Disgruntled
worker Jeffrey Johnson designed women's accessories, cops said. He wore
a grey suit as he sprayed bullets along 34th St. and Fifth Ave. — near
the iconic Midtown skyscraper.
A fired employee gunned down his ex-boss on a crowded midtown sidewalk
Friday before dying in a police shootout that left nine wounded
bystanders sprawled outside the Empire State Building, authorities said.
Cold-blooded killer Jeffrey Johnson,
wearing a business suit and carrying a briefcase, pumped three fatal
bullets into his victim near the 33rd St. entrance to the skyscraper, a
witness told the Daily News.
Johnson, 53, after casually strolling away from the murder scene, was
shot to death within minutes in a wild Fifth Ave. gunfight with cops
that sent tourists and pedestrians diving for cover.
File photograph of the Empire State Building taken on April 25, 2012.
(Shannon Stapleton/Reuters / August 24, 2012)
(Reuters) - Two people were killed and at least eight were wounded in a
shooting outside the Empire State Building in New York City on Friday,
according to a New York police source.
One of the dead was the shooter, the source said, adding that there was no apparent link to terrorism.
The gunman, who was firing indiscriminately, is dead, the AP says.
Update at 10:23 a.m. ET:The New York Daily News quotes
a construction worker, Chris Ogden, as saying he saw the gunman, who
was carrying a brief case, open fire. "He shot the guy in the head,"
Ogden tells the newspaper. "The guy went down. He took a second shot
when he was down."
Update at 10:14 a.m. ET: A
witness tells CNN that the gunman ran after and shot a man in the head.
An unarmed guard chased the gunman away, the witness says.
Atlanta police released this
artist's sketch of a man wanted in connection with an attempted child
abduction Wednesday evening in northeast Atlanta. Credit: Marla Lawson,
GBI
Police put out an alert Thursday for a man driving a black pickup truck
who allegedly tried to kidnap a 7-year-old girl from a street corner in
northeast Atlanta.
The incident happened about 7:45 p.m. Wednesday at Parkway Drive N.E. and Angier Avenue N.E., police said.
The girl was walking on Parkway with two friends, ages 9 and 12, when
a man in a pickup slowed down and asked the girls where they were
going, police said. They ignored him and continued walking.
"The man exited his truck, grabbed the 7-year-old girl, covered her
mouth so that she couldn't scream and began dragging her toward his
truck," Atlanta police Officer John Chafee said in a news release.
"The other two girls grabbed the victim and attempted to pull her
away from the suspect, who then released the girl and fled the scene in
his vehicle," Chafee said.
The girls described the assailant as a black man, about 50 years old,
bald, about 6 feet 1 inch tall and 200 pounds, police said. He was
wearing a blue shirt, baggy shorts and red Converse All-Star shoes.
Details
were sketchy, but police were involved in the gunfire on 34th St. and
Fifth Ave. — alongside the the iconic midtown skyscraper
A suspect was shot and killed by police and four other people were
wounded when gunfire erupted Friday morning outside the Empire State
Building, cops said.
Details were sketchy, but the shooting started shortly after 9 a.m. on
the crowded rush hour sidewalks outside the iconic midtown skyscraper.
A man wanted by police was fatally shot, while four other people were
injured before the gunfire stopped. It was unclear if the wounded
victims were linked to the dead suspect or innocent bystanders, police
said.
The scene from a shooting near the Empire State Building during the Friday morning rush.
(Reuters) - Tropical
Storm Isaac headed towards the Dominican Republic and Haiti on Friday,
rumbling slowly west across the Caribbean after unleashing heavy rain on
parts of Puerto Rico.
Sorel
Depas-Medina, 70, was standing against a wall Thursday on Broad St. and
eating Chinese food when a silver Honda Ridgeline launched from the
cobblestone street and struck him about 1:20 p.m., cops and witnesses
said.
Police
say accused gunman, identified as African oil salesman Horace Coleman,
opened up with a .357 and shot two competitors on Gerard Ave. and 161st.
street.
Men who become fathers later in life pass on
more new genetic mutations to their children, increasing the risk of
autism and schizophrenia, researchers find.
Gatekeeper to the legend of Nina Simone, the songstress' only child
speaks on the controversial upcoming bio pic and who she'd like to see
portray her mother Simone and her mother Nina Simone.
