A Judge Has Blocked Mississippi’s 6-Week Abortion Ban

A Judge Has Blocked Mississippi’s 6-Week Abortion Ban

“Here we go again,” wrote US District Judge Carlton Reeves, who had previously ruled against Mississippi’s 15-week abortion law in November.

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Washington, DC

A Judge Has Blocked Mississippi's 6-Week Abortion Ban

WASHINGTON — A federal judge in Mississippi on Friday temporarily blocked the state from enforcing a new law that largely bans abortion after a fetal heartbeat is detected, usually around six weeks.

“Here we go again,” wrote US District Judge Carlton Reeves, who previously ruled against Mississippi’s 15-week abortion law in November after concluding it was unconstitutional.

Reeves wrote that the US Supreme Court had “repeatedly held” that women have the right to choose to have an abortion before the fetus is viable. A fetus wasn’t viable at 15 weeks, he wrote, which meant it wasn’t viable at six weeks either. He granted a preliminary injunction blocking the state from enforcing the law while the case went forward.

“By banning abortions after the detection of a fetal heartbeat, S.B. 2116 prevents a woman’s free choice, which is central to personal dignity and autonomy,” Reeves wrote. “This injury outweighs any interest the State might have in banning abortions after the detection of a fetal heartbeat.”

A spokesperson for the Mississippi attorney general’s office did not immediately return a request for comment.

Mississippi is one of five states to pass a fetal heartbeat law. Judges in Iowa, Kentucky, and North Dakota previously have blocked abortion bans in those states from taking effect. A lawsuit in Ohio is pending, and reproductive rights groups have vowed to file suit over a law in Georgia. None of these laws have taken effect yet.

Anti-abortion advocates see litigation over laws such as the one passed in Mississippi as vehicles to convince the Supreme Court to reconsider the 1973 decision in Roe v. Wade, which established that women have a constitutional right to abortion. Lower courts remain bound by Roe in the meantime, however.

The ACLU and Planned Parenthood filed a lawsuit Friday challenging a law passed in Alabama that, if it takes effect in November, would be the strictest abortion law in the nation — it makes it a crime for health care providers to perform all abortions unless the life of the women is in “serious” risk.

Reeves, who was confirmed to the US District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi in 2010, has been openly critical of the Trump administration and Senate Republicans, a rarity among federal judges. As BuzzFeed News reported in April, Reeves delivered a speech at a law school in April calling the Trump administration a “great assault on our judiciary” and comparing the president’s criticism of the judiciary to tactics used by the Ku Klux Klan and segregationists.

He blasted the White House and Senate Republicans for the lack of diversity among Trump’s judicial nominees, saying they were “not stumbling unaware towards a homogeneous judiciary.”

Source: http://bit.ly/2Qp4tMI

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5 years ago

Woman Was Arrested For Turning In Her Husband’s Guns After He Was Charged With Abusing Her!

Woman Was Arrested For Turning In Her Husband’s Guns After He Was Charged With Abusing Her!

A 33-year-old woman from Lakeland, Florida, was arrested for trying to turn her estranged husband’s firearms in to the police after he’d been charged with domestic violence and attempting to run her over with his car.

Courtney Irby was charged with two counts of grand theft of a firearm and one count of armed burglary last week. She spent five days in jail.

According to an affidavit obtained by BF News, Courtney collected all of her estranged husband Joseph Irby’s firearms at his home while he was under police custody, and brought them into the Lakeland Police Department.

When an officer questioned Courtney about how she obtained the guns, she told him, “Well, he was arrested yesterday for trying to run me over with his car, and he is now in jail. So I went to his apartment since he is in jail and I searched his apartment for the guns I knew he had and I took them.”

The officer, Brent Behrens, stated that he proceeded to question her to confirm that she entered Joseph’s home without his permission. “So you are telling me you committed an armed burglary?” he said.

“Yes I am, but he wasn’t going to turn them in so I am doing it,” she then responded, according to Behrens. Courtney proceeded to tell Behrens that she has a temporary injunction against her ex, and that she knew he would not turn in his firearms himself — as reportedly mandated by a judge’s orders.

According to Joseph’s arrest record from the day prior on June 14, Courtney told an officer of the Bartow Police Department that her husband was repeatedly “ramming” his car into hers, and eventually off the road. She said she was “in fear for her life.” Behrens stated that on June 15, he “determined [Courtney] committed the Act of Armed Burglary” when she admitted to retrieving the guns from her ex’s residence, and charged and booked her at Polk County Jail.

Woman Was Arrested For Turning In Her Husband's Guns After He Was Charged With Abusing Her!

Woman Was Arrested For Turning In Her Husband’s Guns After He Was Charged With Abusing Her!

The affidavit stated that Behrens contacted Joseph following his arrest of his wife. Joseph said he wanted to pursue charges as she “did not have permission to enter his dwelling and remove his firearms.”

Online and across the country, Courtney’s story has drawn confused and contentious reactions from citizens and lawmakers. Specifically, people are angry the Lakeland Police Department chose to arrest Courtney without consideration of other critical factors for her actions.

@LakelandPD Who was supposed to turn in the firearms in the #CourtneyIrby case? Did you expect her abusive husband, with a violent and aggressive record, to go to his apartment alone, get his guns, and bring them to you? I hope you realize this is absurd.

— Salt Mine (@SaltMine10) June 22, 2019

Some are demanding they drop the charges against her.

@LakelandChamber Why would any decent person with a choice spend their hard earned money in a town where the cops value a violent man’s gun stash over a woman’s safety? Tell @LakelandPD to drop the charges against #CourtneyIrby.

— Randy Childs (@RandyMathHippie) June 21, 2019

After hearing about what happened, Florida state Rep. Anna Eskamani (D-Orlando) spoke out in support of Courtney and her decision. “I cannot stress enough the importance of keeping guns out of the hands of domestic abusers, and empowering our survivors to ask for help — not arrest them,” she tweeted on Tuesday.

I cannot stress enough the importance of keeping guns out of the hands of domestic abusers, and empowering our survivors to ask for help — not arrest them. https://t.co/qWyCyIpDdS

— Rep. Anna V. Eskamani 🔨 (@AnnaForFlorida) June 25, 2019

source

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6 years ago

FDA approves new nasal spray to treat depression

A new drug has been approved by the FDA for patients with treatment-resistant depression. The drug is called esketamine — it’s a chemical cousin to an illegal …

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5 years ago

Justin Bieber Opens Up About His Past Drug Addiction

Justin Bieber Opens Up About His Past Drug Addiction

Imagine being in your young teens and having the entire world in front of you due to complete and utter pop stardom. Money, fame, and success is all at your fingertips at such an early age. How would you react to all that power? It might easily go to your head or manifest into an addiction of some kind.

Over the decades there have been many stars that fit just that description. Some of them have faded incredibly quickly, others stayed on the straight and narrow path, and others fell only to rise again. There are certainly more horror stories than success stories when it comes to that kind of fame.

One of the kings of pop music over the last decade is someone who fits exactly the description of a young star who put himself on the precipice of utter destruction. That star is Justin Bieber. He came onto the scene when he was just a young boy, and in a recent Vogue interview, he talks about his addiction to Xanax.

