Mereja

Author: Sean Patterson

  • Judge Judy’s Son Accused of Influencing Child Rape Case

    Judge Judy certainly hasn’t let her legal career get in the way of motherhood. Judith Scheindlin (her real name) has seven children and 12 grandchildren. At least one of those children has followed in their mother’s footsteps and entered the legal profession.

    Adam Levy, son of Scheindlin and her first husband, is now the district attorney for Putnam County, New York. This week, Levy has found himself embroiled in a child molestation investigation due to what appears to be a disagreement with Putnam County Sheriff Donald Smith.

    Last week, Alexandru Hossu was arrested and charged in connection with the rape of a 12-year-old girl back in 2010. The statement released by the sheriff’s office listed Hossu’s address as Levy’s home address.

    The county sheriff’s office has stated that Hossu is a personal trainer and that he may have been a “live-in personal trainer” with the Levys for a time. When Levy’s office learned of the arrest, it released a statement that included Levy recusing himself from the case. The statement included the acknowledgement that Levy’s family had known Hossu “for years,” but pointed out that Hossu does not live at Levy’s address.

    The sheriff’s office shot back, releasing a statement that Levy “is trying to influence and affect the investigation” by publishing Hossu’s address. Levy’s office offered another retort, releasing a statement calling Smith’s statement “unfounded”:

    Despite Sheriff Smith’s unfounded allegations and misstatements, the facts will show my office acted properly in every aspect of the investigation. Now, I need to continue to concentrate my efforts on the work that I was elected to do by the people of Putnam County as its District Attorney.

    The nearby Westchester County district attorney has taken over the investigation.

  • Robin Roberts: ESPN to Award Her an ESPY For Courage

    ESPN this week announced that the 2013 Arthur Ashe Courage award will go to news anchor Robin Roberts.

    Roberts, one of the hosts of ABC’s Good Morning America, has captivated morning show audiences this past year with her battle against myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS), a blood disease disorder of bone marrow stem cells. Before she was the darling of morning network TV, though, she was a sportscaster for over a decade.

    Roberts began working for ESPN in 1990 as one of the first black female sports journalists in the business. She earned three Emmy Awards for her work at ESPN, and now the network will be honoring her for her achievements.

    The 2013 Arthur Ashe Courage award will be given to Roberts during this year’s ESPY awards, which air on July 17. Past recipients of the award have included Muhammad Ali and Dean Smith.

    “Robin brings an amazing amount of energy, compassion and determination to everything she does,” said John Skipper, president of ESPN. “Those qualities made her an incredible asset during her time here at ESPN, and they have served her well as she battled the terrible health challenges that she’s had to face.”

  • Bill Gates Condom Challenge Offers $100,000

    Bill Gates‘ philanthropy continues to press hard on issues that may seem odd, but are actually essential to propping up the developing world.

    Last year, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) selected a reinvention of the toilet that functions as a solar-powered wastewater treatment system. Now, Gates is challenging inventors to use improvements in materials science to develop a condom that feels good.

    As part of the BMGF’s Grand Challenges in Global Health initiatives, the foundation is offering a $100,000 grant to someone who is willing to design a “next generation condom that significantly preserves or enhances pleasure, in order to improve uptake and regular use.”

    The idea is that, as reliable and easy-to-use as condoms are, men supposedly experience more pleasure having bareback sex than they do using a condom. The challenge asks:

    Is it possible to develop a product without this stigma, or better, one that is felt to enhance pleasure? If so, would such a product lead to substantial benefits for global health, both in terms of reducing the incidence of unplanned pregnancies and in prevention of infection with HIV or other STIs?

    The challenge states that condoms have been in use for around 400 years, and have not improved in the past 50 years. However, the scientific advances made in the past 50 years, the initiative reads, have not been applied to this important area:

    Material science and our understanding of neurobiology has undergone revolutionary transformation in the last decade yet that knowledge has not been applied to improve the product attributes of one of the most ubiquitous and potentially underutilized products on earth. New concept designs with new materials can be prototyped and tested quickly. Large-scale human clinical trials are not required. Manufacturing capacity, marketing, and distribution channels are already in place.

