The woman accused of firing shots at Rihanna’s home earlier this month has pleaded not guilty.
Ivanna Lisette Ortiz, 35, whom police say opened fire with an AR-15-style-rifle at the singer’s Los Angeles home on March 8, appeared in court Wednesday morning.
An LA judge denied her request for bail reduction, which remains set at $1,875,000.
The exterior of Rihanna’s residence is shown, March 9, 2026, in Beverly Hills, Calif.
Damian Dovarganes/AP
Ortiz was arrested earlier this month and booked on attempted murder in connection with the shooting at Rihanna’s home.
The singer’s mansion was struck by gunfire while she was at home, according to the Los Angeles Police Department and sources with knowledge of the investigation at the time.
Sources told ABC News that no shots penetrated inside the home, only the exterior. Multiple rounds did hit the outside of the home, as well as a vehicle parked out front. No one was hurt in the incident, sources added.
Rihanna attends the 2025 CFDA Awards at The American Museum of Natural History on November 03, 2025 in New York City.
Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images
A motive was not immediately clear.
In court on Wednesday, prosecutors described the incident as “extremely dangerous” and was “calculated.”
They added that Ortiz poses as a flight risk.
Additionally, the state says that the attorney general wants her prohibited from practicing as a speech-language pathologist.
The court has prohibited her from practicing her profession while the case proceeds.
There’s no denying that avocado is a superfood which comes at an equally super price. Rich in nutrients, one avocado in the market costs over ₹150–₹200 in India. It’s a hefty price tag for sure. And that’s exactly why you should grow your own avocado at home. Because a number of people are doing the same. It is only a smart and sustainable way to eat healthy fruit. With the right care, even a small balcony can turn into your personal avocado garden. It saves your money while enjoying fresh produce. Here’s how it can be done:Right varietyThe first step would be choosing the right variety. Select the right variety of avocado that can flourish in the Indian climate. A full-sized avocado tree can grow up to 60 feet but these are not ideal for small apartment balconies. Experts recommend dwarf or semi-dwarf varieties which include Wurtz (Little Cado) or Hass. These are small and perfect for container gardening.In fact, growing an avocado from a seed is also an option, but it can take years. So it is recommended to get a grafted plant from your nearest nursery for best results.Picking the pot and soilAvocado plants have shallow roots. However, it needs space to grow, therefore it is recommended to get a large pot which should at least be 16–20 inches deep. Drainage is important else roots can rot in no time. As far as soil is concerned, get a well-draining soil for proper aeration. Avocados do well in little acidic to neutral soil with pH 6–7.Sunlight is magic
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Avocado plants eat, love and thrive in sunlight. Keep your pot where it can get at least 6–8 hours of direct sunlight every day. A balcony with ample sunlight can get the best results. Without enough light, the plant may grow weak and not flourish.Watering Overwatering is one of the biggest mistakes people/beginners make. While avocados need moist soil, they hate being over-watered. Water only when the top layer feels dry else avoid. In summer, this may mean watering every 2–3 days. In winters, watering is needed just one day a week.Maintenance
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Regular pruning is very important for the good health of your avocado plant on a balcony. Trim the top once it grows tall. Also, save it from pests and yellowing leaves.Fruit of your patience Patience is the key in getting the best result. Understand that getting avocados is not an overnight process. It takes time even after the best soil and fertilisers. A couple of years for the plant to mature is normal. But understand, it has a long-term advantage and savings. After a few years you get to eat chemical-free avocados saving you big money.
“The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives” star Taylor Frankie Paul has been accused of a third domestic violence incident.
Authorities in West Jordan, Utah, are investigating allegations of domestic violence against Paul stemming from an incident in 2024, brought by her ex-boyfriend, Dakota Mortensen, Fox News Digital has learned.
“The West Jordan Police Department is currently investigating an incident involving Taylor Frankie Paul and Dakota Mortensen. The allegations were reported at the end of February 2026, and detectives have reviewed video believed to have been recorded in early to mid-2024,” authorities confirmed.
Taylor Frankie Paul is facing a third domestic violence investigation.(Natalie Cass/Disney)
Police are now reviewing multiple videos tied to the alleged altercation to determine details and timelines.
