Woman delivers baby after DUI crash, newborn critical
PHILADELPHIA — A woman went into premature labor following a crash involving a DUI suspect in the Overbrook section of Philadelphia. The newborn remains hospitalized in critical condition.
The crash occurred around 2:40 a.m. Tuesday at the intersection of Haverford and Overbook avenues.
Police say a man and a pregnant woman in a 2006 Chevrolet pickup truck were stopped at a traffic light when they were rear-ended by a 2003 white Lexus.
Arriving medics took the man and woman to Lankenau Medical Center where the woman gave birth.
Action News is told the baby was due in May.
The 42-year-old mother and 36-year-old man are in stable condition. The 56-year-old Lexus driver was arrested for DUI and driving with a suspended license.
The investigation lead to the closure of Haverford Avenue.
The investigation is ongoing.
via: https://abc7chicago.com/traffic/woman-delivers-baby-after-dui-crash-newborn-critical/5121502/
Toddler eats heroin baggies left out by parent
UPPER DARBY, Pa. — A toddler almost died after eating heroin that was found next to his passed out mother, according to the Upper Darby Police Department.
“When children
are impacted by their stupidity because of their drug activity then
shame on them,” said Upper Darby Police Superintendent Michael Chitwood.
Chitwood said the 16-month-old boy ingested heroin and possibly fentanyl and is still alive because of Narcan.
“That child was lucky enough to get to the hospital, being taken by the drug addict father and mother, to where the doctor shot him up with Narcan,” said Chitwood.
Police say it was under the mother’s watch in the 7700 block of West Chester Pike when the little boy chewed empty baggies with drug residue. The mother was reportedly passed out, possibly high. The boy’s father came home and rushed his unconscious baby to the hospital where he was revived.
According to police, the father admitted the night before he used five bags of fentanyl.
“We do a search warrant of the location and we find a total of 12 empty packages and bags,” said Chitwood.
Distraught family members came to the home on Tuesday. The uncle of the baby says his sister and the baby’s father live there with his parents.
“For those who are responsible should be held accountable. Not my mother and father who have the biggest hearts in the world who cannot throw out people because of their children and then them people make decisions in the house that now reflect on everybody which shouldn’t,” said Brendan Boyle, the boy’s uncle.
Police are still doing interviews and tell Action News they are preparing to charge the mother.
She faces reckless endangerment, endangering the welfare of a child and drug charges.
via: https://abc7chicago.com/toddler-eats-heroin-baggies-left-out-by-parent-police-say/5122466/
Pope Acknowledges Priests and Bishops Have Sexually Abused Nuns
Pope Francis has for the first time publicly acknowledged the scandal of priests and bishops sexually abusing nuns and says he is committed to doing more to fight the problem.
Speaking to reporters Tuesday, Francis noted that Pope Benedict XVI had taken action against a France-based order after some of its religious sisters had been reduced to “sexual slavery” at the hands of the priest who founded the order and other priests.
“Should we do something more? Yes. Is there the will? Yes. But it’s a path that we have already begun,” Francis said while returning home from the United Arab Emirates.
“It’s not that everyone does this, but there have been priests and bishops who have,” Francis added. “And I think that it’s continuing because it’s not like once you realize it that it stops. It continues. And for some time we’ve been working on it.”
The issue has come to the fore amid the Catholic Church’s overall reckoning with the sexual abuse of minors and the #MeToo-inspired acknowledgement that adults can be victims of abuse whenever there is an imbalance of power in a relationship. In the past year, The Associated Press and other media have reported on cases of abused nuns in India, Africa, Europe and South America — evidence that the problem is by no means limited to a certain geographic area.
In November, the organization representing all the world’s female Catholic religious orders, the International Union of Superiors General, publicly denounced the “culture of silence and secrecy” that prevented nuns from speaking out and urged sisters to report abuse to their superiors and police. And just last week, the women’s magazine of the Vatican newspaper L’Osservatore Romano identified the clerical culture of the all-powerful clergy as the culprit. The magazine, “Women Church World,” noted that the scandal involves a corollary: nuns being forced to abort the priests’ children.
