Florida Thief Tries To Rob ATM With Blowtorch, Ends Up Welding It Shut

ON VACATION: A couple found dead in Dominican Republic!

An American woman died of respiratory failure in her Dominican Republic hotel room days before a Maryland couple was found dead of the same cause at the same resort, a hotel staff member told ABC News.

Miranda Schaupp-Werner was found dead at the Grand Bahía Príncipe hotel in La Romana on May 25 — five days before Edward Nathaniel Holmes, 63, and Cynthia Ann Day, 49, were found dead in their hotel room.

Schaupp-Werner, 41, “died suddenly and inexplicably in her hotel room…after arriving and having a drink from the in-room mini-bar,” family spokesperson, Jay McDonald, said in a statement to ABC News. She was healthy before she died, McDonald said. She had arrived in the Dominican Republic the day she died, McDonald added.

Her husband, Daniel Werner, was with her when she began experiencing physical distress and collapsed, McDonald said.

Schaup-Werner died of respiratory failure and pulmonary edema, according to the hotel. An autopsy performed on the couple determined that they died of the same causes, according to the Dominican Republic National Police.

The family became alarmed after learning of the similarity of Holmes’ and Day’s deaths and the possible implications, such as whether they’d been poisoned, and has contacted the State Department to request an investiation, McDonald said.

“No toxicology report was done as part of the cause of death inquiry, nor were Mrs. Shaup-Werner’s glass and drink tested,” McDonald said.

A spokesperson for the hotel declined to comment further on Miranda Schaupp-Werner’s death.

The U.S. Department of State confirmed to ABC News that Schaupp-Werner was an American. ABC News has reached out to the State Department for additional comment on her death.

Local police said they are aware of Schaupp-Werner’s death but have not opened a criminal investigation into it because her death does not appear to be suspicious.

Police are investigating the deaths of the couple, as they were initially considered suspicious since Holmes complained of chest pains the day he died but refused to see the doctor that was called, police said.

The couple’s bodies showed no signs of violence, police said.

Holmes and Day arrived at the hotel on May 25 and were scheduled to depart on Thursday, police said. They were found unresponsive by hotel staff after they missed their scheduled check-out time on Thursday, according to a statement from the hotel.

“We offer our sincerest condolences to the family on their loss,” a State Department official said on regards to Holmes’ and Day’s deaths.

source

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YouTuber Jake Paul Is Taking The Allegation Of A Woman Being Drugged At His House Party “Very Seriously,” His Lawyer Says

Los Angeles authorities are investigating a woman’s allegation that someone may have put something in her drink, causing her to “black out,” at Paul’s massive house party in Calabasas.

A woman’s allegation that she blacked out after possibly being drugged at Jake Paul’s party at his Calabasas mansion is being taken “very seriously” by the 22-year-old YouTuber, his lawyer stated on Tuesday.

The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department is investigating “a possible single occurrence of unwillful impairment” based on the woman’s complaint filed Sunday, a day after Paul threw the party for rapper Desiigner’s 22nd birthday.

The woman told police that she may have blacked out after “something was put in her drink” at the party, authorities said.

“We take this claim very seriously,” Paul’s attorney, Stanton “Larry” Stein, said. “And we are working with authorities to make absolutely sure we do our part to uncover the truth.”

A representative for Paul, who did not wish to be identified, said that Los Angeles authorities had not yet questioned Paul or even approached him for an interview as part of the investigation.

The representative said that Paul never saw anyone pass out at the party and that he “certainly wasn’t involved” or anywhere around where the woman may have lost consciousness.

A spokesperson for the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department declined to provide details about the investigation on Tuesday.

Paul’s representative suggested that one could expect at least some of the guests to drink excessively and get sick at a party that was attended by hundreds of young people.

The representative said that Paul’s party planner had hired 38 security officers who checked everybody’s IDs and were stationed both inside and outside Paul’s mansion to help keep the party under control.

The planner had also arranged for an ambulance with paramedics on the driveway because the party featured motocross and boxing events.

Instagram: @undefined

Arman Izadi, a nightclub promoter and self-proclaimed “mood director,” said in an Instagram post that he was in charge of Paul’s $500,000 party.

Izadi had previously pleaded guilty in Las Vegas to attempted battery with substantial bodily harm, the Daily Beast reported last year.

Izadi was also arrested in 2013 on charges related to robbery, kidnapping, pimping, and battery after three women testified to a grand jury that Izadi had recruited them at parties and made them work as prostitutes, the Daily Beast reported. Most of the charges against him were later dropped amid allegations of misconduct by one of the Las Vegas detectives working on Izadi’s case.

Izadi didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

Instagram: @undefined Arman Izadi (left) with Jake Paul (center).

A singer who attended Paul’s party on Saturday said that she did not see or hear about anyone being drugged, but that she saw an “inebriated” woman being escorted out of the party by a few security officers.

Rosette Luve said on Tuesday that she saw the woman walking, adding that she looked “super intoxicated.” Luve said that she hadn’t heard about drinks being spiked with drugs and that nothing happened to her girlfriends who “drank all night.”

