After Texas school shooting, Houston police chief says he's 'hit rock bottom' with inaction on gun control

The head of one of Texas' largest police departments says he has had enough with inaction on gun control.

In the hours after a mass shooting at a Texas high school, Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo posted a lengthy explanation on Facebook about gun rights and the need for change.

"I know some have strong feelings about gun rights but I want you to know I’ve hit rock bottom and I am not interested in your views as it pertains to this issue," he wrote. "I have never accepted the status-quo in anything I do and I’ve never accepted defeat. And I won’t do it now."

Friday's attack at Santa Fe High School is only the latest high-profile act of violence in the state, and Acevedo, has had to cope with. In November, six months ago, 26 people were killed during a church service in the small town of Sutherland Springs. On Friday, 10 people, mostly students, were killed while sitting in class.

"I will continue to speak up and will stand up for what my heart and my God commands me to do, and I assure you he hasn’t instructed me to believe that gun-rights are bestowed by him," Acevedo said.

He added that he'd spent the day dealing with the shooting at Santa Fe High School, which is about 35 miles from Houston — seeing children die and an officer clinging to life after being shot in the attack — and asked that people please not say "anything about guns aren’t the problem and there’s little we can do."

"I'm not ashamed to admit I've shed tears of sadness, pain and anger," he wrote. "This isn’t a time for prayers, and study and inaction, it’s a time for prayers, action and the asking of God’s forgiveness for our inaction (especially the elected officials that ran to the cameras today, acted in a solemn manner, called for prayers, and will once again do absolutely nothing)."

Texas is known for its friendly gun laws, including the right to openly carry handguns for law-abiding residents who have taken a safety course and obtained a permit.

Last year, just before the church shooting, the state lowered the application fees for handgun licenses from $140 to $40. The law also allows applicants to take its safety classes online, instead of a classroom, in addition to at least one hour of shooting range instruction before taking a shooting test.

Texans are allowed to openly carry shotguns and rifles in most places with the exceptions of certain areas where it's expressly forbidden, such as bars and some schools, though a campus carry law allows licensed students to carry a concealed weapon on a school's campus.

source : https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2018/05/19/texas-school-shooting-houston-police-chief-calls-gun-control/625751002/

Serena Williams attends royal wedding before playing French Open

Serena Williams was among the celebrity guests who made a splash arriving at the royal wedding on Saturday morning.

Williams, who is a friend of Meghan Markle's after the two met in 2010, posted shots of herself on Instagram getting ready "super early" for the big day. Williams, accompanied by her husband Alexis Ohanian, looked stunning in a pink dress gathered at the waist and a matching fascinator.

Before the ceremony, cameras showed Williams chatting with Idris Elba inside St. George's Chapel. She was seated next to actress Abigail Spencer, a co-star of Markle's on Suits.

For the evening party, Williams changed into a Valentino gown.

The tennis star is expected to play in the French Open later this month, the first major championship she'll enter since giving birth to the couple's baby girl last September. The first round begins May 27.

Winning her last major championship at the 2017 Australian Open, Williams has 23 Grand Slam singles titles, the most of the Open era. She has won the French Open three times in her career.

She recently attended an event to speak with kids at the Mouratoglou Tennis Academy in the French Riviera, which is run by her coach Patrick Mouratoglou.

In a recent interview with wtatennis.com, Mouratoglou said Williams returned to the game too soon after a difficult pregnancy but it was a wake-up call to help her better prepare for Roland Garros.

"Serena will play the French Open to win it," he said. "Can she do it? Serena can achieve anything — after being her coach for six years, I'm even more sure of that statement."

source : https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/tennis/2018/05/19/serena-williams-attends-royal-wedding-before-playing-french-open/625618002/

Who is Prince Edward, what are his children’s names and why is he not a Duke?

Prince Edward was the baby of the royal family for many years, being the Queen and Prince Philips’ youngest child.

The monarch is different from his brothers though, in that he has the title of Earl, and has since 1999. Tenth in line to the throne, Edward has also not ever really found a calling in life, after not fitting into a military life and not finding major success in entertainment either. But he is also a family man and has his own heraldic flag, so that’s something. Here’s what we know about the Earl of Wessex…

Prince Edward was born at Buckingham Palace in March 1964, making him 54. His siblings are Prince Charles, Prince Andrew and Princess Anne. He attended Gibbs School, Heatherdown School and finally Gordonstoun School where he was Head Boy. Edward went to Jesus College, Cambridge despite getting a C and two Ds at A-Level, rather than the straight-A grades required, which caused controversy at the time.

He achieved lower second-class honours in History, and he had been sponsored by the Royal Marines to the tune of £12,000 towards his tuition on the condition of future service. But life in the Royal Marines was sadly not for Edward and he dropped out of training after less than six months. Bizarrely for a royal, Edward then opted for a career in showbusiness.

He commissioned the 1986 musical Cricket from Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice for his mother’s 60th birthday celebration. This led to a job offer at Lloyd Webber’s Really Useful Theatre Company, where he worked as a production assistant on musicals such as The Phantom of the Opera, Starlight Express, and Cats, and his duties are thought to have involved making tea for the artistic staff. Through this endeavour he met celebrated stage actress Ruthie Henshall, whom he dated for three years.

But his 1987 venture into TV via the game show It’s A Royal Knockout! was disastrous. Critics called the show – which featured Edward, Andrew, Sarah Ferguson and Princess Anne – cringeworthy and the Queen was reported to massively disapprove. That didn’t deter Edward from setting up his own production company, Ardent, which reported losses every year but one with its documentary and drama output.

Embarrassingly, a two-man Ardent film crew invaded the privacy of Prince William in 2001 while he was at St Andrews, angering the young prince. This led Edward to step down from his role as production director in 2002, and he used his mother’s Golden Jubilee events that year as an excuse for leaving. Ardent Productions was voluntarily dissolved in June 2009, with assets reduced to just £40

Since then, Edward’s primary role has been to fill in for his ageing and ailing father Philip at certain events, principally as the president of the Commonwealth Games and of the Duke of Edinburgh Award. In 2014, his mum also appointed him Lord High Commissioner to the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland. Edward’s personal life has been undramatic, as he married PR boss Sophie Rhys-Jones in 1999, at St George’s Chapel in Windsor Castle, after five years together. They have two children together – Lady Louise Windsor, 14, and James, Viscount Severn, 10.

When Edward got married he and his wife took the titles Earl and Countess of Wessex, which came as a shock because all male children of the sovereign are given the title of Duke when they marry. Even the Queen’s grandsons have been given the title of Duke. Instead, it’s thought Edward actually wanted to be linked to the Earl of Wessex, his favourite character from the movie Shakespeare In Love. It’s also been suggested that Edward was made Earl because the title of Duke of Edinburgh will go to him when his father, the current Duke of Edinburgh, dies.

source : https://metro.co.uk/2018/05/19/prince-edward-childrens-names-not-duke-7551633/