New mom has baby taken away after failing drug test — by eating poppy seed bread
An Alabama mother had her newborn baby taken away from her after a drug-test detected traces of opiates in her system — from poppy seed bread she ate a day earlier, according to reports.
Rebecca Hernandez, of Huntsville, was given a drug test after giving birth at Crestwood Medical Center last Tuesday — and her son was swiftly removed after it came back positive for opiates, WAFF reports.
By the time a more official state laboratory test came back Friday stating she was clean, the new mother had lost three days with her new baby.
The original test turned out to be a “false-positive,” a result that Hernandez’s doctor attributed to the poppy seed bread she consumed on Monday, WAFF reports.
“I mean, this is a nightmare for the whole family,” Hernandez told the station through a translator. “You know, a newborn baby, they have to be with the mom. They have to close to the mom.”
The newborn, along with Hernandez’s 13-month-old, were sent to live temporarily with Hernandez’s aunt and uncle, who also had to submit to a drug screening before being granted custody, according to WAFF.
Dr. Yashica Robinson, an obstetrician and gynecologist, is now calling for an end of same-day drug screenings at hospitals, saying staffers should instead rely on laboratory-confirmed tests before contacting social service agencies.
“Screening tests can have what we call false-positive results, where other things can interfere with those results,” Robinson told the station. “You can have a substance that a patient eats, as in this case, like poppy seeds that can make the test positive for opioids.”
Poppy seeds, which are derived from opium poppies, can contain traces of morphine, which can trigger a positive test result.
“I understand everything is a process,” Hernandez told the station Thursday. “I understand everything — I mean, you have to follow rules. But they should’ve done some more research before they decided to call [the Alabama Department of Human Resources].”
A message seeking comment from Crestwood Medical Center was not immediately returned Tuesday. However, the hospital said it was “committed to following the law and regulatory requirements” in a statement to WAFF.
“Our hospital also incorporates patient care practices that are established by credentialed members of our medical staff so as to further ensure safe and quality care for all of our patients,” the statement read.
Photo Credit: WAFF
Cancer patient gets 10 months in jail for shoplifting $110 in groceries
A Pennsylvania woman with advanced-stage ovarian cancer has been sentenced to at least 10 months behind bars for stealing nearly $110 worth of groceries — prompting a Twitter tirade from the state’s lieutenant governor.
Ashley Menser, 36, was sentenced last week by Lebanon County Judge Samuel A. Kline to 10 months to 7 years in jail — after pleading guilty to shoplifting $109.63 worth of merchandise from a Weis Markets in 2018, the Patriot-News reported.
She made off with makeup, hair dye, a candle and a “Super Skinny Serum” product, the paper reported.
In a Twitter thread, Pennsylvania Lt. Gov. John Fetterman urged Kline to “err on the side of mercy” — arguing that Menser had an oncology appointment on the same day as her sentencing.
“Release her immediately and allow the medical evaluation that was scheduled at @PennStHershey on the 22nd,” he wrote. “I’ll personally deliver a check to the @WeisMarkets today she shoplifted from for $110.”
“Simply let her doctor evaluate her condition and that be the basis for moving forward,” he continued. “As draconian it is to imprison someone for nearly 10 months over shoplifting $109, that’s a different discussion. It’s not controversial to allow an immediate unbiased medical evaluation determine the just path forward.”
But Lebanon County District Attorney Pier Hess Graf shot back at Fetterman, saying that the pol “found it appropriate to criticize the court and the victim,” according to a statement obtained by the Patriot-News.
“He failed to mention in any of his tweets, however, the extensive prior record of the defendant, her drug abuse, or the fact that her sentencing ranges — as set forth by the legislature — call for jail time,” Graf wrote.
Graf argued that Menser had pleaded “open,” meaning that the court can decide the sentence it deems appropriate.
Menser’s attorneys have requested house arrest so she could continue to receive medical treatment, the paper reported. Her parents argued that corrections staff have neglected the woman’s treatment in the week she’s been behind bars.
But Graf pointed to a 2019 document submitted by Menser’s own attorney, indicating that she had refused treatment at some point.
