L.A. Landmarks Lit in Purple and Gold to Honor Kobe Bryant
Los Angeles lit up its landmarks in Lakers’ purple and gold Sunday night to honor the legacy of Kobe Bryant.
Aerial video from Sky5 over downtown showed the U.S. Bank Tower and Los Angeles City Hall both bathed in the Lakers’ colors. The Intercontinental Hotel at Wilshire Grand Center also displayed Kobe’s original number 8 in lights on the side of the building.
A purple and gold water show greeted visitors to downtown’s Grand Park and Santa Monica’s ferris wheel displayed a dazzling light show.
Even travelers arriving and departing from LAX couldn’t miss the tribute to the basketball legend, as the iconic pylons were illuminated overnight in the Lakers’ colors.
Bryant played his entire 20-year career with the Lakers.
He won five NBA championships with the club, including back-to-back-to-back titles alongside Shaquille O’Neal in 2000, 2001 and 2002.
“There are no words to express the pain I’m going through now with this tragic and sad moment of loosing my neice Gigi & my friend, my brother, my partner in winning championships, my dude and my homie,” O’Neal said upon learning of his former teammate’s death.
Bryant also won back-to-back titles in 2009 and 2010.
He was killed on Sunday, along with his 13-year-old daughter Gianna and seven others, in a helicopter crash in Calabasas.
The cause of the crash is still under investigation.
via: https://ktla.com/2020/01/27/l-a-landmarks-lit-in-purple-and-gold-to-honor-kobe-bryant/
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Kobe Bryant killed in helicopter crash in Calabasas
Kobe Bryant died in a helicopter crash in Calabasas Sunday morning, Yahoo Sports confirmed. TMZ first reported the news.
Bryant played his entire 20-year career for the Los Angeles Lakers and won five NBA championships prior to retiring in 2016. He was named Finals MVP twice and league MVP in 2008. Bryant was 41.
The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department responded to reports of a helicopter that crashed into a hillside and caught fire, NBC Los Angeles reported. The crash was called in at 9:47 a.m. local time, per the report, and flames that spread a quarter acre were put out by 10:30. The fire department reported no survivors.
The helicopter, a Sikorsky S-76, crashed under unknown circumstances with five people on board, according to the Federal Aviation Administration. An investigation is ongoing.
Bryant and his wife, Vanessa, have four daughters: Gianna, Natalia, Bianca and Capri, who was born in June 2019.
Photo Credit: (Lintao Zhang/Getty Images) currently.att.yahoo.com
Arizona woman gets emergency surgery after vibrator gets stuck in her bladder
MESA, AZ ( 3TV/CBS 5) – An Arizona woman is recovering from surgery after getting a sex toy stuck in her bladder. It’s a case that stunned emergency room doctors and an OBGYN, and that woman spoke out to Arizona’s Family warning others about the product she used.
She’s asked we keep her name anonymous. Her pleasure turned to pain in an instant. “Every time it went off it was like my entire abdomen was vibrating,” the Mesa woman said.
She was talking about her new Vesper Vibrator Necklace by the company Crave. She wore the sex toy around her neck out to dinner with her boyfriend, then used it with him when they got home earlier this month. She was only using it on the outside of her body as intended.
“I moved and out of nowhere I just felt a really sharp pain,” she said. The vibrator was nowhere to be found. “Where is it? And he like…didn’t know,” she said, about the moment she and her boyfriend knew something was wrong.
But…she could still feel it. “First reaction was panic because I had just lost something inside of me that was still going off,” she said.
“Still vibrating?” asked reporter Briana Whitney. “Yes, still vibrating,” the woman confirmed. With the device still on, she went to the emergency room, where several doctors did pelvic exams, but with no success.
“The emergency room staff wasn’t able to find it in the vagina,” said OBGYN Dr. Greg Marchand. The emergency room staff called in Dr. Marchand to take a look, and he was shocked by what he found on the x-ray and inside her body.
