/newsplus/ - News +

By Luke Dormehl

@lukedormehl

Larry Tesler, a pioneering computer scientist who worked at Apple from 1980 to 1997 and created computerized cut, copy and paste, died Monday at the age of 74.

Tesler served as VP of AppleNet and Apple’s Advanced Technology Group. During his time at Apple, he played a key role in the development of products ranging from the Lisa to the Newton MessagePad.

And that was just the tip of the iceberg when it came to his contribution to computing.

https://www.cultofmac.com/685669/larry-tesler-the-apple-employee-who-invented-cut-copy-paste-dies-at-74/

Online commerce platform Shopify on Friday said it has joined the nonprofit association behind Facebook's planned Libra cryptocurrency.

Canada-based Shopify signed on as a member of the Libra Association after a string of companies dropped out in the face of criticism by regulators worried the borderless digital money is a threat to national sovereignty.

"We spend a lot of our time thinking about how to make commerce better in parts of the world where money and banking could be far better," Shopify said in a blog post.

"We're excited to be part of the Libra Association and look forward to how the project may improve commerce everywhere."

Shopify planned to work with the association to build a payment network the makes money easier to access by businesses and consumers no matter their locations, according to the post.

Libra, a high-profile project of social network giant Facebook, is tentatively scheduled to launch this year but has been battered by severe criticism from some of the world's most influential financial authorities.

Libra is to be will be managed by a Geneva-based independent association linking several companies and non-profit groups.

https://www.ibtimes.com/shopify-joins-nonprofit-behind-facebooks-libra-currency-2926683

By Lauren Verno

https://www.news4jax.com/team/7RJHZISAKJHH3CAP5QDG3DGLOI/

We’ve all received those text message updates from FedEx or UPS when a package arrives.

But what if a friend or family member sends you a package as a surprise?

The Federal Trade Commission warns that scammers are taking advantage of that.

The FTC said scammers send a text message with a fake shipment tracking code and a link to update your delivery preferences. In this case, the message says it’s from FedEx, but it could work with any shipping company.

Then, you're invited to take a customer satisfaction survey to win a free prize. But to get it, you have to give them your credit card number to pay for shipping.

If the red flags haven’t gone off in your head yet, they should.

The FTC recommends if you receive an unexpected text message about shipping, DO NOT click on any links.

If you do think it could be legit, contact the company using a website or phone number you know is real.

Do not use the information or links from the text.

This same advice rings true with emails as well.

Scammers are known to send emails from what look like legitimate companies. I just received one from Target yesterday that confirmed an order that I never placed.

The key here is if it looks at all like it could be a scam, do not click on any of the links inside.

https://www.news4jax.com/money/2020/02/21/feds-warn-about-scammers-sending-fake-package-tPost too long. Click here to view the full text.

By David NG

@HeyItsDavidNg

A Georgia Planet Fitness has given the boot to rapper Boosie Badazz after he recorded a video about the transgender child of basketball star Dwyane Wade inside the gym.

While the rapper claims that he was banned over his comments, Planet Fitness alleges that Boosie failed to adhere to gym rules and was “harassing” club staff.

Boosie Badazz — whose real name is Torrence Hatch Jr. — aired his grievances in a rambling Instagram post Thursday in which he said he was kicked out of a Planet Fitness club near Atlanta.

“Do not go to Planet Fitness. They racist, they haters. They just put me out of Planet Fitness ’cause of what I said about Dwyane Wades’s son,” Boosie said in the Instagram video. “And they said I said in a video one of they employees was f– or some s–.”

Boosie added in a written note that a “manager who was gay refused to let me in Planet Fitness because of my past actions on social media about gender etc.” He also accused the location of having cockroaches and poor water heaters, dubbing the business “#roachfitness.”

https://www.breitbart.com/entertainment/2020/02/21/boosie-badazz-claims-planet-fitness-banned-him-for-rant-about-dwyane-wades-child/

Ukraine's effort to quarantine more than 70 people evacuated from China over the new virus outbreak plunged into chaos Thursday as local residents opposing the move hurled stones at the evacuees and clashed with police.

Officials deplored the violence and the country's health minister pledged to share evacuees' quarantine for two weeks in a bid to reassure protesters who fear they'll be infected.

Buses carrying evacuees were finally able to reach the designated place of quarantine after hours of clashes. The masked evacuees, exhausted by the long journey, were peeking through bus windows as they drove slowly under a heavy police escort.

Stones shattered a window in one of the buses, but the evacuees appeared unhurt.

https://www.foxnews.com/world/ukraine-bricks-buses-coronavirus-china

By Darryl Coote

Chinese health officials said the death toll from COVID-19 rose by nearly 100 over Monday as governments rushed to evacuate citizens from a cruise ship off Japan's eastern coast that's home to the world's second-largest and still growing cluster of patients.

Chinese health officials increased China's total death toll on Tuesday to 1,868, including 98 new deaths, which is a drop from the 105 deaths tabulated over the day prior.

The total number of cases reached 72,436.

