A Florida man fatally shot his “disrespectful” wife at point-blank range as she sat on a couch — because she wouldn’t shut up
Fernando Leopoldo De Baere, 73, then coolly walked to a neighbor’s home after the shooting at a Plantation home late Wednesday and confessed to killing 47-year-old Marisa Sherman, according to a police report obtained by the South Florida Sun-Sentinel.
De Baere, whose legs and boxer shorts were spattered with blood, told responding officers that he and Sherman were arguing about her interactions with a former co-worker when he got upset about the disrespectful “way that she was talking to him,” according to the report.
De Baere said he told Sherman to stop, but the offending banter continued, prompting him to grab a .38-caliber revolver and shoot his wife in the face “one or two times” from roughly 3 feet away.
“She still would not listen to him,” the report said.
Sherman was pronounced dead at the scene. No one else was inside the home at the time aside from De Baere, WPLG reports.
De Baere put the gun used in the shooting back inside a closet before going to a neighbor’s house to admit what he had just done, police said. Sherman was found sitting upright on a living room couch with an apparent gunshot wound to the face, according to the station.
Detectives found the suspected murder weapon in a master bedroom closet, where De Baere had told them it would be. Two spent casings were found inside the weapon, the Sun-Sentinel reported.
De Baere remained held without bail Monday at Broward Main Jail in Fort Lauderdale, online records show. It’s unclear if he’s hired an attorney.
via: https://nypost.com/2019/05/13/man-tells-cops-he-fatally-shot-wife-for-being-disrespectful/
Photo Credit: nypost.com/Broward County Sheriff’s Office
Mother forced to pay thousands after switching jobs during maternity leave
WINTERSET, Iowa – Emily Manley is spending her first Mother’s Day with her bundle of joy, 3-month-old Jettson.
Like any new mom, the holiday is filled with snuggles, kisses and all the joys of motherhood. But she is also spending it on the computer, crunching numbers trying to figure out a way to pay her old employer over $2,600.
“I didn’t really know anything about maternity leave or FMLA or anything like that,” Manley told WHO.
Her previous employer, which Manley requested to not be named, didn’t have paid maternity leave, so she used the Federal Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) for three months of unpaid time off to be with her newborn.
“They had a policy that you had to burn through all of your [paid time off] prior to taking leave, so really you didn’t have a choice, you had to take it all before you could start leave,” Manley said.
During that leave she was offered another job, one that she says was too good to pass up.
“It just offered some different benefits that would work better for having a little one. It’s a company I worked with before,” Manley said.
But when she gave her two weeks notice, her employer sent her a document stating she owes over $2,600 for the company’s share of her health costs, plus the paid time off she used.
And the company wanted the payment in full right away.
“It was kind of a shock. I wasn’t prepared for it. I wasn’t ready for it, but I knew it was a possibility,” Manley said. “I didn’t know it would happen that fast and that I would have to pay it back that fast.”
According to Iowa’s FMLA policy, employers have the choice to recover health benefit payments if the employee does not return to work, unless reasons are due to a serious health condition or circumstances beyond the employees control. That means if a mother gets a new job or decides to become a stay-at-home mom during her leave, she could be billed.
“I can understand the company’s point of view, but at the same time, to do that to a young family is really difficult to be on the other side of it,” Manley said.
The ex-employer expects the payment by the end of June. In an email it states that is “already an extension of one additional month beyond the original plan offered” and is “completely fair given the length of time that has already elapsed since first starting maternity leave that was covered by FMLA on February 11th.”
Manley says that’s still not enough time, considering she went three months unpaid and just started her new job a few weeks ago.
“It’s a lot of money to us. We did our best to save when we got pregnant, knowing that we had bills coming, and did our best for that, but it’s kind of hard to prepare,” Manley said.
Manley did speak with a lawyer. They advised her it would cost more money to fight it with legal fees than it would to just pay them. She hopes her story will give other mothers hope who are going through this same obstacle.
“If there are other women going through this, you’re not alone,” Manley said. “I didn’t work for a large corporation that you would expect something like this to happen. It was a smaller owned local company that you wouldn’t think would exercise that sort of right that they have.”
Photo Credit: pix11.com
4-year-old dies after finding gun from dad, a state trooper
TOLEDO, Ohio — Authorities say the 4-year-old son of an Ohio state trooper found his father’s gun and accidentally shot and killed himself.
A coroner ruled Monday that all evidence points to the boy shooting himself after finding an unsecured weapon inside his home in Toledo. Police say the boy on Sunday had been taken to a hospital where he died.
The coroner identified the boy as 4-year-old Evan Sun. Authorities say he suffered one gunshot wound to the head.
The State Highway Patrol identified the trooper and boy’s father as Fu Sun of its Toledo post.
Toledo police say the investigation is continuing and the patrol says it will look into the division-issued gun involved in the shooting.
via: https://pix11.com/2019/05/13/4-year-old-dies-after-finding-gun-from-dad-a-state-trooper/
Photo Credit: Getty Images
Body found in freezer at Florida warehouse ID’d as woman missing since 2013
MARGATE, Fla. – The body of a woman who vanished over five years ago was found inside a freezer at a Florida scrap business last month, the Sun Sentinel reports.
