Florida Sentinel Bulletin

The Chicago Police Department on Friday announced an increase in the reward being offered for information leading to the killer of Hadiya Pendleton.

Pendleton, 15, was shot to death January 29th as she stood at a bus stop with friends after final exams at her school. A boy was wounded in what police believe was a drive-by in which Pendleton was not a target. She was shot in the back and died at the hospital.

The increase in the reward came via an additional $15,000 from St. Sabina, which describes itself as “an African-American Catholic community of faith” in Chicago. The organization had previously donated $10,000 to the reward fund.

Police say tips are pouring in already in the case, and Mayor Rahm Emanuel has called on citizens to ignore the “stop snitching” credo that often keeps people silent out of fear of retaliation if they talk to police about a crime.

Pendleton, an honor student and majorette, had performed with her school’s marching band during events at President Obama’s second inaugural, just a week before she was killed. Her death has galvanized the Chicago community, where the murder rate has soared in the past year. Her death — in a suburb near the Obama family home — amplified calls for gun control measures to stem the violence that has racked American communities nationwide.

The teen was shot on the 4500 block of S. Oakenwald Street in Chicago, and anyone with information in the case was being asked to call 312-747-8380.

CHICAGO  — Two days after a stunning series of errors allowed a convicted murderer to walk out of a Chicago jail where he did not need to be in the first place, police recaptured the man at a northern Illinois home where he was found watching TV.

Steven L. Robbins, 44, put up no resistance Friday night as police burst through the door of a townhome in Kankakee, about 60 miles south of Chicago, said Cook County Sheriff’s Office spokesman Frank Bilecki.

“He was in the living room or kitchen area watching TV, taken by total surprise,” Bilecki said, adding that it appears the homeowner might know an acquaintance of Robbins. Before the arrest, a surveillance team spotted Robbins wearing a curly wig while carrying groceries from a vehicle into the home, the sheriff’s office said.

By Saturday afternoon, Robbins was back in the Indiana State Prison, where he was serving a 60-year sentence for murder.

Darien Long, a security guard at Metro Mall in downtown Atlanta, deals with unruly patrons each day. Sometimes, they threaten him with violence.

Long regularly records these encounters but one video, which was shot in May of last year, has recently gone viral. It is of Long tazering an unidentified woman who is seen in the video hurling foul language at him in front of her small children.

It is not clear what exactly started the altercation but during the nearly five-minute video, the mother is clearly miffed at Long for addressing her children in what she considered to be a disrespectful tone.

On the video, the woman is seen yelling obscenities at Long. She then encourages her young children to call the man “gay.” The children then entered the store, after the guard ordered the mother to take them off the premises. Instead of complying, she enters the store and physically confronts the guard. The guard then took out his Tazer and fired at the mother. She hit the floor immediately. Her children stood near her crying hysterically.

In a recent interview with a local CBS affiliate in Atlanta, Long says that he video records the incidents so that he can help make the area safer. “What you need to do is clean up the neighborhoods, so other businesses can come in and then downtown Atlanta can prosper,” he said.

The woman who was tazered was charged with criminal trespassing, contributing to the delinquency of a minor and simple battery.

Long has gotten online support from Crowdtilt.com, where neary $20,000 has been raised to help support his crime-stopping efforts.

A St. Louis Applebee waitress, Chelsea Welch (pictured, inset), was canned after uploading a picture on Reddit of the dining receipt from pastor Alois Bell (pictured) who refused to tip and instead scribbled on the bill, “I give God 10 percent why should you get 18.”

The January 25th incident took place after an unidentified waitress was assigned as the server for a large party of five adults and five children, which reportedly included Pastor Alois Bell, a minister at a fledgling church, Truth in the World Deliverance Ministries.

When Bell was given the dinner tab, she noticed that an 18 percent gratuity had been added, which is customary for the restaurant chain when there are parties greater than six.  The 37-year-old pastor crossed out the automatic tip on the receipt and wrote in a “0″ with a slash through it along with the aforementioned religious message.

Even though Welch saw humor in what Bell had written, the Mother of three did not find the waitress’ actions very funny. When Bell got wind, via a friend, that Welch’s antics involved making the receipt go viral, she took her concerns to Applebee’s management and Welch was let go.

