January 17, 2022

COVID depletes collection plates at churches nationwide

Biltmore United Methodist Church of Asheville, North Carolina, is for sale. Already financially strapped because of shrinking membership and a struggling preschool, the congregation was dealt a crushing blow by the coronavirus.


Attendance plummeted, with many parishioners staying home or switching to other churches that stayed open the whole time. Gone, too, is the revenue the church formerly got from renting its space for events and meetings.

"Our maintenance costs are just exorbitant," said the Reverend Lucy Robbins, senior pastor. "And we just don't have the resources financially that we used to have to be able to do the kind of ministry work that we would like."

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Another struggling congregation, Friendship Baptist Church in Baltimore, is essentially living week to week. The predominantly Black church received a PPP loan of more than $55,000, but that barely made a dent in expenses. The Reverend Alvin Gwynn Sr. has given up his pastor's salary and for now is living off Social Security checks and his other job in construction.

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Some faring better than others
At West Harpeth Primitive Baptist Church, another church in Franklin, giving is down but only slightly. Hewitt Sawyers, the pastor, attributes that to the scant turnover among the members of the more than 150-year-old historically Black congregation, many of whom are committed to financially supporting the church and work in sectors of the economy that were less damaged by the pandemic than others.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/covid-19-churches-financial-difficulty/

January 17, 2022

The Trump Org Stiffed a Hotel. His Kids May Pay the Price.

Former President Donald Trump and his family company have a long history of stiffing contractors, but there’s one bill they almost certainly wish they had paid.

Ahead of the 2017 presidential inauguration, the Trump Organization reserved a block of rooms at the Loews Madison Hotel. When at least 13 people didn’t show up, the Trump Organization refused to pay the bill, something it has done many times in the past. The company then dodged a credit collection agency and eventually squirmed out of it by pushing the $49,358 bill off to the nonprofit presidential inaugural committee, the PIC.

That dodged payment is now the crux of the attorney general for the District of Columbia’s latest effort to put the Trump Organization back in its crosshairs in an ongoing investigation into how the Trump kids used the Presidential Inauguration Committee to throw lavish parties of their own.

“It was their friends. It should never have been sent to the PIC. That’s misuse of funding. The Trump Organization being involved in any way and getting the PIC to pay any sort of balance anywhere on their behalf? It just doesn’t seem legitimate,” said Stephanie Winston Wolkoff, who coordinated inaugural events and is now the government’s lead witness in this case.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/the-trump-org-stiffed-a-hotel-his-kids-may-pay-the-price/ar-AASR2Rx

January 17, 2022

17 year old arrested for altering electronic road sign to display racist message

Teen charged with putting up racist message on Sumter road sign
Officers say a 17-year-old is responsible for putting up the racial slur.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/crime/teen-charged-with-putting-up-racist-message-on-sumter-road-sign/vi-AASQK80


https://news.yahoo.com/south-carolina-road-sign-changed-170611290.html


“HONK IF YOU HATE N*GGERS,” the sign read on Saturday in Sumter, South Carolina

Police are on a search in South Carolina for the person who tampered with an electronic road sign, changing its text to display a racial slur.

The text on the sign, set up in the city of Sumter, was altered to display an offensive command that included the n-word. Sumter has a population of roughly 43,000 with a racial divide of roughly 49% Black and 44% white, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

https://news.yahoo.com/south-carolina-road-sign-changed-170611290.html

January 17, 2022

Veteran NYPD Police Officer Fired for Hitting on 'Vulnerable' Women During Arrests

NYPD veteran fired for hitting on women during busts


A cop who survived a line-of-duty shooting was fired from the NYPD after he repeatedly tried to hit on vulnerable women during arrests, according to a newly released disciplinary finding.

Over four days in 2018, Officer Michael Kreiman tried to start a romantic relationship with a woman he arrested for grand larceny, flirted with a woman he believed was a domestic abuse victim and subjected a woman he thought was a drug-addicted prostitute to a series of lurid questions about her sex life, according to the NYPD report.

