A wild raccoon walked into a bar at happy hour — and, no joke, a woman earned a year’s probation for getting it there.
Erin Christensen, 38, earned her sentence after she was arrested in September for bringing the raccoon, which she named Rocky, into a bar in Maddock, North Dakota.
Christensen pleaded guilty Tuesday to providing false information to law enforcement, tampering with evidence and unlawful possession of a furbearer.
Keeping a raccoon as a pet, as well as a bat or skunk, is illegal in North Dakota because the animals are known carriers of rabies, according to the state’s Game and Fish Department.
Rocky was euthanized by authorities after testing negative for rabies.
Christensen’s other charges stem from her refusal to disclose the location of the raccoon when questioned by authorities, the Bismark Tribune reported.
Erin Christensen’s family found Rocky on the side of the road and were nursing it back to health when she took it to the bar on Sept. 6. GoFundMe
Rocky was euthanized by authorities after testing negative for rabies. GoFundMe
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“Rocky was the sweetest boy ever and did not deserve to be put down,” the family said.
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Christensen faced up to about two years in jail and a $7,500 fine, but Northeast District Judge Donovan Foughty gave her a suspended six-month jail sentence and a year of probation, as well as a $1,100 in fines and fees, instead.
Her family found the raccoon on the side of the road and were nursing it back to health when it was brought into the bar on Sept. 6, Christensen said.
“She took him into the bar not knowing raccoons were such a big deal, someone who has a huge problem with her in the first place reported her to the department of health,” Christensen’s family wrote on a GoFundMe page created to raise legal fees for Erin.
“Rocky was the sweetest boy ever and did not deserve to be put down,” the family continued.
Barbara Walters, the pioneering broadcaster and grande dame of celebrity journalism, made her mark when she was only 34 years old. It was the day after the assassination of President John F. Kennedy in November 1963 and Walters was then a reporter on NBC’s “Today Show”.
Walters’ poise and articulation in the middle of one of the biggest news stories of the century foreshadowed an astonishing career of more than 50 years in front of the camera.
She went on to interview 10 US presidents in her lifetime. But as the news became more intertwined with showbiz, Walters really hit her stride, drawing up to 70 million viewers for her sometimes controversial, sometimes poignant, often pointed and provocative interviews with celebrities and news-makers.
Here are some of her most fascinating interviews:
Donald Trump – Sitting uncomfortably close to one another, when Trump’s businesses were on the precipice, Walters did not hold back when grilling the future president in 1990 about his precarious finances. Trump attempted to wave away doubts about his wealth as “lies” and claimed bankers had told him he was “stronger than ever.” But Walters wasn’t having it. She announced Trump was on the “verge of bankruptcy” and had been “bailed out by the banks.”
“Skating on thin ice and almost drowning, that’s a businessman to be admired?” asked Walters.
Chris Christie – Walters started off the 2012 sitdown with the portly Republican New Jersey governor by admitting she felt “very uncomfortable asking this question,” before noting, “You are a little overweight.” Christie chimed in, affably, saying he was “more than a little.” Walters paused for a minute before asking, “Why?” Said Christie: “If I could figure that out, I’d fix it.”
In 2012, Walters interviewed former Governor Chris Christie as part of a Disney special called “Barbara Walters Presents: The 10 Most Fascinating People of 2012.” Disney General Entertainment Content
Walters sat down with the former governor. Disney General Entertainment Con
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The interview was released as a 90-minute special alongside 9 other interviews. Disney General Entertainment Con
“She asked me what my measurements were and asked me to stand up,” Shields, who was 15 at the time, told Drew Barrymore. “And I stand up, and she was like comparing herself to this little girl. And I thought, ‘This isn’t right. I don’t understand what this is.’”
“But I just behaved and just smiled,” she said, acknowledging that she “felt so taken advantage of in so many ways.”
