An entire store of Starbucks workers have walked out of their cafe mid-shift, in support of a colleague they claim was “unjustly” terminated.
In a TikTok video which has been viewed more than 18.6 million times, a team of nine workers can be seen leaving the store in Buffalo, New York.
The protest occurred after barista Sam Amato – who is also a union leader – was reportedly fired on the week of his 13th anniversary with the company.
After the employees leave, a woman who appears to be the store manager can be seen talking on the phone. The on-screen caption in the video reads: “* manager realizes she she’s messed up *”.
In a previous video Mr Amato claimed he was pulled aside by two store managers and was told he was being let go because he “modified operations and closed the lobby” without getting his “store manager’s permission”.
“It is a BS reason. It’s because I’m a union leader,” claimed Sam.
“They failed to provide any details or give me any information. They wrote things that were not true.
“After 13 years they refused to give me any details why I was fired.”
In the comments, the majority of TikTok users supported the worker’s efforts.
“Starbucks really is hell bent on ruining their reputation aren’t they,” read one comment.
“Good on you guys. Stand together. Keep this energy going,” read another.
“Starbucks, I’m a loyal customer but trust me when I tell you. That can change real quick friend!” shared another.
Under United States labor laws, workers in all 50 states bar Montana are subject to at-will employment. This means employees can be fired without prior warning and without the need for the employer to establish a cause. However, employers can still be challenged on the grounds of wrongful termination – like discrimination.
While some states have exceptions – for example, workers in the public sector, or those under union agreements – the states of Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Maine, Nebraska, New York, and Rhode Island have no exceptions in regards as to why an employee may be terminated.
Since late 2021, Starbucks employees across the US’ 9000+ corporate-owned stores have attempted to unionize with Workers United. As of June 14, 143 stores have unionized, while 120 other outposts were petitioning for union elections, Guardian reports.
Workers United stated that the coffee giant has been systematically cutting employee hours in an effort to convince longtime employees to retire, before replacing them with workers who won’t unionise, the New York Times reports.
“Starbucks is also using policies that have not previously been enforced, and policies that would not have resulted in termination, as a pretext for firing union leaders,” the union said in a statement.
With around 33,833 stories in 80 countries, Starbucks is the world’s largest coffeehouse chain and is estimated to be worth A$140 billion.
Apex Legends Season 14: Hunted released this week and seems to have brought more with it than a new playable character and content updates. Players are reporting that the game is randomly giving their chosen character the abilities of other random players. For example, in the image below we can see Pathfinder using Wraith’s Dimensional Rift ultimate.
Image via Lone on YouTube
Other cases that have been discovered are Newcastle playing like Gibraltar and Ash getting Loba’s teleportation bracelet. Everything seems to be running just fine when the players use these abilities, even down to their character using the proper animation that the original person would use. The game seems to be doing a weird palette swap with its characters randomly when you choose at the beginning of the game. Even though you are choosing one character, the game is taking the kit, voice lines, and abilities from another and applying them to the skin you have equipped.
Unfortunately, no one seems to have found a way to make this bug happen; it is completely random after you choose your legend. Given the chaotic nature of choosing a character with particular abilities and getting something else, some players are enamored with this bug and are hoping Respawn Entertainment can spin it off into a unique limited-time mode for the future. Ideas thrown around seem to center on your player choice being a roulette of sorts, where you don’t really know who you are choosing.
Related: How to play Vantage in Apex Legends – best tips and strategies to win
Bugs are not entirely uncommon when it comes to big updates for season drops in live service games. Usually, the problems you run into can seem to stem from server issues, but this one just seems like a random one-off issue that happened in the update files. It is likely that Respawn will have the issue fixed sooner rather than later.
Her own best advertisement! Skincare entrepreneur Zoë Foster-Blake, 42, shows off her glowing complexion de ella as she enjoys an afternoon stroll with her eldest child Sonny in Sydney
By Jimmy Briggs For Daily Mail Australia
Published: | Updated:
Zoë Foster-Blake said last month that she had the ‘best’ birthday party ever in Italy and now the author is keeping things more laidback in Sydney.
The beauty mogul, 42, looked relaxed on Wednesday as she spent some precious mother-son time with eldest child Sonny on an afternoon walk around Vaucluse.
The mother-of-two dressed for comfort against Sydney’s chilly weather in a plain white jumper, black leggings and sneakers.