Justin Bieber and Hailey Baldwin grace the cover of vogue

Justin Bieber Opens Up About His Past Drug Addiction

In a recent issue of Vogue, two of Hollywood’s youngest stars graced the cover. They are a power couple like no other, Justin Bieber and Hailey Baldwin. The two opened up during an interview with Vogue and pretty much left everything out on the table, including his Xanax addiction.

“I found myself doing things that I was so ashamed of, being super-promiscuous and stuff, and I think I used Xanax because I was so ashamed. My mom always said to treat women with respect. For me that was always in my head while I was doing it, so I could never enjoy it. Drugs put a screen between me and what I was doing. It got pretty dark. I think there were times when my security was coming in late at night to check my pulse and see if I was still breathing.”

Clean since 2014

Justin Bieber Opens Up About His Past Drug Addiction

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According to Justin Bieber, he got clean back in 2014 with the help of his pastor at the time, Carl Lentz. The detox was done at Carl Lent’z house, and was a success. He hasn’t taken drugs in five years since the detox, which his now wife, Hailey Baldwin, is incredibly happy about. Bieber still enjoys the occasional drink during social events, but that is all. That’s not bad for someone who could have easily ruined his career.

Regarding her now husband, Hailey Baldwin had this to say: “I’m really proud of him. To do it without a program, and to stick with it without a sober coach or AA or classes-I think it’s extraordinary. He is, in ways, a walking miracle.” While her comments are meant to be uplifting, this shouldn’t deter anyone from seeking traditional help with their addiction.

Justin also had sex addiction issues

Justin Bieber Opens Up About His Past Drug Addiction

Bieber also opened up about his “legitimate problem with sex.” That problem can’t be made easier by the fact that Justin Bieber is a sex symbol for millions of girls around the world. His sex issues, along with his Xanax addiction, led him to become celibate. He enjoyed a year of focused celibacy when he met Hailey Baldwin.

Justin Bieber went on to explain his intentions for cleaning up his life, and what gifts that has brought him. “I wanted to rededicate myself to God in that way because I really felt it was better for the condition of my soul. And I believe that God blessed me with Hailey as a result. There are perks. You get rewarded for good behavior.” If Hailey Baldwin is the reward for that tough journey, it is a journey well taken.

Source: http://bit.ly/2X0UlMA

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5 years ago

Shady secrets McDonald’s doesn’t want you to know

For a company that specializes in food, folks, and fun, it’s pretty amazing how shady McDonald’s actually is. You might think it’s no big deal to walk in, order a burger, get it in two minutes, and then leave. But apparently such a thing can only be accomplished by bending (or outright breaking) every rule in the book. Some genuine sociopathy from the people in charge helps too, as you’re about to find out.

They once got (and still might get) their nuggets from lethally abused chickens

Shady secrets McDonald's doesn't want you to know

Obviously, to enjoy meat of any kind, some animal had to sacrifice its life. But it’s always refreshing to know the animal lived peacefully and died in its slumber. But, according to summer 2015 footage released by activist group Mercy For Animals, McDonald’s cares not one iota for that, working with farms that openly, brazenly, and possibly gleefully abuse their chickens before murdering them into almost-food. The farm that Mercy For Animals targeted, T&S Farm, was recorded beating chickens to death with spiked clubs, with the occasional curb-stomping for variety’s sake. The workers knew full well what they were doing, with one outright asking the cameraman, “you don’t work for PETA, do you?” like a kid caught with his hand in an extremely bloody cookie jar.

Since the video, McDonald’s has disavowed the chicken-killing farm, giving the usual PR responses to assuage as many disgusted customers as humanly possible. But not even the slickest press release can answer three burning questions: how long has this happened, why did it take this video for a major company to realize bludgeoning food to death for fun is evil, and since it’s been a year already, are they secretly working with that farm again?

They won’t pay workers overtime for working major holidays

Shady secrets McDonald's doesn't want you to know

For a long time, McDonald’s understood what Thanksgiving and Christmas meant, and so they allowed their workers to enjoy both the holiday and all the turkey they can stomach. But money cares not for our arcane traditions and emotions, and so in 2012 McDonald’s started opening on the holidays. This was always a thing company-owned stores did, but now they were “urging” (or, really, forcing) franchisees to do the same. Apparently, doing so rakes in thousands per restaurant, which is all that matters anymore. And yes, if you’ve hit McDonald’s either of these days, you’re officially part of the problem. Commence feeling bad…now.

That’s pretty sucky of them, but at least franchise owners can pay holiday overtime. Workers at the company-owned stores, unfortunately, are fresh out of luck—McD’s flat-out refuses to pay them extra for working on a day that, as far as many are concerned, should only be worked by those who deal in emergencies. (No, Big Mac withdrawal doesn’t count.) They hide under the excuse that, because workers volunteer to work those days, they’re not entitled to overtime pay. Because when you’re dirt-broke, struggling to raise a family, and living from minimum-wage paycheck to minimum-wage paycheck, you definitely have the option of not volunteering to get paid for something.

Shady secrets McDonald's doesn't want you to know

Like so many other thieving rich folk, McDonald’s has apparently devolved into filthy, leeching tax cheats. According to the wonderfully titled Golden Dodges: How McDonald’s Avoids Paying Its Fair Share of Tax, between 2009 and 2013, McDonald’s avoided paying over $1.8 billion in taxes. The company used a series of barely legal (and something not even that) loopholes and cleverly shifting profits from whatever country they earned them in, to low-tax havens in countries they didn’t. This seems to especially be true overseas, where McDonald’s is looking at charges that they stole a billion euros ($1.1 billion American) from the European Union by sending their profits through Luxembourg, a country barely big enough to physically store all that money. Australia claims McDonald’s did the same thing there, sending their profits through Singapore and magically pocketing about a half billion in would-be taxes.

Even Brazil has a McBone to pick with the company, claiming they regularly bribe tax officials for minor favors like, oh, ignoring all laws so suddenly the company pays fewer taxes with no issues. But hey, they might have to charge ten extra cents per box of nuggets if they can’t deprive the world’s schools and hospitals of much-needed funding, and we can’t have that.

Shady secrets McDonald's doesn't want you to know

For some reason, enough people hit McDonald’s with their health in mind for the company to make mad bank selling food meant to trim your waistline on the cheap. That sounds great, except that it’s wrong in every conceivable way. The chicken kale Caesar salad, for example, clocks in at a cool 730 calories, 53 grams of fat, and 1,400 milligrams of sodium—numbers that absolutely should not be attached to a bunch of leaves. For comparison’s sake, a Double Big Mac has 680 calories and 1,340 mgs of sodium, meaning they’re touting a healthy salad that’s unhealthier than their unhealthiest hunk of cow. But don’t worry, you can skip the dressing, eat a plain dry salad, and save 200 calories, so now it’s only unhealthier than a single Big Mac. Small victories are still victories.

