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Allentown police say a car crashed into the office building of a gated community in the West End, pinning an office worker at her desk. Police Capt. Charles Roca said an elderly man drove into the building about 11:45 a.m. Wednesday, and the woman was taken to a hospital. Roca said the office worker was pinned and described her injuries as minor. He said no one else was injured. The building appears to be the front lobby of the Westmount Apartment Homes, a gated community at 650 Primrose Drive.

Allentown police say a car crashed into the office building of a gated community in the West End, pinning an office worker at her desk. Police Capt. Charles Roca said an elderly man drove into the building about 11:45 a.m. Wednesday, and the woman was taken to a hospital. Roca said the office worker was pinned and described her injuries as minor. He said no one else was injured. The building appears to be the front lobby of the Westmount Apartment Homes, a gated community at 650 Primrose Drive.

What in the world is going on with Broadway’s “Straight White Men?” Young Jean Lee’s dark comedy, opening this month at Second Stage’s Hayes Theater, lost two of its leading men in the last few weeks. Neither of them, happily, is Armie Hammer, the “Call Me By Your Name” star, who’s making his Broadway debut as one of three sons of a patriarch named Ed. Tom Skerritt was initially cast as Ed. But Skerritt, 84, was struggling to learn his lines, a production source says. He left the show in June for what was described as “personal reasons.” Second Stage then reached out to Denis Arndt, a Tony nominee for 2016’s “Heisenberg.” He stepped in at the last minute before previews began June 30, just one day later than scheduled. Sources say Arndt agreed to do the role as Anna D. Shapiro directed it. But as the actor got into it, he decided to change things. “He’s from the old school — you can’t do a role without digging into it, making it your own,” a source says. Shapiro, the Tony-winning director of “August: Osage County,” believed there was no time to retool the character and the dynamic of the play, whose characters come together over takeout and board games. The official statement is that they parted “due to creative differences.” Sources say there were fireworks between Arndt and Shapiro, and Second Stage sided with her. Stephen Payne, who originally understudied the role of Ed and performed the role the first week of previews while Arndt rehearsed, has since taken over the role. Second Stage declined to comment, and Arndt couldn’t be reached. Until Thursday, Arndt’s life-size photo was still up outside the Helen Hayes Theater, along with those of Hammer, Josh Charles and Paul Schneider, who play Ed’s sons. “Straight White Men” is set to open July 23.

A Spanish public servant who skipped work for a decade without anyone noticing spent his free time running a male brothel and drawing erotic comics. Carles Recio, who was paid a €50,000 ($58,000) salary as an archives director in Valencia’s provincial government, would show up to the office every morning at 7:30 a.m. to clock in using the fingerprint scanner before heading home, only returning to the office at 3:30 p.m. to clock out. He kept up the routine for 10 years before colleagues began to raise suspicions. After Spanish newspaper El Mundo broke the story 18 months ago, Recio was finally fired, despite his insistence that he had done nothing wrong. “I have only done what they have asked me to do,” he told the paper in January. Recio maintained that he worked from home. “No one can show me a photograph in which I’m in a cafeteria, I’m a man of action,” he told the Spanish TV channel La Sexta. “I do documentation work out of the office, the work of a slave. Working like a slave means that I work so that others get the fruit of my labor.” State authorities abandoned an attempt to prosecute him after deciding his actions did not constitute a crime, but an administrative tribunal in Valencia this week banned Recio from holding public posts for nine years for his “flagrant neglect of the essential duties inherent to the work post.” The tribunal found there was no evidence Recio had performed any of the jobs he claimed, and that he had not even logged in to the corporate network since 2012 despite having his own computer. It also found no evidence for his claims that he had told superiors he didn’t have a desk following an office relocation, or that he had been assigned an external project to create an “inclusive art center.” “There is not the slightest evidence that he was entrusted with the project of creating an inclusive artwork center or similar and the activities carried out by him are more like private dedications than authentic ones,” the tribunal said. The tribunal strongly criticized the local government for failing to properly supervise its employees, saying Recio “became comfortable in the situation that benefited him” and his actions would not have been possible “without the acquiescence or the disinterest of the administration for which he worked.” He had been busy in other ways, however. In his free time, Recio was making a name for himself as an erotic comic book artist and creator of the popular character Fallarela, a busty superhero who hurls flaming Valencia oranges at her enemies. It also emerged Recio had been running a male brothel out of his home since 2005. At one point he threatened to reveal the identities of his clients, warning there may have been cameras inside and the “graphic information” could compromise many politicians. As part of his high-profile campaign to clear his name, Recio even attempted to use acouncil venue for an art exhibition entitled, “Love for Valencia: the works of a man who never worked,” with four floors of works including paintings, sculptures and even a bronze bust of himself. The City of Valencia canceled the show, which described Recio as “the most slandered writer in modern-day Valencia,” just before it was due to open after the council discovered he had booked the venue using a fake name. The twists and turns of the bizarre case have dominated headlines in Spain. Following the tribunal’s verdict, many were critical that Recio was only suspended, avoiding the most serious sanction of permanent loss of his status as a public official. In its editorial, El Mundo said it had received many tip-offs that Recio’s case was “not, by far, the only scandal of blatant absenteeism in public administrations.”