Francis said some clergy had been suspended for mistreating sisters. But he also noted that the mistreatment of women is a problem in society at large, where women are still considered “second-class citizens.”
“It’s a cultural problem. I dare say that humanity hasn’t matured,” he said, adding that in some parts of the world the mistreatment gets to the point of feminicide.
Francis credited Benedict, pope from 2005-2013, with having had the courage to tackle the problem, saying the popular impression that he was somehow weak was completely wrong.
He said Benedict took action against the French congregation “because a certain slavery of women had crept in, slavery to the point of sexual slavery on the part of clergy or the founder,” he said.
“Sometimes the founder takes away, or empties the freedom of the sisters. It can come to this,” Francis said.
Asked if any universal norms might be in the works to tackle the problem — as has been done to handle cases of clergy sexual abuse of minors — Francis implied that the priestly abuse of nuns was still being dealt with on a case-by-case basis.
“There are cases, usually in new congregations and in some regions more than others,” he said. “We’re working on it.”
“Pray that this goes forward,” he said of the Vatican efforts to fight it. “I want it to go forward.”
via: https://ktla.com/2019/02/05/pope-acknowledges-priests-bishops-have-sexually-abused-nuns/
Photo Credit: Pope Francis leads mass for an estimated 170,000 Catholics at the Zayed Sports City Stadium on Feb. 5, 2019. (Credit: VINCENZO PINTO/AFP/Getty Images)
7-Month-Old Girl Dies After Being Suffocated by South Carolina Man High on Meth
Authorities say a 22-year-old man high on methamphetamines killed a 7-month-old baby by squeezing her until she became quiet in his South Carolina home.
Oconee County deputies said Austin Rogers was charged with homicide by child abuse on Monday more than three weeks after the infant died.
An arrest warrant said Rogers held the baby against his chest on Jan. 12 until she got quiet, then put her face down on a bed and didn’t check on her for 45 minutes.
Deputies say Rogers was taking care of the baby after using drugs, but didn’t detail any relationship with the girl. The death happened in Rogers’ home in Sunset.
Rogers was awaiting a bond hearing. It wasn’t known if he had a lawyer.
Patient dies after she says both kidneys mistakenly removed
A 73-year-old Colorado woman who claimed her healthy kidneys were removed by doctors died eight months following the surgery, according to reports.
Linda Woolley was taking the steps to get on the nation’s kidney transplant waiting list when she died Friday from cardiac arrest, news station KDVR reported.
Wooley underwent surgery in May 2018 to remove both kidneys after she claims doctors at the University of Colorado Hospital told her she likely had kidney cancer. Following the procedure, she was required to undergo four hours of dialysis three days a week, according to KDVR.
It wasn’t until after the surgery that Woolley discovered her biopsy reports prior to the procedure showed “no evidence of malignancy,” news station KDVR reported.
“I was not real happy,” Woolley told the news outlet in November. “My life was totally changed. Dialysis is no picnic no matter how used to it you get, it robs you of your life.”
Prior to her death, Woolley retained an attorney to file a lawsuit alleging malpractice against the hospital, news station WGN-TV reported.
Woolley’s family said they believe the grandmother would “absolutely” still be alive if she didn’t have the procedure.
“There’s a few things the kidneys regulate, one of them being potassium,” her daughter Jodi Fournier told KDVR.
“And when you don’t have them you have the dialysis that removes those toxins in your body. Her [potassium] levels were twice what they should’ve been and that ultimately caused the cardiac arrest.”
The University of Colorado Hospital released a statement following the former patient’s death.
“Our deepest condolences go out to the family and loved ones,” the hospital said.
“We are committed to providing the highest-quality care for our patients. Unfortunately, we are unable to discuss any specific patients because of federal and state laws that protect patients’ privacy.”
A GoFundMe page has been launched to raise money for Woolley’s funeral expenses
via: https://nypost.com/2019/02/05/patient-dies-after-she-says-both-kidneys-mistakenly-removed/
13-year-old boy kills himself after school allegedly ignores bullying
An eighth-grade student in Michigan reportedly took his own life after he faced relentless bullying on his school bus.
