These are the top maybe-not headlines from the past 84-hours presented by The Conversation Project from raw engagement data from our social media to the headlines posted over the past day.
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The 8 headlines that our followers ranked as the most conversational are:
8 DEAD IN SHOOTING AT FEDEX FACILITY IN INDIANAPOLIS
The former employee who shot and killed eight people at a FedEx facility in Indianapolis was interviewed by FBI agents last year, after his mother called police to say that her son might commit “suicide by cop,” the bureau said Friday. Coroners released the names of the victims late Friday, a little less than 24 hours after the latest mass shooting to rock the U.S. Four of them were members of Indianapolis’ Sikh community. The attack was another blow to the Asian American community a month after six people of Asian descent were killed in a mass shooting in the Atlanta area and amid ongoing attacks against Asian Americans during the coronavirus pandemic. The Marion County Coroner’s office identified the dead as Matthew R. Alexander, 32; Samaria Blackwell, 19; Amarjeet Johal, 66; Jaswinder Kaur, 64; Jaswinder Singh, 68; Amarjit Sekhon, 48; Karli Smith, 19; and John Weisert, 74. The shooter was identified as Brandon Scott Hole, 19, of Indianapolis, Deputy Police Chief Craig McCartt told a news conference. Investigators searched a home in Indianapolis associated with Hole and seized evidence, including desktop computers and other electronic media, McCartt said. Hole began firing randomly at people in the parking lot of the FedEx facility late Thursday, killing four, before entering the building, fatally shooting four more people and then turning the gun on himself, McCartt said. He said he did not know if Hole owned the gun legally.
[SOURCE: apnews.com / ENGAGEMENT: 5.16%]
ROBINHOOD SLAMMED OVER CRYPTO OUTAGE DURING DOGECOIN SURGE
Robinhood traders slammed the investing app after its cryptocurrency platform suffered a major outage right in the middle of Dogecoin’s record-setting rally. Robinhood said its crypto trading service started going haywire by 10 p.m. Thursday — just as the price of the meme-inspired currency started spiking. The disruption enraged Robinhood users who accused the startup on social media of intentionally blocking them from cashing in on the Dogecoin surge that’s seen the cult coin’s price roughly quadruple over five days. The outage came as Dogecoin’s price rallied to nearly 30 cents late Thursday, more than double where it traded that afternoon, according to CoinDesk. The bounce came after the crypto-focused news outlet reported on meat stick brand Slim Jim’s effort to increase its Twitter following by engaging with Dogecoin posts. Robinhood flatly denied allegations that it had placed restrictions on Dogecoin trading.
[SOURCE: nypost.com / ENGAGEMENT: 4.64%]
DISNEYLAND RESERVATION SYSTEM OPENS, WITH LONG WAIT TIMES ONLINE
With Disneyland and Disney California Adventure Park set to reopen on April 30 after a yearlong closure, the reservation system to enter the parks opened at 8 a.m. Thursday — with long wait times online. Because the state is requiring theme parks that reopen to limit capacity, the Anaheim theme park is requiring all guests ages 3 and older to make a reservation to enter, in addition to having a ticket. To book a visit time, guests will need to make a Disney account online. By 8:10 a.m., the page was displaying a message that due to high demand, the visitor should remain on the page and is “in a waiting room.” After that short wait, guests can sign up for an account and log in to the site, where they will see the options to “make a reservation” and “select tickets.” Both options prompt the guest to wait for more than an hour due to high demand, but many reported the wait lasting several hours more. Around 11 a.m., many people were seeing a “recalculating” message after joining the virtual queue. The queue reopened around 12:30 p.m. Most guests were given an estimated wait time of “over an hour.”
[SOURCE: ktla.com / ENGAGEMENT: 4.64%]
BROADWAY STAR QUITS MOULIN ROUGE! MUSICAL IN PROTEST AGAINST INDUSTRY’S SILENCE ON SCOTT RUDIN ALLEGATIONS
Broadway star Karen Olivo has announced that she will not return to Moulin Rouge! The Musical in protest against producer Scott Rudin. Last week, allegations were made against the film and theatre producer by his former employees, calling Rudin an “absolute monster” who incited a culture of violent workplace abuse at his production company. Rudin is yet to respond to the allegations. On Wednesday (14 April), Tony winner Karen Olivo, who had starred as Satine in the Broadway production of Moulin Rouge!, announced on Instagram that she was using her “power” and leaving the show following the industry’s silence over the allegations against Rudin. In the video, which she captioned: “Humanity is more important than my bank account,” Olivo described how she could return to the show and “make a lot of money”, but that she was unimpressed by the industry’s refusal to do “a lot of the stuff that needs to be done”.
