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Texas school apologizes for asking students to list ‘positive aspects’ of slavery

A charter school in Texas has apologized after eighth-grade students were asked to list the “positive” and “negative” aspects of slavery for an American history class.

“To be clear, there is no debate about slavery. It is immoral and a crime against humanity,” Aaron Kindel, superintendent of Great Hearts Texas, said in a Facebook statement Thursday. “We sincerely apologize for the insensitive nature of this offense.”

Earlier in the week, Roberto Livar posted a picture of the assigned worksheet, titled “The Life of Slaves: A Balanced View,” that his son, Manu, said was asked to complete at Great Hearts Monte Vista North campus in San Antonio, according to HuffPost.

The issue was later brought to the public’s attention when Rep. Joaquin Castro, D-Texas, sent out a tweet Thursday, slamming the assignment as “absolutely unacceptable.”

“Asking students to complete such an assignment challenges the reality that slavery was utterly dehumanizing,” Castro said in a statement, according to KENS-TV. “It is also an affront to the basic idea of human liberty. Great Hearts Charter network should do a full review of its history curriculum and those who teach it.”

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George H.W. Bush wore socks with books on them to Barbara Bush’s funeral

Former president George H. W. Bush honored his late wife by wearing socks with books on them to her funeral Saturday.

Barbara Bush championed the issue of literacy throughout her life and her husband has a reputation for wearing colorful socks.

“To honor his wife of 73 years and her commitment to family literacy, for which she raised over $110 million over the course of over 30 years, @GeorgeHWBush will be wearing a pair of socks festooned with books at today’s funeral service for former First Lady Barbara Bush,” tweeted the couple’s spokesman Jim McGrath.

The former first lady, who died Tuesday at 92, formed the Barbara Bush Foundation for Family Literacy to fund programs that teach parents in low-income families to read and pass on reading to their children.

“If everyone could read and write, all the problems I worried about could be solved,” she told USA TODAY in 2014. “If you can’t read, you can’t do anything.”

McGrath later tweeted a photo of the socks worn by the 93-year-old.

 

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Ex-Miss Kentucky gets probation for bringing pot into prison

LIMA, Ohio — A former Miss Kentucky who tried to smuggle a small amount of marijuana into an Ohio prison for her boyfriend won’t have to spend time behind bars.

The Lima News reports 28-year-old Kia Hampton, of Louisville, Kentucky, received probation Wednesday during a hearing in Allen County in western Ohio. Authorities say Hampton was found with a marijuana-filled balloon at the Allen-Oakwood Correctional Institution in May 2017.

While prosecutors pushed for a prison sentence, the judge said Hampton seemed remorseful. She could have received three years in prison.
Hampton was crowned Miss Kentucky in 2010 and became the first black woman to represent the state in the Miss USA pageant.

She told the judge Wednesday she wants a “fresh start” and attributed her behavior to “foolishness.”
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Information from: The Lima News, http://www.limanews.com

Verne Troyer, Mini Me in ‘Austin Powers,’ dead at 49

Verne Troyer, the actor best-known for portraying Mini Me in the “Austin Powers” trilogy has died. He was 49.
The news of the actor’s death was reported on his Instagram account on Saturday afternoon.

“It is with great sadness and incredibly heavy hearts to write that Verne passed away today,” a post to the account read.
“Over the years he’s struggled and won, struggled and won, struggled and fought some more, but unfortunately this time was too much,” the post continued.

A cause of death was not revealed.

Earlier this month, Troyer was hospitalized after his friends called 911 saying the actor was drunk and suicidal. He was reportedly held for 72 hours for an evaluation, according to TMZ.

The news

The World Premiere of Disney/Jerry Bruckheimer Films’ ‘The Lone Ranger’ at Disney California Adventure Park – Arrivals
Featuring: Verne Troyer
Where: Anaheim, California, United States
When: 22 Jun 2013
Credit: FayesVision/WENN.com

came about one year after Troyer had checked himself into a rehab program to try and overcome his struggles with alcoholism.
On his Instagram account, the post said “you never what kind of battle someone is going through inside.”

“Depression and Suicide are very serious issues,” the post read. “Be kind to one another. And always know, it’s never too late to reach out to someone for help.”

 

Troyer was recently baptized as he carried on through a difficult time recently, according to the post.

