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The family-owned funeral home is a dying industry
samhexum replied to samhexum's topic in The Lounge
She paid $15,000 for mom’s final arrangements — and now worries Brooklyn funeral home stored remains on unrefrigerated U-Haul truck A Brooklyn woman says that weeks ago she paid a funeral home $15,000 to handle her mother’s final arrangements — and now wonders if she was one of the rotting corpses police found in unrefrigerated U-Haul trucks. Tamisha Covington had questions Thursday for the Andrew T. Cleckley Funeral Home in Flatlands. “What’ve you all been doing to our mom? The whole time, she’s just been sitting in a truck?” Covington said she’d like to ask. “How do we know? We don’t know,” Covington said. State health department officials have opened a probe into the “unacceptable conditions” at the funeral home, located on Utica Ave. and Ave. M. Cops on Wednesday found dozens of coprses stacked in two U-Haul trucks and a U-Haul van, along with several more bodies in two refrigerated trucks. Mayor de Blasio on Thursday blasted the funeral parlor’s treatment of bodies amid a wave of deaths in New York City during the coronavirus pandemic. “This horrible situation that occurred with the funeral home in Brooklyn — absolutely unacceptable,” de Blasio said during a briefing Thursday. The home “shouldn’t have let it happen.” Covington, who showed up at the funeral home Thursday demanding answers, the situation wasn’t just unacceptable — it was heartbreaking. Her mother, Deborah Harris, 60, died of a heart attack, possibly from coronavirus complications, in her Brooklyn home April 7. The funeral home took her body on April 9. After two weeks of ducking her calls, she said, someone from the funeral home called her sister earlier in the week and gave her a funeral date, May 12. Covington said she would have understood if the funeral home staff had told her they couldn’t handle the overflow and that a viewing wouldn’t be possible. Instead, she said, the funeral home stayed mum. “Be a little respectful for us. We’re mourning. We’re grieving," Covington said. "Have a little courtesy for the dead,” she added. “And don’t be robbing us, cause we’re getting robbed. "Why are we paying $15,000? Nobody can explain that. Can somebody tell us why they’re ripping us off instead of helping us, and now they got our loved ones in U-Hauls?” The city said last week that bodies of some coronavirus victims will be temporarily frozen to reduce strain on hospitals and funeral homes with limited space to preserve the dead. Somehow the effort didn’t cover the Andrew T. Cleckley home. On Wednesday, people walking by the trucks saw leakage and smelled the odor of death from one of them, said law enforcement sources. “I saw 15 bodies in the U-Haul box truck stacked up on one another, and more in the other,” one officer at the scene told The News. Other witnesses said they’d been watching corpses loaded onto the trucks for days. De Blasio said Thursday what happened was “unconscionable” and that he was “very disappointed” the funeral home didn’t contact the city or state or reach out to the NYPD for help. “I’m sorry, it’s not hard to figure out. If nothing else is working, call the NYPD,” the mayor said. “It was an emergency situation.” The state Health Department, which regulates funeral homes, hasn’t determined what penalty the funeral home owner may face. The home’s operator, Andrew Cleckley, could be fined, be temporarily suspended from the business, or have his license revoked, , state officials said. The bodies found in the trucks are being brought to a morgue in Brooklyn, officials said. Cleckley, who refers to himself as “The Undertaker" on his Facebook page, did not return messages seeking comment Thursday. A woman answering the door at a relative’s Queens home yelled, "He’s not here, do not come here, he’s not here!” Families and funeral homes who can’t immediately collect and handle bodies can ask the city medical examiner’s office to temporarily store the dead until arrangements are made. Coronavirus victims will only be buried at the city’s potter’s field on Hart Island if they cannot be identified or next of kin hasn’t been reached about 15 days after death. During the pandemic, the city is transferring some victims’ bodies from morgues and refrigerated trailers to freezer trucks to ensure they don’t decompose. But once a funeral home collects remains, they can’t be returned to the medical examiner’s office. Asked if funeral homes should be able to send bodies back to the medical examiner if they run out of space and take on too many remains, de Blasio said he didn’t know the details about the city’s handling of the situation. But the mayor said funeral homes have an “obligation to the people they serve to treat them with dignity.” De Blasio said the city should organize a bereavement committee as proposed by Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams. The committee would include representatives of the medical examiner’s office and the city’s funeral homes. Adams said the idea is to help funeral home directors overwhelmed in the pandemic. -
