A Philadelphia lawmaker wants to ban bulletproof glass at convenience stores in the city.
Philadelphia, PA – Philadelphia councilwoman Cindy Bass has introduced a controversial bill that would require business owners to take down any bulletproof glass they have in their businesses, and not allow future installation.
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The bill, known as the Stop and Go bill, is moving through city hall, and reads “No establishment shall erect or maintain a physical barrier.”
Broad Deli is a local business on the corner of the 2200 block of North Broad. It has a wall of bulletproof glass separating its employees from customers.
“The most important thing is safety and the public’s safety,” Rich Kim, the owner of Broad Deli, told WTXF. His family has run the deli, which sells soda, snacks, meals, and beer by the can, for 20 years.
Kim said that he had the bulletproof glass installed after a shooting, and that it saved his mother-in-law from a knife attack.
“If the glass comes down, the crime rate will rise and there will be lots of dead bodies,” he said.
Bass was more concerned about customer’s feelings, and said her constituents shouldn’t have to suffer the indignity of shopping through bulletproof glass.
She said that she is trying to put some type of control on these small stores, which she claimed sell booze, very little food, and caused a lot of trouble in her district.
“Right now, the Plexiglas has to come down,” she said.
Kim disagreed with Bass’s characterization of businesses like the one he owns, and said when he called police about people loitering, the response time was usually slow.
He said he believed that he was being targeted as a Korean-American. Business owner Mike Choe agreed with him.
Choe, who runs a non-profit that supports Korean-owned businesses, said that he planned to raise $100,000 to fight the bill.
“I do think it’s a bad bill that will endanger Korean Americans,” he said.
Bass said that she is fighting for her constituents.
Choe responded to Bass, and said the “bill targets Korean Americans.”
Bass denied Choe’s allegation.
“Absolutely not. I find that offensive,” Bass said.
Do you think business owners should have the right to choose whether they want to install bulletproof glass in their businesses to protect employees? Tell us what you think in the comments below!
A Louisville man admitted to police that his actions killed his 3-month-old son.
Cody Bates is charged with murder for the June death of his baby boy.
In an interview with police not long after the boy died, Bates changed his story several times.
At first, he said the baby fell of the couch while he was sleeping with him at their home on Jessica Allen Drive.
When investigators told him his story did not add up and was not consistent with the brain bleeds and skull fractures doctors found, Bates changed his story again.
“I was standing right about the middle of the table. I flung him over and he missed this thing and actually hit the floor right there with his head up,” Bates said during an interview with police.
Bates said the boy would not stop crying and he was overwhelmed.
“I was just tired. I over-slung my son. Now I don’t even have my best friend anymore,” Bates said.
The man cried several times after giving his final account of what happened, but in the police car on the way to the interview he was more calm. He mentioned that his son’s death would allow he and the boy’s mother more freedom.
“She’s going to go back to school for nursing and all that. I mean, I hate to say it, but I mean now would probably be a better time now that we just lost our son,” he said.
When Bates realized he was going to be charged with murder, he once again broke down in the interview room.
“I’m going to go to jail. I’m going to lose my job. I’m going to lose her. I’m going to lose everything,” he said.
Bates is not allowed to have any contact with the family of his son’s mother.
A Missouri man has been charged with statutory sodomy of a 1-year-old he was babysitting.
Jayson Newlun, 26, has been charged with taking advantage of a little girl he was babysitting.
Probable cause documents in this case show that Newlun was a family friend of parents with a 1-year-old girl.
Newlun stayed at the family’s home the night of June 29th.
Documents show that on June 30th, the parents left the 1-year-old girl, who was napping, in the care of Newlun while they went to the store.
After arriving at the store, the mother realized she’d left her WIC folder at home — and they returned to retrieve it.
Went they got home, the child’s mother noticed Newlun was not on the couch anymore, and her daughter’s bedroom door was open. The mother walked in and said she saw Newlun take an inappropriate photo of her child before touching the little girl’s genitals while masturbating himself.
The mother ran and got her husband who immediately confronted Newlun.
