NEWS YOU OUGHT TO KNOW
Much of world bans Boeing jet involved in Ethiopia crash
By ELIAS MESERET and YIDNEK KIRUBEL
HEJERE, Ethiopia (AP) — Much of the world, including the entire European Union, grounded the Boeing jetliner involved in the Ethiopian Airlines crash or banned it from their airspace, leaving the United States on Tuesday as one of the few remaining operators of the plane involved in two deadly accidents in just five months.
The European Aviation Safety Agency took steps to keep the Boeing 737 Max 8 out of the air, joining Asian and Middle Eastern governments and carriers that also gave in to safety concerns in the aftermath of Sunday’s crash, which killed all 157 people on board.
As of Tuesday, March 12, the United States and Canada are the only two nations still flying the Boeing 737 Max 8.
Restaurant owner resigns after calling his employee the N-word in text message
KATY/SUGAR LAND, Texas – The owner, Danh Le of a Vietnamese restaurant has resigned after calling an employee the N-word in a text message; afterward stating, “I will never use that word again.”
Domo Schneckenburg, formerly a Pho Shack general manager at locations in Katy and Sugar Land, Texas, posted Facebook screenshots of a group text between co-owner Le, his associate, and her right after she quit her job of two and a half years on Friday, March 8.
Smollett team: Court cameras would show the state’s flimsy case
By DON BABWIN
CHICAGO (AP) — A lawyer for Jussie Smollett said Tuesday that she would welcome cameras in the courtroom during the “Empire” actor’s trial on charges accusing him of lying to the police, saying there has been a lot of leaked misinformation and cameras would allow the public to “see the evidence and the lack thereof.”
Smollett was charged last month with one count of misconduct —the felony in Illinois that people are charged with when accused of lying to police — because he allegedly lied to police about being the victim of a racist and homophobic attack by two masked men in downtown Chicago on Jan. 29. Last week, a grand jury indicted him on 16 counts of the same crime.
Prosecutors allege that Smollett, who is black and gay, enlisted the help of two other black men and staged the Jan. 29 attack because he was unhappy with his salary and wanted to promote his career. Those men have admitted to police that they took part in the staged attack for Smollett, who paid them $3,500.
Smollett’s attorneys have called 16 counts “prosecutorial overkill.” The actor, who is free on bond, maintains his innocence.
George Foreman’s 42-year-old daughter dies in Texas
HUMBLE, Texas (AP) — Freeda George Forman, the daughter of former heavyweight champion George Foreman and briefly a boxer herself, has died at a suburban Houston home. She was 42.
The Harris County sheriff’s office said Monday that emergency crews found her Friday. The sheriff’s office says its investigators also responded and preliminary indications were that her death was a suicide, but the medical examiner’s office will make the final determination.
Foreman tweeted Sunday night: “First Sunday in 42 years without my Freeda. She’s With her maker now.” He said when she told him she wanted to box he told her to get a degree first, and she did.
