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It’s been roughly eight years since we last saw her (no, Smash Bros.. doesn’t count), but everyone’s favorite S-Tier goth is back in Bayonetta 3. Once again, you play as the arse-kicking Umbra Witch, Bayonetta, as she faces off against bioweapons known as Homunculi, which are threatening to destroy the multiverse.
Announced in 2017 as a Switch exclusive, a date that feels like it was much longer ago than it actually is, Nintendo and developer Platinum Games were pretty close-lipped about details for Bayonetta 3. We weren’t given a proper look at the game until a Nintendo Direct in September 2021, and then nothing until a recent trailer revealed the game’s release date, 28 October.
Along the way, you’ll also team up with various alternate versions of Bayonetta and play as Viola, a witch-in-training who wouldn’t look out of place in a Devil May Cry game.
There are also two new skills, the Demon Slave and Demon Masquerade, the first of which allows Bayonetta to summon and control an Infernal Demon, while the latter lets her combine with the chosen demon to unlock powerful new abilities.
Bayonetta 3 will also introduce a new display mode called “Naive Angel”, which turns off the game’s nudity and tones down the designs of certain enemies. No more awkward conversations when nana unexpectedly drops by.
If you’ve played the previous Bayonetta games, then you’re most likely already in the bag for this one. According to the game’s executive director, Hideki Kamiya, newcomers shouldn’t have any problems picking up Bayonetta 3 without having played the first two games. But you should absolutely play those previous installations anyway because they’re two of the best hack-and-slash games ever. There’s a good reason why Bayonetta is Platinum Games’ flagship title.
Where can you get Bayonetta 3 for cheap?
Image: Platinum Games/Nintendo
Currently, there aren’t a lot of places to grab a copy of Bayonetta 3 in Australia. At the time of writing, both JB HiFi and amazon australia are offering the upcoming game for $69 (down from $79.95), with the latter including free shipping.
Here’s where you can pick up a cheap copy of Bayonetta 3 in Australia:
EB Games is also offering the exclusive Bayonetta 3: Trinity Masquerade Edition. This set includes the game along with a 200-page artbook and three game sleeves that can be combined to create a panoramic artwork. the Trinity Masquerade Edition is currently priced at $144.95but knowing scalpers, you can expect that figure to rise once EB’s pre-orders run out.
Bayonetta 3 is exclusively available for the Nintendo Switch, with a release date of 28 October.
Singer Ne-Yo has responded to cheating claims made by his wife, Crystal Renay.
The R&B favorite addressed Renay’s claims in a message posted to Twitter on Sunday, one day after she alleged he was unfaithful throughout their entire eight-year marriage.
“For the sake of our children, my family and I will work through our challenges behind closed doors,” Ne-Yo – real name Shaffer Chimere Smith – tweeted. “Personal matters are not meant to be addressed and dissected in public forums. I simply ask that you please respect me and my family’s privacy at this time.
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It was on Saturday that Renay, who is a model and TV personality, claimed the ‘Because of You’ singer cheated with not one, but many women during their marriage.
“8 years of life and deception. 8 years of unknowingly sharing my life and husband with numerous women who sell their bodies to him unprotected … every last one of them,” the 36-year-old wrote in a statement posted to Instagram.
“To say I’m heartbroken and disgusted is [an] understatement. To ask me to stay and accept it is absolutely insane. The mentality of a narcissist.”
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Renay said she was not going to keep up the façade any longer as she owed it to the couple’s three children – sons Shaffer, six, and Roman, four, and daughter Isabella, two – to live her truth.
Ne-Yo and Crystal Renay were married in 2018. (Getty)
“I will no longer lie to the public or pretend that this is something it isn’t,” she continued. “I choose me, I choose my happiness and health and my respect. I gained 3 beautiful children out of this but nothing else but wasted years and heartache.”
