Latest news with #Rash
Los Angeles Times
24-07-2025
- Business
- Los Angeles Times
We may not have flying cars, but more food delivery bots are coming to L.A.
The robot invasion is coming to your neighborhood. Coco Robotics, a startup born on the UCLA campus, is about to carpet-bomb the city with hundreds of additional adorable delivery bots recently enhanced with some of the same AI that powers ChatGPT. The company has been testing bots around the city for years, and it is at last confident enough in its technology that it plans to grow tenfold in the coming year, adding 9,000 bots to its current fleet of around 1,000 across the country. Residents of Silver Lake — one of the neighborhoods most recently occupied by delivery bots from Coco and others — give the rolling bots mixed reviews so far. This spring, Coco deployed around 10 food delivery robots to serve the neighborhood's restaurants and residents. The pink, rounded machines represent the latest expansion for a company that started as a dorm room project at UCLA in 2020 and now operates hundreds of robots from Santa Monica to downtown. Silver Lake residents and retailers say their new neighbors are amusing and sometimes annoying. On one of Silver Lake's many hillside streets, a robot delivering a burger from the Window took an unexpected route. Instead of following the most direct path, it turned up a steep hill and tried to climb some stairs before getting stuck. The machine sat motionless while somewhere a customer waited for lunch that would never arrive. 'The robot would've just stayed there forever if I did not cancel,' a former Silver Lake resident said in an interview on Reddit describing how a five-minute delivery turned into a comedy of errors. 'I went without lunch.' Coco chooses neighborhoods based on density, prioritizing areas with restaurants clustered together and short delivery distances as well as places where parking is difficult. 'We wanted to create this vehicle that's very enjoyable for the merchants to use,' said Zach Rash, Coco's co-founder. 'It can deliver a lot of their orders without making our cities more congested, without taking up parking spaces or adding more cars to the road.' He wouldn't share which neighborhoods will be next but asked that people be patient with the bots. They get lost and stuck more often in places they are still getting to know, Rash said. 'With new neighborhoods, that's going to happen more often than our more mature neighborhoods, because we're still finding all the details of the area,' he said. Benjamin Attwell remembers the morning it began. He was working at MidEast Tacos, an Armenian-Mexican fusion restaurant, when six robots were unloaded from a truck on the corner of Maltman Avenue and Sunset Boulevard. He found them fascinating and endearing. He even made TikTok videos of them with music. 'I think it's actually quite a nice addition' to the neighborhood, he said. 'Makes me feel like we're living in the future.' The robots are designed to inspire affection. With their rounded edges and compact bodies, they navigate the neighborhood like cyber pets, stopping for pedestrians and maneuvering around obstacles. The neighborhood has already adopted them like local mascots, Attwell said. 'People kind of treat them almost like their dogs,' he said. 'Kids really like them.' Attwell has his own way to bond with the bots. 'I always pat them on the head for some reason,' he said. 'I don't know why, but I find them adorable.' Kreation Organic, a health-focused cafe that started using Coco robots in April, said they have been good for business. Senior operations manager Jefferson Noe Ortiz said robot deliveries have increased sales as families are drawn to the novelty. The restaurant handles about five robot deliveries per day. Ortiz expects that number to rise. The bots are more polite than the delivery drivers Ortiz deals with daily. 'DoorDash drivers and delivery drivers are sometimes knuckleheads' and tough to deal with, he said. 'The robot is convenient, it doesn't talk back or anything.' Bob Timmermann, a retired librarian, used a robot to send doughnuts to his former colleagues at the Los Angeles Central Library. The process was straightforward: Order through Uber Eats, watch the robot's progress on the app, then unlock the cargo compartment with a phone code when it arrived. 'It was probably easier in the morning commute time to use a robot than a car or scooter,' Timmermann said. Not every delivery goes smoothly. One Silver Lake restaurant worker recalled seeing the robots 'glitching out in intersections,' causing traffic and rolling off curbs, falling over on their sides. 'The future is a lot dumber than I thought it would be,' the worker said. Some people in the neighborhood see the bots as unfair competition. Food delivery driver Julia Roggiero works mostly in West Hollywood and Silver Lake and says she has already noticed an impact. She used to get five or six delivery requests an hour. 'Now, even when I'm in these areas like Santa Monica or Venice, it takes me an hour to get one or two, maximum three,' she said. Roggiero has responded by diversifying into Lyft rides, but the shift represents a broader trend that worries gig economy workers. 'They do deliveries that we can do, so they are taking our income,' she said. Rash says robots aren't necessarily displacing human drivers. 'We have way more demand than we can handle right now,' he said. 'The delivery market is enormous.' Rash says the bots focus on the shortest trips while leaving longer, more lucrative deliveries to human drivers. Coco operates more than 1,000 robots across multiple cities, spanning from Santa Monica and Venice through West L.A., Westwood, Mid-City, West Hollywood, Hollywood, Echo Park, Silver Lake, downtown, Koreatown and the USC area. With more than half a million deliveries completed and millions of miles driven, Coco is targeting 10,000 robots in production next year, a number Rash says would be 'probably five to 10 times bigger than any other autonomous vehicle fleet.' 'We are the cheapest way to deliver anything in a city today, and we can do that profitably,' Rash said. The company makes money through platforms such as Uber Eats for completing orders, direct payments from merchants for deliveries, and leasing parts of the fleet to restaurants and advertising services. But the economic concerns remain real for workers. Eric Ernst, an occasional Instacart delivery driver, says he doesn't want his food delivered by a robot because it has to be taking work away from a human. 'It's neat, you know, it's cool. This is like 'The Jetsons,'' he said. 'But, you know, that's a cartoon.'