Beauty mogul Zoë Foster-Blake (pictured) looked relaxed on Wednesday as she spent some precious mother-son time with eldest child Sonny on an afternoon walk around Vaucluse
Zoë even pulled her sleeves down to cover her hands from the cold weather which exposed just a hint of her yellow sports bra.
She held hands with her eight-year-old as they took a stroll through the leafy Sydney suburb.
The Wrong Girl author had a determined look on her face as she powerwalked with the son she shares with her husband, Australian comedian Hamish Blake.
She held hands with her eldest child Sonny as they took a stroll through the leafy Sydney suburb
It comes after Hamish revealed the real reason he was invited on his wife’s birthday trip to Italy was to be a cameraman.
The comedian, 40, shared an Instagram snap of his beauty guru wife Zoë and a group of their friends standing in front of a stunning Italian backdrop.
In the selfie, Hamish clutched two phones and camera, while the group of women posed in the background.
Zoë dressed for comfort against Sydney’s chilly weather in a plain white jumper, black leggings and sneakers
‘I’m lucky enough to be on my wife’s belated 40th Girls Trip to Italy and don’t worry,’ he wrote.
‘I know exactly where I stand (off camera, 3 meters away with the sun behind me, taking at least 5 options per photo, per phone),’ he added.
Hamish shares two children with Zoë, they are Sonny, eight, and daughter Rudy, five.
She has recently been celebrating her 40th birthday in Italy where she was seen relaxing by the pool as she soaked up the sun
An institutional “culture of callousness” led The Angels County deputies and firefighters to shoot and share photos of the remains of Kobe Bryant and other victims of the 2020 helicopter crash that killed the Lakers star, his 13-year-old daughter, and seven others, a lawyer for Bryant’s widow told a jury Wednesday.
Vanessa Bryant’s attorney Luis Li told jurors in his opening statement in US District Court in her invasion of privacy trial against the county that the cell-phone photos shot at the crash scene by a deputy and a fire captain were “visual gossip” viewed “for a laugh,” and had no official purpose.
“They were shared by deputies playing video games,” Li said.
“They were shared repeatedly with people who had absolutely no reason to receive them.”
Adam Dergazarian, bottom center, pays his respects for Kobe Bryant and his daughter, Gianna, in front of a mural painted by artist Louie Sloe Palsino in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong, File) (AP)Firefighters work the scene of a helicopter crash where former NBA basketball star Kobe Bryant died in Calabasas, Calif. Jan. 26, 2020. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill, File) (AP)
An attorney for the county defended the taking of the photos as an essential tool for first-responders seeking to share information when they thought they might still save lives at the chaotic, dangerous and hard-to-reach crash scene in the Calabasas hills west of The Angels
“Site photography is essential,” county lawyer J Mira Hashmall said.
Vanessa Bryant cried frequently during her lawyer’s presentation. She was still wiping tears from her eyes minutes afterward during a break.
Li told jurors that learning a month after the crash about the photos’ circulation not from the county but the Los Angeles Times compounded her still-raw suffering.
Life and times of former NBA star Kobe Bryant
Vanessa Bryant, the widow of Kobe Bryant, leaves a federal courthouse in Los Angeles, Wednesday, Aug. 10, 2022. Kobe Bryant’s widow is taking her lawsuit against the Los Angeles County sheriff’s and fire departments to a federal jury, seeking compensation for photos Deputies shared of the remains of the NBA star, his daughter and seven others killed in a helicopter crash in 2020. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong) (AP)Vanessa Bryant and Kobe Bryant. (instagram)
“January 26th, 2020, was the worst day of Vanessa Bryant’s life. The county made it much worse,” Li said.
“They poured salt in an open wound and rubbed it in.”
Li played jurors security video of an off-duty sheriff’s deputy drinking at a bar showing the photos to the bartender, who shakes his head in dismay.
The lawyer then showed an image of the men laughing together later. Li described firefighters looking at the phone photos two weeks later at an awards banquet, and showed the jury an animated chart documenting their spread to nearly 30 people.
Li said the county failed to conduct a thorough investigation to make sure every copy of the photo was accounted for, and because of the fear that they will someday surface, and her surviving children may see them online, Vanessa Bryant “will be haunted by what they did forever.”
