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☆ San Francisco is investigating claims made by 6 ex-Twitter staff about Elon Musk's 'Twitter hotel' plans
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-21 | by ( Sam Tabahriti | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

San Francisco's Department of Building Inspection said it was investigating the lawsuit's claims. San Francisco has opened a new investigation into Elon Musk's plans to alter Twitter headquarters following claims made in a lawsuit by six former employees. The former staff also described the billionaire's plans to create a "Twitter hotel" amid Musk's "hardcore" vision. After Musk took over the company in October, he converted some office space into bedrooms, prompting an investigation by San Francisco's Department of Building Inspection. Killian was asked by the "transition team" not to reveal the details of the future plans during that inspection.

[1/4] Migrants, without a place to stay upon arrival in the city, seek safe shelter at the District 12 station of the Chicago Police Department in Chicago, Illinois, U.S. May 17, 2023. Some migrants seeking a safe place to sleep have turned to police stations. Earlier this month, Texas Governor Greg Abbott, a Republican, resumed a campaign of busing migrants to Democratic strongholds further north, including Chicago and New York City. The busing aims to alleviate pressure on border cities and call attention to what Abbott says were overly lenient policies by Biden's Democratic administration. New York City Mayor Eric Adams, a Democrat, has called on the Biden administration to provide more funding to cities receiving recently arrived migrants.

☆ Xi Jinping says no to ‘street stall economy’ in Beijing
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-18 | by ( Laura He | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

Hong Kong CNN —Chinese President Xi Jinping has opposed the lifting of curbs on street vendors in Beijing, signaling splits within government over a policy shift aimed at tackling rising unemployment. In a recent tour of the Xiongan New Area, a city south of Beijing, Xi unusually revealed his personal views about the “street stall economy,” according to a report earlier this week by China’s state-owned Xinhua news agency. “The capital city is first and foremost a political center, not a ‘hodgepodge’, where ‘factories in alleys’ and the ‘street stall economy’ are not allowed,” he said. It’s unclear whether the capital must now comply with Xi’s views and outlaw street vendors once again. But the recent policy reversal was made against a backdrop of growing challenges facing the world’s second largest economy.

[1/2] Sayfullo Saipov, the suspect in the New York City truck attack is seen in this handout photo released November 1, 2017. Saipov used a Home Depot rental truck to mow down people on a path along the Hudson River on Manhattan's West Side, according to prosecutors. He had hoped to the attack would help him gain membership in Islamic State, or ISIS, they said. Most of the people scheduled to speak at the hearing are traveling from Argentina and Belgium. Reporting by Luc Cohen in New York and Brendan O'Brien in Chicago; Editing by Will DunhamOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ What’s a President to Do When a Nation’s Capital Is Sinking? Move It.
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-16 | by ( Hannah Beech | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +38 min

A new capital city for a place with such disparities and diversity presents both a challenge and a chance for reinvention. Moving the Seat of Power From Java to Borneo Detail area Malaysia Nusantara Borneo Java Sea Indonesia Jakarta Java Indian Ocean Detail area Malaysia Nusantara Borneo Java Sea Indonesia Jakarta Java Indian Ocean Indonesia’s new capital, Nusantara, will be about 800 miles from the current capital, Jakarta. It cannot be overnight, it’s not like Aladdin comes with his genie,” said Bambang Susantono, the head of the Nusantara Capital City Authority. We have to prove that this will be a self-propelling city.” — Bambang Susantono, head of the Nusantara Capital City AuthorityCritics of I.K.N. Indonesia’s capital city faces sinking land and rising seas.

☆ From diversity to accessibility, can technology change the way we think about beauty for the better?
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-15 | by ( Flo Cornall | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

CNN —When Bold Glamour launched on TikTok earlier this year, it started a storm on social media. Some on social media were impressed by the technology, but many expressed concern about the way filters can promote unrealistic beauty standards. While there is growing unease about the way technology is impacting our ideas of beauty, some believe it can also change our attitudes to beauty for the better. Social media and filtersDigital filters and augmented reality (AR) have become an intrinsic part of how people represent themselves online. “Thanks to social media we’ve been able to access a multi-diverse pool of representation of what beauty looks like,” she said.