    A better feeling condom could go a long way to convincing some men that they might as well roll one on before sex, if only for their own safety. However, the question of how a condom feels during sex isn’t the only factor that has prevented the condom from better curbing STIs and the AIDS epidemic seen in some regions of the world. Religious beliefs in particular continue to hinder the distribution and adoption of condoms in the developing world – and those can’t simply be engineered away.

  • Golfers Find 2 Bodies Near Tallahassee Golf Course

    Golf is generally regarded as a leisure activity, something to pass the time in the sun while on vacation or on the weekend. So, when something as gristly as a shooting intrudes on such a leisurely activity, it makes the news.

    The Associated Press is reporting that golfers at the Hilaman Golf Course in Tallahassee, Florida heard gunshots on Tuesday afternoon, around 5 pm. The golfers (bravely, I suppose) went to check out the source of the shots and found the bodies of two women.

    According to a Leon County Sheriff spokesperson, the bodies were found in an area between the golf course and a nearby apartment complex. The names, ages, or descriptions of the victims have not been released, and law enforcement has begun canvassing the area for possible witnesses.

  • Topless Scene Regretted by ‘Downton Abbey’ Star

    As Seth MacFarlane so tactfully pointed out at this year’s Oscars, Hollywood has a bit of a fascination with seeing actresses’ boobs. It’s not a particularly radical concept for mature adults (or Europeans), but sometimes the push for a breast tissue can pressure young actresses into baring their chest when they would rather not.

    Take Jessica Brown Findlay, for instance. The actress gained fame playing the rather modest role of Lady Sybil Crawley on the hit show Downton Abbey. More recently, she has taken the role of Alais Pelletier Du Mas in a TV adaptation of Labyrinth. In the upcoming show, Findlay bares quite a bit of her body, but it’s the skin she showed in the past that she told the Radio Times she regrets.

    According to the interview, Findlay stated that a scene in the movie Albatross in which she flashes a store clerk was “naivety” on her part and that she didn’t know she could say “no.” Going forward, Findlay advises actresses to be “honest and natural” with their nude scenes, but that she would have prepared her body more in hindsight.

    “I was drinking pints and eating burgers.” said Findlay. “But actually, it’s not something I would do again.”

    The video below is the scene from Albatross, and is, naturally, NSFW:

  • Duggars: Adoption Being Considered

    Michelle Duggar may be one of the toughest women in the U.S. Having given birth to 19 children in 21 years, her body has no doubt seen more than its fair share of miles. Now, it appears that it could be time for Duggar to retire, at least from the baby-making portion of her motherhood.

    Duggar’s latest pregnancy, in 2011, ended in a miscarriage. The youngest Duggar child, Josie, was born prematurely in 2011. After a short 25-week pregnancy, Josie was born weighing just 22 ounces. At 45 years old, Michelle Duggar is past the age where doctors begin to warn that pregnancies come with serious health risks for both mother and child. It now appears that the Duggar family is considering adoption as an alternative to another pregnancy.

    Duggar told People magazine this week that she and her husband, Jim Bob, may adopt children into their overpacked family, saying, “We are open to the idea of adoption.”

    Michelle told People that she and her family are praying to their god about adoption, though she makes it clear her children are encouraging them to expand the family further.

    The Duggar family are the stars of the TLC reality TV show 19 Kids and Counting. In addition to their 19 children, the Duggars currently have two grandchildren, with more undoubtedly on the way.

    (Image courtesy Jim Bob Duggar/Wikimedia Commons)

  • Kanye West ‘I Am God’ Rumor Not True, Says Report

    Kanye West certainly has a way with titles and names, or at least with attracting rumors about them.