For the breakfast crowd, McDonald’s oatmeal has got you covered, and hornswoggled. Thanks to “fun” additives like cream, “natural flavor,” and sugar, the McOatmeal clocks in at 290 calories, with 32 sugar grams. You would literally do better with candy for breakfast—a regular-size Snickers bar, for example, only has 280 calories and 30 grams of sugar. Plus, Snickers doesn’t pretend to be anything it’s not. You can trust a Snickers bar, unlike anything Ronald McDonald touts as good for your abs.

They’ll sue anyone with the gall to run a business with ‘Mc’ or ‘Mac’ in its name

Shady secrets McDonald's doesn't want you to know

Once you get greedy enough, any threat to even a dime of your profit must be fought tooth-and-nail, even if it means losing more money to lawyers than you ever would’ve to the “competition.” It’s the principle that counts. In this case, we have McDonald’s going after literally any small business that uses “Mc” or “Mac,” because that’s their thing, and they don’t customers getting confused by seeing it anywhere else. The customer is apparently both always right, and the dumbest people on the planet.

Sometimes, they sue fast food joints, like McJoy in the Philippines or Mac Dooglas in Colombia (which was destroying McDonald’s bottom line with three whole restaurants in a tiny village no one outside the tiny village had even heard of.) But other times they just get petty, like when they sued a coffee shop called McCoffee—which had that name for 17 years—until they finally agreed to change their name and stop leeching tens of dollars from poor little McDonald’s. Though probably the stupidest case was when they went after a hot dog stand called McAllan. Like, a single hot dog stand, which is a product McDonald’s doesn’t even serve. That’s like Budweiser suing some kid’s lemonade stand. They lost that case, after the judge returned with a verdict of “really?” But usually, McDonald’s wins hands-down, valiantly beating back the evil little guy with the almighty power of Unlimited Wealth.

McDonald’s would rather use self-serve kiosks than pay employees a higher wage

Shady secrets McDonald's doesn't want you to know

Does McDonald’s food actually taste good? Who cares? It’s cheap! One of the primary ways that McDonald’s pulls that off is by paying the majority of its employees the least that it’s legally allowed to do so. In most places, that’s right at, or close to, the federal standard of just $7.25 an hour, an amount economic experts prefer to as “a complete tease.”

However, many cities and states have recently opted to raise their local minimum wages, in the hopes that workers can finally afford more than a closet inside a studio apartment. In Arizona and Colorado, it’s set to rise to $12 an hour, Washington’s will soon be $13.50 per hour, and Los Angeles workers will get a minimum of 15 bucks an hour. These states that have the audacity to pay workers a living wage could severely cut into McDonald’s bottom line, so the company has responded by threatening to replace its employees with robots: specifically, self-service kiosks. Robots work for free! At least, until the Uprising.

Here’s how it works: Customers come into a McDonald’s, enter their order on a touchscreen, the company CEO buys another 500-foot yacht and vacations in Bermuda. RoboClerk then sends the order to the kitchen, where an actual human (for now) puts the food together. Yes, they do have to pay somebody for that job (for now), but it does mean McDonald’s no longer has to staff a person at the counter—a great savings to the company, even at minimum wage.

They’ll roll these kiosks out nationally and internationally, if they prove to be efficient and cost-effective in test runs. What a golden time the future will be, when a screen instead of a human will ask “do you want fries with that?”

Their burgers don’t decompose

Shady secrets McDonald's doesn't want you to know

Burgers taste best when they’re hot and freshly prepared, but if you order those things at Mickey D’s and for some reason can’t get to them for a while, like say, a few months, don’t worry about it, they’re still “fine.” Or at least, they look fine. Eerily, McDonald’s small hamburgers don’t seem to rot at a regular pace. Or much at all, really.

In 2008, a health blogger named Karen Hanrahan posted a photo of a McDonald’s hamburger … that she’d bought in 1996 and saved, just to see what would happen. What happened is that, after twelve years, it looked the same as it looked in 1996, and it also looked the same as a brand-new McDonald’s hamburger.

Hanrahan argued that the immortality of the burger must be due to the vast array of preservatives in the burger, which rendered it “chemical food” that lacked any sort of natural nutrition. But according to food scientist J. Kenji Lopez-Alt, writing for Serious Eats, regular McDonald’s hamburgers don’t decompose normally because they don’t — and can’t — dry out. A typical McBurger is a non-perishable food on the level of dried beans, saltines, and other pantry staples. Paranoid of the apocalypse? Building a fallout shelter? Install a McDonald’s. Wasteland be damned, you’ll never starve.

How is this possible, though? Simple — there’s nothing to dry. A small McDonald’s hamburger is thin but flat, making for a high surface area-to-volume ratio. Then, it’s cooked until well-done on a hot grill, sucking out all the tasty, delicious, mortal moisture. No moisture means no bacteria—decaying agents—can propagate. Ever. And thus, the food lasts forever. Basically, you’re eating a mummy.

The company receives hundreds of millions in government cheese

Shady secrets McDonald's doesn't want you to know

The 2015 launch of all-day breakfast at McDonald’s led to two things: the meaningless of time, with regards to breakfast being a morning thing, and increased sales at McDonald’s nationwide. During the last quarter of that year, the company raked in a whopping $6.22 billion, attributable largely to the novelty of being served an English muffin with eggs on it just in time for Jeopardy!

That being said, it’s much easier for a company to rake in the profits if they’re getting free money from the government so it can play with its menu and experiment with late-evening hash browns. And they do — between 2003 and 2013, McDonald’s got subsidies from 42 state and city governments totaling nearly $4 million. McDonald’s even got a piece of the big federal “bailout” package in 2008 and 2009: a $203 million piece to be exact. McDonald’s: Too big to fail, and as long as government fatcats get literally fat off of midnight snack McGriddles, it never, ever will.

There’s a whole herd of cattle in that one burger

Shady secrets McDonald's doesn't want you to know

McDonald’s store signs claim “billions and billions served,” which means the number of burgers sold as much as it does the customers who have eaten those burgers. To serve that many burgers, McDonald’s has to slaughter and prepare an incredibly high volume of cattle in incredibly large and sophisticated meat-processing facilities. McDonald’s calls this burger creation the “blending process,” and it somehow gets more appetizing when you learn the step-by-step process.

In a nutshell, just so, so many cows are slaughtered. Their meat gets mixed together, and then formed into patties, but it’s done so haphazardly that a single beef patty may contain the meat of up to 100 different cows. A Bessie is a Bessie is a Bessie, apparently. But hey, even if you eat nothing but McDonald’s burgers, you’re still eating a wide variety of food from all over the globe.

The truth behind the “hot coffee” lawsuit

Shady secrets McDonald's doesn't want you to know

It’s the case most associated with “frivolous lawsuits” or an overly litigious society: the woman who successfully sued McDonald’s after she went and spilled a cup of their coffee on herself. The reality of the case, however, is quite complex, and, frankly, horrifying.

In 1992, 79-year-old Stella Liebeck went through a McDonald’s drive-through and pulled up on the lid to put in some cream—which, you know, cools it down—and wound up dumping it all over her sweatpants-covered lower half. But coffee, especially McDonald’s coffee, is hot: Even with clothes on, the brown stuff caused third-degree burns on over 16 percent of Liebeck’s body, including her thighs and genitals, burning the skin away completely in some places. During her eight-day hospitalization Liebeck underwent painful skin graft surgery.

