Author: J.P. Knowles

A woman called her husband just moments before tragedy struck to say she saw a sinkhole where the pool should have been. Then the line went dead.

“It was 1:30 a.m., I’ll never, never forget that,” said Mike Stratton, husband of Cassie Stratton who is still considered missing.

The  40-year-old model, actress, and Pilates instructor woke her husband in Washington, D.C., with a phone call and frantically told him that the entire building was shaking and told him about the sinkhole.

According to The Washington Post, Stratton was on the balcony of her 4th-floor residence when she felt a trembling and witnessed the pool deck cave in.

Structural engineer, Jason Borden said that if the pool deck or structural plate closest to the building failed or was jeopardized, “it could have contributed to the end result.”

“I saw cracks and deterioration of the garage and plaza level but those are all things that we are accustomed to seeing and that’s why our job exists – to maintain and repair the buildings,” said Borden.

“They had done the full investigation that we were proposing to do,” he added.”They went through and detailed very thoroughly exactly what was wrong with the building, again, is very typical of what we see in buildings of this age in this condition.”

Borden is confident in the structural integrity of Champlain Towers North and East.

“You know they are maintaining their buildings. Personally, I am confident in the stability of those buildings because I’ve been closely involved with Champlain Towers East,” Borden said.

Mike Stratton remembers the last time he saw his wife on June 21 before leaving on a business trip to DC.

“She was the most fun, vivacious person you could ever imagine,” he said, his voice breaking with emotion. “She was full of life, we were always doing something. There are so many interesting places to go in Miami and we took it all in.”

A California man is facing federal charges after peeing in the aisle while aboard a Southwest flight. Samson Hardridge, 33 from Lancaster, California, was flying from Dallas to Burbank. When he got up from his seat after takeoff to use the restroom, the flight attendant asked him to wait in the aisle of the plane instead of the galley because it was too small.

Hardridge had his hand in his pants and asked the flight attendant if she wanted to see his penis. When she said no and asked that he remain in the aisle, Hardridge peed on the floor in the corner of the plane.

Hardridge also became hostile, yelled, at, and threatened the flight attendants. The plane was diverted to Albuquerque because the flight crew “feared for their safety as well as that of the flight.”

Hardridge was charged with interfering with flight crew members and attendants and is facing up to 20 years if convicted.

There are many recent examples of unruly passengers aboard flights. Southwest recently banned a passenger who attacked a flight attendant, which resulted in serious injuries, including the loss of two teeth.

As of February 22 of this year, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) reported 607 cases of unruly passengers aboard flights.

“On February 18, Southwest Flight 474 diverted to Albuquerque due to an unruly customer,” a representative for Southwest Airlines said. “Local police met the aircraft once it was at the gate, removed the Customer and the flight continued to Burbank a short time later.”

When a police officer in Mississippi responded to a fatal shooting Sunday morning, the victim turned out to be her 20-year-old son.

“We initially responded to the call, not knowing when I made it over there, the person was going to be my son that was laying there,” Officer Laquandia Cooley of Hazlehurst, Mississippi, said.

When Cooley arrived at the scene she found her son, Charles Stewart Jr., was lying in the street, having been fatally shot in the head.

“As we get out, I look and I was like, ‘This is my son, this is my son,’” Cooley said. “So, I literally just go into a break down you know? Like, why? Who would do this to my son?”

Hazlehurst Police Chief Darion Murray said there are no suspects in the case at this time. The Mississippi Bureau of Investigation has taken over the investigation because the case involves an officer’s family member.

Stewart’s father Charles Stewart Sr. said that he couldn’t imagine who could have shot his son.

“It’s traumatizing for the whole family,” Stewart said. “We’re just trying to cope day to day. Just trying to figure out why this happened and who could have did this.”

The events surrounding the shooting are not known at this time.

A mother in Houston, Texas, forced her 13-year-old COVID-positive son into the trunk of her car to take him to a coronavirus drive-thru testing site Monday.

Police filed charges against Sarah Beam for child endangerment on Wednesday. Court documents were not made public until Friday.

Beam said she had put her son in the trunk after he had tested positive for COVID-19 because she wanted to limit her own exposure.

Cypress-Fairbanks Director of Health Services Bevin Gordon was going to each car to get individuals’ information when she learned that the child was in the trunk of the vehicle.

“(The mother) stated that she put (her son) inside the trunk to prevent her from getting exposed to possible COVID while driving (him) to the stadium for additional testing,” according to a court document.

Beam is a teacher in the Cypress-Fairbanks school district which was the location of the testing site she had taken her son to. The school district has since placed her on administrative leave.

“CFPD was alerted that a child was in the trunk of a car at a drive-thru COVID-19 testing site earlier this week. Law enforcement conducted a full investigation, resulting in a warrant for arrest. Thankfully, the child was not harmed,” the Cypress-Fairbanks school district said in a statement, reported KPRC.