Metro
12-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Metro
Casualty star Neet Mohan reveals why he has changed the way he plays Rash
Last year, Neet Mohan took centre stage in a Casualty boxset titled Breaking Point. It saw his character, Rash Masum, spiral in the aftermath of his dad's sudden death. He threw himself into work to try and distract himself from the grief and loneliness he was feeling but as the weeks ticked on, the dark cloud following him got bigger. Amid this, gossip was circulating in Holby ED as to who could be the hospital whistle-blower. After Rash spotted dodgy Clinical Lead Patrick (Jamie Glover) tampering with a clamp in Resus, he called his boss out while in the lift. Little did he know that brief moment would impact his reputation at Holby City Hospital entirely, as Patrick then attempted to destroy Rash, oblivious as to what was going on in his mind. The beloved doctor became completely withdrawn over the duration of the boxset. Taking himself home, Rash reached a crisis point as he attempted to end his life. He was found and ultimately saved by Tariq (Manpreet Bachu), his cousin. Just over a year on from this, and a lot has changed. While the Rash we see on our screens now is certainly a lot brighter and happier, the ordeal he went through and the recovery that followed after has, of course, impacted him greatly. This is why it's incredibly important to actor Neet Mohan to consider what happened to Rash when approaching new storylines. In our latest chat, the star told me he has changed the way he plays the character, given what happened to him. 'I think you carry all of what that character has done, but you don't want to load the scenes with things that aren't written.' 'Obviously you've got to just serve the scene for what it is, but especially when other characters have come in and how that might resonate with what he's been through, and what each of them have been through. 'Sarah [Seggari] and I did some stuff recently as well, where we were kind of supporting each other a bit during the scenes. The story resonated with some of what she's just done in the previous boxset, and then there was a throwback to what Rash has been feeling as well.' In terms of where Rash's head is at in this latest mini series, Neet said: 'I think he's slowly been recovering in the background. He's just sort of diligently doing his work. He added: 'Tariq has left, so he's had to adapt to that. They were anchors for each other even though they'd ruffle each other's feathers. So I think now he's gone, Rash is finding his feet again. He's developed this slight friendship with Flynn, and Dylan has always been there as a mentor for him. 'We're meeting him at a point where he's got things a bit more under control. He feels more comfortable and he's also been noticed by Sunny, that's really nice for him. He's not really thought about a relationship or anything like that for a while, I think he's finding comfort after having that period.' Sunny (Jamie Marie Leary) connected with Rash during a trip to the ED pharmacy. There was an immediate spark between the two staff members, and Rash's interest in her grew when she thoughtfully noted that his anti-depressant medication had changed. Watching Rash speak to Sunny has been awkward in some places but wonderfully contrasted with the main storyline in this boxset, which has seen the paramedic team fall apart over someone tampering with drugs in the hospital. 'I thought it was great', Neet said of Rash and Sunny's journey in Supply and Demand. 'I think Rash is, at the moment, at a middle stage in his career. Some of his peers around him have become consultants, others have gone on and had families, but I think Rash is in a kind of middle ground. 'He's not much older than Jodie and Cam and Teddy, but he's not like Dylan either. I thought it was an interesting way to play a romance with someone who's just really open to it. Sunny has a child and Rash is totally fine with that, he just wants to get to know her. 'I think Jamie is a brilliant actress to play Sunny. She's just been great fun. She was great fun to work with.' Neet has played Rash since 2017. With Flynn Byron (Olly Rix) busy helping Rash with his training, Neet hopes that one day his soap alter-ego will work his way even further up the ranks, and run Resus just like Stevie Nash (Elinor Lawless) and Dylan Keogh (William Beck). More Trending 'I'd love to see him be a consultant', he smiled. Want to be the first to hear shocking EastEnders spoilers? Who's leaving Coronation Street? The latest gossip from Emmerdale? Join 10,000 soaps fans on Metro's WhatsApp Soaps community and get access to spoiler galleries, must-watch videos, and exclusive interviews. Simply click on this link, select 'Join Chat' and you're in! Don't forget to turn on notifications so you can see when we've just dropped the latest spoilers! 