(HOUSTON) — The boyfriend of the mother of an 8-year-old boy has been charged with murder after the child’s remains were discovered in a Houston home along with his three abandoned siblings, authorities said.
One of the children, a 15-year-old, called the authorities and said his brother had been dead for one year and his body was in the room next to his, Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez said Monday.
The Harris County Medical Examiner’s Office said the boy’s manner of death was a homicide, according to Houston ABC station KTRK.
His mother, Gloria Williams, 35, now faces multiple charges, including injury to a child by omission and tampering with evidence (human corpse), Gonzalez announced Tuesday night.
Her boyfriend, Brian Coulter, 31, has been charged in the murder of her son, who was 8 years old at the time of his death in 2020, the sheriff said.
Both Williams and Coulter are in custody and additional charges are expected, he said.
The 15-year-old and the other two children — boys under the age of 10 — were found home alone on Sunday, the sheriff said.
Both younger kids “appeared malnourished and showed signs of physical injury,” he tweeted.
Deputies also “found skeletal remains of a small child,” the sheriff said.
All three children were taken to the hospital, he said. Their conditions were not released.
Authorities believe the parents hadn’t lived in the home for several months, Gonzalez said.
Prior to their arrest, the children’s mother and her boyfriend were found late Sunday night and had been interviewed and released, Gonzalez said Monday.
The investigation is ongoing, the sheriff said.
At a news conference Sunday, Gonzalez called it a “horrific situation.”
“I have been in this business for a long time and I had never heard of a scenario like this,” he said.
(WASHINGTON) — “I don’t know where in the hell I belong,” Sen. Joe Manchin, the West Virginia Democrat, said Tuesday when when asked about possibly switching parties amid his stubborn bargaining with frustrated fellow Democrats and President Joe Biden.
Manchin said people approach him “every day” about doing so, and that it would be an easy decision. But he insisted he won’t, speaking out in a revealing interview with Economic Club for Growth Chairman David Rubenstein.
“Is that the purpose of being involved in public service? Because it’s easy?” Manchin asked. “Do you think by having a “D” or an “R” or an “I” is going to change who I am?” he said, adding he didn’t believe Republicans would be any more pleased with him than Democrats are right now.
He called being the only statewide Democratic public official in his home state “very lonely,” but said he understands why his constituents mostly vote for Republicans.
“My little state has never complained. We’ve done all the heavy lifting — we’ve done the mining, we’ve made the steel, we’ve done everything it took for this country to be a the superpower of the world,” Manchin said. “And all of a sudden they took a breath and looked back and we’re not good enough, we’re not clean enough, we’re not green enough, we’re not smart enough, so to hell with you. So, they said, ‘Well, to hell with you, too.'”
With Democrats holding onto a razor-thin margin in the Senate, Manchin has emerged as a pivotal player in Democratic efforts to pass the president’s agenda.
He said he doesn’t think there is anything “fun” about being the decisive vote in the Senate — but it’s led to breakfast meetings at Biden’s Delaware home and given him the upper hand in driving the direction of the massive social spending package, including what amounts to a veto power over provisions he doesn’t like.
That includes sticking to a much lower $1.5 top-line price tag for the social spending package he set at the start — something Democrats and Biden are still negotiating with him about this week, months later.
He commented on Majority Leader Chuck Schumer’s decision in June to use the fast-track budget process known as reconciliation to bypass Republican blocking efforts.
“I don’t think we should be running the government through reconciliation, because it’s not lasting,” Manchin said he told Schumer.
He also reaffirmed Tuesday that he’s opposed to changing the Senate’s filibuster rule — just days after Biden himself suggested he could support exceptions for fundamental Democratic priorities such as voting rights and election reform — and maybe more.
While that would give Democrats breathing room to pass key agenda items, without Republicans keeping the measures from even getting a vote, Manchin said it’s important that the minority party retains some political power and that all sides pursue bipartisanship.
And he offered some behind-the-scenes color about how he’s been bargaining with Biden, who’s eager to secured his support.
“The president and I had this conversation, I said, ‘Mister President, I don’t know who put this out, but that’s screwed up,'” Manchin said, speaking about a proposal to help pay for his spending plan by having the IRS track annual transactions of $600 or more from individual bank accounts. After GOP backlash, the administration last week backed off the idea to catch tax evaders, raising the triggering amount to more than $10,000.
Manchin wasn’t happy.
“Do you understand how messed up that is?” he said he told the president. “This cannot happen. It’s screwed up.”
“He says, ‘I think Joe’s right on that,’ Manchin told Rubenstein. “So, I think that one’s going to be gone.”
(WASHINGTON) — Three of President Joe Biden’s major nominees were confirmed to ambassadorships by the Senate on Tuesday.