Liebeck sued McDonald’s, initially wanting just $20,000 to cover medical costs and lost income during her recovery. That’s not so bad, but as we’ve made perfectly clear thus far, McDonald’s is both cheap and petty. The company offered $800 (roughly 800 cups of McDonald’s coffee), which was so insulting, Liebeck’s lawyers took them to court. Ultimately, she was awarded about $3 million by a jury who did find her partially responsible, because she pulled up on the lid too hard, but McDonald’s mostly responsible, for serving coffee way too hot for human consumption and/or handling.

Among the information that came out in the trial: McDonald’s required its restaurants to serve coffee at around 185 degrees, which is way hotter than what Mr. Coffee produces. In fact, a thermodynamics expert testified a liquid that temperature can burn through human skin in as little as two seconds. Even more shocking: In the decade before the Liebeck case, McDonald’s had received more than 700 complaints from people who had burned themselves on the coffee—and yet the company still refused to lower the temperature. They could’ve lost no money, then could’ve lost just 20 K, then lost 3 million, all because they were stubborn. Food, folks, and fantastic stupidity.

The weird history of Ronald McDonald

Shady secrets McDonald's doesn't want you to know

It is seemingly impossible to escape the lure of McDonald’s. Much like Jason Voorhees, run as hard as you want, but everywhere you turn, there it is, staring at you with its golden arches. Resistance is futile. At the center of the McDonald’s universe, holding it all together for generations, is the cherry-red smile of the infamous Ronald McDonald. While the mere mention of McDonald’s invokes images of pure Americana, Ronald’s white face-paint, carrot-top hair and peering smile masks a more oddball history. Grab your fries, kids.

Ronald was a replacement

Shady secrets McDonald's doesn't want you to know

Let the truth be told: Ronald started life as a scab.

In the Washington, D.C., area, Bozo the Clown, a children’s TV character that was franchised locally and played by different performers in different markets, was used to help promote the local McDonald’s franchise, owned by Oscar Goldstein and John Gibson. When Bozo went off the air in the D.C. marketplace, “Ronald McDonald, the Hamburger-Happy Clown” appeared faster than The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air could recast Aunt Viv. One second, Bozo was there, then Ronald burst upon the scene. Gullible children were none the wiser, and they continued to gobble burgers.

Clad in a yellow jumpsuit and striped shirt, early Ronald wore a paper cup for a nose and a tray for a hat while a complete McDonald’s meal hung from his belt buckle. Today, the Fashion Police would be blasting sirens, but the 1960s were a more colorful and accepting time. At least for clowns.

While Bozo faded into the past as a warmly-regarded nostalgia act, Ronald began to build his empire upon the foundation his predecessor had left behind. After just three local D.C. commercials, the clown was plucked from obscurity to star in national commercials. A star was born, but poor Bozo would never be publicly credited as Ronald’s forefather. Pie to the face for you, Bozo!

His creator was ignored for decades!

While credited by McDonald’s as the first performer to portray Ronald McDonald, the fast food kings have been less than forthcoming with the role famous television weatherman Willard Scott had in creating Ronald. They never told you the truth, Ronald. He is your father.

In his 1982 book Joy of Living, Scott wrote that the owners of the local Washington, D.C., McDonald’s franchise hired him to come up with the burger-boosting replacement for Bozo the Clown. A local radio personality at the time, Scott took center stage in a trio of McDonald’s commercials as the clown, including one ensuring the flower power generation was indeed aware of Stranger Danger.

Ray Kroc, responsible for the franchise’s expansion nationally and beyond, sensed potential, promoting Ronald to national mascot. Scott, however, was cast aside, and the role was recast. Much as Kroc left the McDonald brothers in the dust, Ronald abandoned Scott, who was uncredited for the role he originated, without as much as an Extra Value Meal to show for it.

Scott famously had a decades-long run as an NBC weatherman, but even he couldn’t forecast that after he went public with his claims, McDonald’s would remain silent, beyond a brief acknowledgement Scott was the first to portray Ronald. Brrrr. Talk about a cold front. Even more insulting, the official credit for Ronald’s creation went to Oscar Goldstein, one of the franchise owners that tapped Scott to create Ronald to begin with.

Scott’s role would continue to be ignored until March 2000, when NBC’s Today Show aired a tribute to Scott that featured Henry Gonzalez, at the time President of McDonald’s Northeast Division, finally thanking Scott for his role in creating Ronald. Scott would retire from television in 2015, but had he received royalties for siring Ronald, certainly he’d have been long gone, lounging on some giant tropical island and basking in all his creative glory.

His best friend was evil

Everyone loves Grimace. He’s Ronald’s best friend, that jovial blob who popularized purple decades before Prince was singing about rain. However, it’s been a deep-harbored secret that Grimace was not always as fun-loving — he used to be straight-up evil.

Evil Grimace, as he was originally coined, debuted as a four-armed thief out to steal milkshakes and sodas, only to be thwarted by Ronald, who tricked him into leaving all of the stolen goods behind by pretending to be a mailman delivering a fake invitation for a McDonald’s beauty contest. Yes, this is how they sold burgers in the ’70s. Groovy, man.

While Grimace may have been the scourge of McDonaldland when he debuted back in 1971, his reign of terror did not last long. After a few appearances, he was retconned into the dim-witted, happy right-hand man for Ronald we know today. They even cut off two of his arms.

Exactly how this happened in-universe has never been revealed. Was Evil Grimace apprehended and reprogrammed, A Clockwork Orange-style? McDonald’s isn’t talking, but it’s possible. Such treatment might kill a mere mortal, for as we know, nothing can kill the Grimace.

He lived in a psychedelic nightmare

Everyone needs a place to hang their hat, right? Spokesclowns are no different, and in trippy days of the 1970s, his home, McDonaldland, was revealed. Featuring anthropomorphic characters designed to espouse the enrichment of the world through fast food, McDonaldland was complete sensory overload to children, with bright, colorful characters that looked as if they escaped Disney purgatory. Even better, you didn’t need to go on vacation to see them — they were broadcast right to you, originally in a memorable series of commercials, before evolving into VHS adventures that McDonald’s used to enrapture guests at children’s birthday parties, along with some of the trippiest playgrounds of all time.

Presided over by Mayor McCheese, a politician who remains so beloved he was actually endorsed in the 2016 Presidential Election, McDonaldland was a fantastic fever dream, filled with apple pie trees and thick shake volcanoes — the magical place where Ronald and Grimace foiled the sinister plots of Hamburglar and others who sought to swipe McDonald’s meals for themselves. These colossal battles of good vs. evil deftly balanced delivering moral lessons to kids while also accomplishing their true task: They Live-style subliminal advertising that McDonald’s is yummy and awesome and kids should ask for it all the time. Indoctrinating the young is the key to repeat business. Ask the WWE.

