Shootings devastate Chicago over 4th of July weekend

The Fourth of July weekend wasn't enough to stop the violence raging in Chicago. Though the number wasn't as severe as the shooting that happened last year, still more than 20 were injured in this shooting. The Chicago Tribune reports:

Chicago was hit with a burst of gun violence on the Fourth of July, with at least 21 people shot, one of them fatally, during an 11-hour stretch from Friday evening into Saturday morning, according to police.

That brought to 36 the number of people who have been shot in the city since the long holiday weekend began Thursday afternoon, when two women were hit by gunfire as they sat on a porch just a block from Garfield Park on the West Side.

A 30-year-old man was fatally shot in the Clearking neighborhood about 1 a.m.

Joel Bentley was pronounced dead at 5:46 a.m. at Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn after being shot in the parking lot of a Walgreen’s at 63rd Street and Austin Avenue about 1 a.m.

The man was shot in the stomach and taken to Advocate Christ Medical Center, police said. Police believe the man was throwing gang signs and taking pictures when he was shot. Bentley lived in the 5000 block of South Keating Avenue, according to the Cook County medical examiner’s office.

The holiday shootings have stretched across the city but have been concentrated in the South and West sides. The Englewood and Harrison districts have both seen a handful of people shot over the last two days, and there have been shootings as far south as the Altgeld Gardens neighborhood at the edge of the city to the Rogers Park neighborhood bordering Evanston.

Salute to DJ Skee, who delivered a very inspirational call to action during his broadcast about the drastic need for a solution to the violence in the city:

FTC accuses T-Mobile of charging hidden fees

A few months back we reported that T-Mobile could be acquired by AT&T. Well the Federal Trade Commission is going after the company claiming they have been charging customers hidden fees. A claim that T-Mobile disputes, obviously. Hip Hop Wired reports:

The Federal Trade Commission is accusing T-Mobile of overbilling customers to collect hundreds of millions in bogus fees, according to a lawsuit filed Tuesday (July 1). The FTC claims the mobile phone giant continued tacking on extra charges even after customers opted out.

T-Mobile hid the charges behind “premium” text messages — disguised as horoscopes, jokes, flirting tips, and other messages — that run customers close to $10 per month. The company pocketed 35% to 4o% percent of the profits, the FTF said. “It’s wrong for a company like T-Mobile to profit from scams against its customers when there were clear warning signs the charges it was imposing were fraudulent,” noted FTC Chairwoman Edith Ramirez. “The FTC’s goal is to ensure that T-Mobile repays all its customers for these crammed charges.”

For their part, T-Mobile called the accusations are “unfounded and without merit” and claims to have stopped billing customers hidden fees.

“T-Mobile stopped billing for these Premium SMS service last year and launched a proactive program to provide full refunds for any customer that feel that they were charged for something they do not want,” said T-Mobile CEO John Legere. “T-Mobile is fighting harder than any of the carriers to change the way the wireless industry operated and we are disappointed that the FTC has chosen to file this action against the most pro-consumer company in the industry rather than the real bad actors.”

The FTC says it tried to settle with T-Mobile out of court but could not come to an agreement.

Hi-Five singer arrested for allegedly killing wife

If you're a R&B enthusiast like I am, then you remember the 5 man band, Hi-Five. Though they were a big hit during their time, the group has always been one of the more troubled groups in R&B. Well now, one of the group's members Russel Neal is being held on $100k after being charged with the stabbing death of his wife. TMZ reports:

Hi-Five singer Russell Neal‘s wife was killed after being stabbed multiple times and he’s now been charged with murder.

Cops say Catherine Martinez died from blunt force trauma and stab wounds.

The victim was a hot, 24-year-old fitness model. She was also an aspiring boxer who went by the name Brasilia.

The 40-year-old Neal went to the police station Wednesday and told cops his wife was dead in their apartment and he needed a lawyer.

The couple has 2 kids. Law enforcement sources say there were no witnesses to the murder so it appears the children were not in the apartment when their mom was killed.

If you don't remember who Hi-Five is, maybe one of these joints can jog your memory:

Christian artists attempting to sue Katy Perry over Dark Horse

Christian rappers Flame and Lecrae will apparently be entangled in a lawsuit with pop-star Katy Perry over her hit song "Dark Horse" featuring Juicy J. Apparently, the song contains some similarities that didn't sit well with the artists, especially after viewing the video which contains some imagery that can be associated as black magic or witchcraft. Rapzilla reports:

Katy Perry’s defense attorneys can blame some Flame fans for the lawsuit against their client.

On Tuesday, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported that Flame, along with Lecrae and Da’ T.R.U.T.H., are suing Perry for infringing the copyright of their song “Joyful Noise” on her song “Dark Horse.” The suit also claims that their track has been “irreparably tarnished by its association with the witchcraft, paganism, black magic and Illuminati imagery evoked by the same music in ‘Dark Horse’.”

Making Flame aware of this tarnishing were his fans. Driving from a concert, Flame’s DJ, Cho’zyn Boy, noticed an “influx" of tweets to Flame and Lecrae asking them about the new Katy Perry song. Flame doesn’t listen to Katy Perry, so he had no idea why his opinion of her music mattered.

