Former MTV VP Andrea Fair is suing her former employer, MTV, and parent company Viacom for sexual discrimination, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Fair is now demanding lost wages and compensatory damages.

Fair claims that the network "maintained a double standard and ignored inappropriate behavior but punished her," according to the suit.

Fair began her MTV career in 2005 as a senior director before being promoted to vice president of talent and music (TAM) in 2008. Fair claims that in 2009 she was appointed by MTV CEO Judy McGrath to be on MTV's Visionary Committee, which discusses the future of the network. 

As TAM, she reported to Senior VP Bruce Gillmer, who she claims diminished her role, excluding her from meetings and allowing younger employees to attend events like the European Music Awards instead of her.

"In the days after Gillmer became her supervisor, it became clear to Fair that Gillmer was treating her differently because of her age and gender. On numerous occasions, Gillmer accused Fair of being 'too emotional,'" states the lawsuit.

In 2009, Gilmer hired Allison Farber, despite Fair's reservations, which soon led to problems. Fair claims Farber was difficult to manage, which Gillmer allegedly made worse with special treatment like trips to awards shows and a Rihanna video shoot. 

In August 2010, Farber submitted a complaint against Fair for being "inappropriately aggressive and controlling," claiming she was afraid of her.

The network then fired Fair for a "pattern of inappropriate conduct."

In a statement to THR in response to the lawsuit MTV and Viacom said, “While we don’t comment on the specifics of pending litigation, we do not believe there is any merit to this claim and plan to defend against it vigorously.”

SEE ALSO:  Director Barry Sonnenfeld ordered to pay former agency $325K >

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Maybe Army National Guardsman and Iraq war veteran William Everett Alemar thought he was just getting in some good training.

But the police didn't seem to think so.

Matthew Umstead of The Herald Mail reports that police in Martinsburg, West Virginia received calls at 7 am on Aug. 20 about a man running down the road near a school in fatigues and a protective vest, brandishing what appeared to be an assault rifle.

In a matter of minutes three officers were reportedly drawing their weapons down on the man, forcing him to his knees and removing the rifle from his possession.

The rifle turned out to be a air-soft "training" rifle, essentially a toy that anyone can buy which shoots rubber pellets, and also had the easily recognizable red tip that denotes toy guns, according to the Herald Mail. Police found two knives, several empty rifle magazines, and ceramic plates in his vest, the paper reported. 

Alemar has been arrested under charges of "committing a terroristic act and wearing body armor while committing a felony offense," according to official records. He's being held on a $50,000 bail.

Police say that his behavior caused local people fear of immediate threat. But Alemar's father told reporters, "my son is not a terrorist, he's a good kid," and added that he was just trying to stay in shape for his next assignment. 

Alemar was assigned to a special operations unit in Iraq, so I guess it's plausible that he was "just training."

I don't know if we hit him with a felony charge though. Possibly some counseling and a prescription.

But "terrorist actions?" Maybe we're just paranoid as a nation. Or maybe Alemar should have been smart enough to leave his rifle at home (along with the knives, empty magazines, gloves and holster).

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Details are emerging about the man who opened fire at the Empire State Building today, killing his former boss. 

Mayor Michael Bloomberg identified the shooter as 53-year-old Jeffrey Johnson. According to NYC Police Commissioner Ray Kelly, Johnson for Hazan Imports Corporation. 

The New York Times metro desk tweeted that Johnson was 58, not 53, and lives on East 82nd Street in Manhattan. 

He apparently lost his job a year ago when the company downsized, Women's Wear Daily reported: 

Johnson worked in graphics at Hazan. According to a source within the company, he worked there for 15 years, designing line sheets and catalogues. He was not, as reported, a handbag or accessories designer.

"It wasn't like he [Johnson] did anything wrong," the source said, as to why Johnson was laid off. "It was simply economics."

The New York Post reported that Johnson stalked his former boss down the street and shot him. A relative identified the victim as Steve Ercolino. His LinkedIn page says he's the vice president of sales at Hazan.

According to a company profile on ZoomInfo, Hazan Imports employs between 50 and 100 people and focuses on budget handbags. It's located at 10 West 33rd street, right near the Empire State Building: 

We also found a posting on business-to-business platform TooToo, written by a Jeff Johnson two years ago on behalf of Hazan Imports. The poster asks where he could have thousands of cardboard hang tags made. 

We called Hazan Imports Corporation this morning. The person who answered the phone said the company had no comment and hung up. 

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You’re in public, minding your business, on your way to work — and gunshots ring out.