A bronze sculpture honoring former Los Angeles Lakers NBA basketball player Kobe Bryant, his daughter Gianna Bryant, and the names of those who died, is displayed at the site of a 2020 helicopter crash in Calabasas, California. (AP Photo/Ringo HW Chiu) (AP)
During the defense’s opening statement, Hashmall told jurors that the fact that the pictures have not appeared in more than two years showed that leaders in the sheriff’s and fire department did their jobs.
“They’re not online. They’re not in the media. They’ve never even been seen by the plaintiffs themselves,” Hashmall said.
She added, “That is not an accident. That is a function of how diligent they were.”
Sheriff Alex Villanueva and department officials immediately brought in all those involved and ordered them to delete the photos, rather than conduct a long official investigation that might harm the families further, she said.
“He picked what he viewed as the only option — decisive action,” Hashmall said. “He felt like every second mattered.”
Hashmall told the jury that the reason Li even had the video of the bartender to show, which she suggested was deceptively edited to show the men laughing together, was because the Sheriff’s Department had gotten it the same day they received a complaint from another bar patron who witnessed the photo sharing.
She said the deputy was struggling emotionally from the difficulty of dealing with the crash scene, and that the bartender was a longtime friend in whom he was confiding.
“He pulled out his phone, and that shouldn’t have happened,” she said.
“In a lapse, in a moment of weakness, he showed those photos, and he has regretted it every day of his life.”
A young LA Lakers fan looks up to the hill where NBA legend Kobe Bryant was one of nine people killed in a helicopter crash. (AP)
The defense attorney urged jurors to look past the grief of those who brought the lawsuit and focus on the matter before them.
“There is no doubt these families have suffered,” she said.
“It’s unspeakable. But this case is not about the loss from the crash. It’s about the pictures.”
Chris Chester, whose wife, Sara, and daughter Payton were also killed in the crash, is also a plaintiff in the lawsuit, which seeks unspecified millions.
The county already agreed to pay US$2.5 million to settle a similar case brought by two families whose relatives died in the January 26, 2020, crash.
Bryant and Chester declined to settle.
Kobe Bryant, his 13-year-old daughter Gianna, and other parents and players were flying to a girls basketball tournament when their chartered helicopter crashed in the fog.
Federal safety officials blamed pilot error for the wreck.
So far, the Gov. Gretchen Whitmer kidnapping retrial is shaping up like the last case, if jury selection is any indication.
A jury was seated in one day, just like last time, with the judging handling of most of the questioning.
Most of the chosen folks don’t like the news, or pay much attention to it.
And they said they know very little about the high-profile case involving the state’s chief executive, militias and those groups’ disdain for Whitmer’s handling of the pandemic.
While several said they had heard about the case when it initially surfaced two years ago, they noted they have learned very little, if anything, about it since.
More:Will feds salvage Whitmer kidnap case? ‘The key is jury selection,’ experts say
More:2 Whitmer kidnap plot suspects found not guilty; mistrial declared for other 2
What we know about the second Whitmer kidnap jury
A diverse jury was picked this time, whereas the last jury was all white. The panel of 10 women and eight men includes two Black women and one Hispanic male.
Twelve jurors and six alternates were picked to decide the fates of Adam Fox and Barry Croft Jr., who are being retried on charges they orchestrated a plot to kidnap the governor out of anger over her handling of the pandemic. Their first trial in the case ended in a hung jury, with two other defendants acquitted. Two others pleaded guilty early on and will testify in the retrial.
Seventeen of the 18 jurors picked in this sensational case are:
A chemist who said that he heard about the case in the past, and learned it was in the news again recently, but that “there’s more to the story than what you read.”
A female factory worker whose daughter-in-law got high with accused ringleader Adam Fox at a boat launch near Whitmer’s cottage. The woman disclosed during jury selection that her daughter-in-law had come into contact with the defendants at a boat launch, and she was questioned by the FBI about the encounter, but she did not remember anything because she was intoxicated. According to testimony from the last trial, Fox smoked pot with this woman on the day he went to scope out Whitmer’s vacation house. Now her mother-in-law is a juror in Fox’s case. She was initially an alternate juror, but replaced a regular juror who was dismissed on Wednesday due to illness. The new juror said that she had heard about the Whitmer case, but that she doesn’t watch the news and “doesn’t have strong political views.” When asked whether if she could be a fair and impartial juror she answered: “I feel like I could.”