    Last week West and his girlfriend, reality TV actress and amateur porn star Kim Kardashian, made headlines over a tabloid report that stated West wants to name their forthcoming child “North” (get it?). Now, a separate claim made by The Sun has now gained traction in more respectable media outlets.

    The claim is that West is preparing to name his next album I Am God. BBC News reported the rumor again this week, repeating the claim that the name is “half tongue-in-cheek.” Now, E! News is debunking the blasphemous rumor with an anonymous source of its own. The entertainment news outlet states that an unnamed source claims the rumor “is not true.”

    As for the baby name claim, that might not be so true either. During an Extra interview this week Kardashian deftly side-stepped the rumor, stating that around half of the couple’s chosen names don’t begin with a ‘k’ and that they “still have time” to decide on a name. She did say, though, that West “wants something that’s unique.”

  • Cruise Ship Death: FBI Now Investigating

    Though it seems an unthinkable tragedy, the high number of people who take cruises every year means that some deaths are likely to occur. This week, the FBI has begun investigating one such death that happened aboard a Royal Caribbean cruise ship this past weekend.

    According to an Associated Press report, a 62-year-old woman was found dead in her cabin on the cruise ship Enchantment of the Seas on Sunday, March 24.

    The woman has not been identified, except to the extent that she is an American citizen. Royal Caribbean Cruises told the AP that her husband was the person who found her.

    The ship was scheduled to dock in Baltimore on Monday, and the company reportedly called both the FBI and Baltimore Police, as policy dictates. The ship docked on time and FBI agents boarded the ship to investigate.

    Cruise ship mishaps have been gaining more attention in the news lately, due to an incident in which the Carnival cruise ship Carnival Triumph became disabled at sea, leaving passengers with limited water, food, and working sewage facilities for days.

  • Kordell Stewart Divorce Papers Filed in Atlanta

    It seems that Kordell Stewart’s official retirement from the NFL hasn’t been a boon for his love life.

    TMZ is reporting that Stewart filed for divorce from wife Porsha Stewart in Atlanta on March 22. Porsha is a cast member of the reality TV show The Real Housewives of Atlanta. The couple was married in May of 2011.

    The divorce papers reportedly state that the marriage is “irretrievably broken” and that the couple is currently separated. Kordell is also claiming no need for spousal support and that there are no marital assets to be divided between them.

    Neither Kordell or Porsha has acknowledged the divorce directly via their social media accounts, though Porsha did post this strange-in-hindsight Tweet back on March 24:

    According to the TMZ report, the issue of children was hot one for the couple, as depicted on-screen in episodes of Real Housewives. Kordell has one son, Syre, with an ex-girlfriend.

    Kordell Stewart played quarterback for NFL teams such as the Pittsburgh Steelers, Chicago Bears, and Baltimore Ravens during his decade-long career. During his 2001 season with the Steelers he led the team to the AFC Championship Game. He was named AFC Offensive Player of the Year and selected for the Pro Bowl for the accomplishment.

  • NBC: Robin Roberts Tweet From Ann Curry Prevented

    The drama surrounding the Today Show and Ann Curry‘s unceremonious departure from the daytime TV show simply will not die down.

    Earlier this week, New York Magazine published a long expose of the situation at the Today Show leading up to Curry’s firing and the aftermath. While Matt Lauer was courting ABC as a contract negotiation technique, Curry was fighting for her anchor position.

    After Curry’s tearful goodbye, the Today Show tanked in the ratings. The show was overtaken by Good Morning America, which was enthralling viewers with coverage of anchor Robin Robert’s battle with myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS).

    It seems that NBC executives worried about the impact Curry could have on daytime TV ratings even weeks after she left the show. The New York magazine report states that when Roberts left Good Morning America, Curry wanted to tweet her a “note of sympathy.” The idea was shot down by NBC.

