Month: August 2022

Categories
Business

Australian social media company Linktree sacks 17 per cent of staff

Australian social media company Linktree sacks 17 per cent of staff

An Australian social media start-up that was recently valued at $1.78 billion is sacking 17 per cent of staff from its global operations.

The company, whose main offices in Australia are based in Sydney and Melbourne, said it has 25 million users and is one of the top 300 most popular websites globally with 1.2 billion monthly views.

Yet, his co-founder and chief executive Alex Zaccaria, revealed on LinkedIn that he was “heartbroken” to announce that staff would be axed.

The news came despite the company, which has been backed by billionaire Afterpay co-founder Nick Molnar, raising $US110 million ($A1578 million) in March.

It also announced a brand transformation in June and revealed plans for a whole suite of new tools and features set to be released over the coming months.

The company is believed to have around 300 employees, with the 17 per cent figure equating to around 50 staff that will be sacked, with roles impacted understood to cover talent acquisition, people and culture, design and marketing.

Mr Zaccaria said he had shared the “difficult news” with staff about the cuts, which were being made to “emerge stronger from the economic downturn”.

“Our people have built Linktree into what it is today: trusted by millions of people around the world. I’m heartbroken to say goodbye to some incredible teammates today, and want to do all I can to support them,” he said.

“On Friday, we will post a public, opt-in Airtable for those of our team impacted and ask you to please consider this group of incredibly talented and passionate people for roles you have open. I can assure you they will make huge contributions wherever they land.

“If you’d like to speak to me personally about any individual, my DM’s are open.”

The cuts come after the company introduced a $6000 reward annually to staff just six months ago, with the perk described as “mind-blowing” by employees at the time.

Linktree started off as a way for influencers to link to everything from their outfits, blog posts, podcast episodes and social media, but has evolved into a platform that enables brands, artists and businesses to monetize their content through social media.

Its high-profile users feature Selena Gomez and Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson as well as brands such as TikTok and Red Bull.

Mr Zaccaria also revealed that the company had made some “big bets” and hired in line with its ambitions, but economic conditions had changed in 2022 forcing the company to make the cuts.

“Conditions changed faster than expected and those assumptions I made were wrong,” he said. “I have many learnings to take into the next phase of building Linktree. That next phase involves narrowing our focus on our long-term strategy by reducing roles that are no longer aligned with our road map.”

In a further letter to Linktree staff, Mr Zaccaria said he would be hosting a weekly ‘Ask Me Anything’ session to staff for the next four weeks.

“Friday will be a company-wide mental health day at Linktree. For a company like ours, so focused on culture and camaraderie, this will be difficult news,” he said.

“I don’t expect anyone to be their normal selves. We will also be allocating you an additional mental health day that you can take at a time that suits you.

“The opportunity for Linktree is immense and I have no doubt we’ll achieve everything we intend to and more for our creators.

“The right path is rarely the easy path. Today’s change to our team is the hard way, but it puts us in a strong position to deliver on the opportunity we have in front of us.”

Staff that have been made redundant will receive an average of 11 weeks pay, mental health support for three months and laptops and work from home equipment will be gifted.

The company is still actively recruiting for roles on LinkedIn including product managers, integrated marketing managers and engineers, with 16 jobs currently advertised.

Tech sector bloodbath

Linktree’s staff are the latest casualties in the tech sector, which has seen a spate of companies firing staff as conditions get tougher.

Immutable, an Australian crypto company valued at $3.5 billion was facing a fierce backlash last week after sacking 17 per cent of its staff from its gaming division, while continuing to “hire aggressively” after raising $280 million in funding in March.

Australian healthcare start-up Eucalptys that provides treatments for obesity, acne and erectile dysfunction fired up to 20 per cent of staff after an investment firm pulled its funding at the last minute.

Debt collection start-up Indebted sacked 40 of its employees just before the end of the financial year, despite its valuation soaring to more than $200 million, with most of the redundancies made across sales and marketing.

Then there was Australian buy now, pay later provider Brighte, that offers money for home improvements and solar power, which let go of 15 per cent of its staff in June, with roles primarily based on corporate and new product development.

Another buy now, pay later provider with offices in Sydney called BizPay made 30 per cent of its redundant workforce blaming market conditions for the huge cut to staffing in May.

