Woman kills husband at Walmart in front of their 3 kids
A mother of three from Louisiana gunned down her estranged husband in the parking lot of a Walmart while their three children watched, cops said.
Kayla Coutee, 31, is facing murder charges in the second-degree for the Saturday morning shooting, according to Alexandria Police.
She allegedly killed her husband, Thomas Coutee Jr., 30, after agreeing to meet him at a Walmart to exchange custody of their children — ages 7, 5 and 2.
Kayla pumped a single round into Thomas’ chest and then sat and waited for police to arrive, cops said.
She was later taken into custody without incident. The children were not injured and safely transported to APD headquarters. The Department of Children and Family Services was contacted soon after.
“Based on the information detectives learned in their investigation, Kayla Coutee was arrested and charged with Second Degree Murder,” cops said in a press release. “She was transported to the Rapides Parish Detention Center and booked.”
Thomas Coutee reportedly filed for divorce from Kayla, though it’s unclear when. A police spokesperson told ABC News that their children are now in the custody of family members.
via: https://nypost.com/2018/09/10/woman-kills-husband-at-walmart-in-front-of-their-3-kids-cops/
Toddler handed cops drugs after mom was pulled over
A 3-year-old girl got her mother and a friend into hot water during an upstate traffic stop — when she handed a state trooper drugs and paraphernalia, police said Monday.
The child was in the backseat of a 2000 Saturn when it was pulled over by cops during an “occupant-safety” checkpoint on Route 32 in New Scotland just south of Albany on Thursday afternoon, according to New York State Police.
The front-seat occupants — 26-year-old driver Scott Hill and the little girl’s mom, Megan Karl, 33 — were observed making suspicious movements, police said. When they rolled down their windows, cops could smell burning marijuana, police said.
As one trooper interviewed Hill, another checked on the child, according to the troopers.
That’s when the child — who was not properly secured — reached under the front seat and pulled out a pouch, police said. She opened it up to show the officer what was inside — marijuana, a metal marijuana grinder and a pipe, both of which had remnants of the drug, police said.
Cops also found an ashtray in the front seat containing marijuana cigarette butts, police said.
The drugs and paraphernalia apparently belonged to Hill, according to police.
Hill and Karl were arrested and charged with endangering the welfare of a child. Hill was also charged with unlawful possession of marijuana, police said.
The girl was taken into the care of relatives, and child-protective services was notified of the incident.
via: https://nypost.com/2018/09/10/toddler-handed-cops-drugs-after-mom-was-pulled-over-police/
Ex-con allegedly disemboweled wife, called victim’s baby daddy to gloat
A Bronx ex-con disemboweled his wife Monday, then calmly called his parole officer to report the murder — and his dead victim’s baby daddy to gloat, sources told The Post.
“Go get your daughter — I just killed her mother,’’ 58-year-old Virgil Solis allegedly told his wife’s former lover.
“And [Solis] kept calling’’ the distraught man, telling him, “I’m coming to the funeral’’ — even as the man was at the police precinct talking to cops, said the victim’s pal, Sasha, 54, to The Post.
In a separate phone call to his parole officer, Solis also admitted, “I killed my wife. Come get her,” a law enforcement source added.
The ex-con was still being monitored by the state Department of Corrections after spending 18 years in custody for a brutal 1998 assault when he stabbed his wife, Valerie, 53, inside her Tremont apartment, sources said.
Another person in the building apparently heard Solis attacking his wife and called 911 around 10:19 a.m., according to police.
Responding NYPD officers discovered Valerie inside the seventh-floor apartment on Southern Boulevard near East 180th Street with a severe stab wound to her stomach and pronounced her dead at the scene. She had been disemboweled, a law enforcement source said.
Meanwhile, her killer was nowhere to be found.
He was eventually nabbed by cops Monday evening in downtown Manhattan, sources said.
According to records from state Corrections and Community Supervision, Virgil Solis had previously been arrested numerous times for assaults.
He served at least 18 years after cops caught him roughing up a woman who refused to have sex with him, sources said. He hit and choked the woman — leading cops to arrest him for rape, assault and aggravated sex abuse — although he was only convicted of assault in the first degree, sources said.
At one point during his incarceration, he landed in a mental facility, sources said.
Additional reporting by Chris Perez
via: https://nypost.com/2018/09/10/ex-con-allegedly-disemboweled-wife-called-victims-baby-daddy-to-gloat/
Actress Cicely Tyson will receive honorary Academy Award
LOS ANGELES — Actress Cicely Tyson will finally receive an Oscar.
