UPDATE: Two Nigerian Brothers Have Been Arrested In Smollett Attack; Chicago PD Say Attack Was Not A Hoax
Chicago PD have arrested the two men questioned in the attack on actor Jussie Smollett saysThe Los Angeles Times.
“Interrogations will resume today with the two individuals and their attorney,” department spokesman Anthony Guglielimi said in a statement to The Times.
“It’s unclear what the men could be charged with, however,” their attorney Gloria Schmidt, toldPage Six.
This comes on the heels of a 48 hour media rollercoaster with numerous conflicting reports regarding the attack on Smollett reached peak rumor mill last night when multiple outlets began claiming that the Chicago Police Department were ready to say the Smollett attack was a hoax pulled by Smollett and two friends because he was being written off of the hit FOX show Empire (which films in Chicago).
This led both FOX and the Chicago PD to issue very firm statements denying both rumors.
Tweeted Chicago PD spokesman Anthony Guglielmi: “Media reports anout (sic) the Empire incident being a hoax are unconfirmed by case detectives. Supt Eddie Johnson has contacted @ABC7Chicago to state on the record that we have no evidence to support their reporting and their supposed CPD sources are uninformed and inaccurate.”
Fox’s statement read: “The idea that Jussie Smollett has been, or would be, written off of ‘Empire’ is patently ridiculous. He remains a core player on this very successful series and we continue to stand behind him.”
CBS Chicago reported that there was a police raid at the home of the two persons of interest being questioned by Chicago Police.
According to the station the men were returning from a trip to Nigeria when they were detained—their lawyer Schmidt announced the pending arrests while maintaining their innocence .
Deputado distrital Fábio Felix preside Audiência Pública sobre o Carnaval 2019 com a presença de representantes da Secretaria de Segurança Pública, Secretaria de Mobilidade, Secretaria de Cultura, blocos de carnaval e membros da sociedade civil.
Créditos das fotografias: Alexandre A. Bastos/Mandato Fábio Felix
Discharged, Dismissed: ERs Often Miss Chance To Set Overdose Survivors On ‘Better Path’
The last time heroin landed Marissa Angerer in a Midland, Texas, emergency room — naked and unconscious — was May 2016. But that wasn’t her first drug-related interaction with the health system. Doctors had treated her a number of times before, either for alcohol poisoning or for ailments related to heavy drug use. Though her immediate, acute health issues were addressed in each episode, doctors and nurses never dealt with her underlying illness: addiction.
Angerer, now 36 and in recovery, had been battling substance use disorder since she started drinking alcohol at age 16. She moved onto prescription pain medication after she broke her ankle and then eventually to street opiates like heroin and fentanyl.
Just two months before that 2016 overdose, doctors replaced an infected heart valve, a byproduct of her drug use. She was discharged from the hospital and began using again the next day, leading to a reinfection that ultimately cost her all 10 toes and eight fingers.
“[The hospital] didn’t have any programs or anything to go to,” Angerer said. “It’s nobody’s fault but my own, but it definitely would have been helpful if I didn’t get brushed off.”
This scenario plays out in emergency departments across the country, where the next step — a means to divert addicted patients into treatment — remains elusive, creating a missed opportunity in the health system.
A recent study of Medicaid claims in West Virginia, which has an opioid overdose rate more than three times the national average and the highest death rate from drug overdoses in the country, documented this disconnect.
Researchers analyzed claims for 301 people who had nonfatal overdoses in 2014 and 2015. By examining hospital codes for opioid poisoning, researchers followed the patients’ treatment, seeing if they were billed in the following months for mental health visits, opioid counseling visits or prescriptions for psychiatric and substance abuse medications.
They found that fewer than 10 percent of people in the study received, per month, medications like naltrexone or buprenorphine to treat their substance use disorder. (Methadone is another option to treat substance use, but it isn’t covered by West Virginia Medicaid and wasn’t included in the study.) In the month of the overdose, about 15 percent received mental health counseling. However, on average, in the year after the overdose, that number fell to fewer than 10 percent per month.
“We expected more … especially given the national news about opioid abuse,” said Neel Koyawala, a second-year medical student at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine in Baltimore, and the lead author on the study, which was published last month in the Journal of General Internal Medicine.
