Thursday, July 9, 2020

Nebraska farmer finds ATM in pond

Right now, one farmer in Exeter, Nebraska has many questions after he found an unusual object when he was doing some routine work on his land. He walked out to his pond to check and see if it had drained overnight. The pond is used for pumping water off of fields and he then re-uses the water. But this time, he saw something different sitting at the muddy bottom. “I thought who would throw a refrigerator or a stove and put it in the pond, in fact, the deepest part of the pond in fact…why would that be down there,” he said. But instead of a refrigerator or stove, he found something else. “I took a picture and zoomed in on it and thought, that looks like an ATM,” he said. The ATM was broke apart and empty. He knew to call local authorities right away adding that when they got there, they had a good idea of where it came from, as one was stolen recently. However, as officials got it pulled out of there, they observed it and looked at it for numbers. They were pretty sure that wasn’t the one missing. They were baffled. The land owner doesn’t think it looks like it has been in there too long but he didn’t drain the pond last year. After it was towed out, he just wonders, where did it come from? (KOLN)

‘Noose’ made from bread dough at Jimmy John’s in Georgia gets workers fired

Four Jimmy John’s workers are out of a job after a social media video was posted that customers say is “racist” and “hateful.” The incident occurred at a store in Woodstock, Georgia, where the employees filmed themselves playing with a noose that appears to be made of bread dough, the video shows. One employee drapes the “noose” over the neck of another and yanks it repeatedly as the others watch and laugh, the video shows. Near the bottom is a celebratory “Happy 4th of July” filter. The clip was posted on Snapchat and later shared across social media, racking up thousands of views. In a statement on Twitter, Jimmy John’s condemned the incident and said the employees had been fired. (The Telegraph)

Supreme Court rules against law allowing debt-collection robocalls to cell phones

The US Supreme Court decided that debt collectors can no longer make robocalls to cell phones. In doing so, the court has ruled that the prior provision to the law violated the First Amendment by favoring debt-collection speech over other kinds of speech. The law cited here is the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) of 1991 which prohibits almost all robocalls to cell phones. (Supreme Court of the United States)

Charge filed against woman who called police on black birdwatcher

Manhattan District Attorney stated his office had “initiated a prosecution of Amy Cooper for Falsely Reporting an Incident in the Third Degree. Our office will provide the public with additional information as the case proceeds. At this time I would like to encourage anyone who has been the target of false reporting to contact our Office. We are strongly committed to holding perpetrators of this conduct accountable,” the statement added. New York City Mayor, Bill de Blasio, lauded the decision to prosecute Amy Cooper in a statement posted to Twitter adding that “her racist behavior could have had dire consequences for a Black man. Glad she’ll face consequences of her own,” the mayor tweeted. In a viral video that has been viewed more than 100 million times, the 41-year-old Manhattan woman confronted a black man who is an avid bird watcher in the Ramble in Central Park on May 25 after he asked that she put her Cocker Spaniel on a leash. As the man captured the encounter on his phone, she demanded he stop filming or she would call the police. As video quickly went viral, she was named by two dog walkers who recognized her and promptly fired from her job as a portfolio manager for financial firm Franklin Templeton. In an interview, she said that her “entire life is being destroyed right now.” If convicted, she faces a maximum sentence of up to one year in jail. (MSN News)

No rooms for Chinese travelers: Indian hotel body issues a ban

An Indian hotel industry group has issued a blanket ban of Chinese travelers at its roughly 3,000 member lodging facilities as anti-China sentiment rises following a fatal military clash between the two countries in the Himalayas last month. “In view of the nefarious activities of China, it has been decided that no Chinese will be accommodated in Delhi’s hotels and guest houses from now onwards,” the Delhi Hotel and Restaurant Owners Association said in a statement. The group, which represents budget hotels offering approximately 75,000 rooms in the Indian capital, also told its members not to use furniture and kitchen equipment made in China. India has yet to reopen international flights due to the pandemic. The Confederation of All India Traders, representing 70 million traders, has called for boycotts against Chinese products since mid-June. Consumers are urged not to purchase electronics or wearables. This comes at a time when the hospitality industry is already reeling from the impact of the coronavirus pandemic. (Asian Review)

Lawyer Turns Heads by Wearing Full Hazmat Suit to Federal Court

A criminal defense attorney in Miami, Florida got out of his car and began walking down the street in a full hazmat suit, gloves, respirator mask and face shield, two police officers pulled up, rolled down their car window and said, “Is there something we should be worrying about?” “I’ve got to go to court,” he replied to them. He explained he was on his way to the federal courthouse for a sentencing hearing after his client was denied a continuance and he wasn’t about to risk catching or spreading COVID-19. Though he had the option of appearing via Zoom, he felt the sentencing was too important to do online, especially after not being able to meet the client to go over his presentence investigation report. That’s because at sentencing, clients often need to confer with their lawyers about any issues that arise. “A sentencing is the most important stage of a person’s life that’s facing a criminal case, and I just think a lawyer has an ethical obligation to be standing there with them,” he said. “Every defendant wants to talk to the judge and give his feelings, so I wanted to be there in case he had any questions or in case he wanted to talk to me before he spoke to the judge.” Inside the federal courthouse, he was met with assorted court security officers and marshals telling him, “I don’t blame you, man”. Fellow members of his law group in Miami later posted online a photo of him in the hazmat suit. (Daily Business Review)

