news
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NYC Motorman Suspended for Breaking Rule to Get Medical Help for Trainee Who Collapsed: Report
A New York City transit employee says he was only thinking about getting medical aid for a trainee who had collapsed and begun spitting up blood, when he apparently broke a rule while doing so. The Metropolitan Transportation Authority viewed the actions he took to help the trainee as dangerous and suspended the subway motorman…
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Female Inmates Raped and Abused by Rikers Island Guards, Lawsuit Claims
Female inmates at the Rikers Island jail complex in New York City are accusing seven correction officers of repeated rape and sexual abuse over a two-year period in a federal lawsuit filed Tuesday by the Legal Aid Society, NBC New York reports. Two of those inmates who were in pretrial custody claim that they were…
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Detroit Teacher Donates Kidney to 18-Year-Old Student
On Tuesday, one Detroit high school senior returned to classes with one special gift: a kidney, donated by one of her teachers, and thus a new lease on life, the Detroit News reports. A’Ja Booth was welcomed back to West Side Academy in style, walking down a red carpet into the school gym, where 10…
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Captain America: Off-Duty Army Captain Pulls Man From Burning Car
Call him Captain America. Of course, Steve Voglezon is not a comic superhero come to life. But he is a real-life captain in the U.S. Army, and he is also pretty heroic: He rescued two people from a burning vehicle in the aftermath of a car accident in Chatham County, N.C., ABC News reports. According…
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Ga. School Nurse to 11-Year-Old Student: ‘I’m Going to F–k You Up’
A Georgia school nurse is being accused of cursing and using a racial slur against an 11-year-old in the school cafeteria, 11 Alive reports. Witness statements given by six children and three adults described the explosive confrontation between Beverly Barnes, a nurse at Mundy’s Mill Middle School in Jonesboro, and 11-year-old Jason Ezzard, who had been…
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New Details Emerge About Ben Affleck’s Slave-Owner Ancestor
Ben Affleck admitted his embarrassment over learning that an ancestor owned slaves. He tried to hide that past in the PBS genealogy show Finding Your Roots With Henry Louis Gates, Jr. After his efforts came to light, the actor and director identified that relative as Benjamin Cole. Well, the Associated Press decided to conduct an…
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Los Angeles Raises Its Minimum Wage to $15 Per Hour
The Los Angeles City Council voted Tuesday to raise the city’s minimum wage from $9 per hour to $15 per hour by 2020, the New York Times reports. According to the Times, the vote is a huge symbolic win for labor groups and unions that have been pushing for minimum wage increases in cities and…
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St. Louis Officer Who Fatally Shot VonDerrit Myers Acted in Self-Defense and Won’t Be Charged
The St. Louis prosecutor’s office has closed the chapter on the fatal shooting of 18-year-old VonDerrit Myers and announced Monday that Police Officer Jason Flanery will not be charged for killing Myers, USA Today reports. Myers, an African American, was shot to death by Flanery, a white police officer, in October. The incident sparked outrage…
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Why Is Israel Kicking Out the Africans?
A few days into an educational trip to Israel in 1991 shortly after the mass airlift of Ethiopian Jews into the country, my jaw dropped when a Jewish official casually described the arrival of the Ethiopians as an opportunity to beef up Israel’s Olympic running team. More than two decades later, and it appears that…
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The Tamir Rice Case: What We Know
It’s been some 179 days since the Nov. 22, 2014, shooting of Tamir Rice by a Cleveland police officer. In less than two seconds, an officer gunned down Tamir after a toy gun he was playing with was mistaken for a real weapon. Samaria Rice has lived without her 12-year-old son for six months, and…