Evans student stunned after receiving $100K for college tuition from Beyonce, Jay-Z
Keshawn Morgan, a senior at Evans High School, had never been to a concert before. So he was thrilled on Wednesday when his local Boys & Girls Club — where he’d been going since second grade — invited him to the Beyoncé and Jay-Z show that night.
When club leaders told him and the other teenagers who had been invited that they had V.I.P. seating, he was even more excited.
But when DJ Khaled, who opened the show at Camping World Stadium, told the audience he had a surprise $100,000 college scholarship to announce, the 17-year-old didn’t think much about it at all.
Until the performer began to describe the winner, saying he was ranked third in his class and was president of the Spanish honor society, and then a puzzled Keshawn thought, “What? That’s me.”
A video of the event shows his mouth drop and his hands briefly cover his face as he realizes he’s the winner, and then his name is announced. He and his friends erupt in cheers, as they jump up and down and hug him.
“Oh my gosh,” a stunned Keshawn said in the video posted on Facebook by the Boys & Girls Cubs of America. “I can’t believe this. I want to be a lawyer. I can’t believe I won this.”
In a phone interview Thursday, he still sounded stunned..
“I really couldn’t believe it,” he said. “I couldn’t even like put it in words,” he added. “It was crazy.”
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Fire kills 10 children at slumber party – no adults were home at the time, officials say
CHICAGO – How, how, how? The question weighs on investigators as they work to determine what led to a Chicago house fire that killed 10 apparently unaccompanied children who had gathered for a slumber party at a West Side home.
Illinois authorities are investigating allegations of neglect, officials said Tuesday, but provided little additional detail — adding to a litany of questions about what started the fire and why the children weren’t able to get out.
Eight bodies were discovered Sunday after firefighters put out the fire. Two more victims, both 14, later died at John H. Stroger Jr. Hospital, said Natalia Derevyanny, a Cook County Bureau of Administration spokeswoman.
The fire started on the second floor of a coach house in Chicago’s Little Village neighborhood, fire officials said. Those same officials said there were no smoke detectors in the home, but Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel told reporters there were no functioning smoke detectors in the home.
Meanwhile, the building owner and his attorney have told local media the home did have smoke detectors.
The first floor of the building was vacant, and the second floor, where the children were found, was a home.
In an editorial lamenting the lack of answers surrounding the blaze, the Chicago Sun-Times quoted a fire official saying that it appears the kids could have escaped had they been alerted to the danger.
“From what we could see, they would have had a clear path out if they had been alerted early enough,” fire department spokesman Larry Langford said.
On Monday, Chicago fire officials passed out smoke detectors and fire safety information in the neighborhood.
As for why so many children were left alone in the home, a family member told CNN affiliate WGN the children were at the house for a sleepover and that his mother had been with the children earlier.
“My mom went to go drop off my little sister to her grandmother’s and by the time she was over there, I guess the house just started on fire,” said Marcos Contreras, who lost several siblings in the blaze.
A neglect investigation was opened after fire officials said there were no adults in the home, Illinois Department of Children and Family Services spokesperson Alissandra Calderon said in an email.
Questions have been raised about the state of the property. The building, a coach house, sits behind the main house, a three-story brownstone. Building records show that code enforcement officials have cited issues with both the main house and coach house since 2007, but there is no indication a code violation led to the fire.
The Chicago Fire Department said in a midday Wednesday tweet that the cause of the fire had yet to be determined.
“Engineering analysis pending on an electrical device unrelated to earlier violations,” the tweet said, adding that the Office of Fire Investigations was still awaiting reports from other agencies, including the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
More people might have died if not for a woman who smelled the fire and started knocking on doors and ringing doorbells to wake people up, Chicago Fire Commissioner Jose Santiago said.
Firefighters forced entry through a locked door into the small two-bedroom apartment, Langford said.
“Kids were just laying about,” he said.
It appears that none of the children tried to escape the blaze and that they likely died of smoke inhalation, he said.
Firefighters initially mistook several children for adults because they were covered in soot, making it difficult to determine their ages, Langford said. Firefighters went by body size, and some children had facial hair and looked older, he said.
The victims were part of at least two families, Langford said.
Officials have released the names of eight victims: 3-month-old Amaya Almaraz; Ariel Garcia, 5; Giovanni Monarrez, 10; Xavier Contreras, 11; Nathan Contreras, 13; Victor Mendoza, 16; Cesar Contreras, 14; and Adrian Hernandez, 14.
