(NEW YORK) — Police arrived at a home in Selkirk, New York, just before 3:30 p.m. on Sept. 29, 2020 to find a husband and wife dead. Bhupinder Saran, 58, killed his wife, Sarbjit Saran, 58, and then took his own life, police said.
It was not the first time police had been to the home. A year earlier, officers were called to a domestic violence incident, and there had been an order of protection against the husband.
On Thursday, New York State Inspector General Lucy Lang revealed that Sarbjit Saran had informed her employer, the state’s information technology office, of the trouble at home, but she received no help — a violation of state domestic violence policies.
“When she reached out for help, it fell on deaf ears,” Lang said during a news conference in Albany.
“This investigation found that despite ITS’ awareness that its employee had reported that she was a victim of domestic violence, ITS did not follow its Domestic Violence and the Workplace Policy in a manner that was responsive to her needs as a victim or that promoted workplace safety,” the inspector general’s report said.
Incidents of violence, sexual violence and stalking increased in New York during the pandemic, when calls to the state’s domestic and sexual violence hotline increased 45%.
Lang called Sarbjit Saran’s death “an utter tragedy” and said she should have been able to count on her employer.
“She gave 30 years of her life to the state,” Lang said. “So much of what happened here is that warning signs were disregarded, and that is a failure of education, a failure of training and a reason why domestic violence has for years existed outside the public sphere.”
Lang announced her office would audit every state agency to make sure they understand their obligations when an employee mentions being the victim of violence by an intimate partner.
Chris Stapleton is halting his All American Road Show tour for the weekend.
The singer and his band were scheduled to head up north for three Canadian shows, but a positive COVID-19 test within the band and “subsequent exposure” has changed those plans.
“We want you all to know that this was not a decision we made lightly,” Chris told his fans on social media when he broke the news. “We sincerely apologize to every ticket holder.”
The shows affected are his concerts in London, Ontario; Ottawa, Ontario; and Montreal, originally set to take place on Thursday, Friday and Saturday, respectively. But Chris isn’t outright canceling the shows: He says he’ll reschedule them, with new dates to be announced soon.
“We are focused on staying safe & hope to see you all soon,” Chris said at the conclusion of his message.
Chris’ 2022 All American Road Show launched in April. This year’s lineup features a rotating cast of support acts, including Willie Nelson & Family, Sheryl Crow and more. This weekend’s batch of shows would have featured Elle King.
Chris and Elle are still planning to hit Canada this month. Not including the postponed dates, there are six All American Road Show stops in Canada over the next few weeks on Chris’ tour calendar.
After collaborating with Hayley Williams at Coachella last weekend, Billie Eilish has revealed her favorite Paramore song.
During a Q&A with fans on her Instagram Story, Eilish named the track “All I Wanted,” the closing song off Paramore’s 2009 album Brand New Eyes, as her “all time favorite.”
As previously reported, Williams joined Eilish during her Coachella set during the festival’s second weekend for an acoustic performance of the Paramore classic “Misery Business” and a rendition of Eilish’s “Happier Than Ever.”
Also during the Q&A, Eilish shared that her “favorite song right now” is Blur‘s 1997 single “Beetlebum.” Blur frontman Damon Albarn also sang with Eilish during Coachella, joining her during her weekend-one set to play Gorillaz‘s “Feel Good Inc.”
Tim McGraw’s 55th birthday is coming up on May 1, but the singer doesn’t have any big party plans: Actually, he says, his preferred way to celebrate is with a quiet night in.
“To me, a perfect night on my 55th birthday would be to hang with my wife on the couch and watch a great movie,” the singer says in an interview with his label, Big Machine Label Group.
Of course, Tim’s wife is a familiar face to most country fans, too: He’s married to Faith Hill, and the country superstar couple share three daughters together.
While Tim might not be planning a big party, he can probably count on getting some sweet sentiments from his wife. Tim and Faith typically celebrate each other’s birthdays with tributes on social media. Last year, Faith marked the occasion with a throwback picture of the two of them sharing a kiss.
“Happy birthday to my man, my one and only,” she wrote in the caption. “I love you.”
Tim and Faith recently co-starred in the TV series 1883, the prequel to Yellowstone.
Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for The Met Museum/Vogue
Justin Bieber‘s mother is proud his wife, Hailey, for coming forward about her recent health scare.
Last month, the 25-year-old model suffered “stroke-like symptoms” and was rushed to the hospital. It was later discovered she had a blood clot in her brain and a hole in her heart. She has since recovered.
Hailey opened up about her health journey Wednesday via a 12-minute video that she posted on Instagram. Justin’s mom, Pattie Mallette, share the clip to her Instagram story and expressed her relief.
