An 18-year-old reportedly sped away from a traffic stop and collided with another vehicle on Tuesday.The Florida Highway Patrol says they attempted to stop a car going 85 mph in a 55 mph zone on State Road 82 in Lee County at approximately 12:43 a.m.Troopers say the driver, Alden Roberts, 18, reached speeds of 130 mph-plus to evade the traffic stop on Daniels Parkway and Gateway Boulevard.According to reports, Roberts collided with another vehicle on SR-82 and Sunshine Boulevard, bringing the car to rest.Troopers say two passengers were in the vehicle, and they were transported to the hospital with minor injuries. Deputies reportedly arrested Roberts and charged him with fleeing and multiple counts of reckless driving.
An 18-year-old reportedly sped away from a traffic stop and collided with another vehicle on Tuesday.
The Florida Highway Patrol says they attempted to stop a car going 85 mph in a 55 mph zone on State Road 82 in Lee County at approximately 12:43 a.m.
Troopers say the driver, Alden Roberts, 18, reached speeds of 130 mph-plus to evade the traffic stop on Daniels Parkway and Gateway Boulevard.
According to reports, Roberts collided with another vehicle on SR-82 and Sunshine Boulevard, bringing the car to rest.
Troopers say two passengers were in the vehicle, and they were transported to the hospital with minor injuries.
Deputies reportedly arrested Roberts and charged him with fleeing and multiple counts of reckless driving.
A 16-year-old slithered through the security bars of a Florida gun store and made off with 37 guns, the Flagler County Sheriff’s Office says.
Flagler County Sheriff’s Office photo
A 16-year-old boy was able to heist more than three dozen guns from a store by using his willowy build to slither between the door’s security bars, according to investigators in North Florida.
The total value of the theft came to $25,859.63, the Flagler County Sheriff’s Office said in a May 23 news release.
Why the boy wanted 37 guns was not revealed, but only 34 have been recovered, the sheriff’s office said.
“The investigation is ongoing into the other missing three,” officials said.
The teen was arrested Wednesday, May 22, nearly a month after deputies recovered most of the guns, officials said. The boy lives in Palm Coast.
“A source close to the investigation located the stolen weapons and turned them into detectives. The handguns, magazines, and long guns were positively identified as belonging to Pioneer Guns & Ammo,” the sheriff’s office said.
Pioneer Guns & Ammo discovered the burglary around 8 a.m. on March 27, after a neighboring business noticed the store’s door was broken. The business is near Bunnell, about a 60-mile drive south from Jacksonville.
“Evidence at the scene indicated the burglary occurred at 2:15 a.m. Surveillance camera footage showed the suspect entering the closed business by breaking a glass door and slithering through the security bars,” the sheriff’s office said.
“After forcing open a display case, the suspect stole multiple handguns and two long guns.”
Traces of blood were found, indicating the suspect cut himself during the burglary, officials said.
Investigators didn’t say if the teen was a person of interest before or after the guns were found, but a digital forensics unit “discovered incriminating text messages” on his cell phone, officials said.
“Additionally, DNA experts matched (his) DNA with the DNA left at the crime scene during the burglary,” officials said.
The teen was arrested and charged with “burglary while armed with a firearm and grand theft over $20,000 with damage over $1,000,” officials said.
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Mark Price is a National Reporter for McClatchy News. He joined the network of newspapers in 1991 at The Charlotte Observer, covering beats including schools, crime, immigration, LGBTQ issues, homelessness and nonprofits. He graduated from the University of Memphis with majors in journalism and art history, and a minor in geology.
(FOX40.COM) — The Sacramento Police Department is asking for the community’s assistance with locating an at-risk teenager.
Officers said the missing person is 19-year-old Elijah Anobian and is considering to be at risk because of a medical condition. Anobian resides in the area of East Commerce and Natomas Crossing and was reportedly last seen wearing a red jacket, green and yellow baseball cap and noise cancelling headphones.
Sac PD advised anyone with information on his whereabouts to call the department at 916-808-5471.
A girl in her late teens died in the lobby of a Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department station late Sunday after, officials say, she got hold of a deputy’s gun and shot herself.
The department has not released the girl’s name, and officials said late Sunday that it was unclear how she was able to take the deputy’s weapon.
The incident happened around 7:40 p.m., when the teen walked into the lobby of the sheriff’s station at 150 N. Hudson Ave. in the city of Industry, according to a news release.
