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Staples manager fired after accusing pregnant woman of shoplifting

PINEVILLE, N.C. – Staples said in a statement Monday it had fired the manager who assumed an expecting mother had shoplifted at its store in Pineville.

hirell Bates told Channel 9 she now regrets leaving her home on Friday for back-to-school shopping.

“Being pregnant is already high-risk, and having to deal with that, just additional stress that I don’t need,” Bates said.

Bates said she learned that the manager was fired on social media.

Bates said a police officer asked her if she was shoplifting while she was checking out of the store.

“Mid-transaction, a police officer approached me and insisted he wanted to speak with me,” Bates said. “He asked what was under my shirt.”

Bates is pregnant with twins.

“Initially, I thought he was joking, so my response was, ‘Twins,’” Bates said. “I’m 34 weeks with twins. I’m having a boy and a girl.”

Bates said the officer didn’t believe her the first time, and he asked her again.

“At that point, to avoid him asking me again, I actually lifted my shirt just a little bit, just to expose my belly, so he could see that I’m just a regular pregnant person buying school supplies,” Bates said.

Pineville police said a Staples manager approached the officer and asked him to speak with Bates because the manager believed Bates may have been “concealing merchandise.”

“When I confronted her about what happened, she admitted that, ‘In the past, we’ve had a lot of people putting school supplies or merchandise in their clothes and hiding, so I asked the officer to reach out to you,’” Bates said.
Bates said she planned to contact Staples’ corporate office and possibly seek legal action.

“You pretty much jumped the gun without any type of evidence, except my stomach is large,” Bates said. “That’s not fair. No mom should have to go through that.”

Staples said Monday that the manager did not follow the correct protocol and did not adhere to the company’s policy on interacting with customers.

The company said it has since apologized to Bates.

Bates said she would like Staples to provide sensitivity training for all employees.

She also hopes Staples improves its communication with customers who submit formal complaints.

Source: wsoctv.com:

Too much TV at age 2 leads to poor health as teens

So says a study from the Université de Montréal’s School of Psychoeducation warning that watching too much TV at age 2 can translate into bad eating habits in teen years and poor performance in school.

Researchers tracked nearly 2000 Quebec girls and boy born between spring 1997 and 1998. At age two, parents reported on their childrens’ daily TV habits. At age 13, the kids themselves noted their everyday TV and eating habits.

“Watching TV is mentally and physically sedentary behavior because it does not require sustained effort,” said study coauthor Isabelle Simonato. “We hypothesized that when toddlers watch too much TV it encourages them to be sedentary, and if they learn to prefer effortless leisure activities at a very young age, they likely won’t think much of non-leisure ones, like school, when they’re older.”

Researchers found that every hourly increase in toddlers’ TV viewing predicted poor eating habits down the road — an increase of 8% at age 13 for every hourly increase at age 2.

In short, the more they watched, the worse they ate. Teens glued to the tube early reported that they ate more French fries, cold cuts, white bread, regular and diet soft drinks, fruit-flavored drinks, sports drinks, energy drinks, salty or sweet snacks, and desserts than toddlers who didn’t watch much TV.

Every hour increase of TV also forecasted a higher body mass index, less strenuous behavior at school in the first year of secondary school and less eating breakfast on school days.

The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that kids ages 2 to 5 limit screen use to 1 hour per day of high-quality programs.

Canadian researchers tested their results against that guideline and found that compared to children who viewed less than one hour a day at age 2, those who viewed between one and four a day later, at age 13, reported having less healthy dietary habits and a higher body mass index.

“This study tells us that overindulgent lifestyle habits begin in early childhood and seem to persist throughout the life course,” said Linda Pagani, co-author of the study published in the journal Preventive Medicine.

Man accused of eating parts of dead ex-girlfriend deemed fit

An Indiana man accused of raping, killing and eating parts of his ex-girlfriend’s dead body is now mentally competent to stand trial, a state psychiatrist said Thursday.

