∙After more than 30–years at 2401 Harbor, the last Carrows Restaurant in Ventura County has closed its doors. Carrows Restaurants, Inc. is a subsidiary of Catalina Restaurant Group, Inc. I’m sorry to see it close. Even though part of a chain, it was still a local casual restaurant.
∙The board that oversees use of the Ventura County Fairgrounds has voted to tighten rules on gun shows in 2019.
The changes will impact Crossroads of the West, which has three more shows scheduled this year.
The policy changes are likely to include requiring firearms, whether in a locked showcase or on display, be attached to security cords. Vendors and their employees will also be banned from drinking alcohol.
∙And speaking about guns:
A gunman who killed two workers and then himself at a Ford dealership in the San Francisco Bay area Tuesday had apparently just been fired, witnesses said. Police confirmed that he appears to have been either a disgruntled or former employee.
A San Bernardino woman was arrested after one of her sons accidently shot and killed his 12-year old twin-brother in their home. The boy’s mother was arrested on suspicion of child cruelty for leaving the unprotected gun where it could be used by her kids.
A 10-month old girl is in critical condition after a man shot her in the head after the baby’s mother rejected him at a party.
A longstanding dispute ended with the deaths of five people after a shooting in a quiet mobile home park in Central California. The shooter is 64.
∙San Francisco will become the first US city to effectively ban e-cigarette sales, after the city’s board of supervisors unanimously voted in favor of an ordinance providing this law.
The ordinance states; “No person shall sell or distribute an electronic cigarette to a person in San Francisco” unless that product has undergone premarket review by the US Food and Drug Administration. To date, none have.
Health advocates have been saying that the FDA has failed to assume their responsibility on this matter. The city criticized the FDA for allowing these products to temporarily remain on shelves without undergoing premarket review for their impact on public health, as required.
E-cigarettes are a product that, by law, is not allowed on the market without FDA review.
FDA spokesman Michael Felberbaum said that, “The FDA has and will continue to tackle the troubling epidemic of e-cigarette use among kids. This includes preventing youth access to, and appeal of, flavored tobacco products like e-cigarettes and cigars, taking action against manufacturers and retailers who illegally market or sell these products to minors, and educating youth about the dangers of e-cigarettes and other tobacco products.”
This includes sales in brick-and-mortar stores, as well as online sales shipped to a San Francisco address. The ordinance also applies to flavored tobacco products in addition to e-cigarettes. The measure does not ban the use of vapes among people 21 and older.
Vaping may or may not be healthier than smoking conventional cigarettes, but it is getting dangerous. Recently, a teenage boys’ vape exploded blowing out several of his teeth and cracked open his jaw. This was not the first incident of vapers blowing up.
Obviously, people who want to buy e-cigarettes won’t have any trouble doing so, but I’m glad that San Francisco is making a statement by enacting this ordinance.
∙A Texas woman was banned from a Walmart for eating half of a cake and refusing to pay for it. Can’t blame her – why pay for half a cake? She can’t have her cake and eat it too.
∙For the first time since humans have existed on Earth, carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has topped 415 parts per million. It reached 415.26 parts per million, according to sensors at the Mauna Loa Observatory, a research outpost of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Agency.
A report has revealed that at least 1 million species were at risk of extinction thanks to human activity and the carbon emissions that are a byproduct of economic development.
∙The Kansas Supreme Court ruled that women have the right to an abortion under the state’s Constitution. In a 6-1 decision, the state’s highest court also kept in place a temporary injunction on a law that bans a common second trimester abortion procedure.
∙Apple, Inc. will manufacture its new Mac Pro computer in China. It has been its only major device assembled in the United States. They will use Quanta Computer to manufacture the $6,000 desktop computer.
∙ A well-known pizza company has a policy that if you drop and ruin your pizza, they will replace it. Do you know anyone who has ever dropped a pizza? What happens if you are driving home after picking up a pizza and have a car accident, will they give you a new pizza, and repair your car for free? Better read the pizza contract.
∙Entanglement, what Einstein called “spooky action at a distance,” describes things that are separated far in distance yet seem to be inseparable mathematically—measuring one seems to immediately impact the other. Scientists have been aware of these spooky correlations since the early study of quantum physics, as early as 1935. Way past my understanding.
