Category: Opinion

A ride at a Pittsburg amusement park stopped working Monday, leaving riders hanging upside down.

Kennywood’s Aero 360 got stuck mid-ride and left riders hanging upside down in front of a stunned crowd. In a statement, Kennywood General Manager Mark Pauls said the ride was “quickly” brought back to its “designated rest position.” The statement did not say how long the ride was stuck though some riders and witnesses said it was 5 minutes or more.

The riders were evaluated by medical personnel, and Pauls said three of them visited the First Aid Center as a precaution.

“Safety is our first and foremost priority,” Pauls said. “The ride remains closed while a review of the incident is conducted.”

Kennywood describes the Aero 360 as an “intense” ride that offers a chance to “travel upside down while riding the iconic Kennywood arrows.”

“With legs dangling, riders swing back and forth attached to a familiar yellow symbol—the Kennywood Arrow! The arrows swing higher and higher with each pendulum motion, culminating in a 360-degree over-the-top experience,” the ride description says.

A San Diego doctor who claimed that he had a miracle cure for COVID-19 in March and April of 2020 has been sentenced to 30 days in prison.

Dr. Jennings Ryan Staley pleaded guilty last year to attempting to smuggle hydroxychloroquine into the U.S. to market as part of a coronavirus “treatment kit.” In addition to his prison sentence, he will also be confined to his home for one year after his release, according to U.S. attorneys.

“At the height of the pandemic, before vaccines were available, this doctor sought to profit from patients’ fears,” U.S. Attorney Randy Grossman said in a statement. “He abused his position of trust and undermined the integrity of the entire medical profession.”

Staley admitted to working with a Chinese supplier to smuggle in a barrel containing 26 pounds of hydroxychloroquine powder by mislabeling it as “yam extract.” He planned to put the powder into capsules as part of “treatment kits” he sold to customers of his Skinny Beach Med Spas in the San Diego area at the beginning of the pandemic, promoting them as a “one hundred percent” cure, a “magic bullet,” an “amazing weapon,” and “almost too good to be true” in conversations with an undercover FBI agent who posed as a potential customer. He also claimed the product would provide six weeks of immunity.

“The defendant used a global pandemic to prey on the public’s fear by offering a ‘cure’ for COVID-19, and then lied to FBI agents about it,” said FBI Special Agent in Charge Stacey Moy.

Early in the pandemic, hydroxychloroquine was touted as an effective treatment but many doctors cautioned that it gave no benefit to COVID-19 patients. A study found that patients treated with the drug were linked to an increased risk of death and heart ailments.

Britney Spears posted a bizarre dance video Sunday featuring her cat, who she kept holding by the throat, and fans are not happy.

Spears regularly posts dance videos, but the feline neck grab was a new twist. In this particular video, Spears wrapped her fingers around the kitty’s neck as she continued to sway back and forth.

Spears clearly wanted the cat to dance with her, but the feline was not feeling it.

The cat tried to break free, but Britney kept a firm grip around its neck, and the poor baby was definitely not happy.

The longer Spears danced with a firm grip on her cat’s neck, the more fans commented on how she was treating the kitty.

https://youtu.be/BsujLKUWn1s

“Stop holding your cat like that!” wrote one fan, while another said, “Why do you keep holding the cat round the throat 😡,” as well as “Poor cat is like 😣”

One referenced the #FreeBritney movement by writing “#FreeTheCat,” and yet another person came forward to write, “That cat was definitely stressed. Please don’t hold your cat by the throat.”

The bizarre video also concerned a fan that wrote, “Cats don’t like to be held like that. Also, if your pet is not in the mood for posing please don’t force it😢,” while someone else said, “Britney why are you strangling your cat?”

Katherine Magbanua introduced two contract killers to the people who wanted Toronto-born Florida State University law professor Dan Markel dead.

A Tallahassee jury deliberated for eight hours before finding Magbanua guilty of first-degree murder in the July 2014 contract hit on Markel. She was also found guilty of conspiracy to commit murder and solicitation of murder.

Markel’s ex-wife, Wendi Adelson, and her family have been on detectives’ radar as persons of interest since the beginning of the maze-like murder plot.

Markel and Adelson were embroiled in a bitter custody battle that focused on her desire to move with their two children from Tallahassee to where her family lives in South Florida.

But Markel was fighting to stop the move. And then he was dead.

“There is more work ahead to ensure that each and every person responsible for Danny’s barbaric murder is brought to justice and held accountable,” Markels’ family said in a statement.