Former Sen. Jeff Flake, an Arizona Republican who left office in 2019, was confirmed as ambassador to Turkey, while former Democratic Sen. Tom Udall of New Mexico was confirmed to be ambassador to New Zealand.
Cindy McCain, the wife of late GOP Sen. John McCain, was confirmed to the rank of ambassador during her tenure of service as U.S. Representative to the United Nations Agencies for Food and Agriculture.
All three nominees were confirmed unanimously.
Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly, a Democrat, asked for unanimous consent to confirm Cindy McCain. Kelly was mentored by John McCain prior to his death in 2018 and won his Senate seat last year. Democratic Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, also of Arizona, was presiding over the Senate when the nomination was confirmed and was visibly excited.
Flake and McCain were some of Biden’s most ardent Republican supporters during the 2020 presidential election. They were censured by the Arizona Republican Party in January for their staunch criticism of former President Donald Trump.
“When I began in the Republican Party officially, the Republican party was the party of inclusion. It was the party of generosity. It was the party of ‘country first,'” Cindy McCain said of the censure. “We have lost our way and it’s time that we get back on track.”
“I truly hope that as things progress on, and we get further away from this mess that occurred, that we can do just that,” she added. “We can get back on track and remind everyone that we are here for the country and not our party.”
(WASHINGTON) — The U.S. Border Patrol agents at the center of a controversy stemming from their use of horses to block Haitian migrants from entering the U.S. have not yet been questioned more than a month after the incident took place, according to a law enforcement official.
Images of mounted patrol agents using their horses to push back migrants, mostly Haitian, stirred national controversy as an unprecedented number attempted to cross the Rio Grande into the small border town of Del Rio, Texas, in September. The Department of Homeland Security launched an internal investigation into the matter shortly after the images came out.
Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas promised a swift investigation into the horse patrol over a month ago, assuring lawmakers it would yield findings days later. As of publication, and despite multiple requests for comment from ABC News, the administration has not publicly announced any findings.
Preliminary findings from Customs and Border Protection’s Office of Professional Responsibility have been handed over to the Justice Department to determine if criminal charges are warranted, according to two officials who were not authorized to speak publicly.
One law enforcement official said the internal investigation could not proceed, and the agents directly involved could not be interviewed, until the U.S. attorney makes a determination.
Referrals to U.S. attorneys are common in federal law enforcement personnel matters and do not necessarily indicate that criminal charges are being considered. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Texas, which includes Del Rio, declined to comment.
“The investigation is ongoing,” a DHS spokesperson said in a statement to ABC News. “The Department is committed to a thorough, independent, and objective process. We are also committed to transparency and will release the results of the investigation once it is complete.”
Advocates for both migrants and the agents have been frustrated with the pace of the investigation so far.
Karen Tumlin, founder of the Justice Action Center, said a central concern is that the government has deported potential witnesses to federal police brutality in the time it has taken to conduct the investigation.
“[The delay] creates an ‘out of sight, out of mind’ issue,” Tumlin said. “That was their intention.”
Over the two-week period that migrants surged into Del Rio, border officials stopped about 29,000 of them, according to the Department of Homeland Security. More than 15,000 either returned to Mexico on their own or were sent to Haiti on rapid expulsion flights. About 1,800 were placed in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention and some 13,000 were released on conditions to report back to authorities.
Jon Anfinsen, a Border Patrol agent and union leader, confirmed the mounted patrol agents remain on administrative duties, which he said has impacted the unit’s ability to perform their normal patrol work.
The horse patrol appears to be back up and running in Del Rio, Texas, despite silence from the Biden administration on the results of the internal probe. Use of the horse patrol was stopped at the Del Rio International Bridge in the days following the confrontations.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki was unequivocal in announcing the end to the use of Border Patrol horses in Del Rio last month, calling it a “policy change.” DHS officials clarified at the time that it was only a temporary suspension.
“The secretary also conveyed to civil rights leaders earlier this morning that we would no longer be using horses in Del Rio,” Psaki said at a Sept. 23 White House press briefing. “So that is something — a policy change that has been made in response.”
A CBP official who was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly disputed Psaki’s characterization.
“They pulled all horse patrol agents for maybe a day or so to process,” the official said referring to the administrative duties agents are required to perform when migrants flood the area. “Then it was right back to normal sector-wide, with the exception of a couple more agents under scrutiny.”
A photo posted to the USBP Del Rio Sector’s Facebook page on Oct. 7 shows Border Patrol agents on horseback detaining a group of men huddled on the ground.
Grandson has announced a new song called “Drop Dead.”
The track, which is being released in honor of the “Blood//Water” rocker’s birthday this week, will feature Blink-182 drummer Travis Barker and pop star Kesha.
You can hear exactly what that sounds like when “Drop Dead,” well, drops, this Friday, October 29.