There are immediate actions you can take to ensure your survival, which I learned during my time as a U.S. Marine.

Too often, especially in an urban environment, people get caught up in situations they could have easily avoided, given a cool head, and the following of a few easy steps.

Don’t freak out. Don’t run. Stay calm. And you’ll make it.

1. Hit The Deck!

This seems like common sense. Matter of fact, all of these will seem like common sense. But you wouldn't believe how many people hear gunfire in a public place and just stand around, heads all in the air, bewildered, looking this way and that.

Get low!

The first thing you need to do is remove your dome from the where the bullets will be. So ... lower it.

2. Don't Scream

If you find yourself in a situation like this, keep your mouth shut. The last thing you want to do is make the shooter notice you.

That includes talking on your cell phone—stay off of it. You're in a city, or a populated public place, so rely on people who are within earshot but outside the danger zone to make the call to police.

Authorities might even be on the spot.

So don't yell, don't talk. Stay quiet.

3. Conceal Yourself

Again, seems like common sense, right?

But again, some people will sit well within sight of a perpetrator. Put something in between you and the shooter, preferably something that blocks his sight completely, but anything that offers any bit of misdirection (like tall grass) will do.

If he can't see you, he'll have trouble shooting you.

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In the wake of Friday's shooting, Reuters posted this instructional video on how to survive workplace violence from the Department of Homeland Security.

The video offers practical tips, instructing workers to lock doors behind them, silence their cellphones, and as a last resort, do everything they possibly can to take the shooter down.

"Your survival may depend on whether or not you have a plan," the narrator says. "The plan doesn't have to be complicated. There are three things you could do that make a difference: run, hide, fight."

Watch the full video below, courtesy of Reuters:

DON'T MISS: Empire State Shooter Lost His Job As Fashion Designer A Year Ago >

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A woman who owns half an East Village fitness studio is claiming her fitness guru partner's sex addiction cost them valuable clients, The New York Post is reporting.

Body Evolutions founder Billy Macagnone's systematic "abuse and betrayal of women" drove away substantial business, Renee Linnell claims in a lawsuit.

The fitness guru was frequently absent from the studio because he was napping to rest up for his sexual encounters, Linnell claims, according to the post.

And when he wasn't missing in action, Linnell claims that Macagnone was seducing clients who just wanted to practice "Gyrotonics" – a low-impact stretching workout.

And then he allegedly broke up with them in a rather impolite way, the Post reported.

"Macagnone drove away clients when he inevitably ended his brief sexual affairs with them by posting messages on Facebook,” the suit claimed.

DON'T MISS: Woman Claims Burger King Violated Her Religion And Made Her Wear Pants >

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National Security Agency whistleblower William Binney explains how the secretive agency run its pervasive domestic spying apparatus in a new piece by Laura Poitras in The New York TImes.

Binney—one of the best mathematicians and code breakers in NSA history—worked for the Defense Department's foreign signals intelligence agency for 32 years before resigning in late 2001 because he "could not stay after the NSA began purposefully violating the Constitution."

In a short video called "The Program," Binney explains how the agency took part of one of the programs he built and started using it to spy on virtually every U.S. citizen without warrants under the code-name Stellar Wind.

Binney details how the top-secret surveillance program, the scope of which has never been made public, can track electronic activities—phone calls, emails, banking and travel records, social media—and map them to collect "all the attributes that any individual has" in every type of activity and build a profile based on that data.

"So that now I can pull your entire life together from all those domains and map it out and show your entire life over time," Binney says.

The 8-minute video, adapted from an ongoing project by Poitras that is to be released in 2013, has footage of the construction of the NSA's $2 billion data storage facility in Bluffdale, Utah, which Binney says "has the capacity to store 100 years worth of the world's electronic communications." 

The purpose of the program, according to Binney, is "to be able to monitor what people are doing" and who they are doing it with. 

"The danger here is that we fall into a totalitarian state," Binney says. "This is something the KGB, the Stasi or the Gestapo would have loved to have had."

Poitras, who has been detained and questioned more than 40 times at U.S. airports, has been working on a trilogy of films about post-9/11 America.

SEE ALSO: How Post-9/11 Surveillance Has Drastically Changed America [INFOGRAPHIC] >

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Conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh's first reaction to the Empire State Building shooting: Was President Barack Obama to blame?

Limbaugh "wondered" on his radio show Friday if Obama "had blood on his hands," responding to a report that the alleged Empire State Building shooter, Jeffrey Johnson, was targeting his boss. 

