In many states‚ the ability of teachers' unions to go on strike‚ particularly during the school year‚ is either severely curtailed or outright prohibited by law. The reason for this is simple: it makes no sense to allow government employees to collectively bargain against the taxpayers‚ or to withhold essential services as a bargaining chip during those negotiations. Nonetheless‚ in recent years teachers' unions in places like Chicago and Massachusetts have gone on strike anyway‚ reasoning that no one would dare to hold them accountable for their illegal actions‚ or that at worst they would face a small fine.In Massachusetts‚ the Newton Teachers Association led an 11-day strike that concluded earlier this month. The strike was one of the longest strikes seen in Massachusetts had seen in decades‚ and eventually led the school district to cave to the unions' demands and give teachers many of the benefits they sought in the strike. Now at least one group is fighting back: parents. A group of parents in Newton‚ Massachusetts has filed a class action lawsuit against the Newton Teachers Association (NTA)‚ the Massachusetts Teachers Association and the National Education Association‚ alleging that the unions "knowingly‚ willfully‚ intentionally chose to break the law by engaging in an illegal strike‚ shutting down Newton's public schools for 11 days and throwing the lives and educations of 12‚000 students and their families into chaos as a result."The lawsuit asks for damages for learning loss‚ emotional distress‚ deprivation of a constitutional right to education‚ and economic impacts. Union officials had not responded to the parents' lawsuit as of Saturday morning‚ but NTA president Michael Zilles defended his union's illegal actions in a recent Boston Globe op-ed‚ calling it an act of "civil disobedience" that was justified by the district's alleged failure to negotiate in what he considered to be good faith.The courts have thus far disagreed‚ slapping the NTA with at least $625‚000 in fines and fees so far. The parents' lawsuit is far more threatening to the union‚ however. If the class is certified‚ the potential damages from the suit could easily reach into the millions. Daniel Suhr‚ an attorney for the parents‚ said‚ "The families affected by these illegal strikes have suffered real‚ tangible losses. Monetary damages are not just compensation; they’re a recognition of the pain and disruption inflicted upon them. It’s about restoring what was unjustly taken from these communities."Massachusetts teachers' unions have‚ in recent weeks‚ attempted to push legislation through the deep blue Massachusetts legislature that would change the law to allow public employees to strike‚ but the legislation has thus far stalled in committee and appears to be unpopular even in Massachusetts. The Newton parents join a group of Chicago parents who sued the Chicago Teachers Union for their illegal strike that ended in 2022.

New York City police are searching for a man believed to have bludgeoned a woman to death with iron inside a Manhattan hotel room. The suspect was caught on security camera footage fleeing the bloody crime scene while wearing leggings previously worn by the alleged victim‚ according to police. The family of the slain mother contacted staff at the SoHo 54 Hotel to conduct a wellness check. On Feb. 7‚ a hotel employee knocked on the door with a "Do Not Disturb" sign hanging on it. The worker entered the room and saw the woman on the floor. NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny said‚ "He saw the victim laying on the floor [covered by] a blanket. [He] didn’t think anything of it and went back downstairs thinking the woman was laying asleep on the floor.”However‚ the brutally maimed body of 38-year-old Denisse Oleas-Arancibia was discovered in the hotel room by a housekeeper around 10:30 a.m. on Feb. 8. There was an iron covered in blood found near the body. Kenny said there were "bits of plastic embedded in her head” from the iron. Oleas-Arancibia‚ from Queens‚ also suffered bruises all over her body.An autopsy revealed that Oleas-Arancibia had died of strangulation and blunt force trauma.Her death has been ruled a homicide. Police also found a pair of men's pants covered in blood inside the hotel room. Surveillance camera footage caught a possible suspect on video leaving the hotel in a black hooded sweatshirt‚ a tan jacket‚ and light-colored leggings. Investigators believe the leggings that the man is seen wearing belong to Oleas-Arancibia. "We have video of the woman arriving at the location wearing a distinct pair of leggings and later on we have a male leaving the hotel wearing the same leggings‚" Kenny said.Police have been able to track the suspect's movements through the victim's MetroCard and transactions on her credit card.WNBC reported‚ "Oleas-Arancibia periodically stayed at the hotel‚ though she lived in Queens. It's believed she may have been an escort. Her son told investigators she worked in Manhattan for an unknown man."Oleas-Arancibia reportedly moved to the United States from Ecuador because she wanted a "better life." Oleas-Arancibia's 18-year-old son‚ Edwin Cevallos‚ told the New York Daily News‚ "She gave us the life that we always wanted. She was always working for us to give us the best life in this country. She always had money to cover anything in the house. She didn’t owe no money to anybody.”The investigation is ongoing.Like Blaze News? Circumvent the censors‚ sign up for our newsletters‚ and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here! NYPD searching for SoHo hotel murder suspect www.youtube.com