“I was really surprised when I’m looking in the abdomen and realizing this device is actually in the bladder,” Dr. Marchand said. “I’ve never seen a case like this in my entire career.” They realized the device had actually entered her body through her urethra and went into her bladder, lodging itself sideways. They had to surgically remove it.
The woman plans on filing a lawsuit against the company for lack of warning on the label that this could happen even during normal use. She said the small and narrow design is dangerous, especially with a detachable chain. After her horrific vibrator experience, she said she’ll be taking it down a notch.
“Are you done using sex toys?” Whitney asked the woman. “Uh, probably. Yeah. Probably,” she said. Arizona’s Family reached out to the sex product company, Crave, for a response but had not heard back as of Friday night.
Photo Credit: azfamily
Second black Texas teen told by school to cut dreadlocks, according to his mom
A second teenager at a Texas high school was suspended and told he could not return to class until he cut his dreadlocks to be in compliance with the school’s dress code.
Kaden Bradford, 16, a sophomore at Barbers Hill High School in Mont Belvieu in Southeast Texas, has been on at-home suspension since last week, according to his mother, Cindy Bradford.
Kaden’s cousin, DeAndre Arnold, is a senior at the school and also wears dreadlocks. DeAndre was recently told by administrators that he is not allowed in school and cannot walk at his graduation unless he cut his hair, his mother, Sandy Arnold, told NBC affiliate KPRC of Houston. DeAndre, whose father is from Trinidad, said the men in his family often grow their dreadlocks, and that it is a part of his identity and culture.
Both women, who are sisters, said they will not cut the boys’ hair.
Bradford said in an interview Friday that like DeAndre, her son has worn dreadlocks for years and it only recently became an issue at the high school. Last year, Kaden would wear a headband to keep his dreadlocks off his shoulders, his mother said. The school told her that if Kaden kept his dreadlocks pulled back, he would not be in violation of its hair policy, she said.
But shortly after Christmas break, she said the school’s principal, Rick Kana, told Kaden that he would need to cut his hair. Bradford said she paid last week to have Kaden’s dreads cornrowed, or tightly-braided so that they lay flat against his scalp. But that did not appease administrators, who placed him on at-home suspension because he refused to cut his hair, his mother said.
She said she is now considering taking legal action so he can return to school.
Bradford said she believes the hair policy is racist. The school district dress code states male students cannot have their hair “gathered or worn in a style that would allow the hair to extend below” the collar, earlobes and eyes when let down.
Barbers Hill High School is predominantly white, according to school district data. African Americans made up 3.1 percent of the school district’s population in the 2017-18 school year.
The principal and Barbers Hill Independent School District superintendent, Greg Poole, did not return multiple requests for an interview.
In a statement posted on its Twitter account, the district said that it does allow dreadlocks. “However we DO have a community supported hair length policy & have had for decades,” the statement said. “BH is a State leader with high expectations in ALL areas!”
On Friday, Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., who announced the first federal legislation that would ban hair-based discrimination in December, expressed support for DeAndre and Kaden.
“Natural hair like dreadlocks is a reflection of culture & heritage,” he tweeted. “No one should be punished for expressing who they are. The CROWN Act would end this—hair discrimination is discrimination against black people.”
In December, Booker said the Create a Respectful and Open World for Natural Hair Act (CROWN) will make it clear that “discrimination based on natural and protective hairstyles associated with people of African descent” is a “prohibited form of racial or national origin discrimination.”
Houston Texans wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins, who has dreadlocks, also tweeted support Wednesday for DeAndre.
“Never cut your locks,” Hopkins said.
via: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/second-teen-suspended-over-dreadlocks-texas-school-n1122261
Photo Credit: Cindy Bradford
Mom upset after 9-year-old suspended over hair color
(WISN/CNN) — A mother said her 9-year-old daughter was suspended from her private school in Wisconsin because of the color of her braids.
Jalissa Taylor said her daughter, a fourth-grader at Hope Christian School in Racine, never received a warning from school administrators before the suspension.
“She came to me crying,” Taylor said. “This is a hairstyle she picked. It’s just one big braid, going in a circle with a little bit of color to it — and now it’s a distraction.”
