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☆ For the Price of a Police Helicopter, New York Could Save the Arts
▼ + stars: | 2024-06-21 | by ( Ginia Bellafante | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

The multiplier effect of culture in New York is huge both in economic and human terms. But arts funding does not consistently rise to meet it. From one vantage, the city’s cultural funding can look robust. Over the past decade, the money allocated to the Department of Cultural Affairs has increased considerably, as City Hall officials will point out. And at any rate, between 2023 and 2024, the overall budget decreased by $7 million to $241 million, as the migrant crisis required cuts across municipal divisions.

Persons: Mark Morris’s, Burt Bacharach, Shakespeare, Kathleen Chalfant Organizations: Broadway, Brooklyn Academy of Music, Department of Cultural Affairs, City Locations: New York, America, Forest Hills, Queens

☆ Live Updates: Michael Cohen, Trump’s Ex-Fixer and His Nemesis, to Testify at His Trial
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-13 | by ( Jonah E. Bromwich | Ben Protess | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +18 min

This week, however, Mr. Cohen is poised to unfix Mr. Trump’s life. And, on occasion, Mr. Cohen has said, Mr. Trump put Mr. Cohen on the phone with his wife, Melania, to reassure her that he hadn’t been unfaithful. Mr. Cohen was no longer a Trump Organization employee, and Mr. Trump had excluded him from a job in Washington. When one of Mr. Trump’s friends asked Mr. Trump why he kept Mr. Cohen so close, Mr. Trump replied, “He has his purpose.”Image In 2016, Mr. Cohen campaigned for Mr. Trump, but he did not get a job in the administration. At that meeting, Mr. Cohen has said, he and Mr. Trump confirmed their plan to falsify the records.

Persons: Michael D, Cohen, Donald J, Trump, litigators, Cohen’s, Trump’s, Stormy Daniels, Mr, lackey, ”, Jim Cole, —, Donny Deutsch, ” Mr, Deutsch, “ Donald, Trump’s “, “, ” ‘, T.J . Kirkpatrick, ” Jeffrey McConney, dryly, Roy M, Cohn, Joseph McCarthy, Rosie O’Donnell, John Taggart, Barron, Donald Trump Jr, hadn’t, Black, Karen McDougal, Daniels, Jonathan Ernst, Cohen puttered, Lanny J, Davis, doesn’t revel, Omarosa Manigault Newman, Michael, Jim Lo Scalzo, You’re, ’, Alina Habba, perjured, isn’t, Habba, Ms, “ You’re, Hope Hicks, scoffed, “ Michael Cohen Organizations: York, Prosecutors, Mr, Trump, Associated, The New York Times, Trump Organization, CNBC, Communist, National Enquirer, Playboy, Credit, Nike, “ Fox & Friends, Democratic, Federal Bureau of Prisons, White, New Locations: Manhattan, New York, Long, Trump’s New York, Trump, Miami, Moscow, Iowa, Washington, Otisville

☆ The biggest bombshells from Michael Cohen's testimony were all in Trump's own words
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-13 | by ( Jacob Shamsian | Laura Italiano | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +11 min

But in his under-oath testimony for Trump's criminal trial Monday, Cohen placed Trump firmly in the room where it happened. AdvertisementIn 2015, Trump told Cohen he would run for president. When Cohen told Trump about it, his response was, "She's really beautiful," Cohen said. According to Cohen, Trump's goal was to postpone the payment until after the November 2016 election, at which point he didn't think it would matter. "I used quite a few expletives," complaining to Weisselberg, Cohen told jurors.

Persons: —, Michael Cohen, Stormy Daniels, Donald Trump's, Cohen, Trump, Trump's, Daniels, Karen McDougal, Donald Trump, Jon Kopaloff, Curtis Means, Steve Granitz, " Cohen, David Pecker, Hillary Clinton, Ted Cruz's, Lee Harvey Oswald, Marco Rubio, Pecker, Melania Trump, — Cohen, TheDirty.com, Keith Davidson, Allen Weisselberg, Brendan McDermid, didn't, Weisselberg, Cohen he'd, Allen, Michael, stiffed, Susan Hoffinger Organizations: Service, Business, Trump, American Media Inc, National Enquirer, AMI, Republican, Washington Post, Manhattan Criminal Court, Reuters, Trump Organization Locations: Manhattan, Trump, Mar, Florida

☆ Help! Japan Airlines Downgraded Us From First Class and Skimped on the Refund.
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-04 | by ( Seth Kugel | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Dear Tripped Up,Last year, my husband and I splurged on round-trip first-class tickets on Japan Airlines from San Francisco to Tokyo for $13,474 each. On the same day, I also bought business class tickets for a couple who was traveling with us at $8,429 apiece. In September, Amex notified me that we had been downgraded to business class for the return flight. I contested this with Amex Travel, but they rejected our claim. All three airlines I contacted delayed, obfuscated or otherwise dillydallied before getting me answers, but let’s start with your travel agent, American Express.