Earlier this year, a start-up focused on the solar sector called 5B Solar, which boasts backing from former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull, also sacked 25 per cent of its staff after completing a capital raise that would inject $30 million into the business

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Categories
Technology

Mobile Is the Main Source of Revenue for Activision Blizzard

Mobile Is the Main Source of Revenue for Activision Blizzard

Microtransactions aren’t about to end.

Activision Blizzard is one of the biggest gaming companies. The California-based organization is behind some popular licenses like Call of Duty, Devil, Overwatchor world of warcraft. If for years the core of Activision Blizzard activities was focused on PC gaming, this trend has shifted with the release of various mobile titles. The latest and most controversial one is Devil Immortal and its microtransactions.

“Do you guys not have phones?” When Blizzard developer Wyatt Cheng said this during BlizzCon 2018, gamers got their pitchforks out. But mobile games might become the new trend for Activision Blizzard, considering this is now the biggest source of revenue for the company.

The organization’s latest financial report reveals that during the second quarter of 2022, more than half of Activision Blizzard’s revenues came from mobile games. The company earned $332 million from PC in this period, and $376 million on combined console sales. Mobile gaming brought in more than PC and console combined, with over $831 million in revenue.

Last year, the revenues from mobile gaming were roughly the same as consoles – mobiles made $795 million, while consoles brought it $740 million. Consoles sold more last year than this one thanks to the release of Call of Duty: Vanguard. A new installment in this series will come out later in 2022, with Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II coming out on October 28.

While Activision’s 2022 catalog has been pretty thin on consoles, Devil Immortal turned into a cash machine for the company on mobile platforms. This free-to-play game became controversial among players because of its emphasis on micro-transactions. But if that didn’t make gamers happy, it seemed to have fulfilled its goal of bringing some money for Activision Blizzard.

Two months after its release, Devil Immortal surpassed $100 million in global player spending. Micro-transactions are everywhere, and some players even paid $100,000 to improve their character.

Last January, Microsoft announced its intent to acquire Activision Blizzard for the whopping amount of $68.7 billion. If this purchase may change the controversial company culture, it seems unlikely Microsoft would turn down the immense profits that come from mobile gaming.

Source

Categories
Sports

Wallabies’ 2024 gameplan development starts now

Wallabies' 2024 gameplan development starts now

A gutsy, come-from-behind Wallabies win in Mendoza on Sunday morning (AEST) was sadly soured by two significant events.

The first was the Achilles injury suffered by Quade Cooper in the 48th minute itself. The second was the almost immediate realization of the major ramifications for game development, specifically leading into the Rugby World Cup next year in France.

A ruptured Achilles tendon is a major injury with full recovery typically outlined in nine-to-12-month terms.

The tendon itself can take around six to ten weeks to heal, according to online resources, but it could be as long as four to six months before a patient is in a position to commence relatively normal activity, like walking or running. Even if this is achieved, the general advice appears to be a that it will likely take another six months or so of rehabilitation treatment before the injury is considered fully recovered.

Obviously – as if this even needs to be said – these timeframes are indicative only, and equally obviously, every patient is different. TheRoarunsurprisingly, is not the best place for medical advice.

Harry Johnson-Holmes suffered a ruptured Achilles almost immediately after arriving in camp from the Australia A squad last month in the midst of the front-row injury crisis, and his training and recovery to restore the strength and conditioning he needs for the front row is going to be a lot different to Cooper’s.

But this point remains: even if Cooper can get the best possible treatment available and strictly adheres to his rehab while maintaining the best fitness and body condition he possibly can going into next year, he’s still going to be a 35-year-old coming off an Achilles rupture.

If Johnson-Holmes is racing the clock, so too is Cooper.

Quade Cooper of the Wallabies

(Photo by Chris Hyde/Getty Images)

Which all amounts to the Wallabies no longer having the option of basing a gameplan around Cooper at flyhalf for the World Cup.

And that probably means that the post-RWC – and post Cooper – thinking around the way the Wallabies approach and play the game needs to be identified and employed well ahead of time.

Maybe not this week, because the next game is probably too close, and Argentina is not exactly an easy commute. But certainly in this Rugby Championship the Wallabies have just begun, and certainly over the course of the five-Test Spring Tour in late October and November.

