To say 50 Cent isn’t taking Gloria Allred’s new case against him too seriously might be an understatement. Dude has been flat-out laughing in the high-profile attorney’s face after she filed a lawsuit alleging that he and his entourage rode up on a scooter-riding photographer and whacked the guy with an SUV door.
“Gloria you’re not gonna get any money from me that way, but if you call me I’ll take you to dinner. LOL,” the rapper-entrepreneur wrote Tuesday on Instagram. An accompanying photo shows him and Allred laughing and clasping hands at an event in 2014.
Apparently, Fiddy — born Curtis Jackson III — finds it hilarious that Allred is representing Guadelupe De Los Santos, a photographer and “social media journalist” who is suing him and his entourage for alleged assault, battery, intentional infliction of emotional distress, negligence and interference with De los Santos’ exercise of his civil rights.
In the lawsuit, filed Monday in Los Angeles County Superior Court, Jackson et al are accused of driving up behind the paparazzo, who previously had been tailing the rapper on a scooter and recording him with a cellphone attached to a selfie stick. Jackson is accused of hitting De Los Santos with the passenger door of the SUV a short while later, causing injuries to De Los Santos and taking the electric scooter out of commission.
“While waiting at the traffic light, [De Los Santos] felt and heard a vehicle pull up from behind him in the far-right lane. It was the SUV containing Defendant Jackson,” the lawsuit says. “As the SUV approached Plaintiff De Los Santos, the front passenger door suddenly and forcefully opened, without warning or provocation, and struck Plaintiff De Los Santos on his left side, knocking him and his scooter to the street and adjacent sidewalk to his right.”
The civil-rights part of the complaint refers to De Los Santos allegedly being prevented from exercising his California-given right to pursue a lawful occupation as a social media journalist. The lawsuit requests a jury trial and asks Jackson to pay legal fees and costs as well as general, compensatory, special, exemplary and/or punitive damages. Plus interest.
The lawsuit says the photographer “suffered injuries to his lower body on his left side as well as to his torso” and experienced “accompanying pain and emotional distress.”
Jackson, whom the lawsuit says crossed paths with De Los Santos in September after leaving a book signing at the Grove, appeared to disagree.
“The moment I realized I don’t like lawyers,” he wrote Tuesday on social media next to a photo of him and Allred meeting each other at that 2014 event. He punctuated his thought with a laughing emoji, then continued, “Gloria you should know better, chase a different ambulance.”
But Jackson has lawyers too, and one of them told TMZ late Monday that the performer hadn’t seen or been served with the lawsuit yet. “However,” that attorney continued, “if and when such a frivolous claim is filed and served, rest assured that Mr. Jackson’s legal team will swiftly move to dismiss the matter and seek the maximum costs, fees, sanctions and other remedies that are available under law.”
Famed Beatles drummer and one-time Pizza Hut spokesperson Ringo Starr has admitted he’s never eaten pizza before.
The veteran musician made the somewhat surprising confession while appearing on Jimmy Kimmel Live! to promote his 21st studio album, Look Up. As part of his chat, Kimmel asked Starr to set some rumors about himself straight. First on the list was the claim that Starr had never eaten pizza.
“I’ve never had a pizza,” Starr confirmed, as the audience expressed their shock at the news. “Or a curry.”
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“I’m allergic to several items,” Starr continued. “With pizza, you don’t know what you’re putting in it half the time. Or the curry. So I’m strict with myself since it makes me ill immediately.”
“I used to think you had the greatest life, and now I realize mine is better,” Kimmel joked in response. Added Starr: “Yours is better because you’ve had a pizza.”
Starr’s need to abstain from pizza also goes hand-in-hand with his longtime vegetarianism, but is made all the more surprising given his role as a one-time spokesperson for noted restaurant chain Pizza Hut.
Appearing in a 1995 ad campaign for the chain, Starr promoted Pizza Hut’s newly-introduced stuffed crust as part of a 30-second spot which saw him teasing a reunion from The Beatles. The ad’s punchline sees Starr joined by members of The Monkees instead (“Wrong lads,” he quips), with all four musicians appearing to bite a piece of pizza crust-first. We now know, however, that Starr doesn’t actually follow suit.