Business owner Lilian Argueta told the paper she opened the discarded freezer and screamed after seeing what she thought at first was the body of a “witch or a mannequin.”
The body belonged to Heather Anne Lacey, a 29-year-old mother of two who was last seen in November, 2013, according to the Sentinel.
The freezer reportedly belonged to Jonathan Escarzaga, who was found dead in his apartment in February. The manager of the unit reportedly had the appliances sent to the scrap warehouse, where Argueta made the grisly discovery.
She told the paper that it appeared Lacey’s palms were pointed toward the inside of the door, and her legs were drawn up against her body as if she had been trying to push it open.
It’s not yet clear if Escarzaga and Lacey knew each other.
Police are withholding full results of an autopsy by the Broward County Medical Examiner’s Office until the investigation into her death if finished.
Photo Credit: Getty Images
Las Vegas woman intentionally drowned 2-year-old daughter on Mother’s Day
LAS VEGAS – A Nevada woman is behind bars, accused of drowning her toddler in a bathtub on Mother’s Day, according to KRIS.
Police said they responded to the woman’s home around 3 p.m. after she called 911. During the phone call, the woman reportedly said her daughter had drowned. She did not remove the girl from the tub or perform CPR on her, and police said it took the woman minutes to answer the door when they arrived.
According to KRIS, the girl was found face-up and fully clothed in a bath filled with water.
The woman is facing a murder charge.
via: https://pix11.com/2019/05/13/police-las-vegas-woman-intentionally-drowned-2-year-old-on-mothers-day/
Photo Credit: pix11.com
Man accused of chasing 3 children with machete, stabbing 9-year-old boy who fell behind
COVINGTON, Ky. (AP) — A Kentucky man is accused of chasing three children from a Covington park and then stabbing a 9-year-old boy who fell behind.
The Courier Journal reports 35-year-old Esteban Portugues was arrested Friday and charged with second-degree assault. The child’s family says the boy was playing basketball with two other children Friday night. Covington police say Portugues, armed with a machete, and two other men armed with knives then entered the park.
Police say the children tried to flee, but the “9-year-old was not able to keep up with the older juveniles.” The child was stabbed in the back of his right shoulder, and police described the wound as not life threatening. Spokesman Brian Valenti says the attack may have started over the children playing basketball, but that hasn’t been substantiated.
Photo Credit: kmov.com/Covington Police Department
Girl, 14, crashes mom’s car, then gets shot after fleeing scene, St. Louis police say
ST. LOUIS (KMOV.com) — A 14-year-old girl who crashed her mother’s car in North St. Louis on Sunday was shot after running from the scene, police said.
Police said the girl got into an accident around 8:00 p.m. Sunday and then ran from the scene to the area of Thekla and Oriole. While running, the driver of the other vehicle in the collision chased the girl, police said, and fired a shot at her.
The girl was struck in the hand and is expected to be okay.
No other information was released.
Photo Credit: Getty Images
Suspect in O’Fallon, Mo. murder cursed out 911 dispatcher then admitted to shooting wife – “I shot my f!@#ing wife in the shoulder. I’m going to prision. F!@# you.”
O’FALLON, Mo. (KMOV.com) — An O’Fallon, Mo. man was arrested after his wife was fatally shot Saturday evening.
Officers responded to the 200 block of Casalon Parkway just before 8 p.m. where they found a 29-year-old Catherine Rhodes shot.
Police say her husband, Jamal Rhodes, 32, shot her and then called 911, admitted to shooting his wife and used vulgar language when he spoke with a dispatcher.
When they arrived, emergency crews attempted to render aid to save Catherine but she was pronounced dead at the scene. She reportedly leaves three children behind.
Police arrested Jamal shortly afterwards. He was charged with one count of first-degree murder, armed criminal action, and felon in possession of a firearm.
Court records show Jamal has a history of domestic violence and was behind bars for domestic assault charges in 2013. Witnesses told officers that Jamal had been drinking in recent days and that he and Catherine had been arguing. Witnesses also said they heard a gunshot.
Catherine’s mother told officers that Jamal was physically abusive.
Police said they found a Taurus 9mm handgun on the kitchen table, a shell casing on the floor and bullet hole in the wall.
Neighbors told News 4 the Casalon Apartments complex is usually a quiet one.
“It’s awful,” neighbor Joseph Fox said.
Fox said his son heard two people arguing before police rushed to the scene.
“He heard arguing and then he heard someone scream,” Fox said. “But he didn’t hear the actual gunshot though.”
Police said as they were taking Jamal out of the apartment, he told an officer “I shot her.”
Jamal Rhodes is jailed in St. Charles County on a $500,000 bond.
The investigation is ongoing but police said no other suspects are being sought at this time.