Thursday, August 23, 2012
LL Cool J TAKES DOWN Intruder in His House
exclusive
1:30 PM PT -- Police say LL Cool J will NOT be charged with assault after the incident.
8:53 AM PT --
LL beat the living CRAP out of the intruder ... who's being described
as a transient ... reportedly breaking the man's nose and jaw.
Law
enforcement sources tell us ... the suspect is currently hospitalized
and being treated for his injuries. Officials believe the man may suffer
from mental issues.
7:30AM PT--
A rep confirms LL Cool J is safe and unharmed. As for the personal
beating LL put on the intruder -- the rep would only say, "He is
committed to keeping his family safe and is cooperating with
authorities."
LL Cool J came face-to-face with a burglary suspect in
his home, and took the guy down with his own hands early this morning
... TMZ has learned.
According to law enforcement sources ... the
suspect entered LL's Los Angeles area house around 2AM, but
unfortunately for him the actor/rapper/badass was home.
We're told LL heard some commotion downstairs, went to check it out ... and found the intruder.
Sources say the intruder had tripped LL's alarm system, but the "NCIS Los Angeles"
star -- who is a physical beast -- decided to go hand-to-hand combat on
the dude ... and managed to detain him until LAPD arrived a few minutes
later to make the arrest.
We're told LL is okay, but the suspect -- who will be booked for burglary -- suffered a few bruises.
Lott: ‘Nothing to indicate that she voluntarily left”
Read more here: http://www.thestate.com/2012/08/23/2409611/search-for-missing-ridge-view.html#storylink=cpy
The aunt of missing Ridge View High School cheerleader Gabrielle
Swainson said Wednesday her disappearance is impossible to understand.
“She’s
just a wonderful child, an A-student, she plays the guitar, she’s on a
jazz-tap dancing team that does statewide competitions,” said Tara
Swainson, 41, who said it’s completely out of character for her niece to
go missing.
“I just really hope that we find her and find her safe and alive. I can’t imagine she would willingly be gone.”
Read more here: http://www.thestate.com/2012/08/23/2409611/search-for-missing-ridge-view.html#storylink=cpy
It is with extreme sadness that we share the news that Morris Brown College,
a Historically Black College established in 1881 by the African
Methodist Episcopal Church, is facing foreclosure, according to CBS Atlanta.
“This is heartbreaking and not only a sad day in the life of Morris
Brown, but in black academia,” said former Atlanta City Councilman
Derrick Boazman, a 1990 graduate of Morris Brown. “The school is needed
now more than ever.”
With the exposure of extreme financial mis-management in 2002, Morris
Brown lost its accreditation and federal funding and has faced a long,
public battle with crippling debt. The college, which once boasted a
student body of approximately 2,500 students, shriveled to a mere few
dozens students at one point and now has a reported 50 students.
Chevonne
Thomas, a Camden, N.J., mother, cut off the head of her 2-year-old son
and put it in the freezer before stabbing herself to death early
Wednesday morning as local police arrived.
Camden Police
Chevonne
Thomas’ mug shot from a 2010 arrest on charges of endangering the
welfare of a child after she allegedly smoked a combination of PCP and
marijuana, blacked out and forgot where she left her 10-month-old boy.
A Camden, N.J., mother decapitated a 2-year-old son she only recently
regained custody of before stabbing herself to death early Wednesday
morning.
Chevonne Thomas, 33, and her son, Zahree Thomas, were found dead by
police who stormed their home after responding to a 911 call after
midnight from the woman saying someone had harmed her son. The headless
child was found on the first floor, his mother in her second floor
bedroom, according to multiple media reports. The boy's head was found
in the freezer.
ATLANTA -- An outbreak of infected tattoos has led to an unlikely source: the ink.
With the growing popularity of tattoos, health officials say they are
seeing more cases of a nasty skin infection caused by a common bacteria
traced to the ink. In the largest outbreak, 19 people in Rochester,
N.Y., ended up with bubbly rashes on their new tattoos, researchers
reported Wednesday.
Infections from tattooing are nothing new. Hepatitis, staph
infections and even the superbug known as MRSA have been tied to
tattoos. Dirty needles and unsanitary conditions are often to blame.