“Until that day, we will continue to fight for complete justice and to spend time with our grandchildren.

The Markels have not seen their grandchildren since 2016.

Magbanua was the suspected link between hitmen Sigfredo Garcia and Luis Rivera and the family of Markel’s ex-wife.

Prosecutors are now targeting Adelson’s brother, dentist Charlie Adelson, who was arrested on murder charges last month. Prosecutors have not said whether they expect more arrests.

Detectives are also looking at Adelson’s mother, Donna Adelson. Donna and Charlie are the suspected masterminds and moneybags behind Markel’s contract killing.

At the time of the murder, Magbanua was working as a dental assistant in Charlie Adelson’s South Florida practice. The two were also having a sexual relationship. Magbunua has two children with convicted hitman Sigfredo Garcia.

Cops say that Rivera and Garcia drove to Tallahassee in a rented Toyota Prius and stalked Markel as he dropped his kids off at daycare and went to the gym. They followed Markel home and shot him to death as he sat in his car in the driveway.

Afterward, the two killers returned to Miami.

Magbanua now faces life in prison for murder and up to 30 years in prison for conspiracy and solicitation.

A 12-year-old boy and his father rescued a 4-year-old autistic boy from drowning in a Kansas pool.

Surveillance footage showed 4-year-old, Xavier Rigney, who is non-verbal and autistic, jumping into a pool on May 18 after managing to get through a locked fence. When Maddox Westerhouse, saw that Xavier was drowning, he knew he needed to act fast.

“Xavier was under the water for 3 minutes and 22 seconds,” Lawrence-Douglas County Fire Medical Battalion Chief Rob Fleeup said in a statement.

Westerhouse ran to his apartment to get his father, Tom Westerhouse. The elder Westerhouse jumped the fence and pulled Xavier from the water. Westerhouse performed CRP for nearly three minutes before Xavier finally began coughing up water and breathing.

“When he started to cough up water and everything, I knew that was a good sign,” Tom said in the statement. The Fire Department said that had he not acted, it might have been too late for the toddler.

Xavier’s mother was caring for her 4-month-old when she realized that Xavier was missing. “He’s my best friend, so I don’t know what I would do without him,” she said. She noticed emergency responders at the apartment complex and followed them to Xavier.

Children with autism are 160 times more likely to die from drowning than the general pediatric population, according to WebMD.

Only days after closing arguments in his defamation trial against ex-wife Amber Heard, Johnny Depp made an unexpected appearance in Sheffield, England.

During closing remarks on May 27, Depp’s attorney Camille Vasquez argued Heard was the abuser in the former couple’s relationship and accused her of lying about alleged injuries from Depp. On the other side, attorneys for Heard, who is countersuing for $100 million, argued their client wrote the infamous op-ed to promote legislative measures designed to protect victims of domestic abuse. Adding that “if Ms. Heard wanted to be malicious for Mr. Depp, the article would be very different.”

On Sunday, Depp joined Beck and his band on “Isolation,” as well as Jimi Hendrix’s “Little Wing” and Marvin Gaye’s “What’s Goin’ On.”

Depp has a home in Somerset, just a little less than a four-hour drive away from Sheffield. In addition to a very successful acting career, the 58-year-old has a long-time musical career. The star has appeared on albums by Marilyn Manson, Ryan Adams, Patti Smith, Iggy Pop, Oasis, and Aerosmith He did his own singing in the 2007 film version of Sweeney Todd as well. Depp also formed the group Hollywood Vampires with Alice Cooper and Aerosmith’s Joe Perry in 2012. Their two albums featured appearances by Paul McCartney, Dave Grohl Joe Walsh and the late Christopher Lee.

Paul Pelosi, House Speaker Rep. Nancy Pelosi’s husband, was arrested for driving under the influence late Saturday night.

Paul Pelosi was arrested in Napa County, California at 11:44 p.m. on Saturday night, and was charged with driving with a blood-alcohol level of .08 or higher.

He was booked into jail at 04:13 a.m. on Sunday, and released at 7:26 a.m. on $5,000 bail, according to Napa County records.

Paul Pelosi, 82, has been married to Nancy since 1963. It’s unclear if she was with him at the time of his arrest.

“The Speaker will not be commenting on this private matter which occurred while she was on the East Coast,” the spokesperson said.

The Pelosis own a vineyard in Napa Valley. In 2015, that vineyard made her the fourth richest person in California, according to the LA Times.