“Drop Dead” follows grandson’s single “Rain” with Jessie Reyez, which was recorded for the movie The Suicide Squad. You can also hear him on Tom Morello‘s “Hold the Line,” a track off the Rage Against the Machine guitarist’s new solo album, The Atlas Underground Fire.
Grandson released his debut album, Death of an Optimist, last December.
Longtime Kansas violinist and vocalist Robby Steinhardt sadly passed away in July of this year, but not before recording his debut solo album, a star-studded collection of songs titled Not in Kansas Anymore, which was released posthumously this week.
Described as a “Prog Rock Opera,” the album features guest appearances by Jethro Tull‘s Ian Anderson, Deep Purple/Dixie Dregs guitarist Steve Morse, former Toto singer Bobby Kimball, Rolling Stones touring keyboardist Chuck Leavell, Pat Travers, longtime Billy Joel drummer Liberty DeVitto, former Rolling Stones backing singer Lisa Fischer, acclaimed jazz drummer Bill Cobham, and many others.
Not in Kansas Anymore includes a new rendition of Kansas’ classic 1978 hit “Dust in the Wind.” The album was produced by Michael Franklin, who also worked on former Yes singer Jon Anderson‘s similarly star-packed 2019 solo effort, 1000 Hands: Chapter One.
Not in Kansas Anymore is available for purchase now on CD and digital formats at RobbySteinhardtOfficial.com or SolarMusic.com. You also can pre-order a vinyl LP version of the record, which is due out in December.
In the only interview he gave about Not in Kansas Anymore, Robby explained to PBS about the album’s title, “It’s no slight against the band, no never! My time with Kansas defined a big part of my life, of which I am very proud of. Ever since The Wizard of Oz, those words have become an American axiom for moving forward, you can never go back etc. I guess it has a special meaning when it is fixed to me.”
Steinhardt died on July 17 from complications of pancreatitis. He was 71.
Here’s the full Not in Kansas Anymore track list:
“Tempest”
“Truth 2 Power”
“Mother Earth”
“Rise of the Phoenix”
“The Phoenix”
“Prelude
“Dust in the Wind”
“Pizzacato”
“Tuck Tuck”
“Not in Kansas Anymore”
“A Prayer for Peace”
Stefanie Keenan/Getty Images for TOM FORD: AUTUMN/WINTER 2020 RUNWAY SHOW
NFL star Russell Wilson didn’t allow a recent injury to stop him from celebrating wife Ciara‘s 36th birthday Monday.
The Seattle Seahawks quarterback was sidelined from Monday night’s game against the New Orleans Saints after undergoing hand surgery. However, he made the night very special for his Grammy-winning spouse. Wilson rented the top two floors of Seattle’s iconic Space Needle observation tower and restaurant, which was filled with rose petals, candles, flowers and balloons.
“Perfect in every way. God made you for me. He made you to fit perfectly in my arms. Made you to be the amazing woman and mother you are. God made you to entertain the world with your gift to sing & dance!” he commented on Instagram.
“Awe baby. You are my everything!,” Ciara replied. “Thank you for making me feel special today, and everyday. I’m a better woman because of you! I love you so much!”
With the music of Sade‘s “No Ordinary Love” in the background, Ciara was amazed, constantly repeating, “Oh my God!”
“Wow Babe @DangeRussWilson. Thank You for loving me the way you do!,” she commented. “I didn’t have much growing up, but I can say I had a lot of love. That feeling made me feel like I could conquer the world. That’s how you make me feel. Like a little girl all over again. I love you so much!”
As Ciara enjoyed the breathtaking view of the city, the Super Bowl winner told her, “We have a special date night tonight, me and you. A little dinner on top of Seattle….We’ll have some dessert, and more dessert later. I love you.”
The couple celebrated their fifth wedding anniversary in July. They have two children together: four-year-old daughter Sienna and one-year-old son, Win.
(GROVELAND, Fla.) — More than 70 years after four Black men were accused of raping a white woman in 1949, Florida State Attorney Bill Gladson has filed a motion to posthumously clear the “Groveland Four” of their criminal records.
“Even a casual review of the record reveals that these four men were deprived of the fundamental due process rights that are afforded to all Americans,” Gladson wrote in his motion filed Monday. “The evidence strongly suggests that a sheriff, a judge, and prosecutor all but guaranteed guilty verdicts in this case.”
Ernest Thomas, Charles Greenlee, Samuel Shepherd and Walter Irvin, all young Black men, were accused of raping a 17-year-old white woman in the central Florida town of Groveland. Following the accusation, an angry mob shot and killed Thomas before he could be arrested. Records show that the indictment against him was never dismissed by the court, according to Gladson’s motion.
Greenlee, Shepherd and Irvin were all put to trial and convicted.
