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Mother Of Missing Texas Girl Heckled After Cancelled Hearing
HOUSTON (AP) — The mother of a missing 4-year-old Texas girl was heckled outside a courtroom on Monday by people who ques- tioned if she had done enough to protect her daughter before her dis- appearance.
Brittany Bowens, Maleah Davis‘s mother, along with her spokesman, community activist Quanell X, showed up for a scheduled court hearing for Derion Vence, her former fiance who is charged in connection with the girl’s disappearance. The hearing was canceled, though, and Vence’s next hearing was scheduled for July 10. His at- torney didn’t immediately reply to calls seeking com- ment.
Vence, 26, has been charged with tampering with evidence, specifically a human corpse, though Maleah is still missing and authorities have declined to say whether they believe she is dead or Vence
may have killed her. Prosecu- tors, though, have said in court documents that Vence even- tually could face additional charges, including murder.
Bowens declined to speak after the canceled hearing, but Quanell X told reporters that Bowens is focused on finding out what happened to her daughter.
“The main thing right now that all of us want to know is what did he do with Maleah,” he said. “Where is Maleah?”
As Quanell X spoke to re- porters, he was drowned out by a group of people, including some family members of Maleah’s father who yelled “she let it happen” and “Brit- tany knew all along.”
Jailed For Voting, Crystal Mason May Lose Her Home
Despite social media posts over the weekend an- nouncing Crystal Mason‘s release from prison for vot- ing while on supervised re- lease, her lawyer said that just wasn’t true. SiriusXM radio host Clay Cane, who has interviewed Mason and her lawyer multiple times, helped clear up the uncer- tainty.
“I exchanged emails w/ Crystal Mason’s lawyer & she has NOT been released,” Cane tweeted Monday morning. “She’s still in fed- eral custody & serving the re- maining 3 months at a halfway house. She’s now facing 5 yrs in state prison & at risk of losing her home.”
Cane included the link to a GoFundMe account started to raise funds for the mother of three who was also at risk of losing her home because of the inability to make mort- gage payments while in prison.
Mason’s case is heart- breaking and a gross exam- ple of injustice in Texas. In November of 2016, she voted for Hillary Clinton in Fort Worth. She cast a provisional ballot, which wasn’t counted, and was told three months
Source: Crystal Mason (Left To Right: Attorney Kim Cole, Crystal Mason, Attorney Alison Ginter)
later she had committed voter fraud because she was on supervised released for the non-violent crime of tax fraud. After a long fight, she began to serve federal time and was facing an additional five years from the state of Texas.
There is a deep hypocrisy in how Mason is being treated, considering a white woman from Iowa named Terri Lynn Rote was con- victed of voter fraud for pur- posely trying to cast a ballot for President Donald Trump twice. She was only sentenced to two years pro- bation and a $750 fine.
In addition, the district attorney who prosecuted Mason, Sharen Wilson, reportedly asked her staff for personal contact information and then used it to solicit funds for her re-election bid, according to Appeal.org. Legal experts disagreed whether that was a criminal offense, but there is also am- biguity on if Mason actually broke the law or not—yet she was being punished harshly.
Mason has maintained that no one told her she couldn’t vote, nor did she sign anything saying she could not vote while on su- pervised release.
Amazon Offers To Help Employees Start Delivery Business
Georgia Mayor Won’t Hire Blacks Because Her Lily-White Isn’t Ready For It’
A Georgia mayor is facing calls to resign following a report that she dismissed a candidate for a city administrator position because of his race.
Mayor Theresa Kenerly
reportedly told a member of the city council that she withdrew the application of Keith Henry “because he is black, and the city isn’t ready for this.”
“I do not recall making the statement attributed to me re- garding any applicant for the City Administrator position,” she said in a statement, adding. “I deny that I made any state- ment that suggest (sic) preju- dice.”
Councilwoman Hope Weeks said the mayor made the comments during a closed- door session and then reiterated her views in the parking lot.
“She proceeded to tell me that the candidate was real good but he was black and we don’t have a big black population,” Weeks said of the incident, ac- cording to the Constitution-
MAYOR THERESA KENERLY
Journal. “And she just didn’t think Hoschton was ready for that.”
Meanwhile, one of Ken- erly’s defenders excused her ac- tions because interracial relationships are against his re- ligion.
“I’m a Christian, and my Christian beliefs are you don’t do interracial marriage,” Council- man Jim Cleveland told the AJC. “When you see blacks and whites together, it makes my blood boil because that’s just not the way a Christian is supposed to live.”
Amazon, which is racing to deliver packages faster, is turning to its own employees with a proposition: Quit your job and we'll help you start a business delivering Amazon packages.
The offer, announced Monday, comes as Amazon seeks to speed up its shipping time from two days to one for its Prime members. The com- pany sees the new incentive as a way to get more packages delivered to shoppers' doorsteps more quickly.
Amazon says it will cover up to $10,000 in startup costs for employees who are ac- cepted into the program and leave their jobs. Those who participate will be able to lease blue vans with the Amazon smile logo stamped on the side. The company says it will also pay them three months' worth of their salary.
The offer is open to most part-time and full-time Ama- zon employees, including warehouse workers who pack and ship orders. Whole Foods employees are not eligible to receive the new incentives.
Seattle-based Amazon.
com Inc. declined to say how many employees it expects to take them up on the offer.
The new employee incen- tive is part of a program Ama- zon started a year ago that let anyone apply to launch an in- dependent Amazon delivery business and provided $10,000 in reimbursements to military veterans.
The expansion is part of the company's plan to gain more control over its deliver- ies rather than rely on UPS, the post office and other carri- ers. It also gives Amazon a way to grow its delivery net-
work without spending the money needed to buy vehicles or hire workers, says Barb Ivanov, director of University of Washington's Urban Freight Lab, a research lab that focuses on logistics and supply chain transportation.
"The wage problem won't be Amazon's problem," says Ivanov.
Overall, more than 200 Amazon delivery businesses have been created since it launched the program last June, says John Felton, Amazon's vice president of global delivery services.
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