Three men with box seats at Barclays Center were harassed, followed and once charged $1,000 for a cold pizza because they're black, according to a $4 million federal lawsuit filed Thursday. Ludwig's Drug Store agreed to pay $939,000 over a three-year period to Barclays Center owner Forest City Enterprises for 10 tickets to events at the arena. Suite manager Glen Defreitas and drug store shareholders Jermaine Pratt and Sean Scarborough regularly use the box and are the only black licensees at Barclays, according to the complaint. They say they were subjected to adverse treatment because of their race. On Oct. 26, they say they ordered a pizza for a guest. After waiting an hour, they requested ice and were allegedly given ice in a dirty bucket. When the cold pizza finally arrived, the men were accused of not paying for it, even though their credit card was on file, the lawsuit claims. Pratt says he paid for the pizza with his credit card, which was then charged $1,000. "Upon information and belief, the $1,000 was just for the pizza," the lawsuit states. Defreitas says he was approached by the senior vice president of suite and ticket sales for Barclays Center and the Brooklyn Nets and asked in a threatening manner, "Why are you always here?" and "You have been coming here a lot." Defreitas, Pratt and Scarborough say they were often ignored by the center's staff and forced to wait hours for their orders to arrive, "if they arrived at all." Suite attendants allegedly refused to provide them food and beverages without first getting verification from a supervisor. Even then, the men say, their orders were often unfulfilled. They also say their box is rarely if ever cleaned, while others are cleaned regularly. The drug store demands $4 million for alleged civil rights violations from the arena, its owner and Compass One, which owns the arena's catering company.The filing adds, on Oct. 19 the men overheard Barclays Center staffers on a radio remarking that they were a security threat and that their box should be investigated. A short time later, a Barclays strike force invaded box and forced its occupants to the floor to investigate them. It was the wrong box, however. Those box holders will likely file a lawsuit, too -- for harassment and profiling. If they don't. They should. This is the second race-related incident invoking Jay Z in as many weeks. How, do you ask? We'll tell you. The rapper owns a small stake in the Barclays Center. He collaborated with Barneys and the Internet demanded he dissociated himself from the retail and pull his line, which go on sale in a few weeks. According to Jay Z, proceeds from the collaboration go to charity.
source: CN
Tracy Kenny has received disability living allowance for two decades, pocketing in the region of ($161,850). But she has now been told that her handouts will be stopped after government officials ruled she was fit to work. Tracy, 45, says it is impossible for her to hold down a job because of her painful allergies to rubber, glue, nickel and metal which she insists leave her skin blistered and sore. She spends her day barefoot, and can only leave her house...in a mobility scooter. She must also wear special gloves to protect her from metal items such as knives and forks. Tracy suffers from contact dermatitis, a type of eczema that causes red, itchy, scaly skin. She says she had to quit her job as a factory worker 20 years ago, when the condition first affected her hands – and it later spread to her feet. But, after undergoing a medical test last year, government officials have ordered her back to work – and withdrawn her ($178) per week benefits. Tracy, who lost an appeal on the decision at a tribunal, said: “How can I go to work, or go to job interviews, with no shoes on? I just don’t know what to do. I can only wear shoes for 10 or 15 minutes, before my feet blister and split. Socks draw the glue in and slippers don’t help. It’s so unfair and stressful – I’m genuinely ill. Sick people are suffering because the government want more money.” Tracy, who also has diabetes and thyroid problems, added: “I’ve tried everything to help – the doctors at Salford Royal even organised for a pair of clogs to be made in Switzerland for me. "But I had a reaction to the canvas material on the top. It’s also linked to stress, and it doesn’t help that my 22-year-old son Joshua is serving in Afghanistan.” A spokesman for the Department of Work and Pensions [said the government] was committed to helping people back to work if they are capable. He said: “A decision on whether someone is well enough to work is taken following a thorough assessment and after consideration of all the supporting medical evidence provided by the claimant.” Margaret Cox, of the National Eczema Society said an allergy to shoes was "not at all uncommon." She said: “Of the things that provoke contact dermatitis, glue and or the dyes in leather are quite common. People just don’t understand just how awfully painful a severe eczema can be. If your skin is cracked, bleeding and sticking to clothing, can you imagine walking? Even a mild incidence of eczema, as many people have experienced, can be quite painful."Actually, we do have a few questions. How about driving your mobility scooter to find a job? Or during those 20 years of receiving disability benefits you find a cobbler who can make you a pair of shoes with glue, rubber, nickel and metal or whatever else you're allergic to. Or how about working from home? Girl, good night!
