That’s Odd

32 proven to be false. After several years of lawsuits, the company dissolved in 2018. Jury deliberations last week lasted The Jewish Home | JULY 14, 2022 four full days and followed a lengthy trial, which began in March. The jury declared that Balwani had defrauded both patients and investors, and found him guilty on all 12 charges, which included 10 counts of federal wire fraud and two counts of conspiracy to commit wire fraud. In another trial, Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes was acquitted by a separate jury on charges pertaining to defrauding patients; the jury was unable to reach a unanimous verdict on three of the charges regarding defrauding investors. Holmes was found guilty on four charges relating to investors. Balwani and Holmes were indicted four years ago, but their trials were severed after Holmes’ legal team outlined plans to make accusations about their relationship as part of her defense. Holmes’ trial concluded around six months ago. In a statement read outside the courthouse, U.S. Attorney Stephanie Hinds thanked the jurors for “dutifully navigating through the complex issues presented by this case,” adding, “we appreciate the verdict and look forward to sentencing proceedings.” Balwani faces up to 20 years in pris-

CA Targets Gun Industry

California is taking on guns. This week, in response to a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling against restrictions on carrying firearms in public, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed at least three major gun control measures into law to restrict access to the weapons and create an avenue for private citizens to sue the industry.

Assembly Bill 1594 establishes a “firearm industry standard of conduct” and allows local governments, the state Department of Justice, and gun violence survivors to sue for egregious violations of state sales and marketing regulations.

“To the victims of gun violence and their families: California stands with you. The gun industry can no longer hide from the devastating harm their products cause,” Newsom said. “Our kids, families and communities deserve streets free of gun violence and gun makers must be held accountable for their role in this crisis. Nearly every industry is held liable when people are hurt or killed by their products — guns should be no different.”

The new law will go into effect on July 1, 2023, while others will be implemented immediately due to an urgency clause, which required a two-thirds majority vote in both houses of the Legislature. Two bills Newsom signed on June 30 will limit firearm advertising to minors and add restrictions against already highly regulated ghost guns.

On June 23, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down a New York law that requires people to prove a “special need for self protection” in order to bring guns outside their homes. The 6-3 ruling creates legal jeopardy for a range of state firearms laws nationwide and looms over the bills Newsom has signed.

In response to SCOTUS’s ruling, Congress passed bipartisan legislation that prevents abusive intimate partners from buying firearms and encourages states to pass so-called red flag laws. President Biden signed it into law on June 25.

Newsom is expected to sign more gun bills in August, after lawmakers return from their summer break and adjourn this year’s legislative session. Among them is Senate Bill 1327, a closely watched proposal to increase legal liability in the industry by authorizing private lawsuits against anyone who imports, distributes, manufactures or sells illegal firearms such as assault weapons, .50 BMG rifles and so-called ghost guns.

California has long required that applicants prove “good cause” to obtain a concealed carry gun permit, but the Supreme Court’s New York decision rendered that requirement unconstitutional. Even so, Newsom said that he had been working closely with the attorney general and legislative leaders “for months” on Senate Bill 918, which would “update and strengthen our public-carry law and make it consistent with the Supreme Court ruling.”

The bill aims to specify where guns are prohibited in California, including on school grounds and universities, public transportation, bars and public parks. Firearm owners who want to obtain a concealed carry license would also face a more

No Small Fry

In this restaurant, you don’t get fries on the side. In fact, you only get French fries if your wallet is feeling particularly hefty. That’s because this New York eatery is home to the world’s most expensive French fries.

Serendipity3, located on Manhattan’s Upper East Side, has earned the Guinness World Record for the world’s most expensive french fries with its Creme de la Creme Pommes Frites.

For now, the restaurant is bringing back the $200 chips for July 13, National French Fry Day.

Lest you think that the expensive spuds are just potatoes, think again. The fries feature ingredients including Chipperbeck potatoes, Dom Perignon Champagne, J. LeBlanc French Champagne Ardenne Vinegar, cage-free goose fat from France, Guerande Truffle Salt, truffle oil, Crete Senesi Pecorino Tartufello cheese, shaved black summer truffles from Italy, truffle butter, organic A2 A2 100% grass fed cream from Jersey Cows, Gruyere Truffled Swiss Raclette and a topping of 23-karat edible gold dust.

Serendipity3 is also home to the world’s most expensive burger ($295) and ice cream sundae ($1,000), so the fries are not much of a surprise.

That’s an expensive mouthful.

Buried Treasure

Rich Gilson is now a bit richer than before.

The New Jersey man was doing home renovations when he made a surprising discovery under his porch: $1,000 in $10 and $20 bills from 1934.

Gilson and his wife, Suzanne, bought a 1920s-era cottage in Wildwood about

four years ago, and they have since elevated the house and added a new foundation. He was using a mini-excavator to remove parts of the old foundation on Friday when he encountered a pair of strange objects.

“I thought they were weeds,” Gilson told NJ.com. “I picked them up and just threw them aside and they went into the pile I was using for fill.”

Thankfully, it rained on Saturday. The next day, when Gilson returned to work, he noticed what looked like rolledup paper bound with rubber bands.

“I got to look at the edge and it had a green tint to it and I said, ‘This is money,’” Gilson said. “It looked like little mini-cigars all bound up together. As I broke it apart, I started to see what it was.”

Gilson thinks the money is connected to something illegal, since a person would have had to crawl under the porch to dig the hole in which the money was found.

“My sense is that something fishy happened,” he said about the money that would have been worth around $20,000 back then. “Somehow, somebody got new bills, rolled them up like that, put them in a jar. Somebody was hiding it, not just under their bed or in a wall for safekeeping.”

For now, Gilson’s holding onto the new-found cash.

“I don’t see myself spending this money,” Gilson said. “The story’s too good for what it’s worth.”

Money talks.

Safe Landing

It’s a bird. No, it’s a plane – yup, that was a plane landing on the freeway last week in the middle of July 4th traffic.

Marine Corps veteran Vince Fraser was the pilot of the aircraft when it was forced to make a landing after losing power at 5,000 feet.

Fraser had to fly under power lines and over cars on a freeway in North Carolina in order to make the safe landing.

“When I was coming down, and I saw those power lines and I saw the cars I almost had an out-of-body or out-of-plane experience,” Fraser told Fox News. “I was just trying to observe and take everything in and make adjustments, and just not hit anybody or kill ourselves.”

Fraser was on the plane with his father-in-law.

After the plane landed, it was revealed that the engine failure was traced to a plugged fuel line in the wing. Once fixed, the plane was deemed safe, and Fraser was free to fly it again. He then made a seven-minute flight to a larger airport nearby, where the plane is undergoing a more thorough inspection.

Police say Fraser’s plane came to a complete stop right in front of a stop sign after traffic slowed down behind it.

Sounds like he landed with flying colors.

Marine Music

Like to swim? Love music?

If you answered yes to both questions, you should have been at the underwater music festival that took place over the weekend off the Florida Keys.

Guests, many dressed like mermaids and sea creatures, enjoyed the waves with snorkels and underwater masks at the Lower Keys Underwater Music Festival. They listened to music through waterproof speakers dangling from boats floating above the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary.

It wasn’t just all showtunes and melodies at the festival. The event at the continental United States’ only living coral barrier reef urged participants to face the music and raised awareness on how divers can protect the reef by not touching corals or leaving litter underwater, using mooring buoys instead of anchoring when boating, respecting dive flags, and other ways of minimizing environmental impacts.

Participants swam among marine life and coral formations and described the music as ethereal, a bit muted, but emanating from all directions.

And that was music to their ears.