Monica Lewinsky – Walters scooped the world with her 1998 interview with Lewinsky after her scandalous affair with then-president Bill Clinton, garnering 74 million viewers in the process. Walters grilled Lewinsky about whether she still was in love with Clinton. Lewinsky said: “No. Sometimes I have warm feelings. Sometimes I’m proud of him still, and sometimes I hate his guts. And, he makes me sick.” Walters asked Lewinsky, “What will you tell your children, when you have them?” Lewinsky said simply: “Mommy made a big mistake.”
Fidel Castro – When Walters flew to Havana to interview Castro in 1977 she expected a lot of pugnacity and suspicion. Instead, she said, it turned into a 10-day adventure which included her driving around Cuba in Castro’s open Jeep — and sometimes holding his gun. Castro took her to the Bay of Pigs and Sierra Maestra, the mountainous region where Castro lived and trained with his rebel fighters before overthrowing Batista in 1959.
Walters rides along with Fidel Castro during her 1977 interview. Courtesy Everett Collection
Christopher Reeve – Walters sat face-to-face with the actor in 1995 not long after he was rendered a quadriplegic in a freak horse-riding accident. Walters drilled down on the details of his accident, as well as Reeve’s difficulties being paralyzed — and how sometimes his air hose could get disconnected by mistake at night and he could only hope someone would get to him in time. Walters’ questions didn’t spare Reeve but the emotion showed on her face.
Christopher Reeve was interviewed in 2002 at his upstate New York home.Disney General Entertainment Content
Muammar Gaddafi – In January 1989, when the Libyan dictator was flying high and enjoying his power, Walters flew to Tripoli to interview him in one of his famous tents. Gaddafi criticized American leaders and called the media “Zionists” out to get him. Walters called him “crazy” in the interview but later backtracked in the ABC studios speaking to George Stephanopoulos. “He was crazy like a fox,” Walters said. “He thought that he was going to be the king of the whole Arab world.”
Walters spoke with performer Ricky Martin on “The View” in 2010. Disney General Entertainment Content
Walters was on “The View” for 17 years. Disney General Entertainment Content
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“You could say, ‘Yes I am gay or no I’m not.’ ” Coolly, Martin responded, “I just don’t feel like it.” Years later, Walters said she regretted asking him about his sexuality. ““I pushed Ricky Martin very hard to admit if he was gay or not, and the way he refused to do it made everyone decide that he was,” she said in 2010. “A lot of people say that destroyed his career, and when I think back on it now, I feel it was an inappropriate question.”
Mike Tyson and Robin Givens – Seven months after the then-heavyweight champion and actress Givens married in 1988, the couple made the dubious decision to be interviewed by Walters.
On “The Barbara Walters Special” in 1988, Barbara Walters interviewed heavyweight boxer Mike Tyson and his wife, actress Robin Givens. Disney General Entertainment Content
Tyson sat next to Givens, who starred in ABC’s “Head of the Class,” while she described being married to him as “torture, pure hell, worse than anything I could possibly imagine.” Asked Walters, “Does he hit you?” Givens paused for a beat, then said, “He shakes. He pushes. He swings. Sometimes I think he’s trying to scare me … He’s got a side to him that is scary. There are times when I thought I could handle it, and just recently, I’ve become afraid. I mean very, very much afraid.” The pair, not surprisingly, divorced a few months later.
A 53-year-old man has been arrested over an alleged carjacking which saw an elderly couple assaulted and their car stolen after giving him a ride.
According to NSW Police, on Tuesday December 13 a man approached the 81-year-old woman and 90-year-old and helped them with their groceries at a shopping center in Casula, in southwest Sydney.
The man then asked them for a lift in their gold Nissan Micra, which the elderly couple agreed to.
The woman noticed the man allegedly stealing her mobile phone from her handbag, and subsequently pulled over on Kurrajong Rd in Casula and asked him to leave.
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The man then allegedly exited the car, but then assaulted the elderly woman and re-entered the vehicle through the driver’s door.
He then fled the scene in the car, with the elderly man still in the vehicle.