Michael Martin, 13, died Jan. 25 at Sparrow Hospital two days after he attempted suicide at his Lansing home, the Lansing State Journal reported.
His mother, Joanna Wohlfert, said the teen was teased about his weight and braces on the school bus in the months prior to his death.
He often skipped class at Everett High School to avoid the bullies, which led to his grades slipping, she said.
Wohlfert said the school district and bus company failed to investigate the issue after she repeatedly reached out to them.
“He was going through a dark time and nobody cared,” his mom told the newspaper. “Nobody paid attention to him.”
In emails provided to the newspaper, Wohlfer pleads with faculty and administrators to address the bullying.
“I AM ASKING FOR ANY HELP I CAN GET,” she wrote to a school counselor in a Jan. 8 email.
School officials released a statement Monday confirming authorities are investigating the teen’s suicide.
“The Lansing School District is engaged in a comprehensive and on-going investigation and is working closely with the Lansing Police Department,” the district said.
“It is the policy and practice of the district to not comment or share any details pertaining to the investigation while it is on-going.”
via: https://nypost.com/2019/02/05/13-year-old-boy-kills-himself-after-school-allegedly-ignores-bullying/
San Fernando Valley Girl Scout’s Viral Rap To Cardi B’s “Money” Helps Her Sell Out of Cookies in 1 Day
A 10-year-old Girl Scout from Winnetka and self-described entrepreneur-in-training has been selling cookies half her life. She’s learned the pitfalls of sales, so this cookie season, she decided to up the ante with a viral hit.
Kayla “Kiki” Paschall’s rap — set to the tune of Cardi B’s “Money,” which reached No. 1 on Billboard’s R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay chart this week — has been retweeted nearly 20,000 times in two days. She was able to sell all her cookies the day after it was posted, she said.
The infectious tune features rhymes like, “Black girl magic, you know the deal / Communities served, leadership skills / Studio City to Woodland Hills” and “Thin Mints are the best / Savannah Smiles delish / Do-si-dos are all bliss / Tagalongs divine / Toffee-tastic blows my mind / Hey, that really rhymes”
But Paschall, who belongs to Troop 3246 encompassing the San Fernando Valley, said she landed upon the tactic after some trial and error in previous years.
“Sometimes people will say that they’re on a diet so they don’t buy cookies, other times they’ll be like, ‘Oh, I already bought some,” she told KTLA.
Her mom, Shania Accius, confessed that past years haven’t been as successful as this one.
“Every year, the last day of sales we’re sitting out in front of some supermarket trying to sell our last few boxes,” Accius said. “So this year, we’re like, OK let’s try to do something strategically.”
The pair hatched a plan to harness Cardi B’s chart-topping success to push their own product.
“A lot of people have been doing remakes of the Cardi B “Money” song and adding their own lyrics to it,” Accius said. “So I was like, OK, this is a popular song — this might be the right one for her to try.”
And the money came fast, according to Paschall.
“We posted it on Friday, and then we reached my goal the next day,” she said. “I really appreciate of the people that bought cookies from me.”
Accius said she wasn’t surprised by all the attention her daughter got.
“That’s my baby, and I’m not trying to brag on her, but she has a light about her,” she said.
To learn more about Troop 3246, visit their Instagram page.
Ex-Youtuber Faces up to 20 Years in Prison for Pressuring Underage Girls Into Sending Sexually Explicit Videos of Themselves
With his swooping blonde hair, bright blue eyes and versatile voice, Austin Jones piled up millions of views with his a capella covers of songs by Justin Bieber, Fall Out Boy and others.
Followers — mainly teenage girls — adored his slickly produced videos, and as the likes and subscribers poured in, he began to perform on tour across the country.
But on Friday, a year and a half since the last time he posted to his 534,000 YouTube subscribers, Jones appeared before a federal court in the Northern District of Illinois and pleaded guilty to receipt of child pornography.
The 26-year-old from suburban Chicago had been using his online popularity to solicit sexually explicit videos from girls as young as 14, a plea agreement states.