Another guest at the party, Tasha Mackk, stated that she didn’t see any drugs at the party.

“Just a bar and a good time,” she said.

Source:http://bit.ly/3053LZ8

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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.

Source: http://bit.ly/2ZO3BFn

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Celebrities Who Were Arrested in 2019

The tabloids and gossip blogs run on drama like what celebrity got arrested today. Those stories sell copies and get clicks, perhaps because high paid PR teams keep the stars’ lives looking so perfect, the public is fascinated with – and maybe just a little happy about – stories of famous people in jail. Drug charges, assault, disorderly conduct, and stories of more horrible celebrity crimes can land celebrities in jail. And once they’re there, celebrity jail photos and recent celebrity arrests are bound to get a lot of attention.  In 2019, who went to prison even though they’re rich and famous? What big celebrity arrests 2019 stole the headlines, and what celebrities are currently jail?

With all the scandals and scorching hot current celebrity events out there, it can be hard to keep up with the news about recently arrested celebrities. Stories of celebrities who have been arrested fade out of the headlines fast once a new scandal arises. Every celebrity in jail of 2019 is documented below. And, if you’re curious if any of these celebs are repeat offenders, check out this list of celebrity arrests of 2018.

Kodak Black

Photo: David Cabrera/Wikimedia Commons/CC BY-SA 4.0

Rapper Kodak Black was arrested April 17, 2019 on charges of criminal possession of a weapon – a felony – and marijuana possession – a misdemeanor. Fans surrounded Black’s tour bus in anger after waiting hours to learn his show at The House of Blues in Boston was canceled the night of his arrest. The following morning, news broke that Black and his entourage were taken into custody at the US/Canadian border.

Black was released on a $20,000 cash bond.

Julian Assange

Photo:  Cancillería del Ecuador/Wikimedia Commons/CC BY-SA 2.0

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange was arrested at the Ecuadorean Embassy in London and charged with conspiring to commit computer intrusion. The charge was filed in March 2018 but the federal grand jury case had been kept under seal until his arrest on April 11, 2019, after the Westminster Magistrates’ Court found him guilty of failing to surrender to court. The UK has yet to decide if it will extradite Assange, who faces up to five years in US prison if convicted.

The charge relates to the 2010 release of American files documenting the slaying of civilians and journalists. Former Army intelligence specialist Chelsea Manning was convicted of leaking those files and sentenced to 35 years in prison in 2013. Her sentence was commuted by President Barak Obama in 2017 and she returned to prison in March 2019, held on contempt of court for refusing to testify to a grand jury investigating WikiLeaks.see more on Julian Assange

Boosie Badazz

Photo: Metaweb (FB)/Fair use

On April 8, 2019, Boosie Badazz was arrested and charged with possession of a firearm during the commission of a crime, schedule I narcotics, possession of marijuana, and failure to maintain lane. The rapper, who was born Toreence Hatch Jr. and formerly known as Lil’ Boosie, allegedly swerved in and out of the lane while driving a white Dodge Charger in Newnan, Georgia. When pulled over, the Sgt. Jeff Bugg of the Coweta County Sheriff’s Office reported that he noticed a strong marijuana smell coming from the vehicle.

The passenger, Antonio Allen, was identified as Boosie’s bodyguard and also arrested and charged. The pair were held at the Coweta County Jail while the charges were pending.

Michael Avenatti

Photo: The Circus – YouTube/Wikipedia Commons/CC BY 3.0

On March 25, 2019, Michael Avenatti was arrested on charges of extortion. The celebrity lawyer, known for formerly representing actress Stormy Daniels, was arrested for allegedly attempting to extort nearly $25 million from Nike. It was reported that Avenatti had information regarding a scandal involving high school and college basketball. The morning of the 25th, Avenatti tweeted that “This criminal conduct reaches the highest levels of Nike and involves some of the biggest names in college basketball.”

The previous week, according to the criminal complaint, Avenatti had approached Nike and offered to withhold the information he had, in exchange for both a payment to a client of his and that he and another person be retained by the global shoe company.

Michael Madsen

Photo: Metaweb (FB)/CC-BY-SA

Actor Michael Madsen was arrested on March 24, 2019, for driving under the influence. Madsen was arrested by the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department after his Land Rover struck a pole in Malibu, California, according to the report.

Madsen’s bail was set at $15,000, and he was released from jail the next day. The Reservoir Dogs and Hateful Eight actor has previously entered court-ordered rehab in 2012.

June Shannon

Photo: Here Comes Honey Boo Boo/TLC

June Shannon was arrested on March 13, 2019, in Macon County, Alabama, on possession of a controlled substance and drug paraphernalia charges. Best known as “Mama June,” from the shows Here Comes Honey Boo Boo and Mama June: From Not to Hot, she was arrested after a reported fight with her boyfriend Geno Doak, who was also arrested.