During the latest episode of The Kardashians on Hulu, Kourtney opened up about her fertility doctor advising her to drink Travis Barker’s semen.

Kardashian said the unidentified doctor, claimed the practice would “improve” her thyroid levels. “

“I can’t remember what he said if it was low or high,” Kourtney said. “But he told us, well, he told me, that the thing that would help it was drinking [Travis’] cum, like, four times a week.”

Travis, who was on board with the advice, added, “I love this doctor.” The two indicated that they haven’t actually followed up on that advice, but she is going on a “Panchakarma cleanse,” which she said will help “get all of the toxins that are deep within our tissue out of our bodies [to have] better-quality eggs

The comments came as the newlyweds stopped by Soffer’s Surya Spa for a week. “I’m super grateful that Travis is doing this with me,” Kourtney added of her week in the spa. “I don’t think I could do it on my own. I just feel like it’s something we have to do together. We’re making a baby together, we have to be on the same page.

Former Charles Manson follower and murderer, Patricia Krenwinkel was recommended for release Thursday release by a California parole board.

Krenwinkel, 74, was convicted on seven counts of first-degree murder in the brutal murder of seven people in August of 1969. Among the victims was pregnant actress Sharon Tate, wife of director Roman Polanski. Tate was entertaining friends at her home on Cielo Drive in Los Angeles when the horrifying murders took place. Krenwinkel confessed to stabbing coffee heiress Abigail Folger several times.

She also took part in the murder of grocer Leno LaBianca and his wife Rosemary the night after the Tate murders. She also confessed to brutally stabbing Leno LaBianca in the stomach and writing messages, most notoriously “Helter Skelter,” with the man’s blood on the walls of his home.

She has been denied parole 14 times in the past for her role in the horrendous murders. New laws have passed since her last hearing in 2017 that “required the parole panel to consider that she committed the murders at a young age and is now an elderly prisoner.”

Relatives of Krenwinkel’s victims voiced the same objections as they have in past hearings, but her attorney, Keith Wattley, said the parole panel “was willing to follow the law” and recognized that “she has had no disciplinary violations and is no longer a danger to society.”

“She’s completely transformed from the person she was when she committed this crime, which is all that it’s supposed to take to be granted parole,” he said. The proposed parole decision will go to Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom, who has the authority to reverse the decision.

A California police department said that it was conducting a terrorist threat and hate crime investigation into the threat of a school shooting on Wednesday.

American High School in Fremont, California, contacted the Fremont Police Department on Wednesday around 9:44 a.m. after a student threatened the school on social media, according to the department statement.

The Patrol and School Resource Officers (SROs) preliminary investigation found that a student’s posts had threatened to shoot a school employee and also contained racial slurs. SROs, working alongside the Fremont Unified School District (FUSD), located the student with his parents off school property, the police said.

Police arrested the 17-year-old male for felony terrorist threats and a hate crime. The suspect’s identity will not be released and he will be housed at a juvenile hall as he is still a minor, according to the police statement.

The parents of a concerned student who was aware of the threats alerted the school of the threat of violence. Police said multiple students were involved in the social media conversation, but “the student who was arrested made direct threats of gun violence.”

“The student also made comments about committing additional gun violence at an unnamed secondary school. At this time, we believe that only the arrested student had made any threats of gun violence,” the police said. “The investigation is ongoing to determine if there are other victims or potential charges on other subjects involved. All other involved students have been identified and are currently being addressed by FUSD staff. ”

A search warrant was issued and executed at the teenager’s home, where police collected evidence but did not find a firearm, according to the statement.

Fremont Police Chief Sean Washington praised the detectives and SROs who successfully investigated the direct threat of violence. Washington also thanked the parents and the student who alerted the school of the dangers.

“The Fremont Police Department is committed to the safety of our community and schools. Considering recent events, I want to ensure the public that school safety is our top priority. I have directed additional patrol checks towards all school campuses, including resources from specialized units,” said Washington.

FUSD Superintendent CJ Cammack released a statement Wednesday, saying the hate-filled social media messages were a “dishonor” to the entire school community. Cammack said the school district will offer support and counseling for those directly affected by the threats of violence.

“As always, we encourage you to report any suspicious activity to law enforcement, and school administration and to seek counseling support for students at their schools as needed,” Cammack said. “In this difficult time, it will be imperative that we keep communication lines open, and work together toward building a stronger, more united community, where every single student and staff member is safe and feels appreciated.”