Knowfacts

A Georgia police sergeant, who’s served on the force for 20 years, was shocked when detectives informed her that she was under investigation. Incredibly, she would soon be out of a job all because of one man’s complaint about the display in her front yard. As a 20-year veteran of the force, Sergeant Silvia Browning Cotriss dedicated her life to serving the citizens of Atlanta, Georgia. Typically, her job consisted of putting away bad guys and making her community a safer place for law-abiding residents. Unfortunately, she found herself on the wrong side of an investigation. According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution , Roswell Police detectives informed Cotriss that she was placed under investigation for “conduct that was unbecoming” of an officer after a civilian filed a formal complaint about her yard display. The offensive exhibit in question — a Confederate flag flying just below her American flag. After 20 years on the force, the officer was fired for having a Confederate flag i...

Georgia State University fired an instructor who refused to teach in a classroom without a mask mandate. Numerous professors already have resigned this semester over concerns about how their administrations are handling COVID-19. And while these faculty departures have happened under duress, they’ve still essentially been resignations. Not so for Cody Luedtke, who was until last week a lab coordinator and instructor of life and earth sciences at Georgia State University: the institution fired her for refusing to teach in a classroom without a mask mandate in place. Luedtke, who is now unemployed, set up a Go Fund Me page to help pay for her housing and health insurance, and to share her story. “I was a lab coordinator, a staff/faculty fusion job that enabled me to teach two classes per semester while managing our teaching labs,” Luedtke wrote on the page. “I worked at GSU for almost six years. As I prepared for the semester to begin, I realized that teaching in this environment would...

Ashley Turniak, 16, was a junior at Agawam High School in Agawam, Massachusetts, a few miles from Springfield across the Connecticut River and near the Connecticut border. She resided with her mother at the Pheasant Hill Village condominium complex in the Feeding Hills area. She was a nice girl and well-liked by those who had the pleasure of knowing her. The beautiful teen wanted to be a nurse one day and took a part-time summer job at a local nursing home to bring her one step closer to achieving her dream. However, she quit when the new school year started. Ashley became a bit of a rebel when classes began. School records show Ashley had been absent eight times and tardy six times since school began in September, the Hartford Courant reported. Regardless, she was never truant and had every intention of graduating high school. Ashley had recently experienced a couple of unfortunate events. The father of one of her friends had recently died, and she learned that friend was moving to O...

An unknown intruder shot the couple multiple times in a targeted attack as they slept in their bed. WATERFORD TOWNSHIP, Mich. — All Pamela Jean Barnes ever wanted was to get married and have a home to call her own, her mother once said. At 41 years old, she was still single. She had a daughter, but Barnes and the father never tied the knot, and their relationship eventually dissolved. Barnes finally found the love of her life when she met Kenneth Kanehl, Jr. in December 2004. The relationship progressed quickly, and the couple moved in together in April 2005. Both had good, stable jobs. Kanehl, 39, worked for Minacs Corp. as a troubleshooter technician for GM cars. Barnes was an occupational therapist. Barnes and Kanehl had daughters from previous relationships — Kanehl’s daughter Kylie, 15, and Barnes’ daughter Alyssa, 13 (newer reports say nine). Alyssa’s father did not like her living with Kanehl. Barnes was preparing to take Alyssa’s father to court over thousands of dollars in bac...

Dayton, Texas – The mother of a 12-year-old Dayton boy says she is heartbroken after her son died from COVID-19 complications. “He went downhill so fast, just horrendously fast,” mother Casey Castorina told KPRC 2. Ryland Daic died Tuesday, Aug. 10 at Children’s Memorial Hermann Hospital. Castorina says Ryland had been visiting his grandfather when she learned he was sick on Aug. 5. The mother said other relatives learned they were COVID positive a few days earlier. “They sounded congested like when you have a head cold. I talked to him multiple times a day. He was still going out fishing and building his model cars and making Tik Tok videos,” said Castorina. But, the following Tuesday, Castorina says Ryland started to go downhill. “He was there, but he wasn’t there. I would ask him questions and I would get a thumbs up or a thumbs down. He couldn’t speak,” she said. Castorina said she took her son to an emergency room in Crosby. “The nurse came from the back and said, ‘You need to get...

THOUSANDS of refugees are expected to flee Afghanistan as the Taliban seize control. So how many refugees will Britain take in? A wave of refugees from Afghanistan are expected to make their way to Europe as they flee from the Taliban, with countries pledging to take them in. Now Home Secretary Priti Patel has blasted French President Emmanuel Macron and the European Commission over its lack of support for the resettlement of Afghan refugees. The Government announced its plans yesterday to welcome thousands of Afghans fleeing the Taliban. The new settlement programme will prioritise women, girls and those from religious minorities who are expected to be most at risk from the Taliban. Ms Patel has called on Mr Macron and the European Commission to do “much more” to help Afghan refugees. The Home Secretary told Sky News: "Within Europe, there is so much more that the EU Commission can do and could do in terms of stopping irregular migration and creating safe and legal routes. "...

When plants first ventured onto the land, evolving from freshwater-dwelling algae, more than 500 million years ago, they transformed the planet. By drawing carbon dioxide from the air, they cooled Earth, and by eroding rock surfaces they helped build the soil that now covers so much land. These changes to the planet’s atmosphere and land surface paved the way for the evolution of the biosphere we know. Land plants make up around 80% of Earth’s biomass. The pioneering plants were small and moss-like, and they had to overcome two big challenges to survive on land: avoiding drying out, and surviving the Sun’s harsh ultraviolet light. In rock samples from Canning Basin in the north of Western Australia, we have discovered 480 million-year-old fossilised spores from early land plants alongside spores from ancestral water-dwelling algae. These are the oldest land plant spores found, and they give us new clues about when and where plants made the jump to land and also how they managed to surv...

