Monthly Archives: May 2012

Stop tweeting @Soledad_OBrien

http://battleofourtimes.com/i-can-hear-you/

The Jefferson Parish public school system Wednesday sent notices to about 500 employees telling them their positions are getting eliminated as part of an ongoing reorganization push. The 200 central office administrative workers and 300 teachers from schools that recently closed have not been laid off, said Acting Superintendent James Meza. Instead, they were notified their slots are expiring and told they can apply for other jobs in the system.

Meza said another 1,000 central office employees received notice that their job descriptions are changing.

“It’s starting now,” Meza said about an administration overhaul meant to reorient the central office as a support service for schools instead of an oversight entity.

While the reorganization aims to achieve reform goals, such as giving school sites more decision-making power, it coincides with a need to cut the budget. An expected deficit for 2012-13 could rise as high as $30 million, Meza said. Layoffs could be coming over the summer.

http://www.nola.com/education/index.ssf/2012/05/jefferson_parish_school_system_19.html#incart_river

(RNN) – Photos of two military women breastfeeding their kids while in uniform have evoked strong emotional feedback.

The pictures were part of a series done for Mom2Mom, a support group at Fairfield Air Force Base in Spokane, WA. Photographer Brynja Sigurdardottir captured several women nursing their children on the base grounds, but shots of two Air National Guardsmen received national attention.

Terran Echegoyen-McCabe and Christina Luna both sit with their Airman Battle Uniform (ABU) jackets unbuttoned as they breastfeed their children. For the most part, people commenting on the pictures have been either strongly for or strongly against public feeding in uniform.

The photographer issued a written statement on Facebook, saying no one expected the photo to be “shared around the world and back twice over.”

“This was going to be for the local airmen at Fairchild,” Sigurdardottir stated. “However, we want everyone to realize that we never meant to cause commotion, disrespect or attention. These are just two beautiful women, who are in the military, breastfeeding their babies.

“We do not regret what we have done, we just hope the military and everyone else sees that just because you are in uniform … you can breastfeed your baby without shame. We have done nothing wrong, and we hope this will make changes to protect all women to breastfeed in public, in uniform or out.”

Echegoyen-McCabe told the Today show she was proud to wear a uniform while breastfeeding. She also hoped it would encourage others to know they can breastfeed, whether they are active duty, guard or civilian.

“There isn’t a policy saying we can or cannot breastfeed in uniform,” Echegoyen-McCabe said to Today. “I think it’s something that every military mom who is breastfeeding has done. I think we do need to be able to breastfeed in uniform and be protected.”

http://www.kplctv.com/story/18665421/military-moms-breastfeeding-receive-national-attention

Washington Air National Guard spokesman Capt. Keith Kosik said it’s a violation of regulations to use the uniform to promote a civilian cause.

He said the two nursing mothers likely will not be disciplined for the photos but that the incident would be used as an opportunity for education.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_MILITARY_BREAST_FEEDING?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

Rudy Eugene and Ronald Poppo
(Credit: CBS/Miami-Dade Police Dept.)

NEW ORLEANS -

The homeless man attacked by a naked man in Miami once lived in New Orleans.

Ronald Poppo, 68, is in critical condition after authorities said nearly 75 percent of his face was chewed off. Police said a naked man, Rudy Eugene, 31, attacked the homeless man on a Miami expressway on Saturday afternoon.

A surveillance video showed an officer who found Eugene pulling off Poppo’s pants while he stripped the flesh from his face. The officer told Eugene to stop, and when he didn’t, the officer opened fire and killed him. Authorities said Eugene was high on bath salts.

“The first thing that happens, it’s like a euphoric effect, and then it becomes a cocaine-PCP aggression. We don’t know what a person can be capable of if they ingest this thing,” WDSU medical editor Dr. Corey Hobert said.