The former Beatle’s latest record arrived on Jan. 10 as his first full-length release since 2019’s What’s My Name. Bolstered by guest appearances from Alison Krauss, Molly Tuttle, Lucius, Larkin Poe, and Billy Strings, the country record has so far been a commercial success. Look Up debuted on Billboard’s all-genre Top Album Sales chart at No. 7, charted in the top ten of Indie Store Album Sales (No. 2) and Top Rock Albums (No. 7), and also gave Starr a career-best peak of No. 27 on the Top Country Albums.
“I did love country music before I was in (The Beatles),” Starr recently told Billboard. “We got plenty of it in Liverpool, because the lads who were in the merchant navy would bring not only rock and roll over, but country — and when country bands went on tour in England, they always played Liverpool.”
Sold on SLCis back via Episode 7, featuring a retreat to help return these sinners to their saint-like ways. Not shockingly, this plan comes up short. Last week, the agents loaded their chartered party bus as stripper jokes sounded, making Jennifer sigh. Jennifer has a lot of work to do, as her interoffice red flags love waving daily at half-mast.
Her female agents remain frustrated with Matt. And now, his wife Nicole has entered the chat. Nicole is equally annoyed that the ladies who work with her husband are struggling with their silence on his antics. Yet, if these ladies felt heard or saw Matt taking on water like them, this storyline tide might turn.
Tyna, however, might not be able to wait for the seas to self-correct at Presidio. She already has one foot out the door. Hopefully, this retreat will change her mind. Or not, hence this recap for an appropriately titled Sold on SLC Episode 7: “Thou Shalt Retreat Others with Respect.”
What happened in Sold on SLC Episode 7?
Matt used to visit strip clubs. This secret came out courtesy of Kiley, a friend of this cast. While Matt should be the maddest at himself, he is now turning on Malaysia. Matt and Kenny find it fishy that her guest outed him, so now, they are throwing Malaysia under the bus with their suspicions.
Unfortunately, Jennifer is also raising her eyebrows at Malaysia. But Malaysia feels like Jennifer is turning her back on her, and she is not here for this. Nor is Tyna. Her foot is sliding even farther out the door of this brokerage.
Sarah, Malaysia, and Tyna feel insecure, as their boss does not seem to have their backs. Couple this storyline with the narratives that Matt and Kenny are feeding us, and you will see that things are not well at Presidio.
The Presidio agents arrive at their retreat in Saint George, Utah, where fingers start pointing at Malaysia
Photo Credit: Bravo Media
The agents pull up to their luxurious villas in St. George, Utah. Jennifer assigns Sarah to a suite while Malaysia and Tyna score individual rooms with en-suite baths. The men, however, are all staying together in a room filled with bunk beds. They are annoyed, and we will allow it.
The girls grab snack plates and robes and visit Sarah in her gigantic suite. They are frustrated that Nicole called Malaysia out for making a pole joke.
In their sausage-filled space, Tyler, another Presidio agent, learns about the drama he somehow missed from Matt and Kenny. But Matt keeps his sins brief. He then turns the conversation into a set-up storyline that we already hate. Matt and Kenny think Malaysia set Matt up, and they hate her jokey text about a pole, so now they are pointing their fall guy fingers at Malaysia, not Matt.
Tyler does not jump on their bandwagons. Instead, he instructs Matt to remain vulnerable and keep moving forward. You can stay, Tyler (for now).
Malaysia visits Jennifer in her suite. Malaysia thinks that Matt and Nicole called her out in public on purpose. Jennifer agrees that Nicole should have confronted Malaysia in private. But she also feels like Malaysia needs to apologize for her too-soon jests.
Jennifer then tells Malaysia that she is somewhat to blame. She thinks Malaysia could have kept these rumors quieter. Malaysia was all of us in her confessional, explaining how odd it is that this sex scandal is seeing an innocent woman get the blame instead of the man.