source: Daily Mirror
La Crystal King Woolfork, 28, remains in the Indian River Jail facing an attempted murder charge two weeks after the bloody scuffle. A judge set bail at $100,000, according to jail records. The arrest capped an evening that began Sept. 25 at Shake Your Booty club. Woolfork told investigators that she and a girlfriend partied there and came home to 28th Court in Vero Beach about 4 a.m., according to her arrest report. She told police that she and her friend began performing oral sex on one another and then Woolfork woke her boyfriend, telling him she wanted him to have sex with them — and he said no. The boyfriend, whose named is being withheld by authorities, said Woolfork became angry, grabbed a knife and stabbed him in the eye. He told them he struggled to disarm her and eventually grabbed the knife, hid it under his mattress, ran away and got a ride to the hospital. Woolfork, who is on probation for a previous felony, said she grabbed the knife in fear of her boyfriend, but denied stabbing him with it. Instead she said that they struggled. In that struggle, he cut her and stomped on her head several times. She said she broke her cell phone on his head and later hit him several times in the face with a candle holder.Oh, love.
source: WTEV
He was charged with aggravated battery in July after scuffling with police officers who were called to the scene after he suffered serious facial wounds from a self-inflicted gunshot, according to his lawyer. His mother believed that incident was a call for help, not a suicide attempt, Butler said. But getting Marks help was not easy because of the lack of full-time mental health facilities in Illinois that would accept his insurance, she said. Marks’ mother, Paulette Mitchell, found him dead in an alley on Chicago’s south side Friday evening after a neighbor called to say he was walking around with a gun, Butler said. His family is now hoping to help others suffering from mental illness by talking about what happened to Marks in the three months since his arrest, she said. Marks — who, at 7 feet 2 inches tall, was known by friends as a “gentle giant” — was diagnosed with bipolar disorder a year ago, the same month he lost to to winner Christine Ha in the final round of the Fox reality cooking competition’s third season. A doctor diagnosed Marks with schizophrenia just last week, Butler said. “Joshua was so kind, so gentle,” his mother told CNN Sunday. “He loved life. He loved people. He would never hurt anyone; never. He was just a gentle, sweet soul; but he hurt himself. That breaks my heart, that he hurt himself.” “But, behind that huge smile, Josh was in the battle of his life fighting mental illness,” a family statement said. “It was extremely tough, but Josh was always positive, focused on his faith in God and determined to win; pushing forward through his illness to follow his passion for cooking and dream of being a renowned chef.” That battle apparently began just as Marks was achieving celebrity status on television. “I hadn’t noticed any signs of anything wrong or any mental illness until after Josh completed filming ‘MasterChef,’” his mother said. “The time he was away filming was extremely stressful on him.”...[L]ast summer Marks suffered “a mental break” that led to his arrest on July 29, his lawyer said. Marks told police he had been possessed by “MasterChef” judge Gordon Ramsay, who turned him into God, the Chicago Tribune reported. “What people don’t know is that on the night Josh was arrested in July, he had just shot himself and had called police for help from the emergency phone,” his mother said. “He wasn’t himself, he was in a manic state, calling the police to help him after having shot himself.” When police arrived, a scuffle ensued. “They said that Josh lunged at them and attempted to disarm an officer,” his other said. “In addition to his gunshot wound to the face, Josh suffered a fractured jaw and injury to his face and head.” He was treated at a hospital for the facial and ear wounds caused by a bullet that he fired and then transferred to the Cook County Jail, where he was placed in the general population, his lawyer said. He got no mental health treatment and no medications while in jail, Butler said....His mother, a Chicago public elementary school teacher, bailed him out after more than a week. She desperately sought a full-time mental health program for Marks, but she could not find a one with an available bed, Butler said....She “felt as if her hands were tied” but “she was doing everything she could to get him in treatment,” Butler said. Mitchell enrolled her son in an outpatient program that was “the best available through insurance,” she said. That program concluded Thursday, with a doctor informing Marks that he believed he was suffering from schizophrenia. The new diagnosis upset him, Butler said....Mitchell stayed home from her teaching job Friday to be with her son. “I was concerned about him; he just wasn’t himself, so I stayed with him at my dad’s home Thursday night after we left the hospital and all day on Friday,” she said. “I only left for a couple of hours to pick up my daughter from school Friday afternoon.” She was stuck in Chicago’s rush-hour traffic when she got a call from her brother saying that a neighbor saw her son walking around an alley with a gun. “I rushed back to the south side to get to the neighborhood, and just started driving through the alleys near my dad’s house looking for him,” Mitchell said. “All I could think was I have to get to him in time.”...While police work to trace how Marks got the handgun he used to kill himself, his family is also seeking answers. “We live in a country where anyone can buy a gun on the streets at will,” Butler said. “We know that Josh paid little or no money for that gun, because he just didn’t have it; he was unemployed and in treatment full time. So with no money, how did he get this gun?”That's a question she ought to ask the gun lobby.
