Mark Zuckerberg spent two days on Capitol Hill seeking to placate angry lawmakers by saying he would be open to some sort of regulation to protect the privacy of users on his global social-media platform. The hearings are the result of revelations last month that a company called Cambridge Analytica had harvested the personal data of 50 million Facebook profiles. This information was allegedly used to map out voter behavior in 2016 for both the Brexit campaign and the US presidential election.
Cambridge Analytica is a British company that helps businesses “change audience behavior”. Back in 2015, a Cambridge psychology professor called Aleksandr Kogan built an app called “thisisyourdigitallife” and Kogan’s company Global Science Research had a deal to share info from the app with Cambridge Analytica. The app was a personality quiz that asked Facebook users for information about themselves and an estimated 270,000 Facebook users signed up and took personality tests. The app collected the information of each user’s Facebook friends, who had not provided consent.
The company used the data to build psychological profiles of 87 million Facebook users in order to tailor ads that could sway their political views. Since the breach was revealed Facebook has stated that Kogan’s app picked up information in “a legitimate way” but that their rules were violated when the data was sold on to Cambridge Analytica. Around the same time the Cambridge Analytica scandal broke, news that Facebook has been collecting and storing call records and SMS data from Android devices for years.
Facebook has been requesting access to contacts, SMS data, and call history on Android devices to improve its friend recommendation algorithm and distinguish between business contacts and personal friendships. Facebook appears to be gathering this data through its Messenger application, which often prompts Android users to take over as the default SMS client. Facebook has, at least recently, been offering an opt-in prompt that prods users with a big blue button to “continuously upload” contact data, including call and text history. It’s not clear when this prompt started appearing in relation to the historical data gathering,
The hearings were held to determine whether Washington will create regulations that address increasingly widespread concerns about digital privacy. During Mr. Zuckerberg’s two days of testimony, he repeatedly said that he had learned the lesson of the recent data-breach scandals, saying he thought it was inevitable that there will need to be some regulation but warned that poor regulations could leads to unintended consequences.
Following Wednesday’s hearing, House Commerce Chairman Greg Walden described it as “a wake-up call for Silicon Valley and the tech community that if you let these things get out of hand, having grown up in a very lightly regulated environment, you could end up with a lot more regulation than you seek.” “I don’t want to rush into regulation minutes after having the first hearing of this magnitude. But certainly if they can’t clean up their act, we’ll clean it up for them.” He said lawmakers would consider calling other tech CEOs.
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In an effort to broaden the company’s “social interaction” with our clients and FaceBook fans, Daily Trivia Questions are posted on both of our business pages. Here are the weekly standings for this past week, and the winner of the Sunday night Weekly Drawing for an AmEx gift card!
Congratulations – To this past week’s Trivia Contest Winner!! Our latest contest winner for the weekly FaceBook HealthInsurance4Everyone/Health & Life Solutions, LLC Trivia Contest, drawn randomly by computer late Sunday evening, April 15th, 2018 was:
KATHLEEN MARKS
Houston, TX
Winner Of A $25.00 AmEx Gift Card
Each day, fans who have “liked” either of our company FaceBook pages (HealthInsurance4Everyone or Health & Life Solutions LLC) are able to test their skills with our Daily TRIVIA QUESTION. The first 20 winners who post the correct answer to the TRIVIA QUESTION, will then get entered into the weekly drawing held late on Sunday evenings for a $25.00 Am Ex Gift Card.
Weekly Gift Card winners will be posted in our blog at this site. Remember to become a FaceBook “fan” on either of our company pages to enter and post your answers.