A short time later, the man allegedly assaulted the 90-year-old and pushed him out of the vehicle on Grimson Rd in Liverpool.
He then fled with the car.
After extensive inquiries, the 53-year-old from Bankstown was arrested in Wyong at about 8 a.m. on Friday and taken to Wyong Police Station where charges are expected to be laid.
On Friday, he was charged with larceny, unlawfully taking/driving a motor vehicle with a person in it, taking/detaining a person with intent to obtain advantage, and aggravated robbery.
He will appear before the Newcastle Local Court on New Year’s Eve.
American intelligence agencies gave highly sensitive data to the Ukrainian armed forces that allowed them to track and kill a dozen Russian generals and sink the Russian flagship Moskva, a new book reveals — despite strident administration denials.
A “furious” President Joe Biden gave “presidential tongue-lashings” to CIA chief Bill Burns and other top aides in May after leakers told NBC News and the New York Times that Ukrainians had been given real-time intelligence from US sources.
“He didn’t like what he considered to be publicly taunting the Russians,” White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain told author Chris Whipple in the forthcoming book “The Fight of His Life,” out Jan. 17.
The reports of secret streams of real-time battlefield intelligence drew a furious response from the Kremlin — and instant repudiation from the Pentagon, the National Security Council, and Biden’s press office.
“We do not provide intelligence with the intent to kill Russian generals,” NSC spokesperson Adrienne Wilson said May 5.
President Biden was reportedly “furious” that leakers told media outlets that the US shared intelligence with Ukraine.APFormer White House press secretary Jen Psaki denied that the US shared intelligence that helped Ukraine sink the Moskva.LUIS ACOSTA/AFP via Getty Images
“We did not provide Ukraine with specific targeting information for the Moskva,” insisted Jen Psaki, then the White House’s press secretary. “We were not involved in the Ukrainians’ decision to strike the ship or in the operation they carried out.”
Police in Scotland have sparked outrage for describing pedophiles as “minor-attracted people” in a report.
Officials said the language in the year-end report was based on terminology used by the European Union.
In a year-end report, Chief Constable Iain Livingstone said police have worked on a project that’s main agenda is “to develop understanding and approach to avoid the victimization of children by engaging Minor-Attracted People (MAPs) and providing them with the necessary support, treatment and guidance to help prevent criminal activities.”
The phrasing in the report drew criticism from many in Scotland who said the police were normalizing sex crimes against children, Scotland Daily Express reported.
“Spouting these euphemisms simply masks the reality and their danger,” Kenny McAskill, Alba Party MP for East Lothianand former SNP Justice Secretary, told the outlet.
“I very much welcome the common sense approach from Police Scotland, though even in commissioning documents these euphemisms should be avoided as they mask the reality and hide the horror. The term in whatever context is baloney.”
Maggie Mellon, an independent social work consultant, said that the term “MAP” leads to “danger of normalizing and therefore perhaps decriminalizing a serious offense”.
A conservative party leader in Scotland added that “most Scots will find any attempt to soften the language around pedophilia in official guidance to be deeply disturbing and wrong.”
The term drew criticism online from political commentators, including Canadian psychologist Jordan Peterson.
“How about we don’t do this: ‘minor-attracted people’ equal predators plain and simple,” Peterson tweeted.
In a statement, Scotland police said the term is not used in the department but was based on European Union language.
“Police Scotland does not use the term Minor-Attracted Person,” the statement said. “The reference in the Chief Constable’s Assessment of Policing Performance 2021/22 was in the context of Police Scotland’s engagement with the Horizon Project EU consortium to tackle Child Sexual Abuse and Exploitation.”
“The term was used in the commissioning documents for the consortium and is more commonly used on the continent. In September, Police Scotland representatives successfully lobbied for the MAP term not to be used by the consortium.”
Scotland police did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital.
Coiffeurs across Belgium are sweeping up and bagging hair clipped from their customers, and then handing it over to an NGO that recycles it to protect the environment.
