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Lawyer Suing Lizzo Reveals More ‘Actionable’ Allegations Could Be Coming

The news keeps getting worse for Lizzo, as the singer could find herself facing new allegations of fostering a toxic workplace. Ron Zambrano, a lawyer representing the three former dancers suing the Grammy winner for sexual harassment, told NBC News that his firm is reviewing new allegations from six other people who worked on the “About Damn Time” singer’s tour and Prime Video series, Lizzo’s Watch Out for the Big Grrrls.

The lawyer said that the allegations include the “Good as Hell” singer creating a “‘sexually charged environment’ and failure to pay employees.” He went on to explain that, “Some of the claims we are reviewing may be actionable, but it is too soon to say.”

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The entertainment industry was shocked on Aug. 1 when Arianna Davis, Crystal Williams and Noelle Rodriguez filed a lawsuit against the “Juice” artist, her production company Big Grrrl Big Touring, Inc., and dance team captain Shirlene Quigley, accusing them of “sexual, religious and racial harassment, disability discrimination, assault and false imprisonment.”

Lizzo built her success off of her body positive and self-confident lyrics. For fans who considered her a role model, the body-shaming allegations are particularly hard to hear. She’s spent a lot of time telling us that we’re “Special” just as we are, so it’s disheartening to read that she may have been ridiculing her dancers for their weight. The whole point of Watch Out For the Big Grrrls was to give an opportunity for plus-sized women to shine. On Thursday, the singer broke her silence and responded to the lawsuit on Instagram.

“I am not here to be looked at as a victim, but I also know that I am not the villain that people and the media have portrayed me to be these last few days,”

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How Alex Spiro Became Elon Musk’s (and Megan Thee Stallion’s and Jay-Z’s) Go-To Lawyer

In Spiro’s view, his advocacy for Megan and Musk aren’t disconnected. “My instincts are often to rally behind people who are under attack.”

Spiro grew up in the Boston suburbs and studied psychology at Tufts. After college, he remained in the area and briefly considered a career in medicine or science while working at a psychiatric unit for teenagers at McLean Hospital. He found it engaging and revealing but thought that he lacked the patience for medical school or lab work. An executive assistant for his mentor, psychiatrist Sherv Frazier, suggested he take the LSAT. “You like to sit in here and ask so many questions and argue so much,” Spiro remembered her saying. “You should go take this test.” He graduated from Harvard Law in 2008.

Spiro began his career in law as a prosecutor at the Manhattan district attorney’s office. By the time he switched to defense law a few years later, he was known as fast-moving and trial-hungry. Whatever one’s definition of celebrity lawyer, Ben Brafman, who has counted Diddy, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, Martin Shkreli, Harvey Weinstein, Peter Gatien, and Sammy “The Bull” Gravano as clients, is inarguably one. Spiro went to work at Brafman’s firm in 2013. He found an easy affinity with musicians and athletes, and his early cases included Bobby Shmurda’s gun, drug, and murder conspiracy charges in 2014 and the former NBA player Thabo Sefolosha‘s wrongful arrest in 2015. (Shmurda pleaded guilty to conspiracy and gun charges and served six years in prison before his release in 2021. In 2017, New York City agreed to pay Sefolosha $4 million to settle a federal lawsuit he filed.)

Spiro and Charles Oakley met a few times in passing, but he didn’t get to know the former NBA player well until 2017. In February of

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Judge orders city to refund earnings tax to 6 during pandemic. Lawyer eyes class-action suit.

st. LOUIS — A judge on Thursday ordered the city to refund earnings tax payments to six nonresidents who worked from home during the pandemic in a ruling that could open the door to a costly rush of additional claims on the treasury.

Circuit Judge Jason Sengheiser said Collector of Revenue Gregory FX Daly broke the rules and years of precedent when he barred refunds to remote workers in the early days of the pandemic, and dismissed his attorneys’ arguments to the contrary.

The decision, if it stands, only requires the city to pay out about $8,100 in pending refunds, plus interest. But Mark Milton, an attorney for the plaintiffs, said he plans to use the decision to revive a larger class-action push rejected by a different judge last year. He said tens of thousands of people — maybe as many as 100,000 — might be eligible for relief under the decision. And if even a fraction of those people were granted refunds, it could be a problem for city officials.

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More than one-third of the city’s general-purpose money comes from the 1% earnings tax charged to city residents and also to nonresidents who work in the city — about $197 million in fiscal year 2021 alone. And the lawsuit estimates that 75% of earnings tax revenue comes from nonresidents.

Susan Ryan, a spokeswoman for the Collector’s Office, said in a statement that the office still sees its position as sound. “We are reviewing our options,” she said.

The lawsuit was filed in 2021, after the plaintiffs, Mark Boles, of St. Louis County, and Kos Semonski, of St. Charles County, were denied earnings tax refunds for 2020. In previous years, the city had issued them and thousands of others rebates for days they traveled and worked

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After 32 years in prison, the woman was released with help from a new CA law, the non-profit group Unite the People

It’s a moment 50-year-old Ranza Marshall never thought would come.