US cracks down on student visas

International students whose classes will take place fully online this fall will be asked to leave the country, the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency has announced. A number of academic institutions, including Harvard, have recently moved their academic year online to reduce the spread of the coronavirus. The move applies to those who attend universities, participate in training programs, or are involved in vocational studies, and will likely hit the budgets of many universities where foreign students are a key source of revenue. (Reuters)

Patient dies after family members switch off ventilator to plug in cooler at Kota hospital

A 40-year-old man died at a government hospital in India after his family members allegedly unplugged the ventilator he was on to plug in an air cooler. He was suspected to be suffering from Covid-19 and admitted at ICU in the Maharao Bhim Singh (MBS) Hospital. His test report, however, came negative later. The man was shifted to an isolation ward as a safety measure after another patient in the ICU tested positive for the disease. Since it was very hot in the isolation ward, his family members bought an air cooler the same day. On finding no socket for the cooler, they allegedly unplugged the ventilator but almost half-an-hour later, the ventilator ran out of power. They immediately informed doctors and medical staff, who administered CPR upon the patient, but he died. Hospital superintendent Dr Naveen Saxena said the committee comprising the deputy superintendent, nursing superintendent and chief medical officer on duty will probe the incident. The committee has recorded statements of medical staff in the isolation ward but the family members of the deceased patient are not responding to the panel, he alleged. The doctor said action would be taken against whoever is found responsible in the probe report. (Indian Express)

Trump administration submits notice of withdrawal from World Health Organization

The Trump administration submitted a notice of withdrawal from the World Health Organization to the United Nations secretary-general, a senior administration official said after President Trump for weeks had blasted the WHO’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic and what he called its pro-China bias. The White House also notified congressional lawmakers of the official removal, effective July 2021. A spokesman for U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres confirmed that the organization received U.S. notice to withdraw. (Fox News)

America’s health care workers are dying

In some states, medical personnel account for as many as 20% of known coronavirus cases. They tend to patients in hospitals, treating them, serving them food and cleaning their rooms. Others at risk work in nursing homes or are employed as home health aides. The survey has identified 765 such workers who likely died of COVID-19 after helping patients during the pandemic. (Kaiser Health News)

 
 City councilwoman under fire for comparing police officers to Timothy McVeigh

An Oklahoma City, Oklahoma councilwoman is under fire after her social media post compared police officers to Timothy McVeigh. Councilwoman JoBeth Hamon’s post reads: “25 years ago at the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building, mass murderer Timothy McVeigh took the lives of 168 innocent people. That was senseless violence. That was terrorism. The continued violent murder of Black lives by police is terrorism. A burned car is property damage.” Another issue raised in Hamon’s post, that she shared from Black Lives Matter, is the fact Oklahoma County District Attorney David Prater charged protesters with terrorism. “To compare us to Timothy McVeigh … most of us, this department, lived through that,” said John George, president of the Oklahoma City Fraternal Order of Police. “She crossed a line there.” The Oklahoma City Fraternal Order of Police has now urged its followers to email the city councilwoman. (KOCO)

Supreme Court allows Trump to exempt employers from Obamacare birth control mandate

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled 7-2 upholding President Donald Trump’s move to let more employers opt-out of the Affordable Care Act mandate guaranteeing no-cost contraceptive services for women. The case involved a 2018 regulation from the Department of Health and Human Services exempting any employer with a religious or moral objection to contraception from a requirement that such coverage be included in an employee’s health insurance plan. Seventeen states, led by Pennsylvania and New Jersey, challenged the policy as fundamentally unlawful and it’s rationale as “arbitrary and capricious.” The Affordable Care Act requires insurers to include “preventive care and screenings” as part of “minimal essential coverage” for Americans, but it left to HHS to define what services qualify. Since 2010, all FDA-approved contraceptives have been included. Millions of women obtain birth control at no cost through their employer-sponsored health insurance plans under these rules. (MSN News)

Seeing your partner in ‘work mode’

Workers who have shifted to toiling from home are discovering there’s another side to their partners. Many are admitting that seeing their significant other in “work mode” is proving to be an eye-opener: Some confess they’ve been surprised by their spouse’s professionalism, while others say they finally understand why they work so late. Others, hearing their loved one using corporate jargon or watching them transform from mild-mannered to determined hawk, have been left scratching their heads and wondering, “Who even are you?” (BBC)

Thirsty Thursday Comes Back Around For:

• Cow Appreciation Day
• Martyrdom of The Bab
• No Bra Day
• Sugar Cookie Day
• World Body Painting Day