Latest news with #BoyScouts
New York Post
2 days ago
- Politics
- New York Post
Ad campaign urges Gov. Hochul to force insurers to pay for thousands of cases of sex abuse claims under New York's Child Victims Act
An ad campaign is pressuring Gov. Kathy Hochul to force insurance companies to pay claims to thousands of alleged sexual assault victims on behalf of churches, hospitals, schools, Boy Scouts troops and other employers they represent under the Child Victims Act. The victims who were allegedly abused as children decades ago sued the various organizations they claimed allowed the abuse to happen decades later under the New York State Child Victims Act of 2019. But many cases are tied up in court, with insurers of the defendants refusing to make payments on behalf of their clients, including the Catholic Church and other defendants, according to the group behind the ads, The Coalition for Just and Compassionate Compensation. An ad campaign is calling on Gov. Kathy Hochul to force insurance companies to pay settlements to victims of sexual abuse claimed under the New York State Child Victims Act of 2019. Lev Radin/ZUMA / The group is bankrolled by allies of the Catholic Church, among others. Hochul's Department of Financial Services is supposed to help enforce the law, advocates said. 'Who turns their back on over 14,000 survivors of child sex abuse? Our Kathy Hochul. She stands with her big insurance buddies denying responsibility while donating to her campaign,' the narrator in the 30-second cable TV ad playing in Albany and upstate media markets says. The ad shows headlines of the Buffalo Diocese shuttering 10 churches. Hochul, according to the ad, has received $578,000 in campaign contributions from the insurance lobby. 'Survivors suffer — and justice stalls,' the ad says. 'Gov. Hochul has the power to act,' it continues. 'Demand she enforce the law. Make Big insurance pay, not the survivors.' Sex abuse victims also cried foul. 'Six years ago, survivors were promised that the Child Victims Act would hold abusers and enablers accountable,' said Steve Jimenez, a survivor and CJCC trustee. 'Instead, we're still waiting — while Governor Hochul cashes checks from big insurance. Enforce the law, Governor. Do your job.' A rep for Hochul slammed the advocacy group for trying to drag her into a payment dispute in court proceedings involving organizations such as the Catholic Church and insurance companies over who is liable to foot the bill to compensate child sex abuse victims. 'Governor Hochul has repeatedly demonstrated her commitment to survivors of sexual assault, signing new laws and investing record funding to support this vulnerable community,' said Hochul spokesman Avi Small. 'It's ludicrous for this organization to weaponize the pain of survivors in a cynical attempt to pull this Administration into a contractual dispute between two private entities.' The state Department of Financial Services, in a statement, said of the criticism, 'We are actively monitoring ongoing litigation as the courts seek to answer important legal questions about insurers' contractual liabilities and will hold insurers accountable for their obligations as appropriate.'
Yahoo
2 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
Decatur WWII veteran celebrates 102nd birthday
The Brief Decatur WWII veteran Calvin George Kemp is celebrating his 102nd birthday today. A "Grady Baby," Kemp returned to Atlanta after serving in the Navy and was a representative of the Black Brick Layers Union in the years before the unions were integrated. He says that there is no secret to his long life - he's just blessed and stays positive. DECATUR, Ga. - Family, friends, and churchgoers gathered in Decatur over the weekend to help a World War II veteran celebrate his 102nd birthday. Calvin George Kemp was born at Atlanta's Grady Memorial Hospital on June 2, 1923, and refers to himself as a "Grady Baby." What we know Kemp served in the Navy during World War II, beginning in 1943 and returning to Atlanta in 1946. "I always got involved," Kemp said. "When my son was in elementary school, he got into the Boy Scouts [of America], and so I became a scoutmaster. And when he was playing ball in Little League, I coached." Kemp was a brick mason for 25 years and served as a representative of the Black Brick Layers Union in the years before the unions were integrated. In 1973, he shifted gears and moved to the school system to teach masonry. Throughout his life, he's been actively involved in his church and just recently retired as director of the seniors and retirees program at Saint Philip African Methodist Episcopal Church in Atlanta. "I've always played bridge," Kemp says. "I have always been athletic and followed sports. I've always loved talking to people, and I love listening to good music-- King Cole, Ella Fitzgerald, and Duke Ellington--but I am not a fan of rap." What they're saying He celebrated his 102nd birthday today at Saint Philip with Pastor Anton Elwood, his family and church family. "There's no secret," he says. "I'm just blessed. I think it helps to be positive and make plans. Let's live for today, look forward to tomorrow, and leave yesterday behind us." The Source FOX 5's Eric Perry reported this story ouf of Decatur.
