Tag: Cops and Courts

Latest Headlines

Taco Bell to open flagship Cantina on Las Vegas Strip; Pizza Hut launches a chatbot ordering system; and Humana stock edges higher, breaking downward spiral

A news summary, focused on 10 big employers; updated 5:34 p.m.

Taco_Bell_Las_Vegas_Flagship_Restaurant
Artist’s rendering shows new two-story Las Vegas restaurant.

TACO BELL this afternoon announced plans to build a two-story 24-hour flagship Cantina in Las Vegas right on the Strip at East Harmon Avenue, across from CityCenter and The Cosmopolitan Hotel; it’s expected to open this fall and will be the third in the growing Cantina division. Like other Cantinas, the Las Vegas restaurant will serve alcohol, including beer and Twisted Freezes slushies. Taco Bell introduced the Cantina concept last year with two urban locations, in a bid to draw younger diners with a more tech-focused ordering system and design. Of the 2,000 Taco Bell restaurants planned to be built by 2022, 200 will be urban locations, a typically underrepresented geography for the brand (press release).

Cantina debuted in Chicago last September, and a San Francisco outpost followed a few weeks later. After Las Vegas, Taco Bell plans to take the concept to Atlanta, and further expansion is in the works for college towns and dense urban areas across the country (Eater). Twisted Freezes come in three flavors: Taco Bell’s proprietary Mountain Dew Baja Blast (blue), Cantina Punch (red), and Margarita (green). Patrons can add their choice of rum, tequila or vodka (Chicago Eater).

Baron Concors
Concors

PIZZA HUT announced a new artificial intelligence chatbot that works within Facebook Messenger, and on Twitter, part of a massive roll-out the company is calling “social media ordering.” Chief Digital Officer Baron Concors demonstrated the chatbot at MobileBeat 2016 during a session on chatbot innovations. The new bot can handle pizza and other food delivery orders from customers who have Pizza Hut accounts, streamlining the process, improving accuracy, and eliminating wait-times. It will be available starting next month (Venture Beat and press release).

HUMANA‘s stock closed moments ago at $154.65 a share, up less than 1% — still, the first up day since news broke last week that the insurer and Aetna of Hartford were struggling to keep their $37 billion merger on track during an unexpected meeting with the Justice Department. Aetna’s stock fell less than 1%, closing at $115.50 (Google Finance). None of the parties in the DOJ negotiations Friday have publicly disclosed the outcome. Humana has 12,500 employees in Louisville.

AMAZON: Some shoppers encountered a glitch Continue reading “Taco Bell to open flagship Cantina on Las Vegas Strip; Pizza Hut launches a chatbot ordering system; and Humana stock edges higher, breaking downward spiral” →

Cops and Courts

Kindred finance chief at Indiana hospital arrested on charge he molested his foster child

The investigation into William Brenner, 49, began after detectives with the Johnson County Sheriff’s Office received an abuse report June 7 from the state child welfare agency, involving a 6-year-old boy he was fostering, local news media are now reporting.

William Brenner
Brenner

Brenner is accused of molesting the boy more than once in December 2014, and on into January 2015, according to documents filed in a Johnson County court. He faces four counts of felony child molesting and one count of felony dissemination of matter harmful to minors, according to the Indianapolis Star.

“The child stated while he was staying at the man’s residence, Brenner would touch the boy’s private areas on several occasions,” according to Fox 59. The Child Services report also says the boy revealed Brenner would make the boy touch him.

Detectives executed a search warrant on Brenner’s residence Wednesday. He told detectives during an interview that he made the child take nude photos of him, according to Fox.

Brenner is CFO at Kindred Greenwood, one of the company’s 95 transitional care and rehabilitation hospitals, according to his LinkedIn profile. Greenwood is 12 miles south of Indianapolis.

Louisville-based Kindred employs more than 2,200 workers in the city, and more than 100,000 nationwide. Here’s more about hospital and nursing giant’s history.

Cops and Courts

Illinois man gets 12 years after gunpoint robbery of two Papa John’s; Memphis cops on leave after Pizza Hut shooting; and alleged cat killer accused of robbing Taco Bell in Bismarck

The latest crime news across the world of 48,000 restaurants.*

Crime scene tapeIn Illinois, a 27-year-old Aurora man was sentenced yesterday in DuPage County Circuit Court to 12 years in state prison for robbing six fast-food restaurants at gun point, including two Papa John’s.

Cord Greenwall pleaded guilty to a single count of armed robbery without a firearm, according to the Chicago Tribune. Seven other counts of armed robbery, aggravated robbery and robbery were dismissed in exchange for the plea.

The first four robberies — at two Papa John’s; a Subway, and a Dunkin’ Donuts — happened over five days ending Feb. 20. Nine days later, Greenwall hit another Subway plus a Burger King.

No injuries were reported in any of the robberies. In each instance, Greenwall entered the restaurant, demanded an employee give him money from a cash register, took the money and left, according to the Tribune, which cited the state’s attorney’s office.

Aurora robber
Greenwall

In the first Papa John’s robbery, a surveillance photo showed Greenwall wearing a black hoodie with the hood up over a black stocking mask, black gloves, dark pants, and black sandals over white socks.

According to the newspaper, Greenwall has an extensive criminal history in DuPage and Kane counties dating to the year he turned 16.

Pizza Hut

In Memphis, two police officers have been relieved of duty pending the outcome of an investigation into their shooting two suspects during an attempted armed robbery at a Pizza Hut on June 25.

The suspects — Martez Brisco, 25, and Robert Miller, 21 — have been charged with Criminal Attempt Felony in the alleged attempted holdup of the restaurant in the 5300 block of Knight Arnold, according to WHBQ.