Mom charged after drugs in breast milk killed baby, prosecutors say
In Bucks County, Pennsylvania, prosecutors are arguing that 30-year-old Samantha Jones killed her 11-week-old son, R.J., by breastfeeding while using drugs.
According to the criminal complaint, R.J. died from ingesting a “combination of fatal drugs through breast milk” and is being charged with criminal homicide.
Jones’ attorney, Louis Busico, said that Jones “absolutely, unequivocally loved that child” and never intended to harm him.
According to an affidavit, Jones told investigators that about 3 a.m. April 2, she heard R.J. crying.
He had been primarily breastfed, Jones said, but she had recently started using formula because she worried that he wasn’t getting enough milk and wasn’t sleeping. She was too tired to make a bottle of formula, according to the affidavit, so she decided to nurse him. She then dozed on and off for a few more hours.
Before her husband, Vincent McGovern, left for the day, he made R.J. a bottle and left it with Jones. She remembers feeding R.J., putting him back in his bassinet around 6:30 a.m. and going back to sleep.
In the affidavit, Jones said she woke up about an hour later and panicked when she saw that R.J. was pale and had bloody mucus coming out of his nose. Jones and her mother, who also lived in the house, called 911 and began CPR.
R.J. was taken to a hospital by ambulance and pronounced dead by 8:30 a.m.
According to the Bucks County Coroner’s Office, the autopsy revealed traces of methadone, amphetamine and methamphetamine were found in the infant’s blood and contributed to his death.
The affidavit further noted that the examiner who performed the autopsy said “R.J. ingested the combination of fatal drugs through breast milk.”
According to the affidavit, Jones told the investigators that she had been prescribed methadone since pregnancy to help manage her addiction to opioid painkillers, but there is no mention of other drugs.
Investigators say they tested the bottle last used to feed R.J., as well as the can of formula, and found no traces of illicit drugs.
Since her arrest, Busico said, his client is “completely in a state of depression.” He added that the charges and arrest kicked Jones when she was already down, dealing with the death of her child.
When asked about amphetamine or methamphetamine drug use by Jones, Busico would not comment.
At Jones’ preliminary hearing on Wednesday, Deputy District Attorney Kristin M. McElroy argued that the child died because Jones had taken methamphetamine and amphetamine, “which had no business being inside that baby,” according to a press release from the Bucks County District Attorney’s Office,
“We are not alleging that this was an intentional killing of this baby,” McElroy said, “but it certainly was reckless to know these drugs were in your body and continue to breast feed.”
The criminal homicide charge was upheld and Jones now awaits a formal arraignment on September 28.
Busico said Wednesday he was not surprised by the decision.
“The judge’s ruling today is no surprise given the low burden on the government,” he said. “Samantha is not criminally responsible for her son’s death — this is a fact pattern in search of a crime.”
Through her attorney, Jones declined to speak with CNN.
via: https://pix11.com/2018/08/29/mom-charged-after-drugs-in-breast-milk-killed-baby-prosecutors-say/
Facebook video of young children smoking marijuana leads to arrests
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – Two women have been arrested on child abuse charges after a Facebook video showed multiple young children smoking what appeared to be an illegal substance provided to them by the women.
Michaela Pearson and Candice Little are each charged with felony child abuse and three counts of contributing to the delinquency of a minor, according to Winston-Salem police.
The children were 2 and 3 years old and 18 months old, according to arrest warrants.
Officials believe Pearson and Little caused and encouraged the children to smoke marijuana.
The children were taken to a hospital where they are being treated.
Pearson and Little are being held on $150,000 secured bonds.
Woman Tried Feeding Remains of Husband’s Ex-Girlfriend to Alligators After Couple Murdered Her
A North Carolina woman was convicted last week of helping her husband get rid of his ex-girlfriend’s dismembered body — first by trying to dissolve the remains in acid, then by throwing them into a Texas creek in the hopes alligators would eat them.
Amanda Perry Hayes, 46, was convicted of tampering with evidence, according to a press release from Fort Bend County prosecutors in Texas.
She and husband Grant Hayes had already been convicted of second- and first-degree murder, respectfully, in the 2011 death of Grant’s ex, Laura Ackerson, the release states. The couple killed Ackerson in their apartment in Raleigh, North Carolina, before cutting up her body and transporting it in coolers to Hayes’ sister’s home in Richmond, Texas.
Once Ackerson’s body was in Richmond, the couple tried to use muriatic acid to destroy it. They then took it on a boat onto Oyster Creek and “dumped Laura’s body parts into the water with hopes that alligators would eat her remains.”