Editor's note: We're facing an unprecedented moment in American history. Our government and multinational tech monopolies are making it clear that we‚ the people‚ are the target of the monstrous surveillance state they've constructed. The deep state is attempting to jail people who share memes‚ Blaze Media journalists‚ and even the leading presidential candidate. It's time we take back control over our privacy and digital communications‚ and this guide will provide you with the tools to do that. This is an excerpt from a larger guide.A lot of us use social media for business and advertising. Maybe you're a real estate agent or plumber‚ own a construction business‚ or are a writer‚ illustrator‚ or filmmaker. You probably use some combination of Facebook‚ Twitter‚ YouTube‚ Vimeo‚ and Instagram to advertise and get clients. These have been valuable tools for growing businesses. I am not suggesting that you get off social media‚ but you should make sure that you are not completely dependent upon these platforms.If something goes wrong with Facebook or your social media platform‚ you don’t want to be in a situation where all your materials are there and you don’t have any way to contact your customers. As Thomas J. Bevan explained well: “Twitter is a flyer‚ it is not the gig. Don’t give them any more than you have to. They won’t thank you. They won’t love you back.”Email contactsWhat would happen to your contacts if Facebook‚ Twitter‚ Instagram‚ or LinkedIn shut down your account? How would you contact your customers‚ followers‚ and connections?If you have a large Facebook or Instagram following‚ you don’t want to lose your means of communication with your followers because people at one of these companies decide they don’t like your views on some religious‚ political‚ or philosophical view that may have absolutely nothing to do with your business. So try to get direct contact with your customers through email. If you get de-platformed or denied service because you hold the wrong opinions‚ you can immediately start up again.If you have email addresses already and use CRM systems like Mailchimp‚ HubSpot‚ Salesforce‚ Oracle‚ etc.‚ be sure that you have backups and full access to them. Again‚ if one of your providers decides to deny access because your religious or political views are not acceptable‚ you don’t want to have all your customers locked up in the provider's service. Make sure you have offline backups exported to .csv or Excel files so you can import your contacts into another service or be able to contact your customers and subscribers immediately.There is some work being done on the issue of data portability‚ especially in light of the EU’s GDPR rules. Hopefully‚ this will get easier‚ but for now‚ you don’t want to put all your eggs in one basket.Work on building your email list for direct communication and keep backups. This is good business anyway.As much as possible export your connections from other platforms so you have them available.LinkedIn has a way to export all of your connections to a spreadsheet‚ but only a very few of them have email addresses attached to them. So while you at least have a record of your connections‚ if you have 1‚500 to 2‚000 connections but only fifteen emails‚ it is not super helpful. Again‚ it doesn’t mean you shouldn’t use LinkedIn. I use it. But we need to make sure we build more robust email contact lists.

In July 2018‚ Weymouth (Mass.) police Sgt. Michael Chesna and an innocent bystander were shot while Chesna investigated a minor car crash. Emanuel Lopes‚ a driver who fled the scene of the crash‚ undisputably wrestled Chesna's service revolver away from him and used it to kill two innocent people. Now‚ six years later‚ his victims finally have justice after a jury convicted Lopes of murder on Friday. Chesna was a military veteran and married father of two. Lopes was also convicted of other charges related to the incident‚ including assault for having thrown a rock at Chesna's head‚ and other counts for firing Chesna's service revolver at other police officers who responded to the incident. Lopes' attorneys have never denied that Lopes killed Chesna and Vera Adams‚ a 77-year-old innocent bystander who was killed as Lopes attempted to flee the scene. However‚ they have claimed that Lopes suffers from mental insanity so severe that he did not understand his actions were wrongful. The first time Lopes was tried‚ a mistrial was declared after jurors were unable to reach a unanimous verdict. The state ultimately opted to try Lopes again. There are indications that this second trial also nearly ended in a mistrial as the jury remained deadlocked for days. It took six days of deliberations and numerous questions asked of the judge before the jury was ready to announce their verdict. The length of deliberations led Lopes' attorneys to ask for a mistrial again‚ but the judge instead ordered the jury to continue deliberations. Eventually‚ they were able to reach consensus that Lopes was guilty.Chesna's family and fellow Weymouth police officers applauded the decision. Weymouth police chief Richard Fuller said‚ "Glad that this evil person is going to jail where he belongs. It's been weighing on us for six years and at least we can put this part behind us‚ finally."A sentencing hearing for Lopes has been set for March 19th.

Jesus Christ was likely born sometime between 6 and 4 B.C.E. — but no one knows the exact date. The post Inside The Enduring Mystery Of When Jesus Was Born appeared first on All That's Interesting.

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