Florida Sentinel Bulletin

CHICAGO, IL — An unhappy meal indeed! Chicago mom, Anishi Spencer, alleges in a lawsuit filed Wednesday that her toddler ate a used condom in a McDonald’s play area on Feb. 4 of last year.

The complaint states that 2-year-old Jacquel “picked up a used condom that was on the floor.” The then-toddler “shortly thereafter coughed up a piece of used condom.” The distraught mom is seeking $50,000 in damages plus all of her attorney’s fees from the global burger chain.

Spencer is taking aim at the establishment, claiming that it ”failed and neglected” to properly clean any hazardous debris and keep safe a play area designated for young children. Spencer also contends that the chain neglected to use surveillance to uncover any “deviant activities” on its grounds.

ORLANDO, FL — Florida’s lieutenant governor resigned and nearly 60 other people were charged in a widening scandal of a purported veterans charity that authorities said Wednesday was a $300 million front for illegal gambling.

Lt. Gov. Jennifer Carroll’s resignation came a day after she was questioned in the investigation. Her public relations firm did work for the St. Augustine-based charity Allied Veterans of the World, but she has not been accused of wrongdoing.

Authorities said the probe involved 57 arrest warrants and 54 search warrants issued at gambling operations in 23 Florida counties and five other states: South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Nevada and Pennsylvania.

Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi said charges, which will be formally filed next week, include racketeering, conspiracy, money laundering and possession of slot machines.

Authorities refused to discuss any ties between Carroll, a 53-year-old Republican, and the investigation. Her aides had no immediate comment.

Carroll, a Navy veteran who served in the Gulf War, appeared in a TV ad in 2011 promoting the organization’s charitable work on behalf of veterans and their families.

Carroll’s resignation letter to Gov. Rick Scott offered no details about her reason for leaving, but the Republican governor said in a statement she resigned so her ties to the company would not be a distraction for the administration.

Carroll, an immigrant from Trinidad, served 20 years in the U.S. Navy, working as a jet mechanic before retiring as a lieutenant commander. Elected to the state House in 2003, she’s served as deputy majority leader and majority whip. She’s also a former executive director of the Florida Department of Veterans’ Affairs. She moved to Florida in 1986.

A married mother of three, Carroll has a son who plays defensive back for the Miami Dolphins.

Carroll was the brunt of late-night talk show hosts last summer after she apologized for offending lesbians when she said black women who engage in those relationships don’t look like her.

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama is offering warm wishes to newly elected Pope Francis.

Obama says the selection of the first pope from the Americas speaks to the strength and vitality of the region. He says millions of Hispanic Americans join him in praying for the new pope.

Cardinals in Rome on Wednesday elected 76-year-old Jorge Bergoglio, who chose the papal name Francis. An Argentinian, Bergoglio is also the first from outside Europe in more than a millennium.

Obama says the pope serves as a champion of the poor and vulnerable and represents the love and compassion that has inspired the world throughout the Catholic Church’s history.

He says he looks forward to working with the pope to promote peace, security and dignity for people of all faiths.

DETROIT  — Former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick was convicted Monday of corruption charges, ensuring a return to prison for a man once among the nation’s youngest big-city leaders.

Jurors convicted Kilpatrick of a raft of crimes, including a racketeering conspiracy charge that carries a maximum punishment of 20 years behind bars. He was portrayed during a five-month trial as an unscrupulous politician who took bribes, rigged contracts and lived far beyond his means while in office until fall 2008.

Kilpatrick wore a surprised, puzzled look at times as U. S. District Judge Nancy Edmunds read the jury’s verdict: guilty of 24 charges, not guilty on three and no consensus on three more. Kilpatrick declined to speak to reporters as he left the courthouse.

Prosecutors said Kilpatrick ran a “private profit machine” out of Detroit’s City Hall. The government presented evidence to show he got a share of the spoils after ensuring that Bobby Ferguson’s excavating company was awarded millions in work from the water department.

Business owners said they were forced to hire Ferguson as a subcontractor or risk losing city contracts. Separately, fundraiser Emma Bell said she gave Kilpatrick more than $200,000 as his personal cut of political donations, pulling cash from her bra during private meetings. A high-ranking aide, Derrick Miller, told jurors that he often was the middle man, passing bribes from others.

WARREN, OH — Two teens who escaped a crash that killed six friends in a swampy pond wriggled out of the wreckage by smashing a rear window and swimming away from the SUV, a state trooper said Monday.

