State worker fired after reporting SNAP theft scheme

A longtime Michigan state employee says she was fired after exposing a scheme where her colleagues allegedly stole taxpayer-funded food benefits from a program that feeds 1.3 million low-income residents.

Ashanta Butler worked for the state for 23 years with no complaints before she was fired on April 24, 2024, according to the complaint she filed on July 25 in the Eastern District of Michigan.

“In or around early 2024, Plaintiff reported concerns to the Office of the Attorney General of the State of Michigan regarding fraudulent activity by State employees who were allegedly conspiring to unlawfully receive public benefits, including food assistance.”

The complaint implicated state employee Angela Barbee.

“Shortly after Plaintiff made the protected report, her supervisor, Rachel Hill, informed her that she had been instructed by Manager Angela Barbee to target and ‘get rid of’ Plaintiff due to her cooperation with the Michigan Department of Corrections and her role as a whistleblower. Angela Barbee, who was later transferred to another office for engaging in similar misconduct, was among the managers implicated in the benefits fraud reported by Plaintiff.” Click here to read more.

 

Airbnb Tries to Stick Traveler with $7,000 Repair Bill After Host Uses AI-Generated Images to Claim Damage

A London-based academic has received an apology and $5,700 refund from Airbnb after a New York apartment host allegedly claimed she caused over $15,963 in damages, using AI-generated images as evidence of the supposed damage. The company initially tried to charge their customer $7,000 for the damages and refused her appeal until a newspaper investigation caused them to change their tune.

The Guardian reports that Airbnb, the popular short-term rental platform, has found itself at the center of a troubling case involving a host who allegedly submitted AI-generated photographs to support a false claim of extensive property damage. The incident has raised concerns about the ease with which AI-generated images can be used to deceive and defraud, and has prompted Airbnb to launch an internal review of its claims handling process. Click here to read more.

 

High school principal arrested for DUI and cocaine possession, police say

TAMPA, Fla. - It was just last year when Scott Hazlett, an assistant principal at the time, was credited for helping save a student’s life, but over the weekend, he was arrested for driving under the influence.

Linda Unfried, the co-founder of Mothers Against Drunk Driving in Hillsborough County, Florida, feels like Hazlett put lives at risk.

“Thank God that Temple Terrace police officers stopped him, saved him from killing someone, killing himself,” she said.

Temple Terrace Police said early Saturday morning, they were conducting speed checks when they caught Hazlett driving 15 miles per hour over the speed limit. Click here to read more.

 

Third person charged in West Tennessee quadruple homicide, murder suspect still at large

A third person has been charged with accessory after the fact in the quadruple homicide case out of West Tennessee that has made national headlines.

This comes after four people were found dead in Lake County, Tennessee, and a baby was abandoned in a front yard nearly 30 minutes from the crime scene.

Dearrah Sanders, of Jackson, Tennessee, was arrested Monday morning for allegedly helping Austin Drummond after the murders, the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation reports. She is charged with accessory after the fact t o first-degree murder and will be booked into the Lake County Jail.

SWAT teams were spotted in the area Monday with TBI confirming agents were following up on a lead related to the possible whereabouts of Drum. Click here to read more.

 

Why Soros Network Donated Over $1M to This Republican Organization

A conservative watchdog is calling for a Republican organization that took more than $1 million from the Soros network’s Open Society Action Fund to “sever its relationship.”

The Open Society Action Fund, typically known for donating for leftwing causes in both the United States and abroad, contributed $1.67 million to the International Republican Institute for a 19-month grant that began in 2023. The fund described the grant as “to support the grantee’s work on capacity building for East Asia diaspora communities.”

The GOP-aligned group says the money was to support persecuted Uyghurs in China.

The National Legal and Policy Center flagged the unusual pairing of a Soros-backed Republican organization.

“I write to ask that the International Republican Institute (IRI) sever its relationship with the so-called Open Society Action Fund, and any other entities founded and/or funded by George Soros,” National Legal and Policy Center President Peter Flaherty said in a letter Thursday to International Republican Institute Chairman Sen. Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska. Click here to read more.

