Facebook logos appear on a smartphone screen last month. (Photo by Kirill Kudryavtsev/AFP, via Getty Images)

A former head of diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives at Facebook and Nike was sentenced this week to five years in prison for a brazen fraud scheme she carried out while working at the companies.

Barbara Furlow-Smiles pleaded guilty in December to stealing more than $5 million from the two massive companies, although the vast majority was taken while working for Facebook from 2017 to 2021. She used the stolen money to launch a to finance a ‘luxury lifestyle’. prosecutors said.

“I screwed up big time,” Furlow-Smiles admitted in a letter to the judge in her case.

Furlow-Smiles said she had a lifelong commitment to being a voice for disenfranchised people, but acknowledged that her actions “added fuel to the fire of disengagement and attack on DEI efforts.”

Using her access to corporate credit cards on Facebook, now called Meta, Furlow-Smiles paid people for services they didn’t do for the company and then had those people refund the money to her.

She involved dozens of people in her scheme, prosecutors said, including “family members, former interns from a previous job, nannies, a hairstylist and her college professor.”

At times, Furlow-Smiles had Facebook pay third parties directly for personal goods or services, including $10,000 for special portraits and $18,000 for her child’s preschool tuition. She would then file false reports about the work the people had done for the company.

She stole about $4.9 million from Facebook as part of the scheme, prosecutors said.

After Furlow-Smiles quit Facebook, she continued a similar plan at Nike, where she worked from 2021 to 2023. At Nike, Furlow-Smiles stole more than $100,000.

Furlow-Smiles’ attorney, Phillip Hamilton, had asked the court not to put her behind bars.

In a sentencing memorandum, Hamilton argued that his client became ensnared by Facebook’s “move fast and break things” culture and that she was far from the only person who exploited the company’s spending for her own benefit.

“Barbara… quickly learned that colleagues were friends with suppliers and depended on these suppliers for certain things, including providing kickbacks for referring Facebook business to them. It was the norm,” Hamilton alleged in the memorandum.

The number of diversity, equity and inclusion roles like Furlow-Smiles skyrocketed in 2020 following the killing of George Floyd, when many companies were forced to consider racial workforce disparities or workplace issues.

But by the time Furlow-Smiles was arrested in December, the views fell out of favor. DEI initiatives became a frequent target of Republican politicians, and when layoffs hit the tech sector, the positions were often among the first to be cut.

According to police, a man was taken to hospital after a stabbing on Saturday morning.

The incident occurred near SW 16th Avenue and 19th Terrace in Miami’s Shenandoah neighborhood.

Miami police said officers responded to the scene around 2:14 a.m., where they found a man with apparent stab wounds.

He was taken to Jackson Memorial Hospital’s Ryder Trauma Center in stable condition.

Miami police said a woman has been arrested in connection with the incident, but provided no further details.

This is a development story. Contact NBC6 for updates.

The Atlanta Zoo will return its four pandas to China by the end of this year, the facility announced Friday, in the latest chapter of a program often called “panda diplomacy.”

The parents and their twins have been the only giant pandas in the United States since November, when Washington’s National Zoo returned three of the bears to China in a move that some saw as an ominous sign of deteriorating relations between the U.S. and Chinese governments. . China owns and leases all the giant pandas in American zoos.

Recent polls of swing state voters showed former President Trump leading President Biden in six key battleground states, where he was narrowly defeated four years ago.

Now, some of the voters who supported Biden in 2020 are explaining why, looking ahead to the 2024 elections, they want Trump back in power.

Frederick Westbrook, a retired hotel worker in Las Vegas, told The New York Times in an interview that voting for Biden to remove Trump from office was “the biggest mistake of my life.”

“As a black man in America, I felt like he was doing unjust things,” Westbrook said of Trump. “He has a big mouth, he’s not a nice person.” But while his view of Trump hasn’t changed in the past four years, Westbrook told the Times that his cost of living has risen too high under Biden’s watch.

TRUMP FOR BIDEN IN THESE KEY STATES: POLL

“It’s all just about the economics,” says Westbrook, who now drives for Lyft to support his steady retirement income. “I don’t trust Donald Trump at all. I just think housing, food, my car, my insurance, every bit of my livelihood has gone up.”

The view that Americans are no better off today than they were four years ago is shared by others who were among the 14% of respondents who said they will not vote for Biden a second time, according to polls released Monday were released by The New York. Times, Siena College and the Philadelphia Inquirer.

The survey results and follow-up interviews reported in the Times on Friday indicate dissatisfaction with the economy and the Israeli-Hamas war in Gaza, and a deterioration in support for Biden among younger, black and Hispanic voters,” Democrats threaten. to unravel the president. coalition.”

Jaredd Johnson, a 25-year-old voter who works in marketing in Atlanta, told the Times he had hoped Biden would restore the country to pre-pandemic normal levels, but doesn’t think that’s the case. Despite his reservations about Trump, he said he plans to vote for the presumptive Republican nominee in November.

