Viral photo of voter wearing T-shirt with noose, Confederate flag stirs outrage
OLIVE BRANCH, Miss. — A North Mississippi voter’s election day attire – a T-shirt showing a noose hanging over the Confederate flag with the words “Mississippi Justice” – is generating controversy on social media.
The voter who took the picture doesn’t want to show his face, because he’s not sure what the person wearing the shirt is capable of, according to WREG.
“How could someone feel comfortable coming out in public, let alone to a polling station with a shirt like that,” the photographer said. “I thought he was a worker because he was behind the counter. But come to find out, he was an express voter.”
Both voters filled out their ballots at the Pleasant Hill Road polling location in Olive Branch.
“My brother pointed out the shirt, and I’m like, ‘That’s a noose!'”
The man who took the photo said he walked in with a sense of pride, ready to exercise his right to vote, but the noose and rebel flag took that away from him.
“They try to intimidate you to keep you away from the polls, and I think that’s the exact reason we need to go.”
He says the hateful message got to him, but he held it together – until he got home. That’s when he posted the photo on Facebook.
“What makes you feel that comfortable? He knew what he was doing,” the voter said.
He says after he posted the picture, everyone had something to say. But as he stood in line, “everyone was silent. No one said anything.”
An initial claim on social media identified the T-shirt wearing man as a poll worker, but District 2 Election Commissioner Barry Chatham told the Clarion Ledger that wasn’t true.
Voting officials told WREG they were really busy and that poll workers didn’t even see the shirt.
“All agreed if someone had came in wearing that shirt, they would have remembered,” Chatham told the paper.
Officials say they realize it made people uncomfortable. But they had nothing to do with what a voter decided to wear to the polls. According to the Secretary of State, the only election day clothing rules are you can’t wear clothing bearing a candidates name or picture into a polling place.
Voters choose dead pimp over Democratic opponent
Deceased brothel owner Dennis Hof managed to win an election for a Nevada state assembly seat in Tuesday’s election.
Hof, who died last month at his Love Ranch cathouse, garnered more votes than his Democratic opponent, Lesia Romanov, according to the Nevada Independent.
Although polling sites were plastered with signs declaring him dead, results showed that Hof had 68.3 percent of the vote versus Romanov’s 32 percent.
The budding politician was found deceased after a rally with porn star Ron Jeremy and former Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio.
The assembly seat will be declared vacant, since the winner is dead, and the county commissioner will begin a process to fill the seat.
via: https://nypost.com/2018/11/07/dead-brothel-owner-dennis-hof-wins-nevada-election/
82-year-old grandma votes for the first time, then dies
GRAND PRAIRIE, Texas – An 82-year-old Texas great-grandmother cast an early ballot Thursday – her first ever – just days before she died.
Gracie Lou Phillips had dedicated her life to raising a large family, granddaughter Leslie Rene Moore told KXAS, and had grown up with misconceptions about voting.
But this year she was determined to vote in the midterm election.
“She finally registered to vote for the first time in her life,” Moore said. “She kept telling everybody ‘I’m voting. I’m going to vote this year and my vote counts.’”
Moore wrote on Facebook that her grandmother proved that voting is important “no matter your age.”
Despite being in hospice while fighting pneumonia, Phillips headed to the polls in Grand Prairie with the help of her granddaughter, who told CBS that poll workers, upon seeing her grandmother’s oxygen tank, brought the ballot out and covered the vehicle’s windows so the 82-year-old could vote without leaving the car.
Four days after voting, Phillips died in her sleep. She was at home with family, Moore told Time. She said in a Facebook post that she will “hold dear the memories and lessons that she gave me over the years.”
“I have learned from my Grannie how important voting is and that there is no excuse not to do so. I have voted … have you?” Moore posted on Facebook Monday.