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Police Accused of Covering Up Alleged Asylum Seeker Child Rape for Fear of ‘Inflaming Community Tensions’

According to a report from the Mail on Sunday, Afghan national Ahmad Mulakhil, 23, was charged with allegedly raping the 12-year-old girl last month after entering the country illegally on a small boat across the English Channel. Meanwhile, fellow Afghan Mohammad Kabir, 23, was reportedly charged with kidnapping, strangulation, and aiding and abetting the rape of the same girl, who remains in specialist care.

However, according to the report, police told local officials to withhold information from the public about their identities, including that the two men were asylum seekers. The police are said to have warned about the possibility of “inflaming community tensions” should the public be told the truth.

The MoS went on to report that Mulakhil and Kabir were both living in asylum seeker properties managed by the controversial Serco contractor, which runs the £2 billion hotel migrant scheme for the government. Click here to read more.

 

Michigan’s child death rate outpaces national average for at least 8th consecutive year

The rate of child deaths in Michigan continues to outpace the national average at a time when state health officials are taking heat for failing to properly investigate.

The most recent 2022 data from the Michigan Child Death State Advisory Team cited by MLive shows 1,186 Michiganders under the age of 18 died that year, including 650 infants.

The rate of child deaths in Michigan continues to outpace the national average at a time when state health officials are taking heat for failing to properly investigate.

The most recent 2022 data from the Michigan Child Death State Advisory Team cited by MLive shows 1,186 Michiganders under the age of 18 died that year, including 650 infants.

The numbers mark at least the eighth year the state’s child death rate of 53 per 100,000 has eclipsed the national average, which increased to 52.2 in 2022. Click here to read more.

 

Teen On Trial For Killing Her Baby Once Said Murder Was Her ‘Favorite’ Birth Control

A Florida college student who is on trial for killing her newborn baby girl said in text messages that her “favorite” type of birth control is to “kill [the] kid.”

Brianne Moore was 19 when she gave birth to a baby in her college dorm bathroom in April 2024. Hours later, she disposed of the deceased baby in the trash.

Moore claims she did not know she was pregnant, or was in denial about it, and did not kill the baby, whom she claims died on her own. However, a medical examiner ruled the cause of death as homicide.

In text messages dated seven months before the birth, Moore talked to a male, named Quasim, from her home state of Mississippi. The pair discussed a “plan c” option of birth control as killing the child, which Moore called her “favorite,” according to CourtTV. Click here to read more.

 

Trump’s Mission to Make America’s Kids Fit Again Is Way Overdue

Poor health and obesity, and the chronic diseases that accompany them, cost this country billions of dollars. President Donald Trump, alongside Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., is on a mission to end that, and he’s starting with our children.

It’s often said that you can’t outrun a bad diet. The implication is that no matter how much we may exercise, it’s what we put in our mouths daily that predominantly determines health outcomes.

This is largely true. Still, the decline in physical activity, particularly among America’s youth, is distressing. Shoulders slumped, eyes locked into a screen, their still developing brains and bodies have turned to mush. Literally.

Approximately one in five, or over 22% of children are considered obese, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That’s about 14.7 million kids between the age of 2 and 19. Not only is that disturbing, but it is also unacceptable and unsustainable. Click here to read more.

 

Woman arrested in hot car death of 3-year-old in Birmingham

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (WBRC) - A woman has been arrested in the death of 3-year-old Ke’Torrius Starkes Jr.

Kela Stanford, 54, is charged with leaving a child in a vehicle. She was arrested Aug. 1.

The charge, which is part of the Amiyah White Act, prohibits leaving a child or incapacitated person unattended in a motor vehicle in a manner that creates an unreasonable risk of injury or harm.

Starkes was under the care of the Alabama Department of Human Resources and was being transported by Stanford who was a Covenant Services employee at the time of his death. Covenant Services was contracted by DHR to help with child transportation.

The Jefferson County Coroner’s Office confirmed that Starkes was left inside the vehicle July 22 on Pinetree Drive in Birmingham from approximately 12:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. He was found unresponsive and pronounced dead about 30 minutes later. Click here to read more.

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