A female accountant who says she doesn’t follow the news much.
A male underwriter for an insurance company who sort of follows the news.
A female interior designer who said she has no strong political views and tries not to listen to the news.
A male retiree who managed a trucking department and now goes fishing with his free time. “The news makes me angry,” he said, later adding: “My wife doesn’t want me watching the news.”
A Grand Rapids Community College student who also works at Menards as a forklift operator.
A female factory worker who makes plates for bumpers on F-150 pickup trucks, but said she’s a Chevy person. She doesn’t listen to the news, heard about the kidnapping case when it first happened, but nothing since. “I have no political views,” she said.
A male freelance graphic designer and illustrator who said he heard of the Whitmer case, but only got “broad strokes.” He said he can be fair.
A woman who works as an office administrator, doesn’t listen to the news, has a criminal justice degree and has heard about the case. “I respect both sides. I’m not biased,” she said.
A Grand Rapids woman who works at a gastronenterology office coordinating visits and referrals. She tries to avoid the news and said “I hate politics.” After she cleared the dismissal process, she disclosed that she didn’t like guns or violence, which raised concerns for the defense. But it was too late to excuse her from the case as the defense had already agreed to keep her on. She is an alternate. “I am against guns,” the woman said as the selection process was drawing to close, explaining that her mother’s husband had a psychotic breakdown and tried to kill her and her family. “I’m just against guns and violence.”
A female retiree who used to work at a plating factory running a hoist. “I just kind of lay around. … I read,” she said. “I don’t really have an opinion on the case. … I don’t really follow politics.” She said that she has strong political views on some things not tied to the case, and that she can be fair.
A Grand Haven man with no car or driver’s license who said he would need a ride to trial. He said he rarely follows the news and knows little about the case, other than hearing about it when it first happened.
A male mechanic who works with heavy equipment, including excavators. He follows mostly local news, enjoys hunting and trapping, owns a shotgun and a deer rifle.
A woman who works as a nutritionist and doesn’t really follow the news, but said that when she does she gets it from Facebook. She said she could be fair. The judge asked her whether she’d like to serve. She said yes.
A stay-at-home mom who is preparing to go on a “glamping” trip with her two sons.
This is the juror who was dismissed: A woman who works from home as an IT solution architect and said her husband has the news on constantly. She said she has some impressions about the case but she was willing to listen to the evidence and make an unbiased decision based on that. She said she has strong political views, but she did not disclose them and said she could set them aside and fairly decide the case.
The jurors are identified only by number, and descriptions of the remaining juror couldn’t be discerned from notes.
‘Only two things matter’
At the start of jury selection, Chief US District Judge Robert Jonker told the prospective jurors that the case is “potentially more challenging and potentially more interesting” than other trials, given its high profile.
“The victim is our sitting governor. There has been publicity. There have been earlier proceedings,” Jonker said, without disclosing that there was a previous trial that ended with no convictions.
Jonker stressed to the jury pool, however, that only two things matter:
“This is not a political forum. It’s not whether you like Gov. Whitmer or don’t like Gov. Whitmer. It’s not whether you think mask mandates were good policy or bad policy,” Jonker said. “Here in court… only two things matter: what the law is, and what the evidence is.”
mistrust in government
Mistrust in the government appeared to be a top priority during the jury selection process, based on Jonker’s questions and comments.
I have asked prospective jurors repeatedly about how they felt about the government, noting that the case is loaded with controversial issues: a sitting governor’s response to the pandemic, mask mandates, lockdowns and an FBI investigation into an alleged plot to kidnap her.
During jury selection in the last trial, the judge asked prospective jurors whether they could set aside their political views or any preconceived ideas about the case. But he didn’t focus as heavily on the topic of mistrust in the government as he did Tuesday, when multiple hands went up when asked whether they had reservations about being fair in this case due to mistrust of the government.
“I don’t like politicians or politics. I don’t personally trust them. … I just don’t particularly trust the government in general,” said one woman, a hairdresser. “It’s a very unpopular opinion to have to say out loud in federal court.”
Jonker told her she wasn’t alone.
“It may of course be one of the more popular opinions these days,” Jonker said before asking the woman whether she believes “the government has a bigger hill to climb.”
More:Prosecutor asserts Crumbleys’ ‘toxic’ family life turned their son into a killer
More:Michigan immate dying of cancer begs Gov. Whitmer for freedom after 46 years
“At this point in my life, I’m automatically distrusting, it’s always back there in my mind, I don’t trust authority,” the woman said.