Officials said she did not have a weapon when she entered the building, and that at some point she caused a commotion, making noise and banging on glass.
Then, the girl allegedly got into “some kind of altercation” with a deputy, took the deputy’s gun and used it to kill herself, officials said.
Authorities said the incident may have stemmed from a family disturbance nearby.
No deputies were injured, officials said. It was not immediately clear whether anyone else was in the lobby at the time.
The student had broken into the elementary school before, Alabama police said.
Photo by Maximilian Simson via Unsplash
An Alabama teen is accused of breaking into an elementary school on multiple occasions and taking a bus for a joyride, police said.
Now, he’s facing burglary charges.
The teen, a 16-year-old boy, first entered the school Feb. 16, according to the Priceville Police Department.
He walked around inside the school, police said, and was caught on security cameras trying to break into locked rooms with a screwdriver.
Two days later, on Feb. 18, the teen broke into the school again, police said.
He walked around until he found a school bus that was parked outside, police said, and he got inside and started the bus.
The teen took the bus for a joyride around the school parking lot, police said, but the department did not say if there was any damage to the property or bus.
Police and a Morgan County school resource officer determined it was the same teen in both break-ins, and he was taken into custody, police said.
He is charged with burglary in the third degree and unauthorized use of a vehicle, and was taken to juvenile detention, according to police.
Priceville is about 30 miles southwest of Huntsville.
Irene Wright is a McClatchy Real-Time reporter. She earned a B.A. in ecology and an M.A. in health and medical journalism from the University of Georgia and is now based in Atlanta. Irene previously worked as a business reporter at The Dallas Morning News.
The woman’s death was ruled as a homicide by a medical examiner, Vermont police said.
Getty Images/iStock photo
A teenager was arrested and charged in connection to the shooting death of a Vermont woman, police said.
The woman was found shot dead Jan. 23 in a St. Johnsbury parking lot near Cornerstone School, which serves children with disabilities from kindergarten to eighth grade, according to a Feb. 26 Vermont State Police news release. Now more than a month later, a 15-year-old was charged with murder in connection to her death.
A passerby noticed a vehicle with bullet holes in the parking lot at about 6 p.m. and called St. Johnsbury Police Department to investigate, authorities said.
The bystander spotted a person inside who appeared to be “slumped over,” and on a closer look by officers, they found the woman dead inside, according to police.
Authorities informed the community that they believed the shooting was an “isolated event with no identified threat” to the public. The woman’s body was sent to the Chief Medical Examiner’s Office in Burlington for an autopsy shortly after, police said.
The woman was identified by the medical examiner as 38-year-old Christina Chatlos, police said. The Williamstown-Barre resident’s death was caused by a gunshot wound to her torso, and her death was ruled a homicide, according to authorities.
While Chatlos’ autopsy was being conducted, state police said they spoke with witnesses in the area and tried to pinpoint any video evidence of the shooting. As part of the investigation, two people were detained by state police, authorities said.
Then, state police announced a 15-year-old suspect was arrested Feb. 26 in connection to Chatlos’ death by Massachusetts State Police.
The teenager was already in custody in Massachusetts due to an unrelated warrant, authorities said. He was in juvenile custody as the shooting investigation in Vermont proceeded, police said.
State police are charging the teenager as an adult with second-degree murder. He is accused of shooting and killing Chatlos during a confrontation in the parking lot, according to police.
The teenager is awaiting extradition to Vermont from the Caledonia County State’s Attorney’s Office, police said. The investigation by Vermont State Police is ongoing.
St. Johnsbury is about 35 miles northeast from Montpelier.
Makiya Seminera is a national real-time reporter for McClatchy News. She graduated from the University of Florida in May 2023. She previously was a politics reporting intern at The News & Observer in Raleigh, North Carolina, and The State in Columbia, South Carolina. She also served as editor-in-chief of UF’s student-run newspaper The Independent Florida Alligator in 2022.
Melanie Ramos was only 15 years old when she died of a suspected overdose in a high school bathroom in Hollywood. Police reported that she and a friend had purchased pills they thought were prescription painkillers but which were likely fakes containing fentanyl, a potent opioid incorporated into counterfeit pills widely available in the illicit drug market.
Fentanyl has caused such overdoses to rise sharply despite declining drug use among young people. Recent data suggest it kills an average of 22 teens every week around the nation. Tragic stories like Melanie’s are playing out across the country — and at an unprecedented rate. In a new analysis in the New England Journal of Medicine, we found that fatal overdoses among U.S. teens aged 14-18 hit an all-time high in 2022.
