Ex-workers sue Kroger, claiming they were fired for refusing to wear rainbow symbol

 

A federal employment watchdog filed a religious discrimination lawsuit against supermarket chain Kroger on behalf of two Arkansas employees who claim they were terminated because they refused to wear an apron that included a rainbow symbol.

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, in charge of enforcing anti-workplace discrimination laws, filed the suit this week on behalf of ex-workers workers Brenda Lawson and Trudy Rickerd, who said they were fired when the company implemented a new dress code that included an apron with a rainbow heart on it.

The women said the company implemented a new policy in April 2019 that required employees to wear the emblems, which they say endorse LGBTQ values, according to the lawsuit. They claimed wearing the symbol would violate their religious beliefs and even tried to offer alternatives, the lawsuit said.

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Marshall puts professor on administrative leave over political comments

 

HUNTINGTON, W.Va. — Marshall University announced Friday that it’s put a professor on administrative leave after an overtly political statement made during a recent virtual classroom session.

Marshall does not identify the faculty member but a widely circulating video on social media shows College of Science Assistant Professor Jennifer Mosher apparently talking about supporters of President Donald Trump not following COVID-19 guidelines.

“I’ve become the type of person where I hope they all get it and die,” Mosher said. “I’m sorry. I am so frustrated…I just don’t know what else to do.”

The beginning of the video shows Mosher making some comments about those attending Trump rallies not wearing masks.

“You can’t argue with them. You can’t talk sense into them. I said to somebody yesterday, ‘I hope they all die before the election.’ That’s the only saving hope I have right now,” Mosher said.

The video then shows Mosher, an assistant professor in Biological Sciences, trying to move on to other topics.

“Definitely bootlickers. Anyhow, okay, I’m going to stop talking about politics because I really should not be talking politics in here,” Mosher said.

Marshall University said in its statement:

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Excitement mounts for planned Venus flyby after new discovery hints at signs of life

 

The astronomy community lit up earlier this week with news that hinted at possible signs of life on Venus. Among the most excited about the discovery were researchers at the European Space Agency and the Japanese Space Agency, who just happened to already have spacecraft en route to Earth's planetary neighbor.

A team of researchers using telescopes in Hawaii and Chile announced Monday in the journal Nature Astronomy that they spotted what appeared to be phosphine on Venus. Phosphine is a noxious gas that on Earth is only associated with living organisms.

 

While there were many caveats in linking the discovery directly to proof of life on Venus, it still set both the scientific community and the public abuzz with new wonder.

Missions to space can be costly and time consuming, but in a complete coincidence, the ESA and JAXA happened to already be planning a flyby of Venus next month as part of the BepiColombo mission to Mercury that launched in 2018.

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Ruth Bader Ginsburg, powerhouse Supreme Court Justice, dies at 87

 

Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the powerhouse Supreme Court justice and champion for women's rights, has died at the age of 87.

"Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg died this evening surrounded by her family at her home in Washington, D.C., due to complications of metastatic pancreas cancer," Supreme Court spokeswoman Kathy Arberg said.

Her death while still serving on the Court, a scenario long-dreaded by liberals, creates a rare election-year opportunity for President Donald Trump to nominate a conservative replacement, triggering a pitched political battle.

"Our Nation has lost a jurist of historic stature. We at the Supreme Court have lost a cherished colleague," Chief Justice John Roberts said in a statement. "Today we mourn, but with confidence that future generations will remember Ruth Bader Ginsburg as we knew her -- a tireless and resolute champion of justice."

Ginsburg had become the standard bearer for the court's liberal wing, writing landmark opinions that advanced gender equality and rights for disabled Americans and immigrants in her more than quarter century on the bench.

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Public health officials say they need more money for vaccine distribution as COVID-19 relief bill remains stalled

 

Public health officials working to make a potential COVID-19 vaccine available to all Americans said they need more than $25 billion to make it happen, but the continued impasse between the Trump administration and congressional Democrats on another coronavirus relief package has stalled that much-needed funding.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Robert Redfield and Bob Kadlec, assistant secretary for preparedness and response at the Department of Health and Human Services, raised the alarm Wednesday, saying that the agencies have depleted $600 million in previously appropriated COVID relief aid and added they still don't have enough funding to fulfill the goals of getting a free COVID-19 vaccine to everyone in the country.