Persons: Amex, Teri, I’ve, ”, Emily Vicker Organizations: Japan Airlines, American Express, Amex, British Airways Locations: San Francisco, Tokyo

☆ Trump’s Financial Squeeze
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-26 | by ( Maggie Haberman | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Donald Trump has 10 days to come up with a $175 million bond in his New York civil fraud case. After that, he may be on the hook for the full penalty in the case: almost half a billion dollars. The New York attorney general, Letitia James, sued Trump and the Trump Organization in 2022. She accused them of committing widespread fraud over a decade by inflating the values of properties, at times by as much as $2 billion a year. Trump has insisted that since his lenders weren’t stiffed, there were no victims, and that he considers the judgment corrupt.

Persons: Donald Trump, Letitia James, Trump, James, weren’t Organizations: New, Trump Organization Locations: New York

☆ Jon Stewart Returns to Form on ‘The Daily Show’
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-13 | by ( Trish Bendix | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The next nine months, Stewart said, “they’re going to suck.”“Look, Joe Biden isn’t Donald Trump. What’s crazy is thinking that we’re the ones, as voters, who must silence concerns and criticisms. So, the good news is, I’m not saying you don’t have to worry about who wins the election. I’m saying you have to worry about every day before it and every day after, forever. Although, on the plus side, I am told that at some point, the sun will run out of hydrogen.” — JON STEWART

Persons: Stewart, Biden, Donald Trump, “ they’re, Joe Biden isn’t Donald Trump, hasn’t, ” — JON STEWART “, ” — JON STEWART “ I’ve, I’m, — JON STEWART

☆ iHeartRadio promised to only play 'Taylor's Version' of Taylor Swift songs. It lied.
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-07 | by ( Jack Newsham | Lily Oberstein | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

iHeartMedia promised fans it would only play "Taylor's Version" of songs once they were available. iHeartMedia, which owns 850 radio stations nationwide, promised Taylor Swift and her legions of fans that its stations would only play the newly recorded "Taylor's Version" of her old songs. "Listeners have made it known that they cannot wait to hear Taylor's Version of each track." The iHeart stations in BI's sample played just over 54,000 Taylor Swift songs from March 2021 through December 2023. Other radio stations were less likely to play Taylor's VersionsBI couldn't find any other radio-station operators that promised to play only Taylor's Versions.

Persons: Taylor Swift, iHeartMedia, —, Taylor, Tom Poleman, Swift, iHeart's, iHeart, they're, We've, Wendy Goldberg, Casey Rae, Rae Organizations: Service, Machine Records, iHeart, BI, SiriusXM, Business, ACRcloud Locations: Los Angeles, Chicago, New York

☆ Rudy Giuliani creditors come together for the embattled former mayor's first bankruptcy hearing
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-20 | by ( Jake Offenhartz | Associated Press | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

A group of people who say Rudy Giuliani owes them money gathered for his first bankruptcy hearing. Some of Giuliani's creditors have expressed concern he is taking advantage of the bankruptcy process. During Friday's hearing, Giuliani's attorney tried to convince the bankruptcy judge, Sean Lane, to temporarily lift a stay to allow him to appeal the judgment. AdvertisementSome of Giuliani's creditors have expressed concerns that he is taking advantage of the bankruptcy process to avoid paying his debts. Advertisement"It's an interesting group in its own right: you have a ShopRite worker, election workers, an alleged sex worker," he added.

Persons: Rudy Giuliani, —, Giuliani, Gary Fischoff, patting, Hunter Biden, Biden, Ruby Freeman, Moss, Sean Lane, Lane, Abid Qureshi, cautioning, Ron Kuby, Daniel Gill Organizations: Trump, Service, New, IRS Locations: Georgia, New York City

NEW YORK (AP) — A group of people and businesses who say they are owed money by Rudy Giuliani gathered virtually Friday for the first court hearing since he declared bankruptcy last month after losing a defamation suit to two Georgia election workers. Biden is suing Giuliani, saying he wrongly shared his personal data after obtaining it from the owner of a computer repair shop. The Chapter 11 declaration halted the judgment but also prevented Giuliani from challenging the verdict. During Friday's hearing, Giuliani's attorney tried to convince the bankruptcy judge, Sean Lane, to temporarily lift a stay to allow him to appeal the judgment. “This guy stiffed a lot of workers.”The next hearing is scheduled for Jan. 31.