Neither Shannon’s rep nor the spokesperson for District Attorney’s Office of Macon County could provide further details.see more on June Shannon

Lori Loughlin

Photo: Angela Weiss/Getty Images

Full House and former Hallmark Channel actress Lori Loughlin was indicted for taking part in a large college admissions fraud scheme and was one of over a dozen arrested on March 12, 2019. The parents involved in the scheme allegedly manipulated records, cheated on entrance exams, or paid for those services to secure their children places in elite colleges. The money for the scheme was funneled through a charity.

According to the indictment, Loughlin paid $500,000 to secure her two daughters a place as recruits on the USC crew team, though neither played the sport, padding their extracurricular activity records. Along with the other parents involved, Loughlin is charged with conspiracy to commit mail fraud and honest services fraud. On March 14, 2019, Crown Media Family Networks – which include the Hallmark Channel and Hallmark Movies & Mysteries – released a statement that they would no longer be working with Loughlin and had halted the development of all productions involving the actress. On March 15, it was rumored that Loughlin’s character, Aunt Becky, would not be written into the upcoming fifth season of the Netflix series Fuller House.

Felicity Huffman

Photo: Frazer Harrison/Getty Images

Actress Felicity Huffman was one of over a dozen indicted and arrested on March 12, 2019, for taking part in a large college admissions fraud scheme. Allegedly the parents involved in the scheme either participated in the cheating and record falsifying aspect, while others paid for it. The money for the scheme was funneled through a charity.

According to the indictment, Huffman paid for someone to take the SAT test for her oldest daughter, paying $15,000 for the service. Along with the other parents involved, Huffman is charged with conspiracy to commit mail fraud and honest services fraud. Huffman’s husband, William H. Macy, is not mentioned by name in the indictment.

Conor McGregor

Photo: via Tumblr

The evening of March 12, 2019, Conor McGregor was arrested by the Miami Beach police for allegedly breaking a fan’s phone after they tried to take a picture of him with it outside of a nightclub. According to the arrest report, the Mixed Martial Arts fighter knocked the phone out of the fan’s hand before stomping on it multiple times and walking away with it. McGregor was released on $12,500 bond shortly after being charged with one count of strong-arm robbery and one count of criminal mischeif of $1,000 or more.

After being released, McGregor posted an update on his Instagram with the caption “Patience in this world is a virtue I continue to work on.”see more on Conor McGregor

R. Kelly

Photo: Earl Gibson/Getty Images

After turning himself in on February 22, 2019, rapper R. Kelly was arrested and charged with 10 counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse. The charges stem from four different women, according to the records three of them were underage when their interactions with Kelly occurred.

Kelly’s bond was set at $1 million dollars. The terms of his bond also state that the rapper must surrender his passport and have no contact with anyone under age 18.

Almost two weeks later on March 6, 2019, Kelly was arrested in Chicago for failing to pay his ex-wife Drea Kelly child support. The rapper and singer owes $161,633 to Drea, who he shares three children with.

Joey Gaydos

Photo: Charlotte County Sheriff’s Office

Former School of Rock actor, Joey Gaydos Jr. was arrested four times in five weeks in Florida for allegedly stealing guitars and an amplifier.According to police, Gaydos would ask to try out the guitars and then simply walk out of the store with them without paying, swapping them at pawn shops for cash. The total amount stolen is enough for Gaydos to be charged with felony larceny and grand theft. TMZ first reported the arrests shortly after midnight, March 3, 2019.

Though he made his mark as a child actor, Gaydos did not appear in any other films, focusing instead on music. When he was booked into the Charlotte County Sheriff’s Office on February 14, 2019, for one of his arrests, his occupation was listed as “musician.”see more on Joey Gaydos

Jussie Smollett

Photo: via Tumblr

Empire actor Jussie Smollett was arrested on suspicion of filing a false report February 20, 2019, following the investigation into an alleged attack on January 29, 2019. Chicago police have stated that the actor paid $3,500 to two men to stage the attack. Smollett’s bail hearing will be the same day.

A cast member on Empire, Smollett’s scenes on upcoming episodes of the popular Fox drama have been reduced. The Chicago police claim Smollett staged the alleged attack as a bargaining chip for his salary. Early on January 29, 2019, actor Jussie Smollett checked himself into the Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago and reported that he had been attacked and called slurs related to his race and for being gay. Over the next month, different accounts and issues with the case began to unfold, revealing inconsistencies and problems with Smollett’s story and casting doubt on how or if it truly occurred.

YNW Melly

Photo: ynwmelly/Instagram

Rapper YNW Melly was arrested February 13, 2019 and charged with two counts of first-degree murder in Broward County Florida. The rising Florida rap star, whose legal name is Jamell Demons, was ordered to remain in jail without bond. The charges are related to the slayings of two of the rapper’s friends, who were victims of a drive-by-shooting in December 2018.

A statement was posted on YNW Melly’s official Instagram account on February 13, 2019, which clarified he was turning himself in, adding “I lost my two brothers by violence and now the system want to find justice.. unfortunately a lot of rumors and lies are being said but no worries god is with me.”