‘WARNING SIGNS BLINKING’: BIDEN AND TRUMP FIGHT TO INCLUDE BASIC VOTERS FOR THE FIRST DEBATE

Although Jonson said he understands the importance of supporting Ukraine and Israel, providing aid to Gaza and helping immigrants, conversations with his friends and family “suddenly become less about what’s happening abroad and more about how we are also having a hard time here.”

Christopher Sheffield, 61, a veterans counselor in Thomasville, Georgia, told the Times that whatever concerns he has about Trump’s stance on race are not as important as crises abroad that could lead to another world war.

“I’m an African American – of course I’m concerned about racism,” he told the newspaper. “But guess what? I’ve had to deal with that my whole life.”

Biden is “a good guy,” Sheffield said. ‘But when I look at him, he looks weak. Now that North Korea, Putin and all those guys are ready to act, I think they will be a little more reluctant to challenge Trump than they were with Biden.” He said he would vote for Trump in November.

TRUMP PREDICT ‘JACKED UP’ BIDEN IN UPCOMING DEBATES, DESTROYS BIDENOMICS IN BATTLEGROUND SPEECH

Fox News political analyst Gianno Caldwell said it’s no surprise that Black voters like Westbrook and Sheffield are moving away from Biden and toward Trump.

“The pundits and analysts view the black voters who support Trump as an anomaly, and they are wrong,” Caldwell said. “Many Black voters were led to vote for Biden in 2020 by the media and famous cultural figures like Charlemagne the God with promises and predictions of a presidency that would serve the Black community well, and Black people are now realizing that by the left has been deceived and media.”

“Given that their economic circumstances are now far worse under the Biden administration than they were under Trump, many feel they have no choice but to support the man who actually got the job done and made many feel financially more secure ”, he added.

Other voters told the Times that persistent inflation — which stood at 3.4% in April, down from a 2022 high of 9% but still well above the Federal Reserve’s target rate of 2% — illegal immigration and Biden’s decision to block an arms shipment to Israel. showing that there is a need for major change in America.

“All of our core values ​​are gone, gone, and I’m just not happy about it at all,” said Amelia Earwood, 47, a security trainer with the US Postal Service in Georgia.

She told the Times that she thinks Trump is “a terrible person,” but said: “I vote on his policies and I think he can get this country on the right track, while Biden is making a huge mess of it.”

The Trump and Biden campaigns did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Paul Steinhauser of Fox News Digital contributed to this report.

Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more on our Fox News Digital election hub.

Washington
CNN
—

At Robert M. La Follette High School in Madison, Wisconsin, some college students are still in the process of filing their federal financial aid forms — but it’s not for lack of trying.

A student and his father, for example In early May, he spent more than three hours with a high school counselor trying to file the FAFSA, the Free Application for Federal Student Aid. But no matter how hard they tried, they couldn’t get around a technical glitch.

And it wasn’t the student’s first attempt. Since January, he sat with a high school counselor several times to try to file the FAFSA.

“You just feel terrible,” says Vanessa Hlavacka, advisor for multilingual students at La Follette High School.

“It was my dad’s only day off, and he spent it in my office trying to figure this out,” she said.

A botched rollout of an updated version of the FAFSA – which must be submitted if a student wants to qualify for certain loans, grants and scholarships – has yielded several problems and delays this year. Submissions across the country have plummeted, and many students are in limbo, waiting for financial aid information from schools, even after the traditional May 1 deadline for college decisions has already passed.

For many students, this year’s FAFSA issues have made a previously frustrating process even more stressful. But for some low-income students, who rely most on financial aid, the ripple effects could be long-lasting.

Although La Follette has expanded its support services, about half of the school’s seniors have been able to successfully file the FAFSA to date compared to last year’s senior class.

“We are so concerned that these students will not go to college this fall,” said Annie Hank Braga, teacher and co-coordinator of La Follette’s college readiness program.

“I worry about the long-term impact this will have on their ability to earn a living,” she said.

The congressionally mandated overhaul of the FAFSA is long overdue. The changes were intended to make the form simpler and ensure more students qualify for federal student aid.

Although the form is now much shorter, the issues students are facing this year have made the process more challenging than usual for some families. Furthermore, the form was not available until late last year, about three months later than it is normally released.

The stakes are high, especially for students at La Follette High School, where more than half come from low-income families and more than a third speak something other than English as a first language.

The concern is that some students may give up on completing the FAFSA and end up skipping college altogether because they can’t afford it without the help of federal loans and grants. Others may forego enrolling in their preferred four-year school and instead decide to enroll in a community college with a more flexible enrollment schedule.

Although hundreds of colleges have postponed their decision deadlines this year, not every college has pushed the date past May 1.

“I think it’s inevitable that students’ decisions will be affected by the rollout of the FAFSA,” Hank Braga said.

As the problems with this year’s FAFSA became apparent, La Follette High School increased support services for families of college-bound seniors.