Melanie was one of 111 teens who died between 2020 and 2022 in L.A. County, a hot spot where overdoses have spiked. We found hot spot counties across the U.S., but Southern California was uniquely hard hit. Of the 19 such counties we identified nationwide, six were in this region: Los Angeles, Orange (61 deaths), San Bernardino (55), Riverside (41), San Diego (36) and Kern (30).
There are signs that teen overdoses in California dropped from 2021 to 2022, but this trend is still new, and hot spots can still occur anywhere — often unexpectedly. Every corner of America should be prepared.
Overdose deaths are preventable. However, reducing teen overdoses requires a dramatic shift in drug-prevention programming: It needs to emphasize safety rather than abstinence alone.
Drug use by teens is becoming more deadly, not more common. From 2002 to 2022, the share of high school seniors who had ever used illicit drugs declined from 21% to 8%. Teen drug use overall is at its lowest rate in decades. But fentanyl, which is found not only in counterfeit pills but also as a contaminant in other drugs, puts teens at unprecedented risk. Nearly two-thirds of teens who die from fentanyl have no known prior opioid use, a reminder that even first-time or infrequent exposure can be deadly.
Drug prevention has long focused on keeping teens from trying drugs, which is a worthy goal. But it has lacked messaging for teens who do use and may end up in danger as a result. Teachers, parents, medical practitioners and others who provide drug prevention counseling should clearly communicate that any pill not prescribed by a physician or dispensed by a pharmacy has a significant chance of being a counterfeit containing a potentially lethal amount of fentanyl.
This does not mean using scare tactics, which have been shown to backfire. As modeled by programs such as Safety First, available through Stanford, this approach should instead tap into teens’ desire to keep themselves and their peers safe and give them strategies to do so.
These strategies include never using alone (so someone is available to intervene in an overdose), starting with a small amount of a drug (e.g., a quarter pill rather than a whole pill) to assess its potency, and avoiding mixing pills with alcohol and other sedating substances.
Programming should also help teens recognize the signs of an overdose and teach them how to respond — by calling 911 and providing the nasal spray naloxone (Narcan) if it’s available. Schools should have naloxone on the premises — as has been the case in the L.A. Unified School District since late 2022, following Melanie Ramos’ death — and help teens understand how to access it on and off campus. Narcan recently became available over the counter, and teens can obtain it at pharmacies or get a doctor’s prescription for it.
Teens who seek out pills to address depression, anxiety, trauma or other mental health concerns additionally need referrals to evidence-based mental health treatment such as counseling and, when appropriate, medications — which should be distinguished from the counterfeit pills widely available on the illicit market.
There are some young people who might intentionally seek fentanyl, including the 1 in every 100 U.S. teens who has an opioid addiction. Keeping these adolescents safe requires educating them and their peers on how to recognize signs of addiction, where to receive care and the effectiveness of buprenorphine, a lifesaving but underused treatment for opioid misuse. Given the urgent need to intervene early, schools, families and doctors should be aware of local treatment programs and refer teens to them; the federal government maintains a searchable directory.
Emphasizing safety in drug use messaging to young people will encounter opposition from policymakers and others, as it means confronting the uncomfortable reality that some teens use drugs. However, research indicates that teaching safety does not cause teens to use more drugs. Drug-prevention programming can still tell teens they shouldn’t use substances while equipping them with the tools to protect themselves if they do. Teens need this knowledge before more young lives are tragically lost.
Scott Hadland (@DrScottHadland) is the chief of adolescent medicine at Mass General for Children and an associate professor of pediatrics at Harvard Medical School. Joseph Friedman (@JosephRFriedman) is a substance-use researcher at UCLA.
A male teen is in critical condition after police found him with multiple gunshot wounds in an Arlington apartment.
Courtesy: Fort Worth Star-Telegram archives
A male teen is in critical condition after officers found him with multiple gunshot wounds Wednesday night in an apartment, according to Arlington police.
Just before 7 p.m. Wednesday, Arlington police responded to an apartment complex in the 1500 block of Harrell Drive, east of Texas 360 in south Arlington, to investigate a reported shooting.
When officers arrived, they found a teenage male inside an apartment with multiple gunshot wounds, according to police.