Persons: Rudy Giuliani, Giuliani, Gary Fischoff, patting, Hunter Biden, Biden, Ruby Freeman, Wandrea, ” Moss, Sean Lane, Lane, ”, Abid Qureshi, cautioning, Ron Kuby, Daniel Gill Organizations: New, IRS Locations: Georgia, New York City

☆ Staff at Pure Barre and other boutique gyms say a major franchisee stiffed them on pay, sent bizarre emails, and talked about drinking his own urine
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-21 | by ( Jake Swearingen | Jack Newsham | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +15 min

Staff at some Pure Barre, CycleBar, Row House, and other high-end fitness studios aren't being paid. Outposts of CycleBar, Row House, and other pricey fitness studios have also shut their doors, suddenly and sometimes without explanation. In one call reviewed by Business Insider, Brown spoke about drinking his own urine. In his November 8 email to all studio staff, Brown wrote that he "failed all of you." And unlike the fitness studio employees, they didn't find the message or tone of Brown's November 8 email surprising.

Persons: Mitch Brown, —, Brown, Amy, Xponential, Jaime Miettinen, Miettinen, Mitch, Jason Whitman, Stride, hollowing, we're, Pamela Chatman, CycleBar, Subreddits, Chatman Organizations: Service, Staff, Business, Midwest, Professional Holdings, Employees, Xponential, Research, Holdings, Fitness, Pure Locations: Barre, CycleBar, Pure Barre, Detroit, California, New York, Ohio, Michigan, Brown

☆ Trump stiffed his alleged co-conspirators, whose false claims brought in $250 million
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-15 | by ( Brian Schwartz | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +9 min

But the Trump campaign and their affiliated committees ultimately did not honor that pledge, according to campaign finance records. Over more than two months, Giuliani served as the public face of Trump's election challenges, which ultimately failed. The money came in response to countless fundraising appeals that claimed it was needed to fund Trump's election challenges in court. Chesebro, for his part, told the House committee that the work he did for the Trump team was pro bono. But not a penny more from team Trump for their services.

Persons: Rudy Giuliani, Donald Trump, Carlo Allegri, Donald Trump's, Trump, Giuliani, Timothy Parlatore, Bernard Kerik, Jack Smith's, Parlatore, Bob Costello, Kerik, stiffed Giuliani, Sidney Powell, Jonathan Ernst, Kenneth Chesebro, John Eastman, Eastman, Powell, Chesebro, Matthew Morgan, Jim Bourg, Reuters Morgan, Eastman didn't, Jan, Morgan, Justin Clark, Clark, we're Organizations: New York, Republican, of Police, Reuters, Trump, New, CNBC, ", Capitol, Save, OpenSecrets, PAC, U.S, Republican National Committee, Commission, Giuliani, Georgia RICO, New York City, Congress, Federal, FEC, Eastman Locations: Statesville , North Carolina, U.S, New York, Georgia, Save America, Washington, Washington , U.S

☆ Pennsylvania town wants Trump to pay in advance of rally after his campaign stiffed them in 2018
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-25 | by ( Madison Hall | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

The mayor of Erie, Pennsylvania, wants the Trump campaign to pay the city for service before his rally on Saturday. Trump's campaign has more than enough cash on hand — $22.5 million — to remedy the request. According to a recent report from the Erie Times-News, Erie Mayor Joe Schember wants to be reimbursed for any fees related to the upcoming rally ahead of time, after Trump's campaign failed to repay the city more than $35,000 following a campaign event in 2018. "We're going to see whether we can get some payment from them in advance this time," he told the Erie Times-News. Erie isn't the only city Trump's campaigns have failed to reimburse.

Persons: haven't, Trump, Donald Trump's, Erie Mayor Joe Schember, Schember, Paul Lichtenwalter Organizations: Service, Erie Times -, Erie Mayor, Schember, Erie, Center for Public Integrity Locations: Erie , Pennsylvania, Wall, Silicon, Pennsylvania, City of El Paso, Tucson, Spokane , Washington

☆ Dirty Pictures From a Revolution
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-25 | by ( Alexis Soloski | More About Alexis Soloski | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

“It’s so hard being a woman in 1973,” she pouts, still sprawled. “If only there was a way to make a change.” Then the shirtless men in breakaway pants appear behind her. An eyeful of oiled torsos, however muscular, may not have been a perfect substitute for real social transformation. This playful scene, an imagined forerunner to a Chippendales-style revue, occurs in the second season of “Minx,” which began on Starz on Friday. A workplace comedy set at an erotic magazine for women, “Minx” revisits the 1970s collisions, confusions and correspondences between women’s liberation and the sexual revolution.