Jennifer wants Malaysia to apologize. She hates what Malaysia is doing to them, she states. But Malaysia claps back, leaving Jennifer frustrated.
Jennifer plans a breathwork activity that leaves Kenny in tears
Photo Credit: Bronson Farr/Bravo
Jennifer holds a breathwork session to try and restore peace amongst her agents. Defeated, Malaysia arrives last. As their session rolls along, Kenny starts audibly crying. Erin (their coach), Jennifer, and Matt gather around in support.
In front of everyone, Kenny gathers his emotions and explains that he felt positive childhood memories creeping back into his subconscious. Kenny must have blocked these recollections out, he says. Therefore, his emotions went into overdrive after revisiting these timelines. His vulnerability encourages Matt to speak out next.
The music shifts into a Poky the Little Puppy-styled crawl as Matt gathers his thoughts, proving that this series has a solid production team. Through tears, Matt admits that he struggles with confrontation. He likes connection more, he adds.
Annoyed, Sarah reminds us in her confessional that Matt needs to apologize then because his mouth has said some awful, non-connecting statements about her.
Back in the villa, Tyna and Kenny partner off. As do Sarah and Malaysia. Malaysia and Sarah are bothered that the tables are turning, making the ladies look like villains.
In their huddled spot, Kenny confides in Tyna. When he was young, his parents divorced. Abuse transpired at his address at the hands of his father, who has since passed away. Tyna cries, admitting she was also abused as a child, so she can understand how Kenny blocked out his positive childhood memories, as she did the same.
Jennifer pairs her agents off for a shockingly successful day of team-building
Photo Credit: Brett Colvin/Bravo
The agents gather on the sofa, where Jennifer partners them off to either tire joust or ride UTVs. Malaysia gets Kenny. Together, they get tire jousting.
Sarah gets assigned to Matt. They will also partake in a tire jousting activity. Tyna, however, gets Tyler, making them the only excited duo in this room.
The tire jousters head outside to await their instructions. They learn they are not riding down a hill in their tires or doing anything else that might be wild. Instead, they are poking tires with lance-like objects. Whomp whomp.
Across town, Tyna and Tyler are having the time of their lives in their UTV. The cameras pan back to the jousters. They are experiencing the opposite. On the bright side, Sarah and Matt bond a little, as do Malaysia and Kenny, so maybe Jennifer was on to something with this idea.
Back at the villa, Tyna and Tyler head to the couch. Tyna admits she is looking at other brokerages. Tyler understands. Can we start a petition to get Tyler featured more in this series?
Jennifer finds success again via a suggestion box activity but Malaysia still finds herself in the hot seat
Photo Credit: Natalie Cass/Bravo
Later that night, the agents gather around a campfire, but it is not to sing kumbaya. Instead, Jennifer asks them to write down anonymous suggestions for a discussion. Kenny fails. He writes his name on his, but his suggestion is far from catty, so he remains safe.
Tyna remains amazing. She is hiding under a blanket, trying to avoid smoke inhalation, joking about finding better ways to get choked than this.
Jennifer reads the first anonymous note, asking her to remain neutral in office conflicts. She tears up but admits that she agrees and understands. However, Jennifer explains that she harbors a sore spot for agents who have left Presidio.
Her tears ramp up at the next card, which mentions only positive things about Presidio and Jennifer. None of the agents in this series wrote this note, as they each admit to being not it in their confessionals. It must have been one of the other top-earning agents along for the ride.
The next day, the boys help each other with their spray tans. Then, Kenny finds Tyna to share his suspicions about Malaysia. Tyna shuts him down at first, but his statements make her pause. Yet, she remains unconvinced that Malaysia set Matt up.
But in her confessional, Tyna admits that if this is true, it might change her perception of Malaysia. We asked Malaysia about this already. She preplanned nothing, she stated, so now, we wait to see how this shakes out next week when the finale of Sold on SLC airs.