At trial, Amanda Hayes testified she didn’t kill Ackerson and only helped dispose of her body because her husband threatened to kill her. The jury deliberated for about 90 minutes before rejecting her defense with their guilty verdict, the release states.
Prosecutor Amanda Bolin tells PEOPLE Amanda Hayes had admitted on the stand that she had never been physically abused by her husband, though Bolin says, “There’s evidence that Grant Hayes is a violent person and that he’d been violent with Laura [Ackerson].”
Amanda Hayes was sentenced to 20 years in prison, the maximum allowable. She was ordered to serve the sentence consecutive to the 13 to 16 year sentence she received in North Carolina.
Grant Hayes is already serving a life sentence without parole in North Carolina for Ackerson’s murder, Bolin says, adding that Texas prosecutors saw no need to prosecute him for allegedly disposing of Ackerson’s body.
Bolin says that Ackerson was a “very independent, very bubbly” person who was “always smiling and happy.” At the time of her death, she had recently started two businesses related to graphic design.
She was a mother to two boys who were toddlers at the time of her death. “Nothing in the world meant more to her than those two little boys,” Bolin says.
PEOPLE’s call to Amanda Hayes’ attorney Patti Sedita was not immediately returned and it was unclear whether she plans to appeal.
McCain family bid tearful farewell CNN Reports
Thank you for your service Senator. You were a TRUE American patriot .
Teen battling brain cancer told wig breaks school dress code
DALLAS, Texas – A Texas high school senior battling brain cancer has won the fight to wear her blue-black wig after school officials told her it was a violation of the dress code.
McKinney ISD, located north of Dallas, announced Sunday that they have reversed their decision and will allow Kate Pepper to wear the wig.
“I feel a relief, and I am honestly hoping that if anyone else is going through my circumstances that this will help them along the way as well,” Pepper told CNN affiliate KTVT.
Pepper, 17, has been battling her second bout of brain cancer. A week before her senior year, she made the tough decision to shave her long, braided hair, which had started falling out from cancer treatments. The teen documented her journey throughout her treatments on YouTube.
“Losing your hair is always the tough part about having cancer,” Pepper said in a YouTube video. “But at the end of the day, I know I can make it through and that my hair will grow back.”
Pepper was sad that she wouldn’t be able to express herself through her hairstyle the way she had in the past. But before the start of her senior year, she and her mother went wig shopping and found the perfect one.
“After a few days of us looking I was able to hide my baldness and show my strength with a two tone turquoise and black wig that symbolizes confidence, integrity and power, to help me weather through the storm,” she wrote in a letter to the school that her mother posted on Facebook.
“This wig makes me feel normal, confident and other wise pretty during a time in my life where I have so many things I can’t control. …. I’m empowered by wearing this wig although it’s subtle in color it gives me an abundance of strength and power to grieve the loss of my hair, and gives me the fortitude I need to fight this battle I’m facing with cancer.”
After administrators told her the color of the wig violated the dress code, her mother, Tyliece Pepper, took to social media to share her dismay and soon her story was featured on the local news.
It even caught the attention of Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick. “I support clear rules for students but I am asking McKinney ISD to create an exception to their dress code and allow Kate Pepper to wear her beautiful wig,” Patrick tweeted on Sunday. “I will send a formal communication to the district tomorrow.”
When officials announced she will be able to keep wearing her wig, Patrick sent out another statement in support for her.
“I am very glad to hear McKinney ISD has made an exception for Kate so she can wear her turquoise wig during treatment,” he tweeted. “Let’s keep Kate in our prayers.”
via: https://pix11.com/2018/08/28/teen-battling-brain-cancer-told-wig-breaks-school-dress-code/
Man Accused of Serial Dining-and-Dashing, Leaving Women He Met Online To Foot Bill, Faces 10 Felony Counts
A man lambasted as the “dine-and-dash dater” after being accused of meeting women at restaurants across the Los Angeles area only to leave them with the bill pleaded not guilty to charges of theft and extortion on Monday, prosecutors said.
Paul Guadalupe Gonzales, 45, allegedly connected with a string of women through dating apps and websites and invited them out to dinner between May 2016 and this April with the intent of using them as a meal ticket, the L.A. County District Attorney’s Office said in a news release.
He arranged dates at restaurants in Pasadena, Long Beach, Burbank and Los Angeles, where he ordered and consumed food and drinks, then disappeared before the bill had been paid, the DA’s office said.