Investigators said they don’t know yet how the two men are linked. Poppo was living under the causeway.

http://www.wdsu.com/news/local-news/new-orleans/Victim-of-gruesome-Miami-attack-lived-in-NOLA/-/9853400/14352578/-/31jdai/-/index.html

Cannibal Attack Victim’s Family Hadn’t Heard From Him In 30 Years

MIAMI (CBSMiami) – When the Causeway Cannibal Rudy Eugene attacked Ronald Poppo, 65, he had been on the streets for more than 30 years. While he has a long criminal rap sheet related to being homeless, his sister Antoinette Poppo remembers a different time.

“I remember a very intelligent boy,” Antoinette told CBS4′s Gio Benitez. “He went to a private school, and I really don’t understand what happened.”

What happened to Poppo Saturday is almost beyond description. He was savagely attacked by Eugene who would chew off and eat part of Poppo’s face.

Poppo remained in critical condition at Jackson Memorial Hospital Wednesday with his nose, mouth, and eyes torn off of his face.

For now, investigators are stuck trying to piece together the puzzle of what is one of South Florida’s most heinous crimes and the two people involved.

The man accused of the hideous attack, and shot dead by a police officer, is 31-year-old Rudy Eugene who had deep roots in South Florida, with friends, family and a rap sheet.

For the victim Ronald Poppo, 65, however, it’s a completely different story.

At nine years old, Poppo and his family were involved in a serious car accident in New York. A yearbook photo acquired by the Miami New Times showed Poppo went on to become a decorated student at one of New York’s most prestigious high schools, Stuyvesant High.

Then, the family lost touch with him and haven’t heard from Ronald in 30 years.

“Well, I tried to reach him, but I just thought he killed himself,” Antoinette said. “And we really thought he was no longer on this earth.”

http://miami.cbslocal.com/2012/05/30/cannibal-attack-victim-homeless-for-more-than-3-decades/

http://battleofourtimes.com/2012/05/27/bizarro-world-naked-man-killed-by-police-near-macarthur-causeway-was-eating-face-off-naked-victim

MoveOn, a giant in the progressive political world and an early endorser of Barack Obama in 2008, warns that it might have to “pull the plug” on key campaigns to help Obama and Senate Democrats if its five million members don’t pony up with at least $5.
Without a rush of new cash, MoveOn says it will have to give up efforts to elect Elizabeth Warren in Massachusetts, help the recall fight against Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, and energize younger voters who’ve soured on Washington.

“It’s like picking which of your kids you love the most. I just can’t do it,” said MoveOn in an email plea. “If we can’t increase our budget, we might have to dramatically scale back or pull the plug on some of MoveOn’s most important election efforts this year.”

The homepage of MoveOn, which helped organize the 2004 anti-war movement, includes a “chip in” button preset at $8.

http://washingtonexaminer.com/politics/washington-secrets/2012/05/moveon-warns-%E2%80%98we-might-have-pull-plug%E2%80%99/670461

Anit-War Movement…*chuckle*

89,000 Troops Still In Afghanistan

Oh and there’s that Iraq thing…psst don’t tell anybody…but Obama killed Bin Laden.  Not even in front of a jury of his peers.  Tossed him in the drink too, didn’t even give the man a chance at a proper Christian burial.

ST. BENEDICT, La. — Not very long after God told some at St. Joseph Abbey that the way out of financial hardship might be selling the monks’ handcrafted caskets, the state of Louisiana arrived with a different message.It was a cease-and-desist order and came with threats of thousands of dollars in fines and possible criminal prosecution.

“Before we even sold a casket,” St. Joseph Abbot Justin Brown said in a recent interview in the picturesque abbey, which is located about an hour’s drive from New Orleans, on the other side of Lake Pontchartrain. Now a band of libertarian lawyers is hoping that the honey-colored Louisiana cypress coffins provide the vehicle for a Supreme Court review of government economic regulations.

Brown, a soft-spoken man who is only the fifth leader of a monastery that dates to 1889, said he had not known that in Louisiana only licensed funeral directors are allowed to sell “funeral merchandise.”

