March 2020 was the first March without a school shooting in the U.S. since 2002
March 2020 was apparently the first March in nearly two decades without a school shooting in the U.S. Schools across America have been shut down since early March as a prevention measure to slow the spread of coronavirus. Since then, kids of all ages have adjusted to homeschooling and online classes — a new normal that could extend through the rest of the school year.
For most of those students, this is one of the longest stretches in their lifetimes without a school shooting. As first reported on Twitter by Washington Post reporter Robert Klemko, there hasn’t been a March without a school shooting since 2002 — the year most current high school seniors were born.
Data from the National School Safety Center and National School Safety and Security Services confirm that there have been school shootings every March since 2002. That year, a 13-year-old student brought a gun and a hit list to school but was subdued by a school resource officer deputy before he could pull the trigger.
In March 2020, there were several instances of shootings on school campuses — but none that fit the typical description of a school shooting.
According to Everytown for Gun Safety, an organization that tracks gun violence in the U.S., there were a total of seven shootings that took place on school campuses in March 2020. Four of those shootings were classified as unintentional discharges, one took place between adults on a high school football field over the weekend and two occurred on college campuses but involved no students.
According to a 2018 paper published in the New England Journal of Medicine, firearms are the second-leading cause of death among youths in the U.S., behind motor vehicle crashes. Everytown calls the problem “uniquely American.”
While school shootings are down, gun dealers around the country said they are seeing record numbers of customers. One store manager told CBS News that the main reasons customers said they were buying firearms is for protection during quarantine and fear of the unknown.
Given the spike in sales, gun safety advocates fear students are not only facing more dangerous situations at home, but could also face a major increase in shootings when they return to school.
“When this pandemic ends and we emerge from this physical distancing reality, the guns will remain,” said Guns Down America executive director Igor Volsky. “Will there be increased mass shootings, school shootings, shootings at home, at work, at concerts?”
Photo Credit: cbsnews.com
‘He kept saying ‘I’m fine’ – Mother hasn’t spoken to son since walking him to ambulance two weeks ago
ST. LOUIS COUNTY, Mo. – A north St. Louis County mother fears she may never see her son again. She said he was put on a ventilator hours after being diagnosed with COVID-19.
Anna Williams hasn’t seen or talked to her 25-year-old son, Kaleb Williams, since April 1. Kaleb was in acting school in New York, pursuing dreams of being on Broadway.
His mom called him last month.
“I said, ‘Maybe you should come home with family because we don’t have any other family in New York.’ He was like, ‘No mom, because if I get sick your health is not as good as mine. I don’t want to come there,’” she said. “I said, ‘I’m really concerned, I’d rather you be here with family than to sit there alone. Please come home and we got him a flight the same day.”
That was March 20. Nine days later, Anna said her son got a fever, lower back pain, and then began vomiting blood. She took him to the Christian Northeast Hospital emergency room.
“I stayed on Facetime with him for seven hours as a virtual visit to make sure I was by his side to comfort him,” she said.
Williams said he was tested for COVID-19, diagnosed with pneumonia, and sent home with antibiotics. She said she watched him closely because her son is asthmatic and suffers from sleep apnea. She said his fever continued rising and she called 911.
“He kept saying, ‘I’m fine. I’m fine.’ He didn’t look in distress,” Williams said. “He walked to the ambulance. He was walking; the last time I saw my son.”
That was Wednesday, April 1. She said the COVID-19 test then came back positive. She said Kaleb was put on a ventilator at Missouri Baptist Hospital and she hasn’t spoken to him since. For more than a week, she’s relied on phone call updates from nurses and the doctor.
“(The doctor) told me he was going to try all he could to bring him back but he couldn’t make any promises,” she said.
“I love him so much and please just pull through. We don’t know what’s going on and if mommy could save you, I’ve tried everything. We’re praying that you pull through. We love him.”
Photo Credit: fox2now.com
McDonald’s China apologizes for banning black people from a store
New York (CNN Business)McDonald’s is in damage control mode after a restaurant in China displayed a sign banning black people from the premises.The sign, which recently circulated on social media, said the McDonald’s location in Guangzhou has “been informed that from now on black people are not allowed to enter the restaurant.”
The sign is “not representative of our inclusive values,” McDonald’s said in a statement. The sign was removed and the location was temporarily closed down. CNN has not yet been able to authenticate the video.The industrial city has been steeped in racial tensions between Africans and locals. Recent warnings from Chinese officials about the rising number of imported coronavirus cases have stoked anti-foreigner sentiment.Africans in the southern Chinese city have been evicted from their homes by landlords and turned away from hotels, despite many claiming to have no recent travel history or known contact with Covid-19 patients.