Here are the daily contestants from last week’s Trivia Contest that were entered into the Sunday drawing:
4/9/18
Brittany Light
Jade Good
John Hardy
Jenifer Garza
Sarah Bellestri Shih
Eleazar Ruiz
April Ashcraft
Shelby Howke
Trish Musgrave
Michael Flagg
Cyndi Jansheski
Deborah Farris
April Denise Council-Redmond
Sunney Michelle Johnson
Jennifer Ramlet
Alexis Maureen
Kristina Rosson
Rebecca Honey Graham
Ashley Agner
Jennifer Lee Clack
Adaria Johnson
Melissa Ann Stura-Bassett
Amanda Saltsman
4/10/18
Kathleen Marks
Trish Musgrave
Brenda Hartwig
Eleazar Ruiz
Adaria Johnson
Brittany Michelle
Belinda Haas
Marcy Coull
Ambreen Rouf
Kelly Jo Francisco
Amanda Peters
Jennifer Ramlet
Desire Kightlinger Swarm
Dale Fish
Dawn Raasch
Stephanie Beckwith
Be Schwerin
Lindsey McCoy
Amanda Saltsman
Lia Jill
4/11/18
Cheryl Hall
Jenifer Garza
Lia Jill
Suzie Mize Lockhart
Tiffany Borek
Sheri Boydston
Stella Methvin
Stephanie Beckwith
Amanda Peters
Be Schwerin
Tammy Dolby
Kathleen Marks
April Ashcraft
Christy Martinez
Rebecca Fauteux
Holly Kay
Lisa David Carr
Teena Sierson
Samantha Rentschler
Anggie Marie
Jessica Massaway
4/12/18
Trish Musgrave
Alicia Johnson
Jenifer Garza
Megan Rhyne
Jennifer Leffler
Tonya Velazquez
Tiffany Greene Elliott
Georgiann D’Angelo
Becky Freeman
Sherry Lilly
Kim Floyd
Rachael Dakota-Two-Feather Smith
Jessica Miller
Sarah Haught
Adaria Johnson
Sean Stover
Brooke Scott
Amber Chandler
Sunney Michelle Johnson
Michelle Bartley
4/13/18
Eleazar Ruiz
Sherrie McQueen Gilstrap
Beth Clevelan
Nacole Patrick
Ann Patrick
Bea Patrick
Angela Janisse
Andrew W Sauer
Emmanuel Johnson
Priscilla Shimp
Amber McGrath
Margaret Primos
Crystal Young
Tina Herrin
Kizzy Alvarez DeSantis
Brandi K Chaney
Sheila Carvell
Meg Tucker
Lauren Bradley
Brianna Ketchum
4/14/18
Lia Jill
Brittany Light
Deborah Farris
Amy Conyers
Tera Wardrip
Brianna Ketchum
Jenifer Garza
Kendra George
Christina Radcliff
Ashley Agner
Jean Simmons Homfeld
Amanda Rosario
Be Schwerin
Kate Stacy
Destiny Landsaw Davis
Mary Ann Cody
Sheri Boydston
Melissa White
Beth Embrey
Lauren Bradley
4/15/18
Kathleen Marks
Kim Floyd
Jennifer Leffler
Bea Patrick
Amber Chandler
Jenifer Garza
Angela Hendricks
Karen Brunet Moore
Nacole Patrick
Debbie Gremlin
Lauren Bradley
Betsy Brandon Riddle Smith
Jade Good
Debbie Garretson
Kristina Harris
Diane Hamric
Marie Beauregard
Brandi K Chaney
Dale Fish
Oreale Grace Awoumene
Tom Cavalli
Anna Nichols
Be sure to watch both of our FaceBook pages for your chance to win and enter again next week, with questions posted daily on HealthInsurance4Everyone or at Health & Life Solutions, LLC!!
Remember that if you try your hand at answering the Trivia Question several days each week, your odds of winning the Sunday weekly drawing are much better.
Also note that a number of the posted answers each day are from contestants who have forgotten to “Like” one of our pages, so their names WILL NOT be entered at the end week drawing for the gift card, giving our fans a better chance!
You may also find that if you “Like” BOTH of the business pages, you will receive faster notifications of the other players as they post their answers to compete with you!
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During the trial of Noor Salman, widow of the Pulse Nightclub shooter, testimony has revealed that the father of shooter Omar Mateen had worked as an FBI informant. Seddique Mateen, Omar’s father, was a confidential FBI informant from 2005 to 2016. He is now under investigation for money transfers to Turkey and Afghanistan.
FBI Special Agent Juvenal Martin, who was on the stand in the terrorism trial of Noor Salman, said Omar’s father, Seddique, was upset and had called him while his son was being investigated for the extremist comments in 2006. Martin testified that, during the call which took place a decade before the Pulse attack, Seddique told him something like “if he had done those things he was being stupid.” Martin said the FBI interviewed Omar two other times as part of that investigation, but eventually determined he wasn’t a security threat. The bureau even considered turning Omar into a confidential informant himself, according to Martin’s testimony.
