Category: Opinion

A heavy metal fan in Brazil went into labor and gave birth during a Metallica concert Saturday at the Estádio Couto Pereira in Curitiba.

Tattoo artist, Joice M. Figueiró, was 39 weeks pregnant when she went to the concert Saturday night.

Figueiro said she started having mild contractions as the band took the stage, but thought she had plenty of time to see the show. Things progressed and she went into active labor, she said. She got to see the majority of the band’s white-hot 16-song set before giving birth to her baby boy as the band played their hit, “Enter Sandman,” according to Metallica’s website.

After learning that there had been a birth during their show, Metallica singer James Hetfield called the new mom to congratulate her.

“This is James from Metallica. Congratulations, you guys,” Hetfield could be heard saying in a video Figueiró posted to social media.

“Oh my God. hi,” Figueiró can be heard saying. “I cry.”

“Since it wasn’t planned, I was scared that the medical team wouldn’t be ready. But there’s also the feeling of being able to tell people that this happened because Metallica is one of the bands we love the most,” the new mom said.

Figueiró and her husband Jaime bought the tickets back in 2019, prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, and the concert was initially slated to take place in April 2020 but was pushed back twice because of the pandemic.

A Texas judge has invited Disney to move to the Lonestar state amid the theme park’s ongoing battle with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.

In a letter addressed to Walt Disney Company CEO Bob Chapek, Fort Bend County Judge KP George invited the company to consider Fort Bend County as “a welcoming and diverse place to do business.”

“While you, your company, employees and diverse fans face authoritarian, anti-business and culture war attacks from extremists in Florida, we in Fort Bend are more ready to welcome the Disney family with thousands of good-paying jobs and billions of dollars of investments,” the April 21, letter states.

George described Fort Bend County as a “unique place” whose residents and families “compose the most diverse county in the United States, deliver extremely high graduation rates and are one of the top capita purchasers in Texas.”

The county is “strategically located for the most efficient distribution of goods domestically and internationally, including the best access to both inland and water ports in Texas,” the judge said.

“With a strong focus on economic development, we encourage small and large business growth through a business-friendly climate; we make a difference in our children’s lives every day through youth empowerment initiatives and aim to continue improving the quality of life through new, fresh and innovative ideas,” George said. “I invite you to visit Fort Bend County and see for yourself why our community is the best place for a new Walt Disney World Resort.”

George called DeSantis a “political extremist” in the letter which he shared on Twitter.

The invitation comes as DeSantis, a Republican up for re-election in November, signed legislation Friday stripping the theme park of a decades-old special agreement that allowed it to govern itself. The move was in response to Disney’s criticism of a new state law condemned by critics as “Don’t Say Gay,” which prohibits classroom discussion about sexual orientation and gender identity for elementary students.

Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick has said he wants to create his own version of the legislation.

Actor Kevin Spacey is facing four counts of sexually assaulting three men in the U.K. The Crown Prosecution Service said Thursday that the charges against the actor “follow a review of evidence gathered by the Metropolitan Police.” Spacey, 62, was also charged with “causing a person to engage in penetrative sexual activity without consent,” the agency said.

The incidents took place in London between March 2005 and August 2008, and one in western England in April 2013. The victims are now in their 30s and 40s. The charges follow a review of evidence gathered by London’s Metropolitan Police, according to Rosemary Ainslie, head of the service’s Special Crime Division,

British police questioned Spacey in 2019 about claims made by several men that he had assaulted them.

The former “House of Cards” star ran London’s Old Vic Theatre between 2004 and 2015. Spacey won a best-supporting actor Academy Award for the 1995 film “The Usual Suspects” and a lead actor Oscar for the 1999 movie “American Beauty.”

In 2017 actor Anthony Rapp accused the star of assaulting him at a party in the 1980s when Rapp was a teenager.

Spacey denies the allegations and is currently trying to have a sex abuse lawsuit from Rapp in New York thrown out. He testified Thursday in a courtroom in New York City in the civil lawsuit filed by Rapp.

Thursday’s court session in New York City was to decide whether the case was better handled in a federal or state U.S. court. Spacey was called to testify about where he lived, not about the truthfulness of the allegations against him.

Spacey testified that his main residence is in Baltimore, where he moved for the filming of “House of Cards.” But he also testified about his time living in London as the artistic director of the Old Vic.

