Friday, August 7, 2020
Man strikes waitress while yelling about the ‘Aryan” nation
A man in Nokomis, Florida is behind bars after officials say he yelled racial slurs and attacked a waitress at a restaurant. Deputies say they responded to a disturbance at Pop’s Sunset Grill. When they arrived, deputies say there was a large group of people standing around a small group of people that were holding a 36-year-old man down. According to deputies, the man entered the business screaming and using profanity and dressed down to no shirt and his pants were undone and exposing parts of his groin area. Deputies say a waitress tried to prevent him from entering the restaurant, but he became even more disruptive and this caused other employees to have to assist with attempting to remove him from business. As the situation continued to unfold, the man approached the waitress and struck her twice, causing her to lose consciousness. Patrons held the man down until law enforcement arrived. One of the other employees said that when he approached the man about his behavior prior to striking the waitress, the man said that he was “going to kill everyone in the establishment” and shouted comments about the Aryan brotherhood and white supremacy. Deputies placed the man under arrest and he continued to yell as he was placed in the back seat of the patrol car. (WWSB)
Twitter could face a $250 million FTC fine for using phone numbers to target ads
Twitter disclosed in a regulatory filing that it could face a fine of up to $250 million from US authorities over its use of phone numbers and email addresses to target advertisements. The company received a complaint from the Federal Trade Commission on July 28 alleging it had used data “provided for safety and security purposes for targeted advertising during periods between 2013 and 2019,” it said in the filing. Twitter estimates the complaint could result in a loss of between $150 million and $250 million, it said. The social media company admitted last October that it had “inadvertently” targeted ads at users through contact details that they provided for security purposes. Twitter users are asked to provide information like their phone number to help secure their account through services such as two-factor authentication. The FTC declined to comment. The agency previously reached a $5 billion settlement with Facebook, the largest fine in the commission’s history, over the company’s mishandling of user data. (CNN)
Census Cuts All Counting Efforts Short By A Month
The U.S. Census Bureau is ending all counting efforts for the 2020 census on September 30th, a month sooner than previously announced, the bureau’s director confirmed in a statement. That includes critical door-knocking efforts and collecting responses online, over the phone and by mail. The latest updates to the bureau’s plans are part of efforts to accelerate the completion of data collection and apportionment counts by our statutory deadline of December 31, 2020, as required by law and directed by the Secretary of Commerce. With roughly 4 out of 10 households nationwide yet to be counted, and already delayed by the coronavirus pandemic, the bureau now has less than two months left to try to reach people of color, immigrants, renters, rural residents and other members of historically undercounted groups who are not likely to fill out a census form on their own. (Census)
Sheriff’s detectives arrest 15 people, including a Highway Patrol Officer, accused of trying to meet minors for sex acts
Authorities in Bakersfield, California, fifteen people, including a California Highway Patrol officer and a prison employee, were arrested in connection with trying to meet minors to engage in sex acts after the sheriff’s office conducted an undercover operation where detectives posed as children online. “The detectives received numerous correspondence from child predators, who agreed to meet in order to engage in lewd acts with a child,” a sheriff’s release said. “Undercover detectives subsequently arrested the suspects when they arrived at the meeting location, while others were arrested at their homes.” Sheriff’s officials said children spending more time at home and online due to the coronavirus pandemic can be vulnerable to sexual exploitation and grooming by online predators. Those arrested range in age from 21 to 54 and include two registered sex offenders, a 51-year-old California Highway Patrol officer and a 54-year-0ld California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation employee as an Information Technology Specialist I at Wasco State Prison. (KGET)
Burger King worker shot, killed after order takes too long
Authorities say a Burger King worker was fatally shot after a dispute over a delay in a food order. The Orange County, Florida Sheriff’s Office arrested a 37-year-old man and charged him with first-degree murder with a firearm, destruction of evidence and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. The 22-year-old employee recently begun working at the restaurant. A witness said the restaurant was busy and the drive-thru was backed up, which caused customers to wait longer than usual. A woman reportedly became so upset about the delay that she said she was going to have “her man” come to the restaurant, so an employee refunded her $40 and asked her to leave. Later, the shooter was said to have shown up and threatened the employee, telling him, “You got two seconds before I shoot you.” A witness reportedly heard the shot and saw the employee fall to the ground, with the shooter getting into his truck and driving off. He later was found and arrested. (WTSP)
