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Man named Tupac Shakur files for unemployment in Kentucky Tupac Shakur lives — in Kentucky. Kentucky Gov. Andy Bashear apologized to a local resident bearing the famous rapper’s name — after he used Shakur as an example of “bad apples” using fake names for unemployment filings, according to a report. “We had somebody apply for unemployment for Tupac Shakur here in Kentucky,” Beshear said Monday night, referencing the West Coast icon who was killed in the 90s, the Lexington Herald-Leader reported. “And that person may have thought they were being funny, they probably did. Except for the fact that because of them, we had to go through so many other claims.” Except gaining unemployment benefits are no laughing matter for Shakur, 46, who lives in Lexington, the paper said. Shakur, who goes by his middle name, “Malik,” worked as a restaurant cook before the coronavirus pandemic shut down shops across the state, according to the outlet. “I’ve been struggling for like the last month trying to figure out how to pay the bills,” Shakur told the paper. Shakur is among more than 20 million Americans seeking jobless aid as COVID-19 has shut down the country. He applied for unemployment insurance as soon as he could on March 13, and wondered why the money hadn’t come more than a month later — until he realized it was because the government thought it was a prank. “I’m hurt, I’m really embarrassed and I’m shocked,” Shakur told the Herald-Leader. “He needs to apologize. That’s just my name.” Beshear reportedly called Shakur personally to apologize Tuesday morning. His office told the paper it originally could not verify Shakur’s identity and that it was now working to process his claim. Shakur forgave Beshear for the mistake and was appreciative for the call, the Herald-Leader reported. “I understand, he’s dealing with a lot,” Shakur said. “Mistakes happen.”

A Jackson Heights supermarket — the Key Food located at 86-02 Northern Blvd. — received 29 violations for illegally inflating the prices for bleach and disinfectant wipes. The Department of Consumer and Worker Protection seeks to fine the business up to $14,500. The Key Food supermarket at 86-02 Northern Blvd

Secrets of ‘the most dangerous place in the history of planet Earth’ revealed Excavation and skeletal reconstruction of super raptor Deltadromeus agilis. Time travelers steer clear. A fossil-filled Moroccan depository dating back to the Cretaceous period has been named the “most dangerous place in the history of planet Earth,” due to its plethora of fearsome predators. Researchers across the globe published the first detailed and fully illustrated account of the deadly escarpment known as the Kem Kem Group in a recent article in the journal ZooKeys. “This was arguably the most dangerous place in the history of planet Earth,” says the study’s lead author Nizar Ibrahim, Ph.D., an assistant biology professor at the University of Detroit Mercy. The University of Portsmouth visiting researcher adds that the southeast Moroccan site was “a place where a human time-traveler would not last very long.” Indeed, 100 million years ago, the prehistoric chomping grounds were roamed by a murderer’s row of Cretaceous carnivores, including enormous crocodiles, several species of flying reptile, super raptors and the 26-foot-long saber-toothed Carcharodontosaurus, according to the study. Also in the murderous mix? A Spinosaurus, the T. rex-killing dino from All said, Kem Kem makes Africa’s Kruger National Park look like a petting zoo. The number of mega-hunters was especially terrifying given that most Mesozoic rock formations like Kem Kem typically only housed one to two giant predators, according to researchers. Despite their terrifying reputations, the river system’s carnivores mainly feasted on the region’s bountiful supply of seafood. “This place was filled with absolutely enormous fish, including giant coelacanths and lungfish,” says co-author David Martill in a statement. He describes an “enormous freshwater saw shark called Onchopristis with the most fearsome of rostral teeth — they are like barbed daggers, but beautifully shiny.” Most importantly, the discovery “provides a window into Africa’s Age of Dinosaurs” says Ibrahim, who visited Kem Kem collections on several continents to assemble the watershed study’s immense datasets. Unfortunately, Kem Kem’s renown has caused it to be plundered by paleontological grave-robbers over the decades, with many pieces ending up in private collections. “This is the most comprehensive piece of work on fossil vertebrates from the Sahara in almost a century,” says Martill. The findings could just be the tip of the super-predator-iceberg. “Given the continued input of new specimens and the continuing expansion of paleontological research,” Ibrahim says, “we predict that diversity in the Kem Kem Group will increase substantially in the coming decades.”