On the heels of Friday’s good employment report, this interesting bit of information came out: The number of people over 85 years old who are still working is rising. The Washington Post, which ran the story, gave a whole lot of good reasons for this trend: People can’t afford to retire. They are healthier at an old age. The more educated they are the longer they can work, and jobs are less strenuous today, etc. All good reasons. But here’s the important one that was missed: There are simply more Americans who are achieving advanced age today, so of course the sheer number of workers in that group will be rising. Right now, 4.7 percent of the US population is over 90 years old, compared with just 2.8 percent in 1980. By 2050, that percentage will rise to 10 percent. How much do you want to bet that the number of 85-year-olds working then will be larger than it is today?

A Rock and Roll Hall of Fame member with Queens roots will be posthumously honored for his contributions to the music industry during his lifetime. Walter Becker, a Forest Hills native and co-founder of the band Steely Dan, will have his memory honored by co-naming the corner of 112th Street and 72nd Avenue, the street where Becker grew up, as “Walter Becker Way.” It’s a block from my aunt’s old apt, where I lived for a couple of years, & a block (in the other direction) from the Yeshiva I attended until I was paroled in early Dec. during 5th grade. Fun Fact: If you take 112th St. north until it ends, you run into the athletic field for Forest Hills H.S., where Simon & Garfunkel attended. Coincidentally, I saw a listing for a house for sale that I liked on that same corner 7 weeks ago: https://qns.com/story/2018/05/22/see-forest-hills-home-modern-design-market-2-1m/ The unveiling will take place on Oct. 28. Becker and his partner, Donald Fagen, formed the jazz-rock band Steely Dan in 1971. He released many albums with Steely Dan and on his own, and performed with Steely Dan when the band reformed. Becker died of esophageal cancer on Sept. 3, 2017, at the age of 67. Councilwoman Karen Koslowitz, who represents Forest Hills, co-sponsored the “Walter Becker Way” renaming as part of a bill that passed the City Council on June 28. WAXQ-FM radio will host the renaming ceremony, which will include special guests, remembrances from Becker’s friends and colleagues, and giveaways. Festivities will be planned by Becker’s fans. “Walter’s fans have decades of experience holding ‘Danfests’ throughout the country,” said Delia Becker, Becker’s widow. “And they always find innovative and eclectic ways of celebrating. It will undoubtedly be a fun and free gathering to honor and commemorate Walter as only they can!”

Geometry:

Seattle Mariners catcher Mike Marjama informed the team that he is retiring from baseball to take a position with the National Eating Disorders Association. Marjama, 28, was optioned to Triple-A Tacoma on April 20 after making the team's Opening Day roster. He appeared in 10 games this season, batting .111 with three doubles, two walks and six strikeouts. Marjama told the Sacramento Bee last year that he battled an eating disorder when he competed as a wrestler at Granite Bay High School in northern California. He said he cut weight for wrestling and then kept dropping pounds, plummeting to as low as 130 pounds. He required inpatient treatment, recovered and has been outspoken about the disorder since. "When I had the eating disorder, I was stubborn. Now my eyes are open," Marjama, who is now 6-foot-2, 205 pounds, told the Bee. "A lot of high school students have a tremendous amount of pressure on them. We all want to see things out of reality, and we don't always see things fully clear. It was a hard time, what I went through, but it changed my perspective on life. It definitely helped me grow." http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/newpix/2018/03/29/16/4AAB6B9B00000578-0-image-m-23_1522337635796.jpg http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/newpix/2018/03/29/16/4AAB6BA300000578-0-image-a-9_1522337194630.jpg

Or do you prefer getting up at the crack of noon?