And all the thinking for 2024 would hinge around two key questions that now need answers in August 2022.

How do the Wallabies want to play? And…

Who do are the best options to fit into and drive that approach?

The Roar experts Brett McKay, Harry Jones and Jim Tucker review Australia’s win in Mendoza

With Cooper back in the No.10 for the first time this year, Australia looked very different in attack in Mendoza than they did against England in July, and that would have surprised no-one.

There were noticeably more flat runners, and more inside lines being offered – Jordan Petaia’s for the first try being an obvious example – as Cooper looked for and played toward any chinks he could find in Los Pumas’ defense.

Nic White’s role was to play field position and get Cooper the ball where he needed it and when he wanted it. Hunter Paisami’s role was play support to Cooper and often trigger the next phase of attack when Cooper ran, while Len Ikitau and the back three were the guys running the lines that Cooper needed, from first phase, as an inside option, and obviously to support any tackle busts and line breaks.

On the whole, it went OK. Cooper showed plenty of signs in the first half that he’d not played a great deal of rugby since late May, and that’s not unexpected given the nature of the injury that sidelined him in July.

But he was starting to look more dangerous and the Wallabies attack more threatening when the old sniper in the stands got him eight minutes after halftime.

When Cooper went off, White and to a lesser extent Paisami took more control of the play, with Reece Hodge admirably playing the distributor and linking role in between them. The Aussies simplified their attack, increased their pace as they entered the attacking zone, and guys in space had supporting options around them.

So the Wallabies need to work out if they want to play primarily off 10 or distribute the playmaking across 9, 10 and 12. Then they need to work who the best options are for whichever method they want to deploy.

Indeed, it could be that they want the ability to play both styles, and maybe even use different players accordingly.

If Noah Lolesio is now the man, then the team needs to play within his capabilities and to his strengths. If it’s Ben Donaldson, then he needs to be added to the squad at the first logically and logistically possible opportunity to start gaining experience. Same applies for Tane Edmed or any other young options.

Noah Lolesio kicks the winning goal for the Wallabies

(Photo by Chris Hyde/Getty Images)

James O’Connor may be an option if he’s fit. Hodge did exactly what he was asked of in Mendoza, but would be a questionable long-term option.

But further, the Wallabies now more than ever need to ensure the Super Rugby sides are on the same page. If it’s Lolesio, then Stephen Larkham and the Brumbies need to know what they need to start building into Lolesio’s game in January, so that he’s right for the national team in July and August. If it’s Donaldson or Edmed, then Darren Coleman and the Waratahs could do a lot worse than play to the same attacking structure.

Communication with the states is going to be crucial. Coordinated planning and feedback and tinkering between the national coaches and their Super counterparts will need to be deliberate and careful and regular.

And it’s all achievable, importantly. The Brumbies-Wallabies conduit is well established. With Jason Gilmore taking charge of Australia A this year and employing Dave Rennie’s structures, it won’t be foreign to the Waratahs, either.

If Cooper can recover in time get enough game time into his body, then by all means, take him to France.

But the Wallabies can’t wait and see.

Any success they achieve in France next September needs to come from steps taken and methods employed in the next few months.

And the very real prospect that it may not involve Cooper at all.

Categories
Australia

Bunbury Outer Ring Road last-minute Federal Court challenge fails, construction in Gelorup to resume

An aerial shot of cleared land next to a highway

A last-minute legal challenge against the construction of a controversial bypass highway in WA’s south has failed in its bid to stop bulldozers from clearing native bushland.

On Friday, construction was halted at the southern and final leg of the $1.25 billion Bunbury Outer Ring Road when an eleventh-hour injunction was granted by the court.

But the court today agreed with government lawyers that the legal challenge “had no legs”, and dismissed the injunction, clearing the way for construction to resume today.

Judge Craig Colvin was not satisfied with the opponents’ legal argument about the legitimacy of the federal process Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek took to grant environmental approval.

Work to clear 71 hectares of native habitat for the road began last week, prompting protests from members of the local community who have said the impact on the critically endangered western ringtail possum would be too great.

At least five people were arrested for trespassing onto the site and locking themselves on to machinery and trees.

