National Interest
Amy Beeman
Journalist | Creative Non-Fiction Writer
United States
See my articles for my current gig at Grunge.com at the link icon below. :)
United States
See my articles for my current gig at Grunge.com at the link icon below. :)
National Interest
A federal investigation at The Lowell Correctional Institution in Florida found that the sexual assault of inmates at the hands of guards and other prison staff has been ongoing and virtually unpunished for years.
The public is going to find out a little more about unidentified flying objects, or as they are called in military circles, "unidentified aerial phenomenon, in about six months.
President Donald Trump is nominated for the 2020 Nobel Peace Prize "for a peace agreement between the United Arab Emirates and Israel which opens up for possible peace in the Middle East," according to the member of Norwegian Parliament who nominated him, Christian Tybring-Gjedde, the Associated Press reported.
The United States House of Representatives voted to federally decriminalize marijuana Friday with a 219 to 162 vote in favor of the Marijuana Opportunity Reinvestment and Expungement Act of 2019, also called the MORE Act.
The United States Supreme Court ruled Thursday that the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, introduced in 2012 during the Obama administration will be upheld after President Trump moved to end the program in 2017. The Trump administration challenged the initiative, which "provided temporary, renewable relief from deportation" for kids brought to the U.S.
The U.S Supreme Court ruled Monday that it's unconstitutional to require doctors to have admitting privileges to hospitals in order to perform abortions, saying that requirement ultimately puts an "undue burden" on women seeking abortions, and places a "substantial obstacle" in the way of abortion access.
After days of protests around the nation in the aftermath of the killing of a 46-year-old Black man by a Minneapolis police officer, Derek Chauvin has been charged with third-degree murder and manslaughter in George Floyd's death.
Flags are at half-mast in the entire state of Florida today in memory of the victims of the 2016 Pulse Nightclub shooting in Orlando. It's been four years since a shooter walked into the Pulse night club and opened fire, shooting indiscriminately at a bar full of young, mostly gay club-goers near closing time.
The Proud Boys, an alt-right group who say they are "Western Chauvinists who refuse to apologize for the modern world" are holding a rally in Portland Saturday, The Seattle Times reported.
Paybacks and karma don't always have to be a bad thing. Sometimes a kindness your ancestors did 173 years ago can come back around when you need it most. This what the Navaho and Hopi Nations are learning as dozens of people from Ireland make donations to the Native American Tribes' GoFundMe page for COVID-19 relief.
Sarah Cooper is a writer and comedian whose short videos of herself lip-synching to the words of President Donald Trump consistently go viral. But it's more than lip-synching: Cooper's stripped-down, meticulous attention to Trump's verbal nuances and his off-the-cuff statements while he speaks at press conferences or in interviews is hitting a nerve with millions of people.
Kyle Rittenhouse is accused of shooting three people and killing two with an AR-15 .223 rifle during a night of civil unrest in Kenosha, Wisconsin. But how did the 17-year-old get his hands on that kind of a gun?
Music
Prince Rogers Nelson, better known to the world as the iconic superstar Prince, died four years ago at the age of 57 from an accidental fentanyl overdose. His death on April 21, 2016, shocked the world, with fans and celebrities sharing their grief and disbelief on social media, at his home Paisley Park and in cities around world.
The Rolling Stones released their first new original song in eight years, called "Living in a Ghost Town." It's a fitting song for people across the world who are grappling with living more isolated lives due to the coronavirus pandemic. The song and video were released on Thursday.
Little Richard, the flamboyant piano playing rock 'n' roll pioneer is dead at age 87. He died on May 9. Rolling Stone reported Little Richard's son, Danny Penniman, confirmed the death to them. According to the New York Times his cause of death was cancer.
Ticketmaster quietly updated its refund policy outraging fans who are now learning that money will only be refunded for canceled events and not rescheduled events, as they were previously informed.
As the country slowly starts re-opening during the continued coronavirus pandemic, two states so far said they would even allow concerts again. Missouri and Arkansas' re-opening guidelines both set out plans for allowing live concerts and events where large crowds generally gather.
Small music venues in the United States are where musical artists hone their craft, fed by the energy of sweaty, cheering fans. In pre-pandemic times, a night out to see live music was a communal experience. There was comradery, fun, dancing, and ideally, a memorable experience watching talented musicians play great songs with abandon. In pandemic times, that’s all changed.
Frederick Nathaniel Hibbert, better known as "Toots" of Toots and the Maytals died Friday evening in Kingston, Jamaica. According to Rolling Stone, Hibbert was admitted to the hospital last month with COVID-19 symptoms, but it's not yet confirmed if that was the cause of his death.
John Prine is a legendary singer-songwriter who shared a decades-long mutual admiration and friendship with award-winning singer-songwriter Kris Kristofferson. Prine succumbed to ongoing complications from COVID-19 on April 7. Kris Kristofferson is best known as a prolific songwriter who is largely credited with discovering John Prine in 1970 when Prine was playing in a club in Chicago called the Fifth Peg.
Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers are both renowned country singer-songwriters whose careers spanned several decades. Their musical relationship, friendship, and natural chemistry are cherished by fans to this day.
His suicide broke the heart of a generation, spurring public fear of copycats, makeshift shrines and masses of flannel-clad youth hugging through their tears and wondering, “Why?”
TAMPA, Fla. - With huge acts like Gus N' Roses, The Rolling Stones, Elton John, Janet Jackson and Justin Bieber coming to town, Tampa Bay is set to have a summer of epic concerts. But the high cost of tickets for these shows means plenty of die-hard fans may not be able to afford the price of admission.
For diehard music fans, what makes a great concert or gig poster is often in the details.
Science, Health, Environment
Over the weekend, Americans started hearing that " murder hornets" have made their way to the U.S. The biggest and most venomous hornets in the world are now living in the Pacific Northwest. But scientists in that region are working to trap and track the hornets in an effort to find and destroy nests.
Science fiction and actual science may be aligning. That's because NASA scientists have discovered something they can't explain but that others take as a sign that they may have found evidence of a parallel universe. This discovery was made by the NASA-sponsored research group Antarctic Impulsive Transient Antenna, or ANITA.
It was a flawless launch on a beautiful Thursday morning when NASA's Perseverance rover was blasted into space aboard the Atlas V on a seven-month voyage to Mars to look for evidence of ancient life. The anxiously awaited launch from Cape Canaveral, Florida, on July 30 is the beginning of the most robust search for life on the red planet in U.S.
A new study out of Wuhan, China, found that coronavirus can linger in tiny droplets in the air in certain spaces, suggesting the virus may be spread through airborne transmission even when an infected person is no longer present.
The CDC has added six new COVID-19 symptoms to its list of things to watch for. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says a wide variety of reported symptoms may appear anywhere from two to 14 days after a person is infected.
Even though coronavirus and influenza are two different types of viruses, they spread pretty much the same. That's why efforts to slow the spread of COVID-19 could also work to slow the spread of the flu, and according to the Centers for Disease Control, they're already seeing a less severe flu season in the southern hemisphere and so far in the U.S.
Doctors are working to understand an emerging and unusual symptom in COVID-19 patients: so-called 'happy hypoxia' - or silent hypoxia - is being reported by medical staff who say patients' oxygen levels are low enough to render them unconscious or even dead, yet the patients say they feel comfortable and are able to talk with doctors and do regular things like scroll on their phones, according to a recent report in Science magazine.
A dust plume as big as the U.S and Europe is heading across the Atlantic Ocean toward the Caribbean and into the Gulf of Mexico and surrounding states. The annual event means hazy skies, possible poor air quality, and extra vibrant sunsets for those regions. It also affects tropical conditions where hurricanes form.
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - The National Marine Fisheries Service announced Tuesday the largest amount of settlement funds to date from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill will go toward restoring marine life that was harmed by the 87-days-long catastrophe. Eleven workers on the oil rig died when it exploded in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010.
It's report card time. For the fifth year, 25 top fast-food and fast-casual chains were rated on their efforts to reduce antibiotics in their beef supply. The results aren't great.
Orlando, Fla. -- An international search is on to find some of the rarest blood in the world to help save the life of a 2-year-old South Florida girl. Zainab has neuroblastoma, an aggressive form of cancer. More than 1,000 local and national donations have been tested to match her blood; but of those, only three people have her rare blood type.
True Crime
Mark David Chapman shot and killed John Lennon on December 8, 1980 outside of the Dakota building where Lennon lived in Manhattan. Chapman had flown from Hawaii where he'd been living with his wife specifically to kill Lennon according to transcripts of Chapman's August 19, 2020 parole hearing published by WSB radio.
Dennis Rader, known as the BTK killer, was convicted of 10 murders in Wichita and Park City, Kansas in 2005. The murders spanned from 1974 to 1986, in which the majority of those years he was married and raising two children, leading a boy scout troop, and being deeply involved in his church.
Samuel Little confessed to 93 murders from 1970 to 2005, making him the most prolific serial killer in U.S. History, according to the FBI.
Chris Watts had not been having an affair for very long when he killed his 34-year-old pregnant wife, Shanann Watts, and their two daughters, Bella, 4, and Celeste, 3. He'd met Nichol Kessinger where they both worked at The Anadarko Petroleum Corporation in Colorado and by late June 2018, the two began an affair.
Chris Watts said he murdered his wife and two young daughters in a fit of anger. When he confessed that he strangled his pregnant wife Shanaan Watts in the couple's bed in the early morning hours of August 13, 2018, Watt told police he was in a rage and "snapped," according to confession notes by the Colorado Bureau of Investigations that were published on Law and Crime.