Cho’zyn Boy searched for and listened to the song out of curiosity, which turned into shock.

“Wow,” Cho’zyn Boy said, telling Flame, “You got to hear this. It sounds like ‘Joyful Noise.’”

Cho’zyn Boy then turned on the djay 2 app on his computer and made a side-by-side comparison of the tracks. Here’s the audio he created to show Flame how similar “Joyful Noise” and "Dark Horse” are and a breakdown of how he did it.



· 0:00-0:25 Joyful Noise (original song)

· 0:25-0:40 Dark Horse (original song)

· 0:40-0:53 Speeds up tempo from 66 BPM to 76 BPM

· 0:53-1:07 Takes pitch down one decimal from Db to C

· 1:07-1:17 Mixes in Joyful Noise

· 1:17-1:23 Side-by-side, both at 72 BPM

· 1:23-1:30 Joyful Noise by itself

· 1:30-1:48 Dark Horse by itself

Cho’zyn Boy explained the difference to Rapzilla.

“What listeners are hearing is Katy Perry’s ‘Dark Horse’ at 66 beats per minute and they’re hearing Flame’s “Joyful Noise” at 76 beats per minute,” he said. “When they’re separated, they seem a bit different, but when you bring them to the same tempo and you just change her pitch down one octave, they’re identical … When things are that similar, it’s hard to dispute.”

Scientist produced a fake HIV vaccine to recieve grant money

There are people in this country who have long profited from the pain of others. In this case, some Iowa State University scientist who produced a fake HIV vaccine to receive grant money. Sickening to say the least. Hip Hop Wired reports:

Dong-Pyou Han, 57, resigned from his laboratory manager in October 2013 after it was discovered he added human antibodies to rabbit blood to make the HIV vaccine he and his team were working on appear to show as if it was making leeway.

The result of his falsified data yielded $19 million in grant money from the National Institutes of Health.

Unlike most cases however, the magnitude of financial fraud was not unprecedented, making Han’s deception a pretty big deal. He was indicted last week on four counts of making false statements. If convicted, he could be sentenced to five years in prison for each count. He was also force to surrender his passport.

Ivan Oransky, co-founder of Retraction Watch, spoke to the Associated Press and said criminal cases in this particular area of medical research are rare, citing there have only been a handful of similar instances in the past 30 years.

“It’s an important case because it is extremely rare for scientists found to have committed fraud to be held accountable by the actual criminal justice system,” said Oransky. “It’s a pretty extraordinary case involving clear, intentional falsification,” admits Mike Carome, consumer advocate and director of Public Citizen’s Health Research Group. “The wool was pulled over many people’s eyes.”

Han was set to be arraigned yesterday (June 24) but didn’t show in court because the paperwork wasn’t properly documented. Oh, the irony.

Father arrested for helping his daughter assault teenage girl

It is a father's responsibility to protect and provide for his children. I've heard of parents going to great lengths to protect their child, but this Houston father just may have over stepped his bounds. Hip Hop Wired reports:

A Houston dad got arrested last Thursday (June 19) for helping his 14-year-old daughter beat up her classmate.

Darren Keith Patrick has his limits — he didn’t actually throw any blows he just held the 13-year-old victim up against a fence while his daughter kicked and hit her with a shoe.

Patrick is all about being a tag-team parent. Police from the Houston Independent School District say he followed the girl home from school on a bike, while his daughter pursued on foot. Once he caught up with the teen, he got off the bike and pushed the girl up against a chain-link fence as his daughter commenced with the attack.

Surveillance video caught Patrick and his daughter following the girl, and a witness recounted seeing the 45-year-old father detaining the girl.

Court documents state that the victim tried to defend herself but couldn’t break free from Patrick.

He was charged with injury to a child and is reportedly still being held on bail. No word on what happened to his daughter.

Mother charged with throwing toddler out of a moving car

I have been saying for years that not everyone should be allowed to procreate. Reason? Not everyone is responsible enough to be a parent. Stories like this one are becoming the norm, and it's just sad. Hip Hop Wired reports:

Deputies in Louisiana say a 23-year-old mother threw her toddler out the window of a moving car Sunday (June 22) in hopes of getting the child’s father’s attention.

Lasasha Allen of Winnsboro chucked the 20-month-old out of the vehicle in front of her other child, age 7. The young victim was taken to the Franklin Medical Center and an investigation was opened, due to the severity of the injuries.

Allen was interviewed at the Franklin Parish Sheriff’s Offcie where it was determined that she meant to hurt her own child. “This was an intentional act,” said Franklin Parish Sheriff Kevin Cobb.

She was arrested and charged with attempted murder. Bails has been set at $750,000.

A day before she carried out the act, Allen reached out to her baby’s father to inform him that the child had been injured. He didn’t respond. “The next day when she got no response, she made the determination to make this come true,” Cobb added.

Allen was traveling at 45 mph when she booted her baby out of the vehicle. She told authorities that she only meant to cause minor injuries, and waited before she took the child for medical treatment. The child is in now stable condition and was awaiting surgery.

“One thing is for certain,” Cobb said. “This child is in a safer place today than in the hands of the mother. Justice can’t move quickly enough.”