However, the domestic abuse victim and the prostitute were actually undercover officers conducting "integrity tests" as part of an Internal Affairs Bureau investigation. These are tests conducted to provoke a reaction from law enforcement officers in a typical police situation.

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Over the past decade, Kreiman was repeatedly accused of violating NYPD rules, and nearly lost his job in 2015 when the department put him on "dismissal probation" after drug paraphernalia and hypodermic needles were found in his locker.

He was instructed in a letter "to avoid inappropriate personal relationships with civilians connected to law enforcement action" following several complaints. He still continued to exchange numbers and phone calls with a woman he arrested on Oct. 30, 2018 for grand larceny in hopes of sparking a romantic relationship with her, according to the report. He even met the woman once and talked with her as they drove around in his vehicle.

https://www.ibtimes.sg/veteran-nypd-police-officer-fired-hitting-vulnerable-women-during-arrests-62278

January 17, 2022

condominium forest - treehouse apartments

January 17, 2022

The Dutch will temporarily stop using their golden coach because of this racist image

The triptych depicts people from then-Dutch colonies paying humble tribute to a white woman symbolizing the Netherlands


Dutch royal family to temporarily stop using Golden Coach, following criticism of colonial ties

The carriage -- known colloquially as "De Gouden Koets" -- has been at the center of fierce debate in recent years.

One of the panels on the Golden Coach, named "Tribute from the Colonies," depicts people of color from the colonies kneeling in subordination to a young white woman who represents the Netherlands, while presenting her with gifts, according to the Amsterdam Museum, where the coach is housed.

The Dutch Empire spanned 250 years from the 17th century to the 19th century, according to the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam. The empire operated in regions including the Caribbean, Brazil, Suriname, southern Africa and Asia, where people were also enslaved and exploited by imperialists.

In 1990, the Curaçaoan artist Ruben La Cruz demonstrated against the colonial vignette at a festival in Rotterdam. Since then multiple public figures, including an activist and two members of the Dutch parliament, have called for the carriage to no longer be used.
However, these demands grew louder after the global Black Lives Matter protests in 2020, when many countries were confronted with their racial and colonial histories.



https://www.cnn.com/style/article/dutch-royal-family-golden-carriage-colonialism-intl-scli/index.html

January 16, 2022

Rescues needed as hundreds went to San Francisco's Ocean Beach despite tsunami advisory

“I didn’t see what I’ve seen in Hollywood, like a huge wave coming toward us or anything,” said Baxter.

But that didn’t mean the dangers weren’t present. Despite the size of the waves — which reached peak heights of one to two feet in San Francisco, according to the National Weather Service, while flooding parts of Pacifica and Santa Cruz, even causing Soquel Creek to flow backwards — he knew what was happening beneath the surface of the water.

“What’s actually occurring is surges of water with lots of force,” he said. “We don’t see what’s underneath it, which is an extremely long rip current.”

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An estimated 200 people showed up to Ocean Beach from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m., said Baxter. First responders aided about 25 people who they believed required assistance to get out of ankle- or knee-deep water. They also approached dozens of other individuals on the sand with surfboards, boogie boards and beach attire, encouraging them to turn around and spend the day elsewhere.

Rescue swimmers also saved three surfers at Kelly’s Cove who decided to challenge the swell of the waves that afternoon between 2:30 and 3:30 p.m. Two of the rescues occurred when swimmers spotted the surfers about 200 to 300 yards from the beach waving their arms and calling for help, while another incident was the result of a 911 call.

https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/surfer-rescues-at-SF-Ocean-Beach-tsunami-advisory-16780099.php

https://twitter.com/SFFDPIO/status/1482488782804819968

January 16, 2022

University of Michigan President Fired from his million dollar job For 'Inappropriate Relationship'

University President Fired For 'Inappropriate Relationship'
Mark Schlissel has been removed as president of the University of Michigan



The president of the University of Michigan has been fired by the school's board of regents following an investigation into an alleged “inappropriate relationship with a university employee. Per the Detroit Free Press, Dr. Mark Schlissel was removed by a unanimous vote announced Saturday evening following a Dec. 8 anonymous complaint and subsequent investigation. "We learned that Dr. Schlissel, over a period of years, used his University email account to communicate with that subordinate in a manner inconsistent with the dignity and reputation of the University," the announcement read.