Officers responded to a robbery call at the restaurant a little after 11 p.m., and found two masked men with guns. When the officers made contact with the suspects, shots were fired, said WHBQ.

The officers hit both suspects, with one of the suspects staying on the scene and being transported to the hospital in critical condition. The other suspect fled but later showed up at a hospital in critical condition.

Taco Bell

In Bismarck, N.D., a 36-year-old Taco Bell employee has been accused of stealing close to $1,300 from a restaurant where he worked on the city’s north side. Kristofer Gilliam was in charge of sales during the four days the money was taken, the restaurant’s manager told police; Gilliam had a personal PIN number used to open the restaurant’s safe, according to KX News.

Bismarck alleged robber
Gilliam

None of the news reports say when the incident occurred.

In a separate case, Gilliam has been charged with shooting two cats with a bow and arrow. He’s scheduled to stand trial for animal cruelty late next month.

* Yum has 43,000 KFCs, Pizza Huts and Taco Bells in nearly 140 countries; Papa John’s has 4,900 in 37 countries, and Texas Roadhouse has 485 restaurants in five countries. With that many locations, crimes inevitably will occur — with potentially serious legal consequences for the companies.

Latest Headlines

Humana dives again on fears $37B Aetna merger is unraveling; JP Morgan warns stock could plunge to $115 if deal collapses

A news summary, focused on 10 big employers; updated 4:53 p.m.

HUM three days
Humana’s stock has tumbled 12% over last three days.

The probability of the Justice Department approving the deal has now declined well below a 50/50 chance, JP Morgan said in a report today. If the deal bombed altogether, the Louisville insurer’s shares could fall to a range of as low as $115 to $125, the investment bank said.

Humana’s unexpected plunge came as suitor Aetna was to meet with top Justice Department officials today as it seeks to win antitrust approval for its takeover of Louisville-based Humana, multiple media outlets have been reporting. The Hartford insurer’s meeting was to include the DOJ’s No. 3 official, a top-level gathering that signals the review is entering a final, make-or-break stage, according to Bloomberg News, which cited sources it didn’t identify.

“We have long held that only HUM shares have material downside if the DOJ were to block the pending acquisition by Atena,” JP Morgan’s Gary Taylor said in in his report.

Humana’s stock closed moments ago down 2.7%, or $4.35 a share, to $158.15. It fell another $1.14 in extended trading. Yesterday, it fell a far steeper 10% on sales volume more than six times normal — the biggest one-day drop in four years. It was Humana’s lowest closing price since Feb. 12, when shares hit $160.37.

Aetna’s stock was recently up 1.3%, or $1.43, to $116.89; yesterday, it closed down 4%.

Humana building
Humana tower downtown.

“The meeting falls two weeks after a similar Justice Department session with Anthem and Cigna, which are pursuing their own $48 billion merger,” Reuters said. “While department officials are concerned that the Anthem-Cigna tie-up may stifle competition, Aetna is arguing that its deal is different: It maintains that its overlap with Humana is small and any loss of competition is easily fixable, according to a person familiar with the insurer’s thinking who, like the others, asked not to be identified discussing a private matter.”

Today’s purported meeting was first disclosed at Continue reading “Humana dives again on fears $37B Aetna merger is unraveling; JP Morgan warns stock could plunge to $115 if deal collapses” →

Cops and Courts

Tenn. woman arrested on Taco Bell assault charge; employee ‘got her bell rung pretty good’

The latest crime news across the world of 48,000 restaurants.*

Crime scene tapeIn Rogersville, Tenn., a 50-year-old woman was charged with assault and disorderly conduct, and spent the night in jail, after attacking a Taco Bell employee Tuesday night because there was something wrong with her order, according to local police.

Shortly after 7 p.m., Kim Renee Long entered the restaurant and “became irate and began yelling and cussing her,” according to a police report cited by the Times-News. “It was during this time that Ms. Long struck [the victim] in the face twice with her hand and then threw the bag of food at her and continued yelling and cussing.”

Kim Long
Long

Officer Cambren Gibson told the newspaper he was “just dumbfounded that she punched out an employee over a messed-up order.” He added: “I never thought to ask the employee who got hit what was wrong [with the order] because she was so shaken up. She got her bell rung pretty good.”

Rogersville is 65 miles northeast of Knoxville.

* Yum has 43,000 KFCs, Pizza Huts and Taco Bells in nearly 140 countries; Papa John’s has 4,900 in 37 countries, and Texas Roadhouse has 485 restaurants in five countries. With that many locations, crimes inevitably will occur — with potentially serious legal consequences for the companies.

The Jennifer Lawrence Diary™

Man accused of hacking theft of Lawrence’s nude photos agrees to plead guilty

Jennifer LawrenceBoulevard reviews the latest media coverage of the Oscar-winning Louisville native in our exclusive Jennifer Lawrence Diary™. Today’s news, rated on a scale of 1-5 stars:

Five starsAn Illinois man accused of breaking into the Apple iCloud and Gmail accounts of Jennifer Lawrence and other celebrities to steal their private photos and videos has agreed to plead guilty to a felony computer hacking charge, prosecutors said Friday.

Edward Majerczyk, 28, facing up to five years in prison in the September 2014 crime, is the second man charged in a federal investigation into the leaks of nude photos of several Hollywood actresses, according to The Himalayan Times.

Vanity Fair cover
October 2014 issue.

In an interview with Vanity Fair at the time, Lawrence called the incident a “sex crime.”

“Just because I’m a public figure, just because I’m an actress, does not mean that I asked for this,” she told the magazine. “It does not mean that it comes with the territory. It’s my body, and it should be my choice, and the fact that it is not my choice is absolutely disgusting. I can’t believe that we even live in that kind of world. ”