The inside of the sport utility vehicle was entirely under water within minutes of the crash, said State Highway Patrol Lt. Brian Holt.

Investigators don’t yet know why the eight were in the speeding vehicle without permission when it smashed into a guardrail and flipped over into the pond Sunday morning around daybreak, Holt said.

No one in the group had asked to take the vehicle and its owner was not related to any of the teens, Holt said. The vehicle was licensed to a resident of Youngstown, about 20 miles away.

The two teens who escaped have talked with investigators, Holt said. The two boys ran a quarter-mile to a home to call 911, the highway patrol said.

The two survivors, 18-year-old Brian Henry and 15-year-old Asher Lewis, both of Warren, were treated for bruising and other injuries and released, she said.

All those killed were ages 14 to 19, authorities said. State police identified the others as the 19-year-old driver Alexis Cayson; Andrique Bennett, 14; Brandon Murray, 14; and Kirklan Behner, Ramone White and Derrick Ray, all 15.

Pictured: Leaman Joe, left, hugs Michael Parker, at the crash site that killed their friends on Park Ave. in Warren, Ohio on Sunday, March 10, 2013. 

SOUTH AFRICA — Following the wishes of his dead namesake, 8-year-old Sanele Masilela got hitched to Helen Shabangu, 61, who is a Mother of five, in their village of Tshwane, South Africa.

The wedding announcement sent shock waves throughout the town, but according to the boy’s parents, the child was merely respecting the wishes of his dead grandfather. Masilela, who is named after his grandfather, supposedly told by the elder to have a white lavish wedding, because he never had one before he died.

Fearing that there would be some sort of doom brought upon him if he did not follow through with his grandfather’s wishes, the boy agreed to marry the woman he loved, Shabangu.

JOHANNESBURG, S. AFRICA — Nelson Mandela, the anti-apartheid leader and Nobel laureate returned to his Johannesburg home on Sunday after spending a night in a hospital for what presidential spokesman Mac Maharaj said was a “successful” medical exam. Maharaj said Mandela was “well.”

The 94-year-old, however, has grown increasingly frail over the years. In December, he spent three weeks in a hospital, where he was treated for a lung infection and had a procedure to remove gallstones.

The revered leader’s brief hospitalization comes at a time when South Africa is struggling to live up to the promise that Mandela has come to symbolize.

ILLINOIS — A Illinois police department is standing behind its decision to arrest an 8-year-old special needs student.

The girl was handcuffed at her Alton school on last Tuesday. Her guardian says he’s outraged his daughter was treated like a criminal.

Jmiyha Rickman was hauled off in the back of a police car from school to the Alton Police Department and was held for nearly two hours.

Police say they had no choice after Rickman took a swing at a school resource officer and tore up two classrooms.

Her guardian says the situation could have been handled better.

“I trusted the school to give her the adequate treatment and care she deserves and they failed us,” said Nehemiah Keeton, Rickman’s uncle and guardian.

Keeton says Rickman is autistic and suffers from separation anxiety and depression.

On Tuesday morning, he got a phone call from Love Joy Elementary School in Alton to pick her up because she was having a tantrum.  He says this has happened several times before.

Keeton was on his way to the school when he got a phone call from police saying Rickman was in custody.

Rickman says her hands and feet were handcuffed and had a belt around her waist.

MIAMI, FL — Emma Anderson, 82, was reportedly dragged off of the Miami Metrorail train system last month for allegedly singing religious hymns too loudly.

The incident involving the octogenarian occurred on February 20th and was captured via a passenger’s cell phone video.  The footage shows Anderson sitting in the corner seat of a railcar obliviously singing religious tunes and rhythmically tapping to them on her thigh with a rolled-up piece of paper.

An unnamed security guard spotted the senior, approached her, and repeatedly asked her to quiet down. Anderson continued to ignore the guard’s request. As the train stopped at Brikell station, the guard then grabbed Anderson’s cart roughly while Anderson tried to hold on for dear life.

The security guard then proceeded to drag both the cart and fragile old woman off the train. As the guard dragged Anderson along with her cart, roughshod, out of the railcar, Anderson fell on the platform.

According to a Miami-Dade County transit spokesperson, Karla Damian, the agency enforces a strict policy that no dancing, singing, or instrument playing is allowed on their railcars. The agency also released a public statement with regards to the Anderson incident:

We regret that Ms. Anderson had to eventually be escorted out, but regardless of age, all passengers need to abide by rules associated with using transit.