In her post, Renay – who married Ne-Yo back in 2016 – also her followers to refrain from sending her videos or information about her estranged husband’s alleged cheating because “what he does is no longer my concern”.
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“I ask that you all please stop sending me videos and information of him cheating because what he does is no longer my concern,” she added. “I am not a victim. ‘m choosing to stand tall with my head held high. If someone can’t love you the way you deserve then it’s up to you to love yourself. With no hate in my heart, I wish him nothing but the best.”
Crystal Renay’s claimed Ne-Yo cheated in this Instagram post. (instagram)
The cheating scandal comes just three months after the pair renewed their vows in a lavish, red-themed ceremony in Las Vegas, with the couple sharing several loved-up videos on Instagram after the event. Watch one of the clips above.
“Where some might see a smart-ass mouth, what I saw was a mouth that has no problem letting it be known what’s on the lady’s mind, thus making it easier for a worldly man to understand her,” Ne-Yo said in an Instagram video at the time as he praised his wife’s quirks. “Where some would see attitude, I saw confidence. A woman with knowledge of self-worth, absolutely refusing to accept anything less.”
Meanwhile, Renay also gushed about her famous husband, saying: “This weekend means the world to me. Everything that it’s about, everything that it is, and the fact that I get to do it with you. I love you forever and always. A million times, a million years, I always choose you.”
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Model focusing on ‘being a mum’ following marriage breakdown
Former Australian swimmer turned popular TV presenter Johanna Griggs says Kyle Chalmers is “feeding” the very headlines he’s railed against at the Commonwealth Games as she issued a reality check about the media’s role in covering sport.
The swimming star has blasted the media in Birmingham, accusing it of focusing on “clickbait” rather than the impressive results of our men and women in the pool.
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There have been reports and speculation about an icy dynamic within the Dolphins camp, sparked by the relationship between Chalmers, Emma McKeon and Cody Simpson.
Chalmers and McKeon were romantically linked last year and now the 28-year-old superstar is dating Simpson — who is competing in England as part of his first ever Australian team since ditching his music career and returning to competitive swimming.
The trio have repeatedly denied their relationship has caused any friction.
Chalmers cast doubt on his future in the sport if what he called “fake headlines” continued to be thrust into the spotlight, saying the media doesn’t understand the impact his stories have on athletes’ mental health.
However, Griggs — who won a backstroke bronze medal at the 1990 Commonwealth Games — says Chalmers is only giving the story more oxygen by continually mentioning it in interviews and on social media.
“The only person who is going to potentially derail (his campaign) — although it certainly didn’t look like it this morning in his 100m freestyle — could be Kyle himself,” Griggs told Sydney’s 104.9 Triple M Breakfast with MG, Jess & Pagey.
“He seems to be feeding it, which is the ironic situation with all these sorts of things.
“You can’t just expect the headlines to always be great. You have to accept that occasionally they might be about other people and sometimes they may not necessarily show you in the same light.
“Do I think they (the headlines) are affecting Emma McKeon? Absolutely not.
“She’s amazing, right. So she’s proven, without question, that she is able to compartmentalize whatever’s going on.
Johanna Griggs dropped some truth bombs on Kyle Chalmers.Source: SuppliedChalmers is swimming brilliantly despite his concerns. Picture: Michael KleinSource: News Corp Australia
Griggs, who is part of Channel 7’s team covering the Games, also suggested the freestyle king needs to accept headlines aren’t always going to be positive in the world of professional sport.
“I think it would be tedious for them, being asked about it non-stop,” Griggs told Triple M.
“If you’re a tennis player, that happens not only at every major tournament, it happens at every press conference, it happens at every week — same as the footballers, week in, week out.
“It’s the reality of sport so I’m hoping Kyle stops feeding it.
“I get he’s feeling incredibly swamped at the moment. Every time he mentions it, he makes it a bigger story.”
Chalmers has won gold medals in Birmingham as part of Australia’s mixed relay team and in the 4x100m men’s freestyle relay.