The trial produced several revelations about the shooting. Prosecutors said Mateen originally intended to attack Disney World, using a gun concealed in a baby stroller, but changed his mind after seeing police at the entertainment complex. Government witnesses, using data from Mateen’s cell phone, said he looked up information about Orlando nightclubs and went back and forth between two of them before setting on Pulse as his target.
Omar Mateen’s widow, Noor Salman, was found not guilty of all charges against her in the only trial to stem from the deadly June 2016 shooting rampage. She was accused of helping her husband plan his terror assault on the Orlando, Florida, nightclub and of falsely denying her role afterward. The government equated Mateen’s actions with supporting terrorism, because he repeatedly pledged allegiance to ISIS before and during the attack, which left 49 people dead and 53 injured.
Salman was charged with aiding him in providing material support to a terror group. She was also charged with obstruction of justice, accused of misleading police and FBI agents by making contradictory statements about whether she knew what he was planning. In opening statements, defense attorney Linda Moreno said Salman was a person with a low IQ who did not know “she would wake up a widow, and Omar Mateen a martyr for a cause that she didn’t support.”
In a November 2016 interview with The New York Times, Salman apologized for her husband’s act and claimed she was unaware of his plan. “I don’t condone what he has done,” she told the newspaper. “I am very sorry for what has happened. He has hurt a lot of people.” FBI agents arrested Salman in January 2017 inside the California home she shares with her young son and she had been in custody since then.
Outside the courtroom, a spokesman for Salman’s family said “The family really wants to first say that we’re very sorry for the family members and friends of the 49 victims of the Pulse nightclub shooting and also the survivors of that horrible attack.” “Noor can go home now to her son, Zack, resume her life and try to pick up the pieces.”
The June 2016 Pulse Nightclub massacre was the deadliest single gunman mass shooting in United States history until the 2017 Las Vegas shooting. It is the deadliest incident of violence against LGBT people in U.S. history and the deadliest terrorist attack on U.S. soil since the September 11 attacks of 2001.
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French police officer Arnaud Beltrame has died from his injuries after he offered to exchange himself for one of the female hostages being held inside the Super U supermarket in Trèbes. The violence unfolded Friday morning when the attacker, identified as Radouane Lakdim, stole a car, killing the passenger and gravely wounding the driver. Lakdim then drove towards military and police barracks where he shot at four National Police officers who were jogging before trying to run them down. One of the officers was wounded.
The gunman proceeded to the Super U market armed with a gun, knife and explosives. He began shooting as he walked inside shouting that he was a soldier from Isis. Two people were killed and several others wounded. Christian Medves, 50, a butcher in charge of the meat counter was shot first and Hervé Sosna, 65, a shopper was then killed while 16 others were wounded.
Around 50 terrified shoppers and staff managed to escape but several were taken as hostages. Witnesses said about 20 people in the supermarket found refuge in its cold storage room. Police found the car, and SWAT teams surrounded the market, at around 11am, beginning the three hour standoff. “They managed to get some of the people out,” said Interior Minister Collomb, but the attacker kept one woman hostage to use as a human shield. Officer Arnaud Beltrame, offered to take the place of the woman. The lieutenant colonel had his phone on so police could hear his interactions with the gunman. Collomb said that at one point the National Police lieutenant colonel shot the gunman. After hearing shots, police stormed the supermarket where Lakdim had been left holding only Beltrame. Lakdim was killed and Officer Beltrame, who had been shot and stabbed, later died from his injuries.
Lakdim, 25, a small-time drug-dealer who had French nationality and was born in Morocco, left a handwritten letter at his home pledging allegiance to Isis. He was known to authorities for petty crimes, but had been under surveillance by security services in 2016-2017 for links to the radical Salafist movement, said Paris prosecutor Francois Molins, who is leading the investigation. One neighbour told a news reporter that the suspect was a pleasant young man who was “calm, friendly, and always had a nice word to say.” He reportedly lived in an apartment block with his parents and sisters, and would take the youngest child to school every day.
