Author Topic: In The News  (Read 75992 times)

Gregzs

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Re: In The News
« Reply #125 on: June 24, 2021, 07:37:45 PM »
Windows 11 first impressions: Android apps, widgets, and more


Gregzs

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Re: In The News
« Reply #126 on: July 09, 2021, 07:41:07 PM »

Gregzs

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Re: In The News
« Reply #127 on: July 27, 2021, 05:58:46 PM »
Pita Taufatofua has made headlines every time he's appeared at the Olympics. The Tongan flag bearer is best known for the shirtless, oiled-up look he has sported during each opening ceremony during his three Olympic appearances. He even did it at the 2018 Winter Olympics, despite it being the Winter Olympics.

It's obviously impressive to make it to any Olympic competition, but Taufatofua has now entered the record books. Following his appearance in men's +176 lbs tournament in tea kwon do, he is the first athlete to appear in three straight Olympic Games—summer and winter—since the introduction of the Winter Olympics in 1924, per NBC.

He has competed at Rio 2016, Pyeongchang 2018, and, now, Tokyo 2020. In Rio, he also competed in tea kwon do, losing in the first round of competition. Then he became the first-ever Winter Olympics athlete from Tonga when he qualified for cross-country skiing. Fortunately, the Olympic record books don't have a "no shirt, no shoes, no service" policy.



https://www.thrillist.com/news/nation/shirtless-tongan-pita-taufatofua-first-athlete-three-olympic-games

Gregzs

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Re: In The News
« Reply #128 on: August 02, 2021, 06:33:21 PM »
Millions of tenants at risk as federal eviction ban ends


Gregzs

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Re: In The News
« Reply #129 on: August 16, 2021, 06:14:09 PM »
The US Carefully Documented Its Total Failure in Afghanistan for 12 Years

For 12 years, the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan issued grim and detailed reports about America’s failures in the country. No one listened.


"Whenever I think about the U.S. government's failure in Afghanistan, I remember the goats. In 2013, a government project meant to kickstart Afghanistan's economy granted Colorado State University $1.5 million to start a goat farm in Herat Province, Afghanistan. It bought five cashmere-producing Italian goats and transported them to Afghanistan for the purposes of breeding them in large numbers and turning Afghanistan into a cashmere-producing hotspot.

But CSU ran into problems immediately. It had 300 goats, only nine of them the expensive cashmere goats from Italy. The college was bad at farming and the expensive Italian goats caught a disease that killed most of them. Worse, they were spending $50,000 a year to feed the rest, an incredible amount of cash to spend on an animal that will eat almost anything.

When CSU tried to turn the farm over to locals and told them what it was spending to feed the goats, the Afghan called the farm a “poisoned chalice.” Keep in mind that Afghan farms have been raising goats for generations and already had cashmere-producing animals.

According to a goat expert who testified in the fallout, the college “had no idea what they were doing and the CSU staff determined what the project should cost, despite no one at CSU having any experience with cashmere.”

https://www.vice.com/en/article/bvzaxz/the-us-carefully-documented-its-total-failure-in-afghanistan-for-12-years?utm_medium=social&utm_source=vice_facebook&fbclid=IwAR2t3kn7OqTJFlP7bdh3T7RqtrnckD3oi9wKkZ7GT-0rP0zDDWYWZE2K1ns

Gregzs

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Re: In The News
« Reply #130 on: August 17, 2021, 07:31:12 PM »
NYC Ferry is starting its first-ever ferry service on the Hudson River

NYC Ferry, which shuttles New Yorkers up and down the East River, is finally expanding to the Hudson — and to Staten Island.

Not only will it be the first NYC Ferry route on the Hudson but it'll be the first connecting to Staten Island, allowing those in midtown and higher to skip catching the Staten Island Ferry downtown and for those coming from Staten Island to be taken right to midtown rather than stopping at Whitehall Terminal.

The new St. George route between St. George on Staten Island and Midtown West at West 39th Street takes just 35 minutes, with a scenic stop in Battery Park City along the way. It'll only take 18 minutes to get to Manhattan from Staten Island.



Commuters will also be able to connect to other NYC Ferry routes by getting off at Battery Park City and walking 25 minutes (or taking a taxi/bus) to Wall Street Pier 11, where all ferry routes make a stop. You can also hop on the free Downtown Connection shuttle provided by the Downtown Alliance that can transport you between the landings within 11 minutes.