TELL US – DID YOU WATCH SOLD ON SLC EPISODE 7? DO YOU THINK MALAYSIA SET MATT UP, OR IS MATT THROWING HER UNDER THE BUS TO HAVE A FRIEND IN THE HOT SEAT?
[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for the One Chicago crossover: Chicago Fire, Chicago Med, and Chicago P.D.‘s “Into the Trenches.”]
No one does a crossover like One Chicago — especially the major events. This franchise has a way of making a three-parter across Chicago Fire, Chicago Med, and Chicago P.D. (the order for this year’s) seamless, cinematic, thrilling from start to finish, a must-watch, and a showcase of what each series does best. Such is the case with “Into the Trenches.” This one feels like a movie.
A gas explosion brings firefighters, paramedics, doctors, and police officers to the scene from the start, and this crossover does a great job of highlighting the relationships across the shows, including ones you might not even have known about or expected. Kidd (Miranda Rae Mayo) and Ruzek (Patrick John Flueger), trapped underground while her husband, Severide (Taylor Kinney), and his fiancée, Burgess (Marina Squerciati), worry up top and try to find a way to rescue them and solve the case? Just what we needed. Dr. Charles (Oliver Platt) calming down and reassuring Mouch (Christian Stolte) as he worries about his wife Platt (Amy Morton) in surgery? Give us more!
Archer (Steven Weber) donning turnouts to go underground with Pascal (Dermot Mulroney), Severide, Herrmann (David Eigenberg), and Mouch? Worth it for the exchange he and Ruzek share once back on street level when the officer insists he doesn’t need medical treatment. “Are you a doctor?” Archer asks. “Are you?” Ruzek retorts, looking at him in the turnouts.
Below, we recap the major moments of the crossover.
Does Platt die after being shot?
Early on, we get hints of tension between Mouch and Platt; he missed out on a celebration she’d put together for the two of them for his lieutenant promotion … or so he thinks. After she brushes him off at the site of the gas explosion, he realizes the plans had been for her birthday, which he’d forgotten. Then, when Platt, Ruzek and a former officer-turned-security guard, Bates (Jennifer Regan), chase after the offenders who set the fire that caused the gas explosion, Platt is shot multiple times in the back!
Peter Gordon/NBC
Mouch immediately rushes inside to find her after the call goes out over the radio. He, Severide, and Herrmann — whom Pascal tries to keep back to get an overview of what it will mean when he’s one day battalion chief — refuse to leave when the chief gives the order to evacuate with concerns of the building’s foundation giving out. Mouch finds his wife bleeding out in an elevator, and he pleads with her not to leave him in the ambulance on the way to the hospital.
Once at Med, Platt flatlines — and Stolte delivers one of his best performances of the show as he can only stand by and watch as Ripley (Luke Mitchell) and Lenox (Sarah Ramos) try to save her, ultimately using an experimental treatment by cooling her body all the way down to give them time to patch up the bullet holes. The hope is that they can then warm her back up. Upon realizing that this has only been extensively studied in animals without much success, Mouch is understandably upset: “Tell me you didn’t just kill my wife,” he demands of Ripley.
That’s when Charles sits down with him and assures him that Ripley is a good doctor and Platt is strong. It’s to Charles that Mouch admits that part of him needs to be back at the scene of the gas explosion helping to dig Kidd out. He thinks it makes him a horrible husband, but the doctor argues that’s why Platt married him. “Do I need to explain your own wife to you?” Charles asks, making us want scenes with him and Platt stat!
As Mouch sits with the unconscious Platt, he says that one of the things he loves most about her is he has no idea what will come out of her mouth. “If only I’d met you sooner, maybe I’d have figured you out by now,” he admits, emotional. “Oh, baby, you better not quit like this on me. Who the hell would I be left to talk to?” Fortunately, he doesn’t have to find out: Platt’s going to be okay (but will need months of physical therapy), and once she comes to, she not only passes along key information to Voight (Jason Beghe) that helps them find a way to help those trapped underground, but she also sends Mouch to help.
