Three die from electrocution after live power line falls on car in Oregon ice storm

Published

4 months ago

January 19, 2024

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Three people have died from electrocution after slipping on ice into a power line that fell on a car during a storm in Portland, Oregon.

Devastated father Ronald Briggs said his 15-year-old son Ta’Ron, and his 21-year-old daughter – who he did not name – died after slipping into the live wire while trying to save her nine-month-old baby boy from the crushed SUV.

The daughter’s boyfriend also died after he slipped and his foot touched exposed wire while also trying to save the child.

Mr Brigg’s daughter, who was also six months pregnant, screamed to her boyfriend to get the baby before she was electrocuted, prompting her brother Ta’Ron to run and try to help until he suffered the same fate.

“I told him, ‘Don’t go down there – try to get away from them,” Mr Briggs said.

“And he slid, and he touched the water, and he, and he died too. I have six kids. I lost two of them in one day.”

“It just hurt,” he said. “Being a good father cannot solve this right now.”

‘Heroic’ teen

Remarkably, the baby survived the ordeal, after being saved by neighbour Majiah Washington, who had witnessed the entire event.

“I was concerned about the baby,” 18-year-old Ms Washington said, “nobody was with the baby”.

Managing to avoid the live wire, she told a news conference how she grabbed the baby.

Rick Graves, a spokesperson for Portland Fire and Rescue, praised Ms Washington for her heroism, confessing he didn’t understand how she and the baby were not electrocuted.

“We do have fortunately with us a toddler that is going to be able to thrive and do what they possibly can as they move forward,” Mr Graves said. “And they are here, in part, because of the heroic acts of a member of our community.”

Mr Briggs told Portland television station KGW that his daughter had come over to use the internet after hers had gone out during the storm.

He and his wife had just got into their own car when they heard a loud boom and saw their daughter’s SUV on fire, the TV station reported.

It comes as the Pacific northwest of America has been battered with snow, freezing rain and ice in the past week.

Extreme temperatures have been blamed for at least 10 deaths in Oregon, along with a further five in Seattle due to hypothermia.

US

Sean Kingston’s home raided ‘over $150,000 TV payment’ – as his mother arrested

Published

2 hours ago

May 24, 2024

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Sean Kingston's home raided 'over 0,000 TV payment' - as his mother arrested

A SWAT team has raided the rented Florida mansion of singer Sean Kingston and arrested his mother on fraud and theft linked to the installation of a gigantic TV.

Detectives detained his mother, Janice Turner, 61, at the property in a Fort Lauderdale suburb, popular with celebrities and professional athletes, including Dwayne Johnson and Miami Dolphins star Tyreek Hill, on Thursday.

The sheriff’s office said the investigation is ongoing and declined to release specific details about the charges against Turner or whether her 34-year-old son is also being sought.

Local media reported Kingston was out of town and was not present during the raid, in which items were removed and loaded into a van by the authorities.

The Jamaican-American performer is best known for his 2007 single Beautiful Girls, Fire Burning and his collaboration with Justin Bieber on Eenie Meenie.

Federal court records show his mother pleaded guilty in 2006 to bank fraud for stealing more than $160,000 (£126,088) and served nearly a year and a half in prison.

Kingston wrote in an Instagram post on Thursday, which was later removed: “People love negative energy!

“I am good, and so is my mother!… My lawyers are handling everything as we speak.”

Robert Rosenblatt, a lawyer representing the rapper and his mother, told the South Florida Sun Sentinel: “These are fine people, and I’d be surprised if the allegations were true.”

Florida Department of Corrections records show Kingston is on two-year probation for trafficking stolen property.

‘Promise of commercials with Justin Bieber’

Lawyer Dennis Card, who was present at the arrest, said it is partly related to a lawsuit he filed against Kingston in February, accusing him of defrauding a Florida company that installed a 232-inch television.

In the case, Ver Ver Entertainment says Kingston contacted the company in September about buying the television, sold under the brand name Colossal TV, and having it installed at his home. The system costs $150,000 (£118,000).

Kingston allegedly told the owners that if they agreed to a lower down payment and gave him credit, he and Bieber would do commercials for them.

In November, Kingston paid the company $30,000 (£23,631) and the TV was installed, according to the lawsuit, but no commercials or further payments were made.

“He is 100% not involved in this,” Mr Card said of Bieber.

“He had the misfortune of doing some work in the past with Sean, and Sean drops his name like crazy.”

Kingston, whose legal name is Kisean Anderson, has not had a major label release in more than a decade.

In 2011, he suffered life-threatening injuries in a jet ski accident.

US

Ticketmaster owner Live Nation facing monopoly lawsuit – after criticism from Taylor Swift

Published

20 hours ago

May 23, 2024

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Ticketmaster owner Live Nation facing monopoly lawsuit - after criticism from Taylor Swift

The US Justice Department (DOJ) is suing Live Nation, arguing the big concert promoter and its subsidiary, Ticketmaster, have been “monopolising” the live events industry.