Jordan Klepper

Photo: NYTVF/flickr/CC-BY-ND 2.0

Comedian and former Daily Show correspondent, Jordan Klepper, was arrested in Atlanta, Georgia, on February 12, 2019. Klepper was filming a segment for his new show, Klepper, at the Board of Regents meeting in the Georgia Capitol Building. When asked to leave, Klepper and those he was with did not leave and the group was arrested for criminal trespassing.

The next day, Klepper posted an image of his arrest on his Instagram. In the caption, he said “Places like Freedom University are fighting the good fight. I was honored to stand with them and the other community faith leaders, teachers and protestors.”

21 Savage

Photo: via Tumblr

The rapper 21 Savage, whose birth name is Shayaa Bin Abraham-Joseph, was arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement on February 3, 2019. Although Abraham-Joseph has long been associated with and rapped about his upbringing in Atlanta, ICE stated that the rapper was is a citizen of the United Kingdom who overstayed his visa in July 2006.

Saying that 21 Savage is a role model to young people, his lawer Dina LaPolt, is working to release Abraham-Joseph from custody.

Bow Wow

Photo: Metaweb (FB)/CC-BY

Rapper Bow Wow as arrested and charged with battery on February 2, 2019. He allegedly got into an altercation in Atlanta with his girlfriend, ending with both members of the altercation under arrest and sustaining injury. No information regarding bail or court date for either party was available from Fulton County Jail, where the two were detained.

Gina Kirschenheiter

Photo: Gina Kirschenheiter/Twitter

Gina Kirschenheiter, one of the cast members of Real Housewives of Orange County, was arrested by the Orange County Sheriff’s Department on in the early morning of February 1, 2019. Allegedly arrested for driving under the influence, Kirschenheiter was released around noon the same day.

Kirschenheiter’s court date is set for February 28, 2019. Filming for season 14 of Real Housewives of Orange County is expected to begin soon.

Ryan Edwards

Photo: Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office

Star of Teen Mom OG, Ryan Edwards, was arrested and booked into the Hamilton County Jail on January 23, 2019, for “theft of services under $1,000” for allegedly walking out of a bar without paying his bill in December 2018. Held on $500 bond, Edwards was also arrested on possession of heroin, for which he is held with no bond.

Edwards was sentenced and arrested twice in 2018 for breaking probation of a herioin charge. His court date is set for February 6, 2019.

Chris Brown

Photo: Tibrina Hobson/Getty Images

Chris Brown and two other unidentified people have been detained in Paris on charges of aggravated rape and multiple narcotics offenses. The French magazine Closer reported that Brown was placed in police custody on January 21, 2019, based on the statement of an unnamed womanregarding his actions the night of January 15-16. He was released without charge by French police and the investigation is continuing.

Brown has most recently been in jail on a felony battery charge in April 2017. On January 22nd, Brown’s attorney Raphael Chiche stated on Twitter that the singer would be filing a slander suit against the woman who made the statement.

Chris Hansen

Photo: NBC

The former Dateline reporter and host of To Catch A Predator, Chris Hansen, turned himself in to the Stamford Police in Conneticut on January 15, 2019. The former NBC reporter had allegedly bounced checks and failed to pay for almost $13,000 worth of promotional materials. After writing a check that bounced in September 2017 for the mugs, t-shirts, and decals he had ordered from a Stamford merchant on delivery, Hansen again wrote a check that bounced in April 2018.

After turning himself in, Hansen was released on a signed promise to appear in court.see more on Chris Hansen

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UPDATE: 13 dead, including gunman, in shooting at Virginia Beach Municipal Center

VIRGINIA BEACH

A longtime city employee shot and killed 12 people and injured at least four others after opening fire Friday afternoon in the public works building, making it the country’s deadliest mass shooting this year. 

Police said officers killed the man, whom they did not name, after he fired at them in the city’s scenic Municipal Center in Princess Anne, a campus of about 30 brick Colonial-style buildings.

The four injured were all in surgery Friday, Police Chief James Cervera said during a news conference a couple of hours after the massacre.

One officer was shot during the exchange but was saved by his bulletproof vest, the chief said.

“This is the most devastating day in the history of Virginia Beach,” Mayor Bobby Dyer said in the news conference. “The people involved are our friends, co-workers, neighbors and colleagues.”

Friday’s rampage is believed to be the worst mass killing in Virginia Beach’s history. Prior to this week, a shooting on June 30, 1994, at the Witchduck Inn held that distinction: Four people — the business owner, two employees and a patron — were shot to death at the restaurant. It also came on the heels of a shooting in Chesapeake’s Holly Cove community over Memorial Day weekend that left one dead and nine others injured.

In the U.S., it is the deadliest attack since the November 2018 shooting at Borderline Bar & Grill in California, when 12 people were killed. 

L. Todd Spencer/Staff Police work the scene where 12 people were killed during a mass shooting at the Virginia Beach city public works building on Friday evening, May 31, 2019. The shooter, a current and longtime public utilities employee, also was killed. An officer was shot, but was saved by his bulletproof vest.

