Wednesday, March 24 top stories
It is Wednesday, March 24. Here are today’s top stories.
A 75-year-old Asian American woman, Xiao Zhen Xie, was punched in the face last week on a street in San Francisco. News reports said she picked up a stick and fought back. She sustained two black eyes and a swollen wrist. The suspect is a 39-year-old man named Steven Jenkins and he has been charged with assault and is under investigation for hate crimes. He is also a suspect in another attack against an 83-year-old Asian man that happened 30 minutes before the attack. The family of Xiao set up a GoFundMe and it raised over $940,000. Xiao said she didn’t want to keep it but to donate all of the funds back to the Asian American community. Her family said in a statement, “(Xiao) said we must not submit to racism and we must fight to the death if necessary… she said the decision to donate all funds because this issue is bigger than her.”
A massive container ship ran aground in Egypt’s Suez Canal and completely blocked all traffic in what is a major shipping waterway. The ship is named the MV Ever Given. Images show that both the front and the rear of the ship were touching either side of the canal. The operator of the ship is a Taiwanese company named Evergreen and they said the ship was overcome by strong winds when it entered the canal from the Red Sea. Tugboats are working to try and free up the ship. There are several other ships waiting for the blockage to clear up. There are 20 crew members on the ship and all are safe.
In Southern California, a woman who worked at Pasadena City College, Dr. Carol Brown, was on a Zoom call with other college employees when she and her older brother, Kenneth W. Preston, were suddenly attacked by a man who broke into their home. People on the other end of the Zoom call witnessed the attack and called police. When deputies arrived at their home, they found the older brother deceased from stab wounds on the driveway and Dr. Brown deceased inside. Deputies noticed that a car was missing and while the officers were investigating, a 32-year-old man drove up to the home with the missing car. The man, Robert Cotton, claimed that he lived at the home but he was arrested and charged with two counts of murder. He is actually Dr. Brown’s son.
The Pasadena City College posted a tribute on Facebook to Dr. Brown, who was the co-coordinator of the college’ Black STEM Program. People in the community expressed shock and sadness.
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Here is another news story from Southern California. Several people held a demonstration to support Asian Americans and call for a stop on violence against them at an intersection. One man in a black Honda car ran a red light and made a sharp U-turn through the demonstrators and then pulled over and shouted, “F— China.” Here is a clip.
KABC News reported that the LA County Sheriff’s Department is investigating the incident as a hate crime. Police said they know the suspect’s license plate and are trying to identify him.
A comedian and podcaster in California, Jensen Karp, said he found two shrimp tails in his Cinnamon Toast Crunch cereal a few days ago. He posted a picture of it on Twitter and said it was serious — that he was not making a joke or anything. The tails appear to be encrusted with sugar and cinnamon.
Cinnamon Toast Crunch said after examining the image, they concluded that the pieces were an “accumulation of the cinnamon sugar that sometimes can occur when ingredients are thoroughly blended,” that it was definitely not shrimp.
Karp posted two more pictures of the “shrimp tails” on Twitter and said the cereal company was trying to gaslight him. He later posted images saying the cereal plastic bag had tape on the bottom of it.
The cereal company later emailed Karp encouraging him to contact law enforcement because the package might have been tampered with.
Karp said he is in touch with a crustacean researcher who will look at the shrimp to try and identify what it is.
Karp is married to actress Danielle Fishel, who is best known for her role as Topanga on the 90’s TV series “Boy Meets World.”
That is all the top stories for today. Check out our other videos. See you tomorrow and stay with the light!
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2021/03/24/suez-canal-blocked-mv-ever-given-disrupting-shipping-route-trade/6979117002/
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2021/03/24/asian-american-attacks-woman-who-fought-back-donate-nearly-1-m/6978976002/
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/attack-witnessed-zoom-leads-bodies-two-stabbing-victims-california-n1261793
http://nixle.us/CLZH6
https://abc7.com/diamond-bar-rally-confrontation-sparks-hate-crime-investigation/10442400/
https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2021/03/24/california-zoom-stabbing-colleague/
https://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2021/03/23/altadena-zoom-stabbing-victims-dr-carol-brown-kenneth-wayne-preston/
https://6abc.com/cinnamon-toast-crunch-shrimp-jensen-karp-general-mills-cereal-in/10444446/