The antitrust lawsuit was launched on Thursday by the DOJ, 30 US states, and the District of Columbia, with US Attorney General Merrick Garland saying: “It is time to break up Live Nation.”

The entertainment company merged with Ticketmaster back in 2010. Through Ticketmaster, Live Nation now controls roughly 80% or more of big venues’ primary ticketing for concerts, the suit says.

A Live Nation spokesperson said the company would defend itself “against these baseless allegations” and said the DOJ would lose in court because the case “ignores the basic economics of live entertainment”.

Ticketmaster, which overwhelmingly dominates the ticketing industry, has for years left fans and artists frustrated by hidden fees, rising costs, and limited ticket availability due to presales.

Its dominance in the industry came under scrutiny by US politicians in 2022, when Ticketmaster was forced to cancel its general sale of tickets to Taylor Swift’s much-anticipated Eras tour due to “extraordinarily high demands”.

At the time, the superstar criticised Ticketmaster on social media, saying it was “excruciating for me to just watch mistakes happen with no recourse” after Swift’s fans reported long wait times and site outages during the presales.

The star said 2.4 million fans had been able to purchase tickets, which was “truly amazing… but it really p***** me off that a lot of them feel like they went through several bear attacks to get them”.

Thursday’s legal action underscores the aggressive approach President Joe Biden’s antitrust enforcers have adopted as they seek to create more competition in a wide range of industries, from “big tech”, to healthcare, and groceries.

In March, the Justice Department filed a lawsuit against Apple alleging that the tech giant has monopoly power in the smartphone market.

“Live Nation relies on unlawful, anticompetitive conduct to exercise its monopolistic control over the live events industry
in the United States at the cost of fans, artists, smaller promoters, and venue operators,” Mr Garland said.

He added that, as a result, fans pay more in fees, artists have fewer opportunities to perform, and smaller promoters get squeezed out.

The lawsuit says Live Nation directly manages more than 400 musical artists and controls around 60% of concert promotions at major venues.

It also owns or controls more than 265 concert venues in North America.

In 2010, the Justice Department approved Ticketmaster’s controversial merger with Live Nation, with conditions intended
to stop the combined company from harming competition.

In 2020, a court extended most of the DOJ’s oversight of the merger to 2025 because, the department said, Ticketmaster
retaliated against stadiums and arenas that opted to use other ticketing companies.

Live Nation has said in the past that it was confident its business practices were legal, and that the probe had been prompted by complaints from rivals, including re-sellers.

A spokesperson for the company said on Thursday that the lawsuit “won’t solve the issues fans care about relating to ticket prices, service fees, and access to in-demand shows”.

Live Nation added that “calling Ticketmaster a monopoly may be a PR win for the DOJ in the short term, but it will lose in court because it ignores the basic economics of live entertainment” – stating that most service fees go to venues.

US

Judge blocks foreclosure auction of Elvis Presley’s Graceland

Published

1 day ago

May 23, 2024

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Judge blocks foreclosure auction of Elvis Presley's Graceland

A judge has blocked the auction of Elvis Presley’s former home, by a company that claimed his estate failed to repay a loan which used the property as collateral.

Shelby County Chancellor JoeDae Jenkins issued a temporary injunction against the proposed auction of Graceland that had been scheduled for Thursday.

Mr Jenkins’ injunction essentially keeps in place a previous restraining order he had issued after the singer’s granddaughter Riley Keough filed a lawsuit to fight what she claimed was a fraudulent scheme.

A public notice for a foreclosure sale of the 13-acre estate in Memphis, Tennessee, posted earlier in May said Promenade Trust, which controls the Graceland museum, owes $3.8m (£3m) after failing to repay a loan taken out in 2018.

Keough, an actor, inherited the trust and ownership of the home following the death of her mother, Lisa Marie Presley, last year.

Naussany Investments and Private Lending said Lisa Marie Presley had used Graceland as collateral for the loan, according to the foreclosure sale notice.

Keough alleged that Naussany presented fraudulent documents regarding the loan in September 2023.

Neither Keough nor lawyers for Nassauny Investments were in court.

“Lisa Maria Presley never borrowed money from Naussany Investments and never gave a deed of trust to Naussany Investments,” Keough’s lawyer submitted in the lawsuit.

Kimberly Philbrick, the notary is listed on Nassauny’s documents, indicated that she never met Lisa Marie Presley nor notarised any documents for her, the court filing said.

Graceland opened as a museum and tourist attraction in 1982 as a tribute to Elvis, five years after the King of Rock n Roll died in aged 42 in 1977.

He purchased Graceland Mansion in 1957 and lived there until his death.

It now draws hundreds of thousands of visitors each year, and a large Elvis-themed entertainment complex across the road from the museum is owned by Elvis Presley Enterprises.