The Hair Recycle project feeds locks and tresses into a machine that turns them into matted squares that can be used to absorb oil and other hydrocarbons polluting the environment, or made into bio-composite bags.
Project Co-founder Patrick Janssen, explaining that 2.2 lbs of hair can absorb 1.8-2.1 U.S. gallons of oil and hydrocarbons, said the mats can be placed in drains to soak up pollution in water before it reaches a river.
“Our products are all the more ethical as they are manufactured locally … they are not imported from the other side of the planet,” he told Reuters. “They are made here to deal with local problems.”
The project said on its website that hair has powerful properties: one strand can support up to 10 million times its own weight, and as well as absorbing fat and hydrocarbons, it is water-soluble and highly elastic due to its keratin fibers.
Bags containing human hair are seen at hair salon Helyode before being collected. REUTERS
Belgian hairdresser at hair salon L’Atelier Chedly Boussigua cuts a customer’s hair, which will be collected by the association. REUTERS
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A hair tile made from recycled human hair that is used to absorb polluting chemical substances in water. REUTERS
“Our products are all the more ethical as they are manufactured locally…” Janssen said. REUTERS
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Isabelle Voulkidis, manager of the Helyode salon in Brussels, is one of dozens of hairdresser across the country that pay a small fee to the project to collect their hair cuttings.
“What motivates me, personally, is that I find it a shame hair is nowadays just thrown in the bin, when I know that so much could be done with it,” she said, as she combed and clipped one of her customer’s hair.
During the throes of the investigation into R. Kelly’s personal life, he was consistently seen with with several ladies in tow. However, following in the footsteps of Halle Calhoun and Dominique Gardner, Azriel Clary took a stand against the “Ignition” singer after previously pleading for his justice. Since moving out of his Trump Tower Condo in November 2019, Azriel has been on social media while Kelly remains in prison, serving his 30-year sentence. But where is Azriel today? Keep reading to learn more about Azriel’s relationship with Kelly and what she is up to now.
How Did Azriel Clary and R. Kelly Meet?
Azriel and Kelly met when she was only 17 years old. She attended one of his concerts in Orlando with her family when he picked her out of the crowd to go on stage, her parents, Alice and Angelo Clary, said during their interview in Surviving R. Kelly. After Azriel and Kelly exited the stage from the back, Kelly asked her to sing and then exchanged phone numbers. Her parents said the two were secretly communicating without their knowledge.
Azriel convinced her parents that Kelly was going to help her with her music career. Although they did all they could do to make sure they were never alone together, things between Azriel and Kelly escalated. Kelly convinced her parents to let Azriel to go on tour with him, promising she would be in contact with them the whole time and she would be accompanied by a guardian. Azriel slowly stopped communicating with her parents.
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Does Azriel Clary Still Support R. Kelly?
Although Azriel’s parents made various public pleas and allegations of kidnapping, she continued to keep her distance and accused them of extortion. Azriel was seen supporting Kelly at several court hearings and pleaded his innocence on CBS This Morning with Gayle King in 2019.
“I’m crying because you guys don’t know the truth! You guys believe in some f–king facade that our parents are saying. This is all f–king lies for money, and if you can’t see that, you’re ignorant and you’re stupid as f–k because you want to be. All because that’s the world we live in. Negativity sells, gossip is what sells, rumors are what sell,” Azriel cried in March 2019.
By November of that year, things seemingly changed as Azriel moved out of Kelly’s Chicago Trump Tower condo.
“No one ever wakes up and says, ‘Today I’m going to be manipulated, or taken advantage of, or kidnapped,’” she wrote via Twitter in January 2020. “Those are things you just cannot control. I never thought me and ‘victim’ would ever be in the same sentence because I too was in denial … but once you realize, you realize.”
Two years after her sit down with Gayle, Azriel returned to CBS for an interview with a different tone, claiming that the disgraced artist coached her on what to say.
