SL Green to Sell Stake in Midtown Tower to Moinian Group
Two big names in the New York office-building business have agreed to end their seven-year-old joint ownership of a Midtown tower in a deal that closes the book on a commercial real-estate saga that dates back to the dark days of the downturn. In 2011, SL Green Realty Corp. rode to the rescue of the Moinian Group by helping it recapitalize 3 Columbus Circle, which at the time was a distressed redevelopment project. SL Green’s move blocked another New York real-estate heavyweight, Related Cos., which had acquired the $250 million...
Source:Wall Street Journal
August 19, 2018 19:18 UTC
Venezuelans jittery ahead of sudden economic reforms
Maduro says he'll also raise gasoline prices to international levels — a combination of measures critics say will only make things worse. Maduro's government says that in late-September, the world's cheapest gas will rise to international levels to curtail rampant smuggling across borders. Maduro said Friday that the minimum wage will also soon jump dramatically. Maduro also announced Friday a more-than-3,000 percent leap in the minimum wage, bringing it up to around $30 at the widely used black market rate. "The measures announced on Friday are not any economic recovery plan for the country," opposition leader Andres Velasquez said.
Source:Forbes
August 19, 2018 19:07 UTC
Catholics consider withholding donations amid scandals
Brice Sokolowski helps small Catholic nonprofits and churches raise money, but he too supports the recent calls to withhold donations. "In an organization that spans the whole world like the Catholic Church, you don't know where your money is going. Calls to financially boycott the Catholic Church are not new. Five years ago, after sex-abuse scandals rocked the archdiocese in St. Paul, Minnesota, parishioners talked about withholding their donations in protest. "I am struggling with it — it's not easy for me," said Shih, a Taiwanese immigrant who lives in New York City and attends several Catholic churches.
Source:Fox News
August 19, 2018 19:07 UTC
A jury convicted a doctor of raping a patient at a hospital — and sentenced him to probation
A Houston doctor who was convicted of raping a hospital patient will not serve prison time and, instead, will spend a decade on probation. The crime is punishable by up 20 years in prison, but the Texas jury sentenced Sheikh to 10 years of probation on Friday. But one of Sheikh’s attorneys, who have argued that the sex between Sheikh and the patient was consensual, defended the jury’s decision. She told authorities that a male doctor came to her room three times that night, raping her during the third visit. “There were no reports of misconduct or any incidents involving this doctor while he was at Houston Methodist,” spokeswoman Stefanie Asin said.
Source:Washington Post
August 19, 2018 19:04 UTC
A Death in Duterte’s Drug War Resonates With Overseas Filipinos
MANILA — In an impoverished area near Manila, the Philippine capital, the body of Allan Rafael lay in a white coffin as distraught relatives reminisced about the cancer-stricken man who died in detention after being arrested in President Rodrigo Duterte’s brutal drug war. On top of the coffin were photographs of Mr. Rafael, a former overseas Filipino worker, taken when he was still employed as a cook in the Middle East, and one donated by activists, with the words: “Justice for Allan, Stop the Killings.”When the police arrested him on Aug. 2, Mr. Rafael, 35, who had lymphoma, tried to explain why he looked emaciated. It wasn’t because of narcotics. He was just really sick, having undergone chemotherapy since his return from Saudi Arabia last year for treatment. But his reasoning fell on deaf ears, and he was detained, beaten and tortured by the police to obtain a confession, according to his younger brother, Aarun Rafael, who had visited him in jail.
Source:New York Times
August 19, 2018 19:04 UTC
Cannabis Is Helping Bio-Pesticides Gain Ground In US Agriculture
As legal cannabis farms take the spotlight, safer methods of pest control are also taking root in more 'mainstream' agriculture. Biopesticides can also be used simultaneously, Marrone said, or used to treat multiple pest problems by themselves. "People have been coating wheat, cotton, and other crops with chemical pesticides; now they can coat them with biological products." "[Crop pest control] is a $50 billion industry, and half of that is spent on weed killers." As the legal cannabis industry keeps growing rapidly, the demand for products like Marrone's have also climbed sky high.
Source:Forbes
August 19, 2018 19:01 UTC
Giuliani says Trump Tower meeting was to get Clinton dirt
Washington (CNN) President Donald Trump's lawyer Rudy Giuliani said Sunday that the June 2016 Trump Tower meeting between senior Trump campaign officials and Russians "was originally for the purpose of getting information about (Hillary) Clinton," but denied any collusion between Russia and the Trump campaign. Giuliani's words mirror the President's insistence that the Trump Tower meeting was held "to get information on an opponent" and was "totally legal," but ultimately "went nowhere." Fake News reporting, a complete fabrication, that I am concerned about the meeting my wonderful son, Donald, had in Trump Tower. Giuliani suggested the Trump campaign officials in attendance at the Trump Tower meeting might not have known that the meeting was with Russians or that the lawyer in attendance, Veselnitskaya, was a Russian with ties to the Kremlin. They knew it when they met with her, not when they set up the meeting," Giuliani said.