10-year-old girl accused of stomping 6-month-old baby to death
CHIPPEWA FALLS, Wis. — A 10-year-old girl charged with first-degree intentional homicide in the death of a 6-month-old baby told investigators that she panicked after dropping the infant, and stomped on the child’s head to stop the crying, according to a sheriff in western Wisconsin.
Handcuffed and wearing a leather restraint around her waist, the girl sobbed as she appeared in Chippewa County Circuit Court on Monday. A judge set bond at $50,000. State law requires the case, at least initially, to be held in adult court, according to prosecutors.
First responders were called Oct. 30 to a licensed home day care in the Town of Tilden near Chippewa Falls. The baby was found to be unresponsive and bleeding from the head, according to officials. The baby was rushed to HSHS St. Joseph’s Hospital in Chippewa Falls, then airlifted to Gillette Children’s Specialty Healthcare hospital about 90 miles (145 kilometers) to the west in St. Paul. He died Nov. 1.
Chippewa County Sheriff James Kowalczyk said a doctor called his office to inform investigators that it was his belief the baby’s injuries were not an accident. Investigators interviewed four people at the home and the girl , who lives with foster parents at the house, “confessed to her involvement in the situation,” Kowalczyk said.
According to the sheriff, the girl said she dropped the infant, hitting his head on a footstool and causing the baby to cry. The girl told investigators that she panicked and stomped on the child’s head, Kowalczyk said.
The girl’s biological parents were with her in court. Authorities said she had been removed from their home in September and placed in foster care. The reasons for her removal have not been disclosed.
Defense attorney Kirby Harless asked for a smaller bond, saying there was no reason to believe the girl wouldn’t appear for future court proceedings.
“She would like to return home, and given her age, that may be appropriate,” Harless said.
via: https://pix11.com/2018/11/06/sheriff-10-year-old-girl-accused-of-stomping-6-month-old-baby-to-death/
Uber driver charged after teen falls off vehicle’s roof and dies on LI
SUFFOLK COUNTY, N.Y. — An Uber driver faces years in prison after he allegedly allowed a teenager to ride on his vehicle’s roof, ultimately causing the boy’s death, the Suffolk County District Attorney announced Monday.
Danyal Cheema is charged with manslaughter in the second degree, according to the DA. He was arraigned Monday.
Teenagers allegedly offered Cheema $40 to allow them to ride on the roof of his 2010 Toyota Highlander on Sept. 23, officials said. In court, officials said the incident happened in Cold Spring Harbor, but the DA earlier said it happened in neighboring Huntington Station.
Cheema agreed, and at least one of the teens “surfed” on the vehicle’s roof while his friends posted video on Snapchat, officials said.
The passenger, identified during the arraignment as 15-year-old Ryan Mullen, fell off the vehicle’s roof at some point and struck his head on the roadway.
Mullen’s injury was not readily visible. He went to sleep a few hours later, and died as a result of the skull and brain injury, officials said in court.
Cheema faces five to 15 years in prison and $200,000 bail.
An 11-year-old was told to clean his room. Instead, he killed his grandmother, then himself, in apparent murder-suicide
An Arizona boy fatally shot his grandmother, then killed himself Saturday, after being instructed to clean his room, his grandfather told authorities.
Doyle Herbert called police at about 5 p.m. to report his wife and their 11-year-old grandson were dead in an apparent murder-suicide, a spokesman for the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office, Joaquin Enriquez, said in a statement. Hebert told authorities the boy shot his 65-year-old grandmother, Yvonne Woodward, in the back of the head after they’d asked him repeatedly throughout the day to pick up after himself.
The boy was apparently “being stubborn about it,” according to the statement. After killing his grandmother, the boy turned the handgun — which belonged to his grandfather — on himself, the statement said.
The couple had just sat down in their living room in their Litchfield Park, Ariz., home, located about 20 miles west of Phoenix, to watch television when the boy approached his grandmother from behind and shot her, the statement said.
