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Charges Dropped Against Teen Accused Of Stealing Milk Carton From School

USA, California, Los Angeles, Teenagers (14-15, 16-17) at school

Source: Rob Lewine / Getty

The 14-year-old who was handcuffed and arrested over a 65-cent milk carton recently had his charges dropped.

According to the Huffington Post , last May, Ryan Turk was handcuffed and suspended from Graham Park Middle School in Triangle, Virginia, after a school resource officer accused him of stealing the milk. Ryan, who was 14 at the time, was charged with two misdemeanor charges of disorderly conduct and petit larceny. Thankfully, those extreme charges have been dropped.

The teen’s trial was supposed to start on Thursday, but prosecutors decided to drop the charges after talking to Turk’s counselor.

“He’s already taken actions to remedy his attitude,” Prince William County Commonwealth’s Attorney Paul Ebert told the Washington Post. (Because his attitude was the sole issue here?)

As HelloBeautiful previously reported, Turk realized when he got to the table with his food that he forgot his drink. Believing it was OK to cut in line and grab one, a security guard saw him and thought he was stealing. The guard then told Turk to go to the principal’s office, which the now freshman refused. Soon after, Turk was handcuffed and arrested.

The school denied this incident was racial, citing that the police officer and principal involved were both Black too.

All the key parties involved, including the principal and the police officer, are African-American,” said Prince William County schools spokesman Phillip Kavit. “The staff members are well-known in our highly diverse community for their dedication and caring approach to all students.

But Emmett Robinson, the lawyer who represented the family, said Turk’s arrest was related to institutional racism. “This officer treats kids like they’re criminals, and guess what happens — they’re going to become criminals.”

It’s not the players, it’s not the people who discriminate, it’s the whole system.The system is set up now so that school resource officers get to determine the impact on a person’s life,” he concluded.

Talladega College Band Raises Nearly $600K For Trump Inauguration

Republican Presidential Nominee Donald Trump Holds Election Night Event In New York City

Source: Mark Wilson / Getty

The historically Black band from Talladega College that was caught in the Twitter crosshairs for agreeing to perform at Donald Trump’s inaugural parade has raised more $500,000 on its GoFundMe page to attend the political event.

According to the Alabama Local Newsafter recently appearing of Fox News more than $300,000 in donations poured in last Friday. The band’s original goal was $75,000, which has surpassed $580,000 as of early Tuesday morning.

In a Friday news conference, the school’s president Billy Hawkins called the response “probably the single-greatest fundraising effort” for the school.

“It’s been phenomenal. And we’ve had several other individuals before this who were ready to make out a check.” Hawkins said.

Around 225 band members are set to take part in the trip. The band applied to participate in the parade before the election, but took heat on social media by some, including alumni, who said performing would be tantamount to an endorsement of Trump, Alabama Local News noted.

Say What? IRS To Delay Tax Refunds For Millions Of Low-Income Families

Young couple reading financial bill at home

Source: Dean Mitchell / Getty

 If you’re one of 40 million low-income families in the U.S. depending on your tax refund to be issues swiftlydon’t.

According to the Associated Press, the International Revenue Service recently announced that they are delaying those 2017 payouts in order to combat fraud and identity theft.

Those mostly affected by this new policy will be families who have claimed child tax credits and income tax credits. They will have to until February 15 for their returns to be processed, despite the fact that the tax season officially kicks off on Jan 23. Apparently this delay is being put into place so that the IRS has more time to vet the returns for fraudulent activity, the AP noted.

According to the IRS, in 2014, nearly $3.1 billion in fraudulent tax refunds was distributed to identity thieves.

“For most of these people it’s the biggest check they are going to get all year,” IRS Commissioner John Koskinen told the Associated Press. “We are sensitive to that.”

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