“Investigators are actively working to gather and verify information and are in the process of interviewing those involved. At this time, have been filed, as the investigation remains ongoing.”
According to NBC News, police only have Mortensen’s account of the incident. Authorities have not interviewed Paul directly but have spoken with her attorney. Investigators are asking Paul to come in to give her side of the story or to submit a written statement.
Police in Draper, Utah, reportedly confirmed a separate domestic violence investigation involving both Paul and Mortensen, with allegations on both sides, was reported on Feb. 24 and Feb. 25. That case is still ongoing.
Fox News Digital has reached out to Draper police for further details, in addition to Paul and Mortensen for comment, but did not immediately receive a response.
Police are reportedly seeking a statement from Paul on the new allegations against her.(Fred Hayes/Disney via Getty Images)
A spokesperson for Paul previously told Fox News Digital, following the cancellation of her season of “The Bachelorette,” “Taylor is very grateful for ABC’s support as she prioritizes her family’s safety and security. After years of silently suffering extensive mental and physical abuse as well as threats of retaliation, Taylor is finally gaining the strength to face her accuser and taking steps to ensure that she and her children are protected from any further harm.”
“There are too many women who are suffering in silence as they survive aggressive, jealous ex-partners who refuse to let them move on with their lives,” the spokesperson continued. “Taylor has remained silent out of fear of further abuse, retaliation, and public shaming. She is currently exploring all of her options, seeking support, and preparing to own and share her story.”
A spokesperson for Paul recently shared that the reality star is preparing to tell her side of the story.(Getty Images)
The first domestic violence incident resulted in charges against Paul, who pleaded guilty to aggravated assault in August 2023. Video of the incident was shared earlier this month by TMZ, and soon after, ABC announced that it would not be airing Paul’s season of “The Bachelorette.”
In a statement to Fox News Digital last week, a spokesperson for Disney Entertainment Television said, “In light of the newly released video just surfaced today, we have made the decision to not move forward with the new season of ‘The Bachelorette’ at this time, and our focus is on supporting the family.”
Fox News Digital’s Christina Dugan Ramirez contributed to this report.
Stephanie Giang-Paunon is an entertainment writer for Fox News Digital. Story tips can be sent to [email protected] and on Twitter: @SGiangPaunon.
People are missing out on opportunities to improve their lives because of barriers put up by financial exclusion, a committee of MPs has heard.
The Treasury Committee heard from organisations specialising in dealing with the social and personal impacts of financial exclusion.
Kate Pender, chief executive of Fair4AllFinance said: “We constantly hear from people who have missed out on opportunities to improve their life and their outcomes because they can’t afford motor insurance.
“For example, I talked to a man at one of our conferences who had had to turn down a job.
“The job was in an adjacent town, he lived in a rural area.
“He could afford to buy the car that would have enabled him to accept that job, he couldn’t afford the insurance on that car.”
She later added: “The scale of the problem is really large.
“We’re talking about 20 million people in the UK in financially vulnerable circumstances.
“And it probably won’t surprise you if I say there’s almost not too much that you could do about this.
“I think it is really important that there is a whole of Government and whole of industry response across these financial inclusion issues.”
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Helen Undy, chief executive of the Money and Mental Health Policy Institute, told the hearing: “The travel insurance work that we’re doing with the ABI (Association of British Insurers) starts from the perspective of let’s understand whether risk-based pricing is currently using accurate and up-to-date evidence about people’s mental health.
“Because the prices that we’re seeing coming out are so high that it feels as though an update to that data, how it’s used, how it’s interpreted, might be needed.”
She added: “We found in our research that somebody with bipolar disorder, for example, is seeing increases ranging from 250% to 980% in their travel insurance premium when they disclose their bipolar disorder.
“Now we are not naive, I understand that’s how the insurance market works, you know, risk is priced, and it is more expensive if you have a pre-existing health condition, but we still saw increases of 240% for people with depression.
“So we felt in our research that the disconnect between the severity of people’s mental health problems and the price increases meant that it deserves further investigation.”