FRISCO, Texas – A Frisco officer has been fired and arrested for an alleged “inappropriate relationship” with a 17-year-old student, police said. Police said internal and criminal investigations led to John Hoover, 35, being terminated from the department and charged with sexual performance of a child, a second-degree felony. According to police, the department learned of the allegations on Aug. 8 and that findings led to his termination just days later on Aug. 11. Hoover was arrested by the department on Friday, Aug. 13, and booked into the Denton County Jail. His bond was set at $100,000. “Under this statute, it is an offense if a person induces a person younger than 18 years of age to engage in sexual conduct,” police said in a statement. File photo. Police said Hoover had been with the department since September 2011 and was most recently assigned to the school resource officer unit. Police do not believe there were any students involved at the former officer’s assigned school. “Th...

London - The UK government has been warned to stop a massive North Sea oil project or see its hopes of becoming a climate leader dashed as the country prepares to host a crucial environmental summit later this year. In the coming weeks, Britain's oil regulator could decide whether to green-light the Cambo development near the Shetland Islands, which co-owners Shell ( RDSA ) and Blackstone-backed Siccar Point Energy expect to produce 164 million barrels of crude during the first phase of development. But environmental groups and other activists are furious. They claim that approving the development would damage the environment and undermine claims by the UK government that it's taking bold action ahead of November's 26th UN Climate Change Conference , or COP26, in Glasgow. We will know if politicians are listening if the UK government, as hosts of COP who aspire to lead on climate, call time and put a stop to Cambo."-TESSA KHAN, UPLIFT FOUNDER "We will know if ...

The 36 years since four-year-old French boy Grégory Villemin died have been marked by revenge, dashed hopes, anonymous taunting phone calls, and mystery. With the case back in the headlines, we look at France's most haunting unsolved murder. Who’s Grégory Villemin? He was a four-year-old boy found drowned in the Vologne river near Docelles, in eastern France in October 1984. His unsolved death is the country's most high-profile unsolved murder cases. Tell me more about the case The “Affaire de Grégory”, as it’s become known, has fascinated and horrified the French public for over three decades, and inspired at least seven books. Here’s what we do know. On the evening of October 16th, 1984 Grégory’s parents Christine and Jean-Marie Villemin received a chilling, taunting phone call from an unidentified person, informing them “I have taken the boy.” After a massive police search, Grégory’s body was found in the Vologne river, about 7km from the family home in Lépanges-sur-Vologne....

Scientists have developed a new kind of Covid test which can detect the virus in spit - and tell infected people which variant they caught. Researchers at Harvard University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), and several hospitals in Boston developed the home test. The $6 (£4.30) test called Minimally Instrumented SHERLOCK (miSHERLOCK) can distinguish between three types of the virus and takes one hour to provide results. Scientists have developed a new kind of Covid test that can detect the virus in people's spit. Pictured: The $6 (£4.30) test called Minimally Instrumented SHERLOCK (miSHERLOCK) after a positive result. It links to smartphones and can be configured to identify different variants, including the Indian 'Delta' strain. Developers say it could replace lab-tested PCR tests to provide an accurate result much quicker than having to wait a day or two. And the fact the tests do not involve an invasive nasal swab could make them more popular. They ca...

Laura Kenny won her fifth Olympic gold medal by blowing the world away in a dominant performance in the velodrome. With team-mate Katie Archibald, the golden girl of the track destroyed the field in one of the most one-side cycling finals in history. The British pair took the Madison title by taking a strong early lead and never looked remotely in danger. It was a demolition job as they won 10 of the 12 sprints and 20 points for gaining a lap. The victory margin over Denmark in silver was 43 points as Kenny crossed the line and punched the air. It was Archibald's second career gold after her success in the team pursuit five years ago in Rio. It was absolute dominance from start to finish for Britain's Kenny (right) and Archibald. It is another stunning chapter in the career of Kenny, who took gold in the team pursuit and the omnium at the 2012 London Olympics before repeating the feat in Rio in 2016. Kenny also claimed silver in the team pursuit earlier in this Olympics but wil...

NEW ORLEANS - Doctors in Louisiana have been through it before: the exhaustion, the grief, and the overflowing intensive care units. But this new surge of COVID-19 cases driven by the Delta variant is different, not least because it did not have to be. “Where we are now was preventable, and that’s what is so hard for my colleagues in hospitals to stomach,” said Rebekah Gee, who until last year was the health secretary for Louisiana and now heads Louisiana State University’s healthcare services division. “It’s very frustrating and unfair for doctors to see preventable suffering.” The national vaccination campaign that began in the past year offered a new weapon against the novel coronavirus besides masks and social distancing. Health experts say shots can prevent illness or keep people from becoming gravely ill, and the more people who are vaccinated the less likely the virus will mutate into something worse as it spreads. But Louisianans have been more hesitant to get the jab: The stat...

Australian boxer Harry Garside will take home a bronze medal after going down in the men's lightweight boxing semi-final at the Tokyo Olympics. The 24-year-old reigning Commonwealth Games champion faced off with Cuba's two-time world title-holder Andy Cruz in the ring on Friday. Garside refused to back down against Cruz but the Cuban proved to be too strong and won each of the three rounds. The Melbourne boxer had added ballet to his training regime ahead of the Tokyo Games with the skill appearing to pay off after he defeated Kazakhstan's Zakir Safiullin in the quarter finals. Garside was already guaranteed a medal as both semi-final losers are awarded bronze. Harry Garside shared a close up of his fresh nails after Wednesday's quarter-final victory. Going into the match Cruz was the man to beat having won 110 fights from 118, while Garside has won 19 out of 34. Speaking after the semi-final, Garside said he was just a 'normal kid' from Victoria and couldn...