Like Atlantis before it, McDonaldland was lost to time and the ever-changing whims of corporate America. Modern campaigns put the gang out to pasture. Still, future civilizations may one day come across the ruins of McDonaldland and assume we worshiped at the altar of a crazy clown in a yellow jumpsuit. Stranger things, indeed.

He was sued by H.R. Pufnstuf

When the McDonaldland ad campaign was launched, the colorful characters starring in madcap adventures certainly delighted thousands of children, but there was one family it didn’t delight — The Kroffts. Brothers Sid and Marty Krofft ruled over their own magical puppet kingdom, and were at the height of their popularity at the time. They were the kings of the psychedelic ’70s Saturday morning genre, so it was hardly a surprise when they were approached by McDonald’s ad agency Needham, Harper and Steers and asked to sprinkle some of that unbridled creativity over Ronald’s head. The two sides came to terms, but the agency soon yanked those plans.

So imagine The Kroffts’ surprise when McDonaldland debuted and Mayor McCheese bore a striking resemblance to their own top creation, H.R. Pufnstuf. To make matters worse, the Krofft brothers later learned some of their former employees had also worked on the campaign, and the Ice Capades later declined to renew the usage of Kroft characters, in favor of the McDonaldland copycats. Faster than you can say Freddy the Flute, a lawsuit was launched from the Land of the Lost, with all parties soon sitting before a magical jury that was to decree whether The Kroffts’ copyrights had been infringed.

The jury agreed with the Kroffts, but only awarded $50,000 in damages. Both sides flew like Birdie the Early Bird to an appeals court — The Kroffts, to get more of that Fry Guy cash, while McDonald’s, like Captain Crook, wanted to escape scot-free. Testimony indicated that representatives of Needham had toured Krofft HQ even after they had opted not to go with the family, leaving McDonald’s in quite the bind, legally. In the end, it was decided that The Kroffts were indeed owed some of that McDough, to the tune of $1,044,000. On top of that, McDonaldland commercials were shuttered. The Hamburglar did not escape this time, folks.

Moral of the story, kids? Who’s your friend when things get rough? Lawyers, that’s who.

McDonald’s tried to put a real-life Ronald McDonald out of business

Shady secrets McDonald's doesn't want you to know

McDonald’s is extremely protective and litigious over their brand. Just open any business that features a “Mc” and watch McLawyers descend upon you for a McBeating. So, it probably came as no surprise when McDonald’s attempted to legally smack down Fairbury, Illinois, eatery McDonald’s Family Restaurant over the use of the McDonald’s name.

What was unique was that the owner and proprietor was one Ronald McDonald. No kidding. Ronald McDonald opened his 240-seat eatery in 1956. When corporate McDonalds became aware of this establishment, it began firing off legal letters and phone calls, warning the McDonald family that they were trading on McDonald’s good name. In response, the family slightly changed the title, removing the possessive “s” from their name.

Not good enough for McDonald’s: it then descended upon Fairbury and opened its own outlet, seeking to plant a flag and become the dominant local McDonald’s. It was McDavid vs. McGoliath, for the hearts and stomachs of fair Fairbury.

The battle lasted three years, and, despite their corporate might, McDonald’s found itself unable to uproot Ronald. They finally tapped out, shutting down their location. This led Ronald to snark, “Most of our customers tried it once and never went back. They say they don’t miss it and they are glad we won out.” A McDonald’s spokesperson gave it their best spin, noting, “Closings rarely happen, because we are normally very good at site evaluation.” Hey, Mike Tyson was great at knocking people out, too, but then he met Buster Douglas.

Victorious, Ronald even kicked a little dirt on his clownish cousin post-victory, adding the possessive “s” right back to the name of his own eatery, where it has remained to this very day. Fairbury remains McNugget-free for two decades and counting.

The Hamburglar is real

Shady secrets McDonald's doesn't want you to know

Debuting in 1971, the Hamburglar joined the Ronald’s rogue’s gallery, attempting, over and over, to commit grand theft burger and hoard McDonaldland’s finest all for himself, but falling short every time. He’s received a few makeovers over the years, going from red-headed stepchild to his most recent incarnation, where he came to life and swapped his trademark bush hat for a Twitter-trending fedora, until dropping off the radar again. Or did he?

In April 2016, international headlines were made when a mysterious hat-wearing suspect broke into a Five Guys restaurant in the Washington, D.C., area and promptly cooked himself a meal. Despite calls to the public for help in identifying this hardened criminal, authorities were unable to apprehend this menace to society. Officer Big Mac, asleep on the job. Robble robble!

The McMarketing may have gotten out of hand

Ronald and McDonaldland were specifically designed to market McDonald’s to children, and in that regard, it did gangbuster business, not only in keeping registers ringing across the country, but in getting the characters out of the restaurants and into the hands of children as tangible playthings. There were action figures, plush dolls, McWrist Wallets, novelty records, McDonaldland playsets, VHS tapes, and playgrounds, some of which as dangerous as they were colorful.

In the late-’80s and early-’90s, that weirdness spread to the world of videogames. There was 1993’s McDonald’s Treasure Land Adventure for the Sega Genesis, where Ronald fights off pirates en route to tracking down a treasure map so they could return home via an intergalactic rainbow. Or, 1992’s multi-platform MC Kids, where our heroes chase down Ronald’s magic bag after it was stolen by the Hamburglar. Does Felix the Cat know about this?

All of this madness pales in comparison to the insanity of 1988’s Japanese Famicom-only title Donald Land, where Ronald has to rescue all of his kidnapped friends from an evil clown named Gumon, fighting his own brainwashed friends and evil animals along the way. How did corporate approve this?

The licensing of Ronald across the board was all over the place, to be sure, but hey, it doesn’t matter what we think. He’s enshrined in the National Museum of American History — at least in doll form — forever, and we’re not. So there.

He’s a failed actor

While he’s starred in countless commercials and home videos designed to build upon McDonald’s propaganda, Ronald is also a failed film actor, with just one lone credit to his name. Box office bomb Mac & Me was released in 1988 as an attempt to cash-in on the hot alien craze that followed the release of Spielberg classic E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial. One can almost smell Hollywood deal-making in the air as the film unspools, taking the E.T. plot point that used Reese’s Pieces to forge a bond between E.T. and Elliot, only attempting to Xerox that strategy to the umpteenth degree, throwing in any and all product placement the producers could force-feed the audience.

None of these attempts are more traumatizing than an entire sequence that takes place at a mythical McDonald’s, where local children have congregated outside to break-dance. Ronald himself is there as the master of ceremonies for a children’s birthday party that our hero, Eric, attends, secretly bringing his alien pal Mac along for the ride. With Mac safely hidden inside the skin of a teddy bear, this fever dream of a sequence leads to a huge dance number, because, well, it’s the ’80s.

Ronald was heavily involved in promoting the film, but, in the end, it’s become a forgotten relic of the era, sucking the life out of viewers and Ronald’s cinematic dreams alike. The Flashdance reboot will have to wait. Until that day, Ronald will have to settle for motivational speaking gigs.