After his impressive swim in the heats of the individual 100m freestyle event, the 24-year-old was asked how he was feeling.
“Terrible. Terrible. It’s been probably the hardest 12 hours in my sporting career for sure,” he said. “It is extremely hard. Extremely challenging.
“When you’re on the other side of the world and don’t have your direct support network around you it’s already hard enough, let alone last night.”
Chalmers was referring to the previous day’s press conference, which was stopped after a barrage of questions about his dynamic with Simpson and McKeon.
He said the way the situation has unfolded left his mum in tears when they spoke after the relay victory.
“I really feel I don’t deserve any of that and to be honest with you, it makes me question why I do this sport and where my future lies going forward,” Chalmers said.
“I don’t want any of this. I swim because it’s what I’m good at. I love swimming. I love being part of the Australian swimming team. Standing up in front of big crowds and swimming fast, but I don’t want the rest of it.
“And for me it’s taking too much of a toll on my mental health. It embarrasses me that my family, my grandparents have to sit down and read the stuff that gets put in the media.
“It upsets me that I have to go home to my mum crying on FaceTime to me.”
Emma McKeon’s relationship with Cody Simpson has generated plenty of headlines. Picture: Emma McKeon/InstagramSource: Supplied
He may be upset out of the water but in the pool, Chalmers looks as classy as ever. The South Australian — who won 100m freestyle gold at the Rio Olympics and silver at last year’s Tokyo Games — is eyeing off another medal in his pet event this week.
Chalmers crushed his 100m freestyle semi-final on Monday morning, touching the wall first and setting a new Commonwealth Games record time of 47.36 seconds.
Australian swimming champion Cate Campbell is working for Channel 7 in Birmingham and praised Chalmers for how he’s handling things during their poolside interview on Monday morning, before talk turned to his tattoos and what they symbolize.
“I’ve had three heart surgeries, I have a chain (tattoo) that is broken because my heart was holding me back and now it’s fixed,” Chalmers said.
“I’m the lion (tattoo) that’s broken out. So yeah, that’s a special one for me.”
Chalmers added he’s been brilliantly supported by those closest to him.
“I don’t have anything else to say, it’s rough,” he said. “It’s been a whirlwind. It’s nice to swim fast. I think it’s easy to put on a brave face and smile. It’s hard, it’s very hard.
“The team has been amazing.
“I just wanted to put my headphones on and switch off and not talk, (but) all of my teammates, coaches and staff coming up and saying they are there for me has been really special. I wouldn’t have been able to get through it without my teammates.
“I’m not a robot. We have feelings, we have emotions, we’re no different than anyone else. We struggle a lot, mental health is a huge thing in sport.”
“Through my 20-year career as an entrepreneur in a competitive, slowly changing, industry environment, I evolved into an outcome and solutions-focused leader,” he wrote.
“My vast business and government experience, and intricate understanding of new State and Federal trade policy and opportunities, places me in a rare position, to deliver beyond expectation in such a role.”
Barilaro’s business, Ryleho Home Solutions, made wooden doors and windows in Queanbeyan, a regional center bordering the ACT. What he calls “a multimillion-dollar operation” and “transformative industry leader” employed 35 people and was placed in administration in 2019.
‘My bold vision’
Barilaro gave up his full-time business career in 2011 when he was elected to the seat of Monaro for the National Party. In 2019, he was given the trade portfolio, and decided to hire trade commissioners to help foreign companies that wanted to invest in NSW find their way through the state bureaucracy, and NSW businesses expand in North and South America.
He told the selection panel, which included a former subordinate, Investment NSW chief executive Amy Brown, that his decision to create the jobs was a qualification for the one located in New York City.
“Where I believe I’m uniquely placed above all other candidates is that as the NSW Trade and Industry Minister, it was my bold vision to grow NSW’s international footprint, expand markets and grow inbound investment, by delivering Global NSW, a government-wide initiative to support the state’s outstanding industry, innovation, trade, investment and industry area development,” he wrote.
