Debbie Stevens, 47, filed a claim before the New York Human Rights commission in April alleging that she was fired in November by Ms. Jackie Brucia, a controller of the Atlantic Automotive Group of West Islip, N.Y., after Stevens failed to recover quickly enough from major surgery in August. Stevens had donated a kidney to Brucia, who apparently could not understand why Stevens was still in pain by Sept. 6 so that she needed more time off. (Actually, since Brucia and Stevens were not perfect matches, Brucia had Stevens donate to a woman ahead of Brucia on the waiting list, which created an opening for Brucia. Brucia's husband told a New York Post reporter in April that Stevens' claims were "far from the truth," but would not elaborate.)
- In April, a jury in Charlotte, N.C., convicted Charles Hinton, 47, for a break-in at the Levine Children's Hospital in 2010, where he had been charged with stealing 10 video gaming systems that sick children relied on for entertainment while they received cancer treatment.
- A CNN investigation revealed in May that the Disabled Veterans National Foundation had collected almost $56 million in donations over four years but given nearly all of it to two direct-mail fundraising companies. CNN was able to locate a small veterans charity in Birmingham, Ala., that received help, but mainly in the form of 2,600 bags of cough drops, 2,200 bottles of sanitizers, 11,520 bags of coconut M&Ms and 700 pairs of Navy dress shoes. Another, in Prescott, Ariz., received hundreds of chef's coats and aprons, cans of acrylic paint and a needlepoint design pillowcase. Said the manager of the Birmingham charity, "I ask myself what the heck are these people doing."
Oops!
- Weekend WTMW-TV (Portland, Maine) news anchor Meghan Torjussen was called on to deliver breaking sports news on June 3, the score of a playoff game between the Boston Celtics and the Miami Heat. Time had run out in the fourth quarter with the score tied, 89-89. "I guess the game just ended," Torjussen announced. "This is what my producer is telling me right now." "There's the score (on the screen), 89-89. Uh, went down to the wire ... ended in a tie. (A)ll right, let's move on to professional baseball." (Boston eventually won, in overtime, 93-91.)
The Continuing Crisis
- Things People Believe: Seattle attorney Andrew Basiago told Huffington Post in April that he "time-traveled" eight times as a child as part of the secret Project Pegasus staged by the Pentagon's notorious Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. Another lawyer, Alfred Webre, recently explained, matter-of-factly, to a seminar audience in Vancouver, British Columbia, that teleportation is an "inexpensive, environmentally friendly means of transportation" and was used most recently by then-Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld "to transport troops to battle." Basiago said, in a flourish of detail, that he was at Ford's Theater the night Abraham Lincoln was assassinated but did not witness it, and said that twice, he ran into himself while back in the past.
