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A woman -- crowned one of Alabama's teachers of the year -- is in hot water with the law after allegedly whipping the s**t out of her child with a belt on video.

Nicole Staples -- who teaches second grade at Cottage Hill Christian Academy in Mobile -- was charged Wednesday with willful abuse of a child under 18, according to the county Sheriff's Office.

The video is startling ... Staples appears to hit her adolescent son on the backside upwards of 20 times after hurling a flurry of curses at him for not cleaning up after himself. She appears to grab him by the hair before seeming to smack him again.

Disturbing behavior down in Florida ... a man in Miami walked into a dance studio and stuck his nose in the couch cushion where an underage girl had just been sitting ... it's all on video, and now cops are involved.

The creepy footage from inside a Miami dance studio picks up with a girl sitting on a couch near the front door ... she gets up to leave, and then a man enters, makes sure the coast is clear, and then buries his face in the cushion where she'd been sitting moments earlier.

Miami Springs PD Chief Matthew Castillo tells TMZ ... one of the owners of a local dance studio contacted cops that night to report the "disturbing" incident, which happened Tuesday night as business was winding down.

Addison Rae looks like she's a big fan a popular singing competition show ... at least based on what she just wore at the airport.

Check out these images of the "I Got It Bad" singer walking to the curb at LAX on Wednesday ... she's wearing an eye mask.

Addison is an influencer turned Grammy nominee ... so the jokes write themselves, folks ... allow us to introduce "The Masked Singer." 😂

Cardi B just posted the first public pictures of her newborn baby.

The photos, captioned with the date Nov. 4, have also raised speculation she could be engaged because of the huge rock on her finger. TMZ has learned, however, it is NOT an engagement ring.

As you know ... the newborn baby boy marks her first baby NFL star Stefon Diggs.

Sydney Hardeman, who went viral for her stunned reaction to Beyoncé's 2018 Coachella set, is dead ... TMZ has learned.

Sydney's mother, Jamie Hardeman, tells TMZ ... Sydney died by suicide.

We're told Sydney took her own life last Saturday. She was engaged and set to be married this upcoming April.

A gnarly fight broke out in front of "So You Think You Can Dance" star Joshua Allen's open casket over the weekend -- and it's caused tension among his family.

Check out the video circulating online -- you can see a young female leaning over the casket, when all of a sudden, an older woman pounces on her to pull her back ... and an all-out brawl breaks out.

A Florida SWAT team had an arrest fall right into their lap, literally ... because a barricaded suspect hiding in his attic fell through the ceiling and into a sea of deputies ... and it's all on video.

Check out this footage out of Sebastian, FL ... where a SWAT team and crisis negotiators were called in to capture a man with a long rap sheet who was wanted for allegedly driving a stolen car.

The Indian River County Sheriff's Office says the guy who comes crashing out of his ceiling into the waiting arms of SWAT officers is 37-year-old Keith Rodgers ... and he'd barricaded himself in his home and taken refuge in the attic after deputies confronted him about driving a truck that was reported stolen.

Demi Lovato is sober after overdosing on drugs and almost dying years ago, but Tekashi 6ix9ine says she's bound to relapse ... and he's offering a way to make that happen, though he tells TMZ it's just an attempt at "dark humor."

Tekashi was on Andie Elle's podcast when the conversation shifted to former child actors doing drugs.

6ix9ine brought up Demi, who, as we first reported, overdosed on heroin in July 2018.

Cops in North Carolina can apparently beat the crap out of a suspect on video and go to work like nothing happened ... because that's what is playing out right now in Greensboro.

Folks are outraged over a clip that's going viral ... it shows at least three officers using force on a Black man they have pinned to the ground, and it looks like one cop has a knee near the man's neck.

A Greensboro Police Department spokesperson tells TMZ ... the officers in the video remain on active duty.

A suspect in Toronto over the weekend had a pretty rough arrest ... 'cause he was accidentally run over by the same cop car, TWICE.

Here's the deal ... viral video shows police officers firing a Taser at a man in a parking lot, and he freezes up and falls to the ground. While cops rush over to cuff him, an officer in a cruiser behind them jumps out -- but apparently forgets to put the vehicle in park, as it rolls forward over the suspect's legs and hitting the officer on top of him.

As a couple of the cops push the SUV backward off the man, the driver gets back in ... and apparently guns it, rolling the front tires over the suspect, AGAIN. The cop finally hits it into reverse -- and toots the horn twice.

Comedian Whitney Cummings is engaged ... but she's having a tough time spreading the news.

Whitney made the announcement Monday on her "Good For You" podcast, saying, "I got engaged last week ... and I don't know how to tell anybody."

She continued, "I'm embarrassed to even talk about it, and I'm trying to just get it out of the way."

Sean Paul is swapping his focus to humanitarian efforts to assist in the ongoing Hurricane Melissa that's currently ravaging his homeland of Jamaica!!!

A rep for Sean tells TMZ ... Sean was on the island and is currently preparing to help those in need through his foundation and a partnership with Food For The Poor Jamaica.

On Thursday, SP took to IG to confirm he'll do everything he can to help feed and shelter people after the storm ... outlining the nature of the damage and stressing how countless families have been displaced.

"Family Matters" star Darius McCrary is no longer being housed in a San Diego jail ... he's headed to Michigan for extradition.

McCrary's rep, Ann Barlow, tells TMZ the former sitcom star was extradited from California back to Michigan on Wednesday morning following his arrest earlier this month.

Barlow says she was caught off guard by the release -- receiving no prior notice -- and isn't sure whether McCrary is being transported via plane or bus back to Michigan.

The third death on Walt Disney World property in 10 days has been ruled a suicide, and two of the people took their lives at Disney's most prominent hotel ... TMZ has learned.

A rep for the Medical Examiner's Office tells TMZ, the third person was identified as 28-year-old Matthew Cohn, who died from multiple traumatic injuries after he jumped to his death from a height at Disney's Contemporary Resort in Florida

This is the third death at Walt Disney World in just over a week. As we reported, a 31-year-old woman died by suicide on October 14 -- also at the Contemporary. Then, on October 21, a man in his 60s died after suffering a medical episode at Disney's Fort Wilderness Resort and Campground.

Lily Allen and David Harbour are putting their 4-year marriage behind them. They've just put their NYC home on the market, TMZ has learned.

The Brooklyn home for sale is a late 19th-century 5-bed, 4-bath, brownstone nestled on "one of the most sought-after blocks" in Carroll Gardens. For all that, they're fetching a pretty penny -- $7,995,000.

As you know, The "Smile" singer's new album "West End Girl" seems to be all about their ugly separation, and the titular first song on the album, "West End Girl," is all about this townhouse.

Halloween is just around the corner, and most people know it's not a good idea to dress up as a Nazi -- except for one dude from Georgia who had to learn that lesson the hard way.

Check out this shocking video of a man dressed as a member of Hitler's German Gestapo secret police force while hanging out Friday night with a glass beer stein in hand outside a bar in the college town of Athens, GA.

As you can see ... several patrons standing around him are fuming over his costume, made even more offensive by his arm band emblazoned with a Nazi symbol.