☆ Can the Zibo barbecue frenzy save China from economic crises?
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-15 | by ( Laura He | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

Zhu Zheng/Xinhua/Getty ImagesSo many tourists flocked into Zibo, now dubbed China’s outdoor barbecue capital, that even the local tourism authorities urged visitors to go elsewhere. A few may, but most won’t.”A shop owner shows off grilled meat during a barbecue festival on April 29, 2023 in Zibo, eastern China. The city Zibo became a tourism hot spot after videos of its barbecue went viral online. China’s economy is navigating a growing array of challenges. The informal trade might reduce unemployment temporarily, and give people feeling poorer a boost, but it “won’t save China’s economy,” Tsang said.

Some Chinatown residents benefited from the development boom, selling properties to developers or drawing more customers from increased foot traffic. Some residents have shown tentative support for the luxury buildings, saying they might make the neighborhood safer or bring in wealthier Asian residents who could boost Chinatown's economy. Manhattan Chinatown's housing stock is "really aged," which has led to costly fires, according to Thomas Yu, executive director of Asian Americans for Equality. Chinatowns and the pandemicMany debates surrounding luxury development and affordable housing were accelerated by the pandemic, which shuttered hundreds of businesses across Chinatowns. However, business owners who spoke with CNBC said Chinatown's businesses, though still recovering, are keeping the city's culture alive.

☆ A Chick-fil-A restaurant failed to build an extra lane to handle traffic, leaving city officials and the owner of a nearby funeral home fuming
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-11 | by ( Alex Bitter | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Chick-fil-A didn't build a traffic lane it promised outside a new store in Bradenton, Florida. Now, residents and the mayor are worried about drive-thru traffic spilling into the city's streets. Chick-fil-A told Insider that it's "still waiting to receive all necessary permits" from Manatee County and the State of Florida. A history of Chick-fil-A drive-thru concernsAtlanta-based Chick-fil-A is among the most popular fast-food chains in the US, with non-mall locations averaging $8 million in sales annually. But that popularity has made drive-thru traffic a problem at numerous Chick-fil-A locations.

☆ Adams Weakens Right-to-Shelter Rules, Anticipating Migrant Surge
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-10 | by ( Emma G. Fitzsimmons | Andy Newman | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

City officials have said they expect as many as 1,000 people a day to come after the rule is lifted. Already people have been crossing into the United States from Mexico in anticipation of the change. New York City has opened eight humanitarian relief centers as city officials have moved to help more than 61,000 migrants who have arrived over the last year. New York is the only major city in the country that provides “right to shelter,” the result of a legal agreement that requires the city to provide a bed to anyone who needs one under certain conditions. Under the nightly-deadline rule, homeless families with children who arrive at a shelter-system office by 10 p.m. must be given beds in a shelter the same night.

☆ Racetracks, Parks, Offices: A Frantic Search for Migrant Housing
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-08 | by ( Dana Rubinstein | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

By Friday, a Trump-era immigration policy called Title 42 is set to expire. The end of the policy is expected to spur cross-border migration, eventually affecting New York City. New York City is the only major U.S. city with a “right-to-shelter law.” As of Wednesday evening, 61,000 migrants have come to the city in the past year, according to City Hall officials. Over 37,500 of them are now in city care at more than 120 emergency shelters and eight larger-scale centers. Those spaces should be at least 10,000 square feet in size, contain “no known health hazards” and have running water.

☆ Phoenix to Start Clearing Sprawling Downtown Homeless Encampment
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-08 | by ( Jill Cowan | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

It’s an existence,” Shina Sepulveda, who is homeless and lives in the Zone, told The New York Times recently. City leaders across the West have grappled with how to handle homeless camps when they do not have enough space at shelters or in supportive housing. Patience has worn thin in some communities with significant homeless populations, and residents and business owners have asked their city officials to do more to move people off the streets. BackgroundThe number of unsheltered Phoenix residents has risen dramatically, from 771 in 2014 to 3,096 in 2022, according to the city. The city contended that it had discretion over how to address homelessness, including how best to move people out of camps.