But all the New York cases were linked to an unidentified artist who
wore disposable gloves and sterilized his instruments. The problem,
investigators concluded, was in the ink.
Tropical storm Isaac could be a hurricane by later Thursday, and
arrive in Florida by Monday, the start of the GOP convention. Caribbean
nations brace for the arrival of tropical storm Isaac.
WINNSBORO, SC (WIS) - Fairfield County deputies are looking for a 16-year-old girl who may
have run away from her home to be with a man she met on the internet.
Investigators say Lauren Grace Dixon was last seen at her home on Newberry Road in Winnsboro on Sunday evening.
Dixon left a note at her home saying that she was running away, according to deputies.
Evidence suggests that a 20-year-old male
named Brian convinced her to leave home to be with him and that they may
be heading to Lexington, NC, which is near I-85 between Charlotte and
Greensboro.
GWEN IFILL: Now the second in a pair of stories about efforts to keep students from losing ground over the summer.
Last night, we looked at a Rhode Island school district's attempts to close the achievement gap between rich and poor.
Tonight, we head across the country to Seattle. A
nonprofit group there runs a year-round program which aims even higher:
to college graduation.
Our report is part of our American Graduate series, and we turn again to Hari Sreenivasan.
HARI SREENIVASAN: As summer draws to close in a
Seattle, roughly 50,000 K-12 students across the city are ending
vacations and preparing to head back into classrooms.
But for 13-year-old Saymirah Cornelius-McClam, the change of season
will mean little. Lately, summer school has been part of her life.
James Madio of "Band of Brothers" fame visits hometown
Courtesy Andrew Kaen
Bronx actor James Madio has teamed up with writer Steve Loff for the docudrama, Pep.
He’s acted with Hollywood stars such as Dustin Hoffman and Leonardo DiCaprio. And he’s earned awards for his independent films.
Yet through it all, actor James Madio has never forgotten his roots here in the Bronx.
“It was great to come home and hang out with family,” he said. “My mom
made me Sunday gravy on Wednesday. And of course I had to hit the local
pizza shop and deli and get caught up with friends. I try to pack a lot
in. I don’t think I stopped once.”
Madio, 36, who now lives in Los Angeles, came back to the Big Apple last week for a reading for his latest film project, “Pep.”
It’s based on a true story of former boxing champ, Willie Pep, who has the most boxing wins in history.
The film, to begin shooting next year, is set in 1965 with select
flashbacks. Pep has been retired and living quietly in Hartford. But
when personal troubles start taking their toll, Pep decides to head back
to the ring at age 42.
“He grew up on the tough streets and had to fight his way through it
all to put food on the table for his family.
He’s a survivor,” Madio
said. “It’s one of those amazing stories that have been overlooked.”
As for Madio, he grew up in Morris Park and Pelham Bay as one of seven children.
Survey says Bronx-based school serves worst chow of any campus in country
Enid Alvarez/New York Daily News
Fordham University's Bronx campus is a beauty, and the education is
first class, but finding a decent meal is next to impossible, according
to a survey.
BROOKLYN Moleendo Stewart sees inequality as playing a role in his sleep problems.
Moleendo Stewart can’t say for sure what’s caused his lifelong sleeping problems. But he has his suspicions.
There’s the childhood spent in loud, restless neighborhoods in Miami.
“You hear people shooting guns all night, dealing drugs,” said Mr.
Stewart, 41, who lives in the East Flatbush section of Brooklyn. He also
cites his weight, 260 pounds, down from a peak of 310.
Sleep experts would point to another factor working against Mr. Stewart: He is a black man.
The idea that race or ethnicity might help determine how well people
sleep is relatively new among sleep researchers. But in the few short
years that epidemiologists, demographers and psychologists
have been studying the link, they have repeatedly come to the same
conclusion: In the United States, at least, sleep is not colorblind.
No one was injured after underground dynamite blast at 72nd St. went stunningly awry.
John Wilson
Shaking and loud noise from the blast startled residents and employees at local businesses.
A volcano-like eruption Tuesday spewed chunks of concrete and bedrock
as high as eight stories when an underground dynamite blast on the
Second Ave. subway project went stunningly awry.
The eruption happened at 12:45 p.m., turning the intersection of E.
72nd St and Second Ave. into what appeared to be a war zone.