How do Severide and Burgess handle Kidd and Ruzek trapped underground?
One thing’s clear after the day Kidd has: She needs that vacation with Severide, even if it’s just a long weekend. It’s all hands on deck — including Frost (Darren Barnet), on a ride-along with Violet (Hanako Greensmith) and Novak (Jocelyn Hudon) — when there are reports of multiple underground explosions. CPD is on scene to help control the area, then try to chase down the arsonists after Severide identifies the source of a fire in a server room, while the firefighters, paramedics, and doctor help with rescues and triage.
Elizabeth Sisson/NBC
Kidd leads Truck to a train disabled below; she sends Carver (Jake Lockett) up with some of the passengers, but a tunnel collapse traps her below with the rest. Ruzek, having chased one of the offenders into the tunnel, joins her on the train. Though Pascal and Severide (“Stella Kidd, report back right now!”) try to reach her over the radio, there’s no response. (Kinney playing the desperation of not being able to reach his wife all crossover? Among his best of the show.)
The good news is it doesn’t take long for Ruzek to get a signal and call Burgess, whose relief is apparent. (Squerciati shines playing the balance of worried fiancée and determined detective.) But there’s not much to celebrate yet: There are injured people on the train (Archer talks Kidd through treating them first over the phone, then morse code with lights on a panel), and Platt’s shooter could very well be among them. Plus, they’re quickly running out of air and there doesn’t seem to be any way to get to the injured civilians. (Severide is willing to dig them out by hand pretty much, but there’s just no safe place to do so.)
Though Kidd can tell immediately that something’s going on with Ruzek, it’s not until she calls him out on having his hand on his gun when he got on the train (and that she needs to know everything) that he fills her in on Platt being trapped and the offender likely being with them. There’s even time for moments of connection for both couples — Burgess offers to get Makayla out of school so Ruzek can talk to her (he says no, they’ll have dinner together) and passes along a message from Severide for Kidd (“you were right, we have to make the time,”) referring to their attempt to take a vacation. (She declines to hop on the phone with him, wanting to stay focused.)
Among the offenders identified is a woman who was badly burned during the initial rescue in the sub-basement where the server room was located. But when Burgess and Voight want to wake her to question her to find a possible way to the train — the offenders used those tunnels to get in — Lenox refuses because it would jeopardize the woman’s health and she took an oath. She does, however, give Burgess a lead just as she’s leaving the hospital: The victim has mesothelioma, and in most cases, those patients are swarmed by lawyers eager to sue a place of employment if there’s workplace exposure. That gets them a name (Margaret), and they soon realize that her daughter has been looking for her. But her daughter refuses to give them anything until she can see her mom.
Meanwhile, Ruzek stumbles across a man in the tunnels who’s wearing the same jumpsuit the offenders were; Ray claims he was down there the entire time and isn’t the shooter, but Ruzek cuffs him to a pole inside the train. He has a man on the train who can read morse code send up Ray’s name for a background check, but despite him coming back clean, the man relays that the message is just a check-in about the injured passengers. A teen on the train, however, takes note and alerts Ruzek that she knew enough morse code to know he lied.
Meanwhile, thanks to a tip from Platt about a motel key card she found in an offender’s pocket before she was shot, Intelligence is able to find where they were staying and blueprints of the tunnels. The rescue team — Severide, Pascal, Herrmann, Mouch, and Archer — break through into the tunnel just as the offender on the train has taken Kidd hostage and forced Ruzek to give up his gun. But they’re able to subdue him, and it’s the offender who’s shot in the struggle. With another collapse imminent, they quickly get everyone out.
Severide and Kidd share a moment once on street level again (a long weekend sounds good), and Burgess joins Ruzek in the ambulance after Archer forces him in to get checked out at the hospital for his injured arm.
Who’s behind the explosions? Who shot Platt?