Outside mainland China, five people have died, including a Taiwanese man, despite having no history of travel to the mainland.

https://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-News/2020/02/17/US-evacuates-328-citizens-from-cruise-ship-14-sick-with-coronavirus/9521581921613/?ur3=1

By Claudia Alvarezhttps://www.pratt.edu/faculty_and_staff/bio/?id=calvar51

>PTA's, families, schools, and advocates are invited to the discussion and learn about vaping dangers and ways to fight this growing trend.

exas PTA, advancing advocacy, family engagement, member programs, while lending PTA support, works to ensure the health and happiness of students across Texas. Statistics indicate an alarming trend of among U.S. students, with vaping at an all-time high among teens. Studies show teens are more likely to use e-cigarettes than cigarettes, and teen e-cig users are more likely to start smoking in adulthood.

https://patch.com/texas/cedar-park/texas-pta-hosts-panel-discussion-vaping-crisis

By Ronn Blitzer

https://www.foxnews.com/person/b/ronn-blitzer

A former consultant for Bernie Sanders’ 2016 presidential campaign was arrested after he allegedly planted loaded weapons and ammunition inside a Tennessee corrections facility that was under construction in an attempt to carry out a future jailbreak, authorities said.

Criminal justice reform advocate Alex Friedmann, who was not an inmate but allegedly was plotting to help prisoners escape when the facility opened, was arrested Tuesday on one count of felony vandalism, but Davidson County Sheriff Daron Hall said during a press conference Wednesday that the allegations go far beyond that.

The opening of the Nashville detention center, which was slated for April, was indefinitely postponed after his arrest, according to the Tennessean.

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/fmr-sanders-consultant-arrested-after-allegedly-planting-weapons-in-jail-for-evil-escape-plot

By: Fedor Zarkhin

https://muckrack.com/fedor-zarkhin

A 16-year-old Marshfield High School student died Monday from Influenza B complications, the Coos Bay School District said.

The student, a boy who played football and baseball, first showed flu symptoms Friday, high school Principal Travis Howard said. The boy’s condition kept deteriorating and by Sunday the family cut short a mini-vacation to the Ashland area and took him to the Bay Area Hospital ER in Coos Bay, Howard said. He died the following morning.

“I think they’re still in shock,” Howard said. The boy’s mother teaches for the school district and his father coaches baseball.

The student and Howard had connected over their mutual love of the San Francisco Giants, the principal said. Last week, the two were talking about spring training.

“He was just a great kid,” Howard said. “Just a great, all-American kid.”

The school has mobilized a crisis team to help staff and students cope with the student’s death, Howard said, and there is now a “safe room” where people can talk.

As of Feb. 8, one other child has died in Oregon from the flu or complications associated with the flu this season, according to the Oregon Health Authority. That child died in December. The agency released no other information.

The Coos Bay student’s death comes amid what appears to be a waning flu season in Oregon. The latest infection statistics show a continuing decline in the portion of ER visits for influenza-like symptoms – the measure the state uses to track flu prevalence. The season started relatively early, with the first sharp increase in cases happening in early November.

Cases have declined substantially since the end of 2019. But the season isn’t over, Oregon Health Authority spokesman Jonathan Modie said, and the state could still see a late-season bump in hosPost too long. Click here to view the full text.

By Shawn Knight

https://www.techspot.com/community/staff/shawn-knight.268030/

Morgan Stanley on Thursday announced intentions to purchase online trading platform E-Trade. The all-stock deal is valued at roughly $13 billion and represents the largest takeover of an American lender since the global financial crisis in 2008.

With the acquisition, Morgan Stanley will take on more than 5.2 million additional customer accounts and some $360 billion in assets. They’ll join Morgan Stanley’s existing three million clients and their $2.7 trillion in assets.

E-Trade stockholders will receive 1.0432 Morgan Stanley shares for each E-Trade share they own, or $58.74 per. That’s a more than 30 percent premium over the closing price of E-Trade shares on Wednesday.

https://www.techspot.com/news/84094-morgan-stanley-buying-e-trade-13-billion.html

Virginia’s Senate Judiciary Committee has rejected a bill that would have banned the future sale of guns considered to be assault weapons.

The committee voted 10-5 on Monday to continue HB961 to the 2021 legislative session, drawing applause from gun rights supporters in attendance. The bill, backed by Democratic Governor Ralph Northam, had already passed the House of Delegates 51-48.

Moderate Democrats John Edwards (Roanoke), Creigh Deeds (Charlottesville), Scott Surovell (Fairfax) and Chap Petersen (Fairfax) voted with Republicans on the committee.

Along with the motion to push the bill to next year, senators requested that the bill be studied by the state’s crime commission.

The legislation would have prohibited the future sale of certain semiautomatic firearms in Virginia, including popular AR-15 style rifles, and ban the possession of magazines that hold more than 12 rounds.

Advocates of the bill have said it would save lives, but Republicans joined with some moderate Democrats saying they needed more time before decisions were made.

https://www.wavy.com/news/politics/virginia-politics/assault-weapons-ban-bill-shelved-by-va-senate-committee-lawmakers-ask-va-crime-commission-to-study-issue/

By William Davis

https://dailycaller.com/author/wdavis

The New York Times published an op-ed Thursday from a leader of the Taliban, one of the world’s largest terrorist organizations.

