Category Archives: Courtney Adelman

After nine months, an officer charged

Posted on by

By COURTNEY ADELMAN

The issue of black lives matter and police shootings is extremely prevalent in today’s society.

After shooting an unarmed caretaker, a North Miami police officer will face criminal charges.

Officer Jonathan Aledda was arrested and charged on Wednesday, April 12. with attempted manslaughter and a misdemeanor of culpable negligence.

Aledda shot and wounded a behavioral therapist who was laying on his back on the ground with his hands up in the air, begging officers not to shoot.

This was caught on video by a nearby bystander.

This was an off-duty shooting.

Miami-Dade State attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle has concluded that Aledda was more than 150 feet away from caretaker Charles Kinsley. Two other officers were about 20 feet away and did not feel threatened.

According to a press release, Aledda was not even close enough to be in the position to assess the situation and shoot.

Prosecutors have been discussing this for months and confirmed that Aledda’s shots were unjustified.

Many people believe that Aledda shot the wrong target and was trying to shoot the autistic man because he believed he had weapons and was a threat to Kinsley.

This case is resurfacing, but is very confusing. Why did this cop shoot this man and was there a valid reason?

He should be charged for no reason, because essentially he shot an innocent man and he was too far away to even see what this man was doing and if he was a threat.

The news media have covered this in a very interesting way because there is no way of telling exactly what happened.

Some people think that the police officer was just protecting himself, but other people believe that it was way more than that and it should be an influential case in the black lives matter movement.

Tommi Lahren sues The Blaze

Posted on by

By COURTNEY ADELMAN

Tommi Lahren is an outspoken conserve commentator that formally worked for Glenn Beck and has filed suit against The Blaze for ” wrongful termination.”

“The suit, filed in Texas Friday, alleges that Beck and The Blaze got rid of Lahren and her nightly talk show due to her making pro-choice comments on “The View” last month,” CNN reported.

Her comment on the view was “I can’t sit here and be a hypocrite and say I’m for limited government, but I think the government should decide what women do with their bodies,” she said on the broadcast.

It was because of this comment that she was let go from her job and was informed that she would have no more shows.

She is not one to do nothing about it so she exclaimed in a tweet that “playing dead,” isn’t her style so she has decided to sue for wrongful termination.

Lahren may not have a lot of people on her side, but she will stop at nothing to get her voice heard.

She is certainly relentless and her strong conservative beliefs will take charge as she tries to win her case on wrongful termination.

Whether or not this is news is debatable, however her comment on the view caused a lot of uproar as it can be considered extremely inappropriate or even incorrect.

UM, FIU students arrested in Gables

Posted on by

By COURTNEY ADELMAN

Students from the University of Miami and Florida International University were arrested yesterday during a prostitution sting in Coral Gables.

Acacia Friedman, a 23-year-old from UM, Maury Noun, age 21 from UM, and Samara Charlotin, a 19-year-old FIU student were all charged with prostitution after an undercover police investigation on Wednesday night.

Friedman and Charlotin were said to have met with and undercover detective at the Colonnade Hotel after they agreed to have sex for $5,000.

Once inside the Colonnade, the detective handed Friedman the money and asked for reassurance as to what was happening.

Both Friedman and Charlotin faced additional charged for having drugs on them.

Noun was charged with aiding or abetting prostitution.

Local 10 news reported the judge saying, “You’re a smart girl, and if you want to see age 20, you need to find a new line of employment…. A very risky thing you are doing, alright, for someone with a lot of potential such as yourself. You need to stay away from them.”

UM has declined information about the ongoing investigations.

Pair arrested for counterfeit jewelry

Posted on by

By COURTNEY ADELMAN

Miami-Dade County recently arrested two jewelry store owners for selling high-end jewelry that was fake.

Jimmy Hernandez, 40, and Tania Varona, 57, were co-owners of Joyeria The Lord of the Rings Collection. Both were arrested for counterfeiting services and good worth more than $20,000.

investigators say that they see name-brand jewelry sold at its normal retail price.