Joseph Oberhansley, 35, of Jeffersonville has been committed at the Logansport State Hospital since October, when a judge ruled that he wasn’t competent to stand trial for the 2014 killing of girlfriend Tammy Jo Blanton.

Prosecutors allege Oberhansley broke into the Jeffersonville home of Blanton in September 2014, and that he raped her, fatally stabbed her and ate parts of her body.

“This matter has been going on for four years now, and it’s high time that the victim’s family saw justice done,” Clark County Prosecuting Attorney Jeremy Mull told the Courier Journal after the hearing.

The letter from the psychiatrist filed with Clark County Circuit Court noted that Oberhansley’s competency has been restored since he was committed there last October to undergo competency restoration. In some of his early court appearances after his arrest, Obserhansley had outbursts in court and said his name was Zeus, WAVE3 reported.

Oberhansley’s attorneys requested in court Thursday to have a month to talk with him and form an opinion on his competency. During the hearing, Oberhansley spoke up, telling the judge he needed to fire his attorneys, according to the Courier Journal.

“They’re trying to control my thoughts,” he said in court. “They’re trying to control my mind.”

Judge Vicki Carmichael told him he needed to work with his attorneys, and scheduled another hearing on Sept. 21 to discuss the matter.

Prosecutors have previously said they will seek the death penalty for Blanton’s killing. Before his arrest in 2015, Oberhansley was free on parole for a previous killing when he was a teenager, according to WAVE3.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Source: https://nypost.com/2018/08/12/man-accused-of-killing-eating-dead-ex-girlfriend-deemed-competent-for-trial/

Bronx dad was scalded to death in faulty NYCHA shower: widow

A Bronx father of six was scalded to death in the shower because of a faulty city Housing Authority boiler, his widow claims.

Angel Miller, 40, was home alone with four of his kids in the family’s Hunts Point Avenue apartment in October when he jumped in the shower and at some point, passed out.

His wife of 10 years realized something was very wrong when she texted her older daughter and found out Angel wasn’t answering the kids after up to four hours of being in the locked bathroom with the water running.

Jessica Rivera-Miller, 39, raced home to find Angel unconscious in the tub.

“The door, it was hot. I couldn’t open it. I could feel the heat around my feet,” she said. “When I went to touch him, his skin came off. I just started screaming, crying. … I saw his hand was purple, I already saw he was gone.”

A day later a family friend tested the water temperature in the shower — it was 190 degrees, the widow contends. She said NYCHA inspectors didn’t test the water themselves.

A properly working water heater or boiler should keep temperatures in a safe range near 120 degrees, experts say. The city requires a minimum setting of 120 degrees, as does the US Department of Housing and Urban Development. The Burn Foundation says most people bathe in 110-degree water.

It takes only one second for 156-degree water to cause a third-degree burn, or 15 seconds if the water is 133 degrees, the Foundation notes on its web site.

NYCHA failed to maintain the boilers in their building and didn’t install an “anti-scalding device” or temperature relief valve in the family’s apartment, allowing Miller to be “exposed to scalding hot water temperatures which caused his death,” according to a lawsuit the family filed Aug. 2 in Bronx Supreme Court against the Housing Authority. The suit seeks unspecified damages.

“I cry every day,” Rivera-Miller said. “I think about every moment that we had because we were always together.”

An autopsy found PCP in Miller’s system at the time of his death. With chronic usage, the drug can stay in a person’s system up to eight days, according to the National Institutes of Health.

The grieving widow admits her longtime love used PCP, or angel dust, but insists he never did so at home or around their children.

Angel Miller, who loaded trucks at the Hunts Point Market, doted on his kids and Jessica, she said.

“My 5-year-old son asks me, ‘Can we have wings so we can go to Daddy?’” She tearfully recalled.

She hopes others check their water temperature. “It could have been my son, my daughter,” she said.

“The safety of our residents is our top priority and we are closely reviewing the allegations in the complaint,” a NYCHA spokeswoman said of the lawsuit.