Interior Minister Gérard Collomb said that he believed Lakdim had acted alone and that the gunman also brought homemade explosives into the supermarket. Police continue to question a 17-year-old and Lakdim’s 18-year-old girlfriend. Collomb said the gunman had demanded the release of Salah Abdeslam – the prime surviving suspect in Islamic State suicide bombing and mass shooting attacks on a sports stadium, concert hall and restaurants that killed 130 people in Paris in 2015. Abdeslam, a French citizen born and raised in Brussels, went on trial in Belgium last month.
President Macron hailed the fallen officer as a hero saying of the officer. “He saved lives and honoured his colleagues and his country,”
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Authorities say six people have died after a 960-ton span of a pedestrian bridge collapsed on Thursday, onto a busy street below, killing six motorists under an avalanche of concrete and metal. At least nine others were injured in the collapse of the nearly 200-foot-long bridge, which was under construction near the campus of Florida International University. The bridge, which was still being installed at the time of the collapse, was built to connect Florida International University with downtown Sweetwater, where many students live. The bridge was not scheduled to open until 2019.
Senator Marco Rubio said suspension cables on the bridge “were being tightened when it collapsed.” Police are enlisting the help of engineers as they investigate the cause of the collapse. The National Transportation Safety Board, Miami-Dade homicide detectives and prosecutors are focusing on the government agencies and two contractors — Munilla Construction Management, which was building the structure, and FIGG Bridge Group, which engineered and designed the span.
A lead engineer with the private contractor FIGG Bridge Engineers -who constructed the bridge, left a voice mail for a state transportation official warning of “some cracking observed on the north end of the span” two days before the structure collapsed. In the message, which was not retrieved until Friday, the engineer said he did not consider the crack a safety issue. The Florida Department of Transportation official to whom the voice mail was directed was out of the office on assignment. Footage of the collapse, taken from a vehicle dashcam, suggests the concrete came apart on the north end — the same area that the bridge’s design engineer spoke about in the message.
On Thursday, shortly before the bridge collapsed, a meeting was held regarding the crack that appeared on the structure. The university said that the meeting was convened by FIGG and Munilla Construction Management (MCM), which built the bridge. “The FIGG engineer of record delivered a technical presentation regarding the crack and concluded that there were no safety concerns and the crack did not compromise the structural integrity of the bridge,” the university said in a statement, adding that representatives of the school and the state Department of Transportation attended the session, which lasted two hours.
News outlets speculating over the cause of the collapse have focused on the cracks reported but experts say other factors, including the tensioning work going on at the bridge’s north end are of more concern. They say cracking in new concrete is not uncommon and not necessarily a sign of failure. Tightening of steel cables, or tendons, that run through concrete structural elements is a delicate operation, and over-tightening can cause concrete pieces to twist and break apart, experts say.
Rescue workers dug through the rubble nonstop for two days, pulling out crushed vehicles in search of victims. All six victims were identified by Saturday morning as Florida International University student Alexa Duran, 18; Brandon Brownfield, a tower crane technician, husband and father of three; Rolando Fraga Hernandez, 60, was a systems technician at ITG
Communications; Osvaldo González, 57 and Alberto Arias, 54. Navarro Brown, 37, an employee with Structural Technologies VSL, died at a hospital shortly after the accident. Two other employees of the company were hospitalized at Kendall Regional Medical Center in Miami in stable condition.
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The serial bomber, now identified as Mark Anthony Conditt, 23, killed himself with an explosive device as police were closing in on him. After a fifth explosion happened early Tuesday at a FedEx sorting facility near San Antonio, investigators used video surveillance images of a man dropping off two packages Sunday at a FedEx store south of Austin to identify Conditt. Another unexploded package bomb was discovered at another FedEx facility near Austin.
Officials say they tracked him to a hotel in Round Rock, about 20 miles north of Austin, after reportedly identifying him using receipts, internet searches, witness sketches and the surveillance video. Authorities were outside the hotel Wednesday morning when Conditt left the hotel. They followed him until he was forced into a ditch on the side of Interstate 35 where he detonated a bomb inside his vehicle, killing himself and injuring a SWAT officer. Austin Police Chief Brian Manley said Conditt sensed that authorities were closing in on him on Tuesday night and recorded a 25-minute video confessing to building the explosive devices — but didn’t explain why he targeted his victims or a motive for his actions.