Herbert told police he initially chased after his grandson but stopped to perform first aid on his wife. Moments later, he heard another gunshot, saw his grandson take a few steps, then collapse to the ground. Herbert retrieved the weapon and called 911, police said.
Neighbors told a CNN affiliate that the boy was known for playing around the neighborhood and was part of a “nice family.”
“It really hasn’t set in just yet. I mean this is a nice neighborhood, it’s really quiet — as you can see — it’s just a tragic, tragic thing,” neighbor Walter Venerable told azfamily.
The boy’s grandfather told detectives he and his wife had full custody of their grandson. Investigators have not found evidence that suggests the boy wanted to harm others or himself before this incident.
Teacher caught on camera punching 14-year-old student at LA school
A teacher and student at a southeast Los Angeles, California, high school came to blows Friday afternoon, and it was all caught on video.
The footage from CNN affiliates KTLA-TV and KCAL shows Maywood Academy High School music teacher Marston Riley, 64, standing face to face with a 14-year-old boy at the front of a classroom when Riley punches him. It’s at this point the two begin exchanging punches. The boy wound up on the ground wrapping his arms around Riley’s leg. Riley, at this point, repeatedly punches him.
The brawl ends with students and what appears to be a campus resource officer trying to separate the two, but Riley continues to pursue the student. It is not clear when the short video started and if it caught the entire exchange.
Students told KTLA the fight began after Riley asked the student to leave the class because he wasn’t wearing the proper uniform. The boy refused, students said, and the video shows him shouting profanity and a racial slur at Riley, who is black.
The boy, who has not been identified, was taken to a local hospital where he was treated for moderate injuries and later released, according to a news release from the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department. Riley was arrested on charges of child abuse, the release said. He posted bond and was released Saturday. Riley has an arraignment scheduled for November 30.
CNN has reached out to Riley, but has not heard back.
“We are extremely disturbed by the reports of the events that occurred at Maywood Academy High School,” the Los Angeles Unified School District said in a statement. “We take this matter very seriously and do not condone violence or intolerance of any kind. Los Angeles Unified is cooperating with law enforcement in investigating this incident. Crisis counselors and additional School Police patrols will be at the school on Monday to support our students and staff.”
via: https://pix11.com/2018/11/04/teacher-caught-on-camera-punching-14-year-old-student-at-la-school/
Fran Drescher dishes on ‘The Nanny’ reboot with Cardi B
Maybe they’ll call it “Nanny B.”
Fran Drescher says she’s still talking to rap superstar Cardi B about working together on a TV series: either a re-imagining of “The Nanny” — Drescher’s classic CBS sitcom turning 25 on Saturday — or possibly as a mother/daughter TV combo in some other show.
“Look, it probably isn’t going to be ‘The Nanny’ because, for whatever reason, the whole reboot genre is beginning to wane,” says Drescher, 61, who played “The Nanny’s” nasal, flirty Fran Fine, a fashion queen-turned-nanny to the children of Maxwell Sheffield (Charles Shaughnessy), a wealthy, high-society Broadway producer.
COZI TV will pay homage to “The Nanny” on Saturday with an all-day, 25-episode marathon (6:30 a.m.-7 p.m.) celebrating its silver anniversary (it ran from Nov. 3, 1993, to June 23, 1999).
Talk of a possible Drescher/Cardi B pairing began in September, when the Bronx-born rapper, 26, Instagrammed a photo of herself wearing a leopard-skin dress as an homage to Drescher. “She’s a fan of the show and we’re both style icons with funny voices,” Drescher says. “She did that homage to me and it kind of mushroomed because I happened to be doing press [for the animated movie ‘Hotel Transylvania 3’] and I was asked if I was aware that she had linked us together with photos suggesting our similarities.
“I’m actually developing a millennial-and-me baby boomer show [to star in] and I thought maybe this is fortuitous, maybe we would be good together,” Drescher says. “She would be good playing my daughter. I’m taking meetings with her representatives and you never know, maybe something will develop out of that. We’re in the talking stages right now and our fans have been supportive on social media. She’s a fan of mine and I would protect her and take good care of her.