Source: https://nypost.com/2018/08/11/bronx-dad-was-scalded-to-death-in-faulty-nycha-shower-widow/

U.S. Marines Name First-Ever Female Infantry Platoon Commander

The United States Marine Corps has named a woman an infantry platoon commander for the first time in the military branch’s 243-year history.

First Lt. Marina A. Hierl is one of four platoon commanders in Echo Company, a group of 175 Marines and Navy sailors, the New York Times reported.

The company was recently sent to Australia for about six months of training exercises and to act as a response force for the Pacific region. Hierl has been tasked to lead a platoon of about 35 men.

Hierl, 24, is one of two women to have passed a 13-week infantry officer course in Quantico, Virginia. The course was required in order to be considered to lead a platoon.

Hierl worked as a teen on a local horse farm in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.

She decided to enlist in the Marines before graduating high school, but a recruiter recommended she attend college first.

“I wanted to do something important with my life,” Hierl told the Times. “I wanted to be part of a group of people that would be willing to die for each other.”

Hierl attended the University of Southern California in Los Angeles before enlisting on an officer’s track.

“I wanted to lead a platoon,” she said. “I didn’t think there was anything better in the Marine Corps I could do.”

The U.S. military opened all positions to women, including combat roles, for the first time under President Obama in 2016. About 15 percent of the U.S.’s 1.3 million active-duty troops are women, the Department of Defense notes.

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Hoops coach pleads not guilty for punch that killed tourist

NEW YORK — A rising college basketball coaching star accused of throwing a punch that killed a New York City tourist who had apparently mistaken him for an Uber driver pleaded not guilty Thursday to an assault charge.

Wake Forest University assistant coach Jamill Jones attacked digital marketing guru Sandor Szabo around 1:15 a.m. last Sunday in Queens, causing him to fall and smash his head on the sidewalk, police said.

Szabo, visiting from Boca Raton, Florida, banged on the window of Jones’ SUV while looking for his ride after his stepsister’s wedding, police said.

A person familiar with the investigation told The Associated Press that Szabo may have been drunkenly knocking on car windows before Jones allegedly confronted him. The person spoke on the condition of anonymity because the person was not allowed to speak publicly.
The coach got out, followed Szabo to the sidewalk, clocked him and was taken off life support Tuesday.

Jones, 35, of Kernersville, North Carolina, turned himself in to police Thursday, accompanied by a lawyer. He was arraigned Thursday night on a misdemeanor assault charge and released on his own recognizance after entering his plea. The coach’s next court appearance is scheduled for Oct. 2, the Queens District Attorney’s office said.

Jones was with his family after the court session, his attorney, Alain Massena, told the AP.
“This was a tragic accident, and Mr. Jones and his family send their deepest condolences and their thoughts and prayers to the Szabo family,” Massena said.

In a statement, Wake Forest said the school would comment further once it gathered more information.
Jones, a Philadelphia native, joined the Demon Deacons staff in May 2017 after coaching at Central Florida, Virginia Commonwealth and Florida Gulf Coast and playing at Arkansas Tech and North Platte Community College in Nebraska.

Wake Forest head coach Danny Manning said at the time that Jones was a “well-respected bright mind” in the coaching world and brought “new blood” and “new perspectives” to Wake Forest.

Szabo, also 35, was “super outgoing, friendly, and an incredibly smart businessman,” said his company, at What If Media Group, based in Fort Lee, New Jersey.

“He was always upbeat, positive, kind and caring,” the company said in a Facebook post. “He was fun to be with, interesting, and always interested. He was a really good person.”
Szabo, who lived in Boca Raton with his brother, always had a bright smile and shared a love of fishing, cooking and family, the company said.

”His beautiful spirit and his love of life will remain with us,” the company said. “We are going to miss him dearly.”

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Woman with disability says nail salon turned her away, Walmart cashier paints her nails on break

After a woman with cerebral palsy said she was denied service at a nail salon, a Walmart employee stepped in to help.

Ebony Harris, a cashier at a Walmart store in Burton, Michigan, offered to paint Angela Peters’ nails on her break. A nail salon reportedly turned Peters away because her hands sometimes shake, and “she moves too much,” bystander Tasia Smith shared on Facebook.

