Virginia teen gets stuck inside washing machine while playing hide-and-seek
A game of hide-and-seek for a Virginia family took an awkward turn when an 18-year-old girl had to be rescued by the fire department after getting stuck inside a washing machine.
Amari Dancy chose the unconventional hiding spot while playing with her younger relatives last Sunday in their Woodbridge, Virginia home, according to NBC News.
“We already had hid underneath the bed, in the closet, and we couldn’t go down into the basement,” Dancy told the outlet.
“So, I was like ‘Oh, OK, let’s just hide in the washer machine.”
Dancy’s younger cousin found her and notified the adults in the house, who called 911, the report said.
“I was really worried to see if they were going to get me out or not,” Dancy said.
Members of the Prince William County Department of Fire and Rescue were able to remove the top of the appliance and safely extricate Dancy.
“Once they figured out what to do … I just felt relieved. I just wanted to be out of there,” the teen said.
“I mean it’s pretty embarrassing, but all I can do is laugh it off.”
via: https://nypost.com/2020/04/21/virginia-teen-gets-stuck-inside-washing-machine-during-hide-and-seek/
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DNA shows Florida parents abandoned 3 babies at the same apartment complex
A Florida couple ditched their three newborn children at the same Florida apartment complex over several years, new DNA testing has shown.
Back in July, a one-year-old was found wrapped in a T-shirt on the doorstep of a home at the Willow Key Apartments in Orlando — and it wasn’t the first time.
Two other babies were abandoned at the complex in 2016 and 2017.
DNA testing showed that the three rugrats have the same father and mother, the Orlando Sentinel reported last week.
The Orlando Police Department is now trying to identify the parents, hiring a forensic genetic genealogy firm called United Data Connect.
Under Florida’s Safe Haven Law, a guardian can leave a newborn under seven days old at a hospital or fire station without facing criminal charges.
If the parents are found, cops would first “ensure the safety and well being of the mother and of any other children,” OPD spokeswoman Heidi Rodriguez said.
Any help, such as social services, “will be determined once we make contact with the family and determine their needs,” she said.
via: https://nypost.com/2020/04/21/dna-shows-florida-couple-left-3-babies-at-an-apartment-over-4-years/
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How airplane seats could look in the post-coronavirus era
Airline passengers may be buckling up to new social distancing measures in the post-coronavirus era — through novel seat configurations that prevent the spread of bugs, according to a report.
Italian manufacturer Aviointeriors has created concepts for two airline seats – Glassafe, which features transparent cocoons, and Janus, in which the seats alternate facing forward and backward with shields in between, Forbes reported.
“‘Glassafe’ is made of transparent material to make the entire cabin harmonious and aesthetically light, but perfectly fulfilling the objective of creating an isolated volume around the passenger in order to avoid or minimize contacts and interactions via air between passenger and passenger,” Aviointeriors said in a statement.
Airlines could opt to install the hoods on seats rather than maintain social distancing measures with empty seats, assuming that regulators approve the concept.
“‘Glassafe’ is supplied in various executions with fixing systems to the seat that allow easy installation and removal. The shield is shaped in such a way as to leave complete accessibility to the accessories normally installed on the back, such as tables, magazine pockets, coat hooks or other,” the firm said.
“‘Glassafe’ can be supplied in opaque material or with different degrees of transparency, all easy cleaning,” it added.
Janus, which takes its inspiration from the two-faced Roman god, “allows all three passengers to be separated with a shield made of transparent material that isolates them from each other, creating a protective barrier for everyone,” Aviointeriors explained.
“Each passenger has their own space isolated from others, even from people who walk through the aisle,” it added.
The forward-aft configuration raises questions as to whether it would hinder flight attendants while serving meals or create difficulty during an emergency evacuation, but greater row separation could address these issues and also provide passengers with more legroom.
The company has already patented both of the seat proposals and said it is ready to go into production, though it remains to be seen how carriers will reach a uniform agreement with various regulators on service requirements.
via: https://nypost.com/2020/04/22/this-is-how-airplane-seats-could-look-in-post-coronavirus-era/
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4-year-old Indian boy attacked, partially eaten by roaming wild pigs
A 4-year-old boy was killed and partially eaten by wild pigs roaming the street near his home in India, according to a local report.
“A pack of pigs were loitering around the garbage dump and attacked the child on spotting him,” Saidabad police spokesman K Srinivas told Telangana Today.
The parents of the boy, Harshavardhan, were looking for him and arrived at Tuesday’s gruesome scene in Hyderabad shortly after police, the officer revealed.
“The animals partially ate the body of the boy,” Srinivas revealed.