The gunfire in Virginia Beach began shortly after 4 p.m. as workers were preparing to leave for the weekend. The shooting occurred in building 2, next to City Hall near the intersection of Nimmo Parkway and Princess Anne Boulevard. The planning, public utilities, public works departments and others are located there. The three-story brick building on Courthouse Drive houses about 400 workers.

Many of the employees work out of small office spaces along long hallways. The doors are typically unlocked and open to the public.

The shooter on Friday was a current employee of the public utilities department, Cervera said. He came armed with a .45-caliber handgun with a sound suppressor on it and shot one victim in a vehicle outside before entering the building. The rest were shot inside.

Cervera said police found victims on every floor of the building.  

Four officers responded, found the gunman almost immediately and then initiated what became a long gunfight with the suspect, Cervera said. After an officer shot the suspect, they administered first aid.

Virginia Beach police are investigating with help from the FBI and state police, he said. They’re still working to identify victims and contact family members. They’re also still working to notify the suspect’s next of kin. Once that is done, Cervera said, his department plans to name the suspect only once out of respect for the victims. 

Cervera said the city offices now resemble a “war zone.”

Megan Banton, an administrative assistant in the public utilities office where the man worked, said her supervisor heard a noise then shouted for everyone to get down.

The supervisor then pulled Banton and others into her office and shoved a desk against the door while Banton called 911.

“It felt like forever,” Banton said. 

Zand Bakhtiari was one of only five people left in the geographic information services department — located on the first floor of the building — at the end of the day Friday when his supervisor, who had left the office, texted to say there was an active shooter and to shelter in place.

Bakhtiari wasn’t nervous until he heard the gunshots — lots of them, one round in quick succession. He said it sounded like an automatic weapon.

“It was repeated, rapid gunfire,” he said. It sounded like it was coming from above or below him on the second floor or the basement, he said.

After a few minutes — Bakhtiari doesn’t know how much time passed — the bullets stopped, but the fire alarm had been set off. And he could smell the gunpowder.

He assumed it was over when he heard the fire alarm, but he and his co-workers didn’t know whether to evacuate or stay put, so they all came out of their individual offices and huddled together.

L. Todd Spencer/StaffA police officer stands out in front of City Hall next to the building where 12 people were killed during a mass shooting at the Virginia Beach city public works building on Friday, May 31, 2019. The shooter, a current and longtime public utilities employee, also was killed.

After about 10 minutes, officers and SWAT team members came in, told them to duck down and keep their hands up as they escorted employees out and checked every room.

Arthur Felton, an 18-year employee in the planning department, was also inside when the shooting started. He evacuated the building after a co-worker heard gunshots. 

“I never thought this would happen in my building,” Felton said. “The people who were shot — I’m sure I know most of them.”

Employees’ family members were sent to Princess Anne Middle School to reunite with loved ones. 

Jonathon Gruenke/Staff Police personnel from various agencies stand outside Princess Anne Middle School in Virginia Beach on Friday evening, May 31, 2019.

Paul Swain’s fiancee sent him a text message at 4:17 p.m. that said, “They are shooting on my floor.” He said he drove to the Municipal Center so fast he was pulled over for speeding. 

The officer let him go when he told him why he was driving fast.

Swain made it to the area but was directed to reunite with his fiancee at Princess Anne Middle School. 

“My heart is just pounding,” he said as he waited to see her again. Swain reunited with her in the parking lot.

Police did not allow media on the school’s property. When he walked into the school, he said, he was greeted by staff who had a checklist of names. People were waiting for their families in the cafeteria, he said.

Vicki Cronis-Nohe/Freelance Emergency vehicles fill the parking lot at the Princess Anne Middle School in Virginia Beach, Va, on Friday, May 31, 2019. A longtime city employee opened fire at a municipal building in Virginia Beach on Friday, killing 11 people before police shot and killed him, authorities said. Six other people were wounded in the shooting, including a police officer whose bulletproof vest saved his life, said Virginia Beach Police Chief James Cervera.

Amy Woody is trying to find her neighbor of 20 years who didn’t come home from her job at the city. She said her neighbor always returns home around 4 p.m. but wasn’t answering her text messages or phone calls. Woody arrived at the school shortly after 8:30 p.m. with her two dogs.

“I just want to make sure she is OK,” she said. “It’s definitely a very solemn feeling right now. It’s hard.”

Cheryl Benn rushed to the school after getting a frantic call from her husband, David, who is a traffic engineer and works in the building. At first all she could hear when he called was sirens.

She said her husband barricaded himself in a room away from the shooter and held the door shut until police told him it was safe to leave. 

“He was definitely a little freaked out,” Benn said.

While her husband gave detectives a statement, Benn waited outside the school with her dog.

“Some of those people could be his co-workers,” she said.  

Public Works spokesman Drew Lankford, who works in the building where the shooting occurred, left the office on Friday afternoon to get a haircut. While he was gone, his daughter called and said there had been a shooter in his work building. 

His daughter, who works in the City Hall building nearby, said security told people to get under their desks. He rushed back to the office and saw police taking cover behind parked cars with their guns drawn.