McDonald’s (MCD) said it will use the closure to “further educate managers and employees on our values, which includes serving all members of the communities in which we operate.”
Guangzhou has long had the largest African community in China. Because many Africans in the city have short-term business visas, they travel into China several times a year, making it difficult to calculate the size of the African population the city. But in 2017, approximately 320,000 Africans entered or left China through Guangzhou, according to Xinhua.This isn’t the first time McDonald’s garnered controversy overseas. Last November, it pulled an ad in Portugal that used the words “Sundae Bloody Sundae” to promote a Halloween dessert. Bloody Sunday is the name for the day in 1972 on which British soldiers shot unarmed protesters in Derry, Northern Ireland, during the Troubles — resulting in 14 deaths.The coronavirus has been detrimental McDonald’s business this year. Last week, it reported that sales at restaurants open at least a year plunged more than 22% in March, led by a nearly 35% decline in its internationally operated markets.–CNN’s Rory Sullivan, Jenni Marsh, Shawn Deng and Nectar Gan contributed to this report.
via: https://www.cnn.com/2020/04/14/business/mcdonalds-china-coronavirus-sign-trnd/index.html
Photo Credit: nypost.com
Are you a ‘doomscrolling’ junkie? The new, scary coronavirus habit
Ever find yourself glued to your phone screen, mindlessly thumbing through depressing news for hours on end?
Well, now there’s a word for that: “doomscrolling.”
The trendy new phrase — which has now joined the ranks of other coronavirus-inspired terms like “quarantini” and “zoombombing” — is making the rounds on Twitter to describe everyone’s incessant need to consume somber stories.
“Things I’m Doing a Lot More of Under Isolation: Cooking, Cleaning, Taking deep breaths while walking dogs, Doomscrolling, Sleep Meditations, Facetiming, Existential Crisising,” tweeted Anne Helen Petersen, a senior culture writer at BuzzFeedNews, on March 22.
“I’ve been reading easy junk just to keep me from doomscrolling lately, [and] it feels so good to exercise my brain with some substance,” admitted another user @BrainyMcSawface.
The apt expression has been picking up steam since it was included in a recent Los Angeles Times story about new terms entering our pandemic lexicons.
But some trailblazers have been throwing around the term ever since lockdown life began last month, including Quartz reporter Karen Ho.
She’s been doling out the moniker in posts to remind people to give themselves a break from the doom and gloom of COVID-19 news.
“It’s okay *not* to develop a new skill or side project during a pandemic, just like how it’s okay to set limits on how much you doomscroll at night,” she wrote in one tweet on April 3.
In another post that same day, she added: “you can keep doomscrolling tomorrow.”
Others are following suit.
“Today I’m grateful for baby naps, exercise and fresh air. Let’s all stop doomscrolling for a bit,” tweeted Kelsey Snell, a congressional correspondent at NPR.
Many are actually losing sleep over their doomscrolling habits.
“I am in bed but sleep is very far away. Everything is very difficult right now, isn’t it,” wrote user @Wangleberry in a post on April 7. “I should stop doomscrolling and just try to sleep.”
Errin Haines, an editor at The 19th news site, echoed the struggle, writing, “Me: Why am I so sleepy it’s only 10! [Devil emoji]: Remember? We stayed up until 3 doomscrolling and watching Netflix!”
It’s no wonder then that being stuck at home during the pandemic is leading to a rash of literal nightmares.
via: https://nypost.com/2020/04/14/are-you-a-doomscrolling-junkie-the-new-scary-coronavirus-habit/
Photo Credit: nypost.com
Man expecting stimulus check discovers $8.2 million account balance on his bank receipt
(WGN/CNN) – A volunteer firefighter in Indiana said he got the surprise of a lifetime when he checked his bank account balance.
Charles Calvin said he withdrew $200 from his checking account at a convenience store ATM in New Chicago, Indiana, on Saturday. When he glanced at his receipt, he noticed the account balance was $8.2 million.
“I’m like what in the world is going on here?” Calvin said.
He said he put his debit card back in the ATM to double-check the balance, and it still showed millions in his account.
Calvin was expecting a $1,700 check from the stimulus payments going out to Americans amid the COVID-19 crisis.
By the time he called his bank to report it Monday morning, a representative said the large sum wasn’t in his account. It’s likely the ATM experienced a glitch.
“It kind of sucks,” Calvin said. “You go from being a millionaire one second then back to being broke again. But hey, once you’re poor, you don’t have anywhere else to go but up.”
Despite the glitch, Calvin said he still received his $1,700 stimulus check.