The coronavirus crisis has forced many businesses to close – factories, warehouses, businesses that employ hundreds if not thousands of workers. A few businesses, including Ricas Pupusas Y Mas, a Salvadorian style restaurant in Woodside, Queens on 47th Street, have been able to maintain some operations. But business has slowed to a trickle, so they are only open four days a week, as there isn’t enough foot traffic to justify staying open. Irma Vargas, an immigrant of El Salvatore runs Ricas Pupusas Y Mas with her husband Daniel, and her two daughters Amy and Abagail. The business is only a year and a half old, finally becoming established and popular with workers from those warehouses and factories. On a normal day, they make hundreds of tortillas, tamales and tacos for her fans. Their great food has even been featured in The New York Times and other major food columns and websites. But with self-quarantine orders in place and businesses closed, Vargas’ eatery has suffered mightily. “Monday through Wednesday, we are closed because there is no business at all,” Vargas said. “So now we are open Thursday through Sunday. Some days we make $50-$75, and we might as well stay home. It’s difficult now because people were laid off, there are no jobs here and people can’t buy prepared foods. There were a lot of immigrants here, but they aren’t working now so what do we do?” Vargas says they do delivery, and they are working with Seamless, Uber Eats and call in orders. But even delivery business is sparse and they can’t pay their bills. The restaurant applied for SBA loans but were denied. Because they are a family run business, she says, they’re not eligible for relief under the Payroll Protection Program. They are now borrowing money from friends, and they haven’t yet paid this month’s rent. “The landlord doesn’t want to negotiate. When we asked for a break, he said, ‘no, I want the whole rent,’” Vargas sighed. “We don’t know what to do. We are trying hard to stay open. We were doing well, but now nobody is coming. Nobody is helping us.” Not far from Vargas is Phil Am Grocery on the border of Woodside and Jackson Heights, Queens. Joe Costillo and his father Emanuel run the 40-year-old ethnic Filipino grocery store on 70th Street only 20-blocks from Elmhurst Hospital. The problem for Phil Am was not that they were mandated to close, but they were forced to close as so many were dying in their community from coronavirus. “We closed our store out of an abundance of caution for staff and customers – we saw early on that the area was lit up and was a hot-bed of coronavirus,” Costillo said. “We saw this first hand and people were getting sick left and right incuding some employees. There was high anxiety so we had to close.” The Queens immigrant community has had a much higher number of people infected with Covid-19 because residents live in more crowded homes, share quarters and are forced to go to work when others had the luxury of staying home. But last week, Costillo re-opened, taking phone orders and keeping customers at bay through a small window where they hand groceries out the cubby hole and limit exposure to people. That business is starting to pick up slowly, but they are under the financial gun to pay vendors, taxes, insurance – luckily, they own the building so we don’t worry about paying rent.” Costillo is just trying to keep his head above water and keep up with bills, and he continues to pay employees, but “we are reaching the end of our rope.” He worries even more for neighbors who must stay closed, mostly ethnic restaurants that he would patronize that might have to be shuttered because they can’t open and won’t make their rent. That would leave many stores around him vacant and damage the community, he says. “Some folks who have to make their rent and make money are in real trouble,” Costillo said. “We are doing things we didn’t do before, including creating a website that my father didn’t think we needed. People come to us because it is familiar to them – comfort food. But for others like the restaurants, they are just trying to hold on as long as they could and they are hemorrhaging money – some will choose to close – we can only hope they will recover.”