“It was extremely important to me that I endear myself to the British public, that I’m not running away,” he said, noting that his start there was troubled by a “disastrous production” in 2005 of Arthur Miller’s last play.

But, Spacey said, “I’m an American citizen. Once the job was done, I came back to America.”

The actor said he made a trip to London in February 2020 for a possible film, but when the pandemic hit, his U.S. doctor recommended that he stay there, where he resided until the following September when his visa expired, and he flew to Los Angeles for an arbitration proceeding.

Spacey said he has not been back to the U.K. since then.

A separate criminal case brought against Spacey, an indecent assault and battery charge stemming from the alleged groping of an 18-year-old man at a Nantucket resort, was dismissed by Massachusetts prosecutors in 2019.

This year’s annual “go topless” Jeep weekend in Texas resulted in more than 100 arrests and dozens, including a sheriff’s deputy being sent to the hospital during the event attended by tens of thousands.

More than 80,000 Jeep enthusiasts attended the weekend-long event at Crystal Beach on the Bolivar Peninsula.

Authorities say Sgt. John Hamm was responding to a minor crash on State Highway 87 near Holiday Drive around 1:30 a.m. when a suspected drunk driver struck him.

Sheriff Henry Trochesset said the deputy nearly went through the vehicle’s windshield as a result of the impact.

Hamm’s suffered two broken legs, as well as an arm and head injury. He was airlifted to a local hospital where he had surgery on Sunday.

The driver, Darius Danzell Gilbert, 22, of Jefferson County Texas was arrested and faces a charge of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon on a peace officer. He was being held on a $100,000 bond.

There were at least 38 individuals transported to area hospitals during the event, including eight that required an airlift transport.

Galveston County Sheriff Henry Trochesset said more than 100 people were arrested over the weekend, as deputies responded to assaults, fights and DWIs.

Galveston County Emergency Services said the influx of people was straining emergency services, noting a large increase in the crowds this year.

A Florida woman was arrested Wednesday after she fled from police, hit several vehicles, and threw a fake snake at police officers.

Ironically, police were not originally after the woman, who does suffer from mental health problems.

“Ironically, the motor unit flipped his blue lights on to stop another vehicle and he saw this truck, who he had not focused on, took off at a high rate of speed,” said Martin County Sheriff William Snyder.

After the suspect noticed police cars nearby, she sped away in her truck and intentionally struck a deputy on a motorcycle, hit a police car and knocked over a truck with three people inside.

“When that deputy was first coming up to the pickup truck, she intentionally swerved into his lane, nearly causing a head-on collision,” Snyder said.

Three people were transported to the hospital with non-life threatening injuries. No police officers were injured.

Officers finally had the unidentified woman surrounded after she’d led them on a 5-mile chase. That’s when she threw what first appeared to be a live snake at them but it was actually a rubber snake.

The officers were forced to taser the suspect to subdue her and subsequently took her into custody.

A Black Lives Matter activist leading a Boston anti-violence nonprofit was indicted for fraud and is now demanding a speedy trial to defend the allegations against her.

Monica Cannon-Grant, the head of Violence in Boston, and her husband, Clark Grant, are accused of using the nonprofit “as a vehicle to personally enrich themselves and their designees,” according to a federal indictment unsealed on March 15.

The couple is facing 18 fraud-related charges, including conspiracy, wire fraud, mail fraud, and making false statements to a mortgage lending business.

The 38-page indictment says Cannon-Grant and her husband solicited and received millions of dollars for the charity that garnered increased attention following the 2020 death of George Floyd in Minneapolis.

Federal prosecutors say the couple has not submitted the appropriate tax documents to the state Attorney General’s nonprofit oversight office since 2019. Cannon-Grant is accused of paying herself a huge salary, despite making publicly claiming she received no salary for her nonprofit work.

According to the indictment, the charity received a $10,400 donation from an unidentified department store for the stated purpose of feeding hungry children, but Cannon-Grant laundered those funds through a church to use to pay her back rent.

Cannon-Grant’s attorney filed a request Wednesday accusing the government of being slow in its discovery process and not communicating details about their timeline for relaying such information to the defense. It also alleges that one $3000 loan supporting the mortgage fraud charge was a gift and was not required to be paid back.

“Ms. Cannon-Grant has been immeasurably prejudiced and punished by the indictment alone, and she seeks a trial on the earliest practical date to challenge the government’s accusations,” the filing says.