The 2 ft. 8 in. actor has battled alcoholism for years and nearly died from alcohol poisoning in 2002.

Troyer portrayed Mini Me, the sidekick to Mike Myers’ character Dr. Evil, in the 1999 film “Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me” and the 2002 flick “Austin Powers in Goldmember.”

He was briefly married to Playboy model Genevieve Gallen for less than a year in 2004. In 2006, he appeared on the reality series “The Surreal Life” where he was often shown intoxicated.

The actor has made sporadic appearances in films and TV shows since “Austin Powers” and has upcoming roles listed in the 2018 film “Hipsters, Gangsters, Aliens and Geeks” and “The 420 Movie: Mary & Jane.”

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Investigation says Prince was isolated, addicted and in pain

MINNEAPOLIS — After Prince had to be revived from a drug overdose a week before his death, one friend told the musical superstar that he needed to stop taking painkillers. But Prince said he couldn’t — his hands hurt so much that if he quit, he’d have to stop performing.

“This piano tour I think was getting to his hands,” singer Judith Hill told investigators, according to a transcript of her interview.

Those words, found amid hundreds of pages of interviews between investigators and Prince’s closest confidants, provide insight into just how much the man known for his energetic performances and larger-than-life personality was suffering. The documents open parts of Prince’s life that the intensely-private celebrity tried to keep from even his closest confidants.

“How did he hide this so well?” Prince’s closest friend and bodyguard Kirk Johnson said in an interview with detectives. While Johnson said he didn’t realize that opioids were a problem until that overdose, he had noticed Prince was unwell before that and took him to a doctor.

In their zeal to protect Prince’s privacy, Carver County Attorney Mark Metz said some of the singer’s friends might have enabled him.

Prince was 57 when he was found alone and unresponsive in an elevator at his Paisley Park studio compound in suburban Minneapolis on April 21, 2016. An autopsy found he died of an accidental overdose of fentanyl, a synthetic opioid 50 times more powerful than heroin. Authorities say it is likely Prince didn’t know he was taking the dangerous drug, which was laced in counterfeit pills made to look like a generic version of the painkiller Vicodin.

The source of those pills is unknown and no one has been charged in Prince’s death.

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Black men arrested at Philadelphia Starbucks feared for their lives

Two black men arrested at a Philadelphia Starbucks said they were just waiting for a business meeting – and a week later still wonder how that could have escalated into a police encounter that left them fearing for their lives.

Rashon Nelson and Donte Robinson spoke to the Associated Press in their first interview since video of their 12 April arrests went viral.

Robinson said he thought about his loved ones and how the afternoon had taken such a turn as he was taken to jail. Nelson wondered if he would make it home alive.

“Anytime I’m encountered by cops, I can honestly say it’s a thought that runs through my mind,” Nelson said. “You never know what’s going to happen.”
The arrests, recorded on a white customer’s cellphone video, galvanized people around the country who saw the exchange as an example of racism.

The men have met with the CEO of Starbucks and are pushing for meaningful change so what happened to them does not happen to anyone else.

Police this week released a recording of the call from the Starbucks employee that led to the arrest. In it, a woman is heard saying the men refused to “make a purchase or leave”.


Rashon Nelson, left, listens as and Donte Robinson, right, addresses a reporter’s question during an interview with the Associated Press in Philadelphia. Photograph: Jacqueline Larma/AP

Starbucks has promised to shut all 8,000 company-owned stores across the US on 29 May to train employees about unconscious bias.

Nelson initially brushed it off when the Starbucks manager told him he couldn’t use the restroom because he wasn’t a paying customer.

He thought nothing of it when he and Robinson, his business partner, were approached at their table and were asked if they needed help. The 23-year-old entrepreneurs declined, explaining they were just waiting for a business meeting.

A few minutes later, they hardly noticed when the police walked into the coffee shop until officers started walking in their direction.

“That’s when we knew she called the police on us,” Nelson said.

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People are boycotting LA Fitness over racist incident, despite apology

LA Fitness is under fire after an employee asked two black men to leave one of its New Jersey clubs on Monday. The gym chain has since apologized and promised to improve racial sensitivity training among its staffers.