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One death that (maybe) could have been avoided: Coronavirus patient dead after medical residents set ventilator too high A New York coronavirus patient died after inexperienced medical residents rushed to the front line of the pandemic set her ventilator too high, according to a report. The patient, who was in her 60s, was being cared for on an overnight shift at Montefiore Hospital in the Bronx last month by family medicine residents, who were not properly trained in how to use the respiratory support machine, according to the Wall Street Journal. Medical residents are doctors-in-training who have graduated from medical school but are training for a specialty under the supervision of a senior physician. As family medicine residents, the young doctors typically wouldn’t work in an intensive care unit on critically ill patients — but as hospitals became overwhelmed with COVID-19 patients, they were thrust into roles they weren’t prepared for. So when the patient’s illness worsened dramatically overnight and the residents hooked her up to a ventilator, they accidentally turned the device up too high — stopping her heart, according to the paper. When a critical care physician rushed to the room, the doctors-in-training admitted they didn’t know how to properly work the settings on the ventilator. The disturbing incident is just one of several reported by the Wall Street Journal. Other residents — such as those training to be dentists, ophthalmologists, podiatrists and psychiatrists — have also been pushed to the front line because the city’s doctors are stretched desperately thin. At Yale New Haven Hospital in Connecticut, anesthesiology residents were sent to work as respiratory therapists — a licensed job that requires at least two years of training — after just one Zoom session and a Google document that instructed them to call an attending physician if they needed help, according to the paper. And at NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia, a resident admitted to being afraid that patients were being treated like “guinea pigs.” Hospital officials contacted by the paper said the coronavirus crisis has created extraordinary conditions for all staff members, prompting an all-hands-on-deck response. “Our mission is to save lives, and our heroic health care workers are on the front lines … navigating unprecedented challenges under enormous pressure,” a spokesperson for the institution formally known as NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia University Irving Medical Center told the Wall Street Journal. “We are constantly working to give them the support and resources they need.” Montefiore Medical Center didn’t return a request for comment, according to the paper. MORE ON: CORONAVIRUS Soccer diehards fill empty stadium with cardboard-cutouts of fans
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We’ve all been spending a lot of time at home these days. But thanks to the wonders of technology, we can also take trips to Twin Peaks, Wisteria Lane or California’s most famous zip code, among other notable TV locales. Since the days of self-quarantine began earlier this spring, dozens of stars from long-gone television shows have reunited virtually. By way of nostalgia-filled Zoom calls, short-form YouTube series and Instagram Live videos, the casts of nearly two dozen shows have come together to reminisce, including stars from “Friday Night Lights,” “The Office,” “Glee,” “Melrose Place” and other series. We’ve rounded up all of the virtual reunions that have happened thus far, with handy links to the videos. And be sure to bookmark this page, which will be updated with future gatherings — including the pandemic-themed “Parks and Recreation” special set for Thursday, April 30, on NBC. “90210” In a video on April 22, Shenae Grimes reunited with co-stars Jessica Lowndes (Adrianna), AnnaLynne McCord (Naomi), Michael Steger (Navid), Josh Zuckerman (Max), Jessica Stroup (Silver), Matt Lanter (Liam), Tristan Wilds (Dixon) and Dustin Milligan (Ethan) for a 27-minute look back at their time on the CW series. But if the reunion below doesn’t spill enough “90210” tea for your liking, there wasanother get-together between Grimes, Lanter and McCord posted earlier in the month, in which the trio revisited the show’s series finale. (The latter video was actually filmed in 2018 but posted in April, lest you worry they’re breaking the rules of social distancing on that couch.) “Chuck” Hosted by EW.com, this reunion gathered 12 cast members — including Zachary Levi (Chuck) and Yvonne Strahovski (Sarah) — as well as co-creators Chris Fedak and Josh Schwartz for a virtual table read of Season 3’s “Chuck Versus the Beard.” “Desperate Housewives” As part of “Stars in the House” (a daily live-streamed YouTube series that benefits the Actors Fund charity), “Desperate Housewives” alumni Eva Longoria (Gabrielle), Marcia Cross (Bree), Brenda Strong (Mary Alice), Dana Delany (Katherine) and Vanessa Williams (Renee) sat down for an hour-plus-long discussion of the show. “Difficult