Peters, who uses a wheelchair, is a regular customer at the store, and Harris has helped her shop before, she told ABC News.

“I just wanted to do her nails and I didn’t want her day to be ruined,” Harris told ABC.

Harris helped Peters select a nail polish color at the store and the two set up a DIY manicure station at a cafe table. Tara Aston, a spokesperson for Walmart, said the company couldn’t be more proud of Harris.

“Ebony simply wanted to make sure our customer’s day was special, and that’s the kind of person she is — someone with a wonderful attitude who goes the extra mile each day to make those around her feel important,” Aston said in a statement on behalf of Walmart. “We’re not surprised at her act of kindness.”

Smith, who works at a Subway inside the Walmart, captured the interaction in two photos she shared on her Facebook.

Smith said Harris was “so patient” with Peters, who “barely moved” and “was just so sweet.”

She also vowed not to return to Da-Vi Nails, the salon she said turned Peters away. The nail salon is also located inside the Walmart. The business’ phone line was temporarily disconnected as of Tuesday morning.

Peters said she doesn’t want anyone at the business to be fired, but she does want people to know people with disabilities enjoy getting their nails done like anyone else.

“I forgive the nail people for not doing my nails … I don’t want anyone fired at the nail salon, I just want people educated,” Peters said in a statement posted on Facebook on Thursday.

Follow Ashley May on Twitter: @AshleyMayTweets

Source: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/good-news/woman-with-disability-says-nail-salon-turned-her-away-walmart-cashier-paints-her-nails-on-break/ar-BBLBHVg

Suspicious black SUV circled neighborhood on night Mollie Tibbetts vanished, neighbor says

BROOKLYN, Iowa – A black SUV was seen circling the Iowa neighborhood where Mollie Tibbetts was staying on the night she vanished, a neighbor revealed to Fox News on Sunday, in what could be a new clue to the college student’s disappearance.

The driver went very slowly around the neighborhood the night of July 18, according to a young woman who lives a block away from the home of Tibbetts’ boyfriend, Dalton Jack.

MOLLIE TIBBETS, UNIVERSITY OF IOWA STUDENT, MISSING: A TIMELINE OF EVENTS

Between 11:30 p.m. and 1 a.m., the woman said she observed the suspicious vehicle. She told Fox News that she reported it to the FBI when she was questioned. Investigators so far have not commented on it.

Tibbetts was last seen on July 18. The missing University of Iowa sophomore was last seen jogging in the area, where she was dog-sitting at her boyfriend’s home.

Also on Sunday, an FBI agent questioned the owner of a nearby farm for the third time in connection with Tibbetts’ disappearance, although it’s unclear why. The agent questioned Wayne Cheney around 5:30 p.m. local time for roughly five to 10 minutes.

Cheney has told Fox News he was not involved in the 20-year-old’s disappearance. The farmer has not been charged in Tibbetts’ case.

He said he had never seen Tibbetts before, because he didn’t venture into the Brooklyn area, which is several miles from his home. He added he’d allow the FBI to search his entire property and expressed confidence investigators wouldn’t find anything.

The FBI last week searched his home and some of his property, and looked through his cellphone, the farmer said. He claimed that law enforcement asked him on Thursday to take a polygraph test but he refused to do so.

Authorities on Sunday said they’ve been following up on “hundreds” of leads in the case. Also Sunday, police said the body of a 20-something woman turned up in Lee County, but said the body was not Tibbetts.

The reward for Tibbetts’ safe return jumped to $260,000 as of Sunday. Crime Stoppers of Central Iowa said the missing student’s family hopes the reward money will lead to her return.

Fox News’ Nicole Darrah, Madeleine Rivera and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Source: Fox News

Man dumps bucket of poop in 7-Eleven as revenge act: cops

A Florida man dumped a bucket of human waste inside a 7-Eleven convenience store Wednesday as an act of revenge against a manager who had kicked him out months prior, police said.