From the transcript:

"I wonder if Obama's constant warfare on bosses and so forth might have led this guy to pull the trigger?"

From what he said afterward, Limbaugh seemed to expect subsequent backlash. He tried to justify his words by saying that the "news media and the rest of the left" have tried to politicize recent shootings. (In reality, there were a lot of bungled reports from a lot of different "sides" after the Aurora, Colorado, theater shooting in July.)

Here's Rush, explaining that he was trying to highlight absurdity "by being absurd":

"Yes, I said it, and we're not gonna bleep it out. I'll guarantee you. The last time there was a shooting in New York, who'd the mayor blame it on? Tea Party people that didn't like health care, right? Gabby Giffords, you name it. The shooting out in Colorado? Brian Ross said the Tea Party did it. Well, here you have a guy shooting his boss for being fired. Who's out there ripping bosses to shreds every day? Who's out there ripping businesses to shreds every day?

And who's out there killing jobs every day?"

He continued:

So, "Obama's constant class warfare, could it be a factor? Might it be a factor, the Democrat Party and all this fear they're putting in people's hearts and minds?"

Listen to the audio below, courtesy of The Daily Rushbo:

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A shooting broke out near the Empire State Building during the rush hour commute on Friday morning, leaving 9 people injured and two dead including the gunman, the FDNY confirmed to Business Insider. 

Police Commissioner Ray Kelly later identified the shooter as 53-year-old Jeffrey Johnson.

Johnson, a women's accessories designer laid off from Hazan Import Corp, gunned down former co-worker Steven Ercolino, the Wall Street Journal reported.

In a press conference, Mayor Michael Bloomberg said those who were injured are expected to survive. 

Shortly after the incident, Business Insider headed over to 34th Street and Fifth Avenue to check out the scene. We've also included some photos that are being circulated on Twitter and Instagram. 

*Note: Some of these images are graphic. 

Catalyst PR employee Linsday Faulker, who works in the Empire State Building, looked down at the scene from the 38th floor.

Instagram user mr_mookie captured this graphic image. This image shows a pedestrian tending to one of the victims.

Eyewitness and Instagram user paulnshapiro snapped this photo of a victim near the Empire State Building.

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This morning, scorned employee Jeffrey Johnson killed his former co-worker Steven Ercolino and injured nine other bystanders before being shot to death by police.

We already know Johnson, 58, lost his job as a fashion designer for Hazan Imports Corp. about a year before the shooting.

Now, details are coming to light about the shooting suspect, courtesy of The New York Times, which interviewed Johnson's super:

• Johnson and Ercolino both filed harassment complaints against each other.

• He lived on the Upper East Side, specifically East 82nd Street, for about 18 months.

• Johnson had a very set routine. He left his apartment around 7:30 a.m. and went to his neighborhood McDonald's. He nearly always wore a tannish brown suit and would hang out in his apartment for most of the day.

Johnson was "very mellow and very lonely," neighbor Gisela Casella told The Huffington Post.

He lived alone with his two cats and almost always wore a suit, HuffPost reported.

A former coworker told Women's Wear Daily that, contrary to many reports, Johnson worked in graphics at the company. He was let go when the company began losing money.

"It wasn't like he did anything wrong," the source told WWD. "It was simply economics."

Here Are Pictures Of The Chaos After Today's Shooting Outside The Empire State Building >

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Director Martin Scorsese has responded to the lawsuit filed against him regarding not making a film he supposedly promised to do, calling it "absurd," reports The Wrap.

On Wednesday, Cecchi Gori Pictures sued the director and his production company for not directing an adaptation of the novel "Silence," which he allegedly said he would do following the filming of 2011's "Hugo."

Scorsese released a statement on Friday:

It is shocking to us that the lawyers for Cecchi Gori Pictures would file a suit pursuing such absurd claims considering the amicable working relationship existing between Martin Scorsese and the principals of Cecchi Gori Pictures.The claims asserted are completely contradicted by, inconsistent with, and contrary to the express terms of an agreement entered into by the parties last year. 

The lawsuit was filed on the eve of Mr. Scorsese starting another picture [The Wolf of Wall Street] has all the earmarks of a media stunt.  

Mr. Scorsese is confident that he will prevail in court should Cecchi Gori Pictures actually pursue this meritless action.

SEE ALSO: Scorsese sued for putting off movie for 22 years > 

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A woman who was recently found three years after her abduction told police she had been held captive as a sex slave since she was 16, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported Thursday.

The unnamed woman, who was reported missing in 2009, told police she finally escaped with the help of a relative after she had been "beaten and sexually assaulted by the suspect almost every day since she was in captivity."