The victim was transported to a local hospital where he is in critical condition. Arlington police spokesperson Tim Ciesco told the Star-Telegram that the victim was awake when doctors began prepping him for a medical procedure.
No arrests have been made as detectives continue working to identify the shooter, police say.
Authorities do not believe the shooting was random and that the victim knows the shooter.
Related stories from Fort Worth Star-Telegram
Nicole Lopez is a breaking news reporter at the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. She graduated from the University of Texas at El Paso, where she studied multimedia journalism. She also does freelance writing.
Until my early 20s, I believed I was a “normal” sex-haver. I assumed any guilt or repulsion I felt after intimacy was a universal experience. It wasn’t until a year ago that, after hearing me mention that I had repeatedly dissociated after kissing various Tinder dates, my friend said: “You know what asexuality is, right?” I stuttered, offended; of course I knew what it meant, but only in that “jock calling the nerd asexual because he won’t ever get laid” way. She called my bluff and showed me a video from an asexual YouTuber who echoed many of my secret opinions about dating and intimacy. This set me on the path to find as many video essays about asexuality as possible, which explained that I wasn’t broken or in need of the “right person”; my love would just come from somewhere besides sex. Any blueprints for where I might find it or what that love might be instead were a mystery, as I quickly found that asexual representation in media is an absolute travesty.
There’s no easy way to show an identity based around the lack of something rather than its presence, but when you start throwing out SpongeBob as my LGBTQIA+ rep, I know it’s not a serious conversation. Good asexual (aka ace) characters do exist — Bojack Horseman’s resident goofball Todd Chavez is beloved by many for his swagless slacker schemes — but most rely on negative stereotypes that perpetuate the myth of inhumanity among those who don’t build their love lives around sex.
Asexual people in media are represented as dispassionate outcasts who avoid close relationships; they are cold and calculating celibates (like Sherlock Holmes), or they force sex upon themselves to fix their perceived inadequacies (like Olivia from whatever the hell The Olivia Experiment was trying to be). Asexual representation isn’t nearly as prevalent in media as gay, lesbian, or bisexual rep, but three of Netflix’s biggest teenage shows of 2023 — Sex Education, Heartstopper, and Everything Now — featured aces as core characters with storylines dedicated to understanding their identities. Much like their queer antecedents who introduced the general public to non-cis, non-hetero ways of life, these ace characters have to come out and explain themselves. Despite good intentions, it’s hard for each character to not read as a first attempt.
Sex is everywhere in our society, especially during high school, when hormones rage, emotions deepen, and the world cracks open like a spoiled fruit. Putting those primal feelings into words is hard, but that hasn’t stopped Sex Education from highlighting as many sexual identities as possible, including a brief storyline in season 2 in which theater kid Florence (Mirren Mack) recognizes her own asexuality. In a conversation with sex therapist Jean (Gillian Anderson), Florence voices her discontent with social pressures to date and hook up, poignantly stating that she’s “surrounded by a feast” but isn’t hungry. As soon as Florence accepts her ace identity, the series moves on from her; Florence’s sexlessness was a problem to be voiced but not an orientation to be explored.
Photo: Samuel Taylor/Netflix
It wasn’t until the final season this year that the show’s creators went all in on asexuality with Sarah “O” Owen (Thaddea Graham), a woman of color and sex therapist at Cavendish. O acts as a rival and antagonist to series protagonist Otis (Asa Butterfield); so much of the season revolves around Otis’ attempts to reclaim his place as the sole sex therapist on campus. During their bizarre election where students vote for who they most trust to therapize their sexual dilemmas, Otis tries to prove that O is untrustworthy and unreliable by revealing that she ghosted several former partners. To save her reputation, O comes out as asexual and says she ghosted partners because she didn’t know how to talk about it yet — although given all the scheming and scratching she had pulled over the course of the season, you’d be forgiven for thinking her coming out might be a ploy for sympathy. I did.
This misunderstanding became a prevalent enough internet discourse that Yasmin Benoit — an ace activist and woman of color who served as a script consultant for the season — took to X (formerly Twitter) to reveal multiple scenes and lines were changed or cut that addressed both the racial bias and acephobia that O faces throughout the season. Without this additional context, I found it difficult to be as offended as I should have been when Otis accused her of using asexuality as a way to tarnish his image. The show instead portrays O spending most of the season trying to maintain her pristine image, all the way down to her slick influencer branding. This emphasis on her insincerity sometimes obscures how terrible it is that Otis attempts to claim her space and ruin her life.