“The court rejected the notion of house arrest given the defendant’s extensive prior criminal record and the circumstance of the current offense,” the district attorney wrote.
Fetterman said he is standing behind his tweets — although he never intended to stir up such a strong reaction.
“I’m not going to get into a shoving match with the district attorney,” he told WPMT-TV. “I am just suggesting that they [err] on the side of compassion and allow this woman to see her doctor.”
“This is not public enemy number one. This is not Hannibal [Lecter] that they have to, you know, wheel out in a catcher’s mask and in a gurney,” the lieutenant governor added, referring to the “Silence of the Lambs” antagonist. “This is an addict.”
It was not immediately clear whether Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf would use his pardon power to clear Menser.
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Florida high school coach fired for telling players to ‘stop acting black’
A Florida high school football coach lost his job after he allegedly made racist comments to players — telling them to “stop acting black,” according to a report.
Kendall Bradley, the former head football coach at Atlantic High School in Port Orange, was also accused of sexting two 15-year-old girls in late 2017, leading the state to permanently revoke his teaching license in December, the Daytona Beach News-Journal reported.
Bradley, who was never criminally charged, denied the accusations in a statement to the newspaper after it obtained investigative reports from Volusia County Schools, Port Orange police and the Florida Department of Education on the complaints — including some from players and their relatives.
The young athletes reported that Bradley told them to “stop acting black” and allegedly shared their grades with other teammates as a way to embarrass them.
The coach was also accused of using profanity during the team’s win-less 2017 season.
Bradley was allowed to work as a substitute teacher in Volusia County until February 2018 — when the father of one 15-year-old girl told the principal of Atlantic High School about the alleged tawdry text, the newspaper reported.
A Port Orange police spokesman said cops got in touch with school staffers regarding the texts, but he couldn’t say exactly when because the incident occurred more than two years ago.
Bradley lost his job as a gym teacher and football coach at the high school in November 2017 — but he wasn’t barred from student contact until three months later on Feb. 5, 2018.
At the time, he told the News-Journal that he had been fired without cause, but district investigators cited complaints that the coach made derogatory racial statements in front of students.
Bradley was also barred from working for Volusia County Schools after his termination, but his personnel file was updated two weeks later declaring him eligible to interview for open positions, the newspaper reports.
He was later pulled from the classroom in February 2018 when the father told district officials that the then-31-year-old man was soliciting sex from two 15-year-old girls, internal reports show.
The messages — sent less than a week after Bradley lost his coaching job — allegedly showed that Bradley asked the teens to send him nude photos and also wanted them to have group sex with him and other women, the newspaper reported.
One of the students also told cops that Bradley sent her a nude photo of himself on Snapchat, according to a police report.
No evidence was found of the photo being sent, however, and cops did not contact Bradley at the time. The case was ultimately closed when the student’s father stopped cooperating with investigators, according to the police report.
District officials later closed their investigation after Bradley said he no longer wanted to work for Volusia County Schools. He also declined to address the allegations he faced, the newspaper reports.
Bradley lost his teaching certificate on Dec. 13, 2019, after the school district closed its investigation — a move he did not contest. He told the newspaper he was unaware of some of the claims.
“As I have just been informed, information that I had no knowledge of, and is not correct, was filed and made public,” Bradley told the newspaper in a statement. “I have never been approached with, or asked about these situations personally, nor was I made aware that they had been used when they were.”
Bradley insisted his only goal while at Atlantic High School was to be a “positive influence” on the students and the community.
“At no point did I communicate or interact inappropriately with any student,” Bradley’s statement continued. “Nor was I discriminatory or out of line in my communication with student athletes.”
Photo Credit: University of Missouri Athletics
Rush Limbaugh announces he has advanced lung cancer
Rush Limbaugh announced Monday that he has advanced lung cancer.
“I wish I didn’t have to tell you this, and I thought about not trying to tell anybody, I thought about trying to do this without anybody knowing, because I don’t like making things about me,” said the syndicated conservative radio host of “The Rush Limbaugh Show.’’
But “there are going to be days that I’m not going to be able to be here. Because I will be undergoing treatment,’’ said the avid cigar-smoker, adding that he has the advanced cancer.