City Councilwoman Barbara Henley had pulled up to the City Hall building just after 4 p.m. to pick up the agenda as she does every week when she heard sirens and saw police cars.

“I thought it was an accident,” Henley said.

As she parked in the lot between buildings 1 and 2, she noticed city employees standing outside using their cellphones. Someone told her there was a shooting and she should leave. Henley had gotten back in her car when she heard a male voice shout, “Get down!”

People scattered.

“I was scared to death,” said Henley, who quickly drove home.

Henley said she’s never seen a situation like this before at the Municipal Center, adding that security has recently been beefed up in the City Hall building as a result of shooting incidents across the nation. Not all the municipal buildings at the complex take the same security measures, she said.

Late on Friday, Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam, who arrived in Virginia Beach a few hours after the shooting, said the people who died were heading into the summer weekend.

“That they should be taken in this manner is the worst kind of tragedy,” Northam said. “Their families are facing painful loss and grief. They each leave a hole and a family in their neighborhood, in this community and in our Commonwealth.”

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Avengers: Endgame’ is unbeatable. Its $350 million opening weekend is just the start.

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20 people dead in El Paso shooting, 26 injured Texas governor says!

20 people dead in El Paso shooting, 26 injured Texas governor says!

(CNN)Twenty people were killed and more than two dozen were injured in a mass shooting at an El Paso shopping center on Saturday, according to Texas and local authorities.”Lives were taken who should still be with us today,” Gov. Greg Abbott said at a news conference.Twenty-six people were injured, according to El Paso Police Chief Greg Allen.What we know about the shooting in El Paso, Texas“The ages and genders of all these people injured and killed are numerous in the age groups,” Allen said. “The situation, needless to say, is a horrific one.”A 21-year-old white man from Allen, Texas, is in police custody, Allen said. Authorities are looking at potentially bringing capital murder charges against him.FOLLOW LIVE UPDATESThe case also has a “nexus to a potential hate crime,” he said.”Right now, we have a manifesto from this individual that indicates to some degree a nexus to a potential hate crime,” Allen said.FBI El Paso Special Agent in Charge Emmerson Buie said more investigative work was needed before determining whether there was a possible hate crime.

Authorities on the scene of a shooting at a Walmart near Cielo Vista Mall in El Paso.CNN reported the suspect is 21-year-old Patrick Crusius of Allen, just outside Dallas, according to three sources.Two federal law enforcement sources and one state government source confirmed the suspect’s identity. The federal sources said investigators are reviewing an online writing posted days before the shooting that may speak to a motive.The online posting was believed to be written by Crusius, the sources said, but that has not been confirmed.

‘This was a massacre’

The first call of an active shooter went out at 10:39 a.m. local time, Allen said. The first officer arrived on scene six minutes later.El Paso Police Sgt. Robert Gomez previously told reporters police were initially given multiple possible locations for the shooting, at a Walmart and the Cielo Vista Mall next door.

WalmartCielo Vista Mall

“This is a large crime scene, a large area,” Gomez said of the scene Saturday afternoon.Multiple agencies responded to the scene, including the FBI, the sheriff’s department, the state Department of Public Safety and Border Patrol.The crime scene will “be in play for a long period,” Allen said. “Unfortunately, the deceased will remain at the scene until the scene is processed properly for evidentiary purposes to be gathered for later prosecution.”

El Paso Police Department Sgt. Robert Gomez briefs media on a shooting that occurred at a Walmart.Officials from two local hospitals said they had received at least 23 people.Thirteen people were taken to University Medical Center of El Paso, spokesman Ryan Mielke told CNN, and one of them has died. Two children with non-life-threatening injuries were transferred to a children’s medical facility, Mielke said.Eleven victims were transported to the Del Sol Medical Center, hospital spokesman Victor Guerrero said. Nine are in critical but stable condition, he said.At least two of the patients are in a “life-threatening predicament,” according to Del Sol Medical Center Dr. Stephen Flaherty. He said the patients ranged in age from 25 to 82. Two are in stable condition, he said, and seven required emergency operations.”This was a massacre,” US Rep. Veronica Escobar, who represents the area, told CNN. Escobar has received conflicting reports on the numbers of casualties, she said, but added, “The numbers are shocking.”

Footage shows people lying on the ground outside Walmart

Walmart issued a statement regarding the shooting, saying, “We’re in shock over the tragic events at Cielo Vista Mall in El Paso. … We’re praying for the victims, the community & our associates, as well as the first responders.”Inside the mall, crowds hid inside stores after hearing reports of an active shooter, according to 26-year-old Brandon Chavez, an employee at Forever 21.Chavez had just started his shift when he saw customers and staff members running to the stock room to take shelter.”There were about 20 children and adults, plus employees, hiding, all cramped like sardines,” he told CNN. “Most of us were desperate, some were on their phones. There were girls crying, people trying to talk to each other and women with babies in their arms.”