    It’s unfortunate that Curry felt she needed to clear a heartfelt tweet with the public relations department at NBC. However, the incident is a rare look inside the carefully controlled battleground that TV networks call morning news programs.

  • Virgil Trucks Dies; MLB Pitcher Was 95

    MLB all-star pitcher Virgil Trucks has died at the age of 95.

    The Detroit News is reporting that Trucks was admitted to a hospital near his home in Calera, Alabama on March 21 for pneumonia. He died on March 23.

    Trucks was born in Alabama and began playing in the minor leagues in 1938. By 1941 he made his debut for the Detroit Tigers, the team with which he would play most of his career. He made the Major League Baseball all-star team twice and during his 1952 season threw two no-hitters. Trucks played for a variety of other teams, including the St. Louis Browns, the Chicago White Sox, and the New York Yankees, the team with which he ended his pitching career in 1958.

    After his pitching career in the MLB, Trucks went on to coach baseball. He was part of the coaching staff of the Pittsburgh Pirates, the Atlanta Braves, and the Tigers before his retirement in 1974.

    The Tigers honored Trucks this week and the organization posted a picture to its twitter account depicting Trucks in his prime:

  • Actor Clive Mantle’s Ear Bitten in Motel Attack

    As movies such as Psycho and Identity demonstrate, small motels are often the setting for nightmares. However, one actor saw a nightmare come true this week after being attacked at a Travelodge.

    Clive Mantle, the actor who played Lord Greatjon Umber in the HBO series Game of Thrones, was attacked at a Travelodge in Newcastle on Sunday. According to The Guardian, Mantle had a portion of his ear bitten off during the attack. Surgeons were able to reattach the lost portion of his ear.

    Mantle reportedly requested that fellow hotel guests keep their noise levels down before he was attacked. Two men were arrested in connection with the attack, and one has been charged with wounding with intent.

    Mantle was part of a traveling production of The Ladykillers that had been performing at a Newcastle theatre. He has withdrawn from the production following the attack.

  • Karen Black Cancer Crowdfunding Hits Its Goal

    Over two years ago, actress Karen Black was diagnosed with ampullary cancer and had one-third of her pancreas removed. According to Black’s husband, Stephen Eckelberry, after extensive chemotherapy and radiation treatments she was able to conquer her cancer.

    Unfortunately, her cancer has returned, and has begun spreading. After multiple operations, the Easy Rider actress, says Eckelberry, “can hardly move around and is mostly bed-bound.” She now weighs less than 100 pounds.

    Eckelberry now believes that a clinical study in Europe could be Black’s last chance at survival. Only thing is, it’s rather expensive. As anyone living in the U.S. knows, medical bills and the costs associated with a medical condition pile up quickly. Black and Eckelberry have now found their finances dipping into the red. So, Eckelberry and Black looked to fans to help out with some crowdfunding.

    Over one week ago, a gofundme campaign was launched to send Black for the European treatments. Now, after just 11 days, nearly $30,000 has been raised – far exceeding the $22,000 goal that was set.

    Eckelberry updated the campaign page yesterday, thanking the donors profusely:

    Everybody thank you so much for the donations and kind thoughts. Karen and are touched beyond belief. It’s so great to know she can make this trip. I promise to keep everybody updated. Any additional money that is raised beyond our goal will go towards my going with her. THIS IS AMAZING THANK YOU SO MUCH

    (Image courtesy Vanessa Lua/Wikimedia Commons)

  • Lohan and Sheen Scene Takes Place in Bed

    Months after allegedly sending her thousands of dollars for her tax bill, Charlie Sheen has finally convinced Lindsay Lohan to hop into bed with him. Not in their personal life, though. At least, not that we know of.

    Lohan and Sheen shared a scene together this week on the set of Sheen’s FX show Anger Management. According to a TMZ report, the scene took place in Sheen’s character’s bed, where the two were implied to have had sex before the scene.

    According to TMZ’s anonymous sources, Lohan showed up early for the shoot, nailed her pillow talk, and was “really funny.”