source: CNN
One man has been charged in connection with an incident earlier this week wherein a woman was held down and urinating on as a number of men wearing wigs surrounded her in St. Paul. The incident happened on Monday evening, police said. A 31-year-old woman said she was standing near the 500 block of Farrington Avenue when a vehicle pulled up next to her. There were four men inside, all wearing wigs. The complaint says that one of the men asked, “How do we get back to University Avenue?” When she approached, the driver grabbed her and ripped her iPhone from her hands. The complaint says the other men got out of the vehicle and pushed her to the sidewalk next to a building nearby. According to the charges, one of the men pulled her by her hair and urinated on her after the others had pulled her pants down. The victim told police she feared she would be raped, but they all laughed after one of them urinated on her. She said they left after one of them asked, “You took that white b****’s phone?” She sustained a cut on her wrist and a cut above her eye in the ordeal. Police located the vehicle a few hours later. Investigators said there were a number of people inside the parked vehicle, which smelled strongly of marijuana. The woman’s iPhone was located inside the vehicle, which the driver — 18-year-old Miklos Dates Jr. — said belonged to his aunt but was later discovered to have been a stolen Enterprise rental car. Dates has been charged with first-degree aggravated robbery and fifth-degree criminal sexual conduct.I just can't. Bye.
source: WCCO
It was around noon that day when Ho finished the ninth frame of the fifth game and went to the women's bathroom. "Upon entering the bathroom, another female bowler wearing a yellow sleeveless shirt and a black bottom also entered the bathroom," the complaint states. "The female bowler paused and looked at plaintiff as plaintiff entered. Plaintiff had to explain to the female bowler that she was entering the correct bathroom. "As plaintiff was in the bathroom, she overheard some conversation about her and knew she was going to be approached as soon as she exited the bathroom. "When plaintiff stepped outside of the bathroom, she saw a wall of people (approximately five to six individuals) blocking the exit to the bathroom." [...] Ho says she felt intimidated and harassed because of the number of people waiting for her to leave the restroom. The assembled employees allegedly repeatedly told Ho that she was in the wrong bathroom. Ho said an employee named Luciana then accused her "of being a man using the women's restroom," pointing to the written gender designation near the bathroom entrance and then stating, "women's." "Plaintiff replied, 'I know; I'm in the right bathroom,'" the complaint states. "Luciana then curtly stated, 'ladies' and once again pointed to the gender designation near the bathroom entrance. This time plaintiff replied, 'I know; I am a lady.' Luciana again bluntly exclaimed the word 'Ladies.'" Ho says there was talk about removing her shirt to prove she was a woman. She said her life partner's son also offered to bring back Ho's ID to prove she was in the right bathroom. At this point, however, the employees "began smirking and appeared to be reveling in plaintiff's humiliation," the complaint states. She says she left the bathroom and finished the rest of the tournament but left her shoes at the alley. The next day, Ho, her life partner, the tournament manager and Gold Coast manager Ranette Long allegedly met to discuss what happened. "Ms. Leong was apologetic and believed that there was a language barrier that caused the incident," the complaint states. "However, she said she found out at that meeting that Ms. Leong did not report the incident to her supervisors." Kerrie Burke, the vice president and general manager at Coast Casinos, allegedly sent a letter to Ho acknowledging the restroom incident had occurred. Burke wrote, "Our efforts to train our employees is ongoing and while I would like to tell you that our training is 100% guaranteed, quite obviously it is not," according to the complaint.That apology didn't cut it, so Ms Ho is seeking an unspecified amount in punitive damages for violations of state law, assault, false imprisonment and negligence. Susan is straight up butch, you can see more photos on her Facebook page.
source: CN