It’s an opportunity that’s being missed in emergency rooms everywhere, said Andrew Kolodny, the co-director of Opioid Policy Research at the Heller School for Social Policy and Management at Brandeis University outside Boston.
“There’s a lot of evidence that we’re failing to take advantage of this low-hanging fruit with individuals who have experienced a nonfatal overdose,” Kolodny said. “We should be focusing resources on that population. We should be doing everything we can to get them plugged into treatment.”
He compared it to someone who came into the emergency room with a heart attack. It’s taken for granted that the patient would leave with heart medication and a referral to a cardiac specialist. Similarly, he wants patients who come in with an overdose to start buprenorphine in the hospital and leave with a referral to other forms of treatment.
Kolodny and Koyawala both noted that a lack of training and understanding among health professionals continues to undermine what happens after the overdose patient is stabilized.
“Our colleagues in emergency rooms are not particularly well trained to be able to help people in a situation like this,” said Dr. Margaret Jarvis, the medical director of a residential addiction treatment center in Pennsylvania.
It was clear, Angerer said, that her doctors were not equipped to deal with her addiction. They didn’t know, for instance, what she was talking about when she said she was “dope sick,” feeling ill while she was going through withdrawal.
“They were completely unaware of so much, and it completely blew my mind,” she said.
When she left the hospital after her toe and finger amputations, Angerer recalls her next stop seemed to be a tent city somewhere in Midland, where she feared she would end up dead. Instead, she persuaded her mother to drive her about 300 miles to a treatment facility in Dallas. She had found it on her own.
“There were a lot of times I could have gone down a better path, and I fell through the cracks,” Angerer said.
The bottom line, Jarvis said, is that when a patient comes into the emergency room with an overdose, they’re feeling sick, uncomfortable and “miserable.” But surviving that episode, she emphasized, doesn’t necessarily change their perilous condition.
“Risk for overdose is just as high the day after as the day before an overdose,” said Dr. Matt Christiansen, an assistant professor in the Department of Family & Community Health at the Marshall University Joan C. Edwards School of Medicine in West Virginia.
HRC responded to an announcement from the Trump-Pence White House that along with signing the bipartisan spending bill, passed by Congress this week after intense negotiations, Trump would take the unprecedented and potentially unconstitutional move of declaring a national emergency to fund a border wall.
“There is no national security crisis at the border. To declare one based on the reality on the ground is an abuse of power that undercuts the rule of law,” said HRC Government Affairs Director David Stacy. “A solid majority of the American people reject funding for a wall on our southern border because it is a waste of money, unnecessary and ineffective. This emergency declaration is just the latest extreme step that Donald Trump and Mike Pence have taken to divide America. From revoking protections for more than a million Dreamers, including 75,000 LGBTQ young people, detaining tens of thousands of immigrants, making asylum claims almost impossible and separating thousands of children from their parents, the Trump-Pence Administration has harmed our country and violated the trust of the American people.”
The intent of emergency powers is to provide the president with a pathway for ensuring national security and other functional aspects of the federal government during a crisis in which timely action is necessary. Only in extraordinary circumstances should a president invoke emergency powers.
The Human Rights Campaign joins coalition partners, including RAICES and United We Dream, in calling for refugees and asylum seekers to be welcomed into the United States, as they flee violence and persecution in the countries they left behind.
In 2017, HRC joined coalition partners in demanding passage of the DREAM Act and consistently challenging the Trump-Pence White House’s callous attempts to hijack the federal budget process in order to end programs that help Dreamers. HRC has also worked to reveal the high stakes of inaction through a video series that shared the deeply moving personal stories of individual LGBTQ Dreamers. According to research by the Williams Institute, about 267,000 undocumented adults identify as LGBTQ and about 75,000 of the Dreamers − those who would have been eligible for DACA – are LGBTQ.
This month, HRC partnered with the Refugee and Immigrant Center for Education and Legal Services (RAICES) on a video to highlight the dangers of Trump’s “Return to Mexico” policy.
Congratulations to Karin and Brad from Frisco, Texas!