Locals had already been complaining about officials refusing to remove the pigs from the neighborhood where the boy’s family lived in huts, according to the report.
via: https://nypost.com/2020/04/23/4-year-old-indian-boy-killed-partially-eaten-by-wild-pigs/
Photo Credit: nypost.com
Indian man chops off tongue in sacrifice to stop coronavirus spread
A 24-year-old stonecutter in India chopped off his tongue in an apparent attempt to appease a goddess and stop the spread of the coronavirus, according to reports.
Vivek Sharma, who worked with his brother Shivam and seven others at the Bhavani Mata temple in Suigam, became alarmed about the deadly disease, according to the Times of India.
His co-worker Brijesh Singh Saab Singh told authorities that Sharma, a devotee of Kali Mata, had kept chanting the deity’s name.
On Saturday morning, Sharma said he was going to the market, but did not return to the temple, the news outlet reported.
When his brother called him, a person answered and told him that Sharma had sliced off his tongue at the Nadeshwari temple in Gujarat.
The young man was rushed to a hospital in Tharad, where doctors worked to reattach his tongue, which was found in his hand as he lay unconscious on Sunday.
“For the last few days, he was keen to go back to his native town in Madhya Pradesh. But it was impossible due to lockdown. Today, in reckless abandon, he chopped off his tongue,” police sub inspector HD Parmar told the Times of India.
“Only after thorough investigation we will know the exact reason for such a step,” Parmar added.
via: https://nypost.com/2020/04/20/indian-man-chops-off-tongue-in-sacrifice-to-stop-coronavirus/
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Trump (the Company) Asks Trump (the Administration) for Hotel Relief
The president’s family business pays at least $3 million a year to the federal government for the lease on its D.C. hotel, which is all but empty because of the virus. The next monthly payment is coming due.
President Trump’s signature hotel in the nation’s capital wants a break on the terms of its lease. The landlord determining the fate of the request is Mr. Trump’s own administration.
Trump International Hotel, just a few blocks from the White House, had been a favored gathering place for lobbyists, foreign dignitaries and others hoping to score points with the president. But like most hotels, it is now nearly empty and looking to cut costs because of the coronavirus pandemic.
In recent weeks, the president’s family business has inquired about changing its lease payments, according to people familiar with the matter, which the federal government has reported amount to nearly $268,000 per month.
The Trump Organization owns and operates the luxury hotel, but it is in a federally owned building on Pennsylvania Avenue. As part of its deal to open the 263-room hotel, the company signed a 60-year lease in 2013 that requires the monthly payments to the General Services Administration.
Eric Trump, the president’s son, confirmed that the company had opened a conversation about possible changes to the terms of the lease, which could include adjustments to future monthly payments. The Trump Organization has said it is current on its rent.
The younger Mr. Trump said the company was asking the G.S.A. for any relief that it might be granting other federal tenants. The president still owns the company, but his eldest sons run the day-to-day operations.
“Just treat us the same,” Eric Trump said in a statement on Tuesday. “Whatever that may be is fine.”
The G.S.A. did not immediately respond to a request for comment, including about whether its other tenants had made similar inquiries. The White House also did not respond to a request for comment.
Companies across the country have pleaded for relief from lenders and landlords, but the Trump Organization’s submission presents a particular predicament.
If it denies the request, the agency risks running afoul of the president, who appoints its leader; but if it accommodates the Trumps, the agency is likely to draw fire from critics.
The Trump Organization was barred by Congress from seeking relief from the $500 billion rescue fund being administered by the Treasury Department, and a Trump Organization executive said on Tuesday that the company had decided not to apply for a federal loan through the Small Business Administration. The company argues that it is seeking only temporary relief from the G.S.A. while the hotel industry globally copes with an extraordinary drop in business.
Along with the broader hospitality industry, the company is expected to take a significant hit from the economic shutdown. The Trump Organization has temporarily closed its hotel overlooking the Las Vegas Strip, cut staff and services at its hotel in New York, and effectively closed its golf clubs in New Jersey and Florida. It also shuttered the Mar-a-Lago club in Florida, which at this time of year would ordinarily be acting as the “winter White House,” as the president refers to it. The Washington hotel’s bar, restaurant and spa are closed, but it is still accepting reservations.
The request to the G.S.A. is one of a number of attempts by the Trump Organization to get breathing room from its lenders and other financial partners.Sign up to receive an email when we publish a new story about the coronavirus outbreak.Sign Up
The company has been talking with Deutsche Bank, the president’s largest creditor, about the possibility of postponing payments on its loans from the bank.