Court documents state Newlun screamed before he was tackled by the girl’s father. The father reportedly hit Newlun with a dresser drawer and punched him several times.
A neighbor stepped in and stopped the father from attacking Newlun.
The mother told police while she was waiting for officers to arrive, she asked him why he would do something like this. He told her he didn’t know. She reportedly told him “I hope you go down for this.” He replied “I do, too.”
Family members told police they had only been gone for five or ten minutes.
Newlun was detained and taken to the Clay County Detention Center.
The Senate passed the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act on Saturday, which serves as one of the final steps for Congress to pass historic tax legislation.
The Senate passed the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act 51-49, almost entirely along party lines, with Vice President Mike Pence presiding over the vote. Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN) voted against the bill, and 48 Democrats voted against the tax reform legislation as well.
Reluctant Republican senators such as Susan Collins (R-ME) and Jeff Flake (R-AZ) voted for the bill after last-minute changes were made. Flake received a commitment from Republican leadership and the White House that they would pursue a permanent solution for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) illegal aliens, while Collins received a provision that would keep the deduction for state and local taxes (SALT).
The U.S. Senate voted just before 2 a.m. ET Saturday to pass a sweeping tax overhaul worth roughly $1.4 trillion, putting the Trump White House a big step closer to its first major legislative victory – and many Americans closer to a tax cut.
The vote was 51-49, with Republican Bob Corker of Tennessee the only member of the GOP to side with the Democrats in opposition.
Not long after the vote, President Donald Trump tweeted his reaction:
“We are one step closer to delivering MASSIVE tax cuts for working families across America,” the president wrote. “Special thanks to @SenateMajLdr Mitch McConnell and Chairman @SenOrrinHatch for shepherding our bill through the Senate. Look forward to signing a final bill before Christmas!”
Donald J. Trump
@realDonaldTrump
We are one step closer to delivering MASSIVE tax cuts for working families across America. Special thanks to @SenateMajLdr Mitch McConnell and Chairman @SenOrrinHatch for shepherding our bill through the Senate. Look forward to signing a final bill before Christmas!
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., also responded, calling the legislation a “betrayal of the American middle class.”
“The GOP tax scam is a product of haste, carelessness and cruelty,” Pelosi wrote. “It was written on Republicans’ trickle-down delusions, not analysis or facts. It was written first and foremost for the wealthiest one percent, not middle class families trying to get ahead.”
In passing the #GOPTaxScam, @SenateGOP has sealed its betrayal of the American middle class.
The bill is not yet finalized. Saturday’s vote means the Senate and House have passed similar tax reform plans, but negotiators from both chambers will start meeting Monday to agree on a single piece of legislation that both chambers must approve before it is sent to the president for his signature.
Here’s how the latest legislation would affect you:
What deductions can I claim under the Senate bill that just passed?
The Senate bill does away with federal deductions for state and local income and sales taxes, but allows deductions of up to $10,000 in local property taxes. The legislation originally eliminated federal deduction for all state and local taxes, but the property tax exemption was later added at the insistence of Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, who said she was “delighted” about the change.
What about personal deductions?
Like the House bill, the Senate bill nearly doubles the standard deduction level to $12,000 for individuals (up from $6,350) and $24,000 for couples (up from $12,700).
Any other deductions I could claim?
The Senate bill retains the current limit for the home mortgage interest deduction to interest paid on the first $1 million of the loan. (The House bill reduces the limit to $500,000 for new home purchases.) The Senate version also preserves the deduction for medical expenses not covered by insurance (the House bill does not), but ends deductions for moving expenses and tax preparation.
Why does the Senate bill allow deducting medical expenses not covered by insurance?
Because the Senate bill also repeals ObamaCare’s individual mandate, while the House bill does not. If ObamaCare’s mandate is repealed, thousands of people are expected to drop their health insurance, raising the cost for those who decide to keep it.
And the personal exemption?
The Senate and House bills both eliminate the $4,050 personal tax exemption.
Will the tax brackets change at all?
The Senate bill keeps seven tax brackets, but reduces them to 10, 12, 22, 24, 32, 35 and 38.5 percent. (The current brackets are 10, 15, 25, 28, 33, 35, and 39.6 percent.) The House measure condenses seven brackets to four: 12, 25, 35 and 39.6 percent.