Barilaro offered no examples of businesses he had helped invest in NSW, or overseas, apart from his own. His top educational qualification was listed as a graduate diploma of strategic leadership at Churchill Education, followed by the words “currently completing”.
The opposition is conducting a parliamentary investigation to determine if Barilaro’s appointment was due to government favouritism. Faced with the political controversy, Barilaro has decided not to take up the position.
His trade minister successor, Stuart Ayres, says Barilaro was treated like all other candidates, although he acknowledges he texted his former colleague the job ad, which appeared in The Australian Financial Review in December, sparing Barilaro the cost of the newspaper.
Gov. Andy Beshear pledged the state of Kentucky’s support in securing housing for residents affected by the flooding and paying for the funerals of the more than two dozen victims ahead of more heavy rain expected this week.
“The next couple days are going to continue to be tough, but I promise you life will get better,” Beshear said in a news conference on Sunday. “We will get everyone stabilized and in some form of housing, and we will remove the debris and we will move forward.”
At least 28 people have died following severe storms that led to mudslides, landslides and record flash flooding, Beshear said. Four children — siblings ranging in age from two to eight years old — are among the dead.
As many as 37 people were unaccounted for, according to a daily briefing from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
On top of that, more flash flooding was possible in portions of Appalachia on Sunday and Monday as the latest storms roll through, the National Weather Service said. Rainfall rates of 1 to 2 inches per hour were possible in some of the same areas that were inundated last week.
A dozen shelters were open for flood victims in Kentucky with 388 occupants on Sunday, according to FEMA.
‘Bodies for weeks’
On an appearance on NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday morning, Beshear said he knows “of several additional bodies” and that the death count will continue to rise, with the affected areas having received between 8 and 10 1/2 inches of rain .
“With the level of water, we’re going to be finding bodies for weeks, many of them swept hundreds of yards, maybe a quarter mile plus from where they were lost,” Beshear said.
Men ride in a boat along flooded Wolverine Road in Breathitt County, Ky., on July 28, 2022.Ryan C. Hermens/Lexington Herald-Leader via AP
In a YouTube video posted on Sunday, the governor said that his staffers were aware of “additional bodies that have been recovered” but could “not confirm those deaths at this time.”
At the news conference, Beshear said the region was facing a “moderate risk of excessive rain,” and that some areas could see flash flooding. Several counties remained under flood warnings and flood watches on Sunday and into the next few days, according to the National Weather Service.
“It really hurts the morale of folks that have seen this amount of rain,” the governor said of the expected rain. “We hope, and we certainly don’t believe for the region, [that] it’s going to cause additional massive flooding, but we have to be prepared,” he said.
Rescue officials have been struggling to reach hard-hit areas, some of which are among the poorest in the nation.
At the news conference, the governor became emotional as he described how poor cellphone service and undercounts of the population made it hard to determine how many people are missing.
“I wish we had a firm, real number of the people that are missing,” he said.
The National Guard has conducted more than 1,000 rescues through air lifts, Beshear said.
Moving forward
Amid complaints that hotels, motels and shelters in the area are full, Beshear said at the news conference that the state government plans to work directly with hotels to fund rooms, and that officials are setting up a shelter at Buckhorn Lake State Resort Park.
“Our commitment is we’re going to get everybody back up on their feet — every single person, no matter how long it takes and no matter what it takes,” Beshear said at the news conference.
The governor urged people to donate new clothes and drinking water, and to send money to the Team Eastern Kentucky Flood Relief Fund, which he said will pay for the funerals of the victims.
“People shouldn’t have to go through a reimbursement process that takes months when they’re grieving for a loved one,” the governor said. “No forms, no applications, we’ll work directly with the funeral homes.”
FEMA announced Friday that President Biden issued a major disaster declaration, making federal assistance available to the state.
