Month: July 2022

NBCUniversal has confirmed that a crew member from the NBC series ‘Law & Order: Organized Crime’ was shot and killed on the set of the television show Tuesday in New York City.

The New York Police Department said the 31-year-old victim, Johnny Pizarro of Queens, was a contracted employee hired to hold parking spots for movie and television productions which are common in the Greenpoint neighborhood of Brooklyn where the show is filming. The block was permitted through the city for a shoot for Law & Order: Organized Crime.

The NYPD said a gunman opened Pizarro’s car door and opened fire at approximately 5:15 a.m. EDT. Pizarro was shot multiple times in the face and neck before being transported to a hospital where he was pronounced dead.  NYPD said they believe the shooting was targeted and are still looking for the suspect, who was described as a man with a thin build wearing a black hoodie and black pants.

NBCUniversal is working with law enforcement as they investigate. NBC and Universal Television said in a statement:  “We were terribly saddened and shocked to hear that one of our crew members was the victim of a crime early this morning and has died as a result. We are working with local law enforcement as they continue to investigate.”

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Amazon filed a lawsuit against administrators of more than 10,000 Facebook groups it accuses of brokering fake reviews.  Amazon alleged in a statement that the fake review groups recruited individuals to post reviews “in exchange for money or free products” on Amazon stores in the United States, Britain, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, and Japan, such as “car stereos and camera tripods.”

Amazon says it seeks trustworthy reviews on individuals’ experiences with products from its stores and it has an “anti-manipulation policy” that strictly prohibits fake customer reviews. Amazon noted in its statement that it has more than 12,000 employees worldwide dedicated to investigating such reviews.  Dharmesh Mehta, Amazon’s vice president of Selling Partner Services, in the statement: “Our teams stop millions of suspicious reviews before they’re ever seen by customers, and this lawsuit goes a step further to uncover perpetrators operating on social media. Proactive legal action targeting bad actors is one of many ways we protect customers by holding bad actors accountable.”

Since 2020, Amazon has reported more than 10,000 fake review groups to Facebook’s parent company Meta. Out of the 10,000 groups, Meta has taken down more than half of them for policy violations while it continues to investigate others.

https://abcnews.go.com/Technology/wireStory/amazon-sues-admins-10k-facebook-groups-fake-reviews-87070057

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On Monday, the Supreme Court issued an order clearing the way for Indiana to try to implement a state law requiring parental consent in order for a minor to get an abortion. Chief Justice John Roberts granted a request by state officials seeking a quick legal judgment on the measure, which was passed in 2017 but has since been blocked as unconstitutional under the Roe vs. Wade decision. That landmark decision was overturned last month in the Dobbs vs. Jackson case.

Monday’s order grants the state of Indiana’s request to bypass normal court procedures and move the case quickly to a federal appeals court for immediate implementation in light of Dobbs vs. Jackson. Without the order, it would have taken 30 days for the case to return to the lower courts.

Indiana’s strict parental notification law was first blocked by the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals in 2017, when it ruled the law ran afoul of precedent on nationwide abortion rights. The law would require anyone under age 18 to notify a parent or guardian, or to obtain permission from a juvenile court, to obtain the procedure in Indiana.

The move comes shortly after the controversy surrounding the case of a 10-year-old rape victim from Ohio who traveled to Indianapolis for an abortion, which has become a national flashpoint in the abortion debate.

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On Monday, the death penalty trial for Parkland school shooter Nikolas Cruz began in Florida, and in opening arguments, the state prosecutor called Cruz “cold, calculative, manipulative and deadly.” Prosecutor Mike Satz told jurors during a trial to determine whether Cruz will spend the rest of his life in prison or be put to death.  Satz told jurors that Cruz fired 139 shots killing 14 students and three adults during his rampage at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., on Feb. 14, 2018.

According to Satz, Cruz allegedly spoke into his cell phone camera three days before the attack, saying, “Hello, my name is Nik. I’m going to be the next school shooter of 2018.”  Satz said there were seven aggravating factors that warrant the death penalty: “These aggravating factors far outweigh any mitigating circumstances, anything about the defendant’s background, anything about his childhood, anything about his schooling, anything about his mental health, anything about his therapy, anything about his care.”

Cruz, 23, pleaded guilty last October to 17 counts of first-degree murder and is facing a sentencing trial to determine whether he will receive the death penalty after weighing the aggregating factors established by Satz. Seven men and five women were chosen to sit on the panel after nearly three months of jury selection, and there are 10 alternates. All 12 jurors would have to agree on giving Cruz the death penalty; if even one juror disagrees, Cruz would receive life in prison without parole.

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