The offenders stole a data storage drive with city employees’ pension funds totaling $250 million; Ruzek’s arm gets cut going back to grab it from next to the offender’s body in the tunnel. (With that, the drive is going into evidence and everything that happened will be made public: all the cancer patients who were blocked from treatment due to lawyers and the retirement funds that were almost lost.) Among those offenders is Bates — and she was the one who shot Platt from behind, Voight realizes after they determine there was an inside man to give the offenders everything they needed to know about security. Platt and Bates came up together, he reminds her. They made a vow to the city, as police, and she shot her in the back.
Bates argues that the city screwed over people like Margaret — and her. She, too, has mesothelioma, and she knew the attorneys would fight her lawsuit like they did Margaret’s. She asks Voight to give her a moment alone with her gun since she’s dying anyway, but he refuses. She broke the vow they made to protect the city.
What did you think of the crossover? Let us know in the comments section below.
Chinese artificial intelligence (AI) startup DeepSeek has taken the world by storm. For those living under a rock this week, the company claims to have developed an innovative AI model for a fraction of the cost of other industry leaders, including OpenAI.
That sparked a sell-off in the tech-heavy Nasdaq and among technology stocks more broadly. Chip manufacturer Nvidia experienced an historic 17% single-day loss that wiped $589bn (£475bn) off its market cap on Tuesday.
While some investors are now questioning valuations and growth expectations, I have two AI-related stocks that I’m considering buying under the microscope.
Enterprise software giant
Sage Group (LSE: SGE) is first cab off the rank. The company is a leader in enterprise software specialising in accounting and payroll services.
Integration of AI into its product suite has increased automation and improved analytics capabilities. This, in turn, has helped boost the company’s share price by 80% in the past five years to £13.35 per share as I write (29 January).
A 21% increase in full-year underlying operating profits to £529m and a margin increase of 220 basis points to 22.7% says to me that the strategy is working. At the forefront of a growing industry, the stock doesn’t come cheap with a price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio of 42.4.
While I’m considering buying, I do think that’s a hefty price to pay in an uber-competitive and continuously evolving space like enterprise software where the next challenger is never far away.
IT infrastructure services
Staying with the technology theme, Softcat (LSE: SCT) is a stock I track closely. The IT infrastructure provider has a range of services including software licensing, hardware procurement, and cloud computing.
The ability to leverage AI’s innovative and efficient solutions is proving a profitable one. The company’s growth trajectory has been impressive, punctuated by a 9.3% increase in its FY24 operating profit to £154.1m.
Softcat shares are trading at a multiple of 26.5 times earnings. That’s significantly lower than Sage, but still more than double the FTSE 250 average of around 12.9.
Much like Sage, Softcat is a fast-growing and recognisable name in a market with huge potential growth. However, the price reflects this, while the need for constant innovation and potential market saturation are just a couple of risks that could rain on the growth parade.
Key takeaway
While DeepSeek has grabbed headlines, the investable AI universe is large. We’ve seen the astronomical growth in Nvidia’s valuation in recent years but there are ways I could get exposure to the AI trend without it being a chip maker or AI developer.
I am considering buying both Sage and Softcat, but I don’t think it will be in the near future. I don’t have the spare funds to invest right now, and I think defensive sectors like pharmaceuticals are better bang for my buck at present.
If your denim collection needs a refresh, & Other Stories just made your search a lot easier. Their latest drop features wide-leg silhouettes, tailored jumpsuits, and effortless denim-on-denim looks.
First up, wide-leg jeans are back in a big way, and & Other Stories nails the trend with structured cuts that flow beautifully with every step. Whether paired with a cozy cropped cardigan or an oversized button-down, these jeans create an effortlessly cool shape without trying too hard.
For those who love a full denim moment, embroidered shirts and belted jumpsuits take things up a notch. A cinched waist on the jumpsuit keeps the look flattering, while subtle embroidery on the classic button-up adds just the right amount of detail.
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It wasn’t enough for one judge to block Trump’s federal funding freeze. A second judge is also going to block the illegal order to freeze federal funds.
U.S. District Judge John McConnell said a bid by the White House to rescind a “hugely ambiguous” order implementing the freeze appeared to be undercut by White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt’s subsequent statement that the freeze was still in effect.