On Saturday, Biden said he added Individual Assistance to that declaration with the help of further assisting displaced families.
Additionally, 80 FEMA workers are on the ground and the governor plans to request more, Perry County Judge Executive Scott Alexander said at the news conference.
“This is not going to be an easy rebuild, but I’m here to tell you that the commonwealth of Kentucky is going to stand with you every single day until it’s fully rebuilt,” Beshear said.
‘A long process’
In the tiny community of Wayland, Phillip Michael Caudill was working Saturday to clean up debris and recover what he could from the home he shares with his wife and three children. The waters had receded from the house but left a mess behind along with questions about what he and his family will do next.
“We’re just hoping we can get some help,” said Caudill, who is staying with his family at Jenny Wiley State Park in a free room, for now.
Caudill, a firefighter in the nearby Garrett community, went out on rescues around 1 am Thursday but had to ask to leave around 3 am so he could go home, where waters were rapidly rising.
“That’s what made it so tough for me,” he said. “Here I am, sitting there, watching my house become immersed in water and you got people begging for help. And I couldn’t help,” Caudill said.
The water was up to his knees when he arrived home, and he had to wade across the yard and carry two of his kids out to the car. He could barely shut the door of his SUV as they were leaving.
In Garrett on Saturday, couches, tables and pillows soaked by flooding were stacked in yards along the foothills of the mountainous region as people worked to clear out debris and shovel mud from driveways and roads under now-blue skies.
Hubert Thomas, 60, and his nephew Harvey, 37, fled to Jenny Wiley State Resort Park in Prestonsburg after floodwaters destroyed their home in Pine Top late Wednesday night. The two were able to rescue their dog, CJ, but fear the damages to the home are beyond repair. Hubert Thomas, a retired coal miner, said his entire life savings was invested in his home.
“I’ve got nothing now,” he said.
Harvey Thomas, an EMT, said he fell asleep to the sound of light rain, and it wasn’t long until his uncle woke him up warning him that water was getting dangerously close to the house.
“It was coming inside and it just kept getting worse,” he said. “There was, at one point, we looked at the front door and mine and his cars from him was playing bumper cars, like bumper boats, in the middle of our front yard.”
As for what’s next, Harvey Thomas said he doesn’t know, but he’s thankful to be alive.
“Mountain people are strong,” he said. “And like I said it’s not going to be tomorrow, probably not next month, but I think everybody’s going to be okay. It’s just going to be a long process.”
Australians face a big rise in the cost of a pint, with the country’s beer tax recording its biggest increase in more than 30 years.
As of Monday August 1, the beer tax goes up to 4 per cent, adding about 80-84 cents to the cost of a pint of the much-loved amber liquid. This means you may soon be paying $15 for your favorite glass.
And there’s no escape for those who buy their beer by the slab. The beer tax will rise from $53.59 to $55.73 per liter of the beverage’s alcohol content, raising the tax on a carton about 80c, to $18.80.
Watch the latest News on Channel 7 or stream for free on 7plus >>
The tax on a keg will jump about $4, raising the cost to almost $74.
Because of this price hike, Brewers Association of Australia chief executive John Preston warned that patrons might now have to fork out $15 for a pint at their local pub or bar.
“For a small pub, club or other venue the latest tax hike will mean an increase of more than $2700 a year in their tax bill – at a time when they are still struggling to deal with the ongoing impacts of the pandemic,” he said .
The biannual alcohol excise is based upon the consumer price index (CPI), which is a measure of the average change over time in the prices paid by households for a fixed number of goods and services.
According to the ABS, the June CPI increased by 6.1 per cent over the last 12 months, with goods accounting for 79 per cent of the rise this quarter.
Due to the tax increase, patrons may now have to pay $15 for a pint at their local pub or bar. Credit: Getty Images
Publican of the Royal Albert Hotel in Sydney’s Surry Hills, Michael Bain, said that while the increase was certainly high, beer tax increased twice a year every year (in February and August), meaning the issue isn’t a particularly new one.
