendo encouraged customers to check their purchase history for any unauthorized transactions and then request a refund. Credit card information wasn’t exposed, however, according to Nintendo.
The company is emailing affected users, urging them to change their passwords. Anyone who used to use a Nintendo Network ID to login should now use their Nintendo account email address instead. For an extra layer of security, the company is also asking people to set up two-factor authentication, adding a second method of verification such as linking to another app that will generate a code for each login.
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Kim Jong Un in ‘vegetative state,’ Japanese media report says
North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un is in a “vegetative state” after he underwent heart surgery earlier this month, a Japanese magazine says.
The weekly Shukan Gendai reported Friday that a Chinese medic sent to North Korea as part of a team to treat Kim believed a delay in a simple procedure left the leader severely ill, Reuters reported.
North Korean media hasn’t mentioned Kim’s health or whereabouts, even though reports by other media have sparked international speculation about his well-being.
The Chinese expert told the magazine that Kim clutched his chest and fell to the ground on a visit to the countryside earlier this month. A doctor accompanying Kim performed CPR and took him to a nearby hospital.
Kim, believed to be 36, needed a stent procedure, which calls for placing a tube into a congested blood vessel to allow blood to keep flowing to the heart, according to Shukan Gendai.
The hashtag #KimJongUndead was trending on Twitter but without any proof of the leader’s death.
Earlier this week, Seoul-based website Daily NK reported that Kim was recovering after undergoing a cardiovascular procedure on April 12. The outlet cited one unnamed source in North Korea.
South Korean government officials and a Chinese official with the Liaison Department challenged subsequent reports suggesting that Kim was in grave danger after surgery, Reuters said. South Korean officials said they had detected no signs of unusual activity in North Korea.
President Donald Trump has downplayed reports that Kim is ill, and an official familiar with U.S. intelligence said the government had no reason to conclude he was seriously ill or unable eventually to reappear in public, Huffington Post reported.
via: https://nypost.com/2020/04/25/kim-jong-un-in-vegetative-state-japanese-media-report-says/
Photo Credit: KCNA via REUTERS
Kanye West Named Billionaire by Forbes with 100% Ownership of Yeezy Brand
Kanye West may not have jumped over Jumpman just yet, but he has joined His Airness in the rarefied air of parlaying superstardom in one arena into a billion-dollar brand.
Forbes officially declared West a billionaire in an article published by Zack O’Malley Greenburg on Friday. Much of his fortune comes from his 100 percent ownership of the Yeezy branding, which he negotiated as part of his wildly lucrative apparel deal with Adidas.
The Yeezy 350 designs have become perhaps the most sought-after shoe on the market, regularly selling out releases in just seconds and selling for two or three times their price on resale websites.
West said he’s been a billionaire for more than a year but did not provide any financial books to Forbes to prove his net worth. When Forbes omitted West from their 2020 billionaires list, West was reportedly incensed.
“You know what you’re doing,” West texted. “You’re toying with me and I’m not finna lye [sic] down and take it anymore in Jesus name.”
Kanye’s team later provided Forbes with the deepest financial look into his Yeezy Inc. brand, which showed that his net worth is about $1.2 billion—not quite the $3 billion he’s claimed but still a sizable chunk nonetheless.
Not bad for a guy who was rapping about drowning in debt less than four years ago on “Saint Pablo.”
via: https://currently.att.yahoo.com/att/kanye-west-named-billionaire-forbes-180208237.html
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IRS sends woman’s stimulus check to wrong bank account ‘We need the money so bad’
ST. LOUIS (KMOV.com) — A local woman says she’s beyond frustrated, after she says her federal stimulus money was deposited into someone else’s account. And she’s not alone.
“We need the money so bad,” said Jill Milligan.
Like many people, Milligan and her husband were looking forward to getting their CARES Act stimulus money.
“I still have rent and utilities to pay,” she said.
But when she logged on to the IRS site, it told her the money was deposited into an account she didn’t recognize.
“Who got my money? Someone else got our money,” she said.
Now, the website says the money will come on Friday the 24th, but it still says the wrong account.
She doesn’t understand how the government got it wrong, since they had their account information.
“We have had this account for 20 years, nothing has changed,” Jill said.
She’s tried calling, but no one is currently answering the phone at the IRS.
“I know we are in a shutdown, but people can work from home. Set up a call center. Where these questions can be asked and handled. I just think it was irresponsible,” Jill said.
Other people have also complained online to the IRS about the same thing.
“I just feel like they have made this so much worse, for a lot of people,” she said.
A media representative for the IRS got back with us, referring us to a part of the IRS website which insinuates that if the money was deposited into a closed bank account, then people like Jill would then get a hard copy check in the mail.