It isn’t until episode 7 that her backstory dump — which delves into how her schoolmates singled her out for her race and Northern Irish accent, how she felt abnormal because she didn’t have crushes or intimate fantasies, how she felt safe in her sex clinic but felt if she ever told the truth no one would trust her because “who wants to have sex advice from someone who doesn’t have sex?” — finally brings her closer to the character Benoit seemingly set out to create. For me, the damage was already done: O remains a messy, calculating, and isolated asexual, rather than being the thoughtful representation the ace community deserves.
The final season of SexEducation is a mixed bag, but it tries to create a three-dimensional ace character; Heartstopper felt content to stop at character. The show’s second season does a lot to darken its light and fluffy image: It tackles biphobia, abusive parents, and disordered eating. But it never quite knows what to do with Isaac (Tobie Donovan). The laconic bookworm finds himself courted by James (Bradley Riches), and their awkward flirtations are drawn out for most of the season until they finally kiss in a Parisian hotel’s hallway. Isaac seems repelled by the intimacy and is sent into a spiral — though we don’t see it. Isaac’s explanation to James in the following episode is familiar to asexuals: He has never had a crush on someone and hoped that maybe James would be different. But he wasn’t.
Photo: Samuel Dore/Netflix
When his friends cajole him for details about the kiss, Isaac snaps, yelling that he knows they don’t find his life interesting with its lack of romantic drama. It’s a sentiment shared by series creator Alice Oseman herself, who identifies as aromantic and asexual (aroace) and in an interview with The Guardian stated, “The world is obsessed with sex and romance. And if you don’t have that, you feel like you haven’t achieved something that’s really important.” In her novel Loveless, she tries to explore narratives where romance and sex aren’t the main focus with aroace protagonist Georgia. But where Georgia has 400-plus pages to grow and change, Isaac’s character can only come out in bits and spurts around the central romance between Nick (Kit Connor) and Charlie (Joe Locke). We never get to know his personality or desires, so Isaac’s frustration with his friends seemingly comes from nowhere.
Literally two minutes after his outburst, Isaac meets an artist exhibiting a piece about their aroace identity, and everything they say resonates with him: the loneliness of existing in a world that prizes romance and sex when you don’t feel those attractions, the confusion that comes with feeling different without the words to describe it, the freedom of letting go of those external expectations and existing as yourself. Isaac immediately accepts himself as aroace. It’s a beautiful sentiment hamstrung by the fact that Isaac was just given the answers to his identity problems, no introspection necessary.
Image: Netflix
By contrast, Everything Now is a show without easy answers; its depiction of disordered eating, substance abuse, sexual intimacy, and mental health struggles are important if not always easy to watch. While much of the series focuses on recovering anorexic Mia’s (Sophie Wilde) return to high school after a brief hospitalization, it was her friend Will (Noah Thomas) who captured my heart. Will is boisterous, confident, and fashionable, traits that he claims won the lusty affection of the cheesemonger at his workplace. Except the cheesemonger doesn’t know his name, and when “Cheese Guy” eventually does try to hook up with him, Will runs away. Will is embarrassed about his virginity and chooses to lean into the stereotype of the promiscuous gay man, as if cultivating the image of a sex-haver will absolve him from engaging in something that repulses him.
After a drunk Mia reveals his lie to a party full of their classmates, Will hides in the bathroom. He’s uncharacteristically quiet and embarrassed, compressing himself as tightly as possible into the bathtub. His sulking is interrupted by Theo (Robert Akodoto), a nice and popular schoolmate. Despite Will’s protestations, Theo stays and comforts him. Will echoes O and Isaac here: He feels broken for not wanting sex, and that something must be wrong with him. Theo suggests that maybe Will needs a connection to engage in romantic or sexual intimacy, and the next day the two kiss passionately and start dating. Although it’s never stated outright, Will’s requirement for emotional connection to precede intimacy is a sign that he’s demisexual, an even smaller sliver of the asexual pie that often goes unrepresented. Being in a relationship isn’t an easy adjustment for Will; he worries that Theo will eventually want sex or something more that he isn’t willing to give. The anxiety overwhelms Will and, despite Theo’s willingness to take things slow, he refuses to discuss his fear of intimacy and ultimately ends the relationship.