“[Kelly] came in and he told us to be angry and be upset and she’s gonna try to do this,” she recalled in September 2021. “And so we were — we came in angry.”
“I was scared because I was, like, ‘I don’t want the world to see me this way,’ you know? I don’t — I’m loving, I’m caring, I’m compassionate. And no one got to see that side of me,” she told the Note to Self: Inspiring Words From Inspiring People author.
Azriel ultimately decided to testify against Kelly, telling Gayle, “It was very disturbing to have to relive those moments.”
“A piece of me was happy because I felt like this person no longer has control over me, you know? You don’t tell me what to do and what to wear and where to go and how long to be in a room anymore,” she said.
Where Is Azriel Clary Today?
From a young age, Azriel dreamed of becoming a singer and it seems she’s finally living out her dream and is using social media to promote her music.
“She’s a remarkable singer,” her mother said in the documentary, adding that she began singing at age 5 or 6.
Though she previously stated she would “never sing again,” Azriel revealed she “finally [found] confidence” in singing before releasing her music.
Courtesy of Azriel Clary/Instagram
“The only memories I have attached to singing is when I was younger, and, as I said, it [burnt] me out. It was forceful and like a job and not something I enjoyed. Everything from that I wore, how my hair was styled, what song I sung, choreography, everything was not my choice which no longer made it fun,” she shared via social media. “So don’t bash me for finally finding confidence in something that was once a burden to me.”
She has since released songs such as “Sounds of An Angel,” “Inside Me” and “Wait on Me,” which was released on her 24th birthday.
“This is probably the happiest I’ve ever been in my life,” she told HuffPost in June 2022. “I’m accomplishing things. I’m outgrowing old habits, and it’s really just a great place to be in.”
One person was killed and 20 others wounded in Kyiv as a wave of Russian missiles rocked the capital city Saturday — while Russia’s Vladimir Putin and Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky traded barbs in New Year’s messages to their respective nations.
In a bellicose nine-minute rant, broadcast on Russian state television just before midnight on New Year’s Eve, Putin insisted that his troops in Ukraine are “defending our people and our historical territory.”
“The West lied about peace,” a grim-faced Putin said, surrounded by solemn soldiers and sailors in uniform. “It was preparing for aggression … and now they are cynically using Ukraine and its people to weaken and split Russia.”
“We will triumph, for our families and for Russia,” he vowed — before toasting the service members with champagne.
But Zelensky responded with a message to Russians in their own language — telling them that Putin’s troops are “following the devil.”
“Your propagandists lie,” the Ukrainian president said in a speech posted on Instagram. “All this war that you are waging … is for one person to remain in power for the rest of his life.”
Vladimir Putin told Russians that the West “lied about peace … to weaken and split Russia” in his annual New Year’s speech.via REUTERS
“Your leader wants to show he has the troops behind him,” Zelensky said. “But he’s hiding … He hides behind you, burns your country, your future. No one will forgive for terror. No one in the world will forgive you.”
At least 20 civilians, including a Japanese journalist, were injured and one killed in the missile attack on Kyiv, where several schools suffered heavy damage, CNN reported.
Video posted to social media showed that a corner of the Alfavito Hotel in central Kyiv had collapsed in the barrage, while other photos showed firefighters atop smoking rubble in Mikolaiv and a drone attack reportedly injured two in the western city of Khmelnytskyi.
About a third of the capital was forced to mark the new year in the dark as “emergency outages” left thousands without electricity, Mayor Vitali Klitschko said on Telegram.
“Russia wants to cause darkness and inflict damage on the country with continued attacks,” Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said in a Telegram post.
