By Gilbert Falso :: 6:44 PM
While Paula Deen’s empire was reeling from being dropped by Wal-Mart and Caesars Entertainment Corporation yesterday, the hits just kept on coming today, with Target, Home Depot, QVC, and drug company Novo Nordisk all dropping their partnerships with the chef.
The dropped partnerships and sponsorships are happening just a week after Deen admitted publicly to using some racial epithets in the past, yet claimed that she was not a racist person.
Home Depot and Target had been selling Deen-branded cookware and kitchen merchandise, but will no longer place any orders for Deen’s merchandise. Any stock still on store shelves will be sold until it is depleted.
As for the QVC shopping television channel, “Paula won’t be appearing on any upcoming broadcasts and we will phase out her product assortment on our online sales channels over the next few months,” said QVC’s president Mike George.
The fourth hit today came from drugmaker Novo Nordisk, who Deen had been working with as a spokesperson for a diabetes medicine and Novo Nordisk’s “Diabetes in a New Light” educational campaign.
While the Home Depot and Target decisions appear to be final, there was language in both the QVC and Novo Nordisk statements that may allow for Deen to partner with the companies again.
By Leslie Spellman :: 9:19 AM
New England Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez has apparently been served with an arrest warrant at his home this morning in North Attleborough, Massachusetts.
Television news reports show Hernandez being led from the house in handcuffs by law enforcement officers.
Exact charges are not known, but speculation yesterday focused on the possibility that Hernandez would be charged with obstruction of justice due to his alleged involvement in the destruction of evidence in the case of semipro football player Odin Lloyd’s death earlier this month.
On Monday, police searched the woods and other areas behind and around Hernandez’s house searching for discarded evidence from the killing. It is not clear if, or where, they found any leads.
The NFL has banned Hernandez from its facilities, but has not made an official statement about the case yet.
By Cynthia Herbert :: 2:49 AM
Earlier this morning, the Texas state legislature voted to pass a bill that would severely limit the abortion options for women in the state. The bill bans abortions after the 20th week of pregnancy and establishes new requirements for facilities that perform them that abortion rights advocates claim would cause nearly all abortion clinics in the state to close.
The vote was not carried on most cable news networks, but a non-profit organization, the Texas Tribune, provided a live video stream via YouTube that captured the attention of over 175,000 viewers after a contentious vote was passed just after midnight, Texas time.
Democrats are crying foul over the passage of the bill, claiming that voting began at 12:02 AM, two minutes later than Senate rules allowed for. The Republican majority claims that votes began being tallied prior to the cutoff, and that the “yes” vote stands.
Womens rights supporters flooded the rotunda of the Texas state capitol building, and defied authorities requests for them to leave. Chanting “hell no, we won’t go,” many protesters were arrested by police and dragged out of the building.
At the heart of the argument was the day-long filibuster attempt by Democratic Senator Wendy Davis. Davis had been battling against the bill’s passage since 11:00 AM on Tuesday morning, and was stopped only after Senate leadership called some of her tactics into question, and was examining them for rules violations.
News is now emerging that the official records of the Texas Senate have been altered from when the vote was originally tallied. The date stamp on the initial vote showed “6/26/2013”, a violation of the rules since the vote would have occurred after midnight. New screenshots obtained by the press show the initial votes now backdated to “6/25/2013”.
This issue is far from being over, and could, perhaps, even require a lawsuit to be filed for the issue to be solved.
By Gilbert Falso :: 12:33 AM
On Tuesday evening and early Wednesday morning, over 120,000 viewers tuned in to the YouTube livestream of the Texas State Senate discussion on new abortion restrictions in the state.
Taking the spotlight was Democratic state Senator Wendy Davis, who began talking around 11:15 on Tuesday morning in an attempt to filibuster the bill put forth by Republicans in the Senate.
Republican leadership is currently arguing over rules proceedings about whether Davis strayed from the topic at hand while filibustering earlier this evening. Points of contention include whether or not an aide was allowed to assist Davis in adjusting her back brace.
When Davis’ filibuster attempt was cut off, hundreds of her supporters chanted and screamed support, and drowned out legislators in the chamber.
The live video feed is below.
By Paul Thomson :: 11:34 PM
Apple is investigating customer complaints about WiFi connectivity issues with its newest MacBook Air laptop computers.
The problems, said to affect both the 11-inch and 13-inch models, include lost wireless network connections that require users to reboot the machines in order to reestablish the connection.
Many frustrated customers have taken to Apple support forums and message boards looking for answers.
“It won’t stay connected to the WiFi,” writes user Joshua Kinsey. “It will connect at first but then the connection drops. The laptop will refuse to connect again until I reboot the machine.”
When customers schedule an appointment with an Apple Genius at an Apple store, the company has instructed its employees to take the laptops from customers so that they can be shipped to Apple headquarters and analyzed. Customers are provided with a replacement unit, and in some cases, have been given adapters that allow them to hook the device up to a wired ethernet connection.
Apple has not yet commented about this issue publicly.