“I’m inclined to grant the restraining order,” McConnell, a Rhode Island-based appointee of President Barack Obama, said during a court hearing on a lawsuit brought Tuesday by Democratic attorneys general. “I fear … that the administration is acting with a distinction without a difference.”
Instead of admitting the defeat, Trump’s Press Secretary tried to claim that the funding freeze was still in effect, which led a federal judge to say wait a minute, to make sure that you don’t freeze those funds, I’m also going to block you.
By trying to politically spin this massive defeat into some kind of win, Trump is going to get smacked down again. Just in case his administration thinks that they can say that they rescinded the order and then keep trying to freeze the funding, a second judge is going to step in to make sure that Trump can’t carry out his unconstitutional plan.
The fact that the Trump administration really thought they could get away with it is telling.
The courts are not going to allow Trump to ignore the Constitution. If Trump keeps this up, more judges will get involved, and this will not end well for his administration.
What do you think of a second judge blocking Trump? Share your thoughts in the comments below.
Chicago’s Inspector General, Deborah Witzburg, has released a damning report detailing a covert stash of luxury gifts, including jewelry, whiskey, and high-end accessories, secretly hoarded by Mayor Brandon Johnson in a City Hall “Gift Room.”
Mayor Johnson and his office have systematically blocked investigators from accessing this trove, blatantly disregarding city laws designed to maintain ethical governance.
According to the report, this secretive cache was uncovered following an undercover operation by the Office of the Inspector General (OIG) last June.
The investigators, who were initially denied access to the mayoral gift log, were forced to resort to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request, which the Mayor’s office also stonewalled.
It was only through an official document request that the Mayor’s Office grudgingly disclosed the existence of the “Gift Room.”
According to the report reviewed by The Gateway Pundit:
On July 9, 2024, OIG—again in an undercover capacity as a member of the public—filed a FOIA request with the Mayor’s Office in which OIG requested a log, list, or records sufficient to show all disclosures filed by or on behalf of Mayor Johnson or former Mayor Lori Lightfoot from February 1, 2022 to March 31, 2024 regarding receipt or reimbursement of: travel expenses for meetings related to a public or governmental educational purpose; gifts given to or accepted on behalf of the City; or hosting, including travel and expenses, entertainment, meals or refreshments furnished in connection with meetings, appearances or public events or ceremonies related to official City business.
OIG also issued a similar request to the City Comptroller for disclosures made by the Mayor’s Office regarding gifts to be added to the City inventory; the Comptroller informed OIG that it held no responsive records.
The Mayor’s Office did not timely respond to OIG’s FOIA request which, pursuant to applicable law, constitutes a denial of the request. On August 14, 2024—over a month after submitting the FOIA request–OIG received a response from the Mayor’s Office in the form of a spreadsheet that detailed gifts accepted on behalf of the City.
The log included, for some but not all gifts: the date received, a brief description, where the gifts were stored, and information about the source of the gift. Notably, a response to the FOIA request OIG submitted as a member of the public came only after OIG also issued a compelled document request to the Mayor’s Office seeking the same information.
OIG received in response to its document request records that matched the records it received in response to its undercover FOIA. Notably, neither log received by OIG lists any reimbursed travel-related expenses.
Of the 380 logged gifts, many are listed with a location designation of “Gift Room.” Those gifts reportedly being stored in the Mayor’s “Gift Room” include:
“Hugo Boss cuff links” from June 12, 2023
“Personalized Mont Blanc pen” from June 12, 2023
“2023 U.S. National Soccer Team Jersey” from June 16, 2023
“Airpods, tote bag, notepad” from October 3, 2023
“Gucci Tote bag and crossbody bag” from March 18, 2024
“Givenchy Bag, Kate Spade Red Purse, Carrucci Size 14 Burgandy Men’s Shoes” from March 19, 2024
The concealment does not stop at denying physical access. The Mayor’s Office, advised by the City’s Department of Law (DOL), persisted in obstructing the OIG from performing an unannounced inspection of the Gift Room.