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Categories
US

Driver in LA-area crash that killed 5, including pregnant woman, charged with 6 counts of murder

Driver in LA-area crash that killed 5, including pregnant woman, charged with 6 counts of murder

A driver has been charged with six counts of murder in a fiery crash that killed five people last week near Los Angeles.

A pregnant woman was killed, and her fetus did not survive.

Nicole Lorraine Linton, 37, of Houston, is also charged with five counts of vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence, Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón said Monday afternoon.

Security video shows a Mercedes Benz E-Class Coupe going through a red light Thursday before it plows into multiple vehicles in Windsor Hills, about 10 miles southwest of downtown Los Angeles.

The California Highway Patrol said in a statement that Linton drove the Mercedes at a “high rate of speed.” The investigation continues.

Highway patrol officials did not immediately respond to a request for an update Monday.

“This is a case that will always be remembered for the senseless loss of so many innocent lives as they simply went about their daily routines,” Gascón said in a statement Monday.

It was not clear whether Linton has a lawyer, and the Los Angeles County public defender’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Linton was hospitalized with moderate injuries, but the district attorney’s office said Monday she was expected in court for arraignment before the end of the day Monday.

Ashley Ryan, 23, was on her way to an appointment with an obstetrician when her vehicle was struck, family members have said. Her boyfriend de ella, whom the coroner has not publicly identified, and her 11-month-old boy, Alonzo Quintero, were also killed.

Family said Ryan and her boyfriend planned to name their unborn child Armani Lester.

Two women in another vehicle also died in the crash; they have not been publicly identified.

Dennis Romero

Dennis Romero is a breaking news reporter for NBC News Digital.

Categories
Business

The US is bidding to cap the price of Vladimir Putin and Russia’s oil

The US is bidding to cap the price of Vladimir Putin and Russia's oil

The core of her proposal is that an international price cap of between $US40 and $US60 a barrel – a level just above Russia’s break-even productions costs of between $US30 and $US40 a barrel – would be imposed on Russian oil shipments.

Those importers that could demonstrate that they had observed the cap would be able to get access to insurance coverage and financing.

The thesis underpinning the plan is that Russia would keep producing oil because it would rather receive some, albeit far lesser, revenue from oil sales than none. It would also face significant and lasting damage to its wells as other oil industry infrastructure if there were a prolonged shutdown of production.

For the buyers, the carrot would be very low oil prices. While China and India have taken advantage of existing sanctions on Russia to gorge on purchases of Russian oil at discounts of about $US30 a barrel to international prices, they could get even cheaper oil if they signed up to Yellen’s plan. The current oil price is about $US96 a barrel.

The US is relying on the self-interest of China and India and other buyers of Russia’s oil to outweigh any relationships with Russia. Russia and China, of course, signed a pact – a “friendship with no limits” – just ahead of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. China has been listening to Yellen but has made no commitments.

Russia has, predictably, threatened to simply cut off all its oil sales if the price cap is imposed. That would send the oil price soaring dramatically – it isn’t possible to replace 10 per cent of the world’s supply – and cause shortages and spikes in already unpalatable inflation rates in the major economies.

Yellen is relying on Vladimir Putin to act rationally in Russia’s economic self-interest, just as the plan really needs China and India and others to do the same.

It could also use myriad sanctions-busting techniques to try to circumvent or at least blunt the impact of the plan.

The West buys about 70 per cent of Russia’s oil and there is a big question mark on whether there is sufficient demand elsewhere to absorb that even if the logistical issues of getting it to prospective buyers could be resolved.

The US believes that Russia, while perhaps briefly carrying out its threat to halt production, will want to produce as much as it can even at prices modestly above its break-even to maintain at least some flows of revenue to fund a war in Ukraine than has so far been largely funded by oil sales that, even with the big discounts and reduced sales, have been hugely profitable at the current prices. The higher prices have more than offset the losses of volume.

If the American assessment were to be proven correct, the flow of Russian oil into the market at prices way below the current market could have a halo effect, helping to bring prices down generally and contributing to a lowering of global inflation rates.

US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has been touring the world trying to convince countries, insurers, banks and shipping companies that a price cap could work to crimp Russia's oil revenues.