This jewelry included items from Bvlgari, Cartier, Chanel, Christian Dior, Gucci, Hermes, Lous Vuitton, Micheal Kors, Movaddo, Ray Ban, Rolex, Tiffany, Tory, Tous, Van Cleef & Arpels and Yves St. Laurent.

If all of this jewelry were authentic and new the arrest would have claimed for counterfeiting about $31,000.

Whether or not this is important news is hard to say. This arrest and incident did not hurt anyone. I feel that it wouldn’t be until they continued this business that the store owners would get into worse things.

However, I don’t see this story posing any threat to people in nearby areas. I did fin it interesting because I enjoy jewelry and would not want to buy something fake.

So in that sense, it is important to report this so people know that if they have ever bought something from this store, it is counterfeit.

Pair accused of ordering hit man

Posted on by

By COURTNEY ADELMAN

A couple in Houston allegedly hired a hit man to kill their ex-partners. Talk about a fun couple activity.

The hit man was an undercover police officer posing as a hit man.

On Monday, a judge set bail at $50,000 for 48-year-old Valerie Busick McDaniel. He denied bail for 39-year-old Leon Philip Jacob who was already on bail for assaulting and stalking his ex-girlfriend. He and McDaniel were both arrested on Friday.

The couple remained in jail for the whole weekend and will stay much longer in jail if convicted.

The Miami Herald reported this week that “the couple are charged with solicitation of capital murder. Prosecutors say McDaniel wanted her ex-husband killed, while Jacob sought to have his ex-girlfriend kidnapped and later killed to prevent her from testifying against him in the assault case.”

Investigators with Harris County District Attorney’s Office Special Crimes Bureau had found out that Jacob had already planned to kill his ex-girlfriend and was willing to pay someone $10,000 to do it.

The undercover cop who was posing as a hit man met with Jacob and during the meeting, McDaniel came in and said she would also pay $10,000 for the hit man to kill her husband.

This is crazy to hear. People hear horrible stories about relationships, but not necessarily to the extent of killing a previous partner.

It is very interesting that this case has news media coverage in Miami because it occurred in Texas.

However, this is a unique case that has a lot of issues with it. It could even be noted as a semi-famous case because it deals with so many issues.

Trump notes Women’s History Month

Posted on by

By COURTNEY ADELMAN

President Trump declared March to be recognized as Women’s History Month on Wednesday, following the tradition of the National Women’s March.

This is very interesting for Trump to talks about as some of the news media outlets have viewed trump as a “women hater or sexist.”

The newly claimed month roots from International Women’s Day, which is celebrated on March 8. This day has been marked by the United Nations since 1975.

According to the National Women’s History Project, the success of local projects back in the day during Women’s History Week bubbled up back to the Carter White House.

Jimmy Carter issued the very first presidential statement on Women’s History Week in 1980.

Originally this was for the Equal Rights Amendment, which was passed by Congress and became the 27th Amendment.

Throughout history women have struggled with equality and especially with things like equal pay.

Each president has done something different for National Women’s History Month.

Women have come a long way, but most recently have felt attacked by the new president.

Trumps remarks throughout his campaigning have been degrading to women and many women felt victimized by him.

Although, not all women felt that way it is very important to recognize what Trump is saying, if anything about women.

It is also important to recognize what Trump has said or is doing in the media, so that everyone knows.

So far he hasn’t done much, but this is one progressive step in equality for women.

Miami-Dade continues to be costly

Posted on by

By COURTNEY ADELMAN

Miami remains one of the top 10 most expensive cities in which to live.

Miami-Dade County ranked ninth in the country for the most expensive rents with an average of $1,800 for a one bedroom and $2,500 for a two bedroom, according to the latest Zumper National Rent Report for February, which is  a monthly analysis that looks at more than 1 million currently  active listings across the county’s top 100 markets.

It is about twice as expensive to rent an apartment in a place like San Antonio or in cities in South Carolina.

It is three times more expensive than staying in Oklahoma in a one bedroom apartment In Oklahoma City or Cleveland.

According to The Miami Herald, “Rents in the county range from as high as $5,100 on average in millionaire-thick Fisher Island to $700 in Brownsville, which is still higher than a third of the average rents in the country’s top 100 markets. ”

Rent will continue to be an upward trend. So think wisely on where to love. The amazing beaches, clubs, and food might just be worth it to live at such a high price.