People” Julie Klausner (Julie), Billy Eichner (Billy), Andrea Martin (Marilyn) and James Urbaniak (Arthur) were among the stars of Hulu’s three-season comedy to reunite — technical difficulties and all — via “Stars in the House.” “Entourage” In a virtual reunion facilitated by Cameo, stars Jeremy Piven (Ari), Emmanuelle Chriqui (Sloan), Constance Zimmer (Dana) and Perrey Reeves (Mrs. Ari) reflected on memorable moments from the HBO series. ( .) “Frasier” Various stars of the NBC sitcom — including Kelsey Grammer (Frasier), David Hyde Pierce (Niles), Jane Leeves (Daphne) and Peri Gilpin (Roz), among others — joined forces for a “Stars in the House” get-together. “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air” On a recent episode of his Snapchat series “Will From Home,” Will Smith was joined by former castmates Alfonso Ribeiro (Carlton), Tatyana Ali (Ashley), Karyn Parsons (Hilary), Daphne Maxwell Reid (Aunt Viv), Joseph Marcell (Geoffrey) and DJ Jazzy Jeff (Jazz) for a look back at the ’90s sitcom. “Friday Night Lights” As part of Global Citizen’s “One World: Together at Home” concert, cast members from the beloved football drama — including Aimee Teegarden (Julie), Adrianne Palicki (Tyra), Scott Porter (Street), Gaius Charles (Smash), Derek Phillips (Billy) and Brad Leland (Buddy) — screened the pilot episode together. “Glee” Another “Stars in the House” episode, embedded below, featured “Glee” alumni such as Matthew Morrison (Will), Jane Lynch (Sue), Darren Criss (Blaine), Chris Colfer (Kurt), Amber Riley (Mercedes), Jenna Ushkowitz (Tina) and Kevin McHale (Artie). Trust us: It’s for a glimpse at Colfer’s “Glee” audition. “Hannah Montana” On the March 24 episode of her Instagram Live series “Bright Minded,” Miley Cyrus was joined by “Hannah Montana” co-star Emily Osment for a little stroll down memory lane. “Jessie” Speaking of Disney Channel reunions, the cast of “Jessie” also stopped by “Stars in the House” for an hour-long chat about their favorite episodes, what they’ve been up to in quarantine, and more. Participants included Debby Ryan (Jessie), Peyton List (Emma), Karan Brar (Ravi), Skai Jackson (Zuri) and Kevin Chamberlin (Bertram). “The Last Man on Earth” In a two-hour (!) Zoom chat, cast members Will Forte (Phil), Kristen Schaal (Carol), January Jones (Melissa), Mary Steenburgen (Gail) and Cleopatra Coleman (Erica) were joined by EPs Phil Lord and Chris Miller and director Payman Benz for a chat about the Fox comedy’s four seasons … and what would have happened in Season 5. “Melrose Place” Marcia Cross (Kimberly), Daphne Zuniga (Jo), Courtney Thorne-Smith (Alison), Thomas Calabro (Michael), Grant Show (Jake), Heather Locklear (Amanda) and more stars came together in an April 28 installment of “Stars in the House,” where they relived the highs and lows of Melrose Place‘s seven-season run. (Watch it here.) “The Nanny” The sitcom’s original stars — including Fran Drescher (Fran), Charles Shaughnessy (Maxwell), Daniel Davis (Niles), Lauren Lane (C. C.), Nicholle Tom (Maggie), Benjamin Salisbury (Brighton), Madeline Zima (Grace) and Renee Taylor (Sylvia) — assembled for a virtual table read of the show’s 1993 pilot episode. (Watch it here.) “The Office” In one of the quarantine’s most pleasant surprises, “The Office” vet John Krasinskiwelcomed onetime co-star Steve Carell to his “Some Good News” YouTube series, in which they revisited some of their favorite moments from fictional life in Scranton, Pa. (Carell’s interview begins at 5:40 in the video below.) But if you need another dose of Dunder Mifflin, “Office” alums Brian Baumgartner (Kevin), Melora Hardin (Jan), Oscar Nuñez (Oscar) and Kate Flannery (Meredith) also reunited for a conversation moderated by “Parks and Recreation”‘s Jim O’Heir. “Outsourced” Cast members and producers of NBC’s one-and-done comedy — 15 people in all! — logged on for a virtual table read of the pilot episode, which originally aired on Sept. 23, 2010. “Scandal” In a three-minute Instagram video on April 7, “Scandal”‘s Kerry Washington was joined by former on-screen love Tony Goldwyn to discuss — what else? — the 2020 census! “[MEDIA=instagram]B-s6ieqnWzx[/MEDIA] “SCTV” Four alumni from the Canadian sketch comedy series — Eugene Levy, Catherine O’Hara, Andrea Martin and Martin Short — appeared on “Stars in the House” to reminisce about their time on the show. “Sonny With a Chance/So Random!” Demi Lovato (Sonny), Tiffany Thornton (Tawni), Allisyn Snyder (Zora), Doug Brochu (Grady), Shayne Topp (Shayne), Sterling Knight (Chad), Matthew Scott Montgomery (Matthew), Audrey Whitby (Audrey) and Damien C. Haas (Damien) got together for a candid conversation about their Disney Channel series. “Taxi” Rounding out the “Stars in the House” reunions (thus far) was a gathering of “Taxi” alumni, including Judd Hirsch (Alex), Danny DeVito (Louie), Marilu Henner (Elaine), Christopher Lloyd (Reverend Jim) and Carol Kane (Simka). “Twin Peaks” While sipping on some damn fine cups of coffee, Kyle MacLachlan and Mädchen Amick celebrated the 30th anniversary of Twin Peaks‘ premiere by answering fan questions in an Instagram Live video. “Victorious” And finally, the cast of “Victorious” — including Ariana Grande! — reunited virtually in honor of the Nickelodeon sitcom’s 10-year anniversary. Link to the article and many video clips: https://nypost.com/2020/04/30/24-virtual-cast-reunions-from-parks-and-recreation-glee-scandal-the-office-and-more/