When police descended on the East St. Louis home they found a young child still at the residence, the Post-Dispatch reported. The abducted woman claims she was raped by the man who held her captive, and that he had eventually fathered her child.

The child does not seem to be hurt and a man and a woman were arrested at the home.

Connie Hunt said she lived next door to the suspects for two years and didn't notice anything wrong.

"All I know is they seemed like sweet neighbors," Hunt told the Post-Dispatch. "I didn't know anything about someone being held captive. ...We didn't know anything was going on over there."

DON'T MISS: Pictures Of The Chaos After Today's Shooting Outside The Empire State Building >

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A man selling tickets to the Empire State Building's observatory said he was shot in the arm this morning.

And Robert Asika is "100 percent positive" it was an NYPD officer who shot him, MyFoxNY reported Friday afternoon.

Nine people were hurt this morning when Jeffrey Johnson began shooting on the street outside the Empire State Building. He killed his former co-worker, Steven Ercolino, before being shot to death by police.

During a press conference this morning, Police Commissioner Ray Kelly acknowledged his officers might have hit bystanders during the incident.

Now See Pictures Of The Chaos After Today's Shooting Outside The Empire State Building >

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A U.S. appeals court ruled Friday the FDA's graphic warnings for cigarettes are unconstitutional, setting the stage for a possible Supreme Court showdown.

The proposed labels, which would take up half of cigarette packs, violate big tobacco's right to free speech, the court ruled, according to the AP.

That ruling directly conflicts with another appeals court's decision, meaning that the nation's highest court may have to decide the issue.

The FDA's proposed graphic images were one of the more controversial provisions of a 2009 tobacco law that also aimed to eliminate tobacco marketing aimed at minors.

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On Wednesday, Jay-Z sued Mike Shand, the former chef of his 40/40 club, for $1.5 million and on Thursday, it was revealed the beef was over ... a chicken wing recipe.

Today, the New York Post is reporting that Jay-Z has dropped the suit. But all is still not well between the music mogul and his personal-turned-club chef.

Shand’s lawyer, Vik Pawar, confirmed to the Post that the club dropped the suit, but says that “We still may sue the club for defamation of character and for the return of his possessions, including his laptop, which the club still has.”

The original suit came after Shand refused to hand over his own special spice mix for chicken wings—despite giving up all other recipes—when departing the 40/40 club after Jay wasn't pleased with the chef's revamped club menu.

Apparently, Jay-Z prefers chicken wings over king crab sliders. Noted.

See also:

• Jay-Z's Beef With The 40/40 Club Is Over Chicken Wings

• Jay-Z Sues 40/40 Club Chef For $1.5 Million

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Stephen Baldwin was arrested in New York City yesterday after making an illegal U-Turn, according to TMZ. 

The actor was driving his 2000 Lexus SUV on W. 125 St. in Harlem when cops pulled him over late in the afternoon.

Cops took the "Usual Suspects" actor into custody after spotting his suspended license.

Baldwin was charged with aggravated unlicensed operation and making an illegal U-turn.

The actor will appear in court October 1. 

SEE ALSO: Why The Sun ran nude photos of Prince Harry against the palace's wishes >

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Samsung owes Apple a whole bunch of money now that a verdict has been reached in the epic smartphone patent infringement case between the two tech giants.

The verdict is being announced right now.

The jury has awarded Apple over $1 billion dollars. Or $1,051,856,000, The Verge reports.

Samsung was countersuing, but the jury says Apple didn't violate Samsungs patents. Apple owes Samsung zero in damages.

The jury found that Samsung infringed on Apple's products. The jury says, yes, all of the Samsung devices named in Apples claims infringed on Apple for one patent or another.

Not every product was found to have infringed on every patent that Apple named in its suit.

The jury also found that Samsung should have known about Apple's patents for at least 10 smartphones, but not for its Galaxy Tab tablets. That's important for figuring out how big the damages claim can be.

The jury did not find any of Apple's patents to be invalid.

The Verge reports that Apple's lawyer is smiling and the Samsung team is not happy right now.

Apple didn't win everything, but it still won a lot and won big.

On the other hand, $1 billion is almost a drop in the bucket for Apple right now. It has over $117 billion  in cash and investments on its books right now, according to Yahoo Finance.

Apple filed a lawsuit against Samsung back in April, 2011, accusing the company of infringing on its patents. Apple accused Samsung of infringing on four design patents (two for the iPhone, one for iPad and one for iOS), as well as three utility patents. Apple is demanding $2.5 billion in damages from Samsung.