These Asexuality 101-esque narratives feel reminiscent of the early aughts, when queer characters were defined by their otherness in an effort to educate rather than represent. They’re the type of stories that I needed to hear growing up, stories that gently told me that I wasn’t broken while placing me on a path toward self-acceptance. After a year of research and introspection, however, their lack of nuance feels half-baked, especially in comparison to the three-dimensional queer characters who surround them. Asexuality is a complicated identity where multiple conflicting truths can coexist. Aces might feel little to no sexual attraction, but that doesn’t mean that we can’t date, fall in love, or even have sex if we so desire; seeking fulfillment through solely platonic relationships is equally valid, and, too often, narratively unexplored. O, Isaac, and Will hint at a future where we might see asexuality with all its complexity on our screens. Maybe by then, the universal feeling won’t be that we are broken. Maybe it will be that we are just a little different.
Two new suspects are facing charges in the robbery and killing of rapper PnB Rock, who was shot to death in September 2022 while dining at Roscoe’s House of Chicken & Waffles in South L.A, authorities said.
Tremont Jones was charged with two counts of robbery, conspiracy to rob the rapper and illegally possessing a firearm as a felon, according to a criminal complaint filed in September. Another suspect, Wynisha Evans, was charged with being an accessory after the fact.
Both Jones and Evans pleaded not guilty to the charges when they were arraigned at the Compton Courthouse last month, said Venusse Dunn, a spokesperson for the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office.
Authorities had arrested the pair in May in connection to PnB Rock’s killing. However, since charges had been filed in court as a separate case, apart from the main murder case, Jones and Evans remained largely unknown to the public. The new suspects’ charges were brought to light this week after Rolling Stone attended their most recent hearing in Compton on Monday.
The Times could not immediately reach attorneys for Jones and Evans.
PnB Rock, 30, whose legal name was Rakim Allen, had been dining at the Roscoe’s House of Chicken & Waffles location on Manchester Avenue with his girlfriend, Stephanie Sibounheuang, on Sept. 12 when a 17-year-old boy walked up to their table and demanded jewelry and other valuables, prosecutors alleged in court documents. The jewelry was valued at “several hundreds of thousands of dollars,” prosecutors said.
After Allen refused the teen’s demands, prosecutors alleged, the youth shot the seated rapper once in the chest, then twice more in the back. Seconds later, the teen allegedly threatened to shoot Sibounheuang in the head and took several pieces of jewelry off Allen’s body before fleeing the restaurant with his father, suspected getaway driver Freddie Lee Trone.
In the new court filings, prosecutors accused Jones of taking part in the plot to rob Allen. Jones allegedly met Trone at a parking lot near the Roscoe’s and talked for several minutes before handing Trone an object covered in a towel, which prosecutors allege was a firearm. Trone drove off and returned to the area to drop off his teen son, who was wearing a ski mask and armed with a gun, prosecutors alleged. Jones allegedly stuck around, eventually leaving a nearby parking lot as the teen made his way into the restaurant.
Evans was accused of fleeing with Trone after the shooting. She had known Trone since they were children, according to a recent court filing by the prosecution, and saw him as “a father figure” to her own son. After learning he was a suspect in the shooting, she reached out to Trone, prosecutors said in the filing. She allegedly rented a car and drove him from L.A. to Nevada “for safety,” the document said.
An FBI-led task force found Trone in Las Vegas within several weeks and arrested him in late September. He was extradited to California, where he was charged with murder, robbery and conspiracy to commit robbery. His son faced the same charges. Trone’s wife, Shauntel Trone, who is not related to his son, was charged also in late September with robbery and hiding Trone and his son at her home before their eventual arrests.
Jones remains incarcerated at Men’s Central Jail in downtown Los Angeles and is held on $1 million bail, according to county jail records. Evans was released last week on her own recognizance since her non-violent charge fell within the county’s new zero-bail policy. The court installed the policy in July after criticizing the cash bail system for disfavoring people who don’t have access to large amounts of money.
Jones, Evans and Trone are due in court for another hearing in December.
Philadelphia-born rapper PnB rock was known for his 2015 single “Fleek” and a hit song with Atlanta rapper YFN Lucci, “Everyday We Lit,” which cracked the Billboard Hot 100 in 2016. He also collaborated with other prominent artists, such as Ed Sheeran and Chance the Rapper.
Times staff writers James Queally, Richard Winton, Kenan Draughorne and the late Gregory Yee contributed to this report.
California and other states on Tuesday sued Facebook parent company Meta over allegations that it “designed and deployed harmful features” on the main social network and its platform Instagram.