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Nick Cordero to have leg amputated amid coronavirus battle
samhexum replied to samhexum's topic in Live Theater & Broadway
Nick Cordero has holes in ‘severely damaged’ lungs due to coronavirus The wife of Broadway star Nick Cordero has revealed there are holes in his “severely damaged” lungs amid his ongoing battle with coronavirus. Amanda Kloots — who has spent weeks rallying support for her husband — said Thursday that her husband has “been thrown every curve ball he could be thrown” as she detailed via a video on Instagram, “Yesterday was a very hard day. He started off with low blood count. Luckily, Nick’s CT scans came back clear of internal bleeding as of now, so that was a huge blessing. “However, we did learn that due to COVID, Nick’s lungs are severely damaged to look almost like he’s been a smoker for 50 years, they said, they’re that damaged. There are holes in his lungs where obviously you don’t want holes to be.” The fitness trainer and mom to their baby son, Elvis, said doctors discovered this when Cordero’s oxygen count went down and they cleaned out his lungs. She said the plan now is to scan his lungs with ink and take cultures, so they can put him on the right medication. Cordero has already had his leg amputated and his friends and family are waiting for him to regain consciousness. Kloots added that her husband’s doctor is “absolutely wonderful,” saying, “He told me if Nick was in his 70s, we’d be having a different conversation. He’s 41, he’s been fighting really hard. “He told me if it was his brother in there, he would not be giving up hope, so I’m not giving up hope. Obviously, it was super scary news to hear.” She said they are desperate to get him healthy and stable so they can give him a tracheostomy and get him off his ventilator, but have to work out his lung issues first. -
Masked workers brawl with suspected shoplifters in Yonkers supermarket Two suspected shoplifters were caught in a wild brawl with staffers at a besieged Yonkers supermarket that says it has already lost $34,000 to thieves this year. The almost 11-minute clip from Shop Fair supermarket in Getty Square on Monday started with one of the accused already being pinned to the floor in one of the aisles as another was held back. “Look what they doing! Look what they doing to my brother!” yelled the second man, wearing a blue, white and red jacket. After counting down from five, he waded in, appearing to throw at least one punch — with at staffers leaping on him and exchanging blows. As they stumbled into the next aisle, the suspect was mounted from behind, with a staffer putting his hands on his neck and even appearing to go for a rear-naked choke when the suspect stood. “I can’t breathe!” he repeatedly insisted. At one point, a 3-foot pole was brought out, although it was not seen being used to strike anyone. The second suspect, who had mostly been off-camera, was then shown kicking and punching out at several other staff members surrounding him. “Call the cops and let them handle it,” urged a muscular staff member in a tight “Blessed” shirt — before becoming heated as he walked one of the suspects out of the store. “Get the f–k out this store before I knock you out myself!” he told the suspect, who rubbed his head as he got up off the ground before being cuffed by waiting Yonkers cops. The person videoing the wild brawl — seen more than 25,000 times by Thursday morning — repeatedly claimed he has seen violence in the store before, saying, “They do this all the time. This is not right!” The clip ended after he was told he was banned from the store, complaining that it was “because I documented what happened.” Store manager Eddie Duran told The Post that five employees have been reprimanded over the violence. “There’s no excuse,” he said. “I hope that something like this never happens again.” Still, he insisted that the two suspects started the attack before the camera started rolling — even though employees had offered to let them leave without calling the police. “Since the coronavirus, we’ve been telling shoplifters, ‘Leave the items and you can just leave the store,'” he said. The suspects were known from previous thefts at the store, which has already lost $34,000 this year, likely to be worse even than the $45,000 lost in 2019, Duran said. The pair took two bags of shrimp worth $22.99 each — seemingly a hot commodity for thieves — and started swinging when they refused to hand them over, Duran said. “The guy just flipped and started beating my employee — he was left bleeding,” the manager said. “The video doesn’t show any of what started this. “But what happened after that is a nightmare. I’ve told all my staff that this kind of behavior will not be tolerated.”