The school sent a letter home Tuesday, saying the fourth-grader violated the dress code policy. Students cannot dye or change their hair color, and girls can only wear solid blue, black, gray or white headbands.
“I called the school and when they did answer the phone, I’m like, ‘Please work with me, let me know.’ Don’t wait ’till you gonna suspend my kid to come tell me, ‘Oh, she was doing this, she was doing that, and this is not appropriate.’ It’s like no one told me anything,” Taylor said.
The mom said this isn’t the first time her daughter has worn a colorful hairstyle to school, and school administrators said they have discussed the dress code with Taylor.
However, they did not confirm whether Taylor and her daughter received a warning.
Administrators told WISN-TV that “all concerns have been addressed.”
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91-year-old man charged with rape of minor in Louisiana
SHREVEPORT, LA (KTBS) — A 91-year-old man has been arrested for allegedly sexually assaulting a juvenile, according to police in Louisiana.
Otis Allen was booked into the Shreveport City Jail Friday on a charge of first-degree rape. His bond is set at $250,000.
Shreveport police’s sex crimes investigators began looking into Allen in November after receiving a complaint about the alleged rape of a juvenile.
Allen was taken into custody by the U.S. Marshal’s Office and taken to Shreveport police for interviews. He was arrested afterward.
Photo Credit: KTBS
Woman rejects 20-year sentencing deal for drug charges, gets 99 years instead
UPSHUR COUNTY, Texas (KETK) – A Texas woman was sentenced to 99 years in prison after pleading guilty to drug charges in Upshur County.
Felisha Diane Williams, 39, pleaded guilty on January 13th to possession of a controlled substance with the intent to deliver. In her plea, she declined the state’s offer of 20 years and opted for a jury to decide her punishment.
Due to previous felonies, Williams faced an enhanced punishment range of 15 years to life rather than the normal punishment range of 5-99 years or life in prison.
Williams was arrested on May 26, 2018. According to court records, she was a passenger in a car stopped in Gilmer for displaying multiple registration and mismatched license plates. Police said one of the car’s passengers originally gave police a false name. Once police found out the real name, they also found warrants against that name and requested permission to search the car, which the driver granted.
In the search, officers found several baggies and methamphetamine. During her transport to the county jail, Williams indicated she had more meth concealed on her person.
At the jail, staff found about 7 grams of meth and 16 more small baggies, which authorities say are commonly used in drug trafficking.
Williams had four previous felony convictions on her record and was on parole at the time of her arrest.
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Struggling church asks older members to go away to appeal to young families
COTTAGE GROVE, MN (AP) — A struggling Minnesota church is asking its older parishioners to leave in hopes of making it more attractive to young families.
Grove United Methodist Church in the St. Paul suburb of Cottage Grove is closing in June, with plans to relaunch in November. The present members, most of them over 60 years old, will be invited to worship elsewhere, the St. Paul Pioneer Press reported. The church is asking that they stay away for two years, then consult the pastor about reapplying.
“I pray for this church, getting through this age-discrimination thing,” William Gackstetter said at church on a recent Sunday as the gray-haired heads around him nodded in agreement.
But church officials said the congregation needs a reset and the best way is to appeal to younger people.
The Grove United Methodist Church is the product of a 2008 merger with a larger church in Woodbury.
The Cottage Grove church has struggled with membership and finances. Seven years ago, Methodist officials said they could no longer pay for its minister, so the church switched to lay ministry, with weekly sermons by members. The church’s attendance and finances have stabilized recently, with an average weekly attendance of 25.
But Cottage Grove is growing quickly and the church should be growing with it, said the Rev. Dan Wetterstrom, head of the two-location Grove church.
The Methodists’ regional body is paying $250,000 to restart the church, Wetterstrom said. They have hired a specialist in starting new churches, 30-year-old Jeremy Peters who moved to Cottage Grove with his wife and two children for the relaunch, probably in November.
“It’s a new thing with a new mission for a new target and a new culture,” he said.
The older members will not be physically barred from attending, Peters said, but the expectation is that they won’t.