Photo Credit: kmov.com
California cop dies after being denied a coronavirus test twice
A California police officer died of coronavirus complications after doctors twice shot down her requests to be tested for the bug, according to a report.
Santa Rosa police Detective Marylou Armer, 43, was only able to secure a test that confirmed her diagnosis after it was “too late,” her family told the Santa Rosa Press Democrat.
Her older sister, Mari Lau, said Armer had gone twice to Kaiser Permanente’s Vallejo Medical Center with a fever, body aches body and shortness of breath.
But a doctor reportedly told the cop that she was not considered a candidate for a test because of her age and lack of underlying medical conditions.
Ultimately, she wasn’t tested until she went to the emergency room, where she was intubated and placed in a medically induced coma, the outlet reported.
“It was too late already,” Lau said, adding that her sister’s inability to get tested was “very frustrating.”
Armer succumbed to the virus March 31, just days after she received her confirmed diagnosis, according to the report.
Kaiser confirmed in a statement that Armer wasn’t immediately tested, the Press Democrat reported.
Dr. David Witt, Kaiser’s national infectious disease expert, said doctors had adhered to “public health authority testing guidelines, which have been based on a very limited availability of tests.”
“We offer heartfelt sympathies to Detective Armer’s family and loved ones at this profoundly difficult time,” Witt said.
via: https://nypost.com/2020/04/13/california-cop-dies-after-twice-being-denied-coronavirus-test/
Photo Credit: Santa Rosa Police Department via AP
Florida man allegedly placed fake pizza orders in NJ, wished coronavirus on Italians
A known Florida scammer is wanted by New Jersey authorities for allegedly calling in thousands of dollars worth of phony pizza orders in the state, claiming the food was being donated to the police, authorities said.
Sudeep Khetani, 34, who is believed to be in Orlando, never paid for any of the orders that he placed at several Garden State pizzerias, including in South Brunswick, Montgomery and Plainsboro, according to the South Brunswick Township Police Department.
On several occasions when the restaurants called Khetani back, he bizarrely said he wished Italians would get infected with the coronavirus, police said.
“It is incomprehensible that a suspect would play on the goodwill of so many during these difficult times,” said Chief Raymond Hayducka of the South Brunswick Township Police Department.
“Our businesses are all struggling and every dollar matters. I will not tolerate someone trying to take advantage of our community in these difficult days.”
Police were eventually able to identify Khetani through the fake phone number he used.
New Jersey and Florida authorities are working together to track Khetani down.
Khetani is on probation in the Sunshine State for selling fake Disney World tickets, police said.
via: https://nypost.com/2020/04/13/florida-man-allegedly-placed-fake-pizza-orders-in-nj/
Photo Credit: South Brunswick Twp Police Department
Exploiting Black Death For Clicks: TMZ Posts Graphic Photos From Tarvaris Jackson’s Crash
TMZ has continually faced scrutiny for taking things too far when reporting Black death, including posting graphic photos before the news of the deceased has even had time to settle with family members.
By Monday morning, it was revealed that former Minnesota Vikings and Seattle Seahawks quarterback Tarvaris Jackson died in a car crash at 36 years old and already, TMZ published graphic photos of the crash.
A Tennessee State spokesperson confirmed the news of Jackson’s death to ESPN. Jackson was the Tigers’ quarterback coach in 2019 after a year of acting as quality control and quarterback coach at his alma mater, Alabama State University, an HBCU.
The Alabama Law Enforcement Agency said Jackson was involved in a single-vehicle crash at 8:50 p.m. on Sunday. They report that the 2012 Chevrolet Camaro he was driving left the roadway, hit a tree, then overturned. Jackson was rushed to a local hospital where he was later pronounced dead. He was survived by his wife Lakitta, and three children, Tarvaris, Takayla and Tyson.
Not too long ago, TMZ received backlash for their coverage of Kobe Bryant and his daughter Gianna‘s death in a helicopter crash. Color of Change started a petition, saying “Vanessa Bryant didn’t deserve to find out her husband and child passed on TMZ. While the Bryant family waited for official confirmation of the worst news of their lives, TMZ was all too eager to capitalize on their loss. TMZ had the responsibility to report factual information with integrity and they failed.”
The petition also condemned the outlet for reporting on Brooklyn rapper Pop Smoke‘s death before his family was notified. They were slammed for releasing video footage of paramedics trying to resuscitate the rapper after he was shot.
“TMZ disregarded the effects its rush news reporting has on surviving family members or fans of the deceased – even releasing footage of paramedics working to resuscitate the 20-year-old rapper,” the petition said.
