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Former St. Charles Co. employee, fired over disability, gets $527K in lawsuit

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:37:17 GMT

ST CHARLES COUNTY, Mo. - One man will receive more than half a million dollars after a jury sided with him in a wrongful termination lawsuit out of St. Charles County. After a three-day trial, a jury sided with a former St. Charles County employee in a civil lawsuit alleging that the county discriminated around him due to a disability. Expired tag or derelict? Police called as city tows truck from private driveway The Dashtaki Law Firm announced a $527,000 verdict on Friday, but did not disclose the former employee's name. According to the law firm, a 13-year former employee of the County’s Highway Department was fired in 2018 after he requested workplace accommodations related to his disability. That former employee reported disability discrimination to St. Charles County’s Human Resources Department. Close Thanks for signing up! Watch for us in your inbox. Subscribe Now Daily News ...

Kansas City celebrates opening of Vine Street, Missouri's 1st Black-owned brewery

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:37:17 GMT

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- The first Black-owned brewery in Missouri opened its doors Friday.Vine Street Brewing Co. kicked off its grand opening weekend with a ribbon cutting ceremony.Representatives from Vine Street and city officials, including Mayor Quinton Lucas, attended to ceremony.The three owners, Kemet Coleman, Elliott Ivory and Woodie Bonds, Jr., have been working on the business since 2020.“I kept seeing a brewery in my future in 2020, and I don't know why,” Founder and Co-Owner, Kemet Coleman, said. This St. Louis suburb named among Money.com’s ’50 best places’ to live The brewery is in the Historic 18th and Vine District toward the south end of the area."We're happy to cut this ribbon,” Ivory said. “I know when you break ribbon this is like the finish, but this is the start for us. This is our marathon. We're excited to be here and thank ya'll."Vine Street Brewing Co. joins the 1% of Black-owned breweries in the United States."I just want to say on behalf of everybody ...

Two vehicles fall into sinkholes on closed roads in Adams County

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:37:17 GMT

Two vehicles traveling on closed roads in Adams County this week fell in sinkholes, officials reported Friday, after recent rain and hail storms battered roadways in the Front Range. The sections were closed off as a safety precaution for motorists.“The run-off from these storms is causing flooding, erosion, and sinkholes along our storm ditches and in our roadways,” Adams County officials said in a news release. “The Public Works team is closely monitoring the roadway network and closing roads where water is creating dangerous conditions.”Related ArticlesCrime and Public Safety | Eastbound lanes of U.S. 36 shut down by crash near Broomfield Crime and Public Safety | CDOT expects fewer preemptive I-70 closures through Glenwood Canyon with new rainfall thresholds Crime and Public Safety | Five lanes of eastbound I-70 closed near Peoria Street for multiple-vehicle crash Crime and Public Safety | Fuel sp...

Jeff Van Gundy, Suzy Kolber among on-air talent laid off at ESPN: reports

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:37:17 GMT

The "Worldwide Leader in Sports" is making major changes to its on-air programming after several longtime broadcast personalities were laid off Friday.Reports indicate that ESPN will lay off as many as 20 on-air employees as part of a companywide shakeup, and news of the first casualties began trickling in Friday morning.Among those given pink slips this week was longtime ESPN anchor and 27-year veteran of the company Suzy Kolber, who announced on Twitter she had been let go. "Today I join the many hard-working colleagues who have been laid off," Kolber wrote. "Longevity for a woman in this business is something I’m especially proud of."Kolber did not specify what she planned to do next with her career, but said she was looking for something "that gives back." Oscar- and Tony-winning actor Alan Arkin dies at 89 Also given the ax by ESPN was a pair of NBA commentators who have played integral roles in the company's varied basketball programs. Jeff Van Gundy, who operated as one-th...

FBI warns of increase in scams targeting elderly people after L.A. man arrested in timeshare fraud

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:37:17 GMT

A Los Angeles man was among two arrested this week after allegedly targeting elderly people in a telemarketing timeshare scheme, one of the latest incidents in what the FBI warns is an increase in elder fraud.The men, Michael Farole, 44, of West Los Angeles, and Christopher Lang, 42, of Hays, Kansas, said they represented companies that provided advertising and other services to current and former timeshare owners, and allegedly convinced victims to pay advance fees in return for services that involved selling or securing the sale or rental of timeshares, officials said.They were charged in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles with conspiracy to commit wire fraud.After the victims paid initial fees for services that were never provided, the defendants allegedly kept contacting the victims by phone, text and emails in efforts to charge more fees.An investigation revealed that at least 370 elderly people lost more than $4.5 million as a result of the fraud, officials said.“The victims u...