Greenlee, who was 16 years old at the time, received a recommendation of mercy from the jury and received a life sentence. He did not appeal the verdict.
Irvin and Shepherd were sentenced to death and successfully made an appeal. In 1951, the U.S. Supreme Court vacated their convictions and ordered a new trial for each. Following the new indictment, Florida Sheriff Willis McCall shot and killed Shepherd and attacked and injured Irvin. Shepherd’s indictment, like Thomas’, was never dismissed. Irvin was retried, convicted and again sentenced to death, but later had his sentence commuted to life in prison.
Gladson filed the motion to dismiss the indictments of Thomas and Shepherd, and set aside and vacate the judgments and sentences of Greenlee and Irvin.
Several pieces of troubling information highlighted the problematic nature of their charges and convictions. Gladson argues that the state never had Irvin’s pants tested for the presence of semen, even though they could have, and instead left the jury with the impression that Irvin’s pants contained evidence of the rape.
The qualification of the prosecution’s star witnesses, who made shoe and tire casts from the scene, has also been called into question. One of the defense’s expert witnesses stated in the second trial that one of the casts was manufactured to falsely link Irvin to the scene.
Gladson also noted an email from the grandson of the state attorney who prosecuted the Groveland Four case that says state attorney Jesse Hunter and trial judge Truman Futch knew at the time of the second trial that there was no rape.
Now, if the court grants the Gladson’s motion, the legal presumption of innocence for these four men would be restored.
“While we are thankful the Florida Legislature apologized and the Board of Executive Clemency granted pardons, full justice depends on action from the judicial branch,” Carol Greenlee said in a statement. “I hope this motion will result in that full justice for my father Charles Greenlee, Walter Irvin, Samuel Shepherd, and Ernest Thomas.”
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis granted posthumous pardons to the men in 2019.
This isn’t the first time Black men may have been falsely or unfairly convicted for similar incidents.
In 1972, Federal District Judge Charles R. Scott vacated the convictions of Robert Shuler and Jerry Chatman, two Black men who were convicted of raping a white woman in Florida. The retrial was ordered when the woman hinted the assault may never have been committed.
In the 1980s, the Exonerated Five, previously known as the Central Park Five, were a group of Black and Hispanic teenagers who were convicted and later exonerated in connection with the rape and brutal assault on a white female jogger in New York.
Travis Scott announced his star-studded Astroworld Festival lineup on Tuesday and it consists of 20 acts, including a legendary Rock & Roll Hall of Fame band.
“November come won’t you pop out at the fest. 3rd annual Astroworld Fest line is now here. Welcome to Utopia,” La Flame wrote on Instagram. “We morphed the grounds into a new universe. This year can’t wait for y’all to see it. And I’m bringing some avengers wit me.”
He added, “PS show is sold out, but I finessed a bit more for y’all.”
Young Thug, SZA, Lil Baby, 21 Savage, Roddy Ricch, Baby Keem, Bad Bunny, BIA, Don Tolliver and Master P are among the acts set for the two-day event, taking place on Friday, November 5, and Saturday, November 6, at Houston’s NRG Park. Plus, the iconic Earth, Wind & Fire, now in their sixth decade, will also perform.
After holding the fest in 2018 and 2019, Travis was forced to cancel the 2020 event due to COVID-19. Fifty-thousand people attended the one-day event in 2019. One-hundred thousand are expected for this year’s two-day fest.
In addition to music, the festival will feature an amusement park with more than 30 custom carnival games and rides, including a roller coaster, a Ferris wheel and bumper cars. Jordans from Nike, and tickets to Houston Astros home games will be among over 100 prizes that will be awarded.
The theme for the Astroworld Festival 2021 is “Open Your Eyes to a Whole New Universe.” Tickets are now on sale at AstroworldFest.com.
Netflix’s hit show Emily in Paris is teaming up with French makeup brand Lancôme for a new beauty collection inspired by the series.
The collection features makeup, skincare and fragrance products. The centerpiece of the collab is the 12-shade Emily in Paris eyeshadow palette that comes in a heart-shaped design with an Eiffel Tower motif. Other products include mascara, lipstick, a serum and the Idôle Eau de Parfum in a limited-edition bottle.
“This is the first time Lancôme has teamed up with a highly popular and super aspirational Netflix show to create a beauty collection,” Lancôme global brand president Francoise Lehmann says in a statement.
She adds, “With this new collection, Lancôme celebrates the Parisian joie de vivre and the charm of Emily in Paris. It is the perfect way to re-create that distinctive French girl beauty and interpret it your way at home, bringing French glamour & sophistication to all women around the world.”
The collection will be available at Lancome-USA.com at the end of November. Season two of Emily in Paris, starring Lancôme ambassador Lily Collins, hits Netflix on December 22.