“These price rises … just keep affecting us all the time,” he said.
“Because of COVID, I think a lot of people didn’t put the excise on…so I think this is why it’s affected us more this time.
“Especially some of the craft brewers that we use, they’ve been absorbing those CPI increases. But even the small guys now are going to have to pass it on, so it will mean a price rise across the board for us.”
Preston said the industry had seen “almost 20 increases in Australia’s beer tax over the past decade alone”.
“Australians are taxed on beer more than almost any other nation,” he said.
If patrons are forced to pay $15 for a pint of beer, Bain said he believes people will still buy it, but may buy fewer beers.
“Instead of buying three beers, they’ll buy two. I think they really will buy one less,” he said.
Federal Treasurer Jim Chalmers. Credit: AAP
According to Preston, breweries and pub and club operators were “extremely disappointed” when the former government did not deliver its proposed beer tax reduction in this year’s budget, and that the new Treasurer, Jim Chalmers, has now “inherited” the Liberals’ problem .
“We believe there is a strong case for beer tax relief to be provided by the new federal government, with the hidden beer tax to go up again in February 2023,” he said.
Bain agrees, saying another possible solution could be cutting down the tax from twice a year to once a year.
“I’m not saying they shouldn’t do it and we need to pay taxes for health care and all that kind of stuff, but at what point do you just keep gouging everyone?
“You can’t keep incrementally adding on all the time at these massive rates
“(It’s) kinda like you’re absolutely smashing people with tax.”
Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes’ daughter has made her on-screen debut.
Holmes, 43, directed and stars in the newly released movie Alone Togetherand her daughter Suri Cruise, 16, joined her on the big screen.
“I always want the highest level of talent,” Holmes said in an interview with Yahoo! Entertainment. “So, I asked her [Suri].
“She’s very, very talented. She said she would do it, and she recorded it, and I let her do her thing about her. That’s the way I direct in general. It’s like, ‘This is what I think we all want – go do your thing.’”
In the movie, Suri sings a cover of bluemoon, which plays during the opening credits of the film. Holmes told the outlet this will not be her daughter’s only on-screen singing gig, Fox News reports.
“She actually did sing in Rare Itemswhich is the film we did last [autumn],” Holmes said. “Other than that, she she’s a 16-year-old kid doing high school.”
Cruise and Holmes were married from 2006 to 2012. Suri is their only child together, and her uber-famous parents opted to keep her out of the public eye for the majority of her childhood.
Holmes directed, wrote and stars in Alone Together – a romantic comedy set during the Covid pandemic. Also appearing opposite her in the film is English actor Jim Sturgess.
The film follows a man and woman fleeing New York City during the first wave of the pandemic in 2020.
They end up booking the same Airbnb and ultimately decide to stay at the upstate property together.
Sturgess praised Holmes’ directing style and shared that she gives actors wide latitude when they are in front of the camera.
“She gives you this incredible space between action and cut,” Sturgess said of his co-star.
“She very rarely shouted, ‘Cut!’ actually. You’d think the scene had ended and she just kind of left it hanging. I love that she was always searching for those little nuggets of authenticity.”
This story originally appeared on Fox News and was reproduced with permission
Returning to the track following a shocking crash on Sunday that left him battered and bruised, Australian cyclist Matt Glaetzer has been dealt another cruel blow – denied a bronze medal on review in the men’s sprint.
Glaetzer came from behind to storm home against Scotland’s Jack Carlin, provisionally securing the bronze medal.
But after deliberating for more than half an hour, Birmingham officials relegated Glaetzer to fourth for moving in on Carlin, snatching away his medal.
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Matthew Glaetzer finishes ahead of Scotland’s Jack Carlin in the third race of the men’s sprint finals. (Getty)
While Aussie teammate Matthew Richardson went on to win gold in the event, Glaetzer’s stripping split the cycling world with suggestions Carlin had initiated the contact by moving off his line and into the way of Glaetzer.
