Friday, October 29, 2021

Wake-Up Call: Cuomo Accused in Criminal Complaint

Former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo was accused in a criminal complaint yesterday of forcible touching, a misdemeanor sex crime. The complaint comes two months after Cuomo resigned from office under pressure due to his sexual harassment scandal. The complaint, filed by an investigator with the Albany County Sheriff’s Office, accused Cuomo of putting his hand under a woman’s shirt on December 7, 2020. Although the woman isn't named, Cuomo was publicly accused of groping aide Brittany Commisso around that date. However, the office of the county's DA office, which would handle any prosecution, said it was caught off guard by the filing and Commisso's attorney said she hadn't been given a chance to decide whether she wanted to go through with a case. The Albany Times Union cited unnamed officials as saying the complaint had been issued "prematurely," before a final decision had been made about whether to charge Cuomo.

➤BIDEN IN ROME FOR FIRST OF TWO SUMMITS, SAYS FRAMEWORK REACHED FOR BBB LEGISLATION: President Biden is in Rome for the first of two summits, leaving Washington late Thursday (October 28th) after announcing he and congressional Democrats had reached a "historic" framework for his Build Back Better package. Biden, an observant Catholic, will meet with Pope Francis today, ahead of meetings associated with the Group of 20 summit. After the G-20, Biden will on Sunday head to Glasgow, Scotland, for a global climate conference. Back home, even though Biden announced the framework for the legislation Democrats have struggling to reach agreement on, a vote commitment from all 50 Democratic senators has not yet been reached on what's now a $1.75 trillion package of social services and climate change programs.

NY Post screenshot 10/29/21
➤REPORT: U.S. CONSIDERING PAYMENTS TO MIGRANT FAMILIES SEPARATED UNDER TRUMP: The U.S. is considering making payments of some $450,000 per person to migrant families who were separated from their children at the border during former President Donald Trump's administration, the Wall Street Journal reported yesterday. The administration is in talks to offer the payments as several lawsuits have been filed on behalf of migrant parents and children who were separated, according to the report. The lawsuits that have been filed charge that separated children were kept in inadequate housing, and that many are now dealing with mental health issues like anxiety and fear of strangers as a result of the separation from their parents.

U-S TO PAY $88 MILLION TO VICTIMS' FAMILIES IN SOUTH CAROLINA BLACK CHURCH SHOOTING: The U.S. Justice Department has reached an $88 million settlement with the families of nine people killed in a 2015 racist attack at a Black church in Charleston, South Carolina, and with five survivors over a botched background check that allowed Dylann Roof to buy the gun he used to carry out the mass shooting, it was announced Thursday. Four months before the June 2015 shooting at Mother Emanuel AME Church, Roof was arrested by Columbia, South Carolina police on the drug possession charge. That should have prevented him from being able to buy the gun he used in the church killings, but a series of clerical errors and missteps allowed him to be approved.


➤SEC PROBE OF SENATOR BURR FOR POSSIBLE PANDEMIC-RELATED INSIDER TRADING: The Securities and Exchange Commission is investigating Senator Richard Burr and his brother-in-law for possible insider trading related to the pandemic, according to recent federal court filings. The North Carolina Republican was among several lawmakers accused of using inside information in early 2020 about the coming pandemic and its economic threat obtained as members of Congress to carry out aggressive stock trades, which would be illegal. The Justice Department investigated Burr for selling $1.6 million of his portfolio in January and February of 2020, and he was cleared of wrongdoing on January 19th of this year, the day before Donald Trump left office. The SEC investigation continued, however. A SEC timeline shows Burr sold most of his portfolio on February 14, 2020, about one week before the stock market tanked. The SEC alleges that was at a time when he had access to nonpublic information about the coronavirus and its potential economic impact that he obtained as chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee and from former staffers directing the coronavirus response. After Burr told his broker to sell his stocks, he called his brother-in-law, Gerald Fauth on the phone, and one minute later, Fauth called his brokers to tell them to sell shares in his wife's account, according to the SEC.

➤CIVIL TRIAL OVER CHARLOTTESVILLE 'UNITE THE RIGHT' RALLY GETS UNDERWAY: The civil trial over the 2017 "Unite the Right" rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, got underway Thursday with opening arguments. Nine people suing over the physical and emotional injuries they received charge that some of the country's most well-known white nationalists conspired to commit violence at the August 2017 rally, which was ostensibly held to protest the city's plans to remove a statue of Confederate General Robert E. Lee. Karen Dunn, a lead attorney for the plaintiffs, told the jury yesterday that white nationalists planned the violence for months. However, an attorney for the lead organizer of the rally, white nationalist Jason Kessler, said the online communications being used by the plaintiffs are protected by the First Amendment. One woman was killed in Charlottesville when James Alex Fields Jr. plowed his car into a crowd of counterprotesters. He's serving a life sentence.

