Arizona man registers swarm of bees as emotional support animals
An Arizona man’s emotional support animal is creating quite a buzz.
Prescott Valley, Ariz., resident David Keller thinks the application process to register an emotional support animal is too easy — so he tried registering a swarm of bees as his service pet.
It worked.
“A lot of people thought it was hilarious and a lot of people were getting upset,” Keller tells CBS affiliate WTRF-TV. He recently went on a website called USAServiceDogRegistration.com and successfully uploaded a random photo of a beehive as a service animal “to bring awareness to the issue that anyone could do this,” he explains.
Keller was inspired to go through with the registration after seeing a service dog that was visibly untrained. “I could very easily tell that it was not a service animal because it was pulling the owner to the parking lot,” says Keller. “I was thinking that it’s just too easy to get these animals to be service animals.”
The website he used to register his swarm is one of many that make the application process for emotional pets too easy, experts say.
“They’re very silly. They don’t mean anything. You can go pay for a registry on one of those websites and basically you’re just paying for a piece of paper and to put a name on a list,” service dog trainer Jaymie Cardin tells WTRF. With registration so easy, how an animal acts is a better way to tell if it’s worthy of the title.
“Training is how you tell whether it’s a service animal or not,” says Cardin.
And not all animals can be trained: Only dogs and miniature horses may be used as service animals, according to federal law.
Many other species are currently given the title, however, including a squirrel, peacock, monkey and alligator. Miniature horses remain cleared to fly as service animals, although emotional support dogs in tutus were recently booted off a flight after showing “signs of distress.”
“It’s making people believe all animals are service animals when they’re not. And there’s a clear difference,” says Keller.
Some purportedly trained service pets have mauled children and airplane passengers. Restaurateurs still face hefty fines for refusing individuals with service animals.
via: https://nypost.com/2019/12/09/arizona-man-registers-swarm-of-bees-as-emotional-support-animals/
Photo Credit: nypost.com
Man Arrested After Video Captures Apparent Mass Shooting Plot Rehearsal at San Diego Hotel
A man was arrested after authorities received a tip that he had posted videos online that appear to show him pointing weapons and practicing to carry out a mass shooting from a downtown San Diego hotel room.
Steve Homoki was scheduled to be arraigned Monday, the San Diego Union-Tribune reported. He was arrested last week at his home on suspicion of possessing assault weapons, possessing high capacity magazines and child endangerment, the newspaper said.
Homoki, 30, was jailed in lieu of $20,000 bail. It wasn’t known if he has an attorney.
Authorities identified Homoki during an investigation that began Dec. 2 when the San Diego Joint Terrorism Task Force received a tip “concerning very distressing Youtube videos threatening firearm violence linked to San Diego,” Lt. Shawn Takeuchi of the San Diego Police Department said in a statement.
Following a two-day investigation, authorities served a search warrant at Homoki’s home in the Spring Valley area east of San Diego, seizing “several firearms” and arresting Homoki, police said.
In a pair of YouTube videos posted Sept. 17 and 18, a man can be seen inside a hotel room pointing multiple weapons toward the windows a few floors above ground level, the newspaper said. Pedestrians walk just below and across the street, unaware of the guns being aimed at them. The videos appear to be from a body-worn camera.
According to court documents obtained by KNSD-TV, the videos were likely recorded in March 2019, when Homoki allegedly checked into the Sofia Hotel under the false name Stephen Anderson — a moniker similar to the one he used to post the videos.
In one video, the man points a handgun and a rifle with a scope toward the closed window of the hotel room.
In a second video, the room is strewn with bullets, several firearms and a mannequin head, among other items, the newspaper reported. After pulling the trigger on an unloaded rifle and then tossing it away, the man recording the video picks up another rifle and mumbles to himself, “One down, more to go.”
Suspect: Videos ‘blown out of proportion’
Homoki said the videos “got blown out of proportion” but conceded, “Obviously, looking back, it looks like if anybody else were to see it, it doesn’t look good.”
He said he did not mean to cause anyone any harm.
“Hopefully, they can see it the way I do, that I do not wish to cause harm to anybody, this is not an act of terrorism at all,” he said.
Lt. Shawn Takeuchi with the San Diego Police Department said the tip from the community was crucial.