“Our bipartisan investigation has arrived at a solemn conclusion: Meta has been harming our children and teens, cultivating addiction to boost corporate profits,” California Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta said in a statement. “With today’s lawsuit, we are drawing the line. We must protect our children and we will not back down from this fight.”
The 233-page lawsuit, filed in a federal court in Northern California, alleges the social media giant violated consumer protection laws and a federal law aimed at safeguarding the privacy of children under 13 years old. Bonta co-led a bipartisan coalition of 33 attorneys general filing the federal lawsuit against Meta. Eight attorneys general are also filing lawsuits against Meta on Tuesday in state courts, according to Bonta’s office.
In 2021, a bipartisan group of state attorneys general, including from California, Tennessee and Nebraska, announced they were investigating Meta’s promotion of its social media app Instagram to children and young people. Advocacy groups, lawmakers and even parents have criticized Meta, alleging the platform hasn’t done enough to combat content about eating disorders, suicide and other potential harms.
As part of the investigation, the state attorneys general looked atMeta’s strategies for compelling young people to spend more time on its platform. The lawsuit alleges that Meta failed to address the platform’s harmful impact to young people.
Meta said it’s committed to keeping teens safe, noting it rolled out more than 30 tools to support young people and families.
“We’re disappointed that instead of working productively with companies across the industry to create clear, age-appropriate standards for the many apps teens use, the attorneys general have chosen this path,” a Meta spokesperson said in a statement.
Scrutiny over Meta’s potential damage to the mental health of young people intensified in 2021 after Frances Haugen, a former Facebook product manager, disclosed tens of thousands of internal company documents. Some of those documents included research that showed Facebook is “toxic for teen girls,” worsening body image issues and suicidal thoughts, the Wall Street Journal reported in 2021. Meta said its research was “mischaracterized,” and teens also reported Instagram made them feel better about other issues such as loneliness and sadness.
That year, executives from the social media company including Instagram’s head Adam Mosseri testified before Congress. Instagram then paused its development of a kids’ version of the app and rolled out more controls so parents could limit the amount of time teens spend on it. Social media apps like Instagram require users to be at least 13 years old, but children have lied about their age to access the platform.
The photo- and video-sharing app Instagram is popular among U.S. teens, according to a Pew Research Center survey released this year. About 62% of teens reported using Instagram in 2022. Google-owned YouTube, TikTok and Snapchat are also commonly used by teens.
The amount of time teens spend on social media has been a growing concern especially as platforms use algorithms to recommend content it thinks users like to view. In 2022, attorneys general across the country started investigating TikTok’s potential harm to young people as well.
Millions of children show signs of a mental health disorder. School districts play a distinct role in supporting children and their families with education and services necessary to thrive. Join a panel, sponsored by CrossTx, of leading mental health experts across America on Thursday, May 26 to learn more about sustainable strategies and pragmatic approaches school districts are taking to counter this mental health epidemic.
Press Release –
May 20, 2022
PALM COAST, Fla., May 20, 2022 (Newswire.com)
– The mental health crisis impacting school districts has only worsened since the COVID-19 pandemic. Join school districts around the country for an expert panel discussing this mounting crisis with real-world strategies, programs, and technologies that school districts embrace to promote healthy students and schools. In a collaborative effort, CrossTx and Flagler Cares invites Erika’s Lighthouse, Christine Ravesi-Weinstein, Perry Hilvitz, ED.D, and Flagler School District to discuss the current state of mental health in school districts, proactive measures that can be taken to improve student mental health, and additional supports available for children and their families. The free webinar will be held Thursday, May 26 at 12 noon Eastern. Register to learn:
The current impact of mental health challenges in school districts
Practical strategies and tools that school districts can implement to promote inclusive, healthy school culture
Once mental health issues are escalated to external providers, emerging approaches to close the loop of care for greater insight into student health and wellness
The journey of one school district to embrace technology to make significant strides to support students with mental and social concerns
Financing mental health initiatives in school districts (challenges and opportunities) using Medicaid and other vehicles to help ensure a dynamic and supportive environment
A vision for a healthier future for districts and students
Each panelist brings expertise in their corresponding areas of expertise.
Perry Hilvitz, ED. D brings a wealth of information regarding the financing of mental health projects in school districts
Christine Ravesi-Weinstein, an Assistant Principal, has become a national thought leader sharing strategies and approaches focused on solving mental health challenges in school districts
Ilana Sharman, Director of Education for Erika’s Lighthouse empowers school districts with tools, best practices and supports based on the four pillars of support centering on classroom education, teen empowerment, family engagement and best practices for school staff.
