Page 14 - Florida Sentinel 8-2-19

News From Around The Nation
T.J. Maxx Apologizes ToFamily For Racially Profiling Their Black Son
Capital One Data Breach Hits More Than 100 Million People Applying For Credit
Capital One said a hacker got access to the personal in- formation of over 100 million individuals applying for credit. The McLean, Virginia- based bank said Monday it found out about the vulnera- bility in its system July 19 and immediately sought help from law enforcement to catch the perpetrator.
The FBI has arrested the person, reportedly in Seattle, according to a report in The Washington Post. Court records state a woman, iden- tified as Paige A. Thomp- son, was arrested on charges of computer fraud and abuse Monday, according to CNET. Prosecutors say the hack took place between March 12 and July 17.
Capital One said it believes that it is unlikely that the in- formation was used for fraud, but it will continue to investi- gate.
"While I am grateful that the perpetrator has been
CAPITAL ONE
caught, I am deeply sorry for what has happened," Capital One chairman and CEO Richard D. Fairbank said in a press release. "I sincerely apologize for the understand- able worry this incident must be causing those affected and I am committed to making it right."
The hacker got informa- tion including credit scores and balances plus the Social Security numbers of about 140,000 customers. It will offer free credit monitoring services to those affected.
The data breach affected about 100 million people in
the U.S. and 6 million in Canada.
Computer fraud and abuse is punishable by up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine,according to the Department of Justice.
This report comes in the wake of news that Equifax may have to pay up to $700 million over a 2017 data breach, according to CNET. That breach involved the So- cial Security numbers and home addresses of nearly 148 million Americans from Equifax's servers in a hack that ran from May to July in 2017.
Discount retailer T.J. Maxx has apologized to a Connecti- cut family who says their teenage son was the victim of racial profiling by store em- ployees.
Melissa Askew-Ferris
tells WFSB-TV her three sons were at a T.J. Maxx store in Wethersfield earlier this month and were followed by store employees. The boys im- mediately left.
The family from Cromwell later learned an employee had identified one of her sons as
someone suspected of stealing from the store. Askew-Fer- ris, who is black, says surveil- lance video showed her son bore no resemblance to the suspect.
T.J. Maxx, part of the Framingham, Massachusetts- based TJX Companies, in a statement said we “expect that all of our customers will be treated with dignity and re- spect” and “sincerely apologize that this was not the experi- ence” of the Askew-Ferris family.
Sheraton Atlanta Linked To 11 New Cases Of
Legionnaires' Disease
Neighbors Formed A Human Chain To Protect Undocumented
Man That ICE Tried To Arrest
Neighbors of a suburban Nashville family came to- gether to protect an undocu- mented man as Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials attempted to arrest him last week.
The attempted arrest led to a four-hour standoff dur- ing which the man and his 12-year-old son were forced to stay inside a van outside their Hermitage home as ICE agents tried to bully them to come out. It is then that neighbors, activists, and even local politicians showed up and helped create a human chain to allow the family to get indoors.
“At that point it was being extra cautious and letting the family know, look, we got your back, we’re between you and the unknown, and here’s a safe pathway back to your front door,” Tristan Call, a volunteer at Movements In- cluding X(MIX), told TIME magazine. Call was a part of
Residents in a Tennessee neighborhood stepped in to protect the man as ICE tried to take him into custody.
the human chain.
“All of us were volunteers
today,” Call added. “It wasn’t like a big nonprofit, or like a big law firm or something like that. This is something any group of people can do.” Footage of the incident, shot by Call, went viral.
The Tennessean reports that ICE, who had called local police for backup, only had an administrative warrant for the man. ICE agents with ad-
ministrative warrants can de- tain someone, but they can- not forcibly remove someone from their home or vehicle.
Metro Nashville police confirmed they were present but only as “peacekeepers,” not assistants, to the ICE op- eration.
As the standoff continued, neighbors made sure the fa- ther and son had water, food, and gas in the van, WTVF-TV reports.
So far, 11 people in At- lanta, Georgia have con- tracted Legionnaires’ disease and it appears that all of them stayed at the Sheraton At- lanta.
The hotel is now closed down until at least mid-Au- gust, according to The At- lanta Journal-Constitution. Georgia Department of Public Health investigators are test- ing water in the Courtland Street hotel pools, fountains, hot tubs, faucets trying to at- tempt to find where the dis- ease started, although it is not clear whether the hotel is the source of the outbreak, said Department spokeswoman Nancy Nydam.
The hotel will stay closed until at least Aug. 11 and it could be much longer de- pending on the test results found by Georgia health in- vestigators.
Initially three guests in the hotel tested positive for the disease, which can cause lung infection. Three more cases of Legionnaires surfaced on Monday and another was dis- covered on Wednesday. Geor- gia health officials identified
the 11th case on Friday. People most likely to suf- fer the greatest harm as a re- sult of Legionnaires are older than 50, have medical condi- tions such as chronic obstruc- tive pulmonary disease or diabetes or have a history of
smoking.
So far this year, close to
90 confirmed cases of Legion- naires disease have hit the state of Georgia. Last year, in Georgia there were 180 con- firmed cases in the state.
CDC officials say a num- ber of factors are contributing to the increase in new cases, including improved testing and an older, more suscepti- ble population.
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