'I'd love to see him be an equal medically with the likes of Stevie and Dylan and Flynn, because they are consultants. 'Obviously a consultant of 15 years is going to be far more experienced than a consultant who's just come up, but at least there's not a rank to pull that you know, you're on a different level medically, you're both now consultants. 'I'd love to see him step up to a consultant in the ED environment and fight his own amongst some of those other personalities. He's not someone who's taking orders from them, he's someone who can absolutely run Resus and step up when he needs to.' View More » MORE: All BBC Casualty spoilers for this week as contamination ordeal is confirmed MORE: Why is Casualty not on tonight and when will it return? MORE: All BBC Casualty spoilers for this week as Iain receives life-changing news
Chicago Tribune
11-06-2025
- Chicago Tribune
Scammers cheat one Northbrook resident of $47,000; another targeted for $24,000
Northbrook police reported that three residents were recently targeted in computer fraud and/or identity theft scams amounting to thousands of dollars each. In all the incidents, the victims found messages or problems on their computer screens or in emails. In the first instance on June 2, a resident in the 2800 block of Canterbury Drive told police she found her home computer had been locked and an onscreen message prompted her to call Microsoft to fix the issue, according to a police report. When she called, the person who responded said her bank accounts had been compromised. They told her to call her bank and provided a phone number. When she phoned that number, the person responding instructed her to move her money to a different account and withdraw money, according to the report, and she complied. She withdrew $47,100.00 and deposited into bitcoin machines per their instructions, per the report, but when they asked her to withdraw more, she became suspicious and called police. 'As with many money scams, getting the money back is difficult on many levels,' said Northbrook Police Community Relations Supervisor Richard Rash. 'In this case, the complainant did lose that money because she deposited it into a bitcoin machine per the 'scammer's' request. More than likely she was given a specific account to deposit it into. The money then can be shared amongst Bitcoin wallets. The scammer can then withdraw the money or move it somewhere else. 'Being able to trace it is sometimes difficult. Most of the offenders are overseas and use fake IP addresses to do their businesses.' In a second instance, a resident in the 3700 block of Pebble Beach Road found that more than $24,000 had been charged to his credit cards that were attached to his Amazon account, according to police reports. When he called Amazon, the person responding told him someone had hacked the account and changed the email, phone number and address, per the report, and the illegally purchased merchandise had been shipped to Miami. According to Rash, once the complainant disputed the charges with the credit card companies associated with the Amazon account, they took the charges off the bill and asked their fraud department to look into it. The credit card companies cancelled the cards to prevent them from being used for any further fraud. In a third incident, a resident on the 2400 Block of Burgundy Lane said she had not used PayPal in several years, but received an email stating she had several outstanding balances from PayPal, according to the police report. She called the number listed and the person who answered the phone told her there had been fraud on the account and she needed to withdraw money from her bank to fix the issue and, per the report, she withdrew $6,000. The phone respondent advised her to go to a business and deposit the money into a bitcoin machine, according to police, but when she arrived there, the business owner demanded to see her ID. The complainant got nervous, left the store and contacted her son, who advised her it was a scam and to call the police, per the report.