“It was like the finale of a fireworks display, but right there in my face,” said John Wilson, 69, of Wilmington, N.C., who was out exercising a new hip implant when the explosion happened.
Miraculously, no one was injured by the subterranean mishap that left a
crater in the fenced-off construction site on the northwest corner of
the intersection.
The
City Council has appropriated $2.5 million towards building the South
Bronx complex, which is slated to offer 290 units of low-income housing
and a grades 6-12 school
DOVER, Del. — Three Delaware day care workers videotaped a fight
between 3-year-old boys in their care and encouraged the toddlers to
pummel each other as they laughed about it, according to court
documents.
In this Monday, Aug 21, 2012 photo provided by the Dover Police
Department, Estefania Myers, 21, is shown. Dover police have arrested
Myers and two other day care workers they say encouraged 3-year-olds to
fight each other. All three are each charged with second-degree assault,
endangering the welfare of a child and other offenses. (AP Photo/Dover
Police Department)
In this Monday, Aug 21, 2012 photo provided by the Dover Police
Department, Tiana Harris, 19, is shown. Dover police have arrested
Harris and two other day care workers they say encouraged 3-year-olds to
fight each other. All three are each charged with second-degree
assault, endangering the welfare of a child and other offenses. (AP
Photo/Dover Police Department)
In this Monday, Aug 21, 2012 photo provided by the Dover Police
Department, Lisa Parker, 47, is shown. Dover police have arrested
Parker and two other day care workers they say encouraged 3-year-olds to
fight each other. All three are each charged with second-degree
assault, endangering the welfare of a child and other offenses. (AP
Photo/Dover Police Department)
The three women were charged Monday with assault and other offenses
after Dover police obtained a cellphone video of the March 6 incident.
Officials suspended the license of their employer, Hands of Our Future
day care center in Dover, the same day.
Tiana Harris, 19, of Dover, Estefania Myers, 21, of Felton, and Lisa
Parker, 47, of Dover each posted $10,000 secured bond. Each is charged
with felony assault and conspiracy, and several misdemeanor counts of
endangering the welfare of a child.
The women allowed and encouraged two 3-year-old boys to fight each
other, according to a probable cause affidavit. Police allege the video
taken by Harris shows one child screaming, crying and holding his face
while being punched by the other, who is also punched and shoved into a
table.
During the fight, Parker allegedly grabbed one of the boys and forced
him to continue. Harris and Myers, meanwhile, are shown and heard
laughing and encouraging the altercation, police said.
"They're doing nothing to prevent this from happening," Dover Police
Capt. Tim Stump said, adding that the video makes clear that one of the
boys does not want to continue.
"He's crying, he doesn't want any part of continuing, and he rushes
to one of the defendants and is turned around and shoved back into the
fray," Stump said.
Police held a closed-door meeting Monday night with parents and guardians of children attending the day care.
"They're obviously very concerned," Stump said, adding that police
are trying to determine whether there were other instances of fighting
encouraged by day care employees.
"This investigation is far from over," he said.
Police have refused to release the video, saying it is evidence in a continuing criminal investigation.
Cristyl Slack, whose 4-year-old daughter is one of seven children who
can be seen in the background on the cellphone video, said she is
shocked by the allegations. Slack said her daughter has told her
repeatedly that the teachers don't condone fighting.
"She's specifically said that the day care teachers have told her, if somebody hits her, don't hit them back," Slack said.
Slack said she has not seen the video, and that police have advised
parents not to press their children about what happened. Police have
indicated that they will allow parents of children who can be seen in
the video to view it at some point, but have not said when, Slack added.
Slack could not recall her daughter complaining of anything at the time of the March incident.
Slack said she transferred her children to Hands of our Future early
last year after Teresa Perez opened the business. Slack's children had
previously been at another center where Perez, Myers, Parker and Harris
worked.
"I can't imagine her ever hurting a child," Slack said of Myers. "I trust her with my kid's life."
Read much more on this disturbing story - Click on headline title, or here.
Associated Press/Frank Wiese - FILE - In this March 23, 1996 file photo,
William Windom, left, shows a swagger stick to "Murder She Wrote" star
Angela Lansbury, center, and former first lady Nancy Reagan prior
LOS ANGELES (AP) — William Windom, who won an Emmy Award for his turn in the 1969 TV comedy series "My World And Welcome To It" and went on to score guest appearances on several popular shows, has died.