The op-ed from Sirajuddin Haqqani was titled “What We, the Taliban Want,” and attempted to explain what the Taliban was looking for in its negotiations with the U.S.

Haqqani attempted to respond to concerns that the Taliban would once again host terrorist groups like Al-Qaida if the U.S. were to leave Afghanistan.

“It is not in the interest of any Afghan to allow such groups to hijack our country and turn it into a battleground,” he wrote. “We have already suffered enough from foreign interventions.”

The Times was criticized by some on social media Tuesday for publishing an op-ed from a leader of one of the world’s largest terrorist organizations.

“Is it weird that the New York Times published an op-ed by a Taliban officer?” Becket Adams of The Washington Examiner asked.

https://dailycaller.com/2020/02/20/the-new-york-times-op-ed-taliban-leader-terrorist-sirajuddin-haqqani/

By Colette DuChanois

https://www.news4jax.com/team/7APNJPDG5NHJDEO4MXLCWCDPB4/

A bald man in his mid-40s was “in a rush” Thursday when he robbed a bank in Mandarin, the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office said.

It happened about 1:30 p.m. at the Fifth Third Bank on San Jose Boulevard at Loretto Road.

According to the Sheriff’s Office, the man pushed a note, demanding money, to a teller and told her that he had a gun, but one was not seen. He also told the teller that he was “in a rush,” police said.

The Sheriff’s Office said the man, who was wearing a black shirt and khaki pants, left the bank and got inside a silver or gray Nissan Versa or Sentra, which took off north on San Jose Boulevard.

There were three employees and one customer in the bank at the time. No injuries were reported.

Police described the man as being about 6 feet tall and weighing 240 pounds. The description appeared to be similar to that of a man accused of robbing a St. Johns County bank last week.

Thursday’s holdup was the second bank robbery this year in Jacksonville. Earlier this week, according to JSO, an armed man dressed in all black robbed the Regions Bank on San Jose Boulevard, just south of Beauclerc Road.

According to News4Jax records, last year, there were 12 bank robberies in Jacksonville, with arrests in seven. In 2018, there were 18, with arrests in 17. Those numbers show JSO has an 80% clearance rate in bank jobs over the last two years.

https://www.news4jax.com/news/local/2020/02/20/jacksonville-police-investigate-bank-robbery-in-mandarin/

By Charlie Spiering

https://www.breitbart.com/author/charlie-spiering/

President Donald Trump expressed hope on Thursday that political operative Roger Stone would be freed, but he stopped short of announcing a presidential pardon or commutation.

“I’m following this very closely and I want to see it play out to its fullest because Roger has a very good chance of exoneration in my opinion,” Trump said on Thursday.

The president spoke at a Hope for Prisoners Graduation Ceremony, where former inmates got their diplomas.

Trump said that he had known Stone and his family for many years and that the infamous political operative never had an official role in the Trump campaign but had done some consulting work for him over the years.

“Roger is definitely a character … he’s a smart guy, he’s a little different, but those are sometimes the most interesting,” he said.

Stone was sentenced to three years and four months in prison on Thursday for lying to Congress and obstructing a congressional investigation.

The president also questioned whether Stone’s jury had been tainted after anti-Trump social media posts emerged that were posted by the forewoman of the jury.

“It’s my strong opinion that the forewoman of the jury, the woman who was in charge of the jury is totally tainted when you take a look, how can you have a person like this?” Trump asked, describing her as an “anti-Trump activist.”

The forewoman, former Memphis City Schools Board President Tomeka Hart, posted specific things about Stone’s case on social media even before she sat on the jury. She also cheered on Special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation and described Trump supporters as racist.

“How can you have a jury pool tainted so badly?” Trump asked.

By: Lizzy Acker

https://muckrack.com/lizzy-acker

A man was shot with his own gun during a fight in front of a North Portland convenience store on Friday, according to police.

Brandon J. Larson, 32, and Steven M. Robinson, 43, were arrested after an investigation into the fight that ended with Larson shot in the foot, the Portland Police Bureau said in a news release Sunday.

According to the report, the men, who knew each other, began to physically fight outside of the store on the 6100 block of North Lombard Street. Larson had a gun in his pocket, police said, and when it fell out, the men began to fight over the gun.

Three rounds were fired during the fight, police said, though they did not say who fired the weapon. Larson was hit in the foot and taken to the hospital by ambulance, where he was treated and released into police custody, according to the release.

Robinson was not hurt.

Police said they seized a .380 Sig Sauer semiautomatic handgun as evidence.

Both men were booked into the Multnomah County Detention Center. Larson was arrested on suspicion of possession of a loaded firearm in a public place, unlawful possession of a firearm, reckless endangering, and disorderly conduct in the second degree. Robinson was arrested on suspicion of fourth-degree assault and disorderly conduct in the second degree.

https://www.oregonlive.com/crime/2020/02/2-arrested-after-shots-fired-during-valentines-day-fight-at-north-portland-convenience-store.html