Redfield said at this point the CDC does not have the resources to distribute a vaccine around the country, including infrastructure to accommodate transporting and storing doses at cold temperatures.

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Venue owner for Trump's indoor Nevada rally fined $3,000 by city for violating COVID-19 rules

 

WASHINGTON – The city of Henderson, Nevada, where President Donald Trump recently held an indoor campaign rally, is fining the venue owner $3,000 for violating COVID-19 preventative measures imposed by the state’s governor.

Coronavirus updates: COVID-19 was in US as early as December, study says; NYC lockdown led to 70% drop in spread

Gatherings of more than 50 people are prohibited in the state. Attendees of Trump's rally were also not required to wear masks, nor was social distancing enforced, despite state rules requiring those measures.

Henderson officials had issued a compliance letter and verbal warning to the event organizers prior to the rally.

More:Scientific American magazine backs Joe Biden, its first presidential endorsement in 175 years

Kathleen Richards, a spokeswoman for the city of Henderson, said in a statement: "During the event, a compliance officer observed six violations of the directives and the City's Business Operations Division has issued a Business License Notice of Violation to Xtreme Manufacturing and assessed a penalty of $3,000."

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Trump to take questions in TV ‘town hall’ as debates warm-up

 

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — President Donald Trump was participating in a televised “town hall” with uncommitted voters Tuesday night, a warm up of sorts two weeks before he faces Democratic nominee Joe Biden in the first presidential debate.

The event hosted by ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos is being taped at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia. It will feature just 21 voters in attendance to comply with state and local coronavirus regulations. The appearance will be Trump’s first time facing direct questions from voters in months, and an opportunity for the Republican to test drive his message before the critical debates.

Trump has been unusually mum on his debate preparations ahead of the first debate, scheduled for Sept. 29 in Cleveland. On Tuesday, he told Fox News that he believes his day job is the best practice for his three scheduled showdowns with Biden.

“Well, I sort of prepare every day by just doing what I’m doing,” Trump said. He noted that he had been in California on Monday and had been to other states before that to make the point that he’s getting out and about more than Biden.

Trump, in the Fox interview, lowered expectations for his Democratic opponent’s performance, judging Biden “a disaster” and “grossly incompetent” in the primary debates. He assessed Biden as “OK” and “fine” in his final one-on-one debate with Bernie Sanders before clinching the nomination.

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Sheriff: Fleeing suspect abandons winning lottery ticket

 

CANTON, Ga. (AP) — A suspect in Georgia left his good luck behind when he abandoned a winning lottery ticket while fleeing sheriff’s deputies.

The Cherokee County Sheriff’s Office says the man had a Georgia Lottery scratch game card worth $100 when he ran away during a traffic stop on Interstate 75 on Monday.

In a Facebook post, it offered its congratulations and invited him to claim the ticket at its office in Canton about 40 miles (64 kilometers) north of Atlanta.

The man, who was not identified, was later taken into custody, sheriff’s spokesman Capt. Jay Baker told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

 Baker said the man was a passenger in a vehicle that was pulled over for a tag violation, and he ran into the woods. The lottery ticket was in a backpack that also had methamphetamine, according to Baker. The man can have the lottery ticket back, but the sheriff’s office said it will keep the drugs.

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'Everything's gone': Many neighborhoods destroyed as fire, smoke devastate Oregon families, workers and homeless

 

PHOENIX, Ore. – Betty Stevens stumbled down the street that had until a few hours ago seemed so familiar, her feet crunching through ash and debris as she entered the smoking remains of her neighborhood. There were melted street signs. Trees burned down to stumps. Power lines across the road. And everywhere she turned, choking, acrid smoke.

Sobbing behind the face mask she normally wears for her job as a hospital respiratory therapist helping coronavirus patients, Stevens, 31, video recorded herself earlier this week as she stumbled through the neighborhood, raw emotion in her voice, sometimes unable to form words, moaning in obvious pain.