Jonker replied:
“It’s not an isolated opinion. A lot of people have a mistrust of government,” Jonker said, before telling the jury pool the government is “entitled to a fair trial, just as the defendants are.”
Who was dismissed from the jury?
The cosmetologist was bounced from the jury pool. So were the following:
A woman who said she has multiple friends and family members who attended the Jan. 6 rally in Washington, DC, but were not part of the Capitol breach. She said they had a right to be there to express their opinions.
A woman who said she had family in the Elk Rapids area, the same city where Whitmer’s vacation home is located. “I don’t think I could be very fair,” she said.
A retired firefighter and self-described staunch conservative who said he has a strong bias against the defendants. “I hate to say that, but I feel if the case has gone this far and it makes it to court and they haven’t pleaded out, that they’re guilty. I’m sorry.”
A male security officer who said he reads the newspaper a lot, has read about the case, and would find it hard to set aside what he’s read. “I don’t think I’d be very fair at this point.”
Staking out Whitmer’s vacation home
Fox and Croft are being retried on kidnapping conspiracy and weapons of mass destruction charges. They are accused of, among other things, casing Whitmer’s vacation house and building explosives that would be used in the kidnapping plan.
Prosecutors said the pair and others plotted to blow up a bridge near Whitmer’s vacation house to slow down law enforcement.
According to trial testimony, Fox, while on his way to scope out Whitmer’s cottage, stopped at a bridge near her house, got out, and took a photograph of the bridge that would be an explosive target. But the defense maintains that an undercover informant came up with the idea of surveilling Whitmer’s home, planned the trip, found the address and convinced the others to make the trip. The defense also says it was the informant who suggested that Fox get out of the car and take a photo of the bridge.
The defense has long argued that the FBI tried to entrap the defendants in a kidnapping plot that was devised and run by FBI agents and informants looking to advance their careers.
The prosecution counters this is a case about violent extremists who wanted to do real harm to the governor because they disagreed with her decisions. And they didn’t just talk about it, they have argued, but took steps to make it happen, like casing her house, buying night vision goggles, building a “shoot house” that looked like her cottage for snatch-n-grab exercises and forming encrypted chat rooms to hide their plan from law enforcement.
If convicted, both men face up to life in prison.
Praise for the judge
After court was adjuurned, defense attorney Chris Gibbons said he was pleased with the jury that was empaneled, and that he would now shift his focus on convincing the jury of his long-standing claims: that the FBI orchestrated the kidnapping plot, and ran the whole show.
As for the juror who got on the panel after disclosing her dislike of guns, he said:
“It just is what it is,” Gibbons told reporters after court was added Tuesday.
“I think the judge did a nice job with voir dire today and he certainly did give us an opportunity to ask the questions we thought needed to be asked.”
Opening statements are scheduled for Wednesday morning.
With this new facility, plus Moderna’s under-development RNA plant in Victoria, Australia’s vaccine infrastructure has received a major shot in the arm.
The new biosecurity level-2 facility sits behind a series of airlocks; workers have to dress in full suits to go inside. “This place is cleaner than an operating theater,” said John Power, group leader of regulated biomanufacturing.
The lab makes protein and viral vector vaccines – the technologies used in Novavax and AstraZeneca’s jabs. The vaccines are grown by vast armies of cells housed in huge steel vats known as bioreactors.
The cells are given the genetic code for what needs to be produced: perhaps a viral protein, or even a whole antibody. They churn the product out en masse, before it is filtered out, purified, and filled into vials.
The genetically-modified cells arrive frozen in a tiny vial at Clayton; the team carefully thaw them and then grow them to up to 200 litres.
loading
The process is like tending to a plant – the researchers carefully tweak temperature and oxygen levels to get the cells to grow at their best.
When CSL was making the AstraZeneca vaccine, these processes hadn’t been perfected, leading to the first batch of vaccine being lower than was expected. CSIRO’s lab will specialize in perfecting that process before it goes into large-scale manufacture.
“If we get another pandemic, we should be in a much better place,” Nilsson said.
The facility also comes with machinery to fill vaccines into vials, ready for use in clinical humans.
loading
Facilities like this exist in Australia but are generally only for large runs.