“This arrest is an example of a community member coming forward with information that posed an immediate threat to San Diegans,” Takeuchi told KFMB. “The San Diego Police Department would like to thank the community for their shared efforts to keep everyone safe.”
Scott Brunner, the head of the FBI’s San Diego office, called the arrest an “extraordinary accomplishment” and commended the task force for their quick work in locating and apprehending Homoki.
“The extraordinarily swift investigative efforts put forth by the dedicated Agents and Officers of the San Diego JTTF quickly identified, located and arrested Mr. Homoki, preventing further incident,” a statement from Brunner said. “Just three days ago Mr. Homoki was an unknown poster of disturbing videos and is now behind bars, his threats neutralized.”
Photo Credit: CNN
Walmart apologizes for Christmas sweater with apparent drug reference
NEW YORK — Walmart is saying sorry for making available a Christmas sweater with an apparent drug reference.
The sweater featured an image of Santa Clausbehind a table with three white lines that look similar to cocaine lines. Below the image is the phrase “Let it snow.” The Global News, a Canadian news organization, first reported the apology .
“These sweaters, sold by a third-party seller on Walmart.ca, do not represent Walmart’s values and have no place on our website,” Walmart said in a statement on Saturday. “We have removed these products from our marketplace. We apologize for any unintended offense this may have caused.”
The sweater did not appear to be available as of Sunday night. Walmart declined to comment further on Sunday.
Third-party sellers are able to make products available on Walmart Marketplace — a portal on which Walmart can approve sellers to use its website.
Walmart has faced similar issues before. In 2017, the company apologized for an offensive slur used by a third-party seller in a product listing on its website.
And it’s not the first time this holiday season that a third-party seller has brought scrutiny to a major online retailer. Earlier in December, Amazon pulled Christmas ornaments showing the Auschwitz concentration camp. Images used showed the train tracks leading to the entrance of Auschwitz II-Birkenau and a number of scenes inside the camps, where around 1 million Jewish people are estimated to have been killed during World War II.Amazon removed the products when the Auschwitz Memorial tweeted about them.
Photo Credit: Walmart
Customer punched over taking too long at register in Florida Walmart
CAPE CORAL, Fla. – Police have charged a Cape Coral man with battery after he reportedly punched another customer in the checkout line at a Walmart store.
It happened Wednesday evening at the Neighborhood Market store on Pine Island Road at Nicholas Parkway.
According to Cape Coral Police, 69-year-old Henry Harvey became angry over customers ahead of him in line taking too long at the register.
An argument resulted in Harvey punching the victim in the head. Officers later located Harvey at his home and arrested him.
The victim was not seriously injured.
via: https://fox2now.com/2019/12/06/customer-punched-over-taking-too-long-at-register-in-florida-walmart/
Photo Credit: fox2now.com
A 5-year-old carried a toddler half a mile in Alaska terrain after being left home alone
(CNN) — A 5-year-old walked through extreme temperatures in the Alaskan terrain with an 18-month-old after authorities say they were left home alone.
The incident took place Tuesday when the temperature in Venetie, Alaska, was -31 degrees Fahrenheit (-35 degrees Celsius), according to a dispatch from the state’s Department of Public Safety. Venetie is in the northeastern section of Alaska.
The children arrived at a neighbor’s home with “cold injuries,” Alaska State Troopers said. The 5-year-old got scared when the power went out and carried the toddler about half a mile while wearing only socks and light clothing, according to Alaska State Troopers.
Julie Peter, 37, was charged with endangering the welfare of a minor in the first degree, the dispatch said.
CNN’s Laura Ly contributed to this report.
Photo Credit: Getty Images
‘I Got Tired of Hunting Black and Hispanic People’
NEW YORK — At a police station tucked into an end-of-the-line subway terminal in South Brooklyn, the new commander instructed officers to think of white and Asian people as “soft targets” and urged them to instead go after blacks and Latinos for minor offenses like jumping the turnstile, a half-dozen officers said in sworn statements.
“You are stopping too many Russian and Chinese,” one of the officers, Daniel Perez, recalled the commander telling him earlier this decade.
Another officer, Aaron Diaz, recalled the same commander saying in 2012, “You should write more black and Hispanic people.”