Limbaugh, 69, said he went to the doctor after experiencing shortness of breath and was eventually diagnosed.
He has previously scoffed at the dangers of “firsthand smoke,’’ saying in 2015 that “it takes 50 years to kill people, if it does.’’
According to the CDC, cigarette smoking is the No. 1 cause of lung cancer, while cigar smoking is generally “associated with an increased risk for cancers of the lung,” throat and mouth. Lung cancer is the biggest cancer killer of both men and women in the US, with 150,000 people a year succumbing to it.
“Now, it’s true that everybody who smokes dies. But so does everyone who eats carrots,” Limbaugh said at the time.
He added that government taxes on tobacco products “are funding children’s health-care programs.”
So “I would like a medal for smoking cigars,” Limbaugh quipped on the show — which is titled “We Really Should Thank Smokers” on his Web site.
He also ridiculed the mounds of research tying secondhand smoke to cancer and death, calling the assertion “a myth.”
Limbaugh told listeners Monday that he would be out for the next few days for treatment and hoped to return to the air Thursday.
“Those of you who are listening to the Rush Limbaugh Show now. Pray with us. Thank you. God bless you Rush Limbaugh. Love you so much Rush,’’ his producer, Bo Snerdley, tweeted.
Limbaugh, a buddy of President Trump, just signed a new “long-term’’ contract last month with a subsidiary of iHeartMedia.
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2 women killed, child hurt in shooting at Texas dormitory
COMMERCE, Texas (AP) — Two women were killed and a child was wounded in a shooting Monday morning at a university dormitory in Texas, officials said.
A recommendation for students and employees to shelter in place was lifted early Monday afternoon at Texas A&M University-Commerce, and police said there appeared to be no other threats. Officials have not identified the suspected shooter.
University police Chief Bryan Vaughn said officers responding to a call at about 10:17 a.m. found two dead women in a room at Pride Rock residence hall on the campus in Commerce, about 65 miles (105 kilometers) northeast of Dallas. He said a boy about 2 years old was also in the room and was taken to a hospital, where he was in stable condition.
Vaughn did not take questions after a news conference and did not say if the women were students.
The university canceled classes after the shooting and later said classes will not resume until Thursday.
The university lifted the shelter-in-place recommendation about an hour and a half after it was announced on Twitter. But the university said that even with the lifting of the recommendation, the residence hall and the surrounding area was still blocked off due to the ongoing investigation.
The university said the student center would be available for displaced students and that counselors were available there.
Larry Cooper III, a freshman who lives in the Pride Rock residence hall, told the Dallas Morning News that he left his room Monday just before the shelter-in-place was announced. He said he was waiting in a friend’s room on the first floor of the residence hall.
“There’s police blocking the doorways, but other than that we’re all just kind of sitting in and waiting on the news to happen,” Cooper said.
Last October, two people were killed and a dozen others injured in an off-campus shooting at a homecoming and Halloween party involving Texas A&M-Commerce students.
via: https://currently.att.yahoo.com/att/2-dead-shooting-university-residence-193529366.html
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Teen female football players to be featured in Super Bowl ad
CLEVELAND HEIGHTS, Ohio (WJW) — All eyes will be on the big game between the Chiefs and the 49ers on Super Bowl Sunday, but of course many viewers will also be watching the million dollar commercials.
Among the ads, a commercial for the Microsoft Surface tablet, which features a tribute to San Francisco 49ers assistant coach Katie Sowers. She will be the first woman to coach in the Super Bowl.
The commercial also includes a photo of Cleveland Heights senior football players Olivia McKay and India Pulphus. The student athletes said they learned on Thursday that they will be featured in the ad.
”I actually found out in the middle of class from my mom just repeatedly texting me, ‘oh my gosh you’re going to be in the Super Bowl commercial’, but I was in the middle of class, so I couldn’t freak out or anything,” said Olivia McKay.
Olivia and India made the transition from the girl’s soccer team to football in their senior year, a move that took the same kind of determination that led Katie Sowers to the NFL.