The 93-year-old acting legend will get an honorary Oscar statuette this fall at the film academy’s Governors Awards. The award will make her the first black woman to receive an honorary Oscar, according to People.
Tyson was Oscar-nominated only once for the 1972 film “Sounder.” The prolific stage and screen actress has appeared in films like “The Help” and “Diary of a Mad Black Woman.”
Composer Lalo Schifrin and publicist Martin Levy will also be getting honorary Oscar statuettes at the ceremony, while producers Kathleen Kennedy and Frank Marshall will receive the Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award.
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced the honorees last Wednesday after a Tuesday night vote by its board of governors.
“Choosing the honorees for its awards each year is the happiest of all the Board of Governors’ work,” academy president John Bailey said in a statement. “And this year, its selection of five iconic artists was made with universal acclaim by the Academy’s 54 spirited governors.”
The Oscar statuette is intended to “honor extraordinary distinction in lifetime achievement, exceptional contributions to the state of motion picture arts and sciences, or for outstanding service to the Academy.” None of the honorees have been awarded an Oscar before.
Schifrin, 86, is a six-time nominee, who has composed original scores for over 100 films including “Cool Hand Luke” and “Dirty Harry.”
Levy will be the first publicist to receive an honorary Oscar. His work on the campaign for “Close Encounters of the Third Kind” led to a four-decade partnership with Steven Spielberg, including on films like “Schindler’s List,” ”Saving Private Ryan” and “E.T. The Extra Terrestrial.”
Also Spielberg-adjacent are Kennedy and Marshall, this year’s Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award recipients, who together have received best picture nominations for films like “The Sixth Sense,” ”Munich” and “Seabiscuit.” Kennedy, who will be the first woman to collect the Thalberg award, was also nominated for “E.T.,” ”War Horse” and “Lincoln.”
The 10th annual Governors Awards will be held in Los Angeles on Nov. 18.
via: https://pix11.com/2018/09/10/actress-cicely-tyson-will-receive-honorary-academy-award/
photo credit: Honoree Cicely Tyson arrives at the 38th Annual Kennedy Center Honors Gala at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts on December 6, 2015 in Washington, DC. (Kris Connor/Getty Images)
Woman sentenced after allegedly leaving elderly father on floor for 4 days while she went gambling
GOLDEN, Colo. — A woman faces a decade in prison in connection to the abuse of her elderly father, whom she allegedly left on the floor of his home for four days while she went gambling.
Isabella Diantha Parker, 48, was sentenced to 10 years in prison Tuesday for abusing her 87-year-old father, Ben Parker.
According to Jefferson and Gilpin Counties District Attorney’s Office, the weekly housekeeper arrived at a home on the 1000 block of 18th Street in Golden on Feb. 20, 2017 to find Ben Parker dressed in only a diaper and shirt, lying face down on a matt on the floor in his bedroom. He was covered in his own urine and feces, according to the DA’s Office.
He had no food or water and could not move. As a result, he also couldn’t take his medication.
He was taken to his doctor the following day — on Feb. 21, 2017 — who then sent him to the emergency room with West Metro Fire paramedics. The paramedics contacted Golden police about the situation, noting it could be a possible elder abuse situation.
Ben Parker told paramedics that his daughter, Isabella Parker, had left him on the floor of his home for four days.
After her father was unable to care for himself, Isabella Parker took on the role of caregiver. She lived at the home with him and was aware of his fragile state and limitations, according to the DA’s Office. She also knew he could not be left alone.
But she left the home for more than 36 hours to gamble in Black Hawk, about 30 minutes away from the home.
Ben Parker had an acute kidney injury, severe dehydration, muscle break-down and brain confusion from the incident. He died in April 2017 before he could testify at trial.
He was one of the first Ph.D. recipients at Golden’s School of Mines. His father was a former president of the school.
Isabella Parker was found guilty on July 2, 2017 of three charges: criminal exploitation of an at-risk adult, criminal negligence resulting in serious bodily injury of an at-risk adult and theft from an at-risk adult, since she had also been accused of stealing $13,000 from her father.
She was sentenced Tuesday.
This was her seventh felony conviction. The previous charges stemmed were drug-related.
“Prison is an appropriate sentence for Ms. Parker,” said DA Pete Weir. “It is unconscionable that a daughter would leave her elderly father in such a dangerous situation. She was gambling in Black Hawk while her father lay helpless, suffering. With seven prior felony convictions, and only one short prior prison sentence, she has had every chance possible at rehabilitation while under probation supervision.”