I own a small business. What would this mean for me?
The Senate bill allows owners of so-called “pass-through” businesses (that is, businesses that aren’t incorporated) to deduct 23 percent of their earnings, and then pay at their personal income tax rate on the remainder. This issue was a key concern of Sens. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., and Steve Daines, R-Mont., both of whom announced this week that they would support the bill.
What about corporate tax rates?
Like the House bill, the Senate bill cuts the current 35 percent rate to 20 percent, but the Senate bill calls for a one-year delay in dropping the rate.
When will tax reform take effect?
President Trump and congressional Republicans have vowed to make tax reform law before the end of the year. If that happens, most of the provisions would come into force on Jan. 1.
Will tax reform affect my returns for this year?
The changes will not have any impact on your taxes for 2017, which are due to the IRS by April 17, 2018 (you get an extra 48 hours to file because the traditional April 15 due date falls on a Sunday).
So when will the differences in the bills be hashed out?
The House will vote on a motion to go to conference on the tax bills on Monday evening. The Senate is expected to vote on a similar measure soon after. Congress is scheduled to adjourn for its Christmas break on Dec. 15, but House Speaker Paul Ryan has said he will keep the House in session beyond that date if necessary to get tax reform passed.
Former ESPN Vice President Roxanne Jones claimed in a Friday op-ed published on CNN that “women enable” sexual predators.
Jones criticized women for being complicit in covering up for sexual predators in a piece written for CNN. Jones brings attention to the many female NBC employees who reportedly covered up Matt Lauer’s alleged sexual predatory behavior before he was fired by NBC on Wednesday.
“Behind every sexual harasser, be he Matt Lauer or the man next door, likely stands a woman willing to excuse, cover up or feel ‘heartbroken’ for the abuser once his lewd behavior is exposed,” wrote Jones.
Jones criticized Lauer’s former co-host Savannah Guthrie of “Today,” who looked visibly devastated when announcing his firing on-air. Guthrie emphasized, while sitting next to Hoda Kotb, that she was “heartbroken” and referred to him as a dear friend.
“Why would Guthrie and Kotb immediately rush in to praise Lauer before they even had details of the story?” inquired Jones, especially after a Variety report broke that Lauer had a secret button under his desk to allegedly sexually harass women in his office.
Guthrie previously joked about a “huge bag of sex toys” found in Lauer’s desk while on the Meredith Vieira Show in 2o16. Vieira previously worked with Lauer from 2006-2011.
Megyn Kelly, host of “Megyn Kelly Today” on NBC also referred to Lauer as a “friend” on air following being news being broke of his firing. She also welcomed his accusers and Lauer on her show.Lauer was fired Tuesday after a female staffer filed a complaint to Human Resources that he sexually harassed her while covering the 2014 Sochi Olympic Winter Games.
Critics of a jury’s verdict Thursday in the trial of Kate Steinle’s killer have taken to Twitter to #BoycottSanFrancisco.
The hashtag was trending in the wake of a controversial trial in which defendant Jose Inez Garcia Zarate was found not guilty of murdering Kate Steinle on a pier in San Francisco in July 2015.
Steinle was walking with her father and a family friend when she was fatally shot, collapsing into her father’s arms.
Zarate, an undocumented immigrant, claimed the shooting was an accident. The bullet, fired from a stolen gun Zarate found, ricocheted off the pier’s concrete surface before hitting Steinle.
However, prosecutors argued Zarate intentionally shot the gun toward Steinle.
Zarate was acquitted of first- and second-degree murder, involuntary manslaughter and found not guilty of assault with a semi-automatic weapon. He was found guilty of possessing a firearm by a felon.
In a Twitter rant early Friday, President Donald Trump called the decision “a complete travesty of justice” and seized upon the ruling as another reason to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border.
“The Kate Steinle killer came back and back over the weakly protected Obama border, always committing crimes and being violent, and yet this info was not used in court,” Trump tweeted. “His exoneration is a complete travesty of justice. BUILD THE WALL!”