Mr. Trump owes Deutsche Bank more than $300 million on loans connected to the Washington hotel, his Doral golf resort in Florida and a skyscraper in downtown Chicago. The Trump Organization has a small amount of debt compared with other major real estate companies, which could weigh in its favor as it seeks support from Deutsche Bank and others. Representatives have been in talks with Rosemary Vrablic, a senior banker in the Deutsche Bank division that serves the ultrarich, about delaying or reducing its loan payments. Ms. Vrablic has been working with Mr. Trump for nearly a decade and, before that, worked closely with Jared Kushner, Mr. Trump’s son-in-law and senior adviser.
While Ms. Vrablic is in charge of the bank’s relationship with the company, changes to the terms of the loans could generate acrimony inside Deutsche Bank and are likely to be vetted by senior executives responsible for protecting the bank’s reputation, according to a person familiar with the deliberations.
Bank executives already have been debating the wisdom of granting forbearance to the president, with some worried about the political blowback they would almost certainly encounter for cutting Mr. Trump slack, the person said. Deutsche Bank is overseen by federal regulators, and the Justice Department has been conducting a criminal investigation into the bank over allegations of money laundering and other misconduct.
In Florida, the Trump Organization in late March sought guidance from Palm Beach County about whether it had to continue making monthly payments on land that the company leases for its 27-hole Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, according to people briefed on the discussions and documents reviewed by The New York Times.
This month, the Trump Organization made its monthly lease payment of about $88,000 about a week after the due date but before the company would have incurred a penalty, according to county documents. Company executives are still seeking guidance from Palm Beach County about whether they are expected to keep making lease payments with the golf industry shut down.
Eric Trump confirmed that the negotiations were underway and said the company was seeking the same relief that any other companies were getting.
“In Florida, the very county that mandated we close is the very county collecting rent,” he said. “What are they doing for others? Just treat us the same.”
Some of Palm Beach County’s commissioners worry that if they don’t give the president’s company extra time to make lease payments, the county could anger the president and lose out on federal assistance to fight the coronavirus, according to a county official who wasn’t authorized to speak publicly.
Separately, the Trump Organization, like other hotel chains, was eligible to apply for loans of up to $10 million that can be converted into grants from the Small Business Administration, based on a provision inserted into the stimulus package that allowed large companies with hotels that individually had fewer than 500 employees to apply for the assistance.
But this program would have required the Trump Organization to bring back workers, as it is intended to prevent job losses. The Trump Organization did not apply, according to the company.
Of all the company’s dealings, the Washington hotel’s relationship with the federal government has provided the most fodder for the president’s rivals, who argue that the property is a prime example of the president blurring the lines between his administration and his business.
Soon after he took office, the G.S.A. ruled that Mr. Trump’s ascending to the presidency did not violate the terms of the lease between his company and the government. But in 2019, the G.S.A.’s inspector general issued a report asserting that the agency’s lawyers had largely ignored potential constitutional issues related to the lease, essentially allowing the president’s operation of the property to continue.
The president’s lawyers have disputed charges that the arrangement could violate a constitutional provision that bars federal officials from taking payments or gifts from foreign governments. The hotel, frequented by foreigners and others doing business with the government, has been at the center of those allegations, while the Trump Organization has donated hundreds of thousands of dollars in profits from foreign governments.
The company last year put the hotel on the market for a possible sale, citing the ongoing objections, and a potential for a major financial windfall. The company fielded bids, but any deal is now off the table because of the pandemic.
Last week, the managing director of the Washington hotel, Mickael Damelincourt, posted a photo to Twitter of himself wearing a mask, standing in the hotel’s empty bar, with his chin up. “Keep looking up and Never Ever Give Up,” he wrote.
Eric Lipton contributed reporting.
via: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/21/business/trump-hotel-coronavirus.html?searchResultPosition=1
Photo Credit: Erin Schaff/The New York Times
Here’s what the stimulus checks with Trump’s name MAY look like
(CNN) — The federal government has published what appears to be the first official mock up of what the stimulus checks featuring President Trump’s name may look like when they’re sent to millions of homes this summer.
The checks show Trump’s name in the lower left hand corner underneath the words “economic impact payment.” The checks are signed by a Treasury Department official.
The prototype image is part of an official release press release from the US Secret Service warning people about potential scams related to the checks.
Remember: These are prototypes.
Photo Credit: kmov/US Secret Service
Shake Shack to return $10 million meant for small businesses during pandemic
Burger giant Shake Shack plans to return $10 million it received from a government loan program meant to protect small businesses during the coronavirus crisis.
The New York-based fast food chain was one of several large restaurant companies that got a multimillion-dollar loan through the Trump administration’s $349 billion Paycheck Protection Program aimed at helping struggling small firms pay workers amid the pandemic. Many merchants were left waiting for a lifeline when the program ran out of money last week.