CBC
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- CBC
Cartoonist brings Labrador childhood to life in 'visual memoir'
An artist is putting pen to paper to revive his boyhood memories of growing up in Labrador, filled with berry picking, firefighting and hijacking. Snowden Walters has drawn more than 200 comics, called Sculpin Tickle, based around his life in 1960s and 1970s Labrador, which he posts to social media. Walters, who had a career in shipbuilding as well as music and illustration, recently started the comic. He attributes the work to having more free time. "I just thought maybe I'll start writing down some of my memories," Walters told CBC Radio's Weekend AM."It's kind of a visual memoir." Walters now lives in Maddox Cove. His stories touch on familiar themes like berry picking, wildlife, vacations, trains, bottle returns, high school and the hijacking of QuebecAir in December1972, when he was 14 years old. "Little old Wabush Airport? A hijacking?" he said. "It was incredible." Another series of comics recalls his memories about forest fires. When he was 12, he and fellow Boy Scouts were given water packs with hoses to help fight a blaze. "They'd drive into where the fire had been and we'd all hop out and start hosing down hot spots and then head back to the truck to refill and do that until our water was gone and do it again until the wind changed basically," said Walters. Another comic was on an annual raffle held around the same time as the winter carnival. Walters said a local social club would get an old vehicle, drain it of its fluid, and tow it onto a frozen lake. People could buy tickets and guess when the vehicle would go crashing through the ice. "You wouldn't do that now," he said. Old memories His family moved north of Labrador West in 1960 and then relocated to Labrador City in 1962, where he started kindergarten. "I went right through high school and lived there on and off for a few years afterwards while I attended college. And so the last time I lived there permanently, it was 1983," said Walters. His comics have prompted renewed connections over social media with people he knew growing up. "We're in a very unique place in time and our history because it was the leading edge of the mining technology that started when the Iron Ore Company got us going up in Labrador West," said Walters. Tradesmen from all over the world came to the region — which was then known as the Carol Project — to work at the mine. "I like to say we were cosmopolitan before it was a thing."
Yahoo
7 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
Community Spotlight: 3rd Annual DG5K
BISMARCK, Ill. (WCIA) — Kody Gettleman joined WCIA's Taylor Mitchell to talk about the upcoming DG5K event. This event started in 2022, a year after Kody's dad, Dwayne Gettleman, passed away from pancreatic cancer. The race was named after Dwayne when a group of his family members got together and ran a 5K in his honor. Since then, Kody decided to make it bigger and open to the public to raise money for Boy Scouts in Bismarck, which his family has been heavily involved in. Community Spotlight: Hardy's Race for the Lake In 2023, the 5K raised $3,000 for Boy Scouts in not only Bismarck but in other areas of Vermilion County as well. In 2024, the race doubled its donations and raised $6,000, allowing the money to go to Vermilion County Boy Scouts as well as $3,000 to Camp Robert Drake in Fairmount for some repairs to their facilities. The 3rd Annual DG5K will be on June 7 at Bismarck High School. Registration for the race is at 8 a.m. and the race will start at 9 a.m. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
28-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Trump diverts military valor to himself
Over the Memorial Day weekend, Trump spent some time with the people he called suckers and losers of both the future and the past. He delivered the commencement address at West Point, and rambled on for a good hour reprising the trophy wives and yachts story he told the Boy Scouts back in 2017 and boasting about his felonies, saying, "I went through more investigations than Alphonse Capone, and now I'm talking to you as president, can you believe this?" This was his lesson in perseverance to the graduates: no matter how many crimes you commit, you too can become president. He said he didn't have time to do the traditional handshake of the graduating seniors because he's dealing with important national security issues in Russia and China. Luckily, he is able to do that from the golf course where he was seen later that afternoon. The next day, he delivered a Memorial Day address at Arlington National Cemetery in which he shared with all the people who were there mourning their loved ones that he was glad that he hadn't won his second term until now because he "got the World Cup and the Olympics." I'm sure that was very comforting. I know all