Persons: “, ”, Jennifer Romolini, Jane ” Organizations: Starz Locations: America

☆ The No. 1 place where Americans forget to tip but should ‘always’ leave at least $3, from an etiquette expert
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-13 | by ( Morgan Smith | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

But there's one important place they're often forgetting to pay gratuity altogether amid the "tipflation" debate, according to one etiquette expert: hotels. Hotel housekeepers are often stiffed on gratuities — but it's a service you should "always tip on," Diane Gottsman, founder of The Protocol School in Texas and a nationally-recognized etiquette expert, tells CNBC Make It. Plus, like many service workers, some hotel housekeepers might rely on gratuities to help make ends meet, Gottsman points out. 5 times it's OK not to tip, according to etiquette expertsDo you always need to tip 20%? Here's how much an etiquette expert says to leave at restaurants, hotels and more

Persons: Diane Gottsman, Gottsman, They're Organizations: Protocol, CNBC, housekeepers, Bureau of Labor Statistics, American Hotel Association Locations: Texas, …, U.S

☆ Explainer: How could a US debt ceiling default hit regular Americans?
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-23 | by ( Jason Lange | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

Americans could quickly notice painful blows to their retirement accounts as stock markets swooned, and within days the lack of federal payments could weigh heavily on doctors' offices, retirees and workplaces throughout the country. At that point, Washington would be under severe pressure to keep making payments on U.S. bonds, which underpin the global financial system. Within days, the financial mayhem would be a principal force putting the economy on the path to recession, Zandi said. More Medicare bills would come due in subsequent days, and because Medicare funds about a fifth of U.S. healthcare, some doctors might not have money to pay staff and other bills. Payments could also stop going out to government contractors, including $1 billion due to defense contractors on June 5.

☆ Explainer: What happens if Washington falls behind on its bills?
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-18 | by ( Jason Lange | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

The day's $26 billion in tax revenues would not be enough to cover about $101 billion in spending obligations promised by Congress. Pensioners and other Social Security beneficiaries wouldn't get $25 billion owed them. JUNE 6Weapons manufacturers and other companies supplying the U.S. military wouldn't collect $2 billion owed them. But more bills would keep coming due, and Americans expecting tax refund deposits on June 7 wouldn't get about $1 billion owed them. But revenues wouldn't cover all the other bills due June 15, such as military salaries.

☆ Inside the Wild World of Celebrity Keynote Speakers: Drugs, Alcohol
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-23 | by ( David Kushner | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +31 min

"I never saw myself as a speaker, let alone a motivational speaker," Leonard tells me while his assistant irons his jeans. 'When I ramble," Hunter told me, "hit me in the leg!" Every plane had been grounded, including the one stuck on the tarmac with an increasingly inebriated Hunter Thompson trapped inside. But by far the most all-consuming task was booking gigs for Hunter Thompson. Just before a debate with G. Gordon Liddy at Brown University, Hunter demanded that Betsy Berg, whom I now worked alongside at GTN, score him some crystal meth.

☆ Uber drivers lay out 4 reasons they think tipping has been getting worse — and why events like Taylor Swift concerts seem to make riders more generous
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-23 | by ( Jacob Zinkula | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +9 min

Ben and other drivers have some theories about why riders aren't as generous as they used to be. Ben, a full-time Uber and Uber Eats driver for five years, said he'd worked as many as 90 hours in one week to make ends meet. Last year, Ben earned roughly $77,000 pretax driving for Uber and Uber Eats. Sergio AvedianUltimately, Avedian said Uber riders' tipping habits today could be traced to the company's decisions several years ago. In-app tipping wasn't even an option for Uber riders until 2017, despite drivers pushing for it for years.