Windom died Thursday of congestive heart failure at his home in Woodacre, north of San Francisco, his wife Patricia told the Los Angeles Times. He was 88.
Robert Northern Daniels died just two days shy of his 20th birthday.
WCSC
One
person is dead and five others had to be rescued after a storm caused
their boat to sink in Lake Moultrie in Berkeley County, South Carolina.
A day of fishing turned deadly in South Carolina when heavy waves from a
storm crashed onto a boat carrying six passengers, leaving one person
dead.
Robert Northen Daniels of Ladson, S.C., drowned after a strong
thunderstorm filled the 22-foot pontoon-type deck boat with water in
Lake Moultrie Sunday afternoon, WCSC-TV reported.
The 19-year-old would have celebrated his 20th birthday on Aug. 21.
October 1969 file photo: Comedian Phyllis Diller poses for a portrait. Diller, the housewife turned humorist who aimed some of her sharpest barbs at herself, died Monday, Aug. 20, 2012, at age 95 in Los Angeles. (AP)
LOS ANGELES – Phyllis Diller, the housewife turned humorist who aimed some of her sharpest barbs at herself, punctuating her jokes with her trademark cackle, died Monday morning in her Los Angeles home at age 95.
"She died peacefully in her sleep and with a smile on her face," her longtime manager, Milton Suchin, told The Associated Press.
Diller, who suffered a near-fatal heart attack in 1999, was found by her son, Perry Diller. The cause of her death has not been released.
COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — A South Carolina judge has overturned a death sentence for a man convicted of killing his estranged wife while awaiting trial on charges he had raped and kidnapped her.
Prosecutors said Monday a judge had instead opted to sentence Louis Winkler to life in prison, citing errors made by his defense attorney at trial. State prison officials said Monday that Winkler was still on death row, and it wasn't immediately clear when he would be moved to a different cell.
Call it “The Midas Touch.” Dr. Randal Pinkett, season four winner of
NBC’s The Apprentice and Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, BCT
Partners, a national consulting firm delivering a full-range of program
management, research and evaluation, technical assistance, and
information technology services to the U.S. Government, has been awarded
two contracts with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Administration (SAMHSA) and National
Institutes of Health (NIH).
Billionaire David Koch, chairman of the board
of the conservative Americans for Prosperity (AFP) advocacy group,
attends a 'Cut Spending Now' rally at AFP's 'Defending the American
Dream Summit' in Washington on November 5, 2011. (Nicholas
Kamm/AFP/Getty Images)
Matt Brooks describes the mission of the Republican Jewish Coalition as
educating the Jewish community about critical domestic and foreign
policy issues.
Christians argue they are often falsely accused of blasphemy
Pakistani police have arrested a mentally disabled 11-year-old girl after a mob accused her of desecrating pages of the Koran.
The mob demanded the Christian girl's arrest and threatened to burn
down Christian homes outside the capital Islamabad, local media say. Officials said the girl could not properly answer police questions. Her parents have been taken into protective custody following threats and other Christian families have fled.
It is thought that the girl has Down's syndrome. Paul Bhatti, Pakistan's minister for National Harmony, told
the BBC that the girl was known to have a mental disorder and that it
seemed "unlikely she purposefully desecrated the Koran". "From the reports I have seen, she was found carrying a waste bag which also had pages of the Koran," he said. "This infuriated some local people and a large crowd gathered
to demand action against her. The police were initially reluctant to
arrest her, but they came under a lot of pressure from a very large
crowd, who were threatening to burn down Christian homes."
James Davis faces off against Alabama health officials
(Newser)
–
James
Davis promised his wife he would bury her at home, and that's exactly
what he did. Only problem: A county judge in Alabama has ordered her
body moved from her grave site in Davis' front yard, the AP
reports. "Good Lord, they've raised pigs in their yard, there's horses
out the road here ... they've got other grave sites here all over the
place," says Davis, 73. "And there shouldn't have been a problem."
After that you have to watch while they dig up your relatives
A cemetery is seen in Mytilini, Lesbos, Greece in this file photo.
