Day care worker caught on video abusing children
A day care worker in Arkansas was arrested after she was caught on camera aggressively handling two young children, police said.
McKenzie Howell, 19, of Mabelvale, was arrested Monday on two felony counts of first-degree endangering the welfare of a minor after a caller told police her 21-month-old son was abused on June 29 at Kid’s Academy in Bryant, the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reports.
Howell, a class instructor at the facility, was arrested after investigators spoke with witnesses and reviewed footage from security cameras at the location. A woman who also works at the day care said she reviewed portions of video surveillance that showed her son being abused before she contacted the Child Abuse Hotline, which referred her to police.
The woman told police that Howell grabbed her son “aggressively off the ground” before trying to put him in a chair near a wall. But Howell dropped the boy, causing his head to apparently hit a wall before falling to the floor, according to a police report.
Howell later picked the boy up again and put him in a chair. No bruises or other marks were found on his body, police said.
Another colleague at the facility said she also saw Howell push another girl into a wall and forcefully pull the child’s arm.
The second colleague who witnessed Howell’s alleged abuse then told the facility’s manager of the incidents. Howell, who had been previously warned not to be “verbally aggressive” with the children, was then sent home and told not to return until further notice, police said.
Video obtained by KATV shows an employee at the day care facility sitting on a classroom floor in front of six young children when a worker identified by police as Howell is seen dragging a girl on the floor by the legs in front of her.
“This next part, I’m not going to lie, is hard to watch,” Bryant Police Department Sgt. Todd Crowson told the station. “You know, she just looked angry in the video. I’m not real sure why.”
Howell is also seen in other footage picking up a girl by the shoulders and throwing her into a chair. In another instance, Howell grabbed a girl by her shoulders and pushed her back against a wall while she sat on the floor, causing the toddler to immediately grab her shoulder and cry, the video shows.
“Kids can be tough to deal with at times, but you just got to have the right temperament for that job and some people, that type of job is not for them,” Crowson said. “If you’re a worker who works around kids and you feel like you’re having a bad day, maybe you should take a day off.”
At least one child has been removed from the facility since Howell’s arrest, KATV reports. She has since been released from custody at a jail in Saline County after posting $5,000 bond, jail records show.
Howell’s arrest is the latest complaint in connection with the day care facility. In January, state officials launched an investigation regarding its staff-to-child ratio, the Democrat-Gazette reported. An internal report in January showed that day care officials fired an employee for not being able to account for all of the children in her care after two children reportedly ran out when a parent opened a door, according to the newspaper.
via: https://nypost.com/2018/07/10/day-care-worker-caught-on-video-abusing-children/
Woman made up rape claim because date wouldn’t drive her home
CLYDE, N.Y. — Police in upstate New York say a woman falsely accused someone of rape for not giving her a ride home.
The Wayne County Sheriff’s Office says 27-year-old Jessica Gallagher of Clyde was charged Sunday with false reporting of a crime. Deputies say Gallagher told police she was abducted by a man she met on a dating app before being blindfolded and raped.
Investigators say Gallagher later admitted she fabricated the story because she was angry at the man for refusing to give her a ride home.
Gallagher was arraigned and is being held Tuesday in the county jail. She’s scheduled to return to court on July 18. It couldn’t immediately be determined if she has a lawyer who could comment on the charges.
via: https://nypost.com/2018/07/10/woman-made-up-rape-claim-because-date-wouldnt-drive-her-home-cops/
Teen stabs grandmother while she slept, steals $23
ALBION, N.Y. — Police say a 17-year-old western New York boy broke into his grandmother’s house and stabbed her while she was sleeping.
The Orleans County Sheriff’s Office says Albion resident Brandon Foster went into his grandmother’s house through a window just before midnight Sunday. Police say Foster then went into her bedroom and stabbed her while she slept.
She fought him off and was able to get away. Officials say Foster stole $23 and his grandmother’s phone before fleeing. He was found at about 6 a.m. Monday and charged with attempted murder and first-degree assault.
The grandmother is recovering at a hospital.
Authorities say mental health issues and a previous confrontation between the two may have played a role in the attack.
The teen is being held in the county jail. The name of his lawyer wasn’t immediately available.
via: https://nypost.com/2018/07/10/teen-stabs-grandmother-while-she-slept-steals-23-cops/
These Two Doctors Are Behind The First Black-Owned Water Company To Have Products Sold At Walmart
The water sold out within one month!