Date outside your comfort zone. Karin is glad she did! She writes: “I’d been on Zoosk for a few months before receiving a heart from Brad. I noticed he lived a few hours from me, so I told him, ‘Thanks for reaching out, but I’m looking to make a connection closer to home.’ He sent
Out Singer Kenyth’s New Single Is About Losing An Ex To Meth Addiction
It’s been four years since Kenyth (formerly Kenyth Mogan) released the Wizard of Oz themed video to his hit song “Unlock My Heart.”
“Unlock” has been seen nearly two million times since.
How did “Unlock Your Heart’s” success change your life? It’s a very strange experience to get messages and marriage proposals from people you’ve never met, who are literally on the other side of the world. I love, that four years after it’s release, I’m still getting asked about “Unlock Your Heart”. A little known fact, to tie it into Holy Water, Unlock Your Heart was written by Aaron Harris and Matthew Hayes. Hayes, is a close friend of Tiffany’s and she actually sang on his demo for the song.
You mentioned that the song has an addiction metaphor and that it’s personal—how so? When I first heard the demo, which was several years ago, I was right in the middle of watching someone I was in love with and dating losing his struggle with a meth addiction.
So, I could relate to it.
It was frightening and heartbreaking time.—eventually, he ended up spending a few years in prison. I loved Tiffany’s version, and when it didn’t show up on any of her subsequent albums I reached out and asked if I could record it. I couldn’t be more honored that they gave me permission to do so. It’s a wonderful song, and one I know a lot of people, especially in the LGBT community can relate to.
You talk about growing up in Montana a lot—Why?
I’ve always talked about how wonderful my growing up in Montana was like. Everyone assumes that because it’s the country – I grew up in a little town called Glasgow, filled with cowboys and other macho-masculine stereotypes— that it must’ve been a horrible experience to grow up there. It wasn’t. My grandmother was very protective of me. She fought for me every single day of her life, and made sure I knew I was loved and protected. She was an amazing woman. It took other members of my family a little longer to be as open and accepting as my grandmother, but they are now. A few of my older family members even tried to hook me up with a police officer back home, whom they thought I would be “totally cute” with. I loved growing up in Montana.
Missoula, the place where I went to college was really where I came into my own. It’s like a liberal little Bohemia, hidden within the mountains. It’s still one of my most favorite places in the world.
What’s next? After two EPs, I am about halfway done with my debut album. It’s been a long time coming, and I couldn’t be more excited about it. I was given licensing rights to a very special property from my youth, so there is a theme to the album that’s very fun, and really exciting for me. I can’t wait to share.
Holy Water (Basement Acoustic Mix) is available on iTunes, Amazon, Spotify and all online retailers.
Watch “Unlock My Heart” below.
Tell me about the addiction metaphor and why its personal ?Tim Feehan an amazing songwriter and producer, wrote the song with pop-music icon Tiffany ( who’s hits include I Think We’re Alone Now Could’ve Been). When I first heard the demo, which was several years ago, I was right in the middle of watching someone I was dating losing his struggle with a meth addiction. So, I could relate to it. It was frightening and heartbreaking time… eventually, he ended up spending a few years in prison. I loved Tiffany’s version, and when it didn’t show up on any of her subsequent albums I reached out and asked if I could record it. I couldn’t be more honored that they gave me permission to do so. It’s a wonderful song, and one I know a lot of people, especially in the LGBT community can relate to.
HRC FOUNDATION & UCONN SURVEY REVEALS BLACK LGBTQ YOUTH AT HEIGHTENED RISK FOR DISCRIMINATION AT HOME AND IN SCHOOL: The groundbreaking survey results will be detailed tonight by HRC President Chad Griffin at the opening of HRC’s 6th annual Time To THRIVE conference in Anaheim, California, where hundreds of youth-serving professionals are gathering to discuss best practices for working with and caring for LGBTQ youth and their families. The Black & African American LGBTQ Youth Report report analyzes responses from nearly 1,700 young people who participated in HRC’s online 2017 LGBTQ Teen Survey. Said Leslie Hall, Director of HRC’s Historically Black Colleges and Universities Program: “HRC is committed to ensuring this data is in the hands of teachers, school counselors, coaches, doctors and other youth-serving professionals across the country, including through the HRC Foundation’s HBCU Program.” Read the report at HRC.
