A liquid nitrogen leak at a poultry plant northeast of Atlanta killed six workers and sent 11 more to the hospital Thursday. At least three of the people hospitalized are in critical condition, officials said. Local, state, and federal police and health and safety investigators are looking for what may have caused the leak at the Gainesville, Ga., Foundation Food Group plant. They cautioned Thursday it may be some time before they find out what happened. "It will be a lengthy process," Hall County Sheriff Gerald Couch told reporters. The U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board will deploy a team of investigators and the board's CEO and chairman, Katherine A. Lemos, to the scene Friday. Jameel Fareed, one of roughly 130 employees evacuated from the plant Thursday morning, told Atlanta's Channel 2 Action News that the nitrogen leak set off chaos in the plant.
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Forced lockdown in Hong Kong
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Gunpowder factory in Perm, Russia exploded after catching fire.
A couple caught in a terrifying street takeover was lucky to escape with their lives - and their dog - after the 30-minute nightmare ended in gunfire. But hey... let's defund the police, right?
Law Enforcement Today
Caught on Camera: Shots fired as couple and their dog caught in 'street takeover' makes narrow escape
A couple caught in a terrifying street takeover in West Houston were lucky to escape with their lives after the 30-minute nightmare ended in gunfire.
Forwarded from Breaking911
NEW: Sen. Elizabeth Warren releases a statement calling for the SEC to conduct an investigation into Reddit for a violation of federal securities laws.
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SACRAMENTO, Calif. - An audit released Thursday found the California Employment Development Department has likely paid $10.4 billion in fraudulent benefits from March to December, a number that is likely to grow in the coming months.
California State Auditor Elaine Howle said the agency was slow to react to warnings of an increase in fraudulent claims, saying this inaction cost the state billions as criminals exposed weaknesses in the system.
The audit’s findings include:
SLOW TO ACT
The agency was flagging as many as 1,000 suspicious claims per day during the first four months of the pandemic. Yet it only had two people assigned to review these claims and stop the payments. The state finally automated this system in July. But by then, thousands of fraudulent claims had already been paid.
SUSPICIOUS ADDRESSES
One sign of fraud is multiple claims all coming from the same address. In one assessment, the Employment Development Department found 26,000 addresses were associated with more than 555,000 claims. But the agency did nothing to stop those payments. Auditors found one address in that list had 80 claims associated with it. Of those, 12 were still receiving benefits as of mid-December, totaling more than $300,000.
IDENTITY THEFT
When people find out someone has claimed unemployment benefits in their name, they contact the Employment Development Department to get it fixed. By September, the agency was getting more than 1,000 of these reports each day. But the department had just one person assigned to review them, and that position became vacant in July. From April through October, the agency responded to less than 2% of these reports.
FLAWED RESPONSE
The department asked Bank of America to freeze 344,000 debit cards in September on suspicion of fraud. But state officials "reacted poorly" when they realized some of the frozen accounts were legitimate. The agency was slow to provide information and told lawmakers Bank of America was the one that decided to freeze the accounts. The audit said it’s true Bank of America decided to freeze some accounts on its own, but said the department "played a significant role" in freezing the 344,000 accounts.
PAYMENTS TO INMATES
The audit found the state paid $810 million in benefits in the names of 45,000 prison inmates. That’s more than double the amount agency officials admitted to last year. The audit said the agency was not prepared to guard against this type of fraud because it did not have a system to cross-match claims with a list of prison inmates, as many other states do.
INEFFECTIVE FRAUD MANAGEMENT
State law requires the department to review its anti-fraud policies to make sure they are effective. The audit found the agency did this once in 2015, but hasn’t done it since then. The audit says the agency does not have one division responsible for stopping fraud. Instead, it shares that responsibility among many divisions and offices.
California State Auditor Elaine Howle said the agency was slow to react to warnings of an increase in fraudulent claims, saying this inaction cost the state billions as criminals exposed weaknesses in the system.
The audit’s findings include:
SLOW TO ACT
The agency was flagging as many as 1,000 suspicious claims per day during the first four months of the pandemic. Yet it only had two people assigned to review these claims and stop the payments. The state finally automated this system in July. But by then, thousands of fraudulent claims had already been paid.