Samsung has since counter-sued, arguing that Apple has infringed on five of its patents, Samsung is demanding Apple pay a royalty rate of 2.4% on the "entire selling price" of its iOS devices for use of these patents. Apple argues that it should only have to pay one half of one penny per each mobile device it sells.

More to come.

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The NYPD released a video which shows Empire State Building shooter Jeffrey Johnson pulling his gun on police before being gunned down, DNAinfo reports.

Johnson reportedly waited for Steven Ercolino to walk outside near the Empire State Building before shooting his former boss twice in the head and then casually walking down the block before being confronted by police.

The video below shows Johnson pulling a weapon from his bag as police confront him and terrified onlookers flee. Two police officers then shoot Johnson dead. Nine bystanders were wounded in the crossfire.

SEE ALSO: 9 INJURED, 2 DEAD IN SHOOTING OUTSIDE EMPIRE STATE BUILDING >

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The man police say opened fire yesterday outside the Empire State Building bought the gun he used legally in Sarasota, Fla., more than 20 years ago.

He illegally brought the gun, purchased in 1991, to New York City, ABC News reported Friday.

Johnson began shooting outside the Empire State Building Friday morning during rush hour.

Nine were injured in the subsequent shootout between Johnson and police.

Both Johnson and his intended target Steven Ercolino were killed.

A witness told ABC News Johnson approached Ercolino carrying a black bag.

"She saw him walk up to Ercolino and without saying a word, fire five times at the victim and keep firing as Ercolino slumped to the ground," ABC News reported.

Here are pictures of the chaos around the Empire State Building. Warning, some are graphic >

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A gunman opening fire outside the Empire State Building marked another tragedy in a year filled with gun violence.

The spate of deadly mass shootings has terrified Americans and spurred discussions about gun laws and mental healthcare. 

Here's a timeline of some of the worst deadly shootings in the U.S. this year: 

January 10, 2012: Three teenagers were shot dead in an ambush in Philadelphia, CBS reported at the time. The 30-year-old suspect opened fire on four teens in a car, killing three and injuring one. 

February 21, 2012: Jeong Soo Paek burst into a spa his family owned in Norcross, near Atlanta, Ga. He killed four relatives before turning the gun on himself, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported at the time. Police speculated that financial problems motivated the shooting.

February 27, 2012: A 17-year-old student, T.J. Lane, confessed to going into his Chardon, Ohio high school cafeteria and shooting students at random. Three students died and two were hospitalized, The New York Times reported. Lane said he stole the gun from a relative who had obtained it legally.

March 30, 2012: A gunman drove by and opened fire on a crowd of mourners outside a funeral home in Miami, Fla. Two people died and 12 more were injured, the Miami Herald reported. The mourners were gathered for the funeral of 21-year-old Marvin Andre, who also died in a shooting.

April 2, 2012: One L. Goh opened fire at Oikos University in Oakland, California. He killed seven people and injured at least three more. Goh was a former student at the school and was said to be angry that he was expelled for poor behavior, CNN reported.

April 6, 2012: Five African-American men were gunned down in separate incidents in Tulsa, Oklahoma, ABC reported. Police arrested Jake England, 19, and Alvin Watts, 32, and said that the murders were motivated by racism. Three men died and two were seriously injured. 

May 29, 2012: Ian Stawicki went to a cafe in Seattle's University district, shooting and killing four people, ABC reported at the time. He then fled to a parking lot and shot another woman before killing himself. He wasn't thought to have known his victims.

July 20, 2012: James Holmes, 24, allegedly broke into a midnight premiere of "The Dark Knigh Rises" in Aurora, Colo., killing 12 people and injuring roughly 60 more. Later, police revealed that Holmes, a doctoral student in neuroscience, spent $20,000 on ammunition and weapons. 

August 5, 2012: Seven people died after gunfire broke out at a Sikh temple in Oak Creek, Wisconsin. The gunman, identified by police as Wade Michael Page, also died in the shooting. He was a white supremacist and the shootings were said to be racially motivated.

August 13, 2012: Three people including a police officer were killed in shootings near the campus of Texas A&M University. The alleged shooter, Thomas Caffell, was said to be obsessed with video games and having financial problems.

August 24, 2012: Jeffrey Johnson shot a former coworker and injured nine more people before being shot and killed by police. The shooting occurred near New York's Empire State Building during rush hour.

DON'T MISS: How James Holmes Went From Shy Nerd To Accused Cold-Blooded Killer >

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