TV News LIES

Unionized Starbucks baristas voted to authorize an open-ended strike ahead of Starbucks’s high-traffic holiday season, announced Starbucks Workers United on Wednesday.

The union said workers are prepared to strike if a contract is not finalized by 13 November, which is the company’s Red Cup Day, and strike actions could hit more than 25 cities and escalate if there is a lack of progress.

Starbucks Workers United, which represents more than 9,000 workers out of Starbucks’s over 200,000 baristas, has filed more than 1,000 charges against Starbucks for alleged unfair labor practices to the National Labor Relations Board, the union said.

Michelle Eisen, a spokesperson for the union who left Starbucks after a 15-year career at the company, said in a statement: “If Starbucks keeps stonewalling, they should expect to see their business grind to a halt. The ball is in Starbucks’ court.”

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A UPS cargo plane crashed shortly after take off, erupting into a massive fireball near the Louisville Muhammad Ali international airport in Kentucky, leaving at least seven dead and 11 injured, the state’s governor, Andy Beshear, said. Beshear said he expects those numbers to grow.

Flames from the crash ignited a string of fires on the ground in an industrial corridor adjacent to the international airport, apparently accounting for one of the confirmed fatalities and the injuries of 11 people, who according to airport officials were taken to hospital.

The plane, a McDonnell Douglas MD-11, had three crew members on board and crashed around 5.15pm local time, according to the Federal Aviation Administration. It was bound for Honolulu.

Beshear said early on that he believes there were at least three fatalities, but that number would increase as emergency crews parse through the debris. He added that the crash took place near two businesses: a recycling center, which took a direct hit, and an auto parts shop where all but two employees were accounted for. Their identities will be released soon, Beshear added.

The governor said there was no hazardous cargo onboard the aircraft.

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Nine people were injured by gunfire early Sunday at a large rental home where teenagers had gathered for a birthday party that was promoted on social media. The scene in north-eastern Ohio was chaotic as some people fled and first responders performed life-saving measures, police said.

The shooting happened at about 12.15am local time in Bath Township, about 15 miles (24 km) north-west of Akron.

It was one of at least 365 mass shootings – cases in which there are four or victims – that occurred in the US so far this year as of Sunday, according to the nonpartisan Gun Violence Archive. The US’s perennially high numbers of mass shootings have prompted many to call for more substantial gun control, though Congress has largely been unwilling or unable to address that issue.

At a Sunday morning news conference, Vito Sinopoli, the police chief, said the seriousness of the victims’ injuries wares not clear. It also was not immediately clear if all nine people were shot – one person’s leg injury may have been caused by a fall, he said.

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An explosion inside a Harvard University medical building early Saturday morning appears to have been “intentional,” police said.

A Harvard University Police Department officer arrived at the Goldenson Building after a fire alarm went off at 2:48 a.m., Harvard police said in a statement.

While responding to the call, the officer noted that he saw two “unidentified individuals fleeing from the building,” according to the statement. The officer “attempted to stop the individuals,” but was unsuccessful.

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In a nearly unanimous vote, hundreds of victims of child sexual abuse by clergy and other church creditors approved a $230m bankruptcy settlement with the Roman Catholic archdiocese of New Orleans by a midnight deadline on Thursday.

The archdiocese reported in a court filing on Thursday morning that the deal was accepted by a staggering 99.63% of creditors, excluding a small group of bond investors who voted against it while suing the church and alleging it committed securities fraud.

The church did not report the total number of votes cast but said “hundreds of survivors voted overwhelmingly to accept the plan”, which will dole out payments to victims of abuse based on points assigned for the severity and effects of the abuse – and includes agreements to release files on abusive priests and deacons and set up stronger protections for children and vulnerable adults.

The church has previously reported that more than 600 abuse survivors have filed eligible claims, but it is rare for every claimant to vote on a final settlement plan. Still, even if all of them cast votes, a 99.63% approval rate would mean only two of them voted against the plan.

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A group of potentially diseased lab monkeys escaped after a vehicle crash on a main interstate highway in Mississippi.

A truck carrying rhesus monkeys was involved in a wreck on Interstate 59 on Tuesday afternoon, according to a Facebook post from the Jasper county sheriff’s department.

The monkeys, which came from Tulane University in New Orleans, Louisiana, were infected with several viruses including hepatitis C and Covid-19, according to the department, thus posing a potential health risk to humans.

“The monkeys are approximately 40lbs, they are aggressive to humans and they require [personal protective equipment] to handle,” read the department’s social media post.

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