Bob Simon Dies In Tragic Car Crash So Sad. Via NYPost : Veteran “60 Minutes” correspondent Bob Simon was killed when his livery cab crashed on the West Side Highway in Manhattan Wednesday night, sources said. The CBS reporter died when the Lincoln Town Car he was riding in crashed with a Mercedes and then lost control and plowed into a pedestrian expansion near 30th Street at about 7 p.m., according to sources. Cops had to cut off the top of the Lincoln to free Simon and the driver, who, according to a law enforcement sources, was treated for a possible heart attack by EMTs. The driver of the Mercedes said the livery driver was driving erratically. “He swerved into me,” the driver said. “He hit me and he looked like he lost control of the car.” Simon was taken to St.Luke’s where he died. The former war correspondent joined 60 Minutes in 1996. Wow, what a tragic end to his life. Our thoughts are with his family. Michael Sofronski
Condom Prices Up To $750 In Venezuela Due To Shortage Via BusinessInsider Venezuela is running out of condoms. The country is broke. Its economy is on track to shrink 7% in 2015 alone, in large part because oil prices are so low. Now its economic crisis is leading to a health crisis. A lack of contraceptives doesn’t keep people from having sex, it just keeps them from having safe sex. Bloomberg reports that the country started running out of condoms and other kinds of contraceptives in December. “The condom shortage, caused by a scarcity of dollars among importers, has prices on a website used to find scarce goods soaring and risks aggravating one of South America’s highest HIV infection and teenage pregnancy rates.” A 36-pack of Trojan condoms is going for 4,760 bolivars (about $750) on Mercado Libre, a site where Venezuelan citizens bid for scarce goods. A three-pack is 399 bolivars (about $62). Those with American dollars hold a huge advantage, according to Bloomberg. The same 36-pack is only $25 on the dollar-based black market. Venezuela has one of the highest rates for both STDs and teenage pregnancies in South America, and a significant condom shortage will set the country back further. It is incredibly bad for the country’s women. From Bloomberg: In Venezuela, with abortion illegal, the disappearance of contraceptives will raise the number of female deaths by driving more pregnant women to clandestine clinics, said Carlos Cabrera, vice president of the local branch of London-based International Planned Parenthood Federation. A lack of condoms will also leave a long-lasting economic impact by taking girls and young women away from schools and the work force, he said. Condoms in Venezuela cost you rent money! Cotdamn… Image via Shutterstock
Suge Knight Says He Didn’t Know He Ran Over Man Really? C’mon, bruh… According to TMZ reports : Suge Knight has a defense to the fatal hit and run … he didn’t know he hit and ran. Sources connected with Suge tell TMZ … he claims he was in fear of his life when he gunned his truck, striking and killing Terry Carter and injuring Cle “Bone” Sloan. Suge says he had just been beaten by 2 to 4 guys while he sat hostage in his truck. And he says, he was frail because he was shot 6 times last Summer and on top of that, almost died recently from a blood clot. Suge says he was so discombobulated when he floored it he had no idea his truck struck anyone. Here’s the problem … even if this gets him out of a hit and run, cops still believe he intentionally tried to run over Bone and then hit Terry by accident, and if true that would constitute felony murder. You buying what Suge is sellin’? Image via WENN
2 Men Shot While Getting Lap Dances In Oklahoma Strip Club What is the world coming to when a man can’t bump n’ grind in peace?! Via NYDailyNews Two men are lucky to be alive after being shot while enjoying a lap dance at an Oklahoma strip club. The duo were partying at Cloud 9 in Tulsa at 2:34 a.m. Saturday when they were hit by a bullet fired from outside, reports KRMG. The projectile passed through a wall and into one of the pair’s arms, before bouncing off the second man’s chest. It then landed in his lap. Both men were sitting down and receiving erotic dances from strippers. Tulsa police Capt. Cathy Reynolds said the victim who was struck in the arm was rushed to hospital and treated for non life-threatening injuries, according to Tulsa World. The second man was uninjured as the bullet had lost all of its energy by the time it hit his chest, she added. Cops are now investigating the incident, reports Public Radio Tulsa. But they do not have a motive for the shooting, and there were no witnesses outside the club. A lil’ night cap and some a$$ might get yo’ a$$ capped at night. Image via Shutterstock
Stop po’ing up. Stop drankin’. Via RadarOnline While NeNe Leakes has been living a fairy tale in Cinderella on Broadway, she’s been keeping her private life hidden away — especially her jailbird son’s dark secrets! While Bryson Bryant is no stranger to run-ins with the law with at least four past arrests, he just can’t seem to keep himself out of legal hot water. Most recently, RadarOnline.com has learned, Leakes’ son spent time in jail and court-ordered rehab after drug- and alcohol-related issues spiraled out of control in one wild year. According to court documents obtained by Radar, Leakes’ eldest son was found guilty of reckless driving by a Johns Creek, Georgia, judge in December 2013 — and his rap sheet only got thicker from there. A police report states that in June 2013 at 4:15 in the morning, Bryant totaled his silver Dodge Charger when he crashed and it flipped upside down in a ditch, leaving two utility poles broken in half in his wake. At the time, the Real Housewives of Atlanta star’s eldest son told police “darkness caused him to wreck.” But the officer indicated he could “smell the odor of alcoholic beverages resonating” from the reality star’s child. Bryant claimed he only had “one beer,” according to the report, but his “slow and deliberate response” to questions seemed to indicate otherwise. When he was taken to the hospital for “uncomfortable pain” in his right leg and to undergo X-rays, he tested positive for a blood alcohol level of .048 — below the legal limit of .08. Still, he was charged with driving under the influence of alcohol. As a result of the arrest, Bryant was given a year of probation, but got a get out of jail free card when the judge ordered him to serve 30 days of house arrest in February 2014. Think that scared this kid straight? Not a chance! Bryant was ordered to undergo random alcohol and drug testing. However, not only did he fail to report to his probation officer four times in 2014; but also, he tested positive for cocaine, refused to pay fines of more than $1,200, and skipped mandatory DUI school. As a result, the young father was ordered to serve three months in jail starting in September and was released just two days before Thanksgiving on November 25, 2014. In a decision that undoubtedly put a damper on Leakes’ holiday plans, when Bryson’s stint behind bars came to an end he wasn’t technically a free man just yet. According to the court paperwork filed on Jan. 13, 2015, he was also ordered to check into “intensive” residential rehab for a minimum of six weeks! Leakes’ troubled son has previously been arrested for shoplifting, marijuana possession, driving with a suspended license, and other probation violations dating all the way back to 2010. Hopefully rehab will help turn this habitual line-stepper’s life around. Image via Getty/Gwinnett Co. Police
Father Cuts Off Dreads Of Male Friend Of His Teen Daughter After Catching Him In His Home via Huffington Post READING, Pa. (AP) — A Pennsylvania father is apologizing after police say he pulled his daughter’s male friend by the hair and chopped off his dreadlocks with a knife. Reginald Hardy was charged with aggravated assault, terroristic threats and other offenses after police say he saw the 19-year-old sneaking around his apartment Friday with his 17-year-old daughter. Police say the 38-year-old Hardy punched the 19-year-old in the face and threatened to shoot him in the back if he ran away as he left. Hardy tells WFMZ-TV ( http://bit.ly/1wRJT4i ) he was only looking out for his daughter. He says her friend was disrespectful to him and shouldn’t have been at the apartment. Police say Hardy cooperated with the investigation. He’s free on $50,000 unsecured bail. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for Jan. 12.
Father Cuts Off Dreads Of Male Friend Of His Teen Daughter After Catching Him In His Home via Huffington Post READING, Pa. (AP) — A Pennsylvania father is apologizing after police say he pulled his daughter’s male friend by the hair and chopped off his dreadlocks with a knife. Reginald Hardy was charged with aggravated assault, terroristic threats and other offenses after police say he saw the 19-year-old sneaking around his apartment Friday with his 17-year-old daughter. Police say the 38-year-old Hardy punched the 19-year-old in the face and threatened to shoot him in the back if he ran away as he left. Hardy tells WFMZ-TV ( http://bit.ly/1wRJT4i ) he was only looking out for his daughter. He says her friend was disrespectful to him and shouldn’t have been at the apartment. Police say Hardy cooperated with the investigation. He’s free on $50,000 unsecured bail. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for Jan. 12.
Woman Discovers Man’s Dead Body In Spa Hot Tub via Jezebel For many New Yorkers, Spa Castle is somewhat like the holy grail of chillaxation, a five-story fantasia of a water park for adults. Located in College Point, Queens, the giant Korean spa’s many amenities, like hot stone massages, mud baths, and a “hydrotherapeutic” lazy river, are luxurious enough that Manhattan, Bronx, and Brooklynites who grouse at traveling 30 minutes on the A train willingly rent zip cars or (gasp) take the F to the 7 train or (gasp gasp) the Q44 bus to reach it. But the pampered chill was put on pause over the weekend when a woman, walking into the outdoor hot tub, felt her toe touch something odd… and it was the deceased body of Hock Ma, an 84-year-old Queens man. Spa Castle employees administered CPR on Ma until paramedics could arrive, but he was pronounced dead at the hospital. NBC reports that although safety precautions are clearly posted around the facility and the pools are to be continually monitored by “aquatic observers,” it was unclear whether that particular hot tub had been checked and Pescatore claimed it the area was dimly lit. It also reported that Spa Castle has racked up 28 different violations in the past two years:
Being a cop just got a little more dangerous LAPD Officers Shot At In “Unprovoked” Attack Via NYDailyNews Los Angeles cops were on edge Monday after two men allegedly opened fired on a marked police car in an “unprovoked” ambush Sunday night. The gunfire erupted around 9:30 p.m. in South Los Angeles while two officers were responding to an unrelated radio call in their black and white patrol car, police said. “It was unprovoked. They were literally just driving down the street,” LAPD Officer Liliana Preciado told the Daily News. “We don’t know the motive at this point,” but there’s a sense of “uneasiness,” she said. “Everyone in the department understands what is going on, especially with what happened in New York,” she said. “Everyone is on alert. Everyone has been told to cover each other and watch each other’s back.” NYPD Officers Rafael Ramos and Wenjian Liu were “assassinated” in their patrol car in Brooklyn Dec. 20 by a man who previously declared open season on cops in twisted threats on social media. The shootings in Los Angeles and New York came after months of protests related to the high-profile deaths of unarmed black men Michael Brown and Eric Garner at the hands of police. The release of an autopsy for Ezell Ford, an unarmed and mentally ill black man shot and killed by police in South Los Angeles last August, heightened tension Monday. Killing cops is NOT the way to get justice. We’re all frustrated, but citizens vs. police just ain’t the way. Image via AP Continue reading →