One of the men, Tshyrad Oates, posted videos of the incident on Facebook. Oates wrote on Facebook that he had signed in with a four-day guest pass from his friend, a club member. “After about a half hour, I was approached by this same employee telling me that I had to leave or pay, and I explained to her that I just signed in with her with the guest pass,” he said. “She stated that it was my friend who did not pay (unaware that her manager had already signed him in with his membership pass). My friend stated to her that he is an active and current member and that his gym tag was in his locker.”

Oates says his friend “felt racially profiled and embarrassed by the harassment of this LA Fitness employee in front of other members at the gym.” The two continued working out before they were interrupted again — this time by two police officers, who questioned why they were working out with no memberships.

“We explained to them about our guest pass and rescanned my friend’s member tag, and it resulted in current active status,” Oates said. He and his friend started working out yet again but were reportedly told by an LA Fitness manager just 10 minutes later that they needed to leave. Then, Oates says that five police officers showed up and echoed that demand. Oates said that they weren’t given a reason why and were told that “I was banned from the gym and my friend’s gym membership has been terminated, effective immediately.”

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Barbara Bush, Republican matriarch and former first lady, dies at 92

(CNN)Barbara Bush, the matriarch of a Republican political dynasty and a first lady who elevated the cause of literacy, died Tuesday, according to a statement from her husband’s office. She was 92.

Only the second woman in American history to have had a husband and a son elected President (Abigail Adams was the first), Bush was seen as a plainspoken public figure who was instantly recognizable with her signature white hair and pearl necklaces and earrings. She became a major political figure as her husband, George H.W. Bush, rose to become vice president and president. After they left the White House, she was a potent spokeswoman for two of her sons — George W. and Jeb — as they campaigned for office.

The mother of six children — one of whom, a daughter, Robin, died as a child from leukemia — Barbara Bush raised her fast-growing family in the 1950s and ’60s amid the post-war boom of Texas and the whirl of politics that consumed her husband.

She was at his side during his nearly 30-year political career. He was a US representative for Texas, UN ambassador, Republican Party chairman, ambassador to China and CIA director. He then became Ronald Reagan’s vice president for two terms and won election to the White House in 1988. He left office in 1993 after losing a re-election bid to Bill Clinton.

Quick-witted with a sharp tongue, the feisty Barbara Bush was a fierce defender of her husband and an astute adviser.

As first lady, her principal persona as a devoted wife and mother contrasted in many ways with her peer and predecessor, Nancy Reagan, and her younger successor, Hillary Clinton, both of whom were seen as more intimately involved in their husbands’ presidencies.

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Amazon employees start every day by answering a simple question about work

Every morning, Amazon employees start their day by answering a question that pops up on their computer screens.

The questions are typically work-related, with topics ranging from thoughts about their managers to the length of meetings, or the number of times they’ve received positive feedback in the past week. In some cases, it asks less sensitive questions like how crowded bathrooms get, and even throws follow-up questions when needed.

The daily Q&A program, called Connections, rolled out across the company in April of last year after small pilots beginning in 2014. It’s one of the most ambitious HR programs Amazon has launched in the past year to better understand its sprawling workforce, which is now estimated to be the second largest in the U.S. at over 566,000.

CNBC talked to more than a dozen current and former employees to get a sense of how this and other HR programs are working. Some expressed skepticism about Connections, saying they weren’t convinced the answers were truly anonymous, while managers weren’t always sure how to use the data.

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Georgia mother crashes vehicle into pole to prove ‘God is real,’ police say

A Georgia woman was arrested last week after deliberately driving her SUV into a telephone pole — with her two children in the car — to prove God would protect them, police said.

Bakari Shaquille Warren, 25, told Norcross police she veered into oncoming traffic and hit a concrete pole on purpose, WSB-TV reported.
No one, including Warren’s 5- and 7-year-old children, were hurt in the accident.

One daughter was asked whether her mother crashed on purpose and explained to the officer what happened, according to the station.

“Yeah, because she turned. Her eyes was closed and she was saying, ‘blah, blah, blah, I love God,’” the daughter said. “She didn’t want us to just have a car accident. She wanted us to know that God is real.”

Police said Warren told her children to buckle up before hitting the gas pedal and driving directly into the police.

“It could have been a lot worse. It could have been heavier traffic at the time, she could have hit the pole at such an angle that she did more damage to the car,” Sgt. Eric Butynski said.

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