“I’m just blessed to still have my parents and I’m just so happy to be able to start over again,” Ranza said.

On Friday she walked out of the California Institution for Women after serving 32 years behind bars for her role in an armed robbery of a jewelry store where the owner was shot.

“First, I just want to go home and just really take in my parents because they’ve been here since day one,” Ranza said.

In 1990 Ranza was convicted of charges including robbery and attempted murder even though she never pulled the trigger.

Ceasar McDowell, CEO of Unite the People, a non-profit organization that promotes social justice said, “She got caught up in something that she shouldn’t have but it was something she didn’t do.”

Unite the People provided affordable legal services to Ranza to help get her out of prison.

Rosemary Chávez, chief counsel for Unite the People, said, “There’s so much potential in that building and in this person. People are not disposable.”

Under a new California law, McDowell said Ranza’s attempted murder conviction could be dismissed because she was not the shooter and never meant to kill anyone.

Last month a judge represented Ranza and granted her parole.

McDowell said, “The opportunity they give us when they come to us to help reunite them with their family, that’s big for all of us.”

Ranza’s mother, Arwilda Marshall said, “She’s here now so from today we go forward.”

Ranza said, “New start, new mindset and I want to give back to my community and I want to be successful.”

Unite the People plans to be by Ranza’s side during the entire re-entry process back into society which will include her going back to school

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Familias Unidas nonprofit immigration law services in Idaho

Familias Unidas hopes to raise $100,000 at their Empower the Migrant Journey Gala.

CALDWELL, Idaho — Twin Falls resident Mirriam Herrera is one of many people who was helped by the local non-profit Familias Unidas.

“I lived in the shadows for about 15 years. It feels great to do things I was not able to do before. I have freedom now. I don’t have to be hiding. It’s an amazing feeling,” Herrera said.

In January, Herrera was stranded in Mexico after applying for permanent residency in the United States.

“It was a hard process to think about it today, it gave me a little bit of an emotion.” she said.

Herrera flew to Cuidad Juarez, Mexico, to continue the process of becoming an American citizen. After arriving, her application for citizenship was denied and she was banned from reentering the US for 10 years.

“She was able to get her paperwork straightened out. They were able to review the decision and correct the error that was made. It was a misinterpretation of the law,” Familias Unidas Attorney Rose-Hermance Rony said.

It’s been more than six months since Herrera has been back, reunited with her children and husband in Twin Falls.

Herrera’s husband, Tito, said, “It’s a big weight off my shoulders. She’s able to drive now. She’s able to do things. She can work.”

She credits Sen. Mike Crapo and Unidas family for helping her make it home.

“They help families to be united and if it weren’t for them, I probably wouldn’t be here right now,” Herrera said.

Familias Unidas offers immigration legal services to Idaho families.

“It’s a full immigration program that covers humanitarian, family, and some other applications,” Rony said.

Familias Unidas focuses on assisting low-income clients. To be able to do that, they raise money through

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General Liability Insure Updates Site with New Information on Small Business Insurance

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Qatari family hosts World Cup fans from Argentina

STORY: What’s it like to watch the world cup inside a Qatari family home?This Qatari family hosted Argentina fans in their ‘majlis’ which is a gathering place next door to their home They served free sandwiches, sweets and tea whilst watching the Japan v Croatia matches[Abdullah Al Binali, Qatari]“This is an individual initiative done by my father, God bless him. He is the one who initiated it first and he prepared this place to host the World Cup fans and guests of Qatar. As his Highness said, this is the Arab Cup. This reflects on our culture and heritage of Arabs and these are our traditions and these are the things we were raised for. As you can see there are people coming from everywhere. Our job is to show them the idea of ​​Arabs and we want to show our West traditions.” The hashtag ‘Invite them to your Majlis’ has gained traction on Twitter [Pablo Marcos, Argentina football fan]“Travelling is not just knowing a place, it is knowing its culture, it is knowing it is people, it is knowing its food and this is amazing I mean we came for football but we came to know more and that is what we are experiencing knowing people connecting with the local people, with their food.”[Constanza Reche, Argentina football fan]“Well, it actually brings us the opportunity to know the culture of the country that hosted the World Cup this year. It is a great opportunity for us as Argentinians to know another culture so different from us.”

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People working in the NHS and the BBC have also raised concerns, the LFB probe lawyer said

People who work in the NHS, the BBC and police forces have raised “serious concerns” about the way they are being treated, a lawyer has said.

An independent culture review of the London Fire Brigade (LFB), led by Nazir Afzal – a former chief crown prosecutor for the North West – found “dangerous levels of ingrained prejudice against women”, while colleagues from minority backgrounds were “frequently the target of racist abuse”.

Mr Afzal called for a “national inquiry” into other public bodies, saying he had been approached in the past 24 hours by several people who worked for them.

He later told of being approached by people with the Army and the Navy, who told of similar experiences.