“It means a lot because I know there are a lot of younger girls that have said they want to play football, now that they’ve seen us do it, so it makes me proud and happy,” said India Pulphus.
India and Olivia are viewed as trailblazers at Cleveland Heights High School. Each of them kicked field goals during the 2019 season.
They are hoping that young girls will view them the same way that they view Katie Sowers.
“Being a role model for the younger girls, who are in the same situation of being told they can’t do things because they’re female, you know it feels good,” said McKay.
Photo Credit: fox2now.com
Man accused of trying to pay prostitute with hamburger caught in police sting
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE) – A man was arrested during a prostitution sting in southeast Albuquerque on Tuesday.
According to a criminal complaint, 36-year-old Dominic Calderon rode a bicycle up to an undercover APD officer posing as a prostitute in the area of Central and San Pablo SE. The complaint states after agreeing on terms and a price, Calderon asked for the officer’s phone number because he wasn’t going to have enough money until Friday.
That’s when the undercover officer noticed Calderon was carrying a “To-Go” bag from Chili’s. The officer asked what was in it and Calderon told her it was a hamburger. The officer then told Calderon her fee could be the burger. Calderon agreed and was arrested.
After officers ran Calderon’s information, they found he was a sex offender on probation. Police say Calderon’s status was confirmed by the probation office and his probation was revoked and upgraded to a felony warrant.
Calderon’s arrest is one of 11 different prostitution arrests all made on January 28 along Central Avenue. The hamburger was tagged into evidence.
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Woman arrested for shooting her boyfriend to death is pregnant by another man
ST. LOUIS – Several twists in our ongoing Fox Files reporting about a shooting death reported as an accident. Fox 2 revealed questions about the shooter’s response in our investigations last November and December.
Victoria Haungs made her first appearance in court Friday and dropped a bombshell that seemed to catch everyone off guard.
The only booking photo available for Haungs shows only half of her face.
The victim’s mother, Jamie Coley, feels it’s another example of the shooter failing to take responsibility.
“They don’t want you to know who she is and they don’t want the story to be told period,” she said.
Jamie’s only son, 24-year-old Reco Coley, died last July when Haungs shot him in Bellefontaine Neighbors.
Haungs told police it was an accident, but for months, Coley has questioned the time it took Haungs to get help. She says it can all be seen on surveillance video from down the street where it happened.
A grand jury indicted 26-year-old Haungs for second-degree involuntary manslaughter in November. This week, she was picked up by law enforcement in St. Francois County.
“I had to fight to try to find her. We’ve been looking everywhere for her,” Coley said.
Haungs seemed to surprise everyone in court when asking for a bond reduction. The State was asking for a $50,000 cash-only bond. Haungs said she was 12 weeks pregnant.
“That was all new information,” Coley said. “How are you going to get pregnant when you just killed my son? And you were just going with him! So how does that make sense that you were just going with someone, madly in love, which you would never hurt this person, but you accidentally shoot them and then when you shoot them you go lay up with someone else and get pregnant?”
The judge listened to Jamie Coley’s concerns and denied the defendant’s bond reduction request. Coley and her husband walked out of court feeling like the justice system will finally hear about what happened to her only son.
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Mother charged after 2-year-old fatally shoots himself at Alabama Red Roof Inn
MOBILE, Ala. (WKRG) — A mother and her friend face charges after police say a toddler accidentally shot and killed himself in Mobile, Alabama Thursday morning.
“I don’t know what to say right now,” Corey Davis Sr., the father of 2-year-old Corey Davis Jr., told WKRG.
Mobile Police said Davis Jr. accidentally shot himself after he found a loaded pistol in a motel room at the Red Roof Inn on I-65 near Dauphin Street.
“He really didn’t get to have fun with his life, but God calls you up for a reason,” said Curtis Davis, the boy’s uncle. Davis said he’s still in disbelief after receiving a frantic call from his brother on Thursday.
“I couldn’t understand what he was really saying so he told me to come,” Davis said.
When he got there, his family gave him the tragic news.
“I felt like he was one of my sons because he belonged to my brother. We were just all sad and motionless,” Davis said. “I really don’t know how it feels to lose a son because I don’t have any children, but I know his pain.”