Photo Credit: kmov.com/O’fallon PD
The moon is shrinking and shaking, Nasa says
Article via Independent
The Moon is shrinking – and shaking as it does, according to new Nasa data.
Over the last decade, scientists have established that as the inside of the Moon cooled, it shrivelled up a like a raisin. That left it riven with cliffs called “thrust faults”, marked all over its surface.
Now a new analysis, using data from Nasa missions, suggests that the Moon could still be shrinking today. As it does, it is experiencing moonquakes along those thrust faults, with the planet shaking along those cliffs.
Scientists compare the process to the way a grape will gradually wrinkle up, adding lines as it cools and shrinks. But unlike a grape’s skin, the crust around the Moon cannot stretch and is instead brittle, making it break apart as the shrinking happens.
The faults form when the crust moves around, and one part of the crust is pushed up over another. They form unusual-looking cliffs that can be seen from the surface, standing tall and many miles long.
The new research was made possible by the creation of an algorithm that processed seismic data that was taken in the 1960s and 1970s. It helped shed new light on those moonquakes, including allowing for a better understanding of where they are actually coming from.
Once that location data was generated, it could be laid on top of the images of the thrust faults that were taken from a 2010 study that used pictures from Nasa’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter.
Comparing the two, they found that at least eight of the rumbles were coming from movement of plates beneath the Moon’s surface, not from asteroid impacts or other explanations. That helped confirm that the Moon is still experiencing true tectonic activity, according to the new paper published in Nature Geoscience.
The instruments left by Apollo astronauts in the past finished their work in 1977. But scientists think this shaking and shrinking is still happening to this day, with images seeming to show evidence of recent movement, such as boulders and landslides that appear to have recently fallen over.
“We found that a number of the quakes recorded in the Apollo data happened very close to the faults seen in the LRO imagery,” said Nicholas Schmerr, an assistant professor of geology at the University of Maryland, in a statement.
“It’s quite likely that the faults are still active today. You don’t often get to see active tectonics anywhere but Earth, so it’s very exciting to think these faults may still be producing moonquakes.”
The seismic data was taken from instruments that astronauts dropped onto the surface during Apollo missions. The one left by Apollo 11 died after a few weeks – but the rest kept measuring, eventually picking up 28 different, shallow moonquakes between 1969 and 1977.
Of those quakes, eight were picked up near to the faults that could be seen in images of the Moon’s surface. That led them to conclude the two were connected.
What’s more, most of the shakes happened when the Moon was at the point of its orbit furthest away from the Earth. That happens because the stress from Earth’s gravity disrupts its crust.
“We think it’s very likely that these eight quakes were produced by faults slipping as stress built up when the lunar crust was compressed by global contraction and tidal forces, indicating that the Apollo seismometers recorded the shrinking moon and the moon is still tectonically active,” said Thomas Watters, lead author of the research paper and senior scientist in the Center for Earth and Planetary Studies at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington.
Scientists now hope to return to the Moon and learn more about what is happening to it. The Trump administration has ordered Nasa to head back as soon as it can, and hopes to have astronauts back on its surface in five years.
“For me, these findings emphasize that we need to go back to the moon,” Schmerr said. “We learned a lot from the Apollo missions, but they really only scratched the surface. With a larger network of modern seismometers, we could make huge strides in our understanding of the moon’s geology.
“This provides some very promising low-hanging fruit for science on a future mission to the moon.”
Amazon offers to help employees start delivery business
Article via Yahoo
NEW YORK (AP) — Amazon, which is racing to deliver packages faster, is turning to its employees with a proposition: Quit your job and we’ll help you start a business delivering Amazon packages.
The offer, announced Monday, comes as Amazon seeks to speed up its shipping time from two days to one for its Prime members. The company sees the new incentive as a way to get more packages delivered to shoppers’ doorsteps faster.
Amazon says it will cover up to $10,000 in startup costs for employees who are accepted into the program and leave their jobs. The company says it will also pay them three months’ worth of their salary.
The offer is open to most part-time and full-time Amazon employees, including warehouse workers who pack and ship orders. Whole Foods employees are not eligible to receive the new incentives.
Seattle-based Amazon.com Inc. declined to say how many employees it expects to take them up on the offer.
The new employee incentive is part of a program Amazon started a year ago that let anyone apply to launch an independent Amazon delivery business and provided $10,000 in reimbursements to military veterans.
The program’s expansion is part of the company’s plan to control more of its deliveries on its own, rather than rely on UPS, the post office and other carriers. Startup costs start at $10,000 and contractors that participate are able to lease blue vans with the Amazon smile logo stamped on the side.
Overall, more than 200 Amazon delivery businesses have been created since it launched the program last June, said John Felton, Amazon’s vice president of global delivery services.
One of them is run by Milton Collier, a freight broker who started his business in Atlanta about eight months ago. Since then, it has grown to 120 employees with a fleet of 50 vans that can handle up to 200 delivery stops in a day. It has already been preparing for the one-day shipping switch by hiring more people.
“We’re ready,” says Collier.