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Spelman College Plans To Admit Transgender Women
All-Female HBCU Spelman College will begin admitting trans- gender women.
143 Million Consumers Could Be Affected By Equifax Breach
Equifax, the company that supplies credit information and other information services, said Thursday that a data breach could have potentially affected 143 million consumers in the United States.
Equifax CEO and Chair- man Richard Smith said he apologized to consumers and customers and noted that he’s aware of the irony — the com- pany that monitors data breaches has been hacked.
Exposed data includes names, birth dates, Social Se- curity numbers, addresses and some driver’s license numbers, all of which the company aims to protect for its customers.
The company added that 209,000 U.S. credit card num- bers were obtained, in addition to “certain dispute documents with personal identifying in- formation for approximately 182,000 U.S. consumers.”
Equifax said it discovered the breach on July 29. “Crimi- nals exploited a U.S. website
application vulnerability to gain access to certain files,” the company said.
Equifax said it is now alert- ing customers whose informa- tion was included in the breach via mail, and is working with state and federal authorities. Its private investigation into the breach is complete.
Man Pleads Guilty To Murdering His Wife And 5 Children
NAPLES, FL —- In Naples Florida, a man has been con- victed of brutally killing his wife and five children.
According to CBS News, 41-year-old Mesac Damas plead guilty to six counts of first-degree murder on Sep- tember 5, 2017, which would have been the first day of jury selections.
He is looking at a possible death sentence which he asked for during his Septem- ber 29, 2017, hearing.
Damas cut the throats of his wife and children, be- tween the ages of 1 and 9 years of age in 2009. After- wards, he went to Haiti to hide but was caught, arrested and returned to the U.S.
In the past, according to authorities, Damas has had a history of domestic abuse to- wards his wife 32-year-old
Mesac Damas pled guilty to the murder of his family.
Guerline Damas. The two had been married for two years but were together for 10.
This case has been called, “the most horrific and violent event” in the county’s history according to Collier Sheriff Kevin Rambosk.
At the trial on last Tues- day, Damas apologized to the family of his wife saying, “I just want to say I’m truly
sorry, especially to the family of my wife. I don’t see them here today, but I just want to make sure for the record they know that.
His trial was delayed by “mental competency issues”. According to his attorney’s Damas had suffered a trau- matic brain injury and had a history of mental illness that started during his childhood in Haiti.
ATLANTA, GA —- Accord- ing a school release, Spelman College will admit transgender women into its school begin- ning 2018.
Spelman is a historically Black and all female institu- tion, that has made the Forbes 2016 top colleges and universi- ties among Howard, Stanford, Williams, and a bevy of other prestigious universities and colleges. In a welcome back let- ter to the campus, The presi- dent of the of college, Mary Schmidt Campbell, let the students know of the institu- tion’s new plans.
In a note issued by the col- lege’s president, Mary Schmidt Campbell, the new policy will continue to extend
one of Spelman’s goals in pro- moting inclusivity.
“In adopting this admissions policy, Spelman continues its fervent belief in the power of the Spelman Sisterhood,” Campbell’s letter read.
“Students who choose Spel- man come to our campus pre- pared to participate in a women’s college that is aca- demically and intellectually rig- orous, and affirms its core mission as the education and development of high-achieving black women.”
Women who self-identify as men will not be able to register at Spelman, but female stu- dents who are already enrolled and want to transition will still be able to pursue their degree.
Honor Teen Held In Rikers Will Have Charges Dropped
BRONX, NY —- Bronx Dis- trict Attorney Darcel Clark has moved to exonerate Pedro Hernandez, 17, on assault and illegal weapons possession charges, citing inconsistent and contradictory information as the reason for dismissing the case.
According to new reports, a key witness in the case sud- denly ceased to cooperate. What’s more, the victim him- self couldn’t identify the shooter.
“We discovered unantici- pated witness and evidentiary issues,” Clark said. “The inves- tigation also revealed that in- formation originally provided to my office during the initial investigation of this case has now proven to be inconsistent and contradictory.”
Hernandez is an honors student whose arrest following the Sept. 1, 2015, shooting of another teen in the leg led to spending a year at Rikers Is- land due to his bail, which was set at $250,000.
Pedro Hernandez was held on Rikers Island for a year be- fore he was released on bail in July.
Hernandez always main- tained his innocence, refusing a plea deal that would see him out of jail but have him on pro- bation for five years.
Hernandez made bail on July 27, after the Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights group agreed to post a re- duced $105,000.
Carribbean Countries Suffer Major Damage Due To Irma
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Hurricane Irma has killed at least 10 people as the dangerous Category 5 storm continued its destructive march across the Caribbean early Thursday.
At least eight people were killed and 23 injured in French Caribbean island territo- ries, France’s interior minister said. Speaking Thursday on French radio France Info, French Interior Minister Gerard Collomb said the death toll in Saint-Martin and Saint-Barthelemy could be higher because rescue teams have yet to finish their inspec-
tion of the islands.
“The reconnaissance will
really start at daybreak,” Col- lomb said.
At a news conference, Collomb also said 100,000 food rations have been sent to the islands, the equivalent of four days of supplies.
“It’s a tragedy, we’ll need to rebuild both islands,” he said. “Most of the schools have been destroyed.”
French President Em-
St. Maateen, Barbuda, Antigua, St. Barts and Puerto Rico were all hit by Irma.
manuel Macron’s office said he will go to the islands has soon as weather conditions permit.
Irma blacked out much of Puerto Rico, raking the U.S. territory with heavy wind and rain while staying just out to sea, and it headed early Thurs- day toward the Dominican Re- public and Haiti.
To the east, authorities struggled to get aid to small Caribbean islands devastated by the storm’s record 185 mph (298 kph) winds earlier Wednesday, while people in
Florida rushed to get ready for a possible direct hit on the Miami area.
Communications were dif- ficult with areas hit by Irma, and information on damage trickled out.
Nearly every building on Barbuda was damaged when the hurricane’s core crossed al- most directly over the island early Wednesday and about 60 percent of its roughly 1,400 residents were left homeless, Antigua and Barbuda Prime Minister Gaston Browne told The Associated Press.
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