A black-owned alkaline water company has made it onto Walmart’s shelves.
Live Alkaline Water is sourced from a spring in North Carolina that has been in Dr. Robert McCray’s family for over a century. He told First Coast News his aunt took him to the spring and told him his “ancestors are crying out” to him, calling on him to be a responsible steward for the water.
To put his family’s water to good use, McCray partnered with Dr. Shayla Creer to start a bottled water company.
At first things didn’t seem to be going anywhere; however, eventually, Creer and McCray had a stroke of luck.
“I called … many Walmarts, and finally we got a hold of one who allowed us to do a presentation,” Creer told the station.
Unbeknownst to them, a regional manager was present and liked their idea.
“It was hard to keep our composure,” said McCray. “Because it’s the product that was [our] baby.”
Alkaline water is thought by many to have extraordinary health benefits, including the management of acid reflux disease. Once it was in stores, McCray and Creer’s water sold out within a month of being on sale.
The water is now sold in three Walmart locations and several privately-owned businesses in North Florida. It can also be purchased online.
Article via: First Black Owned Water Company
Haiti unrest leaves US missionaries stranded
CNN- A number of US missionary groups are stranded in Haiti after protesters took to the streets following a fuel price hike ordered by the government.
Instagram Model Accidentally Kills Herself During Filming Of Viral Video
A 35 year old Russian Instagram Super Model dies after getting into an accident while filming a video story.
The video shows the woman, who’s only wearing bikini bottoms hanging out of the window in a moving car when she’s struck by a road sign.
The incident took place while she was on vacation in the Dominican Republic.
Watch the video here: http://southlandpost.com/instagram-model-accidentally-kills-herself-during-filming-of-viral-video/
N.J. braces for dangerous rip currents as Tropical Storm Chris is set to strengthen into a hurricane
Tropical Storm Chris is expected to become Hurricane Chris later Tuesday as it continues to spin far off the coast of North Carolina.
Forecasters from the National Hurricane Center said Chris — which should become the second hurricane of the relatively slow 2018 Atlantic hurricane season — made very little movement during the past 24 hours but is expected to track north and east Tuesday into early Wednesday.
Once the storm begins to travel farther north, it will create rough surf as far north as the Jersey Shore, forecasters said.
“Swells generated by Chris are expected to increase and affect portions of the coasts of North Carolina and the Mid-Atlantic states during the next few days,” the hurricane center said in its storm advisory Tuesday morning. “These swells could cause life-threatening surf and rip current conditions.”
Article via: N.J. braces for dangerous rip currents as Tropical Storm Chris is set to strengthen into a hurricane
Ethiopia and Eritrea Declare an End to Their War
Ethiopia and Eritrea on Monday formally declared an end to their “state of war,” a two-decade-long standoff that followed a brutal war over their shared border.
The official end of hostilities is expected to bring some stability to a part of the world better known for its enduring conflicts, and to a region that abuts one of the busiest shipping lanes in the world even as war rages on in Yemen, just across the Red Sea.
The announcement came after Ethiopia’s prime minister, Abiy Ahmed, visited Eritrea’s capital, Asmara, on Sunday, where he embraced President Isaias Afwerki on an airport tarmac. The leaders said the countries would resume trade, economic and diplomatic ties, including reopening embassies and restarting flights.
“The state of war between Ethiopia and Eritrea has come to an end,” the leaders said in a joint declaration. “A new era of peace and friendship has been opened.”
More than 80,000 people had died in the war.
Later on Monday, Ethiopia asked the visiting secretary general of the United Nations, António Guterres, to lift sanctions against Eritrea, Mr. Abiy’s chief of staff said in a message on Twitter. The United Nations had imposed an arms embargo and a partial travel ban on Eritrea, citing its disputes with neighboring countries.
Mr. Guterres told reporters on Monday that the sanctions might “become obsolete.”
Eritrea gained its independence from Ethiopia in the early 1990s but has not recorded the same growth as its neighbor, sinking into economic and social isolation. Ethiopia, landlocked since the secession, has a strategic interest in a critical Eritrean port, Assab.
A border war broke out between the countries in the late 1990s, and since then, they have been locked in an unyielding animus.