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Trump pointed out that Sweden is “paying heavily” for its decision not to lockdown the country as coronavirus deaths in the Scandanavian country begin to rise. “Despite reports to the contrary, Sweden is paying heavily for its decision not to lockdown. As of today, 2462 people have died there, a much higher number than the neighboring countries of Norway (207), Finland (206) or Denmark (443),” the president wrote in a tweet on Thursday. “The United States made the correct decision!” Unlike many of its Nordic neighbors and countries in Europe, Sweden did not impose strict restrictions on its citizens and allowed many businesses, including restaurants and hair salons, and schools to remain open. By contrast, Finland declared a state of emergency on March 16 and shut down schools, restaurants and bars on April 1 and Denmark announced the first round of closures on March 11. Sweden’s death rate per 1 million population – 244 – is significantly higher than Finland, 37, Denmark, 76, and Norway, 38, according to worldometers, which has been tracking the number of worldwide cases. Finland has 4,995 cases, Norway has 7,710 and Denmark has 9,158. Sweden, with a population of 10.3 million, has 20,301 cases. The World Health Organization on Wednesdaypraised Sweden as a “model” for fighting the coronavirus pandemic. Dr. Mike Ryan, the WHO’s top emergencies expert, said Wednesday there are “lessons to be learned” from the Scandinavian nation, which has largely relied on citizens to self-regulate. “I think there’s a perception out that Sweden has not put in control measures and just has allowed the disease to spread,” Ryan told reporters. “Nothing can be further from the truth.” SEE ALSO WHO lauds lockdown-ignoring Sweden as a 'model' for countries going forward Japanese island hit by second wave of coronavirus after ending lockdown early Japan’s northern island of Hokkaido — the first area of the country to see a major coronavirus outbreak — was forced back into lockdown after lifting its stringent restrictions too early, according to new reports. The prefecture of 5.3 million people, known for its rugged mountainous terrain and history of farming and fishing, went into lockdown in late February in response to a sharp acceleration in infections, which largely stemmed from its annual Sapporo Snow Festival, TIME reported. The region, at first, was lauded for quickly containing the outbreak with a 3-week lockdown, but when prefectural governor Naomichi Suzuki lifted the restrictions, a second wave of infections slammed the island even harder, according to the report. The region was forced back into lockdown. “Now I regret it, we should not have lifted the first state of emergency,” Dr. Kiyoshi Nagase, chairman of the Hokkaido Medical Association, who helped coordinate the government response, told the outlet. The island’s story serves as a wake-up call for leaders of other nations — including the US — as they consider loosening restrictions, Kazuto Suzuki, Vice Dean of International Politics at Hokkaido University, told TIME. “Hokkaido shows, for example, that what’s happening in the U.S. with individual governors opening up is very dangerous; of course you can’t close interstate traffic but you need to put controls in place,” he said. “That’s what we now know: Even if you control the first wave, you can’t relax.” Japan has so far confirmed about 15,000 coronavirus cases, including about 700 from the ill-fated Diamond Princess cruise ship quarantined near Tokyo in February, Kyodo News reported Thursday. About 470 deaths have been reported. The Tokyo metropolitan government confirmed 46 new infections Thursday, according to the report. The country is considering extending its nationwide state of emergency until the end of May to help contain the spread of the virus, government sources told the outlet Thursday. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is expected to seek opinions from a panel of experts Friday before coming to a decision.
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I think I once saw him be a dinner guest on Annabel Langbein's cooking show.