☆ Bed Bath & Beyond stiffed thousands of workers on severance pay
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-20 | by ( Nathaniel Meyersohn | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +9 min

Bed Bath & Beyond has been on bankruptcy watch and has been closing hundreds of stores since late 2022. Toys "R" Us and other chains that filed for bankruptcy have been criticized for failing to pay workers severance. There is no federal requirement for severance pay, although some collective bargaining agreements with unions cover severance agreements. At Bed Bath & Beyond, CEO Sue Gove is eligible for $7.1 million in severance pay and former Bed Bath & Beyond CEO Mark Tritton is suing the company for $6.8 million in unpaid severance. ‘This was our reward’Some Bed Bath & Beyond employees recently laid off in other states did not receive severance pay either, as first reported by Bloomberg.

☆ Trump wanted to avoid Stormy Daniels hush money payment by delaying it past election, DA alleges
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-05 | by ( Kevin Breuninger | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

But Trump directed Cohen to delay making that payment to Daniels "as long as possible," according to Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg. Bragg's allegation that Trump tried to delay the payment to Daniels also challenges an argument made last month by Trump's current attorney Joe Tacopina. He said the hush money payment to Daniels was "not directly related to the campaign." In a single report from USA Today in 2016, hundreds of people accused Trump of withholding payment for services they provided. Bragg on Tuesday also detailed Trump's alleged involvement in efforts to suppress ex-Playboy model Karen McDougal's claim that she had an affair with Trump years ago.

☆ Twitter stiffed marketing firm $7,000 for a 'swag gift box' for Elon Musk that included a $689 Japanese whiskey and a branded cheese board, a lawsuit claims
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-20 | by ( Grace Dean | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

A branded-merch company claims it's owed $6,784 for a "swag gift box" Twitter ordered for Elon Musk. Canary Marketing says in a lawsuit that Twitter suddenly stopped paying its bills in September. The invoice for Musk's gift box includes a $689 bottle of whiskey and a custom-engraved cheese board. One of the payments Canary claims Twitter owes is the order from late September for a "swag gift box for Elon" worth $6,783.99, to be sent to Twitter's San Francisco headquarters. Twitter and Canary didn't immediately respond to Insider's request for comment, made outside of normal US working hours.

☆ All-female team replaces Juan Guaidó as face of Venezuela opposition
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-06 | by ( Associated Press | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +5 min

CARACAS, Venezuela — Venezuela’s opposition has selected an all-female team of mostly unknown exiled former lawmakers to replace the beleaguered Juan Guaidó as the face of its faltering efforts to remove socialist President Nicolas Maduro. Meanwhile, Maduro’s supporters seemed to be relishing the opposition’s squabbles. At Thursday’s session inaugurating the legislative year, loyalist lawmakers re-elected Jorge Rodriguez to lead the National Assembly. U.S. State Department spokesman Ned Price said Tuesday that the U.S. stands ready to work with any individual, or collective body, chosen by the 2015 National Assembly to represent it. We support the 2015 National Assembly as the only remaining vestige of democracy in Venezuela.”

Friday’s release of former President Donald Trump’s tax returns from his four years in the White House and two years prior is an important and long overdue public service. It also would have been a warning shot to any future presidents who may want to keep their tax returns private. ), chairman of the tax-writing House Ways and Means Committee, asked the agency for information related to Trump’s tax returns. Ultimately, though, it’s on House Democrats that the Trump tax documents release on Friday were so limited. So they couched their court case as looking into the effectiveness of mandatory IRS audits of tax returns of all sitting presidents.

☆ Arielle Charnas' company, Something Navy, is floundering amid dwindling sales, an employee exodus, and furious suppliers
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-08 | by ( Katie Warren | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +36 min

From the outside, it doesn't look as if Charnas' company is in trouble. Mark Sagliocco/Getty Images for Beach MagazineSeveral former employees told Insider they cut ties with Something Navy because they saw signs the company was struggling. Several current and former Something Navy employees told Insider they'd been inundated with emails since the spring from suppliers, freelancers, and models asking where their money was. In one email viewed by Insider, Scanlan told a supplier that cash was tight but promised payment was on the way. The current Something Navy employee said that based on data she'd seen, the retail locations most likely don't turn a profit.

☆ Kanye West owes millions all over town for unpaid contract work and music samples, lawsuits allege
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-30 | by ( Jacob Shamsian | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +9 min

He tried that earlier with his music and has been hit with copyright lawsuits related to sampling. And what followed was a thicket of lawsuits from people who alleged West failed to properly credit their songs when using samples for the album. Worse still, according to the lawsuit, West and his pals used "Life of the Party" to market the Stem Player. The company squandered months on the work, even relocating its headquarters to better closely work with West. In the end, the lawsuit alleged, West used a rip-off of MyChannel's e-commerce technology to sell his clothing at a concert.

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