Davis said he hopes his nephew’s demise will send a powerful message.
“Just be safer. Put those guns down. Don’t have them around the children, put them in a safe spot. I hate it had to happen, but God brings you up for a reason,” Davis said.
WKRG reached out to the mother’s family to give them an opportunity to speak about Davis Jr.’s death. They respectfully told her they did not want to be bothered.
The child’s mother, 29-year-old Dynesha Harris, and her friend Tony Fowler are both charged with manslaughter. Police said their “extreme recklessness” caused the death of the toddler. Harris is out of jail on a $7,500. Fowler is still in jail without bond. Charges could be upgraded pending autopsy results.
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A couple alleges they were kicked off a flight because of their religion. American Airlines claims it was their body odor
A Michigan couple is suing American Airlines for discrimination, alleging in a lawsuit that an airline agent kicked them off a flight for what the employee said was “extremely offensive body odor” and told them he knew that “Orthodox Jews take baths once a week.”
Yehuda Yosef Adler and Jennie Adler say in the lawsuit they do not have offensive body odor. They are accusing the airline of discriminating against them because of their religion and defaming them, and say that they experienced embarrassment and humiliation and defamation because of the incident last year.
In January 2019, the couple, along with their 19-month-old daughter, boarded an American Airlines flight from Miami to Detroit. Within five minutes of taking their seats, the couple was approached by an agent who told them that they needed to deplane because there was an emergency, according to a lawsuit filed January 28 with the District Court for the Southern District of Texas.
Once the couple stepped off the plane, the agent told them that the pilot had booted them because they had “extremely offensive body odor,” the lawsuit said. The couple said they were shocked because they had never received complaints about their body odor on flights, and that they had showered that morning, the lawsuit said.
The agent responded by saying he knew that Orthodox Jews take baths once a week, according to the lawsuit.
The Adlers said they were distraught and that despite their embarrassment, they approached more than 20 people in the boarding area to ask if they could detect an unpleasant body odor from the family, the lawsuit said.
“Each and every person … answered in the negative,” according to the lawsuit.
And despite multiple pleas to re-board, the couple said the plane took off without them, leaving them without their luggage, their child’s car seat, stroller and diapers. The Adlers claimed that they were not able to get on another flight to their destination until the next day.
“At that point the Adlers were confused, deeply humiliated, disrespected, lost, perplexed, and at a complete loss. They were utterly puzzled,” the lawsuit reads. “The Adlers were being discriminated against because of their race, religion and nationality.”
American Airlines says religion was not a factor
American Airlines denies the incident had anything to do with the couple’s religion.
“The Adler family was asked to deplane after multiple passengers and our crew members complained about Mr. Adler’s body odor,” the company said Friday in a statement to CNN.
“The decision was made out of concern for the comfort of our other passengers. Our team members took care of the family and provided hotel accommodations and meals, and re-booked them on a flight to Detroit the next morning. None of the decisions made by our team in handling this sensitive situation were based on the Adlers’ religion.”
In the lawsuit, the couple said they were singled out because they were visibly Jewish. Yehuda Yosef Adler was wearing a yarmulke, and Jennie Adler was wearing a long skirt and a shaytel, a wig worn by some Orthodox Jewish women after marriage to cover their hair, according to the lawsuit.
They also said in the lawsuit that the pilot was rude to them as soon as they boarded the plane.
When Yehuda Yosef Adler boarded, he said he asked the flight attendant for headphones, the lawsuit said. The crew on the flight they had been on the previous day told them that anytime they needed anything, including headphones, they should feel free to ask, according to the lawsuit.
But the pilot, who overheard the request, responded, “I wasn’t on that plane and we don’t offer anything complimentary,” Adler alleges in the lawsuit.
The lawsuit also says the couple was defamed
In addition to the allegations of discrimination, the lawsuit accuses American Airlines of defamation, saying American’s statements about the couple’s body odor to several news outlets were humiliating and false.
“Today, a search of ‘body odor’ includes results showing the Adler name,” the lawsuit reads.
By Harmeet Kaur and Carma Hassan, CNN
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