US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has been touring the world trying to convince countries, insurers, banks and shipping companies that a price cap could work to crimp Russia’s oil revenues.Credit:Bloomberg

How OPEC might respond to the creation of a buyers’ cartel isn’t clear. Russia is a key OPEC affiliate and the producers’ cartel has been reluctant to co-operate with US efforts to increase oil production to bring prices down. It begrudgingly agreed to a meager 100,000 barrels a day increase – about 0.1 per cent of the current production – after Joe Biden’s recent visit to Saudi Arabia.

It isn’t going to be happy about the prospect of a significant fall in oil prices if the Yellen plan is implemented effectively, nor will it be keen to promote a buyers’ cartel that could subsequently be used to counter its influence over the oil market .

The price cap proposal is complex and it is unclear whether, even if they wanted to, the shipping and insurance companies could ensure compliance in practice.

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Much of the recent work being done on the plan, with input from the shipping, banking and insurance companies, has been on trying to simplify the compliance regime so that it is workable and the companies can identify which charges have been sold within the cap and which haven’t.

Time is running out for Yellen to lock the complex pieces that would support the price cap regime in place. If the EU sanctions go live without some compensatory measures the oil price will take off. Even if those measures are in place, Russia’s response could still cause prices to soar.

Yellen is relying on Vladimir Putin to act rationally in Russia’s economic self-interest, just as the plan really needs China and India and others to do the same.

Categories
Technology

Google sued for dropping free Workspace apps • The Register

Google sued for dropping free Workspace apps • The Register

A putative class action lawsuit has been filed against Google in California by early adopters who are unhappy about the ads company’s decision to demand fees for its Workspace productivity suite.

At the $5 million suit’s core is an allegation that Google promised early adopters of what would later become Google Workspace that they would get to use a free version of the service for as long as the search giant offered it.

Google Apps first arrived in 2006, was rebranded G Suite in 2016 and, in 2020, the rebranding-wand was waved once again to give customers the Google Workspace of today.

The complaint [PDF]filed on August 5 in a San Jose district court, alleges: “From 2006 until 2012, in order to convince potential users to leave well-developed suites of services offered by Google’s competitors (eg, Microsoft Office), Google made a promise to early adopters of Google Workspace. Google promised that such users would always be provided a free version of Workspace (including at least the features that the service had when these customers signed up) as long as Google offered the Workspace service.”

As far as Workspace is concerned, after being referred to as a legacy service, the freebie G-Suite apps were discontinued in favor of Workspace this year, although one could continue to use the tools for personal use.

Key to the complaint is an allegation that the workplace apps that first emerged in 2006 were refined with the assistance of feedback from those early adopters, resulting in something that was professional enough to actually charge for by 2012.

As well as punishing Google for dropping its “don’t be evil” slogan (“Google’s abandonment of the creed “don’t be evil” is well-illustrated in this case,” the lawyers claimed), the complaint reproduced statements from the search giant at the time, including:

“…organizations that sign up during the beta period will not ever have to pay for users accepted during that period (provided Google continues to offer the service).”

The Register asked Google for its reaction to the complaint, and we will update this piece should a response be forthcoming. ®

Categories
Sports

Cameron Smith, Marc Leishman join LIV Golf Series, report, Cameron Percy, video

Cameron Smith, Marc Leishman join LIV Golf Series, report, Cameron Percy, video

Cameron Percy has lifted the lid on Cameron Smith’s intentions, revealing the Open champion is “gone” and will join the Saudi-backed LIV Golf Series.

Smith, 28, was irate when he was asked about his future in the moments following his extraordinary one-shot victory at St Andrew’s last month.

“I just won the British Open and you’re asking about that? I think that’s pretty- not that good,” Smith said.

Pressed on the matter, the Australian was coy.

“I don’t know, mate. My team around me worries about all that stuff, I’m here to win golf tournaments,” he said.

Watch LIVE coverage from The USPGA Tour with Fox Sports on Kayo. New to Kayo? Start your free trial now >

Donald Trump backs LIV Golf Series | 00:46

But Percy, a top-10 finisher at the Wyndham Championship, said his Australian compatriots Smith and Marc Leishman were “gone” and had signed with the financially lucrative LIV Golf Series.

“Unfortunate, year, they’re gone,” Percy told RSN radio.

The extraordinary revelation comes ahead of this week’s FedEx Cup playoff opener, which is expected to see Smith take to the tee amid a court’s hearing into whether three LIV golfers should be permitted to play after defecting to the rebel league.