Three men stranded on a remote Pacific island were rescued after drawing SOS on the sand
The Micronesian sailors had gone missing three days earlier, after their 23-feet boat veered off course and ran out of fuel. They ended up on Pikelot island, 124 miles from Pulawat, where they started their trip. They were first spotted by a U.S. aircraft that was searching for them. An Australian helicopter later dropped off supplies and a Micronesian vessel picked them up on earlier this week. (Australian Navy)
An investment group that includes actor Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson has agreed to purchase the XFL professional football league for about $15m
More details about the XFL Purchase that happened earlier this week. The group includes Johnson’s business partner Dany Garcia and RedBird Capital Partners. The deal will make Garcia, who is also Johnson’s former wife, the first female owner of a major American football league. Garcia said the investors want to create a “bubble” so the XFL league can resume safely next season despite the pandemic. As opposed to the NFL franchise model, the eight teams in the XFL are owned and operated by the league. Due to the pandemic, the XFL only completed half of its inaugural season this year. The sale has to be approved by a bankruptcy judge because the XFL filed for Chapter 11 in April. Garcia said that she and Johnson will be directly involved in running the XFL. Johnson played football at the University of Miami from 1990 to 1994. (ESPN)
E-commerce hits lightning speed
Online transactions are booming during the pandemic, according to the payment companies processing the transactions. PayPal’s chief executive said the shift to online has been sped up by at least three years as a result of the changes triggered by the coronavirus, while Visa has seen online spending expand at twice the pre-pandemic rate. The rapid changes in consumer shopping have left already struggling department stores “fighting for their lives,” and prompted new overhaul plans for malls. (Bloomberg News)
Is the pandemic workday longer?
The pandemic lockdown workday is, on average, 48.5 minutes longer than usual, according to a National Bureau of Economic Research working paper. It also has about 13% more meetings and 1.4 more daily emails, according to the research, which looked at 3.1 million people in 16 big metropolitan areas in North America, Europe and the Middle East. VPN data has also pointed to odd work hours, attributing the changes to blurred boundaries between work and home and child care demands. (National Bureau of Economic Research)
737 MAX one step closer to flying
The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration has publicly spelled out proposed changes for Boeing’s 737 MAX, setting a potential path for the plane to return to the skies as soon as this year. The fixes include updating flight control software and rerouting internal wiring. While further challenges including public commentary remain for the jets, which have been grounded since March 2019 following two fatal crashes, the move suggests regulators and Boeing have agreed on the most important fixes. (Reuters)
Tesla has a new rival
Lordstown Motors is going public through a reverse merger agreement. The electric-truck startup will merge with “blank check” company DiamondPeak Holdings and list on the Nasdaq stock exchange under the ticker ‘RIDE’ in a deal that values the company at $1.6 billion. The reverse merger follows similar moves from electric-vehicle makers Nikola and Fisker. Investor interest in electric-vehicle startups is heating up as Tesla, whose shares have soared more than 250% so far this year, proves it can continue to be profitable. (Yahoo News)
Ice cream made with liquor is now legal in New York
New York Governor, Andrew Cuomo, signed legislation authorizing the manufacture and sale of liquor-infused frozen desserts. The measure is intended to help the state’s dairy workers, liquor producers, restaurants and retailers meet an “increasing consumer demand” for alcoholic ice cream, the governor’s office said in a news release. Ice cream containing wine, beer or hard cider was already legal in the state. Per the new law, boozy frozen desserts can contain a maximum of 5% of alcohol by volume and will require the same labeling and warnings as products with wine, beer and cider. It is believed the new law would help businesses and boost tourism in the state. (Governor’s Office of New York)
Layoffs hit the entertainment biz
As the coronavirus hits the media and entertainment business hard, NBCUniversal has started a round of job cuts across its broadcast networks, movie studios and theme parks. The layoffs are also in part related to a renewed focus on its streaming business. They are expected to affect under 10% of its 35,000 employees, and come after NBCUniversal’s theme parks were shut and movie releases were postponed. AT&T’s WarnerMedia is also expected to start staff cuts soon. (CNBC)
Friday Shoots Off With A Bang Because It’s:
- Braham Pie Day or Homemade Pie Day (First Friday)
- Brother’s Day
- International Beer Day (First Friday)
- Lighthouse Day
- Water Balloon Day (First Friday)
- Particularly Preposterous Packaging Day
- Professional Speakers Day
- Purple Heart Day
- Raspberries N’ Cream Day
- Tomboy Tools Day (First Friday)
- Twins Day
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