Yahoo
21-03-2025
- Yahoo
East Troy music teacher sexual assault case; Rash sentenced to prison
The Brief A former East Troy music teacher convicted of sexually assaulting students was sentenced to prison. In court on Thursday, he finally admitted he sexually assaulted his former students. At least 15 former students have now accused him of inappropriately touching them on their breasts, thighs, shoulders and hair over and over again during music lessons. EAST TROY, Wis. - A former East Troy music teacher convicted of sexually assaulting students was sentenced on Thursday to more than a decade in prison. The backstory John Rash, 47, taught middle school band in East Troy for more than 20 years. At least 15 former students have now accused him of inappropriately touching them on their breasts, thighs, shoulders and hair over and over again during music lessons. FREE DOWNLOAD: Get breaking news alerts in the FOX LOCAL Mobile app for iOS or Android Rash pleaded guilty last year to two of nine charges he faced as part of a plea deal. What's next On Thursday, Rash was sentenced to 12 years in prison. He will be placed on 10 years of extended supervision and required to register as a sex offender for life when he's released. What they're saying In court for sentencing, Rash finally admitted he sexually assaulted former students – some as young as 11 years old. Those girls are now adults, and four of them spoke in court about the lasting impact of Rash's perversion. "I can still feel his hands on my skin," one victim said. SIGN UP TODAY: Get daily headlines, breaking news emails from FOX6 News Rash has never been accused of having sex with a student, but make no mistake, his victims said he is a sexual predator. "A hand on my breast, a hand on my thigh, it made me so uncomfortable," another victim said. "When you had your hand between my legs, you asked me why I was crying," said a third victim. Judge Daniel Johnson described Rash's actions as a "system to sexually assault children." "No matter how far I go, the memories follow me. I cannot outrun the trauma," a fourth victim said. What they're saying For the first time since he was charged, Rash spoke for himself in court on Thursday. "I have let everyone in my life down. My students. Their families. My school and community. My wife and three daughters," he said. "I cannot imagine the hurt, the fear, the anxiety, the confusion and loss of trust in men that I have caused them to feel. For this, I am truly sorry." "I think you're smart. I think you say some of the right things. I don't know if I believe you," said Judge Johnson. Rash was also surrounded by supporters on Thursday – including his wife. "He is a wonderful husband. The best dad of three girls," his wife said. A teacher described Rash as "considerate, thoughtful, empathetic," and a former student thanked him for "my passion for music." Dig deeper For years, Rash denied he did anything wrong, but his own attorney admitted on Thursday that he did it to fulfill a sexual urge. "He has a serious character defect," Defense Attorney Patrick Cafferty said. "He focused on the thrill he got from the behavior," said Walworth County District Attorney James Sempf. "The jolt of adrenaline. He didn't think about it, he just did it." Sempf said the defense team's own doctor diagnosed Rash with a rare disorder known as frotteurism, where a person gets "intense sexual arousal from touching a non-consenting person." In his 21 years as a prosecutor, Sempf said it is the first time he's heard it. Editor's note: FOX6 did not name the women or show their faces because they are victims of child sexual abuse. The Source Information in this report is from the Walworth County District Attorney's Office, Wisconsin Circuit Court and prior FOX6 Investigators coverage of cases involving Rash.
Washington Post
31-01-2025
- Entertainment
- Washington Post
Guitars, masks and defiance: Kenya's rock and metal scene catches fire
NAIROBI — The guitar thrummed, the drumsticks smashed into a quivering cymbal, and the lead vocalist for Rash howled into the mic, electrifying the night air. After years in the wilderness, Kenya's tiny rock and metal scene is exploding — and bands like Irony Destroyed, Last Year's Tragedy and Rash are clawing their way up the charts. Very few Africans have traditionally listened to rock music, said Nick Wathi, one of Kenya's first rock producers. Its reputation for rebelliousness and subversion creates suspicion in a society that values religion and respect for elders, Wathi said. But that's what drew him in. 'It was the devil's music!' he laughed. Samuel Gakungu, Rash's drummer, has his musical roots in a church choir. He came to rock, he said, because it spoke to him more deeply. 