Eight women told prosecutors they’d footed the bill, one of them under the belief that Gonzales would pay her back. And at least twice, the restaurant paid its own check — making those businesses victims in the criminal complaint, officials said.
In total, Gonzales is accused of defrauding the women of more than $950.
He’s also charged with receiving hair salon services, then leaving before paying.
Investigators obtained an arrest warrant for Gonzales on July 3, an inmate records show he was taken into custody Saturday, Aug. 25, in Pasadena.
He was subsequently charged with seven counts of extortion, two counts of attempted extortion and one count of grand theft — all felonies. He also faces two misdemeanor counts each of defrauding an innkeeper and petty theft.
If convicted as charged, the defendant could spend up to 13 years in state prison, prosecutors said.
Gonzales is scheduled to return to court in Pasadena for a preliminary hearing on Sept. 7.
Mom says bullies broke 6-year-old’s arm, beat him after he stood up for friend
OLYMPIA, Wash. – A 6-year-old Washington boy is recovering from serious injuries after he was allegedly attacked by a group of bullies.
“It’s been hell,” Dana English told KOMO. “I haven’t slept. I haven’t eaten. I can’t do anything. I can’t even leave his side.”
English says her 6-year-old son, Carter, was attacked by a group of kids at their apartment complex on Wednesday afternoon. Carter says it all started when he confronted the group for bullying his friend.
“They were just bullying him, like beating him up,” Carter said. “I just told them to stop, and then they did it to me.”
Family members say the bullies beat Carter with rocks and sticks and even rubbed sawdust in his eyes. He ended up with a broken arm, lacerated eye and several cuts and bruises across his face.
He had surgery on his eye and may need surgery on his arm.
According to KOMO, Olympia Police are investigating the incident. They reportedly have identified the 5-year-old they believe initiated the incident and are planning to involve social services.
Police reportedly told KOMO that “the case was briefly presented to the prosecutor’s office, but due to the age of everyone involved, the case will not result in a criminal referral.”
“Bullying is not okay,” English said. “There’s no reason to bully someone, ever.”
Family friends have started a GoFundMe account to help support Carter and his family during his recovery.
Boy, 9, kills himself after being bullied at school, mom says
DENVER – A Denver mom wants to shine a light on bullying and suicide after the death of her son last week.
Leia Pierce said her son killed himself in their home on Thursday. He was 9 years old.
Pierce says bullying was a factor in the death of her son, Jamel Myles. He started fourth grade at Joe Shoemaker Elementary School on Monday.
Pierce said he came out to her as gay over the summer.
“And he looked so scared when he told me. He was like, ‘Mom I’m gay.’ And I thought he was playing, so I looked back because I was driving, and he was all curled up, so scared. And I said, I still love you,” Pierce told KDVR.
Pierce said her son wanted to tell his classmates.
“He went to school and said he was gonna tell people he’s gay because he’s proud of himself,” she said.
Pierce said when he came out, he opened up about wanting to dress more femininely.
“And he goes, ‘Can I be honest with you?'” Pierce said. “And I was like sure, and he’s like, ‘I know you buy me boy stuff because I’m a boy, but I’d rather dress like a girl.'”
On Thursday, four days into the school year, Jamel took his own life. Pierce found her son dead in their Denver home. She said he killed himself after being bullied.
“Four days is all it took at school. I could just imagine what they said to him,” Pierce said. “My son told my oldest daughter the kids at school told him to kill himself. I’m just sad he didn’t come to me.”
A letter from Denver Public Schools to families sent Friday said it’s providing extra social workers and its crisis team for students.
“I’m so upset that he thought that was his option,” Pierce said.
In the statement, the district said it will continue to offer support to the family.
Through the devastation, Pierce wants to spread awareness about the effects of bullying.
“We should have accountability for bullying. I think the child should. Because the child knows it’s wrong. The child wouldn’t want someone to do it to them. I think the parent should be held because obviously the parents are either teaching them to be like that, or they’re treating them like that,” she said.
She said she hopes no parent ever has to go through this pain because their child is different from everyone else.
The Denver Police Department is investigating the death as a suicide.
If you or anyone you know is experiencing suicidal thoughts or depression, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 800-273-8255. You can speak with someone who will provide free and confidential support 24 hours a day, seven days a week. To learn how to help someone in crisis, call the same number. You can also click here for additional hotlines within your state.
via: https://pix11.com/2018/08/27/denver-boy-killed-himself-after-being-bullied-at-school-mom-says/