And remember, tickets to ride the ferry start at the same price as a ride on the MTA— $2.75 per trip.

All in all, the new ferry service is a welcome addition to the transit map. Thankfully, getting to Staten Island will be less of a long journey.

The St. George Route officially launches on Monday, August 23.

https://www.timeout.com/newyork/news/nyc-ferry-is-starting-its-first-ever-ferry-service-on-the-hudson-river-081621?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=Facebook&cid=~newyork~natsoc~facebook~echobox&fbclid=IwAR1hMkpjICgp1h_Auej438KojByZ_jnv7wdc3eWcoW66Z26i-fDF29g24KE#Echobox=1629146377

Gregzs

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Re: In The News
« Reply #131 on: September 05, 2021, 11:05:52 PM »
Biden visits Louisiana as Gulf Coast, Northeast recover from Ida's toll


Gregzs

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Re: In The News
« Reply #132 on: September 07, 2021, 08:30:23 PM »
Middletown lost the most residents on 9/11 after NYC. Here's how the community is healing


Gregzs

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Re: In The News
« Reply #133 on: September 09, 2021, 08:06:50 PM »
Many Afghans haven't eaten in weeks as Taliban rule triggers humanitarian crisis


Gregzs

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Re: In The News
« Reply #134 on: September 12, 2021, 05:28:05 PM »
Millions of sleep apnea machines recalled over potential cancer risk


Gregzs

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Re: In The News
« Reply #135 on: October 17, 2021, 12:01:22 AM »
A delayed transportation infrastructure project moves forward in the Northeast Corridor


Gregzs

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Re: In The News
« Reply #136 on: October 23, 2021, 06:58:13 PM »
California High School Is Teaching Teens to Drive 18-Wheelers

At first glance, it may sound odd to hear that high schoolers are learning to drive big rigs, but that’s exactly what’s happening at California’s Patterson High School. As NPR reports, Patterson High recently began offering a students the opportunity to attend a truck driving school as part of its Career Technical Education Program.

To be clear, it’s an elective course, so students who don’t want to go into commercial trucking aren’t expected to participate. But seniors who are interested have the opportunity to learn about the industry itself, proper safety practices, and how to obtain their commercial driver’s license all before they graduate high school.

According to the school’s website, after completing the year-long class, students will need to apply to a partner trucking company for real-world training before they can earn their CDL. It’s not all classroom instruction for the high schoolers, though. They also spend time in a lab setting, including about 20 hours on a simulator where they learn basics such as how to shift, reverse, and drive defensively.

“A lot of [students] who enroll in the course have never considered trucking as a career. Trucking doesn’t have a great reputation and it comes with a lot of misconceptions about what exactly a truck driver is,” said instructor Dave Dein in an interview with NPR. “If we don’t start promoting trucking to our youth, they only can make decisions on the information that they have.”

Speaking to NPR, senior Eduardo Dominguez-Sotelo — one of those aforementioned students who previously had no interest in trucking — said, “It was not an elective I would’ve chosen because I didn’t think that truck driving was for me. In the end, it actually ended up being a good fit for me.”

That doesn’t mean he plans to make trucking his entire career. Instead, Dominguez-Sotelo said he thinks it will be a good way to earn money part-time while studying computer engineering. Even if he only drives over the summer, he can expect to make quite a bit more than he would in food service or retail. Potentially as much as $12,000 according to the school’s website.

https://jalopnik.com/california-high-school-is-teaching-teens-to-drive-18-wh-1847895765

Gregzs

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Re: In The News
« Reply #137 on: January 14, 2022, 06:28:40 PM »
Navient plans to cancel some student borrowers' loan debt. Who qualifies?


Student borrowers who took out loans that were serviced by Navient, one of the largest student loan collection companies in the country, were cautiously celebrating Thursday's announcement that tens of thousands of them would get their loans canceled under an agreement with more than three dozen states.

The total amount of debt to be canceled, as well as an accompanying restitution agreement, is major — a deal worth about $1.85 billion.

A bipartisan coalition of state attorneys general are calling the resolution "a victory for student loan borrowers" in holding Navient accountable, after suing the company for allegedly misleading borrowers with deceptive lending practices and offering risky subprime loans. For its part, Navient is denying it violated consumer protection laws or caused borrowers harm, insisting it is settling the agreement "to avoid the additional burden, expense, time and distraction to prevail in court."