This action stands in stark violation of the Municipal Code of Chicago, which mandates full cooperation with OIG inquiries.
The report from the Chicago Office of Inspector General, published Wednesday morning, takes aim at an “unwritten arrangement” dating back to 1989 allowing city mayors to skip reporting gifts to the Board of Ethics and instead simply jot them in a public logbook on the fifth floor of City Hall.
But in June a city inspector undercover as a member of the public was denied the gift log and told to file a public records request, which was not fulfilled for over a month, eventually coming back as an incomplete spreadsheet “for some but not all gifts.” The records request was completed only after the inspector general’s office asked for the same information, according to the report.
[…]
In November, city inspectors went up to the fifth floor of City Hall again and asked to go to the gift room, but were met by Chicago police officers and told to wait in the elevator lobby while “multiple senior members of the Mayor’s Office” spoke with the inspector general’s office about the request, according to the report. The inspectors were ultimately denied access that day and told they had to make an appointment.
Eventually, the Department of Law communicated that the Inspector General’s office would not be granted access to the gift room, according to the report.
For exiled Syrians, this is their Berlin Wall moment—the doors to a homeland they thought they’d never see again suddenly swinging open. The heady days following December 8th and the fall of Assad’s seemingly immovable regime have brought an unexpected Christmas gift: a return to Damascus. But as the initial euphoria fades, clear-eyed Syrians know better than to declare, “And they all lived happily ever after.” The lessons of the Arab Spring loom large, and the challenges ahead are daunting. How to navigate a landscape shaped by heavily armed factions—sometimes allies, sometimes rivals? What to do with thousands of civil servants and state security employees left unpaid since Assad’s fall? And as the international community moves to lift sanctions, the bigger question remains: how to channel money and efforts toward rebuilding a Syria that is not just revived, but reimagined.
The European Space Agency (ESA) has revealed it is closely monitoring an asteroid the size of a football pitch that could hit the Earth in a little over seven years.
The asteroid, called 2024 YR4, is estimated to have a one in 83 chance of a direct hit, causing “severe damage to a local region”, according to ESA.
The space rock, which measures 100m by 40m, is currently at a distance of around 27 million miles and moving away from the planet. But its path will cross the Earth’s orbit on 22 December 2032.
Most likely there would be a near miss, with the asteroid passing within a few thousand miles.
The Space Mission Planning Advisory Group, which is chaired by ESA, will discuss the latest observations of the asteroid at a meeting in Vienna next week.
If the impact risk is confirmed it will make official recommendations to the United Nations and work may begin on options for a “spacecraft-based response to the potential hazard”, the agency said in a statement.
Dr Simeon Barber, a space scientist at the Open University, told Sky News: “We shouldn’t be overly worried – at least not just yet.
“That’s because our early detection systems quite often overestimate the likelihood of an impact with Earth.
“In the early stages, we can’t determine its trajectory very accurately, and so the probability of impact has to take into account this uncertainty.
“It’s likely that as our technologies for detecting Earth-bound objects improve, we may see an increasing number of alerts such as this.
“It’s important that we find the right balance between treating the threat seriously, but not over-reacting in these early stages of discovery when the trajectory is still not well-defined.”
At the time NASA administrator Bill Nelson said: “All of us have a responsibility to protect our home planet. After all, it’s the only one we have.”
Near-Earth Asteroid 2024 YR4 was first spotted by a telescope in Chile. Since the start of January, astronomers have been tracking the asteroid to gauge its size and movement.
The asteroid is expected to fade from view within the next few months as it moves further from the Earth. Increasingly powerful telescopes will be trained on the rock to gather as much data as possible on its trajectory.
Once it disappears it won’t come back into view until 2028.
How much damage would such an impact do?
The Earth takes a direct hit from an asteroid of that size only once every few thousand years.
In 1908, a slightly smaller asteroid – thought to have measured 60m across – exploded over Siberia. It flattened 80 million trees over an area of 830 square miles.