That means that St. Joseph Abbey must either give up the casket-selling business or become a licensed funeral establishment, which would require a layout parlor for 30 people, a display area for the coffins, the employment of a licensed funeral director and an embalming room.

“Really,” Brown said. “It’s just a big box.”

http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/louisiana-monks-go-to-court-to-sell-their-caskets/2012/05/29/gJQA7VMK0U_story.html

http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2012-06-01/its-illegal-for-monks-to-sell-caskets-in-louisiana

Funeral held for 5-year-old girl gunned down at birthday party

Five-year-old Brianna Allen, who was killed after being shot at another child’s birthday party was laid to rest Tuesday morning. view full article

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Police Chief Ronal Serpas comments at Briana Allen funeral New Orleans Police Chief Ronal Serpas talks about crime in the city outside the funeral of 5-year-old Briana Allen who was killed by a stray bullet at a Central City birthday party last week. Watch video

I-Team: Suspect in girl’s killing recently released from jail

NEW ORLEANS -The 18-year-old suspect who faces charges in connection with the killing of a 5-year-old girl and a mother of three was released from jail only weeks before the shooting.The WDSU I-Team has confirmed that Leo Riles pleaded guilty in December to a charge of “improper use of a movable” — being caught occupying a stolen vehicle. Judge Ben Willard placed Riles on probation, but sources said Riles failed to meet with his probation officer and to follow guidelines that would keep him out of jail.

Those violations landed Riles back in Orleans Parish Prison earlier this year.

Riles spent just less than a month in jail before he was again released — on May 2. He remained on probation for the earlier offense.

Riles surrendered to authorities Wednesday morning. He is expected to face two murder charges — one each for the killings of 5-year-old Brianna Allen and 33-year-old Shawanna Pierce, a mother of three. Three others, including a 10-year-old boy, were injured in the shooting spree, which happened at a Central City birthday party.

I-Team-Suspect-in-girl-s-killing-recently-released-from-jail

Suspect in Central City quintuple shooting that killed 2 turns self in

An 18-year-old man suspected in the shooting in Central City yesterday that left two people dead and three others injured has turned himself in, New Orleans Police Superintendent Ronal Serpas said this afternoon. Leo Riles, 18, will be booked wiith two counts of first-degree murder, Serpas said.

Serpas said the NOPD still has not identified two other men believed to be involved in the shooting.

suspect_in_central_city

The shooting at a child’s birthday party in Central City Tuesday afternoon that left a 5-year-old girl and 33-year-old woman dead and three others wounded was caught on surveillance video. The video was released by New Orleans police late Tuesday night.

fatal_shooting_at_birthday

Girl, 5, woman killed in Central City shooting; 3 others injured

A 5-year-old girl and a 33-year-old woman died from gunshot wounds Tuesday afternoon in a fusillade in Central City, New Orleans policesaid. A 10-year-old boy had graze wounds to the face and leg, a 20-year-old man was wounded in the wrist and a 24-year-old man was shot in the face, police said.

“It was my grandson’s birthday party,” said a woman, referring to the 10-year-old boy.

She said she was sitting on bricks across the street near the Guste high rise when “three dudes came from that direction,” the intersection of Simon Bolivar Avenue and Clio Street.

Initially she thought the weapons in their hands were “play guns.” She said the armed men were shooting at other people who ran to the birthday party area.

Police marked about 24 casings spread in front of an area on Simon Bolivar Avenue from  1212-1214 Simon Bolivar Avenue to Clio Street. Casings littered the asphalt street as well as the neutral ground.

The shooting started about 5:45 p.m. in the 1200 block of Simon Bolivar Avenue, according to police. who are trying to reconstruct events leading up to the violence.

The 33-year-old woman was shot while driving a green Mazda 3 on Simon Bolivar Avenue. After she was hit, she crashed the car into a utility pole at Simon Bolivar and Thalia Street.

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