Percy said the PGA Tour had known for years that a rebel tour was being formed.

“I had a long conversation with (2013 Masters champion) Adam Scott and he was very interesting talking to about it, just where it is,” he said.

“He said he met with these guys (LIV) in 2017 (and) they were ready (to) do all this. So, the tour has known for a long time that this stuff’s in the works.”

Scott has previously been on the record speaking about LIV Golf, saying in April “the schedule that they’re proposing is very appealing to probably most golfers” and he would “consider” making a move too.

Cameron Percy has revealed his Australian compatriots Cameron Smith and Marc Leishman have signed with LIV Golf Series. Photo: Getty Images
Cameron Percy has revealed his Australian compatriots Cameron Smith and Marc Leishman have signed with LIV Golf Series. Photo: Getty ImagesSource: AFP

Percy, meanwhile, delivered a not-so-subtle dig at those taking the money and defecting, raising the ethical questions around where the money is coming from.

“The more and more you look into it, some people don’t care, some people have got a conscience and do care,’ he said.

“It really comes down to, you know, ‘they just executed 80 people this week, just chopped their heads off’. They’re not the nicest people in the world.

“Do you just look past that and go, ‘Oh well, I’m rich I don’t really care’. It’s a tough one, it really is.”

Smith, the world No.2, was reportedly offered more than $100 million to join the LIV Golf Series.

Should he indeed accept the offer, he will be the highest ranked player to defect.

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Aussie golf’s ‘special’ $3.4m move earns big boost … but Smith wait goes on amid LIV link

‘I found three brothers’: Golf legend reduced to blubbering mess in stirring live TV farewell

Smith reflects on Open celebrations | 08:18

Former major winner Ian Baker-Finch last month to ignore the offers and create a legacy in the game by staying in the PGA Tour – something currently he would struggle to achieve in LIV Golf, where tournaments are 54 holes and don’t contain the player strength nor history.

“I know that they are talking to him and many others,” Baker-Finch, who won the Claret Jug in 1991, told SEN radio.

“I hope he doesn’t because I think he can leave a great legacy by winning major championships and becoming the best player in the world.

“I don’t think I need the money. I don’t think it is going to be something that he should do.

“He will be a $100m guy or more now. Does he want to win more majors or does he want the money? I am hoping he stays and leaves a great legacy like a Tiger Woods or Rory McIlroy … which he could do. I think Justin Thomas and Rory McIlroy and a lot of those guys that still compete and play well in majors, and want to leave a legacy, they’re the guys I would be following.”

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Categories
Australia

Adelaide man, 47, dies from cardiac arrest after waiting 40 minutes for ambulance to arrive

A green and white ambulance with a blurred street behind it

A 47-year-old man has died while waiting more than 40 minutes for an ambulance in Adelaide.

The man, who was suffering chest pain, called triple zero at 5:19 pm on Monday, after pulling over on Anzac Highway at Plympton.

The state’s Ambulance Employees Association said 35 minutes later, bystanders noticed the man was unresponsive and began giving him CPR.

The union said the case was upgraded to a priority one, and the first paramedic arrived at 6:01pm, 42 minutes after the initial triple zero call.

The patient was unable to be resuscitated.

The SA Ambulance Service (SAAS) has been contacted for comment and is expected to release a statement about the case.

The union said at the time of the case, the SAAS had declared an “Opstat White” – with 20 urgent cases left uncovered across the metropolitan area.

It said ambulance crews had been ramped for three hours at the Royal Adelaide Hospital and for six hours at the Flinders Medical Centre.

Chady Hamra - witness
Chady Hamra, who witnessed the man’s death say something needs to be done. (ABC News: Lincoln Rothall )

Witness Chady Hamra was working across the road when he saw the man going into cardiac arrest.

“We couldn’t really see what was happening… we could see people standing around someone,” Mr Hamra said.

“I think something needs to be done about it, someone’s life just got taken.

“It’s pretty tragic to wait that long, and it’s not far [ambulance units] from here.

“We’re not out in the country, we are in the city… you’d expect within five or ten minutes if that.

“It was terrible, my wife was in tears when we heard.”

Premier says death is ‘beyond tragic’

SA Premier Peter Malinauskas said the circumstances of the case were “beyond tragic”, and that an investigation would be conducted.