She added that it was not a niche market issue and “signposting to specialist providers isn’t good enough when one in four of us have a mental health problem.”
Ms Undy also highlighted the importance of integrating debt advice with other public services.
After the hearing, an ABI spokesperson said that, regarding travel insurance: “Insurers understand the importance of making sure people can get the protection they need.
“We’re committed to removing barriers and closing protection gaps, and continue to work closely with government, consumer groups and charities to support ongoing improvements.”
Speaking about motor insurance, the ABI spokesperson added: “Insurers recognise how essential motor cover is for households and fully understand the financial pressures many families are facing.
“While a range of factors – such as persistently high claims costs and wider inflationary pressures – pushed premiums up in recent years, it was encouraging to see that cost pressures eased last year.
“Motor insurers are working hard to keep cover as affordable as possible in a highly competitive market, but we know there is more to do.
“That’s why the industry continues to drive forward its 10‑point roadmap and is working closely with government and regulators to tackle the underlying cost pressures that affect premiums.”
On top of this, the government had also offered to cover some out-of-pocket expenses resident doctors face, including exam fees, as well as increase the number of training posts to address what the BMA has described as a jobs shortage at the start of year three of their training.
In addition to taking an emotional toll, childhood stress and hardships can also wreak havoc on the digestive system.
New research published in the journal Gastroenterology revealed that early experiences can rewire the body, leading to lifelong stomach issues.
Scientists at New York University focused on communication between the brain and the gut, finding that when a child experiences significant stress, this connection is disrupted.
That disruption can manifest years later as irritable bowel syndrome, chronic stomach pain or motility issues like constipation and diarrhea.
“Our research shows that these stressors can have a real impact on a child’s development and may influence gut issues long-term,” study author Kara Margolis, a professor at NYU, said in a press release.
The presence of flagellin antibodies long before symptoms appear suggests the immune reaction may help trigger the disease rather than result from it.(iStock)
“When the brain is impacted, the gut is likely also impacted — the two systems communicate 24 hours a day, seven days a week,” she added.
The study looked at both animal models and long-term data from over 40,000 children in Denmark and 12,000 in the U.S.
Researchers found that mice subjected to early-life stress showed higher levels of anxiety and gut pain. Mice symptoms varied by gender, as females were more prone to diarrhea and males were more prone to constipation.
Children whose mothers had depression during or after pregnancy, or those who had more emotionally difficult childhoods, were more likely to develop digestive disorders as early as age 10, the researchers noted.
Children who had harder childhoods were more likely to develop digestive orders as early as age 10.(iStock)
Unlike the mouse studies, the human data showed no differences between males and females in digestive outcomes, which suggests that early stress may affect gut-brain health for both genders during key stages of development.
The results show how symptoms are controlled by different “pathways” in the body, doctors said. For example, the nerves responsible for gut movement are separate from the pathways that control gut pain.
This means there is no single cure for gut issues, the team stated. If a patient has pain but no motility issues, they would need a different treatment than someone who has constipation but no pain.
By identifying these specific biological triggers, scientists say they are moving toward more personalized treatments that target the root cause of a patient’s symptoms.
The team says these results are evidence that there is no one-size-fits-all approach to gut issues.(iStock)
“When patients come in with gut problems, we shouldn’t just be asking them if they are stressed right now; what happened in your childhood is also a really important question and something we need to consider,” said Margolis.
“This developmental history could ultimately inform how we understand how some disorders of gut-brain interaction develop and treat them based on specific mechanisms.”
Khloe Quill is a lifestyle production assistant with Fox News Digital. She and the lifestyle team cover a range of story topics including food and drink, travel, and health.
My 14-year-old daughter is pretty much glued to her phone, like every other teenager we know, so I’ve been taking in the news that Meta has been forced to pay out $375m (£279m) by a court in New Mexico for misleading users over the safety of its platforms for children with some interest – and some guilt, too.
As a parent of a child who uses all of these platforms (except Facebook, which I am told – with the kind of withering stare only a teenage girl can truly perfect – is for geriatrics like myself, only), my guilt centres around whether I’ve done enough to protect her from their addictive algorithms.
But it’s more than that: because I know, with a creeping sense of shame and dread, that I haven’t been leading by example at home, at all.