Source:CNN
August 19, 2018 18:57 UTC
Opinion | Trucking Wages and Safety
To the Editor:Re “The Trouble With Trucking” (editorial, Aug. 12 ), about “the reality of a grueling, underpaid job ”:Trucking remains one of the few roads in today’s economy that leads to the middle class without requiring the financial burden of a college degree. While the Great Recession did weaken demand for freight transportation, making trucking jobs less lucrative, the current strong economy has put truckers in greater demand than ever. The writer is the president and chief executive of the American Trucking Associations. To the Editor:“The Trouble With Trucking” mentions tired drivers as well as the push by industry lobbyists to lower the minimum age for commercial driver’s licenses to 18, both of which are big safety problems. For people like us — those who have survived or have lost a loved one in a truck crash — the trouble with trucking is the safety issue.
Source:New York Times
August 19, 2018 18:56 UTC
Opinion | Charter Schools and Racial Justice
To the Editor:In “Choice Is the Enemy of Justice” (Op-Ed, Aug. 15 ), Erin Aubry Kaplan sees California’s — and other states’ — having “abandoned integration as the chief mechanism of school reform and embraced charter schools instead” as breaking with the social contract . Educational justice, equity and integration are goals toward which my family, like Ms. Kaplan’s, has pressed for generations. But in my almost 30 years of working on school reform, I’ve been to far too many “integrated” schools where injustice thrives — by design. Because of such injustices and indignities heaped on students of color, many of their families have chosen charter schools instead. The high demand is an indictment of district-operated schools that have shortchanged students of color for generations.
Source:New York Times
August 19, 2018 18:56 UTC
Opinion | Swaying Americans’ View of the Economy
To the Editor:Re “Perception of Economy Elevated by a New Presidential Salesman” (front page, Aug. 12 ):The United States economy has been stable over the past three years, half under President Barack Obama and half under President Trump, as this article points out. The story line in this article is that people’s views of the economy are largely partisan. Among Democrats, views of the economy have remained stable over the past three years, reflecting the actual economic conditions. Among Republicans, views of a favorable economy have gone from about 20 percent to 77 percent during the time the economy has remained stable. Arthur KosowskyPittsburghTo the Editor:The standard measures of American prosperity that President Trump touts are as out of date as a 1950s sitcom.
Source:New York Times
August 19, 2018 18:56 UTC
Opinion | Ignoring Global Warming at Our Peril
To the Editor:Re “The Year Global Warming Made Its Menace a Reality” (front page, Aug. 10 ):When nuclear plants in Europe cease operating because overheated river water can no longer cool them down, you know we’re engaging in climate brinkmanship. In distancing America from the Paris climate accord, President Trump has delivered a demoralizing insult to the many nations that already feel the dire effects of global warming and have committed to do something about it. Here at home, he leads a myopic club of Republican politicians who have made rejection of climate change a litmus test of party loyalty. Philip WarburgNewton, Mass. The writer is a senior fellow at Boston University’s Institute for Sustainable Energy.
Source:New York Times
August 19, 2018 18:56 UTC
Airline passenger convicted of sexually abusing a woman on a plane
(CNN) A man accused of undressing and fondling a Spirit Airlines passenger while she was asleep could spend the rest of his life behind bars. Prabhu Ramamoorthy, 35, was convicted of sexual abuse on board an aircraft for digitally penetrating the victim, the US Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Michigan said. His sentencing date is set for December 12, and he could face up to life in prison. After finishing his sentence, Ramamoorthy -- who is in the United States on a work visa -- will be deported to his home country. The abuse happened in January during an overnight flight from Las Vegas to Detroit.
Source:CNN
August 19, 2018 18:56 UTC
Giuliani: Tower meeting was to get Clinton dirt
President Donald Trump's lawyer Rudy Giuliani says that the June 2016 Trump Tower meeting between senior Trump campaign officials and Russians "was originally for the purpose of getting information about (Hillary) Clinton," but denied any collusion between Russia and the Trump campaign.
Source:CNN
August 19, 2018 18:56 UTC
It’s time to reclaim ‘socialism’ from the dirty-word category
While 57 percent of Democrats polled said they view socialism positively, only 47 percent said the same of capitalism, down from 56 percent in 2016. Still, 16 percent of GOP voters said even they view socialism through a friendly lens, which raises the question: When Americans say they view socialism one way or the other, what exactly do they have in mind? But that doesn’t mean socialism is hopelessly nebulous, or that Americans who are interested in the idea are wandering dabblers. But now, as in the 19th century, confusion about what “socialism” means is stoked by political interest in clouding the issue. Clarifying exactly what “socialism” means once and for all likely won’t happen anytime soon.
Source:Washington Post
August 19, 2018 18:56 UTC
David Foster's daughter Sara says her friends 'always wanted to date' her dad
David Foster’s daughter Sara said her father’s “essence and aura” has always attracted women, even her friends. Sara Foster, 30, told Us Weekly that her 68-year-old father is “like forever young.”“His essence and his aura is that of like a 40-year-old,” Foster said about her father. Always!”Foster also spoke about her father’s engagement to singer Katharine McPhee, who is 34 years younger than David Foster. Sara Foster has previously gushed about her future stepmother. KATHARINE MCPHEE DEFENDS ENGAGEMENT TO DAVID FOSTER: 'Y'ALL SHOULD BE WORRYING MORE ABOUT REGISTERING TO VOTE'David Foster’s other daughter, Erin, also gave her seal of approval to the engagement shortly after the announcement in July.
Source:Fox News
August 19, 2018 18:45 UTC