“Facilities like this offer an opportunity for co-development, and that really high-quality manufacturing that is needed for clinical trials,” said Professor Trent Munro, one of the developers of the University of Queensland’s COVID vaccine and now program director for the internationally funded vaccine rapid response pipeline.
“All too often, researchers fail to understand just how complicated this early-stage manufacturing is. There’s a temptation to try to find ways to do it super-cheap and super-quick. We need all three – quick, cheap, and high quality.”
The facility can do both vaccines and drug therapies. It is already working on an antibody therapy for a university researchers declined to name.
Liam Mannix’s Examine newsletter explains and analyzes science with a rigorous focus on the evidence. Sign up to get it each week.
Since being at the center of Australia’s most high-profile fashion deal, sass & bide co-founder Sarah-Jane Clarke has been on many private journeys but with her travel-inspired brand, she is now returning to the runway on her own terms.
In 2011, sass & bide was snatched from the David Jones family of designers by department store rival Myer, who purchased 65 per cent of the brand for $42.5 million. Two years later the remaining 35 per cent was purchased by Myer for $30 million, and Clarke and co-founder Heidi Middleton happily drifted away from Australian fashion’s front lines.
Designer Sarah-Jane Clarke (right) with model Magnolia Maymuru wearing Sarah Jane pieces at David Jones, Sydney.Credit:Dominic Lorrimer
Now Clarke returns to David Jones, taking part in the store’s spring season launch tonight in Sydney, with her eponymous label Sarah-Jane Clarke sharing the runway with Matteau, Toni Maticevski and Bianca Spender.
“It’s quite different to what it was like in my twenties,” says Clarke, who started sass & bide at London’s Portobello Market with Middleton in 1999. “It did seem like we were after world domination back then. Now I’m moving at a gentler pace.”
The relaxed Sarah-Jane Clarke range is a lifetime of experience away from sass & bide’s bum-clutching denim, rats leggings and sequinned vests worn by Beyonce, Madonna, Rihanna and Sarah Jessica Parker in sex and the city. Clarke started her label de ella in 2018, focusing on slow fashion pieces inspired by travel and distributed online and in resort boutiques.
Step back in time. Sarah-Jane Clark (L) and Heidi Middleton during sass & bide’s heyday arrive at the David Jones Tahitian Summer Collection Launch at the David Jones Sydney store on August 9, 2006.Credit:Getty
“It’s been a very, very slow chug along with a different brand ethos,” Clarke says. “With sass & bide we were focused on newness. Now I’m producing two seasons a year of pieces that are multitaskers and easy to wear. There’s still the dopamine rush from great colors and beautiful fabric, but the joy can be experienced in different ways.”
That joy is captured in flamenco-style silk-linen trousers subdued by a biscuit palette, powder blue blazers with sharp shoulders that soften into a baggy silhouette and whimsical tunics trimmed with ostrich feathers.
Since sending the first pieces out from her Watsons Bay studio, Clarke has been in discussions with Bridget Veals, David Jones general manager of womenswear, but waited until the time felt right before returning to Australian fashion’s frontlines.
The Brodie Grundy trade links have been revitalized following the latest report.
7 News’ reporter Mitch Cleary said on Wednesday night that Collingwood is willing to pay up to $300,000 of his salary per season to a rival club in order to facilitate a trade.
Grundy has been linked to several clubs including Melbourne, GWS and Geelong in recent weeks, although neither Grundy nor the Magpies have publicly indicated any desire to facilitate a trade.
However, the rise of Darcy Cameron and the form of Mason Cox have seen Collingwood fans miss Grundy less and less throughout the season while he’s been injured.
The speculation comes just over two years after Collingwood signed Grundy to a seven-year deal at big money.
The 28-year-old hasn’t consistently reached his peak form since inking the contract. He struggled in the hubs in 2020, played better in 2021 but only managing six games this season.
All the information available can only say one thing about Grundy’s contract, according to Kane Cornes.
“If Collingwood are now really open and he is open and he’s meeting with clubs on the eve of Collingwood’s finals series and the fact that I heard Collingwood are prepared to pay $300,000 of his wage next year, it might even be more,” the Port Adelaide great began on SEN’s Whateley.
“If that’s the case, and you’ve got five years left on a deal, that’s been an absolute disaster for them.
“To give a guy $7 million for seven years and only after two years you’re looking to pay a large chunk of his salary for him to play for another premiership candidate.