Americans were very moved by his Memorial Day message to the country: Trump is very interested in military pomp and circumstance these days. A couple of weeks ago, he declared May 8 a holiday, celebrating the Victory in WWII as they do in Europe and Russia, stating that it "was only accomplished because of us." No one advised him, I guess, that America also fought the Japanese in WWII and they didn't surrender until August. But, whatever. I guess we'll just change that. Nobody will notice. He also declared that Nov. 11 would be called Victory in WWI Day, but was later told that we already celebrate it as Veterans Day. Apparently veterans are very touchy about changing that and Trump seems to have dropped it. We've never been a country that ritually staged big military parades yearly, although it's not unprecedented to do it in the wake of specific military victories. Certainly, we've never done it to show off military gear to impress our adversaries and allies with our massive manly equipment. There's no word on whether we'll be doing that every May 8 going forward, but we're going to be celebrating the 250th anniversary of the Army on June 14, which just happens to land on Trump's 79th birthday. How serendipitous? The New York Times reports: The current plan involves a tremendous scene in the center of Washington: 28 M1A1 Abrams tanks (at 70 tons each for the heaviest in service); 28 Stryker armored personnel carriers; more than 100 other vehicles; a World War II-era B-25 bomber; 6,700 soldiers; 50 helicopters; 34 horses; two mules; and a dog. It's estimated to cost somewhere in the vicinity of $45 million, not counting the clean-up and repairs of the streets that the tanks are likely to destroy. I'm sure they can cut some more children's health care somewhere in the budget to pay for it. There are no plans for the soldiers to sing "Happy Birthday, Mr. President," but the Golden Knights, a paratrooper team, will land in front of the reviewing stand and present him with a flag. And who knows, maybe they're planning a surprise. The lore has it that Trump saw the Bastille Day celebration in France in 2017 and has been agitating for one ever since. According to the Times, in his first term, the Pentagon pushed back with then-Defense Secretary Jim Mattis quipping that he would 'rather swallow acid," but this time, everyone figures they'd better give Trump what he wants. I think Trump's desire for the big military parade goes back much farther than that. Trump's father sent Donald to military school because he was spoiled and out of control. But he still made sure that his son had plenty of privileges that other students did not have. He even got him a big promotion to one of the top ranks despite not having done anything to earn it. According to the great book "Lucky Loser" by Russ Buettner and Susanne Craig, he failed in that job but not by being belligerent and abusive, as you might imagine. He failed because he was negligent and didn't do the job, locking himself in his room and letting the lower ranks run roughshod over the younger kids. After one of his charges roughed up a lower-classman and Trump was nowhere to be found, he was finally removed from his post. But Daddy intervened again. According to this excerpt of the book in Vanity Fair, he actually ended up leading the parade. Literally. The cadets marched every year in the Columbus Day parade and somehow the orders came down that Trump would be leading it, despite the fact that it was traditionally given to the top officer in the school, which he certainly was not: Whatever the reason, on October 12, 1963, Donald led the specially assembled company of cadets down Fifth Avenue, past some of the premiere addresses in the city of his birth. Some of the cadets marching behind him wondered how it could be that Trump was in front and Witek, the highest-ranking cadet in the school and the senior class president, marched behind him. Trump arrived first at St. Patrick's Cathedral, where he met Cardinal Francis Spellman. Donald would always claim marching in the front of the parade was evidence of his 'elite' status at the academy. Trump famously avoided the Vietnam War and the rumors are that, once again, his father paid for a doctor to say he had bone spurs. Years later, he told Howard Stern that avoiding STDs during the 90s was his personal Vietnam. He said he felt "like a great and very brave soldier." So it's not as if he never served. As president, he doesn't much care for underachievers in the ranks and has no respect for military leadership. He's not interested in history, tradition or what the armed services really do. He once marched down 5th Avenue leading the cadets and to him, that's real military service. He just loves a parade, and now he's going to get one on his birthday. Maybe they'll surprise him with the Medal of Honor he was talked out of giving himself in the first term.