Honorees at HRC Foundation’s Time to THRIVE conference include actress Josie Totah; Olympic ice skating medalist Adam Rippon; advocate E.J. Johnson; advocates and allies Judy and Dennis Shepard; and American School Counselor Association 2019 Counselor of the Year Brian Coleman.
THERE IS NO NATIONAL EMERGENCY AT OUR SOUTHERN BORDER:
.@realDonaldTrump failed to convince Mexico, the American people, and Congress to pay for his wall. But now, after suffering yet another defeat, he’s ready to abuse his power to pay for it. There is no national emergency at the border, but there is one in the Oval Office.
ICYMI — SENATE CONFIRMS WILLIAM BARR AS ATTORNEY GENERAL: “William Barr has made clear that as Attorney General he would not defend and uphold civil rights laws for all Americans — including LGBTQ people,” said HRC Government Affairs Director David Stacy (@david_stacy). More from the Washington Blade.
BREAKING: The Senate confirms William Barr as attorney general.
Barr’s disturbing opposition to non-discrimination protections for LGBTQ people demonstrates he will not defend and uphold civil rights laws for ALL Americans. t.co/BPxtoDTNKM
FRIDAY FEELING — TRANS SERVICE MEMBERS AND VETS CONTINUE TO SPEAK OUT AGAINST TRANS TROOP BAN: In a new video for NowThis, trans service member Logan Ireland and trans veteran Tavion Dignard, as well as Rep. Chris Pappas (NH-1) and Rep. Jackie Speier (CA-14), speak out against the trans troop ban. “I’m just like any other service member that’s willing to give their life for their country,” says Ireland. Watch it here.
STATEHOUSE ROUNDUP:
Trans teen Dex Rumsey writes about his experience lobbying local lawmakers on the importance of having gender markers on ID documents match one’s gender identity and expression. Read his op-ed fromThe Salt Lake Tribune.
Lawmakers in Minnesota moved forward with a bill to ban the practice of so-called “conversion therapy” on LGBTQ youth. More from KSTP.
NEW STUDY SHOWS BIAS MAY AFFECT HEALTH CARE PROVIDED TO TRANSGENDER PEOPLE: University of Michigan researchers found that increasing hours of education related to caring for transgender patients may not correlate to more competent care. Read more from M Health Lab andNewNowNext.
And, in a study from the University of Connecticut, researchers found that young LGBTQ people may experience more bullying and harassment over their weight than their straight and cisgender peers. Read more from theNew Haven Register.
ACTOR & SINGER BEN PLATT COMES OUT AS GAY IN NEW MUSIC VIDEO WITH CHARLIE CARVER: Read more from Towleroad.
“If I was going to write about people I loved, I wasn’t going to pretend they weren’t men just because I hadn’t talked about that before.”
Thank you @BenSPLATT for sharing your truth, inspiring #LGBTQ youth everywhere to be proud of their identities too. t.co/cmMEryyhzN
WASHINGTON CAPS & GOALIE BRADEN HOLTBY RAISE $18,300 FOR HRC FOUNDATION AT CAPITALS PRIDE NIGHT: Holtby (@Holts170) and his wife, Brandi (@bbholtby), have long been allies to the LGBTQ community. Holtby spoke at HRC’s 2018 National Dinner, where he introduced Olympic figure skater Adam Rippon. Read more from MSE Foundation and NBC Sports Washington.
GLOBAL EQUALITY NEWS
EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT PASSES HISTORIC RESOLUTION UNDERSCORING NEED TO PROTECT THE RIGHTS OF INTERSEX PEOPLE: Read more from Gay Star News.
HORRIBLE — REPORTS THAT PEOPLE WITH HIV & AIDS IN VENEZUELA ARE UNABLE TO ACCESS LIFESAVING MEDICATION: More from Michael K. Lavers (@mklavers81) at the Washington Blade.
THE U.N. IS URGING RUSSIA TO PROTECT THE LGBTQ COMMUNITY IN CHECHNYA: Read more from Gay Star News.
READING RAINBOW – Bookmark now to read on your lunch break!
Podcast Planet Fútbol interviews openly gay U.S. soccer player Collin Martin, who opens up about coming out and speaking at HRC’s Minneapolis dinner; The Wichita Eagle reports a local library will keep children’s books with LGBTQ characters in the children’s section;