After the fourth explosion occurred over the weekend, authorities in Austin, Texas, warned the public that the series of package explosions are connected. None of the packages were mailed, instead they were placed near the individuals’ homes. They warned civilians to not open suspicious packages and to call the police. Over 500 agents from the FBI and ATF were assisting the Austin Police Department in the investigation.
The explosions started on March 2, 2018, when 39-year-old Anthony Stephan House was killed while opening an apparent package bomb at his home. On March 12th, two more explosions occurred within hours of one another at two separate residences. The first killed 17-year-old bassist Draylen Mason and injured his mother. The second explosion that day, severely injured a 75 year old woman. Authorities say those two bombs were triggered upon being picked up.
A third explosion on March 18th injured two men in a residential neighborhood. The two men, a 22 year old and 23 year old, suffered serious although not life-threatening injuries from an apparently tripwire-activated parcel bomb left on the side of the road. After the last explosion, authorities warned the public of a “serial bomber” possessing “a higher level of sophistication, a higher level of skill” than initially thought. Frederick Milanowski, special agent in charge for the ATF said that the bomb was anchored to a metal sign near a hiking trail and triggered by a wire as thin as fishing line that would’ve been incredibly difficult to see.
Authorities first offered a reward of $65,000 for information leading to an arrest and conviction of the bomber or bombers but later raised the reward to $115,000. Police were looking at surveillance video in the neighborhoods in hopes of being able to identify a suspect. At a news conference, interim police Chief Brian Manley said the pair were walking on either the sidewalk or the median when the device was triggered by a trip wire. “That changes things,” he said, “Our safety message to this point has been involving the handling of packages, and telling this community, ‘Do not handle packages, do not pick up packages, do not disturb packages.” “We now need to have an extra level of vigilance and pay attention to any suspicious device, whether it be a package, a bag, a backpack — anything that looks out of place — and please do not approach it.”
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An investigation into internal New York City Police Department files show that hundreds of officers have been allowed to keep their jobs and pensions despite having committed an array of offenses. According to hundreds of pages of internal police files, offenses committed from 2011 to 2015 by over 300 NYPD officers include excessive force against civilians, driving under the influence of alcohol, selling drugs, sexually harassing fellow officers, assault, threatening and stealing.
At least fifty officers lied on official reports, under oath, or during an internal affairs investigation. Thirty-eight were found guilty by a police tribunal of excessive force, getting into a fight, or firing their gun unnecessarily. Fifty-seven were guilty of driving under the influence. Seventy-one were guilty of ticket-fixing. One officer threatened to kill someone while some were guilty of lesser offenses, like mouthing off to a supervisor.
In every instance, the police commissioner, who has final authority in disciplinary decisions, assigned these officers to “dismissal probation” which is a penalty with few consequences. The officer continues to do their job at their usual salary but they may get less overtime and won’t be promoted during that period, which usually lasts a year. They continue to patrol the streets, arrest people and testify in criminal prosecutions. When the year is over, their probation period ends.
The probation files covered in the investigation do not include all officers who received dismissal probation during the 2011 to 2015 period. According to the NYPD, of the more than 50,000 people who work for the department, at least 777 officers and an untold number of other employees received the dismissal probation penalty during the five years in question. During that same period, 463 additional officers were forced to leave or resigned while a disciplinary charge was pending. Sources have said that dismissal probation is also used to punish some officers for reporting misconduct or just for getting on their supervisors’ bad sides. Still, many officers continue to patrol the streets making over $100,000 a year while the city has paid millions of dollars in civil settlements for offenses committed between 2011 and 2015, such as excessive force or unlawful arrest. These settlements are reached without the department or officer admitting any wrongdoing.
New York is one of three states, along with Delaware and California that has a law specifically shielding police misconduct records from the public. As police departments around the country face growing pressure to be more transparent about police misconduct, NYPD has doubled down on its stringent legal interpretation of those laws. Civil Rights Law Section 50-a is the law that hides New York police officers’ misconduct from public view and it’s one of the strictest in the nation.