The sworn statements, gathered in the last few months as part of a discrimination lawsuit, deal with a period between 2011-15. But they are now emerging publicly at a time when policing in the subway has become a contentious issue, sparking protests over a crackdown on fare evasion and other low-level offenses.
The commander, Constantin Tsachas, was in charge of more than 100 officers who patrolled a swath of the subway system in Brooklyn, his first major command. Since then, he has been promoted to the second-in-command of policing the subway system throughout Brooklyn. Along the way, more than half a dozen subordinates claim, he gave them explicit directives about whom to arrest based on race.
Those subordinates recently came forward, many for the first time, providing signed affidavits to support a discrimination lawsuit brought by four black and Hispanic police officers.
The officers claim they faced retaliation from the New York Police Department because they objected to what they said was a long-standing quota system for arrests and tickets, which they argued mainly affected black and Hispanic New Yorkers.
The authorities have deployed hundreds of additional officers to the subways, provoking a debate about overpolicing and the criminalization of poverty. Videos of arrests of young black men and of a woman selling churros in the subway system have gone viral in recent weeks. Demonstrators have taken to the subway system and jumped turnstiles in protest.
Six officers said in their affidavits that Tsachas, now a deputy inspector, pressured them to enforce low-level violations against black and Hispanic people, while discouraging them from doing the same to white or Asian people.
Tsachas declined to comment when reached by telephone this week, but his union representative said the inspector denied the allegations of misconduct. The Police Department also declined to address the allegations.
The department has said in the past that its enforcement of fare evasion is not aimed at black and Hispanic people.
More than three years ago, when Tsachas was promoted to his current rank, the police commissioner at the time, William J. Bratton, said that allegations Tsachas pushed quotas were false.
“I have full faith and support in him,” Bratton said. He added that Tsachas had “the requisite skills and comes highly recommended.”
Most of the people arrested on charges of fare evasion in New York are black or Hispanic, according to data the Police Department has been required to report under local law since 2017.
Between October 2017 and June 2019, black and Hispanic people, who account for slightly more than half the population in New York City, made up nearly 73% of those who got a ticket for fare evasion and whose race was recorded. They also made up more than 90% of those who were arrested, rather than given a ticket.
Some elected officials have complained about the apparent racial disparity in arrests, saying it may indicate bias on the part of officers or an unofficial policy of racial profiling by the police.
“The focus of black and brown people, even if other people were doing the same crime, points to what many of us have been saying for a while,” the city’s public advocate, Jumaane Williams, said. “The same actions lead to different results, unfortunately, depending on where you live and an overlay of what you look like.”
Enforcement has surged nearly 50% in 2019, as city police officers issued 22,000 more tickets for fare evasion this year compared to 2018, according to Police Department data from Nov. 10.
While the affidavits focus on a time period that ended nearly five years ago, they suggest at least one police commander openly pushed racial profiling when making arrests in the subway.
“I got tired of hunting Black and Hispanic people because of arrest quotas,” one former officer, Christopher LaForce, said in his affidavit, explaining his decision to retire in 2015.
In the affidavits, the officers said that different enforcement standards applied to different stations across Transit District 34, which spanned stations across South Brooklyn: Brooklyn’s Chinatown in Sunset Park; neighborhoods with large Orthodox Jewish communities; a corner of Flatbush that is home to many Caribbean immigrants; and the Russian enclave around Brighton Beach.
“Tsachas would get angry if you tried to patrol subway stations in predominantly white or Asian neighborhoods” LaForce said in his affidavit. He added that the commander would redirect officers to stations in neighborhoods with larger black and Hispanic populations.
Diaz, who retired from the Police Department last year, described in his affidavit how on one occasion Tsachas seemed irritated at him for having stopped several Asian people for fare evasion and told him he should be issuing tickets to “more black and Hispanic people.”
At the time, Diaz said, he was assigned to the N Line, which passes through neighborhoods with large numbers of Chinese Americans. He had arrested multiple residents of that neighborhoods for doubling up as they went through the turnstiles, according to his affidavit.
Other officers described similar experiences. Some of the officers claimed in affidavits that Tsachas urged his officers to come up with reasons to stop black men, especially those with tattoos, and check them for warrants.