Grindr used in HIV self-testing

Posted on by

By COURTNEY ADELMAN

A dating app for gay men known as Grindr was found to be an effective way to give out HIV self-tests.

A recent study included mostly black and Hispanic men in Los Angeles. The area in Los Angeles is known as a high-risk population for HIV.

Most gay-related and HIV-related stigma do not have access to good health care. This is return keeps men from getting tested.

According to Dr. A. Lina Rosengren, author of the study and an infectious diseases fellow at the University of North Carolina, the study shows that “not only are the home test kits convenient, they can help bypass some of those stigmas by providing anonymity.”

All users have to do is swab their gums with the oral fluid kit and find out their results in about 20 minutes.

If the user find that their results are positive then they should go get blood tested to reassure their results.

Researchers have offered free access to these at home tests through ads and notifications on the Grindr app.

Researchers chose Grindr because it is very popular among gay men especially in Los Angeles.

“The app attracts two million daily active users in 192 countries,” according to its website.

HIV and Aids are serious issues specifically for gay men. It is very important that people get tested as soon as possible.

Because of the lack of health care among gay men, it is hard for these men to get tested or seek proper care.

With this new addition to Grindr men can now test themselves in the comfort of their own home.

Gaga reacts to hate comments

Posted on by

By COURTNEY ADELMAN

Some negative comments were made about Lady Gaga’s Super Bowl performance. Most of these comments were made about her physique during the show

But Lady Gaga is not sweating it. After all her entire song “Born This Way” captures the message of loving yourself.

” I heard my body is a topic of discussion so I wanted to say, I’m proud of my body and you should be proud of yours, too,” the pop sensation wrote on Instagram.

Being in the spotlight is hard and most of the time someone will always have something to say about it even if their comments are not true.

Gaga was called fat along with a lot of other negative comments about her outfits during the half time show.

Although she may have had some outfits that showed off her midriff, Gaga did not give into all the hate comments.

She took action on social media to let her fans know that she wasn’t bothered and also to offer some advice.

“Be you, and be relentlessly you. That’s the stuff of champions.” Gaga said.

Her words spread all over social media by many other women celebrities who have been ridiculed before for their bodies.

Lady Gaga knows that being in the spotlight all the time and performing at an even as big as the Super Bowl will always come with negative comments even if the performance was truly amazing.

Gaga continues to reassure fans that these hateful comments did not and will nit effect her.

She encourages fans and everyone to love themselves love who you are because “baby you were born this way.”

Nickelodeon introduces new princess

Posted on by

By COURTNEY ADELMAN

Nickelodeon is now one of the top children networks surpassing Disney. The network has now decided to try something they don’t normally do. They are putting their weight behind a princess.

In past years, Nickelodeon has tended to leave princesses to Disney. But the Viacom-owned cable network is now generating $5.5 billion a year in merchandise alone for their new princess “Nella the princess Knight.”

“Nella the Princess Knight,” will be aired on Nickelodeon beginning next Monday in a programming block specifically for pre-schoolers.

There has been negative connotations towards Disney princesses in the past. Academics have used princesses like  Snow White and Sleeping Beauty to make points about negative impacts on young girls. Will Nickelodeon now find itself in a similar situation?

“Nella” is a self- empowered girl who isn’t afraid to push boundaries. She is bi-racial with a white mother and a black father.

Studies have shown that by 2020 most children under 12 will be biracial. The character also mashes gender roles.

“Nickelodeon’s princess may strike some adults as subversive, particularly given the surge of conservatism that helped push Donald J. Trump into office. But children see mixed-race families and the blurring of gender lines as normal,” Cyma Zarghami, Nickelodeon’s longtime chief told The New York Times.

“Adults might say, ‘Oh, look — she’s biracial,’ but our viewers just say, ‘that looks like my friend,” she added.

Zarghami said that she led Nickelodeon to ratings strength in 2016 among all viewers. She is super excited about the new series because it is already taking a life of its own.