At this time Beam had not been arrested by police or turned herself in since the charges were filed.

Hayden Panettiere recently opened up about her relationship with her 7-year-old daughter Kaya.

Panettiere, 32, said her relationship with Kaya is much better following her decision to have her live with Wladimir Klitschko, the actress’ ex and daughter’s father.

The decision came as the “Nashville” actress battled an addiction to alcohol and pills.

“It was the hardest thing I could do,” Panettiere said. “But the best thing for my daughter was to make sure she was OK, take care of myself and make sure I could be a good mom to her. And sometimes that means letting go.”

Panettiere is now sober and enjoys a great relationship with her daughter, who still lives abroad.

“She has a beautiful life,” Panettiere said. “I was just with her. She’s just an amazing child. She’s smart and she’s funny and for whatever reason, she still loves me.”

Panettiere admits that she’s struggled with addiction from a young age and developed a dependence on alcohol and pills throughout her career.

“I was on top of the world and I ruined it,” she said. “I’d think I hit rock bottom, but then there’s that trap door that opens.”

Panettiere became a star at age 11, appearing in soap operas and the 2000 sports drama “Remember the Titans” opposite Denzel Washington.

At age 15, the actress claimed someone from her team began offering her “happy pills” before she would walk the red carpets.

“They were to make me peppy during interviews,” Panettiere recalled. “I had no idea that this was not an appropriate thing, or what door that would open for me when it came to my addiction.”

Panettiere entered rehab for eight months and over the last year, she also underwent both trauma therapy and inpatient treatment.

The future is looking much brighter for the star. She is now sober, returned to work, and reprising her character, Kirby Reed, in the next “Scream” film.

Kim Potter, the Brooklyn Center police officer responsible for the death of 20-year-old Daunte Wright after she fatally shot him during a traffic stop, has just resigned from the force, effective immediately.

In a letter to Mayor Elliott, Acting City Manager Reggie Edwards, and Police Chief Tim Gannon, Potter wrote, “I have loved every minute of being a police officer and serving this community to the best of my ability, but I believe it is in the best interest of the community, the department, and my fellow officers if I resign immediately.”

Mayor Elliot also made the announcement that Chief Gannon will be stepping down.

These sudden resignations come after unrest in Minnesota led to looting, clashes with police, and several arrests for a second night. Citizens began gathering in the streets Monday night outside of the police station demanding that justice be served.

These protests began after released bodycam footage shows Potter yelling “taser” as she holds up her handgun. Potter fired one shot that struck Wright ultimately killing him. In the footage, you can then hear Potter say, “Sh*t, I just shot him.”

Gannon later claimed the officer meant to reach for her taser, but instead mistakenly fired her gun.

The streets remained overrun with protesters despite the 7 p.m. curfew that had been put in place and the cops had to disperse the violent crowd with flash bombs and other crowd control tactics.

A 16-year-old girl is missing after getting swept away by rising floodwaters in Arizona. The teen was nearly rescued when her car became stranded in the knee-high water. Rescuers were minutes away from reaching her when the current became too strong and dragged her downstream.

Faith Moore had called 911 at around 9:30 p.m. after her vehicle got stuck in a low water crossing in Cottonwood, the Yavapai County Sheriff’s Office said Sunday. Officials estimated that the water only reached to Moore’s knees at the time she called for help but rose to over 8 feet within an hour.

“The two feet of water was enough to initially push the car from where the initial call came from so when you think of water to your knees, it can be deceiving but that’s a lot of pressure and a lot of energy behind that moving water,” Verde Valley Fire District Chief David Johnson told reporters Sunday.

Search teams were immediately dispatched downriver to help locate the teen. However, air support was not available for several hours due to active storms in the area. Verde Valley firefighters were also conducting numerous active rescues at the time.

“The fact that they do have strong ties to this community, and a lot of the firefighters that were on the initial rescue worked for Joe and worked for the family, so you can understand that’s going to have an emotional effect not only on his physical family but on the fire department and public safety family because they are so entwined in this community,” he said.

The search continued through the weekend, with over 100 volunteers, several law enforcement agencies, drone teams, and K-9 units exhausting every effort to find the missing teen.

#BREAKING
The Verde Valley Fire District has identified the 16-year-old girl missing after being swept away in a Cottonwood wash. https://t.co/PRo6A99GrQ pic.twitter.com/bR70owOaji

— azfamily 3TV CBS 5 (@azfamily) July 25, 2021

The search is expected to continue this week. As of Sunday night, only Moore’s cellphone and some other personal belongings were found in the wash.

Former police officer Kim Potter, 48, has been accused of “culpable negligence” in the fatal accidental shooting of 20-year-old Daunte Wright. Potter has been arrested in the early hours of Wednesday and charged with second-degree manslaughter.

