https://www.cnn.com/2021/04/23/business/diaper-costs-families-poverty/index.html

Diapers are a pricey, essential item for parents. Now, they're getting even more expensive, hurting low-income families already struggling with the pandemic's economic woes.

Disposable diaper prices rose 8.7% during the year ending April 10, according to the latest numbers from NielsenIQ, which tracks point of sale data from retailers. Diaper makers recently said they are planning additional price increases, which may further stretch low-income families' budgets if stores choose to pass on the hikes.

Kimberly-Clark (KMB), the maker of Huggies and Pull-Ups, will increase prices on these products by mid-to-high single-digit percentages in June, while Procter & Gamble (PG)— which manufactures Pampers, Luvs and All Good diapers — will raise prices on such brands in the mid-to-high single digit percentage range in mid-September.

It costs around $80 a month to provide diapers for one child, and one in three American families struggled to afford diapers even before the pandemic, according to Joanne Goldblum, chief executive officer of the National Diaper Bank Network.
Demand for diaper banks has surged during the pandemic. The non-profit group, which has a nationwide network of over 200 diaper banks, reported an 86% increase on average in the number of diapers distributed to children and families during the pandemic compared to pre-pandemic figures.

https://www.cnn.com/2021/04/23/business/diaper-costs-families-poverty/index.html

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9533405/Joshua-Wolf-Shenk-resigns-editor-Believer-magazine-flashing-staffers-Zoom-call.html

Joshua Wolf Shenk resigns as editor of the Believer magazine after taking a bath during a Zoom call with staff... then getting out and forgetting to turn off his camera or grab a towel!

The editor-in-chief at Believer magazine and artistic and executive director of the Black Mountain Institute, has handed in his resignation

Shenk was soaking in a bath to relieve nerve pain related to fibromyalgia during the Zoom call

When Shenk stood up to charge his computer without turning off the camera or covering the lower half of his body he exposed himself to about a dozen staffers

Shenk is the author of the books 'Lincoln's Melancholy' released in 2005 and the 2014 book 'Powers of Two'

---------

Shenk shared the news of his resignation in a farewell letter.

He called the Zoom incident 'a dumb, reckless choice to disregard appropriate setting and attire for a Zoom meeting. I crossed a line that I can't walk back over. I sorely regret the harm to you — and, by extension, to the people we serve. I'm sorry.' he wrote.

At least two witnesses of the incident reported it to the university's Office of Equal Employment and Title IX, LA Times reported.

The University dismissed and closed the Title IX complaints when Shenk resigned.

'After my lapse in judgment, I decided to resign so that BMI's work — sparking culture in Southern Nevada, publishing The Believer, and hosting writers persecuted in their home countries — could best continue in their exceptionally capable hands,' Shenk said in a separate statement to the LA Times.

Silverberg said that Shenk had already been negotiating a transition in leadership at the institute prior to the incident.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9533405/Joshua-Wolf-Shenk-resigns-editor-Believer-magazine-flashing-staffers-Zoom-call.html

ERUSALEM — Israel was plunged into grief on Friday over one of the country’s worst peacetime catastrophes: at least 45 people killed and about 150 injured in a stampede at a religious festival that draws tens of thousands of ultra-Orthodox Jews to a sacred mountain in the country’s north.
Israeli media reported that some American citizens and some children were believed to be among the casualties, but as the day drew to a close and the Jewish Sabbath began, identification of victims was still incomplete.

President Biden expressed sorrow, saying in a statement that the U.S. and Israel are “bound together by our families, our faiths and our histories.” He said the U.S. Embassy and officials in Washington would provide support to any U.S. citizens “affected by

this sad event.”

https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2021-04-29/dozens-injured-in-stampede-at-big-israeli-religious-festival

https://www.coloradoan.com/story/news/2021/01/28/loveland-police-settle-excessive-force-lawsuit-290-k/4294396001/

Excessive force lawsuit filed against Loveland police settled for $290K

The lawsuit alleged officers violated Sowl's constitutional rights when they arrested him for refusing to answer questions as a witness about a motorcycle crash outside a Loveland bar Sept. 22, 2019.

Ashe detained Sowl for not answering his questions, twisting his arm behind his back and pushing his face into the ground. Sowl said he needed shoulder replacement surgery after the incident, according to the lawsuit.

Sowl's arrest was captured on body camera footage. At one point in the interaction, Sowl can be heard telling Ashe, "I don't know what happened. I'm not talking to nobody."


"It is long-established that a citizen cannot be charged with obstruction (or any crime) for merely refusing to answer police questioning," Sowl's attorney Sarah Schielke said in a news release at the time the lawsuit was filed in June 2020.


Ashe arrested Sowl for obstruction of justice and resisting arrest, but the 8th Judicial District Attorney's Office dismissed the charges, according to the lawsuit.


The federal lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court, alleged Sowls' First, Fourth and Fourteenth Amendments were violated, according to a news release from Schielke.

The case was settled for $290,000, City Attorney Moses Garcia said.

https://www.politico.com/news/2021/04/30/jerry-falwell-liberty-graduation-485112

https://twitter.com/kristen_mirand/status/1388294912358092809

Two weeks after Liberty University sued him and banned employees from talking to him, former Liberty president Jerry Falwell Jr. unexpectedly showed up at a student event Thursday night, hopped on stage and invited the students to a graduation party at his home that he billed as “the real Liberty graduation.”

