January 30, 2021

Holland's brutal crackdown. Protestor hurt when police use water cannon on her

January 30, 2021

Skier chased by bear pulls cool move to escape

watch both video... skier ditches bear by tossing backpack

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https://www.newser.com/story/301914/skier-escapes-bear-by-ditching-backpack.html

Brown bear, brown bear, what do you see? In this case, what the brown bear saw was a skier trying to outmaneuver it down a ski slope in Romania. Per the New York Daily News, the frightening incident took place Saturday at the Predeal mountain resort, where an unlucky tourist apparently caught the animal's attention as he was making his run. Video taken by another visitor riding the ski lift shows the bear barreling after the skier, as the skier makes his way down the slope as fast as he can in a white-knuckle escape attempt. ABC News notes that bystanders tried to distract the bear by yelling and making other noises, but then the skier himself pulled off what another person at the resort called "a pretty cool move."

The skier threw off his backpack and the bear went after that instead (watch that part here), allowing the skier to escape. Workers warned other skiers about the bear, which had been seen throughout the day, and everyone vacated the area. A police spokesman, meanwhile, tells ABC that "the skier did the right thing," adding that they plan to "relocate" the bear, which is apparently one of quite a few lately that have been popping up near the Romanian ski slopes as climate change upends their hibernation cycle. The story seems so unbelievable that even Snopes jumped into action, but the fact-checking site indeed awarded the report a coveted "True," noting: "Let this put to rest the myth that bears can't run downhill."

January 28, 2021

job with the highest risk of dying from COVID is...

Line cooks are at the highest risk of dying from COVID, says UCSF study



https://www.sfgate.com/food/article/Cooks-restaurant-workers-risk-death-COVID-UCSF-15905789.php

According to a new UCSF study, food and agricultural workers are at the highest risk of death from COVID-19 among working age Californians. The study, which analyzed deaths of essential workers between ages 18 to 65, found line cooks to be at the highest risk of all, more so than packaging machine operators, construction laborers and even nurses.

https://twitter.com/KBibbinsDomingo/status/1352751847715467264

January 28, 2021

Tweet of the hour

https://twitter.com/itsJeffTiedrich/status/1354150502976647170?s=19

January 27, 2021

'Paramedic of the Year' Helped Hide Vaccine Theft, vaccine stolen by fire captain for his mother

A paramedic in Florida's Polk County helped steal doses of COVID-19 vaccine meant for first responders a week before he was named "Paramedic of the Year," according to police.

Joshua Colon, 31, of the Polk County Fire Rescue, was in charge of administering 30 doses of the Moderna vaccine to the county's firefighters on Jan. 6, not long before local groups honored him for his response to a highway crash, per the New York Times.

He initially claimed three of the doses had to be discarded.

Facing questions, however, he falsified vaccine screening and consent forms to make it appear as though the doses had been used, authorities say. He allegedly wrote down the name of a former firefighter and two fake names, one of which resembled the name of another ex-firefighter, per the AP. When contacted, the men told officials they had yet to receive the vaccine.

Three syringes had in fact been taken by one of Colon's supervisors, a fire captain, authorities say. Colon says the captain—NBC News identifies him as Anthony Damiano—asked for his subordinate's help in acquiring the vaccine for his mother, and threatened to report Colon for stealing if he wasn't compliant. Colon says he saw the syringes were missing after a break, but he didn't report the theft. "Had Joshua simply gone to his boss right then, he'd have been the hero," Sheriff Grady Judd said Tuesday, announcing felony charges of uttering a false instrument, criminal use of personal identification, creating a fictitious person, and falsifying an official record as a public servant. Damiano, who will face charges upon returning from assignment in California, allegedly told Colon where the doses could be found in a call monitored by investigators. Only two doses were found.

https://www.newser.com/story/301831/paramedic-of-the-year-accused-in-vaccine-theft-cover-up.html?utm_source=part&utm_medium=uol&utm_campaign=rss_top

January 26, 2021

Goya board silences its CEO after he tells Fox News the election was rigged

https://www.cnn.com/2021/01/26/business/goya-ceo-robert-unanue-silenced/index.html

Goya's board of directors had enough of CEO Robert Unanue's public comments in support of former President Donald Trump and his unfounded claims of voter fraud. On Friday, it voted to muzzle him.

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Unanue will no longer be allowed to speak to the media without the board's permission, the source said. The decision was first reported by the New York Post Monday evening.

The source said this is a "full stop" on Unanue speaking to the press, not only about politics, but also about the company itself.

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A majority of Goya shareholders favor removing Unanue altogether but have been prevented from doing so by the dynamics of the family-controlled company, according to the source.

"The company has never been political or politicized," said the source. "He's gone from bad CEO to CEO that has imperiled the future of the company and endangered the lives of some of the shareholders," the source said in reference to some Unanue family members having allegedly received threats because of the CEO's comments.