    Lohan took to Twitter late last night to thank her co-stars and the Anger Management crew:

    Lohan will be back on the Anger Management set today for more filming.

  • Stabbings at Target Injure Three, Including a 16-Year-Old Girl

    A trip to a local Target turned into a nightmare for Pittsburgh shoppers when a man wielding a kitchen knife began stabbing people in the store.

    According to a Pittsburgh Tribune-Review report, the man was chased into the Target and proceeded to take a 16-year-old girl hostage. It is unclear who exactly was chasing the man.

    The man reportedly entered the Target and ran to a second floor bathroom. He was then chased back downstairs, where he grabbed the girl, who was at a check-out line with her family.

    The knife-wielding man was jumped by two men while holding the girl. According to the report, he was beaten using fists and a baseball bat. Police arrived soon after and arrested the man using Tasers and pepper spray.

    The girl was stabbed in the back and arm, and is recovering at a hospital. Two others men were stabbed, one in the mouth and the other had his finger slashed.

  • Rock Band My Chemical Romance Splits After 12 Years

    Some band break-ups can be as bad as romantic ones, and for dedicated fans they are often worse.

    Rock band My Chemical Romance was formed in September 2001 and used the new influence of MySpace to propel itself to nearly instant stardom. Since that time, the band released four studio albums, most notably Three Cheers For Sweet Revenge and The Black Parade.

    The band announced its break-up on Friday, March 22 with a short message on the band’s blog:

    Being in this band for the past 12 years has been a true blessing. We’ve gotten to go places we never knew we would. We’ve been able to see and experience things we never imagined possible. We’ve shared the stage with people we admire, people we look up to, and best of all, our friends. And now, like all great things, it has come time for it to end. Thanks for all of your support, and for being part of the adventure.
    My Chemical Romance

    The message bewildered fans, who wondered why Eleven years of music had ended with a terse message.

    Today, My Chemical Romance singer Gerard Way released his long, rambling take on why the band’s journey is over. He stated that the band had always had a “fail-safe” that “should certain events occur or ceace occurring, would detonate.” From Way’s message:

    Personally, I embraced it because, again, it made us perfect. A perfect machine, beautiful, yet self aware of it’s system. Under directive to terminate before it becomes compromised. To protect the idea- at all costs. This probably sounds like something ripped from the pages of a four-color comic book, and that’s the point.
    No compromise. No surrender. No fucking shit.

    To me that’s rock and roll. And I believe in rock and roll.

    He goes on to say that “when it’s time, we stop,” and that the band did not want to wait for its audience to to tell it that the music was getting old.

    Many a band have waited for external confirmation that it is time to hang it up, via ticket sales, chart positioning, boos and bottles of urine- input that holds no sway for us, and often too late when it comes anyway.

    Way states that, starting in May 2012, he began “acting” on-stage instead of performing and that he soon after stopped listening to music altogether. In closing, he thanks “every single” fan and refers to My Chemical Romance as an idea, rather than just a band.

    My Chemical Romance is done. But it can never die.
    It is alive in me, in the guys, and it is alive inside all of you.
    I always knew that, and I think you did too.

    Because it is not a band-
    it is an idea.

    Love,
    Gerard

  • Tubby Smith Fired From Minnesota Basketball

    College basketball coach Tubby Smith coached the 11-seeded University of Minnesota men’s basketball team past six-seeded UCLA in the second round of the men’s NCAA basketball tournament, but the team lost to third-seed Florida in the next round. Evidently, a tournament showing and a winning record are not enough to guarantee a coaching position in the NCAA these days.

    The University of Minnesota today announced that Smith has been ousted from his coaching job just one day after the loss to Florida.

    “Tubby has had a long and distinguished career and we feel it’s time for a fresh set of eyes for our student-athletes and our program in general,” said Norwood Teague, University of Minnesota athletics director.