Eritrean dissidents have accused the government of using the war to justify endless military service that has been behind the exodus of young Eritreans in recent years. Eritreans were among the largest group of people landing on Mediterranean shores during the height of Europe’s migration crisis.
1-year-old baby appears in immigration court, cries hysterically
A year-old baby boy in federal custody appeared in immigration court without his parents in Phoenix, briefly played with a ball, drank from a bottle, then “cried hysterically” as he was about to leave the courtroom, according to the Associated Press.
But he was eventually granted a voluntary departure order so the government can fly him to Honduras, where his father has already been sent.
The little boy, identified in court only as Johan, was one of the children who appeared in the Arizona court Friday without parents. One boy held up five fingers when the judge asked him his age.
Judge John Richardson said he was “embarrassed to ask” if Johan understood the proceedings, said AP. “I don’t know who you would explain it to, unless you think that a 1-year-old could learn immigration law,” he told Johan’s attorney.
Immigration advocates have complained about children in court, calling it stressful and frightening. There are no physical accommodations for children, many of whom can’t even see over defense tables without booster seats.
“There are no booster seats … no teddy bears. It’s a cold immigration court, and these kids are sitting in chairs that are too big for them; their feet don’t even touch the floor,” immigration attorney Lindsay Toczlowski explained last month on CNN.
Johan, who was separated at the U.S. border from his dad under Donald Trump’s “zero tolerance” immigration policy, is one of the more fortunate children because he at least has a court-appointed attorney. Not all of the children separated from their parents do.
Trump countermanded his own separation policy with an executive order he signed June 20. But now his administration is under court order to reunite children with families.
Some 3,000 migrant children remain in government custody after being separated from their parents, and 100 of them are under the age of 5, according to HHS. The New York Times has reported that some records on the separated families have been lost or even destroyed, raising the possibility that some children may never be reunited with their families. In addition, the U.S. has already deported at least 19 parents of children under the age of 5 and in federal custody.
A federal judge in San Diego ordered the Trump administration to reunite children with their parents within 14 days for children under the age of 5, and within 30 days for older children. The first deadline is July 10.
Lawyers for HHS asked for an extension last week — and argued that federal officials shouldn’t be required to reunite children with parents who have already been deported. Judge Dana Sabraw, who set the deadlines, will hold a hearing Monday on the extension request, but only in specific cases where the government can demonstrate that it’s necessary. She said Friday that the government must reunite children with their parents, even if the parents have already been deported.
Read more via: 1-year-old baby appears in immigration court, cries hysterically
Shark attacks California Instagram model in Bahamas
“I am so fortunate that I still have my arm and my life.”
Katarina Zarutskie was floating calmly in the ocean off the Bahamas’ Staniel Cay when she suddenly felt her arm being yanked down.
Zarutskie, a 19-year-old nursing student and Instagram model from Laguna Beach, California, had been swimming with nurse sharks when one bit her arm and started to drag her under the water last month. Her boyfriend’s father took several photos throughout the attack, capturing the exact moment that Zarutskie came in contact with the 5-foot-long shark.
“He had my wrist in his mouth and I could feel his teeth sinking into my arm,” Zarutskie told NBC News on Monday. “I was pulled underwater for a few seconds and then ripped my wrist out of the shark’s mouth as fast as I could.”
When she got free of the shark’s bite, she swam to some steps — holding her bleeding arm out of the water to not tempt more sharks — and got out of the ocean.
Zarutskie, who attends the University of Miami, had been on vacation with her boyfriend and his family and had heard from locals that swimming with nurse sharks was a fun and safe activity. She did not swim with the sharks through a tour company or any organization that required payment, but, having grown up as a surfer in Southern California, she said she was not afraid to jump in the water near a marina.
“My boyfriend’s family was freaking out when I went to swim with the sharks and I was like, ‘it’s fine,'” she said.
According to David Hocher, who owns Staniel Cay marina, people do get bitten from time to time while around the sharks.
“These animals are considered quite docile but can and do bite on occasion,” Hocher wrote in an email. “Normally when they mistake a hand or fingers for a piece of food.”
Hocher sent NBC News a picture of a sign at the marina that warns guests that nurse sharks “can and do bite” and that visitors must “swim with the sharks at your own risk” — but Zarutskie said she did not see the sign.
Read more via: Shark attacks California Instagram model in Bahamas