Nick Cordero has developed an infection in his lungs that went into his blood, his wife, Amanda Kloots, revealed Tuesday in the latest update on her husband’s coronavirus battle. The Broadway actor, who has been hospitalized since early April and had his right leg amputated because of complications stemming from the virus, was also given blood pressure medication by doctors to help bring his pressure back up, Kloots said via her Instagram Story. Cordero, 41, is being weaned off that medication and has been given an antibiotic. “He went into a little bit of septic shock, and the cause of that was some infection in his lungs,” Kloots explained. “So they went in and completely cleaned out his lungs.” Kloots said the latest complication in Cordero’s recovery “kind of came out of nowhere.” “He is back to feeling better, he’s resting, the antibiotics are hopefully kicking in,” she said. On Monday, Kloots told fans that Cordero would be unable to come off a ventilator after developing a fever in the early morning. She said at the time that doctors were conducting tests to find the source of the fever. “They are going to set aside the ventilator removal until they get this under control,” she said Monday. Kloots has been keeping fans and followers updated on Cordero’s condition, saying on Friday that he had two negative coronavirus tests, which could mean the virus is no longer in his system. “We think the virus is out of his system and now we’re just dealing with recovery and getting his body back from all the repercussions of the virus,” Kloots said at the time. Kloots, who shares 10-month-old son Elvis with Cordero and is also a Broadway actor, vowed the couple “will dance again.” Sara Bareilles and Jessie Mueller sing to help pay Nick Cordero’s hospital bills The cast of Broadway’s “Waitress” is serving hope for actor Nick Cordero with a new video. Sara Bareilles and a few of Cordero’s former co-stars dropped a cover of his song “Live Your Life” on Sunday — featuring Jessie Mueller, Keala Settle and Kimiko Glenn, among others — to help raise money for his hospital bills. Cordero entered intensive care at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles on March 31 with what doctors first thought was pneumonia. His wife, Amanda Kloots, frequently gives updates on Cordero’s health on social media, and has in recent weeks encouraged fans and friends to record themselves singing the Elvis Presley song “Got a Lot o’ Livin’ To Do!” and “Live Your Life” with the hashtag #WakeUpNick. The GoFundMe page for Cordero’s medical expenses has raised more than $450,000 so far.

Knows or knows of... like a friend's friend or parent. And maybe you can't picture what it's been like here... Nearly half of NYC residents know someone who has died from coronavirus, poll shows Nearly half of New York City residents said they know someone who has died from the coronavirus — a stunning finding that reveals how deeply the disease that has ravaged the Big Apple, according to a new poll released Monday. The statewide Siena College survey found that 46 percent of city residents known someone killed by COVID-19, as do 36 percent of suburbanites and 13 percent of upstaters. In all, about one-third of voters statewide know someone who has died. The killer virus has particularly impacted New York’s minority communities — with 52 percent of Latino voters and 48 percent of black voters knowing someone who has died, compared to 25 percent of whites. “The human toll is almost unfathomable,” said Siena pollster Steven Greenberg. “Half of Latino and black voters know someone who has passed away from this insidious virus.” The overall death toll from COVID-19 statewide rose to 16,966, Gov. Andrew Cuomo reported Sunday. Meanwhile, 51 percent of voters statewide said they know someone who is infected with the virus — mostly downstate. Here are some of the other findings: — 69 percent of voters believe New York won’t reopen for business without widespread COVID testing; — 67 percent said large gatherings will be permitted this summer; — 36 percent of New Yorkers have received a stimulus check or direct deposit from the federal government, while 62 percent haven’t; — 92 percent support the requirement for wearing a face mask in public; — 87 percent support Gov. Cuomo’s decision to extend New York’s “On Pause” restrictions, which include keeping schools and non-essential businesses closed, until at least May 15; — 52 percent oppose releasing inmates with pre-existing conditions or who are over the age of 70 during the pandemic, while 37 percent support the release; “Last month, fewer than one-third of New Yorkers knew someone who had tested positive for coronavirus. Today, 51 percent personally know someone who has been infected with COVID-19,” Siena’s Greenberg said. The economic toll also has been devastating, with 32 percent of respondents saying they or someone in their households has been laid off because of the pandemic. Nearly half of Latino voters – 48 percent – said the pandemic has put either them or a family member out of work, compared with 30 percent of both white and black households. Hispanics are disproportionately represented in the hard-hit food service and hotel industries, largely closed by social distance restrictions. The unemployment results confirm the economic anxiety New Yorkers expressed in a Siena College survey about the pandemic last month. “To say the coronavirus has had a tremendously detrimental effect on New York’s workforce — upstate and downstate — is a gross understatement,” Greenberg said. “Nineteen percent of voters have themselves been laid off and another 13 percent say someone in their household has been laid off,” Greenberg said. This Siena College Poll was conducted April 19-23 and queried 803 New York State registered voters. It has an overall margin of error of plus-or-minus 3.7 percentage points.

The meat shortage has begun. My sister did a run to her local BJ's today. No meat or chicken. She was able to get me 2 of the frozen items that had been sold out in my delivery from my local store last week. Food pantries are starting to run low on food in NYC. My pot dealer hasn't been able to get herself to prepare much product for me (she cleans it for me because my hands don't work so well) because she knows or knows of 12 people who died.

STARS AND STRIPES FOREVER!

This Oregon man was on a mission – a mission for free chicken nuggets. When Twitter user Skweezy Jibbs found out that the fast food giant was offering free chicken nuggets nationwide last week amid the coronavirus pandemic, he said he decided to make the most of it by visiting 11 different Wendy’s restaurants twice in one day. “Times is tough so when i heard @wendys was givin out free 4 piece nuggs today i knew i had 2 HUSTLE,” the man tweeted Friday. “I hit every damn wendys twice within 17 miles across 2 states it took 5 hours but now we eatin free 4 a week WHAT IT DOOOOOO.” The man tweeted out a photo of his supply of the grub as well as a map of the route he took through Portland, Oregon and Vancouver, Washington. Wendy’s even tweeted out a special shout out to the man for his nugget trek, saying, “That’s just straight up impressive ngl [not going to lie].” Some Twitter users pointed out to Skweezy Jibbs that he likely spent more money on gas than if he had paid for the nuggets, but the nugget-loving man claimed he already had gas in his tank. Last Friday, Wendy’s offered folks four-piece chicken nuggets at any drive-thru across the country.