Of the six officers, all but one is retired. They are all black or Hispanic. The affidavits were given to The New York Times by one of the four officers who has sued the Police Department, Lt. Edwin Raymond.
The allegations in the affidavits were bolstered by a police union official, Corey Grable, who gave a deposition in June in the same lawsuit that recounted his interactions with Tsachas. He recalled Tsachas had once complained about a subordinate who Tsachas said seemed to go for “soft targets.”
Unsure what that meant, Grable asked if the officer was ticketing old ladies for minor offenses? Tsachas responded: “No, Asian.”
Grable, who is black, asked, “Would you have been more comfortable if these guys were black or Hispanic?”
“Yes,” Tsachas replied, according to Grable’s recollection.
Tsachas joined the Police Department in 2001 and patrolled public housing developments in Harlem for five years. He later analyzed crime patterns in Queens and across the city before being transferred to the Transit Bureau. He was a captain in 2011 when he was appointed to command Brooklyn’s District 34, a position he held for at least four years.
In 2015, he took command of neighboring Transit District 32, where Raymond, who is currently suing him, worked. At the time Raymond held the rank of police officer.
Raymond has charged in the lawsuit that Tsachas blocked his promotion by giving him a low evaluation as punishment for not making enough arrests.
Raymond, who is now a patrol supervisor in Brooklyn, recorded a conversation in October 2015 in which Tsachas encouraged him to arrest more people and gave an example of the sort of arrest he did not want: a 42-year-old Asian woman with no identification arrested on a charge of fare beating.
“That’s not going to fly,” he said, according to the recording, first described in a New York Times Magazine article.
Raymond, who still had the rank of police officer at the time, responded that it was unconstitutional to consider race when deciding whom to arrest. Tsachas, a captain at the time, then apologized, saying the comment “didn’t come out the way it’s supposed to.”
Raymond said he believed Tsachas should not have been promoted. “It’s a spit in the face of communities of color that this man is given more power after being exposed as a bigot,” he said.
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.
© 2019 The New York Times Company
via: https://currently.att.yahoo.com/news/got-tired-hunting-black-hispanic-165530610.html
Photo Credit: Celeste Sloman/The New York Times
Florida man charged for sexually assaulting stuffed Olaf from ‘Frozen’ toy
A Florida man got hot and heavy with a “Frozen” toy, cops said.
Cody Christopher Meader allegedly had his way with the stuffed snowman Olaf, from the popular Disney flick, ejaculating on the doll and sticking it back on the shelf at a Target in St. Petersburg.
When he was done, Meader apparently moved on to a large stuffed unicorn and began dry humping it, police said, according to The Smoking Gun.
Meader, 20, of St. Petersburg, was charged Friday with criminal mischief in the Oct. 22 incident in the Target, according to a police report. He remains free on $150 bond.
Meader admitted to doing “stupid stuff” and that he had “nutted” on the Olaf stuffed animal, police said.
The toys were “removed from the store floor,” according to cops.
“The merchandise could not be re-sold and [was] destroyed due to circumstances.”
Photo Credit: MEGA
KFC is selling a chicken-scented fire log to warm your drumsticks this holiday season
NEW YORK — Ahhhh yes, the chill of winter has descended upon us once again. And that means the time has come to slip on your fluffiest socks, snuggle up next to a crackling fire, and bask in the smoky scent of….chicken?
In a partnership with artificial fire log company Enviro-Log, Kentucky Fried Chicken is offering what’s sure to be the hottest commodity of the season — a hunk of flammable, chicken-scented bliss otherwise known as the 11 Herbs & Spices Firelog .
You don’t even have to go flying out of the front door to get your hands on the bizarre, flaming mass. It’s exclusively sold on Walmart.com for a slick $18.99.
You will need to really assess your priorities to decide whether that’s too much to pay for a log that will fill your house with a distinct poultry smell.
Last year, KFC said, the creation sold out in just three hours. So, of course, they could not resist giving the people what they obviously want for a second year in a row.
“Since selling out last year, we have received weekly calls from hopeful fans wanting to get their hands on the 11 Herbs & Spices Firelog,” said Ross McRoy, president and founder of Enviro-Log.