(Getty Images) (Newser)
–
If
you’re looking forward to resting in peace someday, try not to kick it
in Greece. The country is so drastically short on cemetery space that by
law the dead may only rent graves, and then for a maximum of three
years, reports Alex Mar of Slate,
whose grandparents died there recently. After that, a family member
must come watch as the body is exhumed and its bones collapsed into a
container around the size of a shoebox.
Phyllis Diller, whose sassy, screeching, rapid-fire stand-up comedy helped open the door for two generations of funny women, died on Monday at her home in Brentwood, Calif. She was 95.
Her agent, Fred Wostbrock, confirmed her death.
Ms. Diller, who became famous for telling jokes that mocked her odd looks, her aversion to housekeeping and a husband she called Fang, was far from the first woman to do stand-up comedy. But she was one of the most influential. There were precious few women before her, if any, who could dispense one-liners with such machine-gun precision or overpower an audience with such an outrageous personality.
One chestnut: “I once wore a peekaboo blouse. People would peek and then they’d boo.”
Director-producer Tony Scott, Top Gunhelmer and brother of Ridley Scott, died Sunday when he fatally jumped off the Vincent Thomas Bridge in San Pedro, Calif,Deadlinehas confirmed. He was 68 years old. Scott climbed a fence on the bridge, which spans the Los Angeles Harbor, and jumped “without hesitation,” plunging 185 feet to his death, officials said. His body was pulled out of the water by the LAPD, California Highway Patrol, and U.S. Coast Guard officials, and the coroner's office identified him Sunday evening. Investigators found contact information in his Toyota Prius, which was parked near the bridge, and a suicide note at his office. Read more:
BLYTHEWOOD, S.C. -- South Carolina students are getting ready to go back to school, and state officials want to make sure that parents talk with their older kids about keeping emergency contact information up to date.
Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/2012/08/20/4740428/dmv-urges-sc-families-to-update.html#storylink=cpy
Gu Kailai (C), wife of ousted Chinese Communist Party Politburo member Bo Xilai, stands at the defendant's dock during a trial in the court room at Hefei Intermediate People's Court in this still image taken from video August 20, 2012.
In November and December of 2011, Oil House Productions, LLC filmed the feature, Blind Man Walking, on location in West Trenton. The film is a fiction film that promotes an urgent and powerful message of community accountability. Set at the turn of the millennium (1999-2000) the film follows Troy, through his path of recognition and healing, following a shooting at a Trenton nightclub which left him blinded in one eye.
The film was independently funded at both the pre-production and production phases in the amount of $12,000, not including in-kind technology and wardrobe donations valued at approximately $12,000.
Oil House patronized the following Trenton businesses during the making of the movie: catering by Amefika’s Restaurant, Purple City Pizza & Grill and Bud’s Restaurant; wardrobe by Messy Klosets, Queen Couture and Style by Design; and location Studio City New Jersey.
Currently, Oil House Productions, LLC is seeking post-production funds to pay for music licensing, editing, color correction, surround sound and its film premier on 12.12.12.
For more information, please click HERE. If you believe in helping to support independent film making, please make your donation(s) through the widget located on the left side of this blog.
CHARLESTON, S.C. -- One person was killed when heavy waves washed six people off a boat on Lake Moultrie.
The Post and Courier of Charleston reported (bit.ly/Ppht0y) that a double amputee and four other people were able to swim to rocks near Pinopolis Dam. Authorities haven't released the name of the person who died.
Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/2012/08/19/4739674/waves-wash-over-boat-on-lake-moultrie.html#storylink=cpy
The bizarre punishment stoked racial and ethnic tensions, according to reports.
A New Jersey school board has agreed to pay seven former fifth-graders a total of $500,000 for a 2009 incident in which their dean bizarrely ordered them to eat lunch off the cafeteria floor for 10 straight school days, according to the attorney who represented the students.
Fifteen or 16 students -- there is disagreement over the exact number -- at Camden's Charles Sumner Elementary School were forced into the extraordinary action in 2008 by Vice Principal Theresa Brown after a classmate mistakenly spilled a water jug on the floor while re-filling a water cooler, the lawsuit states.
"These kids have a tough enough life without being bullied by their own administration," their attorney, Alan Schorr, told FoxNews.com Tuesday. "Hopefully this settlement will give them a head start toward college."
