Hunt for man who ‘threatened woman in school car park'
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Axios
42 minutes ago
- Axios
The William Westerfeld House is a haunted time capsule
It may not officially be spooky season yet, but it is year-round at the William Westerfeld House, a historical haunted gem near Alamo Square. State of play: The more-than-a-century-old gothic Victorian at 1198 Fulton St. has been the site of a Czarist Russian-run brothel and social club, jazz-era flophouse, psychedelic-using hippie commune and host to occult film sets and rumored satanic rituals, earning it an eerie reputation. Catch up quick: The 28-room mansion was built in 1889 by local architect Henry Geilfuss for the affluent German baker and confectioner William Westerfeld, who was in poor health when he died there just a few years later. The intrigue: The house is colloquially referred to as "The Russian Embassy," earning the moniker after Russian émigrés purchased it in the late 1920s and turned the ballroom into a club called "Dark Eyes" for social gatherings. It later belonged to various owners, including The Palace Hotel architect John Mahoney and underground filmmaker Kenneth Anger, who regularly hosted friends like Church of Satan founder Anton LaVey. Today, gothic enthusiast Jim Siegel owns the house and has restored its original Victorian flourishes with the hope it can become a museum one day.
Perth Now
44 minutes ago
- Perth Now
Tori Spelling's dog chewed 'severed human toe'
Tori Spelling has claimed her dog chewed a "severed human toe" while staying at a "prestigious" hotel. The 52-year-old actress was away with then-husband Dean McDermott trying to have a relaxing evening in their room when they were horrified to discover their pooch Musso had human remains in his mouth. Speaking on her MisSpelling podcast, Tori said: 'One time when Dean and I were together, we were in Toronto, and we were filming…[and] we had two days off. 'So we're like, 'Oh, let's go stay at this amazing Victorian hotel or something.' So we went and stayed at this hotel, and I think it was me and Dean and my dog.' 'And it was like the most prestigious hotel in Toronto and old school and beautiful. And we were like, okay, we've been working hard…[so] we ordered room service and we were gonna watch a movie. 'And I'm not even sure how we found it, but we found a toe. Plot twist. Didn't see that one coming, did you?' 'Musso found something, and we were laying in bed watching a movie, and we just finished dinner and we found something, and he was chewing on something at the end of the bed. 'And we're like what does he have? And we kinda went back and forth, like, did he get our food? Like, did he find a bone here? Like, what is he chewing on? "I grabbed it out of his mouth, and that's when I found it was a severed human big toe and the creepy part is it wasn't that old.' Tori noted the toe was not "that decayed" and had been "precisely chopped off". She added: 'And if I remember correctly, it was definitely, I think, a male big toe, but it was chopped off, and it wasn't decaying. And the nail bed was fine.' Tori and Dean - who split in 2023 - reported the shocking incident to the hotel but claimed staff didn't seem too concerned. She said: 'The hotel kind of had no reaction. They were like, 'Oh, we're so sorry.' So we, like, put it in a napkin from our dinner and Dean brought it down to them. "But you guys, we never got — I would have been horrified, I would have been like, 'I'm so sorry, the whole stay is free' or I don't even know how you make up for having a human toe in somebody's bed. "But all I know is I think they gave us a credit if we ever stayed there again. Ever stayed there again? Never going to stay there again." Despite the grim discovery, the couple opted to stay in their room. She said: "We didn't move rooms. I can't even remember why we stayed in that room. I think it was late and we were just so tired from working. 'We're like, turn a blind toe to it and just move on." But the former Beverly Hills, 90210 actress joked she does have one regret about the incident. She said: 'Oh my god, I've always wanted to solve a murder. I've always been into crime and stuff. That could have been my one chance to put in a Ziploc bag to go to the police station, and I could have solved a murder. Oh, I missed out.'
Perth Now
an hour ago
- Perth Now
Calls for revamped charge to hit drivers
The federal body tasked with boosting Australian living standards has reissued calls for a national road user charge to help fund major infrastructure projects, which would also force drivers of electric vehicles to contribute to road maintenance. As it stands, EV drivers are not subject to the 51.6 cents per litre fuel excise drivers ultimately pay when refuelling at the bowser. The call to arms was detailed in the Productivity Commission's (PC) analysis of the National Competition Policy – the fourth of five reports handed to Jim Chalmers ahead of the Economic Reform Roundtable later this month. This follows long-term calls by the PC to enact a road user charges on all vehicle types, with a current charge only applied to heavy vehicles through a diesel excise. 'Road infrastructure should be funded through user charges (prices) that reflect the efficient cost of providing and maintaining that infrastructure,' the report said. 'By giving drivers a clear signal about the cost of infrastructure, they would have an incentive to use it more efficiently. 'Moreover, there will be a signal to infrastructure providers where changes in road capacity are warranted.' The Productivity Commission urged the federal government to consider national reform to funding roads infrastructure, which includes the use of a road user tax on all vehicles. NewsWire/ Tertius Pickard Credit: News Corp Australia It said national reform should be prioritised following the High Court challenge which overruled the Victorian government's attempt to put in place a 2 cents a kilometre on EV drivers in 2023. The PC also noted that the 'growth in use of electric vehicles' should be 'added impetus' for priority reform, with the commission set to give its final report to the Treasurer in late October. 'The decision of the High Court rules out state-based distance road user charges and means governments need to consider a national approach to road funding,' it said. 'This opens the opportunity to design a system that is less fragmented and better reflects the costs of providing and using road infrastructure.' In an earlier report released this week, the PC urged Labor to scrap subsidies on EVs, like the fringe benefits tax exemption on electric cars and plug-in hybrids. Instead, it said the New Vehicle Efficiency Standard should be the 'main tool for promoting clean vehicles'. Treasurer Jim Chalmers has previously doubted issuing a road user charge for EVs, but flagged tax settings may have to change as EV take-up increases. NewsWire/ Martin Ollman Credit: News Corp Australia Previously Mr Chalmers has said the government has no immediate plans to tax EV users, however he said discussions with the sector and states had been ongoing. 'Over time, the use of fossil fuels in our car fleets will come down, and EV use will go up,' he told reporters in July. 'We've seen that, and we're making a contribution to that with our policies and that will have implications for the tax base.' However, despite lags at a federal level, the NSW state government has flagged a distance-based charge for eligible EVs set to come into place from July 1, 2027, or when EVs make up 30 per cent of all new vehicle sales. The PC's analysis of competition policy also found regulating Australian standards with overseas standards could boost GDP by up to 0.2 per cent a year – a nominal increase between $1.9bn to $3.8bn. Occupational licensing reform, which would make it easier for workers to move interstate, was noted as a competition-boosting change which would result in the biggest affect on the economy, which could deliver between a $5bn to $10bn boost to GDP. This comes after the government flagged changes to design a national scheme for people in electrical trades in the March federal budget.