Aussie cycling great Katey Bates labeled the decision “an absolute travesty”.
“I’m having nothing of that,” she said in commentary for Channel 7.
“The only time they made contact is when Carlin swung back up the track, and he in fact touched Glaetzer – if anybody got impeded, it was Glaetzer.
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“I don’t see how the Australians will accept this and not feel robbed. This is an absolute travesty in my mind.”
The lost bronze medal was the second major blow to Glaetzer in two days after he was involved in a nasty crash in the kierin quarter-finals after becoming tangled with another rider.
After touching wheels with another bike, Glaetzer was knocked off his bike and into the path of British competitor Joe Truman while traveling at over 70 km/h. The impact tore Glaetzer’s suit, with wounds opening up on several parts of his body.
Matthew Glaetzer and Joe Truman crash. (Getty)
“I was very sore this morning,” he said ahead of the race that broke his heart.
“Right side of my body was just on fire from the burns – had to just grimace through this morning and see what I’ve got in the body.”
Glaetzer also revealed that a piece of the track had lodged into his elbow.
“I definitely did take a souvenir – had to get the scalpel out to get it out, it went pretty deep into my elbow.
“Not nice, it’s the brutal part of our sport. Make one mistake and you’re eating wood.”
But not even a heavy fall could stop the man who beat thyroid cancer in 2019 from earning what many thoughts should have been a bronze medal.
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Commonwealth Games in pictures: Shayna Jack becomes emotional after winning first solo international swimming medal
The death of a seven-year-old in South Australia is being investigated as a case of possible criminal neglect.
SA Police detective superintendent Des Bray said Craigmore boy Makai was taken to Lyell McEwin Hospital “very sick” on February 10 and was then transferred to the Women’s and Children’s Hospital, where he died later that day.
Task Force Prime, which was set up after the death of six-year-old Charlie, is now investigating whether the boy’s death was a case of criminal neglect.
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Investigators are also examining the care of his five siblings, aged between seven and 16.
Bray said a post-mortem examination following Makai’s death revealed several serious health issues.
He said the provisional cause of death was unusual, but was not a cause for immediate concern.
“The cause of death in itself wasn’t enough to raise concern because it was a serious, recognized health issue,” Bray said, adding that a coronial investigation was launched following the death.
About 10 days after Makai’s death, a coronial direction obtained information from “various child protection authorities”, which was then passed on to SA Police in July.
“Soon after, investigators began reviewing volumes of material and obtained an opinion from a pediatric expert,” he said.
“They formed the view that sufficient grounds existed to commence a criminal investigation of criminal neglect causing death.”
Bray said an interim cause of death had been determined but declined to comment further.
Superintendent Des Bray speaking to media. Credit: DAVID MARIUZ/AAPIMAGE
Investigators will determine whether anyone was guilty for Makai’s death or the neglect of the other siblings, Bray said.
Makai and his siblings had been staying in their father’s care since November 2020. Their mother was not living with him at the time of his death.
“There is neglect and abuse which we believe has occurred over a period of time but it doesn’t have all the same characteristics of Charlie’s,” Bray said.
Charlie was found unresponsive in her family home in Munno Para on July 15 and died in Lyell McEwin Hospital, sparking a police investigation into suspected neglect.
searching for answers
Following Charlie’s death, the state government ordered a review of the interactions between government agencies and the family in recent years.
Premier Peter Malinauskas on Monday announced a new wholly independent review would now investigate these interactions for both families.
“The death of any child is something that breaks all of our hearts, particularly parents across the state,” he told reporters.
“One was shocking, two is desperately heartbreaking.
“There is absolutely merit given the elevation of this for a wholly independent led review.”