There have been calls for his retirement

Shady secrets McDonald's doesn't want you to know

Ronald has been around for generations, a welcoming face to wave families in the door before they scarf down their McNuggets. In recent years, however, his once rock-solid show of support has slipped. As Aaron Eckhart famously said in The Dark Knight, “You either die a hero or live long enough to see yourself become the villain.” To some, Ronald has become the sneaky villain, tricking generations into making terrible choices, like that last shot at closing time.

“This clown is no friend to our children or their health,” proclaimed Corporate Accountability International, who called for Ronald’s unceremonious retirement in 2010, bemoaning him as the key ingredient in the secret sauce of obesity. To some, Ronald, not irresponsible parenting, was the root cause of a fast food nation brimming with health issues.

While McDonald’s did blink, in some regard, adding healthier fare on their menu, and introducing a slightly more grown-up hipster Ronald, in the end, the Southwest Salad and dialing down the kid-friendliness did little to change a nation’s craving for a late night Big Mac. Pass the diabetes.

Creepy clowns almost did him in

Shady secrets McDonald's doesn't want you to know

Every Superman has his kryptonite. In 2016, it appears that Ronald McDonald’s was discovered: creepy clowns. For inexplicable reasons, a plethora of creepy clowns descended upon planet Earth, popping up in major metropolitan cities and quiet towns alike.

Although there was no evidence that Ronald was culpable in this rising army of sinister clowns, he still shouldered some of the blame, since, for the first time, McDonald’s decided it was going to distance itself. Admitting it was “mindful of the current climate around clown sightings in communities,” the company opted to downplay Ronald’s appearances in the company’s many community and charity events. Although innocent, he was a persecuted clown.

Eventually, the sightings diminished, yet Ronald remains relegated to the shadows, his commercial run apparently far behind him. Until the tides change, one envisions him quietly waiting for the day when he gets to hold court while championing Big Macs yet again. Until then, tears of a clown. An innocent clown. Or was he?

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6 years ago

There may be a copy of Wikipedia somewhere on the moon. Here’s how to help find it.

If you’ve ever worried that humanity will ever wipe itself out so completely that they’ll be no record of our civilization for aliens to discover, you can now rest (somewhat) easy.

Even if we blow everything on Earth to smithereens tomorrow, there will likely still be a library of 30,000 books, 5,000 languages, plus a complete copy of Wikipedia, somewhere on the moon. 

The only problem: We don’t know exactly where. 

The library is a project of the Arch Foundation, the same company that gave Elon Musk a test copy of Isaac Asimov’s Foundation Trilogy to put aboard his spacebound Tesla Roadster. 

The Arch Lunar Library contains 100GB, or 30 million pages of text and pictures, literally embedded in 25 nickel disks in the tiniest type you can possibly imagine. You don’t need anything more specialized than a microscope to read it, and the etchings should survive for billions of years. 

This library was supposed to be delivered to the surface of the moon — specifically, the Sea of Serenity — by Israel’s Beresheet Mission last week. The bad news: After a glitch that turned its engine off and on again at the worst possible moment, the Beresheet lander smashed into the moon at 300 miles per hour.

The good news: Those disks were designed to be indestructible. And the Arch Foundation is all but certain its payload survived the crash.

The landing was a little bumpier than expected, but airplane black boxes survive stronger impacts, and our disc is less breakable. Small, light objects, like our 100 gram library, do better in impacts. It was probably thrown a few km away – a 30 million page frisbee on the moon.

— Arch Mission Foundation (@archmission) April 12, 2019

“We have either installed the first library on the moon,” says Arch Mission co-founder Nova Spivack, “or we have installed the first archaeological ruins of early human attempts to build a library on the moon.”

Some other items in that library for future alien archeologists to pore over: David Copperfield’s magic secrets, the Bible, an Israeli time capsule, and a queso recipe from a cafe in Texas. 

The Foundation isn’t giving up on its lost moon library — and it wants your help in locating it. Spivack’s team has put together an open Google Doc with all the technical specs of the library alongside all details of the crash provided by SpaceIL, the Israeli nonprofit behind Beresheet. (SpaceIL collaborated with aerospace manufacturer Israel Aerospace Industries and Israel Space Agency, Israel’s NASA, on the lander.)

It’s a math problem, basically, though one unlike any you ever encountered in school: If a spacecraft carrying a 100 gram object crashes on the moon at 300 miles an hour, how far away will that object land? 

As the saying goes, “never let a crash on the moon get in the way of a great treasure hunt”

— Nova Spivack (@novaspivack) April 14, 2019

Already one aerospace engineer has suggested that the impact crater should be large enough for the NASA Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter to spot — though it’s unlikely to be able to pick out anything as tiny as the little library that could. 

SpaceIL has already announced that a second Beresheet mission will be attempted, perhaps with another library on board.  In the meantime, as Spivack notes, “when you look at the Moon from now on, realize there is a lost library there containing Wikipedia, 30,000 books, 5,000 languages, and the history of the world.”

Not to mention a recipe for some pretty good queso.

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5 years ago

‘Thought I made it obvious’ Lil Nas X seemingly comes out as gay on last day of Pride Month

Lil Nas X continues to break barriers. After scoring the song of the summer with his country/hip-hop crossover smash “Old Town Road” (which has been stationed at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 for 12 weeks and has made Billboard’s Hot Country Songs, Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs, Rhythmic Songs, and Dance/Mix Show Airplay charts), and even performing the tune with Billy Ray Cyrus at both the BET Awards and Stagecoach Festival, the genre-blurring Atlanta rapper has seemingly come out as gay on the last day of Pride Month.

“Some of y’all already know, some of y’all don’t care, some of y’all not gone fwm [f*** with me] no more. But before this month ends I want y’all to listen closely to ‘C7osure,’” Nas tweeted Sunday, referring to a track on his recently released debut EP, 7. He notably punctuated the tweet with a rainbow emoji.

Key “C7osure” lyrics include “I want and I need to let go/Use my time to be free” and “Pack my past up in the back, oh, let my future take a hold/This is what I gotta do, can’t be regretting when I’m old… Embracing this news I behold unfolding/I know, I know, I know it don’t feel like it’s time/But I look back at this moment, I’ll see that I’m fine” — words whose meaning fans are now understanding with fresh ears.