"I think everything's gone," she says as the rising sun illuminates the destruction. "This doesn’t do justice to how terrifying and horrific this is, seeing how devastated everything is. Our homes are gone. Our homes are completely gone."

The Almeda fire is one of more than 2,000 wildfires that have burned through the western United States in the past weeks, forcing tens of thousands of people to evacuate their homes from Colorado to California and Oregon, and enveloping millions in choking, toxic smoke considered hazardous to breathe.

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Vinyl record sales outpace CDs for the first time since the '80s amid the pandemic

 

Americans seem to be listening to more vinyl records amid the pandemic. 

In fact, vinyl outsold CDs for the first time since the 1980s, according to a recently released mid-year report from the Recording Industry Association of America. The report underscoring the state of the U.S. music industry captured how people's music listening has changed during the coronavirus crisis.

With people having more time on their hands due to COVID-19 lockdowns, music streaming, which includes revenue from paid services such as Spotify, Apple Music and Amazon, grew 12% to $4.8 billion in the first half of 2020.

The average number of paid music subscriptions was 72 million, up 24% compared to the first-half average for 2019, according to the report.

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2 Los Angeles sheriff's deputies shot in ambush; both in critical condition

 

Two Los Angeles sheriff's deputies were "fighting for their lives" on Saturday night after being shot multiple times in an ambush-style attack. The suspect was still at-large late Saturday.

One male officer and one female officer were injured in the shooting, which took place at about 7 p.m. local time.

"Moments ago, 2 of our Sheriff Deputies were shot in Compton and were transported to a local hospital," the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department tweeted. "They are both still fighting for their lives, so please keep them in your thoughts and prayers."

 

The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department said the deputies were sitting in their patrol car at the time of the attack and both were shot multiple times.

"That was a cowardly act," Sheriff Alex Villanueva said during a press conference on Saturday night.. "The two deputies were doing their job, minding their own business, watching out for the safety of the people on the train. To see somebody just walk up and start shooting on them. It pisses me off. It dismays me at the same time. There's no pretty way to say it."

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North Carolina Zoo Announces Birth Of 'Cute But Ferocious' Sand Cat Kitten

 

The North Carolina Zoo is excited to announce the birth of a sand cat -- a small wild cat living in sandy and stony deserts.

Sand cats may be small but don’t let their petite size fool you. They weigh from four to eight pounds and measure, on average, 20 inches long. But they’re wild, fearless hunters that kill venomous snakes in the desert.

They’re also a rare sight to see because they live in harsh landscapes, are secretive in nature, and hunt at night.

Only 13 facilities affiliated with the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA) have sand cats.

 

The kitten, small enough to fit into a teacup, was born to mother Najma and father Cosmo. This is the first kitten for the pair.

Although sand cats are incredibly appealing with their big ears, big eyes and petite frame, ask any zookeeper who cares for them about their demeanor and you’ll hear: they are wild, ferocious animals that should never be kept as pets.

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'Transexual Satanist anarchist' wins GOP nomination for sheriff NH

A self-described “transexual Satanist anarchist” has won the Republican nomination for the sheriff’s job in Cheshire, N.H. — a victory she says proves “the system is utterly and hopelessly broken.”

Aria DiMezzo, who ran with the campaign slogan “F*** the Police” in hopes of merely making a statement, won the nomination for Cheshire County sheriff on Tuesday. The victory was first reported by Inside Sources.

In a Friday blog post, DiMezzo said she opposes a system that allowed thousands of people to walk into a voting booth and vote “despite knowing absolutely nothing about the person they were nominating to the most powerful law enforcement position in the county.”

“I’m running for sheriff because I oppose that very system, and the sheriff has the most hands-on ability in Cheshire County to oppose that system,” she said. “The system that let you down by allowing me — the freaking transsexual Satanist anarchist — be your sheriff candidate is the same system I’m attacking. I’m sorry, and I know it hurts to hear, but that system is a lie.

“The entire thing is a lie. It’s broken from beginning to end, and my existence as your sheriff candidate is merely how this reality was thrown into your face,” she said.

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