Author: Houston Stringer

In a class-action lawsuit filed in Illinois Federal court, African-American State Farm agents claim they are discriminated against because of "firm-wide policies and practices" which subject the agents to lower pay on a systemic basis as well as a high turnover rate. State Farm sought to have this case dismissed, but a federal judge in Illinois ruled in favor of the agents on July 1, 2022. The lawsuit, claims that through the Term Independent Contractor Agents (TICA) program, State Farm requires that agents invest "substantial sums of their own money in rent, offices, marketing, sales leads, and hiring a team.", after taking a 17-week course ran by State Farm. In return, State Farm made promises of "lucrative business opportunities and careers", which the lawsuit argues does not hap...

An e-mail was sent out over the weekend to residents of Atascocita Forest in Atascocita, TX, a suburb of Harris County, TX regarding an incident that took place on July 2, 2022, at the Atascocita Forest Swimming Pool (17415 Woodland Hills Dr, Humble, TX 77396). According to the e-mail, the two men decided to walk around the parking lot with a rifle after being told to leave the pool by lifeguards after getting into an argument with some others at the pool. While no one was injured, the individuals were arrested after police were called. The e-mail from the board of directors: "As many of you may know, yesterday there was an incident at the Atascocita Forest pool where two males walked from The Forest subdivision to the Atascocita Forest park and started a verbal altercation wi...

A Toyota RAV 4 with Texas dealer plates took Houston Police on a chase through north Houston early Monday morning around 3 a.m. on July 4, 2022, before crashing into a ditch on Exeter St. at Skinner Rd. According to police radio traffic, the chase started when the suspects when police were called after several suspects were caught breaking into vehicles in the 1700 block of Wellington Street, which is between Aldine Westfield and the Hardy Toll road. The caller stated that there were three vehicles total, with a total of six suspects, all males in their 20s and 30s. The caller stated also stated that the suspects were stealing parts off vehicles using a "jigsaw". The three vehicles were described as a "silver Cadillac, gray and brown Jeep, and a blue truck." Police rushed to the scen...

According to Officer Mayfield with the Houston Police Department, first responders were dispatched to the drive-by shooting at 9:04 p.m. late Sunday, July 3, 2022. The shooting took place at the Conoco Phillips gas station located on the corner of Berry Rd. and Airline Dr. (4840 Airline Dr, Houston, TX 77022). Officer Mayfield explained that when first responders arrived, they found the male victim in a silver Chevy SUV, with a gunshot wound. The victim was taken by paramedics with the Houston Fire Department to a local hospital in Houston. Upon arrival at the hospital, the victim, a male somewhere between the age of 20 and 25 years old was pronounced deceased. As of right now, Houston Police do not have a description of the suspect(s) or any motive that led up to the shooting. Offic...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zckut1RTtgg&list=PLkWM-tkzjRG8c1W87yBf1LE_rI6tbhwPh&index=1&t=1550s&ab_channel=AkronOhio Akron Police Department and the City of Ohio held a press conference early Sunday to release bodycam footage of the Jayland Walker shooting that happened at about 12:30 a.m. on June 27, 2022. In the bodycam footage, which is a bit grainy because of the quality of bodycams, you can see and hear several dozen gunshots being heard. Authorities confirmed during the press briefing that at least Walker had at least 60 wounds, but would not confirm how many bullets actually hit his body before he crumbled to the ground and was pronounced deceased at the scene. The bodycam footage began with officers in a patrol vehicle chasing Jayaland Walker after he ...

7/2 update: Harris County Sheriff, Ed Gonzalez stated in a tweet that two of the victims in the shooting were teens, aged 17 and have been pronounced deceased. Another man was injured during the shooting but is expected to survive. The shooting occurred during a pool party at the Kimberly Pointe apartments. The Harris County Sheriff's office is now leading the investigation. *The title has been updated to reflect the new information. Original story: First responders were dispatched to the Kimberly Pointe Apartments (333 W Airtex Blvd, Houston, TX 77090) shortly after 10:30 p.m. on July 1, 2022. According to initial radio reports, officers arrived two find two kids in critical condition and an additional third child that needed CPR. Additional units with Harris County Precinct 4...

It is now legal to buy, sell, and consume low-dose edibles that contain up to 5 milligrams of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) for those over 21 in Minnesota. This is only allowed in food or drink form and can only be purchased by those over the age of 21, similar to the legal drinking age. THC is the main active ingredient in marijuana that allows a user to get "high". The law, which went into effect on July 1, 2022, comes after an effort to regulate delta-8 THC which is a cannabis derivative that is not regulated under federal or state law. The Minnesota law allows delta-9 THC to be regulated, which lowers the barrier of entry since delta-8 requires a lot more chemicals and is a lot harder to extract from marijuana than delta-9. This will allow retailers to save on costs and the time it...

T-Mobile's rideshare advertising network, Octopus Interactive (Play Octopus) sent an e-mail out to drivers on Thursday afternoon after stating that drivers may have noticed that the driver dashboard was unavailable due to maintenance. The Play Octopus tablet is pretty popular among drivers since Uber and Lyft drivers can sign up for a free tablet, drive around, and earn advertising revenue. This is popular among riders because they get to play games with a chance to win cash prizes. The e-mail sent on June 30, 2022, was sent to all drivers who have the Play Octopus tablet and notified drivers if they had been breached or not. It claimed that this was "an isolated security threat and [Play Octopus) immediately shut the dashboard down for maintenance and further investigation." and...

A panel in the Court of Appeals for Second Appellate District in California has ruled in favor of Jeff Bezos saying that his girlfriend's brother, Michael Sanchez, did not have enough for a defamation suit against the founder of Amazon.com Michael Sanchez, the brother of Lauren Sanchez who is now the girlfriend of Jeff Bezos appealed a decision over a defamation case he brought against the former Amazon CEO on January 31, 2020 and lost. The alleged defamation stemmed from allegations that Bezos made back in 2019 stating that he was the subject of an attempted blackmail attempt. The alleged blackmail attempt was reportedly over his affair with Michael's sister Lauren and came to the surface when a tabloid, National Enquirer attempted to extort Bezos. The tabloid claimed to have ev...

Kaitlin Armstrong was captured in Costa Rica at the Santa Teresa Beach hostel by U.S. Marshals on Wednesday, June 29 after being on the run for 43 days according to a press release. The U.S. Marshal's said in the statement that they were able to find her after learning just the week prior to her capture that she had sold her Jeep Grand Cherokee to a CarMax dealership in south Austin for $12,200. After selling her car, she left on a plane from ABIA in Austin, to Hobby Airport from Houston. She then booked a flight under her name to New York LaGuardia airport. At this time there was no warrant issued for her arrest. Austin Police enlisted the Lone Star Fugitive Task force to try and help locate Armstrong. It was on May 17, 2022, that Austin police were able to issue a homicide warr...