But for the average Navient customer hoping for immediate relief, they may be left disappointed, said Mike Pierce, executive director of the Student Borrower Protection Center, a consumer advocacy group.

"Yesterday was a very big deal for certain people that have really been forgotten in our national conversation in the student debt crisis," Pierce said. "This will be life-changing for a specific group of those people. But for everyone else, the fight continues."

Who qualifies for debt cancellation?
About 66,000 student borrowers with Navient loans may see their debts forgiven.

These are borrowers with private loans — specifically, subprime student loans taken out through Navient's predecessor company, Sallie Mae, between 2002 and 2014. (Navient was formed in 2014 after Sallie Mae split into two business entities.)

In addition, those borrowers must have had more than seven consecutive months of delinquent payments prior to June 30, 2021.

Student borrowers who don't have subprime loans may still qualify if their private loans were made between 2002 and 2014 and they attended a for-profit school that was later the subject of state or federal law enforcement actions. Those schools include Corinthian Colleges, DeVry University and ITT Educational Services. A full list can be found on a website for the agreement.

Who qualifies for a restitution payment?
About 350,000 federal student loan borrowers whom Navient placed into a long-term forbearance plan would be eligible for a payment — about $260 per borrower.

State attorneys general say those forbearance arrangements had driven student borrowers further into debt because while those borrowers were able to pause or reduce their payments temporarily, their loans still continued to accrue interest.

Certain conditions apply to get the restitution, such as having at least one federal loan that was eligible for income-driven repayment and the borrower not having enrolled in income-driven repayment prior to the forbearance period.​

Borrowers whose federal loans were recently transferred to another servicer, Aidvantage, may still be eligible for restitution.

Which states were involved in the settlement?
Qualifying residents of the following states will be covered under the restitution agreement: Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia, Washington and Wisconsin. Washington, D.C., is also included.

In addition, borrowers who qualify for debt cancellation must also reside in one of the aforementioned states or in the following states: Arkansas, Kansas, Michigan, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Vermont and West Virginia.

What actions should borrowers take?
If a borrower qualifies for either debt cancellation or a restitution payment, they will be contacted directly.

A settlement administrator is expected to send those borrowers a postcard in the mail this spring, and checks would go out in mid-2022.

For those borrowers who are set to get their private loans forgiven, they would be contacted in writing by July 2022.

The agreement among Navient and the states is still awaiting final court approval.

In the meantime, should borrowers keep paying off their loans?
Pierce recommends borrowers with private loans to keep paying or, if they can, consult an attorney about their situation.

Those with federal students loans are still benefiting from a moratorium on such payments through May 1, after the Biden administration extended the pause last month.

But there is permanent good news for those whose debt is forgiven, including under this latest settlement agreement with Navient, Pierce said.

Student loan forgiveness is tax-free as part of the White House's coronavirus stimulus package signed into law last year. Previously, any student loan debt canceled by the government was taxable.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/education/navient-plans-cancel-student-borrowers-loan-debt-qualifies-rcna12229?cid=sm_npd_nn_fb_ma#anchor-Whoqualifiesforarestitutionpayment

Gregzs

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Re: In The News
« Reply #138 on: March 31, 2022, 06:00:14 PM »
 :o

Florida woman impregnated with doctor's sperm in artificial insemination awarded $5.25 million


A federal court jury in Vermont on Wednesday awarded a Florida woman $5.25 million from a doctor who used his own sperm to impregnate her during an artificial insemination procedure in 1977.

The federal court jury in Burlington began deliberating on Tuesday and returned the verdict on Wednesday.

The verdict form filed in federal court in Burlington said the jury awarded plaintiff Cheryl Rousseau $250,000 in compensatory damages and $5 million in punitive damages from Dr. John Coates III.

Rousseau's attorney Celeste Laramie said in an email Wednesday after the verdict was announced, the jury awarded the amount they had requested and the jurors found Coates' behavior “to be wrongful and offensive."

“The jury through its punitive damages verdict sent a message to any physicians who might think about lying to their patients or using their own semen to inseminate their patients," she said. "Such behavior will have serious consequences.”

Laramie said Rousseau's husband, Peter, was initially a party to the lawsuit, but the judge ultimately found that Peter Rousseau had failed to prove he had suffered damages. His claims did not go to the jury for consideration.