'There was no structure, there was no right way or wrong way to do things, I just had to be me, without any judgment,' said the 31-year-old car dealer. He met the other four band members through a friend 11 years ago, creating hits like 'Darkness and Witchcraft' and 'Do or Die' — attracting a fan base of restless young urbanites increasingly furious with authority. In a few hours, they would be taking the stage at Nairobi's premier rock and metal festival: Undertow. Rock in Kenya has had an uneven ride. A decade ago, bands would sometimes show up for gigs that had been canceled without their knowledge. Audiences were tiny. The closure of Kenya's only rock radio station, XFM, in 2019 and the arrival of covid in 2020 nearly smothered the scene altogether. The first Undertow concert in April 2022 rescued bands on the brink of collapse by providing a dependable gig and venue. Now a well-established quarterly event held in Nairobi's upscale Westlands District — its neon-nightclub-lined promenade nicknamed Electric Avenue — the concert has featured most of Kenya's 16 commercial rock bands, said Wathi. The musicians still have day jobs. Irony Destroyed, a metalcore group with pugnacious lyrics and reverberating bass, is composed of a lawyer, a writer and a product manager for a fintech company. The howling, thrashing sounds of Last Year's Tragedy are generated by an advertising strategist, a product designer, a logistics manager and a journalist. Practice time is scarce and precious. In a last-minute rehearsal in the lead-up to Undertow, Last Year's Tragedy's vocalist David 'Madman' Mburu paced across a tiny floor writhing with cables, crowding pianist Rono Kipkulei and nearly knocking over bass guitarist Mahia Mutua. A copy of Leo Tolstoy's 'Anna Karenina' muffled the drum set as they thrashed out 'Of Villains and Heroes' from their first record, released last year. Irony Destroyed, meanwhile, had to scramble to replace drummer Cyrus Kamau after he dislocated his arm in a motorbike accident just a week before the concert. Kamau, only able to use one hand, had to train his replacement, Larry Kim, after they both finished work. 'Start with a little ascent, tone it down and build it up again,' he advised Kim. They practiced until midnight, when police prowled the empty streets and the last vibrations rolled over the lone tea seller still in the alley outside. Some bands have made it onto streaming platforms like Spotify, which hasn't brought in much cash but has broadened their reach. Last Year's Tragedy's song '47' has become an anthem among Kenyan youths, with its lyrics raging against the country's politicians. 'These so-called leaders/ Who sit on their ivory towers/ (These never-ending cycles)/ Stealing and killing,' raged the band. 'We will watch them all/Burn!' Anne Mwaura, 29, is the host of Capital FM's rock show 'The Fuse,' which now gets around 3 million online listeners every month. She has hosted the show since its inception and remembers when it used to be the same handful of bands all the time. Now, she says, the scene is much more diverse, with all-female bands and Christian rock groups breaking onto the airwaves. 'It's really a genre for everyone,' she said. When the radio station once considered axing the show, she said, enough people wrote in to persuade the managers to keep it on air. Undertow's ticket prices mean the audience is mostly middle-class. An advance ticket goes for around 1,000 Kenyan shillings (a little under $8), and it's a bit more at the door. That's more than two days' wages for most people. About 200 men and women, some with thickly mascaraed eyes and studded collars, head-banged in a mosh pit. A tarot reader read palms on the balcony, and a cloud of cigarette smoke enveloped the barman as he sloshed beers to the crowd. Regulars Margaret Nekesa, 29, and husband Dennis Mwangi, 33, met because Mwangi had a home studio, and they had both been in local bands. Now they have a 1-year-old son — home that night with a sitter — but they still compose and play music. They're seven songs into an album, Nekesa yelled over the music. 'I come from a very, very strict family, a military family … you had to dress in a certain way, you had to appear in a certain way,' she said. 'There was no space for exploration or discovery of self, so rock music gave me all that I missed.' She was drowned out as Irony Destroyed stormed onto the stage. Masked musicians belted out their single 'Najiskia Kuua Tena,' which translates to 'I feel like killing again.' A bloodred liquid oozed from the mouth of Preston 'Riot' Mado, Irony Destroyed's guest vocalist, as they broke into the crowd's favorite hit, 'Scholar of First Sin.' Later, Rash belted out a rendition of the Cranberries' song 'Zombie' — a scream against the brutality of Northern Ireland's Troubles, the decades in which British security forces battled Irish paramilitaries and civilians were caught in the crossfire. The lyrics resonate in Nairobi, where young demonstrators have been shot, kidnapped and teargassed as they protest government corruption and police violence. The protests saw parliament set aflame and the bodies of slain college students wrapped up in Kenyan flags, fished from dams or carried through the capital before banks of television cameras. 'But you see, it's not me, it's not my family/ In your head, in your head, they are fightin',' the crowd screamed along with the band. 'With their tanks and their bombs and their bombs and their guns/ In your head, in your head, they are cryin'.'