Daunte Wright’s accidental killing has ignited racial tensions once more as hundreds of Black Lives Matter supporters erupted into violence over the last few nights. More than 70 arrests have been made following clashes with the local law enforcement.

“Kimberly Ann Potter caused the death of Daunte Demetrius Wright, by her culpable negligence, whereby Kimberly Potter created an unreasonable risk and consciously took a chance of causing death or great bodily harm to Daunte Demetrius Wright,” state prosecutors stated in the complaint, filed in court on Wednesday.

Agents from the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension arrested a former Brooklyn Center police officer, Kim Potter, in connection to the killing of Daunte Wright. https://t.co/GsbBtN3Umu

— WKOW 27 News (@WKOW) April 14, 2021

Kim Potter, a 26-year veteran of the Brooklyn Center Police Department, will stay in jail until her first court appearance Thursday. The charges against Potter carry a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison under Minnesota law. Ms. Potter along with the city’s police chief, Tim Gannon, resigned Tuesday following the violence in the city.

Police initially described the shooting of Mr. Wright as accidental. Explaining that Potter mistook her gun for a Taser. The body-camera footage below shows former officer Potter yelling “Taser-Taser-Taser” before firing her gun, once, at the suspect.

A state investigator who examined her duty belt after the shooting said the Taser was on her left side and her handgun on the right.

“Officer Potter abrogated her responsibility to protect the public when she used her firearm rather than her Taser,” said Imran Ali, the assistant criminal division chief in the Washington County Attorney’s office, in a statement. “Her action caused the unlawful killing of Mr. Wright and she must be held accountable.”

Body-camera footage shows Wright struggling with police when a female officer shouts, “I’ll Tase you! I’ll Tase you! Taser! Taser! Taser!” She draws her weapon after the man breaks free from the police and gets back into the car. After firing a single shot, the car speeds away, and Potter says, “Holy (expletive)! I shot him.”

Ben Crump, a renowned civil rights attorney, claimed in a statement that the Potter shooting was “no accident,” as “driving while Black continues to result in a death sentence.”

“While we appreciate that the district attorney is pursuing justice for Daunte, no conviction can give the Wright family their loved one back. This was no accident. This was an intentional, deliberate, and unlawful use of force.  Driving while Black continues to result in a death sentence,” Crump proclaimed in a joint statement.

“A 26-year veteran of the force knows the difference between a taser and a firearm. Kim Potter executed Daunte for what amounts to no more than a minor traffic infraction and a misdemeanor warrant,” the statement continued. “Daunte’s life, like George Floyd’s life, like Eric Garner’s, like Breonna Taylor’s, like David Smith’s meant something. But Kim Potter saw him as expendable. It’s past time for meaningful change in our country. We will keep fighting for justice for Daunte, for his family, and for all marginalized people of color. And we will not stop until there is meaningful policing and justice reform and until we reach our goal of true equality.”

President Joe Biden said Thursday that although he has Irish roots he’s“not stupid” then proceeded to call his wife’s father by her grandfather’s name.

“I just want you to know, I may be Irish, but I’m not stupid,” Biden said while speaking at the Annual Friends of Ireland Luncheon. “I married Domenic Giacoppo’s daughter.”

First Lady Jill Biden’s parents were Donald Carl Jacobs and Bonny Jean Jacobs. Her grandfather, Domenico Giacoppo, was from the tiny village of Gesso in Sicily. When Giacoppo was two, his family left Italy to go to Ellis Island before settling in New Jersey.

Biden attended the annual dinner to promote relations between the U.S. and Ireland. Micheal Martin, Ireland’s leader, was in attendance as well and that afternoon tested positive for COVID-19. Biden and Martin were not in close contact during the event according to a spokesperson for the president.

Biden met with Martin virtually Thursday after he tested positive, with Martin saying he is“doing good” and that it reminds him“vaccines prevent severe illness.”

A reception is planned for Thursday evening. Martin will not attend the event as originally planned.

Elon Musk’s daughter says she wants nothing to do with her father and has filed legal docs to drop his famous last name. She’s actually changing her full name, and legally declaring her gender identity.

The papers were filed in L.A. County under her birth name, Xavier Musk but having turned 18 in April, she wants to change her name to Vivian Jenna Wilson.

In the documents, Vivian lists her reason for the name change as “Gender Identity and the fact that I no longer live with or wish to be related to my biological father in any way, shape or form.”

In the past, neither Elon nor Vivian has said anything publicly about their relationship or her transition. Ironically, in December 2020, Elon tweeted that he supports the transgender community but added … “All these pronouns are an esthetic nightmare.”

Vivian has a twin brother, Griffin, and the last name Wilson comes from their mother, Canadian author Justine Wilson. She was married to Elon from 2000 to 2008.

Vivian’s hearing on the name change is set for Friday.