“I don’t think there’s any way you can look at that contract other than a massive failure, it’s an embarrassment really.”
As to where Grundy could end up, Cornes believes Melbourne is chief among suitors.
“I think he works at Melbourne, just because of Max Gawn’s flexibility and Gawn’s willingness to play a team-first role,” he added.
“I mean Max Gawn doesn’t need the 80 per cent touches in the ruck, he’s happy to play wherever Simon Goodwin needs him, be that forward, be that behind the ball or in the ruck.
“I’d love to see him go to Melbourne, I think it works.
“You’re upgrading Luke Jackson for probably a two-year period where you’re going to get Brodie Grundy in the sweet spot.”
Jackson is widely tipped to return home to Western Australia and join Fremantle during the 2022 trade period.
Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott announced Wednesday that the state will be taking several new precautions in response to the Uvalde school shooting, including adding dozens of additional officers to the Uvalde school district patrol.
Abbott’s statement explained that the Texas Department of Public Safety “will be providing more than 30 law enforcement officers to campuses throughout the Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District (UCISD) for the new school year.”
“The beginning of a new school year should be an exciting time for students and teachers, and the State of Texas is working to provide that for the Uvalde community,” Abbott said. “As a new school year begins, we must ensure students, parents, and all dedicated school personnel can look forward to new opportunities to learn and grow. Texas will keep working to provide all available support and resources to the Uvalde community as they continue to heal.”
The press release outlined other steps that have been taken to stem school shootings in the future, including $5 million to establish a “long-term Family Resiliency Center” to provide mental health services in Uvalde, and $1.25 million for trauma counseling and community outreach in the Uvalde school district.
UVALDE SURVEILLANCE FOOTAGE SHOWS POLICE RESPONSE AS GUNMAN MURDERED 19 CHILDREN AND 2 ADULTS
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott attends a press conference where he signed Senate Bills 2 and 3 at the Capitol in Austin on June 8, 2021. Montinique Monroe/Getty Images
A committee of Texas state lawmakers investigating the police response to the Robb Elementary School shooting in Uvalde in late May that left 19 students and 2 teachers dead released a 77-page report in July detailing “systemic failures” and “poor decision making” from those involved.
The investigation criticized the inaction of state and federal law enforcement, who made up the majority of responding officers. The report states that there were 91 state police officers, 149 from US Border Patrol, 25 Uvalde city police officers, 16 sheriff’s deputies and 5 officers from the Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District Police who responded to the crime.
UVALDE, TEXAS, MAYOR ALLEGES SHOOTING INVESTIGATION A ‘COVER-UP’
The committee said law enforcement failed to quickly confront the suspect, having retreated to safety after taking gunfire and waited for backup.
“They failed to prioritize saving the lives of innocent victims over their own safety,” the report said.
Fox News’ Stephen Sorace contributed to this report.
A wave of COVID-19 cases and flu infections over winter has been blamed for a significant drop in office occupancy rates across most major cities.
Melbourne had the lowest return-to-office rate in July, according to data from the Property Council of Australia released on Thursday.
The figures show the occupancy rate of Melbourne offices dropped from 49 per cent in June to 38 per cent in July, while in Sydney the rate fell from 55 to 52 per cent, in Brisbane from 64 to 53 per cent and Adelaide from 71 to 64 per cent
Canberra and Perth were the only markets to record an increase in office occupancy, from 53 to 61 per cent and 65 to 71 per cent, respectively.
Property Council Chief Executive Ken Morrison said a rise in illness during the winter season was a contributing factor in the decline.
“Office occupancy numbers have gone backwards for the first time in six months as a wave of Omicron and flu cases kept workers away from the office,” he said.
“We have been seeing a steady increase in the number of workers returning to offices, but this stalled in June and has now declined in most capitals, which is disappointing but unsurprising.”
Office occupancy rates in Melbourne have remained below 50 per cent since the start of the pandemic, while in Sydney and Brisbane occupancy rates peaked during a lull in COVID-19 cases in early to mid-2021.
Victorian opposition jobs spokesman David Southwick said the state government should lead by example.
“Hybrid working may be here to stay, but it’s clear Daniel Andrews’ three-day-a week target for public servants isn’t close to being met,” he said.
“Melbourne will never be the world’s most liveable city once again with only one in five people showing up throughout the week.”