☆ How Two Men’s Disparate Paths Crossed in a Killing on the F Train
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-07 | by ( Michael Wilson | Andy Newman | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

It was a Monday afternoon and a 30-year-old man was ranting on an F train headed through Manhattan. He was a regular on the subway, once a gifted Michael Jackson impersonator, but he was also troubled. City workers had tried to help him for years. After the military, he had dropped out of college, posting online about feeling “completely unfulfilled,” and now he was looking for a bartending job in the city. He shouted to others on the train that he was hungry, that he didn’t care about returning to jail, that he was ready to die, witnesses said.

☆ New York City congestion pricing plan clears tall hurdle
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-05 | by ( David Shepardson | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

May 5 (Reuters) - The Biden administration on Friday approved the release of the final environmental assessment for New York City's congestion pricing plan for public comment, a key step before the project can be green-lighted. In August, New York said drivers could face a traffic congestion charge of up to $23 a day in late 2023. New York, which has the most congested U.S. traffic, would become the first major U.S. city to follow London, which began a similar charge in 2003. New York lawmakers approved the plan in 2019, and it was originally projected to start in 2021. The environmental assessment found the charge would cut traffic, improve air quality, make buses more reliable and increase transit use by 1%-2%.

☆ New York City congestion pricing plan clears key hurdle
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-05 | by ( David Shepardson | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

☆ Why New York’s Giant Trash Bag Piles May Be an Endangered Species
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-03 | by ( Emma G. Fitzsimmons | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

New York City, where sidewalks have long been overrun by foul-smelling heaps of garbage bags that force passers-by to yield to oncoming rat traffic, is about to try a not-so-novel idea to solve the problem. The concept, known as trash containerization, seems simple enough: Get trash off the streets and into containers. To do so, however, will require removing 150,000 parking spots, and up to 25 percent of parking spots on some blocks. The report does not address the cost of implementing trash containerization citywide, but it could easily cost hundreds of millions of dollars over the next decade. City officials must buy new specialized trash trucks and stationary containers, while also increasing the frequency of trash collection in large swaths of the city.

☆ Manchester City’s New Definition of Failure: Anything Short of Three Trophies
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-02 | by ( Joshua Robinson | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

MANCHESTER, England—From the moment Manchester City introduced Pep Guardiola as manager in the summer of 2016, the club knew it was guaranteed trophies. City was combining one of the most innovative coaches in the game with the brute force of unparalleled spending on talent. Seven gilded years later, Guardiola’s team is proving yet again how irresistible that mix can be. As the season enters its final month, Man City is just a handful of victories away from a sweep of three major trophies: the Premier League, the FA Cup, and the first Champions League in the club’s history.

☆ A Hydropower Renaissance, but Where Are the Giant Dams?
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-02 | by ( Mira Rojanasakul | Max Bearak | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +10 min

Pumped Storage Hydropower, 1900-2040 Global map showing a concentration of planned pumped storage projects in China. Pumped Storage Existing Planned China’s momentum has allowed it to surpass Europe’s capacity for pumped storage. “Our data show that pumped storage is set to grow much faster than conventional dams,” said Joe Bernardi, who runs Global Energy Monitor’s hydropower tracker. UPPER RESERVOIR GENERATORS + TURBINES LOWER RESERVOIR When electricity demand exceeds supply, water is released to race downhill, spinning giant turbines. UPPER RESERVOIR GENERATORS + TURBINES LOWER RESERVOIR When electricity demand exceeds supply, water is released to race downhill, spinning giant turbines.

☆ Employee Monitoring and Surveillance
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-01 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +50 min

Ensuring Employee Safety and Systems SecurityEmployers may use electronic workplace monitoring and surveillance to protect their:Worksites. Potential Liability for Electronic Workplace Monitoring and SurveillanceEmployers that engage in electronic workplace monitoring and surveillance must comply with various federal and state laws, including:The Wiretap Act. Best Practices for Electronic Workplace Monitoring and SurveillanceTo avoid violating relevant state and federal laws, before conducting workplace monitoring and surveillance, employers should:Consider the purpose and appropriate scope of their monitoring and surveillance activities and what methods will help them achieve their objectives. Determine the Purpose of Workplace Monitoring and SurveillanceBefore conducting any workplace monitoring or surveillance, best practice is for employers to identify the purpose and goals of these activities to:Ensure that there is a legitimate business purpose for the planned monitoring and surveillance activities. Determine the scope of monitoring and surveillance necessary to accomplish the business purpose, and conduct only the minimum monitoring and surveillance necessary to meet that business need.