“A man, a relatively young man, has tragically lost their life under circumstances that might have been preventable,” Mr Malinauskas said.

A man in a blue suit speaks into media microphones at a podium with a banner behind him with the SA logo
The Premier Peter Malinauskas said the circumstances of the case were “beyond tragic”.(ABC News: Ben Pettit)

“I think every South Australian knows that my government has made it clear that addressing ambulance ramping, which has consequences in terms of ambulance response times, is a priority of ours which is why literally as we speak, we are dramatically ramping up the resources within the ambulance service so they don’t spend their time ramped up and spend their time responding to call-outs as quickly as possible.

“We saw over the course of the last four years ambulance response times collapse. In no small part, that was a function of ramping, which is why we’ve got a policy to reduce ramping.”

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Categories
US

Windsor Hills crash: Nurse Nicole Linton faces 6 counts of murder, DA George Gascón says

Windsor Hills crash: Nurse Nicole Linton faces 6 counts of murder, DA George Gascón says

LOS ANGELES (KABC) — A nurse who was allegedly driving 90 mph when she ran a red light and slammed into traffic in Windsor Hills, killing six people, is being charged with murder and could face a 90-year sentence, Los Angeles District Attorney George Gascón said Monday.

Nicole Linton, 37, has been charged with six counts of murder and five counts of gross vehicular manslaughter, Gascón said.

If convicted of all charges, she faces a potential sentence of 90 years to life in prison.

Linton was hospitalized after the crash, but was booked into jail over the weekend. She was initially being held on $2 million bail but that amount was increased to $9 million.

At Linton’s first court appearance Monday, a judge ordered her held without bail, but a hearing will be held next Monday to review bail.

Authorities say Linton was speeding in a Mercedes when she ran a red light at the intersection of La Brea and Slauson avenues on Thursday. She slammed into multiple vehicles, and three of them were engulfed by flames.

Linton is a traveling nurse from Houston who was working in the Los Angeles area. Police are looking into whether drugs or alcohol played a role in the crash.

On Monday, Gascón said so far police have not developed evidence of alcohol use but they are continuing to investigate.

RELATED: Woman was heading to prenatal checkup with infant son, boyfriend before deadly Windsor Hills crash

During Monday’s bail hearing, Linton’s defense attorney claimed there was no evidence of drugs or alcohol in her system and alluded to “profound mental health issues” as a potential reason behind the crash.

A prosecutor said she had been involved in “a number of prior collisions throughout the United States” including a 2020 crash in which two vehicles were totaled and people were injured.

Among the dead from the Windsor Hills crash were Asherey Ryan, who was more than eight months pregnant, along with her boyfriend Reynold Lester and their unborn baby, named Armani Lester.

Asherey’s 11-month old son Alonzo Quintero was also killed. They were heading to a prenatal doctor’s appointment at the time of the crash.

“A young family was destroyed in the blink of an eye,” Gascón said.

Gascón said the six murder charges include Asherey’s unborn child, but the charge of manslaughter cannot legally apply.

The father of Alonzo Quintero told Eyewitness News he wants to see justice for his son.

“The smile. He had a smile that would brighten up your day, no matter what,” Luis Quintero said, fighting back tears. “He was full of joy, very excited. I loved when he gripped his hands from him. When he would kick his legs from excitement.”

“I want to see that justice is made. Something for her, payback for what she’s done. Maybe then I can forgive her. But not now. She took my son away from me. And I will never see him.”

After hitting Asherey and Reynold’s car, Linton’s Mercedes then collided with a Nissan Altima and killed two women inside, who have not been publicly identified.

She also careened into an SUV carrying a family of seven. They all incurred minor injuries. Several other vehicles were also struck.

Family members and community members gathered at the intersection Sunday to remember the lives lost.

“She was such a beautiful lady,” said Jean Martin of Windsor Hills, who attended the vigil. “You know she was a good mom. To her family de ella, be sure to take the life and time you had and cherish that.”

A growing memorial of flowers, photos and candles was placed at the intersection in memory of the victims.

Family members and community activists also called for safety improvements at the intersection, which they say has seen other serious crashes.

A GoFundMe has been set up to help Asherey’s family with funeral expenses.

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