The Milwaukee Police Department has released spine chilling video in an effort to get information surrounding a shooting that left 21 injured late last week only blocks from the Fiserv Forum, where the Bucks and Celtics were playing that night in an NBA playoff game.

The incident occurred around 10:30 p.m. Friday at the intersection of Water St and Highland Ave and thus far police have made 10 arrests.

Surveillance video of the shooting shows a group of individuals walking down the sidewalk and then stopping at the corner of the intersection.

As another group approached from the opposite direction, someone in the first group – wearing a blue jacket – pulled out a gun and opened fire.

The people frantically ran for cover and two people in the second group can be seen getting hit by cars while trying to flee.

“This behavior will not be tolerated not only downtown but nowhere in the city. Period. We are not going to accept this behavior as any new normalcy in regards to our community,” Police Chief Jeffrey Norman said Tuesday.

The shooting was one of three that same night in Milwaukee’s broader downtown entertainment district. The other incidents left four people injured and one arrest was made.

There were 11 guns recovered in the wake of the shootings and some of those arrested are prohibited from owning firearms.

“The Milwaukee Police Department will make every effort to hold those who hold violence in our city and those who support violence in our city accountable,” Norman said, adding that it’s unclear whether the shooting was gang-related.

A chihuahua puppy who was found Monday shot through the neck with an arrow in Southern California is expected to survive after veterinarians successfully removed the projectile, authorities said.

A woman called 911 to report she’d found the wounded animal Monday in a neighborhood near the city of Desert Hot Springs after hearing the puppy “screaming,” according to Riverside County Animal Services.

A sheriff’s deputy picked up the 4-month-old female puppy and transferred it to an animal services officer who brought the pup to the Coachella Valley Animal Campus.

Veterinary staff determined that the arrow did not strike the puppy’s vital arteries and it was removed.

“For someone to willfully shoot this poor pup with an arrow is disgusting,” Animal Services Director Erin Gettis said in the statement. “We are shocked and we hope someone can provide us with any information as to who did this.”

Gettis said the agency will continue to treat the puppy and work on finding her a home.

“It’s amazing to see her affection, despite what occurred,” veterinary technician Emily Ellison said.

“She is such a sweet puppy. I cannot imagine why anyone would do something so terrible to such an innocent creature,” she added.

A Tennessee woman was arrested after slicing her brother’s throat for breaking up a fight, according to court documents.

Memphis police arrived in the 20 block of Falls Road on Sunday where they discovered the injured man.

Court documents state the brother was breaking up a fight between his sisters when Jarica Brown, 32, took out a pocket knife and sliced him across the front of his neck.

Officers were speaking to Brown when they noticed the knife inside of her shoe, according to an affidavit.

Brown was arrested and charged with aggravated assault, she is expected in court on May 23, 2022.

Model Kate Moss is expected to testify this week in Johnny Depp’s defamation trial against Amber Heard. Moss, 48, is set to testify via video link on Wednesday in the Fairfax, Virginia, courtroom. Depp’s lawyers were ecstatic when Heard, 36, brought up Moss during her testimony and opened the door for them to dispel a rumor that he had pushed the supermodel down a flight of stairs when they dated in the 1990s.

Heard referenced Moss while testifying on May 5, recounting a March 2015 fight in which she punched Depp in the face out of fear he was going to shove her sister Whitney down a staircase.

Heard said she “instantly” thought about “Kate Moss and the stairs” — prompting Depp’s lawyer Ben Chew to turn and fist-pump.

Moss told Vanity Fair in a 2012 profile, “There’s nobody that’s ever really been able to take care of me. Johnny did for a bit.

“I believed what he said. Like if I said, ‘What do I do?’ he’d tell me. And that’s what I missed when I left. I really lost that gauge of somebody I could trust.”

Her testimony will come on the third day of the six-week trial, which is set to wrap up Friday.

Depp, 58, is suing ex-wife Heard for $50 million over a 2018 Washington Post op-ed where she said she was a “public figure representing domestic abuse.” While she did not name Depp, he claims it defamed him, ruining his career and causing him to lose millions in revenue.

Heard countersued Depp for $100 million, saying he defamed her in 2020 when he and his lawyers made statements to the press that she had fabricated her allegations of abuse.