[SOURCE: independent.co.uk / ENGAGEMENT: 4.49%]
3 PEOPLE KILLED AND 2 INJURED IN SHOOTING IN KENOSHA, SHERIFF’S DEPARTMENT SAYS
A person of interest in the Kenosha shooting that killed three and injured three others early Sunday morning has been located and will be criminally charged with one count of first degree intentional homicide, according to the Kenosha Police Department. Gunfire broke out both inside and outside the The Somers House tavern around 12:40 a.m. Sunday, Sheriff David G. Beth said. “It sounds like one person got removed from the establishment and possibly came back a short time later” and started shooting, Beth said. “We don’t believe this was a random act,” he added. It is not clear exactly why that person was removed, or whether there was one or more shooters, the sheriff said. The person of interest may face additional criminal charges pending further investigation, according to a press release by Kenosha police.
[SOURCE: cnn.com / ENGAGEMENT: 3.97%]
YOUTUBE STAR JAKE PAUL SCORES FIRST-ROUND KO OF BEN ASKREN IN THIRD PRO FIGHT
The YouTube star-turned-boxer sent Ben Askren to the canvas with a straight right hand midway through the first round of their cruiserweight fight Saturday. Even though Askren got up, referee Brian Stutts called the fight at 1:59 inside Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta. Paul (3-0, 3 KOs) then collapsed to the canvas in tears before celebrating and doing pushups in the ring. The 24-year-old Paul took care of Askren quickly. Paul was patient for the first minute while Askren chased him around the ring. Then, as Paul began to get comfortable, he made quick work of the 36-year-old Askren. Paul set up the straight right with a jab, and the solid contact sent Askren down. After the fight, Paul climbed up into the broadcast booth to celebrate with Snoop Dogg.
[SOURCE: espn.com / ENGAGEMENT: 3.75%]
MARYLAND TEEN PEYTON HAM FATALLY SHOT BY STATE TROOPER WAS HONORS STUDENT
Peyton Alexander Ham, who attended Leonardtown High School, was remembered as a “talented” honors student with promise Wednesday in the wake of the shooting. His family said he was “an incredibly smart, gifted sweet young man” with an “Alex P. Keaton” type personality, referring to the overachieving TV character played by Michael J. Fox on “Family Ties.” Ham was shot Tuesday afternoon in Leonardtown by a trooper responding to reports of a possibly armed person acting suspiciously, according to State Police Superintendent Woodrow Jones III. A witness told police they saw Ham in the driveway “in a shooting stance” and pointing an airsoft gun at the trooper, who opened fire on the teen and wounded him, Jones said. Another witness said the wounded Ham whipped out a knife and tried to get up, Jones said. First aid was performed at the scene on Ham, but he later died at a nearby hospital, authorities said.
[SOURCE: nypost.com / ENGAGEMENT: 3.60%]
YOUTUBERS JENNA MARBLES AND JULIEN SOLOMITA ARE ENGAGED AFTER 8 YEARS OF DATING
In a Twitch stream, Julien, 28, shared that he popped the question to Jenna, 34, after eight years of dating, casually saying to viewers, “A little while ago—this is so weird—I asked Jenna to marry me and she said yes. So, we are engaged.” The content creator then gave Twitch viewers a glimpse of his engagement band, before sharing a photo of Jenna’s diamond ring. Julien even shared that he asked Jenna’s dog Marbles, who she’s had for 10 years, for permission to propose to Jenna. Marbles, of course, said yes. Julien also said that he didn’t have any one particular reason to pop the question now, explaining, “I just woke up and wanted to be married to her.” Jenna has not publicly commented on the happy news, having largely retreated from social media 10 months ago. At the time, the 34-year-old content creator said she found some of her old videos “incredibly crazy and embarrassing,” and had decided to “move on” from her YouTube channel.
[SOURCE: eonline.com / ENGAGEMENT: 3.08%]
Eight Things To Talk About uses the raw engagement data from the social media engagement from The Conversation Project to generate the top-ranking headlines over the course of the past day.
A full weeks’ data (from Friday to Friday) is compiled, weighed, and sorted to produce the content for the Weekly Wrap-Up with J Cleveland Payne, published every Saturday as a podcast available at ThisIsTheConversation.com or wherever your favorite podcasts are found.
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