SUSPICIOUS ADDRESSES
One sign of fraud is multiple claims all coming from the same address. In one assessment, the Employment Development Department found 26,000 addresses were associated with more than 555,000 claims. But the agency did nothing to stop those payments. Auditors found one address in that list had 80 claims associated with it. Of those, 12 were still receiving benefits as of mid-December, totaling more than $300,000.
IDENTITY THEFT
When people find out someone has claimed unemployment benefits in their name, they contact the Employment Development Department to get it fixed. By September, the agency was getting more than 1,000 of these reports each day. But the department had just one person assigned to review them, and that position became vacant in July. From April through October, the agency responded to less than 2% of these reports.
FLAWED RESPONSE
The department asked Bank of America to freeze 344,000 debit cards in September on suspicion of fraud. But state officials "reacted poorly" when they realized some of the frozen accounts were legitimate. The agency was slow to provide information and told lawmakers Bank of America was the one that decided to freeze the accounts. The audit said it’s true Bank of America decided to freeze some accounts on its own, but said the department "played a significant role" in freezing the 344,000 accounts.
PAYMENTS TO INMATES
The audit found the state paid $810 million in benefits in the names of 45,000 prison inmates. That’s more than double the amount agency officials admitted to last year. The audit said the agency was not prepared to guard against this type of fraud because it did not have a system to cross-match claims with a list of prison inmates, as many other states do.
INEFFECTIVE FRAUD MANAGEMENT
State law requires the department to review its anti-fraud policies to make sure they are effective. The audit found the agency did this once in 2015, but hasn’t done it since then. The audit says the agency does not have one division responsible for stopping fraud. Instead, it shares that responsibility among many divisions and offices.
FOX 11 Los Angeles
California auditor says EDD likely has paid out $10.4B in fraudulent claims so far
California State Auditor Elaine Howle said the agency was slow to react to warnings of an increase in fraudulent claims, saying this inaction cost the state billions as criminals exposed weaknesses in the system.
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NEW YORK — A YouTube prankster staged a medical emergency in Times Square, then filmed first responders breaking into his car to try and save him, police said — just to rack up thousands of views. Zeeshan Saroya, known on YouTube as Prince Zee, is now facing charges of obstructing government administration, making a false report, disorderly conduct and other charges for his foolish Jan. 10 stunt near the corner of Broadway and W. 46th St. The 30-year-old Queens man hid a small GoPro camera in a tissue box on the dashboard of his friend’s car, then pretended to pass out at a stoplight, police said. A witness saw him slumped over the wheel and flagged down nearby officers, who raced over and tried to open the door. The video shows cops smashing the car windows when the door doesn’t budge, and pulling out Saroya to check his vitals. Other videos on his YouTube channel include clips of him passing out or falling asleep on passengers on city subway trains and beating a fake baby in public.
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Los Angeles -- From a balcony - view of the flooding on First Street in Avila Beach
Breaking: The Black Lives Matter movement has been nominated for the Nobel Peace prize. #FACEPALM
Meanwhile, in Washington, DC -- The annual March for Life is happening in DC today.
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Federal authorities are now offering a reward of up to $100,000 for information that leads investigators to the person they believe placed suspected pipe bombs at the headquarters of the Republican and Democratic national committees in Washington, D.C. The FBI has released new photos and information regarding the suspected explosives, saying in a tweet shared Friday morning that investigators believe the pipe bombs were placed between the hours of 7:30 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. on Jan. 5. Officials said the suspect carried a backpack and wore a face mask, a grey hooded sweatshirt and Nike Air Max Speed Turk sneakers that were yellow, black and grey in color. Both explosive devices are approximately 1-foot long with end caps and wiring that appeared to be attached to a timer, two different law enforcement. The FBI asks that anyone with information call 1-800-CALL-FBI (1-800-225-5342), or submit tips online at fbi.gov/USCapitol.
NYPD Special Victims Division: Congratulations to Sergeant Denise Peralta, Bronx Child Abuse Squad on your promotion to Sergeant Detective Squad. Congrats also to Detective Diane Crowley, Transit Special Victims Squad on your promotion to Detective 2nd Grade. Thank you for your hard work & dedication!