SAG-AFTRA strike looms as talks continue with Hollywood studios

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:37:17 GMT

Both SAG-AFTRA and Hollywood studios could be extending negotiations to avoid a strike. The current contract expires at midnight on July 1, but that deadline could be extended to July 7.If no deal is made, either with the contract or extension, by Friday, members of the Screen Actors Guild would hit the picket lines as soon as the first of the month. Earlier this week, more than 300 actors signed a letter to SAG-AFTRA leadership urging them to fight for a strong deal rather than compromise too soon. The union is pushing for Hollywood studios to restrict the use of AI and secure higher streaming residuals for its members. Artificial intelligence has become a major point of contention in talks. Justine Bateman sounded the alarm over six weeks ago about how important of a topic it is in Hollywood. In May, the SAG-AFTRA board asked members to authorize a strike ahead of negotiation talks with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers.“An affirmative vote does not mean a st...

Anthony Sanchez, Caitlin Leedy Killed in High-Speed Car Accident on State Route 29 [St. Helena, CA]

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:37:17 GMT

Two Pronounced Dead after Solo-Vehicle Collision near Whitehall LaneST. HELENA, CA (June 30, 2023) – Saturday morning, Anthony Sanchez and Caitlin Leedy were killed in a high-speed crash on State Route 29.The incident happened at around 1:56 a.m., on the southbound lanes of the freeway near Whitehall Lane.According to reports, the driver of a red BMW 325i was driving at a high rate of speed and lost control of the vehicle. The BMW then veered into oncoming lanes and crashed into a sign on the east shoulder of the road. Upon impact, the BMW overturned.Medical personnel arrived and pronounced the driver and front passenger dead at the scene. Meanwhile, paramedics took two other backseat passengers to Providence Queen of the Valley Hospital with moderate injuries. The passengers were identified as Robert Davis, 24, and Evan Gravett, 22 of Calistoga.On Tuesday, the coroner’s office identified the deceased driver as Anthony Sanchez, 28, and the deceased passenger as Caitlin Leedy, ...

Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny Tries to Turn Back Time

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:37:17 GMT

Indiana Jones used to be afraid of one thing: snakes. The archeologist could outrun boulders, crawl through tunnels and hop on moving planes, but put him next to one of those slithering creatures and he turns into a school girl with a bug on her desk. Harrison Ford was the definition of fearless in Steven Speilberg’s Raiders of the Lost Ark, but his character has grown scared of a number of things in recent years, like risk, vivacity and originality. The sequels haven’t exactly broken new ground, delivering the same combination of laughs and thrills audiences have come to expect from this franchise. And Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny offers more of the same.As always, the action sequences–which include the inevitable running through jungles and flying across deserts–are solid. But the title Dial of Destiny, might as well refer to the series itself turning back the clock: a digital de-aging technique allows the filmmakers to bring back the original Indy...

Nine things to know about California’s new state Assembly speaker

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:37:17 GMT

California’s Assembly Speaker is among the Golden State’s most powerful political positions, a perch considered second only to the governor in influence that controls the flow of legislation, and from which many legendary politicians made their mark — Ralph M. Brown,  Jesse “Big Daddy” Unruh and Willie Brown, to name a few.On Friday, the Assembly gavel passed for the first time in more than seven years to Assemblyman Robert Rivas, 43, a Democrat whose district stretches from Gilroy to King City and includes Hollister, Watsonville and Salinas. He replaces fellow Democrat Anthony Rendon, 55, of Los Angeles County.So what do you need to know about this shift of power in the Capitol?The role of SpeakerThe Speaker presides over California’s 80-member state Assembly, appointing committee chairs and controlling the flow of legislation through hearings and votes. Elected by the full Assembly, the Speaker is nominated by the majority party caucus, becoming...

Check out blind photographers’ exhibit ‘Sight Unseen’ in Walnut Creek

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:37:17 GMT

Vision is a slippery word that in application slides beyond the human eye’s physiological capabilities to reach the more allusive way of seeing referred to as “visionary.”This idea is made emphatically by “Sight Unseen: International Photography by Blind Artists,” an exhibit running July 8 through Sept. 17 in the Bedford Gallery at Walnut Creek’s downtown Lesher Center for the Arts (bedfordgallery.org/exhibitions/current-season/sight-unseen).On tour via Pasadena-based Curatorial Assistance Traveling Exhibitions and originating from UC Riverside’s California Museum of photography (an affiliate institution of UC Riverside’s ARTSblock), the exhibit curated by photographer Douglas McCulloh features the work of 13 world-renowned blind photographers.The featured artists have a range of sight impairment, from completely to legally blind to vision that is significantly limited. The causes are varied and include some, like Henry Butler, a musician who was born blind; other photographer...