Passengers riding a bus during a blackout in the city of Mykolayiv on December 31, 2022. Photo by DIMITAR DILKOFF/AFP via Getty Images
A woman working at a bakery during a blackout after a Russian missile attack in Mykolayiv. Photo by DIMITAR DILKOFF/AFP via Getty Images
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A dog walker used a flashlight to navigate Kiev’s pitch-dark streets Saturday. Photo by DIMITAR DILKOFF/AFP via Getty Images
A third of Kyiv was in darkness New Year’s Eve in the wake of missile attacks on the capital Saturday. Photo by DIMITAR DILKOFF/AFP via Getty Images
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Moscow intends to “intimidate, leave us in the dark for the new year, cause as much damage to civilian infrastructure as possible,” Shmyhal said.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov claimed that Russia will close its borders to men of conscription age in January ahead of another round of forced military mobilizations.
“At the beginning of January, the Russian authorities will close the borders for men, then they will declare martial law,” Reznikov said in a video message late Friday.
“I know for a fact that you have about one week left before you still have any choice,” Reznikov warned Russians.
The Kremlin last month called off Putin’s divisive draft order that conscripted 300,000 mostly untrained men into his armed forces — sparking massive protests and causing hundreds of thousands to flee the country.
“I guess the secret would be don’t go to bed mad,” Robert added.
Their first date was at a football game. “His dad took us,” Edith Mae explained.
The couple’s first date was a football game.WGAL8
From that day on, Robert was smitten.
“I thought, ‘Oh my, that’s the girl,’” he gushed.
The pair have yet to claim the world record as the longest marriage in the Guinness Book of Records.
“I thought, ‘Oh my, that’s the girl,’” Robert Schaum gushed.WGAL8
That feat was set by North Carolina couple Zelmyra and Herbert Fisher. When Herbert died 2011 at 105 years of age, the two had been married for 86 years and 290 days.
“Everyone keeps saying I am a coward for not defending @officialsojaboy, but this wasn’t my fight,” Kimberly, 52, commented under Usman’s Friday, December 30, Instagram post, which featured a clip from TLC‘s Sunday, January 1, tell-all episode. “When I defend him, y’all say I’m wrong, and when I don’t, I am wrong.”
Earlier that day, Sojaboy, 33, captioned his Instagram post, “Cursing people is something I never do, but I’m sorry. People in this categories has to be [addressed] in a language they understand. I’m sorry FANS, [FRIENDS] and family [sic].”
In the accompanying video, Angela, 55, was seen walking into the room and saying, “F—k you, bitch,” to Sojaboy, who appeared on camera, while immediately flipping him off.
“You call me ‘bitch’? Stupid a—hole,” he clapped right back.
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Angela then looked over to her husband, Michael Ilesanmi, and said, “Hey Michal, look who’s here. That lying son of a bitch. This thing gonna be good [sic].”
Kim then reacted to Angela and Sojaboy’s tense exchange.
“I don’t have nothing to do with this,” the 90 DayFiancé: Before the 90 Days alum said, to which Angela responded, “I hope not, Kim, ‘cause I have nothing wrong with you.”
After Angela and Sojaboy continued to yell expletives at one another, she accused him of disrespecting Kimberly, which he labeled as “nonsense.”
“Who the f—k do you think is scared of you?” the Nigeria resident asked Angela, before adding, “Let me tell you something … It is so unfortunate my brother from Nigeria would hook up with somebody like you. You scamming him. Nonsense. Go and get your seat, pig!”
Earlier this year, TLC viewers watched Angela and Sojaboy’s explosive social media feud as they made shocking allegations against each other. The heated altercation subsequently sparked split rumors between Angela and Michael at the time.
In February, Michael and Sojaboy met up at a hotel in Nigeria and both shared a photo of their hangout via their respective Instagram accounts. Upon seeing the picture, Angela weighed in on their apparent friendship and implied that her husband was similar to Sojaboy. Shortly afterward, Sojaboy accused Angela of being a “scammer” and using Michael for all of his money from Cameo to “buy [herself] a nice house.”
Six months after their online back and forth, Angela, Michael and Sojaboy became costars in season 7 of Happily Ever After?
The two have had a tense relationship for quite a while, though. Their on and off-camera feud was first seen by fans in April 2021 during the spinoff 90 Day Bares All.