She’s still waiting and we will keep checking on it
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Eminem donates ‘Mom’s Spaghetti’ to hospital workers in Detroit
(CNN) — Rapper Eminem gave back to Detroit health care workers this week by distributing “Mom’s Spaghetti,” which is referenced in his hit song “Lose Yourself.”
The tubs of bright red spaghetti had labels that read “Thank you frontline caregivers.” They were also marked with the Shady Records logo.
Local catering company Union Joints carried out the initiative, which was funded by Eminem and the Marshall Mathers Foundation.
Henry Ford Health System, based in Eminem’s hometown of Detroit, posted about the gift Tuesday on Twitter, joking that their workers “lost themselves” in the meal.
Detroit Medical Center also received a donation, funded by Eminem and the Marshall Mathers Foundation.
He donated 400 meals in total.
A publicist for Eminem confirmed the food donations to CNN, and said other area hospitals would be receiving similar meals in the coming weeks.
This isn’t the first time Eminem has served up “Mom’s Spaghetti.”
In 2018, the artist partnered up with Union Joints to host a Mom’s Spaghetti pop-up stand at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, which he also headlined that year.
“Lose Yourself,” released in 2002, is featured in Eminem’s semi-autobiographical film “8 Mile.” The song won the Academy Award for Best Original Song in 2003. He performed the song at the 2020 Oscars, 18 years after the song was released.
Wayne County, where Detroit is located, has 6,677 confirmed cases of coronavirus, as of Thursday, according to the data provided by the state’s government.
Photo Credit: kmov.com/Henry Ford Health System and FilmMagic, Getty Images
Woman busted after allegedly spitting on two people in Philadelphia market
A woman was busted for allegedly spitting on a fellow shopper during a squabble over social distancing at a high-end Italian market in Philadelphia, according to a new report.
Shopper Alexis Danilo told KYW-TV that she was shopping at Di Bruno Bros. in Center City Sunday when Jacqueline McBride, 27, got a little too close to her.
“I backed away from her,” Danilo told the outlet. “I guess that upset her. She just said, ‘B—h, I don’t have the disease.’”
“[She] bumped into me, and I said something along the lines of ‘That’s rude, there is a pandemic going on,’” Danilo added. “And then she just responded, ‘I’ll fight you right now,’ and took off her mask and spit on my face.”
Luckily, Danilo was wearing a mask and gloves at the time, and staff at the market helped her wash her face to “get the spit off” right away, she said.
Police say McBride also spat on a male employee during an argument at the same shop a day earlier, the outlet reported.
She was arrested and charged with simple assault, terroristic threats and harassment, police confirmed Thursday night, according to the report.
Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney called the incident “unconscionable and criminal” Thursday afternoon.
“We hope the police find her and get her someplace she can’t spit on anybody,” Kenney said. “I think people start losing their minds a little bit and it’s understandable, but that’s an assault. It’s aggravated assault to knowingly do that to make people ill, intentionally.”
Meanwhile, Danilo said she is self-quarantined as a precaution and is doing well for now.
via: https://nypost.com/2020/04/24/philadelphia-woman-busted-for-allegedly-spitting-on-shopper/
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New Jersey driver crashes car after passing out from wearing N95 mask
A New Jersey driver crashed head-on into a pole — after passing out from wearing an N95 mask for hours, police said Friday.
Lincoln Park police believe that the driver, who was not named, lost consciousness while behind the wheel Thursday from lack of oxygen and breathing in excessive carbon dioxide thanks to the mask, the department wrote on Facebook.
“The LPPD responded to a lone occupant single car motor vehicle crash yesterday. The crash is believed to have resulted from the driver wearing an N95 mask for several hours and subsequently passing out behind the wheel due to insufficient oxygen intake/excessive carbon dioxide intake,” the cops wrote.
“We also know that nothing was uncovered at the accident scene that would suggest that the driver was under the influence of drugs or alcohol.
“While we don’t know [the cause] with 100% certainty, we do know that the driver had been wearing an N95 mask inside the vehicle for several hours and ultimately passed out while operating the vehicle,” the department said.
Police told residents that while they should continue to follow Gov. Phil Murphy’s guidelines for wearing face coverings in public, wearing an N95 mask while driving with “no other occupants is unnecessary.”
Still, “We are not trying to cause public alarm or suggest wearing an N95 mask is unsafe,” the department added.
The driver was taken to a local hospital, where the person was treated for non-life-threatening injuries, cops said.
via: https://nypost.com/2020/04/24/driver-crashes-car-after-passing-out-from-wearing-n95-mask/
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