Jones was charged in June 2017 with two counts of production of child pornography and, according to a plea agreement, admitted to enticing six underage girls to make pornographic videos of themselves and to send them to him.
Attorneys for Jones did not respond to a request for comment.
Since his 2017 arrest, Jones has been out on a $100,000 secured bond. He now faces a mandatory minimum of five years in prison and a maximum of 20 years, prosecutors said. His sentencing is set for May 3.
What the complaint said
Even before his arrest, Jones had come under fire for his interactions with young fans. In June 2015, he posted a 16-minute YouTube video in which he looked directly into the camera and admitted that he used to ask fans to send him twerking videos.
“Nothing ever went further than twerking videos,” he said. “There were never any nudes, never any physical contact.”
But a federal criminal complaint cites two instances of Jones messaging teenage girls to send him explicit videos of themselves dancing.
In one example, Jones messaged with a girl who told him she was 14 years old. Jones allegedly asked her to send videos of herself dancing in a sexual manner and referred to it as a “try out” and an “opportunity.”
According to the complaint, Jones instructed the girls on how to shake or “clap” their buttocks and expose themselves in videos for him.
“At the beginning, get super close and say these lines: hey Austin, it’s (name) and this butt is (age) years old and then make it clap for 30 seconds. Got it?” Jones wrote on Facebook to the girl, the complaint states.
She ultimately sent him about 15 videos of her dancing, including 10 videos in which she exposed herself, the complaint states.
In all, Jones pleaded guilty on Monday to enticing six underage girls to produce similar pornographic videos of themselves and send them to him. He told one of the girls that the video was part of a “modeling” opportunity, the plea agreement states.
He also admitted that he had attempted to persuade minor girls to send him sexually explicit photos and videos on about 30 other occasions, the plea agreement states.
Jones was first arrested that June 2017 at O’Hare International Airport and questioned in a recorded interview, the complaint states. He waived his Miranda rights and admitted to using Facebook to have sexually explicit chats with underage girls, receive explicit videos from them and view those videos for sexual pleasure.
Jones’ Facebook, Instagram and Twitter have since been deleted, but his YouTube videos remain online. His most recent YouTube video, posted in May 2017 and titled “I NEED YOUR HELP,” asks fans to follow him on a new Facebook page.
“Thank you so much, I love you all dearly and I will have some exciting news for you very, very soon,” he said.
He was arrested less than a month later.
Man Accused of Sexually Exploiting Tennessee Girl Who Sought Help After Allegedly Being Raped by Adoptive Dad
A Tennessee girl found alive after a two-week disappearance was with a stranger who picked her up after she told him she was being raped at home — and he asked for and kept video of the alleged abuse before he acted, authorities said.
Bryan Rogers, a Wisconsin man who said he’d been messaging the 14-year-old through online gaming, drove to Tennessee in mid-January, picked the girl up and took her to his home, federal authorities allege in court.
Investigators found the girl in Rogers’ home in Madison on Thursday night, days after her family reported her missing. She was discovered hiding in a closet after Rogers claimed she wasn’t there, authorities said.
Rogers is now among at least two men criminally charged in the case:
• The girl’s adoptive father, Randall Pruitt, was arrested last week and charged in Tennessee with raping her.
• Rogers, 31, is charged in federal court with sexual exploiting a child, accused of persuading her to record video of her abuse.
CNN is not naming the girl because she is the alleged victim of sexual assault.
The girl sent Rogers a video, and he picked her up without alerting authorities about the alleged abuse, an affidavit filed in court on Monday said.
“Rogers stated he did not ever send the video to any law enforcement because he thought it would not stand up in court,” the affidavit said.
The FBI and the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office in Tennessee declined to comment on how investigators learned the girl was at Rogers’ home.
Attorneys for Rogers and Pruitt didn’t immediately respond to CNN’s requests for comment.
Rogers and the girl connected through an online game, feds say
The court document doesn’t say exactly how or when Rogers and the girl first contacted each other.