Per the AP, a letter from the board dated Saturday included excerpts of emails exchanged between Schlissel and the employee. The employee wrote in a July 1, 2021, exchange that her “heart hurts,” according to the board, which said Schlissel responded: “I know. mine too.” He continued: ”This is my fault” and that he was “in pain too.”

The university made select communications that led to the decision publicly available, with the name of the employee redacted. They include a message from Schlissel about a New Yorker article titled "Sexual Fantasies of Everyday New Yorkers." Per the AP, Schlissel had a base salary of $927,000 a year and had announced plans to step down in June 2023, a year before his contract was to expire. Prior to his time in Michigan, Schlissel had been provost at Brown University.

https://www.newser.com/story/315716/university-president-fired-for-inappropriate-relationship.html

https://apnews.com/article/business-lifestyle-education-relationships-michigan-c2c5993c4012f60d0035818eab054d28

January 16, 2022

jury awards Cracker Barrel customer way more than he asked for

This Popular Restaurant Chain Was Ordered to Pay Millions To a Customer After Causing Him "Permanent and Serious Physical Injury"


William Cronnon was eating at a local Cracker Barrel restaurant in Marion County, Tenn., in April of 2014, when he was served cleaning sanitizer in place of water. As he took a sip, he felt a burning sensation and ended up with injuries of the mouth and esophagus which he still suffers from today and which have hindered his ability to work.

It was later found that Cronnon had inadvertently been served Eco-San, a chemical used to clean the restaurant's kitchen at the time. The National Fire Protection Association categorizes Eco-San as a chemical that poses a high health risk, while its manufacturer Ecolab states the sanitizer causes "severe skin burns and eye damage."

Cronnon filed a complaint against the chain in 2015, claiming the restaurant showed negligence with an extremely dangerous chemical and asked for compensation of $150,000. But a jury last week decided the company owed the victim a lot more and ordered Cracker Barrel to pay him $730,000 in economic damages, $3.6 million in non-economic damages, and $5 million in punitive damages, according to court records viewed by Chattanooga Times Free Press. (He'll only get 750,000 because TN has a cap on damages(

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According to the publication, the water-chemical mixup occurred when the Eco-San solution was left in a water pitcher to soak drink dispensing machine parts overnight. The pitcher wasn't dumped the next morning as it should have been, and a server accidentally used it to fill Cronnon's water glass.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/companies/this-popular-restaurant-chain-was-ordered-to-pay-millions-to-a-customer-after-causing-him-permanent-and-serious-physical-injury/ar-AASO0m4

January 16, 2022

K9 used to subdue 63 year old pediatrician. video released a week after $325,000 settlement

(pediatrician's crime? Flashing high beams to let another driver know their high beams were on)

Town officials released video footage late Wednesday that shows a York Police Department officer using a K-9 to subdue local pediatrician Stephen Brennan during a traffic stop more than two years ago.

The release of the footage comes about a week after Brennan’s attorneys announced their client had reached a $325,000 settlement agreement with the town and Patrolman Jonathan Rogers, who had released the dog during the encounter on Sept. 20, 2019.

In a joint statement released with the footage, York Town Manager Steve Burns and Acting Police Chief Owen Davis said Rogers “simply did his job to keep York a safe place.”

Brennan was 63 at the time of the incident and ran Yorkids Pediatrics. Brennan suffered multiple injuries, including dog bites that his attorneys said required months of follow-up and wound care.