➤U-S TRAFFIC DEATHS UP 18 PERCENT IN FIRST HALF OF THE YEAR: The number of people killed in traffic deaths in the U.S. rose 18.4 percent in the first half of this year from the same period in 2020, the biggest six-month increase since the Department of Transportation began tracking federal crash data, the federal government reported yesterday. The 20,160 deaths was also the highest first-half total since 2006. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration also said behavioral research from March through June showed that speeding and not wearing a seat belt remain higher than they were before the pandemic. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said the department will develop a national strategy to help reduce traffic deaths.

➤SCHOOL BANS MOM FROM VOLUNTEERING AFTER HER ONLYFANS ACCOUNT IS DISCOVERED: A Florida mother says she was banned from volunteering at her children's school after her OnlyFans account was discovered. Victoria Triece, whose five-year-old and 10-year-old children go to Sand Lake Elementary School in Orange County, has been volunteering at the school for five years, but was told two weeks ago she could no longer do it. She now plans to sue for $1 million, telling local station WESH, "Nobody has the right to judge what other people do for a living. I feel judged, and so isolated." The school learned about Triece's OnlyFans account when someone sent images from the site to school administrators. Her attorney, Mark NeJame, told the station, "What authoritarian mentality allows somebody to point a discriminating finger at somebody and say we don't approve of you and you can't be around children. That becomes frightening."


👻THERE HAS BEEN AN UPTICK IN GHOST SIGHTINGS: People have been seeing more ghosts since the coronavirus pandemic started. Teen Vogue reports that since the world shut down in March 2020, ghost hunters have been inundated with requests to investigate hauntings and psychics and mediums have seen an uptick in business. Chris French, professor emeritus in the Department of Psychology at Goldsmiths, University of London and head of the Anomalistic Psychology Research Unit, told the outlet, “There’s a lot of evidence to suggest that … all forms of magical thinking tend to increase at times of stress and uncertainty.” He also added that because of the incredible loss during the pandemic, people may find comfort in ghosts because it makes death seem less final.

➤PANDEMIC STRESS HAS MADE DECISION MAKING MORE DIFFICULT: The stress of the coronavirus pandemic is making it more difficult for adults to make both day-to-day and major life decisions in comparison to life before the pandemic. According to the American Psychological Association survey, millennials have been affected the most. More than 60 percent agreed that the pandemic has made them rethink how they were living their life while 63 percent said uncertainty about the near future causes them stress. Around half said the pandemic had made planning for the future feel impossible.

🏈PACKERS TOP CARDINALS 24-21 FOR ARIZONA'S FIRST DEFEAT OF SEASON: The Green Bay Packers topped the Arizona Cardinals 24-21 last night, handing Arizona its first loss of the season to end its status as the last undefeated NFL team. The Cardinals looked like they were going to rally for the win at home, but Green Bay's Rasul Douglas intercepted Arizona quarterback Kyler Murray's throw on second-and-goal with 12 seconds left in the fourth quarter. Green Bay quarterback Aaron Rodgers threw for 184 yards and two touchdowns. The Packers have now won seven straight games after dropping their season opener.
 

🏒PANTHERS COACH QUENNEVILLE RESIGNS AFTER NHL COMMISH MEETING: Florida Panthers head coach Joel Quenneville resigned yesterday, shortly after meeting with NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman in the wake of a report about the Chicago Blackhawks' response to a claim from player Kyle Beach that he was sexually assaulted in 2010 by then-Chicago assistant coach Brad Aldrich. Quenneville, the second-winningest coach in NHL history, was the Blackhawks' head coach at the time, and the results of an investigation released Tuesday said he and others in the organization didn't prioritize Beach's allegations, presumably because the team was playing towards a championship at the time. Quenneville said he resigned with "deep regret and contrition," stating that the Blackhawks, quote, "failed Kyle and I own my share of that." Andrew Brunette, who was a Panthers assistant coach, is taking over as interim coach.

⚾PADRES REPORTEDLY HIRE OAKLAND'S MELVIN AS NEW MANAGER: The San Diego Padres have hired the Oakland A's Bob Melvin as their new manager, according to media reports yesterday (October 28th). Melvin, who'd been with Oakland for a decade, is a veteran MLB manager who's three times been named Manager of the Year. He will replace Jayce Tingler, who was fired earlier this month after the Padres' second-half collapse this season.

🏈NFL COMMISH GOODELL MADE NEARLY $128 MILLION IN PAST TWO YEARS: Just how good does being NFL commissioner pay? The New York Times reported last night that Roger Goodell made a total of nearly $128 million over the past two years in a combination of salary, bonuses and other benefits, saying the amount was disclosed at the just-ended owners meetings this week. The Times cited sources as saying Goodell's hefty pay was about 90 percent based on bonuses and due to the work he led in helping reach a new labor deal and a massive media rights package.

🏌REPORT...NEW GOLF LEAGUE BACKED BY SAUDI ARABIA WITH NORMAN AS COMMISH TO BE ANNOUNCED: Golfweek has reported that a new professional golf league backed by Saudi Arabia with retired pro golfer Greg Norman as commissioner will be announced next week. Sports Illustrated said it's unknown if the tour will be a handful of events, a week-to-week circuit that competes directly with the PGA Tour and European Tour, or some other format. PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan told players in May that they face suspension and likely expulsion if they join a competing tour.
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