Damian Simms, 41, walked into the St. Petersburg shop around 1:30 a.m. and emptied the bucket containing human feces and urine onto the floor and some splashed onto merchandise, The Smoking Gun reported.

Simms was reportedly mad at the manager for having him kicked out of the store in May, according to the crime website. Police said Simms filled the bucket with waste from a port-a-potty.

Simms was charged with trespassing and criminal mischief and was being held at the Pinellas County Jail on $300 bond, according to The Smoking Gun. He is barred from contacting the store or the manager.

The Smoking Gun reported Simms had a long criminal history, which includes convictions for burglary, weapons possession, grand theft, animal cruelty, drunk driving and carrying a concealed weapon.

Source: https://nypost.com/2018/08/03/man-dumps-bucket-of-poop-in-7-eleven-as-revenge-act-cops/

Louisiana Grocery Store Worker Befriends Teen With Autism, Kindly Shows Him How to Stock Shelves

A simple act of kindness to a teen with autism made the young man’s day.

At 17, Jack Ryan Edwards doesn’t talk much. His attention span is extremely short. His senses are easily overloaded doing what others consider mundane — going to the grocery store, for example.

“He needs help and prompting with everything,” said his sister, Delaney Edwards Alwosaibi, of her brother with autism. Sometimes people look askance at the teen, with pity or fear in their eyes, she added.

But on a recent trip to a local supermarket in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, the young man looked at a stock clerk loading orange juice into a refrigerated case and saw pure beauty.

His father, Sid Edwards, thought Jack Ryan wanted juice. But that wasn’t it. He wanted to pick up the plastic container and place it on a shelf.

Employee Jordan Taylor, 20, read Jack Ryan’s look. “Do you want to help me?” he asked the young man. Oh yes indeed, Jack Ryan did.

As Taylor handed each bottle to Jack Ryan, the teen carefully placed it in the cooler. His father was so taken with his son’s deliberate concentration he pulled out his cellphone and started filming. He called it “a miracle” that his boy was so enthralled with something that he kept after it.

In all, Taylor spent about 30 minutes with the teenager, an unheard of amount of time for anything to captivate Jack Ryan, his family said.

Sid Edwards sent the video to his daughter, who put it on her Facebook page, where it’s been viewed 15,000 times and shared by more than 8,000 users.

After watching it many, many times, Alwosaibi said, she cried for hours. Her heart was full not only for her little brother, but for the simple kindness of a stranger who broke open Jack Ryan’s world with a single question.

“I have no idea what experience this young man has with people with disabilities,” she told InsideEdition.com. “He was so patient and kind with him. Jordan was prompting him, telling him where to put” the containers.

Alwosaibi is a special education teacher, just like her mother. Her dad is a football coach at the local high school, where his wife works and which Jack Ryan attends. They have another son with autism.

“Between my brothers and my students, I know they’re employable,” Alwosaibi said of people with special needs. Jack Ryan is meticulous and detail-oriented, she said. “That’s what stocking is all about — presentation.”

Two wondrous things have come from Jordan letting Jack Ryan help him. The folks at Rouse’s grocery store have offered Jack Ryan a job. And a GoFundMe site established by Alwosaibi to help Jordan realize his goal of going to college has raised more than $59,000 in one day.

“It’s unbelievable,” Alwosaibi said. Jordan told a local station the looks on the faces of father and son were payment enough.

“If you would have flipped the camera, you would have seen his dad’s face. It said it all. He was just happy and he [Jack Ryan] was happy putting the juices up and I was just happy that I could make someone else happy and make their day,” Jordan told WAFB-TV.

The Edwards family has not decided whether Jack Ryan should take the job. School starts soon. But there is no question about their gratitude to the man who noticed their boy.

“Jordan was brave that day,” said Alwosaibi. “It was brave for him to say, ‘Do you want to help me?”’

Source:
https://www.insideedition.com/louisiana-grocery-store-worker-befriends-teen-autism-kindly-shows-him-how-stock-shelves-45641