Speaking at a briefing at the LFB headquarters in central London on Saturday, he said: “There are members of five different police forces who have approached me and said similar concerns about their own forces, I won’t name them.

“I’ve had approaches, it may shock, from the BBC and I’ve had approaches from the National Health Service.

“They are pivotal to the British society, these organizations, and yet there are people within them who are seriously concerned about the way they’re being treated within their organisations.

“I don’t know what to do, the BBC won’t ask me, the NHS won’t ask me, somebody needs to ask the people who work in these organizations and policing.

“I can assure you there are 43 police forces with problems and serious concerns, and yet you currently only know about two.

“There needs to be a national inquiry, particularly in relation to misogyny because this is a subject that hasn’t had the attention it deserves.”

Mr Afzal said this should focus on misogyny and racism across all sectors.

He told the PA news agency:

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Inflation hits health insurance premiums during open enrollment

It’s open enrollment season. Whether you get health insurance through your employer or buy an Affordable Care Act plan on the marketplace, this is the time of year to sign up.

Premiums are going up about 4% on average for marketplace plans, though there are big variations by state.

And, for the most part, it won’t actually matter to most people how much premiums go up because there are significant subsidies that bring the actual cost of ACA coverage way down again for the coming year. That’s because of funding in the Inflation Reduction Act.

Shopping for health insurance isn’t exactly most people’s idea of ​​a good time.

“It’s a daunting process to have to go on to the marketplace and enter all of your information all over again and look at all the plans,” said Cynthia Cox at the Kaiser Family Foundation.

But it’s worth your while, she said — especially if you’re buying on the exchanges.

“A lot of people automatically re-enroll into the same plan they were in the previous year, and what you bought last year may no longer be the lowest cost in your area,” Cox said.

The increase in premiums for ACA plans in many places follow a couple of years of flat prices and even decreases. There are a couple of reasons for that, according to Sabrina Corlette at Georgetown’s Center on Health Insurance Reforms.

For one, “inflation is starting to be felt in health insurance premiums,” she said. “Just like inflation is being felt everywhere else.”

People are also going to the doctor more after mostly staying away in the early days of the pandemic. And, Corlette said, insurers expect that to continue.

However, “the vast majority of people are not going to feel the sting of those premium increases,” she said.

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Florida’s Insurance Industry Is in Crisis

That risk is determined by complex, proprietary modeling that has grown up around the novel asset class. Zac Taylor, a professor at Delft University of Technology who studies climate risk and the insurance sector, writes that such modeling has “helped to transform amorphous climate uncertainties into exchangeable risk objects, into ‘just another asset class.’” If a single catastrophe rises above a certain predetermined damage threshold, then raised funds go back to the sponsor of the bond to pay out claims. If it doesn’t, then investors continue to collect interest. Essentially, cat bonds ask investors to place a well-informed bet on the weather.

After the financial crisis, ILS products took off as institutional investors like hedge funds and pension funds went searching for reliable sources of yield that weren’t so directly tied to the rest of the economy. But financial markets will only shoulder so much risk. While the full effect of Ian on the ILS market remains to be seen, Stonybrook Capital’s report paints a bleak picture: “Many diversified Cat funds are now deep in the red for the year (if not earlier), and all will have ‘trapped capital ‘ again. Some will now report experience that is far below their investor representations in 5 of the last 7 years.” The ripple effects of that could be profound, leading to a dramatic rise in prices for policyholders. Making matters worse is the fact that the Federal Reserve is also hiking interest rates, potentially rendering cat bonds less attractive to institutional investors who can find better returns elsewhere.

Though it’s a critical lifeline to people rebuilding from climate-fueled disasters, the insurance industry isn’t preternaturally well equipped to weather rising seas and temperatures. Historically, insurance has protected against seemingly random and uncorrelated events, from car accidents to lightning strikes, kitchen fires,

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Workers’ compensation insurance for self-employed people: Here’s what to know | Personal finance

For many employees who work for other people, the only person you have to think about providing insurance for is yourself and your family. Many small businesses and larger companies will also have various insurance options for their employees. But for the self-employed, things are a bit more complicated.

Self-employed workers work only for themselves, and they work directly with clients. Slightly more than 6% of workers in the US were self-employed in 2020, according to the latest data from the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, an intergovernmental organization created to increase economic growth and world trade. For those who are self-employed, many of them own businesses that employ others, from small law offices to construction companies. Employing even a few other people for these entrepreneurs or professional practices typically comes with the requirement to carry workers’ compensation.

Workers’ compensation is a form of insurance that provides benefits—including medical expenses, lost wages, and rehabilitation—to people who become injured or disabled while on the job. The rules for workers’ compensation vary by state, and often by industry. There are different rules for different types of workers each self-employed person hires.

insurance/workers-compensation/https://www.simplybusiness.com/”Simply Business compiled a list of what self-employed people should know about workers‘ compensation using government data and regulations as well as internet research. It’s important to note that workers’ comp requirements vary widely depending on where you live. Continue reading for the most important highlights to learn more.

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