Brandy Williams, LCSW from Flagler School District discusses the introduction of a best-in-class digital behavioral health network connecting the school district with key mental health providers across the state.
Take away valuable insight about how some of the most advanced school districts are taking on the mental health crisis in our school districts.
Join us to learn more from this valuable panel of speakers about employing emerging best practices and methods to more effectively manage the mental health crisis in school districts on May 26 at 12 noon ET.
‘She’s a BOSSE: Leadership & Etiquette Cliniques’ is excited to announce the organization will hold its first Atlanta conference for teenage girls at the Grand Hyatt in Buckhead August 1st – 4th. Young ladies will learn: how to be graceful in attitude and dress; proper grammar and nonverbal communication; the importance of education, entrepreneurship and economics; and formal dining etiquette. daily with a final grand prize of a Toshiba laptop to be awarded on August 4th.
Press Release –
updated: Jul 27, 2016
Atlanta, GA, July 27, 2016 (Newswire.com)
– ‘She’s a BOSSE: Leadership & Etiquette Cliniques’ is excited to announce the organization will hold its first Atlanta conference for teenage girls at the Grand Hyatt in Buckhead August 1st – 4th. Young ladies will learn: how to be graceful in attitude and dress; proper grammar and nonverbal communication; the importance of education, entrepreneurship and economics; and formal dining etiquette. Ladies will also receive t-shirts, swag bags and professional head shots. She’s a BOSSE conference attendants will compete for prizes daily with a final grand prize of a Toshiba laptop to be awarded on August 4th. The organization will also honor four successful women of demonstrative grace in the Atlanta market, those women include: Talecia Parks, Contracting Officer for the City of Atlanta; Anita Wallace Thomas, partner of Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough LLP; Kim Whitehead, CEO of LUX Dream Group; and Tenille Livingston, author, OWN Ambassador and contributor to Huffington Post.
“Young ladies are constantly bombarded with images that depict who they should be and what they should look like. Teenage girls often behave in ways that reflect their perceived role or position in society. Some are fighting for attention, others understanding, while some have an excellent home life that nurtures their growth, education and health needs. Every young lady is different. Our goal as an organization is to help them understand their value, their choices and the opportunities that become available when they make the right decisions. For this reason, we have selected visible role models within the Atlanta market they can look to as beacons and examples of successful women that exude demonstrative grace,” states Stephanie D. Moore, founder of She’s a BOSSE.
Young ladies are constantly bombarded with images that depict who they should be and what they should look like. Teenage girls often behave in ways that reflect their perceived role or position in society. Some are fighting for attention, others understanding, while some have an excellent home life that nurtures their growth, education and health needs. Every young lady is different. Our goal as an organization is to help them understand their value, their choices and the opportunities that become available when they make the right decisions.
Stephanie D. Moore, Founder of She’s a BOSSE
A BOSSE is a Beautiful Oasis of Success, Style and Elegance. Young ladies will learn from Atlanta’s Elite in an intense fast-paced 4-day conference. The conference will be held at the Grand Hyatt in Buckhead, located at 3300 Peachtree Rd NE, with the final class of formal dining etiquette being held at Paschal’s Restaurant, located at 180 Northside Dr SW #B. Classes will be held Monday, August 1st – Thursday, August 4th, meeting each evening from 6:30 PM – 9 PM. Young ladies will enjoy a time of learning, fun, creating new friendships and personal development.
Speakers include: National recording artist, IESHIA; TE’ANNA SYMONE, Actress and Singer; Patrice Harrison, National Miss Black US Ambassador Pageant Founder; Delmar Johnson, HR Brain for Hire; Winston A. Wilson, SAVVY Foundation; Harvey Armstrong, former NFL Player and Founder of Star Struck Foundation; Sherry Sims, Founder of the Black Career Women’s Network; The Young Moguls Brand, Teen Entrepreneurs; Andre Carter, TowandaBraxton’s Husband; Tenille Livingston, Author; and Attorney Kim Whitehead to name a few.
For more information, or to purchase a ticket call (405) 306-9833 or visit our website at www.shesabosse.com.
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She’s a BOSSE Etiquette Clinique was founded in 2013 to support young ladies as they grow into beautiful confident women.
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