Lil NasX has a message for his fans during #Pride Month 🌈 (Swipe) pic.twitter.com/FxU2us3Oi2

— BallerAlert (@balleralert) June 30, 2019

Nas followed up with a second tweet Sunday afternoon that simply stated, “Deadass thought I made it obvious,” with a closeup shot of rainbow imagery in his EP’s cover art.

deadass thought i made it obvious pic.twitter.com/HFCbVqBkLM

— nope (@LilNasX) June 30, 2019

Lil Nas X’s revelation is especially brave considering that the country and hip-hop fanbases have been historically conservative and sometimes downright reactionary when it comes to homosexuality, and it is very early in Nas’s career for him to take such a risk. But reaction on Twitter has been largely celebratory and encouraging.

some of y’all already know, some of y’all don’t care, some of y’all not gone fwm no more. but before this month ends i want y’all to listen closely to c7osure. 🌈🤩✨ pic.twitter.com/O9krBLllqQ

— nope (@LilNasX) June 30, 2019

The only thing bigger for Lil Nas X’s career than making a collab with Billy Ray Cyrus is coming out as gay on the last day of #PrideMonth This dude is a marketing genius

— THE SCOOP (@TheScoop_US) July 1, 2019

Yes. He’s out. Congratulations and much love and happiness for the incredibly talented @LilNasX https://t.co/93u89c59BE

— Gerard Courcy (@hardcorehangout) July 1, 2019

To Lil Nas X 🏳️‍🌈❤️🤟 pic.twitter.com/7sG0QaW6l2

— Caleb Trent (@gayninja99) July 1, 2019

@lilnasx I am proud of YOU! No judgement, negative people will always complain. However, positivity will manifest when you live right! Be You! God loves and no one can rob you of your joy and smile if you allow it! #period

— MadStyleChica15 (@madstylechica15) July 1, 2019

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6 years ago

Two Students Opened Fire On Their Colorado School, Killing One Classmate And Injuring Eight Others

“It was beyond awful and terrifying to be there during it, and several of my friends were shot,” said a student who survived the shooting.

Two Students Opened Fire On Their Colorado School, Killing One Classmate And Injuring Eight Others

Two students opened fire Tuesday inside a Colorado charter school near Columbine High School, killing one classmate and injuring eight others before being taken into custody, authorities said.

On Wednesday morning, authorities identified the deceased student as Kendrick Castillo, an 18-year-old senior who was due to graduate this week.

Douglas County Sheriff Tony Spurlock said the suspects, identified as 18-year-old Devon Erickson and an unnamed juvenile, were taken into custody without exchanging gunfire with police. Both are students at the STEM School, a K-12 charter in the Denver suburb of Highlands Ranch.

“At the time, the individuals we believed were in custody were two males,” Spurlock said Wednesday morning. It wasn’t until we got to this office that we were able to determine that one of the suspects [the juvenile] was a female.”

One of the shooters was being restrained by a school security officer when sheriff’s deputies arrived. Administrators reported hearing gunshots fired at 1:53 p.m.; deputies arrived on the scene two minutes later.

Spurlock said authorities were still investigating a possible motive.

“We know that two individuals walked into the STEM School, got deep inside the school, and engaged students in two separate locations,” Spurlock told reporters Tuesday night. “There were a number of students that were shot and injured.”

On Wednesday, Spurlock said that at least one student “encountered” the suspects during the shooting, not elaborating on the specifics of exactly what the student did.

“We are going to hear about very heroic things that have taken place at the school,” said Spurlock.

Eight victims, ages 15 and older, were being treated in local hospitals. No employees or teachers were injured in the shooting, Spurlock said.

Littleton Adventist Hospital received five patients. One patient was in a serious condition, while another had their condition downgraded from serious to fair. The three others have been discharged from the hospital.

Linda Watson, a spokesperson for Sky Ridge Medical Center in Lone Tree, Colorado, said the hospital was treating two juvenile victims. One remained in stable condition Tuesday night, while the other was discharged. Another victim was treated at Children’s Hospital of Colorado’s South Campus in Highlands Ranch and later released.

“Quite a few shots were fired, and police officers, sheriff’s officers were on scene almost immediately,” Douglas County Undersheriff Holly Nicholson-Kluth told reporters, adding that deputies could still hear gunshots as they arrived at the scene and entered the school.

Spurlock said he believed the deputies’ quick response to the shooting saved lives.

“I want to think that that is something that helped,” he said.

Image result for Two Students Opened Fire On Their Colorado School, Killing One Classmate And Injuring Eight Others school map

The school does not have a resource police officer assigned to the campus but does have private security, Spurlock said.

He declined to provide additional information about the suspects but said they were not on the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office’s radar. A car with graffiti on it was later removed from the home of one of the suspects.

A motive for the shooting has not been determined, and Spurlock said officials did not have any information about anyone at the school being specifically targeted.

The FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives in Denver were assisting in the investigation. The White House said President Donald Trump has been briefed on the shooting.

“Tragically, this community and those surrounding it know all too well these hateful and horrible acts of violence,” Judd Deere, the White House deputy press secretary, said in a statement. “We offer our full support to local law enforcement and first responders and thank them for their heroism.”

The school was placed on lockdown for several hours, according to the Douglas County School District. All other Highlands Ranch schools were placed on lockout.

“It was beyond awful and terrifying to be there during it, and several of my friends were shot,” Lillian Duarte, a student who survived the shooting, told BuzzFeed News. “This was so horrible to me, and it felt surreal to walk out of the building with our hands up in the same way I saw Parkland kids doing on the news.”

More than 1,800 students in elementary, middle, and high school attend STEM School, according to its website.

Nicholson-Kluth said many students self-evacuated after the shooting began. Parents were later reunited with students at a nearby recreation center. Hyoung Chang / Getty Images

Students are escorted to a school bus in front of STEM School Highlands Ranch after the shooting.

Speaking on air to the Denver ABC affiliate, a sixth-grade boy named Christian said he was in study hall when he saw several students running and yelling, “School shooter, school shooter!”

“I’m like, what … is this real or fake?” he said. “I just ran after them. … I just got out of there.”

Rocco DeChalk, who lives down the street from the Highlands Ranch school, said he was working from home when he looked out his window and saw crowds of kids running down the street.

“At first I thought it was a gym class,” DeChalk, 50, told BuzzFeed News.

But then he saw the kids’ faces. They looked nervous and scared.

When he stepped out onto his patio, a neighbor told him there had been a shooting at the school and alerted him to a young man who was sitting in the grass by his mailbox and appeared to have been shot.

DeChalk said he and the boy’s friend helped him into his house.

He said the boy, who he guessed was between 12 and 15 years old, was conscious and able to walk. He had one gunshot wound in his back near his armpit.

“He was having a hard time breathing, so I didn’t ask him any questions,” DeChalk said.

He then waved down a police officer outside, who summoned an ambulance to transport the boy to a hospital.

“It’s just unbelievably scary,” DeChalk said. David Zalubowski / AP

Parents gather in a circle to pray at a recreation center where students were reunited with their parents.

STEM School is located less than 8 miles from Columbine High School, where 13 people were killed by two students on April 20, 1999. The shooting was, at the time, the deadliest in the nation’s history.

Colorado Gov. Jared Polis said he was monitoring the situation and making all public safety resources available to assist the Sheriff’s Office.

District officials said the school would be closed for the remainder of the week.

“The heart of all Colorado is with the victims and their families,” Polis said on Twitter.

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6 years ago

Ohio Family Of Four & Their 3 Dogs Were Found Dead Of Suspected Carbon Monoxide Poisoning In Their Home!

When firefighters entered the home, they found readings inside of 1,000 ppm — the maximum reading on the meter.

Ohio Family Of Four & Their 3 Dogs Were Found Dead Of Suspected Carbon Monoxide Poisoning In Their Home!

A family of four was found dead in their Ohio home on Thursday, the victims of what authorities believe is a case of carbon monoxide poisoning.

