Page 30 - Florida Sentinel 7-14-17

National
BET Exec Tapped By Lifetime To Head Division
Lifetime has hired BET Net- works’ Brie Miranda Bryant as SVP Unscripted Develop- ment and Programming. Based in New York, Bryant will be responsible for development and oversee production of non- scripted projects for Lifetime, reporting to Liz Gateley, EVP, Head of Programming for the network.
Bryant comes to Lifetime after a little over a year at BET, where she was SVP Develop- ment and Production. It’s been a tumultuous past few months at Viacom-owned BET with President of Program-
Brie Miranda Bryant will leave BET to join Lifetime.
ming Stephen Hill and EVP Head of Original Program- ming Zola Mashariki depart- ing, and Mashariki, to whom Bryant reported, suing the network over her dismissal.
Wells Fargo Customers Close To $142M Settlement
Wells Fargo customers who had fake accounts created in their names are a step closer to some payback.
A federal judge granted pre- liminary approval over the weekend for Wells Fargo's $142 million national class ac- tion settlement. The court ruled that the settlement, which covers fake accounts back to 2002, "fair, reasonable and adequate."
Victims may still have to wait before they get paid. The bank
and lawyers for the plaintiffs plan to reach out to customers in the next three months, but the settlement may not be final until early 2018.
Still, Wells Fargo CEO Tim Sloan called the court ruling a "major milestone in our efforts
to make things right for our customers."
Wells Fargo admitted last September that 2 million po- tentially unauthorized check- ing and credit card accounts were opened between 2011 and 2015. The bank blamed unreal- istic sales goals. The outrage forced the ouster of longtime CEO John Stumpf and the restructuring of Wells Fargo's sales targets, and it spawned federal and local investiga- tions.
Counter-Protesters Outnumber KKK Members At Its Rally To Keep Confederate Statue
CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA -- About 50 Ku Klux Klan mem- bers protested Saturday in Charlottesville, Virginia, after the city decided to sell a park statue of Confederate Army General Robert E. Lee, but they were dwarfed by an esti- mated 1,000 counter-protest- ers.
The Loyal White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan organized to protest the city's decision to take down the statue and re- name the park around it, and originally expected 80 to 100 Klan attendees. While there was no reason given for the smaller turnout, the Anti- Defamation League says the group has been diminished by infighting and high turnover, CBS News' Paula Reid re- ports.
They were confronted by shouting counter-protesters as
Counter protesters against the KKK’s rally to save a confeder- ate statue outnumber the racist group, 1,000 to 50.
tensions ratcheted up and a large group of law enforcement officers, including members of the state police, set up police lines.
Police escorted the Klans- men through the shouting crowds to reach their desig- nated spot for a demonstra- tion: Justice Park, which until recently had been named after Confederate hero Gen.
Stonewall Jackson.
A total of 23 people were ar- rested Saturday, according to the city. Some counter-protest- ers were reluctant to leave the space when the rally's desig- nated time slot ended which prompted law enforcement to declare an unlawful assembly.
Some of the Klan members were armed with guns and some wore Klan robes at Sat- urday's rally.
New Rule Will Allow Class Action Lawsuits Against Banks And Other Financial Firms
The nation’s consumer watchdog adopted a rule on Monday that would pry open the courtroom doors for mil- lions of Americans, by pro- hibiting financial firms from forcing them into arbitration in disputes over their bank and credit card accounts.
The action, by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, would deal a serious blow to banks and other financial
firms, freeing consumers to band together in class-action lawsuits that could cost the in- stitutions billions of dollars.
The new rule, which could take effect next year, is almost certain to set off a political firestorm in Washington. Both the Trump administration and House Republicans have pushed to rein in the consumer finance agency as part of a broader effort to lighten regu- lation on the financial industry.
Gunman Sought Psychiatric Help Prior To Fatal Shooting Of Police Officer
Newlywed Who Had Husband Killed To Collect Insurance Money Convicted
CLEVELAND, OH —A new- lywed accused of soliciting her firefighter husband's killing to collect $100,000 in insurance money has been convicted of aggravated murder in a scheme that was flawed from the start: His ex-wife was still the benefi- ciary of his policy.
Uloma Curry-Walker, 45, could receive life in prison without parole for the Novem- ber 2013 slaying of William Walker, whom she had mar- ried just four months earlier. Jurors deliberated for less than two hours before coming back with the verdict Friday.
Prosecutors said Curry- Walker was nearing financial ruin after running up tens of thousands of dollars in debt when she asked her then-17- year-old daughter and the daughter's boyfriend to find someone to kill her husband so she could collect the insurance money.
But a police investigation found that Curry-Walker's plan had a glaring problem from the outset. Her husband had not yet changed the bene-
Uloma Curry Walker had her husband of 4 months, William Walker murdered for his in- surance money.
ficiary on the insurance policy from his ex-wife's name to Curry-Walker's when he was killed, so it was the ex-wife who received the money.
Testimony showed that Curry-Walker gave the boyfriend, Chad Padgett, a $1,000 down payment to carry out the slaying. Padgett con- tacted his cousin Chris Hein, who initially failed in his at- tempt to kill Walker. Hein then turned to Ryan Dorty to carry out the killing.
Prosecutors said Dorty am- bushed Walker and shot him four times as he returned home from getting fast food Curry- Walker had requested.
NEW YORK - Gov. An- drew Cuomo on Thursday launched an investigation into a hospital's handling of a man who sought psychiatric care just days before he fatally am- bushed a New York Police De- partment officer sitting in a mobile command post.
“Under tragic circumstances such as these, it is critical to ensure all proper procedures and safeguards were taken," Cuomo said Thursday in a statement. "At my direction, the state Department of Health and Office of Mental Health are launching an immediate review of St. Barnabas Hospi- tal's actions and policies in ad- mitting, treating and discharging this individual."
Cuomo, a Democrat, said the review will determine if all relevant state laws, regulations and guidelines were followed.
Police officials said that only a few hours before the early Wednesday attack the shooter's girlfriend called 911 to report that she was worried about his unstable behavior.
The woman called at about 10 p.m. Tuesday to say
Alexander Bonds fatally shot police officer Miosotis Familia, before being killed by her fellow officers.
Alexander Bonds "was para- noid and acting erratically," NYPD Chief of Detectives Robert Boyce said.
Officers were dispatched to look for Bonds on the streets of a Bronx neighborhood, but the 34-year-old ex-convict evaded them, police said.
At about 12:30 a.m. on last Wednesday, Bonds walked up to an RV-like mobile command unit several blocks north of where police had searched for him and fired a shot through a passenger-side window, strik-
ing and killing Officer Mioso- tis Familia. Two other offi- cers later shot Bonds to death.
Boyce said the girlfriend told police that she had taken Bonds for a psychiatric evalu- ation on July 1 but he was re- leased after about an hour. Investigators who are trying to determine a motive for the killing also found antidepres- sant and anti-psychotic med- ications in his apartment.
St. Barnabas Hospital said it welcomes any investigation and will fully cooperate.
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