When the school held its first FAFSA workshop in January, most families walked away without successfully completing the form. At the time there were several problems that applicants faced.

“That’s when our eyes really opened to the roller coaster we were jumping on,” Hank Braga said.

Given the turn of events, school counselors decided to offer a second FAFSA workshop in April – but many families were still unsuccessful. Additionally, students have experienced hours-long wait times when calling the government’s FAFSA helpline.

Counselors met one-on-one with students and parents to guide them through the application process. The school also partners with outside organizations such as the Fair Opportunity Project, a federally funded group that provides free, virtual FAFSA tutoring to students.

One issue especially affects mixed-status families: families where a student is documented, but one or both parents do not have a Social Security number. Documented students are eligible for federal student aid regardless of their parents’ immigration status. But a technical glitch initially prevented students from mixed-status families from submitting the form at all.

Later, the Ministry of Education provided a number of solutions so that a parent without a social security number could enter his or her details, but this was not seamless. By the time the department released a fix for the problem, it was already April 30.

Some La Follette students from mixed-status families have since found success filing the FAFSA, but others are still having trouble. Now they are encountering problems that other students faced months ago and had more time to solve.

Hank Braga worries that some of these families, already wary of filling government businesses, will simply give up.

“It’s hard to try to keep reassuring them that this is safe and this is worth it when it doesn’t work well,” she said.

Tears of frustration and joy

The Ministry of Education has increased support for students applying for financial aid this year. It provided $50 million in grants to organizations that help students file the FAFSA in early May.

The Biden administration has drawn criticism for the botched rollout from both Republican and Democratic lawmakers, as well as college financial aid groups. At the request of some Republican members of Congress, the Government Accountability Office has launched an investigation into the implementation of the new form. And some lawmakers are concerned about whether the problems with the FAFSA will be resolved in time for next year.

Nationally, the percentage of high school students who filed the FAFSA has dropped by more than 17% compared to last year’s class at this point, according to the National College Attainment Network. And there has been a larger decline at lower-income schools and at schools with a higher percentage of minority students.

Students from La Follette are behind the national trend, but they have had more success filing the FAFSA in recent weeks.

Only a few days After the frustrating three-hour session in Hlavacka’s office with a student and his father, the family was able to successfully file the FAFSA.

“Suddenly we were able to submit it. No problem. We can’t figure out why,” Hlavacka said.

The initial problem arose when the student invited his father to fill out part of the form. Despite trying several ways to send the virtual invitation, the father’s account did not allow access to the form. It’s a glitch several other La Follette students have experienced.

“When he was able to submit, I started crying. I was so happy for him,” Hlavacka said.

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BULLARD, Texas (KETK) — The Lufkin Panthers scored one run in the first inning on Friday night in Game Two of the regional quarterfinals with Forney, and that was all they needed.

Lufkin baseball defeats McKinney North to win the Area Championship

The Pack now prepares to take on the Jackrabbits for Game Three on Saturday at 2 p.m. in Longview, with a spot in the regional finals on the line.

Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

For the latest news, weather, sports and streaming video, visit KETK.com | FOX51.com.

One of the tragic shortcomings of September 11 has now been remedied.

President Joe Biden has signed the “FAA Reauthorization Act of 2024,” which will require secondary cockpit barriers on all commercial aircraft.

As the Herald reported, the new rule passed the U.S. House 387-26 this week, sending the matter to the president. Now it’s the law until 2028 and “reauthorizes” the National Transportation Safety Board to keep it running.

However, upgrading all the country’s aircraft will take time.

“The only shortcoming is that it will take five to six years to implement it. Until the adjustment is complete, we will still be vulnerable to a 9/11-style attack,” Brian Sullivan, a retired FAA researcher from Massachusetts, told the Herald on Saturday.

The installation of secondary cockpit barriers on all commercial passenger flights is the only 9/11 Commission recommendation that has not been implemented.

Advocates have been pushing for secondary cockpit barriers for decades, saying they are critical to preventing plane hijackings and keeping terrorists out of the cockpit.

On September 11, terrorists stormed the cockpit, knowing the doors would be opened early in the flight.

Flight 175 and American Airlines Flight 11 both left Logan Airport on September 11 with hijackers on board. The two other hijacked planes, flights 77 and 93, departed from DC and Newark respectively.

U.S. Reps. Brian Fitzpatrick and Josh Gottheimer pushed for the secondary cockpit barriers. Congressman Stephen Lynch of Massachusetts also supported the aviation safety bill.

An airstrike last year on a flight to Boston Logan International Airport showed the continued need for a secondary cockpit barrier on all commercial aircraft, advocates say.

Federal authorities say Francisco Torres, a Massachusetts man, tried to open the plane’s emergency exit and then stabbed a flight attendant with a broken spoon. Torres was seen in a video moving toward the cockpit while allegedly assaulting the flight attendant.

Passengers, including a former Boston bouncer, eventually tackled Torres and restrained him.