“It could be a limited series; it doesn’t have to be something that goes for years on end — maybe 10 episodes on Netflix or Amazon or any of those streaming channels,” she says. “She’s a very popular singer so I don’t think she would be able to commit to a TV series in the way I have in the past. She’s riding her wave; maybe three months [of shooting] and 10 episodes. She might really enjoy that and it would be another notch in her belt.”
Drescher cautions that, if the two were to strike a deal, the show could differ from “The Nanny,” which ended with Fran and Maxwell marrying and having twins.
“[‘The Nanny’] was a classic kind of fairy tale that had its end. I was really thinking of an original, new concept with [Cardi B] and me,” Drescher says. “Not a reboot of ‘The Nanny,’ but maybe a scenario where she would be the nanny and I could play … not Fran Fine but another Fran who has a different attitude. I’m not sure I’m all that interested in going back.
“When ‘The Nanny’ ended they had babies and were married … Fran was very much [Maxwell’s] partner and equal; the nuances and humor would be the same. Even if we make believe the last season never happened, I feel like I’m a little long-in-the-tooth to still be playing a nanny. There’s something uncool about that. The show has a reverence to it and I wouldn’t want to soil that.”
Still, Drescher would need to find a home for the show before it becomes a reality.
“I think ‘The Nanny’ is still so popular with millennials and on social media and we’re actually much more current [than other reboots],” she says. “It’s so ironic that TV people don’t seem to be wise to that. I don’t have any bites from any networks, to tell you the truth, as unbelievable as it sounds.”
via: https://nypost.com/2018/11/02/fran-drescher-dishes-on-the-nanny-reboot-with-cardi-b/
Two girls suspended from school after dressing as Columbine shooters for Halloween
ADAIR COUNTY, Ky. – Two high school students in Kentucky took Halloween to a whole new level.
The two girls in Adair County, about 120 miles south of Louisville, decided to dress up as Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris, the two teenagers who carried out the Columbine High School massacre in 1999.
The girls probably didn’t get the reaction they wanted.
After their photo went viral on Halloween, the girls were suspended for three days, according to CNN affiliate WLEX-TV. The photo showed the girls on the floor in the school’s library, WLEX reported, which mimicked the eerie photo of the two Columbine shooters after they killed themselves in the Columbine library.
Pamela Stephens, Adair County superintendent, said in a statement to CNN the county takes the situation very seriously.
“Our personnel are continuing to investigate the facts and circumstances surrounding this matter,” the statement read. “The suspension for the two students has been extended as we continue the investigation.”
The father of one of the girls told WLEX the duo acknowledges they made a mistake, but says the school blew the whole situation out of proportion. The father also told WLEX the girls have received death threats.
via: https://pix11.com/2018/11/03/2-girls-suspended-after-dressing-as-columbine-shooters-for-halloween/
Babysitter rapes 5-year-old girl, shoots air pistol at officers during ensuing chase, police say
GREEN, Ohio — An Ohio man has been arrested after allegedly admitting to sexually assaulting a 5-year-old girl he was babysitting.
Sage Smerk, 18, faces charges of rape and failure to obey an order of a police officer, according to the Summit County Sheriff’s Office.
The child’s mother came home and found that her daughter and 2-year-old son had been left alone for two hours by Smerk, who was babysitting, according to a press release.
She called Smerk and asked why he left the children unattended. He then allegedly admitted to sexually assaulting the 5-year-old girl.
Deputies found Smerk driving on Mayfair Road and attempted to stop him. He failed to stop and fled toward North Canton, according to police.
During the pursuit, Smerk fired an air pistol out the window of his vehicle at patrol deputies and ran several intersections before he stopped and was arrested.
According to Summit County Jail documents, he was issued $300,000 bond. Additional charges are pending.