Shake Shack decided to return its loan because it found a way to raise money through a public stock transaction instead, CEO Randy Garutti and chairman Danny Meyer said Sunday. They urged Congress to put more money into the program and prioritize businesses with limited access to outside funds.
“It’s inexcusable to leave restaurants out because no one told them to get in line by the time the funding dried up. That unfairly pits restaurants against restaurants,” Garutti and Meyer said in a LinkedIn post. “This industry rises and falls together.”
More than a dozen big publicly traded firms like Shake Shack — which has 189 US restaurants and nearly 8,000 employees — got PPP loans, even though the program was targeted at businesses with up to 500 workers, according to Bloomberg News.
Others included coal-mining company Hallador Energy, cruise operator Lindblad Expeditions and the firms behind Potbelly Sandwich Shop and Ruth’s Chris Steak House, the news agency reported Sunday.
Shake Shack decided to apply for a PPP loan because chains were eligible for funding if each location had fewer than 500 workers, Meyer and Garutti said.
Union Square Hospitality Group, Meyer’s restaurant conglomerate that helped start Shake Shack, also sought money after closing its eateries and laying off more than 2,000 people, they said.
“The ‘PPP’ came with no user manual and it was extremely confusing,” Garutti and Meyer wrote. “The best chance of keeping our teams working, off the unemployment line and hiring back our furloughed and laid off employees, would be to apply now and hope things would be clarified in time.”
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Sunday that Congress was “very close” to reaching a deal for more small-business loan money. Republican lawmakers have been pushing for an additional $251 billion for the program.
Photo Credit: https://nypost.com/2020/04/20/shake-shack-to-return-10-million-coronavirus-small-business-loan/
Photo Credit: Rob Kim/Getty Images
Kentucky sees highest spike in coronavirus cases after lockdown protests
Around 100 protesters gathered Wednesday on the lawn of the Capitol building in Frankfort during Democrat Beshear’s coronavirus briefing, shouting “Open up Kentucky!” and “King Beshear,” the Lexington Herald-Leader reported.
The same group returned Friday to the Capitol building, where they were met by barricades, the newspaper reported.
Instead, they circled the area in cars for a drive-through protest of Beshear’s coronavirus restrictions, the report said.
It’s unclear whether the protests had any impact on the surge of deaths reported Sunday in the state.
Beshear said at least 13 percent of cases reported in Kentucky have been nursing home residents.
Of the 273 new cases, there were 33 patients who were residents of nursing homes and eight more who were staffers, he said.
Beshear insisted Sunday he wouldn’t budge yet on easing lockdown restrictions despite the calls from protesters, according to the newspaper.
“We’re not in the 14 days of decreasing under the White House guidelines to do certain things,” Beshear said.
via: https://nypost.com/2020/04/20/kentucky-sees-highest-spike-in-coronavirus-cases-after-protests/
Photo Credit: REUTERS/Bryan Woolston
Georgia students expelled for posting ‘racist’ TikTok video
Two high school seniors in Georgia were expelled for posting a “racist” video on social media, district officials said.
The students, who were not identified by Carrollton City Schools officials, were expelled from Carrollton High School Friday for a “racially offensive” TikTok video posted Thursday that later went viral, district officials announced.
In the footage, two white students — one male, one female — use a racial slur and make vile, disparaging comments about black people while in a bathroom. The students were apparently trying to mimic a cooking show.
“Hey, today we’re making n—–s,” the female student said in the clip, which was later shared on Twitter.
“First we have black, yeah, pretty black … next we have don’t have a dad … and then we have, eat watermelon and fried chicken. Next one is, uh, make good choices. Oh, there’s nothing there.”
The students continued: “Next we have rob people, specifically whites. Yeah, they do that. The last one is go to jail.”
The behavior depicted on the video was unacceptable and not representative of the district, Carrollton City Schools Superintendent Mark Albertus said.
“The racist behavior observed in the video easily violates this standard,” Albertus said. “They are no longer students at Carrollton High School.”
The school’s principal, David Brooks, said he started investigating the video after its release late Thursday.
“It is our priority to keep our schools safe, and there is no doubt this incident has caused significant tension at Carrollton High School, across the district, state and nation – even the world,” Brooks said in a statement.
Other students at the school, meanwhile, said they were shocked after seeing the footage made by their classmates.
“I walk through the halls with those folks and to see that they think about us like that,” student Juan Nievs told WGCL. “It made me angry.”
Another teen, Terrell Carmichael, said he knows both students who produced the video.
“I was mad, like angry,” Carmichael told the station. “They would not normally talk like this, it was a complete surprise to everybody in our school.”
via: https://nypost.com/2020/04/20/georgia-students-expelled-for-posting-racist-video-on-tiktok/
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