☆ Coronation travel guide: Transport advice, London hotels and where to watch
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-28 | by ( Julia Buckley | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +16 min

Take the Conrad London St. James, for example, which sits between the Mall and Westminster Abbey. Most of the roads around Westminster Abbey and St. James’s Park Underground station will be blocked off. How to see the coronationCharles and Camilla will ride in the Diamond Jubilee State Coach to Westminster Abbey for the ceremony. Niklas Halle'n/AFP/Getty ImagesThe coronation itself will take place on the morning of Saturday May 6 at Westminster Abbey. Royal Windsor Racecourse, near Windsor Castle, and on the bank of the River Thames, is having a race night to celebrate the day’s public holiday.

A real estate investment fund recently defaulted on $750 million of mortgages for two Los Angeles skyscrapers. And a big New York landlord is trying to extend the deadline for paying down a loan for a Park Avenue office tower. Office districts in nearly every U.S. city have been under great stress since the pandemic emptied workplaces and made working from home common. But in recent months, the crisis has entered a tense phase that could damage local economies and cause financial hits to real estate investors and scores of banks. Lenders are increasingly reluctant to make new loans to owners of office buildings, especially after the collapse of two banks last month.

☆ Where to watch Man City vs. Arsenal live stream online from anywhere
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-26 | by ( Brendan Griffiths | Senior Commerce Director | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

It's the biggest game of the Premier League season and could well decide the title, so here's where to watch a Man City vs. Arsenal live stream online today. Where to watch Man City vs. Arsenal live stream (US)Watching a Man City vs. Arsenal live stream online in the US via Peacock is the only option today as it's not being broadcast on TV. If you want to take advantage of the super cheap live stream of Man City vs. Liverpool that US viewers get, but you're not in the US right now, you'll find online geo-restrictions will block access to your usual Peacock live stream. How to watch Man City vs. Arsenal online with a VPNSign up for a VPN if you don't have one. Is there a free Man City vs. Arsenal live stream option?

☆ Ireland's Trinity College to drop philosopher Berkeley's name over slavery
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-26 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

DUBLIN, April 26 (Reuters) - Ireland's oldest university, Trinity College Dublin, has announced it will remove the name of philosopher George Berkeley from one of its main libraries over his ownership of slaves and efforts to "advance ideology in support of slavery". "George Berkeley's enormous contribution to philosophical thought is not in question," Trinity's Provost Linda Doyle said in a statement that confirmed Berkeley's work would still be taught at the university. It said it had not yet decided on a new name for the library, which was opened in 1967. The owners of Dublin’s Shelbourne Hotel in 2020 removed four historic statues from its entrance in the belief that they represented female slaves. Writing by Conor Humphries; Editing by Nick MacfieOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Opinion | American Road Deaths Show an Alarming Racial Gap
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-26 | by ( Adam Paul Susaneck | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +15 min

The year before, pedestrian deaths reached a 40-year high. Pedestrian and cyclist injuries tend to be concentrated in poorer neighborhoods that have a larger share of Black and Hispanic residents. Roosevelt Boulevard North Philly High Injury Network West Philly 3 miles Percent Black and Hispanic 20 40 60 80% Washington D.C. Oslo and Helsinki, which adopted Vision Zero in the 1990s, recorded zero traffic deaths in 2019, and Helsinki had just two pedestrian deaths in 2021. In Los Angeles, Philadelphia and Washington, pedestrian deaths have actually risen since the adoption of Vision Zero.

☆ Supreme Court takes up legal spat over public officials blocking people on social media
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-24 | by ( Lawrence Hurley | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

WASHINGTON, DC - APRIL 19: The Supreme Court of the United States, on Wednesday, April 19, 2023 in Washington, DC. But the legal dispute is the same: Can blocking someone on social media give rise to a free speech violation under the Constitution's First Amendment? It's a recurring question that has arisen at all levels of government as elected officials increasingly use social media to interact with voters. The appeals court concluded that the elected officials were acting in their official capacities and that social media accounts are akin to a public forum. The court also rejected the officials' argument that their social media pages were not official channels for members of the public to communicate with the government.

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