January 26, 2021

cops arrive at the Conway mansion

Cops call on Trump spokeswoman Kellyanne Conway after her troubled daughter, 16, falsely accuses her of leaking topless photo of her on Twitter and then apologizes for it





Four officers with the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office and Alpine Police Department were seen arriving at the Conway family's mansion in Alpine, New Jersey, just before noon on Tuesday.

They were inside the home for around an hour before leaving at 1:10pm.

In a statement to DailyMail.com, Alpine Police Chief Christopher Belcolle confirmed that a probe into the apparent leak is underway.

'An investigation is being conducted. No additional information can be released,' Belcolle said.

Twitter told Variety it is also investigating the matter. The social media giant said its currently unsure how long the post was visible, how many people saw it, and who deleted it.

January 26, 2021

Rubbish-covered lake brings to light Balkans waste problem

PRIBOJ, Serbia (AP) — Trucks and building machines are parked on a river dam in southwest Serbia but not for construction work. Instead, huge cranes are being used to clear tons of garbage crammed at the foot of the power plant.

Serbia and other Balkan nations are overwhelmed by communal waste after decades of neglect and lack of efficient waste-management policies in the countries aspiring to join the European Union.

Burning rubbish dumps can be seen from the roads, plastic bags are hanging from trees and islands of waste are floating down the region’s rivers. The problem usually comes into focus in winter, when swollen waters sweep over landfills, pushing the garbage toward hydropower dams.

https://apnews.com/article/europe-dams-serbia-lakes-europe-8e2fd7db45763b8fe36c68c6e0292342

This has been the case at the Potpec accumulation lake near the power plant after a spate of rainy and snowy weather in December and early January. The surface of the lake got covered in a thick layer of waste ranging from plastics to rusty metal scraps, tree trunks and even reportedly a coffin.

https://apnews.com/article/europe-dams-serbia-lakes-europe-8e2fd7db45763b8fe36c68c6e0292342

January 26, 2021

Canadian Casino CEO and actress wife pose as motel workers to cut vaccine line meant for indigenous

Located deep in Canada’s Yukon, the remote community of Beaver Creek is home to only about 100 people, most of them members of the White River First Nation.

So when an unfamiliar couple who claimed to work at a local motel showed up at a mobile clinic to receive coronavirus vaccines, it didn’t take long for locals to become suspicious. Authorities soon found that the couple were actually wealthy Vancouver residents who had chartered a private plane to the isolated outpost so that they could get shots intended to protect vulnerable Indigenous elders.

“I can’t believe I’ve ever seen or heard of such a despicable, disgusting sense of entitlement and lack of a moral compass,” Mike Farnworth, the British Columbia solicitor general, said Monday, according to the Vancouver Sun.

Canadian media outlets have identified the couple as casino executive Rodney Baker, 55, and his wife, Ekaterina Baker, a 32-year-old actress whose recent credits include the 2020 films “Fatman” and “Chick Fight.” Each faces fines totaling the equivalent of about $900 for violating quarantine guidelines. Neither could immediately be reached for comment late Monday, and it was not clear if they have attorneys.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/wealthy-couple-chartered-a-plane-to-the-yukon-took-vaccines-meant-for-indigenous-elders-authorities-said/ar-BB1d6rHW

A Canadian casino mogul and his actress wife were accused of posing as motel workers in order to receive COVID-19 vaccines meant for Indigenous residents of a remote Yukon community.

Rodney Baker, 55, and his 32-year-old wife Ekaterina Baker, allegedly chartered a private plane to Beaver Creek on Jan. 21 to get doses of the Moderna shot, the CBC reported.

“Effectively what they did was they put our community and our isolation team at risk,” Yukon Community Services Minister John Streicker told the outlet on Monday.

“I’m pretty angry at the whole thing.”

Staff at a mobile clinic had been administering the vaccine to the about 100 residents of Beaver Creek, most of whom are members of the White River First Nation.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9186273/Casino-CEO-wife-arrested-flying-remote-Canada-vaccinated-indigenous-people.html

January 26, 2021

Chinese Workers Turn to US Marijuana Industry as Service Jobs Dry Up

WASHINGTON - A Chinese immigrant is facing drug charges after two unrelated raids in New Mexico uncovered a marijuana processing operation, a network of purported hemp farms, and dozens of Chinese immigrants who had been laboring amid tons of marijuana.

The workers discovered in raids in October and November came from the Los Angeles area, Chicago and elsewhere. They had responded to help-wanted ads for agricultural work. Their presence in the flourishing marijuana industry illustrates what happens when the service jobs most often held by new immigrants evaporate in the pandemic, creating a situation ripe for exploitation of workers by recruiters and employers.

“Everyone is laid off from the restaurants,” one Chinese worker told Searchlight New Mexico, an investigative journalism website. “How else am I going to put food on the table for my family?”

Of the dozens of Chinese workers arrested in two raids, only one, Guoyun Liao, faces charges. They stem from a raid on October 8 in Farmington, New Mexico. Charges against the other workers were dismissed.

https://www.voanews.com/usa/chinese-workers-turn-us-marijuana-industry-service-jobs-dry