Several crack pipe ‘vending machines’ sprout up in Suffolk County
CORAM, N.Y. — Suffolk County Police have a mystery on their hands after at least three so-called crack pipe vending machines were installed on public property and there’s now a concern that more vending machines are out there.
“Who in their right mind would even do something like that — to enable and to encourage somebody to do this?” said Tony Gallo, a Coram resident.
Gallo is one of many concerned by the vending machines that have sprouted up across Suffolk County.
“Did they really think they were gonna get away with this?” Gallo said.
With a simple design, the blue vending machines were cemented into the ground in at least three locations in Suffolk County and claimed to contain “pens.”
According to officials, however, $2 got would-be customers a whole lot more. Disassembling the pen revealed a glass tube and filters, essentially a crack pipe kit.
As of Monday, police have seized at least three of these crack pipe vending machines.
A machine was discovered outside the Fairfield apartment complex in Medford. Another was found near a bus stop in front of Home Depot on Route 25 in Coram and a third was found near the Coram Commons Shopping Center on Middle Country Road.
“There are some people who think they’re going to make some money out of this and prey on a community and promote drug use in a community,” Brookenhaven Town supervisor Ed Romaine said at a news conference Monday. “They’re going to be sadly mistaken.”
Suffolk County police are handling the mysterious case which was first brought to light on Facebook. Many residents complained online about the machines. Some went as far as destroying one of them with a sledgehammer.
Brookhaven officials moved in over the weekend, removing and seizing the machines for violating town code on altering public property.
As police continue to investigate, they’re urging anyone who comes across one of these machines to call authorities immediately.
via: https://pix11.com/2018/09/10/crack-pipe-vending-machines-appear-in-suffolk-county/
Toni Braxton Says She’s Disappointed By Tamar’s “Animations” On “Iyanla Fix My Life.”
Last week, we reported that in the midst of their contractual drama with WE tv, and their seemingly on-going family issues, the Braxton sisters would sit down with Iyanla Vanzant on her show “Iyanla Fix My Life.”
It’s not the first time a Braxton sister has worked with Iyanla. Trina sat down with her ex-husband Gabe to discuss the issues in their marriage, their rocky divorce and the relationship Gabe has with their sons. In that episode, Iyanla alluded to the fact that the way Trina handled her relationship with Gabe could be traced back to what she saw her mother do with her father. It sparked something in her and she walked out of the room.
But perhaps in this upcoming episode, it’s a topic we’ll be able to explore as the women chat about their familial bonds and where they have been breaks along the way.
In one clip that’s already surfaced, Toni shares that she is often disappointed by the level of animation Tamar exudes when she attempts to relay a story. I think Tamar’s extra-ness is something we’ve all noticed. But if you thought Iyanla was going to scold Tamar for her exuberance, then you thought wrong. Watch how this particular moment unfolded onscreen.
Tamar: The show was completely different and then it turned it into a dramatic shenanigan, example of a family.
Tamar shares an example of how she felt the editors manipulated footage from the show.
Toni: I wish my sister could narrate without all the expressions
Iyanla: Is that the person or is that the performance?
Toni: No that’s the person. That’s from infancy.
Iyanla: How does that make you feel when you see that?
Toni: I feel disappointed that she has to be animated to express herself.
Iyanla: That’s just who she is, from infancy. And that makes me feel…
Toni: Disappointed.
Iyanla: …in her big personality, in who she’s been all of her life.
Toni: That’s not a nice thing to feel.
Iyanla: I know. Not at all.
Toni: Got it. Sorry Tay.
Tamar: That’s okay.
We can’t wait to see this episode.
The two-part finale airs on Thursday, Sept, 27 and Thursday, Oct. 4 at 9 p.m. on WE tv.
Article via: Toni Braxton Says She’s Disappointed By Tamar’s “Animations” On “Iyanla Fix My Life.”
Penn Badgley says he was molested by ‘Gossip Girl’ fans
Penn Badgley says he suffered sexual assault at the hands of over-zealous “Gossip Girl” fans.
“I think as an actor you can become an object of desire, which is something women are already accustomed to more or less around the world — I’ve definitely been, I mean, I don’t want to sound sensationalist, but I’ve literally been molested — just in the literal sense of the word — by many people in the moment,” Badgley, 32, told The Daily Beast. “Because that’s what they do.”