Although Nipsey Hussle‘s death wasn’t mentioned in the petition, TMZ also released surveillance footage of the rapper’s murder in 2019, showing him being shot several times and also kicked by his killer.
In 2018, TMZ reported the death of Florida rapper XXXTentacion and included video footage of the rapper in his car after being shot.
The Color of Change petition went on to mention TMZ falsely reporting that Lil Wayne was in a coma and on life support in 2013. It also criticized TMZ’s reporting of Whitney Houston‘s death, claiming that the outlet “bribed hotel employees into letting him into her room, so he could take photos of the bath tub in which her body was found.”
Color of Change called on advertisers to “drop TMZ until they institute a new policy to consult with families before reporting Black celebrity deaths.”
Meanwhile, celebrities and athletes, such as former teammate Russell Wilson, have posted their condolences on social media regarding Jackson’s death. “TJack… you will be missed,” wrote Wilson in a tweet. “Praying for your family…Love you man.”
via: https://newsone.com/3927366/tarvaris-jackson-crash-photos-tmz-exploiting-black-death/
Photo Credit: Star Tribune
Treasury, IRS to launch app that allows you to track your stimulus check
The U.S. Department of Treasury and IRS will launch an app this week that allows taxpayers to track the status of their stimulus check.
The “Get My Payment” app, which is free, will also allow taxpayers who filed their tax return in 2018 or 2019 to submit their direct deposit information.
Click here to calculate how much you’ll receive
That will speed up the process of receiving your stimulus check, instead of waiting for a check in the mail.
The app will be available at IRS.gov.
To track the status of your payment, you will need to enter your Social Security number, date of birth, and mailing address into the app.
Photo Credit: kmov.com
An ER doctor loses custody of daughter because of coronavirus fears
(CNN) — An emergency room doctor in Miami, Florida, has temporarily lost custody of her 4-year-old daughter while she treats patients during the coronavirus pandemic.
Dr. Theresa Greene told CNN’s New Day that she was appealing the emergency order that granted her ex-husband full custody of their daughter.
“I think it’s not fair, it’s cruel to ask me to choose between my child and the oath I took as a physician,” Greene said. “I won’t abandon my team at work or the patients who will increasingly look to me to save their lives in the coming weeks, but it’s torture.”
Greene and her ex-husband have been divorced for almost two years and have split time with their daughter evenly.
Last week, Circuit Court Judge Bernard Shapiro ruled that the child should stay with her father, Eric Greene, to limit the risk of exposure to coronavirus.
“The Court does not enter this Order lightly but given the pandemic in Florida and the recent increase in confirmed COVID-19 cases, the Court finds in order to insulate and protect the best interests and health of the minor child, this Order must be entered on a temporary basis,” the judge wrote in the court ruling.
Theresa Greene told CNN that she felt the order discriminated against her as a divorced parent.
“If I was married I’d be given the opportunity to go home to my child, no one could tell me I shouldn’t do that,” she said.See Why Digital Video Is Transforming the Way Content Is DistributedLearn best practices for video distribution – how to connect with and build your audience.Ad By Facebook See More
Theresa Greene said she’s been able to wear full PPE while treating patients and that she’s done everything she can to avoid contracting the disease. She said her daughter generally stays with her ex-husband when she works.
“Yes it is severe and there is danger, and we’re being very careful,” she said. “We use every thing we can. I’ve actually worn equipment above and beyond to protect myself and my child.”
In a statement, Eric Greene’s attorney Paul Leinoff said that “Mr. Greene and I have the upmost respect for Dr. Greene’s commitment to her critical work during this pandemic.”
“We recognize and genuinely appreciate the sacrifices that she and all healthcare workers are all currently making to save lives and prevent further illness in Florida and around the world. The Greenes’ temporary timesharing dispute was presented before the Court based upon the specific facts of this individual family and a decision was reached based upon the best interests and safety of a minor child, limited to the temporary circumstances presented by COVID-19. The Court’s ruling was not intended to serve as a blanket rule, nor should it. Pursuant to Mr. Greene’s request and as ordered by the Court, Dr. Greene is to be provided future make-up timesharing for each day missed during this challenging time and daily video communication with the child. We will continue to pursue ways to resolve this delicate situation and believe that a result can be achieved safely and fairly,” Leinoff wrote.
Theresa Greene said that her daughter doesn’t understand what’s going on, but she knows that her mom is sad.
“I want her when she grows up to be proud of me by abiding to the oath that I took when I went into medicine, but I also know that she needs me now,” she said.
Theresa Greene said she doesn’t know when she’ll get to see her daughter again, because there’s no way to know when the pandemic will be over.
Photo Credit: cnn.com