    Smith has been the coach of Minnesota’s basketball team since 2007. In his time with the program, Smith coached the team to a 124-81 record and three NCAA tournament appearances. This week’s third-round loss was the team’s best NCAA tournament showing under Smith’s coaching.

    Before taking the coaching position at Minnesota, Smith coached the University of Kentucky men’s basketball team. He had been an assistant coach for the team under coach Rick Pitino, who is currently coaching the number-one seeded University of Louisville men’s basketball team into the Sweet Sixteen

    “I want to thank the University of Minnesota and the people of Minnesota for giving me the opportunity to lead the Golden Gopher basketball program for six years,” said Smith. “Our staff did things the right way and will leave knowing that the program is in far better shape than when we arrived. The people of the State of Minnesota embraced Donna and me from the beginning and we will always be grateful.”

  • Anthony Lewis Dies; New York Times Columnist was 85

    Anthony Lewis, the author and influential columnist for The New York Times, has died. He was 85 years old.

    The New York Times is reporting that Lewis died at his home in Cambridge, Massachusetts on Monday, March 25. His wife, former chief justice of the Massachussets Supreme Judicial Court Margaret Marshall, told the newspaper that Lewis died from complications of renal and heart failure. Lewis had suffered from Parkinson’s disease. In addition to his wife, he is survived by three children and seven grandchildren.

    Lewis grew up in New York City and later attended Harvard University, where he was the editor of the Harvard Crimson. He won two Pulitzer Prizes during his career, one for exposing the U.S. government’s McCarthy-era loyalty program and one for his coverage of the U.S. Supreme Court.

    Lewis taught at the Columbia University graduate school of journalism and lectured at Harvard during the 70s and 80s. He authored or co-authored multiple books including Gideon’s Trumpet and Freedom for the Thought That We Hate: A Biography of the First Amendment. Lewis’ New York Times op-ed columns often focused on legal issues surrounding topics such as free speech and justice.

  • Jesse James Marries Pro Drag Racer Alexis DeJoria

    It seems that both Kat Von D and Sandra Bullock are in the rear view mirror of Jesse James’ love life.

    People magazine is reporting that the 43-year-old James has married his fiance, Alexis DeJoria, at her father’s home in Malibu. DeJoria is the daughter of John Paul DeJoria, the billionaire co-founder of John Paul Mitchell Systems and the Patrón Spirits Company.

    Alexis DeJoria is a professional drag racer who races with the NHRA. She races for the Kalitta Motorsports team and competes in the Nitro Funny Car class.

    James’ love life has been the stuff of tabloid fodder since he married actress Sandra Bullock in 2005. Their 2010 divorce was overshadowed with allegations of James’ infidelity, and he began dating reality show star Kat Von D later that year. James and Von D were engaged in 2011, but split before the end of that year. Though Bullock has not been linked to any suitors since that time, Von D last year accepted a public Twitter marriage proposal from famous DJ Deadmau5.

    (Image courtesy pinguino k/Wikimedia Commons)

  • Baby Left With Note in Grocery Store Parking Lot

    Shopping with children is certainly high up on the list of stressful activities for parents. The alternative of leaving the baby alone is not a real option, but a woman in New Zealand decided this weekend that it was.

    The New Zealand Herald is reporting that a mother left her baby alone in a car in the parking lot of the Porirua, New Zealand Pak’nSave grocery store. A note was left on the infant, reading,”My mum’s in doing the shopping, call her if I need anything.” The man who found the baby promptly called the number left on the note and summoned the child’s mother to the parking lot.

    Though leaving a child alone in such a way is illegal in New Zealand, no charges were mentioned by the Herald report.

    Leaving a child unattended in a vehicle, especially in hot weather, is dangerous. Children die as a result of the practice on a yearly basis, and some states have laws that allow parents to be prosecuted on manslaughter charges for such deaths.

    (Image courtesy Polly Gillespie on Facebook)