Coates' attorney did not say if they planned to appeal the verdict.

“We were surprised and disappointed with the verdict," Defense attorney Peter Joslin said in an email.

Last month, the Vermont Medical Practice Board permanently revoked Coates' medical license. Coates, who practiced obstetrics and gynecology in the central Vermont area in the 1970s, is now retired.

Coates is also facing a second, similar lawsuit filed last year that remains pending in U.S. District Court in Vermont.

The original complaint says Coates agreed to inseminate Cheryl Rousseau with donor material from an unnamed medical student, who resembled Rousseau’s husband and had characteristics that she required.

Rousseau had wanted a child with her husband but he had a vasectomy that could not be reversed, according to the complaint.

Coates performed the artificial insemination but inserted his own genetic material, the lawsuit said.

The Rousseau lawsuit said they discovered what had happened when their now-grown daughter sought information about her biological father through DNA testing. The daughter determined Coates was her father, according to the lawsuit.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2022/03/31/florida-woman-impregnated-doctor-sperm/7233106001/?fbclid=IwAR2_9pFu7XhiI5pQYQiSb8EhjFyTzmoS5sj9jVLq5CHE8hvdSm0oQMLpXR4

Gregzs

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Re: In The News
« Reply #139 on: May 02, 2022, 06:25:28 PM »
‘Just to Stop Black People from Getting the Justice’: An Estate Attorney Attempted to Block Transfer of Stolen Land Back to Bruce Beach Family Heirs; A Judge Said Not So Fast


A Black California family is on track to reclaim their beachfront property stolen from them by the government with racist motivations. Descendants of Charles and Willa Bruce are breathing a sigh of relief after a recent court ruling helped save land that rightfully belongs to them from slipping out of their hands.

“There’s only four living heirs left,” said Bruce family spokesman, Chief Duane Yellow Feather Shepard. Widely known as ‘Bruce Beach,’ is a three-acre beachfront property located on Manhattan Beach overlooking the Pacific Ocean in Los Angeles County, California.

Last October when Governor, Gavin Newsom, signed Senate Bill 796 into law, it cleared the way for the state to return stolen land to descendants of Charles and Willa Bruce.

At the time, the family thought they were on the verge of taking back their land, until Palos Verdes Estates Attorney, Joseph Ryan filed a lawsuit trying to block the land transfer just a few weeks after the legislation was signed.

“We knew there would be folks who didn’t want to see the Bruces get this property back and Mr. Ryan proved us right,” said George Fatheree, attorney representing the Bruce family in its land reclamation fight.   

Shepard feels the lawsuit field by Ryan was racially motivated.

“Yes, it was racially motivated, he had no other reason to do it, there wasn’t any money out of his pocket, he wasn’t going to get any money from it, it was just to stop Black people from getting the justice they deserve,” Shepard said.

Ryan did not return Atlanta Black Star’s calls for comment, but claimed in his suit, transferring the land over to the Bruce family did not serve a public purpose and it would be unconstitutional. The judge disagreed.

“What the law says is the government can transfer its property, transfer its funds or use its resources in a way that serves a public interest,” Fatheree said of the judge’s decision. He went on to say the land transfer would be of public interest because of how it was stolen in the first place.

“Doing so does serve a public purpose and that public purpose is addressing past racial discrimination by the government,” he said.

Fatheree highlighted a portion of Judge Mitchell Beckloff’s comments on the case by saying, “Righting a government wrong perpetrated in breach of our core and fundamental constitutional principles works to strengthen governmental integrity, represents accountability in government and works to eliminate structural racism and bias. The government’s act of rectifying a prior egregious wrong based on racism fosters trust and respect in government.” 

Charles and Willa Bruce bought their beachfront property in 1912 for a little more than $1,200. The couple built a business on their beachfront property which served as a place of refuge for African-Americans seeking beach access without fear of racism and harassment, but the Ku Klux Klan and other racists at the time routinely terrorized Black patrons and the Bruce family.

Shepard says the city of Manhattan Beach seized the Bruce property in 1924 through eminent domain, claiming they would turn it into a park, and despite years of fighting to keep their land, by 1929 the Bruce family only received $14,000 for their property once it was taken. The couple died just a few years later.

Shepard is grateful Senate Bill 796 was signed into law. He says without it the family could have lost their 100-year fight to reclaim the land amid attorney Ryan’s lawsuit.