“I just want to invite all the seniors to my farm on May 8. We’re going to have the real Liberty graduation,” Falwell told the students, standing on a small stage erected outside an off-campus student house, according to a video reviewed by POLITICO. “If you’re not a senior but you date one, you can come, too.”

The appearance seemed an act of defiance from Falwell at a time when the university has taken an increasingly tough stance against him. His 13-year tenure as Liberty president, during which time the evangelical school grew to more than 100,000 students in person and online, ended after a series of scandals involving his and his wife Becki’s personal behavior.

-----

But Falwell showed up partway through the event with Becki at his side, the student said. He soon hopped up on stage, lamenting that his student daughter — who he said was in the audience — had told him, “Please don’t come.”

“You’re still my president!” one student yelled when Falwell took the stage, according to a video reviewed by POLITICO. Others laughed and cheered Falwell’s name. Then Falwell invited students to a party at his farm, a multibuilding property near Liberty.

“We’d love to have you out there. Becki says there’s no way we can plan it that fast, but we can and we will,” Falwell said, encouraging students to spread the word on social media.

https://www.politico.com/states/california/story/2021/04/29/caitlyn-jenners-recall-campaign-goes-silent-in-first-week-1379029

The reality TV star and transgender activist hasn't made a single TV appearance. She hasn't held a press conference or social media event. No rollout of key Republican endorsements. She doesn't have an issues page on her website, but offers ways to "donate" and buy "Caitlyn for California" merchandise.

“If she doesn't come out and say something within the next several days, I think everyone moves on and says this is just some type of crank candidacy," said veteran GOP consultant Rob Stutzman, who was a principal adviser to former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger during his successful 2003 recall bid.

Jenner is "an outsider now auditioning to run the largest state government in the country," Stutzman added. "You’ve got to give a speech, sit for interviews — and convince people that you can do it."

So far, Jenner has focused most of her efforts nationally rather than in California. She launched her bid while most California residents were still asleep, first confirming her run with Axios rather than a local media outlet. Fox News announced Thursday that Jenner will sit down with Sean Hannity for an interview that will air May 5 — nearly two weeks after she declared "I'm in" on the recall election.

The news made an initial splash beyond the state, yet was greeted with more of a shrug in California, especially among the political establishment.

https://www.politico.com/states/california/story/2021/04/29/caitlyn-jenners-recall-campaign-goes-silent-in-first-week-1379029

Calif. — For years, Ben Jarso couldn’t mix work and play. He worked at Facebook in Silicon Valley and on weekends drove almost four hours to Lake Tahoe to hit the ski slopes. When pandemic-related restrictions freed him to work remotely, he decided to merge his passions.
Truckee, a town on the lake’s north shore, was a perfect choice with Wi-Fi-ready houses and easy access to his favorite ski resort. He started making offers on properties. Again and again he lost out. Turns out too many other people had the same idea.

He finally got a house, but it took quick action. He contacted the seller as soon as the four-bedroom home popped up on his real estate app, made the first offer and agreed to no inspection requirements. His new $900,000 home has a large pine deck and two fireplaces and boasts views of Donner Lake.

“I think it was a steal,” said Jarso, a 31-year-old product manager.

Ben Jarso moved north from the Bay Area to Truckee, since virtual working is common at Facebook, his employer.



Housing markets are hot nationwide, but few areas have seen the surge in home prices and residents as outdoor vacation destinations.

“You can live your life on vacation,” said Rich La Rue, a real estate broker in the Palm Springs area. “All the things that you love to do: hiking, biking, whatever it is. A property comes on the market here and it’s a feeding frenzy.”

Case in point: the average asking price of a home in the desert city is now $1 million, a 30% one-year increase.


https://www.latimes.com/homeless-housing/story/2021-04-30/covid-wfh-boosts-palm-springs-lake-tahoe-housing-markets

https://www.sfgate.com/crime/article/2021-04-Julie-Walrand-Berkeley-hate-crime-Amazon-16142210.php



More details emerge on Berkeley woman charged with hate crime for harassing Black delivery driver

------

Julie Walrand, 35, was arrested on April 18 following an altercation in which she allegedly shouted racist slurs at a delivery driver. She faces charges of battery, false imprisonment and assorted hate crime charges, namely using offensive words and willfully threatening a person based on their perceived characteristics.


-------

“I was just trying to do my job and she wouldn’t allow me to,” he told KRON. “She closed both double doors in the van I was trying to leave out of.”

At one point, he said, she jumped inside the Amazon truck and attempted to get control of the steering wheel at least twice.

Even though he later escaped, he said, the alleged harassment continued — and Walrand and her boyfriend began shouting the n-word and other obscenities at him.

But more than anything, he expressed gratitude to bystanders for recording the incident and ensuring his safety.

“What constantly was running through my mind was, you know, it could be me in handcuffs instead of her,” he said to KRON. “If there wasn’t a video, it wasn’t being recorded, she probably could’ve gotten away with saying this.”