“We are asking them to let this happen,” Wetterstrom said. “For this to be truly new, we can’t have the core group of 30 people. The members of the church have other options. They can come to Woodbury during this phase.”
Stella and Jon Knapp of Cottage Grove were the only members with children at the recent service, and they hate the plan.
“If it happened, I wouldn’t come here any more,” said Stella Knapp, 34. As six-year members, the couple loves the church and said they didn’t mind being the youngest members.
“This church is very kind to us and our children,” said Jon Knapp, 34.
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Tinder Is Adding Panic Button, Other Safety Features for Dates That Go Wrong
Tinder is following in Uber’s lead in adding in-app safety features for dates that become unsafe.
The dating app is adding new safety features, including a panic button that alerts safety authorities if something goes wrong during a date. Tinder has also added the ability to check-in, telling friends where the daters are.
US users will receive the free new tools next Tuesday in a new section of the app called the Safety Center. Match, the dating conglomerate that owns Tinder, will roll out the new tools to its other US dating services later this year. The company also owns OkCupid, Hinge and the flagship Match.com.
The tools will be powered by Noonlight, a safety platform that Tinder made an investment in. Terms of the deal weren’t disclosed.
To use the new Safety Center tools, users will have to also download Noonlight and enable the app’s location-tracking tools. Users’ dates information, such as location, will have to be manually entered into a new “Tinder Timeline” tool that can be shared with friends.
If the user feels unsafe, they will have to open the Noonlight app and press a button that discreetly contacts Noonlight dispatchers. The dispatcher will first send them a text so they don’t have to vocally talk for help. If that’s unanswered, Noonlight will send a code and call them. If there are no answer, Noonlight will dispatch emergency services.
The aim to let users ask for help without raising suspicions during the date. That’s why it’s panic tools are located within the Noonlight app.
Location-sharing apps have come under scrutiny recently for not selling users’ information to advertisers. Match won’t have access to Noonlight’s location data and Noonlight claims it doesn’t sell user data. Users can also switch off location services within the phone’s settings when they aren’t on dates.
Tinder is also testing a new photo verification tool so users can ensure they’re talking to someone real before they go on the date. A user will have to submit picture certain poses. Tinder’s AI technology will compare those photos to previously submitted pictures. Profiles will have a check mark for those that complete the service. Tinder said the tool will become widely available later this year.
Match said it’s the first dating company to integrate in this type of service. Dating apps and ride-hailing companies, like Uber and Lyft, have been blasted for putting users in unsafe positions. Both of those companies have rolled out similar so-called panic buttons and safety tools to address those concerns.
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Man Dies After Getting Attacked by His Rooster on Their Way to a Cockfight in India
An Indian man has died after a tussle with his rooster — on their way to a cockfight.
Saripalli Chanavenkateshwaram Rao, 50, was hit in the neck with a blade tied to the rooster’s claw on January 15. A police spokesman told CNN the father of three was taken to hospital, where he later died from a stroke.
Rao, who lived in Pragadavaram village in southern India’s Andhra Pradesh state, was a regular at local cockfights, and was on his way to enter the rooster in a competition when it tried to break free, station house officer Kranti Kumar said.
Cockfighting has been illegal in India since 1960. However, animal fighting continues to be a problem in the country, according to Gauri Maulekhi, trustee for India’s People for Animals foundation.
“The offenses have been made very clear and explained to the district and state authorities, but they choose to turn a blind eye towards it. It is not just for entertainment that these animals are made to fight, but it is (also) due to the heavy betting and gambling that goes on in the garb of these events,” Maulekhi said.
Kumar said the local cockfight went ahead without any arrests.
A 2014 Supreme Court judgment clarified the illegality of animal fighting under India’s Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act. In 2015, Maulekhi used that judgment to intervene in a state court petition to lift the ban on cockfighting — and the ban was upheld.
“I don’t think culture has anything to do with it — it is purely a money game and hysteria takes over, reason and logic just take a back seat such that neither the animal’s welfare nor the people’s welfare is enough to stop it,” Maulekhi said.
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