“Grateful you are recovering well. God is good,” Pattie wrote. “Thank you for sharing your story. So brave. I love you so much @haileybieber.”
In the video, Hailey recalled what happened the day of her health scare, dubbing it “the scariest moment” of her life, and revealed that she had a transient ischemic attack (TIA) on March 10. Further tests later discovered that she had a patent foramen ovale (PFO), an opening between the upper chambers of her heart.
Hailey explained that her mini-stroke was caused by a blood clot escaping through the hole in her heart, which was about half an inch in size, and traveled to her brain. Hailey underwent additional surgery to close the hole.
“I just feel really relieved that we were able to figure everything out, that we were able to get it closed, that I will be able to just move on from this really scary situation and just live my life,” she expressed.
Justin previously opened up about his wife’s health scare during a recent performance in Denver. “Life randomly throws you curveballs,” he told the crowd. “It’s been really scary, but I know for a fact that God has her in the palm of his hands. And that’s a good thing.”
Based on all the pink themes in Britney Spears’ recent Instagram posts, fans have been speculating that the pregnant pop star is having a baby girl — but fiancé Sam Asghari is casting doubt.
In an interview with Access, the actor spoke about his excitement for fatherhood — even when it comes to changing diapers — and told host Mario Lopez, “[I’m going to be] hands-on as much as possible. This is my baby. My first baby!”
When asked if he and Britney will be painting the nursery pink or blue, Sam revealed that he’s staying in the dark…at least for now.
“I don’t [know],” he said when asked about the baby’s gender. In response to when he plans on finding out whether they’re having a girl or a boy, Sam said it is “up to” Britney. If he had it his way, Sam admitted, “I don’t want to [know]…It’s something that I want to wait for.”
Sam then doubled down that he doesn’t care what he’s having. “If it’s a daughter, it’s going to be the most spoiled princess ever,” he declared. “If it’s a son, it’s gonna be the toughest…I’m gonna be tough on [him].”
Although it’s unknown when Britney wants to find out the gender of her child, Lopez suggested that she and Sam wait until the baby arrives, because “it’s the best surprise.”
While this is the “Toxic” singer’s first child with Sam, it will be her third overall. She shares sons Sean, 16, and Jayden, 15, with ex-husband Kevin Federline.
Upon announcing his unexpected bundle of joy earlier this month, Sam told his fans on Instagram, “Fatherhood is something i have always looked forward to and i don’t take lightly. It is the most important job i will ever do.”
(NEW YORK) — Federal agents improperly questioned alleged New York City subway shooter Frank James this week, directed him to sign certain documents and took multiple swabs of his DNA, defense attorneys said in a court filing Thursday.
James, 62, allegedly set off a smoke grenade on a Manhattan-bound N train approaching 36th Street in Sunset Park, Brooklyn, before opening fire and shooting 10 people in what police called the worst disruption to the commute in New York since the Sept. 11 attacks.
On Tuesday, without alerting his lawyers, FBI agents entered his cell at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn “questioned him, took multiple buccal swabs of his DNA, and directed him to sign certain documents,” according to a letter to the court from Mia Eisner-Grynberg and Deirdre von Dornum of the Federal Defenders of New York.
“Contrary to standard practice, the government committed this intrusion absent advance notice to counsel, depriving us of an opportunity to be heard or to be present. Neither did the government provide subsequent notice to counsel. The agents did not provide Mr. James with a copy of the warrant or a receipt, in violation of Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure,” the letter said.
The attorneys said the government failed to explain why it deviated from standard procedure and only provided a copy of a search warrant when the attorneys asked after the fact. They accused the government of violating James’ constitutional rights.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York, which has charged James with one terror-related count, declined to comment.
Prosecutors were given until early next week to respond.
The defense attorneys said they would seek to suppress whatever statements James made to the agents this past Tuesday and asked the judge to order the government to turn over a copy of the affidavit that served as the basis for the search.
Universal Pictures has released a new, action-packed trailer to Jurassic World Dominion, in which we see Chris Pratt‘s Owen Grady recruiting original Jurassic Park stars Sam Neill, Jeff Goldblum and Laura Dern. The trio played, respectively, Dr. Alan Grant, Dr. Ian Malcolm, and Dr. Ellie Sattler, in the first two films.
Early on in the trailer, we see the raptor that Owen trained, Blue, coming to visit Owen and Bryce Dallas Howard‘s Claire Dearing at home, with the reptile showing off her new babies.
However, one of the young creatures ends up getting dino-napped. Pratt’s character then pledges to Blue he’ll stop at nothing to get the baby back, from what appears to be mercenary animal traders.