Shoppers exit with their hands up after a shooting in El Paso, Texas, on Saturday.Store employees had closed the glass doors but he could see police officers walking around the mall and evacuating people from other stores.After police officers knocked on the store’s doors, Chavez said his group had to leave the store, forming a line with their hands up and running.In a shaky Snapchat video aired by CNN, a woman holding the camera frantically runs with a small group of girls or women through a mall department store and into a parking lot.As the group hurries past racks of clothes and cases of merchandise, voices off camera shout, “Hands up!”Once in the parking lot, one member of the group asks, “What happened?””I don’t know,” the woman holding the camera responds. “I don’t know.”Another video, shot from outside the Walmart, showed people lying on the ground, some of them next to a table set up by the store’s entrance.

Authorities respond to an active shooter at a Walmart near Cielo Vista Mall in El Paso.”There’s a man lying down at the stand that a school set up,” the man holding the camera says in Spanish.”Help!” a man screams in English.”We need CPR,” someone else says. “We need CPR.”

‘Our community will heal,’ mayor says

Mayor Dee Margo said Saturday evening that his city would rise above this “senseless and evil act of violence.””We will be defined by the unity and compassion we showed in the wake of this tragedy,” he said. “United, our community will heal.”Nowhere was that spirit more on display than at blood donation centers. Authorities had said donations were urgently needed, and said if local residents wanted to help, they should make appointments to do so.Frances Yepez, waiting in line at one blood donation center, said the center was at max capacity and dozens of people were waiting to make appointments for Sunday or Monday.”It’s easy to make a dollar, but it’s harder to make a difference,” she said. “So I get out there and do whatever I can do to help.”She said the mood there was somber, and she could hear sniffling as the crowd of people learned updates over the television.

White House pledges ‘total support’

President Donald Trump has been briefed on the shooting, and the White House is monitoring the situation, deputy press secretary Steven Groves said in a statement.”Terrible shootings in El Paso, Texas,” the President tweeted Saturday afternoon. “Reports are very bad, many killed. Working with State and Local authorities, and Law Enforcement. Spoke to Governor to pledge total support of Federal Government. God be with you all!”

Terrible shootings in ElPaso, Texas. Reports are very bad, many killed. Working with State and Local authorities, and Law Enforcement. Spoke to Governor to pledge total support of Federal Government. God be with you all!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 3, 2019

Democratic presidential candidate Beto O’Rourke, who once represented the area in Congress, addressed the shooting while at a speaking event in Las Vegas.”We know there is a lot of injury, a lot of suffering in El Paso right now,” he said. “I am incredibly sad and it is very hard to think about this.””But I’ll tell you, El Paso is the strongest place in the world,” he added. “This community is going to come together.”O’Rourke said he would be cutting short his trip to Las Vegas to return to El Paso.Gov. Abbott tweeted late Saturday afternoon that he had arrived in El Paso.”Texans grieve today for the people of this wonderful place. We united in support of all the victims. We thank First Responders for their swift action,” the governor said. “We ask God to bind up the wounds of all who’ve been harmed.”The scene was unfolding in the same week two employees were fatally shot at a Walmart store in Southaven, Mississippi, and three people were shot and killed at the Gilroy Garlic Festival in California.

CNN’s Josh Campbell, Evan Perez, Ed Lavandera, Theresa Waldrop, Artemis Moshtaghian, Shawn Nottingham and Jay Croft contributed to this report.

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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

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

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.

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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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Man holds women CAPTIVE for two decades! He also impregnated her nine times found guilty by federal jury!

MUSKOGEE, Okla. (KFSM) — A federal jury on Thursday (June 6) convicted an Oklahoma man of kidnapping his step-daughter in 1997 and holding her hostage for the next 20 years while he raped and abused her.

Henri Michele Piette, 63, was found guilty in U.S. District Court of kidnapping and travel with intent to engage in a sexual act with a juvenile.

“The victim endured two decades of horrific abuse by the defendant. Her courage led her to escape and rescue her children and allowed investigators and prosecutors to seek justice on her behalf. Ultimately her courage ended the defendant’s reign of terror,” said U.S. attorney Brian J. Kuester.

“I know this verdict cannot heal the countless wounds inflicted by the defendant. It should prevent him from ever inflicting more.”

Rosalynn Michelle McGinnis, now in her 30s, managed to escape from Piette in 2016 after being held captive by him for two decades in Mexico, according to KFOR.

5NEWS is only identifying McGinnis, a sexual assault survivor because she has spoken publicly about her case.

McGinnis’ mother was in a relationship with Piette in the 1990s when he began sexually abusing McGinnis while she lived in Wagoner County.

Henri Michele Piette

She told authorities that when she was 11, Piette took her to a van to marry her, having his oldest son, who was 15 at the time, perform the ceremony.

Piette’s son confirmed to investigators that his father had asked him to perform the ceremony. He said the “ceremony” consisted of him asking if Piette and McGinnis took each other in marriage.

Despite two attempts to escape, Piette was able to find the family. He kidnapped McGinnis from Poteau, then moved her throughout Oklahoma and eventually to Mexico, according to KFOR.

McGinnis said Piette beat and sexually assaulted her almost daily for years. He fathered eight children with her that span.