Premier Peter Malinauskas said a new wholly independent review would now investigate the interactions between government agencies and the families. Credit: AAP
Malinauskas said he was “not wasting any time” and had appointed former SA police commissioner Mal Hyde to lead the review as “someone every South Australian has complete confidence in”.
“This is about making sure we have a review of integrity, of independence and robustness so we fully understand exactly what interactions occurred between government agencies and these families and to see whether or not there were any failures of systems that could be addressed,” he said.
“Two innocent children losing their lives potentially because of criminal neglect is beyond sad. But we know about it and we have to respond.”
Malinauskas said the findings of the review would be made public.
Bray said criminal neglect occurred when a person with a duty of care to a child failed to take all reasonable steps to protect them from harm, and a child is harmed or dies as a result of that neglect.
George Washington adjunct professor of economics Diana Furchtgott-Roth and University of Maryland economist Peter Morici discuss if the new spending bill will make a bad inflationary situation worse on ‘Cavuto: Coast to Coast.’
President Biden is taking his time to reveal whether he will issue a seventh extension of the pandemic-era pause on student loan payments that expires at the end of this month, raising speculation that a bigger announcement involving student debt forgiveness will come with it.
The administration has already signaled that the loan payments set to resume on Sept. 1 will not be due. The Wall Street Journal reported last week that the Department of Education had instructed loan servicers not to send out billing statements.
Demonstrators outside the White House demand that President Biden cancel student loan debt on July 27, 2022.
With no time to send out statements providing the required 30 days’ notice, it is a safe bet that borrowers will not have to resume payments just yet. Some may never have student loan payments again.
According to multiple reports, the president is considering eliminating some student debt for current borrowers; it is simply a matter of what dollar amount. There is also consideration of what income cap might be set, if any.
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Sources familiar told the Wall Street Journal that the White House is mulling several options, including one confirmed by former press secretary Jen Psaki earlier this year, which involves forgiving $10,000 in student debt – a promise Biden made while campaigning for president – for anyone making less than $125,000 year.
The question is: What will the political ramifications be?
Sources say the White House is mulling several options related to student loan debt. (Jemal Countess/Getty Images for We, The 45 Million/Getty Images)
With Biden’s poll numbers showing he is currently unpopular even with his base leading into the November midterm elections, where control of Congress is at stake, the president’s move on the issue is critical.
Progressives and civil rights groups are pushing for Biden to grant $50,000 in student loan forgiveness, and no less. Activists seeking to wipe away debts argue that borrowers were bamboozled by universities and the federal government alike, leaving them with inadequate wages to cover the payments and keeping them from achieving life goals like homeownership.
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The NAACP delivered a letter to the president on Friday, telling him that $50,000 must be the minimum level of forgiveness with no income bracket caps because Black borrowers “have virtually no realistic way to pay it back in today’s unjust economy.”
Republicans have pushed back hard on the proposal to cancel student debt, pointing to the cost, proposed income caps, the fact that borrowers chose to take on the payments, and the ethics of requiring all taxpayers to foot the bill – including those who never took on student loans and those who already paid theirs off.
“Student loan forgiveness is regressive – it writes off the debts of rich kids who are going to be just fine,” Sen. Ben Sasse, R-Neb., told FOX Business. “It’s a gut punch to every kid who paid their way through college or who worked hard to pay their loans.”
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That’s an argument vulnerable Democrats will have to answer, too, as the November elections approach.
President Biden’s reported plan to cancel student loan debt via executive action could face court challenges. (Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images/Getty Images)
An additional risk is that student loan forgiveness handed down by the executive branch is also likely to face legal challenges, given that Congress has the sole authority to authorize spending of taxpayer dollars.
After losing several court battles already, having student loan forgiveness nixed by a court could be perceived as another broken promise to the far left and seen as a scolding to the administration for overreach.
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Whether it holds up in court or not, the price tag is likely to fall under scrutiny for Biden, who has continued to push multitrillion-dollar spending packages while Americans grapple with crippling inflation that sits at a 40-year high.