The actor, who stars as stalker Joe Goldberg in Lifetime’s “You,” clarified that as a white male, he faces fewer problems than others who are less privileged, but cited Terry Crews as an example of famous men who’ve been sexually assaulted, noting, “these things very much happen, you know.”
Badgley explained that his character in “You” raises a lot of debate in the light of the #MeToo movement.
“I think that’s the interesting thing about this show, is that Joe looks like me, he acts and talks like me to a degree, so I think the audience is supposed to be like, ‘Aw, that might be nice if someone was that infatuated with me,’” he said.
He continued, “I think it’s significant that a show like this is coming out now, because if it had come out any other time, we might not have been having these necessary conversations around it. And we might have been all too ready to consume something that I think actually has some really dangerous seeds in it.”
Badgley struggled with making his character sympathetic, like when a director tried to get him to play Joe as “less disgusting” when the character was masturbating on the street by making him close his eyes.
“I only closed my eyes for one take, because I was pretty adamant about not wanting to do it. And it’s because it was so much creepier with my eyes open,” Badgley said. “Like, why are we trying — Joe is masturbating on the side of the street as he watches a young woman … and we’re worried about it being too creepy?! Do we not think it’s already crossed that line? So I was always kind of on the sidelines like, ‘We don’t need to defend Joe.’”
As a result of the sudden and overwhelming fame and obsessive, occasionally Joe-like fans he faced with the sexy CW hit series, Badgley admits that he “definitely took a breather” from Hollywood before ultimately returning to television.
“I definitely had to question if I wanted to keep doing what I’ve been doing. But I’m excited — I think,” he shared. “When it comes to the fame side of things, I don’t think anybody, whether they’re famous or not, could claim to understand that phenomenon or have any sort of power over it. So I’m just cautious and careful.”
Article via: Penn Badgley says he was molested by ‘Gossip Girl’ fans
A Model With Down Syndrome Fulfills Her New York Fashion Week Dream
Marian Avila, a 21-year-old Spanish model with Down syndrome, fulfilled her dream to walk at New York Fashion Week thanks to an Atlanta designer she met through the magic of social media.
And she did it with flair Saturday in the ballroom of a Midtown hotel in evening looks of red and gold, her parents and siblings in the audience and other models who have challenges by her side.
“I felt really happy and I really loved the runway,” Avila said through a translator after the Saturday show. “I wanted to show the world that there are no barriers.”
No barriers for women of all kinds is Talisha White’s mission, as a designer focused on prom, pageant and special occasion outfits and as an active pageant contestant as well.
A model White knew had stumbled on a story about Avila’s fashion week dream online. She told White of Avila’s quest and they reached out to Avila on Facebook.
“She’s been a busy supermodel, meeting with all types of people,” White said of the attention Avila and her dream have received in the United States, her home country and across Europe. “I’m very glad for her. She’s been meeting with Vogue. She’s been meeting with Harper’s Bazaar. She’s been meeting in different showrooms, different modeling agencies.”
Avila is from the Benidorm area, in the province of Alicante in eastern Spain on the Mediterranean coast. She was accompanied by her parents and siblings. At home, she said, “I practice every day,” referring to her love of modeling.
“I’m studying modeling and to become an actress,” Avila said.
Read more via: A Model With Down Syndrome Fulfills Her New York Fashion Week Dream
LeBron James Celebrates Black Women With New Nike Sneaker, Designed By 3 Black Women!
LeBron James is celebrating all of the black queens in his life with his new Nike sneakers! Released on Friday, the HFR x LeBron 16, titled “The Strongest,” are designed by black women and inspired by black women.
“I believe that African American women are the most powerful in the world,” he said at Harlem’s Fashion Row’s Showcase Gala. “Why I believe they are the most powerful women in the world is because I had the example of my mother every single day.”
The new sneakers are a collaboration with Harlem Fashion Row, which was created to showcase multicultural designers. The three fabulous and talented sistas on the design team were Kimberly Goldson, Felisha Noel, and Undra Celeste Duncan.
In a statement, LeBron says his mother, wife and daughter were the inspiration behind the new shoes. “Being the son, husband, and father of strong African-American women, I felt like this was something I wanted to do for them and for all the strong women out there who are succeeding despite what might be stacked against them,” he said.
Yasss, #BlackGirlMagic!
Article via: The Shade Room – LeBron James Celebrates Black Women With New Nike Sneaker, Designed By 3 Black Women!