Oh, please... PLEASE let me differ...

I never stopped to think about the phrase 'you're out of your cotton pickin' mind' until a few recent news items made me realize why it would be offensive to African Americans.

Get into a lukewarm shower, then gradually increase the cold water so your system isn't shocked by a rush of cold water, and keep increasing it slowly until it gets as cold as you can take. After the shower, let yourself air-dry. You'll feel much cooler & it lasts a while.

Broadway musical “Chicago” has launched an investigation after friends of a cast member claimed he killed himself because he was “bullied” by the show’s directors. Pals of Jeff Loeffelholz — who had been a member of the cast for 22 years — started a campaign called Justice for Jeff after Loeffelholz committed suicide, claiming that the production’s director Walter Bobbie and musical director Leslie Stifelman wanted Loeffelholz out of the long-running production but that his contract wouldn’t allow them to fire him. The group claims that the pair put Loeffelholz, a standby member of the cast, through a tortuous rehearsal on June 22 in an attempt to get him to quit the show, forcing him to sing the same song over and over and telling him, “You always do it wrong.” The campaign’s blog, Justice For Jeffrey, claims that the account was based on notes that Loeffelholz made after the incident. Loeffelholz died a week later, on June 29. Now Page Six has learned that the producers of the show have hired attorney Judd Burstein to look into Loeffelholz’s situation. In a statement, Burstein told us, “The producers of ‘Chicago’ are devastated by Jeff Loeffelholz’s death. The producers are taking this matter very seriously, and are fully committed to finding out exactly what transpired. To that end, I have been retained to conduct an exhaustive investigation on an expedited basis.” Bobbie added: “I am saddened by Jeff’s tragic passing, for him and for his family.” Stifelman didn’t get back to us. A Broadway insider told us it’s behavior that is known too well on the Great White Way. “No one can directly blame anyone for something like suicide, but this treatment is kind of like an old-school Broadway scenario where there seems to be a disposable amount of talent that allows people to treat people like this,” said a source. “When you’re loyal to a show like that, it’s not celebrated. It can actually make you unhireable. It’s a strange thing.”

How could you omit 21 JUMP ST?

Yankee radio announcer John Sterling has called every game since 1989. He's very much a "love him or hate him" figure, best known for his (showy, overly planned, ego-driven) home run calls, which almost always include "It is high... It is far... It is gone!"*** even when it's a low line drive barely over the wall. His call for Giancarlo Stanton includes a line in Italian, even though Giancarlo ain't Italian. Annnnnyhoo... July 4th was his 80th birthday, and as a tribute, TV announcer Michael Kay (Sterling's former radio partner) called a Stanton home run Sterling-style: *** When it was announced during spring training in 2000 that his wife was preggers with triplets, the joke going around the press box was that he'd name them High, Far, & Gone.

Kim Kardashian isn’t the only celebrity whose hair has sparked accusations of cultural appropriation. While Kardashian has persisted in wearing Fulani braids in spite of criticism that she’s appropriating a hairstyle created by and for women of color, it remains to be seen how Zac Efron will respond to the backlash he’s getting over his new dreadlocks look. The actor, who typically wears his brown hair short, shared a photo on Instagram showing off his new dreadlocks. Efron’s caption read “just for fun,” though it’s possible the hair makeover is tied to a film role. It’s a dramatic new look for Efron — but many people don’t see it as “fun.” The 30-year-old star is being slammed by some fans for appropriating a black hairstyle. Another point of contention is that, when worn by black people, dreadlocks can be met with racially charged negativity. “This is so racially insensitive,” read one comment. “Cultural appropriation ain’t fun,” another commenter added. “We love you, just please don’t cultural appropriate — cut those off before they cancel you,” pleaded a disappointed fan. The uproar over Efron’s hair prompted many to defend the star and his hair, arguing that dreadlocks were up for grabs for any race. “It’s a hairstyle, who cares,” wrote one commenter. “People will bring race into anything these days. If you have to bring color into a conversation then maybe you should look in the mirror and question your own values.” “It’s just hair!” added another supporter. “He’s not doing it for a cultural or political reason, just like when Kim had her cornrows. It’s just a hairstyle — get over it and have fun with your life.” Efron isn’t the first white male celebrity to get flak for having dreadlocks. Justin Bieber received similar backlash when he dabbled with the ’do in 2016.