KFC suggests you pop that sucker in your online shopping cart, cash in on Walmart.com’s free two-day shipping, and then hit up kfc.com to order a $20 Fill Up to be delivered straight to your door. You may never have to leave the house this winter with this succulent duo!
What is a $20 Fill Up , you might ask? It’s a whole spread equipped with 8 pieces of KFC’s Original Chicken Extra Crispy or Kentucky Grilled Chicken, a large cole slaw, four biscuits and two large heaps of mashed potatoes and gravy to keep you warm.
Don’t have a fireplace to burn the log in?
Consider these options:
- Slam it on top of a pile of holiday shopping catalogs for the ultimate paperweight
- A door-stop that doubles as an air diffuser once the chicken scent starts to leak into the air
- A permanent art installation in your home entryway
- The quintessential KFC collectors item
- A perfect holiday gag gift
Photo Credit: KFC
Maryland Driver Accused of Fatally Hitting Teen Girl Had Whiskey, 92 Minibottles of Liquor in Car
A woman accused of driving off the road and killing a teenager in Maryland had two bottles of whiskey and 92 minibottles of liquor in the car, police said.
Jennifer Jean Jones, 30, has been charged with negligent manslaughter by vehicle, Baltimore County police said Thursday.
Charging documents say Jones crossed the double lines of a Dundalk road Tuesday, hitting Trinity Lynn Brooks, 15, and then kept going: hitting a tree, driving through a fence and into three backyards before coming to a stop.
Police say two bottles of whiskey and 92 minibottles of liquor were found on the front passenger side floorboard.
Jones was found unconscious in the wrecked car, the documents state. First responders administered Narcan because they believed she was under the influence of opioids. The documents say she told police she had her last drink five minutes before the crash. Police say she admitted to drinking heavily every day and had been a heroin user.
Brooks was a freshman at Dundalk High School, Baltimore County schools spokesman Brandon Oland said.
“It’s obviously a very sad week at that school,” Oland said. “Our thoughts and wishes are with her family.”
A vigil for Brooks was held at the crash site Thursday. A visitation will be held Monday and funeral services will be Tuesday, according to news outlets.
Jones waived her right to appear at her bail review Thursday. She’s being held without bond at the Baltimore County Department of Corrections. It’s unclear whether she had an attorney who could speak for her.
Photo Credit: Baltimore County Police Department
Baby Phat is officially back with a surprise relaunch
Baby Phat is officially back in business.
Kimora Lee Simmons announced that she would be relaunching and revamping her iconic streetwear brand earlier this year, and dropped a surprise collection on BabyPhat.com on Friday at 4 p.m.
The initial capsule consists of tracksuits, with a cropped jacket retailing for $150 and matching jogger styles for $120. There’s also a reflective wind breaker ($190), windbreaker shorts ($90) and tank tops with the bedazzled logo ($75) in the first drop.
A representative confirmed to Page Six Style that the first release will be followed another in about two weeks, and that the brand will continue rolling out styles continuously afterward.
The official Baby Phat Instagram started posting images from the campaign — starring Simmons’ daughters Ming Lee, 19, and Aoki Lee, 17 — earlier in the week, indicating that something was coming.
After splitting with the company — which was previously owned and then sold by her ex-husband Russell Simmons — in 2010, the former supermodel, 44, bought back Baby Phat earlier this year with plans to revive the line.
“It’s so fulfilling to see one generation squealing with nostalgia at the news of our relaunch, and another discovering the brand for the first time,” Simmons previously told Page Six Style. “I’m heartened that the original aesthetic found its wait into the zeitgeist. That’s affirmation for me and a whole community of women who were underserved by fashion the first time around.”
She previously released a collaboration with Forever 21, consisting of leopard-print bike shorts, tiny crop tops, terrycloth tube tops and more to much fanfar; the collection sold out online almost immediately.
Judging by the images, fans can expect dollar bill-printed opera gloves, fur stoles, sheer bodysuits and many more sexy silhouettes from the brand in the near future. With celebrity fans like Rihanna — who reportedly bought out an entire vintage collector’s archives of the brand as recently as last year — the relaunch is sure to bring back sexy ’90s nostalgia in a major way.
Photo Credit: Baby Phat