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The family-owned funeral home is a dying industry
samhexum replied to samhexum's topic in The Lounge
Dozens of bodies found in U-Haul trucks outside NYC funeral home Police found dozens of bodies being stored in unrefrigerated trucks outside a Brooklyn funeral home and lying on the facility’s floor Wednesday, law enforcement sources told The Post. Between 40 to 60 bodies were discovered either stacked up in U-Haul box trucks outside Andrew Cleckley Funeral Services in Flatlands or on the building’s floor, after neighbors reported a foul odor around the property, sources said. The corpses were stacked on top of each other in the trucks. Fluid leaking from inside created a terrible smell and caused neighboring store owners to call the police, according to sources. NYPD detectives were joined by several other city agencies investigating the trucks at the Utica Avenue facility Wednesday evening, with the section of the street closed off to the public. John DiPietro, who owns a neighboring property, said he had observed cadavers being stored in the trucks for at least several weeks during the coronavirus pandemic. “You don’t respect the dead that way. That could have been my father, my brother,” he said. “You don’t do that to the dead.” Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams was on the scene, but could not confirm any details of the storage. Adams said the city needed to ramp up staff for a “bereavement committee” to deal with the surging deaths due to the coronavirus. “We need to bring in funeral directors, morgues, [medical examiners], clergies … when you find bodies in trucks like this throughout our city, treating them in an undignified manner, that’s unacceptable.” Police called in the state Department of Health. A spokesman at the agency said the department is actively looking into the matter, but couldn’t comment further. In addition to the two U-Hauls holding corpses, the facility had two more refrigerated trucks also storing bodies and a third box truck of empty caskets, police sources said. The funeral home told officers that the bodies were supposed to be going to a crematorium but they didn’t come and pick them up, sources told the Post. Corpses began being stored in the trucks after the company’s freezer stopped working correctly, an anonymous official told the New York Times. The owner of Pemco supplies, a kitchen appliance parts supplier nearby the funeral home, called the situation a “disaster.” “They were storing them in U-Haul trucks; we knew what was going on but not the extent,” the owner said. “One thing to be [killed] by the coronavirus, another to be treated inhumanly.” Calls to the funeral company, went unanswered Wednesday afternoon. Workers, some not wearing protective equipment, could be seen taking bodies from the facility into the night. A tarp was extended from the building to shield the process as Dodge Caravan minivans backed up onto the sidewalk to receive the corpses. A gentle wind occasionally blew the tarp back to reveal the body bags as they were wheeled into the minivans on gurneys. “You don’t see this all over the city — especially in a residential neighborhood,” one shocked cop told The Post. “Never seen anything like this.” -
Two golden pups are delivering locally brewed suds to a growing ’brew dogs’ fan base Golden Retrievers Buddy, 3, and Barley, 1, are now part of the delivery staff at family-owned Six Harbors Brewing Co. in Huntington, Long Island, which was forced to switch from on-site sales to curbside pickup and delivery during the coronavirus lockdown. They’re very good brew boys. Golden Retriever’s Buddy, 3, and Barley, 1, are now part of the delivery staff at family-owned Six Harbors Brewing Co. in Huntington, which was forced to switch from on-site sales to curbside pickup and delivery during New York’s coronavirus lockdown. The patron-greeting pair were pupset their fans stopped showing up to buy hand-brewed and canned ales, pilsners, and lagers — and pet Buddy and Barley while they waited, brewery owners Karen and Mark Heuwetter told the Daily News. “We’ve had to change our business model," Mark Heuwetter said. “We created an online store and now people can have curbside or delivery. We took the dogs on a few trips and people were loving the dogs when they came...so we added them." “The dogs make a nice compliment to the delivery service. They put smiles on people’s faces," he said. The brewery even developed a makeshift four-pack of their signature brew to hang around the dogs’ necks during their delivery runs. The four-pack is empty, but Buddy and Barley quickly earned the social media moniker “brew dogs.” “Buddy and Barley love people," Heuwetter said. "At the brewery they’d just walk table to table and people would just pet them and continue their conversations and the dogs would sit there until they’d stop petting and then they’d move to the next table,” he said. The brewery—celebrating two years of business in May, and one of a handful of essential-businesses in Huntington still open during the lockdown — expected a massive hit to the 95% of revenue that came from over-the-counter sales. Instead, they said, business is booming thanks to “brew dogs.” “We are finding out—and maybe it’s because of what’s happening right now—our online store is generating so much sales...that depending on the day we are matching or exceeding what we did before isolation and I think it’s because of the dogs,” Mark Heuwetter said. According to the Heuwetters, customers are now submitting orders specifically requesting that Buddy and Barley show up on the delivery drop-off. “We just wanted to create something different...and it’s morphed into this whole thing of the brew dog show...people request Buddy and Barley,” Mark Heuwetter said. And if all that floof isn’t enough, patrons can get a picture with the pups when they arrive at the door to share on social media.