The Department Advocate’s Office determines which officers to charge and prosecute at the NYPD’s internal disciplinary trials. Kevin Richardson, the deputy commissioner said the law prevented him from commenting on specific officers’ cases but that dismissal probation serves a valuable purpose. “The department is not interested in terminating officers that don’t need to be terminated. We’re interested in keeping employees and making our employees obey the rules and do the right thing, but where there are failings that we realize this person should be separated from the department, this police commissioner and the prior police commissioner have shown a willingness to do that.”
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Student protests for changes in gun control laws occurred around the country in the days following the Florida school shooting. Many of the protests were ignited by the impassioned pleas of young Parkland survivors in the hours and days after the shooting. Facebook and Twitter have amplified attendance; Snapchat and Instagram have documented the marches, signs and chants.
Under the rallying cry #NeverAgain, students and staff who survived the school shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School have been on a quest for new gun control measures. After attending funerals of the victims, they set aside their grief and boarded three buses to demand better gun control measures and school safety from state lawmakers more than 400 miles away. While they traveled on the buses, Florida lawmakers voted down a motion to even consider a ban during a session that opened with a prayer for the 17 people killed in the shooting. The vote was 36-71.
Disappointed but undeterred, many have given countless interviews pleading with lawmakers on both sides to meet in the middle so that the school shootings stop. Relatives of the Stoneman Douglas victims kept up the pressure in Florida’s capital with emotional testimony during a legislative hearing to discuss passing a bill that would, among other things, raise the age limit to buy long guns from 18 to 21. The bill also would create a program that allows teachers who receive law-enforcement training and are deputized by the local sheriff’s office to carry concealed weapons in the classroom, if also approved by the school district. The school’s superintendent has spoken out firmly against that measure. The House Appropriations Committee’s 23-6 vote in favor of the bill followed more than four hours of emotional discussion with the parents of some of the 17 killed, and nearly two weeks of activism by students on social media and in televised debates.
During a listening session held by President Trump a week after the shooting, Andrew Pollack, a parent whose daughter Meadow was killed in the shooting, brought up a valid point as he was also overwhelmed with emotion and anger as he stood next to his sons to address the president. “We need to come together as a country and work on what’s important, and that’s protecting our children in the schools. That’s the only thing that matters right now,” he said. “We protect airports, we protect concerts, stadiums, embassies, the Department of Education that I walked in today, that has a security guard in the elevator. How do you think that makes me feel?” “I’m very angry that this happened because it keeps happening. 9/11 happened once and they fixed everything. How many schools, how many children have to get shot? It stops here with this administration and me. I’m not going to sleep until it’s fixed. And Mr. President, we’re going to fix it.” “It’s enough! Let’s get together, work with the president and fix the schools. That’s it. No other discussions. Security, whatever we have to do.”
From South Florida to Bellingham, Wash., local walkouts were proliferating. A national event has been planned for March 14, the one-month anniversary of the Parkland shooting, when students and teachers plan to leave class for 17 minutes, one minute for each victim. On March 24, students will protest in Washington at an event organized by March for Our Lives, the group formed by Parkland survivors, which has received hundreds of thousands of dollars in donations from celebrities. Another mass walkout is scheduled for April 20, when students will commemorate the 19th year since the Columbine High School shooting in 1999.
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In Dalton, Georgia, students and faculty were plunged into a lockdown and subsequent evacuation after a well-liked social studies teacher barricaded himself in a classroom and fired a handgun at Dalton High School. Police arrested 53-year-old social studies teacher Jesse Randall Davidson after he barricaded himself alone inside a classroom and fired shots from a pistol as a principal tried to enter. The incident began at about 11:30 a.m. when Davidson refused to let students into his classroom while he was in his planning period. When the principal put a key in the door in an attempt to enter, Davidson fired a shot from a handgun through an exterior window of the classroom. The school went into lockdown and police quickly arrived and evacuated the immediate area around his classroom. After about 30 to 45 minutes, Davidson agreed to surrender and was taken into custody without further incident. Dalton police spokesman Bruce Frazier said there is no evidence Davidson was trying to fire at anyone.
Dalton police said the school resource officer, who has a close relationship with school staff, was at the junior high school when the incident began and then came to Davidson’s classroom. The officer was able to speak to the teacher and persuade him to leave his room without harming anyone. “We’re very, very proud of this officer and everything that he did to render this horrible situation safe as quick as what he did,” Dalton police Assistant Chief Cliff Cason said.