But Rogers, after his arrest Thursday, told investigators that they’d been in contact through the Roblox online gaming platform as well as through Facebook and an encrypted messaging system, the document said.
According to the affidavit:
• Rogers said the girl told him that she was being molested, and he said he instructed her to get video of the rape.
• Investigators found a phone that shows chats between Rogers and the girl, starting on December 24. The messages indicate the girl asked him for help.
“I know you don’t want to do it but … we need clear video evidence,” reads one of the messages — which the affidavit said Rogers sent to the girl. The messages urge her to make a recording with a phone.
• Rogers told investigators the girl emailed him such a video.
“He saw the video and said it was blurry,” and claims he couldn’t give it to law enforcement because he didn’t think it would be useful in court, the affidavit said.
After she recorded video, he picked her up, feds allege
After receiving the video, Rogers drove to Tennessee and picked her up, authorities allege. She was reported missing January 14, a day after last being seen at her home in Madisonville, in eastern Tennessee between Chattanooga and Knoxville.
Rogers told investigators he “avoided tollways and gas stations with surveillance, and smashed (the girl’s) phone, so that he would not be traced,” the court document said.
By Thursday, investigators came to believe the girl was with Rogers in Wisconsin, some 700 miles to the north of her home.
On Thursday afternoon, FBI agents went to Rogers’ home, where he told them that he’d been in contact with the girl online and that she’d given him video showing her being sexually assaulted, the affidavit said.
But he told them that he had never met the girl in person, and that she was not in his home, the document said.
Four hours later, investigators went back to the home, and found the girl hiding in a closet in Rogers’ living area in a basement, the affidavit said.
Investigators found the video on Rogers’ computer, authorities said.
Rogers is due in court Thursday afternoon for a detention hearing.
Hawaii is considering a bill that bans cigarette sales to anyone under 100
“The legislature finds that the cigarette is considered the deadliest artifact in human history.”
So begins the text of a new bill introduced in Hawaii’s State House, calling for a phased ban on cigarette sales in the state by 2024.
Hawaii has some of the most restrictive cigarette laws in the nation. In 2016, it became the first state to raise the age to buy cigarettes to 21. Now, its new bill calls for raising the cigarette-buying age to 30 by next year, up to 40, 50 and 60 in each subsequent year, and up to 100 by 2024.
That would effectively clear Hawaii’s store shelves of cigarettes, although tourists could still bring them in.
And curiously, Hawaii would offer its centenarians the chance to buy cigarettes near the end of their life — if they could find them.
CNN has reached out to the bill’s sponsor, Rep. Richard Creagan, for comment.
Creagan, who is an emergency room doctor, told the Hawaii Tribune-Herald, “Basically, we essentially have a group who are heavily addicted — in my view, enslaved by a ridiculously bad industry — which has enslaved them by designing a cigarette that is highly addictive, knowing that it highly lethal. And, it is.”
The age limits would not apply to e-cigarettes, cigars or chewing tobacco.
Federal law requires states to set the minimum tobacco-purchasing age at 18, and the government enforces the measure by withholding FEMA grants from states who don’t comply. Currently, most states allow 18-year-olds to buy cigarettes, and four have raised the minimum age to 19.
The bill notes that Hawaii “is suffering from its own addiction to cigarettes in the form of the large sums of money that the State receives from state cigarette sales taxes,” to the tune of $100 million annually.
One reason for the law’s staggered rollout is to give the state time to find ways to adjust for the lost cigarette tax revenue.
In 2015, the National Academy of Sciences released a report that argued increasing the age to buy tobacco to 21 would have a “considerable impact” on the age at which someone takes their first puff. The report also suggested “if someone is not a regular tobacco user by age 25, it is highly unlikely he or she will become one.”
Creagan told the Hawaii Tribune-Herald he’s confident the bill will survive any court challenges.
Unlike Second Amendment gun rights, the US Constitution does not recognize smoking as a fundamental right. In 2012, a federal appeals court upheld a lower court ruling against a smoker who challenged an anti-smoking ordinance in Clayton, Missouri, on grounds that it violated his constitutional rights.