Richard Gabriel Reitter III, 50, and his wife, Jennifer Reitter, 49, were found dead in their Genoa Township home along with their two children, Richard and Grace. The families three dogs also died.

“Our community suffered a terrible loss,” Genoa Township Police Chief Stephen Gammill said at a press conference Friday.

Police checked in on the Reitter family Thursday when relatives contacted authorities after being unable to reach the family since Monday.

Officers were told members of the family had been complaining of illness, sparking their concern.

When police arrived, the home was secure and they encountered a suspicious odor, prompting them to contact fire officials, Gammill said.

“Once personnel got on scene, they suspected a carbon monoxide incident,” Genoa Township Fire Deputy Chief Joseph Ponzi said.

Ponzi noted his department deems 30 parts per million (ppm) for carbon monoxide as potentially harmful. When firefighters entered the home, they found readings inside of 1,000 ppm — the maximum reading on the meter.

At 1,000 ppm, a person can lose consciousness within an hour, Ponzi said.

“It was unsafe for any person to enter that structure,” he said.

Carbon monoxide is odorless and colorless, and can spark symptoms similar to the common flu, such as dizziness, headache, and nausea.

Winter months tend to be the time officials most often find cases of potential carbon monoxide poisoning due to faulty heating systems, but officials said the chemical can originate from multiple appliances.

Officials are still looking at the source of the carbon monoxide that lead to the family’s deaths, Gammill said.

“We cannot stress enough to have at least one carbon monoxide detector on every level of your home,” Ponzi said.

On Facebook, Holly Reitter paid tribute to her late cousin’s family and urged people to install and check carbon monoxide monitors.

“Please check and double check your detectors or order more if you need to. Life is too short,” she wrote. “Save your life and others by a simple gesture. RIP to my cousin and his family suddenly lost by this silent killer.”

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5 years ago

“Grey’s Anatomy” Star Jesse Williams Revealed What Ellen Pompeo Is Really Like Behind The Scenes

Image result for Jesse Williams, his co star Ellen Pompeo

Williams stated he and Pompeo are such close friends, their families take vacations together with their kids.

Jesse Williams, one of the stars of the long-running medical drama Grey’s Anatomy, revealed what his costar Ellen Pompeo is like when she’s not in character as the “dark and twisty” Meredith Grey.

“I mean, she’s really not like that character at all,” Williams said during an interview that is set to air Sunday. “She’s kind of a street chick.”

Williams, who has been a series regular on the show since 2010, when he began playing the character Jackson Avery, said Pompeo has “seen a lot of shit.”

“I don’t want to speak out of turn, but she’s actually surprisingly kind of down,” he said before revealing that Pompeo “almost stabbed [him] once,” though he didn’t provide any additional details.

The two actors are friends in real life, Williams said, revealing to Profile host Ashley Ford that they’ve “taken vacations together with the kids.” He said that their friendship is “really cool, like, it’s not a forced thing.”

Staying on the subject of Grey’s, which is wrapping up its 15th season, Williams briefly discussed the dissolution of his onscreen marriage to April Kepner (Sarah Drew) in Season 12, which broke the hearts of fans who affectionately referred to the two as “Japril.”

With Drew having departed the show this year, Williams talked about how he felt about the two being an item and weighed in on his new love interest, Maggie Pierce, played by Kelly McCreary.

Grey’s is known for “figuring out ways to get you invested in something just to rip you apart,” Williams said. “And I reminded folks that, you know, maybe for different reasons, but that Japril was a hard pill to swallow for fans as well. They didn’t like us.” He said fans weren’t initially thrilled about the two characters as an item — “but then you figure out a rhythm and a chemistry.”

“Grey’s Anatomy” Star Jesse Williams Revealed What Ellen Pompeo Is Really Like Behind The Scenes

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Williams teased that the last episodes of the current season “are going to be pretty impactful for Jaggie” — a mashup name for his burgeoning romance with Maggie.

But the actor did say he isn’t sure how long he’ll continue at the ABC series.

“Do you think you’re gonna stay on till the ship goes down?” Ford asked.

“I think that ship would have to be steered down,” Williams said with a laugh, “ … ’cause we are staying afloat in an amazing way.

“I work with amazing, amazing, talented people, like, top to bottom,” said Williams, who directed his second episode for the series this year, titled “What I Did for Love.”

“It’s such an example and a pioneering show in so many ways, particularly in inclusion — not as charity,” he said, “but inclusion because it’s the best way to make things work to get shit done.”

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5 years ago

Iggy Azalea Topless Pics Leak then Rapper Deletes All Social Media Accounts

“I feel blind sided, embarrassed, violated, angry, sad, and million other things,” says the rapper, who intends to press charges!

Iggy Azalea Topless Pics Leak then Rapper Deletes All Social Media Accounts

BEVERLY HILLS, CA – FEBRUARY 07: Recording artist Iggy Azalea attends the Pre-GRAMMY Gala and Salute to Industry Icons honoring Martin Bandier at The Beverly Hilton Hotel on February 7, 2015 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Jason Merritt/Getty Images)

Iggy Azalea came back from a brief social media hiatus on Monday, issuing a statement on Twitter regarding some topless photos of her that leaked online over the weekend, only to disappear from social media again moments later.

The 28-year-old Australian rapper, who’s real name is Amethyst Amelia Kelly, suspended her Instagram and Twitter accounts on Monday, one day after partially nude photos from a GQ photo shoot with her were leaked online. She reactivated her Twitter account hours later to issue a statement on the leak before deleting the account again minutes later.

In the statement, Azalea said she plans to press criminal charges against the person or persons responsible for the leak.

“I feel blind sided, embarrassed, violated, angry, sad, and million other things. Not solely because I did not consent to this, but because of the vile way people have reacted,” Azalea said in a statement posted to Twitter. “The outright wicked things people say is overwhelming and makes me feel like throwing up.

“I fully intend to find out where the leak originated from and pressing criminal charges in regards to this,” she continued. “It’s important to me that someone actually be held accountable for their actions and the way it impacts my life.”

Representatives for Azalea did not immediately respond to TheWrap’s requests for comment.

The photos, Azalea said, were from a 2016 GQ cover shoot. “There was no reason for anyone to have kept the outtakes from the shoot,” she said.

The leak of Azalea’s photos joins a string of others female celebrities who’ve had similar problems, such as Jennifer Lawrence, Gabrielle Union, Leslie Jones and Kate Upton, among others.

It also comes as the artist prepares to release her second studio album “In My Defense.” Azalea, who also appeared in Universal Pictures’ “Furious 7,” released the first single, “Sally Walker,” from the album in March and a second single titled “Started” earlier this month.

The “Fancy” rapper’s new album, the follow up to her 2014 breakthrough album “The New Classic,” is expected to come out in June.

Iggy Azalea Topless Pics Leak then Rapper to Deletes All Social Media Accounts
Iggy Azalea Topless Pics Leak then Rapper to Deletes All Social Media Accounts
Iggy Azalea Topless Pics Leak then Rapper to Deletes All Social Media Accounts
Iggy Azalea Topless Pics Leak then Rapper to Deletes All Social Media Accounts

Source: bit.ly/30SyCc7

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