No students were in the classroom and the only injury was to a student who hurt her ankle while running away. Police confirmed that the teacher was Jesse Randal Davidson, 53. He taught social studies, and served as play-by-play voice of the school’s football team. Davidson had been at the school since 2004 and was recognized as the school’s “top teacher” in 2012. Davidson has been charged with “aggravated assault, carrying weapon on school grounds, terroristic threats, reckless conduct, possession of gun during commission of a crime, and disrupting public school,” according to Dalton Police. Police did not release any explanation for what motivated the incident. Principal Steve Bartoo said Davidson was an “excellent teacher” who was “well thought of in our building.”
According to a sheriff’s report obtained by The Associated Press, deputies in Dade County-where Davidson lives, had three rifles taken away after setting the family car ablaze at his home two years ago. Authorities seized the rifles for safe-keeping and took him to a hospital for a mental evaluation after he torched the Mitsubishi Outlander on Aug. 13, 2016. In that incident, a deputy arrived to find heavy smoke and flames pouring from the Mitsubishi. The deputy told Davidson’s wife Lisa and their daughter Megan to seek safety in his patrol car. Davidson’s adult son, Johnny, told the deputy that his father “was not acting like himself and was sitting down with a rifle in the back yard watching the vehicle on fire.” Johnny Davidson was eventually able to talk his father into giving up the gun. Davidson’s wife told the deputy they had argued about financial troubles that morning and had filed for bankruptcy in late 2015.
Two other reports from Dalton Police in Whitfield County show Davidson has been hospitalized at least three times in recent years as people worried about his state of mind. In March 2016, Davidson walked into the Dalton Police headquarters lobby and told a wild story including his suspicions that someone had been murdered. Detectives couldn’t verify any truth to the story and Davidson was taken to the hospital after expressing thoughts of hurting himself. In January 2017, school employees and a police officer began searching for Davidson after he went missing. He was later found sitting on a curb a few blocks from campus, being propped up by two school staff members.
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The former commander of the Milwaukee County Jail along with two jail staffers were charged in connection with the April 2016 dehydration death of Terrill Thomas. Milwaukee County Sheriff’s Maj. Nancy Evans, 48, is charged with felony misconduct in office and obstructing an officer. Jail Lt. Kashka Meadors, 40, and correctional officer James Ramsey-Guy, 38, are each charged with neglecting an inmate, a felony offense.
Thomas, a 38-year-old prisoner with bipolar disorder, died of extreme dehydration after he spent a week without access to water in a solitary confinement jail cell. The medical examiner declared his death a homicide. He lost 34 pounds during his eight days in jail and was abandoned by the guards to die, according to the complaint. The complaint details that Meadors gave the order to shut off the water, Ramsey-Guy physically cut all water to Thomas’ cell and Evans lied about the subsequent investigation.
The practice of cutting off water to an inmate is against the jail’s written regulations but according to Ramsey-Guy, it was common practice. Within weeks of Thomas’ death, water was cut off to two other inmates’ cells. The complaint states that the incidents demonstrate an institutional practice of punitively shutting off water to unruly inmates.
Evan’s is accused of misleading investigators during the initial inquest into the death, repeatedly lying to her supervisors, withholding information from her superiors, repeatedly lying to investigators and failing to preserve key evidence. The complaint alleges that within 48 hours of the death, Evans directed her subordinate, Capt. George Gold to watch video footage of Thomas’ cell area. Gold told Evans that the video showed a corrections officer turning the water off and never turned back on. Prosecutors say Evans took no steps in preserving the video evidence and it was overwritten and permanently lost.
During the inquest, Meadors testified that she ordered Ramsey-Guy to cut off the water only to Thomas’ toilet after he flooded a previous cell. She said she meant for the shutoff order to stay in effect until Thomas settled down. Ramsey-Guy testified that he only shut off the cold water and left the hot water on but investigators found the entire water system off immediately after the death.
Thomas was arrested after he ran into the Potawatomi casino yelling at patrons to “get out.” He fired two rounds and stuffed poker chips into his pockets. When confronted by police, he dropped the Glock 9mm handgun into a trash can and was arrested. His family believes he was having a psychotic episode.
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