“He mounted a serious opposition to us getting that land and he brought up the right statutes had it not been for the legislation we got passed, that would have stopped the transfer of that land,” Shepard said.

Now with the latest hurdle crossed, the Bruce family hopes they can focus their attention on what to do with the land. “The plan for the land is to allow the county to keep their lifeguard training stations there for at least 30 years and pay us at least fair market value rent,” Shepard said.

Although the Bruce family has a plan in place to move forward, they hope Los Angeles County moves quickly with the land transfer before someone else upset the wrongs of a racist past are being corrected presents another roadblock.

“We’re nervous someone else may pick up and file a suit so there’s a lot going on so there’s good reason for us to want this expedited,” Shepard said nervously of any future lawsuits possibly preventing the Bruce family from land ownership.

Shepard says the direct descendants with rights to the land are the grandsons of Charles and Willa Bruce and one of the grandsons’ sons, making up the four direct living heirs.

https://atlantablackstar.com/2022/05/02/just-to-stop-black-people-from-getting-the-justice-an-estate-attorney-attempted-to-block-transfer-of-stolen-land-back-to-bruce-beach-family-heirs-a-judge-said-not-so-fast/

Gregzs

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Re: In The News
« Reply #140 on: June 25, 2022, 11:34:05 AM »
Burger King Employee Trending After Receiving Goodie Bag for 27 Years of Perfect Attendance

An unidentified Burger King employee is trending right now due to a video of them receiving a goodie bag after working at the company for 27 years, with no days missed.

The viral video first appeared on Reddit's ABoringDystopiaPage, as it showed the employee displaying to the camera a goodie bag he received as a reward for his nearly three decades of service at Burger King. Its contents were a movie ticket, a bag of Reese’s Pieces, a Starbucks tumbler, a lanyard, two pens, some keychains and two packs of Lifesavers.

Despite the worker appearing genuinely grateful for the reward, many on social media were upset at how modest it seemed in comparison to 27 years of perfect attendance at Burger King.

And though some assumed that the goodie bag gift was from his co-workers, the comments section was still fiercely opinionated, with thoughts ranging from being appalled at how Burger King allegedly treated this employee's loyalty to admiration of the humble and thankful attitude the man showed.

One person tweeted,"We trying to figure out why after 27 years of loyalty you gifted one of your most loyal employees some back to school supplies."

Another chimed in, "People are talking down on him, it’s weird. Some people really don’t need much in life and y’all forget it was only a few hundred years ago where all we did was hunt and gather."

https://www.foodbeast.com/guy-king-employee-goodie-bag-reward-trending-video/?fbclid=IwAR1f62vqlClCMH9JS4xSczCC5z6GvoJUEO11y0fiJ82Vpvk1bp24ajGwklk

Gregzs

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Re: In The News
« Reply #141 on: June 25, 2022, 12:07:46 PM »
David Spade Donates Thousands to Viral Burger King Employee


David Spade seems moved by the Burger King employee who got a mediocre goodie bag in recognition of 27 years without missing work ... giving him money and making him laugh.

Kevin Ford, who went viral this week after showing off his company gifts, tells TMZ ... his daughter let him know someone named David Spade donated $5,000 to his GoFundMe, but he wasn't sure it was the comedian himself, until he checked his Instagram inbox.



David slid in Kevin's direct messages ... telling him to keep it up after 27 years on the job without a break, and even cracking a joke about waiting a few more years before finally taking a day off.

Kevin tells us he's a huge fan of David's, so to get a donation plus some fun back and forth with Spade is surreal.

With David's $5k donation, Kevin's GoFundMe has now raised over $30,000 ... with the money going to help him visit his daughters and grandkids in Texas. He also says he wants to use the dough to buy a new Ford hybrid.

Kevin's going to take a day off eventually ... and hopefully before David's deadline.

https://www.tmz.com/2022/06/24/david-spade-viral-burger-king-employee-27-years-donates-gofundme-instagram-dm-joke/

Gym-Rat

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Re: In The News
« Reply #142 on: June 26, 2022, 01:28:11 PM »
Millions of sleep apnea machines recalled over potential cancer risk



Still waiting for my replacement almost a year later.  ::)

Gregzs

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Re: In The News
« Reply #143 on: June 27, 2022, 07:45:47 PM »
NTSB to investigate Missouri Amtrak train derailment crash