In fact, I’d say that until recently it was a pretty close tie for who used their phone to scroll more: me or my daughter, despite knowing of the potential harms (such as the fact that smartphone addiction can affect our sleep, our social interactions, our emotional wellbeing and even our memory). I’ve known of the risks for years, but the trouble was… I just didn’t seem to be able to stop.
At the tail end of last year, I’ll confess I was on a “daily usage” of somewhere around five hours – sometimes six. Until, that is, I discovered a secret weapon in January and cured my phone addiction overnight (and brought that daily screen time down to just two hours a day – much of which is calls, work emails and using the “notes” app to write on my commute).
And it was breathtakingly easy.
I tried Brick – a tiny, two-inch magnet at home (which allows you to choose which apps you “Brick”, then doesn’t let you go on them again until you physically touch your phone to the Brick device). And no, this isn’t an ad for them – I bought the £54 device out of my own pocket – but to say it has changed my life would be an understatement. It feels a bit like falling in love, because I can’t stop talking about it.
In just a few, short months, I’ve kicked my addiction to scrolling idly through Insta, as well as the strange desire at midnight to find out what happened to a girl I never even spoke to at school by trawling through Facebook, plus the short-lived dopamine hit of tapping one button then watching reel after reel and story after story of friends, friends of friends, and celebrities.
Thanks to Brick, I’ve stopped scrolling, and I am now doing all the things I used to love doing, but hadn’t found “time” to do while being addicted to my phone. In fact, I’ve read about 12 actual, physical paper books since the start of the year alone – and I’ve saved so much money, too.
Because I have “Bricked” Amazon and Vinted, any online shopping I do has to come from physically going to, often independent, shops. It’s better for my wallet, for the future of our high streets – and for the environment. And I feel better for no longer lining the bloated pockets of controversial tech giants like Zuckerberg or Jeff Bezos.
Sure, there will be those who say, “just stop using the apps!” and who will scoff at the idea that we don’t have enough willpower to do it alone; they’ll ask why I didn’t “just delete them” (spoiler: tried that, but I just ended up downloading them again), or “just turn off your phone” (when you have young children, the “what if” worry about missing calls from school makes this impossible). Yes, I could have left my phone upstairs – or downstairs when I was upstairs and I did that all of that too; but just like the tell-tale heart throbbing beneath the floorboards in the Edgar Allan Poe short story,I knew it was there.
They say the first step of recovery is admitting you’ve got a problem, and thanks to the false intimacy of having Insta so readily available as an app on my phone screen, I was left asking myself some pretty uncomfortable questions. Did I really just say “shush” to my nine-year-old son in the kitchen, because I was halfway through discovering “the truth” about Nicole Kidman’s “beauty secrets”?
Had I seriously justified being late for the school run because I simply had to find out what Lily Allen had said about her twatty ex (David Harbour), when I don’t know them “IRL”, at all? And how is it that I know Lena Dunham’s birthday (13 May) and star sign (Taurus) off the top of my head, when I’m not even sure I could say the same about my cousin?
I’m now a born-again Brick zealot who’s seen the light (and who wishes her friends would stop taking pictures of our food to post them on socials, before we are allowed to eat it). Now, with the news of Meta’s fall from grace and social media bans for under-16s being seriously considered by governments across the world, I’m even more grateful that I’ve kicked the habit. You only need one Brick per household – so now my teenager is on it, too.
Today, I can happily report that my current “Bricked” streak is 195 hours, which would revert to 0 if I ever unbrick my phone. Before that, it was 300 hours (I had to unbrick to reply to someone on Vinted). What is curious now is how anxious I feel when I’m not “Bricked” – there’s a kind of tetchy, irritable panic that I could be sucked back into scrolling at any time. I don’t like that feeling, so I’m staying “Bricked” for the foreseeable. I’d rather be addicted to not scrolling, than scrolling.
To paraphrase Mary Oliver (whose poetry collection, “Devotions”, I’ve had time to read again), what is it you want from your “one, wild and precious life”? I’d hazard that for most of us, the answer would be “time” – and Brick has bought me lots of it.