Pratt’s Grady goes on to tap the series’ original stars to help, telling them, “I can use your expertise.”
“You made a promise to a dinosaur?” Goldblum’s Malcolm asks incredulously when Owen tells him of his vow to Blue.
“Yeah,” Owen replies with a shrug.
Meanwhile, dinos are running amok everywhere: Pratt is seen dodging them on a motorcycle in a cobblestone European street, and there are pterodactyls flying over New York City.
“We made a terrible mistake,” says BD Wong, also reprising his role as genetic scientist Dr. Henry Wu.
“If our world is going to survive, what maters is what we do now,” Dern’s character says.
With hair-raising escapes seemingly all over the world, the trailer shows that the reunited heroes soon come face to face with what Neill’s Dr. Grant calls “the biggest carnivore the world has ever seen.”
Amy Beth Bennett/South Florida Sun Sentinel/Tribune News Service via Getty Images
(FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla.) — Jury selection in the death penalty case of confessed Parkland school shooter Nikolas Cruz lapsed into disarray after potential jurors allegedly mouthed expletives and threats to the defendant in the courtroom and the presiding judge admitted committing a legal error that nearly derailed the process.
Just days after Judge Elizabeth Scherer granted a motion by prosecutors to scrap jury selection in the high profile case and start from scratch, she reversed her order on Wednesday upon hearing a counter argument from Cruz’s lawyers. The case began on April 4 in Broward County, Florida.
Scherer admitted that she made an error back on April 5, the second day of jury selection, when she asked would-be jurors if they could follow the law if picked to serve on the case and then dismissed 11 who said they could not.
David Weinstein, a former federal and state prosecutor in Florida, told ABC News on Thursday that Scherer made a mistake by asking the question. He said her inquiries in the initial phase of jury selection should have been limited to questions about whether the potential jurors had a hardship that prevented them from serving on the case, which is expected to last four to six months.
“That was all that they were supposed to be inquiring into,” said Weinstein, who is not involved in the case but is following it closely.
He said the more probing questions like the one the judge asked should have been reserved for the voir dire phase of jury selection, when prosecutors and defense attorneys are given the chance to grill jury candidates on their answers.
“Each side is given the opportunity to rehabilitate you, to ask, ‘When you said you couldn’t follow the law, did you really understand what the judge was asking you? What do you mean you can’t follow the law?'” Weinstein said.
Defense attorneys filed a motion accusing the court of committing double jeopardy and asked that the death penalty phase of the case be declared a mistrial and that Cruz be sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
To remedy her mistake, Scherer reversed her earlier ruling and ordered that the 11 jurors she dismissed to be summoned back to court on Monday so lawyers can question them about their answers.
In her earlier ruling, Scherer also said she was dismissing the 243 would-be jurors who had already been qualified for a pool to seat the jury from. That decision has also been reversed.
Scherer said 20 jurors, including eight alternates, will eventually be chosen to recommend whether the 23-year-old Cruz, who has pleaded guilty to 17 counts of murder and 17 counts of attempted murder, will be sentenced to death or to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
The judge’s mistake wasn’t the only controversy to erupt this week in the case.
On Tuesday, a potential juror disrupted the proceedings when he entered the courtroom and allegedly mouthed expletives and threats to Cruz, who was seated at the defense table. The outburst apparently inspired other would-be jurors in the courtroom to make similar threats to Cruz and prompted bailiffs to press Cruz against a wall to protect him.
Scherer described that particular group of jury candidates as “belligerent” and dismissed them all.
Cruz pleaded guilty in October to committing the 2018 Valentine’s Day massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. During the hearing attended by loved ones of the 17 he killed, Cruz said he wished it was up to the survivors of the shooting to determine whether he lived or died.
“I’m very sorry for what I did,” Cruz said at his plea hearing. “I can’t live with myself sometimes.”
(NOTE LANGUAGE) Louisiana rap guru Kevin Gates is back with new music, releasing his latest single, “Big Lyfe,” Thursday.
Gates also unveiled a visual to go along with the positive track, which speaks of his success as a rapper as well as of his spiritual journey.
A few of the lyrics in the song go, “I don’t go and see the voodoo lady/ Know that I’m protected by the angel/ Like Muhammad Ali, I’m the greatest/ I’mma make you love me, I’m a gangsta.”
The new track, which is expected to appear on Gates’ upcoming album, KHAZA, which will follow his 2021 project, Only the Generals Pt II.
“Big Lyfe” comes on the heels of the new-found viral success of his 2013 song “Thinking with My D***” featuring Juicy J. Thanks to TikTok, the song catapulted to the top of the Apple music charts, as well as breaking into the top 40 of Billboard‘s Hot 100.