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https://www.companyofmen.org/threads/armpit-appreciation-thread-dedicated-to-pitman.136691/page-239#post-1905353
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Armpit appreciation thread, dedicated to Pitman
samhexum replied to marylander1940's topic in Legacy Gallery
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Will there really be a beef shortage? What else is there to eat?
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https://www.companyofmen.org/threads/daily-pietro-boselli.124490/page-20#post-1905320
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Pietro Boselli strips completely naked for jaw-dropping Earth Day beach shoot Look, hot men posting thirst-traps on Instagram under the guise of celebrating a serious event is obviously one of the scourges of the 21st century: But there's no denying that in rare cases, they can keep your eyes focused firmly on your screen rather than rolling into the back of your head. One such exception is that of 'world's hottest math teacher' and model Pietro Boselli, who celebrated Earth Day on Monday (22 April) by getting back to nature with a series of jaw-dropping nude images on Instagram. With just a carefully-placed shell to protect his modesty, the former University College London lecturer left followers shell-shocked (sorry) as he stripped off in honor of the international day of environmental activism. As for Pietro, well, as far as awareness-raising goes, we can certainly think of worse ways to get our attention - just promise us you'll all go recycle your plastics after you're done drooling... Meanwhile, you can check out more of Pietro's hottest moments here.
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I think the show has wound up better as a result of losing Roseanne. Instead of being a possibly tired reboot, it became more of a spin-off with Darlene & Becky moving front and center, though DJ is still barely used. And Dan surely has been given more interesting stories than he would've gotten as Roseanne's foil. It's not a great show, but I enjoy it and hope it lasts awhile. And Peg Bundy Katey Sagal has been an excellent addition as Dan's new love. Did anybody ever read or hear anything about why they chose to exclude Jackie's son (Andy) from the show? He didn't even have to appear; he could've just been mentioned as being in the military (or prison) to explain his absence if they didn't want to include another character. But why pretend she never had a child?
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I've enjoyed all 3 episodes so far. Michael Bubble (or is it Bubbly? I always forget) is next week.
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An octopus has been spotted in the now crystal clear canals of Venice under coronavirus lockdown. The eight-legged visitor has left Venitian scientists confused after it was seen swimming near the Piazzale Roma last week and reported to scientists at the city’s Institute of Marine Sciences. Local Italian experts believe that the octopus has either escaped from a fish market or come from the Adriatic Sea, or it could have been popped in the water by local pranksters. Director of Venice’s Natural History Museum, Luca Mizzan, said: “It’s really very strange that an octopus can get there in that environment so far from the sea and close to the hinterland. “Nothing can be ruled out even if it’s a joke. The video shows that he is a visibly healthy octopus, he is not afraid,” he told Corriere del Veneto. Octopuses are a very rare sight in the lagoon around Venice that has seen jellyfish, crabs and schools of fish return to the waters since the tourists and boats all left. Since the water has stopped being constantly churned by boats, the sediment has settled and the clearer water means that people can now see the fish. Noise pollution has decreased dramatically which encourages living things that would otherwise have been frightened off. Local scientists believe the water has not been this clear in living memory. Zoologist Andrea Mangoni said: “The flora and fauna of the lagoon have not changed during lockdown. What has changed is our chance to see them.” Mangoni’s film of a jellyfish swimming slowly through translucent canal water has gone viral on social media. Mangoni says life in Venice these days is “like being on a coral reef”. He added “The number of colours and lifeforms is extraordinary, which makes the lagoon unique,” he said. But local experts have warned that the few months of lockdown won’t suffice to make a significant impact on the quality of the lagoon’s ecosystem. Tourists are expected to return to the city in June when Italy plans to reopen bars and restaurants.
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