McGinnis told People magazine that she took eight of her nine children to the U.S. Embassy and obtained passports so they could enter the United States.

Once she made it to the United States, she immediately started meeting with federal officials and provided them with statements on what happened.

Federal officials interviewed Piette’s older children who confirmed they had witnessed him sexually abuse McGinnis.

Authorities were finally able to track Piette down in September 2017 when he visited the U.S. Embassy in Mexico City attempted to obtain a U.S. Passport.

“The FBI Oklahoma City Division, and the special agents who investigated this crime, hope that the guilty verdict delivered against Henri Piette will bring some sense of closure to those he inflicted immeasurable mental and physical abuse upon for over 20 years,” said Steven D’Antuono, acting special agent in charge of the FBI’s Oklahoma City Division.

“By bringing Mr. Piette to justice, the victims of his heinous acts can now begin the process of healing. The FBI is honored to have been a part of this long-term investigation alongside our federal, state, and local law enforcement partners.”

Piette faces up to live in federal prison. A sentencing hearing hasn’t been set.

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Who is this alien? Why, it’s the psychedelic frogfish.

“Who is this alien?” is Mashable’s enduring series about the exceptionally peculiar critters that inhabit a relatively small, ocean-dominated world in the outer realms of the Milky Way galaxy, called Earth. Many of these lifeforms, you’ll find, are quite alien.

Hiding in the nooks and crannies of dead piles of Indonesian coral is a pudgy fish, wholly covered in swirls of orange and white. Seen from the right perspective, the critter might be mistaken for a vibrantly colored brain. 

But amid the explosion of whirling lines are cryptic, aquamarine eyes and a camouflaged frown. Inhabiting shallow seas around the tropical Ambon Island, this creature was mostly unknown to the scientific world until 2008. 

It’s the psychedelic frogfish. 

“It’s an incredibly vibrant frogfish,” said Rachel Arnold, a marine scientist who coauthored the research that identified the kaleidoscopic creature as a new species. 

Many frogfish — a stocky group of fish notorious for violently gobbling their prey — are also known for blending into their undersea worlds. Some look like sponges, and others like seaweed, noted Arnold. The psychedelic frogfish — or Histiophryne psychedelica — certainly takes camouflaging to an extreme level. “They do aggressive mimicry,” she said. The fish take on an appearance similar to species of tropical coral with whirling, orange patterns. “It reminded me of many patterns of corals I have seen,” said David Hall, an underwater wildlife photographer who captured the first shots of the frogfish. 

A psychedelic frogfish in Ambon, Indonesia.

This allows the lumbering, ungainly fish to hole up in the shadowy coral as unassuming prey comes near. At the right time, perhaps when naive prey swim near or inside a fateful cavern amid the coral, the psychedelic frogfish will promptly “swallow them whole,” said Arnold.  

Curiously, when Arnold traveled to Ambon to see these astonishing critters, hiding out amid coral rubble some 10 to 15 feet beneath the ocean surface, the psychedelic frogfish didn’t match the surrounding environment, which was devoid of the brain-like, orange corals that the psychedelic frogfish often resembles. 

It’s unknown why the psychedelic frogfish live in these particular dark holes, then, and also why the fish seem to vanish from their Ambon homes for extended lengths of time, only to turn up once again. 

“They’re still a bit of an enigma,” said Arnold. “It shows up and disappears for long periods of time.”

What’s more, the fish are fantastically-patterned, but never easy to find here — even when they’re known to be around. “If I had to search for these fish on my own, I would never have found them,” said the photographer Hall, noting that he relied upon a local guide who had previously spotted a psychedelic frogfish. 

Though relatively new to science, the psychedelic frogfish are well-known to Indonesian locals — though before Hall no one had a camera in the right place at the right time. 

A pair of psychedelic frogfish in Ambon, Indonesia.

“It’s the local people that really knew about its existence,” said Arnold. “The local people really understand more about this fish than we do.”

Yet with limited time diving around these elusive frogfish, Arnold and her team deciphered a good deal about the species. Most known frogfishes have a lure hanging from their head, which they hold out to attract prey, said Hall. But the psychedelic frogfish doesn’t carry a lure. It just waits for unwitting prey to pass by.

“The local people really understand more about this fish than we do”

True to its name, the psychedelic frogfish often “hops” around to get places, using its fins to push off the bottom of the seafloor. Curiously, when egg-bearing females emerge from their dark holes, they wrap their dorsal (back side) and tail fin around a peach-colored clutch of some 200 eggs, looking for safe harbor to place the priceless sacks of life. 

Leaving hundreds of eggs on the coral-littered seafloor, however, poses modern-day problems. “Conservation-wise, it’s a pretty big red flag,” explained Arnold, noting that it would be easy for collectors — perhaps eager to capture the hallucinatory fish — to sleuth out the eggs and over-harvest the species. 

Each psychedelic frogfish — while all almost fantastical and brilliantly patterned — is markedly distinct. Though, amid the profusion of lines and swirls, their unique line expressions might be indiscernible to the human eye. 

“Their striping is like their fingerprint,” said Arnold. 

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