Bell said she is sorry about the incident that took place at the eatery and points out she left a tip of $6.29 cash on the table.  “My heart is really broken,” she told the online site. “I’ve brought embarrassment to my church and my ministry.”

WASHINGTON — A bipartisan group of leading senators has reached agreement on the principles for a sweeping overhaul of the nation’s immigration laws, including a path to citizenship for the 11-million illegal immigrants already in this country.

The deal also covers border security, non-citizen or “guest” workers, and employer verification of immigration status.

Although thorny details remain to be negotiated and success is far from certain, the development heralds the start of what could be the most significant effort in years toward overhauling the nation’s inefficient patchwork of immigration laws.

President Barack Obama also is committed to enacting comprehensive immigration legislation and will traveled to Nevada on Tuesday to lay out his vision, which is expected to overlap in important ways with the Senate effort.

WASHINGTON  — The Senate overwhelmingly confirmed President Barack Obama’s choice of five-term Sen. John Kerry to be secretary of state, with Republicans and Democrats praising him as the ideal successor to Hillary Rodham Clinton.

The vote Tuesday was 94-3. One senator — Kerry — voted present and accepted congratulations from colleagues on the Senate floor. The roll call came just hours after the Senate Foreign Relations Committee unanimously approved the man who has led the panel for the past four years.

Kerry was sworn in Wednesday. A welcoming ceremony is planned at the State Department on Monday.

Pres. Obama tapped Kerry, 69, the son of a diplomat, decorated Vietnam veteran and 2004 Democratic presidential candidate, to succeed Clinton, who is stepping down after four years. The Massachusetts Democrat, who had pined for the job but was passed over in 2009, has served as Pres. Obama’s unofficial envoy, smoothing fractious ties with Afghanistan and Pakistan.

HUNTSVILLE, Texas  — Dallas County prosecutors say they aren’t appealing a state judge’s decision to halt the scheduled Tuesday evening execution of a Texas woman.

She would have been the first woman put to death in the U.S. since 2010.

State District Judge Larry Mitchell issued a reprieve for 51-year-old Kimberly McCarthy less than five hours before she could have been taken to the death chamber for the 1997 slaying of a neighbor.

Dallas County Assistant District Attorney Shelly Yeatts says McCarthy’s execution date now is April 3.

McCarthy’s lawyers contend the jury that convicted her of murder was improperly selected on the basis of race. McCarthy is black. Her jury was made up of 11 whites and one black person.

ATLANTA, GA – Now what in the world were Dewayne Patterson, 35, and Renaldo Jackson, 26, thinking when they were allegedly arrested by police for stealing $65,000 worth of frozen chicken wings?

Both Patterson and Jackson worked at the Nordic Cold Storage plant in Doraville, Ga.  According to a police report, on January 12th around noon, the men reportedly backed up a rented truck to a bay door at the plant and loaded it with about 10 pallets of Tyson frozen chicken wings.

Police investigators state that Patterson ensured that no one would stumble upon their heist by serving as a lookout. Jackson, on the other hand, utilized a company forklift to pile the frozen wings into the truck.

Detectives finally caught up with the pair on January 23 and arrested them, but could not obtain any information as to the wherabouts of the chicken.

WASHINGTON — After leaving the Commander-in-Chief’s Ball Monday evening, where the newly re-inaugurated President Obama thanked the troops and the first couple danced to Jennifer Hudson singing Al Green’s “Let’s Stay Together,” the Obamas headed to this Inauguration’s only other official gala, the Inaugural Ball, also being held at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center.

At the Inaugural Ball, the Obamas again danced to Jennifer Hudson singing Al Green’s “Let’s Stay Together” — twice more.

Scheduled performers included Alicia Keys, Black Violin, Brad Paisley, Far East Movement, FUN., members of the “Glee” cast, John Legend, Katy Perry, Maná, Smokey Robinson, Soundgarden, Stevie Wonder and Usher.

Organizers converted the convention center’s massive, bare-bones exhibit hall into a slightly less bare-bones ballroom. No chandeliers here — just a few drapes and decorations to spruce up the exposed ceiling and fluorescent lights. Revelers danced on the center’s industrial concrete floor.

The Inaugural Ball was split between two floors in the building, and attendees were not allowed to go from floor to floor.