Police problem
Recently, a decision has been made about an incident involving two Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) officers suing the department for discrimination because they are Latino. Officers Allan Corrales and George Diego were awarded near $4 million combined in their discrimination suit against the department. Both officers are Latino and were involved in a fatal shooting in 2010 killing an unarmed, autistic African American man, Eugene Washington.
Mmm, lawsuits.
The Simpsons are going to court! Well, they were planning on it, until reaching a settlement. 20th Century Fox recently came to an out-of-court settlement with a special effects company over a 2-minute hologram of the popular cartoon character, Homer Simpson. Appearing at Comic-Con, an entertainment-themed convention in California, Homer’s hologram told several jokes and interacted with Simpsons’ creator Matt Groening, much to the amusement of everyone other than Hologram USA. The company claims that they have an exclusive patent to the technology behind the hologram, and that without their consent or approval, Fox owes them a monetary fee. The groups were able to meet and come to an agreement, although the terms were not immediately disclosed. Read more
Enjoy this refreshing beverage with caution…
A few short months ago, Jan Harding was almost killed after she drank iced tea that was mixed with chemicals. Harding drank a single sip of sweetened iced tea at Dickey’s Barbecue in South Jordan, UT and stated, “I think I just drank acid”. After investigation authorities confirmed, “A restaurant employee unintentionally put the heavy-duty cleaner lye in a sugar bag, and another worker mistakenly mixed it into the iced tea dispenser. Lye, which looks like sugar, is an odorless chemical used for degreasing deep fryers”. The restaurant quickly reassured consumers that Harding was the first and only to drink from this botched batch of iced tea, and no one else was harmed. Other allegations have arisen of incidents with this particular chemical in this restaurant chain, Dickey’s has not provided comment.
Don’t rock the vote
The United States is a very big country, and while most citizens can read and write in English, there are parts of Alaska where that is not the case. Sharon Gleason has asked those involved in a lawsuit against the state of Alaska to perform their due diligence and move towards a settlement. A recent ballot for elections was released in English only, and did not provide an option for native Alaskans who prefer their own language. Yup’ik and Gwitch’in are native Alaskan tongues that are mainly verbal and not often written, leading to controversy over translating voting ballots. The Native American Rights Fund is a strong advocate of multi-cultural and language-based alterations to these ballots. Read more
Stronger than the storm
Adding fuel to the fire is never something BP wants to do after the Gulf Coast disaster in 2010. Environmentalists have filed a lawsuit and are attempting to block the building of new hotels in Florida & Alabama with funds granted to restore the coast itself. BP had pledged $1 billion to improve the coastline after the infamous oil rig explosion, and have continued to fund the project. Now, scientists state that the money should only be used for ecological purposes, not for real estate development (regardless of the fact that new hotels could produce new revenue along the coast). This has sparked a hot debate about the strength of economics vs biological and scientific research. Read more