William Emmett LeCroy, 50, is scheduled to die at 4 p.m. on September 22 at the Terre Haute, Indiana, federal prison for the rape and murder of a 30-year-old nurse practitioner, Joann Tiesler, in Georgia in 2001. When LeCroy killed Tiesler, he believed she was a former babysitter that had put a curse on him.
Cindy Paulson was 18 when she escaped Alaskan serial killer Robert Hansen in 1983. A seasoned prostitute, even at such a young age, Paulson reluctantly agreed to go with Hansen to his house instead of the initial deal he offered, which was $200 to give him oral sex in his car. Eventually, her escape after hours of being chained by her neck and raped would lead to his arrest.
Serial killer Robert Hansen confessed to killing 17 women in Alaska over a 12-year span, all while married with two children. A bakery owner by trade, Hansen was also an avid outdoorsman and hunter. He got a pilot's license and a small plane for big game hunting in the Alaskan wilderness, or so that's what he'd told his wife.
Shelly Boggio was a 14-year-old girl who made the fatal mistake of running with the wrong crowd on the night of May 5, 1985.
The name "Michael Myers" is synonymous with gruesome on-screen Halloween murders, but in real life, those who have committed horrific murders on Halloween are a reminder that art sometimes imitates life — even the darkest and most perverse aspects.
One of England's most prolific serial killers died of complications from COVID-19 on November 13 in a hospital three miles from where he was serving a life-term in prison after being convicted of killing 13 women and attempting to kill seven more from 1975 to 1980, according to Sky News.
Local Stories
After months of protests and calls for changes in policing policy following the killing of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer, The St. Petersburg Police Department in Florida is making a big change.
Florida's Governor Ron DeSantis introduced legislation Monday that would create new criminal offenses for some of the acts that are causing damage and destruction during the ongoing Black Lives Matter protests.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis' handling of the coronavirus pandemic has often been questioned and criticized by some within the state.
Weather-beaten, crooked gravestones nestled in tall grass and weeds. Faded polyester flowers poke out of vases where the dead were laid to rest; at least the ones whose graves are still marked. These are the neglected and forgotten cemeteries found in virtually every town in America.
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - A Florida legislator filed a bill this week to roll back certain abortion laws. Orlando Rep. Anna V. Eskamani told 10News that while there is no doubt that some regulation is needed in regards to abortion access, those regulations should be based on medicine and science and not political motivations.
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - Details in the arrest warrant filed in the Pinellas County court system in the case of a well-known St. Pete man -- who was found beaten to death -- paint a picture of a brutal attack that was possibly motivated by racism.
A Lake Correctional Institution Corrections Officer in Florida is accused of murdering an inmate who died in June from injuries sustained as the "result of actions" taken by the officer, according to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.
Newly released information in the case of a 22-year-old Orlando Burger King employee who was murdered on August 1 after a dispute over a long wait time at the drive-thru says the events leading up to the killing involved a mother, a father and their 13-year-old daughter.
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - Newly released information about the night Gloria Davis was stabbed to death in her home in St. Petersburg paints a gruesome picture, yet provides no real motive as to why a 13-year-old would attack his grandmother with a knife in the middle of the night.
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - A man who has been in the Pinellas County Jail since his arrest nearly a year ago is now free after a key witness in the case says she lied about seeing him shoot two people in South St. Petersburg, according to court documents.
Summer is never better than when you're a kid. Those three months of sleeping late, swimming, playing, family vacations, and intermittent boredom due to lack of structure - those were the jam. Now we're bill-paying adults with time constraints. Yet we still want some of those good-time summer feels.
Just around the corner from St. Petersburg hotspots 3 Daughters Brewing and Brocante Vintage Market, Carl Estes is quietly running a social enterprise. At Louise Graham Regeneration Center in Midtown St. Pete, intellectually disabled adults, often marginalized or ignored by mainstream society, are finding purpose through work while building self-esteem via positive social interaction.
Columns, Humor
Our longtime bartenders give us so much more than cold beers and cocktails.
2016 has unleashed some unbelievably tough blows on all of us, so the opportunity to swaddle myself in Bob's color-mixing, fan-brushing, buttery-voiced calm is a welcome one.
People love to confess their secrets anonymously, and have long done so with the time-honored tradition of vandalism.
It's a 'getting to know you' kind of thing.
White men's hearts really are in the right place sometimes.
This has blossomed into something that could be a landmark case for how it applies to the First Amendment, and news outlets’ rights to publish versus celebrities’ rights to privacy.
Know what the cool kids are doing these days? They're aging.
On some human level we can still see eye to eye on certain indisputable things. One of those things: the innate creepiness of the white van.
Florida is a lovely place to call home, but it's not without its discomforts. We are intimately familiar with swamp ass and sweaty underboob.
Generally when we see the words "Florida Man" in the headlines, they're followed by fantastically absurd sentences like, "Eats Homeless Man's Face Off." These types of headlines have pegged Florida Man as batshit-bananas.